(no subject)

Jindal Signs Bill Blocking Lawsuits Against Oil and Gas Companies

http://bit.ly/Sm1xAi

Organic agriculture attracts a new generation of farmers

http://lat.ms/1k6OdGH

What Happens When Low Wage Workers Suddenly Get a Living Wage?

http://bit.ly/1p7aMmq

After the death of his wife following a minor operation, airline pilot Martin Bromiley set out to change the way medicine is practised in the UK – by using his knowledge of plane crashes.

http://bit.ly/1xoQFmb

Another article on the same topic, but older:

http://nyr.kr/1leiNmo

Natural hair advocates take on the US Army

http://bbc.in/1jaa94d

Ever Wished That Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson Would Return to the Comics Page? Well, He Just Did.

http://bit.ly/1ibAOgT

A court in the European Union has decided that Europeans are allowed to pirate content if they do so in a particular way.

Apparently if an internet user is streaming copyrighted content online, it's legal for the user, who isn't willfully making a copy of said content to view it. The pirate can only watch it directly through a web browser, streaming it from a website that hosts it, but it will be perfectly legal

http://bit.ly/1ibAS03

What health insurance reform can, and can't do for the healthcare system

http://bit.ly/1q7avNV

Infants exposed to rodent and pet dander, roach allergens and a wide variety of household bacteria in the first year of life appear less likely to suffer from allergies, wheezing and asthma, according to results of a recent study. Those who encounter such substances before their first birthdays seem to benefit rather than suffer from them. Importantly, the protective effects of both allergen and bacterial exposure were not seen if a child's first encounter with these substances occurred after age 1, the research found.

Ah, that's why you're so out of it after the baby is born! It's evolution, man, forcing you to live in squalor for a year!

http://bit.ly/1pnaWUg

Researchers have found evidence of the world that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago to form the Moon.

http://bbc.in/1kHRoJZ

Tetris is 30 this week.

http://bit.ly/1hFX1sS

Norfolk, VA. Going, Going, Gone Underwater.

http://bit.ly/1nrRHsg

GOP plans to pay for 1 year of highway funds with 10 years of postal service cuts

Why the hell are conservatives so anxious to kill the post office? Seriously, wtf?

http://bit.ly/1rWihPk

Debunked:Poor people waste donations on booze and tobacco

http://bit.ly/1ibC3MU

Policies in some states are widening the gap between the rich and the rest of us

http://bit.ly/1mp9tsC

No Water, No Toilet Paper, No Tampons: How the US Treats Border Detainees

http://bit.ly/1pneiXE

Feds’ bizarre marijuana spite: How Big Ag and water shortage are conspiring against stoners

http://bit.ly/1p7e74R

Ukraine's President vows to defend territory 'no matter what'

http://cnn.it/1hqTmie

The Syrian government released hundreds of prisoners as part of a general amnesty granted by President Bashar Assad in celebration of his reelection this week, according to opposition and government sources.

http://lat.ms/1kUg4db

In its effort to engage with the public in a more direct manner and to allow both the agency and the public to gain greater access to unclassified information, the United States Central Intelligence Agency has opened its first official accounts on popular social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.

"We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet," the agency's first tweet said.

http://bit.ly/1kUh8Oh

Confusion, celebration in Wisconsin as same-sex marriage legalized

http://lat.ms/1xoYwjv

China's Plans to Bulldoze Mountains Could Cause Environmental Problems

http://bit.ly/1tUjsdN

Theoretical physicists have proposed a way they think will allow us to create matter from light. The experiment has yet to be done, but has passed peer review as practical and the inventors are in discussions with experimentalists with the equipment to carry it out. The proposal has created excitement because, while it has been accepted for 80 years that two photons of light could theoretically create matter, for that time the demonstrational proof was regarded as beyond the reach of lab equipment.

http://bit.ly/1pnifvc

An environmentalist billionaire who has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars targeting Republicans who reject climate change announced Friday that he is now creating a fund to help victims of extreme weather disasters, starting with wildfires in the American West.

http://bit.ly/1hG0pUq

On June 4, scientists from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IRAS) released a report in which they identified a possible treatment for citrus greening disease.

http://bit.ly/1oIf0NF

New Case of Chikungunya Virus Hits Florida

http://bit.ly/1kHU2PK

I woke up today with Cicero's first oration against Cataline thundering in my ears

Which is strange, even for me, especially as it's been years since I studied Latin.

When we did read it, I don't recall that we had much background, which is a pity because honestly, it's fascinating stuff. Even the brief Wikipedia summation makes it sound like a fascinating TV miniseries, but somehow, all the Roman stuff on TV seems to focus on the Empire instead of the Republic, though of course the end of the Republic is just as sordid.

Really, my education in ancient history is lacking all over. As a product of the American school system, I have an extremely firm grounding in American history, and a pretty good grasp of world history (particularly those parts that took place in Europe or America) from the 1500s on, but other than that...?

The trouble with knowledge is its fractal nature, you know. You can write books just as long about Cataline as you can about the whole of human history. But if I wanted to focus on ancient history (of the western world), what's a good place to start? I don't care if it's specific or overviewtastic :)