With about 95% certainty the team at the Coranica Project, part of the University of Tübingen, have placed a manuscript of the Qu'ran to between 649-675 AD. Using carbon-14 dating on select samples of the manuscript parchment researchers conclude that the manuscript, which is written in Kufic script, one of the oldest forms of Arabic writing, originated between 20-40 years after the death of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad making it one of the earliest known copies. The Coranica project, is a collaboration between the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres Paris and the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Academy of the Sciences and Humanities. It is sponsored by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and...
Of Interest: Morrissey, The Talmud, The Occupy Movement “Explained” and The Best of Early Vanity Fair
"The solution to all predicaments is the goodness of privacy in a warm room with books" - Morrissey He is near the top of most lists ranking the world's best songwriters and his tenure with The Smiths had a monumental impact on the 1980's music scene yet by reading his Autobiography one has to shake their head in disbelief at the resistance his road to success has endured. The polluted record industry and corrupt legal system weigh prominently in the book. The radio stations wouldn't play his music and an ex-Smith band mate took him to the cleaners via a less than fair...
Kafka’s notebook, the first written evidence of Yiddish and more as Israel’s National Library opens up
13th-century German prayer book containing the earliest evidence of the Yiddish language. The goal is daunting: Undertake "a worldwide initiative to digitize every Hebrew manuscript in existence." To celebrate the project, the National Library of Israel is opening its vaults to give the world a peek and some of the jewels of their collection. The Associated Press was offered "a rare glimpse at its most prized treasures," some never before seen and others that has been locked away for years. The jewels include manuscripts by Sir Issac Newton and Nobel laureate S.Y. Agnon and a Hebrew vocabuary notebook by Kafka, who took Hebrew lessons...
Here’s one “out of the closet” book that doesn’t seem to bother the Religious Right
Seems not a week goes by without someone, somewhere on this beautiful planet, objecting to a book due to its gay or non-traditional marriage content. Some have even gotten in a huff over a book about gay penguins. Well, here's one for the ages - a book focused on "open carrying and bringing gun ownership out of the closet and into the mainstream." My Parents: Open Carry invites us to: Come join 13-year-old Brenna Strong along with her mom, Bea, and her dad, Richard, as they spend a typical Saturday running errands and having fun together. What's not so typical is that Brenna's...
God’s Word Visualized
What happens when the Bible gets in the hands of the data gods? It comes to life in a series of astonishing infographics that were recently shared by The Guardian. From playing with word counts to timelines to sentiment analysis - Here is the good book in pictures: More at the Guardian: Holy infographics: the bible visualised