This joke/hoax has been circulating for more than a century! But the real story of this tablet is fascinating in its own right--a snapshot of daily life circa 1880 BCE.
The clay tablet is a merchant's receipt of income & expenses from caravan shipments in ancient Assyria. Final balance: 50 shekels of silver (seriously).
Source: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/325851 #archaeology #history
@coreyspowell I'm confused as to what you mean by joke/hoax? I must be missing something. The link does not seem to clear this up. Is it a real artefact from that time, or a forgery?... the link would seem to indicate it's a real artefact from that era. If so, what's the joke/hoax aspect?
@level98 The joke is in the attached photo (currently a viral tweet over on that Other Site). Variants on the story have made the rounds many times, always claiming that this tablet was written by a cranky old guy from thousands of years ago complaining about the kids today.
Of course, it's nothing of the sort.
@coreyspowell Ah, I missed reading that (I didn't click on the photo, I just looked at the cropped version in the post) and I went straight to the interesting info in the link. My bad. (Yes, I'm an adult trying to talk like the "cool kids".) Thanks for taking time to point this out.
@level98 I think I'm still stuck in a Twitter mindset, where images are much more tightly integrated with posts.
@coreyspowell @level98 I’m really trying to get used to adding Alt text. It makes me much slower to add lots of photos.
@BeckePhysics @coreyspowell I used to do it as a matter of course on the other site. So I haven't noticed a difference. But this was not a case of missing alt text... just me consuming media without sufficient "due diligence".😀
IMO the "slowness" of adding alt text is a good thing for the "poster" (as well as "consumers") in adding thinking time.
@BeckePhysics @level98 @coreyspowell Not sure if this is a feature of the app I’m on, or the instance, or widely available.
When I go to add alt text to a photo, I am prompted to move a little target around on the photo to determine what will be visible in the thumbnail. The interface only pops up for alt text.
This would help with the thumbnail problem *and* encourage more people to use alt text 😊
@level98 @MichaelPorter @coreyspowell That target also eliminates any AI errors (that other sites have been criticized for)
@MichaelPorter @BeckePhysics @coreyspowell I get that on the web interface, which is what I usually use. IMO a nice feature,