Thanks for the description of your trip and the hike to Machu Picchu. It looks like it was well worth the efforts. Cheers!

I didn't notice that until you posted it. It's interesting to see this. There used to be a rock formation in New Hampshire, US, that bore a striking resemblance to an "Old Man of the Mountain", which ended up being it's name by residents of the state.

This is a composite photo of that mountain. Unfortunately, the face portion fell off due to natural causes a few years ago.

When history is written it is oftentimes the victor whose voice is heard the loudest. I empathize with the Peruvian people, and all indigenous peoples, whose historical records have been taken from them, whether it be gold or silver artifacts, broken pieces of pottery, their tombs opened and invaded, or the corpses of long dead people taken from their homeland.

Universities, archaeological societies, independent explorers. All sorts of institutions and people have laid claim to their "findings". But, that should't discount that these findings will then reach a greater proportion of people than just a small number who know very well of the magical places that lay hidden from so many eyes. Many of the wider swath of people have expertise and knowledge that can maintain those historical sites and the artifacts within. That being said, it's deplorable for any entity or person to lay claim to treasures that are of great importance to the people whose ancestors were the creators thereof.

For what it's worth, I read this in the wiki entry on Machu Picchu:

On 19 September 2007, the Courant reported that Peru and Yale had reached an agreement regarding the requested return of the artifacts. The agreement includes sponsorship of a joint traveling exhibition and construction of a new museum and research center in Cusco about which Yale will advise Peruvian officials. Yale acknowledges Peru's title to all the excavated objects from Machu Picchu, but Yale will share rights with Peru in the research collection, part of which will remain at Yale as an object of continuing study.[35]

On 19 June 2008, National Geographic Society's vice-president Terry Garcia was quoted by the daily publication, La República. "We were part of this agreement. National Geographic was there, we know what was said, the objects were lent and should be returned."

On 21 November 2010, Yale University agreed in principle to the return of the controversial artifacts to their original home in Peru.

La Casa Concha (The Shell House) located close to Cusco's colonial center will be the permanent site where the Yale University artifacts will be exhibited. Owned by the National University of San Antonio Abad Del Cusco, La Casa Concha will also feature a study area for local and foreign students.

It's one place I want to go to before I die. I will get there someday.

How long were you in Peru? Was Machu Picchu your primary destination? Fill us in on the details!

Edit: just read your post. It sounds amazing and to think your wife was there for 2 months. I've heard good things from people who've traveled to Peru. I can imagine yours and hers experiences must have been truly memorable. Great photo, too!

I'm inclined to start posting under #history given the context and not to create or use tags that aren't familiar and may fracture certain communities (read tags). Just my own personal preference given the community of users who are here and may end up coming here.

I posted this on reddit a few weeks ago and much of the commentary was similar to yours besides those who were fawning over his looks. Some said he looked like he was from today, style-wise from his clothes to his hair. I think it's quite interesting to see how some styles can transcend historical periods.

Speaking for myself, I enjoy walking. I don't own a car and live in a walkable city in the northeast US. One where I can go to a number of cafes, restaurants, grocers, shops, just about anything you can imagine. It's not a large city by any means, but I live downtown so that really is advantageous for walking. If I need to get into the big city then I walk down to the local commuter station and pick up the train. It's 30 mins on the train and then I'm in the center of the city. Our largest city nearby has a decent public transportation system, so you can go from one neighborhood to another in a matter of minutes. Which isn't always the case if you were driving in the city. So, while the article points out some very interesting notes, I think what matters most is ease and if you can access your necessities easily. For me, walking works.

As others have pointed out, I would like to follow hashtags again, as well as users. I do enjoy topics I don't normally read by the users I follow, but I do wish we could follow hashtags for the sheer depth of information that could be presented by the area of interest, ie. if I want to look at historical photos or read articles on space, it would be much more user friendly to have hashtag following incorporated into the site. I thought that when I first created this account I was able to follow hashtags, that was just short of three weeks ago. So, I may not be aware and a bit confused by my memory on that, but was there a change in that regard?

No no no. It's a much different Paul Ryan. Awesome photographer. Check him out.

Thank you for the heads up! I couldn't figure out for the life of me.

Spoiler alert: The last couple of episodes of season 3 had a new group pop up (not the Governor's group), one of whom appears to be Tyreese. Here's a link to the Walking Dead wiki with more information. T-Dawg was never meant to be Tyreese from what I've read elsewhere.

You're welcome. If you ever have any questions on researching materials do let me know. I'm rather good at doing that sort of thing. Cheers.

Just signed up a couple of weeks ago, but do recall coming by about 3 or 4 months ago. I like the site alot. Thanks for the welcome.

The tag cloud is dead only if it remains static.

Image a tag cloud of, say, 25 subjects. Clicking on that tag opens up a close up of that tag with related tags. Do this until you've reached the end of the tag. This helps to create a dynamic tag cloud that could be updated simply by added related tags to the original tag.

You have to remember that when designing anything you need to try to incorporate elements that appeal to a wide swath of users. Many users will perform keyword searches, some will look up by username, some will want to explore using other means. Tag clouds, in and of themselves, are just another tool of discovery.

As someone who has had ample experience working in archives, libraries and with patrons I've come to discover that multiple entry points, that are well designed, coherent and relevant, offer up a variety of means to find the needle in the haystack.

All that being said, I'd not like for a tag cloud to overwhelm the design of the site as it is. I like the fresh, barebones look to hubski. I'd just like more ways to discover content. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but it feels like I'm barely scratching the surface of content here.

It can be implemented in a couple of ways, that aren't limited to the following - generated by most popular topic, most popular users, least popular topic and least popular users. Something along those lines that offers up avenues of discovery. Basically, I'm all for more routes to find subjects here on hubski, as it appears the only way to do that is by adding followers and reading their content, without performing a hashtag search - which can be complicated if you don't know the right subject terms relevant to your interests.

And if you really want web 2.0 to die, then you might as well kill off search, links, authoring, tags, extensions, and signals. :)

Stoic

Has there been any thought of adding a subject word cloud and denoting the top interests by size of font?

I think incorporating a visual element to the discovery tools might be a nice element to add.

I use some well established archives online; such as the Library of Congress, the National Archives, Getty Images, that sort of thing. Most of those sites will have information regarding the photography, context, dates, etc, in addition to the photo itself. Some will be watermarked so I look for the image elsewhere online. Within the sites, I search for subjects of historical value, some might be little known historical events, cultural trends, big news, pretty much anything that's grabbed my attention prior to looking things up. It's all random and a crap shoot what I end up posting.

I see a lot of discussion of reddit, but nothing about crossposting of content. See, I use the same username here and there, so if someone were to look for my posted content they'd see a lot of overlap. I don't think it's a bad thing, per se. But, if the site administrators frowned upon that, then I'd mix up my posting a bit to offer people here content that was exclusive to hubski.

By nature, I'm a people pleaser, a show man, a researcher with a love for archives, photography and history and enjoy offering something new and interesting to readers. It's in my nature to offer that up to as large and diverse an audience as possible. Plus, I get a thrill out of knowing someone is learning something from my posts, or has their interest piqued to the point they do a bit of research on their own if a post of mine compels them to do so.

Anyway, thanks for the link. I gave it a read and find it a very interesting discussion.

I started using jonnysunshine on reddit for one reason. To see how much karma I could generate with my submissions. It's a fun experiment to be sure. In just two months, with just a small amount of submissions I've garnered a fair amount of karma. I've only posted content that I found compelling to me, that was sfw, and relevant to the subreddits I posted in.

I don't doubt that powerusers jumped ship, or were forced out, when things get a bit heated. Apparently, some had issues with the admins, some didn't. Some were raked over the proverbial coals, some weren't.

Be that as it may, there's one thing that brings most of us here - the opportunity to participate on a site that has similarities to reddit, but is vastly different as well. I look forward to seeing the progress of hubski as it grows and changes shape as all sites likely do.

It should be an interesting ride to say the least.

One cannot simply ignore.

This is great. Thanks for the link, I've bookmarked it.

I think I've just found the place on hubski where I'll be able to call home and post submissions of the type that I posted over on reddit.

Great picture.

For the scientifically challenged:

Can you explain or link to some sites that offer up a basic introduction to quantum theory? I barely made it through chemistry in school and opted towards liberal arts when I studied at university.

Cheers.

Agreed about the link shade. Are the AJAX shadowboxes those boxes that open, say, when I click on your username? I don't mind them so much, but the font size of the text on the far left could be increased a bit.

Also, one thing about overall feel. I like it. I do. But, some of the symbols used are a bit confusing if you've never been to Hubski before. For instance, the symbols under my username to the far left of this screen aren't universally known. By that I mean, for some people they may not get what they stand for while others might get it naturally. Symbols and how they are interpreted is something I find very interesting and I tend to note symbols and how they are displayed and used in everyday life very often.

Also, regarding the symbols in a greater UI context. I like it. I find that symbols and basic UI design is the way of generating repeat users/visitors to a site. The more simple the UI the more likely the visitor will become a user. For me, it took to looking at the about hubski link, on the left, to locate the Hubski legend. Perhaps, it should reside somewhere more prominent, such as at the bottom of your user profile?

Just a thought.

I'm relatively new here and I don't know most of you. Some of you I do by name since I would browse and post in some of your subreddits. That being said, the smaller communities at reddit were where I found real community forming taking place and good discussions occurring most often. The larger ones tended to be vacuums where nothing could be heard aside from the white noise that filtered in with hundreds of comments in some threads. It is what it is.

From my brief experiences here on Hubski it seems as though there's a lot more active participation along with some interesting discussions taking place. I may not get the gist of it all in some of the posts I've read, but I'm an advocate of life long learning, so it piques my curiosity and I learn as I read. A huge bonus to this site. Gratefully, the subs I'm involved with at reddit offer that up most of the time, too.

In any case, I enjoy both, but feel like this site will offer up more intellectual curiosity in me in the long run.

Good to know. I don't use Tor, but I do like to torrent shows once in awhile.

Oh this is right up my alley.

OK, here's a breakfast and dinner dish:

Fluffernutter French Toast is just what it sounds like. It's a Fluffernutter sandwich made French Toast style. For those not in the know, a Fluffernutter sandwich is peanut butter and marshmallow Fluff on Wonderbread (RIP). But, I don't like the taste of Wonderbread (RIP), so I opt for artisian bread I can buy at the local baker.

Right, onward and upward. So you make up your French Toast batter, spread some pb and fluff on two slices of bread, form a sandwich and then dip it in the batter and place it in the frying pan, griddle, etc. Let it form a nice French Toast toasty appearance on the bottom, then flip and wait for the same on the other side. The time taken to cook this French Toast will cause the PB and Fluff to melt inside. Take it off the heat and plate it and garnish with some powdered sugar. Have butter and grade B maple syrup at the side and add to taste. It's like a mouthful of heaping tasty sweet and salty gooiness in the form of French Toast. Tre awesome!

OK, so I love mac and cheese. While a kid I used to love the Kraft's box and always volunteer to make it when we had some. I soon graduated up to the fancy organic varieties and my love for mac and cheese grew even more. Then, I had some really tasty mac and cheese at a rib joint and was floored by how awesome it was compared to the stuff I made from the box. That was the lesson that brings me to why I consider homemade mac and cheese the best dinner comfort food ever.

Homemade macaroni and cheese is hands down the bomb! You can do so much with it, but I prefer to have it topped with bacon. Cheese selection is important to. I 'm not just mac with cheddar cheese guy. I look for something that makes my palette sing like Pavarotti at the Met or Cobain at CBGB's, then bake it up good like using a well used recipe that comes highly rated. During the last 10 mins of baking, I like to top with bacon. Mmmmm bacon. Pull out of the oven, let cool for 15-20 mins. Cut 2 slices out for yourself since you'll be eating 2 anyway. Eat and enjoy as your mouth does loopy dee loops that Baron Von Richtofen would be jealous of.

That's it. They're both great comfort foods and also great winter foods, too!

Enjoy!

Ahhh, ok then.

I went to iblocklist.com and have to give them props for the extensive and thorough listing of blocked ip's. Truly impressive. It sounds like PeerBlock offers up an easy to use block list capability, as well, from reading their site. Didn't think of the torrent side of it and now that I have I'm downloading PeerBlock.

Thanks for posting!

Edit: Does it mistakenly block sites that you'd normally go that don't have any issues that would warrant PeerBlock blocking the ip?

As a privacy advocate I can't thank you enough.

I looked at the site and it appears the release hasn't been updated in 2 years. Should I be concerned? What has your personal experience been using it?