From physorg.com: Computer recognises archaeological material and fake Van Goghs.
People find it very easy to recognise a face, even under very different circumstances. For a computer, on the other hand, it is extremely difficult. Dutch researcher Laurens van der Maaten has developed a new analytical technique which enables the computer to better interpret the content [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Jun 29th, 2009
From Reuters: Rome catacomb reveals oldest image of St Paul.
Vatican archaeologists using laser technology have discovered what they believe is the oldest image in existence of St Paul the Apostle, dating from the late 4th century, on the walls of catacomb beneath Rome.
Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano, revealing the find on Sunday, published a picture of [...]
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Posted in blogging on Jun 29th, 2009
I love it when Mirabilis.ca readers send me notes, and that’s why there’s a contact form on this site.
I used to post my email address on the contact page, but I got tired of crap sent by social media marketing types. People wanted me to review books and blog about them, try their coffeemakers and [...]
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Posted in music on Jun 28th, 2009
Years ago I on CBC Radio I heard Mudanin Kata, an album by David Darling and the Wulu Bunun people of Taiwan. The moment that show ended, I raced to the web to order the album. Every time I hear the first two songs on the album, I think that I must find a way [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 28th, 2009
From discovery.com: Models of Earliest (Camel-Pulled) Vehicles Found.
Some of the world’s first farmers may have sped around in two-wheeled carts pulled by camels and bulls, suggests a new analysis on tiny models of these carts that date to 6,000-5,000 years ago.
The cart models, which may have been ritual objects or children’s toys, were found at [...]
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Posted in music on Jun 27th, 2009
Today I am obsessing about oboes, and wishing I had one. How hard can it be to play the oboe, after all? I’m good at woodwind instruments.
Listen to the oboe in this video and you’ll hear why I’m tempted. And anyway, an oboe would be more convenient than a cello (my other musical temptation).
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 27th, 2009
From the Telegraph: First Europeans were cannibals with taste for children.
Early Europeans were cannibals with a particular taste for the flesh of children, archaeologists have claimed.
The claim has come after bones of the ancestors of Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens who first settled in Europe around 800,000 years ago were unearthed in the Atapuerca caves in [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 27th, 2009
From the Wall Street Journal: A New Way to See Ancient Athens.
As building locations go, it is unmatched. What could present more of a challenge than to design a major new structure to stand at the foot of the Acropolis, revered as one of the great architectural achievements of western civilization.
That new structure is the [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology, music on Jun 25th, 2009
From the New York Times: Flutes Offer Clues to Stone-Age Music.
At least 35,000 years ago, in the depths of the last ice age, the sound of music filled a cave in what is now southwestern Germany, the same place and time early Homo sapiens were also carving the oldest known examples of figurative art in [...]
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Posted in dogs, education on Jun 22nd, 2009
You should watch this video if you’ve got a dog, if you’re thinking of getting a dog, if you’ve ever trained a dog, or if you ever might train a dog. It’s also perfect for parents, teachers, and pretty much everybody. You’ll see.
Related
Dog Star Daily – Ian Dunbar’s website
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 21st, 2009
From the Jerusalem Post: Huge Roman-era cave found by Jericho.
An artificial underground cave, the largest of its kind in Israel, was discovered in the Jordan Valley during excavations by the Haifa University’s Department of Archaeology.
Prof. Adam Zertal, who headed the dig, assessed that the cave was used as a quarry in the Roman era. Various [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Jun 13th, 2009
From the Beeb: Students unearth Saxon nunnery.
Archaeologists believe they could have found the first-ever excavated Saxon nunnery, on a dig in Gloucestershire.
The annual dig, by the University of Bristol, has unearthed remains of a Saxon building in the grounds of the Edward Jenner Museum, Berkeley. [continue]
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Posted in environment on Jun 11th, 2009
From the Guardian: British ‘Searaser’ invention promises green power revolution on the waves.
Alvin Smith had his eureka moment not in the bath, but in the swimming pool. ‘I was swimming round the pool, making little waves, and it struck me how much power there was in the displacement of the water,’ he remembers. ‘You [...]
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Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc on Jun 11th, 2009
From spiegel.de: Thieving Fox Amasses 120 Shoes.
A vixen has stolen more than 120 shoes from doorsteps in the German town of Föhren over the last year, amassing a collection that would impress even Imelda Marcos. Little bite marks on the laces suggest they’re intended as toys for her cubs.
For more than a year, the people [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 7th, 2009
From National Geographic: Ancient Death-Smile Potion Decoded?.
Thousands of years before the Joker gassed comic book victims into a grinning death, Phoenician colonists on the island of Sardinia were forcing smiles on the faces of the dead.
Now scientists say they know just how the ancient seafaring traders created the gruesome smiles some 2,800 years ago — [...]
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 5th, 2009
From Al-Ahram: A beacon’s rebirth.
Since its construction between 285 and 246 BC on the island of Pharos off the Eastern Cape (which was connected to the mainland by means of a man-made dyke seven stadions long and hence known as the Heptastadion — thus giving Alexandria city a double harbour) the lighthouse built by the [...]
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From the Beeb: Bats recognise other bats’ voices.
As if flying around in the dark swooping and diving to catch insects was not tricky enough, bats also listen for their fellow hunters.
A study has revealed how these winged mammals recognise other bats’ voices.
They are able to differentiate the ultrasonic echolocation calls that other bats make as [...]
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Posted in internet on Jun 5th, 2009
Oh, this is far too real. Hilarious, though!
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Posted in food on Jun 3rd, 2009
Today’s Globe and Mail tells the story behind Célestin, a restaurant in Toronto run by a paraplegic chef.
It could be said that the unusual bond was formed between the two men because Mr. Shannon broke an unwritten rule in the legal profession, the one that says lawyers aren’t supposed to become emotionally involved with clients.
Less [...]
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Posted in fun on Jun 2nd, 2009
Today’s prize goes to Improv Everywhere for their surprise wedding reception. Don’t miss this one, kids.
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Posted in history & archaeology on Jun 1st, 2009
From The Telegraph: Shipwreck found by divers ‘was vessel sent to help Bonnie Prince Charlie’.
Divers believe they have found the wreck of a vessel that may have been sent to relieve Bonnie Prince Charlie after his defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
The team has recovered artefacts off the Anglesey coast that suggest the [...]
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