Archive for October, 2009

Greek imports and influences in the upper tisa basin at the end of the first iron age

October 27, 2009

The construction of the transylvania motorway in the north-west and central part of romania offered the opportunity to carry out rescue archaeological research along a route of over 400 km. In a limited area in the south-east of the upper tisa basin, in the valley of the barcau river (a tributary of the tisa), an archaeological site dated at the end of first iron age was investigated (2006-08). It is a fortified settlement and a cremation burial ground. Most of the houses examined belong to the last stage of the site, when the fortification had already been destroyed. In one of these, a few greek amphora fragments were found, in combination with pottery of local appearance and a fragment of a typically celtic vessel. Together these constitute an important milestone: the discovery dated no later than the second half of the 4th century.

With this recent breakthrough we propose to analyse the question of the routes by which greek artefacts and influences spread into the upper tisa at the end of the hallstatt period. The issues are as follows:

  1. The emergence of wheel-made ceramics in the upper tisa in the area of the szentes-vekerzug culture was considered to result from influences coming from the north pontic greek colonies, but the ceramic types and forms were local.
  2. Less attention was given to some ceramic types which were not of local origin but instead closely resemble greek forms (replicas of kylix-type containers, with horizontal handles). Fragments from such vessels occur in the settlement with which we started our examination and are present in the other settlements that are dated to the end of early iron age in the upper tisa region.
  3. It is extremely uncommon to find imported greek vases in the upper tisa. Beads made of glass paste, found in large numbers especially in the graves, may also be considered as imports.

Greek artefacts and influences could have come via two routes: that mentioned above and also from the greek colonies of the western balkans. Greek artefacts and influences could have come via two routes: that mentioned above and also from the greek colonies of the western balkans.

Hollywood Wax

October 27, 2009

Hollywood Wax displays house some 180 wax figures[1] of movie stars, television personalities and characters such as Nintendo’s Mario and The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There is also a Chamber of Horrors, featuring classic movie monsters and scenes of torture. Some of the sets include:

  1. Hollywood (classic buildings of Hollywood with celebrities on the red carpet)
  2. Halle L. Stars
  3. Marilyn Garland in *Wizard of 100 Movies of All Time:
  4. King Kong with *Jack Black and *Naomi Impossible II with *Tom with *Leonardo in Black with *Will Smith and *Tommy Lee 2: Judgment Day with *Arnold with *Tobey Maguire and *Kirsten Gump with *Tom Hanks

religious intolerance and discrimination

October 26, 2009

United January, the U.N. special rapporteur on religious intolerance and discrimination published a report on his 1999 visit to Turkey. The report strongly questioned the Turkish Republic’s view of itself as a secular state, stating that the Directorate of Religious Affairs wields “excessive powers of religious management such that religious practice appears to be regimented by the government and Islam is treated as if it were a ‘State affair.'” The report noted that Muslim and non-Muslim religious minorities were not satisfactorily protected and recommended that the U.N. Working Group on Minorities review the effectiveness of safeguards provided by the Treaty of Lausanne, the foundation for Turkey’s policies towards minorities. The special rapporteur also urged recognition of the right to conscientious objection.

The February visit of the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions included investigations into the “disappearance” of HADEP officials Serdar Tanžs and Abubekir Deniz. In June the Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the Turkish government introduce legislative changes and an awareness campaign in order to combat “honor killings,” the murder of women by family members who believe that they have been dishonored by the woman’s conduct. The committee was also “extremely concerned” that children were being exposed to torture and ill-treatment as a result of incommunicado police detention.

the protection of private lives ?

October 19, 2009

Stefano Rodotà tells the truth when he talks about the progressive passage from secrecy to control. He refers more deeply, on the one hand, to the protection of private lives of individuals and their very freedom, and on the other hand, to the society of surveillance. “The right to control the way others use the information concerning us” (A. Westin) concerns closely the State, because the term “others” can also include the State power itself. That requires a specific duty of State in order to safeguard the democratic system. Between private and public lies the collective sphere. Secrets satisfy the intermediate space of humanity. It is desirable being tied to an idea of public ethics consistent with the item of secret. In this collective dream, private and public sphere desire each other shares of common destiny.

Penguin Republic

October 18, 2009

When it finally stopped, the question wasn’t even settled. It was decided that they should just go to the new island and forget about it. It was then 2003. The two islands were then East Penguin Republic and West Penguin Republic. West penguin republic didn’t even have a leader. Two representatives from each Penguin Republic came to the launch site at East Penguin Republic to make sure that penguins from both sides got there, though some thought that was a bad idea. The ships took with them riches, food, and tools.

When they launched, they immediately started sinking. So they threw off all the riches onto the land. But they disappeared. The tide most likely helped bury them. What the riches were was priceless gold and other similar treasures. Off they went to a new island. They found it a bit pathetic that they had waited that long. After 5 days, (due to a field of ice) they made it to the island. And the first thing they built was an igloo. That was the first thing. Then they made a lot more. And once they had all those igloos, they…didn’t know what to build next. So someone just started building a big hole. It was going to be a boiler room. So others helped dig the hole, and after a while, it got done. This penguin that dug that hole was none other than Gary the Gadget Guy. After he dug it, he decided they needed some modern tools to dig holes like that. He started making things like cranes. It took a while to make them, but it was really going to speed up the process.

Chaos Space Marines

October 18, 2009

Marlus was caught off guard for a second, watching with shock as the enemy ran away. He got his sense back and ordered his men to follow. He loaded another clip into his storm bolter. Fakanthulau shouted as they got nearer the escape pods. Steadily, the 5 Chaos Space Marines out ran him. They were in a pod by the time he passed the last corner to them. Marlus and the other Emperor’s Children were close on his tail. He shouted as he stood at the entrance to the pod.

The Emperor’s Children were still 60 feet away from him at the other end of the room. Fakanthulau turned around to enter the pod, but hit his head on the door, misjudging his size against the pod. He was able to jump inside and make the doors close, but not after Marlus managed to shot him in the rear. The capsule closed, Fakanthulau cursing violently inside. There was a “Throosh” and the capsule was gone. ‘Nuts.’ Marlus cursed. They used the main computer to find out where they were and entered the ship’s log. They watched how the ship was taken over.

Freshman Essay Writing Contest

October 17, 2009

Freshman Essay Writing Contest is an opportunity for those who enjoy and excel in writing. The project evaluated places according to nine criteria: air quality, energy production and conservation, environmental standards and participation, green building, green space, recycling, transportation, standard of living, and water quality and conservation. Choose one aspect and research what aspect best applies to your home town or Oshkosh. Write a report on your findings.

Poetry as Loyal Companions

October 5, 2009

Two of the most loyal companions on your desk should be a dictionary and a thesaurus. Use the dictionary to learn the meanings and derivations of new words you encounter. Also use it to check the exact meanings and spellings of words that you are not sure of. The thesaurus is very helpful whenever you are writing and need an alternative to a word in order to avoid repetition or to achieve a variation in meaning. Your computer probably offers a spellchecker and a thesaurus so by all means use them but they should be seen as handy digital aids to be used alongside the mighty physical volumes.

It may seem silly to advise someone who is reading this text that they should read, but in the modern world we are so busy with work and we are bombarded with so much information by TV broadcast, telephone and internet that reading books and articles can be squeezed out of our agenda. Reading the works of really good writers is one of the best ways to develop our abilities with words. Modern and classic novels, leading non-fiction books and top quality newspaper and magazine articles are all important sources for us. How often do you find time to read poetry? Try some new poems and re-read old favourites for inspiration and appreciation of the sublime skills of the poet.

District of Columbia corruption

October 5, 2009

The District of Columbia, long plagued by corruption, began a transparency initiative under former Mayor Anthony Williams. It shifted into high gear under Mayor Adrian Fenty, and CTO Vivek Kundra. They now publish, on a real-time basis, more than 260 different data streams of statistics as varied as violent crime, building starts, and even requests to fill potholes. All of those statistics are available for anyone to analyze and interpret, and current uses range from tracking development around the new Nationals Park to showing crime reports on a Google Map.

Equally important, District agencies use the same data feeds internally to deploy their workforces more effectively, and break down barriers to cooperation between agencies. If the same system was applied to banking, critical statistics could flow automatically to federal regulators, while also being available to the banks’ own staff — many of whom have never had real-time data access in the past. Combined with innovative web-based tools to turn obscure data into easy-to-understand visualizations, for the first time the workforce, as well as regulators, would have the kind of real-time information that’s essential in today’s global economy, whether to regulate businesses or to run them.

coffee stimulation

October 5, 2009

I liked a lot of what Robert Penner did, but I wasn’t thrilled with his bounce curve. I wanted more bounce. And more bounces. And crazy sh*t, like controlling the shape of individual bounces (because I can get downright insane when JavaScript inspires me). So, I started with a fresh slate and implemented a parameterized bounce curve function generator, where you can control number of bounces, bounce peak curve, bounce width ratio, and bounce curve. Needless to say, I needed plenty of coffee to stimulate my math gland.

So, back to the Curve Explorer tool. As it turns out, it’s fun to play with curves – especially if you can see them plotted as you tweak parameters, or see how they affect motion with an animation, or what they look like as a color gradient. From the tool you’ll see what I mean as you peruse the list of preset curve expressions that I threw in there. My particular favorites are some of the bounce curves, like “third time’s a charm”, “super bouncy”, “fast thud”, “jumping bean”, and then some of the complex curves that use curve modifiers, like “wobbly easeInOutPow”, “pull and release elastic”, “coin settle effect”, “bounce down the stairs”, and “shutters slamming”. But they’re all fun, really.