via CNSnews.com on 3/1/11
Tennessee is considering making it a felony to follow some versions of the Islamic code known as Shariah, the most severe measure yet put forth by a national movement whose members believe extremist Muslims want Shariah to supersede the Constitution.
March 1, 2011
Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
Published March 01, 2011
File Photo: Kukulcan Pyramid in Chichen Itza, Mexico. (CP PHOTO/Tom Hanson)
Led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, a group of scientists and journalists left Germany Tuesday, on a mission to Guatemala in search of a lost Maya treasure allegedly submerged under Lake Izabal.
According to the German newspaper Bild, which sponsored the expedition, the expedition includes two reporters from the publication, a photographer, a television camera, and a professional diver who will submerge into Lake Izabal in an attempt to find eight tons of gold said to have been lost there.
The expedition is led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, who claims to have cracked the famous Dresden Codex and discovered specific information in one of its chapters that leads to a treasure in Lake Izabal.
"The Dresden Codex leads to a giant treasure of eight tons of pure gold," said Rittsteig, who has spent more than 40 years studying the document, to Bild.
A professor emeritus at Dresden University and author of various publications about the Maya culture, Rittsteig stressed that "page 52 talks about the Maya capital of Atlan, which was ruined by an earthquake on October 30th in the year 666 BC. In this city, they kept 2,156 gold tablets on which the Maya recorded their laws."
A sculpted serpent head juts over from the Platform of Venus at the ancient Maya city of Chichen Itza, Mexico with the main pyramid, El Castillo, or The Castle in the background, June 2006. (AP Photo/Giovanna Dell'Orto)
The treasure sank, along with the city, into the waters of Lake Izabal, located in eastern Guatemala. But the German academic claims to have found the remains thanks to radar images taken in the area.
Rittsteig calculates that "just the gold in the tablets is estimated to be currently worth up to 211 million euros (290 million dollars)."
The Dresden Codex, drafted in the year 1250 AD by Mayan priests, is one of the four major documents that remain from that culture. It has been housed by the Saxon State Library in East Germany for the last 272 years.
The code was discovered in 1739 in the possession of a wealthy man in Vienna, though no one knows how he got a hold of it. He then donated it to the Dresden Library, where it is kept under bullet-proof glass in a room with other treasured documents.
Joachim Rittsteig has dedicated most of his entire life to decoding the codex, which is composed of 74 pages, 3.56 meters long with 74 distinct hieroglyphics.
The Dresden Codex contains much of what is known of Mayan Culture, including their understanding of astrology, medicine and even the end of the world. In the last chapter, the codex describes the coming apocalypse, which it says will take place on December 12th, 2012.
Translation by Fox News Latino from EFE.
Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2011/03/01/cracked-maya-code-lead-ton-golden-treasure-german-scientists-claim/#ixzz1FPta2lMU
video has emerged from Pakistan depicting children role-playing a Taliban suicide bombing.
Playing dead: The sickening video that shows children recreating suicide bomber attacks as a playground game
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 3:13 PM on 1st March 2011
Last updated at 3:13 PM on 1st March 2011
A shocking video has emerged from Pakistan depicting children role-playing a Taliban suicide bombing.
The 84-second clip shows Pashtun children recreating a terrorist attack, with one boy dressed in black - the 'bomber' - being embraced and wished well by his friends before setting off on his deadly mission.
In the single-take video, the 'bomber' then approaches another boy, dressed in white, who appears to be mimicking a member of the security forces and tries to stop him.
See the video below...
Saying goodbye: The bomber, dressed in black, embraces his friends before setting off on his mission
Halt: The bomber is stopped by a boy pretending to be with the security forces
Boom: The boys throws sand and dust into the air to simulate the explosion
But the young Jihadi then 'detonates' - with other boys throwing sand into the air to simulate the explosion - and others rush in to examine the children who are playing dead.
Ahsan Masood, a Pashtun from Waziristan in Pakistan, posted the video on Facebook because he 'thought it was funny'.
He said he believed it had been filmed in Khost, Afghanistan, and that it had been sent to him via his mobile phone by a friend.
It has been described as 'horrifying' by a children's charity in Pakistan, but others have said it could be seen in a positive light as children role-play to deal with the violent circumstances they see in their everyday lives.
Sophisticated: The 'special effect' and the video has been praised for its creativity
Medical help? One child runs in to examine the 'dead' after the explosion
Playing dead: The victims all do their best to keep still
Salma Jafar of Save the Children UK in Pakistan, told The Guardian: 'It's horrifying and alarming.
'These children have become fascinated by bombers rather than condemning them.
'If they glamorise violence now, they can become part of it later in life.'
However, Pakistani media commentator Fasi Zaka called clip 'the most amazing amateur video I've ever seen'.
'It's disturbing but also sophisticated and creative – a one-camera shot that captures it all. They are reproducing what they see in their lives around them.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361725/Video-children-playing-suicide-bomb-game-circulates-Pakistan.html#ixzz1FPmrtv43
House GOP votes unanimously to protect big oil subsidies
via Daily Kos by rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) on 3/1/11
So check this out.
That helps to explain this: 0: Number of Republicans Who Voted To Cut Taxpayer Subsidies for Big Oil.
With Big Oil raking in record profits, House Democrats offered a Motion to Recommit to the House Republican short-term spending bill this afternoon making a responsible cut to the budget: putting an end to taxpayer-funded subsidies to large oil companies. Repealing these subsidies would save taxpayers tens of billions over the next decade and even ex-Shell CEO John Hofmeister agrees saying “with high oil prices, such subsidies are not necessary.”Rep. William Keating (D-MA) offered the motion on the House floor saying “let’s stop sending taxpayers’ money to the most profitable companies in the world.”
...Republicans voted unanimously against the motion, defeating it by a vote of 176-249.
That's your GOP. They're willing to cut that deficit on the backs of the poor, the elderly, women, the middle class, public employees . . . For all of us, it's "so be it" as jobs disappear. But they sure as hell won't endanger the massive profits of their Big Oil friends.
Do We Need College Scholarships for White Men?
via GOOD by Liz Dwyer on 3/1/11
A Texas nonprofit's plan to offer five $500 scholarships to white men is putting conventional wisdom about white male privilege and the ability to pay for higher education in the spotlight. According to the Former Majority Association for Equality—named because white people are no longer the racial majority in Texas—being a white male isn't an asset when it comes to access to college scholarships because they don't "fit into certain categories or ethnic groups."
FMAE president Colby Bohannan served in the military in Iraq, but says that when he returned to Texas and hunted around for ways to pay for school, he felt left out because he isn't female or a member of a minority group. A low-income white male doesn't have, as Bohannan told CNN, "a bunch of money sitting around" to pay for college.
Now a student at Texas State University, Bohannan says he wasn't alive when black, Latino, and Asian students were denied access to higher education. And, according to him, the definition of "minority" needs to change. "It just so happens that those few people out there who have money laying around, they are truly the minority," he told CNN. "The majority is that people can't really afford college. People are working 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, going to school full time and still having to borrow money."
To qualify for the scholarship, an applicant must be male, must prove financial need, be an active member of the community, demonstrate leadership potential, have good grades, and be no less than 25 percent Caucasian American. Bohannan didn't say how FMAE plans to determine whether or not someone meets that qualification—Will applicants will have to submit to genetic testing, pass a visual test or have members of the community vouch for their whiteness?
Interestingly, according to that 25 percent threshold, any male with a white parent, like President Obama or Olympian Apolo Anton Ohno would qualify for this scholarship. A male with one white grandparent would also qualify, so FMAE is, perhaps unwittingly, challenging the accepted societal definition of "whiteness."
For the record, Bohannan says they group doesn't promote racial bigotry or white supremacy, and they don't take money from people who do. He also says they don't have any political agendas or any opinion about affirmative action. "We're just interested in helping poor white males go to college."
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: Tuna, 1
via Ads of the World™ by ivan on 3/1/11
When you see a tuna, think panda. The bluefin tun is now on the brink of extinction, thanks to industrial overfishing and corporate greed. Breeding population could disappear from our oceans as early as 2012. Please do your bit to end this trade. Don't sell, buy or eat this endangered species. And please support the bluefin defense campaign. Operation Blue Rage, at www.seashepherd.org
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore
Art Directors: Stuart Mills, Anthony Tham
Copywriter: Jagdish Ramakrishnan
Learn how to do great ads like this on Creative Pro.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: Tuna, 2
via Ads of the World™ by ivan on 3/1/11
When you see a tuna, think panda. The bluefin tuna is so threatened, it is likely to disappear from ocean in just a few years. Industrial overfishing has already wiped out 85% of the bluefin populations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. Act now to save the rest. Don't sell, buy or eat this endangered species. And please support the bluefin defense campaign. Operation Blue Rage, at www.seashepherd.org
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore
Art Directors: Stuart Mills, Anthony Tham
Copywriter: Jagdish Ramakrishnan
Learn how to do great ads like this on Creative Pro.
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society: Tuna, 3
r 
via Ads of the World™ by ivan on 3/1/11
When you see a tuna, think panda. The bluefin tune is now critically endangered to the point of extinction. Industrial overfishing, fueled by the voracious appetite for tuna in several parts of Asia, is killing off the remaining breeding populations. Act quickly to save what's left. Don't sell, buy or eat this endangered species. And please support the bluefin defense campaign. Operation Blue Rage, at www.seashepherd.org
Advertising Agency: Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore
Art Directors: Stuart Mills, Anthony Tham
Copywriter: Jagdish Ramakrishnan
Learn how to do great ads like this on Creative Pro.
Soccer Player Kicks Owl Off Field [Video]
via Gawker by Max Read on 3/1/11
Extreme Light Painting by Janne Parviainen
via Abduzeedo | Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials by marcos333 on 3/1/11
Some may say Light Painting is really overused nowadays and that's true, it's a really simple and impressive technique and there's a lot of photographers using it. However, I like to think that besides being really overused, someone will always try to bring this technique into a whole new level. And Janne Parviainen definetely did that.
I really don't know how he creates this light skeletons and human shapes, must be micro fibers or wires maybe. It's a big mystery, what turns his photography in something more artistic and quite unique. You can see more of his light paintings at this Flickr.
About the author
Hey buddies! I'm Marcos Torres, a 20 years old art director/freelancer from Brazil, I'm here to bring some new interesting stuff to you. You can see my portfolio at http://flickr.com/marcostorres. Any request or jobs opportunities send to marcostorres90@gmail.com, also follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/marcos333 to get in touch with cool design news.
Sponsored Links:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
