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Palo priest with ritual objects

Palo is an African diasporic religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th or early 20th century. It draws heavily upon the traditional Kongo religion of Central Africa, and from Catholicism and Spiritism. Central to Palo is the nganga, usually made from an iron cauldron. Many nganga are regarded as material manifestations of ancestral or nature deities known as mpungu. The nganga may contain a wide range of objects, among the most important being sticks and human remains, the latter called nfumbe. In Palo, the presence of the nfumbe means that the spirit of that dead person inhabits the nganga and serves the possessor. The nganga is "fed" with the blood of sacrificed animals and other offerings. Palo is most heavily practiced in eastern Cuba although it is found throughout the island and abroad, including in other parts of the Americas such as Venezuela, Mexico, and the United States. Palo adherents have faced problems with police for grave robbery to procure human bones. (Full article...)

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On this day

December 27

Charles Darwin

537 – The reconstructed Hagia Sophia in Constantinople was inaugurated; built as a church, it later became a mosque and a museum.
1831 – HMS Beagle departed Plymouth, England, on a voyage to South America that established Charles Darwin (pictured) as a naturalist.
1939 – A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck central Turkey, destroying 90 per cent of the buildings in the area, and causing over 32,000 deaths.
1979 – Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet troops stormed Tajbeg Palace outside Kabul and killed Afghan president Hafizullah Amin and his 100–150 elite guards.
2007 – Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated while leaving a Pakistan People's Party political rally at Liaqat National Bagh in Rawalpindi.

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Agda Meyerson (d. 1924)
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Amy Vanderbilt (d. 1974)

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The ninth generation of the Pokémon franchise features 120 fictional species of creatures introduced to the core video game series in the Nintendo Switch games Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The first Pokémon of the generation were revealed on 27 February 2022 in a Pokémon Presents livestream presentation. In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet take place in Paldea, which is heavily based on Spain, as well as other areas in the Iberian Peninsula, with the game's DLC expansions The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk taking place in the Kitakami region and the Blueberry Academy, respectively. Kitakami is based on Japan, while the Blueberry Academy is a school environment set in the Unova region, the main location of the 2010 games Pokémon Black and White. (Full list...)

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The Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator was a facility developed by NASA in the early 1960s to study human movement under simulated lunar gravity conditions. It was located at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia and was designed to prepare astronauts for the Moon landings during the Apollo program. The simulator was tilted at a 9.5-degree angle from the vertical and test subjects were suspended on their side by cables at the same angle. This set-up allowed the trainees to walk along the surface while experiencing only one-sixth of Earth's gravity. It was also used to study the physiological effects on the astronaut's body during movement. In total, 24 astronauts used the simulator to train for lunar missions, including all three astronauts of the Apollo 1 mission. This photograph, taken in 1963, shows a test subject being suited up by two technicians on the Reduced Gravity Walking Simulator.

Photograph credit: NASA

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