Oh No - Witch Hunt is on in Tanzania

Well, you can just imagine what's going to happen, with anonymous accusations being leveled...

Story from BBC News Online
Tanzania 'witch-naming' under way
Page last updated at 13:56 GMT, Tuesday, 10 March 2009

Thousands of people in Tanzania have been taking part in an exercise aimed at identifying those behind the killing of albinos for ritual purposes.

The process - in which people fill in forms anonymously, naming those they suspect of involvement - was ordered by President Jakaya Kikwete.

But some fear the nationwide exercise, which has begun in the Lake Zone area, could be used for personal vendettas.

Witchdoctors reportedly buy albino body parts to make "magic" potions.

Since late 2007, 45 albinos have been slaughtered in Tanzania.

Forty-four of the killings have taken place in the Lake Zone district. Police believe the killers are selling their victims' limbs, hair, skin and genitals to traditional medicine practitioners who make potions promising to make people wealthy.

Superstitious miners and fishermen in the region hoping to get rich quick have been accused of fuelling the demand.

President Kikwete has said the murders have brought shame on the country and urged the public not to fear retribution for naming the culprits. But correspondents say it is not clear how effective the exercise will be in a society which believes in witchcraft and where confidence in the legal system is wearing thin.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month decried the albino killings during his official visit to the country.

The government issued a ban on all traditional healers in January in an effort to stop the killings and several have been arrested since then on suspicion of flouting the order.

Koneru Wins!

WOW! Way to go, Humpy, yeah! From the official website: In the last round of İstanbul Women Grand Prix, Humpy Koneru won against Marie Sebag while Hou Yifan faltered against Shen Yang. Elina Danielian scored an important victory and outplayed Xue Zhao to take the second spot. Martha Fierro won against Maia Chiburdanidze while Pia Cramling closed the tournament with a win against Antoaneta Stefanova. Zeinab Mamedyarova and Betül Cemre Yıldız drew. The leader changed for the third time and Humpy Koneru won İş Bank Atatürk FIDE Women Grand Prix with 8.5 out of 11. Elina Danielian took the second place with better tie-break having 8 points while Hou Yifan took the third place. Here are the final standings: Rank SNo. Name Rtg FED Pts Res. SB. Koya 1 12 GM KONERU Humpy 2621 IND 8½ 0 43,50 4½ 2 7 IM DANIELIAN Elina 2496 ARM 8 ½ 40,25 4 3 4 GM HOU Yifan 2571 CHN 8 ½ 39,75 4 4 5 GM ZHAO Xue 2508 CHN 7½ 0 35,25 3½ 5 6 GM SEBAG Marie 2529 FRA 6 0 28,00 3 6 3 IM FIERRO Baquero Martha L. 2403 ECU 5½ 1 20,00 1 7 1 GM CRAMLING Pia 2548 SWE 5½ 0 22,75 1 8 11 GM STEFANOVA Antoaneta 2557 BUL 5 ½ 20,75 2 9 9 GM CHIBURDANIDZE Maia 2516 GEO 5 ½ 20,25 1½ 10 10 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Zeinab 2362 AZE 2½ 1 10,25 1 11 8 WGM SHEN Yang 2448 CHN 2½ 0 17,75 2 12 2 WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2214 TUR 2 0 8,00 ½ See also the spare but insightful comments by GM Susan Polgar at her blog. Some interesting stories here - among them the failure of Stefanova, Cramling and Chiburdanidze. What happened? Stefanova can usually be counted upon to be among the front runners, but she lagged behind in this event from the start and never got any better. I can say pretty much the same for Pia Cramling, who earned her GM stripes around the same time that GM Susan Polgar earned hers! And what happened to Marie Sebag, who won her GM title playing in the 2008 European Individual Chess Championship ("Open")? She was lackluster in this event. Who lit that fire under Elina Danielian? GOOD to see her charging ahead in this tournament, wow. I've been covering women's chess for eight years and have seen her in tournament after tournament - sometimes the only woman playing. Always steady, usually out of the lime-light. Not this time! I'd be tempted to say this tournament represents the passing of the "old guard" (relatively speaking), but Danielian gives the lie to that theory! She has been playing very good chess but has been mostly under the radar. I consider Marie Sebag one of the "new guard" but she just didn't have it at this event. Who will be the top female player once Judit Polgar retires? The battle seems to be between Koneru Humpy and Hou Yifan - maybe. Who knows what new female chess star will jump to the fore in the next couple of years?

2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Wow! Lots of excitment in the final round - and it's not over yet! First of all, here are the top 10 final standings, with the caveat below (and it's a big one): Rank Pno Title Name Elo Fed Score TPR 1 11 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 2460 ARM 8,5 2598 2 5 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 2497 RUS 8,5 2551 3 15 GM Socko, Monika 2449 POL 8 2565 4 24 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 2416 RUS 8 2552 5 17 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 2437 GEO 8 2520 6 16 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 2442 RUS 8 2550 7 9 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 2467 RUS 8 2540 8 27 IM Rajlich, Iweta 2399 POL 8 2552 9 18 IM Ovod, Evgenija 2430 RUS 8 2504 10 8 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 2483 HUN After visiting Chessdom I learned that IM Lilit Mkrtchian and IM Tatiana Kosintseva will do a play-off to determine which chess femme wins the title. (By the way, beautiful photos of the chess femmes at Chessdom). Here are the Round 11 results for the top boards: IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 7.5 RUS 2497 - IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 8.0 RUS 2442 1-0 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 7.5 GEO 2437 - WGM Pogonina, Natalija 7.5 RUS 2467 0.5-0.5 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 7.5 ARM 2460 - WGM Romanko, Marina 7.5 RUS 2451 1-0 IM Rajlich, Iweta 7.5 POL 2399 - GM Socko, Monika 7.5 POL 2449 0.5-0.5 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 7.0 HUN 2483 - IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 7.0 GEO 2416 0.5-0.5 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 7.0 GER 2455 - WGM Kovanova, Baira 7.0 RUS 2386 0.5-0.5 IM Ovod, Evgenija 7.0 RUS 2430 - WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 7.0 RUS 2384 1-0 IM Turova, Irina 7.0 RUS 2379 - IM Muzychuk, Mariya 7.0 UKR 2427 0.5-0.5 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 7.0 RUS 2416 - IM Melia, Salome 7.0 GEO 2422 1-0WGM Demina, Julia 6.5 RUS 2361 - IM Muzychuk, Anna 6.5 SLO 2540 0-1 IM Vasilevich, Irina 6.5 RUS 2340 - GM Lahno, Kateryna 6.5 UKR 2488 1-0 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 6.5 POL 2352 - IM Gaponenko, Inna 6.5 UKR 2450 0.5-0.5 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 6.5 ROU 2412 - WIM Paulet, Iozefina 6.5 ROU 2315 0.5-0.5 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 6.5 POL 2385 - WGM Botsari, Anna-Maria 6.5 GRE 2289 1-0 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 6.0 GEO 2518 - WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 6.0 RUS 2327 1-0 At the moment, these are the play-offs: For Championship Title: -- L. Mkrtchian (ARM) -- T. Kosintseva (RUS) For Bronze and Silver Medals: -- (1) IM Monica Socko (POL) -- (2) E. Kovalevskaya (RUS) -- (2) N. Pogonina (RUS) (winner of this play-off will meet Socko) -- (3) T. Shadrina (RUS) -- (3) E. Ovod (RUS) (winner of 3 will play-off against winner of 4) -- (4) M. Lomineishvili (GEO) -- (4) I. Rajlich (POL) Here are the special prizes awarded to the chess femmes thus far: Rank Name Fed Score TPR Elo TPR-Elo Prize (Eur) 1 Ziaziulkina, Nastassia BLR 5 2208 1950 258 1000 2 Khokhlova, Ekaterina RUS 4,5 2068 1822 246 900 3 Petrukhina, Irina RUS 4,5 2113 1905 208 800 4 Della-Rossa, Anastasia RUS 4 2074 1868 206 700 5 Balaian, Alina RUS 5 2229 2037 192 600 6 Brunello, Marina ITA 5 2282 2106 176 550 7 Kushka, Alena RUS 5,5 2295 2124 171 500 8 Sorokina, Anastasia RUS 4,5 2250 2087 163 450 9 Lezhepekova, Veronika RUS 3,5 2079 1917 162 400 10 Styazhkina, Anna RUS 4 2072 1926 146 350 11 Lupik, Marina RUS 5,5 2307 2163 144 300 12 Abdulla, Khayala AZE 5 2205 2070 135 260 13 Zizlova, Sofia RUS 4,5 2153 2020 133 220 14 Girya, Olga RUS 7 2441 2315 126 200 15 Lomakina, Galja RUS 5 2183 2058 125 170 Where did my girl Narmin Kazimova finish? 85 114 Kazimova, Narmin 2165 AZE 5,5 2223 Respectable, but not spectacular (85 out of 168, and higher than her start place at 114). There was no magic in this year's Championship for Narmin. Narmin, you keep going. I think you've got what it takes, but you need more training and a LOT more exposure to international competitions. Unfortunately, you are not in a position to obtain this - the sad but true story for too many chessplayers around the world today.

2009 Isbanc Ataturk Women's Masters Tournament

This article is about yesterday's game: From the Press Trust of India Humpy held by Zhao, title hopes diminish By Our Chess Correspondent Istanbul, Mar 18 (PTI) Top seeded Grandmaster Koneru tried her best but could not breach Zhao Xue's defence and drew a tense game to remain joint third after the ninth round of the IS Bank Ataturk Women Grand Prix chess event here. Humpy raised visions of a victory against leader Zhao that would have brightened his title prospects but the Chinese kept herself in the game with some fine defence and in the end it was a drawn endgame that surfaced on the board. Consequentially, Zhao remained in sole lead inching up to 7.5 points out of a possible nine in the 12-players round robin tournament which is a part of the next world championship cycle.Compatriot Yifan Hao (7) remained in the second spot after she failed to capitalise on the extra pawn against Marie Sebag of France and settled for a draw.Humpy shares the third spot along with Elina Danielian of Armenia with 6.5 points apiece. In other games of the day Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria won against Zeinab Mamedyarova of Azerbaijan as did Elina Danielian against Martha Baquero Fierro of Ecuador. Local hopeful Betul Cemre Yildiz scored her first win against Shen Yang of China, while Pia Cramling of Sweden won her second game in a row against Maia Chiburdanidze in the clash of the two most experienced names in the field. PTI

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That was yesterday - today Koneru is in a three-way tie for first place with 7.5! She won her game today against Stefanova, Zhao lost her game to recently minted GM Marie Sebag, and Hou Yifan drew her game with IM Elina Danielian. Very interesting! Here are the current standings: 1 GM ZHAO Xue 2508 CHN 7½ 1½ 30,75 2½ 2 GM HOU Yifan 2571 CHN 7½ 1 34,00 3½ 3 GM KONERU Humpy 2621 IND 7½ ½ 33,50 3½ 4 IM DANIELIAN Elina 2496 ARM 7 0 30,00 3½ 5 GM SEBAG Marie 2529 FRA 6 0 25,00 2 6 GM STEFANOVA Antoaneta 2557 BUL 5 ½ 19,00 2 7 GM CHIBURDANIDZE Maia 2516 GEO 5 ½ 18,50 2 8 IM FIERRO Baquero Martha L. 2403 ECU 4½ 1 12,50 ½ 9 GM CRAMLING Pia 2548 SWE 4½ 0 16,00 2 10 WGM MAMEDJAROVA Zeinab 2362 AZE 2 1 7,75 ½ 11 WGM SHEN Yang 2448 CHN 2 0 12,75 2 12 WIM YILDIZ Betul Cemre 2214 TUR 1½ 0 5,75 ½ Here is some belated coverage of this great event at Chessbase. Tomorrow is the final game - the heat is on, Bad Girls! Official website.

First Female PhD in Computer Science Wins Award

From Stanford University's news service Stanford Report, March 18, 2009 First woman with computer science PhD wins top award The Turing Award, computing's highest honor, has gone to a researcher with a unique Stanford connection. When Barbara Liskov completed her doctorate at Stanford in 1968, she was the first woman in the United States to earn a PhD in computer science. Her dissertation was titled, "A Program to Play Chess Endgames." The award, announced by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), cites Liskov's work in making software more reliable and easier to maintain. Her achievements in programming language design are the basis of every important programming language since 1975, according to ACM. She is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Police Ruin Bronze Age Tomb

Oh my - well, I just don't know what to say about this. Experts aghast as police disturb Bronze Age tomb From The Times Online March 17, 2009 Mike Wade Police officers in northern Scotland have been accused of vandalising a Bronze Age site through ignorance after they removed bones and textiles from the 4,000-year-old burial chamber, apparently because they thought they were investigating a crime scene. The burial chamber, or cist, was discovered intact, in a field near Oykel Bridge in Sutherland. The area is rich in Bronze Age remains, but this find was of huge importance to archaeologists. Unlike the vast chambered cairns of the earlier Neolithic period, burials from the metal-working people of the Bronze Age are modest affairs with artefacts such as pottery most commonly found. Inside the cist was a skeleton in the foetal position, an unusual “crouched burial”, and - rarer still - the chamber contained well-preserved items made of woven materials. Oblivious to the importance of the site - described as unique by one authority - police removed bones and other materials from the grave for forensic analysis, in actions which were described as “clumsy and “incompetent” by critics. Jonathan Hampton, the farmer and archaeology enthusiast who found the cist in January, had behaved impeccably on making his discovery. As soon as a mechanical digger pulled back a slab, he realised he was looking into a 4,000-year-old tomb. After punching the air in delight, he secured the site and covered it with a tarpaulin, before contacting National Museums of Scotland and Historic Scotland and, fatefully, notifying the police. The trouble, however, started late in the afternoon of 29 January, shortly after police officers arrived at the scene. A constable and a detective insisted on seeing the burial chamber, recalled Mr Hampton. “They hummed and hawed and made telephone calls and it all went on for some little time. It was getting dark and I was cold and tired. I eventually asked: ‘What are you going to do?' and they told me they were going to take a couple of photographs. I said that was fine, take them and cover the site up,” he said. Later, he spoke to the police as they left and was aghast to learn they had interfered with the grave. “It is a pity to lose our heritage like this, it was such an ignorant thing to do,” said Mr Hampton, who also has a 2,000-year-old vitrified fort on his land. Historic Scotland defended the police actions, and said the force had “an obligation to investigate an unexplained death”, adding that the site was not a scheduled monument, and so was not subject to the heritage organisation's protection. A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said that all materials had been handed over to Historic Scotland. “Following consultation with the Procurator Fiscal Service it was agreed the site would be photographed and the visible bones recovered for forensic analysis. Historic Scotland's later involvement in this matter identified further remains at the site as being from a historical burial site,” he said. The Procurator Fiscal said it was “not immediately obvious in the circumstances and poor lighting” that this was an archaeological site, a statement bitterly contested by Mr Hampton, who said police arrived in daylight. Though the bones have subsequently been handed over to Historic Scotland, the farmer remains adamant that some of the textiles, and basket-like materials have been lost. While police sources have confirmed that no foul play is suspected, many archaeologists were aghast at the force's behaviour. Jim Crow, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh said that a find of textiles in a Bronze Age grave was unique in Scotland and extremely rare anywhere in Britain. The police behaviour seemed “a little incompetent”. “If they were dealing with a real crime, they shouldn't disturb the scene in any case. But in any circumstances, people take human remains very seriously and there are a whole range of concerns, not just among archaeologists but among society at large. There are very strict procedures, whether the remains are ancient or modern,” Professor Crow said. One archaeologist who has visited the site condemned the police actions: “From a professional perspective, it is astonishing. Everyone who hears about this incident says, ‘They did what?' They cannot believe the police have been so stupid,” he said.

Statue of Ancient Queen Found in Yemen

Archaeologists find statue of ancient Yemeni queen [18 March 2009] DHAMAR, March 18 (Saba) – A Yemeni archaeologist team has discovered a mosaic statue of a women sitting on a throne with here chest engraved with Musnad letters. The archaeologists also found other relics including a stone board with faith signs engraved on it. Two pulls [bulls?] separated by a tree were carved on the stone board, a symbol that was know as "Life's Tree" [Tree of Life] in ancient Yemeni civilization, director of the authority Ali al-Sanabani said. Other symbols like crescent were imprinted on found relics. The discoveries were revealed during excavations at a site in Dhamar province where the team found buildings that were used to give sacrifices. Al-Sanabani expected the site is a trace of the Yatrib city of the Sheba civilization. FRSaba

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Er, is that the queen? If it is, she sure was ugly! Looks like she had a beard too. Did the ancient Yemeni people's female rulers wear "false beards" like the Egyptian pharaohs did?

2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Standings after Round 8 - only those chess femmes within a point of the leaders. It is still any woman's Championship at this point. IM Lilit Mkrtchian has bounced back from 5th place to 2nd place today with a win. Keep your eye on her: 1 GM Socko, Monika 7.0 POL F 2449 2604 2 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 7.0 ARM F 2460 2599 3 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 7.0 HUN F 2483 2605 4 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 7.0 RUS F 2416 2583 5 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 7.0 GEO F 2437 2539 6 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 7.0 RUS F 2442 2569 7 IM Rajlich, Iweta 7.0 POL F 2399 2580 8 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 6.5 ROU F 2412 2535 9 IM Melia, Salome 6.5 GEO F 2422 2532 10 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 6.5 RUS F 2467 2507 11 IM Kosintseva, Tatiana 6.5 RUS F 2497 2486 12 WGM Romanko, Marina 6.5 RUS F 2451 2495 13 IM Turova, Irina 6.5 RUS F 2379 2502 14 GM Dzagnidze, Nana 6.0 GEO F 2518 2498 15 GM Lahno, Kateryna 6.0 UKR F 2488 2478 16 WGM Kovanova, Baira 6.0 RUS F 2386 2476 17 WGM Zawadzka, Jolanta 6.0 POL F 2385 2469 18 IM Khukhashvili, Sopiko 6.0 GEO F 2416 2467 19 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 6.0 RUS F 2384 2475 20 IM Ovod, Evgenija 6.0 RUS F 2430 2448 21 WGM Nebolsina, Vera 6.0 RUS F 2312 2418 22 IM Ushenina, Anna 6.0 UKR F 2499 2469 23 WFM Girya, Olga 6.0 RUS F 2315 2451 24 IM Muzychuk, Anna 6.0 SLO F 2540 2445 25 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 6.0 GER F 2455 2440 26 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 6.0 POL F 2352 2413 27 IM Muzychuk, Mariya 6.0 UKR F 2427 2434 28 WIM Solovjova, Valentina 6.0 RUS F 2324 2384 29 WIM Majdan, Joanna 6.0 POL F 2351 2430 30 WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 6.0 RUS F 2327 2372

The Essenes Are Baloney! Claims Archaeologist

Nothing like Middle East archaeology to stir up a little controversy among the usually pretty laid-back realms of archaeology! The mental images of "scholars in uproar" makes me double over laughing! And that the archaeologist putting forth the new hypothesis causing all of the uproar is a female - well - PRICELESS! I can hardly wait to see how this all works out - but I'll probably be dead by then (50 to 100 years from now). Drat! I need a crash course in reincarnation... From The Times On Line (where else???) From The Times March 18, 2009 Scholars in uproar over challenge to Dead Sea Scrolls For more than 60 years scholars have believed that the Dead Sea Scrolls were the work of an ascetic Jewish sect called the Essenes, who lived in the 1st century in the mountains and recorded their religious observances on parchments. Now a new theory challenging the broadly accepted history is sending shockwaves through the archaeological community, even leading to the arrest of one prominent scrolls scholar’s son in the United States. Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, claims in a forthcoming study that not only were the 930 scrolls written by Jewish priests living in Jerusalem but that the Essenes as a sect did not exist. In her new book Memory and Oblivion, Professor Elior says that the scrolls were written by the Sadducees, a class of Jewish priests dating back to the time of King Solomon. The scrolls were found by a shepherd in a cave at Qumran, on the edge of the Dead Sea, in 1947. One of the most important archaeological finds of the century, their significance was enhanced by the discovery of an untouched version of the Hebrew Bible dating back to 300BC. Some scholars believe that the obscure sect may have had an impact on early Christianity, positing that John the Baptist or even Jesus may have spent time with them. Professor Elior argues, however, that an analysis of the scrolls shows that the authors were recording the routines and practises of the cohanim, or priests, descended from Zadok, the first high priest in Jerusalem after the conquest of the city by the Israelites hundreds of years before. She believes they were taken to Qumran some time during the 2nd century BC after the Sadducees turned their backs on the Temple of Jerusalem, which they said had been defiled by the conquest of the Seleucid Greeks, the descendants of one of the generals of Alexander the Great, in 175BC. “I believe any serious scholar truly can’t but admit that the law reflected in the scrolls is a Sadducee law,” she said, pointing out that there were no corroborating historical records, either in Jewish or early Christian literature, to indicate that a large sect of celibate men lived in the area over a long period of time. “The Essenes are only a literary invention of a Utopian society that lived a most benevolent and chaste life,” she told The Times. The confusion arose from scholars using other, later texts as their sources, she said, noting that the Jewish-Roman scholar Josephus mentioned them, but that he was writing hundreds of years later. The professor also noted that when the texts were unearthed in 1947, the area around Jerusalem was caught up in the war that created the Jewish state, and that early hurried assessment of their origin set scholars on the wrong track for decades. The theory has stirred controversy in academic circles, with established scrolls experts vehemently rejecting the new interpretation. “Almost seventy scholars accept the statement that one of the Essenes’ groups lived in Qumran, and some say we’re all morons and only they understand,” Hanan Eshel, a professor at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, told the Haaretz newspaper. The debate has even led to the arrest of the son of one proponent of the theory that the Essenes did not write the ancient scriptures. Raphael Golb, the son of Norman Golb, a professor at Chicago University, was arrested in New York this month for allegedly creating online aliases and conducting a campaign of harassment against academic opponents of his father’s theories. Father and son claimed that members of mainstream academia were trying to silence the professor. The younger Mr Golb reportedly accused his father’s critics of being anti-Semites trying to deny the link between the scrolls and established Jewish institutions. Monastic mystery — The Essenes are believed to have been a religious sect in Palestine from about the 2nd century BC to the end of the 1st century AD — The New Testament makes no mention of them, and accounts by Pliny the Elder, Philo of Alexandria and Josephus differ in significant details — Pliny, in his day, fixed their number at 4,000. They are thought to have moved to the desert in opposition to the powers in Jerusalem and lived in secluded monastic communities — It is believed that they considered themselves to be a chosen elect and that messianic figures would appear to them and usher in a new age, and that they spent their days engaged in manual work or study of Scripture — After a year’s probation, converts received emblems but were banned from common meals for two years — Those who qualified then swore piety to God, justice towards men, hatred of falsehood and faithful observance of the tenets Source: www.britannica.com ****************************************************************************** I found this first comment on the story made online at the newspaper's website point on - and it happens to coincide with the philosophy of the researchers at Goddesschess who are exploring the origins of chess and other ancient board games: a lot of accepted antiquities "standards" eg chronology are based on surprisingly flimsy evidence, often just some 19th century German theorist's opinion, who had information second or third-hand. The Egyptian chronology is a good example and David Rohl has done a great job of demolishing it. Justin Toffmann, Cologne, Germany Jan says: Just because it's accepted as "truth" today does not mean it's correct; what is accepted as "truth" today is tomorrow's discarded hypothesis. We've seen this over and over again in the world of science (both hard and "soft" sciences) and chess historians should keep this in mind.

By Invitation Only

There are hundreds of thousands of blogs on the internet these days - pick a subject, you'll find a blog. How to narrow down what's worth reading? Frankly, I've no idea, darlings! What is one woman's garbage is another woman's treasure until the next rummage sale, as the saying goes... I happened across this blog by accident ("there is no such thing as coincidence...") The subject is one I find absolutely fascinating since, by inference, it touches on the subject of, as it is so often incorrectly framed - why can't women play chess as good as men? How the question is framed and thus, defining the focus of the research, is a topic that deserves it own blog! Change the perameters of the question and the focus of the research changes entirely - that takes me back to one of my favorite true stories about scientific research. But that's another topic :) After reading a blog entry at Twisted Physics, I framed the "topic" this way: how to define a paradigm (social, political, scientific, whatever) and just about anything else by using the power to exclude and omit. Think about it: when it comes right down to it, he who has the power to define the question controls what the ultimate answer will be. Please read By Invitation Only.

What Would You Do?

Story from The New York Times Image: A virtual rendering of the calesse excavated outside Rome, parts of which are in the Glyptotek (the harnesses) Danish Museum Resists Return of Disputed Artifacts By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO Published: March 16, 2009 ROME — The Italian government has successfully brokered deals with American museums and private collectors for the return of what it says are looted antiquities. But it is finding the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, an art museum in Copenhagen, harder to crack. Talks with the Glyptotek have dragged on for months, even though “the presuppositions for the negotiations are identical to those that were carried out with the Americans,” said Maurizio Fiorilli, a lawyer for the Italian state involved in the negotiations. The Glyptotek, however, has “adopted a very different attitude,” he said. At the core of the dispute are Etruscan and Greco-Roman objects that the Glyptotek bought from Robert Hecht, an American antiquities dealer now on trial in Rome, where he is accused of receiving and selling stolen artifacts and conspiracy in the antiquities trade. He denies any wrongdoing. The Italians have used evidence from Mr. Hecht’s trial, and from the trial of the antiquities dealer Giacomo Medici, who was convicted of receiving and smuggling archeological artifacts, to persuade several American institutions — including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles — to return objects to Italy on the suspicion that they were illicitly excavated. (Mr. Medici is appealing his conviction.) Italy’s campaign is founded on a 1970 Unesco convention that prohibited the illicit circulation of a nation’s cultural property. There is general agreement in the antiquities world that objects that surfaced after that date without established provenance should not be purchased. In addition a 1909 Italian law states that anything found underground in Italy belongs to the state. At Mr. Hecht’s most recent hearing last month, correspondence from the early 1970s between him and former Glyptotek officials regarding the sale of dozens of objects to the museum — including an Etruscan calesse, or two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage, excavated near Fara in Sabina, just north of Rome — was presented as evidence against him. The calesse, which dates from the early seventh century B.C., was part of the funerary accouterments of a Sabine prince whose tomb at a Colle del Forno necropolis was discovered by Italian archaeologists in 1970. When they began excavating soon after, they found that tomb robbers had already been there. “Fortunately the tomb raiders didn’t do a thorough job,” said Daniela Rizzo, an archaeologist and witness for the prosecution. In later digs — the most recent in the fall of 2008 — Italian archaeologists managed to recover material from the prince’s tomb and other parts of the necropolis. Today the tomb’s contents, including amphorae, weapons, gold and silver jewelry and decorations, as well as elements of the calesse, are mostly split between the Glyptotek and the archeological museum in Fara in Sabina. Despite the overwhelming evidence that the tomb objects were looted, Ms. Rizzo said on the stand, the Glyptotek “has always refused to collaborate” and return the artifacts. Ms. Rizzo said the museum should not have bought the objects in the first place. “They were visibly the result of a traumatic action,” she said. “It would have been impossible not to know that it had been illegally excavated. Archaeologists can read between the lines.” The Glyptotek has declined to speak about the case. In an e-mail message Jette Christiansen, of the museum’s department of ancient art, wrote, “As negotiations are currently still going on, we prefer to refrain from discussing the case in public until we have found a solution, satisfactory to all parties involved.” Mr. Hecht said in an interview that he first saw the artifacts he sold to the Glyptotek in Switzerland. “It’s only supposition that everything came from Etruria but” — and here he broke into song — “dimmi quando, quando, quando” (“tell me when, when, when”). Paolo Giorgio Ferri, the prosecutor at Mr. Hecht’s trial, said he hoped to build a separate case against former officials at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, though the statute of limitations has expired. Mr. Ferri also said he could ask that some of the objects be confiscated as material evidence should Mr. Hecht be convicted. “For now we have to evaluate the good or bad faith of the buyer,” said Mr. Ferri, who is still evaluating whether he will press charges against the Glyptotek. “The sin has almost been ascertained, let’s see if we will absolve them.” Italian authorities have also presented the Glyptotek with a longer list of objects, mostly bought from Mr. Hecht and Mr. Medici, whose provenance it is investigating. They include an acroterion, or pediment decoration, of a winged sphinx; an Etruscan terra cotta antefix, or roof ornament, similar to one returned by the Getty last year; and terra cotta reliefs of warriors on horseback. Italian officials have repeatedly said they did not intend to “empty the museum of its possessions,” only to point out the suspect provenance of many dozens of artifacts. Mario Torsello, the president of the Culture Ministry committee charged with recovering allegedly looted artifacts said in a telephone interview that negotiations with the museum were continuing, and that an Italian delegation would travel to Copenhagen to resume talks. “We’re confident that we will arrive at an accord that is mutually satisfying,” he said. But even if the Glyptotek should return the funerary artifacts from the tomb at Colle del Forno, the calesse would still not be complete. “There are other elements missing,” said Paolo Santoro, the archaeologist who has led the excavations at Colle del Forno since the 1970s. “Who knows who bought them?”

4,000 Year Old Cave Paintings in Peru

From the Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times Thousands of 6,000-year old cave paintings found in Peru’s Amazon region Posted on March, 16 at 10:36 pm More than 10,000 cave paintings — dating back to more than 6,000 years — were discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Quirino Olivera in the Andean country’s jungle department of Amazonas, daily El Comercio reported. Hidden by the region’s lush vegetation for centuries, the paintings were discovered in caves located near the village of Tambolic, in the district of Jamalca, province of Utcubamba. “Over the past two years,” said Olivera, “we have found 6,000-year old cave paintings, especially in the Cuaco and Yamón mountains, located in the Lonya Grande district. These are in addition to those recently found in Shupcha, Tambolic, were many of these ancient images are concentrated.” According to Olivera, most of the Tambolic paintings depict hunting scenes and are similar to those found in Toquepala. The artists used mainly red, brown, yellow and black pigments. The Toquepala caves are located in the western Andes, at an altitude of 2,700 meters above sea level. They are noted for cave paintings depicting scenes of hunters corralling and killing a group of guanacos, a camelid animal native to South America. Known as “chaco” in the Peruvian Andes, this hunting technique consists of forming human circles, to corral the animals and either capture or kill them.

Cleopatra's Sister Found - Rebuttal by Mary Beard

My previous post on the subject. From The Times On Line A Don's Life Mary Beard March 16, 2009 The skeleton of Cleopatra's sister? Steady on. There were enthusiastic reports this weekend that archaeologists had found the skeleton of the younger sister of Queen Cleopatra -- and that the bones suggested that Cleopatra herself was not ethnically Greek or Macedonian (as most people have assumed), but of mixed race, at least part African. The woman's name was Arsinoe , and she was put to death as a potentially dangerous rival in Ephesus in 41 BC, on the orders of Cleopatra and Antony. The skeleton in question was found in a large tomb there, now known as the Octagon (on the right). The argument is that the shape of the skull shows that she had African blood. So Cleopatra too was part African. Does it all add up? Well, no, sorry -- it's not quite so simple. The facts are something like this. First, Arsinoe was indeed supposed to have been murdered on the steps of the temple of Diana in Ephesus, and the Octagon (which was found in the 1920s) is a rather grand tomb which can be dated stylistically to the first century BC. But there is nothing more than that to link the tomb and the princess. There is no surviving name on the tomb and the claims that the shape was meant to evoke the shape of the lighthouse of Alexandria (and so hint at an Egyptian occupant) don't add up for me. Second, the skeleton itself doesn't survive intact. The crucial skull, on which the ethnic arguments are based, was lost in the second world war. The new conclusions (including a mock up of Arsinoe's face) rely on the measurements of the skull left by the first excavators. The remaining bones are said to be those of a 15-18 year old; Arsinoe may well have been in her mid-20s when she died. Third, we don't actually know that Cleopatra and Arsinoe were full sisters. Their father was King Ptolemy, but they may well have had different mothers. In that case, the ethnic argument goes largely out of the window. The truth is that the BBC has a documentary coming up in a week's time, Cleopatra: portrait of a killer, and this 'scoop' is effectively a trailer for it. I don't blame the archaeologists -- after all, think of what was made of my 'discovery' of last week. For a similar line on this story, I now see that you should take a look at Rogue Classicism.

The Game of Life

From the tomb of Sennedjem, a highly valued artisan during the 20th(?) or 21st (?) Dynasty in Egypt - some of the most spectacularly preserved and colord tomb paintings. This one reminds me of a game board - the Game of Life. I remember playing it as a youngster, at the time it was produced by Milton Bradley. I believe it is still produced today (I don't know by whom). As it is a tomb painting, perhaps some possible associations to the contents of the Book of the Dead have been overlooked because historians have been so caught up in the beauty of the imagery of Sennedjem and his wife going about their daily routine. If you take a closer look at the registers of this wall of art, it is separated into distinct areas, separated in a couple of areas (and surrounded) by a water feature, probably the Nile River. Notice also the series of black and white checked squares near the upper right corner of the painting. I believe this is a short-hand allusion to the battle between the forces of dark (black) and the forces of day (white) that takes place every 24 hours in classical Egyptian myth as the Sun God travels through the underground each night, facing untold horrors and challenges, only to emerge victorious the next morning (and, indeed, every morning), to once again bring light and life to the Earth.

I WON!

Hola! Well - I thought I'd won six - yes SIX - tickets to a Brewer's Game at Miller Park, according to the receipt that was spit out earlier tonight at the Pick and Save (I'd stopped to pick up a few things on my way home from the office); at least, that's what the clerk told me. I DID win six tickets - to a Timber Rattlers game at Miler Park on April 24th. I thought - who the heck are the Timber Rattlers? Turns out, they're a minor league team. Darlings, am I going to go see a minor league team at the tail-end of winter in Milwaukee at Miller Park? Not on your life! Yes, it's true that Miller Park has a roof and has something resembling heat (it can get as warm as 60 degrees F inside). It's equally true that we can get blizzards on April 24th in Milwaukee, LOL! In fact, the year I built this house, we had a blizzard/ice storm on May 15, 1990 that caused a great deal of destruction of roofs, power lines and trees and made getting to and from work an absolute horror! Nope, the Timber Rattlers can play without me in attendance. Good luck, guys.

2009 SPICE Spring International Invitational

The 2009 SSII has begun at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. While there are no chess femmes playing in this new event, I am following the action because it gives an opportunity for promising young American players to earn GM norms against experienced international GMs. IM Ray Robson played back to back in the super-tough Moscow Open and Aeroflot Open events in February and is gunning for a GM norm. At 14, lots of folks are following Robson's career closely - could he be America's hope - the next Caruana or - Carlsen??? IM Robert Hess is the other U.S. hopeful. You can follow the action at Susan Polgar's blog with lots of photographs capturing the action, tension and mood by Paul Truong. Here are some Round 1 photos.

2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

IM Lilit Mkrtchyan (playing for the Armenian women's team) did very well in the 2008 Women's World Chess Championship at Nalchik (where?), and despite this defeat is proving that her showing at the WWCC was no fluke: Report from Pan Armenian.net Lilit Mkrtchyan suffers defeat from Hungarian chess player 16.03.2009 10:56 GMT+04:00 /PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian chess player Lilit Mkrtchyan is no more leader of the European Individual Chess Tournament for women after sustaining defeat from Hungary’s Hoang Thanh Trang in the 7th round. Nelly Aghinyan lost the game vs. Germany’s Elisabeth Pähtz. Lilit Galoyan defeated Russia’s Svetlana Mednikova while Anna Hayrapetyan scored a victory over Irina Petrukhina. Siranush Andreasyan and Galya Lomakina (Russia) played in a draw. After 7 tours, Lilit Mkrtchyan has 5.5 points; Nelly Aghinyan has 4 points; Lilit Galoyan, Siranush Andreasyan and Anna Hayrapetyan have 3.5 points each. *************************************************************************** After Round 8, you can see how tight things are at the top for the ladies - 14 players within 1/2 point of each other for the lead! 1 IM Melia, Salome 6.5 GEO 2422 2 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 6.5 UN 2483 3 IM Rajlich, Iweta 6.5 POL 2399 4 GM Socko, Monika 6.0 POL 2249 5 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 6.0 ARM 2460 6 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 6.0 RUS 2442 7 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 6.0 ROU 2412 8 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 6.0 RUS 2416 9 WGM Kovanova, Baira 6.0 RUS 2386 10 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 6.0 RUS 2467 11 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 6.0 GEO 2437 12 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 6.0 RUS 2384 13 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 6.0 POL 2352 14 WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 6.0 RUS 2327

2009 European Individual Women's Chess Championship

Standings of selected players after Round 8 (168 players): 1 GM Hoang Thanh Trang 6.0 HUN F 2483 2680 2 GM Socko, Monika 5.5 POL F 2449 2609 3 IM Mkrtchian, Lilit 5.5 ARM F 2460 2598 4 IM Kovalevskaya, Ekaterina 5.5 RUS F 2442 2574 5 IM Melia, Salome 5.5 GEO F 2422 2588 6 IM Foisor, Cristina-Adela 5.5 ROU F 2412 2572 7 IM Khurtsidze, Nino 5.5 GEO F 2421 2593 8 WGM Pogonina, Natalija 5.5 RUS F 2467 2540 9 IM Rajlich, Iweta 5.5 POL F 2399 2563 10 WGM Shadrina, Tatiana 5.5 RUS F 2416 2586 11 WGM Kovanova, Baira 5.5 RUS F 2386 2555 12 WFM Bodnaruk, Anastasia 5.5 RUS F 2384 2545 13 WGM Grabuzova, Tatiana 5.5 RUS F 2332 2508 14 IM Ovod, Evgenija 5.0 RUS F 2430 2484 15 IM Lomineishvili, Maia 5.0 GEO F 2437 2469 16 IM Ushenina, Anna 5.0 UKR F 2499 2498 17 IM Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan 5.0 SCO F 2500 2495 18 IM Paehtz, Elisabeth 5.0 GER F 2455 2461 19 WGM Demina, Julia 5.0 RUS F 2361 2419 20 WGM Nebolsina, Vera 5.0 RUS F 2312 2425 21 WFM Severiukhina, Zoja 5.0 RUS F 2327 22 IM Dworakowska, Joanna 5.0 POL F 2352 2400 23 GM Lahno, Kateryna 4.5 UKR F 2488 2455 65 Kazimova, Narmin 4.0 AZE F 2165 2223 68 WGM Calzetta, Monica 4.0 ESP F 2371 2257

The Great Temple of Artemis - Cattle Feeding Grounds

Story from the Hurriyet Daily News.com Monday, March 16, 2009 00:19 Temple of Artemis site suffers neglect ISTANBUL - The site of the historic Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, looks more like a zoo these days as ducks, geese, chickens and sheep wander around its unfenced grounds. Visited by approximately 1.5 million people a year, the temple lies within the boundaries of the Selçuk district in Aydın. Built by Croesus, the king of Lydia from around 560 to 550 B.C., it was burned down in 356 B.C. by a man called Herostratus who wanted to immortalize his name. Afterward, the temple was rebuilt on the same scale as the original, but three meters higher. The temple, the biggest of the Hellenistic age, was also famous for its great marble statues, measuring 55 to 115 meters tall. The reconstructed building was razed by the Goths in 262 A.D. and was not rebuilt again. The first excavations J.T. Wood initiated the first archaeological excavations at Ephesus in 1869 on behalf of the British Museum. After 1904, Wood’s quest to discover the ancient Temple of Artemis was carried on by D.G. Hogarth. The excavations continue today under the supervision of the Archaeological Institution of Austria. Many artifacts found at the temple were brought to the British Museum, while others are housed at the Vienna Museum. Antipater of Sidon, who listed the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, described the temple in this way: "I have gazed on the walls of impregnable Babylon along which chariots may race, and on the Zeus by the banks of the Alpheus. I have seen the hanging gardens and the Colossus of Helios, the great man-made mountains of the lofty pyramids and the gigantic tomb of Mausolus, but when I saw the sacred house of Artemis that towers to the clouds, the others were placed in the shade, for the sun itself has never looked upon its equal, outside Olympus." Protecting the site Though by its nature an important tourism spot, the Temple of Artemis retains little of its former glory. Only one column is still erect while remnants of others lie on the ground. Representatives of the tourism industry want to see this pitiful state improved. They are asking to have informational signs put up at the site to guide tourists and a mockup of the temple to be built there based on the building's known architectural structure. They also want to have a fence put around the area to keep animals and cattle from roaming around the ruins.

Confirmed: The Body of Cleopatra's Sister

Is this the face of Cleopatra's younger sister, Arsinoe? She looks neither Egyptian nor black African to me - she looks like the Latina down the street. From The Sunday Times March 15, 2009 Found: the sister Cleopatra killed Forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of the queen’s younger sister, murdered over 2,000 years ago Daniel Foggo ARCHEOLOGISTS and forensic experts believe they have identified the skeleton of Cleopatra’s younger sister, murdered more than 2,000 years ago on the orders of the Egyptian queen. The remains of Princess Arsinöe, put to death in 41BC on the orders of Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony to eliminate her as a rival, are the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified. The breakthrough, by an Austrian team, has provided pointers to Cleopatra’s true ethnicity. Scholars have long debated whether she was Greek or Macedonian like her ancestor the original Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who was made ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Great, or whether she was north African. Evidence obtained by studying the dimensions of Arsinöe’s skull shows she had some of the characteristics of white Europeans, ancient Egyptians and black Africans, indicating that Cleopatra was probably of mixed race, too. They were daughters of Ptolemy XII by different wives. [So the scientists deduce that Cleopatra was of "mixed race" whatever that means these days, ha! - based on her sister's skeleton? Oh please!] The results vindicate the theories of Hilke Thür of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who has long claimed that the skeleton was Arsinöe. She described the discovery of Arsinöe’s ethnicity as “a real sensation which leads to a new insight on Cleopatra’s family”. [Why is Cleopatra's "ethnicity" a "real sensation"???] Fellow experts are now convinced [are they?]. Günther Hölbl, an authority on the Ptolemies, said the identification of the skeleton was “a great discovery”. The forensic evidence was obtained by a team working under the auspices of the Austrian Archeological Institute, which is set to detail its findings at an anthropological convention in the United States later this month. The story of the discovery will also be the subject of a tele-vision documentary, Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer, to be shown on BBC1 at 9pm next Monday. [Ahhhh, now the real truth comes out about this sensationalist news story - it's all about publicity for this television "special." Geez!] The institute’s breakthrough came about after it set out to examine Thür’s belief that an octagonal tomb in the remains of the Roman city of Ephesus contained the body of Arsinöe. According to Roman texts the city, in what is now Turkey, is where Arsinöe was banished after being defeated in a power struggle against Cleopatra and her then lover, Julius Caesar. Arsinöe was said to have been murdered after Cleopatra, now with Mark Antony following Caesar’s death, ordered the Roman general to have her younger sibling killed to prevent any future attempts on the Egyptian throne. [So, we don't even know for sure if Cleopatra was guilty of ordering the murder of her sister? Easy enough to blame her instead of Antony - or someone else looking to implicate Cleopatra and ruin her reputation with a rumor campaign... And yet what is the name of the upcoming t.v. special: Cleopatra: Portrait of a Killer (of her own sister, tsk tsk). How low-life can the producers get? Must have studied out of the book of Stalin.] The distinctive tomb was first opened in 1926 by archeologists who found a sarcophagus inside containing a skeleton. They removed the skull, which was examined and measured; but it was lost in the upheaval of the second world war. [????] In the early 1990s Thür reentered the tomb and found the headless skeleton, which she believed to be of a young woman. Clues, such as the unusual octagonal shape of the tomb, which echoed that of the lighthouse of Alexandria with which Arsinöe was associated, convinced Thür the body was that of Cleopatra’s sister. Her theory was considered credible by many historians, and in an attempt to resolve the issue the Austrian Archeological Institute asked the Medical University of Vienna to appoint a specialist to examine the remains. Fabian Kanz, an anthropologist, was sceptical when he began this task two years ago. “We tried to exclude her from being Arsinöe,” he said. “We used all the methods we have to find anything that can say, ‘Okay, this can’t be Arsinöe because of this and this’.” After using carbon dating, which dated the skeleton from 200BC-20BC, Kanz, who had examined more than 500 other skeletons taken from the ruins of Ephesus, found Thür’s theory gained credibility. He said he was certain the bones were female and placed the age of the woman at 15-18. Although Arsinöe’s date of birth is not known, she was certainly younger than Cleopatra, who was about 27 at the time of her sister’s demise. The lack of any sign of illness or malnutrition also indicated a sudden death, said Kanz. Evidence of the skeleton’s north African ethnicity provided the final clue. Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist, reconstructed the missing skull based on measurements taken in the 1920s. Using computer technology it was possible to create a facial impression of what Arsinöe might have looked like. [She reconstructs the skull based on measurements of a missing skull that we have no idea were actually accurate, and from there she "reconstructs" a face. Some people accuse Goddesschess of being "out there" with our theories about the origins of chess, but we haven't tried any stunts like this one!] “It has got this long head shape,” said Wilkinson. “That’s something you see quite frequently in ancient Egyptians and black Africans. It could suggest a mixture of ancestry.” Hmmmm, does this mean those recently discovered "elongated skulls" found in Siberia are a mixture of ancient Egyptians and black Africans, too???