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I get what you mean regarding the interpretation of icons or hieroglyphics and maybe I was unclear in my point, that when I send a curly haired little winkie guy, you might receive a chocolate ice cream cone, because the underlying code was not standard, not so much as the conceptual difference which you correctly outlined.

While Latin remained the main written language of the Roman Empire, Greek came to be the language spoken by the well-educated elite, as most of the literature studied by Romans was written in Greek. In the eastern half of the Roman Empire, which later became the Byzantine Empire, Latin was never able to replace Greek, and after the death of Justinian, Greek became the official language of the Byzantine government. The expansion of the Roman Empire spread Latin throughout Europe, and Vulgar Latin evolved into dialects in different locations, gradually shifting into many distinct Romance languages.
http://www.crystalinks.com/rom...

Wow, how dumb are you?

That is obviously a "creation myth" every "religion" or nation has that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

https://asabharwal.com/explori...

http://www.crystalinks.com/mao...

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/crea...

http://www.viking-mythology.co...

etc. just some random links.

If you can not cope with the fact that ancient civilizations somehow mystified their origins ... then perhaps you should chose a different hobby?

Probably fishing? I was told sitting at some water with a fishing pole and pondering how the world works is a quite relaxing thing. You could also try meditation. But as you occur to me to be an angry man: what about rock climbing? As soon as you climb (not in a hall obviously) you are one on one with your environment, does not really matter how difficult. You have only the rock, the sky the wind and if you are advanced enough to "relax" and "meditate" a bit while climbing: bees, eagles, falcons, swallows ... nature. When you are on top of your climbing route you will realize: for hours you have not thought about anything at all. Except for putting gear into the wand, moving forward, looking into the valley, at the sun, at the sky ... and realizing: it is just you. Regardless how angry you are, you can not fight the rock ...

Probably it cures your anger and hate?

I dont get what is wrong in your eyes with the Adam and Eve myth. It is a nice story and every child know: it is just a story.

Probably you believed it was true when you were a young child and are now ashamed and feel abused.

Sorry, when it was first told to me at age of 4 I knew it was "a story" and not anything other. Probably that is why my mother called me "smart".

Quantum is the new Alchemy

http://www.crystalinks.com/alc...

Except that quantum things are real, alchemy is imaginary.

Quantum is the new Alchemy

http://www.crystalinks.com/alc...

The mysterious "Band of Holes" seems like it could be the result of an automated drones that left foot prints or bore holes during it's operation here on Earth. http://www.crystalinks.com/ban...

No, we wouldn't. Tunguska was roughly 10m in diameter. Additionally orbiting the moon it's relative speed would be lower, so it'd have less energy if hitting the earth.

Nobody has any real clue exactly how big Tunguska was, because at the time that estimate was done nobody had any clear idea of the composition of asteroids or other rogue rocky bodies. Further, Tunguska is thought to have been an air burst, rather than a single penetrator, and some estimates have it as big as 20 meters. Has it hit any large metropolitan area it would have been the single largest disaster to humans on earth.

I'm trying to still wrap my head around the inspirations for Renaissance paintings like The Madonna with Saint Giovannino.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Indigenous_Australians, http://www.crystalinks.com/aboriginals.html

The history of Indigenous Australians is thought to have spanned 40000 to 45000 years, although some estimates have put the figure at up to 80 000 years before European settlement.

A few educated instances doesn't gainsay the matter that slaves were for the most part, not educated:

http://www.jstor.org/pss/283628

(or do you really think the mine owner was putting educated men down into the pit?)

or

``The goal of education in the Greek city-states was to prepare the child for adult activities as a citizen.'' http://www.crystalinks.com/greekculture.html

Slaves aren't citizens, and for the most part, weren't educated.

The gentleman who wrote this article complains, "why has it taken nearly 50 years for the contents of this material to be made fully public?" He fails to understand the simplest reason: the public doesn't really care enough. That is to say, some members of the public might care enough to read parts of a translation.

IMO, it's taken as long as it has because the scrolls were anciently written on papyrus or some other cloth or paper and stuffed together for storage. Some were preserved better than others, but still, IIRC, these papyrus and/or whatever-substance fragments can be very difficult to separate ("unroll") and in some cases have been reassembled manually. I am NOT an expert on the DSS. Another factor, of course, is the frequent political turmoil in the Middle East.

Also, as technology to analyze ancient stuck-together papyri has improved, reanalysis would seem to be required for much of the analyzed portions for the analyses to be scientifically valid. FWIW. Also. And. Too. For Chemists and ACS Admirers. For gnostics.

I'm sure you can find many other points of view.

Actually, world wide there are reports which go back thousands of years. UFOs are even documented in art work from The Renaissance and by well known scholars. Even Christopher Columbus documents a UFO sighting in his journals as he sought the new world.

More likely why there is no documentation before 1952 is because of the same reason its true (with varying dates) all around the world. Before such a time, no one was charged with recording such sightings.

And for what its worth, crash sites are also reported long before Roswell. Others are reported all over the world, even including Germany, several decades before WWII.

I don't get why you linked to the Wikipedia article about the Renaissance, but this link is a lot more valid to your argument.

Some day people are going to go into those craters and i can only imagine what they'll find.
We have no idea if the ice is just a flat sheet or if it's formed into giant snowflake like ice crystals.
what if, when we get there, it looks like this cave discovered in Mexico:
http://www.crystalinks.com/crystalsmexico.jpg

I fully agree that the ice is valuable, and should be mined. I'm just saying that preserving ONE crater will be even more valuable, in the fullness of time.

So referring to mammatus refers to the way they look. Referring to lenticularis refers to the way they form:

I'm pretty sure they're named lenticular because they're lens-shaped.

2) You're basically wrong on virtually every account. There *is* ample evidence that low-carb diets are bad for your brain, heart and kidneys.

3) The Inuits lack of farming couldn't have much to do with the fact that they lived in the freakin Arctic Circle, could it?

"Again, there is ample evidence to show that some people (as in many thousands) have consumed well under 2000 calories a month for decades, in the form of carbohydrates, while doing hard physical work - and wound up grossly obese. Just as others (usually much wealthier) have eaten far more than 2000 calories a day for years, while doing little or no physical work, and remained lean and fit."

Really? Under 2000 calories a day and hard work and gotten obese? Please provide this ample evidence.

My theory, developed after I lost 60 lbs, was that whenever you have two things that are diametrically opposed like low-fat, high carb/low-carb, high fat is that the answer is most frequently in the middle. Moderation in both (including carbs, a necessary source of energy) leads to great results. But, that's just my anecdotal evidence talking.

A probe could have come through a thousand years ago, hung around taking pictures and measurements for a few years and moved on. We'd never know.

People might have noticed.

http://www.crystalinks.com/ufohistory.html

Pollution: [...] the contamination of the environment by harmful substances.

Yup, sounds like CO_2 qualifies. In spades. Sure it's a whole new mechanism for damage--not toxic, not carcinogenic, not a quick dose of nutrients to previously clear water, not ugly, etc--but it's certainly harmful!

Looks like the USA's per capita emissions of CO_2 are on the order of 10 times higher than China's (source: quick amalgam of Google results).

Some sources say that the USA leads in other pollutants as well (see http://www.crystalinks.com/pollution.html for a start, but I'm not happy with that page's rigour). That's no surprise given that the USA is a world leader in consumption and disposal of all kinds of goods--sheer volume overcomes good intentions. OTOH, I hear China is investing heavily in coal-fired power plants, which besides helping them to pull ahead in CO_2 will add a nice dose of mercury and some other nasties. Go team! There are lots of causes of pollution, and the USA comes out ahead on many of them.

Of course, the USA isn't doing too badly (relatively speaking) at controlling pollutants, although we're not doing especially well, either. Far better than China or India, AFAIK, although I'm not happy that my country is "better than the worst"!

This is an area I know little about. Do you have a better reference than what I found?

For the last time quantum teleportation isn't star trek style, its far more impressive. It's transferring information you don't even know across space.

There is a book called The Holographic Universe and it is quite well-written and interesting.

You can also read more here and at Wikipedia.

Modern physics is full of mind-blowing theories... Interesting times indeed!

BTW, not all caves are cold. Generally, the ambient temperature is the year-round-mean of the outside temperature, but depth, geothermal activity, etc can affect this, and then you have extreme cases like the Crystal Cave of Giants, which peaks at around 150F -- too hot for humans to survive for long.

It bugs me that people say, "the first in the world to do this, or the first ever to do that", when in reality they're merely among the first in Europe. Other cultures (eg Indian & Chinese) didn't have the political blinkers forced on them, and explored these idea hundreds of years before Europeans. http://www.crystalinks.com/indiastronomy.html

Shortly thereafter, the use of the expression "black hole" was coined by theoretical physicist John Wheeler. Prior to that time, the term black star was used occasionally. The latter term appears in an early episode of Star Trek, and was still used occasionally after 1967. This is because some people found the term "black hole" obscene when translated into French or Russian, for example.

From: here

religion: While the news probably didn't reach your mom's basement, the antagonism between "science" and "religion" only started in earnest in the last two hundred years. For the thousand years before that, science and its precursors were thoroughly entwined with religion, both supported by and supporting in exchange the dominant religion of their land. Any stores you have to the contrary are, sadly, more properly called "Atheist Mythology" than anything else.

Tell that to Galileo Galilei who died forget 200 years ago, more than 300 years ago.

"...the centerpiece of the world's first, purpose-built, commercial spaceport"

I take it whomever spit out that little piece of wishful marketing spin never visited the 'Nazca Lines' on the Plains de' Peru, eh, Bunky?

http://innergardenart.com/Apg5angkorwat.html

I'd suggest Tiahuanaco as being a good choice too, although i agree.. we didn't really need a new list. .. and to answere that question (filter through the mystisism)....

http://www.crystalinks.com/tiahuanaco.html

"This is the First Sign: We are told of the coming of the white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana men who took the land that was not theirs. And men who struck their enemies with thunder.

            "This is the Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. In his youth, my father saw this prophecy come true with his eyes -- the white men bringing their families in wagons across the prairies."

            "This is the Third Sign: A strange beast like a buffalo but with great long horns, will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather saw with his eyes -- the coming of the white men's cattle."

            "This is the Fourth Sign: The land will be crossed by snakes of iron."

            "This is the Fifth Sign: The land shall be criss-crossed by a giant spider's web."

            "This is the Sixth sign: The land shall be criss-crossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun."

            "This is the Seventh Sign: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it."

            "This is the Eight Sign: You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn their ways and wisdom.

            "And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.

http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi2.html

Check out the asteroid belt, next time you're in the vicinity. It's a gold mine, in every sense. The amount of wealth out there is "beyond imagination".

Just one moderate-sized asteroid (Eros) is estimated to contain $1,000 billion in gold alone - more than has been mined (or indeed could ever be mined ) from Earth's crust in recorded history. Then there's the platinum and the other metals, minerals and rare earths, roughly $20,000 billion in total. And there's millions of asteroids in the belt.

It's not just the mineral wealth that has people interested. It's estimated that maybe half of the asteroids are carbonaceous, containing 20% water and a further 10% oxygen extractable from other sources (good fuel source stuff). Additionally, there are significant amounts of carbon and nitrogen - in total, enough basic resources to support human life on a huge scale. It's likely going to be easier to colonise the asteroids than to colonise Mars.

According to this article (which I believe to be about the same guy), he'd been colourblind since birth; although I suppose it's theoretically possible that the colourblindness may have developed shortly after he was born, which would make his case somewhat less strange (but still interesting).

India must regain what they have lost before Atlantis returns.

Intended as humor but one never knows.

I don't claim to have the answers to your questions. What I do claim is the opinion that the philosophy of life espoused by Jesus in the Gospels is the most appealing philosophy of life I have encountered in my 28 years, that this current state of existence we enjoy is only a shadow of "real" existence (read up on theories concerning "The Holographic Universe" for some scientific context), and that we are here in this current state to learn how to love.

That the philosophy of Jesus has been distorted, twisted, and flat-out ignored by others who merely label themselves "Christians" (eg how can you truly obey the command to "turn the other cheek" while participating in a military organization that requires you to kill?) is a tragedy more or less unmatched in recorded human history. I readily admit and accept that the name of Christ has been abused by some of the most repulsive and frightening people to walk this Earth. Perhaps it is such an inviting target for deceivers because of its proven and considerable power to affect people?

The Bible outside the Gospels is worth reading for context, but I don't base my core beliefs on those texts. The Gospels themselves are enough for me to live on. If I had to "speak for God" I'd say that it cares less about what "holy" book we bury our noses in and what building we spend our time in over the weekend and more about how we treat all of our fellow humans.

If you want a more modern crystallization of what I believe, the closest I have found is this Bill Hicks bit:

"The world is like a ride at an amusement park. It goes up and down and round and round. It has thrills and chills and it's very brightly coloured and it's very loud and it's fun, for a while. Some people have been on the ride for a long time, and they begin to question: Is this real, or is this just a ride? And other people have remembered, and they come back to us, they say, "Hey, don't worry, don't be afraid, ever, because, this is just a ride ..." And we ... kill those people. Ha ha, "Shut him up. We have a lot invested in this ride. Shut him up. Look at my furrows of worry. Look at my big bank account and my family. This just has to be real." It's just a ride. But we always kill those good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok. Jesus murdered; Martin Luther King murdered; Malcolm X murdered; Gandhi murdered; John Lennon murdered; Reagan ... wounded. But it doesn't matter because: It's just a ride. And we can change it anytime we want. It's only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money. A choice, right now, between fear and love.

The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love, instead, see all of us as one. Here's what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money that we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace. Thank you very much, you've been great."

Well salt was worthless to many people in many parts of the world but the Roman economy still used it extensively throughout their empire to pay their soldier with, so even if those seashells are worthless to those people on the coast that doesn't mean an entire empire can't use it for their money. It just goes to show that the value of your "money" is what your society gives it.

And actually the majority of people travelled very little in ancient times, most would never see anything besides their neigbouring villages. Of course there were people who travelled far and wide but that was mostly because of their profession (tradesmen, troubadours, etc) or because of their culture (eg gypsies). But I agree that trade was not rare at all and could be incredibly farreaching.

About the Incas, read a bit about their history, for example here: http://www.crystalinks.com/incan.html
Yes, they were obsessed with in the way that gold was the "sweat of the sun" nad silver the "tears of the moon", so they probably found it very beautiful, but their economy did NOT depend on it, taxes were paid by working. Working in whatever way possible, that included finding gold yes. But as you can read in the article "Silver and gold were abundant, but only used for aesthetics".

I'll answer with links to two sites that is less short-sighted than that. http://www.crystalinks.com/chinainventions.html and http://inventors.about.com/od/chineseinventors/. It is interesting though that you focus so strictly on the last two hundred years. Not surprising, but interesting. The USA is painfully aware that it has little history, and less of it to be proud of, so has to overinflate the importance of the little it has. Technology, while useful, is hardly the be-all end-all of civilisation.

The US has had some impact on the development of technology, but it is easy standing on the shoulders of giants.

We've had Ice Ages while humanity has populated this earth. There's even been discoveries that humans actually co-existed with dinosaurs. Landmasses that are now land has once been ocean and visa versa.. Some land millions of years ago, is now buried so deep none of us could have a hope of getting there..

Consider the scale you're talking about.. Earth is at least hundreds of million of years old, and over long periods the surface is really boiling when seen in "fast-film".

Something to destroy an advanced civilization, have to be HUGE. Eventually it will wipe out most traces of this civilization, except for the forklore, myths and occational artifacts.

That area, has been what is termed 'Positively Forbidden Territory' for the Western world since the year 1938, which now, in light of what Dr. Chow had to say, was probably not at all coincidental. At any rate, Professor Chi Pu Tei and his students discovered what was first described as a series of caves or caverns, but later admitted to be a complex system of artificial tunnels and underground storerooms. These tunnels are perfectly squared and the walls, ceilings, and floors are highly glazed, as if somehow the passages and rooms were carved by a device emitting heat of such intensity that it simply melted its way into the moun- tains.

Ancient texts, maybe more than 5000 years old in Sanskrit found all over Asia, and especially the areas around India speaks of:

"the holy Indian Sages, the Ramayana for one, tell of "Two storied celestial chariots with many windows" "They roar like off into the sky until they appear like comets." The Mahabharata and various Sanskrit books describe at length these chariots, "powered by winged lighting...it was a ship that soared into the air, flying to both the solar and stellar regions."

There are also references all over the Vedas to wars with missiles being fired on cities both from the land and air, destroying most of the cities, and anti-missile systems protecting said cities.

From A tribute to Hinduism (Mind you, the word Hinduism never existed before some scientists started tagging people that name. Before that, it was just the natural folklore and daily way of living in the areas in the Middle East, shared by people that now call themselves Muslims and others..)

There are many indications that humans knew how to fly, or have had experiences of flying in vehicles. One of the most famous examples being the Nasca Lines of Peru (Warning: This was the site with the best pictures I could find, but it's a bit New Ageish).

They have found hundreds of miles of the Great Wall of China in the last 10 years.

Of course, the original alien 'Intelligently Designed' humans died out a long time ago.

See the original genetically engineered Super Humans here.

Cheyenne, Wy and the origional, the Cheyenne indian tribe.
There's more than just the Cherokee and Pueblo tribes out there. My guess is one of the founders had some indian blood in him, or was an american history buff.
And really, how's it any wierder than Maxis, Valve, Cryptic, or Turbine? What about Origin, Electronic Arts, and the like? They're rather braggy to investors with their names ("THE origin of gaming." and "We make electronic art, everyone else just makes games...").

It wouldn't be the first time that Apple would have been in this situation. It would seem that some parties are willing to sue over a code name. Fortunately rationality ensued, and Apple won.

Only in America...

Every Human is capable of dimensional travel. But most people don't believe it though. But if my word isn't enough for it, then what is ?1

There is not a single fossil that is part-ape part-man.

The brain is a powerful guessing engine, sensitive to individual molecules (olfactory lobe), photons (retina) and low-power vibration (sound) as well as tiny changes in rotation (balance). Tapping those perceptions, amplifying their tiny signals among lots of noise to speak the state of the sense, doesn't require nanotech, cyborganics. As you mention, savants often achieve this, usually resulting from trauma. About 1% of humans are savants, including various kinds of synesthesia (as you allude to); about 10% of autistics are savants. Some savants, like the "Rosetta Stone" Daniel Tammet, are lucid enough to describe the experience, and believe it's available to everyone. Mind training can access these latent brain skills. All it takes is the proper thinking, without necessarily needing any external tech to perform. Which also suggests it's been available, and exercised by people throughout history (and before), who wouldn't require our evolutionary tech sophistication.

I'm not so sure that absolute total knowledge, even of our sensed portion of a possibly holographic universe, from which every bit of the universe can be extrapolated, is that fun for people anything like us. For example, I enjoy laughing at joke punchlines, and the experience of actually learning. Maybe those joys are even more fun for the refined mind.

Children need to know that a tarantula created the earth out of a web ball, or that the earth is actually the back of a large turtle. The Native Americans have lots of good theories to be taught in schools. It is the American way. http://www.crystalinks.com/nativeamcreation.html

The Earth does not wobble; it precesses, which basically means there is more than one axis of rotation. The main rotation gives us day and night. The tilt of the main axis gives us summer and winter (as the earth is either on the left or right of the Sun). Secondary (and tertiary) rotational axes give us ice ages and global warming.

Here's some more information on precession:
http://www.crystalinks.com/precession.html

Wobbling implies a change in angular momentum, but as an object floating in space (with nothing to provide footing for an opposite and equal force), the earth's angular momentum does not change significantly (unless hit by a really, really big object).

Being a slave in Roman territory was NOT the same thing as being a slave in America. Much closer to the system of indentured servitude a la Johnny Tremaine. You had rights. You could potentially become a citizen. Slavery in Rome was BAD, slavery in America was EVIL.

The offences of slaves were punished with severity and frequently the utmost barbarity. One of the mildest punishments was the removal from the familia urbana to the rustica, where they were obliged to work in chains or fetters (Plaut. Most. i.1.18; Ter. Phorm. ii.1.20). They were frequently beaten with sticks or scourged with the whip (of which an account is given under Flagrum), but these were such every-day punishments, that many slaves ceased almost to care for them: thus Chrysalus says (Plaut. Bacchid. ii.3.131),
"Si illi sunt virgae ruri, at mihi tergum est domi."

Runaway slaves (fugitivi) and thieves (fures) were branded on the forehead with a mark (stigma), whence they are said to be notati or inscripti (Mart. viii.75.9). Slaves were also punished by being hung up by their hands with weights suspended to their feet (Plaut. Asin. ii.2.37, 38), or by being sent to work in the Ergastulum or Pistrinum. [Ergastulum; Mola.] The carrying of the furca was a very common mode of punishment. [Furca.] The toilet of the Roman ladies was a dreadful ordeal to the female slaves, who were often barbarously punished by their mistresses for the slightest mistake in the arrangement of the hair or a part of the dress (Ovid. Am. i.14.15, Ar. Am. iii.235; Mart. ii.66; Juv. vi.498, &c.).

Masters might work their slaves as many hours in the day as they pleased, but they usually allowed them holidays on the public festivals. At the festival of Saturnus in particular, special indulgences were granted to all slaves, of which an account is given under Saturnalia.

Here's some of the fun stuff you could look forward to in Rome as a slave:

1. Your owner decides he needs a eunich, so he has your balls cut off, and possibly your penis amputated (in the latter case, you have a 50% chance of not surviving) - you have no say in the matter;
2. Your owner likes your wife, he fucks you have no say in the matter;
3. Your owner likes your daugher, he fucks her - you have no say in the matter;
4. Your owner likes your son, he fucks him - you have no say in the matter;
5. Your owner needs some cash and sells off your wife - you have no say in the matter;
6. Your owner decides that your pregnant wife shouldn't have had a kid, he "exposes" the kid - you have no say in the matter;
7. Your owner sends you to the arena to fight to the death for his friends amusement - you have no say in the matter;
8. Your owner beats you, big deal, you're property. If the beating is "intolerable" he has to sell you (some "punishment fitting the crime") - you have no say in the matter;
9. You are prohibited from owning anything - all your property becomes the property of your owner.

Slavery is never acceptable.

Holy crap... you're right!!! Century 9, chapter 56

The army near Houdan will pass Goussainville,

[The Battle of Houdan was in Operation Flashpoint and there was some speculation as to whether it would be ported to the Xbox. Goussainville... like Gaussian? Could he have predicted the technologies in the X-Box??]

And at "Maiotes" it will leave its mark:

[Someone's mark before literacy was usually an ''X'. Obvious reference to the X-Box and leaving the old one behind.]

In an instant more than a thousand will be converted,

[At first, you may think a thousand games but since there are not that many available, Nostradamus was refering to people being converted. In those days, the population was much lower than today. 1000 people was considered a lot.]

Looking for the two to put them back in chain and firewood.

[And here at last, my friends, is the answer. "two to put back in the chain." ie. the 360 will be compatable with two X-Box games. Please feel free to sign up for my newsletter]

Maybe people who voted actually wanted these rays: http://www.crystalinks.com/bluecrystals.html

FYI: Google gives a ration 1:3 for "blue-ray" vs "blu-ray".

Kafteinn (542563) sez: "Quote from http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi1.html

"Today we know that UFO's often hide in what we call Lenticular Clouds, which are cloud formations that seem to be produced to conceal the ships from the visible eye spectrum. Real lenticular clouds move with the rest of the clouds. Whereas the UFO clouds do not - often sitting 5 hours in one place."

Yep, people pulling crap out of their asses and hurling them at innocent slashdot readers!"

Some of what I referenced, and much else that appears on that site, is placed in a context that serves the site owner's agenda. However, the material they carry on the Hopi is not by them, and is accurate as far as I am familiar with the subject (which is more than casually).

It is a shame that people like this are the ones carrying the material, rather than anthropologists, despite the fact that the material has been available to them for many years.

So, (1) they are taking perfectly good material and cramming it up their asses along with their own crap, (2) the kind of crap being pulled out of the asses of anthropologists is apparently much more appetizing despite refusal to investigate not only word-of-mouth but also physical evidence because they are "scientific" and so not covering something is taken as evidence of absence, and (3) "innocent slashdot readers" is one of the most ironic combinations of words I've seen in a while.

Quote from http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi1.html

"Today we know that UFO's often hide in what we call Lenticular Clouds, which are cloud formations that seem to be produced to conceal the ships from the visible eye spectrum. Real lenticular clouds move with the rest of the clouds. Whereas the UFO clouds do not - often sitting 5 hours in one place."

Yep, people pulling crap out of their asses and hurling them at innocent slashdot readers!

A good web site for summaries: http://www.crystalinks.com/hopi1.html
Several pages, put together from various sources. Contains a well known talk about an elder from another nation that had traveled to other continents to verify some of the Hopi claims that specific peoples elsewhere started out with the Hopi and had similar cultural bases. That's the "stone tablets" talk. The site isn't the most cleanly arranged so you may have to poke around.

[You'll notice that some of the people who speak authoritatively about and/or for the Hopi are not Hopi. They know this. They often choose them. You'll also find people doing so who are not chosen or even reasonably educated by them. Much of the Wiki entries reflect this.]

The best book is: "Waters, Frank, 1963, Book of the Hopi : The First Revelation Of The Hopi's Historical And Religious Worldview Of Life, Penguin Books, NY, 346 P. THE definitive book concerning the Hopi. Long viewed as the standard work on the tribe, although warnings have been given that the book does contain some outright errors, and things have changed in Hopiland since the book was published. Includes discussion of the religion and myths of the tribe, along with a detailed history. Frank Waters received five nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature."

[Waters is one of those chosen. As for 'outright errors', trust me, you talk to different elders from any tribe, and some of them are going to tell you that some of the things other say is 'wrong'. Not so different here. You'll also find some of the material in the "recent" prophecies was the same 100 years ago, prior to those things happening which were subsequently 'recognized' as having been what was prophesized.]

I can't find much on the web about the Nazca symbols beyond a single quote by one elder who recognized the symbols. What it claims he said is not what I heard, and it appears to me someone is taking advantage of the case to promote their own agenda. I do know that it was two anthropologists (one from Cornell, IIRC) that approached them. There are similar figures in the Four Corners region, made the same way, referenced in "Archeology of Arizona".

And under certain other conditions, people have been known to burst in to flames. Oh wait, no they haven't.

Well...