Jul 15, 2025
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Julius Bien (1826–1909)
Arrangements for Taking Composite Photographs of Skulls, 1886
source
“The nineteenth century was an era of great changes and scientific progress in the Western world. [...] Medical advances were great, and the understanding of mental illness began to improve after the birth of psychiatry [1830s], but up until then, there was no particular field of research specifically aimed at mental illness. […] until the nineteenth century […] asylums were all but places of horror, filled with the criminally insane. With the reforms of the nineteenth century, this changed, and the mentally ill were seen as "sick humans needing care" instead. With this progress, the public's perception began changing as well […] the popular image shifted from that of the bestial madman of the eighteenth century, to the the less threatening but troubled mad-woman.
This sudden shift between the genders of the icon of madness was no coincidence. New diagnosis included hysteria, anorexia nervosa and neurasthenia, almost all exclusively attributed to women. Not all of these were created equal in the eyes of the psychiatrists. Nervosa anorexia was seen as a self sacrificing and a very feminine disease while hysteria was often deemed selfish and destructive, a rebellion of which doctors did not approve.”
— Elísabet Rakel Siguroardóttir; “Women and Madness in the 19th Century: The effects of oppression on women's mental health” (2013)
“A new patient?” [Yes sir, he's... we stowed '’em downstairs, sir] I have strictly forbidden the use of the old cells! Out of the question. This a modern hospital, not a prison.”
Johnny explains the pseudo-science.
(Fantastic Four Volume 7 #23)
So I’m reposting my Omegaverse Bilogy Crash Course. But I fixed some typos and grammar mistakes as well as censoring the stuff that tumblr has an issue with. I hope this time their ridiculous censorship doesn’t delete this one as well, cause honestly I don’t see anything in it that could possibly warrant censoring, but you know tumblr is stupid so maybe they will. If that happens again I’ll just give up and not post it ever again.
The Big Bang theory is still on solid ground, despite pseudoscientific attempts to twist JWST's findings
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has not disproved the Big Bang, despite an article about a pseudoscientific theory that went viral in August, and which mischaracterized quotes from an astrophysicist to create a false narrative that the Big Bang didn't happen.
[...]
Nature wrote a piece on the research on July 27, in which Kirkpatrick said: "Right now I find myself lying awake at three in the morning, wondering if everything I've ever done is wrong." It's this quote that was later misused.
"It was a good quote!" Kirkpatrick said. "I try to be a pretty forthright person, and I meant what I said — that everything I had learned about the first galaxies based on previous telescopic data probably wasn't the complete picture, and now we have more data so we can refine our theories."
Kirkpatrick went back to her research and forgot about her quote. That was, until mid-August, when she received a text from a friend saying that there was an article — originally published by an organization called the Institute of Art and Ideas but now being republished on mainstream news sites — saying that JWST's observations of distant galaxies had disproved the Big Bang, which is not correct.
Worse still, the article had taken what Kirkpatrick had told Nature and misused it out of context to give the false impression that astrophysicists were panicking over the thought of the Big Bang theory being wrong.
The author of the article, an independent researcher named Eric Lerner, has been a serial denier of the Big Bang since the late 1980s, preferring his personal pseudoscientific alternative.
Continue Reading.
Going Back in Time
If men of a certain age are propelled back to their younger years of the 1960s-1970s, they will notice the same things, more-or-less, as each other. Generally, these will be cars and girls, major sports events, TV shows and lifestyle changes - such as smoking habits and sexism in the workplace.
Fitting-in poses its own problems - the use of today's language, environmental awareness and... knowing more future history than your peers.
A comment on my book noted that other authors have started their time-related stories with a similar beginning (but completely different plots). I have also noticed some differences in the way English and American readers reacted to my book, My Time Again.
An American reviewer thinks that my characters are 'wooden' whereas reviewers in Britain for both my novels find the characters believable. This highlights the differences between the two cultures, especially the further back one travels in time (imagine the 'wild west' vs the Victorian industrial revolution).
For example, even 50 years ago, Brits were far more formal in their attire and in their speech. There's little doubt that the USA has influenced us over the years but this was not so much the case half-a-century ago, when tourism between the two countries was quite rare and so were computers - the internet wouldn't exist for a couple of decades.
The British view of an American lifestyle was via movies. I doubt that it was reciprocal but there was a shared love of popular music between the two countries.
Brits also had a little access to USA TV shows via the two or three British channels; mainly late 60s/early 70s monochrome dramas or sit-coms. Has anyone else on Tumblr heard of Peyton Place (Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow) or My Three Sons (Fred MacMurray)? In 1970, The Banana Splits aired on BBC1, 2 months after NBC cancelled it! Did any British TV shows air in the USA, e.g. Doctor Who (1970 marked the debut of the third Doctor) or Coronation Street (still popular today) or The Goodies? Unlikely.
Back to the book comparisons: there will be elements of similarities between any stories but there is very little to compare between My Time Again and any other that I'm aware of, despite a reviewer's comparison. At least he bought my book and for that I am grateful.
In Lovecraft's ghost written tale, THE MOUND, the ancient race of 'super- Indians' living beneath the surface of the earth are able to disintegrate and reintigrate themselves at will. Some Lovecraft scholars have suggested that this phenomenon may be a 'scientifically' plausible origin of humankind's belief in ghosts. The ancient race of 'The Mound' were brought to earth by HPL's famed God/priest/space alien/ Cthulhu perhaps a million years before humans native to the earth evolved otherwise - which is a whole other story! If we really think about it from a Mechanist/Materialist perspective the idea that humans can disintegrate themselves at will is at least as rediculous as any other explanation for 'ghosts'. Lovecraft was adept at giving pseudo-scientific sounding explanations for nearly all of the traditional supernatural concepts. Below are images from the origional OUTER LIMITS, as well as one of the original cover art paintings by John Holmes rendered in the 1970s. (Exhibit 358)