I was going to start this post with a silly joke about a famous Brazilian volleyball player, but nevermind. I forgot it on the way here.
    Anywhoooo, let's talk about volley guns. Although their name sounds strange, they're more common than you think, and you've probably seen one in movies or for real, if you have visited some war museums. A volley gun is described as a gun with several barrels for firing a number of shots, either simultaneously or in sequence. They differ from modern machine guns in that they lack automatic loading and automatic fire and are limited by the number of barrels bundled together.
     In practice the large ones were not particularly more useful than a cannon firing canister shot or grapeshot. Since they were mounted on a carriage, they could be as hard to aim and move around as a cannon, and the many barrels took as long or longer to reload. They also tended to be relatively expensive since they were more complex than a cannon, due to all the barrels and ignition fuses, and each barrel had to be individually maintained and cleaned.
     And they're older than you think! So you get an idea, they were used in the Hundred Years War by the army of Edward III of England, in 1339, but it was a medieval version of it, called the Ribauldequin. Who knew, right?!

~Ally

    There is a growing, but still controversial body of research that shows that all the exercise in the world won't protect your heart if you don't also eat well and, for some people, take drugs to overcome cardiovascular risk factors. Exercising too much may even raise the risk of developing clogged arteries, according to them.
     It's well established that moderate exercise has major benefits for heart health. When couch potatoes start moving, even by just walking three times a week, studies show that cardiovascular deaths drop by up to 25 percent and lifespans lengthen. Regular exercisers live an average of seven years longer than sedentary people. So the message is not that exercise is pointless. Instead, it's that you can't eat with abandon just because you're fit and slim. It may also be unwise to exercise with abandon, no matter what you eat.
     Exercise strengthens the heart, making it a more powerful pump and helping it become more efficient at turning oxygen into fuel. That kind of fitness boosts the chances of surviving heart attacks, illnesses and even car accidents. But working out does nothing to prevent the artery-clogging effects of eating a diet high in saturated fat, new studies suggest. That contradicts a long-held belief that athletics worked like a drug to protect the heart against atherosclerosis -- a build-up of plaque inside the arteries that can constrict blood flow and lead to heart attacks and strokes.

~Ally

      This week I finally watched the animation "The Book of Kells" and was fascinated by its art and music. One thing that got me hooked was the adoption of elements who actually ARE in the real Book of Kells and their incorporation in the movie. So you can guess how happy I was when I found out that the cat called Pangur Bán in the movie was also present in the Book! In it, one of the monks wrote a poem about his little white cat Pangur Bán, making comparisons between writing and mouse hunting. He even scribbled the poem down in the margin of the book and drew pictures of the cat! Below you can find the entire poem. Enjoy!

Pangur Bán

"I and Pangur Bán, my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at;
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.

Better Far than praise of men
'Tis to sit with books and pen;
Pangur bears me no ill will,
He too plies his simple skill.

'Tis a merry thing to see
At our tasks how glad are we,
When at home we sit and find
Entertainment to our mind.

Oftentimes a mouse will stray
In the hero Pangur's way;
Oftentimes my keen thought set
Takes a meaning in its net.

'Gainst the wall he sets his eye
Full and fierce and sharp and sly;
'Gainst the wall of knowledge I
All my little wisdom try.

When a mouse darts from its den,
O how glad is Pangur then!
O what gladness I do prove
When I solve the doubts I love!

So in peace our tasks we ply,
Pangur Bán, my cat and I;
In our arts we find our bliss,
I have mine and he has his.

Practise every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light."


~Ally

     Would you eat lab-grown meat? The idea that once seemed impossible has become reality a while ago, which caused this question to be raised.
     I think it is a great solution for our current environmental problems (imagine: less cows, chickens and pigs = less methane [along with other pollutants] in the air = decrease in global warming + not killing animals, without needing to become a vegan!), but, on the other hand, I'm not sure which chemicals would be used in order to get this meat done, soooo... Let's say I'm a little concerned.
      But watch the video abobe, from the DIY channel, think about it, and tell me in the comments!

~Ally

     I got a little carried away yesterday when I wrote about our dear Smeagol and decided to find out if other people had used our favorite ringbearer in other media that not literary fiction. And turns out someone did!
     "Smeagol" is the name of a genus of sea slugs of the family of mollusks called Smeagolidae. They exist in New Zeeland and Australia. The first of the species was discovered in 1971 and in 1980 it was named Smeagol manneringi after you know who. F. M. Climo, who named the new order, family and species, wrote this in the New Zealand Journal of Zoology in 1980:
     “The genus takes its name from the pallid, sometimes subterranean Tolkien character Smeagol (whose alternative name is Gollum), a pitiable humanoid who ultimately played a very important role in saving ‘Middle earth’ from evil forces. The slug described below is far more significant, phylogenetically, than its drab exterior indicates – hence the analogy.”
     And if you think that that was the only biologic occurrence of Tolkien characters, you're wrong! Biologist Leigh Van Valen named 20 (!) fossil mammals he discovered after characters from Tolkien’s works. Among them are Bomburia, Mimatuta morgoth and Earendil, to name a few.
     So there you have it, fellow biologists, a new reason to discover species: to name them after your favorite literary characters!

~Ally

     Yup. Seriously. I mean, not exaaaaactly schizophrenic, but a bearer of schizoid personality disorder, according to a research by six medical students and a lecturer in old age psychiatrypublished in 2004 in the British Medical Journal.
     The article first examines Gollum’s mental state and notes that while “he shows no evidence of clinical depression, although he subjectively feels sad and is anxious to be reunited with his ‘precious’” there are ”features of dissociation”. They also note that he suffers from paranoia, especially when it comes to Sauron and Samwise Gamgee.
     The authors consider several possible diagnoses and begin with possible reasons to his physical symptoms. A brain tumor is seen as unlikely due to his longstanding symptoms. They go on to suggest that due to his limited diet he could suffer from B-12 deficiency, which can cause delusions as well as paranoia, and iron deficiency anaemia, causing loss of hair and weight. Wow, where's my B-12 supplement?!
     Finally, the authors note that Gollum does not fulfill the criteria for schizophrenia but that “he fulfils seven of the nine criteria for schizoid personality disorder (ICD F60.1), and, if we must label Gollum’s problems, we believe that this is the most likely diagnosis.” Poor Smeagol!
     .:. Oh, and a late Happy Tolkien Reading Day for all my precious readers!!! .:.

~Ally

     Don't start singing "Scar Tissue" yet. Although scars may seem at first like a reminder of something that hurted us in the past, subsaarian tribes have a different view of it.
   Through scarification, they mark their own bodies with symbolic drawings cut in the skin, to highlight important deeds in one's life or as body art (much like our tattoos). The process may begin in childhood and continue for life.
     If you want to know more about it, check out Eric Lafforgue's amazing photo series.

~Ally

     For my eternal disappointment, it isn't Godzilla or Nessie. But check out this video by the DIY channel and find out what is it!

~Ally

      Imagine you're woken up in the middle of the night by a frightening sound. You haven't been sleeping for days, since the ground of the camp isn't a very comfortable bed. Rain and strong winds are also common in these camps and the lack of food is always present. But the worse is the thought of the upcoming dawn: the batlle day approaches, and you don't want to die, but have to fulfill your Christian duty to fight against you enemies. Many of your friends will perish in this day, and you'll probably see many other people die horribly. But you must stay. And try not to get killed.
     That's what medieval knights faced everyday in the great (and small) battles and wars we hear and read about nowadays. In movies, medieval knights are usually portrayed as courageous and loyal heroes who will fight to the death without fear or regret. But, according to a new research by Thomas Heeboll-Holm, a medieval historian at the University of Copenhagen, this wasn't the case. In reality, he claims, the lives of knights were filled with a litany of stresses much like those that modern soldiers deal with. Which could indlude Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other related illnesses. People who are diagnosed with the disorder, often suffer from uncontrollable and intense stress for at least a month after a horrifying event. Symptoms can include flashbacks, nightmares, depression and hyperactivity.
     When soldiers go to war in modern times, Heeboll-Holm said, psychologists now recognize that the stresses they encounter can lower their psychological resistance until they finally succumb to anxiety disorders. Since medieval knights faced as many and possibly more hardships than modern soldiers do, he wondered if he might be able to find references to signs of trauma in warriors who fought during the Middle Ages.
     To get an idea of how things worked in that time, we can look at this excerpt by the 14th-century French knight named Geoffroi de Charny:

"In this profession one has to endure heat, hunger and hard work, to sleep little and often to keep watch. And to be exhausted and to sleep uncomfortably on the ground only to be abruptly awakened. And you will be powerless to change the situation. You will often be afraid when you see your enemies coming towards you with lowered lances to run you through and with drawn swords to cut you down. Bolts and arrows come at you and you do not know how best to protect yourself. You see people killing each other, fleeing, dying and being taken prisoner and you see the bodies of your dead friends lying before you. But your horse is not dead, and by its vigorous speed you can escape in dishonour. But if you stay, you will win eternal honour. Is he not a great martyr, who puts himself to such work?"

      Charny showed no signs of instability, Heeboll-Holm said, but he repeatedly expressed concern about the mental health of other knights. And there is no doubt that medieval knights suffered a lot, according to other historians. Tales from that era include all sorts of gruesome details. Many tell of warriors vomiting blood or holding their entrails in with their hands. One mentions a Castilian knight who gets a crossbolt stuck up his nose in his first fight. Another tells of a fighter getting slashed by a sword through his mouth. Again and again, there are references to bad food, uncomfortable conditions and relentless fighting.
    After so many centuries, though, it can be challenging to interpret old texts. Part of the problem is that knights never psychoanalyzed themselves, at least not in print. Instead, they either offered advice to other knights about how to act in various situations or they simply recounted events. One of the biggest differences between now and then, researchers add, is that medieval knights were usually born into their elite and noble order, and they were trained from a young age to think of themselves as warriors who fought in the name of Christianity. Modern soldiers, on the other hand, often leave a very comfortable life for one of violence and trauma.

~Ally

     Contrary to what I thought, pepper-boxes aren't boxes meant to store pepper. Nop. In this case, a pepperbox or pepperpot is a small revolver, in fact, a multiple-barrel repeating firearm that has three or more barrels grouped around a central axis. It mostly appears in the form of a multi-shot handheld firearm. Pepperboxes exist in all ammunition systems: matchlock, wheellock, flintlock, percussion, pinfire, rimfire and centerfire. And it resembles a pepper grinder, that'd where its name comes from.
     The pepperbox, at least the firearm that is mostly associated with this term, was invented in the 1830s and was meant mainly for civilian use. It spread rapidly in the United Kingdom, the USA and some parts of continental Europe. It was similar to the later revolver in that it contained bullets in separate chambers in a rotating cylinder. Unlike the revolver, however, each chamber had its own barrel, making a complex indexing system unnecessary (though pepperboxes with such a system do exist).
     This type of firearm was popular in North America from 1830 until the American Civil War, but the concept was introduced much earlier. In the 15th century, several single-shot barrels were attached to a stock, being fired individually by means of a match.
     Around 1790, pepperboxes were built on the basis of flintlock systems, notably by Nock in England and "Segallas" in Belgium. These weapons, building on the success of the earlier two-barrel turnover pistols, were fitted with three, four or seven barrels. These early pepperboxes were hand-rotated.
     The invention of the percussion cap by Joshua Shaw, building on Alexander Forsyth's innovations, and the industrial revolution allowed pepperbox revolvers to be mass-produced, making them more affordable than the early handmade guns previously only seen in the hands of the rich. Examples of these early weapons are the English Budding (probably the first English percussion pepperbox), the Swedish Engholm and the American threebarrel Manhattan pistol. Most percussion pepperboxes have a circular flange around the rear of the cylinder to prevent the capped nipples being accidentally fired if the gun were to be knocked whilst in a pocket, or dropped.
     The pepperbox experienced a kind of "revival" in the late 19th century as a short, easily concealable pocketweapon that used pinfire cartridges. A special variation of this kind of handgun, in which the shortness of the barrel cluster was fully utilized, is the French "Apache revolver." This weapon, allegedly popular among Paris street gangs, was fitted with a folding blade and knuckle-duster. The pepperboxes from this period disappeared with the demise of the pinfire cartridge.
     The pepperbox design was also used for a small number of weapon designs in the 20th century, such as the Mossberg produced the Mossberg Brownie (1920), a 4-barrel .22LR pocket-pistol marketed to trappers, and COP 357 Derringer (1970's), produced as a backup weapon for police officers.

~Ally