My Life , My Blog

  Why we gossip Many primates, such as baboons, live in big groups and use grooming as a social tool to make connections, build trust and form alliances. The anthropologist Robin Dunbar has argued that humans developed language to serve the same purpose, but far more efficiently. In particular, our use of language for gossip - defined as talking about people who are not present - is the human equivalent of primate grooming. During our evolutionary history, Dunbar explains, human groups expanded to a size and complexity such that regular grooming became impractical as a social glue. Gossip enabled large groups to stay together and helped our ancestors survive because it allowed valuable information to spread across large networks of friends and family, where personal observations or interactions were not possible. Gossip enabled social norms to be communicated and kept bad behaviour in check. Anthropological research also shows that gossip is a cross-cultural phenomenon, which suppo...

  DANCING MANIA In July, 1518, Frau Troffea began dancing in chaotic fervour on the streets of Strasbourg. She danced for a week straight, and soon others joined her. Within a month, the Dancing Plague of 1518 claimed between 50 and 400 victims. Historical sources make it clear the victims danced, but why they did remains unexplained. Mysterious outbreaks had occurred before: in 1020s Bernburg, Germany, a Christmas Eve service was disturbed when revellers inexplicably danced around the church. In Aachen, 1374, a large-scale outbreak was recorded that spread to Cologne, Flanders, Hainaut, Strasbourg, Utrecht and other towns. In 1428 in Schaffhausen, a monk even danced himself to death. Source ~ ‘The History Hit Miscellany of Facts, Figures and Fascinating Finds ‘ introduced by Dan Snow  

  The purpose of marriage   For thousands of years, families consisted of loosely organized groups of up to 30 people. As agricultural societies developed, so did the need for greater stability. The first recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting women and men dates from around 2350 BCE in Mesopotamia. Marriage has since evolved into a widespread institution with various meanings and functions in different cultural contexts, though its primary purpose seems to be consistently practical rather than romantic. Through the institution of marriage, kinship groups (and later, religions) were able to regulate relationships, and specify the rights and obligations expected of two individuals and any offspring they produced. Some anthropologists have argued that marriage is primarily about identifying the "descent" and ownership of children, as well as providing the latter with certain rights, including inheritance. Other functions served by marriage include the regulation of se...

  Er is een bepaald soort verdriet dat niet voortkomt uit pijn, maar uit het besef hoeveel je in je eentje hebt gedragen zonder ooit om hulp te vragen. Het is de stille last van te lang sterk zijn, van jezelf wijsmaken dat je niemand nodig had, terwijl je stiekem hoopte dat iemand het zou opmerken. Niet omdat je gered wilde worden, maar omdat gezien worden net zo helend kan zijn als vastgehouden worden. Dat soort verdriet bekruipt je wanneer je eindelijk even stilstaat en terugkijkt op alles wat je in stilte hebt doorstaan. Het is geen spijt, en het is geen zwakte – het is bewustzijn. Besef dat je net zoveel steun verdiende als je anderen gaf. En door dat te erkennen, word je zachtjes uitgenodigd om te stoppen met alles alleen te dragen en ruimte te maken voor verbinding, zelfs als die onbekend aanvoelt. — Balt  

  Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich's blood   By Dr Suzie Edge As Leopold, Duke of Albany stepped out onto a tiled floor in 1884, he slipped and fell. He hit the ground and the crash caused the vessels within his knee to break open. Worse, he also hit his head and the blood vessels in his head ruptured too. We've all slipped on a wet floor and had our pride bruised, but most of our blood vessels have a way of stemming the bleeding. But for Leopold this was bad - his blood would not stop flowing. The Duke of Albany was Queen Victoria's son. When he was born in 1853 the Queen had famously used the exciting new anaesthetic chloroform, the agent developed by James Young Simpson. The use of chloroform at Leopold's birth, whilst an interesting side point, had no effect on the trouble in his veins. Queen Victorias royal family had a problem. Their blood, blue as it was, was not clotting properly. Normally, when the vessel wall is disrupted a chain of events is triggered. A cut of t...

  ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS ANGLO-SAXON WARRIORS fought on foot in a typically Germanic style. A nobleman or king would have a handful of housecarls - professional warriors who would be equipped with the best armour and weapons they could get. The remainder of a force was raised as needed, although individuals might be quite experienced in battle even if they were not warriors by profession. Spears and axes were the preferred battlefield weapons, along with javelins. A sword or seax - essentially a very large knife - or perhaps a smaller dagger would be carried as a secondary weapon. Most combatants had only a shield for protection, but wealthier men would use mail armour and a helmet if they could afford it. Tactics were basic, with leaders showing an example and individuals demonstrating their courage by daring feats. An initial exchange of javelins and arrows was followed by a charge by one or both sides, with the issue decided by a violent mêlée. In such circumstances, the casualtie...

  Mary Read And Anne Bonny - Female Pirates Of The Caribbean Two notorious cross-dressing women became female pirates: Mary Read and Anne Bonny, whose story was published as A General History of the Pirates in 1724. Born around 1700 in Ireland, Anne Bonny was dressed as a boy and named 'Andy' in the hope he would become a lawyer's clerk. The family emigrated to Carolina, where Anne married a pirate named James Bonny against her father's wishes. After the couple moved to the Bahamas, Anne became the lover of pirate Jack Rackham, ran away with him on his ship and disguised herself as a male member of his crew, which already included Mark/Mary Read (or Reid), who had dressed as a boy from early youth to win an inheritance and later to join the British army. Mark/Mary had married as a woman and moved to the West Indies with her husband, but when he died she joined Rackham's crew, as a man - Mark. Rackham was jealous at first of the friendship between Anne Bonny and Mark...

  Hannah Snell (1723-92) The Female Soldier Hannah took her brother-in-law's name, James Gray, and dressed in his suit of clothes, to search for her deserting husband. Discovering he had been executed for murder, she decided to continue in a male identity and joined John Guise's 6th Regiment of Foot when they marched against the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, in 1745. However, she deserted after a brutal whipping from her sergeant, and joined the Marines instead, sailing for India. She was wounded in the legs and groin - but had the bullet taken out by a local woman so that the regimental surgeon should not discover her sex. On return to England in 1750, she revealed that she was a woman and appealed for a pension. She published her story as a book, The Female Soldier, and created a theatrical act: showing military drill and singing songs in uniform. She was honourably discharged and granted her pension. On retirement, she married twice and had two children from each h...

  THE VANDALS The origin of the Vandals is unclear. They may have migrated south out of Scandinavia and there is evidence of their presence in Poland. The name Vandal is thought to have originated with Roman writers, who also called them the Lugi. It is not clear how unified the Vandals were as a people, but it is known that the Hasdingi Vandals moved into the Roman Empire as foederati in the late second century AD. Their cousins, the Silingi, settled in what is now Silesia. Relations between Rome and its barbarian foederati were often troubled and the Vandals were no exception. At times, they gave good service; on other occasions, they were the enemy. The Vandals embraced Arian Christianity, which put them at odds with the Nicaean Romans. This may have been a factor in the decision not to permit the Vandals to move into the empire as pressure from the Huns increased. Instead, the Vandals took advantage of reduced Roman strength along the Rhine and in AD 406 forced their way into t...

  School for Thieves A man named Wotton, a gentleman born and sometime merchant who had fallen into decay, kept a struggling alehouse at Smart's Quay near Billingsgate. Deciding to set up a new venture, he established a schoolhouse within the inn, where he taught young boys how to cut purses by hanging up two devices: a pocket and a purse, both filled with coins and hung about with many hawks bells. He that silently took a coin out of the pocket graduated as a 'public foister ', and one that took a silver silently out of the purse was adjudged a 'judicial nipper'. But if the victim did feel an intrusive hand, he would shout ‘stop thief’ to ‘raise the hue and cry’, and everyone was supposed to run after the miscreant and catch him. But this rarely succeeded, thieves being adept at disappearing through the crowd. Source ~ by Jan-Marie Knights 'The Tudor Socialite: A Social Calendar of Tudor Life'  

  Rest In Peace LJ Smith L. J. Smith (Lisa Jane Smith) was an American novelist best known for writing supernatural and young-adult fiction. She became famous worldwide for creating the popular book series The Vampire Diaries, which later inspired a successful television show. Her imaginative storytelling and gothic style made her one of the influential writers in young adult paranormal literature. L. J. Smith was born on September 4, 1958, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. She spent most of her childhood in Southern California. From a young age she loved reading fantasy, mythology, and supernatural stories. These interests later shaped the themes of her novels, which often included vampires, witches, magical powers, and complex love stories. Smith attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she studied psychology and experimental psychology. After finishing her studies, she worked as a school teacher in kindergarten and special education. Teaching helped her unders...

  Goudsbloem. Boven de foto van de kruidkundige Culpeper. In de middeleeuwen werd in de kloostertuinen de Goudsbloem volop gekweekt. Ook stond het kruid in de ‘Capitulare de Villis’ uitgevaardigd door Karel de Grote, die iedereen verplichtte om hem in zijn kasteeltuin te hebben of aan te planten. In de apotheken werden er zalven voor verwondingen en verzweringen van gemaakt. De Italiaanse arts Pier Andrea Mattioli (1500-1577) prijst Calendula aan bij benauwdheid, geelzucht en hartkloppingen. Volgens mijn weten is het de eerste arts, die de Goudsbloem als 'Herba Cancri' tegen kanker aanbeveelt. De Duitse arts en alchemist Johann Joachim Becker (ca. 1660) schrijft in één van zijn verzen de genezende werking van het kruid: ,,De lever en ook het hart staat dicht bij de goudsbloem. Ze verdrijft niet alleen het zweet maar ook het gif. Bevordert de geboorte en verdrijft de vrouwelijke overgang". Rembert Dodoens schrijft in zijn Cruydtboeck: ,,De bloemen van Goudt-bloemen-cruydt /...

  When Elizabeth Stile was accused of witchcraft, she was 65 years old, widowed, and living in Windsor. She and her associates were accused of murdering several people and injuring many more with the assistance of their familiars: a rat, a black cat, and a toad. All of the accused women were impoverished, and it was alleged that the victims were said to have been targeted because they refused to give out charity or were responsible for some other minor injustice against these already marginalised women. In most cases, alleged witches were simply scapegoats, chosen because they were already vulnerable, to explain misfortunes that had no other explanation. Surprisingly, Stile appears to have believed in her own magical abilities. While imprisoned in Reading, she confessed all of her crimes and repented of her association with the devil, incriminating the three other women with whom she was eventually hanged. Her confession served as the basis for a 1579 pamphlet, A Rehearsal Both Str...

  De dag na haar huwelijk ontdekt Isabelle Dassonville dat de ceremonie nep was en dat haar echtgenoot in werkelijkheid de burggraaf de Valmont was, die haar manipuleerde. Veroordeeld tot een gelofte van stilte in een klooster, is haar enige ontsnappingsmogelijkheid om Valmonts tante, Madame de Rosemonde, te volgen. Zij wil haar gebruiken om de graaf de Gercourt in  Parijs  te verleiden voor haar eigen mysterieuze motieven. Maar wanneer Rosemondes plan mislukt, besluit Isabelle met de graaf de Merteuil te trouwen om markiezin te worden en zo de macht te verwerven die haar in staat stelt wraak te nemen op Valmont. _____________________ Review : Deze serie werd gepresenteerd als een prequel op het originele boek, maar hoe kan het een prequel zijn als ALLE personages uit de originele roman erin voorkomen (ook al zouden sommige nog niet geboren moeten zijn)? Het is eerder een hervertelling, maar dan vanuit een perspectief dat zich afspeelt vóór het originele verhaal. De plot ...

  A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms  is de derde live-action televisieserie van de  wereld van Westeros  . Het is de derde aflevering van de franchise in totaal. De serie werd in april 2023 door HBO besteld en ging in première op 18 januari 2026. George RR Martin  ,  Ira Parker  ,  Ryan Condal  en  Vince Gerardis  fungeren als uitvoerende producenten. Het verhaal speelt zich 89 jaar vóór het begin van  Game of Thrones  af , en 77 jaar na de  finale van het  tweede seizoen   van  House of the Dragon  . ________________ Review : Als Game of Thrones een 100 is, dan is dit slechts een 10. Het lijkt meer op een reisvlog van Dunk the Tall. Het is zo saai dat je niet eens doorhebt wanneer je halverwege in slaap bent gevallen. Ik heb het alleen gekeken vanwege Game of Thrones, in de hoop dat er iets geweldigs zou gebeuren, maar er gebeurde niets. Nou ja, als je in het echte leven van losers houdt, geef je het...

  BEARDS MAKETH A MAN In the 16th and 17th centuries, facial hair was a sign of manliness. Being clean-shaven indicated effeminacy. According to the theory of 'humours' that governed the human body, men were 'hot' and 'dry' and women were 'cold' and 'wet'. During puberty, the male body was thought to heat up, pushing out hair into the face as a form of excrement. Beards were a sign that a man was highly virile and fertile - if you can produce hairs you can produce heirs. A popular beard was the 'peak de bon' - the small pointy beard sported by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. Elizabeth I ran her court as if all courtiers were suitors, thus this style became associated with a man wooing a woman. Catholics tended more towards hair removal, so Protestant reformers deliberately grew heavy beards to differentiate themselves. Later, beards became smaller and thinner. The 'stiletto' was favoured by Charles I and the cavaliers. A...