Free Republic

A college student's new discovery of fossils collected in the East Antarctic suggests that the frozen polar cap was once a much balmier place. The well-preserved fossils of ostracods, a type of small crustaceans, came from the Dry Valleys region of Antarctica's Transantarctic Mountains and date from about 14 million years ago. The fossils were a rare find, showing all of the ostracods' soft anatomy in 3-D. The fossils were discovered by Richard Thommasson during screening of the sediment in research team member Allan Ashworth's lab at North Dakota State University. Because ostracods couldn't survive in the current Antarctic climate,...

A footprint of 800 years old has been unearthed at one of Canada's top archaeological sites in the western Manitoba Province, scientists announced Tuesday. The footprint was discovered when archaeologists dug at the site located in the central area of provincial capital Winnipeg. The area has a rich history that includes aboriginal camping, the fur trade, the construction of the railway, waves of immigration and the Industrial Age. The place has been determined as the future site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and archaeologists have been scraping away at the site for the basement of the building. Thousands...

Excavation first began here in 1854 and was conducted by Spiegelthal. Operations continued systematically until the breakout of World War I and resumed after 1958. Studies carried out between 1910 and 1914 by Harold Butler of Princeton University produced more than 1,230 tombs in the Artemis Temple. Upon Butler's death in 1921, a joint initiative by Harvard University and Cornell University, headed by Professor George M. A. Hanfman and subsequently by Professor Crawford H. Greenewalt, Jr., continued his work. The excavations have also led to the discovery of the Artemis Temple, the biggest known ancient synagogue of the world, one...

A major conference is being held in Kilkenny this weekend to celebrate the 800th anniversary of William Marshal's charter to the city. William Marshal's (c.1146-1219) deeds in medieval war, jousting, politics, kingship and commerce are legendary. He rose from relative obscurity to become one of the most powerful and famous men in Europe and from 1207-1213 Kilkenny was at the centre of his extensive Irish lordship. From the city he embarked on a massive campaign of town development and administrative re-organisation which transformed the south-east of Ireland. This conference celebrates Marshal's life and achievements and marks the 800th anniversary of...

At first glance, the ancient Egyptian texts look like scraps of garbage. And more than 2,000 years ago, that's exactly what they were -- discarded documents, useless contracts and unwanted letters that were recycled into material needed to plaster over mummies, like some precursor to papier-mache... The texts, collectively called papyri, were donated to Stanford in the 1920s by an alumnus who bought them from an antiquities dealer in London. They've been overlooked by generations of faculty who haven't focused on papyrology, said Joe Manning, an associate professor of classics... About 70 texts in Stanford's collection of several hundred papyri...

More than 2,000 wooden poles recently unearthed at a site in Jianchuan county, have been found to be more than 3,000 years old. The poles, still standing, were dug 4.5 m into the ground. Archaeologists said carbon tests showed the poles were from the Neolithic age, and were probably the foundations for a structure built by a community that existed at the time in southwest China... Excavation of the site is still going on. A total of 28 excavations have been made so far of an area that covers 1,350 sq m. Min Rui, a researcher at the Yunnan Archaeological...

Historical artefacts dating back to the mid-19th century during King Dingane's reign have been unearthed at his former uMgungundlovu home in KwaZulu-Natal. The archeological find includes an iron spearhead and coloured glass beads. The dig was undertaken in an area where Dingane inspected his army and cattle. "It was here on February 4,1838 that King Dingane ordered the slaying of trekker leader Piet Retief and his party," read a statement from Amafa Heritage KZN chief executive Barry Marshall. The find will be displayed once the construction of Amafa's R25 million multi-media centre has been completed. Dingane (also spelt as Dingaan)...

Archeologists discovered a gold ring in a grave in Skriduklaustur in east Iceland where there used to be a monastery. The discovery is considered significant because very few gold rings have been found in archeological excavations in Iceland. "It looks like a normal wedding ring, but it has been decorated a little," archeologist Steinunn Kristjansdottir, who is responsible for the current excavation project in Skriduklaustur, told Morgunbladid. The ring is engraved with a leafy pattern and Kristjansdottir believes that indicates that the ring was made in the 16th or 17th century. The monastery church in Skriduklaustur was used after Iceland...

Archeologists have uncovered a unique funerary monument of the first millennium AD on the territory of Opolye, Suzdal. The discovery of this Finno-Ugric burial ground is a real event for archeologists. In the excavation around 300 square meters large there have been unearthed 11 tombs that make it possible to reveal the earlier unknown facts of ancient history. The monument dating back to the 3rd-4th centuries has kept Finnish jewelry and is evidence of a rich militarized society, where cattle breeding played an important role. All entombments are located in a row. Judging by their size at least four of...

BARLETTA, Italy -- Collecting music written in internment camps before and during World War II may n ot occur to everyone but that has been Francesco Lotoro's quest since 1991. "To allow the musicians to continue to work was also a way to control them better," said the 44-year-old Italian Jew. "At Auschwitz, there were seven orchestras." Lotoro has amassed some 4,000 pieces, all composed between March 1933, when the Nazis' Dachau death camp was opened soon after Hitler won absolute power, and the end of World War II in 1945. But while much is from Nazi camps, Lotoro's collection...

Address To The Graduating Class Of The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York - March 6, 1974 Since I am a fiction writer, let us start with a short short story. Suppose that you are an astronaut whose spaceship gets out of control and crashes on an unknown planet. When you regain consciousness and find that you are not hurt badly, the first three questions in or mind would be: Where am I? How can I discover it? What should I do? You see unfamiliar vegetation outside, and there is air to breathe; the sunlight seems paler...

In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago. As part of a larger program of archaeological research, Michael Harrower from the University of Toronto and The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) team explored the Wadi Sana watershed documenting 174 ancient irrigation structures, modeled topography and hydrology, and interviewed contemporary camel and goat herders and irrigation farmers. "Agriculture in Yemen appeared relatively late in comparison with other areas of the Middle East, where farming first developed near the...

The remains of what appear to be four US soldiers who died in 1846 during the Mexican-American war have been found, Mexican officials have said. The skeletons were found at the site of the Battle of Monterrey in northern Mexico alongside relics indicating the bodies were US soldiers... Mexico's state archaeological agency said the bodies were found in several digs between 1996 and 2008 but it took a long time to identify the remains because it was believed only Mexicans were buried at the battle site.

THE brainy English teacher who became the central figure in the quiz-show scandals of the late 1950s has broken his silence. Charles Van Doren, 82, is finally telling his side of the story in a first-person account published in this week's New Yorker magazine, which came out yesterday. Van Doren - who lives in Connecticut with his wife of 50 years and still teaches college-level English (most recently at the University of Connecticut in Torrington) - said he decided to go public with his version of the "Twenty-One" quiz-show story for the sake of his grandchildren. The New Yorker story...

Relatives of a Co Down man who died in action in World War I are being asked to solve a riddle about one of the conflict’s most historic battles. Private William Galway, from Church View in Holywood, was a gunner in the Tank Corps. He was killed aged 25 during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Private Galway was a crew member in one of the terrifying new weapons which breached the German Hindenburg Line at a village called Flesquieres, where he is buried in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. Military historians are trying to track down further details...

Favorite Neighbors are Back in ‘Love Finds Andy Hardy’ at the Capitol LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY, from the stories by Vivien R. Bretherton based on the characters created by Aurania Rouverol; screen play by William Indwig; music and lyrics by Mack Gordon, Harry Revel, Roger Edens; directed by George B. Seitz; a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production. At the Capitol. Judge James Hardy……….............Lewis Stone Andrew Hardy………..…………..Mickey Rooney Betsy…….………….......................Judy Garland Marian Hardy……………………..Cecilia Parker Mrs. Hardy…….………………….Fay Holden Polly Benedict……...……………..Ann Rutherford Aunt Milly…………………...........Betty Ross Clarke Cynthia……...…………………….Lana Turner Augusta……...……………………Marie Blake Dennis Hunt……...……………….Don Castle Jimmy Mac Mahon……...………..Gene Reynolds Mrs. Tompkins……...……….........Mary Howard “Beezy”...……...………................George Breakston Peter Dugan…….............................Raymond Hatton By...

Barack-No-Phobia It's a full hour of all the Kidders taking on the jokes that the rest of the media won't touch!   Why won't the late night talk shows make jokes about Barack Obama?   Because he's "not funny enough?"   The Kidders will spend all hour proving that point wrong. Click on this link, download parts 1 and 2, and be prepared to laugh and laugh! Share these with all your friends who've been missing out on how Chicagoans can poke fun at one of their own (well, for the last 20 years or so, anyway). Now you see...

I am a supporter of President Bush's policies domestic and international. However, I struggle GREATLY with the topic of amnesty or any formal recognition of illegal aliens status as a fair response. Many immigrants have chosen to be legally complaint with United States law remaining years in refugee camps and are still waiting There is an interesting precedent in our U.S. history: My maternal grandfather escaped from Russia at the turn of the last century. His father had played an instrument in the Czar's band. As children, he and his brother and their father worked in the NY coal mines...

ATROCITIES IN SPAIN CHARGED BY BISHOP Erie (Pa.) Prelate, Sailing to Investigate, Declares 16,000 Priests Slain ‘20,000 CHURCHES SACKED’ Xxx Rev. John M. Gannon Says Full Story Will Appall the Civilized World Bishop John Mark Gannon of Erie, Pa., chairman of the National Catholic Welfare Conference xxx department, sailed last night on the liner Queen Mary for Spain, where he said he expected to obtain first-hand information concerning the persecution of the Catholic clergy by the Barcelona government. He said that from information he had already received the ferocity of the ‘Loyalist’ government’s assault on the Catholic Church” was such...

First-Rate Entertainment Is ‘Algiers’ at Music Hall ALGIERS, from the story, “Pepe le Moko,” by Detective Ashelbe; screen play by John Howard Lawson, with additional dialogue by James M. Cain; directed by John Cromwell; produced by Walter Wanger for release by United Artists. At the Radio City Music Hall. Pepe le Moko……….............Charles Boyer Ines………..………………...Sigrid Gurie Gaby…….………….............Hedy Lamarr Slimane……………………..Joseph Callela Regis…….…………………Gene Lockhart Pierrot……...……………….Johnny Downs Granpere…………………...Alan Hale Tania……...………………..Mme. Nina Koshetz Aicha……...………………..Joan Woodbury Marie……...………………..Claudia Deil Giroux……...………………Robert Greig Carlos……...……….............Stanley Fields Max...……...……….............Charles D. Brown Gil….……...……….............Ben Hall Sergeant of French Police….Armand Keitz L’Arbi…………...………....Leonid Kinsky Luvain.…………...………..Walter Kingsford Janvier…………...………....Paul Harvey Bertier…………...………....Bert Roach Native waitress…….............Luana Walters By FRANK...

SOUTHPORT, England — The last time a golfer did what Greg Norman has a chance to do in the British Open, this name was Old Tom and the American Civil War had recently ended. So it is fitting that here in the land where 100-year-old golf courses are regarded as new, Norman is one step from rewriting his own history, and one of golf’s oldest records.

I’m trying to eliminate some of the confusion regarding illegal aliens and the use of three terms: Hispanic, Latino and immigrant. Hispanic As a 40-year resident of North Texas, I’ve become accustomed to the following definition of the term “Hispanic.” It’s an American, not English, word derived from the Spanish word Hispanohablantes, which means "Spanish speaker." It encompasses Spain, Puerto Rico and The Philippines, et al. But Spanish is not spoken in about half of South America where Portuguese, French, Dutch, Guarani and English also are official languages. And many Caribbean nations have chosen official languages other than Spanish. The...

CORRIGAN FLIES TO DUBLIN; U. S. OFFICIALS MAY WINK AT FORBIDDEN HOP IN ‘CRATE’ LOST WAY, HE SAYS Set Out for California, but Compass ‘Got Stuck,’ He Asserts WINS IRISH ADMIRATION Airman Is Greeted by U. S. Minister – Promises Not to Make Return Flight By HUGH SMITH Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. DUBLIN, July 18.-Douglas Gorce Corrigan, 31-year-old Californian, added a unique chapter in the history of lone Atlantic fliers to day when he completed a trip from New York to Baldonnel Airfield, Dublin in his 9-year-old Curtiss Robin plane in 28 hours 13 minutes. At 2:25...

Think of some of the movies you really want a chance to see on the big screen. The Wizard of Oz? Lawrence of Arabia? Star Wars? Would you ever, ever put War Games, the 1983 Matthew Broderick thriller, on that list? No, me neither. But, lucky us, we will have the chance to see War Games in theaters this summer—on July 24, the movie will screen for one night only in select theaters across the country, thanks to NCM Fathom, a company that specializes in special theater events. It’s the 25th anniversary of the movie, and the Fathom website boasts...

Geologists from the U.S. Smithsonian Institution, which has a permanent base in Panama, say engineers digging to widen the Panama Canal have uncovered more than 500 fossils including teeth and bones of rodents, horses, crocodiles and turtles that lived before a land bridge linked North and South America... Scientists believe the South American and Caribbean tectonic plates collided around 15 million years ago, causing volcanic activity that eventually formed a thin strip of land linking the Americas and separating the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The bridge was probably fully formed, in a way that mammals could walk over it, some...

And do you remember what you paid for gas at that time? My first car was a 1972 Pontiac Parisienne my dad gave to me in 1975, I have no idea how much I paid for gas but I do remember driving it for weeks without having to stop and put gas in it..

A Greek man was arrested for digging tunnels from his home to protected archaeology sites in Megara, west of Athens, in a suspected case of antiquities trafficking, officials said on Saturday. The 44-year-old man allegedly dug a well nearly four metres deep, as well as a tunnel seven metres long leading to three smaller tunnels in an archaeological zone, Athens police said in a statement. The suspect was arrested on Friday and was to stand before an Athens court on Saturday for infringing laws protecting antiquities and national heritage. The man is said to have destroyed some antiquities during his...

The skeleton, dubbed "Escalante Man" in Bureau of Land Management documents, was found last winter off Highway 12 near Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The bones were likely from an American Indian man in his 50s or 60s. The bones were found with a musket, ammunition and a bucket. Researchers said evidence indicates the man died during the mid- to late-19th century... FBI spokesman Juan Becerra said he couldn't comment on the case because it's part of an ongoing investigation... The BLM's Jeanette Matovich, who is trained in bioanthropology, participated in the dig. "The skeleton was completely collapsed in on itself,...

An unexpected sexual curse has been uncovered by archaeologists at Cyprus's old city kingdom of Amathus, on the island's south coast near Limassol, according to a newspaper on Friday. "A curse is inscribed in Greek on a lead tablet and part of it reads: 'May your penis hurt when you make love'," Pierre Aubert, head of Athens Archaeological School in Greece told the English language Cyprus Weekly. He said the tablet showed a man standing holding something in his right hand that looks like an hour glass. The inscription dates back to the 7th century AD when Christianity was well...

Underwater archaeologists are taking to Loch Tay to try to uncover more about a submerged prehistoric woodland. The stumps of about 50 trees were discovered in 2005 - some of them are thought to be about 6,000 years old. The experts are now aiming to find their root system and establish the depth to which the trees are buried. Meanwhile, a campaign has been launched to help restore the reconstructed crannog, an ancient loch dwelling, which attracts thousands of visitors. The Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology will spend the next two weeks inspecting the drowned forest. They will be focusing...

Land-ice Bridge, New Research Suggests -- Research by a Valparaiso University geography professor and his students on the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge. Valparaiso is a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Dr. Ron Janke began studying the origins of the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small, moon-shaped dunes that stretch from the southern tips of Lake...

Paris in the month of May was in full aphrodisiac bloom. The girls were swinging along the boulevards in their short, flowery skirts, their hair flowing loose behind them. On the radio, the singer Tino Rossi - France's answer to Rudolph Valentino - belted out his latest romantic favourite. But a few short weeks later, on June, 14, 1940, the German army marched into the capital and occupied it for four years. France has never forgotten its humiliation - or its bewilderment - in having to adjust to a life of close proximity to the old enemy, with all the...

It started with a news report in January of 1983 of 40 teenagers and 7 adults, who were members of a gang called The Smurfs. They committed petty crimes. Hysteria spreaded throughout middle and high schools in Houston. At the peak, many students stayed home out of fear that the Smurfs might attack them. Anyone from the Houston area living at the time might remember it. Snopes Message Board-Texan schools attacked by Smurfs?Google Book Scan From Rough Guide of Unexplained PhenemenonHouston Press-The Year The Smurfs Attacked

PARIS (AFP) - Ninety-three million years ago, Earth was a reshuffled jigsaw of continents, a hothouse where the average temperature was nearly twice that of today. Palm trees grew in what would be Alaska, large reptiles roamed in northern Canada and the ice-free Arctic Ocean warmed to the equivalent of a tepid swimming pool. So our planet was balmy -- but hardly a biological paradise, for it was whacked by a mass die-out. The depths of the ocean suddenly became starved of oxygen, wiping out swathes of marine life.

What does everyone here think of the Federal Reserve? Does it do too much or too little? What should it's role be? Is it necessary? Should we actually have it at all? Just curious to get people's opinions.

Pausanias, a travel writer of the ancient world, described this course for horse races, its starting mechanisms, turning points and altars in much detail in the 2nd century AD... Another - previously unheeded - written source from the 11th century AD goes so far as to state the size and dimensions of the enclosure: "The olympiad has a course for horse races that [has a length of] 8 stadia. Each of the long sides is 3 stadia and 1 plethron long, while the width to the starting gates measures 1 stadion and 4 plethra, [a total of] 4800 feet. Near...

Two Mexican mummies had ulcers when they were alive. Remnants of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori were discovered in gastric tissue from the mummies, human remains believed to predate Columbus' discovery of the New World... "Our results show that H. pylori infections occurred around 1350 A.D. in the area we now know as Mexico," Lopez-Vidal said. Her research team included colleagues at the National Autonomous University of Mexico... The mummies for this research were recovered in a funeral cave of La Ventana, in the Chihuahua State desert, and in a cave in the state of Durango.

I thought this was interesting and thought provoking at the very least: For those who may be confused by the controversies surrounding the "New World Order", a One-World-Government, and American concern over giving the UN more power; those unaware of the issues involved; and those wishing more background, I offer the following. Originally presented for an Honors Class, "Dilemmas of War and Peace," at New Mexico State University, the paper was ridiculed and characterized by Dr. Yosef Lapid, (an acknowledged and locally quoted "expert" on Terrorism and Middle Eastern affairs) as "paranoid... possibly a symptom of mental illness." You may...

Before heading inland, paleo-Indians probably hugged the American coastline, congregating around freshwater rivers, Adovasio said. At the time, much of the world's water was locked up in glaciers, causing ocean levels to be lower and exposing more of the continental shelf. As the earth warmed and water levels rose, evidence of such settlements fell deeper and deeper below water... Dredging and storms have turned up tantalizing clues -- spearheads, bone tools -- that such sites are just waiting to be found in the Gulf of Mexico, said C. Andrew Hemmings, a University of Texas at Austin archaeologist who is leading...

Tony is going to be buried on Thursday. Bush will attend Tony Snow's funeral Thursday I am not sure that everyone on FR is aware of Tony Snow's membership and contribution to this wonderful forum. I am posting the link in the hopes that more people read his posts, and get a sense of what an incredible guy he was. http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:tonysnow/index?brevity=full;tab=comments His last post on Free Republic was May 29th, 2008. I know you are with God Tony. See ya.

This past weekend I watched Ken Burns' PBS documentary "The Civil War", and naturally I was left with far more questions than answers. (With the exception of the fact that I was unbelievably impressed with the commentary of the late Shelby Foote) So I compiled a series of them that are probably too wide in scope for one thread, but I will go ahead and ask them anyway. (Note: I'm going to admit a general ignorance on many of the subjects I present here, so if any of you responding find a "well, no $#@$@# Sherlock" question, I apologize in...

Selected audio from President Reagan's radio spots from 1975 - 1979.

HUGHES ENDS WORLD FLIGHT, SETTING 3-DAY, 19-HOUR MARK; 20,000 CHEER ARRIVAL HERE POST’S TIME HALVED Huge Plane Lands at 2:37 P. M. After Hop From Minneapolis BROADWAY PARADE TODAY Fliers Will Be Taken to City Hall – La Guardia Greets Them at Floyd Bennett By F. RAYMOND DANIELL Five weary-eyed men with bearded faces and clothing that was soiled and wrinkled stepped from an airplane of unblemished sheen into a bedlam of noise and confusion at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon, completing the fastest journey that man has yet made around the ever contracting planet. Mobbed and hemmed...

"You arrogant ass! You've killed US!" The line comes from an enraged Soviet Navy officer to his superior, Captain Tupolev, in the film version of Tom Clancy's thriller The Hunt for Red October. Clancy fans will remember Tupolev as the Soviet submariner tasked with destroying the Russian super-sub Red October, captained by Tupolev's old teacher, the defecting Marko Ramius (Sean Connery). Egotistical, obsessed with getting Ramius, in the heat of battle the not very bright Tupolev impulsively launches a torpedo against the advice of his senior officer. Too late he realizes the torpedo has been led back to a target...

The Messiah of Nations (1914) jpstmon.midIn the need that bows us thus, America! Shape a mighty song for us, America! Song to whelm a hundred years' Roar of wars and rain of tears 'Neath a world's triumphant cheers, America! America! Lift the trumpet to thy mouth, America! East and West and North and South, America! Call us round the dazzling shrine Of the starry old ensign, Holier yet through blood of thine, America! America! High o'er looking sea and land, America! Trustfully with outheld hand, America! Thou dost welcome all in quest Of thy freedom, peace and rest, Ev'ry...

Sailors and scientists have been mapping ocean currents for centuries, but it turns out they’ve missed something big. How big? The entire ocean is striped with 100-mile-wide bands of slow-moving water that extend right down to the seafloor, according to a recent study.

HUGHES FLIES OVER CANADA AFTER BRIEF FAIRBANKS STOP; DUE BACK TODAY, INSIDE 4 DAYS ROUTE IS SWITCHED Globe Girdlers Declare They Will Land at Winnipeg Next FAST TIME FROM YAKUTSK Plane Speed to Alaska at 200 Miles an Hour – Expected Here in the Afternoon By The Associated Press. FAIRBANKS, Alaska, July 13.-Howard Hughes and his four-man crew sped through darkness toward the United States tonight on next to the last leg of an astounding round-the-world flight that they hoped would take them 14,710 miles in four days. Tired, but smiling and happy after spanning Siberian wastes today, the five...

For decades, the proud seal of New York City, with its depiction of a sailor and a Manhattan Indian, of beavers and flour barrels and the sails of a windmill, has celebrated 1625 as the year the city was founded. There’s just one problem: Most historians say the year has hardly any historical significance. The first settlers arrived in what would become part of New York City on a Dutch ship as early as 1623; some say 1624. The Dutch “purchased” Manhattan in 1626. The first charter was granted in 1653. And the most notable event of 1625? Dutch settlers...

The director of MRI and radiology at Kadlec Medicl Center watched a TV documentary years ago about efforts to read the ancient scrolls and the story stuck with him. This week, Iuliano is using his expertise to scan fragments of the charred scrolls in hopes of discovering what they say... The papyrus scrolls were discovered more than 200 years ago in a villa in what was the Roman town of Herculaneum. The town was buried along with the more famous city of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted. The scrolls make up the only surviving library from antiquity, Iuliano said. Scholars have...

Of the 800 or so caves created here from the 5th to 14th centuries, nearly half had some form of decoration. What survives adds up to a developmental timeline of Buddhist art in China... But of course much of it has not survived. By the 11th century Dunhuang's fortunes were in decline. Sea trade had cut into Silk Road traffic. Regional wars left the town isolated. Monks, possibly panicked by rumors of an Islamic invasion, sealed up tens of thousands of manuscript scrolls in a small cave. The invasion didn't happen, but the books, many of them already ancient, stayed...