According to Lovecraft, the "Necronomicon" was written in the eighth century by a crazy Arabian man named Abdul Alhazred. Alhazred (who was also fictional) practiced evil magic. He assembled a collection of evil spells into a manuscript (a book with loose pages and no cover) which he called "Al Azif". Lovecraft said this as an Arabian phrase for a scary sound, like a scream. Later, the original manuscript was translated into Greek. It was given the title "Necronomicon". Olaus Wormius (a real person) then translated the Greek version into Latin. John Dee (also real) translated the "Necronomicon" into English. Lovecraft liked to mix in real people and places in his fiction. This made the stories seem more real. Some people were fooled into thinking what he wrote was true.
Since Lovecraft's death, several authors have written their own versions of the "Necronomicon". They are the author's imagination of what the "Necronomicon" would be like, if it were real. A few claim to be the actual "Necronomicon". The most famous case of a "real" "Necronomicon" is the "Simon" "Necronomicon". Simon is a fake name. It was published in the 1970s. The "Simon" "Necronomicon" is based on Sumerian mythology. It has nothing to do with H. P. Lovecraft's fiction. Some people dislike the "Simon" "Necronomicon". They do not like that it pretends to be real. Sometimes, people believe it to be real. Simon has written several books about the "Necronomicon"'s "discovery".
Here are some hoax Necronomicons (books that the authors claim are the real Necronomicon):
Here are some books that are the authors' imaginations of what the Necronomicon might be like:
Here are all the books by Simon about the "Necronomicon":
Occult
Occult refers to an area of knowledge or thought that is hidden. The word occult has many uses in the English language. Often it means knowledge that lies outside the range of normal experience or scientific explanation. The term sometimes means knowledge meant only for certain people or knowledge that must be kept hidden. For most occultists it is the study of a deeper spiritual reality.
The term occult is also used as a label given to a number of magical organizations or orders, and the teachings and practices as taught by them. The name also extends to a large body of literature and spiritual philosophy.
Occultism is the study of occult. It can involve such subjects as magic (alternatively spelled and defined as magick), extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, numerology and lucid dreaming. There is often a strong religious element to these studies and beliefs, and many occultists profess adherence to religions such as Gnosticism, Hermeticism, Satanism, Thelema, and Neopaganism. While Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam are generally not considered as occult, some of their modern interpretations can be, such as the interpretation of Hinduism within Theosophy or the various occult interpretations of the Jewish Kabbalah.
Alchemy, is considered an occult practice. Alchemy used to be common among scientists, such as Isaac Newton. During the Age of Enlightenment alchemy and science went their separate ways. Newton was accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he proposed that gravity was a force capable of acting over vast distances.
Pandemic Studios
Pandemic Studios was a video game developer that was started in 1998. It became owned by Electronic Arts from 2007 to 2009. It was an Australian and American company, with offices in Brisbane and Los Angeles.
Pandemic Studios developed the first two main titles of the successful series; those were "" and "". It also developed "Full Spectrum Warrior", the "Mercenaries" series, and the last game in the "Army Men" series.
Their office in Brisbane was closed in February 2009. In November 2009, Electronic Arts cut a total of 1,500 jobs, including at Pandemic. The company was officially closed on 17 November 2009. The rest of the staff were moved to EA Los Angeles to support "Mercs Inc", a sequel to the "Mercenaries" series.
Ghost town
A ghost town is a name for a city or town in which no one lives anymore. It can happen because of economical reasons (for instance, a town of gold miners who cannot find gold anymore), a natural disaster (a flood, a very long drought) or even a man- made disaster (for example, the nuclear fallout that emptied the town of Prypiat, Ukraine).
Some ghost towns are kept intact as tourist attractions. For example Craco, in the Italian region of Basilicata, is a destination for tourists and pilgrims, as well as a famous film set for movies like "The Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson and "Quantum of Solace" by Marc Forster.
Rain dance
A rain dance is a ceremonial dance. It is performed by people who believe it will cause rain and keep their harvest safe.
Many different types of "rain dances" can be found in many cultures, from Ancient Egypt to certain Native American tribes. In the 20th century Balkans, a ritual known as Paparuda (Romanian) or Perperuna (Slavic) is a type of rain dance.
The Cherokee tribe, an ethnic Native American tribe from the Southeastern United States used rain dances to both create rain and to remove evil spirits from the earth. The legend of the tribe says that the rain created has the spirits of the former leaders of the tribe. During the rain, these spirits fight the evil spirits in a place between our reality and the spirit world. These raindances are also seen as acts of worship.
Julia M. Butree in her book, describes the "Rain Dance of Zuni" and other Native American dances
Feathers and turquoise are worn during the dance. They symbolize wind and rain. Many traditions of the Rain Dance are passed down through history by people telling their children about them in stories.
In an early type of meteorology, Native Americans in the midwestern parts of modern United States often tracked and followed known weather patterns. They would do a raindance for settlers in return for trade items. This is best known to happen among Osage and Quapaw Indian tribes of Missouri and Arkansas.
Louse
Lice (singular: louse), are wingless insects that live in hair. They are all external parasites on every species of bird and most mammalian orders. They are not found on Monotremes and a few eutherian orders, namely bats (Chiroptera), whales, dolphins and porpoises (Cetacea) and pangolins (Pholidota). There are more than 3,000 different species; three are classified as human lice.
Lice spend their whole life on the host. They are adapted to keep close contact with the host. These adaptations are reflected in their size (0.5–8 mm), stout legs, and claws which are adapted to clinging tightly to hair, fur and feathers. They are also wingless and flattened.
Lice feed on skin (epidermal) debris, feather parts, sebaceous secretions and blood. A louse's color varies from pale beige to dark grey; however, if feeding on blood, it may become considerably darker.
A louse's egg is commonly called a "nit". Lice attach their eggs to their host's hair with specialized saliva which results in a bond that is very difficult to separate without specialized products. Living lice eggs tend to be pale white. Dead lice eggs are more yellow. Lice are very annoying and are difficult to remove, but not impossible. The process is called "nit-picking", and is often done with a close-toothed metal comb. For humans, anti-insect shampoos are available.
The order has traditionally been divided into two suborders; the "sucking lice" (Anoplura) and "chewing lice" (Mallophaga). Four suborders are now recognised:
It has been suggested that the order is contained by the Troctomorpha suborder of Psocoptera. What this means is that lice may have evolved from free-living species of that group.