forgotten gods this pantheon has been reduced to little more than impotent grotesqueries because nobody—not even kooky new age cults—worships these gods anymore. let these forgotten mascots, especially the bulls-conjoined-at-the-penis god, be a case study for the p.r. departments of today’s trendiest religions. __ source: egyptian mythology (1918) by w. max müller

forgotten gods

this pantheon has been reduced to little more than impotent grotesqueries because nobody—not even kooky new age cults—worships these gods anymore. let these forgotten mascots, especially the bulls-conjoined-at-the-penis god, be a case study for the p.r. departments of today’s trendiest religions.

__

source: egyptian mythology (1918) by w. max müller

November 21, 2010
∞ 22 notes
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things to look at religion history prehistory

lazarus taxon

get a hot load of this »

In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural taxa) is a taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the fossil record, only to appear again later.

a few notable lazarus taxa:

  • Coelacanth: a fish thought to have gone extinct 80 million years ago; found in 1938.
  • Monoplacophora: a mollusk believed to have died out 380 million years ago until living members were discovered in deep water off Costa Rica in 1952.
  • Laotian Rock Rat: thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago; found in 1996.
  • Dawn Redwood: a genus of conifer, was first described as a fossil from the Mesozoic Era, but in 1944 a small stand was discovered in China.
  • Mountain Pygmy Possum Australia’s only truly hibernating marsupial, known originally from the fossil record and then discovered in 1966, this species is again facing extinction due to global warming, introduced predator species and habitat loss.

i relay this information to you not because it involves ugly fish with underbites or to give some hippies a new animal cause to fight for but purely as a symbol. the lazarus tazon symbolises the idea that what once was lost may one day again be found, what once was thought long dead may one day again be revived—like 8 bit video games and walt disney.

the notion of the lazarus taxon is a notion that will also help to kick off a week-long feature on the ragbag—a challenge 700 years in the making.

please stay tuned.

December 7, 2009
∞ 0 notes
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animals prehistory science
polaris schmolaris on this day in the year 1793 b.c., the star, thuban in the constellation, draco ended it’s two thousand year reign as earth’s de facto north star. it handed over the title to kochab (a scrappy upstart) whose successor would be (the much ballyhooed) polaris. while the succession was ineveitable, we can all be thankful that due to the 25,765 year axial precession of the earth’s platonic year, thuban will again start jockeying for the position in the year 29,707 a.d. let us never forget that the north star is a title, not a name. (the much ballyhooed) polaris should not take its position for granted.

polaris schmolaris

on this day in the year 1793 b.c., the star, thuban in the constellation, draco ended it’s two thousand year reign as earth’s de facto north star. it handed over the title to kochab (a scrappy upstart) whose successor would be (the much ballyhooed) polaris. while the succession was ineveitable, we can all be thankful that due to the 25,765 year axial precession of the earth’s platonic year, thuban will again start jockeying for the position in the year 29,707 a.d.

let us never forget that the north star is a title, not a name. (the much ballyhooed) polaris should not take its position for granted.

October 23, 2009
∞ 0 notes
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history science prehistory
for wunderkammer: a paleolithic flute q: what were you doing 40,000 years ago when your stone age neighbors were rocking out on paleolithic flutes made out of woolly mammoth femurs? a: you were probably some stinking monkey scratching your hairy butt with pinecones. in celebration of the fact that you and me have had a musical culture that spans over 40 millennia, let us start a paleolithic flute/theremin jam band. IT WILL BE A POLITICAL STATEMENT and we will rock out on the top of the sphinx wearing sequins and goat hides.

for wunderkammer: a paleolithic flute

q: what were you doing 40,000 years ago when your stone age neighbors were rocking out on paleolithic flutes made out of woolly mammoth femurs? a: you were probably some stinking monkey scratching your hairy butt with pinecones.

in celebration of the fact that you and me have had a musical culture that spans over 40 millennia, let us start a paleolithic flute/theremin jam band. IT WILL BE A POLITICAL STATEMENT and we will rock out on the top of the sphinx wearing sequins and goat hides.

October 2, 2009
∞ 16 notes
tags
history prehistory music wunderkammer
is there any identity more confusing than the sea slater’s? he lives in the water but his dad was a land dweller. his grandpa lived his whole life in the water too but his great grandpa liked to scuttle over the land. and back and forth it goes in a game of evolutionary ping pong until his water-loving gggggrandfather was a single-celled organism named adam who ate an apple at the wrong time and all hell broke loose.

is there any identity more confusing than the sea slater’s? he lives in the water but his dad was a land dweller. his grandpa lived his whole life in the water too but his great grandpa liked to scuttle over the land. and back and forth it goes in a game of evolutionary ping pong until his water-loving gggggrandfather was a single-celled organism named adam who ate an apple at the wrong time and all hell broke loose.


March 24, 2009
∞ 6 notes
tags
data viz design history prehistory science cc
the great escape on this day 5,000 years ago, the domestic dingo escaped into the wild, chosing a free and feral life over hegemonic subjugation. good on ya, dingo!

the great escape

on this day 5,000 years ago, the domestic dingo escaped into the wild, chosing a free and feral life over hegemonic subjugation. good on ya, dingo!

March 5, 2009
∞ 24 notes
tags
animals history prehistory
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