An eclectic assortment of stuff: food, archaeology, fun, books, history, geekery, etc.
Posted in blogging on Dec 31st, 2007
I know some of you have blogs of your own. So how much comment spam do you get, anyway? The Mirabilis.ca total for 2007 is 28,651 28,745. Isn’t that insane?
Fortunately the Akismet plugin for WordPress takes care of it all for me, but still. Some days I go for dinner and come back to find [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 30th, 2007
From the Times of India: Advanced Russian civilization found.
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the bottom of Lake Issyk Kul in the Kyrgyz Mountains in Russia.(…) The expedition resulted in sensational finds, including the discovery of major settlements, presently buried underwater. [continue]
Posted in history & archaeology, strange stuff on Dec 30th, 2007
Oh, this is lovely. From the New York Times: Egypt to Copyright Landmarks.
Egypt plans to copyright the Pyramids, the Sphinx and various museum pieces and use the royalties from copies to pay for the upkeep of its historic monuments and sites, The Guardian of London reported. Zahi Hawass, the secretary general of the Supreme Council [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 27th, 2007
From the Telegraph: Scandinavians invented ice skating in 3000 BC.
The oldest form of human-powered transport was ice skating, and was invented in northern Europe around five thousand years ago.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the first skates made of animal bones date back to 3000 BC, helping people travel more widely during frozen winters in Finland, marking [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Dec 27th, 2007
From Middle East Online: Ancient church awaits restoration in Iraq desert.
No-one celebrated Christmas in Al-Aqiser church on Tuesday, for what many consider to be the oldest eastern Christian house of worship lies in ruins in a windswept Iraqi desert.
But 1,500 years ago, the first eastern Christians knelt and prayed in this barren land, their faces [...]
Posted in Christmas, books & lit, history & archaeology on Dec 23rd, 2007
From The Telegraph: Real Scrooge ‘was Dutch gravedigger’.
He is synonymous with the traditional image of the Victorian English Christmas but Ebenezer Scrooge may have his roots much further afield.
According to Sjef de Jong, a Dutch academic, the Charles Dickens character may have been inspired by the real life of Gabriel de Graaf, a 19th century [...]
Posted in food, history & archaeology on Dec 22nd, 2007
From discovery.com: Reindeer: It’s What Was For Dinner.
Reindeer meat went from being an occasional treat to everyday fare among prehistoric cavemen who lived in Southwest France and what is now the Czech Republic, two new studies suggest.
In fact, so many nibbled-on reindeer bones were present in their caves that possible calendars circa 26,000 years ago [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 22nd, 2007
From the Financial Mirror: Study of shipwreck reveals valuable data.
A study of a shipwreck, off Cyprus’ southern coast, is expected to provide valuable information about the nautical and economic history of the Eastern Mediterranean as it is one of very few shipwrecks of the Classical period, found in the Eastern Mediterranean in such a good [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 22nd, 2007
From the Beeb: Ancient ship raised from South China Sea.
Chinese archaeologists have raised a merchant ship which sank in the South China Sea 800 years ago while transporting a cargo of precious porcelain.
The Nanhai 1 treasury ship, built during the Song dynasty which ruled China from 960-1279, is believed to contain one of the biggest [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 22nd, 2007
From the Associated Press: Ancient Villas Restored in Rome.
The restored ruins of two opulent Roman villas and private thermal baths will open to the public Saturday, along with a 3-D reconstruction that offers a virtual tour of the luxurious residences discovered in downtown Rome.
The 19,375-square-foot complex, dating from the second to fourth centuries, features well-preserved [...]
There I was waiting for the ferry when the Globe and Mail’s Social Studies section came along and brightened my day with this:
Drinking. Two large studies have found that although moderate drinking will not cure colds, it can help keep them at bay, reports The New York Times. One, by researchers at Carnegie Mellon [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 20th, 2007
From the Belfast Telegraph: Record-breaking haul from Gaul discovered at farm in Brittany.
The largest treasure trove of pre-Roman, Gaulish money ever to be found has been discovered in central Brittany.
The 545 coins – each worth thousands of euros to collectors but priceless to historians and archaeologists – could overturn much of the received wisdom about [...]
From the BBC, bless them: Guinness good for you – official.
The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers.
A pint of the black stuff a day may work as well as an aspirin to prevent heart clots that raise the risk of heart attacks. [continue]
Posted in Christmas on Dec 19th, 2007
Still looking for a good Christmas gift? Christmas Future seems like a fine idea. From their about page:
ChristmasFuture empowers people to give a new kind of holiday gift—one that helps eradicate extreme poverty and changes the way we think about giving. [continue]
From The Daily Mail: It serves 125, takes eight hours to cook and is stuffed with 12 different birds … now that really IS a Christmas dinner.
This massive roast, the proud creation of Devon farmer Anne Petch, weighs almost four stone (more than most airlines’ baggage allowance), costs £665, and has enough meat to serve [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 17th, 2007
From Science Daily: Ancient Egyptian Glassmaking Recreated.
A team led by a Cardiff University archaeologist has reconstructed a 3,000-year-old glass furnace, showing that Ancient Egyptian glassmaking methods were much more advanced than previously thought.
Dr Paul Nicholson, of the University’s School of History and Archaeology, is leader of an Egypt Exploration Society team working on the earliest [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 17th, 2007
From Mesopotamia was a vital link on Roman-Indian trade routes.
More than 60 years ago Sir Mortimer Wheeler proved that Roman pottery had made it all the way from Italy to India: the characteristic bright red of Samian ware, bearing the stamp of the Vibieni of Arezzo, showed up in his trenches at the ancient port [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 13th, 2007
From discovery.com: Ancient Toolkit Gives Glimpse of Prehistoric Life.
Before the end of the last ice age, a hunter-gatherer left a bag of tools near the wall of a roundhouse residence, where archaeologists have now found the collection 14,000 years later.
The tool set — one of the most complete and well preserved of its kind — [...]
Posted in computer stuff on Dec 12th, 2007
This story makes me happy. From the BBC: A child’s view of the $100 laptop.
In late November I returned from Nigeria with a sample of the XO laptop.
The computer, made by the One Laptop per Child charity, is a robust little machine designed to entertain and educate children while allowing them to learn by themselves.
I [...]
Posted in miscellaneous on Dec 12th, 2007
From the Telegraph: Michael Schumacher drives taxi in airport dash.
It seems that you can take Michael Schumacher out of racing, but you can’t take racing out of Michael Schumacher.
The seven-time Formula One world champion took over from his taxi driver in order to make it to the airport in time for a flight, it has [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 11th, 2007
From Monsters and Critics: Roman barge under Cologne to reveal shipping history.
Excited archaeologists are raising part of a Roman barge that sank near the wharf nearly 2,000 years ago in the German riverside city of Cologne.
Cologne, which derives its modern name from the town’s Latin name, Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium, is full of Roman remains [...]
Why settle for the Atkins diet when you can go for the Mount Athos diet instead? Yeah, just eat the way the monks do. From the Times Online: A foolproof anti-cancer diet… with just one or two drawbacks.
If you want to avoid cancer, live like a monk. That is the inescapable conclusion from research into [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 10th, 2007
From AP: Presumed Michelangelo Sketch Was Previously Unknown to Experts.
Art experts had not known of the existence of a centuries-old sketch believed to be Michelangelo’s work before it was found by chance by a researcher going through the archives of St. Peter’s Basilica, a Vatican official said Friday.
The existence of the sketch was "up to [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 10th, 2007
From the Telegraph: Roman ruins cast new light on a trip to doctor.
An ancient doctor’s surgery unearthed by Italian archaeologists has cast new light on what a trip to the doctor would have been like in Roman times. Far from crude, the medical implements discovered show that doctors, their surgeries and the ailments they treated [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 10th, 2007
From the Associated Press: Palace of Augustus in Rome to Reopen.
Emperor Augustus’ frescoed palace atop Rome’s Palatine Hill, one of the city’s famous seven hills, will partially reopen to the public March 2 after decades of restoration work, officials said Monday.
Since the palace was closed in the 1980s, experts have spent at least $17.6 million [...]