Hola darlings!
I'm continuing this absolutely fascinating encyclopedia entry by Barbara G. Walker in her "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends" under Hair, picking up from the blog entry a few posts ago:
The same idea prevailed among prophetic priestesses or witches, who operated with unbound hair on the theory that their tresses could control the spirit world. Mother Goddesses like Isis, Cybele, and many emanations of Kali were said to command the weather by braiding or releasing their hair. Their corresponding mortal representatives could cause to be bound or loosed in heaven what they bound or loosed on earth -- hence the unflagging superstition belief in Christian Europe that witches' hair controlled the weather. Churchmen said witches raised storms, summoned demons, and produced all sorts of destruction by unbinding their hair. As late as the 17th century the Compendium Maleficarum said witches could control rain, hail, wind, and lightning in such a way.(7) In the Tyrol, it was believed that every thunderstorm was caused by a woman combing her hair. Scottish girls were forbidden to comb their hair at night while their brothers were at sea, lest they raise a storm and sink the boats.(8) A Syrian exorcism for werewolves invoked "that Angel" who judged the woman that combed the hair of her head on the Eve of Holy Sunday," suggesting a connection between hair-combing women and the "werewolves" mythologized as dogs of doomsday.(9) [Note the supernatural connection between females and dogs -- a connection well expressed in ancient mythologies around the world -- I've posted about it elsewhere, check under "dogs" and "goddesses and dogs"].
St. Paul greatly feared The "angels" (spirits) that women could command by letting their hair flow loose. He insisted that women's heads must be covered "because of the angels" (1 Corinthians 11:10.) Thus it became a Christian rule that women's heads must be covered in church, lest they draw demons into the building. Modern women wearing hats or head shawls to church unconsciously defer to the ancient superstition about their hair. [Nothing unconscious about it, darlings! I was born in 1951 and in the "mixed" marriage of my Luthern mother and Roman Catholic father, was pledged to be raised as a Roman Catholic in order for the two of them to receive permission to wed. I was thus raised in the Roman Catholic Church until I finally rebelled at age 14 or so and refused to continue what was clear to me even at that age was sheer nonsense and very demeaning to females! We were taught - not unconsciously - that we must wear a head covering when we entered a church. Period. No exceptions. We weren't given any explanations or scriptural authority for such a law, and it seemed like baloney sausage even then. So, in the early 1960's, before I quit, it was quite the thing to see just how far we (teens, some single women and even some married owmen) could go with wearng as little a head covering as possible. We ended up wearing on our heads what were basically lace doilies -- the machine-made kind, not the hand-crocheted kind like my Grandma Jablonski used to make with thicker thread that may have provided a bit of more "substantial" coverage for our "shame." We plopped the little lace circles on top of our head, added a few hair pins, and off we went. We were not called out by the priest for being Jezebels or agents of Satan, as far as I can recall!] Due to identification of bats with demons, the erroneous notion that bats tend to tangle themselves in women's hair arose from the same superstition.(10)
I will continue to post the rest of Barbara Walker's excellent encyclopedia entry on this fascinating subject of hair, but not tonight! But before I say goodnight, I want to share with you the biblical text surrounding Paul's infamous injunction againt women appearing in "church" with their hair uncovered. Pay close attention, please. You will be tested on this later on :) I believe it gives great insight into what Paul wanted the true role of woman in "his" vision of The True Church to be (sounds very Islamic, actually).
From the King James Version of the Bible, 1 Corinthians Chapter 11, verses as follows:
11. Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. [Notice how Paul emphasizes HIS importance - BE followers of ME - and puts Christ second!]
2. Now I praise you, brethern, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
3. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of the Christ is God. [This, of course, totally ignores that women are eligible to become the "elect" 144,000 as spoken of in Revelation; but of course, Revelation was written by John, and everyone knows that John was a "wussy." One must examine the historic record further, to reveal that there was a great deal of turmoil in the early church congregations at this time, because as many female as males were being blessed with the Holy Spirit and able to prophesy and "teach" and perform miracles as men -- but in the Jewish tradition, this was a NO GO! And, where was the early church established -- in the heart of the Judaic system! So you can imagine that as the "Word" of christianity spread across the Roman empire, different peoples who did NOT have the tradition of treating their women as gutter vermin created some, er, problems... And so "St." Paul took it upon himself to treat the infidels a little bit about how the Jews of his day actually treated women.]
4. Every man praying or propheysying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head.
5. But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head for that it even all one as if she were shaven.
6. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn; but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. [Why then, did practicing Jews shave the heads of women who married -- a shaved head was a mark of shame -- that is what I was raised to believe! And why did nuns have their hair cut off short or even sometimes, their heads shaved, upon entering the convent (coven????)
7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. [WHAT BULLSHIT!]
8. For the man is not out of the woman, but the woman is out of the man [the old myth about Eve being created out of one of Adam's ribs.]
9. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. [Totally ignores biology, of course, that shows all fetuses begin as females, har! One would have thought that a man inspired with the TRUE word of God Almighty would have least have got that little fact right. Geez!]
10. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. [Yes, this is what the King James Version says: That the woman has power on her - uncovered? - head because of the angels.]
11. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. [Oh, a reprieve from the men killing off ALL the females because of those pesky angels giving them "power" IN OR ON THEIR HEADS. Can you imagine? Can't have uppity women running around teaching us about the real meaning of Christ's words. Oh no! But hey, if we kill them all off, all we've got left is each other -- and sheep... Not a way to continue the species, ahem...]
12. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman, but all things of God.
Food for thought, indeed. And one doesn't need any hair, bound or othewise, on one's head in order to appreciate it!
'night, darlings.
"Despite the documented evidence of chess historian H.J.R. Murray, I have always thought that chess was invented by a goddess." George Koltanowski, from Women in Chess, Players of the Modern Game
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Wednesday, August 14, 2013
DNA Study Reveals How The Peopling of the Americas Took Place
Hola darlings!
How cool is this - check it out:
DNA reveals details of the peopling of the Americas
How cool is this - check it out:
DNA reveals details of the peopling of the Americas
Migrants came in three distinct waves that interbred once in the New World
By Tina Hesman Saey
The first people to settle the Americas had a distinctive genetic style, and additional waves of migrants added regional flair, a new analysis of mitochondrial DNA from Native Americans from Canada and the United States suggests.
About 15,000 to 18,000 years ago, the first migrant wave spilled from Asia down the Pacific coast and then pushed inland, eventually peopling the land from “the tip of South America all the way to Hudson Bay,” says Andrew Kitchen, a genetic anthropologist at the University of Iowa who was not involved in the new research. That first migrant wave contained the ancestors of all South and Central American tribes, and North Americans, too. But something different was going on in North America, an international team of researchers has discovered.
The scientists examined the DNA of mitochondria, tiny power plants within cells that get passed down from mother to child. Scientists use mitochondrial DNA from living populations to decipher ancient movements of their ancestors. Most studies have examined only a small part of the mitochondria’s circular piece of DNA. But Antonio Torroni, a geneticist at the University of Pavia in Italy, and his coauthors compiled complete mitochondrial genomes from 41 native North Americans and combined that data with information from previous studies.
The result is the clearest picture yet of the complicated movements of people into the Americas, says Theodore Schurr, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
The analysis, published August 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the widely accepted notion of an initial coastal migration wave. A second wave of migration probably left Siberia only a couple thousand years after the first wave. Instead of trickling down the coast, the second group slipped through an ice-free corridor running from Alaska into what is now southern Canada, the team found. The second wave never made it south of the present-day United States.
The mixture of first-wave and second-wave genetic signatures in some Native Americans today indicates that the newcomers and existing populations interbred.
A third wave of migration started around 4,000 years ago in Alaska and swept mostly eastward across Canada.
Previous studies of human migration into the Americas have sometimes focused on two types of languages that emerged among the tribes: the Na-Dene language family, including Navajo, Apache and Tlingit, and non-Na-Dene languages, including Algonquin, Ojibwe and Chippewa. Scientists had thought the language groups reflected genetic separation, with the second wave being restricted to the Na-Dene language family. But Torroni and his colleagues discovered that second-wave genetic marks occurred in people who spoke languages from both groups. The finding suggests that the languages developed after the people arrived, and gives a more dynamic picture of what was happening in eastern North America, says Kitchen.
And the cultural change could even have happened within a generation, Torroni says. “Language mutates much faster than the DNA.”
Geez, are we back once again to Merritt Ruehlen... Oh Yeah!
Web edition: August 12, 2013
About 15,000 to 18,000 years ago, the first migrant wave spilled from Asia down the Pacific coast and then pushed inland, eventually peopling the land from “the tip of South America all the way to Hudson Bay,” says Andrew Kitchen, a genetic anthropologist at the University of Iowa who was not involved in the new research. That first migrant wave contained the ancestors of all South and Central American tribes, and North Americans, too. But something different was going on in North America, an international team of researchers has discovered.
The scientists examined the DNA of mitochondria, tiny power plants within cells that get passed down from mother to child. Scientists use mitochondrial DNA from living populations to decipher ancient movements of their ancestors. Most studies have examined only a small part of the mitochondria’s circular piece of DNA. But Antonio Torroni, a geneticist at the University of Pavia in Italy, and his coauthors compiled complete mitochondrial genomes from 41 native North Americans and combined that data with information from previous studies.
The result is the clearest picture yet of the complicated movements of people into the Americas, says Theodore Schurr, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Pennsylvania.
The analysis, published August 12 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the widely accepted notion of an initial coastal migration wave. A second wave of migration probably left Siberia only a couple thousand years after the first wave. Instead of trickling down the coast, the second group slipped through an ice-free corridor running from Alaska into what is now southern Canada, the team found. The second wave never made it south of the present-day United States.
The mixture of first-wave and second-wave genetic signatures in some Native Americans today indicates that the newcomers and existing populations interbred.
A third wave of migration started around 4,000 years ago in Alaska and swept mostly eastward across Canada.
Previous studies of human migration into the Americas have sometimes focused on two types of languages that emerged among the tribes: the Na-Dene language family, including Navajo, Apache and Tlingit, and non-Na-Dene languages, including Algonquin, Ojibwe and Chippewa. Scientists had thought the language groups reflected genetic separation, with the second wave being restricted to the Na-Dene language family. But Torroni and his colleagues discovered that second-wave genetic marks occurred in people who spoke languages from both groups. The finding suggests that the languages developed after the people arrived, and gives a more dynamic picture of what was happening in eastern North America, says Kitchen.
And the cultural change could even have happened within a generation, Torroni says. “Language mutates much faster than the DNA.”
***************************************
This information about the language "families" is particularly important, because it demonstrates just how arbitrary such distinctions can be! Here we have genetically related founding populations that probably spoke a mother language at the point of arrival; it mutated over time as the founding population grew and divergerd across the continents.Geez, are we back once again to Merritt Ruehlen... Oh Yeah!
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
2013 FIDE World Cup
Hola darlings!
Lots of interesting things going on during Round 1. I am concentrating on the chess femmes for now (but see my comments below the results table):
Deysi Cori - eliminated by Hikaru Nakamura
Anna Ushenina, current Women's WCC, defeated Peter Svidler in the 2nd round of their mini-match, forcing a play-off. You go, Girlfriend!
Hou Yifan and Alexi Shirov tied both of their games and face play-offs. Can she win to advance?
Judit Polgar - eliminated by someone I've never heard of, Isan Reynald Ortiz Suarez. If I knew at one time that Judit Polgar was playing in this event, I sure didn't remember it tonight. I thought she was retired. Maybe she should have stayed retired. Okay - OUCH. Call me a bitch. She wasn't ready for this event!
Oh my, I saw several players that I've been watching for years and cheering for -- they didn't do too well. I am getting old, and so are they, I think. Sigh. Several more players I give a shout-out to, for sentimental and with respect to some players working hard under the USA flag, patriotic purposes:"
Gata Kamsky heads for a play-off. Dude, you can do it.
GM Bator Sambuev who now plays for Canada, also heads to a play-off after tying his mini-match score with that great (to my heart) swashbuckler, Alexander Morozevich! Cheering for the GM from our neighbor to the north. Mr. Don became acquainted with him a little bit while covering some of the events that Goddesschess provided some sponsorship and/or prize money for in Canada. Good luck. Sentimental favorite.
Ray Robson advances to Round 2 with two win under his belt. Well done! Another sentimental favorite.
Fellow American player Alexander Onischuk did what he needed to do to also advance to Round 2.
For this report, information obtained from The Week in Chess.
Lots of interesting things going on during Round 1. I am concentrating on the chess femmes for now (but see my comments below the results table):
Deysi Cori - eliminated by Hikaru Nakamura
Anna Ushenina, current Women's WCC, defeated Peter Svidler in the 2nd round of their mini-match, forcing a play-off. You go, Girlfriend!
Hou Yifan and Alexi Shirov tied both of their games and face play-offs. Can she win to advance?
Judit Polgar - eliminated by someone I've never heard of, Isan Reynald Ortiz Suarez. If I knew at one time that Judit Polgar was playing in this event, I sure didn't remember it tonight. I thought she was retired. Maybe she should have stayed retired. Okay - OUCH. Call me a bitch. She wasn't ready for this event!
| Bd | Player | Player | Game 1 | Game 2 | Score | Qualified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aronian, Levon | Markov, Mikhail | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Aronian, Levon |
| 2 | G., Akash | Caruana, Fabiano | 0-1 | 1/2 | 0.5-1.5 | Caruana, Fabiano |
| 3 | Kramnik, Vladimir | Bwalya, Gillan | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| 4 | Bjelobrk, Igor | Grischuk, Alexander | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Grischuk, Alexander |
| 5 | Karjakin, Sergey | Ali, Sebbar | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Karjakin, Sergey |
| 6 | Cori T., Deysi | Nakamura, Hikaru | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Nakamura, Hikaru |
| 7 | Gelfand, Boris | Rahman, Ziaur | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Gelfand, Boris |
| 8 | Lou, Yiping | Kamsky, Gata | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 9 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | Shoker, Samy | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar |
| 10 | El Gindy, Essam | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Dominguez Perez, Leinier |
| 11 | Ponomariov, Ruslan | Hansen, Torbjorn Ringdal | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Ponomariov, Ruslan |
| 12 | Liu, Qingnan | Wang, Hao | 1/2 | 0-1 | 0.5-1.5 | Wang, Hao |
| 13 | Svidler, Peter | Ushenina, Anna | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 14 | Wan, Yunguo | Adams, Michael | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 15 | Leko, Peter | Johannessen, Leif Erlend | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Leko, Peter |
| 16 | Sambuev, Bator | Morozevich, Alexander | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 17 | Vitiugov, Nikita | Holt, Conrad | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Vitiugov, Nikita |
| 18 | Salem, A.R. Saleh | Giri, Anish | 0-1 | 1/2 | 0.5-1.5 | Giri, Anish |
| 19 | Ivanchuk, Vassily | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 1/2 | 1-0 | 1.5-0.5 | Ivanchuk, Vassily |
| 20 | Cori, Jorge | Radjabov, Teimour | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 21 | Andreikin, Dmitry | Darini, Pouria | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 22 | Durarbayli, Vasif | Korobov, Anton | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 23 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | Shabalov, Alexander | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime |
| 24 | Wei, Yi | Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 1/2 | 1-0 | 1.5-0.5 | Wei, Yi |
| 25 | Navara, David | Mareco, Sandro | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Navara, David |
| 26 | Agdestein, Simen | Bacrot, Etienne | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Bacrot, Etienne |
| 27 | Alekseev, Evgeny | Adhiban, B. | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 28 | Paragua, Mark | Jakovenko, Dmitry | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Jakovenko, Dmitry |
| 29 | Le, Quang Liem | Barbosa, Oliver | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Le, Quang Liem |
| 30 | Kaidanov, Gregory S | Areshchenko, Alexander | 0-1 | 1/2 | 0.5-1.5 | Areshchenko, Alexander |
| 31 | Malakhov, Vladimir | Hansen, Eric | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Malakhov, Vladimir |
| 32 | Ramirez, Alejandro | Tomashevsky, Evgeny | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 33 | So, Wesley | Ipatov, Alexander | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | So, Wesley |
| 34 | Christiansen, Larry M | Fressinet, Laurent | 0-1 | 1/2 | 0.5-1.5 | Fressinet, Laurent |
| 35 | Riazantsev, Alexander | Felgaer, Ruben | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 36 | Flores, Diego | Vallejo Pons, Francisco | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0-2 | Vallejo Pons, Francisco |
| 37 | Eljanov, Pavel | Brunello, Sabino | 1/2 | 1-0 | 1.5-0.5 | Eljanov, Pavel |
| 38 | Fier, Alexandr | Wojtaszek, Radoslaw | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1 .0-1.0 | |
| 39 | Moiseenko, Alexander | Adly, Ahmed | 1-0 w/o | 1-0 w/o | 2-0 | Moiseenko, Alexander |
| 40 | Hammer, Jon Ludvig | Movsesian, Sergei | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 41 | Shirov, Alexei | Hou, Yifan | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 42 | Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo | Polgar, Judit | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Ortiz Suarez, Isan Reynaldo |
| 43 | Jobava, Baadur | Kravtsiv, Martyn | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 44 | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son | Akopian, Vladimir | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Nguyen, Ngoc Truong Son |
| 45 | Bruzon Batista, Lazaro | Najer, Evgeniy | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 46 | Robson, Ray | Volokitin, Andrei | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Robson, Ray |
| 47 | Li, Chao b | Postny, Evgeny | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 48 | Popov, Ivan | Ragger, Markus | 1-0 | 0-1 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 49 | Inarkiev, Ernesto | Leitao, Rafael | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 50 | Melkumyan, Hrant | Granda Zuniga, Julio E | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 51 | Kryvoruchko, Yuriy | Negi, Parimarjan | 0-1 | 1-0 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 52 | Hracek, Zbynek | Bologan, Viktor | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 53 | Dreev, Aleksey | Azarov, Sergei | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 54 | Dubov, Daniil | Fedorchuk, Sergey A. | 1-0 | 1-0 | 2-0 | Dubov, Daniil |
| 55 | Onischuk, Alexander | Iturrizaga, Eduardo | 1-0 | 1/2 | 1.5-0.5 | Onischuk, Alexander |
| 56 | Smeets, Jan | Matlakov, Maxim | 1/2 | 0-1 | 0.5-1.5 | Matlakov, Maxim |
| 57 | Shimanov, Aleksandr | Jones, Gawain C B | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 58 | Filippov, Anton | Romanov, Evgeny | 1/2 | 1-0 | 1.5-0.5 | Filippov, Anton |
| 59 | Safarli, Eltaj | Amin, Bassem | 0-1 | 1-0 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 60 | Lupulescu, Constantin | Sasikiran, Krishnan | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 61 | Zvjaginsev, Vadim | Swiercz, Dariusz | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 62 | Kobalia, Mikhail | Khismatullin, Denis | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 63 | Yu, Yangyi | Beliavsky, Alexander G | 1/2 | 1/2 | 1.0-1.0 | |
| 64 | Istratescu, Andrei | Lysyj, Igor | 0-1 | 1/2 | 0.5-1.5 | Lysyj, Igor |
Oh my, I saw several players that I've been watching for years and cheering for -- they didn't do too well. I am getting old, and so are they, I think. Sigh. Several more players I give a shout-out to, for sentimental and with respect to some players working hard under the USA flag, patriotic purposes:"
Gata Kamsky heads for a play-off. Dude, you can do it.
GM Bator Sambuev who now plays for Canada, also heads to a play-off after tying his mini-match score with that great (to my heart) swashbuckler, Alexander Morozevich! Cheering for the GM from our neighbor to the north. Mr. Don became acquainted with him a little bit while covering some of the events that Goddesschess provided some sponsorship and/or prize money for in Canada. Good luck. Sentimental favorite.
Ray Robson advances to Round 2 with two win under his belt. Well done! Another sentimental favorite.
Fellow American player Alexander Onischuk did what he needed to do to also advance to Round 2.
For this report, information obtained from The Week in Chess.