Archimedes Palimpsest

A “palimpsest” is a manuscript written on parchment or paper that was reused from an older manuscript. In the case of parchment, the old writing is scraped off the parchment, and the new document written on top of it. This was done because parchment was so expensive.

Over 1,000 years ago, probably in Constantinople, someone transcribed some of Aristotle’s original Greek manuscripts onto parchment. A couple centuries later (about 800 years ago), some monks scraped those parchments clean (along with parchments from four other manuscripts) and reused them to make a book of prayers — a palimpsest.

In modern times, a collector noticed that traces of writing were still visible “under” the prayer book’s writing. Some of this was recognized as the work of Archimedes — in some cases, the only remaining copy in Greek of those works. Many pages were recovered by scholars working with ultraviolet lighting and other techniques, but many other pages stubbornly resisted every attempt to recover them. This was very frustrating for the scholars, and over the years they have tried many techniques.

Most recently — and very successfully — they tried an exotic new X-ray technique that required the use of the Stanford Linear Accelerator (a huge piece of equipment used for particle physics research) to generate the required radiation. It works by detecting the iron atoms left by the original ink, even when very few atoms remain. The photo above right is an example of the result, which is ongoing as I write.

Here’s a decent newspaper article about the effort, and here’s the project web site.

Where Freedom Reigns

An organization called “Global Liberty” combined four published indexes of various perspectives on freedom to form a more comprehensive index of overall freedom. The map at right shows the result as a color-coded map. Interestingly, the top ranking country on this new index is Estonia:

It is justified by history that Estonia would sit atop this list. This small Baltic state fought Soviet socialism, defeating the Soviets in the Estonian Liberation War of 1918-1920 and winning 20 years of independence. During World War II, Estonia was invaded by the USSR following the 1939 signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement between the USSR and Nazi Germany, and the Soviets killed off the political and the intellectual leaders. The country suffered immensely under their rule.

Estonia finally won their freedom following the 1987-1991 Singing Revolution, in which Estonians gathered night after night, singing national songs and hymns banned by the Soviets and listening to rock music. When the Soviets attempted to quell the revolution, the Estonians used their bodies to shield radio and TV stations from being attacked by tanks. The revolution ended without any bloodshed, with 1/5th of the population having participated at some point. It marks one of the greatest triumphs of the power of liberty over authoritarianism in history. Estonia has since established a solid government, liberalized trade and expanded individual freedom. The Estonian Reform Party, a free market liberal political party, is also gaining influence and has made a significant impact on Estonian politics, controlling about 18% of parliament. While Estonia is far from a libertarian paradise (with a score of only 85.3%), it is closer than any other country on this list.

The indexes that comprise the new, combined index are:

The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal: 2006 Index of Economic Freedom

The Frasier Institute/Cato Institute: 2005 Economic Freedom of the World

Freedom House: 2005 Freedom in the World

Reporters without Borders: Press Freedom Index

Thoughts

Some Saturday morning ponders…

You win and lose by the way you choose.

— David Avezzie —

I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying.

— Michael Jordan —

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

— Thomas Edison —

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

— George Washington —

Great Spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

— Albert Einstein —

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

— Albert Einstein —

Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty, lies opportunity.

— Albert Einstein —

Good luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Bad luck is what happens when lack of preparation meets a challenge.

— Paul Krugman —

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. —

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

— Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. —

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.

— John F. Kennedy —

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

— John F. Kennedy —

One cannot consent to creep when one has an impulse to soar.

— Helen Keller —

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

— Thomas Edison —

This above all, to thine own self be true.

— William Shakespeare —

Attitude, not aptitude, determines altitude.

— Jesse Jackson —

We learn more from our failures than from our successes.

— Henry Ford —

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.

— Sir Cecil Beaton —

The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been.

— Alan Ashley-Pitt —

What lies behind us, and what lies before us, are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson —

Accept that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days your the statue.

— Roger C. Anderson —

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

— Albert Einstein —

I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.

— Michelangelo —

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.

— Aristotle —

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.

— Wayne Gretzky —

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

— Thomas Edison —

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

— Voltaire —

To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.

— Will & Ariel Durant —

He who feels it, knows it more.

— Bob Marley —

A dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. You can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.

— Vince Lombardi —

Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian.

— Dennis Wholey —

“We become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions.”

— Aristotle —

“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing”

— Aristotle —

“Anyone can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person at the right time, and for the right purpose and in the right way - that is not within everyone’s power and that is not easy.”

— Aristotle —

Speak when you are angry – and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.

— Dr. Laurence J. Peter —

It is wise to direct anger towards problems – not people; to focus your energies on answers – not excuses.

— William Arthur Ward —

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

— Buddha —

Three things can not be long hidden, the Sun, the Moon, and the Truth.

— Buddha —

I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it’s for or against.

— Malcom X —

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

— Malcom X —

A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything.

— Malcom X —

It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears.

— Louis Brandeis —

Yes, that’s the Paul Krugman quoted up there. He’s a moron 99% of the time, but then there’s that 1%…