catch of the day: L D Phillips’ application for patent 15,898 (14 oct. 1856):

catch of the day: L D Phillips’ application for patent 15,898 (14 oct. 1856):
a design for submarine armor.
Justified my trip to the Chicago Maritime Museum

Once the Dutch got in it proved impossible to dislodge them

Once the Dutch got in it proved impossible to dislodge them – and after they’d put up the psychic resonators around their perimeter you couldn’t even get in to negotiate with them unless you had a Calvin badge.
The city had no choice but to build its skyscrapers across the road.

carefully-made flint tools that don’t fit any known function.

Along with the usual axes and arrowheads, archaeologists sometimes dig up carefully-made flint tools that don’t fit any known function.
These “eccentrics” tend to get ignored in the literature because nobody can think of any plausible theories regarding their use – in fact, most of them aren’t even fitted for human hands.

#Tekumel
#Ancientinternetofthings
#Mayanarmyknife

it’s a mistake to ignore the more modest roadside shrines

People flock to the big, flashy stone temples but it’s a mistake to ignore the more modest roadside shrines – those minor gods often pay more attention to the supplicant’s particular needs.
And size is no guarantee of quality – charlatans are everywhere, good grottoes go bad, priesthoods change with time. Signs of seriousness here: the sacrifices are burnt out in the open and there’s a temple guardian in the form of a mastiff that can smell wrong intentions.

“assassin’s teapot” with two chambers for different liquids

A clever little device: An “assassin’s teapot,” containing two chambers which can hold different liquids. Depending on where you put your fingers as you pour (to cover different holes, and thus create a vacuum which would hold one liquid or the other in place) you can cause either to come out. The perfect tool with which to serve yourself and your enemy.

Unless, of course, you don’t get that seal perfectly right. But to cope with such cases, it’s always wise to have been building up an immunity to the iocaine powder ahead of time anyway.

You’ll probably see this reposted a dozen times today because Yonatan Zunger’s reach is long and he often has interesting things to say.

You’ll probably see this reposted a dozen times today because Yonatan Zunger’s reach is long and he often has interesting things to say.
If you ever write RPG material then it’s definitely worth your time – an analysis of how political and economic influences shape religions. I expect it’s of special interest to Jeff Rients as a companion piece for his Mormon game noodlings.

View story at Medium.com