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Early toilet found in Sheffield

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:53:16 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: It's a Bramah, not a Crapper, but still pretty exciting. Indiana Jones eat your heart out.

Clip Source: www.24hourmuseum.org.uk

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND EARLY EXECUTIVE TOILET IN SHEFFIELD WORKS

The Victorians were great inventors, and their progress in the field of sewage disposal was not one of their least achievements. Thomas Crapper is famed for popularising the flush lavatory in the 19th century, but not many examples of his early ‘work’ survive.

So archaeologists from the University of Sheffield got quite excited when they found a toilet dating back around 150 years in an old cutlery and grinding works, believing it to be an original Crapper.

Further research revealed that the design of this particular Bramah pan closet toilet was a little more unusual, not a Crapper, but definitely a high class throne that would have been used by the company directors.

The archaeology team have spent the last two years surveying, investigating and unravelling the history of the Grade II* listed Butcher Works in Sheffield’s Cultural Industries Quarter, prior to its redevelopment.

Tags: archaeology

climate change and Fiji

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 05:41:44 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.npr.org

Pacific Island Cultures Brace for Climate Change

But no matter where you are in Fiji, the world's largest ocean is nearby. When currents and weather patterns change in the Pacific, Fijians say they feel it. Although rising ocean waters — on average only a few centimeters during the past century — may not be obvious, the effects of climate change are seen in other ways.

"Something is going on, and you can tell by the exposed roots of coconut trees," McGree says. "If you look at the real estate records, you can see in some areas there has been quite a bit of land loss."

"There are a lot of secondary impacts of climate change which will make the quality of life in the island Pacific very, very bad, as opposed to, say, very large land masses where people have a lot more freedom to move around," Koshi says. "And these are countries which are already challenged to the limit with non-climatic problems."

Tags: climate change, environment, science, ecology, pacific

Creationism, free love, and "thrillz"

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 03:04:29 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

The man who plays Adam in a video aired at a Bible-based creationist museum has led a different life outside the Garden of Eden, flaunting his sexual exploits online and modeling for a clothing line that promotes free love.

"We are currently investigating the veracity of these serious claims of his participation in projects that don't align with the biblical standards and moral code upon which the ministry was founded," Answers for Genesis spokesman Mark Looy said in a written statement.

The actor, Eric Linden, owns a graphic Web site called Bedroom Acrobat, where he has been pictured, smiling alongside a drag queen, in a T-shirt brandishing the site's sexually suggestive logo. The Web site, which has a network of members, allows users to post explicit stories and photos.

He also sells clothing for SFX International, whose initials appear on clothing to spell "SEX" from afar. It promotes "free love,""pleasure" and "thrillz."

Tags: creationism, porn

"What the World Eats" Photo Essay

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 02:57:21 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: 42, 000 Togrogs doesn't buy what it used to.

Clip Source: www.time.com

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp

Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23
Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

Clip Source: www.time.com

United States: The Revis family of North Carolina

Food expenditure for one week: $341.98
Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken

Clip Source: www.time.com

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo

Food expenditure for one week: $31.55
Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage

Clip Source: www.time.com

Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar

Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02
Family recipe: Mutton dumplings

Clip Source: www.time.com

Bhutan: The Namgay family of Shingkhey Village

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03
Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork

Clip Source: www.time.com

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or $500.07
Favorite foods: fried potatoes with onions, bacon and herring, fried noodles with eggs and cheese, pizza, vanilla pudding

Tags: diet, anthropology, consumerism

Viking Mickey Mouse

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 02:52:00 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.thelocal.se

Archaeologists discover Iron Age Mickey Mouse

Swedish archaeologists have uncovered signs of a Viking precursor to Mickey Mouse. Among the objects found during excavations at Uppåkra in southern Sweden is an iron age figure bearing a strong resemblance to the classic cartoon character.

But archaeologist Jerry Rosenberg from Lund University is confident that the bronze brooch - used as a clasp to fasten women's clothing - was in fact intended to represent a Lion King rather than a mere mouse.

"The find is from around 900 AD. It was probably a lion's head that originally came from France. It was however more than likely designed by somebody who had never actually seen a lion.

"Instead it turned into this sort of strange, fantasy animal," he told The Local.

Tags: archaeology, copyright infringement, humor, disney

Climate Change and Heritage Sites

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:32:00 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.theglobeandmail.com

NEW YORK — Rising seas, spreading deserts, intensifying weather and other harbingers of climate change are threatening cultural landmarks from Canada to Antarctica, the World Monuments Fund said Wednesday releasing its latest list of the world's most endangered sites.

The fund's "100 Most Endangered Sites" list, issued every two years, is intended as a cultural clarion call, and the organization suggests it has been a successful one.

New Orleans is among at least six historic places with futures clouded by a changing climate, it said.

On Herschel Island, Canada, melting permafrost threatens ancient Inuit sites and a historic whaling town. In Chinguetti, Mauritania, the desert is encroaching on an ancient mosque. In Antarctica, a hut once used by British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott has survived almost a century of freezing conditions but is now in danger of being engulfed by increasingly heavy snows.

Tags: archaeology, climate change, tourism, heritage

Early prosthetics among the Moche

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:27:58 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Decapitated Man Found in Peru Tomb With Ceramic "Replacement" Head

A headless skeleton found in a Peruvian tomb is adding new wrinkles to the debate over human sacrifice in the ancient Andes.

The decapitated body was found in the Nasca region, named for the ancient civilization that thrived in southern Peru from A.D. 1 to 750.

In 2004 Christina Conlee, an archaeologist at Texas State University, found a rare headless skeleton in a tomb sitting cross-legged with a ceramic "head jar" placed to the left of the body (see enlarged photo).

The age and condition of both the body and the jar, which is painted with two inverted human faces, suggests that the victim was killed in a rite of ancestral worship, Conlee said.

The burial site, called La Tiza, contains only the third known Nasca head jar found with a decapitated body.

Head jars have been found at other Nasca sites and are often associated with high-status burials, though scientists know little about their function.

Tags: archaeology, sacrifice, peru, moche, science, history

LOLCreationists

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 04:02:12 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: I don't really get the LOLcats thing, but this is funny

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Tags: humor, science, creationism, evolution

Science and Nature Reject Office 2007

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 04:20:31 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: blogs.guardian.co.uk

Oh dear, a problem for Office 2007. The two leading science journals, Science and Nature, say that they won't accept papers submitted in the new "docx" Word 2007 format.

Because of changes Microsoft has made in its recent Word release that are incompatible with our internal workflow, which was built around previous versions of the software, Science cannot at present accept any files in the new .docx format produced through Microsoft Word 2007, either for initial submission or for revision.

And Nature, the other top-ranking science journal, isn't taking Word 2007 formats either.

Will Microsoft be hurrying round to the AAAS and Elsevier offices with spiffy ~~free~~ ~~cheap~~ ~~low-priced~~ helpful upgrades to Office for those organisations? Actually, since any upgrade has to be melded into the workflow, it probably won't help. Which is something of a disincentive for academic institutions around the world that want to stay highly ranked on the ISI to upgrade to Office 2007 in a hurry.

Tags: science, nature, publication, microsoft

First solid evidence of Polynesian contact with S. America

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 04:16:35 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: Long suspected but never proved.

Clip Source: www.newscientist.com

The work provides the first firm evidence that ancient Polynesians voyaged as far as South America, and also strongly suggests that they were responsible for the introduction of chickens to the continent - a question that has been hotly debated for more than 30 years.

Chilean archaeologists working at the site of El Arenal-1, on the Arauco Peninsula in south-central Chile, discovered what they thought might be the first prehistoric chicken bones unearthed in the Americas.

The group carbon-dated the bones and their DNA was analysed. The 50 chicken bones from at least five individual birds date from between 1321 and 1407 - 100 years or more before the arrival of Europeans.

And when the El Arenal chicken DNA was compared with chicken DNA from archaeological sites in Polynesia, the researchers found an identical match with prehistoric samples from Tonga and American Samoa, and a near identical match from Easter Island.

Tags: archaeology, polynesia, lapita, voyaging, chile

NYT editorial--GOP hand-raiser on evolution

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 15:00:39 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: GOP presidential hopeful continues to flaunt the dismal failings of the US educational system before the entire world

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

While no stone should be left unturned in seeking to discover the nature of man’s origins, we can say with conviction that we know with certainty at least part of the outcome. Man was not an accident and reflects an image and likeness unique in the created order. Those aspects of evolutionary theory compatible with this truth are a welcome addition to human knowledge. Aspects of these theories that undermine this truth, however, should be firmly rejected as an atheistic theology posing as science.

Without hesitation, I am happy to raise my hand to that.

Tags: evolution, creationism, banjo-twangin' inbreds, brownback, conservatism, politics, science

Remembering the Dutch colonisation of Brazil

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:55:51 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Brazil's history might be more frequently associated with Portuguese rule than Dutch, but for 25 years from 1630, the Netherlands controlled 1,000 miles of coastline in the north-east of the country. Today the two countries are keen to preserve the Dutch connection.

For 25 years from 1630, it was the Calvinist Netherlanders and not the Catholic Portuguese who held sway over this part of Brazil.

The Dutchmen at the peak of their power set up the West Indies Company to trade in slaves from Africa and goods across the south Atlantic, and Brazil was their market.

They came, captured 1,000 miles of coastland and set up in business.

But by 1655 the Hollanders were defeated and their language and culture disappeared from Brazil, keeping a foothold in South America only in Surinam to the north, which remains Dutch-speaking to this day.

Tags: brazil, colonialism, dutch, netherlands, commemoration, heritage

If all stories were written like science fiction stories

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:49:06 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.shrovetuesdayobserved.com

The planes left from the city airport, which they reached using the city bi-rail. Ann had changed into her travelling outfit, which consisted of a light shirt in polycarbon-derived artifical fabric, which showed off her pert figure, without genetic enhancements, and dark blue pants made of textiles. Her attractive brown hair was uncovered.

Roger and Ann needed to meet Sergey in San Francisco.

They selected one of the hydrocarbon-powered ground transports from the queue which waited outside the airport. The fee was small enough that it was not paid electronically, but using portable dollar tokens. The driver conducted his car unit into the city; though he drove only at 100 km/hr, it felt much faster since they were only a meter from the concrete road surface. He looked over at Ann, concerned that the speed might alarm her; but she seemed to be enjoying the ride. A game girl, and intelligent as well!

Tags: science fiction, humor

Spying and fieldwork

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 19:06:46 GMT

clipped by: tpq62

Clip Source: www.blackwell-synergy.com

Home >
List of Issues >
Table of Contents >
Article Abstract

Anthropology Today

Volume 23 Issue 1 Page 28Issue 1 - 28 - February 2007

To cite this article: Susan Wright (2007)
SPYING AND FIELDWORK
Anthropology Today 23 (1), 28–28.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8322.2007.00490.x

Prev Article Next Article

Abstract

SPYING AND FIELDWORK

Susan Wright¹¹Danish University of Education suwr@dpu.dk

¹Danish University of Education suwr@dpu.dk

Tags: anthopology, gwot, military

Who needs science when you have science fiction?

Sun, 03 Jun 2007 01:25:06 GMT

clipped by: tpq62
clipper's remarks: "they 'need people to think of crazy ideas,' Andrews says."
Noted without comment

Clip Source: www.usatoday.com

Sci-fi writers join war on terror

Looking to prevent the next terrorist attack, the Homeland Security Department is tapping into the wild imaginations of a group of self-described "deviant" thinkers: science-fiction writers.

"We spend our entire careers living in the future," says author Arlan Andrews, one of a handful of writers the government brought to Washington this month to attend a Homeland Security conference on science and technology.

Those responsible for keeping the nation safe from devastating attacks realize that in addition to border agents, police and airport screeners, they "need people to think of crazy ideas," Andrews says.

Tags: science fiction, gwot