1124 - Tyrus surrenders to Crusaders 1534 - European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in New Brunswick 1892 - Katipunan: the Revolutionary Philippine Brotherhood is established leading to the fall of the Spanish Empire in Asia 1942 - Germany troop march into Woronezj 1949 - Musical revue "Cabatgata (A Night in Spain)" opens at the Broadway Theatre, NYC; runs for 76 performances 1950 - British Open Men's Golf, Royal Troon: Bobby Locke of South Africa retains title by 2 strokes from Roberto De Vicenzo of Argentina 1954 - British runner Jim Peters, 17 minutes ahead of any rival, collapses on the final stadium lap of the Commonwealth Games marathon in Vancouver 1973 - Wimbledon Men's Tennis: Czech Jan Kodeš beats Alex Metreveli of Russia 6-1, 9-8, 6-3 for his 3rd Grand Slam singles success 1980 - Jineane Ford of Arizona replaces Shawn Weatherly (Miss Universe) as the 29th Miss USA 1983 - 11-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, leaves for USSR More Historical Events »

Historical Events 1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death 1850 - Scottish explorer Edward Eyre reaches Albany, Western Australia 1891 - Marcellus F. Berry, an American Express employee is granted four copyrights for what he called "the travelers cheque" 1939 - "The Rules of the Game", French film directed by Jean Renoir, starring Nora Gregor and Paulette Dubost, premieres in Paris 1962 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site 1978 - Wimbledon Women's Tennis: Martina Navratilova wins her first Grand Slam singles title beating Chris Evert 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 More Historical Events » Famous Birthdays 1813 - William Scott Ketchum, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Norwalk, Connecticut (d. 1871) 1947 - Howard Rheingold, American critic and writer on virtual communities, born in Phoenix, Arizona 1952 - Mando Guerrero, Mexican professional wrestler, born in Mexico City 1968 - Chuck Knoblauch, American baseball shortstop (NY Yankees, Minnesota Twins), born in Houston, Texas 1969 - Robin Weigert, American actress, born in Washington, D.C. 1982 - George Owu, Ghanaian footballer, born in Accra, Ghana More Famous Birthdays » Famous Deaths 1794 - Pascal Boyer, French composer, dies at 51 1816 - Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish playwright (The Rivals, The School for Scandal) and Whig MP, dies at 64 1990 - Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle, German Jesuit priest and Buddhism Zen teacher, dies at 92 1992 - Clint Frank, American College Football Hall of Fame halfback (Heisman Trophy 1937; unanimous All-American 1937; Yale), dies at 76 2001 - Edward Fiennes-Clinton, Australian-born 18th Earl of Lincoln, dies at 88 2014 - Lois Johnson, American country music singer ("Loving You Will Never Grow Old"), dies at 72 More Famous Deaths »

As believers, we’re living in a society whose values do not match that of our heavenly Father’s. We need an adjustment of perspective.

Archaeologists in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, north China, have unearthed a tomb decorated with murals depicting scenes of daily life from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.). Every surface except the floor is covered with murals in exceptional condition, the white, red, yellow, black, green and orange, saturated and vivid as if they’d been painted yesterday. The tomb was first discovered in 2018 during an archaeological survey at the site of road construction. The Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated the site, uncovering a single-chamber brick tomb consisting of a passageway to the tomb door, the entrance, a corridor and the main burial chamber. The entrance, corridor and chamber, including the walls, conical ceiling and the coffin bed, are all decorated with murals. The tomb door is painted with red and yellow-orange swirling botanical designs. On each side of the interior of the door are a pair of men in yellow robes. Archaeologists believe they are guardian figures, protecting the entrance to the tomb. The corridor leading from the door into the burial chamber features another pair of men in yellow robes. Another pair of guardians are just inside the chamber door. The conical ceiling of the chamber above each of the four walls is decorated with fantastical beasts edged by thick red ribbons and florals against a white background. The four walls of the burial chamber are painted with rectangular panels outlined in thick red lines. Inside most of the panels against a white backdrop are individuals standing under tall, stylized trees, a popular Tang-era style called, appropriately, the “figure under the tree” style. The men depicting under the trees in the panels are in different postures and engaging in different activities, but they are consistent in appearance and clothing. Archaeologists believe they likely represent the same individual, namely the tomb’s owner. The repeated depictions of the man may also be allegorical representations of the various virtues of the deceased. Of particular interest to archaeologists are the two large panels adjacent to the guardians on each side of the chamber door. The east wall mural features a mural with multiple scenes of daily life: a man rolling a stone grinder to peel grain shells, a woman working a stone mill, a man making dough balls with an iron pan on a fire, a man stepping on a pestle (a rice pounding tool) with a bamboo basket and a bamboo dustpan next to it, a woman drawing water from a well using a counterweight heavy-lifting device, and lastly, a woman doing the washing elbow-deep in a basin full of water while a large pot steams on the wood-burning stove. The west wall panel depicts a woman in a multicolored gown holding a box in her hands. A man from a non-Han ethnic group in a yellow robe stands behind her, holding a whip and the reins of camels and horses. The panels on either side of these are filled with two elaborate flowering plants. These are rare designs in “figure under the tree” murals. Long Zhen, the director of the Jinyang Ancient City Archaeological Institute, said the artistic style is similar to the paintings in the tomb of Wang Shenzi, who founded the dynastic state of Min (909-945), one of the regions during the Ten Kingdoms period (907-960), which is defined by the fall of the Tang dynasty and the rise of the Song dynasty. Long hypothesised that the same artist may have painted both Wang’s tomb and the newly discovered mural.