When I can bring myself to watch a television newscast, I usually find myself frustrated when the newsreader (yes, that's the original title) not only talks more rapidly than her visual recognition and vocal apparatus can handle, but makes mistakes in names and locations. Would that the names in 'newstories' appeared 'on the tube' in legible print. T'other night I beheld a report that involved what sounded like a breath-mint brand but turned out to be a police tactical unit.
Searching in www.dogpile.com I found this exhaustive reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWAT
Now enlightened, I understand that the breath-mint phoneme stands for 'Special Response Team' which is one sort of 'Special Weapons and Tactics'(SWAT). Once upon a time, a swat was something a child received when he or she was supposed guilty of malfeasance or nonfeasance. "Ah, brave new world!"
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Monday, February 02, 2009
Ancient Chalices Found on Mount Lykaion {Et in Arcadia Ego}
Interesting, this find on Mount Lykaion! Very colorful mythology from there: Zeus, ritual cannibalism, werewolves ... who knows, vampires?
[Forward from CLASSICS-L]
""" http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1632508/new_evidence_from_excavartions_in_arcadia_greece/
In the third century BCE, the Greek poet Callimachus wrote a 'Hymn to Zeus'
asking the ancient, and most powerful, Greek god whether he was born in
Arcadia on Mt. Lykaion or in Crete on Mt. Ida.
""" A Greek and American team of archaeologists working on the Mt. Lykaion
Excavation and Survey Project believe they have at least a partial answer to
the poet's query. New excavation evidence indicates that Zeus' worship was
established on Mt. Lykaion as early as the Late Helladic period, if not
before, more than 3,200 years ago. According to Dr. David Gilman Romano,
Senior Research Scientist, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania
Museum, and one of the project's co-directors, it is likely that a memory of
the cult's great antiquity survived there, leading to the claim that Zeus
was born in Arcadia....
""" New evidence to support the ancient myth that Zeus was born on Mt. Lykaion
in Arcadia has come from a small trench from the southern peak of the
mountain, known from the historical period as the ash altar of Zeus Lykaios.
Over fifty Mycenaean drinking vessels, or kylikes, were found on the bedrock
at the bottom of the trench along with fragments
of human and animal figurines and a miniature double headed axe. Also found
were burned animal bones, mostly of goats and sheep, another indication
consistent with Mycenaean cult activity.
""" "This new evidence strongly suggests that there were drinking (and perhaps
feasting) parties taking place on the top of the mountain in the Late
Helladic period, around 3,300 or 3,400 years ago," said Dr. Romano.
""" In mainland Greece there are very few if any Mycenaean mountain-top altars
or shrines. This time period — 14th-13th centuries BC — is approximately the
same time that documents inscribed with a syllabic script called Linear B
(an archaic form of the Greek language) first mention Zeus as a deity
receiving votive offerings. Linear B also provides a word for an 'open fire
altar' that might describe this altar on Mt. Lykaion as well as a word for a
sacred area, temenos, a term known from later historical sources. The shrine
on Mt. Lykaion is characterized by simple arrangements: an open air altar
and a nearby sacred area, or temenos, which appears to have had no temple or
other architectural feature at any time at this site.
""" Evidence from subsequent periods in the same trench indicate that cult
activity at the altar seems to have continued uninterrupted from the
Mycenaean period down through the Hellenistic period (4th – 2nd centuries
BCE), something that has been documented at very few sites in the Greek
world. Miniature bronze tripods, silver coins, and other dedications to Zeus
including a bronze hand of Zeus holding a silver lightning bolt, have been
found in later levels in the same trench. Zeus as the god of thunder and
lightning is often depicted with a lightning bolt in his hand.
""" Also found in the altar trench was a sample of fulgurite or petrified
lightning. This is a glass-like substance formed when lightning strikes
sandy soil. It is not clear if the fulgurite was formed on the mountain-top
or if it was brought to the site as a dedication to Zeus. Evidence for
earlier activity at the site of the altar, from the Final Neolithic and the
Early and Middle Helladic periods, continues to be found.
""" The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project is a collaboration between the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in
pPhiladelphia, the University of Arizona, and the Greek Archaeological
Service in Tripolis, Greece. Project directors are Dr. Romano, Dr. Mary
Voyatzis of the University of Arizona, and Dr. Michalis Petropoulos, Ephor
of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquties of the Greek Archaeological Service
in Tripolis. The project is under the auspices of the American School of
Classical Studies in Athens. Investigations at the Sanctuary of Zeus also
include excavations and survey of a number of buildings and monuments from
the lower sanctuary where athletic contests were held as a part of the
festival for Zeus in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. These
include a hippodrome, stadium, stoa, bath, xenon (hotel building) and
fountain house. The Project, which began in 2004, will continue in the
summer 2009. Further information about the research project can be found at
the project website: http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/lykaion/lykaion.html ""
Vide etiam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykaia
Previous related posts:
http://nekkidass.blogspot.com/2008/04/werewolves-of-arcadia-prototype.html
http://nekkidass.blogspot.com/2008/02/artemis-orthia-in-her-aspect-of-potnia.html
[Forward from CLASSICS-L]
""" http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1632508/new_evidence_from_excavartions_in_arcadia_greece/
In the third century BCE, the Greek poet Callimachus wrote a 'Hymn to Zeus'
asking the ancient, and most powerful, Greek god whether he was born in
Arcadia on Mt. Lykaion or in Crete on Mt. Ida.
""" A Greek and American team of archaeologists working on the Mt. Lykaion
Excavation and Survey Project believe they have at least a partial answer to
the poet's query. New excavation evidence indicates that Zeus' worship was
established on Mt. Lykaion as early as the Late Helladic period, if not
before, more than 3,200 years ago. According to Dr. David Gilman Romano,
Senior Research Scientist, Mediterranean Section, University of Pennsylvania
Museum, and one of the project's co-directors, it is likely that a memory of
the cult's great antiquity survived there, leading to the claim that Zeus
was born in Arcadia....
""" New evidence to support the ancient myth that Zeus was born on Mt. Lykaion
in Arcadia has come from a small trench from the southern peak of the
mountain, known from the historical period as the ash altar of Zeus Lykaios.
Over fifty Mycenaean drinking vessels, or kylikes, were found on the bedrock
at the bottom of the trench along with fragments
of human and animal figurines and a miniature double headed axe. Also found
were burned animal bones, mostly of goats and sheep, another indication
consistent with Mycenaean cult activity.
""" "This new evidence strongly suggests that there were drinking (and perhaps
feasting) parties taking place on the top of the mountain in the Late
Helladic period, around 3,300 or 3,400 years ago," said Dr. Romano.
""" In mainland Greece there are very few if any Mycenaean mountain-top altars
or shrines. This time period — 14th-13th centuries BC — is approximately the
same time that documents inscribed with a syllabic script called Linear B
(an archaic form of the Greek language) first mention Zeus as a deity
receiving votive offerings. Linear B also provides a word for an 'open fire
altar' that might describe this altar on Mt. Lykaion as well as a word for a
sacred area, temenos, a term known from later historical sources. The shrine
on Mt. Lykaion is characterized by simple arrangements: an open air altar
and a nearby sacred area, or temenos, which appears to have had no temple or
other architectural feature at any time at this site.
""" Evidence from subsequent periods in the same trench indicate that cult
activity at the altar seems to have continued uninterrupted from the
Mycenaean period down through the Hellenistic period (4th – 2nd centuries
BCE), something that has been documented at very few sites in the Greek
world. Miniature bronze tripods, silver coins, and other dedications to Zeus
including a bronze hand of Zeus holding a silver lightning bolt, have been
found in later levels in the same trench. Zeus as the god of thunder and
lightning is often depicted with a lightning bolt in his hand.
""" Also found in the altar trench was a sample of fulgurite or petrified
lightning. This is a glass-like substance formed when lightning strikes
sandy soil. It is not clear if the fulgurite was formed on the mountain-top
or if it was brought to the site as a dedication to Zeus. Evidence for
earlier activity at the site of the altar, from the Final Neolithic and the
Early and Middle Helladic periods, continues to be found.
""" The Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project is a collaboration between the
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in
pPhiladelphia, the University of Arizona, and the Greek Archaeological
Service in Tripolis, Greece. Project directors are Dr. Romano, Dr. Mary
Voyatzis of the University of Arizona, and Dr. Michalis Petropoulos, Ephor
of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquties of the Greek Archaeological Service
in Tripolis. The project is under the auspices of the American School of
Classical Studies in Athens. Investigations at the Sanctuary of Zeus also
include excavations and survey of a number of buildings and monuments from
the lower sanctuary where athletic contests were held as a part of the
festival for Zeus in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods. These
include a hippodrome, stadium, stoa, bath, xenon (hotel building) and
fountain house. The Project, which began in 2004, will continue in the
summer 2009. Further information about the research project can be found at
the project website: http://corinth.sas.upenn.edu/lykaion/lykaion.html ""
Vide etiam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lykaia
Previous related posts:
http://nekkidass.blogspot.com/2008/04/werewolves-of-arcadia-prototype.html
http://nekkidass.blogspot.com/2008/02/artemis-orthia-in-her-aspect-of-potnia.html
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Last Puritan
Finished reading George Santayana's 'The Last Puritan' today, reckoning it the finest and most philosophical I've ever read.
He didn't find any reason to write another novel, although leaving us many other writings.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/523188/George-Santayana
He didn't find any reason to write another novel, although leaving us many other writings.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/523188/George-Santayana
Monday, January 19, 2009
Fr. Reginald Foster
Prayer request for our brother, 'the Pope's Latinist', Fr. Reginald Foster:
Oremus ut Reginald Foster, frater noster, valeat.
http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/prayers-for-fr-foster/
http://frcoulter.com/latin/index.html
Oremus ut Reginald Foster, frater noster, valeat.
http://amywelborn.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/prayers-for-fr-foster/
http://frcoulter.com/latin/index.html
Saturday, January 17, 2009
President George W. Bush - Crowd Control & Human Relations, Part Two
While the 'Hate Bush' conditioned responses remain largely unextinguished among many in the U.S.A., one may find a very different view in some other lands.
http://www.kyivpost.com/world/33557
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning
http://www.kyivpost.com/world/33557
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operant_conditioning
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Dangerous Gods
"O Enkidu, my brother,
You were the axe at my side,
My hand's strength,
The sword in my belt,
The shield before me,
A glorious robe,
My fairest ornament."
"He touched his heart but it did not beat,
nor did he lift his eyes again.
When Gilgamesh touched his heart it did not beat.
So Gilgamesh laid a veil, as one veils a bride, over his friend."
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/themes.html
You were the axe at my side,
My hand's strength,
The sword in my belt,
The shield before me,
A glorious robe,
My fairest ornament."
"He touched his heart but it did not beat,
nor did he lift his eyes again.
When Gilgamesh touched his heart it did not beat.
So Gilgamesh laid a veil, as one veils a bride, over his friend."
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/gilgamesh/themes.html
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
'Samuel Johnson, LL.D. by Boswell'
"`Sir,' said he, `I love the acquaintance of young people, . . . young men have more virtue than old men; they have more generous sentiments in every respect.' At sixty-eight he said: `I value myself upon this, that there is nothing of the old man in my conversation.' Upon women of all classes and ages he exerts without trying a charm the consciousness of which would have turned any head less constant than his own, and with their fulsome adoration he was pleased none the less for perceiving its real value."
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/osgood/introduction1.html
"The Life of Johnson is not a book on first acquaintance to be read through from the first page to the end. `No, Sir, do YOU read books through?' asked Johnson. His way is probably the best one of undertaking this book. Open at random, read here and there, forward and back, wholly according to inclination; follow the practice of Johnson and all good readers, of `tearing the heart' out of it. In this way you most readily come within the reach of its charm and power. Then, not content with a part, seek the unabridged whole, and grow into the infinite possibilities of it.
"But the supreme end of education, we are told, is expert discernment in all things—the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit. This is the supreme end of the talk of Socrates, and it is the supreme end of the talk of Johnson. `My dear friend,' said he, `clear your mind of cant; . . . don't THINK foolishly.' The effect of long companionship with Boswell's Johnson is just this. As Sir Joshua said, `it brushes away the rubbish'; it clears the mind of cant; it instills the habit of singling out the essential thing; it imparts discernment."
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/b/boswell/james/osgood/introduction1.html
"The Life of Johnson is not a book on first acquaintance to be read through from the first page to the end. `No, Sir, do YOU read books through?' asked Johnson. His way is probably the best one of undertaking this book. Open at random, read here and there, forward and back, wholly according to inclination; follow the practice of Johnson and all good readers, of `tearing the heart' out of it. In this way you most readily come within the reach of its charm and power. Then, not content with a part, seek the unabridged whole, and grow into the infinite possibilities of it.
"But the supreme end of education, we are told, is expert discernment in all things—the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit. This is the supreme end of the talk of Socrates, and it is the supreme end of the talk of Johnson. `My dear friend,' said he, `clear your mind of cant; . . . don't THINK foolishly.' The effect of long companionship with Boswell's Johnson is just this. As Sir Joshua said, `it brushes away the rubbish'; it clears the mind of cant; it instills the habit of singling out the essential thing; it imparts discernment."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Panayoti Karoussos
Panayoti Karoussos' poem Pneuma ths Eleutherias (Spirit of Liberty)
written in fine Attic Greek, classical in style, he has set into music
for full symphony. He has also composed a cycle of operas in a
Classical Greek spirit.
http://storm.prohosting.com/~pkarouss/poetry.html
http://www.karousosonline.com/biography.html
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/NewMusic/PanayotiKarousos.html
written in fine Attic Greek, classical in style, he has set into music
for full symphony. He has also composed a cycle of operas in a
Classical Greek spirit.
http://storm.prohosting.com/~pkarouss/poetry.html
http://www.karousosonline.com/biography.html
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/NewMusic/PanayotiKarousos.html
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
TERTIUM QUID
Tertium Quid is regarded as a 'Late Latin' expression.
Much used in the Christian religious controversy of the Fourth Century A.D., it is defined as 'a third something or way that escapes dichotomy categorization'.
Cicero in 'Fam.'9.22.1' wrote: "nihil esse tertium." meaning "There is no third possibility."
In the early Nineteenth Century there was a Tertium Quids political
movement, seemingly resurrected in the Twenty First Century:
http://www.tertiumquids.org/
Much used in the Christian religious controversy of the Fourth Century A.D., it is defined as 'a third something or way that escapes dichotomy categorization'.
Cicero in 'Fam.'9.22.1' wrote: "nihil esse tertium." meaning "There is no third possibility."
In the early Nineteenth Century there was a Tertium Quids political
movement, seemingly resurrected in the Twenty First Century:
http://www.tertiumquids.org/
Saturday, December 20, 2008
[ autoLogos ]
"The tools and those pale men and nations that are the slaves of tools will no doubt disappear in time;
such arts have probably been invented and lost many times before.
But there is a lusty core in the human animal that survives all revolutions; and when the conflagration is past,
I seem to see the young hunters with their dogs, camping among the ruins."
http://www.archive.org/stream/dialoguesinlimbo014715mbp/dialoguesinlimbo014715mbp_djvu.txt
such arts have probably been invented and lost many times before.
But there is a lusty core in the human animal that survives all revolutions; and when the conflagration is past,
I seem to see the young hunters with their dogs, camping among the ruins."
http://www.archive.org/stream/dialoguesinlimbo014715mbp/dialoguesinlimbo014715mbp_djvu.txt
Friday, December 19, 2008
Crowd Control & Human Relations
I was pleased to find a couple of old classics that I've been meaning to read for years available free online:
http://jollyroger.com/library1/TheCrowdbyGustaveleBonebook.html
http://www.geocities.com/danielmacryan/oldbooks.html#bcrowds
Looking into these authors led me onward to 'Human Relations' and 'Public Relations' pioneers such as Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays who wrote Propaganda from which comes this excerpt: "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." --Edward L. Bernays
criticism by Stephen Bender: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/bender2.html
http://jollyroger.com/library1/TheCrowdbyGustaveleBonebook.html
http://www.geocities.com/danielmacryan/oldbooks.html#bcrowds
Looking into these authors led me onward to 'Human Relations' and 'Public Relations' pioneers such as Sigmund Freud's nephew, Edward Bernays who wrote Propaganda from which comes this excerpt: "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. ...We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. ...In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons...who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind." --Edward L. Bernays
criticism by Stephen Bender: http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/bender2.html
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Juventas Flamens
The contemporary 'Flaming Youth' has become more revolutionary than that of the early 20th Century, when this literary term first caught public attention, but it seems to me an evolutionary development of the anarchic and hedonistic spirit of the 'Roaring Twenties".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_twenties
http://www.kissfaq.com/singles/usa/usa_nb_858_cover-front.jpg
As the [bourgeois] 'Ah Youth!' virus spread to Greece around 1973:
http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/november17.htm
And continues to thrive:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/11/europe/EU-Greece-Riots.php
'Youth' as a Nationality or Collective Identity?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/letter.1-407193.php
Physis kai Paidea:
http://hellenicantidote.blogspot.com/2008/12/castoriadis-and-thucydides-on-greek.html
But 'anarchy' already had a 'black & red' previous history in Greece:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_in_Greece
"Our democracy is self-destructing, because it abused the right to freedom and equality, because it taught people to consider impudence as a right, illegality as freedom, rudeness as equality and anarchy as happiness." - Isocrates
http://people.morehead-st.edu/fs/w.willis/isocrates.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_twenties
http://www.kissfaq.com/singles/usa/usa_nb_858_cover-front.jpg
As the [bourgeois] 'Ah Youth!' virus spread to Greece around 1973:
http://www.ahistoryofgreece.com/november17.htm
And continues to thrive:
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/11/europe/EU-Greece-Riots.php
'Youth' as a Nationality or Collective Identity?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/letter.1-407193.php
Physis kai Paidea:
http://hellenicantidote.blogspot.com/2008/12/castoriadis-and-thucydides-on-greek.html
But 'anarchy' already had a 'black & red' previous history in Greece:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_in_Greece
"Our democracy is self-destructing, because it abused the right to freedom and equality, because it taught people to consider impudence as a right, illegality as freedom, rudeness as equality and anarchy as happiness." - Isocrates
http://people.morehead-st.edu/fs/w.willis/isocrates.html
Friday, December 05, 2008
Hayley Westenra
I find myself much taken with the singing of Hayley Westenra.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTKzQ-iH6u8 - Down in the River & Amazing Grace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6ajtA5Otg - Pie Jesu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bqrRNowf1Q - Abide With Me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayley_Westenra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTKzQ-iH6u8 - Down in the River & Amazing Grace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr6ajtA5Otg - Pie Jesu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bqrRNowf1Q - Abide With Me
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayley_Westenra
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
'new chronology movement'
I seem to vaguely remember Josef Stalin periodically commanding rewrites of world history to justify his totalitarian regime. Any connection of the 'new chronology' movement, Russian mathematicians' conspiracy, or whatever it may be with Marxism or Communism has been flatly denied, however.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_(Fomenko)
It would be no more surprising for them to say that the world was created in 1917 A.D. Or have they already alleged that?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5158514599207687353&hl=en
An answer from the Toelzer Knabenchor circa 1942 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE2vyGSbUVM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Chronology_(Fomenko)
It would be no more surprising for them to say that the world was created in 1917 A.D. Or have they already alleged that?
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5158514599207687353&hl=en
An answer from the Toelzer Knabenchor circa 1942 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE2vyGSbUVM
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