FIGURE 1.:1. Traveling•style Wardian case, as described by Nathaniel Ward.From N. B. Ward,On the Growth of Plants in CloselyGlazed Cases(London: John VanVoorst, 185~)
This is actually really interesting with the evolution from glass jars to actual shippable greenhouses. I can imagine not only many good gardens but also many invasive species came of this. Its cool how the idea of a doctor experimenting for fun led to international plant trades and greenhouse development.
has been reproduced back to front, so that the Persian calligraphy inthe painting has to be read with the aid of a mirror. This was doubtless the publisher’s error, ratherthan the authors’, but confusion is worse confounded when, in a footnote discussing the painting,the sexes of the bride and groom are also transposed. The unfortunate inversion of the imagedoes, however, have the merit of making one think about how one’s gaze is directed in Persianpaintings and how those paintings should be read. One might have expected that Persianminiatures were read as the Persian script was, from right to le and down the page. In fact, thisalmost never seems to be the case. The paintings customarily have high horizon lines and in thosecases where a sequence of actions is portrayed, the sequence proceeds up the page, with theclimax, perhaps a single combat between two mighty heroes, in the upper half. In the case of‘Humay on the Day A er His Wedding’, the eye, a er rst encountering censers and braziers, isdrawn up to contemplate rst, Humay and then, higher up yet, Humayun being presented withgi s by her bridesmaids. Though the eye may travel yet higher, it is redirected back to the bridalcouple, both by the gazes of servants looking down from an upstairs window and by a versecouplet which the painting purports to illustrate and which has been inserted in its architecture.
This is very interesting. Perhaps when one culture tries to read another's architecture and art, they can lose some of the meaning by reading it incorrectly to their own cultures ingrained logic. This misreproduction actually may aid in breaking the autonomous consumption of the piece and help someone better understand by complete accident. I wonder how designs can use this purposeful distortion in a modern way to a similar effect
"We were not created for frivolity and play." 21 The narrative was dearly a post facto invention toexplain the move from Baghdad to the suburban palaces, but it demonstrates unequivocably thatgardens were not associated with piety and serious endeavors
I am a little confused by this within the reading. Did the interpretation change with time, or were the original intentions never interpreted correctly? It would be interesting to understand the shift in view of a landscape with the cultural or geopolitical changes from past present
I actually don't really understand the concept being portrayed here. I believe it may be speaking to the ambivalent qualities of charity and the participation of such which in its truest definition is without recognition. Perhaps its social commentary on the difference of the participation of charity and the actual act, which requires the devotion of simply giving without the reception of returned recognition. This lays the foundation to the idea that this individual is lacking in the aspect of true charity, in which then it is the most important gift to give since it is what they lack most in their devotion and preaching (sounding brass is that of which to speak of what they preach as revered without practice in what is not).
or I can be completely wrong and have no idea what they are saying which is a higher probability.
1912015IlluminatingEphemeralMedievalAgriculturalHistorysomedocumentaryevidenceaboutrabbitcollectionpractices,imagescapturetheseprocessesmorevividly.anilluminationinQueenMary’sPsalter(seeFigure3)showsonewomanreleasingaferretintothewarrenandtheotherholdingthenettocatchthefleeingrabbits.Theimageintriguinglyshowswomenengagedinthisactivity,whereasthedocumentaryevidencelistsapre-ponderanceofmeninvolv
This is a post about the women depicted in trapping rabbits from a warren which was typically recorded as something men did and questions the gender roles assigned.
I wonder how many things were written one way but in practice were done another way? Specifically with social constructs and assignments based on gender. This observation could show that the social conditioning at the time of the writers would create a bias for gender assignment to tasks that may not hold true. It is a possibility that deciphering these discrepancies would require creative ways of reinterpreting whats not said in historical documentation in order to counter such bias.
Myattractiontoscythes andotherancientartefactswascuriosity,evenindulgence–acityboyplayingwitholdfarmtools–untilourfull-timemovetothefarmin1997,
What makes this interesting is the notation of transition, and the appreciation of the technology and tools. I actually remember the first time I held a scythe, mine angled to cut low to the earth I had the same reaction. It is a very curious thing. A scythe is a tool that functions as an item parceled away by the brain as an object of 'primitive' technology to accomplish the task. For me, I got one for 20 bucks at an auction because why not. But upon holding the object, it really became clear the amount of inventiveness in the design. The technology was inherent in the curve of the handle and weighting and taper. It was designed to work in tandem with human anatomy in order to maximize the efficacy and minimize strain of the body, converting two arguably 'primitive' technologies into one machine. the human is the fuel, and the scythe is the arm, a highly designed method to accomplish a task.
And of course, a more modern rendition of the hoe is my favorite tool I own. Straight handled, yet with tapers and swells in order to maximize its comfort and useability. I used one for the first time in a summer studio and bought one very quickly after of my own.
These are transitional technologies, often modern renditions of a past utility that would be as common as shoes and shelter. Some are more to original form than others, for example my scythe is rather aged while my hoe is made of recycled roto tiller blades with four different edges (essentially some horrendously fun and unnecessary equivalent to a swiss army knife for soil).
What is most interesting is the fact that these utilities can also spurn personal transition and connection to different practices. I find myself in preference to do things by hand than machine not for efficiency, but connection and joy. To connect to task on a more personal level, to reap the rewards of the direct input in a digitally connected world, and to escape into something so alien yet somehow familiar is a joy as recreation.
In humbleness of not knowing or being prepared in the ways to survive times past also garners a respect and admiration within the learning process. One can learn about concepts and methods, but to partake in what modern equivalent of said practice directly leaves a new type of sympathy that is hard to spark otherwise.
It is interesting to see this individual take it to the extreme, calculating hours equivalency to see if modern man could survive a past lifestyle via personal experimentation. Such direct research breaches the glamor of romanticization and seeks to actually commune with the past in a new rendition of the modern life. as he mentioned, he is more akin to a personal apocalypse survivor than a traditional agriculturalist and it came with terrible failure and burdens. Yet to undivorce ones selves from the land brings its own joy and pride. Perhaps with our readings moving forward and currently, this leads to some of the allure of agrarian life. A life where you are connected to a past and environment in which is so easy to escape, and therefore appreciate its accompanied ethics and small pleasures. We may see the tools use as symbology, and understand the logic as a connection to something that instills a similar reaction within cultures that are more familiar with their utility (and carried even as symbology to our modern day).
i found it very interesting how significant numeric symbolism was in architecture. it seems a great deal of the surrounding we' a solid frame for the monks daily lives as a sound and strong place of worship. the separation of space within the landscape seems ro heighten this effect
with Figures:
It seems /i cannot quote this article for some reason I wanted to point out how its super interesting that military campaigns revolved around the farming season. it make's sense, but it is completely alien from the errant western world which military serves as a separate entity to farmers .
all this seems rather familiar, that is partly because there really aresignificant overlaps between the Hadrianic empire and our ownexperience of military conflict and geopolitics. We are still fighting inmany of the same areas of the world and encountering many of the sameproblems. We are still claiming victory long before we have won the war -or indeed, in the Iraqi case, instead of winning the war
it is sadly interesting to see how our own projections on landscape have such compounding physical effects. Essentially as if platting land for farming, the political and religious climates of our at have plated off areas of combat thtat have been ingrained . Colonialism, imperialisms, and capitalism constantly lean on these areas for exploitation both for resource and political favor, which no doubt impacts the landscapes.
Imagine you are a five-year-old being led into a small office. A woman with a warmsmile shows you an assortment of strange objects. Some of them are shiny. You feellike playing with them. at’s OK, that’s allowed.
This does beg the question of how ritual first manifests to those who are never taught? perhaps a habit or mechanism that is adopted as symbolic, or perhaps skepticism of the world at large and brainstorming collectively on ways to engage their surroundings? Correlation of phenomena? Are humans prone to ritual development outside the community context and how do others begin to adopt more fringe or new practices
How does any of this relate to rituals? Well, we think dysphoric rituals are a bit likecoming under fire in a warzone, except that they are more powerfully bonding, partlybecause they cannot be explained in any simple causal way. e range ofinterpretations that one can place on a painful or unpleasant ritual is inexhaustible: itsucks you into an interpretive vortex. In fact, our lab experiments suggest that one’ssense of a ritual’s significance actually increases over time, rather than decaying. Incommunal ceremonies it is usual to witness others undergoing the same experience,and to imagine them sharing the same rich interpretive process. e forces shapingone’s own sense of self are recognised in a special cohort of others, causing membersto ‘fuse’.
this is very interesting that humans seem to bond over peril in a special way. Identity fusion between the unbearable trial act as almost an invitation to heal together. In a way, it can be seen as a communal surgery in which a wound is made in order to mend a deeper issue. Perhaps in this light, the dysphoric ritual and throws of warfare ignite a deep seating gutteral and primal reaction in which seems incomprehensible and unbearable. The act of bearing such an unrelenting and unexplainable horror alongside other individuals creates an in group that is near impossible for others to completely relate with. Perhaps the deepness of these communally shared wounds can explain the synthesis of trauma in ritualistic bonding between community members, thus encourages others to participate in things that otherwise would be voided at all costs for self preservation and wellness individually
This is, of itself, unremarkable. What is remarkable is that its textdescribes the use of what are now called Pythagorean triples to draw accurate rightangles.
Its so interesting to be able to see into the past and experience an "unremarkable" mundane experience and the inventive ways humanity has come to handle the problems of land ownership and agriculture. It seems the idea of privatization and crop ownership certainly led to the creation of some easier ways to make parcels of the space which has carried on to modern times within most urban residential dwelling lots.