Cargo laden Roman ship found

Italian police divers have discovered a 2,000-year-old sunken ship in the waters near the port city of Genoa.

The wreck contains hundreds of amphorae, or clay jars, used for shipping oil, olives, wine and other food products.

An automated underwater rover located the Roman remains on the sea floor at a depth of 200 feet after searching an area where fisherman had reported hauling up pottery fragments in their nets, Carabinieri military police said in a statement.

The police scuba unit said the upper part of the wreck contains numerous fragments of amphorae damaged by fishing, but the lower section is intact and contains “several hundred amphorae” of a type used by Roman merchants between the first century BC and the second century AD.

Divers have so far recovered only one crusty amphora, but they said that it was likely that some of the ancient jars remained sealed, which would allow scientists to study and identify the exact contents of the cargo.

Police said they would now monitor and protect the site of the ancient wreck.

via Telegraph

Roswell : There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official

“There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don’t know,” French told HuffPost. “The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that’s why it crashed.”

French — an Air Force pilot who was in Alamagordo, N.M., in 1947, being tested in an altitude chamber, an annual requirement for rated officers — was very specific in how the military allegedly brought down what he believes was a spacecraft from another world.

“When they hit it with that electromagnetic pulse — bingo! — there goes all their electronics and, consequently, the UFO was uncontrollable,” said French, who flew hundreds of combat missions in Korea and Southeast Asia, and who held several positions working for Military Intelligence.

Another retired officer doubts French’s story.

“No chance! Zero chance!” said Army Col. John Alexander, whose own top-secret clearance gave him access in the 1980s to official documents and UFO accounts. He created a top-level group of government officials and scientists who determined that, while UFOs are real, they couldn’t find evidence of an official cover-up.

“In the 1980s, I was the guy developing all of the pulse-power weapons systems. We couldn’t have done it then. In the 60s, they had a laser system, but your range was extremely limited, and we didn’t have operational laser weapons in that time frame,” said Alexander, who is working to get amnesty for military personnel who wish to talk about their UFO experiences. …

French says he was told about the UFO “shootdown” by another military officer — a confidential source — from White Sands Proving Grounds, an area of the New Mexico desert where the U.S. military tested many weapons systems.

His source told French there was a second UFO crash near Roswell a few days after the first one.

“It was within a few miles of where the original crash was,” French said. “We think that the reason they were in there at that time was to try and recover parts and any survivors of the first crash. I’m [referring to] the people from outer space — the guys whose UFO it was.”

While French offered no further details on what he says was a second UFO crash, he teased something else.

“I had seen photographs of parts of the UFO that had inscriptions on it that looked like it was in an Arabic language — it was like a part number on each one of them. They were photographs in a folder that I just thumbed through.”

That’s an interesting parallel to the recent story of ex-CIA agent Chase Brandon, who claimed he found a box at CIA headquarters in the 1990s — a box labeled “Roswell.”

Brandon told HuffPost he looked in the box and went through written materials and photographs confirming his suspicions that the object which crashed at Roswell, “was a craft that clearly did not come from this planet.” …

via Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official.

Is not joining Facebook a sign you’re a psychopath? Some employers and psychologists say it’s ‘suspicious’

Facebook has become such a pervasive force in modern society that increasing numbers of employers, and even some psychologists, believe people who aren’t on social networking sites are ‘suspicious.’

The German magazine Der Taggspiegel went so far as to point out that accused theater shooter James Holmes and Norwegian mass murder Anders Behring Breivik have common ground in their lack of Facebook profiles.

On a more tangible level, Forbes.com reports that human resources departments across the country are becoming more wary of young job candidates who don’t use the site.

The common concern among bosses is that a lack of Facebook could mean the applicant’s account could be so full of red flags that it had to be deleted.

Slate.com Advice Columnist, Emily Yoffee, wrote in an advice column that young people shouldn’t date anyone who isn’t on Facebook.

‘If you’re of a certain age and you meet someone who you are about to go to bed with, and that person doesn’t have a Facebook page, you may be getting a false name. It could be some kind of red flag,’ he says.

Yoffee points out that these judgements don’t apply to older people who were already productive adults before social media became widespread.

The tech news site Slashdot summed up Der Taggspiegel’s story about social networking as ‘not having a Facebook account could be the first sign that you are a mass murderer.’

It points out that Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and an unborn child and wounding 58 others at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and Breivik, who murdered  77 people with a car bomb and mass shooting, did not use Facebook and had small online footprints.

Breivik used MySpace and Holmes was reportedly on the hookup site Adult Friend Finder.

Psychologist Christopher Moeller told the magazine that using Facebook has become a sign of having a healthy social network.

Psychologists have noted that Holmes, along with several noted mass murderers, have lacked any real friends.

And this is what the argument boils down to: It’s the suspicion that not being on Facebook, which has become so normal among young adults, is a sign that you’re abnormal and dysfunctional, or even dangerous, ways. …

via Is not joining Facebook a sign you’re a psychopath? Some employers and psychologists say it’s ‘suspicious’ | Mail Online.

No mass murders post visit my blog daily, therefore, anyone who does not visit my blog daily is suspicious and is probably a cold blooded killer.

US starts Agent Orange clean-up in Vietnam

The US has begun a project to help clean up Agent Orange contamination at one area in Vietnam – the first such move since the war ended in 1975.

The work is taking place at the airport in the central city of Danang.

The US sprayed millions of gallons of the toxic defoliant over jungle areas to destroy enemy cover.

Vietnam says several million people have been affected by Agent Orange, including 150,000 children born with severe birth defects.

Agent Orange Victims Association Vice Chairman Tran Xuan Thu told the BBC that although the clean-up activities were “a little late”, they were “greatly appreciated”.

“They show that the US government now is taking the responsibility to assist us. I hope these efforts will be multiplied in future,” he said.

“However we consider that the clean-up is separate from the issue of compensating Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, who are still suffering from injustice. These victims will carry on with their lawsuits, no matter what.”

A lawsuit brought by a group of Vietnamese nationals against US manufacturers was dismissed in 2007.

On Thursday, a ceremony was held at the Danang airport where the defoliant was stored before being sprayed over forests hiding fighters from the Viet Cong, guerrillas backed by the Communist government of North Vietnam.

The US government is providing $41m (£26m) to the clean-up project, which is being carried out by two American companies in co-operation with the Vietnamese defence ministry.

The US has in the past helped fund some social services in Vietnam, but this is its first direct involvement in clean-up work.

The contaminated soil and sediment is to be excavated and then heated to a high temperature to destroy the dioxins, a US embassy statement said.

Frank Donovan of USAID told Radio Australia the project would last until 2016.

“We expect it will be cleaned up to rid the contaminated areas of dioxins down to harmless levels that are accepted both by the government of the US and the government of Vietnam, and so safe for industrial, commercial or residential use,” he said. …

via BBC News – US starts Agent Orange clean-up in Vietnam.

New human species identified from Kenya fossils

Researchers studying fossils from northern Kenya have identified a new species of human that lived two million years ago.

The discoveries suggests that at least three distinct species of humans co-existed in Africa.

The research adds to a growing body of evidence that runs counter to the popular perception that there was a linear evolution from early primates to modern humans.

The research has been published in the journal Nature.

Anthropologists have discovered three human fossils that are between 1.78 and 1.95 million years old. The specimens are of a face and two jawbones with teeth.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Nature was developing different human prototypes only one of which, our species, was ultimately successful”

Professor Chris Stringer Natural History Museum, London

The finds back the view that a skull found in 1972 is of a separate species of human, known as Homo rudolfensis. The skull was markedly different to any others from that time. It had a relatively large brain and long flat face.

But for 40 years the skull was the only example of the creature and so it was impossible to say for sure whether the individual was an unusual specimen or a member of a new species.

With the discovery of the three new fossils researchers can say with more certainty that H.rudolfensis really was a separate type of human that existed around two million years ago alongside other species of humans.

For a long time the oldest known human ancestor was thought to be a primitive species, dating back 1.8 million years ago called Homo erectus. They had small heads, prominent brows and stood upright.

But 50 years ago, researchers discovered an even older and more primitive species of human called Homo habilis that may have coexisted with H. erectus. Now it seems H. rudolfensis was around too and raises the distinct possibility that many other species of human also existed at the time.

This find is the latest in a growing body of evidence that challenges the view that our species evolved in a smooth linear progression from our primate ancestors.

Instead, according to Dr Meave Leakey of the Turkana Basin Institute in Nairobi, who led the research the find shows that there was a diversity early on in the evolution of our species.

“Our past was a diverse past,” she told BBC News, “our species was evolving in the same way that other species of animals evolved. There was nothing unique about us until we began to make sophisticated stone tools.”

March of progress The March of Progress had many dead ends

In other groups of animals many different species evolve, each with new traits, such as plumage, or webbed feet. If the new trait is better suited to the environment then the new species thrives, if not it becomes extinct.

According to Professor Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, fossil evidence is increasingly suggesting that human evolution followed the same pattern. …

via BBC News – New human species identified from Kenya fossils.

Belarus-Sweden teddy bear row escalates

Belarus has taken strong diplomatic action against Sweden following a stunt involving parachuted teddy bears.

Sweden says all of its diplomats have been expelled from Belarus, which has also closed its embassy in Stockholm.

Belarus was angered when a Swedish public relations firm dropped about 800 teddy bears with pro-democracy messages from a light aircraft.

President Alexander Lukashenko sacked his air defence chief and head of border guards over the 4 July incident.

He told their replacements not to hesitate to use force to stop any future air intrusions from abroad.

‘Dubious charges’

On Tuesday Belarus’s KGB state security service said two Belarusian men, Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, had been detained on suspicion of complicity in “illegal intrusion”.

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said Mr Suryapin, who runs the Belarusian News Photos website, had merely uploaded photos of the teddy bears.

The OSCE’s spokeswoman on freedom of the media, Dunja Mijatovic, said she was “surprised and alarmed” at the charges.

“I hope that he will soon be set free and cleared of all charges brought against him,” she said.

“I further hope that the ‘teddy bear case’ is not the latest attempt to suppress freedom of expression in Belarus using dubious criminal charges.”

Belarus expelled Sweden’s ambassador on 3 August, and withdrew its own envoy to Stockholm. Sweden’s ambassador had apparently angered Minsk by holding meetings with the Belarusian opposition.

Sweden then said it would not allow a new Belarusian ambassador to take up his post, and asked a further two Belarusian diplomats to leave.

After Belarus announced further action on Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a Twitter comment that Mr Lukashenko’s “fear of human rights [is] reaching new heights”.

via BBC News – Belarus-Sweden teddy bear row escalates.

Mystery Fish Falls From Vancouver Tree Still Alive

It sounds fishy, but Jan Bailey insists it’s true: She saw a mystery fish fall out of a cedar tree — and it’s still alive.

The bizarre incident happened on Monday when Bailey, who lives in Vancouver, B.C., saw a rather unusual-looking reddish orange fish, a little more than nine inches long, dive out of a tree in her backyard.

Bailey’s husband was hooked and went over to the tree to investigate further and there, according to the Vancouver Sun, was the fish covered in cedar needles, but still alive.

After hauling out an old aquarium and filling it with water, Bailey started researching what kind of creature she was dealing with.

The fish seemed to match the description of a cichlid, an aquarium fish native to South and Central America and usually kept in indoor aquariums, according to the Regina Leader Post.

Employees at a local pet store confirmed the mystery fish was a Midas cichlid, but it is still a mystery how it got in Bailey’s cedar tree.

Cindy Wilkinson, Bailey’s friend and fellow fish rescuer, has one theory.

“Maybe someone was cleaning out its tank and left it outside for a minute,” Wilkinson told the Vancouver Sun.

Another friend, Lynda Taylor, who owns a koi pond, thinks the mystery fish was put in an outdoor pond for the summer and snatched up for lunch by a passing eagle that dropped it.

The fish, which has been named “Lucky” is now in Taylor’s possession and she has set him up in digs that are pretty cushy (for a fish, anyway): a small 30-gallon tank with pH-balanced water, plants and a bubbler to aerate his environment.

But this is just a temporary home. Bailey, Taylor and Wilkinson hope to reunite the mystery fish with its still-missing owner.

“It’s an unusual fish. I’m sure not many people have lost one of these things,” Wilkinson said, as reported by PracticalFishkeeping.co.uk.

via Mystery Fish Falls From Vancouver Tree Still Alive (VIDEO).

James Crittenden Lit Toilet On Fire For ‘Religious Reasons’

If you feel a burning sensation when you pee, start pointing fingers at James Crittenden.

A Kentucky man is under fire after he lit a gas station toilet ablaze, allegedly for “religious reasons,” according to WDRB.

James Crittenden, 36, walked into a Louisville gas station just after 10 a.m. on Saturday and headed for the bathroom. Workers at the store soon found Crittenden wasn’t using their facilities for their usual function, but had instead lit the toilet seat on fire.

When they confronted him, he reportedly told them he did it for his religion, the Courier-Journal reported.

He was also apparently boozed up, and was charged with public intoxication, along with first-degree arson and terroristic threatening.

Crittenden has met the Louisville police before.

He was arrested on July 25 after cops said he was huffing cans of Reddi-wip inside a ValuMarket, WAVE News reported. He’d already been banned from the store in the past for disorderly conduct.

He allegedly told workers that he was huffing the 10 cans to wake up, and that the U.S. Constitution allowed him the authority to huff Reddi-wip.

via James Crittenden Lit Toilet On Fire For ‘Religious Reasons’.

Spider lived in woman’s ear for 5 days?

We’ve always dismissed the “fact” that in your lifetime you’ll, apparently, eat up to eight spiders while you sleep.But while we’ve no evidence to disprove the arachnid-swallowing theory, there is some troubling news in from China. The eight-legged punks like to nap in human ears.A spider was found by doctors at China’s Changsha Central Hospital, in the ear of a woman who had been complaining of ‘itching’ in the left side of her head.Doctors then had to extract the creature, but had to be very careful so as to make sure it didn’t burrow deeper or even bite her. Eventually they settled on filling the poor old girl’s ear with saline fluid to flush it out. It later emerged the spider had probably been living in her ear canal for up to five days.And for those of you thinking it was just a little money spider, it wasn’t. Take a gander at the photo. Happy Thursday everyone.

via Spider found in ear – Home – ShortList Magazine.

Erase iPhone and Restore = All apps and folders GONE. Restore in iTunes is not Restore. Restore is “Partially Restore”

Don’t let an Apple Care rep lie and tell you that backing up and then restoring your phone will get everything back. It won’t.

If you Backup, Sync and Transfer purchases in iTunes first, then Erase all content and settings in your iPhone, then restore, all of your purchased apps and the hours (or days) you spent organizing them into folders will be lost, forever.

Wiping my phone was what Apple recommended, but it has not helped because the real problems are bugs in the iOS software (yes, I have the latest OS and iTunes):

- my phone won’t remember my WiFi connection

- pictures sometimes crash the entire phone when I attempt to edit them.

Want to completely waste a day? Apple is here to help. Restore in iTunes is not really Restore. Restore is actually “Partially Restore”. If I’d known that, I would not have wasted my time wiping the phone.