#
# Identification:
#
#   * Title: ???
#   * Page: f68v1 = IJ (Rene) = p128 (Stolfi)
#   * Folio: f68
#   * Panels: f68v1
#   * Bifolio: bI1 = f67+f68
#   * Quire: I (Rene) = IX (Beinecke)
#
#   This page is the innermost verso panel of an eight-panel fold-out.
#
#   Color reproduction in Frank Smythe's book [1].
#   Levitov figure 22, page 158.
#
# Attributes:
#
#   * Language: ? (Currier)
#   * Hand: ? (Currier)
#   * Subsets: A (Rene), cos (Stolfi)
#   * Subject: astronomical
#   * Colors: blue(vanes),yellow(stars) (Reeds)
#
# Description:
#
#   The page contains only a circular diagram, framed by two faint
#   mechanically drawn circles, each surrounded by a ring of text.
#
#   The whole is surrounded by another thin circle, about 1cm further
#   out, that begins looking mechanically drawn but at some point
#   wanders off and fails to close on itself, as if the fixed leg of the
#   compass had skipped a bit.
#
#   A thick radial stroke at 10:30 connects this outermost circle to
#   the next one, through the gap between two words of the outer text
#   ring. Another pair of thick radial strokes at 10:00 connects the
#   second and third circles, breaking the second text ring. 
#
#   At the center of the diagram is a sun, with narrow flipped
#   S-shaped rays (yellow-colored) and a human face (with neutral
#   expression, straight light-colored or uncolored hair combed back
#   at the sides, held by a narrow headband with dots.)
#
#   Surrounding the sun is a "starry windmill": a fat star with
#   serrated outline, consisting of 16 sectors shaped like narrow
#   kites, each split radially into a "light" (clockwise) half,
#   uncolored, with a dotted line and some small stars; and a "dark",
#   painted a solid dark blue. Clockwise from the 10:00 point, the
#   light half-sectors contain the following counts of
#   (yellow-colored) stars:
#
#     4 4 4 3 4 4 5 6 6 6 7 8 7 5 5 5 
#     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
#     * * *   * * * * * * * * * * * *
#                 * * * * * * * * * *
#                   * * * * * *      
#                         * * *  
#                           *
#
#   The "8" count includes a spot that may or may not be a star; and
#   ditto for the following "7". All told there are probably 68 stars,
#   possibly 67 or 66.
#
#   Thin radial lines connect each point of the star to the inner edge
#   of the frame. The 16 sectors defined by these lines are
#   alternatingly filled with unnamed yellow-colored stars, or labeled
#   with a radial text line, reading outwards. Clockwise from the
#   10:00 ray, the sectors contain the following counts:
#
#     8 7 7 8 9 9 8 7
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     * * * * * * * *
#     *     * * * *    
#             * *        
#
#   There are 63 stars in total.
#
#   There is a comet-tail-like object behind one of the stars in 
#   the 03:00 sector.
#
#   All these details are visible on Smythe's color plates.
#
# Comments:
#
#   The "start here" strokes at 10:00-10:30 are in sepia ink and thus
#   would seem to be original. Also, the EVA "p" on the the 10:30
#   radial line suggests that that is indeed the first line.
#
#   However the corresponding word gaps are quite ordinary and not
#   aligned. Another possible starting place is at 01:15, where both
#   rings have aligned, extra-wide word breaks.
#
#   The center figure is probably female.
#
#   Note that the small and large star counts are almost the same (67
#   and 63); perhaps 64 was the intended number. Note also that the
#   small star counts are unimodal. The big star counts would be
#   unimodal too if the 11:00 sector had 7 stars, or the 09:30 sector
#   had 8. The latter seems more likely as it would have bumped the
#   number of big stars to 64. In both sequences the minimum is around
#   01:10 (the aligned breaks!) and the maximum around 07:00.
#
#   The "tail" in the 03:00 sector may mean that one of the stars is a
#   comet. (It could be a vellum defect, but no trace of it is visible
#   on f68r1.)
#
# References:
#
#   [1] Smythe, Frank. "A Script Full of Secrets" and "The Uncrackable
#   Code" in "Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time: The Unexplained", pp.
#   3062-3069. H. S. Stuttman, Inc., Westport, Connecticut, USA.
#   Copyright 1992 by Orbis Publishing, Inc. [Originally published in
#   "The Unexplained" in the UK.]
#
# Last edited on 1999-12-12 04:15:26 by stolfi