bagoven20 - The New Veneration

Ethanol, Alternative Energy, Brazil, etc.

2007-05-09T04:24:00.000-07:00

Tatsulok by Bamboo

2007-03-02T20:55:00.000-08:00

I still remember this song about twenty years ago by Buklod. Only available through underground and semiunderground youth movements and radical music circles. Now this is being rebroadcast by Bamboo with so much boldness. These days rebellion has come to mainstream or it has become cool??? Or maybe Bamboo can do it with impunity. Though anyone can interpret the song any other way. Like the eternal situation of the sons overthrowing their fathers or a new order taking over from the old.

Tatsulok
(Buklod/ Bamboo)

I.

Totoy bilisan mo, bilisan mo ang takbo
Ilagan ang mga bombang nakatutok sa ulo mo
Totoy tumalon ka, dumapa kung kailangan
At baka tamaan pa ng mga balang ligaw

Totoy makinig ka, 'wag kang magpa-gabi
Baka mapagkamalan ka't humundusay dyan sa tabi
Totoy alam mo ba kung ano ang puno't dulo
Ng di matapos-tapos na kaguluhang ito

Refrain:
Hindi pula't dilaw tunay na magkalaban
Ang kulay at tatak ay 'di s'yang dahilan
Hangga't marami ang lugmok sa kahirapan
At ang hustisya ay para lang sa mayaman

Chorus:
Habang may tatsulok at sila ang nasa tuktok
'Di matatapos itong gulo

II.
At ang dating munting bukid, ngayo'y sementeryo
Totoy kumilos ka, baliktarin ang tatsulok
Tulad ng dukha, na ilagay mo sa tuktok

(Repeat Refrain & Chorus)

(Repeat Refrain & Chorus)
(Repeat Chorus)

'Di matatapos itong gulo... oh...
0 0

As they say in 'that' old song "justice will explode like a volcano".

You may hear song as a background on a site here. Or if you have fast connections and you can afford Youtube Bamboo's live act here. If that youtube clip is lost or redirected you may check another site here with another youtube link

I'll translate this later for English-only readers. And some other protest songs as well of years gone by. In memory of my long lost brave friends.

Another Volcano Experience

2007-03-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

Im posting here pictures from my other volcano experience about two years ago, in the province of my mother Albay. Before the most recent calamity of late 2006.

Anti-Copyright from Wikipedia Feb. 19, 2007

2007-02-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-copyright

Anti-copyright
Anti-copyright refers to the opposition to copyright laws. Critics of copyright include infoanarchists, anticopyright, copyfight and copyleft groups, and organizations such as Creative Commons and the Electronic Frontier Foundation[citation needed].
"Anti-copyright" is also a phrase without legal meaning which may be placed in anti-copyright statements that are added to works in order to encourage wider distribution.

Arguments against copyright
The classic argument for personal copyright is to grant developers property rights to encourage further development work by giving the developer a source of income. Those against copyright suggest that income to a developer must be generated by other means, for several reasons:

Making the developer dependent on a system that requires enforcement directly ties them to large corporate entities which are able to carry out this enforcement, but may at the same time limit creative output to that which is compatible with corporate/capitalist ideology.

Copyright was intended as, and until recently has been used mostly for, a regulation on commercial and for-profit use of creative works. While technically most copyright laws applied to individuals making copies, it was only the advent of the personal computer that made it possible for individuals to copy significant amounts of information. Many argue that this new ability calls for a fundamental change to, or the abolition of copyright.

Enforcement mechanisms such as digital rights management endanger existing consumer rights like fair use, and can be used to further tie creators to the corporate entities that control this technology since even a use which may be legally considered fair use may be hampered or rendered impossible by the technological restrictions. "Trusted computing" platforms may refuse to play, display or execute content that is not properly "certified" by central authorities.
Little known creators depend on distribution to become popular -- for them, copyright limits their potential outreach, and donations may be a better option. Well known creators can always ask for money from their fans upfront (Street Performer Protocol).

Article 8 of the Berne Convention may have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and may force an overseas audience to learn the language that the medium in the question is published in, and can cause a foreign company to act against its overseas audience. International copyright law is regarded as controversial by the video game, anime, and manga communities in the United States and Europe, such as Fan translation, Scanlation, and Fansub.

Historically, copyright originated only in the last few centuries. Creativity flourished well before copyright existed.

The European Renaissance saw a burgeoning of intellectual talent, the like of which has not been seen since. It occurred before the existence of copyrights, and was spurred by artists copying each other's techniques and works without legal restriction. The argument that copyright law protects and encourages development is seen by many as hype intended to provide moral justification for laws which in fact are there to protect the incomes and wealth of copyright holders, many of whom are not the original developers anyway. The ease and convenience of being able to obtain and preserve many intellectual works across the Internet, it is argued, will lead to greater development if copyright law is abolished. Whilst it may not be possible for popular artists and their agents to make as much money in this scenario, it is likely that popular artists will still be able to make a living by means of advertising and product promotion, as they do at present or perhaps by busking, if that is the only option open to them.

While some are in favor of limited copyright terms, copyrights in many countries last for periods longer than a human lifetime. Even if a limited copyright period still offered a beneficial result, these long copyright terms hold content back far longer than necessary.

Many argue that copyright is inherently contrary to the ideals of free speech and expression which are valued highly by free societies.

Some companies abuse copyright privileges by suing or threatening to sue those who clearly are within their rights under fair use, but who cannot afford to defend themselves in court.
Information is not conducive to the same treatment as real property, due to its status as a nonrival good.

Frequently, content creators do not hold their own copyrights, instead relinquishing them to publishers, producers, and the like, through contractual arrangements.
An economy operating under intellectual property rules is not Pareto efficient, and hence said to be less prosperous than an unrestricted economy, if it is presumed that copyright is a hindrance rather than a help to innovation.

Socialist anarchists believe ideas and knowledge should not be owned or controlled. This is perhaps best summed up in Pierre-Joseph Proudhon's slogan Property is theft!. These anarchists do not believe in the concepts of plagiarism, copyright or "theft" of other people's ideas. Libertarian socialists have customarily not prosecuted one another for copyright "violations" and usually do not provide royalties when translating or republishing each others works.

Copyrights are selfish; they place the good of the one (the creator) over the good of the many (the audience). Instead of allowing a work to be improved and redistributed by those who may be more qualified than the original author, works are restricted in the name of monetary profit. For example, a commercially sold Encyclopedia's content cannot be updated or redistributed by the readers, while Wikipedia's content can be shared with and updated by all people.

[edit] Anti-copyright notices
Statements for waiving copyright are legally required because, under the Berne Convention in international copyright law, works are protected even if no copyright statement is attached to them. However, "anti-copyright" statements typically do not take the form of either sophisticated open content licenses or a simple dedication to the public domain; instead, they may just encourage wide distribution. It is possible to denounce all claims to copyright in a work including moral rights in a written disclaimer.

A formal copyright waiver may state the following:
The author of this work hereby waives all claim of copyright (economic and moral) in this work and immediately places it in the public domain; it may be used, distorted or destroyed in any manner whatsoever without further attribution or notice to the creator.

However a casual anti-copyright notice, as often found in socialist anarchist magazines and books, may simply read:
Anti-Copyright! Reprint freely, in any manner desired, even without naming the source.

The latter is less accurate and needs to be interpreted individually as the term "anti-copyright" has no accepted legal meaning. For example, if just free distribution is encouraged, modification or lack of attribution is still illegal, making the material ineligible for collaborative writing projects like Wikipedia. In such a case anti-copyright is not a true denial of copyright, but just a reduction of the protection it affords copyright holders.

Suzanne Maine Lecture Series

2007-02-19T21:27:00.000-08:00

From http://www.archive.org/details/suzannemainelecture1

First part of a two-part lecture series on the crisis in copyright, given by Dylan Suzanne at the University of Maine, in November 2004. For further information, please visit http://www.dylansuzanne.info/mainelectures.html

Abstract:

I argue that contemporary strong copyright protection cannot survive digital technologies, and, further, that this is for the best in the end.

Strong copyright legislation once served a purpose: through the commodification of ideas and expressions, it encouraged creation of works that served the public good, but which would not have been created without its guarantee of a temporary artificial monopoly. As the means of production have become available to the public through digital technologies, the copyright industries have become themselves revolutionary, giving rise to a spontaneous communist economy. Industrial capitalists, however, have not allowed this to occur peacefully, but are engaging in a program of governmentally legitimated repression in order to bring about feudalism within information society. The benefits intended for the public are increasingly being seized by corporations, and the limitations meant for industry are increasingly being placed upon the public.

Hence, I argue that our duty as citizens is to work towards the radical reduction of copyright protection, and that our duty as members of the public is to riot in the digital streets; to share, to download, and to copy. Rip, mix, and burn!

Manila and Philippine Maps from EZ and others

2007-02-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

Bits of maps from EZ. You may find them at http://www.ezmaps.info

Here is another map link from condomillion- a real state company
http://www.condomillion.com/maps/philippines/maps.htm

And a Manila map with korean characters from a japanese site
http://myhome.shinbiro.com/~heiplan/images/manila-map2.jpg

Taal Volcano # 2 on Y Travel Reviews for Philippines

2007-02-05T23:42:00.000-08:00

Taal Lake and Volcano is in no.2 spot of Yahoo Travel Reviews for the Philippines. See
yahoo travel guide for taal and travel reviews

It is actually behind the Iglesia ni Cristo Churches- which is considered by many travelers as "uniquely Filipino architecture".
iglesia travel reviews
from:
travelguide- things to do in manila

Manila Made it to Top 5 of Travel Searches for 2007

2007-01-30T02:09:00.000-08:00

From http://travel.yahoo.com/p-interests-17773284

Where Are Travelers Heading In 2007?

By Katherine Tom, Senior Editor, Yahoo! TravelDecember 20, 2006

Curious where travelers are headed in the coming year? We took a look at the most popular searches on Yahoo! FareChase to see which cities folks are flocking to in 2007. On the domestic list, perennial travel favorite Las Vegas shows no signs of ceding the top spot, while sunny Florida dominates the rest of the list, with five out of the top 10 searches.We did note a few surprises on the international list, including the appearance of Frankfurt and Manila in the top 5. Visitors rave about Frankfurt's shopping and architecture, while Manila attracts budget travelers looking for beaches and nightlife. Of course, more traditional travel destinations like Paris and Rome made the list as well, placing at 7th and 8th respectively.

Top Domestic Travel Searches - 2007
1.Las Vegas, Nevada
2. Orlando, Florida
3. New York City, New York
4. Honolulu, Hawaii
5. Miami, Florida
6. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
7. Los Angeles, California
8. Tampa, Florida
9. Phoenix, Arizona
10. Ft. Myers, Florida

Top International Travel Searches - 2007
1. London, United Kingdom
2. Cancun, Mexico
3. Frankfurt, Germany
4. San Juan, Puerto Rico
5. Manila, Phillipines
6. Bangkok, Thailand
7. Paris, France
8. Rome, Italy
9. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tagaytay Movie

2007-01-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

Tagaytay Movie as posted from Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujoZN319dHk

A Trip to Tagaytay City Last Year (January 2006)

2007-01-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

A Trip to Tagaytay City Last Year January 2006 (dont mind some of the date captions, I forgot to update the date of my digital cam from reset). P800 FX taxi ride from Sta. Rosa, Laguna to Residence Inn. That is P100 peso each for all of us (Me and Athens, the three youngsters, our "kasambahay" and an eternal friend of ours).

From Taal Vista

2007-01-29T22:12:00.000-08:00

From Taal Vista Hotel.....
http://www.regit.com/regitel/philipin/cavite/taalvis/

Rising 2250 ft. above the sea level, Tagaytay Ridge offers a breathtaking view of the picturesque volcanic terrain of Taal, "an island within a lake within an island within a lake within an island!"Nowhere along the Ridge is this scenic gem better appreciated than by the view deck of Taal Vista Hotel, a Tagaytay City landmark favored by thousands of first-time and returning visitors.Picture-pretty sights, clean cool mountain air and gracious amenities blend to sustain the enchantment of Taal. As relished from the view deck of Taal Vista Hotel.

Taal Lake, a lake within an island within a lake

2007-01-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Taal Lake, a lake within an island within a lake

From http://www.psdn.org.ph/wetlands/taal.htm

Taal Lake

Taal Lake, a lake within an island within a lake. The island is the Taal Volcano, one of the world’s smallest volcanoes, yet one of the Philippines’ most dangerous volcanoes.
Scientists believe that a massive prehistoric eruption blew the top of the then much larger Taal Volcano, causing it to cave in on itself forming an immense crater or caldera. Into this massive bowl, the nearby seawater rushed in, filling it, and creating a 30-kilometer diameter lake which exists to this day. Then over the centuries, a new and much smaller volcanic crater was formed and rose above the lake’s surface, creating a unique lake within an island within a lake.
One can get a close-up look at Taal in its splendor by crossing the large crater lake which surrounds the volcano and then trek to the top of the volcanic island to peer down into Taal’s own crater lake.
The water of the outer lake, although sulfur bubbles up from some spots along the shore, is fresh and is known to be the habitat of many fishes like carp and eel. The lake is also the home to the only known species of sea snakes (Hydrophis semperi) which have somehow learned to adapt to fresh water. Maliputo and tawilis (Harengula tawilis), the more popular fishes found in the lake, also have salt-water fishlike characteristics.
The mood of the much smaller inner crater-lake contrasts to the silent blue waters of the outer lake. The shores are rocky, harsh and barren. The only sign of life are the strands of tall feathery cogon grass and the big black crows sitting on the high rocks. Although it is approximately 20 meters deep, no fish are found to be living in the dark waters. The water is highly diluted form of sulfuric acid containing large amount of magnesium, aluminum, and sodium.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

TAAL LAKE: Protected Landscape (Proclamation No. 906)

Date Established: 06 October 1996

Location: Province of Batangas, and Tagaytay City (60 kilometers from Metro Manila)

Area : 62,292.1369 hectares

Source: Our Nature Heritage - The Protected Areas of the Philippines
Published by: Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Philippine Airlines Foundation, Inc.
Foundation for the Philippine Environment

The Saltwater Origins of Maliputo and Tawiles, the fishes of Taal

2007-01-29T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Saltwater Origins of Maliputo and Tawiles, the fishes of Taal

From the site http://www.sei.dost.gov.ph/finals_coll/coll09/tagaytay.html

What Lies Beneath by Troy Bernardo

Tales of lost cities, submerged ancient ruins, and peculiar creatures abound beneath the calm, murky surface of many lakes. Tagaytay's lakes are no exception.

Back in prehistoric times, the area of Tagaytay, including the surrounding provinces of Cavite and Batangas, were all part of a massive volcano estimated to be 18,000 feet high. An eruption caused its collapse into the complex's 20x30 km Taal caldera, one of the great volcano-tectonic depressions of the world, with a channel opening towards Balayan Bay.

This channel between the sea and what is now known as Lake Taal was traced in maps and documents from the 1500s to the 1700s. Along its shores, numerous towns mushroomed. In 1572, Taal Volcano erupted again, burying the nearby towns in ash, lava, and mud laced with sulfuric acid, which chemically burned victims to death.

In 1754, Taal Volcano decided to give its environs a geographic makeover. The eruption that year, which early Augustinian priests reported as having lasted up to six months, pulverized all the towns along the shores, sealed the open channel to the sea, and surrounded the volcano with its own sea-water lake. That same year, the monsoon season filled Lake Taal up to 10 meters, effectively turning it into fresh water.

Between 1572 to the present, Taal Volcano erupted more than 41 times.

Just Below the Surface

Thomas Hargrove, author of The Mysteries of Taal: A Philippine Volcano and Lake, Her Sea Life and Lost Towns, conducted around seventy dives into Taal Lake for his book, revealing exactly what lies beneath her placid surface. First, the lake has a uniform depth of about 30 feet all around it, and on its muddy floor rests an ancient beach littered with seashells.

Second, because of its salt water origins, Taal Lake is home to the only known species of a venomous black and white sea snake that breeds in fresh water, Hydrophis semperi . A document published by the US Naval Medical Research Station (Watt and Theakston) in 1985 recorded, in Taal Lake, the "first series of sea snake bites occurring in freshwater," thus defining it as an oxymoron: freshwater sea snake bite. The record also proved eight confirmed bites and one death in a small fishing village on its shore, and in three of the eight cases, antibodies to the Hydrophis venom were detected. These snakes often surface. Another creature in Taal Lake is the fish called maliputo and tawilis, which both share saltwater fish-like characteristics. Tawilis , according to Peter J.P. Whitehead of the British Museum of Natural History, "is the only species of Sardinella that is found mainly in fresh water."

Sharks, too, were said to have swum once in the lake. Dr. Dioscoro Rabor studied their biology personally before overfishing completely eradicated the shark population in the 1930s. Third, and perhaps most interesting, are the sunken pre-Spanish towns. The first and second sites of Taal Town, and even the second site of Lipa during the early 1600s can be found on Taal Lake's floor. Visibility, however, is usually zero.

Lake Placid

Another lake to explore is Crater Lake, a small pool thick with a diluted form of sulfuric acid with high concentration of boron, magnesium, aluminum and sodium in salt form, found at the crater of Tall Volcano. Until 1965, most major eruptions were from this main crater. The first recorded scuba dive inside Crater Lake was made in 1986 by Hargrove and his team, which also resulted in the exploration of a tiny island in the lake.

Contrary to what people think, one can actually take a dip in Crater Lake. Just remember - because of its wicked brew - not to stay too long.

Google Earth Photos of Taal Volcano

2007-01-23T22:55:00.000-08:00

Here are Google Earth map photos of Taal Volcano and its locations in the Philippines.

2007-01-23T02:30:00.000-08:00

Taal the Lost Atlantis? Destroyed like Italy’s Pompei?

Atlantis, the mythical paradise island was described by Plato including its destruction by cataclysm like Italy’s unfortunate Pompei. It is subject to various speculations including whether it really existed or not in the past or where it was located. Many “experts” claimed as any layman would expect it to be in the Atlantic Ocean. Hence the name.

But just asking was there any recorded major cataclysmic event which would qualify the present Atlantic Ocean to be the point where a continent as large as “Libya” and Asia Minor combined would have submerged? Was there any relic or volcanic sediments which could give evidence on the Ocean west of the Pillars of Heracles (i.e. the Straits of Gibraltar) as the final resting place of the people with high-technology and morality?

We propose a new location for Atlantis in Southeast Asia and we support this claim with linguistic, Plato and Strabo’s text/report, ancient maps and myth analysis. Archaelogical digs are scarce in this region, especially on the flooded continental sea shelves, and deep below volcanic deposits. We hope to stimulate investigations.

Prof. Arysio Nunes dos Santos, a Brazilian nuclear-physicist in his site http://www.atlan.org gives these comments on the Canaries islands as the one being pinpointed by supporters of the Atlantic Ocean location of Atlantis:

----“Many Atlantologists have proposed that the Canary Islands are the remainder of a sunken Atlantis, being the lofty volcanic peaks left behind when the lost continent foundered. However, the Canary islands rise directly from the deep ocean floor, from a depth of some 3,000 meters below the surface. Indeed, they are a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, having been formed by submarine volcanoes at the end of the Tertiary Age (circa 2.5 million years ago).Their lavas consist of basalts and trachytes, the typical material of submarine, non-explosive volcanism typical of seabottoms”.
“Due to both their age and their origin, the Canarian volcanoes can hardly be invoked to account for the conflagration that erased Atlantis off the map. Instead, this type of basaltic, submarine volcanism is nowadays perfectly well understood geologically speaking. Such volcanoes result from the upwelling magma that forms the Continental Plates, according to the theory of Plate Tectonics, and are a feature of all oceanic regions of the world. Hence, the claims made by certain Atlantologists such as P. Termier, I. Donnelly, C. Berlitz and many others that the Canaries or the Azores, or the Madeiras are the remains of sunken Atlantis do not hold water at all”.-----

Dr. dos Santos went on to argue that in actuality the term west of the “Pillar of Hercules” is a perfect (Mirror of) illusion made by some unknown people to hide the original location of Atlantis. More likely the original Pillar of Hercules is something similar in the Far Orient. The nearest would be the strait situated between Aden in Yemen and the closest land in the Horn of Africa (Somalia and Ethiopia). Moving further east it could be the strait between Java and Sumatra. Although Dr. dos Santos himself stop at Indonesia or Sumatra as the exact location for Atlantis.

Dr. Dos Santos went on to speak about the Mirror of Illusion:
------“The motif of the Mirror of Illusion occurs even in the Americas and, particularly among the Gnostics such as the Cathars and others. The Phoenicians indeed held that the Pillars of Hercules of Gibraltar were a "mirror image" of those located in the Orient, as some of their coins specifically illustrate. Interestingly enough, Maya (the male avatar of the Mayâ) is the Great Architect, the luciferine deity of the Gnostics and the enlightened civilizer of humanity. Maya (masculine of Mayâ) is also the builder of legendary Lanka, the city and capital of the worldwide empire that was the actual archetype of Atlantis”.-----

In one of his figures he showed two Phoenician coins illustrating the true Pillars of Hercules in the Far East, and their illusory reflection in Gibraltar.

In another article by a certain Bill Lauritzen on the web www.earth360.com/his.atlantis.htmlOn it he argued that the term “Atlantic Ocean” today is confusing. The fact is that the Ancient Egyptians consider all the waters which surround Africa as “Atlantic”. In effect it means that the present Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Seas beyond (including the then unnamed Pacific) as “Atlantic”.

Mr. Lauritzen went on to say:
-----“In addition, there is evidence that the Atlantic Ocean did not originally refer to what it refers to now. In ancient times people may have considered what we now call the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea to be part of the Atlantic Ocean. Alexander Bessmerty states, regarding the Asian scholar Karst,

Very remarkable is [Karst’s] observation that according to the earliest language forms the Atlantis Sea was considered as double, with an eastern basin and a western basin. In its original sense the concept of Libya and Ethiopia was applied to countries in south-western Asia, in touch with the Indo-Arabian ocean; but this sense gradually fell into disuse and the words, losing their locality value, became applied to the African territory in the other Atlantic basin. For Strabo the South Asiatic sea is still an ‘atlantic’ sea which he supposes to be joined to the western Atlantic sea ..

If one takes a globe and turns it over so that the South Pole is at the top, and then orients the globe so that Egypt is at the bottom and center (ancient Egyptians considered the south to be “up” on their maps, so this is the way they would have viewed it), one will see Africa sticking “up” into a large body of water. The continent of South America will be barely visible on the right, and the islands of Indonesia will be barely visible on the left. This large body of water may have been the “Atlantic” at one time.

It should be remarked that Atlantis was located “in front of” the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar separating Europe and Africa). However, this could also mean “beyond” the Pillars of Hercules.”-----

With these discussions we cast doubt on the “present Atlantic Ocean” location of Atlantis.
Now if Atlantis was in Indonesia or Southeast Asia where exactly might it have been.

Geologists now have evidence of a massive landmass in Southeast Asia called Sundaland which sank in three stages during the final phases of the last Ice Age (Pleistocene circa 12000-10000 BCE).

Robert Hall, a British geologist working in Southeast Asia gives this finding about Sundaland:
-----“Sundaland includes the large area of shallow seas (Sunda Shelf) between Indochina, Borneo, Java and Sumatra. This continental region has been in a similar position with respect to Asia from the early
Mesozoic and since then has been largely emergent or submerged to very shallow depths. It is now surrounded on three sides by subduction and collision zones

Subsidence began between the Paleocene and Oligocene. It is not clear if basin initiation was synchronous or if there was a systematic diachroneity. The older parts of most basins are terrestrial, commonly unfossiliferous, and the deeper parts are unsampled. Some of the basins
may contain sediment supplied from Asia following India collision but most was probably locally derived. For example, deep circum-Borneo basins are filled by sediment derived from Borneo which supplied sediment at a similar rate to the Himalayas during the Neogene. Such estimates of long-term sediment yields are consistent with estimates of current rates which suggest that SE Asian islands provide about 20- 25% of the sediment to the global ocean, although they represent only
about 2% of global land area and are topographically rather low. Despite long-term fall of global sea level since the early Miocene there was a change to marine conditions in about late Miocene. There was Miocene inversion in the southern part of the Sunda Shelf and also Mio-Pliocene mountain-building at the subduction margins of Sundaland. These events are difficult to explain in terms of plate
motions, which suggest relatively continuous subduction at the Sunda- Java trenches.”-----

This same Sundaland continent (someone said bigger than the North American Continent) and its subsequent submergence inspired Stephen Oppenheimer’s “Eden in the East” book. “Eden in the East” affirmed the Biblical deluge of Noah as true and it was this Flood which caused the so-called Austronesian expansions across the world which fertilized worldwide Neolithic cultures into blossoming inter-connected civilizations. The book further suggests the existence of a high culture and large population on the Sundaland basin before it sank.

But where exactly in Sundaland might Atlantis have been? Was it really the present Sundaland basin which was the exact place of Atlantis? Or was it in the outlying islands of Southeast Asia which were of course part of an older greater Sundaland continent?

Atlantis according to Plato was an island with almost oblong or rectangular-like dimensions of 555 kilometers long and 370 kilometers wide. Oppenheimer in some of his discussions somehow alludes to Islands Southeast Asia as locations for the center of Austronesian expansions. He suggest sometimes Moluccas, sometimes the other islands and sometimes Borneo. But Borneo was a landmass during those predeluvian times and it still is today. How about Java? It has a volcano near it called “Anak Krakatau” which could have caused Atlantis to submerge, it may well be Atlantis. But theories on linguistics and Austronesian expansions put Java and Molluccas as speaking Hesperonesian languages or younger branches of Austronesian. These are according to the model of Bernd Nothofer and partly as well as by Professor Robert Blust, the most distinguished and most respected of Austronesianists . Moreover Java is part of that landmass which would make up the Sundaland continent.

Going back to Mollucas or Maluku of today a good part of it is populated by people who speaks non-Austronesian tongues. It is unlikely to be Atlantis.

How about the other places who speaks Old Hesperonesian branches of Austronesian? And they are Sulawesi (Celebes isles), the Philippine Islands and Western Sumatra. Western Sumatra must also be eliminated because it is part of a landmass today and was before the Flood. How about Sulawesi? Seems perfect as square if part of it has not submerged. Although it would be more than 700 km from the nearest ends even if it has not submerged.

How about Mindanao and the other Philippine Islands? Somebody would argue that they may not be the ones because no linguists before consider them as probably the “source” and archaeology there is young. No relics and fossils to conclude that they were the “first” since the earliest written documents are just around 900 AD. (good website on Taal describe it as:
-----“Taal is the most active volcanic center in the Southern Tagalog Volcanic Field (STVF), a region immediately south of the Metro Manila area. It is often dubbed as a killer volcano because the suddenness and violence of many of its eruptions has repeatedly caused disastrous lost of human lives and destruction of property. Although the volcano has been relatively quiet since 1977, swarms of seismic events excite the monitoring network from time to time. The latest swarm of earthquakes occurred last February 14, 1992, accompanied by ground cracking and increased steaming activity on the Volcano Island (see Global Volcanism Network Bulletin, vol. 17, 1992).

Historically active Volcano Island, together with its underwater and lakeshore vents, is the best known part of a much larger volcanic complex dominated by the 20x30 km Taal caldera, one of the great volcano-tectonic depressions of the world. This young volcanic complex has a long, but little known history of catastrophic explosive volcanism affecting the southwestern part of Luzon, including the Southern Tagalog Region and the Metro Manila area. The explosivity that characterizes prehistoric and recent volcanism in the region is enhanced by the area's proximity to sea level and high water table, which results in powerful phreatomagmatic eruptions.

Previous work shows that the caldera has produced eruptions one to two orders of magnitude larger and more devastating than those of Mount Pinatubo. These have deposited massive ignimbrites, including the deposits of turbulent pyroclastic flows, and widespread tephra fall units in recent geologic time (Wolfe and Self, 1983; Geronimo, 1988). Accompanying this volcanism has been extensive volcaniclastic sedimentation, dominated by deposition of hyperconcentrated streamflows and lahars in low-lying subaerial and shallow marine environments.”------

What makes Taal interesting is its seemingly fitting the description of Plato’s Atlantis in some respect.

Plato’s Atlantis is said to be located in the center of a vast island 555 km. long and 370 km wide. If you convert the written 3000 x 2000 stadia with 1 stadia to aproximately 185 meters (there are other approximations but they are mostly around 177-193 meters per stade).

Taal is located in the center of the island of Luzon. From Taal volcano island to the northern tip of Luzon (Aparri, Cagayan) is 555 km (plus or minus 20 km) and going southeast to Bicol peninsula at the furthest end of Sorsogon is just like it around 370 km (plus or minus 20 km). Luzon island is not of course rectangular these days. It is irregular. But in some of Oppenheimer’s maps, there suggests a large chunk of real state on its eastern portion which was submerged at a depth of 50 to 100 meters.

The Taal Lake and the inner land and lake complex somehow fits the description of Plato’s Tripolis (or Three Cities). Atlantis is described as made up of six concentric circles of land and water. Each one a kilometer in width. That would make the center of the city at around 6 km from the edge of the mainland. And even today Taal island is just like that around 6 km from that part of the mainland where there is a 10 km creek which goes to the Balayan Bay. And Plato’s Atlantis also has that 10 km creek which was used as a channel by sea-going crafts to and from the “Atlantic Ocean”. That creek is just off Cuenca and Alitagtag towns while traversing the Taal town itself. The inner lake is 2 km today which jives with the description that a center island was one kilometer in diameter and separated by another kilometer from the next soil.

The city of Atlantis was full of temples, gardens, exercising grounds, and baths (supplied by two springs cold and warm water). The king’s palace and the Temple of Poseidon is said to be coated by silver and surrounded by statues. These are not impossible for Taal because just nearby is a group of islands called Romblon which is still popular today for marbles. The wall of the center island is said to be covered by “orichalcum” an ore said to be made up of copper or brass. This again was not impossible because nearby is the province island of Marinduque where copper was mined.

These are the exact passages from Plato’s Critias 6 and 7:
------The palaces in the interior of the citadel were constructed on this wise:-in the centre was a holy temple dedicated to Cleito and Poseidon, which remained inaccessible, and was surrounded by an enclosure of gold; this was the spot where the family of the ten princes first saw the light, and thither the people annually brought the fruits of the earth in their season from all the ten portions, to be an offering to each of the ten.

Here was Poseidon's own temple which was a stadium in length, and half a stadium in width, and of a proportionate height, having a strange barbaric appearance. All the outside of the temple, with the exception of the pinnacles, they covered with silver, and the pinnacles with gold. In the interior of the temple the roof was of ivory, curiously wrought everywhere with gold and silver and orichalcum; and all the other parts, the walls and pillars and floor, they coated with orichalcum.

In the temple they placed statues of gold: there was the god himself standing in a chariot-the charioteer of six winged horses-and of such a size that he touched the roof of the building with his head; around him there were a hundred Nereids riding on dolphins, for such was thought to be the number of them by the men of those days. There were also in the interior of the temple other images which had been dedicated by private persons.

And around the temple on the outside were placed statues of gold of all the descendants of the ten kings and of their wives, and there were many other great offerings of kings and of private persons, coming both from the city itself and from the foreign cities over which they held sway. There was an altar too, which in size and workmanship corresponded to this magnificence, and the palaces, in like manner, answered to the greatness of the kingdom and the glory of the temple.

In the next place, they had fountains, one of cold and another of hot water, in gracious plenty flowing; and they were wonderfully adapted for use by reason of the pleasantness and excellence of their waters. They constructed buildings about them and planted suitable trees, also they made cisterns, some open to the heavens, others roofed over, to be used in winter as warm baths; there were the kings' baths, and the baths of private persons, which were kept apart; and there were separate baths for women, and for horses and cattle, and to each of them they gave as much adornment as was suitable.

Of the water which ran off they carried some to the grove of Poseidon, where were growing all manner of trees of wonderful height and beauty, owing to the excellence of the soil, while the remainder was conveyed by aqueducts along the bridges to the outer circles; and there were many temples built and dedicated to many gods; also gardens and places of exercise, some for men, and others for horses in both of the two islands formed by the zones; and in the centre of the larger of the two there was set apart a race-course of a stadium in width, and in length allowed to extend all round the island, for horses to race in.

Also there were guardhouses at intervals for the guards, the more trusted of whom were appointed-to keep watch in the lesser zone, which was nearer the Acropolis while the most trusted of all had houses given them within the citadel, near the persons of the kings. The docks were full of triremes and naval stores, and all things were quite ready for use.
Enough of the plan of the royal palace. Leaving the palace and passing out across the three you came to a wall which began at the sea and went all round: this was everywhere distant fifty stadia from the largest zone or harbour, and enclosed the whole, the ends meeting at the mouth of the channel which led to the sea.

The entire area was densely crowded with habitations; and the canal and the largest of the harbours were full of vessels and merchants coming from all parts, who, from their numbers, kept up a multitudinous sound of human voices, and din and clatter of all sorts night and day.
I have described the city and the environs of the ancient palace nearly in the words of Solon, and now I must endeavour to represent the nature and arrangement of the rest of the land.

The whole country was said by him to be very lofty and precipitous on the side of the sea, but the country immediately about and surrounding the city was a level plain, itself surrounded by mountains which descended towards the sea; it was smooth and even, and of an oblong shape, extending in one direction three thousand stadia, but across the centre inland it was two thousand stadia. This part of the island looked towards the south, and was sheltered from the north.

The surrounding mountains were celebrated for their number and size and beauty, far beyond any which still exist, having in them also many wealthy villages of country folk, and rivers, and lakes, and meadows supplying food enough for every animal, wild or tame, and much wood of various sorts, abundant for each and every kind of work.

I will now describe the plain, as it was fashioned by nature and by the labours of many generations of kings through long ages. It was for the most part rectangular and oblong, and where falling out of the straight line followed the circular ditch. The depth, and width, and length of this ditch were incredible, and gave the impression that a work of such extent, in addition to so many others, could never have been artificial. Nevertheless I must say what I was told.
It was excavated to the depth of a hundred, feet, and its breadth was a stadium everywhere; it was carried round the whole of the plain, and was ten thousand stadia in length. It received the streams which came down from the mountains, and winding round the plain and meeting at the city, was there let off into the sea.

Further inland, likewise, straight canals of a hundred feet in width were cut from it through the plain, and again let off into the ditch leading to the sea: these canals were at intervals of a hundred stadia, and by them they brought down the wood from the mountains to the city, and conveyed the fruits of the earth in ships, cutting transverse passages from one canal into another, and to the city.----

One of the previous volcanic cataclysms (the most devastating perhaps) may have destroyed this ancient city. And that volcano could be Taal.

That same city could have been the center of a very ancient yet advanced worldwide civilization which mapped the whole globe many thousands of years ago before the start of European colonizations as suggested by Charles Hapgood in his maps of the “Ancient Sea Kings”.

Another ancient writing which would implicate Taal as Atlantis is in the Mahabharata as suggested again by another website:

It tells of the following:
------The Vishnu Purana (2000 B.C.), the oldest of the Hindu Puranas, speaks of Atala, the "White Island," which is one of the seven dwipas (islands) belonging to Patala (Book II, chaps. i, ii, and iii). The Purana locates Atala geographically on the seventh (heat, or climate) zone, which according to Col. Wilford (the translator) is 24 to 28 degrees north latitude: which puts it in the same latitude as the Canary Islands just off the North African coast. At least one "authority" has attempted to identify Atala with Italy, but Italy is not an island. Moreover, Italy is 38 to 45 degrees north latitude. Moreover, I fail to see how the "Western Ocean" mentioned in the Purana could be the Mediterranean, when the Karna Parva of the Mahabharata clearly describes Africa as being part of its eastern coastline. Col. Wilford rightly calls Atala, "Atlantis, the White Island" (Wilford, 1808).

The terms "Atala" and "White Island" are used also by the Bhavishna Purana. Here it is stated that Samba, having built a temple dedicated to Surya (the Sun), made a journey to Saka-Dwipa "beyond the salt water" looking for the Magas (magicians), worshippers of the Sun. He is directed in his journey by Surya himself (i.e., journeys west following the Sun), riding upon Garuda (the flying vehicle of Krishna and Vishnu) he lands at last among the Magas.

The Mahabharata contains more than one account of a powerful islandic empire in the Atlantic which sank to the bottom of the "Western Ocean" following a horrendous war. As in the Vishnu Purana, it is called "the White Island, Atala" (which can be linked linguistically with the word "Atlantis"). Atala is described as an "island of great splendour," and its inhabitants are said to worship only one God (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII). Another description is remarkably similar to Plato's, even down to its circular capital city, Tripura! Tripura is made in three parts, just as Plato's Metropolis is divided into three parts by circular canals. The famed "Triple-city", with all its inhabitants, is sent burning to the bottom of the ocean in a most unique manner (Mahabharata).
Atala is said to be inhabited by "white men who never have to sleep or eat". (Santi Parva, Section CCCXXXVII) The Greek historian Herodotus (450 B.C.) describes a tribe of Atlanteans who "never dream and eat no living thing". (History, Book IV) Can this be coincidence? And just as the god Poseidon is very much involved in the Atlantis story, likewise in the Sanskrit accounts we find Varuna (the Hindu Poseidon) very much involved in Atala.-------

Although this article also suggests the present Atlantic Ocean origin of Atlantis it gives us some clues on the names mentioned. Take note that Patala (the owner of Atala in the Vishnu Purana) is etymologically related to “Bathala” the Supreme Creator God of the ancient “Tagalogs” – the ancestors of the natives which presently surround Mt. Taal. And “Atala” seemingly is “Taal”.

But to dispute the western allusion of Atlantis we go to another article by linguist Paul K. Manansala on his reading of ancient Indic writings in his article “A new light in Vedic India”:

------“In the epics, Mt. Meru is a geographic reality located east of Jambudvipa (the Indian subcontinent). The Mahabharata states that Sakadvipa, Svetadvipa and the Milky Ocean are located to the east of Meru. The location of Sakadvipa in the eastern quarter is also found in the astrological text, Brhat Parasara Horasastra. The Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavatapurana, Laghubhagavatamrta and Varahamihira's Brhat Samhita agree in placing the Milky Ocean to the east. All of these works except the the Ramayana and Brhat Samhita, which do not mention Svetadvipa, also place that island in the eastern quarter. In the Puranas, geography apparently is made to conform more to cosmographic and astronomical thinking. Mt. Meru becomes equated with the North Pole. The world is made into a series of seven concentric rings of continents surrounded by oceans. The ethnogeographic and biogeographic material, though, largely agrees with the epics. All the Puranas that mention Sakadvipa agree that the Milky Ocean surrounds the island/continent. In the same way, those writings that mention Svetadvipa place it on the "north shores" of the Milky Ocean. This has lead some to suggest that Sakadvipa and Svetadvipa were interchangeable names for the same region. Svetadvipa is mentioned as part of the geographic continents only in the Padma among the Puranas. The Yogavasistha also includes Svetadvipa as one of the seven island continents, but here Sakadvipa is also mentioned. Svetadvipa appears to take the place of Salmalidvipa in the Yogavasistha as compared to the Puranic accounts. Possibly Sakadvipa refers to a region bounded by the Milky Ocean while Svetadvipa was a more specific location within the ocean itself. Another possibility is that Svetadvipa is a late name for Sakadvipa with the latter staying in usage because of tradition. All the sources agree in explicitly giving Svetadvipa and the Milky Ocean a southerly as well as an eastern location. The astronomers Bhaskara and Lalla both agree that the Milky Ocean was south of the Salt Sea.”-------

As to the previous other writing in which the author opined that Atlantis included Africa in its “eastern” seaboard, the writing of B. Lauritzen would counter that the names Libya and Ethiopia originally refers to Southwestern Asian districts. Libya, Ethiopia even Gades (Cadiz in Spain) are actually names of various districts of Atlantis country and not to be confused with the present popular places which bear these same names.

So much of those writings and about Taal, let us now go to Taiwan near the 23.5 degrees parallel (or Tropic of Cancer) remains of a submerged pyramid-like base structure were found on eastern Taiwan island of Yonaguni. Further north on the Okinawa chain of islands of Japan smaller and similar structures were discovered. Could these be part of buildings used to measure equinoxes by the earliest stargazers given by their nearness to the ecliptic? Or are they part of the worldwide cultural remains of migrating Austronesians after their true Atlantean domains were submerged?

Time will come and may tell the truth.

(An Old Recovered Essay around year 2003 by me with some help from Mr. Robin Day, botanist and Professor of Dong Seo University, Jurye, Busan, South Korea )

Sealand- A File- Sharing Nation

2007-01-16T00:50:00.000-08:00

Since January 13, 2007 I've been following up this news about a certain group of info-tech savvy individuals wishing to form a nation on the basis of overhauling international copyrights laws. They are the Pirate Bay and they have their site on http://www.thepiratebay.org .

Goals, objectives and continuing discussions can be found at http://buysealand.com

Several news clips can be found at http://www.thelocal.se/6076/

The Pirate Bay plans to buy island

Swedish file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is planning to buy its own nation in an attempt to circumvent international copyright laws.The group has set up a campaign to raise money to buy Sealand, a former British naval platform in the North Sea that has been designated a 'micronation', and claims to be outside the jurisdiction of the UK or any other country.

The Pirate Bay says it is the world's largest 'bit torrent tracker', and is a popular way of sharing music, films, software and other copyrighted material online. It has been under the scrutiny of authorities in Sweden and around the world for some time. The site was briefly closed down after raids by the Swedish police last May. After initially moving to the Netherlands, the site returned to Sweden in June. Swedish authorities have been put under pressure to do more to stop the site.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau and the US government have all lobbied for The Pirate Bay's closure.

According to a website set up to secure the purchase of Sealand, The Pirate Bay plans to give citizenship of the micronation to anyone willing to put money towards the purchase.

"It should be a great place for everybody, with high-speed Internet access, no copyright laws and VIP accounts to The Pirate Bay," the organisation claims on its website www.buysealand.com.

The "island" of Sealand, seven miles off the coast of southern England, was settled in 1967 by an English major, Paddy Roy Bates. Bates proclaimed Sealand a state, issuing passports and gold and silver Sealand dollars and declaring himself Prince Roy.

When the British Royal Navy tried to evict Prince Roy in 1968, a judge ruled that the platform was outside British territorial waters and therefore beyond government control.

The British government subsequently extended its territorial waters from three to twelve nautical miles from the coast, which would include Sealand, but Prince Roy simultaneously extended Sealand's waters, claimed that this guaranteed Sealand's sovereignty.

The island is now being put up for sale by Prince Roy's son, Prince Michael, who styles himself head of state. A firm of Spanish estate agents has valued the island at £504 million (about 7 billion kronor), although Prince Michael told The Times of London that it is hard to gauge how much it will fetch in reality.

The Pirate Bay says it is looking at alternatives to buying the former naval platform."If we do not get enough money required to buy the micronation of Sealand, we will try to buy another small island somwhere and claim it as our own country," the organization says on its website.

-James Savage