Here's an update since my last post. Here, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the last time I checked the local news earlier this evening, five public schools (four elementary and one high school) and three parochial schools (outside the province of the Milwaukee School Board) have been closed. In some cases, it is because there was confirmed contact of students and/or teachers with a person who has H1N1 flu; in other cases, it is anticipatory -- closing before any flu infections have not yet been confirmed but trying to head things off at the pass, as it were.
One day ago, there were two suspected cases of H1N1 flu in Milwaukee. Today it is reported that the South 16th Street Health Clinic (that's not the legal name, but people who live here will know what I mean) have three more suspected cases of H1N1 flu.
I can personally attest to the fact that around 8:00 a.m. this morning, as the bus I take downtown to work five days a week rode northward past the 16th Street Health Clinic on Caesar Chavez Drive (the street formerly known as South 16th Street), there was a line of people at the doors waiting for the clinic to open -- something I haven't seen before. At the time I thought, "oh oh."
This is scary as hell to me. The South 16th Street Clinic provides medical care to all comers on a sliding scale of income. Those who have more, pay more; those who have less, pay less -- or sometimes nothing. It's a great service provided to all Milwaukeeans. Increasingly, a lot of the people who visit the clinic can pay nothing. This neighborhood I grew up in, which used to be populated primarily with working class German and Polish families, is today a neighborhood of diverse ethnicity. We were poor then; the area is even poorer now. This is not a good thing.
Tomorrow a big rally and march is planned to protest against government policies relating to illegal aliens. I understand that last year, thousands of people attended. It didn't appear to me, a local resident, that there were thousands of people attending last year's event. But hey, what do I know? I call it as it see it.
This year, more thousands of people are forecasted to attend this event. On the 10:00 P.M. news I saw a spokeswoman for this event saying yeah, we're going to be there and we hope you will be there too. So - you're supposed to go out into this projected massive crowd of people and expose yourself to who knows what germs, to support a political cause. And then go back home and a few days later maybe die from the H1N1 flu virus you got exposed to during the rally?
Am I being totally stupid for thinking that it is really assinine of the organizers to hold a rally where thousands of people will be in close contact with one another during an influenza epidemic that has already killed over 150 people in Mexico?
The local Cinco de Mayo celebrations have been cancelled - common sense says YES to this. Cinco de Mayo can be celebrated next year, in health and hopefully in prosperity. Cinco de Mayo is not going to go away; if even one less case of this H1N1 flu can be avoided by cancelling the event, it's worth it. I remember when I got the swine flu in 1975, how sick I was. Geez, I don't even want to remember it , it was horrid! I would wish this infliction upon my worse enemies, but only if they would suffer as much as I did in 1975. I also caught the Hong Kong flu in 1968. Fortunately, no one else in my family (7 other people) did, and they were able to isolate me in a room with a sheet tacked up across the entrance (there was no door). There I laid for seven straight days, wishing every day that I could die, so sick I was. Of course, back then, there was no "Tami-flu." But even if here had been, my parents couldn't have afforded it.
So why do the Milwaukee May Day marchers protesting the United State's policies on immigration feel that politics trumps public health? Come on. Get real, people!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Native Americans Descended From a Single Ancestral Group, DNA Study Confirms
This is interesting.
Native Americans Descended From a Single Ancestral Group, DNA Study Confirms
April 28, 2009
For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations.
Now, after painstakingly comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of scientists thinks it can put the matter to rest: Virtually without exception the new evidence supports the single ancestral population theory.
“Our work provides strong evidence that, in general [in general? What does THAT mean?], Native Americans are more closely related to each other than to any other existing Asian populations, except those that live at the very edge of the Bering Strait,” said Kari Britt Schroeder, a lecturer at the University of California, Davis, and the first author on the paper describing the study.
“While earlier studies have already supported this conclusion, what’s different about our work is that it provides the first solid data that simply cannot be reconciled with multiple ancestral populations,” said Schroeder, who was a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the university when she did the research.
The study is published in the May issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Rest of article.
There is a lot of archaeological evidence pointing to MUCH older origins for humans in North and South America than a Bering Strait crossing supports.
Who's right? The archaeologists? Was man here as far back as 50,000 years ago, 30,000 years ago or 14,000 years ago? Archaeologists claim evidence of human occupation for each of these dates - and dates in-between. For sake of argument, are all of the artifacts identified as Clovis, a particular style of artifact and date-range well-established and generally accepted in the archaeological community as correct, WRONG by 3,000 or more years?
Or are the DNA scientists correct, pointing to a single population cross Bering Strait 11,000-10,000 years ago as being the ONLY ancestors of ALL Indian populations in North, Central and South America?
Did absolutely everyone who arrived on the shores of North, Central and South America before those who crossed the Bering Strait die out, leaving absolutely no trace of their DNA in today's Indian populations? How else can the archaeological evidence be explained? Are ALL of the archaeologists and ALL of their accumulated evidence wrong?
If archaeological evidence supports the existence of settlers in North and South America that predate DNA evidence for the ancestors of the current Native Americans, then aren't the descendants of those earlier deceased original settlers the REAL heirs to claims for rights to North, Central and South American real estate, etc. etc.? And would not the claims of the heirs of those earlier settlers trump the claims asserted by present Native American tribes claiming sovereignty and property rights, etc. etc. in North, Central and South America?
If DNA evidence conclusively establishes that today's Native Americans became the dominant aborginal culture - rather like Europeans became the dominate culture during much later migrations to the New World, how can today's Indian tribes, aboriginals, First Nations, whatever they label themselves, claim special privilege when the DNA evidence shows, against the archaeological evidence, that when they arrived they MUST have wiped out all earlier settlers? Under common law, which the United States follows, wouldn't those inheritance rights pass to the ancestors of the first settlers who arrived on those shores?
And just who were those first settlers? Some say they were Europeans (on the east coast); on the west coast, some say they were possibly of the Jomon culture, from Japan. Given the current state of archaeological evidence, and if this latest study of DNA evidence is correct, today's Native Americans have no right to say they were here first. It's clear they were not here first. What remains to be determined is just who was here first.
Will it end up that Japan - or France - or Spain - files a claim to large chunks of the United States?
Well, you can see what a can of worms this might open up. So, DNA people, before stating with such certainty that this is exactly what happened and there are no other probable explanations, my suggestion is that you take a look at the archaeological evidence compiled to date, and then wait for more sophisticated techniques of genetic analysis to be developed and view your evidence against those techniques and the entirety of the rest of the existing evidence, before you says this is the absolute truth and this is what happened.
Native Americans Descended From a Single Ancestral Group, DNA Study Confirms
April 28, 2009
For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral Asian population or a number of different populations.
Now, after painstakingly comparing DNA samples from people in dozens of modern-day Native American and Eurasian groups, an international team of scientists thinks it can put the matter to rest: Virtually without exception the new evidence supports the single ancestral population theory.
“Our work provides strong evidence that, in general [in general? What does THAT mean?], Native Americans are more closely related to each other than to any other existing Asian populations, except those that live at the very edge of the Bering Strait,” said Kari Britt Schroeder, a lecturer at the University of California, Davis, and the first author on the paper describing the study.
“While earlier studies have already supported this conclusion, what’s different about our work is that it provides the first solid data that simply cannot be reconciled with multiple ancestral populations,” said Schroeder, who was a Ph.D. student in anthropology at the university when she did the research.
The study is published in the May issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
Rest of article.
*************************************************************************
Are the authors of this DNA study saying that the archaeologists who support much older evidence of human occupation in North and South America are full of baloney?There is a lot of archaeological evidence pointing to MUCH older origins for humans in North and South America than a Bering Strait crossing supports.
Who's right? The archaeologists? Was man here as far back as 50,000 years ago, 30,000 years ago or 14,000 years ago? Archaeologists claim evidence of human occupation for each of these dates - and dates in-between. For sake of argument, are all of the artifacts identified as Clovis, a particular style of artifact and date-range well-established and generally accepted in the archaeological community as correct, WRONG by 3,000 or more years?
Or are the DNA scientists correct, pointing to a single population cross Bering Strait 11,000-10,000 years ago as being the ONLY ancestors of ALL Indian populations in North, Central and South America?
Did absolutely everyone who arrived on the shores of North, Central and South America before those who crossed the Bering Strait die out, leaving absolutely no trace of their DNA in today's Indian populations? How else can the archaeological evidence be explained? Are ALL of the archaeologists and ALL of their accumulated evidence wrong?
If archaeological evidence supports the existence of settlers in North and South America that predate DNA evidence for the ancestors of the current Native Americans, then aren't the descendants of those earlier deceased original settlers the REAL heirs to claims for rights to North, Central and South American real estate, etc. etc.? And would not the claims of the heirs of those earlier settlers trump the claims asserted by present Native American tribes claiming sovereignty and property rights, etc. etc. in North, Central and South America?
If DNA evidence conclusively establishes that today's Native Americans became the dominant aborginal culture - rather like Europeans became the dominate culture during much later migrations to the New World, how can today's Indian tribes, aboriginals, First Nations, whatever they label themselves, claim special privilege when the DNA evidence shows, against the archaeological evidence, that when they arrived they MUST have wiped out all earlier settlers? Under common law, which the United States follows, wouldn't those inheritance rights pass to the ancestors of the first settlers who arrived on those shores?
And just who were those first settlers? Some say they were Europeans (on the east coast); on the west coast, some say they were possibly of the Jomon culture, from Japan. Given the current state of archaeological evidence, and if this latest study of DNA evidence is correct, today's Native Americans have no right to say they were here first. It's clear they were not here first. What remains to be determined is just who was here first.
Will it end up that Japan - or France - or Spain - files a claim to large chunks of the United States?
Well, you can see what a can of worms this might open up. So, DNA people, before stating with such certainty that this is exactly what happened and there are no other probable explanations, my suggestion is that you take a look at the archaeological evidence compiled to date, and then wait for more sophisticated techniques of genetic analysis to be developed and view your evidence against those techniques and the entirety of the rest of the existing evidence, before you says this is the absolute truth and this is what happened.
Recession Chops Local Chess Program
Like many other communities in many other states, Sheboygan, Wisconsin has been particularly hard hit by lay-offs, plant-closings, businesses going bankrupt and plant relocations to other states. The City budget has been decimiated and, under Wisconsin law, all municpalities (and the state itself) must balance its budget through a combination of raising money through taxes, fees and borrowing (issuing bonds). The problem is, of course, that during a recession how can taxes and fees possibly be raised?
The short answer is - they can't.
In Wisconsin, school budgets are paid out of local real estate tax levies, with some assistance from the state. But the state has drastically cut back on its funding for local school aid for the budget period 2009-2011 (Wisconsin is a biennual budget state) - it is in a funding crunch of its own. In a climate with deflationary real estate values and unemployment rising to levels we haven't seen since the Great Depression, raising real estate taxes to make up funding short-falls is NOT an option. That leaves increasing various fees and perhaps instituting new fees (such as a local wheel tax and implementing a local sales tax) to try and make up for the funding shortfalls - never politically popular and definitely NOT popular when thousands of your citizens are losing their jobs with no prospect for obtaining new employment.
With no prospect of attracing new employers to the region, I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that Sheboygan could bleed out 50% of its population to more "promising" areas. Sheboygan is dying. That means a mad scramble in a stagnant real estate market to try and sell your home and suck out as much equity as you can, while competing against homes being marketed at 70% of their far market value. Good luck. When the economy does turn around and employment starts to rebound, about 12-15 months out - who will be left in the city? Gang bangers (who have been moving in from other areas, looking for better pickings and a police force not equipped to deal with them) and pensioners.
It is against this backdrop that today's announcement from the local Sheboygan school district was made. Story from sheboyganpress.com:
UPDATE: SASD to cut $28K from co-curriculars, continue slashing administration jobs
BY KATE MCGINTY • Sheboygan Press staff • April 29, 2009
Sheboygan schools will cut $28,000 in co-curricular activities, increase some classroom sizes — and continue slashing administration jobs, district officials said today.
The Sheboygan Area School District briefly laid out its plan last night to cut $5,010,000 from its budget for the 2009-10 school year. That includes $3 million from the teachers union, $876,000 from support staff and $370,000 from administration.The district issued layoff notices this morning to 21 members of the teachers union and 11 educational assistants. No administrators or maintenance staff will be laid off.
“Everybody has been bracing for this day. There have been a lot of pins and needles for Wednesday, and we knew that,” said David Gallianetti, School Board president.
The district also released today a more specific breakdown of the cuts, which include cutting the equivalent of 24 classroom teachers.
Sports, clubs face cuts
The district will cut $28,000 from its co-curricular activities, most of which will be eliminating assistant adviser or coach positions.
Assistant advisers or coaches from cheerleading, gymnastics and radio will all be cut. The diving coaching spot will be eliminated, and divers will fall under the swim program.
Mock trial will be cut altogether. The program — whose South High School team once won a national championship — has dwindled to totally inactive the last two years. The chess program, which has become a social club, will also be cut. The cuts were based on recommendations from athletic directors, who said most of the affected groups have low levels of participation.
“If for some reason we start having kids more interested in something, we will revisit it,” Superintendent Joe Sheehan said.
Administration to face more cuts
All employee groups cut the same percentage of money from their budget. That includes the administration — even if their cuts look small on paper, Gallianetti said. Part of the problem is that administrators are on a two-year contract, he said. All 70 administrators are midway through that contract.
“There will be more personnel reductions at central office. We’ve heard that loud and clear from our community and from our employees that that’s what they expect,” Gallianetti said.
The administration will consolidate and cut positions, but did not face layoffs. Gallianetti pointed to the elimination of the instructional coordinator — who was paid $133,000 in salary and benefits — as a model the School Board hopes to follow.
Harlan Weber, whose salary landed in the top 10 among district employees this year, will retire this year. As coordinator, he led programming of science and math, scheduled monthly meetings with grade-level chairmen and was the health department chairman.
That work will then be split among employees. “It’s a huge ball of wax kind of a position. The challenge for us is now going to be to farm all the pieces out, but we will,” Gallianetti said. As part of the long-term plan, the administration will begin surveying all district schools to ask what services they do and do not need from central district office, Sheehan said. By August, the district will lay out a plan to restructure its administrative office.
Teachers lose 45 spots
The Sheboygan Education Association — which represents teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other non-classroom positions — will lose the equivalent of 45 full-time positions. That will include cutting the equivalent of 24 full-time teachers, like a fourth-grade music teacher, an elementary art and music enhancement teacher and three special education staff members.
Two guidance counselors — one from each high school — and 11 media specialists in the library will also be cut.
“Today is a very sad day, not only for the teachers affected by the cuts, but for the students they work with, their colleagues and the community as a whole. These people are our neighbors … Just like with any layoff, it’s going to have a ripple effect through the entire city,” said Tony Johannes, president of the Sheboygan Education Association. The district student-teacher ratio will remain within the School Board policy, but some classes will have more students, Sheehan said. None will be significant changes, he said. Johannes, who is also chairman of the math department at North High School, said his department will see classes jump by five to eight students per class — and as high as 36 students to one teacher.
“Class sizes are going to be considerably larger than they were as compared to this year,” he said. “It makes the entire job more challenging, because our goal is to try to teach each student to their level. The more students who are in classrooms, the harder it is to do that.” More cuts would have been necessary if not for cutbacks the teachers volunteered, Gallianetti said. Teachers agreed to work one less day next year — cutting a paid staff development day in August — to save $300,000 in next year’s budget.
Johannes said the teachers volunteered to change its contract in interest of the school district and its students. Despite the frustration among the school buildings today, the School Board “did the best job it could” and listened to public input, Johannes said. “For the teachers who are affected, there is a lot of frustration,” he said. “It’s easy to point the finger at other groups, but when it’s all said and done, it’s something that’s out of our control. That was the decision of the administration and the School Board.”
Most support staff safe from layoffs
The district will cut the equivalent of 21 educational assistants, which mandates 11 layoffs. That saves $590,000. The maintenance staff will adjust their schedule to clean buildings every other day. That will save $238,000.
Dean Dekker — president of the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — was not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon. Certain cleaning, like bathrooms and lunchrooms, will still be cleaned daily, and emergency or maintenance will continue as needed. The district will also make some more minor changes, like providing a staff directory only on its Web site to save $3,000 in printing costs. The district will also print a black-and-white only calendar, saving $6,000.
“We need to be more creative and smarter on things like that. Even in the best times, to be honest, you should look at things like that just to be more efficient,” Gallianetti said. “Some of these are not huge, but they’re recommendations that people recommended. … It adds up,” Sheehan said. More than 80 percent of the cuts came directly from the two public input sessions and suggestions from staff, district officials said.
The short answer is - they can't.
In Wisconsin, school budgets are paid out of local real estate tax levies, with some assistance from the state. But the state has drastically cut back on its funding for local school aid for the budget period 2009-2011 (Wisconsin is a biennual budget state) - it is in a funding crunch of its own. In a climate with deflationary real estate values and unemployment rising to levels we haven't seen since the Great Depression, raising real estate taxes to make up funding short-falls is NOT an option. That leaves increasing various fees and perhaps instituting new fees (such as a local wheel tax and implementing a local sales tax) to try and make up for the funding shortfalls - never politically popular and definitely NOT popular when thousands of your citizens are losing their jobs with no prospect for obtaining new employment.
With no prospect of attracing new employers to the region, I don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility that Sheboygan could bleed out 50% of its population to more "promising" areas. Sheboygan is dying. That means a mad scramble in a stagnant real estate market to try and sell your home and suck out as much equity as you can, while competing against homes being marketed at 70% of their far market value. Good luck. When the economy does turn around and employment starts to rebound, about 12-15 months out - who will be left in the city? Gang bangers (who have been moving in from other areas, looking for better pickings and a police force not equipped to deal with them) and pensioners.
It is against this backdrop that today's announcement from the local Sheboygan school district was made. Story from sheboyganpress.com:
UPDATE: SASD to cut $28K from co-curriculars, continue slashing administration jobs
BY KATE MCGINTY • Sheboygan Press staff • April 29, 2009
Sheboygan schools will cut $28,000 in co-curricular activities, increase some classroom sizes — and continue slashing administration jobs, district officials said today.
The Sheboygan Area School District briefly laid out its plan last night to cut $5,010,000 from its budget for the 2009-10 school year. That includes $3 million from the teachers union, $876,000 from support staff and $370,000 from administration.The district issued layoff notices this morning to 21 members of the teachers union and 11 educational assistants. No administrators or maintenance staff will be laid off.
“Everybody has been bracing for this day. There have been a lot of pins and needles for Wednesday, and we knew that,” said David Gallianetti, School Board president.
The district also released today a more specific breakdown of the cuts, which include cutting the equivalent of 24 classroom teachers.
Sports, clubs face cuts
The district will cut $28,000 from its co-curricular activities, most of which will be eliminating assistant adviser or coach positions.
Assistant advisers or coaches from cheerleading, gymnastics and radio will all be cut. The diving coaching spot will be eliminated, and divers will fall under the swim program.
Mock trial will be cut altogether. The program — whose South High School team once won a national championship — has dwindled to totally inactive the last two years. The chess program, which has become a social club, will also be cut. The cuts were based on recommendations from athletic directors, who said most of the affected groups have low levels of participation.
“If for some reason we start having kids more interested in something, we will revisit it,” Superintendent Joe Sheehan said.
Administration to face more cuts
All employee groups cut the same percentage of money from their budget. That includes the administration — even if their cuts look small on paper, Gallianetti said. Part of the problem is that administrators are on a two-year contract, he said. All 70 administrators are midway through that contract.
“There will be more personnel reductions at central office. We’ve heard that loud and clear from our community and from our employees that that’s what they expect,” Gallianetti said.
The administration will consolidate and cut positions, but did not face layoffs. Gallianetti pointed to the elimination of the instructional coordinator — who was paid $133,000 in salary and benefits — as a model the School Board hopes to follow.
Harlan Weber, whose salary landed in the top 10 among district employees this year, will retire this year. As coordinator, he led programming of science and math, scheduled monthly meetings with grade-level chairmen and was the health department chairman.
That work will then be split among employees. “It’s a huge ball of wax kind of a position. The challenge for us is now going to be to farm all the pieces out, but we will,” Gallianetti said. As part of the long-term plan, the administration will begin surveying all district schools to ask what services they do and do not need from central district office, Sheehan said. By August, the district will lay out a plan to restructure its administrative office.
Teachers lose 45 spots
The Sheboygan Education Association — which represents teachers, guidance counselors, librarians and other non-classroom positions — will lose the equivalent of 45 full-time positions. That will include cutting the equivalent of 24 full-time teachers, like a fourth-grade music teacher, an elementary art and music enhancement teacher and three special education staff members.
Two guidance counselors — one from each high school — and 11 media specialists in the library will also be cut.
“Today is a very sad day, not only for the teachers affected by the cuts, but for the students they work with, their colleagues and the community as a whole. These people are our neighbors … Just like with any layoff, it’s going to have a ripple effect through the entire city,” said Tony Johannes, president of the Sheboygan Education Association. The district student-teacher ratio will remain within the School Board policy, but some classes will have more students, Sheehan said. None will be significant changes, he said. Johannes, who is also chairman of the math department at North High School, said his department will see classes jump by five to eight students per class — and as high as 36 students to one teacher.
“Class sizes are going to be considerably larger than they were as compared to this year,” he said. “It makes the entire job more challenging, because our goal is to try to teach each student to their level. The more students who are in classrooms, the harder it is to do that.” More cuts would have been necessary if not for cutbacks the teachers volunteered, Gallianetti said. Teachers agreed to work one less day next year — cutting a paid staff development day in August — to save $300,000 in next year’s budget.
Johannes said the teachers volunteered to change its contract in interest of the school district and its students. Despite the frustration among the school buildings today, the School Board “did the best job it could” and listened to public input, Johannes said. “For the teachers who are affected, there is a lot of frustration,” he said. “It’s easy to point the finger at other groups, but when it’s all said and done, it’s something that’s out of our control. That was the decision of the administration and the School Board.”
Most support staff safe from layoffs
The district will cut the equivalent of 21 educational assistants, which mandates 11 layoffs. That saves $590,000. The maintenance staff will adjust their schedule to clean buildings every other day. That will save $238,000.
Dean Dekker — president of the local chapter of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — was not immediately available for comment Wednesday afternoon. Certain cleaning, like bathrooms and lunchrooms, will still be cleaned daily, and emergency or maintenance will continue as needed. The district will also make some more minor changes, like providing a staff directory only on its Web site to save $3,000 in printing costs. The district will also print a black-and-white only calendar, saving $6,000.
“We need to be more creative and smarter on things like that. Even in the best times, to be honest, you should look at things like that just to be more efficient,” Gallianetti said. “Some of these are not huge, but they’re recommendations that people recommended. … It adds up,” Sheehan said. More than 80 percent of the cuts came directly from the two public input sessions and suggestions from staff, district officials said.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Fixing a Broken Goddess
From Emory University's online newspaper emorywheel.com:
Carlos Fixes Broken Goddess
By Kelsey Harper Posted: 04/27/2009
Just a few weeks ago, Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum opened its doors to a famous and historically significant statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
This particular statue is exceptional because it was part of a nudity revolution in ancient Western sculpture. Jasper Gaunt, the curator of the Greek and Roman Collections, explained in a Carlos Museum podcast, “This is really one of the first examples of the female nude in Western art ... which explores female sexuality in an open and joyful way.”
According to Pliny the Elder, an ancient Roman historian, the predecessor to this statue was created by renowned sculptor Praxiteles, who had been commissioned by the citizens of the Greek island of Kos to make a statue of Aphrodite. The nearby city of Knidos purchased the nude Aphrodite without any qualms, causing such a stir that people traveled from all over ancient Greece to see the famed statue. Gaunt noted in the podcast that “she became the most famous statue of the ancient world, and people went on pilgrimages to see it.”
The statue at the Carlos Museum, dating to the first century B.C., is more than an early adaptation of the Knidos original; it is a fellow contributor to the critical turning point in which female nudity in sculpture began to be embraced. This significant work of art found its way to Emory after a long and dangerous journey. In fact, the Aphrodite arrived at Emory in two pieces.
Some time after World War II, the statue was shipped to New York. While it was in transit, the head fell off, probably weakened from previous repairs. Upon arrival at New York, an antiquarian erroneously determined that the head and body did not belong to each other, and they were sold separately.
In 2006, the mistake was caught thanks to a very astute Sotheby’s employee, who recognized it as the same Aphrodite he had seen in an engraving from Paris. The owner of the head was contacted and he kindly agreed to sell the head to whoever purchased the body.
Hearing of the incredible opportunity to purchase such a pivotal work of art, Gaunt attended the bidding and walked away with a fantastic addition to the Carlos Museum. The new acquisition was not yet intact, however, and the daunting task of reconstructing the ancient masterpiece was left to the museum’s conservator, Renee Stein.
Stein discussed the repairs in the aforementioned podcast, stating that the head and body not only had to be reattached, but also partially reconstructed. “I was surprised because you couldn’t tell it was put together,” senior Stephanie Chen said. “You couldn’t see a seam ... and it looked proportional.” Indeed, the statue does look natural, elegant and whole, but the complex story of its damage, separation and reunion arouses curiosity and interest.
“Aphrodite is a beautiful and significant addition to the Carlos collections, but we find people also come to see her because she has had such an adventure getting here,” said Julie Green, manager of school programs at the Carlos Museum.
“I have seen school children, when they hear the story, circling the piece like young conservators, looking for ancient or modern repairs. It is great to see the public so charged up in looking closely at a beautiful object.”
Carlos Fixes Broken Goddess
By Kelsey Harper Posted: 04/27/2009
Just a few weeks ago, Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum opened its doors to a famous and historically significant statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
This particular statue is exceptional because it was part of a nudity revolution in ancient Western sculpture. Jasper Gaunt, the curator of the Greek and Roman Collections, explained in a Carlos Museum podcast, “This is really one of the first examples of the female nude in Western art ... which explores female sexuality in an open and joyful way.”
According to Pliny the Elder, an ancient Roman historian, the predecessor to this statue was created by renowned sculptor Praxiteles, who had been commissioned by the citizens of the Greek island of Kos to make a statue of Aphrodite. The nearby city of Knidos purchased the nude Aphrodite without any qualms, causing such a stir that people traveled from all over ancient Greece to see the famed statue. Gaunt noted in the podcast that “she became the most famous statue of the ancient world, and people went on pilgrimages to see it.”
The statue at the Carlos Museum, dating to the first century B.C., is more than an early adaptation of the Knidos original; it is a fellow contributor to the critical turning point in which female nudity in sculpture began to be embraced. This significant work of art found its way to Emory after a long and dangerous journey. In fact, the Aphrodite arrived at Emory in two pieces.
Some time after World War II, the statue was shipped to New York. While it was in transit, the head fell off, probably weakened from previous repairs. Upon arrival at New York, an antiquarian erroneously determined that the head and body did not belong to each other, and they were sold separately.
In 2006, the mistake was caught thanks to a very astute Sotheby’s employee, who recognized it as the same Aphrodite he had seen in an engraving from Paris. The owner of the head was contacted and he kindly agreed to sell the head to whoever purchased the body.
Hearing of the incredible opportunity to purchase such a pivotal work of art, Gaunt attended the bidding and walked away with a fantastic addition to the Carlos Museum. The new acquisition was not yet intact, however, and the daunting task of reconstructing the ancient masterpiece was left to the museum’s conservator, Renee Stein.
Stein discussed the repairs in the aforementioned podcast, stating that the head and body not only had to be reattached, but also partially reconstructed. “I was surprised because you couldn’t tell it was put together,” senior Stephanie Chen said. “You couldn’t see a seam ... and it looked proportional.” Indeed, the statue does look natural, elegant and whole, but the complex story of its damage, separation and reunion arouses curiosity and interest.
“Aphrodite is a beautiful and significant addition to the Carlos collections, but we find people also come to see her because she has had such an adventure getting here,” said Julie Green, manager of school programs at the Carlos Museum.
“I have seen school children, when they hear the story, circling the piece like young conservators, looking for ancient or modern repairs. It is great to see the public so charged up in looking closely at a beautiful object.”
12,000-15,000 Year Old Carving Found In China
Unfortunately, no images of the carving were provided.
China's earliest known carving found in central Henan Province
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-28 19:23:38
ZHENGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists say they have identified the country's earliest known carving -- a deer antler sculpted into the shape of a bird -- dating back 12,000 to 15,000 years.
The fossilized grey figurine, which is 2.1 centimeters long, 1.2 centimeters high and 0.6 centimeters thick, was found in Xuchang County in China's central Henan Province in March.
It is made from evenly-heated antler, and vividly carved with amicrolithic cutting tool.
"The carving technique is more exquisite than the western carvings of its time," said Li Zhanyang, head of the archeological team in Xuchang, and a researcher with the Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology. [Er, wouldn't you expect a Chinese archaeologist to say this when his country's oldest carving to date is 15,000 years younger than the oldest western carving to date?]
Carvings of the late Paleolithic Age have been found in western countries, such as 30,000-year-old ivory horse and mammoth carvings at Vogelherd Cave in Germany, and human profile carvings at a cave in La Marche, France, that are about 10,000 years old.
The bird figurine was unique in its feet that were carved with symmetrical sockets that enable it to stand stably, said Li. "This demonstrates that human beings already had a good grip of the equilibrium principal then."
Li said the bird carving might have been left by hunters when they were very active in Henan Province around the Last Glacial Maximum period, which started about 25,000 years ago. It could have been a totem to represent good luck and freedom.
If the bird carving could be exactly dated, it would provide important background for the research on the techniques, aesthetic and expression, as well as inter-regional migration and communication of human beings of that time, said Gao Xing, head of National Natural Science Foundation of China.
The bird carving is not the first find at that site. In 2007 and 2008, Chinese archaeologists announced that they found more than 30,000 relics in Xuchang, including human skull fossils dating back 80,000 to 100,000 years.
The ancient skull was named Xuchang Man after the location. Scientists said the discovery was expected to provide direct evidence for the origins of modern Chinese and East Asian human species.
Editor: Bi Mingxin
China's earliest known carving found in central Henan Province
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-28 19:23:38
ZHENGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese archaeologists say they have identified the country's earliest known carving -- a deer antler sculpted into the shape of a bird -- dating back 12,000 to 15,000 years.
The fossilized grey figurine, which is 2.1 centimeters long, 1.2 centimeters high and 0.6 centimeters thick, was found in Xuchang County in China's central Henan Province in March.
It is made from evenly-heated antler, and vividly carved with amicrolithic cutting tool.
"The carving technique is more exquisite than the western carvings of its time," said Li Zhanyang, head of the archeological team in Xuchang, and a researcher with the Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology. [Er, wouldn't you expect a Chinese archaeologist to say this when his country's oldest carving to date is 15,000 years younger than the oldest western carving to date?]
Carvings of the late Paleolithic Age have been found in western countries, such as 30,000-year-old ivory horse and mammoth carvings at Vogelherd Cave in Germany, and human profile carvings at a cave in La Marche, France, that are about 10,000 years old.
The bird figurine was unique in its feet that were carved with symmetrical sockets that enable it to stand stably, said Li. "This demonstrates that human beings already had a good grip of the equilibrium principal then."
Li said the bird carving might have been left by hunters when they were very active in Henan Province around the Last Glacial Maximum period, which started about 25,000 years ago. It could have been a totem to represent good luck and freedom.
If the bird carving could be exactly dated, it would provide important background for the research on the techniques, aesthetic and expression, as well as inter-regional migration and communication of human beings of that time, said Gao Xing, head of National Natural Science Foundation of China.
The bird carving is not the first find at that site. In 2007 and 2008, Chinese archaeologists announced that they found more than 30,000 relics in Xuchang, including human skull fossils dating back 80,000 to 100,000 years.
The ancient skull was named Xuchang Man after the location. Scientists said the discovery was expected to provide direct evidence for the origins of modern Chinese and East Asian human species.
Editor: Bi Mingxin
Meet Lady Dai
Special online feature from Archaeology Magazine:China's Sleeping Beauty
April 10, 2009
by Eti Bonn-Muller
A landmark exhibition awakens the legacy of a Western Han Dynasty noblewoman
This wax model depicts how a Chinese noblewoman known as "Lady Dai," who lived some 2,200 years ago, looked at age 30. Zhao Chengwen, a professor at the China Criminal Police College, developed the technology—known as the "Jingxing CCK-3 Model Human Face Mirage System"—used to create the reconstruction. (Courtesy of Hunan Provincial Museum) [Well, I'm somewhat skeptical. Lady Dai did not die when she was 30 years old; she lived a good long time after that age. So other than basic bone structure and accounting for certain racial characteristics such as generic hair and skin color, how could anyone possibly recreate this face? One other thing - this Lady Dai looks rather a mixture of Occidental and Oriental. Why is that?]
Lady Dai's body was in such a good state of preservation that an autopsy was able to be performed. Read the article. Hmmm, did they ever do a chemical analysis of what that mysterious clear fluid was that surrounded Lady Dai's body when the final coffin holding her body was opened?
Malta Chess Femmes Mix It Up with the Boys
And they did okay! This is the best way for chess femmes to get head to head experience against more experienced and/or better players than they. Yeah, they take their lumps, but they also take a lot more away from the experience.
Story from di-ve.com:
U16 chess tournament
by Coryse Borg - editorial@di-ve.com
Other Sport -- 28 April 2009 -- 21:55CEST
Thirteen-year old Christian Schembri from Kullegg San Benedittu emerged the clear winner of the U16 Chess Tournament held last Saturday 25th April at St Paul’s Missionary College, Rabat, in collaboration with the Malta Chess Federation.
In all, forty-four students from nine different Church, Independent and Government Schools took part in the Tournament, which was held over five rounds. The biggest contingent of students – 15 – came from St Elias College, testimony of the hard work of Mr. Ray Azzopardi, who teaches chess both at his College and at San Benedittu.
Schembri won all five rounds, attaining the maximum five points out of the Tournament. In second and third place were Luca Vassallo and Jurgen Grima, both from St Elias and both with four and a half points each.
The Girls’ Category was won by ten-year old Jaime Farrugia, also from Kullegg San Benedittu, who managed to garner three points despite having to compete against her male counterparts. In second place, also with three points, finished Clarissa Cremona from St Dorothy’s.
The other categories were won as follows: the U10 was won by Benjamin Zammit from St Catherine’s High School with 4 Points; the U12 was won by Gabriel Farrugia from Kullegg San Benedittu with three points while the U14 was won by Jean Pierre Xuereb from Stella Maris with four points.
The Arbiter of the Tournament was Mr Peter Sammut Briffa. Fr. Silvio Bezzina, Assistant Headmaster at St Paul’s Missionary College, distributed the trophies to the winners.
Story from di-ve.com:
U16 chess tournament
by Coryse Borg - editorial@di-ve.com
Other Sport -- 28 April 2009 -- 21:55CEST
Thirteen-year old Christian Schembri from Kullegg San Benedittu emerged the clear winner of the U16 Chess Tournament held last Saturday 25th April at St Paul’s Missionary College, Rabat, in collaboration with the Malta Chess Federation.
In all, forty-four students from nine different Church, Independent and Government Schools took part in the Tournament, which was held over five rounds. The biggest contingent of students – 15 – came from St Elias College, testimony of the hard work of Mr. Ray Azzopardi, who teaches chess both at his College and at San Benedittu.
Schembri won all five rounds, attaining the maximum five points out of the Tournament. In second and third place were Luca Vassallo and Jurgen Grima, both from St Elias and both with four and a half points each.
The Girls’ Category was won by ten-year old Jaime Farrugia, also from Kullegg San Benedittu, who managed to garner three points despite having to compete against her male counterparts. In second place, also with three points, finished Clarissa Cremona from St Dorothy’s.
The other categories were won as follows: the U10 was won by Benjamin Zammit from St Catherine’s High School with 4 Points; the U12 was won by Gabriel Farrugia from Kullegg San Benedittu with three points while the U14 was won by Jean Pierre Xuereb from Stella Maris with four points.
The Arbiter of the Tournament was Mr Peter Sammut Briffa. Fr. Silvio Bezzina, Assistant Headmaster at St Paul’s Missionary College, distributed the trophies to the winners.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Swine Flu Pandemic?
Oy! I was all set to write about this Friday night, but then I got distracted by other things.
As it is, developments have been happening so quickly what I would have written on Friday night would now be hopelessly outdated.
Earlier today I saw a blog entry about this new version of flu that mentioned Randall Flagg - TRULY scary stuff. But that's exactly what I thought of when I first read about the then "outbreak" of a new strain of what is being called swine flu (combining DNA of swine, human and avian flu viruses, readily transmissible via air and touch, the worst of all scenarios). I was going to frame a blog entry around Stephen King's classic scary novel "The Stand." You may remember the story line: a flu-like pandemic of unknown virus sweeps across the world, and about 90% of the human population dies horrid, quick deaths. For unknown reasons, the remaining 10% or so of the population is immune to the virus, even proving totally immune to being directly innoculated with live virus. The world as we know it ends in a relatively short period of time. The meat of the novel then begins. The survivors gather themselves into groups, and eventually converge on Sin City - Las Vegas, where there is an apocalyptic show down between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil. The forces of Good are led by a very elderly, frail black woman. The forces of Evil are led by a big strapping dude named Randall Flagg, who becomes the Devil Incarnate.
Back to reality. This incipient pandemic isn't something I'm taking lightly. I was laid flat on my back for a week in 1968 with the Hong Kong flu. Fortunately, I was a teenager at the time living at home, and had mom to take care of me. No one else in the family got sick which, looking back, is something of a miracle since there were eight people living in 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, "dining room" which served as a living room, and the "good" living room which normally served as a bedroom at night for my two brothers, on a sleeper sofa. And one bathroom.
I was so sick, I wished to die. I was camped out on the sofa in the "god" living room where normally my two brothers camped out, and there I stayed except for trips to the bathroom, for the next seven days. For throwing up there was a bucket next to the sofa where I lay, helpless. Mom hung a sheet across the large open archway between that room and the rest of the house, and except for Mom everyone else stopped at the sheet and talked to me through it. Not that I did much talking. I was much too sick to do anything other than ache and moan. The odors of cooking from kitchen made me sicker still.
I didn't eat anything of substance for a week, and for several days I could not even keep down the room temperature, flat 7-Up and saltines my mother fed me. Everything made me heave, including those cooking odors, long after my body had emptied of anything remotely resembling food. I heaved anyway. I had delirious, fever-induced dreams, one in particular that I remember to this day.
I recovered. I prayed I would never ever be that sick again.
But, I believe it was in November, 1975, I got a really bad flu again. I think that time it was a version of swine flu, another pandemic, although that one was not so bad as the 1968 pandemic. By then I was working full-time, living in an apartment on the fashionable east side with a roommate and had started college part-time at night. My kind roommate, Connie, took care of me in the early mornings and after she returned from work in the evening. My mom visited several times too, after working all day she traveled many miles to come take care of me. I was flat on my back on the sofa in the living room. I don't remember now why I wasn't in my own bed, maybe it was because the t.v. was in the living room. Not that I watched much of it. I was so sick, once again knocked flat on my back, this time only for five days, but I found myself once again wishing for death. The pain in my body was excruciating. Everything hurt, and it was non-stop. I did manage to keep myself better hydrated, and Connie forced water and broth down my throat, most of which I managed to keep down.
I tell you - I never want to be that sick again. And I'm scared, really scared, about this new version of swine flu, because it seems that everyone who has been exposed to it is getting sick. There is no immunity. When I last checked the news, some 149 dead in Mexico of suspected swine flu, which is about a 10% casualty rate out of suspected cases. I don't like those odds.
Now, evidently, there is at least one case of swine flu here in Wisconsin. So, what are the odds that I will NOT get sick?
Already on April 26th the CDC stated quite bluntly that there was no hope of containing this flu, all they can hope to do at this point is mitigate as best they can, and hope for the best. What does that mean? In the 1918-1919 pandemic, some sources say nearly 100 million people died - and that was in a much smaller world population than the 6 billion plus we have today. I believe the 1968 Hong Kong flu outbreak resulted in some 2 million deaths, and the 1975-1976 swine flu outbreak resulted in some 1 million deaths.
Ach! I'm going to bed. Couldn't help but wonder today whether there will be anyone walking around New York when dondelion and I are scheduled to meet Isis and Michelle there in May. Am wondering whether we shouldn't just cancel it all and lay low as we can until this fledgling pandemic burns itself out, one way or another.
As it is, developments have been happening so quickly what I would have written on Friday night would now be hopelessly outdated.
Earlier today I saw a blog entry about this new version of flu that mentioned Randall Flagg - TRULY scary stuff. But that's exactly what I thought of when I first read about the then "outbreak" of a new strain of what is being called swine flu (combining DNA of swine, human and avian flu viruses, readily transmissible via air and touch, the worst of all scenarios). I was going to frame a blog entry around Stephen King's classic scary novel "The Stand." You may remember the story line: a flu-like pandemic of unknown virus sweeps across the world, and about 90% of the human population dies horrid, quick deaths. For unknown reasons, the remaining 10% or so of the population is immune to the virus, even proving totally immune to being directly innoculated with live virus. The world as we know it ends in a relatively short period of time. The meat of the novel then begins. The survivors gather themselves into groups, and eventually converge on Sin City - Las Vegas, where there is an apocalyptic show down between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil. The forces of Good are led by a very elderly, frail black woman. The forces of Evil are led by a big strapping dude named Randall Flagg, who becomes the Devil Incarnate.
Back to reality. This incipient pandemic isn't something I'm taking lightly. I was laid flat on my back for a week in 1968 with the Hong Kong flu. Fortunately, I was a teenager at the time living at home, and had mom to take care of me. No one else in the family got sick which, looking back, is something of a miracle since there were eight people living in 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, "dining room" which served as a living room, and the "good" living room which normally served as a bedroom at night for my two brothers, on a sleeper sofa. And one bathroom.
I was so sick, I wished to die. I was camped out on the sofa in the "god" living room where normally my two brothers camped out, and there I stayed except for trips to the bathroom, for the next seven days. For throwing up there was a bucket next to the sofa where I lay, helpless. Mom hung a sheet across the large open archway between that room and the rest of the house, and except for Mom everyone else stopped at the sheet and talked to me through it. Not that I did much talking. I was much too sick to do anything other than ache and moan. The odors of cooking from kitchen made me sicker still.
I didn't eat anything of substance for a week, and for several days I could not even keep down the room temperature, flat 7-Up and saltines my mother fed me. Everything made me heave, including those cooking odors, long after my body had emptied of anything remotely resembling food. I heaved anyway. I had delirious, fever-induced dreams, one in particular that I remember to this day.
I recovered. I prayed I would never ever be that sick again.
But, I believe it was in November, 1975, I got a really bad flu again. I think that time it was a version of swine flu, another pandemic, although that one was not so bad as the 1968 pandemic. By then I was working full-time, living in an apartment on the fashionable east side with a roommate and had started college part-time at night. My kind roommate, Connie, took care of me in the early mornings and after she returned from work in the evening. My mom visited several times too, after working all day she traveled many miles to come take care of me. I was flat on my back on the sofa in the living room. I don't remember now why I wasn't in my own bed, maybe it was because the t.v. was in the living room. Not that I watched much of it. I was so sick, once again knocked flat on my back, this time only for five days, but I found myself once again wishing for death. The pain in my body was excruciating. Everything hurt, and it was non-stop. I did manage to keep myself better hydrated, and Connie forced water and broth down my throat, most of which I managed to keep down.
I tell you - I never want to be that sick again. And I'm scared, really scared, about this new version of swine flu, because it seems that everyone who has been exposed to it is getting sick. There is no immunity. When I last checked the news, some 149 dead in Mexico of suspected swine flu, which is about a 10% casualty rate out of suspected cases. I don't like those odds.
Now, evidently, there is at least one case of swine flu here in Wisconsin. So, what are the odds that I will NOT get sick?
Already on April 26th the CDC stated quite bluntly that there was no hope of containing this flu, all they can hope to do at this point is mitigate as best they can, and hope for the best. What does that mean? In the 1918-1919 pandemic, some sources say nearly 100 million people died - and that was in a much smaller world population than the 6 billion plus we have today. I believe the 1968 Hong Kong flu outbreak resulted in some 2 million deaths, and the 1975-1976 swine flu outbreak resulted in some 1 million deaths.
Ach! I'm going to bed. Couldn't help but wonder today whether there will be anyone walking around New York when dondelion and I are scheduled to meet Isis and Michelle there in May. Am wondering whether we shouldn't just cancel it all and lay low as we can until this fledgling pandemic burns itself out, one way or another.
Hales Corners Challenge IX: Goddesschess Prize Winners
Photos of the Reserve Section winners of the Goddesschess prizes! (Hales Corners Challenge IX, April 25, 2009)
Sandra Pahl
Elizabeth Emery
Sandra Pahl 
Elizabeth EmeryHales Corners Challenge IX: Goddesschess Prize Winners
Hola! Here is Nicole Niemi, the winner of the Goddesschess cash prize (chess femmes only), Open Section, in the Hales Corners Challenge IX, deep in concentration during a game.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Linguistics: Viking Loan Words
From Science Daily:
Viking Legacy On English: What Language Tells Us About Immigration And Integration
(Apr. 22, 2009) — They’re a firm part of our language and even speak to us of our national culture — but some words aren’t quite as English as we think.
Terms such as ‘law’, ‘ugly’, ‘want’ and ‘take’ are all loanwords from Old Norse, brought to these shores by the Vikings, whose attacks on England started in AD 793. In the centuries following it wasn’t just warfare and trade that the invaders gave England. Their settlement and subsequent assimilation into the country’s culture brought along the introduction of something much more permanent than the silk, spices and furs that weighed down their longboats — words.
Dr. Sara Pons-Sanz in the School of English is examining these Scandinavian loanwords as part of a British Academy-funded research project — from terms that moved from Old Norse to Old English and disappeared without trace, to the words that still trip off our tongues on a daily basis.
By examining these words in context, tracking when and where they appear in surviving texts from the Old English period, Dr. Pons-Sanz can research the socio-linguistic relationship between the invading and invaded cultures.
The loanwords which appear in English — such as ‘husband’ — suggest that the invaders quickly integrated with their new culture. The English language soon adopted day-to-day terms, suggesting that the cultures lived side-by-side and were soon on intimate terms. This is in marked contrast to French loanwords. Though there are many more of these terms present in the standard English language — around 1,000 Scandinavian to more than 10,000 French — they tend to refer to high culture, law, government and hunting. French continued to be the language of the Royal Court for centuries after the invasion in 1066. In contrast, Old Norse had probably completely died out in England by the 12th century, indicating total cultural assimilation by the Scandinavian invaders.
Another clear indicator of this is the type of loanwords seen in English. The majority of loanwords tend to nouns, words and adjectives, open-ended categories which are easily adapted into a language. But one of the most commonly-seen loanwords in English today is ‘they’ — a pronoun with its origins in Old Norse. Pronouns are a closed category, far more difficult to adapt into a new language, which again indicates a closeness between the two languages and cultures not present in previous or subsequent invading forces.
Dr. Pons-Sanz has ‘cleaned up’ the list of loanwords thought to have come to English from Old Norse by painstakingly tracking the origins of each word. Her original texts include legal codes, homilies, charters, literary texts and inscriptions. By comparing the texts chronologically and dialectally, the introduction and integration of words can be tracked. For example, the word ‘fellow’ — which came from an Old Norse word originally meaning ‘business partner’— is first attested in East Anglia.
Dr. Pons-Sanz said: “Language is constantly evolving; loanwords are being assimilated into English — and other languages — all the time. By examining the types of words that are adopted, we can gain insight into the relationships between different cultures.”
Adapted from materials provided by University of Nottingham.
Here's some interesting information from Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:
"One bonded to the house (hus)" - a steward or majordomo chosen to tend a woman's property, under the old Saxon matriarchate when property rights were matrilineal. A husband was not considered an integral part of the maternal clan but remained a "stranger" in the house, as in early Greece where the men's god Zeus was "god of strangers."(1)
Pre-Islamic Arabian husbands didn't even have names in the matrilineal clan until they begot children; then a man could call himself abu, "father of ..." So-and-so. This part of an Arab's name is still considered the most important part.(2)
In southeast India, a husband was regarded as a more or less permanent guest int he wife's home, constrained to remain on his good behavior according to the rules governing guests. In archaic Japan, husbands were not residents in the wife's home at all, but only visitiors. The old word for "marriage' meant "to slip into the house by night."(3) Patrilocal marriage was unknown in Japan until 14000 A.D.(4)
The position of a husband in the ancient world was often temporary, subject to summary divorce. An Arabian wife could dismiss her husband by turning her tent to face the west for three nights in succession.(5) After the introduction of Islamic patriarchy, the system was reversed in favor of men. A husband could turn his wife out of her home simply by saying "I divorce thee" three times. [What Isis calls "The old switcheroo."]
Early Latin tribes followed the same rules as Arabians; a woman could divorce her husband by shutting hm out of her house for three consecutive nights.(6) Even in imperial times, a Roman wife could maintain her own property free of husbandly claims by passing three nights of eahc year away form his residence.(7)
Ancient Egypt had several varieties of marriage existing side by side. Some, probably the oldest, were governed by premarital agreements that spelled out the wife's property rights and the husband's comparative powerlessness under the law. For example:
I bow before thy rights as a wife. From this day on, I shall never oppose thy claims with a single word. I recognize thee before all others as my wife, though I do not have the right to say thought must be my wife. Only I am thy husband and mate. Thou alone hast the right of departure.
From this day on that I have become thy husband, I cannot oppose thy wish, wherever thou desirest to go ... I have no power to interfere in any of thy transactions. I hereby cede to thee any rights deeded to me in any document that has been made out in my favor. Thou keepest me obligated to recognize all these cessions.(8)
Egyptian priests advised husbands to remain in their wives' good graces, much as Christian priests later advised wives to make themselves subservient to husbands:
Keep thy house, love thy wife, and do not dispute with her. She will withdraw herself before violence. Feed her, adorn her, massage her. Caress her and make her heart to rejoice as long as thou livest ... Attend to that which is her desire and to that which occupies her mind. For in such manner thou persuadest her to remain with thee. If thou opposest her, it will be thy ruin.(9)
An Egyptian husband was counseled to make glad his wife's heart "during the time that thou hast," which might have meant a lifetime on earth, or else a shorter period implying a temporary marriage.(10) In the matrilocal household, husands often entered a period of trial servitude to win their brides, as did the biblical Jacob to win the hand of Rachel (Genesis 29). Hence Sophocle's remark that "Egyptian men sit indoors all day long, weaving; the women go out and attend to business."(11)[See also my comments appended to Note 8].
Similarly among Anglo-Saxon tribes, "husbandry" meant farm work - as it still does - because a husband wa usually bonded to work on his wife's land. Such an agricultural matriarchate is still found in some areas. Among the Zuni, husbands worked in the fields, but the land and its harvest belonged to their wives.(12) The old custom of providing work in compensation for marriage gave rise to the word bridegroom, literally "the bride's servant." The Koran tells mean, "your wives are your tillage," because by ancient Arabian law a wifeless man was also landless.(13) See Matrilineal Inheritance.
Tantric sages considered "husbandship" (bhavanan) essential for still another reason: it was indispensible to a man's spiritual development. The same notion was found among Aryan Celts. The ancient Irish said a true bard could have power over poetry and magic only if he had "purity of husbandship," that is, fidelity to his wife.(14)
Notes:
(1) J.E. Harrison, 519.
(2) Briffault 2, 90-91.
(3) Hartley, 147, 159.
(4) Briffault 1, 369.
(5) de Riencourt, 187.
(6) Briffault 2, 348.
(7) Hartley, 232.
(8) Diner, 212. [Cf. this famous passage from the admittedly patriarchal Hebrew Old Testament, King James Version which, in light of the above information, appears to be a prayer to Goddess for a merciful wife: Proverbs 31:10: Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (11) The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. (12) She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. (13) She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with herhands. (14) She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food from afar. (15) She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. (16) She considereth a field, and buyeth it [because it's her money, and she does what she wants with it]; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. (17) She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengthenth her arms [I find it surprising that this archaic description of a strong, independent female survived to be incorporated into the Book, in terms which were, after the patriarchal overthrow of the Goddess, generally reserved for males.] (18) She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; her candle goeth not out at night. (19) She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. (20) She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. (21) She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet [that is, the best and finest and warmest wool clothing, dyed scarlet, the most expensive of dyes because of the difficulty in manufacturing the color. That is why it was reserved for royalty. In later times it was called "purple" and was the color of monarchs.] (22) She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. (23) Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. [In other words, he doesn't do anything all day but sit around with the other husband dudes at the gates of the city, making idle commentary on the merchants passing in and out, probably drinking too much, gambling with sheeps' knuckles and perhaps chasing after prostitutes.] (24) She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. (25) Strength and honour are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. (26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (27) She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. (28)Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. [He's just hoping he doesn't get divorced for sitting around at the gates of the city with the other dudes all day, drinking, gambling and chasing after unvirtuous women.]
(9) Diner, 218; Budge, D.N., 26.
(10) Hartley, 196. Cf. the Scottish custom of "hand-fast" and the contemporary custom in some Islamic societies of trial marriage or "Mu' tah" or "Mutah," a subject on which I previously posted. Hmmm - it just occurred to me - is "Mu' tah" somehow related to the ancient rites of the Mother Goddess Mu or Ma, Mah, Maat, etc.?
(11) Bachofen, 180.
(12) Farh, M.R.C., 81-83.
(13) Fielding, 83.
(14) Joyce, I., 463.
Viking Legacy On English: What Language Tells Us About Immigration And Integration
(Apr. 22, 2009) — They’re a firm part of our language and even speak to us of our national culture — but some words aren’t quite as English as we think.
Terms such as ‘law’, ‘ugly’, ‘want’ and ‘take’ are all loanwords from Old Norse, brought to these shores by the Vikings, whose attacks on England started in AD 793. In the centuries following it wasn’t just warfare and trade that the invaders gave England. Their settlement and subsequent assimilation into the country’s culture brought along the introduction of something much more permanent than the silk, spices and furs that weighed down their longboats — words.
Dr. Sara Pons-Sanz in the School of English is examining these Scandinavian loanwords as part of a British Academy-funded research project — from terms that moved from Old Norse to Old English and disappeared without trace, to the words that still trip off our tongues on a daily basis.
By examining these words in context, tracking when and where they appear in surviving texts from the Old English period, Dr. Pons-Sanz can research the socio-linguistic relationship between the invading and invaded cultures.
The loanwords which appear in English — such as ‘husband’ — suggest that the invaders quickly integrated with their new culture. The English language soon adopted day-to-day terms, suggesting that the cultures lived side-by-side and were soon on intimate terms. This is in marked contrast to French loanwords. Though there are many more of these terms present in the standard English language — around 1,000 Scandinavian to more than 10,000 French — they tend to refer to high culture, law, government and hunting. French continued to be the language of the Royal Court for centuries after the invasion in 1066. In contrast, Old Norse had probably completely died out in England by the 12th century, indicating total cultural assimilation by the Scandinavian invaders.
Another clear indicator of this is the type of loanwords seen in English. The majority of loanwords tend to nouns, words and adjectives, open-ended categories which are easily adapted into a language. But one of the most commonly-seen loanwords in English today is ‘they’ — a pronoun with its origins in Old Norse. Pronouns are a closed category, far more difficult to adapt into a new language, which again indicates a closeness between the two languages and cultures not present in previous or subsequent invading forces.
Dr. Pons-Sanz has ‘cleaned up’ the list of loanwords thought to have come to English from Old Norse by painstakingly tracking the origins of each word. Her original texts include legal codes, homilies, charters, literary texts and inscriptions. By comparing the texts chronologically and dialectally, the introduction and integration of words can be tracked. For example, the word ‘fellow’ — which came from an Old Norse word originally meaning ‘business partner’— is first attested in East Anglia.
Dr. Pons-Sanz said: “Language is constantly evolving; loanwords are being assimilated into English — and other languages — all the time. By examining the types of words that are adopted, we can gain insight into the relationships between different cultures.”
Adapted from materials provided by University of Nottingham.
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What about that Old Norse loan word 'husband?'Here's some interesting information from Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:
"One bonded to the house (hus)" - a steward or majordomo chosen to tend a woman's property, under the old Saxon matriarchate when property rights were matrilineal. A husband was not considered an integral part of the maternal clan but remained a "stranger" in the house, as in early Greece where the men's god Zeus was "god of strangers."(1)
Pre-Islamic Arabian husbands didn't even have names in the matrilineal clan until they begot children; then a man could call himself abu, "father of ..." So-and-so. This part of an Arab's name is still considered the most important part.(2)
In southeast India, a husband was regarded as a more or less permanent guest int he wife's home, constrained to remain on his good behavior according to the rules governing guests. In archaic Japan, husbands were not residents in the wife's home at all, but only visitiors. The old word for "marriage' meant "to slip into the house by night."(3) Patrilocal marriage was unknown in Japan until 14000 A.D.(4)
The position of a husband in the ancient world was often temporary, subject to summary divorce. An Arabian wife could dismiss her husband by turning her tent to face the west for three nights in succession.(5) After the introduction of Islamic patriarchy, the system was reversed in favor of men. A husband could turn his wife out of her home simply by saying "I divorce thee" three times. [What Isis calls "The old switcheroo."]
Early Latin tribes followed the same rules as Arabians; a woman could divorce her husband by shutting hm out of her house for three consecutive nights.(6) Even in imperial times, a Roman wife could maintain her own property free of husbandly claims by passing three nights of eahc year away form his residence.(7)
Ancient Egypt had several varieties of marriage existing side by side. Some, probably the oldest, were governed by premarital agreements that spelled out the wife's property rights and the husband's comparative powerlessness under the law. For example:
I bow before thy rights as a wife. From this day on, I shall never oppose thy claims with a single word. I recognize thee before all others as my wife, though I do not have the right to say thought must be my wife. Only I am thy husband and mate. Thou alone hast the right of departure.
From this day on that I have become thy husband, I cannot oppose thy wish, wherever thou desirest to go ... I have no power to interfere in any of thy transactions. I hereby cede to thee any rights deeded to me in any document that has been made out in my favor. Thou keepest me obligated to recognize all these cessions.(8)
Egyptian priests advised husbands to remain in their wives' good graces, much as Christian priests later advised wives to make themselves subservient to husbands:
Keep thy house, love thy wife, and do not dispute with her. She will withdraw herself before violence. Feed her, adorn her, massage her. Caress her and make her heart to rejoice as long as thou livest ... Attend to that which is her desire and to that which occupies her mind. For in such manner thou persuadest her to remain with thee. If thou opposest her, it will be thy ruin.(9)
An Egyptian husband was counseled to make glad his wife's heart "during the time that thou hast," which might have meant a lifetime on earth, or else a shorter period implying a temporary marriage.(10) In the matrilocal household, husands often entered a period of trial servitude to win their brides, as did the biblical Jacob to win the hand of Rachel (Genesis 29). Hence Sophocle's remark that "Egyptian men sit indoors all day long, weaving; the women go out and attend to business."(11)[See also my comments appended to Note 8].
Similarly among Anglo-Saxon tribes, "husbandry" meant farm work - as it still does - because a husband wa usually bonded to work on his wife's land. Such an agricultural matriarchate is still found in some areas. Among the Zuni, husbands worked in the fields, but the land and its harvest belonged to their wives.(12) The old custom of providing work in compensation for marriage gave rise to the word bridegroom, literally "the bride's servant." The Koran tells mean, "your wives are your tillage," because by ancient Arabian law a wifeless man was also landless.(13) See Matrilineal Inheritance.
Tantric sages considered "husbandship" (bhavanan) essential for still another reason: it was indispensible to a man's spiritual development. The same notion was found among Aryan Celts. The ancient Irish said a true bard could have power over poetry and magic only if he had "purity of husbandship," that is, fidelity to his wife.(14)
Notes:
(1) J.E. Harrison, 519.
(2) Briffault 2, 90-91.
(3) Hartley, 147, 159.
(4) Briffault 1, 369.
(5) de Riencourt, 187.
(6) Briffault 2, 348.
(7) Hartley, 232.
(8) Diner, 212. [Cf. this famous passage from the admittedly patriarchal Hebrew Old Testament, King James Version which, in light of the above information, appears to be a prayer to Goddess for a merciful wife: Proverbs 31:10: Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. (11) The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. (12) She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life. (13) She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with herhands. (14) She is like the merchants' ships, she bringeth her food from afar. (15) She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. (16) She considereth a field, and buyeth it [because it's her money, and she does what she wants with it]; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. (17) She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengthenth her arms [I find it surprising that this archaic description of a strong, independent female survived to be incorporated into the Book, in terms which were, after the patriarchal overthrow of the Goddess, generally reserved for males.] (18) She perceiveth that her merchandise is good; her candle goeth not out at night. (19) She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff. (20) She stretcheth out her hand to the poor, yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy. (21) She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet [that is, the best and finest and warmest wool clothing, dyed scarlet, the most expensive of dyes because of the difficulty in manufacturing the color. That is why it was reserved for royalty. In later times it was called "purple" and was the color of monarchs.] (22) She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple. (23) Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land. [In other words, he doesn't do anything all day but sit around with the other husband dudes at the gates of the city, making idle commentary on the merchants passing in and out, probably drinking too much, gambling with sheeps' knuckles and perhaps chasing after prostitutes.] (24) She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant. (25) Strength and honour are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come. (26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. (27) She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. (28)Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. [He's just hoping he doesn't get divorced for sitting around at the gates of the city with the other dudes all day, drinking, gambling and chasing after unvirtuous women.]
(9) Diner, 218; Budge, D.N., 26.
(10) Hartley, 196. Cf. the Scottish custom of "hand-fast" and the contemporary custom in some Islamic societies of trial marriage or "Mu' tah" or "Mutah," a subject on which I previously posted. Hmmm - it just occurred to me - is "Mu' tah" somehow related to the ancient rites of the Mother Goddess Mu or Ma, Mah, Maat, etc.?
(11) Bachofen, 180.
(12) Farh, M.R.C., 81-83.
(13) Fielding, 83.
(14) Joyce, I., 463.
Making Art Accessible
What a cool idea!
Story from The New York Times
ArtBabble Site Opens Window to World of Museums
By KATE TAYLOR
Published: April 6, 2009
For old television shows, there’s Hulu. For college lectures, there’s iTunes U. And now, for videos about art, there’s ArtBabble, a Web site created by the Indianapolis Museum of Art that offers videos from sources including the Museum of Modern Art and the PBS series “Art:21.”
In the last few years, as museums have tried to take advantage of the Internet to connect with young audiences, they have produced an increasing number of online videos, from artist interviews and time-lapse shots of exhibition installations to short profiles of curators, art handlers, and even museum guards. Most institutions feature these videos on their own Web sites, as well as uploading them to sites like YouTube or blip.tv. But until now, there has been no dedicated place on the Web for art videos.
ArtBabble (artbabble.org), which goes live to the public on Tuesday, is intended to change that. For the roll-out the Indianapolis museum invited a handful of institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to take part. In the long run, it hopes to add more institutions, so that ArtBabble becomes “the destination for art content online,” Daniel Incandela, the director of new media at the Indianapolis museum, said in an interview.
On sites like YouTube, an artist interview can get lost among the “music videos, blooper videos, and sort of more viral, edgier content,” Mr. Incandela added. There is also no easy way to browse content from multiple museums, and, until recently, videos weren’t available in high definition.
On ArtBabble the majority of videos are in high definition. The design of the home page is clean and is clearly meant to draw in nonspecialists, with speech bubbles featuring punchy quotations that, when clicked on, jump to the relevant videos. (A mock dictionary entry defines “ArtBabble” as “a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion — no art degree required.”)
The most unusual feature of the site is the “notes” that accompany each video. The notes run down a window to the right of the screen, offering links to related material on the Web. For example, in an interview with the artist Robert Irwin, when Mr. Irwin mentions the sculptors Mark di Suvero and Richard Serra, the notes offer links to the Wikipedia entries for each artist. A reference to the gardens that Mr. Irwin designed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles provides links to the Getty Center’s Web site (getty.edu) and a YouTube video of the gardens. Representatives of several of the partner institutions said that they were most excited about the notes feature and its potential.
“We can give an online viewer the opportunity to take countless tangents,” said Joshua Greenberg, director of digital strategy at the New York Public Library. “It fits the core premise of librarianship, that it’s not just about putting something in someone’s hands but contextualizing it.”
The hosting fees and other expenses of ArtBabble are being covered by the Indianapolis museum, with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Ball Brothers Foundation. (ArtBabble is free to users.) If the site becomes popular, the museum will look for corporate sponsorship, the museum’s director, Maxwell Anderson, said.
Mr. Anderson said the goal behind ArtBabble, and the museum’s own video production, is to allow visitors to “experience the life of museums,” whether through employee profiles, studio visits with artists or videos of conservators restoring objects. The advantage of making the new video site a collaborative one was obvious, he said: “The strength and potency of this as a shared site is much greater than one museum at a time.”
The Indianapolis museum has been a pioneer in using the Internet to provide greater transparency about museum operations. A section of its Web site (imamuseum.org) called the Dashboard offers current information about the value of the museum’s endowment, the number of visitors and its average daily energy consumption. The museum also recently created an online database of works it has deaccessioned.
Mr. Incandela acknowledged that the ultimate success of ArtBabble will depend, at least partly, on what other institutions the Indianapolis museum persuades to join.
Internationally, one museum that has devoted substantial resources to producing videos is the Tate. In collaboration with British Telecom, the Tate has put hundreds of videos on its Web site, tate.org.uk, from studio visits with Jeff Koons and Gilbert & George to archival interview footage with Francis Bacon. Reached by phone, Will Gompertz, the director of Tate Media, the branch of the museum that oversees its video production, said that he had not previously heard of ArtBabble, but based on a description, he thought it was a great idea.
“Tate would be delighted” to put its videos on a site like ArtBabble, Mr. Gompertz said, adding, “Nothing in this new world can be achieved alone.”
Story from The New York Times
ArtBabble Site Opens Window to World of Museums
By KATE TAYLOR
Published: April 6, 2009
For old television shows, there’s Hulu. For college lectures, there’s iTunes U. And now, for videos about art, there’s ArtBabble, a Web site created by the Indianapolis Museum of Art that offers videos from sources including the Museum of Modern Art and the PBS series “Art:21.”
In the last few years, as museums have tried to take advantage of the Internet to connect with young audiences, they have produced an increasing number of online videos, from artist interviews and time-lapse shots of exhibition installations to short profiles of curators, art handlers, and even museum guards. Most institutions feature these videos on their own Web sites, as well as uploading them to sites like YouTube or blip.tv. But until now, there has been no dedicated place on the Web for art videos.
ArtBabble (artbabble.org), which goes live to the public on Tuesday, is intended to change that. For the roll-out the Indianapolis museum invited a handful of institutions, including the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to take part. In the long run, it hopes to add more institutions, so that ArtBabble becomes “the destination for art content online,” Daniel Incandela, the director of new media at the Indianapolis museum, said in an interview.
On sites like YouTube, an artist interview can get lost among the “music videos, blooper videos, and sort of more viral, edgier content,” Mr. Incandela added. There is also no easy way to browse content from multiple museums, and, until recently, videos weren’t available in high definition.
On ArtBabble the majority of videos are in high definition. The design of the home page is clean and is clearly meant to draw in nonspecialists, with speech bubbles featuring punchy quotations that, when clicked on, jump to the relevant videos. (A mock dictionary entry defines “ArtBabble” as “a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion — no art degree required.”)
The most unusual feature of the site is the “notes” that accompany each video. The notes run down a window to the right of the screen, offering links to related material on the Web. For example, in an interview with the artist Robert Irwin, when Mr. Irwin mentions the sculptors Mark di Suvero and Richard Serra, the notes offer links to the Wikipedia entries for each artist. A reference to the gardens that Mr. Irwin designed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles provides links to the Getty Center’s Web site (getty.edu) and a YouTube video of the gardens. Representatives of several of the partner institutions said that they were most excited about the notes feature and its potential.
“We can give an online viewer the opportunity to take countless tangents,” said Joshua Greenberg, director of digital strategy at the New York Public Library. “It fits the core premise of librarianship, that it’s not just about putting something in someone’s hands but contextualizing it.”
The hosting fees and other expenses of ArtBabble are being covered by the Indianapolis museum, with the help of a $50,000 grant from the Ball Brothers Foundation. (ArtBabble is free to users.) If the site becomes popular, the museum will look for corporate sponsorship, the museum’s director, Maxwell Anderson, said.
Mr. Anderson said the goal behind ArtBabble, and the museum’s own video production, is to allow visitors to “experience the life of museums,” whether through employee profiles, studio visits with artists or videos of conservators restoring objects. The advantage of making the new video site a collaborative one was obvious, he said: “The strength and potency of this as a shared site is much greater than one museum at a time.”
The Indianapolis museum has been a pioneer in using the Internet to provide greater transparency about museum operations. A section of its Web site (imamuseum.org) called the Dashboard offers current information about the value of the museum’s endowment, the number of visitors and its average daily energy consumption. The museum also recently created an online database of works it has deaccessioned.
Mr. Incandela acknowledged that the ultimate success of ArtBabble will depend, at least partly, on what other institutions the Indianapolis museum persuades to join.
Internationally, one museum that has devoted substantial resources to producing videos is the Tate. In collaboration with British Telecom, the Tate has put hundreds of videos on its Web site, tate.org.uk, from studio visits with Jeff Koons and Gilbert & George to archival interview footage with Francis Bacon. Reached by phone, Will Gompertz, the director of Tate Media, the branch of the museum that oversees its video production, said that he had not previously heard of ArtBabble, but based on a description, he thought it was a great idea.
“Tate would be delighted” to put its videos on a site like ArtBabble, Mr. Gompertz said, adding, “Nothing in this new world can be achieved alone.”
Beads, Beads and More Beads
I ignored this story when it first surfaced but I have to say the visual evidence of world-wide trade found in a 1600's remote Spanish outpost in Georgia (the state of Georgia in the U.S.) is, well, beautiful! (Image: In the top left is a common cobalt blue seed bead, most likely from Venice (20,906 found). Below that is a Venetian turquoise/green-blue seed bead or rocaille (5777 found). To the right of these is a unique blue green melon bead from China, then a Spanish gilded oval glass bead (15 found). On the top right is an Ichtucknee plain turquoise blue bead with white patinas now thought to be manufactured in France (one of 5,265). Below that is a green Heart bugle bead with a thin clear veneer over red-orange glass over green glass from the Margariteri guild of Venice (one of 5). (Credit: AMNH))Story from Science Daily:
Largest 17th Century Bead Repository Found In Coastal Georgia
ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2009) — French and Chinese blue glass, Dutch layered glass, Baltic amber: roughly 70,000 beads manufactured all over the world have been excavated at one of the Spanish empire's remotest outposts, the Santa Catalina de Guale Mission.
The beads were found as part of an extensive, ongoing research project led by a team of scientists from the American Museum of Natural History on St. Catherines Island off the coast of Georgia. Comprising the largest repository ever from Spanish Florida, the beads enlighten archaeologists about past trade routes and provide clues to the social structure and wealth of the people.
"This is the northernmost outpost of the Spanish empire, but we see evidence of ancient trade routes from China via Manila's galleons to Mexico and Spain," says Lorann Pendleton, Director of the Archaeology Laboratory at the Museum. "We also have found perhaps the first evidence of Spanish beadmaking, along with beads from the main centers of Italy, France, and the Netherlands."
The mission of Santa Catalina de Guale was inhabited by Franciscan missionaries and local people for most of the 17th century. The mission was a major source of grain for Spanish Florida and a provincial capital until1680, when the mission was abandoned after a British attack. Since 1974, David Hurst Thomas, Curator of Anthropology at the Museum, and colleagues have been carefully unearthing this part of the island's history.
The current research is based on the complete excavation of the church's cemetery and extensive survey and excavation in other parts of the mission. Years of analysis reveal roughly 130 different types of beads on the island, and numbers of specimens per type range from one to 20,000. Most of the more common beads are of Venetian and potentially French origin, with new research suggesting that one of the most common beads of the 17th century, the Ichtucknee blue, was manufactured in France. Some of the unique beads, though, may be Spanish, Chinese, Bohemian, Indian, or Baltic in origin.
While roughly 2,000 beads were found elsewhere at the mission (such as in the convent), most were found in the cemetery under the church. These were items intentionally deposited with individuals as grave goods, and the analysis of these items shows that there were subtle temporal and spatial changes in how the cemetery was used. Most burials found with large numbers of beads appear to date to the earlier part of the mission's history (the first half of the 17th century); items found with burials that date to the latter half of the 17th century are more likely to be religious medallions and rosaries. But because almost half the beads in the cemetery were buried with a few individuals who tended to be near the altar, it is often assumed that they were of high status in the community.
"A higher number of beads were found toward the altar, and some of the highest-status individuals (by number of beads) were children," says Pendleton. "This gives us lots of information about Guale society and means that status was ascribed with birth."
Elliot Blair, graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley, agrees but points out that "the picture that is emerging is turning out to be much more complicated than people had thought. It's hard to say whether the presence of the beads reflects native or church hierarchies, the presence of wealthy individuals, or something else entirely. Still, this is the largest assemblage of beads ever found in a Spanish mission in La Florida, and the study of these materials has yielded considerable information about how Guale society, burial practices, and Spanish missionization changed during the 17th century."
The number of beads found on St. Catherines Island suggests that Santa Catalina de Guale was a relatively wealthy outpost. The island is fertile and was the capital of a mission province, both potential explanations for the high number of beads found when compared to other missions.
"St. Catherines was a frontier mission, but it also was a bread basket for the east-coast Spanish empire," explains Pendleton. "The missionaries at St. Augustine were always starving—you can read this in the letters written at the time—because that area was too humid and hot for corn to grow easily. St. Catherines was able to trade corn for beads."
The new research, authored by Blair, Pendleton, and bead expert Peter Francis, Jr., is published in the Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History. Francis, who did much of the detailed analysis of where beads were manufactured, died while on a research trip to Ghana, Africa, in 2002. The research was funded in part by the Edward John Noble Foundation.
Adapted from materials provided by American Museum of Natural History, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
The Antikythera "Computer"
I love to see features like this from ABC National Radio's The Science Show. You can download the audio or a written transcript. (Image of the Antikythera mechanism from file).
Queen Hatshepsut and Karnak
Story from UCLA Today.Photo: Digital Karnak architects Willeke Wendrich, from the left, Elaine Sullivan and Diane Favro.
April 21, 2009
By Meg Sullivan
Team's re-creation of ancient Karnak brings history of pharaohs to life
After being crowned one of ancient Egypt’s rare female pharaohs, Queen Hatshepsut renovated a coronation hall lined with statuary depicting her father, her highly regarded predecessor, as a god. In the center of the hall, she installed two 10-story red granite obelisks and a beautiful red quartzite chapel inscribed with images of herself erecting the colossal obelisks.
“To us, this may seem egomaniacal,” said UCLA Egyptologist Willeke Wendrich. “But part of the process of legitimating herself in a role rarely held by women was to imprint the space in a way that established her as the great heir to her great father.”
Apparently, Hatshepsut was a little too successful: When her nephew, Thutmose III, who was for years co-ruler in her shadow, finally succeeded the 15th century B.C. queen, he removed the upgrades, partially bricked over the obelisks and tore down the chapel.
What did Thutmose III have against his aunt, now considered to be one of the most successful pharaohs of all time? Was he merely sexist? Or was he threatened by the possibility that Hatshepsut’s own daughter might try to usurp his throne? [An interesting proposition - because of the importance of matrilineal descent in ancient Egypt, did Thutmose III marry Htsepsut's daughter to solidify his hold on the throne???]
While scholars may never know the exact answers to these and other tantalizing mysteries, they are at least able to visualize one of the most important remaining records of this and other ancient Egyptian power struggles, thanks to the latest 3-D computer model from UCLA’s Experiential Technologies Center (ETC) in the Department of Architecture and Urban Design.
The result of two years of painstaking research by a team of more than 24 scholars and technicians, Digital Karnak explores how scores of existing ruins may have originally looked and demonstrates how they came to be altered over time as generations of pharaohs put their stamp on the site that served as the religious center for Thebes, the Ancient Egyptian capital during the Golden Age of the Pharaohs.
“Ancient Egyptian texts didn’t write about these kinds of rivalries,” said Diane Favro, ETC director and the project’s principal investigator. “So we rely on architectural transformations and depictions on contemporary reliefs to provide invaluable information about Egypt’s rich history.”
Through interactive architectural plans and intricate perspective illustrations, Digital Karnak traces the site’s evolution over two millennia, encompassing 63 distinct features of this major religious center located on the Nile’s eastern bank at Thebes, a little more than a mile north of modern Luxor.
Accompanied by ETC’s most ambitious web interface to date, Digital Karnak shows the site at any point in time between 1951 B.C. and 31 B.C., allowing users to fast-forward from a single temple occupying a two-acre site to a sprawling complex covering 69 acres with eight temples, 10 small chapels, 10 monumental gateways, 15 obelisks, 100 sphinxes and even a ceremonial lake.
“Karnak is one of the most dazzling sites in Egypt nowadays, but if you try to figure out what any one feature originally looked like, you get in trouble because you have all these elements from different periods standing next to each other, many of which were moved or altered over time,” said Favro, a professor of architectural history. “We set out to give people a clear sense of the chronology of site’s development.”
That's the goal that Favro and Wendrich, the project’s co-developer, are aiming for especially this month. On April 4, they demonstrated the model at the annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians, the field’s leading professional group, in Pasadena. On April 25, they will present it in Dallas, Texas, at the annual meeting of the American Research Center in Egypt, considered the premiere conference for U.S.-based Egyptologists.
As one of ancient Egypt’s two chief religious centers, Karnak rose in prominence in the last half of the 3000-year-long empire. Still impressive after all these years, Karnak is one of the most visited sites in Egypt and is best known today for what remains of the Great Hypostyle Hall, a giant room with a painted ceiling supported by 12 massive seven-story and 122 four-story sandstone columns.
“Even though I have been to Karnak many times, when walking through the temple, especially very early in the morning before the hordes of tourists come in or when I'm in a quiet corner of the enormous complex, I feel history becoming almost tangible,” said Wendrich, an associate professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.
This is the place where Akhenaten, believed to be King Tutankhamun’s father, built a temple to his own religion, thought to be the world’s first monotheistic faith. The Hypostyle Hall was decorated by Ramesses II, the pharaoh often associated with the Biblical Exodus. One of the Karnak gates is engraved with references to another pharaoh whose exploits may also be chronicled in the Bible: Shoshenq I, whose military conquests took him as far as today’s Israel.
Hatshepsut’s legacy at Karnak is particularly exciting for art lovers. Holdings of most major museums include statuary and other pieces of art commissioned during her long and successful reign, which was characterized by a flowering of the arts. One of her 10-story obelisks still stands at Karnak. Other obelisks from the reigns of her successors were moved to grace public squares in Rome and Istanbul. Statuary unearthed at Karnak dots today’s Cairo.
The ETC is renowned for making sense of such historic landscapes. Under Favro’s direction, the team has digitally reconstructed dozens of important landmarks that either have been lost or altered beyond recognition, including Pompeii’s Villa of the Mysteries and ancient sites in Rome including the Colosseum and Forum.
Additional features of Digital Karnak include Quick-Time videos highlighting the processional routes of the major religious ceremonies for which Karnak was designed, such as the Opet Festival, an annual celebration of fertility.
The model even helps users visualize how natural meandering caused the River Nile to recede almost a half mile from Karnak, driving the complex’s slow but steady westward expansion.
“The model cannot show us Karnak as it really was because we will never know everything about a site that is so ancient,” said Elaine Sullivan, project coordinator and a postdoctoral fellow in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. “However, it does represent the current state of knowledge of Karnak at this date.”
Drafted with the same precision and attention to detail that would be required to generate architectural plans to actually reconstruct the site, Digital Karnak is based on generations of discoveries at the historical site, in particular by French archaeologists.
“One of the real problems for American scholars studying the site is that all of the documentation, current research and reconstructions are published in French journals,” said Sullivan. “If an instructor or student can’t read high-level academic French, this information is inaccessible to them.”
In contrast, Digital Karnak is written entirely in English, a feature that organizers hope will make it popular with travelers, architecture buffs and American college courses in art history, architectural history and world history.
Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Steinmetz Family of Los Angeles, the model will also serve as an illustration for the UCLA-based Encyclopedia of Egyptology, an online encyclopedia of the field’s latest peer-reviewed research. Because the model is as dynamic as the encyclopedia’s other entries, creators plan to update the model as new discoveries become available.
“We hope Egyptologists will use Digital Karnak to test out and advance research in the field,” said Wendrich. “We look forward to making as many changes to our Karnak as the pharaohs did to the actual site.”
To see a video clip showing the western entrance to Karnak today, go here. This is how Karnak's western alley of sphinxes would have originally appeared, according to UCLA's Digital Karnak.
Iraqi Women Treated Worse Than Mad Dogs
Story from The Los Angeles Times:(Photo credit: Alaa al-Marjani / Associated Press A poster at a Najaf rally reads “Stop violence against women.”)
In Iraq, a story of rape, shame and 'honor killing'
Alaa al-Marjani / Associated Press
After prison guards assaulted an Iraqi woman, she turned to her brother for help. But he — and society — failed her.
By Tina Susman and Caesar Ahmed
April 23, 2009
Reporting from Baghdad -- Sometimes, it's the forbidden stories, the ones people are afraid to tell in full, the ones that emerge only in fragments, that reveal the truth about a place.This is such a story.
It's being told now not because the complete truth is known, but because the story nags at those familiar with its outlines, and because it says as much about Iraq's progress as it does about Iraq's resistance to change.
This much is known:
A young woman imprisoned in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, sent a letter to her brother last summer, appealing for help. The woman, named Dalal, wrote that she was pregnant after being raped by prison guards.
The brother asked to visit her. Guards obliged. The brother walked into her cell, drew a gun and shot his visibly pregnant sister dead.
His goal: to spare his family the taint of a pregnancy out of wedlock, a disgrace in Iraq often averted through so-called honor killings of women by their relatives.
For prison guards, the killing was also a relief.
"They believed that her death would end the case," said a lab worker at Baghdad's central morgue, where the victim's body -- still carrying the 5-month-old fetus -- was sent.
The case might have ended there were it not for the morgue employee, who was determined to see those responsible held to account.
At the employee's insistence, lab workers using freshly acquired DNA-testing equipment drew a sample from the fetus. The prison guards were ordered to submit DNA samples and did so, apparently unaware of the sophistication of the morgue equipment and the people trained to use it.
"They thought we were incapable of figuring it out," said the morgue employee.
The DNA results showed that the father of the unborn baby was a police lieutenant colonel who reportedly supervised guards at the prison.
In another society, the scientific evidence would have led to arrests and prosecution. But this being Iraq, the power wielded by men in uniform and the belief that a raped woman is better off dead combined to cloud the truth.
Months passed after word leaked of the killing on a sweltering summer day. Just as it nagged at the morgue worker, it nagged at us. But how to tell a story that nobody wants told? Everyone had different, usually conflicting, versions of what had happened.
Only the morgue worker's story remained the same, repeated in phone calls and e-mails as summer turned to fall and then winter.
Then, it was time for one of us to leave Iraq. A colleague asked what the reporter's final story would be. There must be one after so long in the country, he insisted.
"Isn't there a story that got away?" he asked.
It became clear that this was it, even if we still didn't know the truth.
About the only thing anyone agrees on is that a young woman was murdered, and that her last days were spent pregnant and worrying about what would happen if she were released into a society that would condemn her for it.
According to a judge in the Tikrit court, the lieutenant colonel implicated by DNA and a police captain also accused in the case were arrested on rape charges but then released for lack of evidence. [LACK OF EVIDENCE? AS IF THE DNA EVIDENCE DID NOT EXIST!] The judge said a third defendant, a police lieutenant, remained in custody. (It is not uncommon in Iraq for police officers to serve as prison guards and supervisors.)
Another Tikrit court official said the lieutenant colonel and captain remained in custody but were transferred from Tikrit to Baghdad. Col. Hatem Thabit, spokesman for the police in Salahuddin province, where the crime was committed, concurred with this account.
Yet other accounts say the matter was settled through tribal justice. The clan of the accused lieutenant colonel paid the woman's family to drop charges, said some people in the area who are familiar with the case but fearful of discussing it openly.
The morgue worker said those involved in the lab testing understood that all three of the police officers were freed.
"I heard the dispute was solved by a tribal ransom," the employee said.
"The issue bothers me a lot. I'm doing my job, and the bad guys are getting back on the street."
There are conflicting reports on the brother's status. Some say he was jailed for killing his sister. Others say he was freed as part of the tribal deal.
As for the slain woman, several accounts say she was in prison not because she was a convicted or accused criminal, but because police wanted to question her brother about something. They thought he would turn himself in to free Dalal. Nobody has been able to explain why police wanted to talk to the brother.
The prison where she was held houses mainly men. There is a small section for female inmates, usually no more than a few at a time. A female guard is supposed to watch over them. No one could explain how the lieutenant colonel was able to do what he did.
Nor could anyone say how Dalal's brother got into her cell with a loaded gun.
"He was supposed to be searched," said Thabit, the police spokesman. "Where he got the weapon, we don't know."
In Iraq, violence against women is a festering but rarely addressed problem. There are no readily available statistics on "honor" killings. The number of rapes reported to police averages five to 10 per month for the entire country, said an official at Baghdad's central morgue, who released the first details of the Tikrit case last summer.
"The actual number of rapes is actually more than we know. There are so many rapes in the prisons, for example," he added before going on to cite the Tikrit case to an Iraqi working for The Times. Realizing he was discussing a case not intended for public consumption, the official urged the reporter not to translate the facts for his English-speaking colleague.
But minutes later, another morgue official and then the lab worker confirmed the case. All asked not to be identified for fear of losing their jobs.
Other workers interviewed during a daylong visit to the morgue, where rape victims are examined, said they had detected an increase in violent crimes against women since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion ushered in a religious conservatism and brought social and economic upheaval. [Oh yeah, blame everything on the Americans, not the cock-eyed culture where male beastiality is taught as the preferred way to have sex over having intercourse with a human woman].
Most are honor killings, said one morgue employee, who a day earlier had received the body of a pregnant woman with her throat slit.
Human rights advocates say many of these homicides are made to look like honor killings to gain leniency for the perpetrators.
"It's a lot worse now," said Ibtisam Hamody Azzawi, a former engineer who runs a small aid organization for abused women from her home in Baghdad.
"Our society witnessed so much war, and this is reflected in the domestic abuse situation."Everything is violence. Even the kids love war," said Azzawi, whose husband, a university dean, was killed by extremists in 2007. [Baloney! This is a direct reflection of a religion that teaches and perpetuates intense hatred for and fear of females].
Much of her time is spent answering knocks on her door or phone calls from women looking for an escape from abusive homes. People find her by word of mouth. She does not tell her neighbors what she does, lest extremists attack her or one of her daughters. [Okay, reporters - how do you think you are protecting this woman by publishing her full name and city of residence in the newspaper? Do you not think Iraqi extremists have access to the internet? DUH! When she and/or her daughers are targeted and killed, will you feel any blood guilt?]
Iraq has no shelters for battered or threatened women, and the war has splintered and displaced families who might have taken in female relatives. Amid the turmoil, homicide has become an easy out for husbands wanting to end their marriages, Azzawi said. It's cheaper than divorce.
"Women get killed, but often it is reported that they are missing," she said. "It's all part of the chaos. Some husbands kill their wives and say maybe she was kidnapped, maybe she died in a bombing."
A husband and wife will have domestic problems. All of a sudden, the wife will disappear.
"At the women's prison in Tikrit, Saturday is visiting day. On a summer Saturday, a brother came to see his sister, her stomach swelling with her unborn child.
She trusted him.
Tina Susman recently returned to the U.S. after a two-year tour in Iraq. Times staff writers Usama Redha and Ned Parker in Baghdad, and special correspondents in Samarra and Tikrit contributed to this report.
********************************************
This is what the religion of Allah teaches: Women are not human beings. Women are worth less than mad dogs and can be exterminated with impunity. Muslim men prefer to have sex with goats and camels rather than women, because women are unclean. A follower of Allah can kill a woman, even a pregnant woman, with no consequences. Kill a woman, it's cheaper than divorcing her. Kill your daughter, kill your sister, who has been raped, and let the rapist go free with no punishment. No one will care - but maybe you can get some money out of the rapist's clan and buy yourself a flat-screen HDTV and satellite reception for a month or two.
The German Templers/Jews Swap of WWII
Templers - not Templars - which is what I first thought when this article caught my eye. A fascinating, little known story, from Haaretz.com:
A life-saving swap
By Nurit Wurgaft and Ran Shapira
Sun., April 26, 2009 Iyyar 2, 5769
"The Eretz-Israeli residents that have been exchanged have arrived from the Reich," a Haaretz headline announced on November 17, 1942. "There's been much commotion at the Afula station," the article read, "in preparation for the arrival of 114 women and children, relatives of Eretz-Israeli and British residents, who've come from Germany. They were exchanged for German women and children from Eretz Israel, who were allowed to travel to Germany."
Ora Reshef, 73, from Kiryat Ono, may have been aboard that train to Afula. In 1939 she journeyed with her mother from Palestine to Poland, she thinks, "to celebrate Passover, and so that my grandmother and grandfather could get to know their grandchild." The grandparents, a wealthy couple, lived in a large wooden house, she recalls. After they occupied Poland, and return travel became impossible, "the Nazis came to the house and found us. Since we weren't Polish citizens, but had documents issued by the British Mandate authorities, Mother had to report to the police station every week. In 1942 they came and told us, 'You're going.' No one knew whether to believe them, but a few days later we were put on a train and got to Israel by way of Turkey."
Between 1941 and 1945, some 550 Jews arrived in Palestine under similar circumstances, having been trapped in occupied Europe and then released as part of the same deal, for Germans detained in Palestine. Some of them have remained in touch with each other to this day.
The German women and children who were deported from Palestine were Templers - members of a Protestant religious movement founded in Germany in the mid-1800s. The Templers worked to bring about salvation and the second coming of Jesus Christ, and believed the only way to do this was to live a productive life in the Holy Land.
By World War II, the Templer population in Palestine was already in its third generation, with communities in the German Colonies of Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as in Sarona (now the Kirya in Tel Aviv), Valhalla near Jaffa, Wilhelma (now Moshav Bnei Atarot), Beit Lehem Haglilit and Waldheim (now Alonei Aba). Although they lived in Eretz Israel, they maintained their German citizenship, studied in German and identified as Germans. Many supported the racist-nationalist ideology of Adolf Hitler; indeed, after Hitler's party rose to power in 1933, some Templers joined the Nazi cause. The Nazi regime decreed that their party would run all German affairs in Eretz Israel and placed Nazi activist Cornelius Schwarz at the head of the local community.
"They went from religious messianism to political messianism," says Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi, rector of the University of Haifa and a professor in its Land of Israel studies department. He believes that the Nazi episode in Templer history has been blown out of proportion. "The members of the younger generation to some extent broke away from naive religious belief, and were more receptive to the Nazi German nationalism. The older ones tried to fight it."
In 1938 about 17 percent of Palestine's Templer community were members of the Nazi Party. British Mandate authorities were not happy to have Nazi activity in their own backyard. And at the end of August 1939, a few days before the war broke out, young Templer men eligible for the draft were conscripted into the Wehrmacht and left for Germany. Those who stayed behind became enemy nationals, imprisoned in their own homes. Palestine's German colonies were surrounded by barbed-wire fences and watchtowers, and effectively became detention camps. The British wanted to expel the German citizens from the country they controlled. And so the road was paved for an exchange of German citizens in Palestine for British subjects - Jews from Palestine, who had left for Europe just before the war and were stranded there, unable to return.
"In return for the Germans whom the British wished to deport, they received Palestinian citizens - Eretz Israeli Jews in occupied Europe," says Hebrew University Holocaust scholar Prof. Yehuda Bauer. "Jewish groups pressured the British government to negotiate an exchange of these British subjects for the Germans."
The swap, Bauer stresses, stemmed primarily from British and German interests: Just as the British wanted to get the Germans out, Germany was happy for the chance to rid itself of a few hundred more Jews. The exchange, however, was not an even one. The number of Germans deported from Palestine was greater than the number of returning Jews.
Bauer explains that despite the pressure they exerted, the various institutions affiliated with the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community) wielded no real influence over the talks that ultimately enabled a group of Jews to escape the ghettos of Europe. It was the British who negotiated with the Germans, first under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, and later through the Swiss.
"The Yishuv's leadership had no idea when the Jews exchanged for the Templers would arrive. They did not even know how far the negotiations had progressed - the British had that little regard for the leadership and its power," he says.
Rest of article.
A life-saving swap
By Nurit Wurgaft and Ran Shapira
Sun., April 26, 2009 Iyyar 2, 5769
"The Eretz-Israeli residents that have been exchanged have arrived from the Reich," a Haaretz headline announced on November 17, 1942. "There's been much commotion at the Afula station," the article read, "in preparation for the arrival of 114 women and children, relatives of Eretz-Israeli and British residents, who've come from Germany. They were exchanged for German women and children from Eretz Israel, who were allowed to travel to Germany."
Ora Reshef, 73, from Kiryat Ono, may have been aboard that train to Afula. In 1939 she journeyed with her mother from Palestine to Poland, she thinks, "to celebrate Passover, and so that my grandmother and grandfather could get to know their grandchild." The grandparents, a wealthy couple, lived in a large wooden house, she recalls. After they occupied Poland, and return travel became impossible, "the Nazis came to the house and found us. Since we weren't Polish citizens, but had documents issued by the British Mandate authorities, Mother had to report to the police station every week. In 1942 they came and told us, 'You're going.' No one knew whether to believe them, but a few days later we were put on a train and got to Israel by way of Turkey."
Between 1941 and 1945, some 550 Jews arrived in Palestine under similar circumstances, having been trapped in occupied Europe and then released as part of the same deal, for Germans detained in Palestine. Some of them have remained in touch with each other to this day.
The German women and children who were deported from Palestine were Templers - members of a Protestant religious movement founded in Germany in the mid-1800s. The Templers worked to bring about salvation and the second coming of Jesus Christ, and believed the only way to do this was to live a productive life in the Holy Land.
By World War II, the Templer population in Palestine was already in its third generation, with communities in the German Colonies of Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as in Sarona (now the Kirya in Tel Aviv), Valhalla near Jaffa, Wilhelma (now Moshav Bnei Atarot), Beit Lehem Haglilit and Waldheim (now Alonei Aba). Although they lived in Eretz Israel, they maintained their German citizenship, studied in German and identified as Germans. Many supported the racist-nationalist ideology of Adolf Hitler; indeed, after Hitler's party rose to power in 1933, some Templers joined the Nazi cause. The Nazi regime decreed that their party would run all German affairs in Eretz Israel and placed Nazi activist Cornelius Schwarz at the head of the local community.
"They went from religious messianism to political messianism," says Prof. Yossi Ben-Artzi, rector of the University of Haifa and a professor in its Land of Israel studies department. He believes that the Nazi episode in Templer history has been blown out of proportion. "The members of the younger generation to some extent broke away from naive religious belief, and were more receptive to the Nazi German nationalism. The older ones tried to fight it."
In 1938 about 17 percent of Palestine's Templer community were members of the Nazi Party. British Mandate authorities were not happy to have Nazi activity in their own backyard. And at the end of August 1939, a few days before the war broke out, young Templer men eligible for the draft were conscripted into the Wehrmacht and left for Germany. Those who stayed behind became enemy nationals, imprisoned in their own homes. Palestine's German colonies were surrounded by barbed-wire fences and watchtowers, and effectively became detention camps. The British wanted to expel the German citizens from the country they controlled. And so the road was paved for an exchange of German citizens in Palestine for British subjects - Jews from Palestine, who had left for Europe just before the war and were stranded there, unable to return.
"In return for the Germans whom the British wished to deport, they received Palestinian citizens - Eretz Israeli Jews in occupied Europe," says Hebrew University Holocaust scholar Prof. Yehuda Bauer. "Jewish groups pressured the British government to negotiate an exchange of these British subjects for the Germans."
The swap, Bauer stresses, stemmed primarily from British and German interests: Just as the British wanted to get the Germans out, Germany was happy for the chance to rid itself of a few hundred more Jews. The exchange, however, was not an even one. The number of Germans deported from Palestine was greater than the number of returning Jews.
Bauer explains that despite the pressure they exerted, the various institutions affiliated with the Yishuv (pre-state Jewish community) wielded no real influence over the talks that ultimately enabled a group of Jews to escape the ghettos of Europe. It was the British who negotiated with the Germans, first under the auspices of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin, and later through the Swiss.
"The Yishuv's leadership had no idea when the Jews exchanged for the Templers would arrive. They did not even know how far the negotiations had progressed - the British had that little regard for the leadership and its power," he says.
Rest of article.
Hales Corners Challenge IX
From USCF, here are excerpted final standings for the Open and Reserve Sections (full final standings) - and I hope I did not miss any of the chess femmes!
Final standings, Hales Corners Challenge IX (April 25, 2009):
Open Section (56 players) (4 rounds):
1 MESGEN AMANOV 3.5 (IL 2391)
22 NICOLE NIEMI 2.0 WI (1861) (Winner of Goddesschess prize $65)
Reserve Section (51 players) (4 rounds):
1 ADEM MUSIC 4.0 IL (1594)
5 SANDRA R PAHL 3.0 WI (1372) (50% of Goddesschess prize $20)
10 ELIZABETH CATHERINE EMERY 3.0 WI (877) (50% of Goddesschess prize $20)
13 JOANNA HUANG 2.5 WI (1462)
27 ALENA HUANG 2.0 WI (1260)
29 RACHEL J ULRICH 2.0 IL (1187)
37 DANAE MALISSA ALEXANDER 1.5 WI (810)
43 STEPHANIE MARIE YAHR 1.0 WI (881)
45 CLAUDIA JOY SCHNEIDER 1.0 WI (718)
46 SUSANNA KRIVULIS 1.0 WI )662P5)
49 ISABELLA ILCHENKO 0.5 WI (425P25)
Congratulations to the winners of the Goddesschess prizes!
Assuming I have all of the chess femmes named above who participated in the HCC IX (11), there was an overall participation rate of 10.28% for the chess femmes, with strong participation in the Reserve section of 19.61%.
Hmmm, with so many chess femmes playing in the Reserve section, we may need to rethink our prize structure a bit. Well, with our Goddesschess anniversary get-together coming up shortly in New York (May 12-19), that will be added to our agenda for discussion. We would really like to see more chess femmes participate in the Open, but we were absolutely delighted to see so many chess femmes come out to play in the Reserve. What to do, what to do... Stay tuned for the Hales Corners Challenge X!!!
Final standings, Hales Corners Challenge IX (April 25, 2009):
Open Section (56 players) (4 rounds):
1 MESGEN AMANOV 3.5 (IL 2391)
22 NICOLE NIEMI 2.0 WI (1861) (Winner of Goddesschess prize $65)
Reserve Section (51 players) (4 rounds):
1 ADEM MUSIC 4.0 IL (1594)
5 SANDRA R PAHL 3.0 WI (1372) (50% of Goddesschess prize $20)
10 ELIZABETH CATHERINE EMERY 3.0 WI (877) (50% of Goddesschess prize $20)
13 JOANNA HUANG 2.5 WI (1462)
27 ALENA HUANG 2.0 WI (1260)
29 RACHEL J ULRICH 2.0 IL (1187)
37 DANAE MALISSA ALEXANDER 1.5 WI (810)
43 STEPHANIE MARIE YAHR 1.0 WI (881)
45 CLAUDIA JOY SCHNEIDER 1.0 WI (718)
46 SUSANNA KRIVULIS 1.0 WI )662P5)
49 ISABELLA ILCHENKO 0.5 WI (425P25)
Congratulations to the winners of the Goddesschess prizes!
Assuming I have all of the chess femmes named above who participated in the HCC IX (11), there was an overall participation rate of 10.28% for the chess femmes, with strong participation in the Reserve section of 19.61%.
Hmmm, with so many chess femmes playing in the Reserve section, we may need to rethink our prize structure a bit. Well, with our Goddesschess anniversary get-together coming up shortly in New York (May 12-19), that will be added to our agenda for discussion. We would really like to see more chess femmes participate in the Open, but we were absolutely delighted to see so many chess femmes come out to play in the Reserve. What to do, what to do... Stay tuned for the Hales Corners Challenge X!!!
Hales Corners Challenge IX
OHMYGODDESS!
The thunderstorms are thundering, the house is shaking, the lightning is flashing and my lights are flashing too, but I am one happy chess femme tonight, darlings!
First report fresh from the "Getting to 2000" blog about the Hales Corners Challenge IX, which took place earlier today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
History: number of players (open+reserve) and the winner(s):
HCC IX...04/2009 (56+51=107)AMANOV, YOUNG, SANTARIUS, KOHLENBERG
GM Amanov wins the Open! Nearly as many players in the reserve as the Open! 107 players! WOW! This turn-out totally smashed all prior participant records (information thanks to Ivan's post):
HCC VIII.10/2008 (33+32=65) TATE,YOUNG,TENNANT,BECKER
HCC VII..04/2008 (22+30=52) BURGESS,TENNANT,PARKER
HCC VI...10/2007 (30+32=62) TENNANT, BREIDER,SANTARIUS
HCC V....04/2007 (40+22=62) TATE,STAMNOV
HCC IV...11/2006 (23+26=49) STAMNOV
HCC III..04/2006 (28+17=45) TENNANT
HCC II...10/2005 (20+18=38) BURGESS,BECKER
HCC I....04/2005 (34+36=70) BETANELI
Thanks and smooches to Ivan for posting the news - he's up tonight as late as I am (it's now 12:24 a.m. Milwaukee time). I will be receiving more information and photos from Allen Becker and will post it all here.
Darlings, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this turn-out! The last report I had was 70 pre-registered - and to have 107 participants today! I can't wait to see how many chess femmes played and who won the Goddesschess prize money. Oh, I'm so happy happy happy, dancing in my chair happy - okay, time to get up and dance around the den - thank Goddess no one can see me! LOL!
The thunderstorms are thundering, the house is shaking, the lightning is flashing and my lights are flashing too, but I am one happy chess femme tonight, darlings!
First report fresh from the "Getting to 2000" blog about the Hales Corners Challenge IX, which took place earlier today in Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
History: number of players (open+reserve) and the winner(s):
HCC IX...04/2009 (56+51=107)AMANOV, YOUNG, SANTARIUS, KOHLENBERG
GM Amanov wins the Open! Nearly as many players in the reserve as the Open! 107 players! WOW! This turn-out totally smashed all prior participant records (information thanks to Ivan's post):
HCC VIII.10/2008 (33+32=65) TATE,YOUNG,TENNANT,BECKER
HCC VII..04/2008 (22+30=52) BURGESS,TENNANT,PARKER
HCC VI...10/2007 (30+32=62) TENNANT, BREIDER,SANTARIUS
HCC V....04/2007 (40+22=62) TATE,STAMNOV
HCC IV...11/2006 (23+26=49) STAMNOV
HCC III..04/2006 (28+17=45) TENNANT
HCC II...10/2005 (20+18=38) BURGESS,BECKER
HCC I....04/2005 (34+36=70) BETANELI
Thanks and smooches to Ivan for posting the news - he's up tonight as late as I am (it's now 12:24 a.m. Milwaukee time). I will be receiving more information and photos from Allen Becker and will post it all here.
Darlings, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this turn-out! The last report I had was 70 pre-registered - and to have 107 participants today! I can't wait to see how many chess femmes played and who won the Goddesschess prize money. Oh, I'm so happy happy happy, dancing in my chair happy - okay, time to get up and dance around the den - thank Goddess no one can see me! LOL!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
V Edicion Torneo San Jorge de Ajedrez
(Photo: Round 7, María Crespo and Alejandro Galán attract a crowd of onlookers)Goddesschess receives it's share of mail, as I suspect most chess-related websites do. A few days ago we received an unsolicited email report about a tournament held in Spain. Unfortunately for us, it was entirely in Spanish, a language which none of us speaks!
However, with the aid of the many photographs provided at the website of the Club Ateneo Cacereno de Ajedrez and a rough (very rough) Babel Fish translation, I was able to use my incredible powers of deductive reasoning to conclude that it was a report about the V Edicion Torneo San Jorge de Ajedrez scholastic chess event held in Cáceres, Spain, on April 19, 2009.
There were 166 participants, although 204(?)registered. The photographs tell the entire story of the event, from start to finish. First, the Club gets its first sight of the venue; then there is all of the hard work to get the space ready for the tournament. The hard-working volunteers from the Ateneo Cacereno Chess Club set up the many tables, chairs and chess sets needed to host such a large event and prepare the site for the tournament. Next, there are photographs of the action as the tournament unfolded, and photographs of the awards ceremony at the end.
I was enchanted!
Here are the top finishers of the female partipants and the prizes they won:
1º María Crespo (Trofeo + Caja selección Alimentos Extremadura + Fritz 11)
2º Ana Martín Mora Muñoz (Trofeo + Libro ajedrez)
3º Clara Gallego Sosa (Tablero ajedrez y piezas)
4º Irene Valle González (Tablero ajedrez y piezas)
5º Marta Martín Morientes (Tablero ajedrez y piezas)
The Club Ateneo Cacereno de Ajedrez is already planning for a bigger and better event next year! Congratulations to all of the winners and participants in the 2009 event, and to all of the people who made it possible with their dedication and hard work. I wish you much success in 2010!
Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation
In addition to holding many other tournaments throughout the year, in 2009 the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation funded $4,000 in scholarships at four Wisconsin scholastic tournaments. The following information is from the WSCF website:
According to WSCF founder and President, Bob Patterson-Sumwalt, “The WSCF is dedicated to promoting scholastic chess as a means to academic achievement. The scholarship funds we are awarding this year are a great way for our organization to meet that objective.”
February 28th 2009 The 4th Annual All Girls Tournament. $1000 in total scholarship funds were awarded. We are thrilled to offer this wonderful tournament held at Devine Savior Holy Angels High School, a private “All Girls” school. Click for details. Click for Results
(Goddesschess was pleased to make a donation to the 2009 All Girls event).
March 7th 2009 WSCF 2009 Grade Level Championships. $500 in total scholarship funds were awarded. Players compete against others within their own grade. The tournament will be held at the Marion Center in St. Francis. Click for details. Click for Results
March 28th The 4th Annual March of Champions Tournament. $1000 in total scholarship funds were awarded. At the Mother Katherine Daniel's Center in Milwaukee. Click for details. Click for Results
April 18th - 19th The 2nd Annual WSCF State Championship. $1500 in total scholarship funds were awarded. At the Kalahari Water park Resort and Convention center in the Wisconsin Dells. Winners in all 4 sections will be eligible for scholarship awards. Click for details.
According to WSCF founder and President, Bob Patterson-Sumwalt, “The WSCF is dedicated to promoting scholastic chess as a means to academic achievement. The scholarship funds we are awarding this year are a great way for our organization to meet that objective.”
February 28th 2009 The 4th Annual All Girls Tournament. $1000 in total scholarship funds were awarded. We are thrilled to offer this wonderful tournament held at Devine Savior Holy Angels High School, a private “All Girls” school. Click for details. Click for Results
(Goddesschess was pleased to make a donation to the 2009 All Girls event).
March 7th 2009 WSCF 2009 Grade Level Championships. $500 in total scholarship funds were awarded. Players compete against others within their own grade. The tournament will be held at the Marion Center in St. Francis. Click for details. Click for Results
March 28th The 4th Annual March of Champions Tournament. $1000 in total scholarship funds were awarded. At the Mother Katherine Daniel's Center in Milwaukee. Click for details. Click for Results
April 18th - 19th The 2nd Annual WSCF State Championship. $1500 in total scholarship funds were awarded. At the Kalahari Water park Resort and Convention center in the Wisconsin Dells. Winners in all 4 sections will be eligible for scholarship awards. Click for details.
2009 Christ Lutheran Academy Chess Tournament
Hola darlings!
My favorite scholastic chess organization, the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation, presents a tournament on May 2, 2009 in Kenosha, Wisconsin:
Location: Messiah Lutheran Church (Parish Hall)
2026 22nd Ave, Kenosha, WI 53140
Format: K– 3, K- 6 and K – 12 divisions, Wisconsin-rated, 6 round Swiss, G30.
WSCF membership not required. Rounds 1 may be G25.
Awards:K–3: Three Team Trophies. Individual trophies to top three players; and medals to all
K–6: Three Team Trophies. Individual trophies to top three players; and medals to all.
K–12: Three Team Trophies. Individual trophies to top three players and medals to all.
Award Ceremony may begin between 4:00 and 4:30.
Entry: $10 per player for advance registration, $15 on site registration
Check-in from 7:45 to 8:45. Round 1 begins at 9:30 or before. Players not checked in by 8:45 will begin play in round 2. Please check in as early as possible.
For advance registration, register online at
www.wisconsinscholasticchess.org before 11 pm on April 30th. Registration fee will be paid at the tournament. Make checks payable to Christ Lutheran Academy. Coaches and parents only at registration table, please. Coaches, please do not register until all of your players have arrived.
Lunch: Available for purchase on-site.
Supervision: At least one designated adult supervisor must be present at all times during the tournament to oversee your school’s team, or individual participants who are in K through 8th grade.
Bring: Pencils, chess sets and clocks if you have them. Chess boards and other chess items will be available for purchase on site. Questions: Contact the tournament host Rev Thomas Chryst at tomchryst@yahoo.com or 262-633- 4831 or WSCF at td @wisconsinscholasticchess.org or 262-573-5624.
Chess Notation: Chess notation required in all USCF divisions and in all WSCF divisions with students over 3rd grade.
WSCF and host reserve the right to change or delete divisions and number of awards depending upon entries on day of tournament.
Send your photos too - we'll have a big ol' party right here online.
My favorite scholastic chess organization, the Wisconsin Scholastic Chess Federation, presents a tournament on May 2, 2009 in Kenosha, Wisconsin:
Christ Lutheran Academy
Chess Tournament
Saturday May 2nd, 2009
Chess Tournament
Saturday May 2nd, 2009
Location: Messiah Lutheran Church (Parish Hall)
2026 22nd Ave, Kenosha, WI 53140
Format: K– 3, K- 6 and K – 12 divisions, Wisconsin-rated, 6 round Swiss, G30.
WSCF membership not required. Rounds 1 may be G25.
Awards:
K–6: Three Team Trophies. Individual trophies to top three players; and medals to all.
K–12: Three Team Trophies. Individual trophies to top three players and medals to all.
Award Ceremony may begin between 4:00 and 4:30.
Entry: $10 per player for advance registration, $15 on site registration
Check-in from 7:45 to 8:45. Round 1 begins at 9:30 or before. Players not checked in by 8:45 will begin play in round 2. Please check in as early as possible.
For advance registration, register online at
www.wisconsinscholasticchess.org before 11 pm on April 30th. Registration fee will be paid at the tournament. Make checks payable to Christ Lutheran Academy. Coaches and parents only at registration table, please. Coaches, please do not register until all of your players have arrived.
Lunch: Available for purchase on-site.
Supervision: At least one designated adult supervisor must be present at all times during the tournament to oversee your school’s team, or individual participants who are in K through 8th grade.
Bring: Pencils, chess sets and clocks if you have them. Chess boards and other chess items will be available for purchase on site. Questions: Contact the tournament host Rev Thomas Chryst at tomchryst@yahoo.com or 262-633- 4831 or WSCF at td @wisconsinscholasticchess.org or 262-573-5624.
Chess Notation: Chess notation required in all USCF divisions and in all WSCF divisions with students over 3rd grade.
WSCF and host reserve the right to change or delete divisions and number of awards depending upon entries on day of tournament.
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Come, one and all, and join the fun playing in this fab event. Send me your best game in PGN and I'll publish it here, where millions of readers from around the world will see it and analyze it in awe and amazement at your brilliance!!! Well, okay, not millions, thousands. Yes, do not snort, it is not polite. We do get thousands of readers here each week, which we find absolutely amazing but extremely gratifying :))Send your photos too - we'll have a big ol' party right here online.
The Mystery of the Indus Script
Perhaps one step closer to solving one of linguistics' most enduring mysteries. Story and image from Wired Science:Artificial Intelligence Cracks 4,000-Year-Old Mystery
By Brandon Keim April 23, 2009 1:01:09 PM
An ancient script that's defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers.
Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated linguists thought the symbols were merely pretty pictures.
"The underlying grammatical structure seems similar to what's found in many languages," said University of Washington computer scientist Rajesh Rao.
The Indus script, used between 2,600 and 1,900 B.C. in what is now eastern Pakistan and northwest India, belonged to a civilization as sophisticated as its Mesopotamian and Egyptian contemporaries. However, it left fewer linguistic remains. Archaeologists have uncovered about 1,500 unique inscriptions from fragments of pottery, tablets and seals. The longest inscription is just 27 signs long.
In 1877, British archaeologist Alexander Cunningham hypothesized that the Indus script was a forerunner of modern-day Brahmic scripts, used from Central to Southeast Asia. Other researchers disagreed. Fueled by scores of competing and ultimately unsuccessful attempts to decipher the script, that contentious state of affairs has persisted to the present.
Among the languages linked to the mysterious script are Chinese Lolo, Sumerian, Egyptian, Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Old Slavic, even Easter Island — and, finally, no language at all. In 2004, linguist Steve Farmer published a paper asserting that the Indus script was nothing more than political and religious symbols. It was a controversial notion, but not an unpopular one. Rao, a machine learning specialist who read about the Indus script in high school and decided to apply his expertise to the script while on sabbatical in Inda, may have solved the language-versus-symbol question, if not the script itself.
"One of the main questions in machine learning is how to generalize rules from a limited amount of data," said Rao. "Even though we can't read it, we can look at the patterns and get the underlying grammatical structure."
Rao's team used pattern-analyzing software running what's known as a Markov model, a computational tool used to map system dynamics.
They fed the program sequences of four spoken languages: ancient Sumerian, Sanskrit and Old Tamil, as well as modern English. Then they gave it samples of four non-spoken communication systems: human DNA, Fortran, bacterial protein sequences and an artificial language.
The program calculated the level of order present in each language. Non-spoken languages were either highly ordered, with symbols and structures following each other in unvarying ways, or utterly chaotic. Spoken languages fell in the middle.
When they seeded the program with fragments of Indus script, it returned with grammatical rules based on patterns of symbol arrangement. These proved to be moderately ordered, just like spoken languages.
As for the meaning of the script, the program remained silent.
"It's a useful paper," said University of Helsinki archaeologist Asko Parpola, an authority on Indus scripts, "but it doesn't really further our understanding of the script."
Parpola said the primary obstacle confronting decipherers of fragmentary Indus scripts — the difficulty of testing their hypotheses — remains unchanged.
But according to Rao, this early analysis provides a foundation for a more comprehensive understanding of Indus script grammar, and ultimately its meaning.
"The next step is to create a grammar from the data that we have," he said. "Then we can ask, is this grammar similar to those of the Sanskrit or Indo-European or Dravidian languages? This will give us a language to compare it to."
"It's only recently that archaeologists have started to apply computational approaches in a rigid manner," said Rao. "The time is ripe."
Citation: "Entropic Evidence for Linguistic Structure in the Indus Script." By Rajesh P. N. Rao, Nisha Yadav, Mayank N. Vahia, Hrishikesh Joglekar, R. Adhikari and Iravatham Mahadevan. Science, Vol. 324 Issue 5926, April 24, 2009.
Image: J.M. Kenoyer/Harappa.com
Mystery of Horse Domestication Solved?
(Image: Herd of horses, Anatolia, circa 6,000 BCE)Hmmm, I don't think so, and I'll tell you why at the end of this article, from Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (Apr. 24, 2009) — Wild horses were domesticated in the Ponto-Caspian steppe region (today Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Romania) in the 3rd millennium B.C. Despite the pivotal role horses have played in the history of human societies, the process of their domestication is not well understood.
In a new study published in the scientific journal Science, an analysis by German researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, the German Archaeological Institute, the Humboldt University Berlin, the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, in cooperation with American and Spanish scientists, has unravelled the mystery about the domestication of the horse.
Based on ancient DNA spanning the time between the Late Pleistocene and the Middle Ages, targeting nuclear genes responsible for coat colorations allows to shed light on the timing and place of horse domestication. Furthermore the study demonstrates how rapid the number of colorations increased as one result of the domestication. As well, it shows very clearly that the huge variability of coloration in domestic horses which can be observed today is a result of selective breeding by ancient farmers.
Our modern human societies were founded on the Neolithic revolution, which was the transformation of wild plants and animals into domestic ones available for human nutrition. Within all domestic animals, no other species has had such a significant impact on the warfare, transportation and communication capabilities of human societies as the horse.
For many millennia, horses were linked to human history changing societies on a continent-wide scale, be it with Alexander the Great’s or Genghis Khan’s armies invading most of Asia and Eastern Europe or Francis Pizarro destroying the Inca Empire with about 30 mounted warriors. The horse was a costly and prestigious animal in all times, featured in gifts from one sovereign to another as a nobleman’s mark.
Journal reference:
Arne Ludwig, Melanie Pruvost, Monika Reissmann, Norbert Benecke, Gudrun A. Brockmann, Pedro Castaños, Michael Cieslak, Sebastian Lippold, Laura Llorente, Anna-Sapfo Malaspinas, Montgomery Slatkin, and Michael Hofreiter. Coat Color Variation at the Beginning of Horse Domestication. Science, 2009; 324 (5926): 485 DOI: 10.1126/science.1172750
Adapted from materials provided by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB), via AlphaGalileo.
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I believe the 3rd millennium BCE is too late for domestication of the horse. Right on the same page the above-referenced article appeared is a link to a Science Daily article from March 6, 2009 (Archaeologists Find Earliest Known Domestic Horses: Harnessed and Milked), in which well-researched archaeological evidence indicates that horses were first domesticated by the "Botai Culture of Kazakhstan circa 5,500 years ago. This is about 1,000 years earlier than thought and about 2,000 years earlier than domestic horses are known to have been in Europe. Their findings strongly suggest that horses were originally domesticated, not just for riding, but also to provide food, including milk."
This earlier date (c. 5,500 years ago) is confirmed by another Science Daily article from November 3, 2006: New Evidence Of Early Horse Domestication, which points to a date of approximately 5,600 years ago.
Friday, April 24, 2009
I LIKE Susan Boyle's "Make-Over"
Oh come on! People are having fits because Susan Boyle went from dowdy caricature to polished. Not much of a make-over, when all is said and done, but what she did packs a positive punch. (Photo from AP - showing SB's new look). She got her hair colored (which she should have been doing all along since she is prematurely grey at 47-48, and the grey frizz made her look like she was 77-78 instead of her actual age), she got a conservative hair-cut that got rid of the frizz and now frames her cheekbones and highlights her eyes in a becoming manner, and she got her formerly excessive eyebrows waxed into a much more flattering shape. The Groucho Marx look is gone, thank goddess! About damn time, Girl!
Her outfit in this photo is age appropriate and classy - nice-fitting sleek-styled neutral slacks that lengthen her sillouette, heeled shoes but not spiked heels (which would look ridiculous with her body proportions), a pretty, feminine and fashionably decorated white blouse (one of the "hot" looks this season), and just the right size purse with a must-have shoulder strap; she's not trying to look 30, nor should she. I love her front-on confident stance in this photo, staring straight at the camera, which is also the best angle to minimize a double chin (I know from much practice).
I think Ms. Boyle looks great in her "make-over" and I give her kudos for being gutsy enough to undertake such a "transformation" under the glaring public eye! All you people moaning because she doesn't look frumpy anymore, what is your problem? Why wouldn't you want Ms. Boyle to make the most of what she has? In my opinion, she now appears a striking woman - to match that striking voice.
I love Susan Boyle's voice. I've listened to her "Les Mis" recording from Britain's Got Talent a few times, and thought it was well-worth the plaudits it has received. And what is this - did I read recently that it has received over 70 MILLION You-Tube hits, and counting. This is some serious business!
I've also listened to SB's ten-year old recording of "Cry Me A River" over and over again. I can't seem to get enough of it. Her rendition absolutely blew me away, floored me, knocked me off my bar-stool - take your pick of cliches. I don' know what, exactly, it is about how she sings that song, but something - something - can't describe it, and I'm not even going to try - just reaches out and grabs me. I'd pay good money to listen to the lady sing in person, and pay good money to buy a CD or DVD of SB singing "standards."
Her outfit in this photo is age appropriate and classy - nice-fitting sleek-styled neutral slacks that lengthen her sillouette, heeled shoes but not spiked heels (which would look ridiculous with her body proportions), a pretty, feminine and fashionably decorated white blouse (one of the "hot" looks this season), and just the right size purse with a must-have shoulder strap; she's not trying to look 30, nor should she. I love her front-on confident stance in this photo, staring straight at the camera, which is also the best angle to minimize a double chin (I know from much practice).
I think Ms. Boyle looks great in her "make-over" and I give her kudos for being gutsy enough to undertake such a "transformation" under the glaring public eye! All you people moaning because she doesn't look frumpy anymore, what is your problem? Why wouldn't you want Ms. Boyle to make the most of what she has? In my opinion, she now appears a striking woman - to match that striking voice.
I love Susan Boyle's voice. I've listened to her "Les Mis" recording from Britain's Got Talent a few times, and thought it was well-worth the plaudits it has received. And what is this - did I read recently that it has received over 70 MILLION You-Tube hits, and counting. This is some serious business!
I've also listened to SB's ten-year old recording of "Cry Me A River" over and over again. I can't seem to get enough of it. Her rendition absolutely blew me away, floored me, knocked me off my bar-stool - take your pick of cliches. I don' know what, exactly, it is about how she sings that song, but something - something - can't describe it, and I'm not even going to try - just reaches out and grabs me. I'd pay good money to listen to the lady sing in person, and pay good money to buy a CD or DVD of SB singing "standards."
Probably like millions of other people, I'm eagerly awaiting her next appearance on You Tube, after her May 23 (I think that's the date) appearance on Britain's Got Talent. What will she sing? What will she wear? Wow - it's probably going to be one of the highest-rated shows on British television of all time!
MacArthur Park Is Melting In The Dark...
Indeed. The iconic song from 1968, sung by then British Hunk, Richard Harris, has proven all too true. Much younger folks may know Harris as the original Dumbledore in the first two Harry Potter films, before his death at the age of 72 in 2002). Alas. Dumbledore was killed, and chess in MacArthur Park has been killed, too.
Article from The Los Angeles Times:
MacArthur Park chess players struggle for their turf
In a crime crackdown, the city removed the tables where they played. Officials say gangs ran blackjack and poker there and charged chess players 'rent.'
By Ari B. Bloomekatz April 24, 2009
Tony Flamenco has taken his share of risks when he ends a day at the office with a game of chess at MacArthur Park.
Over six years, he's been shaken down and forced to pay $10 "rent" to gang members, witnessed a stabbing and an assault, and seen the everyday transactions of gamblers and drug dealers who linger near South Park View and West 7th streets.
But the 50-year-old accountant from San Dimas has continued to ignore his wife's warnings to stay away from the park. For Flamenco, who works nearby, the park remains an oasis among the trees and grassy slopes, a place where he can gather with friends to huddle over chessboards and play games for a quarter or a cup of coffee while he waits out the traffic to go home.
He was one of many regular park users who cheered when the Los Angeles Police Department and city officials began a major crackdown in the notorious park and began several projects to make the area more family-friendly.
Authorities installed surveillance video cameras in the park in 2004 and redoubled those efforts last year by placing six cameras along the 6th Street corridor. They also boosted patrols and recently opened a police station nearby. But about a month ago, in the name of fighting crime, the city removed the tables Flamenco and his friends used to play chess. City authorities said they pulled out the tables at the request of the MacArthur Park advisory board, the local neighborhood council and the LAPD because gangs were using them in extortion schemes.
Flamenco and others say the crackdown has gone too far.
"Those tables belong to the public, not the government," Flamenco said. The debate over the tables underscores the tricky balance authorities face between stopping crime in the park and ensuring that park users can enjoy themselves.
Jose Maciel, an employee of the Department of Recreation and Parks and senior director for MacArthur Park, said the area where chess players had their matches had become a gambling haven for other games.
"According to LAPD, you have kind of gangsters that are in charge of each table. They're putting up blackjack tables, poker tables, they allow that to go on. There's no money that's handled there on the spot, but they have a person taking notes on who's winning or losing," Maciel said. "You also have the bigger gangs, and they're going down there and basically taxing those individuals. . . . They can see a chess game going on and they'll charge anywhere between $10 and $20 a head," he said. Maciel said he has suggested replacing the large tables where park users played chess with smaller tables on which it would be more difficult for large-scale gambling.
Still, Flamenco feels that chess players received the short end of the stick.
"They've been doing their jobs. A great, beautiful job. This park was considered very dangerous a long time ago. But chess players have always been there and they don't get involved in that kind of stuff," Flamenco said.
Located in the heart of the Westlake district, the park thrived in the first decades of the 20th century. Back then, that stretch of Wilshire Boulevard was one of L.A.'s most fashionable addresses, named after the eccentric millionaire Henry Gaylord Wilshire and dotted with fancy department stores such as Bullocks Wilshire.
But in recent decades, MacArthur Park became a brazen drug bazaar. Things got worse as the surrounding community saw an influx of large gangs such as 18th Street that began selling drugs and extorting street merchants.
"Almost every other day, you'd hear 'pop, pop,' " said Manuel Jiminez, 68, a construction contractor from Hancock Park who has been coming to the park to play chess since 1961. "I've had to dodge bullets," said another player, 36-year-old Henry Castro, a carpenter from the Westlake area who remembers ducking under one of the concrete tables as he heard gunshots and saw a young man firing into the park when he first came there about seven years ago. Mario Cevallos, 58, who lives in North Hollywood and manages an apartment building, said he has been playing chess at the park for 25 years and was so enraged that the tables were taken out, he started a petition he plans to give to the City Council.
Since the eight tables were removed, the chess players have shifted their games to other picnic tables or played in the same spot by bringing a plastic folding table.
Cevallos said that he's collected about 100 signatures from chess players and others around the park, and that taking the tables is not the answer to the Police Department's problem with gangs.
City Councilman Ed Reyes, who represents the area, supported the initial removal of the tables -- arguing that public safety must be the first priority -- and said he still wants to find a way to provide tables for chess.
Reyes said that residents should respect efforts to crack down on crime and that violence has greatly decreased.
According to statistics from the LAPD, serious crimes in the district that includes MacArthur Park have dropped from 333 in 2004 to 271 in 2008. Aggravated assaults have decreased from 69 in 2004 to 23 in 2008, the statistics show.
Reyes said that he thinks residents can win back the entire park, and that he has dedicated himself to the notion that the surrounding community deserves a better day at the park than extortion and violence.
In recent years, city officials have allocated about $2.5 million to a renovation plan that will bring artificial turf, a children's playground and better lighting; put aside $350,000 for restrooms; added two maintenance workers and a program manager devoted to the park; spent another $1.7 million renovating the MacArthur Park band shell and started a summer concert series, said Tony Perez, a spokesman for Reyes.
Additional plans to make the park more family-friendly include adding a boat house, bringing back the chess tables and building affordable public housing in spaces near the park that were acquired by the city, Reyes said.
Flamenco supports the improvements, but said officials should not drive users away. "We love this park," he said. "We appreciate what they've been doing, but this is too far."
Article from The Los Angeles Times:
MacArthur Park chess players struggle for their turf
In a crime crackdown, the city removed the tables where they played. Officials say gangs ran blackjack and poker there and charged chess players 'rent.'
By Ari B. Bloomekatz April 24, 2009
Tony Flamenco has taken his share of risks when he ends a day at the office with a game of chess at MacArthur Park.
Over six years, he's been shaken down and forced to pay $10 "rent" to gang members, witnessed a stabbing and an assault, and seen the everyday transactions of gamblers and drug dealers who linger near South Park View and West 7th streets.
But the 50-year-old accountant from San Dimas has continued to ignore his wife's warnings to stay away from the park. For Flamenco, who works nearby, the park remains an oasis among the trees and grassy slopes, a place where he can gather with friends to huddle over chessboards and play games for a quarter or a cup of coffee while he waits out the traffic to go home.
He was one of many regular park users who cheered when the Los Angeles Police Department and city officials began a major crackdown in the notorious park and began several projects to make the area more family-friendly.
Authorities installed surveillance video cameras in the park in 2004 and redoubled those efforts last year by placing six cameras along the 6th Street corridor. They also boosted patrols and recently opened a police station nearby. But about a month ago, in the name of fighting crime, the city removed the tables Flamenco and his friends used to play chess. City authorities said they pulled out the tables at the request of the MacArthur Park advisory board, the local neighborhood council and the LAPD because gangs were using them in extortion schemes.
Flamenco and others say the crackdown has gone too far.
"Those tables belong to the public, not the government," Flamenco said. The debate over the tables underscores the tricky balance authorities face between stopping crime in the park and ensuring that park users can enjoy themselves.
Jose Maciel, an employee of the Department of Recreation and Parks and senior director for MacArthur Park, said the area where chess players had their matches had become a gambling haven for other games.
"According to LAPD, you have kind of gangsters that are in charge of each table. They're putting up blackjack tables, poker tables, they allow that to go on. There's no money that's handled there on the spot, but they have a person taking notes on who's winning or losing," Maciel said. "You also have the bigger gangs, and they're going down there and basically taxing those individuals. . . . They can see a chess game going on and they'll charge anywhere between $10 and $20 a head," he said. Maciel said he has suggested replacing the large tables where park users played chess with smaller tables on which it would be more difficult for large-scale gambling.
Still, Flamenco feels that chess players received the short end of the stick.
"They've been doing their jobs. A great, beautiful job. This park was considered very dangerous a long time ago. But chess players have always been there and they don't get involved in that kind of stuff," Flamenco said.
Located in the heart of the Westlake district, the park thrived in the first decades of the 20th century. Back then, that stretch of Wilshire Boulevard was one of L.A.'s most fashionable addresses, named after the eccentric millionaire Henry Gaylord Wilshire and dotted with fancy department stores such as Bullocks Wilshire.
But in recent decades, MacArthur Park became a brazen drug bazaar. Things got worse as the surrounding community saw an influx of large gangs such as 18th Street that began selling drugs and extorting street merchants.
"Almost every other day, you'd hear 'pop, pop,' " said Manuel Jiminez, 68, a construction contractor from Hancock Park who has been coming to the park to play chess since 1961. "I've had to dodge bullets," said another player, 36-year-old Henry Castro, a carpenter from the Westlake area who remembers ducking under one of the concrete tables as he heard gunshots and saw a young man firing into the park when he first came there about seven years ago. Mario Cevallos, 58, who lives in North Hollywood and manages an apartment building, said he has been playing chess at the park for 25 years and was so enraged that the tables were taken out, he started a petition he plans to give to the City Council.
Since the eight tables were removed, the chess players have shifted their games to other picnic tables or played in the same spot by bringing a plastic folding table.
Cevallos said that he's collected about 100 signatures from chess players and others around the park, and that taking the tables is not the answer to the Police Department's problem with gangs.
City Councilman Ed Reyes, who represents the area, supported the initial removal of the tables -- arguing that public safety must be the first priority -- and said he still wants to find a way to provide tables for chess.
Reyes said that residents should respect efforts to crack down on crime and that violence has greatly decreased.
According to statistics from the LAPD, serious crimes in the district that includes MacArthur Park have dropped from 333 in 2004 to 271 in 2008. Aggravated assaults have decreased from 69 in 2004 to 23 in 2008, the statistics show.
Reyes said that he thinks residents can win back the entire park, and that he has dedicated himself to the notion that the surrounding community deserves a better day at the park than extortion and violence.
In recent years, city officials have allocated about $2.5 million to a renovation plan that will bring artificial turf, a children's playground and better lighting; put aside $350,000 for restrooms; added two maintenance workers and a program manager devoted to the park; spent another $1.7 million renovating the MacArthur Park band shell and started a summer concert series, said Tony Perez, a spokesman for Reyes.
Additional plans to make the park more family-friendly include adding a boat house, bringing back the chess tables and building affordable public housing in spaces near the park that were acquired by the city, Reyes said.
Flamenco supports the improvements, but said officials should not drive users away. "We love this park," he said. "We appreciate what they've been doing, but this is too far."
Further Explorations of the Word MA
From Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets:
Tiamat
Sumero-Babylonian "Goddess Mother" (Dia Mater), from whose formless body the universe was born at creation; personification of The Deep, or Tohu Bohu. Babylonians later claimed their municipal god Marduk, Tiamat's son, divided her into heavens above and earth below, as did Marduk's imitator, the biblical God. But the original division was made by the Mother herself, as in the ancient Pelasgian myth of her Aegean counterpart, Eurynome.(1)
In derivative Hebrew myths, Tiamat became Tehom, The Deep; and this is how she appears in the Bible (Genesis 1:2). [Gen. 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. -- King James Version. And from the Living Bible, which is a paraphrase of the Bible in modern English, Gen. 1:1-2: When God began creating the heavens and the earth, (2) the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors".] Patriarchal writers forgot that "The Deep" was a personified womb, a Middle-Eastern version of Kali whose being before creation was "formless." [I visualize it as the center "dot" in the "bindu." In Hindu mythology, although it may have older roots, it is from the bindu that all what we know as creation/universes sprung, rather like the "Big Bang" theory, KA-BOOM.] Most creation myths incorporated the idea of formlessness, in the darkness before the birth that brought "light" and the splitting of the Mother's body, so she became both heaven and earth. The Bible's account is based on the same archetype.
In Egypt, Tiamat was Temu or Te-Mut, oldest of deities, mother of the archaic Ennead of four female elements: Water, Darkness, Night, and Eternity.(2) [The Ennead consisted of four paired goddesses and gods, each sister and brother, representing the earliest "Netjer" who were - I'm working from memory here so I hope this is right! - the offspring of that primeval creative force, akin to The Great Goddess or, in biblical terms, that Spirit of "God" roving about the face of the waters. Here is an interesting translation of Gen. 1:2 from the Bible used by the Jehovah's Witnesses, which is called The New World Translation: Gen. 1:2: Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of the water deep; and God's active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. I have many different Bibles in my collection :)] She was also Nun, Naunet, or Ma-Nu, the great fish who gave birth to the universe and the gods. [Cf. Jonah inside the great fish's belly for "three" days, only to be "reborn" again by regurgitation]. In repeated cycles of becoming, she periodically swallowed up both gods and universes and gave them rebirth - like Kali.(3)
Tiamat's firstborn child seems to have been a duplicate of herself, Mummu, translated either "churning" or "mother." The combination recalled the ancient notion that solid earth was made from "churning" the primordial fluid, like making butter from milk.(4) [Cf. Axis Mundi]. Some myths gave Tiamat a male consort, Apsu, similar to Jupiter Pluvius: a Father Heaven whose job it was to fertilize the Mother's abyss with seminal rain. But he was not her superior, not even her equal. Even in the chaotic conditions before creation, Tiamat was the true source of life. Her consort was subordinate, not even necessary.(5) Various myths said Tiamat alone produced the fluid of creation, which was not semen but her menstrual blood, flowing continuously for three years and three months.(6) Its great reservoir was the Red Sea - comparable to Kali's "ocean of blood"- the eastern shore of which is still called Tihamat by the Arabs.
Babylonians said their god Marduk divided his mother Tiamat into two parts, upper waters and lower waters. Likewise, the Jewish God "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which wre above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7). The Jewish god also divided the Red Sea, which was likened to Tiamat herself.
The idea of dividing waters was not original with the Jews. Goddesses did it before gods. The Hindu Goddess Bindumati, "Mother of Life," divided the waters of the Ganges.(7) The Goddess Isis divided the waters of the river Phaedrus, to cross dry-shod.(8) Even an insignificant Egyptian wizard named Zazamonkh divided the waters of a lake to retrieve a courtesan's lost pendant.(9) Yahweh's miracle on behalf of the Israelites was fairly common in contemporary lore.
By dividing Tiamat, Marduk established the Diameter (horizon), which was the Greek version of Tiamat's name, meaning Goddess-Mother [Dia Mater]. We still say a diameter divides a whole circle. Though Marduk was supposed to have slain his mother, the Ocean of Blood, he still maintained the menstrual calendar in Babylon, celebrating sabbaths and months of the year according ot the moom's phases.(10)
Modern scholars tend to ignore Tiamat's maternal Creatress nature, describing her as nothing more than a "dragon of chaos" slain by Marduk. It is seldom emphasized that this was a myth of matricide, or that the Goddess was the one who created the world. Some traditions indicate that Marduk's murder of his mother may have been motivated by jealousy, like Cain's murder of Abel. Mother Tiamat had overlooked Marduk and chosen another of her sons, Kingu, to be her consort and the king of the universe.
[She] exalted among the gods, her sons, that she had borne, Kingu, and made him greatest among them all . . . .placed him on a throne, saying, "By my charm and incantation I have raised thee to power among the gods. The dominion over all the gods I intrusted [sic] to thee. Lofty thou shalt be, thou my chosen spouse; great be thy name in all the world." She then gave him the Tablets of Destiny, and laid them on his breast.(11)
Jealous Marduk not only killed Tiamat; he also deposed, castrated, and killed Kingu, and made the first man on earth out of Kingu's blood - which tends to show that Kingu was once the name of the sacrificed god-king, whose blood had the "feminine" power to make life.(12) [Cf. the Christian doctrines related to the sacrifice of Christ's life (blood) and the benefits of "Life's Water" flowing from the resurrected Christ/God.] Kingu was identified with the moon. Chaldeans called him Sin, the Moon-god of Mount Sinai. Apparently he still had the tablets of the Law given him by Tiamat (as Mother Rhea gave sacred tablets of the Law to Minos on Mt. Dicte), for the Old Testament claims he passed them on to Moses.
In Southern Arabia, the Goddess was assimilated to Ishtar. The eyes of her idol Tehama wwere said to flow with tears each year as she bewailed the death of Tammuz.(13)
Notes:
(1) Graves, G.M., 1, 27.
(2) Budge, D.N., 211.
(3) Neumann, G.M., pl. 91; Erman, 252.
(4) Brandon, 22.
(5) Stone, 26.
(6) Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 301.
(7) Rawson, A.T., 74.
(8) Budge, G.E., 2, 191.
(9) Erman, 40.
(10) Hooke, M.E.M., 45.
(11) Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 287.
(12) Larousse, 54.
(13) Baring-Gould, C.M.M.A., 279.
I was going to put up an image of Tiamat with this post, but without exception those that I found were images of ugly beasts - sort of like Lizard-Dragons with huge claws and teeth -- ancestral memories of dinosaurs? Traditionalists would say I'm nuts for even thinking of such a thing, but based on the record -- actually lack thereof, to this point in time -- who's to really say? Wish I could live another 100 years to see what the archaeologists, paleontologists, anthropologists and historians come up with! Er - got sidetracked there for a second - back to finding an image of Tiamat: Since Tiamat is "formless" it occurred to me (duh, Jan!) that all images of her thus far discovered, without exception, were from much later times, after Marduk had "killed her off," and she was thereafter depicted as a monstrous being.
As dondelion says, history is (re)written by the victors.
Tiamat
Sumero-Babylonian "Goddess Mother" (Dia Mater), from whose formless body the universe was born at creation; personification of The Deep, or Tohu Bohu. Babylonians later claimed their municipal god Marduk, Tiamat's son, divided her into heavens above and earth below, as did Marduk's imitator, the biblical God. But the original division was made by the Mother herself, as in the ancient Pelasgian myth of her Aegean counterpart, Eurynome.(1)
In derivative Hebrew myths, Tiamat became Tehom, The Deep; and this is how she appears in the Bible (Genesis 1:2). [Gen. 1:2: And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. -- King James Version. And from the Living Bible, which is a paraphrase of the Bible in modern English, Gen. 1:1-2: When God began creating the heavens and the earth, (2) the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors".] Patriarchal writers forgot that "The Deep" was a personified womb, a Middle-Eastern version of Kali whose being before creation was "formless." [I visualize it as the center "dot" in the "bindu." In Hindu mythology, although it may have older roots, it is from the bindu that all what we know as creation/universes sprung, rather like the "Big Bang" theory, KA-BOOM.] Most creation myths incorporated the idea of formlessness, in the darkness before the birth that brought "light" and the splitting of the Mother's body, so she became both heaven and earth. The Bible's account is based on the same archetype.
In Egypt, Tiamat was Temu or Te-Mut, oldest of deities, mother of the archaic Ennead of four female elements: Water, Darkness, Night, and Eternity.(2) [The Ennead consisted of four paired goddesses and gods, each sister and brother, representing the earliest "Netjer" who were - I'm working from memory here so I hope this is right! - the offspring of that primeval creative force, akin to The Great Goddess or, in biblical terms, that Spirit of "God" roving about the face of the waters. Here is an interesting translation of Gen. 1:2 from the Bible used by the Jehovah's Witnesses, which is called The New World Translation: Gen. 1:2: Now the earth proved to be formless and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of the water deep; and God's active force was moving to and fro over the surface of the waters. I have many different Bibles in my collection :)] She was also Nun, Naunet, or Ma-Nu, the great fish who gave birth to the universe and the gods. [Cf. Jonah inside the great fish's belly for "three" days, only to be "reborn" again by regurgitation]. In repeated cycles of becoming, she periodically swallowed up both gods and universes and gave them rebirth - like Kali.(3)
Tiamat's firstborn child seems to have been a duplicate of herself, Mummu, translated either "churning" or "mother." The combination recalled the ancient notion that solid earth was made from "churning" the primordial fluid, like making butter from milk.(4) [Cf. Axis Mundi]. Some myths gave Tiamat a male consort, Apsu, similar to Jupiter Pluvius: a Father Heaven whose job it was to fertilize the Mother's abyss with seminal rain. But he was not her superior, not even her equal. Even in the chaotic conditions before creation, Tiamat was the true source of life. Her consort was subordinate, not even necessary.(5) Various myths said Tiamat alone produced the fluid of creation, which was not semen but her menstrual blood, flowing continuously for three years and three months.(6) Its great reservoir was the Red Sea - comparable to Kali's "ocean of blood"- the eastern shore of which is still called Tihamat by the Arabs.
Babylonians said their god Marduk divided his mother Tiamat into two parts, upper waters and lower waters. Likewise, the Jewish God "divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which wre above the firmament" (Genesis 1:7). The Jewish god also divided the Red Sea, which was likened to Tiamat herself.
The idea of dividing waters was not original with the Jews. Goddesses did it before gods. The Hindu Goddess Bindumati, "Mother of Life," divided the waters of the Ganges.(7) The Goddess Isis divided the waters of the river Phaedrus, to cross dry-shod.(8) Even an insignificant Egyptian wizard named Zazamonkh divided the waters of a lake to retrieve a courtesan's lost pendant.(9) Yahweh's miracle on behalf of the Israelites was fairly common in contemporary lore.
By dividing Tiamat, Marduk established the Diameter (horizon), which was the Greek version of Tiamat's name, meaning Goddess-Mother [Dia Mater]. We still say a diameter divides a whole circle. Though Marduk was supposed to have slain his mother, the Ocean of Blood, he still maintained the menstrual calendar in Babylon, celebrating sabbaths and months of the year according ot the moom's phases.(10)
Modern scholars tend to ignore Tiamat's maternal Creatress nature, describing her as nothing more than a "dragon of chaos" slain by Marduk. It is seldom emphasized that this was a myth of matricide, or that the Goddess was the one who created the world. Some traditions indicate that Marduk's murder of his mother may have been motivated by jealousy, like Cain's murder of Abel. Mother Tiamat had overlooked Marduk and chosen another of her sons, Kingu, to be her consort and the king of the universe.
[She] exalted among the gods, her sons, that she had borne, Kingu, and made him greatest among them all . . . .placed him on a throne, saying, "By my charm and incantation I have raised thee to power among the gods. The dominion over all the gods I intrusted [sic] to thee. Lofty thou shalt be, thou my chosen spouse; great be thy name in all the world." She then gave him the Tablets of Destiny, and laid them on his breast.(11)
Jealous Marduk not only killed Tiamat; he also deposed, castrated, and killed Kingu, and made the first man on earth out of Kingu's blood - which tends to show that Kingu was once the name of the sacrificed god-king, whose blood had the "feminine" power to make life.(12) [Cf. the Christian doctrines related to the sacrifice of Christ's life (blood) and the benefits of "Life's Water" flowing from the resurrected Christ/God.] Kingu was identified with the moon. Chaldeans called him Sin, the Moon-god of Mount Sinai. Apparently he still had the tablets of the Law given him by Tiamat (as Mother Rhea gave sacred tablets of the Law to Minos on Mt. Dicte), for the Old Testament claims he passed them on to Moses.
In Southern Arabia, the Goddess was assimilated to Ishtar. The eyes of her idol Tehama wwere said to flow with tears each year as she bewailed the death of Tammuz.(13)
Notes:
(1) Graves, G.M., 1, 27.
(2) Budge, D.N., 211.
(3) Neumann, G.M., pl. 91; Erman, 252.
(4) Brandon, 22.
(5) Stone, 26.
(6) Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 301.
(7) Rawson, A.T., 74.
(8) Budge, G.E., 2, 191.
(9) Erman, 40.
(10) Hooke, M.E.M., 45.
(11) Assyr. & Bab. Lit., 287.
(12) Larousse, 54.
(13) Baring-Gould, C.M.M.A., 279.
********************************************
Ponderings:As a totally irrelevant aside, I do believe that my given name, "Janet," which under traditional patriarchal interpretations is a derivative from "John," meaning something like "God's Gift [to men] ("Ja" = shortened name for God in Hebrew), is actually a derivative from the much older Naunet -- the "et" syllable denoted a female or the feminine in ancient Egyptian, much as "ette" denotes female or the feminine today in French). Perhaps the older name of "Nanette," which is out of style these days (as is my name, Janet), is an ancient carry-over from the times when the Goddess reigned supreme. Therefore, darlings, I am named after the Goddess of Creation, and not after "St. John." I always thought he was rather wimpy and - well, swishy. Oh, slap my face, I'm a bad girl for saying such a thing :)
Various myths said Tiamat alone produced the fluid of creation, which was not semen but her menstrual blood, flowing continuously for three years and three months.
Is this why the use of red ochre was so predominate in Neolithic times in sacred cave drawings and painted on stone, ivory and bone carvings -- to show life and a link to the Mother Goddess, from whom all life flowed through the sacred menstrual blood? Is this why the color "red" - as in "red blood" is associated with life and living? Is this why the mythical elixir of life, called "Soma" in Sanskrit and "Homa" in Pahlavi, was linked to menstrual blood? And is this why black (blood lacking oxygen from cessation of breathing, is a darkish, sort of black looking color = lack of life) is associated with funereal rites in many cultures to this day?I was going to put up an image of Tiamat with this post, but without exception those that I found were images of ugly beasts - sort of like Lizard-Dragons with huge claws and teeth -- ancestral memories of dinosaurs? Traditionalists would say I'm nuts for even thinking of such a thing, but based on the record -- actually lack thereof, to this point in time -- who's to really say? Wish I could live another 100 years to see what the archaeologists, paleontologists, anthropologists and historians come up with! Er - got sidetracked there for a second - back to finding an image of Tiamat: Since Tiamat is "formless" it occurred to me (duh, Jan!) that all images of her thus far discovered, without exception, were from much later times, after Marduk had "killed her off," and she was thereafter depicted as a monstrous being.
As dondelion says, history is (re)written by the victors.
Hales Corners Challenge IX
Hola!
I checked my email this morning and received notice from Allen Becker of the Southwest Chess Club that all pre-registration records for the Hales Corners Challenge have been smashed - 78 pre-registered!!!!! The highest previous number of attendees was 70. FABULOSO!
There may also be a GM playing - Allen writes "last night GM Mesgen Amanov says he is coming to play." If so, there will be seven masters playing. I am like sitting here in my office typing this, jumping up and down in my chair - good thing no one can see me.
I am unable to attend, but as soon as I get my hot little hands on photos they'll be published here, and hopefully I'll be able to bring you question/answer interviews with the winning chess femmes!
Good luck to all of the players tomorrow and especially the chess femmes :)
I checked my email this morning and received notice from Allen Becker of the Southwest Chess Club that all pre-registration records for the Hales Corners Challenge have been smashed - 78 pre-registered!!!!! The highest previous number of attendees was 70. FABULOSO!
There may also be a GM playing - Allen writes "last night GM Mesgen Amanov says he is coming to play." If so, there will be seven masters playing. I am like sitting here in my office typing this, jumping up and down in my chair - good thing no one can see me.
I am unable to attend, but as soon as I get my hot little hands on photos they'll be published here, and hopefully I'll be able to bring you question/answer interviews with the winning chess femmes!
Good luck to all of the players tomorrow and especially the chess femmes :)
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Chess Femme News
Hola darlings!
Here's some news about chess femmes from around the world - enjoy!
Hannah Purdy Wins Kansas Girls' Chess Championship
(Salina Journal, salina.com, April 23, 2009)
As the winner, Hannah will represent the state of Kansas in the Susan Polgar National Invitational Girls' Championship in Lubbock, Texas, later this year.
A report from the Visayan Daily Star (Philippines) about the women wood-pushers (Visayandailystar.com, April 23, 2009)
2009 NAT’L PRISAAWV
women’s chess team eyeing 3rd straight title today
BY NIDA BUENAFE
With 14 points to its credit after four rounds of competition, the Western Visayas women’s chess team moves closer to clinching its third-straight championship as the national PRISAA Games enter its fourth day in Naga City today.
Bannered by standouts from University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, West Negros University and Central Philippine University, the women woodpushers mentored by Ericson Rios, are one point away from keeping the title it first won in the 2007 Iloilo PRISAA and had successfully defended in Zamboanga last year.
Closest pursuer Region XI has 11 points and need to sweep all its games today to overthrow Western Visayas while tie at No. 3 is Region III and Region VII with 10 points.
“Hopefully, we will be able to nail just one game today to keep the title,” Rios said.
The team is composed of UNORians Cherry Gimarangan and Ma. Jennifer Nacion, Wesnecans Stella Mar Gaudiano and Annie Montales, and CPU’s Joyce Marie Mariano.
And in a separate report, the winner is . . . Western Visayas:
Western Visayas also made their presence felt in chess bagging the men’s and women’s crowns. ...
Region 9’s Ma. Fe Serrano sizzled on Board 1 on the women's side and Region 6’s Stella Mar Guadiano, Joyce Marie Mariano and Ma. Jennifer Nacion on Boards 2, 3 and 4, respectively. - GMANews.TV
Report from Chessdom.com:
P.K.V Memorial International FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament
(April 17? - ?, 2009 - not sure of the dates)
Tamil Nadu’s International Master B.T. Murali Krishnan and FIDE Master V. Vishnu Prasanna emerged joint winners in the P.K.V. Memorial all-India FIDE-rated chess tournament which concluded in Thodupuzha on Tuesday.
The two were tied at 7.5 points at the end of the nine-round event and the progressive scores were also equal at 39. With P. Shyam Nikhil and P. Phoobalan taking the third and fourth places, the Tamil Nadu players took the top four positions in the tournament.
On 5th place (out of 201 players), and as top woman of the competition, is WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty.
I don't have the time to check names against the FIDE data base to determine which players are M and F (my apologies), so here are the F players I am sure of:
5 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 7 (of 9)
16 WIM Meera Sai 6.5
Please post here if you can provide further information on the final standings of the female chess players in this event. Thank you!
Here's some news about chess femmes from around the world - enjoy!
Hannah Purdy Wins Kansas Girls' Chess Championship
(Salina Journal, salina.com, April 23, 2009)
As the winner, Hannah will represent the state of Kansas in the Susan Polgar National Invitational Girls' Championship in Lubbock, Texas, later this year.
A report from the Visayan Daily Star (Philippines) about the women wood-pushers (Visayandailystar.com, April 23, 2009)
2009 NAT’L PRISAAWV
women’s chess team eyeing 3rd straight title today
BY NIDA BUENAFE
With 14 points to its credit after four rounds of competition, the Western Visayas women’s chess team moves closer to clinching its third-straight championship as the national PRISAA Games enter its fourth day in Naga City today.
Bannered by standouts from University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, West Negros University and Central Philippine University, the women woodpushers mentored by Ericson Rios, are one point away from keeping the title it first won in the 2007 Iloilo PRISAA and had successfully defended in Zamboanga last year.
Closest pursuer Region XI has 11 points and need to sweep all its games today to overthrow Western Visayas while tie at No. 3 is Region III and Region VII with 10 points.
“Hopefully, we will be able to nail just one game today to keep the title,” Rios said.
The team is composed of UNORians Cherry Gimarangan and Ma. Jennifer Nacion, Wesnecans Stella Mar Gaudiano and Annie Montales, and CPU’s Joyce Marie Mariano.
And in a separate report, the winner is . . . Western Visayas:
Western Visayas also made their presence felt in chess bagging the men’s and women’s crowns. ...
Region 9’s Ma. Fe Serrano sizzled on Board 1 on the women's side and Region 6’s Stella Mar Guadiano, Joyce Marie Mariano and Ma. Jennifer Nacion on Boards 2, 3 and 4, respectively. - GMANews.TV
Report from Chessdom.com:
P.K.V Memorial International FIDE Rated Open Chess Tournament
(April 17? - ?, 2009 - not sure of the dates)
Tamil Nadu’s International Master B.T. Murali Krishnan and FIDE Master V. Vishnu Prasanna emerged joint winners in the P.K.V. Memorial all-India FIDE-rated chess tournament which concluded in Thodupuzha on Tuesday.
The two were tied at 7.5 points at the end of the nine-round event and the progressive scores were also equal at 39. With P. Shyam Nikhil and P. Phoobalan taking the third and fourth places, the Tamil Nadu players took the top four positions in the tournament.
On 5th place (out of 201 players), and as top woman of the competition, is WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty.
I don't have the time to check names against the FIDE data base to determine which players are M and F (my apologies), so here are the F players I am sure of:
5 WIM Kiran Manisha Mohanty 7 (of 9)
16 WIM Meera Sai 6.5
Please post here if you can provide further information on the final standings of the female chess players in this event. Thank you!
Who Owns the Rain?
Ohmygoddess - it's come to this.
How well I remember the big hit by Credence Clearwater Revivial "Who'll Stop the Rain?"
Long as I remember the rain been comin down.
Clouds of mystry pourin confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages, tryin to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, wholl stop the rain.
I went down virginia, seekin shelter from the storm.
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow.
Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder wholl stop the rain.
Heard the singers playin, how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together, tryin to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin, fallin on my ears.
And I wonder, still I wonder wholl stop the rain.
It's an allegory about the political times we were living in back when this song was a megahit. But if taken literally, it represents a situation where unrelenting rain and cold are threatening life on the planet as we know it.
These days, lots of people are praying that those big rains will come - no political commentary intended. They want - they NEED - BIG RAIN - right over their county, region, state, country...
Who Owns the Rain? Hint: It's Not Always Homeowners
Across the country, resourceful homeowners have embraced rainwater capture as a way of conserving community water supplies while maintaining healthy gardens. Unfortunately, rain barrels are sometimes at odds with the law. Facing certain water scarcity, cities and states have begun to wrestle with the conundrum of water rights versus conservation. When it all shakes out, will you own the rain that falls on your own property?
By Andrew Moseman
Published on: April 22, 2009
************************************************************************
So - it rains on your quarter acre in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. You have rain barrels hooked up to two of your downspouts to collect rainwater that can be used during dry-spells (which we have been experiencing more often since about 1980) and another downspout is connected to a series of dry-wells feeding a rain garden in your backyard. The fourth downspout still feeds into the storm sewer system.
Then, Milwaukee County passes a law saying that everything that was previously done legally under your municipal and the county building code is now illegal, and the County owns each and every raindrop that falls upon your roof, your driveway, and your soft surfaces.
Rain barrels are outlawed; dry-wells are outlawed; furthermore, if your connection to your local storm sewer system does not register a certain flow back into the system each month, you are billed for that lack of water that is not going back into Lake Michigan - even if you never used a drop. That charge is on top of what you have always been charged separately for treatment of the sewerage/waste water from your house. In my municipality, sewerage/waste water flows into a separate, dedicated sewer line, but once it joins the City of Milwaukee sewer lines it gets freely mixed into storm water, and therefore ALL has to be treated as contaminated waste water at the two City of Milwaukee-owned sewerage treatment plants. Except, it's not the City of Milwaukee who bills you, because the sewerage treatment plants are run by private enterprise. So, they are free to bill you whatever they want, and the City gets a fixed amount off the contract. As a homeowner, you are screwed, one way or another. As a renter, this just means you pay more and more and more as your landlord gets squeezed every year with higher and higher water bills and sewer bills.
Some of this is happening right now in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Think it can't happen where you live? Think again. I live within seven miles of Lake Michigan. Yeah, that's right. The lake that is part of the five great lakes that the water-hungry west is looking for to solve all of their water problems.
What do you think is going to happen?
How well I remember the big hit by Credence Clearwater Revivial "Who'll Stop the Rain?"
Long as I remember the rain been comin down.
Clouds of mystry pourin confusion on the ground.
Good men through the ages, tryin to find the sun;
And I wonder, still I wonder, wholl stop the rain.
I went down virginia, seekin shelter from the storm.
Caught up in the fable, I watched the tower grow.
Five year plans and new deals, wrapped in golden chains.
And I wonder, still I wonder wholl stop the rain.
Heard the singers playin, how we cheered for more.
The crowd had rushed together, tryin to keep warm.
Still the rain kept pourin, fallin on my ears.
And I wonder, still I wonder wholl stop the rain.
It's an allegory about the political times we were living in back when this song was a megahit. But if taken literally, it represents a situation where unrelenting rain and cold are threatening life on the planet as we know it.
These days, lots of people are praying that those big rains will come - no political commentary intended. They want - they NEED - BIG RAIN - right over their county, region, state, country...
Who Owns the Rain? Hint: It's Not Always Homeowners
Across the country, resourceful homeowners have embraced rainwater capture as a way of conserving community water supplies while maintaining healthy gardens. Unfortunately, rain barrels are sometimes at odds with the law. Facing certain water scarcity, cities and states have begun to wrestle with the conundrum of water rights versus conservation. When it all shakes out, will you own the rain that falls on your own property?
By Andrew Moseman
Published on: April 22, 2009
************************************************************************
So - it rains on your quarter acre in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. You have rain barrels hooked up to two of your downspouts to collect rainwater that can be used during dry-spells (which we have been experiencing more often since about 1980) and another downspout is connected to a series of dry-wells feeding a rain garden in your backyard. The fourth downspout still feeds into the storm sewer system.
Then, Milwaukee County passes a law saying that everything that was previously done legally under your municipal and the county building code is now illegal, and the County owns each and every raindrop that falls upon your roof, your driveway, and your soft surfaces.
Rain barrels are outlawed; dry-wells are outlawed; furthermore, if your connection to your local storm sewer system does not register a certain flow back into the system each month, you are billed for that lack of water that is not going back into Lake Michigan - even if you never used a drop. That charge is on top of what you have always been charged separately for treatment of the sewerage/waste water from your house. In my municipality, sewerage/waste water flows into a separate, dedicated sewer line, but once it joins the City of Milwaukee sewer lines it gets freely mixed into storm water, and therefore ALL has to be treated as contaminated waste water at the two City of Milwaukee-owned sewerage treatment plants. Except, it's not the City of Milwaukee who bills you, because the sewerage treatment plants are run by private enterprise. So, they are free to bill you whatever they want, and the City gets a fixed amount off the contract. As a homeowner, you are screwed, one way or another. As a renter, this just means you pay more and more and more as your landlord gets squeezed every year with higher and higher water bills and sewer bills.
Some of this is happening right now in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Think it can't happen where you live? Think again. I live within seven miles of Lake Michigan. Yeah, that's right. The lake that is part of the five great lakes that the water-hungry west is looking for to solve all of their water problems.
What do you think is going to happen?
BIG Agribusiness P.O.d at the First Lady
Who will win when BIG AG starts slinging manure at the Obama Administration?
From Times Online
April 22, 2009
Big Agriculture takes umbrage at Mrs Obama's organic garden
America's powerful agribusiness lobby has hit back at Michelle Obama's decision to make her new White House kitchen garden entirely organic, urging her to consider the use of appropriate "crop protection products". ...
The kitchen garden is White House's first since Eleanor Roosevelt "dug for victory" in the Second World War, and pictures of the photogenic First Lady getting to work gained massive worldwide coverage.
To the anger of Big Ag, however, Mrs Obama has aligned herself with the growing movement of "locavores", people who grow their own fruit and vegetables at home or try to buy only locally-grown food. The principles of organic gardening, which focuses on building healthy soil, mean that she will not be able to use chemical products to tackle pests or give her plants a boost.
Shortly after she got to work on the plot, Mrs Obama received a letter from the Mid-America CropLife Association (MACA), which represents the companies producing the pesticides and fertilisers underpinning "conventional" American agriculture.
Addressed to "Mrs Barack Obama", the letter congratulated the First Lady on "recognising the importance of agriculture in America". Farming is America's largest industry, generating 20 per cent of GDP and directly or indirectly employing 22 million people.
Rest of article.
From Times Online
April 22, 2009
Big Agriculture takes umbrage at Mrs Obama's organic garden
America's powerful agribusiness lobby has hit back at Michelle Obama's decision to make her new White House kitchen garden entirely organic, urging her to consider the use of appropriate "crop protection products". ...
The kitchen garden is White House's first since Eleanor Roosevelt "dug for victory" in the Second World War, and pictures of the photogenic First Lady getting to work gained massive worldwide coverage.
To the anger of Big Ag, however, Mrs Obama has aligned herself with the growing movement of "locavores", people who grow their own fruit and vegetables at home or try to buy only locally-grown food. The principles of organic gardening, which focuses on building healthy soil, mean that she will not be able to use chemical products to tackle pests or give her plants a boost.
Shortly after she got to work on the plot, Mrs Obama received a letter from the Mid-America CropLife Association (MACA), which represents the companies producing the pesticides and fertilisers underpinning "conventional" American agriculture.
Addressed to "Mrs Barack Obama", the letter congratulated the First Lady on "recognising the importance of agriculture in America". Farming is America's largest industry, generating 20 per cent of GDP and directly or indirectly employing 22 million people.
Rest of article.
The Nebra Disc
I haven't seen this beautiful and intriguing Bronze Age artifact in the news for awhile. Some think it's a fake. (I don't). Does it show the Sun, and the Moon in two phases (quarter and sliver)? Or does it show a Full Moon, quarter Moon and sliver Moon, with New Moon implied?
One cluster of stars is recognizable - the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters). Where I live, they can barely be discerned because of the background light.
Check out The Cabinet of Wonders' videos on the subject!
World Digital Library
The World Digital Library has been launched! Mission statement. It's still in its infancy, and I hope it grows leaps and bounds. We'll see.Here's an example from the East Asia collection:
Title: Winds of the Four Directions
Description
This oracle bone from around 1200 B.C. contains 24 characters in four groups in a vigorous and strong style, typical of the Bin group of diviners in the reign of Wu Ding (circa 1200-1189 B.C.). It records the gods of the four directions and of the four winds. The winds of the four directions reflect the spring and autumn equinoxes, the summer and winter solstices, and the changes of the four seasons. The four winds are the east wind, called Xie; the south wind, called Wei; the west wind, called Yi (second tone in Mandarin); and the north wind, called Yi (first tone in Mandarin). They constitute the independent standard seasonal system devised by the Yin people, and were an important basis for the calendar and the determination of intercalary months. This item is from a collection of 35,651 specimens of plastrons and bones in the National Library of China, constituting one-fourth of all oracle bones discovered to date, and considered to be the finest collection in China.
Date Created
Around 1200-1180 BCE
Place of Publication
Anyang, Henan Sheng
Language
Chinese
Title in Original Language
四方风
Place
East Asia > China > Henan > Anyang Diqu
Time
8000 BC - 499 AD
Topic
Language > Other languages > Languages of East & Southeast Asia
Science > Astronomy > Chronology
Additional Subjects
Inscriptions, Chinese ; Oracle bones ; Seasons
Type of Item
Manuscripts
Physical Description
1 piece; 26 × 16 centimeters
Collection
Rubbings of Inscriptions on Metal and Stone
Institution
National Library of China
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Interesting Rock Found in Ohio: Follow-up
Prior post.
From the Middletownjournal.com
Expert says turtle boulder is just a rock
Rock found on farm near Oregonia
By Marie Rossiter Staff Writer
Updated 1:51 PM Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A local archeology curator said a turtle-head shaped boulder found near Oregonia is not a sculpture, as claimed by its finder.
Dirk Morgan, owner of Morgan’s Canoe and Outdoor Center, said he believes his find is an effigy of a turtle that could date back to the Hopewell Indians who lived in the area more than 1,000 years ago.
Bob Genheimer of the Cincinnati Museum Center viewed the 200-pound boulder at Morgan’s home on April 21 and said he found no evidence of shaping or manufacturing.
“My strong opinion is that it is an artifact of nature, or an ‘ecofact,’” Genheimer said. “It appears to be an eroded and water formed sandstone glacial erratic. There is no doubt that it appears to be a turtle head, but I believe it’s an artifact of nature, not culture.”
Morgan said he appreciated Genhemier’s visit, but disagreed with the assessment.
“I’m not going to bury the rock back in the ground based on one opinion,” Morgan said. “I’m going to get more opinions. I feel if I didn’t, I would be doing this find a disservice.”
The sandstone boulder was found last week by Morgan on his farm near Oregonia while searching for rocks for his wife’s garden.
The rock will be featured as part of Geo Fair at Cincinnati Gardens starting May 2.
Terry Huizing, who is a curator of minerals, rocks and meteors at the Cincinnati Museum Center, said when he heard of the rock and saw a picture, he thought it would be a good addition to the annual Geo fair.
Huizing said he hasn’t seen anything like this in his 30 years in the field. Experts from around the country will be at the event and will have a chance to study at the rock.
“It will be the first step in determining its origins,” said Huizing. “We have simple tools to help identify it.”
Rocks like this are not native to southwest Ohio, according to Huizing. He said they typically come from the north as a result of glacier movements.
Morgan said he probably walked by the giant rock thousands of times before noticing it. But, when he went out last week, his curiosity finally got the best of him.
“Only the top was visible and I knew a big piece of it was buried underground,” said Morgan, owner of Morgan’s Canoe and Outdoor Center. “When it didn’t budge when I tried to kick it, I decided to dig to see exactly how big it was.”
Morgan said he clearly saw a pair of eyes and a mouth carved into the sandstone. But, before he jumped to conclusions, he said he ran to get his wife, Lori Morgan, to get her opinion. Morgan said he came to the conclusion it was a turtle head, possibly carved by the Mound Builders who lived in the region more than 1,000 years ago.
According to Morgan, the turtle has historical significance.
“Legend says Mother Earth lives on the back of a turtle shell,” Morgan said. “The turtle is an important symbol in ancient cultures.”
The curiosity factor has drawn friends, neighbors and even strangers to see the rock.
“I’m eager to have others see it,” Morgan said. “Having it on display is a great opportunity.”
****************************************************************************
The rock is sandstone, which is - relatively speaking - easily weathered over time. Arguendo, if the rock was carved some 1,000 years ago and was exposed to the elements for say 500 years before being covered with earth (however that happened), would it be reasonable to assume that one could, by eye-inspection alone, detect whether the rock's "features" were formed by tooling or carving? Did Bob Genheimer of the Cincinnati Museum Center bring equipment along with him that enabled him to make this determination?
While I'm open to the possibility that this rock is a naturally-formed thing that just happens to resemble a turtle head, how was the symmetry of what appear to be two eyes and what look like two ears or ear-holes formed by an accident of nature? I've no idea, but isn't a credo of science this: that the easiest explanation is usually the correct one, i.e., the resemblance and symmetry were formed on purpose by human hands?
I hope there is further follow-up on this story. Too often these interesting stories crop up and then disappear forever, and no one knows what happened.
From the Middletownjournal.com
Expert says turtle boulder is just a rock
Rock found on farm near Oregonia
By Marie Rossiter Staff Writer
Updated 1:51 PM Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A local archeology curator said a turtle-head shaped boulder found near Oregonia is not a sculpture, as claimed by its finder.
Dirk Morgan, owner of Morgan’s Canoe and Outdoor Center, said he believes his find is an effigy of a turtle that could date back to the Hopewell Indians who lived in the area more than 1,000 years ago.
Bob Genheimer of the Cincinnati Museum Center viewed the 200-pound boulder at Morgan’s home on April 21 and said he found no evidence of shaping or manufacturing.
“My strong opinion is that it is an artifact of nature, or an ‘ecofact,’” Genheimer said. “It appears to be an eroded and water formed sandstone glacial erratic. There is no doubt that it appears to be a turtle head, but I believe it’s an artifact of nature, not culture.”
Morgan said he appreciated Genhemier’s visit, but disagreed with the assessment.
“I’m not going to bury the rock back in the ground based on one opinion,” Morgan said. “I’m going to get more opinions. I feel if I didn’t, I would be doing this find a disservice.”
The sandstone boulder was found last week by Morgan on his farm near Oregonia while searching for rocks for his wife’s garden.
The rock will be featured as part of Geo Fair at Cincinnati Gardens starting May 2.
Terry Huizing, who is a curator of minerals, rocks and meteors at the Cincinnati Museum Center, said when he heard of the rock and saw a picture, he thought it would be a good addition to the annual Geo fair.
Huizing said he hasn’t seen anything like this in his 30 years in the field. Experts from around the country will be at the event and will have a chance to study at the rock.
“It will be the first step in determining its origins,” said Huizing. “We have simple tools to help identify it.”
Rocks like this are not native to southwest Ohio, according to Huizing. He said they typically come from the north as a result of glacier movements.
Morgan said he probably walked by the giant rock thousands of times before noticing it. But, when he went out last week, his curiosity finally got the best of him.
“Only the top was visible and I knew a big piece of it was buried underground,” said Morgan, owner of Morgan’s Canoe and Outdoor Center. “When it didn’t budge when I tried to kick it, I decided to dig to see exactly how big it was.”
Morgan said he clearly saw a pair of eyes and a mouth carved into the sandstone. But, before he jumped to conclusions, he said he ran to get his wife, Lori Morgan, to get her opinion. Morgan said he came to the conclusion it was a turtle head, possibly carved by the Mound Builders who lived in the region more than 1,000 years ago.
According to Morgan, the turtle has historical significance.
“Legend says Mother Earth lives on the back of a turtle shell,” Morgan said. “The turtle is an important symbol in ancient cultures.”
The curiosity factor has drawn friends, neighbors and even strangers to see the rock.
“I’m eager to have others see it,” Morgan said. “Having it on display is a great opportunity.”
****************************************************************************
The rock is sandstone, which is - relatively speaking - easily weathered over time. Arguendo, if the rock was carved some 1,000 years ago and was exposed to the elements for say 500 years before being covered with earth (however that happened), would it be reasonable to assume that one could, by eye-inspection alone, detect whether the rock's "features" were formed by tooling or carving? Did Bob Genheimer of the Cincinnati Museum Center bring equipment along with him that enabled him to make this determination?
While I'm open to the possibility that this rock is a naturally-formed thing that just happens to resemble a turtle head, how was the symmetry of what appear to be two eyes and what look like two ears or ear-holes formed by an accident of nature? I've no idea, but isn't a credo of science this: that the easiest explanation is usually the correct one, i.e., the resemblance and symmetry were formed on purpose by human hands?
I hope there is further follow-up on this story. Too often these interesting stories crop up and then disappear forever, and no one knows what happened.
Four Egyptian Temples Discovered in Sinai
This story is very disappointing. It says FOUR temples were discovered in the Sinai in conjunction with the ancient New Kingdom military stronghold, but it only talks about one temple. Bah!Image: This undated hand out picture released Tuesday April 21, 2009, by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities shows Pharaonic King Ramses II, right and Geb, god of earth, carved on a wall at one of four recently unearthed new temples in Qantara amidst the 3,000-year-old remains of an ancient fortified city that could have been used to impress foreign delegations visiting Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Tuesday April 21, 2009.(AP Photo/Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities)
Story from yahoo.news in association with Associated Press
New ancient Egypt temples discovered in Sinai
By HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, Associated Press Writer Hadeel Al-shalchi, Associated Press Writer – Tue Apr 21, 5:21 pm ET
CAIRO – Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed four new temples amidst the 3,000-year-old remains of an ancient fortified city that could have been used to impress foreign delegations visiting Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Tuesday.
Among the discoveries was the largest mud brick temple found in the Sinai with an area of 70 by 80 meters (77 by 87 yards) and fortified with mud walls 3 meters (10 feet) thick, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The find was made in Qantara, 2 1/2 miles (4 kilometers) east of the Suez Canal. These temples mark the latest discovery by archaeologists digging up the remains of the city on the military road known as "Way of Horus." Horus is a falcon-headed god, who represented the greatest cosmic powers for ancient Egyptians.
The path once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
Archaeologist Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, chief of the excavation team, said the large brick temple could potentially rewrite the historical and military significance of the Sinai for the ancient Egyptians.
The temple contains four hallways, three stone purification bowls and colorful inscriptions commemorating Ramses I and II. The grandeur and sheer size of the temple could have been used to impress armies and visiting foreign delegations as they arrived in Egypt, authorities said.
The dig has been part of a joint project with the Culture Ministry that started in 1986 to find fortresses along the military road. Hawass said early studies suggested the fortified city had been Egypt's military headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 B.C.) until the Ptolemaic era, a period lasting about 1500 years.
In a previous find, archaeologists there reported finding the first ever New Kingdom temple to be found in northern Sinai. Studies indicated the temple was built on top of an 18th Dynasty fort (1569-1315 B.C.).
Last year, a collection of reliefs belonging to King Ramses II and King Seti I (1314-1304 B.C.) were also unearthed along with rows of warehouses used by the ancient Egyptian army during the New Kingdom era to store wheat and weapons.
Abdel-Maqsoud said the fortified city corresponded to the inscriptions of the Way of Horus found on the walls of the Karnak Temple in Luxor which illustrated the features of 11 military fortresses that protected Egypt's eastern borders. Only five of them have been discovered to date.
Ancient Chess - The Website
Hola darlings!
Well, I'm very disappointed this evening. I had $20 worth of "Kohls Cash" which I thought expired tomorrow, plus a $10 Kohls gift card sent to me in the mail (for being a valued customer? Yeah, right...) which became effective today. So, I determined to trek down to Southridge Mall after work tonight and shop for a new pair of shoes for the upcoming New York trip.
Arggghhhh! As the bus headed southwest from downtown, I thought "you'd better check the dates on your Kohls cash again, just to be sure. Well, I'm glad I checked because it sure would have been embarrassing to arrive at the checkout counter only to discover that my Kohls cash expired YESTERDAY. Damn! A free $20 down the drain.
I weighed my options - continue my journey, now armed only with $10 of free money, and pay the rest in cash (I'm off credit cards these days), or forget about it and save my hard-earned cash. I decided to save my hard-earned cash. Using $30 of free money toward the purchase of new shoes on sale is one thing; using $10 of free money is another thing.
But - no new shoes. Boo hoo hoo!
Anyway, earlier this evening I was paging through the April, 2009 edition of Chess Life magazine. I didn't find the contents particularly interesting this month, but perhaps you all thought otherwise. I did think that the three/quarter back cover ad - in beautiful color - for the International Chess Festival in Last Vegas, which also includes the Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Girls and Boys and several other tournaments and special events was absolutely gorgeous! The hotel choice - off-strip. Not cool. I wonder what was the thinking of the organizers was behind that decision?
On page 70 are the Classifieds - two pages from the end of the magazine. I usually do not look at the classifieds. I do not have any idea why I decided to look at them today, but it was interesting! Who, for instance, is the "*Legendary Chess Instructor*" whose website address is printed so tiny I cannot read it even with my magnifying glasses on? And what do those asterisks before and after mean? Are they simply meant to be marks of emphasis? Or are they meant to designate some particularly large footnoted joke?
Then there was an ad for "Chess-Player Scholars" - offering university scholarships to certain qualifying chessplaying high school students. The university is the University of Maryland, Baltimore County - famous for its championship-calibre chess teams.
Then there was an ad for Ancient Chess.com. I said to myself, "Self, you must check this out," because anything with ancient and chess connected together are like an interesting scent to a bloodhound. Okay, not a particularly attractive analogy but heck, it fits. LOL! So, I visited the website. It's primarily a vehicle for selling chess sets on ebay, but I do have to say that I thought the section on "Chess History" was well done. I particularly enjoyed the detail the writer went into about some of the moves of particular pieces in chess as it was/is played in various countries around the world, including China, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, etc. It was informative and entertaining without overwhelming one with too many technical details. Good job!
As for the merchandise - well, I'm not in the market and, not being a collector of sets, I only took a quick look at the offerings under a few categories. There are a few sets that are the several hundred dollar range, but also many sets that are more within the price range in which I would consider making a purchase.
In sum, I think the website is well put-together and worth a visit.
Well, I'm very disappointed this evening. I had $20 worth of "Kohls Cash" which I thought expired tomorrow, plus a $10 Kohls gift card sent to me in the mail (for being a valued customer? Yeah, right...) which became effective today. So, I determined to trek down to Southridge Mall after work tonight and shop for a new pair of shoes for the upcoming New York trip.
Arggghhhh! As the bus headed southwest from downtown, I thought "you'd better check the dates on your Kohls cash again, just to be sure. Well, I'm glad I checked because it sure would have been embarrassing to arrive at the checkout counter only to discover that my Kohls cash expired YESTERDAY. Damn! A free $20 down the drain.
I weighed my options - continue my journey, now armed only with $10 of free money, and pay the rest in cash (I'm off credit cards these days), or forget about it and save my hard-earned cash. I decided to save my hard-earned cash. Using $30 of free money toward the purchase of new shoes on sale is one thing; using $10 of free money is another thing.
But - no new shoes. Boo hoo hoo!
Anyway, earlier this evening I was paging through the April, 2009 edition of Chess Life magazine. I didn't find the contents particularly interesting this month, but perhaps you all thought otherwise. I did think that the three/quarter back cover ad - in beautiful color - for the International Chess Festival in Last Vegas, which also includes the Susan Polgar World Open Chess Championship for Girls and Boys and several other tournaments and special events was absolutely gorgeous! The hotel choice - off-strip. Not cool. I wonder what was the thinking of the organizers was behind that decision?
On page 70 are the Classifieds - two pages from the end of the magazine. I usually do not look at the classifieds. I do not have any idea why I decided to look at them today, but it was interesting! Who, for instance, is the "*Legendary Chess Instructor*" whose website address is printed so tiny I cannot read it even with my magnifying glasses on? And what do those asterisks before and after mean? Are they simply meant to be marks of emphasis? Or are they meant to designate some particularly large footnoted joke?
Then there was an ad for "Chess-Player Scholars" - offering university scholarships to certain qualifying chessplaying high school students. The university is the University of Maryland, Baltimore County - famous for its championship-calibre chess teams.
Then there was an ad for Ancient Chess.com. I said to myself, "Self, you must check this out," because anything with ancient and chess connected together are like an interesting scent to a bloodhound. Okay, not a particularly attractive analogy but heck, it fits. LOL! So, I visited the website. It's primarily a vehicle for selling chess sets on ebay, but I do have to say that I thought the section on "Chess History" was well done. I particularly enjoyed the detail the writer went into about some of the moves of particular pieces in chess as it was/is played in various countries around the world, including China, Cambodia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, etc. It was informative and entertaining without overwhelming one with too many technical details. Good job!
As for the merchandise - well, I'm not in the market and, not being a collector of sets, I only took a quick look at the offerings under a few categories. There are a few sets that are the several hundred dollar range, but also many sets that are more within the price range in which I would consider making a purchase.
In sum, I think the website is well put-together and worth a visit.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Hales Corners Challenge IX
Hola darlings!
The HCC IX, April 25, 2009, has gone international with publicity on the Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information blog, popular world-wide!
The HCC IX is worth 10 Grand Prix points in the national GP sponsored by World Chess Live, with cash and merchandise prizes totally $25,000 for the 2009 cycle!
Goddesschess "adopted" the Southwest Chess Club last year, and sponsored some prizes in the Hales Corners Challenge VIII. We're pleased to be back this year for the HCC IX, with an emphasis on encouraging all you chess femmes out there to come and play in this fantastic regional event. To that end, we're sponsoring prizes just for you.
I was informed earlier today that there are already 60 pre-registered players - including 9 chess femmes! Way to go! (HCC VIII had 65 players total, including pre-registered and day-of registrations). Goddesschess particularly hopes that chess femmes will come out for this event! Can we get a couple more of you to come out and play in the Open Section??? (Psssst, the more chess femmes who come out this year will just encourage us to make our prize sponsorship larger for the HCC X).
The Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel (formerly known as the Four Points Sheraton), is a very nice hotel and has comfortable, first-class facilities for hosting the HCC IX. I've visited there many times for various events over the years and can say with confidence that the surroundings are very nicely decorated, clean, spacious, and the staff is gracious and top-notch. You'll be very comfortable playing at the Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel.
Who knows? Maybe I'll put in an appearance - I'll be that mysterious dark-haired woman of a certain age going crazy taking photos with her digital camera...
The HCC IX, April 25, 2009, has gone international with publicity on the Susan Polgar Chess Daily News and Information blog, popular world-wide!
The HCC IX is worth 10 Grand Prix points in the national GP sponsored by World Chess Live, with cash and merchandise prizes totally $25,000 for the 2009 cycle!
Goddesschess "adopted" the Southwest Chess Club last year, and sponsored some prizes in the Hales Corners Challenge VIII. We're pleased to be back this year for the HCC IX, with an emphasis on encouraging all you chess femmes out there to come and play in this fantastic regional event. To that end, we're sponsoring prizes just for you.
I was informed earlier today that there are already 60 pre-registered players - including 9 chess femmes! Way to go! (HCC VIII had 65 players total, including pre-registered and day-of registrations). Goddesschess particularly hopes that chess femmes will come out for this event! Can we get a couple more of you to come out and play in the Open Section??? (Psssst, the more chess femmes who come out this year will just encourage us to make our prize sponsorship larger for the HCC X).
The Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel (formerly known as the Four Points Sheraton), is a very nice hotel and has comfortable, first-class facilities for hosting the HCC IX. I've visited there many times for various events over the years and can say with confidence that the surroundings are very nicely decorated, clean, spacious, and the staff is gracious and top-notch. You'll be very comfortable playing at the Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel.
Who knows? Maybe I'll put in an appearance - I'll be that mysterious dark-haired woman of a certain age going crazy taking photos with her digital camera...
O2C Doeberl Cup 2009
Canberra, Australia
April 9 - 13, 2009
There were several different sections for this tournament. Website. These are the final standings (after R9) for the Premier Event (76 players):
Rank Seed Name Rating Score
1 8 IM Sengupta, Deep 2466 7 (won on tie-breaks; 2 other players also scored 7/9)
15 20 WIM Nadig, Kruttika 2361 5.5
16 21 WGM Karavade, Eesha 2359 5.5
21 26 WGM Mohota, Nisha 2304 5.5
22 24 WGM Swathi, Ghate 2330 5.5
32 41 WIM Caoili, Arianne B 2172 5
38 39 WFM Pon, Nkrithika 2180 4.5 (scored WIM norm)
61 75 Guo, Emma 1845 3
April 9 - 13, 2009
There were several different sections for this tournament. Website. These are the final standings (after R9) for the Premier Event (76 players):
Rank Seed Name Rating Score
1 8 IM Sengupta, Deep 2466 7 (won on tie-breaks; 2 other players also scored 7/9)
15 20 WIM Nadig, Kruttika 2361 5.5
16 21 WGM Karavade, Eesha 2359 5.5
21 26 WGM Mohota, Nisha 2304 5.5
22 24 WGM Swathi, Ghate 2330 5.5
32 41 WIM Caoili, Arianne B 2172 5
38 39 WFM Pon, Nkrithika 2180 4.5 (scored WIM norm)
61 75 Guo, Emma 1845 3
Monday, April 20, 2009
More on Austen
I watched "Lost in Austen" over the weekend. I thought it was great fun. Some amazing plot twists occur when Lizzie Bennet isn't around to keep things on track. Unfortunately, the Darcy character was really nasty to 21st century Amanda Price - who ended up swapping places with Elizabeth Bennet, much to Amanda's chagrin. If I'd been Amanda and Darcy said some of those things to me he said to her, he'd be stooped over permanently from a damaged scrotum. That they fall in love is absolutely improbable; no one could ever love this Darcy. He was gorgeous in a wet shirt, though.
I see a new review too, by Mark Bostridge (Literary Review) on yet another Austen-related book: AUSTENMANIA
Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World By Claire Harman (Canongate 342pp £20)
I see a new review too, by Mark Bostridge (Literary Review) on yet another Austen-related book: AUSTENMANIA
Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World By Claire Harman (Canongate 342pp £20)
Climate Change Endangers Archaeological Treasures
Archaeology Magazine online profiles several archaeological sites and heritage areas in danger of being destroyed by climate change. It seems likely their destruction is inevitable, and scientists and archaeologists are racing against time in an attempt to recover and preserve as much as possible: the retreating Swiss glaciers; thawing Scythian tombs; Channel Islands erosion; Greenland's melting sea ice; desertification, etc.
Climate Change: Sites in Peril
Volume 62 Number 2, March/April 2009
by Andrew Curry
Climate Change: Sites in Peril
Volume 62 Number 2, March/April 2009
by Andrew Curry
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Interesting Rock Found in Ohio
Is it a 1,000 year old North American rock carving of a turtle head? Or is it just a fluke that owes nothing to man's hand?From Cincinnati.com
Could this boulder be an ancient carving?
By Sheila McLaughlin
April 17, 2009
Dirk Morgan has always fancied himself a modern day Indiana Jones.
Adventure is his business. He runs a family-owned canoe livery near Morrow.
With a serious interest in Native American artifacts -- and, growing up on the banks of the Little Miami River where they are easily found -- he has long dreamed that one of the fossils or arrowheads he has unearthed would be an important archeological find.
Now, Morgan thinks he has found something significant -- a sandstone boulder that appears to be carved into the shape of a turtle's head, complete with gaping mouth, a tapered beak and eyes on both sides.
He found the object while digging up a rock to place in his wife’s garden. He estimates it weighs about 200 pounds. “For me, it’s kind of the find of my lifetime,” Morgan said.
Morgan said he thinks the stone could be a carving, possibly by the ancient Mound Builders that once called Ohio home. “Mother Earth was said to be riding on the back of a huge-mouthed turtle in Indian lore,” Morgan said.
He has contacted the Ohio Historical Society to evaluate the piece. Brad Lepper, curator of archeology for the Ohio Historical Society, has looked at photos sent to him by Morgan. He hasn’t reached a conclusion. It could be just an odd rock formation. Or it could be a rock that was found and carved by Fort Ancient Indians more than 1,000 years ago to resemble a turtle. If so, that would be a “remarkable” archeological find, he said.
It’s just too early to tell.
“My first reaction was ‘Wow. It looks like the head of a snapping turtle,’” Lepper said. “But after looking at it more closely, I was bothered by a number of things.”
The eyes don’t appear to be symmetrical. They are in slightly different locations and of different sizes, he said. Even so, the rock may still be an artifact. Lepper has asked an archeologist at the Cincinnati Museum Center to take a look.
“It’s also possible that it was a natural broken stone that Native Americans recognized looks a lot like a turtle and perhaps made some very slight modifications to it to bring that resemblance out,” Lepper said.
“That’s consistent with tribal peoples all over the world.”
Morgan’s excitement hasn’t lost any steam. He also has e-mailed images to National Geographic, but hasn’t heard anything back.
If it turns out to be just another cool rock, well… Morgan says it will take a place in the garden behind his house.
17th Century Parish Records of Crime and Punishment
This article was fascinating. Can you guess what appealed to me most?
Story from the Edinbourgh News:
Ancient court record shows thieves faced hangman's whip
Published Date: 15 April 2009
By LAURA CUMMINGS
EVEN for those who accuse modern judges of being too soft on crime, it's a punishment that probably goes a little far.
A whipping at the hands of the local hangman was the kind of treatment thieves in Musselburgh could expect 500 years ago however, according to newly uncovered records.Hundreds of historic documents have been unearthed by council workmen during a clear-out of Musselburgh Town House.
The earliest records date back to 1545 and experts say they are providing a unique glimpse into what life was like in the East Lothian town almost 500 years ago.
One of the most significant finds was a selection of Musselburgh Baillie Court books spanning 450 years and detailing offences committed by citizens of the burgh, and subsequent punishments. These included a whipping by the town's hangman for a criminal found guilty of breaking into a warehouse in the 17th century.
Ruth Fyfe, an archivist for East Lothian Council, said: "Most of the people were being brought before the Musselburgh Baillie Court because they owed money for goods such as ale, leather and cloth.
"However, we did come across a man who broke into a warehouse and was sentenced to a whipping by the hangman."
She added: "This is a very exciting find because it is rare for such a large collection of documents to come to light. They will offer a fantastic insight into the life of the town over a span of about 450 years."
The court books also contained information on the "Shoot for the Musselburgh Silver Arrow" – an annual competition for the Royal Company of Archers which still takes place to this day. The documents state that on September 8, 1647, Robert Dobie of Stainyhill won the silver arrow for the third time and was allowed to keep it. However, he gave it back to the people of Musselburgh for "love of the borough".
Council wage books were also found in the basement of the Town House, revealing that – on average – workers in the cleaning, carting and lighting departments earned £1 for six days' work in 1898. [So the average yearly wage for these workers was £52 a year, because most average workers did not take a week's vacation back then -- it was unpaid and they could not afford to go without the wages.]
Shipping records listing the cargoes imported and exported from Musselburgh Harbour were also unveiled from 1635-1649. The cargo usually consisted of wood or barley, with the ships travelling from other parts of Scotland and even Norway.
George MacKenzie, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said: "The recent discovery of many of the older records of Musselburgh, long given up for lost, is exciting and will enrich the history both of the town and the county."
The oldest documents uncovered were Sasines books dating back to 1545, which detailed land transactions in Musselburgh.
The documents are currently being kept at the East Lothian archive store but will be relocated to the John Gray Centre in Haddington when it opens in 2011.
STEP BACK IN CRIME
June 21, 1660
James Waterstone confessed to breaking into a warehouse in Musselburgh which belonged to David Ross and stealing cloth. He was kept in the town's tolbooth from the day of his confession and was sentenced to a whipping by the hangman in an attempt to make him name his accomplices. He later attempted to break free from the tolbooth, risking his life by climbing over the roof.
November 22, 1654
James Hog brought an action against William Merstein, who stole one of Mr Hog's horses which was carrying food to the army at the Battle of Dunbar. The documents state: "Bags of meal were thrown off the horse and the horse was taken violently." The court ordered Merstein to return the horse and pay 20 shillings expenses.
July 19, 1659 Richard Gibsone – an "indweller in the Brigend" was ordered to pay David Thomson the 50 pounds that he owed him for "aill".
July 9, 1861 Thomas Gilmoire was ordered to pay 50 shillings which he owed for cloth to John Richardone.
Okay - this is what caught my fancy: July 19, 1659 Richard Gibsone – an "indweller in the Brigend" was ordered to pay David Thomson the 50 pounds that he owed him for "aill".
I interpret "indweller in the Brigend" to mean that poor Richard was imprisoned - either in debtors' prison or in the parish jail. He owed David Thomson the enormous sum of 50 pounds - nearly a year's wages for some workers. The question is - what was the debt for? Was it for "ale," in which case it seems that Richard was likely to die shortly from liver failure, or was it for "all?" -- which I take to mean those items necessary to someone in debtors' prison (or possibly in the parish jail) for the basics of life: food and water, fuel for warmth, and light (candles or whale oil for lanterns).
Either way - not a pleasant prospect. That Dickens was writing about just such a subject nearly 200 years later in "Little Dorrit" shows how little the justice system in England had changed. Speaking of which, a PBS showing of "Little Dorrit" from the BBC is currently being broadcast on Masterpiece Theater.
Oh my! I just had the most overwhelming feeling of deja vu'. Did I write about this topic recently???
Story from the Edinbourgh News:
Ancient court record shows thieves faced hangman's whip
Published Date: 15 April 2009
By LAURA CUMMINGS
EVEN for those who accuse modern judges of being too soft on crime, it's a punishment that probably goes a little far.
A whipping at the hands of the local hangman was the kind of treatment thieves in Musselburgh could expect 500 years ago however, according to newly uncovered records.Hundreds of historic documents have been unearthed by council workmen during a clear-out of Musselburgh Town House.
The earliest records date back to 1545 and experts say they are providing a unique glimpse into what life was like in the East Lothian town almost 500 years ago.
One of the most significant finds was a selection of Musselburgh Baillie Court books spanning 450 years and detailing offences committed by citizens of the burgh, and subsequent punishments. These included a whipping by the town's hangman for a criminal found guilty of breaking into a warehouse in the 17th century.
Ruth Fyfe, an archivist for East Lothian Council, said: "Most of the people were being brought before the Musselburgh Baillie Court because they owed money for goods such as ale, leather and cloth.
"However, we did come across a man who broke into a warehouse and was sentenced to a whipping by the hangman."
She added: "This is a very exciting find because it is rare for such a large collection of documents to come to light. They will offer a fantastic insight into the life of the town over a span of about 450 years."
The court books also contained information on the "Shoot for the Musselburgh Silver Arrow" – an annual competition for the Royal Company of Archers which still takes place to this day. The documents state that on September 8, 1647, Robert Dobie of Stainyhill won the silver arrow for the third time and was allowed to keep it. However, he gave it back to the people of Musselburgh for "love of the borough".
Council wage books were also found in the basement of the Town House, revealing that – on average – workers in the cleaning, carting and lighting departments earned £1 for six days' work in 1898. [So the average yearly wage for these workers was £52 a year, because most average workers did not take a week's vacation back then -- it was unpaid and they could not afford to go without the wages.]
Shipping records listing the cargoes imported and exported from Musselburgh Harbour were also unveiled from 1635-1649. The cargo usually consisted of wood or barley, with the ships travelling from other parts of Scotland and even Norway.
George MacKenzie, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, said: "The recent discovery of many of the older records of Musselburgh, long given up for lost, is exciting and will enrich the history both of the town and the county."
The oldest documents uncovered were Sasines books dating back to 1545, which detailed land transactions in Musselburgh.
The documents are currently being kept at the East Lothian archive store but will be relocated to the John Gray Centre in Haddington when it opens in 2011.
STEP BACK IN CRIME
June 21, 1660
James Waterstone confessed to breaking into a warehouse in Musselburgh which belonged to David Ross and stealing cloth. He was kept in the town's tolbooth from the day of his confession and was sentenced to a whipping by the hangman in an attempt to make him name his accomplices. He later attempted to break free from the tolbooth, risking his life by climbing over the roof.
November 22, 1654
James Hog brought an action against William Merstein, who stole one of Mr Hog's horses which was carrying food to the army at the Battle of Dunbar. The documents state: "Bags of meal were thrown off the horse and the horse was taken violently." The court ordered Merstein to return the horse and pay 20 shillings expenses.
July 19, 1659 Richard Gibsone – an "indweller in the Brigend" was ordered to pay David Thomson the 50 pounds that he owed him for "aill".
July 9, 1861 Thomas Gilmoire was ordered to pay 50 shillings which he owed for cloth to John Richardone.
**********************************************************************
Okay - this is what caught my fancy: July 19, 1659 Richard Gibsone – an "indweller in the Brigend" was ordered to pay David Thomson the 50 pounds that he owed him for "aill".
I interpret "indweller in the Brigend" to mean that poor Richard was imprisoned - either in debtors' prison or in the parish jail. He owed David Thomson the enormous sum of 50 pounds - nearly a year's wages for some workers. The question is - what was the debt for? Was it for "ale," in which case it seems that Richard was likely to die shortly from liver failure, or was it for "all?" -- which I take to mean those items necessary to someone in debtors' prison (or possibly in the parish jail) for the basics of life: food and water, fuel for warmth, and light (candles or whale oil for lanterns).
Either way - not a pleasant prospect. That Dickens was writing about just such a subject nearly 200 years later in "Little Dorrit" shows how little the justice system in England had changed. Speaking of which, a PBS showing of "Little Dorrit" from the BBC is currently being broadcast on Masterpiece Theater.
Oh my! I just had the most overwhelming feeling of deja vu'. Did I write about this topic recently???
Tourist Visits to Greece Decline
A story from Yahoo News on April 13, 2009: Greece sees fall in visits to ancient sites
Well - duh! I wonder why!!! A lousy economy worldwide is one thing - but weeks of reports of riots in the streets by THUGS that were unchecked by the Greek authorities no doubt played their part, too. I mean, come on, guys! There were reports of burning cars, torched businesses, assaulted police officers, the cessation of vital services such as public transportation, businesses closed, absolute anarchy reigned. Would a tourist in her right mind want to pay good money just to be caught up in that kind of mess? Geez!
Once again evidence is provided that the world is mostly populated by frigging idiots, who cannot add 2 plus 2 together to arrive at the correct answer of 4.
Well - duh! I wonder why!!! A lousy economy worldwide is one thing - but weeks of reports of riots in the streets by THUGS that were unchecked by the Greek authorities no doubt played their part, too. I mean, come on, guys! There were reports of burning cars, torched businesses, assaulted police officers, the cessation of vital services such as public transportation, businesses closed, absolute anarchy reigned. Would a tourist in her right mind want to pay good money just to be caught up in that kind of mess? Geez!
Once again evidence is provided that the world is mostly populated by frigging idiots, who cannot add 2 plus 2 together to arrive at the correct answer of 4.
Important Historical Diary Found
Wow!
2009-04-15 15:34
200- year- old Egypt journal found
Work is an exceptional find for Egyptologists
(ANSA) - Pisa, April 15 - The 200-year-old travel diary of an Italian adventurer who explored Egypt and later guided the founders of Egyptology to key sites has been uncovered in this Tuscan city. The journal, accidentally unearthed during research into a groundbreaking historical expedition, was written by a Siena-born doctor, draughtsman and explorer named Alessandro Ricci, who set out for Egypt in 1817.
Ricci's journal covered a five-year period until 1822, describing his adventures and experiences in detail. The document is particularly important as Ricci was a key figure in a later Franco-Tuscan expedition, led jointly by the French philologist who deciphered hieroglyphs, Jean-Francois Champollion, and a leading Italian Egyptologist Ippolito Rosellini.
''This is an exceptional find for the field of Egyptology,'' commented Marilina Betro, the professor heading the Pisa University team researching the Franco-Tuscan expedition. ''Ricci describes and draws those sites that had already been completely destroyed just a few years later, at the time of the Champollion-Rosellini expedition, which he was also part of.
''But as well as the monuments, he also describes the customs and habits of the people he met, the fighting strategies of armies, the condition of women and even the treatment of animals''.
After leaving Siena in 1817, Ricci travelled to Egypt, exploring widely. He spent some months in Alexandria before journeying south to the area of Nubia, where he was eventually forced to turn around due to fighting in the area and the hostility of the local governor. He travelled to Cairo and in 1820 joined a military expedition organized by the Viceroy Muhammed Ali of Egypt to the Siwa Oasis. Here, he painstakingly copied inscriptions he found on the walls of the temple of Amun and mapped out the entire area around the oasis. Later that year he travelled to Suez and from there to Mount Sinai, where he spent some time at St Catherine's Monastery. In 1821, he returned to southern Egypt, joining another military expedition, this one led by the viceroy's son Ibrahim Pasha. He was eventually forced to cut short this trip as well, owing to the poor health of Ibrahim, whose doctor he had become.
In 1822, Ricci returned to Italy and set to work organizing the drawings he had made and writing up his journal. Both would later be used by Champollion and Rosellini when they embarked on their Egyptian travels in 1828, accompanied by Ricci. Although the fact Ricci had written a diary was no secret, its whereabouts have been a mystery for decades. Ricci gave his journal to Champollion in 1827, prior to the Franco-Tuscan expedition, apparently believing the French expert would publish it. Champollion died in 1832, followed by Ricci two years later. Although Rosellini asked French authorities to return the journal in 1836, it remained in France. The diary then vanished for several decades until resurfacing in 1928, when an Italian architect working for King Fuad I of Egypt discovered the manuscript by accident in an ancient Cairo bookshop. He immediately bought it and showed it to the Italian Egyptologist Angelo Sammarco, who recognized its value and was keen to organize its publication. Sammarco published a synopsis of the diary in 1930 but never took the project any further.
After he died in 1948, all trace of the journal vanished until it was rediscovered in Pisa University by researcher Daniele Salvoldi.
''Now, two centuries after it was written, our goal is to get this book published,'' said Betro.
Betro and Salvoldi's determination, combined with Italy's commitment to Egyptology, with the world's largest collection of artefacts outside Egypt stored in Turin, mean that Ricci's dream could finally come true.
2009-04-15 15:34
200- year- old Egypt journal found
Work is an exceptional find for Egyptologists
(ANSA) - Pisa, April 15 - The 200-year-old travel diary of an Italian adventurer who explored Egypt and later guided the founders of Egyptology to key sites has been uncovered in this Tuscan city. The journal, accidentally unearthed during research into a groundbreaking historical expedition, was written by a Siena-born doctor, draughtsman and explorer named Alessandro Ricci, who set out for Egypt in 1817.
Ricci's journal covered a five-year period until 1822, describing his adventures and experiences in detail. The document is particularly important as Ricci was a key figure in a later Franco-Tuscan expedition, led jointly by the French philologist who deciphered hieroglyphs, Jean-Francois Champollion, and a leading Italian Egyptologist Ippolito Rosellini.
''This is an exceptional find for the field of Egyptology,'' commented Marilina Betro, the professor heading the Pisa University team researching the Franco-Tuscan expedition. ''Ricci describes and draws those sites that had already been completely destroyed just a few years later, at the time of the Champollion-Rosellini expedition, which he was also part of.
''But as well as the monuments, he also describes the customs and habits of the people he met, the fighting strategies of armies, the condition of women and even the treatment of animals''.
After leaving Siena in 1817, Ricci travelled to Egypt, exploring widely. He spent some months in Alexandria before journeying south to the area of Nubia, where he was eventually forced to turn around due to fighting in the area and the hostility of the local governor. He travelled to Cairo and in 1820 joined a military expedition organized by the Viceroy Muhammed Ali of Egypt to the Siwa Oasis. Here, he painstakingly copied inscriptions he found on the walls of the temple of Amun and mapped out the entire area around the oasis. Later that year he travelled to Suez and from there to Mount Sinai, where he spent some time at St Catherine's Monastery. In 1821, he returned to southern Egypt, joining another military expedition, this one led by the viceroy's son Ibrahim Pasha. He was eventually forced to cut short this trip as well, owing to the poor health of Ibrahim, whose doctor he had become.
In 1822, Ricci returned to Italy and set to work organizing the drawings he had made and writing up his journal. Both would later be used by Champollion and Rosellini when they embarked on their Egyptian travels in 1828, accompanied by Ricci. Although the fact Ricci had written a diary was no secret, its whereabouts have been a mystery for decades. Ricci gave his journal to Champollion in 1827, prior to the Franco-Tuscan expedition, apparently believing the French expert would publish it. Champollion died in 1832, followed by Ricci two years later. Although Rosellini asked French authorities to return the journal in 1836, it remained in France. The diary then vanished for several decades until resurfacing in 1928, when an Italian architect working for King Fuad I of Egypt discovered the manuscript by accident in an ancient Cairo bookshop. He immediately bought it and showed it to the Italian Egyptologist Angelo Sammarco, who recognized its value and was keen to organize its publication. Sammarco published a synopsis of the diary in 1930 but never took the project any further.
After he died in 1948, all trace of the journal vanished until it was rediscovered in Pisa University by researcher Daniele Salvoldi.
''Now, two centuries after it was written, our goal is to get this book published,'' said Betro.
Betro and Salvoldi's determination, combined with Italy's commitment to Egyptology, with the world's largest collection of artefacts outside Egypt stored in Turin, mean that Ricci's dream could finally come true.
Sydney International Open
This event was held in Sydney, Australia April 15 - 19, 2009 (101 players). There was a four-way tie for first place and the co-winners shared the $10,000 first prize:
Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1 GM Johansen Darryl K AUS 2452 7,0 41,5 52,5 39,50
2 IM Xie George Wendi AUS 2402 7,0 41,0 50,5 37,75
3 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2513 7,0 40,0 50,5 38,75
4 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2550 7,0 39,5 50,5 37,75
Several chess femmes participated in this event - here are their final standings - I hope I did not miss any:
(Photo: Top female finisher at the 2009 Sydney International Open, Eesha Karavade; photographed as the winner of 2008 National "B" Open, India
)
11 WGM Karavade Eesha IND 2359 6,0 39,0 49,5 32,00
13 WGM Mohota Nisha IND 2304 6,0 39,0 49,5 30,00
29 WGM Swathi Ghate IND 2330 5,0 41,0 52,0 27,50
36 WFM Pon Nkrithika IND 2180 5,0 34,0 43,0 20,25
41 Cunanan Kimberly Jane PHI 1991 5,0 30,0 37,5 16,75
54 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1928 4,5 26,5 35,0 15,25
74 Guo Emma AUS 1845 3,5 29,5 37,0 12,50
76 Anton Sarah AUS 1718 3,5 28,5 37,0 11,75
83 WFM Milligan Helen NZL 1985 3,0 30,5 38,5 11,00
93 Yu Sally AUS 1819 2,5 25,0 31,0 6,00
Rk. Name FED Rtg Pts. TB1 TB2 TB3
1 GM Johansen Darryl K AUS 2452 7,0 41,5 52,5 39,50
2 IM Xie George Wendi AUS 2402 7,0 41,0 50,5 37,75
3 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2513 7,0 40,0 50,5 38,75
4 GM Jones Gawain C B ENG 2550 7,0 39,5 50,5 37,75
Several chess femmes participated in this event - here are their final standings - I hope I did not miss any:
(Photo: Top female finisher at the 2009 Sydney International Open, Eesha Karavade; photographed as the winner of 2008 National "B" Open, India
)11 WGM Karavade Eesha IND 2359 6,0 39,0 49,5 32,00
13 WGM Mohota Nisha IND 2304 6,0 39,0 49,5 30,00
29 WGM Swathi Ghate IND 2330 5,0 41,0 52,0 27,50
36 WFM Pon Nkrithika IND 2180 5,0 34,0 43,0 20,25
41 Cunanan Kimberly Jane PHI 1991 5,0 30,0 37,5 16,75
54 WIM Jule Alexandra AUS 1928 4,5 26,5 35,0 15,25
74 Guo Emma AUS 1845 3,5 29,5 37,0 12,50
76 Anton Sarah AUS 1718 3,5 28,5 37,0 11,75
83 WFM Milligan Helen NZL 1985 3,0 30,5 38,5 11,00
93 Yu Sally AUS 1819 2,5 25,0 31,0 6,00
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Italian Quake Reveals Underground Caves
From adkanos.com
Italy: Abruzzo quake unearths prehistoric dwellings
Rome, 17 April (AKI) - Last week's powerful earthquake in the central Italian Abruzzo regional capital L'Aquila has unearthed prehistoric dwellings there, according Italian daily La Stampa. Some of the vaulted caves measure up to five metres in height, according to Italian geologist Gianluca Ferretti, quoted by the daily.
"We are exploring them," said Ferretti, who teaches geology at L'Aquila's university.
One the biggest caves is located near L'Aquila's bus terminal, in via di Collemaggio. The caves date back 15,000 years, according to geologists.
"Some of the caves were hollowed out by the first shepherds to inhabit the area, who would also use them as shelters for their animals," said Ferretti's colleague, Antonio Moretti. But while they represent a fascinating archaeological find, the caves' emergence has worried geologists.
"It shows the fragility of the sediment on which the area is built," said Ferretti.
The magnitude 6.3 quake last Monday destroyed or seriously damaged several thousand buildings in L'Aquila and surrounding villages, killing 295 people and leaving 55,000 homeless.
Italy: Abruzzo quake unearths prehistoric dwellings
Rome, 17 April (AKI) - Last week's powerful earthquake in the central Italian Abruzzo regional capital L'Aquila has unearthed prehistoric dwellings there, according Italian daily La Stampa. Some of the vaulted caves measure up to five metres in height, according to Italian geologist Gianluca Ferretti, quoted by the daily.
"We are exploring them," said Ferretti, who teaches geology at L'Aquila's university.
One the biggest caves is located near L'Aquila's bus terminal, in via di Collemaggio. The caves date back 15,000 years, according to geologists.
"Some of the caves were hollowed out by the first shepherds to inhabit the area, who would also use them as shelters for their animals," said Ferretti's colleague, Antonio Moretti. But while they represent a fascinating archaeological find, the caves' emergence has worried geologists.
"It shows the fragility of the sediment on which the area is built," said Ferretti.
The magnitude 6.3 quake last Monday destroyed or seriously damaged several thousand buildings in L'Aquila and surrounding villages, killing 295 people and leaving 55,000 homeless.
CAIS Report
Iraqi Drought Reveals Sasanian City of Peroz-Shapur and other Archaeological Treasures15 April 2009
By: Lourdes Garcia-Navarro
Edited by CAIS
LONDON, (CAIS) -- Today oil-rich Iraq, apart from foreign invasion, terrorism and sectarian wars, is also suffering from one of the worst droughts in decades. While this is bad news for farmers, it is good news for archaeologists.
The receding waters of the Euphrates River have revealed ancient archaeological sites, some of which were unknown until now.
For Ratib Ali al-Kubaisi, the director of Anbar province's Antiquities Department, the drought has opened up a whole new land of opportunity.
Rest of article.
Weekend Earth Day Clean-Up in Milwaukee
Today we were blessed with our best weather of the new season - it was sunny, very dry air, dry ground and, best of all, mild breezes and warm temperatures! Where I live (about 7.5 miles west of Lake Michigan), I think it was about 70 F or so. I headed to the supermarket shortly after 10 AM in a long sleeved fleece shirt and jeans and worked up a sweat walking back with two canvas sacks of groceries (that's part of my work-out routine - I carry about 5-6 pounds in each sack.)Now I've got the news on television and it warmed my heart seeing lots of kids out today for the annual Earth Day park clean-up in Milwaukee County. Here is press coverage from the local newspaper, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Photo: Jack Orton
Daniel Joannes, 12, with Boy Scout Troop 27 from St. Pius in Wauwatosa, and troop volunteers Tony Balcom and Mike Lisser try to pull a large metal bicycle rack out of the Menomonee River in Hoyt Park as they took part in the Keep America Beautiful 2009 Great American Cleanup.
River cleanup draws 3,000 volunteers
By Bill Glauber of the Journal Sentinel
Posted: Apr. 18, 2009 1:09 p.m.
Wauwatosa – Amid the old shoes and clothes, rusting car parts and dirty bottles that were picked up by volunteers Saturday along the banks of the Menomonee River in Hoyt Park, Colin Brown discovered something in the mud that made him do a double take.
It was a cardboard sign that read: "The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river."
"It was kind of funny," Brown said. "The sign reminds you to take action. You have to do something."
Brown was among thousands of volunteers who scoured area parks, woods and rivers in the Milwaukee Riverkeeper's annual Spring River Cleanup.
The big event is designed to collect trash that can foul waterways as well as raise awareness about preserving the beauty of Wisconsin's landscape. Wednesday marks Earth Day, the event that was founded by Gaylord A. Nelson, the former Wisconsin governor and U.S. Senator. The first Earth Day was launched in 1970.
Armed with trash bags, work gloves and rugged shoes, everyone from Boy Scout troops to senior citizens fanned out along the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic rivers. They cleaned up along the Hank Aaron State Trail in the Menomonee Valley. And they picked up trash in the northern watershed in locations around Cedarburg, Grafton and West Bend. And along the way, they discovered some unusual items, like a toilet, kid's wagon, a towel with an Olympic logo and a full bedroom set complete with headboard, mattress, box spring and matching table.
Paul Schwarzkopf, who organized the event, estimated 3,000 volunteers participated, the count boosted he said by Saturday's warm weather, the addition of 10 sites, and the continued revival of the Milwaukee River. Organizers handed out 6,000 garbage bags and by mid-morning they received calls that more were needed.
"People are starting to turn toward the river, not away from it," he said. "People are looking at the river as a vital water resource."
He said the cleanup reminded people what they have in their hometowns and neighborhoods.
Hoyt Park, a popular recreation spot in Wauwatosa, was abuzz with activity, as 153 volunteers scattered in the woods and parking lots to clean up. A Boy Scout troop discovered an old park bike rack in the woods, along with a green-slatted park bench.
"You kind of raise consciousness about littering," said Kathleen Ellis Stifter, who served as site captain. "If you're going to change the next generation you have to get them involved while they're young."
Ashley Lentz, among 20 employees from WaterStone Bank to participate, gathered a bag full of old bottles.
"I've been going on these park trails since I was a kid," she said. "It's a nice event to come out and preserve what I had growing up."
New Rock Art Discovered at Machu Picchu
From the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette:UCA professor finds ancient rock painting in Peru
BY DEBRA HALE-SHELTON
Posted on Friday, April 17, 2009
(Photo: Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/REINALDO MORALES JR. Reinaldo "Dito" Morales Jr., an assistant professor of art history at the University of Central Arkansas, will formally announce his finding of an ancient painting at Peru's Machu Picchu at next week's annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Atlanta.)
CONWAY - A University of Central Arkansas professor said Thursday that he has discovered an ancient rock painting at an Inca burial site in the Peruvian Andes and believes the work could be anywhere from 500 to 2,000 years old.
Tens of thousands of tourists each year pass the nearly 50-foot rock at Machu Picchu, a site scientists have studied for nearly a century. But apparently no one has paid attention to the barely visible painting, said Reinaldo "Dito" Morales Jr., assistant professor of art history.
Morales is to announce his finding formally April 24 at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Atlanta.
Morales, 45, first saw the rock art in 2000 when he was a graduate student. At the time, he said, "I figured [that] this place is so famous, surely everyone knows about it."
But after he later obtained funding to return to Peru in December 2008, he began digging into the area's art history.
"I've been scouring every journal, book, any kind of publication that discusses Machu Picchu or the rock art there" and haven't found even a mention of this work, he said.
The black painting - likely done with charcoal or the mineral manganese - is partly obscured by a calcium deposit, which Morales said could take hundreds of years or longer to form. No one really knows what the painting depicts or who created it.
But when a drawing of it is su- perimposed upon a photograph Morales took, the painting appears to be "some kind of animal imagery," said James Farmer, an associate professor and chairman of the art history department at Virginia Commonwealth University, where Morales did his doctoral dissertation.
Morales said, "I don't know if it's supposed to represent something or if it's just some sort of abstract geometrical marks. That's the question of the century for rock-art studies."
Farmer, who has traveled to Peru since the discovery and saw the drawing, said, "Someone probably has seen this [painting in the past], but ... what is significant ... is that no one has ever really paid much attention to it if, in fact, they had seen it. ... Apparently, [Morales is] the first modern person who certainly noticed it and brought it to the attention of anybody.
"It's very easy to miss," Farmer said. "Even knowing where it was, I had to go up there and look for it. It doesn't jump out at you. It's hard to locate, and it's hard to see."
Art historians already knew of engravings at Machu Picchu. But Morales said, "This is the very first painting ever documented at Machu Picchu."
Historians believe Pachacuti, the Incas' first emperor, built Machu Picchu as a royal winter retreat in the Andean mountains in about 1450. Morales and Farmer believe the work predates the Incas' presence at Machu Picchu, which translates to big mountain or big peak.
Morales said he's convinced the image is not of Incan origin "because Incan art is typically dominated by rectilinear geometric patterns, whereas this painting is primarily curvilinear."
Farmer said the painting "stylistically looks rather similar to other rock-art traditions ... that we know are much earlier.
"Just in terms of what the image appears to represent, it just doesn't look very Inca," he added.
"You could be talking about something that dates back to 5000 B.C.," Farmer said. "It is stylistically similar to some other things in the Andes" from that time. But some parts of the painting are in goodenough condition that it might be just 500 years old, he said.
While it's probably not Inca in origin, the question of "whom we would assign origin to is going to be a much more difficult question to grapple with," Farmer said. "I think that would be sort of the first wave of research."
Because Morales does not want to risk damaging the work, he has not even touched the painting.
"It's not worth ruining, just for temporary satisfaction," he said.
Carbon dating, which would involve scraping off a tiny piece of the work, would ruin that small portion and might not even work if there's not enough organic material to test, Morales said.
The International Congress of Rock Art has accepted a paper Morales wrote about the discovery and will meet this summer in Brazil.
South America Under-20 Chess Championships
(Photo of the top three finishers from male and female sections, from the official website)Report from Chessdom: This event was held April 8 - 13, 2009, Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Girls section had only nine participants. The new champion is Carla Heredia of Ecuador with 6.5 points (8 games), a full point ahead of the silver medalist WFM Gabriela Vargas (Paraguay) and third placed Paulina Orejuela (Ecuador).
Here are the chess femmes' complete final standings from Chess-Results.com:
Clasificación Final tras 9 rondas
Rk. 0 Nombre FED Elo Pts. Des 1 Des 2 Des 3
1 Heredia Serrano Carla ECU 2097 6,5 22,00 5 2,5
2 WFM Vargas Gabriela PAR 2090 5,5 21,25 5 3,5
3 Orejuela Chango Paulina ECU 1883 5,5 17,50 4 1,5
4 WFM Feliciano Vanessa BRA 2112 4,5 12,75 4 0,5
5 Romero Echeverria Abigail ECU 2057 4,0 14,50 3 2,0
6 WCM Borda Carla BOL 2022 3,0 11,50 2 2,0
7 WCM Estrada Lucia BOL 1887 3,0 9,50 2 1,0
8 Cordero Daniela BOL 1969 3,0 9,00 2 1,0
9 Mendoza Samanta BOL 1827 1,0 3,00 0 0,0
Only nine chess femmes entered this event from an entire continent! My hope is that as this event matures more chess femmes will enter each year. I note three chess femmes entered from Ecuador. One of my nephews is married to a beautiful young lady, Osayo, from Ecuador; most of her immediate family lives there.
2009 WSCF All Girls Tournament - RESULTS!
Hola darlings!
I'm terribly delinquent in reporting this important news - mea culpa. Without further ado, here are the final standings of this fantastic all-girls tournament held on February 28, 2009, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (my hometown, yah!). These are only the individual results. Team results are not included in this post; for that information, please see the full results tables.
Elementary K-3 Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 HUANG, SABRINA GLPK 2 667 5.0
2 KHUNGER, SIMRAN (no team) 3 747 4.0
3 WONG, CHLOE DBEL 3 507 4.0
4 SCHNEIDER, CLAUDIA STOR 2 650 4.0
5 SAYCOCIE, VANISA GREL 2 659 4.0
6 JEFFERSON, MAKAYLA GREL 3 526 4.0
7 HILDEBRAND, GABRIELLE MEDS 2 422 3.0
8 LENZ, MARISSA MSOW 1 505 3.0
9 SUBRAMANIAN, UMA MSOW 3 372 3.0
10 GALIEN, SIERRA StBERN 3 163 3.0
11 DOUANGVILAY, INPATIDA GREL 2 354 3.0
12 OLSON, MISTIE BESC 3 261 3.0
13 CAYEN, EMMA GMEL 3 139 3.0
14 MEKHTIEVA, KAMILLA USM 2 393 3.0
15 SWISSDORF, ANDROMEDA FREL 3 602 2.5
16 RATHORE, SRISHTI OLEL 3 425 2.5
17 MANI, MADHAVI MSOW 1 273 2.5
18 ISHA, CHEKURI MSOW 2 324 2.0
19 GIRGA, MATEYA GMEL 3 327 2.0
20 SIEGEL, KAYLA DBEL 1 236 2.0
21 ANTHES, JACKIE FREL 3 188 2.0
22 GALASZEWSKI, EMILY FASC 1 224 2.0
23 TRAMBURG, MORGAN FREL 3 264 2.0
24 RAUH, MAIA StSEB 1 100 2.0
25 ULATOWSKI, GRETA BRAC 2 131 1.5
26 WATERWORTH, CORRIN FREL 3 118 1.5
27 MCCAULEY, MIRANDA StSEB 3 100 1.5
28 FERNANDEZ, MERCE MGIS 1 105 1.5
29 NOEL, NICHOLE MSOW 1 205 1.5
30 SCHNEIDER, MAYA LBEL 3 213 1.5
31 SAGER, SABRINA CUEL K 100 1.0
32 WHITE, ALEXIS MSOW 2 100 1.0
33 MABBETT, ERICANNA StSEB 1 100 1.0
Elementary + K-6 Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 HUANG, ALENA GLPK 3 1128 4.0
2 KHUNGER, SHAGUN (no team) 5 720 4.0
3 PFEIL, CYAN SMMS 6 475 4.0
4 LEA, EMANI MSL 6 543 4.0
5 CHIESA, EMILY GMEL 4 657 3.5
6 ULATOWSKI, HANNAH BRAC 4 485 3.5
7 MILLER, SARAH (no team) 4 532 3.0
8 ADUSUMILLI, ARIANNA USM 4 404 3.0
9 LEWIS-TAYLOR, DONNA GMEL 4 350 3.0
10 LENZ, EMMA MSOW 4 386 3.0
11 MCCAULEY, ALANNA StSEB 5 661 3.0
12 ESVELD, MICHAELA FREL 4 206 2.5
13 MURALI, ANANYA ATEL 5 684 2.0
14 DOUANGVILAY, INPANET GREL 4 136 2.0
15 HURT, SHEMARIYA GREL 5 153 2.0
16 NANGIA, RHEA BRAC 4 225 2.0
17 RUCKSTADTER, ALEXANDRA MPSC 4 100 2.0
18 FIELDS, KATHERYN BRAC 4 197 2.0
19 LANGER, SHANNA FASC 6 100 2.0
20 PIEPER, ALLISON KOES 4 121 2.0
21 WANIOREK, LYDIA KOES 4 100 1.0
22 VANCE, ALEXIS GREL 5 100 1.0
23 JOHNSON, CAPRECIA GMEL 4 100 0.5
Open Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 MURALI, ANJANA SHIS 7 940 5.0
2 HUANG, JOANNA EMHS 9 1371 4.0
3 ALEXANDER, DANAE M MSL 9 774 3.0
4 SAGER, STEPHANIE WBMS 7 730 2.0
5 CASPERSON, DARBY (no team) 9 295 0.5
6 MCCAULEY, CASSIDY StSEB 7 260 0.5
Congratulations to all of the chess femmes who particpated in this great event!
I am disturbed to see such a drop-off in participation rates of the young ladies from grades K-3 into the middle school grades (7-9) - and no chess femmes in high school participated (grades 10-12) in this year's tournament.
I am happy to see a slight increase in participation rates over the past 3 years: 2007 had 57 chess femmes; 2008 had 59 chess femmes; and 2009 had 62 chess femmes. Hooray!
I'm terribly delinquent in reporting this important news - mea culpa. Without further ado, here are the final standings of this fantastic all-girls tournament held on February 28, 2009, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (my hometown, yah!). These are only the individual results. Team results are not included in this post; for that information, please see the full results tables.
Elementary K-3 Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 HUANG, SABRINA GLPK 2 667 5.0
2 KHUNGER, SIMRAN (no team) 3 747 4.0
3 WONG, CHLOE DBEL 3 507 4.0
4 SCHNEIDER, CLAUDIA STOR 2 650 4.0
5 SAYCOCIE, VANISA GREL 2 659 4.0
6 JEFFERSON, MAKAYLA GREL 3 526 4.0
7 HILDEBRAND, GABRIELLE MEDS 2 422 3.0
8 LENZ, MARISSA MSOW 1 505 3.0
9 SUBRAMANIAN, UMA MSOW 3 372 3.0
10 GALIEN, SIERRA StBERN 3 163 3.0
11 DOUANGVILAY, INPATIDA GREL 2 354 3.0
12 OLSON, MISTIE BESC 3 261 3.0
13 CAYEN, EMMA GMEL 3 139 3.0
14 MEKHTIEVA, KAMILLA USM 2 393 3.0
15 SWISSDORF, ANDROMEDA FREL 3 602 2.5
16 RATHORE, SRISHTI OLEL 3 425 2.5
17 MANI, MADHAVI MSOW 1 273 2.5
18 ISHA, CHEKURI MSOW 2 324 2.0
19 GIRGA, MATEYA GMEL 3 327 2.0
20 SIEGEL, KAYLA DBEL 1 236 2.0
21 ANTHES, JACKIE FREL 3 188 2.0
22 GALASZEWSKI, EMILY FASC 1 224 2.0
23 TRAMBURG, MORGAN FREL 3 264 2.0
24 RAUH, MAIA StSEB 1 100 2.0
25 ULATOWSKI, GRETA BRAC 2 131 1.5
26 WATERWORTH, CORRIN FREL 3 118 1.5
27 MCCAULEY, MIRANDA StSEB 3 100 1.5
28 FERNANDEZ, MERCE MGIS 1 105 1.5
29 NOEL, NICHOLE MSOW 1 205 1.5
30 SCHNEIDER, MAYA LBEL 3 213 1.5
31 SAGER, SABRINA CUEL K 100 1.0
32 WHITE, ALEXIS MSOW 2 100 1.0
33 MABBETT, ERICANNA StSEB 1 100 1.0
Elementary + K-6 Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 HUANG, ALENA GLPK 3 1128 4.0
2 KHUNGER, SHAGUN (no team) 5 720 4.0
3 PFEIL, CYAN SMMS 6 475 4.0
4 LEA, EMANI MSL 6 543 4.0
5 CHIESA, EMILY GMEL 4 657 3.5
6 ULATOWSKI, HANNAH BRAC 4 485 3.5
7 MILLER, SARAH (no team) 4 532 3.0
8 ADUSUMILLI, ARIANNA USM 4 404 3.0
9 LEWIS-TAYLOR, DONNA GMEL 4 350 3.0
10 LENZ, EMMA MSOW 4 386 3.0
11 MCCAULEY, ALANNA StSEB 5 661 3.0
12 ESVELD, MICHAELA FREL 4 206 2.5
13 MURALI, ANANYA ATEL 5 684 2.0
14 DOUANGVILAY, INPANET GREL 4 136 2.0
15 HURT, SHEMARIYA GREL 5 153 2.0
16 NANGIA, RHEA BRAC 4 225 2.0
17 RUCKSTADTER, ALEXANDRA MPSC 4 100 2.0
18 FIELDS, KATHERYN BRAC 4 197 2.0
19 LANGER, SHANNA FASC 6 100 2.0
20 PIEPER, ALLISON KOES 4 121 2.0
21 WANIOREK, LYDIA KOES 4 100 1.0
22 VANCE, ALEXIS GREL 5 100 1.0
23 JOHNSON, CAPRECIA GMEL 4 100 0.5
Open Section WSCF Rated
Individual Results
Place Name Team Grade Rating Pts
1 MURALI, ANJANA SHIS 7 940 5.0
2 HUANG, JOANNA EMHS 9 1371 4.0
3 ALEXANDER, DANAE M MSL 9 774 3.0
4 SAGER, STEPHANIE WBMS 7 730 2.0
5 CASPERSON, DARBY (no team) 9 295 0.5
6 MCCAULEY, CASSIDY StSEB 7 260 0.5
Congratulations to all of the chess femmes who particpated in this great event!
I am disturbed to see such a drop-off in participation rates of the young ladies from grades K-3 into the middle school grades (7-9) - and no chess femmes in high school participated (grades 10-12) in this year's tournament.
I am happy to see a slight increase in participation rates over the past 3 years: 2007 had 57 chess femmes; 2008 had 59 chess femmes; and 2009 had 62 chess femmes. Hooray!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Cutting Back For Awhile
Hola! We've finally got a nice Saturday coming up (tomorrow) where I haven't previously made plans, so my intention is to start spring clean-up. It may get up to 70 F, sure hope it does!
Sunday is our April investment club meeting; next month we're skipping a meeting because G and I are both going to be out of town.
I'm still busy trying to get the house ship shape for dondelion's visit next month.
I'm busy working on two articles, one of which I intend to finish in time to publish for Goddesschess' TENTH ANNIVERSARY on May 6, 2009!
And tonight I'm cutting it short because I've got TWO new Amanda Quick novels that I want to wig-out reading and my DVD of "Lost in Austen" arrived a few days ago, so I'm going downstairs and plugging that into my as-yet-unconverted 27" t.v. to watch tonight!
So, things may be a bit sparse around here for the next month or so. While we're in New York from May 12 to May 19 there will be no posts - hmmm, that sounds rather barren, doesn't it. I hadn't even thought about lugging my laptop along. Maybe dondelion would tote it for me - well, we'll see.
Sunday is our April investment club meeting; next month we're skipping a meeting because G and I are both going to be out of town.
I'm still busy trying to get the house ship shape for dondelion's visit next month.
I'm busy working on two articles, one of which I intend to finish in time to publish for Goddesschess' TENTH ANNIVERSARY on May 6, 2009!
And tonight I'm cutting it short because I've got TWO new Amanda Quick novels that I want to wig-out reading and my DVD of "Lost in Austen" arrived a few days ago, so I'm going downstairs and plugging that into my as-yet-unconverted 27" t.v. to watch tonight!
So, things may be a bit sparse around here for the next month or so. While we're in New York from May 12 to May 19 there will be no posts - hmmm, that sounds rather barren, doesn't it. I hadn't even thought about lugging my laptop along. Maybe dondelion would tote it for me - well, we'll see.
Galapagos Volcano Erupting
Oh goddess! One of the ladies from the investment club is headed off for a Galapagos adventure next month - and here is this volcano erupting its head off on what I understand to be one of the larger of the islands (?) The eruptions started a week or two ago, and have been happening off and on since then. I emailed G about a news reports I saw some time last week. At the time, we joked about hoping her mother didn't find out! But the eruptions haven't ceased - drat! G, I do hope your long-awaited, once-in-a-lifetime tour won't be unduly affected.Here's the latest:
From physorg.com
Volcanic eruption takes toll on Galapagos wildlife
April 16th, 2009
Image: Aerial handout photo released by the Galapagos National Park (PNG) on April 12, 2009 of the eruption of the La Cumbre volcano in Fernandina island, Galapagos, Ecuador. A volcanic eruption over the weekend has taken a toll on the wildlife of the ecologically-fragile Galapagos Islands, causing the deaths of numerous fish and various sea lions, said officials on Thursday.
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Not exactly what I'd want to see during a once-in-a-lifetime trip: dead animals floating on the ocean. Oh my.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Narmin Kazimova In The News
All right! She's a young player I've had my eye on since her performance in the 2008 European Women's Individual Chess Championships, where she played some outstanding chess. Kazimova's performance at the 2008 EWICC was enough to earn her a Featured Chess Femme in my May, 2008 column at Chessville (alas, now defunct). (Photo: Victoria Cmilyte v. Kazimova, 2008 EWICC). This news from Chessdom:
Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova going to the World School chess
Kazimova is the number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan
The number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan, Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova, will be one of the top players at the World School Chess Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. High performance is expected by Kazimova, after being part of the Olympic team for her country and participating at the European Individual Chess Championship.
The young talent is currently rated 2165 and expects an ELO boost of over 40 points for the April FIDE rating list. She gained most of the points at the National Championship of Azerbaijan, scoring 7,5/10 and defeating strong players such as Zeinab Mamedjarova, Khayala Mardan Abdulla, and Nargiz Umudova.
Rest of story.
Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova going to the World School chess
Kazimova is the number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan
The number 1 female player U16 of Azerbaijan, Narmin Nizami Qizi Kazimova, will be one of the top players at the World School Chess Championships in Thessaloniki, Greece. High performance is expected by Kazimova, after being part of the Olympic team for her country and participating at the European Individual Chess Championship.
The young talent is currently rated 2165 and expects an ELO boost of over 40 points for the April FIDE rating list. She gained most of the points at the National Championship of Azerbaijan, scoring 7,5/10 and defeating strong players such as Zeinab Mamedjarova, Khayala Mardan Abdulla, and Nargiz Umudova.
Rest of story.
The Day of the Dolphin - Chinese Style
Is this story for real?Thousands of dolphins block Somali pirates
2009-04-14 11:18:17 (Photo caption: Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday. Photo: Cri.cn)
BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Thousands of dolphins blocked the suspected Somali pirate ships when they were trying to attack Chinese merchant ships passing the Gulf of Aden, the China Radio International reported on Monday.
The Chinese merchant ships escorted by a China's fleet sailed on the Gulf of Aden when they met some suspected pirate ships. Thousands of dolphins suddenly leaped out of water between pirates and merchants when the pirate ships headed for the China's.
The suspected pirates ships stopped and then turned away. The pirates could only lament their littleness befor the vast number of dolphins. The spectacular scene continued for a while.
China initiated its three-ship escort task force on Dec. 26 last year after the United Nations Security Council called on countries to patrol gulf and waters off Somalia, one of the world's busiest marine routes, where surging piracy endangered intercontinental shipping.
China's first fleet has escorted 206 vessels, including 29 foreign merchant vessels, and successfully rescued three foreign merchant ships from pirate attacks.
About 20 percent of Chinese merchant ships passing through the waters off Somalia were attacked by pirates from January to November in 2008, before the task force was deployed.
A total of seven ships, either owned by China or carrying Chinese cargo and crew, were hijacked.
Tianyu No. 8, a Chinese fishing vessel with 16 Chinese and eight foreign sailors aboard, was captured by Somali pirates on Nov. 14 and released in early February.
The second fleet of Chinese escort ships arrived at the Gulf of Aden on Monday to replace the first fleet.
(Xinhua and Cri contributed to the story)
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Let me get this straight - Chinese merchant ships under escort of the Chinese Navy come under attack by Somali pirates? The pirates are either insane or they were banking on the fact that the weapons on board the Chinese escort ship(s) were made in China and therefore wouldn't work right. And then the day was saved by a school of dolphins - THOUSANDS of dolphins, but the photo seems only to show perhaps 100 dolphins.
Er, right.
PORNO! GREEN PORNO! AT SUNDANCE!
Holy Goddess! What is this world coming to? And renowned actress Isabella Rossellini (image) is involved as a shill for this - this - this - GREEN smut, no less! Oh, the infamy, the infamy! Ingrid Bergman (may goddess bless her spirit) must be rolling in her grave.
More Treasure Trove!
From jp.dk:
Treasure trove found on Funen
Published 16.04.09 15:21
Ancient Islamic coins and silver jewellery were discovered in one of the biggest finds of its kind on Funen by a local man with a metal detector An amateur archaeologist hit the jackpot when he discovered a hidden cache of...
An amateur archaeologist hit the jackpot when he discovered a hidden cache of buried silver in a rural field on Funen earlier this year.
Odense City Museums has since taken advantage of the recent stretch of fine weather over the past few days to further unearth the unique and valuable Viking-age find.
So far, archaeologists have found 41 silver coins, a silver bracelet and half of a highly decorative Thor’s hammer. Most of the coins originate from the ancient Islamic times of the caliphs, while some are from the area covered by present-day Russia.
The bracelet and hammer are thought to be Scandinavian in design.
The find lay undiscovered in the field near Ringe for more than 1,000 years and museum curator Jesper Hansen said that is the biggest coin find of its kind on Funen.
Odense City Museums indicated that the foreign coins are ‘yet another sign of the vast connections and trading relations, which were an integral part of Scandinavia during the Viking age’.
It is likely that the treasure finder, Benny Pennerup, will receive a finder’s fee from the National Museum.
Treasure trove found on Funen
Published 16.04.09 15:21
Ancient Islamic coins and silver jewellery were discovered in one of the biggest finds of its kind on Funen by a local man with a metal detector An amateur archaeologist hit the jackpot when he discovered a hidden cache of...
An amateur archaeologist hit the jackpot when he discovered a hidden cache of buried silver in a rural field on Funen earlier this year.
Odense City Museums has since taken advantage of the recent stretch of fine weather over the past few days to further unearth the unique and valuable Viking-age find.
So far, archaeologists have found 41 silver coins, a silver bracelet and half of a highly decorative Thor’s hammer. Most of the coins originate from the ancient Islamic times of the caliphs, while some are from the area covered by present-day Russia.
The bracelet and hammer are thought to be Scandinavian in design.
The find lay undiscovered in the field near Ringe for more than 1,000 years and museum curator Jesper Hansen said that is the biggest coin find of its kind on Funen.
Odense City Museums indicated that the foreign coins are ‘yet another sign of the vast connections and trading relations, which were an integral part of Scandinavia during the Viking age’.
It is likely that the treasure finder, Benny Pennerup, will receive a finder’s fee from the National Museum.
Treasure Trove!
From The Belfast Telegraph
3,000 year-old bracelet found in Tyrone field
Thursday, 16 April 2009
A County Tyrone family could be in line for a reward after finding a rare Bronze Age gold bracelet on their land.
Farmer Gary Sproule accidentally unearthed the precious artefact while ploughing over a field at Castlegore near Castlederg last April. The intricate item is believed to date from almost 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. An inquest was held yesterday in Belfast at which the item, which would have belonged to an important warrior or priest, was officially classified as treasure.
Under the law, a ‘treasure trove’ inquest must be held by the coroner to determine the significance of such finds. The finder of the item, as well as the landowner, are often then entitled to a discretionary reward.
Speaking after the inquest, Mr Sproule said he was pleased that the bracelet had been dealt with through official channels.
“I can’t believe something like this has been in the ground all this time,” he said. “Three generations of my family have lived here. It’s hard to believe the last time this land was ploughed was when my ancestors were using smaller ploughs or even horses.
“When I saw it I knew it had to be something special. It looked extremely old but it was in amazing condition. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been damaged, as it’s about 3,000 years old. It’s amazing to think that there were Bronze Age settlers right here on my doorstep.”
His wife Valerie said the family had been “blessed” to find such a rare object. “It’s not every day you can say you found a piece of Bronze Age history in your back field,” she said. “It’s important for Irish history that we uncover these treasures and I’m just delighted it was found after all this time.”
Expert witness Richard Warner, a former archaeologist at the Ulster Museum, said that although a detailed analysis of the bracelet had not been carried out, similar objects have been found to contain 80% gold and 15% silver.
“It would have been owned by a wealthy person, possibly a priest, a high ranking warrior or tribal chieftain,” he said.
Mr Sherrard described the bracelet as a “remarkable find” and urged anyone else finding such items to ensure that they are reported to the authorities.
According to the National Museum of Ireland, a similar piece dating between 900-700BC was found around 300 years ago in Killymoon, Co Tyrone, although unlike the find at Killymoon, which was a plain design, this recent discovery is highly decorative.
The Coroner also ruled yesterday that a separate find of a gold Bronze Age purse or ‘bulla’ should be considered a treasure.
The item, which is around the size of a 50 pence piece and dates from 950 to 800 BC, was discovered by Bangor man Glen McCamley, using a metal detector on land belonging to farmer John Kennedy at Inch in Downpatrick.
3,000 year-old bracelet found in Tyrone field
Thursday, 16 April 2009
A County Tyrone family could be in line for a reward after finding a rare Bronze Age gold bracelet on their land.
Farmer Gary Sproule accidentally unearthed the precious artefact while ploughing over a field at Castlegore near Castlederg last April. The intricate item is believed to date from almost 1,000 years before the birth of Christ. An inquest was held yesterday in Belfast at which the item, which would have belonged to an important warrior or priest, was officially classified as treasure.
Under the law, a ‘treasure trove’ inquest must be held by the coroner to determine the significance of such finds. The finder of the item, as well as the landowner, are often then entitled to a discretionary reward.
Speaking after the inquest, Mr Sproule said he was pleased that the bracelet had been dealt with through official channels.
“I can’t believe something like this has been in the ground all this time,” he said. “Three generations of my family have lived here. It’s hard to believe the last time this land was ploughed was when my ancestors were using smaller ploughs or even horses.
“When I saw it I knew it had to be something special. It looked extremely old but it was in amazing condition. I couldn’t believe that it hadn’t been damaged, as it’s about 3,000 years old. It’s amazing to think that there were Bronze Age settlers right here on my doorstep.”
His wife Valerie said the family had been “blessed” to find such a rare object. “It’s not every day you can say you found a piece of Bronze Age history in your back field,” she said. “It’s important for Irish history that we uncover these treasures and I’m just delighted it was found after all this time.”
Expert witness Richard Warner, a former archaeologist at the Ulster Museum, said that although a detailed analysis of the bracelet had not been carried out, similar objects have been found to contain 80% gold and 15% silver.
“It would have been owned by a wealthy person, possibly a priest, a high ranking warrior or tribal chieftain,” he said.
Mr Sherrard described the bracelet as a “remarkable find” and urged anyone else finding such items to ensure that they are reported to the authorities.
According to the National Museum of Ireland, a similar piece dating between 900-700BC was found around 300 years ago in Killymoon, Co Tyrone, although unlike the find at Killymoon, which was a plain design, this recent discovery is highly decorative.
The Coroner also ruled yesterday that a separate find of a gold Bronze Age purse or ‘bulla’ should be considered a treasure.
The item, which is around the size of a 50 pence piece and dates from 950 to 800 BC, was discovered by Bangor man Glen McCamley, using a metal detector on land belonging to farmer John Kennedy at Inch in Downpatrick.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Hunt for Cleopatra's Tomb
Isis sent me this information:
Egypt to search 3 sites for Cleopatra's tomb
By REBECCA SANTANA – April 15, 2009
CAIRO (AP) — Archaeologists next week will begin excavating three sites in Egypt near the Mediterranean Sea that may contain the tombs of doomed lovers, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.
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They're pretty sure they found Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe (well, maybe), now they're going after Cleopatra. Ach - can't they just let these women rest in peace?
Egypt to search 3 sites for Cleopatra's tomb
By REBECCA SANTANA – April 15, 2009
CAIRO (AP) — Archaeologists next week will begin excavating three sites in Egypt near the Mediterranean Sea that may contain the tombs of doomed lovers, Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.
*******************************************************************************
They're pretty sure they found Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe (well, maybe), now they're going after Cleopatra. Ach - can't they just let these women rest in peace?
Judit Polgar/Garry Kasparov, Linares 1994
Part 2. Part 1, see prior post.
More from Linares! Linares! A Journey Into the Heart of Chess, by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, from "La Nina:"
Judit is not convinced, even though she has the paralysing feeling that there is nothing she can do about it. The next day, …she pours out her heart to her sister, Sofia [who has arrived in Linares for a brief visit]. At supper, she says she is almost certain that Kasparov released the Knight. From the faces of Vishy Anand and the American grandmaster Alex Serzer, who are having dinner with the sisters, she can tell that they don’t want to contradict her but that they can’t even begin to believe her. Sofia, at least, shows some understanding. Why don’t you just ask him again?", she suggests. Judit shakes her head and argues that it is no use. "He’s only got to say that it’s not true and who’ll believe my story then? I can see it. How very unsporting of such a young girl. You can tell she is very young. She is in time trouble, she is lost and tries such a cheap trick. And against Kasparov too, who would be the last to permit himself such a thing. In plain view of the arbiter, of a whole crowd, and, as if that were not enough, of a camera crew as well."
She had thought of the camera crew before, but in the wake of the game she was so downcast that she had mainly been reasoning what little chance there was of it having had its equipment running at the right moment, and from the right angle too, for it to shed any light on the matter. Still, she mentions the camera crew when Carlos Falcon catches a fragment of their conversation and comes over to ask if there is a problem. Judit doesn’t beat about the bush: "I have the strong impression that Kasparov released the Knight after he played it to c5. But I’m not certain. Would it be possible for me to see the footage?" Falcon doesn’t hesitate. Helpfully and correctly, he replies that it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. He will see what he can do.
It was a problem. If Carlos Falcon thought for a minute that he could settle the matter smoothly, he was sadly mistaken. It turned out the next day that the video tape was not available, because the camera crew had unexpectedly returned to Madrid And also, the chief arbiter himself suddenly began to hold a very strong view of the matter. That night, Carlos Falcon added a short statement to his daily round report in an effort to squash any rumours that an irregularity had taken place in the game between Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov. For whoever might still think so, he wanted to stress once again this was not the case.
If these interventions – in which Rentero had unmistakably had a hand – were meant to put a stop to the various suspicions and insinuations, they couldn’t have had a more adverse effect. Everyone now began to have an opinion about the incident. The call to have the camera crew return from Madrid with their tape grew louder by the hour. The Knight that Kasparov did or did not let go became the only subject of discussion at the Hotel Anibal. …
The uproar at the Hotel Anibal only grew worse when news began to spread that the game between Polgar and Kasparov had been filmed in its entirety, and that it was clearly visible that Kasparov had released the Knight for a fraction of a second. All uncertainty would come to an end, because a car with the all-revealing video tape on board was on its way from Madrid to Linares. It had taken the film makers a few busy days to find the relevant footage and edit the tape. To all this excitement, Rentero reacted once again with a letter. A lettter which highly surprised me. Shortly before it was made public, Mauricio told me that Rentero himself had been on the telephone to the film people in Madrid. It was true, he told Mauricio, Kasparov had illegally taken back his move. But this information could not be reconciled with Rentero’s letter. What Rentero was playing at was a mystery to me. It seemed that he was trying to vindicate Kasparov but if so, what was his intention with this letter? Had it escaped him that Kasparov had called on the press to make sure that the video tape turned up if it really existed? And what had been discussed in the private meeting that Kasparov had demanded with Rentero to make clear that he was taking the matter very seriously indeed?
Rentero’s letter, written in a peculiar kind of English, raised more questions than it answered. First, it summarized the tournament director’s own version of what had taken place and after that, it gave his verdict:
"Luis Rentero, Technical Director of the Chess Tournament ‘Ciudad de Linares,’ informs of the press media that the comments concerning the 5th round game between Mrs. J. Polgar and Mr. G. Kasparov occurred in the following way: ‘I was close to the mural of said game, and right when Mr. Kasparov moved his knight to the c5 square to leave it there for a few seconds, without releasing his fingers from the piece, he returned the knight back to its original square, d7, from where he moved it to square f8, I turned to the referee saying, Carlos, whereupon he answered: He has not released the piece!’
"The referee has the main responsibility in the Playing Hall and his decisions are accepted, not only by me, but also by the Organizing Committee of this Tournament.
"Consequently, as responsible of this Tournament and in the name of the Organizing Committee I do not admit other versions of the referred fact and we will not permit speculations or comments of bad taste towards the Organizing Committee since they have accepted the referee decision, as main responsible of the Playing Hall.
"Having information that on Tusday, March 15th, a video of this case is intended to be projected, I would like to inform that neither in the Tournament Hall, nor at the Anibal hotel, nobody will be allowed to make such projection.
"To me, as Technical Director of the Tournament, Mr. Kasparov is an exemplary sportsman, that has not required of any tricks to be three years the winner and two year second of this world renowned Chess Tournament.
"The tournament has been, is and will be a good faith Tournament and we will not permit that nobody spreads unfounded rumours, that all they do is to damage the reputation of the players and even of this Tournament."
If Rentero had thought to get Kasparov off the hook with this letter, he only achieved the opposite. Everyone was now dying to see the video and the arrival of the car from Madrid was eagerly awaited. At the same time, tension also mounted over the question whether the video might be shown anywhere in the hotel at all. …
…[N]ot much was done to prevent the video from being shown once I had arrived. Thronging the hotel room of one of the reporters and craning their necks, a whole crowd were looking time after time at Kasparov moving his Knight to c5 in slow motion and, yes, releasing his fingers from the piece for a very short moment. One of the viewers was Carlos Falcon. Even in advance of the closing ceremony, he had a statement go out in which he frankly admitted that he had been wrong. For the record he stated: "Played in slow motion, the video clearly shows that Kasparov released the piece. However, as he was shielding the piece with his hand, this was impossible for me to see form the position where I was standing."
Several years on, Judit Polgar and I reminisced about the heroic feat she performed on the day of departure. In the middle of the lobby, she went to stand in Kasparov’s way. He had been hiding himself in his suite most of the time but now he was legging it at high speed towards the exit to take a walk outside. Straight out, she asked him: "How could you do this to me?"
Judit laughed when she thought back to the mettle she showed as a seventeen-year-old in calling the world champion to account. It had been brave but not without consequences. "Yes, and then he didn’t speak a word to me for three whole years."
Something came back to my mind which she perhaps didn’t even know.
"I remember he wasn’t quite sure himself. When he came to complain to me in the restaurant, I asked him what he thought had happened himself. Did he let the Knight go or didn’t he? He hesitated and said he wasn’t quite sure. It was just a matter of a split second. But he didn’t think so."
It was no surprise to Judit. "That’s what I’ve always said. I was convinced he must have felt it. When you’ve played chess for so long, you feel this. But he was confused, because he didn’t know what to do when there was no reaction [from me.] That’s why he sat thinking for three minutes. Not about what move to make but about what to do. And then he took his move back."
"And felt guilty."
Judit kept the images running through her mind for a while before answering: "You know, the problem was that no one was any the better for it. It was bad for Garry’s reputation. And it spoiled the tournament for both of us. Everyone kept calling me about the scandal and I don’t like scandals at all. I should have gone about my games more calmly after that but I was too eager to prove all sorts of things."
******************************************************************************
Dear Anonymous Poster who asked me to provide more information about the "infamous Knight" incident, I hope you have enjoyed what I posted here and in the prior post. Dirk Geuzendam was present at Linares when this event occurred; he spoke with Judit Polgar about it, he spoke with Garry Kasparov about it; he spoke with other people about it, and what I have written is directly quoted from his most excellent book about the various Linares tournaments that have been held over the years.
More from Linares! Linares! A Journey Into the Heart of Chess, by Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, from "La Nina:"
Judit is not convinced, even though she has the paralysing feeling that there is nothing she can do about it. The next day, …she pours out her heart to her sister, Sofia [who has arrived in Linares for a brief visit]. At supper, she says she is almost certain that Kasparov released the Knight. From the faces of Vishy Anand and the American grandmaster Alex Serzer, who are having dinner with the sisters, she can tell that they don’t want to contradict her but that they can’t even begin to believe her. Sofia, at least, shows some understanding. Why don’t you just ask him again?", she suggests. Judit shakes her head and argues that it is no use. "He’s only got to say that it’s not true and who’ll believe my story then? I can see it. How very unsporting of such a young girl. You can tell she is very young. She is in time trouble, she is lost and tries such a cheap trick. And against Kasparov too, who would be the last to permit himself such a thing. In plain view of the arbiter, of a whole crowd, and, as if that were not enough, of a camera crew as well."
She had thought of the camera crew before, but in the wake of the game she was so downcast that she had mainly been reasoning what little chance there was of it having had its equipment running at the right moment, and from the right angle too, for it to shed any light on the matter. Still, she mentions the camera crew when Carlos Falcon catches a fragment of their conversation and comes over to ask if there is a problem. Judit doesn’t beat about the bush: "I have the strong impression that Kasparov released the Knight after he played it to c5. But I’m not certain. Would it be possible for me to see the footage?" Falcon doesn’t hesitate. Helpfully and correctly, he replies that it doesn’t seem to be a problem at all. He will see what he can do.
It was a problem. If Carlos Falcon thought for a minute that he could settle the matter smoothly, he was sadly mistaken. It turned out the next day that the video tape was not available, because the camera crew had unexpectedly returned to Madrid And also, the chief arbiter himself suddenly began to hold a very strong view of the matter. That night, Carlos Falcon added a short statement to his daily round report in an effort to squash any rumours that an irregularity had taken place in the game between Judit Polgar and Garry Kasparov. For whoever might still think so, he wanted to stress once again this was not the case.
If these interventions – in which Rentero had unmistakably had a hand – were meant to put a stop to the various suspicions and insinuations, they couldn’t have had a more adverse effect. Everyone now began to have an opinion about the incident. The call to have the camera crew return from Madrid with their tape grew louder by the hour. The Knight that Kasparov did or did not let go became the only subject of discussion at the Hotel Anibal. …
The uproar at the Hotel Anibal only grew worse when news began to spread that the game between Polgar and Kasparov had been filmed in its entirety, and that it was clearly visible that Kasparov had released the Knight for a fraction of a second. All uncertainty would come to an end, because a car with the all-revealing video tape on board was on its way from Madrid to Linares. It had taken the film makers a few busy days to find the relevant footage and edit the tape. To all this excitement, Rentero reacted once again with a letter. A lettter which highly surprised me. Shortly before it was made public, Mauricio told me that Rentero himself had been on the telephone to the film people in Madrid. It was true, he told Mauricio, Kasparov had illegally taken back his move. But this information could not be reconciled with Rentero’s letter. What Rentero was playing at was a mystery to me. It seemed that he was trying to vindicate Kasparov but if so, what was his intention with this letter? Had it escaped him that Kasparov had called on the press to make sure that the video tape turned up if it really existed? And what had been discussed in the private meeting that Kasparov had demanded with Rentero to make clear that he was taking the matter very seriously indeed?
Rentero’s letter, written in a peculiar kind of English, raised more questions than it answered. First, it summarized the tournament director’s own version of what had taken place and after that, it gave his verdict:
"Luis Rentero, Technical Director of the Chess Tournament ‘Ciudad de Linares,’ informs of the press media that the comments concerning the 5th round game between Mrs. J. Polgar and Mr. G. Kasparov occurred in the following way: ‘I was close to the mural of said game, and right when Mr. Kasparov moved his knight to the c5 square to leave it there for a few seconds, without releasing his fingers from the piece, he returned the knight back to its original square, d7, from where he moved it to square f8, I turned to the referee saying, Carlos, whereupon he answered: He has not released the piece!’
"The referee has the main responsibility in the Playing Hall and his decisions are accepted, not only by me, but also by the Organizing Committee of this Tournament.
"Consequently, as responsible of this Tournament and in the name of the Organizing Committee I do not admit other versions of the referred fact and we will not permit speculations or comments of bad taste towards the Organizing Committee since they have accepted the referee decision, as main responsible of the Playing Hall.
"Having information that on Tusday, March 15th, a video of this case is intended to be projected, I would like to inform that neither in the Tournament Hall, nor at the Anibal hotel, nobody will be allowed to make such projection.
"To me, as Technical Director of the Tournament, Mr. Kasparov is an exemplary sportsman, that has not required of any tricks to be three years the winner and two year second of this world renowned Chess Tournament.
"The tournament has been, is and will be a good faith Tournament and we will not permit that nobody spreads unfounded rumours, that all they do is to damage the reputation of the players and even of this Tournament."
If Rentero had thought to get Kasparov off the hook with this letter, he only achieved the opposite. Everyone was now dying to see the video and the arrival of the car from Madrid was eagerly awaited. At the same time, tension also mounted over the question whether the video might be shown anywhere in the hotel at all. …
…[N]ot much was done to prevent the video from being shown once I had arrived. Thronging the hotel room of one of the reporters and craning their necks, a whole crowd were looking time after time at Kasparov moving his Knight to c5 in slow motion and, yes, releasing his fingers from the piece for a very short moment. One of the viewers was Carlos Falcon. Even in advance of the closing ceremony, he had a statement go out in which he frankly admitted that he had been wrong. For the record he stated: "Played in slow motion, the video clearly shows that Kasparov released the piece. However, as he was shielding the piece with his hand, this was impossible for me to see form the position where I was standing."
Several years on, Judit Polgar and I reminisced about the heroic feat she performed on the day of departure. In the middle of the lobby, she went to stand in Kasparov’s way. He had been hiding himself in his suite most of the time but now he was legging it at high speed towards the exit to take a walk outside. Straight out, she asked him: "How could you do this to me?"
Judit laughed when she thought back to the mettle she showed as a seventeen-year-old in calling the world champion to account. It had been brave but not without consequences. "Yes, and then he didn’t speak a word to me for three whole years."
Something came back to my mind which she perhaps didn’t even know.
"I remember he wasn’t quite sure himself. When he came to complain to me in the restaurant, I asked him what he thought had happened himself. Did he let the Knight go or didn’t he? He hesitated and said he wasn’t quite sure. It was just a matter of a split second. But he didn’t think so."
It was no surprise to Judit. "That’s what I’ve always said. I was convinced he must have felt it. When you’ve played chess for so long, you feel this. But he was confused, because he didn’t know what to do when there was no reaction [from me.] That’s why he sat thinking for three minutes. Not about what move to make but about what to do. And then he took his move back."
"And felt guilty."
Judit kept the images running through her mind for a while before answering: "You know, the problem was that no one was any the better for it. It was bad for Garry’s reputation. And it spoiled the tournament for both of us. Everyone kept calling me about the scandal and I don’t like scandals at all. I should have gone about my games more calmly after that but I was too eager to prove all sorts of things."
******************************************************************************
Dear Anonymous Poster who asked me to provide more information about the "infamous Knight" incident, I hope you have enjoyed what I posted here and in the prior post. Dirk Geuzendam was present at Linares when this event occurred; he spoke with Judit Polgar about it, he spoke with Garry Kasparov about it; he spoke with other people about it, and what I have written is directly quoted from his most excellent book about the various Linares tournaments that have been held over the years.
Judit Polgar/Garry Kasparov, Linares 1994
In response to a comment in this post on Easter Sunday. An anonymous posted a videotape of the famous (infamous) Kasparov "knight move" in a game with then 17-year-old Judit Polgar at the 1994 Linares tournament and asked if I could provide more information about the event. I post:
From Linares! Linares! A Journey into the Heart of Chess, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, New In Chess, Aklamaar, The Netherlands, 2001, the following is excerpted from the Chapter entitled "La Nina:"
As I listen politely to Rentero pitying himself [about the Linares tournament of 1988 when Women’s Chess Champion GM Maia Chiburdinadze played in the event and had a disastrous outing], I know that it is in fact a different story he wants to tell. He wants to bring up the incident that would never have caused such a stir if it hadn’t been for the involvement of Judit Polgar. An unfortunate incident, which may put chess in a bad light and should therefore better be forgotten, so he wants me to believe. And then again, knowing Rentero, perhaps not, because all attention for his tournament, in whatever form, is more than welcome to him.
In order to meet him halfway, I ask the question that he undoubtedly wants to hear: "Do you really intend to maintain the ban on showing the video tape of the game between Polgar and Kasparov here in this hotel?"
Decidedly and with rising indignation, Rentero tries to remove any doubt: "That is out of the question. Kasparov is the world champion and a guest in my house. I will not allow his reputation to be besmirched here."
The fuss arose in the fifth round, on the day when seventeen-year-old Judit Polgar played her first game ever against Kasparov. The Spanish press had been enjoying the historic moment in their previews for days. The youngest and most ambitious of the chess-playing Polgar sisters was to prove in a direct confrontation with the world’s strongest grandmaster that women also could play chess. …
…
When she shakes Kasparov’s hand at the start of their game, practically no seat in the playing hall is left unoccupied. She herself is tense but not exceedingly nervous. The first four rounds have passed off reasonably well. For a defeat against Illescas, she made up with a victory over Topalov. In the games with Black against Gelfand and Ivanchuk that followed, she had good changes of getting more than the draws she achieved in the end. She had a good premonition today when she had lunch in the Restaurant Himilce. But this feeling soon disappears when after some twenty moves she loses control of the game. Kasparov is teaching her a strategy lesson in one of his favourite defensive systems. Judit sees the black pieces getting more and more threatening and gaining the upper hand. She feels that she has been outplayed to such an extent that toward s her thirtieth move she seriously begins to consider resigning. She puts it off for a bit longer when Kasparov opts for another continuation rather than the deathblow she feared was coming. Then it is Kasparov’s turn to make his thirty-fifth move. With great composure, he picks up the Knight from the d7-square and brings it forward, to c5. Judit feels disbelief flushing her heart. This is an impossible move. A downright blunder. When Kasparov actually lands the Knight on the c5-square, her heart leaps into her mouth. Is she being given the unlikely chance here to make one simple move and, as if by magic, convert an imminent collapse into a position that may even be winning? Try not to think of it, she warns herself in a thousandth of a second, but it is too late. The mistake has entered the field of tension surrounding the board, and she feels that the far-reaching results of the move that Kasparov is executing have now registered with himself as well. But she has also seen that this awareness came too late. For a very short moment, almost imperceptibly, he released the Knight that he is still keeping in the c5-square but now firmly gripping it with three fingers against. Judit is certain. For a very short moment, for a split of a split second, his fingers let go of the piece. There is no need for a chess player to see such a thing clearly. You feel it. It is in your system as a player. These are the first important rules you learn when you begin to play competitive chess. To touch is to move, and to release is to have moved. When you touch a piece or a pawn, you have to move it, even if it means losing the game. Once you have released a piece or a pawn, your move has become irrevocable. This goes for all levels of play. Young Bobby Fischer, for instance, concentrating deeply in a game against German grandmaster Unzicker, happened to be fiddling with his h-pawn in the assumption that it had been captured and taken off the board. When he realized to his dismay what he was doing, he didn’t have to think twice before accepting the consequences of his mistake. He moved the h-pawn, causing irreparable damage to his position, and lost quickly. It is a code of honor. Touch a piece and you will have to move it. Let a piece go, even for the shortest possible moment, and you will have to resign yourself to the move you have made. You bring down shame on yourself if you break this code of honour.
Not knowing what to do about the situation, Judit raises her eyes to look at Kasparov. He is holding on to the Knight, which is still on the c-5 square. Showing no feelings whatsoever, he sits there, thinking. His face, normally so explicit, is impassive. Not the tiniest muscle moves to betray what his thoughts are. Then, without further ado, he retires the Knight to the square from where it came and pores over the position. He is clearly aware that he will have to move the Knight but the expression on his face also indicates that he intends to consider calmly where it will go.
Judit feels alone. She looks at Rentero, who is following the game from a few yards away. She looks at Carlos Falcon, who is standing next to him and who, being the arbiter, should have intervened. Uncertain, she looks at her mother and her eldest sister, who are sitting on the front row in the hall. It doesn’t help her in the least. Three long minutes go by before Kasparov makes his move. He picks up the Knight, moves it back in a flowing movement to the f8-square and writes his move down. Judit looks around again, knowing that she is going to lose this game after all. For ten more moves she tries to order her thoughts. It doesn’t go too well. When she has resigned and is handing her score-sheet across the table to Kasparov and he is handing his to her for signature, she cannot restrain herself. As neutrally as possible, she asks Kasparov: "Did you let got of the Knight or didn’t you?" Kasparov is prepared for the question. With a fatherly smile, he reassures her: "Come on, what do you think, with a few hundred spectactors as witnesses?"
More to follow.
From Linares! Linares! A Journey into the Heart of Chess, Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, New In Chess, Aklamaar, The Netherlands, 2001, the following is excerpted from the Chapter entitled "La Nina:"
As I listen politely to Rentero pitying himself [about the Linares tournament of 1988 when Women’s Chess Champion GM Maia Chiburdinadze played in the event and had a disastrous outing], I know that it is in fact a different story he wants to tell. He wants to bring up the incident that would never have caused such a stir if it hadn’t been for the involvement of Judit Polgar. An unfortunate incident, which may put chess in a bad light and should therefore better be forgotten, so he wants me to believe. And then again, knowing Rentero, perhaps not, because all attention for his tournament, in whatever form, is more than welcome to him.
In order to meet him halfway, I ask the question that he undoubtedly wants to hear: "Do you really intend to maintain the ban on showing the video tape of the game between Polgar and Kasparov here in this hotel?"
Decidedly and with rising indignation, Rentero tries to remove any doubt: "That is out of the question. Kasparov is the world champion and a guest in my house. I will not allow his reputation to be besmirched here."
The fuss arose in the fifth round, on the day when seventeen-year-old Judit Polgar played her first game ever against Kasparov. The Spanish press had been enjoying the historic moment in their previews for days. The youngest and most ambitious of the chess-playing Polgar sisters was to prove in a direct confrontation with the world’s strongest grandmaster that women also could play chess. …
…
When she shakes Kasparov’s hand at the start of their game, practically no seat in the playing hall is left unoccupied. She herself is tense but not exceedingly nervous. The first four rounds have passed off reasonably well. For a defeat against Illescas, she made up with a victory over Topalov. In the games with Black against Gelfand and Ivanchuk that followed, she had good changes of getting more than the draws she achieved in the end. She had a good premonition today when she had lunch in the Restaurant Himilce. But this feeling soon disappears when after some twenty moves she loses control of the game. Kasparov is teaching her a strategy lesson in one of his favourite defensive systems. Judit sees the black pieces getting more and more threatening and gaining the upper hand. She feels that she has been outplayed to such an extent that toward s her thirtieth move she seriously begins to consider resigning. She puts it off for a bit longer when Kasparov opts for another continuation rather than the deathblow she feared was coming. Then it is Kasparov’s turn to make his thirty-fifth move. With great composure, he picks up the Knight from the d7-square and brings it forward, to c5. Judit feels disbelief flushing her heart. This is an impossible move. A downright blunder. When Kasparov actually lands the Knight on the c5-square, her heart leaps into her mouth. Is she being given the unlikely chance here to make one simple move and, as if by magic, convert an imminent collapse into a position that may even be winning? Try not to think of it, she warns herself in a thousandth of a second, but it is too late. The mistake has entered the field of tension surrounding the board, and she feels that the far-reaching results of the move that Kasparov is executing have now registered with himself as well. But she has also seen that this awareness came too late. For a very short moment, almost imperceptibly, he released the Knight that he is still keeping in the c5-square but now firmly gripping it with three fingers against. Judit is certain. For a very short moment, for a split of a split second, his fingers let go of the piece. There is no need for a chess player to see such a thing clearly. You feel it. It is in your system as a player. These are the first important rules you learn when you begin to play competitive chess. To touch is to move, and to release is to have moved. When you touch a piece or a pawn, you have to move it, even if it means losing the game. Once you have released a piece or a pawn, your move has become irrevocable. This goes for all levels of play. Young Bobby Fischer, for instance, concentrating deeply in a game against German grandmaster Unzicker, happened to be fiddling with his h-pawn in the assumption that it had been captured and taken off the board. When he realized to his dismay what he was doing, he didn’t have to think twice before accepting the consequences of his mistake. He moved the h-pawn, causing irreparable damage to his position, and lost quickly. It is a code of honor. Touch a piece and you will have to move it. Let a piece go, even for the shortest possible moment, and you will have to resign yourself to the move you have made. You bring down shame on yourself if you break this code of honour.
Not knowing what to do about the situation, Judit raises her eyes to look at Kasparov. He is holding on to the Knight, which is still on the c-5 square. Showing no feelings whatsoever, he sits there, thinking. His face, normally so explicit, is impassive. Not the tiniest muscle moves to betray what his thoughts are. Then, without further ado, he retires the Knight to the square from where it came and pores over the position. He is clearly aware that he will have to move the Knight but the expression on his face also indicates that he intends to consider calmly where it will go.
Judit feels alone. She looks at Rentero, who is following the game from a few yards away. She looks at Carlos Falcon, who is standing next to him and who, being the arbiter, should have intervened. Uncertain, she looks at her mother and her eldest sister, who are sitting on the front row in the hall. It doesn’t help her in the least. Three long minutes go by before Kasparov makes his move. He picks up the Knight, moves it back in a flowing movement to the f8-square and writes his move down. Judit looks around again, knowing that she is going to lose this game after all. For ten more moves she tries to order her thoughts. It doesn’t go too well. When she has resigned and is handing her score-sheet across the table to Kasparov and he is handing his to her for signature, she cannot restrain herself. As neutrally as possible, she asks Kasparov: "Did you let got of the Knight or didn’t you?" Kasparov is prepared for the question. With a fatherly smile, he reassures her: "Come on, what do you think, with a few hundred spectactors as witnesses?"
More to follow.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Mars Rover Mysterious Reboots
A mystery, heh? As Mr. Spock would say, "Fascinating."
Mars rover has mysterious reboots
Last Modified: 14 Apr 2009
Source: PA News
Nasa's ageing Mars rover Spirit has rebooted its computer at least twice for unknown reasons.
Rover project manager John Callas at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said the rover is in a stable operations state called automode and can remain that way for some time while the problem is diagnosed.
The reboots occurred during the past weekend.
Callas says Spirit's batteries are charged, its solar arrays are producing energy and its temperatures are within allowable ranges.
The rover team is investigating whether the problem could be related to recent updates of the rover's onboard software.
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been exploring the cold and dusty red planet since 2004.
******************************************************************************
When I think about it, I find it absolutely amazing that this project, funded basically on a shoestring (for NASA and JPL), is still going strong! We should give good old American ingenuity a pat on the back! It's taken a beating lately; critics are saying "oh, India is going to pass us up," "oh, China is going to pass us up." Yeah, 20 years ago they were saying that Japan was going to pass us up. Well, I think the critics are flat out wrong. I have a feeling that under the Obama administration's push to get renewal energy sources really rolling in this country, we're going to be seeing some truly remarkable things and as a world we're going to finally realize that hey, we're just a year away from making it into the second decade of the 21st century.
Now, about those mysterious reboots - is is really just a new software problem? Or are there some kind of invisible (or really really miniscule) Martians running around playing April Fools tricks on us???
Mars rover has mysterious reboots
Last Modified: 14 Apr 2009
Source: PA News
Nasa's ageing Mars rover Spirit has rebooted its computer at least twice for unknown reasons.
Rover project manager John Callas at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena said the rover is in a stable operations state called automode and can remain that way for some time while the problem is diagnosed.
The reboots occurred during the past weekend.
Callas says Spirit's batteries are charged, its solar arrays are producing energy and its temperatures are within allowable ranges.
The rover team is investigating whether the problem could be related to recent updates of the rover's onboard software.
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been exploring the cold and dusty red planet since 2004.
******************************************************************************
When I think about it, I find it absolutely amazing that this project, funded basically on a shoestring (for NASA and JPL), is still going strong! We should give good old American ingenuity a pat on the back! It's taken a beating lately; critics are saying "oh, India is going to pass us up," "oh, China is going to pass us up." Yeah, 20 years ago they were saying that Japan was going to pass us up. Well, I think the critics are flat out wrong. I have a feeling that under the Obama administration's push to get renewal energy sources really rolling in this country, we're going to be seeing some truly remarkable things and as a world we're going to finally realize that hey, we're just a year away from making it into the second decade of the 21st century.
Now, about those mysterious reboots - is is really just a new software problem? Or are there some kind of invisible (or really really miniscule) Martians running around playing April Fools tricks on us???
Board Games Studies - Jerusalem 2009
Information from the Board Games Studies website:
BOARD GAMES STUDIES COLLOQUIA XII
Jerusalem, Israel
Wednesday, April 22nd - Saturday, April 25th, 2009
Program:
22. 4 Wednesday 0900-0945 booking & reception
0945-1030 Morphing Sudoku from Newspapers to Children Books to Wooden Playground Toy to Plastic Hand-Held Product. - Rafael Sirkis & Daria Ackerman
1030-1115 Computer-Assisted Board Games - Alda Carvalho,Carlos Santos, João Pedro Neto, Jorge Nuno Silva
1115-1200 Playing with Children - Haim Shafir
1200-1330 Lunch break
1330-1415 The Modern Eurogame Revolution - Yehuda Berlinger
1415-1500 Games and Moral - Jorge Nuno Silva
1500-1545 Board Games in Museum and Education. - Piotr Adamczyk
1545-1615 Coffee Break
1615- 1815 Prof Aviezeri games
Free Evening
23.4 Thursday 0900-0945 Bondage of Indians with Board Games from Ancient to Modern Times - V.Balambal.
0945-1030 The Game of Chaupad in India - Ute Rettberg
1030-1100 Coffee break
1100-1145 Adventures with the Lewis Chessmen - Irving Finkel
1145-1230 Hyde and seek - David Parlett
1230-1400 Lunch break
1400-1445 From Trictrac to Backgammon. Enlightenment, revolution, the rise of the bourgeoisie and their impact on the culture of play around 1800 - Ulrich Schaedler
1445-1530 Anti-Semitic Games - Simon Cohen
1530-1600 Jerusalem in Games - Gadi Kfir
1600-1630 Coffee brake
1700-2100 Opening ceremony and visiting the Museum of Israel - Cocktail - Honored by: The mayor of Jerusalem, Professor Shalom Sabar, Professor Israel Uman- Nobel price winner
Friday 0900-1100 visit & play at the GaMe Exhibition in Jerusalem Science museum
1130-1215 A method to evaluate math games - Piet Notebaert, Luc Blomme
1215-1300 New designing Old tricks Effective redesigning of games - Yoav Ziv
1300-1430 Lunch brake
1430-1545 The game "Academie" of Mr. Van der Gaag - Fred Horn
1545-1630 Invention of Games as a Way of Expression - Klod Hayat
1630-1715 Communication in Board games. - Uri Globus
1700-1730 coffee Break
1730- 1830 walk around the campus of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus - Gadi Kfir
1900 International games evening - Everybody brings a game from home all participants play in routine
25.5 Saturday 900-1300 Tour through ancient city, from Lion's Gate along the via d' la Rosa to see Roman games, ending at the Notre Dam church. - Nehama Shafran
1300-1430 Break for lunch
1430-1600 Discussion: Board games of the 21 century - Uri Globus
1600-1700 Jerusalem in art of Christian, Moslem, Jewish - Shalom Sabar
Colloquium summary and future programs of BGS
BOARD GAMES STUDIES COLLOQUIA XII
Jerusalem, Israel
Wednesday, April 22nd - Saturday, April 25th, 2009
Program:
22. 4 Wednesday 0900-0945 booking & reception
0945-1030 Morphing Sudoku from Newspapers to Children Books to Wooden Playground Toy to Plastic Hand-Held Product. - Rafael Sirkis & Daria Ackerman
1030-1115 Computer-Assisted Board Games - Alda Carvalho,Carlos Santos, João Pedro Neto, Jorge Nuno Silva
1115-1200 Playing with Children - Haim Shafir
1200-1330 Lunch break
1330-1415 The Modern Eurogame Revolution - Yehuda Berlinger
1415-1500 Games and Moral - Jorge Nuno Silva
1500-1545 Board Games in Museum and Education. - Piotr Adamczyk
1545-1615 Coffee Break
1615- 1815 Prof Aviezeri games
Free Evening
23.4 Thursday 0900-0945 Bondage of Indians with Board Games from Ancient to Modern Times - V.Balambal.
0945-1030 The Game of Chaupad in India - Ute Rettberg
1030-1100 Coffee break
1100-1145 Adventures with the Lewis Chessmen - Irving Finkel
1145-1230 Hyde and seek - David Parlett
1230-1400 Lunch break
1400-1445 From Trictrac to Backgammon. Enlightenment, revolution, the rise of the bourgeoisie and their impact on the culture of play around 1800 - Ulrich Schaedler
1445-1530 Anti-Semitic Games - Simon Cohen
1530-1600 Jerusalem in Games - Gadi Kfir
1600-1630 Coffee brake
1700-2100 Opening ceremony and visiting the Museum of Israel - Cocktail - Honored by: The mayor of Jerusalem, Professor Shalom Sabar, Professor Israel Uman- Nobel price winner
Friday 0900-1100 visit & play at the GaMe Exhibition in Jerusalem Science museum
1130-1215 A method to evaluate math games - Piet Notebaert, Luc Blomme
1215-1300 New designing Old tricks Effective redesigning of games - Yoav Ziv
1300-1430 Lunch brake
1430-1545 The game "Academie" of Mr. Van der Gaag - Fred Horn
1545-1630 Invention of Games as a Way of Expression - Klod Hayat
1630-1715 Communication in Board games. - Uri Globus
1700-1730 coffee Break
1730- 1830 walk around the campus of the Hebrew University, Mount Scopus - Gadi Kfir
1900 International games evening - Everybody brings a game from home all participants play in routine
25.5 Saturday 900-1300 Tour through ancient city, from Lion's Gate along the via d' la Rosa to see Roman games, ending at the Notre Dam church. - Nehama Shafran
1300-1430 Break for lunch
1430-1600 Discussion: Board games of the 21 century - Uri Globus
1600-1700 Jerusalem in art of Christian, Moslem, Jewish - Shalom Sabar
Colloquium summary and future programs of BGS
Massive Wooden "Stonehenge" at Tara?
A new television special reveals the latest findings using new technology:
Wood you believe it? Stonehenge find at Tara
By Louise Hogan
Saturday April 11 2009
SCIENTISTS have unearthed what appears to be a mammoth wooden version of the famous Stonehenge monument at the Hill of Tara.
In a revealing new RTE documentary, many theories and insights into the country's prehistoric past and 150,000 ancient monuments are unveiled and explained.
For the first time, people will be able to view a computer-generated recreation of what archaeologists believe was a major wooden structure -- a version of Britain's Stonehenge -- at the ancient seat of the Irish high kings in the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.
Archaeologist Joe Fenwick revealed a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser beam had been used to scan the ground surface to create a three-dimensional map, which revealed more than 30 monuments around Tara.
Using another technique -- described as taking an X-ray through the hillside -- archaeologists discovered the huge monument, a ditch stretching six metres wide and three metres deep in the bedrock.
The ditch, circling the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb, separated the outside world from the ceremonial centre of Tara.
It was believed the ancient architects had also surrounded the ditch with a massive wooden structure on each side -- a version of Stonehenge -- on a large scale. Its sheer size meant a whole forest would have had to be cleared to build it.
"In scale, it is comparable, for example, to Croke Park's pitch. The Hill of Tara had enormous ritual significance over the course of 5,000-6,000 years, so it's not surprising that you get monuments of the scale of the ditch pit circle," said Mr Fenwick, from the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway.
Cutting-edge technology is helping to provide a new insight into the lives of our ancestors, according to the documentary makers behind 'Secrets of the Stones'.
Civilisation
It shows Ireland's first civilisation began 7,000 years ago, they withstood major climatic changes and voyaged throughout Europe, returning with new religions and mementos.
An RTE spokesman said the broadcaster, along with the Department of Education, would be sending two free copies of the book accompanying the series to all second-level schools in the country.
The first part of the 'Secrets of the Stones' will be shown on RTE One at 6.30pm on Easter Monday.
- Louise Hogan
Wood you believe it? Stonehenge find at Tara
By Louise Hogan
Saturday April 11 2009
SCIENTISTS have unearthed what appears to be a mammoth wooden version of the famous Stonehenge monument at the Hill of Tara.
In a revealing new RTE documentary, many theories and insights into the country's prehistoric past and 150,000 ancient monuments are unveiled and explained.
For the first time, people will be able to view a computer-generated recreation of what archaeologists believe was a major wooden structure -- a version of Britain's Stonehenge -- at the ancient seat of the Irish high kings in the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.
Archaeologist Joe Fenwick revealed a LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) laser beam had been used to scan the ground surface to create a three-dimensional map, which revealed more than 30 monuments around Tara.
Using another technique -- described as taking an X-ray through the hillside -- archaeologists discovered the huge monument, a ditch stretching six metres wide and three metres deep in the bedrock.
The ditch, circling the Mound of the Hostages passage tomb, separated the outside world from the ceremonial centre of Tara.
It was believed the ancient architects had also surrounded the ditch with a massive wooden structure on each side -- a version of Stonehenge -- on a large scale. Its sheer size meant a whole forest would have had to be cleared to build it.
"In scale, it is comparable, for example, to Croke Park's pitch. The Hill of Tara had enormous ritual significance over the course of 5,000-6,000 years, so it's not surprising that you get monuments of the scale of the ditch pit circle," said Mr Fenwick, from the Department of Archaeology, NUI Galway.
Cutting-edge technology is helping to provide a new insight into the lives of our ancestors, according to the documentary makers behind 'Secrets of the Stones'.
Civilisation
It shows Ireland's first civilisation began 7,000 years ago, they withstood major climatic changes and voyaged throughout Europe, returning with new religions and mementos.
An RTE spokesman said the broadcaster, along with the Department of Education, would be sending two free copies of the book accompanying the series to all second-level schools in the country.
The first part of the 'Secrets of the Stones' will be shown on RTE One at 6.30pm on Easter Monday.
- Louise Hogan
New Theory About Xi'an Terracotta Army
Expert says terracotta army of servants, not warriors
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-13 21:34:37
(Story contains a cool video, but I have no idea how to do embedding)
BEIJING, April 13 -- A Chinese professor is out with a theory that could turn one of the country's most important archeological discoveries on upside down.
Liu Jiusheng at Shaanxi Normal University says the famed Terracotta Soldiers of Xi'an aren't soldiers at all--they're royal servants and bodyguards, most likely modeled after high-ranking Qin dynasty officials.
Most historians believe the 2,200-year-old clay statues buried near the emperor's tomb represent an army custom-made to guard him in the afterlife. But Liu argues ordinary soldiers weren't allowed to get close to the emperor, even in death.
Furthermore, Liu says the figures stand at around 190 cm, much taller than average Chinese past or present. Liu theorizes the clay statues were probably made taller to show their elevated social status.
Though not widely accepted, experts say Liu's argument is worth studying.
The 1,000-strong terracotta army was discovered near Xi'an in 1974. It was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in December 1987,
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Xi'an. (XHTV)
Editor: Wang Hongjiang
www.chinaview.cn 2009-04-13 21:34:37
(Story contains a cool video, but I have no idea how to do embedding)
BEIJING, April 13 -- A Chinese professor is out with a theory that could turn one of the country's most important archeological discoveries on upside down.
Liu Jiusheng at Shaanxi Normal University says the famed Terracotta Soldiers of Xi'an aren't soldiers at all--they're royal servants and bodyguards, most likely modeled after high-ranking Qin dynasty officials.
Most historians believe the 2,200-year-old clay statues buried near the emperor's tomb represent an army custom-made to guard him in the afterlife. But Liu argues ordinary soldiers weren't allowed to get close to the emperor, even in death.
Furthermore, Liu says the figures stand at around 190 cm, much taller than average Chinese past or present. Liu theorizes the clay statues were probably made taller to show their elevated social status.
Though not widely accepted, experts say Liu's argument is worth studying.
The 1,000-strong terracotta army was discovered near Xi'an in 1974. It was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in December 1987,
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Xi'an. (XHTV)
Editor: Wang Hongjiang
Maia Chiburdanidze Cup
The "Maia Chiburdanidze Cup" (International Open Women's Chess Tournament) takes place in the Chess Palace, Tbilisi (Georgia) 4th-13th June 2009. The Tournament is open to all women players. Each player must herself (or her federation) cover all her expenses: entry fee, transportation, accommodation and board. 9 round Swiss. Rate of play: 90 min for all moves, increment 30 seconds per move. Details available from the addresses below.
Contact IA, FM Varlam Vepkhvishvili E-mail: chessgeorgia@hotmail.com or chessvarlam@hotmail.com.
Phone: (995)32-997736 - Federation (995)32-960199 - Home (995)99-771974 - Mobile
Official site: http://www.gcf.org.ge
Contact IA, FM Varlam Vepkhvishvili E-mail: chessgeorgia@hotmail.com or chessvarlam@hotmail.com.
Phone: (995)32-997736 - Federation (995)32-960199 - Home (995)99-771974 - Mobile
Official site: http://www.gcf.org.ge
Monday, April 13, 2009
53 New Mummies Found in Egypt???
Story at Middle East OnlineFirst Published 2009-04-13, Last Updated 2009-04-13 09:10:28
Painted mummies found in ancient Egypt necropolis
Mission finds dozens of mummies in 53 rock-hewn tombs dating to Egyptian Middle Kingdom.
CAIRO - Archaeologists working in an Egyptian oasis have found a necropolis containing dozens of brightly painted mummies dating back as far as 4,000 years, the country's antiquities chief said on Sunday.
"The mission found dozens of mummies in 53 rock-hewn tombs dating to the Middle Kingdom" from 2061-1786 BC, Zahi Hawass said.
"Four of the mummies date back to the 22nd Dynasty (931 to 725 BC) and are considered some of the most beautiful mummies found," he said.
The linen-wrapped mummies are painted in the still-bright traditional ancient Egyptian colours of turquoise, terracotta and gold.
The necropolis was uncovered near the Ilahun pyramid in Fayoum oasis south of Cairo.
Abdel-Rahman el-Ayedi, who headed the mission, said that a Middle Kingdom funerary chapel with an offering table was also found, and that it was probably used up to the Roman era which lasted from 30 BC to 337 AD.
The team also found 15 painted masks, along with amulets and clay pots, Hawass said.
******************************************************************************
What "mission," exactly? Is this an Egyptian "mission?" Sponsored by whom? Hmmmm, is this for real? No dates are provided in this article as to when the discoveries were first uncovered - or how long the excavations have taken. Is this a Hawi hose-job? Oops - I lapsed into my former irreverent ways from message boards long ago and far away... - I meant to say - is this a Zahi hose-job?
The mummy in the photo is very pretty - is it a she, or a he? No identification information given. Why not? If this is spur of the moment news with on-site photographs,, why has the sarcophogus of the mummy been so carefully dug out and cleaned of all dust and clumps of clay??? More importantly, where is Hawi - I mean, Zahi Hawass? He's usually got his face somewhere nearby any photograph of an important ancient Egyptian discovery.
Is this just a rehash of much older news??? Well, we know the Iranians do it, so why not the Egyptians too? I suspect this is just a re-report of an earlier discovery.
Israeli Newspaper Edits Out Women Cabinet Members
Story from Middle East OnlineFirst Published 2009-04-05, Last Updated 2009-04-06 08:31:23
Image from the story: top photo is the "before", bottom photo is "after" editing to remove the two women.
Israeli newspapers edit out women in Cabinet photo
Newspapers aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jewish readers tamper with inaugural photograph of Israeli Cabinet.
JERUSALEM – Two women serve in Israel's new Cabinet, but some Israelis would rather not see them.
Newspapers aimed at ultra-Orthodox Jewish readers tampered with the inaugural photograph of the Cabinet, erasing ministers Limor Livnat and Sofa Landver.
Ultra-Orthodox newspapers consider it immodest to print images of women.
The daily Yated Neeman digitally changed the photo, moving two male ministers into the places formerly occupied by the women.
The weekly Shaa Tova simply blacked the women out, in a photo reprinted Friday by the mainstream daily Maariv.
No response was available from the two papers.
During the election, campaign posters featuring female candidate Tzipi Livni were defaced near ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.
(AP)
****************************************************************************
Absolutely disgusting. This is no different than the treatment of females by the Taliban. They worship the same god, just by a different name. The denigration of women by both sects is the same.
We won't see this on the 6 PM news in the states, and that's disgusting, too. Why can't we see the truth of radicalism on both sides of the equation in the Middle East on prime time news coverage in the USA? This treatment of women is TOTALLY ABHORRENT to the norms of a modern secular society.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
This and That
Happy Easter! I ate way too much, I feel like a bloated bear! But my sister makes the best ham and gravy, yum!Here is some reading that I found interesting:
Russia is facing a depopulation time-bomb
Check out the - as the Daily Grail put it - "cosmic hand ripping the fabric of the universe" (image above). So cool!
How do you tell a shaman from a priest? Sounds like the lead-in to a one liner...
Epigram of lamb - who knew it was something to eat? Not me!
Susan Polgar's latest column is available in the Lubbock Avalanche Journal
Foxwoods Open
April 8 - 12, 2009:
Final standings for the chess femmes in the Open Section (127 players):
40 WIM Alisa Melekhina 2322 PA W111 L11 D109 W114 L52 L51 W83 W81 ~50 4½
42 WIM Iryna Zenyuk 2315 NY D100 W125 W91 L5 W83 L6 W54 L19 ~53 4½
88 WIM Sonia Zepeda 2126 ELS L23 W60 L56 D76 W74 L46 L49 W106 ~78 3½
108 WFM Liulia Cardona 2181 CUB L20 L45 L101 W127 D68 L110 W111 L90 ~— 2½
114 IWM Lorena Mar Zepeda 2202 ESA D16 D47 D37 L40 L23 D91 L97 L95 ~119 2
127 Natasha Christiansen 1865 MA D46 L105 L52 L108 L118 L96 L102 U— ~120 ½
Final standings for the chess femmes in the Open Section (127 players):
40 WIM Alisa Melekhina 2322 PA W111 L11 D109 W114 L52 L51 W83 W81 ~50 4½
42 WIM Iryna Zenyuk 2315 NY D100 W125 W91 L5 W83 L6 W54 L19 ~53 4½
88 WIM Sonia Zepeda 2126 ELS L23 W60 L56 D76 W74 L46 L49 W106 ~78 3½
108 WFM Liulia Cardona 2181 CUB L20 L45 L101 W127 D68 L110 W111 L90 ~— 2½
114 IWM Lorena Mar Zepeda 2202 ESA D16 D47 D37 L40 L23 D91 L97 L95 ~119 2
127 Natasha Christiansen 1865 MA D46 L105 L52 L108 L118 L96 L102 U— ~120 ½
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant Joins GM Ranks
Another woman has earned the coveted GM title!
In an article in the SundayMail.co.uk about newly-minted GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant who lives in and plays under the flag of Scotland, it states there are now 15 women in the world with the GM title; However, I counted more, and this list compiled from the top 100 women in the world currently active players at the FIDE website does not include GM Susan Polgar and GM Nona Gaprindashvili, who are inactive - there may be more inactive female GMs I've missed.
This list shows current world ranking, title, country (flag), current rating, and date of birth:
1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2693 (1976)
2 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2612 (1987)
3 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2590 (1994)
4 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2549 (1979)
5 Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2541 (1987)
7 Zhao, Xue g CHN 2531 (1985)
8 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2528 (1963)
9 Sebag, Marie g FRA 2527 (1986)
11 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2516 (1984)
12 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2506 (1961)
16 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan g SCO 2492 (1968)
18 Zhu, Chen g QAT 2491 (1976)
19 Hoang Thanh Trang g HUN 2490 (1980)
21 Xu, Yuhua g CHN 2479 (1976)
24 Lahno, Kateryna g UKR 2478 (1989)
34 Socko, Monika g POL 2456 (1978)
45 Peng, Zhaoqin g NED 2439 (1968)
The FIDE list shows 17 active female GMs; adding S. Polgar and N. Gaprindashvili brings the count to 19. Please feel free to add others I've missed - maybe I'm not putting the right search terms into google, but I could not find a current list of ALL female GMs on the internet!
In an article in the SundayMail.co.uk about newly-minted GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant who lives in and plays under the flag of Scotland, it states there are now 15 women in the world with the GM title; However, I counted more, and this list compiled from the top 100 women in the world currently active players at the FIDE website does not include GM Susan Polgar and GM Nona Gaprindashvili, who are inactive - there may be more inactive female GMs I've missed.
This list shows current world ranking, title, country (flag), current rating, and date of birth:
1 Polgar, Judit g HUN 2693 (1976)
2 Koneru, Humpy g IND 2612 (1987)
3 Hou, Yifan g CHN 2590 (1994)
4 Stefanova, Antoaneta g BUL 2549 (1979)
5 Dzagnidze, Nana g GEO 2541 (1987)
7 Zhao, Xue g CHN 2531 (1985)
8 Cramling, Pia g SWE 2528 (1963)
9 Sebag, Marie g FRA 2527 (1986)
11 Kosteniuk, Alexandra g RUS 2516 (1984)
12 Chiburdanidze, Maia g GEO 2506 (1961)
16 Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan g SCO 2492 (1968)
18 Zhu, Chen g QAT 2491 (1976)
19 Hoang Thanh Trang g HUN 2490 (1980)
21 Xu, Yuhua g CHN 2479 (1976)
24 Lahno, Kateryna g UKR 2478 (1989)
34 Socko, Monika g POL 2456 (1978)
45 Peng, Zhaoqin g NED 2439 (1968)
The FIDE list shows 17 active female GMs; adding S. Polgar and N. Gaprindashvili brings the count to 19. Please feel free to add others I've missed - maybe I'm not putting the right search terms into google, but I could not find a current list of ALL female GMs on the internet!
The Templars and the Shroud of Turin
Those pesky Templars, they keep cropping up in the strangest places! Here's a story that says that for awhile, they were holders of the shroud reputed to be Christ's burial wrapping. Normally I would raise an eyebrow at a story like this and move on, but this information is coming from Vatican experts - sooooo... Of course, that still doesn't answer the question everyone wants to know - is it real or is it a medieval fake?
From The Times of London
April 6, 2009
Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican
Richard Owen, in Rome
Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years.
The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers.
The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was buried, although the image only appeared clearly in 1898 when a photographer developed a negative.
Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican Secret Archives, said the Shroud had disappeared in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and did not surface again until the middle of the fourteenth century. Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Dr Frale said its fate in those years had always puzzled historians.
However her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier, a young Frenchman who entered the order in 1287, testified that as part of his initiation he was taken to “a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access”. There he was shown “a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man” and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times.
Dr Frale said that among other alleged offences such as sodomy, the Knights Templar had been accused of worshipping idols, in particular a “bearded figure”. In reality however the object they had secretly venerated was the Shroud.
They had rescued it to ensure that it did not fall into the hands of heretical groups such as the Cathars, who claimed that Christ did not have a true human body, only the appearance of a man, and could therefore not have died on the Cross and been resurrected. She said her discovery vindicated a theory first put forward by the British historian Ian Wilson in 1978.
The Knights Templar were founded at the time of the First Crusade in the eleventh century to protect Christians making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Order was endorsed by the Pope, but when Acre fell in 1291 and the Crusaders lost their hold on the Holy Land their support faded, amid growing envy of their fortune in property and banking.
Rumours about the order’s corrupt and arcane secret ceremonies claimed that novices had to deny Christ three times, spit on the cross, strip naked and kiss their superior on the buttocks, navel, and lips and submit to sodomy. King Philip IV of France, who coveted the order’s wealth and owed it money, arrested its leaders and put pressure on Pope Clement V to dissolve it.
Several knights, including the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake. Legends of the Templars’ secret rituals and lost treasures have long fascinated conspiracy theorists, and figure in The Da Vinci Code, which repeated the theory that the knights were entrusted with the Holy Grail.
In 2003 Dr Frale, the Vatican’s medieval specialist, unearthed the record of the trial of the Templars, also known as the Chinon Parchment, after realising that it had been wrongly catalogued. The parchment showed that Pope Clement V had accepted the Templars were guilty of “grave sins”, such as corruption and sexual immorality, but not of heresy.
Their initiation ceremony involved spitting on the Cross, but this was to brace them for having to do so if captured by Muslim forces, Dr Frale said. Last year she published for the first time the prayer the Knights Templar composed when “unjustly imprisoned”, in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary to persuade "our enemies” to abandon calumnies and lies and revert to truth and charity.
Radiocarbon dating tests on the Turin Shroud in 1988 indicated that it was a medieval fake. However this had been challenged on the grounds that the dated sample was taken from an area of the shroud mended after a fire in the Middle Ages and not a part of the original cloth.
After the sack of Constantinople it was next seen at Lirey in France in 1353, when it was displayed in a local church by descendants of Geoffroy de Charney, a Templar Knight burned at the stake with Jacques de Molay.
It was moved to various European cities until it was acquired by the Savoy dynasty in Turin in the sixteenth century. Holy See property since 1983, the Shroud was last publicly exhibited in 2000, and is due to go on show again next year.
The Vatican has not declared whether it is genuine or a forgery, leaving it to believers to decide. The late John Paul II said it was “an icon of the suffering of the innocent in every age.” The self proclaimed heirs of the Knights Templar have asked the Vatican to “restore the reputation” of the disgraced order and acknowledge that assets worth some £80 million were confiscated.
The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, based in Spain, said that when the order was dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties, farms and commercial ventures belonging to knights were seized by the Church. A British branch also claiming descent from the Knights Templar and based in Hertfordshire has called for a papal apology for the persecution of the order.
*****************************************************************************
Lo and behold, there is an American Templars organization.
From The Times of London
April 6, 2009
Knights Templar hid the Shroud of Turin, says Vatican
Richard Owen, in Rome
Medieval knights hid and secretly venerated The Holy Shroud of Turin for more than 100 years after the Crusades, the Vatican said yesterday in an announcement that appeared to solve the mystery of the relic’s missing years.
The Knights Templar, an order which was suppressed and disbanded for alleged heresy, took care of the linen cloth, which bears the image of a man with a beard, long hair and the wounds of crucifixion, according to Vatican researchers.
The Shroud, which is kept in the royal chapel of Turin Cathedral, has long been revered as the shroud in which Jesus was buried, although the image only appeared clearly in 1898 when a photographer developed a negative.
Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican Secret Archives, said the Shroud had disappeared in the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and did not surface again until the middle of the fourteenth century. Writing in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, Dr Frale said its fate in those years had always puzzled historians.
However her study of the trial of the Knights Templar had brought to light a document in which Arnaut Sabbatier, a young Frenchman who entered the order in 1287, testified that as part of his initiation he was taken to “a secret place to which only the brothers of the Temple had access”. There he was shown “a long linen cloth on which was impressed the figure of a man” and instructed to venerate the image by kissing its feet three times.
Dr Frale said that among other alleged offences such as sodomy, the Knights Templar had been accused of worshipping idols, in particular a “bearded figure”. In reality however the object they had secretly venerated was the Shroud.
They had rescued it to ensure that it did not fall into the hands of heretical groups such as the Cathars, who claimed that Christ did not have a true human body, only the appearance of a man, and could therefore not have died on the Cross and been resurrected. She said her discovery vindicated a theory first put forward by the British historian Ian Wilson in 1978.
The Knights Templar were founded at the time of the First Crusade in the eleventh century to protect Christians making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The Order was endorsed by the Pope, but when Acre fell in 1291 and the Crusaders lost their hold on the Holy Land their support faded, amid growing envy of their fortune in property and banking.
Rumours about the order’s corrupt and arcane secret ceremonies claimed that novices had to deny Christ three times, spit on the cross, strip naked and kiss their superior on the buttocks, navel, and lips and submit to sodomy. King Philip IV of France, who coveted the order’s wealth and owed it money, arrested its leaders and put pressure on Pope Clement V to dissolve it.
Several knights, including the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, were burned at the stake. Legends of the Templars’ secret rituals and lost treasures have long fascinated conspiracy theorists, and figure in The Da Vinci Code, which repeated the theory that the knights were entrusted with the Holy Grail.
In 2003 Dr Frale, the Vatican’s medieval specialist, unearthed the record of the trial of the Templars, also known as the Chinon Parchment, after realising that it had been wrongly catalogued. The parchment showed that Pope Clement V had accepted the Templars were guilty of “grave sins”, such as corruption and sexual immorality, but not of heresy.
Their initiation ceremony involved spitting on the Cross, but this was to brace them for having to do so if captured by Muslim forces, Dr Frale said. Last year she published for the first time the prayer the Knights Templar composed when “unjustly imprisoned”, in which they appealed to the Virgin Mary to persuade "our enemies” to abandon calumnies and lies and revert to truth and charity.
Radiocarbon dating tests on the Turin Shroud in 1988 indicated that it was a medieval fake. However this had been challenged on the grounds that the dated sample was taken from an area of the shroud mended after a fire in the Middle Ages and not a part of the original cloth.
After the sack of Constantinople it was next seen at Lirey in France in 1353, when it was displayed in a local church by descendants of Geoffroy de Charney, a Templar Knight burned at the stake with Jacques de Molay.
It was moved to various European cities until it was acquired by the Savoy dynasty in Turin in the sixteenth century. Holy See property since 1983, the Shroud was last publicly exhibited in 2000, and is due to go on show again next year.
The Vatican has not declared whether it is genuine or a forgery, leaving it to believers to decide. The late John Paul II said it was “an icon of the suffering of the innocent in every age.” The self proclaimed heirs of the Knights Templar have asked the Vatican to “restore the reputation” of the disgraced order and acknowledge that assets worth some £80 million were confiscated.
The Association of the Sovereign Order of the Temple of Christ, based in Spain, said that when the order was dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1307, more than 9,000 properties, farms and commercial ventures belonging to knights were seized by the Church. A British branch also claiming descent from the Knights Templar and based in Hertfordshire has called for a papal apology for the persecution of the order.
*****************************************************************************
Lo and behold, there is an American Templars organization.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Peruvian King of Bling
Article from the National Geographic News:"King of Bling" Tomb Sheds Light on Ancient Peru
Kelly Hearn and Ted Chamberlainfor National Geographic News
April 10, 2009
Image: Found in a treasure-filled tomb of the Moche culture in Peru in June 2008, this 1,500-year-old gilded-copper-and-seashell funerary mask was one of two that shielded the face of the so-called Lord of Ucupe. As in his tomb, the Lord of Ucupe in life would have been covered nearly head to toe in shining metal, so as to dazzle and distract his subjects—"This is the king of bling, literally," one archaeologist says.Photograph courtesy Dr. Steve Bourget
Packed with treasure in the styles of two ancient orders, the 1,500-year-old tomb of the Moche Indian "king of bling" is like no other, according to archaeologist Steve Bourget.
Discovered in Peru at the base of an eroded mud-brick pyramid, the tomb gradually yielded its contents last summer.
Among the finds: 19 golden headdresses, various pieces of jewelry, and two funerary masks, as well as skeletons of two other men and a pregnant woman. (View photographs of the Moche find.)
The tomb's mysterious contents and location—far from known Moche capitals—could shed new light on this little-known culture of Peru's arid northern coast, said Bourget, of the University of Texas at Austin.
Thriving between A.D. 100 and 800, the highly agricultural Moche Indians are known in large part by their stepped pyramids, jewelry-filled tombs, and exquisite pottery and art. (See related pictures of Moche tombs from National Geographic magazine.)
Lord of Ucupe
Located some 475 miles (750 kilometers) north of Lima, the new-found tomb was found at the base of Huaca el Pueblo, a mud-brick, stepped pyramid that has eroded into a high, round mound.
The Lord of Ucupe—as locals have come to call the entombed Moche leader—was in his early thirties when he died, Bourget said.
For entombment, the lord was dressed in full regalia—and then some.
His body was covered with a tunic and train of tiny gilded copper plates, and his face was covered with two funerary masks—a first, according to Bourget. A necklace of four-inch (ten-centimeter), disk-shaped silver rattles encircled his neck.
On his head was a gilded crown. Six more crowns and ten V-shaped headdresses called diadems were arrayed on top of his body. Still another diadem was folded in half and placed atop six metal war clubs to serve as a mat for his lifeless body.
The Lord of Ucupe was then wrapped in a large bundle made of reed and textile, along with artifacts suggestive of political status, said Bourget, who co-led the team that found the tomb with Bruno Alva of the Museum Tumbas Reales de Sipán.
Rest of article.
The Tel That Keeps on Giving: Beth-Shemesh
Update from Science Daily:
Was A 'Mistress Of The Lionesses' A King In Ancient Canaan?
ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2009) — The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious female ruler.
Tel Aviv University archaeologists Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in female dress, suggesting that a mighty female “king” may have ruled the city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female ruler of the region.
The plaque itself depicts a figure dressed as royal male figures and deities once appeared in Egyptian and Canaanite art. The figure’s hairstyle, though, is womanly and its bent arms are holding lotus flowers -- attributes given to women. This plaque, art historians suggest, may be an artistic representation of the “Mistress of the Lionesses,” a female Canaanite ruler who was known to have sent distress letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt reporting unrest and destruction in her kingdom.
“We took this finding to an art historian who confirmed our hypothesis that the figure was a female,” says Dr. Lederman. “Obviously something very different was happening in this city. We may have found the ‘Mistress of the Lionesses’ who’d been sending letters from Canaan to Egypt. The destruction we uncovered at the site last summer, along with the plaque, may just be the key to the puzzle.”
A Lady Ruler in Pre-Exodus Canaan
Around 1350 BCE, there was unrest in the region. Canaanite kings conveyed their fears via clay tablet letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt, requesting military help. But among all the correspondence by kings were two rare letters that stuck out among the 382 el‑Amarna tablets uncovered a few decades ago by Egyptian farmers. The two letters came from a “Mistress of the Lionesses” in Canaan. She wrote that bands of rough people and rebels had entered the region, and that her city might not be safe. Because the el-Amarna tablets were found in Egypt rather than Canaan, historians have tried to trace the origin of the tablets.
“The big question became, ‘What city did she rule?’” Dr. Lederman and Prof. Bunimovitz say. The archaeologists believe that she ruled as king (rather than “queen,” which at the time described the wife of a male king) over a city of about 1,500 residents. A few years ago, Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Nadav Naaman suggested that she might have ruled the city of Beth Shemesh. But there has been no proof until now.
“The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in archaeology,” says Prof. Bunimovitz, who points to many exotic finds buried under the destruction, including an Egyptian royal seal, bronze arrowheads and complete large storage vessels. They suggest a large and important city-state, well enmeshed within East Mediterranean geo-political and economic networks.
Time for a New Interpretation of Biblical History?
Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. The people of the time were pagans who had a very elaborate religious system.
“It was a very well-to-do city,” says Lederman. “Strangely, such extensive destruction, like what we found in our most recent dig, is a great joy for archaeologists because people would not have had time to take their belongings. They left everything in their houses. The site is loaded with finds,” he says, adding that the expensive items found in the recent level points to it as one the most important inland Canaanite cities.
The discovery of the plaque, and the evidence of destruction recorded in the el-Amarna tablets, could confirm that the woman depicted in the figurine was the mysterious “Mistress of the Lionesses” and ruled Canaanite Beth Shemesh. “There is no evidence of other females ruling a major city in this capacity,” Lederman and Bunimovitz say. “She is the only one. We really hope to find out more about her this summer.”
Adapted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University.
****************************************************************************
Added 4/12/09: Judith Weingarten has provided background and analysis at her website, Zenobia: Empress of the East.
Was A 'Mistress Of The Lionesses' A King In Ancient Canaan?
ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2009) — The legend is that the great rulers of Canaan, the ancient land of Israel, were all men. But a recent dig by Tel Aviv University archaeologists at Tel Beth-Shemesh uncovered possible evidence of a mysterious female ruler.
Tel Aviv University archaeologists Prof. Shlomo Bunimovitz and Dr. Zvi Lederman of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations have uncovered an unusual ceramic plaque of a goddess in female dress, suggesting that a mighty female “king” may have ruled the city. If true, they say, the plaque would depict the only known female ruler of the region.
The plaque itself depicts a figure dressed as royal male figures and deities once appeared in Egyptian and Canaanite art. The figure’s hairstyle, though, is womanly and its bent arms are holding lotus flowers -- attributes given to women. This plaque, art historians suggest, may be an artistic representation of the “Mistress of the Lionesses,” a female Canaanite ruler who was known to have sent distress letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt reporting unrest and destruction in her kingdom.
“We took this finding to an art historian who confirmed our hypothesis that the figure was a female,” says Dr. Lederman. “Obviously something very different was happening in this city. We may have found the ‘Mistress of the Lionesses’ who’d been sending letters from Canaan to Egypt. The destruction we uncovered at the site last summer, along with the plaque, may just be the key to the puzzle.”
A Lady Ruler in Pre-Exodus Canaan
Around 1350 BCE, there was unrest in the region. Canaanite kings conveyed their fears via clay tablet letters to the Pharaoh in Egypt, requesting military help. But among all the correspondence by kings were two rare letters that stuck out among the 382 el‑Amarna tablets uncovered a few decades ago by Egyptian farmers. The two letters came from a “Mistress of the Lionesses” in Canaan. She wrote that bands of rough people and rebels had entered the region, and that her city might not be safe. Because the el-Amarna tablets were found in Egypt rather than Canaan, historians have tried to trace the origin of the tablets.
“The big question became, ‘What city did she rule?’” Dr. Lederman and Prof. Bunimovitz say. The archaeologists believe that she ruled as king (rather than “queen,” which at the time described the wife of a male king) over a city of about 1,500 residents. A few years ago, Tel Aviv University’s Prof. Nadav Naaman suggested that she might have ruled the city of Beth Shemesh. But there has been no proof until now.
“The city had been violently destroyed, in a way we rarely see in archaeology,” says Prof. Bunimovitz, who points to many exotic finds buried under the destruction, including an Egyptian royal seal, bronze arrowheads and complete large storage vessels. They suggest a large and important city-state, well enmeshed within East Mediterranean geo-political and economic networks.
Time for a New Interpretation of Biblical History?
Tel Aviv University archaeologists say that the new finds might turn the interpretation of pre-biblical history on its head. The people of the time were pagans who had a very elaborate religious system.
“It was a very well-to-do city,” says Lederman. “Strangely, such extensive destruction, like what we found in our most recent dig, is a great joy for archaeologists because people would not have had time to take their belongings. They left everything in their houses. The site is loaded with finds,” he says, adding that the expensive items found in the recent level points to it as one the most important inland Canaanite cities.
The discovery of the plaque, and the evidence of destruction recorded in the el-Amarna tablets, could confirm that the woman depicted in the figurine was the mysterious “Mistress of the Lionesses” and ruled Canaanite Beth Shemesh. “There is no evidence of other females ruling a major city in this capacity,” Lederman and Bunimovitz say. “She is the only one. We really hope to find out more about her this summer.”
Adapted from materials provided by American Friends of Tel Aviv University.
****************************************************************************
Added 4/12/09: Judith Weingarten has provided background and analysis at her website, Zenobia: Empress of the East.
Blast from the Past: Susan Polgar and Chess
The following is excerpted from Cathy Forbes' The Polgar Sisters - Training or Genius?, published in 1992, ISBN 0-8050-2426-3, by Henry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, NY. It is from Chapter 7 in the paperback edition I own entitled "Grounded!"
Because it was written so close to the time during which these events occurred, by a woman who participated in the international chess circuit as a tournament player and had some acquaintance with the characters involved, I believe it embodies more palpably than anything I could ever write what the atmosphere was at the time, and starkly lays out the incredible obstacles that GM Susan Polgar faced, and overcame, in order to earn her GM title.
I think we should never forget this.
In the July 1984 FIDE rating list, fifteen-year-old Susan Polgar appeared as the world's top rated female player with 2405, ahead of Women's World Champion Maya Chiburdanidze on 2375. Two more tournaments in Bulgaria in 1984 were sufficient to furnish Susan Polgar with the two further norms she needed for the title of International Master: she came third at Varna, and equal first at the Alen-Mak International Open. She was awarded the title at the age of fifteen, at the 55th FIDE congress at the Thessaloniki Olympiad in November 1984. "Susan Polgar makes history!" exclaimed the caption to her photograph in Magyar Sakkelet. In this picture, her Star of David pendant is clearly visible outside her striped sweater; and her hair has been cut short.
What was not mentioned was Susan Polgar's non-participation in the 1984 Women's Olympiad, and the reason for it: neither her father nor her mother were permitted by the Hungarian Chess Federation to travel with her. Thus the Hungarian women's team, minus its highest rated player, finished sixth. (Emphasis added).
To shed a little light on the divisions Susan Polgar's career progress caused in the Hungarian chess establishment it's worth taking time out to consider a few personalities involved.
Until 1989, the President of the Hungarian Chess Federation was Sandor Szerenyi, an orthodox communist of the old school. He also was no feminist: "Mr. Polgar only wants his girls to play with the boys!" complained Szerenyi in comically broken English at the FIDE Congress in Manila in 1983. Whether as a result of the ensuing mirth or from common sense the FIDE delegates fortunately defeated Szerenyi's proposal that FIDE ban or othewise punish the Polgars for refusing to conform.
From 1929 until 1931 Szerenyi was, in fact, general Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Thus it will be appreciated that in Hungary, as in other eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union, sport and politics were (and, despite recent political upheavals, still are) closely intertwined.
Chess in these countries is unquestionably classified as a professional sport, unlike the prevailing attitude of leisured, amiable amateurishness that has traditionally characterised the competitive chess activity of the West. For Hungary's chess masters, male and female, chess was a very serious business. They played league chess as salaried sports officials, employed by clubs as players and coaches. Their livelihoods depended, not just on their chess reputations, but on keeping on the right side of the authorities. Thus it is not surprising that certain players found it advantageous to cultivate personal links with powerful people like Szerenyi, who was a personal friend of the Premier, Janos Kadar.
Hungarian GM Gyula Sax wrote a letter to New in Chess in 1990, after the retirement of Szerenyi. In it he alleged close links between GM Portisch, Szerenyi and Kadar. Implicit, also, was the suggestion that Portisch's assumed position as Hungarian No. 1 owed much to these links and the denial of playing opportunities to his rivals.
Another player of the 'old guard' reputedly close to Szerenyi was the veteran woman player, Zsusza Veroci. The jealously, fear for livelihood etc., felt by her and other Hungarian woman players in the wake of Susan Polgar's meteoric ascent may safely be deduced. Imagine the wrath, then, when Susan Polgar declined to compete in the 'Super-Hungarian Women's Championship' that had been designed to give Veroci the chance to challenge the supremacy of the upstart Polgar!
Professional jealousy apart, there was strong resentment from players accustomed to toeing the line that the rule-breaking Polgars should receive any 'special treatment'. If any other player, it was reasoned, broke the rules, declined the 'correct' tournament invitations etc., that player would expect to be penalized. Why should Susan Polgar be a special case?
On the other hand, it is reasonable to assume that the attitude of the Hungarian establishment, as distinct from Hungary's established players, was more ambivalent. An outstanding sportsperson, however 'troublesome,' has public relations and propaganda uses - as indeed the Polgar sisters, in the fullness of time, proved. Such international successes as the Polgars, for instance, might be used by a repressive regime to provide nationalistic headlines in times of domestic crisis.
It is against this background that we can understand, not only Susan Polgar's 'punishment', i.e her three-year 'grounding' inside the Eastern Block between 1982 and 1985, but the fact, seeming inexplicable at the time, that she was let out again.
What was not mentioned was Susan Polgar's non-participation in the 1984 Women's Olympiad, and the reason for it: neither her father nor her mother were permitted by the Hungarian Chess Federation to travel with her. Thus the Hungarian women's team, minus its highest rated player, finished sixth. (Emphasis added).
To shed a little light on the divisions Susan Polgar's career progress caused in the Hungarian chess establishment it's worth taking time out to consider a few personalities involved.
Until 1989, the President of the Hungarian Chess Federation was Sandor Szerenyi, an orthodox communist of the old school. He also was no feminist: "Mr. Polgar only wants his girls to play with the boys!" complained Szerenyi in comically broken English at the FIDE Congress in Manila in 1983. Whether as a result of the ensuing mirth or from common sense the FIDE delegates fortunately defeated Szerenyi's proposal that FIDE ban or othewise punish the Polgars for refusing to conform.
From 1929 until 1931 Szerenyi was, in fact, general Secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party. Thus it will be appreciated that in Hungary, as in other eastern Bloc countries and the Soviet Union, sport and politics were (and, despite recent political upheavals, still are) closely intertwined.
Chess in these countries is unquestionably classified as a professional sport, unlike the prevailing attitude of leisured, amiable amateurishness that has traditionally characterised the competitive chess activity of the West. For Hungary's chess masters, male and female, chess was a very serious business. They played league chess as salaried sports officials, employed by clubs as players and coaches. Their livelihoods depended, not just on their chess reputations, but on keeping on the right side of the authorities. Thus it is not surprising that certain players found it advantageous to cultivate personal links with powerful people like Szerenyi, who was a personal friend of the Premier, Janos Kadar.
Hungarian GM Gyula Sax wrote a letter to New in Chess in 1990, after the retirement of Szerenyi. In it he alleged close links between GM Portisch, Szerenyi and Kadar. Implicit, also, was the suggestion that Portisch's assumed position as Hungarian No. 1 owed much to these links and the denial of playing opportunities to his rivals.
Another player of the 'old guard' reputedly close to Szerenyi was the veteran woman player, Zsusza Veroci. The jealously, fear for livelihood etc., felt by her and other Hungarian woman players in the wake of Susan Polgar's meteoric ascent may safely be deduced. Imagine the wrath, then, when Susan Polgar declined to compete in the 'Super-Hungarian Women's Championship' that had been designed to give Veroci the chance to challenge the supremacy of the upstart Polgar!
Professional jealousy apart, there was strong resentment from players accustomed to toeing the line that the rule-breaking Polgars should receive any 'special treatment'. If any other player, it was reasoned, broke the rules, declined the 'correct' tournament invitations etc., that player would expect to be penalized. Why should Susan Polgar be a special case?
On the other hand, it is reasonable to assume that the attitude of the Hungarian establishment, as distinct from Hungary's established players, was more ambivalent. An outstanding sportsperson, however 'troublesome,' has public relations and propaganda uses - as indeed the Polgar sisters, in the fullness of time, proved. Such international successes as the Polgars, for instance, might be used by a repressive regime to provide nationalistic headlines in times of domestic crisis.
It is against this background that we can understand, not only Susan Polgar's 'punishment', i.e her three-year 'grounding' inside the Eastern Block between 1982 and 1985, but the fact, seeming inexplicable at the time, that she was let out again.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Further Explorations of the Word MA
Prior post on the topic: "Ma."
Hola darlings! On this Good Friday, I'm going to write what Barbara Walker had to say about Maat in "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends":
Maat
Egyptian Goddess as personification of "Truth" or "Justice"; the original name based on the universal Indo-European mother-syllable meant simply "Mother." Maat's symbol was the feather against which she weighed each man's heart-soul (ab) in her underground Hall of Judgment. Thus the Plume of Maat itself became a hieroglyph for "truth."(1)
The same feathers of Truth were worn by other aspects of the Goddess, such as Isis, who was the same lawgiving Mother. The gods themselves were constrained to "live by Maat." Her law governed all three worlds ruled by her trinity as "Lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and mistress of the underworld."(2)
As the lawgiver of archaic Egypt, Maat was comparable to Babylonian Tiamat who gave the sacred tablets to the first king of gods. Maat's laws were notably benevolent, compared to the harsh commands of later patriarchal gods, backed up by savage threats like those of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. An Egyptian was expected to recite the famous Negative Confession in the presence of Maat and Thoth (or Anubis) to show he had obeyed Maat's rules of behavior:
I have not been a man of anger.
I have done no evil to mankind.
I have not inflicted pain.
I have made none to weep.
I have done violence to no man.
I have not done harm unto animals.
I have not robbed the poor.
I have not fouled water.
I have not trampled fields.
I have not behaved with insolence.
I have not judged hastily.
I have not stirred up strife.
I have not made any man to commit murder for me.
I have not insisted that excessive work be done for me daily.
I have not borne false witness.
I have not stolen land.
I have not cheated in measuring the bushel.
I have allowed no man to suffer hunger.
I have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions.
I have not seized wrongfully the property of others.
I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.(3)
Those who lived by the laws of Maat took a sacramental drink, comparable to the Hindus' Soma or its Persian counterpart Haoma, which conferred ritual purity in the same sense as the Christian "washing in the blood of the Lamb." Egyptian scribes of the 3rd millenium B.C. wrote: "My inward parts have been washed in the liquor of Maat." Like baptismal water of life, Maat's potion brought life after-death to the peaceful, but death overtook violent persons.(4)
Egyptian moral precepts were of a high order, many of them turning up centuries later in the Bible:
Take heed not to rob the poor, and be not cruel to the destitute.... If thou canst answer the man who attacks thee, do him no injury. Let the evildoer alone; he will destroy himself. We must help the sinner, for may we not become like him?...Crusts of bread and a loving heart are better than rich food and contention.... Learn to be content with what thou hast. Treasure obtained by fraud will not stay with thee; thou hast it today, tomorrow it has departed.... The approval of man is better than riches.(5)
Under the feudal disorders of the 12th dynasty [c. 1991 - 1783 BCE], old rules began to break down along with the matrilineal clan system that supported them, and educated Egyptians deplored the disruptions of society. A Heliopolitan priest wrote: "Maat is cast out, iniquity is in the midst of the council hall.... [T]he poor man has no strength to save hmself from him that is stronger than he."(6) Sometimes kinsman murdered kinsman, in violation of the clan's most sacred rule. One writer unfavorably compared his countrymen to the Maat-worshipping tribes of Nubia: "The Matoi, who are friendly towards Egypt, say: 'How could there be a man that would slay his brother?'"(7)
Maat was more than a judge of the dead. She was a stand-in for all Egyptian Goddesses, including Hathor, Mut, Isis, Neith, Nekhbet, etc. The sun god was told: "The goddess Maat embraceth thee both at morn and at eve." As a birth-giver, she was sometimes Metet, the Morning Boat of the Sun, translated "becoming strong" and corresponding to the Greco-Roman mother of the dawn, Mater Matuta.(8) She was worshipped in lands other than Egypt. Northern Syria was called by the Hittites, Mat Hatti: that is, Mother of Hatti.(9) Egyptian priests drew the Feather of Maat on their tongues in green dye, to give their words a Logos-like power of Truth so their verbal magic could create reality.(1) Similarly in northern Europe the divine bard Bragi had this power because of the runes engraved on his tongue by the Goddess Idun.
African Pygmies still know Maat by the name she bore in Sumeria as "womb" and "underworld": Matu. She was the first woman, and the mother of God. Like her Egyptian counterpart she was sometimes cat-headed.(11)
Notes:
(1) Budge, E.L., 68.
(2) Budge, G.E 1, 418.
(3) Budge, D.N., 254; Hallet, 411.
(4) H. Smith, 49-51.
(5) Budge, D.N., 258-60.
(6) H. Smith, 50.
(7) Erman, 43, 107.
(8) Budge, G.E. 1, 323, 417.
(9) Mendenhall, 157.
(10) Seligmann, 39.
(11) Hallet, 95.
****************************************************************************
Wow! Where do I even start to comment?
How about this: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, the movie which I remember from earliest times watching every Easter Sunday, will be on commercial television TOMORROW NIGHT, instead of Sunday Night! Darlings, this is absolutely, positively the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.
Watching THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, with Charleton Heston as Moses, Anne Baxter as the best Neferteri I ever saw, and that incredibly sexy, magnetic Yul Brynner as Rameses, is a must see for everyone. Indeed, there's something in this movie for everyone, which is why so many people continue to watch it year after year. Anyway, tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. will find me comfortably ensconced in my recliner (yes, I have one - go suck Easter Eggs if you're laughing) with a large supply of Wine and Fritos close to hand, to once again watch the Grand Epic and laugh at Charleton Heston's really bad acting. But I have to give it to the man, he was a hunk back in his day. Whoa!
From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, we now turn to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - the real ones (allegedly), which were passed to Moses by Yahweh himself.
While I certainly believe that anyone and everyone can experience supernatural events/happenings/revelations, or whatever one wishes to call such an event, I do not believe how THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (I think they were originally referred to as THE TEN WORDS) mysteriously multipled whilst residing in the Ark of the Covenant and turned into several thousand burdensome and petty rules, governing the minutest part of life. As a consequence, the followers of Yahweh became a people of rules rather than what Yahweh intended them to be, a people guided by a short list of principles to live by. Rules come and go, but principles are forever. Perhaps this is a lesson we need to revisit these days in the USA. I am pretty sure that if we had been a people of principles rather than legalistic rules, the CRASH OF 2008 would not have happened.
Well, be that as it may, anyone who reads Abovethelaw.com these days and who absolutely HATES lawyers or wannabe lawyers is laughing their butts off! If you thought Wall Street types were totally self-absorbed, you haven't yet been introduced to the world of the 3L. Goddess, to think that I was once in that world - but thank Goddess, I wasn't like that - Maat, I've got a positive negative confession to make! That's why I got the hell out of the profession after five years. Overall, I haven't regretted it, but I sure wish I could figure out a way to make a lot of money without selling my soul to SATAN. Ha! That's not gonna happen, darlings. And just as well. I think I have a Napoleonic Complex... So glad the Goddess thumped me on the head one day and said - ENOUGH!
And, cutting things short here because I've been at work all day and it's nearly 8 PM and I'm hungry and I want to make a casserole and TOP MODEL is coming on, I am SO glad I finally know where that famous saying came from - about taking the milk out of the mouth of babes. We STILL use it today. WOW! Ancient Egypt - the Negative Confessions - the Goddess Maat! ROCK ON MAAT!
Hola darlings! On this Good Friday, I'm going to write what Barbara Walker had to say about Maat in "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends":
Maat
Egyptian Goddess as personification of "Truth" or "Justice"; the original name based on the universal Indo-European mother-syllable meant simply "Mother." Maat's symbol was the feather against which she weighed each man's heart-soul (ab) in her underground Hall of Judgment. Thus the Plume of Maat itself became a hieroglyph for "truth."(1)
The same feathers of Truth were worn by other aspects of the Goddess, such as Isis, who was the same lawgiving Mother. The gods themselves were constrained to "live by Maat." Her law governed all three worlds ruled by her trinity as "Lady of heaven, queen of the earth, and mistress of the underworld."(2)
As the lawgiver of archaic Egypt, Maat was comparable to Babylonian Tiamat who gave the sacred tablets to the first king of gods. Maat's laws were notably benevolent, compared to the harsh commands of later patriarchal gods, backed up by savage threats like those of Deuteronomy 28:15-68. An Egyptian was expected to recite the famous Negative Confession in the presence of Maat and Thoth (or Anubis) to show he had obeyed Maat's rules of behavior:
I have not been a man of anger.
I have done no evil to mankind.
I have not inflicted pain.
I have made none to weep.
I have done violence to no man.
I have not done harm unto animals.
I have not robbed the poor.
I have not fouled water.
I have not trampled fields.
I have not behaved with insolence.
I have not judged hastily.
I have not stirred up strife.
I have not made any man to commit murder for me.
I have not insisted that excessive work be done for me daily.
I have not borne false witness.
I have not stolen land.
I have not cheated in measuring the bushel.
I have allowed no man to suffer hunger.
I have not increased my wealth except with such things as are my own possessions.
I have not seized wrongfully the property of others.
I have not taken milk from the mouths of babes.(3)
Those who lived by the laws of Maat took a sacramental drink, comparable to the Hindus' Soma or its Persian counterpart Haoma, which conferred ritual purity in the same sense as the Christian "washing in the blood of the Lamb." Egyptian scribes of the 3rd millenium B.C. wrote: "My inward parts have been washed in the liquor of Maat." Like baptismal water of life, Maat's potion brought life after-death to the peaceful, but death overtook violent persons.(4)
Egyptian moral precepts were of a high order, many of them turning up centuries later in the Bible:
Take heed not to rob the poor, and be not cruel to the destitute.... If thou canst answer the man who attacks thee, do him no injury. Let the evildoer alone; he will destroy himself. We must help the sinner, for may we not become like him?...Crusts of bread and a loving heart are better than rich food and contention.... Learn to be content with what thou hast. Treasure obtained by fraud will not stay with thee; thou hast it today, tomorrow it has departed.... The approval of man is better than riches.(5)
Under the feudal disorders of the 12th dynasty [c. 1991 - 1783 BCE], old rules began to break down along with the matrilineal clan system that supported them, and educated Egyptians deplored the disruptions of society. A Heliopolitan priest wrote: "Maat is cast out, iniquity is in the midst of the council hall.... [T]he poor man has no strength to save hmself from him that is stronger than he."(6) Sometimes kinsman murdered kinsman, in violation of the clan's most sacred rule. One writer unfavorably compared his countrymen to the Maat-worshipping tribes of Nubia: "The Matoi, who are friendly towards Egypt, say: 'How could there be a man that would slay his brother?'"(7)
Maat was more than a judge of the dead. She was a stand-in for all Egyptian Goddesses, including Hathor, Mut, Isis, Neith, Nekhbet, etc. The sun god was told: "The goddess Maat embraceth thee both at morn and at eve." As a birth-giver, she was sometimes Metet, the Morning Boat of the Sun, translated "becoming strong" and corresponding to the Greco-Roman mother of the dawn, Mater Matuta.(8) She was worshipped in lands other than Egypt. Northern Syria was called by the Hittites, Mat Hatti: that is, Mother of Hatti.(9) Egyptian priests drew the Feather of Maat on their tongues in green dye, to give their words a Logos-like power of Truth so their verbal magic could create reality.(1) Similarly in northern Europe the divine bard Bragi had this power because of the runes engraved on his tongue by the Goddess Idun.
African Pygmies still know Maat by the name she bore in Sumeria as "womb" and "underworld": Matu. She was the first woman, and the mother of God. Like her Egyptian counterpart she was sometimes cat-headed.(11)
Notes:
(1) Budge, E.L., 68.
(2) Budge, G.E 1, 418.
(3) Budge, D.N., 254; Hallet, 411.
(4) H. Smith, 49-51.
(5) Budge, D.N., 258-60.
(6) H. Smith, 50.
(7) Erman, 43, 107.
(8) Budge, G.E. 1, 323, 417.
(9) Mendenhall, 157.
(10) Seligmann, 39.
(11) Hallet, 95.
****************************************************************************
Wow! Where do I even start to comment?
How about this: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, the movie which I remember from earliest times watching every Easter Sunday, will be on commercial television TOMORROW NIGHT, instead of Sunday Night! Darlings, this is absolutely, positively the END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT.
Watching THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, with Charleton Heston as Moses, Anne Baxter as the best Neferteri I ever saw, and that incredibly sexy, magnetic Yul Brynner as Rameses, is a must see for everyone. Indeed, there's something in this movie for everyone, which is why so many people continue to watch it year after year. Anyway, tomorrow night at 6:00 p.m. will find me comfortably ensconced in my recliner (yes, I have one - go suck Easter Eggs if you're laughing) with a large supply of Wine and Fritos close to hand, to once again watch the Grand Epic and laugh at Charleton Heston's really bad acting. But I have to give it to the man, he was a hunk back in his day. Whoa!
From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, we now turn to THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - the real ones (allegedly), which were passed to Moses by Yahweh himself.
While I certainly believe that anyone and everyone can experience supernatural events/happenings/revelations, or whatever one wishes to call such an event, I do not believe how THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (I think they were originally referred to as THE TEN WORDS) mysteriously multipled whilst residing in the Ark of the Covenant and turned into several thousand burdensome and petty rules, governing the minutest part of life. As a consequence, the followers of Yahweh became a people of rules rather than what Yahweh intended them to be, a people guided by a short list of principles to live by. Rules come and go, but principles are forever. Perhaps this is a lesson we need to revisit these days in the USA. I am pretty sure that if we had been a people of principles rather than legalistic rules, the CRASH OF 2008 would not have happened.
Well, be that as it may, anyone who reads Abovethelaw.com these days and who absolutely HATES lawyers or wannabe lawyers is laughing their butts off! If you thought Wall Street types were totally self-absorbed, you haven't yet been introduced to the world of the 3L. Goddess, to think that I was once in that world - but thank Goddess, I wasn't like that - Maat, I've got a positive negative confession to make! That's why I got the hell out of the profession after five years. Overall, I haven't regretted it, but I sure wish I could figure out a way to make a lot of money without selling my soul to SATAN. Ha! That's not gonna happen, darlings. And just as well. I think I have a Napoleonic Complex... So glad the Goddess thumped me on the head one day and said - ENOUGH!
And, cutting things short here because I've been at work all day and it's nearly 8 PM and I'm hungry and I want to make a casserole and TOP MODEL is coming on, I am SO glad I finally know where that famous saying came from - about taking the milk out of the mouth of babes. We STILL use it today. WOW! Ancient Egypt - the Negative Confessions - the Goddess Maat! ROCK ON MAAT!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Dog Sacrifice in Medieval Hungary
After the rise of christianity, the church fathers were gradually successful in "demonizing" dogs for the most part, that faithful canine companion of the Goddess from earliest times.
It is surprising to the discovering archaeologists, then, to find that what appears to be a sort of hybrid propitiatory sacrifice both to the Goddess and to the God Jesus Christ, was rather commonplace in a town called Kana, a 10th-13th century CE town on the outskirts of modern-day Budapest. Could there possibly be a connection of KANA to CANINE? An interesting "coincidence," heh? Was something else going on - something which we don't understand at all?
Story from the National Geographic News
Dog Sacrifices Found in Medieval Hungarian Village
Charles Q. Choifor National Geographic News
April 6, 2009
A medieval Hungarian town full of ritually sacrificed dogs could shed light on mysterious pagan customs not found in written records from the era, a new study suggests.
Roughly 1,300 bones from about 25 dogs were recently discovered in the 10th- to 13th-century town of Kana, which had been accidentally unearthed in 2003 during the construction of residential buildings on the outskirts of Budapest.
Researchers found ten dogs buried in pits and four puppy skeletons in pots buried upside down.
These sacrifices probably served much like amulets to ward against evil—for instance, to protect against witchcraft or the evil eye, said study leader Márta Daróczi-Szabó, an archaeozoologist at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. [No explanation given for why she believes this to be so].
About a dozen other canines were found buried under house foundations. These animals likely served as "construction sacrifices," Daróczi-Szabó said.
During the Middle Ages it was customary in Hungary to lock sacrificial animals inside new houses or to slaughter the beasts as people moved in.
Sometimes dogs were beaten to death on the doorsteps or a chicken's throat was slit. [And which Goddess or God was being honored by such particularly gruesomely rendered sacrifices? Sacrificing an animal by slitting it's throat for a quick and relatively painless death is one thing; sacrificing an animal by beating it to death is ridiculously cruel - how could this be pleasing to any deity?]
Dogs were popular sacrificial animals in medieval Hungary, Daróczi-Szabó said. They were seen two different ways: They symbolized loyalty, but they also stood for the deadly sin of envy.
"There was a very big difference between the hunting dogs of the nobility and the scavenging pariah dogs of everyday life," she said. [Which dogs were used as sacrifices? Was one type of dog preferred over another? Were the "noble" dogs spared and the "pariah" dogs beaten to death?]
Surprisingly Widespread
Previous evidence of animal sacrifices—seen even under churches, in Budapest and elsewhere in Hungary—had been mostly isolated cases, Daróczi-Szabó noted.
But the new findings, described this month in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, show that "sacrifices were not a rare phenomenon, as one may have thought from isolated finds," she said. "It was practiced regularly in a Christian village." ["Christian" in the same sense that the Spanish "Conversos" were "Christian?" Could there by any possible linkage between this evidence of wide-spread dog and puppy sacrifice in Kana and the puppy sacrifice that took place in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier?]
The fact that pagan customs such as animal sacrifice persisted for centuries side-by-side with the church is surprising, noted University of Edinburgh archaeozoologist László Bartosiewicz.
Christianity came to dominate the region after the first king of Hungary, Stephen I, began his rule in A.D. 1000. Under his reign, pagan rituals such as animal sacrifices were explicitly banned.
"One wouldn't expect these practices in Christian times," said Bartosiewicz, who did not participate in the new study. "It's exciting to see what was sacred and profane back then.
"The great number of sacrifices we see [in Kana] will significantly improve our chances of interpreting what their meaning was," he added.
"It's probably the find of a lifetime. I can't imagine lucking upon anything else of this scope."
It is surprising to the discovering archaeologists, then, to find that what appears to be a sort of hybrid propitiatory sacrifice both to the Goddess and to the God Jesus Christ, was rather commonplace in a town called Kana, a 10th-13th century CE town on the outskirts of modern-day Budapest. Could there possibly be a connection of KANA to CANINE? An interesting "coincidence," heh? Was something else going on - something which we don't understand at all?
Story from the National Geographic News
Dog Sacrifices Found in Medieval Hungarian Village
Charles Q. Choifor National Geographic News
April 6, 2009
A medieval Hungarian town full of ritually sacrificed dogs could shed light on mysterious pagan customs not found in written records from the era, a new study suggests.
Roughly 1,300 bones from about 25 dogs were recently discovered in the 10th- to 13th-century town of Kana, which had been accidentally unearthed in 2003 during the construction of residential buildings on the outskirts of Budapest.
Researchers found ten dogs buried in pits and four puppy skeletons in pots buried upside down.
These sacrifices probably served much like amulets to ward against evil—for instance, to protect against witchcraft or the evil eye, said study leader Márta Daróczi-Szabó, an archaeozoologist at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. [No explanation given for why she believes this to be so].
About a dozen other canines were found buried under house foundations. These animals likely served as "construction sacrifices," Daróczi-Szabó said.
During the Middle Ages it was customary in Hungary to lock sacrificial animals inside new houses or to slaughter the beasts as people moved in.
Sometimes dogs were beaten to death on the doorsteps or a chicken's throat was slit. [And which Goddess or God was being honored by such particularly gruesomely rendered sacrifices? Sacrificing an animal by slitting it's throat for a quick and relatively painless death is one thing; sacrificing an animal by beating it to death is ridiculously cruel - how could this be pleasing to any deity?]
Dogs were popular sacrificial animals in medieval Hungary, Daróczi-Szabó said. They were seen two different ways: They symbolized loyalty, but they also stood for the deadly sin of envy.
"There was a very big difference between the hunting dogs of the nobility and the scavenging pariah dogs of everyday life," she said. [Which dogs were used as sacrifices? Was one type of dog preferred over another? Were the "noble" dogs spared and the "pariah" dogs beaten to death?]
Surprisingly Widespread
Previous evidence of animal sacrifices—seen even under churches, in Budapest and elsewhere in Hungary—had been mostly isolated cases, Daróczi-Szabó noted.
But the new findings, described this month in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior, show that "sacrifices were not a rare phenomenon, as one may have thought from isolated finds," she said. "It was practiced regularly in a Christian village." ["Christian" in the same sense that the Spanish "Conversos" were "Christian?" Could there by any possible linkage between this evidence of wide-spread dog and puppy sacrifice in Kana and the puppy sacrifice that took place in ancient Mesopotamia thousands of years earlier?]
The fact that pagan customs such as animal sacrifice persisted for centuries side-by-side with the church is surprising, noted University of Edinburgh archaeozoologist László Bartosiewicz.
Christianity came to dominate the region after the first king of Hungary, Stephen I, began his rule in A.D. 1000. Under his reign, pagan rituals such as animal sacrifices were explicitly banned.
"One wouldn't expect these practices in Christian times," said Bartosiewicz, who did not participate in the new study. "It's exciting to see what was sacred and profane back then.
"The great number of sacrifices we see [in Kana] will significantly improve our chances of interpreting what their meaning was," he added.
"It's probably the find of a lifetime. I can't imagine lucking upon anything else of this scope."
****************************************************************************
If archaeologists are surprised by "pagan" customs persisting hundreds of years after the advent of "christianity," what do they think about the fact that around the world people still serve hot-cross buns served at Easter? Hot-cross buns, for those who are not aware, are descended from an ancient devotional offering to the Goddess during the Spring Equinox and pre-date christianity by thousands of years! What about the Easter Bunny - another ancient pagan symbol of fertility, and Easter eggs, another pagan fertility symbol?
If archaeologists are surprised by "pagan" customs persisting hundreds of years after the advent of "christianity," what do they think about the fact that around the world people still serve hot-cross buns served at Easter? Hot-cross buns, for those who are not aware, are descended from an ancient devotional offering to the Goddess during the Spring Equinox and pre-date christianity by thousands of years! What about the Easter Bunny - another ancient pagan symbol of fertility, and Easter eggs, another pagan fertility symbol?
Southwest Chess Club: Upcoming Events
Hola darlings!
My adopted chess club is hosting a number of upcoming events. I was too late to post about the tournament taking place tonight - sorry! But - there are others to choose from, hooray!
Southwest Chess Club Calendar
USCF Grand Prix Points: 10. April 25, 2009
4SS, G/60. 2 Sections: Open & Reserve (under 1600).
Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel—4747 S. Howell
Avenue—Milwaukee—414-481-8000 (formerly known as
Four Points Sheraton, across street from airport). EF: $35-Open,
$25-Reserve, both $5 more after 4/22. Comp EF for USCF 2200+,
contact TD for details. $$ Open (b/25)=1st-$325 (guaranteed), 2nd-
$175 (guaranteed), A-$100, B & Below-$75; $$ Reserve b/25) =1st-
$100, 2nd-$75, D-$50, E & Below-$40. Reg: 8:30-9:30, Rds: 10-1-
3:30-6. Ent: Payable to SWCC, c/o Allen Becker, 6105 Thorncrest
Drive, Greendale, WI 53129 ( allenbecker@wi.rr.com ).
QUESTIONS TO: TD Robin Grochowski—414-744-4872 (home) or
414-861-2745 (cell)
This is the event Goddesschess in which is funding additional prizes for the chess femmes :)
My adopted chess club is hosting a number of upcoming events. I was too late to post about the tournament taking place tonight - sorry! But - there are others to choose from, hooray!
Southwest Chess Club Calendar
Tulips on the Chess Board Swiss: April 16, 23 & 30
3-Round Swiss in Two Sections (Open and Under-1600). Game/100 minutes. USCF Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. (One ½ Point Bye Available for any round (except round three) if requested at least 2-days prior to round). TD is Fogec; ATD is Grochowski.
Warm-Up Blend-O-Matic: May 7
10-Round (Round-Robin) in One or more Sections (depending on number of players). Game/5 minutes. USCF Quick-Rated. EF: $5 members, $7 others. TD is Becker; ATD is Grochowski.
USCF Grand Prix Points: 10. April 25, 2009
4SS, G/60. 2 Sections: Open & Reserve (under 1600).
Wyndham Milwaukee Airport Hotel—4747 S. Howell
Avenue—Milwaukee—414-481-8000 (formerly known as
Four Points Sheraton, across street from airport). EF: $35-Open,
$25-Reserve, both $5 more after 4/22. Comp EF for USCF 2200+,
contact TD for details. $$ Open (b/25)=1st-$325 (guaranteed), 2nd-
$175 (guaranteed), A-$100, B & Below-$75; $$ Reserve b/25) =1st-
$100, 2nd-$75, D-$50, E & Below-$40. Reg: 8:30-9:30, Rds: 10-1-
3:30-6. Ent: Payable to SWCC, c/o Allen Becker, 6105 Thorncrest
Drive, Greendale, WI 53129 ( allenbecker@wi.rr.com ).
QUESTIONS TO: TD Robin Grochowski—414-744-4872 (home) or
414-861-2745 (cell)
This is the event Goddesschess in which is funding additional prizes for the chess femmes :)
Alexandra Kosteniuk Interview at WCL
Macauley Peterson has a video interview with 2008 Women's World Chess Champion GM Kosteniuk presently running at World Chess Live which he was kind enough to share, but being techy incompetent I can't figure out how to get it to paste in here correctly so that it works.The interview was after a 57-game simul she gave at the recently-concluded Super-Nationals in Nashville, Tennessee. She gave two simuls in Nashville and also recently in New York. Try here and scrolling to the video. (Photo: Kosteniuk at the 2007 European Team Championships).
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Queen Ketevan of Georgia
(Image: From Flickr, showing Queen Ketevan's torture. I don't know what the source of this image is).
From The Times of India
Mystery over Georgian queen's relics at Old Goa continues
8 Apr 2009, 0635 hrs IST, Paul Fernandes, TNN
OLD GOA: Scientists have conducted a DNA analysis on bones believed to have been relics of Georgian queen Ketevan preserved in St Augustine's complex at Old Goa, but the mystery continues as a matching analysis of her other relics in Georgia needs to be done to confirm the findings.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Goa, received the DNA report recently from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. "We were able to isolate the ancient DNA but the amplification and sequencing needs to be done following a different protocol, which is still not commercially available in the laboratory, and we require an advanced kit to carry out a phase 2 analysis," N Taher, deputy superintending archaeologist, Goa said.
A matching DNA report of the queen's remains in Georgia will also help carry the research to its logical conclusion. "We are not very sure if the bone relics belong to the queen and we will request a Georgian delegation coming to Goa later this month to do a sequencing of their specimen for verification," Taher added.
Augustinian Friars, who also had their mission in Iran, came in contact with the Georgian Queen (1565-1624) in Shiraz, Iran, and held her in high esteem. She was put to death by Shah Abbas I of Iran in 1624 after several years of imprisonment for her refusal to give up Christianity.
The Augustinian Friars exhumed her body after four months and took the relics to Georgia and interred them at the Alaverdi Cathedral, nd also brought a hand and palm to Goa.
After the ASI started excavations to conserve the site at St Augustine's complex two decades back, in 2004-05, archaeologists found three bones in the chapter chapel in the convent of St Augustine.
Bone relics of other dignitaries were also being preseved in six chamber boxes in the chapel.
"The remains of five chamber boxes can be seen at the site, except for the one with Queen Ketevan's remains," Abhijit Ambekar, an archaeologist said.
A long bone was found below the second window within the chapel and two more fragments behind the second window close to the coping stone of the chamber box. Research will continue to find out whether the remains were also taken anywhere out of the complex, sources said. St Augustine's complex crumbled after materials were sourced for construction elsewhere. It was also neglected after the Portuguese asked the Augustinian Friars to leave in 1835.
The search for the queen's remains may take longer as relics in other tombstones may have to be examined, Taher said. "As scientific analysis is available, we may have to take up other specimens of bone relics for analysis."
The Georgian team comprises Fr R Georgi, dean of St Kethevan church in Tibilisi, capital of Georgia, and a team of archaeologists and media persons.
Concluded Taher, "The Georgians are coming to Goa as they have an emotional tie with the events related to their patron saint and St Augustine's complex is significant to them."
From The Times of IndiaMystery over Georgian queen's relics at Old Goa continues
8 Apr 2009, 0635 hrs IST, Paul Fernandes, TNN
OLD GOA: Scientists have conducted a DNA analysis on bones believed to have been relics of Georgian queen Ketevan preserved in St Augustine's complex at Old Goa, but the mystery continues as a matching analysis of her other relics in Georgia needs to be done to confirm the findings.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Goa, received the DNA report recently from the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. "We were able to isolate the ancient DNA but the amplification and sequencing needs to be done following a different protocol, which is still not commercially available in the laboratory, and we require an advanced kit to carry out a phase 2 analysis," N Taher, deputy superintending archaeologist, Goa said.
A matching DNA report of the queen's remains in Georgia will also help carry the research to its logical conclusion. "We are not very sure if the bone relics belong to the queen and we will request a Georgian delegation coming to Goa later this month to do a sequencing of their specimen for verification," Taher added.
Augustinian Friars, who also had their mission in Iran, came in contact with the Georgian Queen (1565-1624) in Shiraz, Iran, and held her in high esteem. She was put to death by Shah Abbas I of Iran in 1624 after several years of imprisonment for her refusal to give up Christianity.
The Augustinian Friars exhumed her body after four months and took the relics to Georgia and interred them at the Alaverdi Cathedral, nd also brought a hand and palm to Goa.
After the ASI started excavations to conserve the site at St Augustine's complex two decades back, in 2004-05, archaeologists found three bones in the chapter chapel in the convent of St Augustine.
Bone relics of other dignitaries were also being preseved in six chamber boxes in the chapel.
"The remains of five chamber boxes can be seen at the site, except for the one with Queen Ketevan's remains," Abhijit Ambekar, an archaeologist said.
A long bone was found below the second window within the chapel and two more fragments behind the second window close to the coping stone of the chamber box. Research will continue to find out whether the remains were also taken anywhere out of the complex, sources said. St Augustine's complex crumbled after materials were sourced for construction elsewhere. It was also neglected after the Portuguese asked the Augustinian Friars to leave in 1835.
The search for the queen's remains may take longer as relics in other tombstones may have to be examined, Taher said. "As scientific analysis is available, we may have to take up other specimens of bone relics for analysis."
The Georgian team comprises Fr R Georgi, dean of St Kethevan church in Tibilisi, capital of Georgia, and a team of archaeologists and media persons.
Concluded Taher, "The Georgians are coming to Goa as they have an emotional tie with the events related to their patron saint and St Augustine's complex is significant to them."
****************************************
So the question remains - are these relics of Queen Ketevan? There are conflicting accounts of what happened to Ketevan's body after she was killed, in addition to the account given in the article above.
- According to this account: Some French Roman Catholic missionaries were present at the place of St. Ketevans's execution. They placed her body in linen cloth saturated with incense and spices, took it with them to Rome, where the holy relics rest to this day in St. Peter's Cathedral. Later they sent her head and an arm of the martyr to her son, King Teimuraz, who buried the holy relics in the Alaverdi Temple of St. George.
- This account from Wikipedia provides the interesting information that Ketevan exercised power as Queen Regent, evidently for a number of years, on behalf of her young son, before surrendering herself as a hostage to the Shah to ensure her son's good behavior. Upon her death: Portions of her relics were clandestinely taken by the St. Augustine Portuguese Catholic missioners, eyewitnesses of her martyrdom, to Georgia where they were interred at the Alaverdi Cathedral.[1] The rest of her remains are reported to have been buried at the St. Augustine Church in Goa, India. Several expeditions from Georgia have arrived in Goa, and searched in vain for the exact location of her grave.[2][3]
You can read similar accounts that vary details of the events leading up to her death by doing a google search "Queen Ketevan of Georgia."
Mother Complex
There is no such thing as coincidence...
While I was getting ready to do more posting tonight on the topic of MA, I thought I'd check the archaeological news first. What appeared first in my screen was this article from Haaretz entitled "Mother Complex":
Tue., April 07, 2009 Nisan 13, 5769
By Ran Shapira
The Egyptian researchers who, in early January, entered the burial room in the latest pyramid to be discovered in Saqqara, south of Cairo, labored for five hours before they could lift the lid of the sarcophagus within. Inside was a mummy wrapped in a flax shroud. In addition to pottery shards, gold wrappings were also found in the sarcophagus, which apparently were used to cover the fingers of the mummified body. Although no inscriptions were found in the tomb, the researchers assume, with a high level of probability, that it contains the body of the mother of the founder of the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty: Pharaoh Teti.
The pyramid in which the queen, Sesheshet, was buried, was discovered in November 2008 - it is the 118th found in Egypt. Its discovery in Teti's burial compound surprised the researchers to some extent, since the site had been thoroughly combed through over the past 150 years. In addition to the pyramid where the king himself was buried, two "satellite pyramids" were found, the tombs of his two principal wives: The one belonging to Iput I was discovered about 100 years ago; the second, of Khuit, was discovered in 1994.
Information about the queen herself is very meager. In a papyrus document that includes medical prescriptions, her name is mentioned alongside a request for a preparation that was supposed to strengthen thin hair. Nevertheless, it is possible that the "pharmacists" used her name to lend a bit of prestige to the prescription, and did not necessarily prepare it for her. Another inscription mentions her as being the mother of the king, and in several reliefs of the same area the name "Sesheshet" appears. However, these do not contribute substantial information about the king's mother. Scholars believe she played a very important role in her son's ascent to the throne, thanks, among other things, to her success in mediating between two rival factions within the royal family.
Dr. Deborah Sweeney, an expert on ancient Egypt from the archaeology department of Tel Aviv University, says researchers assume that Sesheshet belonged to the close circle of the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas. He had no sons to inherit the throne and Teti may have been his grandson. Since it is not known when she died, researchers can only guess that the pharaoh's mother was alive during almost 20 years of his reign, which extended from 2323 to 2291 B.C.E.
"Queens were identified with the goddesses that accompany the sun god, protect him and give him strength," Sweeney explains. "The king needed a queen at his side. There were periods when the queens played a political role, but that was an exception. There was a need for that, for example, when a king ascended to the throne as a child. Usually in those cases there was a queen mother, who took charge of governing until her son grew up."
Dr. Rachel Shlomi-Chen, of Hebrew University's department of Ancient Near Eastern history, says Manetho, a Greek historian from the 3rd century B.C.E., wrote about a conspiracy in Teti's court. Furthermore, archaeologists excavating the cemetery near Teti's pyramid in Saqqara have found evidence that may point to a plot: The inscriptions on the tombs of high-ranking officials in the court were damaged, in what does not seem to be a random way, scholars claim: It may have been deliberately done to the tombs of officials belonging to the conspiracy.
The queen mother may have helped Teti in his struggle against the conspirators, but in any case, according to Manetho, he was murdered by his bodyguards not long after she died. His dynasty, the Sixth, ruled Egypt until 2184 B.C.E., almost 1,000 years before the period of Rameses II, the king during whose reign the Exodus from Egypt took place.
Egyptian scholars, headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities, stress that Sesheshet's pyramid is more impressive in terms of its dimensions than the structures usually built by ancient Egyptian rulers for their wives and mothers. Discovered beneath seven meters of sand, this pyramid in its prime was 14 meters high and the width of its square base was 22 meters.
There is no question that Teti wanted to express respect for his mother by building the structure, but this in itself was not so unusual, Shlomi-Chen emphasizes: In ancient Egypt, the royal family also played an important religious role, and its members were considered to be the earthly incarnations of gods. The pharaoh was identified with Horus, god of the sky and the sun. The queen was both the spouse of the most important god and the mother of the god-king who was to succeed him. She was also identified with the goddess Hathor, the mother of Horus and the wife of the sun god, Ra. One of Hathor's symbols was a noisemaker, which is called sistrum in Greek and sesheshet in Egyptian.
A step up
The transition between the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties was accompanied by significant changes in religion and ritual. Dr. Sweeney explains that the kings of the Fifth Dynasty built their pyramids at Abu Sir rather than Saqqara. Alongside their pyramids, in addition to pyramids for their wives and mothers, they also built a sun temple, symbolizing their belief in Ra. During the Fifth Dynasty, the cult of Ra constituted the state religion, but there were changes during the reign of the last two kings in the dynasty: Alongside the pyramids of Unas and his predecessor, there were no sun temples, nor were there any in the burial compound of Teti and his family.
"It is possible that Teti and Unas built huge temples in the capital city of Memphis, but nothing remains of them," Sweeney suggests.
Unas also built his pyramid in Saqqara, which shows that after living elsewhere, he returned to the ancient burial site where the most famous type of step pyramid, that of Djoser, was constructed. Another innovation relating to Unas' pyramid, according to Shlomi-Chen, is the fact that the walls bear inscriptions - spells designed to accompany the king in the Land of the Dead. In the inscriptions, Unas is identified for the first time with Osiris, king of the Land of the Dead, and not only with the sun god. The Osiris cult, which came to symbolize the resurrection of the dead and was identified with the cycles of nature, had been started two generations earlier by the nobility.
Teti ascended the throne on the backdrop of profound changes in Egyptian religion and culture, and became part of them. Further research into his mother's tomb will likely shed more light on him and on the events of that period of antiquity.
While I was getting ready to do more posting tonight on the topic of MA, I thought I'd check the archaeological news first. What appeared first in my screen was this article from Haaretz entitled "Mother Complex":
Tue., April 07, 2009 Nisan 13, 5769
By Ran Shapira
The Egyptian researchers who, in early January, entered the burial room in the latest pyramid to be discovered in Saqqara, south of Cairo, labored for five hours before they could lift the lid of the sarcophagus within. Inside was a mummy wrapped in a flax shroud. In addition to pottery shards, gold wrappings were also found in the sarcophagus, which apparently were used to cover the fingers of the mummified body. Although no inscriptions were found in the tomb, the researchers assume, with a high level of probability, that it contains the body of the mother of the founder of the Egyptian Sixth Dynasty: Pharaoh Teti.
The pyramid in which the queen, Sesheshet, was buried, was discovered in November 2008 - it is the 118th found in Egypt. Its discovery in Teti's burial compound surprised the researchers to some extent, since the site had been thoroughly combed through over the past 150 years. In addition to the pyramid where the king himself was buried, two "satellite pyramids" were found, the tombs of his two principal wives: The one belonging to Iput I was discovered about 100 years ago; the second, of Khuit, was discovered in 1994.
Information about the queen herself is very meager. In a papyrus document that includes medical prescriptions, her name is mentioned alongside a request for a preparation that was supposed to strengthen thin hair. Nevertheless, it is possible that the "pharmacists" used her name to lend a bit of prestige to the prescription, and did not necessarily prepare it for her. Another inscription mentions her as being the mother of the king, and in several reliefs of the same area the name "Sesheshet" appears. However, these do not contribute substantial information about the king's mother. Scholars believe she played a very important role in her son's ascent to the throne, thanks, among other things, to her success in mediating between two rival factions within the royal family.
Dr. Deborah Sweeney, an expert on ancient Egypt from the archaeology department of Tel Aviv University, says researchers assume that Sesheshet belonged to the close circle of the last king of the Fifth Dynasty, Unas. He had no sons to inherit the throne and Teti may have been his grandson. Since it is not known when she died, researchers can only guess that the pharaoh's mother was alive during almost 20 years of his reign, which extended from 2323 to 2291 B.C.E.
"Queens were identified with the goddesses that accompany the sun god, protect him and give him strength," Sweeney explains. "The king needed a queen at his side. There were periods when the queens played a political role, but that was an exception. There was a need for that, for example, when a king ascended to the throne as a child. Usually in those cases there was a queen mother, who took charge of governing until her son grew up."
Dr. Rachel Shlomi-Chen, of Hebrew University's department of Ancient Near Eastern history, says Manetho, a Greek historian from the 3rd century B.C.E., wrote about a conspiracy in Teti's court. Furthermore, archaeologists excavating the cemetery near Teti's pyramid in Saqqara have found evidence that may point to a plot: The inscriptions on the tombs of high-ranking officials in the court were damaged, in what does not seem to be a random way, scholars claim: It may have been deliberately done to the tombs of officials belonging to the conspiracy.
The queen mother may have helped Teti in his struggle against the conspirators, but in any case, according to Manetho, he was murdered by his bodyguards not long after she died. His dynasty, the Sixth, ruled Egypt until 2184 B.C.E., almost 1,000 years before the period of Rameses II, the king during whose reign the Exodus from Egypt took place.
Egyptian scholars, headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the country's Supreme Council of Antiquities, stress that Sesheshet's pyramid is more impressive in terms of its dimensions than the structures usually built by ancient Egyptian rulers for their wives and mothers. Discovered beneath seven meters of sand, this pyramid in its prime was 14 meters high and the width of its square base was 22 meters.
There is no question that Teti wanted to express respect for his mother by building the structure, but this in itself was not so unusual, Shlomi-Chen emphasizes: In ancient Egypt, the royal family also played an important religious role, and its members were considered to be the earthly incarnations of gods. The pharaoh was identified with Horus, god of the sky and the sun. The queen was both the spouse of the most important god and the mother of the god-king who was to succeed him. She was also identified with the goddess Hathor, the mother of Horus and the wife of the sun god, Ra. One of Hathor's symbols was a noisemaker, which is called sistrum in Greek and sesheshet in Egyptian.
A step up
The transition between the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties was accompanied by significant changes in religion and ritual. Dr. Sweeney explains that the kings of the Fifth Dynasty built their pyramids at Abu Sir rather than Saqqara. Alongside their pyramids, in addition to pyramids for their wives and mothers, they also built a sun temple, symbolizing their belief in Ra. During the Fifth Dynasty, the cult of Ra constituted the state religion, but there were changes during the reign of the last two kings in the dynasty: Alongside the pyramids of Unas and his predecessor, there were no sun temples, nor were there any in the burial compound of Teti and his family.
"It is possible that Teti and Unas built huge temples in the capital city of Memphis, but nothing remains of them," Sweeney suggests.
Unas also built his pyramid in Saqqara, which shows that after living elsewhere, he returned to the ancient burial site where the most famous type of step pyramid, that of Djoser, was constructed. Another innovation relating to Unas' pyramid, according to Shlomi-Chen, is the fact that the walls bear inscriptions - spells designed to accompany the king in the Land of the Dead. In the inscriptions, Unas is identified for the first time with Osiris, king of the Land of the Dead, and not only with the sun god. The Osiris cult, which came to symbolize the resurrection of the dead and was identified with the cycles of nature, had been started two generations earlier by the nobility.
Teti ascended the throne on the backdrop of profound changes in Egyptian religion and culture, and became part of them. Further research into his mother's tomb will likely shed more light on him and on the events of that period of antiquity.