** World's Oldest Love Poem

The following article was found in Knowledge News Magazine, and it was extremely interesting, so I decided to include it here. Valentine's Day may be over, but the poem is still worth a read.

*** *** *** *** *** ***
The Sumerian poem on the right is about
the passionate embrace on the left

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet. . . .
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

That's the sexy start to the oldest love poem in the world, on special display this month at the Istanbul Museum of the Ancient Orient in Turkey. Scholars discovered the poem over a hundred years ago, buried in the ancient sands of Iraq, but they're hoping to draw new attention to it now. pring Festival

Spring Festival

The poem's verses are in cuneiform, one of the first writing systems people developed after people developed writing around 3500 BC. Sometime around 2030 BC, a Sumerian scribe from the city of Ur pressed the poem into wet clay using a reed stylus, then baked the tablet, preserving the passion of the moment for 40 centuries.

The passion, scholars say, was ritual--part of a Mesopotamian festival of fertility and power called Sacred Marriage. Every new year (for the Sumerians, around the spring equinox), the Sumerian king "married" the Sumerian goddess of love and war, Inanna (Babylonian Ishtar), to renew the land's fertility and affirm his own potency.

Sumer Love

For several days, the king's people got the Sumerian equivalent of Mardi Gras. At the festival's peak, the king got Inanna's high priestess, playing the part of Inanna. Wooed by his offerings, the priestess would accept the king into her bed, with a poem addressed to him. This one, addressed to the Sumerian king Shu-Sin, is the oldest love poem we know:

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.

You have captivated me,
Let me stand tremblingly before you.
Bridegroom, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber,
You have captivated me,
Let me stand tremblingly before you.
Lion, I would be taken by you to the bedchamber.

Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey-filled,
Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey.

Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you gifts.

Your spirit, I know where to cheer your spirit,
Bridegroom, sleep in our house until dawn,
Your heart, I know where to gladden your heart,
Lion, sleep in our house until dawn.

You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your caresses,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My Shu-Sin, who gladdens Enlil's heart,
Give my pray of your caresses.

Your place goodly as honey, pray lay your hand on it,
Bring your hand over like a gishban-garment,
Cup your hand over it like a gishban-sikin-garment.

Michael Himick
February 24, 2005

** How to tell you are addicted:

Buffon: With Werder it was a mishap

"The more important the match is, the more energies you are able to find to play better. For instance, we were not too brilliant against Parma, but a few days later we played a great game against Inter. The match against Werder was a mishap: we had practically won already, we just needed to pay a bit more of attention, to draw, at least".

Gigi Buffon gets back on Wednesday night Champions match, calmly analyzing the behaviour of the team. The defeat is annoying. However, the performance of the players was of a good level. "We surely need to be more careful in certain occasions and make our experience count. But we also have to admit that Wednesday's was a very random defeat. Sometimes things have got to go wrong, no matter what...". On a personal level, Gigi can be more than satisfied of his performance: "I do believe of having played my best matches against Inter and Werder. In Bremen I made two great saves and showed good confidence. The paradox is that in my best game I had three goals scored against me and the positive things I showed were not really worth".

The final 3-2 is a result that leaves wide chances for Juventus to qualify: "My impression is that Werder will hardly adopt another tactical module, thus I believe they will come to Turin to score one more goal than us. Unfortunately, they often can do it, even because with their way of playing it is easy to create many occasions. On the other hand, they also grant a lot and this will definitely be an advantage for us".

Archived the first match of the Champions eighth-final, Gigi jumps back in the championship: "Is the championship closed? Semi-closed, I would say. It is up to us to lock it. We have a considerable advantage and I don't know what a team like Juventus would have to do to waste it. With a little bit more of attention than in Bremen, we should make it". Attention that will be needed starting from this Sunday against Lecce: "It is a match where there is only something to loose. They are in the situation where they can risk, thus we will need to be very concentrated. In this kind of games everything can be easy by adopting the right approach. Otherwise problems may arise".

awwwwww!!!!!!!

Peace....

** Bundling Up

Bundle Up for Valentine's Day

Say "bundle up," and you probably have memories of mom insisting you wear mittens on a cold winter day. But the history of bundling is a far more romantic affair. In fact, it's one of history's sexiest little secrets. This Valentine's Day, snuggle up with your sweetheart and learn how your ancestors got away with more than you ever imagined.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Love in the sack

Bundling was the practice of two young lovers sharing a bed without undressing. Though it allowed courting couples a rare and thrilling opportunity for pillow talk, the custom was mainly a practical one.

Before planes, trains, and automobiles, a suitor might have to ride or walk some distance to see his sweetheart, and guests often spent the night. Economically minded parents could sleep tight knowing they'd saved money on costly candles, fires, and guest beds, since two teenagers wrapped in a quilt could produce their own heat.

But bundling was hardly an invitation to free love. Since a damaged reputation (or worse) had huge consequences, the rules had to be strict. There were lots of ways to ensure a safe and successful bundling. The oldest method, dating back to the Middle Ages, was to use a bundling board--a nearly body-length piece of wood secured upright between the lovers. Parents using this method relied on the modesty of the couple, as eager bedfellows could easily jump the board.

Another, more popular technique was to sew the boy or girl into a "bundling bag," a linen sheet that would bind, confine, and conceal the legs, and consequently, the potentially offending parts of the body. For especially determined lovers, more extreme restraints might be employed. Boys with Houdini-like talents might be bound right up to the neck in a bundling bag, with their hands tied behind their backs. Judging from the large number of children born out of wedlock throughout the 1700s, they escaped more than once.

Those Wayward Welsh

Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century English historians routinely blamed other cultures for any suspect practice that washed up on native shores. Sodomy was known as "the Italian vice." (Ironically, the Italians called it "the English vice.") Revolution? The French disease. Drunkenness? The Irish curse. In this same vein, bundling was laid at the feet of the Welsh, thanks in part to the region's remoteness.

By the late 1600s, Wales's supposedly relaxed sexual mores had become a running joke, with the scarcity of Welsh maidenheads the tired old punchline. But was it all xenophobic slander? In 1797, the English author of a travel diary observed that "the lower order of people do actually carry on their love affairs in bed," though he pointed out that it was all done with perfect innocence.

The author describes one young Welsh suitor who walked 11 miles every Sunday to see his chambermaid sweetheart. After attending morning prayers, her master permitted the girl and her boyfriend to spend an hour in bed together fully clothed, which they did every Sunday for two years until they finally married. Another visitor to Wales reported that female servants were so fond of bundling that they refused to work unless their lovers were permitted to share their beds.

Travelers reported similar customs in Germany, Scandinavia, England, and other parts of the Old World. In the Netherlands, bundling was referred to as "queesting"--literally, "searching." One observer of local Dutch lovers described how after a girl went to bed, her lover was permitted to sit beside her on top of the bedsheets. Of course, Hans often roamed, searching for the girl.

Bundling in the New World

When the Dutch sailed across the pond to the Hudson's shores, they brought their bundling boards and bags with them. In New York, the term "queesting" quickly anglicized to "questing." From there, the custom spread throughout New England until it was recognized as a Yankee phenomenon. Over time, the Old World origins of bundling melted away. Travelers to America who saw bundling in action generally identified it as a strange instance of colonial rusticity.

New York's early court transcripts and local parish records provide a glimpse into how bundling was viewed by those who practiced it. In 1658, the principal witness in a case against a young Albany woman testified that "when we were visiting together, we slept together in the garret." He insisted the lady remained "perfectly virtuous."

Yet not everyone agreed that the practice was an innocent one. In his History of New York, Washington Irving, under the assumed name of Diedrich Knickerbocker, gently mocked bundling as the reason for "the unparalleled increase of the Yanokie or Yankee tribe; for it is a certain fact, well authenticated by court records and parish registers, that wherever the practice of bundling prevailed, there was an amazing number of sturdy brats annually born unto the state, without the license of the law, or the benefit of clergy."

Separate Beds, Please

By the mid-1800s, bundling was on the wane in all but the most rural places. Cape Cod is often credited with being one of the last areas where bundling was practiced. A local Cape doctor writing in the late 1860s fondly reminisced to a writer friend about bundling with his paramour. She stayed wrapped the whole time, apparently, in her day dress and secure bloomer-style trousers, pulled tight with knots.

By the 20th century, modern freedoms and central heating had put an end to bundling. But the memory lingered on. In fact, in 1969, Time magazine featured an article on the "Society to Bring Back Bundling," in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Apparently sick of bad weather, drive-in theaters, and a lack of local necking spots, Pottstown teens tried to revive the old custom. While the editors of Christianity Today supported the idea as a call for "a new moral code," Pottstown parents nixed it. You have to hand it to the kids for trying.

Claire Vail
February 13, 2006

** For You Sweetie:

Today I love you more than Yesterday,
But less than Tomorrow.

mwahh hon,
~ rads

** R.I.P Lizzy

Lizzy imma miss you :(

**Thought

Try to have a little fun each day =)

** Thought:

Always share with Friends...
especially if it's CHEESECAKE =)

**Thought

A MUST in life:

Give lots of KISSES :)

** Thought:

Love your friends no matter who they are =)

** Messina - Juventus

Fabio Capello said it many times: "The championship is still not closed" and almost to confirm what the coach said, this Saturday there will be a delicate challenge on the first game of the match-day. After the exciting win against Inter, Juventus will in fact be busy again on an away-match in Messina. The Sicilian team is now ranked 15th and comes from a defeat in Genova against Sampdoria. A false step that interrupted the positive trend that starter three match-days ago, on the occasion of the 1-0 home result against Cagliari.

It was at the San Filippo stadium that the Sicilians gained the highest number of points, thanks to two wins and seven draws. The defeats are only three: Messina is, among the teams occupying the medium-low position of the ranking, the one that lost the least and tied the most. In order to avoid being sucked up by the fight for salvation, Mutti's boys need to gain points in every occasions, even when it comes to facing the team ranked first. Next Saturday's will thus be a strongly emotional game, with Messina looking for a result that could re-launch the ambitions of the club, and Juventus focused to conquer the twenty-second seasonal win.


The first-leg match last October ended with Juventus winning 1-0. The critical goal was scored by Alessandro Del Piero, who made up a movie-style goal. He started from the three-quarters, four opponents left behind and a left-kick that beated Storari. Five months away from that challenge, Juventus is looking for another exciting success, in order to keep on staying there, at the top of the rank, with twelve points of advantage on the chasing teams.

** MAXIMS **

** Final Fantasy

** Final Fantasy

** Thought

Be conscious of your appearance...

** :o) Life's Lessons

Always take risks...

**The Original Olympics**

You know the Olympics are back. You know their ancient ancestors were Greek. You may even know that their birthplace--the religious sanctuary of Olympia--was home to the gargantuan Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But do you know what the ancient games were really like?

Praise Nike!

We don't mean the shoe company. We mean the ancient Greek goddess of victory. According to legend, the first Olympics began in 776 BC, with a dusty, barefoot race held during Olympia's Zeus festival. After that, when Greeks flocked to Olympia's rural sanctuary every four years to praise Zeus, they stayed for the thrill of Nike and the agony of defeat. Similar games were held at ancient Delphi and other sanctuaries, but Olympia's games reigned supreme.

Like their modern equivalents, these competitions were intended to reveal the most skilled athletes. But a lack of protective clothing, random pairings that failed to account for size or skill, and few rules made the ancient Olympics a most dangerous game. Ancient fans were as forgiving as a Russian figure skating coach, and competitors could die trying to please the crowd.

* * * * * *
The Quick and the Nude

The fleet of foot enjoyed prominent status even among champion athletes, as most Greeks had grown up listening to legends of the half mortal, half divine Hercules, who ran great distances as a test of strength. Olympic athletes proudly ran their distances barefoot and naked, but legend suggests that wasn't always so. An ancient story circulated that the tradition of nudity began in 720 BC when an eager sprinter simply lost his shorts.

Competitors had four races to choose from, all measured by the length of the 192-meter stadium. The first was called the stadion, a sprint exactly one stadium long. The next race was double that length, while the third was long distance--between 7 and 24 stades.

The other race was the hoplitodromos, an exhausting two- to four-stade sprint by runners encumbered with 60 pounds of hoplite armor. Eventually, nakedness won out there, too, and racers grabbed just helmets and shields. A starting rope ensured few jumped the gun; those who did were beaten.

Chariots of Fire

Greek jockeys also competed sans pants. No saddles or stirrups either. And they never got much credit for being real athletes. As in modern times, it was expensive to buy, stable, and train a horse. Jockeys were considered mere employees. When a race was won, the owner, and not the rider, was crowned with the olive wreath.

The real glamour lay in the chariot races, easily the equivalent of today's NASCAR. Spectators held their breath waiting for a good chariot crash. The four-horse chariot race, called the tethrippon, was the real crowd pleaser--thrilling to watch, easy to bet on, and terribly expensive for owners. According to some accounts, Greek women could vie for the olive wreath in this category as horse owners, though under practically every other circumstance, married women were expressly forbidden to watch the games.

Complaints that the horse races were rigged cropped up frequently. In AD 67, the extravagant and eccentric Roman emperor Nero staged a unique ten-horse chariot race. Judges declared him the winner despite the fact that he fell from his chariot and failed to complete the course. Later historians duly struck Nero's name from the list of champions.

And for the Overachiever . . .

There was the pentathlon--"pent" for five events: sprinting, long jumping, javelin hurling, discus throwing, and wrestling. The philosopher Aristotle called pentathlon competitors the most beautiful athletes of all, since their bodies were "capable of enduring all efforts."

Discus and javelin hurling required balance, agility, and strength. The saucer-shaped discus was more or less a lead or stone frisbee that varied in size, while the wood javelin was a six-foot pole with a leather thong near the center that let the hurler keep a firm hold. Long jumpers used barbell-shaped weights called halteres to increase their distance, in a swinging motion that physicists say really does work.

The games concluded as they began: with a sacrifice to the gods. Winners returned home to be feted with banquets, parades, and money. Some were even granted free meals for the rest of their lives. The defeated went home in disgrace.

Claire Vail
February 16, 2006

** Valentine's Day cards

Legend has it that while St. Valentine was in prison--awaiting execution for defying a Roman emperor's edict against conducting marriages--he fell in love with his jailor's blind daughter.

Through unwavering faith, the story says, Valentine restored the woman's sight. Then, before his execution, he slipped her a farewell note signed "from your Valentine"--the original Valentine's card.

** PEACE **

** Discovery **

A team from the University of Memphis (that's Memphis, Tennessee--not Memphis, Egypt) has discovered an intact tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. It's the first such find since Howard Carter discovered King Tut's tomb in 1922. The tomb is just a few feet from Tut's, and it evidently dates from right around Tut's time.

Study of the tomb and its contents--including five mummies in undamaged sarcophagi--is just getting started. While the Memphis team digs in to their new discovery, let's look back at the man next door: King Tutankhamun himself. Who was he? And why did his tomb survive intact?


Tut, Tut, Tut

King Tut was born around 1342 BC. No one knows who his parents were, but most likely his father was the Pharaoh Akhenaton, and his mother was a minor royal wife named Kiya, who might have died in childbirth. During 18 turbulent years of rule, Akhenaton had tried to eradicate Egypt's ancient religion in favor of the exclusive worship of the sun god Aton. In the process, he had stirred up hatred among priests and ordinary Egyptians alike.

Akhenaton's reforms died with him in 1335 BC. His successor, Smenkhkare, ruled for less than two years. Then, in 1333, Tutankhamun came to power, although at the time he was called Tutankhaton ("the living image of Aton"). The new pharaoh was all of 9 years old. A commoner called Ay acted as regent.

Ay had risen to prominence during Akhenaton's reign. After his patron was gone, he and another commoner, Horemheb, divided power between them. While Ay guided the young Tut, Horemheb took command of Egypt's armies.

That Ancient Old-Time Religion

Under Ay's influence, Tut reinstated Egypt's "old-time religion" and changed his name to Tutankhamun to distance himself from the unpopular worship of Aton. He also took a bride--his half-sister Ankhesenamun (strange as it sounds, ancient Egyptian royals often married their close relatives). None of his children with Ankhesenamun outlived their pharaoh father.

Tut's reign was dedicated to returning Egypt to its glory days. The old temples were restored, the military reinvigorated, and new building plans announced. Even as Tut was growing into adulthood, though, his body might have been growing frail. His tomb contained more than 100 walking sticks, and Tut was almost always pictured seated on a stool, even while hunting.

Tut died, abruptly, in 1323 BC, still short of his 20th birthday. At the time, Horemheb was away on campaign against the Hittites. That left Ay with a clear path to power--if he acted quickly. Once Tut was safely in the ground, Ay had himself crowned pharaoh.

Death Becomes Him

A pharaoh would usually be mourned for more than two months, while his body was mummified and his grave goods produced. Temple remains show Tut was buried quickly. His body was shoddily mummified, and his tomb was small and largely undecorated (it was probably intended for someone else). Even his burial offerings were a motley collection, some labeled with a different pharaoh's name.

Ironically, the relative ignominy of Tut's burial is what sealed his later fame. He was tucked away in a poor, nondescript tomb. Then, when Pharaoh Ramses VI's tomb was carved out of the rock overhead, the opening to Tut's tomb was buried under debris.

Later generations forgot he was there. Tomb raiders consequently focused their efforts on more prominent mausoleums, and in 1922 Tut's burial chamber was still undisturbed, just waiting to be discovered by Howard Carter. So Tutankhamun--frail in life--became magnificent in death.

Mark Diller
February 10, 2006

**Sandcastle

** Inter-Juve - What a show

Mark down this date: Sunday February 12th, 8:30 pm.

The night-game of the next championship round promises sparkles: Juventus will face Inter in San Siro. This "Italian Derby" is a match not to miss. The first tam ranked in the league will face the second, the two best defences of the A Series, the second against the third offence of the championship. So, two plugs perfectly matching to make this match highly spectacular. Mancini's team comes from a recent defeat in Florence, that has stopped the long positive trend of the Milanese team. Inter played a good game against this team, even if it lost in the end. It attacked many times and went often close to scoring. It is thus easy to foresee that, against Juventus, Inter will be wanting to win. On the other hand, also Juventus, after a tie home match against Parma, will get on the pitch with the intention of winning from the very beginning. The first-leg match was a real Juventus supremacy. Capello's team dominated firmly the match for every 90 minutes, playing with strong attention and determination. The first goal was by Trezeguet, who picked up a penalty of Ibrahimovic not held back from Julio Cesar. The second goal was scored by Nedved, with a spectacular penalty kick from the limit. It is not going to be easy to repeat last October's superb performance, but Capello's boys will do their best to make it, also because winning against Inter would mean make the gap in the rank even wider.

** Amazing Sandcastles **

** England's Most Evil

According to a new poll of nearly 5,000 Britons, "the worst Briton" of the last thousand years is Jack the Ripper. No other Briton got even half as many votes. As historian Clive Emsley put it, "No one can touch Jack the Ripper for sheer wickedness."

Of course, while a poll can discover whom Britons regard as evil incarnate, it can't discover who the man regarded as evil incarnate really is. More than a century after he haunted London's streets, Jack's true identity remains unknown. Today, we can tell you his story. We can link you to great sites to find out more. But we can't tell you his name.

Just the Facts

There have long been arguments over how many women Jack the Ripper murdered in 1888, but most agree on at least five victims. The women had much in common--they were poor, fond of drink, and occasionally worked as prostitutes. All five frequented Whitechapel, a notorious slum in East London, and their need for money called them to the streets in the small hours of the morning. One by one, Jack killed them.

* August 31: Shortly after 3:30 am, Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols was discovered lying on a dark street. Her skirt had been pulled up to her waist, her throat cut with two slashes from a long-bladed knife, and she had been stabbed several times in the abdomen.


* September 8: Around 6 am, Annie Chapman was discovered in the backyard of a lodging house. Her throat had been severely gashed, her abdomen slashed open, and her intestines pulled out and thrown over her shoulder. Her uterus was missing.


* September 30: At approximately 1 am, Elizabeth Stride was found in a courtyard. She had a deep throat wound, but no other injuries, suggesting the killer had been interrupted.


* September 30: Less than an hour later, Catherine Eddowes was found on a street corner. Her throat was cut to the bone, her face, stomach, and pelvic area slashed, and her intestines pulled out. Her uterus and a kidney were missing.


* November 9: Working indoors, the killer created the most gruesome scene so far. Mary Jane Kelly was found lying on the bed in the room she rented. The murderer had cut her throat to the bone, hacked her face beyond recognition, sliced pieces from her body, and stolen her heart-�literally.

Lots of Theories

The killings were almost unimaginably horrible, and the press made the most of them in story after sensational story. Then came the letters. Shortly after the murder of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes, a letter and a postcard came to a news service, signed by one "Jack the Ripper" (the source of the killer's nickname). The police suspected a newspaperman had written them to boost circulation, but they allowed them to be published, hoping someone would recognize the writing.

Hundreds of Ripper letters followed. Some claimed to be from the killer. Others offered clues to his identity. Most, or all, were fakes. More difficult to dismiss was a letter mailed "from hell" in a box with part of a human kidney. The author claimed to have eaten the rest. Was this Catherine Eddowes's missing kidney, or a bad practical joke?

After a while, the Ripper killings simply stopped-�maybe after Mary Jane Kelly, maybe later. No one knows why. The murderer might have died, or been imprisoned on some unrelated charge, or escaped to another country. The police never had a strong case against any of their suspects.

In the absence of solid evidence, amateur sleuths have been free to speculate endlessly. Conspiracy theories swirl around Prince Albert Victor, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales and heir to the throne (supposedly driven mad by syphilis); Queen Victoria's personal physician, Sir William Gull; and London artist Walter Sickert. But in the end, no one has ever really managed to say who the Ripper was.

Mark Diller
February 3, 2006

** Towards Juve - Udinese

Juventus championship goes on without any breaks. After a nice win against Ascoli and the unlucky Italian Cup challenge against Roma, Capello's team gets back on the Delle Alpi pitch against Udinese on the fourth match-day of the second-leg turn. It will surely be a lively and sparkling match: Udinese needs precious points and playing a good match against the team ranked first in the league would be useful to relaunch the ambitions of the team. The team of Cosmi is one that plays at its best on away games. In fact, on ten matches played away from Friuli, Udinese achieved three victories and two ties, for a total of eleven points. Exactly four less then those conquered at home, where the matches played were twelve. In the last match against Fiorentina, Cosmi's team showed of having determination and character. Udinese tricked the Fiorentina attack playing for more than an hour with ten players only, after the expulsion of Baronio, and also going close to being in advantage with a very lively Di Natale.

The first-leg match, dated 21st September 2005, was extremely riveting and ended with Juventus winning 1-0, thanks to a crucial goal scored at the 37' by Vieira on his second game in the championship. In order to come back from the Friuli stadium with three points, Capello's team had to grit its teeth. In the second half Udinese tried in everything to draw and the spectacular and efficient save by Abbiati was made necessary. He was in fact able to save the result with a prompt reaction, drifting away with the heel of the foot Vidigal's head trick. The challenge is thus a promise of a great show, with Udinese looking for points and Juventus, unconquerable within its friendly walls. Juventus is the only A Series team that has always won at home and it is now looking for the twelfth consecutive win at the Delle Alpi in this championship against Udinese.

** For You Sweetie:

Here's just a little note to let you know you're always in my thoughts =)

** Awwwww =)

Love with all your heart =)

** Awwwww =)

There is ALWAYS someone who loves you more than you know.

** N.B. **

No matter what happens, it WILL get better...