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Paleolithic ingenuity: 13,000-year-old raised-relief map discovered in France

Paleolithic ingenuity: 13,000-year-old raised-relief map discovered in France

University of Adelaide: Researchers have discovered what may be the world’s oldest three-dimensional map, located within a quartzitic sandstone megaclast in the Paris Basin. The research is published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology. The Ségognole 3 rock shelter, known since the 1980s for its artistic engravings of two horses in a Late Paleolithic style on either side of a female pubic figuration, has now been revealed to contain a miniature representation of the surrounding landscape. Dr. Anthony Milnes from…

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Humility reduces anger and promotes more benign interpretations of conflict

Humility reduces anger and promotes more benign interpretations of conflict

PsyPost reports: Research published in Personality and Individual Differences suggests that humility—both as a trait and as an experimentally induced state—was associated with lower levels of anger and reduced hostile attributions in ambiguous social situations. Anger can be a destructive and difficult-to-regulate emotion, often linked to interpersonal and societal conflicts. Existing research suggests that humility—a psychological construct characterized by openness, accurate self-assessment, low self-focus, and appreciation of others—might serve as a protective factor against anger and aggression. Eddie Harmon-Jones and…

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The New Apostolic Reformation seeks to destroy the secular state

The New Apostolic Reformation seeks to destroy the secular state

Stephanie McCrummen writes: On the Thursday night after Donald Trump won the presidential election, an obscure but telling celebration unfolded inside a converted barn off a highway stretching through the cornfields of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The place was called Gateway House of Prayer, and it was not exactly a church, and did not exactly fit into the paradigms of what American Christianity has typically been. Inside, there were no hymnals, no images of Jesus Christ, no parables fixed in stained…

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The U.S. military wrestles with possible deployment on U.S. soil under Trump

The U.S. military wrestles with possible deployment on U.S. soil under Trump

Michael Hirsh writes: The last time an American president deployed the U.S. military domestically under the Insurrection Act — during the deadly Los Angeles riots in 1992 — Douglas Ollivant was there. Ollivant, then a young Army first lieutenant, says things went fairly smoothly because it was somebody else — the cops — doing the head-cracking to restore order, not his 7th Infantry Division. He and his troops didn’t have to detain or shoot at anyone. “There was real sensitivity…

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Trump’s sweeping deportation threat is unworkable and aimed at ‘rabid’ Republicans, says Newt Gingrich

Trump’s sweeping deportation threat is unworkable and aimed at ‘rabid’ Republicans, says Newt Gingrich

The Guardian reports: Newt Gingrich, the former US House speaker and presidential hopeful, said a section of his own Republican party was “rabid” over immigration and predicted Donald Trump’s suggestion that he could deport documented people as well as millions of undocumented people will not come to pass. “I’d be very surprised if you see any significant effort to change the game for people who are here legally,” Gingrich said, weeks before Trump’s return to the White House. “I just…

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Wildfire: Even in a blue city in a blue state, disaster does not force its residents to focus on climate change

Wildfire: Even in a blue city in a blue state, disaster does not force its residents to focus on climate change

David Siders writes: Residents of California’s San Gabriel Valley had been coexisting with wildfire danger for generations before this week’s firestorm. Even relative newcomers, like me, know the house will shake when helicopters carrying water to fires in the foothills fly low overhead, or how to tape plastic to the windows and hose down our eaves. We’ve swept ash and burnt leaves that have rained down in our yards. We trim the trees and hope our insurance companies won’t drop…

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California wildfire season should be over. So why is Los Angeles burning?

California wildfire season should be over. So why is Los Angeles burning?

Science News reports: Unusually dry conditions and hurricane-force seasonal winds are fueling multiple fast-moving and destructive wildfires in Los Angeles County. Gusts that reached over 145 kilometers per hour (90 miles per hour) quickly drove the blazes into urban areas, forcing more than 100,000 people to evacuate from their homes and killing at least two people as of January 8. The largest of the blazes, known as the Palisades fire, erupted the morning of January 7 on the west side…

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Sweden neither at war nor at peace, says prime minister, as warships sent to Baltic Sea

Sweden neither at war nor at peace, says prime minister, as warships sent to Baltic Sea

The Guardian reports: The Swedish prime minister has said that his country is neither at war nor at peace as he announced that Sweden would be sending armed forces into the Baltic Sea for the first time as part of increased surveillance efforts amid a spate of suspected sabotage of undersea cables. The country announced it will contribute up to three warships and a surveillance aircraft to a Nato effort to monitor critical infrastructure and Russia’s “shadow fleet” as the…

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Increased AI use linked to eroding critical thinking skills

Increased AI use linked to eroding critical thinking skills

Phys.org reports: A study by Michael Gerlich at SBS Swiss Business School has found that increased reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) tools is linked to diminished critical thinking abilities. It points to cognitive offloading as a primary driver of the decline. AI’s influence is growing fast. A quick search of AI-related science stories reveals how fundamental a tool it has become. Thousands of AI-assisted, AI-supported and AI-driven analyses and decision-making tools help scientists improve their research. AI has also become…

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Steve Bannon: Elon Musk ‘is a truly evil guy’

Steve Bannon: Elon Musk ‘is a truly evil guy’

Breitbart News, summarizing an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera, reports: “I will have Elon Musk run out of here by Inauguration Day,” Bannon told the Italian daily Corriere della Sera this week. “He will not have a blue pass to the White House, he will not have full access to the White House, he will be like any other person.” “He is a truly evil guy, a very bad guy. I made it my personal thing to take this…

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Tech coup: How Elon Musk has secretly recruited Silicon Valley executives to infiltrate the U.S. government

Tech coup: How Elon Musk has secretly recruited Silicon Valley executives to infiltrate the U.S. government

The New York Times reports: An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting. As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency girds for battle against “wasteful” spending, it is preparing to dispatch individuals with ties to its co-leaders, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to agencies across the federal government. After Inauguration Day, the…

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Team Trump plans a racist terror campaign to make undocumented immigrants flee from the U.S.

Team Trump plans a racist terror campaign to make undocumented immigrants flee from the U.S.

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump is coming back into office this month on a vow to initiate the “largest” mass deportation operation in American history, and says he plans to unleash the U.S. military to help him do it. But according to three sources familiar with internal policy discussions in Trump’s circle, the president-elect and several of his key lieutenants are aware that their desired, larger-scale crackdowns — which could involve a new network of militarized “camps” — will take…

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How Zuckerberg, in obeisance to his overlord, secretly conspired to make Meta even more MAGA-friendly

How Zuckerberg, in obeisance to his overlord, secretly conspired to make Meta even more MAGA-friendly

The New York Times reports: Mark Zuckerberg kept the circle of people who knew his thinking small. Last month, Mr. Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, tapped a handful of top policy and communications executives and others to discuss the company’s approach to online speech. He had decided to make sweeping changes after visiting President-elect Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago over Thanksgiving. Now he needed his employees to turn those changes into policy. Over the next few weeks, Mr. Zuckerberg…

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Zuckerberg says most companies need more ‘masculine energy’

Zuckerberg says most companies need more ‘masculine energy’

Who's actually surprised that this little asshole was basically just a fascist incel hiding in plain sight? not me. Remember that Facebook was originally just a website created by a sexually frustrated Zuckerberg to rate the bangability levels of female students at his college. [image or embed] — ❄️Hugo the pink snow cat❄️ (@hugothepinkcat.bsky.social) January 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM Bloomberg News reports: Mark Zuckerberg lamented the rise of “culturally neutered” companies that have sought to distance themselves from “masculine…

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