Seikilos epitaph

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving complete musical composition.

"As long as you live, shine,
Let nothing grieve you beyond measure.
For your life is short,
and time will claim its toll."

The Seikilos epitaph’s survival in one piece, as it were, no doubt owes something to its shortness. The Greeks could carve the entire thing onto the surface of a tombstone, exactly the medium on which the modern world rediscovered it in 1885 near Aidin, Turkey.

The surface also bears an explanatory inscription about — and written in the voice of — the artifact itself:  “I am a tombstone, an image. Seikilos placed me here as an everlasting sign of deathless remembrance.”

Why evolution is true - Jerry Coyne (AAI 2009)

Middle Ages

Polish Parliament members protest against ACTA

Lunar New Year 2012

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/01/lunar_new_year_2012.html

Homeless people around the world

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/12/homelessness_around_the_world.html

Winter

Source and for more images please visit: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/01/winter-arrives/100218/

Kim Jong Il dead

You've probably heard that North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il died from a heart attack. And now his son Kim Jong-un is described as the "Great Successor". Needless to say it's been a bad year for dictators. Guess we'll just have to wait and see how things turns out whit his son.

Look at the reaction to his death. Perhaps the weeping is mandatory?

Christopher Hitchens dead

The writer and critic Christopher Hitchens passed away yesterday (December 15th) at the age of 62. He was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2010. He's been a columnist for Vanity Fair since 1992 and written "God is not great: How religion poisons everything." and his own memoir "Hitch-22". 

I found Hitchens to be an inspiring person that had a lot of interesting ideas and thoughts and I'm really sad that he passed away. Haven't read his memoir but think that I'm going to buy it and read it when I got the time. Let me know what you think of his death in the comments.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/12/20111216519164259.html
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011

Russian Election Protests

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/12/russian-election-protests/100206/

Photos from 2011

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-most-powerful-photos-of-2011?sort=posted&z=2NNLJ6