It’s that time of year again and between Christmas and New Year’s we’ll cutting down on the posting (yes, we do have lives too).
Happy Holidays from Just A Guy Thing and have yourself a merry hip-hop Christmas y’all:
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Heritage Key (Sean Williams)
An older story, but I managed to miss it somehow.
The tomb of Tutankhamun is one of the world’s most famous ancient spots. Yet spots are precisely what are causing the decay of its beautiful wall paintings. The US-based Getty Conservation Institute have been drafted in to help mend the murals, but have been finding it an uphill struggle in the face of fierce desert weather and the onslaught of eager tourists.Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief, has long bemoaned the damage tourists are doing to tombs at the Valley of the Kings; the necropolis of ancient Thebes near modern Luxor. Dr Hawass has even mooted the idea of a replica Tut’s tomb to cater for a burgeoning demand for the boy-king. Whether tourists will be satisfied without a trip to the real thing is debatable to say the least (have you say here).
And our composite picture (below), combining an original snap from Harry Burton and a recent shot by Sandro Vannini, clearly shows the brown spots have been in the tomb since Carter and Carnarvon first burst in over 80 years ago. So how much of its deterioration is due to tourism? Getty spokesperson Melissa Abraham tells us: “(The brown spots) have indeed been there since the tomb was discovered, and have never properly been analyzed, so that will be part of the GCI’s task. The visitor impact on the site is a separate issue that also will be looked at.”
Beyoncé and Jay-Z are spending the Christmas days in the Maldives. Check out a few pictures of the couple arriving at the island in the Indian Ocean.
Video.
Television interview with Marina Escolana, in Catalan. If you speak Spanish you’ll probably be able to get to grips with it.
Ha estat directora adjunta de l’expedició arqueològica de l’Egypt Exploration Society a l’antiga ciutat egípcia de Sais i acaba d’aconseguir una beca Fullbright per aprendre demòtic, és a dir, l’última etapa de l’idioma egipci. Només hi ha una dotzena de persones al món que en saben.
drhawass.com (Zahi Hawass)
With video.
This past year we found a new tomb in Saqqara, in the Gisr el-Mudir area. I was there when we opened a sealed limestone sarcophagus. Before the event, I could not sleep because I could not stop thinking about the excitement of that moment. When I arrived, I came down about 11 meters underground, where we began to open the sarcophagus, which had not been touched in 2600 years.If there was to be a mummy inside the coffin, they would have to be rich, because the limestone of the sarcophagus was very high quality, which means it would have been very expensive. To remove the lid, which is very heavy, many people had to work together to shift it.
When you open something like this it is very exciting, You never know what amazing secrets are hidden inside. The only way to truly understand the feeling is to experience it for yourself.
The mummy inside the coffin was kept safe, it is beautifully preserved. We plan to examine it using the CT scan machine to see inside, because most mummies of this period contained many amulets on the body inside the wrappings.
Heritage Key (Malcolm Jack)
Nothing keeps Dr Zahi Hawass awake at night quite like the prospect of being the first person to lay eyes on a millennia-dead Egyptian mummy. “I could not sleep with thinking about it all the time,” he reveals at the start of Heritage Key’s latest fantastic video by Nico Piazza, documenting the opening of an intact tomb at Saqqara. “Thinking about the moment that I will come down,” he continues, “about 11 metres, and begin to open a sealed sarcophagus that no one ever touched since 2,600 years ago.”The camera pans across creepy piles of heavily decayed human bones lying in corners – the latest intact tomb located at the massive necropolis of Egypt’s ancient capital Memphis, located 40 kilometres south of Cairo, is evidently one rich in human remains. The unidentified body found lying inside a giant limestone sarcophagus is the prize of them all.
It’s not impossible to find a camera with integrated WiFi out there, but your choices are unquestionably limited. Thankfully for those in the market for such a device, it seems as if Samsung is gearing up to release quite the formidable opponent. Without so much as an official press release, the CL80 has emerged on the outfit’s website packing a 14 megapixel sensor, optical image stabilization, a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen (capacitive with haptic feedback), a 720p movie mode (H.264), microSD expansion slot (groan…), USB 2.0 connectivity and an above-average 7x optical zoom. The Instant Upload feature enables users to upload their shots to Facebook, Flickr, Photobox or Picasa, and for those who prefer to capture motion clips, it’ll also shoot your videos to YouTube when a hotspot is found. Nary a word has been spoken regarding price or release, but we’re going out on a limb here and surmising that much more information will be revealed at CES.
Continue reading Samsung’s 14MP CL80 packs integrated WiFi, 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen
Samsung’s 14MP CL80 packs integrated WiFi, 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 04:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I am a T2 for 5+ years. Just started pumping about 2 months ago with Novolog on a MM722 w/CGMS. My Endo wants me to keep taking 2000mg of Metformin daily while dropping all other diabetes related meds (Levemir, Glimepiride and Actos).
I understand everyone’s situation is different. I like to hear from others on their use of Metformin and a pump.
Thanks,
aggie168
A good overview of the exhibition. With some photos.
Flashing against a wall are the stark black-and-white images of ancient greed.Inside a 4,000-year-old tomb in which a governor and his wife hoped to make the journey into the afterlife is calculated chaos wrought by robbers intent on stripping the burial site of its valuables.
In their frantic search for jewels and precious metals, looters had ransacked the small stone chamber, ripping apart wooden coffins, tossing objects deemed insignificant into heaps, and even tearing apart the two mummies, leaving the head of one on top of the governor’s coffin and the torso of the other propped in a corner. Then they set fire to the plundered pyramid.
But in one telling photograph, a jumbled pile of carved figures attests to an enduring presence, one that survived fires, robbers and thousands of years underground. In fact, what archaeologists in the joint 1915 Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition unearthed while digging in Deir el-Bersha, a necropolis in central Egypt, was a treasure of previously unseen proportions.
The discovery led to nearly a century of work to reassemble the final resting place of an official named Djehutynakht and his wife, and piece together not only the funerary practices of a great bygone civilization but reconstruct daily life in an unheralded time of peace, prosperity and artistic achievement.
The dramatic result is “The Secrets of Tomb 10A: Egypt 2000 BC,” a comprehensive exhibit set to run through May 16, in the Gund Gallery at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston. On view in its entirety for the first time, the contents of the tomb include elaborately carved and painted coffins, with spells designed to ferry the couple safely into a higher plane, as well as representations of food, drink, clothing and servants meant to magically serve and sustain them in their new existence.
A very giving Santa Claus seems to have already visited Italian race car driver Davide Vlasecchi this year. The 22-year old has been signed by iSport International for the remainder of the GP2 Asia series as well as for the full upcoming GP2 championship.
Valsecchi managed to take pole position and win the first race of the GP2 Asia series opening round in Abu Dhabi on October 31. This great performance was followed by the signing of a full season contract with iSport, of which th… (read more)
The 2011 Kia Sorento will arrive in dealerships across the United States in January with pricing to start at $20,790 for the base model equipped with 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine and manual transmission. On the other hand, the most expensive version will come with a price tag of $29,690 and features a 3.5-liter six-cylinder engine and automatic transmission.
The car was officially unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show and is already produced at Kia’s manufacturing plant in West … (read more)
Snoring may be music to your ears but you have to admit that it isn’t for your sleeping partner. Snoring will cause your social relationship with your sleeping partner to deteriorate and is also a sign that you have a serious medical condition.
You may not know it but studies suggest that snoring is a sign that you will have a higher chance of having cardiovascular disease, suffer from stroke and diabetes. Snoring may not really sound to be a serious problem but you have to consider that it is.
Aside from affecting you socially, it will also affect your health. If you snore, the chances of you getting a good night’s sleep are very slim. When you start snoring, you will wake up from deep sleep and will try to move in your bed in order to stop it. You may not know it but you actually wake up when you snore.
This will cause you to feel lightheaded when you wake up in the morning, and you will also feel very tired. As you know, sleep is supposed to relax you and upon waking up, you should feel refreshed. If you don’t feel refreshed, you didn’t get enough sleep because of snoring.
Even if you sleep about 8 hours a day or more, it will not be enough and you will feel very unrefreshed when you wake up in the morning. However, you don’t have to suffer from this very common condition. All you need is a little discipline and you will find that snoring has a cure.
First of all, you need to know about the different causes of snoring in order for you to have an idea on what to do in order to stop it.
Snoring is caused by over relaxed throat muscles or has excess fat in your throat. One of the main causes of snoring is overeating before going to sleep. Eating causes your throat muscles to relax and therefore, will cause you to snore. Another cause of snoring is by drinking alcoholic beverages before you go to sleep. Drinking alcoholic beverages also causes your throat muscles to relax.
So, in order to stop snoring, you have to stop eating excessively before going to sleep and also stop drinking alcoholic beverages or stop drinking “night caps” before you go to sleep. Smoking before going to sleep also causes the throat muscles to relax therefore, it is wise to abstain yourself from smoking before you go to sleep in order to stop snoring.
Another cause of snoring is by being fat or by being overweight. Fatty tissues in your throat may develop if you are fat. Therefore, exercising is another way to stop snoring. These are some of the home remedies that you can try in order for you to stop that music you are making when you sleep.
Snoring can also be caused by your sleeping position. If you are still overweight but on the process of slimming down, try to sleep on your side. Studies have found that laying flat on your back when you sleep causes snoring. Try sleeping on your side.
If you stop snoring, you will be able to have a healthier body and also have a healthier relationship with your sleeping partner. Keep all these simple home remedies in mind and you will eventually stop snoring.
Here’s a short selection of odds and ends to celebrate Christmas. Most of them are general archaeology rather than Egyptology.
Archaeology Magazine’s Top Ten Discoveries of 2009
ARCHAEOLOGY’s annual list of the year’s most exciting discoveries–from North America’s earliest canals to evidence for chemical warfare at a Roman outpost in Syria–highlights sites, artifacts, and scientific studies we feel most enrich our knowledge of the past.Archaeology is an incremental science, and “eureka” moments are rare. Often the most significant advances result from many years of research. For instance, we feature the work of archaeologists who have dug for four decades at a second-century B.C. Greek city in southern Russia. They were only recently able to identify a large structure at the site as the palace of King Mithradates VI, a legendary foe of Rome.
Two elite tombs excavated this year are on the list, one belonging to a Moche lord in Peru and the other to a family of Iron Age priestesses on Crete. Meanwhile, graves of exotic animals now emerging at the Predynastic Egyptian capital of Hierakonpolis show that the city’s rulers kept extensive menageries–the world’s first zoos.
We hope 2009’s remarkable finds inspire you to make your own connections with the past, and whet your appetite for the discoveries to come.
The Ancient Origins of Christmas Traditions, The Independent
The Christmas Tree: We might curse the fact that we’re still picking pine needles out of our toes come spring, but the idea of decorating your house with greenery at winter goes back thousands of years. King Tut may never have seen the multicoloured mess we put up with nowadays, but he would have had date palm leaves scattered around his royal abodes on the winter solstice.
Ancient Egyptian Games Online (Vincent Brown)
Vincent has gathered together a terrific selection of Ancient Egyptian Games that you can play online. Enjoy!
Top Ten Archaeology News Stories of the Decade (K. Kris Hirst )
Many of the stories I chose for the top ten overthrew long-prevailing theories concerning human evolution and human migrations around our big blue marble. Others include a startlingly complex civilization discovered in Peru and a slab of serpentine appears to present information about the ancient roots of language in Mesoamerica. A man who was pulled out of a melting glacier in the Alps provided an astoundingly clear window into life as it was lived 5,000 years ago. It’s truly been an amazing ten years.
The Biblical Story of Jesus in Egypt
(Jill Kamil)
Despite the biblical references to the Holy Family’s journey to Egypt: Take the young child and his mother and flee into Egypt [Matt: 2:13], and Out of Egypt have I called my son [Matt: 2:15], outside of the Coptic communities around the world, the early years of Jesus are not as widely known as the Nativity, the Passion, and the Resurrection. Is it not time to stage a three-act play in Coptic churches that combines the Nativity with the Flight into Egypt? It should be borne in mind that, apart from Copts in Egypt and the Middle East as a whole, there are more than 500,000 in the United Sates, 100,000 or in Canada, 300,000- odd in Australia, and more than a million residing in Europe, Latin America, Africa and New Zealand.
From the East Father Christmas arose, and in the West he became a popular iconic totem, now his status has partially been reinstated in Egypt and much of the Orient precisely because of the spread of Western-style consumerism, a way of life the Greek Saint Nicholas may not have approved of, writes Gamal Nkrumah, through the lens of Sherif Sonbol.
How to cook Christmas Dinner – in the style of European Prehistoric people! (Heritage Key, Jacqui Wood)
As an experimental archaeologist and independent researcher, I’ve spent the last 30 years investigating the eating habits of ancient civilisations – including their ancient Christmas dinners. Here are some tips and recipes for the perfect xmas dinner that I’ve collected along the way.I use a technique that I’ve developed over the years to explore the practical aspects of the daily lives of prehistoric Europeans. The approach is based on the theory that the inherent skills and ingenuity of prehistoric European is still latent in the people of Europe today. But the skills of surviving in the northern European landscape have been forgotten because we no longer have a use for them in our modern-day society.
During my researches I have discovered that these skills are very easily acquired – particularly if one is not impeded by any training in the skill to be researched. It has to be approached purely by logic. It is essential, though, not to single out any particular skill, but to attempt to do all the required jobs that a prehistoric settlement would have to do to survive.
MISSISSIPPI STATE — Partygoers who tend to overindulge in the holiday spirits may need to learn the fine art of dawdling to decrease the effect of alcohol on their system.
Dawdling is characterized by mixing with other guests and friends, and maybe having a dance before heading to the bar at holiday festivities. “If you do pick up an alcoholic drink, pick up something to eat too. The food slows the alcohol absorption into the blood stream. It is always a good idea to eat and rest before a party so that the body is physically prepared to metabolize alcohol. If you drink alcohol, it is wise to drink in moderation,” said Barbara McLaurin, nutrition education specialist with Mississippi State University’s Extension Service.
Moderation — one drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men — is based on the gender differences in metabolism and body weight. “It takes at least one hour for the body to metabolize one drink. Drinks are measured by the amount of pure alcohol in them. A 12-ounce can of beer, one shot and one six-ounce glass of wine all contain one-half ounce of pure alcohol,” McLaurin said. Even drinking in moderation increases the risk of a car crash if an individual gets behind the wheel. After only one drink, there are observable effects — bad driving habits are more pronounced according to the National Safety Council. Visual acuity, coordination and judgement are also limited after one drink.
Alcohol consumed above a moderate level can raise the risk of motor vehicle crashes, high blood pressure, stroke, violence, suicide and certain types of cancer. “Even one drink a day raises the risk of breast cancer, which can affect both men and women,” McLaurin said.
Alcohol also lacks any nutritional value. Heavy drinkers are at risk for alcohol calories to become substitute calories for those found in nutritious foods. “Alcohol adds calories without the benefit of vitamins and minerals. It does not aid in avoiding winter holiday season weight gain,” McLaurin said.
“It is a myth that alcohol wards off a cold or warms up the body in cold weather. Actually, it does the opposite. It impedes the immune system in fighting the cold, and makes the body cooler. Alcohol increases the heat loss from the body,” McLaurin said. Some people should refrain from drinking any alcohol. These people include pregnant mothers or women who may become pregnant, and individuals who plan to drive or operate any machinery or vehicle that requires coordination or skill. Also, people taking over-the-counter drugs or prescription medication should steer clear. The medicine can react with alcohol and cause adverse effects. Children and people of any age who cannot restrict their alcohol intake are in danger even if drinking in moderation.
Half of the traffic fatalities during Christmas and New Year’s last year were alcohol related.
Merry Christmas, one and all. The rotund gentleman above may not be singing, but neither is he hawking a Coke, and we’ll take that as a sufficient act of saintliness. Regular Scatterers may recall that the jigsaw puzzle pictured was begun and completed over the Thanksgiving weekend by the Large Smelly Boys. We showed a close-up of the old gent’s face a while back and promised that if you were good, we’d show the whole puzzle. Well, our secret operatives inside The Google have been keeping a sharp eye on you and have reported that on the whole you’re a pretty sterling lot, so here’s the picture. Congratulations: Well done!
Now quietly shut down your computers and join your friends and families for a cup of good cheer. Art Scatter World Headquarters is closed for the holiday.
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‘Tis the season for shovelling snow, but how can you avoid those common back-related ailments? We asked fitness expert Kathleen Trotter to share a tip from her newsletter to explain how you can activate your core and take the pressure off your back.
Shoveling Snow and Low Back Problems
Many people hurt their backs shoveling snow if their core is not strong, the flexion and rotation required in snow shoveling can put unwanted pressure on the spine. Many people do crunches to get a strong core. Unfortunately, what causes low back pain it is not simply a muscle strength issue; it is a muscle recruitment issue. Often people have a hard time turning on the neural connection to their deep core muscles. What this means is to help eliminate low back pain, the brain connection to the deep core muscles needs to be “woken up”. Try the exercise bellow to “wake up” your deep abdominals. Hopefully, once your stabilizing core muscles are working, you will not hurt your back shoveling this winter.
More tips for saving your back, after the jump…
Continue reading Shovel Snow Without Hurting Your Back
If you’re female, how do you feel about buying a car from the dealer? Chances are, you don’t want to go alone. Maybe it’s not in your head that women are treated differently when buying a car from a dealer.
According to a recent poll by NBC/Universal, around a quarter of women believe they aren’t taken seriously at the car dealership. In general, I share that opinion.
In their article, “Women Are Deeply Involved in Car Buying, So How About Respect from Dealers,” BNET mentioned a study of 200 Chicago car dealerships that revealed women often get higher price quotes than men do! Isn’t it strange women receive less respect even though they’re driving auto sales more than men these days?
It’s no wonder that women turn to other avenues for car buying. “Many dealerships still have a long way to go in meeting women’s expectations … For this reason many woman are deciding to break the traditional car buying mold and are finding success in connecting with others on the Internet to find their next vehicle of choice,” said Delia Passi, CEO of WomenCertified.com.
Leasetrader.com, an online lease transfer marketplace, reports that, according to feedback they’ve received, avoiding the dealer sales environment is the leading reason women use the online car marketplace.
If you’re female, please share how you feel about buying a car at a dealership. Can you put your finger on what makes you uncomfortable? Do you avoid buying from a dealer? Do you feel that car dealers need training in how to better serve female car buyers?
(Image via stock.xchng)
Post from: Blisstree
No, I haven’t had too much eggnog. You can give someone a dog without actually giving them the dog!
Pets Alive, a no-kill animal shelter in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, has been rescuing animals for more than 35 years. Their GiveADog program allows you to give the carefree gift of saving a dog’s life without any of the feedings or walks. 
Here’s how GiveADog works: After your gift is made, each recipient receives a thank you card in the mail, and they get to choose a dog from among many waiting to be rescued. Once the choice is made, the gift recipient receives a certificate announcing that they have saved the dog. But it doesn’t end there.
Gift recipients also get an account at GiveADog.org to follow the progress of their chosen dog. Perks include regular progress emails, a personal Web page showing the status of the saved dog, pictures and videos of the dog and the ability to communicate with Pets Alive staff about the dog. Gift recipients also find out when the dog has been adopted into a permanent home!
The minimum donation for gifting a dog is $39.95. Find out more at GiveADog.org.
(Image via Pets Alive)
Post from: Blisstree
Meysam Movahedi’s latest concept certainly isn’t the first revolutionary tweak to the tried-and-true power outlet, but it’s easily one of our favorites. Put simply, the Rambler Socket is an in-wall box that contains 1.5 meters of extra cabling along with a traditional AC outlet. Granted, you’ll need a pretty deep wall to make something like this work (in theory, of course), but the result is nothing short of brilliant. If your AC cord is long enough, you simply plug it into the socket per usual; if you need a little extra length, the built-in extension cord pulls out with a gentle tug. Once you’re done, you simply tug on it the cable once more and watch as it recoils back within the wall. GE, or someone — can we get a contract to this guy, pronto?
Rambler Socket tucks a recoiling extension cable, pinch of genius within your AC outlet originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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