Ancient Roman Tech Cache Shows How Horror Movies Would Really Play Out
An advanced civilization hid a dangerous technology
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Tag Archives: history
A techie note from church
This morning in Church it was my turn to read the lesson from the Hebrew scriptures, about Joseph being sold to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of Silver (Genesis 37). I also read the assigned part of Psalm 105, where this story also comes up.
| 17 | He sent a man before them, * Joseph, who was sold as a slave. |
| 18 | They bruised his feet in fetters; * his neck they put in an iron collar. |
I saw the phrase “iron collar” and my mind immediately went “Anachronism!”. Continue reading
The Field of Blackbirds
A battle in 1389 was part of the background of World War I, and the Yugoslav wars of the 1990’s.
The ghost and legend that ignited the First World War
On Saturday, June 28, 2014, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofia von Hochenberg were assassinated by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This event ignited the First World War.
… that was the day [June 28] commemorating the June 1389 battle in the Balkans between Serb and Ottoman forces at Kosovo Polje (“Field of Blackbirds”). Both leaders, Serbian prince Lazar and the Ottoman sultan Murat I, were killed. With the death of the sultan, the Serbs, if they had so desired, could have claimed victory. But that was not the case. The event instead became a legendary tale of resistance to a foreign power, first to the Ottoman empire, secondly to the empire of Austria-Hungary, thirdly to Yugoslavia itself.
A Pope’s Vampire
The Enemy of My Enemy is My Fiend
After the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II….
[Popet} Pius II convened the somewhat ineffectual Council of Mantua in 1459, calling for a new crusade against the Ottomans, who by this point were making forays into southeastern Europe. The Christian princes of Europe were a little too busy stealing stuff from each other to take him seriously, except for one particularly enthusiastic supporter named Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), also referred to by the Romanian moniker Vlad Tepes (“the Impaler”), or his patrynomic name “Dracula”.
Peter Follansbee is leaving Plimoth Plantation
Look out your window & I’ll be gone…
I decided a while ago to leave Plimoth Plantation so I can concentrate on a range of wood-working that falls outside the guidelines of 17th-century English furniture. That work continues to fascinate me, but I’ve been drawn in several different directions in recent years, some re-visits of work I have done before (baskets, spoons, bowls) some new areas I hope to explore. A book to finish, for example. And other stuff.
The dark side of a scientific hero
Burning Libraries
We have Commodus killing animals (classical serial killer behaviour), and then getting himself strangled by a wrestler in a bath. We have Caracalla who allegedly enjoyed incest with his mother and certainly had his brother killed at a meeting arranged by this quondam lover: worst of all he wore a hood and a blonde wig and he gave Maximus several jobs. Macrinus got Caracalla’s mother to starve herself to death and then got himself killed in a temple. Then, best of all, what fun Suetonius would have had, there was Elagabalus ,,,, more Eurovision performer than Roman emperor. He divorced five women in his short life, married two men, worshipped a meteorite and used to hold competitions to see who could pimp themselves for the most money in the Imperial palace. He naturally took part.
Convergence 2014 – General Notes
I did not preregister for Convergence this year, but did so at the door ($$), and am glad I did. Continue reading
Mathematics from Eastern Europe
Reflections of the Polish Masters.
This reminded me of Ulam’s Adventures of a Mathematician, which I have read at least three times.
Changing Times
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: US need not lose its edge in science … but if things continue as they have been the last couple decades, it will. This seems quite similar to the talk that Mia McDavid, Rachel Hadley and I heard him give in May
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 