5 Ancient Black Civilizations That Were Not in Africa

The Minoans Ancient Greece

Archaeologist Manfred Bietak conducted extensive research on ancient Greek civilizations and their connections to ancient Egypt. Bietak unearthed evidence from artwork as early as 7000 B.C. that depicts the early people inhabiting Greece were of African descent.

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Picturing an Imaginary Animal Kingdom

I first saw Simen Johan’s work at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City a couple of years ago.

I was totally struck not only by the beauty of the imagery but also by how much it expresses, in a very personal way, ideas about habitat, climate change, critical species, and man’s impact on nature.

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Cop Hits Motorcycle Then Tries To Flee

This Florida State Trooper in an unmarked Monte Carlo, attempts to pull over a motorcycle with a questionable technique. The resulting traffic stop includes the police car pinning the bike against the shoulder barrier, after which the officer tries to evade the citizen filming the encounter.

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Top 10 Greatest Giant Robots Of All Time

Ah, Giant Robots. Who doesn’t love giant mechanical creations stomping around and kicking butt? Over the years there have been many badass robots and mechs that have wormed their way into our hearts, but some are just especially great. So here are our picks for the 10 greatest giant robots, ranked.

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Ulysse Nardin Hannibal Minute Repeater

Ulysse Nardin has launched the Hannibal Minute Repeater at Baselworld 2015. The watch combines Ulysse Nardin’s classic use of jaquemartswith a Westminster carillon, a tourbillon, and a distinctive dial material. Let’s take a look.

For those who are wondering, a jaquemart is an automaton used in conjunction with a hammer to strike the time on a bell or gong.Jaquemarts are not exclusive to watch designs, and have been made at least since the heyday of automata in the 18th century. Ulysse Nardin has made a practice of designing jaquemarts for its minute repeaters.

The Hannibal Minute Repeater employs manufacture caliber UN-78. It runs in 36 jewels; its power reserve is approximately 70 hours. This manually wound tourbillon movement is the brand’s go-to caliber for the Minute Repeater Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts collection. Previous models in the family include the Genghis Khan watch and the Alexander the Great watch.

One particularly unusual feature of the Hannibal watch is the substance of its dial. Above the tourbillon at 6 o’clock one finds a three-quarter dial made of polished granite. The rock is sourced from the Alps, because Hannibal Barca led his troops (and his elephants) through the Alps en route to Italy during the Second Punic War, in 218 BC.

The watch is cased in platinum, a particularly resonant metal for use in minute repeaters. The Westminster carillon makes for a very recognizable tune whenever the minute repeater sounds: it plays a sequence of four-note melodies just like those played by Big Ben at the Palace of Westminster. A four-note sequence plays at 15 past the hour, eight notes at half past, and twelve notes at a quarter to. When sounding out the time, the lowest of the four pitches tolls the hours and the highest tolls the minutes.

The Hannibal Minute Repeater is 44 mm in diameter. It comes on a leather strap with a folding buckle. It has a sapphire crystal caseback, affixed with screws, to showcase the movement. The crown screws down for added protection. It is water resistant to 30 meters. For this limited edition, 30 pieces will be produced. The price is set at 725,000 Swiss francs.

We at WatchTime had the opportunity to see and handle the Hannibal Minute Repeater this week at Baselworld 2015. Below is a glimpse of what this work of horological artistry looks like on the wrist.

source: watchtime.com By