Clipmarks |

Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:50:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: The archaeological discoveries in Gobeklitepe - Turkey, continues to stun the archaeology world. The site is dated to 9,500 BCE.

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Klaus Schmidt, a member of the German Archaeological Institute, has found in Turkey a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable. "This place is a supernova," said Mr. Schmidt. "Within a minute of first seeing it, I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."

The stone circles of Gobekli Tepe are his workplace since 1994.

Dated at about 9500 BCE, these stones are 5,500 years older than the first cities of Mesopotamia and 7,000 years older than Stonehenge.

"Everybody used to think only complex, hierarchical civilizations could build such monumental sites and that they only came about with the invention of agriculture," said Ian Hodder, a Stanford University anthropology professor who has directed digs at Catalhoyuk,

"Gobekli changes everything. It's elaborate, it's complex, and it is pre-agricultural. That fact alone makes the site one of the most important archaeological finds in a very long time."

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, neolithic, turkey, klaus schmidt, science

Nightmare Playgrounds

Sat, 03 May 2008 07:47:03 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: LOL this is the biggest creep-fest I've ever seen. Parents, would you let your kids play on this stuff? How depressing is this stuff?

Clip Source: www.darkroastedblend.com

A multitude of such bizarre apparitions still exists in the former Communist countries - proving that kids would play in just about any environment. A few statues illustrate the elements of Slavic fairy tales, others make do with miserable (decapitated, or worse) animals and evil-looking, nightmarish characters.

Moscow Children Hospital:

Teletubby character (in Moscow) -

a village close to Odessa:

Decapitated monkeys

puppy, nailed to the tree

Little Red Riding Hood, ruthlessly bound

half of hippopotamus:

Cow / baths hybrids,

snails invade a playground near St. Petersburg:

"mosquito slide", found in Germany

trapped mouse below is also pretty neat

a ship, got it? -

does NOT rotate:

(never-ending) exercise:

Giant vegetable thing

Mysterious little monsters

)

"Cheburashka":

hedgehog:

some make-up:

Starokonstantinov.

freaky

Clip Source: www.darkroastedblend.com

dream of killing a crocodile with cutlery?

the creepiest

)

sculpted kids are climbing the TV tower in Prague

Cows also want to climb higher:

Prague:

zombie sculptures

pretty

)

Tags: bizarre, russia

Painting on Leaves

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:25:26 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug
clipper's remarks: Just beautiful!

Clip Source: www.crookedbrains.net

This is leaf art, a delicate work of art from India. This beautiful art originated in the southern India (Kerala). Its done on dry Peepal (Ficus religiosa) leaves.

So how do we create it?
If you are among those who can hold the brush & create some artistic stuff you are half way through.

Place a few leaves in a bowl full of water for a month or so. But do remember to check it once every few days to see the condition of the leaves. The purpose of soaking the leaves is to remove the outer layer of the leaves. After being in water for long, the leaves get a film over them, which you need to clean by washing it off or use a brush periodically. And do remember to change the water with a fresh one periodically. And one other thing patience is a virtue along with fragile handling here.
Once the outer skin is lost, it leaves behind a beautiful bony structure, usually off-white in color.

Now dry it for a day & you got a leaf to paint on.

'Androgynous' Pharaoh Had Feminine Physique

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:54:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Akhenaten wasn't the most manly pharaoh, even though he fathered at least a half-dozen children. In fact, his form was quite feminine. And he was a bit of an egghead.

So concludes a Yale University physician who analyzed images of Akhenaten for an annual conference Friday at the University of Maryland School of Medicine on the deaths of historic figures.

The female form was due to a genetic mutation that caused the pharaoh's body to convert more male hormones to female hormones than needed, Dr. Irwin Braverman believes. And Akhenaten's head was misshapen because of a condition in which skull bones fuse at an early age.

The pharaoh had "an androgynous appearance. He had a female physique with wide hips and breasts, but he was male and he was fertile and he had six daughters," Braverman said. "But nevertheless, he looked like he had a female physique."

Tags: archaeology, egyptology, ancient egypt, akhenaten, science

Hippopotamus Lives as a Pampered House Pet

Sat, 03 May 2008 02:35:19 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: "To come upon a hippopotamus in the wild would be sobering and cause for serious alarm, but a South African family has become surrogate parents to a hippo in their house as their pampered pet. Jessica the hippo prefers her home creature comforts to a life in the wild as she wanders around their house, eats at their table, drinks sweet coffee, and even gets a massage before she goes to bed."

Clip Source: www.lifeinthefastlane.ca

Photo Barcroft

Shirley and Tonie Joubert rescued the abandoned hippopotamus from a river bank on their property in Hoedspruit, Limpopo, South Africa after a devastating flood when she was merely hours old, and still had the umbilical cord attached to her in March 2000.

Photo

The Jouberts’ hand raised her — not wanting to leave her to dire fate of being eaten by crocodiles or starving to death — fully expecting her to return to the wild as soon as she was old enough. They’ve spent the past 8 years raising Jessica, and the world’s only tame hippo has never left since.

Photo

“I don’t know whether she thinks I’m a hippo or she thinks she’s a human. But we have the most fantastic bond.” When Tonie calls her name, Jessica honks out her own greeting in return.

Photo

“She’s already broken a bed and a sofa, and it can be very messy because she’s not house trained.”

Photo

In between meals Jessica wallows in the river which runs through the Jouberts’ land

Photo

She’s the child I never had

Photo

”

Why You Should Talk to People

Sat, 03 May 2008 12:26:18 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Be nice to me or I might not talk to you. Or worse, maybe I will talk to you...

Recently published research shows that individual humans will be nicer (more altruistic) when there is the possibility that the recipient of an act can respond verbally. The paper, "Anticipated verbal feedback induces altruistic behavior" is published in Evolution and Human Behavior for March.

Apparently, there is a tendency under different conditions to give either nothing or half of the money.

In any event, the key finding here is that under conditions where feedback was going to happen, the "dictator" (divider of the money) more often gave away half of the cash.

Tags: science, altruism, morality, language, ethics, game theory, psychology

5 Extremely Expensive Exotic Pets

Fri, 02 May 2008 19:30:52 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: "Here is a list of some of the 5 of the priciest pets you can buy. Spot the difference, between the illegal pets and the legal ones. Can you tell the difference?"

Honestly, except for maybe the Macaw, they should all be illegal. Even so, that bird needs to fly, not sit around couped-up in a cage somewhere.....

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

5. DeBrazza’s Monkey, $7,000

Named after a French explorer, DeBrazza’s monkey, which is widespread in Central Africa

the primate is highly shy, and displays a broad range of emotions.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

4. Macaw $12,000

the largest FLYING parrot in the world, stretching as much as 1M long

their beaks can crack coconuts open.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

3. Python $15,000

The largest snake species in India, this bad boy can get up to 4M long and over 120 pounds– more than enough to crush your scrawny body.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

2. Chimpanzee $65,000

With only one more pair of chromosomes than us, they also have thumbs, different groups have very different social displays, and they have a sophisticated, and rank-based structure of interaction with one-another.

They also display laughter, and there is a great deal of debate over whether or not they understand language.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

1. White Tigers $138,000

They are Bengal tigers with a recessive gene

An additional genetic condition can remove the stripes from a white tiger, rendering it entirely white–something that’s even more rare

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: pets?

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Sat, 03 May 2008 11:30:31 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes
clipper's remarks: I find it remarkable that atheists are viewed almost as badly upon as Scientologists.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

American Views of Religious Groups and Atheists

Gallup has released a survey measuring Americans views on various religious groups

Tags: religion, atheism, scientology, survey, gallup, us, usa, stats, society

Dream Room Wants yr Mind To ...

Sat, 03 May 2008 15:25:11 GMT

clipped by: syncopath
clipper's remarks: that's what i always searched for: "transforms the walls of a room into a living canvas" .... -))

Clip Source: rawartint.wordpress.com

Dream Room Wants Your Mind To Wander And Dream

Concepts are always great, good looking, and inviting as designers can think what they want to, without the worries of all the mundane things involved. Same is the case with the Dream Room, a concept designed by Fuse Project for Dwell magazine. If the concept ever meets realism, it’s without doubt going to be a wallet-straining one and uber-rich geeks are going to love it for sure. The Dream Room transforms the walls of a room into a living canvas. Using LCD displays as digital wallpapers, images are changed on command or by random settings, allowing one’s mind to wander and dream. The concept explores the boundaries of space, technology, landscape and wallpaper. Now, who wouldn’t like to dream that way?

Clip Source: rawartint.files.wordpress.com

Tags: transformation, go, out, of, the "room"

How to Properly Paint a Flat

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:07:52 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: www.crookedbrains.net

Here is a new & interesting way to paint an apartment. Using the cans of paints, making the paint fly & splash on the wall, the paint at times can be seen going a few floors high in air. So what do you think is the idea or concept behind it? Much information isn't available on this one, was it created for a movie scene, or a part of an advertisement or who were the people behind the concept or where or when was it created. But it looks really cool!

China from Above with rare photo of snow-covered Great Wall

Fri, 02 May 2008 20:50:15 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: Incredible photography by George Steinmetz for National Geographic http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/05/china/aerials/steinmetz-photography

1. The terraced farms of the Lisu people, one one of China's minority groups, create a patchwork on mountains near Weixi in Yunnan Province.
2. The Great Wall of China
3. In Guangxi, limestone pinnacles line the Li River.
4. Blooming fields of rapeseed plants weave around hills near Luoping in Yunnan Province.
5. sand dunes in the Kumtag Desert located in the Xinjiang region
6. Taklimakan oil field in the Xinjiang region
7. Guandong Province toulou, the traditional dwellings of the Hakka minority group
8. a new suburban development in Shenyang

(thanks, openthink)

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: china, photography

Extremely Useful and Interesting Data Sets and Visualizations

Fri, 02 May 2008 17:31:57 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: ( thanks, reflex) The site is set up to allow the entire internet to upload data, visualize it, and talk about their discoveries with other people

There are hundreds of these at the source page. You can customize existing sets and create your own. I clipped the ones with the highest ratings, but you can also search for specific topics. Very cool.

Clip Source: services.alphaworks.ibm.com

US government expenses 1962-2004

Shakespeare's favourite words

Movie Genres 1888-2012 Count

Dominant Religious Self-Descriptor

Alcohol Consumption Worldwide

Distribution of US Foreign Aid over time, 1946-2005

Survival on the Titanic

Line Graph: Change in CO2 Emissions by State, Per Capita (1...

Iraq War - US Military Deaths - by Age - as of 19 May, 2007

Male/Female Smoking Worldwide

Obama Speech 2007

Co-Occurrences of Names in the New Testament (more complete...

US Per Capita Consumption of Different Fruits (pounds), 197...

City vs. Highway Mileage

Worldwide Prison Population Rate

Harry Potter is Freaking Popular

The 2007 International Privacy Ranking

Word Tree: Genesis

Flawed Data - Temp Over Time and CO2 Levels

Emissions Per State Per Capita

Pies for superdelegates

Clip Source: services.alphaworks.ibm.com

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

US Violent Crime 1985-2005

How safe is your airline?

Status of U.S. Bridges by Year Built

US Infant Mortality Rates by State 1995-2002

International Organization Memberships

Candidate Expenditure Matrix

Tags: statistics, data

Solar Probe headed to the Sun - 125 miles per second - 2,600 degrees

Fri, 02 May 2008 18:20:49 GMT

clipped by: alanocu
clipper's remarks: The spacecraft fortified with heat-resistant technologies is going closer to the sun than any probe has ever gone.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.scienceblog.com

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is sending a spacecraft closer to the sun than any probe has ever gone – and what it finds could revolutionize what we know about our star and the solar wind that influences everything in our solar system.

Solar Probe will be fortified with heat-resistant technologies developed for APL’s MESSENGER spacecraft, which completed its first flyby of Mercury in January and will begin orbiting that planet in 2011. Solar Probe’s solar shield concept was partially influenced by designs of MESSENGER’s sunshade.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Clip Source: www.scienceblog.com

At closest approach Solar Probe would zip past the sun at 125 miles per second, protected by a carbon-composite heat shield that must withstand up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit and survive blasts of radiation and energized dust at levels not experienced by any previous spacecraft.

Clip Source: viewer.zoho.com

Tags: space exploration, sun, probe, messenger, spacecraft, nasa

Is a zero-carbon city on the horizon?

Fri, 02 May 2008 12:27:22 GMT

clipped by: Mohir
clipper's remarks: As part of their Masdar Initiative (masdar meaning "the source" in Arabic), an effort to further the research and implementation of sustainable construction, the Abu Dhabi government will build this city on a nearby 2.3 square-mile site (six square kilometers), adjacent to its international airport at an estimated cost of $22 billion.
It projected the city will eventually be able to sustain 50,000 residents and more than 1,000 businesses.
It broke ground in construction of the city and hopes to complete the project by 2016.

Clip Source: science.howstuffworks.com

Looking to reduce your "carbon footprint?" You're not alone. These days, many people are thinking about the amount of energy they use and the harmful carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. But if you're like many people, your carbon consciousness may begin and end with your passing interest in purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

Not so for Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the fourth largest source of oil in the world. The city is raising the bar for environmental stewardship. Given the fact that it has the fourth largest carbon footprint in the world,

The city's environmental efforts have resulted in grand plans to build a nearby city that will be entirely carbon neutral and will produce no waste.

To attain this zero-carbon and zero-waste goal, it plans to use the cutting-edge technology of sustainable design, which strives to reduce harmful environmental impact as much as possible.

an artist's rendering of what Masdar will look like from an aerial view.

Tags: carbon footprint, ecology, pollution, abu dhabi