Do You Know….?

[Kat]

Can you figure out who this famous person is? Only hint is: 2 “degrees of separation” from our LizzieBorden Forum).

[Kat]

OK, I’ll give a bigger clue tomorrow- thanks for trying…

[Kat]

Big Clue

[camgarsky4]

That can't be ozzie can it? If it is, he's lost some facial weight!!

[Kat]

Yes! Good job!
He looks healthy, I think.
Stef and I are watching “The Osborne’s Want to Believe”- it’s very entertaining.

[Kat]

Do you know what this is? Seriously, no one knows- your guess is as good as any! Ideas?

[camgarsky4]

I'm guessing some type of 'dice' game for the Romans.

After googling, one interesting tidbit is that these things have only been found in the northwest portions of the Roman empire (Holland, Belgium, Germany, etc.). Not sure what that might imply.

[Kat]

It could be! It makes sense, that’s a good guess, but wouldn’t dice be made out of more simple material? These are metal.
I remember a show that was giving theories about Stonehenge, and there was large agreement it was a Calendar and timekeeper and tomb. The current reaction to that is now: “ why not use some sticks and string for timekeeping (sundial) and bury bodies like other cultures.” Meaning it was too “overbuilt” for something mundane. I got the impression these are “overbuilt.”

I did see a demonstration on Tv by a knitter and they used the different sized holes for different sized fingers and created a glove, but the knitter did not show how they began the process. And would a knitter have high status in an ancient civilization to own one of these?

One of the first ideas was that it was used somehow for navigation on the seas. But they still couldn’t explain how it might work.

I am of the impression they are hard to find- pretty rare, but can’t say you’re wrong!
You’ve now got me thinking of bocce ball! Also invoking gambling! Hmmmm…

[Kat]

Do you know there are 3 degrees of separation between Lizzie and …..who? (These 2 count as one because they are married and pretty much know the same people)
Starting with

[Kat]

We know Hickman hung out with Sir Henry Irving, of the British stage.

[Kat]

And Irving hung out with This Guy who is now super famous-and super creepy- do you know who he is?
Oops, clic on pic and he’ll turn right side up:

[Kat]

Any one want to guess who this creepy guy is? Famous painter in his time…got the attention of a famous mystery author of our time…

[Kat]

No guesses? Here’s the famous mystery writer’s book…She has spent millions of dollars to research and prove her theory of who was… Jack the Ripper!
You probably know this book, by Patricia Cornwell.

[Kat]

Walter Sickert

If you clic on pic it will show right side up

[Kat]

If you “Google image” him you will see some eerie paintings that , in their composition, seem to reflect the image we have of the Ripper victim- Mary Kelly. I don’t subscribe to her theory, but these paintings are strange. BTW:you may not want to look at naked ladies who look dead- beware!
So, we have :
Lizzie knows Nance (Mrs Hickman)
Hickman, as an actor, hangs around with Sir Henry Irving
Who is good friends with Walter Sickert …( who is a suspect now in the Jack the Ripper killings.)

[Kat]

Do you know… Lizzie also went to the Columbia Exposition after she was released from jail, prior to its closing in October 1893 and H.H. Holmes, Chicago’s prolific serial killer, was at work in the town at the time?
Maybe a couple of miles separated them, him in his “murder castle” and Lizzie at the Fair!

[Kat]

Duplicate post

[Kat]

Do you know, tonight, on History Channel, the TV show History’s Greatest Mysteries, at 9 PM, has an episode on “The Black Dahlia?”
The show usually offers several theories of the cases they investigate- pretty well done, so far, I think.

[Kat]

Well, it was a little bit boring, if you can imagine that! They managed to show her body a zillion times. They included the Cleveland Torso Killings of 1934-38 as one of the theories, then kind of disproved it. The show was just OK, but it’s good to bring it up again, as another unsolved crime.

[Kat]

Tonight again repeat at 8 pm History channel “Black Dahlia”.
After that, if interested, the new offering is “Gardner Museum Robbery.” You know, Boston…

[Kat]

It was nice to see Boston again.
The reward now is $10 million for return of the art. (It’s been doubled).
Better than the Borden reward of $5,000!
BTW, I believe at the time of the Borden murders, there was a 6 year statute of limitations for the crime of murder in 1892- but I don’t know my source- just a notation I made to myself- so no reward would still exist in that case, after all.

[Kat]

Do you know, that around the beginning of this year, your Social Security check now comes 3 days early? You can look at yr account the Sunday before it’s due and it will show as included in yr balance and it’s available, even tho says “pending”. Yippee

[Kat]

Do you know that the Sahara desert sands are caught in a “Bermuda High” this season and have been wafting their way to Florida, even into the Gulf?
What that does is:
Dryer air and less hurricanes
Beautiful sunsets!
Did you also know that the Bahamas were created by Sahara sand?
Here’s the local weather (Central Florida) showing this on this past Monday, taken as a screen shot from TV by moi
(You probably don’t want to click on this one because the file is HUGE)

[Kat]

Todays sunset, FL.
Plz click on pic

[Kat]

Do you know the kind of 4’ bird this is?
They were in my street yesterday and stopped traffic and stayed put when I walked up to them.
Sorry, have to click to get them to right-side-up.

[Kat]

Back to the dodecahedron. There was a story on this Friday night on The Proof Is Out There
It was related to us that these have been around since the “the early 17th century!”
One of the first theories was it was for divining purposes.
The next was that it was involved in a game with dice! (Still not proven, but good guess camgarsky!) …more to come…

[Kat]

The show asks the experts about a viral online topic or pic, to find the *proof*.
The consortium agrees they don’t know what it is, but that at least 100 have been found, and there are no records or mentions in historical texts that describe the thing and its usage.
It’s been found in military camps, temples and baths, and also with coin caches.
So far they’ve explored it as related to:
Weapons
Money
Games
Representing a star or constellation
Survey tool

Because of where they’ve been found, they are not leaning towards religious practices, which is rather refreshing, because it seems to me, in archaeology, if something is not known, it gets tossed into the category of religious rituals, or worship.

This map shows where they have been found. Keep in mind 17th century+ so far.
Plz clic on pic if you want it bigger

[Kat]

Of course, a dodecahedron is 12 sided, and since past civilizations paid a lot of attention to astronomical matters, and related astrology, it has been posited there is an astrological use for it.

These are screen grabs from TV by moi.

[Kat]

When caches of coins were mentioned, I wondered if the object’s holes were for counting coins or sizing coins to determine if they were real or counterfeit. That would be a really sensible use for the dodecahedron!
But it doesn’t account for the knobs…
But, see how the coins have nicks and dents in their outer rim? (See close up)~ maybe that happened when a coin was shoved thru one of these holes. Whichever official that checked the coin, would probably gain a bit of the coin as profit.
(Screen grabs of TV show by moi)

[Kat]

Well, there was another theory that it was used for survey work. The knobs would be tied to a makeshift tripod, according to the size holes from which they would take their view. Meaning, the holes would be pre-determined by an expert to line up in a certain way, so that looking thru one, would create a sight line through a smaller hole or a larger hole depending on what needs to be measured.
This also seems plausible, but why would the object be so scarce, and never be described throughout history?

[Kat]

View thru holes

[Kat]

Math and measurements