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Thursday, 7 January 2010
Sunday, 12 April 2009
playing chicken
The recent foray of several Kangaroos stars into the seedy world of poultry snuff movies revealed a trivial insight into superstardom aside from their warped imaginations and sickening view of females - the shabby quality of their movie-making. Here are young men who earn more in a week than most of us in a year, and yet they don't seem to have spent any of their excess cash on decent video equipment, training, editing or script development. Perhaps they should enroll in a few art classes at the nearest Continuing Ed school.
This highlights a problem with many overpaid people (professionals in many spheres, not just sport) - they have the means, but lack the skills, initiative, time or education to make the most of their privileges. The lack of hobbies or interests outside kicking a footie, the law courts or trading floor makes them particularly susceptible to alcohol and/or substance abuse, gambling or other ways of pissing their sudden wealth up against a wall. Perhaps clubs (of all sports) and companies should spend more effort in encouraging extra-curricular activities amongst their employees, as part of their duty of care.
Another interesting point was the decision of the club to discipline the person who leaked the video - perhaps they were worried their sponsors might react to the bad publicity more than the mindset of their players.
This highlights a problem with many overpaid people (professionals in many spheres, not just sport) - they have the means, but lack the skills, initiative, time or education to make the most of their privileges. The lack of hobbies or interests outside kicking a footie, the law courts or trading floor makes them particularly susceptible to alcohol and/or substance abuse, gambling or other ways of pissing their sudden wealth up against a wall. Perhaps clubs (of all sports) and companies should spend more effort in encouraging extra-curricular activities amongst their employees, as part of their duty of care.
Another interesting point was the decision of the club to discipline the person who leaked the video - perhaps they were worried their sponsors might react to the bad publicity more than the mindset of their players.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
pics
A couple of pics, as I take a break from typing my end of season report on the dig, here in Hong Kong airport.
(Photo: Bob Miller, Uni. of Canberra)
Those of you who might be concerning that I've abandoned the 'big pick, small plan' approach to archaeology in favour of brushing can rest assured - it was purely for photographic effect.
That said, I did feel a bit guilty as what I'm cleaning is a 12th C lamp, which probably had a bowl placed above it as a foundation deposit... until we did a pick run through. Ah well, Wendy did a great job sticking it all back together, after I'd retrieved the pieces from the pottery bucket.
Wherever I went in the UK, there was a noticable police presence - purely coincidental, of course, that the Old Bill was waiting to arrest a squaddie off the plane from Amman... and out in force on a Fri night in Leeds train station... but I did start to feel a bit paranoid. And then customs took unusual interest in my backpack here in HK, kindly giving it a gentle swabbing (presumably to remove some of the dust attached to it) and giving the hardback copy of Warwick Ball's Monuments of Afghanistan a good prodding. No, it doesn't originate in Kabul, just the photos... honestly, do I look like a drug-runner?!
Siblings and one of my nephews in Leeds - three's trubble, four's a riot?
(Photo: Bob Miller, Uni. of Canberra)
Those of you who might be concerning that I've abandoned the 'big pick, small plan' approach to archaeology in favour of brushing can rest assured - it was purely for photographic effect.
That said, I did feel a bit guilty as what I'm cleaning is a 12th C lamp, which probably had a bowl placed above it as a foundation deposit... until we did a pick run through. Ah well, Wendy did a great job sticking it all back together, after I'd retrieved the pieces from the pottery bucket.
Wherever I went in the UK, there was a noticable police presence - purely coincidental, of course, that the Old Bill was waiting to arrest a squaddie off the plane from Amman... and out in force on a Fri night in Leeds train station... but I did start to feel a bit paranoid. And then customs took unusual interest in my backpack here in HK, kindly giving it a gentle swabbing (presumably to remove some of the dust attached to it) and giving the hardback copy of Warwick Ball's Monuments of Afghanistan a good prodding. No, it doesn't originate in Kabul, just the photos... honestly, do I look like a drug-runner?!
Siblings and one of my nephews in Leeds - three's trubble, four's a riot?
Friday, 27 February 2009
back in Blighty
Landed in LHR and it was 10 deg C and grey... could be summer, could be winter - you just never know with this place, although to be fair the sun's come out this morning. Flying visit to Cambridge, where I began my archaeology students and rabble-rousing 20 years ago - bit scary, really. Off up to Leeds, the land of culture this arvo and then Aber, where Mum and Dad already have a long list of things for me to do. Sleep was fairly high up on my list, so we might have to negotiate.
Saturday, 21 February 2009
end of season
Quick pic from the last day of digging - came down onto beautiful thick plaster floors... you kind of need to have trowelled some of the more typical grotty ones to appreciate them. But sweet FA on the floors by way of finds, which is a bit disappointing - posh the building was; wot it was is anyone's guess.
Cold, wet and miserable here in Amman - the vollies have taken the sun with them!
Friday, 13 February 2009
LBA palace walls
Just a quickie, as it's all a bit hectic with one week to go. The trench feels basically under control... always an unsettlingly feeling, as archaeology has a habit of making a fool of the presumptive and our best informed predictions.
The Late Bronze Age destruction is poking through in places, which is great. The plaster floors are about 10-30cm below where we're currently at. It's now partly a matter of juggling men and time as we try to expose them all at once for photos. Should be ok if it doesn't rain, and we don't find too much trezur (but if we do, that's a nice problem to have).
Sorry the pic isn't great, half in shade, etc. but I was rushing to plan some of the metre thick LBA walls before hopping on the bus up to Irbid and internet. I think I've found the palatial parking lot (chariots to the west, donkeys on the east please), and audience waiting chamber, before ye olde people went up into the tower building (at the bottom of the photo)... Birq's less sure.
When I'm not doing trench stuff, I'm puddling mudbricks to find out what palaces, temples and humble abodes were built out of, but I won't bore you with photos of the 40 bricks I've analysed so far. Suffice to say, some are half a metre long and weigh over 30kg, whilst others are tiddlers.
Knackered... but happy as a 'khanzir bil wattel' as they would say round here, if creatures that go oink weren't haram.
The Late Bronze Age destruction is poking through in places, which is great. The plaster floors are about 10-30cm below where we're currently at. It's now partly a matter of juggling men and time as we try to expose them all at once for photos. Should be ok if it doesn't rain, and we don't find too much trezur (but if we do, that's a nice problem to have).
Sorry the pic isn't great, half in shade, etc. but I was rushing to plan some of the metre thick LBA walls before hopping on the bus up to Irbid and internet. I think I've found the palatial parking lot (chariots to the west, donkeys on the east please), and audience waiting chamber, before ye olde people went up into the tower building (at the bottom of the photo)... Birq's less sure.
When I'm not doing trench stuff, I'm puddling mudbricks to find out what palaces, temples and humble abodes were built out of, but I won't bore you with photos of the 40 bricks I've analysed so far. Suffice to say, some are half a metre long and weigh over 30kg, whilst others are tiddlers.
Knackered... but happy as a 'khanzir bil wattel' as they would say round here, if creatures that go oink weren't haram.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
Half-way house
I'm currently on the mid-season break, which consists of 2 days off... most normal people call that the weekend, but it only happens once in 7 weeks on the Pella dig, rather than every 7 days. We've had warning that a cold front is rolling in, which isn't a surprise given that it's been blowing a gale for the past couple of days. Considering the glorious 1st 3 weeks' weather, we can't complain... it is winter, after all, and Jordan needs all the rain it can get. But it'd be great if we could get through the whole season without getting too squelchy - my trench, being the lowest, will turn into a swimming pool / mud-bath.
Given the ominous weather I was relieved to get the trench photographed and planned over the past couple of days... (just because you have mid-season break doesn't mean you don't do any work, if you're silly enough to hang around the dighouse). The 4m wide expanse of cobbles took a while to draw, but the plan looks pretty good and we're now about 25cm above the thick yellow plastered surface and other Late Bronze Age goodness. Given what's coming up already, it's exciting.
Had a pretty busy 3rd week on the finds front - I kept on trying to put the guys / vollies in places where they wouldn't turn up too much, to give me time to detail what had already emerged... but you turn your back and up pops a multi-handled painted krater, about half a metre in diameter, associated with burnt olive pips... and an opium-bulb kournos fragment, and an Egyptianizing trefoil lamp offering, not to mention copper pins from a possible sink hole, beautiful painted Cypriot and Mycenaean painted pottery fragments, 1/3 of a copper bangle, etc. Crazy. Sometimes all I seem to do is write labels.
But it's great - the best trench I've had at Pella, and now that we've dug out most of the Early Iron Age pits, the architecture's starting to make sense. I've even found time to puddle a few more mud-bricks, as part of my side-study on what people were making the bricks out of (yeah, I know - mud... but also other stuff which is where it gets interesting, if you're into that sort of thing).
Most people seem to have recovered from the cold that afflicted us last week - just in time for the next lot of vollies to arrive tomorrow with their lurgies. Honestly, there's sharing, and there's sharing we could do without. But the 1st group were great - really pleasant, dedicated people, and hopefully the next 15 will be too.
Given the ominous weather I was relieved to get the trench photographed and planned over the past couple of days... (just because you have mid-season break doesn't mean you don't do any work, if you're silly enough to hang around the dighouse). The 4m wide expanse of cobbles took a while to draw, but the plan looks pretty good and we're now about 25cm above the thick yellow plastered surface and other Late Bronze Age goodness. Given what's coming up already, it's exciting.
Had a pretty busy 3rd week on the finds front - I kept on trying to put the guys / vollies in places where they wouldn't turn up too much, to give me time to detail what had already emerged... but you turn your back and up pops a multi-handled painted krater, about half a metre in diameter, associated with burnt olive pips... and an opium-bulb kournos fragment, and an Egyptianizing trefoil lamp offering, not to mention copper pins from a possible sink hole, beautiful painted Cypriot and Mycenaean painted pottery fragments, 1/3 of a copper bangle, etc. Crazy. Sometimes all I seem to do is write labels.
But it's great - the best trench I've had at Pella, and now that we've dug out most of the Early Iron Age pits, the architecture's starting to make sense. I've even found time to puddle a few more mud-bricks, as part of my side-study on what people were making the bricks out of (yeah, I know - mud... but also other stuff which is where it gets interesting, if you're into that sort of thing).
Most people seem to have recovered from the cold that afflicted us last week - just in time for the next lot of vollies to arrive tomorrow with their lurgies. Honestly, there's sharing, and there's sharing we could do without. But the 1st group were great - really pleasant, dedicated people, and hopefully the next 15 will be too.
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