KEVIN MCGOWAN [dated Dec 19, 2014]: The data from the New York State Breeding Bird Atlas show a huge increase in ravens across the state.
CLARA MACCARALD [dated Dec 19, 2014]: Why was the northeast so different? “There's a lot of historical stuff that goes into it,” explained McGowan. “Here it was mostly a question of guys with guns and changing the habitat so drastically.” To English settlers in particular, crows and ravens were seen as varmints to be shot on sight, while many settlers in the southwest had a different heritage. When eastern forests became fields and pastures, ravens had few places to hide.
Ravens love dumps in places like California and Alaska.
DAVID [dated JUNE 10, 2015]: Over the last five or six years, Common Ravens have been sighted with increasing frequency in New York City, part of a resurgence throughout the Northeast after more than a century of regional extirpation.
JEWISH VIRTUAL LIBRARY: Caesarea is an important site in Christian history. Thinking Roman city, right? What gave it away? It was the place where Pontius Pilate governed during the time of Jesus. Paul was also imprisoned for two years in Caesarea.
Caesarea was originally called Straton's Tower after its founder Straton, who is believed to have been a ruler of Sidon in the 4th century BCE. In 96 BCE the city was captured by Alexander Yannai and remained in the Hasmonean kingdom until it became an autonomous city by Pompey. After being for some time in the possession of Cleopatra, ruler of Egypt, it was returned by Augustus to Herod.
The Crusader fortifications were embellished by King Louis IX of France -- St. Louis -- who spent a year in Caesarea after being released from prison in Egypt in 1251.
The hippodrome built by Herod also is still identifiable, though it is now a banana field.
The population of Caesarea was half gentile and half Jewish, often causing disputes among the people. In 6 CE, Caesarea became the home of the Roman governors (Procurators) of Judea. The city remained the capital of Roman and Byzantine Palestine. Today, it is one of Israel's major tourist attractions and an increasingly popular place for Israel's elite to make their homes. This is also the home of Israel's famous Carmel wineries, which began operations in 1886 and now offer tours that conclude with wine tasting.
RONA NOVICK: In caregiving, we are both free and tethered, lonely and together, focused on change and focused on preserving the past.
That’s what caregiving does. It is a powerful teacher. Its lessons are broad and lasting, about humanity, about human spirit and human frailty, about the people in our family we thought we knew. The most life-altering lessons caregiving offers, however, are those that teach us about ourselves.
Had a dream where I infiltrated Hizbullah as a Spy. DUSTINE CASTILLO: GAL GADOT! 😍
ARUTZ SHEVA STAFF: The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah has been building factories in the heart of Beirut to convert missiles into highly-accurate precision weapons capable of striking sensitive Israeli sites. Upon deciding to convert its massive 150,000-strong rocket arsenal to missiles with pinpoint accuracy, Hezbollah chose to transfer its sites to the heart of Beirut in order to deter Israeli airstrikes.
REBECCA MARIA GOLDSCHMIDT: Metula is a small village at the northernmost tip of Israel bordering Lebanon. Many Israelis consider it "the end of the world."
MAE ELISE CANNON: Amman is one of the oldest and longest inhabited cities in the world. In the OT – it is referred to as Rabbath Ammon, the capital city of the Ammonites (around 1200 BC).
TIMES OF ISRAEL: Israeli farmers will no longer be allowed to enter an agricultural enclave in Jordan on Thursday, as an extension of Israel’s lease on the land is set to expire.
Dujie Tahat is a Filipino-Jordanian-American writer from Washington. Dujie is a recipient of fellowships from the Hugo House and Jack Straw Writing Program. He got his start as a Seattle Poetry Slam Finalist & at HBO’s Brave New Voices. pic.twitter.com/3qRN7NjwVO
Bnei Lot are of an ancient origin. In the migratory tradition of Ruth begun more than two millennia ago, a remnant of David and Solomon migrated into Maritime Southeast Asia which comprises what is now Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, The Philippines, and Singapore, as well as Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, with a sizeable minority of Malays migrating back to their tribal allotments in Sephardic Judah, besides Terrestrial and Figurative Jordan.
