Czech Man's Stone in Barn's Foundations Is Rare Bronze Age Spearhead Mold
smithsonianmag.com
smithsonianmag.com
Never ceases to impress me how long ago we were capable of such ornate manufacturing really—most of the time I think progress has been wildly more rapid over the last century or so, and it has in some ways, but in others we're still just doing things we've been doing for millennia.
Fig 11. Ophiolite multiple mould for razor and spear-head.
I guess $2.6B isn’t enough in the late stage capitalism era to stave off tacky.
$2.6b generates at best of the order $200m in usable funds. I would be amazed if that is even remotely close to the operating costs of an institution like this.
Interesting financial report, by the way. Lots of info about what they do with photos, lists of who donated money, and then, the real financials start at page 79 of 87 and end on page 82.
Half the opex is federally funded. half the costs are salaries. The SI employs a lot of people and costs far, far more than the endowment to operate.
the page 80 endowment disbursement distribution is fascinating too. they do amazingly good work across the board, from this money.
I have a tiny, weenie functional duty of care on a board over a sum 1/100 of this size and if I felt we were doing as well as them in governance, I'd be proud.
I will say, I think they should lawyer up and defend the retention of the shuttle and tell the politicians to F off but I can understand reluctance to be this bald about it.
Personally, I only see benefits.
Every time I remark on this subject, well meaning commenters tell me how easy it is to install/use an ad blocker.
"Just..." — in my experience, statements that begin with "Just..." end up leaving me frustrated once I've tried and failed to follow the "simple"/"easy" instructions.
Also, I note that commenters here WITH ad blockers installed sometimes STILL see ads. So why bother?
I don't understand the enmity of HN in general for online ads and advertising.
very rarely.
I don't understand the enmity of HN in general for online ads and advertising
i am surprised that you noticed the one but not figured out the other. because that is also discussed at length.
advertising enables surveillance, ads cost resources, and they distract from the content.
Really? there's a commenter in this very thread who's having that experience. And I have seen this ad blocker FAIL issue raised here from time to time. More than "very rarely" judging from my own eyes....
>advertising enables surveillance, ads cost resources, and they distract from the content.
I'm amused whenever I see avoiding surveillance raised here. That ship has sailed. Did you notice your neighbor's Ring doorbell camera, BTW?
Did you notice your neighbor's Ring doorbell camera
yes, i noticed its absence. in my home country cameras recording video beyond your own property or sound are illegal. an even in the US resistance is growing. so in my opinion that ship can still be sunk.
And even if such an insignificant technicality could pop up from time to time, there is no actual debate on what is "better", when the counterpoint is literally this:
The button will take you to the correct download for your mobile device or desktop/laptop operating system.
One click install. No plugins, it just works.
If you don't like it, you can go back to your old browser.
Your experience without ads and tracking will be amazing. Content without distraction, annoying animations, or popups. Just the text, images, and video you want to see and nothing else. And the pages load five times faster.
I tried Brave for a while: meh
My experience WITH ads and tracking is amazing: every day I use the internet I marvel at how much better my life is now than it was before the www.
Clearly, many (most?) others here have the opposite point of view: À chacun son goût
You argue online advertising but you've been exposed to offline advertising in your life a lot more. Now you are offered the choice to "turn most of it off" but you choose to spend your time replying to internet comments saying that you're stubborn and can't do it because it's hard and not 100% effective.
I'm sorry sir but your reasoning is flawed: you could have learned how to install ad block plus, noscript or whatever you want to experiment with, with all of these work out of the box, in the time needed to write your two comments.
I suppose it's worth reminding that the advertisement industry is one of the biggest economic areas of our society so the brightest of us will be coaxed into making advertising more effective, and the cat-and-mouse game between blockers and advertisers will continue forever.
You can spend the same time asking someone advice on where you're stuck, or even go ask an.. LLM.. for a simple step by step breakdown, with 1 step per line to set your pace. The options are all there at your disposal.
To complain with reason is all fine and dandy, but to not act to satiate those complaints is an area to improve on..
uBlock Origin is the best ad blocker. The full uBlock Origin works on Firefox, but not on Google Chrome. The cut-down uBlock Origin Lite works on Google Chrome. uBlock Origin Lite still blocks many ads. Don't fall into all-or-nothing thinking. Imagine if you could block just half of the ads on cable television :) an improvement, though not perfect.
If you use Firefox, follow this link. On the right hand side, click the blue button with the label "Add to Firefox". A confirmation dialog box will pop up. Read it. Click the blue button with the text "Continue to Installation". That should install it.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...
If you use Google Chrome, follow this link. On the right hand side, click the blue button with the label "Add to Chrome". A confirmation dialog box will pop up. Read it. Click the button with the text "Add extension". That should install it.
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ublock-origin-lite/...
Step 1: Download Firefox.
Step 2: Got to the official Firefox add-on page, search for ublock origin (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...)
Step 3: Install.
Done. No need for manual updates. No need for extra configuration. No ads.
to find new artifacts the best hope is to look for historical sites that have not been built over already. what i find interesting here is that now with aerial and satellite images and AI search we are able to detect such sites even when they would otherwise be unnoticed by the human eye.
My favorite in Czechia was a married pair that decided to build their family house on a plot not far from the Southern Moravian city of Znojmo (2007). They started digging the foundations ...
... and found out that their future home is going to be located in the outer zone of a huge necropolis from the 8th and 9th century. Several hundred silent neighbours at the least.
Here are two screenshots of the website taken a moment ago on iPhone 15 Pro Max:
Is it possible? What are the chances? Was bronze age production heigh enough?
BTW if you visit some archeological museum, the difference between Stone Age tools and Bronze Age tools is quite striking. In the Stone Age, each tool looks different, while by the Bronze Age, the spearheads etc. are so uniform that they could have been produced in a modern factory.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Malone_hoard.JPG
They're admittedly different sizes, but the intent to churn them out is clear. These things were ambiguously tools or currency: they were transported long distances and hoarded.
There was another, older, stone age industrial site in France that produced thousands of beads. The way I remember it*, there was evidence that they fed themselves by trading beads for food. It's interesting to me that a stone age lifestyle might for some people resemble factory work.
*My apologies if I'm confabulating this. I think it was in the Loire Valley. I need to track down what exactly I'm half-remembering here.
There was not only factory work but unpleasant factory work like making birch tar and rendering fat.