Charlemagne's Puzzle?

What? Guess my education has not been as well-rounded as I thought, for I had no idea hat Charlemagne's Puzzle was until I read this article! Article from The New York Times: The Tierney Lab "Putting Ideas in Science to the Test" March 3, 2009, 2:12 pm — Updated: 4:25 pm --> A Prize for Solving Charlemagne’s Puzzle By John Tierney You might think that founding the Holy Roman Empire would be enough of a challenge for one man, but Charlemagne wanted more: to conquer mathematical puzzles! If you have the same ambition, you could win a prize here at the Lab. The emperor hired Alcuin, a renowned English scholar of the eighth century, to compile a collection of puzzles. Titled “Problems to Sharpen the Young,” the book was intended to get the youth of the day more interested in mathematics (a perennial challenge, obviously). Two of Alcuin’s puzzles are included in a new collection, “The Total Brain Workout,” compiled by Marcel Danesi, a professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto and an expert on puzzles. One of them is a river-crossing brainteaser that’s been found in other collections and cultures, but Dr. Danesi says that Alcuin’s may be the oldest known version: A traveler comes to a riverbank with a wolf, a goat and a head of cabbage. To his chagrin, he notes that there is only one boat for crossing over, which can carry no more than two passengers — the traveler and either one of the two animals or the cabbage. As the traveler knows, if left alone together, the goat will eat the cabbage and the wolf will eat the goat. The wolf does not eat cabbage. How does the traveler transport his animals and his cabbage to the other side intact in a minimum number of back-and-forth trips? Once you’ve solved that one, Dr. Danesi offers what he calls a modern classic devised by Boris Kordemsky: A detachment of soldiers must cross a river. The bridge is broken, and the river is deep. The officer in charge spots two boys playing in a rowboat by the shore. The boat is so tiny, however, that it can only hold two boys or one soldier. All the soldiers succeed in crossing the river in the boat. How? You submit answers to both puzzles as comments to this post, and you’re welcome to suggest another puzzle for Lab readers. If you get both correct and come up with most intriguing new challenge, you’ll win a prize of Dr. Danesi’s book, “The Total Brain Workout,” which has 450 puzzles designed to stimulate different parts of the brain. [UPDATE: If you're submitting a new puzzle, don't include the answer in the comment -- you can email it to me separately (tierneylab@nytimes.com). We've already gotten some intriguing new puzzles among the comments. You're welcome to try them and post answers, and to vote for any favorite. And, spoiler alert: In the comments you'll find lots of correct answers to Dr. Danesi's two puzzles.]

Ancient Mariners: The Egyptians

Cool article! Maritime Archaeologist at Helm of Modern Journey to Ancient Egyptian Land March 4, 2009 (PhysOrg.com) -- Ancient Egyptians may be best known for building pyramids, but internationally renowned maritime archaeologist Cheryl Ward wants the world to know that they were pretty good sailors, too. She ought to know. Ward, an associate professor of anthropology at The Florida State University, and an international team of archaeologists, shipwrights and sailors recently built a full-scale replica of a 3,800-year-old ship and sailed it on the Red Sea to re-create a voyage to a place the ancient Egyptians called God’s Land, or Punt. Their expedition was financed and filmed as part of a French documentary that will air internationally and on an upcoming episode of “Nova.” “This project has demonstrated the extraordinary capability of the Egyptians at sea,” Ward said. “Many people, including my fellow archaeologists, think of the Egyptians as tied to the Nile River and lacking in the ability to go to sea. For 25 years, my research has been dedicated to showing the scope of their ability and now, to proving their independently invented approach to ship construction worked magnificently at sea.” The project grew out of the 2006 discovery of the oldest remains of seafaring ships in the world in manmade caves at Wadi Gawasis, on the edge of the Egyptian desert. The Egyptians used the site to assemble and disassemble ships built of cedar planks and to store the planks, stone anchors and coils of rope until the next expedition -- one that obviously never came. Civil unrest and political instability after the Middle Kingdom period (2040-1640 BC) likely put a halt to further exploration, and the caves were long forgotten, Ward said. Ward, who serves as principal investigator for maritime archaeology at Wadi Gawasis, determined that the wooden planks found in the caves were nearly 4,000 years old. Based on the shipworms that had tunneled into the planks, she hypothesized that the ships had weathered a long voyage of up to six months, likely to the fabled southern Red Sea trading center of Punt. Scholars had long known that Egyptians traveled to Punt, but they debated its exact location and whether the Egyptians reached Punt by land or by sea. Some had thought the ancient Egyptians did not have the naval technology to travel long distances by sea, but the findings at Wadi Gawasis confirmed that Egyptians sailed a 2,000-mile round trip voyage to Punt, located in what is today Ethiopia or Yemen, Ward said.

Neanderthal Genome

As of now, the sequencing of the "Neanderthal" genome is a little over 60% complete - based upon less than a handfull of genetic samples. One hundred years from now, we'll realize that the "Neanderthals" and the "humans" were/are the same - our technology is fast catching up, once we can get past our 19th century prejudices. There are enough hints in that direction, if only some scientist would be brave enough to connect the dots! At times it seems that Svante Pääbo hints at this... From "The Science Show", February 28, 2009 DNA from Neanderthals listen now download audio Sites in Croatia and Spain have revealed DNA sequences of Neanderthals. They are 38,000 years old. Other sites are in Germany and southern Russia. These date back 70,000 years. New techniques allow sequences to be prepared from less than one gram of material. Random fragments are sequenced and mapped to the human genome. Some known genetic variants are in common with people of today. These reveal features such as lactose tolerance. Neanderthals were not tolerant to lactose. ... Robyn Williams: So who is your closest relative? Well, don't think chimp, think German, Neanderthal, now also popping up in a few other places around Europe. Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig has revealed two-thirds of the Neanderthal genome, an achievement you can read about in this week's Economist magazine. So where did the samples come from? Svante Pääbo: The site where the vast majority of the sequences come from is a cave called Vindija in Croatia, and the bones are around 38,000 years old. One other site which is particularly useful for us is in north western Spain, and that's a deep cave where they excavate now and find the remains of nine Neanderthals that have obviously been butchered and consumed, probably by other Neanderthals. The good thing about that site is that they excavate now, so they can remove the bone fragments under sterile conditions from the stratigraphy, freeze them in the cave and then take them...so we get them in a frozen state directly from the excavation to the lab. The two other sites is, on the one hand, the type specimen site Neanderthal in Germany, which is particularly useful since we can then compare our results from the Croatian Neanderthal to the archetypical Neanderthal, if you like. And the other site is in southern Russia in the Caucasus, which is quite much older than the other ones, 60,000 to 70,000 years old, so we can compare our results to really old Neanderthals. Robyn Williams: I hadn't heard before that they were cannibals. Were you surprised by that? Svante Pääbo: It actually turns out that...particularly Tim White at Berkeley has pointed this out, that the more you know what to look for in sites you see that the bodies have been de-fleshed and the bones with bone marrow in them have been crushed. There is still a discussion, is this some religious reasons for this or is it simply consumption? I think that Tim would argue that it looks like they haven't been treated much different from deer or other prey animals. (This seems to me to be rather typical "demonizing" of something we don't understand. In any event, it is well-documented that "humans" of several other much more recent civilizations engaged in cannibalism - all for religious/and or ritualistic reasons. The people who are guilty of eating dead folks purely for sustenance - how about Americans in the Donner party, heh? Sometime in the 1840's they got stranded in a wagon train up in the Rockies enroute to California, I don't have the exact date at hand. I also recall reading some years back about survivors of a plane crash eating the flesh of the dead in order to survive - I believe that was back in the 1970's. I think that crash was somewhere in South America.) . . . Robyn Williams: And you can actually test particular characteristics, like lactose intolerance, the ability to consume and digest milk. How did you do that? Svante Pääbo: When there are known genetic variants today that one knows are associated with certain features, we can then of course look if we have hit them, and in, say, 63%, sometimes we were lucky or sometimes it's even a bigger region where there are many chances for us to hit variants there. So, for example, we can look at these variants that confer lactose tolerance to adults that's typical of Europeans today, particularly the further north you go in Europe, and we can see very clearly that the Neanderthal did not carry those variants that confer the ability to drink fresh milk as an adult today. Robyn Williams: Yes, which we acquired in the last 10,000 years or so. Svante Pääbo : Yes, but of course it has been selected recently due to agriculture, but probably from some standing variant that existed before that in older times. [Suggesting an earlier common ancestor - standard operating procedure]. Robyn Williams: What did this tell you about the branching away from our ancestry? If the chimps are way back, 6.5 million years, and the Neanderthal, which might be very close to us, which lived 300,000 years ago, how close were they to us? Svante Pääbo: What you see very clearly is that they are so close to us actually genetically speaking that they do fall into our variation. So if we walk along a chromosome then in one part where it's thought I am often, say, closer to Neanderthal than what you are, and then we walk further a little bit and then you will be closer to the Neanderthal than I am. It is in a sense us drawing one of our ancestors 300,000 years ago out of the gene pool and looking at it, and there will be some Neanderthal-specific things, but from the point of view of our history it looks like looking at an ancestor of ours.

Doing Almost Nothing (Except Shopping...)

Hola darlings! It's been an absolutely yucky two days here. We are in a nor'easter that just won't stop! We received at least an inch of rain yesterday and probably another inch today, with non-stop winds out of the northeast beating the rain against the house. It is unrelenting gloom, cold and wet. When I stepped out earlier today to shoot a couple of pics of my seasonal swimming pool in the back yard, the ground was squish squish squish, ick! I am grateful for the rain, though, because the counties just to the north and west are getting bombarded with ice and snow! This kind of weather makes one want to hibernate! I haven't felt like doing anything. I've taken long naps, looked at decorating magazines, snoozed while listening to smooth jazz and cooked lots of fattening things that are no good for me! Today after spending many previous hours over the past week or so looking online at bedspreads, lamps and throw rugs, I purchased new accent lamps for the New York guest bedroom, two throw rugs for my room, black pillow shams for my room, and a summer weight taupe/grey/ecru backround toile bedspread with matching pillow shams for my room. I'm so happy! I will move the "buffet lamp" off the New York guest room dresser into my room, where it will join its twin and make a more balanced look for the dresser. It's for pure looks - I don't put my make-up on in the bedroom, I do that in the bathroom where I now actually have enough light to see by since I had the new light fixture installed! Alas, the bath has still not been painted - and next weekend is a no-go, so it looks like I'm two weekends out for painting. The plan had been to walk to the Ace Hardware (or the Dollar Store) about a mile from where I live either yesterday or today and buy the painting equipment I need, but the nasty weather here nixed that plan. That's okay - at least I got my shopping done and I feel much better. It occurred to me today - duh - that there is no reason why I had to keep those lovely black and cream paisley pillow shams in the guest bedroom when I've wanted them all along in my room, so today I moved them. Here are a couple photos of my room as it currently stands. It's getting close, very close... I've also puttered around reframing some photographs - I am now happy with the new $5 each pre-matted dark-wood frames I have hanging in the New York guest bedroom with photos done in black/white from our 2005 New York trip. The frames that were in the guest room now grace one wall in the upstairs hallway and I added a third photo printed in black/white to add to the eclectic mixture. Today I reframed Vitruvian Man, who is also in the upstairs hall - too late to have regrets now since I cut off the top and bottom white "borders" on the poster, eek! I like the frame it's in but there is now about an inch wide white-ish border on either long side that just doesn't look good. Drat! So I think I will pull out my pens and water colors and go to making a nice scroll border on those sides. And if push comes to shove, I will craft-glue some ribbon along those 2 sides to add a little snazz. Drat - I spoke too soon! When I ran downstairs a few minutes ago to throw out another handfull of peanuts and mixed nuts for my squirrels, I saw it was sleeting/snowing! It has since turned mostly into wet heavy snow. Crap! I know if I can see it snowing through the lace under-curtains in the library/computer room it's got to be snowing very heavily.

Dogs in War: Soochow

Ohmygoddess! Earlier today while I was watching "History Detectives" on PBS I saw a doggy mentioned in connection with a story of a U.S. Marine stationed in Shanghai just before the U.S. declared war on Japan on December 7, 1941. From what I recall from the "History Detectives" episode, Soochow was a stray boxer or bulldog mix who started showing up at the Marines' camp around dinner time every day, to chow down on scraps handed out by soft-hearted Marines. Soon, he was adopted as a sort of unofficial mascot of this particular group of "China Marines." When the Marines left Shangai, Soochow left with them. Later, Soochow was captured, along with this group of U.S. Marines, when Corregidor fell to the Japanese during WWII. Soochow went to prison camp along with his Marines. It is amazing to me that the Japanese did not kill him and eat him - not because of any innate cruelty (which I do not discount), but because by all accounts both Japanese personnel and Allied prisoners of war were nearly starving to death during most of WWII. I recall the number of "42 months" mentioned in the "History Detectives" show as the time Soochow and his Marines spent in prinson camp, which would be 3 1/2 years, although the article below mentions "nearly 3 years" in prison camp. Eventually the Marines and Soochow were liberated. Soochow was honorably discharged and given a home for the rest of his life at a Marine barracks in California. The following story mentions Soochow, and other faithful canine companions who took part in WWII, whether in deliberate service or otherwise. Here is a photo I found online of Soochow. He sure was ugly! Why am I crying? From the San Diego Union Tribune, signonsandiego.com: Corps' canines carry on Marine dogs' first service came during World War II By Lillian Cox February 2, 2005 CAMP PENDLETON – Combat canines, the embodiment of the Marine Corps slogan, Semper Fi, or "Always Faithful," are the lesser-known heroes of the war in Iraq. Camp Pendleton is the largest base for Marine dogs in the United States. It is home to all West Coast dogs in the service and those working overseas. Camp Lejeune, N.C., is home base for all East Coast dogs in the Corps. The dogs are part of the Military Police, and are trained to perform patrol and bomb-and drug-detection duties. Each dog is assigned to one handler for a two-year rotation. In Iraq, the dog and handler work and live together. For security reasons, Marine Corps officials declined to say how many dogs are based at Camp Pendleton, but Rex, Jari, Nero, Dingo, Brik and Ama are among those currently in the kennels there. They are scheduled to return to Iraq in March, but could be called up for duty earlier. The official Marine Corps dog originally was the Doberman pinscher, but today the Marines use only German shepherds and a variety of Belgian shepherd called the Belgian Malinois. "The Marine Corps began having problems with Dobermans and Rottweilers," said Sgt. Greg Massey, the kennel master at Camp Pendleton. "They are good attack dogs, but not good at detection." Although Marine dogs are required to be aggressive and protective, that doesn't mean they have to be large, Massey said. The Belgian Malinois is a medium-size dog, weighing 40 to 80 pounds. "Size doesn't mean much. You can have 50 pounds that can leap and grab your chest, arm, back, leg, anything," he said. "If it grabs your hamstring, I don't care if you're (former Miami Dolphins running back) Ricky Williams – you're going down." Massey said he prefers female dogs because they tend to be more loyal than males. [Emphasis added.] Dogs working in all branches of the U.S. military are recruited and trained at the Military Working Dog Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Most are bred in Europe, but some come from local breeders. Lackland also has started its own breeding program. Dogs are selected based on endurance, intelligence, obedience and willingness to work. All dogs receive their names at Lackland and spend two years in training before being transferred to Camp Pendleton. "When the new dogs arrive at (the) fleet, we polish them and get rid of areas of weakness," said Sgt. Vincent Amato, chief trainer at the base. "If they are timid, we make them more aggressive. Like any human, it takes practice and training. "If a dog doesn't want to work, we encourage him with toys and praise. A handler plays a big part if a dog is going to work or not." Marines interested in working as handlers go through a competitive process conducted by the Military Police. "As a trainer, you are critiqued just like a dog," Amato said. "If you are thin-skinned, you will have a hard time." Amato said the Marine Corps goes to great lengths to match the dog's personality with that of the handler. "Dogs learn just like we do," he said. "If the dog's not learning, it's because the handler isn't training the right way. It takes time, practice and patience." Massey said choke chains and pinch collars are only used to give a dog a correction. "If the handler abuses a dog, he's out of here," he said. Army veterinarians care for dogs in all branches of the military, assigning their working weight and establishing their diet. "Working dogs are known to get bloated, probably from playing too soon and too hard after eating," Massey said. "For this reason, they are fed twice a day." The Marine Corps began using dogs as messengers and scouts during World War II, recognizing that they could reduce casualties and find the enemy in hiding places. Dogs were donated by civilians eager to contribute to the war effort. Two organizations, Dogs for Defense and the Doberman Pinscher Club of America, provided many animals. "Some dogs also were obtained from Army training centers, but as soon as they became Marines all the recruits were called 'Devil Dogs,' " James A. Cox wrote in Marine Corps League Magazine in 1989. The Marine War Dog Training Company was based at Marine Barracks New River, N.C., which later became Camp Lejeune. Clyde Henderson, a high school chemistry teacher from Ohio and chairman of the Doberman Pinscher Club's training committee, was recruited to lead the 1st Marine Dog Platoon into combat. "After a five-day cross-country train trip, the 1st Marine Dog Platoon led by Henderson went into temporary quarters at Camp Pendleton," Cox wrote. "With the help of Carl Spitz, owner of a famous Hollywood dog training school, Henderson trained the platoon intensely for a few weeks while awaiting a convoy, making up the rules as he went along, since he had no precedents to guide him." The dog platoon joined up with the 2nd and 3rd Marine Raider Battalions for an assault on Bougainville, an island in the South Pacific, that began Nov. 1, 1943. Six dogs were recognized for heroism on Bougainville. Among them was Caesar, a 3-year-old German shepherd who was donated by his owner in New York City. A messenger dog, Caesar received a promotion to sergeant in recognition of his bravery. On Jan. 23, 1944, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland published this account of his record: "Caesar was wounded on the third day and had to be carried back on a stretcher. While with his company, Caesar made nine official runs between the company and the command post, and on at least two of these runs he was under fire." Caesar also forced a Japanese soldier to drop a hand grenade he was about to hurl at the dog and his handler, the newspaper reported. Other dog platoons saw action on Guam, Saipan, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. A retired Marine, Sgt. Major "Iron" Mike Mervosh, worked with animals from the 1st Marine Dog Platoon on Iwo Jima. "The dogs could smell the enemy out," Mervosh said. "If a dog stood still, you were in trouble because you knew the enemy was right there." Soochow was a veteran war dog beloved by many San Diegans. After World War II, he retired at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. On Oct. 29, 1946, a parade was held to honor his ninth birthday. "Soochow started out as the mascot of B Company, 1st Battalion, 4th Regiment, stationed in Shanghai in 1937," said Ellen Guillemette, archivist at the depot's Command Museum. "Soochow hit the foxholes with the other Marines during the siege of Corregidor, and fought alongside his buddies. He was captured when the island surrendered on May 6, 1942. "Soochow spent nearly three years in various prisoner-of-war camps. He and 17 Marines were liberated by American Rangers in February 1945. He held the Philippine Campaign, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign, Good Conduct, World War II Victory and American Defense medals." After a career that typically lasts about 10 years, today's military dogs are rewarded with a variety of retirement options. Many are available for adoption by previous handlers, veterinary technicians and the public. Some are used by law enforcement agencies or returned to Lackland, where they are used to train new handlers. Demonstrations by Marine working dogs are offered at Camp Pendleton. For more information, contact the community relations office at (760) 725-5569. Lillian Cox is a freelance writer who lives in Encinitas.

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Soochow is mentioned at this website dedicated to the China Marines: Then in early February (1945), Bilibid Prison was liberated by an advance patrol of the Army's 37th Infantry. The Japanese had left only hours before leaving the prison unguarded and quickly the relief of being liberated began to overwhelm the four hundred POWs as well as a couple hundred civilian prisoners. In this group of liberated prisons was the mascot of the 4th Marines, Soochow. That small mongrel dog from Shanghai made it through the shelling of Corregidor, the disease and starvation of prison camp and now was free with his fellow China Marines. Here is a personal account of Clarence Clough's experiences in WWII that mentions Soochow in passing - and the name of the Marine who allegedly smuggled Soochow out of Shanghai when the China Marines were shipped out: In Shanghai there is a river or creek they call SooChow Creek. Much of our guard duty was at bridges across SooChow Creek. One day a stray dog wandered into our barracks. It was a bull-dog type. We fed him and he stayed and we made him our mascot. We named him SooChow. Somehow when we left Shanghai at the start of World War II, a fellow in our company named Bob Snyder smuggled SooChow onto the ship and he went with us to the Philippines. By some miracle SooChow survived the war and the prison camp and was brought back to America at the end of the war. In Shanghai, as our mascot, he wore a vest with sergeant's stripes. When he got to the United States, the Marine commander promoted him to major, retired him and assigned a man to take care of him until he eventually died.

Lots of Chess News to Catch Up

Hola! Today it's wet and dreary outside; it started raining about 4 a.m. and has been raining since; right now it's slowing down just a bit so I may venture out to the supermarket and get some fresh air. This time of year I just can't stand being cooped up indoors for too long - cabin fever is in full force! I spent the past couple of hours updating the investment club's records and getting ready to do our taxes. We've been buying selected companies and while the value of our portfolio continues to go south (we're down 21.46% overall) we are confident that once the economy starts turning around our bargain-basement purchases will blossom like the lush roses they are and we'll be laughing all the way to the bank :)) The Ataturk Women Masters has started - the first of the Women's Grand Prix events (we'll see how far the Women's Grand Prix goes); the 2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship has also started. I'm behind reporting at Chess Femme News a good 2 months, so today I will concentrate on recording past events at CFN and won't be blogging too much. The bathroom remains unpainted, and it's bare walls are crying out to me - but I discovered, much to my horror, that all of my painting equipment is gone! I was totally baffled until I deduced that I must have taken all of it over to Ann's house when we painted her bedroom, shortly after she moved in. And I never got it back. So - I need to venture out to the dollar store to see if they have a paint pan and rollers and if they do not, then I'll go next store to the Ace Hardware store. Well, it was time I replaced some of that ancient stuff anyway. But this is the type of day where I just want to snuggle under a down throw and take a nice long nap, and not do much of anything. So - I shall valiantly struggle against my nature for as long as possible, and then settle underneath that down throw. Maybe light a fire - yeah, that sounds good.

Women's Grand Prix: Ataturk Tournament

Sigh. The New York Times is behind the times on the chess news. By now, everyone who cares under the sun knows that the first leg of the new FIDE Women's Grand Prix is the Ataturk Women Masters, which was such a spectacular success last year in showcasing some of the top women chessplayers in the world, is going up against the 2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship. What's new? FIDE screwed up big time - but the Mighty Kirsan does not care. Hell, he screwed over the male players in the 2008-2009 Grand Prix cycle, he certainly has no qualms screwing over the best female players in the world. After all, so the reasoning goes, nobody pays attention to them.

A Squirrel's Life

"Sneaky squirrel" - heck - he's just trying to get a meal like everyone else! Times are tough! People aren't putting out nuts and sunflower seeds like they used to - prices keep increasing and incomes keep decreasing. This darned Depression we're in has done in more than one squirrel over the long, hard winter 0f 2008-2009.

Amenhotep III Statues Found

Hawass is like the Scarlet Pimpernel - he's here, he's there, he's everywhere... From Reuters.uk Archaeologists find statues of ancient Egypt king Thu Mar 5, 2009 1:29pm GMT CAIRO (Reuters) - A team of Egyptian and European archaeologists have discovered two statues of King Amenhotep III, who ruled Egypt roughly 3,400 years ago, the Supreme Council for Antiquities said Thursday. Chief Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawaas said in a statement the first statute was made of black granite, while the second depicts the king in the shape of a Sphinx, a figure with the head of a man and the body of a lion. Amenhotep III presided over an era which saw a renaissance in Egyptian art. He was succeeded by his son Akhenaten, the sun-worshipping pharaoh credited by some for starting the world's first known monotheistic religion. (Writing by Alaa Shahine; Editing by Phakamisa Ndzamela) © Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved.

Urban Legends

I read this article in this morning's Journal/Sentinel and found it so funny and so pathetic at the same time, I want to share it with you! How can people believe some of this stuff? On Monday one of my sisters forwarded an email to sign an online petition to Congress to STOP passage of a bill that would allow illegal aliens to collect social security, blah blah blah. Well, that would be a real trick, wouldn't it, since most illegals don't pay into the system and even U.S. citizens can't collect when they don't pay into the system the requisite number of "quarters"! Helloooooo! Do you really think your Senators and Congressmen would be stoopid enough to do that - worse than signing their own death warrants, hah! I get this junk in my email all the time, it's unbelievable what people read, believe, and pass on. Thank Goddess for Snopes.com. I've got to say though, that beer pong game sounds intriguing... Oh baby, urban legends can be really coo coo Posted: Mar. 5, 2009 by Jim Stingl Life would be so dull without urban legends that rile us up and refuse to go away. A woman in Menomonie, Wis., is the latest to complain that a talking doll selling at Wal-Mart is trying to recruit children to become little Muslims. Lois Debee told her hometown Dunn County News last week that she thinks the doll says, "Islam is the light." To me it sounds more like, "Is mom in the lake," which probably proves I'm not nearly paranoid enough. Debee marched right down to her local Wal-Mart to raise a ruckus over the doll with the ridiculously long name, Little Mommy Real Loving Baby Cuddle & Coo. She found out they had pulled the dolls off the shelves late last year when this controversy erupted, but they found their way back. Snopes.com, my favorite myth-busting site, says this is all nonsense. It cites an experiment by the not-well-known Gaston Gazette in which people unfamiliar with the hubbub were asked to listen to the doll. None heard a call to Islam. Mattel, which owns Fisher-Price, the doll's maker, issued a statement saying "Mama" is the only word the doll means to say. The rest is infantile babbling and cooing that Mattel says will be eliminated in future production. "Because the original soundtrack is compressed into a file that can be played through an inexpensive toy speaker, actual sounds may be imprecise or distorted," the company said. Don't tell the kids, but it sounds like their defense is essentially that the doll is badly flawed. Nonetheless, Dunn County News got an exciting headline out of the story: "Menomonie Wal-Mart pulls alleged pro-Islam doll from shelf." Once a story starts circulating on the Internet, it's hard to stop. No, it's not true that if you're feeling threatened at an ATM and you enter your pin number backward that it causes police to be dispatched, Snopes found. And, no, the owner of a Dunkin' Donuts in New York did not refuse to place a memorial flier for a U.S. serviceman in his shop or say it should be placed in a trash can "where the rest of our soldiers belong." And don't believe the video circulating on YouTube that says a camera and microphone are hidden in digital TV converter boxes, giving our nosy government access to the exciting events in our living rooms. Last week my wife passed along an e-mail from a friend about a family - unnamed, as was the location - that is losing its home and seeking a loving home for two pet Labradors, Cookie and Coco. A Milwaukee phone number was included below. A quick check with Snopes told me the plea, from a Los Angeles woman, originally was sent to a few close friends but went viral when it was forwarded by someone to a pet Web site. Don't worry, the dogs found a home. But the well-meaning Milwaukee woman who included her number on a Craigslist posting about the dogs told me she was inundated with calls. She was surprised to find it wasn't a local family in need of help. Fuzzy details help any Internet story gain strength. Finally, news reports recently cited a warning from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that playing the drinking game, beer pong, can give you herpes. Fox News even demonstrated how the game is played. Beer pong, at most, can cause members of the opposite sex to appear more attractive. But the story about herpes, the CDC scolds, did not come from them and is not true.

How Christians Poached "Pagan" Images

Overview article at BAR Online: Borrowing from the Neighbors: Pagan Imagery in Christian Art by Sarah K. Yeomans: The use by the Christians of pagan sacred imagery is not necessarily confined solely to the Greco-Roman world. The cultural and religious syncretism that took place in Greek and Roman society with other, even older civilizations meant that many early Christians had a wealth of artistic examples that may have originated outside of their immediate cultural landscape. One example is an Egyptian artistic motif: Scholars have long hypothesized that the image of Mary nursing or holding the Christ child close to her breast is an iconographic image borrowed from the ancient Egyptian motif of the goddess Isis nursing the infant Horus.

Woman's Recipe Predated Accepted Cure for Scurvy

Scurvy is relatively rare today, but in the bad old days it killed thousands every year, and no one understood what was happening or why. Story from the Mail Online, dailymail.co.uk Amazing notebook shows how woman found a cure for scurvy half a century before the doctors By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 1:20 PM on 05th March 2009 She could have gone down in history as the woman who developed a cure for scurvy, the scourge of sailors the world over. Ebbot Michell seems to have concocted a remedy decades before physician James Lind published his revolutionary Treatise Of The Scurvy in 1753 - but her name is forgotten and appears in no medical text book. Her recipe, in a newly discovered handwritten book dated 1707, recommends mixing the extracts of various plants with a plentiful supply of orange juice, white wine and beer. If the Navy and merchant companies had followed Ebbot Michell's advice, the vitamin C in the concoction would have saved thousands of sailors' lives - even though the efficacy of adding alcohol may be questionable. Lind's later work on the cure and prevention of scurvy was prompted by the extraordinary round-the-world voyage of Commander George Anson in the early 1740s, in which only 145 men out of 1,300 arrived back home, the majority of them dying of scurvy. Even so, it was not until 1795 that the Admiralty followed his recommendations. Ebbot Michell's 'Recp.t for the Scurvy' involved pounding '3 handfulls of watter Cresses, the like quantity of scurvy Grass [rich in vitamin C], & Like quantity of brooklime [a water plant], one handfull of bettony [a woodland plant used as a nerve tonic] (and) half a handfull of wormwood' [an aromatic leaf long used in natural cures]. The mix should be added to a quart of white wine, covered and allowed to stand for 12 hours before the liquid is strained into a bottle. Then the 'juce of Eight oranges' should be added and the patient should 'every morning take eight spoonfulls with a draught of ale'. Michell adds: 'This is a present remedy,' meaning a new cure for scurvy. The well-thumbed, 100-page household book, entitled simply 'Ebbot Michell Her Book 1707' and containing largely medicinal and herbal recipes, was found in a house in Hasfield, Glos, and is expected to fetch about £600 at Bonhams in London on March 24. Manuscripts specialist Simon Roberts said: 'It's a fascinating read. With the exception of the alcohol, the writer appears to be spot on with her recipe for scurvy.' Ebbot Michell, believed to have been a Cornishwoman, also included a prototype absinthe, the highly alcoholic drink nicknamed the 'green fairy' in the decadent late 19th century - also containing wormwood. She writes: 'Steep a branch or 2 of Comon woormwood in half a pint of good white wine, Close Covered, on some pot all night and in the morning strain it through a Clear Linen Cloth & put in a little sugar and warm it and so drink it. It is marvellous good for it gives a good stomack and free from the worms.' She also recommends the herb sage for headaches and prescribes 'Flower de Luce for the dropsie' as well as providing recipes for 'The King's Evil' (scrofula) and 'For a horse that is swoln'. ******************************************************************************** I find it amazing that the story does not mention how rare it was for a woman to be able to write down her own recipes in 1704! Even among the nobility and gentry education of girls in reading and writing was by no means an accepted course, in an age when many men of the upper classes were illiterate! Who was Ebbot Mitchell? What was her story? We shall probably never know.

Who Domesticated the Horse?

From the St. Paul-Minneapolis StarTribune.com Horses domesticated (milked and bridled) earlier than thought Last update: March 5, 2009 - 7:26 PM It's a long way from Kazakhstan to Kentucky, but the journey to the Derby may have started among a pastoral people on the Kazakh steppes who appear to have been the first to domesticate, bridle and perhaps ride horses -- around 3500 B.C., a millennium earlier than previously thought. Evidence indicates the Botai culture used horses as beasts of burden -- and as a source of meat and milk as early as 5,500 years ago, said a team led by Alan Outram of England's University of Exeter. "This is significant because it changes our understanding of how these early societies developed," said Outram, whose discovery is described in today's journal Science. Domestication of the horse was an immense breakthrough -- bringing advancements in communications, transportation, farming and warfare. Compared with dogs, domesticated as much as 15,000 years ago, horses are relatively late arrivals in the human relationship. "It is not so much the domestication of the horse that is important, but the invention of horseback riding," said anthropologist David Anthony of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. "When people began to ride, it revolutionized human transport." Outram's team developed a collection of evidence for horses being domesticated by the Botai, including studies that showed horses from the site had tooth wear similar to that caused by bits in modern horses and evidence that ancient ceramic pots once contained mare's milk. Said Outram: "This is, apart from being fascinating, something of a smoking gun for domestication -- would you milk a wild horse?" More from The Mail Online, dailymail.co.uk The original cowboys: Discovery shows Kazakhstanis were the first to domesticate horses By David Derbyshire Last updated at 7:14 PM on 05th March 2009 It is best known as the home of the fictional, and inept, television presenter Borat. But Kazakhstan now has a new claim to fame as the place where mankind first domesticated the horse. British scientists have unearthed a prehistoric 'farm' where horses were tamed on the Kazakhstan steppes more than 5,500 years ago - around 1,000 years earlier than was previously thought. Rest of article.

Diplomat Arrested in Attempted Antiquities Theft

Story from CAIS: Latest Archaeological and Cultural News of Iran and the Iranian World South Korean Diplomat Arrested with a Stolen Stone Relief from Persepolis while Leaving Iran 04 March 2009 LONDON, (CAIS) -- The 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran has reportedly tried to smuggle a priceless relic dating to the Achaemenid dynastic era out of Iran. Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found the relic in the South Korean diplomat's luggage during check-in, before the diplomat succeeded in transporting the priceless relic of Persepolis, Persian daily Tabnak reported on Tuesday. Iranian Police, however, had to release the diplomat due to his diplomatic immunity, the report added. “Customs officials in Shiraz Airport found an Achaemenid relief depicting the top section of head of an Achaemenid soldier, weigh 2kg from Persepolis in the luggage of the 3rd Secretary of the South Korean Embassy in Iran,” Shiraz public and revolutionary prosecutor, Jaber Banshi told IRNA. “The relic has been delivered to the provincial cultural heritage office, but no cultural official has filed a complaint so far,” he added. The S. Korean embassy declined to comment on the issue when contacted by Press TV. The customs officials sent the stolen piece back to the ruins of Persepolis. It is not clear how the diplomat obtained the relic, despite the claim by IRNA that the he picked it up while visiting the Persepolis.

More Egypt Photos from Carmen

Alexandria Biblioteca, el exterior

Edificio auxliar al lado de la Biblioteca

More Egypt Pictures from Carmen

More photos from Carmen during her Christmas, 2008 holiday in Egypt. Kom-Ombo in daylight.

Com Ombo at night.

Gobekli Tepi: Eden?

Hola darlings! At first I thought this was one of those "Don't eat that, Elmer" stories - but when I got down to the veerrrrryyyyyy end, I realized it was a book review - only it didn't say it was a book review! Regardless, the images are great, and the recap of the events surrounding the discovery of Gobekli Tepi by a Kurdish shepherd in 1994 is engrossing. Do I think that the 13,000 year old ruins at Gobekli Tepi are the "Garden of Eden"? I have no idea and, frankly, it's not a question I'm particularly interested in. What I do find intriguing is this image of a lone fox. In a flight of imagination - could this stone form be a prototype for a pawn, just squared off, not rounded as much later versions of game pieces? And could this lone ancient fox running across the stone with his or her tail flowing out behind be the prototype for the "dog" game pieces that were used in the Middle East and in Greece thousands of years later? The use of canines in many ancient games and references to ancient games suggests the standard hypothesis of chess derived from "hunt" games, as dogs were most probably used for hunting from the time they were first domesticated. Suggestive...

More on Discovery of Harappan Burials

From The Times of India Harappan-era cemetery found 4 Mar 2009, 0239 hrs IST, Deepender Deswal, TNN FARMANA(Rohtak): In an extraordinary archaeological finding, a big housing complex that matured during the Harappan era has been discovered in this little known village about 40 km from Rohtak. A cemetery belonging to the same civilization which existed about 3500-3000 BC has also been found at an adjacent site, where nearly 70 skeletons have been unearthed so far. The team of archaeologists from Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto Japan, Deccan College, Pune and Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, discovered the habitation site spread over 18.5 hectare. It has four big complexes and a cemetery spread over about three hectare. "This is easily among the largest habitation locality of the Harappan era. We have so far excavated one complex which has 26 rooms, 3 to 4 kitchens, an equal number of bathrooms and a courtyard in the centre. The size of the rooms vary from 6x6 to 16x20," said Prof Manmohan Singh of MD University. The excavations indicate that this region was part of the 5,000 years old Indus Valley culture, considered one of the most advanced urban civilizations in ancient times. The digging of the burial ground has revealed many facts which would help in studying the lives of the Harappan people. Vivek Dangi, a research scholar associated with graveyard excavation, categorized the burials into three types. In the Indus Valley tradition, people used to bury the dead with things that belonged to them. In secondary burial, they were interred with a few bones and other articles. In the third type of burials, only stuff like pots, goblets, bakers, studs, miniature pots, plates, bowls were found that indicates they used to perform symbolic burial of the missing people. He says the skeleton of a middle-aged woman had three shell bangles, two copper bangles, copper earrings, beads and ornaments on the feet, indicating her wealthy status. Nilesh, a research scholar from Deccan College, Pune, says they had been working on the site for last three years. "We work for about three months in a year and our present phase is likely to end next month."

Armenian "Team" to play in 2009 EIWCC

Armenian chess players to participate in 2009 European Individual Women’s Chess Championship 04.03.2009 13:09 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian chess players will participate in 2009 European Individual Women’s Chess Championship. It is an 11-round Swiss beginning March 7 and completing March 21, 2009. The playing time will be 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game with an increment of 30 seconds per move, starting from move one. The Individual European Women’s Championship 2009 is a qualification event for the next World Championship for Women. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 14 players will qualify. The top 20 players of the EIWCC will divide a prize fund of 70 000 euro.The Armenian team includes Lilit Mkrtchyan, Nelly Aghinyan, Lilit Galoyan and Siranush Andreasyan.

2009 Isbanc Ataturk Women's Masters Tournament

Great publicity for the second edition of the Isbanc Ataturk Women's Masters - first (and hopefully not the last) in the Women's Grand Prix series put together by FIDE: From WorldBulletin.net Top female chess players to converge in Turkey The top-rated female chess players will converge to Istanbul to participate in the 2nd Turkey Is Bankasi Ataturk FIDE Female Masters' Chess Tournament. Tuesday, 03 March 2009 15:20 The tournament will take place at the Is Bankasi's Kibele Gallery in Istanbul from March 6 to 19. World Chess Federation (FIDE) President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov will attend the tournament which is regarded as the first event of the FIDE Woman Grand Prix series 2009/2010. In a statement posted in its web-site, FIDE said, "the Turkish Chess Federation is one of the most active national federations and has already organized in 2009 the Mediterranean Championships and the Turkish Youth Championships with 996 players. Turkey has also hosted some other prestigious FIDE tournaments this year including the World Men's Team Championship, the World Youth Championships and the world U-16 Olympiad. TCF is granted to host the 2012 World Chess Olympiad Istanbul, during the 79th FIDE Congress in Dresden on 24th November 2008." The FIDE Women Grand Prix is a new series of elite tournaments which will be organized by FIDE and Global Chess. There will be 6 legs over two years in various countries around the world with three tournaments every year. The next tournament is planned in Nanjing, China at the end of September. The winner of each tournament will win 6,500 euros out of a prize fund of 40,000 euros and the overall winner of the series will win a further 15,000 euros at the end of the series. Participants of the Istanbul Tournament are Humpy Koneru (India), Hou Yifan (China), Antoaneta Stefanova (Bulgaria), Pia Cramling (Sweden), Marie Sebag (France), Xue Zhao (China), Maia Chiburdanidze (Georgia), Zhu Chen (Qatar), Elina Danielian (Armenia), Shen Yang (China), Zeinab Mamedyarova (Azerbaijan) and Betul Cemre Yildiz (Turkey) AA