I have always been quite fond of a full moon. It is a perfect excuse to blame my weirdness on, if only I had that good of an excuse the rest of the year. There is a sense of magic in the air when a full moon shines bright in a cloudless sky. This particular full moon is special because it is a Friday the 13th full moon. While these two occurrences are great for blaming your bad luck and queerness, do these myths have any validity? Full moons have been the root of blame for loons to go off the deep end, car crashes to double and the formation of werewolves. The theory of a full moon causing odd behaviors and sleepless nights date back to ancient Greece. Aristotle thought that because of how moist our brains are, it can fall victim to the same effect the moon has on ocean waves; the pernicious effect. That theory seems just a bit outlandish to me, but hey who am I to determine that. It is a tough pill to swallow for many reasons. While the moon can have adverse effects to our oceans it can't gravitationally attract to us because of how weak the pull is. Also, The moons gravitational pull does not change with the phases the moon goes through. since the pull does not change our moods should not be persuaded just because of a full moon. This myth is merely a mind over matter situation. The idea that our moods change with a full moon has existed for many centuries that our minds subliminally jump to the lunatic side of us. Scientists have not been able to find a link between the two and render it a myth. I would like to believe that maybe not all of this is myth- Got to hold out hope for us loons. While behavior changes might not be proven, yet, sleeping disturbances during the full moon does hold some truth. There was a group study who took a few dozen people with relatively normal sleep patterns and documented their patterns in accordance with the lunar phases. They discovered on the night of the full moon people would tend to take at least 5 minutes longer to fall asleep, lose around 10 minutes of sleep, and there was also a drop in melatonin. How about that unlucky number 13? For an unlucky day, I have always felt pretty happy go lucky. I think being because my grandpa was born on the 13 of March and he saw many Friday the 13th birthdays. In fact he turned 13 on a Friday; something I think he was secretly proud of. It was always a topic that intrigued the both of us. Believe it or not the Friday the 13th superstition is derived from religion. the number 13 was coined as unlucky for many reasons relating to the Bible. Judas was considered the 13th apostle and he was a betrayer to Jesus. Scientist Thomas Fernzler said that "there are 12 months in a year, 12 zodiac signs, 12 labors of Hercules, and 12 apostles of Jesus. The number 13 has to do with just a little beyond completeness. The number becomes restless." Superstitions may not be able to hold up a strong argument but they are a part of life and we all tend to believe in it a little bit. Some people take the Friday 13 superstition a little extreme by not travelling, working or eating in certain restaurants because of their fear of bad luck. For me, today is a miniature Halloween; a day of mystery, excitement, and a suspense of the unknown. It's a lighthearted feeling that brings a glimpse of excitement to a rather mundane day. Today is the day anything can happen and there need no explanation for it. Take a moment tonight to stop and gaze up at the fullness of the moon. Everything wrong with life and the world become minuscule when you enthrall yourself into looking up at the night sky. Enjoy!
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She came, she conquered, she....vanished? As soon as Thutmose II died, Hatshepsut saw her opportunity to prove to Egypt that a woman could rule. She named herself the next pharaoh. Hatshepsut had Deir el-Bahri- a mortuary temple, built in her name. (The success of pharaohs were often measured by their buildings.) . For seven years Hatshepsut ruled Egypt and kept her title of Kings Great Wife. Her step son Thutmose III was getting older and was capable of becoming pharaoh now. If Thutmose III became Pharaoh, his wife would become the Great Wife and Hatshepsut would have to give up all her glory. To prevent this from happening, Hatshepsut did the unthinkable and gave herself the title of King. She began dressing as a male pharaoh by wearing a fake beard and a kings kilt. This was not intended to hide her femininity but to gain respect. During her reign, she built great monuments and oversaw a trading trip to Punt. Hatshepsut did not remain single throughout the rest of her life. She and a commoner,Sanmut became very close and evidence shows they were lovers. The evidence includes Sanmute being promoted to high status, Hieroglyphs on the temple showing Sanmute and a female Pharoah together, the fact that he never married, and Hatshepsut gave him her own sarcophagus to be buried in. After Hatshepsuts death, her name was erased from history and she could not be found. Many speculated she was removed from history because she was a woman, because she had a love affair with a commoner, or perhaps something sinister. In 2007, Egyptologists set out to look for her mummy. The only evidence they had was a kanopi box (small wooden box with a mummified liver in it) with 'Hatshepsut' inscribed on it. Dr. Zahi Hawass, a renowned Egyptologist, brought 4 royal female mummies into the light to see if they could identify one as the Queen. He brought two from the cliff top tomb DB320 and names them A. Screaming Mummy and B. Serene Mummy. He then two two mummies from KV60 and named them C. Strong Mummy and D. The Nanny. His first step was to scan the facial structures of Thutmose I and II and compare them to the four unknowns. The strong mummy had the most facial resemblance to the Tutmose family but this was not enough proof to delcare her as Hatshepsut. the nesxt step was to open the kanopi box and see if they could get a match. Unfortunately, this box was glued shut and would not open without breaking. As far as they knew, this could hold the key to finding a definite match to their mummy. Since they couldn't get into the box they did the next best thing, they send it through a CT scan to see if there was anything they could use. They saw a small intestine, a liver and a tooth. This narrowed their search to 50/50 because only two of the mummies were missing teeth. The Nanny was missing an incisor and the strong mummy was missing a molar. After close examination and calculations they determined that the fractured tooth was a molar, that fit perfectly with the strong mummy. There is no question now that this unknown strong mummy is in fact Hatshepsut. One more daunting question is what did happen to Hatshepsut? They began running tests to see what may have done this great woman in. By 3D imaging they are able to look at her physical state prior to dying. They first find a rather large malignant tumor in the pelvic region that was undoubtably painful. She also suffered from arthritis and diabetes. Shockingly none of these health problems were the cause for her death. Hatshepsut's death was caused by an abcest tooth. This infection grew to such intense pain she had the tooth removed. The abcess burst and traveled into the bloodstream, poisoning her. This infection fatally killed her slowly. She disappeared from history only so Thutmoses III would not be shadowed by something greater he wanted his name to be prominent. This was not a very uncommon thing to be done. She was a great ruler who was able to take Egypt and not only maintain prosperity but also to enrich it.
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AuthorHey there! I am Brittany and I just wanted to create a blog to express my own thoughts and opinions. I tend to get a lot built up that I feel like sharing and this is an easy way. Read and enjoy! Archives
March 2015
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