Updates

Hey everyone!
Sorry for the lapse in posts. All of my final projects caught up with me and I did not have a good stockpile of posts like I should have. I'll be working on making sure that I have a few reserve posts for when life gets crazy, but I thought I should give everyone an update on what's going on with me and what you can expect from the blog in the next few months.

I've finished my first year of Graduate School! Yay! I've started on my thesis and completed most of my research. This summer I will be working on writing it up, turning in a draft in the fall.

Meanwhile, I am spending the summer as an intern at Stones River National Battlefield in Tennessee. I'm working in the museum a bit, but also working the front desk and giving tours! I really enjoy it, so I'll have to create at least one post, probably two on my experiences here.

In the future, I will continue to try to tighten up the theme of this blog. It's a bit all over the place, mainly because my interests are all over the place. I'm working with an international theme that includes culture, folklore, language, history, and current events. If you have any requests for topics or particular culture areas, let me know and I'll see what I can dig up.

I'll be trying to stick to the same schedule I have been, a new post on Friday and something interesting for you to check out on Tuesdays. Starting next Friday, I should be back on schedule, so look for a new post then.

Thanks to everyone who actually reads this blog. I know that I do it almost exclusively for my own enjoyment, to practice my writing and give myself an outlet for all those other topics that I love but will never make it into a school paper, but I have to admit that seeing that people are actually seeing my posts makes me warm and fuzzy inside. So thank you everyone.

Meanwhile, enjoy some recent pictures!

Share Spotlight: Viking women, warriors, and valkyries

This week's Share Spotlight comes from the British Museum's blog.
Viking women, warriors, and valkyries

The British Museum opened an exhibition on Vikings last month, called Vikings: life and legend. Their blog post this weeks covers a little discusses aspect of the Vikings: their women. Viking women certainly were a more diverse group than most of their continental counterparts. However, the idea of warrior women among the Vikings is something Jesch, the author of this post flatly denies.

So, how to explain the Valkyries? Jesch contends that they are simply "creatures of fantasy rooted in the experience of male warriors." The Valkyries certainly wouldn't be the first. Athena in Greek mythology would be a similar figure.

What do think? Can such a pervasive mythological figure exist without a real life model? How do you think that such figures are created?

Share Spotlight: Lincoln Rejects the King of Siam's Offer of Elephants

This week's Share Spotlight comes from the Civil War Trust.
Lincoln Rejects the King of Siam's Offer of Elephants 

After last week's post about the White Elephant in Thailand, I thought I would share a related story. During the Civil War, the King of Siam offered to send elephants (though not White ones) to President Lincoln. You can read President Lincoln's response in today's Share Spotlight post.

What do you think of Lincoln's diplomatic refusal? How do you think Elephants could have been used in the Civil War? Does this change how you see the global perspective on the Civil War?

The White Elephant

We're in Southeast Asia again this week, this time for the story of the royal symbol of Thailand.

In Thailand, as well as Siam, Thailand's predecessor, the White Elephant is a symbol of the royal line. All White Elephants belong to the king and are ceremonially presented to him.

White Elephants, also sometimes called Pink Elephants or Auspicious Elephants, are not actually white. They are generally a light reddish-brown, sometimes turning pink when wet. The elephants are not actually albino and the determination of a White Elephant is made by palace experts.

A White Elephant at Naypyidaw's Uppatasanti Pagoda (Wikimedia)

White Elephants are found almost entirely among Indian Elephants and are extremely rare or nonexistent in African Elephants. 

Despite the English use of the phrase White Elephant, there is no evidence to support the idea that the King would give a White Elephant to someone in order to bankrupt them. In fact, all White Elephants belong to the King, so one would never have been given away.

To the people of Thailand, these White Elephants are priceless. A White Elephant even appeared on the flag of Thailand from 1855 to 1916, over 60 years.

The Flag of Thailand, 1855-1916 (Wikimedia)

In Buddhism, the dominant religion in Thailand, the Buddha's mother dreamed of a White Elephant on the night before the Buddha's birth. The White Elehphant is a symbol of wisdom and purity in Buddhism and of prosperity and good fortune throughout Southeast Asia.

The current King of Thailand owns 10 White Elephants, six males and four females. The male and female elephants are kept in separate facilities, since they are not allowed to breed.

There is currently only one confirmed White Elephant living in the wild. Called Sudu Aliya, which means white elephant, she lives in Sri Lanka. She is currently being monitored by the Center for Conservation and Research of Sri Lanka and was last seen in 2012.

I found the website of the Thai Elephant Conservation Center very helpful in writing this article. The Conservation Center cares for all of the royal White Elephants.

Share Spotlight: The Story of One

This week's share spotlight is a BBC documentary.
The Story of One

Something a little different this week for the Share Spotlight: a documentary. This documentary is a bit silly, but still one of my all time favorites. Terry Jones, a former member of Monty Python (which explains the silliness) takes the viewer through the journey to our modern number system. From notching marks on  a bone to the binary system that underlies all our modern technology, this documentary explains the major steps in the history of numbers.

My only real complaint is that Terry Jones fails to mention that the zero was actually invented twice. Once in India and once in Mesoamerica by the Mayans. The Mayan number system is fascinating and on my list of things to write about.

Other than that, what a great way to bring a little bit of History into Math! As much as I love math, this documentary really helped me get a good handle on why we use the numbers we do.

What did you learn about the history of numbers in school? What do you think about bringing a little bit of History into Math? Or vice versa?

Letters from the Seams of a Skull

Devanagari is one of the widely used scripts in the world

Devanagari is used for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, and Nepali languages and so is used all over the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding areas.

Devanagari is an abugida alphabet or alphasyllabary, which means that there are distinct vowels and consonants, but that vowels are also used to modify the consonants, which unmodified have a certain syllable sound.

Devanagari is most easily recognized by the bar that runs across the top of the script, from which all the letter seem to descend.

Some consonants in Devanagari. (Wikimedia)

Devanagari has been used from about the 12th century CE. There are about 50 letters in the Devanagari script, not counting the numerous derivations caused by combining the consonants with vowels. Devanagari is read from left to right.

The Vedas, the Hindu scriptures are generally written in Devanagari and the word "Devanagari" derives from deva, deity, and nagari, city.

In Hindu myth, the Devanagari script comes from Brahma. When Brahma went to write down his teachings, he found that there was no system to record them with. In order to share his teachings, he invented writing, using the seams of the skull as a pattern for the letters.

In some forms of the myth, it is Sarasvati, Brahma's wife, who invents the letters. Sarasvati (sometimes Saraswati or Saraswathi) is the goddess of knowledge, music, and arts, so writing would fall within her purview.

Svarasvati, holding a string of crystals, a book of the Vedas, and playing the veena (Wikimedia)

For the first post in my Writing Systems series, see The Beginning of History.

Share Spotlight: Understanding Ukraine

This week's Share Spotlight comes from the Vlogbrothers.
Understanding Ukraine: The Problems Today and Some Historical Context

The conflict between Ukraine and Russia keeps rolling on. Frankly, I've lost track of what's actually happening. But here's John Green, author and all around amazing person to give you a quick summation of the background of the conflict in Ukraine.

And, as a bonus, here's Mid-Revolution: Ukrainian Museum Updates from The Uncataloged Museum, which is from a month or so back and talks about the particular challenges of being a museum on the front lines of a revolution.

What do you think of everything that's been going on? Have you been keeping track? What do you think the best outcome is at this point?