Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness

At 75m tall, the acropolis of Tonina Chiapas in southern Mexico has 208 stone steps leading from its base to its apex.

This places it firmly in the same league as the famous “Pyramid of the Sun” in Teotichuacan.

Recent excavations have proven the Mayan city at Tonina to be double the size previously anticipated. It is also being described as unique in that the city has seven clearly defined districts within its 10-12ha boundary, each dedicated to a different purpose — such as palaces, temples, housing and administration.

The site has been classified as one of Mexico’s most important, with more than 300 hieroglyphic texts so far identified.

A stone sarcophagus was found at the site earlier this year and has since been dated to 840-900AD. Inside were found the remains of bones and pottery, though an identity has not yet been established.

However, a hieroglyphic text found on a wall a few months ago has been found to carry the full name and a portrait of the Mayan chief who built the most important fortified house in the city, K’inich B’aaknal Chaahk — the sixth ruler of the 14 known to have ruled the city.

“This wall is fundamental to understand a chapter of Tonina history between 680 and 715 AD, when the 6th seignior appears in the dynastic sequence of the site,” says archaeologist Dr Carlos Pallan Gayol.

“To present, it is known that K’inich B’aaknal Chaahk was the ruler with greater politic and hegemonic power in Tonina, a city known in its times as Po’ (white in Mixe-Zoque language).”

Behind the wall was found a throne and inscriptions holding the dates of March and June of AD708.

Boris Artzybasheff (1899-1965) R. Buckminster Fuller, 1963, Tempera on board, 21 1/2 x 17″, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Today is the 125th anniversary of the birth of architect, engineer, and visionary R Buckminster Fuller

As one of the few science fiction movies to genuinely hold up over the years Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies. It was also the last science fiction movie that depended primarily on models and sets rather than CGI.
This album on Imgur offers 142 images from the Blade Runner model shop. Here’s a few of Deckard’s car in model and full-size versions:

While looking for the trailer above I came across this interesting Siskel and Ebert clip reviewing the Ridley Scott re-release in 1992. (The Blade Runner bit starts at 4:22)

Like much science fiction set in the not-too-distant future (think Back to the Future 2 set in 2015), Blade Runner’s 2019 setting is quickly running up against real time. Los Angeles certainly doesn’t come close to looking as Ridley Scott portrayed it. But on the other side of the Pacific there is this:

Today is the 159th anniversary of the birth of the great inventor, engineer, and visionary.

In honor of that, here are a few quotes:

“Our virtues and our failings are inseparable,                                                           like force and matter.                                                                                                   When they separate, man is no more.” (June 1910)

“The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up… His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and labors and hopes.” (July 1934)

“A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in Nature. In no way can we get such an overwhelming idea of the grandeur of Nature than when we consider, that in accordance with the law of the conservation of energy, throughout the Infinite, the forces are in a perfect balance, and hence the energy of a single thoughtmay determine the motion of a universe.” (24 February 1893)

“If Edison had a needle to find in a haystack, he would proceed at once with the diligence of the bee to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. … I was a sorry witness of such doings, knowing that a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety per cent of his labor. ” (October 1931)

I could post 20 more memorable quotations but instead I’ll send you to the Wikiquote page if you’re so inclined.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla

There can only be one champion.

Will it be Megabot?

Or Kuratas?

In a video, the MegaBots engineering team has challenged the makers of Japan’s giant Kuratas robot to a fight. The Kuratas machine has been online for a couple of years now, touring expos and trade shows, and even going up for sale at one point.

“We just finished tightening the bolts on the Mark 2, America’s first fully-functional giant fighting robot. We have a giant robot, you have a giant robot,” “You know what needs to happen.” says the MegaBots spokesperson, “We challenge you to a duel.”

In keeping with international fighting robot protocol the Kuratas team has issued a response.  Kogoro Kurata, CEO of Suidobashi Heavy Industry, has accepted the challenge, on the condition that the robots fight hand-to-hand. “My reaction? Come on guys, make it cooler,” Kurata says, “Just building something huge and sticking guns on it is … Super American.”

Some nice .gifs showing the grace, beauty, and power of sharks.

These are former curbs in San Francisco. Great for walls or steps or garden.
They’re going to be dumped in a landfill if someone doesn’t take them away.
At the corner of 7th Avenue & Cabrillo, SW corner.
Very heavy. You’ll need 2 people and a truck.

The British Museum has placed scans of over 25,000 examples online. In addition to their own extensive collection of African art they have included thousands from the Trust for African Rock Art.

Hundreds of pieces are described and the science of dating and interpretation of these relics are presented in detail.

Africa’s rock art is as diverse as the continent itself. In 2013, the African rock art image project team began cataloguing around 25,000 digital photographs of rock art from across Africa – originally from the Trust for African Rock Art (TARA).

Combining a wide range of research from the British Museum, TARA and colleagues in Africa, the project is cataloguing and digitally preserving African rock art, ensuring global open access well into the future.

The oldest scientifically-dated rock art in Africa dates from around 26,000-28,000 years ago and is found in Namibia.

Explore the earliest known manufactured works such as these incised ostrich shells, some dating to 100,000 years ago and their origins.

The first examples of what we might term ‘art’ in Africa, dating from between 100,000–60,000 years ago, emerge in two very distinct forms: personal adornment in the form of perforated seashells suspended on twine, and incised and engraved stone, ochre and ostrich eggshell. Despite some sites being 8,000km and 40,000 years apart, an intriguing feature of the earliest art is that these first forays appear remarkably similar. It is worth noting here that the term ‘art’ in this context is highly problematic, in that we cannot assume that humans living 100,000 years ago, or even 10,000 years ago, had a concept of art in the same way that we do, particularly in the modern Western sense. However, it remains a useful umbrella term for our purposes here.

Up to the Horse Period (3,000 – 2,000 years ago)

and the Camel Period (2,000 years ago to the present)

While still in development, there is enough available now so far to explore for hours (as I have).