The original Reuters article: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-34390320080706.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080724/ap_on_go_ot/arctic_oil
http://www.france24.com/en/20080724-arctic-vast-oil-reserves-energy-environment-gas-study-usgs-billion-barrels&navi=SCIENCES

Enough oil to cover demand for three (3!), yes, three whole years! Of course the irony of it all is that global warming caused — at least for an important part — by the burning of fossil fuels, has resulted in a retraction of the arctic ice cover, which now allows us to get at new deposits of fossil fuels, which will, of course, be exploited (with rising prices, exploitation in difficult environments becomes ever more viable) and will further increase global warming.

In connection with this, there is the interesting debate on offshore drilling in sensitive areas in the US. Obama has come out against offshore drilling, versus McCain and Bush. The GOP is now attacking Obama for putting environment before gas prices. Probably this is an accusation that will appeal to certain members of the public. In fact, it would be a good thing if Obama really put the environment first. But just listen to what he actually said on this issue (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fkbEuCQss) and you’ll notice that despite some environmental concerns shimmering through, he says he would in fact consider offshore drilling if it would bring gas prices down. He thinks it will not, and that the whole issue has only been brought up for party-political reasons. That may be true, but at the same time his words betray, that one way or another, whomever is in power in the White House or elsewhere, we can be quite sure that wherever there is a drop of oil, it will be pumped up, now or in the not too distant future.

http://www.ford.com/about-ford/heritage/vehicles/100-years-ford-model-t-innovation/100-years-ford-model-t-innovation-688.

Or is it? Just 100 years!? It is totally incredible how the car has managed to completely ruin our world in so short a time.

During archaeological research at De Meern (part of the large-scale suburban  development Leidsche Rijn, west of Utrecht), a wreck has been found of a hitherto unknown type of Roman ship. The excavated remnants show strong similarities to the contemporary punter, a traditional Dutch vessel, whose origin was unclear so far. It represents a turning point in our knowledge of the development of Roman and later ships. The National Archaeological Service (RACM) speaks of “one of the most important finds in Dutch ship archeology ever”, echoing the words of ship archaeologist Jaap Morel.
The discovery was made in a former riverbed in the vicinity of the Roman castellum and vicus at the Hoge Woerd, north of De Meern. The castellum was occupied between ca 40 and 270 AD. Partly on that basis and on the basis of other finds in the surrounding clays, the ship can be dated around the year 200 or slightly later. Dendrochronology will provide a more precise date for the wood.
The vessel was approximately 9 m long and 1.05 m wide; what remains is part of the bottom plane that originally consisted of two or three oak planks, which tapered at the ends. Everything was put together with nails — which also secures its Roman provenance. This small boat has the main characteristics of punt-like vessels. A related type, a bit bigger and with blunter ends, is the so-called ‘bok’. They were propelled with a pole (‘punteren’/'punting’). Punts and boks are still in use today in the  Netherlands, notably in Overijssel around Giethoorn. They are known from many 17th and 18th c. paintings. The oldest archaeological finds of puntlike boats so far were two vessels from the river Regge, Overijssel (ca. 1500) and Rotterdam (13th c.).
Remarkable is also that the distance between the trusses of this newly found vessel, as with those of the Regge and Rotterdam, is between 29,6 and 29,9 centimeters: one Roman foot. This could indicate continuity in tradition and technology from the Roman period until today. With the new discovery an old Dutch ship type suddenly has been dated back 1000 years, and might have Roman roots (“an example of Italian design”, in the words of Morel).

The vessel has been named “De Meern 6″. The remains wil be preserved, and exhibited in a later stage. According to specialists from the RACM, De Meern has grown into one of the most important sites of Roman ships in northwest Europe. There De Meern 1-4, two cargo vessels and two dug out canoes, have been found over the years. De Meern 5 is a phantom vessel, who discovery was reported many years ago, but which has never been actually located. But we can hardly doubt some other find will make up the half dozen soon enough.

Based on: RACM http://tinyurl.com/5872rb  (in Dutch, with two pictures of recent punts) June 24, 2008.

You can download the full article from the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org/cgi/search?fulltext=magnasco&submit.x=6&submit.y=6.

Please note that the argument here is NOT one about the historicity of Iliad and Odyssey; it is about the fact that a poet writing an epic had astronomically reliable knowledge about a solar eclipse which took place at the alleged time of the story being told. Which would of course raise questions about the way in which this knowledge was transmitted: would this kind of astronomical detail be preserved in an oral poetic tradition? or would it be introduced at some stage into this tradition from a different source?

This reminded me of the emperor Trajan telling his provincial governor Plinius (Pliny the Younger) that anonymous evidence should never be accepted for any trial — not even trials for treasonous behaviour (as might be at issue with those damned Christians whom Trajan and Pliny were corresponding about) — because, as Trajan put it, anonymous witnesses were out of tune with present enlightened times.

O tempora, o mores… who would ever have thought that we could hold up a Roman emperor as a defender of human rights to a British Justice Secretary?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/18/america/obits.php : the Herald Tribune tribute to Charisse; http://www.filmreference.com/Actors-and-Actresses-Ca-Co/Charisse-Cyd.html : good bio in a nutshell. Pictures: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7460788.stm.

An investigation for BBC Panorama: waste, corruption and money not accounted for in the reconstruction of Iraq amounts to an estimated $23bn. “Panorama: Daylight Robbery” will be broadcast on 10 June 2008 at 9pm on BBC One.  The programme used US and Iraqi government sources to look at the extent to which some private firms and individuals have profited. Jane Corbin reports: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7445396.stm.

But when the Brasilian researcher Jose Carlos Meirelles, who has the unenviable task of protecting Indians against criminal encroachement of their territories, states that he hopes he can extend the lifespan of these tribes with another 10-20 years, I am overwhelmed with an enormous sense of loss. People who have been living in the Latin-American forest for thousands of years and have a culture of their own are wiped off the map, together with their natural habitat. Just 20 more years: it will have taken 636 years to destroy all the indigenous people of the Americas, and today in your newspaper or on the internet you can see the last of them.

Pictures: http://www.world-science.net/othernews/080531_tribe.htm, http://www.survival-international.org/news/3340