Twelve years ago, Walters Art Museum curator Will Noel opened a parcel and discovered what he calls “Archimedes’ brain in a box.”

Thus began a search for buried treasure — in this case, the lost writings of Archimedes of Syracuse, a famed Greek mathematician and inventor who lived in the third century B.C.

Noel and his boss, museum director Gary Vikan, found a 174-page book made of cured goatskin that was ugly beyond belief. The sheaves were singed around the edges, the text and pages were defaced by water stains, and mold had eaten away entire sections.

Noel began to gently riffle through the pages but stopped when they fell apart in his hands. “It looked as though it had been in a fire, or something had chewed it up,” Vikan says. “It made me think of shredded wheat.”

Even worse, the manuscript had been washed and scraped away by a medieval monk and written over with prayers (making it a “palimpsest,” a document in which the original text has been imperfectly erased and written over.) Only ghostly traces of the original remained.

So Walters assembled two dozen experts worldwide who began to make the nearly invisible visible, aided by technologies being invented as they worked. What they found has changed scholarly understanding not just of ancient mathematics, but also of politics and philosophy in the classical world.

“Lost & Found: The Secrets of Archimedes” opens Sunday at the Walters and runs the rest of the year. The exhibit presents a fascinating modern detective story, as well as a history of the palimpsest populated by heroes and rogues.

Read more.

I feel strange for reblogging so much about Steve Jobs’ death, and then going straight back into Occupy Wall Street…which is, you know, protesting corporate domination of the universe? And Apple is…a corporation dominating the universe?

But then I remember the iPod and all my feelings of duplicity disappear.

(Source: inothernews)

The Baltimore Sun reports:

More than 10,000 items in the Walters Art Museum — about a third of the total collection — can now be viewed and downloaded online for free, without copyright restrictions.

The museum’s collection is “basically public domain,” said Dylan Kinnett, manager of web and social media at the Walters. “Something like this would be less likely at a museum with contemporary art, where the artist is still alive or the estate is still active.”

The free online accessibility, which complements the Walters’ free admission policy, allows viewers to see works spanning several eras, from ancient Egypt and the Americas to 18th- and 19th-century Europe. Objects from Asian and Islamic cultures are also included. Many of the downloadable art works are not currently on display at the museum.

This is kind of exciting. I love The Walters.

In other news: ANYONE WANT TO JOIN THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM TEEN ARTS COUNCIL WITH ME? The first meeting is apparently tomorrow, anyone can join. I’m considering it but I’m only going to join if a friend comes with me.

By Peter Hermann, The Baltimore Sun

On Monday, more than 800 people had signed up to participate in a planned protest in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. But shortly after noon Tuesday, when the protest was scheduled to begin, only a handful of people had shown up.

A copycat of the Occupy Wall Street protest – a sit-in smack in the middle of Manhattan’s financial district – the Occupy Baltimore event is being held at McKeldin Square, with some participants planning to stay overnight for days.

The dozen or so protesters who were present around noon stood huddled around each other, holding fliers. About 15 minutes later, their numbers swelled to about three dozen people, representing a wide variety of groups. Some protesters held sheets with slogans painted on them, including one that reads “Baltimore Occupied – we want change.”

Baltimore City police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Monday it wasn’t clear if the protesters needed a permit, and that police are only concerned that the protesters stay organized and don’t disrupt traffic.

He declined to say how many officers would be deployed to the scene. “We will make sure we have resources in place so that it doesn’t become a distraction.”

Only two officers appeared to be present Tuesday. Police Major Anthony Brown, head of the tactical squad, met with one of the group’s organizers, Mike McGuire, to exchange in a pleasant conversation.

“We’re here to make it safe,” Brown said. “Safety is our number one concern. And whatever we can do to help you, we will do.”

McGuire said, “If the police do what they just said, we’re going to have a wonderful event.”

He added that he was not concerned about what appeared to be a low turnout so far, saying he expects protesters to trickle in all day.

Faheem Younus for HuffPost Religion

My friend, Kamal, loves Home Depot. Why? Because of its generous return policy. Bring back your purchase with a receipt within 90 days and get your money back. So whenever Kamal has a one-time need for equipment, he buys it at Home Depot … only to return it for a full refund within 90 days!

Yet he believes in a “no return, no refund” policy for those who may be dissatisfied with Islam.

As a proud Muslim, I completely disagree with this notion. Sadly though, many face harassment and persecution at the hands of the so called Muslim governments who insist that the punishment for leaving Islam is death.

Meet Yosef Nadarkhani, one such gentleman, born to Muslim parents in Iran whose dissatisfaction with Iran’s oppressive perversion of Islam led him to Christianity at the age of 19. He was serving as a pastor in October 2009 when he was arrested for apostasy and later sentenced to death by hanging in 2010. The Iranian supreme court hinged his fate to a simple question: was he a Muslim before converting to Christianity or not? So now that the 11th branch of Iran’s Gilan Provincial Court has declared that Nadarkhani belong to a Muslim family and therefore must recant his Christian faith, he could be executed within a week.

And Kamal is not the only one against this “no return, no refund” policy when it comes to leaving Islam. A 2011 Pew survey showed that 86% of Jordanians, 84% of Egyptians, 76% of Pakistanis, 51% of Nigerians and 30% of Indonesians supporting death penalty for apostasy. Remember, there are well over 500 million Muslims just in these five countries. In corporate terms, that’s like 350 employees who have never read (or misread) their company’s policy and procedures manual: The Quran.

The Quran refers to apostasy several times (2:217, 3:86-90, 4:137, 9:66, 9:74, 16:106-109, 4:88-91, 47:25-27) and yet never prescribes any worldly punishment for it, let alone death.

So how do millions of Muslims justify such a barbaric act in the name of Islam? Well, because their clerics claim that leaving Islam is not just apostasy, but treason - a crime punishable by death.

What non-sense. Merriam-Webster dictionary’s defines treason as, “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign’s family or the betrayal of trust.” Apostasy, conversely, poses no danger to the government or anyone’s sovereignty.

Actually, Islam does not even allow anyone to brand another person as an apostate. It is a self-declaration. And Islam’s return policy is, in fact, even more generous than the Home Depot:

“Those who believe, then disbelieve, then again believe, then disbelieve and thereafter go on increasing in disbelief, Allah will never forgive them, nor guide them to any way of deliverance.” (4:138).

Thus, I ask these self proclaimed scholars: How would someone “again believe” if the punishment for disbelieving was death in the first place?

But declaring apostasy a crime punishable by death, Iranian clerics display a clear insecurity. But God’s trust in His “product” appears to be far more than Home Depot’s trust in their tools.

“He who turns back on his heels shall not harm Allah a whit.” (3:145).

Hold on, you Iranian clerics. Before quoting Ibne Khtal, Tulaiha, Aswad Anasi, Maqees Sababah or the seven men from the tribes of Ukal and Uraynah (whom Prophet Muhammad sentenced to death) to support your decision, realize that all of them were punished for committing murders, not changing their faith. The rule at Home Depot is similar: you break the tool; you pay the price.

Nadarkhani should not have to pay any price; instead he should be free to practice any faith. The fact that he has been imprisoned for the past two years is enough to make me, a Muslim, sick to my stomach. How can these Iranian clerics enforce him to believe in Islam when God says in the Quran (10:100), “If thy Lord had enforced His Will, surely all those on the earth would have believed without exception. Will thou than take it upon thyself to force people to become believers?”

Despite all this data, I was unable to change Kamal’s position on the issue. So I asked him, “What would you do if Home Depot abolished their return policy altogether?”

“That’s easy,” he said. “I will switch to the other home improvement store, Lowes.”

And then we wonder why Nadarkhani changed his faith…

Denmark has introduced what is believed to be the world’s first fat tax - a surcharge on foods that are high in saturated fat.

Butter, milk, cheese, pizza, meat, oil and processed food are now subject to the tax if they contain more than 2.3% saturated fat.

Some consumers began hoarding to beat the price rise, while some producers call the tax a bureaucratic nightmare.

Others suggest that many Danes will simply start shopping abroad.

Danish officials say they hope the new tax will help limit the population’s intake of fatty foods.

Imagine if we tried that here in America, that would be hilarious. Wouldn’t be possible.

slate:

If you’re taking a break from work to read this article, I’ve got one question for you: Are you crazy? I know you think no one will notice, and I know that everyone else does it. Perhaps your boss even approves of your Web surfing; maybe she’s one of those new-age managers who believes the studies showing that short breaks improve workers’ focus. But those studies shouldn’t make you feel good about yourself. The fact that you need regular breaks only highlights how flawed you are as a worker. I don’t mean to offend. It’s just that I’ve seen your competition. Let me tell you: You are in peril.

Everything in the world is working against me.

(Source: utnereader)