Random Geek Musings

The random explorations of folklore, history and society.

[archaeologicalnews]

Ancient Egyptian tombs yield rare find of mummified scarab beetles

SAQQARA, Egypt (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Egypt said on Saturday they had discovered a rare collection of mummified scarab beetles, as well as an apparently pristine Fifth Dynasty tomb that they plan to open in the coming weeks.

The mummified beetles were among artifacts found in seven tombs discovered over the past six months on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.

As they were preparing the site to present the latest discoveries, archaeologists found the door of another tomb that remains sealed, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters.

The tomb dates from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom and is unusual because the facade and door are intact, meaning its contents may still be untouched, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara area. He said experts plan to open the tomb in the coming weeks. Read more.

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In Infinity War, Banner is Loki in disguise

So, yesterday I went to watch Infinity War again because I wanted to focus on this fact and see if it could actually be real. And guys, the answer is YES. (ohmygod!!!)

When Hulk fights Thanos it’s still Banner. But when they finish, we don’t see Hulk nor Loki for some time and that’s when they switch and Loki takes Hulk’s shape. Banner probably escapes with Valkyrie somehow. I am sure they have a plan.

Heimdall sends Hulk to Earth. Hulk?! Heimdall barely know who is Banner! He never even talked to him! Why would he send Banner and not, for example, Thor? Because that’s actually Loki.

When “Banner” arrives on Earth, he is terrified: terrified of the kind like he knows a lot about Thanos and what he does. But how can he? Do you really think they had all of this time to tell Banner everything when Thanos suddenly showed up and began to kill everyone? He could have just been another bad guy at his eyes, but no, here he was absolutely desperate and with no real reason (I hope you understood what I’m trying to say). That’s not Banner.

Banner tells Tony that Thanos destroys every planet and already has the Power and Space Stone and he is already super powerful. How can he know? When Thanos manages to hold the Tesseract, Hulk is already KO and moreover when Banner is Hulk he doesn’t understand what’s going on. Only Loki and Thor really see that Thanos takes the Space Stone. Again, how can Banner know he already has the Power Stone? For the same reason written above, he cannot. Guys, he can’t. That’s Loki.

Loki knows that Banner can transform into Hulk and, being a shapeshifter, he tries to. But eventually he will find out that he cannot because he can take people’s shapes but not their powers. So he would never have Hulk’s strength.

Banner tells Tony that Loki’s attack to New York was actually because of Thanos. Again, how can Banner know? Like if when Thanos arrived they quietly sat down and told Banner everything about Thanos. Do you realize it’s absurd?

Banner makes continuous references to New York. Why couldn’t he do it with Sokovija, for example? Because he is Loki.

It’s impossible to ignore Banner’s outburst of joy when Thor shows up in Wakanda. He laughs aloud and says he wants to see what they’ll make up now. It reminded me so much of Loki’s joyful reaction when in Ragnarok Thor was beaten by Hulk. Guys, that’s Loki as he sees his brother is still alive and badassing (thing he couldn’t be sure about, having left as Hulk through the Bifrost).

We see Banner in the Hulk Buster fighting. Now, Hulk can fight because it’s Hulk but Hulk and Banner are two completely different beings. And honestly, has Banner ever punched someone in his life? Ha. Banner is a scientist and angel, he wouldn’t touch a fly. And yet we see him punching and kicking super professionally in Wakanda, which is super weird. But if you think that that’s Loki, who can fight pretty well, everything makes sense. And if you look closely you see Loki’s technique in the fight.

You’ll wonder how can Loki know a) about Clint, b) about Vision’s technology and c) about Bruce and Nat’s relationship. a) Loki knows about Clint as he mind-controlled him in Avengers 1. b) Loki is very intelligent, he knows a lot about the Stone, he knows about how Vision came to life because in Age of Ultron he was there, hiding (hooded figure) and actually he doesn’t really know everything in such a great detail in fact when he speaks with Shuri he is in a bit of difficulty. c) Loki is a mind-reader and had the occasion to get to know Nat (during Avengers 1, while he is in the cage) and with Bruce (throughout Ragnarok and a little bit Avengers 1 too).

So guys, you can see that there are many things that don’t make a lot of sense but this theory fixes them and makes them all agree with one another. Loki is the God of Mischief and I could go on forever telling why he decided to die in front of Thor and how did he double himself and about the fact that he didn’t turn into his Jotun form when he “died”, but this post is already very long (sorry!).

Now, what do you think?

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Just above the sparrow is the word “forever”

Photo: Tjalf Estoppey

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Aurora Dragon Over Norway

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#epic

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Scots 1: Yes, it is a language!

So, since there’s been some interest in Scots here since that post about Harry Potter in Scots appeared, I thought it’d be nice to do some posts about the language and the history and so on (since I speak it and am way too interested in it)! This first post in basically an overview of the history and some main differences between Scots and English. Later on, I can go more in depth into vocabulary, grammar and dialects, depending on what people want.

History

Scots is a part of the Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic language family, very very closely related to English. In fact, Scots evolved from the Northumbrian dialect of Old English that was spoken in southern Scotland from the 7th century. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Old Scots diverged from the early Middle English spoken just over the border and began to spread up the east coast, replacing Gaelic. Middle Scots became a prestige language by the 16th century used by the Scottish royal court and developed literary and orthographic norms independent to English over the border. 

In 1603 Queen Elizabeth I died, leaving no children to succeed the English throne. The only heir was King James VI of Scotland, so he moved himself and his court to London and became James I of England too. This shift lead to English becoming the prestige language, reducing Scots to a vernacular language. 

After the Union of Parliaments in 1707, the use of Modern Scots and even the notion of Scottishness was strongly discouraged. In literature, the language was revived during the 18th and 19th centuries by poets like Robert Burns, but even until 30 years ago children were punished for using it in school. Nowadays, Scots is becoming more prominent with more books, poetry and television shows being produced in the language; even the New Testament was translated into Scots!

Geography

Scots is spoken mainly in the south, north east and Northern Isles of Scotland. In the north and west, Gaelic is more common than Scots. There’s also some people in Northern Ireland who speak Ulster Scots, after around 200,000 Lowlands Scots emigrated there during the 1600s.

Fun Facts

According to the 2011 census, 1.9 million people (38% of the population) can either speak, read, write or understand Scots

Scots is recognised as one of Europe’s Regional Languages, alongside Welsh and Gaelic, but it is not an official language in the UK

English has strongly influenced Scots over the centuries, but Scots has also influenced Standard English (eerie, glamour and raid all come from Scots)

Feel free to ask if you have any questions! 😄

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Group statue of goddess Hathor protecting Psamtik I (schist), from Saqqara. Late Period, 26th Dynasty, ca. 664-525 BC. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo: Sandro Vannini

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Why did the Hebrews after the Exodus, start to worship a God of those who had enslaved them?

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Eta Carinae

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Glorious

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Worcester State Hospital

A series of unfavorable events occurred on July 22, 1991 which resulted in the partial desctruction of Worcester State Hospital-The Kirkbride buildings. It was reported that early in the morning of 7/22/1991, Webber Lumber Home Center in Oxford, MA caught fire. The blaze required support from surrounding towns, including the Worcester Fire Department. Also on that day, the city of Worcester was working on the water lines around Belmont Street and Lake Ave North. This resulted in water being shut off in various areas, including the fire hydrants around the area of 102 Belmont Street.

Speculation proposes the fire began in the attic or top floor of the left wing of the Kirkbride building. The slate roof's natural propensity to contain fire posits that the fire at Worcester State Hospital had been smoldering for some time prior to it being reported. Only smoke was seen rising from the roof, so the true damage was unknown. With the fire contained in Oxford, the local teams were dispatched to Worcester State Hospital. The inhabitants of the Kirkbride building and the nearby Bryant building were evacuated. The fire fighters had to run hoses down to Lake Quinsiagmond as the closets hydrants were shut off. The pictures below show the damage and restoration of the buildings.

Photographs by Kim Smith, personal correspondence.

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Worcester State Hospital

Sources

Books and pictures

The state of the mentally ill: A history of Worcester State Hospital in Massachusetts, 1830-1920; Gerald Grob. University of North Carolina Press; First Edition edition (1966) The mad among us: A history of the care of America's mentally ill. Gerald Grob. Harvard University Press (July 21, 1995) Enduring asylum : cycles of institutional reform at Worcester State Hospital / Joseph P. Morrissey, Howard H. Goldman, Lorraine V. Klerman, and associates.New York : Grune & Stratton, c1980 Madhouse : a tragic tale of megalomania and modern medicine / Andrew Scull. New Haven : Yale University Press, c2005 Asylum : a mid-century madhouse and its lessons about our mentally ill today / Enoch Callaway.Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2007 Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill/Robert Whitaker. Basic Books; Second Edition edition (May 25, 2010) Photographer: Kristen Roy-Bujnowski Photographer: Joe Roy Photographer: Ariel Bujnowski Photographer: Shannon Maney Photographer: Kim Smith Photographer: Susan Phillips

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Worcester State Hospital

Parts of the Old hospital were still occupied, but not by patients, but by academics and doctors (Umass Medical School, Center for Mental Health Services Research). In the Summer of 1991, a fire was set in the left wing of the building.  A good portion of the hospital was destroyed, including the wooden supports of the Clock Tower. Upon the discovery of asbestos, the entire left wing was demolished, with the exception of the Clock Tower and a round building. The underground tunnels (floors constructed of teak and oak) were filled in/boarded up. I was told that along the walls of these tunnels, there were  groove marks made from  chains due many years of immobilized patients left to  anguish underground (the person who told me this had a flair for the dramatic).

    Prior to the 2008-2009 demolition, Martin Scorsese wanted to use Worcester State Hospital in his film, "Shutter Island". He was denied because the shoot would interfere with the demolition schedule. He went to Medfield State Hospital instead. During the weekend of the shoot, I was at Worcester State Hospital taking pictures. Demolition did not begin on the hospital until a month later. The buildings could of been preserved on the big screen. Supposedly, an episode of "X-Files" (a 1990's Sy-Fy tv series) was filmed here. However, I have not been able to verify that.

Kirkbride Buildings, 1857   Picture: The (Enduring Asylum, (eds) Morrissey,Goldman, & Klerman. 1980; pg 50.) And I do not know the sources of the postcards. I bought them off of Ebay.

[piratesatemydiary]

Worcester State Hospital

Historical Pictures

The original Worcester State Hospital  opened on 1833. The land that it once occupied is now part of I-290. The only evidence that it ever existed in the area is a street sign, appropriately labeled "Asylum Street". Occasionally, the street sign disappears. (Picture below: Asylum Street location, 1857; ) The Kirkbride Buildings, constructed in 1877, are the ones that were demolished in 2008-2009 to make way for the new Worcester State Hospital.

                                                                                      State Lunatic Hospital, 1837

                                               Picture: The Enduring Asylum, (eds) Morrissey,Goldman, & Klerman. 1980; pg28. 

   Worcester State Hospital is an enduring figure in the history of psychiatry.  Off the top of my head: It was the first public hospital in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It was one of two places that Freud and Jung visited on their only American trip; one of its Superintendants was the 1st president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); Walter Freeman, the inventor of the Ice Pick lobotomy performed "surgery" here; it was said that he had them lined up down the hall (Technique can be viewed in the movie, "From Hell" starring Johnny Depp) ; and it was originally founded upon the Quaker principle of Moral Treatment.

     Moral treatment for mental illness was an innovative idea at the time- treat people who are mentally ill humanely, give them a daily routine, provide work, social, and recreational activities in addition to medical therapy. Prior treatment essentially consisted of imprisonment and abuse. Samuel Woodward, (the 1st superintendent) claimed recovery rates due to moral treatment to be from  82 to 91% during 1833-1845.  (Pliny Earle, an MD at NorthHamptom, questioned the results (Grob, pgs 74-75) ). According to a later study of 984 patients discharged from 1833-1846, 53% had a life long recovery rate (Whitaker, 2002; pg 36) . Another Superintendent of WSH, John G. Park (1879-1890) found similar results- 51% recovery rate (Grob, pg 77). It is not clear whether or not this was a complete recovery or if the discharged patients were able to sucessfully manage their illness, however, their diagnoses are not available either. 

#Worcester #Worcesterstatehospital #lunaticasylum

[archaeologicalnews]

The Archaeology of Wealth Inequality

Researchers trace the income gap back more than 11,000 years.

When the last of the volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius settled over Pompeii in A.D. 79, it preserved a detailed portrait of life in the grand Roman city, from bristling military outposts to ingenious aqueducts. Now researchers say the eruption nearly 2,000 years ago also captured clues to one of today’s most pressing social problems.

Analyzing dwellings in Pompeii and 62 other archaeological sites dating back 11,200 years, a team of experts has ranked the distribution of wealth in those communities. Bottom line: economic disparities increased over the centuries and technology played a role. The findings add to our knowledge of history’s haves and have-nots, an urgent concern as the gulf between the 1 percent of ultra-rich and the rest of us continues to grow. Read more.

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Lol!!

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One of my favorite couples. :3

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Han and Leia!

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Heart Nebula

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Photo of Carson McCullers, author of The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter and Member of the Wedding, by Adam Fischer, New York, 1946

“It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With Americans, it is a national trait, as native to us as the roller-coaster or the jukebox. It is no simple longing for the home town or country of our birth. The emotion is Janus-faced: we are torn between a nostalgia for the familiar and an urge for the foreign and strange. As often as not, we are homesick most for the places we have never known.”