Unusual

 

Neanderthal Carving

Germany’s Einhornhöhle, or Unicorn Cave, in the Harz Mountains got its name from the treasure hunters who thought fossilized remains in the dark passages belonged to unicorns. Archaeologists digging at the site recently found something almost as unlikely: a 50,000-year-old deer bone with a geometric pattern carved by Neanderthals. The discovery, reported on Monday by a team of researchers from the University of Göttingen and the Lower Saxony State Office for Heritage, adds to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals created symbolic objects—perhaps what we would call art.

Artifacts found at Unicorn Cave in the 1980s proved the site was actually a hideout for Neanderthals during the Middle Paleolithic period (roughly 300,000 to 30,000 years ago). A German team of archaeologists revisited the cave in 2014 for new excavations, and, in 2019, while investigating the untouched layers of Ice Age soil buried there, they found well-preserved animal bones with cut-marks. Among them was the toe bone of a prehistoric (and now extinct) giant deer.

“It showed six groves which together form a chevron-like decoration,” said Thomas Terberger, a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Göttingen in Germany and one of the authors of the new study in Nature Ecology & Evolution, in an email to ARTnews. Radiocarbon dating proved the object dated to 51,000 years ago—when Neanderthals were the only human species roaming this part of Europe—and analysis on the bone showed that these etchings weren’t butchering marks. (The researchers even performed some of their own experiments carving cow toe bones, and found that the bone was likely boiled first.)

“Step by step we learned that we not only found an exciting object, but that we are dealing with a small bone of a large Ice Age animal that was definitely decorated by Neanderthals,” Terberger said. “From my point of view this find belongs to the initial phase of the use of symbols and is on the way to making art.”

The carved deer bone is just the latest bit of evidence that Neanderthals engaged in symbolic behavior. From other discoveries around Eurasia, scientists know our extinct cousins may have mixed pigments and adorned their bodies with feathers and talons. In 2014, archaeologists reported the discovery of a hashtag-like geometric carving inside a Neanderthal cave in Gibraltar. But do those works amount to art? This latest finding isn’t likely to settle the debate.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

Go To Work

 

Reserved

 

Evil Trump & Kind Joe

 

AOC's Intelligence Showing...

NATIONAL
AOC RESPONDS: Ocasio-Cortez Defends $58 Sweatshirts Because ‘Transactions Aren’t Capitalism’
posted by Hannity Staff - 7.20.21

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to growing criticism on social media Monday night after Reuters reported the Democratic Socialist spent $1.4 million on ‘Tax the Rich’ themed merchandise for her web store.

“Not sure if you know this Sean, but transactions aren’t capitalism. Capitalism is a system that prioritizes profit at any & all human/enviro cost. But [for what it’s worth] our shop is unionized, doesn’t operate for profit,& funds projects like free tutoring, food programs,& local organizing,” fired-back the lawmaker to former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

The Stairs

 

Surfing

 

Fighting Climate Change

In 2018, Americans used nearly 3 billion gallons of gasoline running lawn and 

garden equipment. That's the equivalent  of 6 million passenger cars 

running for a year. Dreamstime / MCT

Summer is officially here. For many Americans, that means blankets of grassy green for kids to play in.

There are an estimated 40 million to 50 million acres of lawn in the continental United States — that’s nearly as much as all of the country’s national parks combined. In 2020, Americans spent $105 billion keeping their lawns verdant and neat.

But our love of grass comes at an environmental cost.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, maintaining those lawns also consumes nearly 3 trillion gallons of water a year as well as 59 million pounds of pesticides, which can seep into our land and waterways.

Department of Transportation data shows that in 2018, Americans used nearly 3 billion gallons of gasoline running lawn and garden equipment. That's the equivalent of 6 million passenger cars running for a year.

As these issues are becoming more prominent in climate change discussion, there are steps you can take to more sustainably manage the impact of your lawn, including choosing organic fertilizers, avoiding pesticides, and using electric lawn maintenance equipment

But how we care for our lawns is secondary to the amount of lawn we have in the first place, experts say. Having less grass and more plants is among the most important factors in keeping a yard eco-friendly.

“Lawn, ecologically, is dead space,” said Doug Tallamy, an entomologist at the University of Delaware and author of Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.  TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE...

Being Political

 

Cats & Dogs

 

Loney Adults Don't Live Long

Lonely older adults are more likely to live shorter lives than their peers and spend less of their remaining life in good health or being active, according to a new study in Singapore and Japan.

The study categorically quantifies for the first time the affects of loneliness in old age on life and health expectancy.

“We found that lonely older adults can expect to live a shorter life than their peers who don’t perceive themselves as lonely,” says lead author Rahul Malhotra, assistant professor and head of research at Duke-NUS’ Centre for Aging Research and Education (CARE). “Furthermore, they pay a penalty for their shorter life by forfeiting potential years of good health.”

“Besides being the year associated with the coronavirus disease, 2019 was also when the number of adults aged over 30 made up half the total global population for the first time in recorded history, marking the start of an increasingly aging world,” says senior author Angelique Chan, associate professor and executive director of CARE. “In consequence, loneliness among seniors has become an issue of social and public health concern.”

“This study is timely because stay-at-home and physical distancing measures instituted since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have only intensified concern for the mental and physical well-being of older persons,” says Yasuhiko Saito from the College of Economics at Nihon University and a senior coauthor of the study.

COLLECTIVISTIC VS. INDIVIDUALISTIC CULTURES
The study findings show that people aged 60, who perceive themselves to be sometimes lonely or mostly lonely, can expect to live three to five years less, on average, compared to peers who perceive themselves as never lonely. Similarly, at ages 70 and 80, lonely older people can, on average, expect to live three to four and two to three years less, respectively, compared to non-lonely peers.

Using the same dataset, the researchers found that the perception of loneliness has a similar effect on two types of health expectancy—remaining years of life lived in a self-rated state of good health as well as remaining years of life lived without being limited when going about “activities of daily living.” Such activities include routines like bathing and dressing, rising from or settling into a bed or chair, and preparing meals.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

Dancing Worker

Harvard's Lost Its Way

Cornel West (left), one of the nation's foremost Black scholars and an outspoken progressive activist, has announced his resignation from Harvard University, accusing the school of "intellectual and spiritual bankruptcy of deep depths."

West, who earlier this year said he was giving up his drive for tenure at Harvard Divinity School to rejoin the faculty at Union Theological Seminary, posted what he called "my candid letter of resignation" to Twitter late Monday.

In it, he writes that the "disarray of a scattered curriculum, the disenchantment of talented yet deferential faculty, and the disorientation of precious students loom large" at Harvard.

The 68-year-old scholar suggests in the letter that politics were a factor in Harvard's decision not to extend tenure to him, citing his outspoken support for the Palestinian cause.

"We all knew the mendacious reasons given had nothing to do with academic standards. ... I knew my academic achievements and student teaching meant far less than their political prejudices," West says of the Harvard administration.

Letter to Dean below...

Watching You

 

Burr Roasts Networks

 

Way Too White

 

Unintended Threat to our Environment

It is estimated that the world uses 129 billion disposable masks every month.

With a lifespan of around 450 years, environmental researchers are concerned about an ecological timebomb.

According to the United Nations, a staggering 75% of face masks end up in landfill or waterways. Read more...

Door-to-Door

 

Incredible