Horses First Domesticated in Kazakhstan

Recent discoveries made at an archaeological site in Kazakhstan suggests it is here that man first domesticated the horse, taming it and keeping it for food, milk, and to ride.  For many years, Mongolia was thought to be the home of the domesticated horse but the artifacts in northern Kazakhstan date much farther back, all the way to the Copper Age about 5,500 years ago.

Extensive research is being conducted at three sites that represent the Botai culture.  Of these three sites, the main one is proving the most enlightening.  At a time before organized agriculture, when people were still hunters and gatherers, the main Botai village numbered as many as 160 houses, unheard of for a nomadic culture.

To sustain such a population, there had to be some continuous form of readily available food and the evidence strongly suggests horses played a tremendous role in that ancient Botai civilization.  Of all the animal bones excavated at the site, as many as 300,000 of them, or about 90% found thus far, are horse bones.

In addition, many of these horse bones bear marks made by stone tools used for butchery, suggesting a communal diet that included horse meat.  Other artifacts, including tools made from the jawbones of horses, indicate they were used to fashion rawhide into whips, hobbles, and bridles, all of which suggest the Botai rode their horses, too.

Chemical analysis of pot sherds reveal evidence the pots once contained horse's milk, a finding that strongly supports the theory of domestication because it is virtually impossible to milk a wild horse.

The early domestication of horses is of keen interest to historians in many disciplines, as horses are thought to have impacted the course of history more so than any other domesticated animal.  Throughout time, horses have served humanity as transportation; assistance in herding, plowing, and hauling; sports; warfare; and dairy production.  Geopolitcal boundaries the world over have been altered time and again thanks to the horses wielded by imperial cavalries, immigrants, and frontiersmen everywhere.

Steelers Game a Death Sentence for Puppy Named Flip

Personally, I'm not much of a sports fan.  My reasons for feeling this way have lots more to do with the attitudes associated with sports than with the games themselves.  It's the people, not the game.

One person who epitomizes my disdain for these game-related attitudes is William Woodson, 22, of Bridgeville, Pennsylvania.  Seems Woodson used Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers game as the opportunity to mete out a death sentence on his girlfriend's puppy named Flip.  Flip was just 13 weeks old.

In an affidavit Woodson provided to Bridgeville police, he stated he never liked his girlfriend's puppy in the first place but the puppy really got under his skin when the dog wouldn't behave according to Woodson's desires in the moments preceding Sunday's football game.  The puppy, being just a puppy, after all, was not walking obediently alongside Woodson and his live-in girlfriend, Christine Gielarowski, 21, so Woodson began kicking it "like a soccer ball," according to one witness.  Woodson continued kicking the pit bull puppy down the street until the puppy died from the abuse.

Woodson fled once the dog appeared lifeless, Gielarowski lied to police about her identity and Woodson's, and police had to turn to Gielarowski's parents to learn of Woodson's identity.  Once police found the friend's house where Woodson was watching the game, Woodson was captured as he tried to escape out the back door.

I don't know how Sunday's game turned out for the Steelers.  I don't even know who they played.  And I don't care, either.  As far as I'm concerned, it was a loss.  Poor little Flip lost his life and the rest of us lost some of our collective humanity.

Feline Lady Thatcher's Death Spurs PM Funeral Buzz

About 1,700 Canadian dignitaries met in Toronto earlier this week to pay tribute to Canada's military forces.  So-called "smart" phones started buzzing during the dinner hour, setting off a frenzy that almost instantly spread from Toronto all the way to Buckingham Palace.  The message?  "Lady Thatcher has passed away."

As diners lamented the passing of the much-revered former British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, 84, dispatches were sent across the pond to confirm the sad news.

It was quickly confirmed by both Buckingham Palace and current British PM, Gordon Brown, that Mrs. Thatcher was indeed alive and well.  There was no need for nationwide mourning after all; news of her death was simply wrong.

So what prompted all that funeral buzz?

It was the beloved cat, Lady Thatcher, 16, belonging to Canada's Transport Minister, John Baird.  He'd named his cat Lady Thatcher in tribute to one of his personal political heroes.  The feline Lady Thatcher had met her end, surely a cause for mourning in the John Baird household but hardly enough to spur public grief spanning two continents.

Mr. Baird, this cat-lover is sorry for your loss.