Tis the season for this particular season. The finds in the article below are interesting — especially since the finds date to as late as the 1950s. Macabre evidence of age-old spells surfaces in an archaeologist’s front yard. Witchcraft, the rituals of a number of pagan belief systems, was thought to offer control of the world through rites and incantations. Carbon dating places evidence from the 1600s through the 1950s. read more |...
Continue reading...October 2008
Stella and the bed, part 2
It was late when I went to bed on Sunday night. I’d had a nice evening playing Guild Wars with a friend. Stella had been curled up by my monitor for most of the evening. I crawled into bed, pulled up the covers, and smelled cat urine. Stella had peed on the covers again. (I love waterproof mattress covers!) A friend of mine suggested that Stella be checked for a UTI just to...
Continue reading...Noises in the wall
I’m getting ready for bed and I can hear something crawling in the ceiling. Not loud, but scurrying. Knocking against the light fixture in the bathroom last night. Tonight it’s in my kitchen wall. Scratch, scurry, scratch: some small rodent or critter maybe stuck or exploring. My cats are enthralled: they follow the sound from room to room staring at the ceiling and walls. I pity anything that gets into this apartment. A...
Continue reading...Riding lesson
I had a riding lesson today with Isis that went surprisingly well. We rode her first dressage test today (Introductory Test B, a simple walk-trot test). Last time I had ridden something like that was in college (been a looong time). We rode the test three times. The first time was just trying to get through the different movements. She tripped four times during the first run-through. She also pulled against me a...
Continue reading...White line bruises. Arg.
I met the farrier at the barn this morning. Overall, Isis’ feet look good: reasonable growth and plenty of sole and hoof wall. However, she has some bruising in the white line and the white line appears to be thicker. The white line is actually the growth of the lamina, the part of the hoof that holds the hoof wall to the hoof interior. If the white line is wider (stretching in the...
Continue reading...Stellster and the bed
Stella has developed a bad habit: if any piles of clothes are left on the bed or within her reach (like the laundry basket), she will pee on them. If the litter box is not clean or does not have enough litter in it, she will pee on my bed. (Mattress covers are worth their weight in gold!) Two nights in a row, I forgot to buy new litter. The three litter boxes...
Continue reading...Myachi Geomagic style!
During the company meeting on October 1st, we were taught how to play Myachi (think hacky sack for the back of your hands) by two good natured people. Here is the video of their efforts: Related Images:
Continue reading...Blood Ties soundtrack coming!
Some excellent news on the Blood Ties forum within the last few weeks. (I just got it today, so I’m late posting it here.) In a post on the Blood Ties Bloodlines forums dated September 13, James Jandrisch, the composer for the series Blood Ties, said that he is working on releasing the soundtrack indepedently. Woohoo!! This is awesome news. The series has great music. I can’t wait to hear it! Related Images:
Continue reading...Ostia Antica Frescoes
Here are the image from the article about the restored frescoes in Ostia Antica, Italy. Amazingly preserved. read more | digg story Related Images:
Continue reading...Archaeologists Unveil Majestic Roman Ruins That Rival Riches
Officials in Ostia Antica hope that the decade-long restoration of four dwellings will focus new attention on this once-bustling port west of Rome. read more | digg story Related Images:
Continue reading...Full Sized Roman Siege Ballista for Sale on eBay!
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...
Continue reading...YouTube Video: Our Debt-based Money System, and its Consequences
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...
Continue reading...Foiled again! Pranks at work
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....
Continue reading...Back from vacation; Research update
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...
Continue reading...Humour: How to read horse ads
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:...
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