By Susan Smith
Scotsman
06 July 2009

http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/en

THE oldest surviving Christian Bible can now been viewed online after a painstaking conservation project involving institutions in the UK, Germany, Egypt and Russia.

About half of the 1,600-year-old Codex Sinaiticus, meaning The Sinai Book, was analysed and treated before high-resolution digital images of the pages were created.

The fourth-century book is considered to be one of the most important texts in the world and this is the first time in centuries scholars have been able to view so much of it in one place.

Dr Scot McKendrick, head of Western manuscripts at the British Library, which is home to a large part of the original book, said the wide availability of the document presented many research opportunities.

"The Codex Sinaiticus is one of the world's greatest written treasures," said Dr McKendrick. "This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation."

He added: "The availability of the virtual manuscript for study by scholars around the world creates opportunities for collaborative research that would not have been possible just a few years ago."

The Codex Sinaiticus contains the oldest complete New Testament and one of the oldest Greek translations of the parts of the Old Testament.

Named after the Monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai, where the book was preserved for many centuries, the Codex Sinaiticus was moved on three occasions after it was discovered by the German biblical scholar Constantine Tischendorf in the mid-19th century.

The British Library has 347 leaves, after it purchased them from the Soviet government in 1933.

A further 43 leaves are held at the University Library in Leipzig, Germany, parts of six leaves are in the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg and a final 12 leaves and 40 fragments remain at the Monastery of St Catherine, where monks uncovered them in part of the northern wall in 1975. The book is considered to be too delicate to move from any of its locations, so work had to be carried out in all four places before the project could be completed.

Professor Timothy Lim, of Edinburgh University, an expert on biblical manuscripts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, said that because scholars previously had to visit four different libraries to study the text – handwritten by three different scribes – the new arrangement will significantly improve understanding of the New Testament.

"Gathering all the parts together will allow people to talk about it as a whole and learn more about it and improve speed of access," he said. "The actual pages are not that difficult to read so now if you are holding a lecture, you can display a page and examine it there and then."

To mark the online launch, the British Library is staging an exhibition which runs until 7 September.

BBC
5 July 09



Music entrepreneur Allen Klein, blamed by many for contributing to the demise of The Beatles, has died in New York at 77 after suffering from Alzheimer's.

In a career spanning five decades, Klein earned a reputation as a ruthless operator, extracting lucrative deals from labels for his clients.

In the mid-1960s, he managed The Rolling Stones for five years.

Later managing The Beatles, he tried and failed to secure control of copyrights on their behalf.

'Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I'm the biggest bastard in the valley.'
--Allen Klein, parodying the 23rd Psalm

Though reviled by many, others admired his ability to negotiate with record labels.

"Don't talk to me about ethics," he once told Playboy magazine. "Every man makes his own. It's like a war."

He said John Lennon had hired him to protect his interest in The Beatles, because he wanted what he called "a real shark - someone to keep the other sharks away".

Charity gig

Klein helped the Stones negotiate a new contract with their label but the relationship soured after he bought the rights to the band's 1960s songs and recordings - classics like (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack Flash - from a former manager.

Keith Richards later described Klein's time with the group as "the price of an education".

The Beatles hired Klein in 1969 over the objections of Paul McCartney, who preferred his father-in-law, Lee Eastman.

At the time, a New York Times profile referred to him as "the toughest wheeler-dealer in the pop jungle".

Klein himself once sent out a holiday card parodying the 23rd Psalm:

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I'm the biggest bastard in the valley."

His copyright battle for the Beatles came as tensions among the four reached breaking-point.

Eventually he did score a rich recording deal for The Beatles but by then John, Paul, George and Ringo were not even on speaking terms, and the band dissolved in 1970.

One year later, however, George Harrison hired Klein to put on the all-star Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden in New York - the forerunner of the mammoth charity gigs of the 1980s and 1990s.

Accountant at heart

"I never wanted to be a manager," Klein told The Star-Ledger of Newark in 2002. "It was going over the books that I loved. And I was good at it."

Allen Klein was born in Newark, New Jersey, on 18 December 1931 and spent several years in an orphanage after his mother's death during his infancy.

Later raised by a grandmother and an aunt, he served in the US Army before joining a Manhattan accounting firm, according to his company.

He started his own firm, which later became ABKCO, in the late 1950s.

His other clients in the music business including Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin and Herman's Hermits.

According to the Associated Press, he was reputed to be the basis for the slick manager Ron Decline played by Jon Belushi in the 1978 film The Rutles, as well as the inspiration for John Lennon's 1974 song Steel and Glass.

His funeral will take place in New York on Tuesday.

Tell me again why you are over in the desert getting shot, kidnapped, shot, beheaded, bombed and did I mention shot?

What do you think you will accomplish at the end of the day? C'mon, seriously.

I really want to know.

**What would you guys do if you didna have me to tell you about all these great old songs you never heard of?

by Billy Squier



Watch video

You see 'em comin' at you every night
Strung on pretension they fall for you at first sight
You know their business--you think it's a bore
They make you restless--it's nothin' you ain't seen before
Get around town, spend your time on the run
You never let down...say you do it for fun
Never miss a play, though you make quite a few
You give it all away when everybody wants you

You crave attention--you can never say "no"
Throw your affections anyway the wind blows
You always make it--you're on top of the scene
You sell the copy like the cover of a magazine

Puttin' on the eyes 'til there's nobody else
You never realize what you do to yourself
The things that they see make the daily reviews
You never get free when everybody wants you

Everybody knows you
Everybody snows you
Everybody needs you...leads you...bleeds you

Nights of confusion and impossible dreams
Days at the mirror, patchin' up around the seams
You got your glory--you paid for it all
You take your pension in loneliness and alcohol

Say goodbye to conventional ways
You can't escape the hours--you lose track of the days
The more you understand, seems the more like you do
You never get away...everybody wants you

Over the years the peace line has become higher, but in the last year murals have softened its appearance

By Arthur Strain and Peter Hamill
BBC
02 July 2009


Over the years the peace line has become higher, but in the last year murals have softened its appearance

The first one went up eight years after construction started on the Berlin Wall, but 20 years after that wall went down, Northern Ireland still has its so-called peace lines.

For people living in the shadow of a concrete wall topped with fencing the peace they bring can help cement divisions rather than heal communities.

Wall number one, which divides the Falls and Shankill roads at Cupar Street, went up in 1969 following rioting and house burnings in west Belfast. Over the years it has risen to more than six metres.

The last one went up last year in the grounds of a north Belfast integrated primary school following a period of local tension.

There are 53 Northern Ireland Office maintained peace lines in four towns and cities in the region - 42 in Belfast, five in Derry, five in Portadown and one in Lurgan.

However, community relations groups say these are not the only peace lines, with other structures and land being used to keep communities apart.

In a survey for the Community Relations Council the Institute for Conflict Research listed a total of 88 peace lines as well as 44 police CCTV cameras.

Some are listed as wasteland being used by housing authorities as buffer zones, others include derelict houses as well as walls and vegetation to the rear of homes in interface areas.

They still make some people feel safe, but others want more work on taking them down.

Tony Macauley used to live under the Shankill peace line and last year he produced a consultancy paper on a process to remove them.

He said that while they initially made him feel safe he quickly realised that they did not stop people crossing over to carry out killings.

He now lives in a seaside town and said that for younger people in interface areas the peace lines have become part of the fabric of their area, as accepted as the murals that adorn gable walls.

"I can remember when the peace walls went up, but there is an entire generation who have known nothing else," he said.

"People who grew up in some of those areas and are under 40 have no idea what it was like before them.

"But they used to be mixed areas, the communities used to live side by side."

The CRC lists some of the peace lines as fences around enclaves and swathes of scrub used as buffers in interface areas.

Others cannot be mapped, as Mr Macauley explained.

"It happens in urban areas, but also in rural ones, where people know they should avoid a certain route to get somewhere or there would be some park they would not go to," he said.

He said that until communities could agree to live without them the walls would have to stay, but his hope is that talking about removing them will eventually lead to them going.

It takes an outsider to be shocked by the sight of the a peace wall and what it is - a means to stop people living in a western democracy at the start of the 21st century attacking each other.

But even on the walls change can be seen. Murals and graffiti art expressing hopes for peace and a brighter future feature on the Belfast wall now.

Photographer Les McLean is a regular visitor to Belfast and has been capturing its people for years.

He said that the peace murals and messages that have been appearing on the walls have helped soften their harsh look, but there is no disguising what they are.

"I like what they are saying now - the message that's coming out of there," he said.

"I've been photographing them for the last two or three years and I have always felt I couldn't understand why they were called a peace line, I've always thought they were more about division," he said.

By Laura Isensee in Los Angeles
Independent.ie
Thursday July 02 2009

Actor Ryan O'Neal led friends and family in a private funeral service for actress Farrah Fawcett, who died last week aged 62 after a long and public battle with cancer.

O'Neal, the long-time companion of the 'Charlie's Angels' star, was one of the pall-bearers and gave a reading at the service at Los Angeles Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

Redmond O'Neal, the 'Love Story' actor's 24-year-old son with Fawcett, was allowed briefly out of jail where he is being held on drugs possession charges to attend the funeral service. Redmond also gave a bible reading, according to a programme made available to the media.

Fellow 'Charlie's Angels' star Kate Jackson, former model Cheryl Tiegs and rocker Rod Stewart's ex-wife Alana Stewart were also among the mourners. Fawcett's Los Angeles cancer doctor, Dr Lawrence Piro, delivered the eulogy with Stewart.

Fawcett's coffin was taken into the church as a quartet of musicians played 'Amazing Grace' and Irving Berlin's love song 'Always', according to the programme.

Outside, a few dozen fans watched as Fawcett's casket was taken inside, covered with sprays of bright yellow flowers that seemed to reflect the sunny smile and golden hair that made Fawcett a worldwide star 30 years ago.

Fawcett died in a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday with O'Neal and Stewart at her side after a long struggle to beat anal and then liver cancer. A personal video diary chronicling her cancer treatments was broadcast on US television in May.

Watching from the street, Karla Dishon (47) said she had come to pay tribute to Fawcett -- a star whose hairstyle she had copied as a teenager like millions of others around the world.

"All the girls did -- wavy, pretty, surfer, California girl hair," Dishon said. "She is an icon and she is a very beautiful woman, and I think it's too bad that we lost her so young."

_____

This poem was printed in Farrah's funeral programme:

At That Hour
--by James Joyce



At that hour when all things have repose,
O lonely watcher of the skies,
Do you hear the night wind and the sighs
Of harps playing unto Love to unclose
The pale gates of sunrise?

When all things repose, do you alone
Awake to hear the sweet harps play
To Love before him on his way,
And the night wind answering in antiphon
Till night is overgone?

Play on, invisible harps, unto Love,
Whose way in heaven is aglow
At that hour when soft lights come and go,
Soft sweet music in the air above
And in the earth below.


Image

Angelina Jolie is not far behind, although she is [perhaps] better looking and younger, but I digress.

How many kids do we have in this country here who have lived their whole fecking lives in shitty foster care, yet these two rich white, pampered-ass bitches have to travel with bloated retinue over to Africa to steal kids from other people in order to make a big fecking production out of how supposedly magnanimous and unprejudiced they are, how very 'One World' they are and how fecking maternal --AS IF they actually raised and cared for these children on a day to day, hour by hour basis and not just when they were on a shopping junket being filmed by 'Entertainment Tonight'.

This kind of child exploitation should be outlawed.



Madonna in a rare photo with her clothes ON




Aww...who gets the 20 kids when she and Brad split?

A 620-year-old skeleton discovered under the floor of Stirling Castle has shed new light on the violent life of a medieval knight.

By Auslan Cramb, Scottish Correspondent
Telegraph.co.uk
29 Jun 2009


Archaeologist David Murray with the skeleton at Stirling Castle (Photo: JAMES STEWART)


Archaeologists believe that bones found in an ancient chapel on the site are those of an English knight named Robert Morley who died in a tournament there in 1388.

Radio carbon dating has confirmed that the skeleton is from that period, and detailed analysis suggests that he was in his mid-20s, was heavily muscled and had suffered several serious wounds in earlier contests.

He appears to have survived for some time with a large arrowhead lodged in his chest, while the re-growth of bone around a dent in the front of his skull indicates that he had also recovered from a severe blow from an axe.

He eventually died when he was struck by a sword that sliced through his nose and jaw. His reconstructed skull also indicates that he was lying on the ground when the fatal blow was delivered.

The knight was laid to rest under the stone-flagged floor of a chapel near the castle's royal apartments and his skeleton was excavated along with 11 others in 1997.

However, it was only recently re-examined following advances in laser scanning techniques that not only revealed the nature of the three wounds, but also showed that the knight had lost teeth, probably from another blow or from falling from his horse.

Gordon Ewart, of Kirkdale Archaeology, which carried out the excavation for Historic Scotland, said: "This is a remarkable and important set of discoveries.

"At first we had thought the arrow wound had been fatal but it now seems he had survived it and may have had his chest bound up."

Mr Ewart said that Morley was by far the most likely candidate. His skeleton also shows the effects of riding on the ankles and muscle injuries caused by lifting heavy loads.

His sturdy upper body and upper right arm are consistent with wielding heavy swords, and his injuries suggest a hard life of hunting, jousting and foot tournaments.

Richard Strachan, Historic Scotland's senior archaeologist, added: "Radio carbon dating is not an exact science, but the date we came up with for this skeleton was 1390. That's only two years difference and quite possible.

"We have been able to look at this skeleton with the benefit of new technology and techniques we didn't have available in 1997. The key may be the teeth analysis. This will hopefully tell us exactly where this person was born and brought up.

"It's to do with oxygen isotopes and shows the water you drink as a child, which creates a sort of 'fingerprint' on the teeth and never changes. This analysis will also hopefully give us some dietary information

"We believe he was aged between 18 and 26 when he died. He was about 5ft 7in tall and was well built, but he clearly had a hard life. These were troubled times."

By MAGGIE GALEHOUSE LIFESTYLE WRITER
http://www.chron.com
June 28, 2009

When someone famous dies, Michael Baden’s phone starts ringing.

The 74-year-old forensic pathologist — who smiles merrily when asked about his “detective of death” nickname — got one of those calls last month, the day after David Carradine was found dead in a Bangkok hotel room.

The first autopsy said that the cause of death was asphyxiation; the Kung Fu and Kill Bill actor was found naked with a rope around his neck. But the Carradine family wanted a second autopsy when the body was flown back to Los Angeles. Baden agreed to do it.

In 1992, Dr. Michael Baden and others determined that skeletal remains found a year earlier in Siberia were those of Tsar Nicholas II, other members of the Romanov royal family and their servants.

“I was looking for any evidence of homicide or suicide,” says Baden, his large, smooth hands working a cell phone and a plate of quesadillas as he explains the focus of his autopsy. “We ruled out suicide and death by natural causes.”

But he hasn’t ruled out homicide or accidental death due to sexual experimentation.

“We’re waiting for video from the security cameras at the hotel and the electric key usage into the room,” Baden says. “We’re also waiting for the toxicology report.”

“We’re waiting for video from the security cameras at the hotel and the electric key usage into the room,” Baden says. “We’re also waiting for the toxicology report.”

This congenial man, whose cell phone rings the Pink Panther theme song, passed through Texas recently to promote Skeleton Justice, his second mystery novel co-written with his wife, attorney Linda Kenney Baden. The book tour is a relatively low-profile gig for Baden, chief forensic pathologist for the New York State Police and host of the Autopsy documentary specials on HBO.

As the post-mortem Michael Jackson drama demonstrates, the death of a well-known person can captivate the public — especially when questions linger. And Baden has investigated some of the highest-profile deaths of the past century. ( >>Read on )

Na'ima B.Robert
Times
June 26, 2009


Wearing my niqab is a choice freely made, for spiritual reasons

I put on my niqab, my face veil, each day before I leave the house, without a second thought. I drape it over my face, tie the ribbons at the back and adjust the opening over my eyes to make sure my peripheral vision is not affected.

Had I a full-length mirror next to the front door, I would be able to see what others see: a woman of average height and build, covered in several layers of fabric, a niqab, a jilbab, sometimes an abayah, sometimes all black, other times blue or brown. A Muslim woman in 'full veil'. A niqabi.

But is that truly how people see me? When I walk through the park with my little ones in tow, when I reverse my car into a parking space, when I browse the shelves in the frozen section, when I ask how to best cook asparagus at a market stall, what do people see? An oppressed woman? A nameless, voiceless individual? A criminal?

Well, if Mr Sarkozy and others like him have their way [see >>this Guardian article], I suppose I will be a criminal, won't I? Never mind that "it's a free country"; never mind that I made this choice from my own free will, as did the vast majority of covered women of my generation; never mind that I am, in every other respect, an upstanding citizen who works hard as a mother, author and magazine publisher, spends responsibly, recycles and tries to eat seasonally and buy local produce!

Yes, I cover my face, but I am still of this society. And, as crazy as it might sound, I am human, a human being with my own thoughts, feelings and opinions. I refuse to allow those who cannot know my reality to paint me as a cardboard cut-out, an oppressed, submissive, silenced relic of the Dark Ages. I am not a stereotype and, God willing, I never will be.

But where are those who will listen? At the end of the day, Muslim women have been saying for years that the hijab et al are not oppressive, that we cover as an act of faith, that this is a bonafide spiritual lifestyle choice. But the debate rages on, ironically, largely to the exclusion of the women who actually do cover their faces.

The focus on the niqab is, in my opinion, utterly misplaced. Don't the French have anything better to do than tell Muslim women how to dress? Don't our societies have bigger problems than a relative handful of women choosing to cover their faces out of religious conviction? The "burka issue" has become a red herring: there are issues that Muslim women face that are more pressing, more wide-reaching and, essentially, more relevant than whether or not they should be covering with a niqab, burqa or hijab.

At the end of the day, all a ban will do is force Muslim women who choose to cover to retreat even further - it is not going to result in a mass "liberation" of Muslim women from the veil. All women, covered or not, deserve the opportunity to dress as they see fit, to be educated, to work where they deem appropriate and run their lives in accordance with their principles, as long as these choices do not impinge on others' freedoms. And last time I looked, being able to see a woman's hair, legs or face were not rights granted alongside "liberté, egalité et fraternité".

As a Muslim woman living in the UK, I am so grateful for the fact that my society does not force me to choose between being a practising Muslim and an active member of society. I have been able to study, to work, to establish a writing career and run a magazine business, all while wearing a niqaab. I think that that is a credit to British society, no matter what the anti-multiculturalists may say, and I think the French could learn some very valuable lessons from the British approach.

So, three cheers for those women who make the choice to cover, in whatever way and still go out there every day. Go out to brave the scorn and ridicule of those who think they understand the burka better than those who actually wear it. Go out to face the humiliating headlines. Go out to face the taunts of schoolchildren. Go out to fight another day. Go out to do their bit for society and the common good. Because you never know, if Mr Sarkozy and his supporters have their way, there could come a day when these women think twice about going out there into a society that cannot bear the way they look. And, who knows, I could be one of them.

And, while some would disagree, I think that would be a sad day.

• Na'ima B. Robert is the founding editor of SISTERS, a magazine for Muslim women and author of 'From My Sisters' Lips ', a look at the lives of British Muslim women who cover.

From riderless horses disappearing through castle walls mischievous spirits apparently barging into visitors, English Heritage has compiled a new survey of "hauntings" and unexplained events recorded at its sites.

By Jasper Copping
Telegraph
27 Jun 2009


Battle Abbey, close to the site of the Battle of Hastings

The so-called “spectral stocktake” reveals a series of mysterious occurrences, many of which have prompted investigations by staff.

Some incidents are said to have led staff to resign. At one castle, employees have established protocols on how to deal with suspected sightings of ghosts or unexplained events.

One medieval palace is even said to be haunted by a former member of staff.

Many of the events involve staff and visitors seeing mysterious figures, while others involve complaints that people were pinched or pushed, when there was nobody standing near them. Some reports involve items being moved around sites.

At Castle Rising, a 12th century keep in Norfolk, which was once the exile place of Queen Isabella, widow – and alleged murderess – of Edward II, “paranormal investigators” were called in by staff to conduct tests following sightings by visitors, many of whom claimed to have seen figures dressed in monks’ clothes. ( >>Read on )