Friday Varia and Quick Hits

We are supposed to have a bit of a respite from the summertime weather this weekend and into the start of next week, and there is even the promise of a bit of rain! As for so much of the Midwest and Northern, we are caught in a drought and any precipitation would be welcome.

Speaking of precipitation, I am shocked, SHOCKED, that rain has delayed the start of the Men’s World Test Championship between New Zealand and India in Southampton. Who could have anticipated rain interrupting a much ballyhooed test match in England in the summertime? At least the England-India women’s test match seems to continue uninterrupted (although I suspect that India would enjoy a spot of showers right about now). I want to be excited about the second test in the West Indies-South Africa series starting today in Gros Islet in Saint Lucia, but much like the Sixers’ chances in the NBA playoffs, past performance by the Windies doesn’t give me much confidence. In other words, it might be just as well that I shift my attention to the buffet of boxing this weekend and look forward to the Naoya Inoue title defense on Saturday night. I’ll also almost certainly check out the Formula at Paul Ricard and the NASCARlers’ return to Nashville Speedway which this year will include the Cup guys.

Amid the summertime sports and fine weather there’s the constant drone of books to be read, manuscripts to edit, and data to be crunched. 

And of course quick hits and varia to herd:   

• The Late Bronze Age western Argolid in 2021.

• The Greek Archaeological Cadaster.

• Archiving Archaeological Data in the United Kingdom.

• Laurence Professorship of Classical Archaeology.

• Greece’s Unseen Corners.

• Visualizing Archaeologists: A Reflexive History of Visualization Practice in Archaeology.

• More on Classics:

The Study of Classics Is Changing.

Open Letter to the SCS on Supporting Departments and Programs.

Bringing Knives to a Gunfight.

Classics Includes Many Areas of Study.

• Do Ancient Egyptians Dream of Electric Sheep?

• Sitting uncomfortably.

• CFP: Bridging Digital Approaches and Legacy in Archaeology.

• Let’s Keep Colston Falling.

• This is the Place Salt Lake City, Utah and the Voortrekker Monument Pretoria.

• The European Review of Books.

• OUP Closing Printing Arm.

• Hall and Oates.

• What I’m reading: Walter Scheidel, Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity. Princeton 2019. [It is an endless book and a case study for why authors should avoid writing BIGBOOKS and publishers should avoid publishing them. They not only monopolize the reader’s time, but also very rarely contribute in proportion to their size.]

• What I’m listening to: Ralph Peterson, Raise Up Off Me.