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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone. See Standard Disclaimer.
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A Naked Greek Slave
History and Science I decided to write something different this week. I am tired of the endless stories on local politics and national politics, or just politics in general. So I thought a couple of small articles on my favorite thing “Science”. The first interesting article is about newly discovered mural in Italy. The mural is 2,200 year’s-old. The mural is of a banquet that's decorating a newly discovered tomb. The picture portrays a naked servant holding a wine jug. The style was amazingly retro at the time it was painted, between the second and third centuries B.C. showing that paintings like this one was in fashion about 100 to 200 years earlier. During that period of time and the following Roman reign, nudity was seen as the natural state of being and was common, and often worshiped. The Romans loved sex, and had no hang-ups of when, who, or how it was performed. Many women gladiators fought naked. In an area of Cumae --- discovered were a Greek sanctuary, roads and a necropolis (burial ground), plus hundreds of sepulchers which are small, rock-carved rooms holding the dead. Tomb raiders robbed the graves in the 19th century, but archaeologists succeeded in finding a few remaining bits of funerary artifacts that helped them date the chamber. The lavish space and mural show’s that the people who were buried there had a high social status. The mural of the naked servant is very unusual because it has many colors, while other murals which were uncovered in the necropolis and tombs were done in only red or white. This piece is so cool that the pieces which have fell apart will be taken and reassembled and the mural itself will be taken down and saved.
Second favorite Science Thing
During the late Cretaceous period, northeastern Utah was home to pterosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs and terrifying Therizinosaurs with claws that would put a meat shredder to shame. Now we can add to that list of amazing creatures a giant flowering trees. A fossil log found in the Mancos Shale of Utah reveals that huge angiosperms were part of the forest canopy in North America at least 15 million years earlier than earlier believed. The preserved log was nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) in diameter, 36 feet (11 m) long and undoubtedly came from a tree about 164 feet (50 m) tall, It would have shared the forest with gymnosperms like conifers and ginkgo trees. The fossil is the first documented angiosperm greater than 9.8 feet (3 m) in diameter from prior to 75 million years ago. The petrified log dates between 94 million and 90 million years ago, part of the late Cretaceous period. At that time, a vast inland seaway cut North America in two parts. The log was found in what was once an ancient river delta by this seaway. It was somehow transported far from the original forest which it came from, possibly by a flood. The wood is a very rare find it's unusual to find fossil wood from the Cretaceous period. And it was often thought that these flowing trees were not around during that period of time. But this wood proves that flowering trees were around and growing as part of the forest canopy. This find helps scientists study animal, plant life, and climate from that period. This is what is great about new discovery’s, when science thinks they know just about everything, surprise…something new pops up which gives man more wonderful information about our history, our planet.
Tammy
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