Thee Stranger News

Thursday, May 12, 2022

Thee Stranger News for April, 2022

THEE STRANGER NEWS

A Liberated Zone on the FM, to enhance alternative culture and cognitive freedom!
Broadcast Thursdays at 89.5 FM KZCT in Vallejo, California, to a worldwide audience. Tune-in online [http://tunein.com/popout/player/s130679].
Convened by Dr.G., a Renegade Illuminati, convening Thee Temple [link], for knowledge, whimsy, and inspiration. Everything is true, nothing is forbidden!
Introductory track: Covenant - Ritual Noise [youtube.com/watch?v=dnlGEQ1NUsk]

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Futurism & Strange Science

* "EASA Issues ‘World’s First’ Design Specs on eVTOL; Vertiports Europe is setting standards for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, while the FAA appears to be lagging behind" (2021-03-28, flyingmag.com/easa-issues-worlds-first-design-specs-on-evtol-vertiports/) [archive.ph/8YcPz]

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* (1946, The Universal World Reference Encyclopedia, Colombia Educational, Chicago) [archive.ph/zp2sT]:

Campbell, Sir Malcolm, a British knight; born March 11, 1885, in Kent, England; educated at Uppingham and in Europe. In 1906 he began to take part in motorcycle races. He started to fly in 1909 and served as a pilot with the Royal Air Corps during the World War. He took up motor racing as a hobby in 1910. In Sept., 1936, Sir Malcolm set a new record for automobile speed by driving his famed "Bluebird" 301.3 miles per hour at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah. He previously had broken the record at Daytona Beach, Florida. The "Bluebird" was built to produce 2,500 horsepower, was 28 feet long, and weighed six tons. In 1937 Campbell's record was superseded by Captain George Eyston, whose "Thunderbolt" traveled over the same course at a rate of 311.42 m.p.h., while in August, 1939, John Cobb of London, driving his Railton "Red Lion," advanced the figure to 368.85 m.p.h.

- (photos courtesy Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce)

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Space News
"NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought" (2019, futurism.com) [archive.is/d6n46]

* " ‘Space laser’ is beaming directly at Earth from 5 billion lightyears away" (2022-04-08, nypost.com/2022/04/08/space-laser-is-beaming-directly-at-earth-from-5-billion-lightyears-away/) [archive.ph/4QL0G]

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* "Hubble telescope spots Earendel, the most distant star on record" (2022-04-01, presstv.ir/Detail/2022/04/01/679510/Hubble-telescope-spots-Earendel,-the-most-distant-star-on-record) [archive.ph/f213p], video (https://preview.presstv.ir/ptv///iran/20220401/space-telescope-star-ed.mp4)

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Martian Organisms

- (http://cosmology.com/FungiAttackRoverCuriosityWheels.html) [archive.ph/0iT9p]

- (http://cosmology.com/MarsCurrentPastLife.html) [archive.ph/J3wQi]

- (http://cosmology.com/FungiAttackRoverCuriosityWheels.html) [archive.ph/0iT9p]

- (http://cosmology.com/FungiContaminateMarsRovers.html) [archive.ph/YTaaO]

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* " ‘Sun’s wrath’: Plasma ejections could impact Earth, wreak havoc today" (2022-04-14, nypost.com/2022/04/14/plasma-ejections-from-the-sun-could-impact-earth-today/) [archive.ph/1xR3R]

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* "NASA Confirms Largest Comet Ever Is Bigger Than Rhode Island; The comet has an estimated diameter of approximately 80 miles; NASA says it won’t come any closer to Earth than Saturn" (2022-04-13, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-13/nasa-confirms-largest-comet-ever-is-bigger-than-rhode-island) [archive.ph/MUFZ7]

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* "Shrinking Moon May Be Generating Moonquakes" (2019-05-13, nasa.gov/press-release/goddard/2019/moonquakes) [archive.ph/JqBIo]

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* "NASA scientist aims to stop ‘deadly alien viruses’ from reaching Earth" (2022-04-13, nypost.com/2022/04/13/nasa-scientist-aims-to-stop-deadly-alien-viruses-from-reaching-earth/) [archive.ph/D12au]

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NEO Watch
B612 Foundation [b612foundation.org] to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.

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Ancient News

* "Human Species That Doesn’t Fit In The Timeline: Homo Naledi" (History with Kayleigh, via youtube.com/watch?v=grSlpZUeIXg) [archive.ph/ge25m]:

In 2013 bones were discovered in a cave in South-Africa, these bones are from a species of hominid but they don’t seem to fit in the current timeline.

This species has archaic features like their hands which are perfect for climbing, but they have modern features as well like their feet which are perfect for terrestrial terrain.

There’s been debate on where to put this species in the human evolutionary timeline ever since it was discovered, do they really belong to the Genus of Homo and where would they fall into the current proposed timeline?

The first Skeletal remains of Naledi were discovered in the Dinaledi chamber which is a part of the larger Rising Star Cave system, approximately 50 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg in South-Africa.

This area is also known under the name of the Cradle of Humankind, this area covers a total of 47,000 hectares, which equates to approximately 180 square miles.

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A mummy's foot appears from the sand after 3,500 years.

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* "Lizard Mound in Washington County will become Wisconsin's newest state park" (2022-03-14, jsonline.com, via yahoo.com/entertainment/lizard-mound-washington-county-become-130035720.html?guccounter=1) [archive.ph/Uwej5]

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* "The mysterious origin of the Slavs" (by Uwe Topper, translation via stolenhistory.net/threads/the-mysterious-origin-of-the-slavs-uwe-topper.5648/) [archive.ph/84i5s]

* "Who are the ancient Vandals? Slavic people!" (2022-01-04, stolenhistory.net/threads/who-are-the-ancient-vandals-slavic-people.5727/) [archive.ph/iVewM]

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* "From Scythia to Maghreb: Beyond the Phantom Middle Ages" (2012-11, by Thoth Gyula) [https://web.archive.org/web/20220313120728/https://maghon.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/0/3/20035969/toth_gyula_-_beyond_the_phantom_dark_ages.pdf]. This is the English transcript of a lecture held by the Hungarian author Tóth Gyula in November 2012 regarding the issues of the chronology in use and the fictitious historical events and characters that are in present in the history books. The full title of his book is "A kitalált középkoron túl - Szkítiától Maghrebig"; “Beyond the fictitious dark ages – From Scythia to Maghreb”.

* "The Sack of Rome, and - The Dark Ages?" (2014, by Tóth Gyula, via youtube.com/watch?v=Moat-sqjnd4) [archive.ph/Y7n88]

* "The Phantom Dark Ages and Beyond" (2014, by Tóth Gyula, via https://vimeo.com/93065091?embedded=true&owner=18947374&source=video_title) [archive.ph/oKIyu]

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* "Aboa became Saint Petersburg?" (2021-04-26, stolenhistory.net/threads/aboa-became-saint-petersburg.4704/) [archive.ph/jiYZ3]

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* "Canal in Sudan connecting to Upper Egypt and the Nile" (2021-04-26, stolenhistory.net/threads/canal-in-sudan-connecting-to-upper-egypt-and-the-nile.5000/) [archive.ph/icF5S]

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* "The Ancient Canals and Tanks of the NWT, Canada" (2019-11-23, stolenhistory.net/threads/the-ancient-canals-and-tanks-of-the-nwt-canada.5037/) [archive.ph/4Fa34]. Compelling.

* "Fish Lake Canal in Manitoba, Canada" (2019-10-13, stolenhistory.net/threads/fish-lake-canal-in-manitoba-canada.4928/) [archive.ph/qcaF1]. Tantalizing, though, this canal system may have been a relic of the Cold War, though it would appear to be useful for small transportation boats.

* "Long Island Canals. Who built them, and when?" (2019-09-22, stolenhistory.net/threads/long-island-canals-who-built-them-and-when.4868/) [archive.ph/9D4iy]. The dry spell of history concerning these canal grids is itself a mystery, though separately there were similar canal grids built across the Atlantic Seaboard of the USA during the 1930s as part of a mosquito abatement program.

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* "The Grand Canal of China" (2018-10-04, stolenhistory.net/threads/the-grand-canal-of-china.4569/) [archive.ph/5n0Tc]

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* "Pre-1587: Nicaragua Canal Existed?" (2019-12-15, stolenhistory.net/threads/pre-1587-nicaragua-canal-existed.4254/) [archive.ph/3BpWa]

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* "Sumatra aka Taprobana: No Lake, No Island, No Truth" (2020-04-26, stolenhistory.net/threads/sumatra-aka-taprobana-no-lake-no-island-no-truth.5023/) [archive.ph/4c2vO]

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* "1025-50: Anglo-Saxon Mappa Mundi from the Cotton Manuscript Collection" (2021-04-26, stolenhistory.net/threads/1025-50-anglo-saxon-mappa-mundi-from-the-cotton-manuscript-collection.4836/) [archive.ph/BSVWm]

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* "Archaeologists Unlock Centuries-Old Ship’s Origins Using Dead Rats" (2022-04-17, insidehook.com/daily_brief/science/archaeologists-unlock-centuries-old-ships-origins-using-dead-rats) [archive.ph/3HNMG]

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* "Incas gave children selected for ritual sacrifice the ayahuasca drug to help reduce anxiety, scientists think" (2022-04-23, businessinsider.com/inca-child-sacrifice-ayahuasca-used-as-antidepressant-peru-mummies-show-2022-4) [archive.ph/xGpa4]

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* "Ezekiel’s Daniel: Biblical Hero or Ancient Ugaritic Legend?" (2022-04-10, ancient-origins.net/human-origins-religions/ezekiel-0016625) [archive.ph/YUBL7]

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* "Maya City Sunk in Lake Atitlán Explored By Underwater Archaeologists" (2022-04-06, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/maya-city-lake-atitlan-0016608) [archive.ph/WNUfi]

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Miscellany & Errata

Videos by Eric Dubay (ht: @MorpheusRP)

- https://odysee.com/@EricDubay:c/The-Dinosaurs-Never-Existed:b

- https://odysee.com/@EricDubay:c/Dinosaurs-Science-or-Science-Fiction-:8

* (theultimatereconciliationist.wordpress.com/dinosaur-articles-all-material-written-by-thomas-perez/) [archive.ph/6jVxp]:

- "Dinosaurs Did Not Exist" (2019-10-19, theultimatereconciliationist.wordpress.com/2019/10/21/part-1-of-27-dinosaurs-did-not-exist/) [archive.ph/gQtov], part 2 (theultimatereconciliationist.wordpress.com/2019/10/30/part-2-of-27/) [archive.ph/ldULt]

- "Dinosaurs: Historical Geology? Dating Methods Examined" (theultimatereconciliationist.wordpress.com/2019/11/04/dinosaurs-historical-geology-dating-methods-examined/) [archive.ph/O6uxb]

Dinosaurs: Science of Science Fiction: https://ia600904.us.archive.org/29/items/DavidWozneyDinosaursHoax_201903/David%20Wozney%20Dinosaurs%20Hoax.pdf

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Curiata

* "Psychic phenomenon demonstration" (2018-10-19, Liverpool John Moores University, via youtube.com/watch?v=GexW7OB4E_Y) [archive.ph/r4OHq]:

This research project from MSc Forensic Anthropology student Natalie Conlan was designed to allow participants to discover if the attendance of physic performance can alter their preconception of alleged paranormal phenomena.

The purpose was to demonstrate how the perception of alleged paranormal powers can influence the belief into psychic detectives.

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Ongoing research

[https://archive.org/details/161VariousArticlesOnEMEtc2]

[https://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Moon_Images_Menu.html] 01) Image Information

[http://web.archive.org/web/20170627004538/http://frontiersofzoology.blogspot.com/]

[http://web.archive.org/web/20170603072841/frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/]

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Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Thee Stranger News for February, 2022

A Liberated Zone on the FM, to enhance alternative culture and cognitive freedom!
Broadcast Thursdays at 89.5 FM KZCT in Vallejo, California, to a worldwide audience. Tune-in online [http://tunein.com/popout/player/s130679].
Convened by Dr.G., a Renegade Illuminati, convening Thee Temple, for knowledge, whimsy, and inspiration. Everything is true, nothing is forbidden!
Introductory track: Covenant - Ritual Noise [youtube.com/watch?v=dnlGEQ1NUsk]

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Futurism & Strange Science

* "Space Elevators Are Getting Closer to Reality; Scientists say not only would such technology change humanity, but that we could have built one by now" (2022-02-17, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-17/building-a-space-elevator-may-be-getting-closer-to-reality) [archive.is/WLHyf]

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* "MIT researchers create new material as strong as steel and light as plastic" (2022-02-06, usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/02/06/mit-new-material-stronger-than-steel/6684075001/) [archive.is/zIrEr]

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* "The Stunning New 'Air Yacht' Is a Catamaran That Floats to the Skies; Thanks to two solar-powered blimps instead of traditional parallel hulls" (2022-01-12, interestingengineering.com/the-stunning-new-air-yacht-is-a-catamaran-that-floats-to-the-skies) [archive.is/X6Vuu]

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* "A new hydrogen-powered hypersonic plane offers emission-free, rapid air transport; The hydrogen-powered aircraft will be a hybrid between a plane and a rocket" (2022-02-09, interestingengineering.com/a-new-hydrogen-powered-hypersonic-plane-offers-emission-free-rapid-air-transport) [archive.is/j2ZdE]

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* "The quantum ‘boomerang’ effect has been seen for the first time; Jostled particles return to their starting points in certain materials" (2022-02-08, sciencenews.org/article/quantum-boomerang-effect-seen-first-time) [archive.is/lfKNX]

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* "You're (Maybe) Gonna Need a Patent for That Woolly Mammoth; Scientists are racing to bring extinct species back from the dead. But does a resurrected mammoth belong to nature, or us?" (2022-02-09, wired.com/story/de-extinction-patents/) [archive.is/ILJor]

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Space News
"NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought" (2019, futurism.com) [archive.is/d6n46]

* "Astronomers just discovered a new black hole that’s unlike anything seen before" (2022-02-08, bgr.com/science/astronomers-just-discovered-a-new-black-hole-thats-unlike-anything-seen-before/) [archive.is/7RoVF]

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* "Scientists say there may be a 'major planet' that could potentially support life for at least 1 billion years into the future" (2022-02-11, cbsnews.com/news/major-planet-possible-support-life-scientists/) [archive.is/Kih8m]

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* "The Atmosphere of This Extreme Exoplanet Has an Intriguing Similarity to Earth" (2022-01-31, sciencealert.com/the-atmosphere-of-this-extreme-exoplanet-has-an-intriguing-similarity-to-earth-s) [archive.is/kO283]

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* "NASA unveils first image from newly launched satellite; The image shows the Cassiopeia, a supernova, a star that exploded 400 years ago" (2022-02-16, rt.com/news/549601-nasa-first-image-remnant-supernova/) [archive.is/6q8Uw]

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* "Our Solar System in True Color Is Really Something Else Venus is white. So is the sun. They’re beautiful anyway" (2022-02-03, theatlantic.com/science/archive/2022/02/venus-true-color-solar-system/621460/) [archive.is/pwHLU]

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* "An 85-Mile-Wide Comet Is Officially The Largest Comet Ever Observed" (2022-02-12, sciencealert.com/an-85-mile-wide-comet-is-officially-the-largest-comet-ever-observed) [archive.is/EDMcU]
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* "Toxic volcanic lake reveals how life may have been possible on ancient Mars" (2022-02-03, cnn.com/2022/02/03/world/mars-analog-poas-volcano-lake-scn/index.html) [archive.is/MYYZg]

* "NASA's Mars rover captures clouds drifting across the Martian sky; The images allow scientists to calculate how fast the clouds are moving and how high they are" (2022-02-20, interestingengineering.com/mars-rover-martian-clouds) [archive.is/4YlM5]

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NEO Watch
B612 Foundation [b612foundation.org] to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.

* "2nd 'Trojan Asteroid' confirmed orbiting with Earth; Asteroid 2020 XL5 will be Earth's buddy for the next 4,000 years" (2022-02-02, livescience.com/2nd-trojan-asteroid-orbiting-earth) [archive.is/o6PBH]

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Ancient News

* "Archeologists find cache of Ancient Egyptian mummification materials; Czech and Egyptian archaeologists have found a cache of mummification materials in Abu Sir, south of the Pyramids of Giza, located in Greater Cairo, an official source reported Wednesday" (2022-02-09, plenglish.com/news/2022/02/09/archeologists-find-cache-of-ancient-egyptian-mummification-materials/) [archive.is/wlDn1]

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* "Researchers Now Know Where the Ancient Maya Planted Their Sacred Cacao Groves; Sinkholes across the Yucatan Peninsula provided perfect growing conditions for the plant, used as currency in the Mesoamerican civilization" (2022-02-07, smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-now-know-where-the-ancient-maya-planted-their-sacred-cacao-groves-180979535/) [archive.is/szDm7]

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* "The Secrets of Easter Island; The more we learn about the remote island from archaeologists and researchers, the more intriguing it becomes" (2002-03, smithsonianmag.com/history/the-secrets-of-easter-island-59989046/) [archive.is/lpoia]

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* "London's largest Roman mosaic in 50 years discovered by archaeologists" (2022-02-23, cnn.com/style/article/roman-mosaic-london-discovery-scli-scn-intl-gbr/index.html) [archive.is/cqGNU]

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* "Ancient Reptilians: The Unanswered Mystery of the 7,000-Year-Old Ubaid Lizardmen" (2022-02-26, ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/ubaid-lizardmen-001116) [archive.ph/e2IFb]

- image caption: Examples of the Ubaid lizardmen discovered in Iraq.

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* "Did the ‘Black Death’ Really Kill Half of Europe? New Research Says No. Looking at ancient deposits of pollen as markers of agricultural activity, researchers found that the Black Death caused a patchwork of destruction in Europe" (2022-02-10, nytimes.com/2022/02/10/science/black-death.html) [archive.is/BuWka]

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* " 'World's oldest calendar' discovered in Scottish field" (2013-07-15, bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-23286928) [archive.is/UEtno] [begin excerpt]:

Archaeologists believe they have discovered the world's oldest lunar "calendar" in an Aberdeenshire field.

Excavations of a field at Crathes Castle found a series of 12 pits which appear to mimic the phases of the moon and track lunar months.

A team led by the University of Birmingham suggests the ancient monument was created by hunter-gatherers about 10,000 years ago.

The pit alignment, at Warren Field, was first excavated in 2004.

The experts who analysed the pits said they may have contained a wooden post.

The Mesolithic "calendar" is thousands of years older than previous known formal time-measuring monuments created in Mesopotamia. [end excerpt]

- image caption: An illustration of how the pits would have worked

- [comments]: ahem, I like to trace my "White" heritage (more like northern Eurasian ancestry). So I find this fascinating. Our ancestors are descended from Steppe "Turks" (whatever that means), or, from isolated populations in the northern Atlantic region of the Americas. If the latter theory holds true, then, this archeological site you posted may be a relic from those days gone yore, before our ancestral tribes were inundated by rapid rising sea levels (re: 10,000 BCE) and the survivors trekked inland into Eurasia...

Damn, that would make for a fine Conan tale of the post-Diluvial era.

I would be interested if these stone observatories are also found further south than Morocco. As "Northern Eurasian" may not have been a phenotype haplogroup yet by 4000 years ago, these archeological sites could be "Ethiopian", a highlands community with a continuity of history back to 10,000 BCE... in other words ancient Egyptian before Egypt was a thing, producing precursors to cubits, and basic mathematics.

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* "How this vast ancient underground city was accidentally discovered in Turkey" (2015-03-27, washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/03/27/how-this-vast-ancient-underground-city-was-accidentally-discovered-in-turkey/) [archive.is/BO04p]

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Mexica (Aztec) Sacrifice Debunked?: "This may explain why no massive catacombs with what would have been the bones of sacrifice victims have ever been found in Mesoamerica."

"There is absolutely no proof that the Mexika (Aztecs) practiced mass human sacrifice. Spanish lies and archeological evidence are NOT I repeat, are NOT proof. Everything that has been written on anything pertaining to the Mexika was written by the Spanish or codex writers under the guidance and supervision of Spanish monks. Allow me to introduce this article by a world expert, ethnologist on this matter...

"After careful and systematic study of the sources, I find no sign of evidence of institutionalized mass human sacrifice among the Aztecs. The phenomenon to be studied, therefore, may be not these supposed sacrifices but the deeply rooted belief that they occurred." - Peter Hassler, ethnologist at the University of Zurich.

"An aura of lurid fascination surrounds our interest in the Aztecs, the people who, at the beginning of the 16th century, inhabited one of the largest cities of the world: Tenochtitlan. In 1521, this metropolis was erased from the face of the Earth by the Spanish conquerors under Hernando Cortes and his Indian allies.

As a justification for their destructive acts, the conquistadors generated propaganda designed to offend the sensibilities of their Christian audience: They described the Aztec practice of human sacrifice. Later chronicles by Spanish writers, missionaries, and even Indian converts also told repeatedly of this cult. Even when scientists called these reports grossly exaggerated, the fact that the Aztecs sacrificed humans remained undisputed. Cutting out the victim's heart with an obsidian knife [fashioned from volcanic glass] was supposedly the most common method of sacrifice, although other forms were practiced as well.

These included beheading, piercing with spears or arrows, and setting victims against each other in unequal duels. We are also told that some victims were literally skinned alive; a priest then donned this macabre "skin suit" to perform a ritual dance.

There has been no shortage of theories and explanations for what lay behind these archaic cults.

Some researchers have deemed them religious rituals. Others have called them displays of repressed aggression and even a method of regulating population.

Although human sacrifice has been the subject of much writing, there has been almost no critical examination of the sources of information about it.

A critical review is urgently needed.

Bernal Diaz del Castillo is the classic source of information about mass sacrifice by the Aztecs. A literate soldier in Cortes' company, Diaz claimed to have witnessed such a ritual. "We looked over toward the Great Pyramids and watched as [the Aztecs] ... dragged [our comrades] up the steps and prepared to sacrifice them," he wrote in his Historia Verdadera de la Conquista de la Nueva Espana (The True History of the Conquest of New Spain), published posthumously in 1632. "After they danced, they placed our comrades face up atop square, narrow stones erected for the sacrifices. Then, with obsidian knives, they sawed their breasts open, pulled out their still-beating hearts, and offered these to their idols."

The scene of these sacrificial rituals was the main temple in the island-city of Tenochtitlan. The observers, however, were watching from their camp on the shore of a lake three or four miles away.

From that point, Diaz could have neither seen nor heard anything. To follow the action at the foot of the pyramid, he would have to have been inside the temple grounds. But this would have been impossible: The Aztecs had just beaten back the Spanish and their allies, who had been besieging the city from all sides.

But Diaz is not the inventor of the legend of ritual murder. Cortes fathered the lie in 1522, when he wrote a shorter version of the tale to Emperor Charles V. He would have been confident that his reports would find ready ears, for in the 15th and 16th centuries many lies were being spread in Spain about ritual murders carried out by the Jews, who were being expelled from the Iberian peninsula along with the Moors. Cortes' lies were a tremendous success: They have endured for almost 500 years without challenge.

Along with the lies of the conquistadors, there also have been secondhand reports--what could be called "hearsay evidence"--in the writings of Spanish missionaries and their Indian converts, who, in their new-found zeal, scorned their old religion.

The accounts are filled with vague and banal phrases such as, "And thus they sacrificed," which indicates that the writers cannot have witnessed a real human sacrifice.

The only concrete evidence comes to us not from the Aztecs but from the Mayan civilization of the Yucatan. These depictions are found in the records of trials conducted during the Inquisition, between 1561 and 1565. These supposed testimonies about human sacrifice, however, were coerced from the Indians under torture and have been judged worthless as ethnographic evidence.

Along with the written accounts, many archeological finds--sculptures, frescoes, wall paintings, and pictographs--have been declared by the Spanish, their Indian converts, and later anthropologists to be connected to human sacrifice. Yet these images are in no way proof that humans were in fact sacrificed. Until now, scientists have started from a position of believing the lies and hearsay reports and interpreting the archeological evidence accordingly.

The circularity of such reasoning is obvious. There are plenty of possible interpretations of the images of hearts and even killings in these artifacts. They could depict myths or legends.

They could present narrativ images--allegories, symbols, and metaphors. They could even be images of ordinary executions or murders.

Human bones that appear to have been cut also do not serve as evidence of human sacrifice. In tantric Buddhism, skulls and leg bones are used to make musical instruments used in religious rituals; this is in no way connected to human sacrifice.

Leslie J. Furst, a student of symbols used by the Aztecs, has seen depictions of magic where others have seen tales of human sacrifice.

For example, one image shows the incarnation of a female god "beheaded" in the same way that a plant's blossom is removed in the ritual connected to the making of pulque, an alcoholic drink.

Why scholars have interpreted images of self-beheadings and other things that depart from physical reality as evidence of human sacrifice will puzzle future generations.

There is another important symbolic background for images of killing in Aztec artifacts: the initiation ceremony, whose central event is the mystical death. The candidate "dies" in order to be reborn. This "death" in imaginary or symbolic forms often takes on a dramatic shape in imagery--such as being chopped to pieces or swallowed by a monster.

There has been no research into the symbolism of death in the high culture of the Indians of Mesoamerica, however, even though there were many reincarnation myths among these peoples.

The ritual of "human skinning" surely belongs in this same category. In our depictions, we see the skin removed quickly from the victim, with a single cut along the spine, and coming off the body in a single piece.

This is scarcely practicable. This "human skin suit" may be nothing but a metaphorical-symbolic representation, as indeed is appropriate for the image-rich Aztec language.

All of the heart and blood symbolism may be just a metaphor for one of the Aztecs' favorite drinks, made from cacao. The heart is a symbolically important organ in more than just European cultures.

In the Indian languages, as well, it is a symbol of courage and the soul. "Cutting the soul from the body," after all, is not a surgical operation. This may explain why no massive catacombs with what would have been the bones of sacrifice victims have ever been found in Mesoamerica."

From the liberal weekly "Die Zeit" of Hamburg. Peter Hassler, an ethnologist at the University of Zurich, is the author of "Human Sacrifice Among the Aztecs? A Critical Study," published recently in Switzerland."

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Miscellany & Errata

* "NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Shows AMAZING Image in Deep Space That Resembles a Cross, Perhaps the Gateway to Heaven" (2022-02-22, thedcpatriot.com/nasas-hubble-space-telescope-shows-amazing-image-in-deep-space-that-resembles-a-cross-perhaps-the-gateway-to-heaven/) [archive.is/dHdUY]

---

===*===*===

Curiata

* "Brain scans on a dying man suggest his life flashed before his eyes, researchers say" (2022-02-23, insider.com/brain-scans-dying-man-study-life-flashed-before-his-eyes-2022-2) [archive.is/9YWk2]

---

---

* Stare directly/intently at the plus sign in the middle and the purply dots disappear.

---

* "Arctic Sponges Survive Dark, Hostile Conditions by Feasting on The Extinct" (2022-02-08, sciencealert.com/sponges-in-one-of-the-world-s-most-barren-habitats-survive-by-digesting-fossils) [archive.is/Fy3Pj]

* "Trekking California’s mysterious Bigfoot trail" (2022-01-31, timesheraldonline.com/2022/01/31/trekking-californias-mysterious-bigfoot-trail-2/) [archive.is/HMf4d]

---

* "New ‘Megaflash Lightning’ Records Are the Definition of Extreme; Steady advances in satellite technology means even greater megaflashes could be detected in the near future" (2022-02-02, gizmodo.com/new-megaflash-lightning-records-wmo-1848466556) [archive.is/Twgcx]
* "World record 477-mile-long lightning ‘megaflash’ confirmed over U.S. ; The World Meteorological Organization also certified a flash over South America that lasted a record 17 seconds" (2022-01-31, washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/31/world-record-lightning-megaflash-us/) [archive.is/Xz7ni]

- image caption: Lightning image from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on NOAA's GOES-16 satellite from April 29, 2020. (NOAA)

---

* "Sinbad's 'Shazaam': The Strange Case of a Movie That Doesn't Exist" (2020-11-16, ourcommunitynow.com/film/sinbads-shazaam-the-strange-case-of-a-movie-that-doesnt-exist) [archive.is/QC0Nt]

- [note]: I read "Power of Shazam", a superhero comic book series published by DC comics in the late 1990s. I also was an avid reader of Wizard magazine. So, it was around 1997 that I read in Wizard's "Trailer Park" section about comics-related movies, that Sinbad was tapped to star in "Shazaam", which I thought was a horrible idea because Disney was coopting the "Shazam" trademark owned by DC comics, a subsidiary of TimesWarner, and this would lead to a billion dollar lawsuit.

Needless to say, I've met others who recall watching "Shazaam" on a passenger jet, "y'know, the one with Sinbad"... as opposed to the "Kazaam" film starring Shaquille O'Neill. Nobody seems to have a copy of Sinbad's movie, and, now it is central to some kind of conspiracy theory concerning time travel changing reality. Whatever. As a fan of DC Comic's "Power of Shazam", I know what I read in 1997 Wizard Magazine. No, I never saw the movie. But I can recall the photostill showing Sinbad dressed as a genie accompanying the article.

===*===*===

Ongoing research

[http://web.archive.org/web/20170603072841/frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/]

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Thursday, February 3, 2022

Thee Stranger News for January, 2022!

A Liberated Zone on the FM, to enhance alternative culture and cognitive freedom!
Broadcast Thursdays at 89.5 FM KZCT in Vallejo, California, to a worldwide audience. Tune-in online [http://tunein.com/popout/player/s130679].
Convened by Dr.G., a Renegade Illuminati, convening Thee Temple, for knowledge, whimsy, and inspiration. Everything is true, nothing is forbidden!
Introductory track: Covenant - Ritual Noise [youtube.com/watch?v=dnlGEQ1NUsk]

===*===*===

Futurism & Strange Science

* "Scientists Built The World's Tiniest Antenna, And It's Made Out of DNA" (2022-01-12, sciencealert.com/scientists-have-made-the-tiniest-antenna-ever-using-dna) [archive.is/A4wx1]

---

* "Zeva puts its Zero ‘flying saucer’ eVTOL through first free-flying test in a pasture south of Seattle" (2022-01-13, geekwire.com/2022/zeva-puts-its-zero-flying-saucer-evtol-through-first-free-flying-test-in-a-pasture-south-of-seattle/) [archive.is/JFd0k]

---

* "Radian Just Revealed Its Breakthrough Plans of Horizontal Spaceflight; A spaceplane that will take you to orbit from a nearby airport" (2022-01-20, interestingengineering.com/radian-just-revealed-its-breakthrough-plans-of-horizontal-spaceflight) [archive.is/4St12]

---

* "Zero CO2 emissions 'spaceplane' parts to be manufactured in the heart of Sydney" (2022-01-14, Hypersonix Launch Systems, hypersonix.com.au/, via spacedaily.com/reports/Zero_CO2_emissions_spaceplane_parts_to_be_manufactured_in_the_heart_of_Sydney_999.html) [archive.is/ceD25]

---

* "Avoiding chains of magnetic islands may lead to fusion paradise" (2022-01-13, science.doe.gov, via energy-daily.com/reports/Avoiding_chains_of_magnetic_islands_may_lead_to_fusion_paradise_999.html) [archive.is/3QqTA]

---

* "Photon pairs are more sensitive to rotations than single photons" (2022-01-13, Tampere University, tuni.fi, via spacedaily.com/reports/Photon_pairs_are_more_sensitive_to_rotations_than_single_photons_999.html) [archive.is/qOKBW]

---

* "Elon Musk’s Brain Implant Company Is Inching Toward Human Trials; Neuralink has posted job listings for a clinical trial director and coordinator" (2022-01-20, bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-01-20/elon-musk-s-brain-implant-company-is-inching-toward-human-trials) [archive.is/lyFbD]

* "Elon Musk's Neuralink plans to implant chips in human brains to treat neural disorders" (2022-01-23, usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/01/23/elon-musks-neuralink-implanting-chips/6629809001/) [archive.is/4vhFe]

===*===*===

Space News
"NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought" (2019, futurism.com) [archive.is/d6n46]

* "Unknown objects at the heart of the Milky Way are beaming radio signals, then mysteriously disappearing" (2022-01-15, businessinsider.com/vanishing-radio-signals-mystery-objects-in-milky-way-galaxy-center-2022-1) [archive.is/gxEyl]

---

* "Newly Discovered 'Mini' Supermassive Black Hole Is Among The Smallest Ever Found" (2022-01-11, sciencealert.com/a-mini-supermassive-black-hole-has-been-found-in-a-dwarf-galaxy) [archive.is/Tzs9f]

---

* "This disappearing space object is emitting giant, highly-polarized radio bursts every 20 minutes" (2022-01-26, cbsnews.com/news/space-object-radio-bursts-magnetic-neutron-star/) [archive.is/HolPZ]

* "Astronomers discover 'spooky' object emitting energy in space. They don't know what it is; Astronomers say the "unusual" energy bursts occurred every 20 minutes; There are theories as to what it could be, but the best guess is it's a slow spinning neutron star; Senior astronomer Seth Shostak said there is no need to think it is a signal from aliens" (2022-01-27, usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/01/27/spooky-object-lighting-space-never-seen-before/9231978002/) [archive.is/GjVmc]

---

* "Citizen Scientists Spot Jupiter-like Planet in NASA TESS Data" (2022-01-14, nasa.gov/TESS, via spacedaily.com/reports/Citizen_Scientists_Spot_Jupiter_like_Planet_in_NASA_TESS_Data_999.html) [archive.is/4S5Uh]

---

* "Water vapor found in another planet's atmosphere; Scientists said the findings demonstrate how studying the chemical makeup of exoplanet atmospheres can help astronomers learn how the planets came to be" (2022-01-13, nbcnews.com/science/space/water-vapor-found-another-planets-atmosphere-rcna11950) [archive.is/gKvKY]

---

* "Unusual team finds gigantic planet hidden in plain sight" (2022-01-14, news.ucr.edu, via spacedaily.com/reports/Unusual_team_finds_gigantic_planet_hidden_in_plain_sight_999.html) [archive.is/FfLuV]

---

* "Evidence for a second supermoon beyond our solar system" (2022-01-14, coolworldslab.com, via spacedaily.com/reports/Astronomers_find_evidence_for_a_second_supermoon_beyond_our_solar_system_999.html) [archive.is/TyiAh]

---

* "Potato-shaped planet discovered about 1.8k light yrs from solar system; According to news agency AFP, WASP-103b is a close distance away from its star WASP-103, which is about 50 times closer to its sun than Earth is to its sun, to the extent that the planet’s cycle takes only 22 hours, while the Earth’s cycle takes 365 days." (2022-01-13, hindustantimes.com/science/potatoshaped-planet-discovered-about-1-8k-light-yrs-from-solar-system-101642048002670.html) [archive.is/P8PAi]

- [comments]:

This was discovered by the lesser known Russian satellite, Spudnik.

This discovery was kind of a root awakening.

The shape of this planet is a starch contrast to others that the scientists were studying.

Evidently, the planet was formed from not one, but two explosions.

Twice baked.

So far the theories about the origins of this planet seems to chive with their previous research.

Until now, much of this research was underground.

More information will be released once scientists can hash it out.

At the moment, most of their communications have been fried.

They may have to send a tuber up to replace some chips.

This will have to be done manually with a wedge.

According to the Mexican space stations, signals were yammed.

In comparison to other planets of this size, many of the living conditions were a mash.

In celebration of this discovery, scientists decided to don Yellow Jerseys.

UPDATE: Sadly, the science community was unable to come to an agreement on how to pronounce this planet and has decided to "call the whole thing off."

---

* "It looks like the "Death Star" — but Saturn's tiny frozen moon could actually be a "stealth" ocean world, scientists say" (2022-01-25, cbsnews.com/news/saturn-moon-mimas-death-star-ocean/) [archive.is/j9vXG]

---

* "Pebbles Before Mountains" (2022-01-14, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/status/357/pebbles-before-mountains/) [archive.is/1ARBt]

* "Rolling stones on Mars" (2022-01-14, esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2022/01/Rolling_stones_on_Mars) [archive.is/OMcoN]

* "NASA’s Curiosity Rover Measures Intriguing Carbon Signature on Mars" (2022-01-18, jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-curiosity-rover-measures-intriguing-carbon-signature-on-mars) [archive.is/G37U3]

---

* "We May Finally Understand Why Clouds Are Different Between Earth's Hemispheres" (2022-01-28, sciencealert.com/clouds-differ-between-the-hemispheres-and-a-new-study-reveals-why) [archive.is/P4zej]

* "Researchers say Earth's core may be cooling 'more rapidly than expected' " (2022-01-19, thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/590454-researchers-say-earths-core-may-be-cooling-more-rapidly-than) [archive.is/KM94l]

---

* "New scientific paper claims octopuses are actually aliens from outer space" (2022-01-26, bgr.com/science/new-scientific-paper-claims-octopuses-are-actually-aliens-from-outer-space/) [archive.is/eyCbT]
---

NEO Watch
B612 Foundation [b612foundation.org] to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.

* "A 'potentially hazardous' asteroid more than twice the size of the Empire State Building will make close pass by Earth next week" (2022-01-12, cbsnews.com/news/giant-asteroid-earth-january-2022/) [archive.is/b3qAy]
* "When Will the Giant Asteroid Pass Earth Next Week? Here's How to See the Phenomenon" (2022-01-11, newsweek.com/giant-asteroid-pass-earth-how-watch-see-phenomenon-1668424) [archive.is/rmRdv]

* "Photo Shows Asteroid That Narrowly Missed Earth Traveling at 18,000 MPH" (2022-01-12, newsweek.com/photo-asteroid-2022-ac4-house-sized-narrowly-missed-earth-1668616) [archive.is/tAKfZ]

===*===*===

Ancient News

* "Early man in China had biggest known brain of the time" (2022-01-16, news.cn/english/20220117/e9d002941df44c5a8c9f56190342a2b6/c.html) [archive.is/cOvPC]

---

* "Following a Trail of Ancient Ostrich Beads, Scientists Discover the World’s Oldest Social Network" (2022-01-19, artnews.com/art-news/news/ostrich-beads-archaeology-discovery-africa-1234616055/) [archive.is/YJq89]

---

* "Yes, those tiny dogs descended from wolves; Domestic dogs come in more sizes than any other mammal species. Now, researchers say a genetic mutation that emerged in wolves before they were domesticated is responsible" (2022-01-27, nbcnews.com/science/science-news/yes-tiny-dogs-descended-wolves-rcna13316) [archive.is/PBATe]

---

* "Humans probably didn’t mean to tame sheep and goats; Bones from a village in Turkey tell a 1,000-year story of wild animals becoming livestock" (2022-01-19, popsci.com/science/how-wild-animals-became-livestock/) [archive.is/IZjC0]

- image caption: Mouflon, a type of wild sheep, are closely related to the animals domesticated at Aşıklı Höyük.

- image caption: A modern domestic sheep.

---

* "Archeologists discover 2 giant sphinxes at the lost 'Temple of a Million Years' built by a great pharaoh in Egypt 3,300 years ago" (2022-01-22, businessinsider.com/egypt-giant-sphinxes-discovered-in-lost-temple-of-a-million-years-2022-1?) [archive.is/bucvO]

---

* "Ruins of bustling Roman town discovered in UK; It grew from an Iron Age village" (2022-01-22, livescience.com/ancient-roman-market-town-excavated-uk) [archive.is/DAwSl]

---

* "12th century prayer room found under former Daesh mosque in Iraq" (2022-01-19, presstv.ir/Detail/2022/01/19/675049/Mosul-mosque) [archive.is/EYKp1], video (https://preview.presstv.ir/ptv///SiteVideo/20220119/is_mosque.mp4)

---

Puente del Inca en Machu Picchu

---

* "New documentary explores Cuba’s indigenous heritage; Filmmaker Ernesto Daranas directed the shooting of the documentary "Cuba Indigena" (Indigenous Cub), which brings people closer to traditions, customs and knowledge that contributed to the formation of the country's identity" (2022-01-24, plenglish.com/news/2022/01/24/new-documentary-explores-cubas-indigenous-heritage/) [archive.is/U6ah9]

* "The Campaign to Thwart Paleogenetic Research Into North America’s Indigenous Peoples" (2021-03-29, quillette.com/2021/03/29/the-campaign-to-thwart-paleogenetic-research-into-north-americas-indigenous-peoples/) [archive.is/OtByU]

---

* "A Rare, Isolated Script Invented From Scratch Holds Clues to The Evolution of Writing" (2022-01-12, sciencealert.com/rare-script-from-a-long-isolated-liberian-language-holds-clues-to-the-evolution-of-writing) [archive.is/F9762] [begin excerpt]:

A rare script from a language in Liberia has provided some new insights into how written languages evolve.

"The Vai script of Liberia was created from scratch in about 1834 by eight completely illiterate men who wrote in ink made from crushed berries," says linguistic anthropologist Piers Kelly, now at the University of New England, Australia.

"Because of its isolation, and the way it has continued to develop up until the present day, we thought it might tell us something important about how writing evolves over short spaces of time." [end excerpt]

- image caption: Earliest Vai script dated to 1834 (left) and the same passages written in the modern version of the text (right).

---

* "Vast Roman town and hundreds of artifacts uncovered during rail excavation" (2022-01-11, cnn.com/style/article/roman-town-iron-age-archaeology-scli-scn-intl/index.html) [archive.is/UIQut]

* "Roman town over 2,000 years old unearthed along train construction route in the UK" (2022-01-11, nypost.com/2022/01/11/roman-town-over-2000-years-old-unearthed-along-train-construction-route-in-the-uk/) [archive.is/ZXU02]

* "Rare Roman Wooden Figure Unearthed in England During Construction of New Rail Line" (2022-01-15, artnews.com/art-news/news/roman-wooden-figure-england-hs2-1234615829/) [archive.is/YvGic]

---

* "Badger hunting for food instead unearths treasure trove of Roman-era coins in Spain, archaeologists say" (2022-01-11, cbsnews.com/news/badger-finds-treasure-roman-era-coins-spain-archaeologists/) [archive.is/PqAzz]

---

* "No more excuses: Iran urges US to repatriate all Achaemenid tablets" (2022-01-12, presstv.ir/Detail/2022/01/12/674578/Iran-urges-US-repatriate-Achaemenid-tablets) [archive.is/KeE1x]

===*===*===

Miscellany & Errata

* "People Think China Launched an ‘Artificial Sun’ Into the Sky; China recently reached a milestone with an “artificial sun,” but it's a lot more exciting and less terrifying than the internet thinks" (2022-01-11, vice.com/en/article/qjbjyb/people-think-china-launched-an-artificial-sun-into-the-sky) [archive.is/H8cQZ]

* "China is launching artificial moons in urban areas; Forget streetlights - one Chinese city may soon rely on an artificial satellite to light its nighttime sky" (2018-10-22, astronomy.com/news/2018/10/china-artificial-moons) [archive.is/Hcloi]

===*===*===

Curiata

* "Redefining the Meaning of Life and Death" (2022-01-17, by Julian Rose, globalresearch.ca/redefining-meaning-life-death/5767299) [archive.is/6ooob]

---

* " 'Magical' massive coral reef discovered deep below surface in Tahiti 'twilight zone' " (2022-01-20, cbsnews.com/news/one-of-the-worlds-largest-coral-reefs-discovered-in-twilight-zone-off-tahiti/) [archive.is/hFnLC]

---

* "60 Million Fish Nests in Antarctica Found in Single Largest Breeding Colony to Date" (2022-01-14, sciencealert.com/largest-known-fish-nursery-discovered-beneath-antarctica-s-weddell-sea) [archive.is/rQGpf]

---

* "Giant 'Sea Dragon' Unearthed From Mud Is The Largest Ever Found in The UK" (2022-01-11, sciencealert.com/giant-sea-dragon-unearthed-from-mud-is-the-largest-ever-found-in-the-uk) [archive.is/K3VMY]

- image caption: Paleontologist Dean Lomax with the fossilized ichthyosaur.

===*===*===

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Thee Stranger News for December, 2021

===*===*===

Futurism & Strange Science

* "Skolkovo Foundation predicts holograms to be part of daily communication in several years; The chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation and president of FIDE noted that it was important to make these technologies cheaper" (2021-12-14, tass.com/science/1375383) [archive.md/vvwm8]

---

* "Researchers Teach Human Brain Cells in a Dish to Play 'Pong' ; 'When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle' " (2021-12-17, futurism.com/the-byte/brain-cells-play-pong) [archive.md/G0K8C]

---

* "First ‘living robots’ can now ‘spontaneously’ self-replicate, scientists say" (2021-11-30, rt.com/usa/541695-first-living-robots-replicate/) [archive.md/TnTRG]

---

* "Simple Mods Turn 3D Printer Into Electrochemical Metal Cutter" (2021-12-17, hackaday.com/2021/12/17/simple-mods-turn-3d-printer-into-electrochemical-metal-cutter/) [archive.md/3gUnJ]

---

* "Physicists exploit space and time symmetries to control quantum materials; Physicists have developed a theory describing how space reflection and time reversal symmetries can be exploited, allowing for greater control of transport and correlations within quantum materials" (2021-12-02, University of Exeter, via sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211202141535.htm) [archive.md/6xNS2]

---

* "Artificial material protects light states on smallest length scales" (2021-12-06, Paderborn University, via phys.org/news/2021-12-artificial-material-states-smallest-length.html) [archive.md/Gaxxl]

---

* "Molecular device turns infrared into visible light" (2021-12-03, actu.epfl.ch/news/molecular-device-turns-infrared-into-visible-lig-3/) [archive.md/rgyjh]

---

* "Light speed advances; Tingyi Gu, an assistant professor in UD’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is working to control the direction of light in order to improve the energy efficiency of complex devices such as communication systems. She was recently awarded the Young Faculty Award by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for her innovative work" (2021-12-01, udel.edu/udaily/2021/december/tingyi-gu-engineering-faculty-award-darpa-photonics-light/) [archive.md/KDUEt]

---

* "This New Tech Cuts Through Rock Without Grinding Into It; A startup called Petra uses super-hot gas to penetrate bedrock. The method could make it cheaper to move utilities underground—and make electric lines safer" (2021-12-09, wired.com/story/new-tech-cuts-rock-without-grinding-it/) [archive.ph/3zn5O]

---

* "Jurassic Park 1.0: Chicken With Dinosaur Features Has Been Created by Scientists; In a groundbreaking experiment, scientists have transformed chicken embryos to give them a snout and palate configuration similar to that of small dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Archaeopteryx" (2013-01, earthlymission.com/dino-chicken-chickensaur-science-genetics-dinosaurs-animals/) [archive.ph/bl5CX]

* "A molecular mechanism for the origin of a key evolutionary innovation, the bird beak and palate, revealed by an integrative approach to major transitions in vertebrate history" (2015-05-12, The Society for the Study of Evolution, via onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/evo.12684) [archive.ph/7xapu], abstract: The avian beak is a key evolutionary innovation whose flexibility has permitted birds to diversify into a range of disparate ecological niches. We approached the problem of the mechanism behind this innovation using an approach bridging paleontology, comparative anatomy, and experimental developmental biology. First, we used fossil and extant data to show the beak is distinctive in consisting of fused premaxillae that are geometrically distinct from those of ancestral archosaurs. To elucidate underlying developmental mechanisms, we examined candidate gene expression domains in the embryonic face: the earlier frontonasal ectodermal zone (FEZ) and the later midfacial WNT‐responsive region, in birds and several reptiles. This permitted the identification of an autapomorphic median gene expression region in Aves. To test the mechanism, we used inhibitors of both pathways to replicate in chicken the ancestral amniote expression. Altering the FEZ altered later WNT responsiveness to the ancestral pattern. Skeletal phenotypes from both types of experiments had premaxillae that clustered geometrically with ancestral fossil forms instead of beaked birds. The palatal region was also altered to a more ancestral phenotype. This is consistent with the fossil record and with the tight functional association of avian premaxillae and palate in forming a kinetic beak.

* "Scientists Can Create Chickens With Dinosaur Legs; Not scary. Not scary at all. Move along" (2016-03-16, popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a19958/scientists-built-a-chicken-with-dinosaur-legs/) [archive.ph/6BmgV]

===*===*===

Space News
"NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought" (2019, futurism.com) [archive.is/d6n46]

* "Discovery Alert: 172 Possible Planets? A New Roadmap to Distant Worlds" (2021-11-30, exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1695/discovery-alert-172-possible-planets-a-new-roadmap-to-distant-worlds/) [archive.md/lxq4f]

---

* "TESS discovers a planet the size of Mars but with the makeup of Mercury; The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date" (2021-12-02, news.mit.edu/2021/tess-exoplanet-orbit-dwarf-star-1202) [archive.md/RJsB7]

---

* "Massive planet 10 times bigger than Jupiter discovered orbiting pair of giant stars; 'Until now, no planets had been spotted around a star more than three times as massive as the Sun', wrote the European Southern Observatory" (2021-12-08, nbcnews.com/science/science-news/massive-planet-10-bigger-jupiter-discovered-orbiting-pair-giant-stars-rcna8085) [archive.md/AeOJ5]

---

* "Hidden water reserves discovered on Mars" (2021-12-15, rt.com/russia/543319-water-mars-discovered-roscosmos-esa/) [archive.md/T0qRm]

---

* "Chinese Rover Spots Weird, Large ‘Cube’ on the Moon; The geometric lunar feature dubbed a ‘mystery hut’ has stumped scientists, who say they plan to take a closer look" (2021-12-07, smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/chinese-rover-spots-weird-cube-on-the-moon-180979174/) [archive.md/tvUKE]

- image caption: The rover will spend two to three lunar days, which is about two to three months time on Earth, traversing the lunar landscape to take a closer look at the object.

---

* "New study drops warning for alien organisms invading, Earth's new era; A newly published paper has dropped warnings for alien organisms potentially hijacking a ride back to Earth via a vehicle" (2021-11-29, tweaktown.com/news/83012/new-study-drops-warning-for-alien-organisms-invading-earths-era/index.html) [archive.md/4CHGG]

---

* "Atmospheric anomaly due for study has puzzled scientists for decades; NASA has finally launched a sounding rocket to investigate the polar cusp, a unique and mysterious region of Earth's atmosphere" (2021-12-07, tweaktown.com/news/83202/atmospheric-anomaly-due-for-study-has-puzzled-scientists-decades/index.html) [archive.md/WKcxa] [begin excerpt]:

There is a gap in Earth's magnetic field in a region known as the polar cusp. This gap allows solar winds from the sun to reach Earth's atmosphere, causes radio and GPS signals to behave strangely, and slows down spacecraft as they pass through this region. The air in this region is denser than elsewhere in spacecrafts' orbits around Earth, but it is not understood how or why. [...]

The density of the Earth's atmosphere is consistent across the globe for a given altitude, dropping off considerably as the altitude increases. Roughly 250 miles (402 kilometers) above the Earth in the cusp is a pocket of air approximately one and a half times denser than the atmosphere elsewhere around the globe for that altitude. [end excerpt]

* "Science at the Cusp: NASA Rocket to Study Mysterious Area Above the North Pole" (2021-11-29, nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/science-at-the-cusp-nasa-rocket-to-study-mysterious-area-above-the-north-pole) [archive.md/ClA6w]

- image caption: Colorful clouds formed by the release of vapor tracers from two rockets allow scientists to measure winds.

---

NEO Watch
B612 Foundation [b612foundation.org] to protect Earth from asteroid impacts.

* "Geminids meteor shower seen in China" (2021-12-14, news.cn/english/2021-12/14/c_1310372291.htm) [archive.md/wcCsZ]

* " 'Potentially hazardous' asteroid worth nearly $5 billion will pass by Earth this week, NASA says; The asteroid is expected to pass by Earth without harm" (2021-12-07, Live Science, via space.com/nereus-asteroid-to-pass-by-earth) [archive.md/xZhRM]

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Ancient News

* "Our Extinct Cousins Reached 'The Roof of The World' a Long Time Before Homo Sapiens" (2021-12-11, sciencealert.com/our-extinct-cousins-reached-the-roof-of-the-world-a-long-time-before-homo-sapiens) [archive.ph/py42t]

---

* "Mausoleum of Han Dynasty emperor found in China's Shaanxi" (2021-12-14, news.cn/english/2021-12/14/c_1310372231.htm) [archive.md/uyvjA]

- image caption: Aerial photo taken on March 14, 2019 shows the excavation site of the mausoleum of Empress Dowager Bo, mother of Emperor Wendi of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 25), in Jiangcun Village on the eastern outskirts of Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. A large-scale mausoleum in Xi'an has been identified as belonging to Emperor Wendi of the Western Han Dynasty, local authorities said Tuesday.

---

* "Buddhism in Ancient Egypt and Meroe – Beliefs Revealed Through Ancient Script" (2021-12-16, ancient-origins.net/opinion-guest-authors/buddhism-ancient-egypt-020931) [archive.md/MCe2P]

---

* "Road work leads to discovery of another 2,000-year-old synagogue at Migdal Galilean community, known in Christian writings as birthplace of Mary Magdalene, was a thriving Jewish town in the Second Temple era" (2021-12-13, israelhayom.com/2021/12/13/road-work-leads-to-discovery-of-2nd-2000-year-old-synagogue-at-migdal/) [archive.md/dupDD]

---

* "Gilgamesh 'Dream Tablet' looted during Gulf War on display in Baghdad; Clay tablet inscribed in cuneiform with the Epic of Gilgamesh was discovered in 1853 and was stolen from an Iraqi museum during the 1991 Gulf War" (2021-12-08, israelhayom.com/2021/12/08/gilgamesh-dream-tablet-looted-during-gulf-war-on-display-in-baghdad/) [archive.md/fzJE1]

---

* "IS LONG-LOST CHILAGA THE CAMELOT OF CHECAGOU?" (1987-03-04, chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-03-04-8701170765-story.html) [archive.md/Up8xK]

===*===*===

Miscellany & Errata

* "Christ’s Judgment on the Den of Robbers, Part 2" (2021-11-29, news.gab.com/2021/11/29/christs-judgment-on-the-den-of-robbers-part-2/) [archive.md/645LC] [begin excerpt]: When I was about twelve years old, I went to church camp down in Iowa. And the only thing anyone wanted to talk about was these books that had recently come out, about this guy who lived through the end of the world and people were disappearing and there was this one-world government that sounded very scary. It was a book series called Left Behind. [end excerpt]

- [note]: Whereby the author, being a historically-interested Christian, discusses modern eschatology in a manner sound with scripture.

===*===*===

Curiata

* "Ancient mammoth tusk discovered 10,000 feet deep in ocean off California coast; 'You start to ‘expect the unexpected’ when exploring the deep sea, but I’m still stunned that we came upon the ancient tusk of a mammoth', said Steven Haddock, senior scientist with the Monterey Institute" (2021-11-29, thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/583430-ancient-mammoth-tusk-discovered-10000-feet-deep-in-ocean-off) [archive.md/0w0dd]

---

* "Cat bacteria treats mouse skin infection, may help you and your pets as well" (2021-10-19, University of California - San Diego, via sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211019123551.htm) [archive.md/dgBwo], summary: Researchers identify a strain of bacteria on healthy cats that produces antibiotics against severe skin infections. The findings may soon lead to new bacteriotherapies for humans and their pets, wherein cat bacteria is applied via topical cream or spray.

---

* " ‘Amazon forests of the underground’: Why scientists want to map the world's fungi “These fungal networks have been a global blind spot in conservation and climate agendas," said Toby Kiers, an evolutionary biologist and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam" (2021-12-12, nbcnews.com/science/science-news/amazon-forests-underground-scientists-want-map-worlds-fungi-rcna7899) [archive.ph/gvX1x]

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Ongoing research

[http://web.archive.org/web/20170603072841/frontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com/]

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Thursday, December 2, 2021

Thee Stranger News for November, 2021

* "Are motherless babies from artificial wombs the future we’re heading for?" (2021-11-08, rt.com/op-ed/539480-artificial-wombs-motherless-babies/) [archive.md/TWUZX]

---

* "3D printer" (2021-11-08, presstv.ir/Detail/2021/11/08/670173/3D-PRINTER) [archive.md/SceS7], video (https://preview.presstv.ir/ptv///program/20211108/Iran-Tech-Ep-03-new.mp4): The ability to reproduce text has been, quite possibly, the most important technology in furthering science and human intelligence. We knew its importance since around 3500 BC when Egyptians created small round cylinders made of hardened clay with inscriptions engraved on them and when they would roll them on wet clay, it would leave an impression Obviously, we have come a long way since and the technology has matured with offset printing, laser printing and whatnot. So what's the next step? It feels like it's time for a change… time for a new dimension to printing.

---

* "ExoPed Robotic Exoskeleton" (2021-11-08, presstv.ir/Detail/2021/11/08/670174/-ExoPed-Robotic-Exoskeleton) [archive.md/hPzit], video (https://preview.presstv.ir/ptv///program/20211108/Iran-Tech-Ep-02-new2.mp4):

In this episode we take a look at a robotic exoskeleton made with in-house knowledge to help patients with spinal injuries who have lost their ability to walk. The patients wear this robot over their clothes and it will transfer their weight to the ground, allowing them to feel again what it is like to walk.

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* "The Sina Robotic Telesurgery System" (2021-11-08, presstv.ir/Detail/2021/11/08/670176/The-Sina-Robotic-Telesurgery-System) [archive.md/vGTvQ], video (https://preview.presstv.ir/ptv///program/20211108/Iran-Tech-Ep-01-new2.mp4)

* "Iran becomes 2nd country to successfully conduct robotic telesurgery" (2021-06-23, parstoday.com/en/news/iran-i145578-iran_becomes_2nd_country_to_successfully_conduct_robotic_telesurgery) [archive.md/NIwd8]

* "The Sina Robotic Telesurgery System" (2020, Handbook of Robotic and Image-Guided Surgery, via sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128142455000074) [archive.md/MeEls], video (youtube.com/watch?v=yDhVd6RJ0hQ) [archive.md/Zl2Cu]

* ParsaMedica General Catalogue (http://web.archive.org/web/20211110031703/https://www.medica-tradefair.com/profile_download/k-U2FsdGVkX18FQaZezycVTQ7Cm26a-YPIQyCw80xRSFE/2/6020_1)

* (sinamed.ir/) [archive.md/uUQyy]: Sina Robotics and Medical Innovators Co., LTD., is a private company, founded in 2015 as a spin-off from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and Sharif University of Technology. The main program of the company is to design, fabrication and developing of advanced and innovative medical equipment in the field of medical education, diagnostic, treatment and post-treatment care based on medical robotics.

In this field, so far, the company provided wide range of products including surgical robots, surgeon-assistant robots, assistive and therapeutic rehabilitation robots, and medical training and diagnostic systems. All products have been accurately evaluated by several medical and educational centers in Iran and by receiving the ISO 9001: 2015, are in process of entering to the international markets. The company has more than 15 years of background in research and development conducted by its young and hardworking personnel who are motivated to improve health care services using medical robotics technologies.

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Space News
"NASA Administrator: Alien Life Is More Likely Than We Thought" (2019, futurism.com) [archive.is/d6n46]

* " 'Tsunami' of Cosmic Gravitational Waves Offers Key to Probing Mystery of Universe's Evolution" (2021-11-09, sputniknews.com/20211109/tsunami-of-cosmic-gravitational-waves-offers-key-to-probing-mystery-of-universes-evolution-1090597098.html) [archive.md/NThtE]

---

* "Scientists Roll Out Theory About 'Contagious' Dark Matter" (2021-11-10, sputniknews.com/20211110/scientists-roll-out-theory-about-contagious-dark-matter-1090635104.html) [archive.md/YmJq4]

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* "Report Names Finding Earth-Twin Exoplanet Among Top Astronomical Priorities For 2020s" (2021-11-09, sputniknews.com/20211109/report-names-finding-earth-twin-exoplanet-among-top-astronomical-priorities-for-2020s-1090579157.html) [archive.md/3WZAN]
---

* "Earth may be trapped inside a giant magnetic tunnel; The magnetic ropes may surround our planet" (2021-10-23, livescience.com/earth-inside-giant-magnetic-tunnel) [archive.md/oejwB]
---

* "Oceans of Earth and other planets would generate new lives; The hydrothermal seabed could generate a special habitat for emergence and development of new life forms on Earth and on other planets in the Solar System with oceans" (2021-11-25, plenglish.com/news/2021/11/25/oceans-of-earth-and-other-planets-would-generate-new-lives/) [archive.md/Nyf41]

===*===*===

Ancient News

* "99,000-yr-old bone tool believed to be oldest in China" (2021-11-24, news.cn/english/2021-11/24/c_1310329674.htm) [archive.md/Q3Qvp]

---

* "10,000-year-old rice displayed at China museum" (2021-11-22, news.cn/english/2021-11/22/c_1310326251.htm) [archive.md/qiUdV]

---

* "The use of local fibres for textiles at Neolithic Çatalhöyük" (2021-07-14, cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/use-of-local-fibres-for-textiles-at-neolithic-catalhoyuk/294D8367B55E0A752ACC1825035840FC) [archive.md/8ve7B]
* "Anatolian Neolithic Weavers At Çatalhöyük Used Trees to Make The Oldest Cloth" (2021-11-16, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/oldest-cloth-0016079) [archive.md/jLMFS]

- image caption: This Stone Age piece of cloth is the oldest cloth in the world ever, but it took 60 years for science to figure out the material used for the oldest textile known to man, which have recently been published in the Antiquity journal.

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* "5,500-year-old pentagon house discovered in north China" (2021-11-13, news.cgtn.com/news/2021-11-13/5-500-year-old-pentagon-house-discovered-in-north-China-159aC1xs1CU/index.html) [archive.md/Pvdal]

---

* "Ancient Skyscrapers: The Mudbrick Towerblocks of Yemen" (2021-11-10, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/yemens-skyscrapers-0016054) [archive.md/2553n]

---

The Sacred City of Caral in peru. At almost 5000 years old, it's the oldest city in the Americas and predates even the great Pyramids of Egypt. It includes 6 pyramids, the largest of which measures 150x160 meters, 2 sunken ceremonial plazas, residential districts and an irrigation system

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* "Zoroastrianism: 4000 Years of Faith, Fire and the Battle Between Good and Evil" (2021-11-14, ancient-origins.net/human-origins-religions/zoroastrianism-0016069) [archive.md/NxeHH]

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* "Gold ornaments unearthed in ancient tombs in China's Shaanxi" (2021-11-24, news.cn/english/2021-11/24/c_1310329942.htm) [archive.md/4s4Yb]

---

* "Ancient bronze ware unearthed in China's Hunan" (2021-11-27, news.cn/english/2021-11/27/c_1310336848.htm) [archive.md/A5FLY]

---

* "The genomic origins of the Bronze Age Tarim Basin mummies" (2021-10-27, nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04052-7) [archive.md/ffqPH]

* "Origin Mystery of Perplexing Tarim Basin Mummies Solved with DNA Study" (2021-10-28, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/tarim-basin-mummies-0016001) [archive.md/JAdo1] [begin excerpt]: The results suggest an entirely different origin for these Tarim Basin mummies. The team argues that rather than being newcomers to the area, they were actually a local group that descended from an ancient Ice Age Asian population. "The mummies have long fascinated scientists and the public alike since their original discovery,” explained Christina Warinner, an associate professor of anthropology at Harvard University, the group leader of microbiome sciences at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and an author of the study. [...]

This Ice Age Asian population were direct descendants of a population known as ancient North Eurasians, who had largely disappeared by the end of the last Ice Age. In today’s population, a very tiny fraction of the population possesses their genomic distribution in their DNA, with indigenous populations in Siberia and the Americas possessing up to 40%. The Tarim Basin mummies show no similarities with contemporary populations of their time, living in genetic isolation. [end excerpt]

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* "That Old “Second Sphinx” Chestnut Is Back – Is There or Is There Not A Hidden Sphinx?" (2021-11-03, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/second-sphinx-0016024) [archive.md/3y1SV]

---

* "Stonehenge Chalk Plaques" (silentearth.org/stonehenge-chalk-plaques/) [archive.md/wT7dr]
* "Stonehenge Plaques Hold Secret Cultural Data, Says New Study" (2021-11-05, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/stonehenge-plaques-0016031) [archive.md/cc22P]

- image caption: The front side of the four Stonehenge plaques.

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* "Connecticut’s Gungywamp: Old Stone Chambers That Are Still A Mystery" (2021-11-04, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/gungywamp-0016030) [archive.md/1tHRx]

- image caption: Al Brown of the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center talks about the stone ring that makes up one of the different sites in the Gungywamp property in the woods of Groton, Connecticut.

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* "2,700-year-old winery in Iraqi Kurdistan could be region's oldest; Wine press excavated in Land of Nineveh Archaeologist Project at Dohuk coincides with increased Assyiran demand for the fruit of the vine, experts explain" (2021-11-05, israelhayom.com/2021/11/05/2700-year-old-winery-in-iraqi-kurdistan-could-be-regions-oldest/) [archive.md/QpBOp]

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* "Three more Chinese irrigation projects designated world heritage structures" (2021-11-27, news.cn/english/2021-11/27/c_1310337170.htm) [archive.md/R4Y1q]:

Three more ancient Chinese irrigation sites have been recognized as World Heritage Irrigation Structures (WHIS), according to the Ministry of Water Resources.

Granted by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) on Friday, the inclusions of the Li Canal-Gaoyou Irrigation District, the Liao River Irrigation District, and the Sakya Water Storage Irrigation System have brought the total number of Chinese irrigation projects on the WHIS list to 26.

Li Canal in east China's Jiangsu Province, one of the newly listed projects, was first built in 486 B.C. to connect and divert water between the Gaoyou Lake and the Gaoyou irrigation district, maintaining a functional balance between water transport and irrigation.

The Liao River Irrigation District, located in the northwest of Jiangxi Province, has a history of over 1,100 years. The irrigation works in the district are still in service today, keeping 22,400 hectares of farmland in the region well-watered.

The Sakya Water Storage Irrigation System in the Tibet Autonomous Region has an average altitude of 4,000 meters, the highest among all the WHIS sites. For centuries, the project has helped locals make full and effective use of their limited water resources. At present, there are more than 400 pools still irrigating farmlands, benefiting approximately 10 percent of the population in the autonomous region.

Established in 1950, the ICID is an international organization aimed at boosting scientific and technological exchanges on irrigation, drainage and flood control.

The WHIS designation, established by the ICID in 2014, aims to protect and promote irrigation projects of historical value and their scientific experience.

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* "Precision Stone Carvings of San Miguel Ixtapan – the Mexican Tiwanaku?" (2021-11-05, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/san-miguel-ixtapan-0016033) [archive.md/MfgBy]

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* "Andean Agriculture: What Were The Inca Building At Moray?" (2021-10-29, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/moray-0016004) [archive.md/tDzag]

- image caption: The terraces at Moray.

---

* "Ruins of Malden Island and The Mysterious Roads that Lead into the Sea" (2018-09-10, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places/malden-island-0010676) [archive.md/E3Y9d]

---

* "Top Ten Giant Discoveries in Ancient Britain" (2021-11-16, ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/giants-great-britain-0016078) [archive.md/kRBk5] [begin excerpt]:

7. Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset, 9ft -

In the year 1191, the monks of Glastonbury Abbey announced a major discovery claiming the skeleton of King Arthur had been found. Witnesses claimed it was nine feet tall (2.7m), and next to it was a female skeleton with a plait of blond hair, said to be Guinevere. A lead cross with latin inscriptions said it was the tomb of King Arthur.

Giraldus Cambrensis, a respected historian personally examined the bones and the grave about four years after the discovery and pronounced it a genuine find. In 1278, in the presence of King Edward l and Queen Eleanor, the remains were transferred into a marble sarcophagus with much pomp and ceremony and placed inside the Abbey. Other sources as far back as 1193 confirmed this was a skeleton of gigantic proportions. Nearby, in a prehistoric lake-village 7ft-long (2.1m) longbows made of Yew were discovered. [end excerpt]

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* "Secrets of the Cave of the Patriarchs exposed; Noam Arnon's comprehensive doctoral dissertation on the Cave of the Patriarchs proves there is much more to the ancient site than meets the eye" (2021-11-02, israelhayom.com/2021/11/02/the-secrets-of-the-cave-of-the-patriarchs/) [archive.md/8NTWB]

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* "Achaemenid workers paid silver for wages, study on clay tablets finds" (2021-09-15, tehrantimes.com/news/465107/Achaemenid-workers-paid-silver-for-wages-study-on-clay-tablets) [archive.md/1pTCQ]

* "Clay Tablets Reveal Persians Paid with Silver Coins… But is it News?" (2021-11-12, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/persian-clay-tablets-0016062) [archive.md/gdukp]

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* "Roman aqueduct discovered in Armenia" (2021-11-16, heritagedaily.com/2021/11/roman-aqueduct-discovered-in-armenia/142015) [archive.md/nE7zx]

* "Roman Empire’s Eastern-most Aqueduct Found Half Finished in Armenia" (2021-11-17, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-aqueduct-0016083) [archive.md/Qo05J]

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* "Late Roman Imperial Treasure Found in Russian Forests - Photos" (2021-11-22, sputniknews.com/20211122/late-roman-imperial-treasure-found-in-russian-forests---photos-1090865486.html) [archive.md/Tt6vy]

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* "Decapitated Statues of Greek Deities Finally Reunited with Their Heads" (2021-11-02, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/aizanoi-0016022) [archive.md/5ElUj]

---

* " ‘Astounding’ Roman Statues Found Under Medieval Church in Britain" (2021-10-30, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-statue-0016008) [archive.md/2XzKd]

- image caption: Complete bust of female Roman statue discovered at the site of old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, England.

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* "Greece Makes Fresh Push to Get Elgin Marbles Returned But British Museum is Not Budging" (2021-11-22, sputniknews.com/20211122/greece-makes-fresh-push-to-get-elgin-marbles-returned-but-british-museum-is-not-budging-1090862435.html) [archive.md/xiT7S]

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* "Largest hoard of Roman silver found in Augsburg" (2021-11-11, thehistoryblog.com/archives/62664) [archive.md/tU5DH]

* "Largest ever Roman silver hoard in Germany found in Augsburg" (2021-11-12, arkeonews.net/largest-ever-roman-silver-hoard-in-germany-found-in-augsburg/) [archive.md/rPLCj]

* "Huge Roman Silver Hoard Unearthed in Augsburg, Germany" (2021-11-17, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/silver-hoard-0016082) [archive.md/dW1tH]

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* "Misconceptions about the Colossus of Rhodes" (2019-07-30, talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/07/30/misconceptions-about-the-colossus-of-rhodes/) [archive.md/PnJYk] [begin excerpt]:

The Colossus of Rhodes was a sculpture of the ancient Greek sun god Helios, who was the patron god and protector of the island of Rhodes. It was designed by the Greek sculptor Chares of Lindos, who was a student of the famous sculptor Lysippos of Sikyon (lived c. 390 – c. 300 BC). Lysippos is known to have created colossal statues of Zeus and Herakles and it is likely that, before taking on the project of designing the Colossus, Chares already had experience designing and building colossal sculptures. The Colossus itself was probably made of bronze plates with stone-weighted iron interior framework.

The ancient Roman writer Pliny the Elder (lived 23 – 79 AD) records in Book Thirty-Four, Chapter 18 of his encyclopedic work Natural History, that the construction of the Colossus took twelve years to complete and that it cost no less than 300 talents. Pliny states that the Rhodians managed to raise this tremendous sum of money by melting down the large siege weapons used by the army of Demetrios I Poliorketes, which had been abandoned on Rhodes when the siege had ended.

Most ancient writers seem to agree that the Colossus of Rhodes stood at around seventy cubits high when it was erect. This is the statistic given by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, as well as the statistic given by the author of an anonymous poem quoted by the Greek geographer Strabon of Amaseia (lived c. 63 BC – c. 24 AD) in Book Fourteen, Chapter 2, Section 5 of his Geographika and by the late fourth-or-early-fifth-century AD Greek writer Philon of Byzantion in Chapter 4 of his treatise On the Seven Wonders.

Although this statistic is probably a rough estimate and not an exact measurement, it can be taken as a general indicator of about how tall the statue probably was. If the Colossus of Rhodes was really seventy cubits tall, that would mean that it was somewhere around thirty-two meters (105 feet) tall. For comparison, the height of the Statue of Liberty from the statue’s feet to the top of her torch is forty-six meters (152 feet). This would make the Colossus of Rhodes possibly the tallest known statue from antiquity. If it were still standing today, modern people would probably still be impressed by it.

Unfortunately, the Colossus of Rhodes only stood for about fifty-four years before it collapsed in 226 BC during a major earthquake. It lay broken on the ground for centuries afterwards. Indeed, it spent more time lying broken on the ground than it did actually standing upright. Nonetheless, people still came to Rhodes to see the remains of the statue. Even in its ruined state, the Colossus was still a true Wonder of the World. Pliny the Elder, who probably saw the ruins of the statue firsthand, tells us, as translated by John Bostock:

“Few men can clasp the thumb in their arms, and its fingers are larger than most statues. Where the limbs are broken asunder, vast caverns are seen yawning in the interior. Within it, too, are to be seen large masses of rock, by the weight of which the artist steadied it while erecting it.”

Eventually, in 653 AD, what remained of the Colossus was reportedly carted away and melted down by Arab conquerors under Caliph Muawiyah I to make bronze weapons and luxury items. [end excerpt]

- [comment]: No one I know of has ever claimed to have found any portion of the Colossus of Rhodes itself, but I am aware of arguments that parts of the pedestal the Colossus once stood on may have survived. Specifically, the Fortress of St. Nicholas in the harbor of Rhodes contains blocks of sandstone and marble of unknown origin that seem to be older than the fortress that may have come from the Colossus’s pedestal. The whole issue is complicated and difficult, however, because no one actually knows where on Rhodes the Colossus stood and so no one really knows where to look.

- image comment: Illustration from 1880 depicting how the artist imagined the Colossus of Rhodes might have looked. This illustration accurately depicts the Colossus as having both feet on the same pedestal and not holding a torch. The location shown here is probably inaccurate, however.

It was a great tourist attraction in antiquity! It was 100 feet tall and constructed of bronze. Amazingly it only stood erect 80 years before it was toppled by a earthquake! The Island did not rebuild it because a soothsayer warned them against it. It was a tourist attraction for over 1000 years. During a moslem conquest they sold the remains to a scrap dealer!

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* "Fasil Ghebbi: The Magnificent 17th-century Camelot of Ethiopia" (2021-10-29, ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/fasil-ghebbi-0016003) [archive.md/uGeaX]

- image caption: Ethiopian Emperor Fasil, who built the Fasil Ghebbi palace, on horseback in the 17th century.

- image caption: The oldest building at Fasil Ghebbi is the Enqualal Gemb, known also as Fasilides’ Palace.

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* "Archaeologists discover medieval port in west France; The surprise findings include evidence of a wine and fishing trade in the area - and well-preserved wooden specimens" (2021-11-02, connexionfrance.com/French-news/Archaeologists-discover-medieval-port-in-west-France) [archive.md/KMZsU]

* "Surprise 10th Century Medieval Port Discovered In Western France" (2021-11-16, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/medieval-port-0016077) [archive.md/hGsEu] [begin excerpt]:

Archaeologists in western France have been up to their elbows excavating enormous oak ship timbers at a “surprise” 10th-century medieval port, where evidence of wine production, fishing trade, and long-distance economics have been unearthed.

The 2,500-square-meter (26,000-square-feet) archaeological dig surrounds the famous medieval castle of Chateau Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, in the Vendée department of western France. Large, extremely well-preserved beams of oak were discovered along an ancient riverbank that featured a gutter system.

A report in Connexion France says the team of archaeologists believe they have discovered “a 10th century port.” This conclusion was drawn considering the site’s proximity to the Atlantic coastline, which is today less than three kilometers (1.9 miles) from the site. [end excerpt]

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* "Rare 'Henry VII half groat' that was minted in England more than 520 years ago is discovered in Newfoundland - and is likely the oldest English coin EVER found in Canada; Experts in Newfoundland found the silver coin during this season's excavations; The 'major find' was minted in Canterbury between the years of 1493 and 1499; It was uncovered at the location of a former English colony founded back in 1610" (2021-11-12, dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10194899/Rare-Henry-VII-half-groat-likely-oldest-English-coin-Canada.html) [archive.md/P0iwn]

- image caption: Both sides of the half groat, or two-penny piece, minted in Canterbury, England sometime between 1493 and 1499 and discovered at the Cupids Cove Plantation Provincial Historic Site in 2021

* "Silver Coin from Henry VII’s Reign is Oldest English Coin Found in Canada" (2021-11-13, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/english-coin-0016068) [archive.md/EbN1L] - image caption: A better-preserved example of a Henry VII half-groat in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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* "Medieval Miniature Gold Bible Found Near King Richard III’s Castle" (2021-11-08, ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/gold-bible-0016047) [archive.md/rn2nG]

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* "Biblical Prophecies Fulfilled... an Overview" (2021-04, Fulfilled Magazine, vol. 6 no. 1, pgs. 10 & 11) [http://web.archive.org/web/20211119005125/https://www.fulfilledcg.com/Magazine/previous-issues-2021-2025/2021-spring/2021-spring.pdf]

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* "Ancient tomb found in north China construction site" (2021-11-17, news.cn/english/2021-11/18/c_1310318850.htm) [archive.md/SQkNh]

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* "Centuries-old village ruins found in Inner Mongolia" (2021-11-17, news.cn/english/2021-11/17/c_1310316172.htm) [archive.md/51f0v]

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* "Quechua endures in Peru despite centuries of discrimination" (2021-09-15, apnews.com/article/peru-south-america-language-e9fa5f4ddd5432d1b2e203dccc05c698) [archive.md/ndJcM]

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Miscellany & Errata

* "The Lost History of the Flat Earth" (2021-06-09, stolenhistory.org/articles/the-lost-history-of-the-flat-earth.586/) [archive.md/MalL4], video (youtube.com/watch?v=df6cy3NywuA) [archive.md/niA8S]

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* "Book | 1770: Atlantis subdivided into three more, America, Sebastia, and Hyperborea" (2021-03-18, stolenhistory.org/articles/1770-atlantis-subdivided-into-three-more-america-sebastia-and-hyperborea.550/) [archive.md/1gHDK]:

This is just an FYI, in case you feel like doing some interesting reading. At the same time I have never heard an Atlantis theory like this. Wondering if the text, or the continent split story slipped through the cracks of the censoring process.

The text is written in hypotheticals, as if the author was speculating. May be he was, or may be he had to do it that way, mixing in bits and pieces of the taboo info into the allowed concept.

Appears that the "non-ancient" Plato's Atlantis could have been a bit bigger than anybody thought.

The below cutout is from 1770 book titled, "Some account of the British Dominions beyond the Atlantic..." (https://archive.md/o/1gHDK/https://books.google.com/books?id=TmFZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PR16&dq=%22hyperborea%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj71byE4sjcAhUYCDQIHW-kB0UQ6AEIKTAA)

Originally there were three continents(?): Ogygia, Atlantis, and Australia

- Ogygia is definitely not an island Homer mentioned, but... may be it was mentioned for a reason.

Atlantis split into:

- America: North America? Amerigo Vespucci?

- Sebastia: South America? (Sebastian Cabot? - this is not a city bearing the same name.)

- Hyperborea

Sebastian Cabot’s father John Cabot, was a Venetian Navigator. Venice again?

Where is Columbus-Colon?

Ogygia split into:

- Europe

- Asia

- Africa

Australia split into:

- Impossible to say into how many lesser parts it is subdivided...

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Curiata

* "Bizarre award encourages curiosity-led scientific research" (2021-11-17, news.cgtn.com/news/2021-11-17/Bizarre-award-encourages-curiosity-led-scientific-research-15glHkv7PQA/index.html) [archive.md/95tMX]

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1844: Artificial Petrification. They practiced it...

Petrification: the process by which organic matter exposed to minerals over a long period is turned into a stony substance.

I am not a chemist, and I do not know how long the long period of time is supposed to last. But here we have this: 1844 The United States Practical Receipt Book: Or, Complete Book of Reference (https://books.google.com/books?id=-G0EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA26%23v=onepage&q&f=false).

If you give it a try, please let us know of the results.

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Green Brittle Star (Ophiarachna incrassata) at the intertidal flats in Yule Point, Queensland, Australia

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* (eng.travelogues.gr/item.php?view=49715) [archive.md/DvPHd]

- Title: Fresco of young knight Dieudonné de Gozon, later Grand Master of Knights Hospitaller. The knight kills the dragon with the aid of his two dogs. Rottiers claims to have seen the fresco in an Ottoman house in the medieval city of Rhodes.

- Alternative Title: Fresque de Dieudonné de Gozon.

- Date: 1828

- Bibliographic Citation: ROTTIERS, Bernard Eugène Antoine. Description des Monumens de Rhodes, dediée à sa majesté le Roi des Pays-Bas, Brussels, Mme V. A. Colinez, 1830. - Monumens de Rhodes [Album], Brussels, Mme V. A. Colinez, 1828.

* "1300s: Velociraptor killed by Dieudonné de Gozon" (2021-07-16, stolenhistory.org/articles/1300s-velociraptor-killed-by-dieudonné-de-gozon.618/) [archive.md/hLq91] [begin excerpt]:

Dieudonné de Gozon was the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes from 1346 to 1353. He was born to a noble family in Languedoc, France. He carried the nickname Extinctor Draconis which means "The Dragon Slayer" in Latin.

It is so told that there was a dragon in the island of Rhodes, Greece, hiding in the local swamp, and killing the cattle of the local farmers.

Despite the orders of the previous Grand Master not to disturb the beast, Gozon slew the dragon, and hung the head on one of the seven gates of the medieval town of Rhodes.

The head was on display until around 1837, when it was disposed of by workers responsible for repairing the castle. [end excerpt]

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Ongoing research

[https://archive.org/details/161VariousArticlesOnEMEtc2]

[https://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/02files/Moon_Images_Menu.html] 01) Image Information

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