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

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251–260 of 421 posts

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

#251
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe they, like in some Abrahamic religions to come later, considered women "impure" when they had the period, and this somehow translated to the men in the household? Wild speculation, of course.

Calm down. It's just a PMS joke.

No it's not

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

#252
post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The roman calendar started the year in spring as well with March (hence the names September/October/November/December are literally the 7th/8th/9th/10th month). The Greek apparently were all over the place with the year starting in summer/fall/winter depending on region/polis.

I'd heard this was because July and August (for Julius and Augustus) were added later to the calendar and originally there were only 10 months that started with January.

I believe those were merely renamed, and the original year was 10 months from March to December, with a nondescript “winter” period between December and March.

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

#253

The original with ALL of the excuses is at the British Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA5634

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?

> Is anyone aware of a culture that did/does not have exactly 4 seasons?

Sub saharan people (and many Asian), have two seasons, rainy and dry.

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

#254
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I find always interesting, we are as far to the Romans in history as the Romans were from the construction of the pyramids.

Cleopatra was closer to the moon landings them to the building of the pyramids!

She can't have been that far away, didn't she live in Egypt? I'm fairly sure the moon is always further away

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

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ah, just making sure you meant your company and not the US. Glad we reached an agreement.

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

#256
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cleopatra was closer to the moon landings them to the building of the pyramids!

She can't have been that far away, didn't she live in Egypt? I'm fairly sure the moon is always further away

I'm pretty sure the poster above you is referring to the differences between the number of letters in the following words: "CLEOPATRA" is closer to "MOON LANDING" than "THE BUILDING OF THE PYRAMIDS".

Actually its the distance in time.

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

#257
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cleopatra was closer to the moon landings them to the building of the pyramids!

She can't have been that far away, didn't she live in Egypt? I'm fairly sure the moon is always further away

Lived from 69 to 30 BC according to Wikipedia… definitely closer to th moon landing .. by almost a thousand years..

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

#258
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dogs also hunt scorpions. Dogs are not immune to scorpion stings, they're just ignorant.

I live a block off the salt marsh here on the coast and mine'll hunt after Fiddler Crabs[0] until they get pinched on the snout. The mutt learned and the Lab just keeps on going after them... strange creatures, dogs are. [0] - https://www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/mrri/acechar/speciesgallery/In...

I believe the technical description of a Labrador Retriever is "dumb as a box of rocks."

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

#259

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 think "Brewing Beer" would be a perfectly acceptable excuse in a lot of these new hipstery startups

I have an employee who takes days off because he's developed his own brand of whiskey which is going on sale later this year. We aren't hipstery, or a startup, however.

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

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Said nobody on their death cot ever, “I wish I’d spent more time carving hieroglyphs down at the Pharoah’s tomb!” That actually may not be true. Pharaoh was a religious figure, considered to be god on earth. He was also the embodiment of Osiris, the god of the afterlife, and Egyptians' conception of the afterlife was linked to Pharaoh, and their prospects for the afterlife were linked to how close they were to Phar…

Such ridiculous, delusional devotion is for the clergy. The whip is for the slaves.

Right. When I read that my first thought was that there had to be a pretty big bunch who rolled their eyes and muttered under their breath but sighed and did what they were supposed to do just to get along.
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