medieval vampires
Medieval texts show the belief in vampires was fueled by the disturbing appearance of decomposing bodies, Borrini told The Associated Press by telephone.
During epidemics, mass graves were often reopened to bury fresh corpses and diggers would chance upon older bodies that were bloated, with blood seeping out of their mouth and with an inexplicable hole in the shroud used to cover their face.
“These characteristics are all tied to the decomposition of bodies,” Borrini said. “But they saw a fat, dead person, full of blood and with a hole in the shroud, so they would say: ‘This guy is alive, he’s drinking blood and eating his shroud.’”
At the time what passed for scientific texts taught that “shroud-eaters” were vampires who fed on the cloth and cast a spell that would spread the plague in order to increase their ranks.
To kill the undead creatures, the stake-in-the-heart method popularized by later literature was not enough: A stone or brick had to be forced into the vampire’s mouth so that it would starve to death, Borrini said.
That’s what is believed to have happened to the woman found on the Lazzaretto island, which was used as a quarantine zone by Venice. Aged around 60, she died of the plague during the epidemic that also claimed the life of the painter Titian.
Robert Venturi house for $1
chocolate whiskey and beer cupcakes
Smitten Kitchen is calling these the Irish Car Bomb of cupcakes and for good reason (via):
While the Guinness in the cake gets mostly baked out, the Baileys is fresh and potent, so if you’re making this for people who don’t drink — ahem, nobody I know, but I hear such people exist — you’ll probably want to swap it with milk.
The Baileys frosting recipe makes a smallish amount of frosting — enough to just cover the cupcakes. Because they were so rich and this frosting so sweet, I felt it only needed a little. Double it if you want more of a towering effect.
Sweet Dreams Are Madoff This
I couldn’t sleep last night and found myself making plays on Bernie Madoff’s name. Hundreds of them. Among the ones I remember:
Bernie Madoff with our retirement!
This is Kristen, my Madoff honor.
If the moon were Madoff swiss cheese, would you eat it?
Whaddya think, I’m Madoff money?
A gentleman Madoff his hat when a lady passes.
A coal man’s Madoff muscle and blood. (That’s cheating, I know, but it cracked me up at 4 am)
I Madoff Hitler, and I want to be your fuehrer!
what if going out was more like playing legend of zelda
Foursquare is the spiritual successor to the recently sunsetted dodgeball. By incorporating gameplay elements into your social life and allowing friends to share to-dos and recommendations of awesome things to do in their city.
It’s foursquare! Think: 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game. We wanted to build something that not only helps you keep up with your friends, but exposes you to new things in and challenges you to explore cities in different ways. There’s a lot of experimenting here, so bear with us as we try to figure it all out (and thanks!)
iPhone app and website
KIDSCAN
I’m running the London Marathon this year, luckily I got a spot from the random draw, and not for charity.
However, I’m still going to make the use of this money making opportunity, so I’m asking people to contribute to KIDSCAN on my behalf.
Its a charity to help kids beat and cope with cancer. There is nothing more tragic in my mind than a child taken away before they’ve had a chance to make their impact in this fine world. KIDSCAN aims to give as many children as possible a chance. Please do give generously. Much Love.
relativity
I caught myself traveling forward through time at a rate of 60 minutes an hour. All things being relative, I’m jealous of the fruit flies.
the mouths of babes
Today I truly realized that “hell is other people”.
Should you need an amble on Manhattan’s Upper West Side…
You might like to come across a projection screen along the sidewalk between 67th and 68th Streets on Columbus Avenue. Here you can find an animation/video collaboration I did with fellow artist, Francisca Caporali. The video is part of our collaboration animating explosions and destruction of New York City in major motion pictures on top of original video footage. You may also text to the rolling text on the screen with your opinions of anything you should like.
edited for clarity. The projection screen is part of an empty storefront that is being reinvigorated by art. The projection screen is not on the ground.
Weekly Picture 143
Ivy’s Birthday, Austin, TX, 3.9.09
Christopher Walken on Twitter
Christopher Walken on Twitter got Digged all to hell. Andrew has been working on integrating the Christopher tweets into clusterflock. If anyone ends up here from there, howdy.
Rand Illusion (For Deron)
‘two heterosexual college students’
A proposed ballot measure in California would remove the word “marriage” from state law:
Supporters of this ballot measure want to replace it with the term “domestic partnership,” while keeping all the rights of marriage in place. The proposal is in response to a voter-approved gay marriage ban that passed in November.
R is for Rebel
Is this book sufficient to counter shelves full of empty educational calories like Kellogg’s Froot Loops! Counting Fun Book, stacks of manically marketed movie characters and princess plots based entirely on being pretty?
Maybe not, but its historical exploration of the political nature of children’s books and its reading lists are welcome and necessary tonics. And stories, poems and plays from the likes of Carl Sandburg, Dr. Seuss, Langston Hughes and lesser-known socialist lights, which earnestly attempt to provide progressive answers to the questions children ask, are godsends.
Shore pounding bliss
by Clark Little
St Catherine’s
One or two of you may vaguely recall my affection for St James Cavalier (arts centre) and St Catherine’s (formerly a church of the Knights of St John), during my time in Malta. They’ve been having concerts at St Catherine’s for a good while now to raise money for interior restoration of the 300-year-old structure. I just learned from the St James newsletter that the Bank of Valletta has committed 175,000 euros to the project. Whoopee!
I used to sit right down there in those chairs, listening to music and drawing. (I got this photo from the St James newsletter, by the way.)
Goat Detained for Stealing Mazda 323
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Though it turns out the scapegoat was really a sheep and was auctioned off after the Nigerian police commission cut short his annual leave to conclude that “it is not possible for a man to turn to a sheep, it is not scientific, it’s not possible, it should be discarded, we are not happy about it at all.’’
Here’s the culprit. If you ask me, it looks like a goat.
Wall Street meets Sesame Street
Layoffs are coming to Sesame Street. Apparently, I witnessed a bit of the future yesterday.
(For the record: this is the Brooklyn-based XYLOPHOLKS.)
Frat Boys vs Westboro Baptist Church
(via sullivan)
President Norris
Chuck Norris wants to be President of Texas, y’all.
“I may run for president of Texas,” Norris wrote Monday in a column posted at WorldNetDaily. “That need may be a reality sooner than we think. If not me, someone someday may again be running for president of the Lone Star state, if the state of the union continues to turn into the enemy of the state.”
The actor claimed “thousands of cell groups will be united around the country in solidarity over the concerns for our nation” and said that if states decide to secede from the union, that Texas would lead the way.
“Anyone who has been around Texas for any length of time knows exactly what we’d do if the going got rough in America,” Norris wrote.
Kaki King – Playing With Pink Noise
why are all the good ducks gay?
Two male ducks, brought in to breed with the last female of their species in England, took a fancy to each other instead.
“They stay together all the time, parading up and down their enclosure and whistling to each other as a male might do with a female he wants to mate with,” Paul Stevens, the warden at Arundel Wetland Center, tells the Telegraph.
The boy birds, Ben and Jerry, were introduced to Cherry, but to no avail. “Cherry showed some interest in him,” Stevens told the newspaper, referring to Jerry. “She displayed typical mating behavior—she approached him and called to him, she even looked like she was nesting. We thought it was great and it was all going to happen, but nothing ever did.”
Feathers flew, however, when Ben and Jerry were shacked up together. “To our surprise, the two males really took to each other and it was obvious that they really liked each other,” Stevens said, adding: “Ben and Jerry do make a lovely couple.”
(via sullivan)
Colonel Sanders Rescued from Osaka River
A statue of the KFC mascot has been found in a river in Osaka, a city official said Wednesday, nearly a quarter century after being tossed in by crazed baseball fans who felt the image of restaurant founder Harland Sanders resembled a key team member.
Local fans thought the Colonel bore a resemblance to Randy Bass, a bearded power hitter and first baseman from the U.S. who played for the team at the time.
Fans often jump into the murky river to celebrate the team’s successes, but there has been little to celebrate in recent years. Many fans feel the team has been plagued by the “curse of Colonel Sanders” since his effigy was submerged in 1985.
Comment crime
This post reminded me of this.
Lewis Hamilton drives F1 car with Blackberry
This is corporate spooge, but if you forward to the end you do see Lewis Hamilton piloting an F1 racer with a Blackberry.
Update: unless it’s staged and I’m a tool.
