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LAW PUNDIT Saturday, February 28, 2009 2/28/2009 04:57:00 PM [Home]
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Oil & Gas Cartels and American Inertia on Energy Issues : Major Culprits for the Current Economic Situation in the World?
OIL?
Nothing is as it seems in this world, not even a "barrel" of oil. Look at this 55-gallon steel drum used to transport oil. Is it a "barrel of oil?" Find out below.
Everyone talks about the economy, but no one does anything about it. To get the world back on the road to economic recovery, we have to know something about how the world economy works. For example, ENERGY, and especially oil is a big issue.
Everyone talks about energy, but who knows even the most BASIC facts about it?
YOU do?
Let's try some simple questions about OIL. You will find the answers further below.
Questions about Oil
1. About how many barrels of oil are used up daily in the world? How many are consumed in the USA? What percentage of total oil consumption in the USA is accounted for by gasoline? Try to guess approximate figures if you do not know them.
2. How many U.S. gallons, or liters (litres), or British imperial gallons are found in ONE barrel of crude oil.
3) How does the price of a "barrel of oil" relate to the steel drum in which oil is actually transported? Explain.
4) In what year did U.S. oil production hit its peak?
5) What political consequences followed? - that are still with us today.
Answers about Oil
1. 80 to 90 million barrels of oil are consumed worldwide per day. U.S. consumption is calculated at 20 to 25% of world oil production, and about half of all U.S. oil consumption is gasoline. WAY TOO HIGH. Oil in the U.S. has to be increasingly imported since the USA relies almost 60% (!) on imports. Does that have some impact on the "economic freedom" of Americans? You bet it does.
2. The price of a barrel of oil is based on a barrel of 42 gallons, equivalent to 158.9873 liters (litres) or 34.9723 Imperial (UK) gallons, but those volumes are for calculation purposes only. Years ago, oil was transported in 42 gallon barrels, but not any more.
3. Oil is now transported in steel drums of 55 U.S.gallons. Music freaks will enjoy knowing that the 55-gallon steel drum has also become the de facto standard sized steelpan. In the early days of the oil business, Standard Oil used the 42 gallon barrel, which became the standard, only to be replaced as far as transport is concerned by the 55-gallon steel drum, a consequence of U.S. military shipping requirements during World War II. But the 42 gallon barrel was retained as a calculation basis.
4. US oil production peaked in 1970. U.S. oil production at that time was 25% or 1/4th of the world market, whereas the U.S. currently produces only ca. 12.5% or 1/8th of the world market.
5. Oil prices rise whenever demand exceeds supply, a situation which the oil-producing cartels try to control by cutting or stagnating production arbitrarily as they wish, which leads to oil price increases.
From the years 1948 to 1972, the price of oil remained steady at about $3 per barrel.
Although the use of oil as an instrument of political control in the world began organizationally with the formation of OPEC in 1960, the defining point was hit in 1970's when United States oil production started to drop as a percentage of world oil production.
The USA had put itself in the unenviable position of being reliant upon the oil cartels. As written at WTRG Economics by James L. Williams, this became politically clear in 1972:
Oil has remained a political football since that period. As more and more oil had to be imported by the United States and as U.S. policies ran counter to the oil cartel countries, the price of oil has sky-rocketed, and this has been followed by comparable price increases in consumer goods that are produced using petroleum products or oil-based energy (just about everything). The current economic recession is just the logical end result of a price push policy by the oil cartels, which has led to prices for consumer goods such as homes that are far removed from the normal economic realities.
But not just the oil cartels, but also America itself is greatly to blame for the current economic situation. Nothing had been able in the last 40 years to move Americans to change their greatly exaggerated over-consumption of energy.
American automobile manufacturers continued to produce technically outdated gas-guzzling cars, while at the same time, car manufacturers and drivers in Europe, for example, moved toward smaller vehicles with lower gasoline (petrol) consumption. Furthermore, U.S. federal and state governments failed to increase taxes on gasoline to European levels, thus providing people in the United States with no incentive to adopt sensible energy consumption habits.
America's energy woes are thus in large part its own doing. This pattern continued until 2008, when the price of oil rose to an extraterrestrial high, 50 TIMES the price of oil in 1972, topping out at $147 a barrel on July 11, 2008. The price of gasoline (petrol) topped $4 per gallon, and finally, it appears, America had gotten the message. It had an ENERGY PROBLEM. It was a SHOCK.
People started to change their thinking, AND their behavior. They started to take vacations closer to home. They drove their cars less. They thought no longer about buying gigantic gas-guzzling SUVs but started looking at more economical vehicles, or considered not buying a new car at all. Rather than opting for gradual and intelligent change, America had opted for the "now or never" sudden flash, and they got it and are now in the middle of a forced restructuring of an economy that should have been renovated slowly already during the last 40 years, but was not.
The inevitable change in consumer behavior, more than any subprime catastrophe or bank failure itself, is at the heart of the current economic recession in the United States. Consumers have not only stopped spending like there was no tomorrow. They have stopped spending, period. The major culprits for this change of heart are the oil and energy cartels and American energy inertia, which has irresponsibly permitted the price of oil to reach levels that put fear and a lack of trust into the hearts of consumers around the world. And once such fear has been established, it is very difficult to replace it with anything else.
Nor have events in other energy spheres other than oil helped the situation. When energy giants such as Russia cut off gas supplies to European countries in the middle of winter because of a contract dispute with the Ukraine, as happened less than two months ago, you know you have a serious world political problem involving a lack of sovereignty because of energy dependence. It has put people on the alert. Trust in governments and institutions is at a low ebb. Fear and anger are the pervading emotions.
Even the oil cartels are suffering. Due to the outrageously high price of oil in 2008, demand for oil fell in 2008 for the first time in 25 years and is expected to fall even further in 2009. The foundations of the world economy have been badly shaken and every country that does not want to exist at the whim of the oil cartels is looking for alternative solutions.
In the meantime, here in Germany, the construction of windmills as alternative sources of energy and the production of biofuels to replace oil, gas and gasoline (petrol) is proceeding at an accelerated pace. The writing is on the wall. The oil cartels have nearly killed the golden goose. Only when fear is eradicated and trust is reestablished will things improve, and that is going to take a while. Right now the world is in a panic that will take strong measures to reverse.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/28/2009 04:57:00 PM
Oil & Gas Cartels and American Inertia on Energy Issues : Major Culprits for the Current Economic Situation in the World?
OIL?
Nothing is as it seems in this world, not even a "barrel" of oil. Look at this 55-gallon steel drum used to transport oil. Is it a "barrel of oil?" Find out below.
Everyone talks about the economy, but no one does anything about it. To get the world back on the road to economic recovery, we have to know something about how the world economy works. For example, ENERGY, and especially oil is a big issue.
Everyone talks about energy, but who knows even the most BASIC facts about it?
YOU do?
Let's try some simple questions about OIL. You will find the answers further below.
Questions about Oil
1. About how many barrels of oil are used up daily in the world? How many are consumed in the USA? What percentage of total oil consumption in the USA is accounted for by gasoline? Try to guess approximate figures if you do not know them.
2. How many U.S. gallons, or liters (litres), or British imperial gallons are found in ONE barrel of crude oil.
3) How does the price of a "barrel of oil" relate to the steel drum in which oil is actually transported? Explain.
4) In what year did U.S. oil production hit its peak?
5) What political consequences followed? - that are still with us today.
Answers about Oil
1. 80 to 90 million barrels of oil are consumed worldwide per day. U.S. consumption is calculated at 20 to 25% of world oil production, and about half of all U.S. oil consumption is gasoline. WAY TOO HIGH. Oil in the U.S. has to be increasingly imported since the USA relies almost 60% (!) on imports. Does that have some impact on the "economic freedom" of Americans? You bet it does.
2. The price of a barrel of oil is based on a barrel of 42 gallons, equivalent to 158.9873 liters (litres) or 34.9723 Imperial (UK) gallons, but those volumes are for calculation purposes only. Years ago, oil was transported in 42 gallon barrels, but not any more.
3. Oil is now transported in steel drums of 55 U.S.gallons. Music freaks will enjoy knowing that the 55-gallon steel drum has also become the de facto standard sized steelpan. In the early days of the oil business, Standard Oil used the 42 gallon barrel, which became the standard, only to be replaced as far as transport is concerned by the 55-gallon steel drum, a consequence of U.S. military shipping requirements during World War II. But the 42 gallon barrel was retained as a calculation basis.
4. US oil production peaked in 1970. U.S. oil production at that time was 25% or 1/4th of the world market, whereas the U.S. currently produces only ca. 12.5% or 1/8th of the world market.
5. Oil prices rise whenever demand exceeds supply, a situation which the oil-producing cartels try to control by cutting or stagnating production arbitrarily as they wish, which leads to oil price increases.
From the years 1948 to 1972, the price of oil remained steady at about $3 per barrel.
Although the use of oil as an instrument of political control in the world began organizationally with the formation of OPEC in 1960, the defining point was hit in 1970's when United States oil production started to drop as a percentage of world oil production.
The USA had put itself in the unenviable position of being reliant upon the oil cartels. As written at WTRG Economics by James L. Williams, this became politically clear in 1972:
"[W]hen the price of crude oil was about $3.00 per barrel and by the end of 1974 the price of oil had quadrupled to over $12.00. The Yom Kippur War started with an attack on Israel by Syria and Egypt on October 5, 1973. The United States and many countries in the western world showed support for Israel. As a result of this support several Arab exporting nations imposed an embargo on the countries supporting Israel."
Oil has remained a political football since that period. As more and more oil had to be imported by the United States and as U.S. policies ran counter to the oil cartel countries, the price of oil has sky-rocketed, and this has been followed by comparable price increases in consumer goods that are produced using petroleum products or oil-based energy (just about everything). The current economic recession is just the logical end result of a price push policy by the oil cartels, which has led to prices for consumer goods such as homes that are far removed from the normal economic realities.
But not just the oil cartels, but also America itself is greatly to blame for the current economic situation. Nothing had been able in the last 40 years to move Americans to change their greatly exaggerated over-consumption of energy.
American automobile manufacturers continued to produce technically outdated gas-guzzling cars, while at the same time, car manufacturers and drivers in Europe, for example, moved toward smaller vehicles with lower gasoline (petrol) consumption. Furthermore, U.S. federal and state governments failed to increase taxes on gasoline to European levels, thus providing people in the United States with no incentive to adopt sensible energy consumption habits.
America's energy woes are thus in large part its own doing. This pattern continued until 2008, when the price of oil rose to an extraterrestrial high, 50 TIMES the price of oil in 1972, topping out at $147 a barrel on July 11, 2008. The price of gasoline (petrol) topped $4 per gallon, and finally, it appears, America had gotten the message. It had an ENERGY PROBLEM. It was a SHOCK.
People started to change their thinking, AND their behavior. They started to take vacations closer to home. They drove their cars less. They thought no longer about buying gigantic gas-guzzling SUVs but started looking at more economical vehicles, or considered not buying a new car at all. Rather than opting for gradual and intelligent change, America had opted for the "now or never" sudden flash, and they got it and are now in the middle of a forced restructuring of an economy that should have been renovated slowly already during the last 40 years, but was not.
The inevitable change in consumer behavior, more than any subprime catastrophe or bank failure itself, is at the heart of the current economic recession in the United States. Consumers have not only stopped spending like there was no tomorrow. They have stopped spending, period. The major culprits for this change of heart are the oil and energy cartels and American energy inertia, which has irresponsibly permitted the price of oil to reach levels that put fear and a lack of trust into the hearts of consumers around the world. And once such fear has been established, it is very difficult to replace it with anything else.
Nor have events in other energy spheres other than oil helped the situation. When energy giants such as Russia cut off gas supplies to European countries in the middle of winter because of a contract dispute with the Ukraine, as happened less than two months ago, you know you have a serious world political problem involving a lack of sovereignty because of energy dependence. It has put people on the alert. Trust in governments and institutions is at a low ebb. Fear and anger are the pervading emotions.
Even the oil cartels are suffering. Due to the outrageously high price of oil in 2008, demand for oil fell in 2008 for the first time in 25 years and is expected to fall even further in 2009. The foundations of the world economy have been badly shaken and every country that does not want to exist at the whim of the oil cartels is looking for alternative solutions.
In the meantime, here in Germany, the construction of windmills as alternative sources of energy and the production of biofuels to replace oil, gas and gasoline (petrol) is proceeding at an accelerated pace. The writing is on the wall. The oil cartels have nearly killed the golden goose. Only when fear is eradicated and trust is reestablished will things improve, and that is going to take a while. Right now the world is in a panic that will take strong measures to reverse.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/28/2009 04:57:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/28/2009 11:34:00 AM [Home]
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Economic Recovery : Are You a Part of the Solution, or Are You a Part of the Problem? Latham & Watkins as a Negative Example of Recovery Policy
As can be read in numerous news sources (we refer here to the AmLaw Daily), Latham & Watkins is to lay off 190 associates and 250 non-legal staff - while "Latham's 550 strong partnership will be unaffected by the cuts", apparently under the motto that it is the other guy who should make the sacrifices necessary to cope with the current economic situation.
This is not the first time that the Latham firm has done this kind of thing. It also laid off people in the 1990's.
Perhaps it is time that society began to put severe financial and tax penalties on these kinds of irresponsible employment policies. If companies viz. law firms are not responsible for their employees, who is? Well, if it is the government, then very high mandatory company and law firm payments for unemployment insurance for their employees should be imposed.
According to the Global 100 law firms (see Law.com), Latham & Watkins ranked 19th in the world among law firms in terms of profits per equity partner at $2,270,000 per partner based on gross revenues of $2,005,500,000. Due to the current economic situation, profits per equity partner and gross revenues, according to the AmLaw Daily, dropped as follows in 2008:
If we assume that the 190 associates to be laid off earn on average let us say $200,000 a year and the 250 non-legal staff earn $68,000 a year, that results in an annual payroll savings of $38,000,000 for legal staff and $17,000,000 for non-legal staff or about $55,000,000 per year. Those figures are hypothetical since an outsider can not know the actual salaries of the people affected, but the numbers should be somewhere in the ball park.
Question: For the above hypothetical numbers, how much of an annual profit cut would the 550 partners at Latham each have to take to RETAIN all of these people in their jobs? What sacrifice would the law partners at Latham have to make to not throw their colleagues out on the streets, where YOU, as a taxpayer, ultimately have to take care of them and be their bailout - if they do not find other work, and they may not for quite some time, in a current economy marked by legal layoffs.
ANSWER: We just divide the $55 million by 550 = $100,000 per partner.
In other words, rather than each of the 550 partners at Latham & Watkins taking a $100,000 pay cut out of their own profit of $1.8 million per equity partner, dropping their individual profit to $1.7 million and thus doing their share of sacrifice for economic recovery, 440 people and their families - with far fewer resources at their disposal - are being thrown to the wolves.
Are Latham & Watkins part of the solution? NO. They are part of the problem.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/28/2009 11:34:00 AM
Economic Recovery : Are You a Part of the Solution, or Are You a Part of the Problem? Latham & Watkins as a Negative Example of Recovery Policy
As can be read in numerous news sources (we refer here to the AmLaw Daily), Latham & Watkins is to lay off 190 associates and 250 non-legal staff - while "Latham's 550 strong partnership will be unaffected by the cuts", apparently under the motto that it is the other guy who should make the sacrifices necessary to cope with the current economic situation.
This is not the first time that the Latham firm has done this kind of thing. It also laid off people in the 1990's.
Perhaps it is time that society began to put severe financial and tax penalties on these kinds of irresponsible employment policies. If companies viz. law firms are not responsible for their employees, who is? Well, if it is the government, then very high mandatory company and law firm payments for unemployment insurance for their employees should be imposed.
According to the Global 100 law firms (see Law.com), Latham & Watkins ranked 19th in the world among law firms in terms of profits per equity partner at $2,270,000 per partner based on gross revenues of $2,005,500,000. Due to the current economic situation, profits per equity partner and gross revenues, according to the AmLaw Daily, dropped as follows in 2008:
"Profits per equity partner dropped 21 percent from $2.27 million to $1.8 million while revenues fell 4 percent from just over $2 billion to $1.9 billion."The AmLaw Daily calls this loss "dramatic". By our calculations, the drop in profits would have dropped Latham & Watkins from 19th to 28th place on the Global 100 profits per equity partner list - hardly a "dramatic" drop (28th and not 29th because position 19 would then be vacated).
If we assume that the 190 associates to be laid off earn on average let us say $200,000 a year and the 250 non-legal staff earn $68,000 a year, that results in an annual payroll savings of $38,000,000 for legal staff and $17,000,000 for non-legal staff or about $55,000,000 per year. Those figures are hypothetical since an outsider can not know the actual salaries of the people affected, but the numbers should be somewhere in the ball park.
Question: For the above hypothetical numbers, how much of an annual profit cut would the 550 partners at Latham each have to take to RETAIN all of these people in their jobs? What sacrifice would the law partners at Latham have to make to not throw their colleagues out on the streets, where YOU, as a taxpayer, ultimately have to take care of them and be their bailout - if they do not find other work, and they may not for quite some time, in a current economy marked by legal layoffs.
ANSWER: We just divide the $55 million by 550 = $100,000 per partner.
In other words, rather than each of the 550 partners at Latham & Watkins taking a $100,000 pay cut out of their own profit of $1.8 million per equity partner, dropping their individual profit to $1.7 million and thus doing their share of sacrifice for economic recovery, 440 people and their families - with far fewer resources at their disposal - are being thrown to the wolves.
Are Latham & Watkins part of the solution? NO. They are part of the problem.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/28/2009 11:34:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Thursday, February 26, 2009 2/26/2009 08:31:00 PM [Home]
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Lulin the Green Comet Passes Earth Not to Return for a Million Years if at all : View the Green Goddess : Now or Never : See it Via a Dipity Timeline
See it now or never. The Green Goddess, comet Lulin, or simply Comet C/2007 N3, whose green color comes from a cyanide-type gas that envelops the comet, has already passed Earth and is leaving quickly. Here is Lulin in the presentation format of Dipity, a timeline-based lifestreaming aggregator of Internet content that apparently anyone can use to make their own personal timeline widgets (we have not tried this out yet fully and we disclaim any and all liability for other news articles on any topic that may show up alongside Lulin on Dipity, and from what we have seen, be prepared to see some things you do not want to see - this is not our timeline):
Lulin will not return for a million years, if at all. Great photos are found at the Daily Mail Online. Make sure you enlarge those photos for a great view of this unique comet. NASA also has a nice photo, while the Chicago Tribune shows the Green Lady together with the star Zubenelgenubi.
Someone wouldn't be throwing cyanide-laced snowballs at us now, would he?
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/26/2009 08:31:00 PM
Lulin the Green Comet Passes Earth Not to Return for a Million Years if at all : View the Green Goddess : Now or Never : See it Via a Dipity Timeline
See it now or never. The Green Goddess, comet Lulin, or simply Comet C/2007 N3, whose green color comes from a cyanide-type gas that envelops the comet, has already passed Earth and is leaving quickly. Here is Lulin in the presentation format of Dipity, a timeline-based lifestreaming aggregator of Internet content that apparently anyone can use to make their own personal timeline widgets (we have not tried this out yet fully and we disclaim any and all liability for other news articles on any topic that may show up alongside Lulin on Dipity, and from what we have seen, be prepared to see some things you do not want to see - this is not our timeline):
Lulin will not return for a million years, if at all. Great photos are found at the Daily Mail Online. Make sure you enlarge those photos for a great view of this unique comet. NASA also has a nice photo, while the Chicago Tribune shows the Green Lady together with the star Zubenelgenubi.
Someone wouldn't be throwing cyanide-laced snowballs at us now, would he?
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/26/2009 08:31:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, February 25, 2009 2/25/2009 06:59:00 PM [Home]
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World Economic Situation Emphasizes Unique Leadership Role of the United States of America : Friedman at the New York Times Pages Uncle Sam
Thomas L. Friedman has it right in quoting a "senior" South Korean official concerning the current world situation:
"“No other country can substitute for the U.S.,” a senior Korean official remarked to me. “The U.S. is still No. 1 in military, No. 1 in economy, No. 1 in promoting human rights and No. 1 in idealism. Only the U.S. can lead the world. No other country can. China can’t. The E.U. is too divided, and Europe is militarily far behind the U.S. So it is only the United States ... We have never had a more unipolar world than we have today.”"
As Friedman writes:
"Somewhere in the back of their minds, a lot of people seem to be realizing that the alternative to a U.S.-dominated world is not a world dominated by someone else or someone better. It is a leaderless world....
“There is no one who can replace America. Without American leadership, there is no leadership,” said Lee Hong-koo, South Korea’s former ambassador to Washington. “That puts a tremendous burden on the American people to do something positive. You can’t be tempted by the usual nationalism. When things don’t go well, most people become nationalistic. And in the economic world, that is protectionism ... We are pleased to see President Obama is not doing that. Americans, as a people, should realize how many hopes and expectations other people are putting on their shoulders.”
Read the rest of this very intelligent article from Friedman.
Hat tip to CaryGEE.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/25/2009 06:59:00 PM
World Economic Situation Emphasizes Unique Leadership Role of the United States of America : Friedman at the New York Times Pages Uncle Sam
Thomas L. Friedman has it right in quoting a "senior" South Korean official concerning the current world situation:
"“No other country can substitute for the U.S.,” a senior Korean official remarked to me. “The U.S. is still No. 1 in military, No. 1 in economy, No. 1 in promoting human rights and No. 1 in idealism. Only the U.S. can lead the world. No other country can. China can’t. The E.U. is too divided, and Europe is militarily far behind the U.S. So it is only the United States ... We have never had a more unipolar world than we have today.”"
As Friedman writes:
"Somewhere in the back of their minds, a lot of people seem to be realizing that the alternative to a U.S.-dominated world is not a world dominated by someone else or someone better. It is a leaderless world....
“There is no one who can replace America. Without American leadership, there is no leadership,” said Lee Hong-koo, South Korea’s former ambassador to Washington. “That puts a tremendous burden on the American people to do something positive. You can’t be tempted by the usual nationalism. When things don’t go well, most people become nationalistic. And in the economic world, that is protectionism ... We are pleased to see President Obama is not doing that. Americans, as a people, should realize how many hopes and expectations other people are putting on their shoulders.”
Read the rest of this very intelligent article from Friedman.
Hat tip to CaryGEE.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/25/2009 06:59:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, February 24, 2009 2/24/2009 12:15:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
SlideShare is a Nifty Website for Uploading and Sharing Presentations such as Power Point or Photographs, with Audio & Video Integration Offered
We tried our Phaistos Disk and Elamite PPT on SlideShare.net and got excellent results. SlideShare also provided a transcript of the text without graphics or other slide formatting, which is in fact extremely useful for many purposes (see all that below).
SlideShare writes that it is "the world's largest community for sharing presentations" where "anyone ... can tag, download, or embed presentations into their own blogs & websites". It is particularly this ability to embed presentations anywhere that makes SlideShare so useful.
"Phaistos Disc And Elamite 30 October 2008 - Presentation Transcript
1. The Phaistos Disc An Ancient Enigma Solved Two corroborative Old Elamite scripts are deciphered using the Ancient Greek syllabic values obtained for the Phaistos Disc by Andis Kaulins in 1980. The texts from Elam lead to Crete and Mycenae. Presented 31 October 2008 at the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHAISTOS DISK on the 100th anniversary of its discovery in the year 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier. Conference: Society of Antiquaries, London, Burlington House, Piccadilly. Organisation and sponsorship: Minerva, the International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., editor. Power Point Presentation Copyright © 2008 by Andis Kaulins
2. Andis Kaulins - CV • J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence) Stanford University Law School, Stanford, California, USA. • Former Lecturer in Anglo-American Law, Legal Research and Legal Writing, University of Trier Law School, Trier, Germany. • Co-author of the Routledge & Langenscheidt German-English, English-German Dictionary of Business, Commerce and Finance (3rd ed. 2007, 4th ed. in preparation). • Author of, inter alia: – The Phaistos Disc: Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclidean Dimensions (Darmstadt, 1980) – Stars Stones and Scholars : The Decipherment of the Megaliths, Trafford, 2003 & 2006 – Waren die Pharaonen Legastheniker? (Were the Pharaohs Dyslexic?), Dyslexia Journal, 1998 – Zum Ursprung des Horus-Glaubens im vordynastischen Ägypten (The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt), Efodon Synesis, 2005 – Sternensteine - Darstellungen frühgeschichtlicher Astronomie am Beispiel der Externsteine (Star Stones - Prehistoric Astronomy and the Extern Stones), Forschungskreis Walther Machalett für Vor und Frühgeschichte, 2005 – Die Himmelsscheibe von Nebra : Beweisführung und Deutung (The Sky Disk of Nebra: Evidence and Interpretation), Efodon Synesis, 2005 – Der Bodenhimmel der Oesterholzer Mark um die Spitze der \"Externsteinpyramide\" (A Megalithic Sky Map at Oesterholz), Efodon Synesis, 2006 – Das Tanum System - ein alteuropäisches Vermessungssystem? (The Tanum System : Ancient Land Survey in Europe), Forschungskreis Externsteine., 2007 – Der Osnabrücker Bodenhimmel (The Hermetic Planisphere at Osnabrück), Forschungskreis Externsteine, 2008. -2-
3. INTRODUCTION • Ladies and Gentlemen, • Thank you for attending my presentation and thank you to the organizers and staff of this conference for making it possible for me to be here. We are in the halls of art and history at Burlington House, and today we may see history being made – in the field of communications. The Phaistos Disk is after all a communication and storage device, albeit of very ancient vintage. • Today we all have our mobile cell phones, CDs and DVDs, and we take them for granted, but this technology was not always so easy to understand. In the early days of telecommunications Albert Einstein explained radio by saying: • “You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles.... And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.” -3-
4. Albert Einstein’s Cat (Photomontage by Wolfgang Lauter in Der literarische Katzenkalender, 2008, Schöffling & Co.) In the case of the Phaistos Disk, we have a cat, but our cat has no tail and worse still, it is not meowing, and the issue has been rightly raised now whether we have a -4- real cat here at all.
5. To be or not to be? REAL or FAKE? That is the question • TO BE OR NOT TO BE. REAL or FAKE? • That is the Shakespearean question being posed here today. • Dr. Jerome Eisenberg has observed – correctly in my view – that the symbols on the Phaistos Disk were compiled piecemeal in part from other ancient sources. • I agree. The only question is, was this done in the modern era, or 3 to 4 thousand years ago? Dr. Eisenberg has concluded that it was a modern forger, an archaeologist, who did it. But I think, to the contrary, that it was the ancient Greeks themselves who did it. And I have evidence for that conclusion. -5-
6. The Invention of Letters in Greece • Gaius Julius Hyginus (ca. 64 BC – AD 17), who lived at the time of Christ, passed on many Greek tales in unadulterated form in his Fabulae, of which Number 277 deals with \"Ancient Inventors\". He writes as follows: • \"\"CCLXXVII. FIRST INVENTORS. The Parcae, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos [AK note: The Parcae are the Fates, in Greek Morae, and named Nona, Decima and Morta] invented seven Greek letters - A B H T I Y. Others say that Mercury invented them from the flight of cranes, which, when they fly, form letters. Palamedes, too, son of Nauplius, invented eleven letters; Simonides, too, invented four letters – Ó E Z PH; Epicharmus of Sicily, two - P and PS. The Greek letters Mercury is said to have brought to Egypt, and from Egypt Cadmus took them to Greece. Cadmus in exile from Arcadia, took them to Italy, and his mother Carmenta changed them to Latin to the number of 15. Apollo on the lyre added the rest....\" -6-
7. Greek Letters were taken from Ancient Sources by the Ancients themselves – the Crete Connection • The ancient record therefore confirms that the initial Greek letters, which constitute the origins of writing in Western Europe, were in fact a conglomeration of inputs, just as Dr. Eisenberg claims for the Phaistos Disk. Accordingly, this characteristic is no proof that the Phaistos Disk is not genuine. Quite the contrary, it is exactly what we would expect from ancient Greek letters, based on the historical record. The first Greek letters viz. symbols were in fact taken from numerous ancient sources, by the ancients themselves. • One inventor of Greek letters mentioned by Hyginus in fact has a clear connection to Crete: Palamedes, son of Nauplius and Clymene, the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete, son of the first king of Crete, Minos, and grandfather of Menelaus, the Greek husband of Helen of Troy. Catreus was thus the grandfather of Palamedes. -7-
8. A Man named Palamedes • Grandfather Catreus had numerous children. • His two daughters he is said to have given to a merchant mariner, Nauplius, to be married off in foreign lands. This mariner instead took Clymene for himself and sailed off into the sunset. Where did they ultimately settle? • Clymene in ancient Greek sources is also called Asia, which some allege is how the continent Asia got its name, thus pointing to a possible geographic Asian destiny. Indeed, Herodotus is puzzled by Ancient Greek usage of women's names to describe large areas such as Asia or Europe. But the answer – royal settlement - is clear. • It is Clymene’s son Palamedes who subsequently surfaces as the greatest inventor in the history of Greece, for Palamedes not only allegedly invented eleven of the Greek letters, but it is also said that he invented counting, currency, weights and measures, military ranks, dice, a forerunner of chess called pessoi, and improvements in winemaking. -8-
9. Technology Transfer from Elam to Crete • Amazing enough, but all of this could very well be true in the ancient era if the inventions of Palamedes were obtained by technology transfer from a foreign land, for Mercury (viz. Hermes) the bringer of letters, has the same meaning as \"merchant\". These inventions were brought to Greece from a distant land by traveling merchants. • As we have discovered, this distant land is Elam, the land – as we shall claim and explain here - where Clymene and Nauplius ultimately settled. It is the land in which letters were first stamped onto clay, just as on the Phaistos Disk, but long before it. An existing technology was thus imported into ancient Crete. We will discuss this in detail subsequently. -9-
10. The Previous Lack of Corroborative Texts • The second major argument raised by Dr. Eisenberg against the Phaistos Disk is the lack of corroborative texts. When Dr. Eisenberg initially asked me to present a paper at this conference, I declined, saying it was a losing proposition for me, since no probative proof of authenticity would be possible without corroborative texts. To my knowledge then, there were no such texts available, so it was pointless to come. • At Dr. Eisenberg's friendly insistence, I finally agreed to present a paper merely presenting my point of view that the Phaistos Disk was quite genuine, and giving my reasons for so believing. But in the course of research for this paper, a remarkable thing happened. - 10 -
11. Corroborative Texts from Elam • I discovered two texts that contained symbols with a great deal of similarity to a number of symbols on the Phaistos Disk. These texts were from Elam and were written in Old Elamite Script. Could they be connected? • Indeed, when I applied the syllabic values for the Phaistos Disc that I had obtained 30 years previously, I was able to read those Old Elamite Scripts without difficulty. They were written in Ancient Greek language, and the author was presumably Palamedes, the son of Clymene, and the inventor of Greek letters.
12. Background to the Phaistos Disc Decipherment by Andis Kaulins In The Phaistos Disc: Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclidean Dimensions: The ‘Lost Proof’ of Parallel Lines, Darmstadt, 1980, p. 18, the author of that book, Andis Kaulins, wrote as follows: - 12 -
13. “In ... 1977 a colleague ... at the University of Kiel departed on a vacation to Crete.... [S]he brought back a book from the Heraklion Museum in which a photo of Side A of the Phaistos Disc was pictured... Was it ... written in an Indo-European language? ... [if yes, this author concluded], it would have to bear a close relation to the Baltic languages [the most archaic still spoken Indo- European tongues], and ... in that case [yes, it should be decipherable]....” - 13 -
14. Three years later, this author's decipherment resulted in the book (viz. monograph) pictured here, which alleged to decipher the Phaistos Disc as a pre-Euclidean mathematical postulate written in Ancient Greek. The alleged decipherment was shown to a number of people who were of the opinion that the work was plausible, if also speculative, especially because of the lack of corroborative additional Cretan viz. Minoan material. - 14 -
15. A Review of Previous Research was conducted starting from the date of discovery of the Phaistos Disc by Luigi Pernier in the year 1908 - 15 -
16. Had anyone found the right path? Did the incomplete 1952 Ventris decipherment of Linear B as Ancient Greek indicate that Greek was the most likely language? The 45 pictographs on the Phaistos Disc appeared 241 times and appeared to be divided into words by vertical lines. Were the symbols syllabic? This author sensed that statistical analysis of letter frequencies and distribution would help to solve the mystery. A chart was made of the distribution and frequency of the pictographs. This frequency was then compared to the distribution of letters and letter combinations found at the beginnings of words in Ancient Greek, and also in Latvian and Lithuanian languages (the most archaic still spoken Indo-European tongues). Based on those stats and supported by Greek, Latvian and Lithuanian terms for the objects presumably depicted by the symbols, syllabic values were derived and analysed in a comprehensive Michael Ventris – Alice Kober type of syllabic grid, which included the major language consonants and vowels.
17. Phaistos Disc Syllabic Grid by Andis Kaulins 1980 - 17 -
18. Phaistos Disc Reading in Ancient Greek applying the syllabic values from the Phaistos Disc Syllabic Grid - by Andis Kaulins - 18 -
19. In English that Ancient Greek text could be read as follows: • SIDE A: Foreseen (are) - as given - standing straight lines (perpendiculars) • - to be constructed (drawn). - To the side - of either such line segment • - extend - a partner line - running - alongside. - The Problem (LEMMA): • - Consider - whether these - Parallel Lines - extended - stay - Parallels. • Consider - whether these - Parallels - extended converge (diverge). • - The synthetic - added line - would foresee - a medial (uncertain) - termination. • - Extended (beyond bounds) - a fixed (converging) - termination. • SIDE B: Next to - the categorized - just constructed lines - and flat to • - the side walls' - diameter - inscribe - a closed arc - and make it so that • - the new line - curve - in its course - the side walls - diagonally - joins. • - Tie together - yoked - the branched lines. - Connect - the standing • straight lines - and branched lines. - Run a line so that - the newly created • - geodetic lines - are met - and the branched lines - pair is yoked. • - The promised - solution - is given. - 19 -
20. That reading of the Ancient Greek results in the following figure … With the following modern mathematical reading of the Phaistos Disc If the parallel lines B, D and C are extended to f and g [and beyond but short of infinity], then the resulting angle x varies, [nearing 180 or 0 degrees] depending on where line f and g is drawn. Hence, the termination is uncertain. As the parallels B, D and C are extended beyond bounds (i.e. to infinity, or infinite ends), then the angle x [measured from the center of the circle to the lines drawn to the ends of the extensions of the parallel lines B and C] will get smaller and smaller towards D as the lines B, D and C are extended, thus suggesting a converging termination. - 20 -
21. The Mathematical Decipherment Explains the 4 and 5 knots which start each respective side of the Phaistos Disc since these represent the 4th and 5th Postulates of Euclid [right angles (4th) - parallel postulate (5th)] This pre-Euclidean \"proof\" anticipates a modern analysis of parallel lines by non-Euclidean geometry. It suggests that Euclidian geometry was known to the Greeks prior to Euclid, which, in view of such mathematically sophisticated ancient sources as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, should no longer surprise us. Indeed, the fact that Side A of the Phaistos Disc starts with 4 \"knots\" and Side B of the Phaistos Disc starts with 5 \"knots\" could indeed indicate that these are the ancient predecessors of Euclid's later 4th and 5th postulates, the 4th postulate of which postulated that all right angles equal one another (the Phaistos Disk speaks of perpendiculars) and the 5th postulate of which is Euclid's \"parallel postulate\" (as on the Phaistos Disc). - 21 -
22. The Russian mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky in fact derived a proof in the 19th century which is similar to the mathematical proof found on the Phaistos Disk: \"... [In the figure above] line AB is perpendicular to CD. If we permit it to rotate about A counterclockwise, it will intersect CD at various points to the right of B until it reaches a limiting position EF, when it becomes parallel to CD. Continuing the rotation, it will start to intersect CD to the left of B. Euclid assumed that there is only one position for the line, namely EF, when it would be parallel to CD. Lobachevsky assumed that there were two such positions, represented by A1B1 and C1D1, and further, that all lines falling within the angle θ, while not parallel to CD, would never meet it, no matter how far extended. Now this is an assumption, and there is no sense in arguing from the diagram that it is evident that if A1B1 or C1D1 were intersected sufficiently far, they would eventually intersect CD. If, as Professor Cohen has pointed out, we rely wholly on our intuition of space, which is finite, there will always be an angle θ which grows smaller as our space is extended, but which never vanishes, and all lines falling within θ will fail to intersect the given line. [The reference is to Morris Raphael Cohen, Reason and Nature, p. 137.]\" Quoted from Edward Kasner and James Roy Newman, Mathematics and the Imagination, drawings by Rufus Isaacs, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1940/1967, pp. 136-137 (the Lobachevsky drawing is our adaptation) - 22 -
23. An Old Elamite Script as Corroboration for the Phaistos Disc What struck me immediately was the similarity between the first word on the Old Elamite text and the symbols on the Phaistos Disc, whereby the Old Elamite script looked like a more cursive version of the Phaistos Disc script. - 23 -
24. Old Elamite Script is Undeciphered but some Syllabic Values have been postulated Old Elamite script from Elam, the ancient kingdom southeast of Sumer and Akkad, with its capital at Susa, and the source of the Code of Hammurabi, is today southwest Iran. Written records place the beginnings of Elamite culture at ca. 3200 BC. Mainstream archaeologists view Old Elamite to be an undeciphered pictographic script - for whose symbols syllabic values have in any case been alleged to apply to Old Elamite by some researchers as follows: - 24 -
25. A second Old Elamite script - 25 -
26. Old Elamite is Known to be Genuine Because of an Akkadian Bilingual Text The second Old Elamite script, shown on the previous page, is of great importance because it has an Akkadian bilingual text, which has been translated, based on the Akkadian text, to mean that a monument of some kind was erected for or by an important personage in Susa (German version from Harald Haarmann, Universalgeschichte der Schrift, Campus Verlag: Frankfurt and New York, 1991, Sonderausgabe 1998, Parkland Verlag, Cologne, p. 374.): • [German] \"Seinem Herrn Inshushinak, dem Menschenbildner (?), 2. habe ich Shilhak- Inshushinak, 3. der Statthalter von Susa, 4. der König des Landes Elam, 5. der Shempishhukische, 6. eine Säule (?) aus Kupfer (und) Zedernholz geweiht.\" • [Our English translation of that error-filled conversion] \"For his master Inshushinak, the sculptor of human forms (?), I, Shilhak-Inshushinak, Administrator of Susa, King of Elam, has dedicated the Shempishhukische, an obelisk (or column) (?) of copper and cedar wood.\" Since a number of symbol combinations are repeated identically on both Old Elamite scripts in this presentation, it is then logical to presume that both Old Elamite scripts have a similar content and relate to the dedication of monuments to or by important Elamite personages at Susa. - 26 -
27. Dual Syllabic Grid of Old Elamite Script and Phaistos Disc Symbols Based on the two Old Elamite scripts presented here, it has been possible to create a Dual Syllabic Grid of the symbols on the Phaistos Disc and on the Old Elamite Scripts - 27 -
28. Corroboration of the Genuineness of the Phaistos Disc and its Decipherment by Andis Kaulins Using the Dual Syllabic Grid for the Phaistos Disc and the Old Elamite Scripts, it has proven possible to decipher both Old Elamite Scripts, with sensational content, and thereby also to corroborate not only the genuineness of the Phaistos Disc but also the correctness of its decipherment as an Ancient Greek mathematical text by Andis Kaulins in the year 1980. - 28 -
29. The English Decipherment of the 1st Old Elamite Script, written in Ancient Greek, reads: “Ruler over all (Pantarchas). In memory, the deceased in these walls of a new temple is laid to rest. The collected elders, ordained by God, and the lone (sole) companion of King Labynetus, Nitokris, administrator in death, in Susa erected this temple in memory, in sorrow created.” - 29 -
30. The English Decipherment of the 2nd Old Elamite Script, written in Ancient Greek, reads: “This great hall of columns [“statue” in the Akkadian bilingual], Peloponessus, was erected in memory of the deceased Queen Nitokris of Mycenaean descent, separated from her home in Mycenae and now in sorrow separated in death.” - 30 -
31. How did Ancient Greek get to Elam? Was Nitokris the true Helen of Troy or Clymena of ancient Greek legend? The ancient name for Troy was Ilium or Ilion: (Greek Τροία, Troia or Ἴλιον, Ilion; Latin: Trōia, Īlium, Hittite: Truwisa or Wilusa). Ilium thus bears a close word correspondence to the term Elam. Did both identify the same place? In Persia? We must recall that the currently accepted location of Troy in Anatolia as popularized by Heinrich Schliemann and as defended in our day by Manfred Korfmann has been called a fantasy construction by Frank Kolb, and, indeed, there is almost no probative evidence proving that Hisarlik in modern-day Turkey was actually Troy. Nothing in historical or archaeological data gives Hisarlik any great ancient importance. Homer spoke of springs west of the city of Troy, but there are none at Hisarlik. But there are underground springs on the Susa plain. - 31 -
32. The Importance of Elam to the Beginnings of Writing and Civilization “[I]t was here [in Elam], rather than in Mesopotamia proper - which after all lies only fifty miles to the west of Susa - that civilization as we know it truly began. - Richard Critchfield, How Lonely Sits the City Susa and Elam are therefore of great historical and archaeological interest. Jacque de Morgan, famed for having found the Code of Hammurabi and called the father of prehistoric archeology by some, wrote (Recherches sur les origines des peuples du Caucase, p. 16, 1912): \"In the Nile valley I developed the conviction that the first civilizations, from which the Egyptian empire arose, came from Chaldea and that the Mesopotamian plains had therefore been the cradle of human progress. Susa, because of its very early date, provided the possibility of solving the greatest and most important problem, that of our origins. This city, in my view, belonged to that primordial world that had witnessed the discovery of writing, the use of metals, the beginnings of art. If the great problem of origins was to be solved one day, it was in Chaldea, and especially at Susa, that it was necessary to seek the basic elements.\" [emphasis added] - 32 -
33. The Origin of Seals and Stamps as on the Phaistos Disc As far as the origins of writing are concerned, in fact, some of the oldest seals and stamps ever discovered have been found at Susa in Elam. As on the Phaistos Disc, the ancient technology of \"writing\" symbols onto seals consisted of stamping carved impressions onto clay. The Phaistos Disc does not implement an unknown ancient technology, rather, it implements a technology otherwise unknown to Crete. - 33 -
34. The geographic placement of Troy toward Persia is suggested by other evidence. The Iliou persis (Greek: Ἰλίου πέρσις, Latin: Iliupersis) is a lost Greek epic of the so-called Epic Cycle (also called the \"Trojan Cycle\") of Greek literature, of which fragments have survived. The current mainstream translation of the title phrase Iliou persis as \"Sack of Ilium\" is unpersuasive and doubtful in view of the Ancient Greek root περσισ- (persis-, \"Persian\"), whereby πέρσις (pérsis) \"destruction\" is surely a derivative meaning attached to the folk name. Iliou persis in its original context thus most likely actually meant \"Elam in Persia\" or \"Hellas in Persia\". In any case, it was in fact the similarly named Paris (perhaps originally \"Persis\", the Greek from Persia) who, according to the legend of the cause of the Trojan War, eloped with or abducted Helen of Troy, the stepdaughter of King Tyndareus. That entire complex of ancient tales provides us with the necessary Mycenaean connection, as follows, according to Greek legend: - 34 -
35. The Mycenaean Connection \"Tyndareus Τυνδαρεύς (or Tyndareos Τυνδάρεως) was a Spartan king..., husband of Leda and [step]father of Helen.... Tyndareus' wife, Leda, was seduced by Zeus ... disguised ... as a swan. She laid two eggs, each producing two children ... from one egg, Pollux and Helen were the children of Zeus; from the other, Castor and Clytemnestra were the children of Tyndareus. When Thyestes seized control in Mycenae, two exiled princes, Agamemnon and Menelaus came to Sparta. Tyndareus received them.... Agamemnon married Clytemnestra. Helen ... had many more suitors for she was the most beautiful woman in the world. When it was time for [Helen] to marry, many ... kings and princes came to seek her hand.... Tyndareus [would not] send any of the suitors away for fear of ... giving grounds for a quarrel.... Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with the chosen one. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favor of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king of Sparta.... Some years later, Paris, a Trojan prince came to Sparta to marry Helen, whom he had been promised by Aphrodite. Helen fell in love with him and left willingly, (although it is also suggested that he may have simply kidnapped her, with neither theory being conclusively proven) leaving behind Menelaus and Hermione, their nine-year-old daughter.... Menelaus' attempts to retrieve Helen ... caused the Trojan War.\" [emphasis added] – Wikipedia - 35 -
36. Helen of Troy and Paris in Cyprus, Sidon (Phoenicia, including Tyre) and Egypt (Sais) The connection to Crete is strengthened by the legendary account that on the night that Helen and Paris left Sparta, they were able to do so because Menelaus had left Sparta to sail to Crete for the funeral of his grandfather King Catreus: \"The myth about Catreus [son of King Minos of Crete] and his children is proof (known as well from the archaeological findings) that in the so called \"heroic age\" a close relation existed between Crete, Mycenae, and the other places in the Peloponnese and also between Crete and the islands such as Rhodes.\" The Trojan War holds more surprises in the legendary account, some of which seem to be conveniently ignored by those who modernly discuss the location of Troy. As written by Robert Graves (Robert von Ranke-Graves), based on numerous Greek sources, Helen and Paris, after leaving Sparta, sailed to Cyprus, Sidon (Phoenicia) and the Nile Delta of Egypt, where, at the latter, they founded a temple on the Canopic branch of the Nile. As explained below, this could have been at Sais: \"Sais or Sa el-Hagar was an ancient Egyptian town in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile.“ The patron goddess of the \"Egyptian\" city Sais was Neith, whose cult at Sais is allegedly attested in texts clear back to the 1st Dynasty, but nothing archaeological has been found earlier than the New Kingdom at that alleged location of Sais, in fact \"only a few relief blocks in situ\". Interesting then, according to legend, is that ancient Sais was allegedly built by Greeks, not Egyptians, prior to the cataclysm. \"Herodotus wrote that Sais is where the grave of Osiris was located.... Diodorus Siculus attested that it was the Athenians who built Sais before the cataclysm. While all Greek cities were destroyed during the cataclysm, the Egyptian cities including Sais survived. ... There are today no surviving traces of this town prior to the Late New Kingdom (ca. 1100 BC)…. - 36 -
37. Geography of the Flight of Helen of Troy and Paris The legendary route of Helen and Paris to Troy does not speak for Hisarlik as Troy, for Paris and Helen went to Troy after leaving Egypt, and they would not have gone that far South only to return even further to the North. Troy is clearly elsewhere. - 37 -
38. Why did the Greeks have trouble FINDING Troy and who did the really attack? According to Herodotus, the Greeks had trouble finding Troy, which would seem to exclude Hisarlik as the location of Troy, since that location would easily have been known to them, being in their own back yard. The legend relates that the Greek warships in pursuit of Helen and Paris initially and mistakenly attacked the people called Teuthranians (we think this was the Tyranians, the people of Tyre, near Sidon) who claimed that Helen was not in their land, and put up fierce resistance, inflicting serious losses on the Greeks. Tyre would in that case then be the origin of the later name Troy, which became confused historically by the ancient writers with Ilium (Elam), the actual location of Helen and Paris. - 38 -
39. Queen Nitokris and Crete In addition to the above connections of Helen of Troy and other essential historical personages to Mycenae and Crete by legend, there is also a potential linguistic connection to Crete in the name of Queen Nitokris…. The Egyptian Queen Nitokris, according to current scholarship, is regarded to be a different Queen than the \"Babylonian\" Elamite Queen Nitokris, but we leave a discussion of the issue of whether these were separate Queens or not to a later date, since this is a question of chronology and other matters too broad to discuss here. In the Mycenaean context here, it is important to note that Nitokris is read Neit-krety in Egyptology and could in fact thus be read as \"goddess (or woman) of Crete\". In very archaic Indo-European (e.g. Latvian) the term meita is similar to neit viz. neith and means simply \"girl\" or \"woman\", so that the original meaning of Neit-krety might simply have been \"girl from Crete\". Sais in Egypt was thus the Temple of Neith and the similarly named Susa was the city of the Queen from Crete. But that could also be Clymene rather than Helen of Troy, whose husband hailed from Crete. - 39 -
40. Queen Napirasu of Elam Helen of Troy [or, also possible, Clymene] was thus Queen Napirasu, wife of King Untash-Napirisha [either King Labynetus or King Naublius] of Elam, whereby the similar name Na-piris-ha could be the Paris of ancient Greek legend who eloped with Helen - or in the alternative - Napirisha could be the name equivalent to Naublius. A statue of Queen Napirasu, unique for its time, composed of 3760 pounds of bronze and copper, was found in Susa, Elam, and is today, perhaps fittingly for its namesake, a part of the Iran collection in the Louvre in the city of Paris, France. In that statue we thus see either Helen of Troy or Clymene as the life-size statue of Queen Napirasu. - 40 -
41. Statue of Queen Napirasu The Louvre labels this statue as: \"Queen Napirasu, wife of King Untash-Napirisha, circa 1340-1300 BC, [photograph] © R.M.N./D. Chenot, Statue found at the Tell of the Acropolis, Susa, Iran, Bronze and copper, H. 1.29 m; L. 0.73 m, Jacques de Morgan excavations, 1903.\" Statue of Queen Napirasu, Louvre. - 41 -
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"Phaistos Disc And Elamite 30 October 2008 - Presentation Transcript
1. The Phaistos Disc An Ancient Enigma Solved Two corroborative Old Elamite scripts are deciphered using the Ancient Greek syllabic values obtained for the Phaistos Disc by Andis Kaulins in 1980. The texts from Elam lead to Crete and Mycenae. Presented 31 October 2008 at the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHAISTOS DISK on the 100th anniversary of its discovery in the year 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier. Conference: Society of Antiquaries, London, Burlington House, Piccadilly. Organisation and sponsorship: Minerva, the International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., editor. Power Point Presentation Copyright © 2008 by Andis Kaulins
2. Andis Kaulins - CV • J.D. (Doctor of Jurisprudence) Stanford University Law School, Stanford, California, USA. • Former Lecturer in Anglo-American Law, Legal Research and Legal Writing, University of Trier Law School, Trier, Germany. • Co-author of the Routledge & Langenscheidt German-English, English-German Dictionary of Business, Commerce and Finance (3rd ed. 2007, 4th ed. in preparation). • Author of, inter alia: – The Phaistos Disc: Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclidean Dimensions (Darmstadt, 1980) – Stars Stones and Scholars : The Decipherment of the Megaliths, Trafford, 2003 & 2006 – Waren die Pharaonen Legastheniker? (Were the Pharaohs Dyslexic?), Dyslexia Journal, 1998 – Zum Ursprung des Horus-Glaubens im vordynastischen Ägypten (The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt), Efodon Synesis, 2005 – Sternensteine - Darstellungen frühgeschichtlicher Astronomie am Beispiel der Externsteine (Star Stones - Prehistoric Astronomy and the Extern Stones), Forschungskreis Walther Machalett für Vor und Frühgeschichte, 2005 – Die Himmelsscheibe von Nebra : Beweisführung und Deutung (The Sky Disk of Nebra: Evidence and Interpretation), Efodon Synesis, 2005 – Der Bodenhimmel der Oesterholzer Mark um die Spitze der \"Externsteinpyramide\" (A Megalithic Sky Map at Oesterholz), Efodon Synesis, 2006 – Das Tanum System - ein alteuropäisches Vermessungssystem? (The Tanum System : Ancient Land Survey in Europe), Forschungskreis Externsteine., 2007 – Der Osnabrücker Bodenhimmel (The Hermetic Planisphere at Osnabrück), Forschungskreis Externsteine, 2008. -2-
3. INTRODUCTION • Ladies and Gentlemen, • Thank you for attending my presentation and thank you to the organizers and staff of this conference for making it possible for me to be here. We are in the halls of art and history at Burlington House, and today we may see history being made – in the field of communications. The Phaistos Disk is after all a communication and storage device, albeit of very ancient vintage. • Today we all have our mobile cell phones, CDs and DVDs, and we take them for granted, but this technology was not always so easy to understand. In the early days of telecommunications Albert Einstein explained radio by saying: • “You see, wire telegraph is a kind of a very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles.... And radio operates exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat.” -3-
4. Albert Einstein’s Cat (Photomontage by Wolfgang Lauter in Der literarische Katzenkalender, 2008, Schöffling & Co.) In the case of the Phaistos Disk, we have a cat, but our cat has no tail and worse still, it is not meowing, and the issue has been rightly raised now whether we have a -4- real cat here at all.
5. To be or not to be? REAL or FAKE? That is the question • TO BE OR NOT TO BE. REAL or FAKE? • That is the Shakespearean question being posed here today. • Dr. Jerome Eisenberg has observed – correctly in my view – that the symbols on the Phaistos Disk were compiled piecemeal in part from other ancient sources. • I agree. The only question is, was this done in the modern era, or 3 to 4 thousand years ago? Dr. Eisenberg has concluded that it was a modern forger, an archaeologist, who did it. But I think, to the contrary, that it was the ancient Greeks themselves who did it. And I have evidence for that conclusion. -5-
6. The Invention of Letters in Greece • Gaius Julius Hyginus (ca. 64 BC – AD 17), who lived at the time of Christ, passed on many Greek tales in unadulterated form in his Fabulae, of which Number 277 deals with \"Ancient Inventors\". He writes as follows: • \"\"CCLXXVII. FIRST INVENTORS. The Parcae, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos [AK note: The Parcae are the Fates, in Greek Morae, and named Nona, Decima and Morta] invented seven Greek letters - A B H T I Y. Others say that Mercury invented them from the flight of cranes, which, when they fly, form letters. Palamedes, too, son of Nauplius, invented eleven letters; Simonides, too, invented four letters – Ó E Z PH; Epicharmus of Sicily, two - P and PS. The Greek letters Mercury is said to have brought to Egypt, and from Egypt Cadmus took them to Greece. Cadmus in exile from Arcadia, took them to Italy, and his mother Carmenta changed them to Latin to the number of 15. Apollo on the lyre added the rest....\" -6-
7. Greek Letters were taken from Ancient Sources by the Ancients themselves – the Crete Connection • The ancient record therefore confirms that the initial Greek letters, which constitute the origins of writing in Western Europe, were in fact a conglomeration of inputs, just as Dr. Eisenberg claims for the Phaistos Disk. Accordingly, this characteristic is no proof that the Phaistos Disk is not genuine. Quite the contrary, it is exactly what we would expect from ancient Greek letters, based on the historical record. The first Greek letters viz. symbols were in fact taken from numerous ancient sources, by the ancients themselves. • One inventor of Greek letters mentioned by Hyginus in fact has a clear connection to Crete: Palamedes, son of Nauplius and Clymene, the daughter of Catreus, king of Crete, son of the first king of Crete, Minos, and grandfather of Menelaus, the Greek husband of Helen of Troy. Catreus was thus the grandfather of Palamedes. -7-
8. A Man named Palamedes • Grandfather Catreus had numerous children. • His two daughters he is said to have given to a merchant mariner, Nauplius, to be married off in foreign lands. This mariner instead took Clymene for himself and sailed off into the sunset. Where did they ultimately settle? • Clymene in ancient Greek sources is also called Asia, which some allege is how the continent Asia got its name, thus pointing to a possible geographic Asian destiny. Indeed, Herodotus is puzzled by Ancient Greek usage of women's names to describe large areas such as Asia or Europe. But the answer – royal settlement - is clear. • It is Clymene’s son Palamedes who subsequently surfaces as the greatest inventor in the history of Greece, for Palamedes not only allegedly invented eleven of the Greek letters, but it is also said that he invented counting, currency, weights and measures, military ranks, dice, a forerunner of chess called pessoi, and improvements in winemaking. -8-
9. Technology Transfer from Elam to Crete • Amazing enough, but all of this could very well be true in the ancient era if the inventions of Palamedes were obtained by technology transfer from a foreign land, for Mercury (viz. Hermes) the bringer of letters, has the same meaning as \"merchant\". These inventions were brought to Greece from a distant land by traveling merchants. • As we have discovered, this distant land is Elam, the land – as we shall claim and explain here - where Clymene and Nauplius ultimately settled. It is the land in which letters were first stamped onto clay, just as on the Phaistos Disk, but long before it. An existing technology was thus imported into ancient Crete. We will discuss this in detail subsequently. -9-
10. The Previous Lack of Corroborative Texts • The second major argument raised by Dr. Eisenberg against the Phaistos Disk is the lack of corroborative texts. When Dr. Eisenberg initially asked me to present a paper at this conference, I declined, saying it was a losing proposition for me, since no probative proof of authenticity would be possible without corroborative texts. To my knowledge then, there were no such texts available, so it was pointless to come. • At Dr. Eisenberg's friendly insistence, I finally agreed to present a paper merely presenting my point of view that the Phaistos Disk was quite genuine, and giving my reasons for so believing. But in the course of research for this paper, a remarkable thing happened. - 10 -
11. Corroborative Texts from Elam • I discovered two texts that contained symbols with a great deal of similarity to a number of symbols on the Phaistos Disk. These texts were from Elam and were written in Old Elamite Script. Could they be connected? • Indeed, when I applied the syllabic values for the Phaistos Disc that I had obtained 30 years previously, I was able to read those Old Elamite Scripts without difficulty. They were written in Ancient Greek language, and the author was presumably Palamedes, the son of Clymene, and the inventor of Greek letters.
12. Background to the Phaistos Disc Decipherment by Andis Kaulins In The Phaistos Disc: Hieroglyphic Greek with Euclidean Dimensions: The ‘Lost Proof’ of Parallel Lines, Darmstadt, 1980, p. 18, the author of that book, Andis Kaulins, wrote as follows: - 12 -
13. “In ... 1977 a colleague ... at the University of Kiel departed on a vacation to Crete.... [S]he brought back a book from the Heraklion Museum in which a photo of Side A of the Phaistos Disc was pictured... Was it ... written in an Indo-European language? ... [if yes, this author concluded], it would have to bear a close relation to the Baltic languages [the most archaic still spoken Indo- European tongues], and ... in that case [yes, it should be decipherable]....” - 13 -
14. Three years later, this author's decipherment resulted in the book (viz. monograph) pictured here, which alleged to decipher the Phaistos Disc as a pre-Euclidean mathematical postulate written in Ancient Greek. The alleged decipherment was shown to a number of people who were of the opinion that the work was plausible, if also speculative, especially because of the lack of corroborative additional Cretan viz. Minoan material. - 14 -
15. A Review of Previous Research was conducted starting from the date of discovery of the Phaistos Disc by Luigi Pernier in the year 1908 - 15 -
16. Had anyone found the right path? Did the incomplete 1952 Ventris decipherment of Linear B as Ancient Greek indicate that Greek was the most likely language? The 45 pictographs on the Phaistos Disc appeared 241 times and appeared to be divided into words by vertical lines. Were the symbols syllabic? This author sensed that statistical analysis of letter frequencies and distribution would help to solve the mystery. A chart was made of the distribution and frequency of the pictographs. This frequency was then compared to the distribution of letters and letter combinations found at the beginnings of words in Ancient Greek, and also in Latvian and Lithuanian languages (the most archaic still spoken Indo-European tongues). Based on those stats and supported by Greek, Latvian and Lithuanian terms for the objects presumably depicted by the symbols, syllabic values were derived and analysed in a comprehensive Michael Ventris – Alice Kober type of syllabic grid, which included the major language consonants and vowels.
17. Phaistos Disc Syllabic Grid by Andis Kaulins 1980 - 17 -
18. Phaistos Disc Reading in Ancient Greek applying the syllabic values from the Phaistos Disc Syllabic Grid - by Andis Kaulins - 18 -
19. In English that Ancient Greek text could be read as follows: • SIDE A: Foreseen (are) - as given - standing straight lines (perpendiculars) • - to be constructed (drawn). - To the side - of either such line segment • - extend - a partner line - running - alongside. - The Problem (LEMMA): • - Consider - whether these - Parallel Lines - extended - stay - Parallels. • Consider - whether these - Parallels - extended converge (diverge). • - The synthetic - added line - would foresee - a medial (uncertain) - termination. • - Extended (beyond bounds) - a fixed (converging) - termination. • SIDE B: Next to - the categorized - just constructed lines - and flat to • - the side walls' - diameter - inscribe - a closed arc - and make it so that • - the new line - curve - in its course - the side walls - diagonally - joins. • - Tie together - yoked - the branched lines. - Connect - the standing • straight lines - and branched lines. - Run a line so that - the newly created • - geodetic lines - are met - and the branched lines - pair is yoked. • - The promised - solution - is given. - 19 -
20. That reading of the Ancient Greek results in the following figure … With the following modern mathematical reading of the Phaistos Disc If the parallel lines B, D and C are extended to f and g [and beyond but short of infinity], then the resulting angle x varies, [nearing 180 or 0 degrees] depending on where line f and g is drawn. Hence, the termination is uncertain. As the parallels B, D and C are extended beyond bounds (i.e. to infinity, or infinite ends), then the angle x [measured from the center of the circle to the lines drawn to the ends of the extensions of the parallel lines B and C] will get smaller and smaller towards D as the lines B, D and C are extended, thus suggesting a converging termination. - 20 -
21. The Mathematical Decipherment Explains the 4 and 5 knots which start each respective side of the Phaistos Disc since these represent the 4th and 5th Postulates of Euclid [right angles (4th) - parallel postulate (5th)] This pre-Euclidean \"proof\" anticipates a modern analysis of parallel lines by non-Euclidean geometry. It suggests that Euclidian geometry was known to the Greeks prior to Euclid, which, in view of such mathematically sophisticated ancient sources as the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, should no longer surprise us. Indeed, the fact that Side A of the Phaistos Disc starts with 4 \"knots\" and Side B of the Phaistos Disc starts with 5 \"knots\" could indeed indicate that these are the ancient predecessors of Euclid's later 4th and 5th postulates, the 4th postulate of which postulated that all right angles equal one another (the Phaistos Disk speaks of perpendiculars) and the 5th postulate of which is Euclid's \"parallel postulate\" (as on the Phaistos Disc). - 21 -
22. The Russian mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky in fact derived a proof in the 19th century which is similar to the mathematical proof found on the Phaistos Disk: \"... [In the figure above] line AB is perpendicular to CD. If we permit it to rotate about A counterclockwise, it will intersect CD at various points to the right of B until it reaches a limiting position EF, when it becomes parallel to CD. Continuing the rotation, it will start to intersect CD to the left of B. Euclid assumed that there is only one position for the line, namely EF, when it would be parallel to CD. Lobachevsky assumed that there were two such positions, represented by A1B1 and C1D1, and further, that all lines falling within the angle θ, while not parallel to CD, would never meet it, no matter how far extended. Now this is an assumption, and there is no sense in arguing from the diagram that it is evident that if A1B1 or C1D1 were intersected sufficiently far, they would eventually intersect CD. If, as Professor Cohen has pointed out, we rely wholly on our intuition of space, which is finite, there will always be an angle θ which grows smaller as our space is extended, but which never vanishes, and all lines falling within θ will fail to intersect the given line. [The reference is to Morris Raphael Cohen, Reason and Nature, p. 137.]\" Quoted from Edward Kasner and James Roy Newman, Mathematics and the Imagination, drawings by Rufus Isaacs, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1940/1967, pp. 136-137 (the Lobachevsky drawing is our adaptation) - 22 -
23. An Old Elamite Script as Corroboration for the Phaistos Disc What struck me immediately was the similarity between the first word on the Old Elamite text and the symbols on the Phaistos Disc, whereby the Old Elamite script looked like a more cursive version of the Phaistos Disc script. - 23 -
24. Old Elamite Script is Undeciphered but some Syllabic Values have been postulated Old Elamite script from Elam, the ancient kingdom southeast of Sumer and Akkad, with its capital at Susa, and the source of the Code of Hammurabi, is today southwest Iran. Written records place the beginnings of Elamite culture at ca. 3200 BC. Mainstream archaeologists view Old Elamite to be an undeciphered pictographic script - for whose symbols syllabic values have in any case been alleged to apply to Old Elamite by some researchers as follows: - 24 -
25. A second Old Elamite script - 25 -
26. Old Elamite is Known to be Genuine Because of an Akkadian Bilingual Text The second Old Elamite script, shown on the previous page, is of great importance because it has an Akkadian bilingual text, which has been translated, based on the Akkadian text, to mean that a monument of some kind was erected for or by an important personage in Susa (German version from Harald Haarmann, Universalgeschichte der Schrift, Campus Verlag: Frankfurt and New York, 1991, Sonderausgabe 1998, Parkland Verlag, Cologne, p. 374.): • [German] \"Seinem Herrn Inshushinak, dem Menschenbildner (?), 2. habe ich Shilhak- Inshushinak, 3. der Statthalter von Susa, 4. der König des Landes Elam, 5. der Shempishhukische, 6. eine Säule (?) aus Kupfer (und) Zedernholz geweiht.\" • [Our English translation of that error-filled conversion] \"For his master Inshushinak, the sculptor of human forms (?), I, Shilhak-Inshushinak, Administrator of Susa, King of Elam, has dedicated the Shempishhukische, an obelisk (or column) (?) of copper and cedar wood.\" Since a number of symbol combinations are repeated identically on both Old Elamite scripts in this presentation, it is then logical to presume that both Old Elamite scripts have a similar content and relate to the dedication of monuments to or by important Elamite personages at Susa. - 26 -
27. Dual Syllabic Grid of Old Elamite Script and Phaistos Disc Symbols Based on the two Old Elamite scripts presented here, it has been possible to create a Dual Syllabic Grid of the symbols on the Phaistos Disc and on the Old Elamite Scripts - 27 -
28. Corroboration of the Genuineness of the Phaistos Disc and its Decipherment by Andis Kaulins Using the Dual Syllabic Grid for the Phaistos Disc and the Old Elamite Scripts, it has proven possible to decipher both Old Elamite Scripts, with sensational content, and thereby also to corroborate not only the genuineness of the Phaistos Disc but also the correctness of its decipherment as an Ancient Greek mathematical text by Andis Kaulins in the year 1980. - 28 -
29. The English Decipherment of the 1st Old Elamite Script, written in Ancient Greek, reads: “Ruler over all (Pantarchas). In memory, the deceased in these walls of a new temple is laid to rest. The collected elders, ordained by God, and the lone (sole) companion of King Labynetus, Nitokris, administrator in death, in Susa erected this temple in memory, in sorrow created.” - 29 -
30. The English Decipherment of the 2nd Old Elamite Script, written in Ancient Greek, reads: “This great hall of columns [“statue” in the Akkadian bilingual], Peloponessus, was erected in memory of the deceased Queen Nitokris of Mycenaean descent, separated from her home in Mycenae and now in sorrow separated in death.” - 30 -
31. How did Ancient Greek get to Elam? Was Nitokris the true Helen of Troy or Clymena of ancient Greek legend? The ancient name for Troy was Ilium or Ilion: (Greek Τροία, Troia or Ἴλιον, Ilion; Latin: Trōia, Īlium, Hittite: Truwisa or Wilusa). Ilium thus bears a close word correspondence to the term Elam. Did both identify the same place? In Persia? We must recall that the currently accepted location of Troy in Anatolia as popularized by Heinrich Schliemann and as defended in our day by Manfred Korfmann has been called a fantasy construction by Frank Kolb, and, indeed, there is almost no probative evidence proving that Hisarlik in modern-day Turkey was actually Troy. Nothing in historical or archaeological data gives Hisarlik any great ancient importance. Homer spoke of springs west of the city of Troy, but there are none at Hisarlik. But there are underground springs on the Susa plain. - 31 -
32. The Importance of Elam to the Beginnings of Writing and Civilization “[I]t was here [in Elam], rather than in Mesopotamia proper - which after all lies only fifty miles to the west of Susa - that civilization as we know it truly began. - Richard Critchfield, How Lonely Sits the City Susa and Elam are therefore of great historical and archaeological interest. Jacque de Morgan, famed for having found the Code of Hammurabi and called the father of prehistoric archeology by some, wrote (Recherches sur les origines des peuples du Caucase, p. 16, 1912): \"In the Nile valley I developed the conviction that the first civilizations, from which the Egyptian empire arose, came from Chaldea and that the Mesopotamian plains had therefore been the cradle of human progress. Susa, because of its very early date, provided the possibility of solving the greatest and most important problem, that of our origins. This city, in my view, belonged to that primordial world that had witnessed the discovery of writing, the use of metals, the beginnings of art. If the great problem of origins was to be solved one day, it was in Chaldea, and especially at Susa, that it was necessary to seek the basic elements.\" [emphasis added] - 32 -
33. The Origin of Seals and Stamps as on the Phaistos Disc As far as the origins of writing are concerned, in fact, some of the oldest seals and stamps ever discovered have been found at Susa in Elam. As on the Phaistos Disc, the ancient technology of \"writing\" symbols onto seals consisted of stamping carved impressions onto clay. The Phaistos Disc does not implement an unknown ancient technology, rather, it implements a technology otherwise unknown to Crete. - 33 -
34. The geographic placement of Troy toward Persia is suggested by other evidence. The Iliou persis (Greek: Ἰλίου πέρσις, Latin: Iliupersis) is a lost Greek epic of the so-called Epic Cycle (also called the \"Trojan Cycle\") of Greek literature, of which fragments have survived. The current mainstream translation of the title phrase Iliou persis as \"Sack of Ilium\" is unpersuasive and doubtful in view of the Ancient Greek root περσισ- (persis-, \"Persian\"), whereby πέρσις (pérsis) \"destruction\" is surely a derivative meaning attached to the folk name. Iliou persis in its original context thus most likely actually meant \"Elam in Persia\" or \"Hellas in Persia\". In any case, it was in fact the similarly named Paris (perhaps originally \"Persis\", the Greek from Persia) who, according to the legend of the cause of the Trojan War, eloped with or abducted Helen of Troy, the stepdaughter of King Tyndareus. That entire complex of ancient tales provides us with the necessary Mycenaean connection, as follows, according to Greek legend: - 34 -
35. The Mycenaean Connection \"Tyndareus Τυνδαρεύς (or Tyndareos Τυνδάρεως) was a Spartan king..., husband of Leda and [step]father of Helen.... Tyndareus' wife, Leda, was seduced by Zeus ... disguised ... as a swan. She laid two eggs, each producing two children ... from one egg, Pollux and Helen were the children of Zeus; from the other, Castor and Clytemnestra were the children of Tyndareus. When Thyestes seized control in Mycenae, two exiled princes, Agamemnon and Menelaus came to Sparta. Tyndareus received them.... Agamemnon married Clytemnestra. Helen ... had many more suitors for she was the most beautiful woman in the world. When it was time for [Helen] to marry, many ... kings and princes came to seek her hand.... Tyndareus [would not] send any of the suitors away for fear of ... giving grounds for a quarrel.... Odysseus proposed that, before the decision was made, all the suitors should swear a most solemn oath to defend the chosen husband against whoever should quarrel with the chosen one. This stratagem succeeded and Helen and Menelaus were married. Eventually, Tyndareus resigned in favor of his son-in-law and Menelaus became king of Sparta.... Some years later, Paris, a Trojan prince came to Sparta to marry Helen, whom he had been promised by Aphrodite. Helen fell in love with him and left willingly, (although it is also suggested that he may have simply kidnapped her, with neither theory being conclusively proven) leaving behind Menelaus and Hermione, their nine-year-old daughter.... Menelaus' attempts to retrieve Helen ... caused the Trojan War.\" [emphasis added] – Wikipedia - 35 -
36. Helen of Troy and Paris in Cyprus, Sidon (Phoenicia, including Tyre) and Egypt (Sais) The connection to Crete is strengthened by the legendary account that on the night that Helen and Paris left Sparta, they were able to do so because Menelaus had left Sparta to sail to Crete for the funeral of his grandfather King Catreus: \"The myth about Catreus [son of King Minos of Crete] and his children is proof (known as well from the archaeological findings) that in the so called \"heroic age\" a close relation existed between Crete, Mycenae, and the other places in the Peloponnese and also between Crete and the islands such as Rhodes.\" The Trojan War holds more surprises in the legendary account, some of which seem to be conveniently ignored by those who modernly discuss the location of Troy. As written by Robert Graves (Robert von Ranke-Graves), based on numerous Greek sources, Helen and Paris, after leaving Sparta, sailed to Cyprus, Sidon (Phoenicia) and the Nile Delta of Egypt, where, at the latter, they founded a temple on the Canopic branch of the Nile. As explained below, this could have been at Sais: \"Sais or Sa el-Hagar was an ancient Egyptian town in the Western Nile Delta on the Canopic branch of the Nile.“ The patron goddess of the \"Egyptian\" city Sais was Neith, whose cult at Sais is allegedly attested in texts clear back to the 1st Dynasty, but nothing archaeological has been found earlier than the New Kingdom at that alleged location of Sais, in fact \"only a few relief blocks in situ\". Interesting then, according to legend, is that ancient Sais was allegedly built by Greeks, not Egyptians, prior to the cataclysm. \"Herodotus wrote that Sais is where the grave of Osiris was located.... Diodorus Siculus attested that it was the Athenians who built Sais before the cataclysm. While all Greek cities were destroyed during the cataclysm, the Egyptian cities including Sais survived. ... There are today no surviving traces of this town prior to the Late New Kingdom (ca. 1100 BC)…. - 36 -
37. Geography of the Flight of Helen of Troy and Paris The legendary route of Helen and Paris to Troy does not speak for Hisarlik as Troy, for Paris and Helen went to Troy after leaving Egypt, and they would not have gone that far South only to return even further to the North. Troy is clearly elsewhere. - 37 -
38. Why did the Greeks have trouble FINDING Troy and who did the really attack? According to Herodotus, the Greeks had trouble finding Troy, which would seem to exclude Hisarlik as the location of Troy, since that location would easily have been known to them, being in their own back yard. The legend relates that the Greek warships in pursuit of Helen and Paris initially and mistakenly attacked the people called Teuthranians (we think this was the Tyranians, the people of Tyre, near Sidon) who claimed that Helen was not in their land, and put up fierce resistance, inflicting serious losses on the Greeks. Tyre would in that case then be the origin of the later name Troy, which became confused historically by the ancient writers with Ilium (Elam), the actual location of Helen and Paris. - 38 -
39. Queen Nitokris and Crete In addition to the above connections of Helen of Troy and other essential historical personages to Mycenae and Crete by legend, there is also a potential linguistic connection to Crete in the name of Queen Nitokris…. The Egyptian Queen Nitokris, according to current scholarship, is regarded to be a different Queen than the \"Babylonian\" Elamite Queen Nitokris, but we leave a discussion of the issue of whether these were separate Queens or not to a later date, since this is a question of chronology and other matters too broad to discuss here. In the Mycenaean context here, it is important to note that Nitokris is read Neit-krety in Egyptology and could in fact thus be read as \"goddess (or woman) of Crete\". In very archaic Indo-European (e.g. Latvian) the term meita is similar to neit viz. neith and means simply \"girl\" or \"woman\", so that the original meaning of Neit-krety might simply have been \"girl from Crete\". Sais in Egypt was thus the Temple of Neith and the similarly named Susa was the city of the Queen from Crete. But that could also be Clymene rather than Helen of Troy, whose husband hailed from Crete. - 39 -
40. Queen Napirasu of Elam Helen of Troy [or, also possible, Clymene] was thus Queen Napirasu, wife of King Untash-Napirisha [either King Labynetus or King Naublius] of Elam, whereby the similar name Na-piris-ha could be the Paris of ancient Greek legend who eloped with Helen - or in the alternative - Napirisha could be the name equivalent to Naublius. A statue of Queen Napirasu, unique for its time, composed of 3760 pounds of bronze and copper, was found in Susa, Elam, and is today, perhaps fittingly for its namesake, a part of the Iran collection in the Louvre in the city of Paris, France. In that statue we thus see either Helen of Troy or Clymene as the life-size statue of Queen Napirasu. - 40 -
41. Statue of Queen Napirasu The Louvre labels this statue as: \"Queen Napirasu, wife of King Untash-Napirisha, circa 1340-1300 BC, [photograph] © R.M.N./D. Chenot, Statue found at the Tell of the Acropolis, Susa, Iran, Bronze and copper, H. 1.29 m; L. 0.73 m, Jacques de Morgan excavations, 1903.\" Statue of Queen Napirasu, Louvre. - 41 -
42. 42. - 42 -"
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/24/2009 12:15:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Sunday, February 22, 2009 2/22/2009 02:14:00 AM [Home]
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LawPundit Graphic Interface Updated and Modernized including a Veritable Widget Panoply and Special Features Installed
Update: The Wikipedia Widget that we had previously selected was not working as we liked so we replaced it with a WidgetBox Widget of Law Pundit (lower left column).
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In the course of updating and modernizing the LawPundit blog,
we now have the following widgets, gadgets and special features installed. We are not sure we will keep all of these new installations, but most of them for sure:
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/22/2009 02:14:00 AM
LawPundit Graphic Interface Updated and Modernized including a Veritable Widget Panoply and Special Features Installed
Update: The Wikipedia Widget that we had previously selected was not working as we liked so we replaced it with a WidgetBox Widget of Law Pundit (lower left column).
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In the course of updating and modernizing the LawPundit blog,
we now have the following widgets, gadgets and special features installed. We are not sure we will keep all of these new installations, but most of them for sure:
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Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/22/2009 02:14:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Saturday, February 21, 2009 2/21/2009 10:18:00 PM [Home]
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The LawPundit Traben-Trarbach Header
As of February 21, 2009, the LawPundit graphic interface has been updated and modernized for the reader, also adding some brand new state-of -the-art bells and whistles to make a reading of this web journal (viz. blog, blawg, weblog) more enjoyable. Here we explain the header.
THE HEADER
The top portion of the screen on a blog is called a header and here includes our own recent photograph of the Traben side of Traben-Trarbach, our domicile on the Moselle River (German Mosel). Traben-Trarbach is a twin town of about 6000 inhabitants, with the inhabitants divided on two sides of the river.
The header photograph was taken at dusk on January 25th of this year, 2009, standing on the Trarbach side of the bridge looking across the river toward Traben. It was a totally wind-free evening where the Moselle River (about 300-400 meters across at this point) looked more like a clear lake. There was not a ripple to be seen.
In the size-reduced photograph below, we have taken half of a daytime panorama photograph of Traben-Trarbach found at the Starkenburg website, the town which overlooks Traben-Trarbach, though the photograph is taken from near the Grevenburg Castle ruins which tower above Trarbach.
We have marked a section of the photograph with lines and labels to show which part of Traben our own photograph represents. The yellow lines show the breadth of the full photo on a 22-inch screen. The light blue line shows the approximate limits of the photo as visible on a smaller screen. The large dot shows approximately where we were standing when we took the photograph. The orange dot in the upper right hand part of the picture shows where I am sitting right now, writing this posting.
In its glory days at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, Traben-Trarbach was an extremely wealthy city, ranked as the second leading wine-trading center in the world (after Bordeaux). The wealthy wine barons at this time built many of the Art Nouveau buildings found in contemporary Traben-Trarbach.
The oldest building in Traben-Trarbach, the Aacher Hof, is located in Traben, and dates to 830 A.D. In the header photograph, Aacher Hof is located in the dark group of buildings near the brightly lit building in the center, the so-called "miraculous" Art Nouveau Jugendstil Hotel Bellevue.
The name of the blog, LawPundit, has been integrated into the header photograph and a clickable, floating link for Traben-Trarbach is found in the lower right-hand corner of the header.
Since our website is conceived optimally for 22-inch monitors, which are quickly becoming a standard in computer usage, anyone having a smaller monitor will not see the full header photograph, which stretches clear across the top of the screen from the art nouveau Villa Nollen (the lighted building behind the W in LawPundit, see image), to the four-star **** Bellevue Hotel (the lighted building to the right of the T in LawPundit) to the four-star **** Moselschlösschen Hotel (see 360° panorama) next to the bridge (at the right in the photograph and not visible to smaller screens).
Traben-Trarbach also has a five-star hotel, the Ayurveda Spa viz. Resort Hotel ***** Parkschlösschen, which caters to guests from all around the world. The Parkschlösschen has a parkland location in the valley in which Trarbach is nestled and can not be seen in the header photograph, so we have an arrow there instead because it is two kilometers inland.
Traben-Trarbach is a popular but yet peaceful tourist destination frequented by seven overnite visitors per year per inhabitant, which ranks the Middle Moselle Valley 2nd in Germany in this category, after the Baltic Sea's Rügen, Germany's largest island. This popularity of the Moselle region among tourists explains the great number and variety of accomodations available in Traben-Trarbach and why a town of only 6000 people has one five-star hotel and two four-star hotels, not to mention countless other accomodations. Many tourists return to Traben-Trarbach and environs year after year, especially for the many wine festivals in the Moselle Valley.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/21/2009 10:18:00 PM
The LawPundit Traben-Trarbach Header
As of February 21, 2009, the LawPundit graphic interface has been updated and modernized for the reader, also adding some brand new state-of -the-art bells and whistles to make a reading of this web journal (viz. blog, blawg, weblog) more enjoyable. Here we explain the header.
THE HEADER
The top portion of the screen on a blog is called a header and here includes our own recent photograph of the Traben side of Traben-Trarbach, our domicile on the Moselle River (German Mosel). Traben-Trarbach is a twin town of about 6000 inhabitants, with the inhabitants divided on two sides of the river.
The header photograph was taken at dusk on January 25th of this year, 2009, standing on the Trarbach side of the bridge looking across the river toward Traben. It was a totally wind-free evening where the Moselle River (about 300-400 meters across at this point) looked more like a clear lake. There was not a ripple to be seen.
In the size-reduced photograph below, we have taken half of a daytime panorama photograph of Traben-Trarbach found at the Starkenburg website, the town which overlooks Traben-Trarbach, though the photograph is taken from near the Grevenburg Castle ruins which tower above Trarbach.
We have marked a section of the photograph with lines and labels to show which part of Traben our own photograph represents. The yellow lines show the breadth of the full photo on a 22-inch screen. The light blue line shows the approximate limits of the photo as visible on a smaller screen. The large dot shows approximately where we were standing when we took the photograph. The orange dot in the upper right hand part of the picture shows where I am sitting right now, writing this posting.
In its glory days at the turn of the 19th century to the 20th century, Traben-Trarbach was an extremely wealthy city, ranked as the second leading wine-trading center in the world (after Bordeaux). The wealthy wine barons at this time built many of the Art Nouveau buildings found in contemporary Traben-Trarbach.
The oldest building in Traben-Trarbach, the Aacher Hof, is located in Traben, and dates to 830 A.D. In the header photograph, Aacher Hof is located in the dark group of buildings near the brightly lit building in the center, the so-called "miraculous" Art Nouveau Jugendstil Hotel Bellevue.
The name of the blog, LawPundit, has been integrated into the header photograph and a clickable, floating link for Traben-Trarbach is found in the lower right-hand corner of the header.
Since our website is conceived optimally for 22-inch monitors, which are quickly becoming a standard in computer usage, anyone having a smaller monitor will not see the full header photograph, which stretches clear across the top of the screen from the art nouveau Villa Nollen (the lighted building behind the W in LawPundit, see image), to the four-star **** Bellevue Hotel (the lighted building to the right of the T in LawPundit) to the four-star **** Moselschlösschen Hotel (see 360° panorama) next to the bridge (at the right in the photograph and not visible to smaller screens).
Traben-Trarbach also has a five-star hotel, the Ayurveda Spa viz. Resort Hotel ***** Parkschlösschen, which caters to guests from all around the world. The Parkschlösschen has a parkland location in the valley in which Trarbach is nestled and can not be seen in the header photograph, so we have an arrow there instead because it is two kilometers inland.
Traben-Trarbach is a popular but yet peaceful tourist destination frequented by seven overnite visitors per year per inhabitant, which ranks the Middle Moselle Valley 2nd in Germany in this category, after the Baltic Sea's Rügen, Germany's largest island. This popularity of the Moselle region among tourists explains the great number and variety of accomodations available in Traben-Trarbach and why a town of only 6000 people has one five-star hotel and two four-star hotels, not to mention countless other accomodations. Many tourists return to Traben-Trarbach and environs year after year, especially for the many wine festivals in the Moselle Valley.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/21/2009 10:18:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/21/2009 02:14:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
London by Night, From the Air : Fantastic Aerial Photography by Jason Hawkes
Jason Hawkes was the photographer for the memorable publication Prehistoric Britain from the Air, by Janet & Colin Bord, one of the most prized books in my personal library, which was instrumental in my writing of Stars Stones and Scholars, the cover of which is found in the right column of this LawPundit blog.
Hawkes recently outdid himself, creating a series of stunning aerial night photographs of London, England, UK.
These photographs have been reproduced at boston.com, the website of The Boston Globe, and are also found at the website of Jason Hawkes.
Hat tip to clipmarks
and the clipper benben1.
Other citations to Jason Hawkes and his photographic art are:
Telegraph.co.uk - slide show of the London photographs
BBC - Jason Hawkes' Photography - see the slide show of the London photos
CR Blog - with a link to a site showing a photo of the Eurocopter Twin Squirrel helicopter type used to get the photographer where he needed to be for the photography
The blog Aerial Photographs by Jason Hawkes - where Hawkes talks about how he got into this line of work, and also about helicopters, the strictly enforced heli-routes in London and the technical requirements for the camera and gyroscopes which can be used for this kind of shooting
Flickr - Jason Hawkes
Books by and involving Jason Hawkes photography
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/21/2009 02:14:00 AM
London by Night, From the Air : Fantastic Aerial Photography by Jason Hawkes
Jason Hawkes was the photographer for the memorable publication Prehistoric Britain from the Air, by Janet & Colin Bord, one of the most prized books in my personal library, which was instrumental in my writing of Stars Stones and Scholars, the cover of which is found in the right column of this LawPundit blog.
Hawkes recently outdid himself, creating a series of stunning aerial night photographs of London, England, UK.
These photographs have been reproduced at boston.com, the website of The Boston Globe, and are also found at the website of Jason Hawkes.
Hat tip to clipmarks
and the clipper benben1.
Other citations to Jason Hawkes and his photographic art are:
Telegraph.co.uk - slide show of the London photographs
BBC - Jason Hawkes' Photography - see the slide show of the London photos
CR Blog - with a link to a site showing a photo of the Eurocopter Twin Squirrel helicopter type used to get the photographer where he needed to be for the photography
The blog Aerial Photographs by Jason Hawkes - where Hawkes talks about how he got into this line of work, and also about helicopters, the strictly enforced heli-routes in London and the technical requirements for the camera and gyroscopes which can be used for this kind of shooting
Flickr - Jason Hawkes
Books by and involving Jason Hawkes photography
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/21/2009 02:14:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Friday, February 20, 2009 2/20/2009 12:57:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
World Best Cities in terms of Quality of Life : Business Week presents Mercer Consulting list of Best Places to Live : The Top Ten
Globally seen, what are the best places in the world to live? And if it is good to live there, these places might well be worth a visit when you are planning your next vacation. We show the top 10 here.
Business Week carries an article by Carl Winfield at The World's Best Places to Live 2008, presenting the annual Mercer Consulting list of global cities having the best quality of life (see the Mercer Quality of Living Reports). The ranking is an objectively-based subjective judgment which of course depends on the parameters used for evaluation, but the results are nevertheless of great interest for understanding social and economic trends worldwide.
In compiling their list, Mercer Consulting uses a base figure of 100 for the Big Apple (New York City) and ranks all other cities above or below that, with Zurich in Switzerland ranked at the top at 108 and Baghdad ranked at the bottom at 13.5.
We present the top 10 of the Business Week list of the top cities below, using where possible an official photograph at the official city or tourism website of each city, with our own commentary to that list, plus some of our own photos of selected cities, taken from our own experience or from a variety of sources (see for example Visit European Cities), i.e. we are not confined to the Business Week article or the Mercer Consulting Report. If you have not been to all of these places, then you still have a few places to go.... Enjoy.
1. Zurich (Zürich), Switzerland - Mercer Score 108 points
Photograph at the Official Site of Zürich Tourism
Zurich has a scenic location second to none in the world, with a magnificent view of Lake Zürich and the snowcapped Alps, as shown by the Zürich Tourism photograph of Zürich above. This location makes Zurich an outdoor recreation paradise. The predominant language in Zurich is German, a dialect called Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss German). French and Italian are also spoken, and, of course, English. Most people in Switzerland are multilingual. Albert Einstein studied at the ETH Zürich. (Check out our blog at Einstein's Voice.) Zürich's main pedestrian street - the Bahnhofstrasse - is one of the most famous of the world's shopping streets, offering exquisite (and costly) products from nearly every well-known luxury store of significance. Perhaps equally famous is the newly renovated (by Norman Foster) Dolder Grand, one of The Leading Hotels of the World, and part of the Dolder Resort, picked by Tatler as the Smartest Escape in its list of the current 101 Best Spas. Even if you can not afford (or do not wish) to stay there, it is worth going to "the Dolder" just to have a cup of coffee and be King or Queen for a day. It is a singular location with a superb atmosphere.
Photograph of the Grand Dolder at the Dolder Grand website
2. & 3. Vienna, Austria and Geneva, Switzerland - Mercer Score 107.9 points (tie)
Photograph at the official website of the Vienna Tourist Board
European savoir faire guarantees that neither Vienna nor Geneva will likely complain about their 2nd & 3rd place ranking on the list, though inhabitants of either city will probably tell you that they are the true Number One.
Vienna has a storied history of immense political importance for the contiguity of modern Europe. During the Hapbsburg Dynasty as well as during the reign of Maria Theresa, Vienna became an important economic and cultural center. The Viennese Waltz and its composers Josef Lanner, Johann Strauss I and son, Johann Strauss II, immortalized the city in music, for which Vienna remains famous, for example, through its annual Vienna Opera Ball (February 19 this year - a Dress Circle Box ticket costs 17000 Euros). Not to be forgotten for the gourmets is the world's most famous chocolate cake, the Sacher-Torte of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, a Leading Hotel of the World.
Photograph of the Sacher-Torte from the Hotel Sacher website
An absolute must for us is the annual New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, broadcast throughout the world to close to 50 billion people. It is so popular that tickets are available only by drawing lots.
Photograph at the Official Geneva Tourism Website
Geneva is a beautiful city, as witnessed by the above photograph (actually a panoramic photo collage). Geneva is synonymous with the concept of global diplomacy, being the location of many United Nations organizations and the International Red Cross.
Photograph at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)
The Global Financial Centres Index 4, published by the City of London, ranks Geneva sixth, after London, New York City, Singapore, Hong Kong and Zürich, but ahead of Tokyo, Chicago, Frankfurt and Sydney.
4. Vancouver, Canada - Mercer Score 107.6 points
Photograph at the official City of Vancouver Website
Vancouver will host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
As written by Dave Caldwell at the New York Times: "Although it is only 35 miles north of the border, Vancouver looks and feels different from any city in the United States or, for that matter, Canada. With its glass-and-steel towers crowding a sweeping harbor, it could be in Asia.... With nearly 16 hours of daylight in summer, Vancouver is an ideal place to play golf at one of the city’s 12 courses, or to go boating in the bays and inlets. Three mountains loom over Vancouver, close enough for skiing after school or work. Local residents say it is possible to golf, sail and ski in the same day."
5. Auckland, New Zealand - Mercer Score 107.3
Wikimedia Commons Photograph of Auckland, New Zealand by Arjan Hoogendorn
Auckland is known as the "City of Sails because the harbour is often dotted with hundreds of yachts and has more per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches estimated." Greater Auckland is inhabited by over 30% of the entire population of New Zealand, and has the largest Polynesian populaton of any world city. As written at Wikipedia: "Auckland lies on a portage between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water."
6. Düsseldorf, Germany - Mercer Score 107.2
Photograph from the Wikimedia Commons of the Düsseldorf Media Harbour
(the crooked walls are intended by architectural design)
A walk along the prosperous "see and be seen" boulevard Königsallee, known to insiders as the "Kö", is a must in Düsseldorf. A great number of German millionaires live in Düsseldorf and the neighboring Meerbusch, and Düsseldorf has the largest Japanese community in Europe. Düsseldorf is the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia and has a penchant for art, with 18 museums and over 100 art galleries, many clustered in the Old Town. The famed Düsseldorf Media Harbor or "Art and Media Center Rhine Haven", also known as the Gehry Buildings, "was completed in the place of the old customs building in 1999. The American architect Frank O. Gehry ... made a name for himself worldwide with his deconstructivist architecture ... [e.g.] ... the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, the Disney concert hall in Los Angeles and the dancing house in Prague...." The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is somewhat unique in that it performs both at the newly renovated Opernhaus Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Opera House) as well as at the Theater Duisburg. The city recently won a gold medal in the European floral competition Entente Florale.
7. & 8. Munich, Germany and Frankfurt, Germany - Mercer Score 107.0
The capital of Bavaria, Munich, or as the Germans call it, München, is probably best known outside of Germany for its annual Oktoberfest.
Photograph of Oktoberfest at the Hacker-Pschorr Tent
Hacker-Pschorr explains the origin of Oktoberfest as follows: "In 1810, Munich Oktoberfestbier was served for the first time. According to Bavarian brewing regulations dating back to 1539, brewing was only allowed between the Feast of St. Michael ('Michaeli') on September 29th and the Feast of Saint George ('Georg') on April 23th." That made October a special "beer month".
Photograph of Frankfurt by night at Wikipedia Commons
Money, money, money. Frankfurt is Germany's financial center and also home to the European Central Bank. This is where the famed Rothschild fortunes began. Indeed, the LawPundit was born veritably next door to the Villa Rothschild in Königstein im Taunus, one of the middle mountain suburbs outside of flatland Frankfurt, where the greatest number of millionaires per capita are said to reside (about 100 of the total population of 18000). Mayor Petra Roth welcomes you to Frankfurt as follows: "Welcome to the most international city in Germany, the largest financial centre on the continent, the historical city of coronations, the city of Goethe and the Frankfurt School… "
9. Bern, Switzerland - Mercer Score 106.5
Photograph of Bern at Wikipedia Commons
Bern (also spelled Berne) is located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. As written at Wikipedia: "The city was originally built on a hilly peninsully surrounded by the river Aar but outgrew these natural boundaries in the 19th century. A number of bridges were built to allow the city to grow beyond the Aar.... Berne's city center is largely medieval and has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge, an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. It also has an impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral, the Münster, and a 15th century town hall. Thanks to 6 kilometers of arcades, the old town boasts one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe."
10. Sydney, Australia - Mercer Score 106.3
There is such a great photo of Sydney online that we just link you here simply to the Wikipedia. Click that photo of Sydney (top of the right column and then go the highest resolution on the next page). It is a fantastic photo of the city which calls itself the business gateway to Australia.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/20/2009 12:57:00 AM
World Best Cities in terms of Quality of Life : Business Week presents Mercer Consulting list of Best Places to Live : The Top Ten
Globally seen, what are the best places in the world to live? And if it is good to live there, these places might well be worth a visit when you are planning your next vacation. We show the top 10 here.
Business Week carries an article by Carl Winfield at The World's Best Places to Live 2008, presenting the annual Mercer Consulting list of global cities having the best quality of life (see the Mercer Quality of Living Reports). The ranking is an objectively-based subjective judgment which of course depends on the parameters used for evaluation, but the results are nevertheless of great interest for understanding social and economic trends worldwide.
In compiling their list, Mercer Consulting uses a base figure of 100 for the Big Apple (New York City) and ranks all other cities above or below that, with Zurich in Switzerland ranked at the top at 108 and Baghdad ranked at the bottom at 13.5.
We present the top 10 of the Business Week list of the top cities below, using where possible an official photograph at the official city or tourism website of each city, with our own commentary to that list, plus some of our own photos of selected cities, taken from our own experience or from a variety of sources (see for example Visit European Cities), i.e. we are not confined to the Business Week article or the Mercer Consulting Report. If you have not been to all of these places, then you still have a few places to go.... Enjoy.
1. Zurich (Zürich), Switzerland - Mercer Score 108 points
Photograph at the Official Site of Zürich Tourism
Zurich has a scenic location second to none in the world, with a magnificent view of Lake Zürich and the snowcapped Alps, as shown by the Zürich Tourism photograph of Zürich above. This location makes Zurich an outdoor recreation paradise. The predominant language in Zurich is German, a dialect called Schweizerdeutsch (Swiss German). French and Italian are also spoken, and, of course, English. Most people in Switzerland are multilingual. Albert Einstein studied at the ETH Zürich. (Check out our blog at Einstein's Voice.) Zürich's main pedestrian street - the Bahnhofstrasse - is one of the most famous of the world's shopping streets, offering exquisite (and costly) products from nearly every well-known luxury store of significance. Perhaps equally famous is the newly renovated (by Norman Foster) Dolder Grand, one of The Leading Hotels of the World, and part of the Dolder Resort, picked by Tatler as the Smartest Escape in its list of the current 101 Best Spas. Even if you can not afford (or do not wish) to stay there, it is worth going to "the Dolder" just to have a cup of coffee and be King or Queen for a day. It is a singular location with a superb atmosphere.
Photograph of the Grand Dolder at the Dolder Grand website
2. & 3. Vienna, Austria and Geneva, Switzerland - Mercer Score 107.9 points (tie)
Photograph at the official website of the Vienna Tourist Board
European savoir faire guarantees that neither Vienna nor Geneva will likely complain about their 2nd & 3rd place ranking on the list, though inhabitants of either city will probably tell you that they are the true Number One.
Vienna has a storied history of immense political importance for the contiguity of modern Europe. During the Hapbsburg Dynasty as well as during the reign of Maria Theresa, Vienna became an important economic and cultural center. The Viennese Waltz and its composers Josef Lanner, Johann Strauss I and son, Johann Strauss II, immortalized the city in music, for which Vienna remains famous, for example, through its annual Vienna Opera Ball (February 19 this year - a Dress Circle Box ticket costs 17000 Euros). Not to be forgotten for the gourmets is the world's most famous chocolate cake, the Sacher-Torte of the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, a Leading Hotel of the World.
Photograph of the Sacher-Torte from the Hotel Sacher website
An absolute must for us is the annual New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, broadcast throughout the world to close to 50 billion people. It is so popular that tickets are available only by drawing lots.
Photograph at the Official Geneva Tourism Website
Geneva is a beautiful city, as witnessed by the above photograph (actually a panoramic photo collage). Geneva is synonymous with the concept of global diplomacy, being the location of many United Nations organizations and the International Red Cross.
Photograph at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG)
The Global Financial Centres Index 4, published by the City of London, ranks Geneva sixth, after London, New York City, Singapore, Hong Kong and Zürich, but ahead of Tokyo, Chicago, Frankfurt and Sydney.
4. Vancouver, Canada - Mercer Score 107.6 points
Photograph at the official City of Vancouver Website
Vancouver will host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
As written by Dave Caldwell at the New York Times: "Although it is only 35 miles north of the border, Vancouver looks and feels different from any city in the United States or, for that matter, Canada. With its glass-and-steel towers crowding a sweeping harbor, it could be in Asia.... With nearly 16 hours of daylight in summer, Vancouver is an ideal place to play golf at one of the city’s 12 courses, or to go boating in the bays and inlets. Three mountains loom over Vancouver, close enough for skiing after school or work. Local residents say it is possible to golf, sail and ski in the same day."
5. Auckland, New Zealand - Mercer Score 107.3
Wikimedia Commons Photograph of Auckland, New Zealand by Arjan Hoogendorn
Auckland is known as the "City of Sails because the harbour is often dotted with hundreds of yachts and has more per capita than any other city in the world, with around 135,000 yachts and launches estimated." Greater Auckland is inhabited by over 30% of the entire population of New Zealand, and has the largest Polynesian populaton of any world city. As written at Wikipedia: "Auckland lies on a portage between the Hauraki Gulf of the Pacific Ocean to the east, the low Hunua Ranges to the south-east, the Manukau Harbour to the south-west, and the Waitakere Ranges and smaller ranges to the west and north-west. The central part of the urban area occupies a narrow isthmus between the Manukau Harbour on the Tasman Sea and the Waitemata Harbour on the Pacific Ocean. It is one of the few cities in the world to have harbours on two separate major bodies of water."
6. Düsseldorf, Germany - Mercer Score 107.2
Photograph from the Wikimedia Commons of the Düsseldorf Media Harbour
(the crooked walls are intended by architectural design)
A walk along the prosperous "see and be seen" boulevard Königsallee, known to insiders as the "Kö", is a must in Düsseldorf. A great number of German millionaires live in Düsseldorf and the neighboring Meerbusch, and Düsseldorf has the largest Japanese community in Europe. Düsseldorf is the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia and has a penchant for art, with 18 museums and over 100 art galleries, many clustered in the Old Town. The famed Düsseldorf Media Harbor or "Art and Media Center Rhine Haven", also known as the Gehry Buildings, "was completed in the place of the old customs building in 1999. The American architect Frank O. Gehry ... made a name for himself worldwide with his deconstructivist architecture ... [e.g.] ... the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, the Disney concert hall in Los Angeles and the dancing house in Prague...." The Deutsche Oper am Rhein is somewhat unique in that it performs both at the newly renovated Opernhaus Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf Opera House) as well as at the Theater Duisburg. The city recently won a gold medal in the European floral competition Entente Florale.
7. & 8. Munich, Germany and Frankfurt, Germany - Mercer Score 107.0
The capital of Bavaria, Munich, or as the Germans call it, München, is probably best known outside of Germany for its annual Oktoberfest.
Photograph of Oktoberfest at the Hacker-Pschorr Tent
Hacker-Pschorr explains the origin of Oktoberfest as follows: "In 1810, Munich Oktoberfestbier was served for the first time. According to Bavarian brewing regulations dating back to 1539, brewing was only allowed between the Feast of St. Michael ('Michaeli') on September 29th and the Feast of Saint George ('Georg') on April 23th." That made October a special "beer month".
Photograph of Frankfurt by night at Wikipedia Commons
Money, money, money. Frankfurt is Germany's financial center and also home to the European Central Bank. This is where the famed Rothschild fortunes began. Indeed, the LawPundit was born veritably next door to the Villa Rothschild in Königstein im Taunus, one of the middle mountain suburbs outside of flatland Frankfurt, where the greatest number of millionaires per capita are said to reside (about 100 of the total population of 18000). Mayor Petra Roth welcomes you to Frankfurt as follows: "Welcome to the most international city in Germany, the largest financial centre on the continent, the historical city of coronations, the city of Goethe and the Frankfurt School… "
9. Bern, Switzerland - Mercer Score 106.5
Photograph of Bern at Wikipedia Commons
Bern (also spelled Berne) is located in the German-speaking part of Switzerland. As written at Wikipedia: "The city was originally built on a hilly peninsully surrounded by the river Aar but outgrew these natural boundaries in the 19th century. A number of bridges were built to allow the city to grow beyond the Aar.... Berne's city center is largely medieval and has been recognised by UNESCO as a Cultural World Heritage Site. Perhaps its most famous sight is the Zytglogge, an elaborate medieval clock tower with moving puppets. It also has an impressive 15th century Gothic cathedral, the Münster, and a 15th century town hall. Thanks to 6 kilometers of arcades, the old town boasts one of the longest covered shopping promenades in Europe."
10. Sydney, Australia - Mercer Score 106.3
There is such a great photo of Sydney online that we just link you here simply to the Wikipedia. Click that photo of Sydney (top of the right column and then go the highest resolution on the next page). It is a fantastic photo of the city which calls itself the business gateway to Australia.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/20/2009 12:57:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Thursday, February 19, 2009 2/19/2009 04:09:00 PM [Home]
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Plaxo Pulse as a Coming Blockbuster Social Networking Appplication plus Career Opportunity and Job Search Connector
Looking to connect with people you know, knew or would like to know? At a grownup and/or professional level? Or how about alerting everyone in your firm or company or organizational community, committee or team, etc. - immediately - where you will be, e.g., on job location the next two weeks. Plaxo updates such information immediately for everyone in the Plaxo communities that you create - and it can be synchronized with applications such as Twitter.
You may not yet have heard of Plaxo or Plaxo Pulse, a serious social networking application for grownups, but you will in the future. We just joined it, and it is really terrific. It is sort of an online do-everything social contact network for adults viz. grownups (especially post-college professionals) which can also be synchronized with other applications. Plaxo is yet another eyeopening creation out of Silicon Valley and the unending stream of young talents out of Stanford University. As we read at the Plaxo Blog just yesterday, February 198, 2009:
"This is a great time at Plaxo. In 2008, we had triple-digit growth in all of our key metrics, including new users, monthly unique visitors, and pageviews. We increased our network density, with the number of connections in our next-generation social network skyrocketing from 2 million to over 30 million. We got acquired by a stable, profitable, and growing company, while remaining an independent business unit, resourced for growth. (We’re hiring.) And, we’re making great progress at becoming a vital social utility for one of the most valuable demographics: post-college professionals.
But, of course, we are well aware that most companies out there are in a different position, and that our members are confronting a deepening recession, rising unemployment, and decreasing job security. It is that sobering reality that inspired us to come up with a better way to connect job seekers with career opportunities, working together with Simply Hired, the largest job search engine, to introduce "social job listings" on Plaxo.
For users in the U.S., we’ve rolled out a new Jobs section on Plaxo, where hiring managers and recruiters can post new job listings, and where job seekers can browse or search postings from across the Simply Hired network. But jobs posted on Plaxo aren’t like job listings anywhere else; job listings on Plaxo are turbo-charged with the “social power” of your extended network."
TechITeasy writes:
"For a long time, Plaxo was to me just an address book on the web. So, I was really surprised when I decided to check out Plaxo’s Pulse. Plaxo Pulse could be summed up as hybrid of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, but this comparison isn’t fair as Pulse seems to have taken the best features of each and quite successfully in a technical sense but as we’ll see later, hasn’t gathered the momentum these three have....
Pulse is probably best summed up by my friend who originally invited me to join: “[It's a] new social network, and it is more open and for more grown-up people than Facebook”."
As written at the Wikipedia about Plaxo:
"On August 4, 2007 Plaxo announced the public beta of a social networking service called Plaxo Pulse. The service enables sharing of content from multiple different sources across the social web, including blogs, photos, social networking services, rating services, and others. Users can selectively share and view content according to either pre-determined categories (e.g. friends, family, business network) or customized groups. Plaxo Pulse was the first site to feature a working version of an OpenSocial container."
Plaxo was started by a former Internet visionary, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, and some younger Stanford brains, as found described at the Wikipedia:
"Plaxo is an online address book and social networking service founded by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, Minh Nguyen and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring. Plaxo, based in Mountain View, California, is currently privately held and supported by venture capital including funds from Sequoia Capital.[1] On May 14, 2008, Plaxo reported it had signed an agreement to be acquired by Comcast.[2] Plaxo did not disclose the terms of the deal.[3] In May 2008, the website reported 20 million users. [4]
For example, as a graduate of Stanford Law School in 1971 I entered that school as my educational background and Plaxo then suggested possible connections from their list of Stanford Law School graduates.
It all works smoothly like clockwork.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/19/2009 04:09:00 PM
Plaxo Pulse as a Coming Blockbuster Social Networking Appplication plus Career Opportunity and Job Search Connector
Looking to connect with people you know, knew or would like to know? At a grownup and/or professional level? Or how about alerting everyone in your firm or company or organizational community, committee or team, etc. - immediately - where you will be, e.g., on job location the next two weeks. Plaxo updates such information immediately for everyone in the Plaxo communities that you create - and it can be synchronized with applications such as Twitter.
You may not yet have heard of Plaxo or Plaxo Pulse, a serious social networking application for grownups, but you will in the future. We just joined it, and it is really terrific. It is sort of an online do-everything social contact network for adults viz. grownups (especially post-college professionals) which can also be synchronized with other applications. Plaxo is yet another eyeopening creation out of Silicon Valley and the unending stream of young talents out of Stanford University. As we read at the Plaxo Blog just yesterday, February 198, 2009:
"This is a great time at Plaxo. In 2008, we had triple-digit growth in all of our key metrics, including new users, monthly unique visitors, and pageviews. We increased our network density, with the number of connections in our next-generation social network skyrocketing from 2 million to over 30 million. We got acquired by a stable, profitable, and growing company, while remaining an independent business unit, resourced for growth. (We’re hiring.) And, we’re making great progress at becoming a vital social utility for one of the most valuable demographics: post-college professionals.
But, of course, we are well aware that most companies out there are in a different position, and that our members are confronting a deepening recession, rising unemployment, and decreasing job security. It is that sobering reality that inspired us to come up with a better way to connect job seekers with career opportunities, working together with Simply Hired, the largest job search engine, to introduce "social job listings" on Plaxo.
For users in the U.S., we’ve rolled out a new Jobs section on Plaxo, where hiring managers and recruiters can post new job listings, and where job seekers can browse or search postings from across the Simply Hired network. But jobs posted on Plaxo aren’t like job listings anywhere else; job listings on Plaxo are turbo-charged with the “social power” of your extended network."
TechITeasy writes:
"For a long time, Plaxo was to me just an address book on the web. So, I was really surprised when I decided to check out Plaxo’s Pulse. Plaxo Pulse could be summed up as hybrid of Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, but this comparison isn’t fair as Pulse seems to have taken the best features of each and quite successfully in a technical sense but as we’ll see later, hasn’t gathered the momentum these three have....
Pulse is probably best summed up by my friend who originally invited me to join: “[It's a] new social network, and it is more open and for more grown-up people than Facebook”."
As written at the Wikipedia about Plaxo:
"On August 4, 2007 Plaxo announced the public beta of a social networking service called Plaxo Pulse. The service enables sharing of content from multiple different sources across the social web, including blogs, photos, social networking services, rating services, and others. Users can selectively share and view content according to either pre-determined categories (e.g. friends, family, business network) or customized groups. Plaxo Pulse was the first site to feature a working version of an OpenSocial container."
Plaxo was started by a former Internet visionary, Sean Parker, co-founder of Napster, and some younger Stanford brains, as found described at the Wikipedia:
"Plaxo is an online address book and social networking service founded by Napster co-founder Sean Parker, Minh Nguyen and two Stanford engineering students, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring. Plaxo, based in Mountain View, California, is currently privately held and supported by venture capital including funds from Sequoia Capital.[1] On May 14, 2008, Plaxo reported it had signed an agreement to be acquired by Comcast.[2] Plaxo did not disclose the terms of the deal.[3] In May 2008, the website reported 20 million users. [4]
Plaxo provides automatic updating of contact information. Users and their contacts store their information on Plaxo's servers. When this information is edited by the user, the changes appear in the address books of all those who listed the account changer in their own books. Once contacts are stored in the central location, it is possible to list connections between contacts and access the address book from anywhere.
A Plaxo plug-in supports major address books including Outlook/Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Mac OS X's Address Book, though other ones can be supported through an application programming interface. Additionally, Plaxo can also be maintained through an online version.
It is just a very quick way to keep up with what a given community is doing and to sustain running conversations and provide essential information easily and quicky online to others. Moreover, under the principle that no one is removed by more than six connections from anyone else in the modern world, once several connections have been established and various other personal parameters have been entered into the requisite profile, Plaxo suggests new connections from its corpus of data, appending a photograph of each person if such a photograph has been uploaded.For example, as a graduate of Stanford Law School in 1971 I entered that school as my educational background and Plaxo then suggested possible connections from their list of Stanford Law School graduates.
It all works smoothly like clockwork.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/19/2009 04:09:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Tuesday, February 17, 2009 2/17/2009 11:37:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt : The Falcon was the Symbol of the Pharaohs on Earth & in Heaven - As Above, So Below
The so-called "Followers of Horus" were the people who first occupied Egypt and who created Pharaonic Civilization, starting in the predynastic era. Horus, the Pharaonic falcon, was not only their "God of the Heavens" but also served as the symbol of the first Pharaonic kings, the Pharaohs, and their predecessors.
The predynastic period of the falcon cult is testified to by many predynastic "falcon serekhs" (serekh = king’s name enclosure) in Egypt, all originating from the period about 3300 to 3100 BC.
The interpretation of the names of Egyptian kings has been a point of dispute among Egyptologists for quite some time. Our discovery that the Horus falcon marked heaven’s celestial pole in predynastic Egypt shows that the Horus names of the Egyptian kings were astronomical in nature. These names of kings were written below the falcon in the serekh and claimed certain heavenly stellar regions for the king. These heavenly regions basically correspond to the modern Zodiac in principle. The Horus names were therefore a type of calendar of kings. Using that calendar, one can determine the reigns of the early Pharaonic kings astronomically.
The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt DOC
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 11:37:00 PM
The Origin of the Cult of Horus in Predynastic Egypt : The Falcon was the Symbol of the Pharaohs on Earth & in Heaven - As Above, So Below
The so-called "Followers of Horus" were the people who first occupied Egypt and who created Pharaonic Civilization, starting in the predynastic era. Horus, the Pharaonic falcon, was not only their "God of the Heavens" but also served as the symbol of the first Pharaonic kings, the Pharaohs, and their predecessors.
The predynastic period of the falcon cult is testified to by many predynastic "falcon serekhs" (serekh = king’s name enclosure) in Egypt, all originating from the period about 3300 to 3100 BC.
The interpretation of the names of Egyptian kings has been a point of dispute among Egyptologists for quite some time. Our discovery that the Horus falcon marked heaven’s celestial pole in predynastic Egypt shows that the Horus names of the Egyptian kings were astronomical in nature. These names of kings were written below the falcon in the serekh and claimed certain heavenly stellar regions for the king. These heavenly regions basically correspond to the modern Zodiac in principle. The Horus names were therefore a type of calendar of kings. Using that calendar, one can determine the reigns of the early Pharaonic kings astronomically.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 11:37:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/17/2009 02:56:00 PM [Home]
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Cartographia: Mapping Civilisations by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is a "Must Have Book" for Library Shelves
We are a bit late on this, but Cartographia: Mapping Civilisations by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is a "Must Have Book" for your library shelves. For example, it features the Waldseemüller Map, the first map to ever use the term "America":
You can view 16 of the maps in small images at NPR.
The original Library of Congress press release stated:
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 02:56:00 PM
Cartographia: Mapping Civilisations by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is a "Must Have Book" for Library Shelves
We are a bit late on this, but Cartographia: Mapping Civilisations by Vincent Virga and the Library of Congress is a "Must Have Book" for your library shelves. For example, it features the Waldseemüller Map, the first map to ever use the term "America":
"Waldseemüller map is the first map to include the name "America" and the first to depict the Americas as separate from Asia. There is only one surviving copy of the map, which was purchased by the Library of Congress in 2001 for $10 million."We show this map below from Wikimedia Commons but see also LOC:
You can view 16 of the maps in small images at NPR.
The original Library of Congress press release stated:
"September 26, 2007Library's Map Treasures Are Highlighted in "Cartographia"
New Publication to Be Subject of Program and Book Signing on Oct. 23
Maps are a visual record of human endeavor, each with a tale to tell. In their various forms, maps are models of time, diaries of political maneuverings and works of art that provide a unique vision of how the world evolved.
Drawn from the world’s largest cartographic collection, housed in the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress, "Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations," by Vincent Virga, has been published by the Library in association with Little, Brown and Company.
Comprising more than 250 maps, "Cartographia" celebrates the work of those who have charted the world from the dawn of civilization to the present. Among the rare gems included in the book are the 1507 Waldseemüller world map, the first to include the designation "America"; Orelius’s "Theatrum Orbis Terrarum" of 1570, considered to be the first modern atlas; rare maps from Africa, Asia and Oceania that challenge traditional Western perspectives; William Faulkner’s hand-drawn 1936 map of the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Miss.; and a map of the human genome.
Vincent Virga is the author of "Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States," which was a main selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the History Book Club.
Virga and co-author Ron Grim will discuss "Cartographia" as part of the Library’s Books & Beyond author series at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, in the Montpelier Room, located on the sixth floor of the Library’s James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The program, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored jointly by the Center for the Book, the Geography and Map Division and the Publishing Office. For more information, contact the Center for the Book at (202) 707-5221.
"Cartographia: Mapping Civilizations," a 272-page hardcover book with more than 250 color maps and illustrations, is available for $60 from major bookstores nationwide and from the Library of Congress Sales Shop, Washington, D.C. 20540-4985. Credit card orders are taken at (888) 682-3557. Online orders can be placed at www.loc.gov/shop.
# # #
PR 07-192
09/26/07
ISSN 0731-3527"
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 02:56:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/17/2009 12:53:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Königstein im Taunus ca. 1895 : Photograph of the Detroit Photographic Company via the Library of Congress : Rendering 1646 AD : Modern Video of Town
Since the LawPundit was born in Königstein im Taunus, I have added some more information for family and friends and for anyone else interested in this part of Germany.
Königstein im Taunus in the late 19th Century (1890 to 1900) : Photograph at the Library of Congress, also found at the Wikipedia from the Wikimedia Commons:
A modern "town portrait" of Königstein im Taunus (Stadtportrait Königstein im Taunus-Video) by Clipfish user chebs_76 (Sven Krebs) can be viewed at Clipfish.de, where the Immanuel Church and the castle ruins are shown - except for short German texts at the end and the beginning by the video-maker, the entire video is presented with English-language background music:
Below is the data for the Library of Congress photograph further above:
Library of Congress
Digital ID: ppmsca 00396 Source: digital file from original
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-00396 (digital file from original)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Retrieve higher resolution JPEG version (212 kilobytes)
Retrieve uncompressed archival TIFF version (28 megabytes)
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 12:53:00 PM
Königstein im Taunus ca. 1895 : Photograph of the Detroit Photographic Company via the Library of Congress : Rendering 1646 AD : Modern Video of Town
Since the LawPundit was born in Königstein im Taunus, I have added some more information for family and friends and for anyone else interested in this part of Germany.
Königstein im Taunus in the late 19th Century (1890 to 1900) : Photograph at the Library of Congress, also found at the Wikipedia from the Wikimedia Commons:
A modern "town portrait" of Königstein im Taunus (Stadtportrait Königstein im Taunus-Video) by Clipfish user chebs_76 (Sven Krebs) can be viewed at Clipfish.de, where the Immanuel Church and the castle ruins are shown - except for short German texts at the end and the beginning by the video-maker, the entire video is presented with English-language background music:
Below is the data for the Library of Congress photograph further above:
Library of Congress
Digital ID: ppmsca 00396 Source: digital file from original
Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-00396 (digital file from original)
Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
Retrieve higher resolution JPEG version (212 kilobytes)
Retrieve uncompressed archival TIFF version (28 megabytes)
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 12:53:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/17/2009 12:41:00 PM [Home]
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Königstein im Taunus : Clovis I : The Rothschilds : Frankfurt : Deutsche Bank : Financial Center of the European Union
Königstein has an interesting history which reaches back into ancient legend. As noted at the Wikipedia:
Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild left no male heirs and thus, by Rothschild family tradition, he was the last of the Frankfurt (German) branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, so that the bank had to be liquidated, being merged with the Disconto-Gesellschaft of Berlin, which after numerous subsequent mergers, became what is today the Deutsche Bank. And, of course, Frankfurt am Main is today the financial heart of the European Union.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 12:41:00 PM
Königstein im Taunus : Clovis I : The Rothschilds : Frankfurt : Deutsche Bank : Financial Center of the European Union
Königstein has an interesting history which reaches back into ancient legend. As noted at the Wikipedia:
"Shrouded in legend, the town's founding date is unknown. The best known legend says that it was the Merovingian King Chlodwig (466-511) [Clovis I], who had a castle built on a mountain and a chapel in a neighbouring dale, who also founded the town in thanks for a prophecy that came his way there from a maiden who promised him victory over the Alemanni – which did indeed come true."Clovis I was an important king for the history of Europe, and through his religious conversion for the spread of Christianity in Europe, and he was especially important for the rise of the nation-state France:
"The legacy of Clovis is well-established on three heads: his unification of the Frankish nation, his conquest of Gaul, and his conversion to the Roman Catholic Faith. By the first act, he assured the influence of his people in wider affairs, something no petty regional king could accomplish. By the second act, he laid the foundations of a later nation-state: France. Finally, by the third act, he made himself the ally of the papacy and its protector as well as that of the people, who were mostly Catholics."In modern times, Königstein im Taunus is an affluent residential enclave and spa outside of Frankfurt am Main with the highest purchasing power per capita in the State of Hesse. It is especially known for the Villa Rothschild, currently a Leading Hotel of the World, which was built from 1888 to 1894 as a home for the banker Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild, and known since 1949 as the „Wiege der Bundesrepublik“ (cradle of the Federal Republic of Germany), because it was here that the governors of the States of post-World-War II Germany set the course for the reconstruction of the German nation-state.
Wilhelm Carl von Rothschild left no male heirs and thus, by Rothschild family tradition, he was the last of the Frankfurt (German) branch of the Rothschild banking dynasty, so that the bank had to be liquidated, being merged with the Disconto-Gesellschaft of Berlin, which after numerous subsequent mergers, became what is today the Deutsche Bank. And, of course, Frankfurt am Main is today the financial heart of the European Union.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 12:41:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/17/2009 11:38:00 AM [Home]
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Yana Fedoruk and Vladimir Popolzin in Königstein im Taunus at the Evangelische Immanuelkirche : Coincidence or Destiny?
Are there coincidences or is there an invisible web in which everything is meshed?
I had cause to think about this as regards my previous posting about Yana Fedoruk and Vladimir Popolzin at the Parkschlösschen in Traben-Trarbach.
After making that posting I ran across a link online the next day which indicated that Fedoruk and Popolzin had played in Königstein im Taunus at the Evangelische Immanuelkirche prior to coming to Traben-Trarbach. The Evangelical Immanuel Church in Königstein is a relatively small church (2400 members) in a small town (ca. 16000 people) about 30 minutes from Frankfurt, so that the odds that Fedoruk and Popolzin would give an accordion concert there are not very high.
Now, here is the interesting part. My parents were married in that church and I was born in the hospital that used to exist just below it. Really, I post very seldom about accordion players, but was interested in this concert because my father used to play the accordion. All rather a remarkable "coincidence" of events. I took this photo of the church some years ago.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 11:38:00 AM
Yana Fedoruk and Vladimir Popolzin in Königstein im Taunus at the Evangelische Immanuelkirche : Coincidence or Destiny?
Are there coincidences or is there an invisible web in which everything is meshed?
I had cause to think about this as regards my previous posting about Yana Fedoruk and Vladimir Popolzin at the Parkschlösschen in Traben-Trarbach.
After making that posting I ran across a link online the next day which indicated that Fedoruk and Popolzin had played in Königstein im Taunus at the Evangelische Immanuelkirche prior to coming to Traben-Trarbach. The Evangelical Immanuel Church in Königstein is a relatively small church (2400 members) in a small town (ca. 16000 people) about 30 minutes from Frankfurt, so that the odds that Fedoruk and Popolzin would give an accordion concert there are not very high.
Now, here is the interesting part. My parents were married in that church and I was born in the hospital that used to exist just below it. Really, I post very seldom about accordion players, but was interested in this concert because my father used to play the accordion. All rather a remarkable "coincidence" of events. I took this photo of the church some years ago.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/17/2009 11:38:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Monday, February 16, 2009 2/16/2009 01:11:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Yana Fedoruk on the Accordion : A New Talent in a Pleasing Performance
Yana Fedoruk plays Brel-Bach composed by Franck Angelis
see also here
Yana Fedoruk plays Spain composed by Chick Сorea, arr. V. Popolzin
Yana Fedoruk plays Moldavian sketches
In the Mood composed by Andy Razaf and Joe Garland, arr. V. Popolzin
See also:
Yana Fedoruk blog
Vladimir Popolzin MySpace
Vladimir Popolzin YouTube
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/16/2009 01:11:00 PM
Yana Fedoruk on the Accordion : A New Talent in a Pleasing Performance
We had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the new accordian talent Yana Fedoruk live on the accordion yesterday at the Parkschlösschen in Traben-Trarbach at one of its cultural evenings. She was accompanied by teacher, composer, arranger and concert accordionist Vladimir Popolzin who introduced the program, which Fedoruk played from memory of course: Blue Moon - Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart, Love Smiles - Pietro Frosini, Loneliness (from the Suite: "Mental Express") - Franck Angelis, Deep Purple - Art Van Damme, Asturias - Isaac Albéniz, Troika and Boogie - Yuri Peshkov, La valse a Margaux and Fou Rire - Richard Galliano, Escualo and Indiana - Astor Piazzolla, La Cumparsita - Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, Take 10 - Frank Marocco, and Moldavian Sketches - B. Wechsler.
Yana Fedoruk is pictured at the left in the photograph below together with Martha Walker of Parkschloesschen Public Relations and Vladimir Popolzin.
As written at the Parkschlösschen Program for this event, "Yana Fedoruk (24) finished her studies in June 2008 at the University of Arts and Culture in Saint Petersburg. She is originally from Kaliningrad and has been playing the accordion since she was seven years old. Between 1999 and 2003 she studied at the College of Music in Kaliningrad. In these years she won many awards in different competitions. From 2003 until 2008 she studied music at the University of Arts and Culture in Saint Petersburg. At this time, she won awards again at Castel Fidardo/Italy, in Moscow, Kiev and Saint Petersburg. This is her second performance in Germany as a soloist."
We located some YouTube videos of Yana Fedoruk on the accordion online, but they are alas amateur recordings at locations with fairly echo-marked acoustics, which do not give the music full justice at all. Nevertheless, one can get some idea of this new accordion talent from these performances:
see also here
See also:
Yana Fedoruk blog
Vladimir Popolzin (St. Petersburg) - artist, accordionist, composer, and teacher who has made more than 500 concert appearances in Germany. One of his albums is "The long way".
Vladimir Popolzin MySpace
Vladimir Popolzin YouTube
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/16/2009 01:11:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Sunday, February 15, 2009 2/15/2009 02:15:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
Archaeology and Evidence : The Norse Pharaohs : Astronomical Decipherments Relating to Tanum Hierakonpolis Nazca Sahara Mesopotamia Middle East
The Norse Pharaohs is a book that I wrote ten years ago as part of my series of publications on Origins: Studies in the History of Mankind and its Languages. There was also an accompanying CD-ROM.
In The Norse Pharaohs I present decipherments for various megalithic, rock art and other ancient locations where there is generally evidence of the influx or influence of ancient seafarers: Tanum (Sweden, rock drawings), Hierakonpolis (Naqada, Nekhen, Egypt, a wall painting), Nazca (Peru, the Nazca lines and figures), Sahara (Africa, rock art), Mesopotamia (the Ship of Sargon) and the Middle East (Hebrew seal of Onijahu).
The book series Origins, as cited above, was subscribed to by the Harvard University Library and they should have all issues in their library system somewhere, although their recordation of the series in their library catalogues is obscure, since they do not record the titles of the individual volumes but only the series itself. I have uploaded the book manuscript of The Norse Pharaohs, which was Volume IX of the series, written in 1999, to Scribd.
It is embedded here for viewing, although the best viewing mode is full page - click the rectangle in the Scribd corner. Under iPaper select view mode and then you may have to click the rectange or a large X again in the Scribd right corner to get a full page whose size you can adjust to as much as full screen. I do not know why they make this so unnecessarily complicated, rather than just showing the full page view to begin with. You can change the size of pages using + or minus on your keyboard (at least this works in Firefox).
The Norse Pharaohs reformatted for Scribd
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/15/2009 02:15:00 AM
Archaeology and Evidence : The Norse Pharaohs : Astronomical Decipherments Relating to Tanum Hierakonpolis Nazca Sahara Mesopotamia Middle East
The Norse Pharaohs is a book that I wrote ten years ago as part of my series of publications on Origins: Studies in the History of Mankind and its Languages. There was also an accompanying CD-ROM.
In The Norse Pharaohs I present decipherments for various megalithic, rock art and other ancient locations where there is generally evidence of the influx or influence of ancient seafarers: Tanum (Sweden, rock drawings), Hierakonpolis (Naqada, Nekhen, Egypt, a wall painting), Nazca (Peru, the Nazca lines and figures), Sahara (Africa, rock art), Mesopotamia (the Ship of Sargon) and the Middle East (Hebrew seal of Onijahu).
The book series Origins, as cited above, was subscribed to by the Harvard University Library and they should have all issues in their library system somewhere, although their recordation of the series in their library catalogues is obscure, since they do not record the titles of the individual volumes but only the series itself. I have uploaded the book manuscript of The Norse Pharaohs, which was Volume IX of the series, written in 1999, to Scribd.
It is embedded here for viewing, although the best viewing mode is full page - click the rectangle in the Scribd corner. Under iPaper select view mode and then you may have to click the rectange or a large X again in the Scribd right corner to get a full page whose size you can adjust to as much as full screen. I do not know why they make this so unnecessarily complicated, rather than just showing the full page view to begin with. You can change the size of pages using + or minus on your keyboard (at least this works in Firefox).
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/15/2009 02:15:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Saturday, February 14, 2009 2/14/2009 08:36:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
Scribd Embed of Phaistos Disc: An Ancient Enigma Solved : Two corroborative Old Elamite scripts deciphered using Phaistos Disc Greek Syllabic Values
This posting is self-explanatory and is part of a series of postings that will appear periodically on LawPundit relating to critical questions of evidence in fields of academic research other than law. Historical questions are too important to be left solely in the decision-making ambit of scholars who have no training in evidence and whose treatment of available facts can be quite serendipity.
PhaistosDiskLondonSpeechRevised12January2009
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/14/2009 08:36:00 AM
Scribd Embed of Phaistos Disc: An Ancient Enigma Solved : Two corroborative Old Elamite scripts deciphered using Phaistos Disc Greek Syllabic Values
This posting is self-explanatory and is part of a series of postings that will appear periodically on LawPundit relating to critical questions of evidence in fields of academic research other than law. Historical questions are too important to be left solely in the decision-making ambit of scholars who have no training in evidence and whose treatment of available facts can be quite serendipity.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/14/2009 08:36:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT 2/14/2009 02:33:00 AM [Home]
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Lingospot In-Text Content Discovery and Clipmarks ClipCast Widget added to LawPundit : New Cutting Edge Technologies for Blogs and Websites
You want to post clips to your blog immediately? You want to alert the world to what you have written, published or created - writing, art, photography, video, etc.? Permanently? In a portable anywhere-embeddable ClipCast widget? We explain the technology here.
We have just added Lingospot In-Text Content Discovery and a unique Clipmarks Content ClipCast Widget to LawPundit, two new cutting edge technologies for publishers of blogs and websites, but also of great use for anyone involved in publishing materials of any kind.
Clipmarks - How to Clip
Clipmarks is very simple to use, as this YouTube video shows:
As written at Mashable, Clipmarks was purchased by Forbes in 2007 and it has - in our opinion - become an interesting application due to the fact that clips can be integrated into a Clipmarks ClipCast widget.
Such a ClipCast is a nearly optimal way to publish abstracts of any kind of information online, since the widget contains links to the original from which the clipped materials have been taken, and has numerous additional features as well, including portability.
We have integrated a Clipmarks ClipCast widget at the top right hand column of Lawpundit. Try everything out in that widget - it is really outstanding. Particularly the ability to integrate with services such as Scribd is useful and the ClipCast widget can be embedded anywhere using the embed code which one obtains by clicking the "Tools" feature on any ClipCast. Each Clipmarks user also has a personal page at Clipmarks. Take a look at my page there.
Where Clipmarks are still weak is in the company's inability to see what ClipCasts are good for. At their main online page they merely have a list of a few clips that people have made, and that list is practically useless because it contains serendipity materials of no interest to persons such as myself. I am totally uninterested in such lists . . . but I am interested in the ability to search Clipmarks to find ClipCasts on subjects of my choosing, especially ClipCasts that include abstracts of and links to more detailed articles.
THAT appears to me to be one special genius of the ClipCasts of Clipmarks, although I have no doubt that I shall use Clipmarks more in the future just to collect information for my own use.
Lingospot offers Lingolinks
We found Clipmarks through Lingospot. Lingospot is a new cutting edge hyperlinking technology that offers an in-text "lingolink" content discovery service as a special feature for website and blog readers. Although it is not yet perfected in terms of its scope, Lingospot is definitely reaching toward an ultimate technological means to have the rest of the world's information at one's fingertips when perusing a writing of any kind online.
Lingolinks, unlike hyperlinks, are automatically updated by search technology, thus providing (in theory) up-to-date dynamic interlinks to content (not yet always the case with Lingospot).
The blog website publisher can select the color of lingolinks, and we have made them orange in our pages, so that they can be distinguished from our normal light blue hyperlinks. Although there are no more than 10 of these automatically generated lingolinks per page - the reader's use of this truly useful feature is in fact unlimited, as follows:
The reader can press down the ALT key and then mark ANY word or phrase in the text, and this will activate the Discovery Bubble for that word or phrase.
In other words, in the context of one's reading, the reader can immediately check for additional materials for any selected keyword or phrase - in our case at LawPundit, either at 1) for other LawPundit postings (Site search), 2) for mentions in blawgs or other news, via a law feed created by us (Law), 3) in Clipmarks , 4) in Wikipedia Abstracts (Wikpedia) or, 5) in books (Books). This is a potentially very useful feature, once the sources are comprehensive.
We also could have selected e.g. YouTube as a tab topic, but we already have a powerful YouTube widget in the right column of LawPundit.
In terms of appearance, we had the choice to pick underlined keywords or the small icon next to those keywords as the operative "on-mouse over" activator and we picked the icon. That way "Discovery Bubbles" only pop-up when the reader wants them to, and are thus not a disturbance. It can of course happen inadvertently that the mouse runs across an icon by chance, but this will not happen often.
Five Lingospot lingolink information sources are offered at the bottom of the Discovery Bubble (the pop-up bubble) for any selected keyword or phrase. We selected 5 from about a dozen such sources that Lingspot now offers:
1. Site search of our site, LawPundit for the keyword or phrase
2. Law search (this is a customized search feed which searches ca. 250 RSS blawg and news feeds selected by LawPundit, including most of our law blog blogroll)
3. Clipmarks (these should prove useful as more and more users make serious Clipcasts)
4. Wikipedia Abstract of the keyword or phrase (not the full Wikipedia)
5. Book search
Pick a lingolink in a recent posting at LawPundit and try out all five, especially since Site Search may sometimes give no result. One should then try the other four sources in the Discovery Bubble. These are tabbed at the bottom of the bubble.
The reader can also configure his desired interactivity with Lingospot lingolinks.
Please click the question mark at the top right corner of any Lingospot bubble. This takes you to the Lingospot configuration page, where you can customize Lingospot behavior or turn Lingospot off entirely, if you so wish.
Lingolinks DO NOT affect or change any normal links on our pages. Rather, Lingospot crawls LawPundit pages and selects selected keywords it finds appropriate through its content algorithms.
We at LawPundit nevertheless retain full control over the number of Lingospot keywords on any web page and we can also select preferred keywords or de-select words or phrases that we do not want used as keywords. Accordingly, in the initial phases of our use - until we get some experience in using this feature - we may not yet have the optimal mix of Discovery Bubble sources or keywords, but we will be working on it.
Take a look at the Lingospot FAQ if you have questions about this service.
See also Mashable.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/14/2009 02:33:00 AM
Lingospot In-Text Content Discovery and Clipmarks ClipCast Widget added to LawPundit : New Cutting Edge Technologies for Blogs and Websites
You want to post clips to your blog immediately? You want to alert the world to what you have written, published or created - writing, art, photography, video, etc.? Permanently? In a portable anywhere-embeddable ClipCast widget? We explain the technology here.
We have just added Lingospot In-Text Content Discovery and a unique Clipmarks Content ClipCast Widget to LawPundit, two new cutting edge technologies for publishers of blogs and websites, but also of great use for anyone involved in publishing materials of any kind.
Clipmarks - How to Clip
As written at Mashable, Clipmarks was purchased by Forbes in 2007 and it has - in our opinion - become an interesting application due to the fact that clips can be integrated into a Clipmarks ClipCast widget.
Such a ClipCast is a nearly optimal way to publish abstracts of any kind of information online, since the widget contains links to the original from which the clipped materials have been taken, and has numerous additional features as well, including portability.
We have integrated a Clipmarks ClipCast widget at the top right hand column of Lawpundit. Try everything out in that widget - it is really outstanding. Particularly the ability to integrate with services such as Scribd is useful and the ClipCast widget can be embedded anywhere using the embed code which one obtains by clicking the "Tools" feature on any ClipCast. Each Clipmarks user also has a personal page at Clipmarks. Take a look at my page there.
Where Clipmarks are still weak is in the company's inability to see what ClipCasts are good for. At their main online page they merely have a list of a few clips that people have made, and that list is practically useless because it contains serendipity materials of no interest to persons such as myself. I am totally uninterested in such lists . . . but I am interested in the ability to search Clipmarks to find ClipCasts on subjects of my choosing, especially ClipCasts that include abstracts of and links to more detailed articles.
THAT appears to me to be one special genius of the ClipCasts of Clipmarks, although I have no doubt that I shall use Clipmarks more in the future just to collect information for my own use.
Lingospot offers Lingolinks
We found Clipmarks through Lingospot. Lingospot is a new cutting edge hyperlinking technology that offers an in-text "lingolink" content discovery service as a special feature for website and blog readers. Although it is not yet perfected in terms of its scope, Lingospot is definitely reaching toward an ultimate technological means to have the rest of the world's information at one's fingertips when perusing a writing of any kind online.
Lingolinks, unlike hyperlinks, are automatically updated by search technology, thus providing (in theory) up-to-date dynamic interlinks to content (not yet always the case with Lingospot).
The blog website publisher can select the color of lingolinks, and we have made them orange in our pages, so that they can be distinguished from our normal light blue hyperlinks. Although there are no more than 10 of these automatically generated lingolinks per page - the reader's use of this truly useful feature is in fact unlimited, as follows:
The reader can press down the ALT key and then mark ANY word or phrase in the text, and this will activate the Discovery Bubble for that word or phrase.
In other words, in the context of one's reading, the reader can immediately check for additional materials for any selected keyword or phrase - in our case at LawPundit, either at 1) for other LawPundit postings (Site search), 2) for mentions in blawgs or other news, via a law feed created by us (Law), 3) in Clipmarks , 4) in Wikipedia Abstracts (Wikpedia) or, 5) in books (Books). This is a potentially very useful feature, once the sources are comprehensive.
We also could have selected e.g. YouTube as a tab topic, but we already have a powerful YouTube widget in the right column of LawPundit.
In terms of appearance, we had the choice to pick underlined keywords or the small icon next to those keywords as the operative "on-mouse over" activator and we picked the icon. That way "Discovery Bubbles" only pop-up when the reader wants them to, and are thus not a disturbance. It can of course happen inadvertently that the mouse runs across an icon by chance, but this will not happen often.
Five Lingospot lingolink information sources are offered at the bottom of the Discovery Bubble (the pop-up bubble) for any selected keyword or phrase. We selected 5 from about a dozen such sources that Lingspot now offers:
1. Site search of our site, LawPundit for the keyword or phrase
2. Law search (this is a customized search feed which searches ca. 250 RSS blawg and news feeds selected by LawPundit, including most of our law blog blogroll)
3. Clipmarks (these should prove useful as more and more users make serious Clipcasts)
4. Wikipedia Abstract of the keyword or phrase (not the full Wikipedia)
5. Book search
Pick a lingolink in a recent posting at LawPundit and try out all five, especially since Site Search may sometimes give no result. One should then try the other four sources in the Discovery Bubble. These are tabbed at the bottom of the bubble.
The reader can also configure his desired interactivity with Lingospot lingolinks.
Please click the question mark at the top right corner of any Lingospot bubble. This takes you to the Lingospot configuration page, where you can customize Lingospot behavior or turn Lingospot off entirely, if you so wish.
Lingolinks DO NOT affect or change any normal links on our pages. Rather, Lingospot crawls LawPundit pages and selects selected keywords it finds appropriate through its content algorithms.
We at LawPundit nevertheless retain full control over the number of Lingospot keywords on any web page and we can also select preferred keywords or de-select words or phrases that we do not want used as keywords. Accordingly, in the initial phases of our use - until we get some experience in using this feature - we may not yet have the optimal mix of Discovery Bubble sources or keywords, but we will be working on it.
Take a look at the Lingospot FAQ if you have questions about this service.
See also Mashable.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/14/2009 02:33:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Friday, February 13, 2009 2/13/2009 12:10:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
The Queen of England has a New Website as the British Monarchy rolls out its Newest Face to the World
It is high time that the media stop posting its sensationalistic doom and gloom, which only serves to depress private and public sectors, thus making the recession much worse than it would otherwise be. If people just went on living normally things would be much better.
What is in order is a bit of pomp and circumstance to lift the spirits. Look on the bright side of life.
The British Monarchy has a new online look.
You can find a comparison of the new website to the old website at Shane Richmond's article at the Telegraph: God save the Queen's website.
The LawPundit thinks the new website is on the right track. It is quite a bit more modern than the old one, even if still needs some tweaks here and there, but what does not.
We would say, well done!
The British and the Royal Family are not going to be outdone by new U.S. President Barack Obama, whose net-savvy website designers are setting new online standards for the high and the mighty and the rich and beautiful.
Indeed, I am having to tweak my own pages - just to stay that proverbial step or two ahead of developments. Cheers!
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/13/2009 12:10:00 AM
The Queen of England has a New Website as the British Monarchy rolls out its Newest Face to the World
It is high time that the media stop posting its sensationalistic doom and gloom, which only serves to depress private and public sectors, thus making the recession much worse than it would otherwise be. If people just went on living normally things would be much better.
What is in order is a bit of pomp and circumstance to lift the spirits. Look on the bright side of life.
The British Monarchy has a new online look.
You can find a comparison of the new website to the old website at Shane Richmond's article at the Telegraph: God save the Queen's website.
The LawPundit thinks the new website is on the right track. It is quite a bit more modern than the old one, even if still needs some tweaks here and there, but what does not.
We would say, well done!
The British and the Royal Family are not going to be outdone by new U.S. President Barack Obama, whose net-savvy website designers are setting new online standards for the high and the mighty and the rich and beautiful.
Indeed, I am having to tweak my own pages - just to stay that proverbial step or two ahead of developments. Cheers!
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/13/2009 12:10:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Thursday, February 12, 2009 2/12/2009 07:25:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
Me Morality: Why Are Law Firms and Corporations Not Cutting Salaries by 25% or more Across the Board and Saving ALL Jobs Rather than Firing People?
We remain continuously mystified about what appears to us to be the boundless greed of our fellow human beings. It is in our opinion this endless selfishness which is now driving the recession.
In a kind of mad panic, people and organizations are busy looking after their OWN skin only, rather than taking the course of action which everyone should be taking - and ultimately must take - to get the U.S. and world economy moving again, which is to contribute their fair share - AND RESOURCES, if they have them - to getting things back to normality as soon as possible.
But everyone wants THE OTHER GUY to bring the necessary sacrifices. In times of profit, people pocket the profits for themselves. In times of want, people pluck the pockets of others.
Law firms and corporations are a good example of the core of the problem. Rather than EVERYONE in a recession-struck law firm or corporation taking a substantial pay cut in order that everyone in the organization retain their job, the people at the top - the decision-makers, who got us into this mess in the first place - are continuing to ladle off the cream for themselves, while putting financially weaker people in their organizations on the street with no income at all.
We have serious problems with that approach to life and morality and think it points to a need for new laws protecting the rights of your average employee, affiliate or work associate, making it more expensive for employers to dump their employees on the street, rather than to keep them on the payroll.
All institutions benefit and profit from the investment that society makes in any individual on the job market and in the labor force. Just consider how much money society invests in the education of just one lawyer, who is then snapped up from law school as a lower-paid drone to beef up the profit of the senior and similar partners in a law firm. As long as money is rolling in, the profit-takers find this to be a great arrangement. You bill time out for example for say $500 an hour but pay out only say $100 an hour, and, after expenses, pocket the remaining amount from $400 an hour. It does not take a lot of cleverness to see that this is a formula for earning big bucks, presuming you have enough people working for you.
Such economic practices constitute simple basic "worker" exploitation in very visible form and most corporations and organizations operate that way. There are big dollars for the top few, and enough to survive for the rest, and, in a pinch, as in the current recession, again big dollars for the top few, but nothing for the rest, under the motto, "the best for me" and crap for everyone else. We oppose this kind of mentality - often encountered - wherever we can. The EARTH deserves better people than that. It can not be that society is run by the selfish. That never works in the long run.
Frankly, we think that there should be laws which require law firms especially (who should be setting a prime example for the rest of the citizens in any economy), as well as companies and similar employers, to create their own unemployment fund reserves so that they can take care of their own people in difficult times, rather than tossing them out to the wolves.
Why should private persons and firms be permitted to profit selfishly - and enormously - in good times from the work of their employees and affiliates but then be able to abdicate responsibility for those very same members of their own house in bad times, by shoving the responsibility off on the rest of society?
What is the theory of law and economy that permits that? It is the law of the jungle, something which the rule of law is intended to prohibit.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/12/2009 07:25:00 AM
Me Morality: Why Are Law Firms and Corporations Not Cutting Salaries by 25% or more Across the Board and Saving ALL Jobs Rather than Firing People?
We remain continuously mystified about what appears to us to be the boundless greed of our fellow human beings. It is in our opinion this endless selfishness which is now driving the recession.
In a kind of mad panic, people and organizations are busy looking after their OWN skin only, rather than taking the course of action which everyone should be taking - and ultimately must take - to get the U.S. and world economy moving again, which is to contribute their fair share - AND RESOURCES, if they have them - to getting things back to normality as soon as possible.
But everyone wants THE OTHER GUY to bring the necessary sacrifices. In times of profit, people pocket the profits for themselves. In times of want, people pluck the pockets of others.
Law firms and corporations are a good example of the core of the problem. Rather than EVERYONE in a recession-struck law firm or corporation taking a substantial pay cut in order that everyone in the organization retain their job, the people at the top - the decision-makers, who got us into this mess in the first place - are continuing to ladle off the cream for themselves, while putting financially weaker people in their organizations on the street with no income at all.
We have serious problems with that approach to life and morality and think it points to a need for new laws protecting the rights of your average employee, affiliate or work associate, making it more expensive for employers to dump their employees on the street, rather than to keep them on the payroll.
All institutions benefit and profit from the investment that society makes in any individual on the job market and in the labor force. Just consider how much money society invests in the education of just one lawyer, who is then snapped up from law school as a lower-paid drone to beef up the profit of the senior and similar partners in a law firm. As long as money is rolling in, the profit-takers find this to be a great arrangement. You bill time out for example for say $500 an hour but pay out only say $100 an hour, and, after expenses, pocket the remaining amount from $400 an hour. It does not take a lot of cleverness to see that this is a formula for earning big bucks, presuming you have enough people working for you.
Such economic practices constitute simple basic "worker" exploitation in very visible form and most corporations and organizations operate that way. There are big dollars for the top few, and enough to survive for the rest, and, in a pinch, as in the current recession, again big dollars for the top few, but nothing for the rest, under the motto, "the best for me" and crap for everyone else. We oppose this kind of mentality - often encountered - wherever we can. The EARTH deserves better people than that. It can not be that society is run by the selfish. That never works in the long run.
Frankly, we think that there should be laws which require law firms especially (who should be setting a prime example for the rest of the citizens in any economy), as well as companies and similar employers, to create their own unemployment fund reserves so that they can take care of their own people in difficult times, rather than tossing them out to the wolves.
Why should private persons and firms be permitted to profit selfishly - and enormously - in good times from the work of their employees and affiliates but then be able to abdicate responsibility for those very same members of their own house in bad times, by shoving the responsibility off on the rest of society?
What is the theory of law and economy that permits that? It is the law of the jungle, something which the rule of law is intended to prohibit.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/12/2009 07:25:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT 2/12/2009 05:08:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
Evidence and the History of Western Civilization and Christianity : Moses and Exodus and the Kings of Egypt and Judah : Errors in Current Chronology
Evidence and the History of Western Civilization and Christianity : Moses and Exodus and the Kings of Egypt and Judah : Errors in Current Chronology
LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, February 11, 2009 2/11/2009 02:27:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Economic Recovery and the Lessons of History : Joseph's Bailout in Egypt in the Bible : Parshat Vayigash
Ups and downs in the economy are a matter of history generally.
One example that comes to mind here is the Bible - storing up in fat years for lean years, as Joseph did in ancient Egypt, which was not sufficient, as famine still swept the land and everyone came to Joseph for deliverance. The result was a "government bailout" by which Joseph issued handouts in exchange for concessions in freedom. Since our revised chronology of Egypt places Joseph in Egypt as Djoser (a seven-year famine is recorded for both), this formed the ultimate basis of the Pharaonic empire. As written at the Wikipedia:
"Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan selling grain and brought the money into Pharaoh's house. (Gen. 47:14.) When the Egyptians exhausted their money and asked Joseph for bread, Joseph sold them bread in exchange for all their animals. (Gen. 47:15–17.) When they had no more animals, they offered to sell their land to Joseph and become bondmen in exchange for bread. (Gen. 47:18–19.) So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh — except for that of the priests, who had a portion from Pharaoh — and in exchange for seed, Joseph made all the Egyptians bondmen. (Gen. 47:20–23.) At harvest time, Joseph collected for Pharaoh a fifth part of all the people harvested, and it continued as a statute in Egypt that Pharaoh should have a fifth of all produced outside of the priests’ land. (Gen. 47:24–26.) And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, accumulated possessions, and was fruitful and multiplied. (Gen. 47:27.)"
Take a look at an analysis in this vein by Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner of the Chevrei Tzedek Congregation in Northwest Baltimore, who posts at the Baltimore Jewish Times on Joseph’s Bailout, Parshat Vayigash. (The Wikipedia writes: "Vayigash or Vaigash (ויגש — Hebrew for “and he drew near” or “then he drew near,” the first word of the parshah) is the eleventh weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 44:18–47:27.")
The analogy by Rabbi Avram is not perfect by any means, but thought-provoking it is. We specifically disagree with his idea that Joseph's solution to the famine had anything to do with the later Exodus, which by our chronology took place about 800 years later at the time of the explosion of Santorin on Thera. Joseph, we are pretty certain, was Djoser.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/11/2009 02:27:00 PM
Economic Recovery and the Lessons of History : Joseph's Bailout in Egypt in the Bible : Parshat Vayigash
Ups and downs in the economy are a matter of history generally.
One example that comes to mind here is the Bible - storing up in fat years for lean years, as Joseph did in ancient Egypt, which was not sufficient, as famine still swept the land and everyone came to Joseph for deliverance. The result was a "government bailout" by which Joseph issued handouts in exchange for concessions in freedom. Since our revised chronology of Egypt places Joseph in Egypt as Djoser (a seven-year famine is recorded for both), this formed the ultimate basis of the Pharaonic empire. As written at the Wikipedia:
"Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan selling grain and brought the money into Pharaoh's house. (Gen. 47:14.) When the Egyptians exhausted their money and asked Joseph for bread, Joseph sold them bread in exchange for all their animals. (Gen. 47:15–17.) When they had no more animals, they offered to sell their land to Joseph and become bondmen in exchange for bread. (Gen. 47:18–19.) So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh — except for that of the priests, who had a portion from Pharaoh — and in exchange for seed, Joseph made all the Egyptians bondmen. (Gen. 47:20–23.) At harvest time, Joseph collected for Pharaoh a fifth part of all the people harvested, and it continued as a statute in Egypt that Pharaoh should have a fifth of all produced outside of the priests’ land. (Gen. 47:24–26.) And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, accumulated possessions, and was fruitful and multiplied. (Gen. 47:27.)"
Take a look at an analysis in this vein by Rabbi Avram Israel Reisner of the Chevrei Tzedek Congregation in Northwest Baltimore, who posts at the Baltimore Jewish Times on Joseph’s Bailout, Parshat Vayigash. (The Wikipedia writes: "Vayigash or Vaigash (ויגש — Hebrew for “and he drew near” or “then he drew near,” the first word of the parshah) is the eleventh weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 44:18–47:27.")
The analogy by Rabbi Avram is not perfect by any means, but thought-provoking it is. We specifically disagree with his idea that Joseph's solution to the famine had anything to do with the later Exodus, which by our chronology took place about 800 years later at the time of the explosion of Santorin on Thera. Joseph, we are pretty certain, was Djoser.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/11/2009 02:27:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/11/2009 04:26:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
The LawPundit Recession Survey : Who is Responsible for the Recession? Who will Turn it Around? What Needs to be Done for Economic Recovery?
Want to voice your opinion about the state of the economy? Here is your chance. Take this survey of only three questions.
MULTIPLE ANSWERS are permitted: you can pick more than one answer for each question.
(Please note that the other quizzes listed at "More" on this Widget - should they appear - are NOT selections by LawPundit but are inserted by Quibblo. We have no control over that "More" listing. We use the Quibblo widget because of the neat interface. Hat tip to Patently-O where we first saw Quibblo being used - for a survey of who should be the next USPTO director.)
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/11/2009 04:26:00 AM
The LawPundit Recession Survey : Who is Responsible for the Recession? Who will Turn it Around? What Needs to be Done for Economic Recovery?
Want to voice your opinion about the state of the economy? Here is your chance. Take this survey of only three questions.
MULTIPLE ANSWERS are permitted: you can pick more than one answer for each question.
(Please note that the other quizzes listed at "More" on this Widget - should they appear - are NOT selections by LawPundit but are inserted by Quibblo. We have no control over that "More" listing. We use the Quibblo widget because of the neat interface. Hat tip to Patently-O where we first saw Quibblo being used - for a survey of who should be the next USPTO director.)
The LawPundit Recession Survey
Who is Responsible for the Recession?
Who will Turn it Around?
What Needs to be Done for Economic Recovery?
Who is Responsible for the Recession?
Who will Turn it Around?
What Needs to be Done for Economic Recovery?
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/11/2009 04:26:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Monday, February 09, 2009 2/09/2009 01:27:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Having Trouble Being Supreme : Post Office Refuses UK Parliament Square Address : Website Address Unsuitable
There are several new controversies about the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and detailed here) which "will take over the Law Lords' judicial functions in the House of Lords and some functions in the Judicial committee of the Privy Council." The House of Lords is currently the court of last resort in the United Kingdom. However, unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, it does not have the power to declare legislation unconstitutional (the UK has no written constitution).
We posted previously at LawPundit about the basics of new UK Supreme Court which will take up work October 2009 at its new location at Middlesex Guildhall:
Joshua Rozenberg , "Britain's best-known commentator on the law"(see his blog), reports on some of the current controversies in his article Supreme Court inferior to Lords, some judges say. These controversies involve matters which are seen as essential to the public image of the new UK Supreme Court, involving inter alia its postal and website addresses.
Middlesex Guildhall is located on the southwest corner of Parliament Square, also the location of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Westminster Abbey (site of the coronation of British monarchs and burial site for Kings and Queens and their consorts as also illustrious persons of the realm). Also located on Parliament Square is the Anglican Church of St. Margaret's Westminster, Her Majesty's Treasury, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House (offices of the Members of Parliament).
Since Middlesex Guildhall fronts onto the tiny, stopped Little George Street, however, its address is 2, Little George Street, which the Law Lords - and we agree - do not find appropriate for the institution. However, the Post Office - the Royal Mail - in the UK has indicated no intention to permit an address change. The Law Lords may see this as an unresolvable problem, whereas we would not find this to be a difficult "legal" issue if we were a Law Lord. What would the Post Office do if the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom issued an order "changing" its address to Parliament Square? That would also take care of the ancillary issue of the currently "undistinguished" post code.
As any real estate expert will tell you, "Location, Location, Location". The image that institutions project in terms of their location and "address" should befit their powers and their standing in the government.
As the UK Ministry of Justice has itself noted about the new Supreme Court of the UK:
"The court will be an independent institution, presided over by independently appointed law lords. It will be housed in the historic Middlesex Guildhall on London's Parliament Square - opposite the Houses of Parliament and alongside Westminster Abbey and the Treasury - a fitting location for the apex of the justice system. The Guildhall is being renovated for use as a Supreme Court and is due to open at the start of the legal year in October 2009." [emphasis added by LawPundit]
It is rather remarkable that the bureaucrats of Westminster Council do not understand this:
"Westminster council is, however, unimpressed. "We would be reluctant to carry out changes due to the confusion they could cause the emergency services and Royal Mail," says Tony Fenton, the head of building control. "Unless there's a genuine justification, it just causes needless confusion.""
Apparently, there is a fear here at Westminster that local emergency services would be unable to locate the Supreme Court at Parliament Square (the changed address) and that Royal Mail deliveries to the Supreme Court might be dumped into the Thames for lack of a locatable recipient. We now understand why mail to and from the UK can take weeks. They are looking....
Really, we love the UK, but sometimes its backwardness is exasperating.
A similar controversy exists regarding a proper website address for the UK Supreme Court, which, according to Joshua Rozenberg, is Caught in the Government's web. The Supreme Court of the United States has the relatively logical address http://www.supremecourtus.gov/. The Law Lords wanted the similarly logical and available address http://www.supremecourt.uk, which was denied to them by the bureaucrats. Nor were they allowed the address http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk. As Richard Eden writes at the Telegraph in Supreme Court judges complain about the name of their website:
"Judges at the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom have already voiced their displeasure at their postal address, Little George Street, which they complained was "diminutive" and not befitting "the creature being created". They are now complaining about the name of their website....
"We wanted supremecourt.uk, but we were told we couldn't have it," says Lord Hope, who will be the deputy president of the court when it opens in October. "It is now supremecourt.gsi.gov.uk, which is not particularly attractive."
See nominet for their UK domain rules, which is part of the problem, since direct .uk domains are prohibited by nominet. Note - nevertheless - that some direct .uk domains created prior to the rule of nominet have been retained. Hence, Parliament has a pure .uk address at Parliament.uk, and so does the British Library at British-Library.uk, so that this is primarily a political question. Nothing technological prohibits a direct .uk address except for the policies of nominet.
In any case, Gsi.gov.uk is a third-level domain of the UK government, which makes the UK Supreme Court website address a fourth-level domain, thus making the Supreme Court appear on the web as part of the government, which it is not (see Head of Legal).
Such an address is of course ludicrous for the highest appellate court of the Empire, and a major cause is government inertia. GSi stands for "government secure Internet", an anachronistic system that the UK already wanted to replace in the year 2002 (see The UK government intends to replace the Government Secure Internet), but which still prevails in 2009, seven years later. The wheels of government are locked in the debating hall. The Supreme Court has thus received a "GSi" website address because the UK government is vastly behind the times in keeping up with developments in the Internet world. This compares to a UK population that is quite technology savvy and up with the times, according to stats at Internet World Stats.
To keep our comments fair and balanced, it is clear that a similar problem exists in the USA, where the incoming Obama administration has been amazed at the backward antiquity of the White House Internet access structure.
Take a look at the substantially improved website WhiteHouse.gov now under Obama a few short weeks after his inauguration. If the Obama administration is successful in achieving this kind of modernization throughout the US government - and, ultimately, throughout the country - it will mean a massive renewal of much of America.
For more information on related topics, see:
Head of Legal (a view from the legal side of things)
Feilden and Mawson (Architects for the renovation of Middlesex Guildhall)
The Bewilderness ("Address the UK supreme court at number 2, little george street")
LondonTown.com (map of Little George Street)
.uk Wikipedia wiki (.uk domain names)
Charon QC ("I am baffled by this petulance")
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/09/2009 01:27:00 PM
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Having Trouble Being Supreme : Post Office Refuses UK Parliament Square Address : Website Address Unsuitable
There are several new controversies about the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom (established by the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 and detailed here) which "will take over the Law Lords' judicial functions in the House of Lords and some functions in the Judicial committee of the Privy Council." The House of Lords is currently the court of last resort in the United Kingdom. However, unlike the Supreme Court of the United States, it does not have the power to declare legislation unconstitutional (the UK has no written constitution).
We posted previously at LawPundit about the basics of new UK Supreme Court which will take up work October 2009 at its new location at Middlesex Guildhall:
Middlesex Guildhall (Wikipedia graphic)
Joshua Rozenberg , "Britain's best-known commentator on the law"(see his blog), reports on some of the current controversies in his article Supreme Court inferior to Lords, some judges say. These controversies involve matters which are seen as essential to the public image of the new UK Supreme Court, involving inter alia its postal and website addresses.
Middlesex Guildhall is located on the southwest corner of Parliament Square, also the location of the Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) and Westminster Abbey (site of the coronation of British monarchs and burial site for Kings and Queens and their consorts as also illustrious persons of the realm). Also located on Parliament Square is the Anglican Church of St. Margaret's Westminster, Her Majesty's Treasury, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House (offices of the Members of Parliament).
Since Middlesex Guildhall fronts onto the tiny, stopped Little George Street, however, its address is 2, Little George Street, which the Law Lords - and we agree - do not find appropriate for the institution. However, the Post Office - the Royal Mail - in the UK has indicated no intention to permit an address change. The Law Lords may see this as an unresolvable problem, whereas we would not find this to be a difficult "legal" issue if we were a Law Lord. What would the Post Office do if the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom issued an order "changing" its address to Parliament Square? That would also take care of the ancillary issue of the currently "undistinguished" post code.
As any real estate expert will tell you, "Location, Location, Location". The image that institutions project in terms of their location and "address" should befit their powers and their standing in the government.
As the UK Ministry of Justice has itself noted about the new Supreme Court of the UK:
"The court will be an independent institution, presided over by independently appointed law lords. It will be housed in the historic Middlesex Guildhall on London's Parliament Square - opposite the Houses of Parliament and alongside Westminster Abbey and the Treasury - a fitting location for the apex of the justice system. The Guildhall is being renovated for use as a Supreme Court and is due to open at the start of the legal year in October 2009." [emphasis added by LawPundit]
It is rather remarkable that the bureaucrats of Westminster Council do not understand this:
"Westminster council is, however, unimpressed. "We would be reluctant to carry out changes due to the confusion they could cause the emergency services and Royal Mail," says Tony Fenton, the head of building control. "Unless there's a genuine justification, it just causes needless confusion.""
Apparently, there is a fear here at Westminster that local emergency services would be unable to locate the Supreme Court at Parliament Square (the changed address) and that Royal Mail deliveries to the Supreme Court might be dumped into the Thames for lack of a locatable recipient. We now understand why mail to and from the UK can take weeks. They are looking....
Really, we love the UK, but sometimes its backwardness is exasperating.
A similar controversy exists regarding a proper website address for the UK Supreme Court, which, according to Joshua Rozenberg, is Caught in the Government's web. The Supreme Court of the United States has the relatively logical address http://www.supremecourtus.gov/. The Law Lords wanted the similarly logical and available address http://www.supremecourt.uk, which was denied to them by the bureaucrats. Nor were they allowed the address http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk. As Richard Eden writes at the Telegraph in Supreme Court judges complain about the name of their website:
"Judges at the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom have already voiced their displeasure at their postal address, Little George Street, which they complained was "diminutive" and not befitting "the creature being created". They are now complaining about the name of their website....
"We wanted supremecourt.uk, but we were told we couldn't have it," says Lord Hope, who will be the deputy president of the court when it opens in October. "It is now supremecourt.gsi.gov.uk, which is not particularly attractive."
See nominet for their UK domain rules, which is part of the problem, since direct .uk domains are prohibited by nominet. Note - nevertheless - that some direct .uk domains created prior to the rule of nominet have been retained. Hence, Parliament has a pure .uk address at Parliament.uk, and so does the British Library at British-Library.uk, so that this is primarily a political question. Nothing technological prohibits a direct .uk address except for the policies of nominet.
In any case, Gsi.gov.uk is a third-level domain of the UK government, which makes the UK Supreme Court website address a fourth-level domain, thus making the Supreme Court appear on the web as part of the government, which it is not (see Head of Legal).
Such an address is of course ludicrous for the highest appellate court of the Empire, and a major cause is government inertia. GSi stands for "government secure Internet", an anachronistic system that the UK already wanted to replace in the year 2002 (see The UK government intends to replace the Government Secure Internet), but which still prevails in 2009, seven years later. The wheels of government are locked in the debating hall. The Supreme Court has thus received a "GSi" website address because the UK government is vastly behind the times in keeping up with developments in the Internet world. This compares to a UK population that is quite technology savvy and up with the times, according to stats at Internet World Stats.
To keep our comments fair and balanced, it is clear that a similar problem exists in the USA, where the incoming Obama administration has been amazed at the backward antiquity of the White House Internet access structure.
Take a look at the substantially improved website WhiteHouse.gov now under Obama a few short weeks after his inauguration. If the Obama administration is successful in achieving this kind of modernization throughout the US government - and, ultimately, throughout the country - it will mean a massive renewal of much of America.
For more information on related topics, see:
Head of Legal (a view from the legal side of things)
Feilden and Mawson (Architects for the renovation of Middlesex Guildhall)
The Bewilderness ("Address the UK supreme court at number 2, little george street")
LondonTown.com (map of Little George Street)
.uk Wikipedia wiki (.uk domain names)
Charon QC ("I am baffled by this petulance")
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/09/2009 01:27:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Sunday, February 08, 2009 2/08/2009 06:02:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
New York Times on Tiger Woods includes LawPundit Posting on Woods at the Obama Inauguration in its Headlines on the Web : plus Why Tiger wins Majors
Today's February 8, 2009 edition of the New York Times in Times Topics features an article on Tiger Woods and includes a LawPundit posting on Tiger Woods at the Inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama in that NYT page's Headlines on the Web. As written there:
"Blogrunner automatically monitors news articles and blog posts and tracks news events as they develop across the Web. Blogrunner alerts you to topics that are frequently linked to and commented upon. The publications tracked by Blogrunner are chosen by New York Times editors." [Blogrunner links added by LawPundit]
Here is a scan of just the left half of that NY Times page, reduced in size, and with our red circular mark showing the LawPundit inclusion. Since we regard the New York Times to be the world's best newspaper, and given that we are a golf club champion in our own right, we are of course pleased to be included. If you are a golfer yourself, you might be interested to go to that New York Times page and check out some interesting statistics as to why Tiger wins so many majors (examine the graphs below the heading Multimedia).
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 06:02:00 PM
New York Times on Tiger Woods includes LawPundit Posting on Woods at the Obama Inauguration in its Headlines on the Web : plus Why Tiger wins Majors
Today's February 8, 2009 edition of the New York Times in Times Topics features an article on Tiger Woods and includes a LawPundit posting on Tiger Woods at the Inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama in that NYT page's Headlines on the Web. As written there:
"Blogrunner automatically monitors news articles and blog posts and tracks news events as they develop across the Web. Blogrunner alerts you to topics that are frequently linked to and commented upon. The publications tracked by Blogrunner are chosen by New York Times editors." [Blogrunner links added by LawPundit]
Here is a scan of just the left half of that NY Times page, reduced in size, and with our red circular mark showing the LawPundit inclusion. Since we regard the New York Times to be the world's best newspaper, and given that we are a golf club champion in our own right, we are of course pleased to be included. If you are a golfer yourself, you might be interested to go to that New York Times page and check out some interesting statistics as to why Tiger wins so many majors (examine the graphs below the heading Multimedia).
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 06:02:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/08/2009 04:10:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Evidence and the History of Writing : The Phaistos Disc and Old Elamite Scripts
This is the power point presentation that I gave on 31 October 2008 at the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHAISTOS DISK on the 100th anniversary of its discovery in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier. Conference location: Society of Antiquaries, London, Burlington House, Piccadilly. Organisation and sponsorship: Minerva, the International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., editor.
Phaistos Disc and Elamite Final 30 October 2008 ppt
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 04:10:00 PM
Evidence and the History of Writing : The Phaistos Disc and Old Elamite Scripts
This is the power point presentation that I gave on 31 October 2008 at the INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHAISTOS DISK on the 100th anniversary of its discovery in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier. Conference location: Society of Antiquaries, London, Burlington House, Piccadilly. Organisation and sponsorship: Minerva, the International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., editor.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 04:10:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/08/2009 01:11:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Sally Hartley of Lincolnshire in England sings "Make you feel my love" and "All that Jazz" : A Singer at Events, Functions and Weddings in the UK
Looking for a singer with a nice voice to sing at an event, function or wedding in the UK?
In the following two videos Sally Hartley sings "Make you feel my love" and "All that Jazz". She is based in Lincolnshire, England. For enquiries or booking info contact sallyhartley@dsl.pipex.com
Make you feel my love
All that Jazz
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 01:11:00 PM
Sally Hartley of Lincolnshire in England sings "Make you feel my love" and "All that Jazz" : A Singer at Events, Functions and Weddings in the UK
Looking for a singer with a nice voice to sing at an event, function or wedding in the UK?
In the following two videos Sally Hartley sings "Make you feel my love" and "All that Jazz". She is based in Lincolnshire, England. For enquiries or booking info contact sallyhartley@dsl.pipex.com
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/08/2009 01:11:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Saturday, February 07, 2009 2/07/2009 01:09:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
In Case of Economic Emergency : Push the Button
One of the most interesting blogs online is Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog.
He has a cheer-up posting at When The Economy Has You Down, which cites to the source of the emergency button below, which can be bought as a product at Archie McPhee.
It won't work here but go to When The Economy Has You Down. Turn your speakers on/up and then push the button. A Mountainous Cheer!
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/07/2009 01:09:00 AM
In Case of Economic Emergency : Push the Button
One of the most interesting blogs online is Dane Carlson's Business Opportunities Weblog.
He has a cheer-up posting at When The Economy Has You Down, which cites to the source of the emergency button below, which can be bought as a product at Archie McPhee.
It won't work here but go to When The Economy Has You Down. Turn your speakers on/up and then push the button. A Mountainous Cheer!
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/07/2009 01:09:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Friday, February 06, 2009 2/06/2009 03:14:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Bad Rap for Failout Bankers at Bank Lawyer's Blog : The Bailout Rap as A Stockbroker's Rapumentary
The younger generations - especially rap fans - are going to love the YouTube video below by stockbroker performer, Gregg Somerville, as produced by Christopher Conti Video, taken by Mowgli Frere Video, music by Chris Conti. We ourselves tend toward electronic dance music of the type you find at the Love Parade, currently the world's biggest annual music festival, but we found this rap presentation to be quite outstanding as social criticism. If you lean toward oldies, both in taste and as well as personal age, you may not like the video, but it is a good example of the rap genre in music and its message(s). Hat tip to Bank Lawyer's Blog (see also WallStreet.blips, CastTV, BiggerPockets):
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/06/2009 03:14:00 PM
Bad Rap for Failout Bankers at Bank Lawyer's Blog : The Bailout Rap as A Stockbroker's Rapumentary
The younger generations - especially rap fans - are going to love the YouTube video below by stockbroker performer, Gregg Somerville, as produced by Christopher Conti Video, taken by Mowgli Frere Video, music by Chris Conti. We ourselves tend toward electronic dance music of the type you find at the Love Parade, currently the world's biggest annual music festival, but we found this rap presentation to be quite outstanding as social criticism. If you lean toward oldies, both in taste and as well as personal age, you may not like the video, but it is a good example of the rap genre in music and its message(s). Hat tip to Bank Lawyer's Blog (see also WallStreet.blips, CastTV, BiggerPockets):
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/06/2009 03:14:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT Thursday, February 05, 2009 2/05/2009 10:09:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Guzzle or Unguzzle? Winding Road Magazine and NextAutos.com : The Finest Cars and Motors Past Present Future : Recession or RaceSession?
Guzzle or Unguzzle? That is the question. The future is definitely Unguzzle, so enjoy the Guzzlers while they last. President Obama has directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider auto emission policies. It is high time that America cut back its gluttonous use of natural resources - for the sake of the environment and for the sake of the future. View this AP Video from the Los Angeles Times:
The days of the combustion-engine high-horsepower cars are nearing their end. We think it is a sane necessity, but a shame nevertheless. View this AOL Discovery Channel YouTube Video to learn what lies ahead - FUTURE CAR:
So, enjoy the gas guzzlers while you can. Be assured that human ingenuity will figure out a way to make even more astounding vehicles with new fuel technologies.
One of the great automobile site online is Winding-Road-Magazine combined with NextAutos.com. Create your own Dashboard. Enjoy the unabashed nostalgia of the fantasy of an unbridled and seemingly endless supply of petroleum energy.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/05/2009 10:09:00 PM
Guzzle or Unguzzle? Winding Road Magazine and NextAutos.com : The Finest Cars and Motors Past Present Future : Recession or RaceSession?
Guzzle or Unguzzle? That is the question. The future is definitely Unguzzle, so enjoy the Guzzlers while they last. President Obama has directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider auto emission policies. It is high time that America cut back its gluttonous use of natural resources - for the sake of the environment and for the sake of the future. View this AP Video from the Los Angeles Times:
The days of the combustion-engine high-horsepower cars are nearing their end. We think it is a sane necessity, but a shame nevertheless. View this AOL Discovery Channel YouTube Video to learn what lies ahead - FUTURE CAR:
So, enjoy the gas guzzlers while you can. Be assured that human ingenuity will figure out a way to make even more astounding vehicles with new fuel technologies.
One of the great automobile site online is Winding-Road-Magazine combined with NextAutos.com. Create your own Dashboard. Enjoy the unabashed nostalgia of the fantasy of an unbridled and seemingly endless supply of petroleum energy.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/05/2009 10:09:00 PM
LAW PUNDIT 2/05/2009 12:03:00 AM [Home]
[Print]
President Obama on Economic Recovery
Take a look at this short video (2 minutes) of President Obama on economic recovery:
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/05/2009 12:03:00 AM
President Obama on Economic Recovery
Take a look at this short video (2 minutes) of President Obama on economic recovery:
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/05/2009 12:03:00 AM
LAW PUNDIT Wednesday, February 04, 2009 2/04/2009 02:59:00 PM [Home]
[Print]
Tiger Woods at the Inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama
You can subscribe to the Tiger Woods Newsletter at his website. Being a golfer myself, I do. Tiger's most recent posting contains the following notable paragraph:
"President Obama recently asked me to speak at the inauguration opening ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was such an honor to be invited and be a part of history and to speak about something that means so much to me, our men and women in the military. He was very busy, so we didn't get to talk much. I didn't want to get in his way. I did ask him if he wanted to play golf and he said, 'I'd love to.' So we'll make it happen. I think the thing that impressed me the most about him was the way he carries himself. He has great leadership qualities, and his accomplishment truly embodies what's best about America. He represents what we as Americans have in common, not perceived differences."
See the inauguration remarks in this video:
The text of Tiger's inauguration remarks can be found at his website and at PGA.com.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/04/2009 02:59:00 PM
Tiger Woods at the Inauguration of new U.S. President Barack Obama
You can subscribe to the Tiger Woods Newsletter at his website. Being a golfer myself, I do. Tiger's most recent posting contains the following notable paragraph:
"President Obama recently asked me to speak at the inauguration opening ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was such an honor to be invited and be a part of history and to speak about something that means so much to me, our men and women in the military. He was very busy, so we didn't get to talk much. I didn't want to get in his way. I did ask him if he wanted to play golf and he said, 'I'd love to.' So we'll make it happen. I think the thing that impressed me the most about him was the way he carries himself. He has great leadership qualities, and his accomplishment truly embodies what's best about America. He represents what we as Americans have in common, not perceived differences."
See the inauguration remarks in this video:
The text of Tiger's inauguration remarks can be found at his website and at PGA.com.
Permalink : Andis Kaulins : 2/04/2009 02:59:00 PM
......Creative Commons License
