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Jan. 31st, 2011 01:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* The neighbor lady woke me up mid sleep cycle to use my phone. I gave her a bag of off brand granola bars. As food is meant to be coming tomorrow. She's been better groomed and easier to understand the last few times she's come. She says she is moving to a better neighborhood in a week.
* What do people think of this? http://tacit.livejournal.com/343816.html
* Archeology website covering the Egyptian revolution from a protection of antiquities viewpoint: http://egyptology.blogspot.com/
* I'm not impressed with the Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England. Too many small things I know aren't true thanks to having seen archeological studies and demographic studies in the early chapters I actually got to before it had to go back to the library. It's a beautiful idea, but clearly flawed and disappointing. Sigh.
* Hundred year old time capsule opened: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/27/BAP01HEK9S.DTL
* "Stratford-upon-Avon African skeleton was Roman soldier:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-12280213
* Excavation at Meroe: http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-team-excavates-ancient-sites-dedicated-to-nubian-gods
* Egyptian jackal is actually ancient wolf: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0126-hance_africanwolf.html
* Baby Chthulu Cake FTW: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2011/01/sunday-sweets-so-stinkin-cute.html
* Genghis Khan and climate change: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1350272/Genghis-Khan-killed-people-forests-grew-carbon-levels-dropped.html
They seem to misunderstand the effects of the Great Pestilence, as it wasn't a short event. Rather it came in waves for a few centuries. The population low point was around 12400. This makes me question whether they are are failing to realize that the effects of the Great pestilence and the Mongol Invasions are overlapping events in time. It's still interesting, but I have serious questions about their conclusions. Seriously, three centuries plus of Great Pestilance is not shorter than the hundred years or so they are calling long term in the study.
* On a related note, something it's easy for modern western folk to overlook is how deadly medieval cities were. In England, the average survival time for an urban family was three generations. Wave after wave of air, vermin, and water born disease, food contamination, fire, and violence would hit a family so that they would simply die out. Cities depended on constant influx from the country side to keep their numbers up, all those younger sons and daughters come seeking their fortunes. The well off got around the mortality rate by fleeing to country homes in the seasons most prone to epidemic and fleeing in front of disease and rumors of disease, often carrying pathogens with them to the villages. The poor stayed behind to live or die. Most often, they died. That's the reality: that most of your children would die, and that half of the people coming to the city would never have great grand children.
* RM found fractal spider cows:
* What do people think of this? http://tacit.livejournal.com/343816.html
* Archeology website covering the Egyptian revolution from a protection of antiquities viewpoint: http://egyptology.blogspot.com/
* I'm not impressed with the Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England. Too many small things I know aren't true thanks to having seen archeological studies and demographic studies in the early chapters I actually got to before it had to go back to the library. It's a beautiful idea, but clearly flawed and disappointing. Sigh.
* Hundred year old time capsule opened: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/27/BAP01HEK9S.DTL
* "Stratford-upon-Avon African skeleton was Roman soldier:" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-12280213
* Excavation at Meroe: http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-team-excavates-ancient-sites-dedicated-to-nubian-gods
* Egyptian jackal is actually ancient wolf: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0126-hance_africanwolf.html
* Baby Chthulu Cake FTW: http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/2011/01/sunday-sweets-so-stinkin-cute.html
* Genghis Khan and climate change: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1350272/Genghis-Khan-killed-people-forests-grew-carbon-levels-dropped.html
They seem to misunderstand the effects of the Great Pestilence, as it wasn't a short event. Rather it came in waves for a few centuries. The population low point was around 12400. This makes me question whether they are are failing to realize that the effects of the Great pestilence and the Mongol Invasions are overlapping events in time. It's still interesting, but I have serious questions about their conclusions. Seriously, three centuries plus of Great Pestilance is not shorter than the hundred years or so they are calling long term in the study.
* On a related note, something it's easy for modern western folk to overlook is how deadly medieval cities were. In England, the average survival time for an urban family was three generations. Wave after wave of air, vermin, and water born disease, food contamination, fire, and violence would hit a family so that they would simply die out. Cities depended on constant influx from the country side to keep their numbers up, all those younger sons and daughters come seeking their fortunes. The well off got around the mortality rate by fleeing to country homes in the seasons most prone to epidemic and fleeing in front of disease and rumors of disease, often carrying pathogens with them to the villages. The poor stayed behind to live or die. Most often, they died. That's the reality: that most of your children would die, and that half of the people coming to the city would never have great grand children.
* RM found fractal spider cows: