In 1922, a team of excavators, led by Howard Carter, opened Tutankhamun’s tomb. Soon after, many of them were dead. Rumors of a curse began to spread. What really happened to Howard Carter’s team, and what is the source of the story of the mummy’s curse?   Discovering Tutankhamun Portrait of Howard Carter in 1924. Source: Smithsonian Magazine   Howard Carter, born in London in 1874, began working in Egypt at the age of just 17. By 1907, he was employed by the 5th Earl of Carnarvon to lead excavation teams in the search for Ancient Egyptian treasures.   The working relationship between Carter and Carnarvon was a good one, but by early 1922, Carnarvon was growing increasingly disillusioned. Carter had been digging for 15 years, and he felt they had very little to show for it. Despite working in the Valley of the Kings, the burial place of New Kingdom pharaohs and nobles, Carter had yet to find anything for Carnarvon that was worthy of the headlines.   But it wasn’t necessarily Carter’s fault. The problem with treasure hunting in the Valley of the Kings was that everyone else had already had the same idea. Graverobbing had been happening for millennia, and previous modern excavations by other teams had already uncovered 62 tombs in the valley. So, when Carter kept returning from Egypt more-or-less empty handed, it seemed like there was nothing left to find.   Rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings, Luxor. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Carnarvon considered withdrawing his funding, but Carter remained convinced that the Valley of the Kings had at least one more surprise in store. Throughout the valley, excavators had run into several references to a pharaoh called Tutankhamun, but as of 1922, no tomb bearing that name had been found.   Carter persuaded Carnarvon to fund just one more season of excavation, hoping that this time, he would make a discovery that history would remember. Finally, on November 4th, 1922, Carter found what he had been looking for. Built into the valley floor, buried in the sand and covered by debris, was the elusive tomb of Tutankhamun.   Tutankhamun’s Tomb The caskets containing Tutankhamun’s gold jewellery, opened, looted, and tidied up again when the tomb was resealed a second time. Carter described that one of the looters “had done his job as thoroughly as an earthquake.” Source: Griffith Institute, Oxford   “…As my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold – everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment – an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by – I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, ‘Can you see anything?’ it was all I could do to get out the words, ‘Yes, wonderful things.’”    That is what Howard Carter said when he finally set eyes on the tomb he had spent years searching for. Such a reaction might make us think that Tutankhamun’s tomb was especially lavish, but this is not strictly true. In fact, it was smaller and less richly decorated than most other royal tombs of the time. Its extraordinary state of preservation gave it the illusion of opulence, and its compact size meant that Tutankhamun’s grave goods had to be crammed in like sardines.   This has led Egyptologists to conclude that Tutankhamun’s final resting place was not originally intended for him. Most Egyptian pharaohs commissioned their own tombs and had them built while they were still alive. There is even a history of pharaohs trying to outdo each other with increasingly large and luxurious tombs. The Pyramids of Giza, for example, which were built over a thousand years before Tutankhamun was born, were designed to reflect the wealth and power of the pharaohs interred within them.   The pyramid complex at Giza. Source: Wikimedia Commons   But Tutankhamun was just 18 or 19 when he died, and although he had already ordered a tomb to be built for him, it was nowhere near finished upon his premature death. Instead, he could have been buried in a smaller tomb that had been originally intended for his advisor, Ky.   However, the most enduring legacy of Tutankhamun’s tomb is not its size or its grave goods, it is the deadly curse that is said to have struck down any who disturbed it.   The Mummy’s Curse Lord Carnarvon in 1922, one year before his death. Source: Wikimedia Commons   In April 1923, less than two months after the tomb’s inner Chamber was opened, Lord Carnarvon’s relatives were rushing to be at his side during his final moments. According to his doctor, Carnarvon had been bitten on the cheek by a mosquito and it had become badly infected. On April 5th, at the age of 56, he succumbed to blood poisoning.   Two weeks before Carnarvon’s untimely passing, a journalist, Marie Corelli, wrote a piece for New York World Magazine in which she asserted that “dire punishment” would find those who opened the Pharaoh’s tomb. Carnarvon’s death seemed to prove her right, and people started whispering about a “Mummy’s Curse.”   To add to the mystery, there were reports of a massive power cut across Cairo the night Carnarvon died, plunging the city into darkness as the Earl breathed his final shallow breath.   Center, Pierre Lacau, director general of the Department of Antiquities of Egypt, next to Lady Carnarvon, on the left Abdel Hamid Soliman, the Under-secretary of Public Works, behind them Howard Carter, and other Egyptian officials. Source: Griffith Institute, University of Oxford   But that was nowhere near the end of it. A month later, George Jay Gould, an American railway executive who had visited Tutankhamun’s tomb, died of a fever he contracted in Egypt. Not long before this, Howard Carter had given his friend Bruce Ingham a gift from the tomb. It was a mummified hand wearing a bracelet that was said to be inscribed with the words: “Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water, and pestilence.” Shortly after receiving the macabre gift, Ingham’s house burned down. When he tried to rebuild, it was damaged in a flood.   In early 1924, Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid, a radiologist who x-rayed Tutankhamun’s mummy, traveled to Switzerland for a surgical procedure that was supposed to help treat the spread of skin cancer. He died on January 15th due to complications of the surgery.   Then, in 1929, Howard Carter’s secretary, Richard Bethel, was found dead in his bed at a club in Mayfair. At first, the reports said he had died of a heart attack, but further investigation revealed that he had been smothered. Bethel’s father followed his son to the grave a year later, throwing himself out of a seventh-floor window. He left a note that said, “I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit.”   Howard Carter and an Egyptian workman examine the coffin of Tutankhamun. Source: Burton photograph 0770. © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford (colorized by Dynamichrome)   But what of Carter himself? Surely, as the head of the excavation and the first person to gaze upon Tutankhamun’s tomb in thousands of years, he should have suffered the worst tragedy of all?   Carter lived until 1939, when he died of lymphoma at the age of 64. Lady Evelyn Herbert, Lord Carnarvon’s daughter, who was with her father and Howard Carter when they entered the tomb, also lived long after the excavation. She died in 1980 and suffered no known tragedy that could be attributed to the curse.   So, how did she and Carter manage to avoid Tutankhamun’s deadly wrath?   Evidence of Curses The Mask of Tutankhamun is held at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Despite the prevalence of ancient Egyptian curses in 20th and 21st-century media, there isn’t that much evidence in the archaeological record. Some tomb curses exist, but mainly in private tombs from the Old Kingdom, thousands of years before Tutankhamun (1332-1323 BCE). These texts explicitly threaten harm to those who would desecrate the grave or steal from it.   The tomb of Khentika Ikhekhi from the 6th dynasty (2345-2181 BCE), for example, contains an inscription that reads:   “As for all men who shall enter this, my tomb, impure, there will be judgment. An end shall be made for him. I shall seize his neck like a bird. I shall cast the fear of myself into him.”   However, no curse was ever found inscribed in Tutankhamun’s tomb or any other New Kingdom royal tombs. So, if it wasn’t a curse that brought about the deaths of Lord Carnarvon and several others on the excavation team, what was it?   Since the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the tragedies that followed it, many scholars, scientists, and enthusiastic amateurs have tried to find a logical explanation for the so-called curse.   One theory suggests that a toxic fungus could have been lurking within the sealed tomb, and that it was released when Carter’s team opened it. This theory became especially popular after the tomb of Casimir IV Jagiellon, a 15th-century CE Polish king, was opened for conservation work in 1973. Shortly afterwards, ten of the twelve people involved in the opening of the tomb were dead.   The tomb of Casimir IV Jagiellon in Wawel Cathedral, Kraków, Poland, photograph taken in 1880 by Ignacy Krieger. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The media compared the premature deaths to those that followed the opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb, claiming that there was a “Jagiellonian curse.” But then a microbiologist identified the presence of a deadly fungus, Aspergillus flavus, in the tomb. It wasn’t a curse that killed the conservation team; it was the fungus.   But nothing like this was ever found in Tutankhamun’s tomb, and the deaths all had unrelated causes: blood poisoning, fever, cancer, pneumonia, suicide, and even a possible murder.   Of the 58 people who were present at the opening of the tomb, only eight died within the following twelve years, and many of them have reasonable explanations. Lord Carnarvon, for instance, had a history of poor health and regularly suffered from lung infections. With his weakened immune system, it is no surprise that an infected mosquito bite had such a deadly effect on him. Another of the fatalities, Sir Archibald Douglas-Reid, the radiologist who x-rayed Tutankhamun’s mummy, developed skin cancer as a result of exposure to radiation during his career.   Howard Carter at King Tutankhamun’s Tomb. Source: Wikimedia Commons   The deaths that followed the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb were not, therefore, caused by an ancient curse or a toxic fungus, but by things that probably would have happened anyway. Would Carnarvon have been bitten by a mosquito if he hadn’t been in Egypt in 1922? Maybe not, but even if he hadn’t, one of his frequent lung infections probably would have finished him off sooner or later. Douglas-Reid had skin cancer before he even went near Tutankhamun’s mummy, and George Jay Gould contracted a fatal fever while in Egypt; a risk most travelers took in the days before widespread access to antibiotics and vaccines.   The only link between the people who died was that they had been somehow involved in the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun. The tomb itself had nothing to do with their deaths, and nothing to do with any of the various misfortunes suffered by those who survived.   So, why does the legend of the Mummy’s Curse endure? In the 1920s, tales of curses brought in readers, which encouraged newspapers to publish more of them. The evidence tells us that Tutankhamun’s tomb was never cursed, but it did make for a good story, one that still captures the imagination over 100 years later.

  Textile traditions remain in many pockets of the Andes, often combining ancient techniques with innovations introduced by the Spanish colonizers. While these textiles are most often woven using various styles of looms, on one tiny island surrounded by the waters of Lake Titicaca, the islanders produce hand-knit hats that are just as renowned as the region’s fine woven shawls and scarves. And they’re all made by men.   History: Intika to Taquile Photo of Taquile Island taken from Amantani Island by Ingo Mehling, 2013. Source: Wikimedia Commons   Taquile sits inside Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world, nearly 13,000 feet above sea level. The island, just a few miles long and not even two miles wide, has been inhabited for over 1,000 years. Like the other pre-Inca cultures of the Andes, Taquile’s earliest residents farmed potatoes, corn, and quinoa and dabbled in textiles and ceramics. It was likely part of the Aymara polity, though what language was originally spoken is unclear.   As the Inca Empire expanded in the 15th century, Taquile Island was incorporated, but its inhabitants were permitted to retain much of their own culture and traditions. While the Inca made inroads in improving the island’s infrastructure—some ruins of which are still visible today—and shared the secrets of terrace farming, the everyday lives of the island’s inhabitants likely remained relatively unchanged. The Inca policy of resettling loyal citizens in newly conquered lands, mitma, likely led to the adoption of Quechua as the dominant language, which remains true today.   Men’s traditional dress on Taquile, including a ch’ullu, chuspa, and chumpi by Joe Coca, 2010. Source: PieceWork Magazine   The same cannot be said of the Spanish colonizers, who attempted to impose Western dress, cultural practices, and political systems on the island. The encomienda system was instituted, forcing laborers to abandon their communal style of living in order to produce for the crown.   Even the name of the island was changed. It’s believed that prior to colonization, the Quechua name Intika was used for the island; the name Taquile comes from the Spaniard who purchased the land, Pedro González de Taquila. Yet, due to their isolation, the island’s inhabitants were still able to retain more of their traditions and customs than other groups.   Today, Taquile is home to approximately 2,200 people and remains accessible only by boat; visitors can take a 2.5-hour ride from the nearest city, Puno. Though its residents speak primarily Quechua, some have learned Spanish. There is little electricity or running water. Its residents still practice the community-based governance and economy of the original inhabitants. Notably, while Western dress has been adopted even in some more remote communities in the Andes, the people of Taquile largely continue to wear their traditional attire, combining Spanish peasant-style clothes with Indigenous garments—which they’ve been making for themselves for centuries.   Textile Traditions From Ancient to Modern Taquile woman weaving on a traditional loom. Source: UN Tourism   Two types of textile traditions are practiced on the island, and like so much of its history, reflect both its ancient roots and the imposition of Western culture: from the ancient peoples of the land, weaving, and from the colonizers, knitting. Both types of textiles use yarns spun, primarily by women, though some men also spin, on spindles and dyed with natural local dyes. Camelid fibers, particularly alpaca, used in the pre-colonial era, are still used. Still, sheep’s wool, introduced by the Spanish, and even synthetic fibers have also made their way into textile production.   Weaving, an ancient tradition at least 12,000 years old, occupies both men and women on Taquile island, though what and how they weave differs. Women primarily use the staked ground loom the island’s people have been using since before the conquest. This style of weaving employs finer spun yarns to produce finer fabric for chumpis (traditional belts), chuspas (bags for carrying coca leaf), and special occasion garments. In contrast, the men use treadle looms introduced by the Spanish to produce coarser fabric with heavier yarns, largely for everyday wear.   A traditional Taquile ch’ullu, handknit hat. Source: Minneapolis Institute of Art   Knitting, dating back “just” 1,500 years or so, is a much more recent innovation in textile production. Unlike weaving, it’s believed that knitting did not develop independently in various cultures but largely originated in the Middle East, making its way to Europe by the 13th century. The technique was introduced to the “new world” by the Spanish colonizers.   Knitting on Taquile is reserved almost exclusively for colorful hats and one style of hat in particular that any visitor to the Andes will recognize: the ch’ullu or chullo. Ubiquitous among tourists, chullos are intricate knit caps with earflaps and often tassels or pom poms, with distinctive motifs knit into them using a stranding technique: one color is used to knit a stitch while the unused color is carried along the wrong side until it needs to be used again. This creates a warm double layer of fabric that is particularly helpful in cold climates. Though the earflap hat is perhaps the most well-known, on Taquile, this style is actually primarily reserved for the elder leaders; younger men’s hats don’t have earflaps.   The knitting technique used, in which the knitter works from the wrong side of the fabric and the yarn is tensioned around the back of the neck, sometimes called Portuguese knitting, was first introduced by the Spanish and remains most prevalent among hand knitters in South America today. Taquile’s knitters work at an extremely fine gauge, uncommon by modern hand knitting standards, as tight as 22 stitches per inch of fabric—though items produced for tourists are often worked more loosely. Also uncommon: the knitters are all men.   Knitting and Masculinity Men on Taquile knitting hats. Source: Enigma Peru   Far from the stereotypical “grandma in a rocking chair” depiction that the word “knitting” often conjures up, Taquile’s knitters can often be found stitching away while walking its narrow stone streets or gathering in public areas. Knitting has long been considered “women’s work” in the Western world. Though at one time exclusive guilds employed only men to knit garments for elites, for the last several hundred years, it has been largely associated with older women and domestic work. Yet, the exact opposite is true on Taquile: only the men knit; not as a hobby, but as a way of life. Perhaps even more unique, it is their knitting skill that helps to define their place in the world.   Beginning at age 8, male children are taught to knit the iconic chullo by their fathers or other male relatives and will go on to knit many throughout their lives. They practice for years to be able to produce hats knit so tightly they can hold water, sometimes using cactus spines or bicycle spokes as needles. They also learn the traditional and family motifs that decorate the hats; while modern hand knitters use charts, these designs are worked from memory and handed down through generations, often incorporating plants and animals native to the island.   The tight gauge at which their hats are worked also allows for the creation of detailed and intricate images, and together, these two elements result in hats that can take months to knit. With so much care taken, it’s no wonder the hats hold so much meaning. The colors used in the hat can reflect the wearer’s marital status (white for single men, red for married), and the position of the long crown—pointed to the left, right, or back—is sometimes used to indicate the wearer’s mood!   A group of men in traditional Taquile dress, knitting hats. Men wearing all red hats are married, while those wearing caps with white tops are single. Source: Peru Travel   Knitting can even be the catalyst for starting a family. The island’s women judge their potential mates by their knitting prowess, as demonstrated in their hats. When courting, a man may present a handknit hat to his potential father-in-law so he can see for himself that it’s watertight. If his work is approved, the wedding can go forward. Then for his wedding, a man will knit himself a special new hat, a pintay, which his father-in-law will present to him on the big day. New hats are also knit to mark other special occasions, particularly as men age and occupy new positions of leadership or status on the island. As their families grow, the men knit caps for their children as well—baby caps feature a distinctive ruffle around the brim.   While women weave the distinctive traditional chumpis, incorporating their own hair into special belts for their new husbands to commemorate their weddings, do the island’s men also knit for their wives? It would seem the answer is no; women do not wear hats, but rather a woven black or dark navy head covering to indicate they are married.   Preserving Taquile’s Cultural Heritage Peru’s Ministry of Culture delivers Traditional Textiles of Taquile to the island’s leaders, 2015. Source: Government of Peru   In 2008, Taquile was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Though it remained relatively isolated until the mid-20th century, today, Taquile’s economy relies heavily on tourism, as well as the sale of its famous textiles. Despite the increasing number of tourists, islanders have sought to maintain their traditional lifestyle. Its people still live by the ancient Inca moral code: ama sua, ama llulla, ama quella, meaning “don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be lazy.”   Visitors who choose to stay overnight are housed with families rather than in hotels. They arrive by motorboat, but once on the island, they get around on foot—there are no cars. Solar panels provide limited electricity for tourists to recharge their cell phones and the like, but most homes still have none. However, the demands of the tourist industry and increasing interest in these textiles have put additional strain on the island’s resources, with the result that some traditions are being replaced with modern conveniences. For example, though many still spin yarn by hand, commercial yarns have also begun to be used, including synthetics. Several knitting machines have also made their way to the island.   In 2015, Peru’s Ministry of Culture published a book, Traditional Textiles of Taquile, commemorating the island’s ancient textile traditions and creating an organized record of the different styles of traditional garments produced. In addition, a school has been founded to teach traditional weaving methods in order to both preserve cultural traditions and help meet the demand for these unique, high-quality textiles.

It's like we're living in 2001 all over again. Continue reading…

A large crowd gathered outside of the Supreme Court on Tuesday for the Save Women’s Sports rally as Justices heard the opening arguments for two combined cases, from West Virginia and Idaho, that could set a constitutional federal law barring biological men from competing in women’s sports. At the rally, lawmakers rubbed elbows with supporters of women’s sports while other protestors advocated for allowing men to play in women’s sports. “I’m surprised that I’m here, that any of us are here, because this is just common sense,” Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, told The Daily Signal at the Save Women’s Sports Rally Tuesday.  The high court combined two very similar cases, West Virginia v. B.P.J. and Little v. Hecox from Idaho. The cases both involve biological males wanting to compete in women’s sports in middle and high school. “This is going to be a monumental case that’s going to answer the question of who we are as a society, not only the state of West Virginia, but the entire country: Does Title IX mean anything?” explained Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va.  Today, I was honored to stand on the steps of the Supreme Court with so many friends and colleagues — and courageous women and girls — fighting to protect female-only sports.After four years of woke nonsense, common sense is back. House Republicans are standing up for Title IX,… pic.twitter.com/kDxWjghU9d— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 14, 2026 Title IX was first enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 and allowed women equal and fair access to education. It prohibits sex-based discrimination for any institution that receives federal funding.   Former President Joe Biden extended Title IX to include men who identify as women in these protections. This case could define what Title IX means and who it protects.  The decision, expected in June, will likely affect 25 other states with similar laws.  Moore told The Daily Signal the issue of biological men competing in women’s sports angers his constituents. “I’m a father of two daughters, and I’ll tell you right now, there is no way I’m going to let my girls compete with a bunch of boys. I don’t want that. My family doesn’t want that. Nobody wants it,” said Moore.   “I feel confident that it will be reaffirmed, that it is constitutional, and what we passed in West Virginia, I think should be a model for every state in this country, and if it’s held up, then hopefully that translates to being the law of land,” Moore continued.   At the rally, Sen. Steve Daines R-Mont., told The Daily Signal, “I’m here as a father of two daughters, a grandfather of three granddaughters, also as a United States Senator.” Great to be with @Riley_Gaines_ on the steps of SCOTUS as they hear oral arguments to keep men out of women’s sports. pic.twitter.com/jp2SpEb7uh— Steve Daines (@SteveDaines) January 13, 2026 “This is a fundamental question about biological truth. It’s about science, it’s about fairness, it’s about safety as it relates to our women as well as our men, but we should never allow a biological man to be competing in women’s sports,” Daines continued.   Chloe Cole is an advocate of using Title IX to protect women’s sports from male athletes and a de-transitioner. She travels the country speaking to Americans about this issue she calls a “99-1 issue.”  “Just a few years ago. Most people didn’t know about what was going on with the transgender issue. They didn’t know that children were being taken away from their parents, that their parents were being lied to about their medical treatments,” Cole told The Daily Signal at the rally.  “As people learn more and more about this issue and the damage that has brought onto our country and our culture, they’re strongly opposed to it because it’s so blatantly spitting in the face of reality,” continued Cole.  “There are just two genders,” Daines said. “I mean, did you ever think we’d live to see the day when this is even a debate in this country? Are there more than two genders? Are genders fluid or not? So, this needs to be defined as a fundamental issue for our country. This is ground zero of a culture war in America,” Daines added. Simpson told The Daily Signal if the court rules against Women, we can expect to see Congress push legislation to protect women’s sports.   The post ‘Ground Zero of a Culture War’: Title IX Showdown Hits SCOTUS appeared first on The Daily Signal.

1% Biker Gets His Jaw Wired Shut After One Night ??️

Listen to Traffic Lights, Flea's new solo single, featuring Radiohead's Thom Yorke

The following is a good summary of the case before the Supreme Court regarding the legality of putting males in female sports. The ACLU’s case rests on not defining biological sex. The case is to decide on biological reality and whether erasing females is acceptable on behalf of transgender people. Megyn Kelly is joined by […] The post Concerns About the SCOTUS Case of Males in Female Spots appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.