Um...that report is from 2005. It's still cool though.

*Adds Matt to the list of 'Volunteers'*

It's sound on fire!

Scaley news:

The Raptor Is Upon Us!

Jurassic Park finds a new strain, perfect for a Days Of Our Lives storyline

From Here

quote:

ROME (Reuters) - Call it the eternal embrace.

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other.

"It's an extraordinary case," said Elena Menotti, who led the team on their dig near the northern city of Mantova.

"There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging -- and they really are hugging."

Menotti said she believed the two, almost certainly a man and a woman although that needs to be confirmed, died young because their teeth were mostly intact and not worn down.

"I must say that when we discovered it, we all became very excited. I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites," she told Reuters.

"But I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special."

A laboratory will now try to determine the couple's age at the time of death and how long they had been buried.

For whatever reason, I know have "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" stuck in my head after reading that.

Speaking of the dead ... I was totally shocked to see on TV that there are human remains up on the Moon:

quote:

Although the moon is technically also in the gravitational field of the earth, it will not hit the earth within any human timeframe.

A service is available for space burial on the moon. As of 2005, the only person buried this way is Dr. Eugene Shoemaker, (April 28, 1928 - July 18, 1997), best known for co-discovering the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9.
Human remains on the Moon

I was also surprised to hear that in fact the Earth is orbitted by a mini-moon:

quote:

Most near-Earth asteroids, when they approach Earth, simply fly by. They come and they go, occasionally making news around the date of closest approach. 2003 YN107 is different: It came and it stayed.

many mini-moons of Earth

And another called Cruithne orbits the Earth every 770 or so years ... but isn't quite a moon ... and a little too crazy in its orbit to be calm about?

quote:

After Cruithne escapes from its present orbit, it may become a Near Earth Asteroid on a different close-to-Earth orbit, or move onto an orbit more similar to our Moon's orbit, in which case it would be more like a "real" moon. No one seems quite sure which scenario will happen.
Cruithne -- our 770 year moon

I only caught a part of the TV show: their point seems to be that the Moon came from an impact with another object, and without that impact and the Moon's effect on Earth, Life itself would be unlikely. So beyond finding planets in "Life-friendly" orbits around other stars ... we may also need to find planets with Life-friendly moons.

quote:

Originally posted by Dweller in Darkness:
For whatever reason, I know have "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" stuck in my head after reading that.

That sure is a beautiful song.

quote:

Originally posted by Cavenagh:

From Here

quote:

ROME (Reuters) - Call it the eternal embrace.

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered a couple buried 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, hugging each other.

"It's an extraordinary case," said Elena Menotti, who led the team on their dig near the northern city of Mantova.

"There has not been a double burial found in the Neolithic period, much less two people hugging -- and they really are hugging."

Menotti said she believed the two, almost certainly a man and a woman although that needs to be confirmed, died young because their teeth were mostly intact and not worn down.

"I must say that when we discovered it, we all became very excited. I've been doing this job for 25 years. I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites," she told Reuters.

"But I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special."

A laboratory will now try to determine the couple's age at the time of death and how long they had been buried.

Are the hugging or were they choking each other to death?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lan Martak,

Cruithne actually plays a very crucial role in Stephen Baxter's Manifold Time, which is where I first heard of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Indrid Cold:
I only caught a part of the TV show: their point seems to be that the Moon came from an impact with another object, and without that impact and the Moon's effect on Earth, Life itself would be unlikely. So beyond finding planets in "Life-friendly" orbits around other stars ... we may also need to find planets with Life-friendly moons.

Don't know about the TV show, but the theory regarding the moons formation based on the collision of a mars sized blob of stuff into the earth has been around for awhile.

What was their basis on claiming that without our moon life would be unlikely?

- the fact that continental plate formation may be related to this event?

- or was it something more esoteric like ocean formation gravitational forces that the moon creates on earth?

Life is highly unlikely in any situation, yet considering what life has actually survived and can survive (like the extremophiles that live 4km's down into the crust), we you never know life maybe everywhere.

I was almost tempted to drive somewhere in Minnesota where I could see the 10 second light show.

This is cool!

Iridium Flares from Two Satellites

quote:

Originally posted by halucinagenia:

quote:

Originally posted by Indrid Cold:
I only caught a part of the TV show: their point seems to be that the Moon came from an impact with another object, and without that impact and the Moon's effect on Earth, Life itself would be unlikely. So beyond finding planets in "Life-friendly" orbits around other stars ... we may also need to find planets with Life-friendly moons.

Don't know about the TV show, but the theory regarding the moons formation based on the collision of a mars sized blob of stuff into the earth has been around for awhile.

What was their basis on claiming that without our moon life would be unlikely?

- the fact that continental plate formation may be related to this event?

- or was it something more esoteric like ocean formation gravitational forces that the moon creates on earth?

Life is highly unlikely in any situation, yet considering what life has actually survived and can survive (like the extremophiles that live 4km's down into the crust), we you never know life maybe everywhere.

Lessee ... Yeah, the Moon-via-collision wasn't their real focus (yeah, that's an old theory too, though I recall when science-daddies claimed the Pacific Basin was the scar from the Moon's pulling away out from Earth ... so theories are right until they change, hey?)

I think their spin (heehee) was: Miller's experiments creating basic amino acids ("The Building Blocks Of Life Itself!" )in the lab had fallen into disrepute because the early Earth didn't have the "reducing atmosphere" necessary to make his experiment applicable ... but these TV guys were suggesting that the collision of the other body gave Earth necessary elements while tearing away the Moon?

And once the Moon was birthed, its gravitational influences slow the Earth's crazay spinnin' enuf to make days long (good to warm The Building Blocks Of Life Itself! ... instead of killing them with 200 mile an hour cyclones, insane hostile environments, etc?)

I'm always glad to see folks have to drag celestrial events of amazing coincidence into the picture to support their theories of randomness and coincidence.

The Moon appears to be the same size of the Sun to us because one of Horus' eyes shouldn't be larger than the other, duh!

uh, not to prise open another can of... something, but surely if your theory is based on randomness and coincidence then celestial events of amazing co-incidence are a good thing?

Anyhoo, lets talk about stoats

"The stoat is famous for its ability to 'freeze' a rabbit with its glare, for its slinky, hypnotic dance and for its ruthless predatory nature. However, Merrily Harpur reveals some less well-known behaviour – the triumphal capture dance, the funerary hiding of killed stoats and the swarming in huge stoat armies."

http://www.forteantimes.com/articles/214_stoat1.shtml

And, really, wouldn't it be perfect if the Moon was our Mother? I mean, it justifies just about every mythology out there.

quote:

Originally posted by halucinagenia:
What was their basis on claiming that without our moon life would be unlikely?

- the fact that continental plate formation may be related to this event?

- or was it something more esoteric like ocean formation gravitational forces that the moon creates on earth?

If it's the same show I saw, then it was the gravity of the young moon as it orbited much closer to the Earth than now, creating giant tidal waves. The waves churned up the Earth's surface and created energy to help macromolecules form.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe_3heads:
uh, not to prise open another can of... something, but surely if your theory is based on randomness and coincidence then celestial events of amazing co-incidence are a good thing?

Can of ... worms?

Can of ... whup-ass?

But really, what matters in this life is: the "can do" attitude!

quote:

but surely if your theory is based on randomness and coincidence then celestial events of amazing co-incidence are a good thing

Except in that case ... would anything be 'sure' ???

And would anything be 'good' ??? It'd all just be randomness and coincidence, neither good or bad, right or wrong.

Life arose by chance, Life obliterated by chance ... chance being blind, uncaring, dead.

Late nites, CNN has been running little segments talking about how the Secret of the Universe is "The Law of Attraction" ...

How positive thoughts and energy attract positive results and positive people to you.
I kid you not, it's on CNN.

But then, aren't THEY mere offshoots of the Mooninite terrorist cult?

Moomin terrorist cult? Say it ain't so... Even the Gulf of Finland is not safe.

And chance may be uncaring, but it's not as viscious as stoats

Mortimer Batten related an example in his book Habits and Characters of British Wild Animals, first published in the 1920s:

"Presently I saw a rabbit quite close to me flatten down, flat as a rag, its eyes wide with terror. I guessed what was afoot, and a few seconds later a stoat came out of the wall and sat upright on a flat stone staring at the rabbit. He was obviously gloating over it, knowing it to be helpless, and every now and then he jerked his black-tipped tail into the air in a curiously excitable manner. Then he jumped off the stone and made straight for the rabbit, landing on its back and tearing its ears with his teeth. He also tore at it with his claws, making no attempt to kill it, but torturing it as a cat tortures a mouse. But the rabbit remained motionless, uttering never a sound, so the stoat returned to its perch on the stone and again glared at it in luxurious cruelty…"

This went on several times until Batten could stand it no longer and shot the stoat.


Give me blind, dead luck over a god that made stoats anyday

*shudders*

Over here they call stoats "fisher cats." It's a slightly larger species, though, this one capable of taking down a housecat with relative ease. Although they have to commit to the task a bit more than the stoat in your horrible, horrible story.

quote:

Originally posted by Dweller in Darkness:
Over here they call stoats "fisher cats." It's a slightly larger species, though, this one capable of taking down a housecat with relative ease. Although they have to commit to the task a bit more than the stoat in your horrible, horrible story.

And they're also known for burning sofas in the quad.

Oh, wait. That's the Wildcats.