Random Thought

I have just finished reading a couple of books, one was actually a reread, well really it was a re-re-re-reread, but you get the point and it provoked some random thoughts. What books?  Voices of the Rocks and Fingerprints of the Gods , respectively. The first edition of Fingerprints of the Gods , was the first book that showed me that there were in fact real and serious people asking some of the same questions that I had always wondered and researching some of the same things that interested me. Reading that work opened up a whole new world to me, in terms of research and learning and growing. And I was hooked. I started looking for other such books, but only those that I believed were properly researched and truly passionate intellectual works. Ones that were not looking for proof of their desired whims and wishes, but those that noticed the textbook versions didn't answer all the questions and even seemed to make no sense with the questions they did answer. Serious...

Map via Gizmodo Australia University of Kansas About 10 years ago a group of researchers from various fields proposed a theory. This theory set out to explain the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) episode of our current interglacial period. Their theory proposed a huge impact event as the trigger for the YD episode. Their comprehensive claims included a 4km wide impact object, massive continent wide wild fires across the Northern Hemisphere, and extensive global flooding . Of course their evidence was ruthlessly debunked by their critics, most of which was valid due to the extravagance of their claims. (4) Before and since the question of what caused the Younger Dryas episode has remained largely unanswered. Since the end of the last Ice Age (~3 - 2.5 million YAG) climatologists have concluded that the Earth has experienced approximately 25 brief cooling periods or cycles, referred to as Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events. One argument of critics against any impact triggering theo...

Illustration by Jayne Doucette, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution When it comes to history and especially archaeology one of the biggest questions is "When did it happen?" In 1940 Martin Kamen introduced the world to Carbon14. Carbon14 (C14) is an isotope of Carbon. If you are not sure why it is Carbon14 as opposed to just Carbon or a different isotope, such as Carbon12 (C12), it has to do with the number of protons and neutrons that each contain. All carbon atoms have 6 protons, but the isotopes C14 and C12 have different numbers of neutrons and thus have differing levels of radioactivity, a C12 isotope has 6 neutrons therefore C14 has 8 neutrons, this difference in numbers of neutrons also changes the mass(weight) of the atoms as well. Willard F. Libby via ACS Seven years later Willard F. Libby presented the world with a method using C14 for radiocarbon dating. The theory of radiocarbon dating is based on the belief that the atmosphere contains a constant amoun...

via viewzone.com Tiahuanaco is the 'home of the gods' according to Andean myths. Located a few miles from the present day shore of Lake Titicaca, the ruins of this city along with the Sacred Islands of Titicaca and Puma Punku seem to allude to a misplacement of credit and time. Most textbooks and even the museum near the Kalasasaya, state as fact, not theory, that Tiahuanaco rose to power around 100AD, peaked around 500AD and then steadily declined into ruin by 1000AD. (3. pg59) Yet, the agreed descendants to the culture of Tiahuanaco, the Incas clearly told chroniclers that the builders of the places were ancient and of the gods and or with the gods . The Incas' stories do not back up the time lines of the textbooks; of course the textbooks also still state as a fact that the Incas built Machu Picchu. Again, the Incas plainly told chroniclers that they inherited the site already built. This complete disregard by 'experts' of information given by the people in ...

According to most textbooks and published material on the subject, humanity became 'civilized' no more than circa 6,000 years ago, or ~4,000BCE. The first centers of civilization were the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East where Sumer and Egypt sprang forth about 3,500BCE, then the Indus Valley and China and 1,500 years later civilization appeared spontaneously and independently in the Americas. All the 'independent' areas just mentioned have and are credited with building pyramids, have stories of  Gods giving the gifts of civilization, studied the stars with incredible accuracy, and seemed to have a real and in-depth knowledge of the vastness of, not only, our world, but, the universe, as well. They did not doubt the existence of peoples from lands across the seas, they did not seem to deny the diversity of humanity, and they seemed to have more open minds about where we came from and how we progressed than do we humans of today. Some of these cultures seemed to ha...

After our visit to the Pyramids we will wander over to an even more mysterious enigma. This one as regal and royal in time and history as any pharaoh. Appearing to have been craved right out of the limestone that encloses him; the Sphinx rises like an immortal warrior protecting ancient secrets. The ancient secrets are for another post, for now we focus on the warrior itself. With the body of nature's king of beasts and the head of a man, supposedly a specific man; the Sphinx has been impressing visitors and conquerors alike since time immortal it seems. The first modern excavation of the sight was in 1817 supervised by the Italian Captain Giovanni Battista Caviglia , this uncovered the structure to the chest. Latter excavations finally fully exposed the grand beast in the early 20th century. The whole structure is 240 feet (73 meters) long and 66 feet (20 meters) high. If we accept the dates given by modern Egyptologists, the Sphinx was carved out of his limestone ridge ci...