10+ Hospital Christmas Decorations That Show Doctors Are The Most Creative People Ever
Man people get really creative!
I love hospital decorations. As morbid as that sounds I love that they try so hard to decorate and make the patients, that are probably going through hell, smile.
About a month ago, archaeologists found a sealed rock cut tomb in Tarquinia. At the front door before they even opened the tomb, they found jars and vases indicating that this was likely an important person. When they removed the slab, they found a small vaulted chamber with the remains of two individuals on stone platform beds. They believed the first skeleton to be the remains of an Etruscan prince who was holding a spear and had a fibulae at his chest which indicated he had been dressed in a mantle. He was accompanied by the cremated remains of his wife who was jeweled and placed on the second platform, and food remains within a large bronze basin at his feet. A number of grave goods, which included large Greek Corinthian vases and precious ornaments, lay on the floor.
Now the remains have been studied, and archaeologists realize that they made an oops. The bones have shown that the skeletonized individual thought to be male is actually female, and the cremated remains of the ‘wife’ were actually of a male. Their re-interpretation of the site with this evidence now argues that the lance, which was previously determined to be a sign of royalty of the prince, is now thought to be a symbol of union between the two deceased.
So let’s break this down- when the skeleton was male the lance was a sign of royal status, and now that the ‘prince’ is a female the lance is a sign of marriage unity between the two individuals. Isn’t this secondary interpretation just as biased as the first one? Why can’t a female have a lance as a symbol of her power?
Weingarten was among the first to question this new interpretation in her blog. She rightly asks “Why is it so difficult to understand that the ruling class of Etruscan society was made up of both men AND women?” Weingarten discusses the historical evidence for women in Etruscan society, noting that they were equally involved in government and noble society. Stories of the women reveal that they were outspoken and played an important role in determining the status of their husbands. She notes that there is no reason why men can’t be buried with jewelry and females can’t be buried with a spear.
What is happening here is that archaeologists are projecting modern bias into the past, and making assumptions about gender roles in this society. [ … ]
This isn’t a singular event- issues in gender bias and mistaken identity are quite common. The study of gender revealed a major source of bias in archaeology, specifically the unconscious projection of modern perception and bias onto the past. This was first noted in the landmark article by Conkey and Spector (1984), which argued that archaeology has reinforced western European gender stereotypes, including contemporary meanings of masculine and feminine, the capabilities of each, power relationships and the traditional gender roles. Subsequently, numerous archaeologists began to recognize bias in their respective areas, and began taking a gendered approach.
A great example of this re-interpretation with new gendered evidence is within the study of Viking. Stalsberg (2001) interprets grave goods in order to gain insight on what women’s roles were during the Viking Age, approximately the eighth to eleventh centuries AD. The important artifact under consideration is a piece of weighing equipment that consists of small folding balance scales and the associated weights. Stalsberg (2001:73) notes that these ‘men’s tools’ are often found in women’s graves. From the analysis of three cemeteries, she finds that from 17-32 percent of the weighing equipment is associated with female graves. “Based on this, the women had a right to be buried with the weighing equipment… [and] they constitute the tools of women’s economic unit, household or family” (Stalsberg 2001:74). This would mean that females were involved in the trade, and likely that it was a family run business. Another great example is McLeod’s (2011) analysis of burials in which he argued that swords cannot be equated to males, since they do appear in female burials. (You can read my write-up of his writing here: Viking Women- A reinterpretation of the bone)
We need to be careful when interpreting gender and sex. Mistakes do happen, but having two gendered assumptions in a row is a little much. As Stalsberg (2001) argued: if a connection can be made between men and their grave goods as indications of status, then this must too be applied to women.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge released this portrait of them with their children for their Christmas card. It was taken by Chris Jeff in late October at Kensington Palace gardens.
AIN’T NO PARTY LIKE A BOSTON TEA PARTY BECAUSE A BOSTON TEA PARTY DON’T STOP UNTIL BOSTON IS PUT UNDER MARTIAL LAW AND EVERYONE IS DISILLUSIONED WITH PARLIAMENT AS A WHOLE.
“St. Louis, Mo., Dec 14.– Ruling that male attire was not unbecoming to Mrs. Mary Bertha Schmidt, alias ‘Mister Schmidt,’ judge Hogan, in police court here, refused to fine the young woman who for two years posed as a man and who ‘married’ her cousin, Anna Assade, last October.
‘I think you look very nice,’ said the court. Mrs. Schmidt was clad in her neatly pressed trousers and pinchback coat. She explained she had adopted the garments because she could earn $80 a month as a man and $6 a week as a woman.
‘If a woman can earn $4 a day by reason of wearing trousers, I say wear ‘em,’ said the court, and ‘Mister Schmidt’ walked out of court with a smile on ‘his’ face.”
When rabbi telushkin talks about Elijah, he’s like “how did this grouchy, bad-tempered prophet become the mythical grandpa of the entire jewish people? Why not a more personable prophet? We could have had somebody nice and jolly like Santa Claus instead of this man”
And then he basically says it’s because Elijah just can’t be satisfied, he didn’t even die, he stayed alive and just disappeared into the sky out of sheer annoyance at the unsatisfactory nature of existence and he will be clumping around the world forever, glaring at things and yelling at people, until the messiah comes
“disappeared into the sky out of sheer annoyance at the unsatisfactory nature of existence”
omg please tell me about this Elijah dude, he sounds exactly like my kind of dude
Where to begin? He’s the Trickster figure of Judaism is what I always say, at once the loudest and the sneakiest of the prophets.
He spent his whole career denouncing a bad king and his even more problematic wife. They almost killed him a few times, but he survived, and as mentioned above, never actually died, just ascended into heaven in a fiery chariot. (This is after he basically tells God he’s just too damn tired to prophet anymore.) He brought a child back from the dead through prayer.
He held a prophet-off with the prophets of Baal. Basic challenge: we each put up a sacrifice. The one whose god accepts it with fire wins. He sits back and makes fun of them while they do their stuff…”YELL LOUDER. MAYBE HE’S ASLEEP”. When it’s his turn, he pours water all over his offering, and it goes up in flames from heaven anyway. (My teacher in my Nevi’im class mentioned, in passing, that there’s crude oil in the region.)
In his not-dead-just-semi-retired afterlife, he attends every Seder and bris worldwide. It’s said he will herald the arrival of Moshiach.
He was, and remains, kind of a crank. But he’s always there for the people who need him.
There are a million legends.
“My teacher in my Nevi’im class mentioned, in passing, that there’s crude oil in the region.”
No major opinions on Elijah (other than the prophet competition being really cool) but the OP has a really impressive concentration of Hamilton references.
[AHAB] How does a grouchy, bad-tempered son of a Tishbite Dropped in a forgotten age straight off a Torah page Grow up to be a prophet and a sage?
[ELISHA] The rover with the shofar Got so far by preaching woe for The foes o’ Jehovah – and moreover – Started out in a desert With just a cave roof for cover
[MOSHIACH] Then idolatry came, and desecration reigned Our land saw its future drip, dripping down the drain He went with malice to the palace, a message in his brain And he spoke his first refrain, said that God would hold the rain
[AHAB] Well the word got around, they said this kid’s pretty holy Rails against the wicked, cares about the lowly He’s the only one of all of us who dares stand up to Omri And the world’s gonna know your name – what’s your name, man?
[ELIJAH] Eliyahu haNavi My name is Eliyahu haNavi And there’s a million things I haven’t done But just you wait, just you wait…
[WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH] After three years met the Baalites, said let’s have a competition We each provide a sacrifice, we see who gets ignition High on a hill, with their kill, their prayers shrill
[COMPANY] And Elijah got fire but the Baalites got nil
[GOD] They put him under pressure so he fled into the desert Woulda been likely tarred and feathered but I found him, took his measure He started meditating on My most sacred Name He was fasting, he was blasting all his foes with holy flame
[COMPANY] Eliyahu haNavi We are waiting in the wings for you You could never back down, you never learned to take your time Oh Eliyahu haNavi When Eretz Yisrael sings for you Will they know what you overcame? Will they know you rewrote the game? The world will never be the same…
[AHAB] His chariot’s in Heaven now, see if you can spot him Just another righteous soul ascending from the bottom Just another prophet urging penitence on Sodom But me? I fought with him.
[ELISHA] Me? I worked with him.
[MOSHIACH] Me? I wait for him.
[WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH] Me? I saved him.
[GOD] And Me? I’m the power that awed him.
[COMPANY] There’s a million things I haven’t done But just you wait!
[AHAB] What’s your name, man?
[ELIJAH] Eliyahu haNavi!
Holy shit Scott, can you do that on command for any character?
If so, can you write me an Aaron Burr, Sir about Isaac Newton?
So, without committing to ever doing this again, and while discouraging future requests of this sort (at least until I open my ask-box again) because they’re kind of nerd-sniping:
[NEWTON] Pardon me, are you Gottfried L? Well?
[LEIBNIZ] That depends. Who’s asking?
[NEWTON] Bloody hell. Well. My name is Isaac Newton. I’m at your service…well…I’ve read some of your stuff…
[LEIBNIZ] I’m getting nervous.
[NEWTON] Hell. There was some math I attempted that may have preempted a theory of yours – but you beat me to the printer, L. It was about the area under a curve –
[LEIBNIZ] You found the integral?
[NEWTON] Yes! I did it before you did, took the limit and computed, you think you’re undisputed, but you aren’t undisputed…so how’d you do it? How’d you publish it so fast?
[LEIBNIZ] God didn’t let the opportunity go past.
[NEWTON] You’re a theologian! Of course! I’m a theologian too! God, I wish there was Armageddon we could face head-on to prove we know more than we let on.
[LEIBNIZ] Can I buy you a drink?
[NEWTON] That would be nice.
[LEIBNIZ] And while we’re talking, let me offer you some free advice: Be less crazy.
[NEWTON] What?
[LEIBNIZ] Think more seriously.
[NEWTON] Huh.
[LEIBNIZ] Don’t waste your life upon weird Biblical conspiracy. You want to use your brain? Those who get too pious go insane.
[DESCARTES, PASCAL, BERKELEY] What time is it?! Showtime!!!
[LEIBNIZ] Like I’m sayin’…
At the beginning of this post I sent up a silent prayer that it would end the way it did AND I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED.
A Middleground 