Real-Life Weirdness

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Anders

28 000 year old stone phallus found.

May have been used as a sex aid.

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

"The prehistoric "tool" was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone."
"In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints,"

Ouch, and cavemen were hardcore that just didn't give a F.
"Dammit, Grog. Stop using my stone 'tools' like that."

Of course, stone-age people invented the multi-tool. If you're going to carry something around, it's better if it has many uses rather than one specialized one. I'm a little surprised it wasn't also used with a mortar to grind grain or nuts or herbs or something.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Of course, stone-age people invented the multi-tool. If you're going to carry something around, it's better if it has many uses rather than one specialized one. I'm a little surprised it wasn't also used with a mortar to grind grain or nuts or herbs or something.

Stone age humor: using that tool to grind nuts.
Multi-tasking need is why I don't always fully trust researchers' opinions on such objects' purposes. You use what you have not what you want or would be optimal even if it does exist somwhere else. It think many women know the off market use for rubber duckies many girls discover.
Family friendly site, so pardon my beating around the bush here.

[Johan Larson]

Jerusalem Syndrome is an incredibly specific but temporary bout of mental illness.

An ordinary person goes to Jerusalem and suddenly puts on a white toga, starts to sing religious songs, and makes a speech at a holy place. They have no history of mental illness, and if you get them away from Jerusalem, they return to normal.

http://www.cracked.com/article_19209...y-sick_p2.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

Jerusalem Syndrome is an incredibly specific but temporary bout of mental illness.

Compare Paris Syndrome, where the expectations visitors, mainly Japanese, have of a romantic city full of whimsical mime artists come crashing into the reality of dog-poo filled streets and rude Parisians, causing a panic attack.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Of course, stone-age people invented the multi-tool. If you're going to carry something around, it's better if it has many uses rather than one specialized one. I'm a little surprised it wasn't also used with a mortar to grind grain or nuts or herbs or something.

As far as we know.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

Jerusalem Syndrome is an incredibly specific but temporary bout of mental illness.
...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_syndrome

Religious hysteria is pretty well known, I would have thought. No different than getting touched by the holy spirit, writhing on the floor, and/or speaking in tongues not uncommon among certain Christian sects in the U.S.
At least wearing robes and speaking is less likely to cause injury.

[Johan Larson]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Religious hysteria is pretty well known, I would have thought. No different than getting touched by the holy spirit, writhing on the floor, and/or speaking in tongues not uncommon among certain Christian sects in the U.S.
At least wearing robes and speaking is less likely to cause injury.

I think the weird bit is the specificity of the symptom. Always a toga. Always white. Only Jerusalem. Not actually crazy.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Johan Larson

I think the weird bit is the specificity of the symptom. Always a toga. Always white. Only Jerusalem. Not actually crazy.

Outside of professional psychiatry, what is and is not "crazy" is purely subjective. The linked article specifically says that it's not just Jerusalem and occurs in many holy places by followers of all sorts of religions. Really just location induced psychotic breaks not indicative of any underlying mental illness necessarily.

Also, in the middle east, I would think togas make the most sense weather-wise. If visitors changed into blood red skirts, then I'd think it all unusually weird.

[vicky_molokh]

Kyïv. Cyberpunk City. The war of human hackers against the panopticon of machine gods has begun.

[mukibear]

this is personal, not at large, but still.

the other day my father presented my with something he'd found in his yard. it was ovoid and offwhite - he enjoined me to look closer. scratched in the color was a child's cursive 'egg'. apparently, he found some kind of subfossil easter egg - there having been no easter egg hunts at his house for 40yrs. to be honest, it creeps me out - that this exactly the kind of thing a cockatrice would hatch from. do boiled eggs mineralize in certain conditions? it's very solid. i'm keeping it. if i every feel really adventurous, i might put it under a hen. inside a pentagram. just in case.