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Survival of the Fittest of the Luckiest: Cosmic Catastrophes and The Evolution of Life

Timo Niroma
Cambridge Conference Correspondence
Thu, 11 Feb 1999 11:04 UTC
Image
© Unknown
There seems to be a tendency to set evolution and catastrophism as opposite ways of thinking. That's a big misunderstanding. As if Darwin or the concept of evolution would need some defending against some mystical, religious or supernatural concepts, there is coined the term punctuated evolution. I see no need for any such term. Evolution as a theory in the form as Darwin put it, needs refinements in the same way as Einstein refined the theories of Newton. Nothing more, nothing less.

So what has changed since Darwin to warrant this discussion or, more specifically, what has to be added or refined? In short, the paraphrase of the "survival of the fittest" must be enlarged to the "survival of the fittest of the luckiest". Evolution as such has no ultimate goal. It has only temporary goals, as long as we see the universe as a changing place.

Taking as an example our home planet, the Earth, it seemed for billions of years, from some 3.8 billion of years ago (when the bombardment in the Solar System lowered to its nowaday level) to some 800 million years ago, a suitable place for micro-organisms to fill every niche available to them. At some places there most probably was some cooperation between some micro-organisms that was nearly or exactly like multi-cellular life.

Comment: Although there are good reasons to question the established theory of evolution the way it is described in this article (like the story of human migration out of Africa, for example), the reality of the situation is, that evolution on this planet, exposed to a periodic bombardment from space, was indeed marked by the survival of the fittest of the luckiest. And it looks like it might happen again...and rather soon.

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Eye 2

Japanese government conducted macabre human experiments during WWII

Justin McCurry
The Guardian
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 07:00 UTC
Image
© Itsuo Inouye/AP
Toyo Ishii, a former military nurse, broke her 60-year silence about Unit 731 in 2006.
Former Tokyo medical school site is linked to Unit 731, branch of imperial army which used prisoners in germ warfare programme

Authorities in Japan have begun excavating the former site of a medical school that may contain the remains of victims of the country's wartime biological warfare programme.

The school has links to Unit 731, a branch of the imperial Japanese army that conducted lethal experiments on prisoners as part of efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

The Japanese government has previously acknowledged the unit's existence but refused to discuss its activities, despite testimony from former members and growing documentary evidence. In 2002 a Japanese court said Tokyo was under no obligation to compensate victims.

The government agreed to launch a ¥100m (£741,000) investigation after Toyo Ishii, a former nurse, said she had helped bury body parts on the site as the US occupation forces moved into Tokyo at the end of the second world war. Officials said so far there was no evidence the site had been used for experiments.
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Sherlock

Roman fort dig near Neath school unearths new secrets


BBC News-South West Wales
Tue, 22 Feb 2011 04:44 UTC
Roman Fort Neath School
© BBC
The site at Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive School was occupied by a Roman timber fort in the 1st Century, before it was replaced by a stone version
Excavation work on the site of a Roman fort near a school has revealed what archaeologists believe are structures never previously seen in the UK.

The dig in the playing fields of Dwr-y-Felin Comprehensive Upper School in Neath has uncovered sections of the defences of the 1st Century building.

These include a defence tower partially set outside its ramparts allowing soldiers to shoot at gate attackers.

A fort was in occupation on the site until at least the 3rd Century.

Richard Lewis, head of projects at the Glamorgan/Gwent Archaeological Trust, said: "It's certainly of high importance in Wales and the UK because nobody has been able to expose as large an area as we have".
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Brick Wall

World's first skyscraper? A monument to intimidation, or something else?


Physorg
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:38 UTC
Discovered by archaeologists in 1952, a 28-foot-high stone tower discovered on the edge of the town of Jericho has puzzled scientists ever since. Now, 11,000 years after it was built, Tel Aviv University archaeologists at the ancient site Tel Jericho are revealing new facts about the world's first "skyscraper."

Tower Tel Jericho
© American Friends of Tel Aviv University
This is a view of the interior of the tower at Tel Jericho.

Recent computer-based research by doctoral student Roy Liran and Dr. Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University's Jacob M. Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities sheds light on who built the 28-foot-high tower - and why.

The researchers note that this is the first instance of human beings erecting such a tall structure, even before the transition to agriculture and food production in the region. Liran and Dr. Barkai now believe that the tower, which required about ten years to build, is an indication of power struggles at the beginning of the Neolithic period, and that a particular person or people exploited the primeval fears of Jericho's residents in persuading them to build it. The new revelations about the ancient tower were recently published in the journal Antiquity.

"In the newly published article, we present a new and exciting discovery," Liran and Dr. Barkai said in a joint statement, "which is connected to the exact position of the tower on the edges of the village of Jericho, and the shadow that covers the site when the sun sets on the longest day of the year."
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Magnify

Altar of the Twelve Gods sees the Light


ekathimerini.com
Mon, 21 Feb 2011 09:30 UTC
Archaeologists hope to persuade ISAP to stop renovation work that may compromise ancient monument.

Renovation work on the aged Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) on the stretch between the central Athenian neighborhoods of Monastiraki and Thisseio have brought to light one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries of recent years.

Archaeologists believe that remnants found during construction in the area of the Ancient Agora, on the northwestern slope of the Acropolis, belong to the famed Altar of the Twelve Gods, one of Athens's most ancient monuments and a landmark that marked the very center of ancient city, from which all distances were measured -- like an ancient Syntagma Square, which marks the starting point in terms of street numbers.
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Info

Skull in Underwater Cave May Be Earliest Trace of First Americans

Fabio Esteban Amador
National Geographic News Watch
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:00 UTC
Pre-Mayan Find_1
© Daniel Riordan-Araujo
PET/GUE Divers descend into the abyss at Hoyo Negro.
Explorers have discovered what might be the oldest evidence of humans in the Americas.

Alex Alvarez, Franco Attolini, and Alberto (Beto) Nava are members of PET (Projecto Espeleológico de Tulum), an organization that specializes in the exploration and survey of underwater caves on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.

Alex, Franco and Beto have surveyed tens of thousands of feet of mazelike cave passages in the state of Quintana Roo. The team's relatively recent explorations of a large pit named Hoyo Negro (Black Hole, in Spanish), deep within a flooded cave, resulted in their breathtaking and once-in-a-lifetime discovery of the remains of an Ice Age mastodon and a human skull at the very bottom of the black abyss.

Beto recalls the amazing day of the discovery of Hoyo Negro.

"We started the exploration while following the main tunnel and progressed relatively fast by using scooters to cover more terrain.

"After about 1,500 feet [450 meters] we began to see the light of another entrance, so we headed towards it and surfaced.

"After taking a moment to chat and laugh about what a great dive we were having, we dropped down to continue the work."
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Pharoah

Egyptian stolen treasures: Hawass implicated

Kerry Lynn Cassidy
Project Camelot
Sat, 19 Feb 2011 13:10 UTC
Image
© Tara Todras-Whitehill, AP
Flanked by special forces, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass speaks at Cairo's Egyptian Museum last Monday. But did he actually have his loyal thugs steal artifacts then blame it on the protesters?
Translation from Arabic of the YouTube interview with an Egyptian Manager of Antiquity Locations: Nour el din Abdel Samad

First I would like to start by saying he is an employee of the Ministry of Antiquities

[This is my first translation I hope I have done it justice. -- Anonymous Translator]

Note: What follows is a rough translation of the video interview published by the Arabic site: www.alwafd.org.

(Some spelling errors have been corrected however for the most part the translation from Arabic to English has not been professionally proof read).

Click Here to view the original YouTube video interview in Arabic.
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Hardhat

9/11 Truth - Steel Beams Vapourising?


Nila Sagadevan
Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:00 UTC
Some of you may have seen this short clip. I believe it was Judy Wood who brought attention to it some years ago. In the context of recent posts discussing 'exotic' forces, I thought I'd throw it out there...


Comment: If you keep an eye on the steel column which is still standing, it appears to simply vaporise.
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Question

China: Mysterious giant footprints on "Dragon Head's" cliff spark debate

Wang Hanlu
People's Daily Online
Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:07 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Local residents of Shenmu County in China's Shaanxi Province consider a mountain cliff named "Dragon Head" to be a mysterious forbidden place due to some huge footprints of unknown origin. They believe those footprints are the traces of their ancestors or even some gods from Heaven.

Along with the addition of various fictional details, the story of those footprints began spreading to others, and finally caught the attention of reporters, archaeologists and other experts. After careful investigation, they eventually were able to unlock the true story.

Huge footprints on the cliff

Local legends surrounding the footprints started back in 1967, when a man surnamed Qiao went to quarry some stones around his village. When he raised a piece of stone on a cliff, he found a pit in the shape of footprint. Then, he called his neighbors to clean all the stones on the cliff, and they found a line of footprints heading to the edge of the cliff. The scene totally shocked Qiao and his neighbors, and the stories of those special footprints started spreading after that.
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Cow Skull

Found: Human Skulls Used As Drinking Goblets 15,000 Years Ago

Ed Yong
Discover Magazine
Wed, 16 Feb 2011 12:37 UTC
Image
© Unknown

"The skull of Wynric Lance, failed claimant to the throne of Eirea, does not make as good a wine goblet as Lord Shryke had imagined, the despot revealed Monday. "This damn thing is practically impossible to drink out of," said Shryke at a banquet celebrating the defeat of the Army Of Light... Shryke concluded that while he might end up drinking from Lance's skull "occasionally, for show," he plans to retain his set of brass flutes for everyday use." - The Onion

Stock fantasy villains might like to drink from the skulls of their enemies, but the practice has its roots in historical reality. For thousands of years, humans have turned each others' skulls into containers and drinking cups. Now, Silvia Bello from London's Natural History Museum has found the oldest skull-cups ever recorded in a cave in Somerset, England.

Gough's Cave is found in the Cheddar Gorge near Bristol. It's a treasure trove of human remains, including Cheddar Man, the country's oldest complete human skeleton. He lived around 9,000 years ago, but the cave's oldest human fragments date back even further.

These include three skull-cups that Bello recovered in excellent condition. Two belonged to adults and one to a 3-year-old child. All of them were made by the Magdelanian culture, a group of prehistoric people who lived in Western Europe. No one knows how they used the grisly cups, but it's clear that they manufactured them with great control. They all bear a large series of dents and cut-marks that were precisely inflicted.
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