Friday Quick Hits and Varia

It is a cold day here in North Dakotaland, but the weekend should provide enough excitement to keep us all warm. Be sure to come down to Sidestreet Grille and Pub for Punk Archaeology featuring some good conversation, rock ‘n’ roll, and adult beverages on Saturday starting ay 7 pm. We’ve received some great coverage in the local press including this thoughtful article (which optimistically compare us to the famous Fargo Testicle Festival of 2001; I prefer to think of us as a 21st century version of the Zip to Zap.) Or better still, check out Colleen Morgan’s essay for our little Punk Archaeology volume and Andrew Reinhard’s thoughts. Our producer Aaron Barth will be on Fargo’s 101.9 FM Morning Talk from 7:30-8:00 tomorrow to talk about Punk Archaeology. We will be streaming punk archaeology here starting around 7 pm CST tomorrow. We’ll be monitoring the Twitter hashtag #punkarch throughout the night! (Have I mentioned how awesome it is that Mike Wittgraf has agreed to play with Reinhard, Barth, and some of the Dirty Frenchmen?) 

In the meantime, occupy yourself, if you like, with some quick hits and varia:

• A prize competition for the best visualization of data in Classics. It pays American cash dollars.

• Some awesome photographs of turn of the (20th) century Greece.

• A depressing example of adaptive reuse in Syria.

• Some awesome photographs of Afghanistan in happier times. 

• Bathing in the Bronze Age.

• How to write with style.

• The role of “performance” (in quotes) in Late Antiquity. I think they mean, so-called performance or at least performance in an ironic way.

• Prof. Ron Stroud being honored by the American School of Classical Studies. He’s a class act.

• How to teach with grace.

• Vertiginous.

• The Temple of Apollo at Corinth under the bright lights.

• A database of Artefacts and Raw Materials in Byzantine Archival Documents. 

• High-end audio in USAToday.

• WHY IS NO ONE SUPPORTING SURFANA? I can’t think of any more excellent idea right now.

• I have no idea what to make of this story.

• The faces of archaeology.

• A rough evening for the ole West Indies.

• Some awesome photographs of Detroit that might make us rethink our fixation on abandonment porn. 

• Why am I thinking so much about photography? It’s because Kyle Cassidy will give a talk at UND next Friday and then visit the Bakken with my North Dakota Man Camp Project colleagues.

• Another – infinitely less depressing – amazing example of adaptive reuse. 

• More (if it was even possible) on the North Dakota oil boom in the New York Times.

• Some amusing and some annoying thoughts on service. Last time I talked about service here on my blog, I got attacked on Facebook. Now I just tell paraphrase Herodotus and tell my more junior colleagues: cities that were once great are now small and cities that were once small are now great and that human happiness never tarries long in one place…  

• What to do if you’re cold at the University of Richmond. 

• Some amazing maps: a new map of the U.S. organized by population, some 19th century maps and graphs of the U.S. also organized around population, and some relaxing and fascinating afternoon maps.

• What I’m reading: Kyle Cassidy, War Paint: Tattoo Culture and the Armed Forces. (2012)

• What I’m listening to: June Panic, Glory Hole; Frightened Rabbit, Pedestrian Verse.

It’s cold.

An anthem for Punk Archaeology: