ArtieShaw

That was an interesting listen. And sad. I can’t imagine the situation has improved.

Wikipedia mentions that they’ve flipped diplomatic ties with China and Taiwan a couple of times in the past 20 years. Honestly, that seem like a cheap price to pay for some investment.

Oh, but like the radio piece said, “You’ve never heard of it, but once you do it seems to be everywhere.” My grandfather and a couple of his brothers visited (and unsuccessfully tried to stay) in the 1930s. He always described it as a paradise. That was, of course, a long time ago and before the mass destruction. I also wonder if assume I have some unknown Nauruan cousins.

/r/ancientcoins

Interesting mix of people, most of whom were chill. Always something new to discover. And they were pretty open to discussing the elephant in the room: much of everyone’s collection had been looted at some point. The only notable exception to that was an AMA by a Jr. Sales Person from Harlan Berk. He got roasted.

The rest of this is just me ranting about coins.

Coins are a relatively new invention. The first recognizable coins were made in Lydia (modern day Turkey) around 600BCE. For perspective, Egypt’s Old and New Kingdoms did not have standardized, metallic currency. (which is a shame - considering Egypt’s art, their currency probably would have looked awesome).

Greek coinage emphasized art and sometimes local trade items. For example, if your city was famous for its horses your coins would probably feature horses.

Celtic coins often looked like their artists were eating every mushroom they could get their hands on.

Roman coins emphasized political power, and had a lasting impact on the rest of coinage in the west. For example, they standardized putting the Leader’s head on the obverse, and an uplifting design on the reverse. Sometimes they’d put the Emperor’s wife on the front, which is always fun. (Curiously, Canadians that I’ve talked to about this are obstinate that the Queen is on the back and that the Bluenose/Loon/Beaver/whatever is on the front.)

Of course China had its own monetary progression. Ant Nose Money and Spade Money, for example, preceded the round coin with square hole that has been prevalent for the past 1200-ish years. India produced some really cool square coins. Japan minted one and two “Bu” coins that were rectangular during the 1800s - and although that’s stretching the definition of ancient, I think they’re cool.

So yeah, I miss being subscribed to COIN FACTS.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sources_for_the_historicity_of_Jesus

A google of “historicity of Jesus” will turn up some results. The wiki link is one of at least three very similar wiki articles on the topic.

tl/dr - it’s generally accepted that Jesus was a historical person but all that can be confirmed from written accounts is 1) he was baptized and 2) he was crucified.

Of course people can and do question the independent contemporary Jewish (Josephus) or Roman (Tacitus and Pliny) sources, but they seem to be in the minority. Even the less shady version of Josephus’s passage suggests that he was talking about a person who existed.

I don’t have anything to add since I’m not Christian - merely surrounded by Christians. I’ve done a fair bit of reading trying to figure out what’s going on with all that.

Unless I’m also having an off day, the article is just really confusing. It makes sense to me that Italy would want the base back because it would be like selling a framed painting to Hitler and getting only the canvas back when it was returned. (Hitler, amirite?)

It’s probably a pretty nice base. Probably custom made for the statue shortly after it was unearthed, and probably the sort of thing that art historians would care about keeping together with the sculpture for art historian reasons.

It was a not so subtle way of saying “we love you but you’re not saved so you’re going to suffer during the tribulation.” Or, “are you sure you don’t want to accept Jesus and avoid all that?”

The rapture is not an instakill scenario for them, but the details make my head hurt.

Baptized Lutheran shortly after birth, but never attended church. It’s a long and vaguely racist family story. Don’t consider myself Christian.

My in-laws are fundamentalist end times folk, and it took years to try to make sense all of that. I love my husband, but it’s a lot to take in. And my brain naturally tends to try to make sense or analyze things, or figure out what’s motivating people.

Their older generation are very interested in controlling the people around them and they’re very good at it. I think it’s control and authority at the heart of it, with a helping of genuine trauma that makes death and reward look appealing.

Actual quote that I’ve heard a few times: “Life is hard, short, and cruel - and then you die!” \ Let me just say that Christmas visits can get really weird.

On a lighter note, they mailed us a Tribulation Survival Care Package for the 1999 x-mas, ahead of the Y2K impending millennial crisis. That was actually sort of fun, and the shiny space blanket came in handy a few times.

There’s an interesting podcast called Stuff the British Stole.

They did an episode on the Elgin Marbles, but they cover a wide range of stolen goods.

And not to lay all the blame on Britain, Germany stole an entire temple from Pergamum. It’s currently in a museum in Berlin. (I tried to see it while in Berlin, but the exhibit was closed. I’m still a little salty about that. Can’t see it in the original location. Couldn’t see it in the museum.)

I feel like sometimes the learning curve is worth the reward. Not always, but sometimes.

“We were not mission critical.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_on_Mars I’m watching it and I’m only slightly ashamed.

D-list celebrities (I’m being generous) compete to win something. I’m not sure what they win. An escape from irrelevance? It’s sort of hosted by William Shatner, who reads pre-taped clips to setup challenges and introduce new contestants. And let me tell you, he earned all $500 he was paid to do it.

I’d never heard of 90% of the people involved, which makes it easier to point and laugh. Lance Armstrong is on it and (surprise) he’s a toxic asshole. Andy Richter (who I liked back when he controlled the universe) is on it and he’s also a bit of an ass.

In any case, it will now be my headcanon that the rejected stars aren’t rescued and sent back to Earth, but are forced to die in a Martian cave. And that Shat knew the whole time.

Please refer to *

Because they can tell the difference between two very different things?

I don’t know how assholes work where you live, but in the US some varieties of asshole would burn a US flag* if they wanted to pick a fight with people who have a reputation for giving a shit about symbols that “need to be respected.”

Of course the proscribed way to dispose of a damaged or worn US flag is to burn it, but only weirdly precocious children would argue that this is relevant.

“Sit down, Billie**. That’s not what we’re talking about.”

The kid it technically correct (but not really even that) and is also missing the much lager point. The larger point is that the act is a ‘FUCK YOU,’ coupled with ‘what ya gonna do about it?’

*This isn’t a great analogy aside from 1) destruction by fire and 2) the act of destruction being intended as a direct provocation.

**Also, Billie will grow up to become an energy vampire.

The name means just “lobster in/on a roll” - with roll meaning " a small bread" rather than the act of rolling something. This does look delicious, but it is also somewhat atypical of the dish as I know it. The bread looks underdone and untoasted and the lobster is just sort of sitting on top, weirdly. Typically, the lobster is loaded into a slice in the roll and there is much more of it. Paradoxically, you can eat a proper lobster roll without a knife and fork, but this one seems to demand that you use utensils.

A google image search will demonstrate more clearly, but I could describe it as “an unholy amount of lobster salad in a hotdog bun.”

Also - worth noting: you can make a lobster roll with the shellfish dressed with either butter or mayonnaise/lemon. Differences are regional and although it causes mostly good natured fights, I think both are nice. This one appears to be of the butter variety.

Holy shit. BBC has a short video that shows the interior of the sub and how it’s controlled. It’s a featureless tube with one button and the wireless controller. I wasn’t expecting the submersible from Life Aquatic, but I wasn’t expecting anything like what’s shown in the video.

I think this is how you make a link? Like in wiki markup

here’s plain text if that link doesn’t work.
https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-65953941

That’s a hard agree. I work in a highly regulated industry and literally every new dude who joins the company says some version of “I don’t see why we can’t just…” and proceeds to describe some moderately to highly illegal shit. Every single one.

It’s wild. I think they honestly believe they’re the first person to think up these completely obvious and simple “solutions” to problems that require some degree of control and complexity.