Gorky: Ulueg Beg's sextant

The sextant of Ulueg Beg in Samarkand 

 

In Samarkand, the enormous sextant of Ulueg Beg, grandson of Timurlane

[aka Timur], by which he took sun and star positions and accurately calculated the true length of a year. This could only be possible with a deep Arab learning about the stars, assisted by the Ptolemaic version of the heavenly spheres, a strong practical need for the knowledge (astrology and religious festivals), the Arabic (Hindu) numerals and the decimal system and a very strong Arabic & Khurasani development of abstract mathematics, trigonometry and large numbers. Preceded the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur and Delhi by 150 yrs.

  

Gorky: Paper-making

Paper making to the old Samarkand recipe of mulberry bark. 

Captured Chinese prisoners in 870 brought with them the secret of making paper – bamboo, cotton and cloth substrates. However, cotton paper, the only local material applicable, bled writing ink, although ok for lanterns or posters. After trials, the soft under-bark of one-year-old branches from mulberry trees could be used. 

Sericulture [silk farming] was and is a major industry and generates a lot of fresh mulberry branches harvested for their leaves for the silkworms. The availability of good quality paper allowed the creation of large libraries and linear written argument. This enabled the Abbasid translation movement and the learning of Ibn Sina as well as his huge output because of the much lower manufacturing costs

From my conversations with Dad, supplemented by Wikipedia:
The Chinese invented paper making, but initially used it for wrapping things, for padding and protection. They fiercely protected their methods, and the techniques were slow to spread.
The first paper mill in the Islamic world was founded in Samarkand in the eighth century (C8), and used water power to power trip-hammers to prepare the pulp.

The raw paper was then polished to a smooth surface using shells and stones

The technology slowly spread through the Islamic world, into Europe (C11) and India (C13)

Guess who we saw today ...

Gorky: signing in

Actually, this is Ab, signing up my parents (collectively known as Gorky) as authors.

Given my travel options are somewhat limited (time and money), I thought we might keep you entertained between my trips with stuff about my parents' travels. Recently retired, they have a hectic travel schedule:

• They've just returned from six weeks away, with nearly four weeks in Uzbekistan, and two weeks in the south of France.
• They're off again in mid-November for a month in Prato, just out of Florence, where they've signed up with a Monash University one-month intensive studying Dante.
• They're back for two weeks to host our family Christmas gathering
• And then they're off to India with us, staying an extra week to go to Darjeeling and others with my sister.
• Oh, and they're off to Iran in April.

Dad (G) having retired from medicine, most recently in academia, is now pursuing a Masters in History by research. I'll get him to set out his area of study, which is basically a very small subset of his broader interest in the transfer of knowledge from Muslims/Arabs to Christians/Latins in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he does a second PhD out of all this. And/or a book.

In other words, if you want to know why I'm such a polymath study-nut nerd, look no further than my parents.

Note: All photos in Gorky posts are taken by either G or K (my parents), unless attributed otherwise.

Review: Vue Grand at Queenscliff

Website: www.vuegrand.com.au - requires Flash (an incomplete html version is available for Apple-powered devices).

We took advantage of both boys being away at sleepovers on Friday night, and arranged for a fancy dinner and B&B. We've both previously stayed at the Vue Grand for respective work conferences, but I think this was the first time we'd chosen it (rather than being chosen for us). It was a very straightforward exercise to book online (once I was using a Flash-capable device - that is, not my iPad), and a courtesy call the next business day confirmed they had received my booking. Although their dinner/room/breakfast deal was supposed to finish at the end of September, I could still book my choice of room (traditional, balcony, spa or superior spa) plus choice of either the tasting menu or a la carte plus breakfast for the discount rate of $300/couple.

The sample menu in the Entertainment Book looked very enticing, and we later discovered that their head chef was the former head chef at Pettavel. I believe it was on this basis that it was included in the most recent Age Good Food Guide (due to the timing - the book would have been at the printers by the time he came on board.) As one of our top three meals ever was at Pettavel, this was most encouraging. (The other two would be a family dinner at Jimmy Watson's, on Lygon St, yonks ago, and a birthday dinner at Rockpool a couple of years back.)

Applying for visas for India

India requires would-be tourists to apply for visas, which is entirely reasonable. But they have some very odd questions and/or answer options, and a decidedly glitchy online application system.

Should you find yourself applying for a visa to India, you should be aware of the following things:

You know you want it

More pics on Sam's page.

Wheee! New toy!

Travelling up to Canberra reminded me yet again of the limitations of using a iPad as my sole form of contact with the internet/world. At the very least, you can't connect to a wired internet. Apparently no such doodad exists that can connect my iPad to a network cable. (Can a network cable be connected to a USB majigger, which could then be connected to a USB/iPad connector? I haven't found one yet.)

So, browsing today through JB Hifi (something one should always be cautious of doing), I ended up in the netbooks section. And am now the proud owner of a Acer aspire (AOD257-13DQKK, in case you care), for AU$274. While it doesn't have Bluetooth (to get that would cost an extra $70-$100, effectively), it does have wired and wireless internet, 3 USB ports, a monitor connection, and a built-in SD card reader. And a true browser. And a tactile keyboard. And is probably lighter than the iPad.

My son is concerned about my new infatuation - he's already told me not to forsake my current husband for my new beau. (JD and I chuckled about this, as I become a computer widow every time JD buys a new game.) I think it's far more likely that my iPad will feel like it's been superseded.

I still have to iron out a few kinks: the touch pad treats my thumb accidentally touching it as a command, for example, and I need to get used to the rather too short space bar (but it's not as bad as the iPad one which regularly sends me to the number keypad if I'm not careful). 

I might even post here a little more often...

Packing for Fight Club

Only Chuck Norris can talk about Fight Club.

That's okay, I'm not going to talk about Fight Club. Just what I'm going to take to Fight Club.

Stuff required for competitions

1. Humongous bag, with two pairs of hand, foot, shin and forearm guards, two shields, headguards, three mouthguards (spare for JD), one groin guard
2. Strapping tape (1" for thumb; 1.5" for wrist/ankles/Achilles), Deep Heat, Ice Gel
3. Water bottles, sweat towels
4. Doboks with TA badge on top and Victoria strip on pant
5. Entry forms and membership cards

Ab on the road (but not abroad)

Tomorrow morning we set off obscenely bright and early to drive to Canberra. O'dark thirty is not my preferred time of day - I am a confirmed night owl. Nonetheless, we need to leave early so we don't get up there too late, and also to beat the morning peak hour in Melbourne.  It's around an eight hour drive (730km), plus stops.

So right now, I'm stocking up on Apps and podcasts and audiobooks and the like. Next, I'll be stocking up on things to feed the kids (and us) to help keep us sane. Later, I'll need to think about packing. Given we're not travelling by air, weight is not an issue for packing, but volume is: much of the boot* will be taken up with the humongous bag which holds our TKD gear.

Because, dear reader, we are going to Canberra to fight.  JD and I are competing this weekend in the Taekwondo Australia National Championships and Australian Open. (The kids are coming too, but not competing this year - they've both expressed interest for next year, though.)

This is JD (in blue) at the Victorian State Sparring Championships. There are no pictures of me, because I didn't get to compete (I was one of only two female Masters competitors).

In this picture, you can see his dobok (uniform), headguard, shield/chest guard, foot guards, and hand guards.  You can't see his shin guards, forearm guards, groin guard or mouthguard. And I have a similar set of gear (no groin guard). And that's why the bag to hold all the gear (plus strapping tape, instant ice packs, Deep Heat, Deep Heat Ice Gel, ankle braces, water bottles, sweat towels, and other crap) is so humongous.

[Edited to add picture of said humongous bag - the dining table is 3'6" wide.]

At least at the Nationals, we both get a fight. JD will fight the same bloke he fought at the Vic Champs, the only other competitor in his belt/age/weight category. I was originally uncontested, but another competitor is willing to go up an age group and weight group so we'd both get a fight (she was also uncontested). On the upside, all four of us (JD, me, and our respective opponents) are each guaranteed at least a silver medal!

Having my first fight ever at the National Champs is far from idea, but the reality is that there are very few 40+ women who compete: the entries for the Nationals show only four other women in that age group, all of whom are black belts (I'm a lowly blue belt). Oh, and they're all 10-15kg lighter than me. Even if my body can withstand the injuries from training, and I'm still competing when I'm a black belt, I will probably still be uncontested as there's no way I am willing (let alone able) to get below 62 kg to fight lightweight! Eh, I'll cross that bridge if/when I get to it.



* trunk, for my American readers.