The Voynich Manuscript meets “Tuvan throat singing layered on top of Swiss yodelling“? How could anyone resist the 9-minute-long vocal octet “Such sphinxes as these obey no one but their master” by Steven Gorbos, and performed by ‘Roomful of Teeth’. Listen, marvel and enjoy! 🙂
Incidentally, the page notes that “The Beinecke Library at Yale, where the manuscript has been part of the collection since the 1960s, gets regular requests from individuals wishing to ingest pieces of the manuscript (or, in some cases, just lick), inspired by a belief in its healing properties.” Now, not a lot of people know that (I for one certainly didn’t).
PS: people sometimes ask me if I make some of this stuff up. The mundane truth is that nobody could make it up, not even me – it’s way too scary.
PPS: I should make it clear that I myself have not licked (and have no plans to lick) the Voynich Manuscript, not even the strawberry-and-Oreo-flavoured pages in the middle of the herbal section.
Bom bom bom bom,
bom bom bom bom,
bom bom bom bom bom.
Mr Voynich, bring me a book,
Make it the weirdest, when I take a look,
Give it two covers, the skin of lamb,
And let us doubt it was made by man.
Mr Voynich, I’m so confused,
Two kinds of numerals were clearly used,
With several tongues in extraneous writing,
I find the whole lot so exciting.
Mr Voynich, is it a cipher?
For all the research, we don’t know either,
But of all the secrets we’ve been able to coax,
It surely isn’t a Ruggian hoax.
Mr Voynich, could it be Chinese?
Zandbergen thinks it works with some ease,
Or maybe polyglot Nahuatl,
Or even just a load of prattle.
Mr Voynich, we’ll read it soon,
Just pray to God at the next full moon,
Angels will tell us what it means:
A lost book from the Atlanteans.
New improved scans of the VMS:
http://hyperallergic.com/159228/new-scans-of-the-voynich-manuscript-a-medieval-book-no-one-can-read/
Darling “Thing”: I’m sure you’re familiar with ‘Rolfing’; so you now know my current state of being. Come next full moon, you might see my silhouette, and be able to translate my mood — but not yet!
bdid1-dr
ROFL (cyber-ese for rolling on floor laughing). First time I’ve used the expression. Almost as much fun as ‘Voynich-ese”?
Nick, how’re y’doing w/B408’s latest enhanced views?
Danged good, eh?
bd
Dear Thing,
Is the couplet entirely fictional which runs:
Mr Voynich, could it be Chinese?
Zandbergen thinks it works with some ease.
I’ve been away almost a year, you see.
I think I should have written Guy or Stolfi there. My mistake.
Perfectly understandable – poetic license.