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Saturday, March 31, 2012
Builders offer 30% bait for unsold commercial properties ? Realty axis
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Builders offer 30% bait for unsold commercial properties. Trying to wade through the sluggish real estate market, developers have started coming up with various offers to lure buyers and dispose ofcommercial properties in ...
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More Peeks Inside Justin Bieber's Would-Be Dream Home ...
Friday, March 30, 2012, by Rob Bear
The pop star Justin Bieber, for all his obvious fortune, has not had the best luck in the real estate market of late. First, the glassy modern Hollywood Hills home he first so desired was apparently bought out from under him by a fellow celebrity, and the guy renting that house at the time, Ashton Kutcher. Now, the teen idol has some more prosaic real estate problems. The Calabasas, Calif. house he settled on has apparently run into trouble with the lender's appraiser. The Spanish-style home, most recently listed for $6M, has just been appraised for much, much less, meaning the deal might not go through. Bieber will have to front more cash or walk away thanks to a regulation passed in the wake of the mortgage crisis that requires lenders to loan based on the appraised value. Then again, this kid is, according to Forbes, worth more than $53M and continues to rake it in. In short, if he wants this place, he'll get it. In the meantime, take a look at some more photos from the kid's could-be hacienda.
? Justin Bieber?s Real Estate Woes: Blocked by Kutcher and Now Appraisal Problems [Zillow Blog]
? Inside Justin Bieber's Rumored New Hacienda-Style Home [Curbed National]
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Informal awards contribute to higher Wikipedia participation
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2012) ? When Stony Brook University Sociology Professor Arnout van de Rijt and graduate student Michael Restivo decided to find out what makes Wikipedia work, they knew they faced quite a challenge. After all, neither monetary compensation nor formal work relations explain the success of this all-volunteer online encyclopedia. The team reasoned that expressions of appreciation by other Wikipedia contributors, including awards, helped to fuel what they called a "spirit of generosity."
The team was surprised by the extent to which those rewards sustain the ongoing Internet phenomenon that is Wikipedia. Their paper, Experimental Study of Informal Rewards in Peer Production, has been published in the March 29, 2012 edition of PLoS ONE.
"Our hunch was that a key factor fueling the extraordinary generosity that is aggregated at Wikipedia is a simple expression of appreciation given by contributors to one another," said van de Rijt, an Assistant Professor of Sociology, citing the "barnstars" or editing awards that users give out to others and that are displayed on a user's personal page for everyone to see.
"If you correlate such awards with productivity you will find that the more distinguished Wikipedia contributors are also the more productive ones, which confirms our hunch," said van de Rijt. "This mere correlation could reflect a tendency for people to reward those who deserve it more, yielding the same correlation. So that left us with the question: Does working hard just lead to being rewarded with these tokens of appreciation, or do rewards also, in turn, stimulate greater future productivity?"
To find out, van de Rijt and Restivo compared award recipients with their equally deserving counterparts who did not get an award. The question was whether the former would become more productive after receiving their award. The team sampled 200 Wikipedians who were among the top one percent most productive contributors yet had never received an editing award. The researchers gave 100 of them a barnstar, with the remaining 100 serving as a control group not receiving a barnstar. Restivo and van de Rijt observed the contribution levels of all 200 during the 90-day period that followed.
"While we theorized that our award would temporarily stimulate contribution, we never expected that three months after receiving our award, recipients would continue to exhibit significantly higher productivity than their unrewarded counterparts," Restivo said. "Apparently, a simple token of appreciation on Wikipedia can generate hours and hours of extra work for weeks on end."
The researchers found that people continued to act altruistically toward "a greater good" when they felt that their efforts were recognized. "If you add up all the positive karma Wikipedians have given to one another over the years, whether it be editing awards, mutual encouragement in synergistic collaboration, or spreading kindness through WikiLove, then you make a lot of headway toward explaining how all this volunteer labor is generated and sustained," van de Rijt said.
The team concluded that receiving a barnstar increased productivity by 60 percent and made contributors six times more likely to receive additional barnstars from other community members, revealing that informal rewards significantly impact individual effort.
"Interestingly, a significant number of users who received an award from us were later additionally rewarded by other contributors. A first award may thus jump-start a virtuous cycle of productivity and recognition," said Restivo. "On the other hand, failing to receive recognition for one's work heightened a contributor's risk of dropping out. These dynamics may drive a wedge between those volunteers whose contributions are recognized and those whose share of the total burden goes unnoticed. Our experiment might prompt the Wikimedia community to redirect community recognition of altruistic efforts away from the already celebrated toward less visible newcomers."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stony Brook University, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Michael Restivo, Arnout van de Rijt. Experimental Study of Informal Rewards in Peer Production. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (3): e34358 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0034358
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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'Bachelor' Bliss? Ben & Courtney "Very Much" in Love
When Bachelor Ben Flajnik popped the question to controversial contestant Courtney Robertson on the show's big finale, fans everywhere were shocked. The manipulative model had been dubbed the season's villain, and many viewers speculated whether they're love was real. But now the couple is trying to convince the world that they're ready to go the distance.
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Friday, March 30, 2012
When Anti-Government Becomes Anti-Business
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-government-becomes-anti-business-131812106.html
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Oracle, Google gird for trial on Android dispute
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Thursday, March 29, 2012
How thoughtful farming could curb climate change, feed the world
Policy makers may begin to address climate change by encouraging sustainable agriculture practices around the world, according to a new report.
It's never been easy to ensure that people around the world have enough to eat. And now, with the effects of climate change and the world's population both on the rise, it's more difficult than ever to feed everyone.
Skip to next paragraph"Agriculture is both part of the problem and part of the solution to climate change," wrote Sir John Beddington, chair of the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, in a report released today.
The problem with agriculture is that it significantly contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions. According to the BBC, farming produces approximately one-third of the world's emissions. These emission contributions stem from fossil fuel combustion and the clearing of otherwise forested areas.?
Climate change will increase temperature variability and alter the amount and patterns of precipitation. These, among other challenges, will make the process of growing food more difficult in the future.?
To address the problem of food security, the Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change was charged with clarifying global policy goals in advance of the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil in June.
This group of 13 natural and social scientists from around the world suggest seven areas for policy action. Their report was presented at today's Planet Under Pressure conference in London, UK.
On the economic front, the commission recommends that the world's richest countries make significant increases in investment in sustainable agriculture in the next decade. This might mean that the world's richest countries would pay out the $20 billion they promised for agricultural development in 2009.
The commission also suggested reducing waste in the food system. They pointed to specific areas where waste reduction could make a difference, including infrastructure, farming practices, processing, distribution and household habits.
Christine Negra, a scientist who coordinated the commission's work told the BBC, "the less we waste food, the less food we have to produce, the less greenhouse gases are emitted."
?
The full report is available online.
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Video: Getting out of sticky credit situations
Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46891835#46891835
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Lunch-goers by the hundreds bust a move in Sweden
In this photo taken Tuesday March 20, 2012, people dance during the Lunch Beat event at a cultural center in central Stockholm. Lunch Beat events are held monthly in Stockholm to crowds of hundreds where organizers say the party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. There is no alcohol, which means there's a different ambiance compared to nighttime clubbing. (AP Photo/Kirsten Thyberg Eddyson)
In this photo taken Tuesday March 20, 2012, people dance during the Lunch Beat event at a cultural center in central Stockholm. Lunch Beat events are held monthly in Stockholm to crowds of hundreds where organizers say the party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. There is no alcohol, which means there's a different ambiance compared to nighttime clubbing. (AP Photo/Kirsten Thyberg Eddyson)
In this photo taken Tuesday March 20, 2012, DJ Jessie Granqvist at the Lunch Beat event at a cultural center in central Stockholm. Lunch Beat events are held monthly in Stockholm to crowds of hundreds where organizers say the party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. There is no alcohol, which means there's a different ambiance compared to nighttime clubbing. (AP Photo/Kirsten Thyberg Eddyson)
In this photo taken Tuesday March 20, 2012, people queue up to enter the Lunch Beat event at a cultural center in central Stockholm. Lunch Beat events are held monthly in Stockholm to crowds of hundreds where organizers say the party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. There is no alcohol, which means there's a different ambiance compared to nighttime clubbing. (AP Photo/Kirsten Thyberg Eddyson)
STOCKHOLM (AP) ? Some workers in Sweden have found a rather offbeat way to spend their lunch hour. Actually, on-beat is more like it.
Dripping with sweat and awash in disco lights, they dance away to pulsating club music at Lunch Beat, a trend that started in Stockholm and is spreading to other cities in Europe.
Then they go back to work.
"It is absolutely fantastic!" exclaimed Asa Andersson, 33, who broke away from her job at a coffee shop to bust some moves last week. "It is the first time I'm here, I'm totally happy and ecstatic, totally covered in sweat and I'm full of energy. It does not get any better than this."
The first Lunch Beat was held in June 2010 in an underground parking lot in Stockholm. Only 14 people showed up. But they had so much fun they immediately planned another event. Word spread, and now the Swedish capital has monthly Lunch Beats that attract hundreds.
Similar events have been held in at least 10 other Swedish cities and in Finland and Serbia. Portugal's first try will be in Porto next month, organizers said.
The party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. There's no alcohol, which gives it a different ambiance than nighttime clubbing, said Daniel Odelstad, the 31-year-old organizer of Lunch Beat Stockholm.
"People are sober, it's in the middle of the day and it is very short, effective and intensive," he said. "You just have to get in there and dance because the hour ends pretty quickly."
Heeding that advice, nearly 500 people paid 100 kronor ($14) to attend at Kulturhuset, a cultural center in downtown Stockholm.
Anyone can organize a Lunch Beat event as long as they follow some simple rules, Odelstad said.
"The first rule of Lunch Beat is that you have to dance," he said while checking prepaid tickets at the door. "If you don't want to dance during your lunch hour, then you should eat your lunch somewhere else."
The events are not-for-profit, with cover charges being used for rent and sandwiches so dancers don't return to work hungry.
Some first-time visitors were amazed at how quickly typically reserved Swedes burst out of their shells. As the DJ pumped up the base, office clerks mingled with business-suit types, the young mixed it up with the middle-aged and university students danced with everyone.
"It was just like bang, straight in to the disco," said Kristoffer Svenberg, a 34-year-old artist.
But isn't it uncomfortable returning to an office after an hour of dancing? European workers, a tad more relaxed than Americans, say not at all.
Ellen Bengtsson, 29, came to Lunch Beat with more than a dozen people from a government office.
"It's great," she said. "We'll go back sweaty together."
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New evidence on effects of green coffee beans in weight loss
ScienceDaily (Mar. 27, 2012) ? Scientists have just reported striking new evidence that green, or unroasted, coffee beans can produce a substantial decrease in body weight in a relatively short period of time.
In a study presented at the 243rd National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS), the world's largest scientific society, Joe Vinson, Ph.D., and colleagues described how a group of overweight or obese people who consumed a fraction of an ounce of ground green coffee beans each day lost about 10 percent of their body weight.
"Based on our results, taking multiple capsules of green coffee extract a day -- while eating a low-fat, healthful diet and exercising regularly -- appears to be a safe, effective, inexpensive way to lose weight," Vinson said at the ACS meeting, being held in San Diego the week of March 26.? He is with the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.
The study involved 16 overweight or obese people aged 22-26 years who took capsules of the extract or capsules containing a placebo, an inactive powder, for a total of 22 weeks. The subjects alternated between a low dose and a higher dose of the extract. The low dose consisted of 700 mg of the coffee extract, and the high dose was 1,050 mg. It was a so-called "cross-over" study in which people cycled through the two doses and the placebo, each for six weeks. Such studies have advantages because each person serves as his or her own "control," improving the chances of getting an accurate result.
All of the participants were monitored for their overall diet (calories, food eaten, etc.) and exercise over the study period. "Their calories, carbohydrates, fats and protein intake did not change during the study, nor did their exercise regimen change," Vinson said.
Participants lost an average of 17 pounds during the 22 weeks of the study. It included an average of a 10.5 percent decrease in overall body weight and a 16 percent decrease in body fat. Vinson noted that weight loss might have been significantly faster, except that participants received the placebo and the lower dose of green coffee extract for part of the study period.
Vinson pointed out that previous studies have shown weight loss with green coffee. But this was the first to use higher amounts of the coffee extract and the first to measure the response to various doses. Based on those studies, Vinson believes that green coffee beans' effects likely are due to a substance called chlorogenic acid that is present in unroasted coffee beans. Chlorogenic acid breaks down when coffee beans are roasted (usually at a temperature of 464-482 degrees Fahrenheit). Roasting gives coffee beans their distinctive color, aroma and flavor. Green coffee beans, in contrast, have little aroma and a slightly bitter taste.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS), via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/03/120327134209.htm
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Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Kimberly Smedley Pleads Guilty To Illegal Silicone Butt Injection Charges
Kimberly Smedley, seen here in a Facebook photo, pleaded guilty to illegally injecting women's butts with silicone.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sony-ceo-directly-oversee-troubled-tv-operations-065130747.html
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Oil hovers above $107 on Bernanke comments, Iran
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Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Best Fishing with all comforts
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The deeper they get inside the more fishes you will get a t a time. In the world no other place tops first in catching the fishes at a great level. The sea is very calm so the fishing is greatly possible. The best fishing spot with all comforts and the visitors will come frequently to visit the place happily. Enjoy with the family and friends in the Kona and get the ultimate happiness with all comforts. Seek the best advisor to make your holiday unforgettable.Source: http://leisure.ezinemark.com/best-fishing-with-all-comforts-7d350fe5fc42.html
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Sunday, March 25, 2012
Migraines Should Be Taken Seriously | Fitness and Health Tips Today
If you?re suffering from migraines, you may be so used to dealing with the headache pain that you don?t take the problem very seriously. There are people who don?t even bother consulting a physician to find out what?s causing their headache pain. However, if you suffer from this type of headache, it?s important that you take it seriously and get the medical treatment you need.
Your physician may want to order some diagnostic test when you talk to them about migraine headaches in order to determine if your headaches are caused by psychological problem like aneurysm or brain tumor.
With this test, big problems can be ruled out but the exception to the rule are these serious disorders. An MRI will be prescribed by your doctor in order to scan the brain and look at the blood vessels. To rule out serious illness, you need to take migraines seriously and have this test performed.
The classic migraine is not a life threatening problem for most people. But because of the effects migraines can have in your everyday life, you should still take them seriously. Because of the serious pain brought by migraines, many people miss countless days of school and work. In addition, there are individuals who are so debilitated by the pain of migraines that they find themselves unable to enjoy daily activities.
While they are not life-threatening, migraines can lead to emergency room visits and a general disruption of life. Fortunately, you can live a life free from pain as long as you get medical help. Getting the correct diagnosis is critical so that you can start treatment for headaches and prevent them from occurring.
To stop the pain of a migraine, over the counter medications is not enough for many people. Taking this type of headache seriously is important. What you need to do is find a physician that can treat you properly.
Even though chronic migraines can be effectively treated by general practitioners, seeking the help of a headache specialist is something you may want to consider doing. Your general physician can help refer you to a headache specialist.
Headache specialists are generally neurologists or internists who specialize in treating the vast array of headaches. This is important because you want to make sure you?re suffering from migraines and not another type of headache or disorder.
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Source: http://fitnesshealthtoday.com/migraines-should-be-taken-seriously/
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Archaeologists Revisit Iraq
Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
IRA FLATOW, HOST:
This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I'm Ira Flatow. One of the first teams of American archaeologists to visit Iraq is nearly two - in nearly two decades has just returned from a dig in the southern part of the country. Archaeologist Elizabeth Stone and her team were excavating a site about four miles from Ur. That's the home of the biblical figure Abraham, and it's a region that hasn't been explored very much. Here to talk more about what it's like to travel and to work in Iraq and a tool that - toll that looting has taken on the county's archeological legacy is Elizabeth Stone. She is an archaeologist and professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
DR. ELIZABETH STONE: Hi. How are you?
FLATOW: Two Stony Brooks in one hour.
STONE: I know.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Tell us what it was like there. Set the scene for us. Where did you go? What did you do?
STONE: Well, I think one of the really cool things was when we arrived, and this was pure happenstance, as we drove from Basra to Nasiriyah, we passed the last American convoy going out.
FLATOW: Wow.
STONE: So last military leave, and the first scientists go in, which was...
FLATOW: Was that scary?
STONE: No, it was great. I think it was great. I mean, you know, we had Iraqi security, and, you know, Iraqi security is actually much more low-key than American security. I actually like it better. I mean, this - none of this would have happened if I didn't have an Iraqi graduate student who comes from that area. And, you know, he convinced us that the area was safe and we could - we went and checked it out the season - last summer.
FLATOW: Right.
STONE: And we had nothing, but everybody was just wonderful. Everybody fell over backwards to be helpful, friendly. We've had absolutely no negative...
FLATOW: Yeah. Did you have a certain destination and a place you wanted to explore?
STONE: Yeah. I mean, we were working in a site called Tell Sakhariya, which is not sexy. But before, one was never able to get a permit to dig a small site. You had to dig one of the really big cities. And I was kind of - I'd been working with satellite imagery, which suggested that small sites weren't as simple as one might think. And I was especially interested in looking at one that was close to a major city because then you can make the connections between what's happening in the small satellite site and the central one.
And then the site also was in a military area, so it was secure. And I have to say, we didn't entirely find what we expected. We visited the site last summer, and we had found a historical inscription that would date to the early second millennium B.C. and then surface ceramics that date to the later part of the second millennium B.C. And everything we knew said that the entire south had been abandoned for the period in between. So, that all looked fairly promising. When we got there, we found a lot more historical inscriptions, and it's clear that this was a very important place in the late third and early second millennium B.C. And we found a big platform.
But, you know, when you dig down and hit a platform, it's not actually very edifying. And we have to get - we have to come in again with remote sensing to really figure out how big and how broad that platform is. It was probably holding up a temple. And there is a place called Gayesh(sp) where kings from Ur would go and have a big party once a year. So I think that probably is where it was.
FLATOW: So you have a lot more work to do.
STONE: Yeah. But I think the thing that was really interesting about it was, on top of that, we found evidence of a temporary settlement, probably a summer settlement for the ancient Marsh Arabs, which dates to exactly that period when we've no evidence of anybody living in the south before. And I think, you know, we've known that there were people in Mesopotamia who were living in the marshes from art and bits and pieces of written records, but nobody has ever dug one up before.
And so, they, you know, they're eating very different animals. They're not living in houses. And one of the things we had is we had about nine very distinguished professional Iraqi archaeologists working with us because they've been cut off from knowing much of anything, you know, from any kind of the advances in archaeology for at least - probably more like 30 years because Saddam wasn't very big on that either.
FLATOW: Yeah.
STONE: And, I mean, they were just stunned by this site. They said they never worked on a site that you don't - in Iraq that you don't dig for 10 minutes and hit architecture. And we didn't.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
FLATOW: Wow.
STONE: Which kind of disconcerted us, too. So, as I say, it's not sexy, but it's a really very, very different collection of animal bones, for example, which we began to analyze. And a different collection of plot remains, we expect.
FLATOW: Is there a bureaucracy now set up to host, you know, archeologists and take care of them and...
STONE: Yeah. There always has been. I mean, there's always been the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. So it's, you know - and when Iraq reverted back and got independence after the occupation formally ended, it just kind of went back to all of Saddam's old rules, which is slightly disconcerting. So yeah, it's now a country where you still have to get exit visas whereas most ex-Soviet satellites have moved on but Iraq hasn't because it had this great hole in its life for all these years.
So there's a certain amount of bureaucracy you have to do from there, but the Department of Antiquities has been great. I mean, they gave us a permit. The head of the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage drove all the way from Baghdad for a day to visit us and then drove back again. We had two government representatives, which is typical, but one of them was the director of excavations, so the second most important person on the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. We were just, you know, we were treated really, really well.
FLATOW: You know, we heard so much about the looting of antiquities right after the war started. Did you see evidence of that and has the stuff come back? And where did that stand now?
STONE: Well, you know, I think - I had done a study using satellite imagery where I kind of documented what was going on with looting. And it was really the worst kind of after the war until the end of 2003. And it has settled down to a certain extent since then. We did visit the site of Omar, which is one of the ones that was worst hit, both last summer and this winter. And in both cases, there were holes that had been dug that day. Yeah, you can see them because the dirt is still damp. And that's very discouraging. I mean, it's a situation where there are guards, but the guards are still part of the local community, and they've been looting the site now for, you know, nearly a decade, and they're not really going to stop. And it's a long way away from anywhere. It's a long way to get there.
So it is better, but the Iraqis at one point had an antiquities police that had vehicles and then they couldn't get fuel for the vehicles, and now a lot of them have been kind of redirected to guard, I think, more touristic sites and monuments and things. So there's a lot of kind of back and forth. The department of - the State Board of Antiquities and Heritage is not a very powerful one. And it gets kind of - it's a bit of a political football.
FLATOW: 1-800-989-8255 is our number. Talking with Elizabeth Stone, who is an archaeologist digging in Iraq for antiquities. Let's see if we have - oh, yes, we do have lots of folks. Carl(ph) in Columbus, Ohio. Hi, Carl.
CARL: Hi, Ira.
FLATOW: Hi, there. Go ahead.
CARL: Before I ask about the Baghdad Battery, I'd like to point out that it's nice to have a real scientist as opposed to a lightweight promulgator of fluff making up...
FLATOW: You have - do you have a question for this person here?
CARL: I do. Alan Alda was something of an offense to science. But my question in this context to a real scientist is the Baghdad Battery, apparently, a couple of - maybe one to 2,000 B.C., the Iraqis had electricity in the form of a wine, vinegar, iron, perhaps, copper solution. It was a primitive battery that might be use to electroplate. Was that found? Was that - is that in the possession of the authorities these days and when was it?
STONE: I'm trying to remember the Baghdad Battery. My recollection of it is that most people don't think it was a battery. I think it was found and it resembles other clay vessels that are probably used for rituals in terms of having kind of multiple mouths to it. And I'm truly trying to remember.
FLATOW: What would they have done with the battery like that?
STONE: I think it's not a battery. I mean, I don't think anybody who's, I mean, I think the people who argue it's a battery are not, you know, are not scientists basically. That it - there is some metal that is attached to it, but that happens when metal corrodes and is in contact with ceramics under those circumstances. So I don't know anybody who thinks it's a real battery in the field.
FLATOW: So it was just a piece of fluff comment there about it being a battery. OK. 1-800-989-8255 is our number. So what is - potentially, what would be the big find if you go back? What would you be looking for?
STONE: Well, we're in this actually - we're in this kind of nebulous position because the Iraqis actually were sorry for us, I think, because we weren't finding any architecture.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: So they encouraged us to apply for a permit to dig at Ur again, which hasn't been dug since Woolley in the 1930s. And that permit has been granted by the minister of culture. There are some other kind of institutional hoops to jump over that might be more complicated and we, of course, have to get funds. So our inclination is to work at Ur for a longer season than the four weeks we had right now for the next few years. And - but also go back and do more things, especially get some remote sensing so we understand what's going on beneath the ground at (unintelligible) and try to go a little deeper so we understand the connection between this kind of marsh settlement and then what must have been an important earlier settlement, but it's deeper down than we were able to get in the time we had.
FLATOW: Yeah. Let's go to Mark(ph) in Oaksville(ph), Idaho. Hi, Mark.
MARK: Hello. How are you doing today?
FLATOW: Hey. How are you?
MARK: Better than I deserve, so doing good.
FLATOW: I wish I could say the same thing.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
MARK: Hey, I got a quick question. I have recently been doing a lot of research and study on the - on spiritual religious concepts of that area, southern Iraq and that, particularly the pre-Christian timeframe. And I was just wondering if the archaeology over there had uncovered any new information, or with Iraq opening up archaeologist, can we look forward to some more information coming out from that area?
STONE: Well, yeah, sure. I mean, you know, if we can really figure out, for example, what this platform is - I mean, it probably was supporting a temple - and if we can get some more written information, we're going to get a better understanding of what is happening not just in the city. So the cities have these big major temples and then they have little temples and then they have shrines. And we have a pretty good understanding of how that worked and how people accessed them. But, again, one of the things I've been seeing on satellite imagery, which will record whether weather conditions are correct, architectural patterns beneath the ground, is a lot of the small fights and not scruffy little villages that you might expect. But they actually are kind of - just places that have temples, for example, or just places that have public buildings.
And so I think that there is a kind of a new direction of research where we really need to think about what's happening in the countryside as well as what's happening in the cities as well, which we already understand pretty well.
IRA FLATOW, HOST: Mm-hmm. Let's go to Nick(ph) to Ann Arbor. Hi, Nick.
NICK: Hey, how are you?
HOST: I'm good.
NICK: Yeah, I just got a quick question about how easy it is to bring artifacts back from the site there. I know there are a lot of countries that are very protective of their cultural heritage, and I'm wondering what our relationship with Iraq is and if the occupation has changed that relationship in any way.
STONE: Iraq has had - actually, since the 1930s, which is why Woolley stopped digging at Ur, Iraq generally has had a, you know, no export of artifacts. And, you know, we had no expectation of that. So we draw them. We record them. We photograph them. We get all of the information from them when we turn them over to the Iraqis. What we can bring back are samples. So, for example, we were able, even in a short season, to get permission to bring back all of the animal bones that we found. So the materials that really need more technical analysis, we can take back.
And if we wanted to do, which we didn't, more technical analysis, say, on ceramics or other kind of materials, you could take samples. And so we were able to bring back the plant remains and the animal remains, and those are being analyzed here. And that's really pretty standard and doesn't bother me at all because I don't know what I would with the objects anyway. I mean, once you've recorded them, you've recorded them.
HOST: Talking with Elizabeth Stone, archeologist and professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University on SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. But you don't know what you would do with them if you brought them back, is that what you said?
STONE: Well, I mean, I think, you know, museums might want them. Most of the things we found this season, I don't think they would want.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: There are a couple of things they might like, but most...
HOST: Well, they're just old hat to you. You're...
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: Well...
HOST: A bone here or this there, but other people, hey, you know, look, that came from Iraq. Let's go to the museum and see that.
STONE: Well, sure. But, I mean, there are - I mean, there's lots of stuff in lots of museums. You can go to the Metropolitan, the (unintelligible) Institute in Chicago. I mean, some of the best stuff is the University of Pennsylvania Museum. There are lots places in the United States where you can see it. You don't have to take it out of the country.
HOST: Right. And they want - a lot countries want this stuff back, don't they?
STONE: Well, that's more controversial. I mean, you know, I mean, I do believe in the statute of limitations. If you don't do that, you have real problems. So, for example, the Code of Hammurabi, which is in the Louvre, and every so often, Iraq kind of makes rumblings saying that they would like that back. That was stolen by the Elamites. It was found in Iran. I mean, it was stolen thousands of years ago from Iraq. So, you do have to have a statute of limitations. I mean, it was stolen long before there was an Iraq.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: So I think, you know, there is the - UNESCO had a conference and - in 1970, and that's generally the date that people try to say you really can't take things out without permission.
HOST: Right. Let me get a couple of more calls in here because a lot of interesting questions. Let's go to Rebecca(ph) in Berkley. Hi, Rebecca.
REBECCA: Hi. I was wondering if we were going to have the chance to see any reports of these excavations in print any time in the near future.
STONE: I hope so.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
STONE: I mean, we need to get the analysis - for what we found, the analysis of the plants and the animals are really important. The plants are now in Britain, and I think people are working on those, but I haven't had a report back. And the animal bones are being analyzed here and are - I'm not sure how far along we are, maybe a third of the way along through that. Once I've completed that, we'll put together an article and probably submit it to the Journal Iraq.
HOST: Let me go to Richard in Bayside, Queens, in New York. Hi. Richard, go ahead.
RICHARD: Hi there. Hi there. I wanted to know if your guest can distinguish between Sumerian and Akkadian and other Semitic languages. And...
HOST: OK. We got to go - get that question in quickly.
STONE: Sure. Yes. I mean, if you can - there are some situations where stuff that was written in Akkadian was written in Sumerian, but you can tell Sumerian from Akkadian pretty well. I'm not great at that. I can do a little bit, but the specialists can do it at a drop of a hat.
HOST: Well, you can. That's why you sit there and I sit here.
(SOUNDBITE OF LAUGHTER)
HOST: Thank you, Elizabeth Stone, for taking time to be with us today and good luck. You don't know when you're going back to (unintelligible)?
STONE: Well, we hope to be going back next February.
HOST: Next February. All right. We'll wait for another report.
STONE: OK. Thanks so much.
HOST: You're welcome. Elizabeth Stone is an archeologist and professor of anthropology at Stony Brook University.
Copyright ? 2012 National Public Radio?. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
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Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/23/149231682/-archaeologists-revisit-iraq?ft=1&f=1007
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Student shot to death in Mississippi St. dorm
By msnbc.com staff and news services
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- A student was shot to death at a Mississippi State University residence hall late Saturday night, authorities said, adding that three suspects remained at large.
The shooting was reported in an alert on the school's website at 10:37 p.m., and the victim was confirmed dead in an alert at 11:17 p.m.
Authorities described the suspects as three males who fled the hall in a blue late-model Crown Victoria car.
There were no immediate reports of further injuries and the university is operating on "emergency" status, officials said.
Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report by Reuters.
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