Must have been used in religious ceremonies…

Archeologists have a catch phrase that covers parts of the unknown history of any site they find.  It pops up when no logical answers to a particular item present themselves, “Probably used in some religious ceremony”, or words to that effect.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Stonehenge, Cliff Dwellings or the giant heads looking out to sea on Easter Island, “Must have some unknown religious significance”. 

I’ve no problem with this approach to human history; heck, they’re probably right most of the time.  With no surviving members from ancient societies to shed light on what is found, it can only be assumed what their actual purposes were or make educated guesses as to any actual purpose for some of these finds based on how modern decedents use these items and places. 

Take for example the kiva, generally assumed to be a special room used by the ancient Pueblo inhabitants in the Americas for religious ceremonies…

“When designating an ancient room as a kiva, archaeologists make assumptions about the room's original functions and how those functions may be similar to or differ from kivas used in modern practice. The kachina belief system appears to have emerged in the Southwest at approximately AD 1250, while kiva-like structures occurred much earlier. This suggests that the room's older functions may have been changed or adapted to suit the new religious practice.”

If I had a nickel for every time historians used descriptive words like assume, probably, may have been, likely were and so on…my bank account might be in better shape.  The fact is, we really don’t know for sure; but we’re too proud to admit it.

I could dig a small rectangular hole in my back yard complete with a large round stone to cover my new found wealth, place all my nickels in a fancy sack and hide it therein.  Do you see where this is going?

Years from now when archeologists happen upon this interesting spot under a huge Oak that’s out lived anyone from this era they will carefully examine the contents of the find, carbon date the residue found in the filter of a cigarette butt my son flipped in the hole and match it to a core sample from the Oak tree.  One of them will curiously examine the trinkets found along with fragments of cloth that at one time held them.  Measurements will be taken and compared with similar finds, “No doubt this was used for religious purposes, likely sacrificial offerings to their gods.”

 Moving right along…

 

Scientists have found a giant hole in the surface of the earth over in Siberia, Russia.  It caught them off guard as the image was generated via satellite. 

“The leading theory is that the crater is actually a natural phenomenon known as a ‘pingo.’ A pingo, or hydrolaccolith, occurs when ice pushes up from underneath the ground. In this case, climate change may have caused the ice to melt, resulting in a crater where the earth-covered frost once stood.” (emphasis added)

Based on the theory’s claim that climate change may have caused the ice to melt, which left the huge hole in the ground, the article mentions that scientists will be sent to the region to find facts to support such theories.  As with most assumptions supplied by the Church of Global Warming, there are yet to be facts to support such findings. 

Next week I’m sure there will be a History Channel special supporting the idea that Aliens from across the universe used this great Kiva, possible humanoid life forms, seeded this planet long ago and served as the missing link to homo sapiens populating this spinning planet.  I’m picturing that geeky looking fellow who never figured out what a comb was intended to be used for, perhaps thinking it was a sacred religious item never to be touched by anyone other than the gods.

The great Kiva of Global Warming has presented itself for the High Priests of Junk Science to study and ascertain its purpose.  These are the same folks who brought you the United Nations IPCC report which is riddled with fabrications and computer generated assumptions based on improperly recorded data by folks being paid to come up with a viable presentation intended to redistribute wealth on a planetary scale.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

Just walk away

Yesterday a fellow called asking if I was able to make and program a key for a Ford Freestyle van.  I told him yes and asked where it was located.  He paused and you could hear him going through file folders and talking to himself.  He then read me the location which was on the other side of town; but still within my service area.  He wanted to meet there at 4:00, just as rush hour traffic would be part of the mix.  Reluctantly I agreed as I added twenty dollars to my fee; aggravation charge.

While enroute to the job the fellow called and said he was there waiting; it was 3:15.  He mentioned that it would be okay for me to come early because the place where the vehicle was located needed to close by 4:30.  Rush hour starts around 3:00 here in Houston so my travel time would still put me on spot around 4:00; as scheduled originally and it wouldn’t matter that I could “come early”.

Turns out he’d transposed the numbers so the address given wasn’t correct.  His cell phone number went into voice mail when he didn’t answer; my fuse was already burning short.

Knowing the area I figured out where he probably meant, at least narrowed it down to a couple of different storage lots.  The first one had all the numbers he’d given; but the last two numbers were transposed.  The folks in the office had not heard of him or the vehicle I was supposed to work on.  Calling the cell phone number again…still went into voice mail.

The other location was a storage lot two blocks closer to town so I asked the office manager the appropriate questions; sorry, not here either.  She did ask me to leave a short stack of business cards and asked if she’d mind her handing them out.  A line from a children’s story came to mind, “Oh, please, don’t throw me in the briar patch”…

My phone rang; it was my new favorite customer wondering why I hadn’t arrived.  He told me the correct address, which just happened to be the original location I’d gone to; but he had been in the back of the lot and hadn’t bothered to tell anyone he was there.

 

He met me at the front gate and explained how we had to hurry because we only had twenty minutes to make the keys before they locked the gate.  I figured I could get the job done; a few minutes to figure out the key cuts and ten minutes to program it would leave a few minutes to spare.

“Okay, so where’s the Ford Freestyle?”, it not being in plain view.  He asked if he could get into my truck and he’d show me where it was.  We drove to the back and he pointed to a car transport carrier (similar to the image provided).   There were several vehicles on the transport; the Freestyle was on the top level.  These were all stolen and recovered vehicles to be returned to their rightful owners.

I should give some background information at this time.  A week ago I got a call from an out of state car transport company asking if I could make keys to a Ford Freestyle van, asking prices and availability.  He said he’d have his local representative call me later in the day; but that never happened.   Last Friday he called asking if the local representative had contacted me and I explained that he had not.

You guessed it; this was the local representative; except that when he’d called earlier in the day he had misrepresented himself, never mentioned the vehicle was on a transport or that he’d had the opportunity to have this work done for well over a week and had decided to wait until rush hour to do the work.  Let’s not forget the lot closes in twenty minutes.

I turned to the fellow and said, “Get out of my truck”, followed by, “Close the door”.   I then drove off, leaving him to walk back.   If he started walking to the front right away, to where his rig was parked, he’d make it before being locked in when they closed up for the evening.  There’s another line that could have been added, “…and that goes for the horse you rode in on”.

Some times it’s better to walk away from a job.