Clipmarks | Ancient Clips

21st-Century Ziggurat Could House 1 Million People -a Sustainable City of the Future

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:10:54 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The castle, or town, surrounded by farmlands.

To archaeologists and those who like their history, a ziggurat is a terraced pyramid (image), native to the ancient Mesopotamian valley and Iran. Used as shrines and for escaping from rising flood waters, the ziggurats have revealed much about the culture surrounding their construction.

However, the ziggurat is about to enter the common vernacular, hopefully, as something a little more modern.

Under the watchful eye of Dubai-based Timelinks, an environmental design company, a new project entitled Ziggurat is being proposed as a sustainable city of the future. Able to hold up to a million people, but taking up only 2.3 square kilometers – a tenth of the original land needed for such a group of people – the designers believe that the power of nature will support the Ziggurat.

“Ziggurat communities can be almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise,” said Ridas Matonis, Managing Director of Timelinks. “Apart from using steam power in the building we will also employ wind turbine technology

21st-Century Ziggurat Could House 1 Million People -a Sustainable City of the Future

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:53:54 GMT

clipped by: xpersianx
clipper's remarks: click and read the rest story

Clip Source: www.dailygalaxy.com

However, the ziggurat is about to enter the common vernacular, hopefully, as something a little more modern.

“Ziggurat communities can be almost totally self-sufficient energy-wise,” said Ridas Matonis, Managing Director of Timelinks. “Apart from using steam power in the building we will also

Tags: zigurat, iran

100 Extensive University Libraries from Around the World that Anyone Can Access

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:41:26 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: For the complete list, pl visit the site...

Clip Source: www.collegedegree.com

By Alisa Miller

Digital Libraries

Capturing images of manuscripts, art, and artifacts, digital libraries are an excellent way of both preserving the past and sharing it with everyone.

Harvard University Library. Browse through 24 different collections ranging from cultural images of eastern Asia to 19th century American trade cards.

Yale University Library: Digital Collections. Find ancient manuscripts or read a classic all preserved digitally courtesy of the Yale University Library.

International Digital Libraries

These digital libraries either have a focus on a culture other than that of the United States or are housed in another country.

Medical Libraries

These libraries offer medical information for both the professional and the lay person.

Legal Libraries

Whether you are studying the law or are just interested in it, these libraries have information for you.

Religious Studies

Specialized Selections

Academic Research

American Universities

International Universities

WATER FOR PROFITS

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 01:25:47 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: First Food, Now Water and Next will be the clean Air You Breathe-FOR PROFITS and SPECULATION

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Speculators and water an uneasy mix

CANBERRA (Reuters) - On the cracked grey clay of an ancient lake bed on the edge of Australia's outback, Guy Kingwill is at the frontier of a global rush to commercialize water.

Despite a long-running drought, Kingwill, who runs the vast Tandou farm, 142km southeast of the mining town of Broken Hill, has just sold his property's critical water on a national market rather than pump it into irrigated cereal crops.

"The return on the water is higher," Kingwill told Reuters. "Where we are it's broadacre cropping. But the market now is driving significantly more per megaliter from horticulture than you can get a profit margin out of wheat and barley," he says.

With drought gripping some areas for a decade, prices for one megaliter of seasonal water -- enough for an Olympic-size pool -- are peaking at A$600 ($517), while permanent water entitlements are less volatile, but still pricey at up to A$2,500 a megaliter. Continued...

Rebuilding Ancient American Mounds

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:51:43 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-08/uoc-upp082508.php

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

UC project puts Midwest mounds back on the map

More than 10 years ago, University of Cincinnati researcher John Hancock, professor of architecture in UC's top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), began an ambitious, complex project using modern technology to electronically rebuild lost or damaged Native American monuments that once rivaled Stonehenge in their astronomical accuracy.

That electronic rebuilding project, known as EarthWorks, is now traveling museums across the Midwest – an area where, once, thousands of mounds and earthworks were built by Native American cultures in the form of geometric shapes, ringed hilltops or animal effigies (think Ohio's Serpent Mound or Fort Ancient).

Ancient Beehives

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 16:37:15 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: www.sciencenews.org

Honey of a discovery

An ancient Israeli site yields the oldest known archaeological example of beekeeping

The Bible refers to ancient Israel as the “land flowing with milk and honey,” so it’s fitting that one of its towns milked honey for all it was worth. Scientists have unearthed the remains of a large-scale beekeeping operation at a nearly 3,000-year-old Israeli site, which dates to the time of biblical accounts of King David and King Solomon.

Excavations in northern Israel at a huge earthen mound called Tel Rehov revealed the Iron Age settlement. From 2005 to 2007, workers at Tel Rehov uncovered the oldest known remnants of human-made beehives, excavation director Amihai Mazar and colleagues report in the September Antiquity. No evidence of beekeeping has emerged at any other archaeological sites in the Middle East or surrounding regions.

Is California on the Brink of Environmental Collapse?

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 15:30:19 GMT

clipped by: papananook
clipper's remarks: Water, water, water...when will we learn to respect it?

Clip Source: www.alternet.org

California has spared no expense to taxpayers or natural ecosystems to become the most hydrologically altered landmass on the planet.

There is no landmass on Earth quite like California. Here one finds the world's most ancient trees, bristlecone pines, more than 4,700 years old, in the White Mountains; the tallest and largest trees, the coast redwood and giant sequoia, respectively; the highest point in the lower 48 states, Mount Whitney; the lowest and hottest place in the Western Hemisphere, Death Valley; the largest western hemisphere estuary, the Bay Delta; an 800-mile coastline; the most irrigated acres; the most endangered species in the U.S.; the most diverse geology and biodiversity in the U.S.; and the greatest, most ecologically destructive water projects on Earth.

Roman "Snakes and ladders"

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:07:38 GMT

clipped by: teacherina

Clip Source: mail.google.com

Roman Snakes and Ladders

I’ve placed the link under Greece and Rome.

Students can play Roman Snakes and Ladders, either alone or with a partner, to have a little fun and to learn a bit about the ancient Romans. Depending upon which square you land on, an image of an artifact will pop-up with a short description.

A Theologian Answers the Atheists about God

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 04:48:10 GMT

clipped by: Efrain Alvarado

Clip Source: insidecatholic.com

Father Williams has produced a quick read that manages to point out flaws in simple reasoning and clear errors in the more complex arguments that are often blindsided by the atheist's own prejudice.

The natural sciences grew out of Christian culture. As the sociologist Rodney Stark has so convincingly shown, science was "still-born" in the great civilizations of the ancient world, except in Christian civilizations. Why is it that empirical science and the scientific method did not develop in China (with its sophisticated society), in India (with its philosophical schools), in Arabia (with its advanced mathematics), in Japan . . . or even in ancient Greece or Rome? . . . Science flourished in societies where a Christian mind-set understood nature to be ordered and intelligible, the work of an intelligent Creator. . . . Far from being an obstacle to science, Christian soil was the necessary humus where science took root.

Tags: god, atheism, religion, christianity

300

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:43:23 GMT

clipped by: 2rockstone

Clip Source: www.dvdtown.com

The epic graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) assaults the screen with the blood, thunder and awe of its ferocious visual style faithfully recreated in an intense blend of live-action and CGI animation. Retelling the ancient Battle of Thermopylae, it depicts the titanic clash in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) and his massive Persian army. Experience history at swordpoint. And moviemaking with a cutting edge.

Roadway to the Stars

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:32:14 GMT

clipped by: Jorjor
clipper's remarks: Some pictures exceed the proverbial 1,000 word limit.

Clip Source: antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov

Milky Way Road Trip

Explanation: In search of planets and the summer Milky Way, astronomer Tunç Tezel took an evening road trip. Last Saturday, after driving the winding road up Uludag, a mountain near Bursa, Turkey, he was rewarded by this beautiful skyview to the south. Near the center, bright planet Jupiter outshines the city lights below and the stars of the constellation Sagittarius. Above the mountain peaks, an arcing cloud bank seems to lead to the Milky Way's own cloudy apparition plunging into the distant horizon. In Turkish, Uludag means Great Mountain. Uludag was known in ancient times as the Mysian Olympus.

Tags: astronomy, picture of the day, apod

Word of the Day

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:31:01 GMT

clipped by: dmuhamm

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

demagogue · \ˈde-mə-ˌgäg\ · (noun)

1 : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power
2 : a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times

To map this word or hear it pronounced in the Visual Thesaurus, click here.

Brain and Creativity Institute

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 16:24:53 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: The mission of the Brain and Creativity Institute is to gather new knowledge about the human emotions, decision-making, memory, and communication, from a neurological perspective, and to apply this knowledge to the solution of problems in the biomedical and sociocultural arenas.

Clip Source: www.usc.edu

The Brain and Creativity Institute was founded by Antonio Damasio and Hanna Damasio in 2006. Since ancient times, thinkers and scientists have sought to explain how we perceive, interpret, and shape our existence. However, until very recently, researchers interested in these questions have had to rely entirely on conjecture or indirect evidence. Now, recent technological advances in brain imaging and fresh insights into the functioning of the human brain at the level of systems, cells and molecules, provide extraordinary new opportunities for uncovering the neurological underpinnings for a large array of mental functions – from emotion and decision-making to innovation and creativity.

It is also apparent that emotion, decision-making, memory and communication, are central to our most fundamental socio-cultural endeavors

The Institute is a groundbreaking effort to make use of important new discoveries from the mind and brain sciences and confront pressing issues of our time.

Tags: brain and creativity, antonio damasio

Mammoths moved 'out of America'

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:53:32 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists have discovered that the last Siberian woolly mammoths may have originated in North America.

Their research in the journal Current Biology represents the largest study of ancient woolly mammoth DNA.

The iconic Ice Age woolly mammoth - Mammuthus primigenius - roamed through mainland Eurasia and North America until about 10,000 years ago.

Previous studies had hinted that the last mammoths left in Siberia were not natives - but immigrants from North America.

However, more evidence was required to strengthen the case for this "out of America" theory.

A team of researchers led by Professor Hendrik Poinar from McMaster University in Canada collected 160 mammoth samples from across Holarctica - a region encompassing present day North America, Europe and Asia.

Well-preserved DNA material - between 4,000 and 40,000 years old - was obtained from "almost every part of the animal - even from preserved hide, skin and hair", Professor Poinar told BBC News.

Tags: illegal, immigrants, booted, out, 10000, yrs, ago

Victory in Anbar

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 04:58:45 GMT

clipped by: Rustee

Clip Source: outsidethewire.com

The road Abraham travelled passed through villages and cities whose names have changed or been lost to the ages.

One of those is the ancient city of Anbar.

Persians, Romans and Arabs all fought battles over this ancient city.

The Roman leader Gordian died at Anbar.

The Arab General Khalid wrested the city from the Persians.

Centuries later, U.S. Marines and Soldiers fought house to house in the same city. We know it now as Fallujah.

Scarsely two years ago, Al Anbar province was thought to be lost. But just yesterday, control of the province was handed over to the Iraqi government.

This victory will not be splashed across the headlines above the fold. It will be buried under a hurricane, a Vice Presidential nominee and the Republican Convention.

But it is a victory worthy of the ages as the coalition and Iraqi citizens defeated one of the greatest evils of our time.

Like Abraham, Gordian and the others of history who tread the banks of the Euphrates river--they have made their mark.