2,000-year-old ossuary authentic, say researchers
2,000-year-old ossuary authentic, say researchers
confirming the authenticity of a recently obtained ancient ossuary with unique
historical implications that was plundered by antiquities robbers.
2,000-year-old ossuary, a stone chest used for secondary burial of bones,
belonged to a daughter of the Caiaphas family of high priests.
of the ossuary bears an Aramaic inscription from the time of the Second Temple
saying “Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priests of Ma’aziah from Beth
Imri.”
The high priest Yehosef Bar Caiaphas is known for his involvement
in the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, but the prime importance of the
inscription is the discovery that the Caiaphas family was related to the
Ma’aziah priestly course, one of the 24 divisions of Kohens that took turns
maintaining the schedule of offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem.
This is
the first reference to the Ma’aziah course in an epigraphic find from the Second
Temple period, which was the last of the twenty-four priestly courses that
served in the First Temple.
The list of courses was formulated during
King David’s reign and appears in the Bible in I Chronicles 24:18.
The
ossuary was discovered by antiquities robbers who looted a Jewish tomb of the
Second Temple period.
Three years ago, it was acquired by the Antiquities
Authority Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery.
Since the
ossuary was not found in a controlled, archeological excavation, and due to its
extraordinary historical significance, the authenticity of the artifact was
tested by Dr. Boaz Zissu of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and
Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and Prof. Yuval Goren of the
Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv
University.
The examinations determined that the ossuary and its
inscription are genuine and ancient, and came from a burial cave in the area of
the Valley of Elah, in the Shephela.
in the Israel Exploration Journal, Volume 61, confirming its authenticity and
summarizing the importance of the find.
The Antiquities Authority has
expressed distress that this important find, stolen from its original
provenance, was removed from its exact archeological context, so it is not
possible to know the full story of the burial cave.
The ending of the
inscription “from Beth Imri” can be interpreted to mean that Beth Imri is the
name of a priestly family – the sons of Immer as described in Ezra 2:36-37 and
Nehemiah 7:39-42, whose descendants include members of the Ma’aziah
course.
The second possibility is that it refers to the place of origin
of the deceased or of her entire family, which may have been preserved in the
name Beit Ummar, a village in the North Hebron Hills.
In that village and
in nearby Khirbet Kufin, remains of a Jewish settlement were identified from the
Second Temple era and the time of the Bar Kokhba Revolt.
First Temple period archeological site unveiled in Jerusalem
City of David - Gone but not forgotten
Temple Mount Faithful petitions for excavation report
The Osiris Legend and It's Symbolism in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda
 . . . . The story of Osiris is one of Egypts most ancient myths. So old, it's origins have been lost in time. It was an important story to the Egyptians because of Osiris' role as the king of Egypt who is resurrected as the "King of the dead". A king that every Egyptian, from the mightiest pharaoh to the lowliest peasant, hoped to join in the afterlife. Other important themes that we find in the story are; the trials of Isis in which she is idolized as a dutiful wife and protective mother. And the revenge of Horus the son of Osiris against his evil uncle Seth, which is a powerful struggle of good verses evil. In an effort to avoid confusion you should be aware that there are two forms of the god Horus in this story, first we find him as the brother of Osiris, then later we find him called Harpocrates or Horus the infant son of Osiris.. . . . It may be worth noting that in all the vast amount of text that we have from the ancient Egyptians, we find no complete version of this tale. We find only pieces, references and additions to it. This version of the story comes to us from a Greek writer named, Plutarch, who lived in the first century A.D. |
- In the beginning, there was the mighty god Ra and his wife Nut. Nut was in love with the god Geb. When Ra found out about this union he was furious. In his rage, he forbid Nut to have children on any of the 360 days that currently made up the year. Nut was very sad. She called on her friend, Thoth, to help her. He knew that Ra's curse must be fulfilled, but he had an idea. Thoth engaged the moon goddess, Silene, in a wager. At the time, Silene's light (the moon) rivaled the light of Ra (the sun). Thoth was victorious, he was rewarded with one seventh of Silene's light. This is why the moon now wanes each month. Thoth took this light and added five days to the calender, bringing the year from 360 days to 365. This gave Nut 5 days on which she could have children, while at the same time obeying Ra's commandment. On the first of these days, Nut gave birth to Osiris. On the second day Horus was born, Seth on the third, Isis the fourth, and Nephthys on the fifth day. At the time of Osiris' birth, a loud voice was heard all over the world, saying, "The lord of all the earth is born."
Osiris the mighty king.
- Osiris grew and became a mighty king. He went about the job of civilizing his people. He taught them agriculture and animal husbandry. He gave them a code of laws to live by and showed them the proper ways in which to worship the gods. Egypt became a mighty land under his kind and gentle rule. His subjects gladly worshiped the ground on which he walked. When Egypt was civilized, Osiris left to bring his teachings to other lands. While Osiris was away, he left his wife, Isis, in charge. She ruled the country in the same fashion. But Osiris had an enemy, his bitter and jealous brother Seth.
Seth plots against the king.
Seth began scheming against the great king. He aligned himself with Aso, the queen of Ethiopia, and 72 other conspirators. But nothing could be done while Isis ruled the country, Her authority was unquestionable. Upon Osiris' return, an evil plot was put into motion. Seth secretly acquired the measurements of Osiris and began having a wonderfully decorated box built to fit those measurements. When the box was finished, Seth had a great feast to which he invited Osiris and the 72 conspirators. Having absolutely no evil in him, Osiris suspected nothing. When the feasting was done, Seth had the box brought out. He offered it as a gift to anyone whom the box fit. One at a time they tried to fit into the box until it was Osiris' turn. He layed in the box suspecting nothing. The conspirators slammed the lid, nailed it closed, and poured molten lead in the seam to seal his fate. They threw the great chest into the Nile river. Osiris was never seen again, walking in the land of the living.
George Washington as the risen Osiris on his thrown surrounded by other pagan deitiesThe 72 stars surrounding the heavenly seen are the 72 conspiratorsThe 5 divisions of the 360 degree zodiac = 72Osiris, Horus, Seth, Isis and Nephthys are the 5 Points of the pentagram
Isis grieves for Osiris.
- This news reached Isis and she was grief stricken. She put on her dress of mourning and set about trying to find the body of her husband. She knew well, the dead could not rest until they have had a proper funeral. Isis searched long, but found nothing. She asked every man and every woman if they had seen the giant box that contained her husband, but no one had. Finally, Isis asked some children who were playing by the Nile. They told her where Seth and the conspirators had thrown the chest into the river. After further investigation, and consultation with some demons, Isis learns that the chest had floated out to sea, to the land of Byblos and become lodged in a tamarisk bush. As if by magic the bush shot up and became a magnificent tree. The towering tree enclosed the ornate box within its huge trunk. The king of Byblos admired the great tree so much that he had it cut down and made into a giant pillar to support the roof of his palace.
Isis in the land of Byblos.
Meanwhile, Isis makes her way to the land of Byblos to recover the body of her husband. In Byblos Isis sits by a fountain and talks to no one, except the queen of Byblos' maidens. To these maidens she is quite pleasant, she braids their hair and breaths on them a wonderful perfume sweeter then the most fragrant flowers. Upon their return to the palace, the queen asks them, how they came by such wonderful perfume. They told her of the beautiful stranger they had met. The queen requested that Isis be brought to the palace where she was treated most graciously. She was appointed to be the nurse of one of the young princes.Isis fed the young prince by giving him her finger to suck. Each night when the palace had retired Isis piled logs on a great fire, into which she would thrust the child. Then she would change into a swallow and flutter about mournfully chirping for her dead husband. Word of these strange happenings reached the queen. She could not believe these tales, so she decided to see for herself. That night, she hid herself, and sure enough, Isis built a fire and thrust the child in it. The queen squealed in terror and scrambled to save the child. Isis turned on the queen and rebuking her sternly, revealed her true identity. Explaining to the queen that with her magic she was tempering the child to be a god. But now his immortality was lost. Isis explained to the queen why she had made the journey to Byblos and her desire to have the giant pillar in which her husband was encased. The queen granted her wish.
Isis Returns to Egypt.
- The pillar was taken down, cut open, and the great box was revealed. Isis took the chest and returned to Egypt but the mighty pillar remained in Byblos and was worshiped from that day forward. When she arrived, she opened the box and wept over her dead husband. She was joined by her sister, Nephthys in her sorrow. The sisters turn into Kites and circle the chest screeching in mournful tones. But Isis' thoughts soon turned to her infant son, Harpocrates, Horus the younger. She had left him in Buto and now had to retrieve him. She hid the box in a secret place, and went after her son.
Seth's evil revisited.
- That night, while hunting by the light of the moon, Seth stumbled upon the finely decorated box. He was blinded with rage at the sight of his brother. He ripped Osiris into fourteen pieces and scattered them throughout Egypt. Isis learns of this new crime, and her grief is renewed. She once again sets out to find her husbands remains. She used a boat made out of papyrus reeds to conduct her search. It was believed that, because of this, a crocodile would never attack a papyrus boat, fearing that it might contain the mighty goddess. Where ever she finds a piece of Osiris, she buries it, and builds a shrine in that place. This is the reason that Osiris has so many tombs in Egypt.
The revenge of Horus.
- In the meantime, Harpocrates has grown to manhood, and he is called Horus. Osiris has been resurrected as the king of the dead in the underworld. One day, Osiris appears to Horus in the land of the living. He convinces Horus to avenge the wrongs that have been committed by Seth. So, Horus tracks down Seth and a huge battle begins. Victory is elusive and the battle turns first to one side, then to the other. It is said that this battle of good verses evil still rages, but some day, Horus will be victorious and on that day, Osiris will return to rule the world.
Ideas in the Osiris myth.
- The lord of all the earth is born.
Osiris the mighty king.
Seth plots against the king.
Isis grieves for Osiris.
Isis in the land of Byblos.
Isis Returns to Egypt.
Seth's evil revisited.
The revenge of Horus.
These links are within the legend of Osiris.
Cast of Deities:
- Ra..............King of the gods.
Nut............Sky goddess, mother of Osiris.
Geb............Earth God, father of Osiris.
Thoth..........God of wisdom.
Silene..........Moon goddess.
Osiris..........King of the dead
Horus..........Brother of Osiris.
Seth............Evil brother of Osiris.
Harpocrates...Horus the infant, son of Osiris.
Isis............Sister & wife of Osiris.
Nephthys......Sister of Osiris.
My Redneck Story
Funny!!!
My Redneck Story
I found out how to become famous
Home http://veryfastyoutube.com/
Store http://veryfastyoutube.com/store/
How it works http://veryfastyoutube.com/how-it-works/
FAQ http://veryfastyoutube.com/faq/
Contact Us http://veryfastyoutube.com/contact-us/
Privacy Policy http://veryfastyoutube.com/privacy-policy/
Terms of Use http://veryfastyoutube.com/terms-of-use/
Testimonials http://veryfastyoutube.com/testimonials/
About Us http://veryfastyoutube.com/about/
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER: U.S. contends GPS data can be used to develop 'probable cause'
If you thought feds wanted to track you before, check out now
U.S. contends GPS data can be used to develop 'probable cause'
© 2011 WND
The federal government is arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court that police investigators and other authorities should be allowed to track American citizens in the U.S. to develop the "probable cause" needed for search warrants and other investigative tools.
But a team of civil-rights experts says such permission would pose a grave danger to freedom-loving citizens who may become the targets of the political influences that hold power at any given moment.
The Supreme Court announced yesterday it will weigh in on the controversy of police attaching GPS tracking devices to citizens' vehicles to obtain information that may lead to the "probable cause" necessary for search warrants and arrests.
"The court of appeals' decision, which will require law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before placing a GPS device on a vehicle if the device will be used for a 'prolonged' time period, has created uncertainty surrounding the use of an important law enforcement tool," said the government's brief in the case, U.S.A. v. Antoine Jones.
"Although in some investigations the government could establish probable cause and obtain a warrant before using a GPS device, federal law enforcement agencies frequently use tracking devices early in investigations, before suspicions have ripened into probable cause. The court of appeals' decision prevents law enforcement officers from using GPS devices in an effort to gather information to establish probable cause."
In the case, agents put a tracking device on Jones' vehicle, and he later was charged and convicted of drug offenses based on information obtained from the tracking device. His conviction was overturned, however, when an appeals court panel argued the information was obtained without a warrant.
The government asked the high court to review whether the warrantless use of a tracking device to monitor the vehicle's movements on public streets violated the Fourth Amendment.
But civil rights experts at the law firm of William J. Olson of Vienna, Va., and Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation of Ramona, Calif., are arguing in a friend-of-the-court brief that while the Supreme Court needs to review the case, the goal should be to protect Americans' Bill of Rights-assured protections against unreasonable search and seizure, not expand government's ability to monitor its citizens.
While the Obama administration is asking for a determination about the warrantless use of tracking units, the Supreme Court wants briefs that also address the issue of whether the government violates the Fourth Amendment even by installing such a unit.
Kreep told WND the government appears to want to track people that law enforcement thinks "might be going to commit a crime."
"This is especially important when it comes to the issue of political dissenters," he said. "Can the government justify tracking someone who they believe could be a threat to their policies?"
He said it's "not hard to imagine a government deciding people with a political belief – on the left or right – are a danger and therefore there's a need to track them."
"If the Supreme court says it's okay to allow tracking of people without a warrant, what's to stop the government from expanding that?" he questioned.
According to reports, Jones was convicted in 2008 for possessing and planning to distribute more than 100 pounds of cocaine. The GPS device installed on his vehicle provided the government with much of the information about where he went and with whom he met.
His argument that the actions were a warrantless surveillance and violated his Fourth Amendment rights failed at the district level but succeeded on appeal. The appellate court reversed his conviction.
In that opinion, Judge Douglas Ginsburg concluded, "It is one thing for a passerby to observe or even to follow someone during a single journey as he goes to the market or returns home from work. … It is another thing entirely for that stranger to pick up the scent again the next day and the day after that, week in and week out, dogging his prey until he has identified all the places, people, amusements, and chores that make up that person's hitherto private routine."
The ACLU also has advocated for more protection from electronic surveillance, citing the "technological advances" that enhance government spying on citizens.
A poll released just days ago show the WND Freedom Index, an assessment of Americans' perspectives about their freedoms, took a plunge in the latest quarter, to 45.9 – its lowest mark in the two years the survey has been conducted.
Among the questions used to assemble the ranking – where 50 is a reflection of a neutral perspective about freedoms – was, "Do you believe that government today is using technology, such as cameras, scanners, electronic health records, to become too intrusive into the private matters of Americans."
Some 75 percent of the respondents said there is a problem. Nearly 38 percent of Americans said they perceive "great intrusion" and another 14.5 percent said there is "substantial intrusion." Another 22.8 percent said there is "some intrusion."
The federal government's determination that people innocent of crimes are worthy of being watched already is documented.
WND reported in 2009, shortly after Obama took office, that a Department of Homeland Security report warned against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" – people concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty. The reported singled out returning war veterans as particular threats.
The report, "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment", said "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."
But it said worsening economic woes, potential new legislative restrictions on firearms and "the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."
The report from DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis defined right-wing extremism in the U.S. as "divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups) and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
It followed by only weeks a report from the Missouri Information Analysis Center that linked conservative groups to domestic terrorism.
That report warned law enforcement agencies to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin. It further warned law enforcement to watch out for individuals with "radical" ideologies based on Christian views, such as opposing illegal immigration, abortion and federal taxes.
The brief filed in support of Supreme Court review of the Jones case and on behalf of the Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Institute on the Constitution and others said, "The petition should be granted because this and other recent cases involving GPS tracking devices demonstrate the complete inadequacy of current Fourth Amendment precedent to protect the inviolate 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.'
"The government seeks to further erode the Fourth Amendment. Relying on the premise that the Fourth Amendment protects only 'reasonable expectation of privacy,' the government hopes to convince this court that, unless it is granted immunity from Fourth Amendment constraints upon the use of GPS monitoring, its ability to investigate crimes will be seriously impaired.
"The government seeks to shed any principled constraint imposed on it by the fourth Amendment – hoping to lay the groundwork to persuade judges in future cases that a defendant's individual expectation of privacy is unreasonable when balanced against the interest of society to be protected against drug 'traffickers, terrorists, and other criminals,'" it argues.
"The Fourth Amendment's meaning of 'unreasonable'
was designed as an objective, fixed rule to govern the
relationship between the government and its citizens – a direct product of specific historic events involving the abusive exercise of government power against the
liberty and property of individual citizens," it explained.
"Like the Second and First Amendments, the Fourth
Amendment secures a 'right of the people.' … This right was specifically designed to
secure the people from 'unwarrantable intrusion[s] of
executive agents of [the government] into the houses
and among the private papers of individuals, in order
to obtain evidence of political offences either
committed or designed.'"
The brief charges that the Fourth Amendment itself is specific, in that "no warrants shall issue" except on probable cause. It argues that means probable cause has to come first, before a search, or in the disputed case, a GPS tracking scenario.
Under the perspective being espoused by the government, "if there were no such privacy expectation, then the Fourth Amendment would cease to apply altogether, the government having no need for probable cause or even reasonable suspicion to place a tracking device on any automobile."
"In short, the
government demands this court sanction its
unbridled discretion to search suspected driving
activities, seizing data as to the movement of vehicles
on the public highways, in order to gather enough
information to establish probable cause to institute
criminal proceedings. The GPS technology, then,
serves the government in the same way as the
discredited general warrant – legitimizing intrusions
upon property without first having to demonstrate
before a judicial magistrate that it has 'probable
cause.' Indeed, if there is no reasonable expectation of
privacy, as the government has argued, then the
warrant requirement would not even come into play,
much less would the government be required to have
'probable cause,' or even 'reasonable suspicion' to
install a GPS on one's automobile," the argument explained.
The brief argues that even installing such devices isn't allowed.
"For the government to claim a right to stalk any
person suspected to be engaged in criminal activity is
tantamount to a claim that a concerned father might
make to keep track of a young daughter simply to
make sure that she behaves. In the American
constitutional republic, founded by 'We, the people,'
the government's relationship with its citizens was
never intended to be upended by this kind of state
paternalism. The government attempts to excuse its covert GPS
surveillance of respondent's automobile because 'the
GPS data introduced at trial related only to the
movements of the Jeep on public roads.' But once installed, the GPS gathered data while the
vehicle was on private property.
"Unlike other nations in which the governing
officials are Lords and Benefactors, under the United
States Constitution, the federal government is the
servant of a sovereign people. The Fourth
Amendment, as originally designed and purposed, was
to ensure that the government honored that
relationship, preserving the right of private property
as the enduring barrier against a totalitarian state," the brief argues.
"The Fourth Amendment was
designed to protect the political and religious
nonconformist from the use of general warrants to
suppress the freedoms of religion and the press. … Indeed, the general warrant was a primary tool
employed by the Star Chamber not only in the area of
trade and commerce, but in political and religious
matters as well. Even after the Star Chamber was abolished in
1648, the English crown attempted to suppress
political dissent, utilizing the general warrant to
confiscate whole libraries of authors of 'seditious
papers.' Such practices endured well into the 18th
century when Lord Camden issued his opinion … establishing both the property principle and the
warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
It’s a sad day for the American Family
It’s a sad day for the American Family.
Last week, the New York state Senate caved in to intense pressure from the radical Homosexual Lobby and voted to legalize homosexual “marriage.”
I must be honest, this is a tough loss to handle.
You and I worked so hard to hold their feet to the fire.
Now we watch as men in neon bikinis march through the streets broadcasting their filth to the whole world. And the liberal media is gloating over this victory, hamming it up on all the major networks.
But the worst part of all is that this is a fight we should not have lost.
You see, the New York Senate was controlled by a slight Republican majority --“our guys”--right?
But a recent New York Times article described a scene that is becoming all too familiar: Republican insiders betraying social conservatives to curry favor with radical homosexuals.
Several rich Republican donors promised the governor that they would protect weak-kneed Republicans and give them cover from pro-Family backlash if they voted for this bill.
In the end, Republican James Alesi of Rochester betrayed the Family by joining with the Homosexual Lobby and giving them the deciding vote needed to pass their agenda.
Unfortunately we’re seeing this more and more.
This is the new strategy of the Homosexual Lobby: find Pro-Homosexual Republicans and groups like the Log Cabin Republicans and GOProud to target the few fence-sitting Senators that they need.
You see, the goal of these pro-Homosexual Republican groups it to convince Republican officials that their re-election chances will be enhanced if they “expand the tent” while also reassuring them that Pro-Family Americans like you and me will forget about what they did come election time.
But I assure you, Public Advocate won’t!
As the Homosexual Lobby attempts to carry this new strategy into more state marriage battles, we must speak up and let every representative know that a vote against Traditional Marriage will be remembered, and will have consequences!
Now is the time to stand together for what we know is right.
For the Family,
Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States
P.S. We must not give up now!
Public Advocate will double its efforts in the upcoming battles for the Family.
Supreme Court sees video games as art
Supreme Court sees video games as art
Video games are art, and they deserve the exact same First Amendment protections as books, comics, plays and all the rest, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a ruling about the sale of violent video games in California.
California had tried to argue that video games are inherently different from these other mediums because they are "interactive." So if a kid has to pick up a controller and hit the B button -- over and over again until he starts to get thumb arthritis -- to kill a person in a video game, that's different from reading about a similar murder, the state said.
The high court didn't buy that argument, however.
Interactive stories are "nothing new," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion (PDF). "Since at least the publication of 'The Adventures of You: Sugarcane Island' in 1969, young readers of choose-your-own-adventure stories have been able to make decisions that determine the plot by following instructions about which page to turn to."
Here's more on why the court thinks video games are art:
"Like the protected books, plays, and movies that preceded them, video games communicate ideas -- and even social messages -- through many familiar literary devices (such as characters, dialogue, plot, and music) and through features distinctive to the medium (such as the player's interaction with the virtual world). That suffices to confer First Amendment protection."
That's all well and good. But the most fun to be had in this potentially dry court opinion is when Scalia starts writing about how gory old-school stories are, too. He's trying to make the point that stories have included violence for as long as there have been stories.
The examples are pretty hilarious:
"Grimm's Fairy Tales, for example, are grim indeed," he writes.
Then there's this:
"Cinderella's evil stepsisters have their eyes pecked out by doves. And Hansel and Gretel (children!) kill their captor by baking her in an oven."
And, finally, if that wasn't enough eye-related violence for you:
"High-school reading lists are full of similar fare. Homer's Odysseus blinds Polyphemus the Cyclops by grinding out his eye with a heated stake."
Like these stories, this whole debate of whether video games -- violent or not -- classify as art has been raging in the tech world for years, if not decades.
It appears that much of the feud has been settled as of late, as CNN's Doug Gross wrote from the E3 Expo this month in Los Angeles.
"Keep debating whether video games are art if you wish. At E3, the world's biggest gaming expo, it's a closed question. Here, video games are definitely art -- and a gallery-style exhibit aims to prove it to as many people as care to look," Gross wrote at a gallery showing of video game art.
The Smithsonian is on board with this idea, too. That bastion of culture and history plans a similar exhibition, called "The Art of Video Games," in 2012.
Read more at edition.cnn.com
Asteroid Passes Earth Closer Than The Moon
Asteroid Passes Earth Closer Than The Moon
An asteroid zoomed past Earth this morning, coming within 7,500 miles above Earth's surface over the southern Atlantic Ocean.
2011 MD, as the asteroid is named, did not come as close to Earth as a smaller asteroid, 2011 CQ1, which avoided an impact with the planet by just 3,405 miles in February, according to Geek.com.
Even so, 2011 MD flew closer to Earth than the moon.
The latest asteroid is 33 feet long and was discovered this week by telescopes in New Mexico, the AP reports.
According to the IBTimes, 2011 MD is the fifth-closest asteroid to zip past Earth.
Related News On Huffington Post:
Asteroid, 2011 MD, To Zip Past Earth On Monday
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA says a newly discovered asteroid will have a close encounter with Earth on Monday, but there's no need to worry. The...
Asteroid, 2011 MD, To Zip Past Earth On Monday
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA says a newly discovered asteroid will have a close encounter with Earth on Monday, but there's no need to worry. The...
Police State Video: Rochester Police Arrest Woman in Her Front Lawn For Filming Traffic Stop
Rochester Police Arrest Woman in Her Front Lawn For Filming Traffic Stop
On May 12th, A Rochester woman was arrested for taping a traffic stop in front of her 19th Ward Home. She was standing in front of her house with a hand held recording device when the arrest happened. Officer Mario Masic, Rochester Police Department, executed the illegal arrest.
Video released by Rochester Independent Media Center
See more at www.youtube.com
Wedding plans bloom as NY legalizes gay marriage
Matthew 10:15
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Romans 1:24-28,32.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
King James Version (KJV)
Wedding plans bloom as NY legalizes gay marriage
Revelers celebrate in Manhattan's west village following the passing of the same …
Revelers celebrate in front of the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan's west village following …
NEW YORK (AP) — As the news flashed around the globe that New York state had legalized gay marriage, New York fashion designer Malcolm Harris didn't waste any time. He dashed off a Twitter message to his boyfriend of nine years: "'Will you marry me?"
A city away, in Boston, Bernadette Smith decided to immediately relocate her business planning gay weddings to New York City.
In Brooklyn, pastors Ann Kansfield and Jennifer Aull received their first two requests to wed gay couples at their church in the borough's Greenpoint section. They scheduled one for Labor Day weekend.
Even as supporters of gay marriage celebrated victory in New York on Saturday, preparations were being made to make gay weddings a reality in the state.
Couples who had talked about going out-of-state to wed changed their plans. Reception venues got their first calls. Churches that accept gay unions said they were looking forward to hosting ceremonies.
After a lifetime of waiting, there was a sense of urgency.
The law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo late Friday night doesn't take effect for 30 days, but Harris — who got a "yes" to his Twitter proposal — said he and fiancé K. Tyson Perez planned to get a marriage license right away, wed on paper, and then have a blowout reception in six months.
"I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him," Harris said.
"This is going to be as traditional as it gets. We're going to do it at the Four Seasons, a place that is like gay church to me," he added about the atmospheric restaurant where he planned to hold the event.
The law passed amid opposition from the largest and most influential religious groups in the state, but in New York City, at least, there were still an ample number of churches that have already said they would happily officiate a gay marriage ceremony.
The Rev. Stephen H. Phelps, senior minister at the Riverside Church, in Manhattan, said he was looking forward to replacing the commitment ceremonies that have been done there for years with something state-sanctioned.
"I think it is an occasion for members of our society who have been burned by narrow-minded religion to see that it doesn't have to be that way," he said.
At a gay pride celebration in Harlem's Marcus Garvey Park, the Rev. Joseph Tolton of the Rehoboth Temple Christ Conscious Church, a Pentecostal congregation that is predominantly gay, said he couldn't wait to start.
"I'm going to be very busy on Saturdays," he said.
Congregants Yvonne Lindesay, 55, and her partner Elaine Livingston, 62, said they're planning to get married after living together for two years, after watching the results of New York's critical Senate vote on television Friday night.
"I cried. Our phone was ringing off the hook — from straight people too," Lindesay said.
Smith, who founded a gay wedding planning business in Massachusetts after it legalized gay marriage, said she had been hoping to relocate to New York for some time, and had already begun laying the groundwork to establish a New York officer for her company, 14 Stories, in anticipation of the vote."
The move is partly a matter of survival, she said. Over seven years, her client list has been dominated by people traveling to Massachusetts from elsewhere to wed — a type of tourism that may now shift to the Big Apple.
"I was supposed to have a gay wedding today with a gay couple from New York," she said. "They were a no-show. Of course, for a good reason."
She said New York has quite a set of parties to look forward to.
"The weddings are incredible," she said. "I think maybe because there is a lot of pent up anticipation ... It's really about appreciating and savoring the legality of it. Because some couples have literally been waiting for years and years. To be around that energy, where they are not taking a thing for granted ... there's usually not a dry eye in the room."
At the Greenpoint Reformed Church, Aull said she and co-pastor Kansfield, who got married themselves in Massachusetts years ago, have presided over same-sex unions before. But she expects there will be something different, more joyous, about being able to do it legally at home.
"There is always a little bit of a bittersweet aspect when you are doing a marriage, and there is a sense that it is not recognized by anyone," she said.
Associated Press reporter Julie Walker contributed to this report.
Read more at beta.news.yahoo.com
