Finnegans Wake. I read it across the year with an online group. It was always on the edge of incomprehensibility - often well over the edge - but it definitely had a impact.
This year’s ‘big read’ will be the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms I’m just about to make a start.
Depends whether I am working or not. If it has been a workday, then often the half hour or hour that I set aside at the end of the day for reading before I go to sleep.
If I am not working, and don’t need to get up do things immediately, then the time just after waking and before I get breakfast. Maybe read a little, plan the day and check the Web.
I would say that kindness is an expression (not the only one) of empathy. Some degree of empathy is present in the overwhelming majority of people - barring extreme sociopathic conditions and an absence of mirror neurones. So for most people I would say that it is innate to some extent.
Even in cases where empathy is not present, kindness can be simulated or faked and some people with strong sociopathic conditions have proven to be very good at this when it suits their purposes - so I certainly say something with the appearance of kindness can be learned in one form or another.
It can definitely be cultivated - and I would say that this is one of the major qualities in the whole “two wolves” metaphor or, in classical Greek terms, a virtue to be developed.
I can recall being in the cot under the window in my parents room, but there is nothing else attached to that memory.
I can also very clearly recall being put onto the floor in the back of my dad’s dark blue side opening van, which had an orange tinted skylight, and crawling across the corrugated floor panel to pull myself up against the wheel arch - since this was evidently before i could walk - whilst my parents were talking just outside, and the van itself was parked across the road from the entrance to our garden.
However, apparently my dad never owned a van of that type, nor anything like it, and nor did anyone that either of my parents or my - significantly older - siblings are aware of. So despite the clarity and detail of that memory, I have doubts that it is at all real.
Lasers have revealed a complex network of pre-Hispanic structures and roadways hidden beneath the canopy of the Amazon. At 2,500 years old, it’s the earliest (and largest) example of an agricultural civilization ever recorded in South America’s dense rainforest....
A special find has been made in the Alkmaar Regional Archive: A number of 17th-century book bindings contained pieces of parchment from a manuscript from the 11th century. The original manuscript may have belonged to a princess who fled England after the Norman Conquest....
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered two mummies outfitted with golden tongues at the ancient town of Oxyrhynchus, bringing the total number of golden tongues found at the location to 16, archaeologists say....
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, working with University of Oxford, University of York and Oxford Archaeology, have developed a new technique to measure the number of chromosomes in ancient genomes more precisely, using it to identify the first prehistoric person with mosaic Turner syndrome (characterized by one X...
The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis—one of the longest known going back to this period—has just been revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)....
The spectacular explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge—a fortified German front-line position in the First World War—marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and remains one of the best-known pieces of film from the whole conflict....
Nicholas Copernicus was the astronomer who, five centuries ago, explained that Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. A true Renaissance man, he also practised as a mathematician, engineer, author, economic theorist and medical doctor....
Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country....
As long as humans have been minting coins and crafting beautiful jewelry and other stunning collectibles, an equal number of people have been right behind them searching for these precious finds. Here are 10 extraordinary discoveries made in 2023 that prove that the hunt for buried treasure never gets old.
A multi-institutional team of anthropologists has discovered that two pieces of ancient Scythian leather excavated at sites in Ukraine were made from human skin. In their project, reported on the open-access site PLOS ONE, the group tested an account by the Greek historian Herodotus regarding certain behaviors of ancient...
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving University College London researchers....
The Dordogne region of southern France is home to over 200 caves decorated with colorful Paleolithic art, but little is known about how old it is. Due to its coloration with iron- or manganese-oxide-based material, radiocarbon dating of the art has not been possible, and it has been generally thought to have been created during...
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation....
Archaeologists in Spain have discovered evidence that ancient people defleshed and dismembered corpses around 6,000 years ago. But these aren’t clues to an ancient murder: Instead, the bone injuries are more likely related to funerary practices that occurred just after death....
In 1934, workers in Germany discovered the double burial of a woman placed in a seated position with an infant between her legs. Because of the overabundance of grave goods surrounding the pair, archaeologists concluded that she was likely a shaman who died about 9,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period. However, her true...
I am especially interested in the initial migrations into the Americas 15,000+ years ago, but our community is small and my interests large, so… any great documentaries are welcome.
what is a parental advice you wish you could give to your father/mother before they had you?
What movie or book had the biggest impact on you this year?
What word do you always forget?
I always forget refactoring, as in code refactoring, and fiber.
What is your favorite part of the day?
Can kindness be learned or cultivated, and to what extent is it an innate quality?
What is your earliest memory?
Ancient fortifications revealed underneath Bronze Age village on Italian island (www.livescience.com)
Lasers reveal ancient settlements hidden deep in the Amazon rainforest (www.livescience.com)
Lasers have revealed a complex network of pre-Hispanic structures and roadways hidden beneath the canopy of the Amazon. At 2,500 years old, it’s the earliest (and largest) example of an agricultural civilization ever recorded in South America’s dense rainforest....
A princess's psalter recovered? Pieces of a 1,000-year-old manuscript found (phys.org)
A special find has been made in the Alkmaar Regional Archive: A number of 17th-century book bindings contained pieces of parchment from a manuscript from the 11th century. The original manuscript may have belonged to a princess who fled England after the Norman Conquest....
2 golden tongues symbolizing 'flesh of the gods' unearthed in ancient Egyptian mummies (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered two mummies outfitted with golden tongues at the ancient town of Oxyrhynchus, bringing the total number of golden tongues found at the location to 16, archaeologists say....
First prehistoric person with Turner syndrome identified from ancient DNA (phys.org)
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, working with University of Oxford, University of York and Oxford Archaeology, have developed a new technique to measure the number of chromosomes in ancient genomes more precisely, using it to identify the first prehistoric person with mosaic Turner syndrome (characterized by one X...
Discovery of immense fortifications dating back 4,000 years in northwestern Arabia (phys.org)
The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis—one of the longest known going back to this period—has just been revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)....
First ever scientific study on First World War crater reveals new details on its history (phys.org)
The spectacular explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge—a fortified German front-line position in the First World War—marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and remains one of the best-known pieces of film from the whole conflict....
The strange story of the grave of Copernicus (theconversation.com)
Nicholas Copernicus was the astronomer who, five centuries ago, explained that Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. A true Renaissance man, he also practised as a mathematician, engineer, author, economic theorist and medical doctor....
2,000-year-old 'celestial calendar' discovered in ancient Chinese tomb (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country....
10 extraordinary treasures that archaeologists unearthed this year (www.livescience.com)
As long as humans have been minting coins and crafting beautiful jewelry and other stunning collectibles, an equal number of people have been right behind them searching for these precious finds. Here are 10 extraordinary discoveries made in 2023 that prove that the hunt for buried treasure never gets old.
Analysis of ancient Scythian leather samples shows two were made from human skin (phys.org)
A multi-institutional team of anthropologists has discovered that two pieces of ancient Scythian leather excavated at sites in Ukraine were made from human skin. In their project, reported on the open-access site PLOS ONE, the group tested an account by the Greek historian Herodotus regarding certain behaviors of ancient...
Mesopotamian bricks unveil the strength of Earth's ancient magnetic field (phys.org)
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving University College London researchers....
First discovery of carbon-based cave art in France's Dordogne region could pave way for precise radiocarbon dating (phys.org)
The Dordogne region of southern France is home to over 200 caves decorated with colorful Paleolithic art, but little is known about how old it is. Due to its coloration with iron- or manganese-oxide-based material, radiocarbon dating of the art has not been possible, and it has been generally thought to have been created during...
'Unique' cave art discovered in Madagascar hints at connections with ancient Egypt and Borneo (www.livescience.com)
Unique, prehistoric rock art drawings have been discovered in the Andriamamelo Cave in western Madagascar....
People, not the climate, found to have caused the decline of the giant mammals (phys.org)
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation....
People buried at 'mega' stone tombs in Spain were defleshed and their bones fractured after death (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in Spain have discovered evidence that ancient people defleshed and dismembered corpses around 6,000 years ago. But these aren’t clues to an ancient murder: Instead, the bone injuries are more likely related to funerary practices that occurred just after death....
9,000-year-old double burial with shaman and infant reveals she may have been his 4th-great-grandmother (www.livescience.com)
In 1934, workers in Germany discovered the double burial of a woman placed in a seated position with an infant between her legs. Because of the overabundance of grave goods surrounding the pair, archaeologists concluded that she was likely a shaman who died about 9,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period. However, her true...
For speakers of Bulgarian: is the "Комбайна вършачка" song really about a combined thresher machine? (youtu.be)
Cross-posted from: feddit.it/post/3909307
What is your favorite anthropology documentary?
I am especially interested in the initial migrations into the Americas 15,000+ years ago, but our community is small and my interests large, so… any great documentaries are welcome.