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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Racer on June 22, 2008, at 12:08:25
Don't ask me why this came to mind, but I thought everyone should know. Especially Sigismund.
Linear A is the first writing system to use a linear alphabet. It was developed by the Minoans sometime before 1800 BCE, and has not yet been fully deciphered. It can be partially deciphered through its similarity with Linear B.
Linear B is a later script, used by the Mycenaean Greeks. It's closely related to Linear A, and may be as simple as the Mycenaeans applying the Minoan Linear A to their Greek language, much as we apply our alphabet to other languages.
These scripts are called "linear," because they are created from lines, rather than representational writing systems, such as cuneiform and other hieroglyphic systems.
Don't ask me -- it just came to mind, and I thought I'd offer it up here as another example of the sort of useless information that crowds and clutters my brain. I describe myself as having a magpie mind -- it collects all sorts of shiny stuff...
Anyone else want to add some shiny bits?
Posted by 10derHeart on June 22, 2008, at 18:31:37
In reply to Linear A and B (For Sigismund), posted by Racer on June 22, 2008, at 12:08:25
I know, I know!
**It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.**
That's all I got for now.
More later ;-) -- 10der
ps - surely, that little tidbit is on par with information about ancient languages,alphabets, and writings....right? And don't tell me not to call you Shirley, 'cause then I Surely will do it more....
pps - although I was just thinking, the Oregon law is a blessing right now, as drivers can more easily avoid the process of actually watching the pump's dollar amount go past $50, past $60, past $???....and instead hide in their cars....random, useless thoughts...floating by...
Posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2008, at 20:38:21
In reply to Re: Linear A and B (For Sigismund) » Racer, posted by 10derHeart on June 22, 2008, at 18:31:37
Are you serious you can't pump your own gas legally? I think I'll move there as I have someone else pump my gas hate doing it. Phillipa
Posted by Sigismund on June 22, 2008, at 23:32:19
In reply to Linear A and B (For Sigismund), posted by Racer on June 22, 2008, at 12:08:25
Hi there
I read (in "Straw Dogs") that the practical and non-metaphysical Chinese spirituality may have a connection with the structure of the Chinese writing system and maybe some other aspect...something about being rich in the writing system (the brush stroks and such) and poor in some other department. This is an interesting idea. I would love to be multilingual so I could speak and think in different languages and compare how they enable and limit thinking and expression in various ways.
Posted by Sigismund on June 22, 2008, at 23:35:20
In reply to Re: Linear A and B (For Sigismund) » 10derHeart, posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2008, at 20:38:21
I always imagined that if I lived in the US I'd hole up in the woods in Oregon in some isolated place.
There's always Texas of course that has all sorts of interesting people living in it.
Posted by Sigismund on June 23, 2008, at 1:49:52
In reply to Linear A and B (For Sigismund), posted by Racer on June 22, 2008, at 12:08:25
The earliest forms of writing preserved many links with the natural world. The pictographs of Sumer were metaphors for sensuous realities. With the evolution of phonetic writing those links were severed. Writing no longer pointed outward to a world humans shared with other animals. Henceforth its signs pointed backward to the human mouth, which soon became the source of all sense.
When C20 philosophers such as Fritz Mauthner and Wittgenstein attacked the superstitious reverence for words they found in philosophers such as Plato, they were criticising a by-product of phonetic writing. It is scarcely possible to imagine a philosophy such as Platonism emerging in an oral culture. It is equally difficult to imagine it in Sumeria. How could a world of bodiless Forms be represented in pictograms? How could abstract entities be represented as the ultimate realities in a mode of writing that still recalled the realm of the senses?
It is significant that nothing resembling Platonism arose in China. Classical Chinese script is not ideographic, as used to be thought; but because of what AC Graham terms its 'combination of graphic wealth with phonetic poverty' it did not encourage the kind of abstract thinking that produced Plato's philosophy. Plato was what historians of philosophy call a realist - he believed that abstract terms designated spiritual or intellectual entities. In contrast, throughout its long history, Chinese thought has been nominalist - it has understood that even the most abstract terms are only labels, names for the diversity of things in the world. As a result, Chinese thinkers have rarely mistaken idea for facts.
(I dunno if Mao Zedong passes muster as a Chinese thinker. I wonder if Gray sees his thinking as part of the Enlightenment that the Chinese took up when they took up Marxism.)
From "Straw Dogs"
Posted by 10derHeart on June 23, 2008, at 4:07:04
In reply to Re: Linear A and B (For Sigismund) » 10derHeart, posted by Phillipa on June 22, 2008, at 20:38:21
It's true. Oregon and New Jersey both have had this law on the books since 1949, 1951 or so. Too dangerous was the thinking back then, and (more in Oregon) also made stations share some profits with their communities by paying employees to pump the gas.
I live over the border in WA, so I don't deal w/it too often right now. But I like it. I like getting my window cleaned if I want to, interacting with the attendants, and tipping them. (you aren't really expected to tip, as min. wage is pretty decent here, but if you do get windows washed, seems only fair to share, if you can - IMO)
It's different, nostalgic (oh I'm plenty old enough to recall all full service stations, AND gas lines AND odd/even days) and makes me feel good somehow. Hope they leave it this way. Things in Oregon are different, anyway. It just fits in :-)
Posted by Racer on June 23, 2008, at 12:12:49
In reply to Re: Linear A and B (For Sigismund) » Phillipa, posted by 10derHeart on June 23, 2008, at 4:07:04
>
> It's different, nostalgic (oh I'm plenty old enough to recall all full service stations, AND gas lines AND odd/even days) and makes me feel good somehow. Hope they leave it this way. Things in Oregon are different, anyway. It just fits in :-)My, you are *old!* ;-)
{ducking}
I remember those things, too -- lines so long my bus couldn't get past, or people trying to cheat, etc. Of course, we thought the price of petrol was outrageous then. What would we have thought then, if we knew what it costs now?
And think how long ago that was! Thirty years! Damn, I'm old, too...
{sigh}
Posted by Phillipa on June 23, 2008, at 19:51:24
In reply to Re: Linear A and B (For Sigismund) » Phillipa, posted by 10derHeart on June 23, 2008, at 4:07:04
10derHeart those gas lines were horrific. Lived in CT then and everyone bought Mercedes as they took Diesel then. No idea what they take now. Westport, Fairfield County was very expensive. Down here People still work in the fields. Not me. And I've never picked tobacco before school. As a kid I had a wagon and played Oregon Trail and pretended it was a Conestoga Wagon And Was heading To Oregon. Love Phillipa
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