I wonder if any hip hop artists have claimed to have "pyroclastic flows."
Sounds like a good name for a spell...
I haven't played it since the 90s, but wasn't it a spell in Magic: The Gathering?
Fun fact about syphilis, it could be cured by scarlet fever. For a very long time doctors noticed that people who had syphilis before catching scarlet fever, noticed that those who actually survived the fever, no longer had syphilis. Even if you lived through scarlet fever, it could leave you blind/deaf/brain damaged, though.
The advanced stages of syphilis result in flesh rotting, particularly the nose and genitals. Combine that with leprosy, and you can imagine the medieval and renaissance as a time when the dead walked the Earth.
I wonder if any hip hop artists have claimed to have "pyroclastic flows."
Sounds like a good name for a spell...
I haven't played it since the 90s, but wasn't it a spell in Magic: The Gathering?
No, that would be Pyroclasm. Not a great spell but it does often show up in the sideboard of Sneak and Show decks in Legacy (like the one which got first place in Las Vegas only two weeks ago).
There really was a unicorn and it existed in Siberia, not dying out until after it interacted with modern humans. It didn't look much like a horse though. More like a rhino. It died due to one of the subtler effects oc climate change. the disappearance of large area of grasslands, which it needed to survive. It was thought to have died out 200,000 years ago, but now it looks like it survived to 30,000 years ago. Its scientific name is "Elasmotherium'. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-27/siberian-unicorn-existed-alongside-early-humans/10555682?fbclid=IwAR2xdD6S8zjRJR6hVWWHvVWp1D8p9R_iKQY_NIF85N8Ip--0cMfI2CALErw The story of the Siberian unicorn is a timely reminder that even subtle changes in plant distributions can have devastating knock-on effects for large animal species.
Another good series about little known facts of history is Extra Credits. It investigates some little-known times and facts of history and is extremely entertaining and informative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p2lhxUqMMQ
It's difficult to excavate Herculaneum completely, because the modern town of Ercolano lies atop the ruins and the large amount of ash piled atop them, which has turned into rock.
Huh, I didn't. I assumed they'd bought it. Herculaneum was hit by pyroclastic flows, those things travel upwards of 100-200 mph, and the city would have been hit within less than a minute of the start of the flows. And everyone would be dead in less than 10 seconds from that.
Imagine getting hit by a tornado containing poisonous gas that's about 1500 degrees and pushing around a lot of hot rock from dust to boulder size.
When Mt. Pelée erupted in 1902, it leveled a city of about 30,000 people from such and killed essentially everyone. Less than a dozen survived the immediate effects, and were either on the very edge of the flow or in one case, because he was locked in an interior underground room in the city (a jail specifically, he was under arrest) with no ventilation and thus somewhat insulated, and all were wounded.
Ash, even when compacted into tuff (its "rock" equivalent) is pretty soft stuff, relatively speaking. It's almost more like a sedimentary rock like a siltstone.
Edit-Funny enough, two songs later in the music mix I'm listening to, was 'Pompeii' by Bastille.
One of the corpses in the boathouses they found was a young girl (14) with a baby. The baby was very well fed and taken care of, but the girl was not. They soon figured out that the girl was a slave, and the baby was that of her master and mistress, and she was probably the one taking care of him.
The bodies are in such condition that archaeologists and scientists can tell that they died, and died quickly, when their skin was literally burnt off in the Pyroclastic flows. The first one his 500 degrees C (934 F). There were others, ranging from 100-400 degrees C 212- 848 F).
I think the saddest thing, aside from the human bodies, is that of a dog in Pompeii which couldn't escape due to being chained to a door, which obviously died in agony.
Oliver Cromwell's Brother-in-Law was the first man to suggest going to space... in the 17th Century! His name was John Wilkins. He believed that magnetic waves tied people to the earth, but if they could juetget up 20 miles, they could escape earth and breathe the "purer air of the angels". When the nature of vacuums became known, he realized that going to space was more complicated thant he thought and abandoned the idea. But he wanted to go to the Moon to trade with the men he was sure lived there.
Mary did indeed have a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow, and yes it did follow her to school one day. Mary was Mary Sawyer, an 11-year-old Bostonian whose lamb followed her to school one day in 1817. But who wrote the poem? There’s some dispute here. A manuscript of the poem signed by Sarah Josepha Hale of Philadelphia and dated 23 January 1823 is still in existence, though it was written much earlier. It was first published in 1830 in an American children’s magazine. In the late 1860s, Mary Tyler (née Sawyer) was trying to raise money to save an old church in Boston and took a pair of woollen stockings that had been made from the famous lamb, unravelled the wool and sold small pieces of it attached to commemorative cards at 10 cents a time.
Roman Catholics in Bavaria founded a secret society in 1740 called the Order of the Pug. New members had to wear dog collars and scratch at the door to get in.
In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead. He suffered a heart attack mid-race, but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20-1 outsider victory.
Let's talk about luck. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima when the first atom bomb was dropped. He then traveled home to Nagasaki the day before the second atom bomb was dropped. He survived both and lived to be 93.
As a lark, at the height of his popularity, Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like competition in San Francisco. He came in 20th place.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died hours apart on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence.
In 1945, a balloon bomb launched by Japan landed in Oregon. It was happened upon by a woman and five children, who died when it exploded. These were the only World War 2 casualties on US soil after America entered the war.
Lucien, a Syrian living in the Roman empire during 2nd century AD wrote a story about a group of travelers blown off course and taken to the moon by a whirlwind. They become embroiled in a war between the people of the moon and the people of the sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_True_Story It's called A True Story as a satire of all the made up history books at the time, although a lot of Herodotus has been exonerated in more recent times. Herodotus clearly got a lot of things wrong, too though.
Phantasies, by George MacDonald, is the first modern fantasy story. So he is the father of Fantasy Literature. He also wrote "The Princess and the Goblin", which was made into an animated movie.
The first Lord of the Rings Movie was shot into Rotoscoped animation. I actually remember seeing this in the movie theatre when I was a kid. The sequel "Return of the King" was made in full animation, and looks very different. Here's my favorite clip from the animated version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y You have to admit, it's catchy...
The first full-length novel was the Japanese "Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu. The most known (or unknown) work of science fiction is Somnium, by Johannes Kepler. He describes a trip to the moon and the orbit of the earth as seen from the moon.
The difference between Science Fiction from Fantasy is the Sci-Fi (the modern version) is that it has to have an actual scientific basis. There is also "Science Fantasy", which uses a scientific gloss over what is actually fantasy.
Henry the I of England had 29 kids. Only 5 were legitimate. On the other hand, Queen Anne of England bore 18 kids. Only 8 of them survived infancy and all predeceased her. This is why King George ! of Hanover became King. He, and the three other Georges who succeeded him, all quarreled with their sons. He and his family (and line, were pretty much hated in England. He was also the father of the George who was King over the Colonies and "lost" America.
One song/poem about the Georges goes: I sing the Georges four, for Providence could stand no more Some say that by far the worst of them all was George the First. But still by some 'tis reckoned the worser still was George the Second No mortal ever said one word or good or bad of George the third When George the fourth from earth descended Thank God the line of Georges ended!
At the same time Christianity was born, it was almost defeated by worship of another "Son of a God", Mithraism. Born of a rock, and with a baptism in actual blood (Possibly) of a bull, which was slaughtered over the person joining the religion. But it was primarily a religion of warriors and only men. Dionysus was another worshipped in a like way, and said to have once been mortal.
Also, The Black Death was traced to parts of Asia, where hunters used to hunt vole-ilke animals. The last plague outbreak was in 1891, and it spread to America, where it may still live in small, wild mice. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/206309.php
In the latin names of the dog and cat, you can see how much longer dogs have lived with humans. Canis Familiarus versus Felis Domesticus. The Familiar Dog vs. the Merely Domesticated Cat.
Vikings were different than you think.They loved their cats, most of them were farmers, not raiders, and they didn't drink from the skulls of their enemies (more like cow horns). Enjoyed mead (a fermented drink made from honey), and did *not* wear horned helmets. Also, their women enjoyed rights pretty much equal to men, and could become warriors if they wished. Women even went a-viking,which meant on raids. "Viking" meant a raid. They called themselves Danes or Northmen or Norse. Also, blonde hair was not that common, but they did believe that blonde were the most beautiful.
Also, the days of out week are named after the Norse Gods except for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was named after Tiw (aka Tyr), Wednesday was named after Woden. Thursday is for Thor, Friday is named for Freya or Freyja. Saturday is named after Saturn. Sunday for the Sun and Monday for the Moon.
The Japanese were very influence by the marionettes of Gerry Anderson, like in his shows of Terrahawks, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90. This led to shows like "Thunderbolt Fantasy", which almost looks like it is done in live action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1muOeJ4fBps
@LadyRhian "John Romero's Film "Night of the Living Dead" was the first true horror film."
I contest this. There were already films intended to terrify audiences long before night of the living dead. 1923's King Kong was considered so horrific that it was censored heavily after its theatrical release (with no uncensored copies known to exist until the 2000's). Even going all the way back to silent films we have Nosferatu that STILL manages to have unsettling atmosphere to this day.
I always thought it kind of strange that for some reason, Saturn's in there with the days of the week. The rest of them are Germano/Nordic, but for some reason Saturn's in the mix. Seems like an odd one to add, too, since he wasn't exactly the nicest god, and got deposed by Jupiter.
Speaking of, did you know that Hinduism (and hence Buddhism and Jainism), Zoroastrianism, the Greco/Roman pantheon as well as the Germano/Nordic pantheon, all share a common root? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology
Zoroastrianism was derived from an earlier polytheistic tradition, that eventually reduced the pantheon to a binary choice between Ahura Mazda (good) and Ahriman (evil). That's a really gross over simplification, but it's a general summary. What gets really interesting, to me, is that the Hindu term Deva becomes evil to the Persians (it's where we get the word devil), and that the Persian word Ahura becomes Asura in Hindu (evil spirits/gods).
I always thought it kind of strange that for some reason, Saturn's in there with the days of the week. The rest of them are Germano/Nordic, but for some reason Saturn's in the mix. Seems like an odd one to add, too, since he wasn't exactly the nicest god, and got deposed by Jupiter.
Speaking of, did you know that Hinduism (and hence Buddhism and Jainism), Zoroastrianism, the Greco/Roman pantheon as well as the Germano/Nordic pantheon, all share a common root? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology
Zoroastrianism was derived from an earlier polytheistic tradition, that eventually reduced the pantheon to a binary choice between Ahura Mazda (good) and Ahriman (evil). That's a really gross over simplification, but it's a general summary. What gets really interesting, to me, is that the Hindu term Deva becomes evil to the Persians (it's where we get the word devil), and that the Persian word Ahura becomes Asura in Hindu (evil spirits/gods).
The Proto-Indo-Europeans gave rise also to the Celts. Most people think the Celts are a British/Irish/Welsh/Breton(Bretagne) phenomenon. But they actually stretched from India to the British isles. Also, Scotland and Ireland, through their languages, are very much alike. Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic are not so dissimilar. Welsh Gaelic, on the other hand, has little in common with either Scots or Irish Gaelic. It has more in common with Breton/Bretagne than either of the others.
Curious titbits: it's been known that since the 17th century, especially soon after wars ended rampaged, both impoverished and undernourished people ate Dachhase (literally meaning "rooftop rabbit") throughout Germany and parts of Austria. That being said... those were no long-eared rodents, but actually cats. Apparently if you cut their head, legs and tail off they'll look just like roast rabbit. And since cats like to climb... well, you can guess where that name comes from.
Metropolis (1927) is one of the most famous silent films. But the cut that was shown back in 1927 is lost. There have been many attempts to restore the original movie. The last one was back in 2010 after some lost footage was found in Argentina.
But back in the early 1980s, when there still weren't any real good versions available, David Bowie had the idea to buy the rights to Metropolis and release a restored version with a soundtrack he would write himself. Unfortunately, he never got the chance.
Giorgio Moroder had the same idea and bought the rights to the movie before Bowie did. Apparently he ruined Bowie's whole week when he happily told him of his upcoming project (and Bowie decided to not tell him he had had the exact same idea).
A bunch of different artists contributed to the new soundtrack. One of them was Freddie Mercury, with the song Love kills, which is the first song he recorded as a solo artist. Both the soundtrack and Love kills were nominated for Raspberry awards (and those aren't good if you didn't know).
It hurts my heart a little that anyone ever thought that Freddie deserved a Raspberry award. And that we never got a David Bowie version of this movie.
I really SHOULD wathc metropolis. I love really old movies with fantastic aspects. King Kong being one of my all time faovrite movies, period.
It's a very interesting movie! And I like the whole German 1920s expressionism. It's been around ten years since I saw it, so before the lost footage was found. I don't remember which version I watched, but it might have been the one from 2001.
The Caduceus (Staff of Hermes) has been confused as a medical symbol by the US Army Medical Corp and many medical institutions in the US.
The actual symbol that should have been used was the Staff of Esclapius/Asclepius, the god of healing. It's thought the symbol may derive from an old technique of getting rid of guinea worm. You'd have to tie the worm to a small stick, and over the course of many days, twist the stick a bit, and slowly pull the worm out.
I always thought it kind of strange that for some reason, Saturn's in there with the days of the week. The rest of them are Germano/Nordic, but for some reason Saturn's in the mix. Seems like an odd one to add, too, since he wasn't exactly the nicest god, and got deposed by Jupiter.
It's actually the other way around. Originally, most Europeans in contact with the Roman Empire used the Roman names for the days of the week and those were Roman gods like Jupiter and Juno. As the Empire fell and Germanic kingdoms began to exert influence, someone came up with German replacements for the Roman day names and Jupiter's day became Thor's day, etc. For some strange reason, Saturn's day survived this process while the Germanic day names for the other four days were adopted.
In Scandinavian countries, Saturday is called lördag, lørdag, or laurdag - originally meaning bath-day. Because that's the day when vikings apparently used to take their baths.
Comments
Fun fact about syphilis, it could be cured by scarlet fever. For a very long time doctors noticed that people who had syphilis before catching scarlet fever, noticed that those who actually survived the fever, no longer had syphilis. Even if you lived through scarlet fever, it could leave you blind/deaf/brain damaged, though.
The advanced stages of syphilis result in flesh rotting, particularly the nose and genitals. Combine that with leprosy, and you can imagine the medieval and renaissance as a time when the dead walked the Earth.
No, that would be Pyroclasm. Not a great spell but it does often show up in the sideboard of Sneak and Show decks in Legacy (like the one which got first place in Las Vegas only two weeks ago).
It died due to one of the subtler effects oc climate change. the disappearance of large area of grasslands, which it needed to survive. It was thought to have died out 200,000 years ago, but now it looks like it survived to 30,000 years ago. Its scientific name is "Elasmotherium'.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-27/siberian-unicorn-existed-alongside-early-humans/10555682?fbclid=IwAR2xdD6S8zjRJR6hVWWHvVWp1D8p9R_iKQY_NIF85N8Ip--0cMfI2CALErw
The story of the Siberian unicorn is a timely reminder that even subtle changes in plant distributions can have devastating knock-on effects for large animal species.
Another good series about little known facts of history is Extra Credits. It investigates some little-known times and facts of history and is extremely entertaining and informative.
https://moatmtv.weebly.com/herculaneum-skeletons.html
http://ermakvagus.com/Europe/Italy/herculaneum/boat_docks_herculaneum.html
The bodies are in such condition that archaeologists and scientists can tell that they died, and died quickly, when their skin was literally burnt off in the Pyroclastic flows. The first one his 500 degrees C (934 F). There were others, ranging from 100-400 degrees C 212- 848 F).
I think the saddest thing, aside from the human bodies, is that of a dog in Pompeii which couldn't escape due to being chained to a door, which obviously died in agony.
When the nature of vacuums became known, he realized that going to space was more complicated thant he thought and abandoned the idea. But he wanted to go to the Moon to trade with the men he was sure lived there.
Mary did indeed have a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow, and yes it did follow her to school one day. Mary was Mary Sawyer, an 11-year-old Bostonian whose lamb followed her to school one day in 1817. But who wrote the poem?
There’s some dispute here. A manuscript of the poem signed by Sarah Josepha Hale of Philadelphia and dated 23 January 1823 is still in existence, though it was written much earlier. It was first published in 1830 in an American children’s magazine.
In the late 1860s, Mary Tyler (née Sawyer) was trying to raise money to save an old church in Boston and took a pair of woollen stockings that had been made from the famous lamb, unravelled the wool and sold small pieces of it attached to commemorative cards at 10 cents a time.
Roman Catholics in Bavaria founded a secret society in 1740 called the Order of the Pug. New members had to wear dog collars and scratch at the door to get in.
In 1923, jockey Frank Hayes won a race at Belmont Park in New York despite being dead. He suffered a heart attack mid-race, but his body stayed in the saddle until his horse crossed the line for a 20-1 outsider victory.
Let's talk about luck. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima when the first atom bomb was dropped. He then traveled home to Nagasaki the day before the second atom bomb was dropped. He survived both and lived to be 93.
As a lark, at the height of his popularity, Charlie Chaplin entered a Charlie Chaplin look-a-like competition in San Francisco. He came in 20th place.
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died hours apart on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence.
In 1945, a balloon bomb launched by Japan landed in Oregon. It was happened upon by a woman and five children, who died when it exploded. These were the only World War 2 casualties on US soil after America entered the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_True_Story
It's called A True Story as a satire of all the made up history books at the time, although a lot of Herodotus has been exonerated in more recent times. Herodotus clearly got a lot of things wrong, too though.
Voltaire actually wrote a sci-fi story too. Micromegas, about an alien from Syrius, who's gigantic. He hooks up with another alien who's much smaller than him, but still giant by Earth standards, and heads to Earth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromégas
It's a short read and is public domain
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30123?msg=welcome_stranger
The first Lord of the Rings Movie was shot into Rotoscoped animation. I actually remember seeing this in the movie theatre when I was a kid. The sequel "Return of the King" was made in full animation, and looks very different. Here's my favorite clip from the animated version:
You have to admit, it's catchy...
Here's one from the Rotoscoped one:
It was made and directed by Ralph Bakshi, who had also directed "Wizards".
The first full-length novel was the Japanese "Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu. The most known (or unknown) work of science fiction is Somnium, by Johannes Kepler. He describes a trip to the moon and the orbit of the earth as seen from the moon.
The difference between Science Fiction from Fantasy is the Sci-Fi (the modern version) is that it has to have an actual scientific basis. There is also "Science Fantasy", which uses a scientific gloss over what is actually fantasy.
Henry the I of England had 29 kids. Only 5 were legitimate. On the other hand, Queen Anne of England bore 18 kids. Only 8 of them survived infancy and all predeceased her. This is why King George ! of Hanover became King. He, and the three other Georges who succeeded him, all quarreled with their sons. He and his family (and line, were pretty much hated in England. He was also the father of the George who was King over the Colonies and "lost" America.
One song/poem about the Georges goes:
I sing the Georges four,
for Providence could stand no more
Some say that by far the worst
of them all was George the First.
But still by some 'tis reckoned
the worser still was George the Second
No mortal ever said one word
or good or bad of George the third
When George the fourth from earth descended
Thank God the line of Georges ended!
At the same time Christianity was born, it was almost defeated by worship of another "Son of a God", Mithraism. Born of a rock, and with a baptism in actual blood (Possibly) of a bull, which was slaughtered over the person joining the religion. But it was primarily a religion of warriors and only men. Dionysus was another worshipped in a like way, and said to have once been mortal.
Also, in the Bible, you can read about "Ashera Poles". In the early days of the Hebres, this was actually God's wife. They were deities of the Canaanite religion, and apparently, she was worshipped alongside him. She was a fertility goddess.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42154769/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/did-god-have-wife-scholar-says-he-did/#.XADsga2ZM9c
The oldest Modern human remains found were in Jebel Imoud in Morocco in Northern Africa. The remains there are 300,000 years old. 8 skulls were found.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/skulls-found-morocco-human-origins-discover-archaeology-a8047906.html
The Best Kitchen Gadget of the 1600s Was a Small, Short-Legged Dog
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-best-kitchen-gadget-of-the-1600s-was-a-small-shortlegged-dog?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=atlas-page&fbclid=IwAR29PQ_t3PKHL1Ig8OH_pmvJ16V5UEHPD0Q6BYIi1qA7ohHQ_PvIpvm6yfk
Also, The Black Death was traced to parts of Asia, where hunters used to hunt vole-ilke animals. The last plague outbreak was in 1891, and it spread to America, where it may still live in small, wild mice.
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/206309.php
And, this isn't quite a historical fact, just interesting: What a pufferfish skeleton looks like
http://www.deepseanews.com/2018/12/you-should-definitely-know-about-pufferfish-skeletons/?fbclid=IwAR0L-0gymFeyuIYqb10Qo4mHWpsjwBmQqK05vLbxR_wSZJhiMMji5FdRKwU
All I can say is that looks... ouchy.
In the latin names of the dog and cat, you can see how much longer dogs have lived with humans. Canis Familiarus versus Felis Domesticus. The Familiar Dog vs. the Merely Domesticated Cat.
Also, the days of out week are named after the Norse Gods except for Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was named after Tiw (aka Tyr), Wednesday was named after Woden. Thursday is for Thor, Friday is named for Freya or Freyja. Saturday is named after Saturn. Sunday for the Sun and Monday for the Moon.
http://www.history101.com/vikingfacts/?utm_source=ouins&utm_campaign=00704b507c6290d2098165b714f3b63298&utm_term=CNN+(Turner+U.S.)_CNN_0010207ecdf4c62cfba32bfaf33a3ec5a4&utm_request=e4dd7681e70eb3fa16505e6624efbf4b&utm_content=newnext&utm_medium=R_OS_H101_US_D_vikingfacts_v6_0611
Bronze Age woman in Scotland was an early immigrant, DNA analysis reveals
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/03/health/scotland-dna-grave-scli-intl-gbr/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0CfNLCfxa1lmCulNywg3LsnXldE41ZN4Vq1Qy0DUjuh_viU40fpc_JEOo
I also cannot get over how much this reconstruction looks like Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
She could have been a slave brought from the south by the Vikings. Yes, they also trafficked in slaves, who they called Thralls.
John Romero's Film "Night of the Living Dead" was the first true horror film. Not sexy and horrific. It was also unusual in that the main protagonist was black. He survives the night and is killed by a bunch of white men.
https://www.npr.org/2018/12/03/672202431/when-an-undead-apocalypse-first-swept-america-in-the-night-of-the-living-dead?fbclid=IwAR2G0iH3CpbNwNeCva-ExIRO1ixbh_s-1b8GbdxteXf10biq_tLqjQnC2GQ
The Japanese were very influence by the marionettes of Gerry Anderson, like in his shows of Terrahawks, Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet and Joe 90. This led to shows like "Thunderbolt Fantasy", which almost looks like it is done in live action.
I contest this. There were already films intended to terrify audiences long before night of the living dead. 1923's King Kong was considered so horrific that it was censored heavily after its theatrical release (with no uncensored copies known to exist until the 2000's). Even going all the way back to silent films we have Nosferatu that STILL manages to have unsettling atmosphere to this day.
Speaking of, did you know that Hinduism (and hence Buddhism and Jainism), Zoroastrianism, the Greco/Roman pantheon as well as the Germano/Nordic pantheon, all share a common root?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proto-Indo-European_mythology
Zoroastrianism was derived from an earlier polytheistic tradition, that eventually reduced the pantheon to a binary choice between Ahura Mazda (good) and Ahriman (evil). That's a really gross over simplification, but it's a general summary. What gets really interesting, to me, is that the Hindu term Deva becomes evil to the Persians (it's where we get the word devil), and that the Persian word Ahura becomes Asura in Hindu (evil spirits/gods).
But back in the early 1980s, when there still weren't any real good versions available, David Bowie had the idea to buy the rights to Metropolis and release a restored version with a soundtrack he would write himself. Unfortunately, he never got the chance.
Giorgio Moroder had the same idea and bought the rights to the movie before Bowie did. Apparently he ruined Bowie's whole week when he happily told him of his upcoming project (and Bowie decided to not tell him he had had the exact same idea).
A bunch of different artists contributed to the new soundtrack. One of them was Freddie Mercury, with the song Love kills, which is the first song he recorded as a solo artist. Both the soundtrack and Love kills were nominated for Raspberry awards (and those aren't good if you didn't know).
It hurts my heart a little that anyone ever thought that Freddie deserved a Raspberry award. And that we never got a David Bowie version of this movie.
The actual symbol that should have been used was the Staff of Esclapius/Asclepius, the god of healing.
It's thought the symbol may derive from an old technique of getting rid of guinea worm. You'd have to tie the worm to a small stick, and over the course of many days, twist the stick a bit, and slowly pull the worm out.
*EDIT* VENOMOUS. Snakes are venomous. I know there wasn't a distinction at the time the OT was written, but dang it I can't let it slide.
Canadian Officials Stumble Upon "Immense" Cave Never Before Seen By Humans
https://www.iflscience.com/environment/canadian-officials-stumble-upon-immense-cave-never-before-seen-by-humans/?fbclid=IwAR15sihkUVjO5X6LMt--wsgzFyUYesnFyT_61wkutgb-NjcpX6TSPzFBiKM
There is speculation that it was hidden under snow before, and Global Climate Change has only now melted the snow and made it visible and discoverable.
The cave has been temporarily named "The Sarlacc Pit".