Archaeology Course in India: 10+2 (any stream), BHU, DIHRM, DCPRC, Professor, Researcher, Heritage Manager, 20,000-30,000 INR...
Halloween’s almost here, which, for a large number of costumes, will require a liberal dousing of fake blood to complete the look. You probably...
This is why you'll pick South Africa for your next vacation!
Recently, I spotted a book by Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers called "Spomenik: The End of History." There are 26 photos of 25 weird but powerful structures, seemingly under poor maintenance, standing eerily on completely deserted lands. They are usually of gigantic scale and abstract geometry, resembling flowers, mushrooms, crystals, or blown-up micro-organisms. Most of them were built with concrete or stone, while some others with metal cladding or partly glazed. They make you wonder: what are these things? Spomenik #1 (Podgarić), 2006 Spomenik #2 (Petrova Gora), 2006 Pomenik #3 (Kosmaj), 2006 Spomenik #4 (Tjentište), 2007 Spomenik #5 (Kruševo), 2007 Spomenik #6 (Kozara), 2007 Spomenik #7 (Grmeč), 2007 Spomenik #8 (Ilirska Bistrica), 2007 Spomenik #9 (Jasenovac), 2007 Spomenik #10 (Sanski Most), 2007 Spomenik #11 (Niš), 2007 Spomenik #12 (Košute), 2007 Spomenik #13 (Korenica), 2007 Spomenik #14 (Knin), 2007 Spomenik #15 (Makljen), 2007 Spomenik #16 (Tjentište), 2007 Spomenik #17 (Kolašin), 2009 Spomenik #18 (Kadinjača), 2009 Spomenik #19 (Mitrovica), 2009 Spomenik #20 (Brezovica), 2009 Spomenik #21 (Kamenska), 2009 Spomenik #22 (Ostra), 2009 Spomenik #23 (Sisak), 2009 Spomenik #24 (Nikšić), 2009 Spomenik #25 (Sinj), 2009 Spomenik #26 (Zenica), 2009 Spomenik literally means monument. These structures were commissioned by former Yugoslavian president Josip Broz Tito in the 1960s and 70s to commemorate sites where WWII battles took place (like Tjentište, Kozara and Kadinjača), or where concentration camps stood (like Jasenovac and Niš). They were designed by different sculptors (Dušan Džamonja, Vojin Bakić, Miodrag Živković, Jordan and Iskra Grabul, to name a few) and architects (Bogdan Bogdanović, Gradimir Medaković...), conveying powerful visual impact to show the confidence and strength of the Socialist Republic. In the 1980s, these monuments attracted millions of visitors per year, especially young pioneers for their "patriotic education." After the Republic dissolved in early 1990s, they were completely abandoned, and their symbolic meanings were forever lost. From 2006 to 2009, Kempenaers toured around the ex-Yugoslavia region (now Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.) with the help of a 1975 map of memorials, bringing before our eyes a series of melancholy yet striking images. His photos raise a question: can these former monuments continue to exist as pure sculptures? On one hand, their physical dilapidated condition and institutional neglect reflect a more general social historical fracturing. And on the other hand, they are still of stunning beauty without any symbolic significances. I know this may sound schizophrenic if you also read my last post. But maybe there are forms that can transcend meaning...
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Acclaimed actor Mark Bonnar (Unforgotten, Catastrophe) is back as shifty lawyer Max McCall in Guilt Season 2, premiering August 28, 2022. #GuiltPBS
Clues found near the site of Cahokia (above) indicated that a flood occurred at the height of the city's population and power. Sediments reveal evidence of massive Mississippian flood around 1200 C.E. Glenn Hodges for National Geographic Published October 31, 2013 One thousand years ago, on a floodplain of the Mississippi River near modern-day St. Louis, the massive Native American city known today asCahokia sprang suddenly into existence. Three hundred years later it was virtually deserted. The reasons for Cahokia's quick emergence and precipitous decline have been among the greatest mysteries in American prehistory, but new research suggests a possible cause of the city's demise: a catastrophic flood. A team led by Samuel E. Munoz, a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, reported at the 2013 conference of the Geological Society of America that their study of sediment cores from a lake adjacent to the site of Cahokia reveals calamitous flooding of the area around 1200 C.E., just as the city was reaching its apex of population and power. While analyzing cores from Horseshoe Lake, an oxbow lake that separated from the Mississippi River some 1,700 years ago, Munoz's team discovered a layer of silty clay 19 centimeters (7.5 inches) thick deposited by a massive ancient flood. It's unlikely that the ancient floodwaters were high enough to inundate the ten-story mound at Cahokia's center, a structure now called Monk's Mound. (See"Cahokia: America's Forgotten City.") But a flood of such magnitude would have devastated croplands and residential areas, and may have made it impossible for a population numbering as many as 15,000 to continue inhabiting the area. Whether the flood caused Cahokia's decline and abandonment or simply contributed to it remains a subject for future research. But this much is clear: Within 150 years of the flood, what had been the largest prehistoric settlement north of Mexico became a ghost town, a vacant landscape of earthen mounds that would confound European settlers. Though the flood is a new wrinkle in Cahokia's story, other data from the team's research supports previous archaeological conclusions about the history of Cahokia and the Mississippian culture of which it was a part. Core Clues Analysis of pollen deposits in the sediment cores from Horseshoe Lake shows an intensification of farming, accompanied by rapid deforestation, starting around 450 C.E., with corn cultivation peaking between 900 and 1200 C.E. Then the cores reveal the flood event, followed by a decline in corn cultivation. By 1350 C.E., the pollen record shows, agriculture there had essentially ceased. (Related: "Drought Led to Collapse of Civilizations, Study Says.") Munoz, a geographer who specializes in the study of pollen records, noticed that very little pollen research had been done in the American Southeast, where the Mississippian culture flourished. "And we didn't really have any studies outside big archaeological sites," he said. So when he saw Horseshoe Lake right next to Cahokia, he thought it was worth a shot. "These floodplain lakes have been ignored for a long time as sources of these kinds of records, and they can be really valuable," said Munoz, whose research was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society. But he had no idea they might find such a big piece of the puzzle. "When we realized we were looking at a flood, and that it fell right at this key time in Cahokia's history, it was very exciting."
Geert and Gert Jan Hofstede's web site. Exhibition, theories, research and life. Hofstede's Globe. VSM. IPR and copyright. Partners.
Setting: A Friday morning in Boulder, Colorado. Coco the cat is curled on a pillow. Liz is listening to Maria Callas sing "Senza mamma" on Youtube. RRRRRRRRRRRRRING! LIZ: (turning down the volume on Maria and pushing a button to answer the phone) Yep? MICHAEL: I have Neal on the line. LIZ: Awesome! Thanks. MICHAEL: Here [...]
Lex Fridman is a renowned computer scientist and AI researcher – he also hosts a popular podcast and Youtube series in which he breaks down some seriously mind-blowing theories and concepts. Fridman began his career in the offices of Google, where his work covered machine learning, and he’s now serving as a research scientist …
Human Design System - Love, Sex and Caring in Relationships
The billionaire tech entrepreneur and 'Shark Tank' star on all things startups and investing.
The proteins that make up living organisms are huge molecules, but they're composed of tinier building blocks, known as amino acids. There are over 500...
labanotation, original name Kinetography Laban, system of recording human movement, originated by the Hungarian-born dance theorist Rudolf Laban. Labanotation grew from Laban’s interest in movement, which stemmed from his early travels. He studied architecture and philosophy in Paris and worked as an illustrator before becoming involved in the performing arts. His architectural interests led to his analysis of the spatial structure of movement itself. After publishing a shorthand system for his theories (Choreographie, 1926), he developed a more detailed and more widely applicable notation—one that spelled out the elements that produce the movement pattern—and published it in the book Schrifttanz
Archaeological site in Germany upends previous understanding of when humans arrived in northwestern Europe.
Most people, at least those who visit sites like FlowingData, know about map projections. You have to do math to get the globe, a thing that exists in this 3-dimensional world, into a two-dimension…
We live in the age of the smartphone, which took more than a few of us by surprise. But in all human history, not a single piece of technology has actually come out of nowhere.
Retaining talented people is an important role of both line management and human resources. There are without doubt 100s of excuses people give when leaving a company, especially in "exit interviews".
More than 90 jar sites have been identified within Xiangkhouang Province. Each site has from one to 400 stone jars. The jars vary in height and diameter between 1m and 3m and are all hewn from rock. Their shape is cylindrical with the bottom always wider than the top. Carved from huge blocks of sandstone and limestone, the jars on the Xieng Khouang plateau date from 500BC to 500AD.They appear to have been quarried from several areas in the Xieng Kouang foothills before being spread over more than 90 sites, numbering from just a handful in some areas to hundreds in others. Each has a cylindrical shape with the bottom wider than the top and most have lip rims, raising suspicions that the jars originally had lids. However, few stone lids have ever been found at the sites.Just one jar has been found to have been decorated with a human 'frogman' relief carved on the exterior. Between 1964 and 1973, the Plain of Jars was heavily bombed by the U.S. Air Force operating against North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao communist forces. The U.S. Air Force dropped more bombs on Laos, primarily the Plain of Jars, than it dropped during the whole of World War II. This included 262 million anti-personnel cluster bombs. An estimated 80 million of these did not explode and remain a deadly threat to the population. The large quantity of unexploded bombs in the area, especially cluster munitions, limits free movement. Evidence of the bombing raids can be seen in the form of broken or displaced jars and bomb craters. Sightseeing on the Plain of Jars can only be done safely on cleared and marked pathways. Lao legends tell of a race of giants who inhabited the area and who were ruled by a king, named Khun Cheung, who fought a long and ultimately victorious battle against an enemy. He supposedly created the jars to brew and store huge amounts of lau hai ("lau" means "alcohol", "hai" means "jar"—So "lau hai" means rice beer or rice wine in the jars) to celebrate his victory. Another local story states that the jars were molded from natural materials including clay, sand, sugar, and animal products in a type of stone mix. This led the locals to believe the cave at Site 1 was actually a kiln, and that the jars were fired there and are not actually hewn from stone. Another suggested explanation for the jars' use is to collect monsoon rainwater for caravan travelers along their journey at times when rain may have been seasonal and water was not readily available on the easiest foot paths. Rainwater would then be boiled, even if stagnant, to become potable again, a practice long understood in Eastern Eurasia. The trade caravans that camped around these jars could have placed beads inside them as offerings, accompanying prayers for rain. Or the beads might simply have been unassociated lost items. MAKING MONEY ONLINE WAS NEVER SO EASY !!!
Grant Snider of Incidental Comics presents us with a handy map of the complex called Inferiority. It's a good thing he does, too, because it's a large territory that isn't easily navigated. If one is able to break through the insecurity fence on their way to the stream of consciousness, they had better beware of the slippery slope. I've fallen into that pool before, and the water isn't so nice. ...
I made the large meme down below some time ago and thought I'd share it here. What do you think? I would love to hear from you about the WHYs of your EX-believer status. I often feel such a sense of community with ex-believers. So many of us have experienced enough cognitive dissonance that we found it intolerable to stay in the church. As for me, the mind games and shame didn't sit well with me. I couldn't ignore them in the church when I was working so hard in my life at the time to be completely honest and healthy with my thinking. Making the decision to live a highly ethical life meant that my brain was in turmoil over my religious beliefs. The internal struggle for me began in earnest in the early 90s, I guess. I have always been a heavy reader and my reading at that time was deeply spiritual and widely religious and psychological. It didn't take long for the cognitive dissonance to set in. I tried to make it all work for so long. First I decided that it was religion in particular that I couldn't live with. I left the church but kept on with my belief, my reading, my thinking. The intellectual struggle kept me upset and in distress quite often in those days. How about you? Have you read any of Karen Armstrong's books? It might have been her book A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity and Islam that nailed the final nail in the coffin of religion for me. Not the final nail for a god, but for religion. The final nail for any belief of a supernatural being of any sort came to me while I was reading The Bible.
NEW YORK (AP) — DNA from an infant who died in Alaska some 11,500 years ago is giving scientists the best look yet at the genetics of the ancestors of today's native peoples of the Americas.
