Well, I followed up on a rumor I heard at work and located a time capsule that was buried in the factory I work at. I confirmed it’s existence and exact location with some GPR that we had on site for other reasons. I was talking with one of the maintenance guys that has worked here 30+ years. When he first came here he was trained by some of the maintenance guys that were here for facility start up. Those guys told him where they had stuck a time capsule during some facility additions. That happened in the mid 1960s.

I look forward to recovering it. Sadly, it’s in a heavy traffic area for forklifts that is the only safe way for a lift to get into an area and it’s under 6.5 to 7 feet of concrete. So it’s going to be a hot minute before I can get my hands on it.

I just hope the container was something specially made for this purpose. Because if it’s a cheap metal lunchbox from that time, a food tin of some sort, or something else not made to last the tests of time, it might be pointless to recover. This area was under water after Katrina and concrete likes to absorb liquids to a degree. Given there used to be a well stocked machine shop here back in that time, I’m holding out hope.

This also has me wondering how many long forgotten time capsules there might be out there. This one was almost completely forgotten about and lost to time.

Hi All,

I'm writing a historical fiction novel based on the Nika Riots of 532. I've written the first nine chapters (80ish pages), in which I lay out the main characters and the world they live in. There's a lot of emphasis on chariot racing and the circus factions, as well as religious controversies.

I'm looking for an expert (maybe a PhD student) in late Roman history to take a look at what I've got and make comments on what is and isn't authentic. I'd imagine four hours work altogether (an hour or two to read, an hour or two to make comments, and an hour to discuss), and I'd be happy to pay a reasonable rate for this. My sense is that the average reader would know much less than the expert, so no research would be required; if the expert doesn't know off hand that I am wrong, then I'll assume it's OK.

Please DM if you're interested.

Click here to read about a court case where someone wanted to hide the racist housing covenant for his property but the County government wouldn't let him. The plaintiff lost on appeal to the high court.

I have been reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao and every character thus far is named after a famous person in Chinese history. The heroine is named Wu Zetian but many of the others are unfamiliar. I don't think the real Empress got to meet all of these people, even though she lived a long time. Maybe if this book becomes famous enough there will be an annotated edition. She also didn't get to pilot a firebird-shaped mecha, alas.

Pretty nervous about my flair application. I wonder what the process of reviewing an application looks like

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Ever since I read it I have wished someone here or at r/badhistory would take down The Digital Antiquarian's series on Sid Meier's Civilization and how it actually gives you a completely accurate view of history. It's really something to see.