Category Archives: Culture

Haiti’s Anti-Zombie Law

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In English, the provision reads:

  • Is considered a poisoning any attempt on the life of a person through the use of substances which can cause death more or less cleanly, regardless of the manner in which these substances were used or administered, and regardless of the consequences.
  • Is also considered attempt on life by poisoning the use made against a person of substances which, without giving death, will cause a more-or-less prolonged state of lethargy, regardless of the manner in which these substances were used and regardless of the consequences.
  • If the person was buried as a consequence of this state of lethargy, the attempt will be considered a murder.

Article 246 originally defined just the simple crime of “poisoning.”

It wasn’t until 1864 that the provision was expanded to include the second and third paragraphs, containing the language about “the use made against a person of substances which, without giving death, will cause a more-or-less prolonged state of lethargy” and burial thereafter.

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Top image by Haitian painter Wilson Bigaud in 1939.
By Mark Strauss via io9 for the full article. Worth a look.

Chipotle’s Mayan Glyphs and the Temple of Burritos

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A while back, I bought Andrea Stone & Marc Zender’s Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture, and checked out a number of similar books from the library. I skimmed and enjoyed them, and then returned them.

I went to a Chipotle in Philadelphia, looked at the wall, and realized their design was more than just decoration. There, looking back at me, was K’awiil, also known as God K.

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Next to K’awiil was a glyph representing a lord, possibily Juun Ajaw, one of the Hero Twins. All over the wall was seeing bits and pieces of legible, decipherable Classic era Mayan art. Here, the glyph for mountain. There, a shark.

[T]he wood and metal sculptures at many (or maybe all) Chipotle locations were provided by a company named Mayatek Inc.

The short story is, there are deviations, but the art is surprisingly accurate (for a restaurant) on a number of the glyphs (albeit, most are picked at random rather than for their original significance or lexical meaning). Or at least spitting distance. Though that seems kind of rude to do at a burrito place.

So…what does the above section of Mayan glyphs actually say? Dr. Zender translated the glyph blocks from Chipotle:

u-K’AM-ma-K’AJAN?-ch’o-ko
uk’amk’ajan ch’ok
“the youth’s rope-taking” (a ceremony)

u-TZ’AK-AJ
utz’akaj
“its count” (calendric information)

WAX-YAX-SIHOOM-ma
“6 Yax” (part of a date)

chu-lu-ku-?
Chuluk … (pre-accession name of the king)

i-K’A’-yi
i k’a’ayi
“his … stopped” (a death verb, here referring to the king’s father)

TIWOL?-4-ma-ta
Tiwohl Chan Mat (the father of the king)

mu-ka-ja
muhkaj “he was buried” (again referring to the father)

u?-na-ta-la
u naahtal “the first”? (ordinal title?)

MO’-na-bi
… Mo’ Nahb (part of the name of the king)

Brings back memories of my college study of Classical Aztec (Nahuatl) in Chicago…

By Language Jones via Slate for the full awesome story and more photos of the art.

Ruled Notebook 3D Illustration

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Brazilian artist João Carvalho may be only 15 years old, but the young artist can completely transform plain paper into ruled notebook sheets with 3D illusions popping out of them.

He starts by drawing blue lines on a blank sheet, but distorts them and adds intense shadows at just the right places, adding depth to his designs and creating the effect of three dimensional shapes that seem to jump off the page.

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Whenever I see this style of illustration I always wish I could turn the pictures so my brain could better process the illusion.

By via Oddity Central.

The Color of the Carrot

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Researchers with the Agricultural Research Service may have found the best way to entice consumers to eat their veggies: Surprise them.

They’re breeding carrots that come in a palette of totally unexpected colors including yellow, dark orange, bright red–even purple.

Ironic, since carrots didn’t start out orange, but were originally purple. As Wikipedia notes: “The plant appears to have been introduced into Europe via Spain by the Moors in the 8th century. and in the 10th century, in such locations in the Middle East, India and Europe, the roots were purple.”

Photo by Stephen Ausmus. Courtesy of USDA / Agricultural Research Service.
Via ScienceDaily.

The Textus Roffensis: The Oldest Surviving Copy of 12th Century English Law

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Textus Roffensis

“If a mouth or an eye becomes damaged, one is to compensate with 12 shillings”, exhorts the Textus Roffensis, a 12th century manuscript containing the only surviving copy of the oldest law in English.

The four front teeth, meanwhile, are worth six shillings apiece, while “if one strikes off a thumb, 20 shillings”.

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“The Textus Roffensis is truly a unique manuscript: it predates the Magna Carta by almost 100 years, contains the only copy of the oldest set of laws in English, and was penned by an English scribe within 60 years of the Norman conquest. That it is being made accessible to the public is worth shouting about, and is a tribute to all those involved with the project”, said Dr. Chris Monk.

The book, about the size of a hardback novel, features, said Monk, an excommunication curse with an obscenity, the only copy of William the Conqueror’s law of trial by combat used to settle disputes between Englishmen and Frenchmen, and a “pseudo-religious, magical charm for the recovery of stolen livestock sandwiched between a law on betrothal and a law on bequeathing property”.

Nice to know how much one’s teeth are worth. I should tell my dentist she’s been totally overcharging me. Hopefully she doesn’t do the math and adjust for inflation.

By some legal guys and monks in the 12th century, available digitally at John Rylands University Library Image Collections via The Guardian for the full article.

The Russian Cosmonaut Machete-Gun

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For decades, every Soyuz rocket crew packed a sidearm in their emergency kits—even after joining the International Space Station partnership. This “survival gun”, the TOZ 82, had three barrels and a swing-out machete.

[T]he official purpose of the gun — which could fire rifle bullets, shotgun shells and flares — was for survival in a harsh environment, such as the Siberian wilderness, in the event of an off-course landing.

But according to journalist James Oberg, one of the leading U.S. experts on the Russian space program: “I proposed that to guarantee the gun only be usable in an off-course landing, it be stashed in compartment accessible only from outside the Soyuz, after landing. There never was any response to my helpful suggestions”.

The practice has been unofficially suspended; by “unofficially” I mean that the weapn is included on the inventory list, but it is then removed by vote before each individual flight.

Via io9.