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Pioneering archaeologist Klaus Schmidt, who headed the excavations at Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey, has died at the age of 61. Schmidt had been working on the excavations at Göbekli Tepe, sometimes called Turkey’s Stonehenge, with the German Archaeology Institute since 1995.

Nearly 70 years ago, on Aug. 1, 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton took command of the American Third Army in France. For the next 30 days they rolled straight toward the German border. Patton almost did not get a chance at his summer of glory. After brilliant service in North Africa and Sicily, fellow officers — and his German enemies — considered him the most gifted American field general of his generation. But near the conclusion of his illustrious Sicilian campaign, the volatile Patton slapped two sick GIs in field hospitals, raving that they were shirkers. In truth, both...

"If you’re anti-Israel, then you’re anti-America. It’s the only democracy over there, it’s the only friend we have who’s willing to fight and stand up for what’s right." Stern: People forget history. Jews were being executed and killed, and they went over to Israel, this little sh*thole, which was a desert—it had nothing going on.

Because the Kenyan squatter is in town, Tim Conway show was discussing fundraisers. Callers, who have attended fundraisers, were phoning in and telling what happens at the events. Here is the best anecdote. A young cadet from Cal State Fullerton was there with other cadets as part of the Honor Guard. When Reagan greeted them, he asked the cadet his name and was open to a question from him. The cadet said, "Can I ask anything?" The President said he could. So the cadet said (paraphrasing) - Cadet - Mr. President, do you remember when you were doing a sound...

Her hearing isn't great, and her legs are weakening too. She doesn't have much appetite either, often finishing only a small portion of her meals. But you will never hear Madam Chua Sua Teh complaining about her age. Indeed, the 100-year-old woman can still play a mean game of Wii bowling. Despite the usual effects of ageing, Madam Chua is simply happy that she has hit the 100-year mark this year. She told The New Paper last Thursday in Teochew: "I don't worry myself with thoughts about death or illness, I simply live one day at a time, and make...

In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers revived a debate I’d had with futurist Ray Kurzweil in 2012 about the jobless future. He echoed the words of Peter Diamandis, who says that we are moving from a history of scarcity to an era of abundance. Then he noted that the technologies that make such abundance possible are allowing production of far more output using far fewer people. On all this, Summers is right. Within two decades, we will have almost unlimited energy, food, and clean water; advances in medicine will allow us to live...

The Queen was among the guests at Kensington Palace for Prince George's first birthday party She was joined by Prince Harry, Zara and Mike Tindall, the Middleton clan and Kate's childhood friend Emilia d'Erlanger The latter joined the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George on a trip to Buckingham Palace this morning George's first birthday party has been organised by Carole Middleton and has a Peter Rabbit theme During the party, guests will tuck into a special cake made by George's Spanish nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo Grandparents Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were notable absentees but did...

The highlight of the excavation was the discovery of a Judea Capta coin, which was minted by Roman Emporor Domitian during his reign of 81 – 96 CE in honor of the conquest of Judea and the destruction of Jersusalem in 70 CE by his father, Vespasian, and brother, Titus. Christie Cobb, a doctoral student at Drew University in New Jersey, discovered the coin. There are only 48 other versions of this coin that have been found, and fewer still at Biblical sites such as Bethsaida. “The coin confirms other ceramic data about the date of the large Roman period...

On the basis of simply counting heads, rock music surpasses even film as the 20th century's most influential art form. By that reckoning, there is a case for calling Buddy Holly, who died in a plane crash 50 years ago next Tuesday, the century's most influential musician. Holly and Elvis Presley are the two seminal figures of 1950s rock 'n' roll, the place where modern rock culture began. Virtually everything we hear on CD or see on film or the concert stage can be traced back to those twin towering icons – Elvis with his drape jacket and swivelling hips...

Climate change skeptics have suggested a recent slowdown in the warming of the Earth is evidence that global warming is a farce and that climate models can't be trusted, but new research suggests the slowdown, or "pause," was not a significant disruption of larger trends. The planet has been slowly warming over the last century or more. But in the last 15 years, that rate of warming has slowed. Temperatures are still high by historical standards; but between 1998 and 2013 they were slightly below what climate models had predicted. A small number of scientists and policy makers have pointed...

As tea was being dumped in Boston Harbor, momentous changes were taking place across the continent, defining America's future. The year 1776 stands as the most celebrated date on the American calendar, and for good reason. Embraced by those scant 12 months is not only the signing of the Declaration of Independence but also the Redcoats' retreat from Boston, the Continentals' narrow escape from New York, and George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River to snatch a desperately needed victory at Trenton. Those storied episodes unfolded within 50 miles of the Atlantic Coast. In his perceptive and original "West of...

No one can argue that Harry Reed is attacking wealthy political donors the Kock brothers but not a peep about; (via thesunlightfoundation.com ")Thomas Steyer, A long-time donor to Democratic causes, Thomas Steyer's contributions to federal and state elections have topped $40 million over the years, according to Influence Explorer. He contributed a whopping $32 million to California's Proposition 39, a tax initiative that won approval from voters in 2012, The Californian is a billionaire hedge fund maestro turned environmentalist who poured some $11.1 million into Super PACs in 2013." Since Harry Reed is standing on the senate floor only going...

Among the most exciting of the new acquisitions are the materials from the site of Jebel Sahaba, now in northern Sudan, which were donated to the Museum by Dr Fred Wendorf in 2002. Excavating here in 1965–66, as part of the UNESCO-funded campaign to salvage sites destined to be flooded by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, Dr Wendorf found a cemetery (site 117) containing at least 61 individuals dating back to about 13,000 years ago. This discovery was of great significance for two reasons. First, as a designated graveyard, evidently used over several generations, it is one of...

...the burials of the deceased of the estimated 30,000 commoners and laborers remained elusive – until 2001, when archaeologist Barry Kemp of the University of Cambridge began to see the first signs. Kemp has directed excavations and surveys at Amarna for the Egypt Exploration Society since 1977. “The puzzle seems now to have been solved,” says Kemp. “ It has come about through the desert GPS survey begun in 2001 and continued in subsequent years. First came the discovery of two cemeteries (clearly robbed) of what must be relatively poor graves on the flat desert not far from tomb no....

About 400 footprints were first discovered in the cave in 1965. Scientists initially attributed the impressions to a man, woman and child who lived 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. But radiocarbon measurements of two cave bear bones excavated just below the footprints now indicate that Homo sapiens made these tracks around 36,500 years ago, say anthropologist David Webb of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and his colleagues. Analyses of 51 footprints that remain — cave explorers and tourists have destroyed the rest — indicate that six or seven individuals, including at least one child, entered the cave after a flood had...

I vividly recall being in the living room with my family watching tv in 1969 as the American Astronauts walked on the moon. The pictures were fuzzy, black and white, somewhat indistinct. It almost resembled an Ultrasound image an expectant mother would see. We were thrilled to be part of a country, a culture so advanced as to put men on the moon and later, to bring them back safely to earth. We had completely one-upped communist Russia! Sputnik was a very important step in space exploration. Quite significant back in 1957, but that was a long time ago, back...

When I'm in a, shall we say, mellow mood with friends, I can occasionally launch into accounts of politics in seventeenth-century England. This usually results in incredulous stares, followed by, "Oh, so sorry. Fascinating story, I'm sure. But it's really just hours past my bedtime." It's a shame anybody should feel that way, though. Because even in the hands of a dreary lecturer and deadly bore (um, not saying I am one), the story of seventeenth-century England is one of riotously awful chaos -- and the birth of modern freedom. Sit down. Have another drink. Let's talk about it.

Roughly 50 Ford Pinto enthusiasts are gathering today for the fourth annual "Pinto Stampede," a three-day event from Dearborn, Mich. to Hell, Mich and back to Dearborn -- the birthplace of the Ford Pinto. The caravan of Ford Pintos, produced from 1971-1980, will make several stops on their journey including a visit to the Henry Ford Museum, the Ford Product Development Center, the Ford & Mercury Restorers Club Car Show and other landmarks on their ride to 'Hell and Back.' "The Pinto Stampede enables Pinto enthusiasts to celebrate our cherished little cars while doing something meaningful for others," said Norm...

This week marks the 70th anniversary of a plot whose success might well have spared millions of lives, while claiming that of history’s most infamous mass-murderer, Adolf Hitler. The elaborate conspiracy centered on Claus von Stauffenberg was the most well-prepared and organized attempt to put an end to Hitler, but it was scarcely the first. The number of serious attempts on Hitler’s life would fill a book and indeed have; Roger Moorhouse’s Killing Hitler (2006), for example, covers the ground of several such attempts from the moment Hitler came to power in 1933, at which time his security detail...

Mary O'Melia left Ireland for America as a young widow with three children before she was hired as housekeeper at the White House of the Confederacy. An intimate witness to history, she also has been much of a mystery. That was until this year, when a woman with a distinctive Irish lilt to her voice called The American Civil War Museum. The housekeeper, the woman said, was related to her late husband, and she had in her possession a necklace that Confederate first lady Varina Davis gave O'Melia. But there was more. "What really took my breath away is she...

Some classic rock songs from 'back then' have a distinctive sound in the intro, a rhythmic pattern that would probably make a good ringtone on our cell phones of today. One of those songs that could instantly set the mood was "Mississippi Queen, by the group Mountain, from 1970. The band consisted of four guys; Leslie West, Corky Laing, Felix Pappalardi and David Rea. This song, their most successful, reached #21 in the Billboard Hot 100 record chart of 1970. There are many other good songs with the everyday Cowbell in the intro including; #1. Moby Dick, by Led Zeppelin...

There's a weekly trial on the Internet about who may be stealing culture from whom. Earlier this week, the defendants were Iggy Azalea and white gay men. A while back, it was Macklemore and the Harlem Shakers. Now, we have come across a story from the Jim Crow era about cultural mimicry between people of color.In mid-20th century America, the turban was a tool that people of color used for "confounding the color lines," writes Manan Desai, board member of the South Asian American Digital Archive.At the time, ideas of race in America were quite literally black and white. In...

via Michelle Malkin

Over the centuries, they’ve been scorned, persecuted and marginalized. But it was an example of modern-day disdain towards redheads that prompted an Italian photographer’s mission to safeguard their diversity, The Local has learned. Let’s face it, redheads get a tough time, especially in the early years of their life. I should know, because I am one. But more on that later. Marina Rosso, a 29-year-old fine art photographer and researcher from Udine, is not a redhead as the English translation of her surname might suggest. But after hearing in 2011 that flame-haired men were being rejected from the world’s largest...

Anyone catch Megyn Kelly last night? She led with the shot down airliner. Whem mentioning the 1983 Korean plane that was shot down, she stated "accidently shot down by the Russians." Two things wrong - One - the Reagan administration had the goods and played the recording at the UN. The Soviets knew it was a civilian aircraft and shot it down anyway. Nothing accidental about it. Two - she can't even say Soviets. President Reagan did not say Russians - he said Soviets. What is wrong with these people?

First those Texans took our jobs. Then they took our money. Well, to be precise, Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna’s leg. A group of Illinois soldiers stole it fair and square – back in 1845. During the U.S. war with Mexico, Santa Anna skedaddled from the battle on a donkey and left his prosthetic leg behind in a carriage along with a bag of gold and a freshly cooked chicken. A group of Illinois soldiers ate the chicken, gave the Army the gold and kept the leg. One of the soldiers traveled about Illinois charging 10 cents for...

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Chhattisgarh state department of archaeology and culture plans to seek help from Nasa and Isro for research on 10,000-year-old rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs in Charama region in Kanker district in tribal Bastar region. According to archaeologist JR Bhagat, these paintings have depicted aliens like those shown in Hollywood and Bollywood flicks. Located about 130km from Raipur, the caves come under village Chandeli and Gotitola. "The findings suggest that humans in prehistoric times may have seen or imagined beings from other planets which still create curiosity among people and researchers. Extensive research is needed for further findings. Chhattisgarh presently...

The task before me is explaining with appropriate distinctions and qualifications “What is right and what is left?” For those who wish to avoid the harangue of an activist, let me assure them that I do not equate “conservative” with Republican or with the viewing habits of FOX News devotees. Being a Republican and dutifully reciting party talking points is for me no sign of being on the right; nor is a disinclination to do either indicative of being on the left. A classical or essentialist Right is hard to find in the contemporary Western world, where journalists and other...

"Guinness "Empty Chair" salutes the character of a community as they honor one of their own who is out of sight, but not out of mind. They remind us that a true test of character is what you do when no one's looking."

The head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement defended the role of federal agents in transporting illegal immigrant children after a federal judge complained they were hand-delivering smuggled kids to parents in the United States. “While the court’s comments did not relate specifically to ICE, it is clear that the transportation of unaccompanied children (UAC) by ICE personnel is appropriate and legal,” acting Director John Sandweg wrote in a brief email obtained by FoxNews.com. The email was sent Monday and addressed to “all ICE employees.” Sandweg noted that “recent media reports” on the judge’s order had “prompted discussion about whether ICE...

A brief explanation of Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip: --snip-- Why is Israel withdrawing from Gaza? In announcing the "Disengagement Plan" in December 2003, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the withdrawal was to increase security of residents of Israel, relieve pressure on the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinians --snip-- How will the withdrawal affect the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? The Israeli government expects the withdrawal will reduce Palestinian attacks on Jewish citizens.

Broken down by party affiliation, 82 percent of Democrats said they would support the United States while just 9 percent said they would support the Confederate States of America. Among Republicans, 37 percent said they would support the Confederate States of America while 41 percent said they would support the United States. Another 21 percent of Republicans said they weren't sure while 9 percent of Democrats said they weren't sure.

A University of Arizona professor says reader commenters of newspaper articles and letters-to-the-editor writers are using a posture of opposing illegal immigration to promote violence against people of Mexican ancestry, and are thus committing hate crimes. "The vast majority [of undocumented immigrants] are not criminals. They confuse being a migrant with being a criminal," Rodriguez says in the interview. "[T]hese are people not being charged with violence. They're not being charged with drug running. None of that. The crime is simply entry and re-entry."

One of ChinaÂ’s renowned ancient towns was under water on Wednesday as heavy rain hit the centre of the country, with tens of thousands of people evacuated from the area. The old town district of Fenghuang nestles on the banks of a winding river in a picturesque, mountainous part of Hunan province, and boasts stunning Qing and Ming dynasty architecture dating back hundreds of years. [Â…] According to ChinaÂ’s official Xinhua news agency, the Tuojiang river in the town had reached 1.1 meters above its previous highest recorded level, and several bridges had been damaged or destroyed. Â…

This is what may have happened around 3,200 BC on the Lake of Mondsee (Lake Constance), resulting in the exodus of a metalworking community that lived there. When the site of this particular settlement was excavated in the 19th century, 595 stone axes and studded battleaxes, 451 arrowheads along with 12 copper axes and six daggers were discovered. These items represented highly sought-after status symbols, and would never have been left behind intentionally, unless of course the settlement had been abandoned as the result of a disaster. Well preserved foods such as charred hazelnuts, grain and pieces of apples were...

Abstract -- In the last years several phylogeographic studies of both extant and extinct red deer populations have been conducted. Three distinct mitochondrial lineages (western, eastern and North-African/Sardinian) have been identified reflecting different glacial refugia and postglacial recolonisation processes. However, little is known about the genetics of the Alpine populations and no mitochondrial DNA sequences from Alpine archaeological specimens are available. Here we provide the first mitochondrial sequences of an Alpine Copper Age Cervus elaphus. DNA was extracted from hair shafts which were part of the remains of the clothes of the glacier mummy known as the Tyrolean Iceman or...

The primitive folk assessed by many archaeologists as being the original native Americans – that is, the Clovis people – killed and ate the lovable prehistoric elephants that inhabited the continent alongside them, scientists say. The proto-dumbo species in question is known as the gomphothere. Until recently, it had been thought that gomphotheres had disappeared from North America well before human beings showed up, but new fossil evidence appears to show that at least one cuddly tusker was brutally killed by Clovis people around 13,400 years ago. The luckless pachyderm was then scoffed by its peckish assailants. "This is the...

looking for photographic collections of wwII and wwI There have been some good ones posted in the past, but my bookmarks have all been lost with computer crashes. Sorry for the personal use of the forum.

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - Alice Coachman Davis, the first black female to win Olympic gold, died Monday. She was 90 years old. Coachman Davis suffered a stroke in April, and died at an Albany hospital Monday morning.

In recognition of Bastille Day, I, in this special Monday episode, discuss "the book that caused the French Revolution": Les Liaisons Dangereuses (The Dangerous Liaisons), written by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The book -- perhaps somewhat unintentionally -- set off pious sentiment against the Ancien Regime, and its influence carries on today. WATCH ON YOUTUBE(Alternative link, via Vimeo.) Summary:I start off the show with a brief primer on Bastille Day and immediately begin a summary of the characters and events in this novel, breaking down its story of lust and love. I then cite some of its distinctively Catholic elements....

To say that that the First World War was the greatest cataclysm in human history since the fall of the Roman Empire is to put it mildly. The war destroyed so many good things and killed so many good people that civilization has not recovered and probably never will. Long after it officially ended, it continued to cause millions of deaths and tragedies, most obviously during its encore performance of 1939-45. But it did not stop even then. Many of its worst consequences came during official periods of peace and are unknown or forgotten, or remain unconnected with it in...

I posted this as a response in another thread, but thought I'd also post it as a vanity, in case someone else might see it and decide to look beyond the reputation of the city to see what it might really have to offer. I've lived in Baltimore almost my whole life. And despite its problems, I love it. Those who don't know it will knock it, but it really is a great place to live, politics notwithstanding. But Cleveland was a complete unknown to me until I forced my daughter to consider attending Case Western Reserve University for nursing...

Hamas isnÂ’t shooting rockets at the Jews because of persecution, isolation or occupation. The Sunni Islamic terrorist group is doing it for the same reason that Sunnis and Shiites are killing each other in Iraq and Syria. And why its Muslim Brotherhood core group is killing Christians in Egypt. To understand why, letÂ’s step into a time machine and go back to the spring of 632. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius is engaged in the first of a series of wars with MohammedÂ’s maddened followers. England is divided into seven quarreling kingdoms. Across the water, the Merovingians are killing each other...

12 film clips of bridges, buildings, power plants etc being demo'd. They all blowed-up real good. Except for the one spectator who got a chunk of metal in his leg...

. Sunday : July 13, 2014 Obama's Foreign Invasion 2014 : Act of TREASON using Illegal Children as "Trojan Horse" MILTARY WEAPONS ===================================================== It's my prediction that President (King) Obama's strategic agenda is to allow the INVASION of a MILLION disease-ridden "children" and Drug Cartel Criminals as the "shock troops" for the ultimate destruction of the United States Republic ... ... an unstoppable action, unless a genuine miracle occurs. Even if the sodomite "King" Obama were impeached and removed from office, then President Biden would double-down on Obama's strategic goals, and allow an additional five million Illegals to this MILITARY...

Ah, the 1950′s. Scares of Commies, Atomic bombs, and blacks. However, we weren’t so scared of radiation, even rubbing it right into our skin. Dorothy Gray was the best cold cream at cleaning your face because it was imbued with the power of radiation, which would melt the dirty right out of your pores. Hilarious they even test the cold cream on the model’s face by reading it with a Geiger Counter. I’d call this product “Snake Oil” except I’m pretty convinced that it actually did work. Radioactive products in the 1940s and 1950s were considered modern, powerful, wave-of-the-future type...

In 1991, I was preparing to publish my first book, about a year I spent teaching junior high school in Japan. Stephen Birmingham, the author of “Our Crowd” and an acquaintance of my parents, offered to give me a blurb but recommended one change: that I drop the middle initial from my name on the cover. As a 26-year-old, baby-faced writer, I was eager to appear older and more sophisticated, so I ignored him. I’ve regretted it ever since. I thought of that incident this spring when the actress Ann B. Davis from “The Brady Bunch” died at 88. Her...

100 years ago today, the most iconic baseball player who ever lived made his Major League debut. The 19-year-old pitcher got the win for Boston, giving up three runs — two earned — over six-plus innings against Cleveland. In that first game, he failed to display the sort of power at the plate for which he would become famous, going 0-for-2. The rest of the season was equally unremarkable — he appeared in just three more games with the Red Sox before being sent back to the minors. But it didn't take long for Babe Ruth to become a sensation....