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Hurricanes in Australia were originally named after local politicians that the weather man did not like.
Talk about professionalism. The pioneering Australian weatherman Clement Wragge began assigning names to tropical cyclones in the late 19th century. Initially, he used the Greek alphabet and characters from Greek and Roman mythology.
But that just wasn’t quirky enough for this renowned nut job. One day, he decided to get all passive aggressive and started to name cyclones after local politicians that he did not like. Thus, he was able to proclaim that the “officials” were “causing great distress” or “wandering aimlessly around the Pacific.” The practice was initially widespread but soon blew over.
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The silent treatment can be considered a form of emotional abuse
Emotional abuse is an understated and elusive problem. It's not taken as seriously as physical abuse nor is it as well known as physical abuse, but it is far more prevalent. While it does not leave physical scars, it can make life unbearable for those who suffer from it.
Emotional abuse is the subjecting of a person to psychological trauma, including depression, anxiety, stress, etc. Acts of emotional abuse include verbal aggression (e.g.saying something with the intention of upsetting someone), dominant behavior (e.g. Preventing someone from seeing family/friends), and jealous behaviors (e.g. Accusing a partner of having another relationship)
The silent treatment is a tactic that doesn't take into consideration the rights and responsibilities of both parties involved in a disagreement, but rather it deflects the blame on the party receiving the silence treatment.
This shifts the power balance to the side of the person giving the silence treatment, and often leads to them getting their way. Prolonged, severe, and routine uses of the silent treatment are considered by many behavioral psychologists to be a tell-tale sign of ongoing or future emotional abuse. For more information, check out the source.
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The candy cane was invented in an attempt to shut kids up.
The choirmaster at Cologne Cathedral in Germany was tired of kids making a ruckus while he was trying to lead others in giving thanks to and celebrating the Lord. He asked the local candy maker to make some sweet sticks for them to chew on, so they wouldn't make too much noise during the worship services.
In order to justify the rather sketchy act of handing out candy to children, he asked the candy maker to add a crook to the top of each stick which would help the children remember the shepherd who paid visit to infant Jesus.
In addition, he used the white colour of the canes to teach children about Christian beliefs and the sinless life of Jesus. From Germany, these candy canes spread to other parts of Europe where they were handed out during plays reenacting the Nativity. It wasn't until 1844 however, that the canes were given that trademark peppermint flavour.
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There is a vlog-style adaptation of Pride and Prejudice on YouTube right now!
Pride and Prejudice is a timeless tale. In fact, it paved the way for a majority of the romantic comedies we see today, and has spawned multiple adaptations. You all probably know of the BBC miniseries, the 2005 Keira Knightly movie, and Bridget Jones' Diary.
Well, now we have the Lizzie Bennet Diaries; a web-series in which Elizabeth Bennet is a prominent Youtube vlogger/mass communications graduate student.
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries is not just a show, it's an immersive (and some would say, addictive) transmedia experience. All the characters, from Lizzie Bennet to Lydia Bennet to William Darcy have their own twitter pages.
Audience members can tweet the characters, and sometimes the characters will even tweet them back. It's a daring feat of story-telling, and has been called "the best adaptation of Pride and Prejudice around." Jane Austen would have been proud.
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Green, not red or pink used to be a symbol of love and sexuality.
Generally, we tend to associate red with lust, passion, and desire but it turns out that green also knows a little something about romance and sexuality.
In stories of the medieval period, green represented love and the base, natural desires of man. It was also considered the colour of growing love, and light green clothing was reserved for young women were to be married.
In Persian and Sudanese poetry, dark-skinned women, called "green" women, were considered erotic. Fast-forward to modern times, there is an urban legend that green M&M's are aphrodisiacs. The company however, has pointed out that they are identical in content to all the other colours.