Archaeologists stunned as dig unearths 4,000-year-old burial treasures unrivalled anywhere in BritainHidden beneath a four-ton slab of rock and surrounded by ancient carved symbols of prehistoric power, a spectacular high-status potentially royal tomb, dating back 4,000 years, has been discovered by archaeologists in Scotland. The find - of international importance - is unique in Britain. The excavations at Forteviot, near Perth, have yielded the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler buried on a bed of white quartz pebbles and birch bark with at least a dozen personal possessions - including a bronze and gold dagger, a bronze knife, a wooden bowl and a leather bag. The discovery has huge implications for Scottish history. Forteviot has long been known to have been a great royal centre in the early medieval period. It was a "capital" of a Pictish Kingdom in the 8/9th century AD - and one of Scotland's earliest kings, Kenneth MacAlpin, is said to have had a palace there.
Hidden beneath a four-ton slab of rock and surrounded by ancient carved symbols of prehistoric power, a spectacular high-status potentially royal tomb, dating back 4,000 years, has been discovered by archaeologists in Scotland.
The find - of international importance - is unique in Britain. The excavations at Forteviot, near Perth, have yielded the remains of an early Bronze Age ruler buried on a bed of white quartz pebbles and birch bark with at least a dozen personal possessions - including a bronze and gold dagger, a bronze knife, a wooden bowl and a leather bag.
The discovery has huge implications for Scottish history. Forteviot has long been known to have been a great royal centre in the early medieval period. It was a "capital" of a Pictish Kingdom in the 8/9th century AD - and one of Scotland's earliest kings, Kenneth MacAlpin, is said to have had a palace there.
Duck races, a beard championship and the Mud Olympics: Germany hosts a wealth of quirky festivals and competitions each year. While some tournaments are a question of brute force, others are all about looking as silly as possible. SPIEGEL ONLINE provides an overview of Germany's strangest competitions. The man is clad in oozing mud from head to foot. His eyes sparkle against his grey-brown body suit. He has the typical look of a Mud Olympics participant, just a couple of minutes after the games have got underway. Whether it is fish tennis, an eel relay race or mud football, the goal is always the same: to get utterly muddy. "You become one with the mud, you become part of the natural environment," says event organizer Michael Behrendt, describing the lure of the mud fight. And now the successful event is in its sixth year. These days teams with fanciful names like "The Mud Dogs," "Silt-Woodlouse FC" or "Henry's Mud-Splashers" have to register for the competition months in advance in order to secure their place in the mucky proceedings.
Duck races, a beard championship and the Mud Olympics: Germany hosts a wealth of quirky festivals and competitions each year. While some tournaments are a question of brute force, others are all about looking as silly as possible. SPIEGEL ONLINE provides an overview of Germany's strangest competitions.
The man is clad in oozing mud from head to foot. His eyes sparkle against his grey-brown body suit. He has the typical look of a Mud Olympics participant, just a couple of minutes after the games have got underway.
Whether it is fish tennis, an eel relay race or mud football, the goal is always the same: to get utterly muddy. "You become one with the mud, you become part of the natural environment," says event organizer Michael Behrendt, describing the lure of the mud fight. And now the successful event is in its sixth year. These days teams with fanciful names like "The Mud Dogs," "Silt-Woodlouse FC" or "Henry's Mud-Splashers" have to register for the competition months in advance in order to secure their place in the mucky proceedings.
As Europe celebrates the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communism, politicians are scrambling to claim credit for bringing down the Iron Curtain. But Arpad Bella, a name unknown to most, has one of the strongest claims of all. Mr Bella was the Hungarian border guard on duty at his remote crossing on August 19, 1989, when hundreds of East German refugees forced their way through it. The first mass border breakout since the failed Hungarian revolution of 1956 accelerated a chain of events that led to the collapse of the region's dictatorships, and the Berlin Wall crumbled in the months that followed. Now, the pastoral scene on the narrow road out of Hungary to the Austrian village of St Margarethen belies the dramatic events that unfolded two decades ago. Locals amble back and forth between the two countries, a combine harvester trundles through the fields and the late summer sun glints on verdant meadows.
As Europe celebrates the 20th anniversary of the collapse of communism, politicians are scrambling to claim credit for bringing down the Iron Curtain. But Arpad Bella, a name unknown to most, has one of the strongest claims of all.
Mr Bella was the Hungarian border guard on duty at his remote crossing on August 19, 1989, when hundreds of East German refugees forced their way through it.
The first mass border breakout since the failed Hungarian revolution of 1956 accelerated a chain of events that led to the collapse of the region's dictatorships, and the Berlin Wall crumbled in the months that followed.
Now, the pastoral scene on the narrow road out of Hungary to the Austrian village of St Margarethen belies the dramatic events that unfolded two decades ago. Locals amble back and forth between the two countries, a combine harvester trundles through the fields and the late summer sun glints on verdant meadows.
Glastonbury is not only famous for its performing arts festivals. Pilgrimage, spirituality, drugs, nature -- since the 1970s, the town on the imaginary Isle of Avalon has welcomed all sorts of visitors in search of spiritual awakening. With the arrival in droves of meditation disciples in the 1970s, the small town of Glastonbury became the new-age capital of Europe. Over the years, the festival of performing arts which is held there every summer has become the world's largest open-air pop carnival. Every year, tickets are sold out even before the festival programme has been published. Glastonbury also hosts a wide range of hippie festivities, like Tibet week, with the monks of the Tashilhunpo monastery as special guests. With its many legends, the Somerset landscape has strong mystical associations. Tradition has it that Glastonbury is built on the Isle of Avalon, which was located in the marshes of the same name. The sacred hill of Glastonbury Tor has attracted pilgrims since the Stone Age, and in the 11th century the bones of King Arthur were allegedly disinterred there in the chapel of the abbey, now in ruins.
Glastonbury is not only famous for its performing arts festivals. Pilgrimage, spirituality, drugs, nature -- since the 1970s, the town on the imaginary Isle of Avalon has welcomed all sorts of visitors in search of spiritual awakening.
With the arrival in droves of meditation disciples in the 1970s, the small town of Glastonbury became the new-age capital of Europe. Over the years, the festival of performing arts which is held there every summer has become the world's largest open-air pop carnival. Every year, tickets are sold out even before the festival programme has been published. Glastonbury also hosts a wide range of hippie festivities, like Tibet week, with the monks of the Tashilhunpo monastery as special guests.
With its many legends, the Somerset landscape has strong mystical associations. Tradition has it that Glastonbury is built on the Isle of Avalon, which was located in the marshes of the same name. The sacred hill of Glastonbury Tor has attracted pilgrims since the Stone Age, and in the 11th century the bones of King Arthur were allegedly disinterred there in the chapel of the abbey, now in ruins.
Just received this in the the my good ole inbox from Whole Foods. Will comment further, but let's start the discussion here. Are you satisfied? Unimpressed? More livid than ever? Full e-mail below the fold... My thoughts in the annotated version below that...
Full e-mail below the fold...
My thoughts in the annotated version below that...
John Mackey hiding behind his PR flacks. Mr Big Dick-Swinging Texan on the pages of the WSJ may have bit off more than he could chew.
I'm not sure whether the PR flacks' response is hilarious or simply more insulting. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to her baby girl in November of 2008 at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. She speaks very little Spanish and no English; she speaks Chatino, an Indigenous people from Oaxaca, Mexico that, spoken by some 50,000 people. The hospital provided her with an "interpreter" who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital's interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in. The hospital's social worker reported "evidence" of abuse and neglect because: The "baby was born to an illegal [sic] immigrant;" The "mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula." (Most Latina mothers breast feed their babies). "She does not speak English which puts baby in danger."
The hospital provided her with an "interpreter" who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital's interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in.
The hospital's social worker reported "evidence" of abuse and neglect because:
I only found out about this because El Pais is recycling month-old stories as "filler" for the slow month of August... The peak-to-trough part of the business cycle is an outlier. Carnot would have died laughing.
An outright ban of the wearing of the burka in France would help stem the spread of the "cancer" of radical Islam, according to the country's Muslim minister for urban regeneration.Fadela Amara, who is of Algerian descent, said the veil and headscarf combination covering everything but the eyes represented "the oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation".
An outright ban of the wearing of the burka in France would help stem the spread of the "cancer" of radical Islam, according to the country's Muslim minister for urban regeneration.
Fadela Amara, who is of Algerian descent, said the veil and headscarf combination covering everything but the eyes represented "the oppression of women, their enslavement, their humiliation".
Fadela Amara, a long time human rights and women rights activist, has joined N.Sarkozy's government (and UMP ruling party) in 2007. Europeans think a hundred miles is a long way. Americans think a hundred years is a long time.
