by david allan van nostrand | Apr 18, 2022 | Human Behavior, Items in the News, Point of view
To be on cloud nine is to be in a state of intense well-being. The most common explanation for the origin of the term tells us that the United States Weather Bureau classifies nine levels of clouds. The clouds on Level Nine are the ones we know as the fluffy white...
by david allan van nostrand | Apr 11, 2022 | Human Behavior, Misinformation traps, Psychology
Devotees of rump reading purport to find deeper meaning in the lines, crevices, dimples, warts, and moles of people’s buttocks. Rump reading was big in ancient Babylon, where seekers of rectal wisdom (one wonders who they were) covered their hindquarters with liquid...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 28, 2022 | Fads, Human Behavior, Items in the News
Shouyang, a Chinese princess, fell asleep under a plum tree. A flower petal landed on her forehead and left a purple imprint that was thought to enhance her pale-skinned beauty. Ladies of the court were so impressed that they started decorating their own foreheads to...
by david allan van nostrand | Mar 21, 2022 | Fads, Human Behavior, Items in the News
In ancient Greece, early influencers were professionals hired to manipulate audiences’ emotions by applauding performers and performances. In French theaters and opera houses, the pros were called claquers. By the 1830s, theater impresarios would order groups of...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 28, 2022 | Anthropology, Human Behavior, Items in the News
Most people in the USA know when small children lose baby teeth, they are told to put them under the pillow and when they wake up next morning, the Tooth Fairy will have left something for them. The tooth “disappears” the same way Santa “appears” – while the...
by david allan van nostrand | Feb 7, 2022 | Human Behavior, Teaching
If you read last week’s article, you might be ready to take the multiple choice section of final exam. If you missed it or if you want to better your chances of passing the exam, please click here to go back and read or reread the course summary. Otherwise, start here...
