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Ancient hoards

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 01:30:23 +0100

Been reading up on old hoards of gold and silver. In ancient times, before banks existed, one of the main ways people used to keep their wealth safe was to bury it. These buried 'stashes' of wealth are known as hoards. If this was done well, the treasure would have been hard or even impossible to find. However this also had its drawbacks: If the person passed away, the secret of where their hoard was, would have gone with them.
While this might have been bad news for the ancients, it means that there are still probably an amazing number of buried hoards. Every so often, something is uncovered. One of the classics of recent times was the Staffordshire hoard, found in 2009, of over 3,500 gold and silver items, (around 160 troy ounces) estimated to be worth around $5M in total!
Another amazing recent example is the Stirling hoard of four gold torcs (solid necklaces) found by an amateur metal detectorist on his first outing. Talk about beginner's luck! The treasure was apparently 'seven steps' from where he parked the car.
Treasure that is uncovered is governed by a set of laws known as treasure trove. These laws have undergone great changes recently.

Maximapedia

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:14:38 +0100

This is a cool new website worth checking out - Maximapedia It's a new online encyclopedia "based on old encyclopedias", which means that the content is based on old public domain sources such as 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. It's a labour of love but in this case I think the end results were worth it... Maximpedia seems to have a smooth 'flow' and a touch of something sophisticated to it. You can see that the site is still 'freshly minted'.. many of the articles do not 'interlink' yet and there are signs that the articles were scanned from old books (i.e. typos). But I think it's got some real potential.

Catuaba

Fri, 05 Aug 2011 08:00:52 +0100

I can't make up my mind about this one: Catuaba. It's an 'aphrodisiac infusion' from the Amazon... on the positive side, it has a persistent legend surrounding its efficacy at, er, 'doing what it says on the tin'. It's not just sold to foreigners, but seems to be much praised in its location of origin. There's even a song about it (I'd love to hear that!) On the negative side, no-one can decide what the tree is that is supposed to be the 'real' Catuaba! Rain Tree lists several trees that have been claimed to be Catuaba, aphrodisiacs-info has a similarly lengthy list. I wish science would catch up... where is the funding for research into this? Someone said that the Amazon jungle contains potentially more medicines than any other region. Yet they still insist on cutting it all down before it can be investigated.
The other challenge is that I've read that there seems to be some bad behavior in the world of some of these products. I think it was Muira Puama (?) where one batch was found to be sawdust from some other rainforest tree....

The Black Diamond

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:32:19 +0100

I just found out that the biggest diamond ever discovered... was broken up to be used for drilling equipment in the early 20th century!

Crazy, until you learn that it was a black diamond.

Nowadays, black diamonds are considered valuable. Back then, no-one wanted them. It was effectively seen as an ugly lump of ultrahard coal.

How times change ;)

Is it just me...

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:28:05 +0100

.... or is ths sitebuilder interface incredibly annoying?

The Peach Trees Blossom

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 08:27:21 +0100

Well, you gotta love Li Po (8th century Chinese poet...)

“You ask me why I dwell

amidst these jade-green hills?
I smile. No words can tell
the stillness in my heart.
Peach blossoms float downstream
carried away deep in mystery.
I live in the other world
one that lies beyond the human. “

And where it goes, no-one knows

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 10:07:43 +0100

Greetings all,

I suppose this is kind of a test post. I'm pretty impressed with this Yola interface, haven't they made it all fancy with fading stuff here, glowing bits there! I'm not sure how long it's been around but I just discovered it, there's more of these things popping up all the time. I love the fact that it's free of course, surprises me that people still buy web hosting when someone else can do it for nothing... I guess it's so they can have their own URL.

I haven't decided exactly what the theme of this blog is yet. Think of it like the title, as a collection of random musings when I am in the mood... and also I might share some cool pages I discover. It's kind of a scrapbook.

Anyway captain over and out, seeya on the flipside.... :)