Earliest Human Beds Found In South Africa 102
sciencehabit writes "A team working in South Africa claims to have found the earliest known sleeping mats, made of plant material and dated up to 77,000 years ago—50,000 years earlier than previous evidence for human bedding. These early mattresses apparently were even specially prepared to be resistant to mosquitoes and other insects."
77,000 years? Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
My friends in the Word,
These atheist-backed scientists have surely fabricated these so-called "sleeping mats," as it is clearly outlined in the Bible that God created Adam and Eve 5,000 years ago. Note that I am not questioning the existence of these mats, as these could have possibly BEEN used by Adam or one of his descendants after being thrown out of Eden, I am questioning the "evidence" of their age from the so-called "carbon-dating" process. I wish these scientists well with their work and pray that they will break free from the yoke of grants from godless individuals and governments.
Your friend,
Jake
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Re:77,000 years? Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
It's a good thing his belief system doesn't believe in karma.
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Unfortunately (or fortunately) you do not need to believe in Karma to be bound by it :D
Re:77,000 years? Bah! (Score:4, Interesting)
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He already did, though I don't recall the username. It was somebody who's pretty reasonable most of the time. A few months ago.
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My scientific friends in the World,
These religious-backed lunatics have surely fabricated these so-called "biblical stories," as it is clearly outlined in the Body of Science evolution created Adam and Eve 5,000 years ago (kidding lolololol, no really more like ~100K+ yrs). Note that I am not questioning the existence of these biblical stories, as these could have possibly BEEN used by the ruling class or one of their descendants after not convincing people to do shit they wanted them to do, I am questioning the "evidence" of their validity from the so-called if you repeat it enough it must be true process. I wish these religious types well with their work and hypothesize that they will break free from the yoke of ignorance of the scientific method and peer validated results verified by individuals and governments.
Your friend, Science
FTFT
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I've got to stop feeding these things.
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Going through his comment history is almost like reading satire, which pulled me in.
It's actually a troll, but it works because he's trolling Christians on a predominantly agnostic/athiest site. There is SO much that gives him away, starting with the "These atheist-backed scientists" as if Christians are anti-science. The fact is, over half of US scientists are, in fact, Christians. From conversations I've had here, many athiests don't think science and religion can coexist, and don't seem to be able to (or
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Some dimwit a couple thousand years ago wrote done a bunch of allegorical crap, and somehow people believed the nonsense.
FTFY
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You are correct, I was in error.
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Heh, sorry McGrew, didn't realize I replied to you. :)
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Hey, I appreciated the correction.
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Douglas Adams wrote about the Orange Catholic Bible that filled 50 intergalactic trucks.
That was Frank Herbert, not Douglas Adams. The 50 intergalactic trucks were for the encyclopedia galactica (which Adams did write about).
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Look up Sextus Julius Africanus.
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Yep. Which is weird. Because you'd think that when someone came up with the 6000 y.o. figure about 1800 years ago, they'd at least be smart enough to add that 1800 years to the origin date. But no. Because It Is Written.
I think these early Christians went on to work in technology marketing. The delivery date is always 6 months out. No matter how much time has past.
Re:77,000 years? Bah! (Score:5, Informative)
They have revised the date a bit. Sextus Julius put it at 5500 BC, while the current estimates, based on the Masoritic text of the Tanakh, are all around 4000 BC. (This also conveniently pushed the date sextus picked for the apocalypse (6000 years after creation) up by about 1500 years.)
Must've been a confusing time for the Sumerians. http://www.theonion.com/articles/sumerians-look-on-in-confusion-as-god-creates-worl,2879/ [theonion.com]
Re:77,000 years? Bah! (Score:5, Funny)
Must've been a confusing time for the Sumerians. http://www.theonion.com/articles/sumerians-look-on-in-confusion-as-god-creates-worl,2879/ [theonion.com]
God must be a consultant. He comes in near the end of a project and takes credit for everything.
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Religion is about stasis. Stasis of a written story that never changes
No? It began as the Torah, and then came Christ and it was added to by his apostles and became the Christian Bible. Then about 600 years later Muhammed added to the Torah and it then was transformed into the Quran. Then after another 1000 years later the Christian bible was added to and Mormanism was born.
Sorry for your ignorance, fellow.
A safe world with a father figure that makes sure that nothing changes
Except it diid. Before Christ, s
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No? It began as the Torah,
What do you mean by 'it'?
You have mentioned three religions, all of which have regularly engaged in blood feuds over the ownership of the 'truth'. Feuds that have cost the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
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You just strengthened my argument, which was that the OP was wrong and religion does in fact change. I pointed out one example. Another is Hinduism evolving into Bhuddism. IINM both those religions are older than Judism.
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And they got the idea from the Jews. :-)
Who have been saying the same thing ~1500 years longer
Go to http://www.jpost.com/ [jpost.com]
The dates there are:
"Fri, Dec 9, 2011
13 Kislev, 5772"
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And they of course got it from the Mesopotamians [wikipedia.org] ... along with half a dozen other things in the bible.
Everyone just keeps recycling the same stories, keeps pretending it's something new to them.
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Maybe you should understand the dating process ?
NO, no, then you would just have to find some other way to delude yourself.
Genesis is an alagory.
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we are taking advice from someone who uses a browser that doesn't have spell checking. Equally alarming.
Anyone here without a spell checking browser is at work on an XP computer running IE 6 or IE 7. Who her eis stupid enough to risk his job installing a browser when policy forbids it just to spell correctly in slashdot comments, especially since most here don't seem to know lose from loose, there from their from they're, and have no clue how to use an apostrophe, and more importantly when not to use one?
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Dude, he's trolling. He doesn't believe a word of what he says. Please, guys, stop feeding the trolls! I come her to read interesting comments, not anti-religion trolls in a thread that religion has no place in that some dim witted moderators think is funny. "Pastor" Jake Golf's comment should be sitting at -1 troll/flamebait rather than +4 funny. It's about as funny as that movie Dumb And Dumber -- not at all. It's just stupid. Bury the fucker.
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You were funnier when you where doing Dr Bob the chiropractor.
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Mods fail at sarcasm. News at 11.
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Dear Jake,
you lack common sense.
God created the world and the universe and also the laws to which this universe works. So obviously he has created the carbon isotopes and the way how they decay.
Also keep in mind for one who can craft whole universes it must be easy to deposite some sleeping mats that "look as if" they are 77,000 years old.
So, the scientists are correct. Their methods are correct. The only question is: w
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God put those beds there to test us.
So those are testbeds then?
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Excuse me, sir, but are you the famous Reverend Golf I've heard so much about?
You're gonna be really upset... (Score:2)
They found the world's oldest porn hidden under those world's oldest beds.
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Re:Slow (Score:5, Funny)
SLOW day at Slashdot.
Slow day.
You could just go lay down on a bed and talk a nap instead of reading slashdot then.
Malm? (Score:4, Funny)
Did it come from IKEA?
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No, because it was assembled and recognizable as a bed. If it came from IKEA, it would have been just a pile of parts next to a mammoth bone hex key wrench and a in-decipherable pictogram instruction set, written on mammoth skin. There would either be too many or too few mammoth bone screws. The pictogram would bear no resemblance to the pictogram in the mammoth skin IKEA catalog.
FTFA:
"The rock shelter would have been abandoned when food supplies became low, or when the site became unpleasant to live in because it smelled bad, had lots of decaying organic material, or was overrun with pests such as insects or rodents."
Those conditions never stopped me from moving out of my bachelor pad. Obviously, early human chicks possessed the capa
This only proves that they were smoking in bed (Score:3, Funny)
It's a nasty habit that I've been trying to quit for 77,000 years.
Whaaaaa?? (Score:5, Funny)
For people wondering how a mattress could possibly be mosquito resistant it was because it was made out of a specific plant that was a natural insecticide.
Which begs the question, was that lost technology? I don't see Africans using it for the past couple thousand years or anyone else.
My favorite from the article:
"There were no rules for separate eating, working, or sleeping places," she says. "Breakfast in bed may have been an almost daily occurrence."
Perhaps not. I am sure there was the, "Don't touch Thag's shit rule" though.
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Which raises the question, was that lost technology?
FTFY
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Which begs the question, was that lost technology? I don't see Africans using it for the past couple thousand years or anyone else.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocotea_bullata
The mosquito repelling tree in question is 1) also called Stinkwood 2) an overforested species.
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Which begs the question
You keep using those words.
I do not think they mean what you think they mean.
Ah, but what do you care if your contribution to the dilution helps to lose us an important tool to combat logical fallacies? [wikipedia.org]
You speak of their lost technology, while actively ignoring and destroying your own.
Re:Whaaaaa?? (Score:5, Funny)
Wow.
Thank You. My informal use of an oft misquoted phrase was inexcusable. I have been shamed sir, and I hereby undertake not to make any such utterances in the future, as it offends all civilized people, bruises fruit, and scares children. I humbly ask your pardon and your continued tolerance of my rampant ignorance.
Your generous attention to my logical and grammatical failures all the more impressive and deeply moving, since it meant taking you away from the wild parties, Grammar Nazi groupie orgies, and generally, a life of fame, fortune, and excitement to come call me out on the Internets in the middle of the night.
I shall name my two first born sons (twins god willing) Vortex and Cortex in your honor sir.
Forever grateful, My I please have another,
Ed III
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I can not agree more!
However to increase your self punishment I allow myself to suggest to order the names of your sons alphabetically: Cortex and Vortex. In case (god forbid!) you get two girls I would suggest Cortexia and Vortyxia as names.
If you get a girl and a boy, please make sure you only pick one name starting with a V and one name starting with a C ... mind the gender.
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You can savely assume that "begging the question" and the idiom "This begs the question" are two different things.
The second term/idiom means: "it (the question) comes to mind". Other languages have similar idioms, e.g. in german: "Dies wirft die Frage auf, ob ..."
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Language evolves, I have come to accept. And that is a stupid name for a logical fallacy anyway, especially if you know what the common usage of "begging" is. People say what they have heard, irregardless of how correct it is.
Informing people is one thing, correcting someone is futile. Here's why. Someone uses a phrase because that's the way they heard or read it. For every person, you have a source and probably several peer audience members who heard/read the same thing. You would have to build a tim
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It means he "mined" his post with grammaticl and spelling traps to get you to post in response.
In other words.. he created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Either that or he is just stoopid.
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Informing people is one thing, correcting someone is futile.
Depends on who the someone is. If I misuse a phrase and someone corrects me, I'm grateful for the lesson; I like to learn.
Of course, it depends on their tone of "voice".
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So do you.
Look, the reality is when Oxford [oxforddictionaries.com] says "However , over the last 100 years or so another, more general use has arisen: "invite an obvious question" ... This is by far the commonest use today and is the usual one in modern standard English." ... your definition from formal logic is nice and all, but no longer definitive.
English is a hodge-podge of a bunch of different languages, filled with idioms, and changes over time. Ju
No doubt ... (Score:5, Funny)
I almost feel surprised; (Score:3, Funny)
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Is that all? My villagers always required 2 meat to make a bed.
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I don't think he's that old (Score:2)
he definitely has been around for a while though :p
I bet Zog invented it... (Score:2)
Astounding: Protruding Leaf on Each Mattress (Score:5, Funny)
Dr. Wadley today announced an incredible discovery relating to the prehistoric mattresses, each had a protruding leaf with sub-millimeter perforations. These perforations outlined words on the leaves: "Do Not Remove Under Penalty of Law. Tongati River Mattress Works. Composition 35% Sedges, 40% Rushes, 25% Grasses. Machine Wash Cold. Do Not Bleach. Machine Drying May Degrade Flame Retardant, Please Hang Dry".
Ancient cave art also found (Score:3)
Believed to depict a woman placing her cold-ass feet on the back of a male sleeping on the same cot.
These dates keep ketting pushed back (Score:3)
That's fine and all part of science - learning naturally alters what you know. From that perspective, it's hardly a surprise. Earliest dates for cooking, advanced stone tool making, etc, have been pushed back by far more significant amounts this year. Domestication of horses may also have been much earlier, but for some curious reason the scholars there have... ...declined to release the data. Anyways, I don't regard that part as being particularly news.
The newsworthy elements to this story:
* Further evidence of abstract and indirect thinking in early humans, pretty much putting beyond question that these skills existed back then
* Further evidence of society evolving gradually rather than in big leaps
* Further evidence that archaeology is massively underfunded given its contributions to understanding of the human condition
* Further evidence that academics in the field are completely incapable of communicating with each other, as there would otherwise be no surprise
This could lead to something big! (Score:1)
So it's a mattress ...right? People sleep and do stuff on them....right? So they test all the shit they find and do some DNA tests ....right? Then they grow one of them ...like in the movie ...right? And bingo....we know what, and where we came from.....right? I mean there has to be some spilt sperm left over.....Right?
chimps make tree-nests every night (Score:2)
Lean on details (Score:1)
Respawn Location? (Score:1)