An eclectic assortment of stuff: food, archaeology, fun, books, history, geekery, etc.
Posted in books & lit on Jul 23rd, 2009
Frank McCourt died a few days ago. Have you read his books? (Angela’s Ashes, ‘Tis, Teacher Man.) What I liked about Teacher Man is that it shows Frank’s journey from incompetent teacher to masterful teacher. To my delight, Reader’s Digest has just published one of my favourite chapters from the book. Here you go:
I [...]
Posted in dogs on Jul 21st, 2009
From Science Daily: Babies Understand Dogs, Bark-matching Study Finds.
New research shows babies have a handle on the meaning of different dog barks – despite little or no previous exposure to dogs.
Infants just 6 months old can match the sounds of an angry snarl and a friendly yap to photos of dogs displaying threatening and welcoming [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 18th, 2009
From Reuters: Vinland Map of America no forgery, expert says.
The 15th century Vinland Map, the first known map to show part of America before explorer Christopher Columbus landed on the continent, is almost certainly genuine, a Danish expert said Friday.
Controversy has swirled around the map since it came to light in the 1950s, many scholars [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc on Jul 16th, 2009
From The Telegraph: The bay of pigs: swine swimming in crystal clear water in the Bahamas. Is photos. Go look.
Posted in books & lit, history & archaeology, religion on Jul 6th, 2009
From The Independent: World’s oldest bible published in full online.
The oldest bible in the world was displayed in its entirety for the first time in 150 years today after researchers digitised its four sections kept in cities thousands of miles apart and placed the reunited text in cyberspace.
The Codex Sinaiticus, which was written some 1,600 [...]
From the Beeb: Coffee ‘may reverse Alzheimer’s’.
Drinking five cups of coffee a day could reverse memory problems seen in Alzheimer’s disease, US scientists say. [continue]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 4th, 2009
From culture24.org: Experts hold summit to unravel mystery of rebel Roman fortress in Norfolk.
Last week (June 25 2009) a summit was held at the University of Nottingham to discuss new revelations on the mysterious Norfolk town of Caistor St Edmund.
A buried Roman province which caused sensation when RAF pictures of the site appeared on the [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Jul 3rd, 2009
From ansa.it: No Etruscan link to modern Tuscans.
The current population of Tuscany is not descended from the Etruscans, the people that lived in the region during the Bronze Age, a new Italian study has shown.
Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, science on Jul 3rd, 2009
From Wired.com: Make Like a Dolphin: Learn Echolocation.
With just a few weeks of training, you can learn to see objects in the dark using echolocation the same way dolphins and bats do.
Ordinary people with no special skills can use tongue clicks to visualize objects by listening to the way sound echoes off their surroundings, according [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Jul 2nd, 2009
From smithsonian.com: Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire’s Lost Highway.
At first glance, it didn’t appear that impressive: a worn limestone pillar, six feet high and two feet wide, standing slightly askew beside a country road near the village of Pélissanne in southern France. A lot of people pass by without knowing what it is, Bruno Tassan, [...]
Posted in art, history & archaeology on Jul 1st, 2009
From the Telegraph: Michelangelo signed fresco with self-portrait.
Restorers claim that a bearded man wearing a blue turban in the Crucifixion of St Peter bears a striking resemblance to portraits and bronze busts of the artist.
It’s an extraordinary and moving discovery, said the Vatican’s chief restorer, Maurizio De Luca. The self-portrait is one of three knights [...]
Posted in environment on Jul 1st, 2009
From the Beeb: From bush to bike – a bamboo revolution .
On the outskirts of Lusaka, Zambia, next year’s crop of bicycles is being watered by Benjamin Banda.
We planted this bamboo last year, he says, and now the stems are taller than me. When it’s ready we’ll cut it, cure it and then turn it [...]