Charon the demon

Ed ecco verso noi venir per nave un vecchio, bianco per antico pelo,
gridando: <<Guai a voi, anime prave! Non isperate mai veder lo cielo:
i' vegno per menarvi a l'altra riva ne le tenebre etterne, in caldo e 'n gelo.
E tu che se' costi`, anima viva, partiti da cotesti che son morti>>.
Ma poi che vide ch'io non mi partiva, disse: <<Per altra via, per altri porti
verrai a piaggia, non qui, per passare: piu` lieve legno convien che ti porti>>.
E 'l duca lui: <<Caron, non ti crucciare: vuolsi cosi` cola` dove si puote
cio` che si vuole, e piu` non dimandare>>. Quinci fuor quete le lanose gote
al nocchier de la livida palude, che 'ntorno a li occhi avea di fiamme rote.
Ma quell'anime, ch'eran lasse e nude, cangiar colore e dibattero i denti,
ratto che 'nteser le parole crude. ...
Caron dimonio, con occhi di bragia, loro accennando, tutte le raccoglie;
batte col remo qualunque s'adagia.

And lo! towards us coming in a boat an old man, hoary with the hair of eld, crying:

"Woe unto you, ye souls depraved! Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens; I come to lead you to the other shore, to the eternal shades in heat and frost. And thou, that yonder standest, living soul, withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!"

But when he saw that I did not withdraw, he said: "By other ways, by other ports thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage; a lighter vessel needs must carry thee." And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not, Charon; it is so willed there where is power to do that which is willed; and farther question not." Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks of him the ferryman of the livid fen, who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.

But all those souls who weary were and naked their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, as soon as they had heard those cruel words...

Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, beckoning to them, collects them all together, beats with his oar whoever lags behind.

(traduzione Longfellow)

Fluorescence test for water quality

"A team of engineers and scientists are developing a device that measures water’s fluorescence in order to detect harmful microbes and chemicals... Water, like other substances, can absorb certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation and then emit it at a different wavelength, a process known as fluorescence.
Bridgeman’s technology identifies where radiation absorbed and emitted at specific wavelengths creates high intensity fluorescence, indicating that water pollutants are present."
Item by Stephen Harris, http://www.theengineer.co.uk/1006706.article?cmpid=TE01P&cmptype=newsletter&cmpdate=070111&email=true

Coronary stent

Most balloon angioplasty procedures include the insertion of tiny cylindrical wire mesh structures, called cardiovascular stents*, into the artery to prevent the elastic recoil that follows arterial dilatation. The scaffolding characteristics of the stent provide strength to the artery wall. However, vascular injury during stent deployment and/or recognition of the stent as a foreign material triggers neointimal hyperplasia, causing re-closure of the artery. A recent advancement to counteract restenosis is to employ drug-eluting stents to locally deliver immunosuppressant andantiproliferative drugs.  Furthermore,  auxetic (negative Poisson's ratio) stent structures were proposed that exhibits high circumferential strength in its expanded configuration and low flexural rigidity in its crimped configuration. 

*A stent is an artificial tubular structure inserted into a natural passage/conduit to prevent, or counteract, a localized flow constriction. The term may also refer to a tube used to temporarily hold such a natural conduit open to allow access for surgery.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronary_stent

Note the structure of the two stents. Stretching the tube corresponds in increasing the diameter. This image has been obtained after elaboration of the original one: Zwei Stents von schräg vorne mit Zentimetermaß. Ort der Aufnahme: Baden-Baden, Deutschland, Frank C. Müller.

Angioplastica coronarica

"L’angioplastica consente di ristabilire il flusso del sangue al cuore, riaprendo le coronarie ristrette per la presenza di placche aterosclerotiche, senza bisogno di aprire lo sterno con un intervento chirurgico, come si fa nei by-pass, ma arrivando direttamente ai vasi ostruiti risalendo lungo un’arteria perforata attraverso la pelle."..."A metà degli anni ottanta si pensò di inserire nell’arteria, di solito dopo averla dilatata col palloncino, un cilindro cavo formato da una retina metallica che si apriva impedendo che il vaso si restringesse di nuovo. Questo strumento, che viene lasciato in quella posizione al termine della procedura, è detto stent". ..."A metà degli anni novanta nascono i cosiddetti stent medicati, retine metalliche identiche alle precedenti ma ricoperte di un farmaco che viene rilasciato apoco a poco e che riduce la proliferazione delle cellule responsabili del restringimento all’interno del canale."

http://www.corriere.it/salute/cardiologia/cure-cuore-angioplastica-coronarica_07d40b74-e66f-11de-8315-00144f02aabc.shtml

Auxetics, that is Negative Poisson's ratio materials

"Poisson's ratio, also called the Poisson coefficient, is the ratio of transverse contraction strain to longitudinal extension strain in a stretched bar. Since most common materials become thinner in cross section when stretched, Poisson's ratio for them is positive. The reason is that inter-atomic bonds realign with deformation. Stretching of normal honeycomb, shown on the right, illustrates the concept. Normal polymer foams or cellular solids, above left, have a positive Poisson's ratio. Re-entrant polymer foams developed in our laboratory, above right, have a negative Poisson's ratio." by Rod Lakes
http://silver.neep.wisc.edu/~lakes/Poisson.html

Auxetics are materials that have a negative Poisson's ratio. When stretched, they become thicker perpendicular to the applied force. Auxetic materials can be created from particular structures of macroscopic matter. Such materials are expected to have mechanical properties such as high energy absorption and fracture resistance. Auxetics may be useful in applications such as body armor, packing material, knee and elbow pads, robust shock absorbing material, and sponge mops. The term auxetic derives from a Greek word  which means "that which tends to increase", This terminology was coined by  Ken Evans of the University of Exeter.

More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxetics

Self-Organization of Helical Assemblies

"Organisms in nature can assemble themselves into highly functioning structures. Understanding the unique architectural principles that prompt this self-organization offers important clues into economical ways of solving complex material and design challenges."

Very interesting APS Physics http://www.aps.org/about/physics-images/nanobristles.cfm

Scientists explore nature’s designs

"A Harvard physical chemist Joanna Aizenberg acquired a passionate curiosity about — of all things — sponges. She particularly liked the ones made of glass, whose apparent fragility belied the fact that they could withstand terrific pressure in the deep sea"

More http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/12/scientists-explore-nature%E2%80%99s-designs/
"To illustrate the kind of work done at her laboratory, Aizenberg focused on Venus’ Flower Basket, a milky-looking undulant sponge shaped like a tapering tube... native to the deep ocean, thriving in cold, crushing pressures a thousand feet below the surface... Venus’ Flower Basket is an intriguing package. At 500 million years old, it’s very low on the evolutionary tree. But its layered superstructure of glass illustrates how strong nature makes things, and with what apparent ease."

Sponges and glass fibers

The Venus' Flower Basket, or Euplectella aspergillum, is a deep ocean sponge. In traditional Asian cultures, this particular sponge, in the dry state, was given as a wedding gift. The reason is that this sponge is the house for a couple of small shrimp. The shrimp inside of the basket clean it, and in return, the basket provides food  by trapping it in its fiberglass-like strands, and then releasing it into the body of the sponge for the shrimp. The sponge  is also bioluminescent.
The glassy fibers that attach the sponge to the ocean floor,  are of interest to fiber optics researchers. The sponge extracts silicic acid from seawater and converts it into silica, then forms it into an elaborate skeleton of glass fibers. Other sponges  can also produce glass biologically. The current manufacturing process for optical fibers requires high temperatures and produces a brittle fiber. A low-temperature process for creating and arranging such fibers, inspired by sponges, could offer more control over the optical properties of the fibers.
More http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus'_Flower_Basket

Buddha - Thailandia

Bronzo laccato e dorato, Thailandia, XVII-XVIII sec.

Anche questa statua è esposta nella collezione del Museo d'Arte Orientale dedicata alla Thailandia.

Buddha - Tibet

Museo Arte Orientale, Buddha Shakyamuni, Rame dorato e pigmento azzurro, Tibet centrale, XIII sec.

Il Museo d'Arte Orientale di Torino ha una sezione dedicata alla regione Himalaiana, ricca di reperti provenienti dal Tibet. Buddha Shakyamuni siede nella posizione del loto. La spalla destra scoperta, un sottile panneggio ricade sulla sinistra dopo aver fasciato il busto. Il collo ha le tre pieghe di bellezza. Busto slanciato e spalle larghe e arrotondate. Viso ovale che si allarga in alto nella fronte spaziosa. Gli occhi si estendono verso le tempie con le palpebre abbassate a caratterizzare uno sguardo interiore. Questa immagine del Buddha venne creata per un monastero Tibetano, anche se risente della tradizione della scultura nepalese, nella fusione in rame e la ricca doratura al mercurio.

Museo Arte Orientale, Buddha del Paradiso d'Oriente, Fusione in rame con tracce di oro freddo, Tibet centrale, XIV secolo

La statua mostra il Buddha del Paradiso d'Oriente nel momento della tentazione del Buddha Shakyamuni da parte di Mara e la sua incrollabile decisione di raggiungere l'Illuminazione. Il Budha siede su una doppia corolla di loto culminante in un filare di perle, con la mano sinistra nell'atteggiamento della meditazione e con la mano destra che sfiora il suolo nel gesto che chiama la Terra a testimone del diritto maturato in infinite vite precedenti.

The Doors to Aslan

C.S. Lewis wrote "The Chronicles of Narnia" as fantasy novels for children. Written between 1949 and 1954, the series is Lewis's most popular work. The books contain Christian ideas intended to be easily accessible to young readers. In addition, Lewis used characters from Greek and Roman mythology as well as traditional British and Irish fairy tales.
According to the paper, "The Wardrobe as Christian Metaphor", by Don W. King, Mythlore 14 (Autumn 1987), C.S. Lewis is aware of how frequently the door is used metaphorically in the New Testament and that Jesus is often associated with a door. In John 14:6 for instance, Jesus tells to be the door to communion with God. Lewis' knowledge of Scriptures is put to work throughout  Narnia. As we can read in the paper by Don W. King, "doors are used significantly in the stories and echoes of the Biblical references made above resonate clearly. Four specific points about Lewis' use of doors are noteworthy: 1) Literal doors lead to the Door, Aslan; 2) Aslan is a two-way door; 3) Passage through the different literal doors into Narnia is always unplanned; and 4) All who enter the doors are called into Narnia, but none are compelled to stay; indeed, some who are called do not seem to belong. First, in every instance the literal doors that the children use to enter Narnia eventually lead directly to the Door, Aslan. The doors themselves take on different forms, from the wardrobe door in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the framed picture in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to the railway station in Prince Caspian and The Last Battle to the magic rings and the Wood Between the Worlds in The Magician's Nephew. Literally, the doors function to take the children out of their real world and into a new other world". The doors serve to move the children from the everyday life to a new  reality. All the doors inexorably lead to Aslan.

The Doors of Gringotts

"Enter, stranger, but take heed
Of what awaits the sin of greed,
For those who take, but do not earn,
Must pay most dearly in their turn.
So if you seek beneath our floors
A treasure that was never yours,
Thief, you have been warned, beware
Of finding more than treasure there."

—Inscription on the doors of Gringotts

"Gringotts Wizarding Bank is the only known bank of the wizarding world, and is owned and operated by goblins. It was created by the goblin Gringott. Its main offices are located in Diagon Alley in London, England. In addition to storing money and valuables for wizards and witches, one can go there to exchange Muggle money for wizarding money. According to Rubeus Hagrid, other than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Gringotts is the safest place in the wizarding world."

More http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Gringotts_Wizarding_Bank

See also, Dante, The Gate of Hell and The Doors to Aslan

The Gate of Hell

"Per me si va ne la citta` dolente,
per me si va ne l'etterno dolore,
per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Giustizia mosse il mio alto fattore:
fecemi la divina podestate,
la somma sapienza e 'l primo amore.
Dinanzi a me non fuor cose create
se non etterne, e io etterno duro.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate".
Queste parole di colore oscuro
vid'io scritte al sommo d'una porta.

"Through me you pass into the city of woe:

Through me you pass into eternal pain:

Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:

To rear me was the task of power divine,

Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.

Before me things create were none, save things

Eternal, and eternal I endure.

All hope abandon ye who enter here."

Such characters in colour dim I mark'd

Over a portal's lofty arch inscrib'd.

Coccodrilli e fossili nelle chiese

Pare che la presenza di coccodrilli nelle chiese non sia una rarita', da come si puo' vedere con una semplice ricerca su Internet. Ho, per esempio, trovato il Santuario della Beata Vergine di Mantova   dove un rettile pende dal soffitto. Si legge nel sito, che in epoca cristiana le figure di draghi coccodrilli o serpi venivano spesso associate al male, considerate personificazioni terrene del diavolo. "La collocazione di questi animali nelle chiese ha quindi un forte significato simbolico, come furono nelle chiese medievali l'ubicazione di fossili preistorici; quindi, incatenare l'animale in alto, nella volta della chiesa vuol dire renderlo innocuo, bloccare il male che rappresenta e nello stesso tempo esporre un monito concreto per i fedeli contro l'umana predisposizione all'errore."

Palazzo Madama

Vedi anche A dinosaur in church,  Saint Bertrand's crocodile (questo coccodrillo è descritto in un racconto di M R James - Canon Alberic's Scrapbook)

A dinosaur in church

Very interesting: in marble objects and decorations of churches we can find remains of past eons.
See the item DINOSAUR SKULL FOUND IN CHURCH, by Rossella Lorenzi. "Encased in pinkish marble-like slabs supporting a balustrade, this dinosaur - or what's left of it - has for centuries been the most faithful presence in the Cathedral of St. Ambrose in Vigevano, a town about 20 miles from Milan. The rock contains what appears to be a horizontal section of a dinosaur’s skull.

http://news.discovery.com/dinosaurs/dinosaur-skull-found-in-church.html

Saint Bertrand's crocodile

Very ancient and beautiful cathedral
http://www.cathedrale-saint-bertrand.org/chronologie.html
having a curoius stuffed crocodile on a pillar, as told in the M R James' novel "Canon Alberic' scrapbook",
http://polymathe.over-blog.com/article-21678667.html

M R James - Canon Alberic's Scrapbook

Racconto di M R James dove un collezionista di volumi rari si imbatte, nel paesino dei Pirenei, in un taccuino molto speciale. Il racconto si apre con la visita del protagonista alla cattedrale, dove un coccodrillo impagliato è appeso ad una parete.
"St. Bertrand de Comminges is a decayed town on the spurs of the Pyrenees, not very far from Toulouse, and still nearer to Bagnères-de-Luchon. It was the site of a bishopric until the Revolution, and has a cathedral which is visited by a certain number of tourists. In the spring of 1883 an Englishman arrived at this old-world place ... He was a Cambridge man, who had come specially from Toulouse to see St Bertrand's Church... (He) proposed to himself to fill a notebook and to use several dozens of plates in the process of describing and photographing every corner of the wonderful church that dominates the little hill of  Comminges...

However, the Englishman (let us call him Dennistoun) was soon too deep in his notebook and too busy with his camera to give more than an occasional glance to the sacristan. Whenever he did look at him, he found him at no great distance, either huddling himself back against the wall or crouching in one of the gorgeous stalls. Dennistoun became rather fidgety after a time. Mingled suspicions that he was keeping the old man from his déjeuner, that he was regarded as likely to make away with St Bertrand's ivory crozier, or with the dusty stuffed crocodile that hangs over the font, began to torment him.
'Won't you go home?' he said at last; 'I'm quite well able to finish my notes alone; you can lock me in if you like. I shall want at least two hours more here, and it must be cold for you, isn't it?'
'Good Heavens!' said the little man, whom the suggestion seemed to throw into a state of unaccountable terror, 'such a thing cannot be thought of for a moment. Leave monsieur alone in the church? No, no; two hours, three hours, all will be the same to me... 

http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/alberic.html

Spicules – plasma jets on the Sun

A mystery: why is  the Sun's outer atmosphere – or corona –  so much hotter than its surroundings?
"The corona, the vast gossamer atmosphere of plasma visible from Earth during a total solar eclipse, can notch up temperatures in excess of one million degrees Kelvin (MK). Several rival explanations have jostled to account for why the corona is unexpectedly over 200 times hotter than the visible surface, or photosphere, of the Sun".

It could be the action of spicules to increase the coronal temperature.

read more http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/44717

Profiles - Ibn al-Haytham

"The Scholar and the Caliph" by Jennifer Ouellette is a work of fiction, a imagining of a 10-year period in the life of the medieval Muslim polymath Ibn al-Haytham (AD 965–1040) considered by many historians to be the father of modern optics. He lived during the golden age of Arabic science, creating an early version of the scientific method, two hundred years before scholars in Western Europe. He is most celebrated for his Book of Optics.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/indepth/44677

Ryusai Shigeharu

Museo Arte Orientale, Arte Giapponese

Snow country

"Snow Country" is a novel by Yasunari Kawabata (1899 – 1972,  Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968). "Snow country" is a literal translation of the Japanese title "Yukiguni". The name comes from the place where the story takes place, where Shimamura arrives in a train coming through a long tunnel under the border mountains between Gunma  and Niigata Prefectures. more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Country

Some Prefer Nettles

"Some prefer nettles" is a novel written by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886 – 1965). Considered one of Tanizaki’s most successful novels, Tade kuu mushi has a theme pervading it, the struggle between East and West. 

The protagonist of the novel, Kaname, possesses aesthetic tastes leaning toward the so-called West.  more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Prefer_Nettles

Anche in italiano, Gli insetti preferiscono le ortiche.

Scientist googles crater find

Scientist googles crater find, Monday, 16 August 2010, by Stuart Gary
ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/16/2982419.htm
"Scientists using Google Maps have discovered a new crater like structure in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan. If confirmed, it will be the second such discovery using the popular online mapping tool and could spawn a new generation of home-based amateur crater hunters. Assistant Professor Amelia Sparavigna from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has detailed her discovery on the pre-press website arXiv.org."


Slideshow: Photo 1 of 2


Google Crater after (Google Earth)

Ryusai Shigeharu

Personaggio femminile con pugnale, xilografia su carta, tecnica nishiki-e, oban tate-e (37,3 x 25,4 cm) 

Autore: Ryusai Shigeharu, ca. 1830.
Museo Arte Orientale, Arte giapponese

Byōbu, the wind wall

Byōbu (wind wall) are the Japanese folding screens, made from several joined panels bearing decorative painting, used to separate and enclose private spaces. During the Edo Period (1600-1868), Byōbu  adorned samurai residences. The backgrounds of byōbu were made from gold leaf and highly colorful paintings depicting nature and scenes from daily life.

Museo Arte Orientale

Hokusai

"Under a Wave off Kanagawa", also known as The Great Wave, is a woodblock print by the Japanese artist Hokusai. This particular woodblock is one of the most recognized works of Japanese art in the world. It depicts an enormous wave threatening boats near the Japanese prefecture of Kanagawa.  It depicts the area around Mount Fuji and the mountain itself appears in the background. Copies of the print are in many Western collections.

Torino - Museo Arte Orientale

Gyokusen Shuga Cho

Mochizuki Gyokusen (1834-1913)

Torino - Museo Arte Orientale, Via San Domenico 11

Garamantes

Garamantes lived in fertile areas of Sahara, corresponding to the southwestern Libya, which had not always been a desert. In a period lasting from about 10,000 to 6,000 before current era, the country was like a savanna, with some perennial lakes. During the sixth millennium, several great droughts forced people to abandon the region. The lakes disappeared, leaving large fields of salt, one of the main articles of future Garamantian trade.
more http://www.livius.org/ga-gh/garamantes/garamantes.html

Leptis Magna

Leptis Magna was a punic and then roman settlement. Septimius Severus (145 – 211), Roman Emperor from 193 to 211, was born in this town. Leptis Magna: in the past was known as the "Town of  white shadows", a name due to the white statues appearing and disappering amid the dunes of sand. The city had  temples, a theatre and an amphitheatre, with a profusion of decorations and statues.
Leptis Magna’s market is a particularly well preserved example of such structures of a Roman city. In fact, many of the features of this market are unique. Along with typical porticoes of shops, the structure had two central circular stalls. The system used by stall holders for measuring the quantities of goods was still found in the market.
"The Roman food market of Leptis Magna was built in 8 BC by a wealthy citizen Hannibal Tapapius Rufus. The evidence for this comes from two inscriptions: one in Latin over the entrance of the market and another in neo Punic on the architrave of one of the market’s circular central stalls."
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-market-place-leptis-magna-a138237
For a web tour in this town, see for instance

http://www.temehu.com/Cities_sites/LeptisMagna.htm#

Three poleis - Tripoli

By the fifth century B.C., Carthage, the greatest of the overseas Phoenician colonies, had extended its hegemony across much of North Africa, where a distinctive civilization, known as Punic, came into being. Punic settlements on the Libyan coast included Oea (Tripoli), Labdah (later Leptis Magna), and Sabratah, in an area that came to be known collectively as Tripolis, or "Three Cities".

read more http://countrystudies.us/libya/5.htm Libya, by Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Libya: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1987.

Tripoli is the mondern town corresponding to the old Oea, one of the three old Phoenician towns along the coast of Tripolitania, in Libya. http://www.livius.org/oa-om/oea/oea.html

Possible geoglyphs spotted in Peru

Possible geoglyphs spotted in Peru, by Rossella Lorenzi.

A huge network of earthworks, or geoglyphs, is visible in satellite imagery of a large area around Titicaca Lake, a researcher claims. http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/geoglyph-peru-andean.html

  Was this a planned symbol? Yes, says scientist Amelia Carolina Sparavigna.

"An Italian researcher may have discovered a huge network of earthworks representing birds, snakes and other animals in Peru, according to a study published on the Cornell University physics website arXiv.
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, assistant professor at the department of physics of Turin's Polytechnic University, used Google satellite maps and AstroFracTool, an astronomical image-processing program which she developed, to investigate over 463 square miles of land around Peru's Titicaca Lake "

New Desert Crater Found Using Google Maps and Free Software

"The discovery of a new crater in the Bayuda Desert in Sudan suggests that the next generation of crater hunters could be amateurs based at home.
Most of the rocky planets, moons and asteroids in the Solar System are pock-marked with impact craters of all sizes. On Earth, however, small craters are rare because they quickly get eroded by weather and water.
So the discovery of new small craters is a reason to celebrate. A couple of weeks ago, an Italian team announced in the journal Science that it had used Google Earth to identify an impact crater in the remote desert of southern Egypt. A quick trip to the region showed this crater to be 45 meters in diameter and reasonably well-preserved in the desert rocks.
Now, just a few days later, Amelia Sparavigna at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy has found evidence of another crater in the Bayuda Desert in Sudan using Google Maps. This one is a little bigger: about 10 kilometres in diameter."

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/25583/

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Internet : New crater in Sudan discovered using Google Maps

"Software scientists have discovered a 10 kilometre wide crater like structure in the Bayuda Desert of Sudan using Google Maps.
If confirmed, it will be the second such discovery using the popular online mapping tool and could spawn a new generation of home-based amateur crater hunters.
Amelia Sparavigna from the Politecnico di Torino in Italy said she got the idea from Italian researcher Vincenzo de Micheles who identified an impact crater in the remote desert of southern Egypt by 2008 using Google Earth.
Located between the fourth and sixth cataract, the area is characterised by basaltic rocks from ancient volcanoes."The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Internet : New crater in Sudan discovered using Google Maps

M R James - The Treasure of Abbot Thomas

Up to the present day there is much gossip among the Canons about a certain hidden treasure of this Abbot Thomas, for which those of Steinfeld have often made search, though hitherto in vain. The story is that Thomas, while yet in the vigour of life, concealed a very large quantity of gold somewhere in the monastery. He was often asked where it was, and always answered, with a laugh: 'Job, John, and Zechariah will tell either you or your successors.' He sometimes added that he should feel no grudge against those who might find it.

http://ghost.new-age-spirituality.com/mrjames10.html
M R James - The Treasure of Abbot Thomas
Bel racconto breve di James sulla ricerca di un tesoro nascosto.

Ivory from the melting permafrost

Trade in the ivory from the tusks of dead mammoths has occurred for 300 years and continues to be legal. Mammoth ivory is rare and costly, because mammoths have been extinct for millennia: in fact this trade does not threaten any living species. However, this uncontrolled extraction of mammoth remains from the melting Siberian permafrost is a problem. from Wiki

From a NY Times item:"There's a kind of discomfort when you're a scientist and you see something that could have scientific value being carved up and destroyed," Haynes said. "But this is the trade-off," he added. "I see the businessman's arguments, too. Mammoths are already extinct and people need an economy." In addition, the Russian government examines the tusks to make sure none bearing disease, prehistoric human markings or other scientifically valuable elements are exported.

Scared of being hit by a meteor?

A very interesting article discussing a book on dinosaurus, meteorites and volcanos.
"But Dr Nield’s book even excuses the meteorite from wiping out ­the dinosaurs. He cites one scientist, ­Professor Gerta Keller of Princeton University, who claims there were signs of them on Earth 300,000 years after the meteorite struck.  The suggestion is that while the meteorite dealt the dinosaurs an all-but-fatal blow, what finally finished them off was a massive volcano. Just before the dinosaurs died, there was a huge eruption of volcanic rock and gas in India, with a truly ­stupendous outpouring of lava with toxic exhalations that would have had a catastrophic effect on the atmosphere."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1343905/Scared-hit-meteor-Dont-dinosaur.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The Amazing Steam Engines Of The First Century: An online translation of an ancient text reveals some engineering marvels from antiquity.
by KFC 01/20/2011, http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26285/

"Ask a person in the street who invented the steam engine and you're more than likely to hear the names of various Renaissance inventors such as Denis Papin or James Watt. Less well known is the fact that steam engines were in use at least 2000 years ago. Our knowledge of these devices is largely the result of a text called Pneumatica written in the first century by the Greek mathematician, engineer and inventor Hero of Alexandria. Today, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy, talks us through some of these devices as they are described in an online translation of Hero's work."

Ulysses' last voyage

I and my company were old and slow when at that narrow passage we arrived where Hercules his landmarks set as signals, that man no farther onward should adventur. On the right hand behind me I left Seville, and on the other already had left Ceuta. 'O brothers, who amid a hundred thousand perils,' I said, 'have come to the West, to this short eve which is the remaining of your senses, still be you unwilling to deny the knowledge, following the sun, of the unpeopled world. Consider the seed from which you sprang; you were not made to live like brutes, but for pursuit of virtue and of knowledge.' So eager did I render my companions, with this brief exhortation for the voyage, that then I hardly could have held them back. And having turned our stern to the morning, we of our oars made wings for this mad flight, evermore gaining on the larboard side.
Already saw the night all the stars of the other pole, and ours so very low that they did not rise above the ocean floor. Five days and nights lasted since we had entered into the deep pass, when a mountain appeared to us, dim from distance, and it seemed to me so high as I had never any one seen.
Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping; for out of the new land a whirlwind rose, and smote upon the fore part of the ship. Three times it made her whirl with all the waters, at the fourth time it made the stern uplift, and the prow downward go, as pleased Another, until the sea above us closed again."

arranged from Longfellow's Translation

Ulisse

Lo maggior corno de la fiamma antica comincio` a crollarsi mormorando pur come quella cui vento affatica; indi la cima qua e la` menando, come fosse la lingua che parlasse, gitto` voce di fuori, e disse:
...
Io e compagni eravam vecchi e tardi quando venimmo a quella foce stretta dov'Ercule segno` li suoi riguardi, accio` che l'uom piu` oltre non si metta: da la man destra mi lasciai Sibilia, da l'altra gia` m'avea lasciata Setta.
 "O frati", dissi "che per cento milia perigli siete giunti a l'occidente, a questa tanto picciola vigilia d'i nostri sensi ch'e` del rimanente, non vogliate negar l'esperienza, di retro al sol, del mondo sanza gente. Considerate la vostra semenza: fatti non foste a viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza". Li miei compagni fec'io si` aguti, con questa orazion picciola, al cammino, che a pena poscia li avrei ritenuti; e volta nostra poppa nel mattino, de' remi facemmo ali al folle volo, sempre acquistando dal lato mancino. Tutte le stelle gia` de l'altro polo vedea la notte e 'l nostro tanto basso, che non surgea fuor del marin suolo.
Cinque volte racceso e tante casso lo lume era di sotto da la luna, poi che 'ntrati eravam ne l'alto passo, quando n'apparve una montagna, bruna per la distanza, e parvemi alta tanto quanto veduta non avea alcuna.
Noi ci allegrammo, e tosto torno` in pianto, che' de la nova terra un turbo nacque, e percosse del legno il primo canto. Tre volte il fe' girar con tutte l'acque; a la quarta levar la poppa in suso e la prora ire in giu`, com'altrui piacque, infin che 'l mar fu sovra noi richiuso.

Ozymandias

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

- Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818

Questa poesia parla di Ozymandias, altro nome di Ramses II.

Ramses II, Egyptian Museum, Torino