What's your special interest/escape from the quagmire.

That’s my favorite too! It’s such an exciting book. It really challenges you to change!

Harry Potter and animals

I do watch tv, but only in the evenings, I love gardening and I used to grow so much. But since moving to this house nearer the coast it's much harder as we get so many gales and strong salt winds that it's getting harder to find stuff that will grow. I've turned my veg gaden over to fruit as that seems to do well, I've not been able to grow peas or beans here at all, the leaves get stripped off by salt wind and the plants shrivel up, they don't even like my greenhouse!

Great observation, both Aristotle and Nietzsche deeply engage with the idea of purpose, though from very different worldviews. To your question: of all Nietzsche's works, "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" is arguably the most profound and artistically bold.

I don't watch any TV and live on my own. So I have the evenings and weekends and am not physically tired from sitting at a desk all day.

Plants are mostly about doing the right thing at the right time. You can then neglect them for the rest of the time.
It minimises effort.
Like many things it comes down to careful observation, a bit of knowledge and trial and error (and a good memory).

I should be working this morning, but kind of set my own schedule, plus work know I am having an issue at the moment and they need my knowledge, so I have some leeway.

Walking and going out minus phone are right up there for me, also reading voraciously, films, music(mainly funk, soul hip hop and electronic) Sci fi and marvelling at grand ideas and people who defy the odds with abstract thinking and determination 

How do you all find the time to do all this stuff? I'm envious, I never have enough time, I'm always running around doing stuf and when I stop I'm mostly to tired to do anything meaningful.

Plants are always good. Seeding, growing, potting up, planting, weeding, spraying, pruning, chopping, watering, digging up, changing, planning, acquiring, cuttings, propagating, etc, Always something to do, if you have a garden and have some house plants to do.

Which leads into recording the weather and making charts of temps and rainfall.

And watching geology vids online and reading (history, SF and other random stuff that takes my fancy).

Hi i found this meme blank and filled it in :) 

Yes, I agree that the pinched heads are fascinating. I love to think of the maker putting his or her mark on the faces and it is as if we can ‘see’ the forefinger and thumb pinching the clay to shape the nose. 

The Judean Pillar Figurines are of two types, of roughly overlapping dates C.800-586BCE, the pinched face and the moulded head, which is as the term suggests was made in a mould and inserted into the pillar shaped body. They were relatively common during the period and were used in the domestic setting, with a significant number of homes having one only figurine. Many archaeologists think they are of the goddess Asherah, but others criticise this view because the evidence isn’t strongly in favour of such a definitive function.

The Syrian figurine I have at the minute is also a pinched head type. I spend hours staring at her, willing her to reveal her intended function. 

The construction of the small Neolithic head is fascinating. It can be seen that the nose was formed by pinching the clay between thumb and finger, and the eyes by rolling small pellets of clay, squashing them onto the face then indenting them with a thumb nail.

Anakin said:

'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.'

My favourite philosopher is Aristotle, whose opinion about the importance of having a purpose in life is similar to Nietzsche's.

Which of Nietzsche's books you enjoyed the most?

That’s intriguing. The meaning and function of the Tanit fìgurine is an on going debate, and some archaeologists have suggested the figurines might not represent the Phoenician god Tanit, rather they could be an object reflective of the cult of Tanit and Baal, and used as a sacrifice in a ritual offering. 

Many figurines for sale in that part of the world, have been looted but yes you can still export from Israel with the correct certification. Unfortunately, those who sell figurines know that buyers will pay premium prices for ancient artefacts and this encourages a trade in looting from archaeological sites. Shops in the Israeli quarter of Old Jerusalem sell looted figurines quite legally and openly, but tend to give fake information of their origin, imprecise information of find location, or inaccurate details. Honest people unwittingly buy these items. For years, Israeli archaeologists have been seeking, unsuccessfully, to get this sort of thing made illegal because when artefacts are removed and haven’t been recorded in situ, historical and cultural information is lost forever. Hopefully your Tanit figurine hasn’t been looted from the seabed, and will have been recorded in situ before being passed on to you. 

I have one replica Neolithic Yarmukian Figurine from Sh’ar Hagolan - it is my most treasured possession. It was made on site beside the River Yarmuk by a student using experimental archaeology techniques, and it’s an amazingly fine replica. The clay was from the surrounding River Yarmuk area. I also have a replica Iron Age IIA Judean Pillar Figurine. On loan, a Neolithic Syrian Halaf figurine, with remnants of decorative paint markings, is sitting on my bookcase. It will be going to a museum in a while. Thinking about this — I need to change my profile image to something more reflective of me. 

I have a few Levantine antiquities: the head of a small Neolithic figurine in pale pottery, a very crude figurine of Tanit (essentially a head and torso) recovered from an Israeli harbour - it has patches of marine concretion, and a Hellenistic era small,  slender, long-necked, earthenware container - probably for perfumed oil or the like - from Palestine.

Israel allows the export of antiquities, if their museums have an adequate number of similar items and they are of no particular academic interest.

I have a lot of special interests, but one of them is reading Nietzsche after a long day at work and reflecting on what it truly means to live authentically in a world shaped by external values , and how much of my life is unconsciously affected by those very forces. As Nietzsche wrote, 'He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.' It makes me question whether the 'why' I’m living by is truly mine, or inherited from the world around me.

Just checked it out, the table looks so cool.

Excellent! There’s an ammonite on my hearth so we have a connection.

Thank you, new accomplice! Very ind of you.

Dog walking and historical eras are always a fantastic escape—I'm currently diving into mesozoic fauna, so all of those are right up my alley.

Home automation. The house talks to me way more than any person with greetings, status updates, reminders, etc. I even programmed her to be a little cheeky. When she detects the dog is back home (via object detection running from a custom built petcam), she will tell me to "beware of the beagle". I've run out of automation ideas for the moment so I'm waiting for inspiration.

I also like building things, usually tech based. I built myself a gaming table (Link). I've probably spent more time building and programming it than I have playing on it.

You have a way with words and I can’t help but be complicit in your avoidance tactics.

Researching Neolithic and Iron Age archaeology in the Levant. Taking my dog to a quiet place and going for a walk. Stopping everything just to look at nature. Reading: Factual during the day e.g., archaeology, anthropology, religion, history, non coercive canine cognition and behaviour management, and fiction in the dark on my kindle before going to sleep.