Metal Detectorists Discover 2,000-Year-Old Gold Coins in Wales

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Metal Detectorists Discover 2,000-Year-Old Gold Coins in Wales     Metal detectorists found the 15 rare artifacts in a field on the island of Anglesey, which sits off of Wales’ northwest coast, between July 2021 and March 2022, according to a statement from the Museum of Wales. Now, authorities have designated the discovery as a “treasure.” The coins, known as staters, date to between 60 and 20 B.C.E. One side depicts the god Apollo, while the other features a horse surrounded by symbols. Their style is influenced by the Macedonian gold coins of Phillip II, per the researchers. Continued here

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Schr     Earlier today, Elon Musk furthered the narrative that he wishes to engage in hand-to-hand combat with Mark Zuckerberg, tweeting in such a way as to suggest that he was at Zuckerberg’s front door. (Previously, he called Zuckerberg a “chicken.”) By typing these words, I am complicit in what has been a months-long bit of posturing over the ridiculous premise that the pair will fight in a “cage match.” If you’re hearing this all for the first time, I apologize profoundly.My general framework for navigating modern life is to try to imagine, and then make sure to never bet against, the dumbest possible outcome. Thanks to our tech billionaires, it’s harder than ever to game out what that might mean. Would Musk and Zuckerberg sweatily groping each other among Etruscan ruins on pay-per-view constitute the dumbest possible outcome of this Silicon Valley promenade of fragile male egos? Surely, watching an off-balance Musk dislocate his pinky toe against the femur of the man who gave us the “Poke” button would constitute the teleological end point of the social-media age. You would think! But innovators innovate. Continued here

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Appeals court reverses Texas ruling nullifying FDA approval of abortion pill     A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed part of a lower court's controversial ruling that would have revoked regulatory approval for the abortion and miscarriage medication mifepristone, which the Food and Drug Administration granted in 2000. The appeals court also left in place the FDA's 2019 authorization of a generic form of the drug, which is most commonly used. Continued here

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It's Not Just Trump     This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, Georgia, indicted Donald Trump and 18 others on an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in her state. The accused co-conspirators are a reminder that people like Trump are enabled by minor figures who may be as much a menace to democracy as Trump himself. Continued here

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DirectX 12 support comes to CrossOver on Mac with latest update     Codeweavers took to its official forums today to announce the release of CrossOver 23.0.0, the new version of its software that aims to make emulating Windows software and games easier on macOS, Linux, and ChromeOS systems. Continued here

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Black Holes Swallow Everything, Even the Truth     In 1967, the physicist John Wheeler was giving a lecture about a mysterious and startling phenomenon in deep space that the field was just beginning to understand. But it didn’t have a great name to match. Wheeler and his audience were equally tired of hearing “gravitationally completely collapsed object” over and over, so someone threw out an idea for a different name. A few weeks later, at another conference, Wheeler debuted the suggestion: black hole. And it’s perfect, isn’t it? What else would you call a dark abyss that swallows light and matter and doesn’t let go?Decades later, black holes—invisible, impenetrable, and many light-years away—are more familiar to us than ever before. We know that supermassive versions sit at the center of most galaxies, including our own Milky Way. In 2019, we even got pictures that show a black hole as an imposing shadow against the glow of cosmic material. Scientists have detected the gravitational ripples that result when black holes smash into each other; the entire cosmos, we recently learned, might be humming with the force of such collisions. The list goes on. Continued here

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Long-Term Wildfire Smoke Exposure Linked to Dementia Risk, Study Finds     Among nine sources of particle pollution, fires and agriculture had the strongest link to dementia, according to a new analysis of a national surveyA new study suggests that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke can negatively impact the brain years down the road. Continued here

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How to get your mojo back | Psyche Guides     Katharina Merian, attributed to the 16th-century painter Hans Brosamer. Courtesy the Met Museum, New YorkKatharina Merian, attributed to the 16th-century painter Hans Brosamer. Courtesy the Met Museum, New York Continued here

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Amazon pinches sellers: Use our costly logistics services or pay extra fee [Updated]     Any day now, the FTC is expected to drop "The Big One" on Amazon, an antitrust lawsuit that appears inevitable after the company's so-called "last rites" meeting with FTC officials last week. Through its inquiry, the FTC has taken notice of how Amazon treats sellers on its platform, specifically scrutinizing how Amazon punishes sellers that don't use Amazon's logistics services. Continued here

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Adobe and Microsoft break some old files by removing PostScript font support     If you want to know about the history of desktop publishing, you need to know about Adobe's PostScript fonts. PostScript fonts used vector graphics so that they could look crisp and clear no matter what size they were, and Apple licensed PostScript fonts for the original LaserWriter printer; together with publishing software like Aldus PageMaker, they made it possible to create a file that would look exactly the same on your computer screen as it did when you printed it. Continued here

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Seven Books That Explore How Marriage Really Works     Everyone wants to get inside of someone else’s marriage. That’s the appeal behind TV shows such as Couples Therapy and the therapist Esther Perel’s podcast Where Should We Begin?—and The New York Times’ recent report on the separation of former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife, Chirlaine McCray. Matrimony, for all its mundanity, carries a mysterious aura: How might it alter the ways two people love? How might it fundamentally change who they are? But I’d argue that these are questions best suited for a novelist’s scrutinizing attention. From the awkward flirtations that portend Darcy and Elizabeth’s eventual union in Pride and Prejudice through Rachel Samstat’s acidic divorce in Nora Ephron’s Heartburn and into the present day, novels have, for centuries, deftly prodded the nature of wedlock and its continuing allure.The sharpest writing on marriage does not always end with crisp resolution—with a wedding, death, or divorce. The seven novels below instead explore the ability of the fragile bubble of a relationship to withstand any number of pressures; they feature characters who try to escape isolation through the institution, and others who find freedom in its restrictions. They position it as, alternately, a social imposition, a site of nurturing love, or a cesspool of disloyalty. And they don’t shy away from considering what it means if the person you’ve promised to love in perpetuity doesn’t merely evolve, but turns into that most stressful of things: a stranger. Continued here

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America's Mixed-Signals Economy     This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.The U.S. economy is actually doing pretty well. But for working people navigating mixed messages and high prices, the dominant feeling has been meh. Continued here

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X apparently added 5-second delay for links to sites Musk doesn't like     In the latest controversial change at Elon Musk's social network, the service formerly named Twitter reportedly added a five-second delay when users load links to certain news sites and rival social networks. The New York Times and Reuters were affected by the delay with the t.co link-shortening service used by X, according to several news reports published yesterday. Continued here

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Fugitive "sovereign citizen" arrested for selling silver as bogus COVID cure     After a three-year hunt, federal law enforcement agents have finally arrested an alleged fake doctor who made around $2 million selling a silver solution he falsely claimed "destroys" the pandemic coronavirus via vibrations. Continued here

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Reader Views on the Role of Taboos     Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.We in liberal democracies have a fondness for countercultural expression and norm challenging that can seem paradoxical—if so many of us come to love a rebel, when do they stop being a rebel and start being the status quo? Weighing this question, taboo is the fulcrum, not an object we can put on or remove from one of the scales. Continued here

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Klaus Nomi: The 'singing alien' loved by David Bowie, Lady Gaga and many more     "Will they know me, know me, know me now?" That's the question asked by visionary German singer and performance artist Klaus Nomi on Nomi Song, a self-referential gem from his eponymous debut album, first released in 1981. That LP, along with the rest of Nomi's slender but influential catalogue, has recently been reissued to mark the 40th anniversary of his death. When Nomi died on 6th August 1983, aged just 39, he became one of the first high-profile figures to be claimed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.In the subsequent four decades, Nomi's reputation has remained cult, even as his influence has been celebrated by mainstream figures. But thanks to TikTok, where clips of his performances have been viewed 4.8 million times, a new generation is discovering that this fascinating performer with a startling operatic voice is so much more than the David Bowie associate he is sometimes pigeonholed as. Continued here

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Tech glitch let people with empty bank accounts withdraw hundreds in cash     People were flocking to ATMs in Ireland last night as the machines seemed to be in a giving mood. Thanks to a technical glitch in Bank of Ireland's systems, customers could reportedly pull 1,000 euros (about $1,090) from ATMs even if they didn't have anything in their account. Continued here

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Students Unearth Forgotten 142-Year-Old Observatory Buried on Michigan State's Campus     Earlier this summer, construction workers at Michigan State University were installing posts for hammocks near a residence hall when they hit a hard surface. Thinking it might be a former building foundation, they called on Michigan State’s Campus Archaeology Program, which set to work determining what lay under the dirt.Using old maps, the archaeologists concluded that they had found the site of the campus’ first observatory, built nearly 150 years ago. Continued here

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Guidemaster: RFID-blocker cards and wallets to help keep your cards secure     When we think of banking security, we often think of using strong passwords, not recycling old passcodes, and adding multi-factor authentication to accounts. But having good physical security is just as important as practicing good online security hygiene. With many debit cards and credit cards shipping with NFC, there is a real risk that valuable financial information can be skimmed–even if the skimming is not done with malicious intent. Continued here

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Fully Intact Giant Panda Skeleton Discovered in Chinese Emperor's 2,000-Year-Old Tomb     Archaeologists previously found a panda skull in a nearby Han burial, but its torso was missingWhen Emperor Wen of Han died in 157 B.C.E., he was buried in an enormous mausoleum alongside dozens of animals, including golden snub-nosed monkeys, Indian wild buffalo and red-crowned cranes. The sheer number of rare species represented in the tomb, located in China’s Shaanxi Province, impressed the archaeologists who excavated it in 2021 and 2022. But it was another find that captured the public’s attention: the complete skeleton of a giant panda, which is the first of its kind discovered at an ancient Chinese burial site. Continued here

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An Extreme Ice Age May Have Wiped Out Europe's Earliest Humans 1.1 Million Years Ago     New research suggests the continent was devoid of hominins for about 200,000 years after a previously unknown cold snapA period of extreme cooling in western Europe may have driven away the continent’s earliest human species, leaving the region devoid of hominins for about 200,000 years, a new study suggests. Continued here

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TikTok Is Opening a Parallel Dimension in Europe     People will soon be able to experience TikTok without its all-knowing, hyper-personalized algorithm. Will anything change?TikTok’s algorithm knows. People speak of the unseen program governing the platform’s “For You” page, where videos populate based on ones you’ve previously interacted with, as an omniscient, omnipresent god. The algorithm has figured out your every interest and hobby, every thought you’ve ever had. More than once, it’s been alleged to have figured out that a person is queer before they knew themselves. The machine genuinely feels like it’s handpicking videos just for you—which is why everyone should pay close attention when the app allows some people to turn it off later this month. Continued here

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Brown Bears Fishing at Alaska's Brooks Falls     In Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, the brown bears have returned to Brooks Falls, where they gorge themselves on salmon from July to September in preparation for the coming winter. The fishing bears have become famous, viewed by millions on live “bear cams,” and celebrated each September during Fat Bear Week with a tournament organized by the National Park Service. Recently, the Getty Images photographer John Moore paid a visit to Brooks Falls, catching images of some of the bears in action. A brown bear snags a sockeye salmon in midair on August 11, 2023, at Brooks Falls, Alaska, within Katmai National Park and Preserve. # Continued here

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An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban     In response to recently enacted state legislation in Iowa, administrators are removing banned books from Mason City school libraries, and officials are using ChatGPT to help them pick the books, according to The Gazette and Popular Science. Continued here

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The Maya coveted mercury. It may have hastened their downfall.     Mercury is a mesmerizing element. Silvery, lustrous, and liquid and room temperature, it seems like a substance straight out of a fairy tale. In fact, it was long called quicksilver, which literally meant “living silver.” (An archaic use of the word “quick” is to refer to something that is “alive.”) But prolonged exposure can lead to some serious health problems, and archaeologists are now learning that the ancient Maya may have fallen prey to mercury’s sinister beauty.Persisting for nearly 1,500 years in what is now the Yucatán Peninsula and the countries of Guatemala and Belize, the Maya civilization was one of the most advanced in the ancient world, noted for its unique art, stirring architecture, sophisticated writing, and complex religion. Civil warfare, overpopulation, drought, and environmental degradation caused a harsh downturn in Maya society in the 10th century. Spanish conquistadors would finish off the lingering remnants about 700 years later. Continued here

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How refrigeration destroyed the massive international ice industry     In a world before refrigerators, before ice dispensed at the press of a button or the twist of an ice cube tray, ice was a luxury. An iced drink was indicative of wealth, and the ice industry was a multi-million-dollar employer.Norway—a hub for natural ice—exported one million tons of it per year. The US market overshadowed that effort manifold. At its peak in the nineteenth century, an estimated 90,000 people and 25,000 horses were involved in the natural ice trade in the States. In fact, such was the demand for American ice in London at one point, Lake Oppegård in Norway was rechristened “Wenham Lake” (after a lake in a Massachusetts town) to compete with American ice imports in England. By 1856, American ice was shipped to all four corners of the world, including South America, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and Australia, the Persian Gulf, and its biggest market–India. Continued here

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5 rules for how to read the news -- the Big Think way     The modern news cycle can be a nightmare. Between social media and 24-hour news networks, there is always some breaking disaster, a crisis out of control, or an epidemic coming for you — yes, you! It feels as though we’re living on the knife’s edge of an apocalypse, and even if we happen to avoid this one, another eagerly awaits. It’s stressful, daunting, and emotionally draining, and if you’re like me, you should probably quit the whole affair before your sanity is leached away. Except you can’t, can you? Because, for all its flaws, the news is necessary. Continued here

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Doris: A Watercolor Serenade to the Courage of Authenticity and the Art of Connection     Each month, I spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars keeping The Marginalian going. For seventeen years, it has remained free and ad-free and alive thanks to patronage from readers. I have no staff, no interns, not even an assistant — a thoroughly one-woman labor of love that is also my life and my livelihood. If this labor has made your own life more livable in the past year (or the past decade), please consider aiding its sustenance with a one-time or loyal donation. Your support makes all the difference.“There is no insurmountable solitude,” Pablo Neruda asserted in his stirring Nobel Prize acceptance speech. “All paths lead to the same goal: to convey to others what we are. And we must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence in order to reach forth to the enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance.”The self-permission to dance into our authenticity, however clumsily, however lonesomely, may be the supreme achievement of life. Continued here

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Bandits in Nigeria: how protection payments to militias escalate conflict in the north-west     North-western Nigeria has become increasingly violent. This is due to the activities of militias, known locally as “bandits”. These are loosely organised armed groups, reportedly over 120 factions with 28 to 2,500 members. They are now deadlier than the well-known Boko Haram, which operates in north-eastern Nigeria.The origins of the conflict in north-western Nigeria can be traced back to 2011 following disagreements between Hausa farmers and Fulani pastoralists over changes in land ownership and encroachment on grazing routes, primarily due to environmental and climatic factors. They were characterised by small-scale disputes and isolated hit-and-run attacks resulting in crop damage and livestock theft. This conflict also included skirmishes with primitive weapons, such as sticks, daggers and locally crafted Dane guns. Continued here

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The Longest Relationships of Our Lives     As brothers and sisters grow up, what they do can determine whether they stay stuck in their childhood roles—or break free of them.This article was featured in One Story to Read Today, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a single must-read from The Atlantic, Monday through Friday. Sign up for it here. Continued here