Stranger things

[Taomeow]

3 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

those suckers were killing off a whole lot fish in the great lakes 

 

 

which only proves the point of the headline: 

 

14 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

 this ancient creature has a surprising amount in common with humans

 

 

I remember the early explorers of the land that was to become the USA reporting on what was to become the Hudson river -- they asserted you could cross that river stepping on salmon's backs. 

 

    

[Taomeow]

Anemoia. 

 

From The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, by John Koenig, comes a word the language badly needed but never had until 2021.  It's the feeling of nostalgia for a time you've never known.  A wistful longing for an idealized past that exists only in imagination or secondhand accounts.    

 

When I first came to the US, to New York specifically, it was a different city from what it is today, and far as I'm concerned, a better one.  But back then my older female co-workers, native New Yorkers, would often tell me about New York they used to know in their childhood and youth, and it was nothing like the city I was witnessing...  it sounded like a dream, an urban fairy land.  On more than one occasion they actually shed a tear telling me about that lost city.  And they gave me anemoia. 

 

That's just one example.  I'm massively afflicted by that feeling for many purposes.  Some of it overlaps with nostalgia for the worlds (sic) I knew in this life, some must be genetic memory, and some -- possibly -- memories of past lives.  I wonder how widespread this anemoia thing is.

 

 

[old3bob]

 

I've had that for:  (past life who knows?)

 

"The Phoenicians were ancient master sailors, traders, and shipbuilders known for their extensive maritime network across the Mediterranean Sea, founded on technological advancements in shipbuilding and navigation. They used celestial navigation, particularly the North Star, to sail at night and were capable of long-distance journeys, reaching as far as Britain and potentially the Atlantic. Their maritime prowess allowed them to trade goods like famous purple dye, metals, and papyrus, and establish colonies, making them a dominant seafaring power for centuries."   

[Taomeow]

@old3bob  So maybe you can recall the secret, lost for many centuries, of making that most desired trade item that was known as the Tyrian purple?  It cost more than three times its weight in gold, and only the royalty, nobility and the Roman high clergy could afford it.  I know it was obtained, via an incredibly laborious process of procurement and production, from certain species of Mediterranean snails.  The snails might still be around...  but the technology is lost.  If you knew it in that past life and could retrieve it, you could make a fortune.  The mega-wealthy still hunt for things no one else can afford, and pay incredible money for the items that come with a guarantee of no mass access to them.

  

Of course countless modern purple pigments exist, but none can replicate that royal color.  (In fact, I know the color purple has the potential of being striking, but in modern clothes, in most cases, I find it ugly.  I do own one exception but that's it.)  

[old3bob]

31 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

@old3bob  So maybe you can recall the secret, lost for many centuries, of making that most desired trade item that was known as the Tyrian purple?  It cost more than three times its weight in gold, and only the royalty, nobility and the Roman high clergy could afford it.  I know it was obtained, via an incredibly laborious process of procurement and production, from certain species of Mediterranean snails.  The snails might still be around...  but the technology is lost.  If you knew it in that past life and could retrieve it, you could make a fortune.  The mega-wealthy still hunt for things no one else can afford, and pay incredible money for the items that come with a guarantee of no mass access to them.

  

Of course countless modern purple pigments exist, but none can replicate that royal color.  (In fact, I know the color purple has the potential of being striking, but in modern clothes, in most cases, I find it ugly.  I do own one exception but that's it.)  

 

I was probably a simple sailor who loved the sea,  thus without such secret knowledge,  if I had that  past life...

[liminal_luke]

1 hour ago, old3bob said:

 

I was probably a simple sailor who loved the sea,  thus without such secret knowledge,  if I had that  past life...

 

I don´t fancy myself a reader of "past lives" but it´s easy to imagine you as a swaggering sailor out of Moby Dick.

[Nungali]

I am feeling nostalgia for a time I want to have . 

 

Yesterday I said to someone ; '' I am going to make my own commune and say who lives there or not ! ''

 

Friend; '' Who might that be ?''

 

'' Me for a start , then  various birds, including  some tawny frogmouths, a flock of crimson rosellas , a wedge-tailed eagle, a collection of pademelons and potoroos, two wombats ,  a pond with some fish  and three donkeys  .      

 

[Nungali]

1 hour ago, old3bob said:

 

I was probably a simple sailor who loved the sea,  thus without such secret knowledge,  if I had that  past life...

 

Indeed !  Who needs all that 'extra trouble'  .  

 

I was watching my boss once do 'paperwork' , he had a bunch of different stuff laid out on a table , including harassment from the taxation department , bills, insurance , some type of health and safety issue , the wages ,  and managing a repair on his private expensive vehicle  and an issue with the trucks etc etc .  ' heart attack ' material  , in my book .

 

I winced at it and he  ' What;s that look for ?'' 

 

'' Ughh, I hate that stuff , that's why I am a bum and live simply and happy, do my work and at the end of the week , put my hand out and get money in it .  Then after a few weeks I go back home to my cabin in the forest . .''

 

Boss ;  '' Do you want to swap jobs ? '' 

[Cobie]

 

2 hours ago, Nungali said:

…. Friend …

likely Ex-Friend now 

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

 

2 hours ago, Nungali said:

… Me …  and three donkeys  .    

 

Chinese proverb: 觀其友，知其人。(guān qí yŏu, zhī qí rén) you will know a man by the company he keeps. 

 

 

Edited 22 hours ago by Cobie

[Cobie]

animals only. 

 

3 hours ago, Nungali said:

… I am going to make my own commune …

 

Let’s call it a zoo. 
 

 

Edited 21 hours ago by Cobie

[old3bob]

4 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

 

I don´t fancy myself a reader of "past lives" but it´s easy to imagine you as a swaggering sailor out of Moby Dick.

 

don't know about "swaggering" but I'm a friendly drunk... (which is seldom now a-days at my age)

 

[Sanity Check]

7 hours ago, Taomeow said:

  

Of course countless modern purple pigments exist, but none can replicate that royal color.  (In fact, I know the color purple has the potential of being striking, but in modern clothes, in most cases, I find it ugly.  I do own one exception but that's it.)  

 

 

 

 

What ever happened to the recipe for roman concrete.

 

And that plant based method of birth control lost when Nero was emperor.

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

 

likely Ex-Friend now 

 

 

 

Nah ... I was talking to a donkey . 

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Cobie said:

animals only. 

 

 

Let’s call it a zoo. 
 

 

 

Noooo ... most of those animals would be 'feral pets ' .   I have feral pets .   A GF once asked me about that ; '' What' a feral pet ? '' 

 

Me ; '' Its a native  animal that relates to you with familiarity without being imprisoned or controlled, you can have all sorts of fun together ,  but when you are busy or go away somewhere they look after themselves ... no responsibility or hassle involved .''

 

She glared at me ... Me; '' What ?? ''

 

'' I am a feral pet aren't I ? ''

 

''Ummmm ... errrmmm ..... ''     

 

 She is a brilliant singer songwriter , a week or so later she ; '' I wrote you a special song ! ''

 

Great ! let's hear it . She starts up on the guitar and then , something like ;

 

'' Feral pet ... feral pet ,  you treat me like a feral pet , 

you do what you want , and you dont caaaaaare ! 

feral pet, feral pet ......   ''    and so on . 

 

     

 

Spoiler

I am not that bad really .....     after the song I said it needs an extra line, something like  ; 

 

' I have  a young guy on the side , that  my BF is supposed to not know about  ......   '' 

 

Her ;     

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Nungali

[Nungali]

53 minutes ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

 

What ever happened to the recipe for roman concrete.

 

And that plant based method of birth control lost when Nero was emperor.

 

Nothing ... the guy next door made some for his house foundations . 

 

Many plants  provide birth control  for women .

 

For men .....   I'm sure you know . 

[Sanity Check]

9 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Many plants  provide birth control  for women .

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silphium

 

That one was cool ^ but appears to be extinct now.

[Nungali]

It must be 'Cheeky Week '  !  

 

First some person that  is now 'turned on '  to indigenous wisdom ( she  spends10 minutes in the recent 300+ indigenous  smoking circle  ceremony  that everyone else did   , tells ME   ( one of the fire keepers in that circle , friend and student of some elders ,  friends with the last generation of elders ,   done ceremony with the  present senior elder , etc etc )  I need indigenous education and have not learnt what she did . 

 

Then one of my lizard friends that come inside and who I hand feed  nips me twice on the little toe while I am reading inside .

 

Parrots making a racket at the door ... what now ?   Ohhh , the bird bath is not full enough ?    I am filling that up and one swoops... ''Alright  alright .... I'm doing it okay !  ''

 

Then a possum falls out of bed and lands against the window , hanging by one paw ,  and has two large furry balls pressed up against the window .... and stays there ! Well, thats just lovely isnt it  !      ...  what a view . ''

 

I had one piece of bread left for a quick breakfast before I go to town .  Mum butcherbird  comes in and steals my breakfast off the toaster! 

 

And in town , I am having coffee with Uncle W .  ( who is still around  ....   the one in the video with a bullroarer )  .  Tourist people are looking as he looks very 'tribal'  and  has taken to wearing a large bone through his nose  ( a 'point the bone ' bone !  )  . I leave and say goodbye and he calls out loud ' Goodby Auntie ..... ( to them ) ... that's my Auntie !  '' 

 

What the .....   ?  

 

Its supposed to be ME that is the cheeky one      ( last generation of elders named me Baaliigin    - 'cheeky quoll ' 

 

 

< ... eyes dart left and right  .... waiting in anticipation for the next 'one'  .... >

 

 

.

Edited 17 hours ago by Nungali

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

 

What ever happened to the recipe for roman concrete.

 

And that plant based method of birth control lost when Nero was emperor.

 

Not sure about Roman concrete -- I seem to remember they used egg whites in it, but modern industrial processes have long been way too stingy for that. 

 

As for herbal birth control, I have this Chinese medical book, A Barefoot Doctor's Manual (too lazy to re-tell the story of its origins and contents but you can look it up), and it has a few plant based methods of birth control.  It was developed as an entirely practical book, no tall tales, but a couple of birth control recipes there blew my socks off...   There's a monthly method -- fertility is on hold while you take that herbal brew, and when you stop it gets restored within a short time.  And a yearly method -- a remedy you take just once a year that switches your fertility off for that year.  Also reversible.  So those plant methods weren't lost everywhere...  although I don't know the current fate of the plants that went into making them.  Pre-civilized people always controlled their birth rates, and not via infanticide as our so-called "scholars" (indented slaves of the system, with perks) would have us believe.  Women of our species, let alone matriarchs, were neither ignorant about things nature nor numb as doorknobs back then.  

[Sanity Check]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

 

Not sure about Roman concrete -- I seem to remember they used egg whites in it, but modern industrial processes have long been way too stingy for that. 

 

As for herbal birth control, I have this Chinese medical book, A Barefoot Doctor's Manual (too lazy to re-tell the story of its origins and contents but you can look it up), and it has a few plant based methods of birth control.  It was developed as an entirely practical book, no tall tales, but a couple of birth control recipes there blew my socks off...   There's a monthly method -- fertility is on hold while you take that herbal brew, and when you stop it gets restored within a short time.  And a yearly method -- a remedy you take just once a year that switches your fertility off for that year.  Also reversible.  So those plant methods weren't lost everywhere...  although I don't know the current fate of the plants that went into making them.  Pre-civilized people always controlled their birth rates, and not via infanticide as our so-called "scholars" (indented slaves of the system, with perks) would have us believe.  Women of our species, let alone matriarchs, were neither ignorant about things nature nor numb as doorknobs back then.  

 

 

I'm surprised roman concrete hasn't been reverse engineered being that it lasts longer than modern concrete and carries an advantage of hardening in water. There was a report claiming volcanic fly ash was one ingredient. But no proof of concept.

 

Around 5 years ago, my niece did an internet "make your own slime" challenge. One of the ingredients was boric acid (?). I don't remember what it was but she got minor chemical burns on her fingers mixing it. Given the nature of incidents like those, I would guess people and myself will have a hard time trusting holistic home remedies. 

 

If direwolves were recently resurrected:

 

 

Perhaps silphium can be added to the future list of things to bring back.

 

Hitler and nazis tried to revive aurrochs.

 

There is probably a lot of cool stuff that might make a return.

[Cobie]

 

8 hours ago, Nungali said:

... Uncle W .  ... wearing ... a 'point the bone ' bone !  

 

W. not all sweet and light then I gather. 

 

Quote

... he calls out loud ' Goodby Auntie ..... ( to them ) ... that's my Auntie !  '  What the .....   ?  

 

  Any conjectures?

 

 

Edited 9 hours ago by Cobie