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POPSThe Day in Pictures 7 July 2008 Just seemed like your average day. After a while you realize there's no such thing. I like the way the Russians celebrate the summer solstice Every day has more than one story. Every story has more than one writer, with more than one thing to say.
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POPSPhotoGallery / Wall Paintings in the Afghan Region of Bamiyan The world was in shock when in 2001 the Taliban destroyed two ancient colossal Buddha statues in the Afghan region of Bamiyan. Behind those statues, there are caves decorated with precious paintings from 5th to 9th century A.D. The caves also suffered from Taliban destruction, as well as from a severe natural environment, but today they have become the source of a major discovery. Scientists have proved, thanks to experiments performed at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), that the paintings were made of oil, hundreds of years before the technique was “invented” in Europe.
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POPS Oil painting 'invented in Asia, not Europe' A dozen out of the 50 caves were painted with oil painting technique, using perhaps walnut and poppy seed oils, conclude Ms Yoko Taniguchi from the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Tokyo. "This is the earliest clear example of oil paintings in the world, although drying oils were already used by ancient Romans and Egyptians, but only as medicines and cosmetics", explains Ms Taniguchi, leader of the team. The results showed a high diversity of pigments as well as binders and the scientists identified original ingredients and alteration compounds. Apart from oil-based paint layers, some of the layers were made of natural resins, proteins, gums, and, in some cases, a resinous, varnish-like layer. The paintings are probably the work of artists who travelled on the Silk Road.
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POPSShamefull Religious Intollerance That people would be so transparently discriminatory is honestly surprising to me, although it shouldn't be. There is no right to force non-Christians to recite Christian prayers in American public schools. There is no right to put God in the plege. Just like I have no right to force Christians to leave offerings before the statues of the Buddha. But don't get me wrong. This isn't about Christianity. Christianity no where condones this abhorrent and intolerant behavior. This is about the power of discrimination, and it is an addictive social phenomenon. These people would do the exact same thing with another religion. Christianity was just the most convenient vehicle for their hatred at the time. Apparently we still need to change a lot about our society before we can live with our neighbors in peace.
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POPSGiant Buddhas: Rubble is history, too. 'The destruction of the Buddhas by the Taliban in the 21st century, it is history also,' said Nasir Mudabir, the site director for the Afghan Ministry of Information, Culture and Youth. 'If you reconstruct them, you destroy the history.'
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POPSBylakuppe Pictures from the Tibetian settlements in Bylakuppe in southern Karnataka. I had the pleasure of visiting it a little more than a year back.
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POPSLaser show in Afganistan It may be silly, but I think this is amazing. It is a small gesture, but it is right to do something to remember what was lost and what is still there interms of peoples belief.
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