Ride the Eagle! (VIDEO)

Ever wonder what it felt like to be a Hobbit and ride on the back of a giant eagle? Well, it probably felt something like this...



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Russians Out for a Drive Wind Up In Canada

Russian explorers headed home Thursday after proving it is possible to drive from Russia to Canada across the North Pole, in buses with bloated tires over drifting ice, using a pickaxe to clear the way.

Their two-and-a-half-month hitherto untried odyssey aimed to road test the hand-crafted vehicles on ice and water, conduct a few scientific experiments, and bring together a band of adventurers drawn to the vast and pristine Arctic, expedition leader Vassili Ielaguine said during a stopover in Ottawa.

At the "speed of a (farm) tractor" or about 10 kilometers per hour (6.2 miles/h) and carrying three tonnes of donated diesel fuel and supplies, they traveled more than 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) in 70 days from the Russian archipelago Severnaya Zemlya (or Earth North), after being dropped off by a Russian icebreaker, to the pole and then to Resolute Bay in Canada's far north.

Read more at: Phys.org

And another report from: Mail Online 

 

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'Space Oddity' by ISS Commander Chris Hadfield

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Modern-day Samurai Cuts Bullet In Half With Sword (VIDEO)

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First Contemporary Evidence of Biblical Jesus

It may be surprising for some to learn that, for most of history, there has been absolutely no archaeological evidence that Jesus the man ever existed. Sure, we have all sorts of written words starting a few hundred years after he was said to have lived, but there was no actual physical evidence other than these stories. No mention of Jesus in the Roman records, no tombs discovered of his contemporary followers, etc.

I always assumed that there was plenty of archaeological evidence. That Jesus the man was a given, that the only question related to his divinity and the religious implications of his existence. When I read the book Jesus in the House of the Pharaohs it blew my mind. Not only to learn that there was absolutely zero evidence that Jesus had ever existed, but also that Christianity might be over a thousand years older than we commonly accept today. In the book linked there, the author makes a very compelling argument that the central figure of Christianity was not a carpenter from Nazareth, but today's most famous pharaoh, Tutankhamen, or King Tut.

The book was a very interesting read, but his premise is now challenged by what may be the first physical evidence of Jesus, in the place and time we would expect...

Tomb exploration reveals first archaeological evidence of Christianity from the time of Jesus

The archaeological examination by robotic camera of an intact first century tomb in Jerusalem has revealed a set of limestone Jewish ossuaries or "bone boxes" that are engraved with a rare Greek inscription and a unique iconographic image that the scholars involved identify as distinctly Christian.

The four-line Greek inscription on one ossuary refers to God "raising up" someone and a carved image found on an adjacent ossuary shows what appears to be a large fish with a human stick figure in its mouth, interpreted by the excavation team to be an image evoking the biblical story of Jonah.

In the earliest gospel materials the "sign of Jonah," as mentioned by Jesus, has been interpreted as a symbol of his resurrection. Jonah images in later "early" Christian art, such as images found in the Roman catacombs, are the most common motif found on tombs as a symbol of Christian resurrection hope. In contrast, the story of Jonah is not depicted in any first century Jewish art and iconographic images on ossuaries are extremely rare, given the prohibition within Judaism of making images of people or animals.

The tomb in question is dated prior to 70 CE, when ossuary use in Jerusalem ceased due to the Roman destruction of the city. Accordingly, if the markings are Christian as the scholars involved believe, the engravings represent – by several centuries - the earliest archaeological record of Christians ever found. The engravings were most likely made by some of Jesus' earliest followers, within decades of his death. Together, the inscription and the Jonah image testify to early Christian faith in resurrection. The tomb record thus predates the writing of the gospels.

More at link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uonc-ter022712.php

More info at: http://www.bibleinterp.com/

NY Subway Live Portrait

Uploaded by mybs86 on Jan 3, 2012

okay- what you are about to watch is a true new york experience. what originally started out as a typical nyc subway ride (sitting across from guy who smelled like urine) turned into an awesome performance by two people who have never met before. i captured the whole thing on video.

the singer continued with another great song after the entire subway car demanded an encore. her name is jessica latshaw- make sure to check out her music.

People Are Awesome (And Maybe A little Stupid)

So I decided to make a video of my typical weekend...

Saturn Shown in Spectacular Cassini Photo

We are spoiled by sci-fi movies and airbrushed images, that when we see a real photo from space, it usually seems mundane. Some speck in a field of specks of various sizes and drab shades of color, that are only revelations to astronomers. But now, we have this stunning image. Not only is it a sweet piece of eye candy, but it has revealed important information to astronomers for the first time, including the revelation of previously unknown rings around the gas giant originally named by the Greeks as Cronus, the mythological Titan father of Zeus.

In the Shadow of Saturn
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110904.html

Civil Disobedient

So much wrong with this report. But rather than point it out, figure it out for yourself. If you have questions, send me an email.

The word F#@k!

Voice of the homeless

Crying Over Spilled Semen

The finding that women who do not use condoms during sex are less depressed and less likely to attempt suicide than are women who have sex with condoms and women who are not sexually active, leads one researcher to conclude that semen contains powerful—and potentially addictive—mood-altering chemicals.


Study author Gordon G. Gallup, Ph.D., a psychologist at the State University of New York in Albany, also found that women who routinely had intercourse without condoms became increasingly depressed as more time elapsed since their last sexual encounter. There was no such correlation for women whose partners regularly used condoms.


Gallup's survey of 293 college women also found that those who did not use condoms were most likely to initiate sex and to seek out new partners as soon as a relationship ended. "These women are more vulnerable to the rebound effect, which suggests that there is a chemical dependency," says Gallup.


Semen contains hormones including testosterone, estrogen, prolactin, luteinizing hormone and prostaglandins, and some of these are absorbed through the walls of the vagina and are known to elevate mood.


Gallup controlled for variables including method of contraception, frequency of sexual intercourse, as well as the women's perception of their relationship. He concedes that women who regularly have sex without condoms might share personality traits that make them less susceptible to depression. But the behavior most often associated with non-condom users is sexual risk-taking, and studies have found no correlation between high-risk sexual behavior and lower rates of depression.


Gallup's study, which he deems "the first serious attempt to investigate the effect of semen chemistry on women," titillated the public and rankled some academics upon publication in Archives of Sexual Behavior. Gallup says he has since replicated the findings with a sample of 700 women and will examine whether "semen withdrawal" places women at an increased risk for depression when they are premenstrual, menopausal or have just given birth, as many women abstain from sex during these periods.

The original article can be viewed at Psyhcology Today by clicking this link:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200210/crying-over-spilled-semen

And here is the abstract of a similar study:

The intravaginal absorption of male generated hormones and their possible effect on female behaviour


P. G. Ney


Clinical School of Medicine, University of Otago, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand.


Available online 21 April 2004.


Abstract


In this paper I hypothesize that a woman through her vagina absorbs sufficient quantities of the prostaglandins from her partner's semen, to affect her mood. The vagina appears to have an active transport mechanism which readily absorbs the hormones found in seminal plasma. The seminal secretions include estrogens, F.S.H., LH, testosterone, and at least 13 prostaglandins. Prostaglandins have a modulating effect on neurotransmitters. Evening Primrose Oil (E.P.O., Efamol) may improve depressed mood by facilitating the production of prostaglandins. I have described a depressed, child abusing mother who was possibly getting insufficient exogenous prostaglandins post-partum to maintain her pre-partum mood state because she was avoiding intercourse with her husband. When her mood improved on E.P.O., she began enjoying her husband and her child. If these observations and deductions are correct, regular amounts of seminal plasma may be important in maintaining a woman's affective health and E.P.O. may be useful in treating depressed abusing mothers.

The full study can be purchased at this link:

PDF file for purchase

Teacher shaves for first time since 9/11

EPHRATA, Wash. — A middle school teacher vowed after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, that he would not shave his beard until Osama bin Laden was caught.


Gary Weddle kept his word Sunday evening.

Read the full story at link:

http://www.policeone.com/bizarre/articles/3627974-Wash-teacher-shaves-for-first-time-since-9-11/

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Ultra-Rare Lunar Eclipse After Midnight EST

This lunar eclipse falls on the date of the northern winter solstice. How rare is that? Total lunar eclipses in northern winter are fairly common. There have been three of them in the past ten years alone. A lunar eclipse smack-dab on the date of the solstice, however, is unusual. Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years. "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 DEC 21," says Chester. "Fortunately we won't have to wait 372 years for the next one...that will be on 2094 DEC 21."

Details at link:

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/17dec_solsticeeclipse/

Also, this is supposed to coincide with meteor shower.  So long as the clouds hold off, it should be a spectacular show.

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob, Hallelujah Chorus

Warlord

A ten year old boy declares war on the world...