BORNEO: Cave art redated from 10k years ago to 40k: now world's oldest?

"A group of cave paintings in East Kalimantan, in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, depicting a group of local cattle, has been dated to at least 40,000 years ago by researchers who believe the paintings are the oldest figurative art in the world. The limestone caves’ ancient images include painted outlines of human hands, a human figure, and what appear to be renderings of wild cattle, including an animal similar to the banteng, a large bovine mammal still found in the region."

- https://www.artsy.net/news/artsy-editorial-worlds-oldest-figurative-art-discovered-caves-borneo

Original article in Nature:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0679-9.epdf?referrer_access_token=imx2MRpXd-FdfjkfAHtZc9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0M0jjIe4uuvYR-SGD4FhS_f73hI8aK38xmP-Lp16R5XlsFpzBVgrrgtPtus3QpzEJg2_TfpnR6VWkbjp69TdqOUcsq3wJn8zNRJOwjx_XkU83YWewRN4WXRHa-JNHRrVmr2ckx00AuKFZ8dDZEDGqXFYcYkjfTOqgDgMTIrVmiiwoS3YJJpYEdSu5zMpHLwnaChK-4OjmKW7o4Bj0ZJZ7_Z19pITOHcsWJIPKFKMmmlhw%3D%3D&tracking_referrer=qz.com

NEWS: Okay, okay, be evil - Google embarks on information suppression in China

Google is not only tailoring a biased version of its search engine for Communist China, but blocking its own employees' access to the relevant documents:

https://theintercept.com/2018/08/03/google-search-engine-china-censorship-backlash/

But that's OK, because it's no longer committed to fighting evil:

https://gizmodo.com/google-removes-nearly-all-mentions-of-dont-be-evil-from-1826153393

NEWS: China extending its influence in Australia and the West

British website The Conservative Woman reviews a new book by Canberra academic Clive Hamilton: "Silent Invasion: China's influence in Australia."

Apparently, last year Chinese parties nearly defenestrated an Australian MP in a key Sidney constituency, which could have wiped out the wafer-thin Parliamentary majority of the current Liberal government.

Elsewhere, Chinese individuals abroad may still be kept under close surveillance:

"Stalking of expat dissidents is facilitated by digital technology. Activity on Facebook (a website blocked in China) is monitored, but it doesn’t stop there. Western governments have shown unbelievable lack of caution in giving contracts to Chinese firms for sensitive work such as surveillance systems. Advanced internet-linked CCTV cameras with face-tracking capacity in use on the London Underground and Gatwick Airport are supplied by Hangzhou Hikvision, a company under Chinese state control. Potentially the data may be sent to Chinese servers, allowing agents to track people wherever they go, recording them visiting church or holding a copy of Epoch Times."

PHILIPPINES: Prehistoric Hobbits in Luzon

Archaeological remains of a butchered rhino suggest that midget humanoid ancestors came to the Philippines far earlier than we thought:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/04/butchered-rhino-suggests-humans-were-in-the-philippines-700000-years-ago

HAWAII NEWS: Volcanic eruption, evacuation

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-hawaii-volcano-eruption-20180503-story.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/04/us/kilauea-volcano-hawaii-earthquakes/index.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/05/03/hawaii-volcano-eruption-evacuations-kilauea/579856002/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/04/hawaii-evacuations-ordered-as-kilauea-volcano-erupts

See Youtube for comments from earthquake-watcher/predictor "Dutchinse":

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHE92x768p8h-fMrqhsnE1Q

MAP: Historic expansion of Austronesian speakers

As China vies with the USA for control of the Pacific*, Japan Forward offers this map of the spread of Austronesian languages:

* "In 2008 Admiral Keating of the United States Pacific Command (PACOM) gave a warning that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is interested in dividing the Pacific Ocean between China and the U.S.":

- http://japan-forward.com/8th-pacific-islands-leaders-meeting-what-should-be-on-the-agenda/

HAWAII: Another side of Hawaii

Wife-eating and more: a most interesting collection of unexpected tidbits - too good not to share:

https://www.tripelli.com/blog/post/hawaii-islands-of-strangeness-and-charm-183/

AUSTRALIA: Pintupi art

"Women's Dreaming" by Narrabri Nakamarra (image source)

Some of the last people to emerge - or be forced - from the Australian Outback are the Pintupi - and some of them have gone back.

More artwork here and here.