The Story Behind 'The 12 Days of Christmas'

(Image credit: Xavier Romero-Frias/Wikimedia Commons)

You may have heard of the Christmas carol 'The 12 Days of Christmas' which, for some, may be one of the most annoying carols because of the endless, repetitive nature of its lyrics.

Some internet sources suggest that the song had been used as a secret code for Christianity, however, there have been a few refutations to that theory.

Whatever the origins of the song is, it is an undisputable fact that the song has changed so much that tracing its origins may be a herculean task. It has been suggested that the song was French in origin, and that it was possibly based on a game where players had to remember the lyrics.

Five Books You Probably Haven't Read, and How to Pretend That You Have

(Image credit: Claudia Rancourt/Unsplash)

Book lovers and avid readers may find reading books very enjoyable but it depends on which books you're reading. I find that there are certain books that, no matter how much you love reading, you just can't bear to finish.

Some of these may be on this list which includes Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, James Joyce's Ulysses, Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, and John Milton's Paradise Lost.

These five books may well be some of the most difficult books to read, partly because they're very thick, and partly because they have very difficult themes and subjects to understand without a proper background on them.

However, there is a way for you to talk about these books even if you haven't actually read them.

A Map of Christianity's Decline in England

(Image credit: Office of National Statistics)

Over the past century, Christianity has faced immense backlash and a fallback from the days of the Protestant Reformation.

In England, Protestantism has had a storied past which began with Edward VI who promulgated laws that shifted the monarchy's state religion from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism.

Although this was repealed by his half-sibling Mary, it was reinstated by Queen Elizabeth I. From that point until the Victorian era, England has been a bulwark for Christianity with its monarchs and people being stalwart believers.

However, cracks have already started to surface way before the 20th century, and has only gained a lot of ground from the 20th century on. Now, England is no longer a majority Christian country.

Check out the different maps showing the decline of Christianity in England on Big Think.

How Footbinding Lasted So Long in China

(Image credit: Lai Afong/Wikimedia Commons)

For a thousand years, the practice of footbinding had been considered the standards of beauty for women in China. However, there's a deeper meaning behind the practice that goes beyond beauty. And it is all rooted in China's steadfast loyalty to Confucian values, and how it permeated all aspects of people's lives.

Footbinding only started from the 12th century, and the story goes that it was inspired by a court dancer named Yao Niang who transformed her foot to make it like the shape of a new moon. The emperor had been captivated by it, and soon the practice spread through every corner of society.

More than being a fashion statement, footbinding became the Chinese women's symbol of cultural superiority over barbarians.

From the time it started until it was completely abandoned, the reason why Chinese women willingly forced themselves into footbinding was just one: to show their utter devotion to Confucian values. That was the main impetus for the perpetuation and longevity of footbinding in Chinese culture.

And to learn the whole story behind footbinding as well as some of the renowned and highly respected Chinese women in history, check out this article on Smithsonian Magazine.

The Joy of Intellectual Humility

(Image credit: Tim Mossholder/Unsplash)

Socrates once said, "One thing I know, and that is, I know nothing." Echoing a similar sentiment, Albert Einstein remarked, "The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know."

Even some of the greatest minds and thinkers in history know that the universe is so vast that it would be impossible for us to know everything about it.

We are so limited in our capacity that it would be foolish to think that we have already discovered and understood everything that there is to know about the universe or life.

Every day, there is still so much for us to learn. And being able to open ourselves to new experiences and new knowledge enables us to delve deeper into the unknown.

Daryl Van Tongeren, associate professor of psychology at Hope College, explores the idea of intellectual humility and the joys that being wrong brings to us in his article.

We don't know everything, and trying to persuade others that we do is just a ridiculous exercise in folly. Thinking that we do is just inane. When we humble ourselves and accept that there are certain things on which we might be wrong, that's when learning begins.

How to Kill a Medieval Knight in Two Ways

(Image credit: Sebacalka/Wikimedia Commons)

We have this image of knights as romantic warriors who duel each other for the hand of a noble lady, or someone who writes poems and recites them to a damsel they want to court. But medieval knights weren't like that in reality.

They were elite soldiers who trained their bodies beyond their physical limits in order to prepare for war, and defend their lords and realms.

It was a herculean task to try and kill a knight, so much so, that there are actually only two ways to kill a medieval knight, and history enthusiast Luke Reitzer shares with us what those two ways are.

Not only that, but he also shares several other fun facts about knights, like the fact that they actually try not to kill each other in duels, and the reasons why these knights were highly effective warriors of their day.

How Do Snakes Know When to Stop Squeezing Their Prey?

(Image credit: Timothy Dykes/Unsplash)

Apparently, snakes can sense their prey's heartbeat and that's how they know when they have killed their prey, and then, they start eating it.

Not only that, but a study has shown that a boa constrictor, like a python or anaconda, don't kill their prey by asphyxiation or suffocating them, as we used to believe.

Rather, these boa constrictors actually kill their prey by squeezing out the blood from them. They apply great amounts of pressure at a rapid pace to their prey's heart and blood vessels to the point that their heart stops beating instantly.

So, if you were to be caught by a boa constrictor, the best thing to do is try to immediately get it off or remove it by force.

20 of the Worst HIPAA Violations in History

(Image credit: National Cancer Institute/Unsplash)

If you're not familiar with the HIPAA, it's that law that makes sure that your sensitive personal health information are protected. If anybody shares that data without your consent, then they will be liable for damages.

You can read more about the HIPAA here. But, for the purposes of this article, we're only going to look at some of the worst violation cases throughout history.

You might wonder how in the world these happen, and ask, "Are doctors just sharing your private information to other people?" Of course not, but the institutions that handle our personal information might not have the best security protocols in place.

For example, there might be data breaches happening at hospitals or clinics because hackers often try to gain access illegally through hospitals' databases because it's a gold mine of personal data which they can sell to marketers, other companies, and anybody who might benefit from other people's private data.

It can also be used in identity theft, phishing, or scams. It's the same threat that any company or website faces, except this holds your health records.

So, doctors, medical professionals, and others in the healthcare industry like insurance companies, labs, and pharmacies, try their best to protect your data from being stolen.

Anyway, that doesn't always happen and here we have a collection of the 20 worst HIPAA violations in history.

15 Things You Missed While Watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"

(Image credit: Universal Pictures; Business Insider)

This list from Business Insider only looks at the 2000 film adaptation of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas which featured Jim Carrey as the titular character.

It includes several easter eggs and other tidbits that might not have caught your attention. But we're bringing it to your attention now. These are the 15 details that you probably missed in How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

9 Surprisingly Offensive Things in Asia

(Image credit: Tran Phu/Unsplash)

Whenever you travel to another place with its own set of customs, traditions, mores, and practices, you try to accumulate as many new experiences from which you can learn, while you're enjoying exploring the different sights, tourist spots, and the general cultural landscape.

However, sometimes, you might find yourself in an awkward position of unwittingly committing a faux pas or inadvertently doing something that the culture considers offensive.

In Asia, there are a multitude of cultures each with their own societal norms. Being a tourist or foreigner may excuse you from committing blunders or social faux pas, but still, it would be best to get to know what is considered offensive, so that you don't make such mistakes.

Here are nine things that are surprisingly offensive in Asia, most of which have something to do with hands and food.

27 Christmas Traditions and the Bizarre Stories Behind Them

(Image credit: lasse bergqvist/Unsplash)

As Christmas draws ever nearer, several people must be taking part in certain traditions that their family or their culture has had during this time of year.

For example, the Christmas tree is a distinctly pagan tradition. However, the Roman Catholic Church found a way to incorporate it into the Christmas tradition.

Learn about the different Christmas traditions and their origins on All That's Interesting.

Why These Baseball Caps Have Notched Bills

(Image credit: Notch/Core77)

Apparently, it's so that you can wear your sunglasses or any eyewear for that matter without having to worry about your cap pushing them down your nose.

These baseball caps are being sold by the company Notch. Co-founder Paul Cunningham explains that they created the baseball caps out of a need for a practical solution to his problem.

The Periodic Table of Tools

(Image credit: Theodore Gray)

Want to learn more about the different tools used by handymen, carpenters, craftsmen, blacksmiths, woodworkers, mechanics, and other people of the trade? Look no further as Theodore Gray has done that for us with this periodic table of tools. -via Thompson Blog

Study Suggests Children of Liberal Parents More Likely to Suffer Mental Health Problems

(Image credit: Kelli McClintock/Unsplash)

Based on a study by the Institute for Family Studies-Gallup, political ideology is one of the main determining factors that influence parenting styles, and they found that conservative parents fared better in disciplining their children leading to the best mental health outcomes.

On the other hand, because liberal parents tend to be more permissive, their children lack proper discipline. According to Jonathan Rothwell, the study author, the best mental health results come from "warm, responsive, and rule-bound, disciplined parenting." A style that is known as "authoritative".

Though the "authoritarian" style of parenting is generally frowned upon due to negative views on what that does to children's development, the study shows that conservative parents were actually able to discipline their children effectively and still display affection for them.

This established relationship and dynamic between the parent and child provided the foundation and pillars for children to lean on as they grew up, which helped the children to have better mental health outcomes. -via Thompson Blog

New Video Reveals How Fingers Form in the Womb

Studying how embryos develop and turn into fetuses as well as how they develop the different parts of the human body especially in the early weeks may be very tricky, partly because there's no way for us to measure or observe them as they develop.

However, a team of scientists has now been able to trace the expression of genes and differentiation of individual cells in order to understand how human limbs form and develop.

The video above shows a reconstructed version of how fingers form based on the map of human limb development the scientists created.

(Video credit: Wellcome Sanger Institute/Youtube)

Elderly People Can Benefit from Playing Video Games Too

Whoever said that old dogs can't learn new tricks must not have seen these seniors playing Super Mario World on the SNES.

They may be old, but the great thing about video games is that anyone can enjoy them at any age. There's no need for highly technical skills and you don't have to be extremely physically fit to play video games or enjoy them.

Furthermore, studies have shown that video games actually benefit elderly people as it helps with their mental wellness and cognitive skills.

(Video credit: CBC NL/Youtube)

Science's Most Baffling Open Questions

(Image credit: Vincentiu Solomon/Unsplash)

The world is full of wonder and mystery. Science has done a lot to help us understand our universe. But there are still several questions out there that even science has not fully grasped the answer.

Here's a list of 10 of the most mystifying open questions in science.

Most Difficult Books to Finish Reading

(Image credit: Tom Hermans/Unsplash)

Many high school students these days probably don't have to finish reading the books in their English reading list, since there are many resources online that summarize the salient points of the books including the plot, characters, and themes explored in the story.

For book lovers and avid readers, these may not at all seem daunting. However, there might be some books out there that even the most tenacious of book lovers find difficult. Here's seven of the most notoriously hard-to-finish books.

The Origins of the Expression 'Dog Days'

(Image credit: Alessia Marusova/Unsplash)

The hottest part of the summer is often called "dog days" but have you ever wondered why it was called that in the first place? Is it because somebody saw a dog panting in the summer heat and just started using the expression?

Not exactly. The origins of the term have some connection with Greek mythology actually. Learn more about it on Grammarphobia. -via Strange Company

The 10 Most Haunted Bodies of Water

(Image credit: Marc Zimmer/Unsplash)

We often see old houses, cemeteries, hospitals, and abandoned buildings as the site for hauntings and other paranormal activity. But not a lot of people seem to have many experiences with the ghastly and the ghoulish on bodies of water. Well, here's a list of the most haunted bodies of water around the world. -via Strange Company

20 Award-Winning Novels of 2023

(Image credit: Daniel Chester French/Wikimedia Commons)

LitHub has recently published an article collating all the award-winning novels of the year. The awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Award, the Booker Prize, the International Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Kirkus Prize, the Women's Prize for Fiction, and the Pen/Faulkner Award among others.

If you're searching for the next book to read, then you might want to check out the curated list. -via Nag on the Lake

The First Recorded Human and His Accounting Mistake

(Image credit: Poulpy/Wikimedia Commons)

It's very rare for us to find any documents dating back to the more ancient civilizations. And even if there were, we generally won't see any signatures or names of individuals. Except for this one Sumerian clay tablet which apparently shows the world's first signature, the first recording of a human, and what exactly this person did.

From this tablet, we can glean a few things. The one who wrote it was a guy named Kushim, and he was an administrator. What the document had been recording was the number of barley in a silo, and apparently, Kushim made a mistake in counting his shipments.

This is Kushim, the first recorded human in the world along with his accounting mistake.

The Feats and Mishaps of Balloonfest '86

On September 27, 1986, about 1.5 million balloons were released into the atmosphere from Cleveland, Ohio. It was an event organized by the United Way of Greater Cleveland, which was the opening act for the fundraising activity intended to promote volunteerism in teenagers and children.

However, although the event was successful garnering a Guinness World Record for the most number of balloons set off at the same time, due to a storm and some other mishaps, the balloons drifted away and fell on various places like beaches, ranches, lakes, and private properties.

Still, in the aftermath of the event, Cleveland considered it a great success, and only after the consequences were later reported that people started thinking the event was a disaster.

However, original reporting on the event itself and the newspaper that published it, The Plain Dealer, want to clarify that the supposed mishaps that happened after Balloonfest were not directly caused by the event, thereby it does not warrant being called a "disaster" or "tragedy".

(Video credit: The Atlantic/Youtube)

"Captain Coward", The Guy Who Abandoned His Sinking Ship

(Image credit: Cruise Mummy)

When you're the captain of a sinking ship, the responsible and ethical thing to do is to ensure that all passengers and crew have safely evacuated before leaving the ship. However, Francesco Schettino was not such a captain. Apart from causing the whole incident that led to the sinking of Costa Concordia, he literally jumped ship before any of the passengers. It resulted in the loss of 32 lives. Read the whole story on Cruise Mummy.

How Horace Greasley Escaped Nazi Prison to Meet with His Jewish Girlfriend

Love is a powerful thing. Not even the horrors of war or the threat of death can prevent two people who are madly in love from getting together.

Horace Greasley was one such man whose undying love for a Jewish girl he met while he was a prisoner of war in Germany caused him to risk being caught and executed on the spot just so he can meet with her every night.

According to his account, Horace escaped 200 times to meet with a girl named Rosa Rauchbach. Never once did he get caught. Later on, he would write an autobiography detailing his escapades. The title of the book is Do the Birds Still Sing in Hell?

Unfortunately, when Horace was finally freed from the prison camp, he found out that Rosa had died from childbirth, which could have been his child but he didn't know for sure. He would marry a woman named Brenda, and live out the rest of his years with her in Costa Brava, Spain.

Horace died in 2010 at the age of 91.

(Video credit: Ancestral Findings)

The Story of the Only Black Family on Titanic

(Image credit: Marie Williams/Quora)

There have been several movie adaptations of the tragedy that befell the RMS Titanic on the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. But none of these adaptations have included the story of one of the actual passengers on the Titanic, Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche.

Laroche was a young 24-year-old Haitian engineer who boarded the RMS Titanic with his French wife, Juliette Lafargue, and their two daughters, Simonne and Louise.

On the night the Titanic had struck the iceberg, Laroche had felt the impact, and immediately went to check on his wife and daughters. He placed all their family's valuables inside a coat and put it on his wife.

When the ship began to sink, Juliette and Simonne got on one of the lifeboats. Laroche then rushed to make sure that his second daughter Louise also made it onto the same lifeboat as her mother and sister. After all three had boarded the lifeboat, Laroche's last words to his wife were: "Here, take this. You are going to need it (referring to the coat). I'll get another boat. God be with you. I'll see you in New York."

Unfortunately, Joseph Laroche died along with the Titanic. His body was never recovered. His wife and daughters struggled upon landing in America. However, they were able to go back to France, where Juliette gave birth to a son, whom she named Joseph Lemercier Laroche.

Ultimate Movie Trailer Mashup 2023

Every year since 2013, the Youtuber Sleepy Skunk has been rounding up several of the year's movie trailers and doing one big mashup. This year, several blockbuster films made it to the cut including Barbie, Oppenheimer, Wonka, Killers of the Flower Moon, The Boy and the Heron, Past Lives, and Hidden Blade. Check out Sleepy Skunk's other mashups on his Youtube channel. -via Digg

(Video credit: Sleepy Skunk)

The Most Annoyingly Impossible Mug to Hold

(Image credit: Sad and Useless)

It's dubbed the "Rock Climbers Coffee Mug" because of its peculiar design made, not just to look like one of the pinches at a rock climbing gym but also to feel like one too. The mug's handle is designed like a rock climbing pinch hold and as you can see from the photo, it's annoying impossible to hold unless you have the grip of an expert rock climber. The mug is available on Amazon.

A Comparison Between the Smallest and Largest Things in the Universe

In this video from Kurzgesagt, they explore the different things that exist in the universe and compare them based on their sizes. This just shows us how we fit into the spectrum of the universe, and how even the most infinitesimal of objects are just as important as the most gargantuan of things. -via Laughing Squid

(Video credit: Kurzgesagt)

Doctors Caution Lovers About Higher Risk of Penile Fracture During Christmas

(Image credit: freestocks/Unsplash)

Christmas is the season for joy and giving, in more ways than one. Researchers have found an interesting trend of an increased frequency of people suffering from penile fractures during the holiday season. The researchers suspect that the festive nature of the holiday sets the mood for a lot of intimacy between lovers.

But this isn't the only reason why penile fractures are so abundant during the season. Doctors may also be considering the way couples engage in intercourse as a possible factor. In particular, doing the reverse cowgirl may pose a higher risk of breaking the penis than say, missionary style. -via Metafilter

Ranking America's CEOs from Most to Least Popular

(Image credit: Visual Capitalist)

Based on data from a survey conducted by the professional social network Blind, the Visual Capitalist makes a list of the most and least popular CEOs according to their employees' approval ratings. What do they have in common? It's pretty simple: it all depends on how they treat their workforce. And as you may guess just from that small hint, the most popular CEOs rarely, if at all, lay off their workers. -via Digg

Mike Mitchell's Superman in Different Costumes

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mike Mitchell (@sirmitchell)

Literally taking a page from the Superman #6 comic, Mike Mitchell has created a series of illustrations in which he dresses up Superman in various pop culture characters, showing how flexible the man of steel can be. -via Moss and Fog

(Image credit: Mike Mitchell)

The Oldest Robots and Automatons in History

(Image credit: My Modern Met)

Robots may seem like an invention of the modern era but many inventors of the past have actually created mechanical dolls or automatons that can be considered a predecessor of modern-day robots. Granted, they didn't have remote controls or any of the digital or electronic features robots have today, but they are close enough. Including Leonardo da Vinci's android and Pierre Jaquet Droz's automatons which some consider the earliest computers, here are 7 of the earliest robots and automatons in history.

(Image credit: My Modern Met)

(Image credit: My Modern Met)

The Argument for Later School Start Times

(Image credit: Psy3330 W10/Wikimedia Commons)

When I was in grade school, I used to have to wake up at 4:30 AM since school started at 7 AM. It took about an hour to travel to school, so I needed enough buffer time to prepare. Of course, we used to have shorter school hours as well, so we got to go home at 1 PM.

In high school, my schedule changed depending on what year I was on. As a freshman, I went to school before 7 AM and got home at 7 PM. That's 12 hours at school. Not to mention we had a lot of homework to do, so I stayed up until midnight, which meant I would only have a few hours of sleep since I needed to wake up at 5 AM the next day.

Things got worse when I was in junior year. I still went to school before 7 AM, but I got home at 9 PM some days because I had classes that went on until 7 PM on those days. It was the worst time of my life.

So, I agree with the idea that school should start later, but also that students shouldn't stay in school for too long either. High school students are still growing teenagers, and going through puberty makes things a lot harder to cope with the changes going on in the body.

Learn more about the argument for later school start times on The Conversation.

What Your Credit Score Actually Means

You might have heard of the credit score but may not have understood exactly what it is. Perhaps, you're trying to take out a loan, and they try to explain what it means, but you didn't get much of it. The video above from Vox shows the history of the credit score, how it has changed, and what it means for us right now. -from Vox

(Video credit: Vox)

Six Principles of Working Out Applied in Writing

(Image credit: Victor Freitas/Unsplash)

You might think that working out and writing are two completely different activities. But if you actually look at the core of these two, you will see that they have similarities. Primarily, the way you succeed in one requires the same process and habits as with the other.

In Bill Hayes' book, Sweat: A History of Exercise, he enumerates six principles useful to sustain long-term personal fitness and applies it to his creative work of writing. Here are the six principles:

1. The Principle of Specificity
2. The Overload Principle
3. The Principle of Progression
4. The Principle of Accommodation
5. The Principle of Reversibility
6. The Principle of Rest

Check out the explanation for each principle on The Marginalian.

The Weirdest Stock Photos Online

(Image credit: Getty Images/Moss and Fog)

Some of the largest repositories of photos include Getty Images, Alamy, Shutterstock, iStock, and Dreamstime.

These services offer all sorts of photos and illustrations depicting various scenarios, concepts, terms, and any topic you can think of under the sun.

However, some of their photos are so specific that you would wonder under what circumstance or context will anyone ever need such photos. But Moss and Fog has gathered some of the weirdest and funniest stock photos from these platforms. Here are only some of them:

(Image credit: Dreamstime/Moss and Fog)

(Image credit: Alamy/Moss and Fog)

(Image credit: iStock/Moss and Fog)

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Moss and Fog)

Ancestors of the iPhone: A History of Computing

(Image credit: Docubyte)

Modern computing has gone a long way from when it all started. Before, computers used to occupy large rooms and required several people to operate them. Right now, we have the most powerful computers at the palm of our hands. The photos included here are only some of the earliest computers. Docubyte takes us back through the history of computing, where it all started and how it evolved. -via Moss and Fog

(Image credit: Docubyte)

(Image credit: Docubyte)

(Image credit: Docubyte)

(Image credit: Docubyte)

Google Creates Video and Game to Celebrate 25th Anniversary

(Image credit: Pawel Czerwinski/Unsplash)

Google has become a part of our daily lives wherein we use it as our default source of information. If you want to know something, you just 'google' it. It's been 25 years since Google's founding, and to celebrate, the company has just released a video shown below, as well as a game that helps players reminisce all the most searched terms throughout the past two decades. -via My Modern Met

The Endangered Species Act, 50 Years Later

(Image credit: Bryan Hanson/Unsplash)

Fifty years ago, the United States Congress passed a bill that ensured protection and conservation of all threatened species found within United States territory. That bill was the Endanged Species Act (ESA). It was signed by then President Richard Nixon, and it is said to have rescued 99% of the species listed as endangered.

But the ESA is now under threat. It's no secret that such an undertaking requires funding, and currently, debates around the logistics of the operation as well as the economic burdens that it supposedly causes on many industries in the US.

What will this mean for the thousands, or even tens of thousands of endemic species in the US that are on the brink of extinction?

Ranking the 112 Best Russian Writers

(Image credit: Orest Kiprensky/Wikimedia Commons)

We have previously looked at the top 10 greatest Russian writers of all time. But there have been more than just ten Russian writers throughout Russia's history. In fact, there's at least 112 of them. Here, Russia Beyond ranks all the Russian writers they know.

What is the 'Ship of Theseus' Thought Experiment?

(Image credit: Zoltan Tasi/Unsplash)

You might have heard about the thought experiment in philosophy class involving a ship used by the hero Theseus to sail from Athens to the island of Crete where he would slay the Minotaur.

Plutarch posed a philosophical question. If one were to say replace the wooden planks of the ship little by little until the ship had none of the original planks left, is it still the same ship?

Perhaps, from the point of view of the people on the ship, they would consider it the same ship still. However, if one were to hypothetically gather all the original planks and rebuild the ship, which ship is the Ship of Theseus?

Read the discussions on this little philosophical conundrum on Live Science to find the answer, or perhaps use those as a means to arrive at an answer of your own.

The Poignant, Tragic Life of Sonia Orwell

(Image credit: Orwell Archive/Wikimedia Commons)

George Orwell is famous for his novels, 1984 and Animal Farm. What is probably often not mentioned is the fact that he married his second wife, Sonia Brownell, three months before he died.

Many people had accused Sonia of being a gold digger and it was pretty easy to jump to conclusions with the timing of their marriage, and the fact that Orwell left his vast fortune and estate to her.

However, according to the biography by Hilary Spurling titled "The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell", Sonia died penniless. More than that, she died fighting to protect her late husband's works against Jack Harrison, Orwell's accountant, the man they trusted but who defrauded them.

She won her lawsuit against him and gave all the rights to Orwell's estate to his adopted son Richard. Two weeks later, she died.