I was listening to the In Our Time episode on the measurement of time and the guests were talking about incense clocks, which were an East Asian thing.
Basically you take a stick of incense that burns at a known rate, put some marks on, burn it, and use the marks to measure the passage of time. Or in more elaborate ones like in the image above, you put bells on strings and hang them on the stick of incense, so that when the incense burns to a certain point, the bells drop down and chime. Or things along those lines.
Others involved a trail of incense powder, and you told the time by where the trail had burned, or in the case of ones like in the image above, by where the smoke was being emitted from. Wiki says some designs could burn for a month.
But by far the method I was most taken with was one where you connect multiple types of incense into a single stick or a line of powder, so that each hour (or whichever unit of time) has a particular smell. I find that totally delightful for some reason. A very, very charming premodern way of doing things. Imprecise, but charming.
honey is the only food product that never spoils. there are pots of honey that are over five thousand years old and still completely edible
i also want to point out we know it tastes the same even after thousands of years b/c archaeologists who discovered two thousand year old honey tasted it. presumably right after they looked at each other and went “what the hell here goes nothing”
I’m pretty sure they also identify human remains by taste. Archaeologists are straight up freaks.
No, no no… you identify bone from rock or other substances by touching it to your tongue. If it sticks, it’s bone. The taste itself has nothing to do with it. And most archaeologists won’t lick human bones if they know they’re human.
…and I realize that doesn’t actually do much to prove archaeologists aren’t freaks.
mai nam is jane and wen i dig i fynde some roks both smol and big i put my tung upon the stone for science yes i lik the bone
If someone says something that you only partially understand:
DON’T ask for clarification with a generic “What?” or “I’m sorry?” (In my experience, people will repeat the phrase the exact same way without helping you to understand).
Example:
Them: “Hey, do you like pahganabasa?”
Autistic Person: “What?”
Them: “Do you like pahganabasa?”
Autistic Person: “I’m sorry, what?”
Them (annoyed): “Do you like pahganabasa?”
Instead, DO repeat the part that you did understand, and substitute a “What?” for the unintelligable part.
Example:
Them: “Hey, do you like pahganabasa?”
Autistic Person: “Do I like what?”
Them: “Pineapple pizza?”
Autistic Person: (Understands the words!)
Fun fact: I wrote this well before I discovered that there is a pineapple pizza meme here on the tumbleblogs.com
I do this with my son who’s speech delayed.
If you just go “What??” he’s unsure whether you’re mocking him (thanks, asshole dad), or didn’t hear him and clams up.
Instead of:
Son: I see a sfhwuhsdafuidghdasjk. Adult: What??? Son: *stops talking* Adult: What??!?! Son: *nope* Adult: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!??!!!?!?!? Son: *tantrum*
this:
Son: I see a sfhwuhsdafuidghdasjk.
Me: You see a what? I didn’t hear that part. Son: I see a spideroverthere. Me: *think about it for a moment* You see a spider over there? Son: Yes. Me: Ok, don’t touch it. Son: …. Ok.
Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 
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