mlatu and Mother Lang (by sarah)

Last night Mary said her first full and clear Lojban word mlatu meaning cat, she has been saying contractions and muddled versions of words such as dui for ladiu (milk) and of course saying half English half Lojban words. But this was really clear - it came after a day of her pointing to the cats and asking me 'Cat?', to the kitten - 'cat?' yes, 'baby?' yes, 'itten?' yes, 'baby ca?' yes and so on. Then when Alaric had her and the kitten on his lap she said 'mlatu' to which he responded yes.

I'v been working on this concept of making a language primer starting with English and Lojban, it started with lojbani chicken and I have been constructing characters ever since. As part of teaching Mary lojban Al had drawn a face and written the lojban words on it so I thought you know I should get a move on with this and draw Mother Lang's face so we can make a proper version of this.

And so I have. Of course I had to completely finish designing her first which ment drawing all of her! That picture is still a pencil sketch! I'm happy with this one. The idea is that she is the Mother of Language, she has two daughters Coni and Nat who represent constructive languages and natural languages and they live on a farm with such creatures as Lojbani Chicken etc...

The true value of a bitcoin (by alaric)

The recent bubble-and-crash cycle in the price of bitcoins leads, logically, to wondering what their "true value" should be.

The idea is that there is a true value - some amount of something else that 1 bitcoin is actually worth - that the market will be trying to tend towards; but the market price is being distorted by irrational people buying them at above that true price, and panic-sellers willing to sell them below the true price.

So what might this true value be?

Read more »

War of the Words (by sarah)

Saturday (20th April 2013) will see me taking part in the Cheltenham Poetry Festival Slam! It takes place at Copa in Cheltenham and is £7 or £5 for concessions.

I am desperately trying to memorise some newer poems for this! If anybodies about came and see some fantastic poets (not me the other guys!).

My back is fixed! (by alaric)

Over the past few years, I've been getting worsening pain in my lower back. An ache just to the right of my spine (where it joins to my pelvis), with shooting pain down to my right knee; sometimes it would be so bad I couldn't stand up straight. At first this would only happen if I'd had a hard weekend carrying boxes or doing long drives, but it became more and more frequent, until I was having to carefully watch my posture in every aspect of my life for fear of triggering it. Read more »

My Little Explorer (by sarah)

Mary loves getting herself ready for outings.

She knows we take supplies, like blankets and picnics and of course a walking stick!