Man's Oldest Musical Instrument Is 42,000 Years Old (Give Or Take)

Looks like our earliest ancestors enjoyed music, too

42,000-Year-Old Mammoth Ivory And Bird Bone Flutes Are Oldest Instruments Ever Found -- Y! Tech/Yahoo News

It looks like our earliest human ancestors enjoyed recreational activities other than painting on cave walls. A study by Oxford University researchers revealed that the oldest musical instruments ever discovered date as far back as 42,000 to 43,000 years ago. These instruments are flutes made out of mammoth ivory and bird bones (above).

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My Comment: One can only wonder on what were the melodies played by early man.

Jesus Christ Was Crucified On Friday, April 3, 33 AD

U.S., German Researchers Reveal Date of Christ's Death. © RIA Novosti. Elena Visens

U.S., German Researchers Reveal Date of Christ's Death -- RIA Novosti

The U.S. and German geologists claim they had discovered the exact date when Christ was crucified, the International Geology Review reported.

According to the report, published in the academic journal this week, the scientists discovered that Christ had been crucified on Friday, April 3, 33 AD.

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My Comment: They seem very confident on the date.

Virgin Galactic Cleared For Rocket-Powered Test Flights

Virgin Galactic is to make its first rocket-powered test flights for its commercials passenger

Virgin Galactic Cleared For Rocket-Powered Test Flights -- The Telegraph

Virgin Galactic is to make its first rocket-powered test flights for its commercials passenger spaceship later this year after being granted clearance.

Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic's spaceship design partner, was granted an experimental permit from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) – a move that will allow it to proceed with powered flights.

No timetable has been set for the first launches carrying paying customers, expected to take place after the test programme is complete.

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My Comment: This is exciting news.

Fears Of A Supervolcano Erupting Sooner Rather Than Later Are Being Raised

Eruption: Supervolcanoes with the power to destroy human civilisations may build up a deadly head of steam far faster than scientists believed

Supervolcanoes With Power To 'Destroy Civilisation' Explode Far More Rapidly Than Scientists Had Believed - And One Could Be Bubbling Under U.S. Right Now -- Daily Mail

* Most deadly event that can hit Earth short of asteroid
* Scientists believed they took 100,000 years to build up
* Instead, figure could be just hundreds
* Supervolcano believed to be simmering under Yellowstone in U.S.

A 'supervolcano' eruption is the most catastrophic natural disaster that can hit our planet, short of an asteroid impact - and now scientists believe they may build up a deadly head of steam far faster than we thought.

Instead of the process taking hundreds of thousands of years, it could take just hundreds.

The news could be bad for the US, where a supervolcano is said to be simmering beneath Yellowstone National Park. If it erupted, two thirds of the country could be rendered uninhabitable.

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My Comment: Such an event will .... to put it mildly .... change everything.

Ford's Fastest Mustang Ever

Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500 Courtesy Ford Motor Co.

Ford's Fastest Mustang Ever: A 200mph Muscle Car -- Popular Science

Detroit automakers have recently been locked in a competition straight out of the 1960s: a race to create the fastest and most powerful muscle car. This summer, Ford takes the lead with the 650-horsepower Mustang Shelby GT 500. To break the 200mph mark, engineers departed from the muscle-car tradition of throwing a truck engine under the hood and calling it a day. Instead they redesigned the engine with lightweight materials, refined the car’s aerodynamics, and installed driver-assistance systems that allow anyone to drive the Shelby as it’s designed to be driven—aggressively.

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My Comment: My friend has a 2011 Ford Mustang .... and he is always telling me that Ford can never improve on this car. Hmmm .... it looks like they have.

Iran Is Claiming That It Has Defeated The Newest Computer Virus Directed At Them

Graphic showing the number and location of Flame infections, a malicious software virus infiltrating the Middle East

Iran Claims To Have Beaten 'Flame' Computer Virus -- The Telegraph

Iran claims it has defeated a powerful computer virus that has boasted unprecedented data-snatching capabilities and could eavesdrop on computer users, a senior official said.

Ali Hakim Javadi, Iran's deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology, told the official IRNA news agency that Iranian experts have already produced an antivirus capable of identifying and removing "Flame" from computers.

Iran's government-run Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center has said the Flame virus was focused on espionage.

Javadi did not say whether any Iranian government bodies or industries were affected by the virus.

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More News On The 'Flame' Computer Virus

Iran Says It's Produced Antivirus to Newly Detected Flame -- Bloomberg Businessweek
Iran claims it has fix for Flame malware -- TG Daily
Iran: 'Flame' virus fight began with oil attack -- AP
Iran: Powerful "Flame" computer virus briefly hit oil industry but was defeated with data recovered -- CBS/AP
Iran defeats powerful ‘Flame’ virus, military official claims -- Toronto Star/AP
Iran acknowledges that Flame virus has infected computers nationwide -- Washington Post
Iran confirms Flame virus attacked computers of high-ranking officials -- The Telegraph

A Look At How Libya Under GaddafiTried To Monitor The Internet And Social Media

Jamming Tripoli: Inside Moammar Gadhafi’s Secret Surveillance Network -- Threat Level

He once was known as al-Jamil—the Handsome One—for his chiseled features and dark curls. But four decades as dictator had considerably dimmed the looks of Moammar Gadhafi. At 68, he now wore a face lined with deep folds, and his lips hung slack, crested with a sparse mustache. When he stepped from the shadows of his presidential palace to greet Ghaida al-Tawati, whom he had summoned that evening by sending one of his hulking female bodyguards to fetch her, it was the first time she had seen him without his trademark sunglasses; his eyes were hooded and rheumy. The dictator was dressed in a white Puma tracksuit and slippers. How tired and thin he looked in person, Tawati thought.

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My Comment: This article is a fascinating read. In the age of the internet and social media .... intelligence and security agencies are now prioritizing efforts to not only limit it's uses .... but also on how to effectively conduct surveillance operations on it. A look at how Libya under Gaddafi tried to have a handle on this is fascinating to read .... not because of what was done in Libya .... but on what present repressive governments are trying to do when faced with dissatisfied youth and and calls for reform.

Inside The Navy’s Newest Spy Sub

Wikipedia

Exclusive Pictures: Inside The Navy’s Newest Spy Sub -- Danger Room

UNDERWAY ON THE U.S.S. MISSISSIPPI — The Navy’s newest fast-attack submarine is speeding down the Florida coast, on its way to its commissioning ceremony in its namesake state, at 15 knots. And it’s getting outraced by dolphins.

Hours before the U.S.S. Mississippi dives several hundred feet beneath the Atlantic, its sail juts proudly into the warm, whipping southern air. Submariners allow me to see the highest point on the sub for myself — provided I can keep my balance up three steep levels’ worth of ladder and hoist myself out onto a platform the size of a fancy refrigerator. A harness hooked to an iron bolt on the sail keeps me from falling to my death. There’s no land in sight, just blue water turned white around the sub’s wake, a tall BPS-16 military radar spinning in front of us, and a family of dolphins jumping out of the surf in front of the 377-foot boat.

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My Comment: Four days on a sub .... must have been an eye opening trip.

The Continuing Exponential Growth Of YouTube

Now Serving The Latest In Exponential Growth: YouTube! -- Singularity Hub

It goes without saying that YouTube has become the quintessential online video source for amateurs and professionals alike, but on the service’s seven-year anniversary, Google made quite a startling announcement: 72 hours of video are uploaded every single minute. That’s three entire days worth of cat videos, webcam rants, conference proceedings, news interviews, and company marketing fodder that is quietly swelling hard drives that already serve up four billion videos a day.

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My Comment: This 'exponential' growth probably has a few more years to go before it starts to level off.

The ‘New AIDS Of The Americas'

Photo: Experts say Charles Darwin suffered from Chagas disease, being called the “new AIDS of the Americas.” Reuters

Chagas Disease, An Incurable Infection, Called The ‘New AIDS Of The Americas': Report -- New York Post

Is This The Disease That Killed Charles Darwin?

Experts have dubbed it the “new AIDS of the Americas.”

A parasitic infection called Chagas Disease has similarities to the early spread of HIV, according to research published recently in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Like AIDS, Chagas is hard to detect and has a long incubation period before symptoms emerge, the study said, according to the New York Times.

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My Comment: This disease looks nasty.

New Advances In Stroke Treatments

Brain attack: Strokes occur when blood stops flowing to a part of the brain, often because a blood clot gets lodged in an artery supplying blood to the organ. istockphoto/Eraxion

Pill Could Reverse Effects Of A Stroke Long After It Hits -- Technology Review

One pharmaceutical company aims to lengthen a stroke's drug-treatable period from hours to months.

For the 800,000 people in the United States who suffer a stroke each year, the window for drug therapy closes in the first few hours after the attack. That leaves some seven million stroke survivors in this country alone with no medical alternative beyond physical therapy. A small pharmaceutical company in New York hopes to change that with a drug that may help patients regain some of their lost mobility six months or more after a stroke.

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My Comment: Our family had to take care of my father for 7 years after his stroke. I know that any advances in treatment will help millions.

NASA Is Worried About Future Moon Explorers

NASA has released a series of guidelines in an effort to protect future lunar missions from ruining the historic Apollo moon landing sites on the moon’s surface. Daily News Photo Illustration

NASA To Future Moon Explorers: Don’t Ruin Our Apollo Landing Sites -- New York Daily News

Space agency issues guidelines to help other lunar missions to protect historic remains

The next person to set foot on the moon needs to watch their step.

NASA has reached an agreement with the Google X Lunar Prize competition to prevent the next wave of moon visitors from ruining historic lunar sites.

The guidelines would also protect existing scientific experiments from getting trampled underfoot by the guests vying for $30 million in prize money.

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My Comment: I guess they are worried that some future moon explorer would go to the first Apollo site .... steal the flag .... and mark in the dust that "Killjoy was here".

The 'Flame' Virus Ups The Ante For Cyberwar

A cyber warfare expert holds a notebook computer while posing for a portrait in Charlotte in this December 2011 file photo. A United Nations agency charged with helping member nations secure their national infrastructures plans to issue a sharp warning about the risk of the Flame virus that was recently discovered in Iran and other parts of the Middle East. John Adkisson/Reuters/Files

Beyond Stuxnet: Massively Complex Flame Malware Ups Ante For Cyberwar -- Christian Science Monitor

Flame is something new in cyberwar, experts say. It can take screenshots and record audio on infected computers. The malware was almost certainly made by a nation-state.

Stuxnet move over. Cybersecurity researchers on Monday announced the discovery of Flame, a piece of malicious software that one firm has called "arguably ... the most complex malware ever found."

At this early stage of analysis, only a few of Flame's functions are understood, reports Kaspersky Lab, the Boston-based cybersecurity company that uncovered it. Because of Flame's size and complexity, it could take years to unpack completely what the program can – and has – done, experts add.

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My Comment: There are only 4 countries capable of doing this .... the US, Russia, China, and Israel. Who is the guilty party .... my money is on all 4 of them.

Is Israel Behind The Super-Virus Targeting Iran?

Israel Hints It May Be Behind Super-Virus Targeting Iran -- The Independent

'Flame' cyber attacks that can steal vast amounts of sensitive data come as Tehran nuclear talks falter.

A top Israeli minister yesterday fed speculation that the Jewish state could be responsible for a powerful new virus said to have been used in a fresh attack on computers in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The discovery of the unprecedented complex data-stealing "Flame" virus was disclosed by a Russian-based digital security firm Kaspersky Lab. Its experts reported on Monday that it had been applied most actively in Iran, but also in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

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My Comment: If Israel was behind the development of this virus .... they would be saying nothing.

Why A Gin And Tonic Is Best Served Cold

The tongue tastes the bitterness in gin and tonic more intensely when it's cold, researchers have found (Source: jonathansloane/iStockphoto)

Evidence Supports A Cold Gin And Tonic -- ABC News (Australia)

Science can finally explain why gin and tonic tastes best when it's served cold.

Sensory scientist Dr Martha Bajec and colleagues from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, report their findings online this month in the journal Chemosensory Perception.

"You want to make sure that your gin and tonic is cold to make sure that it's bitter," says Bajec.

While previous research has suggested temperature can affect people's perception of sweetness, Bajec was surprised to find no one had ever looked at the effect of temperature on bitter tastes.

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My Comment: I guess the same can be said of most drinks .... from beer to putting ice-cubes in any 'hard drink'.

Even In The Stone Age There Were 'Haves' And 'Have Nots'

Analysis of grave sites across central Europe found that 7,000 years ago, in the early Neolithic era, some farmers had better land and better tools, which they were buried with.

Even In The Stone Age There Were 'Haves' And 'Have Nots' - And Our Unequal Society Began 7,000 Years Ago -- Daily Mail

* People buried with stone 'adzes' had better farming land
* Inherited wealth began just as farming spread across Europe
* Social inequality began far earlier than many imagined
* Early Neolithic farmers divided into 'haves' and 'have nots'

The gap between rich and poor began far earlier than most of us might imagine.

In 5,000BC, long before the Egyptians built the pyramids, Europeans were already divided into ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

Analysis of grave sites across central Europe found that 7,000 years ago, in the early Neolithic era, some farmers had better land – and better tools, which they were buried with.

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My Comment: I guess we have not changed much over the past few centuries.

What’s Killing Supercentenarians?

Small bowel duodenum with amyloid deposition (credit: Michael Feldman/Wikimedia Commons)

What’s Killing Supercentenarians? Amyloidosis, Suggest Two Gerontologists -- Kurzweil Artificial Intelligence

In a newly published review, Dr. Stephen Coles and Robert Young of the UCLA Gerontology Research Group have identified what may be killing supercentenarians: amyloidosis — and drugs to treat it could extend lifespan beyond current limits, Extreme Longevity reports.

Supercentenarians are persons who have lived beyond the age of 110. Currently there are only about 80 such known individuals in the world whose age is verified. The world record holder is Jeanne Calment, who survived until age 122.

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My Comment: I's getting older .... so faster please.

Some Star Wars Fun

Luke Skywalker in Star Wars IV - A New Hope (1977) Photo: Allstar/LUCASFILM

Star Wars Superfun Update -- Dark Roasted Blend

Star Wars as You've Never Seen Them Before - in Geek Art and Fan Creativity!

Just finished watching the original trilogy in Blu-ray edition (highly recommended, by the way) - and was pleasantly reminded that we need to update our long-running popular "Star Wars Fun" series (Part 3, Part 2, Part 1)

Since our last update, Star Wars Universe has seen some near-Big-Bang explosion of fantastic art and creativity in made items... inspired by the classic, near immortal, interstellar story of Grand Conflict Between Good and Evil, full of Betrayal, Peril and Redemption at the most importunate times... but I digress; true Star Wars fans stay away from big words and prefer visual proof. Here it is -

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My Comment: A little Star Wars fun.

How Memory Works

Image: Drawing from Gray's Anatomy

Why Is Memory So Good and So Bad? -- Scientific American

Explaining the memory paradox.

What did you eat for dinner one week ago today? Chances are, you can’t quite recall. But for at least a short while after your meal, you knew exactly what you ate, and could easily remember what was on your plate in great detail. What happened to your memory between then and now? Did it slowly fade away? Or did it vanish, all at once?

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My Comment: For one who finds it frustrating when he forgets important bits of information .... this is a must read.

NASA Wanted To Send Astronauts To Venus

NASA Wanted Astronauts to View Venus Up-Close -- Discovery News

In a little over a week, we’re all going to be looking skyward and focusing our sights (safely) on Venus as it crosses the disk of the sun. It's going to be a fantastic view, especially since most of us only ever see Venus as a tiny dot of light in the sky. But in 1967, NASA considered giving three astronauts a really rare view of Venus by sending them on a flyby around the second planet from the sun.

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My Comment: NASA dreamed big then.