#bronze fossil cast

[spiritualcuriosities]

A ring I made a few months back. It's shoddy, bigger than intended, and I haven't done anything with it magically yet, but I'm still pretty proud of it

I designed it with some ideas in mind, but I'm trying to figure out how to best leverage the materials used to maximize efficiency. I haven't used metals in my magic all that much before

[fixomnia-scribble]

WOW.

Scientists found an amazingly well-preserved village from 3,000 years ago

Text below, in case article access dries up:

LONDON — A half-eaten bowl of porridge complete with wooden spoon, communal rubbish bins, and a decorative necklace made with amber and glass beads are just a handful of the extraordinarily well-preserved remnants of a late Bronze Age hamlet unearthed in eastern England that’s been dubbed “Britain’s Pompeii” and a “time capsule” into village life almost 3,000 years ago.

The findings from the site, excavated in 2015 to 2016, are now the subject of two reports, complete with previously unseen photos, published this week by University of Cambridge archaeologists, who said they cast light onto the “cosy domesticity” of ancient settlement life.

“It might be the best prehistoric settlement that we’ve found in Britain,” Mark Knight, the excavation director and a co-author of the reports, said in an interviewThursday. “We took the roofs off and inside was pretty much the contents,” he said. “It’s so comprehensive and so coherent.”

The reason for the rare preservation: disaster.

The settlement, thought to have originally consisted of several large roundhouses made of wood and constructed on stilts above a slow-moving river, was engulfed by a fire less than a year after being built.

During the blaze, the buildings and much of their contents collapsed into a muddy river below that “cushioned the scorched remains where they fell,” the university said of the findings. This combination of charring from the fire and waterlogging led to “exceptional preservation,” the researchers found.

“Because of the nature of the settlement, that it was burned down and its abandonment unplanned, everything was captured,” Knight added.

“As we excavated it, there was that feeling that we were picking over someone else’s tragedy,” he said of the eerie site in the swampy fenland of East Anglia. “I don’t think we could smell the fire but the amount of ash around us — it felt close.”

Researchers said they eventually unearthed four large wooden roundhouses and an entranceway structure, but the original settlement was probably “twice as big.”

The site at Must Farm dates to about 850 B.C., eight centuries before Romans came to Britain. Archaeologists have been shocked at “just how clear the picture is” of late Bronze Age life based on the level of detail uncovered, Knight said.

The findings also showed that the communities lived “a way of life that was more sophisticated than we could have imagined,” Duncan Wilson, head of Historic England, the public body responsible for preserving England’s historic environment, said in a statement.

The findings unearthed include a stack of spears, possibly for hunting or defense; a decorative necklace “with beads from as far away as Denmark and Iran”; clothes of fine flax linen; and a female adult skull rendered smooth, “perhaps a memento of a lost loved one,” the research found.

The inhabitants’ diet was also rich and varied, including boar, pike and bream, along with wheat and barley.

A pottery bowl with the finger marks of its maker in the clay was also unearthed, researchers said, still containing its final meal — “a wheat-grain porridge mixed with animal fats” — with a wooden spatula resting inside the bowl.

“It appears the occupants saved their meat juices to use as toppings for porridge,” project archaeologist Chris Wakefield said in the university’s news release. “Chemical analyses of the bowls and jars showed traces of honey along with ruminant meats such as deer, suggesting these ingredients were combined to create a form of prehistoric honey-glazed venison,” he added.

Skulls of dogs — probably kept as pets and to help with hunting — were also uncovered, and the dogs’ fossilized feces showed they fed on scraps from their owners’ meals, the research found.

The buildings, some connected by walkways, may have had up to 60 people living there all together, Knight said, along with animals.

Although no intact sets of human remains were found at the site, indicating that the inhabitants probably fled the fire safely, several sheep bones were found burned indoors. “Skeletal remains showed the lambs were three to six months old, suggesting the settlement was destroyed sometime in late summer or early autumn,” according to the university’s news release.

Ceramic and wooden vessels including tiny cups, bowls and large storage jars were also found. Some pots were even designed to nest, stacked inside one another, Knight said — evidence of an interest in aesthetics as well as practicality.

A lot of similar items were found replicated in each home, Knight added, painting the picture of completely independent homesteads for each family unit rather than distinct buildings for shared tasks — much like we live today.

Household inventories often included metal tools, loom weights, sickles for crop harvesting, axes and even handheld razors for cutting hair.

The roundhouses — one of which had almost 50 square meters (nearly 540 square feet) of floor space — had hearths and insulated straw and clay roofs. Some featured activity zones for cooking, sleeping and working akin to modern-day rooms.

The Must Farm settlement has produced the largest collection of everyday Bronze Age artifacts ever discovered in the United Kingdom, according to Historic England, which partly funded the 1.1 million pound ($1.4 million) excavation project.

The public body labeled the site a “time capsule,” including almost 200 wooden artifacts, over 150 fiber and textile items, 128 pottery vessels and more than 90 pieces of metalwork. Some items will go on display at the nearby Peterborough Museum next month.

Archaeologists never found a “smoking gun” cause for the fire, Knight said. Instead, they suspect it was either an attack from “outside forces,” which may explain why the inhabitants never returned to collect their possessions from the debris, or an accidental blaze that spread rapidly across the tightly nestled homes.

“Probably all that was left was the people and what they were wearing; everything else was left behind,” Knight said of the fire.

But the preservation has left a window for people to look back through in the future. “You could almost see and smell their world,” he said.

“The only thing that was missing was the inhabitants,” Knight added. “And yet … I think they were there — you certainly got glimpses.”

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Art Vocabulary

Abstract - Simplified, intended to capture an aspect or essence of an object or idea rather than to represent reality.

Amber - Tree resin that has become a fossil. It is semi-transparent and gem-like. Amber is used in jewelry today as it has been for thousands of years.

Amulet - Object, organic or inorganic, believed to provide protection and turn away bad luck. Amulets were often worn as jewelry in antiquity.

Anneal - To heat metal to make it soft and pliable.

Black-figure - Technique of vase painting developed in Greece in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and adopted by the Etruscans. Figures are painted on a reddish clay vase in black silhouette and details are then cut away with a sharp point down to the red below. Sometimes artists added additional colors, especially purple-red and white.

Bronze Disease - Corrosion of a bronze object that cannot be permanently stabilized. Without special care, an object with bronze disease will continue to corrode.

Bust - Portrait of a person including the head and neck, and sometimes the shoulders and part of the chest.

Cameo Glass - Glass produced by layering two or more colors of glass. Generally, an upper layer of white stood out against a contrasting lower background, usually blue.

Cameo Stone - Hard stone, such as agate, naturally layered with bands of color. Artists took advantage of the layers to carve figures or decoration from an upper layer (or more than one), leaving a background layer of a different color.

Cast - To make in a mold from liquid metal. A cast object can be hollow or solid.

Chasing - Technique of adding definition and details to an image or design on metal from the front using blunt and sharp tools.

Conservator (of antiquities) - Professional responsible for preserving ancient objects and materials. Conservators usually have a general knowledge of chemistry and of ancient art-making practices and are often specialists in one material. Among many other responsibilities, they conduct technical and historical research and oversee preventive care such as climate control.

Contrapposto - (”opposite” in Italian) Pose of a standing figure with most of the weight on one leg and the other bent. This causes hips, shoulders, and head to shift in order to balance the body. One arm is often higher and one lower.

Emery - Hard, dense rock rich in corundum, found easily on the Cycladic Islands. A powerful abrasive for grinding and smoothing other stones.

Encaustic - Technique of painting using colored pigments mixed with wax. The waxy mixture was worked with a tiny spatula.

Gild - To apply a thin layer of gold foil or liquid gold (gilt) to create the look of solid gold.

Iconography - Study of and use in art of repeated images with symbolic meaning.

Incise - To press or cut into a surface (stone, metal, clay, wood) with a sharp tool to write text or create fine curving and linear details.

Inlay - To decorate an object by inserting a piece of another material into it so that it is even with the original surface.

Low Relief - Method of carving figures or designs into a surface so that they are raised slightly above a flat background.

Mosaic - Technique and type of artwork. The technique is to arrange cubes of stone, glass, and ceramic to form patterns and pictures in cement, usually on a floor. The artwork is the final story or decoration made of cubes.

Mummification - Process of preserving a body by drying it. The Egyptians removed internal organs and put natron, a natural mineral mixture, on and inside the body. This absorbed moisture and prevented decay.

Palmette - Stylized palm leaf used as decoration in ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture.

Pentelic - From Mount Pentelicus, near Athens. An adjective that mostly refers to the beautiful white Greek marble marble in its quarries.

Portrait - Image of a person, usually the head and face. Some portraits include part of the chest or show the whole body. The image may closely resemble a person or emphasize, idealize, or invent characteristics.

Repoussé - Technique of raising the outline of a design on metal by repeatedly heating and softening the metal and pushing the desired shapes into it from the back with a blunt tool.

Sarcophagus/Sarcophagi (pl) - Stone coffin, often decorated on the sides with mythological scenes carved in relief, sometimes with the image of the deceased person or couple on the lid. Used in Imperial Roman times from the early 100s into the 400s CE.

Stele/Stelai (pl) - Upright stone or wooden slab or pillar used to honor a person or mark a place. Often an inscribed grave marker or a boundary stone. (Also called stela/stelae.)

Syncretism - Blending of elements of different cultures, often resulting in new imagery or new interpretations.

Tessera/tesserae (pl) - Pieces of stone or other hard materials cut into squares or cubes to make mosaic art.

More: Word Lists ⚜ pt. 2

[aliciavance4228]

I'm getting sick of Odysseus, who are some heroes in grerk mythology do you think should be getting more attention

Perseus

The reason why I'll start with him is due to the way his image remain clean, in the sense that he can still be considered a hero. Back in Ancient Greece the word hero used to define a person that was using strenght, bravery, cunning, cleverness etc. in order to acomplish great deeds. The term itself didn't strat to be associated with morality and virtue until centuries later, and yet Perseus manages to be considered a hero even by modern standards.

You might know him vaguely as the guy who beheaded Medusa. What you might not know about him is that he didn't kill her for things such as glory, wealth, power blah blah blah, but for a much noble purpose.

You see, his grandfather, Acrisius, was the King of Argos. He desired a male heir to the throne, but because he had only one daughter named Danaë and he was already quite old he consulted the Oracle of Delphi in order to find out wheter or not there some hope for him in this entire story. The Oracle told him that his daughter will give birth to a boy that will eventually kill him. Hearing this, Acrisius became desperate to avoid this fate at any price by locking her daughter either in a tower or a bronze chamber so that no man could touch her. But Zeus turned himself into a golden shower -No, not THAT golden shower...- in order to enter inside that room and impregnate her. Months later she gave birth to a son named Perseus, whom she tried to hide from her father. Unfortunately, one day Acrisius heard the kids' cries from her prison and, seeing that half of the prophecy already cane true, he threw Danaë and Perseus into a chest and cast it into the sea in order to keep them far from him.

The chest shipwrecked on the Seriphos Island, where a fisherman named Dictys found them and took pity of them two, so he decided to take care of them. Sounds like a happy ending, but there was one problem in this formula: Polydectes, the king of Seriphos and Dictys' brother, was in love with/lusted over Danaë and intented to marry her. But because she didn't want to be his wife and Perseus was here as her male guardian to protect her, Polydectes sent him away by asking him to bring him Medusa's head as a wedding gift, in the hope that he will eventually die.

Long story short, Perseus received numerous weapons from his half-siblings, Athena and Hermes, who helped him sneak into the gorgons' cave as they were sleeping and behead Medusa.

On his way back home he found himself somewhere in Aethiopia -not the modern Ethiopia, though some sources place it in North Africa- where he found a girl chained to a rock. The girl in question is Andromeda, the princess of Aethiopia whose mother boasted about how her daughter is more beautiful than the Nereids. This claim angered them, who then later asked Poseidon to do something about it. The entire kingdom ended up being threatened by a sea monster, which caused King Cepheus to consult the Oracle of Ammon in order to find a solution to thus problem. The Oracle told him that he must left his daughter as a meal for the sea monster in question. Yaaay...

Luckily, Perseus managed to kill the monster and save her. And because we're talking here about two dumb horny teenagers of coursly they instantly fell in love with each other and got married seconds later. This is the part of the story where we're about to watch a mini-boss fight. Andromeda was initially engaged with her uncle, Phineus, who got offended by the fact that that this stranger took his child-bride from him and wanted to marry her, as if someone who risked his own life to save hers is worthier than a depraved fossil who didn't bother to lift one finger in order to help her. Dude either planned to kill Perseus (in Ovid's Metamorphoses he straight-up ruined their wedding) in order to reclaim his hot arm candy, but because Perseus was smart and Phineus was dumb the latter one eventually got turned to stone.

After a lovely honeymoon and a baby Perseus and Andromeda returned to Seriphos, where Perseus turned Polydectes to stone, thus finally murdering her mother’s rapist/assaulter. Some time later Perseus went to Argos along with Danaë and Andromeda, where he ultimately ended up killing Acrisius, the most common version stating that it was in fact just an accident during an athletic contest. Perseus founded a fortified town of Argos called Mycenae, where him and Andromeda ruled as king and queen and had a bunch of other babies together. After their death, they two got placed into the night sky as constellations by Athena.

Cadmus

Now we're about introduce about my favourite hero in the scene, so I really hope that you're not tired yet! Luckily I've already talked about him in a post a wrote a while ago about the Royal Theban Family:

One of the greatest heroes before Heracles alongside Perseus and Bellerophon, Cadmus is the mythological founder king of Thebes. One interesting fact about him is that, despite of being considered a greek hero, Cadmus wasn't even greek in the first place. In fact he was phoencian and came from a city called Tyre. By ancient standards he would've been considered a "barbarian". Another irony is that Cadmus' initial purpose wasn't even to become a king, but to rescue his sister Europa, at that time kidnapped by Zeus in the shape of a bull. A further irony: Europe was named after an asian princess. Aaand another further irony: when the modern state of Hellas/Greece joined the European single currency, and so abandoned the drachma of old, it celebrated its accession and new monetary union by striking a coin bearing the image of Zeus disguised as a bull in the act of abducting (a polite way of masking the actual fact of rape) Europa.

Anyway, back to Cadmus: Once arrived in Boetia he intended to sacrifice a cow to Athena and asked his men to fetch water from the river. There was one single, little, tiny, itsy-bitsy problem though: the said river was guarded by the Ismenian Dragon, who also happened to be Ares' son. So Cadmus, just like any other hero, slayed the dragon and, listening to Athena's advice, planted the serpent's teeth. Out of these teeth a bunch of dudes grew up and started to fight (and consequently kill) each other, with the exception of five who survived: Echion, Udaeus, Chthonius, Hyperenor, and Pelor, who are now considered the ancestors of thebans.

Cadmus was punished for slaying the dragon by serving Ares for a eight years. Later, Athena assigned to him the government of Thebes and Zeus gave him Harmonia as his wife. Found another irony: Harmonia was the daughter of Ares, which makes him and Cadmus in-laws. Irony number five million: despite of being married with the personification of harmony herself, Cadmus' family tree is characterized by an entire disharmony. According to Statius, Harmonia received from Hephaestus a cursed necklace that brought unluck, which later got passed from one generation to another, causing one tragedy after another in their family tree.

Cadmus and Harmonia left Thebes after a series of catastrophes and emmigrated to Illyria where they battled various local tribes to found a new kingdom. Eventually, they two got turned into snakes and carried off to the Elysium to live a peaceful life.

Bellerophon

Now, out if all heroes from Greek Mythology Bellerophon is perhaps the most morally-grey one, as well as the figure many people usually have conflicting opinions about.

Hipponous was the son of a mortal woman named Eurynome/Eurymede, who was said to be thaught wit and wisdom by Athena herself, being considered as wise as the gods. Her father is either Glaucus or Poseidon, depending on the myth version.

The most common beginning of his story has him murdering his brother by accident, although another narrative involves him killing nobleman named Belleros (hence Bellerophon - "Slayer of Belleros") as a punishment for his action he was sent into exile in Argos, which at that time was ruled by King Proteus. Unfortunately this Proteus was a disgusting man, and his wife was just as disgusting as him. She fell in love with Bellerophon and intented to sleep with him, because he refused her advances she claimed that he assaulted her. But because killing your quest isn't exactly one of the most ethical thing to do in Ancient Greece, Proteus sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law, Iobantes of Xanthus, sending him a letter in order to make thingsclear from the beginning: "Please remove this bearer from the world: he attempted to violate my wife, your daughter."

After reading the letter Iobates realized that by killing Bellerophon he would risk to anger the Erinyes, so he decided to murder him indirectly by sending him on a dangerous mission: to kill the Chimera. During his journey Bellerophon eventually met his half-brother Pegasus (long story) and tamed him with the help of Athena. Bellerophon manages to kill Chimera and turned back to Iobates, who wasn't so pleased by his victory. So he sent him on numerous quests in the hope that he will eventually die, yet he returned to him vistorious each time. One of Bellerophon's exploits is calling the sea to flood the plain of Xanthus after an attempt on his life. Trying to appease him, the women from the palace lift their dresses up and rush to him. Alas for them, poor Bellerophon ran away for the hills when he saw all those naked women hell-bent on having their way with him. Finally, Iobates gave up and decided to give his daughter, Philonoe, to Bellerophon as his wife and shared him half the kingdom.

Now we're going to the part of the myth which is the most controversial and debatable one, namely his death. The most common version of it states that Bellerophon believed himself to be as great as the gods for killing the Chimera and tried to reach Mount Olympus by flying on Pegasus, only to have his hubris crushed by Zeus who threw gadfly to sting Pegasus so that Bellerophon will fall off him. Another myth version thoigh has him wanting to confront the gods due to all the suffering and pain he went through.

And finally...

Caeneus

He is an underrated, yet very interesting hero at the same time.

Caeneus was initially a woman named Caenis who got seduced by Poseidon and had intercourse with him. Poseidon promised Caenis that he will grant her any wish, and turned her into a strong, invulnerable man at her request. From here Caeneus' life seems to be quite underground, as there are few myth about him; a lot of them involve centaurs though.

Caeneus became the King of Lapiths and was said to worship his spear rather than the gods, which caused their anger and made Zeus sent the centaurs against him. He was present during the Centauromachy when, during Pirithous' wedding, the invited centaurs started to kill the men and rape the women out of nowhere. Due to his invincibility Caeneus managed to slay so many of them that the versions who consider the wedding the moment when Caeneus found his end usually have the centaurs hammering him into the ground with tree trunks and boulders in order to kill him. Nestor mentions him as the "mightiest" of warriors. Ovid has him getting turned into a bird. In Virgil's Aeneid Aeneas meets his shadow while visiting the Underworld. Hyginus' account has Caeneus commiting suicide.

Nervertheless, Caeneus' image in Greek Mythology is an overlap between greatness and mystery.

[naomilibicki]

Hey so!

I Heart Sapphfic is doing a weekly reading challenge, and one of this week's categories is Knight, and guess whose book (well, novella) is featured?

But that's not all! In honor of the occasion, Alter and I have written a new bonus story about Aviva and Bet, and you can read it right after the read more:

The doors of the downtown bound B train slid open to a prehistoric sea.  Through the clear water, past schools of fish and waving stands of feathery creatures, Aviva could see the name of the station in mosaic tile: 81st Street - Museum of Natural History. Embedded in the wall beside it were bronze casts of fossils.

No water poured into the car, and none of the other passengers seemed to notice anything strange. None of them moved to get off, either. Aviva—sometimes known as Vivienne of the Roses, Midnight Queen, Grand Sorceress of the Last Court—took a scarf of air and darkness out of her backpack, wrapped it around the lower half of her face, walked through the door of the train and swam out into the submerged platform, which melted away entirely, leaving nothing but the sea.

Bet had invited her to a date in the museum, and she'd been excited to go, but this wasn't . . . Bet, sometimes known as Queen Ysabet of the Sword, Pendragon of the Last Court, had made a lot of enemies when she'd taken the Pendragon's crown, and rededicated the court to fighting the monsters that lay in the shadows and preyed on those who did not see them.  This seemed a lot more like an attack than like a date.

All the fish suddenly darted away as a shadow appeared overhead: a long oval, two flippers on either side of it. Aviva moved along with them, taking cover among the fronds until the thing passed. It took longer than she expected. It wasn't that it was moving slowly, it was just that it was enormous.

Once it was gone, Aviva swam back out and took stock. Even in these strange surroundings, a structure stood out: a massive tower of twisted coral, its top above the surface, out of sight. She made her way towards it, past a school of creatures with tendrils drifting behind spiral shells. Ammonites. Aviva recognized them from the last time she was at the museum, and from the bronze casts in the station.  One brushed against her as they scudded by, heedless, and it felt heavier than it should have been, solid. On impulse, she reached out, and her hand closed on hard stone. When she opened it, the ammonite lay there unmoving. Not an illusion. A fossil.

She slipped it into her pocket and pulled herself into the tower's shadowed entrance. In here, there was air, and she pulled the scarf away from her face, calling, “Bet?  Ysabet?”

Nothing.  The tower was sandstone and coral, with windows of shimmering glass, and a spiral staircase of mother-of-pearl that looped up and around.  She followed it, up, up right near the surface of the water, where Queen Ysabet of Sword hung from the ceiling, her wrists held by cords of seaweed. Her feet barely touched the floor. Her armor was pocked with barnacles and her head hung down, her cropped blonde hair hanging ragged in her face. How long had she been here?

Her head snapped up as soon as Aviva came in.  "Vivi!" said Bet, before Aviva could say anything at all.  "You should've have come."

That was nonsense.  "What do you mean I shouldn't have come," said Aviva, crossing the room quickly, standing on her tiptoes to tug at the seaweed.  Enchanted, of course, otherwise Bet would've pulled them loose herself, she was impossibly strong.  "You said to come here and we'd have a date, then there were three smiley faces, one sideways smiley face, a rainbow flag, and there was a pound sign and 'loveyou' as one word."

"Does that sound like the way I talk?" asked Bet.

"No," said Aviva.  "But I thought that's what people were like when they were texting."

Bet sighed.  "Of course," she said.  "You know as much about text messages as she does.  It doesn't matter.  She stole my phone, and she wants you, not me.  You have to—"

“Who?” asked Aviva.

“Undine,” said Bet, and, as if summoned, she was outside the windows of the chamber, massive and inhuman, her face nearly half as tall as Aviva, with small reflective eyes, an elongated muzzle filled with pointed teeth, and hair fanning out behind it like streamers of kelp.

“Undine,” the thing repeated. “And you are the Grand Sorceress of the Last Court. You shall serve.”

Bet clenched her teeth and growled, “No, she won't.”

Ignoring her, Undine fixed one beady eye on Aviva. "There is not enough magic left in this place, for me, and—" there was an angry thrash of its tail, the bulk of moving so much water that the windows of the tower flexed under the pressure.  "And it has become hostile to me and my kind.  So, I will go back to where the world was pleasant, and it shall be your strength that shall keep us there."

"Shall it?" said Aviva, still tugging at the seaweed that held Bet prisoner, not even watching as the bulk of Undine made its slow way around the coral tower.  "I don't think it shall."

"You stood surety for the Pendragon once before," said Undine.  "You shall stand surety for her again, or I shall take her and keep here where you cannot find her, and if my body washes up on the shores of the Hudson, hers will wash up beside me.  If you do not stand—"

“I will always,” said Aviva, reaching up to grasp Bet's hand, “stand with the Pendragon.”

Undine gave a long hiss of satisfaction, bubbles frothing from her snout. “Then swear that you will remain my prisoner, my spark of magic beneath the water, and I will release her.”

Aviva let her hand trail down Bet's arm, seaweed slimy beneath her fingers and the armor hard and unyielding beneath, as she stepped forward and raised her chin.

“Vivienne!” Bet snapped.

And the seaweed binding her wrists snapped too, sending Bet to stumble forward a few steps before she recovered her feet. Aviva shot her a sidelong smile. She'd known she could get that binding loose—she'd just needed a little time.

Bet huffed out a breath and shook her head, then returned Aviva's smile as her sword Glad Tidings leapt into her hand, and she launched herself out the window at Undine.  The windows buckled and cracked, all at once, and the water washed in.  Aviva was battered by it as she pulled her scarf back around her face, and then she ducked down in beneath the water, to watch Bet battle Undine.

Ever since she'd first come to the Last Court, Aviva had loved watching Bet fight, her deadly grace and economy of movement, precision and passion. Undine was massive, half-woman, half-monster, with razor-sharp teeth and a muscular tail that sent Bet spinning through the water when it connected. But it didn't connect often. Bet was too fast, her blade too accurate, leaving dozens of small cuts on Undine's body, ribbons of blood unspooling in the water.

But when she finally drove her sword home, sinking deep into Undine's chest, Undine only laughed.

“Fool! You cannot kill me! My life is hidden, ancient as the sea, hard as stone, black as night—”

As she spoke, Aviva's hand closed on the fossil in her pocket.  She wasn't the swimmer that Bet was, or Undine, and she wasn't at all sure she'd be able to get away from that tail.  But she swam out, fast as she could, and when she reached out with the fossil, Glad Tidings was there; it cut through water and stone and it did not touch Aviva's hand; the two halves of the fossil fell away, one on either side of her hand, sinking fast.  And Undine gave a shriek and sank down as well, down, down into the darkness below.

The water subsided at the same time, the prehistoric creatures flickering and fading from view, the coral tower crumbling beneath Aviva's feet. Soon she and Bet were standing on the subway platform again. Bet let her armor fade and bent to pick up her phone, and Aviva wrung out her hair.

“So,” said Aviva. “You promised me a date at the Natural History Museum.”

“That wasn't me!” Bet protested. "That was someone who texted with multiple emojis."  Then she linked her arm with Aviva's. “But as long as we're here, we might as well go.”

Aviva nodded. “I already got us tickets. I want to see the whale.”

[httpsoftbunni]

This one is a bit different, forgive me, but this... Park? Monolith? Thing caught my attention and I was up all night studying and writing this.. First, pictures.

Stone carvings in Frogner and Vigeland Park, located in Oslo, Norway.

In Oslo, nestled within the stillness of Frogner Park, lies an expanse of sculptures that both mystify and arrest the gaze. Vigeland Sculpture Park, named after the Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland, is home to over 200 granite and bronze figures—each one capturing some fragment of the human condition. Among them, the most towering and enigmatic is the Monolith: a 14.12-meter granite column, spiraling upward in a flurry of 121 human forms, carved into permanence between 1924 and 1943. It’s a monument that defies quick interpretation, standing like a fossilized prayer or an unanswered riddle.

These sculptures, especially the ones showing pairs or clusters of figures in emotional embraces—some gentle, some grappling—seem to hum with something beyond stone. Their forms, exaggerated and stylized, often feature a ribbed, spine-like texture that many interpret as symbolic. One sculpture, often photographed with a bird perched atop, seems to invite both reverence and curiosity. Yet when stripped of projections, these are, factually, masterworks of granite—carefully chiseled by hand from Vigeland’s original clay models, then scaled and brought to life by skilled artisans. The ribbed texture was part of the sculptural language Vigeland developed, not an anatomical cue. The bird captured in photos is, in truth, a seagull—an incidental visitor, not part of the work itself, though its serendipitous arrival has sparked symbolic speculation.

Vigeland himself was a man of ambition and singular vision. Born in 1869, he was granted land and a studio by the city of Oslo in exchange for donating his entire life’s work to the public. His role in the creation of the park was more than conceptual—he orchestrated everything from the layout of the space to the individual expressions of his figures. After his death in 1943, the Monolith was erected in 1947, with his legacy sealed into the Norwegian cultural landscape. Based on historical records—letters, interviews, city contracts—his stated intent was to craft a grand, public representation of the human experience. Birth. Longing. Conflict. Companionship. Death. He never wrote a manifesto nor offered cryptic interpretations. He left his work open, vulnerable, unshielded from the centuries of meaning that viewers might later cast upon it.

And yet, in what Vigeland did not say, many have found a fertile field for interpretation. Because he spoke so little about his deeper symbolism, observers over the decades have filled the silence with questions. Some see the figures as mythic or spiritual—modern echoes of primordial archetypes. Others believe the Monolith serves as a visual metaphor for the collective striving of humanity, a Jacob’s ladder rendered in flesh and stone. In this reading, each figure becomes both burden and lifter, caught in an eternal ascent. The column becomes a kind of Axis Mundi—a world tree, or cosmic spine, bridging the mundane and the divine.

From a psychological lens, the figures may reflect early 20th-century fascinations with the subconscious. Vigeland worked during the heyday of Freud and Jung, and though he never stated a connection, it’s tempting to see in his sculptures the tension of the id, the struggle for individuation, or the repressed stirrings of a civilization between wars. Others, drawing from the philosophical air of his era, see a Nietzschean undercurrent: the eternal return, the superhuman will, the body as a battleground of spiritual transformation. Perhaps the grappling figures are not struggling with each other, but with the weight of existence itself.

Then there are the esoteric interpretations, offered not in scholarly journals but whispered between threads and forums, embroidered by those who believe symbols reveal what speech cannot. Some have suggested that the ribbed, spine-like forms reflect the rising serpent of Kundalini energy, coiled at the base of the human soul and awakened through spiritual union. In this view, the intertwined figures might not be merely familial or romantic, but tantric—depicting the sacred union of opposites, the alchemical coniunctio, through which transcendence is birthed. Others note the resemblance to Yggdrasil, the Norse World Tree—its branches extending into every realm of being, with the bird atop the sculpture imagined as one of Odin’s ravens, forever watching the fate of men.

Still others lean into the conspiratorial. In some circles, the Monolith has been interpreted as a coded message—a silent sigil of hidden power. Theories abound: that the figures are not human but Nephilim, offspring of fallen angels and mortals. That the serpentine texture symbolizes reptilian control, the entrapment of souls within karmic cycles overseen by ancient watchers. In such narratives, the embrace is no longer tender—it becomes a symbol of domination. The bird is not a seagull but a spiritual sentinel, or perhaps a surveillance metaphor, installed by a society long gone or still hidden.

But there is no direct evidence, no correspondence, no diary entry where Vigeland admits to mystical motives or hidden affiliations. He is not known to have been involved with Theosophy, Freemasonry, or other esoteric movements of his time, though he lived in an era when such groups were quietly influencing art and literature. That’s not to say he wasn’t influenced indirectly. Artistic ideas float through the collective mind like pollen. He may have breathed them in without ever naming them.

Then again, perhaps these interpretations—spiritual, psychological, conspiratorial—say more about us than they do about him. The human mind is desperate to read meaning into the motionless. We need monuments to speak, and so we lend them our language. What is certain is this: the sculptures were carved by human hands. They were conceived by one man with a vision of eternity, assisted by craftsmen whose names have faded but whose labor lives on in every groove of granite. They were born in a time of global tension—between two wars, amidst rising ideologies, amidst grief and hope and the longing for something transcendent.

Maybe that’s the real power here. Not in hidden codes or ancient beings, but in how these sculptures still make people wonder, still stir the deep questions. Are we climbing toward something? Holding one another up, or dragging each other down? Is the bird watching, or is it just resting?

There are no answers in the stone. Only echoes.

[kpagrandtour]

3 September 2023 - Olympia

We woke up this morning in Olympia and ate breakfast in the hotel we were staying at. We left around 8 am for the Olympic site. We arrived and started walking around the site. It has lots of greenery and trees that are kept continually watered. This is to keep them damp so they are less vulnerable to fire. Kalliope told us that over the course of a tour she gave, one person counted over 1600 shrines across the places they had travelled over a period of 4 days.

Once inside the site, we went to the left where the temples to Hera and Gaia were. After that we saw a fountain that was made by the Romans. You can distinguish between Roman and Grecian buildings because the Greeks used local stone, which was full of fossils and shells, and was porous, while the Romans used small red bricks and mortar. There were several instances where the Romans had gone and added to Greek-made buildings, resulting in a combination of stones and bricks. After the fountain we went over to the field, where the races were run. The 4 girls + Mrs Poe and Elise raced two thirds the length of the field, and Mrs Poe was the victor. Next, all 7 guys and Dr. Depoe raced the full length of the field. Ryan won, followed by Caleb and then Josh.

Following the field we went and saw several miscellaneous buildings, including a dining hall and judge’s quarters. Next up was the huge temple to Zeus, with the columns fallen in ruins around it, and the one restored pillar towering over the group. After that we went and saw Phidias’s workshop, which was later converted into an early church. That structure was one that had a mixture of Greek stones and Roman bricks. We then saw the places were athletes trained, and learned about how some pillars were ionic and some were Doric. This was because the site was restored over time as the columns evolved.

After we finished touring the site, we went and visited an olive oil tasting place, with a souvenir shop conjoined. Brett bought a bronze cast blunt sword which with a leaflike blade and a black grip. We then had lunch at the restaurant around the corner from the shop, then after a brief time of sitting around (and petting a local cat who was quite friendly) we boarded the bus and began the lengthy drive back to Athens.

— Jacob Pfannenstiel

[water-pumps-uae]

Supporting the Circular Economy with Advanced Pumping Technologies

The circular economy model emphasizes sustainability by designing products and systems that minimize waste, reuse resources, and regenerate natural ecosystems. Pump manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly adopting circular economy principles to address global resource challenges and support environmentally responsible practices. Below are the ways in which the water pump industry is contributing to the circular economy.

1. Designing for Longevity and Durability

Extending the lifespan of pumps reduces the need for frequent replacements, lowering resource consumption and waste generation.

Robust Materials: Pumps are being designed with corrosion-resistant alloys, ceramics, and advanced composites that withstand harsh operating conditions and reduce wear.

Modular Designs: Modular pump systems allow for individual components, such as impellers or seals, to be replaced instead of discarding the entire unit, reducing material waste.

Enhanced Maintenance Protocols: Proactive maintenance solutions, such as IoT-enabled monitoring and predictive analytics, ensure pumps operate efficiently for extended periods.

2. Repair and Refurbishment Programs

Pump suppliers are increasingly offering repair and refurbishment services, giving old equipment a second life.

Remanufactured Pumps: Manufacturers refurbish used pumps to meet original performance specifications, saving energy and materials compared to producing new units.

Component Replacement Services: Damaged parts like bearings, shafts, or impellers can be replaced to restore pump functionality without the need for a full replacement.

Certified Refurbished Products: Suppliers now sell certified pre-owned pumps with warranties, providing a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to new purchases.

3. Recycling and Resource Recovery

Recycling materials from decommissioned pumps supports the circular economy by reducing raw material extraction and waste.

Metal Recycling: Key pump components made from stainless steel, bronze, or cast iron can be recycled and reused in manufacturing new products.

Plastic Recovery: High-grade plastics used in pump housings and fittings are being repurposed into new industrial applications.

Closed-Loop Manufacturing: Some manufacturers are creating closed-loop systems where old pumps are collected, disassembled, and recycled directly into new production lines.

4. Energy-Efficient Operation

Energy efficiency aligns with the circular economy by reducing the environmental footprint of pump systems throughout their lifecycle.

Low-Power Consumption Designs: Pumps with variable speed drives (VSDs), high-efficiency motors, and optimized hydraulics consume less energy, reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Renewable Energy Integration: Solar- and wind-powered pumps eliminate reliance on fossil fuels, creating a sustainable energy loop.

IoT-Enabled Efficiency Monitoring: Smart systems optimize pump operation, ensuring minimal energy wastage and extending equipment lifespan.

5. Supporting Water Reuse and Recycling Systems

Pumps play a critical role in enabling the reuse and recycling of water in residential, commercial, and industrial settings.

Greywater Recycling: Pumps used in greywater systems facilitate the reuse of lightly contaminated water for irrigation, flushing, and cleaning.

Rainwater Harvesting: Rainwater collection systems rely on pumps to distribute stored water, reducing dependence on potable water sources.

Industrial Water Recycling: Advanced pump systems are integrated into industrial setups to treat and reuse process water, minimizing wastewater discharge.

6. Embracing Circular Supply Chains

By adopting circular supply chain models, pump manufacturers reduce waste and improve resource efficiency.

Take-Back Programs: Suppliers are implementing programs to collect old or unused pumps from customers for recycling or refurbishment.

Eco-Friendly Packaging: Manufacturers are switching to recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials, reducing plastic waste.

Shared Ownership Models: Leasing and rental programs for pumps encourage shared use, reducing the need for new production.

7. Reducing Waste During Manufacturing

Innovations in manufacturing processes are helping to minimize waste and maximize resource efficiency.

3D Printing: Additive manufacturing reduces material waste by using precise amounts of raw materials to create pump components.

Wastewater Recycling in Factories: Factories are adopting water reuse systems to recycle process water during pump manufacturing.

Lean Manufacturing Practices: By streamlining production processes, pump manufacturers are reducing excess material usage and energy consumption.

8. Innovation in Product End-of-Life Management

Suppliers are designing pumps with clear end-of-life strategies to ensure they contribute to the circular economy.

Cradle-to-Cradle Design: Pumps are being engineered for disassembly, allowing easy separation of materials for recycling or reuse.

Lifecycle Assessments: Pump manufacturers are conducting lifecycle analyses to identify opportunities for improving resource efficiency and minimizing environmental impact.

Biodegradable Components: Research is being conducted on developing biodegradable materials for non-critical pump parts, such as seals and gaskets.

9. Driving Collaboration Across the Value Chain

The circular economy requires collaboration among manufacturers, suppliers, customers, and recyclers.

Partnerships with Recycling Facilities: Manufacturers are partnering with recycling companies to ensure efficient material recovery.

Customer Education: Suppliers are educating customers on the benefits of repair, refurbishment, and recycling to encourage sustainable practices.

Industry Standards: Establishing standards for pump recycling and remanufacturing ensures consistency and promotes circular practices across the sector.

10. Aligning with Sustainability Goals

The circular economy aligns with global initiatives like the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly:

SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation: Pump systems that enable water recycling and conservation directly support sustainable water management.

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production: Designing pumps with a circular lifecycle reduces waste and promotes sustainable production practices.

SDG 13: Climate Action: Energy-efficient and durable pumps contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change.

The water pump industry is at the forefront of supporting the circular economy by innovating sustainable designs, embracing recycling, and prioritizing energy-efficient solutions. By integrating these principles into manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life strategies, pump suppliers and manufacturers are helping to create a more sustainable future. Their efforts not only benefit the environment but also provide customers with cost-effective, durable, and efficient solutions that align with global sustainability goals. For more info contact Water Pump Suppliers in UAE or call us at +971 4 2522966.

[braidedgraphite]

Nancy Graves, bronze cast fossil art

[dirtybarn]

Gum Shoo: A Project Dedicated to Stomped Gums

The pandemic affected everyone in some ways. But the most common leftover from that era was probably the loneliness, stillness, and emptiness. Artist Aaron Luckman took over the streets of Boston during the lockdown in 2020 and started to observe them. Without the people, rush, transportation, and tourists; the streets were empty. This is when he noticed gum wads stuck to the concrete and sidewalks. Usually, they are molded with shoe imprints like Neil Armstrong's trace on the Moon. Some gums have different, vibrant colors but some are just pale and gray. Aaron Luckman describes those little remnants as little fossils and adds, that these blobs of masticated synthetic polymer increasingly fascinated me the more I noticed them during my daily walks. The Gum Shoo project took interest and gained traction over the years. Now it's not only a photography project, because it has editions, bronze castings, and soon publications, prints, and AR/VR experiences.

You can check out Gum Shoo via Instagram or the website.

Images: Instagram.com/gum_shoo Read the full article

[judiansteelcastingandrolling]

What Is an Induction Foundry Furnace?

An induction foundry furnace is a type of furnace used for melting and casting metal in foundry applications. It utilizes electromagnetic induction to generate heat within the metal charge, resulting in efficient and precise melting. Here are some key features and specifications to consider when purchasing an induction foundry furnace.

Working Principle

Induction foundry furnaces utilize electromagnetic induction to generate heat within the metal charge. The furnace contains a coil that carries an alternating current, creating a rapidly changing magnetic field. When a conductive metal is placed within this magnetic field, eddy currents are induced in the metal. These eddy currents generate heat due to the electrical resistance of the metal, resulting in the melting of the metal charge.

Melting Efficiency

Induction furnaces are known for their high melting efficiency. The induction heating process allows for direct and localized heating of the metal charge, resulting in rapid and efficient melting. This efficiency can lead to reduced energy consumption and shorter melting cycles compared to other types of furnaces.

Metal Compatibility

Induction foundry furnaces can be used to melt a wide range of metals and alloys, including iron, steel, aluminum, copper, brass, bronze, and various other non-ferrous metals. The furnace design and power specifications may vary depending on the specific metal being melted.

Crucible Types

Induction foundry furnaces typically use crucibles to contain the molten metal. Crucibles are available in different materials, such as graphite, ceramic, or refractory metals like platinum or tungsten. The choice of crucible material depends on factors such as the melting temperature of the metal, chemical reactivity, and durability requirements.

Precise Temperature Control

Induction furnaces offer precise temperature control during the melting process. Advanced control systems allow operators to set and monitor the desired temperature, ensuring accurate melting and casting of the metal. Temperature sensors and feedback mechanisms help maintain the desired temperature within a tight tolerance range.

Casting Options

Induction foundry furnaces can be used for various casting methods, including sand casting, investment casting, and continuous casting. The molten metal can be poured into molds or used for other casting processes based on the specific requirements of the foundry.

Automation and Integration

Induction foundry furnaces can be integrated into automated foundry systems for increased efficiency and productivity. They can be connected to robotic systems, conveyors, and other equipment to facilitate seamless material handling and process control.

Environmental Considerations

Induction furnaces are generally considered to be more environmentally friendly compared to traditional combustion-based furnaces. They produce fewer emissions and pollutants since the heating process is electrically powered. Additionally, induction furnaces do not require the use of fossil fuels, which can contribute to a reduction in carbon footprint.

When considering the purchase of an induction foundry furnace, it's important to evaluate your specific production requirements, the type of metals you'll be working with, and the level of automation or integration needed. Consulting with experienced suppliers or manufacturers can help you select the most suitable furnace for your foundry operations.

[weekendviking]

Actually, good summary, excepting cast iron is _too_much_ carbon - usually about 5-6%. For carbon steels, you want between 0.7-2%, if that, which is the reason for cast iron then going to the oxygen blast furnaces. Basically, there were historically two ways to get iron - Bloomery Smelter, which was the smallish charcoal fueled cylindrical stack furnace used by most iron age cultures throughout the world, and which only went out of fashion in the 18th century, and higher bellows efficiency Blast Furnaces, which were initially a thing with the Chinese, and stayed there, and weren't really a thing anywhere else until the 16th century and later, and what we call a Blast Furnace didn't really turn up until Bessemer made a breakthrough in the early 19th century.

The principle reason for the difference between Asian Blast furnace technology and Indo-Euro-Afro Bloomery furnace technology is that the first people in China who thought 'How do we make a thing to blow air at our fire to make it hotter' solved that problem by making a disc on a stick piston pump out of bamboo, while the first people who had that thought in India/Africa/Europe made a bag out of an animal skin and squeezed it. Both technologies then improved their system by putting inlet and outlet flap valves, tubes and refractory tuyere/nozzles on that, and pointing it at their furnace, and Yay, you can have a bronze age, and then later, an iron age. Away we go.

But, and this is crucial, the Chinese bamboo piston pump could have inlet and outlet flap valves at either end, so it was _double_acting_, whichever way the piston was moving, air was being pushed into the fire with very little pause between strokes. This made it more efficient, and very scaleable, because you can build a very big wooden box with a piston and inlet/outlet valves at either end with very little other tool and infrastructure needed. Whereas if you're making bellows like all the rest of us, out of a couple of animal skins, well, the rest of us quite quickly changed our skin bag to 'two wooden flaps and a hinge and a flap valve, and if you want continuous air flow, use two or more at once', and that bellows style of 'two big wooden panels with handles on the end and a leather bag' sorta limited the size and efficiency and stayed with us to the early blast furnace era in the 17th-18th century and then finally went out of style as we got steam power and could use fans instead. But over in China, those big bamboo piston derived double action box bellows meant that in their bronze age, they were doing tonnes of bronze at once, whereas everyone else was mostly doing much smaller kilos to tens of kilos or hundreds of kilos, not tonnes to tens of tonnes, all because of the more efficient bellows technology in China.

But that meant, as the knowledge that you could get a useful metal out of rusty ochre ores spread out of Anatolia, when that knowledge got to China, well, they chucked a whole lot of it in one of their big ass high oxygen blast box bellows furnaces, and got a molten, high carbon, brittle cast iron out of it. And said 'This stuff is shit, use it to cast hoes and stuff for farming and munitions grade weapons, we'll keep to bronze for fancy weapons and important stuff,' and muddled on that way for some (centuries!? I think) before realising that the reason the iron from the other guys was better was because their bag bellows furnaces were shittier and lower temperature and so were not getting hot enough to melt the ore completely and produce liquid carburised cast iron, but instead were getting 1100-1200 degree ish reducing conditions that were barely liquefying the ore, stripping the oxygen off it with carbon monoxide, and a spongey mass of iron would grow in the molten silicate and iron slag bath at the base of the stack below the bellows nozzle. Which then had to be hammer wrought to weld it all together and squeeze the slag out to produce a workable wrought iron, and steel was a little understood thing that happened sometimes in smelting, but usually by cementation/case hardening, but was hit and miss. But iron was everywhere, so wrought iron for all and sometimes steel was better than bronze for some. So the Chinese had to work backwards to make lower efficiency furnaces to get useful sponge iron bloomery furnaces (still with box bellows, just not going as hard on the blast, and smaller). Roman bloomery furnaces, for example, sometimes got big enough to accidentally produce cast iron, and they'd throw it out as a waste product.

But the problem is that bloomery iron production, although giving a product that was a workable iron, made small lumps - kilos to tens of kilos at a time, and even at their largest, never really more than hundreds of kilos at a time, and each bloom a bit different, so hard to get uniform product, and nobody really understood how to get rid of things like phosphorus, so you get the 'Ok, iron from this region is ok for farm tools and wrought work and goes black and doesn't corrode, but is too brittle for cutting edges' (high phosphorus ore) and 'Ok, iron from that region is good for steel and doesn't get as brittle, use that for cutting edges and weapons' (low phosphorus ore, etc)

Now, lots of cultures kept, or started, as they got big bellows technologies, producing cast iron in blast furnaces, because large volumes of uniform quality cast iron is great for cheap tools, cookpots, and once you understand how to get the bubbles out of it, cannons, and also cos big bellows blast furnaces are also great for doing large volumes of copper alloy stuff for all your cupro alloy needs, but also self aggrandisment statues or Vatican Doors or again, Cannons. But we were all stuck with small batch bloomery stack furnaces to make workable wrought iron for steel until the 17th-18th century, maxing them out to as big as they'd go without making too much accidental cast iron. By the mid 18th century, I think, puddling techniques had turned up for slowly turning high carbon cast iron into workable low carbon iron - really awful job, standing with a long iron rake in front of an open blast hearth stirring a puddle of molten cast iron around to burn off enough carbon that a lump of malleable sponge iron began to form under your rake, which you could then turn into steels or wrought iron. Various versions of this process were independently developed. (There's some evidence that there were Chinese versions of malleable white cast iron developed back in the Han dynasty, and were used intermittently to the Tang dynasty, too).

But the modern blast process turned up from people like Bessemer, Kelly, Naysmith, etc, in Europe, UK and America, all around the 1840s, as multiple groups experimented with improving that awful (and worker health destroying) puddling furnace process, with different versions of blowing an air blast, oxygen blast etc, over, around or through your vessel of molten high carbon cast iron, to burn off just enough carbon to turn it into steel, but not so much that you burnt it all off and your useful alloying components too. That couple decades between the 1840s to 1860s solved the base problems of turning high carbon but large volume cast iron blast furnace product into useful steel and iron alloys to allow us to escape the small batch production bottleneck of the two and a half thousand year old bloomery process, which @iamthepulta has covered above.

But of course now we're cooking ourselves, so we need to shift as many of our necessary materials production and use processes to carbon neutral, or carbon negative. In the case of steel, while arc furnaces are now a mature technology for alloying and recycling, it's hard to get the carbon and oxygen intensive reactions out of iron smelting to produce your arc furnace feedstock, but it looks like hydrogen is the way to go: Fe2O3 + 3H2 = 2Fe + 3H2O. People have been fiddling with that reaction since the 1950s, but the problem is that it's endothermic, and wants 95.8 kJ/mol to run in the direction we like. So you have to put in A Lot of energy with your hydrogen, and that means you need to do this sort of hydrogen reduction of iron ores at locations of large availability of hydropower or other non fossil fuel electricity, and where you can store large volumes of electrolytically produced hydrogen (preferably in salt mine cavities). The HYBRIT process seems to be the people most successful, but the problem is that it's around 30% more expensive than even the most efficient carbon based iron reduction processes:

success, everybody, i thought about something other than vampires for like a twenty minute stretch. the something was: electric arc furnaces

about 7% of us coal consumption is metallurgical coal, which is used (after being coked) as fuel for blast furnaces. blast furnaces smelt ore and scrap metal, usually to make steel. most coal in the united states is used for the power grid & must be replaced with renewable sources, but it's a little more straightforward to see how that swap needs to go; we need better batteries & genuine investment, there are questions about where & how those renewable sources should be generated, & i do think that our power consumption needs to fall. it's less obvious how we might replace metallurgical coal, though, because we still need steel. electric arc furnaces are efficient, cheaper, smaller, and more capable of running variable loads than blast furnaces, but almost all of them are for the scrap metal -> steel process, they're not for iron ore -> iron -> steel. but we are getting better at making them! so i read through part of a DoE powerpoint & glowered at links to mckinsey reports about it. i don't know anything really about metals mining, mostly i've just read about coal & all of that from a labor safety perspective, but i'm very curious about the, like. engineering problems (and also still labor safety & environmental problems) presented by trying to genuinely transition away from coal, which we absolutely must do, like guys even UMWA is out here like 'we gotta stop pulling this shit out of the ground' [official position of union president cecil roberts is that coal miners & their communities need a 'just transition' away from coal]

[teaboot]

God, I love learning so much. I want to take a ceramics class. I want to dig up fossils. I'm going to write a book someday. I'm going to paint a mural on my ceiling and keep a beehive on the roof. I want to juggle and cook and cast a bronze statue. I'm going to get tattooed and when it heals up I'm gonna jump into the ocean. I'm going to eat kangaroo meat. I'm so in love with being alive you guys this shit is incredible

[eriebasin]

An unusual c1990 ring with an oxidized bronze casting of an ammonite fossil set in 18K yellow gold. Three small single cut diamonds are set on one side. Beautifully made and likely European in origin. Found as a suite with matching earrings and a pendant available separately.

(online)

[artparks-sculpture]

A sculpture titled 'Arowana Fish (Endangered Fossil Fish Swimming statue)' by sculptor Mitchell House. In a medium of Cold cast,aluminium,bronze,marble and in an edition of /30.