HOLD ON TO YOUR HATS FOLKS CAUSE THIS IS GOING TO BE A WILD RIDE! I recommend that only those over 18 read this post. There are some things in here that I would not want my children exposed to.
You may not catch the connections made in this post the first time through. Read the post, let it marinate for a while and come back to it. Ask God to show you what HE wants you to see. Believe me, it is very astounding what HE showed me. We are all in different places and we all hear from GOD what HE wants us to know, when He decides we are ready. I try not to put too much of my interpretation into my posts. I try to just give you the facts and the evidence to back it up, and let you take it from there. Sometimes, being human, I can’t help but add some comments.
We are getting closer to the END every day. And time is speeding up. That is another sign that we are close. So hang on to JESUS and hang in to the end. Keep praying and KEEP SHARING your testimony with others. All we can do is be WITNESSES of what we KNOW about HIM!
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If you have not seen the following posts you might want to check them out:
BABEL Then and NOW!
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Gehenna, also called Gehinnom, abode of the damned in the afterlife in Jewish and Christian eschatology (the doctrine of last things). Named in the New Testament in Greek form (from the Hebrew Ge Hinnom, meaning “valley of Hinnom”), Gehenna originally was a valley west and south of Jerusalem where children were burned as sacrifices to the Ammonite god Moloch. This practice was carried out by the Israelites during the reigns of King Solomon in the 10th century BC and King Manasseh in the 7th century BC and continued until the Babylonian Exile in the 6th century BC. Gehenna later was made a garbage (refuse) centre to discourage a reintroduction of such sacrifices.
The imagery of the burning of humans supplied the concept of “hellfire” to Jewish and Christian eschatology. Mentioned several times in the New Testament (e.g., Matthew, Mark, Luke, and James) as a place in which fire will destroy the wicked.
What is Gehenna?
The word gehenna is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew ge-hinnom, meaning “Valley of [the sons of] Hinnom.” This valley south of Jerusalem was where some of the ancient Israelites “passed children through the fire” (sacrificed their children) to the Canaanite god Molech (2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6; Jeremiah 7:31; 19:2–6). The place is called “Tophet / Topheth” in Isaiah 30:33. In later years, Gehenna continued to be an unclean place used for burning trash from the city of Jerusalem. Jesus used Gehenna as an illustration of hell.
God so despised the false god Molech that He explicitly forbade the Israelites from having anything to do with him in Leviticus 18:21. He even warned them of the impending judgment He would send their way if the Jews didn’t keep their attention and worship directed toward Him. In another prophetic warning, God re-named the Valley of Hinnom as the Valley of Slaughter (Jeremiah 19).
But the Israelites didn’t listen, and evil kings of Judah such as Ahaz used the Valley of Hinnom for their demonic practices (2 Chronicles 28:3). To punish Judah, God brought Babylon against them, and that pagan nation carried out His judgment against Judah’s idolatry and rebellion. It wasn’t until after 70 years of exile that the Jews were allowed back into Israel to rebuild. Upon their return the Valley of Slaughter was re-purposed from a place of infanticide to an ever-burning rubbish heap (2 Kings 23:10). Child sacrifice and other forms of idol-worship ceased in Israel. Gehenna became a place where corpses of criminals, dead animals, and all manners of refuse were thrown to be destroyed.
The Gehenna Valley was thus a place of burning sewage, burning flesh, and garbage. Maggots and worms crawled through the waste, and the smoke smelled strong and sickening (Isaiah 30:33). It was Valley of Slaughter, disgusting, and repulsive to the nose and eyes. Gehenna presented such a vivid image that Christ used it as a symbolic depiction of hell: a place of eternal torment and constant uncleanness, where the fires never ceased burning and the worms never stopped crawling (Matthew 10:28; Mark 9:47–48).
Because of Jesus’ symbolic use of Gehenna, the word gehenna is sometimes used as a synonym for hell. In fact, that’s how the Greek word is translated in Mark 9:47: “hell.” The occupants of the lake of fire/gehenna/hell are separated from God for all of eternity.
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1563 painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, titled The Great Tower of Babel. Bruegel shows the tower during construction, with a solid form and a gently spiralling ramp along the outer edge.
The Tower of Babel is arguably the most storied myth about the human need for Verticality that has survived from antiquity. It’s a legendary tale of a clash between Ego and God, and it acts as a starting point for any worthwhile history of human towers or skyscrapers. Let’s take a look at why it’s been so influential, and why it encapsulates our struggles with Verticality.
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Vertical Definition & Meaning |
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Verticality – Definition, Meaning & Synonyms – Vocabulary.com
Definitions of verticality. position at right angles to the horizon. synonyms: erectness, uprightness, verticalness. type of: position, spatial relation. the spatial property of a place where or way in which something is situated. |
| vertical (adj.) 1550s, “of or at the vertex, directly overhead,” from French vertical (1540s), from Late Latin verticalis “overhead,” from Latin vertex (genitive verticis) “highest point” (see vertex). Meaning “straight up and down” is first recorded 1704. As a noun meaning “the vertical position or line” from 1834. Related: Vertically. |
| plumb (adj.) “perpendicular, vertical, true according to a plumb-line,” mid-15c., plom, from plumb (n.). As an adverb, “in a vertical direction, straight down,” c. 1400. The notion of “exact measurement” led to the extended adverbial sense of “completely, downright” (1748), sometimes spelled plump, plum, or plunk. |
| perpendicular (adj.) late 15c., perpendiculer, of a line, “lying at right angles to the horizon” (in astronomy, navigation, etc.), from an earlier adverb (late 14c.), “at right angles to the horizon,” from Old French perpendiculer, from Late Latin perpendicularis “vertical, as a plumb line,” from Latin perpendiculum “plumb line,” from perpendere “balance carefully,” from per “thoroughly” (see per) + pendere “to hang, cause to hang; weigh” (from PIE root *(s)pen- “to draw, stretch, spin“). |
| vertex (n.) 1560s, “the point opposite the base in geometry,” from Latin vertex “highest point,” literally “the turning point,” originally “whirling column, whirlpool,” from vertere “to turn” (from PIE root *wer- (2) “to turn, bend”). Meaning “highest point of anything” is first attested 1640s. |
AbstractVerticality (the position of a physical object along the vertical dimension) is a basic aspect of human life. As such, it is co-opted for multiple metaphorical associations. In this review, building on the conceptual metaphor theory, we examine how the vertical dimension is metaphorically connected with critical constructs such as power, valence, concreteness, direction, and rationality/emotions, with important consequences for consumer experience and response. We introduce the verticality-manipulation taxonomy, which highlights new ways to think about the research on this topic. This taxonomy has five dimensions: the object’s verticality, the viewer’s verticality, the imagined verticality, the vertical associations, and the abstract domains. We then identify open issues and conflicting results in the current literature, and we indicate some insights for further research on this topic. We also summarize the key managerial implications arising from the wealth of research on this topic. |
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Description The vestibular system, in vertebrates, is a sensory system that creates the sense of balance and spatial orientation for the purpose of coordinating movement with balance. Together with the cochlea, a part of the auditory system, it constitutes the labyrinth of the inner ear in most mammals. Wikipedia Front Neurol. 2019; 10: 172.
Perception of Verticality and Vestibular Disorders of Balance and Falls
Published online 2019 Apr 3. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00172 PMCID: PMC6457206
PMID: 31001184
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Romans 10:13-17
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
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Luke 11:34-36
The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
They eyes and ears are the Gateways to your mind, heart and spirit. They are spiritual Gateways that GOD uses for his purpose. But, the enemy wants to snatch you out of GODs hands, if that were possible. He is working hard to take everything from us, including our bodily functions, our thoughts, and our spirits.
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 As some mammals mature, cells in the cornea’s epithelium tend to develop patterns such as spirals. Learning how these spirals form and determining their function can help to understand how the human eye develops and give insight into some of the diseases affecting corneal development. Philip Iannaccone, MD, PhD, George M. Eisenberg Professor of Pediatrics, proposed a framework for explaining the development of the spiral pattern on the cornea in a recently published paper in Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. The research was also published in the journal Complexity. They found the spirals seem to tighten over time. Their results suggest that cell growth, division, death and behavior of the cellular matrix may influence the observed patterns. In addition to disease development, Dr. Iannaccone’s research can be applied to tissue engineering. |
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Scientists discover spiral-shaped signals that organize brain activity Discovery could advance both computing and understanding of the brain
“These spiral patterns exhibit intricate and complex dynamics, moving across the brain’s surface while rotating around central points known as phase singularities “Much like vortices act in turbulence, the spirals engage in intricate interactions, playing a crucial role in organising the brain’s complex activities. The cortex of the brain, also known as the cerebral cortex, is the outermost layer of the brain that is responsible for many complex cognitive functions, including perception, memory, attention, language and consciousness. “One key characteristic of these brain spirals is that they often emerge at the boundaries that separate different functional networks in the brain,” Mr Xu said. “Through their rotational motion, they effectively coordinate the flow of activity between these networks. We are only beginning to understand the symbol that is the SPIRAL. BUT, the evil ones have known for a very long time. They have been using what they know against us. There are reasons behind everything that they do. Every word the utter, every written word released, every number, every image…it is all part of their Magick Tricks. Sympathetic Magick. Whatever they are working to create, they use images to convey their desires. To plant images in your mind, to give glory to the demons they want to engage to bring power to their spells, to declare their desires and create them. They believe they can outsmart GOD. |
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The tale of the Tower of Babel is from the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, taking up the first nine verses of Chapter 11. Like many well-known myths, the source material isn’t long, but it speaks volumes. Here’s the tale:
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
-Genesis 11:1-9
That’s the entire tale. It’s rather simple, but the concepts it deals with are primal and timeless, which is why it’s stood the test of time and transcended the book it resides in. In a way, there’s an element of this story in every single attempt by humanity to build the tallest structure on the planet.
Lucas van Valckenborch’s 1594 painting Tower of Babel, showing the tower as a ziggurat-like structure, with concentric flat terraces. The tower is shown in the midst of construction, with the upper levels incomplete.
The tale can be summarized quite succinctly. Humans want to satisfy their egos, or make a name for ourselves. We decide to build a tower to reach heaven. We go about building said tower, which angers God. As punishment, God confuses our speech and scatters us across the land. Each of these four statements relates to the Theory of Verticality in some way.
First, we have the primal concept of Ego. Human-beings are self-aware, which means we know we’re all going to die one day. This creates a great amount of anxiety in us, and drives us to do countless things that will allow our memory to continue after our death. We have children, we name various things after ourselves, and we build things that will be on earth long after we die, among many others. The things we build are the main interest here, which leads to the second part of the summary.
One way to satisfy the human ego is to build something that symbolizes power and control over our surroundings. This is the world of architecture, and a tower is the clearest representation of this. The tower represents a conquering of gravity and the ultimate control over our natural environment, as well as the human need to achieve Verticality. It’s no wonder our subjects chose a tower for their exploits when their goal was to reach unto heaven.
Next up is the inevitable conflict between Ego and God. The history of towers and Verticality focuses on this conflict. We originally built tall structures to get closer to God, but the subjects of the story were trying to make a name for themselves by reaching God, effectively asserting that humanity is, or can be, equal to God. God was angered by this, which leads to the conclusion of the story.
The story ends with God confusing our language and scattering us upon the earth. This represents the consequences of humanity letting our collective ego drive our decisions. We’ve since learned what it means to reach the sky through flight and skyscraper design, to be sure, but back then the sky represented the unattainable world of the gods, and we wanted to get there.
1866 engraving by Gustave Doré, titled The Confusion of Tongues showing the Tower of Babel in the background. This illustration was part of a series of engravings for the Bible, and Doré’s version for the tower is a simple, solid form with a spiraling ramp along the outside, which provides setbacks as the tower rises.
The story of the Tower of Babel contains all the aspects of Verticality. Humans have an innate need to escape the surface of the earth, and throughout our history we’ve put an untold amount of time and energy trying to do this. Our most conspicuous attempts have been tall buildings, which the Tower of Babel crystallizes into a short parable. The tale strips out the details and nuance, and only states that we wanted to make a name for ourselves. We wanted to achieve Verticality, and we believed a tower was the best way to do it. It doesn’t describe much beyond this, so it’s up to us to imagine what it looked like, how it was built and how it would function after it got built.
The Tower of Babel has been depicted numerous ways throughout history, and I’ve included a few of the more famous examples here. They range from simple, spiraling forms to more elaborate systems of arches and buttresses. Had the tower actually been real, it most likely would’ve appeared similar to the illustration above by Gustave Dore. The simple spiraling setback is more in line with construction techniques from that time period, as well as the lack of detailed ornament that some other renditions feature. Still, it’s fascinating to see different interpretations of the tower from different time periods, and it goes to show just how influential the story has been.
A 1679 illustration of the Tower of Babel, from Athanasius Kircher’s book Turris Babel. The tower is shown with Roman arches throughout, and a double-spiral ramp that runs between flat terraces.
Taken at face value, the story of the Tower of Babel is a simple tale, but it speaks volumes about humanity and our need for Verticality. At it’s core, the story is about humanity letting our collective ego get away from us, and suffering the consequences as a result. Also, it’s telling that the author chose a tower for such a tale. Even back then, humans had an innate need to escape the surface of the earth, and a tower was seen as the best way to achieve it. In the end, what we’re left with is a simple parable that has given rise to myriad interpretations throughout history, and it’s still as relevant today as it ever was. We may not be trying to reach God with our towers anymore, but we’re still trying to escape the earth’s surface, and we’re still putting enormous amounts of time and effort in doing so.
Read more about how the Tower of Babel ties into the Theory of Vertic
The spiral: the eternal sign of the creative and organising principle at work in the universe
Medium
Mar 1, 2018 — It’s a uniting symbol right across nature and human culture, appearing as the sign of the eternal, creative and organising principle at work in the universe, as well as the pattern of our spiritual development — a key to the riddle of existence and the inner essence of reality
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What does a spiral symbolize in occult teachings?
Quora
Phoenix Knormalle
Former Psychic Advisor at Mysticsense.com
Hello, in my experience the spiral represents continuation, interconnection, growth and regeneration. In some situations it is also linked to the idea of karma and reincarnation although this is less common. As the spiral goes outwards, it carries energy out into the world to manifest. As it spirals inward, it brings energy into the core of whatever is the focus. It can also be thought of as having a ripple effect. I hope this helps you!
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The single spiral is just one of the many spiral symbols used by the Celts and in other cultures as well. It is also among the most common Celtic symbols.
The spiral as an intuitive symbol of our identity and spiritual development is as old as time. It has existed across cultures, reflecting in ritual art and dance, cults, magic and witchcraft, geomancy, dragon lore, mysticism, and shamanism.
The spiral symbol came from the idea of a “stairway” to heaven. This concept was crucial to both magic and the Kabbalah, in the form of mazes that have existed in antiquity. These “pathways” in maze-form were believed to have existed at the British Godshill (on the Isle of Wight) and Glastonbury Tor (in Somerset).
The sacred apex of the original Tower of Babel, dubbed as the Etemenanki or the “Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth,” was reached also by an upward seven-tier spiral path. This septenary spiral was interpreted as the “center of the world” symbol in the mythical Tibetan kingdom of Shambhala. It was used as a reminder of Shambhala’s once-dominant position as a seat of knowledge and wisdom.
The “sacred and spiral mountain”—the symbolic World Mountain. The omphalos (Greek, literally meaning “navel”/“boss”); above and below, where the sky entrance and the underworld meet.
The spiral: the eternal sign of the creative and organising principle at work in the universe
Mar 1, 2018
As ‘re-volution’ or ‘re-evolution’, the spiral progression is symbolic of the transpersonal route to that higher level of consciousness which is sought by all esoteric and occult systems. Paralleling these inner movements of the psyche which indicate the transformative and the integrative are movements in physical space: the vortex, or involution, representing an opening or re-awakening; the circumambulatory, as utilised in mazes and labyrinths; and oscillation, the movement back and forth between dualities. The circumambulatory and oscillative suggest the mandala, a symbol of wholeness, while the spiral and the vortex point to dynamic growth and metamorphosis.
Indeed, the spiral vortex, as found in whirlpools in water and in the double helix structure of the DNA molecule — just two of myriad examples — is nature’s favoured form for the transmission of its energy, both economically and efficaciously, radiating out and drawing in simultaneously, infinitely and eternally.
The archetypal image of the spiral came to render itself in the idea of a path that could be climbed in stages to reach God, a notion fundamental to both the Kabbalah and exponents of magic down the centuries, and made concrete in the three- and two-dimensional initiatory mazes which existed in antiquity.
It is believed that such mazes, or processional pathways, existed, for example, in England at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset and Godshill on the Isle of Wight. The one at the Tor may have been constructed as long as 5,000 years ago, according to certain estimates. Pilgrims would have entered the maze part way up the side of the hill and travelled first in a clockwise, then in an anti-clockwise, direction making their way to the holy summit, possibly by means of seven full circuits, absorbing the energy of the natural ‘power station’ as they went.
Similarly, the final phase of the construction of the 4,500-year-old Silbury Hill in…
This year’s forecast for the toy industry is in the toilet — literally.
A new game called “Pull My Finger” — in which players compete to pull a purple monkey’s finger without releasing a noisy fart from its oversized, inflatable butt — did “gangbusters” when it hit shelves at Toys “R’ Us ahead of the Christmas crunch.
Pull My Finger Game by Smyths Toys
That’s according to Jakks Pacific, a toy manufacturer based in Malibu, Calif. The publicly traded company is likewise plotting to launch a gun-like gadget in August called “Skid Shot 30,” which spits out wet balls of toilet paper.
Toys that crank out fake feces, show spectacular flatulence and otherwise look like turds are expected to ring up blowout sales in 2018, as big chains like Walmart, Target and Toys R Us increasingly bet on potty-driven trends in the $20 billion industry, experts say.
“I’m calling 2018 the year of the poop collectible,” says Jim Silver, president of TTPM, a toy review website. “There are a lot of very big companies betting on this.”
This week, some 36 characters from a two month-old YouTube show called “Poopeez” will be hitting stores. Among them are “Skid Mark,” a skateboarding turd; “Lil’ Squirt,” a diminutive drop of urine; and “Toot Fairy,” a green cloud bedecked with a crown and plunger. Each comes packaged in a toilet paper roll and costs $4.
The one-inch, squishy, stretchy collectibles are made by Basic Fun, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based firm that has created a toilet-themed universe called Kerplopolis. This fall, another 72 Poopeez are coming, with plush toys and outhouses also in the works.
“When I started showing the brand a few years ago, everyone was shocked by it,” Poopeez creator Ashley Mady told The Post.
For decades, toilet-themed toys didn’t stray much beyond gag gifts like whoopie cushions and curls of fake rubber doggie doo.
More recently, “they usually have to do with potty training or dolls with realistic diaper functionality,” said Sean McGowan, a toy consultant with Liolios. “This is the first time I can remember the toys or products focusing so directly on the matter.”
Some experts believe retailers got a push from the popularity of the smiling poop emoji on the iPhone, which was prominently featured in “The Emoji Movie” this summer.
“Or we have a new generation of young parents that were raised on South Park’s Mr. Hankey,” McGowan says.
Toilet toys currently on the shelves include Poo Dough from Skyrocket, Despicable Me Fart Blaster by Thinkway and Gas Out Game from Mattel. While most have emerged over the past couple of years, “they are especially prevalent” of late, says BMO toy analyst Gerrick Johnson.
In 2010, Plano, Texas-based Goliath Games introduced “Doggie Doo,” in which players feed a dog that makes ever-louder farting noises as it revs up to shoot the food from its rear. The gross-out game has since rung up $3 million in sales, and last year was its best yet, says Goliath’s Chief Executive David Norman.
“Originally, we were worried that mom’s wouldn’t buy it,” Norman told The Post. “But they love it as much as the kids.”
Goliath will be launching more toilet-related titles this year, though Norman declined to talk specifics. Its second hit “Who Tooted,” introduced in 2015, requires players to try to stay poker-faced while pressing buttons that activate a whoopie-cushion-like device that emits 10 different farting sounds.
While educational games have been all the rage, they have ceded some market share to products focused on pure fun, according to Norman.
Doggie Doo, he insisted, “teaches about social responsibility because you have to pick up after your dog.”
Popularity
ABC News‘s Samantha Selinger-Morris states in her 2016 article that the smiling poop emoji is “one of the most popular emojis in existence” due to its “ineffable charm” and “ability to transcend language barriers and political differences”. As such, it has been featured on Mylar birthday balloons and cupcakes.[33]
The icon is a character in 2017’s The Emoji Movie, voiced by Patrick Stewart.[34][35]
The History Of The Poop Emoji
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| The Pile of Poo as it appears on Android 4.4 | The poop emoji as it first appeared in 1997.[8] | The emoji as it appears on Twemoji, which is used on Twitter, Discord, Roblox, the Nintendo Switch, and more | The Pile of Poo emoji as it appears in Android 7.0 |
~@~, or :hankey:, or the poop emoji as it’s known, has quite the history. What was originally a swirly brown pile of poo surrounded by buzzing flies 
, is now the friendly smiling face we all know today.
The poop emoji is one of the most poopular iPhone emojis, scoring highest in usage by a SwiftKey report (SwiftKey is a keyboard app for iPhone and Android). This report showed that between October 2014 to January 2015 America, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia all used the poop emoji more than any other emoji. However, it wasn’t always so welcomed amongst emoji-fans.
First introduced as a part of the Unicode 6.0 in 2010, the emoji was a literal poop pile with flies buzzing around the top of the pile,and people were not impressed. Gmail held the strongest path of resistance against the emoji, stating that they felt people would be offended by the vulgarity of the emoji. It took the persuasion of the creators of the emoji, Darick Tong, Darren Lewis, Takeshi Kishimoto, and Katsuhiko “Kat” Momoi, to get the poo-moji on to Gmail.
From its start at Gmail to where the little stinker is now, the emoji has had to fight for its stance. The emoji was created to be much more innocent, originally it was supposed to be known as a chocolate soft serve swirl. It was then interpreted in Dazed Magazine, Buzzfeed, and Huffington Post who came up with a list of ways the emoji could be used, citing poop as one use.
With the little brown pile now outed as the international symbol for poop, in emoji form, people have come up with several ways to create funny uses. For example 
+ 
is “shit-storm.” 
+ is “tough shit.” 
+ is “bullshit.” And, my personal favorite, 
+ + 
is “no shit Sherlock.”
Images courtesy of SwiftKey
The secret origin of the poop emoji
Angela Guzman, a graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design who is currently the UX Designer at Google, was in India as part of the India Design Confluence. The event, held between November 23 and November 25 in Ahmedabad, (Ahmedabad is home to probably India’s biggest Muslim ghetto) brought women in design together, ranging from contemporary artists like Manjri Varde and JoAnna Almasude to jewellery designer Pallavi Foley, among others. Kicked to be in India and on the design panel, Guzman shares that “the biggest takeaway of my talk was how to design an intuitive experience—something that anybody from anywhere can relate to and understand.” She should know, her emojis speak a language so universal, they have cut across generations and geographies. On the tenth anniversary of the Apple emoji, Guzman spoke to Vogue about design, her time at Apple, and emoji secrets you probably didn’t know.
RISD is the acronym of my university—Rhode Island School of Design. I kind of created that little phrase because that place is known to work people till very late nights, sometimes not sleeping through the night. My time there gave me the ability—like right now, I haven’t slept in 24 hours probably, and I’m still going.
Oh, that’s a good question. Speaking from personal experience (and not representing the opinions of Google or Apple or any other employers that I’ve been part of), I think the [future of communication will be an] integration of truly tailored experiences for individual users. So maybe the app is standard across the board, but your experience will be very particular to you versus the one that I will be part of.
That’s a funny one. So the poop emoji (💩)—I call it the happy poop—was created by my mentor Raymond. Of course, a lot of the emojis are based originally on Japanese sets, but the look and feel of the Apple [ones] was very different, and quite advanced for its time. But the poop emoji kind of really kind of grew into another emoji—it was the same swirl that was used on the ice cream cone (🍦). So Raymond created the poop first and then copy pasted it on to the cone—took out the eyes and changed the colour to white! So when you think of the ice cream and the happy poop, it’s basically the same.
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EMOJI SQUEEZIES® POO STRESS RELIEVER Product Code: EP-124250 From $1.08 |
Studio M Mini Magical Unicorn Poop |
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JA-RU Stretchy Poopster Sensory Toys (2 Pack) Stress Relief Toys | Fidget Toys for Kids and Adults. Autism Toys & Party Favors. Like The Stretchy Banana But Poo. Plus 1 Bouncy |
bigmouth-inc Unicorn Poop Beach Ball BMBB0003 |
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Baby is all ready for pretend snack time! With the included solid reusable doll food and snack box mold, kids can make snack shapes to feed Baby Alive Lil Snacks doll! The click-change diaper flap also makes changing-time a breeze for this baby doll that eats and “poops.” Simply pop open the plastic-molded diaper’s flap, empty it, then play again! Featuring both crawling and sitting poses, this 8-inch doll also includes a removable bib, 1 solid doll food container, snack box mold and fork/spoon combo. Baby Alive Lil Snacks doll makes an adorable birthday or holiday gift for kids! It’s a great toy for girls and boys ages 3 and up. Baby Alive and all related properties are trademarks of Hasbro.
•FEATURES CRAWLING AND SITTING POSES: Could she be any cuter? This poseable 8-inch doll comes positioned to look like she’s crawling, or kids can sit her up for pretend snack time
•CLICK-CHANGE DIAPER FLAP: Our plastic-molded diaper flap makes changing this baby doll that eats and “poops” super easy! Simply pop open the flap, empty it, then play again!
•SNACK-THEMED DOLL ACCESSORIES: Includes removable bib, 1 solid doll food container, snack box mold and fork/spoon combo
•TOY FOR GIRLS AND BOYS AGES 3 AND UP: Baby Alive Lil Snacks doll is a fantastic toy for kids, and it makes an awesome gift for birthdays and holidays
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Black Eyed Peas’ ‘My Humps’ Ripped Off by Pooping Unicorn Toy, Lawsuit Claims
By Gene Maddaus
Can a unicorn toy that poops sparkling slime also function as a form of cultural criticism?
Or, if that toy tweaks the lyrics of a popular song, is it simply exploiting the market for that song without contributing anything to the cultural discourse?
These are the questions that will, sooner or later, be submitted to a federal judge in the Southern District of New York, after BMG Rights Management filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the manufacturer of the Poopsie Slime Surprise collectible toy.
Poopsie Slime Surprise is a brand of slime-pooping unicorn that currently retails for $100 to $300 on Amazon. In addition to pooping slime, the toy also dances to a song called “My Poops” whenever its heart-shaped belly-button is pressed.The manufacturer, MGA Entertainment, has also produced an animated video in which unicorns dance to the song.
BMG’s lawyer alleges that “My Poops” infringes on Black Eyed Peas’ surprise 2005 hit single, “My Humps,” 75% of whose publishing rights belongs to BMG thanks to a corporate acquisition.
The suit claims — and a review of each song’s Genius annotation confirms — that the two compositions bear a strong resemblance.
“First, the title of the infringing work is ‘My Poops,’ which is an obvious play on the name of the copyrighted composition, ‘My Humps,’” wrote BMG’s lawyer, Seth L. Berman, of Abrams Fensterman LLP.
Berman goes on to list other similarities, including the melody, countermelody, lyrics, chord progression and the use of a lead singer who “uses a similar delivery and vocal inflections as used by Fergie on the original sound recording.”
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Unicorn Poop Candy
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Unicorn Poop®
Brought to you by Sweet Insanity Bake Shop :
Magically Delicious! Unicorns may manage their elusiveness but they left behind some fanciful evidence of their existence and I was able to recreate their leavings.
This unicorn poop, in reality, has a funny story. I told my mom that I was making some “Unicorn Sneezes” and she said “when are you going to make your unicorn sh*t?” And then it hit me…Great idea, Mom! It will take a dirty spin and become unicorn poop, instead! She doesn’t want the credit for encouraging me, but I still thank her. Haha. BTW: These things are sparkly to the max. Even more-so than ANY art project. I wish that the video would have captured the magic. *cry*
The real deal – it’s made of sugar cookies, rainbow dragees, rainbow star sprinkles, white sparkle gel, and rainbow disco dust.
Enjoy! <3
**** Update 4/12/12 **** I’m very excited about all of the responses that I’ve been getting, and I am so excited to see what you guys have done with this idea. Thanks for adoring this cute recipe and sharing the magic with your families and friends. 🙂 Once I get a moment, I will collect all the images on the net and make a “step” with the photos that I find! ALSO – I baked my unicorn poop cookies for a cake show in San Diego and I got second place, with a trophy and certificate. Pretty awesome!!
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Poop Soap | Spruce and lavender scent
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Ian Fortey
Flushin’ Frenzy
Look at this shit:
Mattel is pretty much the biggest name in the toy industry. It’s a Fortune 500 company with revenue north of $5 billion, creating stuff like Barbies and Polly Pocket. And now they can add “game wherein a literal log of shit hits you in the face” to their list of winners. That one’s sure to make every little coprophiliac in your life froth at the mouth.
Here’s how the game works: You jam the rictus-grinned sewer pickle into the tank of a small toilet. You roll the die and then, as directed by the number, wrap your mitts around the comically small plunger and proceed to frantically pump the thing in a game of Russian Ass Roulette. If you’re lucky, your plunges go off without a hitch. But if you’re not, you will release the terrible turd Kraken that slumbers in the tank and send that Dysentery Howitzer rocketing into the sky.
This game has been featured in articles across the journalistic spectrum, from CNBC to USAToday to U.S. News and World Report. And why not? Someone spent time and money developing it for your children to enjoy. This is where are as a society. This is all we should be talking about.
Princess Poop
If you have electricity, you’ve seen the Poop Emoji. It’s so popular that Sir Patrick Stewart voiced it in a movie for reasons philosophers will debate later in human history. For now, it’s ubiquitous, the most famous of all emojis. And now it’s also fully feminist:
That sentient girl poop is but one example. There is an abundance of princess and queen poops on the market –– which means they’re pink, if that wasn’t immediately apparent to you. That one has over 300 reviews on Amazon. Over 300 people got a stuffed pink shit and were so moved by its quality, or so distraught by the lack thereof, that they had to tell the world.
There are purple queen poops, vanilla-scented sprinkle poops, rhinestone poops, rainbow poops, and good ol’-fashioned American brown shits that are bedecked in pink bows so you know she’s still a lady under all that ass spackle.
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| RAINBO POOP | Here’s a girl shit with her shit daughter, who was presumably born after the mom shit fucked a dad shit: |
Amazon will drop over 2,000 results on you for the targeted search of “poop emoji,” because corporations around the world are rushing to get in on this bubble before it pops. At which point these toys will surely be replaced with something much, much worse.
Flush Force And Poopeez
Spin Master may not be as big as Hasbro or Mattel, but the Canadian company employs over 1,000 people worldwide and gave the world Bakugan, Air Hogs, Aquadoodle, and PAW Patrol. It has received 82 Toy of the Year nominations since 2002, more than any other toy maker in the world. When it comes to toys, they know what they’re doing, and what they’re doing now is taking Pikachu, drowning him in brown trout, and calling that “Flush Force.”
In the same ballpark bathroom as Flush Force are Poopeez, a series of small, squishy busted grumpies from Basic Fun, a company that has over 80 major licensing agreements with companies like Lucasfilm, Nintendo, and Hasbro.
Sticky The Poo
Ask any kid, and they’ll tell you that their favorite quality of a really primo shit is how it sticks to things. The company Hog Wild knows this, and delivered on countless hopes and dreams with “Sticky the Poo,” a sticky shit that sticks and looks like shit. Listen, I don’t have a lot to describe here, so you’re going to be hearing this frequently.
Sticky is embedded like so many bits of corn all over the internet, on sites like Amazon, Vat19, and my personal favorite, Scholar’s Choice — a site designed to market educational toys for kids so parents don’t have to worry about all that frivolous junk at most stores. Sticky the Poo is scholarly, right? Teaches kids about viscosity and density and such. The site praises it as a good choice for teaching your child gross motor skills. Hey, emphasis on the “gross,” am I right? Ahh, poop humor. May you forever be.
Amazon has opted to make Sticky the Poo an “Amazon’s Choice” product, which means it’s recommended as a highly rated, well-priced product. You have to take Amazon’s word for this, because I defy anyone to explain what the appropriate price point is for “shit that sticks to things.”
Toilet Trouble
Oh, yeah, it’s another “Try to avoid having human waste products flung at your face!” game. It’s a whole genre. Hasbro’s Toilet Trouble is like a plastic middle school bully that you can gift to your children. For this, you simply spin the toilet paper roll and flush the toilet. The unlucky will then have the toilet belch forth a stagnant spray of fun right into their faces, teaching them once and for all that the mirth of others is entirely dependent on them getting a snootful of tepid splashback.
The popularity of Toilet Trouble is staggering. Over 80 reviews at Walmart, 200 at Toys R Us, a ball-chilling 400 at Amazon, and you better believe they’re all from people almost universally stoked by their experience of getting hosed down by the crapper. You know what passes for a negative review of this game? “Did not shoot toilet water in my face.” That’s the chief complaint. “I wanted a septic system face bath and this thing didn’t deliver, what the fuck?”
Don’t Step In It
If you have dogs, or a super lazy dad, you’ve experienced a solid footblast of shit in your day. No one likes to step in shit. Now, what’s the basis of every good board game you can think of? Doing something you absolutely hate, if Monopoly is any indication. So it must have been a no-brainer for Hasbro to come up with this clever contraption, which asks you to try to avoid stepping in shit. That’s the whoooole game.
But don’t worry, they made it more reasonable by giving you a blindfold, so it’s fun now.
- Mold the included compound to look like piles of poop
- Step in the fewest poops to win
- Play with friends or dodge the poop solo
Imagine being at a point in your life where you’re dodging poop solo for fun. That’s only a few licks of lead paint away from dancing with your cat by candlelight. And because it’s Hasbro, this game is everywhere — Amazon, Walmart, Target, Toys R Us, pretty much any place you can think of that sells games. Is it, in fact, harder to avoid than stepping in a pile of shit?
POOP: The Game
POOP: The Game is a game in which you have to be the first to get rid of all your cards whilst avoiding clogging the toilet. It’s like a smellier version of UNO. Many of the cards feature cartoon pictures of turds bedazzled with corn nuggets. Because corn is hard to digest, you see, and will often stud your shit like diamonds in a tiara. This is educational, please take notes.
Poopyhead And Doody Head
When you’re trying to come up with a tagline for a poop-themed game, you want to pen something more inspired than “This game is shit,” because maybe someone will misunderstand. The Poopyhead game — not to be confused with the Doody Head game — offers up “The game where number 2 always wins.” Get it? Number two? That’s a shit euphemism inside a gaming pun! Shitception!
Both Poopyhead and Doody Head ask you to hang a grogan right on your melon so others in the room can experience some solid jollity at your expense. In Poopyhead, you have to get rid of all the cards in your hand first, and if you fail, a crown of rubber ass biscuit for you, good sir. In Doody Head, someone just throws Velcro shits at you. Both games have hundreds of reviews, and neither one really does much to answer the question of why, exactly, a shit on your head is such rollicking good fun. But if we’ve learned nothing else from the proliferation of dung-themed toys, it’s that there is clearly a zeitgeist here. We live in shitful times.
Or, you know, kids think poop is funny.
Come on, you know you want that ridiculous poop emoji plush displayed prominently in your room. Go for it.
Funny poop gifts for kids this Chrismas: From the Gotta go Turdle to the Pooping Flamingo
Make them laugh with these hilarious poop gifts
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Hasbro Gaming Do not Step In It, £12.49, Amazon A laugh-out-loud game with messy consequences, players are blindfolded and have to try not to step in the poops as they walk along the mat. |
Fishing For Floaters Bath Tub Game, £11.99, Amazon It’s time to go fishing! Make bathtime funnier than ever with these cartoon poop floaters. |
Remote Control Poop Toy, £7.99, Wowcher
Wowcher’s offering up to 80% off on this remote control speed poo toy. It’s already in high demand so you better act fast.
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Sherbet Gotta Go Flamingo Toy, £33, Selfridges This fun flamingo toy is sure to have them laughing! Once they’ve fed Sherbet his favourite magic flamingo food, he’ll let them know when he needs to go. As soon as Sherbert starts singing his catchy “Uh Oh, Gotta Go!” song, place him on the toilet and watch nature take its course. He also loves to repeat what you say – just record and listen as he repeats your funny phrases. |
Stinky Pete’s Big Book Of Poop, Perfect for kids ages 7-9 Fart And Burp Jokes will provide them with plenty of comedic material for the year. HELLO!’s selection is editorial and independently chosen – we only feature items our editors love and approve of. HELLO! may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. To find out more visit our FAQ page. |
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Novelty Plush Poop Slippers, £12.99, Amazon
With winter on the way, your little ones can cozy up in these comfy poop slippers.
WALK AROUND IN POOP ALL DAY!!
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Plunger, Grab the Flying Poop for 2-4 Players
It’s the game of one plunger, some poop and fast reflexes! Flush the toilet handle to roll the die, and when a number comes up, plunge the toilet that number of times. But be careful, after any given push of the plunger, the poop may COME FLYING OUT OF THE TOILET! The first player to grab the poop earns a token. If a player is quick enough to catch it in midair, they earn two tokens. The player who ends up with the most tokens wins! Is this game really gross or just gross enough? You decide! Lots of silly fun for 2 to 4 young plungers, age 5 years and older. Comes with 1 toilet, 1 plunger, 1 die and 10 score tokens. Colors and decorations may vary.
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Play-Doh Poop Troop Set Multi-Colored Assorted Non-Toxic Kids Molding Toy 12 Can
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Poop Bingo Game
Discover all you ever wanted to know about poo – and more – with Poop Bingo!
Featuring 24 animals and their uniquely shaped poops, this is the bingo game to end all bingo games. Kids will delight in discovering that wombats poop in cubes and that penguins poop in squirts that come in different colors depending on what they’ve eaten! Be the first to fill your game card with animals and poops to win BINGO!
Why are butts and poop so funny?
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The madness has penetrated all level of society, all ages, all races, all genders, all levels of education, POOP has become normalized. It is talked about, joked about, passed around, handled, used as a means of expression, sent through the mail, and it is EATEN!! WE HAVE TOTALLY LOST OUR MINDS!!
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–Disclaimer–These are the opinions and ramblings of a lunatic. They are for entertainment purposes only and are probably wrong. You listen at your own risk. 1 year ago
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I shit you not. They have more than one location…
Welcome to Poop Cafe™, Toronto’s Toilet Themed Dessert Bar. Our first location is at 706 Bloor Street West in Toronto just east of Christie Station. We also opened our second location in Oakville at 278 Kerr Street. 4 months, 1 week ago
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–Disclaimer–These are the opinions and ramblings of a foul-mouthed lunatic. They are for entertainment purposes only and are probably wrong. You listen at your own risk. 2 months ago
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. 3 years, 4 months ago
–Disclaimer–These are the opinions and ramblings of a lunatic. They are for entertainment purposes only and are probably wrong. You listen at your own risk. 2 years, 10 months ago
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Could eating poo-burgers save the Earth?
Eat sh*t, cattle farming industry! No, literally, eat sh*t. Japanese scientist Mitsuyuki Ikeda has developed a way to make meat substitute out of “sewage mud,” which is exactly what it sounds like. He extracts (bacterial) protein from what is essentially a soup of human feces, then blends it with soy protein and steak sauce to form a sort of poop patty. According to initial tests, the stuff actually tastes like beef, which raises the question: WHO THE HELL DID THEY GET TO DO THESE TESTS?
Eat sh*t, cattle farming industry! No, literally, eat sh*t. Japanese
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YOU KNOW that they are NORMALIZING eating POOP and DRINKING URINE, just like they have been NORMALIZING perverted sex and DRINKING BLOOD as well as PEDOPHILIA and BEASTIALITY! EVERY FOUL ABOMINATION AND EVERY LISCENIOUS PERVERTED ACT!
And who do we find smack dab in the middle if not at the forefront leading the pack? Our good ole friend, the generous and altruistic phony philanthropist himself… Willy Gates.
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Bill Gates pushes lab-grown “human milk” & synthetic beef as pillars of green furture @Ezrat.evant
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Watch Bill Gates drink water that used to be human poop
If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.
For years, the Gates Foundation has been looking for a machine that could make contaminated water safe to drink. More than 2.5 billion people on earth have no reliable access to clean drinking water, so the humanitarian implications of such a machine would be immense. With the Janicki Omniprocessor, the Gates Foundation thinks it’s found the best way to do it, converting sewer sludge into water, electricity, and sterile ash that can be used as fertilizer. That system allows the Janicki operator to buy the sewer sludge at cost, and fund for the operation by selling electricity back to the grid. It’s an ambitious plan, but the Gates Foundation may have the resources to make it work.
Still, they have to show it works first. To that end, the foundation made a video demonstrating all the steps of the process, culminating with Bill Gates himself drinking a glass from the machine, knowing that just five minutes earlier that water was sewage. Digg was even nice enough to put the moment in GIF form.
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Bottoms up.
:no_upscale():format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2908944/tumblr_nhrmdfsyuG1ruw1vso9_500.0.gif)
Use these gifs as you see fit.
Deuteronomy 14:3
1Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. 3Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Keeping Excrement out of God’s Presence
TheTorah.com
British trench near the Albert–Bapaume road at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.
Two curious laws in Deuteronomy 23:11–15 relate to battlefield conduct. Both come under the heading:
כג:י כִּֽי תֵצֵ֥א מַחֲנֶ֖ה עַל אֹיְבֶ֑יךָ וְנִ֨שְׁמַרְתָּ֔ מִכֹּ֖ל דָּבָ֥ר רָֽע:
23:10 When you go out as a troop against your enemies, be on your guard against anything untoward.[1]
The first law describes the law of nocturnal emissions:
כג:יא כִּֽי יִהְיֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ אִ֔ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֛ר לֹא יִהְיֶ֥ה טָה֖וֹר מִקְּרֵה לָ֑יְלָה וְיָצָא֙ אֶל מִח֣וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֔ה לֹ֥א יָבֹ֖א אֶל תּ֥וֹךְ הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה: כג:יב וְהָיָ֥ה לִפְנֽוֹת עֶ֖רֶב יִרְחַ֣ץ בַּמָּ֑יִם וּכְבֹ֣א הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁ יָבֹ֖א אֶל תּ֥וֹךְ הַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה:
23:11 If anyone among you has been rendered unclean by a nocturnal emission, he must leave the camp, and he must not reenter the camp. 23:12 Toward evening he shall bathe in water, and at sundown he may reenter the camp.
The second law commands that the latrine be outside the camp and all feces covered:
כג:יג וְיָד֙ תִּהְיֶ֣ה לְךָ֔ מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה וְיָצָ֥אתָ שָׁ֖מָּה חֽוּץ: כג:יד וְיָתֵ֛ד תִּהְיֶ֥ה לְךָ֖ עַל אֲזֵנֶ֑ךָ וְהָיָה֙ בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ֣ ח֔וּץ וְחָפַרְתָּ֣ה בָ֔הּ וְשַׁבְתָּ֖ וְכִסִּ֥יתָ אֶת צֵאָתֶֽךָ: כג:טו כִּי֩ יְ-הֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ מִתְהַלֵּ֣ךְ׀ בְּקֶ֣רֶב מַחֲנֶ֗ךָ לְהַצִּֽילְךָ֙ וְלָתֵ֤ת אֹיְבֶ֙יךָ֙ לְפָנֶ֔יךָ וְהָיָ֥ה מַחֲנֶ֖יךָ קָד֑וֹשׁ וְלֹֽא יִרְאֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר וְשָׁ֖ב מֵאַחֲרֶֽיךָ:
23:13 There shall be an area for you outside the camp, where you may relieve yourself. 23:14 With your gear you shall have a spike,[2] and when you have squatted you shall dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. 23:15 Since Yhwh your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you, let your camp be holy; let Him not find anything unseemly (ערות דבר) among you and turn away from you.
Army Camps and Excrement
We will take up the second law in this essay. By chance, I began to draft this commentary on August 4, the date of Great Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in 1914. The World War I centennial in 2014 garnered considerable media attention, but one prominent aspect of the so-called Great War cannot be captured in words, and that is the unbearable squalor at the front—the reek of unwashed bodies, rotting corpses, and human waste.
Protracted trench warfare made it impossible to maintain civilized standards of sanitation and hygiene. The typical toilet was a trench latrine dug out at the rear of the line. Using the latrine was not only disgusting but also perilous, leaving the user dangerously exposed to enemy fire, so buckets and biscuit tins often were employed instead, to be emptied by soldiers unfortunate enough to be assigned to sanitary duty. An American physician’s memoir[6] reports an encounter with one of those soldiers, whose informally bestowed title is unprintable:
[Colonel] Burroughes was pointing to the man carrying the bucket of [human waste]. Passersby were giving him a wide berth, as wide as you can give in a trench. “What do they do, exactly, Col. Burroughes?” The answer seemed pretty obvious, but I didn’t want to look uninterested. “Keep the trench clean. Clean as they can, anyway. Men can’t just be crapping anywhere. They use a bucket in this dugout here,” he pointed to the smelliest dugout on earth, above it was a sign, “Rose Hips and Jasmine Lane.”… “The [waste] wallahs—we have two per battalion—carry it away and dump it.” Looking around the crowded, narrow trench, I couldn’t imagine where, exactly, “away” was.
This responsibility of those beleaguered “wallahs”—to retain a modicum of decency in atrocious conditions—corresponds to the concern addressed in Deuteronomy 23:13-14.
The problem of sanitation during wartime is hardly unique to World War I. Friedrich von Steuben famously solved the latrine problem for George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
Before von Steuben’s arrival, colonial American soldiers were notorious for their slovenly camp conditions. Von Steuben insisted on reorganization to establish basic hygiene. He demanded that kitchens and latrines be put on opposite sides of the camp, with latrines facing a downhill slope. (Just having latrines was novelty to the Continental troops who were accustomed to living among their own filth.)[7]
As recently as Israel’s Six Day War, it was difficult to retain a modicum of hygiene. Yoel bin Nun, for example, describes his June 1967 camp thus:
There were no outhouses: white tape marked areas where soldiers relieved themselves. The orchards filled with clouds of gnats so bold that the men had to cover their mouths when the yawned.[8]
Like the “[waste] wallah”, the “white tape marked area” represented an attempt to accomplish what Deut. 23:14-15 commanded, to keep the camp “holy” and have nothing “unseemly” within it.
Sanitation in the Ancient World
The everyday sanitary practices of most people in the ancient world (of many in the modern world,[9] regrettably) were not much better than those in more modern military trenches.
Biblical Period
Oded Borowski notes that “few sanitary facilities from the Iron Age in Palestine have been discovered in archeological excavations.”[10] In a classic study of hygiene in ancient Israel, Edward Neufeld dryly observes, “The general conditions were not conducive to personal, home, or public hygiene.”[11]
Roman/Rabbinic Period
The situation was not much better in Roman-period Palestine. As Jodi Magness remarks about Rome and its colonies, people without access to toilet facilities “relieved themselves anywhere they could, including in streets and alleys, staircases of dwellings, bath houses and other public buildings, and tombs.”[12]
Excrement and Impurity in Qumran Literature
The visibility of excrement, is “unseemly” and undermines the “holiness” of the camp.
Deuteronomy’s Worldview: Not Purity but Decency
The sanitary practice in Deuteronomy 23:13-15 is mandated not because it is required for the sake of ritual purity, but because “disgusting things” have no place in any human endeavor—especially during wartime since God will be present in the camp.
With neither Temple nor priests to provide the means of ritual purification, a notion of “cleanliness” in word and action effectively supersedes the particular demands of cultic purity. Decency becomes the norm.
Rabbinic commentators interpreted the law as an expansive ethical obligation to maintain “cleanliness” in the presence of God at all times, even in the trenches (so to speak). This rabbinic reinterpretation extends the law’s import beyond the specific biblical concern with God’s presence in the military camp. Decency in hygiene is required all the time, certainly during times of prayer and study, and even in wartime. Decency entails distancing from everything filthy, from the literal foulness of human waste to the figurative stench of repulsive human behavior, possibly including the act of war itself. To conclude with Ramban,
הישר בבני אדם בטבעו יתלבש אכזריות וחמה כצאת מחנה על אויב. ועל כן הזהיר בו הכתוב, ונשמרת מכל דבר רע.
Even the most upright person by nature will don cruelty and wrath (cf. Proverbs 27:4) when going out to war against an enemy. That is why Scripture warns, “Be on your guard against anything untoward.”
In this reading, the Torah teaches that even the basest details of our lives can impinge on our pursuit of morality and our relationship with God.
Still one of the oddest biblical commands: COVER YOUR POO ...
WordPress.com
One of my favorite obscure biblical commands is from Deut. 23:12-14 (v. 13-15 in the Hebrew). Right after God gives rules concerning how to deal with wet dreams (i.e., nocturnal seminal emissions – the answer, btw, is to leave the camp, wash with water, and not return until sunset), God issues commands dealing with human waste disposal.
Now, disposal of human waste is a necessary, albeit unsavory, part of urban life (or in this case, desert nomadic life in a camp). We must have rules that govern how to dispose of human excrement in order to help combat diseases that may arise from contact with human waste. Everyone acknowledges this.
Thus, the Israelites are commanded to cover their poo when they, well…poo. This makes obvious sense. It helps cover the smell, which while odious to humans, is also detected by unwanted animals and insects. Covering your poo also assists in avoiding everyone’s pedestrian nightmare: stepping in poo.
Interestingly, of the above reasons given in support of the command to the Israelites to cover their poo, it is the latter (not wanting to step in it) and not the former (hygiene) that is given as the theological reason for burying one’s foul:
Deut. 23:12 You shall have a designated area outside the camp to which you shall go.
Deut. 23:13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement.
Deut. 23:14 For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.
You read that correctly. God WALKS IN THE MIDST OF YOUR CAMP (Hebrew: מִתְהַלֵּךְ בְקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶךָ = “paces/walks in the midst of your camp”), and you don’t want God to step in it! In fact, God doesn’t even want to see (Hebrew: ראה) anything indecent (Hebrew: עֶרְוַת דָּבָר = “any naked thing”).
This is the reason given for why Israelites must go outside of the camp to go, and then cover their poo: because God walks around the camp and they don’t want God to step in their poo, and if he even sees it, he’ll “turn away” from the camp (as it stinks and is no longer “holy”), and will stop protecting/delivering them and will stop handing their enemies over to them in battle.
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