Shamanism and the Ancient Mind : A Cognitive Approach to Archaeology by James L. Pearson:

“Pearson brings a cogent, well-argued case for the understanding of much prehistoric art as shamanistic practice. Using the theoretical premises of cognitive archaeology and a careful examination of rock art worldwide, Pearson is able to dismiss other theories of why ancient peoples produced art-totemism, art-for-art’s sake, structuralism, hunting magic. Then examining both ethnographic and neuropsychological evidence, he makes a strong case for the use of shamanistic ritual and hallucinogenic substances as the genesis of much prehistoric art. Bolst ered with examples from contemporary cultures and archaeological sites around the world, Pearson’s thesis should be of interest not only to archaeologists, but art historians, psychologists, cultural anthropologist, and the general public.” amazon.com

Did Humans and Neandertals Battle for Control of the Middle East? National Geographic [Some wag might ask whether they still are… –FmH]

Peering Through the Gates of Time

It’s all come down to this.

In one corner is Dr. John Archibald Wheeler, 90, professor emeritus of physics at Princeton and the University of Texas, armed with a battery of hearing aids, fistfuls of colored chalk, unfailing courtesy, a poet’s flair for metaphor, an indomitable sense of duty and the company of a ghost army of great thinkers.

In the other is a “great smoky dragon,” which is how Dr. Wheeler refers sometimes to one of the supreme mysteries of nature. That is the ability, according to the quantum mechanic laws that govern subatomic affairs, of a particle like an electron to exist in a murky state of possibility — to be anywhere, everywhere or nowhere at all — until clicked into substantiality by a laboratory detector or an eyeball.

Dr. Wheeler suspects that this quantum uncertainty, as it is more commonly known, is the key to understanding why anything exists at all, how something, the universe with its laws, can come from nothing. Or as he likes to put it in the phrase that he has adopted as his mantra: “How come the quantum? How come existence?”

Standing by the window in his third-floor office in Princeton’s Jadwin Hall recently, Dr. Wheeler pointed out at the budding trees and the green domes of the astronomy building in the distance. “We’re all hypnotized into thinking there’s something out there,” he said. NY Times

“Dear FBI, be sure to read my entire web sites to make sure I’m not a terrorist,” says Mark Perkel on his site www.overthrowthegovernment.org, which he describes as attention-getting rather than frankly revolutionary. “Can I actually overthrow the government?

No I can’t, for one simple reason. The government has already been overthrown. George W. Bush and his right wing Republican Bible thumping jesus freak cronies have already overthrown the government.” A message to Declan McCullagh’s Politech mailing list today says that Perkel was arrested returning to the US from a trip to Australia this morning and is being held without bail; the LA Sheriff’s Dept booking record is here. “Perkel is also the owner of the web-site behind BartCop.com, a daily political humour site which is sometimes

critical of the current federal administration. Updates of Perkel’s

situation will probably be posted first at , or

(on online chat forum) if the

police pull the plug on Perkel’s server,” says the poster to McCullagh’s list. It is not clear to what extent Perkel’s arrest relates to the political views he espouses, or teases us with.

Is Dan Hartung’s Lake Effect gone? http://www.lakefx.nu/ doesn’t seem to work any longer. Dan, has your site moved? folded? Anyone?

Is Al-Amin Conviction a Requiem for the ’60s? AlterNet