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Mussolini message found under Rome obelisk

Rossella Lorenzi
Seeker
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 15:44 UTC
Giant obelisk in Rome
© Alessio77/Wikimedia Commons
A message from the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini lies underneath a giant obelisk in Rome, a new archival research has discovered.

Written on parchment in Latin, the 1,200-word essay was carefully placed in a metal box with a few gold coins. It was then buried beneath the base of a 300-ton obelisk bearing the Latin inscription MVSSOLINI DVX, meaning Mussolini Duce (Mussolini the Leader).

Still standing in the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome, the 120-foot-high white marble monolith was unveiled to cheering crowds in 1932 as a monument to the power of fascism.

At that time, Mussolini (1883 - 1945) had already turned the Italian government into a dictatorship.

Titled "Codex Fori Mussolini," the text was supposed to remain an unreachable secret for contemporaries.

Mussolini's message from his rule, which ended in 1943, was intended to reach the future. The dictator believed the text would have only been read at the fall of the obelisk and consequently, of fascism.

The obelisk's physical collapse, however, wasn't necessary to find the Codex.

Two classics researchers, Bettina Reitz-Joosse at the University of Groningen, and Han Lamers, from Humboldt University Berlin and Catholic University of Leuven, were able to piece together the text from three sources found in libraries and archives in Rome.
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Watch Nelson Mandela's first TV interview ever, just unearthed by Dutch archivist


RT
Fri, 02 Sep 2016 15:11 UTC
Nelson Mandela 1956
© Nelson Mandela Foundation / YouTube
A 1956 television interview believed to be Nelson Mandela's first has been found in the archives of Dutch broadcaster AVRO.

The 24-second clip predates any other known interviews with the South Africa freedom fighter by at least five years.

"It seems to have been filmed during a break at the 1956 Treason Trial which lasted four-and-a-half years," according to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which received the clip from AVRO after it waived its licensing fee for one year.

The interview occurred outside the Old Synagogue in Pretoria which was used as a court during the trial. Mandela was one of 156 people put on trial accused of treason as part of a government crackdown on opposition to apartheid.
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Michelangelo painted symbols of female anatomy in the Sistine Chapel, says new study


Sputnik News
Fri, 02 Sep 2016 03:23 UTC
Sistine Chapel
© Associated PressAn undated picture showing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City.
Michelangelo painted some of the most recognizable images in art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. He also, evidently, included a bunch of heretical body parts.

Among a number of famous scenes depicted on the ceiling of the chapel is the Creation of Eve, which depicts the first female pleading with God in the Garden of Eden. Both Eve and Adam are shown without clothes, but Michelangelo took care to cover select parts of the female anatomy.

This was likely due to the Catholic Church's ban on dissection of the human body, as well as patriarchal ideas about who was in charge (hint: men).

But a study published in the journal Clinical Anatomy reveals that the Renaissance artist appears to have hidden a number of references to the female body throughout his Sistine fresco.

In the Creation of Eve, for example, Eve's arm is positioned so that it "clearly resembles the shape of an inverted triangle...thus, in the exact center of the Sistine Chapel's ceiling...Michelangelo may have placed a notorious pagan female symbol," says the study, according to the International Business Times.

Researchers used imaging software to detect triangles throughout the ceiling, many of which play a clear, symbolic role.
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Brain

Body parts of Nazi experimentation victims discovered during Max Planck Institute renovations


RT
Thu, 01 Sep 2016 17:05 UTC
concentration camp
© Katarina Stoltz / Reuters
The horrors of the Holocaust are continuing to seep into the present. A Munich research institute has discovered jars containing body parts and the brains of human victims from gruesome experiments carried out at concentration camps.

The Max Planck Psychiatric Institute made the grim discovery during renovations last year but have only released details this week, reported Arutz Sheva.

The samples were used by Nazi neuroscientist Julius Hallervorden who performed much of his research on the brains of executed prisoners from concentration camps including Auschwitz.

"We are embarrassed by these findings, and the blemish of their discovery in the archives," the institute said in a statement. "We will update the public with any further information that comes to light with complete transparency."
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Colosseum

Origins of the ancient Roman vomitorium

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science
Fri, 26 Aug 2016 08:04 UTC
roman feasts
© Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 UnportedThough ancient Romans didn't have special "vomit" rooms so they could empty their tummies and fill them back up, they did love a good feast, scientists say.
As far as pop culture is concerned, a vomitorium is a room where ancient Romans went to throw up lavish meals so they could return to the table and feast some more. It's a striking illustration of gluttony and waste, and one that makes its way into modern texts. Suzanne Collins' "The Hunger Games" series, for example, alludes to vomitoriums when the lavish inhabitants of the Capitol — all with Latin names like Flavia and Octavia —imbibe a drink to make them vomit at parties so they can gorge themselves on more calories than citizens in the surrounding districts would see in months.

But the real story behind vomitoriums is much less disgusting. Actual ancient Romans did love food and drink. But even the wealthiest did not have special rooms for purging. To Romans, vomitoriums were the entrances/exits in stadiums or theaters, so dubbed by a fifth-century writer because of the way they'd spew crowds out into the streets.

"It's just kind of a trope," that ancient Romans were luxurious and vapid enough to engage in rituals of binging and purging, said Sarah Bond, an assistant professor of classics at the University of Iowa.
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Biohazard

U.S. conducted biological weapons research at least until 2003 despite 1969 presidential order, 1972 treaty

Wayne Madsen
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 23 Aug 2016 16:30 UTC
bioweapons
President Richard Nixon ordered the destruction of all US biological weapons in 1969. His White House declaration, Statement on Chemical and Biological Defense Policies and Programs, declared that «the United States shall renounce the use of lethal biological agents and weapons, and all other methods of biological warfare. The United States will confine its biological research to defensive measures such as immunization and safety measures». With that and the ratification of the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention by the United States, Soviet Union, and Great Britain, the US biological weapons program came to an end. Or did it?

Pursuant to Nixon's order to end America's biological warfare program, the US Army's Biological Warfare Laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland changed its name to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). The facility made headlines in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks when the weaponized anthrax strain sent through the US postal system was found to have originated at USAMRIID. A USAMRIID scientist, Dr Bruce Ivins, was named as a «person of interest» in the anthrax attack, even though the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had scant evidence to charge the scientist. After Ivins allegedly «committed suicide» in 2008, the FBI declared Ivins the chief perpetrator and closed the case.
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Info

Tsunami wall found in ancient Harappan town

Prakash Kamat
The Hindu
Wed, 31 Aug 2016 04:31 UTC
Harappa Tsunami Wall
© The Hindu
Research by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has provided evidence for the burial of parts of the Harappan port town of Dholavira, Gujarat, by marine sediments possibly transported by a tsunami.

Dholavira was the site of the largest port-town of the Harappan period Dr. Rajiv Nigam, former Deputy Director of NIO, told press persons here on Monday.

Located within India's borders, Dholavira was a well-planned urban settlement that flourished for about 1,500 years from about 3,450 to 5,000 years ago, said Dr. Nigam.

A unique feature of Dholavira is the presence of a 14-18-metre-thick wall, apparently built as a protective measure.

Walls of such thickness are not found even in historic times, the real purpose of the Dholavira wall has generated considerable debate.

Recently, a group of scientists deputed by NIO and led by Dr. Nigam, suggested the wall was built to protect the town from extreme oceanic events such as storm surges and tsunamis. Ancient Indians (in the Harappan settlement) were aware of tsunami and storm protection measures, said Dr. Nigam, giving a new interpretation of thick walls at Dholavira.

He said tsunamis are known to have hit the region during the historical period. For instance, the Makran earthquake of November 28, 1945, generated a huge tsunami, over 10 metres in height, which devastated large areas along the northern shores of the Arabian Sea. The exact timing of the sediments deposited in Dholavira is yet to be established, he said. "The thick wall in Dholavira shows that the Harappans were not only aware of the potential threats from tsunamis, but they were also pioneers in coastal disaster management," said Outgoing Director, SWA Naqvi.
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Map

Paris catacombs: The dark and enigmatic underworld of the French capital


Sputnik
Mon, 29 Aug 2016 20:28 UTC
The capital of France, known also as the City of Lights, serves as home to one of the most famous underground complexes in the world — the Paris Catacombs.
Paris catacombs
© AFP 2016/ Boyan TopaloffThe catacombs are a part of a much larger ancient network of tunnels known as the Mines of Paris.
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Info

Italian researcher claims to have solved Atlantis mystery


Sputnik News
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 08:30 UTC
Atlantis painting
© Sputnik/Igor BoykoReproduction of Atlantis painting (1979) by artist Vladimir Smirnov.
A journalist from the Italian newspaper La Repubblica says he has solved the mystery of Atlantis, a mythical island described by ancient and Renaissance writers.

A journalist in Italy believes he has solved the mystery of Atlantis, an island that was first mentioned by ancient Greek philosopher Plato in the fourth century BC.

Sergio Frau, author of The Pillars of Hercules, believes that the legend of the "lost" island has its basis in reality, and that the key to finding the real island behind the myth lies in locating the pillars described by Plato.

Frau told Sputnik Italia that while the Pillars of Hercules are commonly believed to refer to what is now known as the Strait of Gibraltar, they are actually located in the Strait of Sicily. He says the island referred to by Plato is in fact Sardinia.

"Plato was talking about the island of Atlas, where the rise of Greek civilization took place. Atlas had a brother, Prometheus, who lived (chained to a rock) in the Caucasus Mountains, so there was one brother who lived in the mountains at sunrise and one who lived at sunset in the middle of the sea," Frau explained.
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Sheriff

Slavery and the Origins of American Police: A Brief History

Victor E. Kappeler, Ph.D.
Eastern Kentucky University
Sun, 28 Aug 2016 18:02 UTC
slavepatrol
The birth and development of the American police can be traced to a multitude of historical, legal and political-economic conditions. The institution of slavery and the control of minorities, however, were two of the more formidable historic features of American society shaping early policing. Slave patrols and Night Watches, which later became modern police departments, were both designed to control the behaviors of minorities. For example, New England settlers appointed Indian Constables to police Native Americans (National Constable Association, 1995), the St. Louis police were founded to protect residents from Native Americans in that frontier city, and many southern police departments began as slave patrols. In 1704, the colony of Carolina developed the nation's first slave patrol. Slave patrols helped to maintain the economic order and to assist the wealthy landowners in recovering and punishing slaves who essentially were considered property.

Comment: The very foundation of the United States was built upon racism, genocide, and militarism, so it's no surprise that the American empire has become the brutal force it is today, what some call the "World Police." Our law enforcement is merely a reflection of the pathological powers that rule the empire, which has effectively become what Andrej Lobaczewski defined as a "pathocracy." A highly recommended book everyone should read is "American Heart of Darkness: Volume I: The Transformation of the American Republic into a Pathocracy (Volume 1)" by Robert Kirkconnell, which traces these roots of racism, genocide, and militarism all the way back to the beginning, long before the Revolution.

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