Walpurgis Night or Walpurgisnacht. Another fire, fellowship, and fun-filled mid season celebration brought to you by those kookie Germanic folk. Saint Walpurga is the reason for this particular seasonal celebration, but that’s only because they moved her remains about 100 years after she died and made that the reason for an annual feast in her name. Saint Walpurga is characterized by her perceived efficacy against the forces of pests, rabies, whooping cough, and those wicked witches who roam the lands. Plus, those dirty pagans happened to have a celebration at that same exact time of year that just needed to be swept away. Thus, Walpurgisnacht was born!

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Unicorns and tangents. I guess I could say more about this episode, but that’s about the gist of what happened. We talked about Unicorns, but boy did we go in wild directions while we were doing it. So apparently a story tells of Unicorns that were the size of mountains and that’s why they couldn’t fit on Noah’s Ark and that’s why we don’t see Unicorns today? Another story says they were too silly to get on the ark so Noah had to leave them behind. 

#BringOnTheQuestions #Podcast #Unicorns #DancingOnRainbows #CryingLaughing

We learned so much in a year! It’s actually pretty mind blowing! This episode was supposed to be the entire year in review, but we’re pretty good at tangents and getting distracted too. Soooo we only talked about the trailer and first 15 episodes. Anyway we hope you enjoy our very non-structured and mostly conversational episode.

#BringOnTheQuestions #Learning #History #67 #Conversation

Three guys who went to college together were tired of the bland canned coffee they were being served and set out to do something about it. They brought together the best coffee beans they could find and called their company Starbucks. Then another guy came along and said they could do so much more than just sell beans. They turned him down until his “third place” between work and home became the best thing around. He bought their company and many others in the years to come to become a global phenomenon that has no intention of slowing down.
 
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Big Corporations have been an American staple since the beginning of America right up to this very day. Textiles, railroads, telecommunications, and petroleum were the dominating forces of the early days and in the modern day we are inundated with the overwhelming power of technology in its many forms. Big Corporations are forces of unnatural power and they are fully aware of that face. They know all too well that we mere mortals despise them, but we also cannot live without them.

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Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) and its variant, paraskevidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th), are among the West's most enduring superstitions, costing the U.S. economy up to $900 million in lost productivity every Friday the 13th.

The stigma begins with mathematics. Ancient civilizations venerated the number 12 as a symbol of "divine completeness" (12 months, 12 zodiac signs, 12 gods of Olympus). As a prime number following this "perfect" dozen, 13 became viewed as a "disruptor" or a source of chaos.

Studies show a fascinating paradox: while traffic accidents can increase by 52% due to driver anxiety and stress, other data suggests the date is actually safer because superstitious individuals are "preventatively more careful." Ultimately, the danger lies not in the number itself, but in the psychological stress and confirmation bias of the observer.

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Coral Castle is a physical representation of intense dedication and incredible engineering. Edward Leedskalnin spent most of his life building Coral Castle with the hope of his former love joining him and starting a full life complete with children. However, that was not to be. He brought the world this engineering marvel at the cost of his broken heart. 

#BringOnTheQuestions #CoralCastle #Engineering #EdwardLeedskalnin #History #Oolite

Superstition is an enduring cognitive bridge between the rational pursuit of causality and the psychological need for agency in an uncertain world. Etymologically derived from the Latin superstitio ("standing over"), the term has evolved from Roman associations with excessive ritual to Medieval Christian labeling of "pagan remnants" and "erroneous belief."

As society moves into the 21st century, superstition has adapted to technology. "Lucky Girl Syndrome" functions as a digital manifestation ritual, while fears surrounding 5G mimic the ancient "Evil Eye." Even in professional settings, "the ghost in the machine" manifests as beliefs that printers sense stress or that IT professionals possess "expert magic" to scare hardware into compliance.\

Ultimately, superstition thrives in the "knowledge gap." Whether through Ice Age rituals or modern hashtags, these beliefs persist because they address a fundamental human need: the hope that small, symbolic actions can influence the grand machinery of fate. #BringOnTheQuestions #Podcast #Superstition #LuckyGirlSyndrome #Fate

Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s that time of year where goats are sacrificed and naked priests run around spanking women with strips of goat hides to ensure fertility and ease of pain during childbirth….oh wait….no no….that’s how Lupercalia, the precursor to Valentine’s Day, is celebrated. Sometime later the church decided that kind of celebration was a little too intense to find a partner for a romantic occasion. Later still Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Parliament of Fowls introduced something that was a little closer to the idea of how we celebrate Valentine’s Day today.

#BringOnTheQuestions #Podcast #Valentine #Lupercalia #History

Here we go, we’re breaking down another cryptid creature. This time we want to know about the sad sad loose skinned teary eyed Squonk that lurks around the hemlocks of north-central Pennsylvania. It was described early on in William T. Cox’s Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods, With a Few Desert and Mountain Beasts. It’s a long name, but the short book is packed full of cryptids from all over the United States. Cox says about the Squonk “Because of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles, it is always unhappy”. Its peculiar defense mechanism is quite unique. If it’s spooked by anything it’ll simply burst into a puddle of liquid.

J.P. Wentling once thought he was clever enough to have caught a Squonk in a burlap sack, but soon enough all Wentling was carrying was a sopping sack.

#BringOnTheQuestions #Podcast #Squonk #Cryptid #Believe