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☆ Will Powerful New Tools Finally Let Us Hear Alien Civilizations?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Seth Shostak | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

What could motivate extraterrestrial civilizations to beam electromagnetic signals into space? They might be using them for navigation or entertainment, or as a way of pinging our solar system to see if anyone’s home. Its history dates back to 1960, when astronomer Frank Drake aimed an 85-foot antenna at two relatively close star systems, hoping to pick up an alien signal. It was a simple, two-week experiment using already-existing equipment. Although Drake failed to discover any transmissions, his work excited the public and spawned further attempts.

☆ Cleopatra wasn't a Black woman, Egypt tells Netflix in a feud over new drama-documentary
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Egypt has accused Netflix of misrepresenting Cleopatra by framing her as a Black woman. Dr. Mustafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Archeology said it's a "blatant historical fallacy." The drama-documentary "Queen Cleopatra" is set to air on May 10, with Adele James cast as the queen. "Queen Cleopatra," the soon-to-be-released drama-documentary on the famed Egyptian queen, portrays her as a Black woman. Waziri said that depicting Cleopatra, a legendary beauty, as a Black woman is a "falsification of Egyptian history and a blatant historical fallacy."

☆ The Clash of Civilizations That Heralded a Rocky Relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Abhishek Kaicker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Das, a professor of English at Oxford University, is the rare scholar who combines a sensitivity to the literature of Jacobean England with a sympathetic and nuanced understanding of the Mughal empire. In Das’s telling, Roe was not a herald of the Company Raj to come as much as a product of 17th-century England, an island nation whose commercial ambitions were beginning to overshadow its royal court. Conflicts over precedence did nothing to advance his mission of securing trade rights, which was the real reason Roe had been sent across the Indian Ocean. The Mughal emperor Jahangir suffered neither James I’s financial embarrassments nor accorded much privilege to traders. Indeed, the court’s sumptuous ceremonies led “mogul” to become a byword for fantastical wealth and overwhelming power.

CNN —A pre-Hispanic mummy, estimated to be between 600 to 800 years old, was discovered in a food delivery cooler bag by Peruvian police over the weekend. Police told CNN that the mummified remains were found with three men who were drinking in a deserted park in the Peruvian city of Puno on Saturday afternoon. “A 26-year-old man had a delivery bag labeled ‘Pedidos Ya.’ Inside they found a mummy,” senior agent Marco Antonio Ortega, who is a spokesperson for Puno region’s National Police, told CNN. Images of the discovery showed the mummy in a fetal position inside the red delivery bag. Images of the discovery showed the mummy in a fetal position inside the red delivery bag.

☆ An elite Bronze Age man who underwent brain surgery 3,500 years ago may have suffered from leprosy, archaeologists believe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Archaeologists discovered the remains of a man from the Bronze Age who had a rare brain surgery. The two brothers discovered were likely elite or even royal members of their society. "It's hard to overstate Megiddo's cultural and economic importance in the late Bronze Age," he said in a statement. Rachel Kalisher, a Ph.D. student, analyzed the bones of two upper-class brothers who were buried beneath the ancient city of Megiddo. Evidence of brain surgery — angular notched trephination — was discovered in the older brother.

☆ Sam Altman is tech’s next household name — if we survive the killer robots
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( David Ingram | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, walks from lunch during the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 6, 2022, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Sam Altman may be tech's next household name, but many Americans probably haven't heard of him. To anyone outside San Francisco, Altman would probably seem like just another young tech CEO. That worldview flared up into controversy in 2017 when Altman wrote a blog post criticizing political correctness, saying tech entrepreneurs were leaving San Francisco over it. "I realized I felt more comfortable discussing controversial ideas in Beijing than in San Francisco," he wrote.

CNN —A fashion show that features elderly people as models is a rarity. One with elderly Black African models is even rarer. While the images look like photographs of a genuine event, they were entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI). He produced series two and three of Netflix show “Made By Design,” as well as a biopic docudrama on Nigerian designer Nike Davies-Okundaye. His other AI projects include creating a virtual futuristic city called “Ngochola,” populated by people who are heroic, beautiful and African.

Persons: Malik Afegbua, ”, “, what’s, Afegbua, Nike Davies, It’s, ” Afegbua, ‘, it’s, …, SlickCity Afegbua, he’s, “ I’ve Organizations: CNN, Netflix, Photoshop, World Health Organization, WHO, Ageing Locations: Nigerian, US, France, Brazil, combatting ageism

☆ Elon Musk said he fears a single world government could lead to the 'collapse' of civilization while speaking at a World Government Summit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk spoke at the World Government Summit via video link on Wednesday. He warned that a "single world government" could lead to the collapse of civilization. "If we are too much of a single civilization, the whole thing may collapse," he said. "If we are too much of a single civilization, the whole thing may collapse," Musk said. At Wednesday's conference, Musk also encouraged politicians to "speak authentically" on social media, and said he plans to find a new Twitter CEO by the end of the year.

☆ UAE museum unveils Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust in tolerance push
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-29 | by ( Bushra Shakhshir | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] Visitors attend an event commemorating the Holocaust, in which a 16th century Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust was officially unveiled, at Crossroad of Civilizations Museum, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, January 28, 2023. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai's historic district, said the display, unveiled for International Holocaust Remembrance Day would help combat "big denial" of the Holocaust in the region. The scroll is on permanent loan to the museum from the Memorial Scrolls Trust, which looks after more than 1,000 Czech scrolls saved from the Holocaust and later sent to London. "I lived in the Arab world when I was young, and the term Holocaust does not exist ... Reporting by Bushra Shakhshir and Abdel Hadi Ramahi; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous Editing by Peter GraffOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ LeBron James NBA Finals jersey expected to fetch up to $5 million at auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Pia Singh | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

LeBron James game-worn jersey from the athletes NBA finals game 7 victory over the Miami Heat in 2013, is on display during a press preview at Sotheby's auction House on January 20, 2023, in New York City. Sotheby's is listing an iconic jersey worn by LeBron James during his NBA Finals Game 7 victory with the Miami Heat against the San Antonio Spurs in 2013. The jersey commemorates James' first NBA Finals Game 7 appearance, which was one of the most significant performances of his career. The company added that the jersey also commemorates James' back-to-back championships and NBA Finals MVP awards with the Miami Heat. James is one of only six players in NBA history to be awarded back-to-back NBA Finals MVP trophies.

☆ A 2,000-year-old rune stone found in Norway could be the oldest ever, and give a glimpse into ancient writing systems
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Scandinavians likely developed Runic writing after first meeting ancient Romans, but it's not clear how old it is. It is covered in primitive runic writing, and archaeologists believe it dates back to between AD 1 and AD 250. However, one word, that can be made out clearly on the stone, could give the stone another meaning. That's when, inspired by Latin writing, early Scandinavians might have started developing their own alphabet, archaeologists say in the press release. By analyzing the stone, Zilmer thinks archeologists can learn more about the early development of runic writing and how they have evolved over time.

☆ What to know about 'Naatu Naatu,' the song that beat out Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga at Golden Globes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Brahmjot Kaur | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

“Naatu Naatu,” a song from the hit Telugu-language film “RRR,” was the unexpected and historic winner for best original song at the Golden Globes Tuesday, beating out Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. Majumdar said she was surprised but thrilled “Naatu Naatu” took home the award. “Earlier, that was seen as a feature that was strange about Indian cinema. Keeravani accepts the Best Original Song award for "Naatu Naatu" from "RRR" during the Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Tuesday. “When I envisioned the ‘Naatu Naatu’ song,” Rajamouli told Variety.

☆ Lasers revealed 5 ancient civilizations that were hiding in plain sight
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Archeologists beam lasers from the sky to unearth ancient settlements hiding in plain sight. State-of-the-art laser technology is transforming archaeology by creating 3D renderings of ruins. A hidden 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern GuatemalaResearchers found a 2,000-year-old Mayan civilization in northern Guatemala using LiDAR. 61,000 previously unknown structures hidden under the dense Guatemalan jungleLiDAR laser technology found ancient cities with more than 60,000 structures in Guatemala. An overgrown ancient civilization buried in the Bolivian AmazonA LiDAR image of an ancient Amazonian urban network in what is now Bolivia.

☆ The bubble in predicting the end of the world
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Edward Chancellor | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers says the world faces the “most complex, disparate and cross-cutting set of challenges” he’s ever encountered. In his wittily titled “The End of the World is Just the Beginning”, the geopolitical strategist suggests that a number of countries from Germany to China face insuperable demographic challenges. The threat to America’s global hegemony from China is the subject of Ray Dalio’s “The Changing World Order”. The U.S. stock market bubble has only partially deflated, bond yields around the world trail below inflation, and global property markets are exposed to rising interest rates. The Assyrian who forecast the world would end in 2800 BC was wrong.

☆ Elon Musk says 'I have too much work on my plate'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Elon Musk, Tesla Inc. CEO, is seen on screens as he speaks virtually during the B20 Summit, ahead of the G20 leaders' summit, in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, November 14, 2022. "I have too much work on my plate that is for sure," Musk said by videolink to a business conference on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. Musk is chief executive of both companies and also runs rocket firm SpaceX, brain-chip startup Neuralink and tunneling firm the Boring Company. Responding to an observation that many business leaders in Asia wanted to be the "Elon Musk of the East," Musk said: "I'd be careful what you wish for. "I'm just looking at this video and it's so bizarre," Musk said.

☆ Fact Check-The Earth is not covered by a dome or ‘firmament’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Users on social media are saying people on Earth are living under a dome, also called a “firmament,” without providing evidence to support the claim. But the video’s examples offer no proof of humans living under a dome or firmament, while there is ample evidence that no dome exists. “Rocket hitting the flat earth dome”, reads the title of one of the YouTube clips. SIXTY YEARS OF SPACEFLIGHTExperts pointed out that if there were a dome that covered the Earth, astronauts would have encountered it by now. A video provides no evidence that the Earth is under a dome or “firmament”.

☆ Meet the Ghanaian Canadian Lego sculptor building a Black universe
▼ + stars: | 2022-01-11 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —For 42-year-old Ghanaian Canadian artist Ekow Nimako, Lego is more than just a kids’ toy. “I started realizing that not only did I enjoy making art with Lego, but it was important that I made Black art very specifically,” he said. Nimako uses black Lego bricks specifically for three main reasons. Nimako is a futurist who used approximately 100,000 Lego pieces to construct a reimagining of the medieval kingdom of Ghana, titled "Kumbi Saleh 3020 CE." Sam EngelkingIn his “Building Black: Civilizations” series, Nimako reimagines medieval sub-Saharan African narratives.

Persons: Ekow, “, ”, It’s, it’s, there’s, Sam Engelking, they’ll, Nimako, didn’t, ’ Nimako, Africanfuturism, Kumbi Saleh, ” Nimako Organizations: CNN, Museum, Lego Locations: Ghanaian, Canada, Ghana, Toronto, West Africa

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