# n-laws: nashville looks back

<< Weeks  after  moving  to  name  a  high-powered  rifle  as  the official  gun  of  Tennessee,  lawmakers  in the  state  are  keeping  alive  their  prolific  tradition  of  declaring  official  state  designations  by  passing  a bil  that  would  make  the  Bible  the  state’s  official  book. >>

<< Senator  Steve  Southerland,  the  Republican who sponsored the bil,  argued  that  it  is  about  honoring  the  Bible’s  historical  and  cultural  contributions  to the  state.  He  said  that  a  Jewish friend  of  his  had  agreed  the  Bible  is  a  historical  text. >>

<< Both this bil  and  the  one  that  would  give  a  place  of  honor  to  a  rifle  with the  power  to take  down a commercial aircraft are ways of playing “political footbal”  with  social  issues,  according  to  Hedy Weinberg,  executive  director  of  the  American Civil  Liberties  Union  of  Tennessee. >>

Katie Rogers. Bible Could Soon Be Tennessee’s Official Book. April 5, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/us/bible-could-soon-be-tennessees-officialbook.html

# n-ecol: example of cultural transitions during climate change: the Pueblo people

<<  The researchers  also  document  recurring  narratives  in  which  the  Pueblo  people  agreed  on  canons  of  ritual, behavior  and  belief  that  quickly  dissolved  as  climate  change  hurt  crops  and  precipitated  social  turmoil and  violence. >>

Ancient  Southwest  marked  by  repeated periods  of  boom  and  bust . WSU researchers  link  climate  changes  and  large  social  disruption.  1-Apr-2016

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/wsu-asm032916.php

R. Kyle Bocinsky, Johnathan Rush, Keith W. Kintigh and Timothy A. Kohler.  Exploration and exploitation in the macrohistory of the pre-Hispanic Pueblo Southwest. Science Advances  01 Apr 2016: Vol. 2, no. 4, e1501532. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1501532

http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/4/e1501532

# n-archeol: where Hannibal crossed

AA <<  have  (..) provided  solid evidence  for  the  most  likely  transit  route  that  took  Hannibal’s  forces  across  the  Alps  via    the Col  de  Traversette  pass  (~3000  m).    This  crossing  point  was  first  proposed  over  a  half  century  ago  by  the  biologist  and  polymath  Sir Gavin  de  Beer,  but  has  not  previously  been  widely  accepted  by  the  academic  community. >>

Queen’s  University  Microbiologists  Unmask  the  Hannibal  Route  Enigma.

http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/ceao/News/Title,631613,en.html

W. C. Mahaney, C. C. R. Allen, et al.  Biostratigraphic Evidence Relating to the Age-Old Question of Hannibal's Invasion of Italy, II: Chemical Biomarkers and Microbial Signatures. Article first published online: 16 Mar 2016 DOI: 10.1111/arcm.12228

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/arcm.12228

# s-brain-behav: the skill to synchronize eye-blinks

<< Magicians  use  several  techniques  to  deceive  their  audiences,  including,  for  example,  the misdirection  of  attention  and  verbal  suggestion.  We  explored  another  potential  stratagem, namely  the  relaxation  of  attention.  Participants  watched  a  video  of  a  highly  skilled  magician whilst  having  their  eye-blinks  recorded.  The  timing  of  spontaneous  eye-blinks  was  highly synchronized  across  participants.  In  addition,  the  synchronized  blinks  frequency  occurred immediately  after  a  seemingly  impossible  feat,  and  often  coincided  with  actions  that  the  magician wanted  to  conceal  from  the  audience.  Given  that  blinking  is  associated  with  the  relaxation  of attention,  these  findings  suggest  that  blinking  plays  an  important  role  in  the  perception  of  magic, and  that  magicians  may  utilize  blinking  and  the  relaxation  of  attention  to  hide  certain  secret actions. >>

Wiseman  RJ,  Nakano  T. Blink  and  you’ll  miss  it:  the  role  of  blinking  in  the perception  of  magic  tricks. PeerJ4:e1873 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.1873

https://peerj.com/articles/1873/

# p-eu-trade: ipotesi (e vaticinio) di #chaos con meccaniche "a leva" di Poul e Delia

<< "Quale fattore condurrà a una decisione? In passato c'è stato un solo momento in cui è stata presa una decisione ed è coinciso con una situazione che vedeva la Grecia a corto di liquidi e a un passo dal default. Non è vero? ", ha detto Thomsen."Esatto!", ha  affermato Veculescu. >>

Poul Thomsen, direttore europeo del FMI;  Delia Velculescu, capo missione del FMI in Grecia.

Daniel Marans. Fuga di notizie: le conversazioni del FMI che fanno scoppiare la rabbia in Grecia. 03/04/2016 17:13 CEST.

http://m.huffpost.com/it/entry/9604636

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/imf-greece-leak_us_57001521e4b0a06d5805ddf6

https://wikileaks.org/imf-internal-20160319/transcript/page-1.html

http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/Tsipras-Lagarde_Letter_4-2-16.pdf

# s-astro: about Milkomeda wave

<< The  two  celestial  giants  will become  one  and  stars,  planets  and  gas  clouds  will  be  hurled  into  intergalactic  space  by  titanic  gravitational  forces.  Surviving  stars  and planets  will  be  pitched  into  a  jumbled  cloud  flaring  up  with  new  stars  –  floating  into  a  long  future  not  in  the  Milky  Way,  nor Andromeda,  but  a  monstrous  “Milkomeda”  galaxy. >>

Our galaxy’s impossible collision could break gravity. 30 March 2016

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030670-300-how-a-galactic-smashup-could-force-a-rethink-of-gravitys-laws/

# s-evol: then it became extinct

<< The largest  shark  in  the  history  of  the  planet,  Carcharocles  megalodon,  lived  between  23  million  and  2.6 million  years  ago,  reaching  body  lengths  of  up  to  18  meters  and  probably  feeding  on  marine  mammals. Then  it  became  extinct. >>

<< The  giant  shark became  extinct  because  the  diversity  of  its  prey  decreased  and  new  predators  appeared  as  competitors. >>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-03/uoz-psa033116.php

Catalina Pimiento, Bruce J. MacFadden, et al. Geographical distribution patterns of Carcharocles megalodon over time reveal clues about extinction mechanisms. Journal  of  Biogeography. 30 Mar 2016, DOI: 10.1111/jbi.12754.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12754/full