Take a Moment and Make a Difference…

Thanks to Allyson Cohen, a.k.a. the Detecting Diva for the following info and petition.  Please read it, sign it and pass it on.  It’s just another overreach and attempt to limit our pastime.  

My Weekend Treasure

Didn’t get out this week thanks to all day storms on Sunday but did windup with a treasure thanks to my daughter Molly.  In between grandson and granddaughter’s soccer games Saturday she hit a few garage sales and found something she knew dad would like.

They Love Us in Arkiedom!

The recent postings here about the archaeological hoarding in Northern Ireland seemed to touch a nerve, and I want to thank John Howland for bringing them to the forefront.  Extremely irritating and hypocrisy at it’s finest!

It Boggles the Mind!

I keep looking at the photos in this article and I find they represent the pinnacle of hypocrisy.  All we hear from archaeologists are how detectorists are “hoiking” items of historical importance, not reporting them, hiding them from the public, yet here are boxes, bins and bags of items from archaeological digs sitting in a warehouse, a great majority of them undocumented and all of them unavailable to the people of Northern Ireland.

Think Twice While Auditioning Please?

A favorite FB page of mine is Detecting History and the founder, Stan Shoemaker recently posted the following….

“I’ve been watching many detecting videos over the last few days and I can honestly say 90% of the folks making them wouldn’t cut the mustard on my crew. I’ve noticed they dig gigantic holes, sling earth wildly like animals, not picking up their trash, making fun of the land owners on camera, I’d be sending them home early”…….

Professional Vandalism – And Not a Detector in Sight!

by John Howland

John Howland

Britain’s archaeologists are apparently world leaders when it comes to maltreating artefacts. This depressing lack of an efficient recording and classification system makes that which is happening in Egypt look almost regimented. That hundreds of thousands of precious artefacts hoiked from excavations by ‘archaeologists’ (often by assorted work experience ‘yoofs,’ or students whose only motivation is the possibility of an ‘off piste’ leg-over at base-camp) are languishing unrecorded and unclassified, is nothing short of a national disgrace. Heads must roll.

A Little Sunday Morning Digging…

I was bitten by spring fever and managed to do a little digging today. It seems two hours is my limit anymore and I am not sure that will improve any…too many things going on with this old body, all of which are permanent.

Metal Detecting Necessities…How Far We’ve Come!

Used to be I and most other tekkies spent our time looking for and finding places to detect.  Today?  We spend it buying after market coils, expensive headphones, pinpointers, diggers, shovels, knee pads and of course GoPro cameras so that everybody can watch us doing our thing. 

It was four years ago

…when I started my “website” Stout Standards. It was a new venture for me in that I had no prior experience putting one together. I had taken an adult ed class is HTML basics and decided what better way to show off my newly learned, primitive and unsophisticated talents. It was frustrating in the beginning but it was also a lot of fun (doesn’t take much to make an old  guy happy).  My first coup was getting John Howland to join me and without pay (which is no small feat let me tell you). I am pretty certain it was because he felt guilty about the $20 HE owes me but nonetheless he agreed to contribute and the Malamute Saloon came into being.

Google Earth…the Good & the Bad!

I am a big proponent of Google Earth and spend a lot of time there, both as a tekkie and a tourist. I find it very useful when researching an old site in that it can tell you quickly whether it’s still there and accessible, and the street/road views are invaluable.