Category: Aggregated

Historically speaking, wheels are a much newer development than you might expect. The oldest recovered specimen is a wooden Slovenian model built sometime between 5,100 and 5,350 years ago. By then, humans had already been practicing agriculture for several millennia—in fact, farming may date all the way back to 12,000 BCE. Canoes and animal domestication also vastly predate the wheel. Why did this invention take so long to get rolling? Well, from a vehicular standpoint, spinning wheels are basically useless unless they’re attached to a secure shaft of some sort. It was only after mankind finally built such stabilizers—which we … Continue reading →

Financial Experts:  World War Looms … Unless We Stop It The Economist argues that there are ominous parallels between the conditions which led to the first world war and today: The United States is Britain, the superpower on the wane, unable to guarantee global security. Its main trading partner, China, plays the part of Germany, a new economic power bristling with nationalist indignation and building up its armed forces rapidly. Modern Japan is France, an ally of the retreating hegemon and a declining regional power. The parallels are not exact—China lacks the Kaiser’s territorial ambitions and America’s defence budget is … Continue reading →

It happens so often you wonder whether it is due to total ineptness or a deliberate policy to undermine our efforts overseas. It’s most likely a result of corruption and unintended consequences, combined with a foreign policy that makes it impossible to determine who are our friends are and who are our enemies. One would think that so many failures in arming others to do our bidding in our effort to control an empire would awaken our leaders and the American people and prompt policy changes. A recent headline in Mother Jones read: “US Weapons Have A Nasty Habit of … Continue reading →

The gluten-free debate continues to rage, with critics claiming that ‘free-from’ products are entirely unnecessary for over 99 per cent of the population. But you can’t argue with the stats and 12 million Britons are now choosing gluten-free products, whether they need to or not. Market research firm Mintel has pinpointed gluten-free beer as the next big growth area in the free-from food market, and it’s already on the shelves at M&S, Waitrose and Asda. Even Tennent’s, the most laddish of lagers, is preparing to roll out a version. But with two of the main ingredients of beer – barley … Continue reading →

I don’t go to Starbucks very often. It’s usually if someone else suggests it. I prefer to get my coffee sitting down at a diner watching people of all sorts come and go, with real waitresses who look like they would smack me if I tried to order a “grande.” Coffee served with a cup and saucer is what I’m looking for. Where I go that’s called “coffee.” I don’t drink coffee at my desk, so it is either at a diner or eating out during a meal. I have always been suspicious of Starbucks, since the first time I … Continue reading →

Originally published in Ancient American Magazine Issue # 105 When we think of ancient trade by ancient merchants, we usually think in terms of durable goods, that is, things or materials that have survived rot and decay to the present day. We think mostly of those things because it’s what we can see or touch. It’s not just earthworks, stone, shells, bone, metal, ceramics, or fabric, either. Pollens, foodstuff remains, wood, seeds, insect remains, domesticated plant and animal remains, paint, language, and the big one, DNA, drive our thoughts and are all are tools we can use to reconstruct some … Continue reading →

The US media is full of stories about how the Obama administration is going to punish Israel for re-electing Bibi Netanyahu in an election marked by demagoguery and arrant racism. The New York Times EVEN warns President Barack Obama may back a series of  UN resolutions demanding that Israel withdraw to its narrow 1967 borders and there create a viable Palestinian state. Hardly.  “King Bibi’s” re-election makes Israel virtually unassailable and master of all its surveys. Who is going to force Israel to follow this sensible, two-state solution to the misery of the Palestinian people? Obama could not even stop … Continue reading →

Potatoes are one of the world’s most common, and most beloved, vegetables—and they can be used for much more than just sustenance. 1. WEAR THEM Potatoes come from a nightshade plant called Solanum tuberosum, which blooms with white, pink, red, blue, or purple flowers. In the late 1700s, in an effort to inspire their starving subjects to plant the newly introduced vegetable—which the Spanish had brought to Europe from the New World—Marie Antoinette wore potato flowers in her hair, and her husband King Louis XVI wore them in his buttonholes. This inspired potato flowers to be a favorite of the French nobility for a … Continue reading →

The Regime in Washington is the only government asserting the supposed right to carry out summary executions anywhere on the face of the globe, so we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it also claims the right to impose “sanctions” on foreign citizens who publicly criticize it. On March 11, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Russian academic Alexander Dugin to its roster of “individuals and entities to be sanctioned over Russia’s interference in Ukraine.” This decree means that any property belonging to Dugin that is within reach of the Soyuz (aka the country formerly known as the … Continue reading →

While Washington works assiduously to undermine the Minsk agreement that German chancellor Merkel and French president Hollande achieved in order to halt the military conflict in Ukraine, Washington has sent Victoria Nuland to Armenia to organize a “color revolution” or coup there, has sent Richard Miles as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan to do the same there, and has sent Pamela Spratlen as ambassador to Uzbekistan to purchase that government’s allegiance away from Russia. The result would be to break up the Collective Security Treaty Organization and present Russia and China with destabilization where they can least afford it. For details go … Continue reading →

Can you pinch more than an inch around your middle? That flabby flesh seems to settle and spread out around the waist, creating a belly bulge that looks as though you’ve spent every one of your Saturdays drinking beer. A protruding belly and love handles isn’t considered the most flattering look going. But what’s more, that belly fat can be a hazard to your health. In medical speak, subcutaneous fat is the belly fat that you can feel when you grab the skin and tissue around your middle. Then there’s visceral fat, which is more dangerous. It’s the belly fat … Continue reading →