Arizona Petroglyph Sites Under Attack By Vandals
azcentral - Somewhere out there, there's a modern Western explorer who decided he had something so important to say that it had to be slathered in silver paint on a remote rock wall full of ancient petroglyphs in the national forest.
The mysterious etchings depicting people, animals and a blazing sun are in a box canyon known as Keyhole Sink in the Kaibab National Forest east of Williams, a mountain town off Interstate 40 that has welcomed sojourners since its namesake, fur trapper "Old Bill" Williams, explored the locale in the early to mid-1800s.
The pristine rock art in Keyhole Sink was a silent reminder of the ancient culture that long flourished in northern Arizona, and it stood unaltered for at least 1,000 years. That all changed in August, when someone painted "ACE" on top of the petroglyphs in sloppy, dripping letters. Under the defacement is an indistinguishable glop of paint that could be more lettering.
Kaibab officials aren't sure exactly what it says, nor what it means, other than a potentially expensive restoration job that might not work. Investigators are trying to find the culprits but have no suspects.
"It's beyond words," Kaibab archaeologist Neil Weintraub said of the damage. "It feels like an attack on this site. What has it done except give people pleasure for years?"
The damage at Keyhole Sink is a fresh reminder of the ongoing assault on ancient archaeological sites in Arizona and across the Southwest - graffiti, looting of artifacts, littering and garbage-dumping. Sites are defaced with paint, bullet marks, paintball stains and messages scratched into rocks. Professional thieves remove pottery, hack out chunks of ancient art-covered rock and dislodge anything they can carry away.
The sites are vulnerable because they're not behind locked doors. They are operated on the assumption that visitors will behave, since monitoring is intermittent at many of these locations. There aren't enough people, either paid or volunteer, to check them frequently. There are simply too many sites. Often, they're hard to reach.
"We can't monitor them all, and neither can the land managers," said Nicole Armstrong-Best, interim coordinator for Arizona's Site Stewards program. The program oversees a group of volunteers who monitor local, state and federal sites all over the state.
There are about 800 volunteer stewards who monitor the 3,000 most significant or most affected sites the program tracks. Armstrong-Best said there are thousands of other sites - both known and undiscovered - not being watched.
More than 130 vandalism reports have been filed by the stewards since October 2009, when a computerized reporting system was put in place. Reported incidents include petroglyph thefts, paint damage, graffiti and dumping of debris. In a few cases, even shrines and cairns have been built on the sites, along with other alterations.
Looters and vandals can be prosecuted under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979. But experts say the cases can be difficult to prosecute unless there are witnesses. Still, there have been enforcement actions in Arizona and neighboring states recently.
Perhaps the best known is a federal sting that targeted looters in the Four Corners area of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. More than 25 people were arrested in the case.
In other examples of prosecution, a Bullhead City man was hit with several citations after a paintball fight damaged petroglyphs in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and the federal Bureau of Land Management is investigating a case near Tucson in which people were spotted spray-painting a series of rock-art panels.
Archaeology buffs like Robert Schroeder of Phoenix wonder if it's a good idea to have the sites listed so publicly.
"I don't see any easy solution," said Schroeder, who photographs petroglyphs, including some that have been damaged. "You want Americans to have access to the country's cultural resources, but you want to keep sensitive sites off the radar, so to speak."
Mike Johnson, deputy preservation officer for the BLM's Arizona office in Phoenix, said urban growth in the West means more people looking to crowd into diminishing open space, putting more pressure on archaeological sites. At the same time, he said technology like GPS helps people find sites, and Internet marketplaces permit thieves to easily market what they've stolen.
Johnson said the BLM is working to increase steward visits and patrols by uniformed officers at sensitive sites, and to increased cooperation with Native American tribes, for whom these sites are sacred reminders of their ancestors.
Experts say that the impulse to restrict access is giving way to the idea that educating visitors about the value of the sites will make them more apt to notice and report criminal shenanigans.
"You give people who are professional looters more reason for concern, more eyes and ears out there," said Andy Laurenzi of Tucson's Center for Desert Archaeology.
Kaibab officials were proactive in trying to protect Keyhole Sink. Two forest roads leading to the small canyon were closed, and now the rights of way are carpeted with forest growth. Without easy access, garbage and litter almost disappeared.
To keep the site accessible, forest managers created a ¾-mile walking trail to Keyhole Sink. They figured that anyone willing to make the effort to get there on foot would value what they were seeing.
Kaibab officials erected signs warning against vandalism and explaining the significance of the site. Now, Weintraub said, the agency may have to consider installing cameras and motion detectors to protect the site, though that runs counter to his notion that the place is a touchstone to the past.
Until the paint is removed, he said, people who come there from around the world will be disappointed.
"We've lost the value of people being able to come there, see the stuff, sometimes sit there alone and imagine how it was for the ancient people who lived there," he said.
Margaret Hangan, Kaibab National Forest's heritage-program manager, said she was unsure if anyone would be caught for the vandalism. Kaibab officials are still trying to figure out the best way to remove the paint without leaving more damage. Officials hope publicity helps educate people and generates some tips on who did it.
"It hurts us emotionally, because this is just such a special place," Hangan said recently, standing near a pool at the base of a cliff where a waterfall cascades during the snowmelt season. "It's really hard to see that not everybody feels the same way we do about it."
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Michigan Mom Accused of Faking Son's Cancer
AP - An unemployed Detroit-area mother accused of drugging and shaving her healthy 12-year-old son so he appeared to have cancer, then accepting thousands of dollars in donations for his treatment, was arraigned Friday on charges of fraud and child abuse.
A Roseville district court judge ordered Carol Lynn Schnuphase, 47, of Warren, held on $100,000 bond.
"A mother, no less, goes so far as to shave the head every other week, shave the eyebrows, and maybe the worst thing of all, to crushing up drugs to put in his applesauce to make him appear lethargic," said Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith.
A hospital has tested the boy and declared him cancer-free, although he was going through opiate withdrawal, Smith said. Authorities haven't yet determined what drugs were in the boy's system and are awaiting hospital test results.
Court records indicate Schnuphase told her son he had leukemia.
Authorities say Schnuphase elicited donations from individuals, groups and members of at least one church who believed they were helping to pay for her son's medical care as he underwent chemotherapy.
Smith said she received $7,500 from a church fundraiser, in addition to other donations, and that her son was given gifts including an Xbox video game system.
"People, out of the goodness of their hearts, seeing what they think this poor child is going through have given cash, given an Xbox, given presents trying to lift his spirits," Smith said. "This poor child, thinking all along that he is dying of cancer. It never ends; the shock."
The charade appears to have started in December, and eventually Schnuphase's family members and relatives of her deceased husband reported her to police.
After authorities removed the boy from her home earlier this summer, Schnuphase told past donors her son had died and that she needed money for his funeral and burial, Smith said.
"We see greedy people all the time and people scamming for money all the time, but we never see it to this level," he added.
"It appears as though the money is for the same thing all of us spend our money on: car payments, food, housing," Smith said. "There appear to be no gambling debts or anything else. This appears to be just a mindless greedy action."
Schnuphase was arrested Thursday after visiting the boy, who is in foster care, defense lawyer Dominic Greco said.
"They grabbed her after they had made arrangements with her to turn herself in today," he said.
Wearing a powder blue hooded pullover jacket, Schnuphase stood before Judge Marco Santia quietly answering questions about where she lived.
Greco told the judge she was standing mute to the charges. A preliminary hearing was set for Oct. 13. Greco said he thinks that bond was set too high.
"She doesn't have any money. All the money in her account, she was saving up for bond," he said.
Schnuphase faces two counts of fraud over $1,000, which carry sentences of up to five years. She also is charged with one count of second-degree child abuse, a felony with a sentence of up to four years.
Roseville's Deputy Police Chief James Berlin said during the scheme Schnuphase was living in her suburban Detroit home, which was in foreclosure.
Angry relatives viewed the arraignment in the small courtroom and expressed disbelief and anger toward Schnuphase afterward.
"I have never heard of such a thing where a mother would do this. I don't know what caused it," said her aunt, Lorraine Kelsch.
Former sister-in-law Elizabeth Carmack called the actions "sick and disgusting."
"I hope that she rots in jail," Carmack told reporters.
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Chinese Blackouts For The Sake of Energy Efficiency
weirdasianews - Since 2009, China has surpassed the US as the world’s biggest consumer of energy and the main emitter of green house gasses, according to the International Energy Agency.
China’s current five-year plan, which had been focused on improving the energy efficiency of the economy by 20%, is quickly drawing to a close.
Initially, the outlook was hopeful as until last year, the country measured a 14.4% gain.
By measuring energy use via relative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the target percentage was established as the very least level China could contribute towards battling greenhouse emissions.
But this year, especially in the first three months of 2010, huge expenditures involving energy-intensive steel and cement infrastructure projects propelled the economy upward, but at the cost of having to burn more coal for yuan of productivity.
Over the summer, the two most industrially active provinces, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, began to irregularly cut the power supplies to factories. And they are not alone, as other regions have also adopted similar measures on local levels.
In Hebei Province, Anping County has adopted radical measures to achieve China’s intense effort to improve the environment and shift away from the waste of energy so long in effect. For 22 hours every three days, authorities cut electricity to homes, factories and public buildings.
The problem was that these indiscriminate cuts impacted industrial sectors and poor rural communities alike.
“We don’t have many electrical appliances in our home so it didn’t affect me that much. We just had to hang around because we couldn’t watch TV as usual,” said Mr. Liu, a farmer in the village of Liukou.
Media attention brought a public apology and return to normal energy use for residents.
A new, more scientific approach is definitely needed and is in the works.
“We will achieve this goal even if it means losing GDP growth,” promised prime minister, Wen Jiabao.
NOTE: seems to me that China is falling into the same syndrome that plagued the Japanese basically, producing low-cost exports to fund investment at home while pissing off trading partners. Japan's export boom funded remarkable growth for four decades...but it's undervalued currency eventually helped blow up one of the largest economic bubbles in history. I see China going the same route but at a much faster pace. Compound that with the energy costs and environmental problems, China has major economic and social issues in the near future...Lon
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BBC - The Philippine House of Representatives has approved a bill criminalising the improper singing of the country's national anthem.
If the Senate passes the bill into law, performers who deviate from the official version could face a fine of more than $2,000 (£1,264).
The new bill, which is very precise, says offenders could face up to two years in jail.
It also outlines penalties for improper use or displaying of the national flag.
When one of the Philippines' most famous pop stars Charice Pempengco sings her country's national anthem, her rendition is deemed acceptable by the National Historical Institute.
But not all versions are so favourably received.
Other performers have been criticised for singing the anthem too slowly or with the wrong beat, or adding their own personal touches.
This new bill is very precise: the anthem should be sung to a marching tempo, within the range of 100 to 120 beats per minute.
When it is played at public gatherings and in cinemas, all citizens should stand to attention and sing with fervour, as a sign of respect.
The bill also tightens up the rules on the use of the national flag - but it is the anthem that has the biggest impact.
This is a country where people love to sing. Now - if people want to sing their national song, they need to make sure they do it properly.
NOTE: did you ever get the same thoughts when performers butcher the Star-Spangled Banner with all the embellishments?
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ET Contact Gameplan
MSNBC Science Editor Alan Boyle writes the following: Experts have hammered out a simplified game plan to follow in the event that signals from an extraterrestrial civilization are ever detected.
The new guidelines for dealing with theoretical radio transmissions from E.T. were adopted unanimously by the International Academy of Astronautics' SETI Permanent Study group last week during a meeting in Prague, the Czech capital.
The timing is weirdly coincidental, in that the long-scheduled meeting came amid an international buzz over the United Nations' role in responding to a hypothetical E.T. call. Malaysian astronomer Mazlan Othman, head of the U.N. Office for Outer Space Affairs, said the world body was "a ready-made mechanism for such coordination," and quite a few news outlets suggested that Othman herself might be named the point person for dealing with extraterrestrial communications.
Othman eventually said she wasn't aiming to become an ambassador to the aliens. But the newly approved protocol does say the U.N. secretary-general would be among the first people officially notified if alien contact is confirmed. I'm stressing the word "officially" because the protocol also says scientists shouldn't try to hush up any detection of signals they think might be coming from E.T. Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon may well find out about alien detection from a Twitter tweet rather than an official phone call.
The earlier version of the protocols was a lot wordier, and called for notifying 10 separate organizations about "credible evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence." The revised protocols also make a point of saying that scientists should deal honestly with the news media in the event of a signal detection ... which of course I'm glad to hear.
Conspiracy theorists might say the one-world government "don't need no stinking protocols," to paraphrase a classic movie scene. And it's true that the protocols are not legally binding. But the SETI League found it comforting that the experts declared their commitment to openness in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
"The advent of the Internet has changed the way the world does collaborative science," H. Paul Shuch, the grassroots group's executive director emeritus, said in a statement released over the weekend. "The revised IAA SETI Protocols better reflect this reality and provide a workable means for honoring both scientific integrity and the public's right to know."
Here's the text of the revised protocols, which are posted on the SETI League website:
Preamble
The parties to this declaration are individuals and institutions participating in the scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
The purpose of this document is to declare our commitment to conduct this search in a scientifically valid and transparent manner and to establish uniform procedures for the announcement of a confirmed SETI detection.
This commitment is made in recognition of the profound scientific, social, ethical, legal, philosophical and other implications of a SETI detection. As this enterprise enjoys wide public interest, but engenders uncertainty about how information collected during the search will be handled, the signatories have voluntarily constructed this declaration. It, together with a current list of signatory parties, will be placed on file with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA).
Principles
1. Searching: SETI experiments will be conducted transparently, and its practitioners will be free to present reports on activities and results in public and professional fora. They will also be responsive to news organizations and other public communications media about their work.
2. Handling candidate evidence: In the event of a suspected detection of extraterrestrial intelligence, the discoverer will make all efforts to verify the detection, using the resources available to the discoverer and with the collaboration of other investigators, whether or not signatories to this Declaration. Such efforts will include, but not be limited to, observations at more than one facility and/or by more than one organization. There is no obligation to disclose verification efforts while they are underway, and there should be no premature disclosures pending verification. Inquiries from the media and news
organizations should be responded to promptly and honestly.
Information about candidate signals or other detections should be treated in the same way that any scientist would treat provisional laboratory results. The Rio Scale, or its equivalent, should be used as a guide to the import and significance of candidate discoveries for the benefit of non-specialist audiences.
3. Confirmed detections: If the verification process confirms – by the consensus of the other investigators involved and to a degree of certainty judged by the discoverers to be credible – that a signal or other evidence is due to extraterrestrial intelligence, the discoverer shall report this conclusion in a full and complete open manner to the public,
the scientific community, and the Secretary General of the United Nations. The confirmation report will include the basic data, the process and results of the verification efforts, any conclusions and intepretations, and any detected information content of the signal itself. A formal report will also be made to the International Astronomical Union
(IAU).
4. All data necessary for the confirmation of the detection should be made available to the international scientific community through publications, meetings, conferences, and other appropriate means.
5. The discovery should be monitored. Any data bearing on the evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should be recorded and stored permanently to the greatest extent feasible and practicable, in a form that will make it available to observers and to the scientific community for further analysis and interpretation.
6. If the evidence of detection is in the form of electromagnetic signals, observers should seek international agreement to protect the appropriate frequencies by exercising the extraordinary procedures established within the World Administrative Radio Council of the International Telecommunication Union.
7. Post Detection: A Post-Detection Task Group under the auspices of the IAA SETI Permanent Study Group has been established to assist in matters that may arise in the event of a confirmed signal, and to support the scientific and public analysis by offering guidance, interpretation, and discussion of the wider implications of the detection.
8. Response to signals: In the case of the confirmed detection of a signal, signatories to this declaration will not respond without first seeking guidance and consent of a broadly representative international body, such as the United Nations.
Unanimously adopted by the SETI Permanent Study Group of the International Academy of Astronautics, at its annual meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, on 30 September 2010.
These revised and streamlined Protocols are intended to replace the previous document adopted by the International Academy of Astronautics in 1989.
Will these protocols ever be put into practice? Most of the scientists involved in SETI say 50 years of searching isn't long enough to judge whether our efforts to detect alien signals are on the right track or not. It may be that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations don't care enough about us monkeys to make contact, just as we don't spend a lot of time letting ants know what we're up to. It may be that intelligence is a volatile thing, and that civilizations self-destruct before they're around long enough to send signals to other star systems. Or it may be that aliens are just boring themselves to death.
Over at Discovery News, Ray Villard explores the issue of cosmic boredom. This is one of the issues raised a couple of months ago in a paper posted to the arXiv physics website by Igor Bezsudnov and Andrey Snarskii. They built computer models that gave "bonus life" to civilizations that contacted each other — and not surprisingly, civilizations too distant or dissimilar to achieve contact were more prone to die away.
It's just a simulation, but Villard takes away a couple of lessons from this. One implication would be that the cross-cultural effects of contact could be good for both sides. That argues against "the idea that extraterrestrials would devote an enormous amount of resources to physically travel here only to snoop around, be mischievous, yet avoid direct contact," he says.
The other implication is that there may be a "use it or lose it" quality to the quest for contact. "Extraterrestrials may wither away due to a loss of interest in the universe around them, or the atrophy of technological capability," he says. "Their brains might turn to mush as they become totally preoccupied with their versions of Facebook, World of Warcraft and reality TV shows."
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The Heavy Stuff
Check out Rick Phillips' recent post - Do Paranormal Experiences Suggest A `Computer’ Reality?
Paranormal experiences run the gauntlet of categories - but nearly all of them are `paranormal’ because in one manner or another they don’t correspond with known laws of physics. And, IF the paranormal is not some self-projection of intentions, or, even if it is - does the fact that the experiences `defy physics as a explanation’ - offer us a possible clue as to what reality may ultimately BE.
In other words - impossible things exist (or seem to, to our perceptions) and we must look at the logical `explanations’ that might fit the `impossible’. Continue reading at Do Paranormal Experiences Suggest A `Computer’ Reality?
