5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map Recorded the Impact of a Massive Asteroid – Archaeology Worlds
With modern computer programs that can simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago the researchers have established what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar). Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, the same as any other night, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space. The astronomers made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels.
The most important lumps of dry mud in history
Before writing there was what?? According to our best understanding of archaeology before writing came clay tokens. These simple lumps of dry mud played an incredibly important role in human development. They may be responsible for large numbers, writing, administration, board games and everyone's favourite, powerful bureaucracies.
Episode 53 (April 8, 2024), "The Holy Ghost (and Bears!)"
Dan McClellan is altijd helder. Zijn uitleg over waarom de Heilige Geest (en andere geesten en spoken) er zijn, is spot on.
Proof of 10k years of “prehistoric monoculture” (trade, memes, genes, etc.)
If you ever found the explanation of certain artistic and myth themes being so similar in far off lands was just shared human minds was a lame explanation, you will love this video. It is all the result of long distance trade that has existed since Neandethal and Denisovan and earliest Homo Sapiens groups
Huayuan Biota: a stunning new Burgess Shale-type fauna, with bonus surprises – Life Through Time
There seems to be an endless stream of exciting new papers recently, and especially of new fossil deposits. This one is just amazing, though… The Huayuan Biota (Hunan, China) is in the top tier of Burgess-type faunas, based on preservation and diversity. Beautifully detailed fossils, 16 phyla (so far), and lots of fascinating new creatures. The real surprise, though… is that some of them seem to have taken a holiday from North America.
How I've run major projects | benkuhn.net
I think excellent project management is also rarer than it needs to be. During the crisis projects I didn’t feel like I was doing anything particularly impressive; mostly it felt like I was putting in a lot of work but doing things that felt relatively straightforward. On the other hand, I often see other people miss chances to do those things, maybe for lack of having seen a good playbook. So here’s an attempt to describe my playbook for when I’m being intense about project management.
CABINET / The Fax Numbers of the Beast, and Other Mathematical Sports: An Interview with Neil Sloane
Used widely by professional mathematicians, computer theorists, and scientists, the OEIS has been called the most influential math website in the world. In addition, the database draws a huge international audience of recreational mathematicians, people who, for pleasure, surf its delights to explore the ways in which numbers can play. As a kind of numerological version of the Oxford English Dictionary, the OEIS is the place to go if you want to learn what any sequence of digits might mean, if it has been discovered already, or if it is entirely new.
The Archer Automaton That Nearly Defeated Me — Episode 1
This is the most complex automaton I’ve ever attempted: a fully articulated archer designed to draw arrows from a back quiver, load them, and shoot with believable technique. What began as an ambitious idea quickly became a long battle with friction, cable tension, cam design, and accuracy issues, forcing me to rebuild the mechanism from the ground up. In this episode, I share the engineering challenges, the failed prototypes, the new cam‑follower system, the digital tools I built in Grasshopper, and the calibration method that might finally bring the archer back on track. It’s been a long road — including an eight‑month break — but I’m not giving up. This is my latest attempt to make the archer work.
Katee Sackhoff Watches Battlestar Galactica for the FIRST Time | BSG Miniseries (Part 1)
Katee Sackhoff here! I have never watched my performance in Battlestar Galactica…until now. We start with the legendary miniseries (Pt. 1) and capture my real, unfiltered first reactions. It's like a DVD commentary, remember those? There will definitely be some behind the scenes stories 😉
The Markets Of Old London | Spitalfields Life
Stadsgeschiedenis! Londen!
All The Views
With the help of a custom-developed algorithm, CacheTVS, we have exhaustively checked every single view on Earth in search of the coveted longest line of sight on the planet. Based on the method we detail here, we present the greatest view of all