Neatorama

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• Man from 1818 Predicts USA of the Future
• Surprising Human Remains From Israeli Quarry Complicate Our Evolutionary Picture
• Police Stop Exorcism in Home Depot Lumber Aisle
• Triplets are All Pregnant

Man from 1818 Predicts USA of the Future Posted: 25 Jun 2021 09:29 PM PDT In 1818, a British writer who published under the name "H" wrote an article for The Pocket Magazine in which he predicted the future of the United States. He (assuming it was a man) placed his musings 500 years into the future. It's only been 200 years, but some of them have come strangely true. For instance, Americans traveled to the moon, but some citizens didn't believe it. However, the method of getting there wasn't quite the way it really happened. Baltimore, December 1, 2318.—"As many of our readers in distant parts of the country have doubted whether the voyage to the moon ever did take place, we do again assure them, upon our veracity, that the information was literally correct. This aerial journey must indeed appear to many who hear of it as a most extraordinary undertaking; particularly when it is recollected, that in the dark ages of English credulity, it was imagined that tubes two hundred and forty thousand miles in length, besides being exposed to many other insuperable objections, would break with their own weight. Yet such were the tubes used by our adventurers, and such were absolutely necessary to supply them with air from the dense atmosphere of our earth. At the period to which we allude, when every science was fettered with the adamantine chains of system, it was also thought impossible for goose-quill, or any other wings, to be of service where the air was so rare as to offer no resistance. This idea the undertaking of now under consideration has fully disproved; for, after the wonders one goose his quill has performed, what must we not expect from the labours of a number united […] Other predictions in the article referred to automated doctors, the miracle of temperature control in the home, and the discovery of an unlimited liquid fuel coming from the earth. Read these predictions from 200 years ago at Reynolds's News and Miscellany. -via Strange Company

Surprising Human Remains From Israeli Quarry Complicate Our Evolutionary Picture Posted: 25 Jun 2021 09:29 PM PDT It is commonly thought that Homo sapiens came from Africa and Neanderthals evolved in Europe. However, a discovery in Israel appears to put both human species in the same location in the Levant. An archaeological dig started in 2012 at Nesher Ramla, and has yielded human remain in which a skull fragment appears to be Homo sapiens, while the jawbone sports Neanderthal features. Dental anthropologist Rachel Sarig says the discovery may force us into a new interpretation of human evolution. Sarig's paper describes the physical characteristics of the remains from Nesher Ramla, and the other paper describes the stone tools found at the site. The bones were compared to other members of the genus Homo using 3D morphometrics—basically, the researchers created a dataset of points in three dimensions and looked at how similar or dissimilar the skull fragment, jawbone, and teeth were from those of other humans. They also dated the specimen to between 140,000 and 120,000 years old, which would mean it lived at the same time as Homo sapiens in the area. "The Nesher Ramla fossils certainly complicate a straightforward evolutionary story, which traditionally hinged on exclusive occupation of the Levant by either Neanderthals or Homo sapiens," said Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History who was unaffiliated with the recent papers. "Instead, there may be multiple species around at the same time, sometimes interbreeding, learning from one another and sharing in their cultural behaviors." That would certainly be a new way to look at human history. Read more about the research at Gizmodo. There is some speculation that the human remains may be a previously unknown species that was a common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, instead of a hybrid of the two.  (Image credit: Tel Aviv University)

Police Stop Exorcism in Home Depot Lumber Aisle Posted: 25 Jun 2021 05:53 PM PDT It makes perfect sense to me. A running joke among carpenters is that Home Depot wood is terrible. It would be prudent to remove the demonic forces that warp it so much. I don't know if that was the motivation behind the people who visited the Home Depot in Dickerson, Pennsylvania to perform an exorcism in the lumber aisle. We'll likely never know, as employees called police, who removed the customers from the store without incident. -via Dave Barry | Unrelated photo by Mike Mozart

Triplets are All Pregnant Posted: 25 Jun 2021 05:53 PM PDT The US birth rate dropped by 4% during the pandemic, but it's a baby boom for the Tran family of Orange County, California. The Tran triplets, Gina, Nina, and Victoria, are all pregnant at once! The  three women were born just minutes apart, 35 years ago, and now are sharing commiseration, maternity clothes, and an obstetrician. "I'm actually the oldest by four minutes and I'm having a girl, and her name is Leighton Grace," Gina said. "I'm in the middle by four minutes and I'm having a boy, and his name is Hendrix Paul," Nina said. "I'm the youngest by four minutes and then eight minutes, and having a boy," Victoria said. "His name is Zaden Seth." The three births are expected in July, August, and November. Read more at CBS. -via Fark (Image credit: The Tran Family)

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