An eclectic assortment of stuff: food, archaeology, fun, books, history, geekery, etc.
Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Jul 29th, 2007
From the Jerusalem Post: Tisha Be’Av: The Third Temple that wasn’t.
On this day, as we mourn the destruction of both the First and Second Temples, it seems fitting to recall a little-known story of how a Roman emperor stood ready to rebuild the third temple. He acted not out of love for the Jewish people, [...]
Posted in miscellaneous on Jul 29th, 2007
From the Beeb: Simpsons win over Kenyan carvers.
A group of carvers in western Kenya are looking forward to the first Simpsons movie hitting big screens around the world, even though they are unlikely to see it.
Although most of them in the remote village of Tabaka in Kisii have never watched the animated TV show, Homer, [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Jul 29th, 2007
From the BBC: Medici writers exhumed in Italy.
The bodies of two famous Italian literary figures from the 15th Century have been exhumed from St Mark’s Basilica in Florence.
Scientists want to learn more about their lives and find out what caused their deaths.
Pico della Mirandola, a humanist philosopher, and the scholar and poet Angelo Ambrosini, known [...]
Posted in education on Jul 29th, 2007
From the New York Times: The Residential Collage.
On a Monday in April, a dozen or so Cornell students living at the Alice Cook House had dinner with the legendary White House reporter Helen Thomas. They had been invited by Ross Brann, a professor of Judeo-Islamic studies, who also happens to be dean of Cook House, [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 29th, 2007
From The Telegraph: Is ‘Cairo toe’ the first practical prosthetic?.
Academics want to test an ancient fake big toe to see if it really did help its owner to "walk like an Egyptian".
They have made a replica of the "Cairo toe", a bending leather and wood body part which they believe could be the world’s earliest [...]
Posted in computer stuff, religion on Jul 29th, 2007
From Reuters: Jesuits say take word of God to Second Life.
Catholic missionaries have always trekked to dangerous parts of the Earth to spread the word of God — now they are being encouraged to go into the virtual realm of Second Life to save virtual souls.
In an article in Rome-based Jesuit journal La Civilta Cattolica, [...]
Posted in technology on Jul 29th, 2007
From zdnet.com: Your plant just called to say ‘I’m thirsty!’.
Imagine answering your cell phone to hear your Scotch Moss plant telling you in a fake Glaswegian accent that it needs a drink.
This scenario is not far from reality, as a group of postgraduate students at New York University is developing a way for over-watered or [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 29th, 2007
From discovery.com: Hidden Underwater City Wows Experts.
Alexander the Great founded Alexandria to immortalize his name on his way to conquer the world, but his may not have been the first city on the famed site on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. A Smithsonian team has now uncovered first underwater evidence pointing to an urban settlement dating back [...]
Posted in environment, food on Jul 27th, 2007
From csmonitor.com: Darfur refugees tap the sun’s power to cook.
Imagine a town where everyone used solar power to cook their food, and reduced their reliance on finite sources of fuel, like firewood. At lunchtime, in front of every mud-walled hut, tens of thousands of pots are bubbling away inside silvery enclosures that tap sunlight.
The town [...]
Posted in language, technology on Jul 27th, 2007
From Reuters: Computer program can learn baby talk.
A computer program that learns to decode sounds from different languages in the same way that a baby does helps to shed new light on how people learn to talk, researchers said on Tuesday.
They said the finding casts doubt on theories that babies are born knowing all the [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 24th, 2007
From the Bankok Post: Wooden coffin cover clue to ancient times.
Archaeologists are examining an ancient wooden coffin lid bearing a carved woman-like figure, hoping to find some link to a funeral culture thought to be uncommon in Southeast Asia.
The coffin cover is 166cm long and about 30cm wide. It is made of teak and thought [...]
Posted in miscellaneous on Jul 24th, 2007
From the Boston Globe: Leave those kids alone.
What could be more natural than a mother down on the rec-room floor, playing with her 3-year-old amid puzzles, finger-puppets, and Thomas the Tank Engine trains? Look — now she’s conducting a conversation between a stuffed shark and Nemo, the Pixar clown fish! Giggles all around. Not to [...]
Posted in environment on Jul 23rd, 2007
From the National Post: Huck Finn Chic: Swimming Ponds.
Natural swimming ponds first appeared in the mid-1980s in Germany and Austria. Since then they have become popular throughout Europe — there are an estimated 50,000 natural ponds — in residential gardens, hotels, spas and parks, where municipalities have introduced them for public swimming. In Germany, the [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, science on Jul 23rd, 2007
From: Scientific American: What Finnish Grandmothers Reveal about Human Evolution.
No animal compares to humans when it comes to studying populations over time. Easy to track and occasionally living in relative isolation, Homo sapiens is the only species that keeps detailed records. That is why biologist Virpi Lummaa of the University of Sheffield in England started [...]
Posted in art on Jul 21st, 2007
From the Beeb: Fresco fragment revives Papal scandal.
A fresco painting by a Renaissance master which once decorated the bedroom of Pope Alexander VI in the Vatican has gone on show in Rome.
A leading Italian art historian and curator says he has documentary proof that it was once part of a much larger painting depicting the [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 21st, 2007
From discovery.com: Ancient Roman Baths Unearthed.
A large 2nd-century bath complex believed to be part of a wealthy Roman’s luxurious residence has been partially dug up, archaeologists said Thursday.
The exceptionally well-preserved two-story complex, which extends for at least five acres, includes ornate hot rooms, vaults, changing rooms, marble latrines and an underground room where slaves lit [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 21st, 2007
From the BBC: ‘Lost’ coronation abbey unearthed.
Archaeologists have unearthed the site where Robert the Bruce was crowned king of Scotland.
The location of the abbey at Moot Hill, the original home of the Stone of Destiny, was forgotten centuries ago.
But it has now been identified by experts from Glasgow University who have been surveying the grounds [...]
Posted in food, history & archaeology on Jul 21st, 2007
From the New York Times: Net Worth.
At sunset on a clear June evening, Andrea Fariello steered his small boat to a chosen location two miles from shore. By day Fariello — tall, with rough, sun-stained skin, an unkempt beard and a few blackened teeth from years of smoking — tends his bar along the main [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, environment on Jul 21st, 2007
From Forbes.com: Training sheep to clean up vineyards.
Call them mutton mowers. University researchers are training sheep to clean up vineyard weeds but stay off the grapes.
Enthusiastic and unpicky eaters, sheep are already being used in some vineyards as a green alternative to tractors. They don’t use gasoline and keep down weeds — a necessary task [...]
Posted in food on Jul 20th, 2007
From the New York Times: Talk Dirt to Me.
It’s hard to have a conversation about wine these days without hearing the French word terroir. Derived from a Latin root meaning "earth," terroir describes the relationship between a wine and the specific place that it comes from. For example, many will say the characteristic minerality of [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc on Jul 20th, 2007
From physorg: ‘Goose Whisperer’ Bonds With Park Birds.
A gaggle of geese runs riot in the Hof van Delft Park. They honk, they hiss, they harass and — it’s hard not to notice — they scatter droppings everywhere. Soon, a lanky young man comes to impose order on the chaos.
Whistling softly and murmuring "tut-tut-tut," he strides [...]
Posted in computer stuff, privacy on Jul 20th, 2007
From Ars Technica: The tricky issue of spyware with a badge: meet ‘policeware’.
It’s well known that organizations with nefarious and often criminal goals support and distribute malware and spyware that allows them to snoop on and/or manipulate people’s computers. However, what is less well-known is that some of the people behind spyware are ostensibly the [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 20th, 2007
From Reuters: Sailors may have cruised the Med 14,000 years ago.
Archaeologists in Cyprus have discovered what they believe could be the oldest evidence yet that organized groups of ancient mariners were plying the east Mediterranean, possibly as far back as 14,000 years ago.
The find, archaeologists told Reuters on Wednesday, could also suggest the island of [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 19th, 2007
From the International Herald Tribune: Archaeologists dig up 2nd-century bath complex in Rome.
Archaeologists said Thursday they have partially dug up a 2nd-century bath complex believed to be part of the vast, luxurious residence of a wealthy Roman.
The two-story complex, which extends for at least 5 acres (2 hectares), includes exceptionally well-preserved decorated hot rooms, vaults, [...]
Posted in strange stuff on Jul 19th, 2007
From the Guardian: Potential robber disarmed by taste of a fine bordeaux.
It’s a good thing it wasn’t cheap plonk. The last guests at the barbecue in the Capitol Hill neighbourhood of Washington were savouring the remains of a very fine bottle of Chateau Malescot St Exupery when a robber appeared in their midst and held [...]