From the builders of this unique offering:

As timber engineers, we do get asked to build a lot of unusual things – things which other framing companies couldn’t even attempt. This was, perhaps, one of the more unusual.
The ballista was successfully built and managed to fire a very heavy stone ball some 127 yards. (Remember, these things used to successfully lay siege to entire cities.)

read more | digg story

Also a YouTube video of the Ballista being build and fired:

In light of the discussions of the current bailout plans going through Congress, I found this YouTube video enlightening. Here is the summary from digg:

If the three and a half hour documentary on fractional reserve banking left you overwhelmed, this series of animations explaining how our debt based money system works should clarify the confusing aspects
—and leave you indignant at a system that lets banks make money out of nothing to loan you at interest or foreclose on your property.

read more | digg story

And part one of the video:

I love where I work. Great people with a sense of humour and love for what they do. One of the guys at work was out on vacation at the same time I was. Some of my coworkers plotted to cover his desk with aluminum foil. These are programmers we’re talking about: detail oriented to an extreme. And boy does it show. (And of course, they took pictures and made a video.)

Awesome. Just awesome.

I also took some pictures of the desk as it was in the process of being foiled. I’ll post those after a while.

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve written a real post (that wasn’t an article snippet or a copy of a joke). My coauthor was in town for a week, so I wasn’t on here much.

We spent a lot of time at UNC’s Davis Library Epigraphy Room. What a wonderful resource! The Epigraphy Room has complete sets of two of the sources we rely on for inscriptions: L’Année épigraphique and Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). There was also a copy of the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. We were like kids in a candy store. Great fun.

We also had some excellent disucssions on the role of the horses and equids within the scope of our research. I’ll write more about that as the research progresses.

From a friend of mine in Horsemasters. You’ll snicker if you’ve ever read through horse sale ads.

BIG TROT: Can’t canter within a 2 mile stretch
NICELY STARTED: Lunges, but we don’t have enough insurance to ride him yet
TOP SHOW HORSE: Won a reserve championship 5 years ago at a show with unusually low entries due to a hurricane
HOME BRED: Knows nothing despite being home-grown
BOLD: Runaway
GOOD MOVER: Runaway
ATHLETIC: Runaway
NEEDS INTERMEDIATE RIDER: Runaway
NEEDS EXPERIENCED RIDER: DEAD Runaway
DEAD QUIET: Just dead
SPIRITED: Psychotic
RECENTLY VETTED: Someone else found something badly wrong with this horse
ANY VET CHECK WELCOME: Please pay for us to find out what the !@#$ is wrong with him!
BIG BONED: Good this has mane and tail or would be mistaken for cow
DOING COURSES: When tranquilised to the eyeballs and lunged six hours straight before
WELL MANNERED: Hasn’t stepped on, bitten or kicked anyone for a week
PROFESSIONALLY TRAINED: Hasn’t stepped on, bitten or kicked anyone for a week
STARTED O/F: Started overfeeding because can’t ride
SHOULD MATURE 16 HANDS. Currently 13hh, dam is 14.2hh, sire is 15hh, every horse in pedigree back 18 generations is under 15hh, but this horse will defy his DNA and grow
TO GOOD HOME ONLY: Not really for sale unless you can pay twice what he is worth, allow current owner to tuck in beddy-bye every night, and are willing to sign a 10 page legal document.
NO VICES: Especially when he wears his muzzle
LIGHT CRIBBER: We can’t afford to build any more stable and fences for this chainsaw
NO TIME FOR HIM: He’s lucky to be fed
EXCELLENT DISPOSITION: Never been out of his stable
GOOD TO CLIP, SHOE, BOX: Clippety clippety is the sound his hooves make when he drags you across the yard as you try to box him
FOR SALE DUE TO LACK OF TIME: Rider cannot afford to spend any more time in hospital
WELL BRED: Mother and father are also brother and sister
BLACK: Brown and/or dirty
SUIT EVENTING: No brakes
SUIT DRESSAGE: No accelerator
SUIT ANYONE: Except us, we hate him
ALWAYS IN RIBBONS: The shows we went to gave complementary rossettes for all who entered
ALWAYS PLACED: The shows we went to were so small that there were no more than 3 in each class
GOOD AT SJ: All the classes we entered were minimus (jumps under 1 foot)