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 Matthew Love  Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0 
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The Land of Punt Punt was a fabled land in eastern Africa sought by ancient Egyptians as a source of gold, frankincense, myrrh, and other exotic and precious goods. It is known only from Egyptian records of expeditions to East Africa, which date back to the 25th century BCE. Punt was also called "God's Land" because its position in relation to the rising sun placed it under the sun god's domain. Though most scholars link Punt with the Red Sea, its exact location remains a mystery.   LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 834889 ·  |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Battle of Kadesh Likely the largest chariot battle in history, the Battle of Kadesh was fought between the Egyptians and the Hittites in 1274 BCE at the city of Kadesh in what is now Syria. Pharaoh Ramses II mounted the attack to regain lost territory, but he was eventually forced to retreat to Egypt. Hostilities between the two peoples were finally ended with a peace agreement in 1258 BCEâ€â€one of the earliest international peace treaties. more to the story LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 835409 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Mahjong Tiles These popular tiles are used to play many games of Chinese origin, most notably Mahjong. Traditionally, the pieces were made of bone and backed with bamboo, but most modern sets are constructed from various plastics and contain between 136 and 144 tiles. The symbols on the tilesâ€â€the majority of which have a rank and suit like playing cardsâ€â€are almost always engraved or pressed into the material. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 835870 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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The English Civil War The English Civil War, which began in 1642, consisted of a series of conflicts between Parliamentarians and the Royalist supporters of King Charles I and, later, King Charles II. Ending with Parliamentary victory in 1651, the conflicts left England, Scotland, and Ireland without a monarch. After the execution of Charles I and the exile of Charles II, the monarchy was replaced with a republican commonwealth government led by Oliver Cromwell LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 837238 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Swaddling Swaddling is the age-old practice of snugly wrapping infants in cloths or blankets so that movement of their limbs is tightly restricted. Originally believed to be an essential part of stimulating proper posture in infants, swaddling is still widely used today to settle and soothe irritable infants, supposedly by providing warmth and security for a baby who has recently left the womb LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 838119 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Jim Ignatowski Ranked 32nd on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time," Jim Ignatowski was a character played by Christopher Lloyd in the 1970s television series Taxi. A burned-out product of 1960s counterculture, Ignatowski lived in a world of his own, often exhibiting "spaced-out" behavior as a result of his extensive drug use. However, Lloyd was able to add much humanity to what could have been a one-dimensional role. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 839616 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Ibogaine Ibogaine, a psychoactive compound derived from plants, is used by some African peoples for medicinal and ritual purposes. Identified in the early 1960s as having anti-addictive properties, it has been shown to cause sudden and complete interruption of heroin addictionâ€â€without withdrawalâ€â€in a matter of hours. Research suggests that it may also be useful in treating addiction to alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, and nicotine. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 840370 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Mechanical Puzzles These puzzles are comprised of mechanically interlinked pieces that must be manipulated in a certain way in order for them to be assembled, disassembled, and otherwise solved. The oldest known example, from the 3rd century BCE, consists of a square divided into 14 parts that fit together to form other shapes. Mechanical puzzles have since taken on myriad forms, including dexterity and disentanglement puzzles, trick vessels, and impossible objects. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 842477 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Enzymes An essential part of almost all cellular processes, enzymes are biological catalysts, proteins that can accelerate the rates of chemical reactions by several orders of magnitude. Enzymes serve a wide variety of functions inside living organisms, especially in the digestive systems of animals, where they help break down large molecules like starches and proteins. Like a key for a lock, each enzyme is specific to one molecule LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 845624 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Transient Lunar Phenomena Transient lunar phenomena are short-lived lights, colors, or other changes in the appearance of the moon's surface. Reports of such events have been recorded for at least 1,000 years and range from foggy patches to major changes in the lunar landscape. Though some have been observed independently by multiple witnesses or reputable scientists, the vast majority of accounts have come from a single observer or from a single location LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 846549 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Digital Physics First posited by Konrad Zuse in his 1969 book Rechnender Raum, or Calculating Space, the theory of digital physics suggests that the universe is essentially digital or informational and that the entire history of the universe is actually the output of a computer program. Proponents hypothesize that reality is a computer itself or is being implemented on a computer that creates a simulated reality LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 849110 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Japanese Sake Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. Although there are multiple theories about how it was developed, the first sakes were likely made from rice, millet, chestnuts, and acorns that people chewed and spit into a tub. The enzymes from the saliva converted the starches to sugars, resulting in a sweet mixture that was combined with freshly cooked grain and allowed to ferment. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 850841 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine Perhaps the most famous lost mine in US history, the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine is a legendary gold mine allegedly located in Arizona's Superstition Mountains. It is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who, in most versions of the story, was told of the mine's location as a reward for aiding a member of the Peralta mining family. Though many say the mine is a legend, some historians argue that the story has some basis in fact. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 851336 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Beehive Tombs Beehive tombs, or tholoi, are the large, underground ceremonial tombs constructed in Greece during the Late Bronze Age. The tombs, usually built into the side of a hill, have a distinctive beehive shape formed with layers of stone that taper toward the top of the structure. Though many of these tombs have been pillaged, they have still provided archeologists with some of the richest finds from the period. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 853602 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Nervous as a Fainting Goat When a fainting goat is startled, its external muscles freeze for about 10 seconds, causing younger members of the breed to collapse as if in a faint. Older goats generally learn to spread their legs or lean against something when startled and remain standing during these episodes. The condition is caused by a hereditary genetic disorder called myotonia congenita, which disrupts the flow of chloride ions into skeletal muscle cells LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 855131 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Tessellations Tessellations are patterns of carefully juxtaposed, non-overlapping shapesâ€â€like the multicolored tiles of a mosaicâ€â€that fill a given surface. They have been used throughout history, from ancient architecture to modern art, and are frequently found in the works of M.C. Escher. Regular tessellations, which are highly symmetrical and made up of congruent, regular polygons, can only be formed using equilateral triangles, squares, or hexagons LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 857914 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Mourning Sickness Disparaged by critics as the new opiate of the masses, "mourning sickness" is the relatively recent phenomenon of collective public grieving for murder victims and celebrities who have died. Princess Diana's death in 1997 prompted one of the most widespread examples of this in the UK, where makeshift memorials quickly became gathering places for public displays of mourning. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 858587 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Street Art Street art is any art developed in public spaces and includes traditional graffiti, stencil graffiti, sticker art, video projections, street installations, and posters. Though it usually refers to art of an illicit nature, the term is used to distinguish contemporary public-space artwork from territorial graffiti, vandalism, and corporate art. Some street artists have even achieved mainstream recognition and commercial success. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 859077 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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Alan Magee's Death-Defying Free Fall Alan Magee was an American airman who amazingly survived a 22,000-ft (6,700-m) fall from his damaged B-17 bomber during World War II. In 1943, Magee was on a daylight bombing run over France when German fighters shot off a section of his plane's right wing, causing the aircraft to enter a deadly spin. His parachute had been damaged and rendered useless, yet the wounded airman had no choice but to leap from the plane. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 861877 · |
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Matthew Love Send message Joined: 26 Sep 99 Posts: 7763 Credit: 879,151 RAC: 0
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The Murders at Wright's Taliesin Famed American architect Frank Lloyd Wright led a turbulent life rife with personal tragedy as well as several failed marriages. In 1909, Wright left his first wife and eloped to Europe with Mamah Cheney, who was also married at the time. When the pair returned to the US, Wright began building a new home, called Taliesin. In August 1914, while Wright was away, one of his workers set fire to Taliesin and murdered 7 people with an axe, including Cheney and her 2 children. LETS BEGIN IN 2010 ID: 862344 · |
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