Kubeia and its congeners are often translated as ‘playing dice’ or ‘dicing’ because kuboi are ‘dice’. But sometimes kubeia has nothing to do with ‘dice’ (kuboi) at all, and so ought often to be translated simply as ‘gambling’. Pollux explains the nature of the word clearly in book 7, and his position is supported by earlier authors such as Theopompus, Diphilus, Isocrates, Xenophon and Aeschines. Not only is it possible to ‘gamble’ (kubeuein) with knucklebones (astragaloi) as well as cubic dice (kuboi), it is also possible to ‘gamble’ (kubeuein) by folding leather straps, by spinning coins and by guessing about small objects hidden in the hand; it is even possible to ‘gamble’ (kubeuein) during a cock-fight. The mistaken belief that the word means ‘dicing’ has affected not only centuries of translations and interpretations, but also the editing of texts since at least the early 19th century, as is shown regarding a crux in Aeschines’ Against Timarchus.

Greeks, unlike Romans, gambled with five not four knucklebones (astragaloi) in their dice games. As Pollux explains, the high number of an individual knucklebone was sometimes eight rather than six, and so when a dicer rolled ‘all eights’ they attained a sum of 40. This roll was called the ‘Euripides’. The confusion about this throw is due to a report found in Byzantine sources and attributed to Suetonius, where it is claimed that dicers of Greek antiquity used four knucklebones. Suetonius may have confused the Roman custom with the Greek one, but there are good grounds for questioning whether the report is from ‘Suetonius’ at all. Elsewhere ‘Suetonius’ reports that Greeks played with three rather than two cubic dice, but such a report cannot have been made before the seventh century AD.

Globally, the Series 2 – Series 3 boundary of the Cambrian System coincides with a major carbon isotope excursion, sea-level changes and trilobite extinctions. Here we examine the sedimentology, sequence stratigraphy and carbon isotope record of this interval in the Cambrian strata (Durness Group) of NW Scotland. Carbonate carbon isotope data from the lower part of the Durness Group (Ghrudaidh Formation) show that the shallow-marine, Laurentian margin carbonates record two linked sea-level and carbon isotopic events. Whilst the carbon isotope excursions are not as pronounced as those expressed elsewhere, correlation with global records (Sauk I – Sauk II boundary and Olenellus biostratigraphic constraint) identifies them as representing the local expression of the ROECE and DICE. The upper part of the ROECE is recorded in the basal Ghrudaidh Formation whilst the DICE is seen around 30m above the base of this unit. Both carbon isotope excursions co-occur with surfaces interpreted to record regressive–transgressive events that produced amalgamated sequence boundaries and ravinement/flooding surfaces overlain by conglomerates of reworked intraclasts. The ROECE has been linked with redlichiid and olenellid trilobite extinctions, but in NW Scotland, Olenellus is found after the negative peak of the carbon isotope excursion but before sequence boundary formation.

The DICE (for Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy) introduced two important policy aspects to the economic discussion of global warming. First, it argues for a “climate-policy ramp” that deems back-loading of mitigation optimal. Second, it demonstrates that an intergenerational tradeoff is at the heart of the mitigation problem. In this paper we argue that both of these findings rest on contestable assumptions. To demonstrate this a recast DICE is presented. Its outcomes show that DICE's predictions are not robust with higher migitations earlier on and slower temperature increases along the optimal path. The adoption of a baseline scenario in which pollution is a negative externality makes mitigating climate change a Pareto improvement. The alleged sacrifice of present generations vanishes. This strengthens the case for immediate policy action.

Pennisetum purpureum Schum. (napiergrass) is a perennial grass used for forage especially in South America and Africa. Over the last 30 years, a USDA–ARS nursery containing accessions collected from all over the world has been established in Tifton, Georgia. The study reported here was conducted to assess the molecular genetic variation and genetic relatedness among 89 accessions from the Tifton nursery using amplified fragment length polymorphism markers, morphological data and ploidy level. Using 218 polymorphic markers from eight selective primer combinations, the 89 accessions were clustered into five groups using a principal components analysis and a dendrogram based on Dice similarity estimates and unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average clustering. These five groups include three groups collected from Kenya, a group from Puerto Rico, and accessions derived from the cultivar Merkeron. This research provides the first molecular characterization of the Tifton nursery, displays the relationships between accessions, and provides potential heterotic groups for napiergrass and pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.) breeding improvement.