Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Identify Head of France's King Henry IV
JThaddeus writes "The Associated Press reports that 'After nine months of tests, researchers in France have identified the head of France's King Henry IV.' Henry was assassinated in 1610, and his head has been missing. His body was dug up and decapitated during the French Revolution. Researchers found features similar to those in royal portraits, and radiocarbon dating confirms that the head dates to the 17th Century. Interestingly, 'Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.' The results have been published an online medical journal."
Look. Idle is supposed to be STUPID STUFF that's a waste of time. This isn't idle; it's interesting. I swear that slashdot is getting more and more idiotic every time I log in
He sounds like a great monarch, truly ahead of his time.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
No scientists dug him up. If you RTFA, you will see that he was dug up during the French revolution and posthumously decapitated. The head was then stolen and passed along in "private collections".
The scientists found the head, confirmed that it was the dead kings missing head and, there will be a national burial of the head in a cathedral.
So, essentially, the scientists did exactly the opposite of what you are complaining about.
"Civis Europaeus sum!"
Henry IV part I or Henry IV part II
I don't want to be dug up by scientists writing papers that nobody reads.
Anonymous cowards are dug up and put on public display quite often. Do something noteworthy enough that you get a fancy tomb and you might avoid this fate. Not that the rest of us will be holding our breaths for you to accomplish anything ... we'll just be standing over at the edge of the graveyard with shovels. "Specimen of early 21st-century Homo semi-sapiens trollicus patheticus. Name unknown."
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
You've got options: 1. Get yourself cremated (or dumped into a volcano) 2. Make sure your body is dumped in a pig farm 3. Make sure your body is diced into pieces, and then dumped at sea 4a. Don't do anything noteworthy (preferably with the above) 4b. Do something so noteworthy that you are beloved. State that you must not be embalmed, make sure they plant some real plants above your grave, and make sure there's access for rainwater and natural light in the shrine that would be your tomb. This is a tricky balancing act as you need to be naturally exposed enough to decompose, but protected enough that your fanatic fans won't disinter you for totems (like they did for saints).
Gravity Sucks
French Kind identified by halitosis news at 11!
Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.
I bet the brochures for "perfumers school" does not mention that particular specialty.
...Diego Garcia.
Can you imagine the perfumer...
[Perfumer going about his business mixing civet urine and various fatty acids] Ah that smells lovely!
[Phone rings]
Scientist: Hi! We need your nose for some important historical work.
Perfumer: Right-o!
Scientist: So you know this guy Henry IV? Head chopped off. Lost for ages?
Perfumer to self: Oh crap.. is this going where I think it's going? I read that Süskind novel..
Scientist: Yeah well, we need you to sniff this skull we found!
Perfumer: Jerry... is that you? It's a bit early for April fools.
Scientist: No really! This is important! You can help us solve a huge mystery.
Perfumer: Well... OK [to self: pretty sure this is a set up..]
[Two weeks later]
Perfumer: 30 years in the business, dozens of successful fragrances... and here I am sniffing a skull. Oh! Myrrh!
In all honesty, I would have to say that King Henry's shit would stink, but.. you all probably all knew this.
... Somebody got ahead of him.
Geeks are so full of shit that "beating the crap out of them" takes a whole new meaning.
Jesus, I wish I was in the room.
Scientist 1: SIR! We've found it!
Scientist 2: long pause..."the head"....?
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/10/12/17/0040244/Reading-Level-Filter-Added-To-Google-Search
It has been active on Slashdot for a long time, too bad we never knew it was marketable.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
This reminds me of the Molly Maguires ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Maguires ) , disgruntled Irish coal miners in Pennsylvania. They lopped off peoples' heads. I learned this story in high school in US history. Sometimes the severed heads were just dropped somewhere, and ended up in funeral parlors, who placed them in the window with a note, asking, "Do you know whose head this is?"
At any rate, my history teacher was at a funeral there, and asked the director about the story. He answered, "Sure, it's true, and we still have some of the unclaimed heads in the basement. Do you want to see them?"
She declined.
When a school friend heard of this story, he suggested that we drive his parents' big ole black Cadillac out there, and knock on the door, and shout, "Show us your heads!"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I wish the article had been more clear on why no DNA match could be made. Haven't we done DNA matches on much older samples?
I'm sure this great news will bring closure to his family.
Now they can close this dark chapter of their lives and move on.
hm.
Trolling is a art,
If you don't read the paper, then you won't know they dug you up.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I will never eat Burger King again
http://www.quasarcr.com/
you're unhappy because idle is interesting
slashdot is idiotic, because idle is NOT idiotic
and yes, i agree: i think the concept of being "idiotic" figures heavily in the formation of your opinion
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
and my head was missing again. It's detachable.
Why not? Are you going to be around to give a shit when it happens?
I didn't think so.
"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
So these Frenchies, during the 'frenzy of the Revolution' dug up a king who had been dead a hundred years, lopped off his head, and stole it?
For the love of god, WHY?
4b. Do something so noteworthy that you are beloved. State that you must not be embalmed
Lenin would tell you it doesn't work so well.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Here's a link to the paper in the British Medical Journal, complete with pictures!
~Syberz
'Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.'
400 years of hiding nasty odors, where can I get this deodorant?
My Web Site
> 'Perfumers on the team used their professionally trained noses to identify specific embalming substances in the mouth used to hide nasty odors.'
Worst. Job. Ever.
Someone should send that in to Mike Rowe....
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
But what about the poor people who are losing the use of this head? Shouldn't they be offered a replacement of equal worth?
What do you do with a mumified head anyway? Open pop bottles? Ash tray? Candle holder? How far does "hey, wanna see a head" go anyway?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
We'll be seeing him on Futurama now?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
It was in the Head Museum between Charles de Gaulle and Leonard Nimoy?
It's not his head which has been missing, it's the rest of his body. It was exhumed and scattered in the French revolution, and someone saved the head. Poster did not read TFA!
After nine months of tests, researchers in France have lost their head and they went .... "Gee... Henry was assassinated in 1610, and his head has been missing. We have a head here that dates back to the 17th century. How many people in the 17th century had a head? I guess not many. The portraits show that King Henry 1V indeed had a head. So this must be his head." To put the last nail in the coffin... we will ask one of the 'Perfumers' on the team to take a sniff and if it stinks it must be King Henry IV.
And it gets published in a medical journal!