“Where were you on 9/11?” 

That question has become part of the fabric of our lives as Americans and was one of the inspirations for writing “Ashes Ashes The Twins Fall Down.”

The initial inspiration for the book was of course the attacks on 9/11. But what initially caused me to sit down and start writing this story was my own need to deal with my grief of 9/11. In the year following 9/11 I actually started suffering from panic attacks that I finally began to figure out were due to my fears and not having dealt with my feeling of 9/11. So, when I sat down in 2002, my expectation was simply to put a few words down on paper to work through my own grieving process and hopefully alleviate my panic attacks. It may sound strange, but I find writing down my feelings and thoughts when I’m sad, angry or whatever the emotion helps me work through them. I don’t know if it helps me organize my feelings or simply look at how unrealistic they may be or what. I truly never set out to write a book. But, I soon found out that the more I wrote, the more I had to write. Once I started writing, it was as though the emotional floodgates opened, and all the memories came back – memories that beckoned to be put on paper.

As I sat there recounting my memories of that bright sunny September day, I soon realized that while everyone talked about what happened in New York, at the Pentagon, and in the field in Pennsylvania, very little had been said about how that day affected those of us outside of those areas. While we may not have been at Ground Zero or even within view of New York City, the entire country sat watching all of the news footage that day. You could not have watched the pictures of people jumping to their deaths from burning buildings, the collapsing of the Twin Towers, the unrecognizable soot covered first responders doing all they could to locate survivors without being affected. An entire country, and world, was affected on that day. Lives were changed, security lost, and our story, my story, should and needed to be shared alongside of the stories of those lost in the attacks of 9/11 and their loved ones left behind.

My hope is that the reader will feel what I felt as I wrote this book. The feelings provoked were very emotional. Ashes, Ashes The Twins Fall Down will make you cry, it will make you laugh, and it will make you remember. In this book I have not only shared my personal experiences surrounding that day but I have also shared transcripts received from the hijacked planes. The readers of this book will come away both enlightened and comforted.

Of course we will never forget the New York City firefighters, police, and other first responders that dropped what they were doing, kissed their wives and children goodbye, and headed for what would eventually be known as Ground Zero. They did this without question and without thought for their safety, not knowing that many of them would never see their families again. These men and women had taken a pledge to protect their city and their fellow man, and for them this was more than just a job; it was who they were. They gave of themselves, and in some cases gave their lives, selflessly and without question, the true heroes of that bright sunny September 11, 2001, day.

About the Author

Pauline L. Hawkins is author of Ashes Ashes The Twins Fall Down. Want to read her book? You can order and read a hard copy or add it to your Kindle collection today. Click here to order!

Outside of air to breathe, what is the one commodity that all human beings need to survive? What is the one thing necessary for growing the crops that feed us? What is essential for both food and beverage? The answer, of course, is water. And because it is so vital to our health and wellbeing, it makes sense that water has been the impetus for war on many occasions throughout history. Here are several noteworthy conflicts that arose due to concerns over water.

America’s Dust Bowl of the Great Depression

In the 1930s, the United States experienced not only a drastic drop in the economy, but a weather phenomenon that caused a massive drought across the country’s heartland. As dust storms instead of rain storms swept across the plains where the majority of grains were grown, it caused both soil erosion for the land and extreme poverty for the farmers who lost their crops. In desperation, many of these Okies (farmers from Oklahoma and the Midwest) pulled up stakes and moved to California, where they were not warmly received. In fact, they were called “inferior” and “Communists” while being subject to beatings and the burning of their shanties. The Los Angeles police department was ordered to stop more Okies from coming into the state in 1936 in order to prevent further crimes against the farmers who were merely seeking water.

Japan and China, 1938

Not long thereafter, the Japanese invaded the neighbouring country of China. Resourceful Chinese used water to fend off their attackers by destroying dikes. The compromised dikes flooded the lands, preventing Japanese troops from advancing. Although this was an effective defence tactic, it also ended up killing tens of thousands of Chinese civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Japanese, not to be outdone, used water in war, as well. They poisoned Chinese wells with typhoid and other types of dangerous bacterium as retaliation.

The Ganges and Indus Rivers, 1975

Bangladesh, India and Pakistan have long been in disputes over the waters of the Ganges and Indus Rivers along the borders of those countries. In the mid-1970s, Bangladesh, which had a growing population but few resources, was particularly vulnerable to geographic catastrophes such as soil erosion and flooding. India and Pakistan built a barrier in order to divert the flow of the rivers away from Bangladesh. This caused salt water to take the place of the fresh water and devastate a good deal of the small country’s natural resources while leaving its people to suffer. It is estimated that some 35 million residents of Bangladesh were adversely affected by the lack of fresh water, causing many of them to migrate to India. That in itself resulted in numerous deaths due to conflicts based on differences of religion, culture, ethnicity, and more. Even today, there are many conflicts brewing over the control of, or lack of, water throughout the world. Water is a precious commodity and one that many people will do anything to obtain. There is no doubt we will continue to experience water wars in the future.

About the Author

Damien Higgins writes for the UK's No.1 bottled water cooler supplier, Eden Springs. Try an Eden Springs water dispenser in your home or office for fresh, cool water all day long.

By Alan Harvey, University of Western Australia

Christine Westerback/Creative Commons

All human cultures and social groups that we know of respond to music and dance. The type of music may vary but the underlying, fundamental principles of making music are the same.

Our recognition of, and emotional responses to, pleasant and unpleasant music seems to be universal, expressed even in very young infants and seemingly independent of our cultural upbringing.

So what exactly is music for? Why is it a universal that can profoundly affect people, why is it such an essential part of our lives?

Music is a form of communication which is different from language. In humans, music stimulates emotions and elicits autonomic and physiological responses. It entrains neural activity and is inextricably linked to movement and dance.

Music facilitates interactions within groups and can create common arousal states. It helps to provide cohesion and organisation to our social architecture.

Throughout recorded history, leaders – whether of nations, political parties or religious denominations – have understood the power of music to influence populations.

In recent times, researchers have shown that music structures time and provides mnemonic frameworks that aid learning and memory, help organise knowledge. Many of us can remember the lyrics of songs for example, but may not remember much, if any prose.

Attaching words to music somehow makes the words easier to memorise. Yet despite all of this, the impact of music remains mysterious: it does not seem to do anything, it does not transmit data and information in the same way as language/speech.

For many, the evolution of language in Homo sapiens is a unique event that is linked to the evolution of the cognitively modern mind. What then is the relationship between music and language, and to what extent are they dependent or independent of each other?

Human Brain [MRI Scan]
taod/Creative Commons

Our brains are known to be wired to process both forms of communication, but from an evolutionary point of view did music come before language, or vice versa, or was there a common precursor that somehow separated into two systems when Homo sapiens evolved, with both types of communication retained?

Was music an important element that contributed to the early well-being of our species? What, if any, advantages did music give to Homo sapiens from an evolutionary perspective as our founders migrated out of east Africa to colonise the planet?

Why does music continue to exist alongside language and remain important to all human cultures, thousands of generations after the founders of our species evolved?

Modern neuroscience research, especially using new imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) confirms that the processing of music has a consistent structural foundation in the human brain.

It has been known for some time that, in right-handed individuals, language is mostly processed in the left cerebral hemisphere while many aspects of music involve right hemisphere activity.

But new imaging data have revealed even more complex circuitries involved in music and language processing. Numerous regions of the brain are integrated into networks that subserve music or language processing and analysis, but the neuroimaging data also show that separation of these processing streams is by no means complete.

For example, there is overlap in brain areas that process the emotional (prosodic) aspects of music and speech, and studies have shown that musical training results in a shift towards processing in the left cerebral hemisphere.

As research continues, more is learned about how music-related circuits differ from, or overlap with, other pathways involved in cognitive and emotional processing. For example, brain areas associated with positive responses to music overlap with networks associated with reward behaviours, subjective experiences and acts of social cooperation.

In close association with the evolution of the modern mind, I believe music was of critical importance to our early ancestors; increased fitness and reproductive advantage of a group is gained not only by an individual’s success but also if cooperative behaviours benefit other members of the group, and importantly for our ancestors these benefits extended to others who were not necessarily genetically related.

For most people, music therapy remains a branch of “alternative” medicine, something outside the mainstream. But recent research suggests that it is time that this attitude was changed.

For example, training in music has measurable effects on brain plasticity and can influence learning ability during development. Music also seems to have mnemonic powers, activating circuits in the brain that are linked to aspects of memory processing.

There are also structural changes in developing brains associated with early musical training, and exposure to music seems to have beneficial effects on children suffering from developmental disorders such as autism and Williams syndrome.

In adults, many studies have shown that music used with physical therapy improves motor control and coordination, with benefits for rehabilitation after injury or in degenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

Music therapy may also improve memory recall and social awareness in Alzheimer’s patients and recent studies on stroke patients have shown that controlled exposure to music improves cognitive function, increases motivation and awareness, and enhances positive mood states.

Taken together, the evidence suggests that music remains just as essential to Homo sapiens now as it was 70,000-80,000 years ago. It continues to be important for development of our children, for our health and for our overall sense of mental well-being.

Above all, music is perhaps the primary medium which enables individual members of the species Homo sapiens to forget their mortal vulnerability and come together as a collective group to share and enjoy common physiological and emotional experiences.

About the Author

Alan Harvey was educated at the University of Cambridge and Australian National University. He is currently Professor and Deputy Head of the School of Anatomy and Human Biology. He has the long-term ambition of bringing his neuroscience and musical interests together, intending to write a book about the role of music in human evolution and modern-day society.

Alan Harvey receives funding from the NHMRC, ARC and WA Neurotrauma Research Program.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.

Firewalking
Treacle International via Home Page

Spring is upon us with the equinox only days away - it's time to discover balance in our lives. Yesterday was a fascinating day, one I would like to define as an Experimental Anthropology Day.

While researching the Toltec culture, something interesting popped up: The Austin Toltecs group. Today was their Spring Equinox Ceremony. Jose-Pierre and I decided to check it out.

The ceremony began in the evening after voting for our favorite piece from their art exhibit. I voted for the winning painting "Rocks and Water" - a beautiful multicolor abstract piece.

We began by creating a circle, there were about 40 of us present, and after joining hands, called upon the elements with a chant:

"Earth my body, water my blood, air my breath, and fire my spirit."

My future plant © Melanie Magdalena

After opening the circle, each of us found a partner to discuss what we wanted to plant in ourselves this spring and what we wanted to weed out. In my case, I want to increase my sense of security and weedout my impatience with others. Then we joined groups of six and took turns surrendering our bodies to those around us by letting ourselves gently fall into the hands of each group member.

Now that we'd defined how to begin our spring, we took a little pot of soil from the center altar and planted a seed that symbolized our goals. Our intents are like seeds - if we nourish them, they grow!

Once again, we joined hands, this time in two circles around the altar and called upon the elements to close the circle we'd opened.

The night was barely beginning. Next was the firewalk. After watching people overcome their fears of not being able to do something, we went into the night under the skies and chanted again, this time to prove we had overcome our obstacles: Our toes survived!

What I find most interesting about all of this is the fact that many ancient traditions are still alive. People have been walking on fire for thousands of years and we were able to take part in this ceremony that still survives.

I hope you enjoy this pop cultural revival of ancient traditions, you are about to witness The Firedance!

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]

Spike TV and National Geographic Channel are glamorizing the looting of American archaeological sites. 

A lawsuit has already been filed against National Geographic after illegal digging on state land for the "Diggers: Montana Juice" episode.

Lamoka projectile points from central New York
made from quartz and flint.
PAR via Wikimedia Commons

"On 20 March, Spike TV will premiere a new show called American Digger, while a show called Diggerson the National Geographic Channel made its debut 28 February. Both shows "promote and glorify the looting and destruction of archaeological sites," Society for American Archaeology (SAA) President William F. Limp wrote in a message posted earlier this week to the SAA listserv.

'Two hundred years ago, archaeology was a treasure hunt—finding fabulous things for museum collections,' says Lekson. 'But we learned long ago that archaeological sites were really books to be read, pages of history. We can learn a great deal about pasts we would otherwise never know, by studying sites themselves and artifacts (simple or spectacular) in their original contexts at sites. When treasure hunters loot sites, ripping artifacts out of the ground, we lose any chance of understanding context—what was with what, its date, how it was used, what it can tell us about history—all so somebody can have a trinket on their mantelpiece.'

Sign a petition on Change.org!

• National Geographic Society: Stop airing the television show Diggers! 
• Stop Spike TV from looting our collective past!

For further reading:

• "Archaeologists Protest 'Glamorization' of Looting on TV" on  Science Magazine
• "'Diggers,' 'American Digger' TV Shows Said To Promote Looting Of Archaeological Sites" on  Huffington Post

About the Author

I'm Melanie, the founder of BermudaQuest and an archaeology undergraduate at the University of New Mexico. I love writing about ancient and modern cultures. My goal is to make information about our origins available to everyone [in simple English!]

Guest Blog by Richard Chowning 

While some people are still under the erroneous impression that Africa is a country, the vast majority are unaware that the borders that delineate the fifty-four current African countries in no way represents the ancient ethnic kingdoms and tribal territories. In fact, the colonialists drew up the boundaries to suit their own ends and have left the peoples of Africa some real problems. 

Look at a map of Africa. Those lines that divide the countries are a mixture of rivers and rulers. Without a doubt, the rivers are natural demarcations that have separated African peoples since ancient times. But the many straight lines are the work of visitors to the continent, namely the colonial powers of Great Britain, France, and Portugal. 

The Europeans partitioned Africa into realms that they believed they could easily influence. They setup government sponsored trading companies to acquire the minerals and produce within the nations and brought in troops to protect their investments. Those unnatural borders were drawn up in in European capitals during the early years of their settlements in Africa. These colonialists had scant knowledge or appreciation for overall geographic and ethnic makeup of the continent. Without a doubt the impact of the colonizers on Africa was at best mixed. There is ample research in African history[1] that the major impact Europeans had on Africa was not the terrible exploitation of Africans, but the drawing of unnatural and improper borders that have remained long after they achieved independence.

A recent study by Michalopoulos and Papaioannou, “The Long-Run Effects of the Scramble for Africa” has added some hard facts to what others have theorized. In analyzing the location, duration, and total casualties data from all civil wars in Africa in the post-independence period (1970 − 2005), they concluded, “Our most conservative estimates suggest that civil conflict intensity, as reflected in casualties and duration, is higher by approximately by 25% in areas where partitioned ethnicities reside as compared to the homelands of ethnic groups that have not been separated by the national borders.” They also found that ethnic groups that were not partitioned, but were adjacent to partitioned ethnic groups experienced higher than normal incidents of unrest.

The colonial borders have remained in place since independence – more than 60 years in most cases. With the birth of the nation of Eritrea, a few years back, and the creation of South Sudan this past year, Africa may very well be witnessing the beginning of the redrawing of national boundaries. They new borders will more properly reflect the natural, ethnic make-up of nations.

Terrorist activities in Africa are at their root struggles of minority ethnic groups to gain control of their homelands. The al-Qaeda linked, al-Shabaab terrorist in Somalia have plunged that country into a civil war that has left the country without an effective and viable government and will most likely result in that nation being divided into three countries within the next two years. Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria are carrying out bloody attacks because they feel that the ethnic groups of the north, who are predominantly Muslim are being marginalized by the more Christian ethnic groups of the south. Many analysts believe that the current attacks by Boko Haram will plunge the country into civil war and ultimately will divide Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, into two countries. 

The impoverished African continent will redraw many of its borders, but not without the cost of much bloodshed. 

Richard Chowning is editor of Terrorism in Africa and owns and writes for more than a half dozen Africa oriented websites.

References

[1] Asiwaju, A. (1985): “The Conceptual Framework,” in Partitioned Africans, pp. 1—18. St.
Martin Press, New York. And, Wesseling, H. L. (1996): Divide and Rule: The Partition of Africa, 1880-1914. Praeger Publishers, Westport, Conn.

I just wanted to share this video provided by TEDx. Archaeology has the potential and power to make our world so much better. As Rachel Preston Prinz says in the video, "The entire time we've been using these [mechanical and electrical] systems makes up 4% of the entire time we've been building. The other 96% we were designing buildings that worked with nature not despite it." Make sure to check out Archinia for sustainable ideas you can use right now.

Rachel Preston Prinz is an architectural designer and historian who has worked in the cathedrals and villas of Europe, as well as alongside Americans specializing in religious architecture, historic preservation and ultra-high-end custom residential design. Rachel believes that New Mexico's archaeological record is interesting in its traditional form of ruminating on the past, and even more intriguing when the lessons learned from studying ancient building forms are integrated into today's designs by modern architects and builders. The result can be a visually stunning, sustainable architecture that's not only truly green, but also a reflection on our rich heritage.
In thespirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Today I would like to repost this NPR article from Aug. 2009 by Tovia Smith:

This story is part of a series called How Green Is It? that will air throughout August on All Things Considered. The series examines some of the things Americans are doing — and buying — to help the environment and whether those steps really are as "green" as they seem.

Business are selling them, even giving them away hoping they will replace those plastic grocery bags that have become something of a poster child for environmental waste and destruction. From the Whole Foods Market to Home Depot, stores are jumping on the reusable-bag bandwagon, delighting many eco-minded shoppers.

"I think they're great! I love it," says Susan Klein, 42. "I have about five of them that I use all the time — for everything!"

But bagger, beware! Not all reusable bags are created equal.

"There are different shades of green," says environmental consultant Catherine Greener.

A Mixed Bag

The Whole Foods bag, for example, is made of mostly recycled plastic — ecologically better than a bag made from PVC or with harsh chemical dyes, for example. But the bags are also shipped thousands of miles from overseas. So every reusable bag is a mixed bag, baffling consumers and experts alike.

"There are a lot of different characteristics," Hoover says. "And it can be hard to say, 'Organic and fair trade and local cloth is better than recycled content polypropylene from China.' There are too many parameters to come up with a clear winner."

Stores too struggle with the trade-offs. Last year, Wal-Mart started selling a black bag that was made entirely from recycled bottles. Now, it offers a cheaper blue bag that is thinner and uses less plastic. On the other hand, however, only a third of the plastic in the new blue bag is recycled. And, it lasts only about half as long as the black one.

"I think we are living in the land of confusion right now as we migrate through what is less bad into what is truly good," Greener says. "This is an evolving and a moving target."

It all leads even the experts to the very unscientific conclusion about what shoppers should buy.

"My first answer to that would be, 'What draws your eye?'" Hoover says. "Buy the bag that you most personally are going to reuse, because that's the most important thing."

So if some gritty hemp weave appeals to you, or if it's a little bling, or the $1,000 dollar Hermes silk shopping bag that turns you on, "by all means, buy that bag," Hoover says.

Old Habits Die Hard

Eventually, you will hit the environmental break-even point. That is, as long as you use the bags and don't just leave them to collect dust somewhere.

"I always forget [my re-usable bags.] So they sit in the car," says Paul Briner, a contractor in Boston, loading his groceries into a paper bag at the check-out of the Whole Foods Market.

Indeed, old habits die hard.

"I still prefer the plastic," says another shopper, firefighter Rob Williams. Whole Foods offers only paper bags, but when he's shopping at other stores that still offer plastic, "I always take the plastic," Williams says. "I'm just being honest."

Many stores are hoping financial incentives will help change hearts and habits. Whole Foods offers a nickel, every time you BYOB. Other stores offer points and prizes.

Environmental Impact

Bob Lilienfeld, editor of the Use Less Stuff report, says it may be years before most Americans really change their ways.

"For 5 or 10 percent of the population, I'll call them 'the tree-huggers,' it's OK, they're going to do it anyway," Lilienfeld says. "The vegetarians are going to do it anyway. The rest of us need an incentive."

And it's not only habits at the grocery store that will need to change. Once people no longer have a ready supply of old grocery bags stashed at home, they will have to find new ways to pick up their dog poop or line their bathroom waste baskets. If people just go out and buy other plastic bags, it will defeat the purpose.

Ultimately, even if we eliminate billions of grocery bags from the market, how much good will it do?

"I hate to say it, but not much," Lilienfield says.

In the big picture, he says, the big fuss around shopping bags is really just a distraction.

"The bag is not the environmental bogey-person that everybody thinks it is," he says. "If you look at the entire grocery package that you bought, the bag may account for 1 to 2 percent of the environmental impact.

"The other packaging may account for 7 percent. Ninety percent is accounted for by the products you buy. That's where all the environmental impact is."

As people begin to think more about their shopping bags, Lilienfield says he hopes they'll also start to think more about what's in the bag as well.

Coke Bottle!

3D chalk art are a form of art with anamorphic perspective – anamorphism is a form of illusion or distortion, here the distortion is in the drawings that make the pictures pop out or appear in 3D if viewed at a set angle. Sidewalk artist usually tend to use chalk or pastels to draw their drawings. Chalk art is also known as: 3D Street Painting, 3D Pavement Art, 3D Chalk Art, or 3D Sidewalk Art. At first the drawing is seen as an elongated picture, but once you stand on the sweet spot looking at the picture, it pops out in amaizing 3D:

Wrong View

Right View

Two of the chalk art’well known artist are Kurt Wenner and Julian Beever. Beever is an English artist for over twenty years who’s famous for his chalk art all over the world including pavements of England, France, Germany, and U.S. he tends to draw cartoony or realistic drawings in his chalk art.

Batman and Robin Rescue

Boat in Puddle

Wenner is a master artist and architect and is said to be the inventor of chalk art. His work has been seen in over 30 countries and he sets the bar for 3D chalk art. He tends to draw classical drawings in his chalk art.

I personally am a fan of chalk art in would love to see one in person. I sometimes amaze myself with 3D pencil and paper drawings I draw, so seeing one of these in person I might just want to jump right in the world of the chalk.

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.

When you think of archaeology, the typical image of someone with a tacky hat and khaki pants digging in the dirt comes to  mind. Nowadays archaeology can be seen as someone sitting at a desk analyzing data on a computer. More time is put into digitizing history. According to Dr. Schafer, 99% of history can only be revealed by archaeology, since written history only occurred recently and we have little to no documentation about the past.

Archaeology is one of the four branches of anthropology - the study of all aspects of humankind-biological, cultural, and linguistic:extant and extinct - employing a holistic, comparative approach and the concept of culture (Kelly). Specifically archaeology is the study of the past through the systematic recovery and analysis of material remains. This means that archaeologists rebuild forgotten history by going out and finding places where history has been literally buried and reconstructing the past so we can define our cultural heritage.

3D Model of the Interior of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl  at Teotihuacan, Mexico

So why is noninvasive archaeology evil? To put it into perspective, first you have to realize that a lot of the culture you know has been passed down through generations. Why is it you do the things that you do? How did your people end up where they are now? Archaeology works out these definitions by finding the key points of transitionary history. Noninvasive archaeology takes away the digging part of the equation.

What history could we have about Egypt if the pyramids had not been uncovered? Would we have ever found the artifacts that resided within and been able to reconstruct the evolution of technology being used? Most likely not. Would you feel inclined to go to Egypt and listen to a tour guide explaining that three great, enormous pyramids were hidden under the sand and enjoy the visit? Noninvasive archaeology is leaving sites underground hidden away from the world. Sure, you can see a digital model of the site. Three dimensional software has greatly improved the ability to see a site and never have to dig it up.

Why are sites staying underground? First, noninvasive archaeology began as a method for finding sites. Ground penetrating radars help pinpoint locations of sites before opening up the ground. So a site is found and dug up... what next? If the team has money for preservation, it stays out in the open. If the government has money and the team doesn't, they step in and preserve the site. Sites are a tourist attraction that will bring in money for the national economy. So why has noninvasive archaeology taken a turn toward evil?

Buried Structures at Cerros, Belize

Over the summer I was at La Milpa in Belize. This was the first site I saw that had been excavated and reburied. Unlike Altun Ha, with beautiful restored and open pyramidal structures, La Milpa was piles of dirt. There is not enough money to keep it open and maintain the site. This site is not open to the public... but Cerros is. Cerros had one restored pyramidal structure and one partially excavated one you could climb. It is very boring to go to a site you cannot see. The guide said there was not enough money to maintain the site and very few people came to visit. I have two comments about this: first, no one wants to see big piles of dirt and imagine what something looks like, and second, of course no one comes to visit because they can only see one structure!

Noninvasive archaeology is slowly stripping the general public the ability to see their cultural heritage. Archaeology has been reserved purely for archaeologists who are granted the privilege to excavate and then rebury sites. Archaeology has also become a computer game. If archaeologists only have enough money to recover data, they choose to digitize sites.

In order for archaeology to progress as a science people can see results from, archaeologists, like myself, need to help cause a global awareness of how important it is for everyone to visit sites so there will be enough money to preserve them. If there are more grants from people, archaeologists have more money to spend on preservation. Also, there will be less of a need to spend all the budget of digitization.

BermudaQuest has been created to promote public awareness in archaeology. I want to ask all of you to help so I can give you the history about your heritage in the future. I do not want to see archaeology when I graduate as only another computer science. I want to be able to take people to the sites I have worked on and let them see what was there. I want to continue to provide photographs of beautiful places I have been if you cannot see them for yourself. I ask you to tell your friends and family as well to promote archaeology. It is our global history that must be rediscovered so we can work out the current problems in our lives. By understanding past lives we can make our future greater.

References:

Kelly, Robert L. and David Hurst Thomas. Archaeology. 5th edition. 2010: USA, Wadsworth Cengage Learning.

Image, Temple of Quetzacoatl, courtesy of 3D|Heritage Key in "Teotihuacan Tunnel found under Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent" by Ann.

HIV/AIDS is the fourth leading cause of death in the world.

Over forty million people are infected with the virus.

CARE focuses on creating lasting change with various campaigns, one of which is HIV/AIDS; CARE is working on treating the disease and addressing it as a cause and consequence of poverty [over 143 million children have lost one or both their parents to HIV/AIDS] with programs that:

• "Ensure educational opportunities for children orphaned and made vulnerable by the pandemic. 
• "Protect the rights of vulnerable survivors, such as widows and orphans. 
• "Raise awareness in communities to combat discrimination and stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. 
• "Help communities deal with the loss of productive workers who supported the economic and social infrastructure of their societies."

Today, in Austin, we [your BermudaQuest hosts] participated in the AIDS walk. AIDS Walk Austin raises money every year in order to diagnose HIV and provide treatment. This year $159,419.73 was raised. Every $20 donation enough money to provide an HIV. The money raised goes to AIDS Services of Austin and the fundraising teams of Austin's other outstanding AIDS service and education providers.

Getting fired up for the walk!

In line and ready to walk!

Jose-Pierre and Melanie!

"We walk to honor, remember, and to raise funds to address this issue in our community. There are an estimated 6,000 people living with HIV and AIDS in Central Texas. About 20 percent of those 6,000 people are unaware of their status."

By walking, we are helped raise HIV awareness, reduce stigma, and raise funds for life-saving services right here in Central Texas. We walked with our college's team: Alpha Gamma Pi, a chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Together we helped make a difference, just like CARE.

Phi Theta Kappa: Team Alpha Gamma Pi!

You can join a walk or donate to any organization that strives to help treat and prevent HIV/AIDS. Check out AIDS Walk and save the date for the next walk in your city.

Crossing Congress Ave. Bridge into Downtown Austin

"In memory of my basketball coach who lost the fight against HIV in 2003. Today I walk for you, your son, and the rest of the world who needs help." - Melanie Magdalena