h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Great photo - really shows off the scale of the theatre.

Even in translation, Old English poetry captures scenes in so few words. I like the rhythm of the poems, with the semicolons in the middle of lines gently juxtaposing concepts...

I'm a big fan of OE poetry myself - but I didn't know how many people would be up for the original.

Just in case, though, here's a link to the text: http://faculty.arts.ubc.ca/sechard/oeruin.htm

Thank you

I enjoyed looking at the original - I like the alliteration as well as the rhythm in that

Welcome.

Love the lines in this, the terracing and that burst of orange, nice rule of thirds framing SF.

Haha, the orange is the hi-vis jacket of the town worker who was having a break from mowing the lawn, I think.

Don't know about any rules, FWR, I usually just wing it and hope for the best.

Well winged! At last a decent use for hi viz jackets!

Lovely picture, SF, the green and the stone, the curve of the theatre.

I want to lie down on that green grass and put my ear to the ground, see what I can hear.

I might hear the past, you never know.

And all complete with orange hi viz.

The photo where cultures collide.

What would have taken place in the theatre? Yes, yes, theatre, I know, but what sort of theatre?

Yes, loving the Eds intros to all the pics.

The Exeter Book? Should I know about this, being a resident of erm.. Exeter?

Yeah, you should. Many ancient and important poems in Anglo-Saxon are in this book - often the only copy of them in the whole wide world.

Also the riddles: proving that the English liked riddles even in the 11th Century...at least one of them is terribly naughty, also English...

List for town tomorrow.

Spuds
Cheese
Dentist appt
Go to RAMM (Royal Albert Memorial Museum), ask where I can find out about terribly naughty riddles.

Why is a French statistician kneeling in an ancient Roman ruin in Normandy, ear to the ground listening for olde English riddles?
And why has she forsaken her PPE?
Will she solve the riddle before her four hour lunch is over?
Has it got anything at all to do with Rule of Thirds?
Will CC remember the spuds?
Is the dentist back from De La Warr airport yet?

Here we go again!

Exeter Book Riddle 42 is one of the sort of naughty ones, as it involves sex:

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_Riddles_of_the_Exeter_Book/69

An explanation for the solution:

http://theriddleages.wordpress.com/tag/riddle-42/

Icy North obviously had a 42x-great-uncle who lived in a monastery.

heheh yes, is FWR about to weave his magical artistic threads again.

What exactly is the Rule of Thirds?

Basically, just the rule that you don't put the interesting thing in the centre of the picture. You put it up, or down, or to one side. They teach these things in photography courses.

They kind of lost me over at the Art Institute, though, when they demanded an 'artist's statement'. I said, 'Look, this is a black and white photo of two bears having sex. It sort of speaks for itself.'

What???? the naughty riddle is about the cock and hen, then??

As it were.

What?? About the connection with Icy North?

One can only speculate. Until explanations are provided.

This Exeter Book was a bit of a best seller in its time, methinks?

Oh really, about the Rule of Thirds.

I might try to do that, put the interesting things in odd places.

Love it, about the bears. .

No. There's only one copy in the whole, wide world. But those monks preserved it for us. They apparently copied it from another book, now lost.

The joke about Icy North is that he posts quizzes on his journal for everyone to solve. They are often quite complicated.

Bishop Leofric gave the book to Exeter Cathedral in 1072, according to Britannica. UNESCO has recognised it as a world artefact.

Here's what it looks like: http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/illuman/11_03.html

You could probably go and visit it.

Oh, there's only one copy? Right. And probably about ten minutes away from where I am currently situated.

It'll be in the Cathedral Library, perhaps. Will go and find out tomorrow, and tell them about Icy.

Tell me all about it. I spent useful hours as a university student, puzzling out the texts.

I learned a lot today about my home city, and the ancient documents therein.

I'm a very clever researcher now.

Ahem...

Good to go onto h2g2 to find what exists ten minutes from your house. .

There's an Exeter Book facsimile in the Cathedral Archive. Amazing!It even has copies of the original blemishes and holes in the pages, 'cept the original pages are animal skin parchment, and these are paper.

The original Book is also there, stored safely.

There are open days when you can get to see it. I'll be there!

I also discovered that the contemporary sculpture in the High St, which is the silvery shiny obelisk that I walk past every day, has some of the riddles engraved on it.

All these months and I've never read me obelisk.

Always read yer obelisks in life, that's what I reckon. I'll try to take a piccie or two.