Word: millennia
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...fact that "gold's gyrations are the Dow Jones index of anxiety," as this magazine put it three decades ago amid the last big gold fever. When investors are scared - about inflation, about political turmoil, about financial breakdown - they return to the soft, shiny metal that has for millennia served as a store of value. When things calm down, as they did after the gold price peaked in 1980 at $850, demand for gold subsides and the price declines. (See pictures of modern day gold prospectors...
Whether a higher power exists is debatable, but widespread belief in one has helped humanity advance for millennia. Wade, a New York Times reporter, defends that provocative thesis with evidence drawn from biology, archaeology and anthropology. Humans may be innately selfish, he argues, but early hunter-gatherers needed to subordinate self-interest to the will of the group in order to survive, and "the solution that evolved was religious behavior"--humankind's best organizing principle. Ritual chants and dances fostered kinship and inspired tribes to battle outside threats. As language developed, people ascribed their good fortune to the supernatural...
...admitted sucker for these sorts of movies, I choose to believe that Americans devour them year after year because they continue to capture our imaginations in the same way a skilled raconteur could millennia ago. Doomsday prophecies are a part of nearly every society on the globe; whether they involve Mayan calendars, judgment days, or doctors named Strangelove, people love to speculate about how such a complex and diverse ecosystem as Earth could suddenly succumb to the powers that...
...certainly lives up to these expectations. With grandiose battle sequences, crisp and masterful cinematography, and an endless showcase of the beautiful Chinese landscape, director John Woo’s triumphant return to his homeland is an instant classic. Through the retelling of historical events nearly two millennia ago, Woo’s “Red Cliff” becomes a powerful celebration of Chinese culture and tradition...
Does that mean income inequality in the U.S. is about to disappear? Probably not. In fact, over the past few decades it has accelerated - although a single generation is something of a blip for social scientists who are used to dealing with millennia. (See 10 big recession surprises...