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Category Archives: Edmonton Oilers
1PS Podcast – Episode 87
The One Puck Short Podcast returns just in time for the new NHL season with some thoughts on Nail Yakupov's move to St. Louis, your Cup predictions and a bunch of listener questions!
Listen now on Spreaker or YouTube
You can also subscribe to the One Puck Short Podcast on iTunes and find the most recent episodes on SoundCloud.
Want to get in touch? Find me on Twitter @RobMcGregor35 or email firstname.lastname@example.com
If you'd like to help support One Puck Short, you can donate via PayPal or use our Amazon Affiliate link – it won't cost you a penny extra, but we get a little kick back on every purchase you make!
Yakupov Has To Be Worth A Shot
Since being selected first overall in 2012, Nail Yakupov has morphed from potential 30 goal scorer in to the boy nobody wants.
Nobody wants him – and it's not for lack of trying on Edmonton's part, nor because the Oilers are asking too much.
And that seems absolutely crazy.
1PS Podcast – Episode 86
The One Puck Short Podcast is jolted back in to life following a seismic week in the NHL during which P.K. Subban and Taylor Hall were traded while Steven Stamkos stayed in the sun.
Listen to this slightly wind crackeled episode (* sorry about that *) on Spreaker or YouTube now
You can also subscribe to the One Puck Short Podcast on iTunes and find the most recent episodes on SoundCloud.
Want to get in touch? Find me on Twitter @RobMcGregor35 or email email@example.com
If you'd like to help support One Puck Short, you can donate via PayPal or use our Amazon Affiliate link – it won't cost you a penny extra, but we get a little kick back on every purchase you make!
McDavid & Yakupov: The New Dynamic Duo?
In the six games Edmonton have played this season there has been plenty of room for hyperbole, celebration of bizarro statistics (they became the first franchise to have four separate 1st overall picks score in the same game) and general excitement over the teams future.
Connor McDavid's arrival in Alberta was always going to generate its share of headlines through the opening weeks of the new campaign – first home game, first goal, first point and so on – and thus far things have stayed true to expectation. The Oilers look better for the summer changes they've made, but are still a work in progress, while McDavid, perhaps not unsurprisingly, has been their best player.
Having started the season 0-4-0, the Oilers found their feet against a struggling Flames side on Saturday, before beating Vancouver in overtime 24 hours later. Edmonton were on the board and McDavid had his first multi-point game. Celebrations all round.
And while the 18-year old has garnered much of the press so far this season, it is his burgeoning partnership with Nail Yakupov which might bare the greatest fruit for the organisation in the coming years.
Season Preview: Pacific Division
Home of two of the NHL's powerhouse franchises, Pacific Division clubs also boast some of the finest prospects in the league and is bracing itself for the media tsunami Connor McDavid' arrival is set to bring.
Whilst it may mean there are only two clubs with a serious chance of winning the Stanley Cup this season, the potential on display is tremendous and the Division may be about to get seriously interesting.
Waiting for Gretzky: The President's Confession
Previously posted on the now defunct The Hockey Chat blog, InGoal Magazine and Today's Slapshot writer Paul Campbell returns with another guest post for One Puck Short:
Waiting for Gretzky: The President's Confession
In response to Ron MacLean's prediction of an Oilers' Stanley Cup within 4 years, Kevin Lowe, Edmonton's President of Hockey Operations, has released an open letter to desperate fans. We reprint that letter here in its entirety.
Anywhere But Edmonton…
The draft lottery is traditionally a night of intrigue and hope.
Which team will land the 1st overall pick? Who will they select? And how will that player help shape the fracnhise' future?
The new lottery system gave all 14 non-playoff teams a shot at the 1st overall pick; and thus a chance at Connor McDavid, the most anticipated prospect since Sidney Crosby.
Would he help drag Arizona out of the mire? Would the Sabres tank-tastic efforts work? Or how about the idea of watching the young phenom land in one of the leagues hottest markets like LA?
And then Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly opened the envelope…


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I was pondering whether to make a flying visit to Penang or not, but as soon as I read that the city is a street art hub, I knew I had to go. My fascination with street art began the first time I lived in Nepal, in 2013. A big project, Kolor Kathmandu, had just been completed, and the colourful murals by Nepali and international artists could be seen scattered around town. Urban Kathmandu is certainly not pretty, so the street art is a great way of making public spaces a bit more attractive. Penang, on the other hand, is a gorgeous city. The street art there has a different history and purpose. That's what I find so fascinating about the art form. It's as diverse in its aesthetic and purpose as any art you can find in galleries. My guidebook told me that I could get a map of the Penang street art from a tourist information centre. I saw a lot of people walking around with these maps. But I decided I didn't want to follow a map. One of the attractions of street art for me is coming across it unexpectedly. Taking a taxi somewhere I might see a mural, and mentally note down to go back later on and photograph it. Or taking a short-cut down a side-street might lead to something beautiful. I spent most of the week I was in Penang wandering fairly aimlessly anyway, because it's such an attractive town. So the photographs…Read more
Category: Street art
Melbourne Street Art
In Australia, the Melbourne street art is famous for its vibrancy and creativity. The best examples–or at least, the most dense concentration–can be found in the narrow streets between buildings opposite the Flinders Street Railway Station. What's especially cool about this area is that lots of little cafes and cake shops have set up amidst the street art. Or perhaps it was they who were there first? It's not spacious or comfortable, but it's funky, and like most places in Melbourne, you can get a killer cup of coffee.Read more
Street Art in Canberra: Australian Insects
These seriously big Australian insects were photographed in the Canberra inner-north suburb of O'Connor in summer 2012. As far as I'm aware, they're still there, but I haven't been in Canberra for almost two years. They can be found on the streets near the O'Connor shops. I like that they're painted on electricity boxes, an otherwise ugly but necessary part of the suburban landscape. One of the greatest functions of street art is its ability to make even the most utilitarian things look more attractive. I'm not Canberra's biggest fan, but even that unimpressive city can be quite lovely on a mild summer's day.Read more
The Bagmati River Street Art Project
Last week I went on a street art walk with a friend who had found the remnants of a 2014 street art project in the Bhaisighat slum, on the north bank of the Bagmati River. I was a bit wary of walking down there–not because of the poor conditions of the area per se, but because it is right by the river. I should write 'river', because the Bagmati River is nothing more than an open sewer these days, a deplorable condition for a so-called holy river to be in. My friend had found this concentration of street art after noticing the Kolor Kathmandu mural of a red panda near the river, and gone out searching for more. She assured me that it wasn't too smelly down there. (She was mostly right.)Read more
Street Art in Hyderabad: Shi'ite Mosques
This street art in Hyderabad, India, of Shi'ite mosques, is one of the most intriguing murals I've come across on my travels. In 2010 I was in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, doing research. The Muslim inhabitants of this city are predominantly Shi'ite (the same form as practiced in Iran), whereas the majority of India's Muslims are Sunni. This gives the Islamic monuments of the city quite a different feel to much else that is found in India. Hyderabad contains a lot of old beauty, among the new developments and shopping malls. These murals depict Shi'ite mosques around the world, and was on the outskirts of the old city, in the vicinity of the famous Char Minar–a large gate with four minarets. I don't know if these murals are still there, as I haven't been back to Hyderabad since. Does anyone know? For other examples of street art in India, take a look at my other posts.Read more

subset: commoncrawl


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According to Russia's deputy prime minister, the Arctic has an almost unparalleled level of political and spiritual importance for the Russian people.
In a succinct tweet, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said "the Arctic is a Russian Mecca."
Арктика - русская Мекка pic.twitter.com/79Eh4aSkpR— Dmitry Rogozin (@Rogozin) April 19, 2015
Moscow has undertaken a construction blitz across the Arctic to establish military superiority in the region. Russia is constructing ten Arctic search-and-rescue stations, 16 deepwater ports, 13 airfields, and ten air-defense radar stations across its Arctic coast.
Simultaneously, Moscow has created Joint Strategic Command North (JSCN) from components of the Northern Fleet in order to maintain a permanent military presence in the region. It is likely that this command will become a fifth Russian military district.
H/t Ian Bateson


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A month ago I tried to find ExtJS-style help generator. Just to help my colleagues to be familiar with common javascript-classes I created for them with ExtJS. But I've not found anything in google... So I started my own project at google-code:
It requires Java 1.6 and supports XSLT-based templates.
But I didn't know about jsdoc-tk-ext when I started... I just tried once to use jsdoc-toolkit but I failed to generate Ext-help... Anyway, I've already started to use my help generator at work.
Just wanted to share
Here is example output
Latest changes in version 1.0.104:
- Custom tags support: If you want to add a new tag specific for your project (like @author or @version) in class description or even to method or property description you just have to declare these tags in your project-xml file:
and then use it:Code:<doc> <source> ... </source> <tags> <tag name="author" title="Author"/> <tag name="version" title="Class Version"/> <tag name="note" format="<i>NOTE: {0}</i>"/> </tags> </doc>
Code:/** * @class SamplePackage.SampleClass * @extends Ext.Panel * This is a sample class * @author oxymoron * @version 1.0.104 */
- Links to the source code from any class, method, property, etc.
If you click on the method(class, prop..) name, you can get the exact place in the source code where this declaration made. Script syntax highlighting is done with google-code-prettify
- Some bug fixing...
Thanks, Marius for your suggestions.


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Judy E.wrote a review of Burton Citizen Snowboard Binding - Women's on December 28, 2012
not really recommended
The bindings have a sweet look and feel pretty good but the cap strap does not stay over the toe like it should. As you are riding the strap comes over the toe and doesn't stay in place. If you don't necessarily want the cap strap these are awesome bindings though.


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Angel of Vengeance Trailer (1987)
"Hunted like an animal... then she got even." 07 March 1987 Drama, Action 90 mins
A young woman newly arrived in a small town comes up against a crazed group of survivalists who have killed a party of motorcyclists in the desert. They capture and rape her, but she escapes and makes plans to take her vengeance on them.
Watch the official Angel of Vengeance 1987 trailer in HD below or find more Angel of Vengeance videos on Vidimovie.


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If your looking to harvest a trophy whitetail on your own private property, look no further! Delta County is known to produce big bucks and is only a few miles away from Menominee County, known for even bigger bucks; this parcel offers everything a hunter could dream for! This 120 acres in fantastic Delta County hunting country is mostly low land to the north with a mature cedar forest on the far north end and some higher ground to the south. Located on a dead end road, you will have the peace and quite you always wanted! Great location to build a camp or retirement home! Motivated seller! There is electric at the road! Property is under the Commercial Forest Act for tax savings.
Listing information
- Status: Sold on 6/8/2016
- Foreclosure: No
- County: Delta
- Body of Water: Creek
- Property ID: 103908287
- Stories: 0
- Lot Area: 124.00
- Neighborhood: Cornell T
- Style: Other
- New Construction: No
- Lot Size: 1320x2640x2640x1320x1320x
- School District: Escanaba


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Posted January 5th, 2008, 08:29 PM
I tried searching the archives, but didn't really find what I was looking for. Can anyone who has been on a similar cruise (Fort Lauderdale, Belize, Cozumel) in late January give me an idea of the weather? I am leaving from (and obviously returning to) upstate NY, so most likely cold and snowy. I am guessing Florida will be warmer, but probably still pants and light weight long-sleeves? I am HOPING the caribbean will be much warmer, but will it cool off at night? Do I need sweaters for the Dining Room and late night walks? What about early morning runs or breakfast on the balcony? Thanks for all your help!


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Skip to comments.Cute But Deadly: The Top 5 Most Notorious Pet Arsonists
Posted on 07/09/2011 1:26:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Almost 1,000 cases of pet arson are reported every year, according to the NFPA (National Fire Protection Agency). Two years ago, The American Kennel Club decided to take action against these pyromaniac pets by launching National Pet Fire Safety Day (July 15) to warn unsuspecting owners of the potential danger. Here are the top 5 most notorious pet arsonists and the crimes that made them famous.
5. Lucy the dog denied cake; sets blaze Just this February, Lucy nearly burned down her owners Jacksonville, Okla., house when she tried to eat a cake sitting on the stove. Lucys big paws turned on the gas burner, setting the kitchen on fire.
4. Pyro cat waits for owner to fall asleep to burn down house Also in February, a Lake Worth, Fla., familys pet cat, Stewie, waited until his owners were asleep and then knocked over a candle to start a raging house fire, leaving them homeless. See the YouTube video covering the story.
3. Rats flaming leash causes $30,000 in damage In October 2008, a Florida teen tried to make a leash out of twine for their frisky pet rat, Amelia Earhart. Instead of using scissors to cut the twine, he used a lighter to burn it. A freaked out Amelia took off through the garage trailing the flaming leash behind her. The resulting inferno caused nearly $30,000 in damage.
2. Gang of squirrels wanted for arson In January 2009, a gang of hungry squirrels chewed through electrical cables in the Kent cottage of a former UK attorney general. The munching rodents set off an inferno that blazed through the property for hours.
1. Fish watch as apartment goes up in flames Last May, comedian Tracy Morgans (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) apartment caught fire, reportedly caused by a faulty aquarium light. Although the fish arent officially to blame for this one, they still watched it happen with cold, emotionless little fish eyes.
Do you suspect your pet of hidden pyro tendencies? Beat it at its own game. See the image gallery for tips on how to protect your home from pet arsonists.
Since there is no Jacksonville, OK - the whole story is suspect...red
We iz watching you, gettng ready to burnz yr hous down.
"Since there is no Jacksonville, OK - the whole story is suspect...red"
The stories you are about to read are true, and all the names were changed to protect the innocent.
"America's Most Petted?"
I see a new reality show in the making.
Ok that line about the emotionless litle fish eyes cracked me right up!
Well, they were Tracy Morgan's fish. Listening to his comedy every day would do that to anyone.
What about Mrs. O'Leary's cow?
Don't forget the the most evil fish of all: Osama fin Laden.
"Osama fin Laden"
LOL. Not only does he sleep with the fishes, he *is* one!
I got a chuckle out of the fish eyes line too.
Oh dang. You so owe me a keyboard! (Thanks!)
#3. Definitely human error so don't blame the rat.
#2. My experience with squirrels: one of the took up residence in my van and caused lots of destruction. i.e. chewed through the air bags and caused the vehicle to fail inspection. The cost to replace the entire air bag system would have been much more than the vehicle was worth (1993 Dodge Caravan, 157K plus miles). Vehicle was sold to salvage yard (:
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


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Mixing with multiple diameter
Can anyone tell me about solving solid liquid mixing with multiple diameter. Is VOF applicable for this system?. If so, then how to define the particle diameter. I considered DPM , where i can define variety diameter particle using Rosin Rammler, but it's limited for low concentration, and my mixing system hasn't input.
Any suggestion??.
thanks HARI SARYONO
|All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:59.


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In my recent paper "A Manifesto for the Scientific Study of Civilization" I argued that the study of civilization should be scientific, and that a scientific theory of civilization would be a formal theory. Prior to this, I argued in Rational Reconstructions of Time that a formal historiography is possible. What is the connection between these two claims? In A Metaphysical Disconnect I suggested that it is a philosophical problem that philosophies of time have not been tightly-coupled with philosophies of history. This implies that a formal theory of time could be tightly-coupled with a formal theory of history, and a formal theory of history would presumably encompass (or, at least, overlap) a theory of civilization. A formal theory of civilization, then, might ultimately follow from formal historiography.
I fully understand that these are strange claims for me to be making. What in the world do I mean by a formal theory of time, of history, or of civilization? How could a science of civilization be a formal science? What is a formal science, anyway? Despite the burgeoning growth of computer science in our time, which is the latest addition to the formal sciences, the very idea of the formal as a distinct category of thought (distinct, especially, from the material) seems odd and alien to us, and the distinction between the formal sciences and the natural sciences seems archaic. What are the formal sciences? Here is one view:
"To put it in Kantian terms, the formal sciences dealt with the Reine Anschauung as opposed to empirical data. By that they have been connected to the methodology of mathematics and logic, thereby being part of both the philosophical tradition and the newly won applications of mathematical sciences to the natural sciences and engineering. Both the object and the methods of the Formal sciences were recognized as different from the Natural and the Social sciences."
"The Formal Sciences: Their Scope, Their Foundations, and Their Unity" by Benedikt Löwe, Synthese, Vol. 133, No. 1/2, Foundations of the Formal Sciences I (Oct.-Nov., 2002),pp. 5-11
In the same paper there is an explicit attempt to answer the question, "What are the Formal Sciences?" Two answers are given:
● Answer 1: "There is a profound duality in the classification of sciences according to their scientific approaches: some sciences are empirical, some are formal. The former deal with predictions and their falsification, the latter with the understanding of systems without empirical component, be it man-made systems (literary systems, the arts or social systems) or formal systems".
● Answer 2: "Formal sciences are those that deal with the deductive analysis of formal systems (i.e., systems independent of direct human influence)".
At present I am not going to analyze these differing definitions of the formal sciences, but I will leave them to percolate in the back of the mind of the reader in order to return to the question at hand: the study of civilization as a formal science, i.e., one formal science among many other formal sciences, however we choose to define them.
We can get a hint of what a formal science of civilization would look like from structuralist historians and historians of the Annales school, the chief representatives of the latter being Marc Bloch, Lucien Febvre, and Fernand Braudel. Marc Bloch's two volume history of feudalism, in particular, stands out as a great achievement in the genre, with chapters devoted to features of feudal society rather than to great events and historical turning points. Whereas John Florio had Montaigne say that I describe not the essence but the passage, Bloch sought to describe not the passage, but the essence. (I previously quoted from Bloch in Hegel and the Overview Effect.)
There is (or, there will be) no one, single way to approach formal historiography, in the same way that there is no one, single axiomatization of set theory. Even if one agrees with Gödel that set theory describes a "well-determined reality" (a realist conception that most people today would agree describes the past, even if they would hesitate to say the same of set theory), there are, as yet, many distinct approaches to that reality. So too with formal historiography; there will be many distinct formalisms for the organization, exhibition, and exposition of the well-determined reality of history.
I reveal myself as being more of a traditionalist than Bloch by my preference for approaching a theory of civilization by way of a theory of history, and a theory of history by way of a theory of time. This is "traditional" in the sense that, as I have remarked many times in other places, it has been traditional to study civilization by studying history, rather than studying civilization as an object of knowledge in its own right. I retain the historical perspective, and indeed even many of the prejudices of historians (these come naturally to me), but I can also see beyond history sensu stricto and to a science of time, a science of history, and a science of civilization that lies beyond history even as it draws from the tradition all that that tradition has to offer.
Both the essentialist approach of Bloch and the Annales school, and my own quasi-historical approach to a formal science of civilization, may each have something to contribute to a theory of civilization. Obviously, these are not the only ways to study civilization. Civilization also can be studied as an empirical science — this is probably how most would conceive a science of civilization — and even as an adventure science. What is adventure science?
Together with Dr. Jacob Shively, I wrote an article about adventure science, Adventure Science Enters the Space Age, noting that "big science" has become the paradigm of scientific activity at the present time, but when individual human beings are able to go exploring they will be able to pluck the low-hanging fruit of exploration and discovery. Adventure science characterizes the earliest stage of a science when discoveries can be made simply by traveling to an exotic locale and being the first to describe some phenomenon never before documented by science. Such discoveries are difficult for us now, because the low-hanging fruit of terrestrial discovery has all been plucked, but once off Earth, new worlds will beckon with new discoveries waiting to be made. This will be a new Golden Age of adventure science.
Paradoxically, the science of civilization will become an adventure science (if it ever becomes one) quite late in its history, so that adventure science will characterize a science of civilization not in its earliest stages, but in its latest stages. But civilization has had a kind of early adventure science phase as well. Archaeology was once the paradigm of adventure science — as attested to by the cinematic adventures of Indiana Jones and the television adventures of Relic Hunter — when real life explorers entered jungles and deserts and swamps to search for long lost cities. Archaeology is perhaps the closest existing discipline that we have to a true science of civilization — archaeologists have many theories of civilization — so that the adventure science that archaeology once was, was at the same time (at least in part) an adventure science of civilization. And it may be so again, when xenoarchaeologists lead the way, looking for the ruins of alien civilizations.
All of the resources of contemporary big science, with its thousands of researchers and multi-generational socially-organized research programs, will be necessary in order to develop the science that will make possible the production of interstellar vessels. In my Centauri Dreams post, The Interstellar Imperative, I wrote, "A starship would be the ultimate scientific instrument produced by technological civilization, constituting both a demanding engineering challenge to build and offering the possibility of greatly expanding the scope of scientific knowledge by studying up close the stars and worlds of our universe, as well as any life and civilization these worlds may comprise." Once starships become a reality, they will make possible the empirical study of civilizations, which will begin as an adventure science, the primary qualification for which will be a willingness to tolerate discomfort and to travel to distant places with a determination to document every new sight that one sees.
Geology will become an adventure science like this once again as soon as human beings have the freedom to travel around our solar system; biology and ecology will become adventure sciences once again as soon as we can visit other living worlds. The study of civilization will not become an adventure science until human beings are free to travel about the cosmos, so that this is a very distant prospect, but still a hopeful one. If we do not find a number of interesting civilizations to study, we will build a number of interesting civilizations, and eventually these will be studied in their turn. In this latter instance, the science of civilization will only become an adventure science after civilization has expanded throughout the cosmos, has forgotten the saga of its expansion, and then rediscovers itself across a plurality of worlds. And once again we will be forced to reckon with Hegel's prescience for having said that the owl of Minerva takes flight only with the setting of the sun.
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Horizons of Spacefaring Civilizations
13 September 2015
In my recent presentation at Icarus Interstellar Starship Congress 2015, "What kind of civilizations build starships?" I recurred on several occasions to archaeology in the course of my exposition. More and more I have been drawing on concepts from archaeology, as it is in archaeology that we find an extant science that has come close to formulating a science of civilization. There are, at least, explicitly formulated theories of civilization in archaeology, which go much further than the unsystematic observations of historians about civilization.
In my talk I drew on archaeological definitions of civilization. Today I want to draw on another archaeological concept, the concept of an archaeological horizon, which is a concept employed pervasively throughout archaeology (as in "dark earth horizon," for example), and, more specifically, I want to exapt the concept of an archaeological horizon for an exposition of the development of spacefaring civilization.
The term "horizon" is used pervasively in archaeology, though its usage is rarely explicitly defined. Here is an explicit definition from the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology:
horizon: Any artifact, art style, or other cultural trait that has extensive geographical distribution but a limited time span. The term, in anthropology, refers to the spread of certain levels of cultural development and, in geology, the layers of natural features in a region; in soil science, a horizon is a layer formed in a soil profile by soil-forming processes. The main meaning, however, refers to a phase, characterized by a particular artifact or artistic style that is introduced to a wide area and that may cross cultural boundaries. Provided that these "horizon markers" were diffused rapidly and remained in use for only a short time, the local regional cultures in which they occur will be roughly contemporary. The term is less commonly used now that chronometric dating techniques allow accurate local chronologies to be built. Examples of art styles that fulfill these conditions are called a horizon style-such as Tiahuanaco or Chavin. (syn. horizon style)
Barbara Ann Kipfer, Ph.D., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology, Springer, 2000.
And, much more briefly, here is another…
"A horizon, more like a popular fashion than a culture, can be defined by a single artifact type or cluster of artifact types that spreads suddenly over a very wide geographic area."
David W. Anthony, The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World, Princeton University Press, 2007, p. 131.
More helpful is the discussion of horizons and traditions in Deetz's Invitation to Archaeology. Deetz begins with a characterization of a horizon:
"The concept of an archaeological horizon is that of a set of traits which links a number of cultures over a broad area in a short time. In the Peruvian area a wide- spread art and architectural style, known as Chavin, appears at about 800 B.C. It is characterized by feline and condor motifs in the decoration of ceramics and architectural stone- work. Plotting the space-time distribution of sites containing Chavin type objects makes it clear that the spread of the ideas responsible for the style was rapid; the slope of the space-time line is quite shallow. This manifestation is known as the Chavin Horizon."
James Deetz, Invitation to Archaeology, New York: The Natural History Press, 1967, p. 59
Contrasting horizon with tradition Deetz writes:
"…one might say that horizons are thin traditions of wide distribution, or that traditions are limited horizons of long duration. This may seem as ridiculous as the idea of the world's largest midget, or smallest giant, but it makes and underscores the point that there should be no fixed dimensions for either horizon or tradition. In fact, most space-time patterns formed by archaeological materials are neither in the true sense, since they are distributed in both dimensions to a considerable extent. The concepts of horizon and tradition are usually reserved for clear instances of extreme dimensions of time or space, usually if not always linking several cultures, and of use at the broadest level of archaeological integration."
James Deetz, Invitation to Archaeology, New York: The Natural History Press, 1967, p. 61
As an aside, Deetz's formulation of a tradition can be used to illuminate a definition of civilization found in the same Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology quoted above:
civilization: Complex sociopolitical form defined by the institution of the state and the existence of a distinctive great tradition.
Barbara Ann Kipfer, Ph.D., Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology, Springer, 2000, p. 119.
When I was preparing my talk on civilization I was searching for explicit definitions of civilizations, and this is one that I considered but didn't use as it was not quite right for my purposes. But informed by Deetz's spatiotemporal definition of a tradition, one might get close to a quantitative conception of civilization with the "great tradition" defined in spatiotemporal terms.
An archaeological horizon could be formulated in terms of the presence of a class of artifacts, or in terms of the absence of a class of artifacts "An archaeological horizon can be understood as a break in contexts formed in the Harris matrix, which denotes a change in epoch on a given site by delineation in time of finds found within contexts." (Wikipedia) In other words, a horizon can be formulated as the beginning or the end of some class of artifacts. One might, then, define a horizon in the most general terms possible as a particular structure of material artifacts in time. While archaeologists work with artifacts of the past, often long out of use (perhaps so long out of use that their function is difficult to identify), there is no reason we cannot extrapolate horizons to artifacts in contemporary use, or even not yet in use.
With spacefaring civilization to date we are working with very little information, so much of the horizon structure of spacefaring civilization is conjectural. If, instead, we sought to explicate the horizon structure of scientific civilization, which has been in existence much longer than spacefaring civilization (which has not even yet fully attained its first horizon), there is much more empirical data at our command. The horizons of scientific civilization are marked by artifacts — scientific instruments — but more especially by epistemic horizons. When sciences or bodies of scientific knowledge became commonplace, we have an epistemic horizon. When Newton brought to maturity the astronomical, cosmological, and physics developments of the century or more preceding his work, an epistemic horizon we call The Enlightenment was the result. Such examples could be multiplied.
The useful aspect of the concept of a horizon is that it places less emphasis upon "firsts," which can be outliers, and instead is concerned with when an artifact becomes common. In other contexts I have formulated this in terms of demographic significance, but since the term archaeological horizon is already established in its usage, it may be better to employ "horizon." From this perspective, the celebrated firsts of what is sometimes deceptively called "the conquest of space," are of little importance. What counts, from the perspective of a horizon, is, "…a single artifact type or cluster of artifact types that spreads suddenly over a very wide geographic area." For the purposes of spacefaring civilization we can substitute "wide spatial distribution" for "wide geographic area."
Our moonshots and even our multiple probes to other planets in our solar system were outliers. They do not define a horizon of space exploration. It is arguable that now, today, with inexpensive CubeSats becoming commonplace, that we are reaching a horizon for satellite technology. This is primarily a function of cost. A CubeSat is now within reach of even small budgets. When human spaceflight eventually reaches a cost at which space travel can be inexpensive and routine, then we may achieve a human spaceflight horizon, initially to low Earth orbit (LEO). Further horizons will follow as technology improve and costs diminish.
These further horizons can be defined in terms of the gravitational thresholds that technology allows us to overcome. Previously in The Moral Imperative of Human Spaceflight (as well as in other earlier posts) I formulated six stages of spacefaring civilization, as follows:
Stage O spacefaring civilizations, or a planet-bound civilizations, have no capacity for spaceflight. (Pre-Sputnik civilization)
Stage I spacefaring civilizations have the kind of minimal capacity that we now possess to loft satellites and human beings into orbit, and even to visit nearby heavenly bodies such as the moon. (Sputnik and after)
Stage II spacefaring civilizations might be defined as those that have established a permanent, self-sustaining presence off the surface of the world of a given civilization's biological origin. This could also be defined in terms of practical, durable, and routine inter-planetary travel. This is the minimal level of civilization to assure long-term survivability.
Stage III spacefaring civilizations would have achieved practical, durable, and routine interstellar travel.
Stage IV spacefaring civilizations would be defined in terms of practical, durable, and routine inter-galactic travel.
Stage V spacefaring civilizations would be defined in terms of practical, durable, and routine travel in the multiverse, i.e., beyond the known universe defined by the consequences of the big bang.
While I formulated these stages of spacefaring civilizations in terms of practical, durable, and routine space travel, I see now that the way to approach these would be to identify each as a horizon of spacefaring civilization.
As noted above in relation to (relatively) cheap CubeSats, a spacefaring horizon may be achieved for automated probes before it is achieved for human beings; we are on the cusp of a satellite spacefaring horizon, when our artifacts achieve wide spatial distribution over a relatively short period of time. If this satellite spacefaring horizon is followed by a human LEO spacefaring horizon (Stage II above), cheap access to Earth orbit for human beings will open the possibility of the next wave, which would presumably be a planetary probe spacefaring horizon, followed by a human planetary spacefaring horizon (Stage III above). The expansion of terrestrial civilization into extraterrestrial space, then, may follow a pattern of an automated spacefaring horizon followed by a human spacefaring horizon.
I think it would also be useful to distinguish between initial horizons (when an artifact appears) and terminal horizons, when an artifact disappears. Perhaps archaeologists already do this, although I didn't find any mention of such a distinction in any of the books I've recently skimmed, looking for discussions of horizons. Just as the emergence of a civilization would be attended by a sequence of initial horizons, the extinction of a civilization would be attended by a sequence of terminal horizons.
The extinction of a spacefaring civilization would involve the reverse sequence of terminal horizons (counting back from Stage V to Stage 0) as the spatial scope of a civilization diminished from spanning the multiverse to being represented only on a planet (not necessarily the planet on which such a civilization originated), or possibly several planets. This, in turn, suggests the interesting possibility of a multiplanetary civilization returned again to the severe limitations of planetary constraints, technically still a multiplanetary species, perhaps distributed across several star systems, but no longer an interstellar civilization in so far as they no longer interact over interstellar distances. This suggests a further distinction to be made between the interstellar presence of a species and the interstellar interaction of a species.
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The Halos of Vanished Civilizations
3 December 2012
What are the consequences from a cosmological point of view when an industrial-technological civilization comes to an end, whether destroying itself or succumbing to outside forces? What kind of trace will a vanished industrial-technological civilization leave in the universe?
An industrial-technological civilization that masters electromagnetic spectrum communications — i.e., ordinary radio and television signals — generates an expanding globe of EM signals as long as it is transmitting these signals. If an industrial-technological civilization that has been transmitting EM signals comes to an end, these signals cease to be generated, and the expanding globe of EM signals tapers off to silence at the interior of this globe, which means that there will be an expanding sphere of weakening EM signals. The thickness of this three-dimensional halo in light years will correspond to the age in years of the now-vanished industrial-technological civilization.
If precise measurements of the EM halo were possible, and its exact curvature could be determined, it would be possible to extrapolate the original source of the signal. Once the curvature of the halo has been determined, and therefore also the source, the measurement of the distance from the source to the inner boundary of the halo to the source in light years will yield the number of years that have elapsed since the end of the industrial-technological civilization in question.
While such signals would be very faint, and largely lost in the background radio noise of the universe, we cannot discount the possibility that advanced detection technology of the future might reveal such EM structures. The universe might contain these ghostly structures as a sequence of overlapping bubbles of EM radiation that describe the past structure of industrial-technological civilization in the universe.
It has been said that astronomy is a form of time travel, and the farther we look from Earth, the farther back we see in time. (This is called "look back time.") Thus we can think of astronomy as a kind of luminous archaeology. Another way to think of this is that the sky reveals a kind of luminous stratigraphy. The EM halos of vanished civilizations would also admit of a certain stratigraphy, since these halos would possess a definite structure.
The outermost stratigraphic layer of an EM halo would likely consist of the simplest kind of high energy radio signals without any kind of subtle modulation of the signal — like Morse code transmitted by radio, rather than vocal modulation. This would be followed, deeper within the EM halo, by analog radio modulation corresponding to spoken language. Next within the EM halo would be analogue television signals, and then digital television signals and data signals of the sort that would be transmitted by the radio link for the internet.
This, at least, is the approximate structure of Earth's expanding EM halo, and if our civilization destroys itself (or is destroyed) in the near future, our EM halo would be approximately 100 light years thick. The longer we last, the thicker our EM halo.
An EM halo may drop off as an industrial-technological civilization makes the transition from openly radiated EM signals to the pervasive use of fiber optic cables, but if that civilization begins to expand within its solar system, and possesses numerous settlements in EM contact with each other (as I described in Cyberspace and Outer Space), then the halo will reflect these developments — this is further historical structure layered into the EM stratigraphy of the halo.
Given that the structure of a large EM halo would consist mostly of space empty of intelligent EM signals, much of the structure of these halos would be void. It is entirely possible that Earth at present lies within the void of an EM halo that both began and ceased to transmit prior to our ability to detect such signals.
In the event of human exploration of the cosmos, as we move outward within a possible void within a halo, it is possible that our first contact with a xenomorphic exocivilization will take the form of encountering the inner boundary of an EM halo, which as we pass through it, will reveal in reverse order the development of that civilization, beginning with its destruction and ending with its emergence.
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A revised, updated, and expanded version of this post is available at The Halos of Vanished Civilizations: Revised, Updated, and Expanded. A spoken word version of this updated formulation is available at Burst 9 — The Halos of Vanished Civilizations.
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Nazca to Ica
23 January 2012
A short distance north of Nazca, along the Panamericana, and situated between the designs of the "hands" ("manos") and the "tree" ("arbol"), there is a tower (the "Torre Mirador") that can be climbed, probably about 40 or 50 feet in height, in order to view some part of the lines of Nazca without flying over them. This close-up view of the lines clearly reveals the construction methods that I quoted yesterday (in Lines in the Desert) from Mason's The Ancient Civilizations of Peru — stones have been removed from within geometrically defined areas and the removed stones have been piled at the edges of the designs. The piled stones not only represent the space cleared, but the piles themselves serve to make the demarcation between cleared and non-cleared areas all the more obvious, making the distinction more visually striking.
This construction technique was also used at nearby Palpa, and continues to be effective in the present day, as driving along the Panamericana (once outside the archaeologically preserved area) one sees a variety of messages spelled out in the desert, from the initials and names of individuals to fairly elaborate advertisements for small roadside stores.
In my naïveté I though that any intrepid visitor of sufficient curiosity might walk out into the desert and and look at the construction of the lines for themselves, but the desert has been fenced off along the Panamericana to prevent further damage to the lines, and once made aware of the threat it becomes immediately obvious how damaged many of the lines and figures are, which accounts for some of the difficulty in seeing some of the patterns from the air. Some — but not all.
Much is revealed by a close inspection (as one can gain from the tower along the Panamericana) that is lost in a distant view from the air, just as much is revealed in a distant inspection from the air that is close in the close-up view from near the ground. This is a perfect concrete illustration of what I was recently writing about in relation to the distinction between constructive and non-constructive thought (in P or not-P). In this post (on my other blog) I employed an image taken from Alain Connes to illustrate the constructive/non-constructive distinction such that the constructive perspective is like that of a mountain climber while the non-constructive perspective is like that of a visitor who flies over the summit of a mountain laboriously climbed by the other.
Any thorough investigation will want to make use of both perspectives in order to obtain the most comprehensive perspective possible — even though each perspective has its blind spots and its shadows that compromise our perspective on the whole. Indeed, it is precisely because each perspective incorporates deficits specific to the perspective that one will want to supplement any one perspective without another perspective with a different set of specific deficits. Between two or more fundamentally different perspectives on any one state-of-affairs there is the possibility of constructing the comprehensive conception that is excluded by any one perspective in isolation.
The two perspectives offered on the Nazca lines by the tower and an airplane flyover also reminded me of a point that I imperfectly attempted to make in my post on Epistemic Orders of Magnitude, in which I employed aerial photographs of cities in order to demonstrate the similar structures of cities transformed in the imagine of industrial-technological civilization. This similarity in structure may be masked by one's experience of an urban area from the perspective of passing through the built environment on a human scale — i.e., simply walking through a city, which is how most people experience an urban area.
Now, in light of what I have subsequently written about constructivism, I might say that our experience of a built environment is intrinsically constructive, except for that of the urban planner or urban designer, who must see (or attempt to see) things whole. However, the urban planner must also inform his or her work with the street-level "constructive" perspective or the planning made exclusively from a top-down perspective is likely to be a failure. Almost all of the most spectacular failures in urban design have come about from an attempt to impose, from the top down, a certain vision and a certain order which may be at odds with the organically emergent order that rises from the bottom up.
This reflection gives us yet another perspective on utopianism, which I have many times tried to characterize in my attempts to show the near (not absolute) historical inevitability of utopian schemes transforming themselves upon their attempted implementation into dystopian nightmares — the utopian planner attempts to design from a purely non-constructive perspective without the benefit of a constructive perspective. This dooms the utopian plans to inevitable blindspots, shadows, and deficits. The oversights of a single perspective then, in the fullness of time, create the conditions for cascading catastrophic failure.
Historically speaking, it is not difficult to see how this comes about. After the astonishing planned cities of early antiquity, many from prehistoric societies that have left us little record except for their admirably regular and disciplined town plans, Europeans turned to a piecemeal, organic approach to urbanism. Once this approach was rapidly outgrown when cities began their burgeoning growth with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, it was a natural response on the part of Haussman-esque planners to view organic urbanism as a "failure" that necessitated replacement by another model that envisioned the already-built environment as a tabula rasa to be re-built according to rational standards. Cities henceforth were to be wholly planned to address to inadequacies of the medieval pattern of non-planning, which could not cope with cities with populations that now numbered in the millions.
I have observed elsewhere (in my Political Economy of Globalization) that many ancient prehistoric societies were essentially utopian constructions over which a god-king presided as a living god, present in the flesh among his people, and indeed some of the most striking examples of ancient town planning date from societies that exhibited (or seem to have exhibited) this now-vanished form of order. For only where a god-king is openly acknowledged as such can a social order based upon living and present divinity within the said social order be possible.
Nazca, however, does not seem to have been based on this social plan of a divinely-sanctioned social order which can bring utopian (and therefore likely non-constructive, top-down) planning into actual practice because of the physical presence of the god in the midst of his people. The book that I cited yesterday, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru by J. Alden Mason, has this to say of Nazca society:
"…the general picture seems to be one of a sedentary democratic people without marked class distinctions or authoritarianism, possibly without an established religion. There is less difference in the 'richness' or poverty of the graves, and women seem to be on an equality with men in this respect. The apparent absence of great public works, of extensive engineering features, and of temple pyramids implies a lack of authoritarian leadership. Instead, the leisure time of the people seems to have been spent in individual production, especially in the making of quantities of perfect, exquisite textiles and pottery vessels. This seems to indicate a strong cult of ancestor-worship. Cloths on which an incredible amount of labor was spent were made especially for funerary offerings and interred with the dead. The orientation seems to have been towards individualized religion rather than towards community participation, dictation, coercion, and aggression."
J. Alden Mason, The Ancient Civilizations of Peru, Penguin Books, 1968, p. 85
Such egalitarian societies focused on the satisfaction of consumer demands were rare in the ancient world, but we should not be surprised that it was an egalitarian society, organized constructively from the bottom up, that produced the astonishing lines in the desert of the Nazca. Without an aerial perspective, the making of these lines was a thoroughly constructivistic undertaking, not even counter-balanced by a non-constructive perspective, which has only been obtained long after the Nazca civilization has disappeared, leaving only traces of itself in the dessicated sands of the desert.
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While I am posting this a couple of days after the fact, this entire account was written in longhand on the day here described.
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The Feast of Saint Nicholas
6 December 2009
Second Sunday in Advent
The Feast of St. Nicholas
The 6th of December is the feast day of St. Nicholas and, as it happens, my name day after a fashion. I say "after a fashion" because anyone who has grown up and gone through life primarily known by their middle name knows the constant confusion that it can engender. I am told that my maternal grandfather began the tradition of referring to me as "Nick" when I was less than two years old. The name stuck, and it is what I continue to use today, though it is not my first given name. Thus the Feast of St. Nicholas is the name day for my second given name, but the name by which I primarily identify. So much for that.
Saint Nicholas is primarily remembered in our industrialized world as the saint who was transmogrified by consumerism into Santa Claus, the patron saint of retailers and icon of classic Coca-Cola commercials. Before his transformation into a spokesman for getting and spending (thereby laying waste our powers), St. Nicholas was a popular saint of late antiquity beloved by generations of pious Christians for almost two thousand years.
St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, a town on the coast of what is now Turkey, though in Roman times the region was called Lycia. The saint's original tomb was in Myra, and in fact can still be found there in the basilica. But the relics of St. Nicholas were stolen from the tomb in the basilica in 1087 by merchants from Bari (thus the commercial connection reveals itself early on), who took them to Bari (the technical term for moving the bones of saints is "translation of relics"), where they lie still. St. Nicholas was (among many other functions) the patron saint of the Varangian Guard (burly northerners who were the personal guard of the Byzantine emperor), so the Varangian Guard guarded his relics at Bari much as contemporary soldiers guard tombs of unknown soldiers. Note that, while the object of veneration changes, the social structure of the ritual remains constant across diverse civilizations.
But the story of St. Nicholas as it has come down to us, may not be the whole story. There may be missing chapters from the book of history. Much as the fossil record (i.e., the record of natural history) only preserves a few specimens out of millions of living creatures, so too the documentary record of human history is spotty at best, and only preserves a small fragment of the actual events that took place in the past. Darwin has an evocative passage in the Origin of Species about the imperfection of the fossil record (from the last paragraph of Chapter X):
"For my part, following out Lyell's metaphor, I look at the geological record as a history of the world imperfectly kept and written in a changing dialect. Of this history we possess the last volume alone, relating only to two or three countries. Of this volume, only here and there a short chapter has been preserved, and of each page, only here and there a few lines. Each word of the slowly-changing language, more or less different in the successive chapters, may represent the forms of life, which are entombed in our consecutive formations, and which falsely appear to have been abruptly introduced."
In regard to actual documentary historical records, it is often literally the case that we have only only one volume out of several, and sometimes only a page or a paragraph out of a volume, so that what Darwin wrote metaphorically about the fossil record applies literally to the written record.
As it happens, I visited in the Lycian shore in 1993. I did not see Myra, though I was nearby. There is an organization called Earthwatch that organizes scientific expeditions supervised by professional investigators who are joined by volunteers who pay for the privilege of joining the expedition. Thus it was in the fall of 1993 I joined an Earthwatch expedition that cruised along the coast of what is now Turkey, documenting both the physical geography and some of the archaeological remnants.
The principle investigator on this Earthwatch expedition was a fellow named David Price-Williams, who was a veteran researcher in the region and had extensive knowledge of Turkey from its earliest history to the present day. He brought the expedition to a small island close to the bay of Fetiyeh. The Island goes by two names: Gemilier and St. Nicholas Island. The small island is densely packed with Byzantine-era ruins, among which ruins there is a remarkable ceremonial passageway that extends all the way from the shore of the island up to near the top of the island where there is a ruined basilica that has been not merely built on top of the island but was once, at great effort, carved into the rocky substance of the island. The ceremonial passageway, now ruined, was at one time a covered walkway by which one could have walked all the way from a quay on the shore up to, and even into, the island's basilica. It is obvious that much effort went into this construction, and one can still pick one's way through much of the walkway, still covered in places.
Today, doing a little searching, I found a website with this explanation of the covered passageway:
"Gemiler Island is covered with Lycian ruins, including a covered walkway built for a princess who (according to various legends) was thought by her father to be too beautiful to be seen by the populace, albino and so had to be protected from the sunlight, or just very spoilt."
In the April 2000 issue of Islands magazine there was this account:
"Christmas snows were a long way from Gemiler that bright autumn morning. Ancient steps led me steeply upward, past a covered tunnel — a long passageway that ended at the island summit, where the remains of a church still commanded a view of the surrounding water. In Byzantine times the air would have been thick with incense, but since nature has reclaimed the breezes, every breath was rich with other scents."
Since the covered passageway has been around for well over a thousand years, and its origins seem to have no documentation in the written record, it is inevitable that there should be many different stories about the structure, and this is what I find to be the case.
David Price-Williams, the principle investigator of the Earthwatch expedition, had a theory about Gemiler Island. I don't recall all the details, but so far as memory serves I believe he speculated that Saint Nicholas may have died at the particular location on the top of Gemiler Island, which accounts for the somewhat awkward position of the basilica and the effort that was made to excavate it into the rock of the island. As a location sacred to the memory of Saint Nicholas, the island became a place of pilgrimage in late antiquity. And, indeed, as I noted above, the island is thickly covered by ruins — the sort of development that could only be accounted for by money brought in from the outside as opposed to strictly local industry. The covered passageway, on this account, was a purpose-built structure for the translation of the relics of Saint Nicholas, which would have been a major event, perhaps celebrated annually and the occasion of much festivity. (My apologies to David Price-Williams if I have mis-remembered or mis-represented his views on this matter.) I find it a plausible account, and it is apparent from visiting the site that it was a place of some importance and population density before it was abandoned.
Some of the ruins lie below the water line, and we know from historical accounts that a number of catastrophic natural disasters afflicted the Byzantine empire in late antiquity. Turkey has a complex geomorphology, more or less occupying its own tectonic plate sandwiched between other neighboring plates. The result of this situation is that the relatively small Turkish-Aegean plate can twist and turn in catastrophic movements of the earth that suddenly plunge some areas of land several feet lower while raising other areas of land. Thus buildings constructed in historical times could find themselves under water as the result of one violent earthquake (not necessarily as a result of gradual subsidence, which would require much more time).
Thus I have a certain personal connection to my namesake, perhaps having visited a spot that played a significant role in the growth of the cult of Saint Nicholas. Perhaps, but for the celebrations of Gemiler, Saint Nicholas might have been lost to history, and today we would have no Santa Claus. This is the merest of mere speculation — what philosophers call a counter-factual conditionals — but even a thought experiment, under controlled conditions, need not be irresponsible. It is certainly no more irresponsible than Collingwoodian a priori imagination by which we attempt to appreciate the what the ancient festivals on the island of Gemiler might have been like. And this is one of the things that most intrigues me about travel: the opportunity to inspire the historical imagination to get a feeling for life in the distant past.
Without the original Saint Nicholas I am left with the amusing thought of subsequent namesakes, for example, Niccolò Machiavelli and Nikolaus Kopernikus. I would not hesitate to claim both as my namesakes. Both were intellectual revolutionaries. The one began the process of overturning medieval cosmology, and thus is responsible in no small part for the modern world as as know it today. The other is similarly responsible in no small part for the modern world, though he began the process of overturning the medieval pieties that once dominated the practice of history.
If Niccolò Machiavelli has not been canonized (not yet, at least), that is not my fault. I am in favor of the action. If, by unanimous popular acclaim, I were to be proclaimed Pope, I would certainly make it a priority. But the Papacy is not an office conferred by popular acclaim; one must, rather, have the acclaim of the College of Cardinals. Here I must admit the I have no pull whatsoever.
Machiavelli ought to be a modern saint, or, we could say, he should enjoy the status of whatever is the secularized equivalent of sainthood. Similarly for Copernicus. Which brings us to an interesting approach to Löwith's thesis (in his Meaning in History) that modernity isn't a fully legitimate historical periodization since its categories are secularized derivatives of (mostly medieval) theological historical ideas. It would be an interesting thought experiment to accept Löwith's thesis but not its valuation, and to extrapolate a thorough-going correspondence between properly theological concepts and their secularized equivalents in modernity. Is there a secularization of the idea of sainthood? But this is a task for another time.
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Experimental Archaeology
25 October 2009
There is an interesting article on the BBC about the recreation of early ocean-going canoe voyages in the south Pacific, Yap revives ancient art of star sailing. I find this a fascinating example of experimental archaeology.
Experimental archaeology really runs the gamut. Here's an informal definition of experimental archaeology that I found at the Archaeology Expert website:
Experimental archaeology is one of the very practical methods of archaeological interpretation. It is a living analytical process used to re-create aspects in part or in whole, of ancient societies in order to test hypotheses or proposed interpretations and assumptions about that society.
The BBC article referenced above focuses on the recovery of the cultural tradition represented by ocean-going outrigger canoes and celestial navigation for Yap island, but it could still be considered a form of experimental archaeology. As I said, experimental archaeology runs the gamut. There are serious studies and there are media stunts and there are the many European open-air museums (among my favorite places to visit). Open-air museums are sometimes maintained in part to reconstruct the life of the past and also in part as an entertainment for tourists.
A few years ago when so-called "reality TV" was getting its start, public television jumped on the bandwagon and produced several series — some trivial, others riveting — that were essentially documentaries of experimental archaeology. I watched several of these with great interest.
Perhaps the most famous example of experimental archaeology in our time is the work of Thor Heyerdahl in recreating ancient sea-going vessels and recreating long distance voyages with them in order to demonstrate the possibility of his archaeological theories that were rejected by the mainstream historical and archaeological community. The Thor Heyerdahl Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo is absolutely fascinating. I visited it more-or-less on a whim a few years ago in Norway, not expecting it to be all that interesting, but I ended up staying for several hours. I heartily recommend it.
Voyages such as are made by the Yap islanders and those recreated by Thor Heyerdahl are crucial to our understanding of the last phase of human expansion and migration (which is not yet complete, but continues in an altered form even today). It is likely that the South Pacific was the last place on earth inhabited and settled by humanity. Perhaps if we had known the paradise that awaited us there, we might have gotten there sooner, but when men sail into the unknown they never know what they will find or whether they will ever return. And if they do not return, those who did not go do not know if they were lost or whether they found a better place and stayed there.
The Pacific is an enormous ocean. It was not crossed by European vessels until Magellan's expedition (though Magellan died before the circumnavigation was completed and did not live to see the Pacific crossing). To set out upon the Pacific in nothing more than a canoe, and to live to tell the tale, is a feat equal to any in the history of human achievement. Whether we should think of this as a moment in natural history or a moment in human or cultural history is not clear. I don't know what to call it myself, since the settlement of the South Pacific by ocean going canoes, while it constituted the last stage of the globalization of the human species, still took place in prehistory.
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how do you save for christmas ?(37 Posts)
Just wondring how everybody saves for christmas ? I struggled last year so im going to save as much ad I can this year. Ive opened a Christmas savings account with the post office, where you put the money on the card they give you and you cant spend it until November.
Well that sounds like a great idea.
I buy all family and friends gifts in the sale when I see them, so spread out over 6-9months. As for my DCs I'm always looking for good deals, vouchers, online codes etc. We save monthly and use a bit of this money for the DCs Christmas gifts.
OMG it's May No you won't get that from me
Household things, especially if it's tablewear, I buy as and when I see it, otherwise I know it won't be there when I get back.
The DC presents - they really want money/gift tokens now as they're 14 and 12.
I buy them Stocking Gifts from October onwards , that's what I find takes the time and I don't want to be queuing with a load of bags in December.
Food- I keep all my Nectar Points and use the double points/extra points to bump up the amount. This pays for my big shop.
We save all the £2 in a tin , gives about £200-£240 , we divide between DH,DS,DD and myself, the money needs to be spend on our family shopping day.
DS has a December birthday too so it's an expensive month
We do the £2 jar as well. It was enough for DS's 'big' Xmas present last year.
I put aside £50 a month in a savings account for Christmas and birthdays for my 3 DCs, it's a struggle but it's worth it to know it'll be ok at expensive times of the year. Also if I manage not to spend it all so much the better
I don't. Why would I spend so much on one day that I deprive myself and my family for the other 364 days?
We've done the £2 jar in the past, worked really well. Didn't miss out on anything, it was barely noticeable. Not really practical now though as we have electronic bus passes so not so much change being carried IYSWIM.
Have also done eBay selling, which we would do anyway but DH just saved the money on his paypal and used it nearer to Xmas.
Now though we don't really need to save as we spend only what we can easily afford. I suspect if I specifically saved more money, I would end up spending more just because it was there IYSWIM? But that's just me
Mostly what we do is keep ideas all year round (I love my amazon wishlists) and then if something drops dramatically in price we get it and hide it. Nothing faddy as that stuff changes so quickly thanks to adverts/peer pressure etc, but the sort of traditional 'mainstay' things we do every year, like PJs on Xmas eve or whatever. DCs fell in love with top trumps last year for example, so it might become a standard stocking filler, and when I saw a particular set I got it. Not so much 'saving' as spreading the cost and time.
I love the savings tins that you can't open without a tin opener. Have one for the Christmas Tree - £1 a week in that one. £2 a week in another for family outings like Panto, cinema, ice skating etc. I then put £50 a month on either an Asda or Tesco savings card. I also save all my Clubcard points until Christmas too. This pretty much covers everything. Now the children I buy for are older they all just want vouchers for iTunes, cinema, xbox points etc. I've started chucking one in my trolley every so often when I have spare bit of money.
After September (DDs birthday) I start buying things bit by bit for everyone. This is the first year I did this and it was reasonably successful. I still did a mad Xmas eve dash tho
Yes, I'm with pottering.
IME the earlier you start thinking about and buying for Christmas the more you spend, mostly on unnecessary things no-one wants, no-one will remember and that end up in landfill. Plan to spend what you can afford. If you need to deprive yourself all year you probably can't.
I make sure Dc's have something they'll love but everyone else gets what I can afford. I would hate it if any of my friends or family bought something for me that had left them short.
I don't. We try to keep Christmas about Jesus rather than Santa. We try to buy second hand rather than new to be Eco-friendly. Biggest expense would be the turkey but we share the cost of the feast with family attending.
I don't save as such, I buy presents throughout the year so I can maximise offers and deals. Last year ds stocking cost £20 but had £30 worth of stuff.
I buy a few bits and pieces once a month - I don't save month as such. I use my clubcard and nectar points are christmas and double up etc. I handmake other peoples gifts
We have a £2 jar and have also started putting a note of some kind £5, £10 or £20 depending on if it's a good or bad week, into a jar once a week too.
Reckoning on having around £500-£750 by the end of the year.
Also buy little presents during the year.
Sometimes do a Tesco stamp card to help with food and always save Tesco Clubcard points for Christmas too.
I have the lovely daydream of Christmas Shopping. It's cold and dry. There's music and lights everywhere. And just the hint of snow......
I'm going from shop to shop, browsing and picking up nice trinkets. Then a cup of hot chocolate in a nice cafe before heading home.
Sounds lovely eh?
The reality bites.
It's not cold. It's meh. Drizzly. If I wear too many layers, I'll cook. Shops are boiling hot, I'm having 'flushes'
I have to guard my handbag.
Get to the car-park so early to get a space then wander round waiting for the shops to open.
Then after 2-3 shops my hands are full. My bags bite into my fingers and bump my legs. I want to look at things but I can't get near. So I go back to the car to put things in the boot (once I did this 4 times)
Wrapping paper gets bent. I think "Oh I should buy this online"
People are complaining about queues.
The DC get narky. DH is resigned in a down trodden way.
I don't fancy McD so spend £12 in Starbucks on 4 drinks.
The only way to do it, is to start in October. Buy things earlier.
I'm not doing without things, I actually spend less because I'm not impulse buying. Things for the DC stockings have to be practical or fun, but less than £5. They don't get 'presents' now, mainly money/vouchers so it's the stocking gifts they have the joy of tearing open.
DH and I go shopping at the end of November. Not too busy (we take a day off work). He carries all the bags, I drive
We have a Family Day Out, just looking round and spending the £2 jar.
Sainsburys Big Shop (though I always seem to get the dodgy trolley) with my Nectar Points.
So it spaces things out and less stressful (well as less stressful as Christmas with a teenager and a preteen can be)
Ooh lots of replys thank you your all very organised x
I've just bought my £2 tin from Card Factory. I'll have to use a can opener to get it open so I'm thinking that should stop me dipping in!
I have an e savings account where I transfer £40 a month in, I also start picking up kids presents from August sales.
I have work direct deposit from my pay a set amount each fortnight. First year I've done this so hope it works. I'm not missing the money as it isn't in an account I can easily access through an ATM.
I'm going to shop online from October for what I can to save the hassle of crowds. I'm going to make a list too and stick to it. In past years when I bought presents early I forgot what I had bought and then it became excessive as not all gifts were appropriate to go in the present box I have for future parties. I'm determined to spend less this year on gifts for my kids as I have gone overboard in previous years. What I'm hoping is to have money left over that will help towards a holiday away next year or the one after.
I have a credit union at work, so deduct €50 from my paycheque before I get it, so €100 a month. I use that for holidays and Christmas spends. And pick up things as I see them during the year.
I save Dunnes stores vouchers to use, and I also fill a couple of savings stamps cards with change during the year too. I tend to be canny about food shopping anyway, so use that for the offers and bulk deals over Christmas rather than THE MEAL. The offset to that is about half if those offers go back into a trolley for the local Lions club collection, as I am lucky to afford it by doing the savings, many can't.
And I always look on our holidays for extra knickknack a for stockings, or nice and different present ideas. Lovely jewellery and scarves in France, sportswear and ornaments from USA. Canada this summer should give some intwresting options I hope. Usually these cost the same or less than I'd spend here on not so nice things, as long as I have capacity in luggage. (Canada is a complete treat as parents are bringing all 6 of their kids and families to celebrate dad's retirement, USA last year was massive treat while dd could still enjoy the magic if Disney).
I save £100 a month for Christmas presents and I don't deprive my family as we can afford to save it! It makes it easier at Christmas and we''re not broke in January. I start buying presents in November and get most delivered, it's so much easier and less stressful than trawling around the packed, roasting shops. I take the dc's Christmas shopping but it's ok, even if it's busy, as I don't have to buy anything major. We can wonder around while dc's decide what they want to get for daddy and Nanny etc.
I don't save.
I buy things throughout the year as and when I see them.
Food: we don't go overboard, there are only ever three of us for lunch. I tend to make xmas pudding ice cream for dessert as I'm the only one who eats xmas cake - it lasts until August!
DS' birthday is also in December, sp we'll buy his stuff in the August sales. He is still young, so he doesn't know what the 'latest toy' is.
We spend many days doing lots of lovely (free) festive things and generally chilling out, and I devorate the house like a crazy thing, it looks like Mother Christmas' handbag exploded
I read a tip somewhere, forget where, that said when it's someone's birthday, buy 2 gifts. One for birthday and one in the cupboard for Christmas. Am so going to do this next year.
Morrisons saving stamps for the food and crackers etc. try to get to
100 for this. Also think about what got left last year so avoid buying it this year. Cards in the sales after christmas.
This year everyone not my dc gets a book so have started buying them when I see them, at water stones and stacking up points on my card.
I save with Park Hampers ... This is my 4th year and it's continuous I don't miss the money as I haven't had it for 4 years and it has just become another Direct Debit
I save in a seperate online bank account for things like cash gifts , trips to panto , Christmas crackers , tableware etc etc
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Scared Shrekless
Shrek challenges Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots and the other fairy tale characters to spend the night in Lord Farquaad's haunted castle telling scary stories.
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Halloween is Shrek's favorite holiday - but instead of the usual tricks or treats, Shrek ups the ante and challenges the gang to spend the night telling scary stories. The last one to be scared Shrekless wins.


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Results 1 to 4 of 4
05-24-06, 13:53 #1Registered User
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Posts
- 73
Unanswered: Update Records from Subform to different Database..with same subform
Much like my last question/problem(http://www.dbforums.com/showthread.php?t=1217406) I'm trying to take a set of hours, that's located on the form I'm using, and updating them to a seperate database that contains the same information on it. Now the hours are located on a subform...
I'm using an INSERT INTO and it works fine...goes through my whole code fine, but when it actually needs to append the new data, it will not append it due to the fact of a type conversion error. Now this should work as it's exactly the same code as I used for a previous button as well..just changed it to pass the horus information. I'm not trying to pass the primary key which is a autonumber..I'm passing everything else.. here's the code used for this button.
Private Sub Command94_Click()
Dim rs2 As DAO.Recordset
Dim sqlSI2 As String
Dim sign2 As Variant
Dim updateHours As DAO.Recordset
Dim updateSQL2 As String
Dim qryData2 As Variant
sqlSI2 = "SELECT * FROM [SERVICE HOURS2] WHERE [SERVICE HOURS2].[ServiceRecordID] =" & Me.[ServiceRecordID] & ";"
Set rs2 = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset(sqlSI2)
Set sign2 = rs2
MsgBox rs2.RecordCount
If rs2.RecordCount = 0 Then
updateSQL2 = "INSERT INTO [Service Hours2] (ServiceRecordID, EmployeeID, [Date], [Travel Start], [Plant In], [Plant Out], [Travel End] )" & _
"SELECT [Service Hours].ServiceRecordID, [Service Hours].EmployeeID, [Service Hours].[Date], [Service Hours].[Travel Start], [Service Hours].[Plant In], [Service Hours].[Plant Out],[Service Hours].[Travel End]" & _
"FROM [Service Hours] WHERE((([Service Hours].ServiceRecordID)=" & Me.ServiceRecordID & "));"
DoCmd.RunSQL updateSQL2
Set qryData2 = updateHours
MsgBox "Hours already inserted. Please use the f:\common\databases\megabase"
End If
End Sub
As I said everything works fine just getting a type conversion error..
ServiceRecordID is a number, EmployeeID, is a Number, Date/Travel Start&End/Plant In&Out are all Date/Time fields...
the only record I am not passing which is the primary key is ServiceTimeID which is an auto number..
if ya need a sample DB let me know and I'll toss one up...
Thanks guys
Last edited by Smythe1000; 05-24-06 at 15:48.
05-24-06, 16:21 #2Registered User
- Join Date
- Aug 2003
- Location
- Cleveland USA
- Posts
- 184
Have you tried writing an append query that does the same thing? If you can get the append query to work, then there's probably something wrong with your code. If the append query will not work, there's something going on with the data. Make sure each field of the two tables has exactly the same data type (both Long Integer, not just number type), and same length for text fields.
One thing I noticed is that your textbox on your form has the same name as your field name (ServiceRecordID). Even though that's the default name when you create a form, VBA gets confused sometimes. I usually rename the textboxes something like intServiceRecordID for integers, txtField for text fields, etc. You only need to rename the textboxes that are used in code.
05-25-06, 12:57 #3Registered User
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Posts
- 73
everything is correct for information wise...but even creating an append query I'm getting the same errors..and thats without having it on the form..
05-26-06, 15:00 #4Registered User
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Posts
- 73
Yippie..I now get a run-time 3134 error...
"Syntax error in INSERT INTO statement"


text:
I fell in LOVE with this H O D A R I Belle Wax Print Ankara Skirt by Li Li's Creations
The skirt is made of a Vlisco Wax print fabric in a vibrant design. I am so pleased with the quality of Li Li's craftsmanship. This skirt is extremely well made and lined with tulle petticoat to create a full skirt effect which I absolutely love!
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text:
Cardinals 27, Texans 24
The SportsXchange•
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- If the Houston Texans didn't think they could fall any further, they found out Sunday that they could.
The Arizona Cardinals got two touchdown passes from Carson Palmer, scored a defensive touchdown and blocked a field goal while holidng off the Texans 27-24 at University of Phoenix Stadium.
Case Keenum threw three touchdown passes for Houston, but it wasn't enough as the Texans (2-7) lost their seventh consecutive game -- the longest losing streak in franchise history.
Already without head coach Gary Kubiak following his collapse last Sunday night upon suffering a mini-stroke, the Texans also learned they would be without running back Arian Foster for the remainder of the season as he prepares to have surgery to repair a bulging disk in his back.
Foster was ruled out of the Arizona game on Friday.
The Cardinals (5-4) earned their second consecutive win, and they remain in the hunt for an NFC wild-card playoff spot.
Palmer completed 20 of 32 passes for 241 yards. He was intercepted once and lost a fumble when he was stripped and sacked by defensive end J.J. Watt, but the quarterback was effective.
The Cardinals grabbed a 7-0 lead on the first play from scrimmage when linebacker John Abraham sacked Keenum deep in Houston territory, causing Keenum to lose the ball. Arizona linebacker Matt Shaughnessy picked it up and returned it 6 yards for his first career touchdown.
It was the 20th turnover forced by Arizona's defense this season.
Palmer went 5-for-5 for 60 yards in directing a touchdown drive on the Cardinals' second possession. He capped it by completing a 12-yard pass to Rob Housler for the third-year tight end's first NFL touchdown.
The Texans stayed squarely in the game, though, as Keenum found wide receiver Andre Johnson for a 7-yard scoring pass and later, tight end Ryan Griffin for a 2-yard touchdown.
Johnson did a remarkable job keeping both feet in bounds during his touchdown grab, dragging his right foot before falling out of the end zone with cornerback Patrick Peterson there to defend.
After the Cardinals took a 27-17 lead in the fourth quarter on Palmer's 19-yard fade pass to wide receiver Andre Roberts, Johnson came up with another acrobatic catch for his second touchdown and fifth in the past two weeks.
Arizona running back Rashard Mendenhall had the ball stripped and taken away by Watt, giving the Texans the ball at the Cardinals 5-yard line. On third down, Keenum threw high toward Johnson, who outreached Peterson in the end zone and once again, somehow found a way to keep both feet in bounds for the score.
The touchdown pulled the Texans to within 27-24 with 4:34 left in regulation.
After Houston forced Arizona to punt and got the ball back with 2:06 remaining, Keenum could only complete one more pass. The Cardinals took over on downs and ran out the clock.
Keenum finished 22-for-43 for 201 yards and no interceptions. Running back Ben Tate, seeing the bulk of the action in place of Foster, rushed for 56 yards on 15 carries.
Running back Andre Ellington gained 55 yards on 11 carries for the Cardinals. In the team's previous game, a win over the Atlanta Falcons, he ran for 154 yards and a touchdown.
NOTES: The Cardinals elevated rookie Tyrann Mathieu to the starting free safety spot. He took over in the base defense for Rashad Johnson. ... The Texans lost CBs Elbert Mack (hamstring) and Kareem Jackson (rib) to first-half injuries, and they did not return. ... With two sacks on the day, Cardinals DE John Abraham moved into 12th place on the NFL's all-time sacks list (127). ... Cardinals CB Justin Bethel blocked a 40-yard field goal attempt by Texans K Randy Bullock right before halftime.


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Warning: This post was published more than 12 years ago.
I keep old posts on the site because sometimes it's interesting to read old content. Not everything that is old is bad. Also, I think people might be interested to track how my views have changed over time: for example, how my strident teenage views have mellowed and matured!
But given the age of this post, please bear in mind:
- My views might have changed in the 12 years since I wrote this post.
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Many thanks for your understanding.
There is tremendous value in having a loser friend – someone far worse off than you, who is slightly in awe and worshipful of your life. You complain about this friend constantly and your other friends get annoyed and say, "I don't get it. Why are you still friends with that person?"
So everybody has a loser friend, then? I thought it was just me. But there we go.
This 286th post was filed under: Headliner.


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text:
Fallout Trailer (2008)
03 July 2008 Drama, Thriller, Crime 90 mins
A policeman returns to the estate where he grew up to investigate the murder of a young boy. Lennie James stars in this powerful drama about race and law and order. Adapted by the playwright from his 2002 play.
Watch the official Fallout 2008 trailer in HD below or find more Fallout videos on Vidimovie.


text:
I never really connected much with my parents. Even at a young age I never really felt close to them. Especially my mother. It seemed like whenever I had a problem and I wanted to talk to her about it, she'd just tell me what she thought I wanted to hear to get me off her back. I guess it wasn't until I left for Germany in 2000 when I really started to feel distant from both my mother and my father. Clearly, I always wanted their support, though.
My dad is a perfectionist. Still to this day he strives to be the best person he possibly can. He doesn't take shortcuts, he doesn't cheat people, he doesn't fiddle-fuck around at work…he does the very best job that he possibly can, day in and day out. I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but I don't like taking shortcuts. And when I do, it bothers me forever. I want people to view me as a hard worker. I want people to view me as someone who cares and does a good job. Someone that can be trusted. I bring this up because I've always strived to mirror my father's foot steps in every way imaginable. But I was never able to keep up. I sought his approval in every which way imaginable. And when I felt that I may have disappointed him in such a way, I literally felt useless.
My days in Iraq were spent day dreaming of killing bad guys. And getting the occasional email from Dad. Of course, my deployment to Iraq was nothing like what others have experienced. There weren't mass explosions going off all around me while dragging my buddies to safety…
…and I was never pinned down in the jungles of Vietnam fending off short little yellow people with automatic machine guns, either:
But I did get to see some shit, I suppose. I got to experience combat even if it was just indirect fire. I got to be a gunner on some trucks, I got to hangout with my scout buddies in sector and I got to see the inside of a few homes owned by the locals. It's not every day a person gets to spend 12 months in Iraq. So for that, I'm grateful.
As the deployment wore on, it was tough to stay motivated. It was tough to wake up every morning and report to guard duty or to the motor pool or whatever else I had to do. It was tough to stay on base and not just pack some gear and wander off. The one thing that kept me going was this little ending that my dad would end his emails with. "Keep your head down. Love, Dad." That's all it said. And it was enough. I felt like I had a purpose with my unit. I used to tell some of my Army buddies to keep their heads down when we were out fucking around outside the compound on one of those perimeter marches we'd do at 0600 hours in the morning with the First Sergeant. I wasn't sure if terrorists were up at that hour, but if they were, it was a good idea to keep your head down.
To this day, I don't speak to my parents much. If at all. I guess Facebook sort of forces that connection. When I returned home from the Army, things were upside down in my life. I had lost my first purchased home to a failed relationship, I spent nearly a month in a behavioral mental health hospital due to going completely fucking crazy when my ex-fiance left me, I was miserable, unemployed and distraught from being separated from the one family I truly loved. I thought I'd have peace back home with my parents, I'd attend college, get a job and everything would be hunky-fucking-dory. Yeah.
Finding peace in my life has been a struggle. I felt literally stabbed in the back when my mother used every angle to get me to move out and find my own way. Well, I don't blame her, I suppose. I wouldn't want a thirty-something single male living in my home, either. But then again, I'm not a crazy, miserable, selfish bitch. If I came across me on the street, I'd lend a helping hand. At any rate, it is what it is. I've nailed down two jobs, I've attended college off and on the last couple of years and I've managed to stay in shape. On top of that? I'm starting third base for a softball team this year. So fuck you, mom.
As for my dad? I felt I've let him down. I didn't quite amount to his expectations.


text:
Romano's Macaroni Grill Brand - hours and store locations
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