Daily Archives: October 21, 2021

Might we never really pass on into nothingness? Has the world ended many times before? Are we in fact doomed to spend eternity unknowingly jumping from one dimension to the next? According to one TikTok theory, the answer is yes. And it's blowing millions of minds worldwide.

Joli Moli (@joli.artist) is quite used to spooking and perplexing viewers with conspiracy theories and alternative hot takes. In her video titled "Apocalypse...again," Joli introduced the concept of Hugh Everett's quantum immortality.

Fans of the Marvel "multiverse," are quite familiar with this concept, where instead of experiencing death, "your consciousness just gets transferred to a parallel universe where you survived," the TikTokker explained.

Joli admits that this might burst the bubbles of those seeking the "sweet relief" of a widespread apocalypse. "If the quantum immortality theory is correct," she deduced, "you're just going to wake up in a parallel universe with no memory of the fact that you just survived an apocalyptic event."

According to Joli, the only sort of clue or hint you'd get that you might have woken up in a parallel world would be "new Mandela effects." You know, the strange phenomenon where all of a sudden there are two completely opposing memories of historical events? Yeah, quantum theory says that if you remember Curious George having a tail, you probably died in another universe.

Driving her point home, Joli added: "What I'm basically implying here is that in our reality, apocalypses happen every day after the inevitable apocalypse occurs, you're going to wake up the next day in a new reality, and the next thing you know, you're going to find yourself on Reddit talking about 'since when did Pizza Hut have two Ts?!' Arguing with people who are native of this new reality, talking about 'it's always had two Ts'."

I for one would never want to live in a Pizza Hutt universe. Blech.

Still not sold on the theory? Joli has further arguments: "You don't believe me? Okay, it's been about 65 million years since the asteroids allegedly took out the dinosaurs. ... So you mean to tell me that in the last 65 million years, no other asteroids have come through the neighborhood, taken us out? You think we're just that lucky, huh? No other super volcanic events in 65 million years? We're just out there in space just dodging asteroids by luck, right? Earth doesn't have a steering wheel."

Hmmm. That's a good point.

Joli concluded with the upbeat sentiment that "Earth is probably always being taken out, and our consciousness just keeps getting transferred to another parallel universe, and another one, and another one. For all you know, the apocalypse maybe already happened last night"

So far, in this reality anyway, the video has 4.9 million views. Andas to be expectedthe video left many feeling uneasy.

One user commented, "Ok, I'm actually kind of freaking out right now coz I'm not the conspiracy typa guy, but you're like eerily making sense."

A few resorted to sarcasm as a defense mechanism (understandably), like this Twitterer: "Thanks I was overdue for another existential crisis."

The discourse got so intense, people were reporting physical side effects from the stress. One person wrote: "The thought of never being able to actually die is extremely depressing, and it's giving me a headache."

Another added, "Bruh, I'm just done with this anxiety. My body [is] emotionally [and] physically TIREDDD."

One commenter, who clearly had their priorities straight, wrote: "You're over here talking about extinction level events and I'm having to check on the two Ts in Pizza Hut."

It wasn't all gloom and doom though. According to indy100, some saw the potential of eternal life as a comfort against the loss of loved ones, while others finally got to make sense of their "world-ending" dreams.

If you have watched the original TikTok and are filled with burning questions, Joli posted a follow up Q&A video. A small disclaimer: You might be left with even more questions.

Though we may never really know what awaits us on the other side, it is interesting to think that we might live in a multiverse with infinite second chances. And whether or not this theory floats your metaphysical boat, it's fun to contemplate on one of life's biggest mysteries.

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Do we ever really die? One woman's immortality theory is blowing people's minds - Upworthy

As the film's title suggests, writer/director Agata Alexanders Warning is an admonishment against the potential evils of too much technology. Like Black Mirror, its subtle sci-fi, told in an anthological manner, which paints a terrifyingly real portrait of the future evils of space communications, AI, VR, androids, mind control, and, in the vignette starring actor Alex Pettyfer (Magic Mike), immortality.

**SPOILER WARNING: Its very hard to talk about Warning without spoiling a few things, so if you want to go into the film fresh, proceed with caution as there are some minor spoilers below.**

Pettyfer plays Liam, who forebodingly brings his serious girlfriend, Nina (Annabelle Wallis), to meet his parents (Annabel Mullion and Alexs real-life dad, Richard Pettyfer) for the first time at their sleek and secluded mansion kept in ship shape by a very efficient staff of androids. It doesnt take long for things to get uncomfortable though, as their Romeo and Juliet storyline tensely plays out, though in this scenario, instead of Montagues and Capulets its mortals and immortals. Yep, Nina is a mortal, and you can just guess what Liams immortal mum thinks of that.

Like all the vignettes in the film which also stars Alice Eve, Thomas Jane, Kylie Bunbury, Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Rupert Everett the scenario is not just dramatic, but also emblematic of the double-edged sword that technology can wield. On the one hand, immortality sounds like a great way to beat death and enjoy life to the fullest; on the other hand, immortality sounds like an awfully long time, and probably wreaks havoc on any relationships you might want to have with a mortal.

With Warning opening in theaters and On Demand this weekend, SYFY WIRE caught up with Pettyfer to discuss the cautionary tale, working with his dad for the first time, and the intricacies of immortality, including whether or not immortals get wrinkles.

Why is the film properly titled as far as your vignette goes?

I think were in a place where we have to be mindful of technology, and how we proceed forward as a human race. I think that technology helps us, and is hugely beneficial towards healthcare, bringing unity to certain groups that have very powerful messages, but I think we are on the precipice of something that can become dangerous, like anything that is overindulgent. And in this movie, that explores that. And it is a warning, and its thought provoking in a way, because we are very close to that.

Is there anything to look forward to in the future?

Yeah, today. Now. If youre trying to look forward to the future then you are not living in the present. And if theres one thing this last 18 months or two years of Covid times have taught me is to enjoy today, and enjoy now.

What did working on this film teach you?

That Agata is an incredible visionary, an incredible director. It was amazing to watch her work, as someone whos obviously continuously aspiring to direct, and Ive only directed one film in the past, but being on her set and the way that she holds the narrative that shes created. Working with the producer Cybill [Lui Eppich] who I actually have another project now with, and the way shes commanding a set, being intricate with the details, because obviously the movie has many different storylines that are interwoven. And then from the personal matter: I got to work with my father I got to work with my dad. And that was a huge honor, a big honor, very emotional for me; Ive never worked with my dad, and my dad plays my dad. I was very grateful that Cybill and the producers on the film allowed me to have that experience.

How did that come together?

I asked. I asked if my dad could play my father, and they agreed. So I was very lucky.

Im sure you learned a lot about acting from your father previously, but what did you learn actually having acted across from him?

You know my father was in the musical theater background, and I cant sing to save my life. My father is a good singer and a good musician. And we come from completely two different spectrums of entertainment. I commend anyone who goes on stage, because I think thats the purest form of acting. At this point in time, I dont think I would ever have the courage to do that, maybe later on in my life. But I feel very blessed when I get to make a movie, its very hard to put a film together, and to be on a film set is where I feel most comfortable. And so it was actually interesting to see the dynamic of my dad and myself in the way that we approach the work.

I love being on film, and I love watching how different actors approach coming to the work. I just did a movie with Guy Pearce, and ... I was like a pig in s**t. Sitting there, watching this guy that was iconic to me, his process and the way that he works, its like taking a Master Class 2.0 to be in front of these guys. So yeah, it was a huge honor, and I feel very grateful. Actually, funny enough, Im producing a movie that Im in that we start in two weeks, a biography on John Bindons life, The Chelsea Cowboy, and my fathers gonna play my dad again.

Well, he seems like the guy for the job.

Hes the guy for the job, sure. [Laughs.]

So was it hard to bring family tension to the dinner table?

Yeah, you know whats funny, when you are making a film, whether its a romantic comedy, a horror, or action film, the dynamic on set is you have to become very close to the people that youre working with very quickly, you experience a lot of different emotions, a lot of different connections. So it was nice because Id known Annabelle Wallis for a very long time, she was an old friend of mine, and to get to work with her finally was also fantastic. She is beyond talented. And then having my father be there the environment was very familiar, which made it very easy to go to work every day.

Were you aware of the other vignettes or were you only aware of what was going on in your part of the world?

I read the script, because obviously you want to know what film you are signing onto. But then after reading the script once, I just focused on my segment. But then I watched the film a month or two ago, and Im a fan. Its great when youre only in this much of the movie and that you get the opportunity to actually enjoy the film as a whole and not nervously watching what your performance has turned out like.

Is there any benefit to immortality?

Life is about impermanence, we are ever changing. And immortality is only an egotistical view of holding onto the rigidness of something. So no, I dont think there is any benefit; I think we are constantly evolving, and the circle of life is something thats beautiful.

Do immortals get wrinkles?

Probably. I was immortal and I could see a few wrinkles on the movie from me.

Its a cool and subtle take on androids, but its not one weve seen before.

Its very obscure in the way that Agata has created it, because youre kind of in this dystopian world, but youre not, and then theres like a relative reality. Its super intricate, so that [for] people who love science fiction and are fans of that genre, there are very subtle things that are put in the film, and the aesthetic that she creates. Personally, as I said, Im a fan. Its really well done.

Warning drops in select theaters, On Digital and On Demand Oct. 22.

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Warnings Alex Pettyfer on why immortality would be way overrated - SYFY WIRE

Back in 2018 he first had a germ of an idea to create an immersive experience with this rattling storyline. The thriller is told online through podcasts but there are clues peppered through this six-part audio feast which leads to online escape rooms, websites, easter eggs, puzzles and even interaction with the characters; the latter is provided through the medium of AI bots.

There is also a Discord channel where hardcore fans interact, even after they have finished the experience. Typically, most people take about two to three hours per episode, but some have completed them in as little as twenty minutes.

People are playing it both ways. We thought originally it might be an individual experience but as we released the different podcasts, we found it has become more like a virtual board game.

The storyline is gritty, set in the near future, full of familiar faces, but also futuristic predictions (hello madam President!), laced with swearing, gruesome murders and modern tech. A tech billionaire, Karl-Axel Mattiasson, is hunted for murder and fraud. His company, The Forever Social, is a vast social media engine holding millions of peoples digital lives, is destroyed and the world goes into mourning. Mattiasson goes into hiding to try and find out who has set him up. This story world is populated with assassins, thugs, and twists and turns.

Season one takes place over six episodes, season two is underway with four scripts already written.

Testimony to the real-life feeling of the game is that a journalist in News Corp in Australia wrote a serious feature story on The Forever Social using quotes from the fictional Karl-Axel Mattiasson. While it was an egg-on-face moment for the journalist, in fairness it also points to how carefully crafted all the elements of the game are presented. The attention to detail is legendary.

Since the story has taken so long to come into being, it has also bumped up against NFT technology.

We were looking at the heart of the story, the Forever engine where all these deceased people lived on in a digital format and we wondered how we can create evidence for these people.

They considered creating a memorial site for the thousands of non-existent dead people but that didnt fly.

We stumbled across the Polkadot community and suddenly it made sense. Karl Axel is a tech guy and of course, he would be into blockchain and NFTs. What if The Forever Social was experimenting with the blockchain and he as his character was using NFTs to create his digital entities?

Lycos engaged a firm that uses generative adversarial technology to create unique human faces otherwise termed people who dont exist. A total of 10,000 former digital immortals were created with backstories, names, occupations, etc. However, what is not revealed initially is their individual uniqueness.

Its only when the profile is bought that the uniqueness is released. We have introduced them into the game and when all 10,000 are claimed then Karl-Axel can access more information to help him solve the mystery from the profile number 10,000.

Given the involved nature of the community, Lycos believes that post-game these NFTs will have value and will be traded on the secondary marketplace.

Its been a long four years and there have been times with Lycos could have thrown in the towel.

Everything takes longer because it is new and this is the first time anyone has attempted anything like this. Im very grateful for the first 100 people who signed up and the subsequent involved and committed community.

Lycos is working with Unique.Network and Alex Mitrovich to create the NFTs.

Its been an amazing partnership Alex and his team have won many awards and for good reasons. They have been instrumental in helping us craft our blockchain ideas.

Its a labor of love and not without its hiccups. It has also sunk Lycoss time and money without any financial return to date. He hopes Forever Season Two and the introduction of the 10,000 people who do not exist will turn his ship around. Its his passion and he cant stop regardless.

To find out more about Forever Has Fallen, see here.

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Forever Has Fallen: Murder, mystery and digital immortality the game of games - CryptoSlate

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to The Kings Daughter, a family adventure film starring Pierce Brosnan, William Hurt, Kaya Scodelario, Benjamin Walker, Rachel Griffiths, Pablo Schreiber, and Bingbing Fan, which is narrated by Oscar winner Julie Andrews, setting it for a theatrically exclusive release at upwards of 1000 locations across the U.S. and Canada on January 21, 2022.

Sean McNamaras film, shot at the Palace of Versailles, is based on Vonda N. McIntyres 1997 novel The Moon and the Sun. It centers on King Louis XIV (Brosnan), whose quest for immortality leads him to capture a mermaids (Fan) life force, seeing his immovable will challenged when his long-hidden illegitimate daughter (Scodelario) forms a bond with the magical creature.

Barry Berman and James Schamus handled the screenplay adaptation. Veteran family film producers McNamara andDavid Brookwell produced for Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, alongside an international group of producers from Australia to America to France.

Gravitas is proud to bring the magical world of The Kings Daughter to theaters and homes across North America,said Gravitas Ventures Founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher. This is an impressively created film and moving story that families can enjoy together.

Im so excited for the North American audience to see The Kings Daughter in theaters this January, added McNamara. There is only one Julie Andrews and she has blessed audiences around the globe with her lovely voice and amazing story telling. Please join her as she narrates our story of the mythical mermaid who lives in the fountains of Versailles.

Added the director-producer: Romance, adventure, and true love really do exist with Kaya Scodelario (Marie Joseph) and Benjamin Walker (Yves). In fact, after making this movie they fell in love in real life and started a wonderful family. The incomparable Pierce Brosnan as King Louis XIV radiates a vision of immortality that will enchant us all. Get ready to fall in love with the most beautiful mermaid in the world played by the truly talented Fan Bingbing. Enjoy the ride!

The Kings Daughter is the first of eight films Gravitas is planning to bring to more than 1,000 screenings, with significant P&A support, in the coming years.

Recent releases from the distribution company, founded in 2006, include Michael Lembecks Queen Bees; Gabriela Cowperthwaites Our Friend, starring Casey Affleck, Dakota Johnson, and Jason Segel; Vanguard, directed by Stanley Tong and starring Jackie Chan; and Andy Tennants The Secret: Dare to Dream, starring Katie Holmes.

Gallagher negotiated the Kings Daughteracquisitiondeal with Ramy Choi.

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The Kings Daughter: Gravitas Ventures Nabs Rights To Fantasy Film Starring Pierce Brosnan & More, With Narration By Julie Andrews - Deadline

Many years ago, while lying in a fluish state of fever and delirium, I asked myself if I was so ill I might die. A voice inside me matter-of-factly answered, No.

Who said that? I asked the voice.

Your soul, it replied.

Wow, I said. Hi.

Hi, my soul said back to me.

Now its 2021 and I am reading in the paper about Jalue Dorje, a Tibetan-American Minnesota teenager who was identified at the age of 2 as a reincarnated Tibetan Buddhist monk. Specifically, he is the eighth Terchen Taksham Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama whose line goes back to the 17th century.

No one has ever knocked on my door and told me Im the newest version of a person who has lived many times before. Im not expecting that to happen, but if it did, I hope I get to inherit his or her record collection. In that last sentence, I didnt know which pronoun to use. For Tibetan monks, the reincarnated appear to always come back Tibetan and male. Id hope my soul would want to expand its horizons and come back with a different background. Though I love Maine, I wonder what it would be like to grow up as a girl in a landlocked state like Vermont. Though Im certain I have an immortal soul, Im not so sure I believe in reincarnation. But what does that matter? It is satisfying to know there is something infinite, not finite, about me, and if I dont know what happens to my soul after I die, Im literally, albeit slowly, dying to find out.

I doubt my own ego and personality will carry on. Reincarnated monks do not necessarily have the same personal qualities as those that have come before. And I do think Id like to take a break from myself. I like who I am, but to be this me forever popping up onto the landscape means Ill always prefer not adding ketchup to my scrambled eggs. For one lifetime, Id like to disgust those around me by squirting a big gob of ketchup onto my scrambled eggs and swirling the gloppy yellow and red contents all around the plate.

To my surprise, I know some people do not believe they have a soul and think we all end up as worm meat. All five major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism, do not agree with such pessimistic thinking. Socrates, too, logically concluded our own immortality and swallowed poison to prove his point. Im not willing to die to prove my point. Thats too dramatic.

What I will say is that believing in my immortal soul, my old friend, is as easy for me as believing in the Divine, which I glimpse when I look into the depths of that pink paper plate dahlia now blooming in my garden. What but a wonderfully creative Divine Soul could have created that dahlia? And what else but a wonderfully creative Divine Soul could have created me, eight versions of Terchen Taksham Rinpoche and you?

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Gregory Greenleaf, Harpswell: Getting to know the voice inside - Press Herald

Horror as a genre is always a response to the real life culture and social happenings of a particular time and place. Slasher movies in the 80s reflected the conservative surge in the US at the time. The giallo in Italy made the most of a post-fascist loosening of censorship. And horror made in Spain during the regime of Franco had to specifically depict other countries as the source of fear and derision. Cultural context for horror is maybe the most fascinating part of studying those trends, and perhaps none is as fascinating as the Coffin Joe Trilogy, a trio of Brazilian horror movies using the countrys staunch Catholicism to its advantage.

Coffin Joe (Jose Mojica Marins) points at the camera in the 1964 Brazilian horror movie At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul.

N.T.M

Coffin Joe, an English translation of his Portuguese name Z do Caixo, is the creation and persona of Brazilian writer, director, and actor Jos Mojica Marins. The character is an undertaker who terrorizes communities with his penchant for violence and belief that his own bloodline is perfect and must be continued through impregnating the perfect woman to bear him a son. Coffin Joe wears a black suit, cape, and top hat, and has a thick beard and grotesquely long fingernails.

Though he only appeared in three official movies, Marins appeared as Coffin Joe in several other movies, three television series, various music videos, and even had his own comic book series. Hes generally considered Brazils National Boogeyman, which is quite the feat. But what makes Coffin Joe so interesting is not his look, but his attitude. In a country as religious as Brazil, its his Nietzschean and atheist beliefs that make him so terrifying, and its always through Catholicism that he is defeated.

The first appearance of Z do Caixo came in Marins 1964 movie At Midnight Ill Take Your Soul, the very first horror movie produced in Brazil. The townsfolk hate Coffin Joe for his atheism and violent ways, but they fear him for his strange physical prowess and allure. The movie begins with Joe delivering a monologue directly to camera:

Story continues

What is life? It is the beginning of death.What is death? It is the end of life.What is existence? It is the continuity of blood.What is blood? It is the reason to exist.

This immediately stands in stark contrast to one of the major tenets of Catholic Christianity. Death is not, for Catholics, the end of life. Belief in God is life everlasting. The blood, in Coffin Joes worldview, and specifically perpetuating his superior blood is the key to immortality.

Throughout the movie, he beats, maims, and kills various people and takes women into his grasp as possible vessels for his superior blood. The proper authorities continually attempt to punish him through the laws of man, but he evades prosecution. Eventually, he does meet his end not by angry villagers, but by the apparitions of his victims returning to banish him to Hell.

Coffin Joe stands atop a wall and shouts down to the townsfolk in This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Paranagu Cinematogrfica

Many horror monsters, specifically vampires, use demonic or Satanic imagery, and crosses and holy waterinstruments of Catholic Godare the tools for their destruction. But Coffin Joe is specifically not a disciple of the devil. In the 1967 sequel This Night Ill Possess Your Corpse, Marins presents Joe as an enemy of both God and Satan, equally. Hes an atheist, he doesnt believe in any of that. Catholics believe in the devil and Hell; they are the punishment for wickedness. But Coffin Joe thinks its all ridiculous and simple-minded.

We find out at the beginning of the movie that Coffin Joe did, in fact, not die at the end of the first film. After a lengthy stay in a hospital, he goes back to his wicked ways, even more determined to find the perfect woman to bear him a son. He kidnaps several women and subjects them to horrible torture, looking for the one who will show no fear. Apparently fear is not superior. He feeds the ones who scream to venomous snakes.

A woman screams as tarantulas crawl on her face in the Brazilian horror movie This Night I'll Possess Your Corpse.

Paranagu Cinematogrfica

Eventually, Joe finds a woman, Laura, who shares his belief in continuity of blood and begins an affair with her. He, naturally, kills all of her family who stand in their way. Laura becomes pregnant, but a complication means only one, she or the baby, will live. They both agree that the child should live, but the surgery fails and both Laura and the son die.

Whats particularly fascinating about This Night Ill Possess Your Corpse and its relationship with religion comes about halfway through the movie. Joe learns that one of the women he fed to snakes was pregnant, and he feels guilty. Even a sadist like Coffin Joe knows children are the key to continuity of blood. That night, he has a vivid nightmarein color!of his trip to Hell, where he sees the torture that awaits him. At the end of the movie, after a townsperson shoots him, a priest comes to him and begs him to repent and accept Jesus into his heart, which he does just as he dies.

Even more so than the first movie, the second movie is all about the need for Catholicism and belief. God and the Devil essentially team up to thwart Coffin Joe at the end of the movie. Coffin Joe therefore becomes both the monster and the victim in this instance. Hes a horrible murderer, but even he cowers at the might and majesty of Christian deism.

After a 40-year hiatus, Marins wrote, directed, and starred in the final official Coffin Joe movie, 2008s Embodiment of Evil. It finds Coffin Joe, who again didnt actually die, released from a maximum security asylum through legal kerfuffling. Forty years away from society means Sao Paolo has changed dramatically. More people are atheists, living hedonistic lives. Coffin Joe still wants to find a perfect woman to bear him a son, but now he has many acolytes willing to help him, and many women who want to be his chosen bearer.

Embodiment of Evil is not nearly as good or interesting as the earlier films, in my opinion. Given that its 2008, the Gothic atmosphere of the 60s films are largely gone and we instead have over-the-top gore, copious nudity, and a general heavy metal vibe. Even still, however, Marins reflects the changing attitude of the time. Not only are the ones who oppose him now all the older generations and a militant young priest, but theyre all direct victims of his past crimes. No more is the mere sin of his beliefs enough to damn him. If anything, the perceived piety of those against him is the crime.

Jose Mojica Marins as Coffin Joe, with his trademark top hat and long, curly fingernails, in the 2008 movie Embodiment of Evil.

20th Century Studios

Its also the only one of the three movies where Coffin Joe succeeds. Yes, he dies (he always dies), but his efforts to continue his bloodline come to fruition. The movie ends with eight of his potentials showing up to his grave, each pregnant. The implication is not that God will smite the wicked, its that the wicked will inherit the Earth.

Jos Mojica Marins passed away in February 2020, at the age of 83. He left behind a truly wild persona and a legacy of horror spanning nearly 60 years. The Coffin Joe Trilogy doesnt represent the most strictly terrifying, nor the best made horror movies ever, but their point of view and iconography are so strong and singular that they deserve a place in horror history.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post The Horror and Catholicism of the Coffin Joe Trilogy appeared first on Nerdist.

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The Horror and Catholicism of the Coffin Joe Trilogy - Yahoo Lifestyle

THE WRITING OF THE GODSThe Race to Decode the Rosetta StoneBy Edward Dolnick

On a steamy day in July 1799, a member of a French military work detail at a tumbledown fort in the Nile Delta made an unusual discovery. Amid a pile of rubble being used for a renovation project, he noticed a 4-foot-by-3-foot granite slab, covered on one side with intricate inscriptions. Lt. Pierre-Franois Bouchard, the officer in charge, sensed its significance and turned it over to scholars for analysis.

The nearly one-ton stela, experts determined, had come from a temple dedicated to the Greek-Egyptian King Ptolemy V in 196 B.C. And the three bands of text classical Greek, hieroglyphs and an Egyptian shorthand called Demotic were intended to proclaim the monarchs achievements in multiple tongues to the peoples of the empire. All three were dead languages, but the Greek alphabet was still in use. The discovery of the slab, called the Rosetta Stone after the town in which it was found, reignited the ultimate linguistic challenge: deciphering the symbols of the Pharaohs.

Edward Dolnicks The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone is an engrossing account of the 20-year competition that followed. A former science writer for The Boston Globe and the author of books about Isaac Newton and a Dutch art forger who duped the Nazis, Dolnick here conjures up another intricate intellectual caper. With its thrilling dissection of the decoding process, it calls to mind Margalit Foxs The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code (2013), about three scholars who deciphered Linear B, the 3,400-year-old script excavated from the ruins of Cretes Minoan civilization. Like Fox, Dolnick exuberantly captures the frustrations and triumphs of scholars as they puzzle out the meaning of long-dead runes, seduced by tantalizing clues and then careening into dead ends and losing hope, but then spotting new markers and dashing off jubilantly once more.

From the time of the Roman Empire, linguists had tried, with no success, to figure out what hieroglyphs had to say. The spread of Christianity hastened the disappearance of anything to do with ancient Egypt: In A.D. 391, Theodosius the Great ordered Egyptian temples to be smashed, and the last hieroglyph was carved into a temple on an island in the Nile in 394.

The language quickly fell into oblivion. Horapallo, a fifth-century Egyptian priest, believed that each pictograph had a deep hidden meaning, and he engaged in wild stabs in the dark to figure out what that was. A hawk must symbolize a god, he posited, because birds fly on a slant and only the hawk flies straight upward. A hare connotes open because it seemed never to shut its eyes. Others ventured up similarly blind alleys, stumped by symbols that offered no clues about whether they were to be read phonetically, or stood for ideas. Suppose the last English speaker had died 20 centuries ago, Dolnick writes. How would anyone ever learn that the sounds c-a-t pronounced in quick succession meant furry animal with whiskers?

All that changed with the Rosetta Stone. British forces captured the slab from Napoleons army in Egypt in 1802 and shipped it to the British Museum, initiating a quest by two geniuses to unlock the code. Thomas Young was a British polymath who excelled in both physics and linguistics; Jean-Franois Champollion, who grew up in a provincial French backwater during the revolution, was fixated on all things Egyptian.

The last half of Dolnicks tale focuses on the race between the two, marked by surface cordiality and behind-the-scenes back-stabbing. Young deduced that a sequence of pictographs contained inside an oval frame, or cartouche, spelled Ptolemy. Yet he couldnt make the next leap, recognizing that the writing system was mostly a phonetic alphabet. Champollion drew on his fluency in Coptic descended from ancient Egyptian to tease out letters, syllables and larger meanings.

This was Wheel of Fortune without Vanna White, Dolnick writes with typical breeziness, but with a prize of eternal fame. From that point, the millenniums-long battle was largely won. But Dolnicks stirring account makes it clear that both decoders deserve scholarly immortality.

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The 20-Year Contest to Crack the Code of the Rosetta Stone - The New York Times

Often times, while exploring the final frontier, Starfleet comes across some truly astounding discoveries. Sure, we've all heard of the odd mind-controlling nebula or sentient starship but there are certain things that Starfleet encounters in its travels that should, by all accounts fundamentally change everything about philosophy, life, and our place in the universe.

Only to be immediately forgotten about next week.

Perhaps, when every week you're dealing with some ship-wide catastrophe, it can be hard to keep track of everything you discover. However, Starfleet has a serious problem of finding the perfect solution to many every day problems and then only ever using it once, as well as completely glossing over crucial facts about their history.

There is a nearly endless amount of highly advanced technology and terrifying ethical questions that Starfleet comes across and simply chooses to either ignore or forget about and this list will be counting down the worst offenders. Let's take a look at the ten biggest discoveries in Star Trek that no one cared about!

Starfleet has managed to drastically increase the human life expectancy from about 80 Earth years in our time to around 120 years in the time of The Next Generation. However, humans still have to die, along with most other known species in the universe. The thing is, though, they really shouldn't have to.

Throughout the history of Star Trek, humanity has discovered dozens of methods of increasing the human lifespan or just flat-out cheating death, from the Borg nanoprobes used to resurrect Neelix in the Voyager episode Mortal Coil to the transporter accident in the Next Generation episode Rascals which reverts several officers back into children.

The list goes on and on. If you feel like it, you could even pull a "Kirk" and jump inside the next temporal Nexus that comes along and live a hundred years in a psychedelic trance-like state of pure happiness until Picard decides to drag you out into the real world only to die 10 minutes later...

None of these methods are used beyond a couple of instances. You have so many options for immortality in the Star Trek universe but no one ever bothers to look into it. Perhaps the only true way to live forever is to have your name in the intro credits.

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Star Trek: 10 Huge Discoveries That No One Cared About - WhatCulture

The fundamental beliefs of ancient cultures from around the world contain tales of dauntlessness and gallantry. These tales have been passed down to generations to keep the stories of the gods and goddesses alive. While it is true that most gods were known for certain roles, they often performed a variety of interconnected duties. In addition to being gods of war, they might have been associated with strategy, power, wisdom and protection.

Stories narrate that various gods were involved in battles of supremacy, and though immortal, they were still susceptible to injury and defeat. Mythical accounts reveal how the defeated gods and goddesses would be imprisoned or kicked out from the gods province. Despite their power and immortality, defeated gods were seen as powerless and often banished from the divine realm.

Ares is a god of war in Greek mythology and was often referred to as the spirit of war. He was not as popular as the Roman god of war, Mars, and his worship was not extensive. Ares represented distasteful characteristics such as slaughter and brutality. During combat, he was always accompanied by his sister Eris and two sons. Other gods, including his parents, did not like him even though he was an Olympian deity. The only gods who associated themselves with him were Enyalius and Enyo, who had less power than Ares.

The worship of Ares had many interesting local features that were devoid of moral, theological, and social associations. In early times, prisoners of war were sacrificed to him and other unusual sacrificial beings like dogs. During his worship at Geronthrae, women were forbidden from entering the sacred grove, while in Tegea, extraordinary womens sacrifices were allowed.

Montu, otherwise known as Mentu or Monthu, was an ancient Egyptian god worshipped by the 4th Upper Egyptian province. His sacrificial animals included bulls and falcons and were presented as a man in a falcons head. It is believed that Montu also symbolized the Kingship for Upper Egypt and his counterpart Atum the Lower Egypt. He was initially viewed as an extension or part of the sun god, and at times, he was associated with Hor.

In ancient Egyptian mythology, he represented the scorching effect of the sun. From this characteristic, he was named the god of war and a mighty warrior. Egyptians believed that he fought against enemies of the cosmic order and inspired other warriors amongst his people.

One of the most famous gods among the Japanese was Hachiman, the patron god of the Minamoto clan and all warriors. Hachiman was frequently referred to as the god of war and the adoration of the 15th Japanese emperor. He is rarely worshiped alone as most of the shrines dedicated to him are also used to worship two other gods; Jingo, his mother, and the goddess Hime-gami. The most ancient shrine used in his worship was built in 725 A.D and is among the few single shrines. Hachiman is vastly popular all over Japan, explaining why half of the Shinto shrines are dedicated to him. Additionally, Hachiman was the first Japanese god to be entitled Daibosatsu, meaning a great Buddha to be. He signifies the blending and working together of foreign and indigenous elements.

Hachiman is also worshipped as the divine protector of the Japanese, Japan and the Imperial house. As a result, he is still actively worshipped today in most parts of Japan. He is considered among the most ancient, most trusted and most loved Emperors of Japan (Ojin).

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3 brutal gods of war from cultures around the world - We Are The Mighty