Chamomile Tea Party Posters

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

Please don't scare us, because if they have the quality of our transmissions as a way to judge us it won't take long for the Vogons to show up with their yellow fleet.

[Swatopluk]

Oh du zerfrettelter Grunzwanzling
Dein Harngedränge ist mir als wie Schnatterfleck auf Bienenstich
Grupp, ich beschwöre dich, mein punzig Turteldrom
Und kränge reifig dich mit krinklen Bindelwördeln
Sonst werd ich rändern dich in deine Gobberwarzen
Mit meinem Börgelkranze
Wart's nur ab!

To be able to recite that from memory was a thing of pride at school.

Edit: checking from references show that there are some minor mistakes
It should be without als in the second line
drängel instead of kränge in the 4th
mich instead if dich in the same line
dich before rändern instead of after in the 5th (although I am quite sure that the audio recording has it like I have it)

[Opsa]

That's not Vogon poetry, is it?

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

It sounds quite Vogon after google translate...

[Swatopluk]

It's the translation of Adam's rendition of Prostetnik Vogon-Yeltz' poem that he read to Arthur and Ford

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

The vogonity!

[Opsa]

Heaven help us all! 

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Roman concrete is still there after two millennia and there are wooden artifacts from the stone age that preceded the Roman age by a few years ( )
The archaeologists will hve to dig a bit but there will be enough remains of modern stuff to at least conclude that there once were stored electrons in use here. But they will be spared celebrity sex tapes which should count as a plus.
There is that hypothesis that we cannot make contact with aliens because they got our broadcasts first and concluded that they would not have anything to do with us based on the 'quality'of that.

Indeed: if the conditions are right, a bit more (as I said).

Most concrete is made from the traditional formula, and is for all practical matter, artificial limestone with mixed rocks as an aggregate.   Sometimes the aggregate is limestone too-- meaning the whole thing is subject to water erosion (limestone is considered porous, as is bare concrete).

But if the location is quite dry, as in a desert?  The concrete could conceivably last several thousand years or so, such as what we have with the Romans' works.   Also, if the concrete is protected by other, more water-resistant materials, then obviously it lasts longer too.  Or of the water going through/around it is mildly alkali, having passed through alkali-beds of minerals, it tends to not eat away the 'crete as fast.

But a million years?  Nope-- I'd bet real money, none of the various formulas will last that long, unless buried pretty well.  And even then, not in a rain-heavy area.

Metals will last even less than concrete/wood, as pure metal is not a natural state-- the atoms that make up metals "prefer" to be in a lower energy state than in pure metal, with a few rare exceptions (lead being one).   So most metals will decay away to their "rust" versions of oxidized salts, many of which are water soluble, and would wash away after a million or so years, leaving not even a trace.

Certain plastics could conceivably survive for a million years or so, if buried deeply enough.   But near the surface, both oxygen and ultra-violet light break plastics down into their edible parts (edible by microbes that is).

Glasses?  Those will likely still be around, as will ceramics of all sorts, especially if buried out of direct sunlight's corrosive effects.   

So, in a million years or so?  Deposits of ceramic tiles will still be around, clustered around a central ceramic ceremonial pot of an oddly but seemingly functional shape.   Future archeologists may well conclude that humans each had a central (some having two or three) shrine to give offerings to some unknown deities.    A lessor offering basin is frequently found nearby too.  And in some of the shrines, a really large, rectangular basin can be found as well-- often next to the more common one.   And in some of the larger dwellings, there are a whole set of these worship-shrines in a row, one after another-- perhaps these future-historians will conclude that worship was a solitary and private affair with the long-extinct human animal, such that there needed to be a whole set of these worship-shrines where there were large numbers of humans.

Clearly, these shrines were made to simulate caves of some sort, as the simulated stone linings in the form of ceramic squares are often seen deposited around the central ceremonial basin...

...

[Swatopluk]

You have not by chance read "Das Geheimnis der Gräber von Usa" (The secret of the Usa tombs)?
I don't know whether that was originally English or German.
It's about a future archeologist that discovers a buried motel of the mysterious Usa culture and interprtes the findings in a similar way.

The easiest way for any alien explorers to find out that there must have been a culture here that reached the atomic age is the relation of certain stable isotopes like those of lithium. Atomic testing has shifted that enough that chemists have to consider it when doing mass calculations (it's enough to literally tip the scales).The aliens do not even have to stumble over our radioactive waste to notice it.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

That's a very good point.

Even the Van Allen belts (natural belts of radiation around the earth, up in space) have new, artificial layers from atmospheric testing of atomic bombs.

Iron is effected too-- a good chemist can date when iron was smelted, as from pre-atomic and post-atomic, just from the percent of radioactive iron isotopes (a very tiny fraction of a percent, but measurable).

So much so, that pre-atomic iron sheets are literally priceless for use in certain testing facilities as shielding....

[Griffin NoName]

I can tell a lot about myself from the lines in the palm of my hand

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I can tell a lot about myself from the lines in the palm of my hand

I've no doubt.

Unfortunately, modern politicos are never much interested in introspection, rather preferring to worry about getting more power and privilege for themselves instead...

[Opsa]

This, of course, is not limited to the modern politicos.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

This, of course, is not limited to the modern politicos.

Well, of course.  This is why all modern religions are so very, very messed up.... corrupted by power.



One of the reasons why the Quaker movement hasn't succumbed to this corruption, I strongly suspect, is they very early on, structured their power such that, no single or group of individuals has authority over anyone else.  A model to be admired, even if I don't particularly believe in gods.  There is clearly some value in ritual, meditation and introspection that the Quaker attitude seems to encourage.

If only the others would take note...

.... yeah, right...

[Opsa]

Thank you for the nice words about Quakers. I have a bunch of Quaker liberal relatives and they are very cool people who organize to do some good in their community without putting any self-righteous godlygook into it. I like them.

Weirdly enough, some people seem to think that Quakers are "backward". I think they have them mixed up with Mennonites, who eschew modern technology. But they have their own reasons to do so, which I think I can respect.