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.
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.
Here are two screenshots of the website taken a moment ago on iPhone 15 Pro Max:
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.
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.
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.
