The Complete MesoAmerica... and more

One year to go!

judugrovee — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 15:37:56 +0000

While it seems as if I was carelessly neglecting TCMAM in the last weeks and months (although I have good excuses from my professional life), some time has passed and the world didn’t stop turning. So it happens to be the 21st of December 2011 today and if we believe certain (let’s call them) “theories”, the world ends in exactly one year.

In the meantime the German tabloid BILD, which many of you readers might know from the report about the Treasure Hunt in Guatemala for which TCMAM was cited in a scientifical article, expresses rather reasonable thoughts in an article (German: part1, part2). Regarding the way they talked about these things just some months ago, this is actually suprising. They even realized that the Aztec Sun Stone is not a calendar and especially not the Maya one.

Lastly they cite the renowned epigrapher Nikolai Grube, also one of my main sources for details and verification about the Maya. The answer he gives to BILD’s question “What did the Maya know about the year 2012?” is a wonderful reaction and thus I want to use it to herald the last year of the 2012 Countdown:

“The Maya were far too intelligent to not know, that time can’t simply cease or stop. When the 13th Bak’tun ends in December 2012, the 14th Bak’tun begins. And this won’t be accompanied by severe destructions. There are prophecies of the Maya for a time far beyond 2012.”

This might not be satisfying or spectacular enough for many people, but it is probably true. Let’s see how public opinion will develop about this topic during the next 365 years until we can celebrate a new Bak’tun.

Until then, don’t miss the explaining articles in the several categories on this blog.

"And I, Tonatiuh, am STILL not a calendar, you know..."
picture: El Comandante/wikipedia/cc-by-sa

Happy 1st Birthday to TCMAM

judugrovee — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:55:27 +0000

TCMAM turned 1 year old!!!!!

Second lolcat this year...

Nobody came to the party, because it was already two days ago! One year and two days ago it was, that the article What is wrong with the Mayan Calendar? was published. Shame on me, I haven’t been around to celebrate. But here it is, the birthday article.

Chacmool: I approve of TCMAM
(plus: proof of overaverage imaging skills)
original picture: FlickreviewR/wikimedia.org/cc-by

A good moment for some statistics.

94 posts have been published on this blog (excluding this one) – more or less regularly – in 31 different categories, covering a broad range of topics. TCMAM has been cited in a scientific article about science communication. It was also asked to cover the treasure hunt in Guatemala for a big German watchblog. A lot has happened so far, and a lot will happen.

This blog had a solid 42,001 views that year – and I simply have to ask who was the tease, that messed up this perfectly round number in the last second. …

The top 3 posts (not regarding the home page, of course) are:
- Mathematician knows location of lost Maya Gold
- What is wrong with the Mayan calendar? (the first post ever)
- Writing (or sort of) in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica

Thanks for your very valued interest, your comments and your regular visits. TCMAM will continue at least for another year and some weeks. Then the 21st December of 2012 approaches and everything will be over anyway… or not? If you have any request, topics, propositions, critique or praise, or also interesting content of your own, please contact me at judugrovee@gmail.com.

Finally I feel most honored to give you Stephen Fry with his best birthday wishes!

Sure, they originally were meant for GNU, but whatever...

Original Recording of Porfirio Díaz

judugrovee — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:49:37 +0000

We have covered Porfirio Díaz before in our SoFiA category. He is a controversial figure in Mexican history, former conservative president with a ruling style considered very repressive. So repressive that it was one of the main reasons for the Mexican revolution in 1910. His time in office even has its own freakin’ name: Porfiriato. And here, have a look at the legislative palace he wanted to build:

Needs more pillars!

However today we want to listen to him. Fortunately for us, a certain man lived and worked at the same time. That man, called Thomas Alva Edison gave Díaz the possibility to immortalize himself on a gold moulded cylinder.

The recording is remarkably clear, the Spanish is transcibed. Still many readers won’t be able to understand what Díaz says. Therefore behold, the English translation:

Narrator: Response from General Porfirio Diaz, President of the Mexican Republic, to a letter from Tomas A. Edison.

Diaz: Chapultepec, August 15, 1909. Mr. Thomas A Edison (valued and good friend).
I refer to your nice letter from July 8. I too like you remember with pleasure the time I had the chance of meeting and knowing your adventurous experiments, making me share in your unbreakable faith in the gracious future of empirical science.

It was back in your homeland, in the early days of electric light in New York. And since then I saw in you the talented heroe, a hard working winner, the one that later would discipline fire torn from the sky by Franklin, to eternalize the charming voice of loved ones here on earth in your wonderful phonographic equipment, reproducing every rythm, every accent and every modulation of the human language.

I am grateful to please you because I have very high regard for the great benefactors of humanity, and you are one of them, because you have created new sources of happiness, well-being and wealth for the human race, using the most powerful forces known: light, electricity, lavor and genius.

Your friend, who shakes your hand with pride,
Porfirio Díaz.

We can consider ourselves lucky to be able to listen to his voice (and other voices on other recordings) even after such a long time. And indeed we now see which astounding technology was developed after disciplining the fire from the sky. We can listen to a digital recording on a worldwide communication network in which you have found this site, because you were interested (or by pure chance). *sigh* It’s a beautiful world and that should motivate us to solve some more problems.