tag > Culture
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Book of Ritual Knowledge - Sumatra, Indonesia (1895)
The book contains magical formulas, divinations, recipes, and laws. The pustaha is written and compiled by a Batak magician-priest known as the datu (or sometimes the guru). A datu wrote the pustaha in Batak script using an ancient language style.
The book contains magical formulas, divinations, recipes, and laws. The pustaha is written and compiled by a Batak magician-priest known as the datu. A datu wrote the pustaha in Batak script using an ancient language style. The pustaha is used by the datu as a reference for him and for his students for all kind of information related to magic, rituals, prescriptions, and divination.
The magic knowledge contained in a pustaha is known as the hadatuon ("knowledge of the datu"). Johannes Winkler, a Dutch doctor was sent to Toba in 1901 and learned the pustaha from a datu priest. The result of his study divided the content of the pustaha into three types of main knowledge: the art to sustain life (white magic), the art to destroy life (black magic), and the art of divination.
What happened to all the historic books in Sumatra? Something similar to this:
Of the thousands of books written by the ancient Maya, only three - possibly four-survive today. On one night in July 1562 Bishop Diego de Landa destroyed thousands of Maya books, but throwing them on a bonfire. Overnight, the literature, science, and myths of the Maya was lost
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“Prepare for the unknown by studying how others in the past have coped with the unforeseeable and the unpredictable.” - George S. Patton (1885-1945)
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Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内经)
Huangdi Neijing, literally the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor or Esoteric Scripture of the Yellow Emperor, is an ancient Chinese medical text that has been treated as the fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for more than two millennia. The work is composed of two texts—each of eighty-one chapters or treatises in a question-and-answer format between the mythical Yellow Emperor and six of his equally legendary ministers.
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OfflineDay - Every first Friday of the month a 24 hour break from all screens.
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War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength - Text by George Orwell
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“We’ve arranged a society based on science & technology, in which nobody understands anything about science and technology. And this combustible mixture of ignorance & power, sooner or later, is going to blow up in our faces.” - Carl Sagan (1996)
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Orangutan reaching out to help a Human who is stuck in a river
Recently, amateur photographer Anil Prabhakar captured a fascinating sight in a conservation forest area in Borneo. While on a safari with his friends, the photographer stumbled upon a forest warden who was clearing snakes, the sworn enemy of orangutans, from the river. Just as Prabhakar prepared to take a picture, an orangutan reached out his hand to the man, apparently wanting to help him out. The photos quickly went viral, leaving people in awe of the orangutan’s act of kindness.
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Japan Government Allocates USD 19M to Boost AI Matchmaking in 47 Prefectures (japantimes)
With annual birth rate plummeting to 5.8 percent in 2019, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government pledges to allocate USD 19 Million in the next fiscal year to help local authorities run AI matchmaking.
Japan’s birth rate is declining - and fast. Could AI be the solution? (WEF)
The Japanese government is looking to develop an advanced AI matchmaking system to stem the country's falling birth rate. The system takes into account age, income, hobbies and values before pairing up a potential match. Japan's birthrate was down 5.8% in 2019, the lowest annual figure ever.
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9,000-Year-Old Stonehenge-Like Structure Found Under Lake Michigan (archaeology-world)
