The Shroud of Turin
I posted here that the Shroud of Turin was a 14th-century hoax. I was inundated with responses that it is a genuine 1st-century CE relic. It is not. In this guest-authored Skeptic column, shroud expert Andrea Nicolotti explains why:
open.substack.com/pub/michaelshe…

Why did “they” wait until now to prosecute Trump. The WSJ—no friend of Biden to say the least—breaks down the timeline, their role in it, and why Biden had nothing to do with it, much less that he (or George Soros) bribed the jurors.
wsj.com/politics/polic…

. Elizabeth Weiss called it years ago in her first book and on my show.
She was told that it is inappropriate to ID a skeleton as male or female because we don't know what sex someone 8,000 years ago would have identified as.
Barking mad.
youtu.be/F13Kdcvz57w

Trigger Warning at today's university:
'This course on the study of ancient human skeletons contains...ancient human skeletons.'
JFC, my son was triggered by skeletons...when he was 4. He's now 8 and not at all bothered.
Is that where we're at now?
wsj.com/world/trigger-…

“Our aim is not to halt scientific enquiry. But when it comes to transgender identity, knowledge cannot be pursued in isolation from the many societal factors that shape how that knowledge is received and acted on.”
—Nature editorial

'This statement translates to prioritizing

I have always supported equal prize money for women in sports so I've earned the right to complain that in grand slam tennis the men have to play best 3/5 vs. women best 2/3.
Huge difference in effort/time but equal pay.
Women can absolutely play 5 sets/5 hours if necessary.
Why

'if you are the sort of skeptic who feels that mass delusion is more plausible than the possibility of powers normally unseen—you will leave strongly inclined to agree with the author that evil is literally real'

I am that sort of skeptic!
Evil is real in the adjectival sense

I will never cease to be astonished at what our species is capable of accomplishing when so motivated and talented and creative

The Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti at the Piazza del Duomo Museum

450 steps to the top for a window on the world of Renaissance Italy

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and the piazza del Duomo

Telescopes were also works of art

Galileo’s famous experiments with rolling balls down planes and measuring their accelerating speeds as they cover more space in the same amount of time

Some classic history of science and technology courtesy of the Galileo Museum in Florence, Italy

Donatello’s David. Love the detail of the stone in the slingshot and one in Goliath’s forehead. Ouch!

More Renaissance awe