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#1

Off the Record / Re: Archaeologists do it in ho...

Last post by mongers - Today at 10:16:31 AM

Posting this as we don't seem to have Tim around these days to do it?

A figurine called Adorant from Geissenkloesterle Cave, located near the town of Blaubeuren in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, made approximately 40,000 years old and consisting of a small ivory plate bearing an anthropomorphic figure and multiple sequences of notches and dots, is displayed, in Stuttgart, Germany, February 23,...

40,000-year-old German artifacts may display written language precursor
By Will Dunham
February 24, 20262:03 PM GMT Updated February 24, 2026

WASHINGTON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - A small object called the Adorant figurine discovered in a cave in Germany in 1979 - crafted roughly 40,000 years ago by some of the earliest people to establish a distinct culture in Europe - bears intriguing sequences of notches and dots. Numerous other objects produced by this same culture exhibit similar marks.
New research suggests these marks on objects like this figurine, made of mammoth ivory and depicting a hybrid lion-human creature, fall short of amounting to a written language. But it found that their sequential use on these artifacts displayed properties similar to a script that emerged much later in ancient Mesopotamia, around 3300 BC, that was a forerunner to cuneiform, one of the oldest-known forms of written language.

This suggests remarkable cognitive abilities for such ancient people. The artifacts date to a time when our species was spreading across Europe - traversing the landscape as bands of hunter-gatherers - after trekking out of Africa, encountering our close relatives the Neanderthals along the way.
The researchers use the term sign types to describe these marks, which include notches, dots, lines, crosses, star shapes and some others. They conducted a computational analysis of their use on these artifacts for a trait called information density. This concept refers to the amount of information conveyed per unit of language, like a syllable or in this case a sign.

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Full article here:

40,000-year-old German artifacts may display written language precursor

#2

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by OttoVonBismarck - Today at 10:15:30 AM

Is the Minnesota Medicaid Blackmail likely to impact the midterms?

Not positively for the GOP.

Minnesota is a weird state that almost never votes Republican in statewide elections, but has for like 30 years been quite closely divided between Democrats and Republicans. Taking a giant shit on Minnesota's economy isn't going to be very popular with Minnesotans--particularly the ones who aren't ideologically "locked in" to the GOP. Given the narrow margins typical in Minnesota elections, I don't see a narrative where this helps the GOP electorally. It only takes a relatively small portion of MN independent voters turning sour on the GOP to cost them pretty heavily in State legislative and U.S. House elections.

#3

Off the Record / Re: [Gay] Gay News from Around...

Last post by grumbler - Today at 09:30:00 AM

The troon craze

What's a troon craze?  Puberty blockers for kids?

Didn't Sweden and the UK already ban these?

Trying to figure out Legbiter's posts when he is trying to be "one of the cool kids" with his slang isn't worth the effort. Just assume he's being hateful in some fashion and you won't go far wrong.

#4

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Crazy_Ivan80 - Today at 09:29:51 AM

Sometimes people try too hard to create cute acronyms. No one is worse at that than the US Congress.

Its not like they've got anything else to do.

#5

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by grumbler - Today at 09:28:28 AM

Sometimes people try too hard to create cute acronyms. No one is worse at that than the US Congress.

#6

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by grumbler - Today at 09:26:40 AM

Didn't early Soviet satellites also develop and telecine film onboard? I always thought it was amazing that they got that stuff to work in space.

That produced very low-resolution images, though. To get higher resolution, satellites would drop film packages that were caught mid-air by airplanes.

#7

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by mongers - Today at 09:11:15 AM

Didn't early Soviet satellites also develop and telecine film onboard? I always thought it was amazing that they got that stuff to work in space.

Yeah, the 'Analogue' world was quite clever at times. 

#8

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by mongers - Today at 09:10:27 AM

From a the 'Nature' magazine:

The cherry on top of a great science programme is a great acronym to describe it. Today my hat's off to the researchers at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, in Canada, who are working with wild horses to help Indigenous youth heal and reconnect with cultural traditions in the Youth, Elders, Ecology, Horses, and Health (YEEHAH) project.

Project details here:
https://news.ubc.ca/2026/02/okanagan-wild-horses-helping-indigenous-youth-culture/?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=74b1ffa55b-nature-briefing-daily-20260225&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-33f35e09ea-500428399

#9

Off the Record / Re: TV/Movies Megathread

Last post by celedhring - Today at 05:20:22 AM

Didn't early Soviet satellites also develop and telecine film onboard? I always thought it was amazing that they got that stuff to work in space.

#10

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Tonitrus - Today at 03:18:58 AM

Bay of Pigs 2: Trump Boogaloo?