Madame Butterfly

<knows yoga would help his memory

^Good friend to UA

^ :)

I can never forget my Father isn't alive anymore.

Still can't open the newest PM.

I live in one of the top 5 cities in America, I know how that is UA

But I still found the reference to your mother disrespectful

^Couldn't open her last PM

^doesn't realize UA's Mother has passed away.

lies to get attention^

thanx.

 

^doesan't realize that i have the personality of a lima bean, according to UA and MB

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Never said that.

You did.

Congratulations everyone.

King!!

Promoted to Q on your birthday?!!!!!!!

Surely a new crown is needed to mark this dual celebration!!

:blink:

It definitely seems easier for some than the others.

As much as I enjoy self check, there is one store that I refuse to use it at, as something always goes wrong at theirs and it doubles my time in the store.

Was Maya Pyramid Designed to Chirp Like a Bird?

Bijal P. Trivedi

National Geographic Today

December 6, 2002

Clap your hands in front of the 1,100-year-old Temple of Kukulcan, in the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza, and, to some researchers' ears, the pyramid answers in the voice of the sacred quetzal bird.

"Now I have heard echoes in my life, but this was really strange," says David Lubman, an acoustical engineer who runs his own firm in Westminster, California. The Maya, he believes, may have built their pyramids to create specific sound effects.

A handclap at the base of Kukulcan's staircase generates what Lubman calls a "chirped echo"—a "chir-roop" sound that first ascends and then falls, like the cry of the native quetzal.

To Lubman, the dimensions of Kukulcan's steps suggest that the builders intended just such an acoustical mimicry. The lower steps have a short tread length and high riser—tough to climb but perfect for producing a high-pitched "chir" sound. The steps higher up make a lower-pitched "roop."

"If you have a structure with these dimensions, it will chirp," Lubman says. He has noted the same effect at the Pyramid of the Magician in the Classic Mayan city of Uxmal, near Chichen Itza on the Yucatan peninsula.

Lubman and Mexican researchers led by Sergio Beristain, president of the Mexican Institute of Acoustics, have investigated acoustical phenomena in Chichen Itza and the great ancient metropolis, Teotihuacan.

On Wednesday they presented their research at a meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Cancun, Mexico.

Quetzals—More Valuable Than Gold

The elusive quetzal, also known as the kuk, deserved homage. The bird inhabits the cloud forests of Central America, and its feathers, along with jade, were among the most precious commodities in Mesoamerica. To the Maya and Aztecs, the quetzal's emerald green iridescent tail feathers were more valuable than gold.

At Kukulcan, Lubman made recordings of the echo and compared them with recordings of the quetzal from Cornell University's ornithology lab, in Ithaca, N.Y.

"They matched perfectly. I was stunned," Lubman says. "The Temple of Kukulcan chirps like a kuk."

Lubman envisions Mayan priests facing a crowd at Kukulcan and clapping. The pyramid would then "answer" in the voice of the quetzal, a messenger of the Gods.

A specialist on the acoustics of worship spaces, Lubman first noticed the chirping echo in 1998 during a visit to Chichen Itza, when tour guides demonstrated the effect.

The echo reminded Lubman of the work of Steven Waller, a biochemist and amateur acoustician in La Mesa, Calif., who has observed that ancient cave or rock paintings, as in the Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon, Utah, often show up in locations where echoes or other special acoustical effects occur.

Any sanctuary that cultivates perfect acoustics is "a way of stating God's favor," Lubman says. Concert halls, too, share in the mystery.

Acoustics Important to the Maya

The quetzal echo remains open to scientific debate. "It's an interesting phenomenon," says Karl Taube, an archaeologist at the University of California, Riverside, and an authority on ancient Mesoamerican writing and art. "The question is whether it was intentional or not."

However, Taube points out that "acoustics were clearly important to the Maya." Many of the cities had open plazas for ceremonial dances where, as Mayan art illustrates, kings and rulers performed in jade and seashell belts.

"These (belts) would have made a tremendous sound as they performed dances in the ceremonial plazas," Taube says.

Initially inspired by Lubman's work, Beristain and his researchers discovered echo phenomena at the staircase of the main pyramid at La Ciudadela at Teotihuacan. The city of Teotihuacan, near the site of modern Mexico City, was founded in 100 B.C.

A handclap directly in front of the pyramid's main staircase produces a chirped echo.

Handclaps from different positions along the base of the staircase likewise trigger the echo—but with different musical tones spanning half an octave.

Local Indians, Beristain says, "told us about the other notes. It is like getting the sound of the Quetzal, but in a range of different notes. I'm sure we will observe these effects at other pyramids, like Chichen Itza," he adds.

Lubman and Beristain plan to extend their studies to other pyramids and ceremonial sites in Mexico to hear just where and how the past still echoes.

Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded

Mystery of 'chirping' pyramid decoded

A theory that the ancient Mayans built their pyramids to act as giant resonators to produce strange and evocative echoes has been supported by a team of Belgian scientists.

Nico Declercq of Ghent University and his colleagues have shown how sound waves ricocheting around the tiered steps of the El Castillo pyramid, at the Mayan ruin of Chichén Itzá near Cancún in Mexico, create sounds that mimic the chirp of a bird and the patter of raindrops.

I wish I could put up the full discovery article, but I'm not a "premium" subscriber to Nature's website. :blink:

Maroon 5

"She Will Be Loved"

I love this song.

I fell deeper in love with my Beloved over many rainy night with this song playing on the radio. :blink: :lol:

:blink: I thought, strange is this about checking yourself out in the mirror!! :lol:

I love self checkout.

Much faster if you ask me, and it's not so frustrating if you are in a hurry.

Wont put  every thing down  but from detroit area

Warren to be percise. and yes i know marshall aka Emaim. hung out at my sisters house at 8 1/2 mile. Did not like him then do not like him now. Was a ----- when he was young and still is.

 

Yooper is someone from the U P

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I guess I think of it as U-per. The other way had me thinking of Yoh-per.

Do you like the UP eh?

http://www.blogthings.com/wherefrom.html

You Know You're From Michigan When...

You define summer as three months of bad sledding.

You think Alkaline batteries were named for a Tiger outfielder. :lol:

You can identify an Ohio accent.

Your idea of a seven-course meal is a six pack and a bucket of smelt.

Owning a Japanese car is a hanging offense in your hometown.

You know how to play (and pronounce) Euchre.

The Big Mac is something that you drive across.

You believe that "down south" means Toledo.

You bake with soda and drink pop.

You drive 75 on the highway and you pass on the right. That's because all the yahoo's from Ohio are driving in the left lane because they feel free after leaving their home state!! :lol:

Your Little League baseball game was snowed out.

You learned how to drive a boat before you learned how to ride a bike.

You know how to pronounce "Mackinac". Mac IN AWWW

The word "thumb" has a geographical rather than an anatomical significance.

You have experienced frostbite and sunburn in the same week.

You expect Vernor's when you order ginger ale.

You know that Kalamazoo not only exists, but that it isn't far from Hell.

Your favorite holidays are Christmas, Thanksgiving, the opening of deer season and Devil's Night.

Your snowmobile, lawn mower and fishing boat all have big block Chevy engines.

At least one person in your family disowns you for the week of the Michigan/Michigan State football game.

You know what a millage is.

Traveling coast to coast means driving from Port Huron to Muskegon.

Half the change in your pocket is Canadian, eh.

You show people where you grew up by pointing to a spot on your left hand.

You know what a "Yooper" is. _I don't know this, is this new since I moved? :blink:

Your car rusts out before you need the brakes done

Half the people you know say they are from Detroit... yet you don't personally know anyone who actually lives in Detroit

"Up North" means north of Clare.

You know what a pastie is. So many good Cornish pasties back home. MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

You occasionally cheer "Go Lions- and take the Tigers with you."

Snow tires come standard on all your cars.

At least 25% of your relatives work for the auto industry.

You don't understand what the big deal about Chicago is. :lol:

Octopus and hockey go together as naturally as hot dogs and baseball.

You know more about chill factors and lake effect than you'd EVER like to know!

Your snowblower has more miles on it than your car.

Shoveling the driveway constitutes a great upper body workout.

When giving directions, you refer to "A Michigan Left."

You know when it has rained because of the smell of worms.

You never watch the Weather Channel - you can just assume they're wrong.

The snowmen you make in your front yard actually freeze. Solid.

The snow freezes so hard that you can actually walk across it and not break it or leave any marks.

All your shoes are called "tennis shoes", even though no one here plays tennis anyway.

Your major school field trip includes camping and cross-country skiing.

Half your friends have a perfect sledding hill right in their own backyard.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Michigan.

Long ago at school, we had a National Geographic booklet in class that showed Pompeii, I was hooked for life!

I love archeaology.

The one constant love of my life.

Dancing in my chair to music, which is putting me into a bit of a slap happy mood.

Taking target practice on my room mate with a nerf air gun.

Well no, I"m not into pain.

Verbally, in the past I was much much worse than I am now.

The exact budget available for the study will depend on how many test kits are sold to the public. The net proceeds will go back into the research and into "legacy projects" set up to support indigenous peoples

There are always those who will more than willingly participate in this, just so they can brag about having their DNA in the test.

If I could go somewhere and have a daily Calvin & Hobbes or The Far Side, I'd do that everyday in my PL :wink2:

Sometime I don't respond to the topics being discussed because I've already responded, or I don't have anything to say regarding that topic, or it doesn't interest me.

Sometimes I am just in the mood to "lurk" see what's being said but not wanting to share anything.

As for Chat, I have alot of people on my instant messaging system as it is, so I don't go into chat if I am talking on IM>

Bionic eye will let the blind see

Blind people would ultimately be able to recognise faces with the device

US scientists have designed a bionic eye to allow blind people to see again.

It comprises a computer chip that sits in the back of the individual's eye, linked up to a mini video camera built into glasses that they wear.

Images captured by the camera are beamed to the chip, which translates them into impulses that the brain can interpret.

The device has been designed by Professor Gislin Dagnelie at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

This is a revolutionary piece of technology and really has the potential to change people's lives

Anita Lifestone of the Royal National Institute for the Blind

Professor Dagnelie unveiled details at a Royal National Institute for the Blind conference in London, UK, on Monday.

Human trials will begin within a year, hopes Professor Dagnelie.

Although the images produced by the artificial eye were far from perfect, they could be clear enough to allow someone who is otherwise blind to recognise faces, he said.

The breakthrough is likely to benefit patients with the most common cause of blindness, macular degeneration, which affects 500,000 people in the UK.

This occurs when there is damage to the macula, which is in the central part of the retina where light is focussed and changed into nerve signals in the middle of the brain.

The implant bypasses the diseased cells in the retina and stimulates the remaining viable cells.

See the light

Professor Dagnelie said: "The retinal implant contains tiny electrodes. If you stimulate a single electrode, the person will see a single dot of light."

They have already tested implants containing a handful of electrodes, but the end device will contain 50-100 to give a better overall picture.

"We are hoping this will be enough for the person to be able to make their way through a building, find a door or window and avoid obstacles for example.

"To us, the images look very basic but for someone who was previously blind they are a massive step forward."

But he added: "There is still quite a bit of work that will be needed to fine tune it. Being able to see faces will be quite a bit down the line."

He said training the individual to learn how to interpret the blurry images should help.

Anita Lifestone of the RNIB, said: "This is a revolutionary piece of technology and really has the potential to change people's lives. But we need to be aware it is still some way in the future."

Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor

By Eli Ashkenazi

A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias.

According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.

"Marble from the first century CE was very rare in this area and is found only in royal palaces. Who knows, perhaps Salome danced for the king on this very floor," Hirschfeld said, referring to the New Testament story of the daughter of Herodias, Antipas' wife, who demanded the head of John the Baptist on a platter in exchange for the dance.

The dig was cosponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority, and was funded by the Tiberias municipality and Brown University, Rhode Island. It revealed that in the fourth century a basilica was constructed on top of the palace. It also uncovered a street from the Roman-Byzantine period, mosaics, and coins bearing the image of Jesus.

Obelisk points to ancient Ethiopian glory

By Verity Murphy

BBC News website

The obelisks mark the graves of Axum's ancient rulers.

In northern Ethiopia, in the once-great city of Axum, final preparations are under way for the return of one of Africa's most remarkable archaeological treasures.

The Axum obelisk, a 1,700-year-old stone monolith, measuring 24-metres (78 feet) high and weighing 180 tons, is returning home after more than six decades adorning a square in the Italian capital, Rome.

It was looted by Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 during Italy's brief occupation of Ethiopia and has been a bone of contention between the two countries ever since.

The Ethiopian authorities accused Italy of foot-dragging over the issue, while Rome blamed the slow progress on the difficulty and cost of moving such a massive stone between two continents.

Trading empire

The obelisk is the finest of more than 100 stone monoliths which stood in Axum, capital city of the ancient Axumite kingdom and birthplace of the biblical Queen of Sheba.

In the 3rd Century AD, the Persian philosopher Mani described Axum as one of the four greatest kingdoms in the world, along with Rome, China and Persia.

Situated on the northern edge of present-day Ethiopia, Axum first rose to prominence in the 1st Century AD trading its rich natural resources through its Red Sea port Adulis.

A steady stream of textiles, animals, gold, ivory, precious jewels and spices passed through Adulis on their way to be sold in Arabia, India and throughout the Roman Empire.

Profiting from this trade Axum grew into the dominant force in the Red Sea area and an ally of Constantinople - eventual capital of the Greek-speaking, and Christian, Byzantine Empire.

Christian conversion

Cultural exchange with Constantinople meant Axum's elite also spoke Greek, inscriptions in the city even appeared in the language, and around AD325 Ezana, the King of Axum, converted to Christianity.

Ezana removed the crescent and disk motif from Axum's coins, replacing it with the Christian cross, and laid the foundations for the Christian conversion of the whole of Ethiopia.

The king is also believed to have ordered the building of seven massive stone monoliths, the largest of the 100 or so that were erected in the city in the 3rd and 4th Centuries AD.

Hewn from nepheline syenite, a hard-wearing granite-like rock, and varying in height from one metre to 30m, the obelisks were erected as funerary markers, or stelae, for deceased members of the aristocracy.

Intricate carvings

The stone returning from Rome is one of the group Ezana is believed to have erected.

These seven obelisks are significant not only for their huge size, but also their intricate decoration.

Carvings on the stones represent the windows and beams of a multi-storey building - the largest depicting 13 floors along its length.

False doors are carved on the base of the monolith

False stone doors at the bottoms of the pillars, some even bearing carved door locks, add to the impression that the solid pieces of rock are in fact buildings.

Axum continued to flourish until the 6th Century, when the rise of the Persian Empire and conquests by Muslim Arabs cut the city off from its international trade network and contact with other Christian countries.

But long after its political and economic decline, Axum remained the place where Ethiopia's emperors were crowned.

It also retained its prestige as the birthplace of Christianity in Ethiopia, enhanced by the legend that Menelik I, son of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, brought the Ark of the Covenant from Jerusalem to Axum.

Some believe that the Ark remains there to this day, now housed inside a small church built in 1965 on the orders of Haile Selassie, last Emperor of Ethiopia and claimed direct descendant of King Solomon himself.

Ray burst is extinction suspect

Gamma ray bursts are the most powerful explosions known

A huge cosmic explosion could have caused a mass extinction on Earth 450 million years ago, according to an analysis by scientists in the US.

A gamma ray burst could have caused the Ordovician extinction, killing 60% of marine invertebrates at a time when life was largely confined to the sea.

These cosmic blasts are the most powerful explosions in the Universe.

The scientists think a 10-second burst near Earth could deplete up to half of the planet's ozone layer.

With the ozone layer devastated, the Sun's ultraviolet radiation could have killed off much of the life on land and near the surface of oceans and lakes.

Gamma ray bursts are rare occurrences, but scientists estimate that at least one must have occurred near the Earth in the past one billion years.

Scientists think that gamma-ray bursts are generated in two principal scenarios. In one scenario, a star collapses in on itself, giving birth to a black hole and releasing a high-energy jet of material travelling at close to the speed of light.

The bursts could also be generated when two neutron stars collide.

"A gamma ray burst originating within 6,000 light-years from Earth would have a devastating effect on life," said co-author Dr Adrian Melott, an astronomer at the University of Kansas, US.

"We don't know exactly when one came, but we're rather sure it did come - and left its mark. What's most surprising is that just a 10-second burst can cause years of devastating ozone damage."

Dr Melott and his colleagues used computer models to calculate the effects of a nearby gamma ray burst on the Earth's atmosphere and its life forms.

They showed that up to half the ozone layer would be destroyed within weeks. Five years on, at least 10% would still be missing.

During the Ordovician, most life forms still lived in the sea

Although deep sea creatures would be protected from the effects of the burst, surface-dwelling plankton and other life near the top of the ocean would not survive.

This would have had huge implications for other life forms, because plankton form the foundation of the marine food chain; they provide for animals which are then eaten by larger species.

Bruce Lieberman, a palaeontologist at the University of Kansas, originated the idea that a gamma ray burst could have caused the Ordovician extinction. An ice age has been implicated by other scientists in the extinction.

The latest research shows that a gamma ray burst could have caused a fast die out early on and could also have triggered a drop in temperature similar to the effect of an ice age.

Swift, a Nasa space mission launched in November 2004, is currently investigating the phenomenon of gamma ray bursts from Earth orbit.

DNA project to trace human steps

Scientists aim to trace ancient human migratory routes Image: National Geographic

A project spanning five continents is aiming to map the history of human migration via DNA.

The Genographic Project will collect DNA samples from over 100,000 people worldwide to help piece together a picture of how the Earth was colonised.

Samples gathered from indigenous people and the general public will be subjected to lab and computer analysis to extract the valuable genetic data.

Team leader Dr Spencer Wells calls the plan "the Moon shot of anthropology".

"We see this as part of the commons of our species"

The $40m privately-funded project is a collaboration between National Geographic, IBM and charity the Waitt Family Foundation.

Participating in the five-year study are some of the world's top population geneticists as well as leading experts in the fields of ancient DNA, linguistics and archaeology.

Future resource

"We see this as a resource for humanity going into the future. It could potentially become the largest genetic database ever created," Dr Wells told the BBC News website.

Members of the public will be able to buy a kit that contains all the material needed to add their genetic information to the database.

The DNA double helix is held together by 2.9 billion chemical components called base-pairs

Evidence from genetics and archaeology places the origin of modern humans (Homo sapiens) in Africa roughly 200,000 years ago. The first moderns to leave the continent set off around 60,000 years ago.

By studying the Y (or male) chromosome and mitochondrial DNA - which is passed down exclusively on the maternal line - scientists have pieced together a broad-brush picture of which populations moved where in the world - and when.

What is lacking, says Wells, is the fine detail, which could be filled in by this large-scale project.

"We know which markers on the Y chromosome to focus on; we know our way around the mitochondrial genome fairly well. We just haven't had the large sample sizes to apply these technologies properly," Dr Wells explained.

"There are still many questions we haven't answered. Was there any interbreeding with Neanderthals as modern humans moved into Europe? Did any of the migrations to the Americas come across the Pacific - or even the Atlantic?"

These and other unanswered questions form the research goals of the project. They include:

Who are the oldest populations in Africa - and therefore the world?

Did Alexander the Great's armies leave a genetic trail?

Who were the first people to colonise India?

Is it possible to obtain intact DNA from the remains of Homo erectus and other extinct hominids?

How has colonialism affected genetic patterns in Africa?

Was there any admixture with Homo erectus as modern humans spread throughout South-East Asia?

Is there any relationship between Australian Aboriginal genetic patterns and their oral histories?

What are the origins of differences between human groups?

A total of 10 DNA collection centres located around the world will focus on obtaining samples from indigenous peoples. The genetic markers in the blood of these groups have remained relatively unchanged for generations.

"Sub-Saharan Africa harbours the spectrum of variation that will allow us to trace the very origin of our species as well as more recent incursions," said Himla Soodyall, principal project investigator for that region.

Collection challenge

However, this could be challenging in areas where indigenous populations have a history of exploitation such as North America and Australia.

"We want to attract their participation by being extremely clear about what we do and do not do. For example, we are very clear about not trying to exploit their genetic diversity for medical uses," Ajay Royyuru, head of computational biology at IBM told the BBC News website.

The project will shed light on the origins of human diversity. Image: National Geographic

IBM says it will use sophisticated analytical techniques to interpret the information in the biobank and find patterns in the genetic data. The IT giant will also provide the computing infrastructure for the project.

Kits sold to the public contain cheek swabs used to scrape the inside of the mouth for a DNA sample. The swabs can then be mailed to a central laboratory for analysis.

After four to six weeks, the results of the analysis will appear on the website behind an anonymous password contained in the kit.

The exact budget available for the study will depend on how many test kits are sold to the public. The net proceeds will go back into the research and into "legacy projects" set up to support indigenous peoples.

The Genographic Project's directors emphasise that the information in the database will be made accessible to scientists studying human migrations.

"We see this as part of the commons of our species. We're not going to be patenting anything - the information will all be in the public domain," said Dr Wells.