ResoluteReader: Sally Magnusson - The Sealwoman’s Gift

ResoluteReader: Sally Magnusson - The Sealwoman’s Gift: *** Spoilers *** Sally Magnusson's novel

Sally Magnusson's novel The Sealwoman's Giftis one of those stories which seems so unbelievable, it cannot possibly be based on fact, and yet it turns out that the events at the heart of the story, and much of the detail did, actually take place. It seems extraordinary that pirates from the Mediterranean travelled as far north as Iceland and took hundreds of captives back to slavery in north Africa, but they did, and many thousands of coastal inhabitants from the countries of Western Europe were similarly captured. The novel is based on the true account of Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson whose real life capture alongside his wife, children and four hundred, is well attested to. While we don't know the name of Ólafur Egilsson's historical wife, in Magnusson's book she is called Asta, and her independent spirit is not diminished by the horrors of the voyage to Algiers. Instead she becomes emboldened despite seeing her son sold off and her imprisonment in the harem of Cilleby a wealthy merchant and slave trader.

 Chinese experts have not recordered any increase in background radiation level following North Korea's alleged nuclear weapon test, Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a statement Wednesday.

BEIJING (Sputnik) — On January 6, 2016 Pyongyang claimed it had carried out a hydrogen bomb test. The same day, the Chinese Environment Ministry said the test had no impact on the environment in China’s northeast bordering North Korea so far.

"As of 12:00 local time [4:00 GMT] January 13, the monitoring data show that rates of gamma radiation in the air are within the norms, no artificial radionuclides were detected in the air, radiation situation is normal," the ministry said.

© REUTERS / KCNA

Don’t Mess With the Dragon: Hydrogen Bomb Testing Might Damage N Korea’s Ties With China

According to the ministry, Pyongyang's nuclear tests will not affect environment or China's citizens.

North Korea declared itself a nuclear power in 2005 and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, having earlier withdrawn from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that it ratified in 1985.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201601131033083904-china-north-korea-radiation/


ALSO SEE: https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=NORTH+KOREA+NUKES+

The Archaeology News Network: Evidence of a Mesolithic stone industry discovered...

FLINTSTONES



The Archaeology News Network: Evidence of a Mesolithic stone industry discovered...:

The excavation in progress this year suggested from the very beginning that the human presence on the acropolis of Selinunte is several millennia older than previously assumed. In fact, below the first level of the Greek settlement, under a natural deposit more than a metre deep, pottery shards of the Early Bronze Age were discovered, as well as evidence of a Mesolithic stone industry (about 8000-6500 BC).

EconoSpeak: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Str...

EconoSpeak: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Str...: A piece of work is Professor Walter E. Williams of George Mason University. Back in February, I flagged a column by Williams in which the n...