What happens in "The Bell Jar"?

Search: bell jar

Why: In Ryan O'Connell's essay "How to See a Shrink" on Thought Catalog:

Experience a kind of depression you’ve never felt before. Live in the bell jar, cry during commercials in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is still shining and people are outside living their lives. Or just have lots of money and like to talk about yourself. Decide to call a therapist.

I never read that book, and I don't think I want to.

Answer: Oh, it has much more narrative than I suspected. Here is a summary of the summary:

Esther Greenwood, a girl from Boston, gets a summer internship at a magazine in NYC. She is not as excited as she feels like she's supposed to be, just kind of meh about the whole thing. She has a bitchy friend Doreen, and knows a baby-machine idiot named Dodo, but she respects Betsy from Kansas who is always good and nice.

Esther goes to her job and things happen. She has a beau back home who she expects to marry. She thinks a lot about Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, those communists who are scheduled for execution. She applies for a writing course by a famous author, but when she goes home, her seaward of a mom tells her she was rejected. She wants to write a novel, but she doesn't think she knows anything. After school, she doesn't want to pop out babies like Dodo or be a stenographer like all the other women of America, and the idea of not being able to do anything else bums her out.

Esther's depression makes her unable to asleep. Her mother sends her to a hot psychiatrist who Ester does not trust. He hastily diagnoses her and has her put in a hospital, where she receives electroconvulsive therapy that's is improperly administered. When she tells her mom she doesn't want to go back, her mom is all, "I knew you'd decide to be all right."



Esther gets more and more blue. She feels like she's trapped under a bell jar, struggling for breath. She half-asses some suicide attempts, and after a particularly elaborate one, she is sent to a different hospital. She is given a lady therapy, Dr. Nolan, who gives her psychotherapy and ECT done the right way.

Esther confides in Dr. Nolan that she envies the freedom men have, and that she worries about getting pregnant. Dr. Nolan hooks her up with a diaphragm, which makes Esther feel less scared about sex and having to marry the wrong man. She improves a lot, and the novel ends with her entering the room for an interview that will decide whether she can leave the hospital.

Esther.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: The real reason I am posting this is because I just read a ton about Sylvia Plath (b. 1932) who kilt herself at age 30. Points of interest:

• Almost all of the major plot points in The Bell Jar really happened to her.
• She married English poet Ted Hughes on 6/16/56.

• They had 2 kids, Frieda (b. 1960) and Nicholas (b. 1962).
• In Aug. 1961, she finished The Bell Jar.
• In July 1962, she discovered her husband having an affair with Assia Wevill, who was renting their flat in London with her [third] husband David. The couple separated.
  
• In Oct. 1962, Plath wrote most of the poems in Ariel (published posthumously).
  
• In Dec. 1962, she rented a flat in William Butler Yeats's old house with her two kids. It was cold and miserable; the kids were sick all the time, and she didn't have a phone.
• In Jan. 1963, The Bell Jar came out, published under the pen name Victoria Lucas, and was met with critical indifference.
• Plath's friend Dr. Horder saw that she was not doing well, and he prescribed her anti-depressants and arranged for her to have a live-in nurse.
• On Feb. 11, 1963, Plath put wet towels under the doors of her children's rooms and stuck her head in the oven. She died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
• At the time of Plath's suicide, Assia Wevill was pregnant with Hughes's child, but she terminated the pregnancy soon after. She helped Hughes care for Plath's children.
• In March 1965, Wevill gave birth to a daughter nicknamed Shura while still married to David Wevill. Though Hughes never publicly claimed Shura was his daughter, he believed she was his.

• On March 23, 1969, Wevill gassed herself and 4 year-old Shura in their London home using a gas stove. The two were found lying on a mattress.
• In Oct. 1998, Ted Hughes died of a heart attack.
• On March 16, 2009, Nicholas Hughes hanged himself at age 47.

#dark

Plath in photos: Cape Cod 1952, in Paris

Can I read my own palm?

Search: palm reading

Why: On Thought Catalog, "Marriage and Relationships from a 20-Something's Perspective" by Caitlin Stewart Truman:

A palm reader recently informed me that I do not have a union line. However, he also told me that I don’t have a life line. Obviously this means I am a rounded-out loner freak. Take what you will from the mystics, am I right?

Answer: As good as anyone else can! This Read your own PALM! thing looked promising for a few clicks, but then it petered out. They do offer an Online Palm Reading Service, but I don't have a scanner. I am now looking at some of their other resources on the same site.

For starters:

That's all well and good, but I seriously only have exactly 3 lines on my hand. Maybe 4, if you count a wrinkle down near the bottom. Maybe I just moisturize too much?

Uch, hands are so weird.

In good news,

• I will live forever (my Life Line is long and deep [twss])
• and carefully (my Head Line is touching my Life Line)

but also

• without luck (I have no space between my Life and Head Lines)
  
• selfishly / with a broken heart (my Heart Line starts between my 1 & 2 fingers)
• poor (I don't even have a Money Line)
• single and childless (I don't have Marriage or Children Lines, either)
  
• and with lots of complicated health problems (my Health Line is barely visible, at best)
  

It's looking pretty bleak.

But at least my hands are soft!

Source: OFESite

The More You Know: Did you know that the shapes and angles of your fingers and thumbs can tell you things about yourself, too? It's true! For example:

• If your top knuckles are smooth and your middle ones are knotty, then you are a person whose intellect and practicality work well together. A strong instinctive drive is characteristic of well developed knuckles.

WHAT!

What is onanism?

Search: onanism

Why: In this story "Man Accused of Masturbating on Flight Faces $5,000 Flight, 90 Days in Jail" on Gothamist (which I went to because Brian's post on The Gate):

Airborne onanism is costly these days! Alleged wanker Kyle Pearce, a 25-year-old Floridian (Go Gators!), was arrested on May 19th after witnesses saw him remove his penis and masturbate "to the point of ejaculation" during a United Airlines flight to Denver. An 18-year-old woman sitting across the aisle from Pearce told police, "I heard a noise and looked over and saw his penis. He was wearing jeans tucked into cowboy boots... He told me his name was Kyle. He ejaculated & got some on the seat." Wow, that Kyle sure knows how to break the ice!

Answer: It's masturbating! Jerking off! J-ing O! And it's Biblical!

• after Onan, son of Judah (Gen. 38:9)
  

But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother.

Yuck!

Here's the rest, y'all. It's one of the passages lunatics quote when talking about the Lord's distaste for contraception. Onan's brother was dead, ftr, and Onan only wanted to bang his widow Tamar, not raise her kids:

8 Then Judah said to Onan, 'Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for your brother.' 9 But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to see his brother's wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. 10 What he did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also.

Apparently, the thing that made God mad was that Onan was doing something fun without any consequences. Unacceptable!

Source: Dictionary.com, Matt1618

The More You Know:

What's the premise of "Halo"?

Search: halo

Why: We were just watching some commercial, and some guy on it looked like Iron Man, and I said, "Is that a Power Ranger?" and Chandler said, "That's Halo," and I asked if Halo was a person?, because I guess I always thought of it ("Halo") as some sort of place or universe or something, and he said he didn't really know... I think that brings us up to speed.

Answer: This is as much as I'm willing to read at this hour. You guys, I was woken up at 7:30 CST this morning because Sadie was catching a lizard, and then I went on 2 airplanes and to 3 airports, and now it's 12:30 PST...

In the past, an intelligent race called The Forerunners used their advanced technology to protect life, but were caught off-guard by an alien parasite known as the Flood. The Flood, which spread through infestation of sentient life, threatened and overran many worlds in the galaxy before the Forerunners could attempt to contain the threat. A group of Forerunners conceived a final solution—using an installation known as the Ark, they built seven large ring-shaped megastructures known as Halos. The Halo Array, when activated, would destroy all sentient life in the galaxy—depriving the Flood of their food. Delaying as long as they could, the Forerunners finally activated the rings and disappeared.

Here's the "Halo Array," I think:

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: Speaking of getting up at dawn, here is Ben's new favorite song. Get it out of your head!

What is a group of stingrays called?

Search: group of stingrays name

Why: I'm still in Florida, y'all. Today, Sadie and Meggan and I went on WaveRunners to look for dolphins. We saw lots of dolphins, and we also saw lots of stingrays. They looked like they were flapping their wings. They were traveling in packs. What are they called? A school? A flock? A fesnyng?

Answer: Who knows! I see these names:

• Draught!
• Drift!
• Scale!
• School!
• Shaol!
• Fever!
  

Source: Yahoo! Answers, Wikipedia,

The More You Know: The word "school" (like 'school of fish') may be a corruption of the word "shoal" - like Mussel Shoals. Or it may have come from somewhere else:

School of fish was borrowed from Middle Dutch schōle, "troop, group." This went back to West Germanic skulo, which may have been derived from the base skel-, skul- "split, divide" (source also of English scale, scalp, shell, etc); if so, it would mean etymologically a ‘division’.

Maybe 'shoal' came from that, too. Who knows.

What did Thomas Edison due to an elephant?

Search: edison elephant

Why: When Rachel said someone spoiled The Usual Suspects for her, Jeff said:

I hope it wasn't me.

I recently spoiled Edison's Electrocuting an Elephant for the wife.



1903.

Don't tell him, but he just spoiled it for me, too.

Answer: He electrocuted it to death! Oh god...

BUT it turns out this was a very mean elephant who had already trampled to death 3 handlers (one of whom was trying to feed her a lit cigarette) and was scheduled to be euthanized. So it's OK then.

He did it as a demonstration about the dangers of alternating current, which Westinghouse and Tesla were touting. Edison had established direct current at the standard for electricity distribution and was living large off the patent royalties when these guys showed up.

Edison's aggressive campaign to discredit the new current took the macabre form of a series of animal electrocutions using AC (a killing process he referred to snidely as getting "Westinghoused"). Stray dogs and cats were the most easily obtained, but he also zapped a few cattle and horses.

So he found this elephant. A news report:

Topsy, the ill-tempered Coney Island elephant, was put to death in Luna Park, Coney Island, yesterday afternoon. The execution was witnessed by 1,500 or more curious persons, who went down to the island to see the end of the huge beast, to whom they had fed peanuts and cakes in summers that are gone. In order to make Topsy's execution quick and sure 460 grams of cyanide of potassium were fed to her in carrots. Then a hawser was put around her neck and one end attached to a donkey engine and the other to a post. Next wooden sandals lined with copper were attached to her feet. These electrodes were connected by copper wire with the Edison electric light plant and a current of 6,600 volts was sent through her body. The big beast died without a trumpet or a groan.

Yuck!

Is it weird that we have pictures of these guys? Or is it weirder that I don't think I had any idea what Thomas Edison looked like until right now?

Source: Wired.com, Railway Bridge

The More You Know: I was thinking the other day about how funny it is that my cat and dog just walk on and over me as though I'm not even there. I wish we had some giant animals to just walk and climb on all the time without being afraid they would bite me. Baby elephants climb like puppies.

I want to see a picture of Brenda Reimer

Search: brenda reimer

Why: In response to this article about the Canadian hippies who are in the news because they controversially refuse to tell people the gender of their baby Storm, Caroline posted this sad tale about a boy (a twin) who - after a botched circumcision - was raised as a girl. He eventually went back to being a boy, and then he committed suicide. Let's watch:

Answer: Aww :( He was born Bruce, called Brenda, and then renamed David Reimer.

As little kids (with twin brother Brian):

And later,

And in between, the Peter Brady years.

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Because the circumstances seemed so perfect - whatwith the lack of gender identity crisis (at least initially) and with an ideal control (identical twin brother [who turned out to be schizophrenic]) - Bruce/Brenda/David got sucked into being a gender reassignment guinea pig for most of his childhood. Once his dong got destroyed, psychologist John Money convinced Bruce's parents to get him a surgery to remove his testes, call him Brenda, and turn him into a lady. For years, the psychologist wrote notes like this:

The child's behavior is so clearly that of an active little girl and so different from the boyish ways of her twin brother.

I feel like I don't have to tell you that these were just nonsense lies. From 22 months into his teenage years, Brenda - who did not yet have her artificially constructed lady vagina - peed through a hole surgeons had placed in hiser abdomen. Hse was also given estrogen during adolescence so he would grow boobs. But really:

Reimer did not identify as a girl. He was ostracized and bullied by peers, and neither frilly dresses (which he was forced to wear during frigid Calgary winters) nor female hormones made him feel female. By the age of 13, Reimer was experiencing suicidal depression, and told his parents he would commit suicide if they made him see John Money again.

Turns out that the parents had been lying to Money the whole time about the success of the gender reassignment! So at age 14, they began to reverse the procedures with testosterone injections, a double mastectomy, and two phalloplasty surgeries, completing it all in 1997 when David was 32. He married and became stepfather to 3 children. But eventually, his strained relationship with his parents and depression about his brother's death-by-overdose in 2002 caught up to him. He shot himself in the head in 2004 at age 38.

What does "estery" mean?

Search: estery definition; ester

Why: On the label for Samuel Adams Rustic Saison (available in the Sam Adams Summer Styles variety pack):

Incredibly complex yet refreshing, Rustic Saison is brewed in the farmhouse beer tradition. Unique floral, fruity, and estery flavors are imparted from its Belgian yeast. These flavors are layered with a citrusy and herbal hop character for a bright and satisfying brew.

Answer: "Tastes floral / fruity"! I see these 3 things:

• Ester - Volatile flavor compound naturally created in fermentation
• Estery - Aroma or flavor suggestive of flowers or fruits
• Fruity/Estery - Flavor and aroma of bananas, strawberries, apples, or other fruits

People throw that word around quite a bit on homebrewing forums.

An ester is an organic compound formed when an acid and an alcohol combine and release water.

Esters formed from simple hydrocarbon groups are colorless, volatile liquids with pleasant aromas and create the fragrances and flavors of many flowers and fruits. They are also used as food flavorings. Larger esters, formed from long-chain carboxylic acids, commonly occur as animal and vegetable fats, oils, and waxes. Esters have a wide range of uses in industry.

Source: Beer Terminology, TheFreeDictionary

The More You Know: The Kentucky Derby is tomorrow. What's the origin of the word julep, you ask? It comes from the Persian word گلاب Golâb, "rose water." It used to refer to any sweet drink that was used as or contained medicine, but now it just means delicious, delicious sugary minty bourbon.

What kind of tea is sweet tea usually made of?

Search: sweet tea

Why: We are making sweet tea vodka. I have a lot of tea - mostly green, a little black, some not really "tea" at all. Did you know that black, oolong, green, and white teas are all made from the same Camellia sinensis plant? It's true! The leaves and buds are just grown, harvested, or processed differently.

Answer: Black tea! True facts:

• The oldest known recipe for sweet iced tea - published in an 1879 community cookbook called Housekeeping in Old Virginia by Texan Marion Cabell Tyree - called for green tea.
• Most early sweet tea was made of green tea.
• During WWII, the U.S. was cut off from the major sources of green tea (Asian places), so we only had the tea that came from British-controlled India, which was all black.
• Since WWII, Americans have been drinking mostly black tea as iced tea.
  

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: The custom of drinking tea and having that whole snack/mealtime in the British Empire originated when Catherine of Bragança married Charles II in 1661. She brought the practice of drinking tea in the afternoon with her from Portugal.

Anyway, we ended up just using some Irish Breakfast to make our sweet tea vodka. I mean, Irish breakfast indeed!

I want to watch that news anchor lady who had a stroke or whatever at the Grammys

Search: news anchor stroke

Why: Did you see this on "30 Rock" last week? (Not this week; last week.) I know I'm late on this, but we still can't get enough of it.

Answer: Omglol. He did it so perfectly.

Well, a very, very heavay - ah - heavy durr, burtation tonight... We had a very darris, darrison? ...

Source: YouTube

The More You Know: In case you didn't follow up, Serene Branson says she suffered some sort of "complex migraine" that mimicked symptoms of a stroke. I dunno. I had a migraine today, and I sure didn't tarris tazen let's go to bet who had the pet.

I want to see some toad spawn

Search: toad spawn

Why: Rachel just posted:

Toad Spawn is quite different to frog spawn. The main reason is because the toad spawn, instead of being a large clump of jelly with eggs in, is a string of jelly containing eggs.

Answer: It's true!

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: For comparison, frog spawn:

Who are the shortest male celebrities?

Search: short celebrities

Why: On Facebook:

Answer: Here are some!

• Danny DeVito - 5-foot-nothin
  
• Prince - 5'2
• Wallace Shawn - 5'2
• Dudley Moore - 5'2.5
  
• Martin Scorcese - 5'3
  
• Mickey Rooney - 5'3
  
• Paul Simon - 5'3
• Joe Pesci - 5'4
  
• Michael J. Fox - 5'4
• Seth Green - 5'4
• Charlie Kaufman - 5'4.5
  
• Al Franken - 5'5
  
• Fred Durst - 5'5
• Nathan Lane - 5'5
  
• Jason Alexander - 5'5
• Roman Polanski - 5'5
• Scott Caan - 5'5
  
• Woody Allen - 5'5
• Dustin Hoffman - 5'5.5
• Elijah Wood - 5'6
  
• Gael Garcia Bernal - 5'6
• George Lucas - 5'6
  
• Jack Black - 5'6
  
• Sean Astin - 5'6
• Billy Joel - 5'6.5
• Henry Winkler - 5'6.5
  
• Tom Cruise - "5'7" in quotation marks
  

Source:Senselist, Daily Top 10, Starpulse, Best Week Ever,

The More You Know: And some of the tallest (I'm obvi not including athletes because, yknow, who cares):

• Jeff Daniels - 6'3
  
• Jimmy Stewart - 6'3
• Will Ferrell - 6'3
  
• Danny Glover - 6'3.5
• Dr. Phil - 6'4
  
• Clint Eastwood - 6'4
• Conan O'Brien - 6'4
  
• David Hasselhoff - 6'4
  
• Donald Sutherland - 6'4
• Kevin Nealon - 6'4
  
• Jason Segal - 6'4
• Jeff Goldblum - 6'4
• Joel McHale - 6'4
  
• John Laroquette - 6'4
• Matthew Modine - 6'4
• Stephen King - 6'4
  
• Tom Selleck - 6'4
• Randy Quaid - 6'4.5
  
• Tim Robbins - 6'4.5
  
• Howard Stern - 6'5
  
• John Corbett - 6'5
  
• Vince Vaughn - 6'5
• Liam Neeson - 6'6
  
• Penn Gillette - 6'6
• Dolph Lundgren - 6'6
  
• Brad Garrett - 6'7
  
• Michael Crichton - 6'9
  

What does an adult Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii look like?

Search: Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii

Why: In National Geographic's Photography Contest 2010:

Praying Mantis – Pseudocreobotra wahlbergii. This beautiful whalbergii evolved through two of its nymph-stages on the Barberton Daisy at left, surviving because of its bright color which blended so well with the flower. Towards the end of its growth into an adult, it became a little more adventurous (but not much more) as pictured here. Once it had shed the layer in this picture, it became a fully-fledged adult, and departed after about two weeks. Total stay in this tiny ecosystem was approximately six weeks. (Photo and caption by Fred Turck)

What the hell kind of bug is that?

Answer: First, it's a species of mantis called a "spiny flower mantis." Here it is in different stages. Look how weird and fancy!

Source: GOLDENORFE, Google Images

The More You Know:

What are the words to "Friday I'm in Love"?

Search: friday im in love

Why: I just saw this on Urlesque in "Top Ten Song Charts (By the 'I Love Charts' Master)":

It's a Threadless shirt from several years ago that I'm just getting around to seeing.

I know most of the words, but apparently not all of them.

Answer: Here are the important parts:

I don't care if Monday's blue
Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too
Thursday I don't care about you
It's Friday, I'm in love

Monday you can fall apart
Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart
Oh, Thursday doesn't even start
It's Friday I'm in love

(Saturday, wait
And Sunday always comes too late
But Friday, never hesitate)

I don't care if Mondays black
Tuesday, Wednesday - heart attack
Thursday, never looking back
It's Friday, I'm in love

Monday, you can hold your head
Tuesday, Wednesday stay in bed
Or Thursday - watch the walls instead
It's Friday, I'm in love

Listen along and contemplate Robert Smith's hair and wardrobe here.

Source: Sing365

The More You Know: I also like this one.

I want to see the Celtic tree calendar

Search: celt tree calendar

Why: On "10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Harry Potter" on Mental_Floss:

7. Harry, Ron and Hermione all have wand cores based on their birthdays: the Celt assigned trees to people based on that kind of like we assign gemstones today. She had already assigned Harry’s holly-based wand when she discovered the Celt tree calendar and found that she had accidentally assigned him the “right” type of wood.

The what!

Answer: Well here's one, but it doesn't help much because I don't know where my birthday fell on the lunar calendar...

so now I've also Googled "when was i born lunar," and here's a handy finder. It says:

Which I guess is closest to this one:

THE BALSAMIC MOON or WANING CRESCENT MOON (316d-359d) represents the end of the karmic round. The mature plant is ready to let its seeds blow in the winds until they find a spot where they can grow on their own. In an existence marked by this phase, the individual is concerned with wrapping up old projects and loose ends. A powerful desire to rectify the misdeeds of the past can lead to preoccupation with memories of bygone days. Such reminisces may be an unhealthy obsession, or they may enrich the soul with the essence of garnered experience. At the same time, one may look wistfully toward the future in anticipation of a new karmic cycle and a new purpose to be undertaken under the coming new Moon.

I don't know what that's supposed to mean, but it does say this at the top:

See if your intuition and the way you view your life and self matches!

OK, sure, yeah, I guess I remember a lot of things.

And now back to the trees.

...Oh - this is embarrassing - I just realized that if I scrolled down a little further on the Tree page, I would have just found this.

Saille - Willow

Month: February
Color: listed only as bright
Class: Peasant
Letter: S
Meaning: Gaining balance in your life

Peasant! It also says:

Nicknames: The Witches' Moon; Moon of Balance
Magickal Properties: Romantic Love; Healing; Protection; Fertility; Magick for Women

How nice.

Although this other site says I'm a Rowan tree, so who knows:

Rowan - The Thinker
January 21-February 17

Celtic tree astrology recognizes Rowan signs as the philosophical minds within the zodiac. If you were born under the Rowan energy, you are likely a keen-minded visionary, with high ideals. Your thoughts are original and creative, so much so, that other’s often misunderstand from where you are coming. This sometimes makes you aloof when interacting with others as you feel they wouldn’t understand where you are coming from anyway. Nevertheless, although you may appear to have a cool exterior, you are burning within from your passionate ideals. This inner passion provides inner motivation for you as you make your way through life. You have a natural ability to transform situations and people around you by your mere presence. You are highly influential in a quiet way and others look to you for your unique perspectives. Rowan pairs well with Ivy and Hawthorn signs.

So I don't know what to think.

Source: Joelle's Sacred Grove, Astro Dream Advisor, the Navy?, Druidry.org, Celtic Tree Astrology

The More You Know: Wait, "balsamic moon"? That's just what it's called. Balsam is an "aromatic resin used for healing wounds and soothing pains." The Waning Gibbous Moon is also called "Disseminating."

What is an oast house?

Search: oast house

Why: On Farmville (I play it!), you can buy one for your farm in the English countryside. It looks like a teepee, and also what the hell is it and why does it sound so Canadian.

Answer: It has to do with beer-making! An oast is a kiln that is used to dry hops. This is what the inside of that thing looks like:

Brimstone! It's another name for sulfur.

And here's a real one:

Source: The Free Dictionary

The More You Know: Are you now thinking about hops and where hops grow and what hops look like and other things like that? You can read all about them right here.

What are the four humors and what do they do?

Search: the four bile

Why: Marcel said The Smiths are great because everyone needs a little melancholy in his life (even though I called them "pretty goddamn melodramatic," not melancholy).

That word comes from Greek melas, "black" + khole "bile."

Medieval physiology attributed depression to excess of "black bile," a secretion of the spleen and one of the body's four "humors."

(Also, the name Chloe comes from the word for the greenish-yellow color of bile, too.)

Answer: First, they are outlined the Hippocratic Corpus as a way to balance bodily fluids.

They are!

1. Yellow bile! (gall bladder)
   
2. Black bile! (spleen)
   
3. Phlegm! (brain/lungs)
   
4. Blood! (liver)
   

Each is associated with a season and a quality:

• Yellow bile: Summer; hot & dry
• Black bile: Autumn; cold & dry
• Phlegm: Winter; cold & moist
• Blood: Spring; hot & moist
  

They are also associated with elements and hypochondriac diseases:

• Yellow bile: Fire; too much fire made a person choleric
• Black bile: Earth; too much earth made him melancholic
• Phlegm: Water; too much water, phlegmatic
• Blood: Air; too much air, sanguine

Each had a corresponding body type and complexion:

• Yellow bile: Red-haired, thin
• Black bile: Sallow, thin
• Phlegm: Corpulent
• Blood: Red-cheeked, corpulent
  

and a temperament or personality:

• Yellow bile: Ambitious, bad tempered, vengeful violent
• Black bile: Despondent, introspective, irritable, sentimental, sleepless
• Phlegm: Calm, cowardly, unemotional, pallid, sluggish
• Blood: Amorous, generous, happy, hopeful, responsible
  

and also:

Source: About.com/ancienthistory, Wikipedia,

The More You Know: They also have suggested modern equivalents, as well as Myers-Briggs types:

• Yellow bile: Idealist; NF (intuition-feeling)
• Black bile: Guardian; SJ (sensing-judgment)
• Phlegm: Rational; NT (intuition-thinking)
• Blood: Artisan; SP (sensing-perception)

Which one are you? (I am phlegm.)

How can I tell a raven from a crow?

Search: crow raven

Why: Yesterday, a giant black bird bigger than Maddie came and sat by the edge of the pool. We thought it might try to snatch up Chloe and carry her away. I have heard people call those huge birds both crows and ravens, but I'm pretty sure they are 2 different animals.

Answer: Here's a secret: the raven is a type of crow! It is in the genus corvus, anyway, and that word kind of sounds like "crow," and the birds in that genus are all small and mostly black... but corvus actually means "raven" in Latin, so make of that what you will. So there are "true crows" like the American Crow, and then there are ravens like the Common Raven. Distinguishing features!

Crow

• Smaller - about the size of a pigeon
• Call is higher pitched and more nasal, like this
• Tail is fan-shaped
• Fly with deliberate flapping wingbeats
  
• Tend to live near cities, buildings, and human developments

Raven

• Bigger - about the size of a hawk
• Call is lower pitched and hoarse, kind of croaky, like this
• Tail is wedge-shaped
• Alternates between flapping and soaring like a hawk
  
• Prefer to live in wilder areas - or near parks or open spaces
  

Source: Shades of Night, Bird Guide

The More You Know: Nevermore!

What even is a lentil?

Search: lentil

Why: I forgot to bring my lunch today, so I am eating Spinach Lentil Soup from Trimana. I am not sure whether "lentil" is a catch-all term for many types of small legume or if all lentils come from a specific type of plant. This is because the lentils I see in pictures or soups always seem to be a variety of different colors, shapes, and sizes.

The word "lentil" also make me think of Chicken Little.

Answer: The "lentils" you eat - always cooked - are the seeds of the lens culinaris or lens esculenta plant!

They come in hundreds of different varieties that may be round, oval, or heart-shaped. The most common types are green and brown, but others range in color from white to red-orange, yellow to black. Lentils are sold with or without skins, whole or split.

Source: WHFoods, Wikipedia, CookThink, Elements4Health

The More You Know: Here are some good reasons why you should eat some lentils today!

• Lentils are high in protein - about 26%!
  
• Lentils have almost no fat!
  
• Lentils are high in fiber - both the soluble and the insoluble type! Ew!
• The soluble fiber in lentils can help lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of coronary heart disease!
  
• The soluble fiber in lentils can also help prevent wide swings in blood sugar levels!
  
• A whole cup of lentils is only 230 calories!
• Lentils contain folate!
• Lentils have magnesium!
• Lentils have not 1, but TWO B-vitamins!
• Lentils can help increase your energy by replenishing your iron stores!
• Lentils contain high levels of flavones, which have been associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer!