Ramsis the Great exhibition: legendary Egyptian Archaeologist Zahi Hawass at De Young Museum .
The tomb of Cleopatra VII and Marc’Antonio, city of gold in Luxor, discovery in Sakkara, the biography of Zahi Hawass
Exclusive interview by Federico Wardal
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Legendary Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass is already history. Hundreds of awards that highlight sensational discoveries in Egyptian archaeology have been given to Hawass and the field has grown enormously over the years due to his constant and tireless archaeological activity.
Hawass reports on excavations in Sakkara, at the oldest pyramid in Egypt, where the tomb of the pyramid architect, a temple and numerous tombs are being unearthed. He took a trip to Rome on 21 March 2022 and visited the Egyptian Academy to inform them about the progress in locating the tomb of the most powerful majesty in the world, Queen Cleopatra VII, the last patron of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
Cleopatra wanted to be buried with Marc Antonio, on the day of their suicide, so as not to satisfy the emperor Octavian's wishes that they be captured and taken to Rome to be humiliated. Horace, the poet and official historian of Emperor Octavian, makes Cleopatra say, in his verses: " Antony is now beside me forever, with a lock of my black hair on his heart".
The most famous and powerful queen in the world was the most important promoter of cosmopolitan culture. She brought about dialogue between peoples and ordered Antonio to replace in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which her ancestors had founded, the writings burned during the war with Julius Caesar.
Hawass announced the discovery of a city of gold near Luxor and on 20 August 2022 a colossal traveling exhibition on Ramsis the Great will come to the De Young Museum in SF . The exhibition is currently in Houston.
A great novelty of enormous historical and cultural importance is that Hawass has just finished writing his biography, full of intriguing revelations that help to uncover new aspects of human history through studying the ancient Egyptian civilization. Cloaked in mystery, some have thought they were connected with the world of the invisible and extra-terrestrial.
Preview YouTube video Wardal: Sensational interview with Egyptian legendary Dr. Zahi Hawass on Cleopatra, Luxor, Sakkara
Mortality
I have the body of a twenty year old.
I keep it in the refrigerator for midnight snacks.
I was worried when I was told that I was in room 205 at the hospital.
When I checked in the room, I found out that it was someone else.
I don’t want to die with my boots on.
Because I don’t wear boots to bed.
I check the obituaries before I get out of bed.
If I am in them there is no reason to get out of bed.
I heard someone about my size and age had died on a bicycle.
I was worried until I remembered that I didn’t have a bike.
I want to die in my sleep like Uncle Fred –
Unlike the people in the house he burned down after blocking the doors.
I don’t want to die in the saddle.
So I avoid horses and tack shops.
Appears in Short Humour Health Survey
A few years ago I got a letter from my health care provider that I would get a phone survey in a few days. Sure enough, I did.
It started with some questions about physical ability, such as “Can you walk across the room?” The mental ones followed. “Do you think that people are after you?” Since I didn’t want the questioner to join the gang that was pursuing me, I said no.
My favorite question was next “Do you think that you have superpowers?”
A few minutes later after an extended period of rolling around the floor laughing, I said no again, because I didn’t want my secret identity revealed.
The questions and answers are largely true.
Appears in Short Humour Sleep
I was awakened about 3am by kitchen noise. My young, beautiful blonde wife came back to our bedroom with a butcher knife and said “I’m going to kill you.” I jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to get my gun. As she rushed me, I shot her in the heart. I went back to sleep and found out the next morning, everything was normal. We were old and alive again.
Appears in Medium Killer
The man in the dark knee length trench coat had travelled miles from his home on that moonlit night. He knew his way well from experience. His luck was good as always, there was a couple in a new sedan, her with her hand in his lap, kissing him on the face. Perfect.
He pulled open the door and as she pulled away from the man he saw the blade in the man’s chest. Next, he was in the street bleeding out. She smiled down at him “You thought that you were the only serial killer in town”.
Appears in Detritus
Date
I tried to get a date with the girl at the grocery store. Because I was a little nervous and wasn't ready, I asked where the bananas and apples were. She said "aisle 26". Ashamed of my cowardice, I got a cart and picked up some bananas and apples.
I got up my courage to ask her out, so when I saw that no one else was in line, I boldly asked "Now, how about a date."
She said "Aisle 15".
Appears in 81 Word Found and Lost
I’d seen her at the bar at least twenty times before. This time I told her “There are better drinks at my place. Please join me.”
She followed me to my apartment. After a round, she walked into my bedroom. When I followed her, I saw one of the few women who looked better naked than dressed. She told me what she wanted; I did my best to deliver, and enjoyed every minute of it.
The next day I went back to the bar. Everyone there claimed that no one like her had ever been there. I doubt my sanity.
Appears in Detritus and A Story in 100 Words
Myth
A bunch of them broke into my home shouting gibberish while I was sleeping. I awoke and tried to get them to leave, but they pointed odd looking weapons at me. I had no choice but to fire my lasers at them. Until now, I thought humans were a myth.
Appears in 50 Words Give Or Take and 50 Word Stories Cage
The town came to the zoo based on the promise of a special exhibit of animals captured with great difficulty. The audience was truly impressed.
“My god, they are ten times our size.”
“They are bellowing so loud they can be heard ten towns a way. The shrieking hurts my ears and might leave me deaf.”
Despite their fear the people stuck around, mesmerized by the crazed beasts. They trusted the extra thick bars in the cage.
Their trust was ill-advised. The humans broke out of the cage and stomped the crowd into the ground. Three thousand Xanians died painfully.
Appears in A Story In 100 Words Lost
I looked at the squirrel and wondered if I could eat it raw. I don’t know how to start a fire and probably couldn’t catch it anyhow. My wife, what’s her name, always threatened to abandon me in the woods when I became demented, but I didn’t believe it.
Appears in 50 Give Or Take In Tents
“This abandoned road looks really creepy. Are you sure we’ll be safe camping out here?”
“Not to worry Sally. My gang used to camp here regularly. There are no scary animals. The biggest around here is the chipmunks.”
After Duke set up the tent and Sally fixed food, they went to bed early. “Can you relax now Sally? See, it is completely safe.”
“I don’t think that you have relaxing on your mind, not that I disagree.”
They stop what they are doing when they hear something tearing.
Duke yelled “It’s coming from under the tent and it’s bloody huge!”
Appears in A 100 Word Story Nature
“Hey babe, let’s go camping this weekend. I want to get us all alone for a big surprise. It’s a secret location, so don’t tell anyone what we are doing.”
She asked “Is this place safe? I don’t want to get lost or get eaten by some big wild animal.”
“There is nothing to worry about, I’ve checked it out. You’ll be safe.”
Later at night in the tent she said “Honey, I’m so glad you thought of this” as she caressed his side, “this works out great for me”. Her nails and toes turned into talons as he screamed.”
Appears in Siren’s Call ezine “Guess My Age”
The live in editor and I play a game “Guess My Age”. At first I hold a towel over my face and ask “How old am I”.
Editor “50”.
I take the towel away. “80”.
“That’s not fair, you must guess younger than my real age.”
In hopes of a better result, I drop my pants.
“Now how old am?”
“Twelve. I hope you grow up, that’s pathetic.”
I should learn not to ask questions unless I’m ready for the answer.
Appears in Short Humour and Writer’sEgg Legal
January 18 Jack told his wife Jan that she had gained a few pounds. Why couldn’t she be skinny like her younger sister Jean? February 10 he stayed out until after 2AM, came home drunk and drove the car into the garage. March 3, Jan found her sister in bed with Jack. The jury of twelve women ruled Jack’s death justifiable homicide on June 2. Five days later Jan married her brilliant lawyer, Frank Webster. When asked what he was doing, Frank said “Sure she’s a murderer, but look at that body. Anyway, now I know what not to do.”
Appears in A Story In A 100 Words
Untethered
Odd remembrances haunt my lazy brain unbidden at odd times. Family legend has me nearly drowning after falling out of a boat when very young. The woman who is now great grandmother and widow that I made out with in my car sixty years ago. A small clothing store that I walked past in West Portland fifty plus years ago. Now there is a freeway where it was. I think it was small, isolated and named Mode O’Day. The traumatized beauty that abruptly rejected me while in college. Did she ever care for me, or was it completely one sided?
Appears in A Story In 100 Words Stranger One
One day a few years back I accompanied spouse and editor (same person) while she went shopping at the Albertsons a few blocks away. I would wander aimlessly if I went with her, so I sat in a chair outside. An average looking and dressing man walked up and sat beside me. I feared he would talk religion or politics, but the conversation was banal to the point that I don’t remember it. He walked away. It seemed that he disappeared, but he probably entered the store or turned a corner. I wonder why he chose to sit beside me.
Appears in A Story In 100 Words Stranger Two
As a teenager, I was walking through Northeast Portland to get to a friend’s house. At the time, I had no car or drivers license. A male driver, a bit older than me pulled up and asked something like “Do I know you?” I didn’t and told him so. He wanted to know if I wanted a ride. It was nice weather and I enjoyed walking. I was a bit nervous and passed. Years later I wonder what the driver had in mind and if I really looked like someone he knew or if that was just a pickup line.
Not published
Errands
“Sorry I’m late hun. I had some errands to run after work”.
“You must be beat. Let me get you a drink.”
“I’m also a little spooked. I had the feeling I was being followed.”
“That was me following you on your way to your errands’ apartment. Like your drink?”
Appears In 50 Word Stories
Thinking About Climate Change
I’m thinking of climate change. What have we lost? What have we gained? Do I contribute to it or is it a natural change in nature of our era that man has provoked more than necessary? I’m always faulting myself for what is in the world. Like homelessness. Somehow I feel like I am responsible because I am inept to erase the problem. So in climate change. Have I done enough? Does my every water bottle recycled make a difference? Does using a recyclable plastic water bottle I bought at Starbucks exonerate me of my ever ending guilt? So much we have lost. Green grass. A babbling brook. Dust free wind. I can’t find any gains. I haven’t stopped searching.
I AM A SNOWMAN
I am a snowman built from winter snow
My eyes are large and round
I like to look around
I like to play with the people
Who built me from the ground
I am a Snowman
Each year a new Snowman stands here,
Wide eyed at the earth
Looking at the people who
Made them from the snow
A new Snowman I am
Standing tall and strong
Watery Winter Sunshine
No! Not that,
I feel!
The climate change, I feel
Standing less round and
Closer to the ground
I yell to the children,
Who built me from the ground
Can I have another day?
Can you save your Earth,
Don’t let us melt away
By Linda Hibbard
Previously published by Synchronized Chaos, December 2021
The Great Divide
Excessive burning of fossil fuels, coal, gas and oil,
green house gases blanketing our world.
Entire forests, the lungs of our earth,
being cut down and burned.
Rising sea levels, wild fires, barren soil,
extreme weather adding to the turmoil.
Animals of all species struggling to adapt
to these rapidly changing conditions,
wild fires, melting glaciers or dry lakes,
forcing them into extinction.
Entire peoples with no resources
are forced out of their land,
their lives shattered, seeking refuge,
fleeing flooding, fleeing drought.
Getting as far as neighboring nations,
not much better than their own,
devastated with such scarcity,
quickly losing hope.
The rich have raised their land
retrofitted, erected walls,
the water, having no where else to go,
ends up with the poor.
We import food, which we then waste,
our luxurious lives take a toll,
with no regard to those displaced,
we lounge care-free in air conditioned homes.
Impoverished nations are suffering today,
and the rich will suffer tomorrow.
Will we take action then, change our ways?
Will it be too late?
By: Gloria E. Lopez
Bikinis in the Arctic!
For 20 million years,
The EOCENE era
Of Earth’s history
Was warm—
So warm, in fact,
That if mankind—
And womankind—
Had been around,
The French Riviera,
The beaches of Florida,
Waikiki—
All would have had
Massive competition
From Arctic resorts—
No ice, and
Temps, beach balmy!
But Earth’s climate
Is a rollerciaster—
33 million years ago,
Cooling happened,
Ice happened,
And we’ve flip-flopped
Ever since.
Glacial,
Interglacial;
Cold,
Hot—
Some scientists say
Every 41,000 years!
In fact,
Our current temps
Are said to be
GLACIAL.
Thus Global Warming
May just be us
Heading for
INTERGLACIAL.
So buy that
Electric Tesla,
Fight for
Zero Carbon Emissions
In every aspect
Of our lives,
And move your house To higher ground.
We can slow
The change down,
But in the long run,
Buy that bikini,
And invest in
Arctic property—
BEACHFRONT!
By Bruce Roberts,
Poet Laureate, Hayward, California
NEW AGE
I grew up with thunder.
Summer storms came with sound effects:
a crackling rumble far off,
or a window-rattling blast overhead.
First the forked slash of lightning.
Then: thud, thud, ka-BOOM!
If you’re outdoors, run!
Here comes hard-hitting rain!
Rain beats on the roof, fills puddles,
turns dirt to mud, floods streets.
If you’re driving, windshield wipers can’t keep up.
Look at that! Whoa!
It’s raining cats and dogs!
It’s raining pitchforks and hammer-handles!
It’s a gully-washer! A frog-strangler!
It’s a typical summer thunderstorm:
Flash! Crash! Downpour!
But that was the Midwest
This is California.
In California, storms come in winter.
Except now, when we’re all on edge:
pandemic that sneakily shape-shifts,
job loss, masked classrooms, shortages in stores,
high fire danger…
Now, when temperatures are unseasonably high,
when trees and structures are dry, dry, dry—
here comes a storm.
A freak storm: lightning, thunder--
but only a spit-in-the-wind of rain…
The lightning ignites fires-- 300, 400, 500 fires,
all burning at the same time.
From space, you can easily see California:
it’s gashed with bright orange flame-trails.
Day after day, the air is thick with smoke.
Ash rains down as far as Kansas.
Small favors:
COVID masks also protect from toxic air.
But it can always get worse.
So keep water and survival gear in the car.
If winds change direction, and firestorms threaten:
evacuate.
High heat. Dry lightning.
Two big names join the long-running drama
starring earthquakes, droughts, mudslides and
floods.
California raises the curtain on a new age.
A new normal.
Meet the ruthless new director:
climate change.
Copyright August 2020 Patricia Doyne
FACING A FRAUGHT FUTURE
Our planet wears many faces.
For eons, it was covered in water,
a face with expressions but no features.
Then rock reared up,
land grew and rearranged,
continents shifted.
Oceans shared salt with snowmelt.
Paramecia and diatoms took a bow,
but became food for newcomers
with shells, tentacles, fins; for monsters
who breathed air and ate meat.
Earth’s new face was diversity
swallowed by mass extinction.
In time, a new family appeared,
fought its way to the top of the food chain
with large brains and tool-using hands.
Earth now reflected this face;
worldwide communities reflected its goals.
Inventions made daily life easier
but more complicated, more expensive.
Grasping hands appropriated resources
as if there were no tomorrow.
Sun that quickened the miracle of plants
now fries, burns, and dehydrates.
Earth’s new face wears the sneer of a bully
who is insecure at heart.
What changes will reclaim our planet?
Make-up? War paint? Radical surgery?
Who decides? Who speaks for a people
who wear a thousand masks,
shout out a thousand excuses?
We look into this fractured mirror
and see the face of the future.
It is the face of a stranger.
Copyright 7/2021 By Patricia Doyne
BOMB CYCLONE
Iguanas in palm trees
freeze,
fall to the ground
belly-up
next to pink flip-flops
frosted with two inches of snow.
Water pipes crack.
Coastal towns flood.
Freeways conceal black ice.
Wind chill nosedives from “brr!” to deadly.
Flights cancelled.
Schools closed.
Cars stranded.
Power out.
The jet stream that fences in arctic air,
that keeps polar gusts safely corralled—
this current has warmed.
Winds, water, and air pressure churn…
The mystery mix
blasts the homeless, freezing in doorways,
blasts stranded travelers, freezing at roadsides,
blasts iguanas freezing in trees.
Scientists question, measure, shake their heads…
Who can deny
that our climate has gone berserk?
Look! It’s raining iguanas!
By Patricia Doyne, Copyright 2018
