Ahhh! I'm Having A Stone Baby!


A 92-old-woman gave birth to her 60-year-old baby. Huang Yijun, 92, of southern China, was carrying a lithopedion; otherwise known as a stone baby. This poor woman had been informed by doctors that her baby had died in 1948, but she did not have the money to have the dead foetus removed, which just goes to show how important universal health care is.

A lithopedion is a rare condition, which occurs when a foetus dies during pregnancy and then begins to calcify to protect the mother from infection.

The word lithopedion comes from Greek and it literally means, "stone baby".

Although first described by the physician Albucasis in the 10th century, the earliest documented case of a stone baby was discovered when Colombe Chatr, a French woman, was given an autopsy after her death in 1582 and it was found that she had been carrying a fully developed stone baby for 28 years.

Another lithopedion case occurred in San Antonio, Chilie, when a 2 kg (4.4 lb) calcified fetus was discovered in the abdomen of a 90-year-old Chilean woman during an X-ray examination. The classified baby is believed to have been in the woman's abdomen for 50 years and it was so large and developed, it occupied the whole abdominal cavity.

A report about this condition in the year 2000, emphasised that this condition is very rare occurring in less than two percent of all abdominal pregnancies. Of note, abdominal pregnancies only occur in about one in every 11,000 pregnancies.


Read Are Humans Just Infantile?

Pigging Out in Your Sleep


About one to three percent of the general population gets up during sleep to make their way to the kitchen, where they pig out on food, which normally they would never eat. This type of sleep-eating behaviour falls into a category called parasomnias.


Sleeping Disorder

People suffering from this type of sleeping disorder are actually asleep and this sleep-walking-eating behaviour, generally, occurs during the transition from REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, to non-REM sleep, and wakefulness.

If you happen to go to the kitchen in the middle of the night and you see your loved one, or perhaps flatmate eating from the dog food bowl, drinking dishwashing detergent, scoffing down a giant container of ice-cream, or perhaps, devouring huge amounts of chocolate, soap, or bacon with raspberry jam, you may feel surprised and disturbed.
But if you look closely, you will notice that these pigging-out people, appear to be out of control. So as you watch on in horror at the sloppy, bingeing manner in which they are eating, you may draw the conclusion that they actually have some type of sleeping disorder.
The next day these zombie sleep eaters may be shocked to see that their kitchen is a horrendous mess and they may also wonder why they don’t feel hungry. YOU may be blamed. So perhaps, consider taking some photos of the piggy action, otherwise, your friend may just say, "pics or it didn't happen".

Some sufferers of this sleeping disorder who have taken certain types of drugs have even driven their cars to fast food outlets in the middle of the night and ordered food. Remember now, these people are essentially unconscious and asleep.

There is another related sleeping disorder called sexsomnia, which may be even more awkward for the sufferer. This is where a sleeping person may attempt to have sex with their partner, or another person in the room, or perhaps masturbate, while they are asleep. Supposedly, the person’s cerebral cortex is asleep, but the brain stem is still awake when someone has sexsomnia. Sounds stressful!


Books To Read

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane. A pair of US Marshals are sent to an island-bound institution for the criminally insane.

When Mary Queen of Scots Lost Her Head


Mary Queen of Scots was born in Scotland in the year1542. She was widely acknowledged to be a great beauty and she was also tall for a woman of those times, being close to 6 feet. Mary had auburn hair and hazel eyes and she was also said to have a very kind and loving nature.

Her father, who was King James V of Scotland, was also the nephew of King Henry VIII of England. And her mother was a member of the rich and powerful Guise family of France.

Becoming a Queen at six days old, when her father died, was just the beginning of a very eventful life for Mary, as at the age of six years, she was sent to France due to the religious turmoil between Catholics and Protestants erupting in Scotland.
Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587)
Married Young

King Henry II of France wanted Mary to marry his son, the weak and sickly Dauphin Francis. And they did eventually marry when Mary was 15 and the Dauphin was 14.

Mary's mother in law was the ruthless Catherine de 'Medici, who was known to poison her enemies and said to dabble in a bit of witchcraft. So Mary, was lucky in a way, as she was merely sent back to Scotland when her husband Francis II died.

Back in Scotland, Mary fell in love with Henry, Lord Darnley, describing him as "the lustiest and best-proportioned lang man". The pair married in 1564. However, the marriage quickly turned sour.

Not long before Mary gave birth to her child, who would later become James VI of Scotland and Ist of England, Lord Darnley, in a fit of jealously killed Mary's private secretary, Italian musician David Rizzio, by stabbing, right in front of the heavily pregnant Mary.

Mary's husband Lord Darnley died (murdered) and she fell in love again, this time with the Earl of Bothwell, who was soon revealed as the assassin of Mary's former husband, Lord Darnley, by means of an explosion. Mary and Bothwell, to the utter outrage of many, married.

Her reputation in shreds, combined with the growing power of the Protestants, resulted in Mary abdicating. She was locked away in prison, but after a year, her supporters helped her to escape, and she attempted to flee to France. Her ship, however, blew off course and she landed in England. Mary was now at the mercy of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

Imprisoned Again

Again, Mary was imprisoned. She tried to escape and she was put under closer guard. In 1587, Mary's Catholic supporters tried to assassinate Elizabeth I, in order to put Mary on the throne and reinstate Catholicism. Instead, this led to Elizabeth I signing Mary's execution warrant.

Dressed in scarlet, the colour of martyrdom, Mary was led to the scaffold, which had been erected in the middle of a large room. Mary asked her major-domo to assist her up onto the scaffold and she asked to see a Catholic priest. This request was refused and the Duke of Kent added, “he pitied her greatly to see her thus the victim of the superstition of past ages”.

Attempts were made to remove her black veil, but Mary angrily pushed all hands away. The first blow of the axe struck the back of her head. The next blow severed the neck, leaving a small amount of sinew. The executioner then cut through this with the axe.
The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots 
As her head was held up for all to see, her auburn hair fell away, and it was revealed to be a wig. Her head, with its short white hair, fell to the ground. She was 44 years old.


Books To Read

The Monarchy of England: The Beginnings, by David Starkey

Let's Play Some Brain Tricks, Yeah!

 Checker Shadow Illusion

The area labeled A appears to be a darker colour than the area labeled B, but it is not: they are the same colour.

Your brain makes adjustments for light and shadow. Your eyes "know" that the squares are the same colour, but your brain makes adjustments and compensations and tells you that B is in the shadow. So, in order to explain how both squares could be sending the same amount of light to your eye, your brain decides that B must be white.

 


Afterimages

Concentrate 30 seconds on the white dot and close your eyes for 10 seconds.

Afterimages are optical illusions which occur when the image continues to appear briefly after the image is no longer there. There are two types of afterimages:
1. Positive afterimage -The image retains the colours of the original image.
2. Negative afterimage - The colours may reverse like a photo negative.

 File:2011 Dimitri Parant CARDIN.jpg 

Dimitri Parant


Café Wall

The café wall illusion: the horizontal lines are parallel, despite appearing to be at different angles to each other.

 File:CafĂ© wall.svg


Fraser Spiral Illusion

This image appears to be a spiral of rope with twisted strands of two different colours. However, it is actually made up of concentric circles of twisted cords.

File:Fraser spiral.svg 


Thaumatrope

A disk with a picture of flowers on one side and a vase on the other is twirled very quickly by strings on each side and the pictures combine.


Reversible figure

This picture of a women looking into a mirror, turns into a skull.


Autostereogram

An autostereogram is a type of 2D picture which when viewed in a certain manner appears 3D.

To look at an autostereogram, you must not focus on the picture, but kind of look through the picture as though you are looking from afar. Try not to blink or move your head too much. Then move back from the picture slowly. Repeat until a blurry 3D picture emerges.

 File:Stereogram Tut Random Dot Shark.png


Books To Read

Eye Benders: The Science of Seeing and Believing, by Clive Gifford.

Oh Wow! The Mummies of Krakow

Beneath the Church of St. Kazimierz the Prince, in southern Poland, are catacombs full of strikingly preserved mummies, formed as a result of naturally-occurring environmental conditions.
Since 1667, up until 1841, almost 1000 bodies have been placed in these crypts, where the unique microclimate has allowed many of the bodies to become naturally mummified.

Today it is only possible to view the mummies once a year on 2 November, All Souls' Day. On this day, you can see the mummy of a women in her wedding dress, who was poisoned by her family for going ahead with a marriage, of which they did not approve.

Monks however, were very simply laid on the sandy floor, wearing their habits and left to mummify.

In a glass coffin, lies the body of Father Sebastian Wolicki. It is also possible to view the body of Countess Domicella Skalska, who worked at the church as a housemaid for 20 years. Shortly before she died in 1864, the housemaid revealed that she was actually the Countess Domicella Skalska, from an aristocratic family.









Some photos Flickr bildungsr0man


Cleopatra's Marriage to her Brother and Undersea Palace


Cleopatra VII Philopator who was born about 69 BC, is generally known as Cleopatra. She was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, but she is most famous for her romantic relationships with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.

Cleopatra was forced to marry her younger brother Ptolemy XIII when she was 11 years old. However, her husband/brother drowned during the Alexandrian War (47 B.C.). Then she was forced to marry another brother, Ptolemy XIV. This brother and his three counsellors then managed to have Cleopatra exiled from Egypt.
{1400 years ago, a terrible earthquake and a huge tsunami struck Egypt, near the coast of the great city of Alexandria and it sank the island of Antirhodos, where queen Cleopatra’s palace was located.}
Revenge. and Romance

Intent on revenge, Cleopatra gathered together an army. However, at this time the country was going through upheaval, as Pompeius,  the consul of Rome was murdered, and Julius Caesar became the Roman consul.

Wishing to gain entry to the palace and ally herself with Julius Caesar, Cleopatra had herself wrapped up inside a carpet and delivered to Julius Caesar himself, so she would avoid being killed by Ptolemy’s people.

The pair became lovers that very night, and in time, Cleopatra gave birth to Julius Caesar's son, Caesarion (little Caesar).
Cleopatra's husband and brother, Ptolemy XIV, died and Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15 March 44 BC.
Summoned to Rome 

In 41 BC, Cleopatra was summoned to Rome to meet Mark Antony, who perhaps, wanted her support in an intended war against the Parthians. Cleopatra supposedly arrived in Rome, on a barge, dressed as Venus. Mark Antony and Cleopatra then began a romantic affair and Cleopatra later gave birth to Mark Antony's twins.

Mark Antony married Cleopatra, while he was still married to the sister of Octavian (another member of the Second Triumvirate), which led to Octavian declaring war on both Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Mark Antony's armies, however, deserted him and joined with Octavian.

Mark Antony in his anguish cried out that Cleopatra had betrayed him. Fearful of Mark Antony, Cleopatra sent a message to him stating that she was dead. Upon hearing this, Mark Antony commits suicide by stabbing himself in the stomach with his sword. In her grief, on hearing of her lover's death, it is said by many historians that, Cleopatra killed herself by having an Egyptian cobra (an asp) bite her on the breast.

Interestingly, Cleopatra had tested many poisons on slaves to see if an attractive death could be managed and snake poison seemed to be about the best way to die and to preserve her beauty. Just in case her tongue was hanging out, or worse, a slave was on hand to clean up Cleopatra after her death.
File:The Death of Cleopatra arthur.jpg
The Death of Cleopatra by Reginald Arthur (d. 1896)
Cleopatra's palace sunk into the waters off Alexandria due to earthquakes and tsunamis; lost until rediscovered by divers in the 1990s. The site is an archaeological treasure trove, brimming with riches and historical treasures.




Books To Read

Cleopatra: A Life, by Stacy Schiff. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author Stacy Schiff brings Cleopatra to life.


Why Homoeopathy Is Really Voodoo


The general idea of Homoeopathy is based on the principle that you can treat "like with like" ( similia similibus curentur). So a substance which causes a symptom is often used in a dilute form as a treatment. This means that coffee beans in a very dilute form may be used to treat insomnia.


Magical Beliefs

The ideas of homoeopathy are very similar to "correspondence" in ancient sympathetic magical beliefs. For example, a folk healer would prescribe walnuts for a brain disorder due to the fact that the walnut resembles the brain. Ferns, however, were believed to be useful in treating arthritis, simply based on the fact that fronds unfurled as they grew. The general idea was that there was some kind of causal link between the two objects. How this link worked, though, is never fully explained.
In the case of homoeopathic remedies, there is actually no real substance left, because it has been diluted to the point of being basically just water. But the wacky idea postulated is that "water has a memory". However, Research published in 2005 on hydrogen bond network dynamics in water, demonstrated that "liquid water loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure" within fifty-millionths of a nanosecond.[7]

Similarly, the use of voodoo dolls is another form of imitative/sympathetic magic. The theory that "like produces like" is behind the idea that, whatever happens to the doll, will happen to the person. So, if you stick a pin in the doll, then there is supposed to be some kind of magical link between it and a particular person. How a material that is shaped to resemble a human shape could possess such power, is again, never fully explained.

Many people "believe" in the power of homoeopathy and voodoo dolls. However, homoeopathy has been found to be no more effective than a placebo, or a sugar pill. Behind both the effects of the placebo and the nocebo effect is belief .

The placebo effect is a medical treatment that is inert (inactive), such as a sugar pill, which causes a measurable or felt improvement. 
 
The nocebo effect is when a harmless substance creates harmful effects in a patient who takes it.


Books To Read

Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, by Michael Shermer.

The Crazy and Scary Deep Dark Web


So, you probably think that you are pretty familiar with the Internet. Well, the pages you surf through Google etc. are but a tiny part of the vast Internet universe. The Deep Web, it is estimated comprises about 96% of the Internet and the other 4% is those sites which are visible to the public.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/BH_LMC.png/300px-BH_LMC.png
The Deep Web, as it is often called, is not indexed by standard search engines; it is the Wild West of the Internet universe and you may not want to go there.

The Deep Web is the cyber world where paedophiles dwell. But then there are the arms dealers, drug pushers, illegal passports for sale, terrorists and hit-men for hire. Buyers use BitCoin, a digital currency when paying for their purchases, or services. There is hardly anything you cannot buy with BitCoins.
To access the Deep Web you need a special kind of software called Tor (originally short for The Onion Router) which enables users to communicate anonymously on the Internet by encrypting data through various layers like an onion.

This part of the web, also, has private password only sites, unlinked pages which cannot be web crawled, scripted pages, and file formats not handled by search engines. There is also, lots and lots of educational information.

The horrible nightmare inducing parts of the Dark Web, usually, need to be accessed by links that are found on message boards. But I wouldn't advise you to follow these trails, for the same reason that you wouldn't walk down a dark alleyway, in a rough part of town, in the deep of the night.

The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld



Nobody Really Has Blue Eyes


How many times have you heard people say that they have, or love, blue eyes? The problem is, that the perception of eyes being blue is an optical illusion.

Most babies when they are born will have what appear to be blue eyes. This is because babies have no eye pigment. However, if the child has inherited brown eyes from a parent, the iris of the eye will darken as the pigment (melanin) develops with age.
File:Limbal ring (2).JPG
Melanin absorbs light. However, eyes that appear blue, have very little melanin in the turbid front layer and so, the light travels through the translucent iris and scatters. This is called Tyndall scattering. Blue wavelengths of the light spectrum are shorter than other wavelengths, so, they scatter more efficiently.

Blue eyes are the result of a genetic mutation. Research by the University of Copenhagen shows that a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene took place in a single individual 6000-10, 000 years ago and this turned off the melanin pigment production. Professor Eibergfrom from the university said that all eye colours can be accounted for by the amount of melanin in the iris.

The inheritance pattern of blue eyes is in general, considered a polygenic trait, meaning that it is controlled by the interactions of several genes, not just one.

DNA studies conducted on ancient human remains have confirmed that light skin, hair and eyes were evident at least tens of thousands of years ago on Neanderthals, who lived in Eurasia.


Books To Read


Europe: A Natural History, by Tim Flannery, Europe  - modern humans arrived in Europe 40000 years ago.

Everyone I Know Believes It, So It Must be True


"Everyone I Know Believes It, So It Must be True"

During the Middle Ages, many people believed that the Earth was flat. The majority of ordinary, everyday people believed this. But did the belief of so many, that the world was flat, make the flatness of the earth true? No.

Back in Ancient Greece, the majority of Greeks believed that Zeus existed. Did this belief in Zeus, make Zeus real and true?
The above style of argument is commonly called the Argumentum ad populum. Many people use this style of crooked reasoning in the belief that: "If so many believe it, it must be so."

This argument can take many forms and advertisers and politicians are often masters of such techniques. For example:

"Bliss toothpaste is the best, because Bliss toothpaste is used by most Americans".

"This book all about magical thinking can bring you great riches. The book is number one on the best seller-list and everyone is reading it. So, therefore, magical thinking must be true."

"Gay marriage is immoral. 75% of Australians believe this".

The fact that these things may be believed by many people, does not make them true.

Another common error in reasoning, which is often used, is the Ad hominem fallacy. Ad hominem means "against the person". So, instead of providing a rational critique of an argument, there will be an attack the person who made the argument. For example:
"Her views about gun control are not worth considering because she didn't go to university and she is also ugly".

"I don't care what those café latte, bleeding heart Liberals, have to say about health care".

This argument style concentrates on personal attacks and name calling, instead of examining the argument.



Books To Read


Logically Fallacious, The Ultimate Collection of Over 300 Logical Fallacies, by Bo Bennett, PhD.

Alexander the Great Fathered by A Snake?

Olympias who was the mother of Alexander the Great, was also a Greek princess of Epirus, formerly a region in southeastern Europe. She was also a devout member of the orgiastic snake-worshipping cult of Dionysus.
Zeus seduces Olympias
This snake cult featured "unrestrained" masked dances by firelight and ophiolatreia, which was worship of the serpent. Serpent worship was very closely related to phallic worship; the symbolism is obvious. Olympias, the mother of Alexander, as Plutarch outlined, would take part in orgies, where frantic rites were performed with snakes. Snakes also crowned her hair.

One night, the husband of Olympias, King Philip of Macedonia, found his wife embracing a snake in her bed. A snake, which she believed was Zeus in snake form. After this, Phillip no longer desired his wife and took other wives. He did have a son, though, with Olympias, a son who would later become Alexander the Great.

Zeus is The Father

According to the historian, Justin, Olympias confessed to her husband, King Phillip, that the child, Alexander, was not his son. His father, she claimed, was a snake. A snake who was really Zeus.

Later, when Philip was murdered by his bodyguard, Olympias was suspected of being behind the murderous plot, as she was known to have arranged the murder of a woman, Eurydice and her child, to ensure that Alexander would become king of Macedonia.

Alexander probably believed that he was the son of the god Zeus. After all, that was not an uncommon belief in that day and age, when people also routinely believed absolutely, in all kinds of superstitions and omens, as well.

Strange Portents

The death of Alexander at the age of 32 was also very mysterious according to Plutarch. There were reports of ravens fighting with each other over the city walls, with some dropping dead; a man with a deformed liver being sacrificed for the king and Alexander's best lion was kicked to death by an ass.

As is usual in these cases, Alexander's followers claimed that his body after death did not decompose, in order to make him appear more godlike. The disease Alexander actually died from is not certain, although, some suspect typhoid.
Record of the death of Alexander (c. 323–322 BC)
Alexander's embalmed corpse was hijacked on the way to Macedonia and taken to Alexandria, where it was displayed in a glass sarcophagus for 550 years. Nobody knows where his body is now, but some stories claim that he lays in a crypt beneath a Christian church. Not bad for the son of Zeus.



Books To Read

The Triumph Of Christianity, by religion scholar Bart Ehrman.

Are Humans Just Infantile?


Is it true that we humans resemble baby chimps? Neoteny, or the preservation of juvenile characteristics in adults may be why humans are so different from chimpanzees despite the fact that we share close to 99% DNA. It is not the genes that we have, but how those genes are expressed which may differ.
 
Scientist Mehmet Somel from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has found that a small group of nerve cells are delayed in their development in humans compared to chimpanzees. This delay also occurs in other areas of human development resulting in mature adults retaining juvenile features. Human adults, you see, share some of the characteristics of young chimps, like flat faces and distribution of hair.

Philipp Khaitovich, also of the Max Planck Institute, has also noted these development delays in humans. He points out how human sexual maturation takes place about five years later than chimps and how teeth also erupt later. When gene expression was also compared between humans, chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys, in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain involved in memory. It was found that about 40% of these genes were expressed later in humans.

The evolution of dogs from wolves is also an example of neoteny, as dogs, like baby wolves, are more social. Also, wolves don't generally bark, but their baby offspring do. Both dogs and humans have also retained a playful friendliness, which is probably due to neoteny.

We Love Cuteness

We not only love neoteny in other animals, but also in the cute TV characters and toys around us. Consider animé "cuteness", Bambi, Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh. Just to name a few.

It seems that we just love things that resemble babies (neotinized) and this is why most people fail to get excited about crocodiles or spiders and yet love dolphins and domestic rabbits. Cute it seems, wins the day!

Physical anthropologist Barry Bogin considers Betty Boop to be an example of neoteny.
"The cartoon of Betty Boop illustrates some human features which are sometimes labeled as neotenous, such as a large head, short arms and legs relative to total height, and clumsy, child–like movements." — Barry Bogin.


Books To Read

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, by Perre Christin - a French comic series.