Grain of salt

I didn't immediately post on the recent claim by Jordanian archeologists to have identified the oldest known place of Christian worship. All reports indicated that while the claims were dramatic, the supporting evidence was rather less so. Here's a more critical writeup, via Fox News:

Thomas Parker, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Raleigh, who led the team that discovered the church in Aqaba, said that while he hadn't seen the Rihab site, any such claim should be taken with a degree of caution.

"An extraordinary claim like this requires extraordinary evidence," he said. "We need to see the artifacts and dating evidence to suggest such an occupation in the 1st century A.D."

Parker asked how archaeologists could be certain whether the "cave was actually a center of Christian worship". . .

"It's quite possible that there was a cave with earlier occupation which was later converted to Christian use. But to make the jump that this was actually used by Christians fleeing Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D. seems like a stretch to me," Parker said.

HMS Ontario found

A British warship that sank in Lake Ontario 228 years ago during the War of Independence has been found almost intact by two shipwreck hunters.

"This is the Holy Grail of Great Lakes wrecks," says Jim Kennard who, with his partner Dan Scoville, discovered the 22-gun brig-sloop HMS Ontario in deep water "somewhere" between Niagara and Rochester. "There's nothing more significant than this one."

"It's the oldest confirmed shipwreck in the lakes," Scoville adds. "And very few warships went down. The Ontario is so complete, the two masts are in place and there's still glass in some of its windows."

From the Toronto Star.

High speed rail in the USA: don't hold your breath

Though you might want to hold on to your wallet when you read something like this:

A two-hour rocket train between New York and Washington is a step closer to reality after the House passed legislation requiring the federal government to solicit proposals for its financing and development.

When millions were appropriated to upgrade rail service from New York City to Boston, they were talking about reducing travel time to something like two hours or less, with Providence-NYC slightly over 90 minutes. What did we get? The Acela, which is a nice but expensive train, which still takes a good three hours plus -- if it's on time. Only 30-45 minutes faster than the regular regional service, too, mostly due to making fewer stops, and still slower than driving (I routinely make it from Providence to central Manhattan in a bit under three hours, without recourse to any Speed Racer heroics). Maybe this time things will be different, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Edinburgh pipers outwear their welcome

Local color is all well and good, but enough is enough:

Bagpipers on Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile have been told they will be arrested if they continue to play.

Lothian and Borders Police said they receive up to 100 calls a day about the bagpipe noise and have to commit too many resources to dealing with it.

From the BBC.

Remembering Nagy

An audio recording of the 1958 secret trial of Hungary's executed prime minister Imre Nagy is being played in public for the first time.

It marks the 50th anniversary of Mr Nagy's trial for treason for his role in the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising.

The 52 hours of tapes began playing on Monday morning, and will continue in real time in a gallery in Budapest.

From the BBC.

. . . and the horse you rode in on

Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the relocation of the cavalry, in the latest blow to the abolished monarchy and the traditionally pro-royal army.

The case was brought on the grounds that the horses pollute the main complex of government buildings.

From the BBC.

London raids

The BBC reports on police raids on secure storage businesses in London suspected of being patronized by crooks and money-launderers:

Six suitcases packed with suspected gold dust and about £30m in cash has been found during searches of safety deposit centres in London, police say.

Detectives also found drugs such as heroin and cocaine, paedophile material and forged passports and credit cards.

Even more interesting:

So far only a third of the boxes have been opened and the finds have also included a firearm, counterfeit currency, several works of Renaissance art and a substantial amount of high value jewellery.

One wonders how many innocents have had their property seized and pawed through. The number of boxes to be opened and examined is said to be 7000. If this is acceptable in the UK, does this also mean that if it is established that criminal activity is taking place in certain apartments, the police have the right to search and seize the contents of every apartment in the entire apartment building?