AE on Telly News (NEW CONCEPTS)

[Mick Harper]

If it was a Grand Scam from start to finish we are in ticklish 'conspiracy theory' territory. The standard objection would have to be met: how could such a complex scheme be carried out when so many individuals would know all about it and, apparently, nobody has 'fessed up from that day to this. On the other hand, if it was a fairly tight conspiracy -- an established gang of Egyptian tomb-robbing crims, Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter -- then this is (just about) do-able.

But what if it became a Grand Scam? The economics of archeological digs needs to be examined. They are extremely expensive if conducted away from home and not by undergraduates in their long vacations. Middle Eastern ones certainly were, even taking into account the cheapness of local labour. And there were plenty of them, so who paid? Local governments (whether native or colonial) might, prestigious universities might, wealthy patrons... er... did they? Dunno. I suppose it was fashionable, so maybe.

Did Lord Carnarvon? I doubt it...

[Mick Harper]

But there is another aspect of archeological economics that needs examining. The pecuniary value of what is found. From the Good Book

[Mick Harper]

Actually I don't know whether that is true so I won't be going down our old favourite, World Record Lane. Let's just say they were incredibly rare which allows us to go down Bayesian Statistics Lane. Assuming there are unplundered pharaohs' tombs out there, how would we expect them to be discovered?

1. Most of all by modern ground scanning techniques. After all, they have by definition evaded discovery by thousands of years of tomb-robbers looking for them, so they must be incredibly hard to find.

2. By serendipity. There were a fair few pharaohs, they could all protect their tombs while their dynasty survived, they all knew their dynasty would not survive for the requisite time required i.e. eternity, so a fair few of them would make their own hard to find and had the resources to do so. But 'hard to find' stands no chance against Bayesian statistics.

Oddly neither of these applied in the case of Tutankhamun's tomb. Carter certainly did not have access to anything remotely scientific but nor was the find serendipitous. He had deciphered an artefact with Tut's name on it and, on enquiring where it was found, knew where to look. And lo and behold, his 'workers' stumbled across a flight of stairs going dahn, dahn, dahn.

That was his story anyway...

[Mick Harper]

I cannot bring myself to believe that you can excavate an underground tomb complex in the Valley of the Kings without someone noticing so we may take it as read that the tomb itself is genuine. Since it is in the Valley of the Kings, maybe even a genuine pharaonic tomb. It is what is inside that is open to question. The sheer amount would, on our numismatic rule of thumb

[Mick Harper]

Carter meticulously recorded the contents of the tomb. It passeth all understanding that such a mountain of Ancient Egyptiana would have been meticulously collected by a gang of modem tomb ... er ... restorers, so either it is genuine or Ancient Egyptian fakes are available on the open market for a relative song.

But this is not what made Carter famous or the Carnarvon estate rich -- it is undoubtedly the case that genuine but standard Ancient Egyptiana is available everywhere. That was down to the 'treasure'. Most of all the famous death mask of Tutankhamun that has adorned so many book and catalogue covers ever since. The one that looks like every Hollywood film representation of pharaohs whether it is Ramesses II chasing Charlton Heston or Richard Burton wooing Cleopatra a thousand years later. Though of course, if it is genuine, they would, wouldn't they?

On the other hand, valuable Ancient Egyptian artefacts can be made to measure...

[Mick Harper]

[Mick Harper]

Trawlermen (BBC1)

The BBC would no longer need to rely on the licence fee if they hired out their camera crews to British trawlers. By a process that is not yet completely understood, all commercially-caught fish species in British waters instinctively know when a trawler with a television crew aboard is on its very last day out to sea, having had not much luck, and make for its nets in such abundant numbers as to make for highly satisfactory dénouements to said fishing trips.

We thank the fish for providing this service but caution them not to do so in such numbers as to jeopardise overall stocks. If they could ignore non-British ships -- with or without camera crews aboard -- that would be greatly appreciated.

Late breaking news from COP27, Sharm el-Sheikh:
Trawling the sea floor wrecks the marine environment and it takes approximately fifty years for the damage to be be made good. Member states are requested not to make roseate television series about the activity thereby encouraging the practice.

[Mick Harper]

One got used to a certain amount of filler during Covid, one gets used to the BBC feeling it has to do something for minorities, but should an hour and a half of BBC-2 primetime really be given over to a group match in the Rugby League Wheelchair World Cup?

And why are England and Australia in the same group anyway? I thought they were pretty much the only countries that played any form of rugby league. But perhaps my ignorance shows the need for more coverage of this form of the game. Come to think of it, at my time of life, I might investigate taking it up myself. If the wheelchairs are motorised -- and if that is not a different sport entirely.

[Mick Harper]

Here's a really odd coincidence. I'll do it by approximate timeline

5 30 pm Wrote up the last post. I don't think I was consciously aware of wheelchair rugby.
5.45 pm Thought about a post dealing with the difficulty of combining using your hands to violently manoeuvre a sports wheelchair with using your hands to receive and pass a rugby ball. I couldn't see how it was done.
6 00 pm Decided to watch (American) Football Talk Live instead. They were discussing tonight's Houston Texans vs Philadelphia Eagles and one of them remarked it was the first time since 19?? that a World Series game had coincided with a Thursday night NFL game between the same cities. They do like their stats in America.
6 15 pm One of them went into a violent rant about the Houston Astros cheating their way to their first World Series.
6. 20 pm Intrigued, I started watching some YouTubes about it. I recommend it, I really do. Only in America (maybe).
7. 00 pm OK already, I'd had enough. Then someone started talking about Spider Tack, an industrial strength glue invented by a weight lifter to get maximum purchase on various weird heavy objects. They do like their novelty feats of strength in America.
7. 01 You know me. Its connection with baseball cheating I just had to know.
7. 05 Apparently it gives pitchers endless opportunities to put more dip into their sliders by sticking their fingers into a blob of Spider Tack secreted inside their glove or about their person and thence onto the ball.
7. 07 Who mostly uses it now it's been outlawed by Major League Baseball? They said...
7. 08 People playing wheelchair rugby.

[Grant]

It’s fascinating how we understand the world by way of stories, rather than by logical analysis. The TV news shows us this every day.
Remember when the Ariana Grande terrorist attack happened six years ago.? The immediate narrative promoted by everyone was how wonderful the emergency services were. The brave policemen, the ambulance drivers, the security guards, all did a wonderful job.
Actually we learn now from the reliable media, they were all shit. All of them.
Of course, the journalists at the time somehow never noticed it.

But why did the narrative change?

[Grant]

I think we comforted ourselves at first by the thought that even though the incident was terrible, our reaction to it showed us the best side of human nature. This story lasted for a few years. Then the enquiry started revealing faults in the responses of the emergency services. A new narrative emerged.

Now we are told how inadequate virtually everyone was. All the news sources step into line in vilifying innocent people who were trying to help. Sure they weren’t perfect, but who would be in the circs?

I’m sure the lawyers earned a few sweeteners

[Mick Harper]

It is down to Applied Epistemology Rule No 1

[Grant]

Exactly what I was trying to say.

The rescuers were not as good as we thought six years ago, and they’re not as bad as they are being painted now.

Problem with these enquiries is that they will lead to new legislation like the new “Protect Duty” which will give venue owners more paperwork to complete. It’s being designed for venues holding over 100 people but the demand is already being made to include even smaller venues. Soon, we’ll be completing a form to be allowed to visit the local Indian restaurant.

[Mick Harper]

When it gets down to one, our own bathrooms.

[Mick Harper]

Microsoft have taken to putting little pictures in my Type here to search box. They've just put up one of Tutankhamun's death mask. Spooky or what?

PS I hope it is spooky, the alternatives are far more worrying.