Spectacle Grander

Masterpiece of Jesus is destroyed after old lady's attempt to restore damage is a less-than-divine intervention

A fading fresco and a DIY fiasco: Masterpiece of Jesus is destroyed after old lady's attempt to restore damage is a less-than-divine intervention - Woman in her 80s attempted to restore the damaged 19th century religious artwork by herself - Her botched effort has infuriated locals and art experts in Zaragoza, Spain -The fresco was set to be repaired by professionals thanks to a donation from the artist's granddaughter All her life, the elderly worshipper had been inspired by her church’s fresco...

Michelangelo's Ugliest Drawing May Not Be His

Michelangelo's Ugliest Drawing May Not Be His - Michelangelo's portrait of Cleopatra holding an asp to her breast has been celebrated as an ideal Renaissance composition of an idealized woman. With pearls, braided hair and a slender neck, the last pharaoh of ancient Egypt faces her death by snakebite with a detached, elegant gaze. Curators had suspected there was another Michelangelo sketch on black-chalk drawing's reverse side; they could vaguely make out a hidden picture when the work...

Ten Things Your Health Insurance Plan Will Soon Have to Cover

Ten Things Your Health Insurance Plan Will Soon Have to Cover - Treatment for substance abuse and mental health are included in the benefits all health insurance plans must help pay for starting in January 2014. If you’ve ever had health insurance, you’re probably all too familiar with what your plan won’t cover; the list of expenses denied when you try to file a claim can seem endless. It’s easy to wonder what is covered. But this week Americans got a lot more clarity about what health insurance...

Ebola: Still the Scariest Virus Out There?

Ebola: Still the Scariest Virus Out There? - Simply uttering the word Ebola is enough to cause a person to cringe, shudder, twitch, or perhaps even recoil in horror. Rightly so. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola HF), the result of an infection with one of the four identified sub-types of Ebola viruses known to affect humans, is gruesome. Ebola infection can result in a mortality rate as high as 90 percent of all infected individuals, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The real horror,...

Yoga in the NBA -Teams add to their strength and conditioning programs

Yoga in the NBA -Teams add to their strength and conditioning programs — Every NBA player — frankly, nearly every athlete — has an internal clock counting down the days until he can no longer play the game professionally. In that time, he is likely to make an incredible amount of money. And he is to do it while playing a sport which he is likely to have loved for all, or at least most, of his life. It only makes sense for each player to maximize his time at the highest level by ensuring his body...

Could a missile strike on Iran cause an accidental nuclear detonation?

How To Demolish an Atomic Bomb - Could a missile strike on Iran cause an accidental nuclear detonation? President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both alluded to military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities at last week’s AIPAC meeting, and many commentators worry that war is becoming a more realistic possibility. With all that enriched uranium lying around, is there any chance a strike on one of Iran’s nuclear facilities could accidentally trigger a mushroom cloud? Could...

A potentially explosive situation?

If You Shoot a Bomb, Will It Explode? - What happens when a bullet hits dynamite.- A potentially explosive situation? On Wednesday, air marshals in Miami shot and killed a man who was pretending to carry a bomb off a plane. According to an official account, the marshals ordered the man to get on the ground and then opened fire when he reached into his backpack. A government spokesman says the marshals acted properly and that "this was a textbook scenario." If he really had been toting...