[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #253 Saturday, May 23, 2009
Diet and Cuisine
Biblical diet 'not very healthy'
	05/22/2009 7:44:53 AM PDT · Posted by mnehring · 36 replies · 720+ views BBC Ancient Israel was far from "the land of milk and honey," and instead people suffered from the lack of a balanced diet, according to a theologian. Dr Nathan MacDonald, an Old Testament lecturer at St Andrews University, used biblical texts and archaeological evidence to study the ancient diet. He has concluded that there were frequent famines and people's meals often lacked vitamins and minerals. --snip-- ...In North America, books based on the diet of the Bible such as What Would Jesus Eat? and The Maker's Diet are bestsellers. Dr MacDonald explained: "Though many people have thought otherwise, the evidence is...
Neandertal / Neanderthal
How Neanderthals met a grisly fate: devoured by humans
	05/17/2009 3:55:56 AM PDT · Posted by LibWhacker · 65 replies · 1,294+ views Guardian | 5/17/09 | Robin McKie A fossil discovery bears marks of butchering similar to those made when cutting up a deerOne of science's most puzzling mysteries - the disappearance of the Neanderthals - may have been solved. Modern humans ate them, says a leading fossil expert. The controversial suggestion follows publication of a study in the Journal of Anthropological Sciences about a Neanderthal jawbone apparently butchered by modern humans. Now the leader of the research team says he believes the flesh had been eaten by humans, while its teeth may have been used to make a necklace.
Early human ate young Neanderthal
	05/21/2009 12:37:17 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 46 replies · 757+ views Discovery | May 21, 2009 | Jennifer Viegas Sometime between 28,000 and 30,000 years ago, an anatomically modern human in what is now France may have eaten a Neanderthal child and made a necklace out of its teeth, according to a new study that suggests Europe's first humans had a violent relationship with their muscular, big-headed hominid ancestors. The evidence, which includes teeth and a carefully butchered jawbone from a site called Les Rois in southwestern France, could represent the world's first known biological proof for direct contact between the two human groups.
Prehistory and Origins
VIDEO: Scientists hail stunning fossil
	05/19/2009 2:29:11 PM PDT · Posted by JoeProBono · 30 replies · 801+ views .bbc | Tuesday, 19 May 2009 | Christine McGourty The beautifully preserved remains of a 47-million-year-old, lemur-like creature have been unveiled in the US. The preservation is so good, it is possible to see the outline of its fur and even traces of its last meal. The fossil, nicknamed Ida, is claimed to be a "missing link" between today's higher primates - monkeys, apes and humans - and more distant relatives. But some independent experts, awaiting an opportunity to see the new fossil, are sceptical of the claim. And they have been critical of the hype surrounding the presentation of Ida. The fossil was launched amid great fanfare at...
"Missing Link" Primate Likely To Stir Debate
	05/20/2009 6:42:42 AM PDT · Posted by steve-b · 25 replies · 586+ views MSNBC | 5/19/09 A discovery of a 47 million-year-old fossil primate that is said to be a human ancestor was announced and unveiled Tuesday at a press conference in New York City. Known as "Ida," the nearly complete transitional fossil is 20 times older than most fossils that provide evidence for human evolution....
Some scientists say Ida is the missing link
	05/20/2009 8:07:15 AM PDT · Posted by lakeprincess · 133 replies · 1,485+ views The Washington Times | 3/20/09 | Jennifer Harper "This is an incredible piece of hype to popularize a movie and a book. It's hard to believe that this story took off, but the media picked up on very emotional claims about the 'missing link.' It's created good publicity," said Ken Ham, president of Answers in Genesis and founder of the Creation Museum.
Ho-Hum, Another Human Missing Link (Temple of Darwin in full religious revival mode)
	05/20/2009 8:44:42 AM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 24 replies · 501+ views CEH | May 19, 2009 May 19, 2009 -- Shoppers typically are wary of over-hyped ads, knowing that any claim sounding too good to be true probably is. What would they think about media reports claiming a new fossil monkey is the "8th wonder of the world"? The scientific paper in PLoS ONE1 had hardly been published before the press went ape, as if on cue, at the buzzphrase missing link. A couple of press releases about the new lemur fossil of a female nicknamed Ida are calm and rational, like the one by Gautum Naik at the Wall Street Journal. If what...
Ida: the Missing Link at Last? (the Creationist Interpretation)
	05/20/2009 8:56:16 AM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 60 replies · 979+ views AiG | May 19, 2009 For all the headlines and proclamations, this "missing link" story includes an amazing amount of hot air...
'Missing Link' Ida Is Just Media Hype
	05/20/2009 7:58:38 PM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 25 replies · 512+ views ICR | May 20, 2009 | Christine Dao 'Missing Link' Ida Is Just Media Hype by Christine Dao* Scientists and media outlets around the world are praising "Ida," the primate fossil hailed as the long-sought-after "missing link" in the human evolutionary theory.In a major public relations campaign, Ida was unveiled in New York City yesterday, May 19, 2009, and will make a stop in London May 26 before returning to its owners at the University of Oslo's Natural History Museum. BBC1 will air a documentary based on the fossil the same day as its UK unveiling, and Little, Brown -- publisher of the popular Twilight fiction series -- put out a book...
History Channel Announces "Global Event" For May 25th...
	05/18/2009 12:19:54 PM PDT · Posted by TaraP · 378 replies · 4,813+ views Look Up Fellowship | May 14th, 2009 The History Channel has been running an unusual 14-second ad that simply says: "May 25, 2009. A Global Event. This Changes Everything." Maybe this? ISBN:9780316070089 Library Bound #: 619216 Format: Hardcover Price: $28.99 Pub Date: May 2009 Lying inside a high security vault, deep within the heart of one of the world's leading museums, is a discovery that will change textbooks, change science, and change how we understand the human race. The author of Untitled has been given exclusive access to all of the research and the team of top scientists who have been validating the discovery, the announcement...
Ida: Humankind's Earliest Ancestor! (Not Really) -- Time Magazine exposes primate fossil hype
	05/22/2009 8:16:16 AM PDT · Posted by SeekAndFind · 19 replies · 453+ views Time Magazine | 5/22/2009 | Michael D. Lemonick From the beginning, Ida's unveiling has been a master class in ballyhoo. A week ago, the first breathless press releases began to arrive, portending the presentation of the now famous 47-million-year-old primate fossil from Germany: "MEDIA ALERT," the notice shouted in all caps. "WORLD-RENOWNED SCIENTISTS REVEAL A REVOLUTIONARY SCIENTIFIC FIND THAT WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING." The press releases were followed by an international press conference at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, the publication of a book, The Link: Uncovering Our Earliest Ancestor (Little, Brown), an ABC News exclusive and on May 25 a prime-time television special...
Dinosaurs
Long-Necked Dinos Didn't Graze Treetops
	05/17/2009 8:09:00 PM PDT · Posted by nickcarraway · 14 replies · 451+ views Hindustan Times | May 15, 2009 A new research has suggested that long-necked dinosaurs didn't graze treetops, and were better off holding their necks horizontal, not upright. According to a report in National Geographic News, lifting long necks at steep angles would have put intense pressure on sauropod hearts, requiring dramatic expenditures of energy to keep blood pumping to the brain. Sauropods were giant, long-necked, long-tailed, four-legged plant-eaters that lived about 200 to 66 million years ago (prehistoric time line). Since long-necked modern animals, such as giraffes, tend to browse on leaves in tall trees, paleontologists have assumed that sauropods-whose necks could be as long as...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Were dinosaurs done in by gas?
	05/20/2009 3:52:48 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 41 replies · 518+ views Discovery | May 19, 2009 | Michael Reilly When a giant asteroid slammed into the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago, the results were devastating: rock and ocean water vaporized, searing debris flung into outer space, and a smoldering hole in the Earth almost 75 miles wide. Scientists debate whether the cataclysm was enough to wipe out the dinosaurs. But a new set of experiments shows the impact produced a huge amount of carbon monoxide, a compound commonly found in car exhaust. The sudden pulse of gas may have been enough to cause a large spike in global temperatures, and trigger a mass extinction.
Pole Shift
Giant Trees Once Grew in Iceland's West Fjords
	05/18/2009 8:06:19 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 26 replies · 474+ views IcelandReview | May 13, 2009 | unattributed The largest piece of wood coal that has ever been discovered in Iceland was recently brought down from a height of 300 meters from Mt. Ernir that towers over Bolungarvik. It indicates that giant trees once grew in the West Fjords. Its existence had been known for some time but the right opportunity to take it down from the mountain didn't present itself until recently, ruv.is reports. The wool coal is probably around 12 million years old and Thorleifur Eiriksson at the Nature Historic Institute of the West Fjords said that research of this time period and the biosphere of...
Sunken Civilizations
Wild, wild floods! (does growing evidence of massive regional floods point to single global flood?)
	05/17/2009 6:24:41 PM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 99 replies · 1,567+ views Journal of Creation | Emil Silvestru Recently the Brits have found out what really separated them from mainland Europe: catastrophic flooding!...
Climate
SUN heats EARTH, EARTH heats ATMOSPHERE - NOT The Other Way Around
	05/17/2009 6:11:58 AM PDT · Posted by steelyourfaith · 33 replies · 671+ views Right Side News | May 14, 2009 | Hans Schreuder The so-called greenhouse effect of the atmosphere is commonly explained as followed: "The heating effect exerted by the atmosphere upon the Earth because certain trace gases in the atmosphere (water vapor, carbon dioxide, etc.) absorb and reemit infrared radiation. [...] The component that is radiated downward warms the Earth's surface more than would occur if only the direct sunlight were absorbed. The magnitude of this enhanced warming is the greenhouse effect. Earth's annual mean surface temperature of 15°C is 33°C higher as a result of the greenhouse effect ..." The above definition is the accepted one by climate alarmists and...
Rome and Italy
Roman France
	05/16/2009 11:08:02 PM PDT · Posted by Cincinna · 23 replies · 628+ views The New York Times | May 17, 2009 | ELAINE SCIOLINO THE summer evening was autumnally cold and damp, the backless stone seats in the outdoor theater unforgiving. Many of the 8,000 spectators were irritable; most of us had shown for a rained-out performance the night before. And frankly, I've seen better productions of "Carmen." But as the performers began to move, their shadows rose 100 feet and danced across the imposing backdrop of a yellow limestone wall. A marble statue of Caesar Augustus stood ghostly white upon his perch in the wall, his right arm raised as if he had just commanded the singers to begin their performance. When Carmen...
Rome to open gladiators training ground to public
	05/21/2009 3:53:13 PM PDT · Posted by bruinbirdman · 26 replies · 429+ views The Telegraph | 5/21/2009 | Nick Squires In Rome Rome is to put over 30 historical sites including a gladiators training ground and the aqueduct that feeds the Trevi Fountain on display for the first time. The sites, part of a vast network of tunnels, caves and catacombs which lie beneath the city, will be open from the end of this month. Highlights are the 2,000-year-old aqueduct which is still used to bring water to parts of the city, including the Trevi Fountain, and Ludus Magnus, where gladiators -- many of them slaves and prisoners of war -- were taught how to fight.. There is also the headquarters of...
Archaeoastronomy and Megaliths
2,000 year-old megalith uncovered in Tam Dao
	05/22/2009 8:35:54 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 4 replies · 249+ views VietNamNet | 21 May 2009 | VietNamNet Researchers from the Vietnam Archaeology Institute and the Hanoi University of Culture have discovered a megalith of nearly 2,000 years old in Tao Dao district, Vinh Phuc province. The megalith of over three metres long, over one metre wide, and nearly 0.5 metres thick looks like a boat. It is propped up on four big rocks which are buried deep in the earth, which are also megaliths. Dr. Trinh Nang Chung, the leader of the archaeological team, said that this is a Dolmel relic, a kind of megalith culture. Such relics have been unveiled in some northern provinces of Ha...
Let's Have Jerusalem
First Temple period seal with the name Shaul found in City of David excavations
	05/20/2009 6:19:00 PM PDT · Posted by SJackson · 20 replies · 746+ views IMRa | 5-20-09 First Temple period seal with the name Shaul found in City of David excavations A photo of the seal in high resolution can be downloaded from this link - www.antiquities.org.il/about_eng.asp?Modul_id=14 Press Release Tuesday May 19, 2009 A Bone Seal Engraved with the Name Shaul, from the Time of the First Temple, was Found in the IAA Excavations in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park, in the City of David The seal was displayed during a visit there by the Knesset presidium prior to Jerusalem Day Today (Tuesday) the Knesset presidium, headed by Speaker Reuben Rivlin, visited the City of David...
Tell me - who's buried down there, anyway? [Suleiman al-Hijazi's grandfather]
	05/20/2009 8:16:11 PM PDT · Posted by SJackson · 2 replies · 361+ views Jerusalem Post | 5-20-09 | ABE SELIG Shimon Hatzadik was one of the last surviving members of the Great Assembly, the high priest who replaced Ezra - who had led the Jews back to Israel from the Babylonian exile - and the man whom Alexander the Great is said to have prostrated himself in front of, explaining that that it was his image that he always saw leading him to victory in battle. "But that's not who's buried down there," said a woman residing in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah on Wednesday, pointing toward a slope where a group of religious Jews were walking. "That's...
Faith and Philosophy
India and Israel: Diverse in a homogeneous world
	05/19/2009 5:58:45 AM PDT · Posted by SJackson · 20 replies · 305+ views Jerusalem Post | 5-19-09 | SETH J. FRANTZMAN In a recent book entitled The Hindus: Alternative History, Wendy Doniger claims that Hinduism was invented by the British. Doniger is a scholar of Indian religions at the University of Chicago. She argues that Hinduism's unity and its holy Vedas are primarily a myth created by Protestants who sought a "unified Hinduism." She further argues that upper-caste Brahmins and other elites in India collaborated with the British and invented a "British-Brahmin version of Hinduism - one of the many invented traditions born around the world in the 18th and 19th centuries." These "bad Hindus" are accused of having an inferiority...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Thinking Outside the Box (Noah's Ark hull design rivals modern ocean tankers!)
	05/17/2009 3:02:08 PM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 52 replies · 1,728+ views AiG | Tim Lovett --snip-- Noah's Ark was the focus of a major 1993 scientific study headed by Dr. Seon Hong at the world-class ship research center KRISO, based in Daejeon, South Korea. Dr. Hong's team compared twelve hulls of different proportions to discover which design was most practical. No hull shape was found to significantly outperform the 4,300-year-old biblical design. In fact, the Ark's careful balance is easily lost if the proportions are modified, rendering the vessel either unstable, prone to fracture, or dangerously uncomfortable...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Human-Ape Hybridization: A Failed Attempt to Prove Darwinism
	05/16/2009 9:43:28 PM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 49 replies · 1,405+ views ICR | May 2009 | Jerry Bergman, Ph.D. Human-Ape Hybridization: A Failed Attempt to Prove Darwinism by Jerry Bergman, Ph.D.* Ilya Ivanov (1870-1932) was an eminent biologist who achieved considerable success in the field of artificial insemination of horses and other animals. Called "one of the greatest authorities on artificial fecundation,"[1] he graduated from Kharkov University in 1896 and became a professor of zoology in 1907. His artificial insemination techniques were so successful that he was able to fertilize as many as 500 mares with the semen of a single stallion. Ivanov also pioneered the use of artificial insemination to produce various hybrids, including that of a zebra...
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
China's millet spread to Europe 7,000 years ago
	05/18/2009 7:53:02 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 8 replies · 281+ views People's Daily Online | May 14, 2009 | unattributed Millet was brought into Europe from China more than 7,000 years ago, archaeologists from the University of Cambridge in the UK stated in a thesis published by US journal "Science" on May 8. The report, entitled "Origins of Agriculture in East Asia," was coauthored by Martin Jones, a professor of archaeology at the University of Cambridge and his Chinese student Liu Xinyi. The study said that charred millet seeds found in the Neolithic farming remains in Northeast China indicated that locals had planted millet as early as 8,000 years ago. Millet was gradually introduced to Europe during the next millennium....
Precolumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Unearthing the Mayan Creation Myth
	05/17/2009 12:19:23 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 16 replies · 599+ views Discover | May 16, 2009 | Sam Kissinger Archaeologists who have uncovered two massive carved stucco panels in the Mirador Basin of Gua≠temala's northern rain forest say they are the earliest known representation of the Mayan creation myth, predating other such artifacts by a millennium. According to the researchers, the panels -- 26 feet long and 20 feet high, with images of monsters, gods, and swimming heroes -- date to 300 B.C. They formed the sides of a channel that carried rainwater into a complex system of stepped pools, where it was stored for drinking and agriculture.
Hand of Bridge
Ancient Gem-Studded Teeth Show Skill of Early Dentists
	05/20/2009 6:15:25 PM PDT · Posted by JoeProBono · 15 replies · 563+ views nationalgeographic | May 18, 2009 The glittering "grills" of some hip-hop stars aren't exactly unprecedented. Sophisticated dentistry allowed Native Americans to add bling to their teeth as far back as 2,500 years ago, a new study says. Ancient peoples of southern North America went to "dentists" -- among the earliest known -- to beautify their chompers with notches, grooves, and semiprecious gems, according to a recent analysis of thousands of teeth examined from collections in Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (such as the skull above, found in Chiapas, Mexico). Scientists don't know the origin of most of the teeth in the collections, which belonged to people living...
Hand of Bridge, 1492
Who Went With Columbus? Dental Studies Give Clues.
	05/18/2009 11:49:05 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 20 replies · 641+ views Washington Post | May 18, 2009 | Kari Lydersen The first planned colonial town in the New World was founded in 1494, when about 1,200 of Christopher Columbus's crew members from the 17 ships that made up his second journey to the Americas settled on the north coast of what is now the Dominican Republic . Beset by mutiny, mismanagement, hurricanes and disease, the settlement of La Isabela lasted only a few years. The ruins remained largely intact until the 1950s, when a local official reportedly misunderstood the order from dictator Rafael Trujillo to clean up the site in preparation for visiting dignitaries, and had them mostly bulldozed into...
Malta
Scholar on ancient textile colours gives lecture in Malta
	05/21/2009 11:23:17 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 10 replies · 206+ views Malta Star | Thursday, May 21, 2009 | unattributed Professor Zvi C. Koren has recently given a lecture entitled 'The Fashionable Colours of Antiquity Uncovered by Scientific Analyses' at Heritage Malta's Institute of Conservation and Management of Cultural Heritage (ICMCH) in Bighi, Kalkara. Professor Koren's lecture was based upon the study of ancient colorants, which opens a historical window in the field of ancient technologies... The presentation discussed the various botanical and animal sources and the dyeing technologies associated with ancient colorants. The vegetal sources of dyestuffs that produce yellow, red and blue colours include amongst others, plant roots, leaves, flowers, tree bark and branches. These colours were also...
Radiometric Dating
Ancient clay has internal clock
	05/21/2009 3:57:56 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 5 replies · 256+ views BBC | Wednesday, May 20, 2009 | unattributed Fired clay ceramics start to react chemically with atmospheric moisture as soon as it is removed from the kiln. Researchers believe they can pinpoint the precise age of materials like brick, tile and pottery by calculating how much its weight has changed. The team from Edinburgh and Manchester universities hope the method will prove as significant as radiocarbon dating... Radiocarbon dating, used for bone or wood, cannot be used for ceramic material because it does not contain carbon... He and his team, from the universities of Edinburgh and Manchester and the Museum of London, were able to date brick samples...
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Pirate bones could be in that box, author says[NC]
	05/15/2009 8:50:49 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 11 replies · 392+ views The News & Observer | 15 May 2009 | JERRY ALLEGOOD State rejects request for DNA test on 18th-century remains from Bath A Raleigh author is attempting to reopen the 274-year-old estate of a Beaufort County man he thinks was once a member of Blackbeard's pirate crew -- and whose bones may be stored in a box in Raleigh. Kevin P. Duffus, a writer and filmmaker, says he needs access to the estate of Edward Salter, a landowner and merchant who died in 1735, to help confirm that the state has Salter's remains. With the backing of some of Salter's descendants, Duffus is seeking to have DNA testing done on bones...
Early America
Braddock's Road to War
	08/22/2004 9:53:14 AM PDT · Posted by Willie Green · 12 replies · 367+ views The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | Sunday, August 22, 2004 | Richard Robbins In the summer of 1755, soldiers faced heat, disease and enemies as they marched across a quarter of the American continent to do battle. That summer, some 2,400 French and Indian War troops under the command of British Gen. Edward Braddock walked from Virginia to stage what turned out to be a botched assault on the Point in Pittsburgh, the key to westward expansion and in the firm grip of the French and their Indian allies in the 1750s. "These were tough people," mused tourist Douglas Roach, as he rested on a bench next to Braddock's Grave along Route 40...
The American Colonist's Library-A Treasury of Primary Documents (Repost)
	12/05/2004 12:30:14 PM PST · Posted by Gritty · 20 replies · 15,711+ views Rick Gardiner Website | various | various Primary Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History -- An invaluable collection of historical works which contributed to the formation of American politics, culture, and ideals The following is a massive collection of the literature and documents which were most relevant to the colonists' lives in America. If it isn't here, it probably is not available online anywhere. Arranged In Chronological Sequence (500 B.C.-1800 A.D.) Given the Supreme Court's impending decision, the ultimate historic origins of the national motto, "In God We Trust" and...
You say you want a revolution? [TV Series on French&Indian War Alert]
	01/12/2006 5:24:59 AM PST · Posted by Pharmboy · 29 replies · 447+ views The Arlington Advocate | January 12, 2006 | Jennifer Mann When reflecting upon the momentous battles that shaped America as a country, most go no further back than the Revolutionary War. The French and Indian War, or what British and Canadians refer to as the Seven Years' War, is often relegated to a smaller place in U.S. history. But an upcoming four-part dramatic documentary, Episodes 1 and 3 of which were written, produced and directed by Arlington resident and filmmaker Eric Stange, intends to change perceptions of the 1754 to 1763 struggle. Titled "The War That Made America," the documentary premiering on PBS Jan. 18 and 25 explores how the...
The Framers
the 14th Amendment
	05/21/2009 11:14:03 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 7 replies · 273+ views Constitution of the United States, via FindLaw et al | adopted on July 9, 1868 | The Framers et al FindLaw's commentary: In the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress, in addition to proposing to the States the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments, enacted seven statutes designed in a variety of ways to implement the provisions of these Amendments. Several of these laws were general civil rights statutes which broadly attacked racial and other discrimination on the part of private individuals and groups as well as by the States, but the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional or rendered ineffective practically all of these laws over the course of several years. In the end, Reconstruction was abandoned and with rare exceptions no...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Genes of 'Bearded Lady' Revealed
	05/21/2009 2:59:34 PM PDT · Posted by JoeProBono · 19 replies · 892+ views news.yahoo | Thu May 21 Julia Pastrana became famous as the "bearded lady" in the mid-1800s. Now, more than 150 years later, scientists have discovered the genetic mutations responsible for her rare condition. The disorder, known as congenital generalized hypertrichosis terminalis (CGHT) with gingival hypertrophy, is characterized by excessive growth of dark hairs all over the body, distorted facial features, and enlarged gums. In some cases, people can have CGHT with normal gums. All of these diseases fall into a group of conditions called congenital generalized hypertrichosis (CGH). The disease is difficult to study because it is so rare. After analyzing the genomes of members...
The Great War
Cross Village native among 'The Polar Bears' who fought for eight months in Russia inWWI
	05/21/2009 1:29:10 PM PDT · Posted by Tailgunner Joe · 9 replies · 381+ views harborlightnews.com | May 20, 2009 | Daniele Kapral In September 1918, though told they were headed to France, the soldiers in company M 339th Infantry were shipped from Camp Custer in Battle Creek, Michigan, to the bitter cold Archangel, Russia. The R.E.F (Russian Expeditionary Force), later referred to as "The Polar Bears," went to battle in a desolate, frozen land. They were left to fight eight months after World War I had ended, and became one of the most highly decorated regiments in all the war. These men will be remembered in a documentary film, "Voices of a Never Ending Dawn," which premieres this Memorial weekend in southern...
end of digest #253 20090523

[SunkenCiv]

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #253 20090523 · Saturday, May 23, 2009 · 37 topics · 2256281 to 2252524 · 716 members ·
	Saturday May 23 2009 v 5 n 45 view this issue	Welcome to the 253rd issue. The end of year five of the Digest draws nearer. My good news today (oops, now yesterday) was that my ARM adjustment was downward, so my house payment will drop about fifty bucks. Since the FReepathon is quarterly, and the current one began April Fool's Day, we will begin the next one in about thirty-eight days. It is indeed time to git 'er done (in the words of JimRob). When it comes time to support FR, I don't concern myself with the opinions of other FReepers -- and some of those opinions I hold to be self-evidently stupid -- instead, I say, let all of us right wing loonies talk. And it's not as if FR is going to get a gov't bailout, or ACORN graft money, or support from the kindly OPEC sheiks or al-Qaeda or Iran. And it's not as if this place is HuffPo, or Kos, or DU -- any or all of those could have a motto such as, "if butt-holes could fly, this place would be an airport." I very much doubt that there's anything that compares with FR, and yes, smart-a.. I mean that in a good way. Just when I thought I had things pretty much figured out around here, I spot the italicized "most active" keyword, gooniegoogoo and, well, just damn. I love the puntland keyword because it points to another oh-so-obviously made-up nationality. But at least they're fighting Somali piracy, unlike some countries (Somalia, for instance). I won't mention this keyword out loud, just rest assured I had nothing to do with it. AuntB posts M3Report topics pertaining to our national problems stemming from the tide of illegal aliens crossing the border. * Sandrat posts a lot (possibly most) of the topics pertaining to the War on Terror. Be sure to check Celebrimbor's and StarCMC's YouTube Smackdown topics, which are "Countering the cyber-jihad one video at a time". Be sure to visit the invisib1e hand's Founder's Quote Daily topics. Be sure to check Homer_J_Simpson's topics, many of which are based on archival newspaper articles, usually 70 years ago that day. Visit the Free Republic Memorial Wall -- a history-related feature of FR. Donate to FreeRepublic.
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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #254 Saturday, May 30, 2009
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
The Evolution of House Cats [genetic research about cat breeding]
	· 05/27/2009 2:49:52 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 31 replies · 706+ views · Scientific American | June 2009 | Carlos A. Driscoll, Juliet Clutton-Brock, Andrew C. Kitchener and Stephen J. O'Brien ...In the genetic analysis, published in 2007, Driscoll, another of us (O'Brien) and their colleagues focused on two kinds of DNA that molecular biologists traditionally examine to differentiate subgroups of mammal species: DNA from mitochondria, which is inherited exclusively from the mother, and short, repetitive sequences of nuclear DNA known as microsatellites. Using established computer routines, they assessed the ancestry of each of the 979 individuals sampled based on their genetic signatures. Specifically, they measured how similar each cat's DNA was to that of all the other cats and grouped the animals having similar DNA together. They then asked whether...
Epigraphy and Language
A Human Language Gene Changes the Sound of Mouse Squeaks
	· 05/29/2009 12:24:46 AM PDT · Posted by LibWhacker · 16 replies · 458+ views · NY Times | 5/28/09 | Nicholas Wade People have a deep desire to communicate with animals, as is evident from the way they converse with their dogs, enjoy myths about talking animals or devote lifetimes to teaching chimpanzees how to speak. A delicate, if tiny, step has now been taken toward the real thing: the creation of a mouse with a human gene for language.
Biology and Cryptobiology
Fossil Of 'Giant' Shrew Nearly One Million Years Old Found In Spain
	· 05/28/2009 1:09:46 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 60 replies · 731+ views · ScienceDaily | May 18, 2009 | Adapted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC Researchers from the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) have discovered fossils in the TD4, TD5 and TD6 levels of the Gran Dolina deposit in Burgos that date to between 780,000 and 900,000 years ago, and have shown that these belong to a new genus and species of shrew (Dolinasorex glyphodon), from the Soricidae family (small insect-eating mammals)... The morphometric and phylogenetic studies of the new species reveal a close link with the species of eastern Asia... In addition, analyses of jawbones and individual teeth of Dolinasorex glyphodon, collected between 1991 and 2007 in Atapuerca, have enabled the scientists to develop paleoecological...
Species Discovered This Millennium
	· 01/29/2008 11:51:20 PM PST · Posted by Exton1 · 29 replies · 44+ views · world press | 2007 | Unk Liberals say we are destroying the planet and destroying species. Yet, just about everyday something new is discovered. Maybe this earth is bigger than we think. Discovery New Tribe Spotted in Peruvian Amazon! Found: Giant Lobster Species! New Genus! Australian Truffles! New Species of Orchid Flirts With Wasps Squid Body + Octopus Legs = New Species? What'll They Do Next- Revive the Dodo? uh..no- really? 9 July, 2007 From an article by Kate RaviliousNational Geographic News July 3, 2007 Adventurers exploring a cave on an island in the Indian Ocean have discovered the most complete and well-preserved dodo skeleton ever found, scientists reported yesterday. Researchers...
Paleontology
Toothy sharks once ruled Tuscany
	· 05/28/2009 5:22:08 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 17 replies · 282+ views · Discovery | May 28, 2009 | Rossella Lorenzi Some three million years ago, eel-like sharks snaked through the region that now supports Tuscany's finest vineyards, suggest fossils recently found in the clay soil of the Chianti region. Hundreds of fossilized teeth belonging to primitive shark-like creatures have been uncovered by amateur paleontologists near the village of Castelnuovo Berardenga, not far from Siena.
Sumatran Rhinos Are Living Fossils
	· 09/13/2006 10:29:03 PM PDT · Posted by restornu · 11 replies · 727+ views · Cryptomundo | Sept 12, 2006 | Darren Naish Zoologist Darren Naish has written a thoughtful essay on "Are Sumatran Rhinos Really Living Fossil?" His blog is in response to my comments on the "living fossil" issue, discussed here. I disagree with Naish's restrictive parameters, of course, as I see this more an issue of educational semantics influenced by zoology, not ruled by it. Darren Naish's approach is worthy of your attention and he has every right to his very informed point of view. Needless to say, in this case, I was employing the "living fossil" definition that this rhino species is "a living species/clade with many "primitive' characteristics...
Small Prehistoric Whale Was Vicious Hunter
	· 08/31/2006 4:57:28 AM PDT · Posted by Alex1977 · 5 replies · 640+ views · Live Science | 30 August 2006 | Abigail W. Leonard Paleontologists have uncovered a 25-million-year-old whale fossil with a monstrous set of teeth and enormous eyes on the coast of Australia.The discovery has researchers rethinking whales' evolutionary history.Scientists were surprised to find that the vicious-looking specimen is an ancestor of modern baleen whales, gentle giants of today's seas. The fossil suggests a creature that grew to a little more than 11 feet with teeth about an inch-and-a-half long. Baleen whales, which include the blue and humpback, feed by filtering plankton and small fish from seawater through hair-like fibers in their jaws. Their ferocious forebears, on the other hand, appear to...
Dinosaurs
Huge dinosaur discovery in China: state media (including the remains of an enormous "platypus")
	· 12/30/2008 10:26:06 AM PST · Posted by NormsRevenge · 31 replies · 1,096+ views · AFP on Yahoo | 12/30/08 | AFP BEIJING (AFP) -- Paleontologists in east China have dug up what they believe is one of the world's largest group of dinosaur fossils including the remains of an enormous "platypus", state press said Tuesday. Paleontologists have discovered 15 areas near Zhucheng city in Shandong province that contain thousands of dinosaur bones, the Beijing News reported. "This group of fossilised dinosaurs is currently the largest ever discovered in the world... in terms of area," the paper cited paleontologist Zhao Xijin of the China Academy of Sciences as saying. In one area measuring 300 metres (990 feet) by 10 metres, more than...
Newfound Reptile Swam in Dinosaur Era (Umoonasaurus - 'Killer whales of the Jurassic')
	· 07/07/2006 12:57:16 PM PDT · Posted by NormsRevenge · 27 replies · 617+ views · LiveScience.com on yahoo | 7/7/06 | Ker Than Scientists have identified a new species of ancient aquatic reptile that swam the seas when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. Dubbed Umoonasaurus, the creature lived in waters off the coast of what is now Australia 115 million years ago, when the continent was located much closer to Antarctica than it is now. Plesiosaurs were large marine reptiles that had stocky, barrel-shaped bodies, short tails and paddle-like limbs. Some had long, slender necks, while others had short, squat ones. What made Umoonasaurus stand out from other plesiosaurs were a series of high, thin crests on its head and numerous fused vertebrae...
Australia and the Pacific
Cave Painting Depicts Extinct Marsupial Lion
	· 05/25/2009 3:32:12 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 18 replies · 854+ views · Natural History Magazine, via LiveScience | May 9th, 2009 | Stephan Reebs Modern Australia lacks big land predators, but until about 30,000 years ago, the continent was ruled by Thylacoleo carnifex, the marsupial "lion." Several well-preserved skeletons of the leopard-size beast have been found. Now, a newly discovered cave painting offers a glimpse of the animal's external appearance. In June 2008, Tim Willing, a naturalist and tour guide, photographed an ancient painting on a rockshelter wall near the shore of northwestern Australia. Kim Akerman, an independent anthropologist based in Tasmania, says the painting unmistakably depicts a marsupial lion. It shows the requisite catlike muzzle, large forelimbs, and heavily clawed front paws. And...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Coin Discovery Thrills Archaeologists (Norway)
	· 07/13/2007 8:54:21 AM PDT · Posted by blam · 25 replies · 1,102+ views · AftenPosten | 7-12-2007 Coin discovery thrills archaeologists Archaeologists monitoring some digging by the City of Oslo's waterworks department made a sensational discovery this week.Gunhild Høvik Hansen spotted the special coin while digging herself. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN The discovery was made while archaeologists were monitoring replacement of new waterlines in the oldest part of Oslo. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN The archaeologists have been following excavations done by city workers who are replacing underground water pipes in the oldest part of Oslo, called Gamlebyen. That's the neighbourhood east of today's downtown area where Oslo's first known settlements were established more than a thousand years ago....
Climate
Ocean's History Being Unlocked By Researchers
	· 05/26/2009 4:01:13 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 18 replies · 299+ views · Red Orbit | Monday, May 25, 2009 | redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports According to a recent study, medieval fishermen first took to the sea around AD 1,000 in search of food after a sharp decline in freshwater fish. The decline was likely caused by rising population and pollution levels... Piecing the information together required looking at fish bones to determine their species, and what time period they came from. One hypothesis says that freshwater fish were no longer able to satisfy demand. "At the end of the first millennium AD there is this wholesale shift in emphasis from reliance on freshwater fish towards marine species," said Barrett. "It is not rocket science,...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
China volcano may have caused mass extinction
	· 05/28/2009 12:16:30 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 23 replies · 343+ views · Associated Press | May 28, 2009 | Randolph E. Schmid A mass extinction some 260 million years ago may have been caused by volcanic eruptions in what is now China, new research suggests.
Honeydrippers Rock Out
Giant blob found deep beneath Nevada
	· 05/26/2009 8:01:59 PM PDT · Posted by Kimmers · 56 replies · 1,806+ views · MSNBC | May 26,2009 | Jeanna Bryner The blob, which drips like honey, is between 15 and 20 million years old By Jeanna Bryner LiveScience updated 5:34 p.m. CT, Tues., May 26, 2009 Hidden beneath the U.S. West's Great Basin, scientists have spied a giant blob of rocky material dripping like honey. The Great Basin consists of small mountain ranges separated by valleys and includes most of Nevada, the western half of Utah and portions of other nearby states. While studying the area, John West of Arizona State University and his colleagues found evidence of a large cylindrical blob of cold material far below the surface of...
Diet and Cuisine
Do hunter-gatherers have it right?
	· 05/24/2009 2:54:08 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 42 replies · 838+ views · BBC | May 19, 2009 | Tom Feilden Listening to Tom Standage talking about his new book, An Edible History of Humanity this morning I was reminded of a paper written by the anthropologist and author Jared Diamond in the late 1980's. Diamond described agriculture as, "the worst mistake in the history of the human race". Farming was, he argued, a catastrophe from which we have never quite recovered. With agriculture came "the social and sexual inequality, disease and despotism, that curse our existence".
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Ancient teeth hint that right-handedness is nothing new
	· 05/24/2009 5:51:13 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 31 replies · 423+ views · New Scientist | May 23, 2009 | Ewen Callaway Ancient bones suggest "lefties" have been coping with a right-handed world for more than half a million years. A study of Homo heidelbergensis, an ancestor of Neanderthals, seems to show that the ancient humans were predominately right-handed. "Finding that a hominin species as old as Homo heidelbergensis is already right-handed helps to trace back the chain of modernity concerning hand laterality," says Marina Mosquera, a paleoanthropologist at Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, who was involved in the study. Humans are the only animal believed to show a strong preference for performing tasks with one hand or the other....
Prehistory and Origins
Bronze Age man inhabited water-logged north
	· 05/25/2009 2:10:19 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 3 replies · 224+ views · Radio Netherlands [RNW Translation (mw)] | May 13, 2009 | by Robert Chesal New Bronze Age finds -- Skeletal remains of a young man, dogs' skulls and pottery. Archaeologists have found 3,000-year-old remains near Enkhuizen, a long-established city to the north of Amsterdam, in a dig that has been going on since January. Until now, experts thought no one could have lived in the area during the Bronze Age because it was too water-logged. They have now been proved wrong.Water managementAround 1,000 BC, water-logged land was a major problem for human settlements in this region in the north of the Netherlands. However, even at this early date, people were taking measures to deal with the...
British Isles
Archaeology: Bronze Age road found in UK
	· 05/25/2009 12:24:34 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 8 replies · 289+ views · Newspost Online | Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | ANI, Posted by newspostraj Archaeologists have discovered a road below Swansea's shifting foreshore that is said to be from the early Bronze Age. Brian Price, a member of the Swansea Metal Detecting Club, reported the discovery opposite the Brynmill area to the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. The track was woven from narrow branches of oak and alder. It was covered in a thin layer of brushwood to provide a level walking-surface. It was found in March when it was uncovered by storms but has since disappeared back under the marine clay. Scientists sent a sample to the Beta Analytic Radiocarbon Laboratory in Florida, which dated...
Asia
Mystery footprints restore warring scene
	· 05/25/2009 1:47:14 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 1 replies · 228+ views · China.org | Friday, May 22, 2009 | Xinhua News Agency Newly discovered footprints of different sizes, apparently left by men, women and children, on an ancient military route, have helped recreate a war scene that occurred at least 2,000 years ago, an archaeologist said Friday. The footprints, the smallest of which were believed to belong to children around six years old, were found last week along vehicle tracks on China's first interprovincial road, a 700-km dirt road built under the reign of the "First Emperor", said Zhang Zaiming, a researcher with Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archeology, based in the ancient capital Xi'an. "We also found an arrowhead close to the...
Near East
Babylonian heritage--Iraq's last Jews
	· 05/28/2009 7:46:06 AM PDT · Posted by SJackson · 8 replies · 287+ views · Jerusalem Post | 5-28-09 | ZVI GABAY Iraq's Last Jews - Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval and Escape from Modern Babylon Edited by Tamar Morad, Dennis Shasha and Robert Shasha Introduction by Prof. Shmuel Moreh Palgrave-Macmillan 211 pp., $75.99 (hardcover) How does one explain the reason why a prosperous community of 140,000 people, with a history and heritage of 2,600 years, uproots itself en masse, and leaves Iraq, the country which it helped modernize in all areas - government and politics, economy, medicine, education, literature, poetry and music? An explanation for this extraordinary historical phenomenon is found in Iraq's Last Jews. This book includes testimonies of 19...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Jewish Yad Avshalom Revealed As A Christian Shrine From Byzantine Era
	· 07/22/2003 6:27:03 PM PDT · Posted by blam · 10 replies · 398+ views · Haaretz.com | 7-22-2003 | Amiram Barkat Jewish Yad Avshalom revealed as a Christian shrine from Byzantine era By Amiram Barkat The historic Yad Avshalom monument in Jerusalem's Kidron Valley, revered for centuries as a Jewish shrine, was also a Christian holy place in the fourth century, new evidence has revealed. A fourth-century inscription on one of the walls near the monument, recently uncovered by chance, marks the site as the burial place of the Temple priest Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist who baptized Jesus. Scholars believe the monument was built in the first century, making it possible that figures holy to Christians could be...
Egypt
U.S. and Polish archaeologists successful at Berenike
	· 05/25/2009 1:54:55 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 5 replies · 166+ views · Polish Press Agency | May 20, 2009 | AT / Polish Academy of Sciences Fragments of pottery with inscriptions in one of pre-Islamic languages have been found by a U.S-Polish team of archaeologists near Berenike, a Greco-Roman harbour on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. The finds confirm that Berenike was the most active Red Sea port during Hellenistic and Roman times. Inscriptions and other written materials found in Berenike have been written in 12 different languages. This attests to the cosmopolitan mix of people who lived in or passed through the town. Berenike was founded by Ptolemy II Philadelphus in 285-246 B.C. The international team of archaeologists led by professor Steven Sidebotham of the...
Diet and Cuisine
Sardinian scientists believe they've traced the roots of the 'death-defying' sardonic grin...
	· 05/25/2009 2:18:14 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 23 replies · 565+ views · ANSA | May 15, 2009 | unattributed Sardinian scientists believe they've traced the roots of the 'death-defying' sardonic grin to a water plant commonly found on the Italian island. Greek poet Homer first used the word, an adaptation of the ancient word for Sardininan, to describe a defiant smile or laugh in the face of death. He was believed to have coined it because of the belief that the Punic people who settled Sardinia gave condemned men a potion that made them smile before dying. The association with Sardinia has often been disputed, but Cagliari University botanists think they've settled the case - and the plant in...
Vesuvius
UK to 'unroll' papyrus scrolls buried by Vesuvius [Kentucky prof has non-invasive scanning technique
	· 05/24/2009 5:28:13 AM PDT · Posted by Mike Fieschko · 28 replies · 688+ views · Lexington Herald-Leader | Tuesday, May. 19, 2009 | Jim Warren On Aug. 24, 79 A.D., Italy's Mount Vesuvius exploded, burying the Roman towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii under tons of super-heated ash, rock and debris in one of the most famous volcanic eruptions in history. Thousands died. But somehow, hundreds of papyrus scrolls survived -- sort of -- in a villa at Herculaneum thought to have been owned at one time by Julius Caesar's father-in-law. The scrolls contained ancient philosophical and learned writings. But they were so badly damaged -- literally turned to carbon by the volcanic heat -- that they crumbled when scholars first tried to open them centuries...
Rome and Italy
Emperor Trajan's Palace discovered in southwestern Romania
	· 05/25/2009 3:47:01 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 17 replies · 485+ views · Chinaview | May 15, 2009 | Xinhua (editor Mu Xuequan) Romanian archaeologists has discovered, in southeastern county of Caras-Severin, a complex structure estimated to be 2,000 years old belonging to the Roman culture, local media reported on Thursday. The archaeological discovery has a special importance because it was built very early, probably in the autumn of 101 during the first Dacian-Roman War of 101-102, before the actual Roman conquest of Dacia, the Carpathian-Danube region, modern day Romania. The discovery will bring the village of Zavoi in Caras-Severin County to the attention of history researchers and archaeologists from around the world following the digging up of the ruins of a Roman...
Macedonia
Archaeology Exhibition of Prehistoric Women from Macedonia Displayed in Montenegro
	· 05/27/2009 6:37:49 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 27 replies · 527+ views · BalkanTravellers.com | Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | unattributed Almost 100 figurines, constituting the "Prehistoric Women from Macedonia" exhibition, will be displayed in Montenegro's capital starting today. The 94 figurines are dated between the sixth and the middle of the third millennium BC -- from the Neolithic, the Eneolithic and the Bronze periods. The exhibition will be presented to admirers of miniature sculpture and archaeology by Irena Kolishtrkoska-Nasteva, the exhibition's curator, the Vecer newspaper wrote today. According to the exhibition's description published by the Museum of Macedonia in Skopje, where it was on display in 2007, the original and hand-made figurines were discovered during archaeological excavations, always inside the...
Precolumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Southwest's earliest known irrigation system unearthed in Arizona (Except for other earliest)
	· 05/23/2009 6:31:21 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 10 replies · 328+ views · Los Angeles Times | May 23, 2009 | Thomas H. Maugh II "These are not the earliest canals known in southern Arizona, but they are the most extensive and sophisticated engineering [from the period] that we have identified to date," said archaeologist James M. Vint of Desert Archaeology Inc. in Tucson. The site, called Las Capas, or "The Layers," sits at the confluence of Cañada del Oro, Rillito Creek and the Santa Cruz River. The name derives from the repeated layers of silt that buried the site until nothing was visible from the surface. The evidence indicates that the region suffered a huge flood about 800 BC, which buried the...
Archaeological Discovery In Ohio River
	· 09/29/2007 5:03:24 PM PDT · Posted by blam · 34 replies · 399+ views · WSAZ News | 9-27-2007 Archeological Discovery in Ohio River September 27, 2007 It's like a discovery channel special, a living history lesson and a heated border war all rolled into one. A recent river recovery of an eight ton treasure was followed by angry claims of archeological thievery. This sandstone scratching is far from another face in the crowd. After years of planning and weeks of effort, a Portsmouth, Ohio Volunteer Recovery Team pulled the prehistoric, legendary Indian's Head Rock off the mighty Ohio River's bottom. "It was tough to get straps around it," recovery team diver Dave Vetter said. In the 18 and...
Navigation
Nicola, jazz fest partner to sponsor replica ships in Lewes May 29-June 1 [Nina, Pinta]
	· 05/27/2009 6:27:02 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 4 replies · 115+ views · Delaware's Cape Gazette | Tuesday, May 26, 2009 | unattributed The Pinta and the Nina, replicas of Columbus's ships, will visit Lewes Friday, May 29. The ships will be docked at the City Dock on Front Street until their early morning departure Monday, June 1... The Nina was built by hand and without the use of power tools. She was called "the most historically correct Columbus replica ever built," by Archaeology magazine. Craftmanship of construction and the details in the rigging make it a fascinating visit back to the Age of Discovery. The Nina was used in the production of the film, "1492," starring Gerard Depardieu. "It's an educational vessel...
Early America
After Jefferson, a Question About Washington and a Young Slave
	· 05/28/2009 5:25:39 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 22 replies · 447+ views · New York Times | July 7, 1999 | Nicholas Wade Three descendants of Venus' son, who was called West Ford, say that according to a family tradition two centuries old, George Washington was West Ford's father. They hope to develop DNA evidence from Washington family descendants and his hair samples to bolster their case... There is, however, reason to believe that if the child's father was not Washington, it might have been someone closely related to him. The cousins' claim has several elements of truth, enough to set up a historical mystery as to the identity of West Ford's father and to add a new strand to the emerging links...
The Framers
the 15th Amendment
	· 05/28/2009 12:30:02 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 2 replies · 218+ views · Constitution of the United States, via FindLaw et al | ratified on February 3, 1870 | The Framers et al Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
The Civil War
Obama Remembers U.S. War Dead, Including Civil War Rebels
	· 05/25/2009 2:47:18 PM PDT · Posted by kristinn · 99 replies · 1,704+ views · Reuters | Monday, May 25, 2009 | Doug Palmer President Barack Obama sent a wreath Monday to a memorial for soldiers who fought on the side of slavery during the Civil War, continuing a 90-year-old Memorial Day tradition despite being urged by historians to "break this chain of racism." The first black U.S. president also started a new tradition by sending a wreath to the African American Civil War Memorial in Washington honoring the 200,000 black soldiers who fought for Union forces in America's bloodiest conflict. "We ask you to break this chain of racism stretching back to Woodrow Wilson and not send a wreath or other token of...
The Jewish Soldier at Andersonville
	· 05/25/2009 6:48:18 AM PDT · Posted by Alouette · 11 replies · 337+ views · Jewish-American History on the Web | December, 1888 | Alice Hyneman Rhine Unlike the mass of war literature of the period, the following sketch in place of treating of the generals in command is simply a chronicle of passages in the war record of the "rank and file." A humble sergeant, who among the many generous high-spirited young men volunteered in "61" to fight for the perpetuation of the Union, and who through a self-negation equal to Sidney's heroic act, suffered captivity and death in the prison pen at Andersonville. Elias Leon Hyneman, one of the martyrs of our Civil war, was the son of Rebekah Hyneman, a poetess whose position in...
World War Eleven
Remains are lost in race for relics(WWII MIA's and their planes)
	· 05/25/2009 4:54:20 AM PDT · Posted by GQuagmire · 27 replies · 709+ views · Boston Globe | May 25, 2009 | Kevin Baron and Bryan Bender ALBION PARK, Australia - To the US military, Carter Lutes, a pilot who vanished in Papua New Guinea in April 1944, is one of the lost heroes of World War II. The Pentagon still hopes to recover him. Until then, it considers his jungle crash site a sacred place - and the last known clue to finding him........Now, as the US military invests hundreds of millions of dollars to recover the remains of World War II pilots, it is in a race against relic hunters. In recent years the Pentagon has found nearly 500 missing soldiers from World War II,...
Vintage Mystery
A Mystery in an Old Wine Bottle (Is it Hitler's Wine)
	· 05/27/2009 11:23:05 AM PDT · Posted by nickcarraway · 4 replies · 420+ views · New York Times | MAY 27, 2009 | CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY Alexander Autographs A bottle of wine from Adolf Hitler's personal wine cellar at his mountain retreat, the Berghof. It was supposed to be a straightforward news story: an auction house was finding that items believed to have belonged to Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun were in high demand, even in a recession. But a coincidence along the way led to a mystery. It all began when the auctioneer, Alexander Autographs, in Stamford, Conn., announced the sale of possessions from the respected collector John K. Lattimer. Building on connections made during his time working at the Nuremburg war tribunals, Dr. Lattimer...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Machu Picchu 'ransacked 40 years before its discovery'
	· 06/03/2008 12:01:08 PM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 17 replies · 90+ views · Telegraph | 02 June 2008 | Kate Devlin Machu Picchu, the crown of the Inca trail, was ransacked 40 years before its discovery by an American explorer in the early 20th Century, new research claims. One of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, the citadel, hidden by clouds 8,000 feet above sea level, has become a pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of travellers every year. Historians have always thought that it lay undiscovered for centuries after the fall of the Incan Empire in the 1530s, until being brought to the attention of the modern world by an American explorer, Hiram Bingham, in 1911. But a research...
Faith and Philosophy
The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself
	· 05/25/2009 1:29:44 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 20 replies · 425+ views · Discover magazine | May 1, 2009 | Robert Lanza and Bob Berman Three hundred years ago, the Irish empiricist George Berkeley contributed a particularly prescient observation: The only thing we can perceive are our perceptions. In other words, consciousness is the matrix upon which the cosmos is apprehended. Color, sound, temperature, and the like exist only as perceptions in our head, not as absolute essences. In the broadest sense, we cannot be sure of an outside universe at all. For centuries, scientists regarded Berkeley's argument as a philosophical sideshow and continued to build physical models based on the assumption of a separate universe "out there" into which we have each individually arrived....
Origins of Time, The Ancients, and Future Civilizations.
	· 05/25/2009 11:32:54 AM PDT · Posted by jxb7076 · 14 replies · 292+ views · hubpages | 5/25/09 | JXB7076 Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining time in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time) At the point in history when Homo sapiens became socially aware, time was considered to be cyclical, or a matter of day and night. The seasons were a matter of birth and death, and calendars were based on...
The Evolution of Religion
	· 05/25/2009 6:03:43 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 21 replies · 460+ views · LiveScience | May 12, 2009 | Robert Roy Britt One idea is that religion is related to evolution, in that belief confers some survival advantage. Another idea is that as with other supernatural beliefs, religion is appealing because it offers answers to things that otherwise seem inexplicable (and before modern science, a lot of things were inexplicable, from the stars in the sky to stormy weather to human illness and death). But throughout history, just feeling better by having an explanation for things would not necessarily confer much of a survival advantage. As James Dow at Oakland University in Michigan sees things: "Religious people talk about things that cannot...
Facilitated variation: a new paradigm emerges in biology (say buh-bye to neo-Darwinism)
	· 05/25/2009 5:48:24 PM PDT · Posted by GodGunsGuts · 99 replies · 1,075+ views · Journal of Creation | Alex Williams Facilitated variation: a new paradigm emerges in biology Alex Williams Facilitated variation is the first comprehensive theory of how life works at the molecular level, published in 2005 by systems biologists Marc Kirschner and John Gerhart in their book The Plausibility of Life: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma. It is a very powerful theory, is supported by a great deal of evidence, and the authors have made it easy to understand. It identifies two basic components of heredity: (a) conserved core processes of cellular structure, function and body plan organization; and (b) modular regulatory mechanisms that are built in special ways that...
Oh So Mysteriouso
The Lost Tomb of Jesus: The Review (w/Ted Koppel)
	· 03/04/2007 8:37:23 PM PST · Posted by Reaganesque · 43 replies · 1,781+ views · vanity | 3/4/07 | Reaganesque The Lost Tomb of Jesus on the Discovery Channel was followed up by a panel discussion moderated by Ted Koppel. Koppel and two professors who are not affiliated with the documentary totally eviscerated the director of the film and one of his consultants. Koppel seemed particularly offended by the film maker's claims of being a journalist. If you get the chance to see this review of the documentary, watch it. It is very funny.
end of digest #254 20090530

[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #255 Saturday, Jun 6, 2009
D-Day
National D-Day Memorial on brink of financial ruin
	· 06/02/2009 4:13:36 PM PDT · Posted by Restore America · 16 replies · 379+ views · AP | 06/02/2009 | SUE LINDSEY By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer Sue Lindsey, Associated Press Writer -- 39 mins ago BEDFORD, Va. -- On the eve of the 65th anniversary of D-Day, the foundation that runs the National D-Day Memorial is on the brink of financial ruin. Donations are down in the poor economy. The primary base of support -- World War II veterans -- is dying off. And the privately funded memorial is struggling to draw visitors because it's hundreds of miles from a major city. Facing the prospect of cutting staff and hours, the memorial's president believes its only hope for long-term survival...
Patton's 6-5-44 Famous Speech
"The Speech" - General George S. Patton, Jr. (WARNING: Profanity!!)
	· 09/15/2001 12:43:15 PM PDT · Posted by StoneColdGOP · 181 replies · 5,520+ views · The Patton Society | Posted September 15th, 2001 - Originally delivered June 5th, 1944 | George S. Patton, Jr. - General, United States Army "THE SPEECH" Somewhere in England, June 5th, 1944... "Be seated." "Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men ...
General Patton's Address to the Troops
	· 10/27/2001 4:52:30 PM PDT · Posted by Bubba_Leroy · 26 replies · 2,922+ views · United States Naval Academy Class of 1963 | May 31, 1944 | Gen. George S. Patton Patton's Speech to the Troops in England May 31, 1944 Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullsh_t. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men ...
Patton's Speech to the Third Army
	· 11/09/2001 12:08:22 PM PST · Posted by Earl B. · 5 replies · 1,353+ views · National Review Online (Weekend Edition) | June 5, 1944 | General George S. Patton Patton's Speech to the Third Army "Americans play to win all of the time." By General George S. Patton, June 5, 1944 November 10-11, 2001 EDITOR'S NOTE: The Allies had been gathering in lower England for many months, setting for the greatest amphibious invasion in the history of the world and warfare. It was June 5, 1944. The invasion of the French coast at Normandy had already been delayed once when General Eisenhower gave the green light for the commencement of "Operation Overlord." On the evening of the 5th, the Allied gliders and parachutists would enter the interior of ...
General Patton s Speech Somewhere in England June 5th, 1944
	· 06/30/2002 8:57:02 AM PDT · Posted by Lockbox · 19 replies · 816+ views · War Room | 6/5/1944 | General Patton Herein follows a copy of General Patton's (unabridged) speech to 3rd Army on the eve of D-Day. Although not Politically Correct by contemporary standards, in the context of the pending invasion of Europe and the human losses anticipated, it communicated an important message to his target audience. General Patton's Speech Somewhere in England June 5th, 1944 "Be seated." Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here...
General Patton's "Blood and Guts" Speech the Troops (Warning Language)
	· 03/17/2003 5:26:05 AM PST · Posted by The Magical Mischief Tour · 21 replies · 3,099+ views General Patton The Speech Given somewhere in England on June 5th, 1944 "Be seated." Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self-respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real...
Patton's Third Army Activated August 1, 1944
	· 08/01/2003 12:12:25 PM PDT · Posted by WhiskeyPapa · 36 replies · 350+ views · 79th Division Website | John J. Pellino PATTON'S THIRD ARMY Pre-Operational Phase In Normandy When the Third Army Headquarters landed on French soil, the first thing done was to insure absolute security. In accordance with the plan Overlord, the presence of the Third Army was to be kept secret as long as possible. The idea was to keep the German High Command guessing as to the where- about's of General Patton.During the first days in the Allied invasion, the XIX Tactical Air Command, whose primary job was aerial support for the Third Army, established its own headquarters adjacent to the army headquarters. Their detailed planning then started...
General George S. Patton - Speech to 3rd Army June 5, 1944
	· 06/29/2004 5:41:16 PM PDT · Posted by GLH3IL · 14 replies · 1,591+ views · www.military-quotes.com | Mr. Scott Hann A General Patton's Address to the Troops, Part I, The Background Research Anyone who has ever viewed the motion picture PATTON will never forget the opening. George Campbell Scott, portraying Patton, standing in front of an immensely huge American flag, delivers his version of Patton's "Speech to the Third Army" on June 5th, 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion of France, code named "Overlord." Scott's rendition of the speech was highly sanitized so as not to offend too many fainthearted Americans. Luckily, the soldiers of the American Army who fought World War II were not so fainthearted. After one...
The Famous Patton Speech
	· 12/22/2004 3:57:19 AM PST · Posted by Flavius · 27 replies · 1,539+ views · Patton | June 5th, 1944 | PATTON The Famous Patton Speech Background - General Patton's Address to the Troops - Part I Anyone who has ever viewed the motion picture PATTON will never forget the opening. George Campbell Scott, portraying Patton, standing in front of an immensely huge American flag, delivers his version of Patton's "Speech to the Third Army" on June 5th, 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion of France, code named "Overlord". Scott's rendition of the speech was highly sanitized so as not to offend too many fainthearted Americans. Luckily, the soldiers of the American Army who fought World War II were not so...
Gen. Patton's Speech (PROFANITY-Complete and uncensored)
	· 05/30/2006 8:20:05 AM PDT · Posted by 300magnum · 42 replies · 3,516+ views · G.S. Patton | June 5, 1944 "Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were...
Patton to Troops 1944 (must read) warning: graphic language
	· 01/01/2005 9:01:45 AM PST · Posted by beebuster2000 · 46 replies · 2,160+ views · Great speeches Timeline | May 17, 1944 | Genl George Patton NOTE : This speech contains language that may be considered offensive. User discretion is advised. General George S. Patton, Jr., in characteristic unexpurgated detail, gives his troops a final pep-talk prior to the invasion of Normandy, Enniskillen Manor Grounds, England, May 17, 1944. Men, this stuff some sources sling around about America wanting to stay out of the war and not wanting to fight is a lot of baloney! Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. America loves a winner. America will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise a coward; Americans play...
General Patton's Address to the Troops(& Date Now, Gen. Patton & Modern World)
	· 07/25/2007 6:51:22 PM PDT · Posted by fight_truth_decay · 36 replies · 1,370+ views · m1-garand.com | June 5, 1944 | General George S. Patton, Jr Before the commencement of Operation Overlord. Somewhere in England "Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like...
George S. Patton - To the 3rd Army, June 5, 1944
	· 06/04/2008 5:28:57 PM PDT · Posted by pissant · 68 replies · 409+ views · Falcon Party | June 5, 1944 | George S. Patton Be Seated. Men, this stuff we hear about America wanting to stay out of the war, not wanting to fight, is a lot of bullsh*t. Americans love to fight - traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. When you were kids, you all admired the champion marble player; the fastest runner; the big league ball players; the toughest boxers. Americans love a winner and will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win - all the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why...
The Famous Patton Speech
	· 06/03/2009 12:42:40 PM PDT · Posted by DFG · 34 replies · 862+ views · Pattonhq.com | Charles M. Province "Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were...
Midway
American Heroes: Torpedo Squadron 8 (Battle of Midway,67 Years Ago Today)
	· 06/03/2009 8:55:27 PM PDT · Posted by TonyInOhio · 50 replies · 923+ views · Fox News | 05/29/09 | Steven Tierney A successful American intelligence operation uncovered their plans and the U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces in early June of 1942, sinking four Japanese carriers while losing only one of their own. Japan's defeat at Midway turned turn the tide of the war in the Pacific and put America squarely on the offensive. But the victory came at a high price, particularly for the men of Torpedo Squadron 8.
This Day in World War II History June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway Begins
	· 06/04/2009 6:04:53 AM PDT · Posted by mainepatsfan · 26 replies · 432+ views · http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=6474 June 4, 1942 The Battle of Midway begins On this day in 1942, Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, commander of the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor, launches a raid on Midway Island with almost the entirety of the Japanese navy. As part of a strategy to widen its sphere of influence and conquest, the Japanese set their sights on an island group in the central Pacific, Midway, as well as the Aleutians, off the coast of Alaska. They were also hoping to draw the badly wounded U.S. navy into a battle, determined to finish it off. The American naval forces were...
Battle of Britain
The secret fuel that made the Spitfire supreme
	· 05/29/2009 5:03:39 PM PDT · Posted by neverdem · 46 replies · 1,465+ views · Royal Society of Chemistry | 13 May 2009 | Brian Emsley In the year that sees the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, a previously untold story has emerged of how, through a "miracle" chemical breakthrough, Spitfire and Hurricane fighters gained the edge over German fighters to win the Battle of Britain. An American scientist and author has claimed that the famed pair of war-winning aeroplanes gained superior altitude, manoeuvrability and rate of climb by a revolutionary high-octane fuel supplied to Britain by the USA just in time for the battle. Books, documentaries, and movies have chronicled the brilliant contribution of UK designers and engineers behind the...
World War Eleven
Fully armed Nazi bomber planes 'buried below East Berlin airport'
	· 07/21/2003 8:17:05 PM PDT · Posted by Recourse · 179 replies · 4,305+ views · The Scotsman | July 22, 2003 | Allan Hall Tue 22 Jul 2003 Fully armed Nazi bomber planes 'buried below East Berlin airport' ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN AN AIRPORT used by hundreds of thousands of tourists and business travellers each year could be sitting on top of thousands of live bombs. Papers among thousands of files captured from the Stasi, the secret police of East Germany, claim tons of live Second World War munitions were buried in concrete bunkers beneath the runways of Schoenefeld airport in East Berlin. It is now the main destination for discount airlines, such as Ryanair, and numerous charter companies. Not only did...
Underwater Archaeology
Secrets of the Deep
	· 06/02/2009 10:30:28 AM PDT · Posted by Fawn · 23 replies · 982+ views · New York Magazine | Published May 10, 2009 | Christopher Bonanos What lies beneath the surface of New York Harbor? For starters, a 350-foot steamship, 1,600 bars of silver, a freight train, and four-foot-long cement-eating worms. The steady transformation of New York's waterfront from wasteland to playground means more of us are spending time along the city's edge. That can lead a person to wonder: What, exactly, is down there? Until recently, we had patchy knowledge of what lies beneath the surface of one of the world's busiest harbors. What we did know came largely from random anecdotes, and depth soundings done the way Henry Hudson did them -- by rope and lead...
Korea
Hunt for the lost ships of Chilcheon
	· 06/04/2009 2:04:57 AM PDT · Posted by rdl6989 · 10 replies · 624+ views · Joon Ang Daily | June 04, 2009 A salvage team has just weeks left to find wrecked turtle ships deep in the mud It was probably Korea's greatest ever naval disaster. Ten thousand Korean sailors were killed on July 16, 1597 in the seas around Chilcheon Island off the coast of South Gyeongsang when 500 Japanese warships launched a surprise attack. Korea also lost five to seven geobukseon, or turtle ships, ironclad vessels shaped like a turtle, and 160 panokseon, another type of battleship. It was Korea's only recorded naval defeat during its seven-year-long war with the Japanese between 1592 and 1598. No authentic examples of geobukseon...
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
Cultivation changed monsoon in Asia
	· 06/02/2009 10:57:21 PM PDT · Posted by neverdem · 9 replies · 219+ views · Science News | June 1st, 2009 | Sid Perkins Loss of forests in India, China during the 1700s led to a decline in monsoon precipitation The dramatic expansion of agriculture in India and southeastern China during the 18th century -- a sprawl that took place at the expense of forests -- triggered a substantial drop in precipitation in those regions, a new study suggests. Winds that blow northeast from the Indian Ocean into southern Asia each summer bring abundant rain to an area that's home to more than half the world's population. But those seasonal winds, known as monsoons, brought about 20 percent less rainfall each year to India...
Why Did You Say Burma?
Ancient Myanmar temple building collapses, six killed
	· 05/30/2009 11:22:36 PM PDT · Posted by rdl6989 · 23 replies · 959+ views · Malaysia Star | May 31, 2009 YANGON, Myanmar: (AP) A 2,300-year-old Myanmar temple building totally collapsed while workers were attempting to repair it, killing six people and injuring 30, witnesses said Sunday. Some people were still trapped beneath bricks, bamboo scaffolding and other debris a day after the collapse Saturday, said Tin Shwe, who runs a small shop near the temple. The tall, bell-shaped structure, called a stupa, collapsed because of age and deterioration, said a temple official, Tin Tin Win. Damage to the Danok temple was detected in 2006. Tin Shwe said most of the victims were navy personnel doing reconstruction work on the temple,...
Ancient Autopsies
Did boy Jesus look like this? Forensic experts use computer images from Shroud
	· 12/24/2004 12:18:11 AM PST · Posted by JohnHuang2 · 164 replies · 10,001+ views · WorldNetDaily.com | Friday, December 24, 2004 Computer-generated sketch of boy Jesus based on Shroud of Turin (courtesy Retequattro-Mediaset What did Jesus Christ of Nazareth look like as a boy? While no one knows for certain, forensic experts are now using computer images from the Shroud of Turin along with historical data and other ancient images to make an educated guess. In a documentary called "Jesus' Childhood" airing Sunday night on the Italian TV station Retequattro of the Mediaset Group, police artists use the same "aging" technology employed when searching for missing persons and criminals. "In this case the experts went backwards. Now we have a...
Forensic Scientists reveal what Jesus may have looked like as a 12-year old
	· 02/12/2005 11:59:27 AM PST · Posted by NYer · 878 replies · 16,541+ views · Catholic News Agency | February 12, 2005 Rome, Feb. 11, 2005 (CNA) - Forensic scientists in Italy are working on a different kind of investigation -- one that dates back 2000 years. In an astounding announcement, the scientists think they may have re-created an image of Jesus Christ when He was a 12-year old boy.Using the Shroud of Turin, a centuries-old linen cloth, which many believe bears the face of the crucified Christ, the investigators first created a computer-modeled, composite picture of the Christ's face.Dr. Carlo Bui, one of the scientists said that, "the face of the man on the shroud is the face of a suffering man. He...
Faith and Philosophy
Ethiopia: lifting the mystery on rock churches 'built by angels'
	· 06/01/2009 5:24:09 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 22 replies · 667+ views · AFP | May 31, 2009 | Emmanuel Goujon The ancient mystery shrouding Lalibela, Ethiopia's revered medieval rock-hewn churches, could be lifted by a group of French researchers given the go-ahead for the first comprehensive study of this world heritage site legend says was "built by angels". The team will have full access to the network of 10 Orthodox chapels chiseled out of volcanic rock -- some standing 15 metres (42 feet) high -- in the mountainous heart of Ethiopia. Local lore holds they were built in less than 25 years by their namesake, the 13th-century King Lalibela, with the help of angels after God ordered him to erect...
Egypt
Scientists Say Pyramids Could Be Concrete
	· 04/23/2008 1:23:56 PM PDT · Posted by blam · 50 replies · 326+ views · Physorg | 4-23-2008 | UPI Scientists say pyramids could be concrete April 23, 2008 Scientists are taking a new look at Egypt's pyramids to see if some of the blocks could have been made from concrete. Linn W. Hobbs, a materials science professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told The Boston Globe there is a chance ancient Egyptians could have cast the blocks from synthetic material instead of carving them from quarries. Scientists have long believed Romans were the first to use structural concrete. Undergraduates in MIT's Materials in Human Experience class are building a scale-model pyramid made of quarried limestone and blocks cast from...
Rome and Italy
Remains of temple of Isis found [ Florence Italy ]
	· 06/01/2009 3:46:50 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 10 replies · 356+ views · ANSA News in English | May 28, 2009 | unattributed Workmen inside Florence's courthouse have stumbled across a spiral column and hundreds of multicoloured fragments that experts believe may have belonged to a Roman temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis. Dating to the second century AD, the remains were discovered as the men dug a five by three metre hole, barely four metres deep, for a new water cistern for the courthouse's anti-incendiary system... Palchetti said the remains were ''comparable'' to others found over the last three centuries in the immediate area that have also been attributed to the temple of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and...
Pole Shift
CU-Boulder study shows 53 million-year-old high Arctic mammals wintered in darkness
	· 06/01/2009 12:37:02 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 43 replies · 677+ views · University of Colorado at Boulder | Jun. 1, 2009 | Unknown Ancestors of tapirs and ancient cousins of rhinos living above the Arctic Circle 53 million years ago endured six months of darkness each year in a far milder climate than today that featured lush, swampy forests, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Jaelyn Eberle said the study shows several varieties of prehistoric mammals as heavy as 1,000 pounds each lived on what is today Ellesmere Island near Greenland on a summer diet of flowering plants, deciduous leaves and aquatic vegetation. But in winter's twilight they apparently switched over to foods...
Climate
North America's Wind Patterns Have Shifted Significantly In The Past 30,000 Years
	· 01/24/2007 7:45:02 AM PST · Posted by blam · 19 replies · 540+ views · Science Daily | 1-24-2007 | Dartmouth College Winds Of Change: North America's Wind Patterns Have Shifted Significantly In The Past 30,000 Years Science Daily -- Dartmouth researchers have learned that the prevailing winds in the mid latitudes of North America, which now blow from the west, once blew from the east. They reached this conclusion by analyzing 14,000- to 30,000-year-old wood samples from areas in the mid-latitudes of North America (40-50°N), which represents the region north of Denver and Philadelphia and south of Winnipeg and Vancouver. Researchers (left to right) Yong Shu, Eric Posmentier, Xiahong Feng, and Anthony Faiia. (Photo by Joseph Mehling) The researchers report their...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Cantabrian cornice has experienced seven cooling and warming phases over past 41,000 years
	· 06/03/2009 7:05:25 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 10 replies · 304+ views · FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology | Jun 3, 2009 | Unknown In 1996, an international team of scientists led by the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) started to carry out a paleontological survey in the cave of El Mirón. Since then they have focused on analysing the fossil remains of the bones and teeth of small vertebrates that lived in the Cantabrian region over the past 41,000 years, at the end of the Quaternary. The richness, great diversity and good conservation status of the fossils have enabled the researchers to carry out a paleoclimatic study, which has been published recently in the Journal of Archaeological Science. "We carried out every kind of...
The Mayans
Temple timbers trace collapse of Mayan culture
	· 06/04/2009 6:26:50 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 18 replies · 412+ views · New Scientist | Jun 2, 2009 | Unknown THE builders of the ancient Mayan temples at Tikal in Guatemala switched to inferior wood a few decades before they suddenly abandoned the city in the 9th century AD. The shift is the strongest evidence yet that Mayan civilisation collapsed because they ran out of resources, rather than, say, disease or warfare.
Sacred plants of the Maya forest
	· 06/05/2009 5:06:24 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 13 replies · 254+ views · BBC | 05 June 2009 | Matt Walker Some of the Central American rainforest's hidden treasures are being revealed by the Maya, more than a millennium after their passing. A study of the giant trees and beautiful flowers depicted in Maya art has identified which they held sacred. Created during the Maya Classic Period, the depictions are so accurate they could help researchers spot plants with hitherto unknown medicinal uses. The research is published in the journal Economic Botany. Plants played a significant role in the ecology, culture and rituals of the Maya people, whose artwork reflected the rich diversity of plant life around them. But while numerous...
Precolumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
University of Florida: Epic carving on fossil bone found in Vero Beach
	· 06/04/2009 8:15:37 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 35 replies · 935+ views · Vero Beach 32963 | 04 June 2009 | SANDRA RAWLS In what a top Florida anthropologist is calling "the oldest, most spectacular and rare work of art in the Americas," an amateur Vero Beach fossil hunter has found an ancient bone etched with a clear image of a walking mammoth or mastodon. According to leading experts from the University of Florida, the remarkable find demonstrates with new and startling certainty that humans coexisted with prehistoric animals more than 12,000 years ago in this fossil- rich region of the state. No similar carved figure has ever been authenticated in the United States, or anywhere in this hemisphere. The brown, mineral-hardened bone...
Navigation
Anthropologist advances 'kelp highway' theory for Coast settlement
	· 05/31/2009 12:09:51 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 17 replies · 345+ views · Vancouver Sun | 28 May 2009 | Larry Pynn Migrating peoples were sophisticated in sea harvesting, Jon Erlandson says The Pacific Coast of the Americas was settled starting about 15,000 years ago during the last glacial retreat by seafaring peoples following a "kelp highway" rich in marine resources, a noted professor of anthropology theorized Wednesday. Jon Erlandson, director of the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon, suggested that especially productive "sweet spots," such as the estuaries of B.C.'s Fraser and Stikine rivers, served as corridors by which people settled the Interior of the province. Erlandson said in an interview these migrating peoples were already...
Doctor Bill Haley
Expert says turtle boulder is just a rock[Ohio]
	· 06/01/2009 3:11:56 PM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 14 replies · 555+ views · Middletown Journal | 22 April 2009 | Marie Rossiter A local archeology curator said a turtle-head shaped boulder found near Oregonia is not a sculpture, as claimed by its finder. Dirk Morgan, owner of Morgan's Canoe and Outdoor Center, said he believes his find is an effigy of a turtle that could date back to the Hopewell Indians who lived in the area more than 1,000 years ago. Bob Genheimer of the Cincinnati Museum Center viewed the 200-pound boulder at Morgan's home on April 21 and said he found no evidence of shaping or manufacturing. "My strong opinion is that it is an artifact of nature, or an 'ecofact,'"...
Mammoth Told Me...
Mammoths roasted in prehistoric barbecue pit
	· 06/03/2009 10:54:21 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 34 replies · 710+ views · Discovery | Jun 3, 2009 | Jennifer Viegas Central Europe's prehistoric people would likely have been amused by today's hand-sized hamburgers and hot dogs, since archaeologists have just uncovered a 29,000 B.C. well-equipped kitchen where roasted gigantic mammoth was one of the last meals served. The site, called Pavlov VI in the Czech Republic near the Austrian and Slovak Republic borders, provides a homespun look at the rich culture of some of Europe's first anatomically modern humans.
Paleontology
The Quaternary Period Wins Out
	· 06/04/2009 9:55:18 PM PDT · Posted by neverdem · 10 replies · 238+ views · ScienceNOW Daily News | 3 June 2009 | Richard A. Kerr Enlarge ImageWe're all here. The newly official Quaternary period includes the span of our genus Homo as well as the comings and goings of the ice ages. Credit: Peter Hoey Geoscientists have cut the Gordian knot of geologic timekeeping. Ever since 19th century geologists divided the history of Earth into four periods -- the Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, and Quaternary, oldest to most recent -- their intellectual descendants have been dismantling that time scale. But the geologists, anthropologists, glaciologists, and paleoecologists studying the last couple of million years became quite attached to the Quaternary. They gave its name to their journals and even themselves -- to...
Prehistory and Origins
Were our earliest hominid ancestors European?
	· 06/01/2009 4:07:32 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 8 replies · 217+ views · New Scientist | Jun. 1, 2009 | Bob Holmes Millions of years before early humans evolved in Africa, their ancestors may have lived in Europe, a 12-million-year-old fossil hominid from Spain suggests. The fossil, named Anoiapithecus brevirostris by Salvador Moyà-Solà of the Catalan Institute of Palaeontology in Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues, dates from a period of human evolution for which the record is very thin. While only the animal's face, jaw and teeth survive, their shape places it within the African hominid lineage that gave rise to gorillas, chimps and humans. However, it also has features of a related group called kenyapithecins.
Were our earliest hominid ancestors European?
	· 06/01/2009 4:15:34 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 29 replies · 451+ views · New Scientist | Monday, June 1, 2009 | Bob Holmes Millions of years before early humans evolved in Africa, their ancestors may have lived in Europe, a 12-million-year-old fossil hominid from Spain suggests. The fossil, named Anoiapithecus brevirostris by Salvador Moyà-Solà of the Catalan Institute of Palaeontology in Barcelona, Spain, and his colleagues, dates from a period of human evolution for which the record is very thin. While only the animal's face, jaw and teeth survive, their shape places it within the African hominid lineage that gave rise to gorillas, chimps and humans. However, it also has features of a related group called kenyapithecins. Moyà-Solà says that A. brevirostris and...
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Eye Color Explained: Everything you know is wrong
	· 05/31/2009 1:23:07 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 111 replies · 1,722+ views · Discover Magazine | March 13, 2007 | Boonsri Dickinson What most people know about the inheritance of eye color is that brown comes from a dominant gene (needing one copy only) and blue from a recessive gene (needing two copies). University of Queensland geneticist Rick Sturm suggests that the genetics are not so clear. "There is no single gene for eye color," he says, "but the biggest effect is the OCA2 gene." This gene, which controls the amount of melanin pigment produced, accounts for about 74 percent of the total variation in people's eye color. Sturm has recently shown that the OCA2 gene itself is influenced by other genetic...
Dinosaurs
Similar Dino Tracks Discovered In Wyoming, Scotland
	· 06/01/2009 9:27:06 PM PDT · Posted by smokingfrog · 29 replies · 693+ views · redOrbit.com | June 1, 2009 | redOrbit staff and wire reports Experts are baffled over the discovery of fossilized, three-toed dinosaur tracks that have been found in both north-central Wyoming and on Scotland's coast, The Associated Press reported. Neil Clark, a paleontologist at the University of Glasgow, has not been able to identify any differences between the two sets of 170 million-year-old tracks even after a series of painstaking measurements and statistical analysis. He told AP that since the footprints in Wyoming and Scotland are so similar, they may have been produced by a very similar kind of dinosaur, if not the same species. Paleontologists have never been able to say...
Did an American dinosaur swim over the sea to Skye 170 million years ago?[Scotland]
	· 06/02/2009 7:59:10 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 49 replies · 791+ views · The Scotsman | 02 June 2009 | CLAIRE SMITH A THREE-TOED dinosaur which once roamed the Isle of Skye may have been the same species as one whose prints have been found in the Red Gulch mountains in Wyoming, paleontologists said yesterday. The 170 million-year-old tracks are so similar that Glasgow paleontologist Neil Clark believes the Wyoming dinosaurs may have swum or waded over to Skye -- which at that time was part of an island off the east coast of America. US scientists now plan to put his theories to the test, using 3D mapping technology to compare both sets of footprints. Dr Clark, Curator of Paleontology at...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Bigfoot hunters claim they have footprint
	· 06/04/2009 6:52:46 AM PDT · Posted by laotzu · 55 replies · 928+ views · WOAI radio | 5/28/09 | (none given) They say they have a cast of a footprint 5 inches wide and 15 inches long. A group of Bigfoot hunters claim to have found footprints and heard calls of the legendary creature in Oklahoma. About 30 people spent Memorial Day weekend on a Bigfoot hunt in the Kiamichi Mountains in the southeastern part of the state, the Tulsa World reports. They say they have a cast of a footprint 5 inches wide and 15 inches long. "The toes were clearly visible on the cast after it was lifted up," said D.W. Lee, director of the Mid-America Bigfoot Research Center....
Oh So Mysteriouso
Urine, Fingernail-Filled 'Witch Bottle' Found
	· 06/04/2009 7:37:24 AM PDT · Posted by Cailleach · 20 replies · 490+ views · Discovery News | June 4, 2009 | Jennifer Viegas During the 17th century in England, someone urinated in a jar, added nail clippings, hair and pins, and buried it upside-down in Greenwich, where it was recently unearthed and identified by scientists as being the world's most complete known "witch bottle." This spell device, often meant to attract and trap negative energy, was particularly common from the 16th to the 17th centuries, so the discovery provides a unique insight into witchcraft beliefs of that period, according to a report published in the latest British Archaeology.
Middle Ages and Renaissance
'Lost' music instrument recreated [the Lituus]
	· 05/31/2009 7:13:58 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 25 replies · 803+ views · BBC | Saturday, May 30, 2009 | Pallab Ghosh New software has enabled researchers to recreate a long forgotten musical instrument called the Lituus. The 2.4m (8ft) long trumpet-like instrument was played in Ancient Rome but fell out of use some 300 years ago. Bach's motet (a choral musical composition) "O Jesu Christ, meins lebens licht" was one of the last pieces of music written for the Lituus. Now, for the first time, this 18th Century composition has been played as it should have been heard... the Lituus produced a piercing trumpet-like sound interleaving with the vocals. Until now, no one had a clear idea of what this...
Epigraphy and Language
Decoding antiquity: Eight scripts that still can't be read
	· 05/29/2009 9:14:19 PM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 36 replies · 948+ views · New Scientist | 27 May 2009 | Andrew Robinson WRITING is one of the greatest inventions in human history. Perhaps the greatest, since it made history possible. Without writing, there could be no accumulation of knowledge, no historical record, no science - and of course no books, newspapers or internet.The first true writing we know of is Sumerian cuneiform - consisting mainly of wedge-shaped impressions on clay tablets - which was used more than 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Soon afterwards writing appeared in Egypt, and much later in Europe, China and Central America. Civilisations have invented hundreds of different writing systems. Some, such as the one you are...
Ireland
Farmer's son unearths medieval ring
	· 06/03/2009 10:17:01 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 41 replies · 1,009+ views · Belfast Telegraph | 03 June 2009 | Belfast Telegraph A medieval silver ring dating back more than 800 years has been unearthed on a farm in Northern Ireland. The 12th century artefact was found by 17-year-old Conor Sandford as he was putting up a fence post at the edge of one of his father's fields near the village of Kilmore, Co Armagh. The teenager told a treasure trove hearing in Belfast today he initially thought the engraved finger ring was a ring pull from an old fizzy drink can. "Only when I was putting the soil back into the hole did I notice this wee thing sticking out," he...
Early America
Ancient coin has ironic currency[Massachusetts]
	· 06/03/2009 10:37:55 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 13 replies · 643+ views · Cape Cod Online | 02 June 2009 | Mary Ann Bragg As Truro celebrates its 300th birthday, one of its residents has unearthed a silver coin that's even older. Peter Burgess, who owns a house next to Old North Cemetery and the site of an early church and meeting house, found a thin coin in his yard a year ago. He was moving dirt in his garden. He picked up the brown disc, which is about the size of a dime and bears markings near the edges. The story of Burgess' find comes at a fortuitous moment, as this seaside village commemorates its incorporation on July 16, 1709....
The Civil War
Civil War-era cash helps SC make some money
	· 06/04/2009 8:12:18 PM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 3 replies · 240+ views · AP | 04 June 2009 | Jeffrey Collins South Carolina is selling money to make money. State officials have quietly picked through boxes of Civil War state currency and auctioned it on eBay, providing the state archives with an influx of cash amid tight budgets. "These are very bad times. This helps us a great deal. We can pay for things we could never afford otherwise," said Charles Lesser, a senior archivist at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. About 40 boxes of the currency were supposed to be destroyed more than a century ago, but some of the bills were tucked away in the Statehouse...
This Day In Civil War History May 31, 1862 Battle of Seven Pines/Fair Oaks
	· 05/31/2009 5:48:01 AM PDT · Posted by mainepatsfan · 14 replies · 322+ views · http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2051 May 31, 1862 Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks), Virginia Confederate forces strike Union troops in the Pen insular campaign. During May 1862, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of George B. McClellan, slowly advanced up the James Peninsula after sailing down the Chesapeake Bay by boat. Confederate commander Joseph Johnston had been cautiously backing his troops up the peninsula in the face of the larger Union force, giving ground until he was in the Richmond perimeter. When the Rebels had backed up to the capital, Johnston sought an opportunity to attack McClellan and halt his advance. That...
Religion of Pieces
Young America's Fight with Islamism (debunks Obama's Cairo reference to 'Treaty of Tripoli')
	· 06/04/2009 11:46:20 AM PDT · Posted by JohnKSmith · 8 replies · 414+ views · Hawaii Free Press | June 4, 2009 | Andrew Walden In light of the reference to the 1796 "Treaty of Tripoli" in Obama's Cairo speech, we are re-publishing this January, 2007 article. It details the levels of tribute excated by the Moslems after the signing of the treaty and the two wars which resulted. Obama in Cairo: "In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President John Adams wrote, 'The United States has in itself no character of enemity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims.'" How did these fine words work out 215 years ago? How will similar fine words work out today? See the story...
The Framers
the 16th Amendment
	· 06/05/2009 10:59:47 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 12 replies · 352+ views · Constitution of the United States, via FindLaw et al | ratified on February 3, 1913 | The Framers et al The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.
Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles
The Illustrious Dead: The Terrifying Story of How Typhus Killed Napoleon's Greatest Army
	· 05/31/2009 1:03:31 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 68 replies · 976+ views · Amazon.com | Unknown | Unknown Even as the Russians retreated before him in disarray, Napoleon found his army disappearing, his frantic doctors powerless to explain what had struck down a hundred thousand soldiers. The emperor's vaunted military brilliance suddenly seemed useless, and when the Russians put their own occupied capital to the torch, the campaign became a desperate race through the frozen landscape as troops continued to die by the thousands. Through it all, with tragic heroism, Napoleon's disease-ravaged, freezing, starving men somehow rallied, again and again, to cries of "Vive l'Empereur!"
Antiques and Collectibles
Hitler Youth Knife? In MY House?
	· 06/05/2009 3:08:53 AM PDT · Posted by conservativeimage.com · 40 replies · 921+ views E-Mail | 6/5/9 | RedFox E-mail to my brother: "Mom brought home a knife with a swastika on it today that one of her hospice clients was sending to good will. It turns out to be an authentic Hitler Youth Knife with the original sheath: "I don't want it in the house. I could clean it up and sell it on ebay... I could keep it until one of Obama's youth corps shows up at the door and hand it over to them with a good explanation. Don't know if you would want it. Its interesting for something like this to turn up at a...
Roads to Freedom
Identity of Tank Man of Tiananmen Square remains a mystery
	· 05/30/2009 7:00:46 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 9 replies · 643+ views · The Times Online | 30 May 2009 | Jane Macartney Outside China he is known simply as Tank Man. Inside the country he is not known at all. No trace is to be found of the young man armed only with shopping bags who 20 years ago blocked a column of tanks rolling through Beijing. His defiance became the defining image of the student demonstrations crushed by the People's Liberation Army. It was on the morning of June 5 that he appeared from nowhere. A line of 18 tanks began to pull out of Tiananmen Square and drove east along the Avenue of Eternal Peace. A day earlier, the square...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Odd Wisconsin: Madison was once home to a castle
	· 06/04/2009 5:09:29 PM PDT · Posted by JoeProBono · 17 replies · 353+ views · madison | JUN 3, 2009 In 1861, a melancholy Englishman named Benjamin Walker settled in Madison and built a medieval castle for his home. Two round turrets framed a square tower. In each turret was an octagonal sitting room, one decorated in red and the other in green. Carved marble mantels topped the fireplaces and gilt-framed oil paintings decorated the walls. A massive oak table and chairs, elaborate candelabras, and fine china furnished the dining room. Walker built a stone barn behind the castle and an underground tunnel to connect the two buildings. Walker was recalled as "a dark, glowering, silent man" who spent most...
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