#95: Human Development: Globalzation Direct Democracy, Philosophy, Technology, Daily Life, Civilization: 08.6.28=6 - 09.1.30=5 11pm:
============================================
0) Direct Democracy < Global.
1) Philosophy.
2) Technology: "Type 1 civilization". Singularity. Disease Music/68 Molecules/DNA
3) Daily Life: Ancient Egyptians/Greeks, Anlo-Saxons, US Farmers.
4) Civilization: Comparative Studies; Recording.
Majors: Cave Artists, Sumerian, Sinic, Persian, Jewish, Phoenician, Mayan, Greek, Roman, German, British.
============================================
0) Direct Democracy:------------------------
: Global direct democracy: 0) 1. 0. http://tinyurl.com/Global-dd
0) 0. Proud To Be A Reactionay DDier:-------
'...Canadians don’t want to be the ‘melting pot’...' http://tinyurl.com/6lsfln
--------------------------------------------
0) 1. Towards Direct Democracy:-------------
0) 1. 0. 'Globalization From Below':--------
0) 1. 0-1. 'The Financial Crisis Is Too Dire to Be Left to Politicians':
http://tinyurl.com/Global-dd
0) 1. 0-2. 'The Key to Happiness That No One -- Not Even the Happiness Gurus -- Are Discussing' http://tinyurl.com/ddHappy
0) 1-0. Toward Walkability:-----------------
0) 1-0-0. Links: Dec20,07 http://www.walkable.org/links.htm
0) 1-0-1. Walkable Communities, Inc.:-------
0) 1-0-1-1. 'Toward Walkability — and Happiness' http://tinyurl.com/6p7wok
0) 1-0-1-2. 'Welcome to Walkable Communities: How Can I Find and Help Build a Walkable Community?' http://www.walkable.org/
0) 1-0-2. Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin:--
0) 1-0-2-1. 'Welcome to Glatting Jackson! We plan and design livable communities.' http://www.glatting.com/
0) 1-0-3. Norway:---------------------------
0) 1-0-3-0. 'New northern party aims to secede from Norway' http://tinyurl.com/5orj5t
0) 9. Secessionist Direct Democracy:---------
0) 9-1. 'Report on Third North American Secessionist Convention, NH: Nov14-16,08: http://ilination.net/man2008/
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0) 1-1. USA Example:
0) 1-1-0. 'On the Impossibility of Limited Government and the Prospects for a Second American Revolution' http://tinyurl.com/558axm
0) 1-1-1. 'The New President and the Global Landscape' http://tinyurl.com/4cdh5m
0) 1-1-1-2. Obama's Foreign Policy Stance Sep24,08 http://tinyurl.com/4tsc5r
0) 1-1-1-3.
0) 1-1-1-4.
0) 1-1-2. McCain:---------------------------
'John McCain's health records must be released' http://tinyurl.com/6as27c
-------------------------------------------
1) Philosophy:-----------------------------
1) 0. Conditions:--------------------------
'2008 State of the Future report proposes 15 global challenges' http://tinyurl.com/6lxzu7
1) 1. 'PROUT: Progressive Utilization Theory'
--------------------------------------------
2) Technology:------------------------------
2) 00-1. 'Toward a Type 1 civilization: Along with energy policy, political and economic systems must also evolve' Los Angeles Times http://tinyurl.com/6sbg3q
2) 00-2. ' Future planes, cars may be made of 'buckypaper' ' http://tinyurl.com/5o273c
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 0-0-1. Singularity Evolution:-------------
2) 0-0-1-0. 'Intel CTO and Ray Kurzweil Among Visionaries Headlining Singularity Summit 2008' http://tinyurl.com/5paoa4
2) 0-0-1-1. 'The Singularity' KurzweilAI.net: http://tinyurl.com/32mgwk
2) 0-0-1-2. 'Technology That Outthinks Us: A Partner or a Master?' http://tinyurl.com/6plypx
2) 0-0-1-3. 'Intel touts progress toward intelligent computers' http://tinyurl.com/6bn9hc
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 0-1. Diseases:----------------------------
2) 0-1-1. 'A Musical Score for Disease' http://tinyurl.com/59xjmr
2) 0-1-2. 'Do 68 molecules hold the key to understanding disease?' http://tinyurl.com/6dlgw6
2) 0-1-3. 'The Holes in Our Genomes: Scanning DNA for structural changes brings new insight into disease' http://tinyurl.com/4wonge
2) 0-1-4. 'Scientists develop new, more sensitive nanotechnology test for chemical DNA modifications' http://tinyurl.com/3wb3l3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 1-0. ' Building 'The Matrix' ' : http://tinyurl.com/5alq57
2) 1-1. 'Quantum Leap: Researchers have controlled the position of a single electron in a silicon circuit' http://tinyurl.com/6b9kco
2) 1-2. 'DNA Technology Posts Dramatic Speed Increases'
2) 1-3. 'Scientists to study synthetic telepathy' http://tinyurl.com/6og53x
2) 1-4. 'Robot builders seek a little help from sci-fi' http://tinyurl.com/5hcl34
2) 2. 'Check Yourself for Genetic Abnormalities' http://tinyurl.com/6sartu
2) 3. 'Gold, DNA Combination May Lead To Nano-Sensor' http://tinyurl.com/6dvpj4
2) 4-1. 'Miniaturised scanner zooms in on disease' http://tinyurl.com/57bu3a
2) 4-2. 'Nanoparticles + light = dead tumor cells' http://tinyurl.com/5n2tya
2) 5. 'Controlling the Size of Nanoclusters: First Step in Making New Catalysts'
: http://tinyurl.com/6nmpv7
2) 6. 'Sequencing a Single Molecule of DNA: Helicos Biosciences' novel machine could speed up sequencing and unearth new disease-linked genetic variations' http://tinyurl.com/6hzgru
2) 10. Genetic Human Migration:-----------
'Phoenicians Live on in People's Genes' http://tinyurl.com/6efatj
2) 11. 'Ancient mummy has no modern children' http://tinyurl.com/5jfaeu
--------------------------------------------
3) Daily Life:------------------------------
3) 1. Ancient Life:------------------------
3) 1-3. Ancient Egyptians:-----------------
3) 1-3-1. 'Ancient Egypt Settlement Sheds Light on Everyday Life'
http://tinyurl.com/42qonj
3) 1-3-2. 'New Egyptian gallery at the British Museum'
http://tinyurl.com/AncietEgyptians2
3) 1-5. ' Ancient Greeks 'loved a good night in' say researchers ' http://tinyurl.com/AncientGreeksNight
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3) 2. Anglo-Saxons, 1000 AD:----------------
"The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium" http://tinyurl.com/4s6d42
3) 3. US Farmers:---------------------------
'Farmer-Veteran Coalition' = FVC: http://farmvetco.org/?page_id=2
'Farms Not Arms' http://farmsnotarms.org/
--------------------------------------------
4) Civilization:----------------------------
4) 00. Comparative Reviews:-----------------
'The Collapse Is Not the End, But a Beginning' http://tinyurl.com/4jkqf5
--------------------------------------------
4) 0. Civilization Recording:---------------
'X. Very Long-Term Backup' Kevin Kelly... Blog http://tinyurl.com/55qfcn
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) 1. Major Civilizations:------------------
4) 1-00. Cave Artists:----------------------
'Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete' http://tinyurl.com/45c4xw
4) 1-0. Sumer:--------------------------------
'Iraq creates task force to probe stolen antiquities' July3,08 http://tinyurl.com/5dpps2
4) 1-1. Sinic Civilization:-------------------
4) 1-1-1. 'Gavin Menzies: mad as a snake - or a visionary?' http://tinyurl.com/5c7cjv
East Asia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia
4) 1-1-1-1. "1421: The Year China Discovered America" http://tinyurl.com/4yo48w
4) 1-1-1-2. "1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance" http://tinyurl.com/4sa2aj
4) 1-2. Persian:---------------------
4) 1-2-1. 'Experts resume restoration of ancient bridge in southern Iran' http://tinyurl.com/5wggfe
4) 1-2-2. 'Archeologists find vast ancient city in Afghanistan' http://tinyurl.com/6rvw24
4) 1-3. Phoenician:------------------
'Phoenicians Live on in People's Genes' http://tinyurl.com/6efatj
4) 1-4. Mayans:----------------------
'Portal to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico? http://tinyurl.com/5v3kxj
4) 1-5. German:----------------------
'German scientists dig for their own Stonehenge' http://tinyurl.com/5fbcxr
4) 1-6. British:---------------------
4) 1-6-1. 'Picture post: England’s ancient rock art' http://tinyurl.com/6l2znw
4) 1-6-2. 'Shakespeare's Shoreditch theatre unearthed: Archaeologists have discovered Shakespeare's lost theatre in east London' http://tinyurl.com/6xcesa
4) 1-6-3. 'Iron Age Warrior with Roman Links Found in U.K.' before Roman Conquest http://tinyurl.com/6xzfm9
4) 1-7. Greek:-----------------------
4) 1-7-1. 'Stoics, cynics and the meaning of life' http://tinyurl.com/45pejm
4) 1-7-2. ' Hidden histories: 'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are giving up new secrets about the ancient world ' http://tinyurl.com/3eb3jn
4) 1-8. Roman:------------------------
'Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town' http://tinyurl.com/3vo276
4) 1-10:-----------------------------
4) 1-14: Jewish:---------------------
'Controversial Bestseller Shakes the Foundation of the Israeli State':
http://www.alternet.org/audits/122810/
============================================
============================================
0) Direct Democracy:------------------------
0) 0. Proud To Be A Reactionary DDier:------
'A Lesson From Across the Atlantic: Canadians don’t want to be the ‘melting pot’ that the US boasts' Robert Fisk: Pub. July12,08 by The Independent/UK:
: " But Canadians seem happy people, the most polite I’ve ever met on earth. There’s an apocryphal story that before Lebanon’s civil war, an Australian economist was invited to Lebanon to explain its financial workings to the Beirut Chamber of Trade. He eventually addressed Lebanese businessmen in words which echo my own thoughts about Canada. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “I haven’t the slightest idea whaThe Financial Crisis Is Too Dire to Be Left to Politicians
By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith and Tim Costello, AlterNet. Posted January 28, 2009.
Current leaders of the world's nations have utterly failed to develop a solution. Now it's up to ordinary citizens. t you’re doing - but keep it up!” ""
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1. Towards Direct Democracy:-------------
0) 1. 0. 'Globalization From Below':--------
0) 1. 0-1. 'The Financial Crisis Is Too Dire to Be Left to Politicians':
By Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith and Tim Costello, AlterNet. Posted Jan28,09:
http://tinyurl.com/Global-dd
""Current leaders of the world's nations have utterly failed to develop a solution. Now it's up to ordinary citizens.""
""Editor's Note: As tens of thousands of activists from around the world gather in Belem, Brazil, for the World Social Forum, social movements everywhere are debating how to respond to the ever-deepening economic crisis. This article is excerpted from the longer discussion paper "Globalization From Below" Tackles the "Great Recession" prepared by Global Labor Strategies.""
: ... ...
" The seemingly sudden collapse of the global economy in 2008 has similarly left millions, indeed billions, of people all over the world victims of a catastrophe that appears both inexplicable and unending.
But what's now being dubbed the "Great Recession" is neither incomprehensible nor irremediable. On the contrary, it can be understood as an expectable result of a capitalism that has been globalized and at the same time "freed" by neoliberalism of control in the public interest.
The economic globalization that transformed the world at the turn of the 21st century promised, " ... " In practice it generated personal and national insecurity, growing inequality and a race to the bottom in which every community, nation and work group had to reduce its social, environmental and labor conditions to that of its most-impoverished competitor.
But economic globalization also gave birth to a new convergence of global social forces that opposed this kind of globalization. People all over the world fought back against this "globalization from above" with their own "globalization from below." They used asymmetrical strategies of linking across the borders of nations and constituencies to become a counterpower to the advocates of globalization. They created a movement " ... " that some in the media even characterized as "the world's other superpower." "
... " developed in response to the expansive phase of globalization and neoliberalism. " ...
... ...
" The multi-trillion-dollar rescues and bailouts so far just attempt -- possibly futilely -- to save the status quo. But what can we do if the status quo can't be saved? Can globalization from below really provide an alternative solution to the great recession?
It has already started to do so. A landmark was the meeting of a group of social movements and nongovernmental organizations in October 2008 at the Asia-Europe People's Forum in Beijing that developed a sketch for a "transitional program for radical economic transformation."
The "Beijing Declaration" laid out alternatives that are "practical and immediately feasible" that put the "well-being of people and the planet at their center." This requires "democratic control over financial and economic institutions." It includes proposals for finance, taxation, public spending and investment, international trade and finance, environment and agriculture and industry. It provides a brilliant first expression of a globalization-from-below alternative to the failures of globalization from above.
The basic vision of the declaration is summed up in its title: "The Global Economic Crisis: An Historic Opportunity for Transformation." " ... ...
... ...
" No "maximalism" here. "To capture people's attention and support" the declaration argues, proposals must be practical and immediately feasible. That is possible because, even under the domination of globalization from above, people have been developing alternatives within the world's nooks and crannies.
The unfolding economic crisis provides the opportunity "to put into the public domain some of the inspiring and feasible alternatives many of us have been working on for decades."
The goal linking these alternatives is the "well-being of people and the planet." And that requires a focus not primarily on restoring the financial system, but first and foremost on the great human and environmental crisis the world is facing in relation to food, climate and energy. "
... ...
" The vision of such democratic control, however, is not of either a centralized national or a centralized global economy. It is closer to what Walden Bello elsewhere described as the coexistence of a variety of "international organizations, agreements and regional groupings" that would allow "a more fluid, less structured, more pluralistic world with multiple checks and balances" in which nations and communities can "carve out the space to develop based on their values, their rhythms and the strategies of their choice."
The current economic crisis creates opportunity for transformation, the declaration argues, because it severely weakens the power of the United States, the European Union, and the IMF, World Bank and World Trade Organization. It undermines the legitimacy of the neoliberal paradigm. And, where global pseudo-consensus once asserted that "there is no alternative" to liberal capitalism, the future of capitalism is now becoming an open question.
Of course, this moment can also be seized by "fascist, right-wing populist, xenophobic groups" who will try to "take advantage of people's fear and anger for reactionary ends."
What is the agency for pursuing constructive alternatives and resisting destructive ones? It starts with the "powerful movements against neoliberalism" that have been built over past decades. These will grow along with public anger at the abuse of public funds for private subsidy, the crises of food, energy, and the environment and the deepening recession.
As social movements from around the world converge in Belem, Brazil, at the end of January for the World Social Forum, they will be in a position to take the next step toward realizing their potential as the world's "other superpower."
Indeed, it is the convergence of the already-existing networks and understandings of globalization from below with the new outrage at what neoliberalism has done to the world that provides the opportunity to show that another world is indeed possible.
See more stories tagged with: economy, globalization, wall street, clean energy, community, development, financial crisis, belem
Tim Costello, Jeremy Brecher and Brendan Smith are the co-founders of Global Labor Strategies, a resource center providing research and analysis on globalization, trade and labor issues. ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0) 1. 0-2. 'The Key to Happiness That No One -- Not Even the Happiness Gurus -- Are Discussing' By Frances Moore Lappe, YES! Magazine. Posted Jan31,09, AlterNet:
http://tinyurl.com/ddHappy
""Having our basic physical needs met isn't enough. Though they're important, neither are family and friends.""
: "" "What is happiness? The feeling that power is growing, that resistance is overcome."
So wrote Friedrich Nietzsche in 1895. " [Perhaps in 1888]
... ...
.... " to dig to the root, Latin meaning of power, "to be able"? Suddenly, the word's hard edge dissolves; power simply means efficacy -- our capacity, as philosopher Erich Fromm put it, to "make a dent." "
... ...
" In fact, the human need to "make a dent" is so great that Fromm argued we should toss out René Descartes' "I think therefore I am" and replace it with "I am, because I effect."
Even much of what we call "materialism" is, I think, not about "things" at all. It is a distorted, ultimately unsatisfying attempt to feel powerful, with status through possessions forced to stand in for power. If true, then addressing powerlessness is a direct way both to foster happiness and to overcome planet-destroying materialism.
There's just one pathway to happiness in which this deep, human need for power is given pride of place: democracy. By this I mean democracy as a living practice that enables us to have a real say in every dimension of our public lives, from school to workplace and beyond.
Such power is expanding in part through a growing number of largely unseen citizen organizations. " ... ...
... ...
... " We might do well to replace the maxims of Acton, and even Nietzsche, with one uttered by Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero 2,000 years ago:
"Freedom is participation in power." ""
"" Frances Moore Lappé wrote this article as part of Sustainable Happiness, the Winter 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Frances is the author of many books including Diet for a Small Planet and Get a Grip, co-founder of Food First and the Small Planet Institute, and a YES! contributing editor.
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from Health and Wellness! Sign up now » ""
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-0. Toward Walkability:-----------------
0) 1-0-0. Links: Dec20,07 http://www.walkable.org/links.htm
: "" The Sierra Club has an extensive list of wonderful links.
Active Living by Design has a very comprehensive list of links.
Other links that might be helpful are:
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc.: Community Planning and Design
Active Living by Design
Alternate Street Design
America Walks
Colorado Walks
Congress for the New Urbanism
David Engwicht - Reclaiming the Streets
Florida Traffic & Bicycle Safety Education Program
Florida Department of Transportation - Ped/Bike Program
Guidance Pathway Systems
Illinois' Pedestrian Rules of the Road
International Dark Skies Association
Livable Streets, Inc. (Transportation Planning and Engineering)
Michael Ronkin - National Bicycle & Pedestrian Expert
Michigan Land USe Institute
National Charrette Institute
Pedestrians Educating Driver's Society
Project for Public Spaces
Promotional Materials Clearinghouse
Sprawl Kills
Washington State DOT
Walk San Diego
WalkArlington
Walk Boston
Walking Club in Ireland
WellCommunities
If you have any other links that you feel should be added, please email us!
Walkable Communities., 120 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando, FL 32801 (866) 347-2734
For any comments, questions or suggestions about the content of this web site please email: Ken Owens
Last Updated: December 20, 2007 ""
0) 1-0-1. Walkable Communities, Inc.:----
0) 1-0-1-1. 'Toward Walkability — and Happiness' Dan Burden: Pub. July13,08 by The San Jose Mercury News: http://tinyurl.com/6p7wok
: "" Over the 12 years I’ve spent advocating for walkable communities in about 2,500 towns and cities throughout the world — including 20 or so in the Bay Area — I’ve found a disparity in the level of happiness that appears to have nothing to do with levels of income.
In communities around San Jose, residents have an enviable standard of living in many respects, yet many don’t seem as happy as one would expect in light of their income and the creative environment of Silicon Valley. What could be the cause? And more important, what are possible solutions?
A recent international study on happiness by researchers at Leicester University in England ranked the United States as only the 23rd happiest place in the world. Denmark is the happiest, according to the research.
It’s probably no coincidence that more than 20 years ago, Denmark set a vision to become one of the best places to walk anywhere. It took a long time to get there, but the Danes apparently are very happy with their results. "
... ...
" Silicon Valley’s residents have a real opportunity to rethink what makes them most happy. Whether driven by gas prices, long commutes or the need to be more connected to our communities, we can redesign and improve our neighborhoods to get back on our feet.
And that, to me, is a happy thought.
Dan Burden is the founder of Walkable Communities Inc. and is a principal with community-planning firm Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin. ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
0) 1-0-1-2. 'Welcome to Walkable Communities: How Can I Find and Help Build a Walkable Community?' Dan Burden: Apr.22,08 http://www.walkable.org/
: "" Walkable Communities was established in the state of Florida in 1996. It was organized for the express purposes of helping whole communities, whether they are large cities or small towns, or parts of communities, i.e. neighborhoods, business districts, parks, school districts, subdivisions, specific roadway corridors, etc., become more walkable and pedestrian friendly. "
... ...
" Dan Burden is the Director of Walkable Communities, who teams with Glatting Jackson and other team members as needed for specific projects from universities, city and county governments, consulting firms or retired business or political leaders who have made a difference in their towns and cities. Team members have included senior level town planners, traffic management and traffic calming engineers, landscape architects, photographers, security specialists, safety and education consultants, and workshop facilitators. ""
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-0-2. Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin:--
0) 1-0-2-1. 'Welcome to Glatting Jackson! We plan and design livable communities.' http://www.glatting.com/
: "" Livable communities bring people and their environments together to create meaningful experiences and enrich lives. We create such places.
Our expertise in multiple disciplines -- planning, urban design, transportation, landscape architecture and environmental services – allows us to create communities that are designed in context, holistically, with an eye to how they will blend and interact with their surroundings.
Our team is ready to help create solutions of lasting value. How can we help you? ""
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-0-3. Norway:---------------------------
0) 1-0-3-0. 'New northern party aims to secede from Norway' Oct22,08: Aftenposten Nettutgaven, First pub Oct21,08: http://tinyurl.com/5orj5t
""What started as a group of disgruntled residents of northern Norway on web site Facebook is now emerging as a new political party bent on breaking away from the rest of the nation.""
: "" The Facebook group was formed just 11 days ago, made up of northern Norwegians who are disappointed and angry that Tromsø lost support for its bid to host an expensive Winter Olympics in 2018.
The group, called Republikken Hålogaland, has since grown to number more than 6,200 persons. A core group of around a dozen of them, reports website iTromso.no, was meeting Tuesday to form a new political party.
"It's clear that folks along the coast of this country believe that enough's enough," one of the party initiators, Håkon Winther, told iTromso.no.
Winther said the party will promote secession of the northern areas of Norway from the rest of the country. The new breakaway republic would include the counties of Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, the island of Jan Mayen and the Svalbard archipelago. "
============================================
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-1. USA Example:
0) 1-1-0. 'On the Impossibility of Limited Government and the Prospects for a Second American Revolution' Daily Article by Hans-Hermann Hoppe | Posted on 6/28/2008 http://tinyurl.com/558axm
[[ Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an Austrian School economist and libertarian/anarchocapitalist philosopher, is a professor of Economics at UNLV, a distinguished fellow with the Ludwig von Mises Institute, founder and president of The Property and Freedom Society, and editor-at-large of the Journal of Libertarian Studies.
view archives ]]
: "" * Introduction
1. A Country of Pioneers
2. The American Revolution
3. The American Constitution
4. Two Hundred Years Later…
5. Revolution by Means of Secession
* Notes
[This essay was originally published in Reassessing the Presidency: The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom, edited by John V. Denson, pp. 667–696. An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Dr. Floy Lilley, is available for download.]
: " But what was the next step once independence from Britain had been won? This question leads to the third source of national pride — the American Constitution — and the explanation as to why this Constitution, rather than being a legitimate source of pride, represents a fateful error. "
" After more than two centuries of "constitutionally limited government," the results are clear and incontrovertible. At the outset of the American "experiment," the tax burden imposed on Americans was light, indeed almost negligible. Money consisted of fixed quantities of gold and silver. The definition of private property was clear and seemingly immutable, and the right to self-defense was regarded as sacrosanct. No standing army existed, and, as expressed in George Washington's Farewell Address, a firm commitment to free trade and a noninterventionist foreign policy appeared to be in place. Two hundred years later, matters have changed dramatically. [16] "
" Rather, a modern liberal-libertarian strategy of secession should take its cues from the European Middle Ages when, from about the 12th until well into the 17th century (with the emergence of the modern central state), Europe was characterized by the existence of hundreds of free and independent cities, interspersed into a predominantly feudal social structure.[32]
"Political leaders are selected nowadays according to their demagogic talents and proven records as habitual immoralists."
By choosing this model and striving to create an America punctuated by a large and increasing number of territorially disconnected free cities — a multitude of Hong Kongs, Singapores, Monacos, and Liechtensteins strewn out over the entire continent — two otherwise unattainable but central objectives can be accomplished. First, besides recognizing the fact that the liberal-libertarian potential is distributed highly unevenly across the country, such a strategy of piecemeal withdrawal renders secession less threatening politically, socially, and economically. Second, by pursuing this strategy simultaneously at a great number of locations all over the country, it becomes exceedingly difficult for the central state to create the unified opposition in public opinion to the secessionists that would secure the level of popular support and voluntary cooperation necessary for a successful crackdown.[33]
If we succeed in this endeavor, if we then proceed to return all public property into appropriate private hands and adopt a new "constitution" that declares all taxation and legislation henceforth unlawful, and if we then finally allow insurance agencies to do what they are destined to do, we truly can be proud again and America will be justified in claiming to provide an example to the rest of the world.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe is a professor of economics at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Send him mail. See his books. See his articles. Comment on the blog.
This essay was originally published in Reassessing the Presidency: The Rise of the Executive State and the Decline of Freedom, edited by John V. Denson, pp. 667–696.
An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Dr. Floy Lilley, is available for download. ""
" [16] Robert Higgs, Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (New York: Oxford University Press 1987), p. ix, contrasts the early American experience to the present:
There was a time, long ago, when the average American could go about his daily business hardly aware of the government — especially the federal government. As a farmer, merchant, or manufacturer, he could decide what, how, when, and where to produce and sell his goods, constrained by little more than market forces. Just think: no farm subsidies, price supports, or acreage controls; no Federal Trade Commission; no antitrust laws; no Interstate Commerce Commission. As an employer, employee, consumer, investor, lender, borrower, student, or teacher, he could proceed largely according to his own lights. Just think: no National Labor Relations Board; no federal consumer "protection" laws; no Security and Exchange Commission; no Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; no Department of Health and Human Services. Lacking a central bank to issue national paper currency people commonly used gold coins to make purchases. There were no general sales taxes, no Social Security taxes, no income taxes. Though governmental officials were as corrupt then as now — maybe more so — they had vastly less to be corrupt with. Private citizens spent about fifteen times more than all governments combined. Those days, alas, are long gone. "
" [32] On the importance of the free cities of medieval Europe on the subsequent development of the uniquely European tradition of (classical) liberalism, see Charles Tilly and Wim P. Blockmans, eds., Cities and The Rise of States in Europe, A.D. 1000 to 1800 (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994).
[33] The danger of a government crackdown is greatest during the initial stage of this secessionist scenario, i.e., while the number of free city territories is still small. Hence, during this phase it is advisable to avoid any direct confrontation with the central government. Rather than renouncing its legitimacy altogether, it would seem prudent, for instance, to guarantee the government's "property" of federal buildings, etc. within the free territory, and "only" deny its right to future taxation and legislation concerning anyone and anything within this territory. Provided that this is done with the appropriate diplomatic tact and given the necessity of a substantial level of support in public opinion, it is difficult to imagine how the central government would dare to invade a territory and crush a group of people who had committed no other sin than trying to mind their own business. Subsequently, once the number of secessionist territories reached a critical mass — and every success in one location promoted imitation by other localities — the difficulties of crushing the secessionists would increase exponentially, and the central government would quickly be rendered impotent and implode under its own weight. ""
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-1-1. 'The New President and the Global Landscape' George Friedman: Stratfor, Sep23,08: http://tinyurl.com/4cdh5m
: "" Editor’s Note: This is part one of a four-part report by Stratfor founder and Chief Intelligence Officer George Friedman on the U.S. presidential debate on foreign policy, to be held Sept. 26. Stratfor is a private, nonpartisan intelligence service with no preference for one candidate over the other. We are interested in analyzing and forecasting the geopolitical impact of the election and, with this series, seek to answer two questions: What is the geopolitical landscape that will confront the next president, and what foreign policy proposals would a President McCain or a President Obama bring to bear? For media interviews, e-mail pr@stratfor.com or call 512-744-4309.
Part 1 - The New President and the Global Landscape - September 23
This introductory piece frames the questions that the next president will face. Regardless of a given candidate's policy preferences, there are logistical and geographical constraints that shape US and foreign options. The purpose of this analysis is to describe the geopolitical landscape for the next administration. The analysis concludes with a list of questions for the debate that define the parameters facing both candidates.
Part 2 - Obama's Foreign Policy Stance - September 24
Senator Obama has issued position papers and made statements about his intended foreign policy. Like all Presidents, he would also be getting input from a variety of others, principally from his own party. This second analysis analyzes the foreign policy position of Sen. Obama and the Democratic Party.
Part 3 - McCain's Foreign Policy Stance - September 25
Senator McCain has issued position papers and made statements about his intended foreign policy. Like all Presidents, he would also be getting input from a variety of others, principally from his own party. This second analysis analyzes the foreign policy position of Sen. McCain and the Republican Party.
Part 4 - George Friedman on the Presidential Debate - September 29
The final installment in this series will be produced after the debate. This is NOT an effort to call a "winner" or "loser." That's for pundits, not an intelligence service. This will be an analysis of the candidates' statements and positions. "
1 The New President and the Global Landscape Sep23,08 http://tinyurl.com/4cdh5m
0) 1-1-1-2. Obama's Foreign Policy Stance Sep24 http://tinyurl.com/4tsc5r
0) 1-1-1-3. McCain's Foreign Policy Stance Sep25 http://tinyurl.com/3jfevn
0) 1-1-1-4.
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
0) 1-1-2. McCain:---------------------------
'John McCain's health records must be released' Brave New Films, Sep24,08: http://tinyurl.com/6as27c
: " John McCain has not yet released his medical records to the public. McCain is 72 years old, and has been diagnosed with invasive melanoma. In May of this year, a small group of selected reporters were allowed to review 1,173 pages of McCain's medical records and were allowed only three hours to do so. John McCain's health is an issue of profound importance. We call on John McCain to issue a full, public disclosure of all of his medical records, available for the media and members of the general public to review.
Signed,
[Your Name]
Signed by 53,491 people, 2,515 doctors: "
============================================
--------------------------------------------
0) 9. Secessionist Direct Democracy:--------
0) 9-1. 'Report on Third North American Secessionist Convention: Radisson Hotel Manchester, NH: Nov14-16,08', By Hon. Most Rev. Dr. Cesidio Tallini: http://ilination.net/man2008/
: " The Third North American Secessionist Convention was held on November 14-16, 2008. Independent Long Island participated with the following delegates:
1. Hon. James Alcock, High Commissioner to Canada;
2. Hon. William H. Cerf, Lieutenant Governor;
3. Hon. Most Rev. Dr Cesidio Tallini, Governor.
The Governor of Independent Long Island (ILI) also officially represented the United Micronations Multi-Oceanic Archipelago (UMMOA), which is the Overseas Territory of Independent Long Island recognised by the Middlebury Institute, and also represented the International States Parliament for Safety and Peace (ISPSP).
The First North American Secessionist Convention attracted some 30 delegates. The
Second attracted some 50 delegates. This Third North American Secessionist Convention
attracted some 80 delegates. Unlike previous editions, this convention also attracted delegates from Quebec, besides the U.S.-centred delegations. The Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the convention was Kirkpatrick Sale, Director of the Middlebury Institute. "
... ...
" Independent Long Island spoke as a first-timer to the Convention, so the Governor gave as detailed a presentation as possible within the limited time frame, which was about 15 minutes per delegation or delegate. The Governor talked about the reason why after living in both Italy and the United States he considered himself an Independent Long Islander or Ilier. He also spoke about the United Micronations Multi-Oceanic Archipelago (UMMOA), and the fact that the nation is formally recognised by an International Organisation of States recognised under the Vienna Convention, the International States Parliament for Safety and Peace
(ISPSP). Also mentioned, the status of the Governor as a real, diplomatic passport-carrying Diplomat. The Governor also welcomed any of the organisations present to avail themselves of a top-level domain (TLD) in the Cesidian Root; mentioned his newly-published book, A history of the future: Independent Long Island; and invited any interested organisation to develop diplomatic relations with Independent Long Island. Quite a few delegates were positively impressed by the presentation.
The Hon. James Alcock was able to mention only briefly the Commonwealth of
Nations in the morning, but later redeemed himself by getting the following organisations interested in Commonwealth of Nations membership through face-to-face education:
1. Second Vermont Republic
2. Southern National Congress
3. United Republic of Texas
Several organisations offered reading materials and bumper stickers in the room, and
Independent Long Island delegates were able to distribute at least 30 different colour handouts with detailed information about Independent Long Island; the United Micronations Multi-Oceanic Archipelago (UMMOA); related international organisations; the Hon. Tallini's book; the International States Parliament for Safety and Peace (ISPSP); interesting articles; and one-page biographies of the following nations: the Dominion of British West Florida, the Imperium of DeWaCo Estates, and Antarcticland. Only Independent Long Island made its presence known at the convention with actual stick flags. Other organisations at best showed their flag on t-shirts or stickers. As far as we know, only Independent Long Island displayed their flag on their diplomatic vehicle.
In the afternoon of November 15, speeches were given for the New Arcadia/Atlantica
proposal; about Post-Peak Oil and secession; and Robert Steele made his “Nine Nations of North America” presentation which ended in a way which was not appreciated by some, Dr. Naylor in particular, since his views seemed almost like encouraging new alliances rather than secession. The most interesting ― and humorous ― workshop was given by Dexter Clark, Gold miner and Vice President of the Alaskan Independence Party, who had a really impressive CNN interview to show, thanks in part to the publicity that was a by-product of the Sarah Palin affair.
The evening should have ended with a Press Conference, but unfortunately no major
media was present, although the Vermont Second Republic did seem to be YouTube-ready
with at least a couple of cameras. The Associated Press this year only had but a brief article to mention the fact, and the article was published before the Manchester convention.
Another disappointment proved to be the final convention statement, the “Manchester
Declaration”, " ...
... ...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dr. Thomas H. Naylor, Founder of the Second Vermont Republic
Kirkpatrick Sale, Director of Middlebury Institute
Independent Long Island (ILI):
The CNRS/ILI/UMMOA/ISPSP Diplomacy Dream Team (from left to right):
* Hon. James Alcock, High Commissioner to Canada
* Hon. William Cerf, Lt. Governor
* Hon. Most Rev. Dr. Cesidio Tallini, Governor\
Dexter Clark, Gold miner and Vice President of the Alaskan Independence Party
============================================
============================================
1) Philosophy:------------------------------
1) 0. Conditions:---------------------------
'2008 State of the Future report proposes 15 global challenges' KurzweilAI.net, July14,08 http://tinyurl.com/6lxzu7
The future continues to get better for most of the world, but a series of tipping points could drastically alter global prospects, according to the 2008 State of the Future, a report due to be published late this month, and obtained by KurzweilAI.net Sunday.
: "" Half the world is vulnerable to social instability and violence due to rising food and energy prices, failing states, falling water tables, climate change, decreasing water-food-energy supply per person, desertification, and increasing migrations due to political, environmental, and economic conditions, says this report published by the Millennium Project, a global participatory futures research think tank affiliated with the World Federation of UN Associations.
However, it notes that "Ours is the first generation with the means for many to know the world as a whole, identify global improvement systems, and seek to improve such systems. We are the first people to act via Internet with like-minded individuals around the world. We have the ability to connect the right ideas to resources and people to help address our global and local challenges."
The report is a "global overview of our technological, environmental, social, economic future prospects, strategies to address them -- what the educated person should know about the world and what to do to improve it," co-author and Millennium Project Director Jerome C. Glenn told KurzweilAI.net. "
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
1) 1.'PROUT: Progressive Utilization Theory' http://prout.shows.it/
Triangles symbol
maximum utilization and rational distribution of all mundane, supra-mundane, physical, metaphysical and spiritual potentialities of the universe. PROUT Study Circle Begins Soon, Click Here View Short PROUT Video Below
: "" PROUT (the Progressive Utilization Theory) is a new paradigm of development based on economic decentralism, social equity, bioregional integration, cultural empowerment, a planetary polity, bio-equality, and spiritual-humanism. As such, it compliments the critique of globalization with a deeply thought out and coherent alternative. Recognition of the value of this alternative developmental model has been slow to take root in the progressive community -- until now!
PROUT models the way nature works. Those with knowledge of ecological science, complexity theory, systems theory, or the philosophical implications of quantum physics will feel a familiarity with its values, principles, and operational structure.
The Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) has been developed to meet humanity's need for a post-materialist, spirit-based social philosophy. It is a social philosophy for a new era; an ideology grounded in expanded humanism, born of love, and sublime confidence. PROUT cannot be characterized as either conservative or liberal; neither can it be called libertarian, socialist, or anarchist. It arises from its own values base, transcends the left-right political spectrum, and possesses the strengths of many social philosophies.
A liberated society can only arise out of the liberated consciousness of individuals, and the liberated consciousness of individuals depends both on individual effort to develop inner awareness and upon a social environment that supports this effort. In this spirit we present to you the Progressive Utilization Theory, PROUT. "
PROUTist Universal
Contact Satya
PROUTistUniversal AT gmail.com
(310) 594-3419
============================================
============================================
2) Technology:-----------------------------
2) 00-1. 'Toward a Type 1 civilization: Along with energy policy, political and economic systems must also evolve', Michael Shermer 08.7.22 Los Angeles Times http://tinyurl.com/6sbg3q
" Type 0.1: Fluid groups of hominids living in Africa. Technology consists of primitive stone tools. Intra-group conflicts are resolved through dominance hierarchy, and between-group violence is common.
Type 0.2: "
... ...
" Type 1.0: Globalism that includes worldwide wireless Internet access, with all knowledge digitized and available to everyone. A completely global economy with free markets in which anyone can trade with anyone else without interference from states or governments. A planet where all states are democracies in which everyone has the franchise.
The forces at work that could prevent us from making the great leap forward to a Type 1 civilization are primarily political and economic. The resistance by nondemocratic states to turning power over to the people is considerable, especially in theocracies whose leaders would prefer we all revert to Type 0.4 chiefdoms. ... ... "
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 00-2. 'Future planes, cars may be made of 'buckypaper' ' BILL KACZOR , Associated Press Writer, PhysOrg.com, Oct17,08: http://tinyurl.com/5o273c
: "" (AP) -- It's called "buckypaper" and looks a lot like ordinary carbon paper, but don't be fooled by the cute name or flimsy appearance. It could revolutionize the way everything from airplanes to TVs are made.
Buckypaper is 10 times lighter but potentially 500 times stronger than steel when sheets of it are stacked and pressed together to form a composite. Unlike conventional composite materials, though, it conducts electricity like copper or silicon and disperses heat like steel or brass.
"All those things are what a lot of people in nanotechnology have been working toward as sort of Holy Grails," said Wade Adams, a scientist at Rice University.
That idea - that there is great future promise for buckypaper and other derivatives of the ultra-tiny cylinders known as carbon nanotubes - has been floated for years now. However, researchers at Florida State University say they have made important progress that may soon turn hype into reality.
Buckypaper is made from tube-shaped carbon molecules 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. Due to its unique properties, it is envisioned as a wondrous new material for light, energy-efficient aircraft and automobiles, more powerful computers, improved TV screens and many other products. "
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
2) 0-0-1. Singularity Evolution:-------------
2) 0-0-1-0. 'Intel CTO and Ray Kurzweil Among Visionaries Headlining Singularity Summit 2008' KurzweilAI.net, Aug29,08: http://tinyurl.com/5paoa4
: "" Singularity Summit 2008: Opportunity, Risk, Leadership takes place October 25 at the Montgomery Theater in San Jose, CA, the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence plans to announce today.
Keynotes will include Ray Kurzweil, updating his predictions in The Singularity Is Near, and Intel CTO Justin Rattner, who thinks the gap between humans and machines will close by 2050.
Singularity Summit 2008 will feature an impressive lineup:
* Dr. Ruzena Bajcsy, pioneering AI and robotics researcher
* Dr. Eric Baum, AI researcher, author of What is Thought?
* Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com, author of Robotic Nation
* Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, robotics professor at MIT, creator of Kismet
* Dr. Peter Diamandis, chair and CEO of X PRIZE Foundation
* Esther Dyson, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist
* Dr. Pete Estep, chair and CSO of Innerspace Foundation
* Dr. Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, author of Fab
* Dr. Ben Goertzel, CEO of Novamente, director of research at SIAI
* John Horgan, science journalist, author of The Undiscovered Mind
* Ray Kurzweil, CEO of Kurzweil Technologies, author of The Singularity is Near
* Dr. James Miller, author of forthcoming book on Singularity economics
* Dr. Marvin Minsky, one of AI's founding fathers, author of The Emotion Machine
* Dr. Dharmendra Modha, cognitive computing lead at IBM Almaden Research Center
* Bob Pisani, news correspondent for financial news network CNBC
* Justin Rattner, VP and CTO of Intel Corporation
* Nova Spivack, CEO of Radar Networks, creator of Twine semantic-web application
* Peter Thiel, president of Clarium, managing partner of Founders Fund
* Dr. Vernor Vinge, author of original paper on the technological Singularity
* Eliezer Yudkowsky, research fellow at SIAI, author of Creating Friendly AI
* Glenn Zorpette, executive editor of IEEE Spectrum
Three Most Recent News Stories Related to Singularity/acceleration
Technology That Outthinks Us: A Partner or a Master?
New York Times, Aug. 25, 2008
Intel touts progress toward intelligent computers
CNET News.Com, Aug. 22, 2008
2008 State of the Future report proposes 15 global challenges
KurzweilAI.net, July 14, 2008 ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 0-0-1-1. 'The Singularity' KurzweilAI.net: http://tinyurl.com/32mgwk
"The Singularity" is a phrase borrowed from the astrophysics of black holes. The phrase has varied meanings; as used by Vernor Vinge and Raymond Kurzweil, it refers to the idea that accelerating technology will lead to superhuman machine intelligence that will soon exceed human intelligence, probably by the year 2030. The results on the other side of the "event horizon," they say, are unpredictable. We'll try anyway.
Openness and the Metaverse Singularity By Jamais Cascio
The four worlds of the Metaverse Roadmap could also represent four pathways to a Singularity. But they also represent potential dangers. An "open-access Singularity" may be the answer. The people who have embraced the possibility of a singularity should be working at least as hard on making possible a global inclusion of interests as they do on making the singularity itself happen, says Jamais Cascio. (Added November 7th 2007)
What If the Singularity Does NOT Happen? By Vernor Vinge ""
... ...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 0-0-1-2. 'Technology That Outthinks Us: A Partner or a Master?' JOHN TIERNEY
The New York Times, Aug25,08: http://tinyurl.com/6plypx
: "" SAN DIEGO
In Vernor Vinge’s version of Southern California in 2025, there is a school named Fairmont High with the motto, “Trying hard not to become obsolete.” It may not sound inspiring, but to the many fans of Dr. Vinge, this is a most ambitious — and perhaps unattainable — goal for any member of our species.
Dr. Vinge is a mathematician and computer scientist in San Diego whose science fiction has won five Hugo Awards and earned good reviews even from engineers analyzing its technical plausibility. He can write space operas with the best of them, but he also suspects that intergalactic sagas could become as obsolete as their human heroes.
The problem is a concept described in Dr. Vinge’s seminal essay in 1993, “The Coming Technological Singularity,” which predicted that computers would be so powerful by 2030 that a new form of superintellligence would emerge. Dr. Vinge compared that point in history to the singularity at the edge of a black hole: a boundary beyond which the old rules no longer applied, because post-human intelligence and technology would be as unknowable to us as our civilization is to a goldfish.
The Singularity is often called “the rapture of the nerds,” but Dr. Vinge doesn’t anticipate immortal bliss. The computer scientist in him may revel in the technological marvels, but the novelist envisions catastrophes and worries about the fate of not-so-marvelous humans like Robert Gu, the protagonist of Dr. Vinge’s latest novel, “Rainbows End.”
Robert is an English professor and famous poet who succumbs to Alzheimer’s, languishing in a nursing home until 2025, when the Singularity seems near and technology is working wonders. He recovers most of his mental faculties; his 75-year-old body is rejuvenated; even his wrinkles vanish. "
... ...
" And what would happen to us if the machines rule? Well, Dr. Vinge said, it’s possible that artificial post-humans would use us the way we’ve used oxen and donkeys. But he preferred to hope they would be more like environmentalists who wanted to protect weaker species, even if it was only out of self-interest. Dr. Vinge imagined the post-humans sitting around and using their exalted powers of reasoning:
“Maybe we need the humans around, because they’re natural critters who could survive in situations where some catastrophe would cause technology to disappear. That way they’d be around to bring back the important things — namely, us.”
More Articles in Science » A version of this article appeared in print on August 26, 2008, on page F1 of the New York edition. ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 0-0-1-3. 'Intel touts progress toward intelligent computers' Posted by Stephen Shankland, CNET Networks, Aug22,08: http://tinyurl.com/6bn9hc
: "" SAN FRANCISCO--I hope Intel warned the Luddites and pessimists away at the door, because the chipmaker had a lot of bullish statements Thursday about its belief that computers will become smarter than humans.
At the Intel Developer Forum here, Intel Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner showed off a number of technologies in computing, robotics, and communication that he cited as evidence that Ray Kurzweil's concept of "singularity," "
=============================================
---------------------------------------------
2) 0-1. Disease:-----------------------------
2) 0-1-1. 'A Musical Score for Disease' Jennifer Chu July18,08: MIT Technology Review: http://tinyurl.com/59xjmr
Converting genetic activity into music may be a way to monitor health.
: "" When set to music, colon cancer sounds kind of eerie. That's the finding of Gil Alterovitz, a research fellow at Harvard Medical School who is developing a computer program that translates protein and gene expression into music. In his acoustic translation, harmony represents good health, and discord indicates disease.
At any given time in each of our cells, thousands of genes are churning out their molecular products while thousands more lie senescent. The profile of which genes are on versus off is constantly changing--with specific diseases such as cancer, for example.
Searching for a more simplified way to represent the complex library of information inherent in gene expression, Alterovitz decided to represent those changes with music. He hopes that doctors will one day be able to use his music to detect health-related changes in gene expression early via a musical slip into discord, potentially improving a patient's outcome.
The first step in the gene-to-sound conversion was to pare down multiple measurements to a few fundamental signals, each of which could be represented by a different note. Together, the notes would form a harmonic chord in normal, healthy states and become increasingly out of tune as key physiological signs go awry, signaling disease.
Alterovitz employed mathematical modeling to determine relationships between physiological signals. Much like the various systems in an automobile, many physiological signs work in synchrony to keep a body healthy. "These signals [are] not isolated parts," says Alterovitz. "Like in a car, one gear is working with other gears to control, for example, power steering. Similarly, there are lots of correlations between physiological variables. If heart rate is higher, other variables will move together in response, and you can simplify that redundancy and information." [p.1/2]
Using data collected from a study of protein expression in colon cancer, Alterovitz analyzed more than three thousand related proteins involved in the disease. He whittled down the thousands of proteins to four key networks, using various genetic databases that catalog relationships between genes and proteins. He then assigned a note to each network, and together, these notes formed a harmonic chord. He compared the "music" of normal, healthy human data sets to that of the colon-cancer samples and found that, according to his model, colon cancer sounded "inharmonious."
Researchers may be able to translate other diseases into music by "tuning" the system that Alterovitz has developed. For example, researchers can identify protein networks related to the disorder of interest and then assign notes that, in combination, form inharmonious chords, compared with their healthy counterparts.
He adds that the technique may have applications outside medicine, such as for simplifying information for air-traffic controllers, and in any other industry that requires analysis of large data sets. There is also an opportunity to use protein music purely for music's sake: a DJ in the Boston area has expressed interest in playing Alterovitz's "music" in local bars--a potential revenue stream for musician and mathematician alike. ""
"" Related Articles
Imaging the Genetic Profile of a Tumor
03/25/2008
Using Molecular Pathways to Assess Cancer Patients
10/17/2007
A Prelude in Protein
05/09/2007 ""
[p.2/2: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21094/page2/ ]
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
2) 0-1-2. 'Do 68 molecules hold the key to understanding disease?' PhysOrg.com, Sept4,08: http://tinyurl.com/6dlgw6
Illustration of basic molecular building blocks. Credit: UCSD School of Medicine
Click here to enlarge image
""Why is it that the origins of many serious diseases remain a mystery? In considering that question, a scientist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has come up with a unified molecular view of the indivisible unit of life, the cell, which may provide an answer.""
: "" Reviewing findings from multiple disciplines, Jamey Marth, Ph.D., UC San Diego Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine and Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, realized that only 68 molecular building blocks are used to construct these four fundamental components of cells: the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), proteins, glycans and lipids. His work, which illustrates the primary composition of all cells, is published in the September issue of Nature Cell Biology.
Like the periodic table of elements, first published in 1869 by Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, is to chemistry, Marth's visual metaphor offers a new framework for biologists.
This new illustration defines the basic molecular building blocks of life and currently includes 32 glycans (sugar linkages found throughout the cell) and eight kinds of lipids (which compose cell membranes) along with the more well-known 20 amino acids that are used to make proteins and the eight nucleosides that compose the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA.
"These 68 building blocks provide the structural basis for the molecular choreography that constitutes the entire life of a cell," said Marth. "And two of the four cellular components are produced by these molecular building blocks in processes that cannot be encoded by the genes. These cellular components – the glycans and lipids – may now hold the keys to uncovering the origins of many grievous diseases that continue to evade understanding."
Currently, the vast majority of medical research looks to the human genome and proteome for answers, but those answers remain elusive, and perhaps for good reason.
"We have now found instances where the pathogenesis of widespread and chronic diseases can be attributed to a change in the glycome, for example, in the absence of definable changes in the genome or proteome," Marth said, adding that, as biomedical researchers, "we need to begin to cultivate the integration of disciplines in a holistic and rigorous way in order to perceive and most effectively manipulate the biological mechanisms of health and disease."
"What is important is that no one has composed it and laid it out so clearly before," said Ajit Varki, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Cellular and Molecular Medicine and founder and co-director of the Glycobiology Research and Training Center at UC San Diego School of Medicine, and chief editor of the major textbook in the field, The Essentials of Glycobiology. "Glycobiology, for example, is a relatively new field of study in which researchers at UC San Diego have much expertise, and Dr. Marth's work further illustrates the importance of these glycan molecules."
Marth believes that biology should become more integrative both in academic and research settings. "I'm one who believes that we don't need to sacrifice breadth of knowledge in order to acquire depth of understanding."
Source: University of California - San Diego ""
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
2) 0-1-3. 'The Holes in Our Genomes: Scanning DNA for structural changes brings new insight into disease' Emily Singer: MIT Technology Review, Sep19,08: http://tinyurl.com/4wonge
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
2) 0-1-4. 'Scientists develop new, more sensitive nanotechnology test for chemical DNA modifications' Sep23,08, PhysOrg.com: http://tinyurl.com/3wb3l3
""Researchers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore have developed a novel test to screen for chemical modifications to DNA known as methylation. The technology potentially could be used both for early cancer diagnoses and for assessing patients' response to cancer therapies.""
==================================
==================================
2) 1-0. ' Building 'The Matrix' ' Davide Castelvecchi; July27,08; ScienceNews: http://tinyurl.com/5alq57
Simulating the complexity of quantum physics would quickly overwhelm even the most advanced of today’s computers.
: "" If The Matrix really existed, it would probably have to be a quantum simulator. The fictional computer in that story can create virtual worlds indistinguishable from the real one and project them into people’s minds. But the real world includes quantum phenomena, something ordinary computers can’t fully simulate.
Now physicists have created a rudimentary prototype of a machine that simulates quantum phenomena using quantum physics, rather than using data kept in a classical computer. While the new device can't make people fly like the Matrix does, it demonstrates a technique that could enable physicists to create, in the virtual world, materials that don't yet exist in nature and perhaps figure out how to build, in the real world, superconductors that work at room temperature, for example.
Tobias Schätz of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching, Germany and his collaborators built a model of the smallest solid object imaginable — one made of two atoms — by suspending two ions in a vacuum. The researchers used laser light to vary the electrical repulsion of the ions in order to simulate the magnetic interaction of atoms. Essentially, the machine could use one force of nature to simulate the other.
In a paper published online by Nature Physics on July 27, the researchers describe how their system reproduced the magnetic alignment of atoms that takes place when certain materials are exposed to magnetic fields.
“This is pretty important that they’ve been able to demonstrate the principle,” says John Chiaverini of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
“I feel the experiment is an important initial step in the emerging field of quantum simulation,” says David Wineland of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo., whose group in 2002 pioneered a more limited quantum simulation technique by trapping single ions. The new experiment “demonstrates important tools that can potentially be implemented on much larger systems whose simulations are intractable by classical means,” he says.
It was the late physicist Richard Feynman who pointed out in 1982 that ordinary computers can’t possibly simulate true quantum behavior of a large number of particles. That’s because of the phenomenon of superposition, which allows a particle to be in two states at the same time. For example, the spin of an atom — the quantum version of a bar magnet — can point simultaneously up and down.
Feynman reasoned that to simulate, say, the spin states of an object made of two atoms, a computer has to keep track of four possible combinations of spins: up-up, up-down, down-up, and down-down. For three atoms, eight possibilities exist, and the number keeps growing exponentially. For n atoms, the number is 2^n, which gets very large very quickly. “This 2^n — that’s what kills classical computers,” says Schätz.
Chiaverini says even state-of-the-art supercomputers quickly get overwhelmed with all the calculations required to predict how all those spin states will evolve in time. “You run out of steam at about 40 spins,” he says.
And simulating the spin of just one additional atom would be more than one step more difficult. Although computer power has been doubling every two years or so, simulating that extra atom would require a machine with twice the power. So even waiting 100 years won’t help much. If you need to simulate 300 particles, you need to keep track of 2^300 different combinations of spins.
Schätz says. “That’s more than the number of protons in the visible universe.”
A system of quantum objects, on the other hand, is itself able to exist in a number of different states that grows exponentially. Several different teams of physicists are developing techniques for quantum simulation. The two leading approaches are to use ions in an electrostatic trap, as Schätz and colleagues have done, or to use atoms in an optical trap, which holds things into place using the pressure of light.
Last year, David Weiss of Pennsylvania State University in University Park and his colleagues demonstrated an optical trap able to hold hundreds of atoms in a cubical array, image and manipulate the atoms individually, and make them interact with one another. The researchers even took videos of glowing atoms staying in place or, occasionally, jumping from site to site along the array. “It took a couple of days until I could get my graduate student and my postdoc to stop taking pictures and actually start the experiment,” Weiss said at a meeting of the American Physical Society last March in New Orleans.
Each approach may eventually prove useful for particular simulations, researchers say.
The trapped-ion approach Schätz’s team followed was first proposed by his Garching colleagues Diego Porras and Ignacio Cirac in 2004. In the experiment, the team suspended two magnesium ions in a vacuum, keeping them in place with electrostatic fields. The positive ions were just a few microns apart — close enough to feel mutual electrostatic repulsion, but far enough that they would not feel each other’s (real) spins.
The researchers then used a laser to simulate the application of an external magnetic field, which could give the ions any initial state. “It’s much better than a real magnetic field, because, for example, you can individually address your atoms. It would be hard to have a real magnetic field ‘on’ on one atom, and ‘off’ on the other.” Schätz says.
Using the laser, the researchers were also able to tune the electrostatic interaction of the two particles. In future, more complex experiments, researchers could for example create a model of a superconductor and then selectively change the physical parameters to understand how the material is able to conduct electricity with minimal loss of energy.
Such control would be impossible in a real solid material, such as a superconducting crystal. “If you tell a solid-state physicist, ‘reduce your spin-spin interaction by a factor of two because I want to see the physics,’ he can’t do it,” Schätz says.
Together with his colleague Warren Lybarger Jr. and others, Chiaverini is working on a similar setup, also based on Cirac and Porras’ idea. At the same time, the team is also developing an alternative approach that would use radio frequency, or RF, fields, instead of lasers, to manipulate the states of the ions.
Two ions, of course, don’t make a real solid object, but researchers say that in the future they may be able to scale up the Garching device to larger arrays of ions. Currently, researchers who want to experiment with new materials, such as superconductors, have to first create actual crystals in the lab and then test their properties. Quantum simulations could make that task a lot easier. “Some day, hopefully, we can apply this to making designer materials from the ground up,” Chiaverini says.
Eventually, Feynman envisioned, a general purpose, programmable quantum computer could itself carry out quantum simulations. But such machines are still decades away, most researchers say, while machines designed only for quantum simulations may become available sooner. ""
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
2) 1-1. 'Quantum Leap: Researchers have controlled the position of a single electron in a silicon circuit' Lauren Rugani July17,08: MIT Technology Review: http://tinyurl.com/6b9kco
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 1-2. 'DNA Technology Posts Dramatic Speed Increases' Alexis Madrigal Jul1,08: WIRED Science: http://tinyurl.com/5rqzpt
: "" A prominent genetics institute recently sequenced its trillionth base pair of DNA, highlighting just how fast genome sequencing technology has improved this century.
Every two minutes, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute sequences as many base pairs as all researchers worldwide did from 1982 to 1987, the first five years of international genome-sequencing efforts.
That speed is thanks to the technology underlying genomics research, which has been improving exponentially every couple of years, similar to the way computer tech improves under Moore's Law.
"Up to 2006, the various cycles of new technology and introduction were cutting costs in half for a similar product every 22 months," said Adam Felsenfeld, a program director at the National Human Genome Research Institute, which invests about as much money in DNA sequencing as the Sanger Institute.
Progress in DNA sequencing has been as breathtaking as any technological change in the IT realm. The Human Genome Project was estimated to cost $3 billion -- to sequence a single genome -- when it began in 1990, but cost reductions during the decade-long effort drove its actual cost closer to $300 million. By the end of the project, researchers estimated that if they were starting again, they could have sequenced the genome for less than $50 million.
By 2006, Harvard's George Church estimated that his lab could sequence a genome for $2.2 million. In 2007, the sequencing of James Watson's genome was said to cost less than $1 million. Looking into the future, the NIH wants genomes to cost a mere $100,000 by 2009, and $1,000 five years later.
With dropping costs and increasing speed, a flood of genetic data is flowing out of international institutes across the world. Previous progress was measured in gigabases (billions of DNA base pairs), but now major research centers are stepping up to the terabase level (trillions of bp, as they are abbreviated). (Human genomes contain about 3 gigabases.)
"We're going to go from raw production of 150 gigabases per year to something between two-and-a-half to five terabases in 2008 and double that in 2009," said Felsenfeld. "If things behave like they have in the past, we might be on a Moore's Law-like curve again."
Given the rate of change, it's worth asking: How did this happen? And, more importantly, will costs continue dropping as fast as they have?
Phase One: Manual Labor
Early DNA sequencing efforts were a labor-intensive and slow effort. Humans had to do almost everything to turn the building blocks of DNA -- thymine, adenine, guanine and cytosine -- into data.
Strands of DNA were replicated over and over, and then sliced with specialized enzymes into different lengths using the chain-termination method developed by Frederick Sanger, and variations on it that followed. Long DNA strands were cut into smaller ones, separated by length in a gel with lanes, and then imaged. Molecule by molecule, the DNA code appeared.
But human involvement meant that this kind of sequencing was inevitably slow. Machines can do this sort of work faster than humans, so biologists began the long engineering task of automating what they did every day with pipettes and their bare hands.
Phase Two: Automation
First, researchers automated the reading of the T's, G's, C's and A's. Then, a better separation system, called capillary electrophoresis, began to take hold in the major research centers. With this system, DNA is sorted inside tubes the width of a human hair instead of within grooves carved into a gel. That allowed the automation of the DNA loading system, leading to more throughput increases and higher speeds.
CostcurveThose were the technologies available until about 2006. The major research centers optimized these machines and processes and brought the cost of sequencing a base pair down to about 30 cents for 1000 base pairs. That drop in cost was significant, but it wasn't enough. With 3 billion base pairs in a human genome, and the necessity of redudancy in the process, sequencing an individual's particular genome was still a multimillion-dollar dream.
Phase Three: Next-Generation Sequencers
So-called next-generation sequencers from ABI, Illumina, and 454 are now pushing the cost curve down yet again. Jeff Schloss, program director at NHGRI in charge of technology, noted that the new technologies allow for a far greater number of samples in every run. Previous technologies allowed a maximum of a few hundred samples while the new technologies allow up to a million samples per run.
These new sequencers don't use the old chain-termination paradigm. Instead, 454's technology, for example, binds DNA to small beads, which are dropped into tiny wells in a fiber optic chip. In that state, the DNA is essentially waiting to add another molecule to its chain. When that happens, the sequencer picks up which wells used a T or G molecule, indicating which base is next in the sequence. This technique is called sequencing-by-synthesis.
While this process allows for high-throughput sequencing, it does come with the downside that it generates only tiny fragments of DNA data -- just a few hundred base pairs long. Given that even tiny genomes include millions of base pairs, assembling those little bits into a complete genome is a major task.
That assembly work falls to computers, specifically computers running bioinformatics software to assemble DNA sequences into genomes. Right now, to complete a single genome, the same DNA needs to be run through a sequencer like 454's dozens of times before there's enough information to puzzle out the right relationships between short sequences.
Still, the NHGRI researchers we spoke with were confident that the next several years would yield major increases in speed and reductions in cost with the current technology.
"We have grantees that are working on systems that can increase the throughput of machines like those produced by 454 or ABI and potentially bring genomes down to ten thousand dollars," Schlossen said. "But they are really interesting tweaks to them."
Phase Four: The Next Generation
The next generation of technologies could come from a new set of companies like Pacific Biosciences and Helicos. The latter company's technology, Schloss said, promises to deliver very long sequences of base pairs, perhaps up to 100,000 bp. That would allow scientists to spot new types of patterns as well as make assembling genomes much easier. Schloss expects that technology to become viable within five years.
What's clear is that the DNA sequencing technology pipeline is deep and ready to deliver innovation and reduced cost for years to come. Within the next decade, nanopores, tiny holes about 1.2 nanometers across, combined with new microscopy techniques, could even allow scientists to "read" individual DNA bases as easily as we read the letters A, C, T, G.
"The ultimate goal would be to use electronic sequencing," Schlossen said. "You'd take genomic DNA, thread it through the pore, and get an electronic readout."
Image: 1. An ABI 3100 sequencer from flickr/Beige Alert. 2. From Nature Genetics. George Church's visualization of the rise of computing power and ability to sequence base pairs of DNA. "
Comments:
" You are confusing Sanger's Chain Termination DNA sequencing method with the Maxam-Gilbert DNA sequencing method which relies on chemical cleavage of radiolabeled DNA strands. DNA chain termination sequencing is simple. You poison a DNA replication reaction with a dideoxynucleotide such that you get strands that terminate at different lengths to generate a ladder. There is no cleavage reaction or special enzymes required, just a really good DNA polymerase, the DNA template, a DNA primer, reactants and the dideoxynucleotide.
I have to wonder if ya'll are drinking the Kool-Aid too much. A DNA sequence is useful to have. It's like having a self-replicating computer program that not only runs the computer, but builds it as well. Unfortunately, we haven't deciphered all of the information that resides within DNA. We cannot generate a three dimensional protein from the linear DNA coding sequence alone. We may be able to infer function of a gene based upon homology to other related genes, but genetic and biochemical research will be needed to pin down where and what the gene product does. If you were given the parts list of your car with the names deleted and no installation guides, could you assemble your car by yourself? That simple analogy shows the difficulty scientists have with genome sequences. We've had the HIV sequence since 1985, but we still have no HIV vaccine. Now NIH has decided that instead of wasting something like $3 billion dollars making ineffective vaccines that they should conduct more basic research on the virus. That's how difficult biology is. A DNA sequence is just a stepping stone along the way to understanding. It's not an end product in itself.
Automation is nice, but those DNA sequencers are still not cheap. Neither are the oligonucleotide synthesizers. If they were, I could set up a lab at home. Don't hold your breathe waiting for your own genome sequence. It'll be a while. Besides, you didn't even mention genetic discrimination by insurance companies. There's a law against it, but it not yet enforced as far as I know.
Posted by: John Moore | Jul 1, 2008 11:15:10 PM
The three next generation sequencing technologies on the market at the moment are from ABI, Illumina (formerly Solexa) and 454 (Roche). Solid is the name of ABI's technology.
Posted by: Matt Forrest | Jul 2, 2008 12:16:04 AM
The picture used is of a current generation sequencer, not one of the new or next gen sequencers. The newer ones are much more boring to look at.
Posted by: JWA | Jul 2, 2008 5:28:13 AM
Thanks for the comments, team. I made some tweaks which I think should address concerns. It's tough to compress thirty years of science into this many words, and I appreciate the ultimate impossibility of the task.
@John Moore: I don't know that we're drinking the Kool Aid in terms of thinking that sequencing is the end all and be all of biology, but sequencing does seem like a necessary step. As for the genetic discrimination possibilities, I think we're all worried about them, and would like people to maintain control over their biological data.
Posted by: Alexis Madrigal | Jul 2, 2008 8:13:59 AM
gee if this technology keeps growing like this we will be able to put people in a copy machine, and press the copy button, after selecting the quantity of copies wanted of course, i can't wait, i can only imagine how many G.W.B. copies the world could want.
Posted by: joelmcready | Jul 2, 2008 10:51:15 AM ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 1-3. 'Scientists to study synthetic telepathy' Aug13,08: PHYSORG.com: Source: UC Irvine: http://tinyurl.com/6og53x
""A team of UC Irvine scientists has been awarded a $4 million grant from the U.S. Army Research Office to study the neuroscientific and signal-processing foundations of synthetic telepathy.""
: "" The research could lead to a communication system that would benefit soldiers on the battlefield and paralysis and stroke patients, according to lead researcher Michael D’Zmura, chair of the UCI Department of Cognitive Sciences.
“Thanks to this generous grant we can work with experts in automatic speech recognition and in brain imaging at other universities to research a brain-computer interface with applications in military, medical and commercial settings,” D’Zmura says.
The brain-computer interface would use a noninvasive brain imaging technology like electroencephalography to let people communicate thoughts to each other. For example, a soldier would “think” a message to be transmitted and a computer-based speech recognition system would decode the EEG signals. The decoded thoughts, in essence translated brain waves, are transmitted using a system that points in the direction of the intended target.
“Such a system would require extensive training for anyone using it to send and receive messages,” D’Zmura says. “Initially, communication would be based on a limited set of words or phrases that are recognized by the system; it would involve more complex language and speech as the technology is developed further.”
D’Zmura will collaborate with UCI cognitive science professors Ramesh Srinivasan, Gregory Hickok and Kourosh Saberi. Joining the team are researchers Richard Stern and Vijayakumar Bhagavatula from Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and David Poeppel from the University of Maryland’s Department of Linguistics.
The grant comes from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative program, which supports research involving more than one science and engineering discipline. Its goal is to develop applications for military and commercial uses. ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 1-4. 'Robot builders seek a little help from sci-fi' Tom Simonite:: NewScientist.com news service, Sept4,088: NewScientistTech: http://tinyurl.com/5hcl34
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
2) 2. 'Check Yourself for Genetic Abnormalities' Post. July9,08: http://tinyurl.com/6sartu
: :: Nearly every day, somebody in the research community claims to have found a genetic marker associated with some sort of health condition. If you are curious and want to check yourself for those inherited traits, there are several options at your disposal. Some are easy, others are quite hard, but none of them are cheap.
Contents
* 1 Option 1: Visit a Genetic Counselor
* 2 Option 2: Scan Your Whole Genome
* 3 Option 3: Perform Lab Tests at Home
o 3.1 What You'll Need
o 3.2 Why do it the hard way?
o 3.3 Step 1: Swab some cells from your cheek
o 3.4 Step 2: Extract DNA from those cells
o 3.5 Step 3: Design and Order PCR primers and controls
o 3.6 Step 4: Copy the DNA with the PCR reaction
o 3.7 Step 5: Sequence the amplified genetic material "
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
2) 3. 'Gold, DNA Combination May Lead To Nano-Sensor' KurzweilAI.net, July9,08 http://tinyurl.com/6dvpj4
: "" Duke University scientists have developed intracellular biological sensors based on gold nanostructures with tethered DNA recognition molecules that can create signals from subtle changes in light reflecting off their nanoscale surfaces.
By measuring color changes, researchers can tell what is happening at the molecular level, and the nanoparticles are small enough to pass through cell membranes.
Duke University news release ""
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
2) 4-1. 'Miniaturised scanner zooms in on disease' Jason Palmer: July8,08: NewScientist.com news service: http://tinyurl.com/57bu3a
: "" A handheld nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) scanner that can diagnose diseases and identify pathogens has been built by scientists in the US.
The revolutionary scanner is many times smaller than conventional NMR spectroscopy machines, which require huge magnets to create the powerful magnetic fields necessary to make them work.
Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy works by lining up nuclei in a sample using a powerful magnetic field and then zapping them with radio waves that cause them to wobble, or precess.
This precession induces currents in a nearby coil which can be used to determine the chemical structure of the molecules that contain the nuclei. The same process is used in magnetic resonance imaging machines to make non-invasive images of human bodies. The new device does not produce images, however. "
" Weissleder has filed a patent for the design and started a company called T2 Biosystems to market the devices.
Journal reference: Nature Medicine (DOI: 10.1038/nm.1711) ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) 4-2. 'Nanoparticles + light = dead tumor cells' Jul29,08 Physorg.com Source: American Institute of Physics http://tinyurl.com/5n2tya
""Medical physicists at the University of Virginia have created a novel way to kill tumor cells using nanoparticles and light. The technique, devised by Wensha Yang, an instructor in radiation oncology at the University of Virginia, and colleagues Ke Sheng, Paul W. Read, James M. Larner, and Brian P. Helmke, employs quantum dots. Quantum dots are semiconductor nanostructures, 25 billionths of a meter in diameter, which can confine electrons in three dimensions and emit light when exposed to ultraviolet radiation.""
: "" Yang and his colleagues realized that quantum dots also give off light when exposed to megavoltage x-rays, such as those used in cancer radiotherapy. That property, the scientists realized, makes quantum dots an ideal mediator in therapies employing light-activated compounds to treat cancer.
A compound called Photofrin is the only photosensitizer currently approved by the FDA. Photofrin is absorbed by cancer cells and, upon exposure to light, becomes active and kills cells. It is currently used to treat certain kinds of shallowly located tumors, but Yang and his colleagues realized that combing Photofrin with quantum dots could create an efficient method to kill even deeply seated cancer cells.
Upon exposure to high doses of radiation, the dots become luminescent and emit light; that light triggers the cancer-killing activity of the Photofrin. In theory, the process, which so far has been studied only in cancer cells grown in culture, could work on tumors located too deep within the body to be reached by an external light source. "
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
2) 5. 'Controlling the Size of Nanoclusters: First Step in Making New Catalysts'
KurzweilAI.net, July 10, 2008: http://tinyurl.com/6nmpv7
: "" Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University have developed a new instrument that allows them to control the size of nanoclusters -- groups of 10 to 100 atoms -- with atomic precision.
The device could allow for making nanoclusters with predetermined size, structure and chemical composition, all which are important for the design of new, more reactive catalysts.
They created a model nanocatalyst of molybdenum sulfide, the first step in developing the next generation of materials to be used in hydrodesulfurization, a process that removes sulfur from natural gas and petroleum products to reduce pollution.
See also: U.S. Department of Energy News release ""
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
2) 6. 'Sequencing a Single Molecule of DNA: Helicos Biosciences' novel machine could speed up sequencing and unearth new disease-linked genetic variations' Emily Singer MIT Technology Review: July/Aug. 08 July14,08 http://tinyurl.com/6hzgru
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
2) 10. Genetic Human Migration:--
'Phoenicians Live on in People's Genes' Randolph E. Schmid, Discovery Channel: http://tinyurl.com/6efatj Associated Press:
: "" Oct. 30, 2008 -- The ancient Phoenicians may be largely forgotten, but they're not gone.
Rome destroyed the Phoenicians' greatest city -- Carthage -- centuries ago, but new genetic studies indicate that as many as one in 17 men living in communities around the Mediterranean may be descended from these ancient mariners.
Originating from what is now Lebanon, the Phoenicians were early seafarers and traders who spread their culture, including a love for the color purple, to North Africa, Spain and other countries around the region. "
... ...
" While it wasn't part of their study, the researchers said they also saw genetic indications of the spread of the Greeks around the Mediterranean. They suggested similar studies may be able to trace the genetic influence of the army of Alexander the Great in Asia and India, the Mongol invasion of Europe and the spread of the Vikings.
The findings are being published online Thursday by the American Journal of Human Genetics. The work was supported by National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project, an effort to research the history of human migration.
Related Links: Genographic Project
Computational Biology Center ""
---------------------------------
2) 11. 'Ancient mummy has no modern children' Oct30,08: http://tinyurl.com/5jfaeu
Contact: Jo Kelly: jokelly@campuspr.co.uk
44-113-258-9880 University of Leeds
: "" The 5,300 year old human mummy – dubbed Öetzi or 'the Tyrolean Iceman' – is highly unlikely to have modern day relatives, according to new research published today.
A team comprising scientists from Italy and the UK has sequenced Öetzi's entire mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome - which is passed down through the maternal line – and found that he belonged to a genetic lineage that is either extremely rare, or that has died out.
Published in this month's issue of Current Biology, the research has generated the oldest complete Homo sapiens mtDNA genome to date, and overturns previous research conducted in 1994 on a small section of Öetzi's mtDNA, which suggested that relatives of Öetzi may still exist in Europe.
"Changes arise only gradually in mitochondrial DNA as it is passed down the generations," says co-author Professor Martin Richards of the University of Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences, "and so it provides an effective way of tracking ancestry through the female line across many thousands of years, as well as examining evolutionary relatedness across human populations."
The team, led by Professor Franco Rollo at the University of Camerino and Dr Luca Ermini working at both Camerino and Leeds, used powerful new technologies to sequence Öetzi's mtDNA and match it with a modern day haplogroup – in genetic terms, a group that shares a common ancestral DNA sequence. He belonged to a branch of haplogroup K1, which is still common throughout Europe today. However, almost all members of K1 sampled from modern Europeans belong to one of three sub-lineages, whereas Öetzi's lineage was completely distinct.
After death DNA begins to degrade immediately, so ancient DNA is very fragmented and any study of it has to be completed in hundreds of sections. For this research the team tested around 250 fragments, each of which had to be sequenced many times to ensure the results were not distorted.
"Our analysis confirms that Öetzi belonged to a previously unidentified lineage of K1 that has not been seen to date in modern European populations. The frequency of genetic lineages tends to change over time, due to random variations in the number of children people have - a process known as 'genetic drift' - and as a result, some variants die out. Our research suggests that Öetzi's lineage may indeed have become extinct," says Prof Richards.
"We'll only know for sure by sampling intensively in the Alpine valleys where Öetzi was born. However, our results do suggest that studies of ancient samples can fill in gaps in our knowledge left open simply because many genetic lineages died out thousands of years ago. The techniques we've used here are potentially applicable to many other ancient remains."
Öetzi's mummified remains were discovered in September 1991 in the Eastern Alps near the Austro-Italian border. He was approximately 46 years old when he died, and examinations revealed that he had been severely wounded by an arrow and possibly finished off with a mace blow to the face. He is estimated to have lain undiscovered for approximately 5,300 years. His body was almost wholly preserved, together with an array of clothes and weapons, providing an unprecedented insight into the Late Neolithic or Copper Age in Europe. Since 1998 he has been on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy. ""
=================================
=================================
3) Daily Life:-------------------
3) 1. Ancient Life:--------------
3) 1-3. Ancient Egyptians:-------
3) 1-3-1. 'Ancient Egypt Settlement Sheds Light on Everyday Life' Andrew Bossone in Cairo
for National Geographic News: Jul2,08 http://tinyurl.com/42qonj
: "" A well-preserved mud-brick settlement in southern Egypt is providing a rare glimpse into nearly 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian daily life, archaeologists announced Tuesday. (See photos.)
The Tell Edfu site includes a public town center that was used for collecting taxes, conducting business, recording accounting, and writing documents.
The discovery paints a picture of a relatively advanced system of society during ancient times, with commerce playing an intricate part of daily Egyptian life, according to the University of Chicago and the Egyptian Supreme Council on Antiquities. "
" "These towns were all made of mud-brick, so that's obviously not as glamorous as stone architecture."
(Related: "Egypt's Earliest Farming Village Found" [February 12, 2008].)
Heart of Things "
" The town center contains an open hall with eight silos, partially used to collect grain taxes from farmers.
Ranging from 18 to 21 feet (5.5 to 6.5 meters) in diameter, the silos are the largest ever found in an Egyptian town center, archaeologists say.
Above the silos are rectangular storage containers containing gray ash to protect them from pests. The silos hail from the 17th dynasty, which lasted from about 1570 to 1540 B.C. "
" The whole complex was attached to a 16-column hall, part of an old governor's palace that eventually was transformed into a center of commerce and administration, the archaeologists say.
Overlooked "
" Complex Politics
The find also helps illuminate the complex political relationships during the 17th dynasty. At the time pharaohs were based in the city of Thebes south of Edfu, where they were beset by aggressive neighbors such as the Hyksos in the north and Nubian Kushites in the south.
"We do know something about these people, but it's one of the more obscure periods of ancient Egyptian history," Moeller said.
Local authorities wielded considerable power, due to the pharaohs' eagerness to recruit allies.
For instance, Queen Sebekemsaf, wife of pharaoh Antef Nubkheperre, was actually the daughter of the governor of Edfu, Moeller said. "We know that from bracelets that have been found with her name as well as her husband."
The pharaoh's remains have been found in the Valley of the Kings near Thebes, but records indicate that Sebekemsaf was buried in Edfu.
Archaeologists say the queen must not have been royalty if she was buried locally, supporting the idea that Theban kings made ties with local governors. ""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3) Daily Life:-------------------
3) 1. Ancient Life:--------------
3) 1-3. Ancient Egyptians:-------
3) 1-3-2. 'New Egyptian gallery at the British Museum' The Times Online: Jan13,09:
http://tinyurl.com/AncietEgyptians2
: The new Egyptian gallery at the British Museum offers a fascinating display of scenes from everyday life under the Pharaohs
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
3) Daily Life:-------------------
3) 1-5. Ancient Greeks:----------
' Ancient Greeks 'loved a good night in' say researchers ', Telegraph Media Group Limited, Jan7,09: http://tinyurl.com/AncientGreeksNight
"" The ancient Greeks loved a good night in, turning their homes into lively tavernas and brothels, it has been claimed. ""
: "" A new analysis of archaeological remains could explain why evidence of ancient Greek bar rooms is so elusive.
In classical Greek plays there are many descriptions of lively drinking dens, but no remains have ever been discovered.
Clare Kelly Blazeby, from the University of Leeds, believes the reason is that ancient Greek homes doubled as pubs.
Several houses dotted around ancient Greece dating from 475 to 323BC have yielded the remains of numerous drinking cups. "
... ...
" "This has a real impact on how we view the economy in classical Greece," said Ms Blazeby. "A lot of trade and industry was based within the home." ""
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
3) Daily Life:--------------------
3) 2. Anglo-Saxons, 1000 AD:------
"The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium" Robert Lacey, Danny Danziger: Back Bay Books (Apr1,2000) http://tinyurl.com/4s6d42
: "" Editorial Reviews: Amazon.com Review:
"August was the month when flies started to become a problem, buzzing round the dung heaps in the corner of every farmyard and hovering over the open cesspits of human refuse that were located outside every house."
Although daily dangers were many, housing uncomfortable, and the dominant smells unpleasant indeed, life in England at the turn of the previous millennium was not at all bad, write journalists Lacey and Danziger. "If you were to meet an Englishman in the year 1000," they continue, "the first thing that would strike you would be how tall he was--very much the size of anyone alive today." The Anglo-Saxons were not only tall, but also generally well fed and healthy, more so than many Britons only a few generations ago. Writing in a breezy, often humorous style, Lacey and Danziger draw on the medieval Julius Work Calendar, a document detailing everyday life around A.D. 1000, to reconstruct the spirit and reality of the era. Light though their touch is, they've done their homework, and they take the reader on a well-documented and enjoyable month-by-month tour through a single year, touching on such matters as religious belief, superstition, medicine, cuisine, agriculture, and politics, as well as contemporary ideas of the self and society. Readers should find the authors' discussions of famine and plague a refreshing break from present-day millennial worries, and a very stimulating introduction to medieval English history. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Offering a delightful, often astonishing portrait of everyday life in Anglo-Saxon England in the year 1000, this wonderfully earthy chronicle, while timed for the end of this millennium, distinguishes itself from the sea of millennial titles by focusing on the end of the last one. Lacey (Sotheby's?Bidding for Class), a popular British historian, and London-based journalist Danziger (The Orchestra) focus on aspects of daily living. The Anglo-Saxons, a practical, self-contained, fervently superstitious people, were 99% illiterate, yet their language would become their most widespread legacy. Bristol was a slave-trading port, and the use of "bondservants" was a basic underpinning of the rural economy (the Norman invasion of 1066 would replace servitude with feudalism). There was no sugar, but honey was so valued that it became a form of currency. Personal hygiene was almost nonexistent, and most adults died in their 40s. Engla-lond, as the country was called, endured the best and the worst of times, enjoying unmatched prosperity but also falling prey to Viking raids, a menace that King Ethelred (the Unready) exacerbated by paying protection money. The narrative is organized in 12 chapters?one for each month?plus a closing chapter assessing the Anglo-Saxon legacy. Prefacing each chapter is a nimble, remarkably modern-looking, secular drawing of laborers' activities reproduced from the Julius Work Calendar, probably created by a cleric working in Canterbury Cathedral around 1020. This is a superb time capsule, and the authors distill a wealth of historical information into brightly entertaining reading. Agent, Curtis Brown.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews ""
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
3) 3. US Farmers:-----------------
'Farmer-Veteran Coalition' = FVC: http://farmvetco.org/?page_id=2
'Farms Not Arms' http://farmsnotarms.org/
: "" One Soldier's Story: Farmers and Global Warming
University report shows majority of casualties from rural areas
Iraq Death Toll State by State "
425 Farm Road, Suite 5 / Summertown, TN 38483 / 931-964-2590
==================================
==================================
4) Civilization:------------------
----------------------------------
4) 00. Comparative Reviews:-------
'The Collapse Is Not the End, But a Beginning' Thomas Schmidt: LewRockwell.com, Oct3,08: http://tinyurl.com/4jkqf5
----------------------------------
----------------------------------
4) 0. Civilization Recording:-------
'X. Very Long-Term Backup' Kevin Kelly's Lifestream Blog, Aug20,08: http://tinyurl.com/55qfcn
: " problem of long-term digital storage seemed a crucial hurdle for any civilization trying to act generationaly. How could a society think in terms of centuries unless there was a reliable way to transmit and store its knowledge over centuries? This puzzle was the focus of a conference hosted by Long Now in 1998, dedicated to technical solutions for Managing Digital Continuity. At this meeting Brewster Kahle of the Internet Archive suggested a new technology developed by Los Alamos labs, and commercialized by the Norsam company, as a solution for long term digital storage. Norsam promised to micro-etch 350,000 pages of information onto a 3-inch nickel disk with an estimated lifespan of 2,000 -10,000 years.
Might it be possible to etch an entire library onto a set of disks? It might be worth trying. All we needed was a finite data set that a society might want to have backed up.
During a Long Now field trip to a southwest archaeological site, the idea of a modern Rosetta Stone came up -- a backup of human languages that future generations might cherish. At a winter retreat in 1999, Long Now board member Doug Carlston suggested that for the parallel common text of this modern Rosetta Stone we should use the book of Genesis, since it was most likely already translated into all languages already. We hatched a plan to produce a 3-inch non-corroding disk which contained at least 1,000 translations of Genesis and other linguistic information about each language.
Following the archiving principle of LOCKS (Lots of Copies Keep 'em Safe) we would replicate the disk promiscuously and distribute them around the world with built in magnifiers. This project in long term thinking would do two things: it would showcase this new long-term storage technology, and it would give the world a minimal backup of human languages. We thought it might take a year to do. "
------------------------------------
------------------------------------
4) 1. Major Civilizations:----------
4) 1-00. Cave Artists:--------------
'Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete' Telegraph.co.uk Media Group Limited, BST Oct5,08: http://tinyurl.com/45c4xw
: " many of the works discovered across Europe were produced over hundreds of generations who added to, refreshed and painted over the original pieces of art. "
" a pioneering technique is allowing researchers to date cave art accurately for the first time and show how the works were crafted over thousands of years.
Experts now hope the technique will help provide a valuable insight into how early human culture developed and changed as the first modern humans moved across Europe around 40,000 years ago.
Dr Alistair Pike, an archaeologist at Bristol University who is leading the research, said: "The art gives us a really intimate window into the minds of the individuals who produced them, "
" Hundreds of caves have been discovered across Europe with elaborate prehistoric paintings and carvings on their walls. It is thought the designs, which often depict scenes of animals, like bison, grazing or hunting expeditions, were created up to 40,000 years ago – sometime after humans began moving from southern Europe into northern Europe during the last ice age. "
" in research published today by the Natural Environment Research Council's new website Planet Earth, Dr Pike discovered some of the paintings were between 25,000 and 35,000 years old. The youngest paintings in the cave were 11,000 years old.
Dr Pike said: "We have found that most of these caves were not painting in one go, but the painting spanned up to 20,000 years. "
" "It is probably the case that people did not live in the caves they painted. It seems the caves they lived in were elsewhere and there was something special about the painted caves."
Dr Pike and his team were able to date the paintings using a technique known as uranium series dating, "
" Professor Pablo Arias, an expert on Palaeolithic cave art at University of Cantabria, Spain, said: "Until about ten years ago it was only possible to date cave art by using the style of the figures, but this new technique developed by Bristol allows that date to be accurately bracketed.
"We want to study how the people of the time behaved and how they felt and Palaeolithic art gives us a way of looking at the type of symbols that were important to them, so we need to know when the people who were making the art actually lived." ""
------------------------------------
4) 1-0. Suumerian Civilization:-----
'Iraq creates task force to probe stolen antiquities' TurkishPress.com July3,08 http://tinyurl.com/5dpps2
: "" BAGHDAD - Iraq said on Thursday it has created a special task force to investigate the theft of valuable ancient Judaic manuscripts that later turned up in Israel.
The rare books, confiscated during the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, were rescued from US bombing at the start of the 2003 war and then sent to the United States for restoration but later wound up in Israel instead. "
" Iraq once hosted a thriving 2,600 year-old Jewish community that numbered some 130,000 people at the time Israel was created in 1948.
Iraq has also provided Interpol with a list of the tens of thousands of priceless antiquities stolen from Iraq in the chaos that followed the US-led invasion more than five years ago, al-Oraibi said.
Last month Jordan returned to Iraq some 2,466 artefacts, including gold coins, jewellery and Islamic and ancient manuscripts, stolen since then.
Around 32,000 artefacts were looted from 12,000 archaeological sites after the invasion, along with 15,000 items stolen from the National Museum in Baghdad.
Stolen antiquities found in Syria and the United States have recently been returned to Iraq, while others discovered in Italy will be returned soon.
Iraq has also contacted Spain, France, Turkey, Iran and other Gulf nations in relation to thefts of antiquities.
mba-bms/jds/srm ""
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-1. Sinic Civilization:----------
4) 1-1-1. 'Gavin Menzies: mad as a snake - or a visionary?' Telegraph.co.uk Aug.1,08 http://tinyurl.com/5c7cjv
: "" His first book claimed that the Chinese discovered America. Now, in a controversial sequel, Gavin Menzies says they also sparked the Renaissance "
" Six years ago, the retired submarine commander caused apoplexy among historians with his controversial theory that vast fleets of Chinese adventurers in multi-masted junks beat Christopher Columbus to the Americas and mapped the entire world centuries before the European explorers. It made him rich and infamous.
Whole websites sprang up devoted to debunking his claims. Scholars called him a fantasist.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, professor of history at the University of London, dismissed his book, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, as "the historical equivalent of stories about Elvis Presley in Tesco and close encounters with alien hamsters".
But while boiling oil was being poured on him from the ramparts of academe, Menzies's book was surging up the bestseller list. It has sold a million copies worldwide, and run to 24 editions in 135 countries. "
" Every day, 2,000 people go to his website, www.1421.tv - which was set up to deal with the response to the book - pouring in new evidence and ideas. "It is staggering," he says. "Conceited as it may sound, people now think of us as a centre for collating evidence on this period of European and Chinese history." "
" he has ploughed his profits into more research and produced an equally contentious sequel, 1434, claiming that the Chinese, once again sailing under the eunuch Admiral Zheng He, sparked the Italian Renaissance and that Leonardo da Vinci's inventions were directly influenced by Chinese technical drawings. "
" The worse the battering he gets from historians, the more people want to know what the fuss is all about. Advance warning of a television documentary called Junk History, shown by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2006, prompted Menzies to alert the website's 13,000 subscribers. "
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) 1-1-1-1. "1421: The Year China Discovered America" Gavin Menzies: Pub. Harper Perennial (Jan6,04) http://tinyurl.com/4yo48w
Amazon.com: ""Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly:
A former submarine commander in Britain's Royal Navy, Menzies must enjoy doing battle. The amateur historian's lightly footnoted, heavily speculative re-creation of little-known voyages made by Chinese ships in the early 1400s goes far beyond what most experts in and outside of China are willing to assert and will surely set tongues wagging. According to Menzies's brazen but dull account of the Middle Kingdom's exploits at sea, Magellan, Dias, da Gama, Cabral and Cook only "discovered" lands the Chinese had already visited, and they sailed with maps drawn from Chinese charts. Menzies alleges that the Chinese not only discovered America, but also established colonies here long before Columbus set out to sea. Because China burned the records of its historic expeditions led by Zheng He, the famed eunuch admiral and the focus of this account, Menzies is forced to defend his argument by compiling a tedious package of circumstantial evidence that ranges from reasonable to ridiculous. While the book does contain some compelling claims-for example, that the Chinese were able to calculate longitude long before Western explorers-drawn from Menzies's experiences at sea, his overall credibility is undermined by dubious research methods. In just one instance, when confounded by the derivation of cryptic words on a Venetian map, Menzies first consults an expert at crossword puzzles rather than an etymologist. Such an approach to scholarship, along with a promise of more proof to come in the paperback edition, casts a shadow of doubt over Menzies's discoveries. 32 pages of color illus., 27 maps and diagrams. Book-of-the-Month Club alternate.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist:
Menzies makes the fascinating argument that the Chinese discovered the Americas a full 70 years before Columbus. Not only did the Chinese discover America first, but they also, according to the author, established a number of subsequently lost colonies in the Caribbean. Furthermore, he asserts that the Chinese circumnavigated the globe, desalinated water, and perfected the art of cartography. In fact, he believes that most of the renowned European explorers actually sailed with maps charted by the Chinese. Though most historical records were destroyed during centuries of turmoil in the Far East, he manages to cobble together some feasible evidence supporting his controversial conclusions. Sure to cause a stir among historians, this questionable tale of adventure on the high seas will be hotly debated in academic circles. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.""
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) 1-1-1-2. "1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance" Gavin Menzies: Pub. William Morrow (Jun3,08) http://tinyurl.com/4sa2aj
Amazon.com: ""Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly:
In Menzies's 1421, the amateur historian advanced a highly controversial hypothesis, that the Chinese discovered America; in this follow-up, he credits the Renaissance not to classical Greek and Roman ideals (a "Eurocentric view of history") but again to the Chinese. His thesis in both works is based on the seven (historically undisputed) voyages undertaken by a large Chinese sailing fleet between 1405 and 1433; while it is known that they traveled as far as east Africa, Menzies believes that they landed in Italy and sent a delegation to the Council of Venice, held in Florence in 1439. There, they provided the knowledge and technique-introducing the painter Alberti, for instance, to the methods of perspective drawing-that sparked the Renaissance. Menzies sets the stage by recapitulating arguments from his first book, including the ingenious method for calculating longitude that Chinese navigators may have used. Though Menzies writes engagingly, his assumption that the Chinese fleet landed a delegation in Florence is highly speculative, and hardly substantiated by any facts (Alberti could just have easily learned perspective from classical sources; the Greeks knew about the relationship between perception of length and distance in the 1st Century BCE).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.""
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-2. Persian Civilization:--------
4) 1-2-1. 'Experts resume restoration of ancient bridge in southern Iran' Tehran Times Culture Desk, July7,08: http://tinyurl.com/5wggfe
: "" TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian experts has recently started renovation of an ancient bridge in Dezful in the southern Iranian province of Khuzestan.
The team will also remove all structures that have been added to the monument over the years, Dezful Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Office (DCHTHO) Director Mehdi Mohammadzadeh told the Persian service of CHN on Saturday.
The bridge over the Dez River was originally constructed during the reign of the 10th king of the Sassanid Empire, Shapur II, with the help of the Romans captured in wars between Persia and Rome.
The bridge, which had become dilapidated over the years, was reconstructed with an Islamic architecture during the Safavid dynasty. "
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-3. Phoenician:------------------
'Phoenicians Live on in People's Genes' Randolph E. Schmid, Discovery Channel: http://tinyurl.com/6efatj Associated Press:
: "" Oct. 30, 2008 -- The ancient Phoenicians may be largely forgotten, but they're not gone.
Rome destroyed the Phoenicians' greatest city -- Carthage -- centuries ago, but new genetic studies indicate that as many as one in 17 men living in communities around the Mediterranean may be descended from these ancient mariners.
Originating from what is now Lebanon, the Phoenicians were early seafarers and traders who spread their culture, including a love for the color purple, to North Africa, Spain and other countries around the region. "
... ...
" While it wasn't part of their study, the researchers said they also saw genetic indications of the spread of the Greeks around the Mediterranean. They suggested similar studies may be able to trace the genetic influence of the army of Alexander the Great in Asia and India, the Mongol invasion of Europe and the spread of the Vikings.
The findings are being published online Thursday by the American Journal of Human Genetics. The work was supported by National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project, an effort to research the history of human migration.
Related Links: Genographic Project
Computational Biology Center ""
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-4. Persian:---------------------
4) 1-4-2. 'Archeologists find vast ancient city in Afghanistan' Posted By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS: The Kingston Whig-Standard, Ontario, Canada: Aug8,08: http://tinyurl.com/6rvw24
: "" Centuries-old shards of pottery mingle with spent ammunition rounds on a wind-swept mountainside in northern Afghanistan where French archeologists believe they have found a vast ancient city.
For years, villagers have dug the baked earth on the heights of Cheshme-Shafa for pottery and coins to sell to antique smugglers. Tracts of the site that locals call the "City of Infidels" look like a battleground, scarred by craters.
But now tribesmen dig angular trenches and preserve fragile walls, working as labourers on an excavation atop a promontory. To the north and east lies an undulating landscape of barren red-tinted rock that was once the ancient kingdom of Bactria; to the south a still-verdant valley that leads to the famed Buddhist ruins at Bamiyan.
Roland Besenval, director of the French Archeological Delegation in Afghanistan and leading the excavation, is sanguine about his helpers' previous harvesting of the site. "Generally the old looters make the best diggers," he said with a shrug.
A trip around the northern province of Balkh is like an odyssey through the centuries, spanning the ancient Persian empire, the conquests of Alexander the Great and the arrival of Islam. The French mission has mapped some 135 sites of archeological interest in the region, best known for the ancient trove found by a Soviet archeologist in the 1970s.
The Bactrian Hoard consisted of exquisite gold jewelry and ornaments from graves of wealthy nomads, dated to the 1st century A. D. It was concealed by its keepers in the vaults of the presidential palace in Kabul from the Taliban regime and finally unlocked after the militia's ouster.
The treasure, currently on exhibition in the United States, demonstrates the rich culture that once thrived here, blending influences from the web of trails and trading routes known as the Silk Road, that spread from Rome and Greece to the Far East and India. "
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-5. German:----------------------
'German scientists dig for their own Stonehenge' (Reporting by Reuters Television, Writing by Madeline Chambers, editing by Paul Casciato) Aug6,08: Thomson Reuters:
http://tinyurl.com/5fbcxr
: "" BERLIN (Reuters Life!) - Archaeologists have discovered traces of a Bronze Age place of worship in Germany in what they say might be the country's answer to Stonehenge.
Scientists from a university in Halle are excavating a roughly 4,000 year-old circular site in eastern Germany which contains graves that bear a strong resemblance to Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle of towering megaliths in southern Britain.
"It is the first finding of this kind on the European mainland which we have been able to fully excavate and which shows a structure we have until now only seen in Britain," Andre Spatzier, head of the excavation team, told Reuters TV.
He thinks rituals and ceremonies took place at the site, possibly even sacrifices.
"The way it is built, with many concentrated rings of graves, walls, palisades and pillars are very similar to the British monument at Stonehenge," added Spatzier.
The site, near the town of Poemmelte, was discovered through aerial photos which showed the formation of the graves in a ring with a diameter of about 80 meters (yards).
One difference to Stonehenge, however, is that the remains are made out of wood rather than stone.
So far the scientists have found few items such as bones or pieces of glass, but they expect to find more as the dig continues. The final results are expected to take up to three years.
Stonehenge goes back to 3,100 BC when native Neolithic people started its construction. There is no consensus among scholars on whether it was a temple, burial ground or an astronomical site. ""
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-6. Mayan:-----------------------
'Portal to Maya Underworld Found in Mexico? Alexis Okeowo in México City
for National Geographic News: Aug22,08: http://tinyurl.com/5v3kxj
: "" A labyrinth filled with stone temples and pyramids in 14 caves—some underwater—have been uncovered on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, archaeologists announced last week. "
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-7. British:---------------------
4) 1-7-1. 'Picture post: England’s ancient rock art' Aug4,08: Blog: nature.com: http://tinyurl.com/6l2znw
: "" England’s Neolithic artists had something of an abstract bent. While our continental artists were making human and animal representations 5,000-odd years ago British artists were carving convoluted lines and patterns into rocks, using other rocks as tools.
English Heritage, a government-funded body, has been cataloguing the carvings in the Northumberland region and has just released an online catalogue of them. It is also expanding this regional survey across the UK and hopes to add to the new carvings already discovered.
“There are many theories as to what rock art carvings mean,” says Kate Wilson, English Heritage’s inspector of ancient monuments (press release, Times news story). “They may have played a role in fire, feastings and offering activities, or been used as ‘signposts’, or to mark territory. They may have a spiritual significance.”
And according to Wilson, England’s rock-carvers may not be so different to their fellow artists after all. “The fact that these carved symbols developed in diverse and dispersed cultures across the world lend weight to arguments that these simple designs – and the urge to create them – are somehow hard-wired into the human psyche,” she says.
More pictures below the fold and on the England’s Rock Art website. ""
Chatton Northumberland
Old Bewick Northumberland
Gayles Moor Yorkshire
Ketley Crag Northumberland
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) 1-7-2. 'Shakespeare's Shoreditch theatre unearthed: Archaeologists have discovered Shakespeare's lost theatre in east London' Maev Kennedy: guardain.co.uk: Aug07,08:
http://tinyurl.com/6xcesa
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) 1-7-3. 'Iron Age Warrior with Roman Links Found in U.K.' before Roman Conquest, James Owen, for National Geographic News: Aug8,08: http://tinyurl.com/6xzfm9
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
4) 1-8. Greek:-----------------------
4) 1-8-1. 'Stoics, cynics and the meaning of life' Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian, Oct1,08: Guardian.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/45pejm
""Its language is now barely known, and only a few of the works produced by its great writers and thinkers survive, but ancient Greece's influence surrounds us. In these extracts from her new book, Charlotte Higgins assesses the culture's legacy""
: "" Zeus once let fly two eagles from the ends of the world: one from the east and one from the west. They soared high over oceans, mountains, forests and plains, until they met at the very centre of the earth, its omphalos, or navel. On this spot, a temple to Apollo was dedicated, the home of the Delphic oracle, where those who wished for insight into their past, present or future might come to consult the god. The questioner would be led into the temple's dark heart. In the gloom, the visitor would more sense than see the Pythia - the laurel-crowned woman who acted as the sacred conduit for the god's communications. In a trance, amid the heady fumes of burning laurel and barley, she would begin her utterances: divinely inspired fragments that the priests would interpret and fashion. But as the inquirer passed under the temple colonnade, before he stepped into the inner sanctum itself, he would have seen some letters carved into the portico: gnothi seauton - "know thyself ".
This extraordinary challenge to achieve self-knowledge still rings out commandingly. It captures one of the things that is most exciting about ancient Greece: from the writings of its greatest thinkers and authors what stands out is an almost visceral need to question, to probe, to debate, to turn accepted opinion on its head - whether the subject of inquiry is the state of the human heart or the nature of justice. "
-------------------------------------
4) 1-8-2. ' Hidden histories: 'The Odyssey' and 'The Iliad' are giving up new secrets about the ancient world ' Jonathan Gottschall: Boston.com, Sep28,08: http://tinyurl.com/3eb3jn
------=-------------------------------
======================================
-------------------------------------
4) 1-9. Roman:-----------------------
'Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town' Mary Beard: The Sunday Times, Sep21,08: TimesOnline: http://tinyurl.com/3vo276
"Portrait of a Couple, thought to be Paquio Proculo and his wife, from the House of Paquio Proculo, Pompeii" The Sunday Times review by James McConnachie:
: "" The trouble with digging up the ancient past is that only the best and the biggest stuff tends to get left behind. Not so in Pompeii. In this brilliant portrait of the “life of a Roman town”, Mary Beard uses the relics buried by the eruption of AD79 (the fish-weighing scales and flour mills, the gladiators' helmets and grafitti) to bring everyday Roman culture alive. "
=====================================
=====================================
4) 1-10:-----------------------------
4) 1-14: Jewish:---------------------
'Controversial Bestseller Shakes the Foundation of the Israeli State' By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted January 28, 2009:
http://www.alternet.org/audits/122810/
""What if the entire tale of the Jewish Diaspora is historically wrong?""
: "" What if the Palestinian Arabs who have lived for decades under the heel of the modern Israeli state are in fact descended from the very same "children of Israel" described in the Old Testament?
And what if most modern Israelis aren't descended from the ancient Israelites at all, but are actually a mix of Europeans, North Africans " ...
... ...
" That's the explosive thesis of When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?, a book by Tel Aviv University scholar Shlomo Zand (or Sand) that sent shockwaves across Israeli society when it was published last year. After 19 weeks on the Israeli best-seller list, the book is being translated into a dozen languages and will be published in the United States this year by Verso. "
... ...
" Central to the ideology of Zionism is the tale -- familiar to all Jewish families -- of exile, oppression, redemption and return. Booted from their kingdom, the "Jewish people" -- sons and daughters of ancient Judea -- wandered the earth, rootless, where they faced cruel suppression from all corners -- from being forced to toil in slavery under the Egyptians, to the Spanish massacres of the 14th century and Russian pogroms of the 19th, through to the horrors of the Third Reich. ""
... ...
" Inventing a People?
Zand's central argument is that the Romans didn't expel whole nations from their territories. Zand estimates that perhaps 10,000 ancient Judeans were vanquished during the Roman wars, and the remaining inhabitants of ancient Judea remained, converting to Islam and assimilating with their conquerors when Arabs subjugated the area. They became the progenitors of today's Palestinian Arabs, many of whom now live as refugees who were exiled from their homeland during the 20th century.
As Israeli journalist Tom Segev summarized, in a review of the book in Ha'aretz:
There never was a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened -- hence there was no return. Zand rejects most of the stories of national-identity formation in the Bible, including the exodus from Egypt and, most satisfactorily, the horrors of the conquest under Joshua.
But this begs the question: if the ancient people of Judea weren't expelled en masse, then how did it come to pass that Jewish people are scattered across the world? According to Zand, who offers detailed histories of several groups within what is conventionally known as the Jewish Diaspora, some were Jews who emigrated of their own volition, and many more were later converts to Judaism. Contrary to popular belief, Zand argues that Judaism was an evangelical religion that actively sought out new adherents during its formative period. "
... ...
.... " Zand's second assertion. He argues that the story of the Jewish nation -- the transformation of the Jewish people from a group with a shared cultural identity and religious faith into a vanquished "people" -- was a relatively recent invention, hatched in the 19th century by Zionist scholars and advanced by the Israeli academic establishment. It was, argues Zand, an intellectual conspiracy of sorts. Segev says, "It's all fiction and myth that served as an excuse for the establishment of the State of Israel." "
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment. bbcweb who is
working on:
1) Formosan fine artist, Tsai Intang, and
2) Promotion of Taiwan's art worlds:
http://groups.google.com/group/bbcweb
3) ACdd, Armed Citizens direct democracy for world peace,
4) Pushing for a free/sovereign FF, Formosan Federation, starting from
5)NTHAN, North Taiwan Hakka Autonomous Nation, based in Hsinbu, NTHAN, FF, home of Tsai Intang:
http://tinyurl.com/FreeFormosa