History

Women fighters in realistic armor

I’ve often complained about the inappropriate armor on female miniatures we use in gaming. Most of the time the figures are scantily clad (especially fighters). Thieves seem to be a little better. Gotta love well-endowed breastplates (aka “boobplate”). My Dungeon Master from the Saturday night gaming group emailed me a link to a site called “Women Fighters In Reasonable Armor: ladies that kick ass and dress for kicking ass“. The site is full...

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Scientist discovers flaw in Oceanic Carbon dating

It is interesting when something considered as stable as carbon dating gets reevaluated. What might this mean for archaeologists who use carbon dating on artifacts? As a consequence of the findings, changes in 13C/12C records need to be reevaluated, conclusions regarding changes in the reservoirs of carbon will have to be reassessed, and some of the widely-held ideas regarding the elevation of CO2 during specific periods of the Earth’s geological history will have...

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Remembering an Exhibit

A while back, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History had an exhibit about Stabiae, called In Stabiano. (Stabiae was a small resort town near Pompeii and Herculaneum when Vesuvius erupted in 79 C.E.) The exhibit was widely advertised on television and online. I managed to be in Washington, DC, on a business trip shortly after the exhibit opened in 2005. The Smithsonian is supposed to be one of the best museums in...

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