Keepin Tabs

 

It's time for another round of What Tabs do I have open on my Web Browser?

Star of Africa

As I was working my way through a very large book about the history

of Africa, I read about the diamond trade, as Africa is known for its

diamond deposits. And even though I believe that the value of 

diamonds is artificially inflated, some of them are pretty impressive.

The Star of Africa, as it is often called, is one of the largest

diamonds ever discovered.

It was found in South Africa in 1905, and is sometimes referred to

as the Cullinan diamond, in honor of the founder of the Premier Mine,

where it was discovered.

The rough gem was cut into nine large gems and 96 smaller stones.

One of the largest pieces can be found in the scepter of the English Monarchy,

though there has recently been calls to return the stone to South Africa.

Hikikomori

I forget why I looked up this word, maybe it was in a book or article I was

reading. Or maybe it was in reference to a movie I was watching.

In any case, hikikmori is defined as a severe withdrawal from

any social interaction. People who make the choice to

live in extreme isolation. The ultimate hermit. 

It is associated with shut-ins in Japan; more particularly people who

live in isolation for months at a time.

Human Chop Shop

This one is a bit gruesome.

The so-called chop shop was an operation in Phoenix that claimed to be a

cadaver donation company. Families of the donors were told

their loved ones would be donated for research and medical training.

In 2014, the FBI raided the Biological Resource Center, and charged the

owner with selling body parts for profit. They also discovered that

the inventory was a jumbled mess, and many of the body

parts that were sold had been dismembered and were contaminated by disease.

I'll let you research this one further on your own time.

Goosio

In the TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K),

Experiment #1008 (Final Justice) we are introduced to a little

goose puppet called Goosio. Goosio is a friend to all Maltese children,

teaching manners and hygiene.

Goosio may or may not actually be real.

I can't find any indication that it was anything other than

a made up character for the MST3K episode.

A goose balloon briefly appears in the movie in a parade scene.

Unfortunately, the bots kill Goosio during the experiment, so

the world may never see the beloved little Goosio again.

The time the Dutch ate their Prime Minister

So in 1672, the Dutch people were unhappy with their current leader,

a man named Johan de Witt, who wasn't actually an elected or recognized leader,

but he held the most power at the time. 

The Dutch Republic was at war with France at the time, and the

people were demanding stronger leadership, and eventually it led to the

murder of Johan and his brother. To make their message clear, I guess.

While the angry mob may not have set up a barbece and handed 

out ribs to the crowds there are accounts of

some individuals taking body parts and eating them.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

The theoretical physicist with the dreamy blue eyes.

So, obviously I was reading about Oppenheimer for a couple reasons.

The big movie release this summer; my Halloween costume.

While he had numerous accomplishments and was a brilliant

theoretician, he is known most widely as the director of the

Los Alamos Labratory as part of the Manhattan Project. 

Oppenheimer researched and designed the atomic bomb. 

His famous line "Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds"

is actually a quote from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient Sanskrit text.

Death (or Time) eventually takes us all and destroys everything.

Mortals must surrender themselves to the power of the Universe.

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