Genevieve Cogman

The picture shows a needle made of bone, it resembles its modern descendants with an eye at one end and a tapered end.

Things used in everyday life are the real archaeological treasures!

This sewing needle was made from animal bone some 13,000 years ago.

Some designs simply don't need to be improved, because form and functions were perfectly matched from the start

Length: 5.6 cm

📷 Landesmuseum Württemberg 🏺

Exactly! I was lucky enough that they were around when I started growing my hair out, but I did try tying it up with just a ribbon a few times. Not good.

Right.

I’m actually imagining a time travel story where someone introduces this ten or more years earlier and changes history. Because anyone who thinks this is a minor thing has never had to cope with trying to tie one’s hair gracefully with a ribbon.

Mind the oranges, Marlon!

Today’s random bit of info: the first “elastic loop fastener” (elastic hair band) was patented in 1958.

This piece of info bought to you due to reading classic school stories and wondering exactly when girls could use them instead of ribbons. (They wouldn’t have used rubber bands in such stories.)

Qatar's energy minister has warned that war in the Middle East could "bring down the economies of the world", predicting that all Gulf energy exporters would shut down production within weeks and drive oil to $150 a barrel. Saad al-Kaabi told the FT that even if the war ended immediately it would take Qatar "weeks to months" to return to a normal cycle of deliveries following an Iranian drone strike at its largest liquefied natural gas plant. Qatar, the world's second-largest producer of LNG, was forced to declare force majeure this week after the strike at its Ras Lattan plant. While Qatar only exports a small proportion of its gas to Europe, the energy minister said the continent would feel significant pain as Asian buyers outbid Europeans for whatever gas is available on the market, and as other Gulf countries find themselves unable to meet their contractual obligations.

The Iran War could “bring down the economies of the world”, Qatar’s Energy Minister tells the FT.

Tate was trying to get to Dubai on a bus.

When they got to the Saudi border everyone was told to get off for passport and baggage checks and Tate decided to stay on - presumably because the bus was air conditioned and he didn't want to stand in a queue.

He then got detained by Saudi guards.

Congratulations!

Thread. (TLDR: the House of Lords DCC report on AI came down hard on the correct side of the debate, rather than siding with industry lobbyists.)

CHARLES RAFFERTY The Problem with Early Warnings People don't like to leave a party unless the house is actually on fire. Even then, if the flames are far enough away to be pretty, they'll finish their drink, take one more pass at the hors d'oeuvres. How things happen has always been unclear. Hurricanes begin in a place where no one lives. Agents of the government start to wear masks. Fascism is a word my neighbors won't use yet. They are following the law, they say, and the sirens are coming for someone else.

The Problem with Early Warnings, by Charles Rafferty

Congratulations!

Sorry. Would share if I could!

Texts on demon summoning were generally the product of frothing obsessives with dubious beliefs, strong personal biases, manic fervour, and quite often a strong urge to confess to their private diary because there was nobody else to tell about it. #writing

Phil sat back and watched the Second Form, who had developed collective amnesia over the Christmas holidays, try to remember how to decline *servus*, what gender it was, and indeed whether it existed at all. #writing

Sadly I don't think the fansubbers are doing them any more. The main Takawiki page is here - www.takawiki.com/tiki-index.p... - and there are a lot of photos at www.asahi.com/showbiz/stag...
I've previously bought Taka dvds at www.cdjapan.co.jp/searchuni?q=... but no longer available there either.

The ebook of Haunted Legends, which I co-edited with @datlow.bsky.social, is on sale for $2.99 for the whole month of March! Stories by Ramsey Campbell, Catherynne Valente, and many more!

Here we have yet another 1890s satin dress, but this time from America, through the designer M. J. Miles. This is the only work I can find from them though, which is unfortunate as it is very lovely. It gives off classic Gilded Era vibes. #fashionhistory #ootd

Banner explaining that THE INVISIBLE LIBRARY is currently available for just $1.99.

The Invisible Library is available for just $1.99 until the 10th of March - do take advantage!

www.bookbub.com/books/the-in...

Which of us wouldn’t smile at, “Get it?” “Got it.” “Good.” …

Chotiner: And when you engraved "One Ring to rule them all" on the—
Sauron: I don't understand why everyone keeps taking that out of context.
Chotiner: Well, do you mean to rule us all?
Sauron: I'm here to talk about Gondor's illegal encroachment in Ithilien, Isaac.

In the 1850s, before it was denuded by archaeologists and the tourism industry, 420 species of flowers and plants grew on the Roman Colosseum — and every single one is catalogued in amateur botanist Richard Deakin's Flora of the Colosseum of Rome (1855): publicdomainreview.org/collection/r...

'Catastrophic' for shipping – and there's a human story too, says ONE chief - The Loadstar After ONE cancelled bookings to Middle East Gulf ports yesterday, its chief executive, Jeremy Nixon, told delegates at the S&P Global TPM event in Long Beach yesterday of the ripple effects of a growi...

I hate to ruin everyone's day but this is VERY important:

We're all aware of the approx 50% increase in the cost of oil due to Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz

It's also having a catastrophic impact on supply chains with sea/air cargo & crews & ships

Please read:
theloadstar.com/catastrophic...

The influencers leaping to Dubai’s defence [FREE TO READ] As missiles streak across the region, unfazed residents insist they ‘know who protects us’

‘British expats, he claimed, were refusing to fill out evacuation forms provided by the British government “just in case it somehow turns into a tax form instead”.’

No notes.

as.ft.com/r/65cf2b43-6...

Wolf Worm

Just in case you missed it, I have a new horror novel out on the 24th! Distract yourself from the horrors with smaller, more controllable horrors?

torpublishinggroup.com/wolf-worm/?i...

A small girl wearing a rabbit costume and blue coat carries a book as she walks to school. Her mother (head out of shot) wheels her baby brother along in a pushchair. The baby says "Peter Rabbit may be the 'Hero' of the story, but surely the obedient, widowed Mrs Rabbit is a more effective symbol of the oppression inherent within Mister McGregor's regime" The girls looks furious and snaps "Mum!! He's critiquing my world book day costume from a marxist perspective again!"

A cartoon reminder that tomorrow is World Book Day (In the UK anyway). Originally for the @theguardian.com

Press release: Chaz Brenchley's Red Raj setting will be expanding into adult novels this summer. His Martian Apprentice will take none other than Sherlock Holmes to the Red Planet.
wizardstowerpress.co...

'Memorandum the Inhabitants of Glenfeild mooved with Envy in the yeare 1646 denyed all Tithes & church dues.

O Ld Convince them O
Lord Convert ym for they
are Madmen'.

I don't know what was happening in Glenfield yet, but I NEED to know!

In Merryshire Detective Club players collaboratively invent details of their home village. Someone decided that the vicar speaks in a roundabout manner, which in the GMing biz is what we call a gift

[We see a close up of a young white male, tanned, white teeth, coiffed hair clearly an influencer on social media. It is an image such as you see when social media posts are shown on the news. In the corner of the screen is named a location: DUBAI. He is staring slightly off-camera for several silent panels of the comic strip. His eyes move slightly. He is having a thought.] From off-screen a newsreader’s commentary comes: NEWSREADER: Extraordinary images here of an expat in Dubai [The influencer’s eybrows raise slightly] …Having their first ever geopolitical thought. [CUT TO a BBC news scene. The BBC newsreader CLIVE MYRIE is talking to an interviewee next to the screen showing the social media influencer’s face. The interviewee’s name is David Jones]. CLIVE MYRIE: To explain the significance of this moment we’re joined by David Jones, our Expat Thoughts correspondent DAVID JONES: Clive, this is momentous It was caught on film at the end of an Instagram post titled: ‘Dubai Is Brilliant’. [Pointing at the screen, the influencer’s expression still the same] You can clearly see in the eyebrows here, the dawning realisation that there *might* be something in the world beyond his dickhead self. It marks a *huge* departure from all the Dubai Expat’s previous thoughts. CLIVE MYRIE: Which are…? DAVID JONES: You've Got To Get Yourself Out Here Mate, Everything Is So Clean, I Don't Have To Pay Taxes, I Am Incurious As To Why I Do Not Have To Pay Taxes, and Spa. CLIVE MYRIE: And might we see an expansion of these new Thoughts in coming days? DAVID JONES: I think we can expect to see: “I Deserve To Be Airlifted By A Country I Pay No Tax To” CLIVE MYRIE: Mmm. [Ends]