One of the best kit's ever. Not only do I feel better, but also a lot healthier =]
PETA´s Vegetarian Starter Kit
Click the link above for more info.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Zombie takeover
No, the title of this post isn't ripped from the headlines of the Weekly World News. It happened in real life (or, rather, undeath), just a stone's throw from PETA headquarters. This weekend, among the 1,700 participants and activists representing ZETZ—Zombies for the Ethical Treatment of Zombies—were several PETA folks in the first-ever "Survive Norfolk"—essentially a massive game of tag in which the living try to avoid being "zombified" by the living dead—to explain why going vegan is a no-brainer (sorry), and to hand out some "flesh-free recipes" (aka our vegan starter kits).
I'll admit, zombies are pretty scary, but not nearly as horrifying as what meat does to animals, our health, and the planet. So listen to your favorite zombie jam while you sign our pledge to opt out of flesh-eating. Or try this outfit in your own parade or when you go out trick-or-treating:
Monday, October 18, 2010
Army Plans to Cut Up and Kill Animals
Update: Government officials in Oberpfalz have denied on ethical grounds the U.S. Army's second application for a permit to conduct trauma training exercises. Previously, an Army contractor withdrew its application for trauma training after facing intense public opposition, and last month an application from Deployment Medicine International, another Army trauma training contractor, was denied by officials in the German state of Thüringen. Animals 4, Army 0.
This marks the third time since May that the U.S. Army and private contractors have applied for permits to cut up and kill animals for trauma training in Germany. The first application was withdrawn because of overwhelming public opposition to the project. A subsequent application was denied because officials determined that the animal laboratories would violate Germany's animal protection law, which requires the use of non-animal methods when they are available—and there are PLENTY available! The German Armed Forces has written to PETA, stating, "[T]he armed forces do no animal tests for training purposes. For training exercises the soldiers learn with really good models and the doctors don't need animal experiments."
You can help make sure that US legislation that has been introduced to gradually replace the horrific use of animals in military training with modern, sophisticated non-animal methods, such as high-tech human patient simulators gets passed into law by writing to your Congressional representative. Politely point out that such exercises—in which pigs and goats are stabbed, mutilated, and killed—are incredibly cruel, inferior to modern alternatives, and should be replaced with medical training methods that save animals and better prepare soldiers to treat casualties on the battlefield..
Joined by a prehistoric pal (who apparently speaks English), members of PETA Germany gathered outside a U.S. Army facility in Heidelberg to protest the Army's proposed plans to torment and kill animals in cruel and archaic trauma training exercises in Oberpfalz, Bavaria.
This marks the third time since May that the U.S. Army and private contractors have applied for permits to cut up and kill animals for trauma training in Germany. The first application was withdrawn because of overwhelming public opposition to the project. A subsequent application was denied because officials determined that the animal laboratories would violate Germany's animal protection law, which requires the use of non-animal methods when they are available—and there are PLENTY available! The German Armed Forces has written to PETA, stating, "[T]he armed forces do no animal tests for training purposes. For training exercises the soldiers learn with really good models and the doctors don't need animal experiments."
You can help make sure that US legislation that has been introduced to gradually replace the horrific use of animals in military training with modern, sophisticated non-animal methods, such as high-tech human patient simulators gets passed into law by writing to your Congressional representative. Politely point out that such exercises—in which pigs and goats are stabbed, mutilated, and killed—are incredibly cruel, inferior to modern alternatives, and should be replaced with medical training methods that save animals and better prepare soldiers to treat casualties on the battlefield..
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Six-Month-Old McD's Burger Won't Decompose
Apparently—unlike the cows who are killed to make them—McDonald's burgers can live to a ripe old age. In April, New York City–based artist and photographer Sally Davies bought a Happy Meal and left the contents sitting out in her kitchen as an experiment. Six months later, the burger looks much the same as it did on the day it was slapped together. Says Davies, "The only change that I can see is that it has become hard as a rock" and "the food is plastic to the touch and has an acrylic sheen to it." Hmm … if even mold won't eat McDonald's food, no one else should, either. Oodles of 100 percent natural, biodegradable, and cruelty-free veggie burgers are available to make our taste buds and animals happy.
Written by Lindsay Pollard-PostWednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution
Plastic Leaches Deadly Chemicals in the Oceans, Seas and Lakes - Killing the Oceans, Seas and Lakes - Killing US!!!
Unseen and odorless, microscopic particles of air pollution wafting over seas and across continents kill some 380,000 people each year, according to a new study.
August 20, 2009 -- Amidst waves and wildlife in the world's oceans, billions of pounds of Styrofoam, water bottles, fishing wire and other plastic products float in endless circles.This bobbing pollution is more than just an eyesore or a choking hazard for birds. According to a new study, plastic in the oceans can decompose in as little as a year, leaching chemical compounds into the water that may harm the health of animals and possibly even people.
"Most people in the world believe that this plastic is indestructible for a very long time," said Katsuhiko Saido, a chemist at Nihon University in Chiba, Japan. He spoke this week at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in Washington, D.C.
"We are now concerned that plastic pollution is caused by invisible materials," Saido said through an interpreter. "This will have a great effect on marine life."
Patterns in ocean currents create conglomerations of swirling trash that have received a burst of attention recently. The so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, for one, is a mound of waste, mostly plastic, that's about twice the size of Texas. It lies some 1,000 miles off the west coast between California and Hawaii.
In Japan, Saido said, up to 150,000 tons of plastic wash on shore each year. Much of it is Styrofoam, a type of polystyrene plastic.
In their lab, Saido and colleagues used a new chemical technique to simulate the decomposition of polystyrene plastic in the oceans at 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). The process produced some potentially toxic chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer
"Evan at 30 degrees Celsius, it decomposes," said Saido's colleague Yoichi Kodera, who also spoke at the conference. "In natural conditions, the tide comes in and sunlight heats the plastics," he said, which should only enhance degradation.
When the scientists analyzed samples of ocean water from the United States, Japan, India, Europe and elsewhere, they found traces of these and other plastic degradation byproducts, including styrene monomer (SM), styrene dimer (SD) and styrene trimer (ST) -- none of which are found normally in nature.
"Dr. Saido's study means that marine plastic debris could be the dominant source of degradation products, such as styrenes and BPA in remote coasts and the open ocean," said Hideshige Takada, of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. In urban areas, he said, there are other potential sources of these chemicals.
Previous experiments have shown that, when heated in the microwave or under other conditions, plastics leach BPA and other compouds, said John Meeker, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor. So, it's not surprising that the same thing might happen in the ocean.
Still, he added, scientists don't yet know how degradation of plastic in the oceans might affect the health of animals or people. PS oligomer and BPA have both produced hormone-disrupting effects and reproductive problems at low levels in animals, but the possible effect on humans is still controversial.
"At this point, we're likely to have more intense exposures in our own homes and daily lives than from ocean water," Meeker said. "If this type of thing could happen in landfills and rivers and places that are closer to our drinking water, there could be an issue of human exposure."
An Alliance of Sensible Concerned Citizens, Advocates of Reason, Rational And Common Sense
U.S. Military pays $400 per gallon for fuel, while over 50 million Americans are unemployed, losing their homes and going hungry
Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: portable solar panels that fold up into boxes; energy-conserving lights; solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity; solar chargers for computers and communications equipment.
The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will replace diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.
Even as Congress has struggled unsuccessfully to pass an energy bill and many states have put renewable energy on hold because of the recession, the military this year has pushed rapidly forward. After a decade of waging wars in remote corners of the globe where fuel is not readily available, senior commanders have come to see overdependence on fossil fuel as a big liability, and renewable technologies — which have become more reliable and less expensive over the past few years — as providing a potential answer. These new types of renewable energy now account for only a small percentage of the power used by the armed forces, but military leaders plan to rapidly expand their use over the next decade.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the huge truck convoys that haul fuel to bases have been sitting ducks for enemy fighters — in the latest attack, oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan were set on fire in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, early Monday. In Iraq and Afghanistan, one Army study found, for every 24 fuel convoys that set out, one soldier or civilian engaged in fuel transport was killed. In the past three months, six Marines have been wounded guarding fuel runs in Afghanistan.
“There are a lot of profound reasons for doing this, but for us at the core it’s practical,” said Ray Mabus, the Navy secretary and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who has said he wants 50 percent of the power for the Navy and Marines to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. That figure includes energy for bases as well as fuel for cars and ships.
“Fossil fuel is the No. 1 thing we import to Afghanistan,” Mr. Mabus said, “and guarding that fuel is keeping the troops from doing what they were sent there to do, to fight or engage local people.”
He and other experts also said that greater reliance on renewable energy improved national security, because fossil fuels often came from unstable regions and scarce supplies were a potential source of international conflict.
Fossil fuel accounts for 30 to 80 percent of the load in convoys into Afghanistan, bringing costs as well as risk. While the military buys gas for just over $1 a gallon, getting that gallon to some forward operating bases costs $400.
“We had a couple of tenuous supply lines across Pakistan that are costing us a heck of a lot, and they’re very dangerous,” said Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Col. Robert Charette Jr., director of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Company I’s equipment would prove reliable and durable enough for military use, and that other Marine companies would be adopting renewable technology in the coming months, although there would probably always be a need to import fuel for some purposes.
While setting national energy policy requires Congressional debates, military leaders can simply order the adoption of renewable energy. And the military has the buying power to create products and markets. That, in turn, may make renewable energy more practical and affordable for everyday uses, experts say.
Last year, the Navy introduced its first hybrid vessel, a Wasp class amphibious assault ship called the U.S.S. Makin Island, which at speeds under 10 knots runs on electricity rather than on fossil fuel, a shift resulting in greater efficiency that saved 900,000 gallons of fuel on its maiden voyage from Mississippi to San Diego, compared with a conventional ship its size, the Navy said.
The Air Force will have its entire fleet certified to fly on biofuels by 2011 and has already flown test flights using a 50-50 mix of plant-based biofuel and jet fuel; the Navy took its first delivery of fuel made from algae this summer. Biofuels can in theory be produced wherever the raw materials, like plants, are available, and could ultimately be made near battlefields.
Concerns about the military’s dependence on fossil fuels in far-flung battlefields began in 2006 in Iraq, where Richard Zilmer, then a major general and the top American commander in western Iraq, sent an urgent cable to Washington suggesting that renewable technology could prevent loss of life. That request catalyzed new research, but the pressure for immediate results magnified as the military shifted its focus to Afghanistan, a country with little available native fossil fuel and scarce electricity outside cities.
Fuel destined for American troops in landlocked Afghanistan is shipped to Karachi, Pakistan, where it is loaded on convoys of 50 to 70 vehicles for transport to central bases. Smaller convoys branch out to the forward lines. The Marines’ new goal is to make the more peripheral sites sustain themselves with the kind of renewable technology carried by Company I, since solar electricity can be generated right on the battlefield.
There are similar tactical advantages to using renewable fuel for planes and building hybrid ships. “Every time you cut a ship away from the need to visit an oiler — a fuel supply ship — you create an advantage,” said Mr. Mabus, noting that the Navy had pioneered previous energy transformations in the United States, from sail power to coal power in the 19th century, as well as from coal to oil and oil to nuclear power in the 20th century.
The cost calculation is also favorable. The renewable technology that will power Company I costs about $50,000 to $70,000; a single diesel generator costs several thousand dollars. But when it costs hundreds of dollars to get each gallon of traditional fuel to base camps in Afghanistan, the investment is quickly defrayed.
Because the military has moved into renewable energy so rapidly, much of the technology currently being used is commercially available or has been adapted for the battlefield from readily available civilian models.
This spring, the military invited commercial manufacturers to demonstrate products that might be useful on the battlefield. A small number were selected for further testing. The goal was to see, for example, if cooling systems could handle the 120 degree temperatures often seen in current war zones or if embedded solar panels would make tents more visible to enemy radar.
This summer, renewable technologies proved capable of powering computers, residences and most equipment for more than a week at a test base in the Mojave Desert — though not enough to operate the most sophisticated surveillance systems.
Much more is in the testing stages: one experimental cooling system uses a pipe burrowed into the cool earth eight feet underground that vents into tents; a solar fan on the tent roof evacuates the hot air and draws cool air from underground. The Marines are exploring solar-powered water purification systems and looking into the possibility of building a small-scale, truck-based biofuel plant that could transform local crops — like illegal poppies — into fuel.
“If the Navy comes knocking, they will build it,” Mr. Mabus said. “The price will come down and the infrastructure will be created.”
- Ever since the discovery of fossil fuel (OIL) in Persia / Iran and generally in the Persian Gulf and all other OIL reach territories the U.S. Government and Military have been murdering innocent women and children to take control and conquer these countries and soon after handing over the control to the many Nation-Less corporations, such as nation-less banks, construction, oil refineries, and many other criminal, greedy, nation-less, war-mongering and war-profiteering vultures; to so-called develop and extract the natural gas and oil fields.
- Now the nation-less corporate criminals are after the Afghanistan's few trillion dollars worth of precious metals under the banner of democracy.
- Preciously the reason why U.S. Government and Military have built and maintaining over 850 military bases all around the world specifically to dominate and protect the interest of the nation-less corporate criminals
With insurgents increasingly attacking the American fuel supply convoys that lumber across the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan, the military is pushing aggressively to develop, test and deploy renewable energy to decrease its need to transport fossil fuels.
Last week, a Marine company from California arrived in the rugged outback of Helmand Province bearing novel equipment: portable solar panels that fold up into boxes; energy-conserving lights; solar tent shields that provide shade and electricity; solar chargers for computers and communications equipment.
The 150 Marines of Company I, Third Battalion, Fifth Marines, will be the first to take renewable technology into a battle zone, where the new equipment will replace diesel and kerosene-based fuels that would ordinarily generate power to run their encampment.
Even as Congress has struggled unsuccessfully to pass an energy bill and many states have put renewable energy on hold because of the recession, the military this year has pushed rapidly forward. After a decade of waging wars in remote corners of the globe where fuel is not readily available, senior commanders have come to see overdependence on fossil fuel as a big liability, and renewable technologies — which have become more reliable and less expensive over the past few years — as providing a potential answer. These new types of renewable energy now account for only a small percentage of the power used by the armed forces, but military leaders plan to rapidly expand their use over the next decade.
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the huge truck convoys that haul fuel to bases have been sitting ducks for enemy fighters — in the latest attack, oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO troops in Afghanistan were set on fire in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, early Monday. In Iraq and Afghanistan, one Army study found, for every 24 fuel convoys that set out, one soldier or civilian engaged in fuel transport was killed. In the past three months, six Marines have been wounded guarding fuel runs in Afghanistan.
“There are a lot of profound reasons for doing this, but for us at the core it’s practical,” said Ray Mabus, the Navy secretary and a former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, who has said he wants 50 percent of the power for the Navy and Marines to come from renewable energy sources by 2020. That figure includes energy for bases as well as fuel for cars and ships.
“Fossil fuel is the No. 1 thing we import to Afghanistan,” Mr. Mabus said, “and guarding that fuel is keeping the troops from doing what they were sent there to do, to fight or engage local people.”
He and other experts also said that greater reliance on renewable energy improved national security, because fossil fuels often came from unstable regions and scarce supplies were a potential source of international conflict.
Fossil fuel accounts for 30 to 80 percent of the load in convoys into Afghanistan, bringing costs as well as risk. While the military buys gas for just over $1 a gallon, getting that gallon to some forward operating bases costs $400.
“We had a couple of tenuous supply lines across Pakistan that are costing us a heck of a lot, and they’re very dangerous,” said Gen. James T. Conway, the commandant of the Marine Corps.
Col. Robert Charette Jr., director of the Marine Corps Expeditionary Energy Office, said he was “cautiously optimistic” that Company I’s equipment would prove reliable and durable enough for military use, and that other Marine companies would be adopting renewable technology in the coming months, although there would probably always be a need to import fuel for some purposes.
While setting national energy policy requires Congressional debates, military leaders can simply order the adoption of renewable energy. And the military has the buying power to create products and markets. That, in turn, may make renewable energy more practical and affordable for everyday uses, experts say.
Last year, the Navy introduced its first hybrid vessel, a Wasp class amphibious assault ship called the U.S.S. Makin Island, which at speeds under 10 knots runs on electricity rather than on fossil fuel, a shift resulting in greater efficiency that saved 900,000 gallons of fuel on its maiden voyage from Mississippi to San Diego, compared with a conventional ship its size, the Navy said.
The Air Force will have its entire fleet certified to fly on biofuels by 2011 and has already flown test flights using a 50-50 mix of plant-based biofuel and jet fuel; the Navy took its first delivery of fuel made from algae this summer. Biofuels can in theory be produced wherever the raw materials, like plants, are available, and could ultimately be made near battlefields.
Concerns about the military’s dependence on fossil fuels in far-flung battlefields began in 2006 in Iraq, where Richard Zilmer, then a major general and the top American commander in western Iraq, sent an urgent cable to Washington suggesting that renewable technology could prevent loss of life. That request catalyzed new research, but the pressure for immediate results magnified as the military shifted its focus to Afghanistan, a country with little available native fossil fuel and scarce electricity outside cities.
Fuel destined for American troops in landlocked Afghanistan is shipped to Karachi, Pakistan, where it is loaded on convoys of 50 to 70 vehicles for transport to central bases. Smaller convoys branch out to the forward lines. The Marines’ new goal is to make the more peripheral sites sustain themselves with the kind of renewable technology carried by Company I, since solar electricity can be generated right on the battlefield.
There are similar tactical advantages to using renewable fuel for planes and building hybrid ships. “Every time you cut a ship away from the need to visit an oiler — a fuel supply ship — you create an advantage,” said Mr. Mabus, noting that the Navy had pioneered previous energy transformations in the United States, from sail power to coal power in the 19th century, as well as from coal to oil and oil to nuclear power in the 20th century.
The cost calculation is also favorable. The renewable technology that will power Company I costs about $50,000 to $70,000; a single diesel generator costs several thousand dollars. But when it costs hundreds of dollars to get each gallon of traditional fuel to base camps in Afghanistan, the investment is quickly defrayed.
Because the military has moved into renewable energy so rapidly, much of the technology currently being used is commercially available or has been adapted for the battlefield from readily available civilian models.
This spring, the military invited commercial manufacturers to demonstrate products that might be useful on the battlefield. A small number were selected for further testing. The goal was to see, for example, if cooling systems could handle the 120 degree temperatures often seen in current war zones or if embedded solar panels would make tents more visible to enemy radar.
This summer, renewable technologies proved capable of powering computers, residences and most equipment for more than a week at a test base in the Mojave Desert — though not enough to operate the most sophisticated surveillance systems.
Much more is in the testing stages: one experimental cooling system uses a pipe burrowed into the cool earth eight feet underground that vents into tents; a solar fan on the tent roof evacuates the hot air and draws cool air from underground. The Marines are exploring solar-powered water purification systems and looking into the possibility of building a small-scale, truck-based biofuel plant that could transform local crops — like illegal poppies — into fuel.
“If the Navy comes knocking, they will build it,” Mr. Mabus said. “The price will come down and the infrastructure will be created.”
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
lotus
The lotus closes at night and sinks underwater. In the morning it re-emerges and blooms again. Thus the flower became a natural symbol of the sun and creation. In Hermopolis, it was believed that it was a giant lotus blossom that first emerged from the primordial waters of Nun and from which the sun-god came forth.
As a symbol of re-birth, the lotus was closely related to the imagery of the funerary and Osirian cult. The Four Sons of Horus were frequently shown standing on a lotus in front of Osiris. The Book of the Dead contains spells for "transforming oneself into a lotus" and thus fulfilling the promise of resurrection.
The lotus was commonly used in art as a symbol of Upper Egypt. It was often shown with its long stems intertwined with papyrus reeds (a symbol of Lower Egypt) as a representation of the unification of the two lands.
King Tut NYC
i am absolutely stoked to see this in nyc this sunday for my birthday!! i think the egyptian culture is one of the most beautiful cultures besides the mayan. the history and heritage alone is absolutely amazing. i can't wait til the day i step foot in the great sands of egypt!! ahhh..
TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS RETURNS TO NYC AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
Behold the legendary treasures of King Tut. For the first time in a generation, revel in the splendor of the ancient Egyptian world as you view a dazzling array of possessions unearthed from his tomb, along with antiquities representing his family and contemporaries. Through 10 galleries and 130 artifacts, New York City will experience the world of the pharaohs like never before…
TUTANKHAMUN AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE PHARAOHS RETURNS TO NYC AFTER MORE THAN 30 YEARS.
Behold the legendary treasures of King Tut. For the first time in a generation, revel in the splendor of the ancient Egyptian world as you view a dazzling array of possessions unearthed from his tomb, along with antiquities representing his family and contemporaries. Through 10 galleries and 130 artifacts, New York City will experience the world of the pharaohs like never before…
- King Tut's chariot has arrived at Discovery TSX. In its first appearance outside of Egypt, see the chariot that may have caused the death of King Tutankhamun.
- See the Boy King’s golden canopic coffinette and the crown found on his head when the tomb was discovered
- Learn about the extraordinary discovery of Tut’s tomb and the beliefs and funerary processes of ancient Egypt
- New scientific findings about King Tut will go on display for the first time in a gallery devoted to the latest DNA studies and other forensic information about his life and death.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Help End Military Trauma Training On Animals
Thousands of healthy animals are used by the military for trauma and chemical-casualty training exercises every year—even though superior non-animal alternatives are available. In the current training exercises, live pigs are shot, stabbed, and burned; live goats have their legs broken with bolt cutters and cut off with shears; and live monkeys are poisoned with harmful chemicals. These barbaric exercises are conducted on many military bases in the U.S. as well as on other bases around the world.
Now is your chance to help end the unnecessary suffering and deaths of animals used in trauma and chemical-casualty exercises. Please take a few minutes to read more about these cruel exercises and take action now.
Trauma Training 101
Every year, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conducts trauma and chemical-casualty training exercises in which animals are used as "stand-ins" for wounded soldiers. Medical officers at military installations across the nation critically injure thousands of live animals before killing them. In trauma training exercises, live pigs are shot, stabbed, and set on fire and live goats have their legs broken with bolt cutters and cut off with shears. During chemical-casualty training exercises, live monkeys are poisoned with harmful chemicals. These animals are also often forced to suffer through hellish conditions as they are transported to facilities for this training.
The DoD is putting soldiers' lives at risk by using animals in these experiments. The anatomies and physiologies of pigs, goats, and monkeys are drastically different than those of humans; therefore, these animals will respond differently to treatments than humans would.
There are numerous non-animal training methods available, including rotations in civilian trauma centers; the Combat Trauma Patient Simulation system (CTPS); the Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan system; and Dr. Emad Aboud's "living" cadaver model, which Dr. Aboud has personally demonstrated for the Army.
There are numerous non-animal training methods available, including rotations in civilian trauma centers; the Combat Trauma Patient Simulation system (CTPS); the Simulab Corporation's TraumaMan system; and Dr. Emad Aboud's "living" cadaver model, which Dr. Aboud has personally demonstrated for the Army.
Neither the Air Force Expeditionary Medical Skills Institute's Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills nor the Navy Trauma Training Center use animals for trauma training—more proof that it is not necessary to use animals in order to teach these treatment skills.
TAKE ACTION:
http://features.peta.org/TraumaTraining/101.asp
ANCIENT TREE CARVING POINTS TO THE STARS
On the trunk of a gnarled, centuries-old oak tree, about 90 miles southwest of Phoenix, Ariz., are odd carvings of six-legged, lizard-like beings.
The tree is located at Painted Rock, an archaeological site peppered with hundreds of ancient petroglyphs, images created upon rock surfaces.
Known as the "scorpion tree," locals had long believed that cowboys were behind the tree carving (the technical term is "arborglyph"). But paleontologist Rex Saint Onge knew it dated to long before then.
His analysis offers a glimpse not only into the cultural history of the Chumash people, the Native American tribe that once inhabited the region; it also provides unique insights into their scientific expertise.
Although Saint Onge is uncertain how old the tree carving is, he believes that nearby Chumash residents may have maintained it until the early 20th century.
The images at Painted Rock were originally written off by past researchers as "the work of wild-eyed, drug-induced shamans." However, the arborglyph led Saint Onge to connect the symbols within the carving with the stars in the sky.
Although the Chumash had long been characterized as a kind of primitive society, Saint Onge's findings indicate that they were in fact so much more.
ASTROLOGICAL SCENE FOUND ON EGYPTIAN TOMB CEILING
Brightly painted astrological scenes have emerged on the ceiling of an ancient Egyptian tomb, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Supreme Council of Antiquities.
The scenes, which include a depiction of the sky goddess Nut, have been found in the burial chamber of a Nubian priest in the el-Asasif area on the west bank of Luxor.
"The chamber was found at the bottom of an eight meter deep burial shaft,” Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said.
The room is in very good condition and contains beautiful painted scenes in vivid colors. Blue and yellow dominate the ceiling, as the goddess Nut welcomes with raised arms the body of the deceased.
Named Karakhamun was a priest who lived during the 25th dynasty (755-656 B.C.). His tomb, known as TT223, was first discovered in the 19th century, but then it collapsed and disappeared under the desert sands.
It was rediscovered by an Egyptian-American expedition in 2006. In addition to the tomb of Karakhamun, the team is also working on two other neglected Nubian tombs nearby: the tomb of Karabasken, the Mayor of Thebes, and the tomb of Irtieru, the Chief Attendant to the Divine Consort of Amun, Nitocris.
Described by 19th-century travelers as some of the most beautiful Theban tombs, the burials were wrongly believed to have been completely destroyed. In fact, they were all rediscovered four years ago.
“Their painted ceiling, stunning relief, and elegant architecture are not obliterated, merely hidden beneath layers of soot, veiled by dust and cobwebs, and blocked by piles of debris,” team leader Elena Pischikova, director of the South Asasif Conservation Project (ACP), wrote on the project’s website.
According to Pischikova, Karakhamun’s tomb is possibly the largest in the necropolis. However, when the ACP team found the burial, it was barely visible and totally inaccessible. Almost hidden beneath the sand, the only trace of its location was a blackened crack in the bedrock.
“Some days of tedious digging soon yielded much more than we could have hoped for – a wall of carving, almost completely intact, with a life size figure of Karakhamun in front of an offering table,” Pischikova said.
Little is known of the priest, who remains the most enigmatic figure in the necropolis. Karakhamun did not appear to hold any important administrative position and his priestly title wasn’t particularly important.
Yet his tomb, featuring two pillared halls, paintings and exquisite relief carvings, was one of the most beautiful in the necropolis.
According to the ACP researchers, “he must have had close connections to the royal court or the royal family itself.”
"Further exploration of the tomb must shed more light on its date and the identity of Karakhamun himself," the archaeologists wrote.
Layin' Down the Law
Well, it's not the law of our dreams, but we're happy to report that one part of abill that has just been passed in New York City (and maybe just the one part) should improve living conditions for horses who are used to pull carriages. Under the new legislation, carriage operators are required to provide horses with larger stalls in which they can finally turn around and lie down (the current stalls couldn't be smaller unless you built them through the horses' flanks) as well as to allow the horses to come off the roads and spend five weeks out of every year at a stable with a paddock or a pasture.
A hike in fares has also been enacted. It probably won't make a difference, but it might decrease the number of misguided tourists who want to take horses for a ride. After all, it's the animals who pay theultimate price in this money-hungry industry: Horses are forced to pull heavy loads in all weather extremes while walking on hard pavement, dodging loud traffic, and inhaling exhaust fumes that cause damage to their lungs comparable to that which heavy smokers experience. Does that sound even remotely romantic to you?
Anyone who has seen or thought about this wretched excuse for amusement knows that it's past time for the horse-drawn carriage industry to be put out to pasture permanently. Tel Aviv has done it, and now it's time for New York to do it. Please join us in asking New York City officials to ban horse-drawn carriages as a blight on the city. Thanks!
Posted by Amy Skylark Elizabeth
horse-drwn
Need another reason not to take one of those "romantic" horse-drawn carriage rides? How about two? The first is Chance, a former carriage horse who was rescued by a horse sanctuary after she was sent to a slaughter auction. Chance's hooves were severely damaged, likely as a result of the long hours that she spent trudging on hard pavement in ill-fitting shoes. She now lives on a 50-acre farm in New Jersey, where she is at last able to lie down at night to sleep (something she couldn't do in West Side Livery's cramped stables).
The second is Bobby, a gelding who, like Chance, still had a four-digit carriage operator's ID number on his hoof. He was pulled out of a slaughterhouse's "kill pen" in the nick of time. The first thing Bobby did after arriving at his new home at Equine Advocates' sanctuary? He rolled in the grass—something he probably hadn't been able to do for years.
Want to help other horses like Chance and Bobby? If you haven't already done so, sign PETA's petition calling on New York City to ban horse-drawn carriages (and urge everyone you know to do the same).
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