tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post5244772966454218166..comments2023-10-26T03:19:41.569-07:00Comments on Stephen Bodio's Querencia: The MapinguarySteve Bodiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-89456711940584461122007-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:002007-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00Looks like a Chessie that boards here frequently a...Looks like a Chessie that boards here frequently and from the description…….smells like him as well.<BR/>Now if I could only encourage him to keep with the analogy and crap just once a week.<BR/><BR/>:-)<BR/>GreggEliezer M. Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02291506437021196030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-2425240483140248242007-07-10T23:48:00.000-07:002007-07-10T23:48:00.000-07:00I have a more cynical explanation.Witness the Dogo...I have a more cynical explanation.<BR/><BR/>Witness the Dogon people of Mali and all the press they've gotten.<BR/><BR/>While the Dogon are anthropologically interesting for a lot of legitimate reasons, among them some of their funerary customs and their anasazi-like cliff settlements, they have gotten a rather lot press over the years for knowing that Sirius is a binary star.<BR/><BR/>This is, of course, to say that two French anthropologists claim that the Dogon know that Sirius is a binary star. What this claim actually means is the subject of some speculation. The Dogon certainly hold Sirius in some regard, neighboring tribes do as well. Is their knowledge that its faraway light comes from not one, but two stars a serendipitous intersection of religion and astronomical truth or does it indicate some deeper understanding of astrodynamics?<BR/><BR/>In the seventies, of course, it was quite in vogue to cite this apparent anomaly as evidence that the Dogon had been contacted by otherworldly intelligence. Of course, back then <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_skull" REL="nofollow">fake Maya artifacts</A> were seen as incontroverable evidence of extraterrestrial visitation, so the criticality of thinking seems to have been somewhat muddled back then. I suspect it had something to do with Leonard Nimoy, but this is idle speculation on my part.<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, there is a perfectly likely and reasonable explanation for the Dogon to know that Sirius is a double star; a learned and completely alien civilization. My money's on the French, maybe even the two anthropologists who advanced the claim in the first place. In such an even, I do not think intentional fraud was the goal, but rather that during one of their long stays with the Dogon, one of the anthropologists watching some ritual for the veneration of Sirius idly remarked that it was in fact two stars. This particular bit of religious knowledge became canon, completely unbeknownst to the French Anthropologist, who went back to swatting flies and was fantastically surprised five years later to find the Dogon still in the possession of astronomical information he had accidentally provided them with and forgotten about previously.<BR/><BR/>Certainly, that the Dogon know about Sirius but not transsaturnian planets (as remarked by Carl Sagan, at least), suggests European dissemination of their remarkable knowledge. A thousand plausible courses for such a dissemination present themselves.<BR/><BR/>Might some learned anthropologist or other bystander with a side interest in paleontology have remarked idly about the remarkable fauna that lived in South America prior to the Great American Interchange and Overkill events? Provided they were a good enough story teller, these tales of fantastic beasts (which is a genre that will never die) would spread until some other outsider heard of them. Doubtless the tales kept getting repeated, since those outsiders found the tales <I>fascinating and strangely compelling</I>, for some reason.<BR/><BR/><BR/>-R. A. W.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-27627251901640450492007-07-10T20:29:00.000-07:002007-07-10T20:29:00.000-07:00How about the simplest explanation of all: a *rea...How about the simplest explanation of all: a *real* sloth (which is not much seen by natives) on the ground when they come down (about once every few weeks) to crap? <BR/><BR/>7 feet tall? Sure -- 7 feet tall is their version of "a rat as big as a cat" or the red fox as big as a German Shepherd, or the whitetail deer as big as a moose, or the fish that swallowed Jonah. <BR/><BR/>How big is a sloth when it stretches its arms up a tree, and puts it feet down (gently) to go poop at the base of the tree? That 2 foot body could easily be 5 feet with legs and arms outstretched, I would think.<BR/><BR/>PPBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-56630153445157626612007-07-10T15:20:00.000-07:002007-07-10T15:20:00.000-07:00If it's only 7-8 ft tall you're right. Guess I wa...If it's only 7-8 ft tall you're right. Guess I was going for the gusto!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-17688193223346514902007-07-10T14:27:00.000-07:002007-07-10T14:27:00.000-07:00He knows of it but hasn't posted (we both know a l...He knows of it but hasn't posted (we both know a lot of "crypto"). Maybe this will stimulate him.<BR/><BR/>You of course know about the ground sloth pelts in Argentina? Actually I have a piece of glyptodont skin-- I should blog it. And you do know I have handled Grand Canyon sloth dung courtesy of Paul Martin, a who put it in our hands.<BR/><BR/>It would be a smaller species than a Megatherium I think.Steve Bodiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-645083147712104162007-07-10T12:08:00.000-07:002007-07-10T12:08:00.000-07:00Could it be we scooper Darren on this one?MattCould it be we scooper Darren on this one?<BR/><BR/>MattAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com