Prehistoric town found in Europe
Téviec or Théviec is an island situated to the west of the isthmus of the peninsula of Quiberon, near Saint-Pierre-Quiberon in Brittany, France. The island is an important archaeological site due to its occupation during the Mesolithic period. Many archaeological finds have been made dating back to over 6,700 years before the present day, including the remains of over 20 people. One of the most remarkable finds was that of the grave of two young women who had apparently died violently but had received an elaborate burial under a "roof" of antlers, their bodies decorated with jewelry made from shells...
In another grave, the skeletons of two women aged 25–35, dubbed the "ladies of Téviec", were found with signs of violence on both. One had sustained five blows to the head, two of which would have been fatal, and had received at least one arrow shot between the eyes. The other had also traces of injuries. However, this diagnosis is disputed by some archaeologists, who have suggested that the weight of earth above the grave may have been responsible for damaging the skeletons.
The bodies had been buried with great care in a pit that was partly dug into the ground and covered over with debris from the midden. They had been protected by a roof made of antlers and provided with a number of grave goods including pieces of flint and boar bones, and jewellery made of sea shells drilled and assembled into necklaces, bracelets and ringlets for the legs. The grave assemblage was excavated from the site in one piece and is now on display at the museum of prehistory in Toulouse, where its restoration in 2010 earned a national award.
Cloth seals, although small and not much to look at, can give us fascinating insights into the Medieval and Post Medieval cloth trade, which was so important to economies of the period. This lead seal, SOM-B424B7, is of a form typical in England and some adjacent areas of the continent. It is formed of a row of four disks with tabs between. The row was bent in half over the edge of the cloth and a projecting point on one of the small outer disks went through the cloth then through a hole on the other outer disk before being stamped flat to rivet the ends together and to the cloth. The small disks appear plain apart from the raised circle from flattening the rivet...Here are some later-era cloth seals, recovered from the wreck of an East Indiaman in 1805:
Seals were attached to cloth at several stages of production. Personal seals might be added by the weaver and dyer, guild seals might also be added to show the quality of the work had been checked and it was of a required length and seals were added to show various taxes has been paid...
One evening, Kingstone was explaining these two hypotheses to Julian over dinner. “A colleague had said that dissociating the two ideas — eyes vs. centre of head — would be impossible because the eyes of humans are in the centre of the head,” Kingstone said. “I told Julian that when people say something is impossible, they sometimes tell you more about themselves than anything.”The result is a paper lovingly titled "Monsters are people too" - You can read all about it here, or let Ed summarize the findings for you over at his blog: here
Julian agreed. He thought it would be easy to discriminate between the two ideas: just use the Monster Manual. This book will be delightfully familiar to a certain brand of geek. It’s the Bible of fictional beasties that accompanied the popular dice-rolling role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Regularly updated, it bursts with great visuals and bizarrely detailed accounts of unnatural history. It has differently colored dragons, undead, beholders… I think one edition had a were-badger. Parts of this blog are essentially a non-fictional version of the Monster Manual.
Levy knew that the Manual contained many nightmarish monsters whose eyes are not on their faces. If people still looked at the eyes of these creatures, it would answer the question. Kingstone loved the idea. He persuaded Julian’s teacher to give him some time away from school to test his ideas for himself, and she agreed.
In their survey of the literature, the authors of this study found many more incidences of people who believed they had been transformed into animals, and which resolved after psychiatric treatment. But what interested the authors of this study were WHAT people generally believed they had turned into. While some people believed they had been turned into gerbils or cows, a surprising number believed they had been turned into wolves, and, as with the case with this woman, snakes.
The authors believe that this is because of what different cultures associate with...evil. Many of the people with lycanthropy believed firmly that the devil had done this to them, and of course the devil would turn them into a beast that is usually considered EVIL. Like wolves, which have been associated with Satan since the middle ages, or snakes, which go all the way back to Genesis (and, as the authors note, the Ms. A was a very devout religious woman). So the authors suggest that the idea of werewolves might arise from people suffering from lycanthropy, and believing that they had been transformed into the evil thing which they most feared.
...But it doesn't really explain the gerbil.
| 1517 | Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg in Germany. Luther's theories and writings inaugurate Protestantism, shattering the external structure of the medieval church and at the same time reviving the religious consciousness of Europe. | |
| 1803 | Congress ratifies the purchase of the entire Louisiana area in North America, adding territory to the U.S. which will eventually become 13 more states. | |
| 1838 | A mob of about 200 attacks a Mormon camp in Missouri, killing 20 men, women and children. | |
| 1864 | Nevada becomes the 36th state. | |
| 1941 | After 14 years of work, the Mount Rushmore National Memorial is completed. | |
| 1952 | The United States explodes the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. | |
| 1968 | The bombing of North Vietnam is halted by the United States. | |
| 1971 | Saigon begins the release of 1,938 Hanoi POW's. | |
| 1984 | Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi by two Sikh members of her bodyguard. |
| Samhain | |
|---|---|
| Also called | Samhuinn (Scottish Gaelic) Sauin (Manx Gaelic) |
| Observed by | Historically: Gaels Today: Irish people, Scottish people, Manx people, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans |
| Type | Cultural, Pagan (Celtic polytheism, Celtic Neopaganism, Wicca) |
| Significance | End of the harvest season, beginning of winter |
| Date | Sunset 31 October – sunset 1 November (N. Hemisphere) Sunset 30 April – sunset 1 May (S. Hemisphere) |
| Celebrations | Bonfires, guising, divination, apple bobbing, feasting |
| Related to | Halloween, Hop-tu-Naa, Calan Gaeaf, Kalan Gwav, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day |
/ˈsɑːwɪn/, /ˈsaʊ.ɪn/, or /ˈsaʊn/),[1]—sometimes Anglicized as Sawin, Sowin, or similar—is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the 'darker half' of the year. Most commonly it is held on 31 October–1 November, or halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. Along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh it makes up the four Gaelic seasonal festivals. It was observed in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Kindred festivals were held at the same time of year in other Celtic lands; for example the Brythonic Calan Gaeaf (in Wales), Kalan Gwav (in Cornwall) and Kalan Goañv (in Brittany).
When
people don’t understand how something works, they often come up with
their own explanations. For example, when ancient societies ...
Eating at least two servings of oily fish a week is moderately but significantly associated with a reduced risk of ...
Todd Lappin reports:
Monday night, tropical story Sandy made landfall approximately 5 miles southwest of Atlantic City, NJ. That means Sandy came ashore in Margate, NJ, on the exact site of Lucy the Elephant -- a charming 19th century house built in the shape of a gigantic circus elephant. Lucy has survived the ravages of time for more than 120 years, but she sits just a block off the beach in Margate, so things did not look good for the old girl when Sandy struck. Tuesday morning, however, Patrick Armstrong took a photo of the site which revealed that Lucy the Elephant survived — and more or less intact. Incredible.
Wingnuts have been hitting Obama for weeks on his attendance at a fundraiser in Nevada following the assault in Benghazi, claiming at alternate times that the President either cared more about politics than lives lost or that he was trying to downplay the attack’s significance. Now the critique has mutated into a belief that Obama is currently “playing President” to score points during disaster relief in the run-up to the election, in contrast to his actions in September.“One thing he’s gonna be asked is, why did he jump on [the hurricane] so quickly and go back to D.C. so quickly when in…Benghazi, he went to Las Vegas?” Brown says. “Why was this so quick?… At some point, somebody’s going to ask that question…. This is like the inverse of Benghazi.”
But the last-minute nature of the call for donations left some in the campaign concerned that they would end up with an empty truck. So the night before the event, campaign aides went to a local Wal Mart and spent $5,000 on granola bars, canned food, and diapers to put on display while they waited for donations to come in, according to one staffer. (The campaign confirmed that it “did donate supplies to the relief effort,” but would not specify how much it spent.)
No relief for you!Empty-handed supporters pled for entrance, with one woman asking, “What if we dropped off our donations up front?”The volunteer gestured toward a pile of groceries conveniently stacked near the candidate. “Just grab something,” he said.Distributing birther-inspired anti-Obama t-shirts
at the “non-partisan” rally.
Two teenage boys retrieved a jar of peanut butter each, and got in line. When it was their turn, they handed their “donations” to Romney. He took them, smiled, and offered an earnest “Thank you.”
But Boston wasn’t quite ready to lose a full day of swing state visibility with a week left in the race. So, after some deliberation, the campaign decided to use their existing venue in Ohio to stage a makeshift, and nonpartisan, humanitarian project. It would be a way for Romney to show leadership — and get on the local news — without looking craven or opportunistic.They weren’t willing to lose a day’s visibility in a swing state, so they came up with the event and crafted it in a way that would still get them political benefit, but would camouflage the intent. So, as I predicted, Team Romney saw Hurricane Sandy – saw the imminent peril of tens of millions of Americans – as a political “opportunity” to exploit.
Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints the Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items. Items such as collected food, used clothing and shoes must be sorted, cleaned, repackaged and transported which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel.
@aravosis Why couldn’t Romney have asked his supporters to write a check or plop money in a can?The Romney people decided that you “had” to have food in hand in hand to donate, or they wouldn’t let you in. But if you didn’t have any food, they’d give you some food they bought – food the Red Cross doesn’t want. Why didn’t the Romney people at the very least ask people who didn’t bring food to write a check, or donate cash? They could have a laptop sitting there with a connection to the Internet, and people could have donated to the Red Cross via the Red Cross’ own Web site. But they didn’t. Because this event wasn’t about helping the Red Cross or Hurricane Sandy’s victims.
Unfortunately, due to logistical constraints the Red Cross does not accept or solicit individual donations or collections of items. Items such as collected food, used clothing and shoes must be sorted, cleaned, repackaged and transported which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel.And that’s what happened as a result of Mitt Romney’s little hurricane stunt earlier today. We learn via a tweet from CNN’s Jim Acosta that the Red Cross is now having to spend staff time dealing with the collected food and other items the Romney campaign gathered today:
“The American Red Cross appreciates the support from the Romney campaign and is working with the campaign to process this donation of supplies,” the statement read. “We are grateful that both the Obama and Romney campaigns have also encouraged the public to send financial donations to the Red Cross. We encourage individuals who want to help to consider making a financial donation or making an appointment to give blood.”Note that last line: “We encourage individuals who want to help to consider making a financial donation or making an appointment to give blood.” That’s the equivalent of your grandma saying “thank you so much for the inflatable Elvis doll, honey, and I encourage anyone else wanting to get me a birthday gift next year to try something I can actually use.”
It's
nice to see Obama acting like he ain't no bandleader.Bring your camera when you vote. If
some repugi-thugs try to stop you,
Torre David, about 90% finished at the time, was abandoned--as both a project and a property. Electrical infrastructure had not yet been installed. The lower stories were still missing finished flooring, sewage pipes, and paint. Large slabs of marble meant for a luxury hotel on the first six floors had been carted into the building but never installed.Emily Badger of Fast Company has the story: here.
Looters, not surprisingly, picked over the remains. Then came the families: More than 750 of them who moved in anyway over the years, occupying the skeletal office tower like a kind of vertical slum. The world’s resourceful poor have for years manufactured makeshift communities on the edges of mega-cities. But this was a notably different model, a one-time high-end high-rise turning the sprawling shantytown on its ear. After all, why should such a formidable structure, designed by Venezuelan architect Enrique Gómez, sit vacant? If a luxury hotel won’t move in, why can’t the poor?
On 16 January 1705, men 'of all ranks', including merchants and artisans (but not priests, deacons and peasants), were ordered to shave. Anyone who wished to keep his beard and whiskers had to pay a fine on a sliding scale according to status: 60 roubles for nobles, military officers and chancellery officials, 100 roubles for merchants of the first guild, and so on. Permits took the form of a beard token disc obtainable from the Police Office. Bearded persons had to pay a kopeck each time they entered the city gates.More
Bananas could be future staple
Earliest fossil flying fish found
This
caterpillar is all decked out for Halloween! Ecologist and photographer
Lui Weber snapped a photo of the rare pink underwing moth caterpillar,
which has skull-like markings on its head:Found below the altitude of 600m in undisturbed, subtropical rainforest, the species survives on the vine Carronia multisepalea, a collapsed shrub that provides the food and habitat the moth requires in order to breed.The Daily Mail has more awesome photos by Lui: More
Lui said: 'Sadly this moth is very rare I only know of a single adult seen last year so I do not have photographs of the adult yet.
'This southern subspecies is listed as nationally endangered in Australia.'
| 1270 | The Seventh Crusade ends by the Treaty of Barbary. | |
| 1485 | Henry VII of England crowned. | |
| 1697 | The Treaty of Ryswick ends the war between France and the Grand Alliance. | |
| 1838 | Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Lorian County, Ohio becomes the first college in the U.S. to admit female students. | |
| 1899 | Two battalions of British troops are cut off, surrounded and forced to surrender to General Petrus Joubert's Boers at Nicholson's Nek. | |
| 1905 | The czar of Russia issues the October Manisfesto, granting civil liberties and elections in an attempt to avert the burgeonng supprot for revolution. | |
| 1918 | The Italians capture Vittorio Veneto and rout the Austro-Hungarian army. | |
| 1918 | Turkey signs an armistice with the Allies, agreeing to end hostilities at noon, October 31. | |
| 1922 | Mussolini sends his black shirts into Rome. The Fascist takeover is almost without bloodshed. The next day, Mussolini is made prime minister. Mussolini centralized all power in himself as leader of the Fascist party and attempted to create an Italian empire, ultimately in alliance with Hitler's Germany. | |
| 1925 | Scotsman John L. Baird performs first TV broadcast of moving objects. | |
| 1938 | H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds is broadcast over the radio by Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre. Many panic believing it is an actual newscast about a Martian invasion. | |
| 1941 | The U.S. destroyer Reuben James, on convoy duty off Iceland, is sunk by a German U-boat with the loss of 96 Americans. | |
| 1950 | The First Marine Division is ordered to replace the entire South Korean I Corps at the Chosin Reservoir area. | |
| 1991 | BET Holdings Inc., becomes the first African-American company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. |
