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Villa Romana de Salar, Spain (2018/08)

The Roman Villa of Salar had an exceptional moment with the discovery of a third Venus. The third Venus - which is in a perfect state of preservation - complements the other two similar pieces found in 2012 and 2013.

scienceprofessorquotes

"That's nothing. Let me tell you about the time I accidentally cleaned the electrodes with kerosene."

- Instrumental analysis professor

peashooter85

Viking runes on an ancient Greek statue,

The Piraeus Lion is a marble statue around 3 meters (9 feet) tall which was carved around 360 BC and had adorned Athens harbor for over 1800 years. In 1687 Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice was at war the empire when they laid siege to and eventually sacked the city. The Venetians looted Athens of it’s wealth, carting of many treasures and historical antiquities including the Piraeus lion. The Venetians noticed that there was a strange writing along the shoulder and flank of the lion, however no one remembered what the language was, what it said, or who put it there. The lion was carted off to Venice and put on display at the Venetian Arsenal, where it sits to this day.

The origins of the writing remained a mystery until the lion was visited by a Swedish diplomat named Johann David Akerblad, who identified them as Nordic runes at the end of the 18th century. Since then numerous scholars have viewed and attempted to translate the runes. This task is greatly complicated by the fact that the runes are heavily eroded, with many completely illegible. The most widely accepted translation is from Erik Brate in 1914,

The runes are believed to have been carved in the 11th century by the Varangians. The Varangians were a group of Scandinavian Vikings who sold their services as mercenaries to the Eastern Roman Empire, AKA the Byzantine Empire. The Varangians would eventually settle down in what is now Russia and Ukraine.

historyisntboring

Maeshowe’s Runes

Maeshowe, a large neolithic tomb probably made around 2800 BC on the Orkney Islands in Scotland, was looted by the Vikings Earl Harald Maddadarson and Ragnvald, Earl of Møre around the 12th century. Because of this, a lot of runic inscriptions can be found inside, making Maeshowe one of the largest collection of runic graffiti in Europe.

Here’s a few samples:

“Arnfithr Matr carved these runes with this axe owned by Gauk Trandilsson in the South land”

“Is to me said that treasure is here hidden very well. Say few as Oddr”

“These runes were carved by the man most skilled in runes in the western ocean”

“Ingigerth is the most beautiful of all women”

“(…) Lif the earl’s cook carved these runes. To the north-west is a great treasure hidden. It was long ago that a great treasure was hidden here. Happy is he that might find that great treasure. (…)”

“Thorni f█cked. Helgi carved this”

“Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up”

Source: orkneyjar.com

bai-xue-lives

So I just now learned about Stagecoach Mary and how have I never heard of this absolute LEGEND of a woman before

She was born a slave and freed when the Emancipation Proclamation was issued (she was about 30)

She was about six feet tall and 200 pounds and once she was free she decided she’d never take shit from anyone ever again

When one of her close friends, a nun by the name of Mother Amadeus, became ill with pneumonia at her convent in Montana, Mary headed alone into the frontier to nurse Mother Amadeus back to health

After Mother Amadeus recovered, she gave Mary a job as the foreman of the convent. She repaired buildings, took care of chickens, made the long and dangerous journeys into town for supplies, and did other odd jobs.

She could drink most men under the table, and one saloon offered five bucks and a free shot of whiskey to any man who could take a punch to the face from Mary and remain standing.

She was once said by a local paper to have broken more noses than anyone else in Montana

She was outspokenly Republican, which at this time was the liberal party in America, and would get into political debates with the more conservative townsfolk

One time a man insulted her outside the saloon so hit him in the face with a rock, and only stopped when other cowboys held her back.

On one supply run into town, her wagon overturned and the horses fled. Mary spent all night single-handedly fending off a pack of wolves with her guns before she righted the heavy wagon by herself and tracked down the spooked horses. The only thing lost in the accident was a jar of molasses.

She lost her job at the convent when she got into a gunfight with a male employee who did not want to take orders from a black woman. She reportedly shot him in the ass, which angered the local bishop.

After losing her convent job, Mary spent a brief time running a restaurant, where she welcomed and served all comers

When a job for a mail carrier opened at the local US Post Office, Mary got the job because she managed to hitch six horses to a wagon faster than any of the male candidates

She was sixty at the time

This made her the first black woman mail carrier, and the second woman mail carrier in US history

When the snows were too deep for the horses to manage the long and dangerous delivery routes, Mary would strap on snowshoes, put the bags of mail on her shoulders, and do it herself

At one point she apparently had a pet eagle????

She only retired from the mail route when she was about 70 years old, and instead made a quieter living by babysitting and running a laundry business in the town of Cascade

She was a huge baseball fan and often gave the local team a big bouquet of flowers from her garden

The people of Cascade loved Mary so much that they closed the schools annually on her birthday

When a law was passed in Montana that forbade women from drinking in saloons, the mayor of Cascade granted Mary an exemption.

When her house burned down, the whole town got together to help her build a new one

She continued drinking, fighting, and going to baseball games until she died of liver failure at 82 in 1914

Mary (far right) and the local baseball team

Anyway sorry for gushing I just now heard about her and I’m in love

augustdementhe

I’ve heard of her, but godDAMN, if her story doesn’t bear repeating. ^w^

historyisntboring

She has her own wikipedia page. Enjoy.

valtsv

oh to be a slightly ridiculous looking sea monster on a geographically inaccurate medieval map

steampunktendencies

Horse drawn bus from the 1890’s

mrsgioret

This is just lovely–the woodwork is beautiful!

maketheangelsfall

What a talented horse! How did he draw this with his hooves?

pilferingapples

Years of practice!

heroofthreefaces

obviously it was a draftshorse

haunted-hideaway

Cries

dashaibo

We’re not going to talk about the giant pigeon reflection?

tomthefanboy

Giant Pigeon Photographer does not appreciate being called out.

sirfrogsworth

I’m worried Rocket is spending too much time with Drax.

oneofthosecrazycatladies

athenadark

Liam Neeson apparently was a danger on set because the jedi have like four basic moves but he was trained for swordfighting for Rob Roy so he would wave his plastic sword in new and interesting ways that would not be choreographed but were traditional actual ways to fight with a sword

shadowblade217

To be fair, that does sound like something Qui-Gon would do.

tastefullyoffensive

by Xergion

madlori

This is true! The zoo where I volunteer (the illustrious Columbus Zoo & Aquarium) was one of the pioneers of this program.

Our zoo is known for raising cheetah cubs. Cheetahs have a terrible infant mortality rate and cubs are often rejected, so we get a lot of cubs to raise from all over the country (other zoos and sanctuaries, mostly).

The cubs are placed with a puppy friend when they are wee and small, so they grow up together like littermates. They play together, wrestle, and the dogs (yellow Labs) are so calm, friendly and well-socialized that the cheetahs take behavioral cues from them. When they meet new people, or go into new situations (which they often do, as ambassador animals for cheetah conservation), they check out if their dog friend is feeling chill - which he is - and then they know it’s okay for them to be chill, too.

Basically the dog is a service animal for them.

The cats need their dog friends less and less as they get older and more comfortable, but they still often hang out as grownups.

Our zoo does cheetah runs, where the cheetahs get to chase a lure and show off their speed. Often they’ll have one of the cheetahs run (we have like twelve cheetah), and then they’ll have one of the dogs do the run to show how much faster the cats are. People get a kick out of that. The dogs…let’s just say they try their best.