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schazam: Elizabeth Báthory is one of the most prolific serial killers in all of history. She was born into nobility and was highly educated but also very vain. One day, infuriated, Elizabeth struck one of her servant girls so hard that some blood dripped from her face onto Elizabeth’s hand and she immediately thought that her skin took on a glowing freshness of her young maid. Elizabeth believed she had found the secret of eternal youth. After this, women were abducted and hung upside down, while they were still alive and their throats were slit to prepare Elizabeth’s bath. The Countess of Transylvania and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls, with one witness attributing to them over 650 victims, though the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted. Can I just time in here and say a few things, since half of what is written here is straight from the wikipedia page, which don’t get me wrong —it’s accurate— but extremely underwhelming. “Elizabeth” Erzebet Bathory was so much more than some vain bitch who killed over 650 women, she was a vain bitch who could speak and write more than two languages, in a time where a woman writing one was unheard of. She was raised mostly by her very infamous openly bisexual aunt, and was a torturer and a murderer before she was 14 (rumored). This woman was the person who made the villagers quake in both fear and revelation, that the courts refused to take action against when young girls started dissapearing, when bodies started being found. She OWNED the country, her family was richer then even the Lords presiding over it, she had all the say. Her and her ‘accomplices” (which by the way, they were extremely trusted, and unlike her, they were executed without mercy when the truth came out), would gather village children who their parents practically threw their way in hopes of a better future, although the children would never live again. She didn’t only hang them, she caged them, used iron maidens, spears, so many different objects. And the whole ‘bathing in blood’ thing, although is technically can be true, that and the whole striking her maid is all exagerrated to add to the story. Her and her husband got off to killing, literally, they liked the screams. If she bathed in blood, it wasn’t to be younger, it was to enjoy their life ending. Not to say she wasn’t vain, but for good reason. She was considered the most beautiful woman in Hungary for all of her days. And she technically was tried, although as I said before she practically owned the country, they couldn’t actually kill her. But she had killed another young girl of noble blood, and that couldn’t just be set aside. So instead of execution, they sentenced her to house arrest for the rest of her days, unable to punish her for all the women she had killed. Also, she had three children, and regardless of her murderous ways it was said that she had been a wonderful, loving mother. Strange how the ‘vain blood mistress’ can be more than just, isn’t it? I could go on and on about this woman, I’ve read and watched basically everything pertaining to her due to reports and essays that I wrote when I was younger, and even though she was a horrifying murderer, she deserves a bit more than ‘blood bitch’.

schazam:

Elizabeth Báthory is one of the most prolific serial killers in all of history.

She was born into nobility and was highly educated but also very vain.

One day, infuriated, Elizabeth struck one of her servant girls so hard that some blood dripped from her face onto Elizabeth’s hand and she immediately thought that her skin took on a glowing freshness of her young maid.

Elizabeth believed she had found the secret of eternal youth. After this, women were abducted and hung upside down, while they were still alive and their throats were slit to prepare Elizabeth’s bath.

The Countess of Transylvania and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls, with one witness attributing to them over 650 victims, though the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted.

Can I just time in here and say a few things, since half of what is written here is straight from the wikipedia page, which don’t get me wrong —it’s accurate— but extremely underwhelming.

“Elizabeth” Erzebet Bathory was so much more than some vain bitch who killed over 650 women, she was a vain bitch who could speak and write more than two languages, in a time where a woman writing one was unheard of. She was raised mostly by her very infamous openly bisexual aunt, and was a torturer and a murderer before she was 14 (rumored).

This woman was the person who made the villagers quake in both fear and revelation, that the courts refused to take action against when young girls started dissapearing, when bodies started being found. She OWNED the country, her family was richer then even the Lords presiding over it, she had all the say.

Her and her ‘accomplices” (which by the way, they were extremely trusted, and unlike her, they were executed without mercy when the truth came out), would gather village children who their parents practically threw their way in hopes of a better future, although the children would never live again. She didn’t only hang them, she caged them, used iron maidens, spears, so many different objects. And the whole ‘bathing in blood’ thing, although is technically can be true, that and the whole striking her maid is all exagerrated to add to the story. Her and her husband got off to killing, literally, they liked the screams. If she bathed in blood, it wasn’t to be younger, it was to enjoy their life ending. Not to say she wasn’t vain, but for good reason. She was considered the most beautiful woman in Hungary for all of her days.

And she technically was tried, although as I said before she practically owned the country, they couldn’t actually kill her. But she had killed another young girl of noble blood, and that couldn’t just be set aside. So instead of execution, they sentenced her to house arrest for the rest of her days, unable to punish her for all the women she had killed.

Also, she had three children, and regardless of her murderous ways it was said that she had been a wonderful, loving mother. Strange how the ‘vain blood mistress’ can be more than just, isn’t it?

I could go on and on about this woman, I’ve read and watched basically everything pertaining to her due to reports and essays that I wrote when I was younger, and even though she was a horrifying murderer, she deserves a bit more than ‘blood bitch’.

(via zannyblogging)

Filed under interesting

8,807 notes

“Why am I so much more creative when I’m tired?”

martwhim:

This also translates into:

  • “Why am I so motivated when it’s really late?”
  • “The best time to make ideas is through sleep deprivation!”
  • “I want to do so much more right before bed and I don’t understand why!”
  • etc.

So basically when you stay up way too late it effects your problem solving ability and your ability to make decisions. [1]

Do you want to know a possible reason as to why that “I stayed up really late and now I feel so creative and willing to draw!” feeling happens?  Because your self-critique center is shutting down because you’ve been awake for too long.

You are always as creative and able to do things as you were when you were awake.  That potential doesn’t just disappear.

Difference is— when you’re wide awake you have a stronger problem-solving and decision-making center, which is obviously related to self-critique.  Being tired doesn’t necessarily make you more creative and motivated, being tired forces you to quiet that part of yourself that holds you back.

Something to think about.

(via zannyblogging)

Filed under interesting this actually makes sense

3,138 notes

fyanimaldiversity:

Mutations in Plains Zebra (Equus quagga)

  1. Nicknamed Marble, this zebra has an area of small scrambled stripes on it’s back, giving it a marbled look. [x]
  2. A reconstructed quagga-like animal, it’s legs clean, and it’s rump and belly nearly free of markings. The stripes it does have are fairly narrow for a plains zebra. It’s tail and mane are much lighter, and has a faint brown wash along it’s back.[x]
  3. Two reduced striped animals, the middle with a few stray stripes on it’s rump and legs, the one on the right has a nearly all white body and legs. Both have a fewer number of facial markings as well.[x]
  4. A diluted, brown striped adult zebra. Zebra foals are born brown and white, but this one didn’t seem to lose it’s baby colors. [x]
  5. An erythristic, gingery-brown striped beauty. [x]
  6. Blonde is a term applied to leucistic zebras. Albino is sometimes used for the really light animals, like this blue eyed and creamy tan striped one, however I keep reading that true albinism has not been recorded in equines, so I’m hesitant to use that term.[x]
  7. This abundistic has stripes that thicken and meld together on it’s back and neck, forming white spots.[x]
  8. Dotted and dashed with white on a black background, this heavily abundistic zebra has a very unique and striking look.[x]
  9. The back of this abundistic Burchell’s (E.q. burchellii) is so densely marked, it’s a nearly solid blanket of color ticked with a bit of white. The rest of it’s stripes and brown shadow stripes are jagged and messy.[x] 
  10. Unfortunately, without the help of the naturally camouflaged striped coat, this extremely dark abundistic foal was an easier target for predators and didn’t make it into adulthood. Still in it’s dark brown baby coat, it probably would look very similar to number 8 but with a darker face, smaller spots, and wider white stripes on it’s rump.[x]

(via perunaprofeetta)

Filed under animals interesting

451 notes

atla-annotated:

Phoenix Queen King Ozai

Ozai declaring himself ‘Phoenix King’ is supposed to show how far around the bent Ozai has gone. And my it is far. 

But if you view it in-universe (the show is set in a sino-centric universe) it becomes even weirder. 

Let me explain:

The phoenix is the embodiment of female power i.e. the Empress; not male i.e. the Emperor. That would be the dragon.

The phoenix represents yin, the dragon yang. 

So Phoenix King is kinda an oxymoron. 

What he did is either declaring that he now is Emperor and Empress in one person. Ozai is taking on the yin part of the yin and yang, on top of the yang of ‘king’. He is now, by declaring himself phoenix and dragon, ‘complete’. Or, and I am not going down that creepy road, one could argue that by making Azula Fire Lord, he is making her the dragon/husband. 

Anyway …

Now I understand that they wanted to run with the ‘reborn from ashes’ aspect, but it makes Ozai, in cultural and show context, sound even more insane than he is. 

On a side note: There is a real phoenix crown, traditionally worn by the Empress (compare picture), and there are even similarities between Ozai’s helmet/crown and the real thing e.g. the wings on the sides. 

 Image source: One, two

The phoenix, in Chinese mythology and tradition, has symbolized the Empress and the yin force since the Yuan Dynasty. 

In ancient and modern Chinese culture, they can often be found in the decorations for weddings or royalty, along with dragons. This is because the Chinese considered the dragon and phoenix symbolic of blissful relations between husband and wife, another common yin and yang (Yin is female and yang is male.) metaphor.

If you want to know the myth behind the dragon and the phoenix go here: 

How Phoenixes and Dragon came to be paired together.

(via 3go)

Filed under atla interesting mythology

29,992 notes

apiphile:

ohaugustine:

charliehuston:

todf:

nolan-kane:

Codex Seraphinianus, 1976-1978

‘The Codex Seraphinianus is a book written and illustrated by Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini, from 1976 to 1978. The book appears to be a visual encyclopedia of an unknown world, written in one of its languages, an alphabetic writing intended to be meaningless.’

- Wikipedia

source

A couple friends of mine have copies of this (I was just looking at the copy at Strand), but it’s always been too pricy for my blood. If you get a chance to see one in person, do it.

I’d forgotten about this.  I once gave a copy to a couple of bibliophile friends when they married.  One of the most rewarding gifts I ever gave. I’ll always treasure being told that it had instantly become “one” of the weirdest books in their collection.  They have, it must be said, a very weird collection.

this book delights and terrifies me.

i own this book and it gives me the fucking willies

(via mechinism)

Filed under interesting

548 notes

rhamphotheca: ‘Living Fossil’ Gets Its Genome Sequenced by Amy Maxmen The coelacanth isn’t called a “living fossil” for nothing. The 2-meter-long, 90 kg fish was thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago—until a fisherman caught one in 1938—and the animal looks a lot like its fossil ancestors dating back 300 million years. Now, the first analysis of the coelacanth’s genome reveals why the fish may have changed so little over the ages. It also may help explain how fish like it moved onto land long ago. “I’m very excited about this paper because coelacanths are animals that we really want to know more about,” says Per Ahlberg, a paleontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden who was not involved with the study. In order to sequence a coelacanth’s (Latimeria chalumnae) genome, scientists required fresh tissue and blood. That’s no easy task: These fish dwell in deep-sea caves and are exceedingly rare. Only 309 have been spotted in the past 75 years, off the east coast of sub-Saharan Africa and Indonesia. Moreover, caught coelacanths die immediately because of the change in pressure and temperature, and under the hot tropical sun, their DNA quickly degrades… (read more: Science NOW)              (photo: Alberto Fernandez)

rhamphotheca:

‘Living Fossil’ Gets Its Genome Sequenced

by Amy Maxmen

The coelacanth isn’t called a “living fossil” for nothing. The 2-meter-long, 90 kg fish was thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago—until a fisherman caught one in 1938—and the animal looks a lot like its fossil ancestors dating back 300 million years. Now, the first analysis of the coelacanth’s genome reveals why the fish may have changed so little over the ages. It also may help explain how fish like it moved onto land long ago.

“I’m very excited about this paper because coelacanths are animals that we really want to know more about,” says Per Ahlberg, a paleontologist at Uppsala University in Sweden who was not involved with the study.

In order to sequence a coelacanth’s (Latimeria chalumnae) genome, scientists required fresh tissue and blood. That’s no easy task: These fish dwell in deep-sea caves and are exceedingly rare. Only 309 have been spotted in the past 75 years, off the east coast of sub-Saharan Africa and Indonesia. Moreover, caught coelacanths die immediately because of the change in pressure and temperature, and under the hot tropical sun, their DNA quickly degrades…

(read more: Science NOW)              (photo: Alberto Fernandez)

(via nzazza)

Filed under nature interesting