All around the world Dragons are dying
Long time gone, in mists of yesterday, the world was a big place, a giant place, with no limits, where a man could sail for a lifetime, before falling off the edge, or venture to new worlds that only lived in his imaginings.
Some time gone, while we were dreaming, the world started shrinking, and people blinking, to find dragons gone, and old gods fleeing, into dusty memories.
God is dead, man killed him, and replaced him with McDonalds, and Burger King, with Mickey Mouse, and primetime wrestling, two men in tights became everything, and all was gray.
But long time gone it was different, there were other people, with other ways, the world was diverse, and vibrant, and a million different songs were heard, from a million different singers.
Te Whare O Ngāpuhi
Temuera Heke works in a McDonalds in Auckland, New Zealand, although it could be anywhere, you could scoop Temuera up, and transport him to Seattle, and place him in the McDonalds there, and there would be little change to the world.
There would be little cultural differences, no language differences, he's hear the same music on his radio, and watch the same TV shows on his TV set.
Mr Heke of Auckland could be Mr Appleseed of Seattle in the blinking of an eye, because Heke and Appleseed have become the same, they've lost their roots, their culture, and their diversity.
It wasn't always this way, Temuera has a proud tradition, as do his people, for they once were warrriors.
Long time gone, maybe twenty generations before Kupe, the great Polynesian navigator who discovered Aotearoa – New Zealand, with another two or three generations before the great migration to those shores, in a place called Hawaiki, a mother-to-be craved for a certain food; a commonplace enough event in itself.
What made it extraordinary was that she did not crave for some special kai moana or fruit. No, Kareroariki hungered for the taste of the human heart. As an Ariki, or chieftainess, she had the authority to demand her wish be granted and a highborn young maiden, of a similar rank, was sacrificed to satisfy this desire.
This was the beginning of the esoteric knowledge that was been passed down, in oral tradition, from one generation, to another, until it was lost on a griddle at McDonalds.
Three names emerged from the birth of the child of Kareroariki, --they are Puhikaiariki, Puhimoanariki and Puhitaniwharau – which collectively give rise to the plural, ngā, or many – Ngāpuhi.
All waka with Ngāpuhi whakapapa – that is to say genealogical lines – landed in Hokianga and spread out from there. So it is that the Ngapuhi claimed a tribal area whose boundaries were described in this Whakatauki or proverb:
"Te Whare O Ngāpuhi, Tamaki Makaurau ki Te Rerenga Wairua. Ko nga paatu ko Ngati Whatua, Te Rārawa, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Kahu, NgÄ
All around the world Dragons are dying
The Mandan
The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and its tributaries, the Heart and Knife rivers in present-day North and South Dakota.
The thing that set the Mandan apart was that were visibly of a different ethnic stock than the neighboring Amerinidian tribes of the region.
These differences were not just restricted to appearances, unlike the neighboring tribes in the Great Plains region, the Mandan practiced agriculture and established permanent villages.
These villages were composed of round lodges surrounding a central plaza.
In addition to farming, the Mandan gathered wild plants and berries and hunted buffalo.
Unlike other tribes in the region which led a nomadic existence following herds of buffalo, the Mandan developed ceremonies to bring the buffalo closer to their villages.
Because of these differences the Mandan received much attention from Euro-Americans, many of whom speculated that, because of their light skin color, and traditions, that they had European origins.
The first encounter with Europeans occurred with the visit of the French Canadian trader Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. It is estimated that at the time of his visit there were approximately 15,000 Mandan residing in the nine villages on the Heart River.
Horses were acquired by the Mandan in the mid-18th century and were used for transportation and hunting. The horses helped with the expansion of Mandan hunting territory. The encounter with the French in the 18th century created a trading link between the French and the Native Americans of the region with the Mandan serving as middlemen in the of trade in furs, horses, guns, crops and buffalo products.
By 1804 when Lewis and Clark visited the tribe, the number of Mandan had been greatly reduced by smallpox epidemics and warring bands of Assiniboins, Lakotas and Arikaras (with whom they would later join together to fight against the Lakota). The nine villages at this point had consolidated into two villages. The Lewis and Clark expedition met with such hospitality in the Upper Missouri River villages that the expedition stopped there for the winter. In honor of their hosts, the expedition dubbed the settlement they constructed Fort Mandan. It was here that Lewis and Clark first met Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman who had been captured by the Hidatsa. Sacagawea guided the expedition westward towards the Pacific Ocean. Upon their return to the Mandan villages, Lewis and Clark took the Mandan Chief Sheheke (Coyote or Big White) to Washington to meet with President Thomas Jefferson. Chief Sheheke was killed in a battle with Hidatsa Indians in 1812.
In 1833, artist George Catlin visited the Mandan near Fort Clark. Catlin painted and drew scenes of Mandan life as well as portraits of chiefs including Four Bears or Ma-to-toh-pe. His skill at rendering so impressed Four Bears that Catlin was the first man of European descent to be allowed to watch the Okipa ceremony. The winter months of 1833 and 1834 brought Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer to stay with the Mandan.
Beginning in 1837, a major smallpox outbreak reduced the number of Mandan still further, to approximately 125, and this decline continued, until in 1971 the last full-blood Mandan died.
The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and its tributaries, the Heart and Knife rivers in present-day North and South Dakota.
The thing that set the Mandan apart was that were visibly of a different ethnic stock than the neighboring Amerinidian tribes of the region.
These differences were not just restricted to appearances, unlike the neighboring tribes in the Great Plains region, the Mandan practiced agriculture and established permanent villages.
These villages were composed of round lodges surrounding a central plaza.
In addition to farming, the Mandan gathered wild plants and berries and hunted buffalo.
Unlike other tribes in the region which led a nomadic existence following herds of buffalo, the Mandan developed ceremonies to bring the buffalo closer to their villages.
Because of these differences the Mandan received much attention from Euro-Americans, many of whom speculated that, because of their light skin color, and traditions, that they had European origins.
The first encounter with Europeans occurred with the visit of the French Canadian trader Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. It is estimated that at the time of his visit there were approximately 15,000 Mandan residing in the nine villages on the Heart River.
Horses were acquired by the Mandan in the mid-18th century and were used for transportation and hunting. The horses helped with the expansion of Mandan hunting territory. The encounter with the French in the 18th century created a trading link between the French and the Native Americans of the region with the Mandan serving as middlemen in the of trade in furs, horses, guns, crops and buffalo products.
By 1804 when Lewis and Clark visited the tribe, the number of Mandan had been greatly reduced by smallpox epidemics and warring bands of Assiniboins, Lakotas and Arikaras (with whom they would later join together to fight against the Lakota). The nine villages at this point had consolidated into two villages. The Lewis and Clark expedition met with such hospitality in the Upper Missouri River villages that the expedition stopped there for the winter. In honor of their hosts, the expedition dubbed the settlement they constructed Fort Mandan. It was here that Lewis and Clark first met Sacagawea, a Shoshone woman who had been captured by the Hidatsa. Sacagawea guided the expedition westward towards the Pacific Ocean. Upon their return to the Mandan villages, Lewis and Clark took the Mandan Chief Sheheke (Coyote or Big White) to Washington to meet with President Thomas Jefferson. Chief Sheheke was killed in a battle with Hidatsa Indians in 1812.
In 1833, artist George Catlin visited the Mandan near Fort Clark. Catlin painted and drew scenes of Mandan life as well as portraits of chiefs including Four Bears or Ma-to-toh-pe. His skill at rendering so impressed Four Bears that Catlin was the first man of European descent to be allowed to watch the Okipa ceremony. The winter months of 1833 and 1834 brought Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer to stay with the Mandan.
Beginning in 1837, a major smallpox outbreak reduced the number of Mandan still further, to approximately 125, and this decline continued, until in 1971 the last full-blood Mandan died.
The Skræling
In the days of Leif Erikcson, when the Vikings sailed the North Atlantic, ruling the waves from Scandinavia, and Northern Europe, right across to North America, there were legends that abounded of a race of people known as the Skræling.
These same people appear in inuit legends, as the Tuniit (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut ("First Inhabitants"), who were driven away by the Inuit.
In 1824, HMS Griper, under Captain George Francis Lyon, anchored off Cape Pembroke on Coats Island in Hudson Bay. The whalers discovered a band of Eskimos who spoke a "strange dialect" and were called Sadlermiut. (Sallirmiut in modern Inuktitut spelling, from Salliq, the Inuktitut name for the settlement of Coral Harbour, Nunavut.)
The Sadlermiut, living in near isolation on and around Southampton Island, preserved a culture distinct from the Inuit. They continued to have contact with Westerners and contracted Western diseases. By 1896, there were only 70 of them remaining. In the fall of 1902, some of them visited the Active, a whaling vessel that had stopped at Southampton Island. They caught a disease from a sick sailor, possibly typhoid or typhus. The entire community died within weeks.
In 1954 and 1955, Henry B. Collins of the Smithsonian Institution studied Eskimo house ruins in the Canadian Arctic. He determined that these ruins were characteristic of Sadlermiut culture which had once been quite extensive. He also found evidence that the Sadlermiut were the last remnants of the Sivullirmiut culture.
Recent genetic research has, moreover, confirmed the genetic connection between the Sadlermiut and the Sivullirmiut culture.
Surprisingly, there appears to have been no genetic connection between the Sivullirmiut and the Inuit, which indicates the complete replacement and extinction of the former.
I could go on, well, I couldn't, as I have to go to the store, but long time gone, in mists of yesterday, the world was a big place, a giant place, with no limits, where a man could sail for a lifetime, before falling off the edge, or venture to new worlds that only lived in his imaginings.
Some time gone, while we were dreaming, the world started shrinking, and people blinking, to find dragons gone, and old gods fleeing, into dusty memories.
As we sit and proudly stare, at the world we've created, and that we're still creating, spare a thought for the last few Dragons, that are slowly dying, and remember back, to a time of diversity, long time gone.
In the days of Leif Erikcson, when the Vikings sailed the North Atlantic, ruling the waves from Scandinavia, and Northern Europe, right across to North America, there were legends that abounded of a race of people known as the Skræling.
These same people appear in inuit legends, as the Tuniit (singular Tuniq) or Sivullirmiut ("First Inhabitants"), who were driven away by the Inuit.
In 1824, HMS Griper, under Captain George Francis Lyon, anchored off Cape Pembroke on Coats Island in Hudson Bay. The whalers discovered a band of Eskimos who spoke a "strange dialect" and were called Sadlermiut. (Sallirmiut in modern Inuktitut spelling, from Salliq, the Inuktitut name for the settlement of Coral Harbour, Nunavut.)
The Sadlermiut, living in near isolation on and around Southampton Island, preserved a culture distinct from the Inuit. They continued to have contact with Westerners and contracted Western diseases. By 1896, there were only 70 of them remaining. In the fall of 1902, some of them visited the Active, a whaling vessel that had stopped at Southampton Island. They caught a disease from a sick sailor, possibly typhoid or typhus. The entire community died within weeks.
In 1954 and 1955, Henry B. Collins of the Smithsonian Institution studied Eskimo house ruins in the Canadian Arctic. He determined that these ruins were characteristic of Sadlermiut culture which had once been quite extensive. He also found evidence that the Sadlermiut were the last remnants of the Sivullirmiut culture.
Recent genetic research has, moreover, confirmed the genetic connection between the Sadlermiut and the Sivullirmiut culture.
Surprisingly, there appears to have been no genetic connection between the Sivullirmiut and the Inuit, which indicates the complete replacement and extinction of the former.
I could go on, well, I couldn't, as I have to go to the store, but long time gone, in mists of yesterday, the world was a big place, a giant place, with no limits, where a man could sail for a lifetime, before falling off the edge, or venture to new worlds that only lived in his imaginings.
Some time gone, while we were dreaming, the world started shrinking, and people blinking, to find dragons gone, and old gods fleeing, into dusty memories.
As we sit and proudly stare, at the world we've created, and that we're still creating, spare a thought for the last few Dragons, that are slowly dying, and remember back, to a time of diversity, long time gone.
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Lightning Rod
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stilltrucking
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man that was better than the history channel and it did not cost me a dime.
I wonder who is next?
I wonder who is next?
Existential Risks
Analyzing Human Extinction Scenarios and Related Hazards
Nick Bostrom, PhD
Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University
www.nickbostrom.com
[Published in the Journal of Evolution and Technology, Vol. 9, March 2002. First version: 2001]
3 Classification of existential risks
We shall use the following four categories to classify existential risks[6]:
Bangs – Earth-originating intelligent life goes extinct in relatively sudden disaster resulting from either an accident or a deliberate act of destruction.
Crunches – The potential of humankind to develop into posthumanity[7] is permanently thwarted although human life continues in some form.
Shrieks – Some form of posthumanity is attained but it is an extremely narrow band of what is possible and desirable.
Whimpers – A posthuman civilization arises but evolves in a direction that leads gradually but irrevocably to either the complete disappearance of the things we value or to a state where those things are realized to only a minuscule degree of what could have been achieved.
Armed with this taxonomy, we can begin to analyze the most likely scenarios in each category. The definitions will also be clarified as we proceed.
are they? 
I read to the kids some years ago a tale where a prince and a princess had to deal with the last dragon in earth ... the dragon was very funny and unusual, a kind of relaxed one!. 
I´ll read what follows to the title later and let you know X-Press, gracias for sharing your writings with us!!!!!! 
I read to the kids some years ago a tale where a prince and a princess had to deal with the last dragon in earth ... the dragon was very funny and unusual, a kind of relaxed one!. I´ll read what follows to the title later and let you know X-Press, gracias for sharing your writings with us!!!!!! 
I forget who now, but someone actually tried to prove they were Welsh.e_dog wrote:Mandan = white people like pale indians?
Souns rayciste to may.
I think a lot of people would have liked them to be "white people" for political reasons.
Were they?
I honestly don't know, but tracing their "creation myth", if it's to be believed, they "landed" in Canada, trekked down river to the Great Lakes, and then followed rivers across country, to their final home, so it's conceivable they came from somewhere else, where ever that may be, and they were noticiably different from neighboring tribes, now whever that difference is because they trekked west, or whether it's because they came from some other place entirely, I guess we'll never know, without DNA samples, and as the last full blooded tribal member is long dead, that's never going to happen.
So were they white, or some other 'race'?
To me that's not so important, what interests me is that, like the Skræling, or the Nga-Puhi, they were a distinct people, with a distinct culture, and that people, and that culture, is no more.
Like dragons they fade into folklore, myth, and legend, except without scales, and wings, and the ability to breathe fire they fade a little further, until maybe they're forgotten.
I think the ultimate end, of globilization, and multiculturalism (in it's dictatorial version) will be the extinction of diversity, and the creation of a monocultural gray glob, that acts as factory fodder, for a facist elite, bred to pamper the wealthy, and to survive on a diet of 'Solyent green'.
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hester_prynne
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I returned to the thread with a little more time this time, Xpress.
Today their family is McDonalds., that´s really sad...
about the stories/History... I know very little about the ancient settlers in north america, gracias!!!!!!
I´m interested about it, keep sharing with us!
I think the ultimate end, of globilization, and multiculturalism (in it's dictatorial version) will be the extinction of diversity, and the creation of a monocultural gray glob, that acts as factory fodder, for a facist elite, bred to pamper the wealthy, and to survive on a diet of 'Solyent green'.
yeah, it´s possible (in a dictatorial capitalist version). The mestizaje concept/possibilities maybe are more interesting ones at this moment of the facts...
Today their family is McDonalds., that´s really sad...
about the stories/History... I know very little about the ancient settlers in north america, gracias!!!!!!
I´m interested about it, keep sharing with us!I think the ultimate end, of globilization, and multiculturalism (in it's dictatorial version) will be the extinction of diversity, and the creation of a monocultural gray glob, that acts as factory fodder, for a facist elite, bred to pamper the wealthy, and to survive on a diet of 'Solyent green'.
yeah, it´s possible (in a dictatorial capitalist version). The mestizaje concept/possibilities maybe are more interesting ones at this moment of the facts...
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