I'm always fond of getting to know about scary places around the world, and today's post was suggested by a very dear friend of mine, and its story gave the chills like only good old horror stories can... But this one's real.
     This network of tunnels, known as the Odessa Catacombs, consists of three levels, which stretch out under the city and surrounding region of Odessa, Ukraine. The majority of the catacombs are the result of limestone mining and they reach a depth of 60 m below sea level, but the abandoned mines were also later used and widened by local smugglers.
    Today they are considered a great attraction for extreme tourists, who explore the tunnels despite the dangers involved. Such tours are not officially sanctioned because the catacombs have not been fully mapped and the tunnels themselves are unsafe. There have been incidents of people becoming lost in the tunnel network, and dying of dehydration or rockfalls.
     The most strange thing is that the approximate topography of this underground labyrinth is unknown. In fact, only one small portion of the catacombs is open to the public, within the "Museum of Partisan Glory" in Nerubayskoye, north of Odessa. Today there is an entire Ukrainian subculture of catacomb explorers with dozens of semiprofessional groups, often quite competitive, exploring the catacombs. They go on multi-day underground treks, known as expeditions, to document and map the system. Should someone get lost in the catacombs, (as happens every couple of years) these groups put aside their differences and mount large search expeditions. They have rescued a number of children who have wandered into the catacombs.
     Partisan weapon caches such as rifles and grenades are occasionally still found within the tunnels, and about once every five years a body is found. On rare occasions these bodies are almost perfectly mummified, freeze dried by the cold, dry air of the tunnels. While most of the time the bodies found are from long ago, bones of soldiers and smugglers, more recent accidents have been known to happen. And that's when the scary part comes in.
     On January 1st 2005, some Odessa teens decided to spend New Year's night partying in the catacombs. However, in the drunken revelry a member of the group, a girl named Masha, became separated and lost in the catacombs. She spent three days wandering in the freezing cold and pitch black before she died of dehydration. It took two years before the police were able to locate her body and retrieve it from the catacombs.

~Ally

     Tales of lost cities are capable of awakening our inner Indiana Jones, I think. So you can guess how excited I was when I first read about the submerged city in Lake Qiandao, in Chunan county, province of Zhejiang, east of China. With an equivalent size of 62 soccer fields, about 265 well preserved stone arches and many temples, ruins and cemeteries from the Han Dinasty, it sure is a hell of a feast for the eyes!
     This magnificent place was found in 2001 and became a huge tourist attraction for divers. No wonder! The city under water is over 1300 years old and was only submerged because of a hydroelectric barrier built by the communist government in the region in 1959. Damn those engineers! That caused more than 290 thousand habitants to move from the region, which was considered prosperous and commercial.

~Ally

     And there goes my fancy name-calling for dumb people. Turns out it seems that Neanderthals weren't the half-wits everyone assumed they were. And the reason for that is: they wore make up. Yup. I'm not kidding.
   British researchers discovered evidence in Spain that, about 50000 years ago, Neanderthals used sea shells to contain brightly-coloured pigments which were used as makeup containers and, thus, shows that they were capable of symbolic thinking. The shells and pigments were carefully examined and lumps of a yellow foundation-type pigment were found together with a red powder which had been mixed with a reflective black material. The research team also says this proves that it was not only modern humans who wore makeup for decoration and ritual purposes.
     According to Professor Joao Zilhao, from Bristol University, 'This is the first secure evidence that, some 50,000 years ago - ten millennia before modern humans are first recorded in Europe - the behaviour of Neanderthals was symbolically organised'. It is believed the brightly-coloured shells may have been worn by Neanderthals as jewellery or neck pendants for their makeup, too. Who knew, right?! Neanderthals wearing BLING! Ok, I'm done for today.

~Ally

     I don't know about you, but whenever I think of colors, Pantone's pallete comes to mind almost immediately. Little did I know that, in 1692, someone else thought and did something very similar - and in a much cooler way, if I may add (I'm a huge fan of vintage stuff!). And that person is now only known as "A. Boogert".
     The artist wrote about mixing watercolors and ended up making a 800 page manuscript and hand painted book about the uses of color in painting, their tone changes and hues. His piece was once considered the most complete color guide for painting of all time, and it's very interesting to know that it was conceived as an educational guide! Not bad at all, in my humble opinion.
      You can check out Boogert's complete book for free here.
      What about you, dear readers? Do you know any good color book to recommend me? Tell me in the comments!

~Ally

      No, I'm not going to compare the two bands, if that's what you're wondering. The other day a friend told me to look up the difference between the terms "poisonous" and "venomous" -  I had no idea that they were different things, which got me thinking about how we use those two words erroneously very often!
     Both venomous and poisonous beings produce a toxin that is injurious or even lethal to another organism. The difference between them lies in how such toxin is delivered.
     You see, venomous organisms deliver or inject venom into other organisms, using a specialized apparatus of some kind (usually fangs or a stinger). The venom is produced in a gland attached to this apparatus.
     On the other hand, poisonous organisms do not deliver their toxins directly, they may only be harmful when touched or eaten, since the entire body, or large parts of it, may contain the poisonous substance.
      And now, shall we talk about music? Well, maybe tomorrow!

~Ally

     Back in the early 1920's, hundreds of Japanese women would dive in the seas of their country in search for oysters and pearls. They were capable of holding their breath for more than 2 minutes, and the search dives would happen for up to 60 times in a single day!
   These amazing womem were called Amas and were also known as mermaids, but the photo above and others by Iwase Yoshiyuki are now the only record of a mesmerizing profession that ended a couple of decades later. And, if you're thinking about breath-held diving (apnea diving) and all their equipment, forget it: these girls would use only a mask for the eyes and special slippers. But why diving naked? Well, diving suits didn't arrive to Japan until 1950 and cotton clothes would disturb the diving, besides being very unconfortable when wet and taking a long time to dry.
     A single Ama, working for some weeks collecting oysters and pearls, would earn more money than a common man working for a whole year. And men, by the way, wouldn't participate in this kind of search. They believed that the women's body was more appropriate to control breath and the low temperatures, since they contained more fat. Talk about chubby girl power!

~Ally

     Back when I was a kid, I never wanted to be an astronaut, no matter what my father would say or how many times I watched Star Wars and Star Trek. Seeing movies like "Apolo 13" didn't help either. The fact is, travelling to the stars has always been a daunting task - I mean, come on, it's SPACE!!! - , but is it possible that it is being made more difficult than it needs to be? Could  someone – or something – be trying to do its best to keep mankind on Earth, by sabotaging space flight after space flight? This idea has become so widespread that NASA has jokingly referred to this enigmatic and often deadly force as the ‘Great Galactic Ghoul’. But could it be real?
     When we stop to think about the high incidence rate of spaceflight accidents, disappearances and technological foul ups it is easy to see that it would have crippled any other endeavour that did not have the benefit of government funding. And this screw ups happen with everybody, no matter if you're Russian or American.
     One example was the much vaunted Mars Explorer in 1993, which was to take closer pictures of the mysterious Cydonia Region of Mars. Just as the craft was entering Martian orbit, it suddenly stopped functioning. Other failures include the Soviet Koralb 11 (blew up), Sputnik 24 (blew up), NASA’s Mariner 3 (missed Mars), Mariner 8 (fell into Atlantic) and the fiery deaths of the astronauts involved in the Apollo 1 mission in 1971. The list goes on and on, either a testament to staggering incompetence or evidence of a thorough, worldwide act of sabotage, perhaps even on a galactic scale.
     But the strangest part comes when we consider Martian missions. These kind of endeavours fare the worst when it comes to the idea of sabotage. One of the most disturbing was the fate of the Russian Phobos probes. Launched in 1988, the Russians sent the two probes to investigate Phobos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons. They were interested in the irregular orbital patterns, which led many to believe it to either an artificial construct or perhaps even hollow. The first probe was somehow lost on the journey from Earth, while the Phobos 2 made it to Mars. En route to the small moon, the probe took photographs of a cylindrical shaped shadow on Phobos’ surface. Shortly thereafter, the probe was destroyed. Its final picture, beamed back to Russia, has been declared too sensitive to release to the public. The same night, orthodox Russian priests were asked to go to Moscow Phobos 2 Control Centre to discuss the pictures received.
     I'm not sure if I want to know what is really out there.

~Ally

     Here in Brazil we often say and hear that St. Peter is responsible for controlling the weather, but I never quite understood why. So I decided to research a little bit!
     Turns out that this fame comes from the reports that St. Peter was chosen by Jesus to be the gatekeeper of Heaven - of which he is responsible for carrying the keys -, since he was the closest to Jesus. Thanks to that passage on the Bible, people began to associate Peter with heaven itself, in a "logic" more or less like this: "if he can open or close the doors and windows of heaven, than he is the one we should ask for rain or to cease the floodings".
     Remember that next time you forget your umbrella in a cloudy day!

~Ally

     Wait, what?! Before you think I finally went bonkers, look at the photo above. On the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, there is a underwater cave that blew my mind today: the Angelita Cenote.
     It is totally surreal, since there's a river in it that flows through the ocean - but the sweet water doesn't get mixed with the salty ocean water! That's possible thanks to a thin layer of hydrogen sulfate which separates the liquids and keeps the sweet water in the upper part and the salty in the lower one. So, when you dive under 30m, it is possible to approach the bottom, where you see a kind of cloud surrounded by tree's branches and logs. Awesome.

~Ally

     Don't think about "fuafa" just yet, my Brazilian friends! A Fuath (plural Fuathan) is actually an evil, Gaelic mythological water spirit. It's so evil that, in Irish Gaelic, the word "fuath" means "hate". Its name is sometimes used as a regional variance for Kelpie or Uisges in Northern Ireland or the Bean-Nighe. The Scottish use the name to refer to generic water spirits who inhabit the sea, rivers, fresh water, or sea lochs. Sometimes, this name is even given to highland or nature spirits, but all forms with the name are evil.
     Their appearance ranges from covered in shaggy, yellow fur to just having a mane down its back, webbed toes, tails with spikes, and no nose. They are prone to wearing green, whether it be a dress, robe, or kirtle, as it is the color of faeries. They sometimes intermarry with human beings (typically the female), whose offspring will share a mane, tail, and/or webbed digits. Their banes include sunlight and cold steel, which will kill them instantly. They grow restless upon crossing a stream. An alternative name for this class of monsters is Arrachd.

~Ally