Month: March 2013

Craigslist is still scammy

hyperlocal craigslist transactions without the ick factor of craigslist remain an unsolved problem.

i have a steam mop i’d like to get rid of and the easy channels like coworkers and foaf have failed, but like hell i’m going to deal with craigslist weirdos to move this item. what do do?

Destroy the USPS

The former tenant of my apartment was this confused person who enjoyed catalogs. She failed to register her address change with usps when she absconded. How do I get the USPS to stop spamming me with her junk mail, given that the USPS only survives because of junk, and its initiatives to reduce junk mail are about as honest as number portability?

Hittite fortress

This might be one of the biggest historical discoveries in 100s of years. (is there a list of these?). basically, there was a 4th great empire in the bronze age besides egyptians, assyrians and babylonians: the hittites (note not the biblical hittites). they built a fortress city that is without doubt a wonder of the ancient world, probably in the top 3 fortresses in the world in terms of scale and defensibility. they went on to conquer a vast empire (by bronze age standards, about the size of turkey) but disappeared in 1180 BC without a trace during the bronze age collapse, until they were rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century.