Curious Tendency

7 Ways You Can Die In A House

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 06:15:00 +0000

I love the built environment. Every house, from beautiful turn of the century jewels to lifeless utilitarian cubes, every road, from charming cobble stoned alleys to busy 4 lane streets, everything that has to do with cities and the infrastructure and buildings within them I just adore.

But without geeking out on architecture and urbanism (I’ll definitely be doing that on another article) and keeping in mind that Halloween is approaching I thought I could look at how the built environment I so deeply love CANKILLMEATAMOMENTSNOTICE.

Here are some of the weirdest ways in which a number of unfortunate souls met their demise at the hand of the buildings that surround them or the objects stored within them.

1. Just Buy a Kindle and You’ll Be Fine

Everyone can think of at least one tight spot in their home where they can possible get stuck; a crammed pantry, some part of the basement or a really small attic. However, Mariesa Weber managed to get herself killed by slipping behind the bookcase in her room. Supposedly, the 38-year-old woman from Pasco County was trying to plug in her TV when she slipped and fell behind her 6 feet tall bookcase. Being unable to set herself free, the woman eventually died of suffocation.

She was found 11 days later by accident after a huge missing persons search was set in place by her worried family.

Here’s a tip no interior designer will ever give you, make sure you can push over any piece of furniture you’re ever going to buy.

2. You Will NEVER Look at a Chair the Same Way Again

In the most horrific story ever written with letters, an unnamed 14-year-old boy from China apparently died after the gas cylinder of his chair exploded sending what can basically be described as shrapnel into his rectum.

Just remember that when you’re nonchalantly adjusting the height on your office chair. In the meantime, I’m buying regular-normal-safe-chair stock in case this story ever trends and people suddenly stop buying adjustable chairs.

3. There is No Such Thing as 100% Safe When It Comes To Swimming Pools

I can’t swim very well. It’s one of the many things that may end up killing me in case of a zombie apocalypse or a trip to the seaside.

This being said, I still planned to install an awesome swimming pool when I became a homeowner and just be careful around it until I learned how to swim better. I scrapped that plan as apparently there is no such thing as being safe next to a swimming pool. I say this because a 31-year-old man named Jerome Moody drowned at a lifeguard party thrown to celebrate a no-drowning season in New Orleans.

In case you missed it, a man died at a lifeguard party, with 4 lifeguards on guard.

So instead of a swimming pool, my future home’s entertainment and relaxation section will come with something safe like a series of giant death-pendulums swimming over my backyard.

4. In News That Shocks No One: Hoarding Can Kill

Homer and Langley Collyer, brothers from a rich and somewhat prestigious New York family, were killed by their eccentric hoarding habits. The brothers became extremely private, basically shut-ins after their parents died sometime during the 1920s.

In 1947, a neighbor of the brother’s Harlem brownstone called the authorities when a pestilential smell was oozing from the next-door building. Police found the blind and crippled Homer Collyer dead, surrounded by ALL THE THINGS IN THE WORLD. I’m not kidding, among other things, police officers found an X-ray machine, tons of newspapers, books, furniture and a horse’s jawbone. #justelittlethings #poorpeopledontunderstand

With no trace of his brother, Langley, police probably thought he was in some way responsible for the death and launched a US-wide manhunt. However, 180 tons of cleared out trash later, officers found the rat bitten cadaver of Langley which was apparently crushed by a giant stack of newspapers.

No shtick for this one.

5. People That Bother You While You’re Playing Are Saving Your Life

If you were born sometime after 1903, you probably have some sort of gaming system in your home. Be it a PC, laptop, or console system, you probably have your own special corner where you can delve deep into whatever time-sapping, mind-numbing, soul-enriching games you play.

But for the love of God, whenever you’re preparing to go on a gaming bender, please remember to get up, stretch a bit maybe go to the kitchen and fix a sandwich or do anything that gets the blood moving.

Otherwise, you might end up like the 18-year-old Taiwanese youth known only as Chuang, who went on a 40 hour Diablo III marathon that killed him. The young man apparently died from a blood clot that had formed due to him not moving an inch while playing the game for hours on end.

Dying in your underwear and stained old t-shirt, while heading towards the bathroom with chip and Snickers wrappers all around you is certainly not a great way to go. At least that’s what the post-it stuck to my laptop screen says from now on.

6. YOU ARE NEVER ******* SAFE!!!

Whenever I have a crap day ahead of me or am going through a boring or unpleasant experience I always think that no matter how bad it gets now or how long it takes, I’ll be safely in my bed at the end of the day. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking about the bed as the absolute safe place.

This is what Joao Maria De Souza probably thought as well. The 45-year-old Brazilian man was safely in his bed, sleeping next to his wife when a freaking ton and a half cow fell through his roof crushing him to death!!!!

Yes, apparently a cow from a nearby farm escaped and climbed on De Souza’s roof by way of a hill situated right next to the man’s house. The structure gave way under the bovine’s weight and he cow came plummeting down and crushed the man who was sound asleep in his bed. Oddly, his wife which was sleeping right next to him escaped uninjured, as did the cow.

De Souza didn’t die on the spot, however, he did pass away a couple of hours later due to internal injuries.

I’m just … I mean… it’s…. I just don’t…

7. Smelling Good Can Cost You Your Life

Teenager Jonathan Capewell passed away due to a heart attack after he had 10 times the normal

dosage of propane and butane in his blood. The 16-year-old was apparently so obsessed with deodorant and smelling nice that he covered his entire body in deodorant twice a day. The gases filled his room to the point where his parents could taste them downstairs.

The lesson here isn’t to keep a close eye on your kids, nor is it to talk to them about hygiene and social norms, not even to ensure they are supplied with 100% natural, harmless substances. Just teach your kid to embrace fresh air and crack open a window every now and then and these things can be avoided.

6 Weird Fetishes (Part III)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 20:06:00 +0000

This is part III of Weird Fetishes series and probably the last part, so if you haven't read Part I and Part II you should go check out some weirdness there. Unless some people decide they get aroused by rubbing rocks on their eyeballs in the near future or others decide they want to invent some other new ways to get aroused I don't think I'm going to be writing about this subect soon.Along with Part I and II, I present you the next weird fetishes:

1. Furries - Yes, people who like to dress as animals and live that way. Yes, they exist and apparently

they find humping to be sexually gratifying. Although some furries are interested in zoophilia, most of them are interested in other people being dressed as animals. The weird thing about them is the fact that they usually take on the persona of the animal they are portraying. While some people have the personality of a sheep, furries are definitely a lot more than that. Their "alternative" personality can be much more complex than must of us would think. There is also ursusagalmatophilia (more like sex with teddy bears) related to that, so go check it out on this cool website.

2. Symphorophilia –according to Wikipedia, in this paraphilia the sexual arousal hinges on staging

and watching a disaster, such as fire or traffic accident. The term was coined by J.Money who stated that this is a type of sacrificial paraphilia that culminates with a disaster. A lot of people who have this fetish are aroused by automobile crash. “For those members of the general public who have a touch of sadomasochism in them, disaster as an unrehearsed event is often a large part of the appeal of entertainment stunts and sports, from the circus to stock-car racing.”

3. Menophilia – menophilia is another weird fetish that involves women’s menstrual blood. If your girlfriend’s name is Mary, I’ve got a name for your sexual encounters. It’s Bloody Mary, get it? Yes, I just made that high school joke, I don’t care.

Anyway, this fetish goes beyond your wildest imagination; it’s not like people just like having sex during that time of the month, but they also choose to gorge on their women’s tampons or maxi-pads. I'd probably pay money for that view. For further reading you should check out this webpage.

4. Bugchasing - this is not just a fetish, it's a self harm behavior because people who are "bugchasing" purposely engage in sexual intercourse with HIV infected people. They are not the same as barebackers, who just prefer having sex without a condom. The psychology behind bugchasing is different as it may be due to self harm tendencies, the feeling that this practice is extremely erotic due to its taboo nature or even a way for lonely and alienated people to be part of a community.

5. Mechanophilia - I don't even know if this is bad or good. Designers such as Filippo Tommaso

Emilio Marinetti or Francis Picabia supposedly had this fetish, so having sex with cars should be accepted for the greater good? It is beyond me how a person would develop sexual interest for a car or something mechanical, but I've seen it, I've seen a couple of guys that were a tad too much into cars.

6. Oculolinctus - the art of licking eyeballs. No, not an art, just a fetish, and a pretty dangerous one too. If you've seen the news, you know that this practice has been spread among young people. I don't know where it comes from, but apparently it's the new "second base".

Haunted Places: III Waverly Hills Sanatorium

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:29:00 +0000

I decided to continue the series of places that are considered haunted but my reasons for this are not to promote the spread of any paranormal thinking, but because I find it fascinating how people enjoy such activities and how this belief is formed in the collective mind. I will not analyze that here, but I will present another interesting "case" of a building considered haunted.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium didn’t start off as a creepy, death filled building, but as a lovingly made family home for Major Thomas H. Hays’ family who bought the land on which the Sanatorium is

situated in 1883.

Things changed quickly when The Board of Tuberculosis purchased the home as they needed more space due to the Tuberculosis epidemic that was tearing through Louisville in the first years of the 20th century.

With antibiotics not being invented yet, tuberculosis was a big deal, and when the epidemic hit its peak people would die just about every day at Waverly Hills. The seemingly continuous flow of bodies out of the Sanatorium put a damp on the patient’s spirits and didn’t do much to help the survival rate. So to avoid the uncomfortable sight, doctors decided to use a cart in the 500 feet long tunnel to wheel them out. The tunnel has supposedly seen close to 100,000 dead bodies during its lifetime thus earning it nicknames like “the death tunnel” or “body chute”.

Visitors of the abandoned Sanatorium say that weird noises and sometimes screams and moans can be heard within its walls.

To make things even creepier the legends say that a young nurse hanged herself with a functioning light bulb wire after finding out she was pregnant out of wedlock with the owner’s child and had contracted tuberculosis. It’s said that she can still be seen sometimes in room 502, where she committed suicide.

As antibiotics led to a quick fall in Tuberculosis cases, the Waverly Hills Sanatorium was sold and transformed into a geriatric center that cared to old sufferers of dementia. The center didn’t last long, as reports of improper care and sometimes out right neglect quickly condemned it.

If suicide, tuberculosis sick ghosts, and dementia ridden old people aren’t creepy enough for you, please add that recent owners wanted to convert the building into a prison while other wanted to build a 150 feet tall statue of Jesus. Both ideas fell through for lack of finances.

Current owners are holding haunted tours of the old Sanatorium trying to restore the building with the profits, however, I don’t know if new windows and fresh paint can cover demented tuberculosis zombie ghost death screams, still… good luck with that!

Sources and More:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Hills_Sanatorium

https://www.prairieghosts.com/waverly_tb.html

Haunted Places: II Monte Cristo Homestead

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 22:00:00 +0000

According to Wikipedia, the Monte Cristo homestead is one of the most haunted places in Australia.

Source Wikipedia

It was constructed by a local pioneer named Christopher William Crawley in 1885 and it is literally the “mysterious house on the hill” being located on a hill in Junee, New South Wales. The house seem to have had a lot of ghostly residents but one of the most famous and most seen is Mrs. Crawley, especially since she was known to be a pretty harsh woman. Since she spent a lot of time in the Drawing Room and the Chapel she is always seen there, dressed in black and carrying a large silver cross. Also, her presence is felt like cold.

A maid fell from the balcony and the blood stained steps were cleaned and you can still see the colored stain from the bleach. There were also other deaths in this house, a woman dying giving birth and even Mr. Crawley himself died of blood poisoning.

Footsteps have been heard walking through empty rooms, along the hall and down the stairs which is strange in itself. However, what is even stranger is that the steps sound as though the person is walking on hard wood or lino floors even though the entire house is now carpeted.

Different objects were seen moving around but also strange happenings hear the stairs. A baby fell from her nanny’s arms and down the stairs and it seems that young children become agitate near or around the staircase.

Their website has stories about other gruesome deaths:

The Coach House/Stables was also the sleeping quarters for a stable boy named Morris, who was one day too ill to rise for work. The boss did not believe the boy, and set fire to his bedding. Unfortunately, Morris was too ill to escape and was burnt to death.

A mentally retarded man named Harold, the son of a housekeeper working at Monte Cristo, was kept locked in shackles in the Caretaker's Cottage for forty years. He was found curled up at the feet of his mothers dead body, and sent to a home for the insane where he died shortly afterwards.

The most recent death at Monte Cristo occurred in 1961 when caretaker Jackie Simpson was murdered by a local youth. After watching the movie Psycho several times, the boy made his way up to the grounds of the homestead with a rifle and shot the caretaker dead in his cottage. It is believed that he then scawled the words "DIE JACK HA HA" on the wooden door, a macabre inscription that can still be seen to this day.

So next time you find yourself in Australia and you want a bit of adrenaline, you can definitely visit the eerie Monte Cristo Homestead.

Haunted Places: I - Castle Stuart in Scotland

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 12:50:00 +0000

If you are planning your vacation for this summer and you really want something memorable, perhaps a trip to a haunted hotel or place might just give you that kick you need to go back to work (or be happy that you are safe at work, working). While I don’t really believe in ghosts, I find myself truly fascinated by these stories and places with such a rich history.

Castle Stuart in Scotland

A beautiful castle in a magnificent country, Castle Stuart is not your average pretty castle fairy tale

castle. It used to be, but now there are ghosts there. It all began when 3rd Earl of Monray married Anne Gordon. One might think that this was a more than average marriage and love since his father was stabbed to death by her father. But love conquers all, they say, so they went off to live there. Some might even suggest the castle was built by the Stuarts to protect themselves from their crazy in-laws (since both previous Earl of Monray were killed), so next time you might be upset on your mother in law badmouthing you, think again.

The castle saw many horrible things: soon after being built it was attacked by the Clan McIntosh but they were paid by the Stuarts and they left them alone. However, twenty years later the Stuart king, Charles I, was beheaded at his London Palace of Whitehall. King Charles I and the Lords of Castle Stuart were descend from the Royal House of Albany, who were rulers of Scotland.

The castle was unfortunately left to ruin.

In 1977 Stuart descendents bought and restored the castle as it was in 1625.

Ghost story as it was found here.

During the 1930s repairs to the East Tower, John Cameron, one of the workmen stayed after other workers gone home to work some more. He tells how he was up on a ladder, working alone when he noticed some of the plaster looked different. He realized after tapping the wall this was where the doorway was to the sealed off wing of the castle. This raised his curiosity so that he stayed and continued working, needing to know what was behind the wall when he uncovered some steps. Then his chisel struck through into a void behind the wall. At that moment he heard a voice cry, No! in half a strangled wail.

His heart started to hammer, but he stood there, chisel in hand at the top of his ladder. He managed to convince himself that the voice was his imagination and he worked on. But then as he struck again, he was pushed full in the chest and fell backwards off the ladder.

The air was filled with a strange force and a fetid smell. He ran out of the building to where his car was. But as he stood there, breathing heavily, he knew he had to go back in; he’d left all of his tools there, including his torch and all the temporary electric lights were blazing. What would people think if he admitted he’d fled because of ghost? So, he went back in, wedging the door open. He’d left his car’s headlights on, pointing at the door so that when he switched out the castle’s lights, he wouldn’t be left in complete darkness. The castle was silent. Mr. Cameron soon found his tools, and his torch, broken as he’d dropped it or kicked it. He took a few breaths and then switched off the lights.

Instead of still being in the bright beams of the headlights, he found he was in utter darkness. In a panic, he felt his way, stumbling towards the door. It had closed, despite the wedge. Suddenly he felt icy fingers grab him and pull him back into the castle. His fear gave him strength and he pulled away, making it to the door and outside. He never entered the castle again.

On the same website we can also find some stories regarding a certain haunted room in the castle.

The room can be found on the top of the East Tower. Here’s the legend:

“One of the Earls of Moray came to live in Castle Stuart, but didn’t stay long. Though he didn’t see the ghost himself, he heard enough blood curdling noises to convince him he didn’t want to live at Castle Stuart.He offered a reward of 20 to any man who would stay the night in the castle and find out what was behind the haunting. Even though it was a hefty sum for most, no one was eager to take him up on his offer.

Needing to prove his castle was not haunted the Earl asked the minister at Petty Church if he would offer the reward. The minister finally got three other men to accept the challenge, a Shoemaker, a Church Elder and a Highlander who was known to be a very strong and brave man. The minister’s plan was for each of them to spend a night in the haunted room. They wouldn’t speak a word of what they saw until all four were together again afterwards. If their stories corroborated each other, then there was obviously something in the ghost story.

Each man would be locked in the room overnight and a couple of them in particular the Shoemaker, did not like that idea but took part when the minister pressured them.

The Minister was the first to stay the night. He fell asleep and dreamt that a gigantic blood splattered Highlander walked into the room and sat down next to him. He awoke with a start to find nobody there.

It was the Church Elder’s turn to stay the next night. He was sitting reading the Bible when the Highlander walked into the room. He just sat there paralyzed by his fright. The huge Highlander was standing right in front of him and behind him the Elder saw a the image of a skull face grinning back at him. The Highlander wanted to know what he was doing in the room, but the man was so terrified he couldn’t speak. This infuriated the Highlander so that he whipped out his dagger and lunged towards him at which point the Elder fainted dead away.

The story continues with more eerie elements:

Next it was the reluctant shoemaker’s turn to spent the night. He tried the locked door, then looked out the window but saw there was no escape that way - the drop was certain death.

So he sat by the fire and prayed. It was well past midnight when he silently watched in terror as the door knob turned. With his heart nearly beating out of his chest he could only stare wide eyed, shaking to the bone as the door slowly opened. In the doorway was a large dark shape that just stood there staring at him the shoemaker knew at once that this was the Devil himself. Watching in horror as the Devil walked towards him on cloven hooves and sat in the chair next to him. The Shoemaker sat there, rigid, hoping to die. Too scared to look the Devil’s way, he glanced at a mirror where he saw in its reflection, a skull face directly behind him. As he was desperately trying to convince himself that there was nothing in the room behind him, there was the sound of cloven hooves hitting the floor, when the Devil, all of a sudden, leaping out of his chair, just about scared the poor Shoemaker to death, he passed out cold.

The fourth night, it was the turn of Rob Angus. This big, kind highland man was afraid of nothing. With good humor he waved off the servant who was there to lock the room. The servant was an old drinking companion of Rob Angus and as he closed the door, he said he would see Rob in the morning Rob replied, You will find me as I am, or dead.

He was the last person to see Rob alive. The next morning he went up to the Tower to unlock the door and could not believe his eyes. The room was completely ransacked, everything was tossed about, with the furniture broken and the mirror in pieces and no sign of his friend Rob. Seeing that the window’s glass had been broken out the man ran to the window, as he looked out he saw Rob’s body lying twisted and broken on the ground below, with a look of horror frozen on his face.

The end...was told by a drover who’d been looking after his sheep late around the castle. About half past midnight, he’d heard the sound of a terrible struggle. He’d looked up at the window of the Haunted Room and by the light spilling out from it, he saw the body of a large man, explode through the glass, but even more so, when he looked up again at the window he saw the face of the Devil grinning down at him.”

So if you ever find yourself in Scotland, visit the Stuart Castle. Even if you don't find ghosts, you will be impressed with the beautiful view.

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5 Most Ourageously Expensive Hotels

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 09:13:00 +0000

All of you probably dreamed of spending the night in an obscenely expensive hotel room, filled with tasteful decorations, amazing room service and a superb view. Some of you probably even have the money for it, but most of us don’t. The following list will probably be a good start if you ever win the lottery or you don't mind selling your house so that you can spend a few days feeling like a king or queen.

The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow, Russia

If you are traveling to beautiful Moscow and you want to check in a high end hotel, the lovely Ritz Carlton will probably suit your taste. Situated on Tverskaya Street 3, you can check out the hotel while you are on a stroll through the Red Square. The most expensive suite is about $18,000 per night but the view is certainly worth it as the 2550 square feet room features floor to ceiling windows facing the Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's Cathedral and Christ the Savior Cathedral. Besides that, you get everything you would expect in a high end hotel and more: a grand piano and dining area, a library, an office room and a boardroom. The bathrooms come with opulent marble baths with separate rain showers and a private sauna. The room is definitely designed to accommodate even the pickiest customers with its non-allergenic foam pillows and access to the Club Lounge with five daily food and beverage presentations.

If you don’t want a suite, you can definitely go for the most luxurious room, the 680 square feet executive room with a really calming Japanese garden atrium view. The spacious studio suite partly separates the bed area from the elegant seating area and it’s decorated with fine woods and fabrics. Even the marble baths are outstanding. If you are looking for a place to work in peace, this amazing room will certainly suit your needs.

Hotel Cala di Volpe, Sardinia, Italy

The Hotel Cala di Volpe in Sardinia definitely looks like it has been snatched from a renascence painter’s dream. Located in breathtaking part of Sardinia and featuring a combination of beautiful pastel accents and hand crafted Sardinian furnishings, this hotel is a work of art. It has 907 sea view rooms and 17 suites, but one of them truly stands out in a refreshing and unique way, the Presidential Suite. The $18,500 suite has three bedrooms, a solarium a fitness area and a luxurious private swimming pool, making it perfect for a sophisticated escape to the country.

The President Wilson hotel, Geneva, Switzerland

The President Wilson hotel in Geneva is no doubt an astonishing hotel if you want to visit the city in great style. The hotel is located 8 km from the Geneva International Airport, 1 km from Cornavin Station and close to the main international organizations, the banking districts and luxury stores. You can definitely benefit from a unique stay at this hotel if you opt for the lovely President Wilson suite, a suite meant for rich business men and famous movie stars. The suite will cost about $30,000 a night and features 12 rooms and 12 bathrooms in its wide 18,083 feet. It’s also one of the first suites in Europe to feature a Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 4-103 flat screen and audio installation for an amazing experience. It has a Fitness center, a private elevator, a Steinway grand piano and a private terrace.

Burj al Arab, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Designed to become a symbol of Dubai, the Burj Al Arab isn’t just an expensive hotel, but one of the most recognizable and impressive buildings in the world, one that takes luxury to an almost Kafkaesque level.

The royal suite has more than 8,000 square feet and is decorated with the most opulent materials available. It also comes with its own cinema, a 24/7 butler and at a cost, it offers its helicopter of fleet of Rolls Royce’s to make sure you arrive wherever you need to be in style. Amazing service like this doesn’t come cheap and the Royal suite at the Burj will set you back $18.000 a night.

Four Seasons New York, New York, USA

The Four Season is one of the world’s most impressive hotels, offering a perfect balance between high end design, and views that look taken out of a movie.

The Ty Warren penthouse suite is the jewel of the Four Season offering a 800 feet, 360 degrees view of New York’s amazing skyline. It has an on call butler and some of the best service available on the planet. It also offers a spa with fantastic views of Manhattan, and a library with a grand piano. The 4300 square feet of sheer opulence cost $34,000 dollars a night.

6 Famous Video Games of 1983

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 01:21:00 +0000

Due to the game crash of 1983 and the disappointment and loss of trust from gamers, video game producers had to come up with some really spectacular products. In order to make up for what happened when the market was saturated with terrible games, huge improvements were made with most new releases; producers managed to make them appear smoother and also implemented new gameplay elements.

The year 1983 was a good one as some of the biggest classic cult games were released. With the release of the Adam home computer by Coleco and the Aqarius by Mattel Electronics, more and more companies wanted to offer clients this new form of entertainment. However, some failed due to design errors while others due to the fact that they weren’t reaching enough users. However, games for arcade and PCs were still made and the gameplay was better and better.

1. Mario Bros.

Nintendo definitely made a hit when they published the arcade game Mario Bros. and who isn't familiar with this amazing release? If you are a gamer, you know you’ve played it at one point of your life, or at least you played some version of it.

Mario Bros. is the original arcade game that got so popular it became a franchise. The game was developed by Shigeru Miyamoto and features an Italian-American plumber named Mario who has to defeat various creatures that come from the sewers of New York. The game also features his brother Luigi as a playable character.

How do you play it ?

The gameplay focuses on killing the pests in the sewers of New York by using simple controls. The two brothers investigate the sewers and the player needs to defeat all the enemies in each game phase to go to the next. They win points by defeating multiple enemies and can also play bonus rounds to get even more points. Mario Bros. is known for having an interesting way of killing enemies - they are kicked over after they have been flipped on their back.

How do you win?

As the game progresses, the difficulty is increased; for example fireballs may bounce around the screen and players have to go from phase to phase and get the highest score they can.

Why was it so popular?

Well, it was popular because it had an interesting character and the gameplay was very entertaining, engaging and colorful. Also,
the game was released on PC later, in a time where PC games were not very interesting. Soon, it became one of the most famous video games, with lots of sequels and more enhancements.

Can I still play it?

You can play Super Mario Bros., the game released for PC here.

2. Dragon's Lair

Dragon’s Lair was another awesome Arcade game that was released on laserdisk and it was extremely popular shortly after its release. It is considered to be a historical game and it is on display at Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..

How do you play it ?

The story is pretty straightforward: you are a knight and you have to rescue a princess. Princess Daphne was locked in a tower by an evil wizard so it’s your quest to rescue her. You battle monsters but since this game was on a laserdisc and contained mostly animated cutscenes, the player had to execute the action by selecting a direction or pressing the sword button with correct timing. So instead of controlling their movements, the player controlled the reflexes with videos playing for correct or incorrect choices.

How do you win?

Well, you had to make sure that you choose the correct movements and you had good reflexes. This made some players extremely frustrated and since the internet didn’t exist to provide walkthroughs, they had to rely on trial and error until they got it right.

Why was it so popular?

Although some critics considered that the gameplay of Dragon’s Lair was “woody” and made it boring and frustrating, others praised the game for its amazing graphics.

Can I still play it?

The game is available for mobile but you can also play it here.

3. Intellivision World Series Baseball

The Intellivision World Series Baseball was a baseball game and the first video game to use multiple camera

angles and also featured play-by-play announcers. The cool thing about this game was also the fact that you were allowed to save during the game.

How do you play it?

The game was played by two players, the first player made a series of movements and then the game switched to the second player who had to do the same thing according to the first player's movements.

How do you win?

Well, obviously, you have to make your team win.

Why was it so popular?

Well, the game used multiple angles which made it much more dynamic; also, you were able to save games, which was another great thing back in the day.

Interesting fact (from the website ):

This may have been the first integrated video game - Eddie had designed the animated players to be black or white depending on the real players they were based on. When the names were changed to those of the programmers, he left the skin colors as they were. At least one programmer, though, came to Eddie and asked for "his" skin color to be changed, not wanting to be black in the game.

Can I still play it?

Well you can download it from here.

Here is a video of it:

4. Ultima III: Exodus

We’ve talked about Ultima, but Ultima III brought a new type of gameplay we are so familiar with today.

There were so many improvements to this game that made it extremely cool. For example, it had amazing graphics for its type and it was the first RPG to feature animated characters. Also, you were allowed to play with 4 characters at once, rather than just one, so you had a party - a term so familiar today. Other interesting features: separate battle screen where you had to use tactics in order to kill your opponents, you were able to avoid opponents on the map and you had 11 classes to choose from ( Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Wizard, Ranger, Thief, Barbarian, Lark, Illusionist, Druid, and Alchemist) with 5 races each.

The game is set on earth and it is set in Sosaria where the player has to destroy Exodus, a creation of Minax and Mondain.

How do you play it ?

The game was just like a rudimentary RPG and you had different stats that needed to be added to your character in order to use certain skills (intelligence was required by spells, strength by melee, etc). The party had to explore the map and kill monsters in dungeons or outside.

Food was another important element in the game as it was helping the party gain energy to walk around the world. There were certain commands that the player used and made the game even more interesting (such as steal or bribe). The player was able to choose many methods of walking, for example on foot, horseback or by using a boat.

How do you win?

Each character had to be leveled to 25 in order to beat the game. Once you obtained the necessary experience, you had to talk to “Lord British” to level up. Also the player had to get all marks and all prayer cards.

Why was it so popular?

The game had a nice 3D appearance and that made it stand out among other games in that time. Also, there were chests, traps and other things that made the game very satisfying.

Can I still play it?

You can buy it on GoG, they sell an Ultima pack.

Or you can play a version of the game here.

Here is a video of the game:

5. M.U.L.E.

Not many people heard of M.U.L.E. but it was the first multiplayer video game, created by Ozark Softscape.

It was published by Electronic Arts and it is a game that incorporates aspects that simulate economics. The game is set on planet Irata.

How do you play it ?

The game can be compared with a basic version of StarCraft. The main purpose is to gather resources, grow and survive.

How do you win?

Players get to choose their race, which brings advantages or disadvantages, but in order to win they have to cooperate with other players but also compete with each other. The central point of the game is the acquisition and use of M.U.L.E. (Multiple Use Labor Element) . Players can scheme and trade with each other. There are also certain random events that happen such as other creatures attacking, sunspot activity, theft from space pirates and meteorites falling.

Why was it so popular?

It was new, dynamic and it was a multiplayer game. Also, it contained interesting elements and players were able to use multiple strategies to win it.

Interesting fact: The game was considered lost until 2012 when an original disk was found.

Can I still play it?

You can enjoy this amazing game and learn more about it here.

6. Pinball Construction Set

Pinball Construction Set was one of the first games that featured the first example of the "builder" (or "construction set") computer and video game genre. It was first released for Apple II and Atari 800 but later ported on other platforms because it became very popular.

How do you play it ?

Users constructed their own virtual pinball machine by dropping controls on a table. They used various elements such as: bumpers, flippers, spinners, etc. Certain attributes such as gravity and the physics model were easily modifiable. The cool thing about the game was the fact that users got to save their tables and trade them with others.

How do you win?

You were supposed to create the coolest table, it was a creation game.

Why was it so popular?

It was very popular because it introduced a new concept: making your own game. Also it featured an easy gameplay which made it sell over 300,000 copies.

Can I still play it?

You can find out more about the game and Pinball games here.

You can download the game here.

You can see a video of the game here:

7 Statistics Meant To Please Singles (On Valentine's Day)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 07:36:00 +0000

1 – Those in “low quality” relationships (as the study puts it ) are more likely to break up on VDay. Couples are 2.55 times more likely to break up during Valentine’s Day.

2 - One out of four Americans prefers spending Valentine's Day with a pet rather than a partner.

3 – Women are more attracted to guys who don’t say "I love you" or at least show uncertainty about it.

4 – There is a 4.0% higher chance of a car accident on Valentine’s Day.

5 – 14% of women will send themselves flowers on 14th February.

6 - 53 % women who would end their relationship if they didn’t get something for Valentines day.

7 – Divorce Rates increase with 40% on Valentine’s Day.

7 "Merry" Christmas Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:50:00 +0000

It's December! Let's see some statistics about Christmas:

1 – Alcohol consumption in Britain increases by 40% in December, more than any other country in the world, with Germany, Canada and France following. Fortunately, the drink-driving also decreases in UK, which means that people will also walk more to the pub, so this whole drinking during December actually promotes health and fitness. Well, I know I will be drinking this Christmas, in my room, alone.

2 – On the same happy note, it seems that people’s tendency to take their own life will also decrease during Christmas(contrary to popular belief), but murder rates will rise significantly in Germany (6.4%), the US, France and Italy (5.7%). It must be all those carols.

3 –Heart related deaths increase with 5% during the holidays, according to this study.

4 – Each year, during the holiday season, fires kill more than 400 Americans and injure 1,650 more.

5 – You are more likely to die during the Holidays. A study analyzing 57.5 million death certificates shows the chance of dying during holiday period increases between 3% and 9%. Here is the study.

6 - Around 40 million Christmas trees are cut every year in North America. You won’t really save a tree if you choose to buy a plastic one, but you can save a small pine tree that is growing on a rocky part of the forest and might die (take it, bring it home, put it in a pot and plant it during March).

7 - More than 80,000 people a year need hospital treatment for injuries such as falls, cuts and burns during the festive period.

Also this:

Gilles De Rais - Children Murderer or Another Victim Of The Inquisition?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:43:00 +0000

Gilles de Rais was a Breton baron, marshal of France, and possibly one of the most interesting murderers in history. His fascination for Satanism and murder led him to commit atrocious acts that would remain in history as some of the vilest murders. Officially, Gilles de Rais is known to have murdered 150 children, but there are some authors who report a much bigger number of about 800 children.

Gilles de Rais was born in 1404 and he was also known for being a brave soldier and fighting beside Joan of Arc. He was a very ambitious man who became one of the richest men in France, with power only few managed to have.

Early Life

From a very early age Gilles de Rais was considered to be extremely ambitious and he grew up with his grandfather after his father died in Machecoul, near the border of Brittany. His first two marriage attempts ended up with the brides being killed, which makes some authors link him to Bluebeard. However, he managed to marry the wealthy Catherine de Thouars of Brittany, after kidnaping her.

Military Career

He served as a commander in the Royal Army between 1427 and 1435, and also fought along with Joan of Arc. He obtained the title of Marechal with a trio of commanders that were subordinated directly to the Royal Connetable. He continued to serve in Joan of Arc’s special guard and fought next to her when Paris was attacked. Even if he was considered to be a murder, his military career was exemplary and he was recognized as an excellent soldier.

Life in Retirement

Since he was extremely rich already, he retired in 1435 from military to promote various theatrical performances to his lands in Brittany. He lost some of his fortune and when meeting Francesco Prelati, who promised him that he will help him regain his lost riches with the help of magic, he started his risky practices. He inherited a lot of domains from both his father and maternal grandfather, but also due to his good marriage. He was known to live an extremely luxurious life by maintaining many servants and spending money on extravagant decorations. Unfortunately, in 1435, he was restrained, through decree from the king, to sell or mortgage his lands, which ultimately was one of the factors that made kept him from continuing with his decadent style.

The Murders

He developed an interest in Satanism with the hope of regaining his wealth, but also to gain more knowledge and power. Some say that the murders might have first began in 1426, but nothing is certain. However, when he did them, he used servants to get his victims.

Most victims were unaccompanied children in the countryside or nearby villages that were taken to the castle, treated like royalty and killed in the end. Murder was actually a blessing for victims since most were tortured. He later described how he “inflicted various types and manners of torment; sometimes they severed the head from the body with dirks, daggers, and knives, sometimes they struck them violently on the head with a cudgel or other blunt instruments, sometimes they suspended them with cords from a peg or small hook in his room and strangled them; and when they were languishing he committed the sodomitic vice on them”. Sexual encounter occurred before or after death and it seemed that he preferred boys; however, when they weren't available, girls were the victims, but he still preferred sodomy in their case. It seems that Gilles De Rais also kept his favorite victims' limbs and heads after the murders and kissed them. He was absolutely fascinated with the act of death and watched closely how his victims died, often masturbating in the process. Some confessions show even more gruesome images, as he described how he loved the elastic warmth of the victims’ intestines. He also liked to rip their hearts through wounds that he slowly enlarged and he had a preference for children with blonde hair and blue eyes with ages between 6 to 18.

In The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology there is a story on how his wife discovered his murders:

Madame de Rais communicated her fears and anxieties to her sister. The two women wondered what went on in the castle. Why was her lord so gloomy? What signified his repeated absences? What became of the children who disappeared day by day? What were those nocturnal lights in the walled-up tower? These and other questions caused both women to burn with curiosity. But what could they do?

The marshal had expressly forbidden them even to approach the tower, and before leaving he had repeated this injunction. It must surely have a secret entrance, Madame de Rais and her sister Anne agreed, and they proceeded to search through the lower rooms of the castle, corner by corner, stone after stone. At last, in the chapel, behind the altar, they came upon a copper button hidden in a mass of sculpture. It yielded under pressure, a stone slid back, and the trembling curiosity seekers distinguished the lowermost steps of a staircase, which led them to the condemned tower.

At the top of the first flight there was a kind of chapel, with an inverted cross and black candles; on the altar stood a hideous figure, no doubt representing the devil. On the second floor they came upon furnaces, retorts, alembics, charcoal—all the apparatuses of alchemy. The third flight led to a dark chamber where the heavy and fetid atmosphere compelled the young women to retreat. Madame de Rais bumped into a vase, which fell over. She then became aware that her robe and feet were soaked by some thick liquid. On returning to the light at the head of the stairs, she found that she was bathed in blood. Anne would have fled from the place, but Madame de Rais's curiosity was stronger than her disgust and fear. She descended the stairs, took a lamp from the infernal chapel, and returned to the third floor, where a frightful spectacle awaited her. Copper vessels filled with blood lined the whole length of the walls, bearing labels with a date on each. In the middle of the room was a black marble table on which lay the body of a child, obviously murdered recently. It was one of the gory basins that had fallen, and black blood spread over the grimy and worm-eaten wooden floor.

The two women were horrified. Madame de Rais endeavored at all costs to destroy the evidence of her indiscretion. She used a sponge and water to wash the boards, but she only extended the stain, and that which at first seemed black became all scarlet.[...]

Terrible rumors spread through all the countryside. Many young girls and boys had disappeared; some had been traced to the castle of Champtocé and not beyond. The public accused de Rais of murder and of crimes even worse than murder. It was true that no one dared openly accuse a baron so powerful as the lord of Rais. Whenever the disappearance of so many children was mentioned in his presence, he reacted with the greatest astonishment. Suspicions aroused are not easily allayed, however, and the castle of Champtocéand its lord had acquired a fearful reputation and were shrouded in mystery.

The continued disappearance of young boys and girls had caused so bitter a feeling in the neighborhood that the church felt compelled to intervene. At the urging of the bishop of Nantes, the duke of Brittany ordered de Rais and his accomplices arrested.

("Gilles de Rais (1404-1440)." Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology. 2001. Retrieved November 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3403801926.html )
This went for a few years with many children being kidnapped, tortured and killed. Unfortunately, his wealth started to fade and he turned once again to Satanism, hoping to improve his condition. However, this didn't work, even though he was sending the devil human sacrifices.

The Arrest, Trial, and Execution

The first error that he did was to kidnap a clergyman after a dispute with him. He was arrested with all his servants in September 1440 and brought to trial in Nantes. He refused to plead to the charges but eventually he declared himself not guilty. Eventually he admitted to have murdered the children, under torture or not. Gilles testified that “when the said children were dead, he kissed them and those who had the most handsome limbs and heads he held up to admire them, and had their bodies cruelly cut open and took delight at the sight of their inner organs; and very often when the children were dying he sat on their stomachs and took pleasure in seeing them die and laughed” He was condemned for heresy and sentenced to execution by hanging and burning for murder. As requested, he was the first to die and his body was cut down before being completely burn.

Some authors argue that he was merely a victim of the Inquisition in that time and he may have been tortured to testify for the gruesome acts. Whether that is true, we don’t know; what we do know is that he insulted Geoffroi de Ferron in 1440, the powerful treasurer of the neighboring province in Brittany by having his brother beaten and imprisoned. Because of that, he was summoned and trialed, and later the murder accusations were brought upon him.

Further reading and resources:

http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/rais/inquisition_12.html
http://absintheliteraryreview.com/archives/fierce9.htm
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/489979/Gilles-de-Rais
http://www.nndb.com/people/281/000112942/
http://www.hellhorror.com/killers/serial_killer/55/Gilles-de-Rais.html

Jiří Trnka - The Father of Czech Animated Film

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 19:34:00 +0000

This year is the 100th anniversary of his birth

On February 24th, 1912, Jiří Trnka is born, the son of a dressmaker and a plumber, a middle class family in Bohemia. What his parents didn’t know was the fact that he was about to be a famous painter, puppeteer, illustrator and most importantly, the founding father of Czech animated film. He was a sort of renaissance man, just as Jan Svankmajer, with work that transcended one medium, from painting and puppet making to sculptor and costume designer. He was also a great inspiration for Svankmajer and Brothers Quay, but also
Ladislas Starevich or Jiří Barta.

Often considered to be the Disney of the East, this title has been seen as offensive by critics, as Trnka has nothing in common with Walt Disney, except for the fact that they both did animations. However, Trnka’s audience was formed of adults and his messages were more serious and sometimes even political, in a world where expression was often censored.

As a child, Trnka helped his mother and grandmother with sewing, but was also a self-taught wood carver and loved drawing. At 11, he was already working at the theatre and later he enrolled in the popular School of Applied Arts in Prague. After he graduated, he did various illustrations for newspapers and directed a few theatrical plays, but also had success as a painter. Some of the assistant animators that worked with him recall his extraordinary dexterity as he was able to paint with both hands at the same time, but also made puppets from scratch as a child.

After graduating from Prague School of Arts and Crafts, Trnka created a puppet theater in 1936 which was shut down during the WW2. However, after the war, he founded a real animation studio where he began his activity by making some short animations such as: Zasadil dědek řepu (Grandfather planted a beet, 1945) or Zvířátka a Petrovští (Animals and Bandits, 1946), both awarded at the Cannes Film Festival, but also many others including an anti-Nazi film. But Trnka didn’t felt like traditional animation was his call, he believed that it required too many intermediaries and he wanted to freely express his creativity. So he started to experiment with puppet animation films and as a result some of his first films were very well received. The first feature film was called Špalíček ("The Czech years", 1947), and consisted of six short films that put on stage legends and customs of his country. The film received many awards, including international awards such as the Venice Film Festival. The next film he made was Cisaruv Slavik ("The Emperor's Nightingale", 1949),based on the story written by Hans Christian Andersen which also included two real live actors in the first part. This is considered to be one of his most beautiful films, took two years to be made, and also won international awards.

He illustrated 130 books during his lifetime, and his puppets were very much like his illustrated art, unique figures with beautiful features. Although Trnka’s work was mostly around stories and legends, his last short film called The Hand (Ruka, 1965),was something completely different. It told the story of a happy potter artist who loved creating pots for his flowers until The Hand comes and requests hand statues. He is initially persuaded with money or fame, but ultimately when The Hand sees that the artist will not comply, it uses force. He ultimately dies from a heart attack and its funeral is celebrated by The Hand. In that era The Hand was nothing else but the state trying to censor an artist’s work. The same happened with Trnka and his art which was often limited by the state and even banned. Ironically, he was praised as a national artist when he died by the same state that had abused him and his art.

Trnka didn't like dialogue in his animation and often used the music of his friend, the Czech composer Vaclav Trojan as a way to help its characters express. It seems that sometimes he even changed some scenes so that they would fit the music of his friend.

There isn’t much information regarding Jiří Trnka life as he wasn't an outgoing artist and neither one that was obsessed with himself. He did art for his own pleasure and loved being immersed in the worlds he created, and perhaps that’s why he didn't care much about the outside world or writing an autobiography. His daughter remembers that when he worked only children were allowed in his studio and he always wanted to hear their criticism on his scenes. He loved what he was doing and he was a workaholic, sometimes working for a few days straight just to get a scene right.

The artist died in 1969, at a young age of 57 after a few years of isolation when he stopped making animations and returned to painting and illustrations. His early death was caused by the artist’s hectic lifestyle and also because he was a heavy smoker.

During his life he received international recognition and won numerous awards, despite the fact that he was working within a country that had a communist regime.

The last Trnka short film, The Hand:

You can buy his work here:

The Puppet Film Of Jiri Tranka / Story Of The Bass Cello / The Song Of The Prairie / The Merry Circus / A Drop Too Much / The Hand / Starring: Helena Patockova, Jaromir Sobotoa, Detsky pevecky sbor Jana Kuhna, Boris Karloff / Directors: Jirí Trnka, Milos Makovec

Further reading and sources:
http://www.radio.cz/en/section/czech-history/jiri-trnka-100th-anniversary-of-the-birth-of-a-great-czech-animator
http://notcoming.com/features/jiritrnka/
http://www.awn.com/mag/issue5.04/5.04pages/dutkatrnka.php3
http://www.michaelspornanimation.com/splog/?cat=38

History of Fashion Series - Fashion From Prehistoric Times

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 20:50:00 +0000

Fashion has been a great part of our history as humans even from prehistoric times. Besides being a way to protect our bodies from the environment, it has also been a method that influenced how people were seen in society, either a way to attract potential mates or scare their enemies.

The Homo sapiens sapiens began to appear around forty thousand years ago in various parts of the world. At the early history of Homo sapiens sapiens, he was similar to the Neanderthal man when it came to the use of tools, hunting, gathering and even creation of clothing. But there were physical differences like a larger brain, the fully upright pose, and a different skeletal structure which helped the later developments in their history.

Their population was low as they had to travel from region to region and due the fact that the Earth’s climate was colder they had to find ways to keep warm and dry so they used animal skins. These were the first forms of clothing and footwear. They used different tools made from rock and bones to cut the flesh from animals and create clothing. Later, there was some development in the visual department as they managed to decorate their bodies with various body paints and tattoos.

Evidence

Source

The evidence we have for prehistoric clothing is mostly indirect, either from cave paintings or from the tools that archeologists discovered. At first, they used big pieces of skin and created holes for the head and arms but later they managed to improve their method by using thin strips of hide to tie the furs about themselves, just like belts are used today.

With the discovery of fire soon came the development of finer and more efficient tools. Sharper tools were used to make small holes in animal skin and then laced together. The first type of clothing was a sort of tunic, which was made from two pieces of rectangular animal hide that were bound together on a side with a hole for the head. This was placed over the head and stitched on the shoulders. The garment was closed either with a belt or more ties.

Development of Tools

Source

What made things even better was the invention of the needles. The needle was made from sharpened animal bone. With the help of the needle, the prehistoric man managed to create shawls, hoods and even longer boots to protect him from cold. It seems that the clothes were very stiff at first because the leather was not tanned, but with repetitive wearing it became softer. It seems that some authors and historians believe that their clothes were similar to those of the modern Eskimos.

The body of a man who died 5,300 years ago in the mountains of Austria helped archeologists discover what seemed to be a complex outfit. It seemed that the iceman had leggings that were sewn, some sort of loincloth over his genitals, a long sleeved fur coat on his body that extended to his knees made from many pieces of fur that extended on the outside and was held with a sort of belt. The boots he wore were stitched and stuffed with grass and on his head he wore a cap of fur. Although the man came from an later period, it sketched a good image on how earlier clothes were made.

Headwear

When it came to hair it seems that the different hair types were as variable as they are today but people wore their hair long as there were no tools for cutting hair. Caps of fur were worn to keep the head warm, and some jewelry that was intended to hold long hair. Men obviously wore their facial hair long and when hair was cut it was probably done with the same tools they used to chop wood or cut animals.

Body Decorations

There is some evidence of body decorations on Neanderthal humans from 75,000 B.C.E. so it seems that humans had a need for fashion even from the earliest times. They draw red designs on the body which was either trying to attract the opposite sex or frighten their enemies. Indirect evidence of the human body decorations comes from rock paintings of the Sahara desert. It seems that the oldest date from 7000 B.C.E while the earliest are from 1500 B.C.E. Paintings found in Algeria show a woman with parallel rows of dots running down her legs, arms and torso. The figurines from Ain Ghazal, Jordan, dating back to 8000 B.C.E. feature indented patterns around the buttocks and belly. There are also figurines from 5000 B.C.E. Mesopotamia and 3000 B.C.E. Romania that show evidence of similar markings on legs, arms and breasts. These markings were meant to make women more appealing to the opposite sex as they signified fertility. It was sort of a way to draw attention to the women’s qualities and probably the primary function of fashion throughout history.

Body decorations were used by men as camouflage while hunting or for different ritual or social occasions. They also used tattooing or scarification but besides these methods the Neanderthals also like wearing decorative items. They had various bracelets and necklaces that consisted of animal hide, beads, shells, teeth, bones or other small objects.

Footwear

When it came to footwear the archeologists found the oldest shoes 10,000 years old, but the existence of 20,000 years old clothing suggests that footwear may be older than we know.

Once the first settlements appeared(Mesopotamia, centered in present-day Iraq near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), around 7000 B.C.E., people started to domesticate animals, grow their own food and completely change their appearance. In Mesopotamia was where clothing began to be made from something else than animal skin.

It seems that people placed their feet on the animal skin just after they killed it, while the skin was still subtle and fresh they made cuts that would have fitted their feet shape. Anasazi shoes were made from Yucca plant as it was quite a durable material. There were 8000 year old shoes discovered in Missouri made from a plant called rattlesnake master.

Whether their clothes and shoes were made of fibers or animal skin, one thing is for sure, it had to withstand a lot of work as people did a lot of hard labor.

Further Reading and Sources:
History of Footwear in Norway, Sweden and Finland: Prehistory to 1950 Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Scribner Library of Daily Life) (3 Volumes Set)

3 Cool Games From 1982 (III)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 12:58:00 +0000

With Prisoner 2 and Ultima 2 the year 1982 really had it going with video games and despite of all the bad publicity video games like Custer’s revenge or E.T. got, this new industry was definitely growing. Companies like E.A. Games or Lucasarts Games were born so it seemed to be a bright future for video games. There were some first releases that remain in the history of gaming and everybody who was a kid or a video game fan back then surely remembers them.

1. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Ah, the first Star Wars video game, one of the classics, one of those games that kept the kids of its generation wide awake.

How do you play it ?

The game is pretty simple, you have to control a snowspeeder to battle against the Imperial AT-AT walkers on the planet Hoth. There were many difficulty levels depending on their speed and their power. They are destroyed by aiming the torso or the head while shots in the legs are ineffective. There were also flashing spots that would have destroyed them if the player shot there but these were hard to spot and to aim as they randomly appeared on the map.

How do you win?

You will have to manage to hold them off as long as possible before they blow up the power generator at the RebelsEcho Base. The game ends when five speeders are destroyed or when the lead walker reaches Echo Base, destroying it.

Why was it so popular?

Well. I guess it’s pretty obvious why this game was so popular back then, it was a Star Wars game....

Can I still play it?

Yes, sure. Here. http://www.romnation.net/srv/roms/10492/atari2600/Star-Wars-The-Empire-Strikes-Back-1982-Parker-Bros.html

2. Zaxxon

Isometric view, flying a fighter craft and shooting up enemies is what this game was about and it was extremely popular. It seems that it was ported to almost all home computer and video game consoles between 1982 and 1985.

How do you play it?

You fly a craft through a fortress while shooting at enemy entities. That’s it. When you run out of fuel, you shoot fuel tanks and you magically get fuel.

How do you win?

The whole purpose is to shoot as many targets as possible before being shot down or running out of fuel.

Why was it popular?

Well, this game was pretty cool for its age. First, it was the first game to employ axonometric proection, which means isometric view. It also displayed shadows, which was a pretty cool thing back then and they were flexible enough to show the distance from the surface. It also gained a lot of popularity because it was widely advertised on television....with this interesting commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0bxTjxqwxg

Oh, and the game was cool, it was fun and definitely more versatile than other games of its age.

Can I still play it?

Yes sure, here you can play it. http://www.tripletsandus.com/80s/80s_games/zaxxon.htm

3. Utopia (video game)

The first of the sim games, Utopia was definitely a game that changed the world of games. Utopia was a new concept that gained popularity in a very short time. Utopia is a real time strategy or a sim game or even a god game.

How do you play it?

The cool thing about Utopia was the fact that it allowed two players to play it. When you started the game, you chose how much the turn lasts and how many turns you have to do until the game ended. Each player has to build fishing boats, PT boats or fund rebel activity on their enemy island. They also have to feed the population and keep them happy, otherwise their score is decreased.

How do you win?

The goal of the game is to have the biggest score at the end of all the turns. You can focus on growing or you can focus on making things harder for the other player.

Why was it popular?

Well, should I say again that it was the first sim game ever? And it had various elements: feeding your population, maintaining a good income and even jeopardizing the other player’s game. You also had rain, hurricane and random fish pool occurrences.

Can I still play it?

I couldn’t find it but here’s a gameplay video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_O0wV2yygI

Arranged Marriages and Divorce Laws in 18th-19th Century

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:13:00 +0000

The purpose of marriage was not only raising and protecting children, but a way to form family alliances and for families to make sure that somebody worthy was the heir.

The fact that love and marriage need to be connected was never unanimous and in most societies love marriages were considered a foolish choice and frowned upon. Usually, families would have denied their children a marriage that wasn’t convenient for both parties. Before the 18^th century, most societies thought that love came after people got married. The medieval societies were accustomed with the idea of love from poems and the troubadours’ songs, but most people considered this an aristocratic way to excuse adultery.

From Tradition to Romance

Romeo and Juliet (Ford Madox Brown)

In most communities where marriages are arranged, the family makes a transaction with another family Especially in high rank families, this has been and still is a way to promote economic and politic interests. Parents have the right to marry their children, especially their girls, with whoever they want. Arranged marriages imply money transfers that constrained both parts legally to follow certain conditions, especially related to inheritance.

Although poets like Shakespeare showed that not giving your children’s permission to marry whom they want could have tragic consequences, there are few who opposed the marriage arranged by their family. It actually depended on many factors like personal hope, tradition and social status. Men looked for women who were able to take care of a home while women hoped for men who were able to support them. Men usually didn’t get married until they had financial stability, which usually was around the age of 30 and marrying during adolescence was uncommon. The same structure is found in other cultures, like Japan where the average age for marriage rose after the XVI century from 21 years old to 24 years old.

Once philosophies that praised individualism grew in the last 300 years, marriage for love became a popular concept. Even in aristocratic families parents stopped imposing their children whom to marry. Books like Tom Jones, Jane Eyre and Jane’s Austen books showed that marrying for love was an important thing and women who didn’t marry at all were seen as a sad case of society, which became another problem.

Being an Old Unmarried Woman

The fact that marriage started to be done out of love and young people were more and more stubborn to do so ultimately lead to a lot of your middle class citizens to remain unmarried and the case of Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra proves that. Actually the problem of older unmarried women was one of the things that started the women's rights movement during Victorian times.

The church, although promoted celibacy, was reluctant when it came to real cases of celibacy because it was thought that a person would actually have a lot of lust which was worse. The main purpose of marriage was to procreate but it was also a way to keep people from sinning. Premarital and extramarital relationships were completely forbidden and bastards were frowned upon. However, starting with the XVIII century it started to be a normal behavior among people who dated. If a pregnancy occurred, they got married. Because people started to get married chaotically, starting with the XVIII century strict laws regarding marriage appeared.

Marriage and Divorce

Source

Due to the fact that marriage out of love became more and more popular and it was more seen as “match made in Heaven”, divorce was definitely frowned upon. It was really hard to obtain a divorce and once a person got divorced, it was rarely followed by another marriage. In England before the XIX century to get a divorce a person had to obtain an acceptance from the Parliament, which was extremely costly. The legal divorce procedures were slowly introduced. During Victorian times, men were allowed to get a divorce if they thought that their wives had cheated on them but women were unable to do so, since the rules changed when it came to obtain a divorce as a woman. A woman needed to show that besides adultery her husband committed other terrible acts such as cruelty. However, cruelty was also tricky to prove since it was not considered cruelty if a man beat his wife with a cane that was thinner than his thumb.

Once the regulations for divorce became clear getting one became easier. Unfortunately the romantic love ideas were also fueling a lot of disappointment and a lot of couples were divorcing. Once there was no more stigma for things like contraception, co-habitation without getting married and having children outside marriage but also women’s independence, the pressure for couple to stay together diminished.

It’s safe to say that married women had been at a disadvantage. Before Victorian times English women were not allowed to own properties on their names. Men however were allowed to have cheat on their wives, but the society scolded, stigmatized and isolated women for doing so. However, in Mediterranean societies a woman was able to take a lover once she gave her husband an heir.

Interracial Marriages

Othello and Desdemona (Théodore Chassériau)

In the Western world there has been banning regarding interracial marriage in countries like Germany during the Nazi period, South Africa under apartheid and some states in USA.

Nowadays, there are some laws in certain Arab nations that revoke the civil rights for women to marry men that are not native to the woman’s country of birth or men who are non-Muslim. Women who marry outside these rules risk being subjected to honor killings by male family members.

In Britain there interracial marriages occurred since the 17^th century when more Indian scholars started coming in the country. However these marriages were not accepted easily by the society but there were also no legal restrictions. Bu the 19^th century this became a normal practice.

Absence, relationship styles of our generation and improving your grades

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:04:00 +0000

via http://unusual-architecture.com

This is another personal post and I'm going to try not to excuse myself too much for my absence. So I've been reading fewer and fewer blogs lately, my Google Reader is full and I'm afraid to start reading because it will probably take days. However, someday I'm going to do it.

I've read two articles today that made me say "wow". This one is related to patients that seem to stay in therapy a lot longer than it's required. Actually, it seems that it takes a long time for therapists before realizing their defeat. The other article is related to our capacity of making ourselves smarter through practice and it's quite an interesting read.

I've also read this nice article about relationships styles of our generation. Well, I'm not going to tell you which one I am, probably a crossbreed between some of those styles. Also, I want to remind you guys that bringing water to your exam may help you improve your grades.

You need to read this fascinating article. It seems that thinking and solving problems in another language will reduce your cognitive biases.

I also want to share a cool interview with the author of the book 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology , Dr. Scott Lilienfeld, a psychology professor and researcher at Emory University. I couldn't embed the interview on my page but you can find it here.

Hopefully I'm going to write more often now that I'm not that busy and also check out the blogs of my friends here....

Sada Abe - Killing Out Of Love?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:05:00 +0000

The story of Sada Abe and her lover Kichizo Ishida is not one of those love stories that make you feel warm inside. It’s a story about passion, obsession and a bit of insanity that comes with strong love, perhaps.

Early Life

Sada Abe was the seventh children of Shigeyoshi and Katsu Abe, and although not with a questionable behavior like her brothers, she had her fair share of adventures through life. As she grew up, being one of the youngest children, Sada was allowed by her mother to do whatever she wanted. She took singing and shamisen lessons, possibly because she and her mother longed for a life of geisha. Despite having a good life, she soon became a difficult adolescent and after an incident where she was raped, her behavior became unbearable for her parents who sold her to a Geisha house. Some say it was her father punishing her for her promiscuous behavior, others believe that she wanted to become a geisha herself because of the fame and financial benefit that life had.

Becoming a prostitute

To become a good geisha and a well-known person in that community, one must serve as an apprentice since childhood, but also study and train hard. Abe didn’t train and had no experience in that direction so she soon ended up becoming a low-rank geisha, which usually meant that she had to provide sex for clients and take care of the high rank geishas. She contacted syphilis and decided that she would work as a legally licensed prostitute since the received regular physical examinations and it was better for her safety in the long term.

She began working as a prostitute in Tobita brothel district in Osaka, but her bad behavior seemed to be following her; she got into trouble for stealing money from clients, having fights with various people and attempting to leave the brothel several times. She managed to escape prostitution after only two years and began working as a waitress; however, the wage was not satisfying so she came back to work as a prostitute, this time, an unlicensed prostitute. After a raid in 1934, she was arrested but soon became the mistress of Kinnosuke Kasahara, who arranged a house for her and gave her an income. When he refused to leave his wife for her and also refused her to take another lover, she broke up with him and left for Nagoya where she began working as a maid at a restaurant.

Meeting Ishida

In Nagoya, she met Goro Omiya, who decided he would help her become financially independent. He suggested that she should start working as an apprentice and open a small restaurant, which she started doing in February, 1936. The owner of the restaurant where she worked as an apprentice was Kichizo Ishida, the man who was to become the love of her life.

Ishida was known to be a womanizer, despite being married. The restaurant was actually managed by his wife, while he engaged in multiple affairs with women. When seeing him for the first time Sada declared that she never met such a sexy man and soon he started letting her know that he was attracted to her. Even if they were both in committed relationship, Sada with Omiya and Ishida married, that didn’t stop them having a pre-arranged sexual encounter. It started in mid-April when Ishida and Abe initiated their sexual relationship while listening to a romantic ballad sung by one of the geishas there. It has been known that their first sexual encounter lasted for four days, until they moved to another teahouse where they continued to drink and have sex.

Ishida returned to the restaurant in the morning of May 8th, after 2 weeks that counted as a “date” with Sada Abe. It seems that after this encounter she became agitated and couldn’t bear the thought of him with another woman. She also attended a play where a geisha was attacking her lover with a knife, which probably fueled her imagination as she threatened him later with a knife. She later described the scene: "I pulled the kitchen knife out of my bag and threatened him as had been done in the play I had seen, saying, 'Kichi, you wore that kimono just to please one of your favorite customers. You bastard, I'll kill you for that.' Ishida was startled and drew away a little, but he seemed delighted with it all..."

The Murder

During their lovemaking sessions, she often threatened him to cut off his penis if he was going to play with another woman. They soon started practicing mutual erotic asphyxiation but she did it to him multiple times as he considered that it increased his pleasure. On 16th of May she used her obi sash to strangle him during orgasm and he enjoyed it. This continued for two hours more and pain started appearing, for which he took about 30 tablets of Calmotin. As he started to doze, she declared that he told her to put the cord around his neck and continue squeezing while he’s asleep and don’t stop because it was painful afterwards. At first she asked herself whether he wanted her to kill him, considering the amount of pills he had taken and this unusual request. However, she wanted to make her lover happy so at 2 a.m. when he was asleep, she wrapped her obi sash around his neck and kept on doing it until he died. She declared to the police later that after doing that she felt totally at ease, like a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders and she gained clarity.

After staying next to his body for hours she decided she wanted a piece of him with her; she severed his penis with a kitchen knife, wrapped it ina magazine cover and wrote with blood on his thigh Sada, Kichi Futari-kiri ("Sada, Kichi together"). She also carved 定 ("Sada", the character for her name) into his left arm. She left the inn and told the staff not to disturb her lover and was arrested three days later.

While having her lover’s penis on her she went shopping, saw a movie and stayed at an in in Shinagawa considering that she would later commit suicide. She also practiced necrophilia as she would later declare to the police: I felt attached to Ishida's penis and thought that only after taking leave from it quietly could I then die. I unwrapped the paper holding them and gazed at his penis and scrotum. I put his penis in my mouth and even tried to insert it inside me... It didn't work however though I kept trying and trying. Then, I decided that I would flee to Osaka, staying with Ishida's penis all the while. In the end, I would jump from a cliff on Mount Ikoma while holding on to his penis."

Her Arrest

When the police arrested her and asked her why she killed her lover she declared: "I loved him so much, I wanted him all to myself. But since we were not husband and wife, as long as he lived he could be embraced by other women. I knew that if I killed him no other woman could ever touch him again, so I killed him...”

On December 21, 1936 Abe was convicted of murder in the second degree and mutilation of a corpse. Though the prosecution demanded ten years, and Abe claimed that she desired the death penalty, she was in fact sentenced to just six years in prison.

There were several other cases in Japan and throughout Asia, but the Sada Abe incident was considered to be special. William Johnston suggests that "She had killed not out of jealousy but out of love.” making her story one of the most interesting love stories.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sada_Abe

http://drvitelli.typepad.com/providentia/2008/08/the-abe-sada-in.html

Ghost Marriage - Death Won't Do Us Part

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 13:21:00 +0000

Ghost marriage is the name of a Chinese tradition where the wedding is performed for two dead people or a dead person and their alive spouse.

Figurines that symbolize the dead groom and bride in China

The same tradition is practiced in Sudan, India and even France, for various reasons. There are still reports of it being practiced today in Asia and some Romanian communities (in Transylvania, as far as the article author knows). According to the Romanian folklore, a person has to go through three important stages in life: birth, marriage and death. If a person dies without having undergone a marriage ritual, they are married posthumously with another unmarried person. According to anthropologists who study Asian culture, the destiny of a man and a woman is incomplete if they don't marry, perhaps influenced by Confucianism, where the idea complete family appears.

In Chinese tradition the marriage is performed when one or both parties are dead and it’s called “minghun”, meaning spirit marriage. This used to be a common tradition in the past but it’s still done nowadays.

If a bride’s fiancé died before the marriage, she had to option to marry him and move in with his family. She also had to vow to remain loyal to him. The reason behind this practice is probably the fact that there was a sort of social pressure when it came to marrying in the Chinese culture. If the bride chose to go through with the marriage despite her husband being dead, he was represented by a white cockerel at the ceremony. After the marriage was performed she was allowed to adopt a son to continue the lineage of her husband.

Ghost marriages were also performed for two dead soon-to-be married couples. It seems that the relatives took it upon themselves to carry out their wishes. This was also done to create a social bond between two families, a common practice in Asian tradition. Other reasons for ghost marriage were: integrating an unmarried daughter into a patrilineage so that the family line was continued or to maintain that no younger brother was married before an elder brother.

Overview On Social Reasons Behind Ghost Marriage

An unmarried woman has no descendants to worship her or care for her as a part of a lineage and since in every household an altar is displayed with spirits tablets of the paternal ancestors, the married woman’s tablet is kept at the altar of her husband’s family. But if a woman dies unmarried, her family is not allowed to place her tablet on the altar of her natal home and she will be given a temporary paper tablet near the door. This is why ghost marriage seemed to be a viable solution for parents who wanted to see their daughters married so that they had an affiliation to a male descent line. Another fact that is significant when it comes to the stigma unmarried women had to bear is the prohibition of unmarried women to die in their natal home. The tradition involved taking the woman to a shed, an empty house or an outlying building so that she could die. As we can see, unmarried women were a great embarrassment for the family and they still are in Chinese society. Often, they weren’t even allowed to live at home with their families.

The Ghost Marriage Ceremony In Asia and Romania

Ghost marriages are supposed to be set up after the deceased spirit’s request. There are many typical marriage rituals that are performed during the ceremony: the wedding feast, the whole arrangement that is used during weddings (paper effigies of products that would be used in the future married couple’s home like a dressing table, a table with six stools, a money safe, a refrigerator, etc.) When one of the partners is alive, they usually get dressed in the typical ceremonial outfit and the ghost groom or bride is treated as they were alive (being fed at the wedding, people are announced of their arrival, etc.).

Romanian Bride waiting to be wed with a dead unmarried man

According to anthropologist H. Stahl the death of a person who hasn’t been married is very dangerous in Romanian tradition as they haven’t fulfilled the most important aspect of their life. In Romania, the dead person that is about to be buried is dressed for wedding – the bride is dressed in white and she even has bridesmaids dressed according to the event. However, the interesting fact is that the “wedding” participants are not dressed as they would be for a wedding, but dressed for a funeral, which adds to the dramatic image. There’s even a color bearer that is held during the wedding, which is composed of colorful scarves; however, during a posthumous wedding, the color bearer contains black scarves. So, this wedding performed for the dead is in contrast with a normal wedding through different symbols and metaphors that are used in songs. However, the whole tradition is seen differently in Romania than Asia. Women who choose to marry a dead man are allowed to marry again and the families don’t bond. Because the marriage hasn’t been consumed, they don’t have to vow celibacy. If the person who died had a girlfriend, she has to take the role to be his posthumous bride.

Sources and further reading:

The Wedding of the Dead: Ritual, Poetics, and Popular Culture in Transylvania (Studies on the History of Society and Culture)
http://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/fileadmin/ISCA/JASO/Occasional%20Paper%208%20-%201991%20part2.pdf
http://suite101.com/article/chinese-ghost-marriage-a100618
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_marriage_(Chinese)
http://shrineodreams.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/ghost-marriage/

Psychoanalysis Part I – Transference and Countertransference

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 May 2012 16:32:00 +0000

via minddisorders.com

Psychoanalysis can be described as a curative method based on complete verbalization of thoughts and free associations method in a context that will allow patients to overcome their repressed memories or thoughts.

We can say that psychoanalysis is a specific technique to investigate the mind. The novelty of Freud’s discoveries came with the acknowledgement of how important the unconscious processes were. He stated that they behave differently than conscious processes as the influence of this part of our mind can make us reach conflicting mental states.

Some of the characteristics of psychoanalysis are:

it is a long term therapy method, even today despite the vast amount of short term therapies. Psychoanalysts believe that there is a need for a long term therapy as their method will modify the patient’s personality to be able to eliminate the symptoms completely;
Psychoanalysis searches for the cause and it is not based on eliminating just the symptom;
it is a non-directive type of psychotherapy;
it uses specific methods;
it explores transfer and counter-transfer;

Transference and Countertransference in Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is not just a strictly intellectual process where the patient talks and the therapist analyses, it is a relationship where affectivity plays an important role. This is why transfer is so important. At first Freud considered that transference can be an impediment during therapy but he later discovered that it is actually essential.

The patient transfers feelings towards the therapist, feelings that they may have for their brothers, sisters, mothers, etc.; it is considered to be a reenactment of a childhood relationship. Defined shortly, transference is unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. For example, a person could despise somebody who resembles in some way their ex-lover. During psychoanalytical therapy transference is explored, a method that is not used in other therapies. As transference often appears when there is an emotional connection, it can be an important concept in finding the cause for mental distress, so transfer is also stimulated during psychoanalysis.

This relationship is important for two reasons: it helps the therapist search for childhood models and identify particularities that define the patient’s relationships with the ones around them. This bond between the patient and therapist will help the patient overcome their resistances as the patient will feel the need to please the therapist, as they feel protected and supported.

Countertransference is also important, although it is quite a controversial term. It wasn’t discovered at the beginning of psychoanalysis. It can be defined as an unconscious affective reaction of the therapist in relation to their patient. During the 60’s countertransference started playing a big role during therapy.

Resistance is another concept used in this therapeutic approach and can be defined as a phenomenon when the patient completely disagrees with their therapist and fights back any type of interpretation. However, this is just a type of resistance that can be easily seen during therapy but it can manifest itself in other ways such as: being late or not coming at all to the therapy sessions, developing new symptoms, falling asleep during the psychotherapy session, or eventually, leaving the therapy process completely. Psychoanalysts believe that patients develop resistances because they cannot face what lies in their unconscious.

Also, there’s another approach on transference and countertransference that is offered in Adlerian psychotherapy. The patient’s transference is pointed out and explained as an obstacle to cooperation and improvement. On the other hand, experimenting countertransference would suggest that the therapist needs to continue their personal therapy and training to overcome such tendencies in the future.

The Psychoanalytical Space

The place and atmosphere where the therapy is conducted also plays an important role during psychoanalysis; those who still practice classic psychoanalysis choose to have a simple space with a couch, no paintings or decorative items, an armchair and a small table. Obviously, this is not the exact description as everybody chooses to decorate and design their office the way they want but it should give you some perspective on how a psychoanalyst’s office should look like.

The therapy is usually done with the patient lying on the couch and the therapist behind him; this helps the patient with their projections and verbalize things easier.

The Tragic Love Story Between Abelard and Heloise

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:49:00 +0000

"You know, beloved, as the whole world knows, how much I have lost in you, how at one wretched stroke of fortune that supreme act of flagrant treachery robbed me of my very self in robbing me of you; and how my sorrow for my loss is nothing compared with what I feel for the manner in which I lost you."

The Love Letters of Abelard and Heloise

Pierre Abelard was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, theologian and preeminent logician. The love story he had with his pupil Héloïse d’Argenteuil is very beautiful but like all beautiful love stories, it is tragic. He was born in the village Le Pallet and was encouraged by his father to study liberal arts; he was very good at dialectic which was based on Aristotle’s logic. He became a teacher and traveled the country debating and learning but eventually stopped in Notre Dame where he became canon.

The romance that was about to change his life started when he was most famous; he was 40 years old and was teaching in Notre Dame when he started tutoring Héloïse d’Argenteuil, who was only 17 years old. She was living with her uncle, the canon Flubert and she had a brilliant mind as she spoke lating, greek and hebrew. He seduced Héloïse who ultimately became pregnant and gave birth to their son Astrolabe. What interfered with his career was the fact that he started boasting his conquest among different people. Flubert learned about this affair and prohibited Héloïse to meet her lover; but this didn’t keep them from seeing each other in secret.

"My tears, which I could not refrain, have blotted half your letter; I wish they had effaced the whole, and that I had returned it to you in that condition; I should then have been satisfied with the little time I kept it; but it was demanded of me too soon. " Source

After giving birth to their son in Brittany, she came back to Paris and married her lover in secret. Obviously, the members of her family opposed marriage with him and when they found out about this they attacked and castrated him while he was sleeping.

Héloïse had to become a nun while Abelard became a monk at St.Dennis Monastery. There is a great collection of letters between them, 113 anonymous love letters from an early phase of their love and another bunch that was written between them fifteen years after their romance ended. They are not just an expression of love but also thought provoking writings between two extremely intelligent people.

Carl Von Cosel and Elena Hoyos - Undying Love or Morbid Obsession ?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 17:46:00 +0000

There are many types of stories about love, some about unrequited love, others about mutual but tragic love. This is none of those stories, or maybe it is a bit of both. However, one thing is certain, it’s definitely a story about obsession, an obsession that defies death: Karl Tanzler obsession for Elena Hoyos.

Karl Tanzler becomes Carl Von Cosel

Karl Tanzler left his wife and children in 1927 and moved in Florida. There, he changed his name to Carl Von Cosel and started working in a hospital where patients with tuberculosis were treated. He also claimed that during his childhood he had visions of his dead ancestor Countess Anna Constantina Von Cosel (one of the reasons why he changed his name) who told him that his true love will be a dark haired exotic woman. Whether that claim is true, we do not know, but he did meet his exotic love.

Meeting Elena Hoyos

It all started when Elena Hoyos was committed to the hospital, suffering from tuberculosis; she was known to be a great beauty and Von Cosel was one of those who fell in love with her. This was the beginning of his struggle to keep her next to him, no matter what the consequences were. He tried all the treatments possible to save her, even unorthodox treatments like herbal medicine, X-Ray treatment, and other types of treatment that involved electrical equipment. One of his most unusual treatments involved a potion that contained gold flakes but he also administered electric shocks to her. On a more personal level, he did his best to please her and make her happy, showered her with gifts, but it seems that she didn’t return his affection. However, he hoped that if he managed to cure her terrible illness she would eventual come to love him.

The death of Elena Hoyos

In 1931, just before Halloween, Elena died and was buried in an above-ground mausoleum ordered by the doctor, because he thought that groundwater would have contaminated her body. He would regularly go to her grave and take care of it, which didn’t alarm her family since they trusted him and knew his special connection with her. Little did they know that he was trying to take Elena’s corpse from the grave as his connection with her was more than anyone could possibly imagine. During his visits to Elena’s grave he had long conversations with her and he even installed a telephone so that he would feel close to her even when he was away. Apparently, he also had seen her ghost telling him that he needed to take the corpse and he was also trying to preserve her body with formaldehyde.

When obsession becomes pathological

In 1933, he stole her body from her tomb and brought it home after losing his job from the hospital. He attempted to preserve her body the best way he could using big amounts of preservatives; this proved difficult since she was already dead for two years but he used a lot of perfume to conceal the smell of her rotting flesh. Piano wires were used to string her bones together and keep her skeleton intact somehow, her eyes were replaced with glass replicas because they had also gone rotten, he also created a type of skin for her made from a mixture of silk with wax and plaster, and used rags when her insides became so putrefied she had lost her shape. He continued this process to preserve what was left of his dead obsession, including making a wig for her when her hair was almost gone. All this led to the creation of a macabre doll with some remains of her that was meant to give him some comfort through the illusion that she was still somehow with him. He spent his days talking to her while she was placed on a large bed and wrapped in cloth veil, acting like they were together and playing music for her on the organ, adding to the creepy scenery. What’s even most shocking is the fact that after the discovery of her body, the doctors also discovered during the autopsy that he had created a tube that somehow resembled a vagina, so he also had sexual intercourse with Elena’s dead body. After his arrest one of the doctors who performed the autopsy declared:

I made the examination in the funeral home. The breasts really felt real. In the vaginal area, I found a tube wide enough to permit sexual intercourse. At the bottom of the tube was cotton, and in an examination of the cotton, I found there was sperm. Then I knew we were dealing with a sexual pervert.

The discovery and arrest

Elena’s sister wasn't seeing doctor Von Cosel at the tomb anymore and there were also some rumors that he was behaving bizarre, so she began to believe that something might have happened, especially since he showed a morbid obsession since the beginning. She asked the authorities to open the tomb and was surprised to see that the body of her sister wasn’t there anymore. When confronted Von Cosel, he invited her inside and she was obviously shocked at the sight of the sinister image created by him. He was soon arrested and found mentally capable to stand trial on the charge of "wantonly and maliciously destroying a grave and removing a body without authorization." However, the case was dropped and he was released. Elena's body was showed to the public, almost 6,800 people, before her last burial.

Later life and death

He moved in Pasco County, Florida in 1944 where he apparently used a death mask to create a life-sized effigy of Elena. It has been speculated that he had taken the body of Elena even after his arrest but there was no evidence that the effigy he created contained any human material. However, his morbid obsession continued until his death in 1952 as he lived the rest of his life with the second doll that resembled Elena.

Sources:

VON COSEL

Undying Love: The True Story Of A Passion That Defied Death

Skullduggery: 45 True Tales of Disturbing the Dead

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Tanzler

http://www.voltini.com/id43.htm

http://www.weirdworm.com/carl-tanzler-romancing-the-dead/

A short documentary about this case:

Abortion History II - Abortion In Medieval Times

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 23:48:00 +0000

During the medieval period the perspective on abortion and contraception in general was greatly influenced by theological writings. But there were many methods still used since antiquity and many late antique authors had a great influence on how abortion was performed. Authors like Celsus, Pliny, Galen, Oribasius, Marcellus Empiricus and Aeitius prescribed different drinks, suppositories, lotions and physical manipulations that were meant to help women get rid of their unwanted pregnancy. There were also some chirurgical methods and some superstitions that were also used whenever a woman wanted to have an abortion.

Theodorus Priscianus created quite a stir with his book on medicine, especially the part that was related to different gynecological issues. He was influenced by Hippocrates and although he believed that helping women lose their pregnancy was in a way profane to medicine, he saw some exceptions that were meant to be taken into consideration by practitioners. Some of the exceptions mentioned were cases when there was a certain uterine disease or an inappropriate age that could endanger a woman’s life. So there was this new problem: should a doctor get rid of a fetus to save a woman’s life or, as some religious people believed, they shouldn’t act and let God decide. Opinions were different and while some believed that they shouldn’t interfere with God’s work, others proceeded in prescribing different methods for abortion when it was needed.

One of the most extreme methods of abortion during the medieval period was, of course, a chirurgical practice called embryotomy. Simply put, this was the removing of a dead or alive fetus from the mother’s womb due to some complications that could endanger her life. It seems that this was a fairly common practice whenever complications appeared and there are some archeological discoveries that point in this direction. For example, a decapitated infant with other multiple mutilations that has been found at a gravesite in Poundbury Dorset buried without the mother shows that she probably survived after undergoing an embryotomy. When talking about surgical methods we cannot forget about the caesarian section; but this was used to save the fetus and not the mother. Both these operations were performed by doctors, surgeons and probably midwives. The 2^nd and 3^rd century theologian Tertullian describes embryotomy as a cruel necessity and it seems to be a difference between this emergency procedure and other invasive methods of abortion. For example, some practitioners used knitting needles or coat-hangers to puncture the amniotic sack or pierce the fetus in order to provoke a premature labor.

Tertullian described some surgical procedures that were similar to what now is known as dilation and evacuation. The tools used in this procedure were described as a "nicely-adjusted flexible frame" used for dilation, an "annular blade" used to curette, a "blunted or covered hook" used for extraction and a "copper needle or spike". He considers that this practice dated back to ancient practitioners such as Hippocrates and Soranus. But his view on abortion was definitely one that rejected it even when the pregnancy was in an early stage; he considered that we cannot kill what has been conceived in the womb. Other theologians such as Clement of Alexandria and Methodius of Olympus went so far as imagining how the apocalypse would be for aborting mothers. It seems that the children ”born due out of time” were saved by God; their mothers, however, had a cruel eternal life – their breast milk would leak and it would congeal thus giving them extreme pain.

Pope Callistus was criticized due to his complicity in abortion as he allowed noblewomen to take up partners without legal marriage. A common practice was to corset themselves to be unable to carry a pregnancy to full term, because they did not wish to have a child with a commoner or, worse, a slave. But the methods of abortion were scarcely described by theologians; Ambrose of Milan, Jerome and Augustine mention some potions used in abortion.

Some of the abortificent potions that were prescribed during medieval times contained emmenagogues, plants that will increase blood flow in the pelvic area. There were many recipes that were passed since antiquity and became quite popular during medieval times, being often quoted in medical texts.

These potions were called aborti venena (abortive potions) or sterilitatis venena (potions for sterility), which usually contained some poisonous substances. Pessaries, suppositories and infusions were also used to induce abortion by inserting them into the vagina. Pessaries were actually tampons made of wool, soaked in a mixture of herbs that were either used as a contraceptive method or a way to provoke miscarriage. Pills were taken orally but contained mixtures of herbs as well; there were also cataplasms, poultices or compresses that were applied externally. Some abortions also included a sort of massage to relax the body during the procedure with the help of different ointments. It is interesting to see that nowadays almost the same methods are used to induce labor in the first weeks of pregnancy; the famous mifepristone and misoprostol are synthetic versions of the potions used in medieval times. Some mixtures contained belladonna, honeysuckle, cedar oil, cabbage leaves or mandrake. In Germanic folklore the prostitute root is mentioned, which is the root of worm fern, another contraceptive herb.

Fumigations were also popular and they can be described as a method of steam vaporization that involved introducing different substances internally by making a woman seat over the steam produced by a fumigation pot. Sponge baths and bathing in general are also connected to abortions during antiquity and early medieval times. For example, Priscianus mentions having two baths as a part of an abortion treatment. However, baths were also often used for a difficult or long birth process.

Bloodletting was a common practice for most medical problems and obviously it was a cure for pregnancy too. It is pretty obvious why women who underwent phlebotomy had an increased risk of miscarriage.

Hebrew books such as The Book of Women’s love contain passages on abortion and some birth control methods. Most Hebrew medical texts have been often interpreted that they permit abortion and contraception in some exceptional cases. Abortions were allowed when a woman’s life was in danger and contraception measures were supposed to be used by minors and breastfeeding women.

The religious view upon this matter was simple in theory but really hard to put in practice. It seemed that the responsibility fell on the woman who needed to coerce her husband to a life of chastity – as it was the only allowed way to avoid pregnancy. However, the law stated that married women had no legal right to refuse sex with their husbands, not to mention the fact that masters often raped their slaves. Women who used contraceptive herbs as well as herbs that would help them get pregnant were considered to practice occult arts and were punished. But when it came to men, religious officials felt overwhelmed by the number of men who needed to be punished and often considered that they couldn’t excommunicate them since they were simply too many and probably important members of society.

Sources:

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1317777/1/1317777.pdf

http://dare.uva.nl/document/171177

Abortion History I - Abortion in Ancient Times

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Although abortion is still a controversial topic nowadays, it seems that there have been records of it dating back to ancient times. There were various methods used by people to get rid of an unwanted pregnancy, from ingesting various substances to mechanical techniques that would imply pressure or even the use of various objects.

The first mention of abortion is in the Ebers papyrus, however it is not known for sure whether abortions were performed. The papyrus only mentions two remedies which "cause all to come out which is in the stomach of a woman", possibly referring to inducing a miscarriage. The Egyptian recipe is based on acacia berries and it specifically states that it can stop a pregnancy at any time.

Abortion was also done in Ancient China and there are documents reporting royal concubines who had abortions as early as 515 BCE and folklore indicates that mercury potions were used in this direction.

Documents from China (750 BCE) claim that abortificiants were known and regularly use as early as 3,000 BCE. A large variety of non-medical writings throughout the ancient world suggest mundane solutions like hard rubbing or massage on the uterus, riding a horse, or heavy lifting. The general understanding was simple - things that caused miscarriages could be channeled to intentionally cause them. Due to economic problems and famine, there was a high number of abortions during Edo periods, especially among peasants who couldn’t afford having another child. Other Asian text, such as Japanese texts state that there were shrines dedicated to lost and aborted children that first appeared in 1200s.

Overall, the ancient methods used for abortion were mostly mechanical and non-intrusive. Hard physical labor such as climbing, paddling, weightlifting, diving, or extreme labor were common. Other methods included fasting, bloodletting, applying hot water compresses or pouring hot water directly on the abdomen. There are some archeological discoveries that might indicate some surgical attempts to extract the fetus but they were scarcely used.

Abortion as a biblical tale

There is a passage in Numbers where a woman’s infidelity is tested through a concoction that might make her abort the baby. If the woman was not unfaithful she would remain pregnant and it would be her husband’s child; on the other hand, if the woman had a miscarriage she was guilty of adultery.

Popular Abortion Reports

Even Hippocrates induced abortions to his patients and there seems to be recorded how he instructed a prostitute to have a miscarriage by jumping up and down. He also used other methods to induce abortions to such as dilation and curettage, which seem incredibly modern for those times.

Soranus of Ephesus recommended various methods to induce abortion such as enemas, fasting, emmenagogues (herbs that stimulate blood flow in the pelvic area), and even bloodletting. He also advised against using sharp objects to induce abortion as practitioners risked perforating their patients’ organs.

It seems that even Aristotle had something to say about abortion and this only shows how much of a common practice it was during Ancient times. He wrote “When couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun: What may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation."

7 Random Facts (Episode 6)

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:33:00 +0000

How about another 7 random facts to quote and look cool in front of your friends? Here they are:

1 – There is a small chance that you might get hit by a falling satellite or falling space debris. Apparently, you have about 1 in several trillion chances to get hit by one, so you’ll have to be very unlucky. Considering my luck, this will probably happen to me.

2 – Brain surgery is not a modern invention as the ancient civilizations did it too. There are quite a few writings that explain how ancient brain surgery worked and considering the tools that were available in those times it’s safe to say that surgeons back then were pretty good at their job.

3 – American poet and novelist Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963 by sealing her kitchen, putting her head in the oven and turning on the gas. That’s a pretty creative and, uhm, sinister way to die.

4 – It seems that being nice is related to your genes. Research by psychologists at the University at Buffalo and the University of California, Irvine, has found that at least part of the reason some people are kind and generous is that their genes nudge them toward it. So, I guess now I know why I’m not nice, it’s in my genes.

5 - Species dysphoria is the experience of dysphoria (depression, discontent), sometimesincluding dysmorphia (excessive concern over one's body image), associated with the feeling that one's body is of the wrong species.

6 – George Leclanché invented in 1966 the Leclanché cell, one of the first electrical batteries. It comprised a conducting solution (electrolyte) of ammonium chloride with a negative terminal of zinc and a positive terminal of manganese dioxide. Leclanche's "wet cell" (as it was popularly called) was the forerunner to the world's first widely used battery, the Zinc-carbon battery.

7 - During the time it takes you to read this sentence, 50,000 more 12-ounce aluminum cans are made. Also, Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save:

3.5 cubic yards of landfill

17 thirty foot (pulp) trees

7,000 gallons of water

380 gallons of oil

4100 kwh of energy

Predicting People's Behavior - How accurate are we?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:59:00 +0000

Figuring other people out is not a bad thing. It’s actually an adaptive trait we have, which should definitely be enhanced in various ways. Trying to figure out others in order to predict behavior and adjust yourself accordingly is reasonable, but the problem starts when people actually believe that their predictions are infallible and live in a sort of mind reader delusion or thinking that their judgments cannot contain any error.

Self-delusion can be pleasing and sufficient for a modest mental activity. Actually, self-delusion can be seen as a very effective coping mechanism. People alter their ideas to model a world where they can have the illusion of control. There are many biases people use to make sure that they maintain that illusion about the world. But let’s talk a bit, before that, about one of the other mechanisms, a sort of magical thinking where people actually consider that they can read the minds of others with great precision. This mind reading is also correlated with a sort of Know-it-all behavior as we will see further. Also, we will analyze the cognitive biases that fuel this inner circular belief system. I will not debate right now whether there is this paranormal possibility or not, as I am only approaching this problem from an epistemological point of view.

First, I want to mention the problem called The Problem of OtherMinds which regards our inner life and, most importantly, other people’s inner lives. As an epistemological problem, this is concerned with how our beliefs about mental states other than our own might be justified. On the other hand, there’s also the problem of us being able to form a concept of mental states other than our own, which is perhaps the key to solving the first. We could go for the most extremist point of view on the matter, which is metaphysical solipsism and consider that no reality exists other than our own mental activity or state and that the external world has no independent existence. But the solipsist’s tragedy is the fact that they will have to convince people that they are a figment of their imagination, the solipsist’s imagination. But we managed to distance ourselves from the sub-main point, which was the fact that according to The Problem of Other Minds, it is rather difficult to perceive the inner world of other people, let alone draw conclusions based on what we might perceive. Even philosophers agree, that embracing one Philosophy of the Mind or other, will not entirely solve this. But let’s get back to the main point: self-delusion in prediction.

It seems that people who self-delude themselves have a problem with comprehending the fact that people have minds, other minds, different than their own minds. Also, extending one’s mental product to other people’s minds greatly influences our perception of reality and our inner self, in a biased way. The problem with mind reading is not the attempt to read minds and predict behavior, that is normal after all, but the fact that some people are so sure of their own predictions and false knowledge they might produce they might engage in disastrous behaviors and ways of thinking.

Here are few theories that may explain people’s need to actively try and read other’s minds and predict their behavior:

Egocentric judgement

“Later researchers elaborated on Piaget’s initial findings and theorizing to show that young children do not reliably distinguish between what they know and what others’ know (Perner, 1991; Wimmer & Perner, 1983), do not provide sufficient information to identify ambiguous references in communication (Deutsch & Pechmann, 1982; Sonnenschein & Whitehurst, 1984), and rarely distinguish between the way an object appears to them and the way it would appear to someone else (Flavell, 1986).” (Whole article here: http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/nicholas.epley/EpleyCompass.pdf)

It seems that this egocentric judgment can be still seen in humans as they rarely find out that other’s perceptions differ from their own, thus diminishing their mind reading power.

Attempting Mind Reading As A Coping Mechanism

We all have coping mechanisms in order to tolerate stress or avoid sadness and conflict. I’m not saying that coping mechanisms are bad, but some people might use them as an escape from reality. Reality is not just the exterior world, but also their mind and the things that they are willing to acknowledge about themselves. This means that they will live with a distorted view about themselves and the world. Predicting and trying to read the minds of others while flirting, for example, has been proved to be a difficult task for both men and women. It seems that women usually misread that the men are less interested in them, while men believe that women are much more interested in them compared with how interested they are in reality. This might be a coping mechanism for both sexes. Women might use the less interested coping mechanism in an attempt to diminish their expectations in order to avoid disappointment as men tend to be less committed, while men might use this self-delusion to stroke their ego and avoid acknowledging failure. Some people have this so rooted in their personality, they would be lost without it and they will constantly live in denial, being unable to see when others prove them wrong. This can be extremely distressing for those around them and counterproductive for them as they cannot reach authentic self-knowledge and not even a correct image regarding the outside world and people, as they model everything to be a part of their coping mechanism puzzle. We can say that they are the people who constantly live in a cognitive dissonance related to almost everything that would shatter their inner world.

http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/busslab/pdffiles/CognitiveBiases.PDF

Attempting to Read Minds In Order To Manipulate

This is probably why the term reading minds and the whole idea was invented in the first place. People like to manipulate other people, it’s that simple. But this need may have an underlying issue. A person who likes manipulating loves being in control or feeling superior, which is connected to a need to raise self-esteem. Actually people who overly-predict, plan, or constantly try to read the minds of others are actually looking for some stability in an attempt to control and cope with reality. But, as I mentioned several times in this article, this is just an illusion of control.

Cognitive Biases used by in mind reading attempts and over-prediction

The Illusion of Asymmetric Insight - It seems that people show an asymmetry when they start thinking about how much knowledge they have about other people and how much other people can tell about them. It seems that six studies suggested that people believe that the knowledge of their peers is greater than their peers’ knowledge of them. So we believe that we know more about other people than they know about us and the term for this is “naive realism”. http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/81/4/639/

Mind Projection Fallacy – this occurs when people are sure that the way they see the world reflects the way the world really is and they can even go as far as thinking that there are imagined objects in reality. Here’s an article that explains this phenomenon in detail. http://bayes.wustl.edu/etj/articles/prob.as.logic.pdf

Confirmation Bias http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/confirmation_bias.htm – this is probably one of the main tools used in mind reading self-delusion.

Youarenotsosmart.com http://youarenotsosmart.com/2010/06/23/confirmation-bias/ made this simple:

“The Misconception: Your opinions are the result of years of rational, objective analysis.

The Truth: Your opinions are the result of years of paying attention to information which confirmed what you believed while ignoring information which challenged your preconceived notions.”

The confirmation bias is actually derived from your ability to filter the information around you. This means that you are prone to see information that confirms your beliefs. I will give you an example: women, when thinking they were pregnant, started seeing everything that was related to motherhood. They started seeing a lot of pregnant women, children, articles in the newspaper related to that, etc. This doesn’t mean that the universe was trying to tell them something, it just means that they were focused on filtering information based on their interest. The same applies with mind reading: we get an amount of information about a person but we filter it through our own preconceptions. This is why preconceptions are bad in the first place, they keep us from thinking clearly and seeing the whole picture. Whenever that person shows behavior that is against our preconceived idea about them, we ignore it or attribute it to some other instance like being an exception. But when they show a certain behavior that confirms our theory, we obviously believe that and our theory gets stronger. How many times have you actually tried to find counterarguments to your strongest beliefs? Whenever I believe something the first thing i do is try to find arguments on the internet or in books that support that idea. Later, I wake up and start looking at different opinions. The same happens to people when trying to read the minds of others. It seems that the “most likely reason for the excessive influence of confirmatory information is that it is easier to deal with cognitively” as it is easier to see how the data you receive supports your position rather than denies it. http://www.skepdic.com/confirmbias.html

Overgeneralization – well isn’t this the mother of all fallacies? Overgeneralizations actually means recognizing those qualities in a person or a thing which we have seen before and extending those qualities to the whole population. When it comes to the logical fallacy called hasty generalization this means that people will make an inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence and without considering all of the variables. Statistically speaking, your conclusion does not represent the whole population, although you use it like it does.

Selective perception - is the personal filtering of what we see and hear so as to suit our own needs. Much of this process is psychological and often unconscious. Have you ever been accused of only hearing what you want to hear? In fact, that is quite true. We simply are bombarded with too much stimuli every day to pay equal attention to everything so we pick and choose according to our own needs. This leads to the Halo Effect, which means that you will evaluate or judge people, events, places, etc. only by a single trait or experiment creating a prejudice in your judgment. People will often try to perceive further interaction with somebody based on one element or a very few elements. http://lilt.ilstu.edu/rrpope/rrpopepwd/articles/perception3.html

Psychological projection or projection bias – this is a defense mechanism where people deny their own attributes that they see in other people or the outside world. It reduces anxiety by allowing the expression of these impulses without letting the conscious mind recognize them. People who unconsciously believe that they have failed will often blame others for self-failure, for example.

Trait ascription bias – this is quite interesting as it shows people’s capacity to flatter themselves at an unconscious level. They see themselves complex and different from the other world, like a unique snowflake as Palahniuk described this. However, they see others as definitely much more predictable and simple in behavior and thought. Obviously, there is an explanation for this, we can analyze our inner world and access it better than we can do it with others. But, unfortunately, this is the source of prejudice and stereotyping which is not a lucid view upon the world.

Overconfidence Effect – this refers to “someone's subjective confidence in their judgments is reliably greater than their objective accuracy, especially when confidence is relatively high.” Actually there were studies that showed how people rated their answers in quizzes as 99% certain but were wrong 40% of the time. In short, overconfidence seems to be an example of miscalibration of subjective probabilities and probably another coping mechanism. http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/on_overconfidence/

Wishful Thinking – there are many mechanism involved in wishful thinking and some might say that it is quite an adaptive cognitive bias. However, when it really alters our perception of the world, it becomes a really bad cognitive bias. What wishful thinking actually means is the fact that we tend to believe to be true what we wish to be true. There have been quite a lot of studies showing that subjects will usually predict positive outcomes rather than negative outcomes (just search the internet and you will find quite a few). Wishful thinking is also a well-known logical fallacy.

Availability Heuristic – Mind readers like to predict, a lot. Actually, that’s what they do. Of course, predicting is important and good when one has elementary statistics knowledge and doesn’t use anecdotes as proof. This is a mental shortcut that uses the ease with which examples come to mind to make judgments about the probability of events

Illusory Correlation - Illusory correlation is seeing a relationship that you expect in a set of data that has no relationship, for example false associations like overgeneralization and stereotyping.

The Focusing Effect - This bias occurs when people exaggerate the important of one aspect, event, trait, piece of information which influences the way they can accurately predict future outcome. This can also be extended to perceiving their well-being. When trying to mind-read people, there is also the tendency to take one trait and form a global opinion with that trait in mind. Also, the future opinions can be flawed by a certain focus a person has based on a preconception. It’s just like using a magnifying glass on some aspects and drawing conclusions based on our exaggeration. There is an interesting article that quotes a few studies in this direction for those interested:

http://www.morgenkommichspaeterrein.de/ressources/download/125krueger.pdf

Anecdotal evidence – I know a person who...I met somebody who... A friend of mine... – this is the form of anecdotal evidence and it’s an attempt to use personal accounts as an argument supporting some views of a group, experience, circumstance, etc. That’s wrong because you cannot extend your knowledge about those only based on your experience since you probably haven’t met a statistically significant amount of people.

Attentional bias - a person does not examine all possible outcomes when making a judgment about a correlation or association. It also seems to be an attention bias towards negative information regarding people, things or situations. It seems that people dislike loses more than large gains and they are prone to attribute causality to negative events rather than positive events. More about this and some studies regarding this can be found here http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacioppo/jtcreprints/beingbadisnt.pdf

Choice-supportive bias – we tend to think that our choices are better than they actually were. We also attribute positive features to the choices we make and negative features to things we did not choose.

Illusory superiority or the above average effect– another cute cognitive bias very familiar to those involved in great self-delusion. It means that people will overestimate their positive qualities and abilities and underestimate their negative qualities in relation to others. You can probably imagine how many errors a person who thinks they can predict behavior and read minds can do when having this illusion. Actually, thinking that you are a mind reader with accurate descriptions is itself an illusory superiority. This reminds me of the Downing effect that describes the tendency of people with a below average IQ to overestimate their IQ while people with an above average IQ will underestimate their IQ. I guess Bertrand Russell was right when he said: The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.

Psychologist Fallacy – well it seems that this fallacy exists. It’s pretty similar to the fallacies described above and it refers to projecting your own mind’s properties into the external world. An observer presupposes the universality of their own perspective when analyzing a behavioral event. This makes us judge people based on our own set of rules, which may or may not be correct.

Illusion of validity – describes the state in which consistent evidence persistently leads to confident predictions even after the predictive value of the evidence has been discredited. Here’s an interesting article about its persistence in clinical environment: http://implab.hu/wiki/images/e/ed/Einhorn_Hogarth_1978.pdf

...and many, many more cognitive biases, but this article is already too big.

The mind-reading tendency is common to all people, some more than the others. However, the problem with this behavior is the fact that once people have moderate success with it or delude themselves that way, they will use in their everyday life. Unfortunately, they are unable to perceive other’s mental states directly and will have to infer them and there is a great chance that they will commit some error every time they do it. There is a variety of tools they can use such as: observations of behavior, second – hand reports, or simply intuition.

Obviously, none of these are precise and not even summing them up will lead to an infallible conclusion. Mind reading mistakes can lead to miscommunication, misunderstanding, social conflict, and poor decision-making. Also, let’s not forget that people can be imprecise when reading their own mind (their past mind or their future mind), which is very sad considering their attempts to read other people’s minds. An authentic understanding of self is another philosophical issue that is hard to be solved, so considering this fact and other circumstances how can people actually believe that they can actively read minds?

Well, in the end we must agree that people like control. Information is control for people, although if we analyze it we will see that having information about something is just an illusion of control. Also, the fact that our information might not be precise and we are using it as a base for having control is just a recipe for disaster, both in communicating with other people and personal development. In the end, our demeanor should be directed towards being less wrong not being superhumans who read minds and predict behaviors so that they feel less confused.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/l/list_of_cognitive_biases.htm

http://kidsthinkingcritically.wordpress.com/thinkingerrors/jumping-to-conclusions/mind-reading/

Dealing With Bad Clients - Part 1 - Scammers or 8 Tips To Become A Better Online Scammer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:53:00 +0000

Attention: this is one of those personal entries, please ignore it and I promise I will soon write about more important matters. It’s a rant and probably a semi-amusing story to help those who have or will find themselves in the same situation.

Being a freelance copywriter can be really interesting and quite an adrenaline rush sometimes. You learn from experience and you can get scammed a few times even by the biggest companies. After all, the whole trying to do justice thing can take a while and will probably cost you more than the amount they owe you. But some of my clients have been really interesting, some were friendly scammers, others were polite and very professional looking scammers, but lately I’ve been dealing with another type of scammer. Good thing that I’ve had experience in the past and hadn't work that much for him before realizing I was scammed. Well, perhaps I trust people too much and I am too naive, but this experience doesn’t bother me, it was nice and I gained a lot in terms of personal development. So let me tell you my latest scamming story and then I shall paste a few of my emails with the client so that you can learn how to treat such people.

It first started about 6 years ago on one of those freelance websites that I won’t mention here. I used to work a lot on those until I managed to create a client base, but lately I was invited to a project and I accepted it. Then we went off-site and that’s where the fun started. At first they were very condescending and impolite but I just thought that maybe they were unable to communicate properly so I let that go, because I’ve been trying not to take things personally in order to reach that ascetic state of mind numbness. It was when I asked for a proof of payment in my bank account that things got out of control. My amazing client sent me this furious mail:

What kind of question is this? If I need to go, I would have gone by now. so from next when you write an email, make sure you know what you are writing. it will help you working with big guys for long time

Well, what can I say....the big guys usually send you that proof of payment without you having to ask, it’s common knowledge, routine, etc. , but I guess he’s not a big guy after all....but he wishes, he will reach that point if he really, really wants that. He will be that shining star on the new media sky. Please observe the great grasp of English knowledge my client had. It is quite remarkable for somebody who works in copywriting.

I sent him a polite mail, perhaps too polite, trying to make myself clear.

I'm sorry if my question has offended you but I feel it is natural to ask that since I had problems with many clients in the past. If this would have been a secured work environment it wouldn't have been any problem but since we haven't managed yet to build a trusting relationship, I feel it is my right to be reluctant when it comes to such matters. Previous experience has also made me more careful. I believe that it was a normal question considering the circumstances of our interaction.

He then answered:

It can be normal to you, but to ask proof of something is not normal to us anyway

I think that this flawed view upon the world is what makes us terrible human beings. Philosophically speaking, we are nothing without proof and this man asks me to blindly believe in him like a true follower. Anyway, he then asked me the following day for some part of the work I was doing for him but it was well before the deadline and I still hadn't received the money in my bank account. So, I told him that and the fact that I wouldn’t continue working without being paid for the last project. I think he has some anger management issues because he replied terribly. I literally felt his forehead veins bursting with anger when reading the email. Here it is:

Delayed 2 times means? your paying date is Sunday and according to that it has been processed. And we told everything clearly in our project details also.

And last time also you sent us some freaking email which we did not take personally. But now it is up to the limit. We don’t wish to work with you anymore. You can use all your work or can sale them or can do anything you wish. Cause we will not like to work with anyone who doesn’t know how to talk with the buyer

Hope you will find good client to work with though it is looing impossible for me

Good luck

Note: We will not be replying you anymore as you already humiliated us t wice whih is more than enough

Thanks alot

Bye

This is when I got really sad as I don’t have a lot of interaction and I kind of liked sending useless emails back and forth. So I replied, from the bottom of my heart, with all the friendship there ever was in this world, I replied to help him search his own path and probably become a better man. I usually do that to people...it’s quite fun sending this type of messages and even more fun reading the answers. I recommend it, it has greatly improved my ability to express. Surely, most of the time people have no idea what you are talking about or they get really aggressive and personal, but it’s fun nonetheless. Here is my response:

Well this was expected. When one creates all the conditions to reach destruction, one should not be surprised with the outcome. It was pretty obvious that you are a scammer as you had about 5 accounts created on ****** and I feel extremely sorry that people like you exist and are cheating hard working people.

I think this is a situation well known to you and I am probably one of the many that were scammed. You showed a great lack of respect towards me as a writer and as a person; that says a lot about you.

"Delayed 2 times" = you just mentioned that payment was on Sunday, when the first Sunday came, you mentioned a threshold (you seem to forget to mention a great deal of vital information when talking to another party, may I recommend a memo application for your smartphone?), on the second Sunday, you mentioned out of the blue that there is a problem with your PayPal (again, lack of information). Now, you are avoiding any sort of payment, which I was expecting.
Thanks alot Bye – hey, meet Alot http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html

you already humiliated us t wice whih is more than enough – I feel like I’m in a Japanese movie and I have failed to gain the respect my family deserves. I am sorry, I am beyond ashamed. However, I find this victimizing behavior quite interesting. I mean, in my internet writing journeys I met a wide array of scammers, but you are special Sir. Victimizing but also condescending, that’s a unique combination. I never thought of this approach when it came to online scamming, you have taught me new meanings when it comes to deal with people like you.
Talking about the many accounts you created, I guess you get reported a lot, so that’s why you are probably quite confused about the information you send, it has to be dreadful to deal with all those fake email addresses.

I am not expecting you to read all the text above as I seriously doubt your ability to understand complex patterns but considering the fact that I like writing and giving advice, please read the following section that might greatly improve your scamming results in the future, as I believe it is the right career choice for you.

Then I wrote a short article about how to be a good online scammer and attached it to the email. I will also paste it here, perhaps it can help some of those other assholes out there.

8 Tips To Become A Better Online Scammer

1 – Be polite. Politeness goes a long way. My first scamming client was this beautiful lady who was always polite. You couldn’t believe that she was scamming you because she was really nice like a colorful butterfly. People will like you more if you are nice and polite and they will also work as slaves without payment for a longer time if you don’t show a lack of proper upbringing.

2 – Send some money. This is crucial as it may create a trusting environment and you will be able to get more jobs done for free in the long run. This is a new level of scamming, sending a bit of money, while you justify with various reasons. It is quite confusing for those who work for you and they will always ask themselves why would you send them money if you are trying to scam them. They won’t believe it at first and you will be able to get more work done.

3 – Learn to write. For proper communication and manipulating your victims, you should learn to write better. Flexibility and clarity are essential for a building a good and long term scammer-victim relationship.

4 – Create an email account that doesn’t look like you sat on your keyboard during the registration process.

5 – Don’t be condescending – it kind of reveals the fact that you are prone to scam. It also doesn’t help in life in general as people tend to avoid you and you end up not having many friends. This makes me sad, everybody should deserve friends.

6 – Give feedback, answer the first emails properly – it makes you seem nicer and people will trust you. We’re going for trust as a scammer, remember?

7 – Be Friendly – for those who want to reach a new level in the art of scamming, being friendly goes a long way. Create bonds and friendship, this way they will become dependent and will work more for free, which is always good. Perhaps you can gain a friend for life.

8 – Have a good memory – vitamins are great to improve memory. Lecithin can do wonders so don’t be afraid to take the daily recommended amount. You will be able to remember all those people you scammed and if you have nightmares, sleeping pills can counteract these effects.

In the end, it really matters to be true to yourself and others. Don’t be that false, make sure that your wonderful personality is coming out and let people discover you, and who knows, maybe you’ll make some friends in the scamming process. Good Luck Sir!

This is my latest scamming story people. Perhaps one day I will tell you about my other scamming story, it’s quite funny as my other client created many accounts and talked to me as she was different people. She was her secretary, herself, and the PR person. Very interesting psychological case study and I also kept the emails for my amusement. I may not get paid sometimes but the fun is definitely worth it.