Re: IACTA ALEA EST questions

Greetings,

Just to insert some CanCon in the ClassCon, I think it can be
semi-safely said that JC's yaktaliest was the inspiration behind
Rush's 'Roll the Bones':

Well, you can stake that claim
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
If they don't take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame

We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That's the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Why are we here?
Because we're here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones

Faith is cold as ice
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity 

Re: His Dark Materials (was Re: "Da Vinci" Debunking

My apologies, David Rivers, if I had was criticizing a view you conveyed rather than one you held yourself. 
All I can say is:  nothing personal, since I don't even  know you!

PS  Congratulations to Tom Palaima!  He is an amazing person and true humanist.

JL

rogue classicists

For those who can't find enough stuff from DM <g>
there is this resource for checking blogs:

June S
--------------------------------
01. PUBSUB.  There are several services that provide you email notification
when a desired search term is found on the Web.  A similar service promises
to be very useful for those who are following Weblogs and information
streams via RSS, a format to which which Neat Net Tricks began providing
its feed only a few weeks ago.  At http://www.pubsub.com, you need simply
subscribe (free) to their service and provide one or more search terms
(what you would like to follow in Weblog postings.)  This service then
filters your interests against over one million Weblogs and information
streams and lets you know when it spots something you're looking for.

Re: IACTA ALEA EST questions

dmeadows <at> IDIRECT.COM:

>>> Just to insert some CanCon in the ClassCon, I think it can be
semi-safely said that JC's yaktaliest was the inspiration behind
Rush's 'Roll the Bones':

"Jack...relax
Get busy with the facts
No zodiacs or almanacs
No maniacs in polyester slacks
Just the facts ...
So get out there and rock
And roll the bones
Get busy!" <<<

And some Con(cert)Con ....

The rap-style break cited above was spoken (sung?) in the live show by a
Trimalchionian skeleton figure projected behind the band. The live voice
was, I believe, actually that of the lyricist/drummer Neal Peart. (Tough
to see that kind of  stuff from the nosebleed seats in the old
Philadelphia Spectrum with the stage lights dimmed for effect.)

Of course, Peart's known Ayn Randian affinities might also be adduced as
a source.

JMM / LMC

John M. McMahon
Classics

Re: "Da Vinci" Debunking

Quoting "Dr. James J. O'Donnell" <provost <at> GEORGETOWN.EDU>:

> The story the New York Times missed is the one about the massive invasion
> of pod people who have come to earth over the last year bearing copies of
> this book, which they read and proclaim to be wonderful.  It has no
> redeeming merits whatsoever, which is unusual even among bestsellers.  I
> read with sober mien the words of a 22-year old "Jesuit-educated"
> gentleman who averred of the book that it "made him think".
>
> Jim O'Donnell

Since when did American consumption become an even partly reliable guide to
works of artistic merit?

Trevor

Re: "Da Vinci" Debunking

On Friday 30 April 2004 12:36 pm, Dr. James J. O'Donnell wrote:
>  I
> read with sober mien the words of a 22-year old "Jesuit-educated"
> gentleman who averred of the book that it "made him think".

Evidently it has been making many of us think, too, judging
by the number of posts on the subject.

--
   Michael J. Smith
   ms <at> gf.org

Re: Tribunicia potestate

A Thin Ghost (new M.R. James website)

[from the gaslight list]

Folks,
       Stephen Gray, a British artist, has launched a new M.R. James
website.  It is an elegant and useful site, truly the tribute which James
deserves:

       http://www.stephengray.net/mrj/index.htm

       Part of the introduction states:
<<<
       As with all the best creative works it seems next to impossible to
define exactly what is so special about these tales. It's no simple
sentimentality, nor a cheap roller-coaster thrill. It has something to do
with an off-kilter Englishness, a certain respectability besieged but also
defined by the bizarre, the chaotic and the arcane. In part at least, it's
tied up with that unique, brave and terrible period of European history in
which the stories were written.
 >>>
       Congratulations to Mr. Gray.

                                 Stephen D.
                          mailto:SDavies <at> mtroyal.ca

Here we go again ...

dm will probably have dealt with this by now, but for the
at-this-time-of-year temporally challenged ...

Guardian 4/30/04:

"Another dip in the Mediterranean in search  of Atlantis"

"A quest for the lost island of Atlantis began off the southern shores of
Cyprus yesterday.

After a decade of intense study an American, Robert Sarmast, claims to have
assembled evidence to prove that the fabled island lies a mile deep in the
sea between Cyprus and Syria. He says he has detected 'around 48' of the 50
geographical features Plato described the island as having before it was
'swallowed up by the earth'.

By August he hopes to have proved that Atlantis was not simply a figment of
the imagination but a real empire with stone temples, bridges, canals and
roads.

'What we have discovered is a hidden landmass that fits Plato's famed
description almost exactly,' he said in the Cypriot port of Limassol.

 'For the first time we've been able to match that description with a real
place which does, I think, prove what the ancient world believed, that
Atlantis was founded in history and not a myth.'"

[snip]

"But an archaeologist who asked that her name should not 'be associated'
with the clamour said: 'This is not archaeology. As far as we're concerned
this is just another ridiculous claim.'"

Full text:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1206519,00.html

Funny, I always thought that Atlantis was just down the road from the place
on Mt. Ararat where Noah's ark is waiting to be found.

Silly me.

JMM / LMC

explorator 7.01

================================================================
explorator 7.01                                      May 2, 2004
================================================================
Editor's note: Most urls should be active for at least eight 
hours from the time of publication.

For your computer's protection, Explorator is sent in plain text
and NEVER has attachments. Be suspicious of any Explorator which
arrives otherwise!!!
================================================================
================================================================
Happy birthday to Explorator! We're now into Volume Seven!

Thanks to everyone for their continued support, and especially
to our 'heads up correspondents' who make Explorator the best
freebie newsletter around!

Thanks to Arthur Shippee,  Bill Kennedy, Charles Jones, Charles 
Le Quesne, Dave Sowdon, Francis Deblauwe, Glenn Meyer, John
Huizinga, Hernan Astudillo, Gene Barkley, John McMahon, 
Louis A. Okin, Jennifer Wees, Mary Reed, Tim Parkin, Tony Jackson,
W. Richard Frahm, Rick Pettigrew, Richard C. Griffiths, Stan Nadel, 
and Yonatan Nadelman for headses upses this week (as always 
hoping I have left no one out).

Have you visited our blog yet?

http://www.atrium-media.com/rogueclassicism/

If you're using an (ahem) old or clunky browser, try accessing
it via Bloglines:

http://www.bloglines.com/preview?siteid=21809

editor's note: folks who are reluctant to register to some
of these online sources should visit http://bugmenot.com/ and 
type in the url of the newspaper in question. They will provide
you (usually) with a useable user name and password. For the 
record, though, I've never had any problems with any of the 
sites used in Explorator ...
================================================================
================================================================
AFRICA, EUROPE, AND ASIA
================================================================
A site in Israel suggests humans had the controlled use of fire
there some 790,000 years b.p.:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4863378/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3670017.stm
http://tinyurl.com/2wwzy (SciAm)
http://www.nature.com/nsu/040426/040426-16.html
(I'm sure the pun in the headline was unintentional)
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994944
http://tinyurl.com/386bp (Globe and Mail)
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,297704,00.html

Neanderthals apparently matured more quickly than modern
humans:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4855079/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3663865.stm
http://www.nature.com/nature/links/040429/040429-9.html
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994937
http://tinyurl.com/3coqk (AFP via Yahoo)
http://tinyurl.com/36kow (National Geographic)

Plenty of coverage this week of a major cache of mummies (many
from Ptolemaic times) just outside Cairo:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837894/
http://www.newscientist.com/news/print.jsp?id=ns99994926
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,9402688,00.html
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/27/1082831573716.html
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/27/1082831567305.html
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=9800

As part of the ongoing return of Western scholars to Iran, the
University of Chicago has returned a pile of cuneiform tablets
to the Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization:

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.tablets.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,12858,1206736,00.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/042804_ns_tablets.html (video!)
http://tinyurl.com/2f6q4 (Chicago Tribune)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/science/29tabl.html
http://tinyurl.com/2cxfo (Reuters via Yahoo)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uoc-uoc042704.php

Recent research suggests that Majan was what is now referred to
as Oman:

http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=55374&pn=local

A Roman 'mouse' Helmet was up for auction this week:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2848837 (pre)
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2851676 (post)

A Roman tileworks site has been found in Surrey:

http://tinyurl.com/yq33k (icSurrey)

A brief item from Adnkronos about the discovery of a major
Gallo-Roman burial ground:

http://tinyurl.com/2gqer (in Italian)
================================================================
THE AMERICAS
================================================================
If you can read Portuguese, this is an account from a Brazilian
news agency documenting the discovery of site which shows 
evidence of some sort of ritual fight at Atacama:

http://tinyurl.com/2eool

The rebuilding/restoration of the T.R.R. Cobb house in Athens,
Georgia is causing controversy:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/28/national/28ATHE.html

By contrast, they're struggling to save what remains of a Civil
War battlefield in Franklin, Tennessee:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/realestate/30CIVI.html

Interesting suggestion about why the Hunley sank:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41900-2004Apr25.html

They're excavating an Underground Railroad site in Oswego:

http://news10now.com/content/all_news/?ArID=17515&SecID=83

A chatty piece about a survey of a site on the Kenai Peninsula
(Alaska):

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837670/

That 250 year old canoe that was discovered in South Carolina a
couple of years ago is going to be excavated:

http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/news/3251039/detail.html

Recently-found bones in Arizona may be from a prehistoric ancestor
of the Hopi people:

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0427bones27.html

The legal wrangling over Kennewick Man might continue:

http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/8532656.htm
http://tinyurl.com/2cuzn (LA Times)
================================================================
ALSO OF INTEREST
================================================================
On the DNA front, an arrow purportedly made from one of Captain
Cook's bones wasn't:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4863202/
http://tinyurl.com/22tjy (Reuters via Yahoo)

A follow-up letter to the editor about that Tibuktu manuscript
story we mentioned last week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/opinion/L29TIMB.html

The NEH has given a pile of grants to preserve humanities 
collections around the US:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/29/arts/29ARTS.html (scroll down)

Interesting item about identity badges in the 1600's:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uow-hri043004.php

Glasgow's Mitchell Library plans to make more out of its 
possession of one of the few remaining complete copies of 
Audobon's Birds:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=460672004

The Financial Times has a touristy sort of thing on Alexandria:

http://tinyurl.com/39zg7

Another piece on the Siwa oasis (with a bit of a more modern
slant):

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/BLA631730.htm

On the power/effect of myth on auction prices:

http://www.iht.com/articles/517214.html

They're worried about the preservation of the Mona Lisa:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3660143.stm
http://tinyurl.com/26lny (National Geographic)

The DaVinci Code is still ruffling feathers:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/books/27CODE.html

To judge by the press coverage, the biggest news of the week
was the suggestion that Mel Gibson is considering telling the
tale of Boudicca:

http://tinyurl.com/2pfay (The Australian)
http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1205574,00.html
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/4/28/160522.shtml
http://www.empireonline.co.uk/site/news/newsstory.asp?news_id=15798

... he might have competition, though:

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=a616947c4d522d44
================================================================
MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS
================================================================
New Zealand Archaeology e-News:

http://www.nzarchaeology.org/netsubnews.htm
================================================================
ON THE WEB
================================================================
Celtic Coin Index:

http://www.writer2001.com/cciwriter2001/index.htm

History of Chinese Imperial Food:

http://www.china.org.cn/english/25995.htm

Hacinebi Archaeological Excavations:

http://faculty-web.at.northwestern.edu/anthropology/stein/index.html

Handbook of Biblical Numismatics:

http://www.amuseum.org/book/page0.html
================================================================
NEW ONLINE BOOKS
================================================================
================================================================
ON  THE ARCHAEOLOGY CHANNEL
================================================================
Louisiana's Historic Places (an interesting video put together
by some grade schoolers):

http://www.archaeologychannel.org/
================================================================
CRIME BEAT
================================================================
Vandals have damaged Peru's "12-cornered Inca stone":

http://tinyurl.com/2opoa (Reuters via Yahoo)

The Art Newspaper has a very interesting interview with John
Russell about the current state of things in Iraq:

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/article.asp?idart=11640

An Egyptian antiquities thief has received a sentence of
35 years (!):

http://tinyurl.com/3g5l8 (al Jazeerah)
http://tinyurl.com/2moy4 (Herald-Sun)

The internet is apparently driving looting of Native American
sites:

http://tinyurl.com/2xrss (Tucson Citizen)

A number of Roman 'tombstones' were stolen in Wales this week:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/3661061.stm

A pile of purloined pre-Columbian artifacts were recovered this
week:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58202-2004Apr30.html
================================================================
BOOK REVIEWS
================================================================
Mary Reed and Eric Mayer, *Five for Silver* (Byzantine fiction):

http://print.google.com/print/doc?articleid=yk6VOeQfaFJ
(scroll down a bit)

Mordechi Gichon, *Napoleon in the Holy Land*:

http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/apr/27jew.htm
================================================================
PERFORMANCES
================================================================
Spartacus Returns:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3500864.stm
================================================================
DON'T EAT THAT ELMER (A.K.A. CVM GRANO SALIS)
================================================================
Haven't had one of these in a while ... a groups is going in
search of Noah's Ark:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4838007/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3664093.stm
http://tinyurl.com/yvmjs (National Geographic (!))

... and, alas, it appears we will be hearing much more about
Robert Sarmast's claims about Atlantis being near Cyprus:

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/30/1083224588854.html
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=14071&cat_id=1
http://tinyurl.com/yrdxc (Guardian)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1098162.htm
================================================================
EXHIBITIONS
================================================================
The Marvels of Maiolica: Italian Renaissance Ceramics From the 
Corcoran Gallery of Art Collection:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30ANTI.html

Dangerous Liaisons (18th century fashion and furniture):

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30MUSC.html

An Enduring Vision: 17th- to 20th-Century Japanese Painting 
From the Gitter-Yelen Collection:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/30/arts/design/30GLUE.html

In Stabiano:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4837660/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48019-2004Apr27.html
http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/247-04262004-289530.html

Discover Troy:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/3667029.stm

Mummy: The Inside Story:

http://tinyurl.com/328pf (Art Daily)
================================================================
CLASSICIST'S CORNER
================================================================
Twenty things we owe the Greeks:

http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=475892004

Latin is alive and well in Buffalo:

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040426/1034672.asp

Heinrich Schliemann's love of swimming apparently contributed to
his demise:

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2863490

A quickie Latin course is offered in Rome to allow tourists to
read inscriptions:

http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040429-090103-7472r.htm

A piece in the Korea Herald opens, "Leo Strauss (1899-1973) was 
perhaps the greatest philosopher of the last century, and yet 
he is unknown in Korea":

http://tinyurl.com/357zk

Some coverage of Stanford's Forma Urbis digitization project:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3659501.stm

The CincyPost had a nice interview with Brian Rose all about
Troy:

http://www.cincypost.com/2004/04/30/troy043004.html
cf: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-04/uoc-brr042704.php

Speaking of Troy ... there's a new documentary about it
coming out this week:

http://tinyurl.com/yru9z (National Geographic press release)

ClassCon in 'Operation Homecoming':

http://tinyurl.com/2oz72 (VOA)

One I missed last week ... Stanley Burstein is among the 
recipients of a Wang Family Award at Cal State:

http://www.calstate.edu/pa/news/2004/wang04.shtml
(scroll down a bit)

Socrates Cafes continue to get news coverage:

http://tinyurl.com/2eh7d (LA Monitor)

Akropolis News in Classical Greek (it has returned!):
http://www.akwn.net/

Radio Finland's Nuntii Latini
[best accessed via rogueclassicism on Sundays]

Radio Bremen's Der Monatsrückblick - auf Latein 
http://www.radiobremen.de/online/latein/

Weather in Latin:
http://latin.wunderground.com/
================================================================
REPEATS
================================================================
Mayan Stone from Cancuen:

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0429/p16s02-woam.html

Old Corgis:

http://www.cp.org/english/online/full/science/040421/g042102A.html
================================================================
OTHER SOURCES OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL NEWS
================================================================
About.com Ancient History (blog):
http://ancienthistory.about.com/

About.com Archaeology (blog):
http://archaeology.about.com/mbody.htm

Archaeologica:
http://www.archaeologica.org/NewsPage.htm

Archaeology in Europe (blog):

http://archaeology.eu.com/weblog/

Archaeology Magazine's Newsbriefs:
http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=0305/newsbriefs/index

Bible and Interpretation Breaking News:
http://www.bibleinterp.com/news.htm

CBA Newsfeed:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/newsfeed/index.html

CBA Archaeoblog:
http://www.britarch.ac.uk/archaeoblog/

Classics in Contemporary Culture (blog):
http://www.people.memphis.edu/~mhooker/ccc.html

Cronaca (blog):
http://www.cronaca.com/

Francis Deblauwe's 'Iraq War and Archaeology' site:
http://cctr.umkc.edu/user/fdeblauwe/iraq.html

Maritime Underwater Archaeological News:
http://www.munarchaeology.com/munarchaeology/news/main.htm

Megalithic Portal
http://www.megalithic.co.uk

Michael Ruggeri's Ancient America and Mesoamerica News:
http://community-2.webtv.net/Topiltzin-2091/AncientAmericaand

Mirabilis.ca (blog):
http://www.mirabilis.ca

Paleojudaica (blog):
http://paleojudaica.blogspot.com

Phluzein (blog):
http://www.binref.com/phluzein/

Stone Pages Archaeo News:
http://www.stonepages.com/news/

Texas A&M Anthropology News Site:
http://www.tamu.edu/anthropology/news.html

================================================================
EXPLORATOR is a weekly newsletter representing the fruits of
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