Bullshit Sensationalized

There is no evidence presented to suggest that this wooden statue is actually Hatshepshut.  Until I read about some good hard evidence, this is just sensationalized bullshit, starting from the title of the article.  Cross-dresser, my ass!

At newscientist.com

Cross-dressing pharaoh found in her feminine form

17:53 13 March 2012

 

(Image: Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner)Hatshepsut ruled Egypt in the 15th century BC in a relatively long and prosperous reign. Despite her success as a female pharaoh, she is often depicted as a man in statues because the belief that pharaohs were sons of the god Amon-Re. Hatshepsut also dressed as a man to meet this expectation.

A statue uncovered in Abydos, Egypt, is thought to show her more feminine side.

An expedition led by a team from the University of Toronto, Canada, found a wooden statue of a king, thought to represent this powerful woman because of its distinctly feminine features: a smaller waist and delicate jawline.

The find also included a private offering chapel, a monumental building and the remains of over 80 animal mummies.

The chapel, where the wooden statue was found, was close to a processional route. The team leader, Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner, said it was used for a long period - 1990-1650 BC.

"The offering chapel proves that people - probably elites - were able to build monuments right next to the processional route in the Middle Kingdom, and that at least one such chapel was allowed to stand in this increasingly densely built-up area and continued to receive offerings even 800 years after its initial construction," says Pouls Wegner.

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Is it just me?  Isn't there a big difference between 340 years (1990 BCE minus 1650 BCE = 340 years) and 800 years?  Where did the 800 years come from???  Who is writing these articles?  Does no one bother to do basic face checking and math anymore? 

WGMs Needed!

My chess friends in Montreal are looking for IMs and WGMs to play in the Quebec Open (July 21 - 28, 2012)!!!!  A nice prize fund and FREE accomodations for IMs and WGMs!!!  PRIORITY WILL BE GIVEN TO WGMs for the free accomodations.

The playing venue (pictured below) will be at the gorgeous College Brebeuf!  Come and fall in love with fabulous, beautiful Montreal!  (Be sure to visit Cafe Pi for pick-up games with the locals). 

The Quebec Open Chess Championship (July 21-28 2012) is looking for International Masters and Women Grandmasters.

- This is a great opportunity for IM and GM norms.

- We offer free accommodation (8 days) at the college residences (right next to the tournament site) for IMs or WGMs. We also offer free accommodation in a nearby hotel for IMs or WGMs who are ready to share a room with a friend.

- Prize fund : 18 000$ guaranteed.

- Come play in one of the most beautiful venues in Quebec!

- Priority will be given to WGMs. Rooms are limited.

Confirmed grandmasters in the invitational section :
GM Anton Kovalyov
GM Bator Sambuev
GM Andrei Shchekachev
GM Dejan Bojkov
GM Eduardas Rozentalis
GM Reynaldo Vera
GM Walter Arencibia
GM Matthieu Cornette

FURTHER INFORMATION. 

It's Official: Judit Polgar v. Hou Yifan Is a LIE

Reported earlier at Chessdom:

May 15, 2012
Judit Polgar – Yifan Hou to play a match in 2012 (UPDATE)

The long expected Judit Polgar – Yifan Hou match has now been now officially announced. It will take place in China September 26th – October 2nd, 2012. The organization plans for 4 classical games and 4 rapid games.
The match announcement comes only a month after their game at the Gibraltar Chess Festival where Yifan Hou won the direct encounter with white and went on to share first place, only to lose in the rapid tiebreak against Short.
The Judit Polgar – Yifan Hou match will be at a perfect moment, as Judit is at her highest moment for the last 3 years with ELO 2709, while Yifan Hou is at a virtual ELO 2650, the highest of her career.
Chessdom.com promises its followers a detailed coverage of what is to be the strongest encounter on female level in chess history. Special thanks to the news support from China to Gujuan Tzu of the Chess news blog

And then - reported at Chessdom (from Susan Polgar's chess blog):

Official Statement from Judit About the Unknown Match
March 15, 2012

[Excerpted]
Well, I find it very strange and unfortunate that based on the writing of a Chinese insider chess blog some mainstream chess websites present false information about me putting it up as a fact.

I firmly have to say that the information is FALSE! I neither know anything about this match, nor agreed to sign any kind of contract whatsoever!
This refutation was also posted at Judit Polgar's Facebook page.

Yet Another New Kind of Human?

The full story has yet to be told - that's for sure!  Darwin, I hope you're spinning in your grave!

The BBC article is posted in full below (not including photographs), but the full press release [excerpted below] from the University of New South Wales (Australia) can be found here.  It contains somewhat different information than the BBC article that gives more of a flavor for just what exciting knowledge the study of these bones (found in 1979 and 1989) may yield. 

Mystery human fossils put spotlight on China

Youngest of their kind ever found in mainland East Asia

		IMAGE:An artist's reconstruction of fossils from two caves in southwest China have revealed a previously unknown Stone Age people and give a rare glimpse of a recent stage of human... Click here for more information.

Fossils from two caves in south-west China have revealed a previously unknown Stone Age people and give a rare glimpse of a recent stage of human evolution with startling implications for the early peopling of Asia.

The fossils are of a people with a highly unusual mix of archaic and modern anatomical features and are the youngest of their kind ever found in mainland East Asia.

Dated to just 14,500 to 11,500 years old, these people would have shared the landscape with modern-looking people at a time when China's earliest farming cultures were beginning, says an international team of scientists led by Associate Professor Darren Curnoe, of the University of New South Wales, and Professor Ji Xueping of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology.
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Whoever these people were, the youngest of their bones are dated to around the end of the last Ice Age.  What a shockeroo this is!  I believe I can already feel it reverberating around the world of the scientific elite.  Oh my! 

Soooo, let's see, over the past few years while I've been writing this bloe there has been and continues to be a "fresh look" at the former "Ape-Man" Neanderthal whose DNA survives in millions of humans alive today; there are the "mysterious" Denisovans in Siberia, whose DNA also continues to exist in millions of humans alive today; and now, the "Red Deer People" in Southwest China (not to mention the "Hobbits" -- Homo floresiensis  -- that experts will be talking about for the next 50 years...).  If the researchers are successful in extracting DNA from these young bones, what more secrets to the herstory of womankind may be revealed?

So you tell me, darlings?  What, precisely, does the word "extinct" mean???  If our experts in the field of "evolution" haven't even yet settled upon a definition for what a "modern human" (homo sapiens sapiens) is, who on earth are they to tell ME that so and so was descended from so and so, and THIS is the way it was, and shut the flying F up if you don't agree because we;re the experts and you're not!  Oooooh, it just tickles me pink how many people must be gagging on their past and present words tonight.  Here's a wicked laugh just for you:  BWWWWWWWWWAAAAHHHHAAAAAHHHHHAAAAA!


From BBC News
14 March 2012 Last updated at 11:19 ET
By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Human fossils hint at new species

The remains of what may be a previously unknown human species have been identified in southern China.

The bones, which represent at least five individuals, have been dated to between 11,500 and 14,500 years ago.

But scientists are calling them simply the Red Deer Cave people, after one of the sites where they were unearthed.

The team has told the PLoS One journal that far more detailed analysis of the fossils is required before they can be ascribed to a new human lineage.

"We're trying to be very careful at this stage about definitely classifying them," said study co-leader Darren Curnoe from the University of New South Wales, Australia.

"One of the reasons for that is that in the science of human evolution or palaeoanthropology, we presently don't have a generally agreed, biological definition for our own species (Homo sapiens), believe it or not. And so this is a highly contentious area," he told BBC News.

Much of the material has been in Chinese collections for some time but has only recently been subjected to intense investigation.

The remains of some of the individuals come from Maludong (or Red Deer Cave), near the city of Mengzi in Yunnan Province. A further skeleton was discovered at Longlin, in neighbouring Guangxi Province.

The skulls and teeth from the two locations are very similar to each other, suggesting they are from the same population.

But their features are quite distinct from what you might call a fully modern human, says the team. Instead, the Red Deer Cave people have a mix of archaic and modern characteristics.

In general, the individuals had rounded brain cases with prominent brow ridges. Their skull bones were quite thick. Their faces were quite short and flat and tucked under the brain, and they had broad noses.

Their jaws jutted forward but they lacked a modern-human-like chin. Computed Tomography (X-ray) scans of their brain cavities indicate they had modern-looking frontal lobes but quite archaic-looking anterior, or parietal, lobes. They also had large molar teeth.

Dr Curnoe and colleagues put forward two possible scenarios in their PLoS One paper for the origin of the Red Deer Cave population.

One posits that they represent a very early migration of a primitive-looking Homo sapiens that lived separately from other forms in Asia before dying out.
Another possibility contends that they were indeed a distinct Homo species that evolved in Asia and lived alongside our own kind until remarkably recently.

A third scenario being suggested by scientists not connected with the research is that the Red Deer Cave people could be hybrids.

"It's possible these were modern humans who inter-mixed or bred with archaic humans that were around at the time," explained Dr Isabelle De Groote, a palaeoanthropologist from London's Natural History Museum.

"The other option is that they evolved these more primitive features independently because of genetic drift or isolation, or in a response to an environmental pressure such as climate."

Dr Curnoe agreed all this was "certainly possible".

Attempts are being made to extract DNA from the remains. This could yield information about interbreeding, just as genetic studies have on the closely related human species - the Neanderthals and an enigmatic group of people from Siberia known as the Denisovans.

Whatever their true place in the Homo family tree, the Red Deer People are an important find simply because of the dearth of well dated, well described specimens from this part of the world.

And their unearthing all adds to the fascinating and increasingly complex story of human migration and development.

"The Red Deer People were living at what was a really interesting time in China, during what we call the epipalaeolithic or the end of the Stone Age," says Dr Curnoe.

"Not far from Longlin, there are quite well known archaeological sites where some of the very earliest evidence for the epipalaeolithic in East Asia has been found.

"These were occupied by very modern looking people who are already starting to make ceramics - pottery - to store food. And they're already harvesting from the landscape wild rice. There was an economic transition going on from full-blown foraging and gathering towards agriculture."

Quite how the Red Deer People fit into this picture is unclear. The research team is promising to report further investigations into some of the stone tools and cultural artefacts discovered at the dig sites.

The co-leader on the project is Professor Ji Xueping of the Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology.

2012 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

And the WINNER is:  VALENTINA GUNINA!  Like - wow!  Not a player who's name I would have pulled out of the winner's circle hat.  Congratulations!

The early leader who started out of the gate on fire, GM Marie Sebag, finished in 5th place overall.  GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, 12th Women's World Chess Championship, mounted a steady battle to move ooooh so close to the top 10!  You keep battling!  IM Melia Salome of Georgia, another personal favorite, moved up to 15th place from way down at the middle of the tournament.  I felt several of these players just ran out of time to mount their best come-backs!

Here are the complete final standings after R11:

Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts ratP BH.-1 BH. vict 1 8 IM GUNINA Valentina 2511 RUS 8½ 2660 70 74½ 6 2 6 GM KOSINTSEVA Tatiana 2513 RUS 8½ 2649 68½ 73 7 3 1 GM MUZYCHUK Anna 2583 SLO 8½ 2631 70 75 7 4 9 GM CMILYTE Viktorija 2497 LTU 8 2592 67½ 73 8 5 7 GM SEBAG Marie 2512 FRA 7½ 2570 71½ 77 6 6 5 GM STEFANOVA Antoaneta 2531 BUL 7½ 2544 68½ 73½ 6 7 3 GM LAHNO Kateryna 2546 UKR 7½ 2524 67½ 72½ 4 8 12 GM DANIELIAN Elina 2478 ARM 7½ 2515 60½ 64 5 9 10 IM KHOTENASHVILI Bela 2490 GEO 7½ 2503 61 64½ 6 10 17 WGM POGONINA Natalija 2449 RUS 7½ 2501 61½ 66½ 5 11 18 GM KOSTENIUK Alexandra 2448 RUS 7½ 2437 57 61½ 6 12 21 GM HOANG Thanh Trang 2438 HUN 7 2510 69 74½ 6 13 20 IM KHURTSIDZE Nino 2447 GEO 7 2505 66½ 71½ 6 14 2 GM DZAGNIDZE Nana 2559 GEO 7 2468 65 69 6 15 30 IM MELIA Salome 2400 GEO 7 2461 63½ 68 5 16 34 WGM KOVANOVA Baira 2392 RUS 7 2452 60 64½ 6 17 19 IM JAVAKHISHVILI Lela 2448 GEO 7 2450 62 66½ 4 18 24 IM ROMANKO Marina 2417 RUS 7 2444 60½ 64 5 19 16 IM USHENINA Anna 2458 UKR 7 2429 58 62½ 4 20 23 GM ZHUKOVA Natalia 2435 UKR 7 2415 57½ 62 4 21 4 GM KOSINTSEVA Nadezhda 2535 RUS 7 2406 61 65 5 22 31 IM FOISOR Cristina-Adela 2398 ROU 6½ 2509 75 75½ 5 23 51 WGM SCHLEINING Zoya 2326 GER 6½ 2483 66½ 68 4 24 28 WGM GIRYA Olga 2406 RUS 6½ 2448 66 70½ 5 25 33 WGM GURAMISHVILI Sopiko 2395 GEO 6½ 2446 67 71½ 5 26 41 WGM VOJINOVIC Jovana 2356 MNE 6½ 2431 64½ 68 5 27 25 IM GAPONENKO Inna 2416 UKR 6½ 2428 62 66½ 5 28 22 WGM BATSIASHVILI Nino 2438 GEO 6½ 2424 63½ 69 4 29 14 IM PAEHTZ Elisabeth 2459 GER 6½ 2416 62½ 67 5 30 66 WGM SANDU Mihaela 2253 ROU 6½ 2404 58½ 63 6 31 38 WGM SZCZEPKOWSKA-HOROWSKA Karina 2369 POL 6½ 2391 57½ 61½ 6 32 47 WIM ARABIDZE Meri 2337 GEO 6½ 2365 62½ 66 5 33 27 IM BODNARUK Anastasia 2412 RUS 6½ 2354 57½ 62 5 34 57 WIM BULMAGA Irina 2307 ROU 6 2405 59 63½ 5 35 15 IM MKRTCHIAN Lilit 2458 ARM 6 2396 64 69 5 36 58 IM DWORAKOWSKA Joanna 2304 POL 6 2388 59½ 63½ 6 37 60 WGM VIDENOVA Iva 2301 BUL 6 2382 59½ 63 4 38 50 WGM KURSOVA Maria 2328 ARM 6 2373 62 64½ 4 39 40 WGM ZAWADZKA Jolanta 2358 POL 6 2355 61 64½ 5 40 46 WIM GORYACHKINA Aleksandra 2341 RUS 6 2351 63 64½ 3 41 54 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Zeinab 2321 AZE 6 2326 60 64 5 42 48 IM GVETADZE Sofio 2334 GEO 6 2325 62½ 65 4 43 29 IM PAIKIDZE Nazi 2406 GEO 6 2325 61½ 65½ 4 44 49 WIM MIKADZE Miranda 2329 GEO 6 2263 54½ 57½ 5 45 53 WIM MAMMADOVA Gulnar 2324 AZE 5½ 2421 67 71½ 4 46 61 WIM IVAKHINOVA Inna 2285 RUS 5½ 2415 65½ 70 5 47 13 IM SKRIPCHENKO Almira 2468 FRA 5½ 2377 59½ 64½ 3 48 44 WIM ZIAZIULKINA Nastassia 2343 BLR 5½ 2363 65½ 69½ 5 49 37 WGM CHAROCHKINA Daria 2371 RUS 5½ 2356 62½ 66 4 50 11 IM MUZYCHUK Mariya 2490 UKR 5½ 2338 58 63 3 51 64 WIM RAKIC Marija 2267 SRB 5½ 2326 57 60½ 3 52 32 IM BOJKOVIC Natasa 2395 SRB 5½ 2298 60½ 64½ 4 53 45 WGM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2342 TUR 5½ 2285 58 62 3 54 65 WGM CHELUSHKINA Irina 2263 SRB 5½ 2257 52½ 56½ 5 55 39 IM GALOJAN Lilit 2364 ARM 5½ 2254 56½ 60½ 3 56 62 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Turkan 2284 AZE 5½ 2254 50½ 54 3 57 73 WIM UMUDOVA Nargiz 2220 AZE 5½ 2236 55½ 58½ 4 58 56 WGM OZTURK Kubra 2314 TUR 5½ 2222 53½ 57 5 59 52 IM SAVINA Anastasia 2325 RUS 5½ 2203 55 59 3 60 72 WGM MAKROPOULOU Marina 2224 GRE 5½ 2201 53½ 56 3 61 68 WIM BRONNIKOVA Elizaveta 2252 RUS 5½ 2130 49½ 51 4 62 78 WIM KHARMUNOVA Nadejda 2191 RUS 5 2349 63½ 68½ 5 63 36 WGM KASHLINSKAYA Alina 2377 RUS 5 2312 61½ 66 4 64 42 IM SEDINA Elena 2353 ITA 5 2274 58 62½ 1 65 26 IM REPKOVA Eva 2416 SVK 5 2258 57 61 4 66 59 WGM BOROSOVA Zuzana 2302 SVK 5 2244 55 59 3 67 55 WGM MANAKOVA Maria 2315 SRB 5 2231 56 56½ 4 68 67 WIM KAZIMOVA Narmin 2253 AZE 5 2174 50½ 54 4 69 70 WFM FOISOR Mihaela-Veronica 2242 ROU 5 2171 53 56½ 3 70 69 WIM ABDULLA Khayala 2246 AZE 5 2103 48½ 51 5 71 71 WIM HAIRAPETIAN Anna 2227 ARM 5 2074 52 52½ 5 72 82 WFM CHEREDNICHENKO Elena 2130 UKR 5 2074 49 52½ 4 73 35 WGM MICHNA Marta 2383 GER 4½ 2258 61 65 3 74 43 WGM MOLCHANOVA Tatjana 2346 RUS 4½ 2240 64½ 67½ 4 75 74 WIM SEPS Monika 2208 SUI 4½ 2239 60½ 64 3 76 85 WIM ALEXANIAN Nelli 2114 RUS 4½ 2222 58 61 3 77 76 WIM BEZGODOVA Maria 2200 RUS 4½ 2217 58½ 61 2 78 79 WIM OLSAROVA Karolina 2189 CZE 4½ 2208 55½ 59 3 79 87 WIM BEZGODOVA Svetlana 2109 RUS 4½ 2172 53 53½ 4 80 80 WIM TSIGANOVA Monika 2185 EST 4½ 2170 51 54½ 3 81 75 WIM ISGANDAROVA Khayala 2203 AZE 4½ 2169 57 61 3 82 89 WFM MOTYCAKOVA Monika 2087 SVK 4½ 2165 56½ 59½ 4 83 83 WFM KINEVA Ekaterina 2126 RUS 4½ 2087 50½ 53 3 84 84 WFM DE SEROUX Camille 2122 SUI 4½ 2076 47½ 49 4 85 81 WFM COIMBRA Margarida 2156 POR 4½ 2035 50 53 3 86 96 PATEL Yesim 1839 TUR 4½ 2012 47½ 50½ 2 87 77 WGM SHAYDULLINA Sandugach 2197 RUS 4½ 2010 48 50½ 3 88 93 MENZI Nezihe Ezgi 1902 TUR 4½ 2008 47 47½ 4 89 97 OZTURK Hilal 1784 TUR 4 2202 57½ 61½ 4 90 86 WFM MARECKOVA Martina 2114 CZE 4 2054 48 50½ 3 91 95 ARIG Busra 1839 TUR 4 2015 47 49½ 3 92 90 WCM KAYA Emel 1997 TUR 4 1983 44 44½ 3 93 91 MESSINA Roberta 1957 ITA 4 1975 47½ 50 3 94 98 MARTYNKOVA Olena 1689 UKR 4 1754 41 42½ 3 95 63 WIM DRLJEVIC Ljilja 2278 SRB 3½ 2035 52½ 55 3 96 92 WCM CEMHAN Kardelen 1954 TUR 3½ 1911 44½ 47½ 2 97 88 WFM UTA Adeline-Ramona 2098 ROU 3½ 1883 42 44½ 3 98 94 SOYUNLU Narmin 1842 AZE 3½ 1767 40 41½ 1 99 100 DAI Irmak 1592 TUR 3½ 1590 39 39½ 2 100 101 BOZKURT Hatice Mislina TUR 3 1295 38½ 39 2 101 99 ALEV Gonulden Seda 1612 TUR 3 1282 38 38½ 2 102 102 DURMUS Aslihan TUR 2 1172 38½ 39 1 103 103 SAHIN Hayrun Nisa TUR 1 1219 39 39½ 0 .

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