Photo, above:  His Holines the Fourteenth Dalai Lama at a teaching.   Background: tankas, sacred scrolls in the Tibetan/Vajrayana Buddhist tradition.  

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Photo below: a parliament of owls.

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Natalie Angier, in re: owls. (1 of 2) 

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block B: Natalie Angier, in re: owls. (2 of 2) 

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto about the Politics of Your Plate by Jayson Lusk (1 of 2)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 1, Block D: The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate by Jayson Lusk (2 of 2)

Hour Two

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block A: The Terminal Spy: A True Story of Espionage, Betrayal and Murder by Alan S. Cowell

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block B:  Dan Quenqua, in re: Vocal fry.

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block C: The Israel Test by George Gilder (1 of 2)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 2, Block D: The Israel Test by George Gilder (2 of 2)

Hour Three

Runic characters, below - Vikings in Oklahoma: Norsemen and the Heavener Runestone

From Europe to America   The Vikings have landed in Oklahoma.  To be more specific, they've landed in Heavener [pron: heev-ner], Oklahoma. We can only speculate as to why they came, but many archeologists agree that there were, in fact, Vikings in Oklahoma.

It has been proven that Vikings have visited North American several times in our past. According to Icelandic Sagas, around 985 A.D., Bjarni Herjolfsson, a Norse settler to Greenland, was blown off course and sighted a continent west of Greenland. His wild ride inspired other Vikings to search for this new land. Nearly fifteen years later, Leif Eriksson finally explored the new continent. For the next ten years, a great number of voyages were made to the new land, which the Norsemen called "Vinland." Once established in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, these brave Vikings began to explore other parts of this vast new world. It is believed that one of these ships traveled south along the Atlantic coast, into the Gulf of Mexico, up the Mississippi River and into the Arkansas River between 900 A.D. and 1000 A.D., although their exact route is still unknown. 

One can almost imagine the Norsemen's excitement as they paddled their longboats south into warmer climates, leaving behind the harsh conditions of the frigid north. The lands around present-day Oklahoma must have seemed like a great paradise, and could even be called the home of Idun, the Norse goddess of spring and immortal youth.

Rediscovery of the Runestone  In a deep ravine surrounded by breath taking forests, the Vikings erected a huge stone pillar. This pillar rises from the ground like a sentinel, having kept watch over these ancient woods for hundreds of years. Measuring 12 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 16 inches thick, the pillar has several carved symbols known as runes deeply chiseled into its face. The Heavener Runestone remained hidden within the deep ravine for hundreds of years. It wasn’t until around 1838, when thousands of Native Americans were forcibly moved from Tennessee into Eastern Oklahoma, that the runestone was first “discovered”. The early Choctaws and other settlers in Indian Territory stumbled upon the runestone while exploring the area around present day Heavener. Word spread quickly about this strange pillar, and it was quickly dubbed “Indian Rock” by European settlers, even though they knew the carvings had nothing to do with the Indians. As the area attracted more settlers, more runestones were being discovered. In the 1920's, a curious Heavener settler sent copies of the runes to the Smithsonian for identification. The Museum deduced that the writing was Norse, but at that time, the Smithsonian could not prove the authenticity of the runestones. Representatives of the Smithsonian were dubious as to the historical accuracy of the runestones, implying that a Scandinavian settler must have made the carvings by working from a primary school grammar book from his homeland.

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block A: The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Stephen R. Bown (1 of 4)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block B: The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Stephen R. Bown (2 of 4)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block C: The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Stephen R. Bown (3 of 4)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 3, Block D: The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen (A Merloyd Lawrence Book) by Stephen R. Bown (4 of 4)

Hour Four

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block A: Tragedy in Crimson: How the Dalai Lama Conquered the World but Lost the Battle with China by Tim Johnson (1 of 2)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block B: Tragedy in Crimson: How the Dalai Lama Conquered the World but Lost the Battle with China by Tim Johnson (2 of 2)

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block C:  Peter Bogucki, Princeton, in re: Iceman.

Sunday 11 August 2013 / Hour 4, Block D:  Carl Zimmer, Scince magazine, in re: Neanderthals.