Cleaning Bathrooms and Miscellaneous...

Mr. Don is due in town tomorrow evening, if all goes according to plan.  So far, the weather is cooperating from this end, but up in Montreal, there's lots of snow and wind.  It should be clear and still by morning, so he says, but hey, shit happens...

We have both been frenetically taking care of all of those "last minute" details that one has to deal with when one is travelling abroad.  What a pain!  Tonight, for instance, I reviewed our travelers' insurance policy should something horrid happen and we need medical treatment or, Goddess forbid!, medical evacuation back home from Spain, and printed out the entire 15 page policy. 

In between times, I've been scrubbing out the toilets and sinks in the upstairs and downstairs baths, and now I'm preparing to scrub down the floors.  The rugs have been cleaned and are waiting to be put back down once I've got the vinyl flooring cleaned and wiped down the baseboards.

Soooo much to do, not enough time! 

There are still piles of family tree research and other research papers stacked up around the family room, mostly on the sofa, the wing chair and the recliner, but also some piled around the furniture.  Alas!  Well, that is what happens when one does not have an assistant to keep thing neat for one and one has free run of a two-story house!

I made an Executive Decision tonight that Mr. Don will be restricted to the dinette, kitchen and the living room (where the Christmas tree, fireplace and a t.v. are located, along with a laptop computer that he can use if he doesn't bring his Apple Macbook), except for access to outside.  It's just too dangerous to allow him to enter the family room with its various piles of precious papers and research right now.  He has free run upstairs, but he will have to be careful of the lesser piles of papers in the "den" as he peruses the bookshelves.  I keep the heavy-weight chess books in that room, along with various other interesting tomes.  I really do need to hire someone to straighten out all these books and set up an index of some kind or other...

Let's see:

• Euros ordered - busted!  Big mess, but an email to my personal banker last night made the way smoother today ...
• Euros ordered - check!  They should be here tomorrow or Friday.  I've never been in a situation where I've had to "order" foreign currency before.  Such is the "new normal" in Milwaukee, I guess.
• Emergency cc plans for cash withdrawal, etc. put in place - yes - not that it will happen but it's best to be prepared
• Information provided to personal banker about overseas journey, so bank and credit cards don't get rejected and "eaten" by Spanish ATMs
• Photocopy passport, ccs, ID, etc. - still to be done -- tomorrow at the office
• Trip cancellation, health and death insurance policy provisions printed out and somewhat read. Well, it's a long flight to Spain and it's a take-it-or-leave it option for what I purchased, so trying to read all of it will no doubt put me to sleep on the plane...
• Packing.  PACKING?  LOL!  I'm still working on what to feed Mr. Don while he's here...
• Feeding Mr. Don - Oh He Of The Hollow Legs!  Left-overs and fresh green salad Thursday night upon arrival from airport
• Friday breakfast and lunch: He's on his own as I'll be slaving away at the office, where they'll be draining every last ounce of energy out of me and I'll have to crawl to the bus and home from the bus stop Friday night...There's stuff in the fridge he can eat, or he can wander down to the Pick 'n Save or the restaurants (including fast food) on 76th Street, a scant 3/4 of a mile walk away from the house.  He knows the way...
• Friday Night Milwaukee Traditional Fish-Fry (at Meyer's Family Restaurant) At Traditional Milwaukee Fish-Fry Restaurant (Meyer's Framily Restaurant -- and yes, I repeated the name a second time)
• Saturday morning breakfast, I will cook at last: eggs to order, French Toast with maple syrup, rye toast, bacon, sausages and French-pressed coffee
• Saturday 10:30 a.m. tickets to see The Search for Cleopatra Special Exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum
• Saturday after Museum: Trip to supermarket before coming home to buy steaks and goodies for New Year's Eve Feast
• Saturday Night: Cook New Year's Eve Feast (Mr. Don will grill the steaks on the Weber Grill out on the deck or, if the weather be inclement, inside the garage with the garage and access doors open for cross ventilation -- but the weather forecast is for mild weather with no precipitation); nothing too fancy - baked potatoes with fixing available, a fresh salad and relish plate, ice cream for dessert
• Saturday Midnight - drink Sparkling Wine I purchased a few days ago just for toasting at Midnight (I liked the name and description of the vineyard and so I hope it tastes really really good)
• Sunday Morning - nurse hang-overs; cook breakfast:  eggs as he orders, French Toast, bacon, sausages, French pressed coffee; settling in before the fireplace to read the Sunday paper for a minimum of two hours with coffee HE makes; prepare for noon final Packers game of the season against the Detroit Lions at LEGENDARY LAMMBEAUU.....FIEELLDDD...and watch Packers go 15-1 for the season
• Sunday Night:  Mr. Don will manage to keep me up way too long, talking about this and that...
• Monday Morning: Trip to Visit Mother, visibly sleepy Jan
• Monday Afternoon:  Shopping at Southridge Mall, if we can squeeze it in -- I need thick socks, new sliders (yes, still looking) and a thick hoody  -- and a new vacuum cleaner...
• Monday Late Afternoon/Early Evening:  Final preparation for trip including last minute laundry and trips to Walgreens for forgotten supplies; arrange cab to airport for following morning; settle in at 5:00 p.m. to Watch the Wisconsin Badgers WIN the Rose Bowl
• Monday Late Night; Jan packing, unpacking, packing, unpacking half the night
• Tuesday morning - early:  Jan kicking Mr. Don out of bed to go make breakfast and French pressed coffee
• Tuesday morning - later: Leave for airport in taxi that arrives at least 20 minutes early

 That's all I can think of for now...

Volunteers Clear Indian Mounds in Quincy, Illinois

Article from The Quincy Herald-Whig - what a fabulous name for a newspaper!

Volunteers clear the way for better view of Indian mounds

Posted: Dec 24, 2011 9:49 AM CST

Updated: Dec 26, 2011 2:12 PM CST

By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Removing decades of dense overgrowth has cleared the way for a better view of Quincy's Native American heritage -- and one of the best preserved earthwork complexes still evident in the Upper Mississippi River valley.

Local archaeologists and volunteers worked in November and early December to reveal prehistoric Native American mounds in Quincy's Indian Mounds Park.

Work will continue in the spring, but "people can now come to Quincy and view these spectacular earthen monuments in a manner closer to that envisioned by the original builders," said Dave Nolan of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey, part of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois. "People knew the mounds were there but didn't realize how special they are, how unique they are."

Simply by clearing away brush and tree cover, "we did discover one large major mound that was previously undocumented and the remnants of two to three mounds," said Steve Tieken, president of the Quincy-based North American Archaeological Institute. "We opened up a couple new river views."

The work revealed a terraced embankment with an enclosure surrounding three of the mounds that was only hinted at in University of Chicago archaeologist survey work done of the area in the 1920s.

"We're working hard, doing a lot of physical labor, but it's a labor of love. Essentially we're stewarding the mounds and committed to making sure they stay in a nice state," Nolan said. "Quincy is known for a couple of things -- the wonderful buildings and the mounds. It's showcasing them in a way they haven't been for years."

The mounds and nearby earthworks date from 200 B.C. to 1000 A.D.

Visionaries who formed the Quincy Boulevard and Park Association fought to buy and protect the sites at the close of the 19th Century by developing Indian Mounds and Parker Heights parks. The park system protected the sites from urban development and agricultural use, but the mounds were left virtually unrecognizable after years of erosion, foot traffic, heavy vegetation growth and vandalism.

Concerned with the overall condition of the mounds and their long-term future, Tieken spearheaded an effort to reclaim them beginning in 2009.

Volunteers tried to assess the mounds, scaling ladders and trees to get the most accurate measurements. "It was an arduous process to measure, to see how they've changed. Even though they're protected, natural factors take their toll," Nolan said. "Our prime concern is they be preserved and protected, that they are out there now so people can go there and use them for quiet reflection, communal gatherings, what they were all about to begin with."

Nolan credits Tieken for moving the project forward and pulling together volunteers.

"Getting to know a lot of these local people, the Native Americans, and working together with them in a joint project is real rewarding," Nolan said. "Steve deserves a lot of credit. It's been a vision of his, and he stayed with it."

The mounds are part of what makes the Quincy Park District unique, said Dan Gibble, the district's executive director.

The clearing effort "allows for those areas to be maintained in a way that's respectful of what they are and, secondarily, but probably just as important to us, it certainly saves us time and labor," Gibble said.

Indian Mounds Park was featured on the poster for Illinois Archaeology Awareness Month, held each September, and the mounds preservation efforts were spotlighted in Illinois Antiquity, a quarterly publication of the Illinois Association for Advancement of Archaeology.

"It was imperative that we remained understanding and sensitive toward American Indian cultural and religious beliefs concerning the proper etiquette of how to respectfully approach the preservation process and long-term care of these rare ancient monuments and ancestral burial mounds," Tieken said.

Spiritual leaders and elders from several different tribal affiliations offered prayers and performed sacred pipe and drum cleansing ceremonies before and after the clearing work. To date, individuals and members from nine different tribes -- the Blackfoot, Choctaw, Chickamaka and Tsalagiyi Nvdagi Cherokee, Gabrieleno/Tongva, Ho Chunk, Iroquois, Nueta (Mandan) and the Prairie Band Potawatomi -- have been involved as volunteers and consultants.

"The Quincy Mound Preservation Project has become a shining example of how municipalities, archaeologists and the American Indian community can successfully work together, hand in hand, to protect and preserve important historical sites, ensuring a lasting legacy of Native American history for generations to come," Tieken said.

The state may have had as many as 10,000 mounds, but only about 500 are left, with many on private property. Tieken has said there are 23 mounds within Quincy's park system.

The NAAI, ISAS and the Quincy Park District consulted with the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency about the best way to protect, maintain and preserve the mounds. Work will continue to plant prairie grass at the sites, with a sowing ceremony involving Naive Americans, and prepare for a public tour sometime in the spring.

"We'll determine what the best course of action is on each particular mound group. Some will be put in regular grass, but the major structures will be sown in short prairie grass" which won't detract from the shape of the mounds or require mowing, Tieken said.

The park is closed to vehicle traffic likely until late March, but remains open year-round to pedestrians, and plans call for a public tour in May, National Preservation Month.

The work, to date, "really has made a difference in the park, but we need to keep going. It will grow back," Nolan said. "One can only imagine what the terraced enclosure must have looked like as you approached up and down river along the Mississippi. It would have been visible for miles and been an awe-inspiring landmark."

 

Mayan Ruins in Georgia (USA)???

How could I have possibly missed this story?  But I did not see it until today.

Has an 1100 year old Mayan site been discovered in the Georgia mountains?
Gary Daniels, Atlanta Road Trip Travel Examiner

December 23, 2011

Gary Daniels examines the evidence put forth by architect and researcher Richard Thornton regarding this site being Mayan, and concludes that he is correct.  Thornton's article was panned by the academics, of course.  Notice that Mr. Thornton doesn't have a Ph.D. or whatever in anthropology or archaeology or any other 'ology' and thus he is a subject of ridicule to closed-minded know-it-alls who think that "amateurs" have nothing to add to the discussion.  Well, we've seen over and over again how wrong those so-called "experts" can be...

See Gary Daniel's article from December 21, 2011 that contains Thornton's evidence:
Ruins in Georgia mountains show evidence of Maya connection


From mountainx.com

Mayan ruins in Georgia? An unorthodox theory generates Internet buzz

By Susan Hutchinson on 12/23/2011 02:52 PM

 

Mayan people inhabited the Georgia mountains near Blairsville, Ga., according to Richard Thornton, a professional architect and self-styled Native American historian.

Thanks to Thornton, his story of the discovery of Mayan ruins in Northern Georgia has been circulating on the Internet. But is it true?

This week, Thorton posted his story headlined "Massive 1,100+ year old Maya site discovered in Georgia's mountains" in The Examiner.com:

Archaeological zone 9UN367 at Track Rock Gap, near Georgia’s highest mountain, Brasstown Bald, is a half mile (800 m) square and rises 700 feet (213 m) in elevation up a steep mountainside. Visible are at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures. Much more may be hidden underground. It is possibly the site of the fabled city of Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto failed to find in 1540, and certainly one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent times...

The name of Brasstown Bald Mountain is itself, strong evidence of a Maya presence. A Cherokee village near the mountain was named Itsa-ye, when Protestant missionaries arrived in the 1820s. The missionaries mistranslated “Itsaye” to mean “brass.” They added “town” and soon the village was known as Brasstown. Itsa-ye, when translated into English, means “Place of the Itza (Maya)...

Those with experiences at Maya town sites instantly recognized that the Track Rock stone structures were identical in form to numerous agricultural terrace sites in Chiapas, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Johannes Loubser’s radiocarbon dates exactly matched the diaspora from the Maya lands and the sudden appearance of large towns with Mesoamerican characteristics in Georgia, Alabama and southeastern Tennessee. Track Rock Gap was the “missing link” that archaeologists and architects had been seeking since 1841...”

Thornton's ideas generated scorn from Mark Williams, a geologist with the University of Georgia who led a group studying the site in question. Williams reacted this week, saying, “The Maya connection to legitimate Georgia archaeology is a wild and unsubstantiated guess on the part of the Thornton fellow. No archaeologists will defend this flight of fancy.”

A peer-reviewed journal Early Georgia, published a paper in Spring 2010 by Johannes (Jannie) Loubser (Stratum Unlimited, LLC) and Douglas Frink (Worcester State College) which details excavations done on the site, which were halted as soon as grave sites were discovered, the holes filled and the rocks replaced in accordance with current federal guidelines. This paper makes no clear assertion on the origin of the stone piles, aside from dating them "almost certainly prehistoric." There was (at that time) no clear answer on the builders of the structures.

UGA scientist Dr. B. T. Thomas of the Department of Environmental Science was more supportive when contacted for a Rawstory.com article. Thomas indicated that, "while it is unlikely that the Mayan people migrated en masse from Central America to settle in what is now the United States, he refused to characterize Thornton’s conclusions as 'wrong,' stating that it is entirely possible that some Mayans and their descendants migrated north, bringing Mayan building and agricultural techniques to the Southeastern U.S. as they integrated with the existing indigenous people there."

Thornton's book on Archaeological Site 9UN367 describes what he sees as evidence of the immigration of Mesoamerican refugees to North America. The book, entitled, Itsapa . . . the Itza Mayas in North America. will be available in early January 2012. Meanwhile, Amazon.com carries Thornton's "Ancient Roots" series.
Read the full article

 

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My two cents is - I would not be at all surprised.

 

The people who became the Maya came from SOMEWHERE, after all.  According to current prevailing theories, they came across the Bering Strait during the last Ice Age and travelled by foot, OR they came by boat - take your pick on current speculation:  they came from Siberia following ice-floes and travelled all the way down the coast of North America to Central America and/or to South America, OR they came by boat from Japan or thereabouts and ended up in Peru and travelled around from there, OR they came from Europe and landed in the southeastern United States or - ???.

 

By whatever means of travel the people whose descendants became the Maya eventually got to where they got, I don't think it's beyind comprehension to think that they must have had some legends and stories about their where they came from.  Has anyone really paid any attention to them?   I'm pretty sure we still don't know as much as we think we know!

 

How's this for a working theory:  The Maya knew all about the lands to the north -- the southwest US, Texas and the southeast.  Why would some of them have travelled there?  Who knows.  Why does man travel anywhere?  If there are not any compelling reasons that we can identify such as DROUGHT, CLIMATE CHANGE, WAR, NATURAL DISASTERS, OVERPOPULATION, etc etc., then it comes down to Itchy Feet.  We've got a bug to explore, to discover, and sooner or later it bursts out and we just - go. 

 

Isn't it time academia took off its blinders and acknowledged that "ordinary" people (uneducated by their lights) have a hell of a lot of information available at their fingertips these days, and make use of it to pursue their interests! 

2011 FIDE Women's World Team Chess Championship

According to the official website, China has cinched the team gold medal with one round to go, so the battle is now on for silver and bronze.  India now finds itself in 3rd, not a good position seeing as it will be facing China tomorrow, while Russia faces Armenia.  Individual board medals are also up for grabs.  Take a look at who's up for gold on Board 1:  GM Koneru Humpy and GM Hou Yifan.  If those names sound familiar to you, it's because the two recently competed in a match for the 2012 (?! - not sure if it's 2011 or 2012 since Hou won the title in December 2010 and has held it for most of 2011) Women's World Chess Champion title.  I'm a big fan of Koneru Humpy who, unfortunately, lost the match.  I don't think she's going to roll over tomorrow and play dead - and I expect she'll be playing head to head against Hou Yifan on Board 1! 

Standings after R8:

Rank	Team	Games	+	=	-	MP	TGP	Result	SB.	BT
1	CHINA	8	7	0	1	14	25	0	94,50	2319
2	RUSSIA	8	5	2	1	12	19½	0	83,25	1805
3	INDIA	8	5	1	2	11	21½	0	66,00	2013
4	UKRAINE	8	4	2	2	10	19	0	74,50	1748
5	GEORGIA	8	4	2	2	10	18½	0	70,25	1727
6	ARMENIA	8	4	0	4	8	17½	0	39,00	1634
7	VIETNAM	8	4	0	4	8	17	0	40,50	1582
8	TURKEY	8	2	0	6	4	10	0	20,00	942
9	GREECE	8	1	1	6	3	11	0	19,75	1019
10	RSA	8	0	0	8	0	1	0	0,00	91

Here are the top 3 contenders for medals on Board 1:

No.	Title	FED	Name	IRtg	Team									9	Points	% Success	Rp	Games
	WGM	ARM	Aginian Nelly (Reserved Player)	2263	ARMENIA										0.0		2230
	WCM	TUR	Cemhan Kardelen	1881	TURKEY										0.0		2170
1	GM	IND	Koneru Humpy	2600	INDIA	1.0	1.0		1.0	1.0	0.5	0.5	0.5		5.5	78.6	2677	7
2	GM	CHN	Hou Yifan	2578	CHINA			1.0	0.5	1.0	1.0	0.5	0.5		4.5	75.00	2664	6
3	GM	GEO	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	GEORGIA		1.0	0.5	0.5	1.0	0.5	0.5	0.5		4.5	64.29	2601	7

Board 2 contenders:

No.	Title	FED	Name	IRtg	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Points	% Success	Rp	Games
	WGM	ARM	Aginian Nelly (Reserved Player)	2263	ARMENIA										0.0		2230
	WCM	TUR	Cemhan Kardelen	1881	TURKEY										0.0		2170
	GM	ARM	Danielian Elina	2497	ARMENIA										0.0		2457
	IM	GRE	Dembo Yelena	2468	GREECE										0.0		2375
	GM	GEO	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	GEORGIA										0.0		2601
1	WGM	CHN	Ju Wenjun	2543	CHINA			1.0	0.5	1.0	0.5	1.0	0.5		4.5	75.00	2543	6
	WIM	RSA	Frick Denise	1916	RSA										0.0		1542
2	GM	IND	Harika Dronavalli	2512	INDIA	0.5			0.5	1.0	0.5	1.0	0.5		4.0	66.67	2519	6
3	WGM	VIE	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	2341	VIETNAM	0.5	1.0	1.0	0.5	0.0	1.0	1.0	0.0		5.0	62.50	2456	8

Board 3 contenders:

No.	Title	FED	Name	IRtg	Team									9	Points	% Success	Rp	Games
	WGM	ARM	Aginian Nelly (Reserved Player)	2263	ARMENIA										0.0		2230
1	GM	CHN	Zhao Xue	2541	CHINA			1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.0		5.0	83.33	2492	6
	GM	ARM	Danielian Elina	2497	ARMENIA										0.0		2457
	IM	GRE	Dembo Yelena	2468	GREECE										0.0		2375
	GM	GEO	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	GEORGIA										0.0		2601
2	GM	UKR	Zhukova Natalia	2427	UKRAINE		0.5	0.5	1.0		1.0		1.0		4.0	80.00	2542	5
3	WIM	VIE	Nguyen Thi Mai Hung	2244	VIETNAM		0.5	0.5		0.0		1.0	1.0		3.0	60.00	2338	5

Board 4 contenders:

No.	Title	FED	Name	IRtg	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Points	% Success	Rp	Games
1	WGM	CHN	Tan Zhongyi	2448	CHINA			1.0	1.0	1.0	0.5	0.5	0.5		4.5	75.00	2479	6
	WCM	TUR	Cemhan Kardelen	1881	TURKEY										0.0		2170
	GM	ARM	Danielian Elina	2497	ARMENIA										0.0		2457
	IM	GRE	Dembo Yelena	2468	GREECE										0.0		2375
	GM	GEO	Dzagnidze Nana	2516	GEORGIA										0.0		2601
	WIM	GRE	Fakhiridou Ekaterini	2180	GREECE										0.0		2101
	WIM	RSA	Frick Denise	1916	RSA										0.0		1542
	IM	ARM	Galojan Lilit	2383	ARMENIA										0.0		2268
	IM	UKR	Gaponenko (Yanovska) Inna	2435	UKRAINE										0.0		2342
2	WIM	GRE	Pavlidou Ekaterini	2176	GREECE			1.0		0.5	0.5	0.5	1.0		3.5	70.00	2313	5
	GM	IND	Harika Dronavalli	2512	INDIA										0.0		2519
	WGM	VIE	Hoang Thi Bao Tram	2341	VIETNAM										0.0		2456
3	IM	UKR	Vasilevich Tatjana	2412	UKRAINE		0.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.5		0.5		4.0	66.67	2288	6