Nanos aid limb regeneration

Science fiction meets reality in this story.

American military researchers say they have unlocked the secret to regrowing limbs and recreating organs in humans who have sustained major injuries.

Using “nanoscaffolding,” the researchers have regrown a man’s fingertip and the internal organs of several test subjects.

The technology works by placing a very fine apparatus called a scaffold, which is made of polymer fibres hundreds of times finer than a human hair, in place of a missing limb or damaged organ. The scaffold acts as a guide for cells to grab onto so they can begin to rebuild missing bones and tissue. The tissue grows through tiny holes in the scaffold, in the same way a vine snakes its way up a trellis.

After the body part has regenerated, the scaffold breaks down, is absorbed into the person’s body and disappears entirely.

Wild, eh? Regen’s not just for skinks anymore.

Why is numerology appealing?

After reading about a funny lottery result (funny for people not afraid of 666 anyway) I got to thinking about the power numbers have.

On a whim, I found a free numerology reading site and plugged in my birth name and date just to see what it’d churn out:

The influence of your Day of Birth;
You were born on the 25th of the month, which makes your birth number 7.

To characterize your life as a little frantic is to seriously understate the case. As a girl, you might have been a bit high strung, although others may have merely regarded you as quiet, judgmental or critical. Many things that happened made a deep and lasting big impression on you. As an adult, you may combine aloofness with sudden bursts of chatter that could confuse people you’ve only just met.

Already this thing is a flawed reading. I’ve never been high strung and my life couldn’t be duller if I tried. I’ll go with the judgment and critical idea though, and the chatterboxing, but that’s only because I do spend an absurd amount of time working solo and sometimes I have a very high word quota that simply needs to be met. It’s not usually aimed at strangers, though, and I’m sure they’d thank their lucky stars.

No, there is NOTHING wrong with you! Your unusual combination of numbers makes you more psychically aware than the average woman. Your nervous energy probably doesn’t help much either when it comes to dealing with others. I’m sure you’ve felt misunderstood more than once in your life.

Psychic, my lily-white ass. Once in a while it feels like I’ve anticipated my mother calling before she actually dials the phone but I’m sure that’s more a Pavlov thing. She’s the one who calls more than anyone else so if the phone rings, it’s 98% likely my mother’s on the other end.

Your Destiny number;
To those who know you, you’re as solid as the Rock of Gibraltar! You’re a 100 percent reliable and trustworthy woman.

The reason why you have your feet on the ground 24 hours per day is that you’re under the influence of a 4 Destiny. Women with this Destiny are sensible, hardworking and live life with integrity.

In fact, you probably adhere to that old saying, “Honesty is the BEST-and ONLY-policy!”

In order to fulfill your destiny, it’s important to accept that there are certain things you must be, do, and accomplish in your life. As a woman with a 4 Destiny, your mission in life is to create permanence in situations and to turn dreams into reality. Your major goals are to improve and reform.

I agree that I’m reliable and trustworthy and I do think honesty is better than a tactful lie, but I think that destiny is something that belongs in Star Wars. Not that having dreams and achieving them is impossible – every day there’s proof of people succeeding beyond their wildest dreams. But I don’t think it’s right to claim a person is destined for anything. Predestination leaves nothing to be proud of. I’d rather have the choices, even if it turns out I chose wrong.

Your Life Path’s influence;
Are you a woman who’s always sensed you were born to be THE BOSS? When it comes to leadership roles, do they just fall into your lap, whether you want them or not (even though deep down, you know you ALWAYS want to be queen!)?The reason that you almost always seem drawn to climb to the top of the heap-and that it’s easy for you to get there! — is that you’re under the influence of a 1 Lifepath.

Now I know this is wrong. See the http, peeps. 1 minion. Not Boss of the Whole Damned Universe. I avoid stressful situations. I have never aimed for positions of power, be it class president or actively running for office. No way would I do that. I don’t even feel like being responsible for one underling let alone an entire company of them. Maybe deep down this is part of why I had to switch majors in university – can’t be a decent teacher if you’re uncomfortable in a leadership role. Cats walk all over me. What would kids have done?

Your Intuitive Plane;
When others start to get carried away with far fetched ideas and impractical schemes, you’re the gal who quickly brings everyone down to earth. Mixed in there with your common sense approach to life is a generous dose of SKEPTICISM.

You feel much more comfortable making decisions based on “just the facts” — not hunches or fake feelings.

Wow, finally something useful. Yes. Yes! This is totally me!

Generally speaking, you don’t do anything without having a darned good reason for doing it. You are forever rationalizing your behavior. For example, you would justify the purchase of a new car in terms of gas mileage, warranties, rebates, etc. — very practical benefits. But you would NOT readily admit to having any strong feelings on the subject.

Isn’t it better that way? Better to think things through than spend foolishly? Yeah, some days I wish I were spontaneous and could just up and take a trip somewhere for the hell of it but I like plans. I like schedules. I like research. I can handle the unexpected mostly because I make room in the plans for it. Most of life is unexpected.

As to the “strong feelings” idea, I guess it’s right to a point. I don’t like to make a big deal over what I think on issues (beyond this blog). Chalk it up to being a Libra (for all that means) but there’s often valid points on every side that need to be weighed. I get the points YECs are trying to make, for example, but the scientific answers to our origin carry more weight so ultimately I lean that way. For other topics, though, sometimes there just isn’t enough information to make snap judgments and you can’t debate the validity of an idea if you don’t really understand it.

Your self-control is admirable – there’s really very little room for improvement in that area. You see yourself much as others see you – as an objective and CAUTIOUS woman. “Better safe than sorry” are the words you live by.

It’s as good a motto as anything. Dad’s fond of ABC – Always Be Careful. Five or more books worth of Darwin Awards is pretty much proof that stupidity kills, or at least amusingly maims. There was a version of “My Bonny Lies over the Ocean” that was really popular when I was a kid:

My Bonny looked into a gas tank
But nothing inside could he see
So he lit up a match to assist him
Oh, bring back my Bonny to me

So, other “enlightenments” off this reading:

Personality number 9: I appear generous and tolerant and positive to people who know me because I’m “idealistic, impressionable and EXTREMELY kind.” I’m “simply terrific” but I don’t think I needed this silly thing to tell me that. Yes, my self-esteem is not suffering at the moment. I also see all sides of an issue (I already mentioned)

My Soul Urge influence is a 4 — the trouble with numerology is how they assign the numbers. I’ve seen some tables that allot numbers to letters and then you add up the numbers and if you wind up with a number like 47 you add the 4 and 7 together, and then do the same to the 11 to get the ultimate single digit number that corresponds to you name. I’m sure this site has its own tabulation table unique to whatever company wants me to pay for a life altering reading. Which I will, of course, not do.

Deep down, where it counts, you’re a firm believer in the work ethic and in an “honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.” You’re not one to be caught complaining about working overtime, because accomplishments in the real world and the material gain that follows in their wake mean a lot to you.

I’m not allowed overtime, but I agree on the work ethic. I’ve always liked, “Find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life” which Confucius gets the credit of saying. I have the job and I enjoy working it. It’s about damned time. I’ve picked cucumbers, I’ve worked Wal-mart (too much, too long), I’ve packed hinges and bolts, I spent part of a summer in a flipping clown suit waving at cars on hot days and had people throwing bottle caps at me. I love the library.

Keep in mind that the path to happiness is more than just monetary riches. Think about a life in which you awaken each morning to greet the day with a smile because you KNOW good things will happen to you! Picture yourself experiencing such a day in which all your spiritual and emotional traffic lights are green, allowing you to sail through the day with no roadblocks!

I already do that. Every day’s a good day and an extra few hundred a month might make them better days but it’s not necessary. I’m content as it is. I’m in a better situation than so many people and it’s something I’m often thankful for. I could be on welfare. I could have three kids and three different fathers for them. I could be in jail or on the streets or addicted to drugs but here I am. Happy, safe, and listening to the Watusi.

It’s a good day.

How old the world is

Sometimes I’m struck by things that just make me go wow, you know? Some years ago I’d been staying at a motel and was flipping through available channels loving me some cable when I came across a fabulous documentary about some archeologists in Alexandria (I think). The city had been ripping out some stuff to make room for a new road to go through and the road crew was completely surprised when their machinery tore off the top of a catacomb. Standard procedure, obviously, was to call in some officials to take a look. But, this was the kicker. The road was going through and work had to continue. The team sent in only had a few weeks to study the discovery. They mapped what they could, dived when they had to (much was under water) and lucked out when a local boy knew of another way into the same group of tunnels.

It was really interesting to watch. Some areas of the world have been built on and built over for centuries, millennia even. As a Canadian, it’s hard to wrap my head around that sometimes. Sure there were First Nations all over Canada before Europeans came, but there’s little to show for it beyond art and arrowheads and unmarked graves. No big monuments aside from Totem poles, I suppose. But not every group made those. Yet Wanuskewin has a history going back 6000 years.

Wanuskewin Heritage Park hugs the west bank of the South Saskatchewan River, just five kilometres north of Saskatoon. Within its 760 acres there are 19 pre-contact sites that represent the active society of Northern Plains Peoples. Here you will find summer and winter camp sites, bison kill sites, tipi rings, an arrangement of boulders called a medicine wheel, and artifacts such as pottery fragments, plant seeds, projectile points, egg shells and animal bones, all within a compact area.

Yesterday World Net Daily reported on something surprisingly newsworthy – Palestinians in Jerusalem are claiming that Jewish temples never existed there. Ahmed Qurei, the Palestinian Authority official, claims they were invented by the Jewish people to give them the idea that they one belonged there.

Qurei said “Israeli occupation authorities are trying to find a so-called Jewish historical connection” between Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, “but all these attempts will fail. The [Temple Mount] is 100 percent Muslim.”

“The world must be mobilized against all these Israeli attempts to change the symbols and signs of Jerusalem,” he said. “There is nothing Jewish about the Al Aqsa Mosque. There was no so-called Jewish Temple. It’s imaginary. Jerusalem is 100 percent Muslim.”

Continued Qurei: “The Arab world is called to interfere to stop the Israeli plans in Jerusalem, to stop the Israeli attempts to create a Jewish character to Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa mosque. Also to the Old City, which is the first step in the war to defend Jerusalem and Al Aqsa.

“They are competing against time in order to create facts on ground in the surrounding the imaginary Temple,” Qurei added.

The chief Palestinian negotiator was reacting to the reopening last month of a long-closed synagogue just 100 meters from the Temple Mount. The holy structure, located in what is now known as the Muslim Quarter, was abandoned in 1938 in the wake of extreme Arab violence targeting Jews. At the time, thousands of Jews lived in the Quarter. The synagogue is closer than any other Jewish house of prayer to the Temple Mount.

What I find so interesting about this is the age of Jerusalem. Three different religions credit the place as The Place their faiths were born. Judaism can claim it all the way back to King David if the biblical history books are taken as fact. There still is the City of David in part of Jerusalem.

Throughout all notorious Jewish exiles, thorough documentation shows the Jews never gave up their hope of returning to Jerusalem and re-establishing their Temple. To this day, Jews worldwide pray facing the Western Wall, while Muslims turn their backs away from the Temple Mount and pray toward Mecca.

The Al Aqsa Mosque was constructed around A.D. 709 to serve as a shrine near another shrine, the Dome of the Rock, which was built by an Islamic caliph.

About 100 years ago, the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem became associated with the place Muslims came to believe Muhammad ascended to heaven. Jerusalem, however, is not mentioned in the Quran.

Islamic tradition states Muhammad took a journey in a single night from “a sacred mosque” – believed to be in Mecca in southern Saudi Arabia – to “the farthest mosque,” and from a rock there ascended to heaven to receive revelations from Allah that became part of the Quran.

This selfish hoarding of the ancient city is a fairly recent idea for Muslims in the area.

As late as the 14th century, Islamic scholar Taqi al-Din Ibn Taymiyya, whose writings influenced the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, ruled that sacred Islamic sites are to be found only in the Arabian Peninsula and that “in Jerusalem, there is not a place one calls sacred, and the same holds true for the tombs of Hebron.”

It wasn’t until the late 19th century – incidentally when Jews started immigrating to Palestine – that some Muslim scholars began claiming Muhammad tied his horse to the Western Wall and associated Muhammad’s purported night journey with the Temple Mount.

Isn’t that interesting. It must be a fascinating to make a serious study of the history of the area. I’ll leave off on the topic now, but point the interested to www.salaam.co.uk for more detailed information about the place.

RIP Michael Crichton

Bummer.

Jurassic Park is one of my favourite books and an enjoyable movie that I could probably watch once a week and never get tired of. I haven’t read all of his books but I see a lot of them were turned into movies over the years. I’ve seen Congo, The Terminal Man, The Andromeda Strain, Sphere, Disclosure, & The Lost World. There’s more than that, even.

He was a pop culture icon and he’ll be missed.

How many people think Obama’s the anti-christ?

Don’t raise your hands. I’d be too disturbed by the answer, probably.

Canada has its share of kooky thinkers who believe it’s a possiblity. Just like this author, Michael O’Brien:

From my own reading of Obama’s declarations and stated positions, I knew he was an ultra-liberal, a social revolutionary with visionary pretensions. But the Antichrist? No, not possible, I thought. I felt that he was too shallow a man to be the Son of Perdition, the Man of Sin, the Beast of the Book of Revelation. And I still think so. Obama is a crowd-pleaser with just the right ethos of idealistic crusader. That the crusade and the banners under which it marches are evil does not automatically prove that he is the Antichrist.

But now that I have seen the video of the Berlin speech I think there is more here than meets the eye. He is indeed a powerful manipulator of crowds, even as he appears ever so humble and wholesomely charming. I doubt that he is the long-prophesied ruler of the world, but I also believe that he is a carrier of a deadly moral virus, indeed a kind of anti-apostle spreading concepts and agendas that are not only anti-Christ but anti-human as well. In this sense he is of the spirit of Antichrist (perhaps without knowing it), and probably is one of several key figures in the world who (knowingly or unknowingly) will be instrumental in ushering in the time of great trial for the Church under its last and worst persecution, amidst the numerous other tribulations prophesied in the books of Daniel and Revelation, and letters of St Paul, St. John, and St. Peter.

He goes on:

Clearly, contemporary man needs heroes. But why not choose a genuine one, why not look a little deeper and work a little harder to find a man of courage and principle, and if it helps in the historical healing process, why not a very different kind of black man, say a person like Alan Keyes, a scholar, former ambassador, experienced in different levels of government, and (it might be added) an African-American married to a woman from India. Moreover, he is a devout Catholic who believes in moral absolutes and has amply proved that he will stand firm to defend them regardless of the cost to his own career. He knows that kings and presidents cannot usurp the natural law, the moral order of the universe, without bringing down judgment upon their nations. But it need not be Keyes. It might be any number of other men and women of clear thought and clear principle. Surely there are “Ten Just Men” still out there somewhere in America. So why Obama? And why does he rise and rise as his mouth smiles and smiles, exuding sincerity as he speaks lies and death?

And why, most horribly, most shamefully, are so many Christians of malformed or unformed conscience supporting him? Is it because they have never been clearly instructed in the truth, never understood the foundation upon which the moral cosmos is built? Is morality for them merely another system of abstract “values” in a crowded playing field of such systems, from which one may pick and choose?

I wish we didn’t live in a world where people think there are moral absolutes, the whole good and evil dichotomy leaves much to be desired. You take away what is most amazing about humanity when you think like that. People are capable of free thought and decision making. People are capable of caring about others, sympathizing, empathizing, understanding the drives and desires at the root of life, and the best of us don’t cringe away from that. To live one’s life in perpetual fear of sinning must be such a drag. Such a drag, in fact, that these same people have to drag everyone else down with them. You can’t think homosexuality is natural because a 2000 year old book says it isn’t. You can’t think abortion is justifiable in some cases because a book 2000 years old claims “thou shalt not kill” is one of the most important rules there are, even though it’s a rule that’s often out the window when it’s Catholics doing “justifiable” killing.

There’s no standard like the double standard, is there?

I’d say wait and see. If Obama gets in, see what he does for the country, for the world. If it turns out to be the wrong thing, get someone to hide behind a grassy knoll and deal with it. Oh wait, thou shalt not kill.

Oh, boy, can you say screwed?

Good wishes for All Hallows Eve

Have a safe one, peeps! Take a flashlight! Don’t eat all your candy in one sitting! And if a cat like this one smiles at you with creepy lust in his eyes, club him over the head with your pillowcase!

(More festive cards by Ellen Clapsaddle are here.)

Gadzooks, gosh and geez – a look at cleaner cussing choices

When I was 6 or 8 or so I remember playing with my cousin, Grace. I don’t recall the game but something bugged me and I stopped in my tracks and said, “Geez!” Grace chided me for taking the Lord’s name in vain.

“Geez is a shortened form of Jesus,” she replied, “and it’s not right to swear.”

So I tried stopping at “Gee.”

That wasn’t any better for Grace because G is the beginning of God’s name and therefore sinful to say as well.

I think I just took in what she said, said, “Okay,” and our played resumed.

There was an atheist site I’d read, maybe atheistblogger.com, where the writer decided he or she wouldn’t use God’s name in vain anymore because what’s the point of it when you don’t believe in God anyway?

Is it worth it as an atheist to avoid god-related swears? A forum user called Stream34 at RichardDawkins.net has posted a long list of god phrases in the English language and is trying to stop using them.

“Land sakes!” or “Golly!” or “Dear me!” or even Charlie Brown’s most famous epithet just don’t have much punch compared to blasphemy. I suppose another alternative might be to use “Merciful Zeus!” or “Kali damn you!” or some variation using other gods from defunct pantheons.

I don’t know. Thoughts? Should atheists avoid god-related swearing completely or are they just words to express an emotional outburst?

Halloween is coming, bring on the fearmongering…

It’s two weeks away, but now is still a good time to start thinking about Halloween. I won’t be doing any costume stuff this year. Last year I was a gypsy fortune teller. Another year I dressed as Death’s Grandaughter Susan but only one other person at work knew who I was. It was too much work explaining why I walked around with a scythe, a raven, and a skeletal rat dressed in a matching cloak. Hell, I even had the key to the stationary cupboard, I was that prepared. What a waste.

In grade school I was a clown a couple times, and a princess once, but it was super cold and blizzardy and I had to wear my snowsuit over my costume all night as we drove around the countryside visiting the neighbours and warming up. Another year we’d stopped in at this dinky little population 4 kind of village because my cousin and I were desperate to pee… but not desperate enough to brave the outhouse. We thought we saw something moving in the dark in there so we ran back to the car and made our parents drive to one of the houses so we could use their bathroom. It wasn’t much better, actually.

Oh, and there was this other year, I think when I was four or so, my mom and dad hosted a Halloween party. One of my uncles knocked on the door and when my other cousin and I looked out to see who it was, all we saw was his rubber devil mask. I think we screamed the house down, we were so scared. It’s funny now, though.

Anyway, via CBN.com

In middle school, I met some friends who introduced me to another world. They told me that they could contact the dead and learn hidden secrets about their lives. I’ll never forget the time I asked the ouija board who I would marry. It replied, “the Devil.” That’s when I knew that I was in a very dangerous place.

Did you ever wonder why Halloween seems to primarily feed off of a market of 3-13 year olds? This is a Satanic ploy for our children. I don’t think that Christian children should completely abstain from the festivities of costumes and candy, because they can be a light through their alternative behavior. [I personally plan on dressing my children up in Biblical and God-honoring characters that will draw people to ask questions.]

I’m talking to those of you who will be opening up your door to children of whom you do not know the state of their soul. Consider the gift that you offer them at your doorstep.

Lori D’Augostine suggests buying candy stamped with Bible verses. Yes, that’s going to solve the problem. There won’t be any rotten eggs in her mail box the next morning, or toilet paper in the trees. Yeesh. It’s obvious she, and others like her, don’t understand where Halloween came from, what it once meant, and what it still signifies in some countries – a festival to honour and celebrate death. Ordinary, every day death.

Halloween had its starts with the Celts. They used to celebrate the new year on November 1st. As to October 31:

This day marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31, they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. In addition to causing trouble and damaging crops, Celts thought that the presence of the otherworldly spirits made it easier for the Druids, or Celtic priests, to make predictions about the future. For a people entirely dependent on the volatile natural world, these prophecies were an important source of comfort and direction during the long, dark winter.

This was 2000 years ago, keep in mind. The druids would build a sacred bonfire and everyone would sacrifice some animals to their 100 plus gods. They’d dress up in animal skins and try and tell fortunes and then use the sacred fire to relight their hearths, believing the ritual to be a protection for the coming winter, a time of year when untimely deaths were pretty much a given.

When the Romans marched in, they brought their own festivals with them, including Feralia, which also happened to be a ritual commemorating the dead. Not hard to join the two together after that.

By the 800s, the influence of Christianity had spread into Celtic lands. In the seventh century, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints’ Day, a time to honor saints and martyrs. It is widely believed today that the pope was attempting to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a related, but church-sanctioned holiday.

How’s that for interesting? Kind of like what happened to the solstice celebrations, eh?. You can party, but you have to party in our God’s name, no dancing around for those heathen gods anymore. Bad! Bad heathen gods! We’ll call them evil just to make sure.

Now of course, most of the freaky evil dead stuff’s been leeched out (aside from horror movie moments) and little kids are stuck wandering around shopping malls at 4pm because parents are too scared to let them do proper trick-or-treating on dark streets around strange houses. I never went to any, but my home town did Spookarama parties for years, just like this event in Nipawin aimed at teens. Although girls at home used to bring alcohol into the dances by pouring it into rinsed out hairspray bottles. Girls and their hair, eh? Always wondered why they went to the bathroom in groups? To get trashed and talk about boys. Duh!

What about other countries? Where do they stand on Halloween festivities? I find it interesting that in Mexico, Latin America and Spain, they celebrate from the 31st to the 2nd, hoping the dead come for a visit.

Many families construct an altar to the dead in their homes to honor deceased relatives and decorate it with candy, flowers, photographs, samples of the deceased’s favorite foods and drinks, and fresh water. Often, a wash basin and towel are left out so that the spirit can wash before indulging in the feast.

Candles and incense are burned to help the deceased find the way home. Relatives also tidy the gravesites of their departed family members. This can include snipping weeds, making repairs, and painting. The grave is then decorated with flowers, wreaths, or paper streamers. On November 2, relatives gather at the gravesite to picnic and reminisce. Some gatherings even include tequila and a mariachi band! Celebrations honoring departed loved ones and family members are found as far back as ancient Egyptian times.

So why do many people like Ms. D’Augostine worry about Halloween and its effects on kids? I used to love Halloween growing up. A little fright was worth the candy, to my mind. My Catholic school put together great Halloween parties in the early ’80s. Toys and games and prizes to be won, a “haunted house” style thing. I think we’d parade in our costumes a bit, too. Maybe some parent would send their kids to school with home made cookies painted with pumpkins and skulls and black cats. One year a teacher came up with a brilliant craft – we peeled apples and let them wither and get all wrinkly and shrunken and then we added pointy noses and witch hats and eyeballs of some kind. They looked great all lined up on the windowsill.

I think Halloween is an important part of growing up. Death tends to be scary at any age and maybe having one day a year where we acknowledge its place in our life cycle isn’t such a bad idea. If a fear is out in the open, isn’t it going to be easier to deal with and understand?

I’ll end with a montage I found featuring one of my favourite Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes ever. It’s from “Halloween” in season 2. Buffy hopes to celebrate “Come As You Aren’t Night” by dressing up like a girl her vampire boyfriend, Angel, would have dated when he was alive 200 years earlier. But, she’s gotten her costume from Ethan, who’s pulled out some magic for the night’s entertainment as a tribute to the god of Chaos. When the spell takes effect, Buffy’s stuck thinking she really is an olden days girl, Willow gets ghostly and people in scary costumes start running amok! Suddenly it’s party time for all the vampires and the real monsters in town. But can Spike rid the world of the Slayer before the night is through?

Should ethnocentrism be celebrated?

Yesterday gaytheist wrote a piece about Columbus reaching the island he renamed San Salvadore and his reaction to the locals. Rather than treat them as individuals worth understanding, he sought to enslave them and make Christians out of them. He had no capacity to think of them in any other way. That was the world-view he was living under at the time and there was no reason to think it should be any way but the way he was thinking. From understandingprejudice.org

Because Columbus captured more Indian slaves than he could transport to Spain in his small ships, he put them to work in mines and plantations which he, his family, and followers created throughout the Caribbean. His marauding band hunted Indians for sport and profit — beating, raping, torturing, killing, and then using the Indian bodies as food for their hunting dogs. Within four years of Columbus’ arrival on Hispaniola, his men had killed or exported one-third of the original Indian population of 300,000.

This was the great cultural encounter initiated by Christopher Columbus. This is the event celebrated each year on Columbus Day. The United States honors only two men with federal holidays bearing their names. In January we commemorate the birth of Martin Luther King, Jr., who struggled to lift the blinders of racial prejudice and to cut the remaining bonds of slavery in America. In October, we honor Christopher Columbus, who opened the Atlantic slave trade and launched one of the greatest waves of genocide known in history.

Also worth reading, an excerpt from A People’s History of the United States:

The treatment of heroes (Columbus) and their victims (the Arawaks) the quiet acceptance of conquest and murder in the name of progress-is only one aspect of a certain approach to history, in which the past is told from the point of view of governments, conquerors, diplomats, leaders. It is as if they, like Columbus, deserve universal acceptance, as if they-the Founding Fathers, Jackson, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Kennedy, the leading members of Congress, the famous Justices of the Supreme Court-represent the nation as a whole. The pretense is that there really is such a thing as “the United States,” subject to occasional conflicts and quarrels, but fundamentally a community of people with common interests. It is as if there really is a “national interest” represented in the Constitution, in territorial expansion, in the laws passed by Congress, the decisions of the courts, the development of capitalism, the culture of education and the mass media.

Whee! I’m on a blogroll now!

Thanks New Humanist!

I’d do a happy dance, but nobody wants to see that.

But you should see the list of required reading, where New Humanist now has a place.

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Edit Oct 10, 2008

I see Digital Cuttlefish added me as well. Not that anyone else cares but it’s nice to be noticed.