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The Anasazi mystery

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 19:32:01 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

about 30 miles east of Tucson, the ancient stone ruin archaeologists call the Davis Ranch Site doesn’t seem to fit in. Staring back from the opposite bank, the tumbled walls of Reeve Ruin are just as surprising

Some 700 years ago, as part of a vast migration, a people called the Anasazi, driven by God knows what, wandered from the north to form settlements like these, stamping the land with their own unique style

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

These Anasazi newcomers

were distinctive in other ways. They liked to build with stone

Why, in the late 13th century, did thousands of Anasazi abandon Kayenta, Mesa Verde and the other magnificent settlements of the Colorado Plateau and move south into Arizona and New Mexico?

Looking beyond climate change, some archaeologists are studying the effects of warfare and the increasing complexity of Anasazi society. They are looking deeper into ancient artifacts and finding hints of an ideological struggle, clues to what was going through the Anasazi mind.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

To all Clippers

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 23:28:43 GMT

clipped by: mickfinn
clipper's remarks: If I knew where you all were, I'd send a postcard with a Joan Armatrading lyric.

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Hello

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Clippers

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

I Am

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Off

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

on My

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Holiday

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

But

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Douglas MacArthur

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Said,

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

I shall return

Tags: frippery

Write Like an Egyptian

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:52:56 GMT

clipped by: dakotayii
clipper's remarks: enjoy

Clip Source: www.upennmuseum.com

University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
www.upenn.edu/museum
presents

Write Like an Egyptian

your name in hieroglyphs,
the way an Egyptian scribe might have written it.

1:
Type your first name
(maximum 16 letters)

Tags: fun

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Also Know As The Trash Vortex

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 18:42:35 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: Sad Picture: No one to blame for this but ourselves. Four fifths of the plastic detritus floating over 2.5 million square miles of ocean surface arrives there from land-based run off: from stormwater, in other words: litter.

Sadly - many people take the "out of sight, out of mind" approach.

Plastic contamination in the world's oceans is worse than previously imagined and no amount of technology can clean it up.

We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic. All succeeding generations will only see an ocean filled with trash.

Net a piece of plastic, and you’ll find barnacles and small crabs clinging to it. Not a good thing for fish, birds, and mammals that mistake it for its natural food, such as eggs, jellyfish, or other sea creatures.

Most of the plastic will eventually photo-degrade into small, dust-like particles to the point that it will be non-detectable to the human eye, but ingestible by sea mammals, birds, and fish—many of which we then consume ourselves.

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

The carcass of an albatross on the beach; birds and sea mammals mistake plastics for food then inevitably starve to death. This is the bird’s actual gut sample.

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," or "trash vortex" - essentially a floating expanse of waste and debris in the Pacific Ocean now covering an area twice the size of the continental U.S. Believed to hold almost 100m tons of flotsam, this vast "plastic soup" stretches 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan

"trash vortex" aren't just limited to the marine ecosystem

"What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple."

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

It’s everywhere. Multiple paths of Ziploc baggies, bottle caps, balloons, pretzel bags, and other debris lead you to the swirling trash vortex like a trail of bread crumbs

In the most polluted areas, the plastic-to-plankton ratio is 48 to 1. It’s become part of the oceanic landscape

Clip Source: www.treehugger.com

Tags: ocean, plastic, what will happen, litter, trash, dirty, ignorance

Studies of the Bleedin' Obvious

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:03:26 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.null-hypothesis.co.uk

Studies of the Bleedin' Obvious

For the most part, scientists spend their hard earned research money on worthwhile work. But there are a few cheeky beggars around who only succeed in telling us things we already knew. How do they get away with it?

The five second rule

Don't jog in smog

Sweets can make you fat

More work, less sleep

Panda decline human fault

Cramming doesn't work

Adults talk differently to babies

Death in ambulance

Girls like men with muscles

Last minute prezzies are rubbish

Bees like gardens

Image: Ramzi Hashisho

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Who's a pretty naughty boy? Barney the foul-mouthed parrot

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:43:03 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: "We have got another African Grey called Sunny who squawks 'shut up' at them when the swearing starts - but they don't take any notice."

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

First he told the mayoress in rather forthright terms to go away.

Then Barney the swearing parrot used more Anglo-Saxon language on a vicar and two police officers.

But, worse still, he is now teaching his bad habits to two other birds at the wildlife sanctuary where he lives.

"I knew that Barney could swear but what has happened is shocking," said sanctuary owner Geoff Grewcock.

"He's been teaching the other two when we had our backs turned.

"It sounds like a builders' yard, with all the abuse flying about."

In 2005, Barney told the local mayoress to f*** off during a civic visit and then turned to two police officers and a vicar and added: "You can f*** off too, w******!"

Mr Grewcock said: "We have tried everything to get Barney to curb his language and now we have got another two to contend with.

"These birds can live until they are 70 so there are potentially another 60 years of this to contend with."

Tags: funny, humor, humour, birds, parrots

Someone Control My Granny!

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:55:06 GMT

clipped by: carrerinyes

Clip Source: www.zerohoursleep.com

Cure for arachnophobia

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 01:46:14 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.craphound.com

Some great pics - British Air Force completes 90yrs

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:23:24 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08

Clip Source: www.shareordie.in

90 - anniversary of the Air Force of Great Britain in London

In London, Air Force of Great Britain (British Royal Air Force) began to celebrate its 90 - anniversary. ВВС British air force was formed April 1, 1918.

For residents of the capital of Royal Air Force prepared colorful air acrobatic surprise. In the skies over the very centre of London team flew piloting fighter “red arrows” (Red Arrows).

Tags: aircraft, royal air force, red arrow, airshow, uk

the Next Civil Rights Battle Will Be Over the Mind

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:34:59 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: "To a certain extent, memories are societal properties," says Adam Kolber, a visiting professor at Princeton.
"We really need to articulate a moral code that governs all this," warns Arthur Caplan, a University of Pennsylvania bioethicist.

Clip Source: www.wired.com

We think of our brains as the ultimate private sanctuary, a zone where other people can't intrude without our knowledge or permission. But its boundaries are gradually eroding. Hypersonic sound is just a portent of what's coming, one of a host of emerging technologies aimed at tapping into our heads. These tools raise a fascinating, and queasy, new ethical question: Do we have a right to "mental privacy"?

"We're going to be facing this question more and more, and nobody is really ready for it," says Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist and board member of the nonprofit Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics. "If the skull is not an absolute domain of privacy, there are no privacy domains left." He argues that the big personal liberty issues of the 21st century will all be in our heads — the "civil rights of the mind," he calls it.

But this isn't just about reading minds; it's also about bombarding them with messages or tweaking their chemistry

Tags: civil rights, mind, privacy, ethics

Coral reefs coming back from the dead

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:27:18 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

efforts to re-seed dying coral reefs are performing better than anyone dared hope

On land, EcoReefs look attractive but artificial, like contemporary sculpture. Nearly two years later, they're something else entirely: a hybrid of technology and organic life

Their antler-shaped arms are covered with baby corals and sponges, more varieties than I can count

One of the techniques used to jump-start growth on the EcoReefs was "coral tranplants." Chunks of loose coral were physically attached to the EcoReefs with little plastic ties. Oddly, those modules have done no better than the ones left to their own devices. No one knows why; perhaps corals, like delicate houseplants, favor a specific angle to the sun. When that orientation is lost, the polyps wallow in confusion...

Clip Source: www.perceptivetravel.com

Clip Source: www.boingboing.net

It's mind-boggling to see how fast these corals are returning