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VMs: Re: DIE WELTWOCHE

Hi Cristoph,

1. Do people out there think a solution is imminent? Where will it come
from?

I've said it before & I'll say it again: numbers are probably the weakest link. I'm about to go public on how I believe the numbering systems work, based on a combination of old ideas and additional steganographic observations. I also believe I have some letters (for at least some of the pages): right or wrong, this should give us all plenty to argue about, at the very least. :-)

BTW: when I come to the end of a (programming) project, I get a feeling of a complete "mental map" of it, where I can look at the entire project from multiple angles - like examining a brilliant-cut diamond through each facet. Recently, I've increasingly been feeling the same way about the VMS, with that same feeling of "approaching closure" - as if I'm nearing the end of my own road.

All the same: I'm rational enough to know that, realistically, the chances of my breaking any part of it are, of course, small: but you never know... :-)

2. How do people one get hooked on the Voynich? I saw some notions
of terrible addiction.

Trying to understand it contextually - when you don't actually know what the context is - is a wonderfully infinite proposition. Should you research medieval or early modern or Renaissance? Italian, German, Occitan, Chinese? etc.

Also: statistically, the VMS is beautifully balanced between signal and noise, meaningfulness and meaninglessness - as such, it readily accepts all your personal projections... it can be whatever you want it to be. I'm sure this is part of what you're talking about. :-)

3. The list seems to be in a lull; does that mean people are frustrated?

Lulls normally mean people are looking for new ideas, which is good! :-)

4. How serious is the research that has been done lately?

I'm pretty pleased with what I've come up with recently - and Dana's plant analysis is very cool (though I do sometimes wonder how many existed circa 1500). :-)

5. Are there people out there who still think the ms. is a hoax?

In the absence of any confirmed decoding, the idea that it's an alchemical herbal (and hence pure nonsense) is still the most logical. But, strictly speaking, does that make it a hoax? :-)

5. Some people seem to lean toward the idea that its language is a
monosyllabic East-Asian language such as Chinese or Vietnamese; what
are the arguments and counter-arguments?

Doesn't work for me, but then again I've been looking much closer to home. :-)

6. Does the Voynich-community ever meet in the real world, or is this solely
an Internet-community? How many people are involved in the deciphering
on a regular basis? Are you friends?

I don't think anyone here is involved that regularly - I certainly work to pay my mortgage, and my free time is the sand against which my work ebbs and flows. :-)

I've met a couple of other list-members, and would be delighted to meet them (and others) further. We all seem to come from very different directions, though a technical detail-oriented working mindset would seem to be a shared feature. Perhaps that's common to many Internet communities, though. :-)

Best wishes, .....Nick Pelling.....