- Exciting things are happening in southern Peru. As long as your
definition of exciting involves the discovery of an ancient astronomical
alignment beside a pyramid, then exciting is at hand. This unusual alignment
was discovered by researchers who found the two stone lines and the setting sun
during the winter solstice. Charles Stanish, a professor at UCLA's Cotsen
Institute of Archaeology, led the team that found the two stone lines, called geoglyphs.
During the solstice, hundreds of years ago, the three would have lined up to
frame the pyramid in light, according to Stanish’s team. The geoglyphs are
located about 1.2 miles east-southeast from the pyramid and run for about 1,640
feet. They are "positioned in such a way as to frame the pyramid as one
descended down the valley from the highlands,” according to the research team. To
determine all of this, the researchers used astronomical software and 3-D
modeling, which allowed them to figure out that this event would have occurred
during the time of the winter solstice. "When viewed in 3-D models, these
lines appear to converge at a point beyond the horizon and frame not only the
site of Cerro del Gentil (where the pyramid is), but also the setting sun
during the time of the winter solstice," the research team wrote. "Thus
someone viewing the sunset from these lines during the winter solstice would
have seen the sun setting directly behind, or sinking into, the adobe pyramid.”
The pyramid in question is relatively small, standing 16 feet high. It was built between
600 B.C. and 50 B.C. and reoccupied somewhere between A.D. 200 and 400, with
the stone lines constructed at some point between 500 B.C. and A.D. 400. Textiles,
shells and ceramics have also been found nearby. Fifty other such stone lines
have also been found in a flat, dry area near the pyramid, with the longest
line running for nearly a mile. Stanish’s team believes the lines are connected
with nearby settlements and their pyramids……..
- She is both the most beautiful woman in the world (according to
one magazine survey) and Hollywood’s most-hated celebrity (according to a
different publication) and she’s going to earn more points in the latter
category if she continues acting this way. Gwyneth Paltrow, a.k.a. Coldplay
frontman Chris Martin’s wife and Robert Downey Jr.’s “Iron Man 3” arm candy, was
one of the celeb-utants at Monday night’s Met Ball, the trendy fundraiser for
the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s fashion arm. She showed up, wore fancy
clothes, ate hors d'oeuvres such as salmon puffs and toast points with beluga
caviar and mingled with the upper crust of society. The theme for this year’s
event was based on the opening of the Costume Institute’s new show, “Punk:
Chaos to Couture” and Paltrow clearly embraced the latter, showing up in vintage
hot-pink Valentino and arriving separately from her husband. She didn’t seem to
enjoy the experience and given her comments, it seems unlikely that she will be
returning for next year’s Met Ball. “I’m never going again. It was so un-fun.
It was boiling. It was too crowded. I did not enjoy it at all,” Paltrow said of
the evening. Making those words all the more peculiar is the fact that she
spent time at the event hanging out with country pop princess Taylor Swift, who
is apparently so pretty and charming that everyone should like her and enjoy
any time spent with her. Paltrow tried to explain the miserable time she had
hob-nobbing with the elite by suggesting that maybe it was as simple as a clash
of styles. “I guess it’s punk in that I’ve gone just totally classic on a punk
night,” she added. Don’t worry, Gwen, there will be plenty of other galas and
awards shows for you to wear your fancy clothes to………
- Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young may not be an
all-star on the field, but he’s an All-Star of Idiocy off of it. The troubled receiver,
who was waived by the Lions on Feb. 4, had himself quite a day on Sunday. Now free
of the normal entanglements of gainful employment with an actual NFL team, he’s
spending his offseason in southern California, where he’s becoming a familiar
face with local law enforcement. His fun day began when he was pulled over at
12:01 a.m. Sunday in after making an illegal left turn, according to a police
report. When officers stopped and questioned him, something shocking happened: Young
was (allegedly) intoxicated. He was then arrested for suspicion of driving under
the influence, booked by the Moreno Valley Police at the Robert Presley
Detention Center, issued a citation and later released. Being arrested for DUI
would be enough to ruin the day for most people and the accompanying hangover
and headache might even be enough to keep them indoors and in bed for the rest
of the day. Young, a guy who was sent home by the Lions on three different
occasions -- once for punching teammate Louis Delmas during an offseason
workout program, then twice for repeated insubordinate behavior. He also went
on a Twitter rant after last season, suggesting if the team didn’t get him the
ball more, he might quit on them – again. See, he previously admitted to
intentionally lining up in the wrong spot on the field because he wasn’t being
thrown enough passes and wanted to put himself where the ball was. That’s just
the sort of guy who would get arrested for DUI, then jump the fence at a local
tow yard at 2:22 p.m. that same afternoon and try to steal his impounded car
back. When police showed up, they repeated the same scene from earlier in the
day, arresting Young. He was apprehended for burglary and booked again at the
same detention center. One has to
imagine that NFL teams will be lining up to sign this good citizen once he
clears his latest legal hurdles………
- This is a refreshing change. For once, the Virgin Mary is
at the center of a controversy that doesn’t involve some delusional kook
thinking he sees her likeness in a pile of grass clippings or in a grease stain
on the stove at the greasy spoon where he works. This particular bit of drama centers
around a small traffic island in the city of West Springfield, Mass. The island
in question is the site of a statue of the
Virgin Mary placed there by a local
business owner who adopted and cares for the stretch of earth as a gesture of
goodwill. It’s part of a project to beautify West Springfield, a project in which business owners and individuals
adopt traffic islands, then donate their
time and money to landscape and maintain them. Antonio Liquori adopted a traffic island at Westfield Street and
South Boulevard and as part of his decorating plan, he planted a statue that
has ignited a debate over the meaning of separation of church and state. He put
the statue in place one year ago and for a while, there was no problem. That
all changed recently when he received a letter from the city's deputy director
of operations, Vincent DeSantis,
saying the department received several complaints. “Unfortunately, in this day
and age, religious artifacts are not to be displayed on city property,” the
letter explained. Liquori said he was
surprised and saddened when he read the note. "About a year later,
they tell me to take the Madonna down so I was kind of upset because you know
everybody has a mother," he said. West Springfield resident Joan Palermo
took up the fight for Liquori and even started
a petition to allow him to return the statue to the traffic island. The
petition had no impact and instead, the city has swung the other way by
imposing new restrictions on those who adopt traffic islands. According to DeSantis,
the " Adopt an Island"
project will now be limited to different types of plantings. Just don’t trim
that topiary in the shape of Jesus……..
- Can two of Asia’s most powerful nations make nice before
they start firing shots at each other across their shared border? China and
India seem to be locked in some sort of international pissing match over a border flare-up that highlighted
longstanding tensions between the nations. The world's two most populous
countries beefing with each other would seem to be a bad thing, especially
given that they have improved relations and increased trade with one another in
recent years. Their current conflict is linked to a 1962 border war high in the
Himalayas. It is an informal frontier dividing the two countries, called the
Line of Actual Control, and it has never been formally demarcated. However, the
two sides have signed accords to maintain peace in the area. Those agreements didn’t
do much good in mid-April, when India accused Chinese soldiers of setting up
camp nearly 12 miles inside a region claimed by India. China swept the
accusations aside as the "speculation of some Indian people,” saying
Chinese troops "have never trespassed the line.” India didn’t seem
convinced, but the two sides have moved to mend fences in recent days and as Indian
Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid begins a two-day trip to China on Thursday,
both countries seem ready to move forward and focus once more on a two-way
trade relationship that produced $70 billion in business in 2012. Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying explained at a press briefing on Wednesday
that thanks to "joint efforts" the two sides had "reached
consensus on the incident... and properly handled it.” Just to be sure, Khurshid
will meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and other Chinese leaders during
his visit. Here’s guessing they won't be talking about the season finale
of “Mad Men” or the new Daft Punk album………
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