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· Saturday, June 5, 2010 · 37 topics · 2103132 to 2518841 · 748 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 307th issue, which has 37 topics -- odd coincidence, 37 in 3(zero)7. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #307 Saturday, June 5, 2010 |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis | |
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| Florentine Codex, Great Intellectual Enterprise of 16th Century [ Nahuatl and Spanish ] |
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· 06/02/2010 5:30:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · 184+ views · · Art Daily · · June 1, 2010 · · unattributed · |
Created under the orders of Bernardino de Sahagun by 20 tlacuilos or painters and 4 Indigenous masters, Florentine Codex is one of the greatest expressions of the Renascence in America. Bilingual and bicultural, this ancient encyclopedia was written in two columns, one in Nahuatl and the other in Spanish as a summary, and is integrated by 4,000 handwritten pages with 2,686 colored images; each book has a prologue where Sahagun places the work in its dimension and time. Restorer Diana Magaloni had access to the original document at the Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) in Florence, Italy, to deepen research:... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| The Revolutionary War's Other Naval Hero |
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· 06/05/2010 7:42:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 22 replies · 368+ views · · Wall St Journal · · June 5, 2010 · · Aram Bakshian Jr. · |
Most of the heroes in the Revolutionary War, from Washington down to the humblest recruit shivering through the winter at Valley Forge, fought on the land. The tiny, hastily formed Continental Navy -- consisting mainly of improvised small craft and converted merchantmen -- had to content itself with pinprick raids on enemy commercial shipping or coastal targets and occasional small-scale actions against lesser British military craft, never ships of the line in battle array. Only two American naval officers, both foreign-born, emerged from the Revolutionary War with true hero status, and only one of them, John Paul Jones, is widely remembered today. A vain... |
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| Early America | |
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| N.C. shipwreck speculated to be ghost of 1609 |
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· 06/04/2010 5:30:16 PM PDT · · Posted by csvset · · 21 replies · 686+ views · · The Virginian-Pilot · · June 4, 2010 · · Jeff Hampton · |
COROLLA, N.C. A shipwreck exposed on the beach by winter storms could date to a time of commerce between England and Jamestown in the early 1600s. Possibly the oldest known wreck on the North Carolina coast, the timbers and construction of the ship are very similar to the Sea Venture, the 1609 flagship of seven vessels that carr ied people and supplies to Jamestown, said Bradley A. Rodgers, a professor of archaeology and conservation in the maritime studies program at East Carolina University. Remains of the Sea Venture rest off the Bermuda coast after it ran aground there in 1609... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Milk: 2 glasses a day tones muscles, keeps the fat away in women, study shows (after weight-lifting) |
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· 05/26/2010 11:44:20 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 58 replies · 956+ views · · McMaster U · · May 26, 2010 · · Unknown · |
HAMILTON, CANADA -- Women who drink two large glasses of milk a day after their weight-lifting routine gained more muscle and lost more fat compared to women who drank sugar-based energy drinks, a McMaster study has found. The study appears in the June issue of Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise. "Resistance training is not a typical choice of exercise for women," says Stu Phillips, professor in the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University. "But the health benefits of resistance training are enormous: It boosts strength, bone, muscular and metabolic health in a way that other types of exercise... |
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| Dogs First Tamed in China -- To Be Food? [SURPRISE!] |
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· 09/08/2009 12:30:02 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 11 replies · 773+ views · · nationalgeographic · · September 4, 2009 · · John Roach · |
Wolves were domesticated no more than 16,300 years ago in southern China, a new genetic analysis suggests -- and it's possible the canines were tamed to be livestock, not pets, the study author speculates. "In this region, even today, eating dog is a big cultural thing," noted study co-author Peter Savolainen, a biologist at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. "And you can also see in the historical records as far back as you can go that eating dogs has been very common" in East Asia. "Therefore, you have to think of the possibility that this was one of the... |
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| Edible Fencing | |
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| Revealing the ancient Chinese secret of sticky rice mortar |
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· 05/29/2010 6:02:14 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 30 replies · 701+ views · · American Chemical Society · · May 29, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Note to journalists: Please credit the journal or the American Chemical Society as the source -- Scientists have discovered the secret behind an ancient Chinese super-strong mortar made from sticky rice, the delicious "sweet rice" that is a modern mainstay in Asian dishes. They also concluded that the mortar -- a paste used to bind and fill gaps between bricks, stone blocks and other construction materials -- remains the best available material for restoring ancient buildings. Their article appears in the American Chemical Society (ACS) monthly journal, Accounts of Chemical Research. Bingjian Zhang, Ph.D., and colleagues note... |
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| China | |
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| New Chinese terracotta warrior displays original paint |
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· 05/30/2010 8:31:13 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 33 replies · 747+ views · · digital journal · · May 13, 2010 · · Christopher Szabo · |
Chinese archaeologists have discovered terracotta warriors painted in rich colours in the mausoleum complex of the country's first emperor. China Daily said the company of 114 terracotta soldiers was found at Number One pit, one of three such pits in the grave complex in China's central city of X'ian. Xu Weihong, the excavation team leader said: The total area of the excavation was some 200 square metres and we were pleasantly surprised to find rich colours on terracotta warriors. He said the clay figures, which are between 1,8 and two metres tall, had black hair, green, white or pink faces... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Acupuncture's molecular effects pinned down |
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· 05/30/2010 1:10:00 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · 532+ views · · U of Rochester Med Center · · May 30, 2010 · · Unknown · |
New insights spur effort to boost treatment's impact significantly -- Scientists have taken another important step toward understanding just how sticking needles into the body can ease pain. In a paper published online May 30 in Nature Neuroscience, a team at the University of Rochester Medical Center identifies the molecule adenosine as a central player in parlaying some of the effects of acupuncture in the body. Building on that knowledge, scientists were able to triple the beneficial effects of acupuncture in mice by adding a medication approved to treat leukemia in people. The research focuses on adenosine, a natural compound known for... |
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| Fertile Crescent | |
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| Jordan Valley -- cradle of civilisations? |
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· 05/30/2010 8:20:19 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · 306+ views · · Jordan Times · · May 28, 2010 · · Taylor Luck · |
In Tabqat Fahel, 90 kilometres north of Amman, recent finds indicate that the ancient site of Pella, which spans across the earliest pre-historic times to the Mameluke era, may have been a part of the cradle of civilisations... the early Bronze Age period, 3600BC-2800BC, a time when humans went from smaller villages to larger towns and large-scale urban communities... Findings of a city wall and other structures, dating back to 3400BC and as early as 3600BC, show that Pella was a formidable city-state at the same time Sumerian Iraq was taking shape... With the unearthing of a fortified hilltop and... |
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| The Etruscans | |
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| Italy: Ancient Etruscan home found near Grosseto |
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· 06/01/2010 8:45:35 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 36 replies · 525+ views · · Adnkronos Int'l · · Tuesday, May 25, 2010 · · AKI · |
An ancient Etruscan home dating back more than 2,400 years has been discovered outside Grosseto in central Italy. Hailed as an exceptional find, the luxury home was uncovered at an archeological site at Vetulonia, 200 kilometres north of Rome. Archeologists say it is rare to find an Etruscan home intact and believe the home was built between the 3rd and 1st century BC. Using six Roman and Etruscan coins uncovered at the home, archeologists believe the house collapsed in 79 AD during wars unleashed by Roman general and dictator, Lucio Cornelio Silla. Archeologists have discovered a large quantity of items... |
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| Hail, Hail, the Caesar's Here | |
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| Home Away From Rome: Excavations of villas Excavations of villas where Roman emperors escaped the office... |
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· 06/02/2010 5:36:18 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · 450+ views · · Smithsonian magazine · · June 2010 · · Paul Bennett · |
We know what became of Marcus Aurelius -- considered the last of the "Five Good Emperors." He ruled for nearly two decades from A.D. 161 to his death in A.D. 180, a tenure marked by wars in Asia and what is now Germany. As for the Villa Magna, it faded into neglect. Documents from the Middle Ages and later mention a church "at Villa Magna" lying southeast of Rome near the town of Anagni, in the region of Lazio. There, on privately owned land, remains of Roman walls are partially covered by a 19th-century farmhouse and a long-ruined medieval monastery.... |
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| The Games Begin | |
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| Italy: Colosseum to be restored this year |
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· 06/02/2010 5:07:18 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · 415+ views · · Adnkronos Int'l · · March 5, 2010 · · AKI · |
One of Italy's most popular landmarks, the Colosseum will undergo restoration this year as part of a 40-million euro revamp of historic sites in the capital Rome. The city's mayor Gianni Alemanno announced the restoration on Friday after presenting plans for Rome's latest bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. "The restoration is part of a larger strategic development plan," Alemanno told reporters in Rome. Rome previously hosted the Olympic Games, officially known as the games of the XVII Olympiad in 1960. Alemanno last year promised to conduct restoration work on the Colosseum beginning in April 2010 to mark the... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Secrets uncovered at the Sistine Chapel (Michelangelo hid some secret messages inside his artwork) |
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· 05/29/2010 1:49:23 PM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 46 replies · 2,426+ views · · Catholic Online · · May 28, 2010 · · Greg Goodsell · |
According to Ian Suk and Rafael Tamargo, in their paper in the current issue of Neurosurgery, Michelangelo hid his sketches of the human brain, including the spinal column inside his depiction of God. The theory was first posited by physician Frank Meshberger in 1990, who maintained that the artist's rendering of the central panel on the ceiling, depicting God creating Adam was a perfect anatomical illustration of the human brain in cross section. Meshberger speculated that Michelangelo surrounded God with a shroud representing the human brain, suggesting God was endowing Adam with supreme human intelligence. Michelangelo took four years to... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Vatican opens its Secret Archives to dispel Dan Brown myths |
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· 05/27/2010 4:17:06 PM PDT · · Posted by bruinbirdman · · 44 replies · 982+ views · · The Telegraph · · 27 May 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
After centuries of being kept under lock and key, the Vatican has started opening its Secret Archives to outsiders in a bid to dispel the myths and mystique created by works of fiction such as Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. The archives, until now jealously guarded from prying eyes, provide one of the key settings in Brown's thriller, in which Harvard "symbologist" Robert Langdon, played in the 2009 film by Tom Hanks, races against time to stop a secret religious order, the Illuminati, from destroying Vatican City. In the movie, the Secret Archives are portrayed as a hi-tech cross between... |
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| The Exodus | |
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| "Vatican to accept that Mt. Sinai is in Negev, not Egypt' |
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· 05/31/2010 3:50:38 PM PDT · · Posted by markomalley · · 23 replies · 647+ views · · Jerusalem Post · · 5/30/2010 · · Steve Linde · |
It has taken him more than a decade, but Italian-Israeli archeologist Prof. Emmanuel Anati now believes his controversial view that the biblical Mount Sinai is in Israel's Negev desert rather than Egypt's Sinai Peninsula will soon be adopted by the Vatican. On Friday, he presented his theory in the form of a new book at a seminar at the Theological Seminary in the northeastern Italian city of Vicenza. "Actually it's not a theory, it's a reality. I'm sure of it," Anati told The Jerusalem Post by telephone from his home in Capo di Ponte. "My archeological discoveries at Har Karkom... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Where is the Holy Ark? |
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· 06/28/2009 8:04:05 PM PDT · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 24 replies · 1,157+ views · · Life in Israel · · June 28, 2009 · |
A few days ago it was reported that an Ethiopian Patriarch was considering revealing the secret of the Lost Ark, and the Ark itself, and how his church has been holding it for thousands of years, and would likely do so on Friday in Italy. Turns out he preferred keeping the secret (or had nothing to show) and said nothing on Friday. He had not even scheduled a press conference. World Net Daily has the whole story. Nobody knows what is true and what is not, but it is definitely a fascinating story.... The agency had reported an announcement would... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Egyptian Writer -- American History Is a Lie |
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· 07/02/2009 2:25:25 PM PDT · · Posted by Shellybenoit · · 26 replies · 904+ views · · MEMRI/The Lid · · 7/2/09 · · The Lid · |
Bad news folks, everything you learned in school about American History is wrong, you will have to re-learn almost everything. At least according to today's Moonbat, Egyptian Writer Muhammad Ibrahim Mabrouk. According to Mabrouk, Columbus didn't accidentally discover America trying to find a trade route to India, no that what the infidels want you to think. The real story is that Columbus was on his way to China trying to recruit the Emperor help Columbus liberate Jerusalem. You know those puritans that came over in the Mayflower? They came to the new world in order to kill all the natives.... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Ancient mayor's 'lost tomb' found south of Cairo |
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· 05/30/2010 10:11:45 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 5 replies · 261+ views · · Associated Press · · May 30, 2010 · |
CAIRO (AP) -- Archaeologists have discovered the 3,300-year-old tomb of the ancient Egyptian capital's mayor, whose resting place had been lost under the desert sand since 19th century treasure hunters first carted off some of its decorative wall panels, officials announced Sunday. Ptahmes, the mayor of Memphis, also served as army chief, overseer of the treasury and royal scribe under Seti I and his son and successor, Ramses II, in the 13th century B.C. |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Obama Discovers an Ancient Likeness at the Pyramids |
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· 06/05/2009 8:13:34 AM PDT · · Posted by Zakeet · · 14 replies · 1,231+ views · · Washington Post · · June 5, 2009 · · Garance Franke-Ruta · |
President Obama explored the Great Pyramids of Giza following his speech in Cairo today -- and discovered a startling likeness in one hieroglyphic symbol of a man's head with protruding ears. [Snip] Below, the compare and contrast: |
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| Video: Obama jokes hieroglyphic "looks like me -- look at those ears" |
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· 06/04/2009 4:10:57 PM PDT · · Posted by Justaham · · 16 replies · 1,077+ views · · mofopolitics · · 6-4-09 · |
While visiting the Tomb of Qar, terrorist supporter Barack Obama noticed a hieroglyphic of a thin man with big ears. "That looks like me!" exclaimed terrorist supporter Obama. "Look at those ears." |
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| Ancient Art | |
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| Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old |
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· 05/31/2010 1:31:34 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 21 replies · 692+ views · · ABC · · 31 May 2010 · · Emma Masters · |
Scientists say an Aboriginal rock art depiction of an extinct giant bird could be Australia's oldest painting. The red ochre painting, which depicts two emu-like birds with their necks outstretched, could date back to the earliest days of settlement on the continent. It was rediscovered at the centre of the Arnhem Land plateau about two years ago, but archaeologists first visited the site a fortnight ago. A palaeontologist has confirmed the animals depicted are the megafauna species Genyornis. Archaeologist Ben Gunn said the giant birds became extinct more than 40,000 years ago. "The details on this painting indicate that it... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Neanderthal man was living in Britain 40,000 years earlier than thought |
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· 06/01/2010 8:27:27 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · 432+ views · · Telegraph · · Tuesday, June 1, 2010 · · unattributed · |
Francis Wenban-Smith from the University of Southampton discovered two ancient flint hand tools used to cut meat at the M25/A2 road junction at Dartford, Kent, during an excavation funded by the Highways Agency. Tests on sediment burying the flints showed they date from around 100,000 years ago - proving Neanderthals were living in Britain at this time. The country was previously assumed to have been uninhabited during this period... Early pre-Neanderthals inhabited Britain before the last ice age, but were forced south by the severe cold about 200,000 years ago. When the climate warmed up again between 130,000 and 110,000... |
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| Neanderthals are part of the human family |
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· 06/03/2010 7:32:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 48 replies · 606+ views · · Access Research Network · · 05/14/2010 · · David Tyler · |
It was 15 months ago that Science carried a story about the completion of a rough draft of the Neandertal genome. Palaeogeneticist Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig was reported as saying "he can't wait to finish crunching the sequence through their computers". It has been quite a long time coming, as it is more than a decade since Paabo first demonstrated it was possible to analyse Neandertal DNA sequences. Earlier reports suggested that Neandertals were sufficiently distinct from humans for them to be classified as a separate species of Homo. The draft genome... |
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| The Diaspora | |
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| Study finds genetic links among Jewish people |
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· 06/03/2010 12:09:49 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 44 replies · 738+ views · · Albert Einstein College of Medicine · · June 3, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Results could shed light on origins of various diseases -- Using sophisticated genetic analysis, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and New York University School of Medicine have published a study indicating that Jews are a widely dispersed people with a common ancestry. Jews from different regions of the world were found to share many genetic traits that are distinct from other groups and that date back to ancient times. The study also provides the first detailed genetic maps of the major Jewish subpopulations, a resource that can be used to... |
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| Africa | |
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| Penn Researchers Add Genetic Data to Archaeology and Linguistics to Get Picture of African Population History |
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· 06/02/2010 5:50:50 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · 281+ views · · Univ of Penn · · May 26, 2010 · · unattributed · |
genetic variation in Africa is structured geographically, and to a lesser extent, linguistically. The findings are consistent with the notion that populations in close geographic proximity that speak linguistically similar languages are more likely to exchange genes. Furthermore, genetic variation in Africa appears consistent with the natural, geographic barriers that limit gene flow. In particular, there are geographic, and therefore genetic, distinctions between northern African and sub-Saharan African populations due to the vast desert that limited migration. "Focusing on particular exceptions to these broad patterns will enable us to discern and fully appreciate the complex population histories that have contributed... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Powerful genome barcoding system reveals large-scale variation in human DNA |
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· 05/31/2010 12:39:06 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · 458+ views · · U of Wisc-Madison · · May 31, 2010 · · Unknown · |
MADISON -- Genetic abnormalities are most often discussed in terms of differences so miniscule they are actually called "snips" -- changes in a single unit along the 3 billion that make up the entire string of human DNA. "There's a whole world beyond SNPs -- single nucleotide polymorphisms -- and we've stepped into that world," says Brian Teague, a doctoral student in genetics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "There are much bigger changes in there." Variation on the order of thousands to hundreds of thousands of DNA's smallest pieces -- large swaths varying in length or location or even showing... |
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| Articles Highlight Different Views on Genetic Basis of Race |
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· 10/27/2004 3:46:52 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 12 replies · 717+ views · · NY Times · · October 27, 2004 · · Nicholas Wade · |
A difference of opinion about the genetic basis of race has emerged between scientists at the National Human Genome Center at Howard University and some other geneticists. At issue is whether race is a useful signpost to tracking down the genes that cause disease, given that certain diseases are more common in some populations than others. In articles in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics, scientists at Howard, a center of African-American scholarship, generally favor the view that there is no biological or genetic basis for race. "Observed patterns of geographical differences in genetic information do not correspond... |
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| Study: 'Eve' Came From East Africa |
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· 04/26/2003 7:36:03 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 50 replies · 998+ views · · Discover News · · 4-24-2003 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
"African Eve," the female ancestor of all humans, likely hailed from East Africa, according to a recent study. If the current analysis is correct, East Africa probably served as the cradle of humanity many thousands of years ago. Sarah Tishkoff, lead author of the paper and an assistant professor of biology at the University of Maryland, explained that the term African Eve "refers to an ancestral mitochondrial DNA genome. "All genomes today are descended from one person, but she lived in a larger population. By... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Egg-laying Mammal Is Living Link to Reptiles -- may be the strangest mammal in the world |
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· 05/31/2010 1:36:11 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 42 replies · 1,743+ views · · ngm · · May 18,2010 · · Christy Ullrich · |
Related to the platypus, this nocturnal worm-eater is the largest egg-laying mammal in the world. An echidna can weigh up to 36 pounds. Photograph by Tim Laman It may be the strangest mammal in the world -- spiky hairs, pointy beak, no nipples, four-headed penis. The long-beaked echidna, found in the rain forest of New Guinea's Foja mountains, has adapted in remarkable ways. A monotreme, from a group of egg-laying mammals that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs, this primitive animal serves as a living link between mammals and reptiles. Short-beaked echidnas and platypuses are the only other living... |
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| The cave of bones: A story of solenodon survival |
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· 06/01/2010 10:07:22 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 25 replies · 883+ views · · bbc · · 1 June 2010 · · Rebecca Morelle · |
Conservationists are in the Dominican Republic attempting to save one of the world's most strange and ancient mammals - the Hispaniolan solenodon. While trying to track down one of these creatures, The Last Survivors team is also trying to find out exactly how this animal has been able to survive for a remarkable 76 million years. |
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| Mystery of 500-million-year-old Squid-like Carnivore Solved |
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· 06/02/2010 7:56:33 PM PDT · · Posted by null and void · · 12 replies · 754+ views · · Scientific Computing · · 6/2/10 · |
A reconstruction of Nectocaris pteryx Copyright 2009 Marianne Collins A recent study sheds new light on a previously unclassifiable 500 million-year-old squid-like carnivore known as Nectocaris pteryx. "We think that this extremely rare creature is an early ancestor of squids, octopuses and other cephalopods," says Martin Smith of University of Toronto (U of T) 's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) and the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM). "This is significant because it means that primitive cephalopods were around much earlier than we thought, and offers a reinterpretation of the long-held origins of... |
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| Oh no, You Make Your Own Dirt | |
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| Scientists Create Synthetic Organism |
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· 05/30/2010 9:37:12 PM PDT · · Posted by sonofstrangelove · · 25 replies · 505+ views · · Wall Street Journal · · 5/21/2010 · · Robert Lee Hotz · |
Heralding a potential new era in biology, scientists for the first time have created a synthetic cell, completely controlled by man-made genetic instructions, researchers at the private J. Craig Venter Institute announced Thursday. "We call it the first synthetic cell," said genomics pioneer Craig Venter, who oversaw the project. "These are very much real cells." Created at a cost of $40 million, this experimental one-cell organism, which can reproduce, opens the way to the manipulation of life on a previously unattainable scale, several researchers and ethics experts said. Scientists have been altering DNA piecemeal for a generation, producing a menagerie... |
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| Chinese Takeout | |
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| On the trail of the imperiled Yangtze dolphin |
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· 12/06/2006 12:26:13 PM PST · · Posted by cogitator · · 1 replies · 175+ views · · The Age · · 12/03/2006 · · Jonathan Watts · |
(Long, detailed article; I've provided the first page here.) MURKY water, hazy sky and dull brown riverbanks. Strained eyes peering into the mist. Ears tuned electronically into the depths. And with each hour, each day that passes, a nagging question that grows louder: is this how a species ends after 20 million years on earth? When they write the environmental history of early 21st-century China, the freshwater dolphin expedition now plying the Yangtze river may be seen as man's farewell to an animal it once worshipped. A team of the world's leading marine biologists is making a last-gasp search for... |
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| China's white dolphin called extinct after 20 mn years |
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· 12/15/2006 12:07:30 AM PST · · Posted by gd124 · · 13 replies · 890+ views · · Zee News · · December 15, 2006 · |
Beijing, China, Dec 15: An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team's leader saying one of the world's oldest species was effectively extinct. The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction. A few baiji may still exist in their native Yangtze habitat in eastern China but not in sufficient numbers to... |
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| China's River Dolphin Declared Extinct: 20 Million Years and a Farewell |
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· 12/18/2006 9:06:19 AM PST · · Posted by Alter Kaker · · 55 replies · 1,645+ views · · New York Times · · 16 December 2006 · · Andrew C. Revkin · |
The first species to be erased from this planet's great and ancient Order of Cetaceans in modern times is not one of the charismatic sea mammals that have long been the focus of conservation campaigns, like the sperm whale or bottlenose dolphin. It appears to be the baiji, a white, nearly blind denizen of the Yangtze River in China. On Wednesday, an expedition in search of any baiji, run by Chinese biologists and baiji.org, a Swiss foundation, ended empty-handed after six weeks of patrolling its onetime waters in the middle and lower stretches of the river, the baiji's only known... |
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| Yangtzse River dolphin 'now extinct' |
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· 08/08/2007 8:38:26 AM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 44 replies · 1,175+ views · · Telegraph · · 08 Aug 2007 · · Roger Highfield · |
The Yangtze River dolphin enjoys a rare and depressing distinction, according to new research. The grey white, long-beaked animal is the world's first cetacean -the order of whales, dolphins and porpoises -to be made extinct by man, concludes an international team that has conducted comprehensive surveys of its habitat. The demise of the near-blind mammal also represents the first extinction of a large vertebrate (backboned animal) for more than 50 years, since overhunting claimed the Caribbean monk seal in the 1950s. A zoologist said it was a "shocking tragedy." The paper, lead-authored by Dr Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Marilyn Monroe's birthday is today -- her Bible, a ring, and rare photo with JFK now for sale |
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· 06/01/2010 3:19:18 PM PDT · · Posted by jackspyder · · 47 replies · 976+ views · · Examiner.com · · June 1, 2010 · · Réne Girard · |
One of Marilyn Monroe's Bibles is now for sale at the Art & Artifact gallery in Los Angeles, CA (approx. 130 miles N of San Diego) as well as one of her rings and the only known photograph of Marilyn Monroe and President John F. Kennedy together - taken after she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" - perhaps the most well-known public performance of the song in history. ... Today, June 1st happens to be Marilyn Monroe's birthday. She was born Norma Jean Mortensen in 1926, eighty four years ago, in Los Angeles, California. Coincidence? I think not. All very... |
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| end of digest #307 20100605 | |
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· Saturday, June 5, 2010 · 37 topics · 2103132 to 2518841 · 748 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 307th issue, which has 37 topics -- odd coincidence, 37 in 3(zero)7. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #308 Saturday, June 12, 2010 |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Methane Extinctions - Could this Explain the Carolina Bays? |
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· 06/07/2010 12:44:05 PM PDT · · Posted by Errant · · 35 replies · · 2+ views · · Evolutionary Leaps · · June 2010 · · Robert Felix · · video by Dr. Gregory Ryskin · |
Jun 2010 - The Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, the largest extinction in history, could have been caused by huge, worldwide methane explosions, says Dr. Gregory Ryskin, Professor of Chemical Engineering at Northwestern University Could such explosions have created the Carolina Bays? (More than two million huge holes were gouged into the ground about 12,000 years ago at the Gothenburg magnetic reversal. Some of the holes - which are still there - are bigger than nearby cities. Those holes are now collectively known as the Carolina Bays.) During the Great Permian Extinction, when up to 95% of all species went extinct, Dr.... |
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| The Earth and moon formed later than previously thought |
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· 06/07/2010 5:29:41 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 114 replies · · 4+ views · · University of Copenhagen · · Jun 7, 2010 · · Unknown · |
The Earth and Moon were created as the result of a giant collision between two planets the size of Mars and Venus. Until now it was thought to have happened when the solar system was 30 million years old or approx. 4,537 million years ago. But new research from the Niels Bohr Institute shows that the Earth and Moon must have formed much later - perhaps up to 150 million years after the formation of the solar system. The research results have been published in the scientific journal, Earth and Planetary Science Letters. "We have determined the ages of the... |
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| Climate | |
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| Before the Mississippi, minerals show ancient rivers flowed west [ Michigan zircons ] |
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· 06/07/2010 7:29:10 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · 3+ views · · Science News · · Monday, June 7, 2010 · · Sid Perkins · |
A large proportion of the zircons found in Jurassic-era sandstones throughout a Texas-sized portion of the Colorado Plateau originated in the Appalachians, previous analyses have shown. Those erosion-resistant mineral grains were carried westward by an immense river, deposited on floodplains and then stirred back up innumerable times before ending up in massive dune fields that later solidified into western sandstones, says William R. Dickinson, a geologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson. In their attempt to trace the transcontinental river system, the researchers took a 20-kilogram hunk of Michigan sandstone from one of those quarries and then extracted and... |
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| Africa | |
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| Stone Age Color, Glue 'Factory' Found [industry 58,000 years ago] |
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· 06/07/2010 7:09:35 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 31 replies · · 1+ views · · Discovery News · · Thursday, June 3, 2010 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
A once-thriving 58,000-year-old ochre powder production site has just been discovered in South Africa. The discovery offers a glimpse of what early humans valued and used in their everyday lives... also marks the first time that any Stone Age site has yielded evidence for ochre powder processing on cemented hearths -- an innovation for the period. A clever caveman must have figured out that white ash from hearths can cement and become rock hard, providing a sturdy work surface. "Ochre occurs in a range of colors that includes orange, red, yellow, brown and shades of these colors," project leader Lyn... |
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| Diet and Cuisine | |
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| Crocodile and hippopotamus served as 'brain food' for early human ancestors |
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· 06/09/2010 12:45:00 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · 7+ views · · Johns Hopkins University · · June 9, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Your mother was right: Fish really is "brain food." And it seems that even pre-humans living as far back as 2 million years ago somehow knew it. A team of researchers that included Johns Hopkins University geologist Naomi Levin has found that early hominids living in what is now northern Kenya ate a wider variety of foods than previously thought, including fish and aquatic animals such as turtles and crocodiles. Rich in protein and nutrients, these foods may have played a key role in the development of a larger, more human-like brain in our early forebears, which some anthropologists believe... |
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| Crocodile and Hippopotamus Served as 'Brain Food' for Early Human Ancestors |
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· 06/11/2010 4:54:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · 113+ views · · ScienceDaily · · June 10, 2010 · · Johns Hopkins University · · via EurekAlert · |
A team of researchers that included Johns Hopkins University geologist Naomi Levin has found that early hominids living in what is now northern Kenya ate a wider variety of foods than previously thought, including fish and aquatic animals such as turtles and crocodiles. Rich in protein and nutrients, these foods may have played a key role in the development of a larger, more human-like brain in our early forebears, which some anthropologists believe happened around 2 million years ago, according to the researchers' study... In 2004, the team discovered a 1.95 million-year-old site in northern Kenya and spent four years... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Pictures: Ancient Egypt Crocodile Mummies Revealed |
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· 06/06/2010 9:26:01 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 22 replies · · 636+ views · · nationalgeographic · · April 30, 2010 · |
There's a real crocodile behind that mask, according to new computed tomography (CT) scans of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy (pictured). The 8-foot-long (2.4-meter-long) artifact -- wrapped in once colorful linen and outfitted with a stylized mask -- is one of two crocodile mummy bundles scanned this month at the Stanford School of Medicine in California. Scans of the bundle above show a "mishmash of bony parts" from at least two Nile crocodiles, including two skulls, a shoulder bone, and possibly a femur, according to conservator Allison Lewis, a fellow at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology in Berkeley, California, where the mummies are... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Biblical bee-keepers picked the best bees |
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· 06/09/2010 7:47:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · 21+ views · · New Scientist · · Monday, June 7, 2010 · · Shanta Barley · |
...hives were not found in the Middle East until 2005 when Amihai Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem excavated 30 clay cylinders identical to the hives in the paintings, in the ancient town of Tel Rehov... In its heyday, the researchers say, the apiary probably housed up to 200 hives and over 1 million bees. The hives are about 80 centimetres long and 40 cm in diameter. Each one has a hole on one side which would have served as a "bee flap" and a lid on the opposite side to give bee-keepers access to the honeycomb. The remains... |
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| First beehives from Biblical Israel discovered |
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· 06/10/2010 12:38:41 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 34 replies · · 485+ views · · www.msnbc.msn.com · · 6-09-2010 · · By Clara Moskowitz · |
Recently discovered beehives from ancient Israel 3,000 years ago appear to be the oldest evidence for beekeeping ever found, scientists reported. Archaeologists identified the remains of honeybees -- including workers, drones, pupae, and larvae -- inside about 30 clay cylinders thought to have been used as beehives at the site of Tel Rehov in the Jordan valley in northern Israel. This is the first such discovery from ancient times. "Although texts and wall paintings suggest that bees were kept in the Ancient Near East for the production of precious wax and honey, archaeological evidence for beekeeping has never been found,"... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Genes set Jews apart, study finds (European Jews Descended from Ancient Roman Converts?) |
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· 06/10/2010 9:08:00 AM PDT · · Posted by GOPGuide · · 78 replies · · 247+ views · · LA Times · · June 3, 2010 · · Thomas H. Maugh II · |
The Jewish people, according to archaeologists, originated in Babylon and Persia between the 4th and 6th centuries BC. The modern-day Jews most closely related to that original population are those in Iran, Iraq and Syria, whose closest non-Jewish relatives are the Druze, Bedouins and Palestinians, the study found. Sometime in that period, the Middle Eastern and European Jews diverged and the European branch began actively proselytizing for converts. At the height of the Roman Empire, about 10% of the empire's population was Jewish, although the bulk of them were converts. Some Khazars were also incorporated during this period. "That explains... |
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| Events of Jewish Diaspora Seen in the Genomes ("large-scale southern European conversion") |
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· 06/10/2010 12:23:14 PM PDT · · Posted by GOPGuide · · 8 replies · · 400+ views · · News Wire · · Embargo expired: 6/3/2010 · · NYU Langone Med Center · |
The study also demonstrated that the history of Jewish people could be found in their genomes. The two major groups, Middle Eastern Jews and European Jews, were timed to have diverged from each other approximately 2500 years ago. Southern European populations show the greatest proximity to Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Italian Jews, reflecting the large-scale southern European conversion and admixture known to have occurred over 2,000 years ago during the formation of the European Jewry. An apparent North African ancestry component was also observed as was present in the Sephardic groups potentially reflecting gene flow from Moorish to Jewish populations in... |
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| Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity |
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· 06/10/2010 5:31:37 PM PDT · · Posted by OldDeckHand · · 17 replies · · 449+ views · · NY Times · · 06/09/2010 · · Nicholas Wade · |
Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East share many genes inherited from the ancestral Jewish population that lived in the Middle East some 3,000 years ago, even though each community also carries genes from other sources -- usually the country in which it lives. That is the conclusion of two new genetic surveys, the first to use genome-wide scanning devices to compare many Jewish communities around the world. A major surprise from both surveys is the genetic closeness of the two Jewish communities of Europe, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. The Ashkenazim thrived in Northern and Eastern Europe until... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| The Mysterious Little People of Japan |
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· 06/10/2010 6:35:11 PM PDT · · Posted by shibumi · · 36 replies · · 852+ views · · Cyptomundo · · June 8, 2010 · · Brent Swancer · |
A commonly occurring phenomenon seen in the folklore and myth of a wide range of cultures throughout the world is the existence of miniature humanoid creatures. Faeries, dwarves, leprechauns, or by whatever other names they are known, mysterious little people of various types have consistently emerged as important elements of folklore across the globe since time unremembered. On the island of Hokkaido, in the cold northern reaches of the Japanese archipelago, the indigenous Ainu people too have their long traditions of an ancient race of dwarf-like people thought to have inhabited the land long before humans arrived. |
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| Ancient Art | |
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| 13,000-year-old clay figure found |
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· 06/10/2010 8:01:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · 98+ views · · The Asahi Shimbun · · Monday, May 31, 2010 · · unattributed · |
OTSU--A clay figure believed to be 13,000 years old and one of the oldest in the country, was found in an archaeological site in Higashiomi, Shiga Prefecture, the Shiga Prefectural Association for Cultural Heritage said. The tiny figure, 3.1 centimeters in height and 14.6 grams in weight, depicts a female torso with breasts and a waistline. The figure, which was discovered at the Aidanikumahara archaeological site, is from an incipient era of the Jomon Pottery Culture, according to the association. Another female clay figure from approximately the same era was found in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, in 1996. |
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| China | |
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| Researchers may know identity of ancient town in Xinjiang ["the mysterious town of Zhubin"] |
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· 06/11/2010 4:58:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · 176+ views · · People's Daily Online · · June 09, 2010 · · unattributed · |
An ancient town that was discovered 6.3 kilometers west of the Lop Nor Creek Tomb in Xinjiang is most likely the mysterious town of Zhubin, according to a report from Chongqing Evening News. After more than one year of investigation and study, Lu Houyuan and others recently released the important research results in China's authoritative magazine, the Chinese Science Bulletin. According to sources, the ancient town is one of the three archaeological discoveries made between November and December in 2008 by the Lop Nor Scientific Exploration Team, led by Xia Xuncheng, researcher at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| Turkmen capital is 8 thousand years old, archeologists say |
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· 06/11/2010 5:25:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · 158+ views · · Turkmenistan.ru · · June 7, 2010 · · unattributed · |
The fifth season of excavations at Akdepe settlement in Chandybil district of the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, has come to an end. Deputy Director of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan Professor Ovez Gundogdiev led the first national expedition. According to the Neitralny Turkmenistan newspaper, during the excavations the age of the settlement was defined. Until recently, Akdepe was dated to V-IV century BC, i.e. the Eneolithic age. However, the archeologists of the national expedition found pottery belonging to the Neolithic period (VI millennium BC), which corresponds to the Jeitun culture. "Our white-marble capital... |
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| Walkin' Back to Georgia | |
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| World's Oldest Leather Shoe Found -- Stunningly Preserved |
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· 06/09/2010 8:34:42 PM PDT · · Posted by GonzoII · · 43 replies · · 91+ views · · nationalgeographic.com · · June 9, 2010 · · Kate Ravilious · |
Still, the world's oldest known leather shoe, revealed Wednesday, struck one of the world's best known shoe designers as shockingly au courant. "It is astonishing," Blahnik said via email, "how much this shoe resembles a modern shoe!" Stuffed with grass, perhaps as an insulator or an early shoe tree, the 5,500-year-old moccasin-like shoe was found exceptionally well preserved -- thanks to a surfeit of sheep dung -- during a recent dig in an Armenian cave. |
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| Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200 | |
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| Russia Church wants end to Darwin school "monopoly" |
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· 06/09/2010 2:59:41 PM PDT · · Posted by kronos77 · · 15 replies · · 14+ views · · Reuters Of India · |
(Reuters) - The Russian Orthodox Church called Wednesday for an end to the "monopoly of Darwinism" in Russian schools, saying religious explanations of creation should be taught alongside evolution. Lifestyle Liberals said they would fight efforts to include religious teaching in schools. Russia's dominant church has experienced a revival in recent years, worrying rights groups who say its power is undermining the country's secular constitution. "The time has come for the monopoly of Darwinism and the deceptive idea that science in general contradicts religion. These ideas should be left in the past," senior Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion said at a... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Giant Sea Reptiles Were Warm-Blooded? |
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· 06/11/2010 2:17:29 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 38 replies · · 579+ views · · nationalgeographic · · June 10, 2010 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
Giant reptiles that ruled dinosaur-era seas might have been warm-blooded, a new study says. Researchers found that ancient ocean predators possibly regulated their body temperatures, which allowed for aggressive hunting, deep diving, and fast swimming over long distances. (See "Giant 'Sea Monster' Fossil Discovered in Arctic.") "These marine reptiles were able to maintain a high body temperature independently of the water temperature where they lived, from tropical to cold-temperate oceanic domains," said study co-author Christophe Lécuyer, a paleontologist at Université Claude Bernand Lyon 1 in France. The prehistoric reptiles may have had body temperatures as high as 95 to 102... |
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| Death Rays from Space!!! | |
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| Roman ingots to shield particle detector [ Italian neutrino experiment ] |
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· 06/11/2010 4:45:54 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · 390+ views · · Nature · · April 15, 2010 · · Nicola Nosengo · |
The 120 lead ingots, each weighing about 33 kilograms, come from a larger load recovered 20 years ago from a Roman shipwreck, the remains of a vessel that sank between 80 B.C. and 50 B.C. off the coast of Sardinia. As a testimony to the extent of ancient Rome's manufacturing and trading capacities, the ingots are of great value to archaeologists, who have been preserving and studying them at the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari, southern Sardinia. What makes the ingots equally valuable to physicists is the fact that over the past 2,000 years their lead has almost completely lost... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Roman gladiator cemetery found in England |
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· 06/07/2010 10:16:54 AM PDT · · Posted by RDTF · · 23 replies · · 3+ views · · CNN · · June 7, 2010 · |
London, England (CNN) -- Heads hacked off, a bite from a lion, tiger or bear, massive muscles on massive men -- all clues that an ancient cemetery uncovered in northern England is the final resting place of gladiators, scientists have announced after seven years of investigations. The archeological dig has found "what may be the world's only well-preserved Roman gladiator cemetery," the York Archaeological Trust said. -snip- |
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| Roman gladiator cemetery found in England |
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· 06/08/2010 5:33:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Lobsterback · · 18 replies · · 5+ views · · CNN.com · · June 8, 2010 · · the CNN Wire Staff · |
London, England (CNN) -- Heads hacked off, a bite from a lion, tiger or bear, massive muscles on massive men -- all clues that an ancient cemetery uncovered in northern England is the final resting place of gladiators, scientists have announced after seven years of investigations.... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis | |
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| A cooler Pacific may have severely affected medieval Europe, North America |
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· 06/09/2010 11:57:59 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 21 replies · · 14+ views · · U of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science · · June 9, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Combination of hi-tech models and paleo-records may hold key to unlocking reason for Anastazi people's migration and other global events -- In the time before Columbus sailed the ocean blue, a cooler central Pacific Ocean has been connected with drought conditions in Europe and North America that may be responsible for famines and the disappearance of cliff dwelling people in the American West. A new study from the University of Miami (UM) has found a connection between La Niña-like sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific and droughts in western Europe and in what later became... |
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| The Andes | |
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| Senator: Artifacts held by Yale belong to Peru |
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· 06/09/2010 9:35:16 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 24 replies · · 6+ views · · hosted · · Jun 9 · · John Christoffersen · |
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) -- Sen. Christopher Dodd says Inca artifacts removed from Machu Picchu nearly a century ago and held by Yale University belong to the people of Peru..... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Thinking man's mystery: Stolen Descartes letter returned |
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· 06/09/2010 1:10:13 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 9 replies · · 3+ views · · YahooNews · · Jun 8, 2010 · · M.J. Smith M.j. Smith · |
PARIS (AFP) - A stolen letter written by 17th-century thinker Descartes and found in the United States was returned to France on Tuesday, ending a detective tale featuring a Google search and a thieving Italian count. "I am, of course, a bit amazed at what a simple search at home from your home computer late at night can bring about," Erik-Jan Bos, a Dutch Descartes scholar who found the letter through the web, said before a handover ceremony. The letter written by French philosopher Rene Descartes in 1641 went missing more than 150 years ago, one of a vast collection... |
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| Not So Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Centuries after vanishing, Galileo's fingers go on display in Florence science museum |
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· 06/08/2010 8:46:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Red in Blue PA · · 70 replies · · 29+ views · · The Morning Call · |
FLORENCE, Italy (AP) -- Two of Galileo's fingers, removed from his corpse by admirers in the 18th century, have gone on display in a Florence museum now named after the astronomer. The Museum of the History of Science had shut down for two years for renovations. It reopened Tuesday, calling itself The Galileo Museum. Last year, the museum director announced that the thumb and middle finger from Galileo's right hand had turned up at an auction and were recognized as being the fingers of the scientist who died in 1642. The digits are now displayed in slender, glass cases. Also... |
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| Galileo lost tooth, fingers go on show in Florence |
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· 06/09/2010 6:10:48 AM PDT · · Posted by MollyKuehl · · 14 replies · · 4+ views · · Reuters · |
A tooth, thumb and finger cut off from the body of renowned Italian scientist Galileo, who died in 1642, go on display this week in Florence after an art collector found them by chance last year. |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Who Wrote Shakespeare? |
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· 06/07/2010 4:46:40 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 40 replies · · 4+ views · · ABC (Australia) · · Monday, June 7, 2010 · · Mark Colvin · |
MARK COLVIN: William Shakespeare is one of the most significant figures in history about whose actual life we know the least. Very little survives in his handwriting and the records of him are scanty but mostly concerned with money and lawsuits. This absence has proved the breeding ground for all sorts of conspiracy theories, mostly suggesting that someone much more aristocratic wrote the works of the man we call Shakespeare. Some have said it was Francis Bacon, others the Earl of Oxford. There's even a school that believes Christopher Marlowe wrote Shakespeare even though he was stabbed to death years... |
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| A Three Hour Tour? | |
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| Items hint at Earhart's final struggle; Evidence backs view that pilot, navigator died as castaways |
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· 06/07/2010 5:51:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 50 replies · · 4+ views · · Discovery News via MSNBC · · June 3, 2010 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Tantalizing new clues are surfacing in the Amelia Earhart mystery, according to researchers scouring a remote South Pacific island believed to be the final resting place of the legendary aviatrix. Three pieces of a pocket knife and fragments of what might be a broken cosmetic glass jar are adding new evidence that Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan landed and eventually died as castaways on Nikumaroro, an uninhabited tropical island in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati. The island was some 300 miles southeast of their target destination, Howland Island. "These objects have the potential to yield DNA, specifically what... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| When Germ Warfare Happened (Imperial Japan's Unit 731 1932-1945) |
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· 05/28/2010 10:20:43 AM PDT · · Posted by mojito · · 26 replies · · 712+ views · · City Journal · · Spring 2010 · · Judith Miller · |
....These attacks, orchestrated by Japan's infamous Unit 731 between 1932 and 1945, are the only documented mass use of germ weapons in modern times. Scholars say that we will never know exactly how many were killed. Sheldon H. Harris, the late American historian, estimated in a pioneering work that between 10,000 and 12,000 Chinese prisoners perished in the bloodcurdling experiments that Unit 731 performed in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. Another 300,000 to 500,000 civilians died, he wrote, as a result of Japan's massive germ assaults on more than 70 Chinese cities and towns. China itself has disclosed no official tally. In fact,... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Lost WWII battlefield found -- war dead included |
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· 06/08/2010 5:56:55 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 21 replies · · 17+ views · · CNN · · June 7th, 2010 · · Derrick Ho · |
An Australian trekker said he has discovered the site of a significant World War II battle in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, complete with the remains of Japanese soldiers right where they fell almost 70 years ago. Former army Capt. Brian Freeman, an expert on the Kokoda Trail - a 60-mile trek through rugged mountainous country and rainforest of the island - said Monday he was led to the Eora Creek battle site where he found the remains of the soldiers. The site about half a mile from the village of Eora Creek was believed to be the location... |
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| Tales from the Morgue: D-Day: News of the invasion reaches home |
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· 06/05/2010 6:55:21 PM PDT · · Posted by SandRat · · 12 replies · · 408+ views · · Arizona Daily Star · · Johanna Eubank · |
When D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944, the Arizona Daily Star had the news in the paper of the same date thanks to time differences. The news of the invasion came over the wire, and a two-page extra was printed. The main headline couldn't fail to attract attention: ALLIES LAND IN FRANCE. Other headlines called it the greatest military action in history. All of the headlines had a winning tone to them including "Allied paratroopers strike first blow at Axis vitals" and "Berlin acknowledges deep penetrations by glider-borne troops." Much of the news came from the Germans: The Germans said... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Senator Jim DeMint: Constitution of No |
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· 06/08/2010 1:29:12 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 10 replies · · 3+ views · · NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE · · June 8, 2010 · · Senator Jim DeMint · |
Constitution of NoIf President Obama's motto is "Yes, we can," the Constitution's is "No, you can't." When a reporter asked House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) during a press conference last year where the Constitution granted Congress the authority to enact an individual health-insurance mandate, she answered, "Are you serious? Are you serious?" Speaker Pelosi then dismissed the question and moved on to the next reporter. This exchange illustrates the way "yes we can" liberals treat the Constitution: They simply ignore it when it gets in the way of their big-government bailouts and takeovers. Democrats have always been the "party... |
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| end of digest #308 20100612 | |
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