VMs: Re: O, 0, and Pavlov's Dog...

["GC" <gc-@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nick wrote:

> So: when staring at a VMs page late at night, trying to distinguish <o>s
> from <a>s, or (in GC's case) <round o>s from <two-stroke o>s, remember -
> that way madness lies! :-0

If you're saying I'm mad, I take it as a compliment.  Madness has focus and
purpose, but insanity is just plain crazy! :-)  Anyway, I don't think
"normal" people would spend as much time on this as you and I do, and I base
that on the way people's eyes glass over when I start talking about my
research and dragging out my decipherments and shove them in their face for
them to view.  It's obvious my passion puts me in my own little world, but
here I'm king, I tell you, KING!  (Anybody seen my lithium?)

I don't know that I stare at the o's, I simply note their existence.  (Maybe
sometimes a blank stare?)  The two-stroke is designed to write with a quill,
while I wouldn't be surprised if the round o's are in fact retraces- done by
the author when something went awry with the writing instrument or ink
placement.  I don't stare at other manuscripts any longer than necessary for
close examination, but doing so has given me the knowledge that this is not
the only manuscript that exhibits this "o" feature, or other retrace
features for that matter, and no one has offered that they are the result of
external tampering.  Not every book on the shelf is as neatly written as
those from scribal shops, but all other personal books seem to be written on
paper instead of vellum, giving somewhat different effects.

I don't have degree in logic, and I only passed two courses in college  -
Underwater Art (watercolors) and Common Sense-101, but I try to make the
best of my meager education. :-)  [just joshing, Nick!  I'm proud of your
degree, and I wouldn't demean your accomplishment.]

I will stay conservative on this issue, thank you.

"conservative logical deductive processes" are mills to grind old ideas
down." ?!?  Well, it's an "old" manuscript, and I haven't heard any new
ideas on the text in years - people are still writing things like

poldchody sh[[c]]phy sho[[r]]dy qoty - shol cphar d[[a]]n y -

I once had an old car that sounded like that.

Best wishes,
GC

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