Seen Elsewhere

Can you guess what it is yet?

ID Advocates Trivialize Holocaust Pat Hayes at Red State Rabble puts his finger on the Darwin leads to Hitler claim. It not the insult to Darwin, though slandering the dead isn’t my idea of a good argument. It’s the use of the Holocaust as a toy to beat people with in a childish way. He links to a series of Hitler quotes he takes the best, but this one is also a problem:

Protestantism as such is a better defender of the interests of Germanism, in so far as this is grounded in its genesis and later tradition; it fails, however, in the moment when this defense of national interests must take place in a province which is either absent from the general line of its ideological world and traditional development, or is for some reason rejected.

Mein Kampf

By the logic the Christian fundamentalists in America this would mean Protestantism needs to be eliminated. It’s clearly not the case. I don’t see that Protestantism or Christianity as a whole necessarily leads to anti-semitism. Yet by claiming that Darwin inspired Hitler the fundamentalists ignore that there is something rotten at the heart of some strands of Christianity. Its an attitude that incubates anti-semitism and protects it from society.

Heritage Malta Via the Times of Malta, I’ve found this site on Maltese heritage. I’m making a note of it as Malta is somewhere I’ve never been. It’s the Neolithic temples that grab the attention, but the place is a palimpsest of all periods.

Nepalese Women Strip to Please Indra!!! Women did you know if there’s a drought it’s your fault? Our Dream- a Prosperous Nepal reports on an attempt to allieviate the drought. The women stripped off and sure enough there was a slight shower. Prurient, but if I tell you they have the photos to prove it would more people click through? They don’t. Or do they?

Actually if you look further round the site it’s fascinating. Plenty of amazing photos and interesting articles about a country which I only ever hear of in connection with Everest and murders. If you’re wondering how I found it, it was tagged Education, which is the point of the article. More education about the water cycle means fewer naked women risking catching a chill.

No news yet as to whether or not naked men put an end to monsoons.

Ancient Indian Astronomers At Yatra, Pradeep quite rightly points out my coverage of Indian astronomy is abysmal. There’s a couple of reasons for that. One is that I don’t know enough Indian history. So far I’ve seriously looked at the past Europe, South America and to a lesser extent other places apart from Asia. Indian history is based on a collection of terrifically rich sources, and I’m wary of doing it badly. Another reason is the complexity of the astronomy. Often claims are made of astononishing accuracy, but in the case of the Indians these claims tend to stand up. This post gives an overview of the huge area I’m missing out on. Pre-emptively, the above also goes for China and Babylon.

That’s no moon… Brief, informative and a killer last sentence.

Restoration Village online, oh, and on BBC Two too The BBC is quietly launching an online revolution. Their Creative Archive Licence sites are great and Graham Bennett has news of relevant history content. It will be possible to put clips from selected BBC TV programmes online – though at the moment they’d also have to be pulled after a specific date – so not quite as helpful as the Creative Archive yet.

BBC World A different arm of Auntie is up to some interesting work. Did the image at the top make any sense? Not to me it didn’t until you see it alongside the other BBC World Adverts. This site really appeals to the failed artist in me. The Lego ads are great too.

The relevance of Classical Studies in the Modern World Bob and/or Kate at An Analysis of Life look at a recent article in the Times on the subject.

How to Spot Bad Science a Mile Away Via Todd’s Hammer, who has more to say on the subject. That’s Todd not the hammer. A handy guide to a blossoming field, or another blow for microfascism?

Thank You For Polluting Usually SEED leaves me cold and I can’t tell you why. It’s not a bad magazine and this article on the Nevada Gubnatorial races shows that. Local American politics should be the height of obscurity, but Chris Mooney brings out the issues very well in this tale of why honesty matters.

I.Clavdivs Finally Stuff-O-Rama writes about why Clavdivs is so brilliant. I’ve never had chance to watch it – but you’d never catch me admitting that. It would seriously damage my classics-cred.