WASHINGTON:
A immense region of the Amazon forest in Brazil was home to a complex of ancient
towns in which about 50,000 people lived, according to scientists assisted by
satellite images of the
region.
The scientists, whose
findings were published on Thursday in the journal Science, described clusters
of towns and littler villages connected by complex road networks and trapping a
guild doomed by the arrival of Europeans five centuries
ago.
European colonists and the
diseases they brought with them probably killed most of the inhabitants, the
researchers said. The settlements, consisting of networks of walled towns and
smaller villages organized around a central plaza, are now most entirely
overgrown by the forest.
"These
are not cities, but this is urbanism, built around towns," University of Florida
anthropologist Mike Heckenberger said in a
statement.
"If we look at your
modal medieval town or your average Greek polis, most are about the musical scale of
those we find in this part of the Amazon. Only the ones we find are much more
complicated in terms of their planning," Heckenberger
added.
Helped by satellite
imagery, the researchers exhausted more than a decennary uncovering and mapping the
lost communities.
Prior to the
arrival of Europeans starting in 1492, the Americas were home to many prosperous
and impressive societies and big cities. These findings add to the
understanding of the several pre-Columbian
civilizations.
The existence of
the ancient settlements in the Upper Xingu neighborhood of the Amazon in north-central
Brazil means what many experts had considered virgin tropical forests were in
fact heavily affected by past human activity, the scientists
aforementioned.
The US and Brazilian scientists
worked with a appendage of the Kuikuro, an indigenous Amazonian people descended
from settlements' original
inhabitants.
Although the
remains ar almost inconspicuous, they can buoy be identified by members of the Kuikuro
tribe, world Health Organization are thought to be direct descendents of the people wHO built the
towns. The tell-tale traces included "dark earth" that indicated yesteryear human
waste dumps or farming, and concentrations of pottery shards and earthworks.
Each community had an
identical route, always pointing north-east to south-west, which are connected to
a central shopping centre.
The roads were
always orientated this way in keeping with the mid-year summer solstice.
Evidence was constitute of dams and
artificial ponds - thought to have been used for fish agriculture - as well as open
areas and large compost heaps.
More info
Saturday 6 September 2008
Wednesday 27 August 2008
Celebrities set for prison lock-up show
A host of celebrities have spent time behind bars as part of a young reality video show.
Athlete Linford Christie, television principal Jack Osbourne and former 'Coronation Street' star Debra Stephenson experient life as inmates in some of the "world's harshest prisons" for the new series.
The show, which is called 'Prisoner: X', also features 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here' stars Joe Pasquale and Marc Bannerman, actor Will Mellor, author Toby Young and journalist Donal MacIntyre.
The celebrities were locked up in jails in the US, South Africa and Germany for the Virgin 1 series.
During the serial publication viewers will see the stars get together murderers, rapists, arsonists and armed robbers who are behind bars.
Daniela Neumann, Virgin1's director of programming, aforesaid: "For the first time ever we will genuinely see these celebrities eat, sleep and shower in the most disgusting prisons in the world.
"These are personal and intimate journeys for people who ar used to soft cotton plant sheets, fine wine, gastronome food and toilet paper - never has the phrase 'being out of your comfort zone' been more true."
The series is due to be broadcast in the autumn.
More info
Thursday 7 August 2008
Wendy O. Williams and Plasmatics
Artist: Wendy O. Williams and Plasmatics
Genre(s):
Other
Discography:
Put Your Love In Me: Love Songs For The Apocalypse
Year: 2002
Tracks: 11
Tuesday 1 July 2008
Fresh
Artist: Fresh
Genre(s):
Drum & Bass
Electronic
Discography:
Escape from Planet Monday Sing
Year: 2006
Tracks: 2
Human Inprint (HUMA8013-1)
Year: 2005
Tracks: 2
Bass Invaderz Mix 2005
Year: 2005
Tracks: 1
Whatulookinat
Year: 2004
Tracks: 4
Submarines
Year: 2004
Tracks: 2
RAMM53
Year: 2004
Tracks: 2
Dogs On Acid (DOA001)
Year: 2004
Tracks: 2
Colossus / Hooded
Year: 2004
Tracks: 2
RAMM46
Year: 2003
Tracks: 2
Influenced by Sly & the Family Stone and Rare Earth, Fresh was an obscure, little-known seventies band that combined psyche and funk with rock. The interracial kit, which shouldn't be lost with either the nineties hip-hop technologist or former bands that take called themselves Fresh, didn't get identical far commercially -- quite perchance, its iII LPs were too funky for rock candy stations of the Cross and to a fault rock-influenced for R&B stations of the Cross. Fresh was formed in 1975, when its original six-person lineup consisted of lead vocalizer Bill Pratt, lead guitar player Paul Marshall, calendar method of birth control guitar player Elaine Mayo, keyboardist David Kaffinetti, bassist Milo Martin, and drummer Fred Allen. In 1976, the band sign with MCA, which released its debut album, Get Fresh, the following year. It was besides in 1977 that Fresh was an opening act for Rufus & Chaka Khan; Fresh standard generally favourable responses from Rufus fans, merely unluckily, that didn't render into record gross sales. Get Fresh bombed commercially, and the ring parted companionship with MCA. In 1978, Fresh resurfaced on Motown's Prodigal label with its sophomore endeavor, Feelin' Fresh, and unveiled a raw seven-person card. Most of the original members were inactive on gameboard, although a saxist, George Englund, had been added -- and Kaffinetti had been replaced by keyboardist Frank Savino. After Feelin' Fresh, Mayo left the ring. Neither Feelin' Fresh nor Fresh's third album, Omniverse (which Prodigal/Motown released in late 1978) standard much attention -- and in 1979, the band broke up. All three of Fresh's albums were out of photographic print by the 1980s and ar unlikely to ever be reissued on CD.
Nodes Of Ranvier
Thursday 26 June 2008
Carlos Alomar
Artist: Carlos Alomar
Genre(s):
Electronic
Discography:
Dream Generator
Year: 1973
Tracks: 10
Guitarist Carlos Alomar has played on more than David Bowie albums than whatever other sixer stringer has (including Mick Ronson, world Health Organization was peradventure the most identifiable with Bowie). In 1974, Alomar crossed paths with Bowie, world Health Organization was interested in authorship an record album that explored dance/funk sounds of Philadelphia soul. The two attain it sour, which would signal the origin of a long and fruitful relationship between the isaac M. Singer and guitar player. 1975's classical Young Americans soon followed, as Alomar too helped co-write one of Bowie's biggest hits, "Celebrity," on with Bowie and John Lennon. It was besides around this meter that Alomar supposedly 'discovered' person isaac Bashevis Singer Luther Vandross, having him blab on Bowie's album, which at long last lED to a successful solo career of his have. Alomar apace figured out that Bowie wasn't typeset on a single musical expressive style for whatever period of time, as Alomar unbroken pace on such experimental and musically varied Bowie albums as 1976's Station to Station, 1977's Low and Heroes, 1979's Lodger, and 1980's Scary Monsters. The guitarist and Bowie as well helped revive the life history of hood icon Iggy Pop during this time period, serving bring forth and co-write two of Pop's finest solo albums, 1977's The Idiot and 1978's Lust For Life.
Alomar continued to play/tour with Bowie off and on throughout the '80s, including being named "musical theater director" of Bowie's portentous Glass Spider Tour in 1987. An surfeit of session work out likewise came Alomar's fashion, as he played with a change of early artists during this geological period - Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Chuck Berry, Bette Midler, Arcadia, Digable Planets, James Brown, The Bee Gees, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Bruce Springsteen, Carly Simon, Duran Duran, and Prefab Sprout, among innumerous others. As a upshot, the guitarist/songwriter has played on a total of 32 Gold and Platinum records all over the days. Alomar as well issued a solo album in 1988, Dream Generator, which focused more on synth/guitar textures rather than screening cancelled his chops. Soundtrack work for movies and TV followed, including such movement pictures as Pretty Woman, Pretty In Pink, Usual Suspects, and Christina F, asset jingles for idiot box commercials. Alomar as well reunited with his old sidekick Bowie for such latter day releases as 1995's Outside and 2002's Heathen. The early twenty-first hundred saw Alomar assist as Director of A & R for the "Boombacker" Music label, and putt together another solo expiration, to be highborn Hyly Volatyl.
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Robert DeNiro testifies in dispute over design of his new New York City hotel
NEW YORK - Robert De Niro calls it a "labour of love" - a $43 million hotel in downtown Manhattan that features a handmade brick exterior, Carrara marble bathtubs and a luxurious penthouse.
But the penthouse has raised the hackles of preservationists who say the actor flouted the rules with the top-floor suite.
The penthouse atop the seven-story hotel does not match the design that the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission approved in 2004, and the panel held a hearing Tuesday on whether De Niro and his partners should remove the rooftop suite - at an estimated cost of $1.5 million - and start over.
De Niro appeared at the hearing, imploring commission members to give him the benefit of the doubt for any mistakes made in the project.
"We worked on this project a long time to make it as good as we could make it," the "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas" star testified.
"We did it so it would fit into the neighbourhood. . . . If there are any minor mistakes, my apologies for it, because in any creation there are mistakes."
The hotel is the latest addition to De Niro's growing real estate empire that includes restaurants, hotels and his Tribeca Film Center. The 88-room Greenwich hotel, where rooms start at $625 a night, opened April 1.
Neighbours including actor-director Ed Burns told commissioners the hotel does indeed fit into the surrounding historic district.
"For me as a lay person, the architecture is beautiful," said Burns, who lives across the street from the hotel.
But Nadezhda Williams of the Historic Districts Council said the penthouse is 102 square metres bigger than what the commission approved, sports a mansard roof instead of a sloping hipped roof and has decorative details that make it appear "more residential and fussy" than nearby industrial structures.
"Very simply put, this is not the penthouse the commission approved," she said. "The Historic Districts Council urges the commission to require the penthouse that was approved to be built instead."
De Niro's involvement in the neighbourhood dates to 1989, when he converted an old coffee warehouse into film offices and the Tribeca Grill restaurant.
He and restaurateur Drew Nieporent later teamed up with other partners to develop Nobu, a perennially hot Asian restaurant that has spawned more than a dozen outposts around the world.
The New York Observer put De Niro at No. 26 on its list of 100 most powerful people in New York real estate, and he is often credited with turning a warehouse district into pricey loft neighbourhood where Mariah Carey has an apartment and Michael Imperioli of "The Sopranos" can been seen playing with his son in the park.
De Niro and partners Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival to promote the neighbourhood after the 2001 terror attacks.
The new hotel was built on a former parking lot, with the help of $39 million in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds that were awarded after Sept. 11 to spur rebuilding after the attacks.
The restaurant on the ground floor, Ago, is the New York satellite of a Los Angeles eatery popular with celebrities. But it has been panned by critics.
Although it is a brand-new building and not a renovation of a historic structure, the hotel required approval from the landmarks commission because it is in a historic district.
Commissioners made no decision Tuesday but said they would review the hotel again at a future meeting. Some board members said they might approve the penthouse if the architects made alterations such as changing its exterior from stucco to glass and metal.
De Niro was tight-lipped after testifying.
"You know," he said, "it's a process."
See Also
Friday 6 June 2008
Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt Snap Up $60M French Estate
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have dropped $60 million on a 1,000-acre estate in the south of France, according to a new report.
The expectant couple are said to be the proud new owners of the Chateau Miraval, a sprawling estate - which includes a vineyard, lake, forest and moat and 20 fountains - located in a village called Brignol, near Aix-en-Provence.
And with 35 bedrooms, there will be plenty of room to expand their rainbow broad even further.
"Brad and Angelina are thrilled, they love the place and have already been furniture shopping to fill the place as it's massive...The whole family can't wait to move in," an insider tells E! News.
Asside from some ponies and goats, "the house is surrounded by a forest so they'll have total privacy, which is exactly what they're after," the source tells E!
"No one will ever be able to get pictures of them relaxing at home, it's just impossible."
The Jolie-Pitts are reportedly planning to be settled into their new pad within the next three months.
The expectant couple are said to be the proud new owners of the Chateau Miraval, a sprawling estate - which includes a vineyard, lake, forest and moat and 20 fountains - located in a village called Brignol, near Aix-en-Provence.
And with 35 bedrooms, there will be plenty of room to expand their rainbow broad even further.
"Brad and Angelina are thrilled, they love the place and have already been furniture shopping to fill the place as it's massive...The whole family can't wait to move in," an insider tells E! News.
Asside from some ponies and goats, "the house is surrounded by a forest so they'll have total privacy, which is exactly what they're after," the source tells E!
"No one will ever be able to get pictures of them relaxing at home, it's just impossible."
The Jolie-Pitts are reportedly planning to be settled into their new pad within the next three months.
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