April 21, 2023

It's National Tea Day in the UK

Won't you please join me and our overseas friends in a nice cuppa?

April 12, 2023

Chichen Itza: Archaeologists discover scoreboard for ancient Maya ball game

BBC News
By Vanessa Buschschlüter

Archaeologists in Mexico have uncovered an intricately carved stone they believe was used as a scoreboard for pelota, a ball game played by the Maya hundreds of years ago.

The circular stone was found at the Chichen Itza archaeological site and is thought to be at least 1,200 years old.

At its centre are two players in elaborate headgear surrounded by hieroglyphic writing.

Experts are now analysing the writing to decipher its possible meaning.

The 40kg-stone (88lb) was found by archaeologist Lizbeth Beatriz Mendicut Pérez in an architectonic compound known as Casa Colorada (Red House).

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-65250018

April 11, 2023

We are doomed

April 4, 2023

Merry Arrestmas!

I saw that used in a headline on NBC News:

'Merry Arrestmas': The 'resistance' rejoices watching Trump face charges

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/merry-arrestmas-resistance-rejoices-watching-trump-face-charges-rcna78114

April 3, 2023

Democrats target 31 GOP-held seats in aggressive campaign for House majority

NBC News exclusive
April 3, 2023, 8:00 AM EDT
By Sahil Kapur

WASHINGTON — Democrats have targeted 31 Republican-held districts in their fight to retake control of the House in 2024, laying out an aggressive map and signaling early plans to go on offense.

The list, first reported by NBC News, is a blend of ultra-competitive districts in places like New York’s Hudson Valley and Long Island, including the seat held by Rep. George Santos; areas President Joe Biden won, like the Omaha-core seat held by Rep. Don Bacon; and conservative-leaning districts where the party sees an extreme and vulnerable GOP incumbent, such as Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee executive director Julie Merz said in an interview that the party’s strategy is to present Biden and the Democrats as “team normal” against a chaotic band of “MAGA extremists” they say have taken over the House Republican conference.

They will contrast Biden’s legislative wins — mainly the $35 monthly insulin cost cap and lower drug prices for Medicare, manufacturing and new infrastructure projects — with a Republican majority Merz says is “all hat and no cattle” when it comes to delivering results.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/democrats-target-31-gop-held-seats-aggressive-campaign-house-majority-rcna77401

April 3, 2023

'Evil eye' jewelry that was used to protect a young girl 1,800 years ago unveiled in Israel

NBC News
April 3, 2023, 9:22 AM EDT
By Patrick Smith

Jewelry designed to ward off the “evil eye” and protect a young girl in her passage to the afterlife more than 1,800 years ago has been unveiled in Jerusalem some 50 years after the items were discovered.

The treasure — which includes golden earrings, a hairpin, a pendant and glass and gold beads bearing the symbols of the Roman Moon goddess Luna — was first discovered in a lead coffin in 1971, but has only now gone on display for the first time in a new exhibition, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.

The jewelry would have been worn by the girl during her life and placed in her coffin to keep her safe, a common pagan practice that shows the diversity of late Roman Jerusalem, experts said.

Among the finds was a “lunula,” a gold pendant shaped like a crescent moon — but very little is known of the girl who wore it.

“The interring of the jewelry together with the young girl is touching. One can imagine that their parents or relatives parted from the girl, either adorned with the jewelry, or possibly lying by her side, and thinking of the protection that the jewelry provided in the world to come,” said Eli Escusido, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/evil-eye-jewelry-protect-girl-roman-jerusalem-unveiled-rcna77857