Ancient Indian Site Discovered Next to Highway

by Jamie Rhein on

Another sign of prehistoric Indians has been found in Indiana. This discovery is due to a highway that is supposed to be widened. According to an article I read, the owner of the property where the mound is thought to be is currently not letting folks examine the area to see what’s what. Regardless, I’d say the highway project is definitely stalled until this issue is resolved.

If you want success in seeing where the ancestors of the Woodland Indians lived in Indiana and to see what the mounds they made look like, head to Mounds State Park. The park has 10 “earthworks” structures that are thought to have been built by the Hopewell-Adena people who lived in this part of the world 2,000 years ago. The mounds are called mounds because they look like mounds. You might think look like hills unless you knew that they once served as ritual gathering places. Certain mounds have been excavated by Ball State University folks to uncover things like tombs, pottery and garbage pits. Indiana used to have loads of them but farming and artifact hunting changed that.

The ancient world impacting the modern world is an interesting concept to contemplate. Time might march on, but sometimes we do stop and notice.

May Day in North Korea

by Iva Skoch on

Czech travel agencies seem to have a new hit on their hands: celebration of May Day in Pyongyang, North Korea. Perhaps the last country on the planet where pompous celebrations of the communist regime are still going strong, North Korea is the hip place to go.

Apparently there are enough people either A) nostalgic enough for the spectacle of communist kitsch which seized in the Czech Republic only 17 years ago, B) bored with the usual vacation in the Greek isles.

For only about $1800, you get 7 nights, flights from Prague to Peking, ground transportation, a guide, and all the saluting you can handle. This agency provides special tours for US citizens who are more likely to have problems traveling to North Korea.

And, please, leave that Che shirt at home. North Korea ain’t Disneyworld.

Photo of the Day (03/12/07)

by Iva Skoch on

This is an unusual photo of one of my favorite cities in the world: London. It captures the atmosphere of London well, I think. It was taken by Stephen Hyde.

It is interesting that nowadays you almost cannot take a picture of London without any cranes. There is so much construction going on. Perhaps London is the new New York.

National Women History Museum: A Guide to Many Places

by Jamie Rhein on

For an in-depth look at women’s history in the United States, check out the National Women’s History Museum. Unlike museums that you can actually go to, this one is on-line. The museum is a virtual smorgasbord of U.S. women’s history that includes current news, visual exhibits (the cyber variety) and event descriptions that you actually can go to—for real. One link, however, lists women’s history walking tours that are the do-it-your-self variety.

The walking tours are divided into three categories. Good Old Days: Women’s Daily Lives includes various houses where prominent women in the Washington, D.C. area lived, places that highlight women’s lives in the past, and The DAR Museum (The Daughters of the American Revolution). The In Their Footsteps tour traces the path of the women’s suffragist movement and the tour, Women in the Abolitionist Movement highlights sites in Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

The tours aren’t meant to be followed in any particular order. Instead, they provide an unique way to approach history with a focus on the women who helped it happen.

Friday Funny: Ah, the French

by Erik Olsen on

When it comes to high-brow entertainment, there’s no place than France to get your fill of art-house film and intellectually stimulating enjoyment. I mean, there’s Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard.

And who can forget how much the French treasured Jerry Lewis who was, while not French, oh so very funny. And high brow. Well, let’s another name to the list. Herewith, I introduce you to one Joseph Pujol who, according to this site on Human Marvels, became one of the most unique performers ever to grace a stage. What was his secret? Apparently he was a master of flatulence. Yes, Pujol, through a complex mix of self-discipline and body control, was able to create distinct notes with his, well, to use a French term, derriere.

Pujol’s skills are obviously a part of a long lost art-form that we could use in this cynical age…a skill that earned him the title of Fartiste (a term oddly missing from my spell-checker). His, um, passing in 1942 was truly a great loss to the French and, I attest, to global culture as a whole. Let Us Now Praise a Once Famous Man.