A team of experimental archaeologists has set sail in a replica of a Bronze Age boat, built using instructions, materials, and techniques from 4,000 years ago. During two days of sea trials, the 18-meter-long (60-foot) vessel traveled 50 nautical miles (92.6 kilometers; 57.5 miles) in the Arabian Gulf, reaching speeds of 5.6 knots (10.4 kilometers per hour; 6.5 miles per hour).Known as a Magan Boat, the ship was built by researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi and Zayed University using methods outlined on a clay tablet from 2100 BCE. Taking its name from the Magan civilization – which once encompassed what is now Oman and the United Arab Emirates – the boat is representative of the kind of vessel that once enabled the region to trade with Mesopotamia and South Asia.As per the ancient instructions, the ship’s outer hull was made from 15 tons of locally sourced reeds, tied into bundles using date palm fiber rope and lashed to a wooden frame. In accordance with ancient waterproofing methods, the reeds were then coated with bitumen.Overall it was easier to sail than expected.Dr Robert Parthesius, NYU Abu Dhabi“A variety of evidence was relied upon for the design and construction of the ship,” said Robert Parthesius, Program Head for Heritage and Museum Studies at NYU Abu Dhabi, in an email to IFLScience. “This included bitumen remains of ancient watercraft, textual sources, boat models (usually found in funerary contexts), and maritime iconography.”Magan Boats played a key role in transnational trade during the Bronze Age.Image credit: Emily Harris, Zayed National MuseumThe ship was constructed by a team of Indian shipwrights who specialize in sewn boats and were therefore familiar with many of the techniques used by ancient Magan Boat makers. Working closely with the researchers, these traditional craftspeople created a seaworthy vessel capable of carrying up to 36 tons, based on ancient illustrations. “The vast majority of the vessel was built by hand using traditional tools such as chisels, adzes and wooden mallets,” Parthesius told IFLScience. Because pulleys and other modern rigging system didn’t exist back in the Bronze Age, a crew of more than 20 people was required to help lift the sail, which was made of goat hair. Captained by Emirati sailors, the ship was then put through its paces off the coast of Abu Dhabi. “Although we did not test the vessel’s performance in high winds, and therefore do not have complete data for top speeds of the vessel, the vessel was able to reach speeds of over five knots in less than 15 knots of wind, which exceeded our initial predictions,” explained Parthesius. “Overall it was easier to sail than expected.”

On the afternoon of July 13, 2024, lone gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at former US President Donald Trump as he spoke at a podium during a campaign event in Pennsylvania. It was almost a miracle that Trump was saved; at the moment of the shots, he turned his head sharply, and the bullet only slightly grazed his ear without damaging his head. Crooks was immediately shot dead by the guards. A couple of days later, a video of a strange flying object was published on social networks (see below). Some social media users have proclaimed the UFOs as ‘guardian angels’ who protected Trump from the bullets, which the former president corroborated in saying, ‘God saved me’ days after the rally. It was stated that the video was filmed at the same event shortly before the shots were fired, and the UFO in it flies past the same waving US flag that appeared in the now-historical photo of Trump with a bleeding ear and raised fist. Another photo with a UFO was also posted, more cloudy, taken when the guards ran onto the podium to cover the wounded Trump with their bodies. In this photo, the UFO is not as disc-shaped, but rather has a rectangular shape. What kind of objects these were is still not known for certain. The authorities have said nothing about them, and people are left to guess. Footage from the Pennsylvania rally on July 13 appeared to capture unidentified flying objects (UFOs) soaring through the skies. Some believe it could have been drones, but no one admits to flying drones over the field during Trump’s speech. In addition, there were reports that if these were drones, they certainly did not belong to the security forces or the state authorities, because they assured that they had not launched anything like that. Others argue that these are just birds, but this is also very controversial. Still, others write that these were Trump’s guardian angels who saved him from death. The post UFOs and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump appeared first on Anomalien.com.

CNN seems to be desperately trying to stonewall the $1 billion defamation suit against them, forcing Navy veteran and Plaintiff Zachary Young to ask Florida’s court system to intercede. According to a motion to compel responses filed on Wednesday, CNN is refusing to turn over documents related to their internal journalistic conduct guidelines and their social media guidelines. Both could prove crucial to showing how CNN runs their process for vetting stories and if they were negligent in this instance. This latest attempt to slow down the proceedings came as CNN was refusing to allow host Jake Tapper to be deposed, and amid allegations they were destroying evidence via deleting social media posts. The network was apparently also impeding financial discovery as it related to possible punitive damages, as reaffirmed by a Florida’s First District Court of Appeals The filing breaks down how CNN was using months of delay tactics (something the network decried former President Trump for doing) to push a court-ordered deposition of their corporate representative outside of the fact-discovery period, then argue they wouldn’t turn over the guidelines discussed in the deposition because they were outside of facts discovery. In September 2023, Young’s lawyers wanted to depose CNN’s corporate representative. For the next three months, CNN issued objections and “refused to offer” a date for a deposition to occur. Young’s lawyers were forced to “unilaterally” issued a notice of deposition, CNN still refused to cooperate. This resulted in a court mediation conference in December 2023, where Judge William S. Henry of Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit ordered the deposition be put off until issues involving scope were resolved. The resolution, occurring on March 1, 2024, pushed the deposition beyond the January 15, 2024, closer of facts discovery. The deposition was eventually ordered for June 5 and 6. During the deposition, Young’s legal team became aware of the existence of CNN’s internal documents on journalistic and social media guidelines. And after numerous requests for the documents (CNN refusing because they’re outside facts discovery), they’re requesting the court order the network to turn them over. “CNN should not be permitted to move for protective orders, delay the consequential deposition to in the case, and then try and use their self-created-delay to stop any follow up discovery after the corporate representative revealed the existence of documents relevant to plaintiffs’ case, that he reviewed before testifying, and relied on while testifying,” the filing argued. Adding: The court has the inherent power to ensure that discovery deadlines do not operate in a manner that thwarts the interests of justice. Indeed, it would be absurd to think the Court’s orders forced Plaintiff’s to abandon any relevant documents they might discover by virtue of the corporate representative depositions. In sum, given that the deposition itself occurred post-deadline due to this Court’s orders, fairness dictates that the documents referred to in that deposition should be subject to production too. In a separate Wednesday filing, Young’s legal team requested the court step in and order CNN to comply with turning over documents necessary for financial discovery in regards to possible punitive damages. “Despite an appellate court’s affirmation of Plaintiff’s right to plead punitive damages, CNN continues to stonewall discovery efforts into its ability to pay punitive damages award based on its pending motion for rehearing,” the filing read. They also noted that “CNN’s intransigence threatens to derail the trial schedule,” which was currently slated to begin January 6, 2025. It’s important for Young’s team to get the access to CNN’s journalistic conduct guidelines so it could be determined how CNN’s alleged defamation of their client came about and if the journalists involved deviated from the process. As NewsBusters previously reported, CNN has argued in court that their internally lauded Triad (a team of editorial, legal, and standards and practices professionals) reviewed the story before it was brought to air. In a now-deleted YouTube view obtained by NewsBusters, Triade member Drew Shenkman explained to a class of journalism students about how things worked at CNN. “So, the journalists are trained and we train them and saying, you know, ‘hey, this needs legal review because it's alleging someone of murder or this needs legal review because we're saying the president of the United States did something bad.’ And so then they push that to us for the legal review,” he said (bold added to highlight).     Shenkman also boasted about how the lawyering that does into their stories makes them better: Now, I have an advantage because I have a legal privilege with journalists…And having that point of view, having that kind of information, not only helps me as a lawyer, but actually has, in many instances, helped make our journalism better because I can look at it from a different point of view and say, “Well, have you asked this person this question or what is this person say,” and they might say, “Well, I hadn't thought of that.” And so then they're gonna go and do that; and more often than not, we will end up with a better story because of the lawyering that goes into it. Ironically, he also cautioned the student about how: “…the most precarious thing is a story that has a big allegation of wrongdoing, right? Let's say somebody has broken some sort of law, right?” So, how did CNN's allegedly defamatory report get to air?

This week, numerous high-profile politicians and business leaders, including former President Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Vivek Ramaswamy, flocked to the 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville. Despite receiving an invitation, presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris opted out of attending. David Bailey, the organizer of the conference, criticized Harris’ decision on X, tweeting, “No surprise. What can she say to us when she’s actively imprisoning developers, forcing our industry overseas, attacking PoW … it would have been a disaster for her.” The Biden-Harris administration's anti-crypto stances may come back to haunt Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. Over the course of President Biden’s reign, his administration has waged an all-out war on Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, a stark contrast to Trump’s embrace of Bitcoin and the RNC’s pro-crypto platform. Attacking miners In March 2022, President Biden signed an executive order on “Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” to regulate Bitcoin and crypto. The executive order increases regulations on Bitcoin by increasing oversight to safeguard against risks, “responsible development,” and “equitable economic growth.” Following his executive order, which included a call to reduce “negative climate impacts,” the White House released a press release attacking Bitcoin and crypto-assets for their “considerable amounts of electricity usage, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions.” As a result of Biden’s climate alarmism, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy urged President Biden to “limit or eliminate the use of high energy intensity consensus mechanisms for crypto-asset mining,” advice he would later heed. President Biden’s 2025 budget proposal contains a 30% excise tax on Bitcoin mining, an operation vital to Bitcoin’s stability and security. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), a strong proponent of crypto, believes the tax “endangers America’s hard-won leadership position and the future of Bitcoin mining in America.” Vetoing pro-Bitcoin legislation In May 2024, President Biden vetoed H.J. Res. 109, Congress’ bipartisan effort to overturn the Securities and Exchange Commission’s crypto accounting guideline, Staff Accounting Bulletin 121. The Biden administration believes the SEC’s guidelines protect consumers and investors. SAB 121 requires banks and businesses to penalize banks for protecting and holding on to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for clients by mandating them to be reported as liabilities on balance sheets, jeopardizing consumers’ assets during a bankruptcy. In a letter to President Biden, the American Bankers Association wrote that SAB 121 “threatens the [banking] industry’s ability to provide its customers with safe and sound custody of digital assets.” Crypto advocacy groups, like the Blockchain Association, also criticized the Biden administration’s “punitive, anti-crypto” accounting guidelines for stifling innovation. “The Biden administration is swimming against the … growing consensus in Congress that digital asset innovation should be supported — not punished,” Kristin Smith, the Blockchain Association's CEO, stated in a post on X. Appointing anti-Bitcoin staff President Biden’s hand-picked SEC chair, Gary Gensler, is also known for driving the Biden administration’s war on Bitcoin by attempting to crack down, and potentially shut down, Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest crypto exchange places. On CNBC, Gensler argued that Coinbase should be “permanently restrained and enjoined” from “operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency.” The Gensler-led SEC filed two lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase last year, sending plummeting numerous crypto currencies’ values by over 15%. And in a post on X, Gensler alleges Coinbase “deprives investors of critical protections, including rulebooks that prevent fraud and manipulation, proper disclosure, safeguards against conflicts of interest, and routine inspection by the SEC.” But ionically, X added a community note that implicitly accuses Gensler of manipulating information. “Coinbase has repeatedly attempted to get guidance and include the SEC. Recently, Coinbase has had to sue the SEC to attempt to get simple clarity over the issues that this tweet alleges Coinbase is guilty of,” it says. Increasing taxes President Biden has also threatened to raise the capital gains tax up to 44%, close to double the current top rate. So if a wealthy individual buys 1 Bitcoin for $60,000 and then sells it for $90,000, the investor may only make less than $17,000. In other words, crypto investors would be punished by facing significantly higher tax rates on their crypto investments, weakening the crypto market. The Biden-Harris administration's anti-crypto stances may come back to haunt Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid. As Election Day draws nearer, it will be interesting to see whether Harris reconsiders her administration's hostility toward the cryptocurrency industry in hopes of winning back tech elites.

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