So yesterday I learned that my sense of the Ancient History timeline is riddled with wrongness.

I picked up a new biography on Cleopatra and was startled to find a few choice facts. I quizzed JZ on these and she had a roughly accurate notion of what occurred when, so I will put it to Natter.

Ancient History Quiz (no googling)

How many years between Nefertiti and Cleopatra?

Answer: 1300

How man years between the death of Cleopatra and the birth of Christ?

Answer: Twenty five years or so.

The next one I should of known if I'd thought about it for more than ten minutes, but I was still surprised.

What was Cleopatra's ethnicity?

Answer: Macedonian Greek. With a little bit of Persian.

So clearly I need to spend more time on the History Channel.

Shirtless Tom Hardy Party!! [link]

That new Cleopatra book sounds great.

But Xena met both Cleopatra AND Nefertiti. How is that possible?

I heard the author of that book on NPR a little while back! Sounded very interesting.

But Xena met both Cleopatra AND Nefertiti. How is that possible?

Cleopatra was really River Song?

I love that the site is maintained by the Tom Hardy Image Liberation Front. A noble service, totally.

Weird prosthetic arm: [link]

Kaylene Kau's prosthetic arm isn't your typical robot-arm. It doesn't even have fingers — it's flexible tentacle design would make for an excellent replacement hand for wielding a lightsaber.

As a part of a student project, Kau was asked to "push the boundaries of current upper-limb prosthetic design." Powered by a small motor and a set of cables, the tentacle shaped prosthetic arm curls its claw to grip objects.

Cleopatra was Jasmine.

Cleopatra? Knew Julius Caesar? And *knew* Julius Caesar?

Yes, more History Channel for you. Or may I recommend The Cartoon History of the Universe? The section on Arab history cleared up a lot of Middle Eastern confusion for me.