Of Interest Or Not for April 8th.
An eclipse event is occurring today for those who are in the path of it. Otherwise, this column will have the usual entries.
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People living in 850 B.C. may seen one, according to this ridiculously odorously titled article:
‘You could almost see and smell their world’: Remnants of ‘Britain’s Pompeii’ reveal details of life in Bronze Age village
“Archaeologists are studying a Bronze Age village built on stilts to better understand the lifestyles of the people who lived there.”
The items they found show some details of the kind of life they lived like back then:
“In the years since the site’s discovery, researchers have studied Must Farm extensively, which has given them a better understanding of its unique architecture and the people who lived there, according to two new reports published March 5. For instance, the unique roundhouses built on stilts provided researchers with a “blueprint” of circular architecture from that time and place, as well as clues about what Bronze Age domestic life would’ve been like, according to the statement.”
If you lived there, what would you have?
“Archaeologists also unearthed numerous artifacts, including a “stack of spears” with nearly 10-foot-long (3 meters) shafts, jars, textile fragments, an ax, a pottery bowl with the remains of a wheat-based porridge mixed with animal fats, a wooden spatula, animal bones, and a necklace made with beads that originated in Denmark and Iran. Also, ten-foot spears (?).
And here’s another “oh, dear!” item: “Researchers also found a human skull “rendered smooth by touch, hinting that it may have served as a “memento of a lost loved one,” according to the statement. An argument gone bad? If you lived there, you’d have a ten-foot spear.
And they knew what they were doing: “‘These people were confident and accomplished homebuilders,'” report co-author Mark Knight, an excavation director in the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU), said in the statement. ‘They had a design that worked beautifully for an increasingly drowned landscape.'”
I have two issues with this entry. First, the title of the article. Do we really want to know what it smelled like back then? Second, Pompeii? That is kind of a stretch. Whatever, that was how they lived back then if you’re interested (or not).
Article by By Jennifer Nalewicki published March 26, 2024
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Technicolor ‘living magic carpet’ deep-sea worm discovered near methane seep off Costa Rica
A new species that is a sea worm that looks like a snake or a carpet?
“‘The rosy-colored, segmented worms appeared to swim through water like a “living magic carpet,'” scientists say.”
“The worm, named Pectinereis strickrotti, is a type of ragworm, or Nereididae. It was first spotted by researchers in 2009, as they explored a methane seep found at a depth of 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) while onboard a deep-sea submersible called Alvin.
In 2019, the team returned to the same area and spotted six more of the critters and were able to take images, videos and samples needed to formally classify P. strickrotti as a new species. The team described their findings in a paper published March 6 in the journal PLOS One. “
So, what is he?
“P. strickrotti has a segmented, elongated body which is around 4 inches (10 centimeters) long. Like other ragworms, it looks like a cross between a centipede and an earthworm. It also lives in marine environments, as many ragworms do, although P. strickrotti lives in deep sea rather than shallower waters. “
Here is a male P.strickrotti
So, if you’re vacationing in Costa Rica, you might see some when you go to the beach.
https://www.livescience.com/animals/technicolor-living-magic-carpet-deep-sea-worm-discovered-near-methane-seep-off-costa-rica?lrh=5c394d683bb43754c9a46481424fdBy Emily Cooke published March 12, 2024f9dfd747b4348b2cdb4e144d37ec52ce2dc
By Emily Cooke published March 12, 2024
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Have we thought about the food we waste?
A.I. Is Spying on the Food We Throw Away
“Artificial intelligence is peering into restaurant garbage pails and crunching grocery-store data to try to figure out how to send less uneaten food into dumpsters.”
Now, how determined?
“A hotel chain installs a camera in its trash bins to spy on what guests are tossing. Turns out its breakfast croissants are too big. Many are going to waste — along with profits.
A supermarket can suddenly see, hidden in its own sales data, that yellow onions aren’t selling as fast as red onions and are more likely to be trashed.
The brains behind both of these efforts: Artificial intelligence.”
About food waste (and what will you be eating or trashing?):
“Globally, 1 billion metric tons of food went to waste in 2022, according to the United Nations Environment Program. Food waste accounts for 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, roughly equal to emissions from aviation and shipping combined.”
Enough said?
Oh, also,
“Refed, the research group, found in its 2022 estimates that 70 percent of wasted food at restaurants is food that’s left on the plate, signaling a need to reconsider portion sizes.”
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That is that for this that. Now that I’ve finished the column, I’m going to have dinner.
Here’s a rescued sloth eating out of a puppy bowl
POETRY, PROSE AND ANYTHING GOES 