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Post by swamprat on Feb 24, 2019 15:35:42 GMT
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Post by swamprat on Feb 24, 2019 16:33:14 GMT
And.....We found Young Sheldon!! A 12-Year-Old Built a Fusion Reactor in His Playroom By Rafi Letzter, Staff Writer | February 24, 2019
Source: Shutterstock
A 12-year-old kid from Tennessee created a nuclear reaction in his family's playroom in January 2018, according The Guardian. That makes him the youngest known person to have done so.
The Open Source Fusor Research Consortium (a group of nuclear hobbyists) recognized Jackson Oswalt's achievement on Feb. 2, according to a report by commercial appeal, a USA Today affiliate. Oswalt, now 14, built a machine that generates a plasma in which nuclear fusion occurs — not splitting an atom, but rather crushing atoms together to form heavier atoms.
So to answer the obvious question: Yes, nuclear reactions are things you can do at home. Live Science has reported previously on nuclear startups that have gotten going as hobbyist projects. And there are more people who make fusion purely for the fun of it.
And these efforts almost always involve fusion, rather than fission(splitting atoms). Fission requires very heavy, tightly controlled substances like uranium. Fusion typically involves the ultralight isotopes of hydrogen, such as deuterium, which are easier to acquire. When two light atoms fuse, the resulting "heavier atom" is a bit lighter than the two that formed it, resulting in extra mass that gets released as energy.
Achieving fusion at home doesn't mean that Oswalt (or any other hobbyist) has built a nuclear reactor that could actually generate more power than it takes to turn on. That's a trick no one, not even the Department of Energy, has yet managed to accomplish.
And hobbyist reactors like this, while they do produce some radiation, produce fusion on far too tiny a scale to be seriously dangerous to anyone not in their immediate vicinity. Oswalt's device couldn't be repurposed as a bomb. That said, Fusor.net's FAQ does include warnings that improperly shielded fusion reactions can be "deadly."
The basic principle of fusors like this is that they use magnets to suspend isotopes of hydrogen gas in a vacuum, then pump a ton of electricity in to super-heat it until the atoms start to fuse into helium. To prove that fusion has occurred, Oswalt needed to show that neutrons (which get released during the process of deuterium fusion) had been produced.
The Guardian reported that Oswalt's reactor required 50,000 volts of electricity and involved $10,000 of equipment.
www.livescience.com/64846-fusion-kid.html
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Post by swamprat on Feb 24, 2019 21:39:31 GMT
This Bird's Body Is Half Male, Half Female. So Is Its Brain. By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer | February 21, 2019
This cardinal is plumed in feathers that are scarlet on one side and taupe on the other. The unusual plumage pattern is a telltale sign that this bird is a gynandromorph, or half male, half female. Credit: Shirley Caldwell
Male cardinals are red. Female cardinals are tan. The odd bird that's been roosting outside John and Shirley Caldwell's kitchen in Erie, Pennsylvania, is an even split of both.
Divided down the middle like a winged black-and-white-cookie, the rare cardinal is plumed in feathers that are scarlet on its right side and taupe on its left. When Shirley Caldwell photographed the bird on a recent winter morning, she knew it was unusually beautiful. She did not realize the bird's quirks went beyond its unusual plumage, though.
Ornithologists call birds like this one "bilateral gynandromorphs" — meaning half the bird's body is male and the other half is female.
"This remarkable bird is a genuine male/female chimera," Daniel Hooper, a postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, told National Geographic.
Gynandromorphs, or "half-siders," exist in many bird, crustacean and butterfly species. According to Hooper, cardinal half-siders are especially easy to spot because male and female birds of the species display such clearly contrasting colors.
So, how does a bird end up being dual-coated and dual-gendered?
It involves a cocktail of chromosomes, which work slightly differently than the X and Y sex chromosomes that mammals carry.
According to Hooper, female birds carry both sex chromosomes — which in birds are labeled W and Z — while males carry two Zs. Gynandromorphy is thought to occur when female egg cells develop with two nuclei — so that one nucleus contains a single Z chromosome and the other contains a single W.
When that egg is fertilized by sperm carrying two male Z chromosomes, the egg develops with both ZZ (male) and ZW (female) chromosomes. The bird then develops with half of its body containing male ZZ cells while the other half contains female ZW cells.
If this chromosomal mix-up occurs early on in the animal’s development, before many of their cells begin to divide, it can result in the sort of perfect bilateral split seen in Caldwell’s cardinal friend. According to Kimberly Reece, a geneticist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, bilateral symmetry "typically arises when the organism has between 8 and 64 cells," Reece said in 2005, following the discovery of a gynandromorph crab in the Chesapeake Bay.
This is likely the case for the half-sider cardinal spotted in Pennsylvania, Hooper said. To know for sure, however, an ornithologist would have to analyze the bird's blood.
If that's the case, the chimeric bird's brain would probably also be "half male" and "half female," Hooper told The New York Times. As such, it's unlikely that the bird would be able to sing — a skill only developed by lusty male cardinals.
Shirley Caldwell has noticed one such scarlet-plumed male trying to court the gynandromorph bird in her yard. If there is a chemistry between the two lovebirds, it's possible they could even have offspring, Hooper said.
"Most gynandromorph individuals are infertile, but this one may actually be fertile as the left side is female, and only the left ovary in birds is functional," Hooper told National Geographic.
www.livescience.com/64831-cardinal-gynandromorph.html
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Post by Ak9 on Feb 25, 2019 5:34:37 GMT
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 25, 2019 10:55:26 GMT
"We found Young Sheldon!!"
Wow Swamprat, they really did find young Sheldon!
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 25, 2019 11:00:07 GMT
Good Monday morning lovely UFOCasebookers,
Newswire.com
Dave Shoup's New Book "UFOs: First Person: A Lifetime of UFO Secrecy" Details Intricate Circumstances With UFO Conspiracies to the Populace.
Recent release "UFOs: First Person: A Lifetime of UFO Secrecy" from Covenant Books author Dave Shoup is an engrossing opus that tackles the clandestine knowledge of extraterrestrial occurrences and the government's alleged involvement with such events.
Press Release - updated: Feb 25, 2019 03:00 EST
Gainesville, FL, February 25, 2019 (Newswire.com) - Dave Shoup, a professor of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at major American universities, as well as an academic administrator, College assistant dean, associate dean, dean, Director of International programs, and Director of Academic Programs, has completed his new book, “UFOs: First Person: A Lifetime of UFO Secrecy”: an account that delves into the UFO encounters from different American states.
Dr. Dave Shoup details over 30 personal UFO encounters from Arizona, Florida, Utah, Nebraska, Illinois, and Indiana. He also relates his own personal struggles with government agencies to get his story to the American public that UFOs are real.
Published by Covenant Books of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, Dave Shoup’s new book also conveys the author’s personal exploits of addressing the government to enlighten the citizens on the truth behind UFO sightings.
Readers can purchase “UFOs: First Person: A Lifetime of UFO Secrecy” at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
Covenant Books is an international Christian owned and operated publishing house based in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. Covenant Books specializes in all genres of work which appeal to the Christian market. For additional information or media inquiries, contact Covenant Books at 843-507-8373.
www.newswire.com/news/dave-shoups-new-book-ufos-first-person-a-lifetime-of-ufo-secrecy-20809661
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 25, 2019 11:04:26 GMT
Daily Record Scotland
UFO fans mistake photo of Virgin Galactic spaceflight taken from Skye for alien craft
Christopher Andrew captured the 'one in a million shot' of the spaceflight which saw Scottish astronaut Dave Mackay become the first Scot in space - but alien hunters were soon getting in touch
www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/ufo-nutters-hound-photographer-over-14047563
The silly thing was giving me grief. Sorry to post just the link.
Crystal
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Post by swamprat on Feb 25, 2019 16:05:27 GMT
Keep your catcher's mitt handy!Failed 1970s Venus Probe Could Crash to Earth This Year By Leonard David 2 hours ago Spaceflight
Exactly when it falls back to Earth is unclear.
A failed Soviet Venus probe similar to that of Venera 8 seen here will slam into Earth's atmosphere some time in 2019. (Image: © Alamy)
Here's another warning about incoming space hardware — but this saga has an interplanetary connection.
First, we have to peel back space history to the early 1970s, just after the height of the Cold War space-race between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The Soviet Union launched the Cosmos 482 Venus probe on March 31, 1972. But the spacecraft messed up its rocket-powered escape to that cloud-veiled world and got trapped in Earth orbit.
A big chunk of that failed craft remains in orbit today as space junk — but it's due to come down soon, perhaps as early as this year, experts said.
Cosmos 482 was a sister probe to Venera 8,which in July 1972 became the second craft to land successfully on the surface of Venus, said Don Mitchell, who studies Soviet space history and has a keen interest in that country's Venus exploration missions.
Venera 8 relayed data from Venus' surface for 50 minutes and 11 seconds before succumbing to the harsh, lead-melting conditions.
But Cosmos 482 got stranded in an Earth parking orbit, Mitchell told Space.com. Some hardware from that failed flight — a heavy frame of tanks and equipment that was jettisoned — fell into Earth's atmosphere in rather short order. But some remained aloft.
Venera 8 comprised a spacecraft "bus" and a lander probe. The lander was a spherical pressure vessel of similar design to the Soviet Union's Venera 7 probe.
Venera 7 launched in August 1970 and made the first-ever successful Venus landing on Dec. 15 of that year. It sent valuable data back to Earth from the surface, if only for a few brief minutes.
Still adrift
Still adrift around Earth, making one lap every 112 minutes, is the wayward Cosmos 482 Venus entry capsule, a contraption built to withstand the heat of diving into that cloud-veiled planet's thick atmosphere. The errant Venus lander mass is 1,091 lbs. (495 kilograms) and carries significant thermal protection.
And this piece of space junk will likely survive its inevitable descent back to its home planet, experts said.
"Yes, the descent craft will survive a re-entry with no problems," said satellite watcher Thomas Dorman of the northeastern Oklahoma community of Zeb. "It would be funny if it was spotted coming down and the parachute has deployed … but I am sure the batteries to fire the pyrotechnics to release the parachute have died long ago!"
True condition a mystery
Like Dorman, veteran astrophotographer Ralf Vandebergh of the Netherlands has been observing the wayward spacecraft for a while — the last eight years, in fact. He told Space.com he's done a new appraisal of Cosmos 482.
"My preliminary conclusion of Cosmos 482, observing using a 10-inch aperture telescope during varying passes, viewing angles, illumination angles and observing conditions, [is that it] seems [to be] an elongated object with strong brightness variations," Vandebergh reported. "There is an indication of smaller structures, but these are unconfirmed. Despite the successful results, the mystery around the true condition of Cosmos 482 and what elements of the spacecraft exactly are still in orbit still remains unsolved.
Meanwhile, Dorman recently captured Cosmos 482 on his skywatching equipment. His imagery showed the object flaring. A spherical object such as the Venus descent capsule seemingly wouldn't flare, he said, suggesting that more of the upper spacecraft bus was still intact.
Re-entry when?
"Our guess is maybe as much as 40 to 50 percent of the upper spacecraft bus may still be there," Dorman told Space.com. "It is interesting to note the apogee of the orbit is slowly starting to decay. My guess right now is that re-entry is late this year to mid next year. But predicting its decay is as much of an art [as] it is science. The other issue is, nobody can forecast solar activity for the next year, which could affect the decay time," he said.
Dorman said Cosmos 482 is in an orbit that swings it out from Earth over 1,700 miles (2,735 km) away, but the low point, the perigee of the orbit, is just 125 miles (200 km) above our planet.
"Trying to study Cosmos 482 and what remains of the spacecraft is like attempting to gain an understanding and insight of a shipwreck that is moving at hypervelocity speeds, under ever-changing lighting conditions from the surface of an ocean…this ocean being several hundred miles deep, with only a few seconds to see it at its closest and at best a few times a year!"
Another rough estimate suggests that what's left of the failed Venus probe might stay up for another 2.5 years, even with such a low perigee.
"This suggests the object is very dense, which could support that it might withstand re-entry," said T.S. Kelso of CelesTrak, an analytical group that keeps an eye on Earth-orbiting objects.
You can see Vandebergh's latest view of Cosmos 482 here: www.ralfvandebergh-astrophotography.simpsite.nl/lost-planetary-spacecraft
Leonard David is author of the forthcoming book, "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" to be published by National Geographic in May 2019. A longtime writer for Space.com, David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades.
www.space.com/failed-soviet-venus-spacecraft-falls-to-earth-soon.html?utm_source=notification
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 26, 2019 11:03:22 GMT
Good morning, good morning,
The Week, United Kingdom
‘UFO’ hovered over Gloucester on Valentine’s Day
Feb 26, 2019
And other stories from the stranger side of life
Pilots believe they encountered a UFO circling over Gloucester on Valentine’s Day. Air MidWest pilots have reported encountering lights in the sky which “defied our normal expectation of standard aircraft or meteorological activity”. A YouTube commenter wrote: “We'll see how long before they suddenly claim it was ‘just a drone’ in order to save their jobs.”
Man ‘unfazed’ after accidentally drinking paint
A 90-year-old man who accidentally drank half a can of paint after mistaking it for yoghurt says he remains “unfazed” by the experience. Taking to Instagram, the American grandfather wrote: “Apparently I ate paint this morning…s**t honestly tastes better than yogurt sooo #no #regrets (poison control laughed at me, but they said I'll be fine).”
Hanoi bars serve ‘Negroniation’ cocktails ahead of summit
Bars in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi are serving “Peace Negroniation” cocktails ahead of the second summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. The Tannin Wine Bar is offering the a special twist on the classic cocktail, made with pink-grapefruit flavored soju, vermouth and a drop of Angostura bitters. “It’ll facilitate the negotiations - after one or two drinks it’s more easy to talk,” said a bar manager.
www.theweek.co.uk/odd-news/99827/ufo-hovered-over-gloucester-on-valentine-s-day
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 26, 2019 11:10:33 GMT
Express and Star, United Kingdom
Pilot reports being hit by laser just moments before UFO encounters
By Jamie Brassington 26 February 2019 An aeroplane pilot reported being hit by a 'laser' just moments before he encountered unidentified flying objects.
The flying instructor, from Wolverhampton airport, was travelling over Gloucestershire when his small aircraft was brightly illuminated.
Moments after the incident, the pilot and his student encountered UFOs, which reportedly consisted of unusual lights.
A spokesman for Air Midwest, which employs the pilot, said: "We are unsure if this event (the laser) is involved with the main event (UFO sighting). "The pilot believes he may have been under a laser attack from the ground.
"A bright laser-like light illuminated the cockpit. Immediately after this the main lights (UFO) were observed."
Air Midwest, a flying school based at Wolverhampton airport in Bobbington, has been unable to identify the source of the light. Staff members are now wondering if this event was related to the UFO sightings. They are also unsure if the light source was actually a laser, or if it was caused by something else.
The Express & Star reported last week how two Air Midwest flying instructors, and their two students, reported seeing UFOs on the night of February 19. After the flight, one made a report saying he witnessed two UFOs which were 'large, orange and square'.
They were undertaking night navigation training over Gloucestershire when the sightings occurred, after taking off from Wolverhampton airport.
Both events - the UFOs and so-called laser-light - have left staff members at the flying school baffled.
In the 'laser incident', which took place before the UFO sightings, the affected pilot radioed air traffic control after his student raised concerns.
In the conversation to air traffic control, the pilot said: “Apparently there is someone shining lasers at the aircraft from the bottom of the base-downwind leg."
A while later into the flight, the two Air Midwest flying instructors, who were in separate aircraft, spoke about witnessing the UFOs.
One pilot said to the other: "Behind you at your six O'clock, there is something that looks stationery but has got some peculiar lights on it."
As part of Air Midwest's own investigations, staff members trawled logs from Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), which listed airborne events in the area.
Tim Brannon, director of the flying school, told the Express & Star: "There was no airborne activity that remotely the objects we saw.
"This is a massive surprise to us as we expected to find an activity that explained the event.
"So as it stands my guys did see still unexplained objects that one would generally refer to as UFOs."
The incident has drawn interest from around the world and it remains a mystery.
The Air Midwest spokesman added: "We at Air Midwest are still expecting a normal explanation at some point but as yet after investigating, we still cannot find an explanation for what four of our pilots saw that evening."
www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/dudley/2019/02/26/pilot-reports-being-hit-by-laser-just-moments-before-ufo-encounters/
Crystal
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Post by swamprat on Feb 26, 2019 17:27:26 GMT
Florida Plumber Finds Clog in Sewer System
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Post by swamprat on Feb 26, 2019 20:35:55 GMT
I believe it is time for an encore.....
Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.
Here are the facts; The link at the bottom will take you to a video showing the very first public singing of "God Bless America ". But before you watch it you should know the story behind the first public showing of the song.
The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.
This was the era just before TV when radio shows were HUGE and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith..
Kate was also large; plus size as we now say and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her; "It ain't over till the fat lady sings."
Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.
Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring. She had hope for America , and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer Irving Berlin (who also wrote White Christmas) and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written but never published, 22 years before - in 1917 He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America . Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America . Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.
This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, You're In The Army Now, and various scenes of people listening to the song.
To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry..and for many generations of Americans to follow.
Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it..
Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with God Bless America ... So here's the entire song as originally sung. Enjoy it!
www.youtube.com/embed/TnQDW-NMaRs?rel=0
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 27, 2019 11:31:04 GMT
Good morning lovely people,
Yahoo News
Pilots report large square UFOs over United Kingdom
Staff writer 26 February 2019
Two pilots at Air Midwest claimed they saw unidentified flying objects when they were heading to Gloucester earlier this month.
The company reported the incident on Facebook and the post soon attracted the attention of many interested parties, with the company going on to provide detailed information about the UFO incident:
They wrote: "There has been a lot of interest in the fact that our pilots observed 'UFO's' last night during night flying exercises... so here is a brief summary of the situation."
"Two of our aircraft were conducting night navigation exercises to the south and south east of our home airfield.
"At approximately 20:15 one of our aircraft was tracking south towards Gloucester at 7000ft after leaving the the Birmingham air traffic zone.
"At the same time one of our other aircraft was also tracking south towards Gloucester at 4000ft when both aircraft observed one red and one orange lights in the the sky south of Gloucester.
"Our aircraft approached the lights on an interception track but were unable to gain on the objects as they appeared to move further south of Gloucester as our aircraft approached. We were unable to identify the lights.
"One of our pilots filed the following report on the event - 'I observed Initially 2 large square orange lights. One on top of each but slightly off set however there was a gap in height between them.
"'The top object was constantly orange. The lower one occasionally flicked white but majority of time was orange. In addition to that on 2 occasions I observed 5 orange lights but that was momentary.
"'I initially observed them when leaving Birmingham control zone. I thought they were just south of Gloucester and definitely a lot higher then us. We then climbed 5000 ft and they seemed level at that height and stationary.
"'As we approached Gloucester came apparent they were now further south maybe beyond Bristol even as far as Weston super-mare but directly south of Gloucester airport.
"'On our return leg up to EGBO (our home base) by Worcester we climbed 7000 ft and commenced a turn to observe the lights. At this point they seemed lower than us in the same place and stationary.
"'I have no idea what these objects were.'
"That is all we can say on the matter. Night glow balloons? But unlikely as these do not move very fast at all. So what they were? We have no idea. An interesting event."
In a further update Air MidWest wrote: "We are all pretty amazed here at air midwest by the interest in this post.
"But we must clarify we are not claimed we encountered an extraterrestrial situation.
"We encountered unexplained airborne lights that defied our normal expectation of standard aircraft or meteorological activity...
"We considered it could be night glow hot air balloons but we are not aware any any such activities taking place and the objects observed seemed to move from their original location to another with a rapidity not in line with balloon activity.. but of course the apparent changes of location could have been an optical illusion due to night effect.
"In conclusion our pilots, both senior flight instructors and highly experienced commercial airline pilots with over 25,000 flying hours between them, together with there crews observed airborne lights the nature of which they were unable to identify.
"For this fact alone we obviously can only describe the observations as 'Unidentified Flying or Airborne Objects'. Hence referring to them as UFO's, as that is what they were.
"We have no idea as to the origin of the objects and as yet we have not yet come across any standard explanation for what the objects could have been.
"We look forward to any information this week that could offer a suitable explanation for what our crews observed. Many thanks for your interest - Air Midwest."
uk.news.yahoo.com/pilots-report-large-square-ufos-114800855.html
Crystal
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Post by WingsofCrystal on Feb 27, 2019 11:35:01 GMT
Live Science
Someone Decapitated a 'Crusader' Mummy in Ireland and Ran Off with Its Head
By Brandon Specktor, Senior Writer February 26, 2019 04:20pm ET
The head of an 800-year-old mummy known as "The Crusader" has been lopped off and stolen from its crypt below St. Michan's Church in Dublin.
According to a statement issued by the Church of Ireland, vandals are believed to have broken into the church's underground vaults over the weekend, where they "desecrated" the bodies of several mummies interred there. St. Michan’s staff discovered the damage on Monday (Feb. 25) afternoon.
In addition to beheading the mummy known as "The Crusader" and flipping it over in its coffin, the vandals also damaged the 400-year-old remains of a mummy known as "The Nun," the church reported.
"I would appeal to those responsible to examine their consciences and return the head of The Crusader to its rightful place," the archbishop of Dublin said in the statement.
Irish police are investigating the incident.
St. Michan's Church dates to 1095, but the present church building was completed in 1685, according to the church's website. The crypts below St. Michan's hold many mummies, though their history is not fully known. According to the church, the bodies of the men and women entombed there slowly mummified over time thanks to the basement's naturally dry atmosphere, which is partially due to limestone bricks sucking moisture out of the air.
This dryness has also caused some of the mummies' caskets to disintegrate, exposing the corpses inside to public view. The Crusader and The Nun were among the crypt's most visible and most visited mummies. According to Atlas Obscura, church officials once encouraged visitors to shake The Crusader's outstretched hand (a practice that ended in 2017).
Historians believe The Crusader participated in the Fourth Crusade, which spanned from 1202 to 1204. Standing more than 6.5 feet (2 meters) tall, the mummy previously had to have its legs broken and folded up behind it just to fit in the coffin.
www.livescience.com/64865-crusader-mummy-loses-head.html
Crystal
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Post by swamprat on Feb 27, 2019 16:25:10 GMT
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