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My brain it is so squishy

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Sometimes I spend so much of the day immersed in world events that blogging about them (at least in great detail) is impossible. I’m sleepy, lack focus and generally have trouble concentrating. Like I said in the title, my brain feels squishy.

There are many things I could easily have written about but did not. The recent terror incidents in Britain, Alan Johnston’s release (hurray!), the Australian crackdown on porn and alcohol in Aboriginal communities… I’m sure there are many more.

Some I simply did not feel like blogging about. Others I had read too much of other people’s opinions to have a coherent one of my own. Does anybody else have this problem?

There are also posts I have toyed with but never committed to the ether. I have shied away from some because I’m reluctant to reveal too much about myself, others because I have been unable to pin down a rational narrative. Perhaps this is procrastination. Perhaps it has a deeper meaning. (Perhaps it means nothing at all.)

My brain it is so squishy. Give me a couple of days and I’ll be better. In the meantime, here are some glorious examples of stop motion:

The Lego Millennium Falcon.

The Lego Trojan War.

Both of which I found while wilfing on Technorati.

Mars attacks

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A major dust storm is causing the Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit to lose power.

It’s a few thousand miles wide and kicking up enough dust to deprive the brave little robot scouts of the sunlight they need for energy. The storm is the most severe since 2004 and means the rovers’ activities are being scaled back for the time being.

While Mars is on your mind, have a look at Reasic’s latest post. It debunks the theory that the planet is warming because of the Sun, which would imply Earth’s climate changes have the same cause.

Madness of King George

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Robert Silvery over on Scholars and Rogues has used July 4 to advocate Americans declare their independence from King George — George Bush. This is because he has placed his friends above the law by commuting Scooter Libby’s prison sentence.

Read his post here.

And while you’re there, check out Keith Olbermann’s special comment on how Bush’s actions mean he has ceased to be the president of the United States and is now the leader of a small part of one party.

In just a few minutes he sums up everything that is wrong with the Bush administration. One of the most powerful sequences I have seen in a long time. J’accuse for a modern era.

The logic train doesn't stop here

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Nepal has fired a living goddess for the heinous, nigh unspeakable crime of visiting the United States.

You read that correctly.

Sajani Shakya is/was one of several kumari, a role held in high esteem by both Hindus and Buddhists. Kumari are chosen between the ages of two and four and stay in the role until they hit puberty. The main kumari is largely kept out of sight in a temple in Kathmandu, although Sajani was allowed to attend school and stay at home.

Although she wasn’t the top kumari, she was high enough in rank to mean she was barred from leaving the country. However, last month she went to several nations promoting a documentary about the living goddesses. Blogger and internet cool dude Andy Carvin met the gadget-loving Sajani during her trip — read about it here.

This AP report quotes officials as saying she was removed from her post for “breaking with tradition”. A task force is now seeking — yes, you also read THAT correctly — a new kumari.

How does one fire a goddess? Surely they are what they are, and no committee or government department can decide otherwise (although they do decide who the kumari is depending on tests and various criteria).

Nepalese teaching is that these girls are incarnations of the goddess Taleju, who supposedly leaves the child’s body when she has her first period or suffers serious injury/illness.

I claim no great understanding of Hindu or Buddhist teaching. But what has menstruation got to do with sanctity? Who decided the living goddesses are no longer goddesses after this point?

Ancient tooth

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Palaeontologists have found what may be the oldest human fossil in western Europe — a 1.2 million-year-old tooth.

It was unearthed at a site in Atapuerca, northern Spain. The Atapuerca Foundation said:

“The tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of western Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated tools more than one million years ago. Since it is an isolated fossil remain, it is not possible at this point to confirm which Homo species this tooth belongs to,” but first analyses “allow us to suppose it is an ancestor of Homo antecessor.”

This is believed to either be the same or an ancestor species to Homo heidelbergensis, which lived in Europe from 600,000-250,000 years ago. It has been put forward as a common ancestor to Neanderthals and modern humans (Homo sapiens). I lack the anthropological background to favour or discredit this theory.

Read the rest of the tooth story here.

Landmarks

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Humans are funny creatures. We want to see patterns in everything as we strive to find order amidst chaos.

I didn’t think I would get to 100 posts so quickly. Nor did I think I’d log on this morning and find I had attracted 666 visitors.

So I fired up WordPress and settled down to write something special to mark these occasions.

Unfortunately I found myself devoid of inspiration.

But it’s strange how I saw those two figures and considered them significant. Perhaps its symptomatic of how we are conditioned as people.

The contrast struck me most.

This post is number 100, which is supposed to be a good thing. And yet it’s written in the shadow of visitor 666, which is supposedly an evil number (read Revelations for the source of this notion).

I’m not a particularly superstitious person and so I looked on 666 as nothing more than a quirky coincidence. Plus I like to think I’m a nice guy — ladies if you think otherwise let me know what I can do to remedy the situation! — so I didn’t take it as a reflection on myself and certainly not on my anonymous visitor.

And yet I found the 100 to be a landmark, a sense of achievement. I’m still very new to the blogosphere and readily admit I’m still finding my feet. But the number of posts snuck up on me; to be frank I wasn’t sure I’d hit the number at all let alone do it in just a couple of months.

The focus of the blog has meandered somewhat since April 19. I began with the intention of looking at world events and how they can be significant to people everywhere — I called my blog tinyplanet because something that happens on the other side of the planet can be immediately relevant to everyone. Communication, transport and economic links are such that the world really isn’t that big any more.

Along the way I got sidetracked by all the weird and wonderful things that happen on our beloved planet screwball and wanted to share them. Hopefully you don’t hold it against me. 🙂

Expect more international analysis and commentary in the weeks to come. I’m getting back into the rhythm of writing whole articles in a short space of time and having a blast. But that doesn’t mean I’ll have lost my taste for the unusual.

We’ve barely started on a long and interesting road. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

David

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