Egyptian Space Dagger

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New research suggests that the find of an “unusual” iron dagger entombed with King Tutankhamun might have come from outer space.

Seriously.

Italian and Egyptian researchers analysed the metal with an x-ray fluorescence spectrometer to determine its chemical composition, and found its high nickel content, along with its levels of cobalt, “strongly suggests an extraterrestrial origin”.

But those researchers then went off the obvious trail of the Stargate movie franchise – which would conveniently and completely answer all queries about the ESD – and instead reckon it came from “Kharga”. Sadly, it turns out that Kharga isn’t a planet in the Alpha-Centauri system (or something).

They compared the composition to known meteorites within 2,000km around the Red Sea coast of Egypt, and found similar levels in one meteorite. That meteorite, named Kharga, was found 150 miles (240km) west of Alexandria, at the seaport city of Mersa Matruh, which in the age of Alexander the Great – the fourth century BC – was known as Amunia.

But yes. Jokes aside, King Tutankhamun had a dagger that was made from space rock.

The iron dagger - picture 1

It would obviously have been better if the meteorite that they matched had been from somewhere on the other side of the world. Or one that they’d found on the moon or something. That would have got people talking.

But, that aside, an ESD in an ancient tomb?
Pretty cool.

Bergen rooftops

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I’m missing Bergen.
Weird? Mmm.
Somewhat inexplicable? Possibly.
A bit disconcerting? Certainly.

Time to revisit it in the form of photography, then.

And while Norway has an amazing amount of outstanding natural beauty, a lot of which I photographed to death, this distinctly urban scene, ‘togged from the top of Mount Fløyen is one of my favourites from our visit.

OK, so it may not look like much here, but you should see it full screen on black.

You really should.

(i.e. please do)

Crapft beer case rested

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Last week’s post on Crapft Beer, containing such lines as:

…in order to find a niche in a very busy space, crapft beer people have all gone a bit bonkers.

and:

Let me be very clear here, crapft brewers. There is absolutely no need for any further forays into experimentation.

polarised opinion and prompted some differing reactions.

But then, arriving in my inbox today, was proof that I WAS COMPLETELY CORRECT:

Does your dog experience pangs of jealousy when he sees you enjoying your favourite craft brew? Bottom Sniffer, a beer for dogs that just launched in the UK, seeks to put that concern to rest.

The serving suggestion is 1 bottle per day, “as a drink, over food, in their favourite bowl or on a beer mat,” states its creators, Woof & Brew, on their new website. They add, as anyone who’s gone toe to toe with someone twice their size knows all too well, “you may wish to slightly alter this if you have a Great Dane or a Pomeranian”.

u wot m8?

OK, so this is the arse end (pardon the pun) of the spectrum, but it is wholly symptomatic of the entire business, and exactly what I was talking about last week.

bottom_sniffer_beer_for_dogs

I said that crapft brewers were trying to find their niche by adding bizarre ingredients to make their product “different”, and lo and indeed behold:

it’s concocted from non-fermented beer wort with natural chicken flavoring, bladderwrack extract, and herbs like burdock and dandelion

Eww. But it still probably tastes better than most of the crapft beers meant for humans. And, at “just” R70 per 330ml bottle, the ridiculous price feeds right into my narrative as well.

Are you listening yet?
Hmm?

Damn

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Dam level figures released today for Cape Town’s ‘Big 6’ indicate that we’re 0.4% worse off than we were this time last week, teetering once again just above the magical 30% ‘CRITICAL‘ level, below which nothing actually changes.

Fullscreen capture 30-May-16 92448 PM.bmp

Oh then, to be in Sheffield (as I was a couple of weeks ago) where the dams are just about as full as they can be:

That total of 10,410,000,000 gallons is equal to 47,324,796,900 litres, in case you were wondering.

And what does a dam that’s 98% full look like? Like this.
And what does the other side of the wall look like when the dam is 100.1% full? Like this.

Seven go mad in Guatemala

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Well, sort of.

We’re in that post-season, pre-big tournament phase, where some international teams are playing each other to get in game time and practice, and others are playing each other just for the hell of it.
This one falls into the latter category:

image

Neither Guatemala not Armenia will be at their respective continental championships this summer/winter, but that didn’t stop them having a bit of fun with one another this evening.

What I like about this game was that until the 39th minute, Armenia were one down, but then just basically scored a goal every ten minutes until the referee stopped the fight to prevent lasting damage to the Guatemalans.

Much like the -escu of Romania and the -ev and -ov of Bulgaria, it seems that -yan is the surname suffix of note for Armenians.