Sacred Spaces: Neolithic artefacts discovered in church

Sacred spaces have often been used for thousands of years, with those coming after building over whatwas there before and using, building over and using, etc. etc. Here's a great example of that in practice: From The Northern Echo 4:01am Monday 25th February 2008 By Bruce Unwin PLANNED repairs to the central heating of a church have uncovered remains suggesting it may have been used as a place of worship in prehistoric times. Archaeologists now believe the medieval church of St Michaels and All Angels, in Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, is on the site of earlier places of worship, possibly dating from the Neolithic period. Old burial grounds have been unearthed during work by the Archaeology Practice, but it has also revealed foundations of previous churches on the site. Stones uncovered beneath the church floor are thought to have been part of a Roman building, while there is also evidence of prehistoric activity in the area. Peter Ryder has led the three-man team carrying out excavations before a major refurbishment, which will include replacing the central heating system and restoration of much of the stonework. He said the site appears to have been a place of worship long before the existing medieval church was built. "It's thought the first church here was late Saxon or early Norman, but there's strong evidence of a prehistoric ritual site. "We've found big boulders, and during earlier work under the church yard, there was a line of stones, which is clearly a significant archaeological feature. "The boulders are probably prehistoric and there are large blocks of stone from an early structure, which could be Roman. "I have never seen them in a medieval structure, although a sarcophagus, a stone tomb with a lid, which looks Roman was found under the church yard." Mr Ryder has led the three-man team of archaeologists carrying out what he calls a "watching brief, not a full dig". The brief was commissioned by St Michaels' the Parochial Church Council after former Rector, the Reverend Dr Ian Wallis, oversaw plans for a re-ordering of the church. Hundreds of local people attended an open day to view items uncovered in the recent archaeological work, and, such was the response, it was repeated at the weekend. Further details are available on the parish website.

Smuggled Antiquities Intercepted

From gulfnews.com Smuggled antiques worth $6m seized By Mariam M. Al Serkal, Staff Reporter Published: February 25, 2008, 17:58 Sharjah: Sharjah Port authorities have confiscated antiques worth $6 million that were smuggled into the country, a senior official said. “The Dh22m shipment was coming from Turkey and was expected to be received by Sharjah-based antique dealers who planned to transport it to Switzerland,” said Dr Sabbah Jasem, Head of Sharjah Archaeology Museum. Port officials confiscated more than 23 items dating back to the Roman Helenistic period, and immediately notified the Sharjah Directorate of Antiquities, which verified the authenticity of the antiques. “Sharjah strictly adheres to the international law of antiquities, and the smuggling of antiques through illegal ways,” said Jasem. He explained that antiques can only be transported between countries if the parties obtained a no-objection letter from the owners of the antiques. Jasem said this is not the first incident of its kind in Sharjah, and several items were previously confiscated from Pakistan and Afghanistan. “The Antiquities Department informed the Turkish Consulate in Dubai that these items were confiscated, and after four months the antiquities were delivered back to Turkey,” he said.

Lost Iranian City May Have Been Found

From CAIS: February 24, 2008 LONDON, (CAIS) -- A team of Iranian and Australian archaeologists working in Sorvan near Nurabad Mamasani in Fars Province believe that they may have discovered the lost Achaemenid city of Lidoma, which has been named in a collection of ancient tablets previously unearthed at Persepolis. Recent digs have exposed the ruins of an enormous building construction at the site which was discovered during excavations carried out last year. The structure covers an area of 1500 square meters and its original height has been estimated as being 14 meters on the basis of the width of the column bases unearthed at the site. The remains of stairs, halls and the column bases of the structure have been revealed during this second season of excavation, which was concluded last week. The team has also exposed the original stone surface of the Achaemenid site and numerous marble artefacts. The ruins also include a 30-meter long hallway with a stone flagged floor. It is believed that it was originally an iwan (ayvan). The walls of the iwan have been constructed from stairs of crenulated stones. The column bases and stairs of crenulated walls are very similar to those belonging to the ‘Hall of One Hundred Columns’ (Sad-Sotun) at Persepolis. “The construction of what must have been a financially highly expensive structure seems to be impossible without economic aid from the government of the time. Thus, there is evidence that this maybe the site of the city of Lidoma, which has been listed in ancient tablets previously discovered in Persepolis,” Iranian team director Alireza Asgari told the Persian Service of CHN on Sunday. The newly found structure provides evidence that matches information inscribed about the city of Lidoma on the Persepolis tablets, he added.

Ignorance Causes Deaths of Children

Just one example: Five children die in Bihar after eating holy offerings Fri Feb 22, 2008 11:31am IST PATNA, India (Reuters) - Five children have died and 96 other people have fallen seriously ill in Bihar after eating sweets and rice offered to a goddess at a village shrine, health officials said on Friday. Children in Isua village, in Bihar, fell sick on Thursday during a festival to mark the full moon shortly after eating the temple offerings, known as prasad, made to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning. "The children began vomiting and falling on the ground senseless," Ramvilas Ranjan, a health official in the district, said by telephone. The dead children were between 4 and 7 years old. Most of those taken sick are also children. Ranjan thinks it was probably food poisoning. Villagers told him the food had been kept in a store room for ten days. Tests are being done on the prasad. In a similar incident in 2004, 11 children died after eating prasad at a different village temple in Bihar. ********************************************************************************** What kind of training and background in health care does "health official Ranjan" have? How could ANYONE let ANYONE eat food offerings that have sat around for 10 days? I wouldn't eat food out of my refrigerator that was in there for 10 days (except some condiments, some types of cheese, and eggs). How much more so contaminated would food be from a "store room" - stored under undisclosed conditions, but I take leave to doubt under conditions akin to modern refrigeration. OHMYGODDESS!

Parthenogenesis Finally Makes the News

Watch out, guys. Piss us off enough, and we females may just wash our hands of you once and for all - and still manage to keep the world going... From The New York Times Op-Ed Contributor Birds Do It. Bees Do It. Dragons Don’t Need To. By NEIL SHUBIN Published: February 24, 2008 Chicago DRAGONS and virgin births are the stuff of myth and religion. Except, that is, in Kansas, where they have recently come together in a way that should alter the way many of us look at nature and demonstrate the risks in our habit of using it to help us make ethical decisions. Keepers at Wichita’s zoo got a surprise last year when they found developing eggs inside the Komodo dragon compound. Komodos are large rapacious lizards naturally found in Indonesia, but increasingly populating zoos around the world. Finding fertile embryos of dragons is a joyous occasion — there are only a few thousand of the lizards in the wild and captive breeding may be the only way to keep the species around. But these eggs — two of which hatched a few weeks ago — were unusual: they developed from a female that had had no male of the species in close proximity for more than a decade. Judging from similar occurrences over the past two years in Britain, it appears that these lizards sometimes use a form of virgin birth in which eggs hatch without conception. The embryos are genetic clones of the mother. Komodos — like many fish, amphibians and reptiles — have lots of reproductive tricks. For example, females can store sperm for a long time, tiding them over when conditions may be poor for reproduction. It’s possible that the Wichita dragon eggs could have been fertilized by the sperm from a male that was on site a long time ago. But DNA analysis of the “miracle embryos” from Britain showed that every bit of their DNA came from the females, and nobody should be surprised if this is also true of the Kansas dragons. Virgin birth, known to biologists as parthenogenesis (from the Greek, “parthen” meaning virgin or maiden and “genesis,” beginning), has been seen in other species over the years. Some lizards occasionally produce offspring in this way. So do several species of fish, including a female hammerhead shark at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha that produced offspring without a male last year. The shark example is particularly striking because sharks are very primitive living fish, having shared a common ancestor with us over 400 million years ago. Biological cloning is not a recent invention of scientists; it is an ancient ability. And sharks, fish and lizards are probably only the tip of the iceberg. We know of virgin birth only in those rare instances when we’ve been lucky enough to see it. Nobody knows how common it is because there has been no systematic search for the phenomenon. The big question these virgin births raise is this: If some females can get along without males, why does any species have males? The reason is simple. With virgin birth, hatchlings are simply genetic duplicates of the mother. In a world of clones, there would not be enough variation for populations to adapt. Cloning is one of many mechanisms species use to survive in a dangerous world. Indeed, the diversity of reproductive strategies seen in animals staggers the imagination. Some reptiles do not determine sexes genetically, but rely on different incubation temperatures to determine the development of males and females. Other creatures can actually switch sexes during their lifetimes, being born male and developing as females. Still others can switch sexes based on behavioral cues in the social group. There is no one way that creatures start development, grow and form sexes — there are many varied ways. Unfortunately, humans seem to forget this fact when we find ourselves turning to nature to guide us through difficult choices, such as arguments about whether life begins at conception, or over the proper structure of the family. Or, more recently, regarding the morality of cloning. Whether we’re talking about raising bigger cattle or growing life-saving organs or trying to “live forever,” both sides like to stress their abilities to judge what is “natural.” Judging from Komodo dragons, lizards and sharks, the answer seems to be that for reproduction, almost anything goes. And that is the point. Biology is about variation. Without variation, the world would be static and unchangeable, and species would gradually disappear as they failed to meet challenges like changing climates and environments. So as we continue our very necessary debates over ethical issues, let’s bear in mind that morality is a concept limited to our species. The natural world is a fuzzy place that doesn’t always accommodate our decidedly human need to find cut-and-dried categories. [A fundamental flaw in this argument is its assumption that there would NEVER be any genetic mutations in offspring born via parthenogenesis; but, according to evolutionary theory, genetic mutations happen at a caculable rate in all species, and these mutations can be traced through analysis of DNA. Through calculating the rate of these mutations, geneticists claim to be able to trace our genes back to sub-saharan Africa through both the female and male lines. Why should the method of procreation (parthenogenisis versus male/female) lead to a different result? If anything, would not parthenogenisis result in MORE genetic mutations - thus introducing more variations into the gene pool - perhaps even leading to the first birth of a male being?] Neil Shubin, an associate dean at the University of Chicago and the provost of the Field Museum, is the author of “Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body.” *********************************************************************************** Virgin birth, then, is a great stopgap measure to ensure the survival of a species, but works against it in the long haul. This statement assumes that evolution is the sine na qua of living beings - but, it is really? Why, for instance, are 105 females born for every 100 males (except in areas where female fetuses are aborted at wholesale rates, such as China and India)? Why do all human fetuses start out "female?" Does this pattern of more females per capita hold true in the rest of the natural world? At least with respect to humans, the evidence seems to indicate that males are - "evolutionarily speaking" - latecomers to the game, and perhaps not necessary in the larger scheme of things. After all, as far as I understand, all of the very earliest goddesses were all self-producing. Hmmmm...

Mass Media's Double Standard

This article attempts to explain why mass media (includingthe crap I keep seeing between 6:30-7:00 p.m. five nights a week on commercial television) is dedicated to the latest about Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, etc. etc., ad naseum (translation: me barf). From The guardian.co.uk/The Observer Why the media will hound the girls - but leave the boys alone The difficult and damaged lives of female celebrities are covered aggressively by the US media - but men in the same situation are treated completely differently Theresa Rebeck Sunday February 24 2008 In October 1999 the New Yorker magazine ran a picture of two pretty teenagers. They had way cute jewellery on, and they sort of loosely held onto pillows in which they were not even vaguely interested; they looked at the camera with a sultry teenage confidence as if to say, 'Ah, you've interrupted us in the middle of our girlish pillow fight but we all know this pillow-fight thing is really a sham, a wry set-up cooked up by this photographer to give some sort of narrative to a picture that is actually merely being taken because we're young and pretty and rich.' It is a sensational picture. The two girls are Paris and Nicky Hilton, and they were 18 and 15 years old at the time. They were also - we are told by the column of copy accompanying the photo - New York's new 'It' Girls. It's kind of a charming little piece about how their great-grandfather was Conrad Hilton, and how they now swan around New York. The issue that presented this fabulous picture of these two at the time completely unknown teenage girls was titled 'The Next Generation'. The premise being that, in the waning months of the 20th century, the New Yorker would tell us which rising stars we should take note of, as they were going to be 'big' in the New Millennium. Other folk who were featured in this issue were David Howell (an eight-year-old chess champion), Sergio Garcia (the golfer), Zadie Smith (babelicious young novelist), Haley Joel Osment (11-year-old movie star), Vincenzo Sarno (11-year-old football star) and McSweeney's, a literary quarterly begun by ultra-hip lit star David Eggers. To date, the one from which we've heard the most is Paris Hilton. Those New Yorker editors were definitely right about her. The question does remain, however: why would the New Yorker - the most literary of all literary magazines - run a picture of Paris Hilton in the first place? Why on earth is the New Yorker publishing puff pieces about pretty girls who go to parties? Does the New Yorker ever run photos of cute boys just because they're cute and they come from money and they go to lots of parties? Where are the puff pieces on Paris Hilton's brothers? (You didn't know she had brothers, did you? She does, though: she has two.) The evidence of the 'Next Generation' issue suggests that boys achieve, and girls are pretty. Zadie Smith is definitely an achiever, but she's also pretty. But I don't want to come down on the New Yorker for a cultural trend that infects every media outlet everywhere, it seems. The New York Times has recently decided that this is news. A piece by Alex Williams in the 17 February Style Section tells us that, 'Boys will be boys, girls will be hounded by the media.' It's a pretty interesting compilation of facts about how the media basically look the other way when the boys have a problem or two, but when the girls behave in much the same way, it's a free-for-all. For instance, when Owen Wilson attempts suicide, people are pretty sensitive about the fact that the actor and his family maybe need some privacy. When Britney Spears goes into hospital for treatment for mental illness, we don't get quite so much sensitivity from the press. Even, or maybe especially, when tragedy strikes, the boys get much better treatment. Heath Ledger's recent death, like that of River Phoenix, was handled with great care by the press. Anna Nicole Smith's not so much. When Kiefer Sutherland went to jail for drink-driving, you barely noticed it. When Paris Hilton went to jail - well, everyone on the planet knows what happened. I was actually staying at a friend's house in LA when that happened and believe it or not, my friend lives on Paris Hilton's street. One day some reporters knocked on the door and asked me what I thought of all the media coverage and did I think that Paris should be asked to move off the block? Apparently another neighbour was trying to get her kicked off her block because it was just too crazy having all those paparazzi and reporters swarming up and down the street all the time; did I think Paris should move? I wanted to say, 'Oh well, it's a free country and it's not like she's a sex offender - isn't she really just a pretty girl who parties a lot?' But I copped to the fact that I was just visiting my friend Lisa and when they found out I didn't actually live there, the reporters didn't care what I thought. It's just as well. I was about to also say: 'Maybe the people who should be forced to move off the street are you guys.' But back to the point. The New York Times reports that the reason there's this obsession with pretty girls making big public mistakes is that women really like to read about that, and look at pictures of pretty girls doing self-destructive things while wearing fabulous clothing. Seriously, People and Us and all the magazines that feature these kinds of stories are largely read by women, and women like reading about crazy behaviour when girls do it, but not boys. Like doting mothers, apparently, we believe the boys are really just a little rambunctious or something, and the less said the better. But women readers actually like to see pretty girls screw up, we're positively obsessed by it, to the degree that we want them to do drugs and get into drink-driving accidents and act like total freaks and end up in rehab or worse. In the interest of full disclosure, allow me to admit that of late I have become somewhat obsessed with the media obsession with these young women. I got it in my head about six years ago that I might write a novel about It Girls. So I started reading all these magazines, and looking at the pictures. Mostly, I conducted my research at the gym, where a lot of people leave these magazines lying around. So I would go through the left-over magazine rack, and find old copies of OK and Star and Life & Style, and try to get a sense of what the appeal was. My friend Julie calls these magazines 'crack', and she knows of what she speaks. Within no time, I had opinions about a lot of things I know nothing about. I could hold long discussions about whom I liked better, Angelina or Jen. I developed a preference for issues that covered the awards shows because it was so much fun to look at everyone wearing those pretty dresses. I found some It Girls boring (Britney - sorry, couldn't care less) and some fascinating (Lindsay Lohan - seems like a nightmare but what an actress). Before I started conducting my 'research' I spent my time at the gym listening to books on tape, or sometimes I even listened to lectures, say, about the fall of the Roman Empire. But bettering my mind was no longer on the agenda: all I wanted to know was who Cameron Diaz was dating. My husband, meanwhile, had no interest in these magazines, nor did my son, a 13-year-old who thinks that Jessica Alba is a really good actress, especially when she's wearing her superhero spandex. While both of them seem to be red-blooded heterosexuals they could not be less interested in the It Girl narrative of glamour and destruction. When I bring these magazines home, they couldn't care less. They don't look at the pictures of pretty girls in fabulous clothing; they don't read about Brad and Angelina; they don't even check out Rihanna on the red carpet. Not so long ago my feminist education taught me to ask the question: 'Is the gaze male?' The answer, apparently, is yes, which is why so many movies and television shows are about men, and not women. Our distorted media culture sees men as subjects and women as objects; in films Woody Allen gets older and older and still dates 20-year-old babes; movies about women are called 'chick flicks' and men make fun of them. Because women's stories are about women and men don't want to understand women; they want to look at women, as long as they're young and beautiful. Because the gaze is male. But if the gaze is male, then why don't guys want to look at endless pictures of gorgeous It Girls? Trust me, Britney Spears isn't dressing like a slut because she's trying to get the attention of a bunch of ladies at the gym. But it's the ladies at the gym who are buying. Why? Because Us and OK and Star and Life & Style are chick flicks. It Girls, apparently, are the objects of male desire who have found themselves in a chick flick. [Er, actually, it's just a matter of being brain washed by mass media marketing. Women buy this shit because that's what they see at the check-out counters at the supermarkets. Trust me, most women today don't have time to spend hours perusing the stacks of "literature" at their local library.] So we have created a culture that celebrates girls as sex objects, turned that into a cultural ideal, and moved it to the centre of a bunch of addictive narratives for women. It's not a brilliant equation, frankly; it's like turning athletes into meth heads and sending them out to play the Super Bowl. Whatever. In any case, I'm done with it. All these gorgeous young girls getting drunk and partying and sleeping around and ending up in rehab, or jail, or the morgue? Come on; there's a better equation out there; there has to be. Maybe somebody should buy Lindsay some books on tape. I recommend Our Mutual Friend. · Three Girls and Their Brother by Theresa Rebeck (HarperCollins) is published on 1 April

Mammoth Ivory Chess Set - Redux

That $10,000 chess set carved out of mammoth ivory for $10,000 is back in the news - at a different website.

Checking out the photograph of the set, while certainly lovely, I don't think it's worth $10,000. I think the workmanship leaves something to be desired. For that kind of money, I would want the bases of the pieces to be of uniform height and depth but, even allowing for perspective and shadowing, you can see in the photograph that the bases of the white pieces (which are at the front of the photograph) are of differing heights and the base height also appears to vary on each individual piece from left side to right side (right side appears somewhat thicker, for instance, on the bases of the king, queen and particularly the knight). Perhaps the maker needs to check the calibrations on his lathe (or get a new one, more finely balanced).

Chess as Metaphor for Politics - Redux

I've written before about chess being used as a metaphor in life, sports and, particularly, in politics. Here is a story that demonstrates the aptness of the analogy of chess and politics: From the Phillipines Sun Star Online Monday, February 25, 2008 Pangan: Gambit By Benjie R. Pangan At Close Range GOOD chess players employ gambits (e.g. Marshall, Dutch, Center Counter) in order to: extricate themselves from an otherwise losing or weak position, seize and sustain tempo and eventually win the game and, if luck favors the gambit or if the opponent takes it, win back the sacrificed piece and equalize. As in chess and poker, politics employs bluffs and counter bluffs, traps and subterfuges in order to unmask motives and dark designs. In the case of the beleaguered President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is keeping a brave front despite flak from left, right, back and dead center, she may be in more difficult positions to extricate herself from. These past weeks, protests have been mounted by different groups. Today, even student councils like that of the University of the Philippines, will be staging more anti-GMA activities and on February 29, a much bigger (and heavier) protest action will be staged by not one but several religious denominations dubbed Interfaith rally. Surely, massive demonstrations will be used by machinating opposition politicians to demand the resignation of PGMA. Going by her character, the President will not be easily cowed into surrender because she believes she had done nothing fatal to her governance; instead, she argues that she has done and achieved the optimum best for the country. In two weeks time, we will know whether the calculated "defiance" of GMA will capitulate to the growing signs of dissent and disenchantment. These two weeks will be crucial to the beleaguered President and, by extension, to her family and allies. Since the protests are aimed and staged only (yet) in the seat of National Government in Manila, the local leaders in the province should not become complacent, instead, they should show to their constituents that they work hard and long for them. This is one way to keep peace in the countryside and will neutralize the heat emanating from Manila. Let us do our thing here in the provinces. Huwag na tayong makisalo sa ingay sa Manila para hindi na tayo makadagdag pa sa mga problema.

The Ark of the Covenant is in - Zimbabwe...

From Time online A Lead on the Ark of the Covenant Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008 By DAVID VAN BIEMA When last we saw the lost Ark of the Covenant in action, it had been dug up by Indiana Jones in Egypt and ark-napped by Nazis, whom the Ark proceeded to incinerate amidst a tempest of terrifying apparitions. But according to Tudor Parfitt, a real life scholar-adventurer, Raiders of the Lost Ark had it wrong, and the Ark is actually nowhere near Egypt. In fact, Parfitt claims he has traced it (or a replacement container for the original Ark), to a dusty bottom shelf in a museum in Harare, Zimbabwe. As Indiana Jones's creators understood, the Ark is one of the Bible's holiest objects, and also one of its most maddening McGuffins. A wooden box, roughly 4 ft. x 2 ft. x 2.5 ft., perhaps gold-plated and carried on poles inserted into rings, it appears in the Good Book variously as the container for the Ten Commandments (Exodus 25:16: "and thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee"); the very locus of God's earthly presence; and as a divine flamethrower that burns obstacles and also crisps some careless Israelites. It is too holy to be placed on the ground or touched by any but the elect. It circles Jericho behind the trumpets to bring the walls tumbling down. The Bible last places the Ark in Solomon's temple, which Babylonians destroyed in 586 BC. Scholars debate its current locale (if any): under the Sphinx? Beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount (or, to Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary)? In France? Near London's Temple tube station? Parfitt, 63, is a professor at the University of London's prestigious School of Oriental and African Studies. His new book, The Lost Ark of the Covenant: Solving the 2,500 Year Mystery of the Fabled Biblical Ark (HarperOne) along with a History Channel special scheduled for March 2 would appear to risk a fine academic reputation on what might be called a shaggy Ark story. But the professor has been right before, and his Ark fixation stems from his greatest coup. In the 1980s Parfitt lived with a Southern African clan called the Lemba, who claimed to be a lost tribe of Israel. Colleagues laughed at him for backing the claim; in 1999, a genetic marker specific to descendents of Judaism's Temple priests (cohens) was found to appear as frequently among the Lemba's priestly cast as in Jews named Cohen. The Lemba — and Parfitt — made global news. Parfitt started wondering about another aspect of the Lemba's now-credible oral history: a drumlike object called the ngoma lungundu. The ngoma, according to the Lemba, was near-divine, used to store ritual objects, and borne on poles inserted into rings. It was too holy to touch the ground or to be touched by non-priests, and it emitted a "Fire of God" that killed enemies and, occasionally, Lemba. A Lemba elder told Parfitt, "[It] came from the temple in Jerusalem. We carried it down here through Africa." That story, by Parfitt's estimation, is partly true, partly not. He is not at all sure, and has no way of really knowing, whether the Lemba's ancestors left Jerusalem simultaneously with the Ark (assuming, of course, that it left at all). However, he has a theory as to where they might eventually have converged. Lemba myth venerates a city called Senna. In modern-day Yemen, in an area with people genetically linked to the Lemba, Parfitt found a ghost town by that name. It's possible that the Lemba could have migrated there from Jerusalem by a spice route — and from Senna, via a nearby port, they could have launched the long sail down the African coast. As for the Ark? Before Islam, Arabia contained many Jewish-controlled oases, and in the 500s AD, the period's only Jewish kingdom. It abutted Senna. In any case, the area might have beckoned to exiled Jews bearing a special burden. Parfitt also found eighth-century accounts of the Ark in Arabia, by Jews-turned-Muslims. He posits that at some undefined point the Lemba became the caretakers of the Ark, or the ngoma. Parfitt's final hunt for the ngoma, which dropped from sight in the 1940s, landed him in sometimes-hostile territory ("Bullets shattered the rear screen," of his car, he writes). Ark leads had guided him to Egypt, Ethiopia and even New Guinea, until one day last fall his clues led him to a storeroom of the Harare Museum of Human Science in Zimbabwe. There, amidst nesting mice, was an old drum with an uncharacteristic burnt-black bottom hole ("As if it had been used like a cannon," Parfitt notes), the remains of carrying rings on its corners; and a raised relief of crossed reeds that Parfitt thinks reflects an Old Testament detail. "I felt a shiver go down my spine," he writes. Parfitt thinks that whatever the supernatural character of Ark, it was, like the ngoma, a combination of reliquary, drum and primitive weapon, fueled with a somewhat unpredictable proto-gunpowder. That would explain the unintentional conflagrations. The drum element is the biggest stretch, since scripture never straightforwardly describes the Ark that way. He bases his supposition on the Ark's frequent association with trumpets, and on aspects of a Bible passage where King David dances in its presence. Parfitt admits that such a multipurpose object would be "very bizarre" in either culture, but insists, "that's an argument for a connection between them." So, had he found the Ark? Yes and no, he concluded. A splinter has carbon-dated the drum to 1350 AD — ancient for an African wood artifact, but 2,500 years after Moses. Undaunted, Parfitt asserts that "this is the Ark referred to in Lemba tradition" — Lemba legend has it that the original ngoma destroyed itself some 400 years ago and had to be rebuilt on its own "ruins" — "constructed by priests to replace the previous Ark. There can be little doubt that what I found is the last thing on earth in direct descent from the Ark of Moses." Well, perhaps a little doubt. "It seems highly unlikely to me," says Shimon Gibson, a noted biblical archaeologist to whom Parfitt has described his project. "You have to make tremendous leaps." Those who hope to find the original biblical item, moreover, will likely reject Parfitt's claim that the best we can do is an understudy. Animating all searches for the Ark is the hope — and fear — that it will retain the unbridled divine power the Old Testament describes. What would such a wonder look like in our postmodern world? What might it do? Parfitt's passionately crafted new theory, like his first, could eventually be proven right. But if so, unlike the fiction in the movies, it would deny us an explosive resolution.

Chess News from Indonesia

From The Jarkarta Post.com February 24, 2008 Irene in hunt for GM title in Ukraine JAKARTA: One of Indonesia's top chess players, Women's International Master Irene Kharisma Sukandar, will continue her quest to become the country's first Woman Grandmaster at the Rector's Cup tournament in Kharkov, Ukraine, from Feb. 26 until March 6. Ten chess invitees, including Woman Grandmaster (WGM) Oksana Vosovic, WGM Evgeniya Dolukhanova and WGM Anastasi Karlovich, all from the Ukraine, and 2007 world under-15 champion Irina Bulmaga of Moldova, will be tough contenders for Irene. "It's like playing in a bear den, but I will try to play my best," Irene said in a statement Friday. Irene will receive intensive coaching from Ukraine national champion GM Valeriy Aveskulov during the tournament. --JP

2008 Aeroflot

Final standings after Round 9 (Women). Round 9 final standings for the B and C Groups were reported on February 21st. Group A1 (66 players): 32 WGM Hou, Yifan 4.5 CHN 2527 2605 47 IM Sebag, Marie 4.0 FRA 2510 2551 Susan Polgar reported that Hou Yifan earned a GM norm by finishing at 50% with a performance rating of 2605. She finished in very good company: 29 GM Dyachkov, Sergej 4.5 RUS 2559 2613 30 GM Frolyanov, Dmitry 4.5 RUS 2544 2615 31 GM Romanov, Evgeny 4.5 RUS 2543 2613 33 GM Bindrich, Falko 4.5 GER 2497 2591 34 GM Khalifman, Alexander 4.5 RUS 2638 2557 35 GM Lysyj, Igor 4.5 RUS 2593 2521 36 GM Evdokimov, Alexander A. 4.5 RUS 2569 2630 37 IM Safarli, Eltaj 4.5 AZE 2496 2576 38 GM Zhigalko, Andrey 4.5 BLR 2556 2597 39 GM Feller, Sebastien 4.5 FRA 2522 2605 40 GM Iordachescu, Viorel 4.5 MDA 2586 2566 Hou didn't finish in the prize money, which cut off after player 30, but she may have won a special prize for best female finish - I couldn't find any specific information at the Aeroflot website but there are provisions for such prizes in the general regulations. Group A2 (92 players): 29 IM Ovod, Evgenija 5.0 RUS 2386 2532 48 IM Ushenina, Anna 4.5 UKR 2484 2437 53 Ju, Wenjun 4.0 CHN 2360 2435 63 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 4.0 RUS 2455 2385 75 WGM Mongontuul, Bathuyag 3.5 MGL 2389 2368 78 IM Tairova, Elena 3.0 RUS 2386 2321 91 IM Harika, Dronavalli 2.5 IND 2455 2490 For finishing in 29th place, Ovod won $450 USD. The other ladies finished out of the money. I could not find any news as to why Dronavalli dropped out of the tournament. She did not play in the last four rounds.

Friday Night Miscellany

It's late, so this will be a short one! A meteor crashed and burned somewhere near Pendleton, Oregon, on Tuesday night, according to this detailed report at the National Geographic website. It's light from the burn-through was bright enough to wake people up in the wee early morning and there was a sonic boom. Scary stuff, actually! Makes one wonder what it would be like if something the size of say "Meteor" hit the Earth - or the remnant that the good guys left over in "Armageddon"... Over at New Scientist, an interesting series of articles on music, sound and our perception of it. I tried the #2 experiment - "Phantom Words" - not sure what would happen. It took a little bit to download the soundtrack (it's a few minutes long) and at first I just heard tones, but then I did "discern" words. First, something that sounded like "melting", then it became "melt me" (which makes absolutely no sense, except I'm sick and tired of the ice I've had to trek over for the past 10 days since our last major ice/snow/rain/blizzard storm, ice that is getting more slippery every day), then it became "no brain" (har!), then "melt me" again, and then for awhile "melt me" and "no brain" alternated, and then the end of the experiment I heard mostly "no brain." Guess that should teach me, heh? These "phantom words" are not to be confused with being woken up in the middle of the night with what are passed off in the scientific world as auditory hallucinations - or hearing someone calling you in the middle of broad daylight while you're full awake, except no one is around (cue spooky music....) I've had both kinds of experiences over the years and they ain't fun, let me tell you! Tee hee hee - got a good laugh over this one: U.S. to Share Satellite Strike Data with China. Did Tom Clancy ghost write the article, perchance? This story got me so angry, I've been doing searches using gool old AltaVista since reading it - Google, eat my nose smuts. Corruption in the U.N. is not a News For Google News (please, try to ignore the lady with the impossibly enlarged bossom in the bikini - she looks like an advertisement for "Steroids for Boobs!") Are the fearless leaders in China finally getting the hint that to play in the bigs they have to be "stake-holders" (remember the laugh a minute about how that term was translatable into Chinese and how the Communist nit-wigs claimed to not "get it?") The USA, in particular, has subsidized the corrupt regime of mainland China almost since the day of it's creation by massively importing it's inferior products. Pig intestines, anyone? It's about time the Chinese government started doing something other than claiming "we no speaky English." China, in New Role, Presses Sudan on Darfur

Ancient Egyptian Treasures on Display

Excavating Egypt: Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology

Columbia Museum of Art
Columbia, South Carolina
(803) 799–2810
www.columbiamuseum.org
January 24–June 8, 2008

Legendary English archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie (1853–1942) spent most of his life excavating ancient Egyptian sites. His monumental work at Giza, Abydos and Amarna— during which he developed new scientific approaches for establishing chronology— established him as “the father of Egyptology.”

This exhibit, on loan from the English museum that bears his name, displays over 200 of the most significant finds from Petrie’s 50-year career in Egypt. Some of his most important work occurred at Amarna, home to Akhenaten, the monotheistic pharaoh and father of the boy-king Tutankhamun. The exhibit brings to life the science of archaeology during its infancy as seen through the eyes of one of its greatest pioneers. This remarkable collection includes royal accoutrement, mummy portraits, furniture and jewelry, objects of everyday life—including one of the world’s oldest extant dresses— and fascinating illustrations of the technology of the ancient Egyptians.

Biblical Archaeology Review Free Online

This month BAR is offering the entire contents of its March/April 2008 issue free online.

Herschel Shenks, the editor, isn't afraid of controvery :) I get a chuckle every month reading the "Letters to the Editor" where irate people write in saying they are cancelling their subscriptions because BAR has published some article or other!

Don't let the name of the magazine fool you - it's not a bible-thumping support vehicle.

Check out this article:
A Temple Built for Two
Did Yahweh Share a Throne with His Consort Asherah?
By William G. Dever

The small house shrine published here for the first time provides significant support for the contention that the Israelite God, Yahweh, did indeed have a consort. At least this was true in the minds of many ordinary ancient Israelites, in contrast to the priestly elite.1 In what I call folk religion, or “popular religion,” Yahweh’s consort is best identified as “Asherah,” the old Canaanite mother goddess.2
. . .
Oddly enough, there is no description or even allusion to these naoi, or house shrines, in the Hebrew Bible. That they are model temples is beyond reasonable doubt. They are clearly miniature “houses for the gods,” as witnessed both by their clear architectural form and by the fact that in all West Semitic languages (Canaanite, Phoenician, Punic, Aramaic, Hebrew, etc.) the word ba¯yit/bêt is translated as both “house” and “temple.”

But what deity was worshiped in these house shrines? All of their motifs, fortunately, are reasonably well attested and understood. And nearly all are connected with well-known female deities, particularly Canaanite/Israelite Asherah and Phoenician Tanit (Asherah’s later reflex in the wider Mediterranean world).

The palmette capitals of the tree-like columns are not lotus-blossom capitals, as Weinberg and other classicists once supposed, much less “proto-Aeolic” capitals as William F. Albright thought. The late Israeli archaeologist Yigal Shiloh clearly demonstrated that they are stylized palm trees, especially typical of Iron Age royal and temple architecture.7 More recent research has shown that the symbolism responsible for the adaptation of the tree motif for columns in ancient Israel (and in Aramean and Phoenician monumental architecture) is probably deeply rooted in the old Canaanite identification of Asherah as a tree-goddess.

In an important article in BAR, for example, the late Ruth Hestrin brilliantly established the connection between the symbols of a stylized tree, a pubic triangle and a nurturing goddess. She even found representations in Egyptian art of the goddess with a tree trunk as a torso, a branch offering a breast to a nursing infant (in this case, the Pharaoh’s son).b (Ruth Hestrin, “Understanding Asherah— Exploring Semitic Iconography,” BAR, September/October 1991 - the article is free at BAR this month too.) (Image above: from the burial chamber of Pharaoh Tuthmosis III, the king is suckled by a breast that grows from the tree. The breast is held for the king by the goddess’s arm, also growing from the tree.)

In short, these tree-like columns were thought to be particularly appropriate in model temples dedicated to the tree-goddess Asherah.

Read further.

She Found Chess a Calming Force

17-year-old girl to be honored by youth club Teenager overcomes adversity to become exemplary student By Banks Albach, MEDIANEWS STAFF Article Created: 02/22/2008 02:39:33 AM PST MENLO PARK — When she was 3 years old, Julia Cook's father was murdered. Soon after, her mother turned to drugs and served stints in jail. When she was 8 or so, Cook's family lost their house and became homeless for a time, staying with friends, in cars and occasionally at hotels. Unable to take care of her daughter, Cook's mother sent her to Sacramento to live with cousins. There Cook stayed until she returned to Menlo Park at age 13 to live with her older sister. During those hard times, Cook said, she found chess a calming force and school a refuge. Now 17, she cries a lot, thinking of what she missed growing up. "I've always wanted a dad," she said in Bloomingdale's after a makeover Thursday. "I think I would have been a daddy's girl, but I never got the chance." Despite her personal struggles, Cook has persevered and made the best of the hand life has dealt her. Tonight, she is being honored as Youth of the Year by the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula. She was chosen not only because of the numerous challenges she has faced, but also because of the volunteer, student and person she has become. Her grade-point average at Menlo-Atherton High School hovers near 3.7, and Cook is thinking about enrolling at either Tennessee State University or St. Mary's College in Moraga. Cook said her sister Nikia, who lived on her own during high school, is her biggest role-model. "I always had her and she never had anybody," Cook said. She said most of the men in her life are either dead or behind bars. Nikia's husband, for example, was shot and killed in East Palo Alto, and her 28-year-old brother is in prison. "I learned to not depend on others," Cook said. "I'm very motivated, and I have a lot of drive." In between class and homework, Cook works 15 hours at the Menlo Park location of the Boys and Girls Club, which she first attended at age 6. She also works 15 hours a week at a restaurant. Plus, Cook is involved in track-and-field, and still plays chess. Cook said she sees her mother every day now and is trying to mend fences. She used to think it was her fault that her mother used drugs because she didn't want to take care of her. Now, Cook said, she realizes drug addiction is a disease. As for being honored by the organization that has played a huge role in her life, and where she now mentors many young children facing the same hurdles, Cook said it's a big deal. "I remember when I was their age, and I had these mentors I looked up too," she said. "Now it's my turn." Cook now moves on to a regional Youth of the Year competition and possibly on to state and national finals. The Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula is honoring Cook and other outstanding young members at 6 p.m. at the Four Season Hotel in East Palo Alto.

News About Go

A Chinese player has won an important Go tournament: Chang Hao makes history at Nong Shim Cup www.chinaview.cn 2008-02-22 09:36:00 BEIJING, Feb. 22 -- Chinese go chess player Chang Hao beat South Korean 9-dan Park Yeong-hun on Thursday at the ninth Nong Shim Cup in Shanghai to claim the first trophy for China in the competition's 16 years history. Chang Hao's victory at the 13th round also won him 20 million South Korean won prize money. Chang overcame Takao Shinji 9-dan at the 11th game on Tuesday to knock the Japanese team out of the cup match. He then narrowly defeated the formidable Lee Changho of the South Korean side the next day to cement three consecutive wins. Chang Hao won the 11th Samsung Cup champion by defeating Lee Changho 2:0 in the final in 2007. In 2006, he ended the 1st Kangwon-Land Cup ring contest between China and Korea with four straight wins. The Nong Shim Cup is a gathering of the best go players from South Korea, Japan, and China. The Nong Shim Cup is sponsored by Nong Shim Food Company of South Korea. (Source: CRIENGLISH.com) ******************************************************************************** Congratulations to Chang Hao! It's been a long hard week. I'm tired and obviously missing something here. How can this be the 16th year of this "event" but only the 9th year of the "Cup?" And then there is confusion about the prize money won by Chang Hao. The article reports that he won 20 million "South Korean won prize money" which I take to mean 20 million "won" (South Korean currency). However, a photograph in the article (not included here), shows the winner holding a placard indicating "W 150.000.000", which seems to me to indicate that he won 150,000,000 won (no pun intended). So which is it, 20 million won or 150 million won - a big difference, I'm sure you'll agree. Interesting that this is the first time the Chinese have won this event in its 16 year history, even though the game of Go was invented by the Chinese in - hmmmm, working from memory here, I think it was around 600 BCE and maybe even earlier. The game was later exported to Korea and then to Japan, just like Xiang Qi (Chinese chess) was exported to Korea and Japan. Okay - did a quick off-site search for the value of a Korean won. One won equals 0.001054 US dollars. So, multiplying 150.000.000 won by the conversion rate equals $158,100 (USD). A nice pay day!

Chinese Fakes

The Chinese flood the international markets with fake versions of everything from sneakers to prescription drugs, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they also flood their own newspapers and news sources with fake photos and fake stories. A quick internet search under "fake Chinese photo" turns up lots of interesting stories. But you know it's got to be serious when a story about a fake Chinese photograph makes The Wall Street Journal!!! It was in the print edition this morning and also at their website; the story broke a few days ago: China Eats Crow Over Faked Photo Of Rare Antelope They Didn't Truly Run With a Train to Tibet; Xinhua Agency Recants By JANE SPENCER and JULIET YE February 22, 2008; Page A1 HONG KONG -- It turns out that train tracks in Tibet aren't where the antelope play. Earlier this week, Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, issued an unusual public apology for publishing a doctored photograph of Tibetan wildlife frolicking near a high-speed train. The deception -- uncovered by Chinese Internet users who sniffed out a Photoshop scam in the award-winning picture -- has brought on a big debate about media ethics, China's troubled relationship with Tibet, and how pregnant antelope react to noise. The antelope imbroglio began in the summer of 2006. The Chinese government was celebrating its latest engineering feat, and an enthusiastic wildlife photographer from the Daqing Evening News was camped out on the Tibetan plateau eating energy bars and waiting for antelope to pass. On July 1, 2006, in an event scheduled to coincide with the Communist Party's 85th birthday, Chinese President Hu Jintao hosted the launch of China's train to the "roof of the world." The $4 billion Qinghai-Xizang railway -- a remarkable system that transports passengers to an altitude (16,000 feet) so high that ballpoint pens can explode en route from the air-pressure change -- traverses 1,200 miles of rugged terrain to connect the rest of China to the remote Tibetan plateau. The train, which soon brought many visitors to the pristine homeland of Tibetan Buddhists, became a flash point for China's long simmering tensions with Tibet. During construction, it drew fierce protests from environmentalists who said it would threaten the breeding grounds of the chiru, an endangered antelope species found mainly in China. When the train service began, a remarkable photograph appeared in hundreds of newspapers, and it eased environmental concerns. The picture, captioned "Qinghai-Tibet railway opens green passage for wildlife," featured dozens of antelope galloping peacefully across the Tibetan landscape, unfazed as the gleaming silver train raced beside them. The photo was the work of Liu Weiqing, a 41-year-old photographer who had been camped with his Jeep on the Tibetan plateau since March, as part of a highly publicized series by the Daqing Evening News, a regional newspaper, to raise awareness of the rare Tibetan antelope. Mr. Liu was also under contract with Xinhua to provide photos for China's largest government-run news service. "One man, one car, one year...and a campaign to protect Tibetan antelope," he wrote on his blog describing the project. Once nearly wiped out by poachers who made shawls from its wool, the chiru's numbers have increased in recent years, and the knobby-kneed bovid has emerged as a symbol of China's environmental-protection efforts. Yingying the Tibetan Antelope is one of the five official mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Some antelope lovers knew from the start that something was wrong with Mr. Liu's photo. "I was really shocked when I first saw the photo," says Yang Xin, of the antelope protection group Green River. For starters, he says, many of the antelope in the picture appeared to be pregnant and there were no young with the herd. That was a tip-off because many antelope would have given birth before late June when the photo was supposedly taken. In late 2006, Mr. Liu's picture was declared a top 10 "photo of the year" by CCTV, China's state-run television network. Mr. Liu appeared in fatigues on national TV and described waiting in a pit for eight days for the antelope to pass at precisely the same moment as the train. "I wanted to capture the harmony among the Tibetan antelope, the train, men and nature," he told the audience, standing on stage in front of a big projection of the photo. Media critics say the photo's deeper message was hard to miss. "It's such a perfect propaganda photo," says David Bandurski a researcher at the University of Hong Kong China Media Project. "They don't tend to give journalism prizes to reports that rock the boat." Other photographs that took home awards that night included "Facing a harmonious future," a picture of Chinese President Hu posing with world leaders, and a "A trip to apologize," a picture of a Japanese monk apologizing to China for Japanese atrocities in World War II. CCTV didn't reply to inquiries about its criteria for photo awards. Suspicions about the photo became public last week after Mr. Liu's photograph was displayed in Beijing's subway system. An anonymous Chinese Internet user going by the screen name Dajiala raised questions about the photo's authenticity on one of China's largest photography Web sites. Dajiala, a photographer who claimed to idolize Mr. Liu, said he was studying a copy of the photo posted on Beijing's Line 5 subway platform when he rubbed some dust off it and noticed something odd. "At the bottom of the photograph, there was a very obvious line," he wrote. "I examined it very carefully and it was obviously the stitching of two different images....Was this decisive moment just a simple Photoshop trick?" His post created an online storm. Photographers blew up the image and analyzed each out-of-place pixel. Animal behaviorists weighed in, explaining that antelope are shy and noise-sensitive, and would scatter in panic at the sound of the high-speed train. When the chat-room controversy spread to China's largest Internet portals, the Chengdu Business Daily confronted Mr. Liu. Cornered by the mounting evidence, Mr. Liu admitted he had indeed used Photoshop to blend two pictures, according to the newspaper. Mr. Liu resigned from the Daqing Evening News and posted a statement on his blog. "I have no reason to continue my sacred career as a newsman," he wrote. "I am not qualified for the job." His editor then resigned, too, and the newspaper posted an apology on its Web site. The newspaper didn't respond to repeated calls to its office. Mr. Liu didn't answer calls to his cellphone. Some of China's Internet users expressed outrage that a photo easy to spot as fake had been widely circulated by major organizations. "We need an apology! This is very important for journalistic photography in China," wrote one Internet user on a photography site. It isn't clear what was behind Mr. Liu's deception. Some suspected he was the victim of his own ambition, and doctored the photo knowing that its patriotic message would appeal to China's news agencies. "Liu knows how to please his master," wrote one anonymous poster on the Internet. His friends say he was dedicated to his job and determined to raise the profile of the embattled antelope. "He was a good guy," says Zhou Zhuogang, an environmental activist from Shenzhen in southern China who met Mr. Liu in the summer of 2006 when the two men were at a volunteer station on the Tibetan plateau. "He loved photography, and he loved the antelope. I don't know what pushed him to do this." Some suspect pressure to create the photo came from above. "When everybody points a finger to the photographer, we actually missed the real core problem here," says Wang Yangbo, editor of Wen Wei Pao, a Hong Kong Daily. The photographers "are nobodies in the scheme of things here," she adds. Earlier this week, CCTV posted a statement on its Web site saying it was revoking Mr. Liu's award. On Monday, Xinhua, China's largest news organization, and several other government news organizations published an apology for circulating the photo. The companies said they would delete all of Mr. Liu's images from their databases. "We call on the public to work together with us to uphold the authenticity principle of news reporting," the statement said. Xinhua didn't respond to requests for comment.

I Wish It Was Friday!

So, here I've been noshing the past 20 minutes on Fritos and green olives - a big honking dish of Fritos and green olives. No - not all mixed up together (LOL) - the Fritos are on one side of the bowl, the olives on the other. I guess I must be craving salt... And fat! I haven't been near the scale in weeks (don't want it to go KA BOING!!!, poor scale).

Goddess, it's been so fricking cold here I can't stand it anymore - I'm surprised half the city hasn't committed hari kiri. How many layers of clothes can a person wear and still walk (sort of)? How many times can a person ice skate a mile to the bus stop on a sidewalk that isn't built for iceskating? But - today - finally, it actually got up to 20 degrees F. Tomorrow it will be even "warmer" - and by Monday - 38 degrees F with snow and rain mixed. Oh crap - here we go again! Later next week the nasty nasty cold cold unrelenting merciless cold strikes again. Will we ever see the 30's again??? I am so sick of knocking icicles off my gutters, of shoveling, of climbing over mile-high frozen-solid and icy snowbanks and holding my breath every time I take step on the never-ending treks to and from the bus stops! I'm oxygen deprived! No wonder my fingers are blue.

Okay, enough bitching about the crappy weather here. In August I'll be bitching about 90 degrees and 200% humidity.

Last night I watched the first episode of the new "America's Next Top Model" and had a blast; after that, I watched the repeat of the Pussycat Dolls' "Girlicious" and had a blast. I don't have any favorites on the programs yet, but I do have a couple of beyatches that I'd wish had been sent home - and weren't! Oh, how I wish they'd had stuff like this back when I was in my prime. Oh well, I wouldn't have gone to try out anyway :)

Hey, anyone out there looking for a 5 foot 3 and 3/4 inches tall "middle-aged" model with minimal wrinkles but in need of some strategic liposuction? My alter-ego is JanXena (hint hint).

Tonight's posts are a mix (as per usual); I'm now watching the Donald's TV show and that smarmy Englishman lost! I sure hope Trump fires his butt this time - he is utterly insufferable - even worse than that O woman on the other team!

Hope you like the pic. You may have seen it before - it's a classic. It makes me think of 110 degree F days in August in Las Vegas, chugging Gatorade and ducking into casinos to play nickle slots to get out of the sun. Ahhhhh.....

Goddess Sammakka

From The Times of India (Hyderabad): Sea of humanity at Medaram Jatara 22 Feb 2008, 0327 hrs IST,TNN MEDARAM (WARANGAL): It was a sea of humanity as over 25 lakh people swarmed the 'gaddelu' or platforms at the jatara site to have a glimpse of Sammakka goddess on Thursday even as lakhs of women and young girls swathed in turmeric danced in a trance. The deity of Sammakka was brought from the Chilkalgutta hillock in the deep forest area by the tribal priests in the evening and placed by the side of Sarakka on the gaddelu as the devotees jostled with one another to pay reverence to the goddess. While the deities of Sammakka's husband Pagididda Raju was brought from Poonugondla of Kothaguda mandal, Sarakka's husband Govindarajulu was brought from Kondai of Eturunagaram mandal amid drum beats and placed along side the goddesses. Superintendent of police Soumya Mishra fired three rounds in the air to signal the arrival of Sammakka from the forest area. With Sammakka and Sarakka deities mounted on the platforms, devotees' joy knew no bounds as they swayed to the folk songs and raucous drum beats. The pilgrim rush which was around 20 lakh on Wednesday reached its peak with almost 40-45 lakh congregating at the jatara site on Thursday evening. Millions of devotees, who waited in serpentine queues for the arrival of Sammakka, sang hymns in praise of the deities even as shrieks of 'Sammakka-Sarakka thalli... mammamalanu kapadu thalli (save us mother)' reverberated the area. Even as the literate and illiterate, young and old and men and women made a beeline to the gaddelu, young girls ran after 'Shiva Sathis' and 'Devara Lakshmis' to seek their blessings. According to reports, 12 persons, including four policemen, were injured at mela on Thursday. Nearly 100 people were affected due to diarrhoea. Collector K Damayanthi, joint collector K S Srinivasa Raju and the SP monitored the arrangements and allayed the pilgrims' fears saying sufficient health camps have been set up to take care of patients.

2008 Aeroflot

Standings after Round 8 (Women): Group A1: 28 WGM Hou, Yifan 4.5 CHN 2527 40 IM Sebag, Marie 4.0 FRA 2510 According to Susan Polgar's blog, both of these chess femmes are on pace to score a GM norm. Group A2: 36 IM Ovod, Evgenija 4.5 RUS 2386 45 IM Ushenina, Anna 4.0 UKR 2484 53 Ju, Wenjun 4.0 CHN 2360 66 WGM Mongontuul, Bathuyag 3.5 MGL 2389 71 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 3.0 RUS 2455 78 IM Tairova, Elena 3.0 RUS 2386 82 IM Harika, Dronavalli 2.5 IND 2455 (Dronavalli has not played in the last 3 rounds, she must have dropped out of the tournament). Group B (Final standings, after Round 9): 8 WFM Gunina, Valentina 6.5 RUS 2295 2531 +2.86 14 IM Vasilevich, Irina 6.0 RUS 2378 2430 +0.60 16 WGM Romanko, Marina 6.0 RUS 2322 2408 +1.01 18 WFM Paikidze, Nazi 6.0 GEO 2311 2470 +1.92 31 Zhang, Xiaowen 5.5 CHN 2309 2415 +1.34 38 WGM Kovanova, Baira 5.5 RUS 2348 2328 -0.22 65 WGM Kursova, Maria 4.5 RUS 2333 2272 -0.75 70 WIM Yanjindulam, Dulamsuren 4.5 MGL 2256 2353 +1.19 73 Zenyuk, Iryna 4.5 USA 2227 2317 +1.11 75 WIM Charochkina, Daria 4.5 RUS 2383 2306 -0.96 77 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 4.5 RUS 2317 2296 -0.24 79 WIM Tarasova, Viktoriya 4.5 RUS 2267 2230 -0.44 100 WIM Kashlinskaya, Alina 3.5 RUS 2276 2245 -0.40 103 WIM Iljushina, Olga 3.5 RUS 2268 2227 -0.52 106 WIM Kharashuta, Ekaterina 3.5 RUS 2222 2225 +0.02 110 WFM Nikolaeva, Alexandra 3.5 RUS 2201 2218 +0.19 114 WFM Gasik, Anna 3.0 POL 2200 2168 -0.37 116 WFM Kineva, Ekaterina 3.0 RUS 2204 2147 -0.65 133 Lestari, Baiq Vina 1.0 INA 2263 1891 -3.73 Group C (Final standings, after Round 9): 24 Kushka, Alena 6.0 RUS 2052 2206 +1.50 40 WFM Fakhretdinova, Margarita 5.5 RUS 2160 2150 -0.01 52 Jussupow, Ekaterina 5.0 GER 2030 2144 +1.24 54 WIM Grigorova, Irina 5.0 RUS 2143 2084 -0.53 61 Batzaya, Yanjav 5.0 MGL 2039 2093 +0.37 63 Chkartina, Gerhana 4.5 INA 0 2095 2095 69 Gvilava, Maya 4.5 RUS 2039 1945 -0.66 80 Kuznetsova, Tatiana 4.0 RUS 2051 2092 +0.28 83 Korytina, Natalia 4.0 KAZ 1995 1802 -1.29 84 Yakupova, Aysyla 4.0 RUS 2003 1978 -0.23 101 Tomnikova, Lidia 3.5 RUS 1888 1929 +0.24 102 Severina, Maria 3.5 RUS 1918 1954 +0.15 113 Mukhina, Marina 3.5 RUS F 1872 1829 -0.16 118 Golban, Ludmila 3.0 MDA 1910 1895 -0.20 126 Estheria, Liana 2.5 INA 0 1778 1778 127 Artemenko, Rimma 2.5 RUS 1571 1602 +0.18 129 Abdumalik, Zhansaya 2.5 KAZ 0 1692 1692 130 Tikhomirova, Vera N. 2.5 RUS 1702 1317 -0.33 134 Duc, Marie 2.0 FRA 0 1639 1639 135 Zheleva, Milena 2.0 BUL 0 937 937 136 Valeva, Zlatina Hristova 2.0 BUL 0 1155 1155