http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-tangled-cultural-roots-of-dungeons-dragons?mbid=social_facebook
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
The Tangled Cultural Roots of Dungeons & Dragons
1984, the comic-strip artist Jack Chick, an evangelical Christian, published a tract called “Dark Dungeons.” In it, a young woman named Debbie is seduced into witchcraft through her participation in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The Mephistophelean figure in the strip is the Dungeon Master, a raven-haired woman named Ms. Frost, who says to Debbie, “Your cleric has been raised to the 8th level. I think it’s time that you learn how to really cast spells.” But then Debbie’s friend Marcie commits suicide after her character dies in the game, and the new witch is wracked with guilt and doubt. She is saved, ultimately, when Mike, a hunky Christian boy (“I’ve been praying and fasting for you”), takes her to see a pastor who has himself come “out of witchcraft.” Debbie meets the pastor and repents, accepting Jesus as her Savior: “I want You to be in charge of everything…not that lousy D. & D. manual.”
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-tangled-cultural-roots-of-dungeons-dragons?mbid=social_facebook
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-tangled-cultural-roots-of-dungeons-dragons?mbid=social_facebook
Monday, November 2, 2015
New 11.6 mya primate fossil may change ideas about ape evolution
An ancient primate’s partial skeleton, discovered in northeastern Spain,
is poised to downsize ape evolution in a big way.
This 11.6-million-year-old fossil find, nicknamed Laia by its discoverers,
represents the first evidence that present-day African apes descended from
a relatively small, somewhat gibbonlike common ancestor — not large-bodied
African primates as previously thought, scientists report in the Oct. 30
Science. If that scenario holds up, Laia’s discovery also shows for the
first time that ancient, small-bodied apes moved from Africa to Europe,
says a team led by paleontologist David Alba of Catalan Institute of
Paleontology in Barcelona.
Based on analysis of more than 300 teeth, skull and lower-body measurements,
Alba and colleagues assign the partial skeleton to a new genus and species
of ancient ape, Pliobates cataloniae.
... .... https://www.sciencenews.org/article/petite-primate-fossil-could-upend-ideas-about-ape-evolution http://www.sciencemag.org/content/350/6260/aab2625.full
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/petite-primate-fossil-could-upend-ideas-about-ape-evolution
11.5 kya DNA supports Beringian Standstill hypothesis
Scientist have long debated how humans originally arrived in the
Americas. The prominent idea has been that a sort of land bridge
formed during the last ice age and people migrated from Asia.
But people may not have just waltzed over the land bridge and
spread across the Americas. Instead, they may have settled in
northern Alaska for a while first.
And the newest clues come from a surprising place: babies.
Scientists have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA from two infants
found buried together at an Alaskan campsite some 11,500 years
ago in a paper published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1027/What-do-ancient-babies-reveal-about-travel-by-ice-age-Americans
Americas. The prominent idea has been that a sort of land bridge
formed during the last ice age and people migrated from Asia.
But people may not have just waltzed over the land bridge and
spread across the Americas. Instead, they may have settled in
northern Alaska for a while first.
And the newest clues come from a surprising place: babies.
Scientists have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA from two infants
found buried together at an Alaskan campsite some 11,500 years
ago in a paper published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1027/What-do-ancient-babies-reveal-about-travel-by-ice-age-Americans
Cone Heads part 2: Who Were They?
As we saw in the last blog, things are not always what they seem to be. We realized that elongated heads are not an isolated phenomenon. They are global, found in many cultures, thousands of kilometers apart and isolated by difficult barriers like oceans, mountains and deserts. The occurrence of elongated heads can be found over long periods of time throughout history, from over 45,000 years ago up to the present. Even more interesting they most often occurred in the elite: royalty, high priests/ priestesses, and nobility in their respective cultures. Let’s take a brief look at who these people were...http://www.drterrywillard.com/cone-heads-part-2-who-were-they/
Bali’s mountain dwellers govern with ancient palm leaf treatises
Deep in the mountains of eastern Bali sits a traditional Aga village, whose inhabtants – legendarily the island’s first – still reside and abide by ancient ways.
Long before Indonesian independence, and even before the 11th century, when the fleeing courtiers of Java’s Hindu Majapahit dynasty landed in Bali, the village of Tenganan Pegringsingan had written forestry regulations. The edicts defined the forest as the 225-square-mile area of trees in these steep, 40-percent-grade hills.
According to the ancestral notes, the woods must be communally owned and managed, and cannot be sold or transferred to anyone outside the Aga community.
There are even oral and written regulations on hunting and woodcutting. Only dead branches can be collected, and no woodcutting is permitted, except with permission from customary leaders.
And today, residents old and young still honor these edicts, choosing to follow the written instructions of their ancestors instead of pushing forest resources to the brink.
Thirty-three-year-old Durpa Adnyana, for instance, makes a living collecting wild honey in self-designed, homemade bee houses he fashions from short lengths of bamboo. He collects sweet mango flower honey six times a year, and the tiny kelebees’ sour honey, favored by local shamans, twice a year.
In tune with the ancient conservation statutes, Durpa sets personal limits. “If six hives are ready for harvest, I will only take honey from two,” he explained. “To take more would be heartless to the bees.”...http://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/balis-mountain-dwellers-govern-with-ancient-palm-leaf-treatises/
Read the Classic Some Call it Courage FREE!
http://gyanpedia.in/Portals/0/Toys%20from%20Trash/Resources/books/courage.pdf
The Incredible Treasures Found Inside the 'Griffin Warrior' Tomb
Every archaeologist dreams of uncovering a trove of historically significant objects. Last spring, that dream became a reality for a team led by two University of Cincinnati scholars, who discovered the grave of a Bronze Age warrior in southwestern Greece. Now, as Nicholas Wade writes for the New York Times, the find has yielded intriguing treasures—and plenty of excitement from archaeologists.
The gravesite was found within the ancient city of Pylos. It's being called the richest tomb found in the region since the 1950s, Wade reports, for "the richness of its find and its potential for shedding light on the emergence of the Mycenaean civilization."
In a release, the University of Cincinnati lays out the wealth within the grave: bronze jugs; basins of bronze, silver and gold; four solid-gold rings; a bronze sword with an ivory hilt covered in gold; more than 1,000 beads of different gems; a gold-hilted dagger and much more. The entombed skeleton even has a nickname—the "Griffin Warrior"—in reference to an ivory plaque inscribed with a griffin found nearby.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-what-was-inside-griffin-warriors-grave-180957063/#PVcyukbxjXkUk5Te.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter...http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/heres-what-was-inside-griffin-warriors-grave-180957063/?utm_source=facebook.com&no-ist
Polyamory, Menage, Erotic Romance, and Culture
Polyamory, Menage, Erotic Romance, and Culture
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In this post, the word “menage” refers to a sexual activity involving three people, not primarily to a long term love relationship. I take it as obvious that one’s participation in a sexual menage doesn’t tell us anything about whether that person believes in monogamy, polyamory, or is against the idea of romantic love totally.
I’ve read five erotic romances which feature a menage (or more): Victoria Janssen’s The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom and Their Lover, Megan Hart’s Dirty, Broken, andTempted, and Maya Banks’s novella Overheard (all but the last are Harlequin Spice). In three cases, the menage involved one hetero woman and two hetero men, was the fulfillment of the heroine’s fantasy, and readers were led to believe it was a one off (ok, a three off). In Broken, the menage involved the hero and two female strippers. In each book, it was pretty clear that the protagonist would end up happily satisfied in the long term with just one person, and it was clear who that person was. In Dirty, the heroine had virtually no relationship with the second man. In Overheard, the heroine was friends with the second man. And in Tempted, the heroine had strong feelings for both of the men, but was married to one of them, with whom she stayed. Although Tempted takes us into a gray area, all of these books stay true to the RWA definition of romance — the two person (primarily one woman, one man) love relationship.....http://readreactreview.com/2009/06/18/polyamory-menage-erotic-romance-and-culture/
Descent into the Underworld - Shared by Herbie Brennan
Descent into the Underworld
There are numerous well-known myths from ancient times which describe a heroine or hero’s descent into the underworld. One of the more significant is the story of Inanna, the Sumerian Goddess, who hearing the call, made her own eventful journey and return.
Inanna’s story is also known as the Babylonian Ishtar’s Descent, but whereas Ishtar’s tale is told with only 145 lines, the original story from which it was copied, Inanna’s Descent, is told with 415 lines. The difference is attributed to the patriarchy, as it steadily eroded the power and significance of the Goddess during the second millenium BC.
Inanna’s Descent into the Underworld is both a fascinating story and a prime archetype of spiritual initiation. Both are provided in the article entitled “Initiation -- Descent into Hades”, which is included below. A fictional account of the basics of Inanna’s myth is recounted in a television script, Descent into Hades, originally written for the series, Star Trek; The Next Generation, and based on its characters.
Dan Sewell Ward
Copyright 1992 Dan Sewell Ward
Abstract
The ancient Sumerian myth of Inanna and her descent into the Underworld reveals a series of profound psychological and contemporary messages. This paper discusses the fundamental psychological interpretations of the diverse ingredients of the myth, including the concept of a higher self, the abandoning of old values and artifacts, and the ultimate empowerment of voluntarily making the descent. Also considered are the implications of modern day individuals making their own descent into Hades as a form of spiritual initiation: a seeking of wisdom and growth and the shedding of illusions (a twentieth century Dance of the Seven Veils). Finally, the paper presents the results of research into the idea that our world and society may be in the process of making its own descent, releasing traditional paradigms in preparation for a period of “accelerated growth”.
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American Indian Perspective Of Bigfoot
David Paulides on American Indian Perspective Of Bigfoot
For more high strange information visit The Church of Mabus
1. In your book The Hoopla Project Bigfoot Encounters in California the method is to bring forensic abilities from your knowledge into learning about sightings of Bigfoot by using a police sketch artist and your knowledge. What are some of the methods you used to get deeper into these cases forensics wise?
In regards to the forensic drawing. A trained law enforcement forensic artist is formally trained, they are not just an artist. They are trained to draw exactly what the witness observes, they do not interpret. They do their work face to face, not over a phone. This was a HUGE cost to our organization but reaped a major change on how the biped is viewed. Example-Harvey Pratt (Forensic Artist) and I did a conference in Texas for another bigfoot organization that believes bigfoot is an ape. Our drawings show a profoundly more human face then what has been put in front of the public. We were at the conference with Harvey’s drawings placed on a table for public view, a young witness came into the building and started to view the drawings. He screamed across the room and and had his mom come to his side. The man told his mom that this was the first time he had seen a drawing showing something much more of what he observed and not an ape. He explained that another MAJOR bigfoot group had placed him in contact with an artist. The artist....
Origin of Komodo Dragon Revealed
Dragons may come from the land Down Under.
Scientists now find that the world’s largest living lizard species, the Komodo dragon, most likely evolved in Australia and dispersed westward to its current home in Indonesia.
In the past, researchers had suggested the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis) developed from a smaller ancestor isolated on the Indonesian islands, evolving its large size as a response to lack of competition from other predators or as a specialist hunter of pygmy elephants known as Stegodon.http://www.livescience.com/9726-origin-komodo-dragon-revealed.htmlhttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-origin-of-the-komodo-dragon-17655352/
Sunday, November 1, 2015
Game of Thrones Season Six to Be Delayed?
Although no air date has been announced, Game of Thrones fans may have to wait a little longer than they're used to for the new season.
The show, which usually premieres in April alongside Silicon Valley and Veep, may now not premiere until May. This is based on the timing of HBO's "winter" slate of shows, including Girls, Togetherness and new series Vinyl.
HBO tends to follow a pretty strict regimen: Two or three big series per season (as in winter, spring, summer and fall) that air on Sunday nights. The shows run for 10 weeks, and then there's usually a one-week break before the next block of shows air. For the past few years, that's meant that Girls and the shows in its bracket (Togetherness) premiered in January so Game of Thrones could premiere in April...
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