{"id":1881,"date":"2014-09-22T23:12:40","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T03:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=1881"},"modified":"2014-09-22T23:12:40","modified_gmt":"2014-09-23T03:12:40","slug":"a-song-and-a-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=1881","title":{"rendered":"A song and a dance."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flowerandsun\"<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I made this photo a couple of years ago.\u00a0 I can remember it clearly.\u00a0 Not where I was exactly… but WHAT I was thinking.\u00a0 When I shot this… it felt like the universe was revealing one of its beautiful mysteries…. and wonders.\u00a0\u00a0 It was as if the setting sun was singing to that flower, and back again.<\/p>\n

But you know, there are all sorts of mysteries on this planet.\u00a0 Things, which just cannot be explained by human, nor scientific measures.\u00a0 Oh sure… there are all the usual suspects.\u00a0 The Pyramids of Giza, the mystery of Easter Island and the Moai statues,\u00a0 the great Aztec works, Stonehenge,\u00a0 crop circles and more.<\/p>\n

But how about things like The Antikythera Mechanism?\u00a0\u00a0 These days it looks like a crusted block with gears and such.\u00a0 BUT…. it is an incredibly intricate analogue computer…. which was found in a shipwreck near Greece in the year 1900.<\/p>\n

The device was used to determine the positions of celestial bodies using a mind-bogglingly complex series of bronze gears.\u00a0 Now…. in and of itself, this whole deal would already be impressive.<\/p>\n

But the “when of it” is even more intriguing.\u00a0\u00a0 It was created more than 1,000 years before anything even approaching its level of technological complexity and workmanship was made.<\/p>\n

This calculating computer came long before our modern understanding of astronomy and physics. The Antikythera Mechanism was built over 1,600 years before Galileo was born, and over 1,700 years before Isaac Newton was born.\u00a0 Drop an apple on my head, I’ll tell you.\u00a0 Who could have made such a thing?<\/p>\n

Not impressed?\u00a0 Okay.\u00a0 What about this.<\/p>\n

The Dancing Plague of 1518.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now get this.\u00a0 On a summer\u2019s day in the town of Strasbourg…. a woman began dancing wildly in the street. That women danced all dang day… and well into the night.\u00a0 And she kept going and going.\u00a0 Day and night.\u00a0 (I am not bull-crapping you here, either.)<\/p>\n

Within a week, 34 others had joined her, dancing as though they were possessed.\u00a0 These folks were relentless.\u00a0 They danced their little feet off…. without stopping….. for days on end… AND….. for no apparent reason. Within a month, the number of dancers had reached 400.<\/p>\n

Physicians were called in to document the event and try to find a solution. And all the while, the dancing worsened. Many became ill or died as a result of exhaustion, strokes, or heart attacks.<\/p>\n

So what did the authorities decide?\u00a0 Well…. it wasn’t the Puritanical Witch Hunt that you’d find in the U.S…..\u00a0 I’ll tell you that.\u00a0 Those authorities all decided it was best if they danced it out of their systems.<\/p>\n

Gild halls and a grain market were opened to the dancers, and a wooden stage was even constructed for them. Musicians were even brought in to keep those affected moving.\u00a0 To this day we still have no answer for this truly unbelievable historical event.<\/p>\n

I just think when the rhythm hits you …. it hits you.\u00a0 Happy feet take over.\u00a0 And that’s all she wrote.<\/p>\n

My only advice tonight… is this.\u00a0\u00a0 Pay attention to the wonders of the universe.\u00a0 It is trying to tell YOU something.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe it is telling you to dance… when the sun sings to the flowers.\u00a0 Maybe.<\/p>\n

\u201cA man is a very small thing, and the night is very large and full of wonders.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 – Lord Dunsany<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe few wonders of the world only exist while there are those with the sight to see them.\u201d\u00a0 — Charles de Lint<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I made this photo a couple of years ago.\u00a0 I can remember it clearly.\u00a0 Not where I was exactly… but WHAT I was thinking.\u00a0 When I shot this… it felt like the universe was revealing one of its beautiful mysteries…. and wonders.\u00a0\u00a0 It was as if the setting sun was singing to that flower, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1881"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1884,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1881\/revisions\/1884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}