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“The combination of readily available and relatively harmless substances and high energy efficacy gives our method potential to work for large scale extraction.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scientists have experimented with many types of materials in hopes of making EV batteries, their storage, and their recycling more efficient. One of the latest breakthroughs, developed by a team from Linnaeus University in Sweden and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in India, is derived from perhaps the most unexpected substance yet: urine. The new method, which the scientists described in a study published in the scientific journal ACS Omega, summarized by Anthropocene, can be...

Taxes may be as certain as death, but they've changed a lot. Over the centuries, governments have levied taxes on everything from facial hair to the right to cover up—and officials accepted payments of beers, beds, and even broomsticks. Here, from history, are a few taxes we’re glad to not have to pay anymore: Rome's Toilet Tax Ancient Romans valued urine for its ammonia content. They found the natural enemy of dirt and grease valuable for laundering clothes and even whitening teeth. And like all valuable products, there was a scheme to tax it. Emperor Vespasian (r. A.D. 69-79) earned...

Jewish-Roman War: Nero & the Year of the 4 EmperorsGnostic Informant | 35K subscribers | 7,594 views | July 11, 2022

[snip] Vespasian, one of the Roman Empire's finest emperors remains largely unknown, yet his reign in 1st century AD transitioned a weakening Empire into a period of stability and growth that was the legacy of the other great emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus. Vespasian ultimately saved Rome from disaster and made possible the Golden Age of the 2nd century AD. [/snip]The Untold Story Of Emperor VespasianOdyssey - Ancient History Documentaries1:16:04 | 493K subscribers | 2,791,055 views | June 1, 2021Vespasian [YouTube search]

The Jewish–Roman wars was a series of uprisings against the Roman Empire that started in AD 66 during the reign of Emperor Nero.The seeds of the revolt were in response to increasing religious tensions and high taxation, leading to reprisal attacks against Roman citizens. In retaliation, the Roman Governor of Judea plundered the Second Temple and launched raids to arrest senior political and religious figures within the Jewish community.This led to a wide-scale rebellion, resulting in the Roman officials abandoning Jerusalem to the rebels.Nero tasked Vespasian, a Roman general (who would succeed to the role of Emperor during the "Year...

There are several people alive that can personally attest to being eyewitnesses of the Vatican possessing Temple vessels, including the Menorah candelabra.ransomnote: at the link, a beautiful photo in the article.Pretend for a moment that the Vatican has in its possession some sacred and precious relics that were originally in the Herodian Jewish Temple located in Jerusalem 1,950 years ago.If you were the pope living in the 14th century and could verify this fact, would you not ask yourself how indeed such Jewish artifacts had come to your residence in the first place?After some digging around (no pun intended), you...

The first major recorded battle of the Roman invasion of Britain under the orders of the emperor Claudius, the battle is thought to have been fought at a crossing of the River Medway, near the modern day city of Rochester in Kent, England, and it raged for nearly two days.The British force was led by two brothers: Togodumnus, king of the Catuvellauni, and Caratacus, a chieftain of the same tribe. The Roman invasion force, under the command of Aulus Plautius, consisted of four legions, a force approximately 20,000 strong. On hearing of the Roman landing at Richborough, British resistance united...

The sinkhole, located in the Piazza della Rotonda, is almost 10 square feet (1 square meter) big and just over 8 feet (2.5 m) deep. Inside the hole, archaeologists found seven ancient slabs made of travertine, a type of sedimentary rock. Luckily, no one was hurt when the sinkhole collapsed on the afternoon of April 27, because the normally crowded piazza was empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sinkholes like this one, however, are becoming an increasingly common problem in Rome. The stones uncovered by the sinkhole were created around the same time that the Pantheon was built, from 27...

Regarded as one of the nation's most horrific battles, the AD 43 event was actually created by an archaeologist with a flair for storytelling, new research claims. This colorful account was first written by archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler after he excavated the site with his wife between 1936 and 1937, subsequently claiming he had discovered a 'war cemetery'. And according to a report in The Daily Mail , as a result of Wheeler's lies, for many decades this famous ancient face-off has been described as 'the massacre' of a tribe of Ancient Britons by a Roman legion led by future...

In his biographies of the Roman emperors, Suetonius describes a conversation between Vespasian and his son Titus, who disapproved of his father taxing the urine that tanners and other industries collected from public restrooms: “When Titus found fault with him for contriving a tax upon public conveniences, [Vespasian] held a piece of money from the first payment to his son’s nose, asking whether its odor was offensive to him. When Titus said ‘No,’ he replied, ‘Yet it comes from urine.’” This sentiment has been summarized in the proverb, “Money doesn’t stink.” Currency, in other words, is morally neutral. Its buying...

The Romans generally tolerated other religions, allowing and even welcoming Egyptian gods into their pantheon. Though they viewed the monotheistic Jews as being odd, they left more or less free to practice their own religion. The great Jewish revolt was not a religious war, but a war against Roman imperialism and unfair taxation. In the 60’s CE a financial crisis forced Rome to raise the taxes throughout the empire. The Jews in Jerusalem resisted the extra taxes heavily and fighting broke out after Roman forces looted a temple and killed as many as 6,000 citizens. This massacre prompted a region-wide...

On Sunday, March 6, 2016, Dr. Pier Luigi Tucci, Assistant Professor of Roman Art and Architecture at Johns Hopkins University, will deliver the lecture "Ancient Libraries in Rome: Reconstruction of the Bibliotheca of the Templum Pacis" in the Washington, D.C. area. The event is hosted by the Biblical Archaeology Society of Northern Virginia (BASONOVA) and Biblical Archaeology Forum (BAF). The Templum Pacis (Temple of Peace) was built by the Flavian emperor Vespasian in 75 C.E. near the Roman Forum. It commemorated both the end of the Jewish war and the civil strife that had followed the death of Nero...

Carabinieri Captain Lorenzo Iacobone said Monday two tourists from California, ages 21 and 25, were picked up Saturday for carving their names eight centimeters (three inches) high into an upper level of the Colosseum. They were freed later but will face trial for aggravated damage to a monument. Iacobone said the young women apologized for the vandalism, but he said such acts "are extremely serious, and no one considers the damage they are creating."

Historical references and archaeological excavations have indicated continuous occupation in Stobi from the 6th century BC to the 6th century AD. Investigations have yielded remains of the Archaic (6th century BC) and Classical periods (5th-4th century BC), evidencing the earliest periods of Stobi's history. The Roman historian Titus Livy writes that in 197 BC the Macedonian king Philip V defeated the Dardanians in the vicinity of Stobi and, also according to Livy, during the Roman conquests in Macedonia, Stobi became an important center for salt trading. But it wasn't until AD 69 when Emperor Vespasian granted Stobi the rank of...

Excavation near Stonehenge found evidence of a settlement dating back to 7,500 BC, revealing the site was occupied some 5,000 years earlier than previously thought. Working at Vespasian’s Camp in Amesbury, Wiltshire, less than a mile from the megalithic stones, a team led by archaeologist David Jacques of the Open University unearthed material which contradicted the general belief that no people settled there until as late as 2,500 BC. Indeed, carbon dating of the material revealed the existence of a semi-permanent settlement which was occupied from 7,500 to 4,700 BC. The dating showed that people were present during every millennium...

Archaeologists said Thursday they had unearthed the ruins of a villa believed to be the birthplace of a Roman Emperor who reigned almost 2,000 years ago. Professor Filippo Coarelli, who is leading the dig, said "numerous clues" pointed to the site as the house of Emperor Vespasian, who ruled the Roman Empire from 69 AD to 79 AD. The location of the villa, in the ancient city of Falacrine, 70 kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Rome, was a strong indicator that the site was where the ruler was born, Coarelli added. Vespasian was born in the city, which was lost...

Robinson report - Download 606K Listen to Robinson report Experts are urging the Bush administration to use patience and caution in its approach to Iran over its nuclear ambitions.  The comments by former U.S. weapons inspector David Kay and others at an event on Capitol Hill Wednesday came as President Bush and other officials reiterated a call for Iran to end its uranium enrichment efforts and reach a peaceful and negotiated solution.  David Kay (file photo) David Kay, who has been critical of the Bush administration's faulty pre-war intelligence on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, says Washington needs to...

What happened to the 50 tons of gold, silver and sacred treasures looted from Herod's Temple following the Roman legionnaires' sack of Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av in the year 70 CE? The Arch of Titus in Rome, erected shortly after the death of Titus who reigned as emperor from 79 to 81, clearly depicts Roman soldiers bearing on their shoulders the golden candelabrum, silver trumpets and bejewelled Table of the Divine Presence which the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus carted back to Rome as trophies of war. Between 75 CE and the early 5th century, the treasure...