Monthly Archives: April 2006

Bosnian pryamid envy?

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Like the comment from my Tuesday Times letter blog criticising the Bosnian pyramid excavation approach so much I’m highlighting here. As I’ve have only been on a couple of archaeology digs myself I’m keeping out of it, though the invite out to Bosnia seems a good suggestion. Don’t criticise from afar, do it straight to Sam Osmanagic’s face!

Professor,

I must say, your diatribe smacks a bit of envy. “Amateurs”, “rich outsiders”, etc.

I wonder how many dig sites over the years have been mutilated by the “pros” rushing to posit or prove some personal theory or other?

Let the man be – he has as much or more experience than most field archaeologists in the field today.

Perhaps you would like an invite to help out in Bosnia?

I shall send cheese over to go with your w(h)ine.

Don’t ask a science-head

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When a scientist says that had a bad night’s sleep this is what they are really thinking (from Tony Dickinson):

Further to dream state imagery, I would like to share a personalencounter eperienced at the week-end + my primo-cognate explanation:

"Dream-world image involved........ a chase, with myself as the pedestrianescapee. I discovered myself to flying into the air shortly after thiscommenced, using my own body as vehicle (having taken off somewhat Jumbo-like)"

Later in the day upon remembering this experience, it occured to me thatif the efferent motor-coordination commands for "walking" were being usedto produce (in some way) the experience of motion in the first place,perhaps the subsequent "running and continuing to fly" image analysiswas derived from the usual "best guess" process: i.e., of continuous motionperception in the absence of afferent proprioceptive feedback from mybed-postured non-motile skeleton.

If the limb afferents are firing "we are not changing our recepterstates in any recognisable coherent way" and the efferent motor commandsare giving rise to "we are going to moving now" the cognitive output I wouldcontent comes up with either: "I am situated in/upon some vehicle" or "Iam moving via some means other than voluntary perambulation".

Either or both of these scenarios would also explain the interpretationof events as indicative of some external locus of control (beingpursued, [external agent motivated locomotion]; "I am flying", but donot hold memories of piloting skills, but do have experience ofpassenger flight and would therefor miss "I'm in an aeroplane" proprioceptivefeedback too. How else might I be moving through spacewithout specific limb-kinetic feedback during motion perception.

Next time someone says “You can’t do that” think of this….

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> > "Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."> >> >      -- Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of> >         science, 1949> >> > -----------------------> >> > "I think there is a world market for maybe five computers."> >> >      -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943> >> > -----------------------> >> > "I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked> > with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is> > a fad that won't last out the year."> >> >      -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall,> >         1957> >> > -----------------------> >> > "But what ... is it good for?"> >> >      -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM,> >         1968, commenting on the microchip.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."> >> >      -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital> >         Equipment Corp., 1977> >> > -----------------------> >> > "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously> > considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently> > of no value to us."> >> >      -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who> > would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"> >> >      -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for> >         investment in the radio in the 1920s.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn> > better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible."> >> >      -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred> >         Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service.> >         (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"> >> >      -- H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.> >> > -----------------------> >> >  "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and> > not Gary Cooper."> >> >      -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in> >         "Gone With The Wind."> >> > -----------------------> >> > "A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports> > say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like> > you make."> >> >      -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields'> >         Cookies.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."> >> >      -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."> >> >      -- Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment.> > The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."> >> >      -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives> >         for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing,> > even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about> > funding us? Or we' ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay> > our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So> > then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't> > need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"> >> >      -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get> >         Atari and H-P interested in his and Steve Wozniak's> >         personal computer.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and> > reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum> > against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge> > ladled out daily in high schools."> >> >      -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's> >         revolutionary rocket work.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across> > all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life.> > You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an> > unalterable condition of weight training."> >> >      -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable"> >         problem by inventing Nautilus.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil?> > You're crazy."> >> >      -- Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project> >         to drill for oil in 1859.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."> >> >      -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University,> >         1929.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value."> >> >      -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole> >         Superieure de Guerre.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Everything that can be invented has been invented."> >> >      -- Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents,> >         1899.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction".> >> >       -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872> >> > -----------------------> >> > "The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from> > the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon".> >> >      -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-> >         Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.> >> > -----------------------> >> > "640K ought to be enough for anybody."> >> >      -- Bill Gates, 1981

Complexity in practice

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Has a brief chat with Dan yesterday about using complexity in software development. As he pointed out it comes down to commonsense,  complexity is just another wrapper for that. But what if complexity is science based can it offer beyond a better way of saying the commsensical? Keeping it simple I would say what science offers is the counter-intuitive, or the counter-commonsensical if you like long words! So what does this mean in practice? It’s hard to recall examples of counter-intuitive uses of complexity though there’s one I recall about luggage handlers at airports doign somethign which seemed to the guy on the ground very counter-intuitive, which was to keep circulatign luggage rather than take it off the plane, which in fact made the process more efficent. And I think its those examples that we are really looking for. Obvious when you think of it (more jokes about the obvious please..).

Bosnian pyramid letter in the Times

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Interesting letter in the Times today questioning the approach taken to the excavation of the Bosnian pyramids. Maybe the Bosnian American site leader Sam Osmanagic should take off his cowboy hat and explain his approach?

Bosnia’s rich heritage
Sir, Stories about hidden pyramids in deepest Bosnia being investigated by “hobby archaeologists” (“Indiana Jones of the Balkans”, April 15), may appeal to those for whom the dry facts of archaeology hold little attraction, but they also do little to assist the cause of heritage protection in that beautiful but unlucky country.

Professional archaeologists in the former Yugoslavia, and in international organisations such as the European Association of Archaeologists, have known about these claims for some time, and various “scientific” reports are available in the public domain.

In most countries of Europe those with wacky theories about “hidden mysteries” on presumed archaeological sites are free to propound them but not to undertake excavation, which by its very nature destroys much of what it uncovers; let alone excavation by those unqualified in terms of training and experience.

According to your report there are indeed archaeological sites on the hill in question — Illyrian (Iron Age), Roman and Medieval; yet the work underway or planned makes no mention of what steps will be taken to safeguard them, and other potential sites as yet undiscovered, from inappropriate earthmoving or other investigations.

The situation of professional heritage management in Bosnia-Herzegovina is, since the Bosnian war, in a poor state, with a tiny number of people trying to do what they can to protect their rich heritage from looting and unmonitored or unauthorised development. It adds insult to injury when rich outsiders can come in and spend large sums pursuing their absurd theories (the construction of a colossal pyramid so large that it dwarfs even those of Egypt or Mesoamerica? 12,000 years ago?), in ways that most other countries would never countenance, instead of devoting their cash to the preservation of the endangered genuine sites and monuments in which Bosnia-Herzegovina abounds.

PROFESSOR ANTHONY HARDING
President, European Association of Archaeologists

Harry Shapiro’d

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Watching a programme about the death of Janis Joplin and guess who pops up as a talking head but none other than Harry Shapiro, biographer of Janis, who I met a few times through Release back in 1996/7 when I was working for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. Anyhow have to go following West Ham’s victory yesterday as I’m watching ‘Green Street’ which is full of fake cockneys, fantastic!

Tower

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The tower in Empire State style in Sao Paulo where we took the skyline video:

Belts

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Shirley with belts in Sao Paulo:

Hole

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