Tolkien's Folly?
Marvel, as I break into Lee mode: "Behold, almighty infallible science!"
Okay, so they've found Bag End. Do they really have to keep referring to these remains as "hobbit-like". Assuming for one second that they had any evidence whatsoever that this was some sort of sub-species of humans, and not just the skeletons of children, wouldn't it be more accurate to refer to these individuals as dwarvish, and not "hobbit-like"? Are these skeletons indicative of a species of chubby people with big noses and hairy feet? Do they enjoy pipe weed and three or four breakfasts? Are those hairy feet leathery enough to allow for barefoot travel over any and all terrain?
No? Really? So they're nothing like hobbits, save for their size!? How utterly fascinating that both scientists and journalists would shamelessly capitalize on a recent pop culture icon in order to further promotion of their utterly inconsequential discoveries.
In an unrelated story, seismologists in England have confirmed a minor seismic disturbance in the Roman Catholic section of the Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Researchers believe this disturbance has been caused by J.R.R. Tolkien turning over in his friggin' grave!
(AP) -- Scientists digging in a remote Indonesian cave have uncovered a jaw bone that they say adds more evidence that a tiny prehistoric Hobbit-like species once existed.
The jaw is from the ninth individual believed to have lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. The bones are in a wet cave on the on the island of Flores in the eastern limb of the Indonesian archipelago, near Australia.
The research team which reported the original, sensational finding nearly a year ago strongly believes that the skeletons belong to a separate species of early human that shared Earth with modern humans far more recently than anyone thought.
The bones have enchanted many anthropologists who have come to accept the interpretation of these diminutive skeletons marooned on Flores with dwarf elephants and other miniaturized animals, giving the discovery a kind of fairy tale quality.
Okay, so they've found Bag End. Do they really have to keep referring to these remains as "hobbit-like". Assuming for one second that they had any evidence whatsoever that this was some sort of sub-species of humans, and not just the skeletons of children, wouldn't it be more accurate to refer to these individuals as dwarvish, and not "hobbit-like"? Are these skeletons indicative of a species of chubby people with big noses and hairy feet? Do they enjoy pipe weed and three or four breakfasts? Are those hairy feet leathery enough to allow for barefoot travel over any and all terrain?
No? Really? So they're nothing like hobbits, save for their size!? How utterly fascinating that both scientists and journalists would shamelessly capitalize on a recent pop culture icon in order to further promotion of their utterly inconsequential discoveries.
In an unrelated story, seismologists in England have confirmed a minor seismic disturbance in the Roman Catholic section of the Wolvercote Cemetery in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England. Researchers believe this disturbance has been caused by J.R.R. Tolkien turning over in his friggin' grave!
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