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Travel (General/Chat)

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  • UP Big Boy 2026 tour to begin with trip to California

    01/30/2026 12:55:36 PM PST · by Morgana · 24 replies
    Trains Magazine ^ | January 27, 2026 | David Lassen
    CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Union Pacific’s Big Boy will return to California this spring in the first leg of its planned coast-to-coast trip for America’s 250th anniversary, the railroad has announced. The first segment of the trip will be a round trip from Cheyenne, Wyo., beginning March 29 and concluding April 24, with two major public displays: April 10-11 in Roseville, Calif., and April 18-19 in Ogden, Utah. A full schedule will be released closer to the start of the tour. The eastern portion of the trip is still being finalized but is expected to begin in late spring. No passenger...
  • 500,000-Year-Old Bone Tool Identified in England

    01/29/2026 8:35:34 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 27 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 23, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    According to a statement released by University College London, a team of researchers led by Simon Parfitt of University College London and London's Natural History Museum reviewed materials unearthed at the Boxgrove Paleolithic site in southern England in 1990. Among the artifacts, the scientists identified a 500,000-year-old tool made of elephant or mammoth bone. The outer layer of elephant bone would have been softer than stone, and yet harder than the bones of other animals. "Elephant bone would have been a rare but highly useful resource, and it's likely this tool was of considerable value," Parfitt said. The age of...
  • Hafted Stone Tools Dating Back 160,000 Years Uncovered in China

    01/29/2026 8:32:30 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 4 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 27, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    According to a Live Science report, hafted stone tools dated to as early as 160,000 years ago have been discovered in central China. More than 2,600 stone tools were uncovered at the site of Xigou, and some of them appear to have been attached to a handle or shaft, making them the oldest known composite tools in eastern Asia. Michael Petraglia of Griffith University explained that the use of a handle improved tool performance by allowing the user to increase leverage, and by providing more force for actions such as boring holes. These tools are thought to have been used...
  • New Dates Obtained for Mammoth-Bone Structure in Ukraine

    01/29/2026 8:29:39 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 4 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | December 29, 2025 | editors / unattributed
    SciNews reports that a new study of the bones of small animals recovered from Mezhyrich, the Upper Paleolithic site of four mammoth-bone structures in central Ukraine, indicates that at least one of the buildings had been used for more than 400 years. The four structures, made with hundreds of mammoth bones and tusks, range in size from about 130 to 260 square feet. It was not clear if the structures had been used as dwellings, or if they were created as bone beds, food caches, burials, or for religious purposes. Wei Chu of Leiden University and his colleagues dated the...
  • 430,000-Year-Old Wooden Tools Found in Greece

    01/28/2026 6:54:36 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 21 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 28, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    Science News reports that 430,000-year-old wooden tools likely crafted by Neanderthals or Homo heidelbergensis individuals have been discovered in Greece by a team of researchers led by Annemieke Milks of the University of Reading. The site, which is now a coal mine, is located in the central Peloponnese Peninsula. The rare wooden tools were recovered from waterlogged ground 100 feet beneath the surface, in an area that had been an ancient lakeshore, among thousands of pieces of wood, bone, and stone. One of the artifacts, identified through use-wear analysis as a 2.5-foot-long digging stick, was recovered in four pieces. Milks...
  • Imported Paleolithic Tools in Spain May Reflect Long-Distance Social Networks

    01/28/2026 6:51:22 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 5 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 26, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    Science Magazine reports that five stone blades made from chert outcrops in central France have been found more than 400 miles away in central Spain by Manuel Alcaraz-Castaño of the University of Alcalá and his colleagues. The team members unearthed the yellowish tools at the Peña Capón rock shelter near the Sorbe River, where people fished for salmon and hunted deer, horses, and rabbits between 26,000 and 22,000 years ago. Dating of charcoal and animal bone in the several layers where the chert tools were recovered indicates that the materials were imported for a period of about 1,400 years. "Their...
  • Alpine Neanderthal Toolkit Examined

    01/28/2026 6:45:59 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 9 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 26, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    The reevaluation of 16 flint and radiolarite tools found among bear remains in a cave in the Alps suggests that traveling Neanderthals carried the stone tools with them, according to a Phys.org report. Microscopic examination of the tools by Davide Delpiano of the University of Ferrara and his colleagues detected evidence of retouching, indicating that tools had been sharpened repeatedly, yet no stone flakes or chips were uncovered in Caverna Generosa. Analysis of the chemical makeup of the stone used to make the tools revealed that it had come from a few miles away, much further down the mountain. The...
  • Doomsday Clock ticks forward... moving humanity closer to annihilation than ever before

    01/27/2026 2:05:29 PM PST · by Ezekiel · 50 replies
    Daily Mail ^ | 27 January 2026 | By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR
    The Doomsday Clock, which has been ticking down to the end of the world for decades, is now officially closer to annihilation than ever before. On Tuesday, scientists with the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved the symbolic clock four seconds forward to 85 seconds to midnight. It's also the closest the clock has ever been to midnight in its 79-year history, meaning experts believe humanity has never faced a more dire threat of a world-ending catastrophe than it does in 2026. The group, which decides where the hands are set annually, cited multiple threats to global stability, including nuclear weapons,...
  • Patriots staying in Denver due to weather as Mike Vrabel gives players Super Bowl bus threat

    01/26/2026 1:20:12 AM PST · by nickcarraway · 31 replies
    New York Post ^ | Jan. 25, 2026 | Christian Arnold
    The Patriots will get to enjoy Denver a little bit longer thanks to the winter storm impacting much of the United States. New England punched its ticket to Super Bowl 2026 with its 10-7 win over the Broncos in the AFC Championship game. The Pats will have to celebrate their big win with a night out on the town in Denver, which head coach Mike Vrabel was fully on board with, but he also had a stern message for his team.
  • Why is there 13,000 year old bones on the Channel Islands, West of the West ( Part 1) [6:10]

    01/25/2026 8:45:16 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 19 replies
    YouTube ^ | June 27, 2022 | Tales from Califorina's Channel Islands [s/b California]
    Arlington Man -- In 1959, while looking for pygmy mammoth bones on Santa Rosa Island, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History archeologist Phil Orr discovered a human femur sticking out of the canyon wall at Arlington Springs. He knew it was old, but scientific dating technology couldn’t tell him how old. Yet. So he put the bones away in the basement of the SBMNH where they were rediscovered by Don Morris and John Johnson in the 1990s. These two archeologists take us back to Arlington Springs while explaining how modern carbon dating confirmed the bones were over 13,000 years old......
  • Britain AD: The Shocking Truth Of The 5th Century [49:11]

    01/25/2026 8:39:47 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 24 replies
    YouTube ^ | January 17, 2026 | Real History
    Discover the truth behind the "Dark Ages" of Britain and see how this period was more vibrant and connected than you've ever imagined. Britain AD: The Shocking Truth Of The 5th Century | 49:11 Real History | 490K subscribers | 2,293 views | January 17, 2026
  • How did the Greeks and Romans count Years? [7:52]

    01/25/2026 6:15:45 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 36 replies
    YouTube ^ | December 31, 2021 | Garrett Ryan, Ph.D (as toldinstone)
    The AD/CE system we use to date the year was introduced - more or less by accident - during the Middle Ages. Before its invention, the classical world used a wide range of dating systems. How did the Greeks and Romans count Years? | 7:52 toldinstone | 615K subscribers | 435,313 views | December 31, 2021
  • Buried for 2,400 Years: The Dark Rituals of the Ancient Celts [49:50]

    01/24/2026 9:22:41 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 17 replies
    YouTube ^ | January 10, 2026 | Autentic Documentary [misspelling in original]
    Who were the Celts really? Mythical druids of legend or feared warriors of antiquity? Deep inside the European Alps, sealed salt mines have preserved astonishing evidence of a powerful civilisation that flourished more than 3,000 years ago. These people were neither barbarians nor island dwellers -- they were the rulers of a vast Kingdom of Salt, enriched by one of the most valuable resources of the ancient world. Now, a remarkable discovery raises new questions. Inside a 2,400-year-old Celtic tomb, the remains of an aristocratic woman and two unusually large men are uncovered. Were they relatives, ritual sacrifices, or part...
  • General Motors to Shut Down Production of Chevrolet Bolt EV to Build Gas-Powered Cars

    01/23/2026 10:02:17 PM PST · by Olog-hai · 30 replies
    Breitbart ^ | 23 Jan 2026 | Lucas Nolan
    General Motors has announced that production of the newly updated 2027 Chevrolet Bolt EV will end after approximately 18 months to make way for a gas-powered Buick crossover at its Kansas manufacturing facility. Inside EVs reports that General Motors has confirmed plans to discontinue production of the heavily updated 2027 Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle after a limited production run of about one and a half years. The decision will allow the automaker to repurpose its Fairfax, Kansas, factory for manufacturing the Buick Envision, a gas-powered crossover currently built in China that will be reshored to the United States. A Chevrolet...
  • Traces of Unusual Huts Offer Clues to Origins of Medieval Port Town

    01/22/2026 11:53:57 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 3 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 9, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    According to a Science in Poland report, traces of four unusual huts dated to the eleventh or twelfth century have been uncovered on an island in the Baltic Sea near the coast of Poland. Researchers were excavating an area once known as Srebrne Wzgórze on the northern edge of the medieval town, where there had been a market and craft workshops, when they unearthed the huts. “They are platforms made of clay and sand, surrounded by a ditch,” said Wojciech Filipowiak of the Polish Academy of Sciences. “Some have a hearth, some have an oven,” he added. Pottery, animal bones,...
  • Medieval Graves of Three Elite Warriors Excavated in Hungary

    01/22/2026 11:13:15 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 12 replies
    Archaeology Magazine ^ | January 8, 2026 | editors / unattributed
    According to a Live Science report, the 1,100-year-old graves of three warriors have been excavated in southern Hungary by a team led by Wihelm Gábor of the Katona József Museum. A total of 81 coins were recovered from the three burials. Most of these coins were minted in northern Italy during the reign of Berengar, between A.D. 888 and 924. Gábor and his colleagues suggest that the three warriors may have participated in military campaigns in northern Italy and carried the coins home. The first man was 17 or 18 years old when he died. He was buried wearing a...
  • France’s navy intercepts an oil tanker in the Mediterranean sailing from Russia

    01/22/2026 9:02:53 PM PST · by an amused spectator · 19 replies
    Associated Pravda ^ | January 22, 2026 | JOHN LEICESTER
    PARIS (AP) — France’s navy, working with intelligence provided by the United Kingdom, on Thursday intercepted an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea that traveled from Russia, in a mission targeting the sanctioned Russian shadow fleet, officials said. French maritime authorities for the Mediterranean said the ship, the Grinch, is suspected of operating with a false flag. The French navy is escorting the ship to anchorage for more checks, the statement said. The tanker departed from the city of Murmansk in northwestern Russia, it said.
  • How an Ex-Prisoner Built a $7 Billion Ramen Empire [12:07]

    01/21/2026 2:51:06 PM PST · by SunkenCiv · 41 replies
    YouTube ^ | August 17, 2022 | Hungry History by Adjoga
    The story of Momofuku Ando and how he invented instant ramen. How an Ex-Prisoner Built a $7 Billion Ramen Empire | 12:07 Hungry History by Adjoga | 4.52K subscribers | 746,411 views | August 17, 2022
  • Yosemite’s Rare “Firefall” Only Happens Once a Year—Here’s What to Know About This Thrilling Phenomenon

    01/21/2026 1:31:08 PM PST · by Diana in Wisconsin · 28 replies
    AFAR Magazine ^ | January 21, 2026 | AFAR Magazine Staff
    Every year from mid- to late February, the setting sun hits Yosemite’s Horsetail Fall along the eastern edge of the soaring El Capitan at just the right angle, creating the illusion that the 1,575-foot waterfall is on fire. This Yosemite National Park phenomenon, aka “firefall,” is ultra-popular, and this year is expected to be even more crowded. For the first time since 2021, park reservations are not required to visit Yosemite during firefall. The past 12 months have been tumultuous for the National Park Service, with a 43-day government shutdown, changing free-entry days, and price increases. Now, its rangers will...
  • A 4,000-year-old sheep may reveal how the Bronze Age plague spread across Eurasia

    01/21/2026 6:39:59 AM PST · by SunkenCiv · 16 replies
    Archaeology News ^ | December 28, 2025 | Dario Radley
    An international team of researchers has found the DNA of Y. pestis in a 4,000-year-old domesticated sheep from the fortified Bronze Age settlement of Arkaim, in the southern Ural Mountains in present-day Russia, which marks the first confirmed case of a Bronze Age plague infection in a non-human host. It proves that livestock played a role in prehistoric plague dynamics.The sheep was associated with the Sintashta-Petrovka cultural complex, which was known for its sophisticated metallurgy, horse riding, and large, mobile herds. Genetic studies indicate that the bacterium found in the sheep belongs to the Late Neolithic–Bronze Age plague lineage that...