Greatest hits: I surprise strangers in every language (even Ape)
(Xiaomanyc 小马在纽约) Arieh Smith spent years studying human communication (languages) and weeks secretly studying to communicate with apes in Ape: Bonobos are the closest living relatives of human beings, and he convinced them into thinking he was one of them. Bonobos have learned to use human language, but it is very rare for a human being to effectively communicate with them on their own terms (bonobo vocalizations).
Support Ape Initiative (apeinitiative.org), a non-profit that is the world’s only bonobo research center, because they are an endangered species. Ape Initiative works with scientists to understand bonobo behavior and ensure their survival in the wild. Donate:
ABOUT: I'm "Xiaoma" from NYC, real name Arieh Smith. I speak near-native level Mandarin Chinese and a smattering of some other Chinese dialects, enough to be dangerous. I speak Chinese well enough to regularly confuse the native speakers, including my own in-laws. I got fluent in Spanish in my apartment during quarantine. The thing is it didn’t start this way. I was a real language idiot in high school, not failing classes, but it was in one ear, out the other. I took Hebrew, Latin, and Greek classes, but every year I felt like I was learning the same thing over and over again. I kept thinking to myself, I wonder when any of this is going to stick. More
(Origins Explained) AI decoded ancient Sumerian texts and stone tablets (Latin being closer to Akkadian than English). Humans were NOT the first on Earth. There were "gods" (intelligent space beings) here before that. What is this Sumerian language writing system? The mythological story of "Adam and Eve" is older than the Christian and Jewish Bibles. Creation myth: the Enūma Elišh
Are there really uncontacted bands of humans left on the surface of the planet? Besides in the warm and green parts of Antarctica we are banned from seeing and Sentinel Island off the coast of India or deep in New Guinea and still wandering around in the thick Amazon or out on the Kalahari, aside from those, is there a single human who does not know there are other humans, carrying on destroying the planet? It would seem so. They're probably better off not knowing what we're doing. What about one of the oldest countries in the world, the Kush we now call Ethiopia, are there secret tribes there, riding around on tiny boards with even tinier wheels, doing the impossible?
Southernmost republic of Russia | Makhachkala, abandoned villages, sand dune, mountains, Khabib's
(Eli from Russia) Nov. 26, 2021: Dagestan is named a hidden gem of the Caucasus in Russia, formerly the USSR. It is also the most multi-national republic in the country. Let's discover its beautiful mountain villages and canyons and get to know the local traditions.
TIMECODES
0:00 Welcome to Dagestan!
1:36 Local cuisine and payment for breaking the dishes
📌 ABOUT: Elinabakunova.com/russianclub: Russian Speaking Club where participants can practice the Russian language. Join us at any level! ;) 🔸What can be found on this channel? 👉🏻 Explanation of the Russian culture and facts about Russia that can't be found on Google 👉🏻 Interviews with people on the streets on controversial topics 👉🏻 Opportunities for education for international students and learning the Russian language 👉🏻 Travel vlogs from the Big Country.
Seclusion is for those in meditative absorption (jhana).
As monsoon winds drive the clouds during the rainy season,
so thoughts concerning seclusion
impel me.
A black crow, making its home in a charnel ground
[of corpses], inspires within me
mindfulness
—
rooted in dispassion for —
the body [2].
One whom others guard not,
who do not guard others,
such a monastic who lies down in ease,
unconcerned
with sensual passions.
With clear waters and massive boulders,
frequented by monkeys and deer,
covered with moss and water weeds,
such rocky crags
refresh me.
I have lived in wildernesses,
canyons, and caves,
isolated dwellings
frequented by predator and prey,
but never have I known
an ignoble, aversive resolve:
"May these beings
be destroyed,
be slaughtered,
fall into pain."
The Teacher has been served by me;
The Awakened One's bidding I have done;
This heavy load I have laid down;
The guide to becoming [3] uprooted.
And the goal for which I set forth
from the home life into the left-home life
I have reached:
the end
of all fetters.
I delight not in death, delight not in living.
I await my time
like a worker his wages.
I delight not in death, delight not in living.
I await my time
mindful, alert.
NOTES
1.
Ujjuhaana. The Commentary offers two interpretations for this word. The first is that it is a hill covered with jungle and many streams that tend to overflow during the rainy season. The other is that it is the name of a bird that can stay comfortable even when exposed to cold, wind, and rain. The second alternative has been chosen here. K.R. Norman speculates that the term could be written ujjahaana, in which case it would be the present participle for a verb meaning "abandoned or cast off." However, none of the manuscripts support this speculation.
2.
In other words, the sight of the crow taking up residence in skulls and other body parts provided a chastening perspective on how the mind takes up residence in the body [for each rebirth in the sensual sphere].
3.
The guide to becoming [rebirth, relinking, rearising, reappearing, being reborn] is craving.
What do the Indigenous want the other Americans to know?
Who said, "We didn't kill enough Indians," beloved macho-woman and FOX (News) spirit Ann Coulter? Just when she had mellowed, turned on Trump and MAGA, she's back to offend. Just when the comedians had roasted her alive, she's back to spew more hate, racism, and right wing rhetoric? Maybe it was just said for shock value and out of massive patriotism, sleeping with the flag between her legs as she does, worshiping in the Christian Church of the Holy Genocide(s), saluting one or more German leaders of the past. Oh, c'mon, you know Ann. She's nothing if not brassy, sassy, and full of false bravado. Why would she say such a thing? She said it in response to Native American professor discussing decolonization. One presumes Coulter is pro-settler colonial projects like "Israel" in Palestine and the ongoing-slow-mass genocide our government is committing in the USA.
The Roast of Ann Coulter (and poor Rob Lowe)
What has Coulter done now?
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) emphatically condemns the hateful, genocidal statement of Ann Coulter on July 6, 2025, through a post on the social platform X, declaring: “We didn’t kill enough Indians.” There is no place in society for this direct incitement of hatred and violence toward American Indian and Alaska Native people.
“These words are not provocative social commentary; they are a violent attack on Native people and Tribal Nations
Celebrating genocide against Tribal Nations crosses every moral line,” said NCAI President Mark Macarro. “Careless comments like this glorify the darkest chapters of U.S. history and actively endanger Native peoples' lives today. We will not sit silently at attempts to normalize this abhorrent behavior. We demand an immediate retraction and public apology — and we expect leaders of every political persuasion to denounce this abomination without equivocation.”
“Free speech does not confer a license to advocate for or justify mass murder — past or present,” added NCAI Executive Director Larry Wright, Jr. “When a public figure with more than two million followers romanticizes extermination, it fuels harassment, hate crimes, and political violence. Silence from elected officials and media outlets will only normalize this genocidal history. We call on them to speak up now.”
NCAI further demands that X enforce against vitriol like this and send a message that such inciting hate speech will not be tolerated by banning this individual from their platform. Instead of amplifying divisive and inhuman perspectives, let us turn our attention to celebrating the powerful, nation-building contributions of Tribal Nations to the United States. More
Chicano English in Context by linguist Carmen Fought is the first modern, comprehensive study of Chicano English, a variety of English (mingling with Spanish) spoken by millions of Latinos/Latinas/Hispanics in the U.S. It is also one of the first studies of ongoing sound change within an ethnic minority community. It briefly describes the phonology, syntax, and semantics of this variety and explores its crucial role in the construction of ethnic identity among young Latinas/Latinx. It also corrects misconceptions in how the general public views Chicano English. Chicano English in Context
Linguistics helps us understand ancient Egyptian
Pero like, is Spanglish the language of the future? | NBCLX
(LX News) As prevalent as Spanglish is already, there are many who believe we’ll only see that influence expand as generations of Latinx [Latino/Latina] youth grow up, start families, and enter the workforce. As the share of U.S. Latinos who speak Spanish at home drops and those who speak English grows, could Spanglish one day overtake Spanish as the second-most spoken language in the U.S.? #NBCLX
It is likely much older than this division of the Hindu trinity. It shows an advanced yoga pose, a lotus position with heels touching and facing upwards.
Sadly, no one has yet rigged artificial intelligence to crack the code and decipher the ancient Indus Valley Civilization language of this area and/or what was spoken in Harappa (since it seems to not have been an early/archaic form of Vedic Sanskrit as one might guess).
6,500-year-old DNA reveals origin of Indo-European languages spoken by half the world
Thousands of years ago, a group of hunter-gatherers roamed the steppes of southern Russia, hunting in its rivers and across its vast grasslands. They lived in a world without settlements, without writing, and without essential technology like the wheel. Yet, their language would one day become the foundation for nearly half the world’s spoken tongues, from English (British) and Spanish (Latin) to Hindi (Sanskrit) and Persian (Aryan and Indo-Iranian languages).
Who were these people? And how did their language spread so far and wide? A landmark pair of studies may finally have uncovered answers hidden in ancient DNA. By analyzing genetic material from over 400 individuals across Eurasia, researchers have traced the origins of Indo-European languages to a group known as the Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) people, who lived around 6,500 years ago.
This discovery not only solves a centuries-old linguistic puzzle but also reveals how the CLV people’s descendants — the nomadicYamnaya culture — carried their language across continents, shaping the course of human history.
The hunt for the first Indo-European speakers
For decades, linguists and archeologists have debated the origins of Indo-European languages. Some argued that early farmers in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) spread the language as they expanded their agricultural practices.
Others pointed to the Yamnaya, a nomadic herding culture that roamed the steppes of Russia and Ukraine around 5,000 years ago, as the likely pioneers of the root language.
Research led by geneticist David Reich of Harvard University bridges these theories. By analyzing DNA from ancient skeletons, the researchers found that the CLV people, who lived between the Caucasus Mountains and the lower Volga River, were the ancestors of both the Yamnaya and the early Anatolian farmers. Around 6,000 years ago, some CLV groups migrated west, mixing with local hunter-gatherers to form the Yamnaya culture.
Others moved south into Anatolia, where they interbred with early farmers and gave rise to languages like Hittite, the oldest known Indo-European language that we have written records of.
“We’ve been on the hunt for this for many years,” Reich told the New York Times. “This is the first time we have a genetic picture unifying all Indo-European languages.”
The Yamnaya, researchers believe, thanks to their high mobility and herding practices, became the primary vector for spreading Indo-European languages across Europe and Asia.
“They spread from the steppes north of the Black and Caspian seas all the way to Mongolia on one side and as far as Ireland on the other — 6,000 kilometers!” David Anthony, an anthropologist and co-author of the study, told Harvard Gazette.
The discovery of the CLV people as the missing link in the Indo-European story marks a turning point in a 200-year-old quest. Earlier genetic studies had shown that the Yamnaya carried steppe ancestry into Europe and Asia, but the origins of their language remained unclear.
The new research reveals that the CLV people not only contributed to the Yamnaya genome but also to the ancestry of Bronze Age Anatolians. Previously, the absence of steppe ancestry among the Hittites had puzzled researchers. The new study shows that the Hittites likely inherited their language from the CLV people who migrated to Anatolia, rather than from the Yamnaya.
“The Caucasus-Lower Volga group therefore can be connected to all Indo-European-speaking populations,” said Dr. Ron Pinhasi, a researcher at the University of Vienna and co-author of the study. “They are the best candidate for the population that spoke Proto-Indo-European.”
Not everyone is convinced though. Some linguists, like Paul Heggarty of Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, argue that the first Indo-European speakers were early farmers in the Fertile Crescent, not hunter-gatherers in southern Russia.
“Genes don’t tell us anything about language, period,” said Mait Metspalu, a population geneticist at the University of Tartu in Estonia. Still, origin or not, the significance of the Yamnaya culture cannot be denied.
The Yamnaya, descendants of the CLV people, revolutionized life on the steppes with their herding practices and use of wheeled wagons. Their superior technology most likely supercharged the spread of their language across vast regions through trade and conquest.
“I don’t think we can even imagine what it was like for other people to see a wagon coming,” said Anthony. “It was moving across the landscape, creaking and groaning, pulling a ton of equipment. People had never seen anything like it before.”
The Yamnaya also left behind a lasting legacy in their burial practices. Both the CLV and Yamnaya cultures buried their dead in large earthen mounds called kurgans, which have provided a wealth of archaeological and genetic data. “Suppose the Yamnaya had cremated their dead,” said Nick Patterson, a co-author of the study. “Chances are, we wouldn’t even know about this crucial culture in human history.”
As the debate over the origins of Indo-European languages continues, one thing is clear: The story is far more complex — and far more fascinating — than anyone imagined.
“There’s all sorts of mixtures and movements from places that these myths never imagined,” said Reich. “And it really teaches us that there’s really no such thing as purity.”
The findings appeared in the journal Nature. This story originally appeared on ZME Science. More
(History with Kayleigh) Premiered March 17, 2025: Researching the origins of language, can we pinpoint when language first emerged? What do other great apes reveal about their use of language, and how does that tie into our own evolution and development of language? Let's find out. SPONSOR: AirLearn now: airlearn.onelink.me...
What's the oldest language in the world? The Tamil language from the Buddhist island of Sri Lanka (aka Eelam, the land of the Tamil Tigers, for which the longest civil war in Asia was fought), Southern India (Tamil Nadu), and Singapore (though surely Sanskrit must be much older than that)
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Woman, Thy Name is Ezer ["Rescuer"] The [Judeo-Christian] LORD God said, “It is not good for the man [Adam] to be alone. I will make a helper [ezer, rescuer, Eve] suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). [Hey, LORD, but what about my first wife, Lilith? - Don't worry about her, Adam, my boy, I'll send her away to become a demoness and jealous eater of babies. That ought a teach her to mouth off. - Like your wife, Asherah, LORD, who I suppose was therefore my mom? - Don't ever bring her name up, Adam, or else! Anyway, my boy, we were better off alone just kicking it in this groovy garden planet we grew out of effort. Enjoy it before I throw you out. Unless you want a guy-pal to hang with. How about a Steve? - Whatever, LORD, as you see fit.]
Scholar R. D. Freeman observes that ezer (pronounced /et-sir/) is a combination of two words, one meaning “to rescue” or “to save,” the other meaning “to be strong.”
Theologian and author Dr. Walter Kaiser notes that ezer appears in the Old Testament often in parallel with words denoting strength and power. The word ezer does not mean that a woman should never be an assistant, an ally, a supporter.
There is nothing negative about a man or a woman helping someone or being called by the [God] to fulfill that role! It’s always a privilege to serve [the God] as we serve others. But it is also crucial that we understand that in the biblical definition of “helper,” the ezer can also fulfill a different role.
It seems that ezer has more to do with what helping looks like, because it doesn’t seem to suggest anything about hierarchy. In some instances, ezer is a word with military connotations; the ezer is also a warrior.
In this context, help comes from one who has the power and strength to provide it. Ezer is a verb as well as a noun, meaning “to defend, protect, surround and cherish.” The ezer is an amazing mix of strength, power, proactivity, and vulnerability. Source
— Adapted from Chapter One, “The Blueprint,” by J O Saxton
What is anyone to make of Adam and Eve on Earth (Eden)?
Of course, the story of Adam and Eve (the Adama or first iteration of humankind and its other half, Eva, the second woman after Lilith in Judaism) is deep and ludicrous.
It is deep that it must be hinting at something else, a truism set in a mythological tale, ludicrous if taken at face value after centuries of translation and misinterpretation.
For instance, there is no "apple," but Christians will swear there is. The "snake" is a humanoid reptilian. There is much here, likely inherited from Sumerian sources, spun by countless rabbis and sincere students to take some useful teaching from it.
Likewise, Buddhism has an origin myth -- not of how it "all" started but rather how human life on this earth began. Long, long ago, light beings (devas, which are a superior class of brahmas) alighted on this planet and over the course of time devolved and became coarser and coarser until we find ourselves the way we are today.
The full tale the Buddha told, almost certainly rooted in true things but explained simply in ways that are hard to take literally, is known as theAggañña Sutta or "A Buddhist Genesis," "On Beginnings."
In this analysis, the "light beings" (lit. "shining ones") are not humanoid beings who can fly alighting on earth by light itself reaching earth like photons from a faraway source. The author explains his motive for writing it:
The Aggañña Sutta of the "Long Discourses of the Buddha" (Dīgha Nikāya) is no satire or parody, as seen by some scholars. Drawing upon cosmology, Darwinism, psychology (Freud, Piaget, etc.), and linguistics, it paints a historically and scientifically accurate picture of devolution and evolution, going beyond the Big Bang. Sentient beings emerge [on earth], bringing with them the latent defilements of craving and passion, nourished by evolving plant life around them. Compatible with Western science, the breakthrough comes when Abhassara beings [from the Abhassara heaven or plane of existence] are taken to be photons, taking Abhassara in a literal etymological sense of "Hither-come-shining-arrow." However accurate this picture may be, the Buddha’s point, is that knowledge of the Dhamma is more important than anything else, explaining the title. More
Buddhist cosmology
Artists paint images of space for NASA
The Buddha described a universe consistent with the multiverse theory where there are countless worlds in all 10,000 directions, anywhere we can point. But all of these are classified into 31 Planes of Existence. One such plane is this world of "radiant ones."
So this sutra is saying this is the divine and sublime world we came from, not evolving from microbes in a primordial soup up to great apes or hominids (though that may be the origin of these bodies). We are fallen devas with every potential of becoming devas again, so in that sense we are divine beings in these sensual bodies.
Our karmas (actions, deeds, intentional acts) determine where we are subsequently reborn, just as previous karmas led to our rebirth on the human plane. We also have the potential to fall further down.
ābhassara: The "Radiant Ones" are a class of heavenly beings of the Fine-Material Sphere (rūpa-loka); cf. deva.
Abhassara is a brahma-world where radiant devas ("shining ones") live from whose bodies rays of light are emitted, like lightning.
This plane of existence belongs to the rūpaloka (the Fine-Material Sphere)
The Buddhist cosmos (universe/multiverse) is classified into three spheres: the Sensual Sphere (kama-loka), where earth and the sensual heavens are, as well as every other plane below the human world (animal, ghost, titan, hells), the Fine-Material Sphere, where more ethereal heavens are, and the Immaterial Sphere, where non-material worlds of pure mind are. This is an interesting distinction as it suggests that all that we call "form" or ultimate "materiality" (rupa) is coming from finer energy that is not yet form. All there is is called nama-rupa, "name and form" (mind and body). Form is of two general kinds, sensual and subtle (matter and light). And there is a sphere of worlds without form, only name or mind, a kind of Logos or Platonic "forms").
It is essential to note that they are brahmas, as this means they are neither male nor female but "god-goddesses" ("supremos") without sexual dimorphism like the lower devas of the Sensual Sphere.
Is there a "heaven"? - There are many!
This plane corresponds to the second meditative absorption or jhāna (Abhs. v.3; Compendium 138, n.4).
All being depend on nourishment: The devas living on this plane subsist on joy (pītibhakkha) (S.i.114.; DhA.iii.258; J.vi.55).
Their span of life is two aeons (kalpas, kappas or more loosely speaking two "eternities"), but there is no guarantee that a person reborn here may not later be reborn in some unfortunate destination/unhappy condition (A.ii.127; but see Abhs. v.6, where their lifespan is given as eight kappas), as is the case for all beings who have not yet attained the first stage of enlightenment.
From time to time these devas utter shouts of joy exclaiming, "Aho sukham, aho sukham!" This sound is said to be the best of sounds.
These devas are completely enveloped in ease (sukhena abhisaññā parisaññā) (A.iii.202; D. iii.219). Their plane forms the third station of consciousness (viññānatthiti). Like humans on the human plane, they are of uniform body, but their perceptions are diverse (ekattakāyā nānat-tasaññino) (A.iv.40, 401; D.ii.69; D.iii.253).
During the periods of the development of the world (evolutionary cycle), many beings are reborn in the Abhassara world, and they are then called the highest of the devas. Yet, even they change their condition (A.v.60).
In lists of devas (e.g., M.i.289) they are listed below the Appamānābhā and above the Subhā. More
Video shorts: Robot Chicken; Magnify explaining ezer, "rescuer" Eve; Billy Carson on the Sumerians; irate Irish lass on feminism overdoing it and crapping on the menfolk
J O Saxton, More Than Enchanting; Ven. Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary; Suwanda H. J. Sugunasiri, Dhamma Aboard Evolution; Agganna Sutta (DN 27, Digha Nikaya, Pali canon); G. P. Malalasekera (Dictionary of Pali Proper Names); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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