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 May 30, 2008 | category: culture , science  Brazil’s government agreed to release stunning photos of Amazon Indians firing arrows at an airplane so that the world can better understand the threats facing one of the few tribes still living in near-total isolation from civilization, officials said Friday.
Anthropologists have known about the group for some 20 years but released the images now to call attention to fast-encroaching development near the Indians’ home in the dense jungles near Peru.
“We put the photos out because if things continue the way they are going, these people are going to disappear,” said Jose Carlos Meirelles, who coordinates government efforts to protect four “uncontacted” tribes for Brazil’s National Indian Foundation.
Shot in late April and early May, the foundation’s photos show about a dozen Indians, mostly naked and painted red, wielding bows and arrows outside six grass-thatched huts.
Meirelles told The Associated Press in a phone interview that anthropologists know next to nothing about the group, but suspect it is related to the Tano and Aruak tribes.
Brazil’s National Indian Foundation believes there may be as many as 68 “uncontacted” groups around Brazil, although only 24 have been officially confirmed.
continue reading amazon tribes in near-isolation threatened
May 28, 2008 | category: my work Someone pointed out to me these nice photos on the flickr page for artoyz. I’ve included the rest into the artwork section of my website in the “3-d/toy” category here.
May 27, 2008 | category: religion / beliefs I’m in agreement with most of what is said in this short video segment. While it is a compelling and logical viewpoint that a portion of what is reality can be attributed to an illusion woven by ego, I’d simultaneously make a debate for cases where “evil” has been documented to exist externally from [...]
May 25, 2008 | category: events , my work James “Ganyan” Garcia was kind enough to post some photos of the gallery show for us to share with others. If you want to see the rest, go to the artwork section of my website and click on the “events” category here.
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May 23, 2008 | category: politics / economics “Spin” is a documentary directed by Brian Springer, analyzing the events of politics and media over a decade ago. The main draw to me was the marginal banter, advice, and events that occur off the air of broadcasting, yet captured and recorded by satellite feeds. Scientifically one can conclude that this speaks volumes on [...]
May 21, 2008 | category: culture , movies , paranormal 
This Thursday marks the premier of the new Indiana Jones movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The focal point of each Indy adventure wraps around something fantastic and educational about different cultures and their history. As the title of the new film implies, crystal skulls offer the main course of intrigue to the story. Though it will include the garnish of effects and modern-day entertainment, there is a realistic pulp of information that acts as a binding agent.
The 13 crystal skulls of world (outside of cinema) have a rich and deep past stemming from central and south america. There are many debates and claims as to their true purpose, with specific stories influencing the concepts of the movie directly. The physically documented scientific properties of some skulls are a marvel of construction, contradicting the technology available at their time. Where do the lines between fabrication and fact bleed into one another’s territory? Read on and draw your own conclusions.
One of archeology’s most compelling mysteries is that of the 13 Crystal Skulls. Skulls have been one of the most powerful objects of symbolism in human history, all over the world. Together, they form a mystery as enigmatic as the Nazca Lines, the Great Pyramids and Stonehenge.
These skulls are believed to be between 5000 and 35000 years old. During early expeditions, archaeologists were told by locals that the skulls possessed magical powers and healing properties. However, people were unsure as to where they came from, or even why they existed.
 Some like to believe that these were remains from the lost civilization of Atlantis. Others like to believe these are fakes. And yet another group of psychics believe that these skulls have the capability to enable us to look into the past, present and future.
Historians and social anthropologists decided to find out more about the strange skulls. Very soon, they came across an ancient Indian legend saying that there had been thirteen crystal skulls of the Goddess of Death; they had been kept separately from each other under the strict control of pagan priests and special warriors.
Searches for more skulls started; some of them were found in museums and some in private collections not only in the USA, but in Mexico, Brazil, France, Mongolia, and in Tibet. There were more than 13 skulls found. However, not all of them were as perfect as Mitchell-Hedges- was. Very likely, those were just later attempts to create something similar to the original skulls that were believed to have been gifts by God to the people.
The very construction and make of the skulls defies common logic. There are several crystal skulls in existence today around the world. We start off with the most famous one: The Mitchell-Hedges Skull.
continue reading indiana jones and the 13 crystal skulls
May 19, 2008 | category: culture , science
The cyclone that lashed southern Myanmar (Burma) on May 2 and 3 left massive floodwaters that devastated the region, as seen in a May 5, 2008, image (top right photo) by NASA’s Terra satellite.
On April 15, 2008 (top left photo), the same region was photographed with rivers and streams against a backdrop [...]
May 17, 2008 | category: my work This was a drawing I meant to color a while back, and finally had some time to do it. The magnificent flying saddle it is. A modern day marvel equipped with a back porch, front door, and nuclear fission rockets. Welcome mat not included.
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May 15, 2008 | category: music Do you think you have what it takes to hang with the boys of Golimar? Watch this incredible video, dance along, and decide for yourself.
A viral video involving Donga stems from a scene featuring a song called Golimar (Shoot the Bullet). The scene contains choreography and elements which appear to be very [...]
This episode deals with the tailspin of supply and demand. I had a different take on this episode, though. Actions that we take in life are never the real problem, they are only the symptom to a state of mind, myself included.
What you have are people playing in a foolish way on [...]
The wraps have come off one of Westminster Abbey’s least known treasures, a medieval marble pavement foretelling the end of the world, while conservation experts consider how to preserve the ancient stones for the next 740 years.
Few modern visitors have ever seen it, although since 1268 kings and princes, queens and cardinals have walked across a symbol laden mosaic as intricate as a piece of jewelery.
It is made up of rare marbles and gemstones, including some recycled from monuments 1,000 years older, and pieces of colored glass, set in complex allegorical patterns into a framework of Purbeck marble cut as intricately as a jigsaw puzzle.
“When this floor was new it would have blazed with color,” Vanessa Simeoni, the abbey’s head of conservation said. “The materials were chosen for their brilliance and shine, and the quality of the craftsmanship is actually shocking, the ultimate that could be achieved.”
The mosaics are known as Cosmati work, after the four generations of a Roman family of marble workers who perfected the technique. The Westminster one, regarded as the finest north of the Alps, uniquely has an inscription boasting of its makers – and a cryptic message about the end of the world.
continue reading restoring the cosmati mosaic in westminster abbey
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“How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?” Mr Funes said in an interview with Vatican newspaper