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Monday, December 27, 2010

The Mahabharata... Fact or Fiction?

The Mahabharata is one of the longest poems in the world and is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India, the other being the Ramayana. This particular epic is part of the Hindu history.

Besides its epic narrative of the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the Kauravas and the Pandavas, the Mahabharata (whether absolute fact or utter fiction) contains much philosophical and devotional material, such as a discussion of the four "goals of life" (right action, purpose, pleasure, and liberation). Among the principal works and stories that are a part of the Mahabharata are: the Bhagavad Gita (a sacred text outlining the key tenets of Hinduism), the story of Damayanti, an abbreviated version of the Ramayana, and the Rishyasringa, often considered as works in their own right.

The works of the Mahabharata was originally attributed to the scribe Vyasa. However, this lengthy, ongoing poem of mythical madness was most likely composed by several writers between the 8th century BCE and the 4th century CE (a mere estimation of the time frame). Perhaps this is why many people still question if it was fictional, factual, or a mixture of both fiction and fact; blah! To read more about it via the elaborate version, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahabharata

The reason why such a subject lands on this myths, legends, and folklore blog, is because the Mahabharata is a story of gods, demigods and men. Many people believe that the demigods and gods in this ancient manuscript were actually ancient astronauts who battled among each other for possession of this lovely blue planet known as Earth. In the past, I re-typed and/or copied a short story that covered this very same subject, and it was entitled "Ancient Star Wars." And you can find it here: http://www.perpendicularity.org/star-wars.html [link is no longer active]

Did the writings within the Mahabharata provide grammatical evidence of atomic warfare that occurred in our distant past? After reading the short story about ancient star wars, the weapons described in the Mahabharata didn't sound so primitive after all. It is an interesting concept to think about, to say the very least. Who knows for sure? Sometimes you're better off just using your creative imagination while leaving the rest for the pseudo-scientific creatures of today to pretend that they can unravel such things from ancient history... As the last part of the title asks: Fact or fiction??? Yeah, go get 'em, fellow brainiacs of ultimate knowledge and know-how... Either way, it sounds like this place has been under conflict from the very start. Cheers! Ha-ha!

---End of Post 'The Mahabharata... Fact or Fiction?'


Semi-related Post: "Beowulf - Fact or Fiction?"

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Interbreeding Species of Ancient Humans

I recently read an article over a newly discovered species of humans that could have performed a few interbreeding activities with some our ancient ancestors. It goes on to say:
"Scientists say an entirely separate type of human identified from bones in Siberia co-existed and interbred with our own species. The ancient humans have been dubbed Denisovans after the caves in Siberia where their remains were found. There is also evidence that this group was widespread in Eurasia. A study in Nature journal shows that Denisovans co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our species - perhaps around 50,000 years ago." Read more, here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12059564

This reminds me of a few years ago, when they discovered a dwarf-like humanoid/chimp called the "Homo floresiensis." There was lots of debate there, and some people thought that it was a dwarfed version of the evolving humanoid, but later they started to see that the evidence led to what I originally thought a few years ago, and that being it was a separate species all together. By what I read and seen back then, when it first hit the media, the Homo floresiensis was more closely related to a monkey than anything else. I just looked at it as an advanced midget ape with keen survival skills and stumbled along into something else without giving it much thought. I just don't waste time pondering over trivial stuff.

Anyway, back to the original subject concerning the Denisovans: What makes this so mysterious, is the missing link between Homo Erectus, Neanderthals, Denisovans (the ones spoke about in that article link) and the Homo sapiens (the species of today). It seems that all the other species quickly disappear after the Homo sapiens arrived at this beautiful scene hosted by planet Earth. Some folks get creative and even go as far as saying that aliens from another planet came down here and altered the DNA of the Homo Erectus by interbreeding it with more advanced beings or by performing genetic alterations by using some advanced form of science, to create the Homo sapiens. Then again, you'll have the creationists battling the evolutionists in what is or isn't possible.
I must say, though, when it comes to macro-evolution theories, their concepts of speciation do seem to be quite asinine, to say the least!
At any rate, when it comes to today's humanoids, the interest levels over subjects like this, often splits into 4 groups:
1) Scientists, 2) Religionists/Creationists, 3) Creative open-minded thinkers, and 4) the ones who just don't give a crap either way, as long as they got plenty food to eat and various forms of entertainment at hand.

I once wrote about a related subject, here:  "Theory of Evolution: Where is the Missing Link between Homo erectus & Homo sapiens" [Link is temporarily inactive.]

At times, when researching the origins of life and our ancient ancestors, it can be perplexing and hilarious all at the same time. At any rate, no one actually knows for sure just what all could have happened in the past, but it makes for some excellent debate, arguments, stories, and science fiction tales or flicks. Hey, I just thought of a movie that sort of relates to this subject, well, in an inverted way. Ha-ha!

---'Click Here' to Search for 'Planet of the Apes' DVDs

Woot-woot!  ---End of Post 'Interbreeding Species of Ancient Humans'

Monday, December 20, 2010

...Other Sacred Rocks & Stones

Recently, I did a post about the sacred rock formation of Uluru (Ayers Rock). Today, I thought that it would be nice to add a "Part 2" to this subject and mention a few other sacred rocks & stones. Of course, there are many more mysterious stones and rocks on this planet, but I'll just add them to this blog sporadically. 

Speaking of mythical mysteries, I was going to also provide images and information about the "Dropa Stones" on this post, but after finding a lot of questionable, duplicated content that stemmed from the two main Dropa stories that are commonly found on the Internet with no solid evidence whatsoever, I decided to omit that from this subject. If you're wondering, the Dropa stones supposedly were discovered in caves and contained information that was written by aliens who crash-landed on this planet via a misguided, malfunctioning space probe. They were unable to repair their spaceship, and they either all died or got killed off by the humanoids who labeled them as short, big-eyed, yellow skinned ugly people, or a few survivors may have made it and formed a tribe of these "short, big-eyed people" that lived here long ago, yada-yada, blah-blah, and the story goes on without any real anything. However, subjects like that are always worthy of appearing on a myths, legends, & folklore blog, such as this one, but the Dropa dung will not get a separate post with a title - due to the cloudy tales & legends that I read about online... Enough said; if you're interested, do your own web search over that particular subject. Anyway... 

Below, I'll provide a few pics with a brief description that relate to other sacred rocks & stones found on this lovely blue planet. 

Carnac Stones: The Carnac stones are an exceptionally dense collection of megalithic sites around the French village of Carnac, in Brittany, consisting of alignments, dolmens, tumuli and single menhirs. 3,000 (or more) prehistoric standing stones were hewn from local rock and erected by the pre-Celtic people of Brittany, and are the largest such collection in the world. Local tradition (legends, myths, and folklore) claims that the reason they stand in such perfectly straight lines is that they are a Roman legion turned to stone by Merlin or Saint Cornelius – Brittany has its own local versions of the Arthurian cycle. A Christian legend associated with the stones held that they were pagan soldiers in pursuit of Pope Cornelius when he turned them to stone. The exact reason for these stones is uncertain, but many believe they may have had some astrological purpose, especially since they run from east to west. At times, when looking at the aerial shots, it just looks like a big graveyard to me, but surely they had more purpose than being massive tombstones. Anyway, read more about these sacred stones, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnac_stones

The 3 major groups of Carnac stone rows, as shown below; click to enlarge:

This area also has several dolmens, and are generally thought to have been tombs... I'll provide an image of one below, for an example:

[ Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crucuno_dolmen.jpg ] 

Stonehenge: Around 5,000 years old or more, the Stonehenge in England is a temple-like complex centered around a ring of heavy stones. The exact purpose of such alignment, still remains a mystery today...

Easter Island Statues: Some of these sacred stone heads weigh up to 6 tons each. Rows of these mysterious statues face out towards the sea from Easter Island in the Southern Pacific. It is amazing enough that they carved so many, but most of the astonishment arises when thinking about how they moved such large stones/rocks around...and why??? The purpose for these stones is not certain, but many believe that they represent their ancestors.

  [ Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AhuTongariki.JPG ]

  Related pictorial link, featuring ancient, sacred rocks & stones: "The Lost City of the Incas," http://www.perpendicularity.org/machu-picchu.html. [Link is no longer active]

---End of Post

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Is Silicon-based life possible?

Well, by our current Earth-bound understanding of science, the typical answer is: "No, it is not possible, but it makes for great science fiction movies."

I asked this question, with silicon being the base for another possible life-form, because that seems to be the most popular suggestion out of all the elements we know about. Personally, I'm more curious about there being life based on other elements that we don't know about or haven't discovered - that is possibly out there, in ample amounts, somewhere in the universe.

Instead of me typing a bunch of subjective opinions that I generally enjoy doing, mainly on other websites and blogs of mine, I'll just provide a couple resources that are not supporting the theory of silicon-based life, but their reasons may provide even more questions and possibilities, depending on your imagination.

Resources:
1) Conceivably, some strange life-forms might be built from silicone-like substances were it not for an apparently fatal flaw in silicon's biological credentials. This is its powerful affinity for oxygen. When carbon is oxidized during the respiratory process of a terrestrial organism, it becomes the gas carbon dioxide – a waste material that is easy for a creature to remove from its body. The oxidation of silicon, however, yields a solid because, immediately upon formation, silicon dioxide organizes itself into a lattice in which each silicon atom is surrounded by four oxygens. Disposing of such a substance would pose a major respiratory challenge.
Read more, here: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/S/siliconlife.html

2) Silicon biochemistry: The most commonly proposed basis for an alternative biochemical system is the silicon atom, since silicon has many chemical properties similar to carbon and is in the same periodic table group, the carbon group. Like carbon, silicon can create molecules that are sufficiently large to carry biological information. However, silicon has several drawbacks as a carbon alternative. Silicon, unlike carbon, lacks the ability to form chemical bonds with diverse types of atoms, which permits the chemical versatility necessary for metabolism.
Read more about this and other exotic element-based biochemistries, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry

Okay, now back to the original query, "Is Silicon-based life possible?" This concept has been applied to many fantasy and sci-fi flicks. For example, the original Star Trek series, episode 26, had a show that featured a silicon-based being. This particular show was called "Devil in the Dark." The Horta (a silicon-based life-form) is discovered by miners on Janus VI and every 50,000 years, all the Horta die except for one individual who survives to look after the eggs of the next generation. Anyway, the point is, on a planet with a totally different chemistry and available elements (many elements that could possibly be unknown to us), it is a plausible theory that life may not necessarily have to be limited to the carbon-based category.

Conclusion:
I suppose that I could have changed the title of this post to "Does all life have to be carbon-based?" and it would have had the same effect.  Hell, forget about the silicon-based life theories and the doubts therein. Just think about the possibility of all the other exotic elements that we may not even be aware of, that could exist deep within the cosmos. When it comes to the marvels of life itself, the mystery in what makes life possible, and the amazingly stupendous amounts of various types of life that we do know about on this beautiful planet, I'd say that anything could be possible elsewhere...

---End of Post "Is Silicon-based life possible?"

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Incas - Sky Gods

  Just as there have been many various types of civilizations throughout time on planet Earth, there have also been many different gods worshipped by the dwellers therein. The Incas were known to be "people of the sun" and they were also very into the notion of "Sky Gods," as well. 

This sort of stuff just reminds me of how people think without knowing a science behind things. I'm not saying that there isn't a force or a higher being or beings behind some things, but then again, what is so mysterious about that? Hell, I'd hate to know that the Homo sapiens on planet Earth are the most advanced race in the universe. Now that's a scary thought... Ha-ha! 

Anyway, if a person didn't know any better and they heard a loud thunder, for example, what else would they have thought back then? The same applies to lightning and all the other creative activity that happens in the sky, hence forth the "Sky Gods" in full mythical force. 

The Incas main divinity, as far as existence is concerned, was Viracocha, and was the great creator god in the pre-Inca and Inca mythology in the Andes region of South America. Viracocha was one of the most important deities in the Inca pantheon and the Incas believed that this deity was the creator of all things, or the source from which all things derived from, and this particular Inca god was also associated with the sea in an intrinsic fashion. Obviously, the ancient Incas believed that Viracocha created the universe, sun, moon, stars, time (by commanding the sun to move over the sky) and civilization itself, as would most people who worship creator gods under any name.

Inti was the Incan sun god, the ruler of the daytime. This may have been the most important god of the Incas, as far as daily living is concerned, for very apparent reasons (we all need the sun, ya know...).

Mama Kilya, also known as Mama Quilla, was the moon goddess and ruler of the night. One could say that the Incas looked at Inti as the divine male and Mama Kilya as the divine female. Also, they represented Inti with gold and Mama Quilla with silver.

Illapu, also known as Illapa, was the Incan thunder god. Illapu was also known as the provider of rain, and they often prayed for such things, since rain is a necessary thing, duh...

I just read in a mythology book that mentioned some deity called "Chuichu." It said that the Incas believed in a rainbow god that was a two-headed dragon-like deity called Chuichu. They knew that the rainbow somehow related to the sun or the sun's rays, but due to the lack of understanding back then, which is understandable, they couldn't figure it out - so why not just label it as a god, since it is simpler to blame it on a god-like being, ya know...

Additional Link: Incas - Aliens & Ancient Astronauts [Link is no longer active]

---End of Post "Incas - Sky Gods"

Monday, December 13, 2010

Sacred Ayers Rock - Uluru

   Found within the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia, this particular rock formation is very sacred to the aboriginal people. Ayers rock, also known as "Uluru," has many caves, springs, ancient artwork, waterholes, and so on. The Aborigines believe that the rock caves found inside the Uluru have spiritual significance. This mighty sandstone has been weathered over time, but still stands 1,142 feet above the plains and is an incredible 5.8 miles around (the circumference). 

Ayers rock often seems to change color, depending on the angle of the sun, with its most attractive moment being during sunsets, as it often appears to glow red. 

Image of the Uluru, below:

As with most subjects that deal with ancient times & history, the Sacred Ayers Rock comes with many myths & legends. For example: The sacred Uluru is in the middle of the Simpson Desert. Even though it appears to just be a giant land mass in the middle of a desert, the Aborigines think of it as a symbol of all creation. There is an Aborigine legend that Uluru was once an ocean, but after a great battle at its shores, it rose up in revolt at the bloodshed, forming the great blood-colored rock that you often see glow red, during sunset, like I mentioned before. 

Every feature on Ayers Rock has a special meaning to these people, such as: a pair of holes are the eyes of an ancestor; a mark down the side is the blood of the "venomous snake people," shed in a battle, and on and on and on... As you can see, I'm stopping right there and I'm not about to get into all the myths, legends, and folklore that spawned from the Uluru - as this post would become too large.

Australian Aboriginal Proverb: "We are all visitors to this time, this place... Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love and then we return home."

At any rate, I just wanted to drop down a couple images of this sacred, massive chunk of a rock formation, as it is still very interesting to look at...

---Side Note: If you're interested in traveling and/or taking a vacation near this sacred rock formation, visit: http://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/ 

-Ayers Rock Resort website says: "With over 65 tours, local activities and attractions within the Resort and the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, your days will be action-packed. Ride a camel across the desert dunes. Hop on a Harley, or embark on a base walk of Uluru (Ayers Rock).

That travel website also has lots of resources, galleries, stories, etc. I just seen an interesting page on there called "5 fascinating critters to find in Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park." The 5 listed were: Brush-Tail Mulgara, Splendid Fairy-Wren, Blue-Tongued Lizard, Rufous Hare-Wallaby, and the Thorny Devil. But then again, if you're more interested in exotic creatures, you should probably head on over to the Nature & Wildlife Blog. Anyway, I'm just rambling now...

 ---End of Post "Sacred Ayers Rock - Uluru"