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March 28, 2010

Immortal Youth

SATURDAY, MARCH 27, 2010 Computer Labs for Kids: Dallas, Texas - Once again, a successful project - this one in Dallas, Texas earlier this month. Shira Evens is working on a small scale in concentrated bursts to introduce big changes into the lives of foster kids and orphans all around the world, and she has done it successfully now for over a year. But, as you know, the need is great.

Has Emily Howell Passed the Musical Turing Test? Written By: Surfdaddy Orca- Date Published: March 22, 2010 “Why not develop music in ways unknown? This only makes sense. I cannot understand the difference between my notes on paper and other notes on paper. If beauty is present, it is present. I hope I can continue to create notes and that these notes will have beauty for some others. I am not sad. I am not happy. I am Emily. You are Dave. Life and un-life exist. We coexist. I do not see problems.” —Emily Howell

“People who spend a lot of time failing in game worlds are less put off by failure in the real world,” says Dr. McGonigal. “They’re more likely to stick at it and get to a successful conclusion whereas other people would quit. Because games teach us that failure isn’t actually scary. It’s an opportunity to learn because, obviously, to do amazing things, we can’t just give up because we fail.”

Vanquishing Infinity: Old Methods Lead To New Approach To Finding Quantum Theory Of Gravity ScienceDaily (Aug. 21, 2009) — Quantum mechanics and Einstein's theory of general relativity are both extremely accurate theories of how the universe works, but all attempts to combine the two into a unified theory have ended in failure.

One up on Egyptian mummies Last updated: 3/23/2010 - Vietnamese mummies did not have their organs removed and their bodies were supple and fragrant when unearthed.

How To Become Immortal (The Archaeological Way)! As the Queen once so memorably asked, "Who wants to live forever?" Everyone, of course! Even though science is still dragging its feet on the whole immortality thing, we've got the lowdown on how to make your remains live on forever.

The Immortal Game was a chess game played on 21 June 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. The very bold sacrifices made by Anderssen to finally secure victory have made it one of the most famous chess games of all time

GOOD MORNING AMERICA - Video - Monday, September 4th - Interview - David Shenk's book, The Immortal Game, discusses chess history from varying realms of the human mind.

The world's only immortal animal By Bryan Nelson, Mother Nature Network Posted Tue Mar 16, 2010 - The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.

Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).Former world chess champion Smyslov dies at 89 2010/03/27 MOSCOW, Mar. 27, 2010 (Reuters) — Former Soviet world chess champion Vasily Smyslov died on Saturday of heart failure, Russian television reported.

A circular pattern obtained by superposing parallel equally spaced lines on a set of concentric circles of increasing radii, then coloring the regions in chessboard fashion. The pattern appeared on the cover of early editions of Scripta Mathematica.

“Draughts (Fig. 1145) and chess were amusements of the higher ranks. The circular board (Fig. 1148) is peculiar; the chess-men differed somewhat in form and name from the ordinary chess-men.” (p. 334)

The Rules of Circular Chess by Alan and Martin Mattlage - Circular Chess is a game for two players, "White" and "Black." The players control the same number and kinds of pieces that are used in traditional Chess. All of the rules of Circular Chess are as like to traditional Chess as the board allows.

A circular chess system is disclosed wherein an extra diameter is included which through voiding a variable number of spaces changes the play and control of the game. There are three main versions of play, maximal, medial, and minimal with 70, 68 and 66 spaces of play respectively.

Noble Celts is a richly decorated Celton-Saxon styled circular chess game.

Chess was played on a circular designed board centuries ago but this version mostly disappeared during the Dark Ages. Only in recent years has this form of chess been rediscovered and this design combines beautiful artistry with dynamic play

In 1983 Lincoln painter and decorator, and niche historian, David Reynolds, came across a picture of a circular chess board in use in the 11th century. He was intrigued by this and constructed a cardboard cut-out. The book had no description of how to play and so he decided that normal rules would apply. He then took the board to his local pub and challenged unfortunate bystanders

Oblique quaternary symmetry, can also be described as ‘90 degree rotatory symmetry’ or ‘windmill symmetry’. This type of symmetry is possible in knight's tours on square boards of side 4n + 2, that is squares 6×6, 10×10, 14×14, 18×18 and so on. For examples of quaternary tours on these boards see the separate pages dealing with these particular boards.

Darts is a form of throwing sport where darts are thrown at a circular target (dartboard) hung on a wall. Though various different boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules.

Mathematicians Reveal Secrets Of The Ancient And Universal Art Of Symmetry ScienceDaily (May 24, 2008) — Humans have used symmetrical patterns for thousands of years in both functional and decorative ways. Now, a new book by three mathematicians offers both math experts and enthusiasts a new way to understand symmetry and a fresh way to see the world.

Manhattan-Size Calculation: Mathematicians Map One Of The Most Complicated Structures ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2007) — Mathematicians have mapped the inner workings of one of the most complicated structures ever studied: the object known as the exceptional Lie group E8. This achievement is significant both as an advance in basic knowledge and because of the many connections between E8 and other areas, including string theory and geometry.

Physicists Find Way To 'See' Extra Dimensions ScienceDaily (Feb. 4, 2007) — Peering backward in time to an instant after the big bang, physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have devised an approach that may help unlock the hidden shapes of alternate dimensions of the universe.

E8 - It's always about E8!!

No 'Simple Theory of Everything' Inside the Enigmatic E8, Researcher Says ScienceDaily (Mar. 26, 2010) — The "exceptionally simple theory of everything," proposed by a surfing physicist in 2007, does not hold water, says Emory mathematician Skip Garibaldi.

What about D8?

The Immortal Woman June 29, 2009 - Professor Ann Waltner uncovers the story of Ming-era Tanyangzi: visionary, mystic, immortal. By Kelly O'Brien - Shanghai Museum.

Painting of Tanyangzi - History professor Ann Waltner likes to get out the dictionaries. And it was while browsing through a standard biographical dictionary that she came across a "tantalizing entry," that of Tanyangzi, a Ming Dynasty-era religious figure and leader of her own cult. This brief introduction was destined to send Waltner on a journey from Minneapolis to the deep storage of a Beijing museum.

March 21, 2010

A is for Accident?

A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets By NICHOLAS WADE Published: March 15, 2010 - In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air. - An exhibition of the Tarim Basin mummies opens March 27 at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, Calif. — the first time that the mummies will be seen outside Asia. Secrets of the Silk Road

Tarim Mummies - Indo-Europeans in China 1/5 Video The presence of Indo-European speakers in the Tarim Basin in the third or early second millennium BCE suggests that cultural exchanges occurred among Indo-European and Chinese populations at a very early date.

How Nature Inspired the Alphabet by Stephen Messenger, Porto Alegre, Brazil on 03.14.10 2,000 years ago, ancient humans gathered in a cave in Lascaux, France, where, by firelight, they created the first hand-drawn forms--scenes depicting man's relationship with the natural world. The favorite subject in those first drawings was the ancient ox, so impressive in stature and strength, that it was deified by our earliest ancestors.

Sudan's land of 'black pharaohs' a trove for archaeologists French, Swiss and British archaeologists are in a "paradise" of discovery, unearthing the mysteries of a civilisation that once conquered ancient Egypt.

More evidence unearthed at ancient port of Muziris Pattanam, a small village located 25 km north of Kochi, is the new pilgrimage spot on the international archaeological map. This quiet place, archaeologists now confirm, was once the flourishing port known to the Romans as Muziris and sung in praise by the Tamil Sangam poets as Muciri.

Thracian Starosel Tomb 16 March 2010 | A team of archaeologists from the Bulgarian National History Museum, with the help of a German lab, has finally managed to estimate the time of the construction of the largest underground temple on the Balkan Peninsula, the Thracian Starosel tomb to the fourth century BC.

Teotihuacan Mural Paintings Recover Splendor Nural painting in Tetitla. Las Águilas. Photo: DMC.INAH. M MARAT. - MEXICO CITY.- Several Prehispanic mural paintings at Tetitla Palace, in Teotihuacan Archaeological Zone are fully restored after 2 years of work conducted by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). At the Green Goddesses mural, blue pigment was recovered. “Female characters richly adorned seem to throw aquatic elements with their hands”.

In Search of Key Blue Ingredient in Ancient Egyptian Pottery
ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2010) — Jennifer Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was belly crawling her way to the end of a long, narrow tunnel carved in the rock at a desert oasis by Egyptians who lived in the time of the pharaohs.

Archaeologists: Maya Blue pigment recipe moved around Mar 16, 2010 In the Journal of Archeological Science report, Leslie Cecil of Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, reports on "palygorskite" minerals, the chief ingredient in the bright and long-lasting pigment, found at the archaeological site of Ixlú in the Petén region of Guatemala. Maya Blue was widely used by the classic Maya of Central America to decorate buildings and wares, making the cobalt color a signature of the pyramid-building culture.

Ancient Six-Mouth Well Discovered in Quanzhou 2010-03-19 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Zheng Zhi - A well with an unusual design was recently discovered in Quanzhou, a city in southeast China's Fujian Province, the website Quanzhou Evening News reports.

Cracks in Petra’s Siq walls highlight risks to national treasure By Taylor Luck PETRA - With the high season approaching for tourism in Petra, thousands of tourists will pass through the Nabataean city’s Siq each day, unaware that segments of the fragile sandstone gorge are at risk of collapsing.

Petroglyphs here vandalized - "The recently added designs and graffiti can be seen from some distance away, which greatly detracts from the overall view and contextual integrity of the prehistoric rock symbols," he said. "Vandalism incidents at Picture Rocks and other petroglyph and pictograph sites also cause problems for native peoples, anthropologists and art historians who study rock art and its archaeological context."

Oldest temple in the world found in Turkey March. 17, 2010 - ANKARA, Turkey, (UPI) -- Archaeologists say a temple being excavated in southeastern Turkey is 12,000 years old and is likely the oldest temple ever uncovered. The site was first identified in 1986 when a farmer tilling his field in Sanliurfa found a statuette in the soil, the Radikal newspaper reported Wednesday.

Accidental origins: Where species come from10 March 2010 by Bob Holmes Everywhere you look in nature, you can see evidence of natural selection at work in the adaptation of species to their environment. Surprisingly though, natural selection may have little role to play in one of the key steps of evolution - the origin of new species. Instead it would appear that speciation is merely an accident of fate.

The predictioneer: Using games to see the future • 17 March 2010 by Sanjida O'Connell Bruce Bueno de Mesquita is a professor of politics at New York University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in California. In his new book, The Predictioneer (The Predictioneer's Game in the US), he describes a computer model based on game theory which he - and others - claim can predict the future with remarkable accuracy.

Svetovid- gimme that old time prediction Svetovid! He always carries his sword (sometimes bow) in one hand, and in the other a drinking horn. Svetovid had a white horse which was kept in his temple and taken care of by priests.

It was believed Svantevit rode this horse in battle. The horse was used for divination. Victory in battle, merchant travels and a successful harvest all depended on Svantevit.

Svetovid is associated with war and divination and depicted as a four-headed god with two heads looking forward and two back. A statue portraying the god shows him with four heads, each one looking in a separate direction, a symbolical representation of the four directions of the compass, and also perhaps the four seasons of the year. Each face had a specific colour. The northern face of this totem was white (hence Byelorus, the White sea), the western - red (hence Chervona Rus'), the southern Black (hence the Black sea) and the eastern Green (hence Zelenyj klyn).[1]

March 14, 2010

Mayan Mystique

Ancient Texts Present Mayans as Literary Geniuses Book elicits praise from scholars of Mayan culture throughout the world Release Date: March 5, 2010 BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Literary critics, cultural scholars and aficionados of the Mayans, the only fully literate people of the pre-Columbian Americas, have lined up to call the first fully illustrated survey of two millennia of Mayan texts assembled by award-winning scholar Dennis Tedlock, "stunning," "astounding," "groundbreaking" and "literally breathtaking.

Also very "stunning" and astounding The art of the Maya, is a reflection of their lifestyle and culture. It was an important trade merchandise.

"The Maya words tz'ib or tz'ib'al refers to painting in general, including both imagery and writing. The practitioners of these crafts, called ah tz'ibob ('they who paint'), were both master calligraphers and painters, which signed their work. The large corpus of ancient Maya painting includes portraits and names of several ah tz'ibob, depicts them at work, and presents their patron deities. The Vase rollout show below is a very distinctive class named The Holmul Dancers.

More tombs at the La Pava de Mochumí site March 4, 2010 - Five more tombs have been discovered at the La Pava de Mochumí where recently the 800 year old tomb of a shaman was found, just outside Chiclayo, the archaeology Mecca of Peru.

Maya Site Inhabitants Manufactured Weapons and Tools MEXICO CITY.- Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) explore in Tenosique, Tabasco, an archaeological site of Maya affiliation dedicated exclusively to manufacture weapons and tools. San Claudio “was occupied from 200 BC to 900 AD by Maya workers at the service of other community of higher hierarchy”, informed archaeologist Jose Luis Romero Rivera, director of the excavation project at the site."

Ancient Mural Portrays Ordinary Mayans By Stéphan Reebs, Natural History Magazine: 07 March 2010 - One corner of the painted Maya pyramid structure at Calakmul, Mexico. One layer of the mural must still be excavated. Credit: Carrasco Vargas et al./PNAS

Full Size Very old artworks provide a fascinating glimpse of ancient life, but not without limitations: They typically portray the lifestyles of the rich and famous (rulers, royals, generals, and priests), abandoning the masses to the mists of history.

Add plumbing to the mysterious arts of the ancient Maya, investigators report. In a Journal of Archaeological Science study, anthropologist Kirk French and civil engineer Christopher Duffy of Penn State report on a conduit designed to deliver pressurized water to Palenque, an urban center in southern Mexico, more than 1,400 years ago.

Ancient Corpses Ritually Dug Up, Torn Apart, Reburied "Double burial" practiced for 4,500 years in what is now Mexico, experts say. John Roach for National Geographic News Published March 9, 2010 According to the first known evidence of "double burials," ancient people in what is now Mexico routinely dug up decomposing bodies and took off their arms, legs, and heads, then reburied the bodies, new research shows.

The tomb of a headless man adorned with jade has been discovered beneath an ancient Mexican chamber famously painted with scenes of torture. John Roach for National Geographic News - March 12, 2010 - Found under the Temple of Murals at the Maya site of Bonampak, the man was either a captive warrior who was sacrificed — perhaps one of the victims in the mural—or a relative of the city's ruler, scientists speculate (interactive map of the Maya Empire). Whoever he was, "the place of the burial tells us that the person buried there was special," said anthropologist Emiliano Gallaga Murrieta via e-mail.

Why and how did Native Americans build mounds? March 7, 2010 - "The earliest mounds seem to have functioned both as public landmarks for seasonal gatherings and platforms for villages. Many of the shell mounds within the interior of the Southeast seem merely to have been piles of discarded freshwater mussel shells that marked the location of annual harvests and feasts.

Qin Shihuang Tomb has north gate March 08, 2010 Reporters from Xi'an Evening News learned from Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology that archaeologists exploring the Qin Tomb have discovered a north gate of the tomb's outer city, marking an important archaeological discovery. The north gate proves that the Qin Tomb has 4 gates. In addition, archaeological exploration of some Han Dynasty tombs located in the Qin Tomb site has led to the exposure of the largest solid bricks unearthed so far.

Searching for Zheng: China's Ming-Era Voyager By Ishaan Tharoor Monday, Mar. 08, 2010

Read more: "They were essentially following maritime routes that had been in use by people in the Indian Ocean for ages," says Wade. Many academics argue that the popular Arab-Persian tale of the Seven Voyages of Sinbad, littered also with snippets of Indian folklore, was derived from the real travels of Zheng He — making the mariner as much a pan-Asian protagonist as a Chinese one.

Czech archaeologists find oldest settlement in Arbil, north Iraq 8 MARCH 2010 Plzen, West Bohemia, March 5 (CTK) - An expedition of Czech archaeologists has found remains of an about 150,000-year-old prehistoric settlement in Arbil, north Iraq, which has been the so far oldest uncovered in this part of northern Mesopotamia, team head Karel Novacek told reporters Friday.

Kerala's possible Mediterranean links unearthed by researchers News Date: 9th March 2010 Did the Mediterranean region of megalithic age have any links with the state of Kerala in southern India? A wide range of megalithic burials recently discovered in some northern districts of Kerala during a research project have thrown light on possible links between the Mediterranean and Kerala coasts in the prehistoric stone age that occurred between 6000 BC and 2000 BC.

Roadworks dig finds millions of Aboriginal artefacts Updated Wed Mar 10, 2010 Archaeologists conduct a dig at the Brighton bypass in southern Tasmania. (Rob Paton) • AUDIO: Archaeologist Rob Paton talks to ABC Reporter Damien Larkins about the initial findings. (ABC News) Archaeologists say they may have found proof of the oldest and most southerly human habitation in the world at the site of a major road project in Tasmania. Archaeologists and Aboriginal heritage officers have been removing sediment from eight trenches along the Jordan River levee at the Brighton roadworks site, north of Hobart. ANCIENT TRIBAL MEETING GROUND FOUND IN AUSTRALIA The 40,000-year-old site may hold the world's southernmost traces of early human life. - Wed Mar 10, 2010 03:15 PM ET | content provided by Amy Coopes, AFP The site of the 40,000-year-old tribal meeting ground has been hailed by one archaeologist as "Tasmania's Valley of the Kings." THE GIST: • An archaeology survey conducted ahead of roadwork has found an ancient, Aboriginal meeting ground. • Up to three million artifacts were believed to be buried in the area. • Only around 470,000 of Australia's original inhabitants are still alive today.

Mummy of Egypt's monotheist pharaoh to return home Mar 11, 3:51 PM (ET) By PAUL SCHEMM (AP) A stela at the Egyptian museum in Cairo is seen Thursday, March 11, 2010 , Egypt, showing Pharaoh... CAIRO (AP) - The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt's enduring mysteries - the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten's mummy. The discovery could help fill out the picture of a fascinating era more than 3,300 years ago when Akhenaten embarked on history's first attempt at monotheism.

Bulgaria Archaeologists, Architects Move to Save Cybele Temple Archaeology | March 12, 2010, Friday A commission of archaeologists and architects is set on securing a National Monument status for the temple of Greek goddess Cybele in Bulgaria’s Balchik. The absolutely unique Cybele temple was uncovered by accident in April 2007 at the construction site of a hotel owned by a local entrepreneur.

Pi day: Five tasty facts about the famous ratio • 12 March 2010 by Jacob Aron - Mathematics enthusiasts will this weekend be celebrating Pi day, which falls on 14 March in honour of the famous ratio's first few digits, 3.14. You probably know that pi is the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, but here are some less familiar facts about the mathematical constant.

Sub Atomic Chess LHC to shut down for a year to address design faults By Judith Burns Science reporter, BBC News - The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director. Dr Steve Myers told BBC News the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential for two years. The atom smasher will reach world record collision energies later this month at 7 trillion electron volts. But joints between the machine's magnets must be strengthened before higher-energy collisions can commence.

Roger Penrose: Non-stop cosmos, non-stop career • 10 March 2010 by Michael Brooks Penrose, who is 80 next birthday, is still making incursions into physics. He has just handed his publisher the manuscript for his next book, a rewrite of cosmological theory. There are those, I hesitantly suggest, who say that mathematicians would normally have ceased being this productive long ago. "Well," he says with a grin, "I can't help that, can I?"

The ultimatum game March 4, 2010 12:40 PM, by Jonah Lehrer... is a simple experiment with profound implications.

The game goes like this: one person (the proposer) is given ten dollars and told to share it with another person (the responder). The proposer can divide the money however they like, but if the responder rejects the offer then both players end up with nothing.

People play this game the same way all over the world, and studies have observed similar patterns of irrationality in Japan, Russia, Germany, France and Indonesia. No matter where the game was played*, people almost always made fair offers. As the economist Robert Frank notes,

"Seen through the lens of modern self-interest theory, such behavior is the human equivalent of planets traveling in square orbits."

(Irrational??! To a greedy-eyed pirate or a Chicago School bean counter maybe... Manno a manno, lopsided exchange wins no friends... )

March 7, 2010

Dances with... Dancers!

Goddesschess welcomes the fourth participant in our
sponsored Moonwalk team - Hayley Brading.

`Then fill up the glasses as quick as you can,
And sprinkle the table with buttons and bran:
Put cats in the coffee, and mice in the tea --
And welcome Queen Hayley with thirty-times-three!'

And then there were four! Ring stone with four goddesses and four date palms - "Ring stones are an important and enigmatic category of early Indian sculpture.

They are small, doughnut-shaped objects whose top surfaces, richly decorated with raised carvings, are contoured in the form of gentle parabolas that curve down and in to constitute the walls of their central voids."

Women: The Power Principle SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010 In honor of International Women's Day, a practical exercise to relieve stress and achieve inner peace, and a lovely poem.

(Image: Sacred Mantra Mandala - Tibetan Thangka Painting. Do you recognize the pattern? Think - Liubo...)

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

3D Alice in "Underland" ... "Beyond all the kooky bells and whistles of my Alice, it's a simple internal story about somebody finding their own strength. " (Tim Burton) - Alice must find the Vorpel sword, a sacred Arthurian device, and choose sides between the graceful White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and the ugly, oppressive Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter). Her ultimate enemy is the latter's fearsome Jabberwock.

The Mystery of Lewis Carroll: That talented Mr. Dodgson A new biography, The Mystery of Lewis Carroll, a.k.a. Charles Lutwige Dodgson, 1832-1898, comes from London-based Jenny Woolf. She is known for her fortuitous discovery of Dodgson's complete bank accounts, the subject of her first, 2005 book, Lewis Carroll in His Own Account.

Avatar in wonderland: The future of film technology is so bright, you gotta wear 3-D shades BY ETHAN SACKS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Sunday, March 7th 2010 - For "Alice in Wonderland," which opened Friday, director Tim Burton used 3-D to give audiences a glimpse through the looking glass at the vision that was playing in his head.

Ostara Countdown: Mad as a March Hare Thursday March 4, 2010 Rabbit energy is everywhere! Spring equinox is a time for fertility and sowing seeds, and so nature's fertility goes a little crazy. The rabbit -- for good reason -- is often associated with fertility magic and sexual energy. So how did we get the notion that a rabbit comes around and lays colored eggs in the spring? Learn about rabbit symbolism, the Easter bunny, and mad March hares!

Down the rabbit hole with Uri Geller... Why I Bought Lamb Island - 2009-02-12 - Television presenter and world-famous mystifier Uri Geller revealed today that he is the new owner of a mysterious and enigmatic island claimed to be one of the Great Pyramids of Scotland. Lamb Island, a volcanic outcrop in the Firth of Forth north of Edinburgh, is one of three rocky outcrops which mirror the layout of the Pyramids at Giza, near Cairo in Egypt.

Was she or wasn't she? Test your Italian skills and find out more about Scota

Senet (the game of passing) was an immensely popular game in ancient Egypt. Played by both commoners and nobility, it took on even religious significance in later times. The most common playing pieces were 5 cones shaped pieces pitted against 5 reel shaped pieces (These pieces were called 'ibau' which means 'dancers' in Egyptian). See - Tapanokato's photostream - Dances with old board games - a visual treat!

En Passant: The Dancing Bear of Chess En passant is French for "In Passing". When used correctly, the en passant can be a surpirse tactic in the overall passed pawn strategy.

Bill Bailey from 1955 Video: Is the Moonwalk this old? - Videoclip of Bill Bailey from approximately 1955. A very talented dancer with great balance and control of his feet. I was pretty shocked to see the last few seconds! It raises an interesting question -- who really invented the moonwalk?

History of The Moonwalk Video: Just a short documentary about the most famous dance move in history. detailing its origins and its performers.

Walking on the Moon - Police Video:

Giant steps are what you take
Walking on the moon
I hope my legs don't break
Walking on the moon
We could walk for ever
Walking on the moon
We could live together
Walking on, walking on the moon

Former Swiss wine grower uncovers Sudan's ancient roots Charles Bonnet, 76, is the doyen of Sudan archaeologists who helped rewrite an ancient chapter of Africa's largest country. By Guillaume Lavallee, in Khartoum for AFP - 03 Mar 2010 Bonnet peeled away at the old kingdom of Kerma (2500 to 1500 BC) and discovered seven granite statues of the Nubian rulers near the bank of the Nile.

Sudan's land of 'black pharaohs' a trove for archaeologists By Guillaume Lavallee (AFP) – MEROE, Sudan — There is not a tourist in sight as the sun sets over sand-swept pyramids at Meroe, but archaeologists say the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan holds mysteries to rival ancient Egypt. Swiss archaeologist Mattieu Honeggar recently discovered a site at Wadi Al-Arab, in a corner of the desert area of north Sudan that was inhabited nearly 10,000 years ago, many millennia before the "black pharaohs," and could allow a better understanding of man's transition to a sedentary lifestyle.

Engraved Eggs Suggest Early Symbolism by Michael Balter - March 1, 2010 What do Homo sapiens have that our hominid ancestors did not? Many researchers think that the capacity for symbolic behaviors—such as art and language—is the hallmark of our species. A team working in South Africa has now discovered what it thinks is some of the best early evidence for such symbolism: a cache of ostrich eggshells dated to about 60,000 years ago and etched with intricate geometric patterns.

How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs BAR 36:02, Mar/Apr 2010 By Orly Goldwasser Sidebar: The Wadi el-Hôl Inscription: Earlier than Serabit?

To the Asiatics, as they were called, the lush Nile Delta, with its open marshlands rich with fish and fowl, was a veritable Garden of Eden. From earliest times, Canaanites and other Asiatics would come and settle here. Indeed, this is the background of the Biblical story of the famine in Canaan that led to Jacob’s descent into Egypt (Genesis 46:1–7).

Slavery Secrets Discovery at plantation uncovers link to African culture By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle Feb. 23, 2010 - ON THE AFRICAN CULTURAL TRAIL - "The brick was, as bricks tend to be, rather unremarkable. But to University of Houston anthropologist Kenneth Brown, this slave-made brick, pulled from the site of an old cabin at a one-time Brazoria County plantation, was worth its weight in gold. That's because, incised in its dusty skin was a clear “X” — a possible reference to crossroads, places in west African cultures of legendary mystery and power.

How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race The discovery of the bones of tiny primitive people on an Indonesian island six years ago stunned scientists. Now, further research suggests that the little apemen, not Homo erectus, were the first to leave Africa and colonise other parts of the world, reports Robin McKie. It remains one of the greatest human fossil discoveries of all time.

Oldest example of written English discovered in church
What is believed to be the first ever example of English in a British church has been discovered. Published: 01 Mar 2010 - It was written half a millennia ago and its message was serious enough to be painted carefully on the wall of England's finest cathedral.

And baffled experts have resorted to asking members of the public with a keen eye for deciphering puzzles to have a look at the text, and a computer-enhanced version, to see if they can help out.

Research points to early horse castration March 2, 2010 - Most of the horses in the terracotta army in a Chinese emperor's tomb had no testicles, pointing to the possibility of equine castration some 2000 years ago.

Yuan Jing, an archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, studied the more than 600 terracotta horses within the tomb of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, who ruled from 221 BC to 207 BC.

The Staffordshire Hoard: securing a national treasure The recently discovered Anglo-Saxon treasures known as the Safforshire Hoard are to form part of a new West Midlands heritage trail tracing the history of Mercia.

Over the past few weeks, these objects, including a stunning gold filigree horse's head, never previously shown, have been wowing visitors again at The Potteries Museum in Stoke on Trent, where they are on display until 7 March.

Syria's Stonehenge: Neolithic stone circles, alignments and possible tombs discovered. One of the corbelled stone structures found in the Syrian desert. Archaeologists suspect that its an ancient stone tomb. In the front of it are the remains of a stone circle. For Dr. Robert Mason, an archaeologist with the Royal Ontario Museum, it all began with a walk last summer. Mason conducts work at the Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi monastery, out in the Syrian Desert. Finds from the monastery, which is still in use today by monks, date mainly to the medieval period and include some beautiful frescoes.

Top 10 Ancient Sites in Syria Submitted by Lyn on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 16:00 Ross Burns, Syria specialist Archaeologist and historian Ross Burns knows Syria better than most, having lived there (and in Lebanon) for many years. He is the author of The Monuments of Syria: A Guide and Damascus: A History. Ross, who is currently preparing a doctorate on the archaeology of the Roman provinces of the Eastern Empire, has lectured at a range of institutions in Australia. He also leads study tours to Syria and Jordan for British and Australian travel companies.

Pictures: Shipwreck Discovery Yields Ancient Treasure

Here are a few more photographs of the Bronze Age shipwreck discovered off Britain’s southern coast.

Egypt gets 25,000 artifacts from Britain Mohamed Abdel Salam - 6 March 2010 CAIRO: The Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced on Thursday that Egypt restored 25,000 pieces of antiquities from Britain, some dating to the middle of the Stone Age, 200,000 B.C. Hosni said that “some of the pieces date back to the middle Stone Age, while other pieces date back to the pre-civilizations period and prehistoric era and of the dynasties from the 7th Millennium to the 3rd B.C.”

More here The artifacts "will constitute the foundation for a collection from the (pre-dynastic) Naqada period," named after a village in southern Egypt which represented "one of the oldest centres of civilisation in the world," Hawass said.

President opens the first Maritime Archaeology Museum in Sri Lanka Thu, Mar 4, 2010,Galle: Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa today declared open the country's first Maritime Archaeology Museum and the Visitor Information Center at the Old Dutch Warehouse in Galle Fort today.