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1,000 Graves Unearthed in Ancient Greece

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 03:04:33 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

1,000 Ancient Graves Unearthed in Greece

March 11, 2008 -- Greek workers discovered around 1,000 graves, some filled with ancient treasures, while excavating for a subway system in the historic city of Thessaloniki, the state archaeological authority said Monday.

Some of the graves, which dated from the first century B.C. to the 5th century A.D., contained jewelry, coins and various pieces of art, the Greek archaeological service said in a statement.

Thessaloniki was founded around 315 B.C. and flourished during the Roman and Byzantine eras. Today it is the Mediterranean country's second largest city.

Most of the graves -- 886 -- were just east of the city center in what was the eastern cemetery during Roman and Byzantine times. Those graves ranged from traces of wooden coffins left in simple holes in the ground, to marble enclosures in five-room family mausoleums.

A separate group of 94 graves were found near the city's train station, in what was once part of the city's western cemetery.

The Mexico You've Never Seen

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:20:44 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: Beautiful pics

Clip Source: www.wild-landscape.com

Tags: nature, photography, mexico, art, landscapes

How Creepy Do You Want It?

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 10:40:17 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: I love stories like this.

...because, well, that's where the action is. That's where we get to touch the void, dance on the edge of perception, realize how little we truly know of anything.

Clip Source: www.sfgate.com

How creepy do you want it?

The famously eerie tale of nine dead Russian hikers, with all the bizarre details you can handle

Ah, but the occult. The paranormal. The deeply weird, mysterious, unsolvable, disturbing. That can get to me. That has power. A good, deep creep-out, those unknowable things that get under your skin and crawl around and tug at the shirtsleeves of your fears, well, those are the things can last for years. Lifetimes.

I love that. I hate that.

"The Blair Witch Project."

"The Exorcist."

"Picnic at Hanging Rock," another classic

But still, they're just movies. Fiction, mostly. No matter how good they are, they all kneel before the one true god of interminable creepiness: reality.

It's called the Dyatlov Pass Accident.

Oh my God, yes. I stumbled over this delicious tale

that contains all the best elements of a deep, resonant creep-out.

Inexplicable behavior.

Bizarre factoids.

Inconclusive evidence.

Missing body parts.

50 years later,

not a single clue

as to what really happened.

What Would It Take To Prove You Wrong?

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:12:41 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: This is a powerful question to ask yourself when examining your beliefs. Doing so honestly, will make you a clearer and deeper thinker. It can be the difference between a person who simply revels in wishful thinking, and a heroic seeker of truth.

Take a deep look into your own belief systems, and ask yourself what evidence it would take to convince you they were wrong. It's an uncomfortable exercise, but an important one.

Clip Source: www.paulstips.com

Few people in today's world would admit that they don't have an open mind.

When it comes to religion, politics, morals, and rules of behaviour, most people's ideas are pretty much set in stone. If somebody starts talking in a way that sounds like an opposing view, the vast majority of us would simply switch off our ears and wait for a chance to use our mouths.

But overcoming the weight of in-built attitude of always assuming the moral and knowledge high-ground is difficult for most people. It's so much easier just to stubbornly keep insisting that they're right and anyone who disagrees must be evil and/or stupid.

Here's a good trick for overcoming this disability. When you get into a discussion about difficult beliefs - religion, politics, moral codes and so on - ask yourself this one simple question.

What evidence would it take to convince me my beliefs are wrong?

it leaves the door open to explore under what circumstances that might be true.

What would it take to prove you wrong?

Literal Answers to Rhetorical Questions

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:10:22 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: >>People commonly ask empty rhetorical questions that rarely receive any sort of sensible answer. When you have had your surfeit of poetical whimsy and are ready for some good, hard facts, come here to be set straight.The world would be much improved if those engaging in windy musings were more often brought up short by a nice, sharp definition or a pointed rebuke. Even the fantastical William Shakespeare, asking himself "Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?" goes on (admittedly at excessive length) to list a number of reasons for answering in the negative.Of course, some questions are so ill-framed as to admit of no sensible answer. Example: Where have you been all my life? It so happens that this question has never been addressed to me; but if it were I should be at a loss to detail the many addresses at which I have resided and worked during the span of existence of some other person, even if I knew that person's precise date of birth. Such idle musings are best ignored.<<

Clip Source: www.wsu.edu

Mr. Gradgrind's
Literal Answers to Rhetorical Questions

What's up, Doc?

Presuming that the doctor addressed is a physician, one must assume that the question refers to the identity of the topmost parts of the human body, in which case the short answer is the frontal lobe of the brain, the skull, the scalp, and--if any--the hair.

Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?

No one well informed, of course, since the writer in question died in 1941; but during her lifetime she was known to have a sharp tongue, and many persons had reason to fear her wit.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Though the poet neglects to enumerate them, providing instead a mere list, a simple inventory establishes that--if we omit the purely hypothetical posthumous final one--Elizabeth Barrett loved Robert Browning in precisely seven ways.

Where have all the flowers gone?

Would you like to swing on a star?

What shall we do with a drunken sailor?

What is so rare as a day in June?

Where are the snows of yesteryear?