-----Original Message-----
From: pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com [mailto:pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of Susan Thomas
Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 6:12 PM
To: pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [pepysdiary] Boston Area Concerts in June

Oh! This sounds *lovely*. Wish I could be there! I hope some of you will be!

jeannine_kerwin wrote:
>
> Seven Times Salt
> A Brave Barrel of Oysters: the music of Samuel Pepys' London
>
> Samuel Pepys, one of history's most prolific diarists and a
> secretary of the Royal Navy during the reign of Charles II, was a
> man of his time and enjoyed all the cultural delights of the
> Restoration. He frequently heard some of the finest musicians of his
> day and often enjoyed music-making with the very same musicians in
> his drawing room after dinner. With music and dramatic readings from
> Pepys' diaries, Seven Times Salt revives the bustling energy of
> Restoration London, as described by English Literature's quirkiest
> and most beloved "man on the street".
>
> Karen Burciaga, violin and viol; Daniel Meyers, recorders; Joshua
> Schreiber Shalem, viol and Matthew Wright, lute. With special guests
> Michael Barrett, tenor and lute, and Kyle Parrish, narrator
>
> Tuesday June 10, 2008 8:00 PM St. Peter's Church, 320 Boston
> Post Rd., Weston MA
>
> Wednesday June 11, 2008 8:00 PM The Chapel At West Parish, 129
> Reservation Rd., Andover MA
>
> Thursday June 12, 2008 8:00 PM Lindsey Chapel, Emmanuel Church, 15
> Newbury St., Boston MA
>
> And the ticket link is on this page
>
> http://www.mktix.com/mktixrun/shared/mknporun?dir=mvarts.MKT-
> <http://www.mktix.com/mktixrun/shared/mknporun?dir=mvarts.MKT->
> 28&page=mkeventlistfrm.jsp&DisplayType=detail&Parent=SoHIP-E9150
>
>

Hi folks,

There's some strange problem with the site at the moment - I've had to
suspend the Recent Activity page temporarily, and posting annotations
appears to be very slow. Please don't post annotations twice, as
sometimes it works first time although it seems it hasn't.

I'll update you when things seem to be back to normal.

Thanks,
Phil

Wikipedia has an article entitled "Battle of Lowestoft":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lowestoft

and I've also copied a few pages about this battle from N.A.M.
Rodger's history of the navy: "The Command of the Ocean" which might
be useful. If anyone would like a pdf of them, please contact me AT MY
WORK ADDRESS, not my yahoo address:

gzthomas@...

and I'll send the pdf.

Glyn

I’m sorry for the continued lack of the lists of recent annotations on
the Recent Activity page <http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/>. The
database queries that were generating these were taking a few seconds
each to run and I’ve been trying to cut back on my sites’ use of the
database. I’ve had a quick attempt at making these more efficient but
haven’t had any joy yet.

There is a way I can get Movable Type, the software that runs the site,
to generate these lists automatically when a new annotation is posted,
but I’d like to change the way the software is installed before doing
this. (For those interested, I’d move MT to run under FastCGI which
should be more efficient.
<http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/administrator/maintenance/fastcgi.html\
>)

I hope to have time to do this, as well as upgrading Movable Type to the
latest version, which should also increase efficiency, some time over
the next week or so. Apologies again, but it’s been one of those busy weeks.


--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

I was wondering if anyone went to that concert in Boston, and what it
was like, etc.

Terry Foreman (terry.foreman@...) has sent you a news article.
(Email address has not been verified.)
------------------------------------------------------------
Personal message:

Debts are never forgotten.

Prince Charles pays off royal debt ... 350 years late - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080610/wl_uk_afp/britainroyalsdebtoffbeat

============================================================
Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/

On 2008-06-11 17:51, John Mertz wrote:
> I was wondering if anyone went to that concert in Boston, and what it
> was like, etc.

Jeannine posted an enthusiastic review of it here:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2008/05/22/8601.php#c216876


--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

No worries, Phil -- I (for one) knew you were working on it, and appreciate
simply having the Diary as a resource and diversion.


--- On Wed, 6/11/08, Phil Gyford <lists@...> wrote:

> From: Phil Gyford <lists@...>
> Subject: [pepysdiary] Recent Activity update
> To: pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com
> Date: Wednesday, June 11, 2008, 12:37 PM
> I’m sorry for the continued lack of the lists of recent
> annotations on
> the Recent Activity page
> <http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/>. The
> database queries that were generating these were taking a
> few seconds
> each to run and I’ve been trying to cut back on my
> sites’ use of the
> database. I’ve had a quick attempt at making these more
> efficient but
> haven’t had any joy yet.
>
> There is a way I can get Movable Type, the software that
> runs the site,
> to generate these lists automatically when a new annotation
> is posted,
> but I’d like to change the way the software is installed
> before doing
> this. (For those interested, I’d move MT to run under
> FastCGI which
> should be more efficient.
>
<http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/administrator/maintenance/fastcgi.html\
>)
>
> I hope to have time to do this, as well as upgrading
> Movable Type to the
> latest version, which should also increase efficiency, some
> time over
> the next week or so. Apologies again, but it’s been one
> of those busy weeks.
>
>
> --
> Phil Gyford
> http://www.gyford.com/
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

Pirates of the Channel Islands: A £200m treasure hunt
'La Vierge' was the pride of Louis XIV's merchant navy when it sank in
1666.
A private company is trying to reclaim its booty – but would this be
an act
of historical vandalism? By Cahal Milmo

Thursday, 12 June 2008


Laden with jewels and treasures plundered from Madagascar, the French
galleon La Vierge du Bon Port was barely a day from home and safety on 9
July 1666, when it was attacked by British privateers off the Channel
Islands. It was a testimony to the value of the French vessel's cargo, and
the greed of its captors, that 36 English sailors drowned while trying to
drag the riches from their sinking prize.


The loss of La Vierge, the pride of the newly-founded French East India
Company, along with two more of the four vessels in its flotilla ended the
ambitions of Louis XIV, the Sun King, to turn Madagascar into one of the
first colonial possessions of France. The ship's booty was valued at £1.5m
at the time and included gold, silver, spices and ambergris, the waxy
discharge from sperm whales that was prized as a base for perfume. In
modern
terms, its value could be as much as £200m.

A report of the arrival in Guernsey of the Orange, the vessel that sank La
Vierge, said: "Here arrived His Majesties Shipp the Orange whoe having ben
in fight with a French ship, which came from the Isle of Madagascar, very
richly laden upon account of the East India Company of Fraunce, her
ladinge
did consist of cloth of gold, silk, amber grease, gould, pearls, precious
stones, corall, hides wax and other commodities of great value." La Vierge
would enter the ranks of near mythical "El Dorado" wrecks that have
been the
subject of swashbuckling stories and, more recently, attempts by a new
generation of controversial salvage companies to pinpoint their watery
resting place.

Two weeks ago, Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc, the Florida-based company
which has become the most high profile and contentious of the hi-tech
"treasure hunters" now plying the world's oceans and archives for evidence
of lucrative wrecks, filed a claim at the District Court in Tampa to two
"cannon wrecks of the Colonial period" lying within the English Channel
between 25 and 40 miles from the British waters. Documents state that
Odyssey "believes that potentially valuable cargo may be located at or
near
the site", which remains a closely-guarded secret.

When coupled with the knowledge that Odyssey's main wreck-finding vessel,
the Explorer, which is loaded with sophisticated sensors and
remote-controlled submarines, spent four weeks earlier this year
trawling a
small area to the west of Guernsey, the inevitable question is now being
asked: has Odyssey found La Vierge du Bon Port?

Websites that follow the exploits of treasure-hunting companies were last
week rife with claims that La Vierge is one of the two wrecks. One source
with knowledge of Odyssey's projects said: "La Vierge is the only wreck in
those waters that could possibly be of interest to them. There is a strong
case for believing that they've found her."

With an estimated £73bn of treasure believed to be lying on the floor
of the
Mediterranean alone and deep-sea technology advancing to the point where
thousands of previously unreachable wrecks are now easily explored, the
debate over whether sunken vessels should be declared protected sites or
opened up to companies like Odyssey is taking on increased urgency.

To its supporters, who include among others the British Government, which
has signed a potentially lucrative contract with Odyssey to salvage a 17th
century navy ship called HMS Sussex carrying bullion worth up to
£500m, the
Nasdaq-listed company, founded by a former advertising executive and a
real
estate magnate, is a reputable organisation that follows strict
archaeological guidelines in its legitimate search for sunken vessels.

But to their detractors, who include leading archaeological bodies and the
Spanish government, the Americans are hiding behind a veneer of historical
probity and are in reality the "new pirates of this century" using
technology to pillage the cultural heritage.

The announcement of the two wrecks was certainly sufficient to excite
Odyssey's investors, who include some of the world's biggest merchant
banks
and private equity companies. Shares in the company, which reported net
losses of £16.8m between 2005 and 2006 and lost £3.4m in the first quarter
of this year, rose by 27 cents to $4.96 (£2.53) following reports of the
latest finds.

In the stormy waters of the modern salvage business, which is every bit as
cut-throat and tempestuous as bygone eras, the company's latest activities
are being closely monitored by interested parties, including several
governments.

Under international maritime law, a naval vessel remains the property
of its
sovereign government in perpetuity, meaning that Paris could at the very
least stake a strong claim to ownership of La Vierge, which was owned by a
state monopoly, and everything she was carrying.

Sources said both Paris and London are keeping a close eye on the
company's
claim and expect "the appropriate disclosures" from Odyssey should one of
the wrecks be confirmed as French or British.

In the meantime, the rectitude of pinpointing sunken vessels and raising
their contents in the name of archaeology and profit is the subject of a
fierce tussle between the salvagers, conservationists and governments.

This debate has been crystallised by the dispute over the "Black Swan"
wreck. Last summer, Odyssey announced it had salvaged 500,000 gold and
silver coins, worth anything between £2m and £250m, from an unidentified
location within a 180-mile radius of Gibraltar and flown them out of the
British territory to Florida.

The Spanish government sent navy vessels to track the Odyssey Explorer for
more than a month before forcing it into the port of Algeciras, briefly
detaining the captain and carrying out an extensive search as part of a
potential criminal investigation in the belief that "Black Swan" is in
fact
the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, a treasure-laden frigate that was sunk
by the British as it returned from Peru in 1804.

Madrid announced in March that it had obtained categorical proof from
Odyssey's own records of the site and accused the company of raiding a war
grave. Jim Goold, the lawyer who is acting for the Spanish government
in the
US courts, where Madrid is demanding the return of all the bullion, said:
"It is like a foreign company came along and disturbed or took
material from
the Ark Royal [sunk by a German U-boat in 1941] without prior
permission or
authorisation. The Mercedes is also a grave site and Odyssey have no
business being there. Everything has to be returned."

In the face of growing confidence from Madrid that its complaint will be
upheld, Odyssey believes it is entitled to a finders' fee equivalent to
nearly all the bullion it has recovered. According to Mr Goold any such
notion is unthinkable and all such entreaties will be rejected out of hand
by Madrid when their case comes to a full trial later this year.

A coalition of professional bodies, including the Council for British
Archaeology and the Society of Antiquaries, is calling on Britain to
follow
Spain and France by signing the Unesco convention on the protection of
underwater cultural heritage, which would effectively ban any recovery of
shipwrecks for commercial purposes. Critics say the refusal of the UK and
the US to sign the convention is laying open the three million wrecks that
lie undiscovered around the world to the work of profiteers.

For its part, Odyssey is adamant it will continue work on at least eight
shipwrecks it has identified around the world.

If proof were needed that the world's fascination with galleons laden with
loot is not going away any time soon, it was provided last week when the
company confirmed it has signed a £1m deal for an 11-part series with the
Discovery Channel. Whether it will include footage of the recovery of the
treasures of La Vierge du Bon Port remains to be seen.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pirates-of-the-channel-islands-a-\
163200m-treasure-hunt-845054.html

"The centennial milestones of an important author offer an opportunity
to look again at a life's work, to observe how well it has fared over
the past 100 years and to consider the relevancy it might have as a
new century begins. This presentation of "Thomas Fuller at 400" is
designed for that purpose. It includes images from 17th-century books
courtesy of the New York Public Library."

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/19/books/20080618_FULLER_SLIDESHOW_inde\
x.html

Hi,

A quick update... I've just upgraded Movable Type to the latest version
(which needed a bit of custom database fiddling, which is why it's taken
a while to get round to). I have some time tomorrow afternoon and will
get closer to restoring the Recent Activity page.

Sorry it's taken so long to get round to this.

By the way, let me know if you notice anything particularly awry that
might be the result of the software upgrade!

Thanks,
Phil


On 2008-06-11 17:37, Phil Gyford wrote:
> I’m sorry for the continued lack of the lists of recent annotations on
> the Recent Activity page <http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/>. The
> database queries that were generating these were taking a few seconds
> each to run and I’ve been trying to cut back on my sites’ use of the
> database. I’ve had a quick attempt at making these more efficient but
> haven’t had any joy yet.
>
> There is a way I can get Movable Type, the software that runs the site,
> to generate these lists automatically when a new annotation is posted,
> but I’d like to change the way the software is installed before doing
> this. (For those interested, I’d move MT to run under FastCGI which
> should be more efficient.
>
<http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/administrator/maintenance/fastcgi.html\
>)
>
> I hope to have time to do this, as well as upgrading Movable Type to the
> latest version, which should also increase efficiency, some time over
> the next week or so. Apologies again, but it’s been one of those busy weeks.
>
>

Dear Phil,

Thank you for all your work - it is much appreciated!
Australian Susan

Phil Gyford wrote:
> Hi,
>
> A quick update... I've just upgraded Movable Type to the latest version
> (which needed a bit of custom database fiddling, which is why it's taken
> a while to get round to). I have some time tomorrow afternoon and will
> get closer to restoring the Recent Activity page.
>
> Sorry it's taken so long to get round to this.
>
> By the way, let me know if you notice anything particularly awry that
> might be the result of the software upgrade!
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
>
> On 2008-06-11 17:37, Phil Gyford wrote:
>
>> I’m sorry for the continued lack of the lists of recent annotations on
>> the Recent Activity page <http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/>. The
>> database queries that were generating these were taking a few seconds
>> each to run and I’ve been trying to cut back on my sites’ use of the
>> database. I’ve had a quick attempt at making these more efficient but
>> haven’t had any joy yet.
>>
>> There is a way I can get Movable Type, the software that runs the site,
>> to generate these lists automatically when a new annotation is posted,
>> but I’d like to change the way the software is installed before doing
>> this. (For those interested, I’d move MT to run under FastCGI which
>> should be more efficient.
>>
<http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/administrator/maintenance/fastcgi.html\
>)
>>
>> I hope to have time to do this, as well as upgrading Movable Type to the
>> latest version, which should also increase efficiency, some time over
>> the next week or so. Apologies again, but it’s been one of those busy weeks.
>>
>>
>>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>

http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2008/06/24/8694.php

You'll be pleased to read that the Recent Activity
<http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/> page is now back. Sorry it's been
away for so long, but my time is short at the moment.

An unfortunate side effect of the recent upgrade to Movable Type
<http://www.movabletype.com/> seems to be that suddenly more spam is
getting through in annotations (and on the comments on my other sites).
I'm not sure why this is at the moment, but I'll keep my eye on it and
delete them as soon as I can. The next (very imminent) update to the
software promises a new method of stopping spam, and there are other
things we could try, such as requiring people to log in before posting
annotations.

If you see any spam that's older than a day or two, please do let me
know, otherwise assume that I'll remove it when I'm next online. Thanks
for your patience.


--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

Phil,

Does that mean the whole of your sites are open to spam-bots, etc?

If so, how maddening that must be.

We should roam about as we can and see what's been added on to the legit
annotations.

Terry

At 07:19 PM 6/24/2008 +0100, you wrote:
>http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2008/06/24/8694.php
>
>You'll be pleased to read that the Recent Activity
><http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/> page is now back. Sorry it's been
>away for so long, but my time is short at the moment.
>
>An unfortunate side effect of the recent upgrade to Movable Type
><http://www.movabletype.com/> seems to be that suddenly more spam is
>getting through in annotations (and on the comments on my other sites).
>I'm not sure why this is at the moment, but I'll keep my eye on it and
>delete them as soon as I can. The next (very imminent) update to the
>software promises a new method of stopping spam, and there are other
>things we could try, such as requiring people to log in before posting
>annotations.
>
>If you see any spam that's older than a day or two, please do let me
>know, otherwise assume that I'll remove it when I'm next online. Thanks
>for your patience.
>
>
>--
>Phil Gyford
>http://www.gyford.com/
>
>------------------------------------
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

On 2008-06-24 22:00, Terry Foreman wrote:
> Phil,
>
> Does that mean the whole of your sites are open to spam-bots, etc?

Not completely open - I have three things which all try and filter out
spam in different ways, which in theory haven't changed since the
software upgrade. But for some reason they're letting more spam through.
Including both annotations which I've manually marked as spam and those
automatically filtered (most of them), there have been thirty spam
annotations in the past hour!


> If so, how maddening that must be.
>
> We should roam about as we can and see what's been added on to the legit
> annotations.

They're pretty easy to spot, so I should be able to notice most of them.
   I'll also try and work out why it's all suddenly changed!

ditto

Michael

On 6/23/08, Susan Thomas <susan.thomas@...> wrote:
> Dear Phil,
>
> Thank you for all your work - it is much appreciated!
> Australian Susan
>
> Phil Gyford wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> A quick update... I've just upgraded Movable Type to the latest version
>> (which needed a bit of custom database fiddling, which is why it's taken
>> a while to get round to). I have some time tomorrow afternoon and will
>> get closer to restoring the Recent Activity page.
>>
>> Sorry it's taken so long to get round to this.
>>
>> By the way, let me know if you notice anything particularly awry that
>> might be the result of the software upgrade!
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Phil
>>
>>
>> On 2008-06-11 17:37, Phil Gyford wrote:
>>
>>> I'm sorry for the continued lack of the lists of recent annotations on
>>> the Recent Activity page <http://www.pepysdiary.com/recent/>. The
>>> database queries that were generating these were taking a few seconds
>>> each to run and I've been trying to cut back on my sites' use of the
>>> database. I've had a quick attempt at making these more efficient but
>>> haven't had any joy yet.
>>>
>>> There is a way I can get Movable Type, the software that runs the site,
>>> to generate these lists automatically when a new annotation is posted,
>>> but I'd like to change the way the software is installed before doing
>>> this. (For those interested, I'd move MT to run under FastCGI which
>>> should be more efficient.
>>>
<http://www.movabletype.org/documentation/administrator/maintenance/fastcgi.html\
>)
>>>
>>> I hope to have time to do this, as well as upgrading Movable Type to the
>>> latest version, which should also increase efficiency, some time over
>>> the next week or so. Apologies again, but it's been one of those busy
>>> weeks.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>

You may already have realised, but the spam annotations are now
thankfully under control again. The problem began when I omitted a
crucial text file when upgrading the software, causing one of the spam
filters not to work.

I've now not only fixed that, but replaced it with something that's
supposed to be even better <http://antispam.typepad.com/>, which has
blocked 613 bits of spam in the past couple of days!

Thanks for your patience while I investigated the caused of the problem.

Phil

--
Phil Gyford
http://www.gyford.com/

Phil,

We marvel at what you do and are grateful for it, so we have patience aplenty!

At 12:09 AM 7/3/2008 +0100, you wrote:
>You may already have realised, but the spam annotations are now
>thankfully under control again. The problem began when I omitted a
>crucial text file when upgrading the software, causing one of the spam
>filters not to work.
>
>I've now not only fixed that, but replaced it with something that's
>supposed to be even better <http://antispam.typepad.com/>, which has
>blocked 613 bits of spam in the past couple of days!
>
>Thanks for your patience while I investigated the caused of the problem.
>
>Phil
>
>--
>Phil Gyford
>http://www.gyford.com/
>
>------------------------------------
>
>Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

Or lots of suspiciously cheap Viagra? ;-)       Seriously, many thanks
Phil for all you do! My spam filters chuck over 200 things a day into my
trash - wonderful to have it all swept away!

A.S.

Todd Bernhardt wrote:
>
> Indeed! Now that we've got that settled can I interest you in a
> mortgage on a Canadian pharmacy with a connection to Nigerian
> royalty?   ;-)
>
> --- On *Wed, 7/2/08, Terry Foreman /<terry.foreman@...>/*
> wrote:
>
>     From: Terry Foreman <terry.foreman@...>
>     Subject: Re: [pepysdiary] Spam
>     To: pepysdiary@yahoogroups.com
>     Date: Wednesday, July 2, 2008, 7:41 PM
>
>     Phil,
>
>     We marvel at what you do and are grateful for it, so we have
>     patience aplenty!
>
>     At 12:09 AM 7/3/2008 +0100, you wrote:
>     >You may already have realised, but the spam annotations are now
>     >thankfully under control again. The problem began when I omitted a
>     >crucial text file when upgrading the software, causing one of the
>     spam
>     >filters not to work.
>     >
>     >I've now not only fixed that, but replaced it with something that's
>     >supposed to be even better <http://antispam. typepad.com/
>     <http://antispam.typepad.com/>>, which has
>     >blocked 613 bits of spam in the past couple of days!
>     >
>     >Thanks for your patience while I investigated the caused of the
>     problem.
>     >
>     >Phil
>     >
>     >--
>     >Phil Gyford
>     >http://www.gyford. com/ <http://www.gyford.com/>
>     >
>     >----------- --------- --------- -------
>     >
>     >Yahoo! Groups Links
>     >
>     >
>     >
>
>

What Pepys et al. would have worn at Magdalen College, Cambridge, on
ceremonial occasions

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2008_07/hats.html

The academic hat family tree
http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2008_07/hats_chart.html



Terry Foreman

Find could end 350-year science dispute

By Jane Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News

Alexander was the first person born deaf to be taught to speak
Who first taught a boy born deaf to speak?

The chance discovery of an antique notebook could have solved the
350-year-old British scientific mystery.

Alexander Popham was born deaf in around 1650 but his mother,
determined to communicate with her son, hired two eminent scientists,
John Wallis and William Holder, to teach him to speak.

Both claimed success in what became a celebrated scientific controversy.

Exciting discovery

The story was lent additional interest because the boy was the
grandson of the notorious Judge Popham, who sentenced both Mary Queen
of Scots and Guy Fawkes to death.

Now a yellowing, leather-bound notebook, found in a butler's cupboard
in Littlecote House, Berkshire, a former home of the Pophams, appears
to some experts to indicate that the methods of Mr Wallis were the key.

He was a renowned mathematician, deciphered enemy codes for Cromwell
during the English Civil War and was also an expert linguist.

Up until now we have not been in a position to assess the validity of
either claim
Philip Beeley

Philip Beeley, researcher in the faculty of linguistics and philology
at the University of Oxford, and a world expert on John Wallis, said
he had been fascinated by the book, which shows how Mr Wallis taught
his charge.

"William Holder claimed to have been successful, but when you go into
the method that he used, it was quite outlandish.
A page from the notebook
The diagrams in the notebook show how to position the tongue

"He investigated the structure of the ear and worked on the hypothesis
that the problem was the ear drum itself that had become relaxed.

"He felt that only when it was tight could it facilitate hearing and
he set about an experiment beating a loud drum.

"Holder found that when he beat a loud drum near Alexander, he could
hear other sounds, including people calling his name.

"He convinced a lot of people that he was successful."

'Evidence'

When Mr Holder was called away to take up another post, Mr Wallis took
over.

"We have not known an awful lot about the approach John Wallis took,"
said Mr Beeley.

"All we do know is that he wrote a little bit about it and later on it
became the topic of a grand dispute within the Royal Society, with
claim and counter-claim.

"Up until now we have not been in a position to assess the validity of
either claim.
A page from Alexander's notebook
Alexander was taught sentences

"This find is potentially able to do this for us."

Mr Wallis's approach was to start by looking at how the tongue, palate
and lips looked when certain vowel sounds were made.

He drew diagrams and used them to show Alexander how to form sounds.

From there, Mr Wallis used the same method to help him form words.

Mr Beeley said: "He starts out with a modern technique showing him how
to produce sounds, and then he moves on from that to basic language
constructions, with nouns and conjunctions.

"Having looked at the notebook, I am fairly sure this is a book that
would have been on the desk while John Wallis and Alexander Popham
were sitting together.

"We have evidence from his descendants that this instruction was
successful.

"It helps solve one of the grand disputes of the Royal Society, and is
quite unique."

'Strong stuff'

Sentences learnt by Alexander and detailed in the notebook include "I
have a knife in my hand" and "I have mony (sic) in my pocket" as well
as "I have a hat, on my head" and "I have a band about my neck".

Dr Beeley said he had no doubts that the notebook was genuine.

"I have to admit that before I had the notebook in my hands I had my
doubts," he said.

"There have of course been occasions when people have been deceived,
but I was very happy to see the notebook.

It is about applying scientific method and whether you think Wallis
was first or Holden was first doesn't really matter
Keith Moore
Royal Society
"And now I have no doubt. I know John Wallis's hand and style and can
say without any doubt that I am certain it is genuine."

Keith Moore, head of library and archives at the Royal Society, said
the notebook was a fantastic find.

"It adds historical detail and any manuscript of this period is
interesting," he said.

"This is dated 1662 and right at the beginning of what we would call
modern science.

"The Royal Society was founded in 1660 and this is an early example of
the practical applications of scientific methods."

But he said it was unlikely to settle the dispute about who taught
Alexander to speak, adding that the most important detail was the
science itself.

"Holden virtually accused Wallis of stealing his ideas and that smacks
of plagiarism in science. It is pretty strong stuff," he said.

"It does not matter whether it solves it - the Popham case was the
beginning of a more scientific approach to therapy.

"They were thinking about language and grammar, about the physiology
of how people spoke and that is the important thing really.

"It is about applying scientific method and whether you think Wallis
was first or Holden was first doesn't really matter."

Dr Beeley hopes that the book is stored in a library like the
Bodleian, but the hotel chain, Warner, which now owns Littlecote, is
deciding whether to keep it on display in the house.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7511446.stm

Kit,

Thanks for your email, but please keep posts to this group on-topic, ie
related to Pepys.

Thanks,
Phil


On 2008-07-29 21:22, dustrat@... wrote:
>
> I'm letting my friends and acquaintances know that I've joined with
> other people from all over the country in a commitment to blog once
> weekly for Barack Obama over the next ten weeks. Since I'm a novelist, a
> feminist, a church-going Christian, the parent of disabled children, a
> Democrat, and a Barack Obama enthusiast, I hope these blog entries will
> be interesting to some of you, worth reading and perhaps worth
> forwarding. Though I will touch on Obama's policy positions and what's
> going on in the wider campaign, chiefly I'll be writing about my
> personal experiences: how I came to support Barack Obama, my
> observations and feelings as we draw closer to election day, and my
> participation in his campaign.
>
> If you know people who have worries or misunderstandings about how
> Barack Obama might deal with specific issues, please let me know so that
> I can find relevant and helpful information and get it to those people.
>
> You can read my blog at:
>
> http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/kitlovesnuance
>
> Thanks,
>
> Kit Sturtevant-Stuart
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse
> Fantasy Football today
> <http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020>.
>

Phil,

I moderate a local Freecycle group and have been seeing more and more
of these -- what happens is that a subscriber lets a web site
(Facebook, etc) send out invitations to contacts in someone's address
book.  Kit likely didn't realize that it was going to happen and might
not even have had an opportunity to exclude an address.  Maybe I'm
giving too much of a benefit of the doubt.

This is one of the many annoyances of the modern internet.  On the
other hand, we can follow Samuel's life easily.  It's a trade-off :-)

As always, thank you so much for everything you do.

--Shawn


On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 3:36 PM, Phil Gyford <lists@...> wrote:
> Kit,
>
> Thanks for your email, but please keep posts to this group on-topic, ie
> related to Pepys.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
> On 2008-07-29 21:22, dustrat@... wrote:
>>
>> I'm letting my friends and acquaintances know that I've joined with
>> other people from all over the country in a commitment to blog once
>> weekly for Barack Obama over the next ten weeks. Since I'm a novelist, a
>> feminist, a church-going Christian, the parent of disabled children, a
>> Democrat, and a Barack Obama enthusiast, I hope these blog entries will
>> be interesting to some of you, worth reading and perhaps worth
>> forwarding. Though I will touch on Obama's policy positions and what's
>> going on in the wider campaign, chiefly I'll be writing about my
>> personal experiences: how I came to support Barack Obama, my
>> observations and feelings as we draw closer to election day, and my
>> participation in his campaign.
>>
>> If you know people who have worries or misunderstandings about how
>> Barack Obama might deal with specific issues, please let me know so that
>> I can find relevant and helpful information and get it to those people.
>>
>> You can read my blog at:
>>
>> http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/kitlovesnuance
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Kit Sturtevant-Stuart
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>> Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse
>> Fantasy Football today
>> <http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020>.
>>
>
>



--
Visit http://laasch.net for design and development needs.

I think that was the case this time, and it's easily done. A reminder to
us all to be extra careful when doing this kind of thing!

Phil


On 2008-07-29 21:41, Shawn Laasch wrote:
> Phil,
>
> I moderate a local Freecycle group and have been seeing more and more
> of these -- what happens is that a subscriber lets a web site
> (Facebook, etc) send out invitations to contacts in someone's address
> book.  Kit likely didn't realize that it was going to happen and might
> not even have had an opportunity to exclude an address.  Maybe I'm
> giving too much of a benefit of the doubt.
>
> This is one of the many annoyances of the modern internet.  On the
> other hand, we can follow Samuel's life easily.  It's a trade-off :-)
>
> As always, thank you so much for everything you do.
>
> --Shawn
>
>
> On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 3:36 PM, Phil Gyford <lists@...> wrote:
>> Kit,
>>
>> Thanks for your email, but please keep posts to this group on-topic, ie
>> related to Pepys.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Phil
>>
>> On 2008-07-29 21:22, dustrat@... wrote:
>>> I'm letting my friends and acquaintances know that I've joined with
>>> other people from all over the country in a commitment to blog once
>>> weekly for Barack Obama over the next ten weeks. Since I'm a novelist, a
>>> feminist, a church-going Christian, the parent of disabled children, a
>>> Democrat, and a Barack Obama enthusiast, I hope these blog entries will
>>> be interesting to some of you, worth reading and perhaps worth
>>> forwarding. Though I will touch on Obama's policy positions and what's
>>> going on in the wider campaign, chiefly I'll be writing about my
>>> personal experiences: how I came to support Barack Obama, my
>>> observations and feelings as we draw closer to election day, and my
>>> participation in his campaign.
>>>
>>> If you know people who have worries or misunderstandings about how
>>> Barack Obama might deal with specific issues, please let me know so that
>>> I can find relevant and helpful information and get it to those people.
>>>
>>> You can read my blog at:
>>>
>>> http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/kitlovesnuance
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> Kit Sturtevant-Stuart
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----------------------------------------------------------
>>> Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse
>>> Fantasy Football today
>>> <http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020>.
>>>
>>
>
>
>

I'm sorry that I promised a post like this many months ago, but here it
finally is... A lot of statistics about the site:

http://www.pepysdiary.com/about/archive/2008/07/29/8863.php

"He was the author of Animal Farm, 1984 and some of the most memorable
political writing of the 20th Century.  But, as his diaries show,
George Orwell was also interested in travel, food - and even slugs.

The diaries, written from 1938, cover the descent of Europe into war,
as well as Orwell's travels in Morocco, following his sojourn in
Catalonia, fighting in the Spanish Civil War. They cover the
insightful and the mundane - he even includes newspaper clippings of
sloe gin recipes.

Now those diaries will be made available online, by the Orwell Prize -
a prize for political writing set up in his name. "

Full BBC news Story:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7531000/7531426.stm

For Orwell's Diary available as a blog, from August 9th.:
http://www.theorwellprize.co.uk/home.aspx