(1) From The Huffington Post:
Phiona Mutesi, 17-Year-Old Ugandan Chess Player, Challenged By Bill Gates (VIDEO)
YANGON, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will hold traditional chess women's singles tournament at Aung San Stadium this month, according to sports circle Thursday.
Jointly organized by Sports and Physical Education Department under the Ministry of Sports and Myanmar Chess Federation, the chess event is scheduled to take place from March 24 to 29. Myanmar traditional chess event will be included in the 27th SEA Games to be hosted in Myanmar in 2013.
(5) Interesting turn of events on the March 18, 2013 broadcast of The Amazing Race. In Vietnam, the detour challenge was -- play a game of Chinese chess on a giant board with live people representing the pieces, or go to a local open-air market and buy the exact ingredients for a traditional chicken dish. Wonder how many will choose to play the chess game? LOL!
This week's Detour then asked teams to "Make a Move" (playing Chinese chess on a giant board with human players) or "Make a Meal" (grab two empty baskets and another two filled with live chickens, then head to a market and get ingredients for the traditional Vietnamese dish pho, picking up exact weights for the ingredients on the shopping list).
I did not watch this episode (I watch other programs on Sunday night) but judging by the comments following this article, there was a LOT of controversy about some events that occurred in the episode, including - according to the comments - some (or all?) of the Amazing Race contestants "praising"' the Communist Vietnamese government??? Well, that's sucky, for sure. I wonder - how many of those irate posters will actually follow through and never watch CBS again? Easier than peeing to say you're going to do this or that; it is another thing entirely to follow through and actually do the actions your big mouth said you were going to do...
(6) Dylan McClain presents an interesting perspective on the recently concluded FIDE Women's World Team Chess Championship, and had high praise for the performance of IM Irina Krush, current U.S. Women's Chess Champion:
Ukraine Wins Women’s Event Skipped by Many Big Names
By DYLAN LOEB McCLAIN
Published: March 16, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
The Rice Goddess
Hola darlings!
Okay, yes, I know, I've been neglecting you all, again. I've been busy with - dare I say it? - decorating! Yes, the Celadon Curse has once again descended in full force upon Maison Newton. Not, mind you, that I actually have a damn thing in this house that is true celadon. Nope - shades of teal, turquoise, robin's egg blue, marine blue, seafoam green, sky blue and aqua grace the back of the house now as accents (and a beautiful wool area rug that, alas, is not the right color, but it's not going back because I didn't open it up out of it's packaging until a few weeks ago, a year since I bought it at overstock.com), but not a speck of true celadon do I see. Arggggh!
Well, that's another story and not one for here. Suffice to say, though, that in one of those synchronicitous events that have blessed (?) my life for years (particularly since the advent of Goddesschess), earlier today while hunting down celadon inspiration I came across a wonderful blog filled with interesting things. While there, I continued to read a little and came across this most fascinating information about the rice goddess, and a rice god, too. A rice god?
Okay, yes, I know, I've been neglecting you all, again. I've been busy with - dare I say it? - decorating! Yes, the Celadon Curse has once again descended in full force upon Maison Newton. Not, mind you, that I actually have a damn thing in this house that is true celadon. Nope - shades of teal, turquoise, robin's egg blue, marine blue, seafoam green, sky blue and aqua grace the back of the house now as accents (and a beautiful wool area rug that, alas, is not the right color, but it's not going back because I didn't open it up out of it's packaging until a few weeks ago, a year since I bought it at overstock.com), but not a speck of true celadon do I see. Arggggh!
Well, that's another story and not one for here. Suffice to say, though, that in one of those synchronicitous events that have blessed (?) my life for years (particularly since the advent of Goddesschess), earlier today while hunting down celadon inspiration I came across a wonderful blog filled with interesting things. While there, I continued to read a little and came across this most fascinating information about the rice goddess, and a rice god, too. A rice god?
Rice Gods and Rice Goddesses
 |
| Photo from India Pied-a-Terre, link above to post. |
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
3300 Year Old Sundial Discovered in Egypt
Press Trust of India | London March 15, 2013 Last Updated at 16:05 IST
One of world's oldest sun dials discovered in Egypt
Researchers have unearthed one of the world's oldest Egyptian sun dials - possibly dating back to 13th century BC - used by the people to tell time with the position of the Sun.
The discovery was made during archaeological excavations in the Kings' Valley in Upper Egypt by a team of researchers from the University of Basel.
The team led by Professor Susanne Bickel made the significant discovery while clearing the entrance to one of the tombs.
During this year's excavations the researchers found a flattened piece of limestone (so-called Ostracon) on which a semicircle in black colour had been drawn. The semicircle is divided into twelve sections of about 15 degrees each.
A dent in the middle of the approximately 16 centimetre long horizontal baseline served to insert a wooden or metal bolt that would cast a shadow to show the hours of the day. Small dots in the middle of each section were used for even more detailed time measuring.
The sun dial was found in an area of stone huts that were used in the 13th century BC to house the men working at the construction of the graves. The sun dial was possibly used to measure their work hours.
However, the division of the sun path into hours also played a crucial role in the so-called netherworld guides that were drawn onto the walls of the royal tombs.
These guides are illustrated texts that chronologically describe the nightly progression of the sun-god through the underworld. Thus, the sun dial could also have served to further visualise this phenomenon, researchers said.
During this year's excavation in cooperation with the Egyptian authorities and with the help of students of the University of Basel over 500 mostly fragmentary objects that had been recovered in former seasons were documented and prepared for further scientific examination.
This also includes all the material of the lower strata of tomb KV 64 found in 2012. Inside the roughly 3500 year old tomb Basel researchers had discovered a sarcophagus that was holding the mummy of a woman named Nehemes-Bastet.
The discovery was made during archaeological excavations in the Kings' Valley in Upper Egypt by a team of researchers from the University of Basel.
The team led by Professor Susanne Bickel made the significant discovery while clearing the entrance to one of the tombs.
During this year's excavations the researchers found a flattened piece of limestone (so-called Ostracon) on which a semicircle in black colour had been drawn. The semicircle is divided into twelve sections of about 15 degrees each.
A dent in the middle of the approximately 16 centimetre long horizontal baseline served to insert a wooden or metal bolt that would cast a shadow to show the hours of the day. Small dots in the middle of each section were used for even more detailed time measuring.
The sun dial was found in an area of stone huts that were used in the 13th century BC to house the men working at the construction of the graves. The sun dial was possibly used to measure their work hours.
However, the division of the sun path into hours also played a crucial role in the so-called netherworld guides that were drawn onto the walls of the royal tombs.
These guides are illustrated texts that chronologically describe the nightly progression of the sun-god through the underworld. Thus, the sun dial could also have served to further visualise this phenomenon, researchers said.
During this year's excavation in cooperation with the Egyptian authorities and with the help of students of the University of Basel over 500 mostly fragmentary objects that had been recovered in former seasons were documented and prepared for further scientific examination.
This also includes all the material of the lower strata of tomb KV 64 found in 2012. Inside the roughly 3500 year old tomb Basel researchers had discovered a sarcophagus that was holding the mummy of a woman named Nehemes-Bastet.
Pre-Clovis Remains Date to Circa 22,000 Years Ago
From Science News
Disputed finds put humans in South America 22,000 years ago
Disputed finds put humans in South America 22,000 years ago
Brazilian site may have been home to people before the Clovis hunters
By Bruce Bower
Web edition: March 13, 2013
Stone tools unearthed at a Brazilian rock-shelter may date to as early as 22,000 years ago. Their discovery has rekindled debate about whether ancient people reached the Americas long before the famed Clovis hunters spread through parts of North America around 13,000 years ago.
These relics of ancient South Americans add to evidence from nearby sites challenging the longstanding view of Clovis people as the first Americans (SN: 8/11/12, p. 15), a team led by geochronologist Christelle Lahaye of the University of Bordeaux 3 and archaeologist Eric Boëda of the University of Paris X reports March 4 in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
“We have new, strong evidence that the Clovis-first model is out of date,” Lahaye says.
Among other South American locations proposed as human settlements well before North America’s Clovis culture, the most controversial is Brazil’s Pedra Furada rock-shelter. There, archaeologists unearthed burned wood and sharp-edged stones and dated them to more than 50,000 years ago. Pedra Furada’s excavators regard the finds as evidence of ancient human hearths and stone tools. Critics, and especially many Clovis investigators, say the Brazilian discoveries could have resulted from natural fires and rock slides.
The new discovery came at Toca da Tira Peia rock-shelter, which is in the same national park as Pedra Furada. It also has drawn skeptics. The site’s location at the base of a steep cliff raises the possibility that crude, sharp-edged stones resulted from falling rocks, not human handiwork, says archaeologist Gary Haynes of the University of Nevada, Reno. Another possibility is that capuchins or other monkeys produced the tools, says archaeologist Stuart Fiedel of Louis Berger Group, an environmental consulting firm in Richmond, Va.
The age of Toca da Tira Peia artifacts has also drawn debate. Dating the artifacts hinges on calculations of how long ago objects were buried by soil. Various environmental conditions, including fluctuations in soil moisture, could have distorted these age estimates, Haynes says.
But archaeologist Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University in Nashville has seen some of the Toca da Tira Peia finds and regards them as human-made implements. Similar tools have been unearthed at sites in Chile and Peru, Dillehay says. His team previously estimated that people settled Chile’s Monte Verde site by 14,000 years ago, and possibly as long as 33,000 years ago.
An absence of burned wood or other finds suitable for radiocarbon dating at Toca da Tira Peia is a problem, because that’s the standard method for estimating the age of sites up to around 40,000 years ago, Dillehay says. But if people reached South America by 20,000 years ago, “this is the type of archaeological record we might expect: ephemeral and lightly scattered material in local shelters.”
Lahaye and Boëda’s team excavated Toca da Tira Peia from 2008 to 2011. Digging turned up 113 stone artifacts consisting of tools and tool debris in five soil layers. Using a technique that measures natural radiation damage in excavated quartz grains, the scientists estimated that the last exposure of soil to sunlight ranged from about 4,000 years ago in the top layer to 22,000 years ago in the third layer.
Lahaye says that 15 human-altered stones from the bottom two soil layers must be older than 22,000 years. The researchers plan to calculate when those artifacts were buried.
These relics of ancient South Americans add to evidence from nearby sites challenging the longstanding view of Clovis people as the first Americans (SN: 8/11/12, p. 15), a team led by geochronologist Christelle Lahaye of the University of Bordeaux 3 and archaeologist Eric Boëda of the University of Paris X reports March 4 in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
“We have new, strong evidence that the Clovis-first model is out of date,” Lahaye says.
Among other South American locations proposed as human settlements well before North America’s Clovis culture, the most controversial is Brazil’s Pedra Furada rock-shelter. There, archaeologists unearthed burned wood and sharp-edged stones and dated them to more than 50,000 years ago. Pedra Furada’s excavators regard the finds as evidence of ancient human hearths and stone tools. Critics, and especially many Clovis investigators, say the Brazilian discoveries could have resulted from natural fires and rock slides.
The new discovery came at Toca da Tira Peia rock-shelter, which is in the same national park as Pedra Furada. It also has drawn skeptics. The site’s location at the base of a steep cliff raises the possibility that crude, sharp-edged stones resulted from falling rocks, not human handiwork, says archaeologist Gary Haynes of the University of Nevada, Reno. Another possibility is that capuchins or other monkeys produced the tools, says archaeologist Stuart Fiedel of Louis Berger Group, an environmental consulting firm in Richmond, Va.
The age of Toca da Tira Peia artifacts has also drawn debate. Dating the artifacts hinges on calculations of how long ago objects were buried by soil. Various environmental conditions, including fluctuations in soil moisture, could have distorted these age estimates, Haynes says.
But archaeologist Tom Dillehay of Vanderbilt University in Nashville has seen some of the Toca da Tira Peia finds and regards them as human-made implements. Similar tools have been unearthed at sites in Chile and Peru, Dillehay says. His team previously estimated that people settled Chile’s Monte Verde site by 14,000 years ago, and possibly as long as 33,000 years ago.
An absence of burned wood or other finds suitable for radiocarbon dating at Toca da Tira Peia is a problem, because that’s the standard method for estimating the age of sites up to around 40,000 years ago, Dillehay says. But if people reached South America by 20,000 years ago, “this is the type of archaeological record we might expect: ephemeral and lightly scattered material in local shelters.”
Lahaye and Boëda’s team excavated Toca da Tira Peia from 2008 to 2011. Digging turned up 113 stone artifacts consisting of tools and tool debris in five soil layers. Using a technique that measures natural radiation damage in excavated quartz grains, the scientists estimated that the last exposure of soil to sunlight ranged from about 4,000 years ago in the top layer to 22,000 years ago in the third layer.
Lahaye says that 15 human-altered stones from the bottom two soil layers must be older than 22,000 years. The researchers plan to calculate when those artifacts were buried.
Citations
C. Lahaye et al. Human occupation in South America by 20,000 BC: The Toca da Tira Peia site, Piaui, Brazil. Journal of Archaeological Science. Doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.02.019. [Go to]Learn More About Dunhuang
The China Institute is presenting a fabulous series of programs over the next - year! Yes, you read it right :) A series of programs on the fabulous city of Dunhuang, which was a gateway city at the eastern edge of the Taklamakan Desert into the Chinese Empire, one of the important points upon the ancient Silk Road (northern route). Website.
EXHIBITIONS
GALLERY TOURS
Discover China Through Art Group Tours
Discover China Through Art (DCTA) offers art education through an innovative three-part program for all age and interest groups that complements the current exhibition. The program generally features a docent-led gallery tour, a video presentation, and a hands-on art workshop. Participants will be given an introduction to the culture of Dunhuang’s Buddhist Art by taking an in-depth look at the artworks, guided by a knowledgeable docent. The program concludes with an interactive painting workshop of a mural scene that has been chosen from the exhibition.
There's much more! Lectures! Classes and courses! Gallery tours! And you can take full advantage for free of online resources :) Please check things out.
EXHIBITIONS
Dunhuang: Buddhist Art at the Gateway of the Silk Road
April 19 – July 21, 2013
This exhibition will feature work found in the caves of Dunhuang, including sutras (Buddhist scriptures on paper scrolls), high-relief clay figures, wooden sculpture, silk banners, and molded bricks from the golden eras of the Northern dynasties (420-589) and Tang dynasty (618-907). To re-create the magnificent cave settings, a replica cave from the 8th century that contains the beautiful Bodhisattva of the Mogao Caves and a central pillar from the 6th century will also be on view.
You will have the opportunity to explore each of the Dunhuang exhibitions from your own computer or mobile device with our virtual tours. (The virtual tours will become available after the exhibitions open.)
Highlighting paintings and sculptures by a dozen modern and contemporary artists, this exhibition will explore Dunhuang’s profound influence on generations of artists beginning with master painter Zhang Daqian. Other artists to be featured in the exhibition include contemporary art luminaries such as Zhang Hongtu, Liu Jude, Liu Dan and Yu Hong.
You will have the opportunity to explore each of the Dunhuang exhibitions from your own computer or mobile device with our virtual tours. (The virtual tours will become available after the exhibitions open.)
A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany each exhibition. They are available for sale here.
GALLERY TOURS
Discover China Through Art Group Tours
Discover China Through Art (DCTA) offers art education through an innovative three-part program for all age and interest groups that complements the current exhibition. The program generally features a docent-led gallery tour, a video presentation, and a hands-on art workshop. Participants will be given an introduction to the culture of Dunhuang’s Buddhist Art by taking an in-depth look at the artworks, guided by a knowledgeable docent. The program concludes with an interactive painting workshop of a mural scene that has been chosen from the exhibition.
There's much more! Lectures! Classes and courses! Gallery tours! And you can take full advantage for free of online resources :) Please check things out.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
India: Rape Capital of the World?
Hola, darlings. Well, you may have already read about another horrific gang rape that occurred in India, this time, of a married tourist.
He said the couple were beaten and had their belongings stolen, and that the woman was gang-raped.
Solanki said police were questioning 13 men in connection with the attack.
India has seen outrage and protests against rape and attacks on women since the fatal gang-rape of a young woman in a moving bus in New Delhi in December.
I was filled with horror reading this article this evening, and then I realized just what the photograph that accompanied the article was depicting! At first glance I did not read the caption, I assumed it was one of the perpetrators of this horrible repugnant crime being led to a justice center for questioning. But then, I read the caption and it made me sick to my stomach, literally. I ran to the bathroom gagging and puked. Yeah. This sick sick sick SICK fucking society actually paraded the victim of a horrific crime in front of HORDES of males -- you can see them all around her. And it sure looks to me like those Indian "police women" are pulling an unwilling victim to a "medical examination." Just what will THAT entail, I wonder? More males -- this time disguised as DOCTORS?
WTF is going on in this country? How could they possibly be so clueless as to parade the victim, tugging her all the way, through a crowd of paparazzi and men? Are the fucking CRAZY? Don't they have vehicles in India that could whisk a victim to a hospital for the "examination?" Why parade her through the fucking streets like this? SICK SICK SICK SICK, PERVERTED SOCIETY. I thought the USA (where I live) was bad, evil! But let me tell you, darlings, I was wrong.
Swiss tourist gang-raped in central India
– 2 hrs 40 mins ago
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian media are reporting that a Swiss tourist was gang-raped in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and that 13 men are being questioned.
Local police superintendent C. S. Solanki told the Press Trust of India that the woman and her husband had camped out for the night in a forest after bicycling from the temple town of Orchha on Friday when they were attacked by a group of eight men.
He said the couple were beaten and had their belongings stolen, and that the woman was gang-raped.
Solanki said police were questioning 13 men in connection with the attack.
India has seen outrage and protests against rape and attacks on women since the fatal gang-rape of a young woman in a moving bus in New Delhi in December.
*********************************************************
I was filled with horror reading this article this evening, and then I realized just what the photograph that accompanied the article was depicting! At first glance I did not read the caption, I assumed it was one of the perpetrators of this horrible repugnant crime being led to a justice center for questioning. But then, I read the caption and it made me sick to my stomach, literally. I ran to the bathroom gagging and puked. Yeah. This sick sick sick SICK fucking society actually paraded the victim of a horrific crime in front of HORDES of males -- you can see them all around her. And it sure looks to me like those Indian "police women" are pulling an unwilling victim to a "medical examination." Just what will THAT entail, I wonder? More males -- this time disguised as DOCTORS?
 |
| Associated Press - A Swiss woman, center, who, according to police, was gang-raped by a group of eight men while touring by bicycle with her husband, is escorted by policewomen for a medical examination at |
WTF is going on in this country? How could they possibly be so clueless as to parade the victim, tugging her all the way, through a crowd of paparazzi and men? Are the fucking CRAZY? Don't they have vehicles in India that could whisk a victim to a hospital for the "examination?" Why parade her through the fucking streets like this? SICK SICK SICK SICK, PERVERTED SOCIETY. I thought the USA (where I live) was bad, evil! But let me tell you, darlings, I was wrong.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Was Jesus a Shape Shifter?
I wouldn't be surprised that Jesus was a shape-shifter, but I don't think Rome would be very happy to acknowledge such tales, as it would place Jesus Christ in a long line of predecessor and contemporaneous priestesses, priests and shamans (female and male) who could, reputedly, do the same. What would make Jesus special then, hmmm, if pagan practitioners could do the same thing... And yet canonical biblical accounts recount that, especially after his resurrection from the dead, that many of Jesus' closest followers, including Mary Magdalene, did not recognize him as Jesus until he spoke! What's up with that?
From science.nbcnews.com
1,200-year-old Egyptian text describes a shape-shifting Jesus
March 12, 2013
By Owen JarusLiveScience
A newly deciphered Egyptian text, dating back almost 1,200 years, tells part of the crucifixion story of Jesus with apocryphal plot twists, some of which have never been seen before.
Written in the Coptic language, the ancient text tells of Pontius Pilate, the judge who authorized Jesus' crucifixion, having dinner with Jesus before his crucifixion and offering to sacrifice his own son in the place of Jesus. It also explains why Judas used a kiss, specifically, to betray Jesus — because Jesus had the ability to change shape, according to the text — and it puts the day of the arrest of Jesus on Tuesday evening rather than Thursday evening, something that contravenes the Easter timeline.
The discovery of the text doesn't mean these events happened, but rather that some people living at the time appear to have believed in them, said Roelof van den Broek of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who published the translation in the book "Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem on the Life and the Passion of Christ" (Brill, 2013).
Copies of the text are found in two manuscripts, one in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City and the other at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Most of the translation comes from the New York text, because the relevant text in the Pennsylvania manuscript is mostly illegible.
PontiusPilate has dinner with JesusWhile apocryphal stories about Pilate are known from ancient times, van den Broek wrote in an email to LiveScience that he has never seen this one before, with Pilate offering to sacrifice his own son in the place of Jesus.
"Without further ado, Pilate prepared a table and he ate with Jesus on the fifth day of the week. And Jesus blessed Pilate and his whole house," reads part of the text in translation. Pilate later tells Jesus, "well then, behold, the night has come, rise and withdraw, and when the morning comes and they accuse me because of you, I shall give them the only son I have so that they can kill him in your place."
In the text, Jesus comforts him, saying, "Oh Pilate, you have been deemed worthy of a great grace because you have shown a good disposition to me." Jesus also showed Pilate that he can escape if he chose to. "Pilate, then, looked at Jesus and, behold, he became incorporeal: He did not see him for a long time ..." the text read.
Pilate and his wife both have visions that night that show an eagle (representing Jesus) being killed.
In the Coptic and Ethiopian churches, Pilate is regarded as a saint, which explains the sympathetic portrayal in the text, van den Broek writes.
The reason for Judas using a kissIn the canonical Bible ]not put together by "God" but by men], the apostle Judas betrays Jesus in exchange for money by using a kiss to identify him leading to Jesus' arrest. This apocryphal tale explains that the reason Judas used a kiss, specifically, is because Jesus had the ability to change shape.
"Then the Jews said to Judas: How shall we arrest him (Jesus), for he does not have a single shape but his appearance changes. Sometimes he is ruddy, sometimes he is white, sometimes he is red, sometimes he is wheat coloured, sometimes he is pallid like ascetics, sometimes he is a youth, sometimes an old man ..." This leads Judas to suggest using a kiss as a means to identify him. If Judas had given the arresters a description of Jesus he could have changed shape. By kissing Jesus, Judas tells the people exactly who he is.
This understanding of Judas' kiss goes way back. "This explanation of Judas' kiss is first found in Origen (a theologian who lived A.D. 185-254)," van den Broek writes. In his work "Contra Celsum," the ancient writer Origen stated that "to those who saw him (Jesus) he did not appear alike to all." [This mirrors one of the apostle's accounts of Jesus rising from the tomb, when Mary Magdalene, having gone to the tomb to annoint Jesus's body with herbs, found the tomb empty and, hysterical, ran from the tomb in tears, saw a "stranger" whom she did not recognize, and then he said Mary, do you not recognize me? And it was only then that she did recognize him - as Jesus Christ.]
St. Cyril impersonationThe text is written in the name of St. Cyril of Jerusalem who lived during the fourth century. In the story Cyril tells the Easter story as part of a homily (a type of sermon). A number of texts in ancient times claim to be homilies by St. Cyril, and they were probably not given by the saint in real life, van den Broek explained in his book.
Near the beginning of the text, Cyril, or the person writing in his name, claims that a book has been found in Jerusalem showing the writings of the apostles on the life and crucifixion of Jesus. "Listen to me, oh my honored children, and let me tell you something of what we found written in the house of Mary ..." reads part of the text.
Again, it's unlikely that such a book was found in real life. Van den Broek said that a claim like this would have been used by the writer "to enhance the credibility of the peculiar views and uncanonical facts he is about to present by ascribing them to an apostolic source," adding that examples of this plot device can be found "frequently" in Coptic literature. [Well, I'm not so ready to dismiss that this book did not once exist, but was destroyed, and all memory but for a few whisps disappeared.]
Arrest on Tuesday
Van den Broek says that he is surprised that the writer of the text moved the date of Jesus' Last Supper, with the apostles, and arrest to Tuesday. In fact, in this text, Jesus' actual Last Supper appears to be with Pontius Pilate. In between his arrest and supper with Pilate, he is brought before Caiaphas and Herod. [So what? Pilate was not one of the TWELVE apostles, so what he did with Pilate doesn't count in the eyes of Roman Catholic tradition Christians. Ask yourself why Coptic and Eastern tradition Christians believe differently. And whose tradition is closest to the truth, if indeed, there is any truth to be found in the canonical biblical narrative?]
In the canonical texts, the last supper and arrest of Jesus happens on Thursday evening, and present-day Christians mark this event with Maundy Thursday services. It "remains remarkable that Pseudo-Cyril relates the story of Jesus' arrest on Tuesday evening as if the canonical story about his arrest on Thursday evening (which was commemorated each year in the services of Holy Week) did not exist!" van den Broek wrote in the email.
A gift to a monastery ... and then to New YorkAbout 1,200 years ago the New York text was in the library of the Monastery of St. Michael in the Egyptian desert near present-day al-Hamuli in the western part of the Faiyum. The text says, in translation, that it was a gift from "archpriest Father Paul," who, "has provided for this book by his own labors."
The monastery appears to have ceased operations around the early 10th century, and the text was rediscovered in the spring of 1910. In December 1911, it was purchased, along with other texts, by American financier J.P. Morgan. His collections would later be given to the public and are part of the present-day Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. The manuscript is currently displayed as part of the museum's exhibition "Treasures from the Vault" running through May 5.
Who believed it? Van den Broek writes in the email that "in Egypt, the Bible had already become canonized in the fourth/fifthcentury, but apocryphal stories and books remained popular among the Egyptian Christians, especially among monks."
Whereas the people of the monastery would have believed the newly translated text, "in particular the more simple monks," he's not convinced that the writer of the text believed everything he was writing down, van den Broek said.
"I find it difficult to believe that he really did, but some details, for instance the meal with Jesus, he may have believed to have really happened," van den Broek writes. "The people of that time, even if they were well-educated, did not have a critical historical attitude. Miracles were quite possible, and why should an old story not be true?"
From science.nbcnews.com
1,200-year-old Egyptian text describes a shape-shifting Jesus
March 12, 2013
By Owen JarusLiveScience
A newly deciphered Egyptian text, dating back almost 1,200 years, tells part of the crucifixion story of Jesus with apocryphal plot twists, some of which have never been seen before.
Written in the Coptic language, the ancient text tells of Pontius Pilate, the judge who authorized Jesus' crucifixion, having dinner with Jesus before his crucifixion and offering to sacrifice his own son in the place of Jesus. It also explains why Judas used a kiss, specifically, to betray Jesus — because Jesus had the ability to change shape, according to the text — and it puts the day of the arrest of Jesus on Tuesday evening rather than Thursday evening, something that contravenes the Easter timeline.
The discovery of the text doesn't mean these events happened, but rather that some people living at the time appear to have believed in them, said Roelof van den Broek of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who published the translation in the book "Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem on the Life and the Passion of Christ" (Brill, 2013).
Copies of the text are found in two manuscripts, one in the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City and the other at the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. Most of the translation comes from the New York text, because the relevant text in the Pennsylvania manuscript is mostly illegible.
PontiusPilate has dinner with JesusWhile apocryphal stories about Pilate are known from ancient times, van den Broek wrote in an email to LiveScience that he has never seen this one before, with Pilate offering to sacrifice his own son in the place of Jesus.
"Without further ado, Pilate prepared a table and he ate with Jesus on the fifth day of the week. And Jesus blessed Pilate and his whole house," reads part of the text in translation. Pilate later tells Jesus, "well then, behold, the night has come, rise and withdraw, and when the morning comes and they accuse me because of you, I shall give them the only son I have so that they can kill him in your place."
In the text, Jesus comforts him, saying, "Oh Pilate, you have been deemed worthy of a great grace because you have shown a good disposition to me." Jesus also showed Pilate that he can escape if he chose to. "Pilate, then, looked at Jesus and, behold, he became incorporeal: He did not see him for a long time ..." the text read.
Pilate and his wife both have visions that night that show an eagle (representing Jesus) being killed.
In the Coptic and Ethiopian churches, Pilate is regarded as a saint, which explains the sympathetic portrayal in the text, van den Broek writes.
The reason for Judas using a kissIn the canonical Bible ]not put together by "God" but by men], the apostle Judas betrays Jesus in exchange for money by using a kiss to identify him leading to Jesus' arrest. This apocryphal tale explains that the reason Judas used a kiss, specifically, is because Jesus had the ability to change shape.
"Then the Jews said to Judas: How shall we arrest him (Jesus), for he does not have a single shape but his appearance changes. Sometimes he is ruddy, sometimes he is white, sometimes he is red, sometimes he is wheat coloured, sometimes he is pallid like ascetics, sometimes he is a youth, sometimes an old man ..." This leads Judas to suggest using a kiss as a means to identify him. If Judas had given the arresters a description of Jesus he could have changed shape. By kissing Jesus, Judas tells the people exactly who he is.
This understanding of Judas' kiss goes way back. "This explanation of Judas' kiss is first found in Origen (a theologian who lived A.D. 185-254)," van den Broek writes. In his work "Contra Celsum," the ancient writer Origen stated that "to those who saw him (Jesus) he did not appear alike to all." [This mirrors one of the apostle's accounts of Jesus rising from the tomb, when Mary Magdalene, having gone to the tomb to annoint Jesus's body with herbs, found the tomb empty and, hysterical, ran from the tomb in tears, saw a "stranger" whom she did not recognize, and then he said Mary, do you not recognize me? And it was only then that she did recognize him - as Jesus Christ.]
St. Cyril impersonationThe text is written in the name of St. Cyril of Jerusalem who lived during the fourth century. In the story Cyril tells the Easter story as part of a homily (a type of sermon). A number of texts in ancient times claim to be homilies by St. Cyril, and they were probably not given by the saint in real life, van den Broek explained in his book.
Near the beginning of the text, Cyril, or the person writing in his name, claims that a book has been found in Jerusalem showing the writings of the apostles on the life and crucifixion of Jesus. "Listen to me, oh my honored children, and let me tell you something of what we found written in the house of Mary ..." reads part of the text.
Again, it's unlikely that such a book was found in real life. Van den Broek said that a claim like this would have been used by the writer "to enhance the credibility of the peculiar views and uncanonical facts he is about to present by ascribing them to an apostolic source," adding that examples of this plot device can be found "frequently" in Coptic literature. [Well, I'm not so ready to dismiss that this book did not once exist, but was destroyed, and all memory but for a few whisps disappeared.]
Arrest on Tuesday
Van den Broek says that he is surprised that the writer of the text moved the date of Jesus' Last Supper, with the apostles, and arrest to Tuesday. In fact, in this text, Jesus' actual Last Supper appears to be with Pontius Pilate. In between his arrest and supper with Pilate, he is brought before Caiaphas and Herod. [So what? Pilate was not one of the TWELVE apostles, so what he did with Pilate doesn't count in the eyes of Roman Catholic tradition Christians. Ask yourself why Coptic and Eastern tradition Christians believe differently. And whose tradition is closest to the truth, if indeed, there is any truth to be found in the canonical biblical narrative?]
In the canonical texts, the last supper and arrest of Jesus happens on Thursday evening, and present-day Christians mark this event with Maundy Thursday services. It "remains remarkable that Pseudo-Cyril relates the story of Jesus' arrest on Tuesday evening as if the canonical story about his arrest on Thursday evening (which was commemorated each year in the services of Holy Week) did not exist!" van den Broek wrote in the email.
A gift to a monastery ... and then to New YorkAbout 1,200 years ago the New York text was in the library of the Monastery of St. Michael in the Egyptian desert near present-day al-Hamuli in the western part of the Faiyum. The text says, in translation, that it was a gift from "archpriest Father Paul," who, "has provided for this book by his own labors."
The monastery appears to have ceased operations around the early 10th century, and the text was rediscovered in the spring of 1910. In December 1911, it was purchased, along with other texts, by American financier J.P. Morgan. His collections would later be given to the public and are part of the present-day Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. The manuscript is currently displayed as part of the museum's exhibition "Treasures from the Vault" running through May 5.
Who believed it? Van den Broek writes in the email that "in Egypt, the Bible had already become canonized in the fourth/fifthcentury, but apocryphal stories and books remained popular among the Egyptian Christians, especially among monks."
Whereas the people of the monastery would have believed the newly translated text, "in particular the more simple monks," he's not convinced that the writer of the text believed everything he was writing down, van den Broek said.
"I find it difficult to believe that he really did, but some details, for instance the meal with Jesus, he may have believed to have really happened," van den Broek writes. "The people of that time, even if they were well-educated, did not have a critical historical attitude. Miracles were quite possible, and why should an old story not be true?"
FIDE World Women's Team Chess Championship 2013
Hola darlings! Here are the final standings.
Team USA, well, what can I say? Are there any bright new rising US chess femmes on the horizon who can compete with the Chinese, Russians and Ukranians? Not any that want to play chess as adults, unfortunately. They're going off to be doctors, researchers, lawyers, future CEOs, etc, etc. That's where the SURE money is, and putting up with misogyny and MCPs (an old term from the 1970's, darlings, for those of you who weren't around back then, it's short for Male Chauvenist Pigs) and crushing the occasional male neck along the way is par for the course for the course in reaching BIG MONEY. It's not available for women who play chess for a living and, we (females), being rational creatures generally, go into professions where we know we'll be able to support ourselves. Playing chess ain't it, except for a very few chess femmes.
I am very happy, though, that someone other than China finished in first place, YAY!
Sorry to be late with them.
| Rank | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. | Res. | SB. |
| 1 | UKRAINE | * | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 2 | 4 | 2½ | 16 | 24½ | 0 | 136,25 |
| 2 | CHINA | 1 | * | 2 | 3 | 2½ | 3½ | 3 | 3 | 3½ | 4 | 15 | 25½ | 0 | 118,00 |
| 3 | RUSSIA | 2 | 2 | * | 2 | 2½ | 1½ | 3 | 3½ | 3½ | 4 | 13 | 24 | 0 | 104,75 |
| 4 | GEORGIA | 1 | 1 | 2 | * | 2 | 3½ | 2½ | 3 | 3½ | 3 | 12 | 21½ | 0 | 87,50 |
| 5 | INDIA | 1 | 1½ | 1½ | 2 | * | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2½ | 2½ | 9 | 18 | 0 | 62,25 |
| 6 | USA | 1½ | ½ | 2½ | ½ | 2 | * | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 8 | 15½ | 0 | 63,00 |
| 7 | KAZAKHSTAN | 1½ | 1 | 1 | 1½ | 1 | 2 | * | 2 | 2½ | 3 | 6 | 15½ | 0 | 36,00 |
| 8 | ROMANIA | 2 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | * | 2 | 2 | 6 | 14½ | 0 | 47,25 |
| 9 | FRANCE | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1½ | 2 | 1½ | 2 | * | 3½ | 4 | 12 | 0 | 24,00 |
| 10 | TURKEY | 1½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1½ | 1½ | 1 | 2 | ½ | * | 1 | 9 | 0 | 7,25 |
Team USA, well, what can I say? Are there any bright new rising US chess femmes on the horizon who can compete with the Chinese, Russians and Ukranians? Not any that want to play chess as adults, unfortunately. They're going off to be doctors, researchers, lawyers, future CEOs, etc, etc. That's where the SURE money is, and putting up with misogyny and MCPs (an old term from the 1970's, darlings, for those of you who weren't around back then, it's short for Male Chauvenist Pigs) and crushing the occasional male neck along the way is par for the course for the course in reaching BIG MONEY. It's not available for women who play chess for a living and, we (females), being rational creatures generally, go into professions where we know we'll be able to support ourselves. Playing chess ain't it, except for a very few chess femmes.
I am very happy, though, that someone other than China finished in first place, YAY!
Sorry to be late with them.
Ancient Chinese Coin Found on Manda Island, Kenya
To quote Mr. Spock: Fascinating. Now, I'm not sure exactly what this may mean; it could be evidence of ancient trade, but it doesn't necessarily mean that Admiral Zheng He or any of his vast armada actually landed on and/or traded with the natives of Manda when he was on his journey in the 1400s that eventually led to his circumnavigating the world (well before any European did it); it could mean that someone with a penchant for old coins visited Manda at some time a hundred or more years after Zheng He came and went, and that someone might not necessarily have been Chinese. Or perhaps the coin was a family piece, handed down on a sea-faring family from generation to generation, and some WWI or post-WWII visitor lost it (quel horreur!) But when viewed as a whole along with other evidence of trade and contact between Africa and China, the discovery of this 600-some year old coin sure is interesting.
Public release date: 13-Mar-2013
Contact: Nancy O'Shea
media@fieldmuseum.org
312-665-7100
Field Museum
The coin, a small disk of copper and silver with a square hole in the center so it could be worn on a belt, is called "Yongle Tongbao" and was issued by Emperor Yongle who reigned from 1403-1425AD during the Ming Dynasty. The emperor's name is written on the coin, making it easy to date. Emperor Yongle, who started construction of China's Forbidden City, was interested in political and trade missions to the lands that ring the Indian Ocean and sent Admiral Zheng He, also known as Cheng Ho, to explore those shores.
"Zheng He was, in many ways, the Christopher Columbus of China," said Dr. Kusimba, curator of African Anthropology at The Field Museum. "It's wonderful to have a coin that may ultimately prove he came to Kenya," he added.
Dr. Kusimba continued, "This finding is significant. We know Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world, but this coin opens a discussion about the relationship between China and Indian Ocean nations."
That relationship stopped soon after Emperor Yongle's death when later Chinese rulers banned foreign expeditions, allowing European explorers to dominate the Age of Discovery and expand their countries' empires.
The island of Manda, off the northern coast of Kenya, was home to an advanced civilization from about 200AD to 1430AD, when it was abandoned and never inhabited again. Trade played an important role in the development of Manda, and this coin may show trade's importance on the island dating back to much earlier than previously thought.
"We hope this and future expeditions to Manda will play a crucial role in showing how market-based exchange and urban-centered political economies arise and how they can be studied through biological, linguistic, and historical methodologies," Dr. Kusimba said.
Photos available upon request.
I noted the description of the coin (photo from article at smithsonian.com) -- it had the square opening in the center, which I believe in ancient Chinese iconography represented the four "corners" of the square plane of the earth in its earliest representations, and also the four directions and the four winds, all contained within the circle of the coin, which represented the great expanse of the heavens encircling the Earth (whether the Earth was perceived as a flat plane or a sphere, or something in-between).
So, did Zheng He imagine that he was traveling in a large circle around the outer-most edges of the plane of the Earth when he embarked on his travels, and if he veered too far off course his ship and those of his fleet would fall off the Earth? That seems to fly in the face of China's very early discovery of the properties of magnetism and its early use by their navigators to point ships in a certain direction. Indeed, herstory shows us that the Chinese, like the ancient Egyptians (pre-Muslim invasion), were not ones to throw out old knowledge and "dictum" when new knowledge and "dictum" came along. They just kept using the same symbols and incorporated the old into new concepts with a gloss of new intepretation, blending all that came before and all that was known now into a (more or less) harmonious whole. These were people who did not suffer from cognitive dissonance :)
One final note, sometimes, it is very difficult to tell ancient Chinese gaming pieces from ancient Chinese coins, and I believe there have been instances where the two have been mistaken for each other.
Some more coverage (lots of repeat articles out there!) on the discovery of this coin:
Science Daily, March 13, 2013
Smithsonian, March 15, 2013
The Chicago Tribune, March 14, 2013
Way to go, Gavin Menzies :) It's only a matter of time, methinks, before his theory is accepted seriously by a majority of historians and archaeologists.
Public release date: 13-Mar-2013
Contact: Nancy O'Shea
media@fieldmuseum.org
312-665-7100
Field Museum
Ancient Chinese coin found on Kenyan island by Field Museum expedition
A joint expedition of scientists led by Chapurukha M. Kusimba of The Field Museum and Sloan R. Williams of the University of Illinois at Chicago has unearthed a 600-year-old Chinese coin on the Kenyan island of Manda that shows trade existed between China and east Africa decades before European explorers set sail and changed the map of the world.The coin, a small disk of copper and silver with a square hole in the center so it could be worn on a belt, is called "Yongle Tongbao" and was issued by Emperor Yongle who reigned from 1403-1425AD during the Ming Dynasty. The emperor's name is written on the coin, making it easy to date. Emperor Yongle, who started construction of China's Forbidden City, was interested in political and trade missions to the lands that ring the Indian Ocean and sent Admiral Zheng He, also known as Cheng Ho, to explore those shores.
"Zheng He was, in many ways, the Christopher Columbus of China," said Dr. Kusimba, curator of African Anthropology at The Field Museum. "It's wonderful to have a coin that may ultimately prove he came to Kenya," he added.
Dr. Kusimba continued, "This finding is significant. We know Africa has always been connected to the rest of the world, but this coin opens a discussion about the relationship between China and Indian Ocean nations."
That relationship stopped soon after Emperor Yongle's death when later Chinese rulers banned foreign expeditions, allowing European explorers to dominate the Age of Discovery and expand their countries' empires.
The island of Manda, off the northern coast of Kenya, was home to an advanced civilization from about 200AD to 1430AD, when it was abandoned and never inhabited again. Trade played an important role in the development of Manda, and this coin may show trade's importance on the island dating back to much earlier than previously thought.
"We hope this and future expeditions to Manda will play a crucial role in showing how market-based exchange and urban-centered political economies arise and how they can be studied through biological, linguistic, and historical methodologies," Dr. Kusimba said.
###
Other researchers who participated in the expedition to Manda include Dr. Janet Monge from the University of Pennsylvania, Mohammed Mchulla, staff scientist at Fort Jesus National Museums of Kenya and Dr. Amelia Hubbard from Wright State University. Also involved was Professor Tiequan Zhu of Sun Yat-Sen University, who identified the coin. The researchers also found human remains and other artifacts that predate the coin. Photos available upon request.
***********************************************
I noted the description of the coin (photo from article at smithsonian.com) -- it had the square opening in the center, which I believe in ancient Chinese iconography represented the four "corners" of the square plane of the earth in its earliest representations, and also the four directions and the four winds, all contained within the circle of the coin, which represented the great expanse of the heavens encircling the Earth (whether the Earth was perceived as a flat plane or a sphere, or something in-between).
So, did Zheng He imagine that he was traveling in a large circle around the outer-most edges of the plane of the Earth when he embarked on his travels, and if he veered too far off course his ship and those of his fleet would fall off the Earth? That seems to fly in the face of China's very early discovery of the properties of magnetism and its early use by their navigators to point ships in a certain direction. Indeed, herstory shows us that the Chinese, like the ancient Egyptians (pre-Muslim invasion), were not ones to throw out old knowledge and "dictum" when new knowledge and "dictum" came along. They just kept using the same symbols and incorporated the old into new concepts with a gloss of new intepretation, blending all that came before and all that was known now into a (more or less) harmonious whole. These were people who did not suffer from cognitive dissonance :)
One final note, sometimes, it is very difficult to tell ancient Chinese gaming pieces from ancient Chinese coins, and I believe there have been instances where the two have been mistaken for each other.
Some more coverage (lots of repeat articles out there!) on the discovery of this coin:
Science Daily, March 13, 2013
Smithsonian, March 15, 2013
The Chicago Tribune, March 14, 2013
Way to go, Gavin Menzies :) It's only a matter of time, methinks, before his theory is accepted seriously by a majority of historians and archaeologists.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
2013 FIDE Women's World Team Chess Championship
Hola darlings!
It's raining here today, but since we have a foot or more of snow on the ground, and the earth is still frozen, we are having flooding. Sigh. Another typical March in southeastern Wisconsin. My house is higher up, and my entire city block of homes is built on the crest of a hill that peaks here, so we are safe from flooding. OHMYGODDESS! It is raining very hard outside right now.
The FIDE Women's World Team Chess Championship is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan, between March 2 - 13, 2013. Here are the standings after Round 7:
Team Composition.
It's raining here today, but since we have a foot or more of snow on the ground, and the earth is still frozen, we are having flooding. Sigh. Another typical March in southeastern Wisconsin. My house is higher up, and my entire city block of homes is built on the crest of a hill that peaks here, so we are safe from flooding. OHMYGODDESS! It is raining very hard outside right now.
The FIDE Women's World Team Chess Championship is being held in Astana, Kazakhstan, between March 2 - 13, 2013. Here are the standings after Round 7:
| Rank | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | MP | Pts. | Res. | SB. |
| 1 | UKRAINE | * | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2½ | 4 | 2½ | 13 | 20 | 0 | 82,75 | ||
| 2 | CHINA | 1 | * | 2 | 3 | 3½ | 3 | 3 | 3½ | 11 | 19 | 0 | 67,75 | ||
| 3 | RUSSIA | 2 | * | 2 | 1½ | 3½ | 3 | 3½ | 4 | 10 | 19½ | 0 | 56,00 | ||
| 4 | INDIA | 1 | * | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2½ | 2½ | 9 | 15 | 0 | 46,75 | ||
| 5 | GEORGIA | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | * | 3½ | 3½ | 3 | 8 | 16 | 0 | 44,75 | ||
| 6 | USA | ½ | 2½ | 2 | ½ | * | 2 | 2 | 2½ | 7 | 12 | 0 | 44,75 | ||
| 7 | ROMANIA | 2 | 1 | ½ | 2 | * | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 11½ | 0 | 31,00 | ||
| 8 | KAZAKHSTAN | 1½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | * | 3 | 4 | 11½ | 0 | 20,25 | ||
| 9 | FRANCE | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1½ | ½ | 2 | 2 | * | 2 | 7 | 0 | 11,75 | ||
| 10 | TURKEY | 1½ | 0 | 1½ | 1 | 1½ | 2 | 1 | * | 1 | 8½ | 0 | 5,75 |
Team Composition.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
2013 U.S. Chess Championships
The U.S. and U.S. Women's Chess Championships (invitational) will be held once again in lovely St. Louis, Missouri at the Chess and Scholastic Center, May 2 - 13, 2013.
The fields have yet to be fully set, because most of the players are issued what have to be "conditional" invitations based on the USCF March, 2013 ratings lists! But, we do know some of the invitees (scroll down toward bottom).
Now darlings, you probably understand if you've read here for any length of time that I give a hoot about men's chess in general, although I do have some favorites among male players. It's the chess femmes I'm concerned about, and once again St. Louis proves that despite a generous prize fund of $65,000 for a field of 10 female players, the men get preferential treatment with a GUARANTEED prize fund of $180,000 for 24 male players -- cuz you can be sure no female player is going to show up in the top 24 list of overall U.S. players.
Well, that just fricking sucks, but such is life in the 21st century for a female chessplayer in the United States of America, and in all other countries in the world today. Sigh. And we think of ourselves as soooo advanced in this country...
I found a link at the St. Louis Chess Club website that thought would provide cogent information about the 2013 Championships (after all, it is the host!) but it wasn't working just a little while ago when I clicked on it - several times over the course of many minutes. Kept getting 404 errors. Hint: Darlings, please do not put up a link to a non-existent story!!!
The info below in italics is from the USCF's website January 22, 2013 story by Mike Wilmering, read it in full.
The 2012 [2013, not 2012] U.S. Women’s Championship will feature 10 players and a guaranteed prize fund of $65,000. Invitations for the 2012 [2013, not 2012] U.S. Women’s Championship are as follows:
The fields have yet to be fully set, because most of the players are issued what have to be "conditional" invitations based on the USCF March, 2013 ratings lists! But, we do know some of the invitees (scroll down toward bottom).
Now darlings, you probably understand if you've read here for any length of time that I give a hoot about men's chess in general, although I do have some favorites among male players. It's the chess femmes I'm concerned about, and once again St. Louis proves that despite a generous prize fund of $65,000 for a field of 10 female players, the men get preferential treatment with a GUARANTEED prize fund of $180,000 for 24 male players -- cuz you can be sure no female player is going to show up in the top 24 list of overall U.S. players.
Well, that just fricking sucks, but such is life in the 21st century for a female chessplayer in the United States of America, and in all other countries in the world today. Sigh. And we think of ourselves as soooo advanced in this country...
I found a link at the St. Louis Chess Club website that thought would provide cogent information about the 2013 Championships (after all, it is the host!) but it wasn't working just a little while ago when I clicked on it - several times over the course of many minutes. Kept getting 404 errors. Hint: Darlings, please do not put up a link to a non-existent story!!!
The info below in italics is from the USCF's website January 22, 2013 story by Mike Wilmering, read it in full.
The 2012 [2013, not 2012] U.S. Women’s Championship will feature 10 players and a guaranteed prize fund of $65,000. Invitations for the 2012 [2013, not 2012] U.S. Women’s Championship are as follows:
(1) 2012 U.S. Women’s Champion: IM Irina Krush
(7) The seven remaining highest-rated players according to the March supplement: TBD
(2) Two wildcard invitations: TBD
Check www.uschesschamps.com for the latest updates, info about past U.S. Championships and news about the top players in the U.S.
Tsk, tsk. The dating error (2012 versus 2013) was not made in respect of the Men's U.S. (Invitational) Chess Championship. That just shows you how much the USCF and writers in general appreciate "women's chess" in this country.
The comments posted AFTER the USCF article were much more informative than anything else I found (after a brief search) on the internet, including the website of the host of the 2013 U.S. Chess Championships. It seems that Nakamura (current U.S. Male Chess Champion), is listed to play in one or possibly more (?) events overlapping the dates of the U.S. Chess Championship. Really bad form, darling.
February, 2013 ratings lists indicate that personal favorites Sam Shankland (he's cute) and GM Alex Lenderman (wonderful player and such heart) are probably going to be in relatively the same positions on the March, 2013 ratings list, and thus will receive invites. Hope they play, just so I have two male players to root for! Oh, I will also add GM Gata Kamsky, he has, as far as I know, always conducted himself with dignity and decorum, unlike some other male players... And he's a damn good chess player, too.
Working through this as I'm writng: Interestingly, at US Chess Champs website at the present time (I mean, like right now - 12:46 p.m. Milwaukee time), the #1 player on the list of players is GM Gata Kamsky, not Nakamura. Shankland has received an invite but not, evidently, accepted it, and Lenderman isn't even mentioned. WTF? Has Nakamura become persona non grata with St. Louis money? Hmmm.....
The USCF Women's Ratings List for February, 2013 -- you can assume that many of these players will receive invitations for the Championship. But - I wonder - would Anjelina B. consider playing? Ohmygoddess! Would just love to see her in action!
Women's top players (Feb 2013 list):
1 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2531
2 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2514
3 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2433
4 Foisor, Sabina-Francesca (14012260) MD USA 2391
5 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) SD USA 2358
6 Ni, Viktorija (14449677) IL USA 2353
7 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2338
8 Belakovskaia, Anjelina (12559824) AZ USA 2334
9 Zenyuk, Iryna (12846035) PA USA 2330
10 Rohonyan, Katerina (12973020) WA USA 2317
11 Melekhina, Alisa (12726115) PA USA 2303
12 Kats, Alena (12980885) NY USA 2237
13 Grinfeld, Alla (12717614) NY USA 2234
14 Chiang, Sarah (13091081) TX USA 2223
1 Zatonskih, Anna (12873912) NY USA 2531
2 Krush, Irina (12543137) NY USA 2514
3 Abrahamyan, Tatev (12851435) CA USA 2433
4 Foisor, Sabina-Francesca (14012260) MD USA 2391
5 Baginskaite, Camilla (12716466) SD USA 2358
6 Ni, Viktorija (14449677) IL USA 2353
7 Goletiani, Rusudan (12807449) NY USA 2338
8 Belakovskaia, Anjelina (12559824) AZ USA 2334
9 Zenyuk, Iryna (12846035) PA USA 2330
10 Rohonyan, Katerina (12973020) WA USA 2317
11 Melekhina, Alisa (12726115) PA USA 2303
12 Kats, Alena (12980885) NY USA 2237
13 Grinfeld, Alla (12717614) NY USA 2234
14 Chiang, Sarah (13091081) TX USA 2223
A note: Rohonyan (#10 on the list above), is the top-rated female player and at the present time, the #2 overall player registered to play in the 2013 Grand Pacif Open that will be held in beautiful Victoria, B.C. (Canada) over the Easter weekend. Rooting for her to take the top money prize! Goddesschess provides sponsorship for this event.
And, according to U.S. Chess Champs website, female players in the 2013 U.S. Women's Chess Championship are:
Zatonskih - accepted (#1 rated)
Krush - accepted (Yes, she has class)
Abrahamyan - accepted
Sabina Foisor - accepted
Baginskaite - accepted (Yes! another personal favorite. Day in and day out, this chess femme works with children and others to teach them chess, something I consider a very worthy and worthwhile calling)
V. Ni - accepted
Zenyuk - accepted (Iryna and Irena will once again be facing off, as they have done in several past U.S. Women's CCs)
Alena Kats - accepted (18 years old)
Sarah Chiang - invited (15 years old)
S. Chiang is #14 on the February 2013 USCF Top Women's Ratings List, so I guess Anjelina B. (#8 on February, 2013 Top U.S. Women's Ratings List) did not receive an invitation. So, I will not get to see her play, after all. Sigh.
Okay, so if the 2013 U.S. Women's CC is featuring 10 players, according to the USCF article, who's the 10th player? As you can see, U.S. Chess Champs website only lists 9 players (accepted and invited) -- so what gives? Is that just another mistake? What's it going to be - 10 players, or 9 players?
Let's hope the errors are corrected...
Human Ancestors Were Fashion Conscious
Article at Science Magazine online.
on 6 March 2013, 2:10 PM
The 2013 Academy Awards were, as always, as much about making appearances as about making films, as red carpet watchers noted fashion trends and faux pas. Both Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts wore Armani, although fortunately not the same dress. And Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway switched from Valentino to a controversial pale pink Prada at the last minute because her original dress looked too much like someone else's. Of course, no actress would be caught dead wearing the same style 2 years in a row. A new study of ancient beaded jewelry from a South African cave finds that ancient humans were no different, avoiding outdated styles as early as 75,000 years ago.
Personal ornaments, often in the form of beads worn as necklaces or bracelets, are considered by archaeologists as a key sign of sophisticated symbolic behavior, communicating either membership in a group or individual identity. Such ornaments are ubiquitous in so-called Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe beginning about 40,000 years ago, where they were made from many different materials—animal and human teeth, bone and ivory, stone, and mollusk shells—and often varied widely among regions and sites.
Image above: Keeping up with fashions. A close examination of shell beads from Blombos Cave (top) suggests that ancient humans there started off with one style of jewelry (bottom) and then shifted to another (middle) over the course of 3000 years. Credit: Marian Vanhaeren.
Even more ancient personal ornaments go back to at least 100,000 years ago in Africa and the Near East. But this earlier jewelry seems less variable and was nearly always made from mollusk shells. So some archaeologists have questioned whether these earlier ornaments played the same symbolic roles as the later ones, or even whether they were made by humans at all.
In a new study in press at the Journal of Human Evolution, a team led by archaeologist Marian Vanhaeren of the University of Bordeaux in France claims to have found evidence of a relatively sudden shift in the way that shell beads were strung. The beads were found at Blombos Cave in South Africa in archaeological layers dated between 75,000 and 72,000 years ago, during a time period marked by four distinct layers of artifacts called the Still Bay tradition. This tradition includes bone awls and sophisticated stone spear points and knives, as well as beads from jewelry: sixty-eight specimens of the southern African tick shell, Nassarius kraussianus, most found clustered together and thought to be part of individual necklaces or bracelets. All the shells are perforated with a single hole, and the team's microscopic studies—as well as experiments with shells of the same species collected near the site—have suggested that they were punctured with a finely tipped bone point.
To get an idea of how the shell beads were worn, Vanhaeren and her colleagues examined the wear (smoothing) around the perforations and on other parts of the shells. They then carried out additional experiments in which N. kraussianus shells were shaken together for many hours at a time and exposed to a diluted vinegar solution meant to mimic human sweat, among other tests, while strung together in various ways.
By stringing the shells themselves in various configurations, the team identified six possible ways that the beads could have been worn, including tying a knot around each shell, stringing them in a continuous row, braiding them with two strings at a time, and reversing the orientations of the shells to each other. Then, by analyzing the wear on the shells caused by these arrangements, Vanhaeren and colleagues determined just how the beads were strung. "In the lower [older] layers, the shells hang free on a string with their flat, shiny [sides] against each other," Vanhaeren says. But like all fashions, that one didn't last long: In the two upper, younger layers, "the shells are knotted together two by two, with their shiny side up" (see photos).
The team concludes that this is the earliest evidence of a shift in "social norms" or "customized style," a change that "parallels the many similar changes in symbolic norms observed among more recent and historically known human societies." It is not yet clear whether the earlier residents of Blombos changed their own fashion ideas, or if they were later replaced by another group of early humans who liked to wear their beads differently. Either way, the findings suggest that these beads, like jewelry today, served a fully symbolic function, the team concludes.
It's an "impressive in-depth study" filled with "fascinating detail," says Olaf Jöris, an archaeologist at the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre in Neuwied, Germany. Stanley Ambrose, an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, adds that the team's "basic
conclusions"—that there was a change in style, or at the very least a change in technique, during the Still Bay period—"seem sound." He adds that the shell beads come from a time when overall cultural innovation among early humans appears to have been speeding up, as evidenced by the short-lived nature of the Still Bay itself, which was soon replaced with other stone and bone tool styles.
But Jöris and some other archaeologists caution against drawing too many firm conclusions from the work. Randall White, an archaeologist at New York University in New York City, has questioned—on the basis of experiments that he and his students carried out—whether the perforations in the Blombos beads were actually made by humans. He suggests that the holes were the result of burial damage, trampling, or even erosion by acidic soils. Jöris says the researcher's assumption that the shell beads were strung as necklaces or bracelets could be wrong, because they did not consider the possibility that they were sewn onto clothing, a cultural style often found in the European Upper Paleolithic. That arrangement could have caused wear patterns that the team did not consider, he says.
on 6 March 2013, 2:10 PM
The 2013 Academy Awards were, as always, as much about making appearances as about making films, as red carpet watchers noted fashion trends and faux pas. Both Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts wore Armani, although fortunately not the same dress. And Best Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway switched from Valentino to a controversial pale pink Prada at the last minute because her original dress looked too much like someone else's. Of course, no actress would be caught dead wearing the same style 2 years in a row. A new study of ancient beaded jewelry from a South African cave finds that ancient humans were no different, avoiding outdated styles as early as 75,000 years ago.
Personal ornaments, often in the form of beads worn as necklaces or bracelets, are considered by archaeologists as a key sign of sophisticated symbolic behavior, communicating either membership in a group or individual identity. Such ornaments are ubiquitous in so-called Upper Paleolithic sites in Europe beginning about 40,000 years ago, where they were made from many different materials—animal and human teeth, bone and ivory, stone, and mollusk shells—and often varied widely among regions and sites.
Image above: Keeping up with fashions. A close examination of shell beads from Blombos Cave (top) suggests that ancient humans there started off with one style of jewelry (bottom) and then shifted to another (middle) over the course of 3000 years. Credit: Marian Vanhaeren.
Even more ancient personal ornaments go back to at least 100,000 years ago in Africa and the Near East. But this earlier jewelry seems less variable and was nearly always made from mollusk shells. So some archaeologists have questioned whether these earlier ornaments played the same symbolic roles as the later ones, or even whether they were made by humans at all.
In a new study in press at the Journal of Human Evolution, a team led by archaeologist Marian Vanhaeren of the University of Bordeaux in France claims to have found evidence of a relatively sudden shift in the way that shell beads were strung. The beads were found at Blombos Cave in South Africa in archaeological layers dated between 75,000 and 72,000 years ago, during a time period marked by four distinct layers of artifacts called the Still Bay tradition. This tradition includes bone awls and sophisticated stone spear points and knives, as well as beads from jewelry: sixty-eight specimens of the southern African tick shell, Nassarius kraussianus, most found clustered together and thought to be part of individual necklaces or bracelets. All the shells are perforated with a single hole, and the team's microscopic studies—as well as experiments with shells of the same species collected near the site—have suggested that they were punctured with a finely tipped bone point.
To get an idea of how the shell beads were worn, Vanhaeren and her colleagues examined the wear (smoothing) around the perforations and on other parts of the shells. They then carried out additional experiments in which N. kraussianus shells were shaken together for many hours at a time and exposed to a diluted vinegar solution meant to mimic human sweat, among other tests, while strung together in various ways.
By stringing the shells themselves in various configurations, the team identified six possible ways that the beads could have been worn, including tying a knot around each shell, stringing them in a continuous row, braiding them with two strings at a time, and reversing the orientations of the shells to each other. Then, by analyzing the wear on the shells caused by these arrangements, Vanhaeren and colleagues determined just how the beads were strung. "In the lower [older] layers, the shells hang free on a string with their flat, shiny [sides] against each other," Vanhaeren says. But like all fashions, that one didn't last long: In the two upper, younger layers, "the shells are knotted together two by two, with their shiny side up" (see photos).
The team concludes that this is the earliest evidence of a shift in "social norms" or "customized style," a change that "parallels the many similar changes in symbolic norms observed among more recent and historically known human societies." It is not yet clear whether the earlier residents of Blombos changed their own fashion ideas, or if they were later replaced by another group of early humans who liked to wear their beads differently. Either way, the findings suggest that these beads, like jewelry today, served a fully symbolic function, the team concludes.
It's an "impressive in-depth study" filled with "fascinating detail," says Olaf Jöris, an archaeologist at the MONREPOS Archaeological Research Centre in Neuwied, Germany. Stanley Ambrose, an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, adds that the team's "basic
conclusions"—that there was a change in style, or at the very least a change in technique, during the Still Bay period—"seem sound." He adds that the shell beads come from a time when overall cultural innovation among early humans appears to have been speeding up, as evidenced by the short-lived nature of the Still Bay itself, which was soon replaced with other stone and bone tool styles.
But Jöris and some other archaeologists caution against drawing too many firm conclusions from the work. Randall White, an archaeologist at New York University in New York City, has questioned—on the basis of experiments that he and his students carried out—whether the perforations in the Blombos beads were actually made by humans. He suggests that the holes were the result of burial damage, trampling, or even erosion by acidic soils. Jöris says the researcher's assumption that the shell beads were strung as necklaces or bracelets could be wrong, because they did not consider the possibility that they were sewn onto clothing, a cultural style often found in the European Upper Paleolithic. That arrangement could have caused wear patterns that the team did not consider, he says.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
21.3.2013 - Many parents still believe that science, business and mathematics are for men and their daughters should not compete in these areas. It’s sad, but it is true – girls are encouraged to go into music, art, teaching… and stay away from the areas currently dominated by men. Three-time US Women's Champion WGM Anjelina Belakovskaia wants to do something about this – with a Kickstarter project. (Will be held in Tucson, Arizona -- coincindence that Tucson is the home of 9 Queens???)
My Note: Monetary contributions are needed for this event planned for April 13, 2013. While the initial goal of $1,000 has been reached, more contributions mean more funds for monetary prizes for players. If you can help, no matter how small your contribution, please consider making a donation. (3) Elizabeth Vicary Spiegel, the Quiet Chess HeroineOkay, that's my own made-up title for this article from English online newspaper, The Telegraph. She is one of my chess heroines. She is an ongoing miracle producer in a world that is far short of them, and she is doing it daily, teaching "her kids" how to play chess for all the right reasons. Elizabeth Vicary (now Spiegel) won the very first Goddesschess prize offered at a U.S. Women's Chess Championship, in 2007. I've followed her chess/teaching career ever since. Here's the actual title and byline for the article:Mini masters: the hard-up Brooklyn school producing chess championsBy Celia Walden
7:00AM GMT 22 Mar 2013
Not sure if this means the women will be playing the country's version of "traditional chess" or - something else. But interesting, nonetheless:
(4) Myanmar to hold traditional chess event in Yangon
English.news.cn