http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/godsgravesglyphs/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:41 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts Did our Neolithic ancestors turn to agriculture so that they could be sure of a tipple? US Archaeologist Patrick McGovern thinks so. The expert on identifying traces of alcohol in prehistoric sites reckons the thirst for a brew was enough of an incentive to start growing crops... Here is how the story likely began -- a prehistoric human picked up some dropped fruit from the ground and popped it unsuspectingly into his or her mouth. The first effect was nothing more than an agreeably bittersweet flavor spreading across the palate. But as alcohol entered the bloodstream, the brain started sending... Der Spiegel http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418163/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:14:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418158/posts Crammed into a single large gallery, the Penn Museum show -- filled with delicate cylinder seals and alabaster pots, and glittering strings of gold, carnelian and lapis lazuli beads -- is at once frustratingly old-fashioned and deliberately retro in its design. Musical selections from the expedition's record collection play in the background. The texts are well-written but long and somewhat dense. They are supplemented by archival and contemporary images of the site and computer terminals displaying the exhibition's Web site and other Web resources and offering visitors a chance to "live blog" about the show. Wall St Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418158/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:01:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418155/posts Experts are studying the first Mayan hieroglyphic script dealing with the life of a high priest, his blood sacrifices and acts of penance, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said. The text consists of 260 glyphs carved into a series of seashell earrings and manta ray stingers found inside a burial urn. The urn, which also contained the remains of an important Maya priest, wrapped in bright red cloth, was uncovered during excavations 11 years ago in Comalcalco, in southeastern Tabasco state, the institute said in a statement. "It is the longest Maya hieroglyphic script ever found to... Yahoo! http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2418155/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:53:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417002/posts There is increased evidence that the Arctic could face seasonally ice-free conditions and much warmer temperatures in the future. Scientists documented evidence that the Arctic Ocean and Nordic Seas were too warm to support summer sea ice during the mid-Pliocene warm period (3.3 to 3 million years ago). This period is characterized by warm temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, and is used as an analog to understand future conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey found that summer sea-surface temperatures in the Arctic were between 10 to 18°C (50 to 64°F) during the mid-Pliocene, while current... U.S. Geological Survey http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2417002/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:37:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416609/posts Earth's north magnetic pole is racing toward Russia at almost 40 miles (64 kilometers) a year due to magnetic changes in the planet's core, new research says. The core is too deep for scientists to directly detect its magnetic field. But researchers can infer the field's movements by tracking how Earth's magnetic field has been changing at the surface and in space. Now, newly analyzed data suggest that there's a region of rapidly changing magnetism on the core's surface, possibly being created by a mysterious "plume" of magnetism arising from deeper in the core. And it's this region that... National Geographic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2416609/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 00:21:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414337/posts It's time to blow the whistle on two erroneous statements that opponents and proponents of the health care legislation being jammed through Congress have been making. Republicans have been saying that never before has Congress passed such an unpopular bill with such important ramifications by such a narrow majority. Barack Obama has been saying that passage of the bill will mean that the health care issue will be settled once and for all. The Republicans and Obama are both wrong. But perhaps they can be forgiven because the precedent for Congress passing an unpopular bill is an old one, and... Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2414337/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:15:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416506/posts Seahorses are truly unique, and not just because of their unusual equine shape. Unlike most other fish, they are monogamous and mate for life. Rarer still, they are among the only animal species on Earth in which the male bears the unborn young. Found in shallow tropical and temperate waters throughout the world, these upright-swimming relatives of the pipefish can range in size from 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) to 14 inches (35 centimeters) long. Male seahorses are equipped with a brood pouch on their ventral, or front-facing, side. When mating, the female deposits her eggs into his pouch, and the... nationalgeographic http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2416506/posts#comment Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:05:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415680/posts BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese archeologists have unearthed a large third-century tomb, which they say could be that of Cao Cao, the legendary politician and general famous throughout East Asia for his Machiavellian tactics. The tomb, discovered in Xigaoxue village near the ancient Chinese city of Anyang, Henan Province, has an epitaph and inscription that appear to refer to Cao Cao, Central China Television said on Sunday. A Chinese proverb, "speak of Cao Cao and he appears," is the equivalent of "speak of the devil" in English. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415680/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:19:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415665/posts The mystery surrounding Lord Brooke Fulke Greville and William Shakespeare is creating huge interest around the World,with many people questioning if William Shakespeare really was the poet Fulke Greville or at the very least Shakespeares Master. The Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415665/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 11:00:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2415871/posts If conservatives wait until November 2010 we will be: Too little, too late. This is why: The nominations and primary races are shaping up right now. We must nominate conservatives for the November 2010 vote, right now. Deadlines approach soon. GOP county and state organizations are working right now to get their ducks in a row for the 2010 election - and beyond. When conservatives sit back and "wait" - we're saddled with candidates like Dede Scozzafava of the recent RINO insider fiasco in New York, not to mention certain lack-luster candidates for the presidency. Let's look at GOP county... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2415871/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 20:07:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415371/posts Chimps remain cool under fire, possessing a near human ability to predict how wildfires spread and react accordingly. This newfound capability of chimpanzees to understand flames might shed light on when and how our distant ancestors first learned to control fire, scientists now suggest. Primatologist Jill Pruetz at Iowa State University in Ames was observing savanna chimpanzees in Senegal in 2006 as people were setting wildfires, an annual tradition that clears land and aids hunting. Most areas within the chimpanzees' home range are burned to some degree. "It was the end of the dry season, so the fires burn so... livescience http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2415371/posts#comment Sat, 26 Dec 2009 17:46:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414257/posts The spread of tuberculosis may have killed off leprosy in Europe in the Middle Ages, according to research published in the latest issue of the Royal Society Proceedings B. A collaborative study led by University College London (UCL) scientists, following the discovery of a shrouded body in a sealed chamber overlooked by tomb robbers, found evidence of both diseases in a range of archaeological remains dating from the 1st to the 15th centuries. An initial examination of the body, currently under analysis in Israel, revealed signs of co-infection of TB and leprosy in the bone tissue. The collaborative team, led... ScienceDaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414257/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:01:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1387638/posts Researchers say a bizarre group of microbes found living inside rocks in an inhospitable geothermal environment at Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park could provide tantalizing new clues about ancient life on Earth and help steer the hunt for evidence of life on Mars. University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder) scientists Jeffrey Walker, John Spear and Norman Pace report the finding in the April 21 issue of the journal Nature. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA. The CU-Boulder research team reported that the microbes were discovered in the pores of rocks in a highly acidic environment with... National Science Foundation http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1387638/posts#comment Wed, 20 Apr 2005 21:04:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2409440/posts Israel experts said on Wednesday that a burial shroud known as the Turin shroud, assumed to be the type used to wrap the body of Jesus, did not actually originate from Jesus-era Jerusalem. The conclusion was based on excavation discoveries of a first-century C.E. shrouded man found in a tomb on the edge of the Old City of Jerusalem, which also revealed the earliest proven case of leprosy. Along with the DNA of the shrouded man, this was the first time that fragments of a burial shroud have been found from the time of Jesus in Jerusalem, which, unlike the... Haaretz .com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2409440/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:57:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414235/posts An ancient dwarf whale unearthed in southeastern Australia captured its prey by slurping up mouthfuls of mud, a new study says. The fossil whale, thought to between 25 and 28 million years old, hints that mud sucking might have been a precursor to the filter feeding used by today's baleen whales... The newfound fossil whale, which measures just nine feet (three meters) long, shares the same distinct jaw and skull structures as today's baleens. But the tiny whale also had teeth, said study author Erich Fitzgerald, a paleontologist at Museum Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. The odd combination suggests that the... National Geographic News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414235/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 03:28:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414219/posts The ancient Mayans may have had enough engineering know-how to master running water, creating fountains and even toilets by controlling water pressure, scientists now suggest... Scientists investigated the Mayan center at Palenque in Chiapas, Mexico. At its height, this major site, inhabited from roughly 100 to 800 AD, had some 1,500 structures -- residences, palaces, and temples -- holding some 6,000 inhabitants under a series of powerful rulers. The center at Palenque also had what was arguably the most unique and intricate system of water management known anywhere in the Maya lowlands. These involved elaborate subterranean aqueducts to deal with... LiveScience http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414219/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:54:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414216/posts The entire grove of trunks is in fact one plant, a newly discovered Palmer's oak (Quercus palmeri) that researchers estimate is over 13,000 years old, making it one of the oldest plants on Earth... none of its 70 stems get more than a few feet tall, and it grows in a boulder pile that doubles as shelter from the area's buffeting winds. At first glance, the scientists thought it was an isolated grove of trees, but something didn't add up: None of them produced fertile acorns, so the plants couldn't reproduce... Genetic analysis confirmed their suspicion. Each of the 70... Discovery http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414216/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:46:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414207/posts The team who worked on the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2009 are to return to their findings to explain the eating habits of the people who built and worshipped at the stone circle over four thousand years ago... the new 'Feeding Stonehenge' project will analyse a range of materials including cattle bones and plant residue... Initial research suggests the animals were brought considerable distances to the ceremonial site.. The original Stonehenge Riverside project, which strengthened the idea that nearby Durrington Walls was part of the Stonehenge complex, yielded a surprisingly wide range of material ranging from ancient tools to animal... Culture24 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2414207/posts#comment Thu, 24 Dec 2009 02:29:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412993/posts Believers in human-caused global climate change have been placed under an uncomfortable spotlight recently. That is thanks to the Climategate scandal, centering on e-mails hacked from the influential Climate Research Unit (CRU) at England’s University of East Anglia. The e-mails show scientists from various academic institutions hard at work suppressing dissent from other scientists who have doubts on global warming, massaging research data to fit preconceived ideas, and seeking to manipulate the gold standard “peer review” process to keep skeptical views from being heard. Does this sound familiar at all? To me, as a prominent skeptic of modern Darwinian theory,... Human Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412993/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:53:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412724/posts The remains of the first dwelling in Nazareth that has been dated back to the time of Jesus have been unveiled - just days before Christmas. The find that could shed new light on what the hamlet was like during the period the New Testament says Jesus lived there as a boy, Israeli archaeologists said. The dwelling and older discoveries of nearby tombs in burial caves suggest that Nazareth was an out-of-the-way hamlet of around 50 houses on a patch of about four acres. It was evidently populated by Jews of modest means who kept camouflaged grottos to hide from... Daily Mail UK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412724/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 03:40:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412749/posts In 388 AD a Christian mob led by a local bishop destroyed the synagogue of Callinicum, a Greco-Roman city in northern Syria. The attack angered emperor Theodosius I, who had declared Christianity the religion of the Roman state just eight years earlier. As the Jewish community enjoyed a protected status under Roman laws, he ordered the synagogue be rebuilt be rebuilt at bishop's expense. This triggered Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, to write the emperor a letter defending the obliteration of the Jewish temple. What could possibly be wrong with destroying a "house of betrayal and godlessness" where Christ's name... www.nrc.nl http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412749/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:40:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412570/posts AnalysisMany balk at this element of the Nativity story, but historical and astronomical evidence tends to corroborate it. By Michael J. MillerDuring a 2007 BBC radio interview, the archbishop of Canterbury deconstructed elements of the Nativity story. “Stars simply don’t behave like that,” Rowan Williams said. Asked about the existence of three wise men, he replied, “It works quite well as legend.”But years ago Father Walter Brandmüller, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, published an essay applying the historical-critical method to the question of the Nativity story. (The essay is reprinted without cumbersome footnotes in Light and Shadows: Church... Catholic World Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2412570/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:31:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412663/posts Science is one of the great achievements of the human mind and the biggest reason why we live not only longer but more vigorously in our old age, in addition to all the ways in which it provides us with things that make life easier and more enjoyable. Like anything valuable, science has been seized upon by politicians and ideologues, and used to forward their own agendas. This started long ago, as far back as the 18th century, when the Marquis de Condorcet coined the term "social science" to describe various theories he favored. In the 19th century, Karl Marx... Jewish World Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412663/posts#comment Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:39:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411881/posts Dedicated scientists are working hard to close the gaps, fix the errors and finally complete the human genome sequence. ...Deanna Church has few distractions from the job that lies before her. On her computer sit 888 open 'tickets', or outstanding problems with the human genome sequence. Although that number fluctuates, it's a not-so-subtle reminder that she and her team at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) have a long way to go... --snip-- By April 2003, the sequencing had surpassed the international project's technical definition of completion — the sequence contained fewer than 1 error per 10,000 nucleotides and... Nature News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2411881/posts#comment Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:57:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412287/posts A Sami (Lapp) family in Norway around 1900Photo: Library of CongressIn the freezing far northern reaches of Europe live an indigenous, semi-nomadic people of fishermen, fur trappers and reindeer herders. Like a thin but stubborn sheet of ice, these people have inhabited Sápmi, a large but sparsely populated area covering parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia’s Kola Peninsula for thousands of years. They remained closely tied to nature throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, as their clothes, dwellings and other trappings of culture bear witness – here beautifully frozen in film. These people are the Sámi.Sami family in... Environmental Graffiti http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2412287/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:32:22 GMT