Read it.

The leading manuscript libraries of Europe and North America have been participating for the last three years in developing the digital research platform Fragmentarium. This new digital laboratory makes it possible to put pieces of fragmented manuscripts back together again, like pieces of a gigantic puzzle.

Read it.

I am familiar with medieval square notation, of course, but the rest were news to me.

Read it.

But you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office.

Read it.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that.

Read it.

Hopefully in great pain. People who invent pointless Virtue Signaling tricks ought to be shot on sight.

Read it.

This is the first time Ive ever seen a treatment of this. Modern knighting ceremonies, needless to say, are quite different.

Read it.

But you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office.

Read it.

McCain and Murkowski. Two RINOs down, two to go.

Read it.

There must be one old fogey there who didn’t have a journalism degree and insisted on writing proper English.

Read it.

Bur you have to remember that Trump has accomplished ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in his first year in office and is probably delusional.

Read it.

I predict that the Presidency will run faster.

Read it.

Just in case you were wondering. I know I was.

Read it.

Gotta love that Global Warming.

Read it.

Because, you know, everybody hates it when that happens.

Presumably the next iPhone will include this app and a little laser the will zap such people into the middle of next week.

Read it. And watch the video.

Thermochromic windows capable of converting sunlight into electricity at a high efficiency have been developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Relying on such advanced materials as perovskites and single-walled carbon nanotubes, the new technology responds to heat by transforming from transparent to tinted. As the window darkens, it generates electricity. The color change is driven by molecules (methylamine) that are reversibly absorbed into the device. When solar energy heats up the device, the molecules are driven out, and the device is darkened. When the sun is not shining, the device is cooled back down, and the molecules re-absorb into the window device, which then appears transparent.

Read it.

In people with the condition, light receptor cells are arranged in matching patterns in both eyes, which may confuse the brain.

Turkish actually ought to be Category IV*, along with Magyar and Finnish.

Read it.

Over the next six months, the archaeologists uncovered bronze basins, weapons and armor, but also a tumble of even more precious items, including gold and silver cups; hundreds of beads made of carnelian, amethyst, amber and gold; more than 50 stone seals intricately carved with goddesses, lions and bulls; and four stunning gold rings. This was indeed an ancient grave, among the most spectacular archaeological discoveries in Greece in more than half a century—and the researchers were the first to open it since the day it was filled in.

Peter Suderman dishes the dirt.

Thanksgiving wasn’t invented in America, nor was it invented by The Pilgrims.

The feast of Martinmas, traditionally celebrated on November 11, was when winter wheat seed was in the ground, and all the cattle except breeding stock were killed and salted down for the winter ahead.  The Pilgrims didn’t call it Martinmas, of course — Popish superstition! — but they celebrated it nevertheless.

During the early 16oos England wasn’t still on the Julian calendar, which differed from our current Gregorian calendar by a number of day. That difference is, at present, 13 days.

Add 13 to November 11 and see what you get.

Read it.

For many years Robert Reich has pushed for higher taxes. But if he wants to pay more in taxes, there is nothing stopping him. In fact, he can write a check, right now, payable to the U.S. Treasury.

Read it.

Don’t you just hate it when it does that?

Check it out.

You don’t often need one, but when you do, you need it bad.

Read it.

Sometimes the old ways are best.

Read it.

Don’t ever say we never have useful stuff here.

Read it.

Guess he won’d do that again.

There are about a half a hundred snarky comments I could make here but I’ll just limit myself to recommending this guy for a Darwin award.

Read it.

Approximately 2,000 pieces of cremated remains were found in a temple inside a box with an inscription claiming the bones belonged to Buddha. The researchers found the box in Jingchuan County, China, reported the Daily Mail.

At least 260 statues, each 6.6 feet tall, accompanied the cremated bones.

ISIS is already planning to blow them up.

Read it.

On Monday, 44-year-old Brian Madeux – who has a metabolic disease called Hunter syndrome – received billions of copies of a corrective gene through an IV, along with a tool to cut his DNA in the relevant location.

Signs of whether it’s working may come in a month, and tests will show for sure in three months.

Check it out.

Read it.

For all of you time-travelers out there.

Sometimes the old ways are best.

Read it.

This puts things in about as understandable a form as I suspect is possible.

If you’re interested in this subject, this will help.

Personally, I prefer the Senate version, except that I believe the Death Tax ought to be immediately and totally repealed. But we’ll see what happens.

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Bonus: Medieval manuscripts: The Hours of Charles of Angoulême

Read it.

Just in case … you know….

Read it.

While the Iron Curtain and Bamboo Curtain separating the USSR and Red China from the rest of the world were partially dismantled, some other 20th century barriers are still extant. And new ones are being erected all over the world at steady pace.

Read it.

Did you know that a sitting Democrat Senator is on trial for bribery and corruption.

Yeah, I know that’s not news, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing about it — since it isn’t being covered by the DemLegHump Media.

If it were a Republican Senator, of course, they’d be all over it like Obama on a golf course.

Read it.

We have the technology.

Read it.

I had this morning’s post all planned and then I read the business section for the Dallas Morning News. There, on the front page, was an article that had to be addressed. Barnes & Noble is opening a new store in Plano, TX (north of Dallas). That wouldn’t normally be news except for the type of store it is. This is one of their new Barnes & Noble Kitchen stores. Yes, you read that right — B&N “Kitchen”.

Here’s the basic premise. It is still a bookstore. Kind of. This 10,000 square foot store will still sell books. However, it will be stocking 17,000 titles as opposed to the 35,000 – 50,000 titles in its other stores. There will be no music in the new “kitchen” although you will still be able to buy art supplies and journals. (There is nothing in the story about whether you will find all the other non-book items you find at most B&N stores). The big change, however, is in the “kitchen” part of this store. There will be seating for 178 diners inside and on a patio. It will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and they are considering doing a Sunday brunch as well. Let’s not forget the bar either. You will be able to order wine or locally brewed beer, among others.

They need to do something.

Read it.

Well, let’s see whether he shows up. That’ll tell us.

In the Good Old Days, the first thing a Turkish Sultan did on succeeding his predecessor was have all of his brothers strangled. Maybe the Saudis are adopting that practice.

Alex Tubarrok fires it up.

In a stunningly original paper Gojko Barjamovic, Thomas Chaney, Kerem A. Co?ar, and Ali Hortaçsu use the gravity model of trade to infer the location of lost cities from Bronze age Assyria! The simplest gravity model makes predictions about trade flows based on the sizes of cities and the distances between them. More complicated models add costs based on geographic barriers. The authors have data from ancient texts on trade flows between all the cities, they know the locations of some of the cities, and they know the geography of the region. Using this data they can invert the gravity model and, triangulating from the known cities, find the lost cities that would best “fit” the model. In other words, by assuming the model is true the authors can predict where the lost cities should be located. To test the idea the authors pretend that some known cities are lost and amazingly the model is able to accurately rediscover those cities.

Read it.

If, of course, that’s what you want to do.

Read it.

Come to think of it, why would you want to? ‘Hold my beer and watch this….’

Read it.

Doesn’t surprise me. I like to see what I’m buying, and I imagine other people do too.

Read it.

Hey — if the shoe fits….

Read it.

How big a plane? Piper Cub? Airbus?

UPDATE: Stargate? Researchers Find Hidden Chamber In Great Pyramid

Read it.

As an Apple shareholder, I urge you to get excited over everything that uses an iPhone.

Read t.

Unlike some people, I do not expect astronomical phenomena to conform to my chosen lifestyle.

Belonging to a technological civilization means I can have light or dark whenever I want to.

Read it.

Russia needs soldiers and they have become increasingly hard to obtain since the 1980s and got worse after 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. Having tried just about everything else Russia is now appealing for Russian speaking foreigners to apply. If they have meet the psychological and physical standards, and especially if they have needed skills, good jobs are available. It is unlikely that enough qualified and willing foreigners are going to strp forward.

This inability to attract new recruits, even with conscription puts the government in an embarrassing situation because promises were made on this issue and not kept. Not once but multiple times. Some of the solutions make the problem worse. For example in 2012 the government assured the public that conscription would end by 2020 and be replaced with better paid and trained volunteers (“contract soldiers”). That did not happen because of a shortage of volunteers and money to pay them. To make matters worse the number of eligible conscripts continues (as expected) to shrink. This also puts at risk plans to also create a large reserve forces.

Read it.

Scientists have long known that there are four taste elements – sweet, salty, sour and bitter – but in 2009, a new savoury taste called Umami was added to the list.

Now, it seems a sixth taste sense could soon be joining them, and it might be able to explain our love of crusty bread, or those midday fantasies about creamy pasta.

Read it.

German automotive parts supplier Continental has developed a new speaker-less audio system for cars it calls Ac2ated Sound. Continental says the new system will reduce the amount of weight traditionally taken up by car speakers by up to 90 percent, using surface vibrations to deliver sound, much like a violin.

The trouble with such systems, of course, is that you can’t just buy them if you want them; you have to wait for a car manufacturer to adopt them.

Read it.

Or, in his case, a Presidential stumble.