Amalgamated Friday #15

The Hadza

The most depressing news making the rounds this week concerns the Hadza, a tribe of modern hunter-gatherers in northern Tanzania. The Tanzanian government has made a deal with a royal family of the United Arab Emirates to use the traditional Hadza homelands as a personal safari playground; the Hadza were not consulted, apparently, and the Tanzanian government reportedly believes this situation will force the Hadza into the 21st century. Chris O'Brien at Northstate, who has spent time among the Hadza, has the most salient coverage. The original story on MSNBC has expired, but Kambiz Tim has saved some verbatim snippets.

• Hadzabe deserve much more than just a glance, Rose Mwalongo in IPP Media
• Tanzania Hadzabe Tribe Threatened, Kambiz Tim on Anthropology.net (with snippets from the MSNBC story)
• Help out the Hadza, Tim on remote central
• Hadza Tribal Lands Being Confiscated By Arab Royal Family, from Chris O'Brien on Northstate Science
• Hadza Support Letter, Chris O'Brien on Northstate Science
• Help out the Hadza!, Kambiz on Anthropology.net
• The Hadza Meet Modernity: Get Screwed by Tanzania, Afarensis
• Hadza diary, more from Chris O'Brien
• Outrage to Action, Abnormal Interests

Rome Rebuilt in a Day

A three-dimensional simulation of Rome circa 320 A.D excited a lot of people around the internet:

• Rome Reborn, the homepage, with video clips (be sure to visit the Colosseum)
• 'Rome Reborn' Model Pushes Frontiers of 3-D Simulation, Bruce Sterling on Wired
• Rome Rebuilt Digitally, a report from N.S. Gill, Ancient History at About.com
• GTA Rome: Buckle up and don't tell your parents, J Gordon on Science Buzz
• Ancient Rome Rebuilt Digitally, Scientific Blogging
• Rebuilding Rome and the 2008 World Monument Watch, Anthropology.net

Mr. Wizard

The fact that Don Herbert died this week hit a lot of us science nerds hard, likely because Mr. Wizard's television show (1951-1964) was the first introduction to science that many of us baby-boomer types had. Count me among the mourners.

• Don Herbert has died, Pharyngula
• Don Herbert, Television’s ‘Mr. Wizard’, Dies at 89, blivet 2.0
• No More Mr. Wizard, Anne Marie Helmenstine, About.com's Chemistry guide
• RIP Mr Wizard, David on Cronaca links to several news articles
• Mr Wizard (1917-2007), great photograph and some links Boing Boing
• Thank you, Mr. Wizard, Scientific American's Michael Battaglia

Neanderthal Brain

• Neanderthal brain less troubled, Tim on remote central
• The Neanderthal Brain: Fast or Slow Development, from Afarensis

Around About

• Dental Picks: What's the policy?, asks geologist Andrew Alden
• Types of Types: what is a type specimen?, from Andrew Alden, Geology at About.com
• Egyptian Excavations Online, Johns Hopkins archaeologist Betsy Bryan heads back to Egypt this year, from N.S. Gill, Ancient History at About.com
• Typhoid Mary, Jen Rosenberg, 20th Century History

Miscellany

Sorry about this--I hate miscellaneous categories, but what can you do when there are so many interesting and varied topics making the blogs?

• So, it's dog corn next., John Hawks deals with a news story about genetically designing dogs
• Karl Hauck 1916-2007, Aardvarchaeology
• A comment on what comes after post-processualism, Christopher Whitmore on Archaeolog
• Lessons from the SAA Ethics Bowl, from Krysta Ryzewsk on Archaeolog
• Angkor Wat not making the cut to "New 7 Wonders of the World", Southeast Asian Archaeology
• Two boooos for history channel, Anthony on Archaeoblog
• Insider: Profiteers on the High Seas, Heather Pringle on the big business of treasure hunting selling off the world's maritime heritage, on Archaeology magazine, online
• Pac Man Skull, designed by artist Le Gentil Garçon, and illustrated on Boing Boing
• The ancient script of Southeast Asia - Part 1, Noel by Nature on Southeast Asian Archaeology
• Choose the right biofuels, from Afarensis
• Scholarly authority in a world of scholarly abundance and OA, from Peter Suber on an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education

Video

• Video Archaeology, although there's no name supplied, and I don't know enough about Medieval archaeology to tell you what it is, this video shows a reconstructed structural history of some European medieval church. Be sure to click "full screen".
• Chavin de Huantar: A CyArk Case Study on TAC

Really Useful New Widgets

Scintilla, a new blog/news/scientific publication reader from Nature, which only includes blogs and news feeds deemed scientific, looks really useful (and if you're smart, you can stop reading AF and go straight to Scintilla right this moment and have somebody else provide the filters), via Peter Suber

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