13 Oct 2004
'Common ancestor' of all living humans surprisingly recent

This is a quite old piece (from September 29, I believe) but I'd hesitated to comment until now, when I can be reasonably assured that the models used are more or less accurate. I went back and found the baseline work (available here), and yeah, you know, the guy's onto something here.

There is a strong component of ancestor "worship" in Heathenry, so much so that heathens usually (but not always) divide themselves according to ethnicity. Hence, Japanese heathenry is known as Shinto, Asatru and Druidry are the Northern European varients, there are Native American heathens and Austrailian aborignal heathens. Every group of people has it's own heathen path. To be sure, there are variations in the belief sets of these various subgroups of heathens, but all of us venerate the ancestors, and none believe that there is only one god for the entire universe, if we believe in gods at all.

The implications of this research should be obvious: this is the kind of scientific "proof" that heathenry could use to unite, to regroup across our different ethnic variations, and to finally recognize that we are all root and branch of the same tree. If this research presents an accurate picture of human demographics over time, then every heathen ceremony that honors those who have come before us, no matter what ethnic flavor it carries internally, is at some level honoring the same person or small set of people.

If this new knowledge is accepted and disseminated, it could open the way to a sea-change in the practice of heathens world wide: we are in fact the global majority religion, and this could help us recognize that simple fact.

In this week's issue of Nature, a Yale mathematician presents models showing that the most recent person who was a direct ancestor of all humans currently alive may have lived just a few thousand years ago. ''While we may not all be 'brothers,' the models suggest we are all hundredth cousins or so,'' said Joseph T. Chang, professor in the Department of Statistics at Yale University and senior author on the paper. Chang established the basis of this research in a previous publication with an intentionally simplified model that ignored such complexities as geography and migration.

(link) [Science Blog]

00:00 /Asatru | 1 comment | permanent link

George W. Bush: Commodus Reborn

A truly scary bit of synchronicity. Or is it coincidence? Or does it matter?

About the only thing missing is the excess of piety: Commodus dispensed with all that and just had himself declared a god. I doubt that even Dubya would go that far ...

In 180 A.D., Rome faced one of its greatest challenges as Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus (Commodus) succeeded his father in ruling the Empire . Due to his actions during a 12 year reign, he became arguably known as Rome's worst emperor.

(link) [The Washington Dispatch]

via rogueclassicism

00:00 /Politics | 3 comments | permanent link

Supreme Court to Decide Inmates' Religious Rights Law

Included in the mix are a couple of heathens who've been harassed rather mercilessly by prison authorities. They're joined by a Wiccan, a Satanist (!) and a Christian Identity fellow. I have no idea what Wicca could do for a prisoner, but Satanism and the racist tripe called "Christian Identity" I would think might be a bit counter-productive in such an enviroment. And that may be an understatement ...

But Heathenry can be a very positive force behind bars. I spent a year going out to the Indiana State Prison in Greencastle once a month and serving blot and sumbel to heathen inmates. It was enlightening, to say the least. I never cease to be amazed and amused by prison management's negative attitudes towards heathenry, which as a religion teaches total personal responsibility. We don't have a "savior", and getting rid of your bad deeds takes a lot more than a prayer and a dunking in a converted bathtub.

There were a few who were just trying to get some time off, sure, but there were several who took it seriously enough to stay heathen after release. One of the inmates dropped his appeals after his "conversion" in order to do the time he thought he owed society. Another made a successful effort at restitution after his release - without being so ordered by a court.

Reuters - The U.S. Supreme Court said on Tuesday it would decide the constitutionality of a 2000 federal law protecting the religious rights of prisoners.

(link) [Yahoo! News]

00:00 /Asatru | 2 comments | permanent link

Click Fraud Threatens Web

OK, click fraud is a real problem. But what, exactly, can be done about it? The short answer: very little. It's the model that's flawed: paying per "click" rather than per "impression" actually facilitates fraud. And until the model changes (and web advertising prices correspondingly drop), fraud will continue.

Someone could make the argument that watchdogs have better things to do. But click fraud -- endlessly clicking on ads to generate cash or hurt a competitor -- is a serious threat to the web business, and no one's doing much about it. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg.

(link) [Wired News]

00:00 /Technology | 0 comments | permanent link

Pharmacist says he feared 'spiritual pain'

This had better result in a license revocation: if this kind of logic is allowed to stand, you could end up with detectives refusing to investigate crimes against abortion clinics, sales clerks refusing to ring up sales of condoms (or "objectionable" books?) and who knows what else.

A former pharmacist said Monday he refused to fill a college student's prescription for birth control pills or transfer it to another pharmacy because he did not want to commit a sin.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link