SPQR Bread!!!

Yes, a post about bread! PBS regularly airs a program called, "Secrets of the Dead." An episode called, "Herculaneum Uncovered" recently aired. Herculaneum was a Roman era sister-city to Pompeii that was also completely destroyed and covered by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. The hosts go deep behind the scenes showing areas and artifacts not accessible to the public. One of the coolest things they have is a Roman loaf of bread that is almost 2,000 years old. Pretty unique archaeological finding, no? You can see the whole program here. You can view the loaf of bread at the beginning of chapter 3. It is worth checking out.

You say tomato...

Interesting article from Timesonline's David Aaronovitch about the conflict in Israel. When its all said and done, "Will the Israeli action advance or hinder any movement towards a long-term solution in the area, or have we all given up on that?" I do think that there will be a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians during the first term of the Obama administration due to demographics. The Israelis, U.S. and Sunni neighbors (Saudis, Jordanians and Egypt) figure you need to smash Hamas: 1) in order to get them to agree to a settlement as well as deal a blow to Iranian led Shia encroachment. That explains why reaction was pretty muted on the first day as well as to why Egypt didn't open their border.