Romans vs. Germans

Okay, forget all the other stuff below. This is really cool. Think of the opening scene of Gladiator. My favorite quote from the article: "We will need to take a new look at the sources." Surprisingly this happens often. The Roman defenses in the Germanic area were sparse at best, and the Romans never established, as far as we know, a definitive and stable line of defense. Add this to the fact that the fortifications they were building were not built to last, and we end up with little knowledge of what actually took place and less knowledge about where it took place. This is a field that is open to much discovery, as we can see from this article.

Which came first, the Dinosaur or the Spider?

British scientists have found what is perhaps the oldest evidence of spiders--a web fixed into amber.

"Oxford University paleobiologist Martin Brasier said the 140-million-year-old webbing provides evidence that arachnids had been ensnaring their prey in silky nets since the dinosaur age. He also said the strands were linked to each other in the roughly circular pattern familiar to gardeners the world over."

Keeping Time

I hope you are all ready to grow a second older but not gain any real time. The clock watchers of the world have decided that we need to add a single second to the year in order to keep calendars in time with earth's motions. The earth is continuously slowing down, so time has to be added to the calendar. It's going to happen on December 31 at 6:59:59. Prepare yourself.

Scraping Plaque

Dirty teeth lead to preservation of history. From the AP:

"Dental plaque scraped from the teeth of people who lived as much as 9,200 years ago revealed traces of cultivated crops, including squash and beans . . . They studied 39 teeth from six to eight individuals. Found in northern Peru's Nanchoc Valley, the teeth were uncovered in the remains of round house structures in a settlement dated to 9,200 to 5,500 years ago. Some teeth were dirtier than others. We found starch grains on most of the teeth. About a third of the teeth contained large numbers of starch grains."

I have supported the preservation of historical record for a long time. I guess this means that next time I don't feel like brushing my teeth, I have a good excuse.

Moon Shadow

Make sure you step outside on Thanksgiving night to observe the close proximity of the moon, Jupiter, and Venus. And if you are in the mood on Monday, they are even closer. If you miss this, don't worry. You can catch it again in November of 2052.

Copernicus Rises Again

In keeping with the same general topic as my last post, the remains of Copernicus have been identified through DNA testing. For those of you not astronomically inclined, he was the dude who forwarded the theory that the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of this universe. It was thought that he was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, but no one knew exactly where in the cathedral he was buried until now. DNA was matched by analyzing one of his teeth and some hair that was left in a book that he owned.

History Again

Some say that history is stagnant. That could not be farther from the truth. History does, in fact, keep changing--or at least the modern perception of history keeps changing with research advances. Recently archaeologists, digging around on two different parts of the globe, contributed to our understanding of ancient peoples. In Turkey the earliest evidence (8th century BCE) of the theological idea of the soul was uncovered in the form of a grave stele. Etched in the stone is an indication that there was thought of an afterlife and the soul within that afterlife. In Germany archaeologists discovered the earliest evidence (4600 years ago) of family structure in that area. Grave sites revealed that families (mother, father, and children) were buried together after being killed in what was probably a violent attack. Study of the teeth showed that the women were leaving their own family group to join that of their husband's (or whatever the equivalent of a mate was called at that time).

Holy Brawl

Monks--pretty cool. Monks brawling--much better. Yesterday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks took to their fists near what is believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The Armenian monks were marching to commemorate the anniversary of the discovery of Jesus' cross, but the Greek monks were missing one of their number and refused to let the march go on until all were present. Two monks, one from each side, were arrested after a few cracked heads and some brawling with riot police. Apparently the six sects that have control over various parts of the church frequently fight over control of the space, and the Israeli police have to break them up. Someone needs to send them a box of WWJD bracelets.

Jumping at the American Royal

After a nice dinner at Raglan Road (I recommend the bangers and mash) in Kansas City on Saturday evening, I went to the American Royal for the Grand Prix Hunter/Jumper competition. We first took a walk through the isles of stalls, I think we passed every single stall, and later headed to Kemper Arena for the Grand Prix event. Here is a clip of the first round:


And a video of the final round. It is a bit more fun since they are competing for time in the final round. The course is shorter and they are going much faster.

Thoreau Back Again

It seems, for some reason, as though we keep finding old Henry useful in some way. Imagine that. It has been reported that Thoreau's notes are now being used to compare the flora during the mid 19th century, conveniently situated just as the industrial revolution was gearing up, to modern flora patterns. Researchers found that flowers are blooming on average seven days earlier, and that 27% of the species around Concord during Thoreau's life have vanished. "It’s targeting certain branches in the tree of life. They happen to be our most charismatic species — orchids, mints, gentians, lilies, iris." Great. Out of the 21 species of orchid that Thoreau identified in the Concord area, only seven can now be found. This does not sound good for my recent searches, along with my friend Phil, for triphora trianthaphora. The last time that it was spotted, at least that I could find, in east central Kansas was in the early seventies by Lawrence Magrath. Oh well, at least the orchid hunting is good--the finding, not so much.

Pack'd Like Sardines

I have been reading yet another story on illegal border crossings between Mexico and the United States. The story details the meetings of families and acquaintances across a chain link fence near San Diego and the U.S. government's plan to further fortify that barricade. I can't help but think of fences put up in order to protect highways and interstates from "illegal" animal crossings in front of vehicles. If you, for some reason, should want to follow my reason, so it goes: a group of people moves into a portion of land, pushes others out of that portion of land, then draws imaginary lines on a map and calls them borders of that portion of land; they then build barricades along that line because that line has become part of history after being an imaginary line for hundreds of years; after this hundreds of years, this group of people believes that they may prevent the migration of another group of people. So all of this may sound over-simplified, but most things must start at the base before building. We must be careful lest what we think is freedom turns out to be greed.

Weston Irish Festival

Last weekend was beautiful for a bit o' the Irish music. Weston, Missouri held it's 9th annual Irish music festival centered around O'Malley's pub. If you have never been to O'Malley's, it's worth the trip. I was first in line and first to get into the pub in order to get my favorite seat to watch my favorite band there, Flannigan's Right Hook. I then secured a liter mug of Guinness and watched people file into the dark limestone vaulted music hall. I have not seen a better place for setting the Irish music mood--of course, I have not been to Ireland yet.


So, in case you missed it, here are a couple videos of Flannigan's Right Hook:



The Devil Went Down to Georgia:



After Flannigan's Right Hook I climbed back to the light to catch a couple bands on the outdoor stage, finishing the evening with the Elders.

Ralph

I attended last night a Ralph Nader rally at Abe and Jake's Landing. After first making sure that White Owl was in attendance (I don't know what gang sign he is flashing), I proceeded to the business of the evening. I am not saying that I am voting for Nader this year, but I do live in Kansas. That means that our electoral votes are going to go Republican, and a vote for Nader is not going to be a vote for McCain in this state (when the major news stations spin it that way, unfortunately they are ignoring Kansas' unique situation--business as usual). If I lived in Missouri, I might advise against voting for Nader. But since I am in Kansas, attending a Nader rally is a worthwhile expedition.

I found Nader to be different from the two main candidates because there was no double talk. If he said something at the beginning of the speech, he still had the same idea about it at the end. Another difference: Nader many times gave the crowd more than the usual Dem/Repub gloss over job. He usually gave a list of facts and steps towards solutions for any suggested change. So without further ado, here is a picture and a couple videos I took during the rally.


A clip on industry:

And one on taxation:

From the hills

It turns out that Republican McCain supporters and Democratic Hillary supporters can mix, but the offspring may be scary. Warning: this clip contains material not suitable for youngsters, hillbillies, and those not comfortable with naughty words. So if you don't fit into those categories, you can find an entertaining video here.

My favorite part is when the guy driving throws his beer can on the ground and says, "I'll peeck that up latur fur ya."

A New Goddess

Given the frequency of news and blog posts on the current presidential campaigns, I wanted to find something other than politics for my first post. There is now a new goddess, in human form, who has been chosen in Nepal. The girl is now three years old and she will hold the post and live in a temple in Katmandu until the time that she reaches puberty, at which time she must relinquish her post. I have to wonder what the mental repercussions of such status would be--these would be some of her most formative years. After she reaches puberty someone is going to have to deal with a girl who has lived some years being treated like a goddess. It sounds like a bad high school (or Nepal's equivalent coming of age) experience waiting to happen. Now that that is out of the way, politics are fair game.