Aside From Coins, Do You Have Any Other Hobbies?

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Aethelred, Jan 28, 2017.

  1. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    @Sallent I hear that. Whatever sells and makes money for them. And the public buys it. And we have another Jurassic Park showing. Some people I know think all we ever had were dinosaurs and nothing else. If it ain't a Dino they don't want to hear it.
    Looks like a good book. I buy what I like but you've got to love some of the marine life. So interesting and it's great to have the evidence of their existence for us today. I wish I could get out and do more digging but alas, other things in life hold me back. And some fossils you just have to buy. I'll never get to Morocco big they sure have great fossils.
     
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  3. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    @Collecting Nut I think more people should get in touch with our synapsid ancestors. Twenty years ago the greatest controversy in paleontology was the difference between dinosaur-like birds and bird-like dinosaurs, but today the fun at paleontology meetings lies in the discussions about whether something is a reptile-like mammal or a mammal-like reptile. Thanks to many new fossil finds we are finding out a lot about when synapsid reptiles first took the leap towards becoming mammals, and for a while around 250 million years ago, it looked like mammals were about to become the dominant species on the planet, like this ancestor of ours...

    Cynognathus_BW.jpg
    Cynognathus

    But then arkosaurs came along and crashed the party...

    Euparkeria_capensis.png
    Euparkeria Capenesis

    Before you know it they evolved to dinosaurs and started taking over, and mammals were delegated near irrelevance and prey for the big dinosaurs in town.

    But hey...66 million years ago we got our revenge when the big rock put an end to non-Avian dinosaurs...right?

    pp-dinosaurs-asterdoid-rf-istock.jpg

    Then mammals got to be the boss again, right? Wrong! Avian dinosaurs (ie. giant birds) continued to terrorise us mammals for millions of years...:( Turns out that even after the meteor strike we were still playing second fiddle to our dinosaur overlords.

    terrorbird.png
    Phorusrhacids

    At over 10 feet tall, these beasts made a meal of our ancestors and it took millions of years for the mammals to start asserting themselves as the dominant species over these terror birds.

    But hey, we got our revenge. Look at how far the mighty dinosaur has fallen now. :) I love me some stuffed dino on Thanksgiving.

    exps37465_TH1191752D_6.jpg
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2018
  4. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    Astronomy Discovery in case you missed it.
    All Galaxies rotate at the same rate 1 rev/1 billion years +/- smiggen, no matter their size or mass.

    When I took astronomy, we were told that they rotated differently, small ones faster than large ones. I can now visualize the heavers as a group of enormous gear wheels, all in synchronous time...I can imagine Einstein's spirit scribbling as fast as he can :)


    http://www.astronomy.com/news/2018/03/all-galaxies-rotate-once-every-billion-years
     
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  5. Sallent

    Sallent Live long and prosper

    @desertgem As a dedicated amateur astronomer I think that raises some interesting questions about the properties of dark matter. Would also love to know the sample size for this study and relative distances of these galaxies to our own. I might have to order this study so I can read it for myself.
     
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  6. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    It is so sad when one realizes all of the discoveries yet to come as we age and get closer to never knowing :( But maybe there is more beyond the horizon. Let us know what more info you find. Jim
     
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  7. Orfew

    Orfew Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus

    One of my favourite poems by John Keats (dead at the age of 25)

    When I have fears that I may cease to be
    Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,
    Before high-pilèd books, in charactery,
    Hold like rich garners the full ripened grain;
    When I behold, upon the night’s starred face,
    Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,
    And think that I may never live to trace
    Their shadows with the magic hand of chance;
    And when I feel, fair creature of an hour,
    That I shall never look upon thee more,
    Never have relish in the faery power
    Of unreflecting love—then on the shore
    Of the wide world I stand alone, and think
    Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.
     
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  8. Nyatii

    Nyatii I like running w/scissors. Makes me feel dangerous

    It's been great fun seeing all the interests of everyone. Of special interest to me are all the people that hold firearms dear. At one point in my life I had 28 hobbies if I remember correctly, or thereabouts. Slowly as time passed, for various reasons, most fell by the wayside. One of my main ones...racing was finally given up on last fall. I had kept an entire drive train to build a thumpty-thump muscle car, but finally decided I had transitioned from gearhead to geezerhead. My last race motor went to live in a vette in CA. Getting rid of the other parts like M22 trani and such will make it complete. So that leaves me with mostly firearms and coins, ancients mostly because of the encouragement from the folks here.

    Now the firearms are being slowly disposed of. With 7 gun safes full, it will take a while. Have sent away some neat ones like a Civil War Burnside Patent and a 1936 German Tell pellet rifle, and one of my favorite collectibles, Rem 600 in 6mm unfired in box Mohawk. I have a bunch of them. I also have the Rem 600 .223. They only made 315-317 depending on which reference. I previously posted here a Martini Henry battle field pick up artifact that's up for grabs now. Picked up from the battlefield at Faber's Put Cape Town, May 30th, 1900 during the Boer War. My 475 Linebaugh and 500 Nitro Express Double Rifle are being considered next. My special interest lies with the Colt's like one of the previous posters. 1911's 45ACP first with 45 Colt next. Having a third of the points needed for my Distinguished Masters Medal, but realizing I will never achieve it at this point in my life, it's probably time to consider them too. My 1970's accurized Combat Commander is one I will keep. I've hunted the world over with it.

    My new interest in the ancients has been slow to evolve, but intensely interesting. Mostly due to the fine people here, who make such wonderful posts with their coins and write ups.

    Anyway, thanks to all for sharing.
     
  9. Andrew McCabe

    Andrew McCabe Well-Known Member

    Old tech. 1980s computers. Soviet airliners (and flying in them). Unfashionable 1980s mechanical watches. Early mobile phones. Bonus points if the old tech was deficient e.g. I love flying in planes that were unsuccessful because the tended to crash too often.
     
  10. jamesicus

    jamesicus Well-Known Member

    It is so nice to see you posting here Andrew. I also like those early computers: IBM main frame, IBM PC, Trash 80, Kaypro, Apple I, Compaq, et al. And, of course, 8” floppy disks and PC Dos.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2018
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  11. Deacon Ray

    Deacon Ray Artist & Historian Supporter

    Welcome to the Ancients Forum, Andrew! What kind of coins do you enjoy collecting?
     
  12. Andrew McCabe

    Andrew McCabe Well-Known Member

    I'm kinda interested in early Roman coins. Sometimes I write stuff about them. But Anglo Saxon pennies before 1066 are also nice though expensive so I don't yet collect them. I plan to branch into some modern coin areas in the future, the first coin issues of new Republics: Italy post-war, Ireland 1920s, US 1790s, first from decolonised Africa and so on. But for the moment it's early Rome.
     
  13. Monstermommy

    Monstermommy Active Member

     
  14. Monstermommy

    Monstermommy Active Member

    Those are awesome pictures,we live in an incredible age right now,a time of plenty it seems.
     
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  15. dougsmit

    dougsmit Member

    The problem with sequential hobbies has been regretting abandoning them for the next in the list. After my first ancient coin phase came several others (stamps, fish, view cameras, stereo photos) ending with a spell when my pre-teen daughter and I enjoyed writing computer games for a TI-99 4a in a language called Forth. When the TI died, we could not get Forth for our first IBM. I went back to coins and photography; she became a teenager and then a schoolteacher. I wish I had a way of running those programs but all went to the dump long ago. The coins remain.
     
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  16. Theodosius

    Theodosius Fine Style Seeker

    Forth honk if love then

    This makes perfect sense to Forth programmers.

    John
     
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  17. TypeCoin971793

    TypeCoin971793 Just a random guy on the internet

    Ouch. Those look mean.
     
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  18. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    One cool thing about having computers thousands of times faster today: they have more than enough power to pretend to be one of the old machines. TI-99/4A Turbo FORTH is still available to run in an emulator, at no charge. The emulator software itself is also free. (There are a bunch linked on this page; I was never a 99er, so I don't know anything else about them.)

    Think about it, if you ever have some time on your own hands!
     
  19. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Heh. Looking up the old TI-99/4A stuff reminded me of my own TRS-80 Model 1. Not sure I still have the original invoice, but I think I purchased that first computer with my first summer-job money just about... 40 years ago. :eek: :oldman: :bigtears:

    I may not have the original invoice -- but I do have the computer. I think I'll dust it off sometime in the next year and see whether there's anything left on the ROMs or the floppy disks. I'd be up for a restoration project.
     
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  20. Bob1901

    Bob1901 New Member

    I collect stamps also. It's very popular in my country, unlike coins, which is weird
     
  21. Bing

    Bing Illegitimi non carborundum Supporter

    Which country is that?
     
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