Sunday, January 23
Ancient Beer Straws
The problem with the old theory, these researchers note, is that the past analyses didn’t account for the tube’s complete design, such as its intricate configuration and hollow center.
“The idea of reinterpreting the ‘scepters’ first came to me about a decade ago, and I even shared it with my colleagues, but I didn’t get any support,” the paper’s first author, Viktor Trifonov wrote to Inverse. To prove his argument, Trifonov, an archaeology researcher at St. Petersburg’s Russian Academy of Sciences, knew he needed more substantial evidence.
The kurgan in which the straws were discovered comprised of a large chamber divided into three compartments, each containing the body of an adult in the fetal position. The body in the largest section was adorned with rich fabric and precious stones, as well as eight long, thin, hollow tubes. Since their discovery, they have been preserved at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.
The breakthrough came when researchers found the supposed scepter’s inner filter curiously contained barley starch residue. The clue suggested something containing barley, such as beer, may have passed through these metal tubes.
This was the turning point for Trifonov. “I decided to check if there was any residue left from the beverage inside the Maikop tubes in the Hermitage,” he wrote to Inverse. “Everything else fell into place when my teammates found the starch, phytoliths, and pollen grains inside the filter.” READ MORE...
Laniakea Destroyed by Dark Energy
On the largest cosmic scales, planet Earth appears to be anything but special. Like hundreds of billions of other planets in our galaxy, we orbit our parent star; like hundreds of billions of solar systems, we revolve around the galaxy; like the majority of galaxies in the Universe, we’re bound together in either a group or cluster of galaxies.
And, like most galactic groups and clusters, we’re a small part of a larger structure containing over 100,000 galaxies: a supercluster. Ours is named Laniakea: the Hawaiian word for “immense heaven.”
Superclusters have been found and charted throughout our observable Universe, where they’re more than 10 times as rich as the largest known clusters of galaxies. Unfortunately, owing to the presence of dark energy in the Universe, these superclusters — including our own — are only apparent structures. In reality, they’re mere phantasms, in the process of dissolving before our very eyes.
The Universe as we know it began some 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. It was filled with matter, antimatter, radiation, etc.; all the particles and fields that we know of today, and possibly even more.
Superclusters have been found and charted throughout our observable Universe, where they’re more than 10 times as rich as the largest known clusters of galaxies. Unfortunately, owing to the presence of dark energy in the Universe, these superclusters — including our own — are only apparent structures. In reality, they’re mere phantasms, in the process of dissolving before our very eyes.
The Universe as we know it began some 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. It was filled with matter, antimatter, radiation, etc.; all the particles and fields that we know of today, and possibly even more.
From the earliest instants of the hot Big Bang, however, it wasn’t simply a uniform sea of these energetic quanta. Instead, there were tiny imperfections — at about the 0.003% level — on all scales, where some regions had slightly more or slightly less matter and energy than average.
In each one of these regions, a great cosmic race ensued. The race was between two competing phenomena:
In each one of these regions, a great cosmic race ensued. The race was between two competing phenomena:
- the expansion of the Universe, which works to drive all the matter and energy apart
- gravitation, which works to pull all forms of energy together, causing massive material to clump and cluster together
TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE...
Sixth Mass Extinction Underway
Bruno Kelly REUTERSIt is no secret that extinctions have been happening at an alarming rate in recent decades with human involvement and climate change blamed for creating habitats unsuitable for many species of wildlife.
Even more worrying is the findings of a major study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species and BirdLife International which found that the earth may be on the brink of a mass extinction event.
Worldwide it is thought that more than 500 species of land animal are close to extinction and could be lost within the next 20 years. The report was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and studied 29,000 species of land vertebrate. They estimated that the number of extinctions expected in the next two decades would likely take thousands of years if not for the negative impact of humanity.
What is a mass extinction?
Scientists estimate that 99% of all living organisms that have ever lived on earth are now extinct. The planet’s natural ecosystem is constantly evolving and as the environment changes certain older species will begin to fade away.
However there are some points in the earth’s history when the gradual evolution has become more of a sudden revolution and a majority of the planet’s living species are wiped out in a relatively short space of time. In the last 500 million years, there have been five occasions when 75-90% of all species have gone extinct, in what is called a mass extinction.
It should be remembered that the ‘short period of time’ is described in geological terms, dating back across the vast period of time since the start of life on earth. With this in mind, Earth.org explains that a mass extinction event can take anything up to 2.8 million years. READ MORE...
Saturday, January 22
Biden's First Year in Office
RESULTS:
Halted Keystone Oil Pipleline
Caused surge in gasoline prices
Reversed Trumps Executive Orders
Botched Afghanistan withdrawal
Caused supply chain problems
Could not Unite the US
Could not stop COVID-19
Could not stop illegal immigration
Could not stop Crime and Violence
Massive Government Spending
Caused structural inflation
Caused structural unemployment
Caused shut down of businesses
Caused shut down of Public School
Tried to mandate Covid Vaccinations
Increased RACISM in the USA
Achieved WORST ratings in first year
Insulted Ukranians with remarks about russia
Alienated NATO Allies
Alienated his own party
Observation
Whites 60.1%
Hispanic 18.5%
Blacks 13.4%
Asian 5.9%
US Census Bureau Demographics
Why are so many people listening to the blacks when they only represent 13% of our overall population here in the United States of America...?
History of Popcorn
Wednesday was National Popcorn Day, and what better way to celebrate than by learning about the history of the delicious snack?
According to The Popcorn Board, the oldest-known ears of corn that were popped are from about 4,000 years ago and were discovered in current-day New Mexico in 1948 and 1950.
Meanwhile, History.com reported in 2018 that there were traces of popcorn in 1,000-year-old Peruvian tombs.
Popcorn was also significant to the Aztec people for eating, ceremonies and decorations, according to The Popcorn Board.
Wednesday is National Popcorn Day. (iStock)
The snack became a common food in American households by the mid-1800s, according to History.com. Popcorn was popular for late-night snacks by the fire and at picnics, the website reported.
In the 1890s, Charles Cretors created the first popcorn-popping machine, and by 1900, he created a horse-drawn popcorn wagon, which led to mass consumption of the snack, History.com reported.
Popcorn didn’t hit movie theaters until the Great Depression, according to Smithsonian Magazine. In fact, the movie theaters that started selling popcorn were able to survive the Great Depression, while other movie theaters had to close because of poor sales. READ MORE...
Weird Sand Sculptures
Sand pillars decorate the shore by Lake Michigan at Tiscornia Park, with the North Pier Lighthouse in the
background, in St. Joseph, Michigan. (Image credit: Terri Abbott)
Bizarre sandy sculptures rising from the beach by Lake Michigan caught the eyes of at least two photographers in early January, who posted their images of the nature-made marvels online.
But what are these sandy statues and how on earth did they come to be?
Their construction depends on several factors, including sand-to-water content and wind conditions, said Daniel Bonn, a physicist and head of the van der Waals-Zeeman Institute at the University of Amsterdam.
The pillars, sometimes called hoodoos, were different heights, anywhere from 3 to 20 inches (7.6 to 51 centimeters) tall, said Terri Abbott, a nature photographer who lives in northern Indiana. Abbott was visiting Tiscornia Park in St. Joseph, Michigan, on Jan. 8, when she noticed the stunning shapes on the snowy beach.
"Laying on the ground and shooting through these sculptures made it seem like a different planet," Abbott told Live Science in a Facebook message. "They were frozen and hard to the touch. The intricate and ever-so-sharp edges made them each amazing in their own way."
Abbott had never seen sculptures like this before. "I could not believe how perfectly chiseled they were," she added. READ MORE...
Living in a Vegetative State for 12 Years
In the 1980’s, 12-year-old Martin Pistorious became seriously ill with what doctor’s believed was Cryptococci Meningitis. His health started deteriorating and Martin lost his ability to move, make eye contact and even speak to others. His doctors told his parents, Rodney and Joan Pistorious, to bring him home and let him die. They told them he was as good as a vegetable.
However, he didn’t die.
Joan said, “Martin just kept going, just kept going.”
According to NPR news, his father would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning, get him dressed, load him in the car, take him to the special care center where he’d leave him. Rodney said, “Eight hours later, I’d pick him up, bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, set my alarm for two hours so that I’d wake up to turn him so that he didn’t get bedsores.”
For twelve years, Martin’s family cared for him without any sign that he was improving. Joan started to despair and even told her son, “I hope you die.”
Today she acknowledges that was a horrible thing to say but says she just wanted some sort of relief. Remarkably, now Martin is 39-years-old and says he was totally aware of everything going on around him.
He said, “Yes, I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up. I was aware of everything, just like any normal person. Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn’t notice when I began to be present again. The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that — totally alone.”
Unfortunately, Martin was even aware of his mother’s harsh words and began believing that no one would ever love him. He said, “You don’t really think about anything. You simply exist. It’s a very dark place to find yourself because, in a sense, you are allowing yourself to vanish.”
Martin spent most of those days at a care center where his caregivers played Barney reruns over and over again. They did this because they believed he was a vegetable too. He said, “I cannot even express to you how much I hated Barney.”
But eventually, Martin became frustrated with being trapped in his own body and started to try and take control of his life. He learned to tell time by the rising and setting of the sun and would reframe even the ugliest of thoughts that haunted him like his mother’s wish for him to die. “As time passed, I gradually learned to understand my mother’s desperation. Every time she looked at me, she could see only a cruel parody of the once-healthy child she had loved so much,” said Martin.
Now Martin is married and has penned a memoire about his life. He has gained control of his body and in his book Ghost Boy, he writes, “My mind was trapped inside a useless body, my arms and legs weren’t mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldn’t make a sign or sounds to let anyone know I’d become aware again. I was invisible—the ghost boy.”
However, he didn’t die.
Joan said, “Martin just kept going, just kept going.”
According to NPR news, his father would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning, get him dressed, load him in the car, take him to the special care center where he’d leave him. Rodney said, “Eight hours later, I’d pick him up, bathe him, feed him, put him in bed, set my alarm for two hours so that I’d wake up to turn him so that he didn’t get bedsores.”
For twelve years, Martin’s family cared for him without any sign that he was improving. Joan started to despair and even told her son, “I hope you die.”
Today she acknowledges that was a horrible thing to say but says she just wanted some sort of relief. Remarkably, now Martin is 39-years-old and says he was totally aware of everything going on around him.
He said, “Yes, I was there, not from the very beginning, but about two years into my vegetative state, I began to wake up. I was aware of everything, just like any normal person. Everyone was so used to me not being there that they didn’t notice when I began to be present again. The stark reality hit me that I was going to spend the rest of my life like that — totally alone.”
Unfortunately, Martin was even aware of his mother’s harsh words and began believing that no one would ever love him. He said, “You don’t really think about anything. You simply exist. It’s a very dark place to find yourself because, in a sense, you are allowing yourself to vanish.”
Martin spent most of those days at a care center where his caregivers played Barney reruns over and over again. They did this because they believed he was a vegetable too. He said, “I cannot even express to you how much I hated Barney.”
But eventually, Martin became frustrated with being trapped in his own body and started to try and take control of his life. He learned to tell time by the rising and setting of the sun and would reframe even the ugliest of thoughts that haunted him like his mother’s wish for him to die. “As time passed, I gradually learned to understand my mother’s desperation. Every time she looked at me, she could see only a cruel parody of the once-healthy child she had loved so much,” said Martin.
Now Martin is married and has penned a memoire about his life. He has gained control of his body and in his book Ghost Boy, he writes, “My mind was trapped inside a useless body, my arms and legs weren’t mine to control and my voice was mute. I couldn’t make a sign or sounds to let anyone know I’d become aware again. I was invisible—the ghost boy.”
Written by Sarah Zargorski
Friday, January 21
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