http://www.history.com/news/2012/03/14/did-a-new-human-species-thrive-in-stone-age-china/?cmpid=Social_Facebook_Hith_03142012_3
Yes.
In China; the bones maybe 14k years old.
In addition to the evolution and migration of H. sapiens and the co-existence of H. floresiensis (12k years old) in the Indonesian area... that means there may very well have been THREE distinct evolutionary (sub)species living in the same area at the same time.
We now return you to our regularly scheduled blog about death and burial.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Disturbing the earth...
Things have been hectic of late... and I haven't had a lot of dedicatable time to come back and update this blog... but in honour of my near-completed decision to switch my major to Anthropology (primarily a matter of grade-point average) I think I will shoe-horn some time to start updating with semi-regular posts.
Nothing too regular just yet... but enough that I start things back up again...
"It's alive... ALIVE!"
~ Doctor Frankenstein
Nothing too regular just yet... but enough that I start things back up again...
"It's alive... ALIVE!"
~ Doctor Frankenstein
Thursday, March 31, 2011
I Breathe Dead People (Or... "Who Says There Are No Zombies in Ottawa?")
Yeah... I read this and I nearly spit my coffee:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/crematorium-soot-pollution-ottawa-canada-zombies.php/
Apparently, according to the article:
"Residents of Ottawa, Canada, have been complaining that soot from a crematorium on Bank street in the South of the city has been "falling and blowing on nearby homes" and making it impossible at times to open windows or sit outside."
Let's do the math... crematoriums burn bodies... therefore crematoriums create soot (presumably from whatever it is burning, as most burning things produce some kind of smoke or ash)...
This particular crematorium is (or perhaps at this point was) distributing soot over a suburban residential neighbourhood.
Now... follow my logic...
When a cow eats MBM (meat-and-bone meal - typically made from the flesh of other cows) it runs the risk of developing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy... or 'Mad Cow Disease'... a human equivalent is known as 'Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' and both are formed by a type of infectious protein called a prion, which is a misfolded protein which is replicated and converts other bodily proteins into their poorly-folded CJD counterparts. Both diseases basically produce innumerable lesions in the brain, turning it to a sponge with lots of holes in it.
Humans in this suburb in Ottawa are potentially inhaling the ashen remains of other humans...
... is anyone else thinking 'lobotomized zombies' (and not just about our Members of Parliament)?
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQrtjuqhSY6f9zq0yEVkiglVgn7SyvQ5aUv7_3JarL4KQCImR6ngQNj4nFAjXQxNmSLSR1AlhnvMILMn1OSGdG41ybuH-2kW3hiGcsW0C_9NxE0vS8GuXVVGEx70Hm1rbWi63hSYC9sg/s320/are-you-ready-for-a-zombie-attack_1.jpg
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/crematorium-soot-pollution-ottawa-canada-zombies.php/
Apparently, according to the article:
"Residents of Ottawa, Canada, have been complaining that soot from a crematorium on Bank street in the South of the city has been "falling and blowing on nearby homes" and making it impossible at times to open windows or sit outside."
Let's do the math... crematoriums burn bodies... therefore crematoriums create soot (presumably from whatever it is burning, as most burning things produce some kind of smoke or ash)...
This particular crematorium is (or perhaps at this point was) distributing soot over a suburban residential neighbourhood.
Now... follow my logic...
When a cow eats MBM (meat-and-bone meal - typically made from the flesh of other cows) it runs the risk of developing Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy... or 'Mad Cow Disease'... a human equivalent is known as 'Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease' and both are formed by a type of infectious protein called a prion, which is a misfolded protein which is replicated and converts other bodily proteins into their poorly-folded CJD counterparts. Both diseases basically produce innumerable lesions in the brain, turning it to a sponge with lots of holes in it.
Humans in this suburb in Ottawa are potentially inhaling the ashen remains of other humans...
... is anyone else thinking 'lobotomized zombies' (and not just about our Members of Parliament)?
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWQrtjuqhSY6f9zq0yEVkiglVgn7SyvQ5aUv7_3JarL4KQCImR6ngQNj4nFAjXQxNmSLSR1AlhnvMILMn1OSGdG41ybuH-2kW3hiGcsW0C_9NxE0vS8GuXVVGEx70Hm1rbWi63hSYC9sg/s320/are-you-ready-for-a-zombie-attack_1.jpg
Mourning the Dead... and How the Irish Way Looks More Fun...
We here in North America have a very puritan mindset when it comes to the death of a loved one... a very sombre, often-black-clad affair, when much weeping and gnashing of teeth occurs... the family lines up next to the coffin/urn and guests pass by, uttering condolences... more weeping... eventually food is brought out and everyone eats... but never near the deceased - so far as I've experienced, at any rate.
Enter the Irish Wake.
It's funny how the 'old world' traditions become bogged down somehow and tossed aside for the white-washed so-called customs we cling to tenaciously on THIS side of the 'pond'...
In Ireland (up until 1970 or so, though it is suspected that some rural Irish folks still practice the tradition), the Irish Wake was held more as a 'celebration' of death as well as loss (as opposed to simply the loss-thing we do here in North America)...
In truth, from a scientific and immunological standpoint, I can see WHY the Irish Wake isn't practiced anymore as a general rule... you see... there's one crucial difference between a North American wake and an Irish wake:
When you're at an Irish wake, and you go to the meal afterward to commemorate the departed family member... the deceased COMES WITH YOU.
Yeah, seriously.
Open the window... and no one block it... that's to allow the soul of the departed access to leave.
They then wash the body, do a bit of formal wailing and place the body in the coffin, take the deceased to the Wake House that has been prepared for the event, and set the coffin there. Generally the clocks in the house are stopped (so as to reflect that 'time has stopped for the family of the deceased') and all mirrors in the house are covered (as the soul of the departed may still be there and might get trapped in one of the mirrors). The family and friends arrive and the feasting commences, complete with ribald tales (told solemnly!) of the deceased and general (quiet) merriment.
It's a bit less (and in a way MORE) formal of a send-off than one might expect when one attends a North American funeral... the old Celtic traditions of 'celebration of the deceased passing over to a better afterlife' seem to have been passed over themselves to a much more maudlin mindset.
Not if *I* have anything to say about it...
So raise yer glass, boyo... and may I live to sing at your wake!
http://www.yourirish.com/traditions-of-an-irish-funeral
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/An_Irish_Wake.htm
Enter the Irish Wake.
It's funny how the 'old world' traditions become bogged down somehow and tossed aside for the white-washed so-called customs we cling to tenaciously on THIS side of the 'pond'...
In Ireland (up until 1970 or so, though it is suspected that some rural Irish folks still practice the tradition), the Irish Wake was held more as a 'celebration' of death as well as loss (as opposed to simply the loss-thing we do here in North America)...
In truth, from a scientific and immunological standpoint, I can see WHY the Irish Wake isn't practiced anymore as a general rule... you see... there's one crucial difference between a North American wake and an Irish wake:
When you're at an Irish wake, and you go to the meal afterward to commemorate the departed family member... the deceased COMES WITH YOU.
Yeah, seriously.
Open the window... and no one block it... that's to allow the soul of the departed access to leave.
They then wash the body, do a bit of formal wailing and place the body in the coffin, take the deceased to the Wake House that has been prepared for the event, and set the coffin there. Generally the clocks in the house are stopped (so as to reflect that 'time has stopped for the family of the deceased') and all mirrors in the house are covered (as the soul of the departed may still be there and might get trapped in one of the mirrors). The family and friends arrive and the feasting commences, complete with ribald tales (told solemnly!) of the deceased and general (quiet) merriment.
It's a bit less (and in a way MORE) formal of a send-off than one might expect when one attends a North American funeral... the old Celtic traditions of 'celebration of the deceased passing over to a better afterlife' seem to have been passed over themselves to a much more maudlin mindset.
Not if *I* have anything to say about it...
So raise yer glass, boyo... and may I live to sing at your wake!
http://www.yourirish.com/traditions-of-an-irish-funeral
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/An_Irish_Wake.htm
Gallows Humour - Coping With Death (and Disaster)
In times of great tragedy or trauma, such as the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, or more-recent events like the World Trade Centre tragedy in 2001 (9/11) or a tremendously huge natural disaster like the recent earthquake in Japan, some people can lack the capacity to deal effectively or appropriately with trauma of that scale.
Don't worry... if you find yourself cracking somewhat-inappropriate jokes about Godzilla in the next few weeks as Japan's nuclear reactors melt, you're not alone... and apparently it's a normal reaction to an unnatural situation.
Some people just can't wrap their heads around a hugely traumatic event and are unprepared for the sheer level of emotion that might seek to overwhelm them. And they aren't alone.
The term 'gallows humour' has only been around since 1901 or so... but it has existed in one form or another for much longer:
Don't worry... if you find yourself cracking somewhat-inappropriate jokes about Godzilla in the next few weeks as Japan's nuclear reactors melt, you're not alone... and apparently it's a normal reaction to an unnatural situation.
Some people just can't wrap their heads around a hugely traumatic event and are unprepared for the sheer level of emotion that might seek to overwhelm them. And they aren't alone.
The term 'gallows humour' has only been around since 1901 or so... but it has existed in one form or another for much longer:
From William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet (Act 3, Scene 1):
Mercutio is stabbed in a swordfight by Tybalt, Juliet's cousin:
Romeo: "Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much."
Mercutio: "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man."
. . . . . .
A condemned man is being led into the execution chamber. The condemned prisoner points to the electric chair and asks the prison warden: "Are you sure this thing's safe?".
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Ossuaries, Part the First... The Paris Catacombs
So you have a problem... your bustling metropolitan city is growing faster than it ever has before... your population growing SO fast that your cemeteries have run out of space.
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/pariscatacombs431.jpg
To further complicate things, rainwater and excavations are uncovering the graves of previous deceased, improper burials (no room at the inn, remember?) is leading to ground water and land near cemeteries becoming contaminated (known as 'insalubrity' to anyone with far too much time - and a dictionary - on their hands) and spreading disease to those living nearby... what's a city planner to do?
Well first... stop people from burying their dead in the city by condemning all cemeteries within city limits. That should fix it.
But... what do we do with all the bodies in the cemeteries that are already there?
You're going to have to find some place to put them, I guess...
http://whygo-eur.s3.amazonaws.com/www.parislogue.com/files/2007/12/catacombs2.jpg
Let's find an underground quarry and fix it up... consecrate it, so that anything buried (or technically interred, as nothing was actually reburied) there has the 'seal of approval' of the Church and then move all the bodies from all the in-town cemeteries to this one central location. From the date of its creation (1787ish) to the last date that bodies were placed into the macabre setting (1867ish) that is EXACTLY what the city of Paris did. Within the Catecombs beneath the 'City of Lights, Lovers and Criossants', approximately six million people were interred from all the cemeteries that were and had been (up until that point) within the city limits.
http://badcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/catacombes-france.jpg
Et voila! Les Catacombes de Paris! C'est magnifique! Mwah!
Since (and even before) their completion in 1814, the Catacombs of Paris have been a tourist attraction in modern-day Paris, and used by both members of the French Resistance AND the German Nazis during World War II, as well as written about by Victor Hugo in his book 'Les Miserables'. Unfortunately, in September 2009, vandals scattered some of the bones about the tunnels in a juvenile and sacrilegious gesture of petulant defiance and the Catacombs were closed to the public indefinitely for repairs...
http://www.catacombes-de-paris.fr/english.htm
http://www.parislogue.com/catacombs
http://www.virginmedia.com/images/pariscatacombs431.jpg
To further complicate things, rainwater and excavations are uncovering the graves of previous deceased, improper burials (no room at the inn, remember?) is leading to ground water and land near cemeteries becoming contaminated (known as 'insalubrity' to anyone with far too much time - and a dictionary - on their hands) and spreading disease to those living nearby... what's a city planner to do?
Well first... stop people from burying their dead in the city by condemning all cemeteries within city limits. That should fix it.
But... what do we do with all the bodies in the cemeteries that are already there?
You're going to have to find some place to put them, I guess...
http://whygo-eur.s3.amazonaws.com/www.parislogue.com/files/2007/12/catacombs2.jpg
Let's find an underground quarry and fix it up... consecrate it, so that anything buried (or technically interred, as nothing was actually reburied) there has the 'seal of approval' of the Church and then move all the bodies from all the in-town cemeteries to this one central location. From the date of its creation (1787ish) to the last date that bodies were placed into the macabre setting (1867ish) that is EXACTLY what the city of Paris did. Within the Catecombs beneath the 'City of Lights, Lovers and Criossants', approximately six million people were interred from all the cemeteries that were and had been (up until that point) within the city limits.
http://badcontrol.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/catacombes-france.jpgEt voila! Les Catacombes de Paris! C'est magnifique! Mwah!
Since (and even before) their completion in 1814, the Catacombs of Paris have been a tourist attraction in modern-day Paris, and used by both members of the French Resistance AND the German Nazis during World War II, as well as written about by Victor Hugo in his book 'Les Miserables'. Unfortunately, in September 2009, vandals scattered some of the bones about the tunnels in a juvenile and sacrilegious gesture of petulant defiance and the Catacombs were closed to the public indefinitely for repairs...
http://www.catacombes-de-paris.fr/english.htm
http://www.parislogue.com/catacombs
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Have You Ever Kissed A Drowning Victim?
If you've done CPR, you just might have.
CPR dummies are learning aids used due to the impracticality of blowing air into other peoples mouths (ahh the stories I could tell...) A little known fact is that the mold of the face is based upon the face of a young woman who once was alive.
One account of the history of the young woman is that her countenance was casted by a mold maker in Germany. An Italian modeller has claimed that the young woman could not have been more than 16 due to the apparent tightness of her skin.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3qq6V543s5EVLrhyphenhyphenN_OTsEb13HMCEEhdtKnvTITXQfJoqyfXyjoYSwOfgl3YKrc1-JoqHAB2ZrzTH32ZmR09tTDofWi5InqFQJOy__62likGj6riLmc66PaT7fEb5DU5Sbcnz0cOtrs/s320/Inconnue.jpg
If one was to err on the side of fancy and tell the most-romanticized story of origin...
It is said that a young woman in the late 1880s in France tragically took her own life and drowned herself in the River Siene.
The pathologist in the morgue was so taken by her beauty that he had a cast made of her face...
... or so the story goes...
I wonder what L'Inconnue de la Seine (as she came to be known) would think of her part in saving the lives of so many others for generations to come...?
CPR dummies are learning aids used due to the impracticality of blowing air into other peoples mouths (ahh the stories I could tell...) A little known fact is that the mold of the face is based upon the face of a young woman who once was alive.
One account of the history of the young woman is that her countenance was casted by a mold maker in Germany. An Italian modeller has claimed that the young woman could not have been more than 16 due to the apparent tightness of her skin.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik3qq6V543s5EVLrhyphenhyphenN_OTsEb13HMCEEhdtKnvTITXQfJoqyfXyjoYSwOfgl3YKrc1-JoqHAB2ZrzTH32ZmR09tTDofWi5InqFQJOy__62likGj6riLmc66PaT7fEb5DU5Sbcnz0cOtrs/s320/Inconnue.jpgIf one was to err on the side of fancy and tell the most-romanticized story of origin...
It is said that a young woman in the late 1880s in France tragically took her own life and drowned herself in the River Siene.
The pathologist in the morgue was so taken by her beauty that he had a cast made of her face...
... or so the story goes...
I wonder what L'Inconnue de la Seine (as she came to be known) would think of her part in saving the lives of so many others for generations to come...?
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