6-century history of French franc ending on last day to change former money to euros http://www.canadianbusiness.com/article/71659–6-century-history-of-french-franc-ending-on-last-day-to-change-former-money-to-euros PARIS – Six centuries after the first one was minted and a decade after they went out of circulation, the last French francs are being exchanged for euros, severing France’s final link to its former national currency. However, the franc’s end also comes as its replacement, the euro, suffers its worst crisis since its creation. The Banque de France set a deadline of the close of business Friday for French savers to exchange whatever leftover franc notes they’ve kept socked away in drawers or under mattresses, whether held onto intentionally as souvenirs or simply…

Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008 Jesus ‘Tomb’ Controversy Reopened By Tim McGirk/Jerusalem When the Discovery Channel aired a TV documentary last year raising the possibility that archeologists had found the family tomb of Jesus Christ in the hills behind Jerusalem, it caused a huge backlash among Christians. The claim, after all, challenged one of the cornerstones of Christian faith — that Jesus, after his crucifixion, rose bodily to heaven in his physical form. The Lost Tomb of Jesus, made by Hollywood director James Cameron and Canadian investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici, was shown only once on Discovery. Britain’s Channel 4 canceled its own plans to air the documentary, which reexamines an archeological…

John S. Dykes The ‘beachcomber express’ may have carried our African ancestors to the Indian Ocean and beyond. Did Early Humans Ride the Waves to Australia? By MATT RIDLEY http://online.wsj.com/article Everybody is African in origin. Barring a smattering of genes from Neanderthals and other archaic Asian forms, all our ancestors lived in the continent of Africa until 150,000 years ago. Some time after that, say the genes, one group of Africans somehow became so good at exploiting their environment that they (we!) expanded across all of Africa and began to spill out of the continent into Asia and Europe, invading new ecological niches and driving their competitors extinct. There is…

In this Feb. 19, 2010 photo released by the British Ministry of Defense, MOD, shows Florence Green, left, on her 109th birthday being presented with a birthday cake by LAC Hannah Shaw on behalf of the RAF at her home in King’s Lynn, east England. Florence Green, the world’s last known veteran of World War I, has died at the age of 110, the care home where she lived said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Sac Chris Hill/MoD, HO) NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse…

Queen celebrates 60 years on throne   A small crowd greets Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as the monarch marks 60 years on the throne. The anniversary is normally recognised privately as the anniversary of her accession also marks the day her father George VI died. The Queen travelled on the day from her Sandringham estate to King’s Lynn in the eastern county of Norfolk, to meet local dignitaries and visit a school. Elizabeth II has been on the throne for longer than any other British monarch except Queen Victoria who reigned for almost 64 years. During her reign – which began aged 25 – there have been 12 British prime…

http://techland.time.com/2011/06/15/claim-sunspots-to-disappear-global-cooling-may-ensue/ Claim: Sunspots to Disappear, Global Cooling May Ensue By Matt Peckham | @mattpeckham | June 15, 2011 You know what they say about a leopard not changing its spots, but when it comes to our sun, change is all but guaranteed. In fact new research suggests the sun may be on the verge of changing its sunspots in a way that could significantly alter weather patterns for the long haul, both on Earth and in space. Three studies presented by scientists at a conference in Las Cruces, New Mexico yesterday predict that sunspots are set to temporarily and unexpectedly vanish in coming years as part of a solar “hibernation”…

From Out of a Featureless Crowd By KAREN WILKIN New York Victoria and Albert Museum, on long-term loan to The National Gallery, London ‘Fra Teodoro of Urbino as St. Dominic’ (1515), by Giovanni Bellini. Portraits, from gritty Lucian Freuds to the fatuous kitsch perpetrated by street artists, are such a constant presence in our visual landscape that it’s hard to remember that the genre’s history is far from continuous. For centuries, throughout the ancient world—in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece—human beings were depicted according to strict, near-abstract conventions, except for a short-lived period of relative naturalism during the reign of the renegade monotheist pharaoh, Akhenaten. The Romans, of course, excelled at memorial…