A bloody good theory.

I came across an article today on FitSugar that was quite interesting. I always think about why people do what they do and this article talks about why some people may faint or feel faint when they see blood. They say it can be due to a blood-injury phobia.

"The idea is that back in time, when someone was coming at someone else with a sharp stick or rock, a kind of genetic variation allowed certain people to faint in response," explains Tyler C. Ralston, PsyD, a clinical psychologist in Honolulu, who treats people with blood-injury phobias. Warriors who fainted looked dead and were passed over during battle. The blood pressure drop also might have helped those who were wounded avoid bleeding to death. Survivors then passed on the "fainting" gene.

So I'm thinking that if you faint or feel faint around blood, you probably weren't much of a fighter. You needed to play dead to avoid a confrontation. If blood doesn't bother you, then you like to get a little rough. That's just my take on the article.

I'm definitely a fighter, by the way. Bring it.

Giant bunnies DO exist!

Years ago, on the night before Easter, I lay in my bed trying to fall asleep. I was probably 10 years old at the time. The Easter bunny was coming to deliver candy and I couldn't wait. Easter candy is so different from all the other candy out there. You've got the chocolate rabbits, the malted eggs, Cadbury eggs, etc. Seriously, it's better than any other kind of candy. Halloween is my favorite holiday but I never got excited over Halloween candy. It's always tootsie rolls, mini candy bars, etc. Nothing with character. Well, I guess candy corn has character but it's not the same as biting into a chocolate covered marshmallowy pink raspberry flavored goodness. You probably think I eat bon-bons all day long. : ) I actually have no candy in the house and don't buy it except for maybe a couple times a year. I don't get a sweet tooth that often and when I do, I typically sip hot chocolate. I figure it's safer to drink the sugar in the open than to be found sitting in a dark closet licking the hollow of a Cadbury egg. Okay, enough of the candy porn.

The real reason for this post was to talk about the time I saw the Easter bunny. I was laying in bed trying to fall asleep and there was a full moon shining into my bedroom. I was on my side with my eyes open (cuz' I was excited for the candy) when I noticed a shadow on the wall. It looked like two long bunny ears but they were standing straight up. Hmm...strange. Then one of the ears bent down and then came back up. I jumped out of bed and over to the window to see what was casting this shadow. There was nothing there. It wasn't my parents trying to be funny because they just wouldn't make that effort. I just think it was bizarre that I saw bunny ears on the night before Easter. And no, it wasn't some sleepy kid imagining things. I saw a bunny dammit. : )

Dear Mr. Bunny, if you're out there,

Would you please bring me some chocolate deliciousness tonight? Pretty please? Cuz' if you don't, I'm going to have to go to the store on Monday when all the sales start and I really would prefer to eat some candy tomorrow.

Sincerely,

Cadbury Licker


I saw this video and had to add it to this post. Cracked me up!

Mirrors

This is a continuation of my last post. The second movie I "rented" today was Mirrors with Kiefer Sutherland. I thought this was a good movie and the ending was not what I expected. There are a lot of horror movies out there that make inanimate objects frightening but mirrors are pretty freaky, if you think about it.

The first thing that comes to mind is "Bloody Mary", which I'm sure most of you have heard of. If you haven't, the story goes that if you chant the words "bloody mary" three times (or thirteen) while staring into a mirror in a dark room (or lit by a candle), that you will see the ghost of Bloody Mary. Mary was a supposed witch named Mary Worth who was executed long ago. There are many different versions with how to do it and what you'll see but that is the gist of it. I remember seeing a bunch of girls do it in the bathroom in junior high but I left before they stopped chanting because it freaked me out a bit but it stayed in my mind. I decided to try it one day that I was home alone...it worked. Although I didn't see Bloody Mary, I did see my deceased great grandpa. I will never forget that image. That was my first encounter with the paranormal. While living in that house, I would hear my name being called by a man but when I asked my dad if he had called me, he hadn't. Hmm.

It is said that you can see the future or find lost objects by using a mirror or pretty much any reflective surface, including calm water. I've heard of people painting a mirror black to use for magic or to see your inner self.

Mirrors have been seen as a way to trap spirits and demons. Before funeral parlors, the deceased would be in their own homes and when someone died, all of the mirrors in the house would be covered until the body was taken away for burial because if the deceased saw themselves in a mirror, they would be trapped. In the movie Constantine, a demon is tricked into looking into its reflection in a mirror and is forced to leave the possessed person's body and is trapped in the mirror.

You've heard that if you break a mirror, you'll have seven years back luck, right? Since mirrors can supposedly see and/or hold your soul, it was said that if you broke a mirror, part of your soul was trapped inside and since the mirror was broken, your soul was broken and that brought on bad luck. Apparently the Romans believed that your body renewed itself every seven years so it would take seven years for you to become whole again.

A mirror played a role in Snow White. Remember the witch would use the mirror to get answers to her questions?

Bram Stoker knew of mirror superstitions and incorporated that into Dracula. I can only assume he did this because it would make the vampire appear to be soulless because he cast no reflection in mirrors.

So the next time you look in a mirror, take a close look. What do you see?


Picture courtesy of Photobucket.

Ice ice baby!

I came across an article today talking about a phenomenon called Ice Circles (seen above). I started doing some digging and found that a lot of people try to make them sound like crop circles except on the water. They say that they formed overnight and can't be explained. My research revealed that they can form overnight and can be explained. Sorry aliens, you can't claim this one. Ice circles occur when ice forms in the middle of a body of water. The water current slows around the ice and begins to shape it into a circle. Many ice circles are spinning when they are discovered. It's quite fascinating to me and I'm surprised I haven't heard of this phenomenon before today. I've attached a video of one in motion. Pretty cool.