the Infinite Power of Youth

dimanche 6 janvier 2013

Thieves steal five Apple iPads from Microsoft, leave everything else

According to a newspaper article from the Palo Alto Daily Post, some discriminating thieves broke into Microsoft’s campus in Silicon Valley. There was good news and bad news for the folks there. The good news is that nothing with the Microsoft name was taken. The bad news is that the thieves made away with five Apple iPads. Talk about adding insult to injury.

It must really feel pretty bad to have thieves make off with your competitors products and not even want one of your own. Two Apple iPad 2s were stolen and two third-generation Apple iPads and one fourth-generation Apple iPad.

The paper said that the thefts occurred between December 19th-26th and the value of the tablets added up to over $3,000. The inclusion of the Apple iPad 4 in the report was a typo. Your own stuff is safe Microsoft. Just protect your iPads.

Apple Says Do No Disturb Bug Will Fix Itself

There have been a number of reports about a bug in iOS 6 over the last few days, related to Apple’s ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature in iOS 6, the problem with the feature is that it has not turned itself off when it was set to do so.

Apple has now released a support document relating to the bug, and suggested that the issue will fix itself manually by the 7th of January, in the meantime you will have to manually turn the feature off yourself.

After January 1st, 2013, Do Not Disturb mode stays on past its scheduled end time.
Resolution

Do Not Disturb scheduling feature will resume normal functionality after January 7, 2013. Before this date, you should manually turn the Do Not Disturb feature on or off.

To turn off the scheduling feature, tap Settings > Notifications > Do Not Disturb and switch Scheduled to Off.

You can find out more information about the issue with the Do Not Disturb feature on iOS 6 devices over at Apple.

jeudi 3 janvier 2013

RARE WATER-RICH MARS METEORITE DISCOVERED

A rare Martian meteorite recently found in Morocco contains minerals with 10 times more water than previously discovered Mars meteorites, a finding that raises new questions about when and how long the planet most like Earth in the solar system had conditions suitable for life.

The rock is believed to be similar to those studied by NASA's Spirit and Opportunity rovers, which landed on opposite sides of Mars in 2004 to look for signs of past water. Spirit is no longer operational, but in August Opportunity was joined by the new and more sophisticated Curiosity rover, which will be searching for chemistry and environmental conditions necessary to support microbial life.

The meteorite, known as Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, is the second-oldest of 110 named stones originating from Mars that have been retrieved on Earth. Purchased from a Moroccan meteorite dealer in 2011, the black, baseball-sized stone, which weighs less than 1 pound, is 2.1 billon years old, meaning it formed during what is known as the early Amazonian era in Mars' geologic history.

"It's from a time on Mars that we actually don't know much about," geologist Carl Agee, with the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, told Discovery News.

The only older Mars meteorite found so far is the 4-billion-year-old Allan Hills 84001 Antarctica stone that was the source of speculation about microfossils in 1996.

Early Mars was believed to be warm and wet, but the planet lost most of its atmosphere and its surface water to become a cold, dry desert that appears today.

"The time from when our meteorite is from is maybe a transitional period in the climate, when Mars was losing its atmosphere, losing its water on the surface," Agee said.

The meteorite is relatively rich in water -- about 6,000 parts per million -- compared with typical Martian meteorites that contain about 200- to 300 parts per million. It is similar to basaltic rocks on Earth that form in volcanic eruptions.

"The fact that this meteorite formed in the presence of water suggests that maybe this water hung around for a while, maybe a bit longer than previously thought. It at least opens our minds to the idea that maybe Mars climate change was more transitional, rather than an abrupt loss of atmosphere and water," Agee said.

Like other Mars meteorites, NWA 7034, nicknamed "Black Beauty," also contains tiny bits of carbon, formed from geologic, not biological activity, said Andrew Steele, who studies Mars meteorites at the Carnegie Institution of Washington DC.

Steele, who also is a member of the Curiosity science team, would like to do more analysis on the meteorite with instruments that are similar to those on the rover.

Scientists don't know why more meteorites like Black Beauty haven't been found on Earth. The period of time from which they originated may be relatively short, or most may not survive the trip through Earth's atmosphere.

"(Mars meteorites) are tough, but by the time they get here they're quite friable and brittle," Steele told Discovery News.

"This one does look completely different," he added. "It's jet black. The others are slightly greenish cast."

After an initial battery of tests revealed the rock's unique nature, meteorite hunters returned to the area where it was found to search for other similar stones, Agee said.

"It took several months to get an idea of what it was," Agee said. "We eventually realized there was no other conclusion but that it was Martian and that it was different from all the other ones."

"If it were similar, we would have known within one day," he added.

Four more pieces, all smaller than the original, have now been found.

The research appears in this week's journal Science.

mardi 1 janvier 2013

A MUMMY SWITCHEROO

Min, the ancient Egyptian god of phallus and fertility, might have brought some worldy advantages to his male worshippers, but offered little protection when it came to spiritual life.

Researchers at the Mummy Project-Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan, Italy, established that one of Min's priests at Akhmim, Ankhpakhered, was not resting peacefully in his finely painted sarcophagus.

"We discovered that the sarcophagus does not contain the mummy of the priest, but the remains of another man dating between 400 and 100 BC," Egyptologist Sabina Malgora said.

According to the researchers, the finding could point to a theft more than 2000 years ago. The relatives of the mysterious man may have stolen the beautiful sarcophagus, which dates to a period between the 22nd 23rd Dynasty (about 945-715 BC), to assure their loved one a proper burial and afterlife.

"It's just an hypothesis. However, this was a rather common practice, especially during periods of economical and political crisis, when the necropolis were left without much surveillance," Malgora, co-director of the Mummy Project with Luca Bernardo, director of Maternal and Child Unit Operations at the Fatebenefratelli hospital, told Discovery News.

Indeed, by the end of the 20th Dynasty, tomb robbery was such a serious problem at Thebes (the modern Luxor) that royal mummies and their relatives were secretly moved to a secure hidden tomb in Deir el-Bahri, now known as Theban Tomb (TT) 320.

Discovered near the end of the 19th century, the Deir el-Bahri cache revealed an extraordinary array of mummified remains belonging to more than 50 kings, queens and nobility.

Kept at the Archaeological Museum in Asti, where it arrived in 1903 from a private collection, the sarcophagus boasted a mysterious history -- it is not known how it arrived to Italy -- and a puzzling mummy.

"It had a simple bendage with no amulets at all. We know that a high priest would have been buried differently," Malgora said.

Finally, CTscan images revealed that inside the wrappings rested a skeleton placed on a reed support. This suggests that the body was recovered some time after the death, placed on a kind of stretcher and then wrapped.

While the fate of Ankhpakhered's mummy remains unknown, Malgora and colleagues have managed to shed new light on the man that for more than two millennia usurped the priest's coffin.

Named by the researchers Wehem-ef-ankh, the one who comes back to life, the man died at about 40, and was 5 feet 9 inches tall -- quite old and tall for the time.

He did not use drugs, did not suffer from any particular disease, and did not die from any violent or traumatic event.

Some 2950 images from the CT scan made it possible to reconstruct a 3D life size image of his skull. Carried by Jonathan Elias, director of the Akhmim Mummy Studies Consortium, the subsequent face reconstruction revealed a man with a prominent nose, a slightly asymmetric eye and eyebrow and a slightly hollow left cheek, caused by the lack of some teeth.

"He had nothing to do with a high priest. He was a hard worker. His knees show signs of wear and tear, as if he was carrying weight or stones," Malgora said.

TOUR THE PYRAMIDS ONLINE

The most realistic and complete virtual rendition of Egypt's Giza Plateau is now available online, allowing anyone with a computer to wander the necropolis, explore shafts and burial chambers, and enter four of the site’s ancient temples, including Khufu's and Menkaure’s pyramids.

Engineered by software design firm Dassault Systèmes, in collaboration with Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the free application is available on multiple devices, including 3-D-enabled computer monitors and TVs, and immersive environments.

Indeed, this is not just another too-clean looking and ultimately boring 3-D virtual tour of Egypt's famous archaeological site.

"Many 3-D models of ancient sites have more to do with fantasy and video games than with archaeology. The colors, surfaces and textures are not researched and appear quite flat or unrealistic," Peter Der Manuelian, Philip J. King professor of Egyptology at Harvard University and director of the MFA's Giza Archives, told

According to Manuelian, Giza 3D focuses on reality and reproduces one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World on sound scholarly data.

"Our reconstructions strive to reflect as much existing excavation data as possible, and that includes a meticulous study of ancient colors, inscriptions, textures of walls, buildings and objects," Manuelian said.

The project draws on the work of George Andrew Reisner (1867-1942), an American Egyptologist who directed the work of the Harvard University—Museum of Fine Arts Boston Expedition at the Giza Plateau more than a century ago.

One of the first archaeologists to apply photography to excavation, Reisner is the main reason that the MFA boasts one of the finest Egyptian collections outside Egypt.

In 40 years of excavations, Reisner unearthed thousands of remains and works of art and left a thorough catalog of his explorations, with some 45,000 photographic glass plate negatives, tens of thousands of pages of diaries, manuscripts and reports, countless maps, diagrams, notes, and copious correspondence.

Practically unused until the beginning of the 1970s, this immense resource has been completely digitized and is now accessible within the Giza 3D project.

"We tried to be as scientifically accurate as possible when re-creating the plateau. At the same time, we focused on creating an authentic experience for every visitor," Mehdi Tayoubi, vice president of design and experimental strategy at Dassault Systèmes, told Discovery News.

According to Tayoubi, the new possibilities offered (e.g., aerial 3-D views, cross sections of the ground, passing through walls), "far from being gimmicks, take on new meaning in the service of research."

As visitors to the 3-D virtual Giza Plateau enter tombs and mastabas (flat-roofed, rectangular burials), they can look for the remains found there by the Reisner expedition, view 3-D objects and get instant interactive access to all the relevant information. These include field journals, maps and ancient pictures.

Moreover, the reconstruction of vanished temples or tombs from available information makes it possible to trace the entire history of the Giza Plateau during different eras and follow its development through the centuries.

"Visualizing Giza from previously impossible angles, such as from underground, or at different periods in time and stages of development -- conception, construction, completion, excavation, restoration -- provides both a unique teaching tool in the classroom and on the Web, and a new research tool for modern scholarship," Manuelian said.

Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Rihanna Top Our List of Biggest Fash-Holes of 2012

Katy Perry, we like you as a person. You make cute music. You do your best to reform complete losers into suitable boyfriends, with mixed results. You've got great hair.

But...you're a Fash-Hole. That's not us talking. That's your wardrobe. You wore green sheer floor-length lace to a restaurant. And that's not even your worst offense of the year!

Joan Rangers, hear this: Perry, along with Rita Ora and Miley Cyrus, have made our list for the biggest Fash-Holes of 2012, and they aren't alone. Read on for our official roster of People Who Would've Been Better Off Going Naked All Year.

Rihanna. Such a beautiful girl. Such ugly taste...and not only in men.

Miley Cyrus. Yes, we get it already, you got a haircut this year. Good for you. Now please do something about your pants.

Rita Ora. The girl never met a Muppet pelt she didn't love. But at least her lips always looked great this year. Nothing wrong with stealing a look wholesale from Gwen Stefani.

Britney Spears. Judging from the expressions on her face in 2012, even she knew that she needed to hire a new stylist. Let's all chip in and buy her one, shall we?Rachel Zoe can't possibly be charging the same rates as she was 10 years ago.

samedi 29 décembre 2012

Astronomers predict that a second Earth will be found in 2013

THE first confirmed Earth-like planet will be found next year, astronomers predict.

More than 800 planets have been discovered orbiting stars since the first was found in 1995.

Few have been identified as sitting inside the "Goldilocks Zone", an orbital sweet spot - not too cold, not too hot - which allows water to exist in its liquid state and support life as we know it.

Only nine planets have been flagged as having the potential to sustain life.

But none have yet been oficially declared "Earth-like" - either because of their excessive size, high speed or simply a lack of available information.

The vast bulk of discoveries so far have been Jupiter-like gas giants.

"I'm very positive that the first Earth twin will be discovered next year," Astronomer Abel Mendez, from the Planetary Habitability Lab at the University of Puerto Rico, told Mashable today.

He and other astronomers say new instrumentation and observational techniques are making it easier to detect small planets at greater distances - as well as get greater information on planets at smaller distances.

The first planet with a measured size, orbit and incident stellar flux that is suitable for life is likely to be announced in 2013," Kepler team member Geoff Marcy said.

Two planets recently found orbiting two of our closest neighbours, Tau Cetiand Alpha Centauri, are likely to be among the first to receive careful attention.

One of the best candidates so far, a "Goldilocks" planet some 2.4 times bigger than Earth known as Kepler-22b, was found by the Kepler Space Telescope in December last year.

Based on current data, astronomers estimate there are some 200 billion stars in our galaxy, with at least 50 billion planets orbiting them.

Scientists estimate roughly 1 in 10,000 are similar to Earth. This could give us five million Earth's in our galaxy alone.

China launches rival GPS satellite system

China has launched its own satellite navigation network Beidou in a bid to compete with GPS.

CHINA has launched commercial and public services across the Asia-Pacific region on its domestic satellite navigation network built to rival the US global positioning system.

The Beidou, or Compass, system started providing services to civilians in the region on Thursday and is expected to provide global coverage by 2020, state media reported.

Ran Chengqi, spokesman for the China Satellite Navigation Office, said the system's performance was "comparable" to GPS, the China Daily said.

"Signals from Beidou can be received in countries such as Australia," he said.

It is the latest accomplishment in space technology for China, which aims to build a space station by the end of the decade and eventually send a manned mission to the moon.

China sees the multi-billion-dollar program as a symbol of its rising global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

The Beidou system comprises 16 navigation satellites and four experimental satellites, the paper said. Mr Ran added that the system would ultimately provide global navigation, positioning and timing services.

The start of commercial services comes a year after Beidou - which literally means the Big Dipper in Chinese - began a limited positioning service for China and adjacent areas.

China began building the network in 2000 to avoid relying on GPS.

"Having a satellite navigation system is of great strategic significance," the Global Times newspaper, which has links to the Communist Party, said in an editorial.

"China has a large market, where the Beidou system can benefit both the military and civilians," the paper said.

"With increases in profit, the Beidou system will be able to eventually develop into a global navigation satellite system which can compete with GPS."

In a separate report, the paper said satellite navigation was seen as one of China's "strategic emerging industries".

Sun Jiadong, the system's chief engineer, told the 21st century Business Herald newspaper that as Beidou matures it will erode GPS's current 95 per cent market share in China, the Global Times said.

Morris Jones, an independent space analyst based in Sydney, Australia, said that making significant inroads into that dominance anywhere outside China is unlikely.

"GPS is freely available, highly accessed and is well-known and trusted by the world at large," he said.

"It has brand recognition and has successfully fought off other challenges."

Mr Morris described any commercial benefits China gains as "icing on the cake" and that the main reason for developing Beidou is to protect its own national security given the possibility US-controlled GPS could be cut off.

"It's that possibility, that they could be denied access to GPS, that inspires other nations to develop their own system that would be free of control by the United States," he said.

"At a time of war you do not want to be denied" access, he said.

The Global Times editorial, while trumpeting Beidou as "not a second-class product or a carbon-copy of GPS" still appeared to recognise its limitations, at least in the early stages.

"Some problems may be found in its operation because Beidou is a new system. Chinese consumers should... show tolerance toward the Beidou system," it said.

Apple drops patent claims against Samsung

The Apple iPhone 4s, left, is displayed next to the Samsung Galaxy S III.

APPLE has agreed to drop its patent claims against Samsung's Galaxy S III Mini after the South Korean rival said it would not sell the gadget in the United States, a court filing shows.

The announcement is the latest twist in a patent battle between the two tech titans.

Last month, Apple asked that a series of Samsung products - including the Galaxy S III - be added to the patent infringement suit between the mobile giants.

"Apple will agree to withdraw without prejudice its request to include the Galaxy S III Mini in this case given Samsung's representation that it is not making, using, selling, offering to sell or importing that product into the United States," the company said in its latest federal court filing in San Jose, California.

Samsung, the world's top mobile and smartphone maker, was ordered by a US jury in August to pay Apple $1.02 billion in damages for illegally copying iPhone and iPad features for its flagship Galaxy S smartphones.

It has appealed the ruling, depicting the verdict as "a loss" for consumers and contending that Apple had "manipulated" the patent system.

Since then, two separate rulings by courts in Japan and the Netherlands have dismissed Apple's claims of patent infringement.

Framing Britain's often forgotten natural beauty

Welsh Gold by Alun Davies taken at Nash Point, Glamorgan Heritage Coast, Wales

MOST Aussies think of the UK as cold and damp but these stunning landscapes show it can be spectacular and inspiring.

These pictures, taken by amateur and professional photographers, have been recognized as the best by the judges of the sixth annual Landscape Photographer of the Year competition.

Great expectations : Love snobs killing their chances of happiness

SYDNEYSIDERS, you're too fussy, desperate and rude. You're turning dates into job interviews. Your "shopping list" is shallow, pedantic and wouldn't make you happy, even if it was realistic.

Women, you've forgotten how to flirt, and men, you need to man up. And you've all lost the art of romance.

That's the diagnosis of matchmakers as they survey the bloody battlefield of Sydney dating, where men, wary of gold-diggers, "sperm hunters" and "shopping list" writers, face off against the women they're supposed to be wooing, who are worn out by the deception, the harassment and the disrespect they've suffered from men.

In the 30- to 45-year-old age group, in which two-thirds of daters are searching for a long-term relationship that leads to marriage and children, the casualties are worst. Bars across Sydney are littered with broken hearts and suspicious minds.

"If you have lots of break-ups, they all take their toll," sex therapist Bettina Arndt says. "No one comes through unscathed."

Got a dating horror story? Leave your comment below

But it doesn't have to be this way. A growing number of psychologists, matchmakers and sex therapists are turning into dating coaches, showing singles where they're going wrong and how to fix it.

One of the biggest problems on the Sydney dating scene is extreme fussiness, with daters more likely to be on the hunt for superficial attributes such as wealth, beauty and status than for qualities such as honesty, compassion and kindness, which would make a good partner and parent, say the matchmakers.

One woman arrives at the date with a checklist, and proceeds to walk her date through the questions, ticking boxes as she goes (which, one matchmaker points out, is hardly alluring for the bloke at the other end). One man says a woman told him on the first date she wanted her partner-to-be to have a house in Woollahra and a Volvo. Another has been asked how much he earned within 10 minutes of sitting down.

Others are adamant they will not date a redhead, a blue-collar worker or a vegetarian. Yvonne Allen, who has run an introduction agency since the 1970s, says one client refused to go out with a man because he was 10cm taller than her - too short.

Arndt, who has become a dating coach, has similar reports from her clients.

"I was talking to a guy with a nice Japanese car," she says. "He said one woman refused to get into it because it was Japanese. Women can also be scathing about dating renters."

Matchmaker Trudy Gilbert from Elite Introductions says Sydneysiders are looking for the wrong things; they are chasing superficial attributes rather than fundamental qualities.

"I do believe women are still judging men today with 1950s values, meaning an eligible man is a breadwinner, he's successful, he has status, and they don't look at things that are more important, such as his values of honesty, integrity, being a potentially great father," she says.

Allen says daters should take their fussy ways and flip them, asking what they have to offer a potential partner.

For example, a fortysomething man who has been holding out for a blonde, shapely 25-year old model may learn the hard way he has nothing to offer her. It's easier to find a kind, loving woman if there are fewer restrictions on the form she comes in.

"It's one thing to have a wish list, but it's another thing to actually attract that wish list, and often the wish list has nothing to do with a great relationship," Allen says.

New Year's love resolution? Tell us what you'll change in 2013

This shopping-list mentality, coupled with the relentless opportunity for new dates online, is turning dates into job interviews, the matchmakers warn.

"It's like a recruitment exercise," Allen says. "I heard of a guy who goes to the same place every time, and interviews four women." Another woman would go to the same bar every Wednesday to meet a new date, wearing the same outfit as a scientific control.

These days, dating can be a lot like work, and it's not helped by daters arriving straight from the office in their work suits, firing questions as they would in meetings, and assessing their date as they might a job applicant.

In work mode, none of us are the flirty, charming, attractive person we might become on a Saturday night when we are out with our friends.

"It's so tough out there, many of us are defensive when we go on a first date," Allen says. She recommends daters go home before the date, shower and change their outfit to "shake off the day".

"We seem to have lost the art of flirting ," she says. "I tell women to look into people's eyes and smile, and they say, 'oh I can't do that'."

Daters are also caught up in a Hollywood view of the way romance should work, the matchmakers say; they believe prince or princess perfect will come along, sparks will fly and they'll fall in love straight away.

"I had a guy come to me who'd been on 300 first dates and never a second," Allen says. "He believed he would 'know her when he saw her'. That's the stuff of fantasy."

Another couple went on an arranged date, agreed there was no chemistry, but decided to share season tickets to the opera as friends. Over a year of music, they fell in love. "The heavy expectations weren't there," Allen says.

Another problem is guys who don't make an effort. Men need to lift their game, say the matchmakers, as they have forgotten the traditional courtesies of courtship.

Few bother to call a woman to ask her on a date; it's easier to text. They don't dress up, plan the date, or offer to pick her up. In a particularly cowardly act, some don't even tell a woman they no longer want see her; they just stop communicating, even after dating her for two months or maybe more.

"There are very few gentlemen left in Sydney," one prolific dater says.

Even men admit this. "There are more genuine women online than there are men," one male dater said. "Men are less well-behaved, just in terms of how they come across and their expectations. A lot of guys pretend to want relationships but just want to hook up. And to a certain extent, women get burned out."

And Sydney men can be lazy, Gilbert says.

"I don't think they actively hunt or pursue like they used to. They are not as chivalrous or forthcoming as they should be. Maybe the word's not lazy, maybe it's gutless," she says. "They need to be courageous again and actually pursue and make that known, rather than sending mixed messages and playing games and leading women on without asking them out. Don't play games."

Women can also find internet dating tougher than men because they are less used to rejection, Arndt says.

She says men spend most of their adult life being rejected romantically; women haven't developed the same resilience, but a thicker hide would help.

"Men will send out 50 'kisses' (RSVP's version of a Facebook 'poke')," she says. "Women do this enormously careful searching; they make an emotional investment in the process, and then feel a much greater sense of rejection or failure."

Another common mistake by both sexes is portraying desperation.

"I see a lot of thirtysomethings who are single," psychologist John Aiken says. "They are frustrated, they are anxious and they have developed a negative mindset. They're thinking, 'there are no good ones left, there's a man drought, you can't trust anyone these days'. They end up sabotaging themselves."

When singles become too desperate, "they become too clingy," he says. "They put so much pressure on themselves, that when they meet a half-decent guy, they cling too much, they want to talk about feelings, they ring too much, it becomes too intense and they become too desperate to make it work. These are common mistakes people are making, but most of them are unaware of it."

Matchmakers say if daters relaxed, forgot the pressure of a ticking clock and made an effort, they might enjoy dating a little more. They may even find love.

The best places to visit in 2013

Chilly New Zealand is a hot destination for your bucket list in 2013.

YANMAR, Marseille and New Zealand are all on the travel radar for 2013 thanks to new tours and events. But the best pitch for travel in the new year might just be coming from Ireland, which is running ads "calling all Flynns, O'Malleys and Schweizenbergs" to the Emerald Isle for a unique grassroots homecoming called The Gathering.

Here are details on these and other places, events and travel trends for 2013:

IRELAND'S THE GATHERING
"It's a citizen-led initiative to attract people who are Irish-born, Irish-bred or Irish in spirit to join us in 2013," said Bernard McMullan of Tourism Ireland. "It's almost become a competition where one county, town or village tries to have as quirky a gathering as the next."

More than 2000 events are already planned, including events for redheads and left-handers as well as reunions based on family names and clans.

Arabella Bowen, executive editorial director of Fodor's Travel, is one of more than 44 million Americans (including President Obama) with an Irish ancestor in the family tree.

"There are Irish people all over the world," she said. "It will be great fun being able to connect with others going back for this event. It's like an entire year of St Patrick's Day parties."

MYANMAR
President Barack Obama's historic recent visit to Myanmar (formerly Burma) - the first ever by a sitting US president - is adding to already heated-up interest in the country, which has only fully opened to tourism in the last few years. Fodor's Bowen says it's especially attractive to people who are already well travelled and seeking that next unknown destination.

Many tour companies are adding Myanmar trips due to demand and the US Tour Operators Association's active members named Myanmar No.1 on a list of "off-the-beaten path" countries they foresee becoming popular in 2013.

NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand received a huge boost in tourism from fans of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, and the release of the new movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is focusing attention on the destination once again. All four of the movies were filmed in New Zealand.

MARSEILLE
The French port city Marseille is one of two European capitals of culture in 2013, along with the Slovakian city of Kosice. Fodor's Bowen says Marseille "has been overlooked in the past" by a lot of travellers heading to the lavender fields and wineries of Provence, but she believes it's ripe for a "renaissance" with new hotels, art galleries and culinary hotspots.

THEME PARKS
Next northern summer will see the popular 3D ride based on the Transformers movies opening at Universal's theme park in Orlando. Transformers: The Ride - 3D previously opened this past May at Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles.

At Disneyland in California, spring will herald the opening of Fantasy Faire, located at Fantasyland and dedicated to Disney heroes and heroines. At Disney World near Orlando, Florida, a new attraction called Princess Fairytale Hall, where guests can meet Disney princesses, is also scheduled to open in 2013. Princess Fairytale Hall will be located at the Magic Kingdom's New Fantasyland, which opened in early December, doubling the size of the original Fantasyland. Both parks are offering weekly surprises for guests as part of a yearlong 2013 program called Limited Time Magic.

Food fight! Spanish town arms itself with eggs, flour for charity

Citizens of Ibi, Spain annually celebrate the Els Enfarinats festival with a battle using flour, eggs and firecrackers. The battle takes place between two groups, a group of married men called 'Els Enfarinats' which take the control of the village for one day, pronouncing ridiculous laws and fining the citizens that infringe them, and a group called 'La Oposicio' which try to restore order. At the end of the day the money collected from the fines is donated to charitable causes in the village. The festival has been celebrated since 1981 after the town of Ibi recovered the 200-year-old tradition.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Spend Christmas Vacation on Private Caribbean Island With Their Kids

Nothing like getting away from it all for the holidays.

Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and their six children took off for the Caribbean last Friday and spent their Christmas vacation on Parrot Cay, a private resort island and noted celebrity haunt that's part of Turks and Caicos, E! News confirms.

What they got up to once they touched down in paradise is anybody's guess—hence the key word, private—but knowing the Jolie-Pitts, mom, pop and kids are enjoying the posh outdoors.

The New York post reports that the family was bunking at Donna Karan's beachfront villa, located on a stretch of real estate where the figurative names on the mailboxes include Bruce Willis, Christie Brinkley and Keith Richards.

n this case, however, it may be more like a private sandy zoo! According to the Post, there were 22 people (not counting staff) in the Jolie-Pitt party, including Pitt's parents, his brother and sister, and their spouses and children.

Pumping Iron Movie Highlighted on Fox News

Vlad Yudin was on Fox News promoting 'Generation Iron.' Fox News commentators loved 'Pumping Iron' and see Generation Iron as a remake.

Russian-born filmmaker Vlad Yudin is getting ready to release “Generation Iron.” The new film, slated for release in early 2013, delves deep into the competitive bodybuilding industry – beneath the blood, sweat, tears and tanned muscles and into the private lives of several Mr. Olympia hopefuls.

“This basically picks up where ‘Pumping Iron’ left off thirty years ago,” Yudin told FOX411’s Pop Tarts column.

“I’m a really big fan of ‘Pumping Iron,’ which was produced by Jerome Gary. He and I had a conversation about the film and we decided we would like to tackle modern day bodybuilding. Bodybuilding is an interesting sport because it is not really talked about in the mainstream world.”

On that note, Yudin also hopes to clear up some common misconceptions that plague the bodybuilding business.

American Media Inc. has partnered with writer/director Vlad Yudin and producing partner Edwin Mejia of the Vladar Company to produce and direct a bodybuilding docudrama titled, Generation Iron. They will follow the world’s top seven bodybuilders as they fight to bring home the 2012 Mr. Olympia title.

Yudin is slated to direct and co-produce the film with Mejia, along with executive producer Jerome Gary (who produced Pumping Iron), executive producer Damon Bingham (Tyson), executive producer David J. Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, Inc., and executive producer Jim Manion, NPC President and IFBB Pro League Chairman.

This film will take an unflinching look into the widely misunderstood world of bodybuilding. Filming was slated to take place in mid-July and the cameras will travel from Brooklyn, NY to Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach, CA, to document the lives of each athlete as they prepare for the “Super Bowl” of bodybuilding. The docudrama will star bodybuilding legends Phil Heath, Kai Greene, Branch Warren and Dennis Wolf and will follow the lives of the athletes as they push their bodies to the limit while preparing for the Mr. Olympia stage at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

vendredi 28 décembre 2012

EARLIEST EVIDENCE OF BIBLICAL CULT DISCOVERED

An excavagation in a 3,000-year-old city yields evidence of an ancient religion.

The excavation of a shrine in the 3,000-year-old city of Khirbet Qeiyafa near Jerusalem.

THE GIST
The shrines themselves reflect an architectural style dating back as early as the time of King David.
Some of the features and styles of the structures appear analogous to those described in the Bible.
The new finds don't conclusively prove the site was inhabited by Israelites.

For the first time, archaeologists have uncovered shrines from the time of the early Biblical kings in the Holy Land, providing the earliest evidence of a cult, they say.

Excavation within the remains of the roughly 3,000-year-old fortified city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Jerusalem, have revealed three large rooms used as shrines, along with artifacts, including tools, pottery and objects, such as alters associated with worship.

The three shrines were part of larger building complexes, and the artifacts included five standing stones, two basalt altars, two pottery libation vessels and two portable shrines, one made of pottery, the other of stone. The portable shrines are boxes shaped like temples.

The shrines themselves reflect an architectural style dating back as early as the time of King, providing the first physical evidence of a cult in the time og King David, according to an announcement by Yosef Garfinkel, an archaeologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The research is presented in the book, "Footsteps of King David in the Valley of Elah" (Yedioth Ahronoth, 2012).

Radiocarbon dating on burnt olive pits found in the ancient city of Khirbet Qeiyafa indicate it existed between 1020 B.C. and 980 B.C., before being violently destroyed.

According to Biblical tradition, the ancient Israelite belief in one God and their ban on human and animal figures set them apart from their neighbors. However, it hasn't been clear when these distinct practices arose.

The discoveries offer a clue to the timing, since they contain none of the human or animal figurines common at other sites. No bones from pigs showed up here or elsewhere in the city.

"This suggests that the population of Khirbet Qeiyafa observed two Biblical bans — on pork and on graven images — and thus practiced a different cult than that of the Canaanites or the Philistines," Garfinkel said in a press release issued by the university. The discoveries also offer support for the Biblical depiction of King David, he said.

Garfinkel suggests some of the features and styles of the structures appear analogous to those described in the Bible. For instance, one of the shrines, the clay one, is decorated with an elaborate façade that includes two guardian lions, two pillars, folded textile and three birds standing on the roof. The two pillars are suggestive, he said, of Yachin and Boaz described in the Bible as belonging to Solomon's Temple.

The announcement was met with some skepticism from scientists such as Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, who has studied the ruins of the nearby Philistine city of Gath. Maeir told the Times of Israel the new finds don't conclusively prove the site was inhabited by Israelites, and that the images of lions and birds also undercut that no animal or human figures were found.

"There's no question that this is a very important site, but what exactly it was — there is still disagreement about that," Maeir said in the Times of Israel, adding that the finding doesn't add dramatic new evidence to the broader debate over whether the Bible is an historical record of events, largely mythical or a mix between fact and fiction.

LARGEST KNOWN CROC LIKELY ATE EARLY MAN

The new species, called Crocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, resembled its living cousin, the Nile crocodile as seen here, but was more massive.

THE GIST
The largest known true crocodile, measuring over 27 feet in length, lived 2-4 million years ago.
The crocodile was at the top of the food chain and would have preyed upon our human ancestors.
Remains of early australopithecines and other hominids were found near the crocodile.

The largest known crocodile was big enough to swallow a human being and likely terrorized our ancestors two to four million years ago.

Remains of the enormous horned croc, namedCrocodylus thorbjarnarsoni, were unearthed in East Africa. The impressive aquatic reptile exceeded 27 feet long and is described in the latest Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The croc was the dominant predator of its ecosystem, so there is little doubt that it preyed upon our distant ancestors, especially since remains of Australopithecus(a now-extinct genus of hominids) were found nearby.

These relatively tiny individuals would have had no choice but to enter the crocodile's territory for much needed water.

"Humans might have eaten food along a lakeside or riverbank, but more importantly, they would have needed water to drink," lead author Christopher Brochu told Discovery News. "This would have brought them right to where the crocodiles might have been living."

"Crocodiles today like to creep up on animals at the water's edge and grab them before the crocodile is detected," added Brochu, an associate professor of geoscience at the University of Iowa.

He and colleague Glenn Storrs, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum Center, recognized the new species from fossils stored at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi. The human remains also found nearby show that our ancestors then only stood about 4 feet tall, so the crocodile could have easily swallowed one whole.

The animal looked similar to a modern Nile crocodile, except with a large snout and a pair of horn-like protuberances behind its eyes.

Storrs also said the croc had a "powerful tail that propelled the animal forward in a desperate 'all or nothing' lunge."

Given the anatomical similarities to today's Nile crocs, Brochu said this prehistoric species would have had a "lifestyle that was probably similar to that of their living counterparts -- semi-aquatic ambush predators that would stealthily approach prey. Anything in the shallow water or close to the waterline would have been in range."

Even in its present de-fleshed state, the crocodile is something to behold. It requires four men just to lift the animal's skull. The species was named after famed crocodile expert John Thorbjarnarson, who worked with Brochu before contracting malaria in the field and dying from the disease.

Brochu and his colleagues previously discovered another man-eating horned crocodile from Tanzania namedCrocodylus anthropophagus. This animal was related to C. thorbjarnarsoni, with both distantly but not directly related to today's Nile crocodile.

Evon Hekkala, a crocodile expert who is an assistant professor of biological sciences at Fordham University, told Discovery News that she agrees with the new findings.

The discoveries remind that our human relatives often functioned as prey as well as predators.

In addition to probably being worried about crocodile attacks, these individuals "would have needed to be equally as wary of large carnivorous mammals, such as lion-like felids," Storrs said.

Kenya was a hot spot for early human evolution. Aside from the australopithecine hominids, Storrs said several early species of homo sapiens are known from fossils that are contemporaneous to those of the big and mighty new crocodile.

'NETANYAHU' SEAL FROM EIGHTH CENTURY B.C. FOUND

A 2,700-year-old seal bearing a name similar to Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been unearthed near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority said.

Found within the remains of a building dating to the First Temple period‭ ‬ –- between the end of the eighth century B.C. and 586 B.C. -- the seal is made of a semiprecious stone.

According to the ancient Hebrew inscription, it belonged to Matanyahu, who was the son of a man whose name started with the letters "Ho" : ‭"Lematanyahu Ben Ho ‭… "‬ (meaning:‭ "Belonging to Matanyahu Ben Ho ‭…"‬).‭ ‬ Unfortunately, the rest of the inscription is erased. ‭

"T‬he name Matanyahu,‭ ‬like the name Netanyahu,‭ ‬means giving to God.‭ ‬These names are mentioned several times in the Bible.‭ ‬They are typical of the names in the Kingdom of Judah in the latter part of the First Temple period," Eli Shukron, director of excavation for the ‬IAA, said.

Less than 1 inch in diameter, the personal seal was set in a ring and used for signing letters.

"To find a seal from the First Temple period at the foot of the Temple Mount walls is rare and very exciting. This is a tangible greeting of sorts from a man named Matanyahu who lived here more than‭ ‬2,700‭ ‬years ago," Shukron said.

MUMMY SUFFERED RARE AND PAINFUL DISEASE

His body showed telltale signs that he suffered from Hand-Schuller-Christian disease.

Researchers examined a 2,900-year-old mummy using X-rays, CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

THE GIST
Until now, scientists had assumed a female mummy was inside the Egyptian coffin
The disease left a terrible toll on the ancient man's body, with images revealing it destroyed parts of his skeleton.
The scans showed what looks like a giant hole in his skull's frontal-parietal bone.

Around 2,900 years ago, an ancient Egyptian man, likely in his 20s, passed away after suffering from a rare, cancerlike disease that may also have left him with a type of diabetes.

When he died he was mummified, following the procedure of the time. The embalmers removed his brain (through the nose it appears), poured resin-like fluid into his head and pelvis, took out some of his organs and inserted four linen “packets” into his body. At some point the mummy was transferred to the 2,300 year-old sarcophagus of a woman named Kareset, an artifact that is now in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb, Croatia.

The mummy transfer may have been the work of 19th-century antiquity traders keen on selling Kareset's coffin but wanting to have a mummy inside to raise the price.

Until now, scientists had assumed a female mummy was inside the Egyptian coffin. The new research reveals not only that the body does not belong to Kareset, but the male mummy inside was sick. His body showed telltale signs that he suffered from Hand-Schuller-Christian disease, an enigmatic condition in which Langerhans cells, a type of immune cell found in the skin, multiply rapidly.

"They tend to replace normal structure of the bone and all other soft tissues," Dr. Mislav ?avka, a medical doctor at the University of Zagreb who is one of the study's leaders, said in an interview with LiveScience. "We could say it is one sort of cancer."

Scientists still aren't sure what causes the disease, but it is very rare, affecting about one in 560,000 young adults, more often males. "In ancient times it was lethal, always," said ?avka, who added that today it can be treated.

avkaand colleagues examined the mummy using X-rays, a CT scan and a newly developed technique for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

The disease seems to have taken a terrible toll on the ancient man's body, with images revealing it destroyed parts of his skeleton, leaving lytic lesions throughout his spine and skull. The scans also showed what looks like a giant hole in his skull's frontal-parietal bone, and destruction of a section of one of his eye sockets, known as the "orbital wall."

The mummy embalming procedure may have worsened some of the disease-caused damage, ?avka said.

Even so,the effects of the disease would have been "very, very painful," and would have affected the man's appearance, particularly in the final stage, ?avka told LiveScience.

In addition, it may have led him to suffer from a form of diabetes. The scans show that his sella turcica, part of the skull that holds the pituitary gland, is shallow, which suggests that this gland was also affected by the disease.

"That could have lead to diabetes insipidus," the researchers write in their paper. The condition would have made it difficult for his kidneys to conserve water, something that would have worsened the man's predicament. "Probably he was all the time thirsty, hungry and had to urinate," ?avka said.

Perhaps cold comfort for him now, but his death does offer clues to the ancient world. Scientists have long debated whether or not cancer was common in ancient times.

Some believe that with lower life expectancies and fewer pollutants cancer's prevalence was very low. On the other hand, some scholars believe cancer was more common than thought, but simply very hard to detect in ancient remains.