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To: Yaacov who wrote (2307)	4/22/2005 9:35:46 PM
From: Jagfan	Respond to of 5290

Grainne being banged against her washing machine! Yaacov, you crack me up! ;)

To: Yaacov who wrote (2307)	4/24/2005 1:50:45 PM
From: average joe	Respond to of 5290

Trojan statue ‘forged in 1506’ Sarah Baxter, New York A SINUOUS sculpture regarded for centuries as one of the most stirring of the ancient world may be a forgery perpetrated by the Renaissance artist Michelangelo, according to an American art historian. The Laocoon, depicting the death struggle of a Trojan priest and his two sons against writhing sea serpents, was unearthed to great excitement in an underground chamber in a vineyard outside Rome in 1506. Michelangelo was among the first to “authenticate” the find as a statue described by Pliny the Elder, the 1st-century Roman scholar, as a “work superior to any painting or bronze” and ascribed to three craftsmen from Rhodes. In Virgil’s Aeneid, Laocoon is punished for warning the Trojans against the Greeks’ gift of a wooden horse. The sculpture was acquired almost immediately by Pope Julius II and remains in the Vatican museum. In a lecture at the Italian Academy at Columbia University in New York, however, the art historian Lynn Catterson startled the art world by claiming it may have been the work of Michelangelo. “That the Laocoon was carved by Michelangelo explains why then, and now, its effect is mesmerising,” she said. She claims she has “a mountain of evidence” to back her theory. Michelangelo is known to have forged works as a young man, including a sleeping Cupid, which he aged in the ground. He also carved a life-size Bacchus in the style of an antique and only claimed it for his oeuvre more than 50 years later. Catterson has established that the sculptor bought far more blocks of marble than he would have needed to create his known works. He also enjoyed an unexplained surge in wealth. She suggests that his drawing of a male torso from behind — now in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford and dated about 1501 — may have been a “preliminary study” for the Laocoon. William Wallace, a Michelangelo expert at the University of Washington in Missouri, said: “Classicists have never really liked the Laocoon and would be happy to get rid of it to the Renaissance. It’s sort of an embarrassment. It doesn’t fit into the history of classical art and it does sort of fit into Michelangelo’s style. It has a super-realism and over-precise attention to detail.” Wallace added that Michelangelo was not “that well known” at the time and may have needed the work. For Catterson, the timing of the discovery of the Laocoon was a little too fortuitous to be coincidental. Pope Julius II had earlier tried to buy another artist’s representation of the Laocoon myth and was extremely likely to buy the sculpture from the vineyard owner. “It was as though it was made to order,” Catterson concluded. A few weeks later Michelangelo wrote to an artist friend that he was leaving Rome in a great hurry for “reasons which I do not want to write about”. By then it was becoming known that the Laocoon had been composed from several pieces of marble, expertly joined, rather than the one monumental slab so admired by Pliny. Catterson speculates that Michelangelo was afraid of being caught out. Richard Brilliant, emeritus professor of Greek and Roman art at Columbia University and author of My Laocoon, disputes the Michelangelo authorship. He thinks it is plausible that the statue is the one mentioned by Pliny and that the Romans failed to notice the joins. For the Vatican, attributing the sculpture to Michelangelo could be a blessing. “It would be 50 times more valuable,” said Wallace. timesonline.co.uk

To: Yaacov who wrote (2307)	4/27/2005 10:52:25 AM
From: average joe	Respond to of 5290

This happened to me once when I lost a lot of money playing penny stocks. Asylum-seeker disease baffles 27apr05 SWEDISH investigators are baffled by a mysterious illness affecting over 400 children of asylum-seekers, mostly from former Soviet and Yugoslav states, who fall into a deep depression and lose the will to live. The government presented its first study of the so-called "apathetic children" today, after King Carl XVI Gustav added his voice to a chorus of concern from charities, church groups and politicians who want them protected from deportation. "It is dreadful what is happening to these poor children," the Swedish king told reporters. The condition is known as Pervasive Refusal Syndrome and can be life-threatening. It affects boys and girls of all ages, but mostly aged 8-15, who refuse to speak, move, eat or drink for days or many months, and must be drip-fed to keep them alive. Virtually unknown before 2000, the condition has been seen on a large scale only in Sweden. But the researchers ruled out that the children were faking their condition. "I have never believed that," said researcher Nader Ahmadi. He has documented 409 cases in the last two years - many more than the 150 cases originally reported. But the data raised more questions than it answered, as he acknowledged. "Why have these cases apparently only happened in Sweden? Why do they mostly come from such specific places in the world?" asked Ahmadi. More than 61 per cent of the children come from the former Soviet Union, mostly Central Asia and the Caucasus, and 26 per cent from the former Yugoslavia, especially Kosovo. Neither does approval of their families' asylum petition necessarily cure the children, he said - some get well right away, but others have remained seriously ill for up to a year. Charities like the Red Cross and Save the Children have criticised the Social Democrat government for refusing to give the children an amnesty or legal protection from deportation. thecouriermail.news.com.au

To: Yaacov who wrote (2307)	4/27/2005 7:52:27 PM
From: average joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5290

Company Uses Science and the Bible to Find Oil in Israel Ma'anit, Israel (CNSNews.com) - An American oil company is relying on science and the Bible to find oil in Israel. The U.S.-based Zion Oil & Gas Corporation, led by an Evangelical Christian, says it wants to help the Jewish state become energy independent. This is not the first time that Evangelical Christians have used biblical prophecy to search for oil in Israel. But this time, they could be onto something: Zion Oil & Gas believes it may be on the verge of a very large find. Zion's 165-foot oil rig is located in an inland field between the central and northern Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. Israeli and Texas State flags flutter at the entrance to the fenced compound, where digging goes on 24-hours a day -- except on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. A sign at the site says, "The Joseph Project is an oil and gas exploration project based on scripture and geological evidence, as well as the Zion Oil & Gas Corporation's dedication to the discovery of oil in Israel." Although Israel is part of the oil-rich Middle East, very little oil has been discovered here. (Natural gas fields were discovered offshore in 1999.) Israel imports most of its oil from the former Soviet Union and the remainder from West Africa, Egypt and Mexico. But Zion Oil & Gas founder John Brown believes biblical prophecies will point the way to Israel's hidden oil wealth. Brown first visited Israel 20 years ago. Inspired by a few key Bible passages, Brown established his company more than a decade later. "He firmly believes [we'll] find oil here for the benefit of Israel and restoration of the land," Zion Oil's Executive Vice President Glen Perry told Cybercast News Service. (Evangelical Christians are strong supporters of Israel because they believe it will play a key role in events leading up to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.) Brown has worked for years with the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure, and in May 2000, he began drilling in an area encompassing 95,800 acres. "It's going very well," said an enthusiastic Perry. Skeptical Perry, a petroleum engineer from Texas, has worked in the oil and gas field for 25 years. He said he met Brown, who had no background in the oil industry, five years ago and admits he had doubts at first about the Israeli project. "When John called me and told me about the vision and where he wanted to drill...I was initially skeptical," said Perry. None of the oil and gas men liked that particular spot, he said, but Perry told Brown that he would evaluate the geophysical and engineering aspects. Perry said he and other experts discovered an underground anomaly, called a reefal structure, indicating possible oil reserves. "There could be a tremendous amount, according to published articles -- almost 500 million barrels," Perry said. That works out to about $2.5 billion worth of oil. Zion Oil & Gas has teamed up with Israeli experts such as Dr. Eliezer Kashai, a geologist who now serves as vice president of Israeli exploration for the private company. "There are several elements, which support the concept [of finding oil here]," Kashai said in a video presentation on the company's website. "First the appearance of reefal phenomena on the seismic sections and also the discovery of oil reefs in nearby wells -- all this supports our conclusions," Kashai said. Last month, Zion Oil & Gas began drilling its first well, called Ma'anit #1, at a site where an Israeli company stopped drilling ten years ago, when it ran out of money. Zion has cleaned out the old well and drilled much deeper than the original 7,500 feet. It plans to drill to a depth of 15,000 feet, at a cost of about $3 million. New discovery Dr. Yaakov Nimran, Israel's petroleum commissioner, said he welcomes anyone who wants to invest in Israel. "The geographical setting is fairly promising," Nimran said of Zion's drilling site. But it's hard to say what kind or how much oil might be produced, he added. "[Nevertheless], altogether it's quite exciting." Israel has one well off the coast of the Israeli city of Ashkelon in the Mediterranean Sea, which has been producing oil since 1956, he said. Its output is very low -- only about 80-100 barrels a day, Nimran said in a telephone interview. About 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of the Zion field, an Israeli company recently discovered oil -- but there are problems with extracting it. Bible and science This is not the first time Christians have used the Bible as a guide to oil drilling in Israel, Nimran said -- and it's probably not the last time, either. But Zion Oil & Gas says new technology has produced more scientific data to go along with biblical prophecies. "The Bible talks about where it's found and science backs it up," said Stacey Cude, an American who works in Israel as Zion's drilling manager. Zion Oil and Gas hopes to complete its drilling within a couple of months, at which point it will analyze the data to see if its efforts have been fruitful, Cude said. By law, 12-and-a-half percent of any profits would go to the Israeli government; and the company has pledged six percent of its profits to various charities, both in Israel and abroad, said Perry. And should they strike oil, the company hopes to send local Jewish and Arab Israelis for education and training so they'll be able to work in Zion's Israeli field. townhall.com