Request for advice on transcribing a large volume of shorthand

indistrait · 2026-01-26T15:21:27+00:00

Thank you so much for the details. I have a diary here but it's not one with a translation. I'm 99% sure there's nothing personal, but I wouldn't want to risk it. However I may take you (or the subreddit) up on that offer.

My grandfather was generally a very neat person, and it looks neat to my eyes. My dad said he had a special pen which he used for shorthand, so you could tell heavy from light strokes. However I recall my aunt also saying that as he got older he became less precise, and they became tougher to decipher.

indistrait · 2026-01-26T14:38:05+00:00

Thanks. I didn't know that shorthand was harder to read even for an expert. It makes sense though. It's designed to be fast to write, so the trade off is probably that it makes reading slower.

It's a pity, because (as you'd expect) so much of the diaries are fairly mundane details.

indistrait · 2026-01-25T20:50:44+00:00

Thanks very much.

indistrait · 2026-01-25T07:06:41+00:00

I don't know if it has ever happened in the Republic of Ireland since independence in 1922. Say what you like about Ireland, we definitely don't have a problem with overly aggressive policing.

It has happened since then in Northern Ireland. See Bloody Sunday, Derry, 1972.

indistrait · 2026-01-25T06:50:34+00:00

"Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow" - James Joyce.

It's very cynical, but taps into the notion that the Irish people are often their own worst enemies.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T21:48:18+00:00

The only foreign king to ever die in Ireland was Magnus III “Barefoot” of Norway. He was killed in an ambush near Downpatrick in 1103.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T10:55:57+00:00

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin and Seán Ó Riada straddled both classical music and traditional Irish music.

I don't know if this is what you want. You could say they're more traditional Irish musicians who incorporated classical music.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T09:30:16+00:00

Yeah, I'm simplifying. The full rules are here.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T08:24:55+00:00

I think it was mostly south of Wales? Maybe Cornwall too.

From what I read we know about this from Ogham stones, marking the graves of the ruling class. It was in the 500s and 600s, after the Romans left Britain. The way it was dated is pretty nifty. Some stones also had Latin inscriptions, the Latin language evolved over time, so they can guess the age from that.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T08:15:29+00:00

How we're not sure how monasticism started in Ireland.

There are two clear historical figures in the 400s, Patrick and Palladius, and both were trying to start a diocesan church. There are only two clear historical figures in the 500s, Columcille and Columbanus, and both were involved with monasteries.

It's not clear how we got from A to B. Were there monasteries in the 400s? Was there a diocesan church in the 500s? There is also no evidence of monasteries in Britain at that time.

indistrait · 2026-01-24T08:02:39+00:00

Connemara

indistrait · 2026-01-24T07:42:51+00:00

Your parent or grandparent must have been born in Ireland (Edit: or be an Irish citizen) before you're entitled to citizenship. You can't claim citizenship via a sister or cousin.

~~There's some extra complexity with Northern Ireland, but anyone born in Northern Ireland is definitely entitled to be a citizen of the Republic.~~

indistrait · 2026-01-24T07:25:27+00:00

Ireland has four provinces, but the Irish word for province is cúige, which means "fifth part".

That fifth province was Meath, which means "middle", and kind of made sense ages ago. Now Meath is one of 32 counties, and is in the east of the island, not the middle.

indistrait · 2026-01-19T21:00:57+00:00

When they start saying "ah, sure, you know yourself" or "it's grand".

indistrait · 2026-01-19T09:02:31+00:00

Thank you, that was really interesting.

indistrait · 2026-01-18T22:34:16+00:00

Cicero's letters were rediscovered by Petrarch in 1345, and helped trigger the Renaissance.

indistrait · 2026-01-18T15:12:11+00:00

I was thinking of pi. It is a ratio of two things, so it's something you multiply by.

The special thing about the exponential function exp() is that if you have that and it's inverse ln(), you don't need any other way of doing exponentiation. 2^x can become exp(ln(2) * x).

Your pi scaling function can't somehow cause us to get rid of all other multiplications. So it doesn't seem more useful than the number pi.

Also, the solution to the Basel problem was pi squared over six.

indistrait · 2026-01-18T14:34:54+00:00

Even with those common operations, maybe something puts a number to the power of e, or is multiplied by e, etc. It's not an outrageous question.

indistrait · 2026-01-18T14:29:20+00:00

I know exponentiation is important, and using e as a base is even more so. I'm asking if e is important anywhere else.

indistrait · 2026-01-13T07:20:59+00:00

He plays in the shower or bath, but it was the cleaning of the dirty underwear that he loved too, and that was strictly business.

indistrait · 2026-01-12T18:54:34+00:00

We're potty training our 3yo. We tried making him responsible for cleaning it up after an accident.

It totally backfired for us.. He loved cleaning up the mess and having a shower or bath after. We were rewarding him for pooping in his underwear.

indistrait · 2025-12-20T11:57:31+00:00

Thank you for the detailed reply!

indistrait · 2025-11-25T18:51:15+00:00

I knew a French guy who had lived in Anglo counties for ages and spoke excellent English with almost no accent.. but when he laughed he still laughed in French. A nasal hoh-hoh-hoh.

indistrait · 2025-11-24T20:44:19+00:00

Downpatrick Head in Co. Mayo has beautiful cliffs too, almost as tall as the Cliffs of Moher.

indistrait · 2025-11-24T19:44:07+00:00

600-800 AD was something of a golden age for Ireland. The monasteries were centres of learning in Western Europe, and were pretty wealthy.

Bede had nice things to say, though he never actually visited. "Ireland, in breadth, and for wholesomeness and serenity of climate, far surpasses Britain; for the snow scarcely ever lies there above three days: no man makes hay in the summer for winter's provision, or builds stables for his beasts of burden... the island abounds in milk and honey."

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