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News Briefs 22-08-2005

By Rick MGon

As I gaze into my cup of tea, I wonder if the Maranatha Puzzle is a storm to come. Initially hostile, I’ve changed my mind to cautiously curious. I’m adopting a wait and see attitude. For now, we have a myriad of miraculously mercurial news items to get through:

  • Science Vs Norse Mythology. A very funny comic strip.
  • A Government agency has accused scientists at the Smithsonian Institution of coordinating a smear campaign against Richard Sternberg, author of a paper discussing intelligent design. Richard Sternberg eplains why he wrote the paper.
  • Scientists are messing around with the speed of light. .thgil fo deeps eht htiw dnuora gnissem era stsitneicS
  • An original manuscript by Einstein, Quantum Theory of the Monatomic ideal gas, has been discovered. I didn’t know Einstein had a wind problem.
  • Is the science of cosmology in the same position that geology was circa 1900 — due for a big overhaul?
  • Over the next few months, we will get a spectacular view of Mars that won’t be seen again until 2018.
  • Will genetically-engineered plants, such as the jellyplant, be grown on Mars? Imagine Martian ‘shrooms!
  • Two members of the Dutch parliament have questioned whether a free Google mapping program will help would-be terrorists. I advise you not to google “bush”.
  • The Pentagon’s spoon-benders, and strategic mind wars, by Jeffrey Steinberg. A commentary on Steinberg’s article here.
  • The Earth is one hot mamma, thanks to her core radioactivity.
  • Climate change is affecting the UK’s bird populations. If the day comes when a cricket match in England is uninterrupted by rain, then I’ll start worrying.
  • Bringing the ancient faces of 2000-year-old skeletons to life. Hollywood botox injections were not used.
  • A 600-year-old shipwreck has been found intact in Shandong Province. One person’s junk is another person’s treasure.
  • China’s 1000-year-old court music is being kept alive by Chinese women.
  • Supportive footwear was worn by Eurasians almost 30’000-years-ago. Nike neanderthals are still wearing it.
  • Archaeologists in Bulgaria have unearthed more than 15’000 pieces of Thracian royal jewellery dating back to the third millennium BC. Here’s a close-up picture, showing how finely crafted the jewellery is.
  • A 16-inch-long bronze key 3200-years-old has been found in Austria. Perhaps it belonged to the security guard for the Thracian royal jewellery.
  • Three arrests have been made over the murder of anthropologist James Petersen in Brazil.
  • The former director of a national antiquities department was among three men sentenced to life in prison for smuggling thousands of artifacts out of Egypt. There is no Egyptian law capable of convicting Zahi Hawass for smuggling lies.
  • A Chinese sea goddess has been called to ward off the restive spirits of tsunami victims in Thailand. Alternative author Ed Kovacs comments in his blog.
  • Chinese experts say lake monsters do not exist. This American fisherman disagrees, as does a photographer in Quebec.
  • A great article on Colin Wilson, the Philosopher of Optimism. His autobiography, Dreaming to Some Purpose, is available from Amazon (US or UK) and all good bookstores.
  • Mexican archaeologists have dug past phone lines, electricity cables and a traffic light under chaotic city streets to excavate a large sculptured stone that was part of an Aztec sacrificial temple.
  • They didn’t find any crystal skulls, but the ones that have been discovered elsewhere are a mystery within a mystery.
  • A hunting whistle that may have belonged to Henry VIII has been found. Blowing it will attract your wife.
  • Russian archaeologists have found birch-bark pieces dating to the 12th-century AD, inscribed with profanities. Unfortunately the article doesn’t tell us what these profanities are — I’d love to use medieval Russian profanities on people who annoy me!

Thanks much to Kat.

Quote of the Day:

I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits.

John Locke (the 17th Century British Philosopher, not the character from the TV series “Lost”).

Rick MG
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9 Comments

  1. hawASS and the former antiquities director
    I bet ya that Abu Shanab didn’t cut hawASS in on the bribes, hence he’s now in the slammer. Now hawASS can make da cut, curse his cratered face and scale-tipping black heart.

    I bet the 16-inch key is needed for hawASS’ hat box, if ya get my drift!

    1. I can’t believe
      I can’t believe that any doubt could be raised about the credibility of a living god such as the great Zahiatenamunraneferseti, the only living deity on earth.

      His actions speak louder than words and his deeds prove his level of integrity. His one man fight will continue against the evil world to recover everything that he needs for his own personal collection.

      As Indiana Jones would say, “it belongs in a museum”.

      It must have been one hell of a chastity belt!
      AAiek

  2. Loved the cartoon
    I wonder why science cannot have it both ways.Why do they have to go spitting and clawing every time someone mentions intelligent design.
    Is there room for them to accept that some one thing could have been behind the beginning of life and not equate it with religion?

    Thanks Rick,

    shadows

    1. Stubborn scientists and creationists
      I gave up a long time ago trying to figure out why these people think the way they do, Shadows. It’s a lost cause. No matter what you say, people will think what they think — it’s an ego thing. They just can’t accept the possibility they may be wrong.

    2. Intelligent Design
      Shadows & Rico,

      Phillip Johnson and other ID proponents have formulated a strategic plan they call the “Wedge.” Evolution is only the initial target of the Wedge’s edge, to be followed by an attack on all of science, and ultimately by profound changes in society, culture, and government. They wish to change much more than the content of science; they want to change the process of doing science, and with it the entire character of society.

      William Dembski, one of the leading lights of ID, has stated:

      “This is really an opportunity to mobilize a new generation of scholars and pastors not just to equip the saints but also to engage the culture and reclaim it for Christ. That’s really what is driving me.”

      Intelligent Design is really a front for Christian Reconstruction, in America in particular. They want turn public schools into Sunday schools. They are a real danger to science and science education everywhere.

      Here are some common tactics of these Christian Reconstructionists, many of which have already been employed in New Mexico, Kansas, Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, and many other states:

      • Place ID advocates on school boards and science standards writing committees.
      • Go as public as possible in print and visual media.
      • Make the inclusion of ID in science classes seem like a free-speech and academic freedom issue.
      • Make scientists seem like the dogmatists.
      • Claim that “Darwinism” is a religion, but ID is science.
      • Claim that “others” are biased, and that teaching ID is only fair (like Fox News’ “Fair and Balanced”).
      • Cite popular poll results and ignore the scientific consensus.
      • Refer to ID in scientific sounding rather than religious language.
      • Redefine science to allow supernatural causes for natural phenomena.
      • Settle for any change or modification in their goals, and declare anything as a victory.
      • Create loopholes in state science standards, using innocuous- sounding language, to allow the presentation of so-called “evidence” against evolution.

      1. Who’s ID is this anyway ?
        Hi,

        Unfortunately as these things seem to go, specially in the states, there’s no middle ground in sight in the battle between the two IDeologies, too much bigotry on both sides. Science i must say lets itself down (once again) by maintaining an impossible position and throwing themselves- or their standards- in, very very foolish and dare i say without method.
        There are three issues, the creation of the universe -or what we think it is anyway, the evolutionairy path earths nature has taken since say half a billion years ago, and most contested the ‘arrival’ of man.

        On the latter the scientists are caught between a rock and a hard place. Observing nature and its intracate balances and adaptations it is o so obvious man is out of place here, man has no real roots. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise when the geneticists found our genetic make up lacking, that and a large (4000) amount of genetic faults , something unheard of in earth nature- certainly in our closest ‘cousins’ bonobo’s/chimps. Aren’t there any other genetic oddities ? Certainly, mais, wheat, rice, dogs even. Wait a minute, these seem to be rather closely related to human needs ? ..Indeed.

        Now i’m not making this stuff up, these are scientific facts, but scientists dare not to extrapolate or even speculate.

        My turn then… as i said a rock and a hard place, it surely wasn’t god that created us. Humans are too faulty, a genetic mess, hardly the result of a divine effort, compared to the beauty all around us on this planet, not that we haven’t been trying to bring it down to our level, fortunately there’s still plenty of spheres with limited human impact.
        Even disregarding the cuneiform stories of Sitchen, it ain’t no leap of faith to recognise external interference, going on for 200,000 years at least, off our tiny human timescale, but we should be able to understand that goals and priorities evolved aswell during that time, not to mention earths climate.

        So where does all this leave those scientists.. tell it like it is and get hammered for claiming the human race is a created hybrid, – Why ? By whom ? Whats our ‘current’status ? … etc. Questions all would rather evade. Those that talk god every other minute are not better off, they’ll have to come to terms with the fact that our imperfection and the continual effort to adapt (upgrade ?) humanoids can not be the work of the allmighty, no sir. A small comfort, at least the rest of us can finally get an unhindered perspective on the religious writings that have been molded.

        It’s save to say that ‘officially’ recognising humans for what they are would create an enormous vacuum, more than room enough for the pseudo gods- and certainly for those that claim to represent them- to take control. It is in this light that the current ‘battle’ should be seen.

        PS. I turned this comment into a blog aswell

        ” do unto others as you would have them do unto you “

        1. study alternative creatures?
          Octopus.

          Perhaps you know why, here are some points in favour of this approach anyway:

          There are these “jumps” in our development, it looks like a qualitative difference between what we understand, and what other primates understand.

          Then, there is our lack of introspective understanding: we do not have the first clue about how conciousness works. Neither the computer scientists not the philosophers, all is speculation.

          Studying primates does not help, neither does studying dogs. We can talk about god, or extraterrestrial intelligences all we want, we don’t have any data.

          So, I propose we try something that looks silly at first. Try to communicate with another creature that has some semblance of intelligence, but is as different as we can find.

          That leaves us with the octopus. We should try to get them to communicate, it would help us in many ways.

          1. well said earthling
            The octopus is a splendid creature and intelligent, far smarter than some people I know.
            Understanding the brains of animals may help us to understand ourselves.
            Except of course that if scientists did it, some octopuses would suffer.

            shadows

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