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3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

openculture.com

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Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#241

Post by FredPret »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #202
FredPret wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not relative. 300k buys you a fantastic life. You’ll never be in the 0.1% with a job vs owning assets, but these jobs are amazing by any measure, and a world away from being poor. The very rich having astronomical amounts of money has zero negative effect on the day to day of the middle class - we don’t have a limited money supply. You may say it buys them outsized influence, but media companies will always have…

>The very rich having astronomical amounts of money has zero negative effect on the day to day of the middle class - we don’t have a limited money supply. I think this almost completely false. Elon Musk just bought Twitter and could drastically change a major point of interaction for hundreds of millions of people. The Koch Brothers spend billions to influence, to great effect, the laws that are passed in the US. The…

How could you possibly think the economy hasn’t grown in real terms since the 70’s?

Almost every consumer item is vastly better and cheaper. Middle class lives are luxurious in the extreme compared to then.

Who cares if 100 people at the top are getting more rewards faster, does it actually make your life worse? No. Only if you are jealous and mean-spirited does Musk’s quarter trillion dollars bother you.

In fact, these people tend to invest in things that lead to further improvement.

Furthermore, if Twitter bothers you that much, go on Parler.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#242

Post by qiskit »

lutorm wrote: post #89
LanceJones wrote: post #12

We really are the same people. No measurable difference in IQ (as well as that can be "measured"). Only knowledge (some gained for us; some lost, too) and context are different. The tablet is a cool reminder of this.

Indeed. I find Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations" to be a particularly vivid proof of this. (Although I don't know what it's like to be Emperor of Rome, a lot of his concerns seem entirely commonplace today.) Begin each day by telling yourself: Today I shall be meeting with interference, ingratitude, insolence, disloyalty, ill-will, and selfishness – all of them due to the offenders’ ignorance of what is good or evil. St…

> a lot of his concerns seem entirely commonplace today

Because a lot of his concerns dealt with the human condition. That will never change.

Other things that were commonplace in roman times - graffiti and dick jokes...

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-lewd-graffiti-of...

Nihil novum sub sole.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#243

Post by mytailorisrich »

itsgrimetime wrote: post #161

Seeing the frequency of the days off and the reasons really humanizes these people that (at least I) just imagine as some alien beings that I had nothing in common with. Also there’s just some that are funny given cultural norms today - I’m assuming it was more akin to taking bereavement leave, but imagining telling my boss I won’t be working because I’ll be drinking for 3 days is pretty comical to me: day 24 (LIBATI…

I'm thinking that this is a funeral ritual because his father passed away.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#244

Post by xeromal »

reaperducer wrote: post #231
xeromal wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure it's Paid Time Off at least here in the US

No, it is "Personal." To differentiate from other types of paid days off that we get. (Bereavement, religious holidays, etc...) And I'm also in the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_time_off?wprov=sfla1

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#245

Post by rpmisms »

988747 wrote: post #169
rpmisms wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do this. Recently took some time off for Pascha (Russian Easter), and made a portion of the request in Old Church Slavonic

>> Pascha (Russian Easter) Feels funny to read this. Always thought that Pascha was a Jewish holiday, which was later eclipsed by Easter (The Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples was them celebrating the Pascha)

Jews call it Passover now. I could call it воскрешение if you like.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#246

Post by twic »

divbzero wrote: post #124
ARandomerDude wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting that the dates are "Month 3 of Summer, Day 24" etc. The curious bit to me being the enduring use of 4 distinct seasons, when there are obviously other ways to mark a year. Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?

Another phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…

With some exceptions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pawukon_calendar

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#247

Post by vxNsr »

KSPAtlas wrote: post #227
divbzero wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another phenomenon I’ve found curious is the cross-cultural definition of a week as roughly a quarter moon, and correlated names for days of the week. [1] Sunday Sun Sōlis Hēlíou 日曜日 Monday Moon Lūnae Selḗnēs 月曜日 Tuesday Mars Mārtis Áreōs 火曜日 Wednesday Mercury Mercuriī Hermoû 水曜日 Thursday Jupiter Iovis Diós 木曜日 Friday Venus Veneris Aphrodítēs 金曜日 Saturday Saturn Sāturnī Krónou 土曜日 [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N…

Polish doesn't use those names, but a different system: Poniedziałek (lit. After not working) Wtorek (not sure) Środa (also not sure) Czwartek (lit. the fourth) Piątek (possibly means drinking day?) Sobota (not sure) Niedziela (Not working)

Those all loosely resemble the Russian names, and as the other commentator noted “Sobota” sounds a lot like “Sabbath”

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#248

Post by reaperducer »

xeromal wrote: post #244
reaperducer wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is "Personal." To differentiate from other types of paid days off that we get. (Bereavement, religious holidays, etc...) And I'm also in the U.S.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paid_time_off?wprov=sfla1

Citing Wikipedia doesn't negate the fact that my company calls it "Personal." And since I wrote the original comment, I'm probably more familiar with my company's terminology than Wikipedia.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#249

Post by hprotagonist »

nyx_land wrote: post #203
jamesfisher wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

cat excuses | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn 67 ILL 49 WITH HIS BOSS 17 BREWING BEER 13 WITH AAPEHTI 8 WITH THE SCRIBE 6 MAKING REMEDIES FOR THE SCRIBE’S WIFE 5 WRAPPING (THE CORPSE OF) HIS MOTHER 5 OFFERING TO THE GOD 5 HIS WIFE WAS BLEEDING 5 FETCHING STONE FOR THE SCRIBE 4 WITH KHONS MAKING REMEDIES 4 SUFFERING WITH HIS EYE 4 OFF ABSENT 4 HIS DAUGHTER WAS BLEEDING 3 WITH HOREMWIA 3 WITH HIS BOSS DITTO 3 LIBATING TO HIS…

> BURYING THE GOD Thousands of years later and yet who among us hasn't missed work to bury God?

around here it’s an annual day off.

Re: 3,200-year-old Egyptian tablet records excuses for why people missed work

#250

Post by gregcrv »

dleslie wrote: post #237
jbandela1 wrote: post #112

As an aside, a lot of people are joking about the pyramids. However, 3200 years ago is 1200 BC which is New Kingdom. The pyramids were built in the Old Kingdom. When these workers were complaining, the Great Pyramid was already 1000 years old. (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated)

> (The bosses probably talked about how back in the day when their ancestors built the pyramids, workers were much tougher and dedicated) They likely didn't. The Egyptians recorded many things, including excuses for missing work, with incredible detail. They never once recorded how they built the pyramids. Either religious/spiritual/ritualistic reasons prevented them from doing so, or they didn't build them. Either w…

This is not true. https://www.history.com/news/egypts-oldest-papyri-detail-gre... There are plenty or records about the pyramid constructions, it was also proven that they were built by a paid voluntary workforce rather than slaves like most people believe.
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