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News Briefs 17-02-2016

Happy birthday to Grail-Seeker!

Mega-props to Grail-Seeker, Liz Leafloor, David Metcalfe, and viewers like you.

Quote of the Day:

Equally unfounded is the complaint that the study of science and the technical application of the forces of nature gives to mankind a thoroughly material direction, makes them proud of their knowledge and power, and alienates ideal endeavours. The deeper we penetrate into the harmonious action of natural forces regulated by eternal unalterable laws, and yet so thickly veiled from our complete comprehension, the more we feel on the contrary moved to humble modesty, the smaller appears to us the extent of our knowledge, the more active is our endeavour to draw more from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge, and understanding, and the higher rises our admiration of the endless wisdom which ordains and penetrates the whole creation.
– Werner von Siemens

  1. Is there a universal law of procrastination?
    I have definite views on this, just need to collate them and to put them in order. Hope to get this done by the end of the week or just before the deadline for submissions…

    1. Conspiracy A Go Go
      http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780292797185
      “Conspiracy is a thread that runs throughout the tapestry of Roman history. From the earliest days of the Republic to the waning of the Empire, conspiracies and intrigues created shadow worlds that undermined the openness of Rome’s representational government. To expose these dark corners and restore a sense of order and safety, Roman historians frequently wrote about famous conspiracies and about how their secret plots were detected and the perpetrators punished. These accounts reassured readers that the conspiracy was a rare exception that would not happen again—if everyone remained vigilant. In this first book-length treatment of conspiracy in Roman history, Victoria Pagán examines the narrative strategies that five prominent historians used to disclose events that had been deliberately shrouded in secrecy and silence. She compares how Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus constructed their accounts of the betrayed Catilinarian, Bacchanalian, and Pisonian conspiracies. Her analysis reveals how a historical account of a secret event depends upon the transmittal of sensitive information from a private setting to the public sphere—and why women and slaves often proved to be ideal transmitters of secrets. Pagán then turns to Josephus’s and Appian’s accounts of the assassinations of Caligula and Julius Caesar to explore how the two historians maintained suspense throughout their narratives, despite readers’ prior knowledge of the outcomes.”

      Oh yeah – there were UFO sightings in ancient Rome too – must be the cause of the conspiracy reporting.
      **********************************************
      http://www.eutimes.net/2014/05/nasa-releases-report-on-ancient-roman-ufo-accounts/
      “A combined historical and scientific approach is applied to ancient reports of what might today be called unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

      Many conventionally explicable phenomena can be weeded out, leaving a small residue of puzzling reports.

      These fall neatly into the same categories as modern UFO reports, suggesting that the UFO phenomenon, whatever it may be due to, has not changed much over
      two millennia”

  2. Flying dogs
    This show screams ethical dilemma. What is the point unless you actually are planning to send them up in a plane? The dog can’t even reach half the buttons on the console, let alone focus enough to properly land a plane. They’re all going to crash and die! Couldn’t they just have a show where they rescue the dogs and find them new families? This story sounds too stupid to be real.

  3. Coke in a bottle . . .
    Where I live, most of the Coke sold in glass bottles is the version of Coke sold in Mexico (the bottles are even labeled this way). It tastes infinitely better, like the Coke I remember from when I was a little kid, before Coke started adding a ton of sugar to it. The “Mexican” Coke can really quench a thirst because it’s drier. The difference in taste between it and the “domestic” Coke (even when that’s bottled in glass) is phenomenal. When it comes to Coke, I say “Viva Mexico”.

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