|
LIFE'S LITTLE MYSTERIES
Life is full of mysteries, both mundane: “Why is that
big box sitting in the middle of the street?” – and the
undeniably significant: “Did JFK’s assassin really work
alone?”
Many mysteries will never be solved, others have been explained (at least theoretically). Here are some mysteries out of the past that I have always wondered about, and their quasi-explanations. Understand, I do not guarantee the truth of these theories, but at least somebody tried!
IS IT TRUE THAT MAN WALKED WITH DINOSAURS?
Brad and Sherry of bradandsherry.com, think so. They
report that fossilized human footprints have been found
in rocks dating back 250 million years, which placed
them in the Paleozoic Period, Mesozoic Era, when dinosaurs were just becoming conspicuous. A geologist, Dr. W. G. Burroughs, undertook a study of such footprints and believed them to be human -- indeed, the picture displayed on the site surely does look human.
Dr. Burroughs named the creature that made them
“Phenalthropus mirabilis” – “looks human, remarkable.”
IS IT TRUE THAT ANCIENT PEOPLES WERE SMALLER
THAN MODERN MAN?
Apparently not all of them. In 1895 near Bridleveil
Falls, California, miners found in a tomb the skeletal
remains of a woman who was six feet, eight inches tall.
She had a baby with her, but the height of the baby
was not reported. And in 1898, scientists digging
around in Death Valley (really, these people need
to find something to do) found the fossilized remains
of a woman who stood a full seven feet six inches in
life. She didn’t have a baby with her, but she did
have something even more interesting: her spine
at its base featured several cute little extra “buttons,”
which they took to indicate that she’d had a tail – or something like a tail – in life.
As if further proof were needed, the skeleton of yet
another tall woman, seven feet tall in this instance,
was found in a sealed cave near Chalk Mountain,
Texas.
HOW OFTEN DID PEOPLE IN THE MIDDLE AGES BATHE?
This hooks into the old custom of June being a popular
month for marriages. In medieval times, people bathed
once per year, in May. By June, they were fairly clean,
but starting to reek, so the bride would carry a bouquet of flowers to disguise the scent. They took baths in a big basin of hot water. The father got the nice, clean, warm water – lucky guy. Any other male relatives who happened to be hanging around came next, then the women, and last, the children and the babies.
You can imagine how dirty the water would be after all those people used it – you could get lost in it. This gave rise to the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater!”
WHICH ENGLISH POSTMISTRESS WAS ACTUALLY A
SPY?
Her grandson, Brennan, would like to know if his mother, Mabel Stranks, was a spy in England. Mabel worked in the local post office in Highworth for over 25 years.
That post office was used as an address by new recruits being trained for the underground guerrilla army, sheltered at nearby Coleshill House. Rumors spread widely that Mabel’s name was on Hitler’s “Death List.”
The goings-on at Coleshill House, if discovered, would have seriously compromised the war effort. A different address was needed, and that’s when little, grey-haired Mabel Shanks came into the picture. She was known to be discreet and trustworthy and so seemed an excellent conspirator, and so the official address of the underground became “General
Post Office, Highworth, Wiltshire.”
Recruits arriving in Highworth would seek out Mabel at the post office, supply a password, and be told to wait. Sometimes for hours they waited, while Mabel retired into a back room to check their credentials by telephone.
Field Marshall Montgomery himself was asked to wait while Mabel checked him out!
The story goes that Mabel never mentioned her secret work to anyone until she approached death.
IS REINCARNATION REAL?
Depends on who you ask. A Sri Lankan child, Sujith, at a tender age began to talk about a previous life he had lived,
in a nearby village. He said he was called “Sammy,” worked on the railroad in adulthood, and also made bootleg whiskey. Sammy, said Sujith, died when, after an argument with his wife, he raged out of the house and got drunk. While ambling
along a busy highway he was struck by a truck.
Sujith begged often to be taken to Sammy’s home village. His parents, being Buddhists, believed in reincarnation, and so indulged their son.
A professor of psychiatry from the University of Virginia researched the matter and confirmed 60 details around the life of the real Sammy (Fernando), given to him by Sujith. As Sujith reported, Sammy Fernando died six months
before he, Sujith, was born.
Sujith met Sammy’s relatives and astounded them with his knowledge of their deceased’s life and habits, even the pet names Sammy had called them.
This case is said by some to be one of the most convincing reincarnation cases on record. But it’s not the only one. A British woman had recurrent dreams in which she and a play companion fell from a high gallery in her home to their deaths.
A vivid image was the black and white marble floor on which she died. Later, she visited a “haunted” house that had a black and white marble floor. Eventually she learned that
two children, brother and sister, had fallen to their deaths in that house.
Other such tales abound. Are they true? Who knows?
WHY DID PEOPLE STOP EATING TOMATOES FOR 400 YEARS?
The answer to this one may surprise you. It was because the acidic vegetable (or fruit, some people claim) leached lead out of their crockery, and lead being one of those annoying elements that accumulate in the body, no doubt settling in the lower regions, it killed them.
Lead is completely toxic to everyone, but particularly to children, pregnant women and unborn babies. Lead was commonly used in the glazes and painted decorations found on crockery, and in some places, still is, including in Mexico, where vendors selling brightly colored bowls, etc., will warn you not to eat out of them. If the pot is labeled “sin lomo” (lead free) it is, presumably, safe. Go ahead and experiment, if you dare.
Beware also of old dishes found in thrift stores, antique stores, garage sales, etc. Look for a chalky grey residue on the glaze after the piece is washed – if you see this, don’t use it. To be
safe, use plain white dishes, which rarely contain lead.
Lead poisoning is thought by some to have caused the collapse of the Roman Empire. “When in Rome," do as the Romans don’t.
WHO INVENTED THE CANOPIED BED?
The history of the bed is rather interesting, if you care for such things (if so, maybe you should find something to do). People first began sleeping on beds about 10,000 years ago. Around 3400 BCE, the Egyptian pharaohs began raising their beds
off the floor, possibly to avoid asps. Regular people slept on palm fronds heaped in a corner.
The first really comfortable beds, with mattresses, were found in the Roman Empire.
Rumor has it that at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London you can see a very large bed with a canopy. This bed is 18
feet, 6 inches wide and 12 feet long. It could sleep 68 people. The Romans also invented the waterbed.
Canopied beds originated where people slept in thatched huts, perhaps in early England. They loved their thatch, and so did various bugs and snakes.
Some clever person came up with the idea of putting posts at the corners and draping cloth over it to catch the fallout.
The past holds many, many mysteries, quite a few still unexplained. Check into it – maybe you have the answer!
______________________________________
CONTACT: pygmypress@live.com |
CASH FOR TRASH: A Look at Dumpster-Diving
All right, dumpster-diving isn’t for everyone.
It can be dirty, inconvenient and downright dangerous. But what a great resource! Just
look at what some people have pulled out of
dumpsters or plucked from curbs:
Food – good food, too! Meat, veggies,
pastry, fruit, you name it. Anything
that has gone out of
date
Furniture
Power Tools
VCRs
Computers and peripherals
Radios and TV
Vacuum cleaners
Telephones and answering machines
Bicycles
Lawn mowers
Sewing machines and
Much, much more...!
We are indeed a wasteful society. Recently
in New York, a city economic development
official reported that the city paid $277 million dollars per year to dispose of its garbage in landfills. The Environmental Defense Fund says we Americans throw away enough aluminum every three months to rebuild our entire commercial airplane fleet!Think about it – the entire fleet, in three months!
Recycling just one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours, and dumpsters are full of aluminum cans and plenty of other valuable goods.
Goods you find can be sold at garage sales,
given as gifts in a Nordstrom bag, sold for
scrap or pawned. So why not try it?
WHAT YOU’LL NEED TO GET STARTED
First, check with your county and city officials to see if dumpster-diving is illegal where you live. You don’t want to get arrested head down in a dumpster.
You’ll also need:
A long pole with a hook on it, so you don’t
have to wade around among the coffee
grounds and dirty cat litter. A hoe will
work.*
A good light (a headlamp works well, look
for it where they sell bicycles) or a
flashlight will
do. Tie a string around it and carry it in
your mouth to leave your hands free.
A step stool to raise you to the right
height.
Trash bags to carry your loot home in
Anti-bacterial wipes or lotion
First Aid kit for accidents
Appropriate clothing – stout boots, heavy
gloves, jacket. Needless to say,
anything you have actually brought
home in a Nordstrom bag will be left
behind.
*A further word about these poles. You may want to invest in an “Unger Nifty Nabber” recommended by “The Dumpster Lady" (google it). This is a long (51”) pole with pinchers on the front and a handle on the other end you squeeze to operate the thing.You can get the long one for $27 and a 36” one for about $25.
The Dumpster Lady recommends LM Colker
WHERE YOU SHOULD GO?
Look behind apartment houses and condos. Just do a few “drive-bys” while you work up the nerve to actually do it. Do some research: find out which day is garbage day, and get there before the pros show up. Try stationery stores, bakeries, toy stores, book-stores, florists, beauty shops and supply houses, small appliance stores, computer outlets – almost any kind of retail will be tossing stuff out. It may not be valuable to them, but it might be just what you’ve been wanting, for years!
Shopping centers and malls are rich in treasures just waiting for you to rehabilitate them.
AND WHEN?
Go whenever you feel most comfortable going. Some divers like to dive at night, but there are liable to be cops and other suspicious characters abroad then. Many divers like to take a partner with them at night. Early in the morning, before the
stores open and the town is quiet might be the best time, around 6:00-8:00 a.m. Weekends are good, too.
WHAT NOT TO DO
Avoid hospitals. Their dumpsters are full of body parts, needles andsyringes contam-inated with who knows what. This goes also for clinics, medical laboratories, and doctors’ offices. Whatever is in their dumpsters, you don’t need.
Watch out for dumpster lids – if they’re only propped up, they could fall and decapitate you. This activity is not for the squeamish! Put them all the way down if you can. Naturally, you will be cautious about sharp objects and squishy things like dead dogs and cats.
Never, NEVER, under any circumstance EVER try to get into a compactor. Compactors are attached to buildings by chutes. They seldom have lids that can be opened, but they have to get the stuff out some way, don’t they? It’s okay to try to figure out how, but otherwise, avoid them.
DUMPSTER ETIQUETTE
If the dumpster is behind a fence or in any other way enclosed, leave it alone. If it’s locked, leave it alone.
Clean the dumpster up before you leave, that is, leave it at least as clean as you found it.
Leave people’s bank statements and other personal records alone.
Take only what you want. Leave the rest there for someone else.
Dump your trash in your own dumpster.
STORE EMPLOYEES
Your enemy is the store employee who hates dumpsters, dumpster divers and everything connected with them. If they catch you, they are liable to tell you to take 12 steps off an 11-step pier, and don’t come back. If they do, say “Yes, sir,” and go, and don’t come back. If they ask what you’re doing, tell them you’re moving, and looking for boxes. Of course, if they have any, you’re more or less obliged to take some. Find another store. There are plenty of them.
There! That’s what you need to know. Bet you can’t wait to get started!
|
SAMPLES
