The over use of artificial insemination is not limited to the dairy industry. It is also causing problems in the beef industry. If a popular sire has a genetic defect (unknown at the time) then it is quickly spread through that particular breed. Then years later when the defect is identified and traced back to the source reputable breeders must cull any descendants of that widely used bull from t
by
AWSX
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Laboratory
Stumbled across this video honoring Australian Special Forces survivors who organized the tribes on Borneo to fight the Japanese in 1945. They even paid a bounty of 5 Dutch guilders per head.
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AWSX
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Coffee Shop
Watch a rhino destroy a car.
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AWSX
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Coffee Shop
Well I don't know if my cats are scared of cucumbers. Notice the plural, I now have six cats from 2 liters.
Anyhow I can assure you that they are not afraid of snakes. The matriarch of the clan killed a four foot black snake a few days ago and drug it into the shop. They gnawed off the head but ignored the rest of the body until it bloated up and started stinking before I hauled it off t
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AWSX
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Humanities
Apparently the URL has changed because my old bookmark no longer works. Also miss the list of boards at the top of the page. Now have to go back to the home page to select another forum.
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AWSX
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Coffee Shop
So they confirmed what Pytheas wrote about 2350 years ago.
Actually the origin of the tin would not be so mysterious if the Phoenicians had not been so secretive about their trade routes.
Next: Where did all the copper come from?
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
Excavations at Cooper's Ferry have revealed artifacts that date to 15,000-16,000 years ago—thousands of years before people are traditionally thought to have arrived in the Americas.
Anyone have access to the paper?
This link has a few photos.
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
Article with a few more details (but only that previous photo).
by
Allan Shumaker
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Laboratory
A BRIEF HISTORY OF VANITY LICENSE PLATES GONE WRONG
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Allan Shumaker
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Humanities
Trial by ordeal was revived during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries. The swimming test or dunking chair were used.
"As part of the infamous “swimming test,” accused witches were dragged to the nearest body of water, stripped to their undergarments, bound and then tossed in to to see if they would sink or float. Since witches were believed to have spurned the sacrament o
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Allan Shumaker
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Humanities
(with no political affiliation)
In the summer of 2015, when Smithsonian research zoologist Anna Phillips and other scientists were standing in slow-moving swamp water, letting leeches latch onto their bare legs or gathering them up in nets from muddy pond bottoms, they didn’t realize that some of the bloodsuckers they’d collected belonged to an entirely new species. But in a just-published pap
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Allan Shumaker
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Laboratory
Agree that most of the 'mysterious deaths and mutilations' are the result of natural causes.
NIDS has looked into many 'mutilation' cases and has published on some cases that defy explanation.
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Allan Shumaker
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Laboratory
I agree with the conclusion that small carnivores are responsible for the ‘mutilations’ observed on the carcasses. I have seen numerous photos of the lips, sometimes the tongue, ears, eyes, udders, scrotums and anuses missing. However the side of the carcass in contact with the ground usually seems to be untouched.
All those links are woefully deficient of photos of the area surrounding the bo
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Allan Shumaker
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Laboratory
Impalement has been also been used to terrorize enemies in times of war.
"The sultan's army entered into the area of the impalements, which was seventeen stades long and seven stades wide. There were large stakes there on which, as it was said, about twenty thousand men, women, and children had been spitted, quite a sight for the Turks and the sultan himself. The sultan was seized w
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AWSX
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Ancient History
I have wondered why the Romans did not favor impalement rather than crucifixion. All you need is a long, sharp stake. No nails or ropes required and the suffering could last for days.
It would send the same message: don't defy the authority of the state.
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
Saw this a few days ago
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Allan Shumaker
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Paper Lens
I was aware that wives in 18th and 19th century Britain were legally essentially property of the husband, I was not aware that they were auctioned as livestock. (you can skip over 2 minutes of advertisements at the start)
A troublesome wife was led on a halter to the local market and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The wife did have the right to refuse if she did not like the high bidder
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Allan Shumaker
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Humanities
Jason Colavito was criticizing Zena Halpern's book. As far as I know he has not read The Scrolls of Onteora - The Cremona Document by Donald Ruh. And I have no idea what he is referring to in "The Onteora Document".
As far as the name "Onteora" my searches only show Onteora; village in the Catskills in Ulster County, New York. An Indian word meaning "hills of the
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
No one has proved it to be fake. Of course no one can prove it to be genuine.
Ralph de Sudeley is a documented historical figure from England with ties to the Knights Templar. Discoveries on Hunter Mountain in New York State lend credence to the account. The salty river mentioned is probably the Hudson River Also a dive on a sunken ship off Newfoundland would seem to confirm the account of
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
“The women fight with the men and are held equal by them. A strange practice to us.” Ralph de Sudeley speaking of the Danes in A Year We Remember
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
L’Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is famed for being a site where Norse travelers set up a colony hundreds of years before Europe at large became aware of North America's existence. The colony was thought to be short-lived, but a new find may extend the length of its occupancy.
And another article
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
A long time ago I found a link claiming horse remains found in South America (possibly Argentina) were dated about 6000 years old but couldn't find any other information.
Many have claimed that the wild horses in North America show markings not favored by the Spanish. The paint (spotted) markings are supposedly due to interbreeding with horses already in the Americas before 1680. Of cours
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Allan Shumaker
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Ancient History
It has been at least 50 years since I read the Foundation trilogy. About that time I was learning to program computers and it seemed to me that Asimov certainly lacked imagination with his rooms full of mathematicians calculating probabilities by hand. Can't remember much of the plot but do remember 'the Mule'.
I do hope the project comes to fruition just because I would like to
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Allan Shumaker
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Paper Lens
You can bet that with the success of Game of Thrones that another studio will be looking for the next great story line to turn into a multi-season series.
One viable successor would be Julian May's 'Pliocene Exile Saga' starting with The Many Colored Land.
Synopsis: Early in the 22nd century when humans have colonized other planets, a one way time portal is discovered in Fra
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Allan Shumaker
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Paper Lens
It is probably easy to get dead pig brains now!
by
Allan Shumaker
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Laboratory
Turns out it may be a species of moth, Creatonotos gangis.
"But the animal is harmless, as long as you don't eat too many of them"
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Allan Shumaker
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Coffee Shop
Well I have never set foot on Bali, but did work on Borneo for 11 years. The insect life in SE Asia is truly amazing. There are huge cicadas as big as your thumb, rhinoceros beetles that can fly, poisonous centipedes 10 inches long, several species of praying mantises and walking sticks.
However I have never seen anything resembling the creature in the photo. I hope the homeowner captured it s
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Allan Shumaker
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Coffee Shop