DNA Shows Neanderthals and Humans Did Mate and Mingle

For ages, humans and their scientists have denied that Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens have interbred - yet my own intuition always kept signalling: They Did!

Said intuition based itself mainly on the fact that looking around myself while traveling six times around the world, I kept seeing people and faces that looked very Neanderthal - myself included. Even more funny, I was born just a few kilometers away from the geographical Neanderthal, and I went there - in my youth - quite often to visit the Neanderthal Museum.

And now, with the latest research by Professor Svante Paabo, it looks like that the white-skinned and red-haired Neanderthals did welcome their counterparts who arrived from Africa. It was a mistake, of course, because the meeting resulted - apart from sex - in the extinction of Homo neanderthalensis; except for the mixed breed of kids resulting from the unions.

Detailed info in Times OnLine article (October 25, 2009)
Image Source: Chattahbox - no further credits available.

Zen in the Art of Make-Up

Found a beautiful video at The Guardian, which shows and talks about the incredible artwork by make-up artist Alex Box.

The two images you see here have been taken from that video. They are - naturally - copyright of the artist and/or photographer, but I want to show them here so you have an expectation of what you'll see - if you share my enthusiasm.
Alex Box, at least as far as make-up goes (I don't know anything about her than what's in the video), is clearly someone who thinks outside the box - and that quality is something I surely do appreciate.

It's certainly not the type of make-up I see people use in the village I live in, but I'd sure appreciate to see faces like these in reality.

Related Book: Alex Box - The Make Up Artist
Photography: Copyright © Rankin

The Art of Discrimination

Nowadays, the term discrimination is most often seen as something wrong, negative, chauvinist ... you name it. It's a pity that this has happened, because discrimination is - in fact - one of the most important forms of thinking and intuiting. To be able to discriminate is not only important in perceiving the world more or less correctly, it is actually needed for our very survival.

One is, for example, well advised to discriminate between eating food that is nutritious and healthy - and stuff that poses as food while it actually consists of garbage, plastic and poisons. One also does well to discriminate between vampire-like people who zap one's energy by being both selfish and stupid, and others who aid one's development, honestly share opinions and insights, offer respect and friendship; perhaps even agape of some kind.

However, intelligent discrimination does need nurturing, training, education ... it is almost as difficult as it is for the young girl in this photograph to climb those stairs in the equatorial heat; carrying water to her home in the village on top.

With the following quote, I like to provide an example of how difficult discrimination can be, but also how important for our perception of what is called reality.

Try to make up your mind whether or not the following resembles fiction rather than reality, is misguided conspiracy fantasy or honest assessment of a situation by a daring mind.

"(He) had had too many dealings with the idiots on Capitol Hill to feel anything but contempt for them. Those whose arteries weren't already sufficiently hardened to cut off oxygen to their brains were so venal they never managed to get their snouts out the river of graft that year after year granted them certain return to their privileged sinecures."

And let me remind you that it says Capitol Hill only because the author of this is an American - if another name suits you better, please do exchange it when thinking about this.

Photograph: Village on Nias (Indonesia). Copyright © CCRCC
Quote: Eric Lustbader. Black Blade. London, 1997 (page 613)

This is the World We Live In ...

I've always known that this our species, Homo sapiens, is a dangerous one. In fact, there's a sign out there in space (when you approach this Solar System) that actually reads: Planet Earth - Attention! Species is Armed and Dangerous!
I've also suspected for quite some time that ours is a species that falsely regards itself as the pinnacle of evolution, although many members are not actually fit to vote, to have children, to understand the most basic principles of right and wrong, the difference between knowing and believing.

If I had the time, I could present daily proof of these allegations, but time - here on Earth in the 7th or 8th millennium of patriarchy - is too valuable a commodity.

Once in a while, however, I read something along these lines that I really need to share with others (sharing is good, I've heard, for both parties involved: You and Me).
The BBC article Hi-tech Holy Water Calms Flu Fear is one such item, and I really don't mean to smear the BBC - they are just reporting on the Cosmic Madhouse we're living in.
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Image thanks to the incredible artist/designer David Dees

Indiginous Energy ... in You and Me

The image at left is a design of mine for the film Modern Tribalism.
Alas, not every design one makes is being used, and low-fi filmworks
has used something else. Still, I do recommend the film.

Here's a bit of text spoken in the film:

There is indiginous energy in the modern person; an energy that has been sitting there for so long that it's really getting tired of being forgotten and left alone like that ...

And here's the official synopsis:
Journey into America's primitive soul in this "graphic, unflinching and startlingly touching" (L.A. Weekly) documentary about the resurgence of humanity's oldest and most intense rituals. From garden-variety tattooing, to frenzied effigy-burning festivals, to the disturbing extremes of body-piercing, Modern Tribalism explores the cultural context surrounding this underground movement.

And there's a trailer available right here.