(Not) correcting for inflation

Was this the most expensive presidential inauguration ever? Only if you don't correct for inflation -- otherwise costs have been in the same range for the past 20+ years, as pointed out here.

Reminds me of a pub quiz we put together a while back, where one of the questions was, when were gasoline prices highest, in constant dollars: 2003; 1993; 1983; or 1973. Answer here.

You know the music is too loud when . . .

. . . the driver behind you can see your rear-view mirror shaking to the bass. Witnessed today, driving around town doing a last few pre-storm errands.

12 inches predicted for tonight. Why can't I get around to getting a snow blower? Lots of exercise coming up tomorrow, between shoveling and taking kids out sledding.

Proclamation of Independence fetches £140,000

A COPY of the most important document in the history of the Irish nation, the Proclamation of Independence printed at Liberty Hall, on Easter Sunday, 1916, realised £140,000 at Sotheby’s on December 16. Some 2500 copies were to have been produced, but a shortage of paper and type meant that the first part had to be printed and the types broken up before the second half could be set up, and the chaos that ensued on that historic day resulted in the vast majority of the 1000 copies that were printed being destroyed.

Around 20 of those original copies seem to have survived, but this example is not only free of the smudges and faint printing found on some other copies, it is one of only three copies (one already in the National Library of Ireland) signed by the printer Christopher Brady – who added his authentication in a shaky hand in 1969.

From the Antiques Trade Gazette.

Buy a Picasso at CostCo (whoops, too late)

Here's the listing. A BBC writeup is here. Great gimmick for free publicity -- and a strong price for a pretty trivial doodle.

New look at Mongol invasion of Japan

Storms finished off the two Mongol invasion fleets, but the fleets might not have been the best for the job, either:

Ancient documents describing winds that blew down trees suggest that there was indeed a big storm in Japan in 1281, although the evidence is unclear as to how bad the winds really were and how they might have affected the Mongolian fleet.

I don't see the need to question the historicity of the storm, save to (unnecessarily) inflate the importance of the findings as cited below.

New evidence, though, suggests that poor design and shoddy workmanship may have been the principal cause of the Mongols' defeat, the British weekly New Scientist says in its next issue, out on Saturday.

Randall Sasaki, an archaeologist at Texas A&M University, has pored over fragmented remains of the 1281 fleet that were found in 1981. . .

Sasaki has studied around 500 of the fragments and says many of the timbers have nails placed very close together, sometimes with five or six in the same location. "This suggests the timbers were recycled to construct these ships," he told New Scientist. "Also, some of the timbers were themselves of poor quality."

As for the design of the ship, Chinese documents suggest that many of the vessels in the 1281 fleet were flat-bottomed river boats, which would have been unstable in the open sea.

"So far, we have found no evidence of sea-going, V-shaped keels at Takashima," says Kenzo Hayashida of the Kyushu Okinawa Society for Underwater Archaeology, which found the remains of the fleet in 1981.

Still much more of the site to be explored, however. Full story here.

Tiffany glassmaking secrets revealed

The Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Research Library of The Corning Museum of Glass, the world's library of record on glass, has acquired two significant collections of archival materials related to the history of Tiffany Studios and the glassmaker Lalique.

In June, 2004, the Museum purchased at auction at Christies a collection of materials belonging to Arthur J. and Leslie H. Nash, relating to their work as master glassmakers for Tiffany Studios in Corona, NY, in the early 1900s.

Arthur Nash developed the unique recipe for Tiffany's signature Favrile glass. The collection includes notebooks and journals containing the recipe, which was never shared with anyone, including Louis Comfort Tiffany himself. The recipe is in code, and among the documents is Nash's “key” to the code. In addition, the archive contains never-before published letters and handwritten notes that provide insight into the complex behind-the-scenes relationship of the Nashes with Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Full press release here; the Antiques Trade Gazette reports that the hammer price of the Tiffany material was $32,000.

Mail-order PhDs

While we worry about cheating on exams and plagiarized papers, some just buy their diplomas and get high-paying government jobs. Arggh.

Cretaceous duck

The partial skeleton, found on Vega Island, western Antarctica, in 1992, is clearly a waterfowl and is "most closely related to Anatidae," a bird classification which includes modern ducks, they said.

That requires a rethink of the "big bang" bird theory, for it implies that the forerunners of modern ducks, chickens, ostriches and emus were around during the Cretaceous, authors said in a study published in Thursday's Nature.

"At least duck, chicken and ratite bird relatives were co-extant with non-avian dinosaurs," the authors wrote.

The find has been baptized Vegavis iaii.

Full story with pictures here.

PRESS release here.

Bones in Bristol

Archaeologists have unearthed eight skeletons in the centre of Bristol. The remains, said to date from between the 12th and 14th centuries, were found during work to build the city's new £40 million bus station and magistrates' court building. . .

The find follows the discovery 10 years ago of around 100 skeletons dating from the 1100s just yards away.

A number of items from the remains of St James's Priory have been unearthed during the development of the site . . .

More here.

Where oh where was the Battle of Bosworth?

Visitors to one of the most important battle sites in British history, immortalised by William Shakespeare with Richard III's desperate offer of his kingdom for a horse, are almost certainly visiting the wrong spot . . .

Leicestershire County Council is to embark on a three-year archaeological and topographical research project to identify where the Battle of Bosworth was really fought in 1485, marking the end of the Wars of the Roses and the beginning of Tudor England. The battle was the last time a British king was killed on the battlefield. . .

Glenn Foard, a historian, has reviewed the evidence for the council and concluded that an alternative site suggested by a researcher, Peter Foss, 15 years ago is probably the right place. But he is to get a proper chance to check, thanks to a near £1m grant announced by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) today, which will pay for research, including aerial surveys and soil analysis . . .

From the Independent.

MORE in the Guardian.

Falcons vs pigeons at Herculaneum

After being buried in boiling mud when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the ruined ancient city of Herculaneum is now being deluged with acidic pigeon droppings.

The situation has got so bad that archaeologists have called in three falcons to scare away the hundreds of pigeons that have set up home in the once-vibrant Roman town.

The birds will start work in Herculaneum next Monday and are expected to stay for at least a year.

From Reuters.

Tree of guns

A half-tonne sculpture made out of chopped up guns and other decommissioned weapons will be unveiled at the British Museum next month.

The ‘Tree of Life’ was commissioned by The British Museum and overseas development charity Christian Aid to coincide with the start of the Africa 2005 season of cultural events in London.

Mozambican artists spent three months creating the three-metre-high sculpture, made entirely out of weapons such as AK-47s, pistols and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They see it as a way of using their art to promote peace.

Full story here.

Bottled water for your next trip

Not when you get there -- on the flight:

The EPA said yesterday that 17.2 percent of 169 aircraft randomly tested at 12 airports had water in galley taps and lavatory faucets that failed to meet federal safety standards. . .

The onboard supply, which is stored in tanks in the aircraft's belly, is used to make coffee and tea. The EPA advised passengers with compromised immune systems or others concerned to refrain from drinking tea or coffee unless made with bottled water.

From the Washington Post. More on coliform bacteria here.

Remember "Carnivore"?

Looks like another case where recent history will have to be revised:

The FBI came up with better filter technologies that could ensure that no over-collection [of network data] would occur. The preexisting commercial filter had been dubbed "Omnivore" within the FBI, and the new filter was much more precise — it only took the "meat" that the tool was designed to capture, and did not collect any evidence beyond that described in the court order. As a result, the FBI dubbed the new privacy-enhanced tool "Carnivore". . .

Privacy advocates were quick to capitalize on the precious gift the FBI handed them: the name itself was an indictment of sorts, making it easy to create the impression that the FBI had created a monster. Of course, reporters had no idea that Carnivore was actually a privacy-protective version of a common computer tool, and privacy advocates certainly had no incentive to tell them that. As a result, the MSM made a big ruckus about Carnivore and scared everybody into thinking that the FBI had created a powerful surveillance tool.

Ah, the power of a name. I wonder how differently things might have played out had "Carnivore" been called "Picky Eater" or "Selective Sniffer" instead.

Iron Age finds in Lincolnshire

Wooden and stone artefacts dating back up to 3,000 years found at a flood prevention site in Lincs have been described as "absolutely amazing".

Archaeologists at the site near Lincoln have unearthed an extremely rare wooden bowl and a stone tablet.

About 20 people have been digging at the site since November and have uncovered more than 10,000 items.

From the BBC.

Happy Birthday, Don Quixote!

Spain is celebrating the 400th anniversary of the publication of one of the world's most acclaimed literary works, Don Quixote.

The book - the most published and translated second only to the Bible - has been a bestseller since 1605.

What on Earth has happened to editing at the Beeb?

Several academics say they have now located Don Quixote's village, alluded to in the book's opening line. . . .

From the BBC.

WW1 soldier identified by his pen

A First World War soldier was given a full military burial nearly 90 years after his death thanks to the dedicated research of a military enthusiast.

Peter Last, 61, of Great Wakering, Essex, identified Lance Corporal John Brown by a fountain pen found near his body which was embossed with the words Postman’s Gazette Pen.

The remains of several soldiers were discovered near the village of Loos, northern France, during a road widening scheme three years ago.

A friend of Mr Last sent him photographs of artefacts found with the bodies of the soldiers including the pen.

Mr Last, who has compiled a list of all the soldiers who died during the Battle of Loos in 1915, contacted the Post Office in London whose archive section held the names of all the employees who failed to return from the Great War.

A comparison of the two lists showed John Brown appeared on both.

No mention if any DNA match was attempted (I'd think the pen would be a good pointer, but hardly definitive proof of identity). From The Scotsman. I first spotted this story over at the BBC, but their version was so poorly written as to verge on the incoherent. This isn't the first time I've noticed this -- what's going on over there?

Parking lot shipwreck

An archaeological diver from Mobile said he thinks it's possible that a piece of a British warship that was sunk during the War of 1812 has been hiding in plain sight for seven years, standing on display in a historic fort's parking lot . . . since Hurricane Georges heaved it from the sea floor and onto an island house in 1998 . . .

Forest's theory is that the massive flotsam is actually the top, left, rear side of the British warship HMS Hermes, a sloop-of-war carrying about 20 guns. The vessel was set on fire and exploded during the first of two British attacks on Fort Bowyer in Baldwin County during the War of 1812.

Full story here.

Mummification malpractice

Ancient Egyptian mummy wrappings hide a number of frauds and flaws, which a high-tech, digital X-ray machine recently exposed among the collections at Chicago's Field Museum.

The machine saw through a mummified cat [or rather, "cat" -- D.] dated to approximately 500 B.C. that contained only twigs and cotton. It also revealed mummification tools that someone accidentally left inside a real mummy, and it solved a 15,000-year-old mystery surrounding what is believed to be the world's oldest known mummy.

Read the rest here.

Shirburn Castle: another Macclesfield story

THE MOST secret moated castle in England stands empty and forlorn, its future unknown and undecided after more than seven centuries of occupation. The ancestral portraits have been stripped from the walls, the books emptied in their thousands from the library shelves and elegant Georgian furniture removed by the lorryload.

Yet the castle remains as romantic as ever, perfectly reflected in the still waters of a moat which laps the walls as closely as a Venetian canal. Shirburn in Oxfordshire, at the foot of the Chiltern hills, is like Bodiam in Kent: square and symmetrical with circular towers at the corners and built when French invasion threatened in the 1370s and 1380s. Like the best medieval castles it can be entered only by means of a drawbridge.

Last month, the Earl of Macclesfield, the 9th of his line to live here, departed, evicted as a result of a court order secured by his relatives. . . .

Alas, the castle is in disrepair, and its time-capsule interior apparently was never properly documented prior to being emptied out (although one hopes Sotheby's might have taken some photographs before the removal crews arrived). From the Times.

Open season on pigeons in Umbria

Bevagna, a dove-gray town in the heart of Umbria, Italy's hunting country, has introduced a novel way to protect its medieval monuments, Roman ruins and 5,000 citizens from a bombardment of pigeon droppings: the town has encouraged its marksmen to blast the feathered pests from its skies.

The measure has proved so popular that nearby towns and even the regional government have followed suit, despite a flurry of criticism from local animal rights and environmental groups. At year's end, Umbria inserted pigeons onto a list of harmful species, which essentially gives the region's 40,000 hunters a license to kill.

From the NY Times.

Historical games at Hadrian's Wall

The British Museum is sending 20 of the Lewis chessmen to a unique exhibition on the history of board games, which opens next week at the Roman fort of Segedunum, at the Newcastle end of Hadrian's Wall. It is the largest group the museum has loaned since it acquired the world famous set in 1831 - for £84, after the curator assured the dubious trustees that they would prove popular with the public.

From the Guardian, which further notes:

The curator of the exhibition is Irving Finkel, an expert on board games . . .

Based on savage Monopoly sessions with his own five children, he rates the success of board games on their ability to enrage a player into storming out of the room. "That's really wonderful. When that happens you know you're on to a winner."

Ancient axes, lying around the house

An ancient Lincolnshire hunter's axe head has finally been identified by archaeologists - 40 years after it was found.

The 6,000-year-old weapon, which may have been used to kill wild deer and boar, was brought to a village heritage day by pensioner Kathleen Hesketh.

She found the rare artefact, one of only a handful ever discovered, in a pile of rubble after a house demolition in Nettleham in the 1960s.

Full story here.

Cheating in class: a view from abroad

Prompted by an apparently exceptional case of cheating at the Sorbonne (exceptional, in that it was not ignored), a couple of posts here and here (incorporating in translation another post here) discuss the culture of cheating at universities in France and the US.

Plus ça change, indeed

Who the heck is sticking random articles into the expression, "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"!? No one who knows any French, that's for sure -- which, according to this diatribe (see the comments section for the origins of the expression) -- would seem to include at least one popular commentator on things French, along with the editors of the New York Times.