Prehistoric vulture bone flute discovery

By Katherine Harmon in 60-Second Science Blog:

Stone Age jams: Humans playing the flute for at least 35,000 years, no word yet on sax

Carved flutes dating back some 35,000 years were discovered during a dig last summer at an Upper Paleolithic site in southwestern Germany, making them among—if not the—oldest documented musical instruments, reports a study published today in Nature (Scientific American is part of the Nature Publishing Group).

These flutes, from the Early Aurignacian period, show that there was “a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe,” write the study authors from the University of Tübingen. The most complete, five-holed flute is made of bone from griffon vultures and is about 8.6 inches (21.8 centimeters) long. Other flute fragments are ivory.

Precise dating of objects older than 30,000 years has been problematic, and although radiocarbon dating has pegged the flutes to at least 35,000 years ago, their placement in the sediment layers in the Hohle Fels Cave suggest that they might be 40,000 years old.

The authors and other scholars assert that “the existence of complex musical instruments [is] an indication of fully modern behavior and advanced symbolic communication,” which would strengthen the argument that these early Europeans were already relatively culturally advanced. In fact, the bone flute was found just 28 inches (70 centimeters) away from a Venus figurine carved from mammoth ivory, reported earlier this year, which suggests that, “the inhabitants of the sites played these musical instruments in diverse and cultural contexts.”

Ancient humans may not have been the only ones piping Paleolithic tunes, however. In the 1990s, researchers uncovered bones in Slovenia that could have been Neandertal flutes. Subsequent analysis, however, showed that the holes might have been made by a gnawing animal instead.

Modern day flautists (and the rest of us) may have to wait before tunes of the past are blowing their way. “We have not yet been able to produce a replica of the flute,” the authors write. However, they expect it “to provide a … range of notes and musical possibilities.”

Fire Used to Make Better Tools 75,000 Years Ago: here.

University of Bristol archaeologist Joao Zilhao, who led the project, told me about some other interesting discoveries he and his team made about Neanderthals. One concerns how they harvested shellfish for consumption: here.

English peasants’ revolt of 1381

From British daily The Morning Star:

Summer Of Blood by Dan Jones (Harper, £20)

Wednesday 24 June 2009

by Dan Glazebrook

The peasants’ revolt of 1381 was an extraordinary event that left the ruling landlord class in England quaking in their boots and loosened the shackles of serfdom forever.

Names such as Wat Tyler and John Ball have rightly passed into the annals of popular history.

Dan Jones’s contribution is particularly welcome for the light that it sheds on the intricate details of decision-making among strategists and tacticians on both sides. It is also a thoroughly gripping and readable story.

Most people will be familiar with the broad contours of the events of 1381. A series of costly and disastrous wars with France led to the introduction of a new type of tax – the poll tax. For the first time, it had to be paid by the whole population.

The first time around, it was paid without too much trouble.

But the second time – at quadruple the rate – it was widely resented. Thomas Baker‘s attacks on the poll tax commissioners in Brentwood signalled the beginning of the revolt and by mid-June, London itself was under siege by a peasant army of tens of thousands.

In was under these circumstances that the 14-year-old king Richard II agreed to meet the rebels.

But their first scheduled meeting was postponed when Richard read their demand for the execution of almost his entire coterie of advisers.

The rebels never doubted their fealty to King Richard himself.

Indeed, their oath of allegiance was “To King Richard and the Commons.”

This was similar to what came to be known centuries later in Russia as “The Good Tsar” theory. According to it, the noble ruler was being misled by those around him who were the actual source of the country’s sufferings – much in the way capitalism is portrayed in today’s media, perhaps.

One thing that comes across especially clearly from this book is how well organised and disciplined the peasants’ army actually was.

When the king did finally meet the rebels at Mile End, he granted them everything that they had demanded – an end to feudal servitude and a maximum rent of 4d per acre.

His servants set about drawing up charters to give to the peasants, officially freeing them from bondage.

So half the peasant army took their charters and set off home, while the others rounded up and killed dozens of the most powerful men in the kingdom and paraded their heads on spikes.

A large number of peasants were massively hungover on their way home as they had raided some of the biggest wine cellars in the world.

From such accounts, which are far from uncommon in revolutionary history, one can understand why later rebels from Cromwell to Khomeini have adopted a puritanical attitude on such questions.

Soon after, Wat Tyler was slain and the revolt fizzled out. Its leaders and participants were hunted down and executed and Richard repealed the charters that he had granted to the rebels.

An interesting aspect well covered in Jones’s book was the participation of the emergent bourgeoisie.

Some, such as Sir Roger Bacon, were enthusiastic supporters and even leaders of the revolt.

Others, such as the merchant class in London, who had their own beef with the state, were more wary and quickly turned against the revolt once it seemed to threaten the established order. The book also highlights the fascinating and lesser known role of Parliament after the revolt.

It attempted to use the revolt as a bargaining chip in its own struggle with royal authority, and initially refused to repeal the charters of freedom that Richard had granted the peasants.

Although it was soon brought into line, the confidence gained by the masses during the revolt infected the other classes too.

This would have implications in the centuries to come.

And the poll tax was lifted, not to be attempted again for over 100 years – when it sparked another rebellion. It would not be the last.

See also here. And here.

Blackheath, site of the peasants’ revolt: here.

Campaigners have called for the preservation of the Bryn Glas battlefield in Powys, where the last Welsh Prince of Wales defeated English forces in a struggle for independence over 600 years ago.

Battle of Hastings, 1066: here.

Oliver Cromwell and the Putney Debates: here.

Related articles

• John Ball – a man of rhyme and plenty of reason (annabelfrage.wordpress.com)
• Naked Writer #17: Getting Anglo-Norman (marklord.info)
• The Origin of the Wars of the Roses (antiwhitequeen.wordpress.com)
• Marquess’ claim to mining rights prompts ‘peasants’ revolt’ (theguardian.com)
• What If Richard III Did It? (mattlewisauthor.wordpress.com)

Birds in Namibian salt pan

This video from Etosha, Namibia, says about itself in a YouTube comment:

Squirrels, Monitor lizard, Kori Bustard, Black Korhaan, Karoo Bustard, Thick-Knee [or Water?] Dikkop. Ostrich, Pied Crow

By Wezi Tjaronda, in New Era in Namibia:

Namibia: Salt Works, Guano Platform Critical for Birds

24 June 2009

Windhoek — Mile 4 has supported about 46 000 birds on average in recent years. Occasionally, Mile 4 Saltworks, one of Namibia’s 21 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) supports massive numbers of water birds.

According to the latest Coastal/Marine Birds Namibia newsletter, the guano platform covering 31 000 square meters which was built in one of the northern pans has supported up to 700 000 Cape Cormorants in the past.

Apart from cormorants, the area supports more than 50 000 other waterbirds, including the greater flamingo and lesser flamingo, African black oystercatcher and up to 100 000 common tern.

Breeding species at Mile 4 include Damara tern, chestnutbanded plover, kelp gull, Hartlaub’s gull and Caspian tern.

IBAs are sets of sites in various countries throughout the world that are considered to be critically important for birds on a global scale. The sites are selected according to criteria determined by BirdLife International and aim to protect bird species, bird sites and the wider environment. …

The area, comprising of a private nature reserve of 400 ha and a salt works, lies adjacent to the sea on the central Namib Desert coast and has been extensively altered to create numerous evaporation ponds.

In 1997, the area witnessed the first recorded attempt of greater and lesser flamingo breeding in coastal areas.

Just over 100 nests were built in the saltpan and eggs were laid, but presumed disturbance by blackbacked jackal led to early failure.

Recent breeding attempts on islands in the saltpans by cormorants and the occurrence and possible breeding of the near-endemic Gray’s lark, immediately inland, add to the reserve’s importance. Brown hyena is also found in the area.

The Richwater Oyster Company has been cultivating oysters in the pan since 1985. Oyster production and guano scraping appears to be compatible with maintaining good populations of wetland birds, judging by the large numbers present and the breeding of terns, cormorants and plovers in and around the salt works.

Irish Green party in trouble

By Derek Wall, of the left wing of the English-Welsh Green party:

A calamitous coalition

Wednesday 24 June 2009

The Irish Green Party has provided a textbook example of how not to do green politics. Who would have thought a Green Party would cut bus services and support motorway-building through a heritage site? Who would have believed that a Green government elected partly because of its opposition to the Iraq war would allow US war planes to refuel in Ireland at Shannon?

The Irish Greens have had councillors, MEPs and members of the Irish parliament elected because of the country’s system of proportional representation.

Ireland has two centre-right political parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, which have often been linked to allegations of corruption involving property deals.

The Greens made their name as critics of Fianna Fail. In February 2007, Green leader Trevor Sargent told the Irish Times: “I do not see myself leading the party into coalition with Fianna Fail due to its culture of bad planning, corruption and bad standards.”

However, after the May 2007 general election, Sargent resigned as leader and 80 per cent of party members voted to join a Fianna Fail government in coalition.

The results have been catastrophic.

In Mayo, local people believe that a gas pipeline and processing plant being built by Shell will create pollution and bring no benefit to the local community.

The Irish Green Party, which once strongly supported the Mayo protesters, has become silent since joining the government.

Worst of all from an environmental point of view, the government is building a motorway through Tara, perhaps Ireland’s most important political landscape.

The Greens have acted as a “mud guard,” taking the flak for Fianna Fail’s actions. The Irish economy, based on cuts in corporation tax and banking deregulation, has been in freefall. What is the difference, it is said, between Ireland and Iceland. The answer? One letter and six months.

Savage cutbacks in public services have been introduced and the Greens have presided over cuts in the Dublin bus services.

Before the coalition was created, prominent party member Ciaran Cuffe argued: “Let’s be clear. A deal with Fianna Fail would be a deal with the devil. We would be spat out after five years and decimated as a party.”

True words indeed.

In June’s elections, the party lost nearly all its councillors, failed to get any MEPs elected and was nearly beaten in Dublin by a former member Patricia McKenna, who had left in disgust.

The Green Party now looks likely to stay in government, even if Fianna Fail were to import nuclear weapons and declare war on Scotland or introduce pesticides into school milk. The Green MPs know that if they left government, there would be a general election and they would lose their seats and salaries.

It looks likely that the party will disappear for perhaps a generation.

This is tragic given the urgency of problems such as climate change. The damage done to Green politics internationally is too large to measure.

However, we should not simply cry betrayal and refuse to participate in electoral politics.

The Latin American left has shown it is possible to use the state to help build an alternative. Greens in Europe have created some positive changes. In Scotland the Greens have not gone into government with the SNP but have supported them on progressive measures. Likewise in London, Green Party members supported much of the progressive work of former mayor Ken Livingstone.

While politics involves inevitable compromises, the pursuit of office can sometimes erode all real political gain.

The late great German Green Petra Kelly argued that the Greens should be an “anti-party party.” Perhaps her words need to be rediscovered.

See also here. And here.

Irish Greens vote to back Lisbon Treaty: here.

Campaign launched to save ancient Irish monuments: here.

Related articles

• Jane Sterk will remain leader of Green Party of BC (vicnews.com)
• Fianna Fáil and Abortion (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)

Mosley quits as Formula One boss

This video says about itself:

Max Mosley Sues Google Over ‘Nazi Orgy’ Search Results

Uploaded on Dec 14, 2011

You might remember Max Mosley for his work with Formula 1. Or, you might remember him for hosting a Nazi orgy. Whatever the case, Mr. Mosley is suing Google in an attempt to wipe the Nazi orgy slate clean, and strip the search engine off all remaining Nazi orgy evidence. Of course, this will never work (ask Rick Santorum), and Max’s fabulous Nazi orgy will not only live on, but be given new Nazi orgy life by this public lawsuit. Nazi orgy.

From British daily The Guardian today:

Formula One breakaway averted as teams agree deal with Max Mosley

• Max Mosley: ‘I will not stand for re-election now we have peace’
• Parallel Formula One championship headed off at key meeting

…

As a result of the deal Mosley said he would not seek to extend his time in office: “I will not be up for re-election now we have peace,” he said. The 69-year-old has been under pressure amid the disagreements emanating from the proposed budget cuts but had announced over the weekend that he was seriously considering running for a fifth term as head of F1’s governing body. …

It is apparent a trade-off has unfolded – with the current teams now due to be on the grid for 2010, and without Mosley as ruler. It has to be remembered though that five years ago, in June 2004, Mosley announced he would stand down from his position in October of that year – only to rescind his decision a month later.

Earlier, Max Mosley was an election candidate for his father Sir Oswald Mosley’s fascist party. Last year, he nearly was kicked out as sports boss because of a prostitution scandal with nazi undertones.

Tennis and Fred Perry: here.

Sir Oswald Mosley and British fascism: here.

Ex-Kosovo prime minister arrested for war crimes

Video footage about “Operation Storm”, broadcast by Belgrade TV station B92 in August 2006, of Bosnian troops killing a Serb civilian, and of Croatian troops harassing a convoy of Serb refugees.

From Associated Press:

Jun 24, 5:24 AM EDT

Former Kosovo prime minister arrested in Bulgaria on Interpol warrant

By VESELIN TOSHKOV
Associated Press Writer

Former Kosovo prime minister arrested in Bulgaria on Interpol warrant

SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarian authorities have detained a former Kosovo prime minister on an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol at Serbia’s request.

Police say Agim Ceku, the prime minister of Kosovo between 2006 and 2008, was taken into custody at the Gyueshevo border checkpoint while entering Bulgaria from Macedonia late Tuesday.

Ceku, 59, is wanted for war crimes allegedly committed during the 1998-1999 war when he was military chief of the Kosovo Liberation Army, made up of ethnic Albanian guerrillas.

Ceku was also Croatian army commander in “Operation Storm“, when were there was “ethnic cleansing” of hundreds of thousands of Croatian Serbs.

As Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia, Kosovo Albanians lost their citizenship rights in Croatia, which they had as Yugoslavs. However, the nationalist authorities in the “new” Croatia made an exception for Ceku, whom they gave a high military rank.

Ceku’s arrest comes despite repeated requests from U.N. officials in Pristina that the Belgrade-issued arrest be disregarded.

Former Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi told reporters that Ceku was coming to Bulgaria at the invitation of the Atlantic Club, a non-governmental organization, to lobby for NATO membership.

The item about Pasi, also spelt Passy, in Wikipedia is not really critical.

“I am in constant contact and we exchange regular visits with Agim Ceku,” said Pasi, who is honorary president of the club.

…

The prosecutor’s office said Ceku will be held in custody in the western city of Kyustendil, where the district court will consider his case.

In Pristina, Kosovo authorities said they were trying to negotiate Ceku’s release.

“We are in contact with Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry officials as well as representatives here to arrange for Ceku’s swift release and we are hopeful that will be soon,” Albana Beqiri, the spokesperson for Kosovo’s Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press.

Interpol’s warrant was suspended when Ceku gained immunity after being named prime minister in 2006, but was renewed by Serbia after Ceku took part in a conference on the demobilization of guerrilla movements in Colombia, earlier this year.

Before that he was held overnight in prisons in Slovenia in 2003 and Hungary in 2004 after his name appeared on lists of wanted persons.

Kosovo proclaimed independence last year and was recognized by leading Western nations, including the United States and most of the European Union nations, including Bulgaria.

Most countries in the world, including Spain, Romania, most African states, etc., have not recognized Kosovo’s independence.

See also here.

Gulls attacking whales near Argentina

Gulls attacking whales near Argentina: photos are here. Video is here.

They are kelp gulls.

20,000 humpbacks start migration up Australia’s west coast: here.

Albino Humpback returns to Queensland waters: here.

Humpback whale in the Hebrides – Photos: here.

Sri Lanka – The growing whale watching hotspot: here.

Japanese whalers kill pregnant whales

This 2009 video about Japanese whaling is called Cruel Whaling.

This is a National Geographic video about blue whales.

From the Daily Telegraph in Australia (owned by far Rightist Rupert Murdoch; so, if you are a Rightist reader of this blog, don’t give me any “this story is just bleeding heart liberalism” nonsense):

Full horror of Japanese whaling exposed

By Malcolm Holland

June 24, 2009 12:00am

A THIRD of the whales harpooned by Japan in the Antarctic last summer were pregnant, it was claimed yesterday.

Conservation group Humane Society International (HSI) said Japan’s own figures, revealed in secret documents discovered at the International Whaling Commission meeting being held this week, showed the “true, disgusting nature” of the country’s whale hunting.

Japan’s annual hunt, which it claims is a scientific study, took a horrific toll on female whales, the HSI said.

The HSI said data from Japan‘s 2008/2009 hunt showed of 679 whales it reported killing, 304 were female. The data showed 192 of the whales were pregnant. Four were lactating.

“The four lactating females would each have had a calf that would have starved to death,” HSI Australia’s director Michael Kennedy said.

Mr Kennedy said the Japanese data also contained “gruesome” details of how whale foetuses were treated after being torn from their mothers on board the whaling fleet’s factory ship.

“They report they measure the length and weight of the foetus, they measure their eyes and take skin samples from the foetus for what they call genetic studies,” Mr Kennedy said.

“It is gruesome, useless information which, if it was even needed, could be found without dismembering a foetus.”

The details of Japan‘s impact on female whales was contained in what is known as a “Cruise Report”, secretly sent to the IWC’s scientific committee before the IWC meeting in Portugal.

During the 2007-2008 hunt Australia was shocked when The Daily Telegraph published photos of a minke whale and her calf being hauled aboard a Japanese factory ship to be dismembered.

HSI vice president Kitty Block said Japan’s whale hunt should be condemned and was conducted in a whale sanctuary under the guise of science.

“The fact is this hunt is commercial and killing pregnant females makes it all the more egregious,” Ms Block said.

Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who is at the IWC meeting, said Japan had killed more than 13,000 whales in the name of research since a moratorium on commercial whaling was imposed in 1986.

One of Mr Garrett’s tactics to try to end Japanese whaling is to bring it under the direct control of the IWC, something Japan has been vigorously opposing.

Japan is also pushing hard for a “coastal whaling quota” – which would allow it to kill whales in its own waters without the pretence of scientific study – which conservation groups said was a return to commercial whaling.

This week the Australian Government announced what it called the largest study of Antarctic whales.

The joint Australian-New Zealand scientific expedition will steam to Antarctica this summer. No whales will be killed during the research.

Denmark asks to hunt humpback whales: here.

Norway suspends whaling: here.

The Largest Organisms on Earth: here.

Related articles

• Canadian squirrel steals camera and films
• Japanese whaling stops, temporarily

US soldiers and cruelty to animals

By Kent Harris, from Stars and Stripes in the USA:

Panel suggests adding animal cruelty to UCMJ

European edition, Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A panel formed to review the military justice system will recommend that animal cruelty be added as a charge to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to a panel member.

The issue of servicemembers abusing, killing or abandoning their pets

Quite often, this is done by soldiers who normally never would do such things. But who are suffering from illnesses like PTSD which they got from wars like in Iraq or Afghanistan. Like domestic violence by some soldiers or veterans, or violence against fellow soldiers or veterans, many of those instances of cruelty to animals can be seen as the violence of Bush’s wars spilling over into homelife. So, these cases cannot be dismissed as the work of “bad apple” individuals, and of them alone.

was one of the topics reviewed by the 2009 Commission on Military Justice, a nonprofit corporation formed in 1991 to improve public understanding of the military justice system. The commission held a public hearing in Washington last week. …

There is currently no language in the UCMJ to address criminal actions against animals, other than military working dogs. …

Animal cruelty is a felony in more than 30 states [in the USA], with those convicted facing five-year maximum sentences in many states.

Supporters of a new UCMJ charge for animal cruelty said they were pleased with news of the recommendation.

Louise Harris, who is British and married to a retired airman once based at Aviano Air Base in Italy, said she was “extremely encouraged by it.”

Harris, who for years has lobbied for such a charge, said the lack of language in the UCMJ has allowed Americans to get away with killing their pets in a handful of cases around Aviano. …

She said she believed the situation was the worst in Italy, because local justice systems in countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany are more responsive to animal cruelty cases.

I would not be surprised if the situation in Iraq or Afghanistan would be far worse than in Italy.

Christine Kohls, a German married to an American soldier stationed in Heidelberg, said there are German laws that apply, but jurisdiction on such cases can be tricky.

“It’s such a gray zone,” said Kohls, who serves as a volunteer liaison at a local German animal shelter.

Though an owner often can be identified through microchips placed in the animal, Americans sometimes choose to leave their pets behind when they move, she said. Locals who do that are committing a crime and so are Americans, even if they currently avoid punishment.

US military censors own paper in Iraq

This video from the USA says about itself:

Embedded journalism’s one point of view.

How reporters lose perspective.

Sports commentary war. Entertainment replaces truth.

Ted Koppel admits he never saw any casualties whilst in Iraq as an embedded journalist.

Fox news and how Rupert Murdoch imposes his world view.

From CNN in the USA:

Stars and Stripes accuses U.S. military of censorship in Iraq

June 23, 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Stars and Stripes, the newspaper that receives U.S. military funding to help it cover and get distributed free to American forces in war zones, complained Tuesday of censorship by military authorities in Iraq.

In a story on its Web site, the newspaper known as Stripes said the military violated a congressional mandate of editorial independence by rejecting a request to embed reporter Heath Druzin with the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, which is attempting to secure the city of Mosul.

The military cited various problems in Druzin’s reporting on previous embed assignments with units of the division, according to the story.

One example noted by the military was a March 8 story that said many Mosul residents would like the American soldiers to leave and hand over security tasks to Iraqi forces, the Stripes Web site said. …

Terry Leonard, editorial director at Stars and Stripes, denied the Army’s allegations, calling Druzin’s previous reporting on the division accurate and fair.

“To simply say ‘you can’t send him because we didn’t like what he wrote’ is unacceptable,” Leonard said. He noted that Congress set up Stripes as an independent newspaper so that “no commander can decide what news troops in the field receive.” …

Stripes receives close to $10 million a year from the Department of Defense to help defray the costs of covering “contingency” operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the publishing and distribution of roughly 85,000 free newspapers a day, Leonard said.

The newspaper receives additional government subsidies, with the total amounting to less than half of its budget, he said. Other revenue comes from ad sales and circulation at permanent U.S. military bases and elsewhere, Leonard said.

CNN has been denied embed requests on occasion but never because of the past conduct of individual journalists.

As CNN in general has supported the Iraq war.

In itself, the embed system raises grave questions about journalistic independence, or lack of it, from armed forces. Now, apparently the big brass are trying to eliminate even the small margins for critical writing, for anything but Polyanna style Hip hip hoorah for the war-style journalism.

Big salaries are tempting civilians to become bodyguards in Iraq where two Britons doing a similar job were found dead, a security guard has revealed: here.

Britain: A civilian engineer who was seriously injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq has said that he plans to take court action against the Ministry of Defence: here.

Oil corporations which were booted out of Iraq over three decades ago are poised to begin bidding for the country’s vast crude reserves: here. And here.

It is fitting that today’s deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq’s cities coincides with a meeting in Baghdad to auction off some of the country’s largest oil fields to companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and British Petroleum: here. And here.

‘Çurveball’, Iraqi ‘WMD’ liar: here.

To Get Someone to Say US Must Stay in Iraq, CNN Has to Find a Drunk Guy: here.

Pentagon Keeps Wary Watch as Troops Blog: here.