An argument that autism seems much more common these days because it used to be classed as mental retardation: "The boundary between mental retardation and mental illness has been blurred. . . . Parents were glad to have their children classified as autistic because there was less stigma attached to that diagnosis."
Nice Tumblr post on the thousands of votive figurines recovered from a temple complex on the Greek island of Kythnos.
Rolling Stone story on the plague of fake videos of obnoxious white women, aka Karens.
Reconstructing the colossal Constantine, the famous fragments of which have long been on display in Rome, 10-minute video.
"Want to make a difference on policy and governance? Become an expert in something specific and boring." Funny, but I have my doubts. I am an expert on something specific and boring – Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act – but have been able to make my opinions about how the process should work count only a very little. There just aren't enough other people who care about history and preservation but hate wasted effort the way I do.
Via Tyler Cowen, a calcuation that roughly $500 billion per year is being invested in solar energy right now, 0.5% of global GDP.
The non-discovery of Henry Cort's puddling process by enslaved African iron workers in Jamaica, or, the insane things historians will believe when they flatter their ideological predilections. The sad part is that this awful paper will now be out there in the literature and generations of students will stumble on it and fall into its trap. I imagine myself, at the age of 80, pointing out for the ninety-eighth time that it is not true.
Can humans grow a third set of teeth? Maybe.
Child's leather shoe 2,000 years old found in German salt mine, very common Roman period design.
The improving quality of lab-grown diamonds is finally impacting the price of natural diamonds; the price of lower-grade natural diamonds has fallen 40 percent this year.
Ben Pentreath's Italian vacation, Tuscany and Venice, amazing array of photos.
Scott Siskind's presidential platform, including an amusing idea about Trump.
Cool little video on X (sorry, I didn't change the name) showing the remarkable detail in this painting.
An example showing that replicating experiments is very hard.
Sam Bankman-Fried on the secret of crypto.
Misandry. Overblown, but it is absolutely true that if your study finds bias against women it will be easier to publish, and get more attention, than if it finds bias against men. It is, however, unmanly to whine about this.
Well-preserved Roman weapons found in remote cave near the Dead Sea, along with a coin of the Bar Kochba revolt (132-135 AD) that the excavators think may be related.
Complete Neolithic cursus found on the Isle of Arran.
Interesting, well-illustrated article on the excavations at Zerzevan, a Roman fortress in southeastern Turkey.
Ukraine Links
Good, substantive article evaluating Ukraine's southern offensive as of 3 September.
People say the fighting in Ukraine is like World War I, but watching this video of a Russian trench under artillery fire reminds me of one essential difference: vastly fewer men in the forward trenches. One of the patterns of this war is that a position will be taken, because it had so few defenders, but then retaken in a counter attack because the attackers didn't have many men, either. This is why good maps of territorial control show a wide "grey zone" not really controlled by anyone.
Interesting analysis of the military situation on 3 September, very optimistic about Ukrainian chances.
Ukraine's Bayraktar TB-2 drones were early heroes of the war but then faded from the news, allegedly because Russian electronic warfare and air defenses made it impossible for them to operate over the battle zones. But now there are new videos showing them back in action over Kherson Oblast. Do their operators have new tricks, or have Russian air defenses and EW been degraded?
Russian bloggers's musings on drone use: "Our two main observations: the first is that all drones are eventually shot down and lost, regardless of cost and complexity, and moreover, the percentage of losses is not at all inversely proportional to the cost and complexity of these drones."
Two good short videos of the fighting that convey very well how the landscape looks to an infantryman.
One puzzling thing to me about all the calls to negotiate with the Russians to end the war is that people keep trying and finding that it is impossible. Even the pope gave up. Now Turkish president Erdogan has tried for the second or third time and reports again that there is no hope. Russia continues to demand major territorial concessions, including areas it does not now control, and Ukrainian disarmament as conditions for peace.
Twitter summary of the RUSI's latest opus on Ukraine; full document here.
The Oryx count of major Russian weapon systems lost in Ukraine has passed 12,000.
Tass: "Russia’s FSB state security service has said it has detained a group of smugglers trading in military aircraft parts, some of which had ended up in Ukraine."
On September 7, the head of the Pentagon's Intelligence Directorate told reporters that Ukraine has a "realistic chance" of breaking through Russian defenses and reaching the Sea of Azov, which he says they did not think a month ago. So something is happening, although I'm having trouble seeing what. It took Ukraine a week to take the tiny village of Robotyne. On the other hand, the Russians fought like hell to hold it, throwing in an entire Airborn regiment in the final stage; does the Pentagon think this fighting is wearing the Russians out?
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