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WHAT'S NEW?
Random Roundup Archives
A clearinghouse of Random Roundup files
May 2010 |
Page Contents by Year and Month |
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May 30, 2010
Hush Hush Edition
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Exciting Developments in Goddesschess SponsorshipsWe're not at liberty to discuss particulars yet, but there have been some very promising developments in obtaining the appearance of at least one noted female chessplayer at the 2010 Montreal Open Chess Championships, which will be held in the spectacularly beautiful surroundings at the College Jean-de-Brebeuf in Montreal September 10-12, 2010.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Alisa Melekhina and "The Eight" Hint, hint...
MEANWHILE....
A Magnificent Pagan Altar was Exposed at the Barzilai Hospital Compound JERUSALEM.- The development work for the construction of a fortified emergency room at Barzilai Hospital, which is being conducted by a contractor carefully supervised by the Israel Antiquities Authority, has unearthed a new and impressive find: a magnificent pagan altar dating to the Roman period (first-second centuries CE) made of granite and adorned with bulls’ heads and a laurel wreaths. The altar stood in the middle of the ancient burial field.
Divers Explore Sunken Ruins of Cleopatra's Palace - Many archaeological sites have been destroyed by man, but Alexandria's Royal Quarters simply slid into the sea after cataclysmic earthquakes.
Mega Mummy Find: 45 Tombs Unearthed Egyptian Archaeologists Make 'Astonishing Surprise' Discovery By Lama Hasan - Cairo, May 24, 2010 - A team of Egyptian archaeologists headed by Abdel Rahman El-Aydi unearthed what he told ABC News was "the most important cemetery dating to the second dynasty," calling it an ''astonishing surprise."
Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus buried, again
Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), whose remains were recently identified using modern forensic tools, was buried Saturday at the Frombork Cathedral, 467 years after his death.
Digging up Brahe - A search for clues to the famous astronomer's death - and life... Posted: May 12, 2010 By Frank Kuznik -- If everything goes according to plan, sometime in November a group of about a dozen Czech and Danish scientists will descend on the Church of Our Lady Before Týn on Old Town Square. Soon thereafter, a man who has been dead for more than 400 years will say hello to the 21st century.
Chola period plates, icons unearthed Mayiladuthrai, May 21, 2010 - P. V. SRIVIDYA - Over 85 copper plates and twelve bronze icons were found in the Kailasanathar temple in Kazhukanni Muttam in Tiruindalur village here on Thursday in a first-of-its-kind archaeological discovery in Tamil Nadu.
Digs reveal prisons used in ancient Anatolia There were detention facilities in Anatolia as far back as 4,000 years ago, according to Professor Fikri Kulako?lu, who is currently in charge of excavations at Kültepe in Kayseri.
The Mind’s Eye: Games and Altered Consciousness
May 27th by Micah Hanks Well known and admired occult fictionalist H.P. Lovecraft once said, when asked if he played games, that “games are for the weak minded.” However, new studies suggest the truth behind this matter may just be just the opposite.
Crop circle hiding 'beautiful' maths formula appears in rape seed field By DAILY MAIL REPORTER 24th May, 2010 - An extraordinary crop circle based on the 'world's most beautiful maths theorem' has appeared in a field next to a windmill in Wiltshire
Forget the Da Vinci code! Experts find Michelangelo code hidden in the Sistine Chapel By Clare Bates - 28th May 2010 - Michelangelo is recognised as one of the greatest painters and sculptors from the Italian Renaissance. What is not so widely known is that he was an avid student of anatomy who once persuaded a Florentine prior to let him study the corpses in his church hospital. But he went on to destroy almost of all of his anatomical sketches and notes. Now a pair of American experts in neuroanatomy believe Michelangelo DID leave some anatomical illustrations behind in one of his most famous works - the Sistine Chapel.
The OODA Loop And Chess "The OODA loop (for observe, orient, decide, and act) is a concept originally applied to the combat operations process, often at the strategic level in both the military operations. It is now also often applied to understand commercial operations and learning processes.
May 16, 2010
Moonwalk - Late Edition
Goddesschess is "over the moon" about the tremendous success of this fabulous event...
From: Tracy French
Subject: RE: Moon Walk
Date: Monday, May 17, 2010, 6:47 AMI have attached a few photos, us sitting down is in the 'Pink City' an enormous pink tent where 15000 women and a few men warm up and wait for their start time.
We started at 11.30 it was a clear but very cold night (I wouldn't advise anyone be out all night in london without a lot of clothes usually!) but we were all kept warm with the fantastic reception we got with every turn we were asked to stop for photos and just generally pose as to quote 'your costumes are the best we've seen' how amazing is that?
We had to walk quite a way to queue to get into the big pink tent along a line of waiting walkers, we were met with many envious glances, many people commenting on how great we looked an a lot of rounds of applause as words were not enough!
We had a fantastic night the 26.2 miles were made a lot easier with your very generous donations of the costumes you are obviously 2 amazing women THANK YOU.
We have raised so far over £500 and its still coming in probably about 700 when we finish double last year. (the costumes helped with that too!!)
Tracy, Hailey, Lynn and Amanda (last minute stand in for Emily as her horse is ill!, but costume fitted like a glove and she wore it with pride) Not to mention the fellow walkers who enjoyed seeing our costumes the millions of people who benefit from the walk the walk breast cancer charity who have raised 80 million to date. THANK YOU
Which way to the Moon?
Well... there seems to be more than one way...
Presentation of "Toucan" by Louis Histed
or you could go this way...
using Georgia's Backyard Moongate (Video)A Moon Gate is a circular opening in a garden wall that acts as a pedestrian passageway, and a traditional architectural element in Chinese gardens. Moon Gates have many different spiritual meanings for every piece of tile on the gate and on the shape of it...
or
let you fingers do the walking...
The Museum of Talking Boards In the year 1848, something unusual happened in a Hydesville, New York cabin. Two sisters, Kate and Margaret Fox, contacted the spirit of a dead peddler, became instant celebrities, and sparked a national obsession that spread all across the United States and Europe. It was the birth of modern Spiritualism.
Ouija: A History - by Mitch Horowitz - 27 Dec 2006 - Ouija. For some the rectangular board evokes memories of late-night sleepover parties, shrieks of laughter, and toy shelves brimming with Magic Eight Balls, Frisbees, and Barbie dolls.
"It's always best that you start at the beginning,
and all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road."Traveling With Master Chung 7 (Video) Most Feng Shui Master has a Lo Pan (Chinese Compass), but most of the Master just bought it from a compass retailer, they may not know how to produce and where they produce. In this episode, Master Chung visit a famous Lo Pan manufactory in On Fai, you will see the famous Lo Pan producer Master Jim and his photo. You also can see how did the original Lo Pan look like.
Lo Shu Magic Square solfege Matrix
Welcome to Moonland!
A finalist at the Billes International Design completion in New Orleans, the “Celestial Chess Set” by Jerod Hugghins is a unique chess set that unlike usual chess sets is based on the geometry of the sphere.
Now that we are on the moon, we can look down upon the Earth and see all kinds of oddities...
New Laser Mapping Technique Reveals Amazing Things Mapping Ancient Civilization, in a Matter of Days By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Published: May 10, 2010 - For a quarter of a century, two archaeologists and their team slogged through wild tropical vegetation to investigate and map the remains of one of the largest Maya cities, in Central America. Slow, sweaty hacking with machetes seemed to be the only way to discover the breadth of an ancient urban landscape now hidden beneath a dense forest canopy.
Oh yes indeedy-do!
Scientists document painted portals to a vanished past - Last year, archeologist Mike Morwood and rock art specialist June Ross took the ride of their lifetime across the northwest Kimberley. They hired a helicopter and flew across largely trackless territory, their pilot landing periodically in spots where he felt he could get his helicopter down safely and where they believed a good rock art site might lie...
Nilometer Discovered Ancient Egyptian 'Nilometer' Helped Measure River's Height From Discovery.com Egyptian archaeologists carrying routine excavations at the so-called “Avenue of Sphinxes,” have unearthed the remains of a 5th century Egyptian Christian church and a "nilometer," a structure used to measure the level of the Nile during floods. (Photo: Nilometer / Courtesy of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquites (SCA)
All in all - it's just another yellow brick in
the road to... well, what else... mOZarella of course!
CONGRATULATIONS MOONWALKERS!
May 10, 2010
Super Moms & Chessdom
Mum's smart moves earn her top chess title Apr 12 2009 Gayle Ritchie, Sunday Mail - CHESS champ Keti Grant has proved she's got what it takes to keep the guys in check. Keti, 40, has become the first female grandmaster in Scotland and one of only 15 in the world.
The mum-of-one, of Edinburgh, reckons young girls need a female chess champ to inspire them to get playing.
The earliest tributes to mothers date back to the annual spring festival the Greeks dedicated to Rhea, the mother of many deities, and to the offerings ancient Romans made to their Great Mother of Gods, Cybele. Christians celebrated this festival on the fourth Sunday in Lent in honor of Mary, mother of Christ. In England this holiday was expanded to include all mothers and was called Mothering Sunday.
Cybele (pictured above)
In the Roman religion the Hilaria festival was held in honour of the mother goddess Cybele and it took place during mid-March.Mary Audio with Video La Mujer Naufraga - Cantigas de Santa Maria (CSM 371) Cantigas 371 : nouvel extrait de la collection des Cantigas attribués à Alphonso X El Sabio.
Julia Ward Howe: Mother's Day and Peace Beyond the Battle Hymn of the Republic - By Jone Johnson Lewis - She (Howe) failed in her attempt to get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace. Her idea was influenced by Anna Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker who had attempted starting in 1858 to improve sanitation through what she called Mothers' Work Days.
Anna Jarvis and Mother's Day By Jone Johnson Lewis - Anna Jarvis became increasingly concerned over the commercialization of Mother's Day: "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit."
Cutting though the Simnell (or is that Simul?)
"I'll to thee a Simnell bring
'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering,
So that when she blesses thee
Half that blessing thou'lt give me."Mothering Sunday - What is this day all about really? Violins are a bit loud - but hear her out...
Narciso Yepes Las Cantigas de Santa Maria - Audio with Video Narciso Yepes Spanish early music guitar solo, composed by Alfonso X El Sabio and arranged by Yepes. (The Chief's - Ricardo Calvo's - favourite guitarist..) This is part of a music and dance concert performed by the Trio Yepes. Recording : Palau de Barcelona, June 14th 1991
El Libro de Picatrix
El Libro de Picatrix es una obra de la literatura medieval española, compuesta durante el reinado de Alfonso X el Sabio. En torno a 1256, Alfonso X ordena traducir al castellano y al latín la Ghayat al-hakim, un tratado de magia talismánica, escrito doscientos años antes. Si bien la versión castellana hay que darla por perdida, la traslación latina (Liber Picatrix) se difundió por todo Occidente y alcanzó un notable éxito entre los siglos XV y XVIII.
"The Soul cannot think without a picture." (Aristotle)
Alfonso X, The Wise, El Sabio, Le Sage, O Sabio
"I've been touched by love,
I've been touched by the lights,
But I still haven't found,
The mystery of life, ..."
May 2, 2010
Dances with Pawns
(a guide for the tippy-toe challenged)
Step 1: Make sure the ground underfoot is fairly solid and stable (even if you know it's not...)
Step 2: Plug in your neural netGlobal Consciousness Project Interviews with Tamas Borbely of Goldsmiths College and Dr. Peter Bancel of the Global Consciousness Project reveal common ground on revolutionary research. The notion of a collective global consciousness is accepted truth within many cultures, but scoffed at by modern scientists. That may change. Once skeptical researchers investigating the 10-year Global Consciousness Project are finding solid data to support the conclusion that we’re all connected.
Step 3: Stay flexible
Scientists Look Beyond Diamond for Quantum Computing - ScienceDaily (Apr. 30, 2010) — A team of scientists at UC Santa Barbara that helped pioneer research into the quantum properties of a small defect found in diamonds has now used cutting-edge computational techniques to produce a road map for studying defects in alternative materials. Current computers are based on binary logic: each bit can be either "one" or "zero." In contrast, each qubit in a quantum computer is continuously variable between these two states and hence offers infinitely more possibilities to be manipulated and combined with other qubits to produce a desired computational result.
Step 4: Remain focused
Step 5: Prepare for complexity
Complex play behavior is a sign of intelligence, but unfortunately little is known of the circuitry of even a cat’s brain, much less the massive brain of an orca — roughly four times the size of a human brain. MIT neuroscientists are developing computerized techniques to map the millions of miles of neuronal circuits in the brain that may one day shed some light on the differences between Homo sapiens sapiens and other species, and will likely clarify how those neurons give rise to intelligence, personality, and memory.
Step 6: Remember your steps
Architecture and Memory - Robert Kirkbride- The Renaissance Studioli of Fredrico da Montefeltro - In addition to music and conversation, from the chessboard and pieces depicted in the west wall, it seems more than likely that certain games were played in the studiolo. Cheles has noted that "the presence of a game of chess in a study is not unusual: Piero de' Medici kept one in his scrittoio."
Step 7: Step high & avoid the ball & chain
Dealer Giacomo Medici, also a target of the investigation, was tried separately, convicted of trafficking antiquities, and last year sentenced to ten years in prison and a €10 million fine (then about $13 million); he remains free while appealing his conviction. A third dealer under investigation, Robin Symes, was recently released from prison in Britain, having served seven months out of a two-year sentence for misleading the court in a separate case; Symes has yet to be charged in Italy.
(Rescued) Boeotian terra-cotta figurine. Formerly of the Erlenmeyer collection. Published in Orientalia in 1962. Sold at Sotheby's London on July 9, 1990.
Exposing the Culture Thieves June 14, 2006 -Investigative journalist Peter Watson discusses the illicit antiquities trade. - Peter Watson is co-author with Cecilia Todeschini of The Medici Conspiracy, an excerpt of which appears in our July/August issue. Watson has followed the connection between criminals and the art and antiquities markets for more than two decades. In 1983 he posed as a wealthy art dealer to help expose a ring of art thieves that stretched from Italy to New York. Medici galore - many links
Step 8: Learn to compete against yourself first of all - then maybe take that big next step...
2009 Pittsburgh Brain Connectivity Competition Overview
Step 9: Void area of silly, officious sounding and distracting persons and their Stupid Machines (i.e. machines that think they're smart - but aren't)
He didn't see that coming, or did he? 29 April 2010 By Matthew Reisz - Nobel laureate's interest in paranormal leads to conference rejection - An extraordinary spat has broken out after a Nobel prizewinning physicist was "uninvited" from a forthcoming conference because of his interest in the paranormal.
Details of the conference in August for experts in quantum mechanics sounded idyllic. Participants were due to discuss "de Broglie-Bohm theory and beyond" in the Towler Institute, which is housed in a 16th-century monastery in the Tuscan Alps owned by Mike Towler, Royal Society research fellow at Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory.
Step 10: Ignore capricious non-events
Ex-Colleague: Expedition Faked Noah's Ark Find Chanan Tigay (April 29) -- It took nearly 5,000 years to unearth Noah's Ark -- and just three days for a serious challenge to the legitimacy of the find to emerge. A former member of the expedition whose sponsors this week claimed to have found the legendary biblical boat buried beneath the snows of Turkey's Mount Ararat says the "discovery" was probably a hoax.
Step 11: Cue the Muse (Ride a White Swan - T Rex)
Step 12: Prepare for ignition
Beltane Fire Festival Festival fights fire with fire Published Date: 01 May 2010 By SUE GYFORD - A FEAST of flames, flesh and fertility came to Calton Hill with the annual Beltane Fire Festival. Organisers estimated that 11,000 people flocked to the hill for the pagan-inspired celebration last night, watching 350 performers in costumes and body paint dance and drum the hours away.
Beltane Fire Festival: Naked Dancing Permitted, Wicker Man Sacrifices Now Banned Submitted by Rebecca T on Thu, 04/29/2010 - 16:31 A ritual involving men painted in red, and women dressed in white, is carried out beside the bonfire. Image by Richard Milnes - Tomorrow, a happy collection of hippies, druids and general revellers will climb up Calton Hill in Edinburgh to celebrate the ancient festival of Beltane.
Save the rainforest – buy a sustainable chess set 5 March 2010, By Arne Moll - Chess players love wooden chess sets for their massive, easy-playing pieces, their obvious superiority over cheap plastic stuff and their distinguished classical look. But what about their sustainability?
Step 13: No wood allowed? Learn to borrow fire if needed
Walpurgis Night (Walpurgisnacht) is a traditional religious holiday of pre-Christian origin, celebrated today by Christian as well as non-Christian[1] communities, on April 30 or May 1 in large parts of Central and Northern Europe. The current festival is, in most countries that celebrate it, named after Saint Walpurga, born in Devon about 710. Due to the coincidence of her holy day falling on the same day as the pagan holiday on which it was based, her name became associated with the celebrations.
Step 14: Share the warmth
Valpurzina noc - In medieval times, one of the year’s biggest festivities fell on the last night of April. This major pagan celebration is known under many names in modern Czech. They include Valpuržina noc, after Saint Walburga – the first of May was the day of her canonization – and Beltine, from the Celtic word for the celebration, Beltain.
Step 15: Prepare to defy gravity
Is There Chess on Mars? by Taylor Kingston "We have a game on Mars similar to chess, very similar. And there is a race that plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We call the game jetan." John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom.
First Earth vs. Space Chess Match Ends – Earth Wins Published by Matt on Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:01 pm via: NASA - The first Earth vs. Space chess match, begun during astronaut Greg Chamitoff’s Expedition 17 stay aboard the International Space Station, is over – and the Earth won.
Save the rainforest – buy a sustainable chess set 5 March 2010, By Arne Moll - Chess players love wooden chess sets for their massive, easy-playing pieces, their obvious superiority over cheap plastic stuff and their distinguished classical look. But what about their sustainability?
Step 16: Bone up on sustainable traditions
Sports and Pastimes of the People of England - by Joseph Strutt [2nd ed., 1903] This book is a key source for information on leisure time activities in 'Olde England,' including sports, hunting, games, dancing, gymnastics, music, festivals including Christmas and May Day and customs such as Mumming, The Boy Bishop, and The Lord of Misrule. It answers questions such as "How do you score a joust?," (p. 125) "When did feral wolves become extinct in Britain?," (p. 12) and "How much do you pay the piper?" (p. 164) And what is Shakespeare talking about when he mentions Shove-Groat (p. 242) or Nine Men's Morris (p. 256)?
Step 17: Bone up on the non-locals - because them is us and we is you and everything is non-local anyhow!
Sufi Dancing, Egyptian Tanoura and maybe even Senet "dancers".
The number Twelve danceth on high. Amen.
The Whole on high hath part in our dancing. Amen.
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen.Sufi dancers performing in Cairo AlAzhar Park, Egypt.
Face-off: King Tut's Senet Board 'v' Lewis Chessmen Submitted by Malcolm on Mon, 12/14/2009 - Which game is superior? King Tut's Senet Board or the Lewis Chessmen (pictured)? Find out. Image by Sean Williams. In the age of video games, board games might not be the popular pastime they once were. But they have a venerable history
Sandro Vannini's Photography - King Tutankhamun's Senet Game Board Submitted by Images on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 12:19 -Slideshow - The ivory senet board game found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62) gives an insight into the Ancient Egyptian leisure activities. Image Copyright - Sandro Vannini.
