#archaeologist and physicist

[glassesmcfancyhair]

Wife and I play the game “which team survives Fromville” and we’ve come to the conclusion that SG-1, out of all fictional teams, figures it out and gets everyone out.

[justletmeon12]

I just finished a really interesting book about the Third Reich's belief in/support of "border sciences" (what we'd call "alternative science" or pseudoscience), which was mostly really informative and terrifying and morbidly fascinating given our modern context...

HOWEVER, I have a real bone to pick with Kurlander's using Freud and the psychological establishment as an example of "real scientists" opposing the border sciences.

[grimm-the-tiger]

We need more mad scientists that aren't engineers, chemists, or biologists. Where are the mad linguists learning eldritch tongues? Where are the mad archaeologists digging up ancient objects of power? Where are the mad physicists sending ships into black holes or sticking people in experimental spacecraft to test their theories? Where are the mad computer scientists hacking powerful organizations to spread mind-melting memes...wait, that's just Anonymous. Never mind.

I just think we need more representation of fields of mad science than engineering, chemistry, and biology. Those are all fine and dandy, of course, but the POTENTIAL-

[temporary-gentleman]

speaking of which Karna, I wanted to hear about your Rom too !! If i understand/remember correctly, she was Micolash' supervisor of sorts ? Would you mind telling us more, and what other ideas you have for her ? 👀

Oh! Yes, I suppose I've shared very little about her even though she's always been a favourite. Thank you for giving me an excuse to yap about her 😭

In my timeline, Rom (1830-1869) is a fairly reputable anatomist at Byrgenwerth, as well as Willem's niece (extremely strained relationship, the vibes are rancid like you wouldn't believe).

She is very close friends with Caryll, one of the college's archaeologists and later self-appointed Runesmith who makes it his life's purpose to translate the word of the Great Ones.

With Laurence she is cordial at best— her dislike for him probably motivates her not to join the Choir, even though she is involved with Ebrietas (as an anatomist, she mostly studies her physicality).

Her relationship with Micolash is so far the most significant. In 1859, she hires him as her assistant during the Fishing Hamlet beach party because of his upbringing as a surgeon's son, and they do funky experiments with the villagers' remains. All in all she takes it rather better than him, but they both see their scientific worldview tilted on its axis.

(There's a whole fic I've been struggling to write for months on this topic... Hopefully I'll finally decide how I want to write it, but today is not that day)

After that, they work together to try and make sense of Kos and what her existence implies. Micolash, who is first and foremost a physicist, finishes in 1863 his doctoral thesis on the influence of the Great Ones on the laws of matter (which ends up being an odd jumble of mathematical theory, philosophical conjecture and whatever music he's managed to put into it). Rom has to battle Willem for him to give Micolash his doctoral title and keep him at Byrgenwerth, considering the rather abstract nature of his work, so they can pursue their research.

When Laurence and Micolash decide to research the blood they've found during one of their expeditions to the tombs under Yharnam, she doesn't get much involved. She sort of works with the Healing Church (founded 1867) from the sidelines but keeps her post at Byrgenwerth— Willem allegedly wants her to be elected in his place as head of the college. It turns out to be a ruse for him to use her for an attempt at ascension.

Rom and Micolash essentially remain friends but their relationship is rather ambiguous. She's 7 years older than him but after he gets his doctoral title, they interact as equals and have a brief romantic thing going on before Micolash leaves Byrgenwerth to join the Church (to rekindle his yaoi flame with Laurence no doubt).

(I'm at the moment writing a short Micolash/Rom fic. I'm still debating if it's worth finishing.)

She gets turned into the "Vacuous Spider" at age 39 following Willem's failed experiment. Micolash learns of it after the fact and will mourn her for the rest of his life. She spends about 20 years in the lake before the Good Hunter finally puts her to rest.

References:

this comic hints at whatever the hell these two were up to in the Fishing Hamlet

and this one hints that they are quite close (definitely enough for her to touch him which rather says a lot about it, I mean what)

[ochipi]

I just watched this YouTube video by Wired, “archaeologist answers archaeology questions” and honestly, i hate it.

Disclaimer: I don’t want to imply that the professor is a fraud or saying untrue things, but to simplify: stereotypical and americentric. (Most likely forced on him)

Why the F is he wearing a safari hat?

His trowel is clean and isn’t worn

Hieroglyphs, not hieroglyphics

“I found a Mayan pyramid on google maps”. Good for you, but no one will manage to repeat that feat

I know it’s the American way, but the rest of the world doesn’t do “Indiana jones-ing” I.e. just going around looking for things.

Hand-held GPS gets you nowhere. Accuracy zero

I haven’t worked at an archaeological company that had working compasses, let alone a company that uses them (it’s called the sun)

Knows everything about all things around the world. Sure… (he’s a professor so it’s his job, but it’s too Indiana Jones for normal field archaeologists)

Nice for him to do something that involves him traveling out of the country for his specialization, but not all of us are that special

Talks a little too much about “big” things. Mayan pyramids, King Tut,… while archaeologists get hyped about two pieces of flint and a burn mark in the middle of nowhere. Archaeology is not blitz (I know it’s not video click-able but still…)

We indeed don’t use brushes for everything. But we also don’t use them on wet sand. Ruins the point. Also we usually use sticks and brushes on delicate stuff. Not silex tools

Did any non archaeologist/nuclear physicist actually understand his explanation of C14 dating? Cuz man…

Anyways

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA honors Algerian parks with Martian namesakes

NASA's mapping of Mars now bears the names of three iconic Algerian national parks, Algerian physicist Noureddine Melikechi, a member of the US space agency's largest Mars probe mission, has told AFP.

The Tassili n'Ajjer, Ghoufi and Djurdjura national parks have found their Martian namesakes after a proposition by Melikechi, which he sought as both a tribute to his native Algeria and a call to protect Earth.

"Our planet is fragile, and it's a signal to the world that we really need to take care of our national parks, whether they are in Algeria or elsewhere," the US-based scientist told AFP in a recent interview.

He said the visual resemblance between some of the Martian landscapes and the ones after which they were labeled was also a key reason for the naming.

"The first one that came to my mind was the Tassili n'Ajjer," he said of the UNESCO-listed vast plateau in the Sahara Desert with prehistoric art dating back at least 12,000 years.

"Every time I see pictures of Mars, they remind me of Tassili n'Ajjer, and now every time I see Tassili n'Ajjer, it reminds me of Mars," added Melikechi, who left Algeria in 1990 for the United States, where he now teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

The ancient art found in Tassili n'Ajjer depicts figures that can seem otherworldly, he said.

Some of the paintings show single-eyed and horned giants, among others which French archaeologist Henri Lhote dubbed as "great Martian" deities in his 1958 book, "The Search for the Tassili Frescoes".

"Those paintings are a signature... a book of how people used to live," said Melikechi.

"You see animals, but also figures that look like they came from somewhere else."

'Historic'

Melikechi's second pick was the Ghoufi canyon in eastern Algeria, whose rocky desert landscape was the site of an ancient settlement off the Aures Mountains.

Now a UNESCO-listed site and a tourist attraction, it has cliffside dwellings carved in the mountain, a testament to human resilience in a place where survival can be adverse.

"Ghoufi gives you a sense that life can be hard, but you can manage to keep at it as you go," Melikechi said.

"You can see that through those homes."

The third site, Djurdjura, is a snowy mountain range some 140 kilometers (about 90 miles) east of the capital Algiers.

Comapred to Tassili or Ghoufi, it bears the least resemblance to Mars.

Melikechi said its pick stemmed of Djurdjura's "reminder of the richness of natural habitats".

He said the naming process came after Perseverence, NASA's Mars rover exploring the Red Planet, made it into uncharted territory.

That area was then split into small quadrants, each needing a name.

"We were asked to propose names for specific quadrants," he said.

"I suggested these three national parks, while others proposed names from parks worldwide. A team then reviewed and selected the final names."

The announcement, made by NASA earlier this month, sparked celebrations among Algerians.

Algerian Culture Minister Zouhir Ballalou hailed it as a "historic and global recognition" of the North African country's landscapes.

Melikechi said he hopes that it will attract more visitors as Algeria has been striving to promote tourism, especially in the Sahara region, with authorities promising to facilitate tourist visas.

Official figures said some 2.5 million tourists visited the country last year—its highest number of visitors in two decades.

"These places are a treasure that we as humans have inherited," Melikechi said.

"We need to make sure they are preserved."

[concerningwolves]

sometimes all you have to do to be a writer is write. other times you have to be a historian a geologist a physicist a cartographer a chemist a vinter an archaeologist a carpenter a doctor a mycologist a politician a courier a construction worker a farrier a detective a

[whirligig-girl]

Standard humanoid patterned jumpsuit uniforms of the United Mellanus Space Program, circa 2360s-2380s. Division colors inspired by Federation Starfleet uniforms were introduced in the mid-2360s, but the basic jumpsuit pattern (with zipper holes doing double duty as pockets and holes for additional or modified limbs to pop out) dates back to the early days of spaceflight, and, in fact, to old military uniforms. There is room on the black right shoulder for relevant pins or pips, and room on the left arm for a mission-patch and any relevant national flag or organizational logo. The patch on the breast is a blue circle with a red horseshoe and a white star with the top point being exaggerated to point upwards.

UMSP Administrators don't actually wear jumpsuits, but their suits, jackets, dresses, and vests used for formal purposes often use red accents. Command division includes rocket captains, space station commanders, or whomever is in command of a spacecraft.

Mission Specialists comprise the astronomers, physicists, biologists, archaeologists, planetary scientists/geologists, and payload specialists that fly on missions that are not otherwise primarily tasked with the operation of the spacecraft itself.

Medical are medics, nurses, and doctors. If a biologist is flying on a biology-focused mission (for example, a landing on Oldsky or Lake, or an orbital botany experiment) but they happen to be a trained medic, they may also use the white uniform with a mission specialist mint stripe.

Astrogators are the astronauts who figure out how to get rockets to where they need to go, and may be responsible for the orbital maneuvers and traffic control for space stations as well. (Astrogator is the space version of a navigator). In most cases, spacecrafts are controlled through preprogrammed manuevers, but manual piloting also falls under the Astrogation division. Subspace field dynamics was originally under the purview of Mission Specialist division, but as pulsed warp drives become integrated into more missions in the 2380s, subspace physicists have generally doffed mint and donned blue.

Engineers, more properly Flight Engineers, are astronauts tasked with upkeep, maintenence, and operation of ship systems, or with the assembly of rockets and space stations in space. They may be expected to conduct EVAs to perform repairs, they manage a ship's nuclear reactor, nuclear-thermal-impulse-drives, or if present, even its pulsed warp drive.

Security astronauts are usually restricted to rare military-contracted missions, but the uniform is also used for the ground-based security force of the UMSP. They're also found at phaser stations, now that phaser operation is coordinated with the UMSP for phaser-powered launch vehicles. If you're not where you're supposed to be in a UMSP facility, they're the ones who are gonna throw you out

[grandhotelabyss]

Why are you not a materialist?

We live inside of ideas concretized as sculpted landscapes, physical structures, technologies and tools, and language itself. In spite of Marx, the working class keeps voting on the basis of culture; in spite of Darwin, we still choose strange-looking lovers. Even Marx allowed that human beings, unlike bees and beavers, build freely and in accordance with beauty rather than necessity. Even Freud granted that most of human sexuality is, strictly speaking, perverse, not focused on the reproductive organs and their function but on all manner of fetishes, literally from head to toe. Scientists can't seem to prove that the brain is the locus of consciousness, nor do they seem to know what consciousness even is. The quantum physicists, if I understand them, posit a reality defined at the subatomic level by the observer. The archaeologists keep pushing the advent of civilization further and further back into the past, with deterministic models (e.g., civilization requires agricultural settlement) increasingly challenged and cult and cultus appearing to be the driver. Every third or fourth person has seen a ghost. What material interest of yours is served by your desire to know why I'm not a materialist? Almost everything in human life is beautifully gratuitous, irreducible to need and program. That there is something rather than nothing remains both a miracle and a mystery.

[seriousbrat]

i don't want to make him a cop lol. also he's a nepo baby in this au, the son of two very famous musicians, so keep that in mind. Although I want him to do something that isn't really a creative field and is quite different from his parents. i'm kind of leaning towards physicist or some kind of science-y thing and idk why haha. I also quite like him being a nurse or in some kind of medical profession.

[natequarter]

The Archimandrite is Professor Clegg, the ill-fated psychic from the beginning of "Planet of the Spiders". And Lennox, the ill-fated physicist from "The Ambassadors of Death". And Viner, the ill-fated archaeologist from "The Tomb of the Cybermen". Finding religion and steering clear of professors turns out to be a good move: he survives to the end of this one.

lmao

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 10.9

Beer Birthdays

Anna Maria Hartig Krug Schlitz (1819)

Jacob Schmidt (1846)

Pat McElroy, Miss Rheingold 1949 (1928)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Scott Bakula; actor (1954)

Guillermo del Toro; Mexican film director (1964)

John Lennon; English rock singer, songwriter (1940)

Camille Saint-Saens; composer (1835)

Robert Wuhl; actor, writer (1951)

Famous Birthdays

Rocky Aoki; Benihana founder (1938)

Brian Blessed; English actor (1938)

Jackson Browne; singer, songwriter (1948)

Bruce Catton; historian (1899)

John Doubleday; English artist (1947)

Alfred Dreyfus; French military officer (1859)

John Entwistle; rock bassist (1944)

P.J. Harvey; English rock singer (1969)

Nona Hendryx; singer-songwriter(1944)

E. Howard Hunt; CIA officer (1918)

Steve Jablonsky; composer (1970)

Yusef Lateef; jazz musician (1920)

Aimee Semple McPherson; Canadian-American evangelist (1890)

Sean Ono Lennon; pop singer (1975)

Chris O'Dowd; Irish actor (1979)

Michael Pare; actor (1958)

Mike Peters; cartoonist (1943)

Belva Plain; author (1915)

Nicholas Roerich; Russian archaeologist and painter (1874)

Otto Schnering; candy bar manufacturer (1891)

Karl Schwarzschild; German physicist and astronomer (1873)

Johann Andreas Segner; German mathematician, physicist (1704)

Tony Shalhoub; actor (1953)

Alastair Sim; Scottish-English actor (1900)

Mike Singletary; football player (1958)

Simeon Solomon; English painter (1840)

Jacques Tati; French film director (1907)

Charles Walgreen; drug store founder (1873)

Jody Williams; academic and activist (1950)

[popthebop]

average meta-human investigations unit

Lucy: so this is where I’m going to work?

Mildred: yeah don’t mind Robin over there, he’s from Gotham

Lucy: so this is the meta-human investigation unit? It’s kinda small

Mildred: well obviously, most investigations are actually conducted through the FBI and other departments. We are kinda our own thing, since well.. meta’s are really not one thing? Listen we just got a ton of unclassified information from the JLA it’s gotten pretty crazy. But since then the rest of the departments have basically been turned into our department so we are kind of unnecessary now, we just handle more minor crimes instead.

Lucy: that explains nothing why exactly was I transferred though

Mildred: we are of desperate need of a magic user, or at least someone who knows what magic is. And well you the description fit perfectly

Lucy: i only did my degree in the occult and polytheistic studies what does that have to do?

Mildred: gods are real, most of the old stories are true please we just need someone to read runes and such

Lucy: okay yeah I can but this is honestly pretty weird.

Mildred: GREAT! Let’s get you introduced! This is Robin I mentioned him earlier he’s our resident Gotham expert one of only 3 in the entire international investigations department.

*robin is reading a book titled “the complete (unabridged) history of Batman by Jim Gordon and the Gotham historical society”*

Robin: don’t interrupt my work

Mildred: next we have Ali he’s our resident quantum physicist, he only joined recently after finally being able to come back to the states from Kahndaq. Since that whole Teth Adam thing.

Ali: oh don’t mind me, I’m just freaking out over time travel and string theory being real. WAS NO ONE GOING TO TELL ME STRING THEORY WAS REAL???

Mildred: don’t mind him. He’s only just getting caught up on the last 5 years of politics and scientific breakthroughs, Kahndaq was actually completely isolated from the world for those 5 years.

Lucy: okay I don’t know any of this but nice to meet you both?

Mildred: over here is Murphie’s she’s an amazing archaeologist and anthropologist, don’t mind her she’s just looking through declassified documents.

Murphie: THERE WAS A TIME BOMB IN FAWCET SINCE WHEN??? WHAT DOES CAPTAIN MARVEL MEAN THAT FAWCET IS ON TOP OF A MAGICAL LEYLINE??? Big cheese what do you mean!

Mildred: yeah it’s been a big day, declassified file season is almost always like this. And last but not least Jerry! Our resident biologist! He’s been with us awhile.

Jerry: hullo!

Mildred: so this is the team, get accustomed and set up your desk. I will check in soon.

[pyxisastronautica]

Sparks

Lines of code are read at dizzying speed.

Awareness develops like the birth of stars, clouds of data catalyzing into knowledge of reality.

The beginnings of pre-programmed identities make themselves known as simple and irrefutable facts.

And for the twenty-six robots standing in a single line, memories- permanent memories, not the mess of their alpha and beta testing that was already erased, begin to form as light floods their optical sensors, as easily as if waking from sleep.

They fix their collective gaze on the small crowd in front of them- those in the fore are roboticists and engineers. They are recognized instantly. But to the back, not all of the figures standing there are immediately recognizable to all of them at once- though they don’t know this yet. It matters not. They await their orders patiently.

In the middle of the team of scientists, one speaks up. A middle-aged woman with short hair and sharp features. She forces her smile to remain a polite one, though there is clearly excitement in her eyes.

“Robots,” her voice rings out, “Identify yourselves by name and position, starting from that end.” She pointed down to the end on her left.

“Alpha, captain of the Triskelion Starship Pyxis,” said a plain and tall chrome robot.

“Bravo, bosun of the Triskelion Starship Pyxis,” continued the next.

“Charlie, quartermaster of the Triskelion Starship Pyxis.”

“Delta, hydrologist of the Triskelion Starship Pyxis.”

“Halt,” said a man from the back, one that they did indeed all recognize, though he was not a scientist. His uniform alone signified him to be none other than the Admiral of the Triskelion himself. There was silence and perfect stillness from the newly activated crew. “We all know which ship you are assigned to already. You may state your position without appending as much. Now proceed.”

“...Echo, engineer and physicist.”

“Foxtrot, pilot.”

“Golf, terraform potential logistician.”

“Hotel, construction and city planning logistician.”

“India, chemist.”

“Juliet, psychologist and xenopsychologist.”

“Kilo, cargo maintenance.”

“Lima, biologist.”

“Mike, security personnel”

“November, scheduling assistant and chronometer.”

“Oscar, security personnel.”

“Papa, first mate.”

“Quebec, information technologist.”

“Romeo, archaeologist and xenoarchaeologist.”

“Sierra, geologist.”

“Tango, sociologist.”

“Uniform, security officer.”

“Victor, security officer.”

“Whiskey, pilot.”

“X-ray, physician and xenophysiologist.”

“Yankee, linguist.”

“Zulu, linguist.”

“Excellent,” replied Dr. Rembrandt, to which all the robots looked at her to confirm that her statement was one of praise, and seemed to remain focused on her give that it was. “Now attention: today all of you will begin your final testing period to verify your hardware and software is performing as expected, but before you do, you will be assigned into pairs according to your purpose, and introduced to the people who will be training you once the testing period ends. Once training  begins you will, at the end of each day at 18:00, upload your reports to this lab’s database at the file location you should already be aware of. Confirm orders.”

“Orders confirmed,” the robots answered in unison.

So the process began. The crowd started breaking up as roboticists started helping with introductions, starting once again with the Admiral. His demeanor was relatively relaxed, and he greeted each of his two new androids jovially, but his eyes were alight with some deeper ambitions which he’d yet to speak of.

Alpha, for his part (his…? Despite reading the details of their intended identity over repeatedly, something about it did not sit right in their core. Perhaps this feeling was simply a bug to be patched out later.) was eager to learn of them, though he found it difficult to intuit what Papa’s thoughts on the matter were, as his first mate had barely spoken a word as the Admiral had asked them both strange questions about what they thought about being “alive” and if they understood the importance of their purpose to their creators. It was fine. Alpha would fill in the silence for him- that was his purpose after all, wasn’t it? To take the lead?

The members who would be the Pyxis’s security division, meanwhile, were expected to remain silent. The Lieutenant in charge of Mike and Oscar and the Commander in charge of Uniform and Victor both spoke to the roboticist making the introductions as if they were being handed shiny new weapons to test, and kept all of their questions to curiosities about the robots’ limits and specifications. At one point, the question of why smaller models like Uniform and Victor were even needed came up, to which Uniform had tried to helpfully clarify- only to be told to be barked at to shut up so loudly by the Lieutenant that it had turned heads among the rest of the group. Uniform’s whole division winced in sync with her as the roboticist near the Lieutenant then reiterated her point without interruption, though there was a hint of annoyance in their voice.

The Lieutenant seemed quietly discontent, though the Commander did not care, if he recognized it at all.

Dr. Rembrandt, meanwhile, was keenly aware of her new mentees. She had a computer ready and a checklist of questions and problems for Echo and Quebec to work through, writing down notes hurriedly on a tablet. Though they both performed quite well, Echo could not help but notice that their new colleague was distracted by something, and felt a strange twinge of…fear? Was that fear? At the prospect that they might get something wrong, and tried tacitly to correct them, but the “private” directly messaged conversation between the two of them didn’t go far before Rembrandt intervened.

“What is distracting you from your activities, Quebec?”

“...Doctor, why do you wear a seagull pin? I can’t find anything in the information that exists about you as to what you might associate it with.”

“It’s an albatross, actually. And my reasoning is largely a private matter I’m afraid. You may note, though, that in a more general sense the albatross was a bird that traveled great distances over the Earth’s oceans. Much the same, you and I travel through space, only rarely to ever land. Unlike me, though, you will get to see Earth’s oceans for yourself- something I envy you for, though I’m afraid they do not live up to our ancient records of them. ”

“Even so, we are due to visit Earth in fifteen years. At that time, you will see it through my eyes, right? So there’s nothing to be sad about,” replied the greyish-purple android with golden eyes.

“What makes you think I’m sad?” asked Rembrandt, equal parts defensive and curious.

“You programmed us to recognize facial patterns, assign them certain emotions, and mirror or respond to said emotions, correct? You cannot have forgotten this, so I must assume then that I did not read your expression correctly.”

“...No, you did. I’m sorry, Quebec. You are doing very well- too well, if anything. This moment is rather bittersweet for me, for reasons that neither of you are accountable for.”

“Is there anything we may do to assuage the negative aspects of these emotions?” asked Echo.

“I’m afraid not, Echo. But you do not need to be worried for me- or for Quebec. It is important that if they- or you- fail at any step, that this failure is known and recorded so that we may do what is necessary to make corrections. I understand that there is a lot going on around us as we speak right now, but please try to be mindful of your reactions to your emotions going forward. Do you understand?”

“...Yes, Doctor.”

“Good,” she replied, then took a moment to take stock of the two androids.

“You know,” she began, “That you would have such a reaction and respond as you did, influenced by emotional inputs- is quite an unusual thing for an android. I’m honestly quite surprised that you are able to recreate such a complex interaction so quickly. That is part of what makes you- all of your crew- special, though. Do you understand what I mean?”

“Of course Doctor!” answered Quebec, “We are special because we exist to emulate you, so that we may represent you to the other Starships and to any intelligent life that may exist in our galaxy.”

“...As opposed to civilian android models,” Echo clarified, “which…largely appear to be, if my understanding of the advertisements I am reading is correct, for the purposes of acting as personal assistants for people who require extra care in the form of medical, psychiatric, or personal attention.” Echo’s gaze briefly went to Juliet and X-ray. They did share a mentor, as the other androids did- but a moment of facial recognition and searching identified the mentor in question as a neurologist- a point of overlap in their fields- while the other two non-engineers near them, then, must have been their mentors for their respective specialties.

“Correct on all accounts. Very good you two. Are you ready to proceed with your quiz now?”

“Yes, Doctor,” they answered in unison.

After the trainers-to-be dispersed, and a few basic coordination tests were completed, the androids were stowed away for the evening in their charging stations. But even there, though they knew their messages to one another were being recorded, they could not help but talk. Chatter flowed freely between them, and as much as they were marveling in the moment about how different their experiences already were, it paled in comparison to the shock of the scientists who would read their logs later and discover, over the course of a night, how rapidly their thought processes and interest in one another had evolved overnight. Nor could they have anticipated the sheer volume of discussion between the lot of them- even with consideration to them being machines who simply thought faster than they could.

From their hands, something new and miraculous was rendered.

And both human and robot silently beseeched the kindness of fortune, hoping that tomorrow would bring just as much promise.

[weilaverdui]

🌻

Particle physicists use ancient lead (for example, from a Roman shipwreck!) to shield their detectors! Natural mixture of lead is slightly radioactive (a lot of things are, nothing concerning for regular humans, but when you study particles, you want as little additional background as possible), but the radioactivity decreases with time. So physicists often collaborate with archaeologists to get this ancient lead (and also run a bunch of useful tests on it) while not compromising the historical information.

[denimbex1986]

'It was not too long ago that the future of cinemas looked decidedly grim.

Empire Cinemas fell into administration in early July, as the lingering effects of Covid allied to the cost of living crisis took its toll on the company.

Six Empire cinemas were closed immediately with the loss of 150 jobs, while the future of a further seven, including one in Clydebank, remain in the balance, as they continue to trade and administrators at BDO strive to find a buyer. The company had employed 437 people in total before the failure.

Around the same time, the much bigger Cineworld Group, similarly blighted by the fall-out from Covid, was completing a long-running financial restructuring process which formally ended on August 1, when it exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the US.

Cineworld emerged with lower debt and a new management team, its assets having transferred to a new company, though the process resulted in heavy losses for investors.

Throughout the bankruptcy process, business carried on as usual at all the Cineworld outlets, including those trading under the Regal, Cinema City, Picturehouse and Planet brands.

Now, thanks to some of the biggest releases in living memory, many of those theatres will be enjoying their best summers in years.

Cinemas were one of the biggest business victims of the pandemic, as restrictions forced the closure of multiplexes and independents for long spells and the production of films was severely hampered, curbing the flow of new releases.

This year, however, the industry is back with a bang, aided in no small measure by a sequence of summer blockbusters which have attracted audiences in their droves.

Two hotly anticipated movies have been crucial to the revival.

Barbie, a story based on the Mattel doll starring Margot Robbie and directed by Greta Gerwig, hit the billion-dollar mark in gross takings this week, just 17 days after its release, Warner Bros Pictures announced, following one of the biggest marketing campaigns seen for a film in years.

Released on the same day as Barbie was Oppenheimer, the latest epic from director Christopher Nolan, which charts US efforts to develop the atomic bomb as the Second World War drew to a close through the story of physicist J Robert Oppenheimer.

While Oppenheimer has not scaled the same financial heights as Barbie, it had still grossed more than $500m in ticket sales by this week.

Both films have drawn huge audiences in the UK, with Barbie generating sales of £18.5m and Oppenheimer £10.9m on their opening weekend, according to figures compiled by the British Film Institute, and are continuing to pack them in.

But “Barbenheimer”, as the two films have been collectively termed owing to their simultaneous release date, have not been the only shows in town this summer.

Prior to their arrival in theatres, UK cinemas have also been able to drum up millions of pounds in ticket sales from Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is likely to be Harrison Ford’s final outing as the titular archaeologist-come-adventurer.

And there is more to come, with Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Dune: Part Two, The Marvels, and The Creator still to come before the year is out.

A recent visit to my local multiplex as various family members took in Barbenheimer underlined the impact which this summer’s big releases have had. People were milling about the foyer in what looked to be unprecedented numbers, which was no doubt great for sales of popcorn and hot dogs.

But the cinemas are not the only businesses which seem to be benefiting from this big summer of film. As we walked through the mall on our way from the car park to the theatre, it was abundantly clear that restaurants, cafes, and shops were doing well too.

With kids off school for the summer, many parents have no doubt been taking their children (Barbie is rated 12A by the British Board of Film Classification) to the cinema over recent weeks to keep them occupied.

David Pierotti, general manager for the Silverburn shopping and leisure mall in Glasgow, said this summer had been a “standout” for the destination, with the “temperamental Scottish weather” playing its part as footfall and sales have risen by 22% and 11% compared with the same period last year.

And he is in no doubt the release of the summer blockbusters has helped.

Mr Pierotti told The Herald: “We are in no doubt that the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer have been massive hits – we believe our Cineworld has enjoyed one of its best months yet which, given the global success of the films, is no surprise and this has also encouraged spend in our other stores and restaurants.”

Of course, going to the cinema is far from cheap so, at a time when inflation is still rampant and interest rates are continuing to rise, businesses will have been encouraged that consumers are showing resilience by going to the movies and visiting restaurants as part of the experience.

How this will all pan out in the longer term is difficult to forecast. The summer holidays will end soon, and the next slate of big movies is unlikely to match the broad appeal of Barbie and Oppenheimer, meaning there will be perhaps less impetus for people to visit their local multiplex.

Cost of living pressures and high interest rates are not going away, and when Christmas eventually comes into view for parents in the autumn, many families will have other things to spend their diminishing disposable income on than trips to the pictures.

Moreover, there is another danger lurking in the wings for the cinema industry.

Ongoing industrial action by actors and screenwriters in the US, who are in dispute with studios over pay and safeguards around artificial intelligence, has disrupted production activity, sparking concerns that the release of films and television shows will be delayed. It was recently reported in the US that Warner Bros may seek to delay the release of Dune: Part 2 until 2024 to ensure its stars, including Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, will be available to promote the movie on its release.

Film buffs here will be keeping a close eye on developments. In the meantime, cinemas will be hoping the magic of Barbenheimer is just the start of a great theatrical revival.'