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Everything posted by Faustus
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Good show Tobias! It's good to know some of us still stand up for and understand honor, duty, courage, and a willingness to risk all for a noble cause and a national purpose.
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Here we are again a year later. The most famous meteor shower of all peaks the morning of Tuesday August 12. And here's where to look: The "radiant" is in the North East and just above Capella (in Auriga which looks like a house resting on its side) which is the first 1st magnitude star nearest the pole-star. The Pleiades "asterism" will be further to the right. The Perseids result when Earth runs into debris ejected over the eons by Comet Swift-Tuttle. Under ideal conditions, you may catch up to 90 meteors per hour at its peak. (If it's cloudy the morning of August 12, there may be a good show a day or two before and after.) Viewers can expect to see 60 to 90 meteors per hour under a dark sky after the Moon sets at 1:30 in the early morning, with some of the less spectacular ones not being visible earlier, but the viewing won
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Would fruit, such as figs (which are very sweet) be in order? Or were cakes sweetened with honey more likely? Something else entirely? I think they drank their desert, but metaphorically conversation filled the bill. But further, "....Apicius, the foremost Roman gastronome, included a very elaborate dish among his recipes, served cold, in which the cheese was blended with honey, peppermint, watermelon, vinegar and many other ingredients." The isle of Samos as being famous for cheesecakes, for which Athenaeus left this recipe, "Take some cheese and pound it, put in a brazen sieve and strain it, then add honey and flour made from spring wheat and heat the whole together into one mass." It was customary to serve cheesecakes as wedding cakes from this era and at Argos it was traditional for the bride to" bring little cakes that were roasted, covered with honey, and served to the bridegroom's friends." " From Greece the Romans spread cheesecake across Europe.
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(Part three) Although we seem to see the
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Its not quite that simple. Russia doesn't want a neighbour and former member soviet state joining NATO. By hitting the pipeline it would force the west to negotiate from a placatory standpoint instead of throwing their weight around. War in the Caucasus "War has started," Vladimir Putin said
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[quote name='Julia C
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What about the Writer's Art? - You Still Can't Write About Muhammad
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My pick is Of the Five Worst Roman Emperors He makes the top 5 list: 1. Caligula, 2. Elegabalus, 3. Commodus, 4. Nero, 5. Domitian On his Administration Another devastating fire in A.D. 80 had left Rome badly in need of repair. Domitian responded by erecting, restoring, or completing some 50 structures, including the restored Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol and a magnificent palace on the Palatine. The building program, ambitious and spectacular, was matched by hardly any other emperor. He was also able to maintain the debased currency standard of A.D. 85, which was still higher than the Vespasianic one, until the end of his reign. The economy, therefore, offered a ready outlet for Domitian's autocratic tendencies. There were failures, but he also left the treasury with a surplus, perhaps the best proof of a financially sound administration.
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[1] This would make perfect sense. I have read that little or no excavation has taken place to explore these kinds of possibilities; mostly the excavation has taken place as recent
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Part Two What can we learn from taking a closer look at how the Romans and their antecedents managed these problems? This then takes us back to Pompeii where so much is preserved or at least has been faithfully restored . On the outside of the Roman domus or villa we see the simplest of roof terminations; simple systems were (and are still) usually the best and require the least attention for maintenance. There we see flat roof tiles (tegulae)*5), and their joint-lapping half-circle covering tiles (imbrices)*6) terminated at the lowest edge (eave) with the simplest of end cap closures (antefixae)*7). These would have kept pests from taking up residence inside the roof itself, and present a more aesthetic view to viewers on the ground. Once the roof section was visible from the inside of the domus, and perhaps after the refinement of the peristylium was added, we see a different motif example; now we have an amalgam of practical and aesthetic combined with status and culture. For instance on Greek temples*8) like the Parthenon we see an elaboration of carvings at the roof line which we don
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Thanks NN, I have at least two more parts planned, but I may expand a little more than that. The roof sloping into the interior space allowed for a lower breast wall and more sunlight which was one aim and important, I
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Salve Amici, More on the water aspect: The Red Planet's wet past an excellent "spot on" clickable/expandable surface image from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM on the Reconnaissance Orbiter (Astronomy Magazine) Also "Phoenix looks for ice-rich soil" and Phoenix's falling heat shield links Faustus
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Part One A visual aerial survey*1) of Pompeii allows us to see an important aspect of the living style of the residents of Pompeii at the moment of the eruption of Vesuvius; something we can
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Interesting!A sort of memento mori. It adds to his greatness that he needs such a reminiscence, lest he should think himself divine. Salve As morbid as this all is, it still delights. It reminds of the practice of students of Zen contemplating of their own dead body, rotting and being eaten by worms, as a way of realizing their own life and mortality.
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I'm sure you are correct; the amount of Venusian atmosphere reaching Earth's atmosphere is less than insignificant. But still some must. The amount would no doubt be less than worth arguing about. Now on the first item, I'm still in need of help; you were being covertly ironic? I'm not sensitive about missing the subtleties of irony.... Apology accepted! Faustus
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Salve Amici, Not an expert here, but I do keep up constantly with the subject. There is little doubt that elements from the high atmosphere of Venus reach earth as they are ablated by the solar wind. What would preclude that, or a least mitigate it is the magnetic field of Venus. However Venus is much closer to the sun (67 vs 93 m. miles), and a propitious alignment would no doubt deliver a small quantity of anything in the upper atmosphere to the Earth's own atmosphere. However when we think of planetary quantities just as when we think of geological time frames, these quantities may seem small but may be large by an individual human's "mental" standard. I think that's what the smiley may have implied. FROM THIS LINK "Venus is sometimes characterized as Earth's 'twin' because of its close proximity in solar system location (~ 0.72 AU heliocentric distance compared to 1.0 AU) and its similar size (~ 6053 km radius compared to - 6371 km radius), but other close resemblances are few. Besides the more obvious atmospheric composition and pressure differences, and the related extreme temperatures at the surface described elsewhere in this volume, events in the history and evolution of the interior of Venus have left that planet with practically no intrinsic magnetic field. The consequences for the space environment and atmosphere are numerous, ranging from the presence of an 'induced' magnetotail in the wake, to an ionosphere and upper atmosphere that are constantly being scavenged by the passing solar wind." BTW - Even perfect logic can deceive Faustus Edit added: NOT VENUS but consider the application of the situation seen here http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/screen/heic0303a.jpg And Watch this for some perspective. You may have seen this before when I first posted it back in May but it still thrills, and the music is a delight.
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I agree with all you said except for the ubiquitousness(?) of it. It has probably been quite balmy on Mars in its past, and once the big chill set in life, if it exists there, probably has retreated to supportable conditions like (but not limited to) the heated water phenomenon in out ocean bottoms. Certain examples exist in Antarctica, but they have at least seasonal reprieves. On Mars below the surface would be a good opportunity for sustained life. Consider the amount of heat escaping from the core of the earth and how it heats subterranean chambers, or the amount of ambient heat just a few feet below the Earth's surface which increases linearly as one goes deeper.
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Few planetary scientists or astronomers are concerned with the discovery of life on Mars, although it would be a high thrill and tell us much about the adaptability of life to harsh environments, but are more concerned with with the sustainability of life being transplanted there. It would actually be better for us if no life were discovered which we might have an effect on in our future activities on the surface of Mars.
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A US Presidential candidate said in the past few days that by "properly inflating our tires, and tuning up engines" the same amount of oil could be saved that could be produced by all the new drilling of US resources proposed by the other party. SEE HIM HERE Could these proposals actually accomplish savings of this scale? What number of automobiles in the US must this policy require to have improperly inflated tires or poorly tuned engines to accomplish this ambitious goal?
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Ruins may be Viking hunting outpost in Greenland
Faustus replied to Primus Pilus's topic in Archaeological News: The World
here is a <CHART> graphically showing solar activity during warm and cool climactic conditions of the past 7,500 years. The period discussed here, related to what Caldrail said, has a name; it is called the Medieval Maximum in the terms used by solar astronomers and is (4) on the chart which was somewhat warmer than the Roman Maximum (6). By 1400 the solar activity was falling off precipitously into two side by side very cool periods (3) and (2), respectively the Sporer and Maunder (solar) Minimums. As can be seen on the chart the Medieval warm period was bracketed by cool climactic extremes, less so before and more so after. Would it be accurate to suggest that civilization "flourished" during these warm periods and tended to decline or pale during colder climactic periods? <HERE> is a legend to the whole chart. -
A representative of Friends of the Earth recently stated that if everyone simply kept to speed limits, 1.5 Billion litres of fuel would be saved in Britain every year. That equates roughly to about
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In the spirit of the thread: Gerard Baker's Barak Obama: The Child - The Messiah - The Obamessiah <Click Here> And going back to humor, does anyone find this funny, compared to the New Yorker cover for instance? I found it funny in the beginning, but after a while it became repetitive and boring. Really Kosmo! I found humor in it, all the way to the final scene when Ob enters the plane with his studied grace and half-smile to hosannas of "yes we can!" Reactions may depend a lot on the extremes we have seen here in the media, or have not seen if outside the US. BTW I also laughed out loud at the scene of "Bush The Ignorant" and the later scene of Bush, with action speeded up, looking a little like a Hitler giving a guided tour to dignitaries. (although I don't agree with it) Faustus
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Hahahahaha! now that's funny!
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What did the Greeks ever do for the Romans?
Faustus replied to ASCLEPIADES's topic in Imperium Romanorum
The gift of the Greeks to Romans I -
"Yea, Verily", and it came to pass: your answer lies within this link.....