It really is amazing what kinds of spam and spoof can flutter into your home. Email spam and comment spam is something that you'd expect, sort of.

I've also almost grown accustomed to the occasional call from "Microsoft", who are kindly inquiring how they can help me with my Windows computer problems. (Hint: No techsupport on Earth will ever call you voluntarily. Ever. And nobody can tell whether you have computer problems or not unless you tell them - they just want your confidential data, your money, or probably both.)

Now, however, the schemes for quick money from people not paying close enough attention have reached the snail-mail stage. A while ago, the Most Patient Husband Of Them All received an actual on-paper version of the classical Nigeria Scam (he did somehow not feel inclined to write them back to claim the several million Euros that he could have because the original owner went off and disappeared or died or whatever). And  I received an extra special bit of funny spoofy spam yesterday:



This very officially-looking letter requests me to send back my information... to list my business, and especially my VAT ID Number (which nobody but other businesses for B2B-transactions ever need, or are interested in) on their website. For just under 400 € per year, plus VAT, and for at least two years.

Well. No thanks, guys.

... is turning small plastic things from looking like this:



into looking more like this:



These are minis from the boardgame "Space Cadets - Away Mission", where you're playing a group of human rocketeers who have to save our world from the evil alien invasion. The guy in the back right of the pic is a "Thrall", a subdued human that can be freed. The rest... they're all proper aliens.

Even though I spent a lot of time painting, I'm not all finished yet. There's still more aliens to do. This guy is about finished, apart from some minor works that still have to be done:



and he has lots of friends in a similar state:



...but there's about a dozen more of them who are still less finished and need to catch up. Plus there's another alien race (the bugs) and yet another group (the leaders) and, as the final and crowning project, the hero miniatures.

So I'll be having some more fun with these things in the next weeks - and I'm already looking forward a lot to the time when all these painted armies hit the table.



Brain in a Jar, anyone?

Somehow catching up always takes longer than expected - so today I'm still trying to get back on track and sort out what has to happen, and how quickly it needs to be addressed. And since I was off the Internet for a good while (which helps me immensely to really relax), I don't even have a stack of linky goodness to give to you. There are only two things:

If you're interested in Speculative Fiction, you can find a post about Australian Spec Fic, written by women and published in 2015, over here.

Also, Doug is making another Archaeology Blogging Carnival, and I'm planning to take part in this. It's called The Grand Challenges for Archaeology... so you can expect a post regarding this in one of the next few days!

 

I'm back - which meant returning to a huge backlog of emails, a stack of things to send out, and a cat very much in need of cuddles (even though her catsitters surely petted her and played with her). We had a wonderful time - and if the year 2016 continues as nicely as it started, it will be beyond awesome!

Speaking of starting the year - last year, we started a new tradition, which pleases me no end. It's traditional in Germany to clink glasses at midnight - usually with some sort of sparkly wine or champagne. Since I don't drink alcohol (I don't like the taste of it), I've always used something else. From juice to sparkling water to weird carbonated wellness drinks to non-alcoholic champagne, I've tried it all, but somehow, somehow it always falls short. (The non-alco champagne was nicest for the festive feeling, but I don't like the taste enough to finish half a bottle or more, and so wasting most of the bottle always rued me.)

Last year, though, I finally had an idea which was pleasing to all in our group: We had mousse au chocolate with the champagne, so I could clink my chocolatey glass with the champagne glasses, feeling appropriately festive. We did repeat it this year, and I think it was the first time in my life I've had the same stuff as everybody else for this celebratory moment. Plus, a year that starts with chocolate mousse... it just has to be a good one, right?

In case you're interested, the mousse I made this year consisted of 200 g good, dark chocolate and five eggs. Melt the chocolate, gently, on low heat; separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites until very stiff. Beat the egg yolks, adding a little hot water (I added about 100 ml); this will increase their volume a lot.

Now mix the almost cool (but still liquid) chocolate into the egg yolks; best is probably to do it slowly, spoon-wise. Fold the egg whites and the chocolate-yolk mix together, then pour into glasses and let it sit in a cool place for a while. (My mix was just the right amount for seven smallish drink glasses.)

This year has really flown by, and I can hardly believe it's December 23 already. Tomorrow is Christmas! (The Germans get an early start, and we get to open our presents and start Xmas properly on the evening of the 24th... so for us, it starts tomorrow.)

The year 2015 has been a wild ride, with publishing the Beast, making the gold embroidery book and kit, a scarf kit together with Margit, several fairs that I had a booth at, and of course the redesign of the website and blog. There was an amazingly productive Textile Forum in November. Plus all the other, smaller, things that have happened this year. There was also time spent with friends watching films, going paddling, drinking tea and playing games. The cat was cuddled an incountable number of times... I'd say 2015 was a very good year.

And as it draws to a close, it's time for me to take my traditional winter break. I'll be spending more time with family and friends, celebrating the slow return of light in our part of the world as it hurtles through space twisting around itself (as you do when you're a planet) and winding down. I'll be enjoying well-loved traditions (to my great delight, we did manage already to watch "Love Actually" and another very traditional christmassy film, "Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel" with the friends that we always try to watch them with in the season), and good food, and generally hanging out having nothing to do but spend time in whatever agreeable way that offers itself.

I'll be back on the blog on January 11. To all of you, and all of your loved ones - I wish you some nice days full of happiness, whether you have already celebrated your season's festivity or whether it's still coming up or even if you don't at all, and a wonderful start into 2016 - may it bring wonderful and excitingly positive developments for us all!

Before I drift off into the blissfulness of the holidays, with nothing to do but hang out with loved ones, have yummy food and too much caffeinated hot beverages and the other usual silliness that accompanies this season, one more non-fluffy blogpost for you - related to gender, and work, and making enough money to live:

Get rich or die vlogging - the sad economics of internet fame tells about the dilemma of those trying to make an income off their youtube videos. (Hint: it's really, really difficult.) Another piece of proof that doing a job you love, and doing it well, does not necessarily mean you'll be able to live on it: Mallory Ortberg from The Toast on Work, Writing, and the Cost of Creative Freedom.

Also related to getting an income: Why Women Don't Apply for Jobs Unless They're 100% Qualified. Harvard Business Review lets you read 5 articles for free - I think this one is really interesting and worth spending one of your five on. The TL;DR? Job descriptions are more like guidelines, and if you think you could do the job well, give it a try. (Another article on HBR, somehow related, is Women Need to Realize Work Isn't School.)

On an unrelated note - I've installed a spambot blocker for the comments, which should not be noticeable at all for you. My test, at least, was successful...

Somehow I have accumulated a whole stack of things that wait to be shared, and since the holidays are very close now, I'd better start sharing them right away...

First of all, there are two calls for papers, both for sessions at the EAA, or more precisely the 22nd Annual Meeting of the EAA in Vilnius 2016 (31st August – 4th September).
All relevant information about the EAA conference, conditions, fees, accommodation etc., can be found on the conference web page, http://eaavilnius2016.lt/:1. Conference and membership fees and conditions: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/registration-fees-and-conditions/2. Accommodation: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/registration-fees-and-conditions/ and http://www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en/information/accommodation/3. Guidelines for speakers and poster presentations: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/general-info/guidelines/4. Deadlines: http://eaavilnius2016.lt/general-info/deadlines/
Untold Stories: Technology, Linearity and Complexity in Archaeological Thought.

The material record naturally lends itself to long-term perspectives. In few areas is this as apparent as the study of technology, which has historically been closely intertwined with the disciplines of archaeology and anthropology. But has our focus on the long-term caused us to unwittingly shape a unilinear, technologically deterministic picture of the past? And is there something to be learnt from the parts of the story which have been pruned from this evolutionist model?

The papers presented in this session will explore examples of how our pattern-seeking approaches have excluded interesting aspects of the story of the relationship between humanity and technology, and the methods by which we can reinstate these. We argue in favour of complexity (but not as a rule); of the little details which can enrich or subvert archaeological grand narratives, while acknowledging that the latter are also an integral part of our discipline.

This session is intended to stimulate discussion of our current approaches to the archaeology of technology, and to consider ways in which they can be developed in order to inform broader theoretical and methodological developments.

The deadline for submissions is February 15. More info and abstract submission:  http://eaavilnius2016.lt/
And another session at the same conference:

TH1-13: ‘Tradition and innovation in textile technology in Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean’ has been provisionally accepted in the theme "Interpreting the Archaeological Record", and the call for proposals of papers and posters has now been opened.

Textile craft with its complex technology and socio-cultural significance has been a key craft in the societies of Bronze Age Europe and the Mediterranean. However complex and socially and economically important, textile technology has often been considered as being rather traditional and non-innovative throughout many centuries of the Bronze Age.
The present session aims to examine textile technology in search for its traditional and innovative elements, through investigating the evidence of archaeological textiles, textile tools and their diachronic changes, botanical and faunal environment, textual sources and imagery of textiles and cloths. The session will focus on the Bronze Age in Europe and the Mediterranean, although papers referring to transitional periods from the Neolithic to the Early Bronze Age, and from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age will also be welcomed.
We particularly welcome all papers discussing various aspects of traditions and innovations traced in textile technology, especially these regarding raw materials and their processing, textile techniques, textile tools and equipment, organisation of textile production and dynamics of its specialisations, cross-cultural and cross-craft interactions, and changes of textile craft in relation to socio-cultural transformations of the past societies.

All paper and poster proposals should be submitted electronically at: https://www.eventure-online.com/eventure/welcome.form?type=abstract&congress=152_EAA&c=bd4350a3-56f9-46d1-8d66-514d76e0eb3c by 15 February 2016.
EXARC invites to a meeting called Goals and perspectives for experimental archaeology and archaeological open-air museums, Leiden (NL), taking place March 10 to 13, 2016. More about the meeting can be found here.

In addition, there's a PhD project in Glasgow, with a spot for a student. The research project will develop nanoparticles for the treatment of textiles found in the Mary Rose. More about this and contact for application can be found at the Glasgow Textile Conservation blog.
And that's all conference and job links I have for now...