Did you know? Ancient gods went to war on a stone the size of your thumb
Cylinder seal and modern impression: battle of the gods. Akkadian, ca. 2350–2150 BCE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1943. Public domain (CC0).
Long before signatures, people in ancient Mesopotamia signed with a cylinder seal: a small carved stone or shell they rolled across wet clay. As it rolled, it printed a whole scene, again and again, like a tiny movie strip.
This one is about one inch tall and was carved in the Akkadian era, roughly 4,200 years ago. Roll it out and you get gods in battle: figures with bows and weapons, locked in a fight that has no end, because the seal keeps printing it.
The same people told the stories of Enki and Enlil. Come back next Sunday for another seal.
Archived Lunch edition · Sunday, October 25, 2026 · posted 9:38 AM ET
Plays story by story. Keep reading while you listen. Stop any time.
Listen Hear the whole edition.
Each download mints a coin. We only count what passes by: total downloads and visits, never who you are.
Snapulse animation, an artist's impression. Not footage of the object.
UAP
Pentagon UFO Files: Federal Agents Watched a Silent Black Triangle Rise Over a Ridge
The Pentagon posted its seventh batch of declassified UFO, or UAP, files on war.gov/UFO on Oct. 23, under the program it calls PURSUE, and says more will follow on a rolling basis. The batch includes an AARO memo on a 2026 sighting by federal agents: a matte-black triangle, about 13 to 15 feet wide, rose silently over a ridge, hovered about 20 seconds, then shot into a canyon in two to three seconds. The release does not say what it was.
The Memo Itself: AARO’s Record of the Silent Black Triangle (DOW-UAP-D176)
This is the text of the Pentagon's AARO memo, file DOW-UAP-D176. Two federal agents, backed by a third at a second post, described a seamless matte-black triangle that climbed 200 to 300 feet over a ridge in about 10 seconds, hovered about 20 seconds, then banked into a canyon with no sound, no exhaust and an even heat glow on infrared. The memo stresses these are the witnesses' own estimates, no instrument measured the speed, and a ground search the next morning found no wreckage.
New UFO Files Detail a Strange Triangular Craft in “Absolute Acoustic Silence”
CBS reports the sighting happened in June near an unnamed national security site in the western U.S., and is described in two documents: the AARO memo and a signed statement the agents gave the FBI. The agents said the object looked most like a delta-wing drone and appeared warmer than the air on an infrared scope, with no exhaust. AARO said the case warrants more investigation because it closely matches other reports from the same region.
Strange Triangular Craft Reported in New U.S. Government UFO Release
Scientific American notes that, unlike earlier batches, this seventh release has no videos or images, only memos and reports. It walks through the agents' account and quotes Harvard's Avi Loeb, who heads the government's UAP Science Advisory Council, saying the open question is whether it came from an adversary's secret project or off-world technology, and that better sensors are needed. It also notes researchers have been skeptical of earlier releases.
Same file, two framings: how far does each report go?
A · Axios
Strange Flying “Black Triangle” Cited in New UFO Documents
Axios reports that three federal agents saw the 15-foot triangle rise up to 300 feet, hover about 20 seconds, then fly about 1.5 miles in three seconds without a sound. It writes that the object is classed as a UAP because neither the U.S. nor its adversaries has the technology to build such a craft. Axios adds that the records draw no conclusion about alien life or any threat to national security.
Mysterious “Black Triangles” Spotted Over Sensitive US Site, New Pentagon UFO Files Reveal
The Guardian describes the witnesses as two senior military observers and says they put the object's speed at 1,800 mph. It points out that the report's pictures are the same canyon image with small triangle shapes added, and quotes Penn State historian Greg Eghigian saying they add nothing of substance. It notes many details in the file are vague or blacked out.
What is documented: the Pentagon's seventh UFO file release, posted Oct. 23, includes an AARO memo and an FBI statement from federal agents who say they watched a matte-black triangle rise silently over a ridge in the western U.S. this June, hover about 20 seconds, then race into a canyon. What is not: there is no real photo or video of it, no instrument measured its speed, and a ground search the next morning found nothing. The speed and size are the witnesses' estimates. AARO says the case deserves more investigation because it matches other reports from the region, but it makes no finding on what the object was. The coverage differs: Axios says no country has the technology for such a craft, while The Guardian quotes a historian who says the report's pictures add nothing. This came from the Pentagon, not NASA. Read the memo and decide for yourself.
