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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #286 Saturday, January 09, 2010 |
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| Hope and Change | |
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| Berkeley High May Cut Out Science Labs (Benefits white students- "redesigned" to close gap) |
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· 12/27/2009 10:55:23 AM PST · · Posted by civilwar2 · · 57 replies · 1,531+ views · · East Bay Express · · 12-23-09 · · Eric Klein · |
The proposal to put the science-lab cuts on the table was approved recently by Berkeley High's School Governance Council, a body of teachers, parents, and students who oversee a plan to change the structure of the high school to address Berkeley's dismal racial achievement gap, where white students are doing far better than the state average while black and Latino students are doing worse.The full plan to close the racial achievement gap by altering the structure of the high school is known as the High School Redesign. It will come before the Berkeley School Board as an information item at... |
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| China | |
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| Vatican Reveals Secret Archives |
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· 01/02/2010 9:42:37 AM PST · · Posted by Steelfish · · 50 replies · 1,692+ views · · Telegraph(UK) · · January 02nd 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
Vatican Reveals Secret Archives A 13th-century letter from Genghis Khan's grandson demanding homage from the pope is among a collection of documents from the Vatican's Secret Archives that has been published for the first time. By Nick Squires in Rome 01 Jan 2010 In a letter dated 1246 from Grand Khan Guyuk, pictured, to Pope Innocent IV, Genghis Khan's grandson demands that the Pontiff travel to central Asia in person The Holy See's archives contain scrolls, parchments and leather-bound volumes with correspondence dating back more than 1,000 years. High-quality reproductions of 105 documents, 19 of which have never been seen... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Unpaving Paradise: Digging Up Taiwan's Ancient Heritage |
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· 01/05/2010 4:28:30 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · 188+ views · · The Wild East · · July 16th, 2009 · · Trista di Genova, MSt, Oxford University · |
Evidence of human settlement in Taiwan -- so far -- dates back at least 30,000 years. Where these people originated from is unclear and something for which linguists, geneticists and archaeologists are trying to build a model. There was a "transmission of people" as well as the Austronesian language and culture, into Oceania from Southeast Asia, coming "from Taiwan or nearby areas" according to the author of "The First Human," Ann Gibbons; and Southeast China... The early Tapenkeng culture in Taiwan (6,000 to 5,000 BP before present), characterized by the advent of agriculture, overlapped the late Changpin culture (40,000 to... |
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| English Civil War | |
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| Devizes burial pit mystery [ Battle of Roundway's Bloody Ditch, July 13 1643 ] |
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· 01/03/2010 10:48:19 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · 262+ views · · Wiltshire Gazette and Herald · · Friday 1st January 2010 · · Lewis Cowen · |
Devizes pensioner Phil Hancock... is convinced that the 600 Parliamentarian troops, many of them cavalry, who died in the Bloody Ditch on July 13 1643, are buried in an ancient chalk pit close to the site of the battle. Mr Hancock, 85, from Park View, Devizes, has been investigating the mystery of the whereabouts of the bodies for nearly three years. He said: "I read in the Wiltshire Archaeological Society magazine an article dated June 1950 by Mr J M Prest, who said that bones had been found in a chalk pit on the slopes of Roundway. "But no further... |
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| Austin Powers City Limits | |
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| Andes' Formation Was A 'Species Pump' For South America |
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· 01/03/2010 4:31:10 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · 305+ views · · ScienceDaily · · January 11, 2009 · · University of Gothenburg via AlphaGalileo · |
South America is the world's most species-rich area. There have been many theories as to why, ranging from animals and plants accompanying the continent when it broke loose from Africa to variations in the extent of the rainforests over millions of years creating new species... South America's unique richness of species has been explained by several hypotheses. One states that animals and plants "accompanied" the South American continent when it broke loose from Africa 100 million years ago. Another proposes that many species were formed when the rainforest shrank into smaller areas during the Ice Ages and then subsequently expanded...... |
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| Hammers, Anvils, Stirrups | |
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| From Jaw to Ear: Transition Fossil Reveals Ear Evolution in Action (Yanoconodon) |
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· 03/16/2007 7:09:54 PM PDT · · Posted by Stultis · · 11 replies · 1,228+ views · · Scientific American · · 14 March 2007 · · David Biello · |
Now hear this: early mammal fossil shows how sensitive ear bones evolved. The mammal ear is a very precise system for hearing -- enabling everything from human appreciation of music to the echolocation of bats. Three tiny bones known as ossicles -- the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus) and stirrup (stapes) -- work together to propagate sound from the outside world to the tympanic membrane, otherwise known as the eardrum. From there, the sound is transmitted to the brain and informs the listener about pitch, intensity and even location. But it has... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| First Molars Provide Insight Into Evolution of Great Apes, Humans |
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· 01/03/2010 10:10:25 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 111 replies · 759+ views · · ScienceDaily · · Tuesday, December 29, 2009 · · Arizona State University, via EurekAlert · |
The timing of molar emergence and its relation to growth and reproduction in apes is being reported by two scientists at Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins in the Dec. 28 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). From the smallest South American monkeys to the largest African apes, the timing of molar development and eruption is closely attuned to many fundamental aspects of a primate's biology, according to Gary Schwartz, a researcher at the Institute of Human Origins and an associate professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Viral phenomenon: Ancient microbe invaded human DNA |
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· 01/06/2010 11:18:33 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · 499+ views · · AFP · · Jan 6, 2010 · · Unknown · |
PARIS (AFP) -- Humans carry in their genome the relics of an animal virus that infected their forerunners at least 40 million years ago, according to research published Wednesday by the British science journal Nature. The invader is called bornavirus, a brain-infecting pathogen that was first identified in 1970s. Scientists led by Keizo Tomonaga of Japan's Osaka University compared the DNA of a range of mammals, including humans, apes, elephants, marsupials and rodents, to look for tell-tale signatures of bornavirus code. In the human genome, the team found several bornavirus fragments but also in the form of two genes that... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Evolution caught in the act: Scientists measure how quickly genomes change |
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· 01/02/2010 10:57:44 AM PST · · Posted by Restore · · 66 replies · 801+ views · · Physorg.com · · January 1, 2010 · · Max-Planck-Gesellschaft · |
Mutations are the raw material of evolution. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tubingen, Germany, and Indiana University in Bloomington have now been able to measure for the first time directly the speed with which new mutations occur in plants. Their findings shed new light on a fundamental evolutionary process. They explain, for example, why resistance to herbicides can appear within just a few years. "While the long term effects of genome mutations are quite well understood, we did not know how often new mutations arise in the first place," said Detlef Weigel, director at the... |
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| Payback's a Beeotch | |
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| Early humans faced death from the skies |
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· 01/13/2006 12:34:56 PM PST · · Posted by microgood · · 31 replies · 1,737+ views · · The Seattle PI · · Jan 13, 2006 · · ALEXANDRA ZAVIS · |
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- An American researcher believes he has solved the mystery of how one of the most important human forerunners died nearly 2 million years ago: An eagle killed the 3 1/2-year-old ape-man known as the Taung child. The discovery suggests small human ancestors known as hominids had to survive being hunted not only by large predators on the ground but by fearsome raptors that swooped from the sky, said Lee Berger, a senior paleoanthropologist at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand. "These types of discoveries give us real insight into the past lives of these human ancestors, the... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Cuz Animals Are People Too, Ya Know? |
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· 12/23/2009 10:05:41 AM PST · · Posted by Mobile Vulgus · · 31 replies · 487+ views · · Publius Forum · · 12/23/09 · · Warner Todd Huston · |
I've always been amazed at liberals when it comes to their absurd penchant for acting as if animals are somehow just like people. This anthropomorphizing of the animal kingdom is fine if you are talking with kids, reading fairy tales, or creating entertainment, but when you are talking like adults about science or generally about animals there is no place for it. Animals are not people. It's just that simple. But apparently we can't tell that to the left-wingers at NPR because on Dec. 22 on the Morning Edition program we got a pretty silly story about baboons and their... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Archaeologists claim discovery of oldest Hebrew writing |
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· 01/07/2010 1:25:03 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · 658+ views · · AFP · · Jan 7, 2009 · · Unknown · |
This undated picture released by the University of Haifa shows an ancient inscription on a piece of pottery in early Hebrew writing. The 3,000 year-old inscription discovered at a site where the Bible says David slew Goliath has been deciphered, showing it to be the earliest known Hebrew writing, Israeli archaeologists said. (AFP/U of Haifa) JERUSALEM (AFP) -- A 3,000 year-old inscription discovered at a site where the Bible says David slew Goliath has been deciphered, showing it to be the earliest known Hebrew writing, Israeli archaeologists said on Thursday. The pottery shard with five lines of text in the... |
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| King David Era Pottery Shard Supports Biblical Narrative |
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· 01/08/2010 10:11:01 AM PST · · Posted by Nachum · · 8 replies · 678+ views · · INN · · 1/8/10 · · Avi Yellin · |
(IsraelNN.com) A breakthrough in the research of the Hebrew Scriptures has shed new light on the period in which the Bible books of the Prophets were written. Professor Gershon Galil of the Department of Biblical Studies at the University of Haifa has deciphered an inscription dating from the 10th century BCE (the period of King David's reign) and has proven the inscription to be ancient Hebrew, thus making it the earliest known example of Hebrew writing. The significance of this breakthrough relates to the fact that at least some of the Biblical scriptures are now proven to have been composed... |
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| Dead Sea Scrolls | |
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| Jordan, PA Claim Dead Sea Scrolls |
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· 01/02/2010 4:59:27 PM PST · · Posted by sofaman · · 58 replies · 1,195+ views · · Arutz Sheva, Israel National News · · Published: 01/02/10, 11:49 PM · · Last Update: 01/02/10, 10:55 PM · · Hillel Fendel · |
The London-based Globe and Mail reports that Jordan has asked Canada to seize Israel's 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scrolls that are currently on display in Toronto. The scrolls are on display until until Sunday at the Royal Ontario Museum. Jordan claims that the scrolls were found in "disputed territory" that Israel captured from Jordanian control in 1967, and asks Canada to hold them until the question of their ownership is settled. Jordan's control of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley - which it called the "West Bank" - from 1948 until 1967, was recognized internationally by only two countries: Great Britain... |
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| Turin Cloth | |
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| Shroud of Turin Not Jesus', Tomb Discovery Suggests |
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· 12/24/2009 10:28:07 AM PST · · Posted by Salman · · 42 replies · 1,127+ views · · National Geographic · · December 17, 2009 · · Mati Milstein · |
From a long-sealed cave tomb, archaeologists have excavated the only known Jesus-era burial shroud in Jerusalem, a new study says. The discovery adds to evidence that the controversial Shroud of Turin did not wrap the body of Christ, researchers say. [ snip ] The weave of the Tomb of the Shroud fabric, the new study says, casts further doubt on the Shroud of Turin as Jesus' burial cloth. The newfound shroud was something of a patchwork of simply woven linen and wool textiles, the study found. The Shroud of Turin, by contrast, is made of a single textile woven in... |
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| Religion of Peace | |
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| Reports: Iraq De-Judaizing Ezekiel's Tomb |
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· 01/05/2010 7:52:40 AM PST · · Posted by stars & stripes forever · · 24 replies · 682+ views · · IsraelNationalNews.com · · Jan. 5, 2010 · · Hillel Fendel · |
IsraelNN.com) Early reports that Iraq plans to retain the Jewish nature of the Tomb of the Prophet Ezekiel are apparently false. Sources in Baghdad say that the government plans to turn it into a mosque and erase all Jewish markings. Iraq announced earlier this year that it would revamp the ancient burial site, which is located in Al-Kifl, a small town south of Baghdad. The U.S.-backed government announcement implied that its Jewish nature would continue to be emphasized. Since then, however . . . |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| Iran warns British Museum over Cyrus cylinder |
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· 01/07/2010 4:40:36 PM PST · · Posted by Texas Fossil · · 59 replies · 826+ views · · Press TV · · Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:50:33 GMT · · NAT/MTM/AKM · |
Tehran will cease cooperation with the British Museum in London until it loans the Cyrus the Great Cylinder to the National Museum of Iran. The clay cylinder is inscribed in Babylonian cuneiform with an account by Cyrus II, king of Persia (559-530 BC). The Cyrus Cylinder is described as the world's first charter of human rights. ....... Iranian officials called on the British Museum to loan the country's ancient cylinder,..... said Hamid Baqaei "If the British Museum continues to make excuses for not loaning the artifact to the National Museum, we will, unfortunately, cease any cooperation with them, including archaeological... |
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| Greece | |
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| Did Unemployed Minoan Artists Land Jobs in Ancient Egypt? |
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· 01/06/2010 8:39:38 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 31 replies · 274+ views · · Heritage Key · · January 5, 2010 · · Owen Jarus · |
Two of those palaces were decorated, for a very short period of time, with Minoan frescoes. These include drawings of bull-leaping scenes -- which are well known from the Palace of Knossos in Crete. Site excavator Manfred Bietak published a book in 2007 that discussed these frescoes and compared them with the more famous scenes at the Palace of Knossos. There is no question that the frescoes at Tell el-Dab'a are Aegean influenced, and it seems likely that the artists are from Crete... Bietak said in his book that the paintings may symbolize the marriage of a Minoan princess into... |
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| Nubia | |
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| Monumental Statue Of Black Egyptian Pharaoh Found [ Taharqa of 25th Dynasty ] |
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· 01/03/2010 11:35:29 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · 787+ views · · Digital Journal · · Saturday, January 2, 2010 · · Christopher Szabo · |
Archaeologists have discovered a monumental statue of an ancient black Egyptian pharaoh of the Nubian 25th Dynasty in Dangeil, Sudan, about 350 kilometres northeast of the capital, Khartoum. The granite statue of the warrior pharaoh Taharqa weighs one ton, according to its discoverer, Dr Caroline Rocheleau of the North Carolina Museum of Art... The statues of two other Nubian pharaohs were also discovered... Taharqa was ruler of both Egypt and Nubia (Kush) during the 25th Dynasty, which was based in Nubia, which had a long history of pyramid building, apparently independent of Egypt. His reign is dated from 690 BC... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Largest Saqqara Tomb Discovered [ 26th Dynasty ] |
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· 01/05/2010 5:49:07 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 31 replies · 516+ views · · Discovery News · · Monday, January 4, 2010 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
An Egyptian team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, has unearthed the largest tomb yet discovered in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, also known as the "City of the Dead." Filled with skeletons, coffins and eagle mummies, the tomb was found just near the entrance point of the archaeological site. Simply cut into limestone, the burial, which dates to the 26th Dynasty (664 -525 B.C.), extends from a large rock-hewn hall into a number of corridors and small rooms. Inside, the archaeologists found several coffins, skeletons and pots. At the tomb's northern end, the... |
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| Only Had Eyes for Her | |
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| Cleopatra's stunner make-up cured eye disease as well |
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· 01/07/2010 4:07:08 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · 743+ views · · AFP · · Jan 7, 2010 · · Unknown · |
PARIS (AFP) -- Ancient Egypt's stunning eye make-up not only shielded wearers from the dark deeds of the evil eye but also protected them against eye disease, French scientists said Thursday. Ancient Egyptians some 4,000 years ago produced the make-up used to darken and adorn eyes with lead and lead salts in mixtures that sometimes took a month to concoct, said Philippe Walter, who co-headed a team of scientists from the Louvre museum and the CNRS national research institute. "We knew ancient Greeks and Romans too had noted the make-up had medicinal properties, but wanted to determine exactly how," he... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Handful of Iron Beads Offer Clues to Solve Mystery of Ancient Iron Forges |
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· 01/02/2010 5:55:31 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · 791+ views · · ScienceDaily · · Thursday, December 31, 2009 · · Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) via AlphaGalileo · |
When archaeologist Ruth Iren Øien noticed a cluster of tiny iron beads in the ground, she knew she was onto something. She did not know, however, that her team had stumbled upon Scandinavia's oldest and most complex group of iron forges... The iron beads were first found in November 2008, right at the very end of a highly weather-dependent field season in Norway. With frost about to set in, further investigation had to wait until the summer of 2009. But in July, Øien's team returned to the site. The iron beads that had piqued Øien's interest were only 1 to1.5... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Amazon explorers uncover signs of a real El Dorado |
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· 01/06/2010 5:23:56 AM PST · · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · · 15 replies · 908+ views · · Guardian · · 01/05/10 · · Rory Carroll · |
Amazon explorers uncover signs of a real El Dorado Satellite technology detects giant mounds over 155 miles, pointing to sophisticated pre-Columbian culture Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 5 January 2010 19.08 GMT An aerial picture of traces of earthworks built by a lost Amazonian civilisation dating to 200AD. Photograph: National Geographic It is the legend that drew legions of explorers and adventurers to their deaths: an ancient empire of citadels and treasure hidden deep in the Amazon jungle. Spanish conquistadores ventured into the rainforest seeking fortune, followed over the centuries by others convinced they would find a lost... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Fossil tracks record 'oldest land-walkers' |
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· 01/07/2010 8:51:50 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 17 replies · 416+ views · · bbc · · 6 January 2010 · · Jonathan Amos · |
The oldest evidence of four-legged animals walking on land has been discovered in southeast Poland. Rocks from a disused quarry record the "footprints" of unknown creatures that lived about 397 million years ago. Scientists tell the journal Nature that the fossil trackways even retain the impressions left by the "toes" on the animals' feet. The team says the find means that land vertebrates appeared millions of years earlier than previously supposed. "This place has yielded what I consider to be some of the most exciting fossils I've ever encountered in my career as a palaeontologist," said team member Per Ahlberg... |
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| Biology | |
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| 'Lifeless' prion proteins are 'capable of evolution' |
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· 01/07/2010 1:12:54 PM PST · · Posted by OldNavyVet · · 39 replies · 483+ views · · BBC News · · 1 January 2010 · · BBC News / Scripps Research Institute · |
Scientists have shown for the first time that "lifeless" prion proteins, devoid of all genetic material, can evolve just like higher forms of life. The Scripps Research Institute in the US says the prions can change to suit their environment and go on to develop drug resistance. Prions are associated with 20 different brain diseases in humans and animals. |
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| Cryptobiology | |
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| Loch Ness monster death rumours dismissed |
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· 01/07/2010 3:03:32 PM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 42 replies · 563+ views · · News.com.au · · January 07, 2010 · · staff reporter · |
RUMOURS Scotland's fabled Loch Ness monster is dead were dismissed by Nessie fans today. Suspicions that the monster, said to have lurked in the deep waters of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands, was extinct were raised as credible sightings last year waned to just one. Gary Campbell, president of the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club, told the UK's Daily Telegraph newspaper that the single sighting, made just off the Clansman Hotel by Loch Ness, Scotland on June 6 2009, was judged by him to have been a credible report. "That's why were so relieved to have heard about... |
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| Flood, Here Comes the Flood | |
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| Relic reveals Noah's ark was circular |
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· 01/02/2010 11:48:34 AM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 45 replies · 1,455+ views · · guardian.co.uk · · Jan. 1, 2010 · · Maev Kennedy · |
That they processed aboard the enormous floating wildlife collection two-by-two is well known. Less familiar, however, is the possibility that the animals Noah shepherded on to his ark then went round and round inside. According to newly translated instructions inscribed in ancient Babylonian on a clay tablet telling the story of the ark, the vessel that saved one virtuous man, his family and the animals from god's watery wrath was not the pointy-prowed craft of popular imagination but rather a giant circular reed raft. The now battered tablet, aged about 3,700 years, was found somewhere in the Middle East by... |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Polar Ice Caps Melting! |
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· 01/02/2010 2:29:54 PM PST · · Posted by annie laurie · · 49 replies · 3,076+ views · · American Thinker · · January 02, 2010 · · Larrey Anderson · |
The Watts Up With That website has a scary story about our melting polar ice caps. John Lockwood from Washington D.C. found an interesting article from the Washington Post. Here are some excerpts: The Arctic seems to be warming up. Reports ... all point to a radical change in climatic conditions, and hitherto unheard of high temperatures in that part of the earth's surface. Ice conditions were exceptional. In fact, so little ice has never before been noted. Dr. Hoel reports that he made a section of the Gulf Stream at 81 degrees north latitude and took soundings to a... |
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| War by Proxy | |
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| No rise in atmospheric carbon fraction over the last 150 years: University of Bristol |
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· 01/05/2010 2:43:42 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 12 replies · 346+ views · · Hot Air · · 8:48 am on January 4, 2010 · · Ed Morrissey · |
Science Daily reported on a new study from the University of Bristol released over the holidays that deserves to get wider attention. In contrast to claims from anthropogenic global-warming activists, this new analysis refutes one of the key principles of carbon-driven warming: Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere. To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the... |
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| Climate | |
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| ClimateGate: 30 years in the making ( PDF File with great Detail Avaiable) |
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· 12/24/2009 2:36:41 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 32 replies · 1,011+ views · · JoNova · · December 2009 · · Mohib Ebrahim · |
Mohib Ebrahim has created professional timelines for exhibitions, so it must have seemed only natural to him to want to visually piece together the full timeline of ClimateGate, laying out the analysis, graphs, emails and history of the scandal as revealed by dozens of researchers over the past weeks, months and years. Download The PDF (788k)There's a gif version of the poster if you don't like pdf's (1.7Mb)The PDF chart is available in different sizes, each also with the 10 pages of cited references. The full chart is over 2 meters wide (94 in x34 in, or 2 A0 landscape pages) and best... |
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| Climategate and the Migrating Arctic Tree Line |
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· 01/06/2010 10:47:02 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 47 replies · 1,048+ views · · American Thinker · · January 07, 2010 · · Dexter Wright · |
One of the more enlightening e-mails to spill out of the Climategate scandal is a report on the progress of Siberian fossilized tree ring work. The report, dated October 9, 1998, focuses on some two thousand samples of fossilized trees thirty-three nautical miles north of the present-day Arctic Circle. The report attempts to correlate the migration, north and south, of the tree line with annual tree ring dating so that an actual year can be assigned to a certain location of the Arctic Circle. The report correctly states that there has been migration of the polar tree line over the... |
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| Glaciation and the Ice Ages | |
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| Northern South America Rainier During Little Ice Age [ that's rainy-er, as in more rainy ] |
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· 01/03/2010 10:21:29 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · 217+ views · · ScienceDaily · · Friday, January 1, 2010 · · American Geophysical Union, via EurekAlert · |
During the Little Ice Age (LIA; covering approximately the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries), northern South America experienced about 10 percent more rainfall than during the twentieth century, according to Reuter et al. The authors analyzed two new records of oxygen isotopes (which track precipitation levels) from cave formations in northeastern Peru. They attribute the higher rainfall in northern South America during the LIA to cooler spring sea surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic. Furthermore, the authors note that some studies have shown that during the twentieth century, a significant amount of rainfall variability in northern South America was... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Remains Of Early 1900s Plane Found In Antarctica |
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· 01/02/2010 4:32:29 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 10 replies · 783+ views · · Discovery News · · 1/2/10 · |
Remains of the first airplane ever taken to Antarctica, in 1912, have been found by Australian researchers, the team announced Saturday. The Mawson's Huts Foundation had been searching for the plane for three summers before stumbling upon metal pieces of it on New Year's Day. "The biggest news of the day is that we've found the air tractor, or at least parts of it!" team member Tony Stewart wrote on the team's blog from Cape Denison in Antarctica's Commonwealth Bay. Australian polar explorer and geologist Douglas Mawson led two expeditions to Antarctica in the early 1900s, on the first one... |
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| War of 1812 | |
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| Prince de Neufchatel - War of 1812 |
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· 01/09/2010 5:08:19 AM PST · · Posted by Jacquerie · · 4 replies · 185+ views · · American Privateer · · unknown · · various · |
The Prince de Neufchatel Adam and Noah Brown's Privateer Schooner -- Built at New York in 1813 this ship was one of the fastest and most successful ships of the War of 1812 (6 prizes in 6 days in the English Channel (1814); chased 17 times by men-of-war that summer, but outran them every time). A large schooner (110' 8", 33.7m length on deck), she was typical in body plan of the American privateers. Very highly thought of by her country (she changed owners in 1814 for $21,000) as well as her enemies. When finally taken, the British copied her. The... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Our Founding Fathers spirit |
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· 01/03/2010 1:51:22 PM PST · · Posted by syc1959 · · 3 replies · 120+ views · · syc1959 · · Jan 3, 2010 · · syc1959 · |
In the spirit of our Founding Fathers let us recall the words of Israel Putnam. "Patriot, remember the heritages received from your forefathers and predecessors. Protect and perpetuate them for future generations of your countrymen." To those that don't know Israel Putnam, Israel Putnam was born in Salem Village (now Danvers), Mass. to a prosperous farming family. On April 20, 1775, when Putnam received news of the Battle of Lexington that started the day before, he left his plow in the field and rode one hundred miles in eighteen hours, reaching Cambridge the next day, to offer his services to... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| John Dewey and the Philosophical Refounding of America |
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· 01/08/2010 4:45:00 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 15 replies · 313+ views · · National Review Online · · December 31, 2009 · · Tiffany Jones Miller · |
The "progressive" label is back in vogue; politicians of the Left routinely use it to describe themselves, hoping to avoid the radical connotations associated with being "liberal" in the post-Reagan era. The irony in this is manifold, especially because the aim of the movement to which the name refers, the late-19th- and early-20th-century progressive movement, was anything but moderate. If the progressive label seems less radical today, it is only because progressivism is less well known than its liberal progeny. It was initially an academic phenomenon far removed from American politics. Particularly in the post-Civil... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Pius XII was no saint |
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· 01/03/2010 11:00:10 AM PST · · Posted by Gamecock · · 337 replies · 3,138+ views · · Ottawa Citizen · · January 2, 2010 · · Robert S. Wistrich · |
Ten years ago, on a cold winter morning in New York City, the Catholic-Jewish Historical Commission, established to investigate Pope Pius XII's response to the Holocaust, met for the first time to discuss its future work. I was the only Israeli historian among the six scholars (three Catholics and three Jews) designated by the Vatican and leading Jewish organizations to study this hotly contested issue. A little under two years later, the project was abandoned as a result of the Holy See's unwillingness to release materials from its own archives that could help clarify issues that our team of scholars... |
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| end of digest #286 20100109 | |
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· Saturday, January 09, 2010 · 36 topics · 2424305 to 2419641 · 735 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 286th issue. My apologies for last week's dating -- I used Jan 1 instead of the correct Jan 2. On Saturday I thought it was Sunday until someone pointed it out to me. I didn't notice the Digest problem until I added seven for this issue and went "huh?" |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #287 Saturday, January 16, 2010 |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Men not so primitive: Study shows macho Y chromosome evolving faster than rest of genetic code |
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· 01/13/2010 7:43:49 PM PST · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 24 replies · 602+ views · · Canadian Press via Google News · · 13 January 2010 · · Seth Borenstein · |
Women may think of men as primitive, but new research indicates that the Y chromosome - the thing that makes a man male - is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code. A new study comparing the Y chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, our nearest living relatives, show that they are about 30 per cent different. That is far greater than the 2 per cent difference between the rest of the human genetic code and that of the chimp's, according to a study appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature. These changes occurred in the last... |
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| Neandertals / Neanderthals | |
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| Neanderthal 'make-up' containers discovered |
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· 01/11/2010 5:09:49 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 32 replies · 524+ views · · BBC · · Jan 9, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Did Neanderthals wear make-up? Scientists claim to have the first persuasive evidence that Neanderthals wore "body paint" 50,000 years ago.The team report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that shells containing pigment residues were Neanderthal make-up containers. Scientists unearthed the shells at two archaeological sites in the Murcia province of southern Spain. The team says its find buries "the view of Neanderthals as half-wits" and shows they were capable of symbolic thinking. Professor Joao Zilhao, the archaeologist from Bristol University in the UK, who led the study, said that he and his team had examined shells that... |
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| Because they were worth it? Research finds Neanderthals enjoyed makeup |
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· 01/11/2010 4:50:51 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 13 replies · 321+ views · · guardian.co.uk · · Jan. 11, 2010 · · Sam Jones · |
For decades, our low-browed Neanderthal cousins have been portrayed as dim savages whose idea of seduction was a whispered "ug" and a blow to the cranium. But analysis of pierced, hand-coloured shells and lumps of pigment from two caves in south-east Spain suggests the cavepeople who stomped around Europe 50,000 years ago were far more intelligent -- and cosmetically minded -- than previously thought. In 1985, archaeologists excavating the Cueva de los Aviones in Murcia found cockle shells perforated as if to be hung on a necklace and an oyster shell containing mineral pigments, hinting that the cave's Neanderthal residents... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Ancient hominids may have been seafarers |
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· 01/14/2010 4:18:11 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · 300+ views · · Science News · · Friday, January 8th, 2010 · · Bruce Bower · |
Human ancestors that left Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago to see the rest of the world were no landlubbers. Stone hand axes unearthed on the Mediterranean island of Crete indicate that an ancient Homo species -- perhaps Homo erectus -- had used rafts or other seagoing vessels to cross from northern Africa to Europe via at least some of the larger islands in between, says archaeologist Thomas Strasser of Providence College in Rhode Island. Several hundred double-edged cutting implements discovered at nine sites in southwestern Crete date to at least 130,000 years ago and probably much earlier, Strasser... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Sailing into antiquity: BU archeologist unearths clues about ancient Egypt's sea trade |
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· 01/14/2010 7:20:32 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · 261+ views · · Boston Globe · · Monday, January 11, 2010 · · Colin Nickerson · |
...Boston University archeologist Kathryn Bard and her colleagues are uncovering the oldest remnants of seagoing ships and other relics linked to exotic trade with a mysterious Red Sea realm called Punt... the team led by Bard and an Italian archeologist, Rodolfo Fattovich, started uncovering maritime storerooms in 2004, putting hard timber and rugged rigging to the notion of pharaonic deepwater prowess. In the most recent discovery, on Dec. 29, they located the eighth in a series of lost chambers at Wadi Gawasis after shoveling through cubic meters of rock rubble and wind-blown sand... The reconnaissance of the room and its... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| On a mission to crack the Norse code [ Orkney ] |
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· 01/14/2010 7:37:32 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · 392+ views · · Scot Herald · · Monday, January 11, 2010 · · Gavin Francis · |
The guide's voice began to conjure other shadows from the past. The neolithic people crept away as she switched on her torch and began to tell us about the runic writing on the walls, now known to have been written by Norse inhabitants of Orkney some time in the 12th century. The tension dissolved and laughter broke out as she translated: "Ingibjorg the fair widow; many a woman has had to lower herself to come in here, despite her airs and graces." "I bedded Thorni. By Helgi." And then some boasting about how well-travelled these Norsemen were: "These runes were... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| Palestinians find ancient coin hoard in Gaza |
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· 01/14/2010 7:13:26 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · 311+ views · · Google hosted news · · Tuesday, January 12, 2010 · · AFP · |
The Hamas-run ministry of tourism and antiquities in Gaza on Monday announced the discovery of ancient artifacts near the Egyptian border town of Rafah. "The most important of the findings are 1,300 antique silver coins, both large and small," said Mohammed al-Agha, tourism and antiquities minister in the Islamist-run government. He said archaeologists had also uncovered a black basalt grinder, a coin with a cross etched on it, and the remains of walls and arches believed to have been built in 320 BC. They also discovered a "mysterious" underground compartment with a blocked entrance that appeared to be a tomb,... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves |
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· 01/10/2010 6:35:05 PM PST · · Posted by jerry557 · · 30 replies · 701+ views · · Reuters via Yahoo! · · 01/10/2010 · · Marwa Awad · |
CAIRO (Reuters) -- New tombs found in Giza support the view that the Great Pyramids were built by free workers and not slaves, as widely believed, Egypt's chief archaeologist said on Sunday. Films and media have long depicted slaves toiling away in the desert to build the mammoth pyramids only to meet a miserable death at the end of their efforts. "These tombs were built beside the king's pyramid, which indicates that these people were not by any means slaves," Zahi Hawass, the chief archaeologist heading the Egyptian excavation team, said in a statement. "If they were slaves, they would... |
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| The Lost Tribes | |
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| Are the Taliban Descended From One of Ten Lost Tribes of Israel? |
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· 01/09/2010 7:56:47 PM PST · · Posted by Shellybenoit · · 46 replies · 846+ views · · The Lid/jpost · · 1/9/09 · · The Lid · |
Every Friday night observant Jews bless their sons by saying, "may you be like Manasseh and Ephraim," the two sons of the biblical Joseph, who were the first Jews, born outside of the Holy Land. The blessing expresses the hope that, just like Joseph's sons, today's Jewish sons will hold fast to their religion despite the fact they live in the diaspora. Manasseh and Ephraim are two of the famous lost ten tribes, who were carted away into exile more than 2,500 years ago. Descendants of the tribe of Manasseh have been found living in India, and many of them... |
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| Taliban may be descended from Jews (Tribe of Ephraim?- DNA testing) |
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· 01/13/2010 10:10:49 AM PST · · Posted by skaro · · 74 replies · 1,250+ views · · Telegraph UK · · 1-11-10 · · Dean Nelson · |
Experts at Mumbai's National Institute of Immunohaematology believe Pashtuns could be one of the ten "Lost Tribes of Israel".According to legend, they are descended from the Ephraim tribe which was driven out of Israel by the Assyrian invasion in around 700BC. The Israeli government is funding a genetic study to establish if there is any proof of the link. An Indian geneticist has taken blood samples from the Pashtun Afridi tribe in Lucknow, Northern India, to Israel where she will spend the next 12 months comparing DNA with samples with those of Israeli Jews. |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Prehistoric building found in modern Israeli city |
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· 01/11/2010 4:23:12 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 32 replies · 494+ views · · Associated Press · · Jan 11, 2009 · · IAN DEITCH · |
JERUSALEM -- Archaeologists have uncovered remains of an 8,000-year-old prehistoric building as well as ancient flint tools in the modern city of Tel Aviv, Israel's Antiquities Authority announced Monday. The building is the earliest structure ever found in Tel Aviv and changes what archaeologists previously believed about the area in ancient times. "This discovery is both important and surprising to researchers of the period," said Ayelet Dayan, the archaeologist who led the excavation. "For the first time we have encountered evidence of a permanent habitation that existed in the Tel Aviv region 8,000 years ago," she said. |
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| Biblical Archaeology | |
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| When Was the Bible Really Written? |
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· 01/09/2010 5:55:26 PM PST · · Posted by driftdiver · · 28 replies · 799+ views · · Foxnews · · Jan 9, 2010 · · foxnews · |
By decoding the inscription on a 3,000-year-old piece of pottery, an Israeli professor has concluded that parts of the bible were written hundreds of years earlier than suspected. The pottery shard was discovered at excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa near the Elah valley in Israel -- about 18 miles west of Jerusalem. Carbon-dating places it in the 10th century BC, making the shard about 1,000 years older than the Dead Sea scrolls. ...... English translation of the deciphered text: 1' you shall not do [it], but worship the [Lord]. 2' Judge the sla[ve] and the wid[ow] / Judge the orph[an] 3'... |
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| Deciphered etching sheds new light on Bible's origin |
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· 01/10/2010 10:16:56 AM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 62 replies · 1,258+ views · · Haaretz · · January 8, 2010 · · Fadi Eyadat · |
Did the writing of the Bible begin as far back as the 10th century B.C.E., during the time of King David? That is four centuries earlier than Biblical scholars currently believe - but an inscription recently deciphered by a scholar at Haifa University indicates that for at least some books of the Bible, the answer may be yes. The inscription, written in ink on clay, is the earliest yet found in Hebrew. It was discovered about 18 months ago in a dig at Khirbet Qeiyafa, near Emek Ha'ela. While it was quickly dated, its language remained uncertain until Prof. Gershon... |
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| Bible Possibly Written Centuries Earlier, Text Suggests |
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· 01/15/2010 10:56:30 AM PST · · Posted by My Favorite Headache · · 88 replies · 1,195+ views · · Yahoo News/Live Science · · 1-15-10 · |
Scientists have discovered the earliest known Hebrew writing - an inscription dating from the 10th century B.C., during the period of King David's reign. The breakthrough could mean that portions of the Bible were written centuries earlier than previously thought. (The Bible's Old Testament is thought to have been first written down in an ancient form of Hebrew.) Until now, many scholars have held that the Hebrew Bible originated in the 6th century B.C., because Hebrew writing was thought to stretch back no further. But the newly deciphered Hebrew text is about four centuries older, scientists announced this month. "It... |
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| Greece | |
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| Syria's mysterious Dead Cities |
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· 01/14/2010 7:09:52 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · 482+ views · · The Guardian · · Saturday January 9, 2010 · · Kevin Rushby · |
The stone window ledge has two rows of seven shallow depressions cut into it, and I am sitting next to them, trying to remember where on earth I've seen this pattern before. Far away, beyond the massive fortifications and the moat, are the white-capped mountains of Lebanon. I had not expected to see so much snow around, but then Syria throws up surprises all the time. Even this 12th-century crusader castle, Krak des Chevaliers, a fabulous place long picked over by archaeologists and historians, is full of mysteries. Like the timeworn inscription I found tucked away in a corner: "Ceso:... |
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| Sunken Civilizations | |
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| Rediscovery of Ancient Bathonea |
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· 01/14/2010 3:36:43 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · 493+ views · · www.en400.com · · August 25, 2009 · · Jerry Kelly · |
Imagine sailing across a lake, looking down, and seeing the top of a tower coming up towards you. That's what villagers have been doing for centuries at Lake Kçkçekmece in what is now Turkey. They told archaeologists from Kocaeli University and the Istanbul Prehistoric Research Project that they thought it was the minaret of a sunken mosque. The archaeologists sent divers down and found an ancient lighthouse at the edge of a sunken city. Using documents written by geographers centuries ago, the archaeologists have now identified the city as the ancient Byzantine port of Bathonea. 1600 years ago, the port... |
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| Malta | |
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| Gozo rock holds ancient wine presses [ Malta ] |
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· 01/14/2010 7:33:31 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · 157+ views · · Times of Malta · · January 12, 2010 · · Claudia Calleja · |
Centuries ago, come September, galleys would be rowed into Mg'arr ix-Xini harbour and loaded with amphorae filled with wine that had been pressed in the valley. Winemakers would fill shallow basins with grapes and, once pressed, the juice would flow through holes and channels into a deeper collecting holder, all carved into the rock. These wine presses, said to date back to 500 BC, can still be seen embedded in the Gozitan valley and are being studied and documented in a project carried out by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Sannat and Xewkija local councils with the support... |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Aboriginal folklore leads to meteorite crater |
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· 01/12/2010 9:59:26 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 17 replies · 588+ views · · COSMOS · · 07 Jan 2010 · · Aaron Cook · |
SYDNEY: An Australian Aboriginal 'Dreaming' story has helped experts uncover a meteorite impact crater in the outback of the Northern Territory. Duane Hamacher, an astrophysicist studying Aboriginal astronomy at Sydney's Macquarie University, used Google Maps to search for the signs of impact craters in areas related to Aboriginal stories of stars or stones falling from the sky. One story, from the folklore of the Arrernte people, is about a star falling to Earth at a site called Puka. This led to a search on Google Maps of Palm Valley, about 130 km southwest of Alice Springs. Here Hamacher discovered what... |
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| China | |
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| On this rare map, China is the center of the world |
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· 01/12/2010 9:30:36 AM PST · · Posted by stainlessbanner · · 10 replies · 1,049+ views · · AP via yahoo · · 12 January 2010 · · BRETT ZONGKER · |
WASHINGTON -- A rarely seen 400-year-old map that identified Florida as "the Land of Flowers" and put China at the center of the world went on display Tuesday at the Library of Congress.The map created by Matteo Ricci was the first in Chinese to show the Americas. Ricci, a Jesuit missionary from Italy, was among the first Westerners to live in what is now Beijing in the early 1600s. Known for introducing Western science to China, Ricci created the map in 1602 at the request of Emperor Wanli.Ricci's map includes pictures and annotations describing different regions of the world. Africa... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Lost Capital Of Scotland Uncovered |
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· 07/06/2002 4:49:47 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 38 replies · 775+ views · · Sunday Herald · · Jennifer Johnston · |
Lost capital of Scotland uncovered Dark Age fort found near Wallace Monument proves Stirling was home of Scottish warlords By Jenifer Johnston Workers laying cables to floodlight the National Wallace Monument have uncovered a 1500-year-old citadel which confirms the site of Scotland's lost capital. Archaeologists believe the ruins establish a much earlier time of sophisticated battles near Stirling. An archaeological report published yesterday reveals that the cliff-top fortification on the volcanic Abbey Craig was a 'Dark Age citadel' occupied between 500 and 780AD. The discovery of entrances, stone walls and timber ramparts provides the first evidence that Stirling was one... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Snow and an ancient Sussex church |
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· 01/08/2010 8:11:47 AM PST · · Posted by sussex · · 25 replies · 927+ views · · theagedp.com/ · · 08/01/10 · · The Aged P · |
Unlike many parts of the USA heavy winter snow is a comparatively rare event in our part of England so the last few days have made quite an impact. Fortunately we are both retired and are still relatively well stocked with food -- and gin -- so there is no need to risk the cars on the untreated side roads or our bottoms on the icy pavements. However, to avoid a complete outbreak of stir craziness, we ventured out for a brief airing a couple of times -- hence the pics (taken by The Lovely Mrs P, much more creative... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Much of the early methane rise can be attributed to the spreading of northern peatlands |
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· 01/14/2010 6:29:38 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · 208+ views · · University of Helsinki · · Jan 14, 2010 · · Unknown · |
The surprising increase in methane concentrations millennia ago, identified in continental glacier studies, has puzzled researchers for a long time. According to a strong theory, this would have resulted from the commencement of rice cultivation in East Asia. However, a study conducted at the University of Helsinki's Department of Environmental Sciences and the Department of Geosciences and Geography shows that the massive expanse of the northern peatlands occurred around 5000 years ago, coincident with rising atmospheric methane levels. After water vapour and carbon dioxide, methane is the most significant greenhouse gas, resulting in about one fifth of atmospheric warming caused... |
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| Climate | |
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| Bering Strait influenced ice age climate patterns worldwide |
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· 01/10/2010 10:33:28 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · 492+ views · · National Center for Atmospheric Research/ University Corporation for Atmospheric Research · · Jan 10, 2010 · · Unknown · |
BOULDER--In a vivid example of how a small geographic feature can have far-reaching impacts on climate, new research shows that water levels in the Bering Strait helped drive global climate patterns during ice age episodes dating back more than 100,000 years. The international study, led by scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), found that the repeated opening and closing of the narrow strait due to fluctuating sea levels affected currents that transported heat and salinity in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. As a result, summer temperatures in parts of North America and Greenland oscillated between warmer and... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Evidence of Ancient Amazon Civilization Uncovered |
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· 01/09/2010 5:52:40 PM PST · · Posted by fishhound · · 30 replies · 1,370+ views · · The Sphere/AOL · · 1/09/2010 · · David Knowles · |
(Jan. 8) -- As a result of the deforestation of the Amazon basin, a startling discovery has been made. Hidden from view for centuries, the vast archaeological remains of an unknown, ancient civilization have been found. A study published in Antiquity, a British archaeological journal, details how satellite imagery was used to discern the footprint of the buildings and roads of a settlement, located in what is now Brazil and believed to span a region of more than 150 miles across. "The combination of land cleared of its rain forest for grazing and satellite survey have revealed a sophisticated pre-Columbian... |
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| "Lost" Amazon Complex Found; Shapes Seen by Satellite |
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· 01/10/2010 10:10:20 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 32 replies · 1,182+ views · · nationalgeographic · · January 4, 2010 · · John Roach · |
Satellite images of the upper Amazon Basin taken since 1999 have revealed more than 200 geometric earthworks spanning a distance greater than 155 miles (250 kilometers). Now researchers estimate that nearly ten times as many such structures -- of unknown purpose -- may exist undetected under the Amazon's forest cover. At least one of the sites has been dated to around A.D. 1283, although others may date as far back as A.D. 200 to 300, said study co-author Denise Schaan, an anthropologist at the Federal University of Par· in BelÈm, Brazil. The discovery adds to evidence that the hinterlands of the Amazon once teemed... |
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| Hope and Change | |
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| Another Bad Idea: ''Diversifying'' Science Faculties: "Science should look like the population" |
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· 01/12/2010 3:56:09 PM PST · · Posted by skaro · · 50 replies · 507+ views · · Minding the Campus · · 1-7-10 · · Roger Clegg · |
Should universities weigh race and ethnicity in deciding whom to hire for their science departments? The American Association for the Advancement of Science thinks so, according to a recent National Journal article. "Science and engineering should look like the rest of the population," says AAAS's Daryl Chubin." The National Journal article says that it wants to "allocate additional slots to U.S. racial and ethnic minorities" and to protect universities from "likely lawsuits by groups seeking color-blind admissions policies." |
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| MIT lags in hiring, promoting black, Hispanic faculty, internal report says |
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· 01/14/2010 9:45:58 AM PST · · Posted by reaganaut1 · · 51 replies · 811+ views · · Boston Globe · · January 14, 2010 · · Tracy Jan · |
MIT must do a better job recruiting and retaining black and Hispanic faculty, who have a significantly more difficult time getting promoted than white and Asian colleagues, according to a frank internal study released today by the university. In some departments, such as chemistry, mathematics, and nuclear science and engineering, no minorities have been hired in the last two decades, according to the report, which was more than two years in the making. MIT's first comprehensive study of faculty racial diversity and the experiences of underrepresented minority professors highlights a national problem across academia: the need to improve the pipeline... |
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| Early America | |
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| A super bowl that eluded patriots |
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· 01/14/2010 12:29:02 PM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 17 replies · 360+ views · · Boston Globe · · January 14, 2010 · · Samuel G. Allis · |
Now 300 years old, the Loring Bowl, as it is known, will be the star of the show at Sotheby's auction of early American silver in New York on Jan. 22. It is, by far, the biggest bowl of its kind and period that Sotheby's has ever handled. Now 300 years old, the Loring Bowl, as it is known, will be the star of the show at Sotheby's auction of early American silver in New York on Jan. 22. It is, by far, the biggest bowl of its kind and period that Sotheby's has ever handled. (Southeby's) Fearing for his... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Battle of Guilford Courthouse gets its due |
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· 01/10/2010 12:08:49 PM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 71 replies · 718+ views · · News Record (Greensboro, NC) · · January 10, 2010 · · Eddie Huffman · |
From Hollywood to the history shelf, the Civil War was a widescreen epic, while the American Revolution has too often been a footnote. One of the most important battles of the Revolution happened in what is now Greensboro on March 15, 1781, but, over the past century, Americans have treated that war as an afterthought. The Civil War was "Gone with the Wind," "Glory" and 11 hours by Ken Burns. The Revolution, by contrast, was little more than a few forgettable movies, an occasional special on The History Channel and a handful of books (or more often booklets) sold at... |
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| This Day In History, January 14, 1784, The Treaty of Paris was Ratified |
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· 01/14/2010 5:51:46 PM PST · · Posted by mdittmar · · 6 replies · 145+ views · · various · · 1/14/10 · · various · |
Ratified by the Congress of the Confederation on 14 January 1784, the treaty that formally ended the Revolutionary War gave formal recognition to the United States. The three American negotiators, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, proved themselves to be masters of the game, outmaneuvering their counterparts and clinging fiercely to the points of national interest that guaranteed a future for the United States. Two crucial provisions of the treaty were British recognition of U.S. independence and the delineation of boundaries that would allow for American western expansion. The treaty is named for the city in which it was negotiated and... |
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| Test Your Knowledge on the American Revolution and Its Enduring Legacy |
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· 01/13/2010 8:47:26 AM PST · · Posted by Lucky9teen · · 52 replies · 763+ views · · americanrevolutioncenter.org · |
National Survey The American Revolution Center commissioned the first national survey to assess adult knowledge of the American Revolution. The results show that an alarming 83 percent of Americans failed a basic test on knowledge of the American Revolution and the principles that have united all Americans. Results also revealed that 90 percent of Americans think that knowledge of the American Revolution and its principles is very important, and that 89 percent of Americans expected to pass a test on basic knowledge of the American Revolution, but scored an average of 44 percent. The survey questions addressed issues related to... |
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| What's Your Constitution I.Q.? |
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· 01/13/2010 10:28:27 AM PST · · Posted by Lucky9teen · · 30 replies · 712+ views · · constitutionfacts.com · |
Welcome to ConstitutionFacts.com where you'll see the entire text of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence - and much more! You'll find interesting insights into the men who wrote the Constitution, how it was created, and how the Supreme Court has interpreted the United States Constitution in the two centuries since its creation. The Constitution is certainly the most influential legal document in existence. Since its creation some two hundred years ago, over one hundred countries around the world have used it as a model for their own. And it is a living document. It... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Civil War flags losing state budget battles |
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· 01/09/2010 6:27:28 PM PST · · Posted by HokieMom · · 13 replies · 383+ views · · The Washington Times · · January 6, 2010 · · AP · |
ALBANY, N.Y. · · They made it through Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg, but many of the Civil War battle flags sitting in the nation's state-owned collections might not survive the budget battles being waged in some statehouses. In New York, home to the nation's largest state-owned collection of Civil War battle flags, money for a preservation project is being cut from Gov. David A. Paterson's proposed budget. Indiana's funding for flag conservation has been returned to the state's general fund. Ohio hasn't provided government funding for its 400-plus Civil War battles flags in nearly a decade... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Lexington, Virginia, Made a Pact with the Devil |
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· 01/14/2010 10:36:21 PM PST · · Posted by Brian_Baldwin · · 1 replies · 238+ views · · unknown · |
Shocking revelations into historical folktales of Virginia reveal that a long time ago, Lexington was given over in a Pact with the Devil by a blacksmith just prior to the Civil War. It is called folktale, but there are many who can vouch for the historical side of Wicked John and the Devil. As for Wicked John whom you have no doubt heard of if you know anything about the Wiley ways of the Red Demon, can say of John "that critter's so mean the buzzards wouldn't claim him", "Too bad for heaven, too mean for hell". One of those... |
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| Biology | |
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| Unlocking the mystery of the duck-billed platypus' venom (Australia) |
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· 01/13/2010 12:57:24 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 71 replies · 945+ views · · American Chemical Society · · Jan 13, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Abandon any notion that the duck-billed platypus is a soft and cuddly creature -- maybe like Perry the Platypus in the Phineas and Ferb cartoon. This platypus, renowned as one of the few mammals that lay eggs, also is one of only a few venomous mammals. The males can deliver a mega-sting that causes immediate, excruciating pain, like hundreds of hornet stings, leaving victims incapacitated for weeks. Now scientists are reporting an advance toward deciphering the chemical composition of the venom, with the first identification of a dozen protein building blocks. Their study is in the Journal of the American... |
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| Cryptobiology | |
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| Half-Plant, Half-Animal ... Really |
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· 01/13/2010 3:52:51 PM PST · · Posted by lorddoctor · · 32 replies · 640+ views · · Fox News · · 1-13-10 · |
A green sea slug appears to be part animal, part plant. It's the first critter discovered to produce the plant pigment chlorophyll. The sneaky slugs seem to have stolen the genes that enable this skill from algae that they've eaten. With their contraband genes, the slugs can carry out photosynthesis -- the process plants use to convert sunlight into energy. "They can make their energy-containing molecules without having to eat anything," said Sidney Pierce, a biologist at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Pierce has been studying the unique creatures, officially called Elysia chlorotica, for about 20 years. He |
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| Don't Drink, Don't Smoke, What Do You Do? | |
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| Ant Has Given Up Sex Completely, Researchers Confirm |
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· 01/09/2010 11:04:07 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 21 replies · 893+ views · · sciencedaily · · Jan. 9, 2010 · |
The complete asexuality of a widespread fungus-gardening ant, the only ant species in the world known to have dispensed with males entirely, has been confirmed by a team of Texas and Brazilian researchers. Most social insects -- the wasps, ants and bees -- are relatively used to daily life without males. Their colonies are well run by swarms of sterile sisters lorded over by an egg-laying queen. But, eventually, all social insect species have the ability to produce a crop of males who go forth in the world to fertilize new queens and propagate. Queens of the ant Mycocepurus smithii reproduce without fertilization and... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Oldest footprints reveal when sea creatures took their first steps on land |
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· 01/10/2010 11:31:50 AM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 27 replies · 527+ views · · dailymail.co.uk · · Jan. 7, 2010 · · Daily Mail Reporter · |
The earliest footprints made by Earth's first four-legged creatures have been unearthed by scientists. The fossilized tracks were left 395 million years ago by several primitive animals up to eight feet long. They are being hailed as a 'missing link' in one of evolution's most spectacular transitions - the shift from water to land. The findings have stunned scientists because the footprints date to 18 million years before four-limbed vertebrates known as tetrapods were known to have existed. The tracks were found in the Holy Cross Mountains in south-eastern Poland, one of the oldest ranges in Europe, and have distinctive 'hand' and... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Alligator Breathing Sheds Light on Rise of Dinosaurs |
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· 01/14/2010 5:23:32 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · 277+ views · · Live Science · · Jan 14, 2009 · · Andrea Thompson · |
Alligators breathe like birds, scientists have discovered. "They cannot argue with this data," she said. "I have three lines of evidence. If they don't believe it, they need to get an alligator and make their own measurements." |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Origin of the Species, From an Alien View: WHERE did humankind come from? [ Sitchin ] |
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· 01/13/2010 3:22:05 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 35 replies · 617+ views · · New York Times · · January 8, 2010 · · Corey Kilgannon · |
If you're going to ask Zecharia Sitchin, be ready for a "Planet of the Apes" scenario: spaceships and hieroglyphics, genetic mutations and mutinous space aliens in gold mines. It sounds like science fiction, but Mr. Sitchin is sure this is how it all went down hundreds of thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia. Humans were genetically engineered by extraterrestrials, he said, pointing to ancient texts to prove it... He is an apparently sane, sharp, University of London-educated 89-year-old who has spent his life arguing that people evolved with a little genetic intervention from ancient astronauts who came to Earth and... |
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| end of digest #287 20100116 | |
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