October 27, 2004

Hobbits, Dragons, Miniature Oliphants

I was listening BBC Radio 4 over the internet this morning and I heard a report on this. At first I wondered whether it was part of a radio drama, rather than news, but it turns out it's true. I think it's the coolest and most surprising thing I've ever heard on the radio:

Skeleton of hobbit-sized cavewoman found in Indonesia...scientists working on a remote Indonesian island say they have uncovered the bones of a human dwarf species marooned for eons while modern man rapidly colonized the rest of the planet.

One tiny specimen, an adult female measuring about 3 feet tall, is described as ``the most extreme'' figure to be included in the extended human family. Certainly, she is the shortest.

This hobbit-sized creature appears to have lived as recently as 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores, a kind of tropical Lost World populated by giant lizards and miniature elephants.

Posted by Dr. Frank at October 27, 2004 06:20 PM | TrackBack
Comments

You better change that to "halfling-sized" or you'll get sued by the Tolkien estate!

--Gary Gygax

Posted by: Nick at October 27, 2004 08:07 PM

ooooo ahhhhhh i wish that i lived on flores, sounds f'ing awesome. tiny elephants and giant lizards, it's blowin my mind man!

Posted by: r a e d y at October 27, 2004 08:12 PM


;)sadly i don't think the tolkien estate cares anymore. the amount of merch that is available
for no reason. i mean how many copies of the "one
ring" can you allow and still be valid?

that said i love the story,best news ever.

Posted by: JUST ME at October 27, 2004 09:50 PM

For some reason I now picture the Isle of Flores as the Savage Land from Marvel Comics.

Posted by: pjdangerous at October 27, 2004 11:53 PM

Oh yeah.

http://www.comics.com/comics/monty/archive/images/monty2004102104604.jpg

Posted by: captin krunchy at October 28, 2004 07:17 AM


and Rodents Of Unusual Size!!!!

ROUSes!

i just heard something on the radio about it myself just now and they said they have rats
the size of small dogs.

Posted by: just me at October 28, 2004 07:00 PM

That's crazy. I was just visiting my Grandmother and she has a dog the size of a large rat. She's kinda short too.

Posted by: bla at October 29, 2004 04:25 AM

Psh-what's next? Maybe an elf bow?
I did find it strange that they referred to it as "hobbit-sized." That's kinda rad.
I found Treebeard in Monterey: http://medioxcore.net/post/board/treebeard.JPG

Posted by: Megan at October 29, 2004 05:22 AM

this is all incredibly boring.

Posted by: captin krunchy at October 29, 2004 12:53 PM

I find it rather precious. :D

Posted by: Dave not Bug at October 29, 2004 01:21 PM

i made some hobbit themed cupcakes! gather round!

Posted by: captin krunchy at October 29, 2004 06:42 PM

Oh hush.

Posted by: Megan at October 30, 2004 08:05 AM

This isn't really a new story. Bones of both tiny and huge humanoids have been dug up by archaeologists for years. They just didn't get much major news coverage until the success of LOTR. Hnt up a copy of "Weird America" or the William Corliss "Sourcebook Project" books.

Posted by: Don at October 31, 2004 12:21 AM

weird america, i found that in the trash when i was working as a janitor about 14 years ago. havent seen that for a while. ok that's all i had to say

Posted by: captin krunchy at October 31, 2004 07:40 AM

I know about this because I'm taking an archaeology/anthropology class by accident...hahah. We talked about the dwarf bones found... my Prof. said that because it was found on an island they think that maybe it's so small due to evolution because their is a smaller food supply on an island. Smaller people= smaller amounts of food to be consumed. However, they never found record of this kind of evolution in homo erectus so, that's why they are all like "WOW dude we're excited". However this happens all the time with animals dealing with island situations... the tiny elephant and the large lizard are examples of it. The tiny elephant eats less food, which makes it easier for it to survive than a normal sized elephant. The giant lizard is less likely to be picked up by a bird scoping the area for food than a small lizard because it's so heavy. So, the giant lizard survives. Survival of the fitest... Darwin is cool....come on! Get into it.... Anyway, my Prof. also said that the stone tools found by the dwarf bones might not have been made by it because with a brain the size of a grape fruit it's highly unlikely. Then I started to think but what about the dwarfs/midgets of today... they have smaller heads and brains but they still can think just as well as normal sized people. So, that didn't really make sense to me but I didn't question it.
Yeah...so that's what I got out of our class discussion...

xoxoxo
amanda

Posted by: amanda at October 31, 2004 08:40 PM

Amanda-you should ask your professor what the negative aspects of dwarfism are as far as the brain goes. That would be interesting to know in regards to your previous class discussion you mentioned.

Posted by: Megan at November 1, 2004 07:36 AM

The article said their brains were one quarter the size of ours. I think the coolest thing is that the still built fires and organized hunting parties.

Also, I think scientists get excited whenever they find a new species of human. This one is kind of interesting because we are it's ancestors, and not the other way around.

Posted by: josh at November 1, 2004 01:20 PM

Amanda,

You should probably also ask your professor about the surface area of the brain. The cortex, or surface, of the brain is where higher-level thinking takes place. A human brain has way more ruts and valleys in the surface than, say, a lizard's brain, in addition to being bigger. Brain size is not the only issue -- a chihuahua is just as capable of learning tricks as a great dane, even though its brain is much smaller.

Posted by: Nick at November 1, 2004 03:08 PM

Cool story! tell us another one, oh magic man!

Posted by: captin krunchy at November 2, 2004 06:24 AM

interesting... yeah because it was really puzzling me... I didn't get it

Posted by: Amanda at November 2, 2004 08:50 AM

....if the sun were ten inches to the right....we'd all be rocks....

OT

Best Poll for undecided Voters;


Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president


http://www.weeklyreader.com/election_vote.asp

Weekly Reader kids select Bush in Presidential Poll

The students who read Weekly Reader’s magazines have made their preference for President known: they want to send President Bush back to the White House.

The results of this year’s Weekly Reader poll have just been announced, and the winner is President Bush. Hundreds of thousands of students participated, giving the Republican President more than 60% of the votes cast and making him a decisive choice over Democratic Senator John Kerry.

Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president, making the Weekly Reader poll one of the most accurate predictors of presidential outcomes in history.

Posted by: poll troll at November 2, 2004 05:54 PM

oh man. i remember the weekly reader poll in 1992. it was suprising because my class was prettymuch pro-bush.

it's sad to think that kids who read weekly reader might be a good reflection on the rest of the country. perhaps they represent the new south?

Posted by: kendra at November 2, 2004 06:55 PM


if they're from Alaska maybe,that's the true
new south...so much bad country music listed to
by so many people.

also i think there are many who forget its
not a territory anymore.

i mean its civilized...sort of...but they're pretty backwards sometimes.

Posted by: just me at November 2, 2004 09:16 PM

so I guess doctari frank can delete posts from his comments but he cant update his blog or contribute anything to it. that's cool. i was just tryin to rock the vote but i understand

Posted by: VOTE KERRY at November 2, 2004 10:01 PM

Frank -

Click on templates -

Click on Main Index Template -

Find in the code

change it to

Click save.

This will show the last 15 entries. or 10, if you change it to 10. or 7. Rather than having entries disappear every month, leaving a lot of grey space.

Posted by: nick at November 3, 2004 06:38 AM

Some times the pants in the family wear YOU!!!!!

Posted by: Doctari Stool at November 3, 2004 08:20 AM

www.studentsfororwell.org

Posted by: s at November 3, 2004 05:13 PM

I said "the poor ain't so bad."

Posted by: josh at November 4, 2004 03:06 PM

THE POOR AIN'T SO BAD!!! You're lucky to still be alive!! It's good to be the King!

Posted by: King Louis aka Zaphod at November 4, 2004 06:22 PM

someone typed vote kerry over and over and then later on i noticed it was deleted.

Posted by: capto kruncho at November 5, 2004 05:10 AM

Actually, guys, my spam filter killed that comment.

Posted by: Dr. Frank at November 5, 2004 03:25 PM

oh. um... (does snoopy slide across floor and out the door)

Posted by: capto kruncho at November 5, 2004 06:24 PM