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Showing posts from 2015

Happy New Year - A Christmas Carol TAG

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Surely you all know “A Christmas Carol”, the traditional Charles Dickens tale that tells the story of an old man named Ebenezer Scrooge, obsessed only with money and without any sense of holiday, altruism or kindness, and how the visit of three spirits taught him the true meaning of Christmas. Since it’s one of those “must” traditions, I was watching one of the movie transpositions of the novel, and I got an idea. Why not sharing with you some aspects of my past, present and future life, with maybe getting rid of some of my heavy heart? No one has ever thought about this before, and so I present it to you for the first time ever. This is “A Christmas Carol Tag”. You will be visited by three ghosts Jacob Marley Ghost. The first spirit visiting Scrooge is his old business partner Jacob Marley, represented as a corpse who is forever cursed to wander the earth dragging a network of heavy chains, forged during a lifetime of greed and selfishness. The ghost threatens Scrooge

Santa’s Hallucinating Mushrooms

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There’s no way of thinking about Santa Claus without involving magic. A sparkling sleigh towed by flying reindeers in the middle of the night with million s of presents for the good boys and girls of the world. Normal people should be completely drunk or worse to actually see something like that. Well, according to a strange theory , this possibility is not far awa y from the truth. What if I tell you the unlikely source of the story of Santa and his helpers could be hallucinogenic mushrooms. Of course you are now probably wondering how could some perception altering mushrooms be connected with the good old symbol of Christmas? John Rush, an anthropologist and instructor at Sierra College in Rocklin (CA) said: "Santa is a modern counterpart of a shaman, who consumed mind-altering plants and fungi to commune with the spirit world" Therefore the legend of Santa would derive from shamans in the Siberian and Arctic regions who dropped a bag full of hallucinogenic mu

Urban Legends - Krampus, The Christmas Shadow

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Surely Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year. Life looks a little bit better with snow, lights and songs all over the decorated streets. And of course there’s Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas) bringing joy and presents to all the good girls and boys. But there’s some parts of Europe, like Germany, Austria, and other parts of the Alps region, where naughty children needs to be very careful during the holidays because of a dark, mischievous and grumpy figure hidden in the shadows. This evil spirit is the Krampus, Saint Nicholas counterpart. This creature is an anthropomorphic beast with fangs, fur, and horns. Dark and ancient spirit, Krampus announces his presence with loud bells and terrorizes the kids who have misbehaved during the year. In contrast with Santa giving the good ones gifts and joy, Krampus gives the bad ones whip beatings and nightmares. And if you have been particularly naughty, Krampus will drop you in a sack and whisk you away to his lair in

Halloween Special – El Día de los Muertos

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La Calavera Catrina We all know All Hallows’ Eve is a celebration that has all to do with death and honoring deceased relatives and, in this particular night, everyone has the opportunity to dress up as monsters, ghosts and skeletons asking for sweets. This is sure a funny way to exorcise the fact that we should never underestimate or forget the Grim Reaper is always chasing us. But what if I tell you there’s another celebration that is similar to Halloween but, at the same time, has nothing to do with it. In fact, El Día de los Muertos is a Mexican holiday, now also spread all over the world, that can be called “The Hymn to Life”. You celebrate death learning about the importance of life. El Día de los Muertos, celebrated on November 2 nd , is an opportunity for Mexican children to learn that life is brief and there’s a life circle everyone must face sooner or later. The important meaning of this day is “Don’t fear Death, appreciate every moment you have and live life to the

Urban Legends – The Suicidal Dogs of Overtoun Bridge

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There’s a lone bridge in Minton, near Dumbarton (Scotland), where something mysterious and heartbreaking happened. Without any explanation, in the past 50 years, about 600 dogs have jumped off of this secular structure, and almost 50 of them unfortunately died. But the most puzzling thing is that these poor animals have all taken the fatal jump from the exact same spot, located between the last two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge. But why this mass suicide took place? “This is an heartbreaking mystery. There are lots of owners whose dogs have died and who are trying to find out why they jumped.” This is what the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said about this tragedy, and if you have a look on the internet you’ll find lots of sadly detailed witnesses of poor dogs who slipped away from the hands of shocked owners. But another strangeness was common to all of this dogs: almost all the incidents have taken place on clear sunny days and a

Discovery Central & ChEmIcAmAzInG - The Freezing Taste of Menthol

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Menthol formula Eating a peppermint or a slice of mint cake, especially during a hot day,  is such a pleasurable experience. Feeling that fantastic sense of cold is one of the reasons we love these sweets so much. And obviously the characteristic flavor is loved everywhere. But why mint tastes cold? is temperature really involved in this process or maybe is just a trick of our body? Let’s find out… Menthol Crystals Most of you knows that the responsible is Menthol, an organic compound normally obtained from all mint plants. Of course nowadays, with the extreme high demand and the huge amount of products is used in, menthol is synthetically produced in form of a waxy, crystalline substance that can be both clear or white. At room temperature is solid, but few degrees are enough to make it melt. What happens when we eat a product that contains menthol? Well, our mouth contains some specific receptors that responds to this chemical compound. The receptor we’re talking

Discovery Central & ChEmIcAmAzInG - The Burning Taste of Capsaicin

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Sometimes our brain is not completely perfect. All over the world there are tons of molecules that have the power of fooling our natural complexity. For example, using a part of us that never sleeps…our constant search for food. All you have to do is look up at the spices you have at home and, if you have a little bottle with the words “Spicy Pepper” written on it, you’ve been fooled more than you could imagine. This because we’re going to discover the secret of Capsaicin, the Spicy Cheater. As some of you might have deduced, this molecule can be found in almost all kinds of peppers. Most of the capsaicin in peppers (which is a fruit, not a vegetable) is mostly focused around the seeds. The plant uses it as a defense mechanism against potential eaters and threats, and this clever method is actually more than useful. Except for specific animals, like birds, that eat seeds without destroying them, so they can spread them all around with feces. This means new plants and great advantag

Urban Legends - The Immortal Jellyfish

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Turritopsis Nutricula, the Immortal Jellyfish What if I tell you there is a species of animal that can age both forwards and backwards, making it an immortal living organism. And what if I tell you that the powerful creature with this incredible characteristic is one of the tiniest jellyfish ever seen. Well, in this case is completely fair saying that size doesn’t matter. After the Random Facts about Jellyfish and The history of the BlueDragon (click the links for more), here the immortality life circle of Turritopsis Nutricula, the Immortal Jellyfish. Most jellyfish have a lifetime of between a few hours to a few months. Few species can also live for several years. But only the Turritopsis Nutricula have the unique ability to live forever. They can grow old like every other living thing, but then can reverse this process and turn young again.  Unfortunately, this kind of jellyfish can only grow to a maximum of around 1/5 of an inch in diameter, so they are an extremely easy

Did you know? - Plants can actually feel pain

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Ouch…It hurts! Very common exclamation for most of us. But what if you could hear a plant saying this? Well, you won’t believe that but plants suffer everyday.  Simply we are not able to hear them. Yesterday I was minding my own business when, all of a sudden, I started hearing a noise out of the window. There were two gardeners cutting the grass. In my opinion there’s nothing better than catching a whiff of freshly cut grass. For us it could be quite pleasant. But for the grass that smell is pure horror. The smell we associate with freshly cut grass is actually a chemical distress call used by plants to beg nearby critters to save them from attack. If you could be able to hear these call, it would be a horrifying scream.  After all, when there’s a threat, whether it's a lawnmower or a hungry caterpillar, plants can't run away. They must fight where they stand. And that is exactly what they do. In  order to protect themselves, plants employ a gust of molecular r