When we think of tarot cards, our first thoughts range from casual fortune telling to tools of the occult. A deck of cards with medieval art showing unfamiliar symbolism that takes lots of study to understand seems just plain weird. It might surprise you to learn that the occult trappings of the tarot deck are a fairly recent phenomena. The tarot deck originated in Europe, perhaps as early as the 14th century, as a regular card game. The cards came in four suits, which were later simplified into hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades to make them easier to use. The original tarot cards were lavishly illustrated and gradually expanded to make the game more difficult.
So why did the elaborate tarot deck survive after the standard deck of cards we play with today was developed? And how did they become fortune telling cards? That has to do with the beautiful Italian Renaissance artwork on them that no one could bear to throw away, and the medieval symbolism that fewer and fewer people understood over time. Read the origins of the tarot deck and why it became what it is today at The Guardian. -via Metafilter
Susan Moeller has been writing a journal of the gifts she has given on Christmas since 1975, the year she got married and had to make sure that they didn't give people the same gift twice or hadn't forgotten somebody.
It's a great way to organize, which she admits used to be her mother's role. In doing the records, she writes down the names of the recipients and beside those, the gifts that they were given. At times, she also wrote other experiences or events that happened during that year's holidays.
Apart from the gifts they have given, she had also included gifts they have received along with other notes like Christmas card lists, letters to Santa, and even newspaper clips about self-care during the holidays.
She had also shared how they hosted a Christmas dinner for 15 people on a Tuesday in 1979. Apparently, the week prior was quite a busy one when they hosted her husband's office party on Friday, and then a cocktail party for 40 on Sunday.
It's quite a hobby and quite impressive to have been able to keep it going for almost 50 years, although this year, she blissfully writes that there were fewer entries, with simpler gifts, no cocktail parties, no deaths, and a new baby to be welcomed into the family. -via NPR
(Image credit: SJ/Unsplash)
2021 pic.twitter.com/9cV5vIcuDH
— psychotronica (@psychotronica_) December 18, 2023
Director of the films Multiple Maniacs, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and the 1988 version of Hairspray, John Waters has a more obscure side to him, and that is his hand-made Christmas cards which he has been doing since he was a high school student in 1964.
With the firm belief that Christmas cards must be hand-made and personally written, he says that people should make time for Christmas cards quipping that the whole purpose of life is Christmas. And he stands by that conviction with enduring resolve and unabashed wit.
This year, we still have yet to see what he's going to do. Previous years, however, were quite brazen, with 2022's blowup dolls, 2021's decapitated reindeer head, and 2020's sugar cane eye trauma.
The previous decade probably included some of his edgiest with the 2018 motion card depicting scary Santa along with cool Jesus and saintly devil, 2017 Waters wearing a sleeveless Santa jacket with his body filled with tattoos, and 2011's Santa holding a dead Easter bunny whom he apparently killed.
To see the gallery of several of his Christmas cards through the years, check out this thread on X.
(Image credit: psychotronica/X)
We all like counting down toward the New Year. It's fun, especially when you're in a room filled with other people, who are doing the same thing. There's just something about doing traditions that we humans particularly love. And during New Year's Eve, one such tradition is the New Year's Eve kiss.
A few suggestions as to the possible origins of the New Year's Eve kiss are two winter festivals: ancient Romans' Saturnalia, and the Vikings' Hogmanay. Romans had usually done parties with a lot of drinking, and that's why some assume that kissing had been involved.
Hogmanay, on the other hand, was a tradition that intentionally included kissing as a way of wishing the other person good luck or a good new year. Some experts have also suggested another possible source being Medieval literature, particularly Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
In the poem, people used to play a game on New Year's Day, in which the ladies who lose must give something to the men, happily. Many have implied that the "something" was a kiss.
Why the tradition continues to this day is simply because it's tradition and we like traditions. But there has been some indication that the New Year's Eve kiss was a form of inviting good luck, most likely in relationships, for the rest of the new year.
Whether or not the New Year's Eve kiss actually brings about good luck to people all depends on perspective coupled with appropriate action. However, a healthy reminder for us all is that whenever one does try to kiss someone else, it should be consensual.
(Image credit: x )/Unsplash)
It has been 26 years since the Guédelon Castle project started, with over 70 craftspeople and artisans working, and they say that it might take at least 20 more years before the entire castle will be constructed, much like how people during the Medieval Ages built their castles and structures.
The reason why it has taken so long for the Guédelon Castle to be built, and why it's still undergoing construction is because the team, led by Michel Guyot, Maryline Martin, and another collaborator, have decided to use Medieval methods throughout the process.
This means they won't use any tools, equipment, or materials used in modern times. So far, the materials they have used include stone, wood, paints, and dyes. Even the techniques used in building the castles will be limited to those available to people during the medieval period.
They consider it a working archaeology project as well as a great opportunity for castellologists, or people who study medieval castles, to witness firsthand what it was like for castles to be built in the Medieval era.
What inspired Guyot and his co-collaborators to start the project in the first place was a previous endeavor of renovating Château de Saint-Fargeau. Since the outer walls of that castle had stayed intact, they were inspired to build a brand new castle, without being limited by the existing ruins.
Given that this whole project is not merely an architectural or engineering project, they had to recreate the medieval lifestyle, which meant that all the people involved in constructing the castle will be living on site, which has become a village on its own.
(Image credit: Stéphane D/Wikimedia Commons)
Anybody who watched Carl Sagan's PBS series Cosmos probably became inspired to pursue a career in science or, at the very least, began to have a new appreciation for scientific inquiry, if they didn't already. He was a beloved figure in the scientific community, but unfortunately passed away at the age of 62 due to complications from bone marrow cancer.
There is one person, however, who had such enmity toward Carl Sagan, that, even after his death, continued to criticize him. That person is dubbed "the father of the hydrogen bomb" Edward Teller. But what was the reason for this vitriolic contempt against Sagan? Well, it was mainly because of their disagreement over thermonuclear weapons.
On one side, Teller had been a stalwart champion of nuclear weapons proliferation, opposing any bans to nuclear testing and supporting the Strategic Defense Initiative.
On the other, Sagan staunchly fought against nuclear weapons proliferation. He used his reputation to prove that nuclear warfare is a lose-lose scenario, supporting a study, conducted by his former students, which showed that such a situation would bring about a catastrophic global climate change and mass famine, apart from the destruction to the environment and human casualties.
Perhaps, as Sagan put it in his book The Demon-Haunted World, the reason why Teller has been such a strong advocate for nuclear weapons proliferation was simply to justify the hydrogen bomb. Scientific advancements, inventions, and technology are, in themselves, neutral. It's how we use them that matters.
Still, however, we can't ignore the massive potential for destruction that nuclear weapons possess. Though they may be used as a defensive measure for, say, a huge asteroid on a collision course with Earth, the risk of having them in the wrong hands just far outweighs the benefits they bring.
(Image credit: Kenneth C. Zirkel/Wikimedia Commons)
For a season that's supposed to bring joy and good cheer to people, there is an awful lot of horrific beasts and creatures associated with Christmas.
Some are terrifying like the Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn) of Iceland which is said to prowl around in the night in search of naughty children to feast on, unless they're wearing new clothes, in which case, they're safe.
Another frightening creature which should probably be part of the Halloween canon instead is Krampus, the folkloric devilish creature who accompanies St. Nicholas, and gives naughty children lumps of coal and a bit of a scare. Countries whose lore features Krampus include those in the Central and Eastern Europe regions like Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Romania.
Poland, on the other hand, has a merry beast in Turoń, who is an auroch-like creature which dances around in festivals and is said to bring blessings of a good harvest, being a symbol of fertility, virility, and abundance to the people of the land. Turoń is probably the least monstrous on this list as it doesn't punish anybody for being naughty, although it did chase children around.
And then, there's the French and their Père Fouettard, literally Father Whipper. Much like Krampus, this old miser of a character tags along with Old St. Nick and gives children lumps of coal or beatings when they have been naughty. Sometimes, they get both, which is what earned him the nickname.
Then, going back to Iceland, we have Grýla the witch or ogress, and her 13 sons called the Yule Lads. Grýla, much like Jólakötturinn, likes to eat naughty children, whom she boils in a pot. Her 13 sons, on the other hand, are naughty pranksters who go gallivanting around town, stealing and harassing people. They also give obedient children gifts and naughty children rotten potatoes.
From these, we can infer that most of these monsters were created simply as deterrents for children's misbehavior. However, apparently, the Yule Cat also encouraged people to work harder. Since children needed new clothing to protect themselves from the clutches of the 12-foot black cat, this prompted many farms working on wool to increase their productivity.
Nowadays, these monsters have simply become part of some Christmas traditions like Krampuslauf, not necessarily as a means of scaring children during Christmas.
(Image credit: Andrii Gladii/Wikimedia Commons)
"After the game he will be devoured, he will die, and he will be his own last meal" @PopTartsBowl pic.twitter.com/sMLBUM3jxW
— Gifdsports (@gifdsports) December 29, 2023
Within the human heart is a dark barbarism that lies just beneath the façade that is civilization. This is exemplified by the popularity of football, which George Will summarized as "violence punctuated by committee meetings." Football fans share a bond with the ecstatic spectators attending gladiatorial bouts in ancient times, who openly craved blood and suffering.
So yesterday's game between Kansas State University and North Carolina State University was not a revolutionary development. Yes, the prize was an innovation: an enormous, living Pop-Tart, who gleefully sacrificed itself to the victors. The nihilistic impulse to destroy and be destroyed joins we humans with Pop-Tarts.
— no context college football (@nocontextcfb) December 29, 2023
CBS News reports that Kanas State prevailed in the contest. The players then ritualistically baptized their coach, Chris Klieman, in Gatorade, symbolizing the sugary blood of the Pop-Tart which energizes the living. Then the players feasted upon the sacrifice. The Pop-Tart continued to smile throughout as it joyfully embraced its purpose for existence.
-via Super Punch
Once upon a time, not so long ago, we looked at Neanderthals as hairy, ape-like cave dwellers that were clearly sub-human. We were wrong about a lot of that. They did live in caves, when there was a cave around, but those were pretty good shelters, really. We've since discovered that Neanderthals weren't at all stupid, as a group. They had sophisticated tools and social structures, and were similar enough to modern humans to interbreed with them. These discoveries are based in study and not just on the fact that most of us are part Neanderthal and want to make our ancestors look good. Neatorama readers already know a lot of the revisions in our view of Neanderthals, but do you know how they got their name? Did you know about the red light in the sky they must have witnessed? In this video, Weird History goes over some fascinating facts on what we've learned about Neanderthals.
Christmas and New Year's Day, plus the days surrounding them, are a time of festivity, of work vacations, parties, and often more alcohol than you're used to drinking the rest of the year. While many of the drawbacks of overindulging are well-known, such as falling, hangovers, weight gain, and the inability to look witnesses in the eye the next day, there are other concerns.
Your digestive system depends on about a trillion microbes to work properly. Your gut biome consists of fungi, bacteria, parasites, and viruses that not only aid in digestion, but also affect our immune systems and our personalities. Alcohol is well-known germ killer. Killing off an indiscriminate swath of your gut biome can lead to an imbalance, in which bad bacteria can begin to outnumber the good bacteria that keeps it in check. Alcohol also irritates the lining of the digestive system, which can allow bacteria to enter the rest of the body. There's also the poor, overworked liver and the byproducts of breaking down alcohol it produces. Read the details of how excessive alcohol consumption can affect your gut biome, and what you can do about it, at Inverse.
A few years ago, French TikToker Cyrilschr (who is no longer at that account) played with Orbeez, beads made of sodium polyacrylate, a superabsorbent polymer that soaks up water. The beads can expand to many times their size when exposed to water, so Cyrilschr bought enough Orbeez to fill his bathtub. It seemed like a good idea at the time, and made a fun video. But then what? How do you get rid of them? He thought it would be a simple matter of letting them go down the drain. But they aren't liquid, and they clogged the drains. The follow up TikTok videos told a horror story as he panicked over the growing problem of Orbeez in the sewer. It's both funny and horrifying.
The original videos are narrated in a combination of French and German, and this compilation has been edited down and English captions added, which are NSFW. You'll have to toggle the CC button to turn them on. Boing Boing has the full compilation of videos, but the captions are not available in English.
A 32-year-old Kelsey Hatcher, diagnosed with uterus didelphys, a rare condition characterized by having two uteri, has defied the odds by delivering a set of twins at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) hospital.#Birmingham #Alabama pic.twitter.com/lzKh1qIbQu
— Bnz English (@BnzEnglish) December 27, 2023
Last month we brought you the story of Kelsey Hatcher, who has two uteruses and became pregnant in both. Doctors were concerned about the high-risk pregnancy. The story now has a happy ending, as Hatcher gave birth to two baby girls, Roxi Layla on Tuesday, December 19th, and then Rebel Laken on Wednesday, December 20, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. Hatcher underwent 20 hours of labor. The first girl was induced and delivered vaginally, and the second was by a cesarian section performed the next day. The infants were born only a few days short of their due date, which was on Christmas. Although the girls are technically twins, fraternal of course, they are unique in that they do not share a birthday, nor did they share a womb. Both babies are healthy. -via Damn Interesting
In 1987, a barge carrying more than 3,000 tons of garbage from New York took over the news as it floated around the Atlantic seaboard looking for a place to offload. No one wanted it. The Mobro 4000 was originally intended to take its cargo to Louisiana for burial, then to Morehead City, North Carolina, to be converted to methane, then plans were hatched to take it to Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, New Jersey, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Belize, but the garbage was rejected everywhere. The boat stayed afloat and loaded for months.
What was the problem? Well, there were mob ties to the garbage transportation operation. There were also questions about the safety of the exact type of waste it carried, as it was rumored to contain medical waste. But it mainly boiled down to "we don't want your garbage." Read about the Mobro 4000 and what eventually happened to it at Amusing Planet.
According to a kinesiologist, it depends. Each individual has their own set of goals why they're going to the gym, and depending on their physical constitution and personal preferences, it might be better for them to start with one over the other.
Essentially, according to Randal Claytor, an exercise physiologist from Miami University, if your purpose for going to the gym is more generalized i.e. staying healthy, losing weight, or just enjoying working out, then it doesn't matter which one you start with, as both will provide you with similar benefits.
Things become a bit trickier when you have a performance-oriented goal, e.g. high-level athletes who are working toward more specific objectives like improving their speed, mobility, or quad strength.
In these cases, Claytor suggests doing resistance training first as it reduces what is called the "interference effect" which slightly decreases the benefits an athlete would gain from doing both exercises as they have competing influences.
Or, depending on their performance goal, they might want to start with aerobic exercise first. Furthermore, it would be best to take long breaks in between, especially when transitioning from one type of exercise to the other.
An in-between that he suggested was to do short bursts of both exercises, called "microcycles". Basically, they do a few minutes of weights followed by a few minutes of running, etc.
One important thing to note was that Claytor suggests that even though people who don't have performance-oriented goals in mind need not worry about the order with which they sequence their exercises, it would be best to still do both in one session.
(Image credit: Graham Mansfield/Unsplash)
There are several difficult books to read, and you might find yourself in the awkward position of having to talk about them, whether to impress a potential partner at a soirée or not feel left out when your friends start talking about these books.
In such instances, you might want to use some of these tips to bluff your way into the conversation. These five books include War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Ulysses by James Joyce, In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, and Paradise Lost by John Milton.
This, however, may involve not just knowing these bits of information about the books, but also knowing how to pivot the conversation when people start to prod you for further details. Moreover, since most of these books are pretty long and thick, most of the bluff just involves feigning memory loss.
To be fair, however, these books usually delve into deeply philosophical themes, so it might be a lot easier to blab one's way out of it.
Still, as long as you can touch on some of the salient information of the book, then you might just be able to swindle others into believing you have actually read the whole thing.
(Image credit: Liannadavis/Wikimedia Commons)
