caesar novus

4 years into restoration of medieval tower, it partially collapsed. When rescue workers gesture they have found a survivor, the cheers of crowd appear to trigger further collapse which results in death of worker. Italian news site full of finger pointing that may take a while to sort out. I can't embed dramatic video due to busy factor, so click on https://youtu.be/VuolVj6K0Yk?si=RhGm7pXfvDvmQ83W or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsYSCGaWWbA

A fine visualization of "Six Pianos" by Steve Reich

Arrgh, at least there is still hope they enscribe more than just the usual niceties.

You've heard umpteen announcements of DNA findings that mythbust this or that human migration assumption, but how does it now fit together? Here is a sparkling clear and engaging lecturer that does that. BTW he identified another unknown kind of human in Asia, but has assertively avoided it being named in the Latin hierarchy to prevent false assumptions. Unfortunately his name kinda seems unpronounceable to english speakers. Anyway, modern man spread out, often finding other types of humans at their destinations. There may have been some genetic mixture, but along the way rather at their destination where the older humans were starting to die off, etc. You may want to skip over the first 10 minutes of lecture niceties:

Ok, Coarelli estimates C-Max at 200m x 600+ vs C-Var only 125m x 565. He notes C-Var is only a modern name, and riffs about the 4 horse chariot races. There was possibly something about the aqueduct serving C-Var being longer than the one for C-Max that may have gotten me mixed up, but these hardcopies have too fine print for me to want to drill further.

An hour of really artful slumber jazz (Bill Evans piano):

I had that video along with his others on my watch later list. I like the paintings (esp maritime) and grand scale of the place (dwarfing anything in Herculaneum). I think access is hard without a vehicle; the Napoli-Sorrento train kind of runs under it in series of tunnels. It looked like the host bicycled to it, judging from anti-chain-snag clips on pants cuff.

2 marimba and 2 vibraphone shortie:

I liked that book so much I bought the hardback. Brutally fine print, some nice diagrams. I wish google books would sell me entire pdf version but I think they offer limited preview. Google books referred me to a great "similar" book I already have: "Rome and Environs - An Archaeological Guide" By Filippo Coarelli translated from Italian. It has a bunch of Varianus discussion that I don't yet have time to follow, so will make page refs here: 209, iii, 21, 210, 211, 549

Another footnote (A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome p87) lists C Var at only 565m. Back on p83 it describes short life of C Vat before being "invaded" by tombs. Also rich coverage of C Max in it's various modifications. https://books.google.com/books?id=K_qjo30tjHAC&pg=PA87#v=onepage&q&f=false P.S. Some key facts can only be found in the general "circus" writeup of that book p82.

So maybe they vainly built C Var a Roman foot larger, and were punished with a wall crossing a few decades later. Interesting restoration proposal of C Max:

Thanks, that same encylo implies Varianus came centuries later, part of a complex rivaling sprawl of Tivoli. I need to pin down the date of the wall there, which I think cut thru the Circus shortly after construction. Quote: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=roma&highlight=varianus :

Things to research: what did the Romans call either of these racetracks? Was "Maximus" a modern misnomer? Why was the Roman wall built in a way to cut thru and reduce Varianus size? I don't think the wall interfered with adjacent Baths of Caracalla (built later?), and tombs of the baker and the pyramid were incorporated and not obliterated by wall. I was unable to rediscover the claim Varianus was larger than Maximus, but haven't tried youtube's new beta ai search that occasionally is offered to me. Also look forward to more coverage of Romans in the ai maintained encyclopedia tool "Grokipedia" which is supposed to eliminate manipulated entries (is there a maximus lobby?). Included videos slightly mis portray the tracks.

My college radio started broadcasting textual song names, and came up with this vibraphone marvel: "Cal's Guajira" The same day I also heard a vibraphone somewhere in a 3+ hour Italian movie including Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg, Fellini. On Kanopy it has english subtitles which seems hard to find on YT: "Boccaccio 70"

So if one wants to fill in the gaps in the Caligula record, can either start with Tiberius years and predict forward or start with Claudius years and predict backwards? I guess humans sometimes do both. As for possible "por*" typo above, that suggests a writer with a lot of faith in dictation software or auto-correct-spelling. May also be interested in new ai machine being incorporated by some health insurance providers next year. Stellarus helps you navigate your insurance authorizations based on 60 databases, which can be a greater mystery than your actual health complaint. Coming to a plan near me; I may give a try to it.

Typing posture is hard on my back, so I'll try more practice here using dictation software. It can be painful bending to put on or off shoes and socks. My health insurance actually gave me plastic gadgets for the latter that work pretty well. The next step is shoes, and I just gave a try to Skechers Arcade Hands Free Slip-Ins. I was skeptical they would stay on, but they turned out great. There are little pillows to lock you in, which makes them extra comfy as well. The laces are elastic and stay tied. For bad episodes, the over the counter pills aren't great. They all have concerning side effects that limit use to 6 pills per day. For prescriptions I give a shout out for cheap and non-addictive baclofen for spasm relief only. Must carefully thread the needle around it's crazy potential side effects; insurance companies hate it. I never warmed to the weed options, and here is a light hearted video on the dark side of high THC consumption. Just think of effect on babies in the womb, or anyone with brain still forming til age 25:

Buckethead "Soothsayer"

I thought I would ramble in this old blog to get used to new dictation software. I ordered a dash cam (Losfom WD11 2K Body Camera) which is actually a police camera. These work great as affordable dash cams, and this one unexpectedly has a dash cam mode where it will turn itself on and off based on car power outlet, so no buttons ever have to be pushed. No recharging or managing full storage, police bodycams are all about simple human factors. The charging base keeps it still where dash meets windshield, and it gives voice reassurances about what mode it is in. I'm gonna try a tiny tie clip camera for the less critical rear. Anyway, I wanted to rig my phone to give notice when Amazon made the delivery. They do this now by dumping a dozen or so packages in our common lobby without ringing, or knocking; just the email notice. Furthermore, they deliver at weird hours like early Sunday or holiday mornings. I set up a loud chime notification for one email account that consolidates my time sensitive notices like deliveries. When it chimed right at delivery, I expected to meet a group in the lobby in a hurry to avoid package theft. But nobody was there; am I the only person to set up such an alert? P.S. the phone email app is sometimes tardy or fails to chime. Is it in irregular wi-fi contact while asleep at home? Seems instantaneous while charging.

I guess I would expand that to say that Herculaneum is an experience of interior embellishments vs Pompeii's grand public spaces. Herc-only visitors may want to add https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Poppaea a couple train stops away to see grand external architecture and mammoth paintings. The excavated part of Herc seems mostly a uniform residential maze from outside. The inside treasures seem gloomy maybe due to preserved roofs. Interior walls with narrow doors mean if three other folks are there, you are often waiting to get to next room. Villas in Pompeii can be vast enough for 50 people to mill inside architectural layout. Since my couple visits they maybe improved the Herc experience, with Pompeii perhaps backsliding. But I would hate to be like a rushed tourist I know who skipped the Louvre in favor of doing a minor museum in Paris "well". Just skip the herd mobbing over rated Lisa and target your priority items

Wow, this is a fascinating writeup and subject that will take me some time to absorb. Relevant to today's globalist debate too.

The gold standard for population density is the now demolished https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kowloon_Walled_City Once under a typhoon warning leaving the streets deserted, I thought it clever to walk there while others stayed inside audibly clicking their "go" gamepieces. The walk was surreal without the usual river of people, but as I approached sinister rainclouds started to spit and I turned around. Half way to my hotel, I felt less like a brave smartypants as the horizontal torrent of cold rain soaked me to the bone.

AI has reached 148 on the IQ scale, and is now making more accurate predictions than people in many domains. Imagine predictions going backwards in time to supplant missing info or de-bias Roman texts? Here is good podcast on it where I attempt to drop you at minute 16.5: In the meantime I wish they would hone predictive power on meteorology which often has persistent patterns of errors.

Thanks, I was aware of Navona with it's underground as well as others, but Wiki claims "most track-athletes competed at the purpose-designed Stadium of Domitian, though long-distance foot races were still held at the Circus" and "The Stadium was used almost entirely for athletic contests." My root concern is that the Roman's reputation maybe should be based on uplifting circus activities rather than depravity at the amphitheater. The latter went unused for decades at a time and had less seating capacity. Cir. Max. was in use about every other day for festivals or horse practice etc. On the other hand, both that and Dom. stad. apparently used their arcades as brothels off hours. And the Romans were awfully quick to downsize Circus Varianus.

In the occluded background of that picture is an apt ruins with 4 remaining stories, Insula dell’Ara Coeli. https://en.italy4.me/lazio/rome/insula-dell-ara-coeli.html 380 occupants! Above is an excellent concise descriptive article with nice pictures that I can't lift

See these, but I haven't found the video claim of max size. Some maps show C. V. as having a divider of similar length, but C. M. has a longer start/merge extension. The extension is only traveled once, then laps around the divider. Look at Circus Maxentius for well preserved structure. So far my clear memory of Maximus being secondary in seating or something isn't looking likely.