Month: November 2018

The Most Basic Meaning of Hanukkah

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The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah is essentially at its most basic principle, the celebration of a military victory during the 2nd century B.C., which was fought and won by the Maccabees, a religious and nationalist rebellion militant faction. When the Maccabees triumphed against the foreign Seleucid military which was comprised of Greek and Syrian soldiers, they repatriated and rededicated the Second Temple which stood in Jerusalem, Israel. The Second Temple was the Jewish holy temple which stood upon the Temple Mount during the Second Temple period, between 516 B.C.E. – 70 C.E. The term “hanukkah” is a Hebrew and Aramaic term which means “consecration” but can also be understood as “dedication”

Christie’s Practice of Fraudulent Art Auction Bids and Investment in Modern Art

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Creating the illusion of a bid in the room by an auctioneer to ensure a reserve price is met is perfectly legal and is often done so that Christie’s turns a profit because they are solely commission based and without a sale, Christie’s actually loses money when factoring in storage, transport, and the brokering of the piece which involves many people behind the scenes as well as the auctioneer. Antiquities of the art world tend to sell at bargain price points so Christie’s has put much of its resources into living artists whose works sell in the millions of dollars instead of hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of these newer works have been created within the past 20 – 30 years and provide commentary upon a specific moment in time often one which the purchaser remembers during their own lifetime (e.g. tank man in Tiananmen Square, China)

Plasma: the 4th State of Matter 

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Plasma is created when gasses are heated to high enough temperatures that some of the electrons within the gasses atoms, fly off leaving positively charged ions; this super hot mixture of ions and electrons is referred to as “plasma”. Lightning is a plasma. The sun is also plasma. Plasma is the most common state of matter within the universe as all stars are made up of plasma

The Early Formation of Earth 

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During the early days of the solar system, dozens of planets orbited the sun. It is thought that these planets collided and with this collision came intense heat which melted and welded rocks and minerals together. It is theorized that Mercury was only hit once hence it’s small size, Mars not at all, Venus 8x, and Earth 10x primarily because Earth it is the largest of the rocky planets. The last impact towards Earth is thought to have occurred 4,500,000,000 (4.5 billion) years ago which gave Earth its iron core; the lighter debris floated back above Earth and rotated around it which gave Earth rings similar to Saturn. Scientists now know that Earth was hit by rocks which came from Mars. It is thought that primitive microbial life would be able to withstand the journey from Mars to Earth. Earth had enough gravity to hold its oceans which allowed for constant changes in weather. It is thought that life began on Earth 4,300,000,000 (4.3 billion) years ago and that life became sophisticated 2,800,000,000 (2.8 billion) years ago. Despite the Earth being hit 6x catastrophically which was once thought to have sterilized all life, primitive life forms lay dormant in suspended animation within the salt rock which was produced from the immense heat during each catastrophic event. The microbes lay waiting until conditions became more favorable at which time they started reproducing and thriving. Scientists tested this first hand by drilling into salt rock which was created during a catastrophic event to release 200,000,000 (200 million) year old sea water which held tiny microbes called asilospermians which were reanimated when left within a nutrient rich solution for 4 months

The Advent of the Modern Shipping Container 

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Shipping containers are referred to as “TEU’s” which is an acronym meaning “twenty foot equivalent unit”. The shipping container was created almost by accident by the American entrepreneur Malcom McLean who wanted to put his trucks onto ships to ship them down the Atlantic coast and avoid traffic. McLean realized that he could fit more trucks if he removed the cab from the container and from this, the modern shipping container was born. Shipping has become so efficient that it costs approximately $300.00 to send 20 tonnes of anything from the United States of America to China or vice versa

The Reason the Catholic Church Requires Celibacy for Spiritual Leaders

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There is no basis in scripture for celibacy, in fact there is evidence to support that Jesus Christ was married as well as his 12 apostles, with the probable exception of John. The first several dozen popes were married and had children, and celibacy is not found within the Catholic faith until the 4th century, the very same time in which sexual abuse and misconduct against children began to take place in respect to written recorded history (it is unclear as to the actual starting point as records do not exist beyond this timeframe). Celibacy was developed and demanded due to finance, as married priests automatically passed down their wealth to their firstborn son, as was the customary practice of primogeniture, but if said priest had no heirs, their wealth went directly to the church

The Decoding of the Rosetta Stone


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The decoding of the Rosetta Stone was a massive breakthrough, taking 20 years to achieve, and shaping archeology into a science, distancing itself from the art form it had been regarded as prior. For the first time in history, the focus of archeology was not centered upon owning a piece of history for its beauty but rather understanding a piece of history for the information it contained, information which could be freely shared with and taught to those outside of the field. The Rosetta Stone has been inked and pressed by paper to make exact duplicates and has had 4 plaster copies made, which were then sent to the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Dublin. A large printed copy was also drafted by hand using just paper and an inked pen to carefully mimic each and every hieroglyph carving made. The Rosetta Stone had an added benefit to the initial benefits listed previously as it aided archeologists in their quest to work out the chronology of Egyptian history

Ancient Egyptian Influence Upon Europe

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Prior to the development of the methods and tools used for scientific analysis, many Europeans regarded Egypt as the birthplace of civilization. This meant that Napoléon Bonaparte was free to invade Egypt because the French people viewed his campaigns as a way of leading themselves back to the source of their roots. Bonaparte did not only bring soldiers, he also brought scholars who would observe and record the knowledge gained while in Egypt. This acquisition of knowledge made information about Egypt available to the public through books filled with illustrations and writing about Egyptian culture, its people, and its landmarks. Elements of ancient Egypt started to work their way into European culture and even reach out west as far as the new colonies of the United States of America, with examples like the pyramid on the back of U.S. currency and the obelisk Washington Monument in Washington D.C.. Bonaparte’s campaign was the most significant European foray into the Islamic world since the Crusades

Ancient Chinese Societal Classes 

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In ancient China the highest ranking members of society were educated scholars, followed by farmers, after which artisans (e.g. wood, steel, and pottery craftspeople) and finally merchants which was ranked the lowest because the mercantile tier did not produce any products of value, instead opting to buy and sell goods produced by others