- The Internet: It’s not just for porn any longer…….sort of. Now, one of the great archaeological finds of the 20th century is also available for your perusal on the information superhighway that Al Gore invented. The Dead Sea Scrolls have gone digital as part of a $3.5-million project that uses space-age technology to produce the clearest renderings yet of five of the ancient texts: the Great Isaiah scroll, the Community Rule scroll, the commentary on Habbakuk, the Temple scroll and the War scroll. Thanks to these remastered versions, the public will be able to see details on the scrolls previously invisible to the naked eye. The scrolls, which are the oldest known biblical manuscripts in existence, are considered by many to be the most significant archaeological find of the 20th century. The scrolls are now available as part of a joint project between the Israel Museum and Google, which is clearly continuing its quest for world domination in an entirely now arena. Not only can the public read the scrolls online, but the scrolls can also be easily searched and their text can be magnified to reveal those details that were previously beyond the capability of the human eye. By visiting http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/, users can view all of the text, as well as a translation tool and other background information on the documents. "We are privileged to house in the Israel Museum's Shrine of the Book the best preserved and most complete Dead Sea Scrolls ever discovered," Israel Museum director James Snyder said in a statement. He described the scrolls as of "paramount importance" for the world's monotheistic religions. "Now, through our partnership with Google, we are able to bring these
treasures to the broadest possible public," Snyder explained. There are a total of 900 manuscripts in the collection of scrolls, many Biblical, comprising some 30,000 fragments. They were discovered between 1947 and 1956 in the Qumran caves above the Dead Sea and were photographed in their entirety with infra-red
technology in the 1950s. Made of parchment and papyrus, the scrolls sport Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic
writing that includes several of the earliest-known texts from the Bible, including the oldest surviving copy of the Ten Commandments (because Moses just couldn’t find a safe place for the originals). The oldest document among the scrolls dates to the third century BC and the most recent to about 70 AD, when Roman troops destroyed the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. As for the original scrolls, they are stored at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where the larger pieces are shown at the dimly lit Shrine of the Book on a rotational basis in order to prevent damage from exposure. But now, one need not book a plane ticket for the Holy Land to read the scrolls. A high-speed connection and no social life are the only requirements…………
- It truly is amazing what can happen when you take the steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs out of baseball. As it turns out, de-‘roiding Major League Baseball has taken the offensive wind out of the game’s sails. The 2011 is the most definitive proof yet that batters can’t mash quite as powerfully when they’re not peaking on bull ‘roids or whatever else they had previously jammed into their bodies to gain a competitive edge. In a season with three 20-game winners and the game’s first 24-game winner since Arizona's Randy Johnson in 2002, offense was down across MLB. Teams averaged 4.28 runs per game this season, the lowest production the lowest since 1992's 4.12. At the peak of the ‘Roids Era in 2000, teams averaged a robust 5.14 runs per game. Also telling was the decline of the average number of home runs per game, down to 0.94. That represents the lowest total in 19 years and a massive dip from 1.17 per game in 2000. Are steroids (or the lack thereof) the only reason for the loss of offense? No, but there is no question stricter testing plays a significant part. A rising crop of talented young pitchers and more than a few pitcher-friendly ballparks around baseball also play in and at least one of MLB’s former slugging stars - and a known steroid user - realizes that the era of abundant offense is gone and may not return any time soon. "There's a good generation of young pitchers who have come up and established themselves," said Colorado's Jason Giambi. "The days of offensive guys putting up crazy numbers, I think it's going to be different the next few years." Baseball’s mashers aren't the only ones affected by the absence of offense; the cumulative batting average across MLB was .255, the lowest since 1989. Pitchers are clearly gaining the upper hand, as evidenced by a league-wide ERA of 3.94 that hadn't been matched since 1992. "Pitching is getting better. Teams are drafting pitching more. They started doing that a while ago and now you're seeing what all those guys can do," Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker said. "For a long time, parents didn't want their kids to be pitchers. They were afraid they'd get hurt. Now they see some of the top draft pick money they're getting and thinking it might be OK to pitch." No pitcher epitomized the swing in power more than Detroit stud Justin Verlander, who posted an awesome 24-5 record and was dominant enough for many to do the unthinkable by putting a pitcher in the discussion for MVP. On top of Verlander’s special season, Tampa Bay's James Shields became the first pitcher this century to post double-digit complete games and Philadelphia's Cliff Lee became the first pitcher with six shutouts since 1989. Strikeouts were up markedly and walks were down substantially, leading some to christen 2011 as the year of the pitcher in MLB. "The pendulum is switching," New York Mets manager Terry Collins said. "Pitchers are throwing harder. Guys are throwing 94 to 98 (mph). Bullpen. Rotation. Years ago, 92 was a hard fastball. Now it's an average fastball. Guys might even say it's a tick below." Pin the credit or blame on whomever you choose, but there is no denying that juiced-down batters just aren't getting the job done on their own merits……….
- Not many music fans know who the heck Jessie J is, but anyone who does recognize her is going to think of her first and foremost as a vapid, self-absorbed and clueless twit who doesn’t bother to think before she speaks if she continues on her current life trajectory. Miss J first made waves last month when she commented on indie music icon PJ Harvey winning the Mercury Prize for her album Let England Shake. The British music prize was awarded to Harvey and for whatever reason, a music journalist felt it would be a good idea to ask fellow Jessie J, a fellow Brit musician who began her music career in embarrassing fashion as a songwriter for pop hacks Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus, about the honor. Queried about whether she saw the ceremony, Jessie J admitted she had no idea who Harvey was or even what the Mercury Prize was. "I didn't see the ceremony, no, I was jet-lagged after a flight back from America so I had an early night. I live in a bubble. Could I be up for a Mercury next year? Possibly. I should probably find out what it is before then, ha ha," she laughed. But compared to her most recent comments about people with missing or amputated limbs, her remarks about Harvey and music awards seem intelligent by comparison. After breaking her foot earlier this year and spending more than two months with a cast on her leg, a grateful Jessie J chose to express her appreciation for having full use of both legs back in foot-in-mouth fashion. "I'm back in the swing, getting my cast off after nine weeks of this awful Smurf shoe. But it's put everything in perspective,” she explained. “I have a different respect now for people who don't have legs."
Aaaaaand….end of scene. Wow….just wow. You having to wear a cast and use crutches for nine weeks makes you respect people born without legs or who lost legs in combat or other accidents? Because apparently Jessie J didn’t have all that much respect for these people prior to breaking her foot. This ungrateful dimwit also took a moment to lash out at fans who weren't quite as tough as she was in soldiering through the same injury that millions of people around the world deal with each year with no fanfre. “You give so much as an artist, you give, you give, you give. I'll break my foot and I've got fans going, 'I've got a tummy ache, can I get a re-tweet.' People think you go to a special hospital, get special casts and treatment,” Jessie J fumed. Way to keep perspective, ass hat…………
- You cannot be serious, Bahrain. Not that any better treatment of those bold enough to rise up and oppose The Man was expected of you, but way to also persecute medical professionals just for doing their jobs and treating those your security forces to maliciously wounded. The disappointing verdict came down Thursday as Bahrain's special security court sentenced a protester to death for (allegedly) killing a policeman and gave doctors and nurses who had treated injured protesters during the country's uprising earlier this year lengthy prison sentences. The tribunal, set up during Bahrain's emergency rule, convicted and sentenced 13 medical professionals each to 15 years in prison. Two other doctors were sentenced to 10 years each while five other medics convicted on Thursday got shorter prison terms of five years each for simply doing their jobs. Apparently anyone who is injured while protesting an unjust government is supposed to be denied medical treatment and allowed to die a slow and painful death. Human rights groups had opposed the prosecution of the doctors and nurses, but Thursday’s severe sentences would seem to indicate that Sunni authorities in the Gulf kingdom will not show any fairness or intelligence in punishing those they accuse of supporting the Shiite-led opposition and participating in dissidence that has rocked the island nation. Al-Alawi, the attorney for the 20 medical professionals, said all of his clients in the case will have the chance to appeal their verdicts (and have them denied without actual consideration). Human rights groups identified the protester sentenced to death as Ali Yousef Abdulwahab and claimed that another suspect, Ali Attia Mahdi, was convicted on Thursday as Abdulwahab's accomplice and sentenced to life imprisonment. They are merely two of the hundreds of brave dissidents arrested and imprisoned since March, when Bahrain’s oppressive rulers imposed martial law to deal with protests by the country's Shiite majority to demand greater rights and freedoms. The unofficial death toll for the uprising stands somewhere around 30 and despite their severity, Thursday’s sentences aren't likely to quell the unrest. Even as state officials have begun releasing some detainees and reinstating state workers jailed for suspected support of the seven-month-old protest movement, opposition groups have not expressed any inclination to back down. With Shiites representing about 70 percent of Bahrain's population about 525,000 people, there is little reason to stop demanding fairer treatment. The Sunni dynasty, which has ruled the island for more than 200 years, still has the support of many western powers and Gulf Arab neighbors, but that is only more fuel for the fire of those trying to enact change. Keep up the right, Bahraini dissidents, keep up the fight…………
- What is it with lowlife, soul-less scumbags working at cemeteries of late? Not long ago, a gravedigger in Colorado was fired and investigated for possible criminal charges for playing his shovel “guitar” atop a grave to win tickets to a local music festival. But compared to a kook named Steven Conrad, a resident of Brown County, Wisc., shovel-rocking loser Christopher Redd seems classy. Conrad, as of now still employed as a grounds worker at the Allouez Catholic Cemetery, was arrested on Saturday and charged with felony theft from person or corpse. What exactly did he steal from a person who had just departed this world? Some gold jewelry or a diamond ring, perhaps an antique pocket watch? Nope. Conrad pilfered a vintage Fender Telecaster from the coffin of Randall Jourdan, an elderly man who had made it his dying wish to be buried with the "pride and joy" guitar he'd played for over 40 years. After spotting the guitar and deciding he wanted it badly, Conrad made the fatal mistake of confessing to co-worker James Lang that he would like to take the instrument. Ripping the beloved ax of a deceased person did not seem to be a problem for Conrad’s weak conscience, so he continued drooling over it and told his co-worker, "That's a Telly, a really expensive guitar. I have to have that guitar. It's too expensive to be in a crypt." When he asked Lang "if he would say anything if he took the guitar,” Lang was adamant that he would. Undeterred, Conrad went ahead with his plan and stole the guitar. Lang, knowing what his buddy was up to, checked the coffin twice before it was lowered into the ground. When he checked the coffin for a second time, the guitar was missing and Lang called police. Finding a suspect didn’t take long and within hours, officers were knocking on Conrad’s door. He confessed to the theft but had a great reason for his dirty deed. "This isn't something I normally do. I just have a respect for fine musical instruments," Conrad told officers. So you have respect for “fine musical instruments,” just not for the last wishes of the dearly departed? You care more about the rights of a piece of musical equipment than you do about a person whose life has ended? Here’s hoping Conrad’s stay at the Brown County Jail and whatever correctional institution he moves to next are both thoroughly unpleasant……………
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