Goddesschess Random Roundup :: September 2009

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Random Roundup Archives

A clearinghouse of Random Roundup files

September, 2009

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September 27, 2009

Ancient Egyptian Coinage - Archeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the biblical Joseph, Cairo's Al Ahram newspaper recently reported. Excerpts provided by MEMRI show that the coins were discovered among a multitude of unsorted artifacts stored at the Museum of Egypt. (And what else remains to be sorted, I wonder...)

Ossama Alsaadawi - (on whose site the above picture appears) is a dissident and therefore controversial Egyptologist. He posted evidence of Ancient Egyptian coinage at his web site much before this recent discovery... Section J: "the discovery that the Ancient Egyptians knew, handled and manufactured all kinds of metal money coins and currency even before the Old Kingdom"... Up until now, it has been a common historical assumption that Greek references to Lydian coins (circa 6th Century BCE) signify the earliest known use of metal currency. Yet another look at this important development indicates a Chinese invention...

Women in Ancient Egyptian Society At a time when women were considered inferior in virtually every other society in the world, women in ancient Egypt had legal rights, could hold jobs and some women even became pharaohs. It is true that men were dominant in ancient Egyptian society, but the rights accorded to women were remarkable and in many ways they were nearly the equals to men in society. (Thanks to Helen Stevens for forwarding this link!)

The American Go Association includes Peter Shotwell's observations about the Origins of Go at the Bob Highway Library. A pdf file - The Game of Go: Speculations on its Origins and Symbolism in Ancient China By Peter Shotwell © 1994-February 2008 - is among the site's star attractions. (Thanks for bringing this important resource to our attention Peter!)

Besides go history, you will also find an article about go and cognition (which refers to and comments on a lot of chess studies) and Appendix II of the Origins article, which speaks of the possible role of board games in the passage from the Paleolithic to Neolithic in Africa and China. (Ed. Note: Hear Hear!! - Bravo!!) Peter Shotwell has also written articles about Tibetan and computer go and much of his work is summed up in his first book from Tuttle "Go! More Than a Game."

Thanks also to Lawrence Totaro, who recently forwarded some historical artwork and background information which can be found (along with Gargantua) on page 3 of our Art and Artifact section. Lawrence also gets special mention here - "Women and Chess by Bill Wall"

Prehistoric man 'used crude sat nav' Prehistoric man navigated his way across England using a crude version of sat nav based on stone circle markers, historians have claimed.

Indus Valley Civilisation: Who were they? Karachi: The undeciphered script of the Indus Valley civilisation holds the key to a question with sharp political overtones: were the people of the subcontinent’s earliest recorded civilisation Aryans or Dravidians? Or neither?

Dolmen with petroglyphs found near Villupuram Chennai: A big dolmen (above photo) with four petroglyphs that portray men with tridents and a wheel with spokes has been found at Kollur, near Tirukoilur, 35 km from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu. It features two men having tridents in their hands and another brandishing unidentified weapons...

"Unexpected" Man Found Amid Ancient Priestesses' Tombs by John Roach - for National Geographic News, September 18, 2009 - In an "unexpected" discovery, a rattle-wielding elite male has been found buried among powerful priestesses of the pre-Inca Moche society in Peru, archaeologists announced Monday. (See pictures of Moche treasures from the tomb.)

Largest Anglo-Saxon Treasure Found September 24, 2009 - Buried for centuries in a field in central England, several finely worked pieces and fragments of gold plate were revealed as part of the largest Anglo-Saxon hoard ever found.

The Oldest Lunar Calendars and Earliest Constellations have been identified in cave art found in France and Germany. The astronomer-priests of these late Upper Paleolithic Cultures understood mathematical sets, and the interplay between the moon annual cycle, ecliptic, solstice and seasonal changes on earth.

Implications for ancient board games - particularly Egyptian senet and possibly backgammon, are quite noticable in the photos posted at this site.

Reebok Reverse Jam Mid – Monopoly Pieces

Gimme that old soft shoe... Not a new game! However - "Tens of Russian young men and women have gathered in Moscow to... throw their shoes in (at) the photo of George Bush and some other people..." Photos, photo-ops and propaganda galore!

September 20, 2009

Postscripts from The 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship

The 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship has officially ended -
but the memories will last a lifetime.

The 2009 Montreal Open Chess Championship
has officially ended - but the memories will last a lifetime.

The following paragraphs, offer links to articles, photos, and videos highlighting the players and organizers who made this year's event the most successful ever! Chess is on the rise in Quebec and Montreal organizers are helping to break new ground...

Special thanks to Bernard Ouimet, and his hard working staff of volunteers.

Goddesschess looks forward to sharing in the creation of a bright future for Montreal's growing chess community.

Montreal Chess Championship 2009 Goddesschess was deeply involved with women sponsorship this year and a record number of women registered for this historical 89th annual event.

Goddesschess: provides photos and raw video of the tournament for your viewing and downloading pleasure! A brief slideshow presentation is currently in the works... Please stay tuned!

Unedited Series of Photos (110) at Photobucket

Video Day 1

Video Day 2

Video Day 3

Salome Melia: An informal interview with Montreal's newly crowned chess queen - (with apologies from the cameraman!)

A nice photo tour of Salome Melia's simul - thanks to Fédération québécoise des échecs - held Wednesday Sept. 16th at Cafe Pi. Goddesschess has an eye for Cafe Pi... 4127 St Laurent Blvd., Montreal, Quebec.

Goddesschess Blog:
Highlights recipients of Goddesschess Divisional Awards. Special kudos to the record number of women who joined in the competition!

Monroi:
Final Standings - All Divisions

Facebook & Twitter:
Playing a pivotal role in relaying links to all commentary... Facebook - continues to provide a complete source page for the Montreal showcase. Twitter - is also present, are are discussions on various local chess sites.

Chesstalk:
A nice overview of the event in French...
Jean Hebert on Chesstalk

Federation Quebcois des Echecs:
A synopsis of the tournament and it's future - in French with several photos

From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog and Chess News:
From Alexandra Kosteniuk's Chess Blog and Chess News "I'm very glad to hear that my blog helped Montreal to find a strong WGM and I hope that one day this blog will be the leading portal for women's chess players and tournament organizers. I believe that if we work together and cooperate, our efforts will allow many more people to learn about our wonderful game and there will be more women's chess events, and ultimately more women will play chess."

Congratulations to the new king of Montreal Chess! Jean Hébert (MI) remporte le CHOM 2009 - by Richard Berube

Le Champion du Canada a ajouté Montréal à son tableau de chasse. Après le Championnat inivitation du Québec en janvier et le Championnat semi-fermé du Canada en août dernier, le MI Jean Hébert a ajouté le Championnat ouvert de Montréal à sa collection (11-12-13 sept). Il l'emporte seul grâce à un score de 4½/5. Le tournoi a vu la participation de 191 joueurs, dont 2 GMs et 8 MI. Plusieurs experts québécois ont renoué avec la compétition. Une telle participation pour un système suisse de week end ne s'était pas vu depuis plus de 10 ans à Montréal.

Hébert parle échecs Volume 2, number 35 Week of September 14, 2009 - Carl Bilodeau's English translation (somewhat rough) of a September 14, 2009 column done in French by IM Jean Hebert, who took first place in the Montreal Open Championship. It provides unique insight into the Championnat. Enjoy! (Thanks again Carl!)

Some recent articles by Rene Bruemmer ...

The road to grand master A Chess player from Longueuil (a Montreal suburb) is the Canadian champion, and now he wants to take on the world. A nice biographical sketch of an "intuitive" local talent.

Introduced as part of math curriculum, chess teaches students about logic It appears that worries the Internet and its abundance of virtual chess boards would spell the end for local chess clubs were unfounded. "People still prefer to interact with flesh and blood," said Marc Poulin, president of the Quebec Chess Federation. "They like the community nature of clubs, which is something you can't get on the Internet. ... Chess is on the rise in Quebec."

Random Round Up

Angkor Wat Aspara & Devata: Khmer Women in Divine Context Decoding the World's Greatest Archaeological Mystery: Who were the ancient Khmer women depicted on the Cambodian temple of Angkor Wat? Two Goddesses Preserve Khmer Mystery in Thailand at Sikhoraphum

Ancient Egyptian temples were aligned so precisely with astronomical events that people could set their political, economic and religious calendars by them. So finds a study of 650 temples, some dating back to 3000 BC

“On the orientation of ancient Egyptian Temples I: upper Egypt and lower Nubia” by M. Shaltout & J. A. Belmonte

see also:

Astronomical Alignment in the Temples of Egypt
by David Furlong - A comprehensive view of current research into the archeoastronomic impulse behind Egyptian temple construction - includes a pdf outline of M. Shaltout & J. A. Belmonte's study

Ancient Egyptian stone fragment found JERUSALEM, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- An ancient stone fragment with archaic Egyptian signs found at a dig near Lake Kinneret is the first of its kind to be found outside Egypt, archaeologists said.

Heaven and Hell, According to Various Religions.
Posted by Alex in Mentalfloss, Religion on March 23, 2007 at 2:29 am

(Above graphic:) - "The Way to Nirvana", a Thangka painting from Dharmapala Thangka Centre

FOUND! Tracy Boyd! Thank you for contacting goddesschess and congratulations on your new web site. "This website is dedicated to threading the maze of the sacred realm." Ed Note: Tracy's Morris research is fundamental to chess. The 3x3 Morris square has often been used to outline the respective moves of modern chess pieces. Historians continue to make use of this paradigm and it seems no accident that the late Ken Whyld was especially interested in Robin Hood lore.

Chess is for Heavies - (pdf) - Images of Chess in Detective Fiction Fritz Blaha and Marge Cathcart - University of Nebraska Lincoln

Peter Lorre plays the heavy in Casablanca - but there may be no heavier heavies than those we find in Francois Rabelais' Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel

From Chapter 1.XXII. - The games of Gargantua.

"Then blockishly mumbling with a set on countenance a piece of scurvy grace, he washed his hands in fresh wine, picked his teeth with the foot of a hog, and talked jovially with his attendants. Then the carpet being spread, they brought plenty of cards, many dice, with great store and abundance of chequers and chessboards."

More epicurian delights Drunk chess player carried from tournament - KOLKATA, India, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- A champion French chess player allegedly showed up drunk and passed out on his board at a grandmaster tournament in Kolkata, India, officials said.

'Motionless' 007 wins world award It took Chris Clarkson nine months to create his James Bond outfit...

An actor from Greater Manchester has been given a "licence to still" after winning a top award in the World Statue Championships in the Netherlands.

Flashback to IGK Amsterdam Symposium 2001

September 6, 2009

Footloose in Freedonia

The Odie Award: For modern furry tales with happy endings... A two-year-old boy lost in the Yukon bush overnight after wandering away from his family's campsite will get to keep the dog he followed.

The toddler, identified only as Kale, wandered away from a campsite north of Ross River, Yukon, on Thursday. The boy, from Kamloops, B.C., apparently trailed after a dog, which stayed with him throughout his 25-hour adventure.

Fairy tales more ancient than previously believed From ANI London, September 6: They have been told as bedtime stories by generations of parents, but according to a new study, fairy tales are more ancient than was previously thought.

Li'l Red Riding Hood - video cartoon animation with Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs (1966)

Hobbits walked out of Africa Here’s more on a new study of the so-called Hobbits by Debbie Argue of Australian National University. “We’re looking at a very archaic being indeed, one that appears to have gone its own evolutionary way long before our species emerged,” she said.

Galloping down the centuries: new light on Britain's chalk-cut hill-figures - The study of hill-figures was once a fringe area of archaeology, a speculative fun park distinguished by folkloristic echoes and nebulous anecdote.

If Roman propaganda is to be believed, Britain before the Claudian Invasion of AD 43 was peripheral, backward, and barbarous. But now new research shows the wild and woolly natives were, in fact, metalworkers with a skill and subtlety surpassing that of the smiths of Rome.

Digging up the Saudi past: some would rather not
August 26, 2009 By The Associated Press DONNA ABU-NASR (Associated Press Writer) Much of the world knows Petra... But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans.

Archaeological research has challenged the idea that Chinese culture emerged with the Xia dynasty in 2100 B.C. “Most of us accepted that the Yellow River was the origin of Chinese civilization. But as we’ve done more research, we have found other cultural areas,” said Wang Wei of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. If you have a subscription to Science, you can read the full text of the article, “Beyond the Yellow River: How China Became China,” by writer Andrew Lawler.

The History of Xiangqi? Yutopian insists...

Most people believe that Xiangqi and Shogi are variants of International Chess which was invented by the Indians in the 6th Century. This is simply not true. According to recent research, both Xiangqi and Backgammon evolved from an ancient Chinese game called Liubo that was invented some 3,500 years ago.

During the Han Dynasty, a new game called GeWu or Saizhang emerged from Liubo making it one step closer to the rules of modern Xiangqi. The GeWu game was essentially the same as that of Liubo but without the use of dice. Like the modern Xiangqi, GeWu was a game of skill and not luck. Han Wu Dai was a great fan of GeWu and he established a Game Official position in his administration, just for that purpose.

Traditional Board Games of India: (example above) A broad collection - nicely photographed and illustrated - with instructions on how to play Vimanam and other popular Indian games.

Vimanam Anyone?
Some quickly received Wiki wisdom...

Sikhara, a Sanskrit word translating literally to "mountain peak", refers to the rising tower in the Hindu temple architecture of North India. Sikhara over the sanctum sanctorum where the presiding deity is enshrined is the most prominent and visible part of a Hindu temple of North India.

In south India, the equivalent term for "Sikhara" is "Vimanam". These are not to be confused with the elaborate gateway-towers of south Indian temples, called "Gopurams", which are perhaps the most prominent features of those temples.

Decoding the Ancient Script of the Indus Valley Evidence of trade with Egypt and Sumer in Mesopotamia, as well as the presence of mining interests as far as Central Asia, suggests that the fertile Indus River basin could have been home to an empire larger and older than its more famous contemporaries in the Middle East.

Ancient Egyptian stone fragment found Sept. 1 (UPI) -- An ancient stone fragment with archaic Egyptian signs found at a dig near Lake Kinneret is the first of its kind to be found outside Egypt, archaeologists said.

Europe gains an edge in ax mystery New research is showing that advanced Stone Age tools got to Europe close to the time they reached other sites outside of Africa.

Beijing police detained eight people from an organized tomb-raiding group obsessed with fengshui... Fengshui is the traditional Chinese study of geomantic omens used to find auspicious locations for buildings and cemeteries.

Dig unearths ancient cult figurines of Aphrodite: Remains of an ancient cult to the goddess of love have come to light in the southern Golan Heights site of Susita.

More cult figurine intrigues at the goddesschess blog... Anahita - Lady of Persia - (shown above) presiding ...

BuckyBalls video

... are 216 rare earth magnet balls that can be shaped, molded, torn apart and then snapped back together in unlimited ways