Holy Greeks!

I’m starting to believe in Atlantis again…
Ancient astronomical�device thrills�scholars – CNN.com

The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known device to contain an intricate set of gear wheels. It was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 but until now what it was used for has been a mystery.Although the remains are fragmented in 82 brass pieces, scientists from Britain, Greece and the United States have reconstructed a model of it using high-resolution X-ray tomography. They believe their findings could force a rethink of the technological potential of the ancient Greeks.

Just Rants

Don’t mess with Yeeks

Now, this is something I believe couldonly happen in China. Mr. Fang Shi-Min, aka Fang Zhouzi, a scientific debunker from China, has been sued by the family of late Liu Zihua (he’s mentioned in the linked article) for libel. The family won…

I learned about it in Science Magazine online and paid $10.00 for the article, which is copyrighted and all that jazz. I cannot reproduce it here in its entirety, but, I can quote the relevant portion of it concerning the Yijing.

Fang’s recent setbacks came on consecutive days. On 21 November, a Beijing intermediate court ruled that an article Fang wrote in 2005 defamed the late Liu Zihua, a Sichuan provincial government employee. In a dissertation written in France in the 1930s, Liu presented calculations based on the eight trigrams of an ancient divination text, I Ching (Book of Changes), predicting the existence of a 10th major planet in the solar system. Liu’s prognostication was resurrected after last year’s announced
discovery of 2003UB313 (now officially a dwarf planet named Eris). A Sichuan newspaper ran a story extolling Liu’s prophecy.

In an essay, Fang labeled Liu’s prediction “pseudoscience” and noted that a Chinese astronomer discredited it in the 1940s. Liu’s widow and son sued Fang and several newspapers and Internet content providers for libel. The court judged Fang’s words “insulting” to Liu and ordered him to apologize publicly and pay Liu’s family $2500 plus legal fees. The family did not respond to an interview request.

Now, this is interesting. I wonder how much of the judgment has to do with actual libel and how much it has to do with defending tradition. In the last few years, there has been a strong and proudrevival, in China proper,of ancient traditional teachings. I believe the line between what’s considered superstition and science has become increasingly blurred. We are indeed, living in interesting times.

 

I Ching

If you think is tough for…

Him to apologize, just wait for him to get home. I can imagine Teresa Heinz in black leather, whip in hand, waiting for the good senator to get home. If I was him, I’d book a flight to Timbuktu right about now…
Dear Senator, your are not helping the cause man! Are you a closet Republican?
Kerry issues formal apology after Iraq ‘joke’ – Financial Times – MSNBC.com

“As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop. I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted… and I personally apologise to any service member, family member, or American who was offended,” he said.

Commentary

Deja vu…

“Weapons of Mass Destruction”: Building a Pretext for Waging War on Iran?

Cheney’s Contigency Plan
The ongoing naval deployments under the “global war on terrorism” are part of a far-reaching military plan “to fight terrorism around the World”.
In the month following last year’s 7/7 London bombings, Vice President Dick Cheney is reported to have instructed USSTRATCOM to draw up a contingency plan “to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States”. Implied in the contingency plan is the certainty that Iran would be behind these terrorist attacks.
Leaked military documents to the Washington Post suggest that these Pentagon plans are predicated on the possibility of “a major terrorist attack” and the need to retaliate in self-defense if and when the US or its allies are attacked:

“A third plan sets out how the military can both disrupt and respond to another major terrorist strike on the United States. It includes lengthy annexes that offer a menu of options for the military to retaliate quickly against specific terrorist groups, individuals or state sponsors depending on who is believed to be behind an attack. , WP 23 April 2006)

This “contingency plan” uses the pretext of a “another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States” to prepare for a major military operation against Iran, while pressure is also exerted on Tehran in relation to its (non-existent) nuclear weapons program.
What is diabolical in this decision of the US Vice President is that the justification presented by Cheney to wage war on Iran rests on Iran’s presumed involvement in a hypothetical terrorist attack on America, which has not yet occurred:.

The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. … Within Iran there are more than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq, the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career by posing any objections. (Philip Giraldi, Attack on Iran: Pre-emptive Nuclear War , The American Conservative, 2 August 2005)

Are we to understand that US, British and Israeli military planners are waiting in limbo for “the opportunity” of a terrorist attack, which would then provide “the justification” for the launching of a military operation directed against Syria and Iran? In the words of the Pentagon, quoted verbatim in the Washington Post (23 April 2006):

“Another [terrorist] attack could create both a justification and an opportunity that is lacking today to retaliate against some known targets, according to current and former defense officials familiar with the plan.” (quoted in the Washington Post, 23 April, 2006, emphasis added)

Commentary

Hey, the man is pro women!!

…If unveiled women are “uncovered meat”, we men are just wild pack animals… The onus is on us, no? Poor man, he’s been mistaken… Not!! What a crock!

Independent Online Edition > Australasia

Australia’s most senior Muslim cleric has been forced to apologise after provoking widespread outrage with a speech in which he appeared to blame women for rape, comparing them with “uncovered meat” that attracts animals.

Just Rants

Dogs and Ghosts

I came across this this nice quote about Chinese paintings:

The royal painter of Ch’i was asked by the king what objects were the easiest and what objects were the most difficult to paint.

“It is the most difficult to paint ddogs and horses; it is the easiest to paint ghosts.” the painter replied.

“Why?” asked the king.

“People know what dogs and horses look like. When I paint them, I have to make them look like dogs and horses, which is rather difficult. But nobody knowss what ghosts look like. I can paint them anyway I wish, and yet  no one can contradict me. That is why, Your Majesty. I have always preferred to paint ghosts rather than dogs and horses.”

The king nodded in agreement.

–Han Fei (d. 233 B.C.)

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Uncategorized

How did that teacher dared…

…to show her students something like this?!?! Disgusting! Immoral!

WTF!! What a hypocritical country this one is evolving into.

La maja desnuda

Museum Field Trip Deemed Too Revealing – New York Times

Although the tour had been approved by the principal, and the 89 students were accompanied by 4 other teachers, at least 12 parents and a museum docent, Ms. McGee said, she was called to the principal the next day and “bashed.”
She later received a memorandum in which the principal, Nancy Lawson, wrote: “During a study trip that you planned for fifth graders, students were exposed to nude statues and other nude art representations.” It cited additional complaints, which Ms. McGee has challenged.

Commentary

Is anyone paying…

…attention to Kurdistan and the Northern Irak? If you think sectarian violence is bad for Irak just add to the equation Turkey and Iran uniting their wills to take Kurds out of the it…

PUK alleges TSK launched artillery fire on northern Iraq – Turkish Daily News Sep 28, 2006

Over the weekend, a senior member of the peshmerga force in northern Iraq said that Turkish artillery units had opened fire on PKK camps in the Haftanin province of northern Iraq on Saturday night. A resulting fire burned for four hours, the peshmerga commander said, without elaborating as to whether anyone had been killed or injured in the blaze.
The PUK’s report yesterday also didn’t elaborate whether anyone had been killed or injured in the blaze.
Last month, the same Web site reported that a peasant was killed and another injured in artillery fire by Turkish and Iranian armed forces targeting PKK members based in a camp known as Hakurk, located near an area where the Turkish, Iranian and Iraqi borders meet.

Uncategorized

Yi-Toons: 21.4 > 27

I Ching

How a country paints itself into a corner…

Us against the rest of the planet… How arrogant can we be? Is there a limit? When arrogance trumps logic, reason’s been dead and buried for a while…
CNN.com – IAEA blasts U.S. intelligence report on Iran – Sep 14, 2006

The subcommittee’s report also insinuates that the IAEA may be in cahoots with Tehran in covering up Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The report alleges that an IAEA inspector might have been removed at Iran’s request “for not adhering to an unstated IAEA policy barring IAEA officials from telling the whole truth about the Iranian nuclear program.” The IAEA shot back that the claim was “an outrageous and dishonest suggestion,” but Rogers stood by it Thursday.

Commentary