The History and Mystery of Yemen’s ‘Well of Hell’ - The first-ever expedition to the bottom of a startling desert sinkhole found wonders—but only natural ones, by Sarah Durn October 20, 2021
"...Actually, there was a concern more sinister than reptiles and spirits when Al-Kindi finally reached the bottom: unexploded ordnance. Since 2014, Yemen has been in the midst of a bloody civil war and, Al-Kindi explains, pilots sometimes drop bombs into caves, since people seek shelter inside. “So that got me worried a bit,” he says. “Apart from that, it was a very enjoyable moment.” ...Al-Kindi estimates the sinkhole could be several million years old, but its origin, too, is the subject of local legend. One legend says an ancient king forced jinn to carve the “well” as a place to hide his treasure. In others, the well has always served to contain evil, uncontrollable jinn..."
In a contemporary twist, some younger Koreans are keeping traditional #superstition alive to ensure good luck and ward off evil spirits
... There is also a special practice done before driving a new car for the first time to wish for safety in the future when driving the car: ... Lastly, they wrap the dried #pollack with silk thread and put it in the car.🙃 #kdrama https://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20240604050577
In parts of the United Kingdom, seeing a single magpie is considered a bad omen. However, saluting the magpie by tipping your hat and giving it a friendly greeting as a sign of respect can ward off any bad luck that could result from the encounter. #FolkloreSunday
it's the little things that make you question your perception of reality. I've pretty much relegated luck and superstition to coincidence and focus concentrated by worry.
Today, however, I was told that a package would arrive soon via a messenger. I thought, the best way to make it arrive immediately was to do something that would make me unavailable to answer the door for the messenger. I had to get dressed, and did so quickly, not wanting to specifically do anything wrong. But,
I left my phone in the closet. I could not hear when the Ring doorbell was pressed.
In another room, brushing my hair not 30 seconds later, I realized that I had left my phone in the closet. I rushed back to the closet, picked up my phone, and noticed the notification that the messenger had arrived.
The video showed he was already leaving...
This is what happens when I try to disbelieve in the all holy Murphy.
Apparently within Hinduism, some consider eclipses to be pretty terrible events and take great pains to not see them. I learned this from a student, who was worried because I had given an extra credit assignment to observe the lunar eclipse and the upcoming solar eclipse.
I'm not religious myself, but I teach at a Catholic school, so I feel like if we're talking about one religion, we should talk about all of them. I"ll have to think about how to deal with this respectfully in the future...
@sundogplanets Yep and it is getting worse owing to popular Gurus peddling pseudoscience and superstitions. During Solar eclipse many people choose to stay indoors and don't consume food!
Indian rationalists have long struggled against it.
Apparently in Delhi's siege during 1857 mutiny against Raj some soldiers gave up fighting during solar eclipse of 18 September considering it bad omen..
@mike husband went to do some work after the second. When he came back with 6 minutes left in the third, I told him to turn right around and get out of here. #HNOM#Superstition
@SmudgeTheInsultCat
All in God's great plan, said Mark Twain: Great care was taken to preserve the housefly, the typhoid bacillus, the mosquito ... #superstition
To protect someone from magic, an English wise woman or cunning man would create a witch bottle, which contained the person's urine, hair, or nail clippings along with special objects. Spells would get sucked into the bottle rather than target their victim. #FolkloreSunday
My collard greens are cooked. My cornbread is baked. My good luck New Year’s Day meal will all come together after I wake up and make the blacked eyed peas and stewed tomatoes later on today, January 1, 2024. #tradition#superstition#happynewyear#blackmastodon#goodluck
Y'all can go with your superstitions, but "wishing" without acting isn't going to get you anywhere on your "wishes". Goes into the "thoughts and prayers" bucket. And "goals" without actual quantifiable and measurable actions (ie "goal of phasing out fossil fuels"). #realism#superstition
Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition
Stuart Vyse investigates our proclivity towards these irrational beliefs. Superstitions, he writes, are the natural result of several well-understood psychological processes, including our human sensitivity to coincidence, a penchant for developing rituals to fill time (to battle nerves, impatience, or both), our efforts to cope with uncertainty, the need for control, and more.
PBS once unleashed a funked-up #StevieWonder live on the kids of Sesame Street for a blazing version of #Superstition. Pretty sure around 3:30 Stevie shouts 'Go, Cookie Monster' before going into an extended #SesameStreet jam. 😎
Je viens d'apprendre qu'au moyen-âge le #vert était pour les chrétiens la couleur diabolique. Quand on pense que c'est la couleur de l'islam on comprend mieux l'antagonisme des armées (des deux bords) de l'époque !
"Au XVIème siècle, le vert était considéré comme emblême de ruine, d'affliction et de déshonneur : le vert avait été, durant le moyen-âge, la couleur diabolique, celle du bonnet du malfaiteur cloué au pilori des Halles, celle du manteau des fous. Pendant l'Inquisition, une croix verte entourée d'un crêpe noir figurait habituellement dans la procession d'un auto-da-fé." Andrée Ruffat, "La superstition à travers les âges ", Petite Bibliothèque Payot 1977 #MardiLecture#Superstition#Superstitions
LOLSOB on the radio amateur who just said (in a worried voice) on the air on our net that he's "staying inside" until the eclipse is over. 😬 #superstition
According to the Welsh, water that takes long to boil is bewitched; to make it boil, use three different kinds of wood on the fire. Also, water drawn in silence before sunrise on Sunday, in one jug from three separate flowing springs, is imbued with magic. #FolkloreSunday#folklore#superstition#occult#Celtic#Wales
The NASA Psyche mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche will now launch on Friday the 13th 👻
Stormy weather has caused the launch date to move from Thursday to Friday at 10:19 a.m.
Launch window is instantaneous.
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A at KSC in Florida.
Launch vehicle: Falcon Heavy
@AkaSci ISRO is also wary of number 13. It is not a coincidence that launches with that serial (PSLV-C13, GSLV-F13) and satellite name (GSAT-13) were simply skipped over. Their countdowns are also initiated to avoid 'inauspicious' period.🙃
Carl Sagan: "...clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness." #superstition#CarlSagan#horoscopes