Moon Shadow

Make sure you step outside on Thanksgiving night to observe the close proximity of the moon, Jupiter, and Venus. And if you are in the mood on Monday, they are even closer. If you miss this, don't worry. You can catch it again in November of 2052.

Copernicus Rises Again

In keeping with the same general topic as my last post, the remains of Copernicus have been identified through DNA testing. For those of you not astronomically inclined, he was the dude who forwarded the theory that the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of this universe. It was thought that he was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Frombork, Poland, but no one knew exactly where in the cathedral he was buried until now. DNA was matched by analyzing one of his teeth and some hair that was left in a book that he owned.

History Again

Some say that history is stagnant. That could not be farther from the truth. History does, in fact, keep changing--or at least the modern perception of history keeps changing with research advances. Recently archaeologists, digging around on two different parts of the globe, contributed to our understanding of ancient peoples. In Turkey the earliest evidence (8th century BCE) of the theological idea of the soul was uncovered in the form of a grave stele. Etched in the stone is an indication that there was thought of an afterlife and the soul within that afterlife. In Germany archaeologists discovered the earliest evidence (4600 years ago) of family structure in that area. Grave sites revealed that families (mother, father, and children) were buried together after being killed in what was probably a violent attack. Study of the teeth showed that the women were leaving their own family group to join that of their husband's (or whatever the equivalent of a mate was called at that time).

Holy Brawl

Monks--pretty cool. Monks brawling--much better. Yesterday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks took to their fists near what is believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The Armenian monks were marching to commemorate the anniversary of the discovery of Jesus' cross, but the Greek monks were missing one of their number and refused to let the march go on until all were present. Two monks, one from each side, were arrested after a few cracked heads and some brawling with riot police. Apparently the six sects that have control over various parts of the church frequently fight over control of the space, and the Israeli police have to break them up. Someone needs to send them a box of WWJD bracelets.

Jumping at the American Royal

After a nice dinner at Raglan Road (I recommend the bangers and mash) in Kansas City on Saturday evening, I went to the American Royal for the Grand Prix Hunter/Jumper competition. We first took a walk through the isles of stalls, I think we passed every single stall, and later headed to Kemper Arena for the Grand Prix event. Here is a clip of the first round:


And a video of the final round. It is a bit more fun since they are competing for time in the final round. The course is shorter and they are going much faster.