Archaeologists have found a rock engraving 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Athens depicting what appears to be an unknown temple that stood where the famous Parthenon is now found. The graffito is at least 50 years older than the Parthenon and uses a term that had confused archaeologists for a while: Hekatompedon.As translations go, Hekatompedon is quite straightforward: the 100-foot (30-meter) building. It had been found in decrees dating from the time before the Persian attack and the building of the Parthenon, 480 and 450 BCE respectively. One decree hints at treasure storage of some sort, and archaeologists have debated if this was a temple or maybe an open courtyard with treasuries over the Acropolis.The graffito is signed by Mikon, who’s believed to have been a shepherd in the location that is now known as Vari. The carving shows not only his name and the word Hekatompedon, but also a drawing of a temple.“The newly published graffito of Mikon’s drawing is significant. If Mikon called his drawn temple a Hekatompedon, then it is likely that the term Hekatompedon in the decree referred to a temple too. Indeed, the Parthenon that stands on the hill today was once called the Hekatompedon,” co-author Janric van Rookhuijzen, from Radboud University, wrote in an article in The Conversation.There are over 2,000 pieces of graffiti found in that location made by shepherds and goatherds that had been studied by lead author Merle Langdon from the University of Tennessee. The team worked out that Mikon’s doodle of the temple could not possibly be the Parthenon we can still see today in Greece (minus the marbles stolen by the British). The key to that is in the alphabet used; Mikon had used a very ancient script, which suggests that it was doodled during the 6th century BCE.“The inscription is also significant because it shows that, contrary to what is normally thought, shepherds could read and write, even at this early date when literacy in the Greek world was still spreading. Why the shepherds produced so many graffiti is not known – it may have simply been a form of escapism during the dull moments of their job,” van Rookhuijzen explained.The team suggests two possible known temples that existed between 130 and 75 years before the first of the Parthenon was laid; one is the so-called Bluebeard Temple and the other is the Gigantomachy Temple. The researchers decided to refrain from picking between the two due to more uncertainties on the history of the ancient Acropolis.A paper discussing this graffito and its significance for ancient Athens is published in the American Journal of Archaeology.

In Texas, wolf spider season brings an abundance of these fascinating arachnids into view. During this time, a presenter encounters a particularly large wolf spider that has emerged from beneath a machine. This encounter provides an opportunity to address common misconceptions about these misunderstood creatures and to showcase their behavior and characteristics The presenter decides... The post Man spots 3-inch Wolf spider skittering across floor and pokes it to “see what happens” appeared first on Animal Channel.

The story kicks off with a nail-biting scene: a baby deer struggling to stay afloat in the water. The tiny fawn is clearly in danger of drowning, and it grabs the attention of a nearby trapper. He’s in a bit of a pickle, knowing that you’re generally not supposed to touch wild baby animals, but... The post “Heartless trapper” melts 3.5 million hearts crossing cold river to rescue baby deer appeared first on Animal Channel.

MSNBC’s foremost gun-hater, Joy Reid, was particularly aggravated by the Supreme Court’s decision that struck down a Trump administration-era ban on bump stocks by the ATF. On Tuesday’s episode of The ReidOut, she invited former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern to denounce the apparent “oligarchy” that they alleged was working behind the scenes to orchestrate the destruction of America’s democracy. Reid characterized conservatives as a “tag team,” disparaging the Supreme Court justices as little more than the lackeys of Republicans “who are taking the money” from gun rights, defense, and oil and gas lobbyists. She made sure to note that there were “only two Democrats on the list for defense money, but other than that, we're talking about all Republicans.” According to Reid’s logic, Republicans were corrupt only because she hated the causes which supported them. Yet, she made no mention of the copious funds Democrat politicians received from teacher unions, unions in general, social media and tech companies, etc.     Reich echoed her view and called for the end of big money in American politics since only the elites seemingly benefit from it. He, too, neglected to mention any “big money” accepted by Democrats, most prominently from billionaires like George Soros: Well, this is corruption and bribery, and it should be understood as corruption and bribery. But fundamentally, we have gotta get big money out of American politics. We have talked about this before, but the big money is getting bigger. Every election cycle, it gets bigger. More billionaire money, more big industry money, and it is not for the public interest. It is not for anything that all of the rest of us get anything out of. In fact, very often, it is just tax breaks and regulatory rollbacks, the rollbacks of health and safety and environmental protections that the rest of us need. The MSNBC host evidently failed to do her own research and inanely fell back on Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s false definition of bump stocks, saying that they “essentially turn firearms into machine guns. It turns an AR-15 into a machine gun.”  Ironically enough, she was notably irritated with Justice Clarence Thomas’ definition which he “literally copied and pasted from a gun organization that's to the right of the NRA, and their verbatim, their words.” She was essentially upset he was citing experts on the subject matter to make an informed decision. The patriotic values promoted by the Firearms Policy Coalition must have terrified Stern because he identified them as “an extremist organization that uses violent rhetoric, encouraging its supporters to support the abolition of ATF and all gun regulations, that uses language that sounds in the rhetoric of assassinations and violence against political leaders.” The highlight of the segment was when Reid and Reich decided that the United States was, in fact, an oligarchy and “we have an obligation to future generations, to ourselves, to our democracy…to return to a system that is basically of the people, by the people, for the people.” Because Reich was “old enough to remember” that democracy ended 50 years ago. Reid’s solution? “Voting. And you have to vote smart and not vote party-line. You vote smart.” Of course, what she really meant was vote for Joe Biden. The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read: MSNBC’s The ReidOut 6/19/2024 07:10:13 JOY REID: They work as a tag team, Robert. It’s a–it’s a tag team, because you’ve got judges who are willing to do the work, and you’ve got politicians who are taking money. If I put those back up just really quickly–so I can let you comment on them as well–if you look at the top ten recipients of the oil and gas money, they're all Republicans. All ten of them. The top ten in gun rights, they're also all Republicans. There are two Democrats, only two Democrats on the list for defense money, but other than that, we're talking about all Republicans. Now let me listen–let you listen to a Republican. This is Senator Pete Ricketts. He was opposing a bill to ban bump stocks, which essentially turn firearms into machine guns. It turns an AR-15 into a machine gun. Here he is about the bump stock bill. [Cuts to video] SENATOR PETE RICKETTS (R-NE): We need to be very clear why the majority leader is now holding this show vote. The Supreme Court made a decision last week that he didn't like. A 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court ruled the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives overstepped their authority when they tried to reclassify bump stocks as machine guns. The Supreme Court made the right decision. In January, I joined Senator Lummis and other colleagues in filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to do what they did. [Cuts back to live] REID: So, first to you, Robert. He filed an amicus brief to try to make sure bump stocks would be legal, which of course Clarence Thomas dutifully did, literally copying it and pasting from a gun extremist gun organization into his ruling. And, he is number 18 on the list of top recipients of money from gun rights organizations. 18–he is number 18, so he didn't make the top ten. Your thoughts, Robert. ROBERT REICH: Well, this is corruption and bribery, and it should be understood as corruption and bribery. But fundamentally, we have gotta get big money out of American politics. We’ve talked about this before, but the big money is getting bigger. Every election cycle, it gets bigger. More billionaire money, more big industry money, and it is not for the public interest. It is not for anything that all of the rest of us get anything out of. In fact, very often, it is just tax breaks and regulatory rollbacks, the rollbacks of health and safety and environmental protections that the rest of us need. REID: And by the way, Mark, going to go back to Clarence for a minute, Clarence Thomas for a minute, they’re not even–he’s not–he's acting like a politician that has a staff that simply writes his rulings. He literally copied and pasted from a gun organization that's to the right of the NRA, and their verbatim, their words–maybe not verbatim, they just copied and pasted–I think actually verbatim from… MARK STERN: Yes! Quite literally copied and pasted this material from the Firearms Policy Coalition’s amicus brief. This is an extremist organization that uses violent rhetoric, encouraging its supporters to support the abolition of ATF and all gun regulations, that uses language that sounds in the rhetoric of assassinations and violence against political leaders. Clarence Thomas is trusting them to do the thinking for him. Clarence Thomas is taking their materials and saying “These guys got it right.”  But we need to take a step back and say who is funding these groups, right? These are getting funded by the same billionaire donors, the same dark money donors that are funding the fossil fuel industry, that are funding much of the defense industry, that are saying, “We can buy the courts and the courts will do the dirty work for us.”  This decision on bump stocks, it’s indefensible to the hilt, but the Supreme Court pretended as though if it were wrong, Congress could just overrule it. Congress could come in and clarify the law and enact a new bump stocks ban that would take care of the problem. We all know Congress isn't going to do that… REID: Right. STERN: …for the exact reason that Senator Ricketts just said, because Republicans are getting too much money from the firearms industry. REID: And by the way, this House bill that passed automatically registering young men for the draft, I mean, if anybody tries to object to that and goes to the Supreme Court, they'll just affirm it and then the defense industry gets more cannon fodder, right? It–they work in symbiosis. STERN: Absolutely. And it's so difficult to explain this to voters. I'm glad you're doing this segment. But people feel that the Supreme Court's work is wrapped in the shroud of legalese they can't understand. The Supreme Court takes advantage of that. The more indefensible and controversial the decision, the more legalese the Supreme Court will deploy to make it seem impenetrable to normal people. But all this stuff people can understand without a law degree. They should be paying attention to the mischief and frankly the lawlessness that's going on at the Supreme Court, because those justices work for them. They are not representing the American people right now. They are representing a very small and wealthy segment of the elite. REID: From all this description–Robert Reich I'm going to give you the final word on this–how are we not an oligarchy, then? What's the difference between this and an oligarchy? REICH: I mean, we are living in an oligarchy, Joy, and I think it's very important that we understand that. The question is, how do we get people, voters, to understand that we have an obligation to future generations, to ourselves, to our democracy to get this big money out of American politics, and it is possible. I mean, it was not here, you know, 50 years ago. I'm old enough to remember, we had a system that was not like this. We have got to return to a system that is basically of the people, by the people, for the people. REID: That's right. Absolutely. And you can do that by voting. And you have to vote smart and not vote party-line. You vote smart. People who are doing this, they should not be re-elected. Robert Reich, Mark Joseph Stern, thank you both very much. (...)

The climate change cult is alive and well in legacy media. ABC News’s Good Morning America wants Americans to give up paper towels to “help the planet.”  During the June 18 edition of Good Morning America, Chief Climate Correspondent Ginger Zee and Consumer Correspondent Becky Worley chose to fearmonger over climate change to push Americans to give up a convenient kitchen item. After Zee informed viewers that “It is time to break that habit [of using paper towels],” Worley complained about the environmental impact of paper towel use.  “[Paper towels] also contribute to climate change. In the U.S., we use more than 13 billion pounds of paper towels every year. That's more than 3,000 tons wasted every day in the U.S. alone. The wood used to make it means fewer trees exist to absorb CO2,” Worley said.  She complained that transporting paper towels required fossil fuels before pushing viewers to switch to rags and other alternatives.  This is not the first time Good Morning America has pressed Americans to give up paper towels to fight “climate change.” The ABC show made a similar push in May 2022, writing in a post on X: “Replace sponges, paper towels and washcloths with eco-friendly and biodegradable cloths.”  ABC News, which is owned by the leftist Walt Disney Corporation, has repeatedly pushed Americans to completely alter their lifestyle for climate change.  The news outlet has repeatedly lectured the nation for eating meat or too much “animal-based foods” (that is, meat, eggs and milk). Good Morning America chose to highlight their guest, Columbia University professor Pam Koch, advocating for shoppers to “reduce the amount of animal-based proteins that we are buying” on air and in an April 26 article.  The network also published an article on June 5 demonizing animal agriculture and suggesting eating insects as an environmentally sustainable substitute.  Conservatives are under attack! Contact CBS News at 212-975-3247 and demand they cease promoting the climate change cult’s attack on Americans’ standards of living.

English authorities have suggested that soccer fans could face fines for chanting offensive songs while in Germany for the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship.The country warned its traveling fans that singing allegedly offensive songs could result in fines while abroad, according to the BBC. Authorities suggested that if fans refused to stop when asked, it could be deemed as a possible public order offense.Large swaths of partying English fans have been recorded singing a song called "10 German Bombers" while on the streets or in pubs in Germany.The song is in reference to World War II air battles between the British Royal Air Force and the Nazi Luftwaffe. The lyrics of the song, which are sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," are typically as follows:"There were 10 German bombers in the air.There were 10 German bombers in the air.There were 10 German bombers, 10 German bombers, 10 German bombers in the air.And the RAF from England shot one down.And the RAF from England shot one down.And the RAF from England, RAF from England, RAF from England shot one down."'German police will take action against those breaking the law. This action can include heavy fines and custodial sentences.'The head of Germany's National Police Coordination Centre said that any fines depended on the circumstance:"First they can expect communication. ... It's perhaps not an offence, but it's very, very impolite. So please stop this," Oliver Strudthoff said.A spokesperson from the U.K. Football Policing Unit urged fans to be mindful of local culture and "be good guests.""Willfully acting in a way to cause offence could result in a heightened risk to your personal safety, and German police will take action against those breaking the law. This action can include heavy fines and custodial sentences," the spokesperson added.English soccer fans have been punished for causing offense or otherwise being mean at soccer games in their own country. The term "tragedy chanting" was even coined to identify songs about tragedies that were not allowed to be sung.Twice in June 2023, fans were punished for their actions at English stadiums.One man was arrested for wearing a shirt that said "not enough" with the number 97 on it. This was in reference to a tragedy that took the lives of 97 Liverpool soccer fans in 1989 when a section of stadium seating collapsed.Days later, a second man was cited for intentionally mocking the same tragedy, and reportedly admitted to intentionally causing harassment, alarm, or distress. That fan was sentenced to 12 months of community service and ordered to pay a total of £314, which equates to about $400.There was not equal outrage for the "10 German Bombers" song when it was repurposed by Ukrainian soccer fans — with the lyrics handed out across the stadium — to mock the Russian military in March 2023.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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