Scientific American: Geologists Measure Bullet Damage to Ancient Middle Eastern Settlements. “[Lisa] Mol, who specializes in rock art and rock deterioration, is now spearheading an initiative—the first of its kind—to quantify and catalogue the impacts of bullets in rock at a heritage site in the Middle East. The eventual goal is to inform efforts to conserve or repair such sites.”
architecture
Ars Technica: Archaeologists map centuries of history beneath world’s oldest cathedral
Ars Technica: Archaeologists map centuries of history beneath world’s oldest cathedral. “The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran doesn’t quite look its age. The basilica, where the Pope presides in his role as Archbishop of Rome, was already ancient when it was rebuilt in the 1650s…. Centuries of Roman history lie buried in the darkness in layers stretching down to 8.5 meters (27.89 feet) below the modern floor of the cathedral, and the subterranean archaeological sites are like a honeycomb through the city’s Caelian Hill. Now, using a combination of laser scanning and ground-penetrating radar, archeologists have made a complete map of the site.”
Ars Technica: I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Why AutoCAD malware keeps chugging on
Ars Technica: I’ve got a bridge to sell you. Why AutoCAD malware keeps chugging on. “Criminal hackers continue to exploit a feature in Autodesk’s widely used AutoCAD program in an attempt to steal valuable computer-assisted designs for bridges, factory buildings, and other projects, researchers said Tuesday.”
Purdue University: Travel back in time with Purdue archives’ new online building database
Purdue University: Travel back in time with Purdue archives’ new online building database. “A new online database allows users to take a closer look at the metamorphosis of Purdue’s buildings over the years that goes beyond just maps and illustrations.” What an interesting idea.
The Sunday Times: Photographer raises the bar by snapping every Irish pub
The Sunday Times: Photographer raises the bar by snapping every Irish pub. “Leopold Bloom, the fictional protagonist in James Joyce’s Ulysses, mused that a good puzzle would be to ‘cross Dublin without passing a pub’. Far from trying to solve it, one photographer from the city is setting off on a six-year quest to visit and snap every pub in the country.” The article is paywalled, but enough is visible for you to get the salients.
9News: Incredible photos show Brisbane homes in the 1970s
9News: Incredible photos show Brisbane homes in the 1970s. “In the 1960s, a man in a pink Cadillac and a woman in a van cruised Queensland streets, photographing more than 300,000 homes. Frank and Eunice Corely ran a business taking photos and selling the work back to the homeowners as calendars and postcards. The collection was collecting dust in a Brisbane basement, until the Queensland State Library decided to use the photos to create an interactive piece of history.”
IT News: NSW Spatial Services turns $60m image archive into free 3D models
IT News: NSW Spatial Services turns $60m image archive into free 3D models. “The official public source of land information in NSW, Spatial Services, is turning its 70-year backlog of aerial photography into a 3D digital database for developers, conservationists and historians to understand how the state has changed.”
