222

Photo Via: Circa71

How appropriate I was sitting down to add a new posting and I just happened noticed that this will be post #222. But of course that’s always the way it happens and my weird relationship / obsession with the number 222 continues.

I casually notice it on the clock, in the date, sitting in traffic staring at people’s license plates, on receipts, in telephone numbers, seat numbers, the address of the first house I bought was 222, as well as my first apartment—on and on and on. It’s possible to say I’ve just become more in-tune with subconsciously looking for the number but yet it seems to be everywhere without much need to look. Often I see it and feel the power of a good omen—while other times it has quite the opposite feeling associated with seeing it. I fear I’ve even transferred seeing this number to several of my friends who now seem to notice it as well.

Witch Bottles

Image Via: Discover Greenwich

A witch bottle used to drive away evil spells has been found with all its contents. More than 200 witch bottles have already been discovered, but this is thought to be the first one with its cork intact. Dr Alan Massey, a retired chem­istry lecturer from Loughborough, ana­lysed the contents of the bottle after it was found buried upside-down at a depth of about 5ft by builders at a site in Greenwich, south-east London, in 2004. Like most early witch bottles, it was a bartmann or bellamine, a salt-glazed jar made in the Netherlands or Germany, stamped with the face of Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino (1542–1621).

It probably dates from the last quarter of the 17th century, and contained 12 bent iron nails (one of which pierced a small leather heart), eight brass pins, 10 adult fingernail pairings (not from a manual worker, but a person “of some social standing”), a quantity of hair and urine with traces of nicotine, indicating it had come from a smoker. There were also traces of sulphur, then known as brimstone, and what is thought to be navel fluff. The brimstone recalled the passage in Revelation where the beast and the false prophet were “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone”.

The witch bottle will be displayed in the Discover Greenwich permanent exhibition, opening at the Old Naval College, Greenwich, in 2010.

Before this discovery, the best example, a glass bottle buried after 1720 in Reigate, Surrey, had been opened years before it could be examined. The bottles were used to cure the sick by turning spells on the witch. The practice continued into the early 20th century.

The History Of The Ampersand

A Brief History of the Ampersand
The ampersand can be traced back to the first century AD. It was originally a ligature of the letters E and T (”et” is Latin for and). If you look at the modern ampersand, you’ll likely still be able to see the E and T separately.

The first ampersands looked very much like the separate E and T combined, but as type developed over the next few centuries, it eventually became more stylized and less representative of its origins. The modern ampersand has remained largely unchanged from the Carolignian ampersands developed in the ninth century.

You can see the evolution of the ampersand below (1 is like the original Roman ligature, 2 and 3 are from the fourth century, and 4-6 are from the ninth century).

Italic ampersands were a later ligature of E and T, and are also present in modern fonts. These were developed as part of cursive scripts that were developed during the Renaissance. They’re often more formal-looking and fancier than the standard Carolignian ampersand.

The word “ampersand” was first added to dictionaries in 1837. The word was created as a slurred form of “and, per se and”, which was what the alphabet ended with when recited in English-speaking schools. (Historically, “and per se” preceded any letter which was also a word in the alphabet, such as “I” or “A”. And the ampersand symbol was originally the last character in the alphabet.)

The ampersand is a part of every roman font. It’s used in modern text often, probably most frequently in the names of corporations and other businesses, or in other formal titles.

It’s experiencing a bit of a resurgence in general usage, as it commonly replaces “and” in text messages and Twitter updates. Ampersands are also commonly used in programming, particularly in MySQL, C and C++, XML, SGML, and BASIC.

Ampersand Designs
The ampersand is one of the most unique typographical characters out there. Typography designers can exercise a lot more artistic freedom in the design of the ampersand, ranging from very traditional representations to those that bear little resemblance to the original form.
See a gallery of ampersand designs from a variety of different typefaces.

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Unless otherwise noted Circa71 does not claim any copyrights to images that appear on Circa71.wordpress.com.

A.D.’s Zombie World Trailer

There’s a beautiful new teaser for zombie film A.D. shambling across the internet. Never before have we seen such gorgeous zombie beheadings, highlighted by sunset. Watch the stunning CG-animated teaser, written by Haylar Garcia, and directed by Ben Hibon. The people behind it are hungry to turn this work into a full feature, but as of right now they just need to get the word out. Check out additional concept art and stills over at Zombie Info

NickAd LOST Tattoo in USAToday

My buddy @nickAD got a tattoo inspired by the ‘Lost’ television show that was done in iridescent ink. USA Today had users submit stories about their ‘Lost’ tattoos if they had one. Andy’s story reigned supreme!

Here is Andy’s story:

“In the late summer of ‘08, I took my Lost love to the next level by getting a Dharma tattoo inked onto my ankle. Since my good pal, Tom Davis had recently started working at Wells & Company Custom Tattoos in Vandalia, Ohio we decided to collaborate. I had been wanting to experiment with iridescent ink. My pal had never worked with the stuff, so we struck a deal: I would be his guinea pig if he would spring for the ink.

“If you’ve never heard of it, iridescent or UV ink is a dye that glows under a black light. The tough thing about tattooing with it is that you have to illuminate the surface of the skin just to see what you’re doing.

“The Dharma logo seemed perfect for this technique, with a thick, recognizable shape. The ink itself has an obvious throwback to the episode ‘Lockdown,’ where John Locke sees the blast door map illuminated by black light inside of the Swan hatch. We decided to use the Looking Glass Station’s logo — a white rabbit inside of the Dharma shape — a reference to Alice in Wonderland, and the (site) of my favorite Lost episode, the Season 3 finale.”

Andy adds, “The tattoo turned out great, and under normal light, it’s nearly invisible. It’s my little secret.”

This reader loves his ‘secret’ ‘Lost’ tattoo at USA Today

Uri Geller’s Perplexing Power

Uri Geller, a soft-spoken Israeli, caused a stir in the scientific world of the 1970’s by what appeared to be remarkable mental powers.

He seemed to to bend a variety of metal objects, including forks, spoons, and keys by just stroking them or on occasion merely concentrating on them. He apparently made watches stop or go, bend or twist their hands, and sometimes break off completely, by nothing more than passing his hands over them.

Geller, who became a household word in his native country, the United States and the United Kingdom, could not explain his “powers.” He said: “I just feel it must come from some external source…Perhaps everybody has this within them, but it requires a certain power to trigger it off. I am sure, though, the power must come from an intelligent form of energy.”

He was born in Tel Aviv in 1946, and even at the age of three he knew he could “do things,” including reading people’s minds. In 1969 he demonstrated his powers before an audience at school.

After this first public performance he was asked to appear all over Israel. Some of his critics said he was no more than a brilliant conjurer, but even the most skeptical had to admit that he could perform the most astounding and amazing feats.

In Germany, in 1972, he snapped handles off spoons and left knives and forks slowly bending as he walked away. Watches stopped, started, and broke in his presence, and keys bent. Even more impressive, he drove a car while he was blindfolded, through the crowded streets of Munich.

Finally he stopped a cable car, made it hover over a 150-yard drop in the Chiemgau Mountains, and then moved it forward and backward to his silent command.

Scientists baffled
Two scientists, Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff at the Max Plank Institute for Plasma Physics described his powers as ” a phenomenon which in theoretical physics cannot yet be explained.”

Geller’s fame spread to the United States. A New York physician and research scientist, Andrija Puharich, went to Israel to decide for himself weather or not Uri Geller’s powers were genuine. As a result of their meeting, Geller agreed to go to the United States to demonstrate his abilities under strict scientific conditions.

Scientists at the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California, organized strict experiments for Geller to carry out. They also took film of him performing his feats.

At the institute Geller was asked to pick out from 10 small metal cylinder the one that contained a metal ball.After a few moments’ concentration and passing his hands back and forth across them, he was able to pick out the correct cylinder. Another test consisted of selecting which one of the metal cylinders contained water, and again he was able to pick the right one. The experiments were repeated with various items and under varying conditions.

Geller was not always able to perform just as he wanted to, but he knew when he could by a kind of “uplift.” One test at Stanford required Geller to duplicate shapes hidden from his view. In one case he drew a cluster of rounds shapes, not knowing what they were—the test picture was a bunch of grapes, and he had drawn the same number of round objects ad there were grapes in the picture.

He said he saw the picture on a kind of television screen in his mind. Although many believed his talents were genuine, no theory has yet emerged to explain what forces he used. Geller said that he was interested in performing to “sympathetic” audiences or small friendly gatherings. He claimed he needed the energy of others to generate his mental forces efficiently.

Dr. Puharich, who spent a great deal of time with Geller, Said: “It is fact that ther is an outer-space intelligence that exists independent of any form that we know and operates through Uri and around Uri.”

Influence on TV
That “intelligence” must have been operating strongly the night Geller appeared on British television in 1973. For after performing feats before scientists and a studio audience, hundreds of people phoned, jamming the BBC-TV center switchboards, to say that metal objects in their own homes had bent and broken while Geller was on television.

They also reported that watches which had not worked for many years had suddenly, and for no apparent reason, started ticking as they watched their television sets.

Despite scientific testing Geller continues to have many staunch critics of his “powers”. Many of whose claims seemed to be supported  by James Randi and several prominent failures including a performance in 1973 on the The Tonight Show, in which Geller failed to bend any of the tableware that had been provided by Johnny Carson.

Geller now hosts several television shows and travels the world as an entertainer. He still maintains that his feats are the results of paranormal powers given to him by extraterrestrials. His hope is that one day scientists will be able to somehow explain what lies behind his strange powers.

Lost Season 6 Preview

Why all the rest have 31

“Thirty days hath September, April, June and November,” runs the children’s mnemonic, “all the rest have 31, except February, which has 28.”

The reason months have different numbers is that when the Romans under Julius Caesar invented the Julian calendar they decided to give months with religious significance 31 days and ones of lesser importance 30 days. Thus January named after the god Janus, March after Mars, and July in honor of Caesar himself, are among the months with 31 days.

Caesar’s successor, Augustus, named August after himself and naturally, gave it 31 days. In order to do so he borrowed a day from February and reduced the length of that month to 28 days. Then, to avoid a succession of three long months, Augustus made September and November 30-day months and lengthened the alternate months of October and December to 31 days.

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Unless otherwise noted Circa71 does not claim any copyrights to images that appear on Circa71.wordpress.com.

Death Notice: J.D. Salinger

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose “The Catcher in the Rye” shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91. Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author’s son said in a statement…

“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”
- The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

America’s Stonehenge

Images: Kim Knox (c)1999 Via: About.com

Opened to the public in 1958 under the name Mystery Hill Caves and renamed America’s Stonehenge in 1982, the site continues to intrigue visitors and to puzzle archeologists and other researchers.

Mystery Hill is a jumble of 22 beehive structures and walls, covering 12 acres in Salem, New Hampshire, about 40 miles north of Boston. At the site a horizontal granite slab weighing nearly five tons has been found: it is called the Sacrificial Table—on the speculation that victims were sacrificed there in ancient rites. Investigators have found an oracle chamber and many high, pointed stones along the walls that seem to follow the alignment of the stones at England’s Stonehenge. Some wonder weather they are the ruins of a religious center built at the time of the Druids in Europe. While others believe they are nothing more than the ruins of an old farm. About 150 similar sites have been found in New England.

What is America’s Stonehenge?
Built by a Native American Culture or a migrant European population? No one knows for sure. A maze of man-made chambers, walls and ceremonial meeting places, America’s Stonehenge is most likely the oldest man-made construction in the United States (over 4000 years old).

Various inscriptions have been found throughout the site including Ogham, Phoenician and Iberian Punic Script. Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard University did extensive work on the inscriptions found at the site. They are detailed in his book America B.C.

Like Stonehenge in England, America’s Stonehenge was built by ancient people well versed in astronomy and stone construction. It has been determined that the site is an accurate astronomical calendar. It was, and still can be, used to determine specific solar and lunar   events of the year.

Were the astronomically aligned megaliths positioned by migrant Europeans, maybe the descendants of the original builders of Stonehenge, who arrived in America long before Columbus? Were the secret passages and chambers constructed by Native Americans? Is this truly one of the oldest megalithic sites in North America, as radio-carbon dating would suggest?

Check out a photo tour of America’s Stonehenge, and draw your own conclusions.