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POPSDinosaur find linked to giant plant eaters The Aardonyx celestae species dates back to the early Jurassic period. Dr. Yates said the creature found in South Africa stood nearly 6 feet high at the hip and weighed about 1,100 pounds. It was about 10 years old when it died, and its death may have been caused by drought. The species shares many characteristics with the plant-eating herbivores that walked on two legs, Dr. Yates said. But the new species also has similar attributes to dinosaurs that grew to massive sizes and went about on all fours with long necks and whip-like tails. Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012833-115.stm#ixzz0Wf3ge1Qc Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09316/1012833-115.stm#ixzz0Wf3ge1Qc
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POPSPersonal Injury in the Wild (infographic) Every year, thousands of people across the world are seriously injured and even killed by the wild creatures of the animal kingdom. Check out these stats on personal injury in the wild and see which animal attacks are the most dangerous.
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POPSfrom the Sacred Text Archive: Prophecy & Divination texts
What does the future hold? This is one of the big questions we'd all like answered. This page has links to resources at sacred-texts that relate to prophecy and divination. Prophecy The Prophecies of Nostradamus by Nostradamus. The complete predictions of Nostradamus both in English and Old French, with a biography of Nostradamus and some notes about the events of 9/11. Nostradamus: The Man Who Saw Through Time by Lee McCann . A biography and historical novel of Nostradamus, with many interpreted quatrains, written during World War II. The Oracles of Nostradamus by Charles A. Ward . The complete text of one of the best books about Nostradamus ever written. The Sibylline Oracles Tr. by Milton S. Terry . Read the mysterious (purported) predictions of the Roman Sibylline Oracle. The Book of Revelation-The most famous Christian prophecy. The Prophecies of Paracelsus by Paracelsus, tr. by J.K . The alchemist and esoteric philosopher issued a set of
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POPSDown Under Bigotry At first I thought this must be a parody piece but then I read that it was written by the vice-chancellor of the Australian Catholic University. A simple substitution of just about any minority in the place of atheists reveals the blatant prejudice and bigotry shown by this fine Christian.
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POPSFrank Frazetta: Artist And Illustrator
Frank Frazetta is just a fabulous artist. His composition is impeccable, with wonderful action and figure placement as well as dramatic backgrounds. His ability with anatomy, both human and non, is faultless and his colorizing is perfection. My first exposure to him was cover and interior illustrations for Conan: the Cimmerian, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars series. I just fell in love with his work. His characters, whether men, women or creatures are all well-muscled and terribly energetic. That distinctive and original Frazetta style has been a major influence on so many artists. Following is a exerpt from Wikipedia: "Frazetta has had a major and lasting influence on many artists within the genre of fantasy and science fiction, such as Simon Bisley. Boris Vallejo is another fantasy artist with a style broadly similar to Frazetta's along with the fact that he also painted several paperback covers of some of the same science fiction/fantasy characters (e.g., Conan t
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POPSThe sex life of seahorses "Suddenly, two tiny silhouettes come together like a pair of knights on a chessboard. The seahorses greet each other with a nose-to-nose caress and, wrapping their tails around a single blade of grass, they begin a seductive dance, spiralling round and round each other. Blushes of orange and pink give away their emotions and, for a moment, the seahorses swim together, heads tucked down, tails entwined. A gentle humming and clicking from the male is the soundtrack to their flirting."
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POPSWhat We Can't Accept "A corpse is a stark reminder that human beings are inescapably embodied creatures, and that a life is the sum of what has been performed and spoken by the body — a mixture of promises made and broken, deeds done and undone, joys evoked and pain inflicted. When we lift the heavy weight of the coffin and carry the dead over the tile floor of the crematory or across the muddy cemetery to the open grave, we bear public witness that this was a person with a whole and embodied life, one that, even in its ambiguity and brokenness, mattered and had substance. To carry the dead all the way to the place of farewell also acknowledges the reality that they are leaving us now, that they eventually will depart even from our frail communal memory as they travel on to whatever lies beyond. People who have learned how to care tenderly for the bodies of the dead are almost surely people who also know how to show mercy to the bodies of the living."
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POPSNow you know. It's no fun to think about, but it's better that we know and act upon this knowledge.
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POPSphoto: Grief More: After a hunter killed her mother, Dorothy was sold as a “mascot” to an amusement park in Cameroon. For the next 25 years she was tethered to the ground by a chain around her neck, taunted, teased, and taught to drink beer and smoke cigarettes for sport.In May 2000 Dorothy—obese from poor diet and lack of exercise—was rescued and relocated along with ten other primates. As her health improved, her deep kindness surfaced. She mothered an orphaned chimp named Bouboule and became a close friend to many others, including Jacky, the group’s alpha male, and Nama, another amusement-park refugee… Sanaga-Yong was founded in 1999 by veterinarian Sheri Speede (pictured at right, cradling Dorothy’s head; at left is center employee Assou Felix). Operated by IDA-Africa, an NGO, it’s home to 62 chimps who reside in spacious, forested enclosures. :cry:
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POPSDoes Economics Violate the Laws of Physics? Excellent article on how, among other things, economists treat energy as a commodity and ignore that it takes energy to produce the other commodities. This is what happens when our educational system gets taken over by people who devalue the subject of Science...not to mention common sense.
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POPS The $cience of Harry Potter The museum defends the intellectual value of what is sure to be a cash cow of an exhibit by noting that the 200 movie props it features offer a window into innovation. “You see these props and think, ‘How did they do that?’ It is an inspiration for people to explore what it took to create these movie worlds,” said Paul Fontaine, vice president of education at the museum. And that inspiration is essential to scientific innovation, he says. “When you think of the foundations of science, it is creativity; what it takes to transform fantasy to the screen. We hope people take away those foundation skills,” Fontaine said. The museum is home to displays about DNA, electricity, astronomy and anatomy. But some area academics agree a re-creation of Hogwarts is not out of place. Andrew Cohen, physics professor at Boston University, references popular movies in his lectures to make complex theories tangible. So, could Hagrid’s Care of Magical Creatures
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POPSScientists Create New Life Form to Clean Up Water "We're kind of making a new machine," said Dan Tarjan, a senior majoring in biology at University of Virginia. The live machine is to be entered in The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition, which will be held Halloween weekend at MIT. The annual competition is built on the premise that life can be broken down into a warehouse of off-the-shelf, interchangeable parts and reassembled into creatures that have never existed. Over 100 teams will use synthetic biology (similar to genetic engineering) to show that DNA building blocks (BioBricks) don’t have to come from nature and can be designed and built from standardized parts that behave predictably. The hope is that these tiny factories will produce clean biofuels, powerful new medicines and environmental pollution sponges. Good luck to all contestants.
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POPSEvery time the little bear cub moved, I heard her cry with pain Trembling at the prospect of each blow from the stick, each rough pull of the rope, she is forced to wander the dusty roads, standing and swaying on her hind legs on command. She tires easily from her poor diet, pants with thirst in the oppressive heat, shakes with fear and exhaustion. Yet this bear cub dare not stop dancing, and she must do so again and again. This story is typical of the plight of many bear cubs in India. Sadder still, over 50% of these beautiful little creatures do not even survive the journey to 'market'. They simply die in cages en route, from starvation, dehydration and trauma. That's why these bears desperately need your support. WSPA is working with the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to stop this barbaric practice. Our aim is to halt it at the source, and your help is vital in helping us stop this cruelty.
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