The Beulé Gate is a fortified gate leading to the Propylaia of the Acropolis of Athens, Greece. It was constructed largely of repurposed material taken from the 4th-century BCE Choragic Monument of Nikias and integrated into the Post-Herulian Wall, a late Roman fortification built around the Acropolis in the years following the city's sack by the Germanic Heruli people in 267 or early 268 CE. Its construction marked the beginning of a new phase in the Acropolis's use, in which it came to be seen more as a defensive position than a religious sanctuary. During the medieval period, the gate was further fortified, before being built over with a bastion in Ottoman times. The monument was discovered by the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulé on 29 May 1852, and excavated in 1852 and 1853. Archaeologists and Greek commentators criticised the aggressive excavation – particularly the use of explosives. In modern times, the gate has served primarily as an exit for tourists from the Acropolis. (Full article...)
Lake Estancia was a prehistoric body of water in the Estancia Valley, in the center of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Mostly fed by creek and groundwater from the Manzano Mountains, the lake had diverse fauna, including cutthroat trout. It appears to have formed when a river system broke up. It reached a maximum water level (highstand) presumably during the Illinoian glaciation and subsequently fluctuated between a desiccated basin and fuller stages. Wind-driven erosion has excavated depressions in the former lakebed that are in part filled with playas (dry lake beds). The lake was one of several pluvial lakes in southwestern North America that developed during the late Pleistocene. Their formation has been variously attributed to decreased temperatures during the ice age and increased precipitation; a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation and the Laurentide Ice Sheet altered atmospheric circulation patterns and increased precipitation in the region. The lake has yielded a good paleoclimatic record. This map shows the shoreline of Lake Estancia at three different periods: early Estancia (1,939 m / 6,362 ft above sea level), late Estancia (1,897 m / 6,224 ft), and "Lake Willard" (1,870 m / 6,135 ft). Present-day populated places, county boundaries and roads are overlaid on the map for identification.
Acraea terpsicore, commonly known as the tawny coster, is a species of butterfly in the Nymphalidae family, the brush-footed butterflies. It is found across eastern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Singapore, Indonesia and the Maldives and, more recently, Australia. It is small, with a size of 53–64 millimetres (2.1–2.5 in), has leathery wings and is common in grassland and scrub habitats. Acraea terpsicore has a weak fluttery flight and is avoided by most insect predators. This A. terpsicore individual was photographed in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
Wheat Fields is a series of dozens of paintings by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. The close association of peasants and the cycles of nature particularly interested Van Gogh, such as the sowing of seeds, harvest and sheaves of wheat in the fields. Van Gogh saw ploughing, sowing and harvesting as symbolic of man's efforts to overwhelm the cycles of nature. This oil painting on canvas titled Wheat Fields, also sometimes known as Wheat Field with Alpilles Foothills in the Background, was painted in June 1888 and is now in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
The Giechburg is a partly reconstructed hilltop castle located in the town of Scheßlitz in Bavaria, Germany. There was a hilltop fort at the site from at least Neolithic times, and the castle enters written history in 1125. In 1390, it entered the possession of the prince-bishops of Bamberg, and its history thereafter is closely allied to the bishopric and the city of Bamberg. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the subsequent centuries before undergoing extensive redevelopment between 1599 and 1609. It became less useful to the prince-bishops over the subsequent centuries however, and eventually fell into ruin. After a period in the 19th and 20th centuries in the hands of the von Giech family, the castle was eventually acquired by the district of Bamberg in 1971 and reconstructed as a conference and hospitality centre. This 2021 aerial photograph shows the Giechburg viewed from the north, with the village of Peulendorf in the background.
There is a great disconnect between how athiests and religionist view the proper place for religion in the public square. Briefly, atheists (usually) want no religion in the public square, and religionists want equal access (non-denominational) to the public square and view athiesm as just one other "religion" that needs access.
Wikipedia's Reputation
I've been thinking about this key principle: "[What] reliable sources ... have in common is process and approval between document creation and publication." This is also the key to Wikipedia's reliability and reputation. The core principles of neutrality and verifiability along with the standards for articles (featured/good/etc) and the implicit approval of every person who reads an article and makes no changes to it.
Intellectual Property
We (Americans) often "borrow" other people's intellectual property because the transaction method (i.e. limited use permission) does not exist and can not be created without the transaction cost exceeding the value of the permission (which is close to $0.00 in most cases) so we keep using other's work, and they don't sue us.
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