Hugs, Kisses, and the Melting Pot

Valentine's Day and we started arguing about the "XOXO" signature.  Which one is for the hug and which one is for the kiss?  Sebastien and I voted for the "X" meaning hug while Irene and Isabelle were pretty confident the "O" was for hugs...

Turns out we're all right!  The X's come from a combination of illiterate people signing by "making their mark" and, if you were an early Christian, kissing the "X" as a symbol for Christ as a sign of sincerity.  However, the "O" came about as a substitute for the "X" when Jewish people arriving in America needed to make their mark and the cross just didn't seem to be appropriate...

So, feel extra proud to be an American next time you decode or write an "XOXO" at the end of a note or text!  It takes a melting pot to bring together such a strange thing...

Statues and Dinosaurs

While at the Museum of Fine Art co-chaperoning the trip with my buddy E.D., I found myself thinking about dinosaurs.  You see, our docent was making a big deal about the recent discovery that all these plain, classic white statues from antiquity were actually painted back in the day.  The statues were colorful and had a different look and feel than the austere, pristine feeling we associate with the statues as they have weathered through time. 

Growing up, not only did we think all statues were an unadulterated white, but we also thought dinosaurs had thick, scaly, leather-like skin.  However, just as modern science has discovered the microscopic remnants of paint on the surface of statues, so has DNA analysis shown that dinosaurs are more related to birds than lizards.  So, their surfaces and look must be re-imagined as well in the 21st century.


Way to go, Science - always making me rethink my understanding of the universe!