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For the nearly two centuries since this Etruscan oil lamp was found near the city of Cortona, Italy, it has confounded scholars. It was unearthed in a ditch, so its original context is unknown. And its combination of imagery is unique in the ancient Mediterranean world, leaving nothing to compare it with that might hint at how it was used. On the bottom of the lamp, at the center, is an image of a fearsome Gorgon surrounded by snakes. This Gorgon is encircled by a frieze of animals, including dolphins, in combat. In the next ring, crouching male demigods known...

A nearly 1,800-year-old silver military medal featuring the snake-covered head of Medusa has been unearthed in what was once the northern edge of the Roman Empire.Excavators discovered the winged gorgon on June 6 at the English archaeological site of Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort that was built in the late first century, a few decades before Hadrian's Wall was constructed in A.D. 122 to defend the empire against the Picts and the Scots.The "special find" is a "silver phalera (military decoration) depicting the head of Medusa," according to a Facebook post from The Vindolanda Trust, the organization leading the excavations....

GOTV software use by Republicans and Democrats.

With Air Force's new drone, 'we can see everything'By Ellen Nakashima and Craig Whitlock Washington Post Staff Writers Sunday, January 2, 2011; 12:09 AM In ancient times, Gorgon was a mythical Greek creature whose unblinking eyes turned to stone those who beheld them. In modern times, Gorgon may be one of the military's most valuable new tools. This winter, the Air Force is set to deploy to Afghanistan what it says is a revolutionary airborne surveillance system called Gorgon Stare, which will be able to transmit live video images of physical movement across an entire town. The system, made up...

To win a date with this beauty, submit your vital details along with 3" x 5" color photo and mail to:Ms. Helen Thomas %WCVB-TV 5 TV Place Needham, Massachusetts 02492 ================================================== Back in the days of the Vietnam quagmire, the administrations of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon insisted that they couldn't remove our troops from Southeast Asia because there would be chaos, anarchy and a blood bath. The result: Johnson and Nixon -- who did not want to go down in history as having lost a war -- stayed the course and kept us in the killing...

"My beauty is hypnotic, no?" This is a requiem for Nobel Peace Prize winner Yasser Arafat, the fallen leader of the benighted but unbowed Palestinian people. He never achieved an independent state for his people or the return of thousands of exiled Palestinians to their homeland, but there was no question he was their unchallenged spiritual and political leader. To the masses who live under Israeli occupation, Arafat was revered as a Palestinian patriot who represented their national aspirations. He also was demonized as a Hitler by the Israelis who reviled him and in the end isolated him in the...

"Can you resist my beauty?" America is in for four more years of conservative governance as a result of the Republican election sweep. The world now knows that President George W. Bush has political support for his brand of hard-edged conservativism at home and his tough, unilateral foreign policy abroad. Bush's lack of credibility in staging the Iraqi invasion and his willingness to alienate longtime allies apparently meant nothing to a majority of American voters. The president views the outcome of the election as vindication of his policies. Now he can really get down to business. With the same political...

There is new information on two abiding mysteries about the Iraq war: How many Iraqis have been killed? and, Why did President George W. Bush order a U.S. attack on Iraq in the first place? Last week, American and Iraqi researchers -- writing in the respected British medical journal, The Lancet -- estimated that the Iraqi death toll associated with the invasion and occupation of Iraq was about 100,000 "and may be much higher." Most of them were women and children, victims of bombs or bullets from helicopter gunships. The estimates reported in Lancet were made by comparing the Iraqi...

A Toast To Groundbreaking Female Journalists Nellie Bly, Ida Tarbell, Marquerite Higgins And Ethel Payne Broke Mold POSTED: 12:20 p.m. EDT September 12, 2002 UPDATED: 12:34 p.m. EDT September 12, 2002 WASHINGTON -- I'm happy to say that women have found their place in journalism. It took a long time, and of course they were not alone. Women in many other fields have struggled over the years for job equality. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, women journalists fought uphill battles for the opportunity to write "hard news" -- the breaking stories of the day -- for their...