Pericles And Aspasia Great Romances That Shaped History

Pericles was a general, orator, and preeminent figure in Athenian statecraft. Perhaps it’s no wonder that his partner shared many of the same talents. The two met during a symposium, and at once, Pericles was smitten by Aspasia’s wit and beauty. Since she came from Miletus, not Athens, she was afforded more freedom than most other women of her time and became known as an intellectual in Athenian society. It was said that the wives of Athens’s most influential men visited her to gain insight and knowledge on domestic matters.

Despite her sophistication, those jealous of Pericles muttered insults and chided their relationship. Aspasia had her fair share of supporters, however, the most prominent of whom was Socrates himself. Though citizens of Athens were forbidden to marry foreigners—a law which was ironically enacted by Pericles before Aspasia came into his life—he adored her for the rest of his days. He was said to have kissed her each day until his death in 429 B.C.

Apples Of Love Bizarre Traditions Of Love That Are Lost In History

In 1975, author Benjamin Brody wrote an article called “The Sexual Significance of the Axillae,” which was published in the journal Psychiatry. In the article, Brody described the strange romantic custom present in rural Austrian society, wherein a girl kept slices of an apple in her armpit during a dance. The apples served as a natural deodorant. At the end of the dance, the girl would present the sweaty apple slice to the man she fancied, and if the man returned her feelings, he would bravely eat the apple slice, letting the girl know that where he stood.

This strange custom wasn’t used exclusively by women, either, although men generally seemed to forgo the apple and opt for other objects, such as handkerchiefs, instead. An article in the 1899 Journal of American Folklore, for example, states, “To make a girl love you, take a piece of candy or anything she is likely to eat, and put it under either armpit, so that it will get your scent.”

Stir-Fried Ice Cream

Stir-fried ice cream (aka ice cream rolls) is a delicious concoction that you eat with your hands like a taquito or chocolate cigar. It is made by pouring ice cream mix onto a below-freezing metal plate and then finely chopping fruit into the ice cream before it freezes.

The incredibly cold temperatures result in finer ice crystal structures and smoother ice cream. Unlike regular ice cream, each serving must be made on the spot. This creates a unique experience where you see your server make the ice cream in real time with the flavors you picked. You can mix in red bean, pomegranate, dragon fruit, and more.

Stir-fried ice cream is a common street vendor food in Thailand, but it is a new and novel creation for the Western world. New York City just opened its first stir-fried ice cream store, 10Below, in 2015. Hopefully, this treat will pick up more momentum because it is worth a try.

Just Got Real

There are those who can slather on a full face of makeup every morning, spend an hour finding the perfect filter for the photo, hit post, and fool the world into thinking they're more #blessed than their hundreds of thousands of impressionable followers because they keep a full-coverage Anastasia Beverly Hills stick foundation in every purse. 

Then, there are people who use social media to get really real. They show their acne and their stretch marks; they show the trolls who write things like “omg perfect babe follow back” and “ur so ugly” what it's like to be the actual human being on the other end of those comments.

testGiant Poop Cannons

The Great Fire of London might be the most famous disaster in the city’s storied history, but there is another city-wide catastrophe which is often forgotten. The Great Stink of 1858 brought London to a standstill as unprecedented hot weather turned the flow of raw human waste into the Thames into a steaming river of extraordinarily foul-smelling sewage. The Sun was literally baking the feces, and the stench became so awful that the members of Parliament were forced to walk out.

The putrid smell of the Great Stink was the catalyst behind the incorporation of a new sewage system built into the banks of the river. However, the houses of Parliament had only recently been rebuilt after a fire in 1834, so they were designed to dump their waste straight into the river below, rather than into the shiny new poop-chute system. The solution to this problem was to install a series of pneumatic sewage ejectors, which use blasts of compressed air to propel the human waste of Westminster up to the newly installed sewage pipes just below ground level.[8] This system still functions today, meaning that if the s—t hits the fan in Parliament, that might not be as bad as it sounds.

testhe original fidget spinner

The purpose of the original fidget spinner designed in 1993 varies dramatically from the fidget spinners plaguing our world’s playgrounds today. Following the inventor’s patent securement, Catherine Hettinger’s idea was rejected by Hasbro and she ultimately lost the patent in 2005.

Prior to losing the patent, however, Hettinger produced the spinners with a machine she had purchased from an old sign-making company. She distributed the devices at art fairs. Then smaller manufacturers began to produce the spinners, mainly as a tool to comfort children dealing with conditions like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and anxiety.

These devices were intended by both Hettinger and other manufacturers to provide therapeutic stress relief and strengthen users’ focus.[3] At this point, the fidget spinner was still considered more of a tool than a toy and was not commonly recognized or widely used.

full face of makeup

There are those who can slather on a full face of makeup every morning, spend an hour finding the perfect filter for the photo, hit post, and fool the world into thinking they're more #blessed than their hundreds of thousands of impressionable followers because they keep a full-coverage Anastasia Beverly Hills stick foundation in every purse. 

Then, there are people who use social media to get really real. They show their acne and their stretch marks; they show the trolls who write things like “omg perfect babe follow back” and “ur so ugly” what it's like to be the actual human being on the other end of those comments.