ASPERSION

Aspersion (noun)

Pronunciation: [ê-'spêr-zhên]

Definition: (1) The act of sprinkling or spattering, especially the sprinkling of water in religious ceremonies. (The sense of spattering with mud or dirt has given way to Definition 2.); (2) An act of slander, impugning, or besmirching (a reputation).



///////////////////Your mind will answer most questions if you learn to relax and wait for the answer." - William S. Burroughs




////////////////////May 15, 2009 12:55 AM
"Slums may well be breeding grounds of crime, but middle-class suburbs are incubators of apathy and delirium" - Cyril Connolly



//////////////////////SOUTH PACIFIC

MOBY DICK

////////////////////////Plan your "eating" day. If you are going out
for dinner choose a light breakfast and lunch.
Save the bulk of your calories for the evening
meal.

(2.) If you are a dessert lover like me, choose
something like grilled chicken or fish for your
entree' and share that dessert with a friend.
Choose lots of fruits and veggies.

(3.) Get in as much activity as possible. Walk to
restaurants that are close to your hotel. Find out
what your hotel has to offer in the way of fitness
equipment and take advantage of it. You are paying
for it you know. Walk everywhere you can.

(4) If on a road trip, be sure to pack healthy
snacks to eat along the way. Instead of soft
drinks, carry lots of bottled water. (Be sure to
get the sodium free type.)

(5) And if you feel that just maybe you have
enjoyed yourself a little too much on the trip,
DON'T beat yourself up. Get back to your weight
loss program as soon as possible when you get back
home.



////////////////////DARWIN-VERY SMALL CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN



////////////////////S PACIFIC-SO LITTLE PLANKTON-SO MUCH BLUE



/////////////////////RAVING THIRST-HUMAN CALAMITY-SHIPWRECK FLOATSOM



///////////////////EVER WONDER HOW MUCH A CLOUD WEIGHS?

Let's start with a very simple white puffy cloud - a cumulus cloud. How much does the water in a cumulus cloud weigh?


Peggy LeMone, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, did the numbers. "The water in the little cloud weighs about 550 tons," she calculates. "Or if you want to convert it to something that might be a little more meaningful … think of elephants."

Floating Masses


Assume an elephant weighs about six tons, she says, that would mean that water inside a typical cumulous cloud would weigh about one hundred elephants.



//////////////////////////////////LOST CITY OF PETRA-SN -TV

Coordinates: 30°19′43″N 35°26′31″E
Petra*
UNESCO World Heritage Site

State Party Jordan
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, iv
Reference 326
Region** Arab States
Inscription history
Inscription 1985 (9th Session)
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List.
** Region as classified by UNESCO.
Petra ("petra-πέτρα", cleft in the rock in Greek; Arabic: البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ) is an archaeological site in the Arabah, Ma'an Governorate, Jordan, lying on the slope of Mount Hor[1] in a basin among the mountains which form the eastern flank of Arabah (Wadi Araba), the large valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It is renowned for its rock-cut architecture. Petra is also one of the new wonders of the world. The Nabateans constructed it as their capital city around 100 BCE.[2]
The site remained unknown to the Western world until 1812, when it was introduced to the West by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. It was famously described as "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a Newdigate prize-winning sonnet by John William Burgon. UNESCO has described it as "one of the most precious cultural properties of man's cultural heritage."[3] In 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.



/////////////////////The History of Petra begins with the Kites and cairns of gazelle hunters going back into the aceramic neolithic.[clarification needed] Evidence suggests that settlements had begun in and around there in the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. It is listed in Egyptian campaign accounts and the Amarna letters as Pel, Sela or Seir). Though the city was founded relatively late, a sanctuary existed there since very ancient times. Stations 19 through 26 of the stations list of Exodus are places associated with Petra. [9] This part of the country was biblically assigned to the Horites, the predecessors of the Edomites.[10] The habits of the original natives may have influenced the Nabataean custom of burying the dead and offering worship in half-excavated caves. Although Petra is usually identified with Sela which also means a rock, the Biblical references[11] refer to it as "the cleft in the rock", referring to its entrance. 2 Kings xiv. 7 seems to be more specific. In the parallel passage, however, Sela is understood to mean simply "the rock" (2 Chr. xxv. 12, see LXX).
On the authority of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews iv. 7, 1~ 4, 7), Eusebius and Jerome (Onom. sacr. 286, 71. 145, 9; 228, 55. 287, 94), assert that Rekem was the native name and Rekem appears in the Dead Sea scrolls as a prominent Edom site most closely describing Petra. But in the Aramaic versions Rekem is the name of Kadesh, implying that Josephus may have confused the two places.[citation needed] Sometimes the Aramaic versions give the form Rekem-Geya which recalls the name of the village El-ji, southeast of Petra. The capital, however, would hardly be defined by the name of a neighboring village.[citation needed] The Semitic name of the city, if not Sela, remains unknown. The passage in Diodorus Siculus (xix. 94–97) which describes the expeditions which Antigonus sent against the Nabataeans in 312 BC is understood to throw some light upon the history of Petra,[citation needed] but the "petra" referred to as a natural fortress and place of refuge cannot be a proper name and the description implies that the town was not yet in existence.[citation needed]


The Rekem Inscription in 1976
The only place in Petra where the name "Rekem" occurs was in the rock wall of the Wadi Musa opposite the entrance to the Siq. About twenty years ago the Jordanians built a bridge over the wadi and this inscription is now buried beneath tons of concrete.[12]
More satisfactory evidence of the date of the earliest Nabataean settlement may be obtained from an examination of the tombs. Two types may be distinguished—the Nabataean and the Greco-Roman. The Nabataean type starts from the simple pylon-tomb with a door set in a tower crowned by a parapet ornament, in imitation of the front of a dwelling-house. Then, after passing through various stages, the full Nabataean type is reached, retaining all the native features and at the same time exhibiting characteristics which are partly Egyptian and partly Greek. Of this type there exist close parallels in the tomb-towers at el-I~ejr [?] in north Arabia, which bear long Nabataean inscriptions and supply a date for the corresponding monuments at Petra. Then comes a series of tombfronts which terminate in a semicircular arch, a feature derived from north Syria. Finally come the elaborate façades copied from the front of a Roman temple; however, all traces of native style have vanished. The exact dates of the stages in this development cannot be fixed. Strangely, few inscriptions of any length have been found at Petra, perhaps because they have perished with the stucco or cement which was used upon many of the buildings. The simple pylon-tombs which belong to the pre-Hellenic age serve as evidence for the earliest period. It is not known how far back in this stage the Nabataean settlement goes, but it does not go back farther than the 6th century BC.
A period follows in which the dominant civilization combines Greek, Egyptian and Syrian elements, clearly pointing to the age of the Ptolemies. Towards the close of the 2nd century BC, when the Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms were equally depressed, the Nabataean kingdom came to the front. Under Aretas III Philhellene, (c.85–60 BC), the royal coins begin. The theatre was probably excavated at that time, and Petra must have assumed the aspect of a Hellenistic city. In the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris, (9 BC–AD 40), the fine tombs of the el-I~ejr [?] type may be dated, and perhaps also the great High-place.


Urn Tomb
[edit]Roman rule
In 106, when Cornelius Palma was governor of Syria, that part of Arabia under the rule of Petra was absorbed into the Roman Empire as part of Arabia Petraea, becoming capital. The native dynasty came to an end. But the city continued to flourish. A century later, in the time of Alexander Severus, when the city was at the height of its splendor, the issue of coinage comes to an end. There is no more building of sumptuous tombs, owing apparently to some sudden catastrophe, such as an invasion by the neo-Persian power under the Sassanid Empire. Meanwhile, as Palmyra (fl. 130–270) grew in importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra, the latter declined. It seems, however, to have lingered on as a religious centre. Epiphanius of Salamis (c.315–403) writes that in his time a feast was held there on December 25 in honor of the virgin Chaabou and her offspring Dushara (Haer. 51).[citation n



WIKI


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