Where Did the Heart Symbol Come From?

We recognize it instantly: two rounded lobes meeting at a point, the universal symbol of love. The heart shape is found everywhere — on greeting cards, jewelry, bumper stickers, and on keyboard emoji stickers. It even stars in tourism campaigns such as “I ❤️ NY” and drives the $27.5 billion Valentine’s Day industry. While the symbol represents deep emotion, it looks nothing like an actual human heart. So where did the symbol come from? It evolved from ancient beliefs about what the heart represented. Long before modern science defined the purpose of the heart, cultures across the world viewed the organ as the center of emotion, thought, and even the soul. Ancient people had little understanding of the importance of the brain, but they could feel the heart beating rapidly when emotions were heightened and understood the organ’s vital connection to sustaining life. By the Middle Ages, the symbolic heart began to appear more frequently in religious art and literature in Europe, often representing divine or spiritual love. As Valentine’s Day evolved into a romantic holiday in England and France, printers began mass-producing cards and tokens adorned with cupids, flowers, and heart motifs. No longer tied to anatomy or philosophy, the heart symbol fully transformed into a visual shorthand for love and emotional connection — a role it still plays today in greeting cards and text messages around the world.

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Facebook Executive Goes Viral After AI Email Assistant Deletes Her Entire Inbox

Facebook executive Summer Yue took to social media to reveal that an AI email assistant she was using for email management somehow managed to delete her entire inbox without approval. She described how OpenClaw AI quickly lost control of the automated cleanup process and began deleting emails, despite instructions to "confirm actions first." Yue was forced to rush to stop the process manually. “Nothing humbles you like telling your OpenClaw to ‘confirm before acting’ and watching it speedrun deleting your inbox,” wrote Yue. Yue repeatedly told the system to stop, with messages such as “Do not do that,” “Stop don’t do anything,” and “STOP OPENCLAW,” while the cleanup continued. OpenClaw is an open source AI assistant designed to help with admin tasks that clears your inbox, sends emails, manages your calendar, and checks you in for flights. There’s been no word on whether Yue will continue to use the assistant.

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Wisconsin Cat Winds Up in France

When Donny and Lesly McElhiney, from Appleton, Wisc., discovered their cat Emily was missing, they scoured their neighborhood for her, but had no success. It turns out that Emily had apparently wandered into a nearby paper company’s distribution center and crawled into a container of paper bales. That container went by truck to Chicago, and then on to Belgium by ship. The feline was finally discovered at a laminating company in France, where workers used the cat’s tags to phone her veterinarian, who promptly called the McElhineys. Continental Airlines offered to fly Emily home from Paris after her story made headlines and she was cleared after a one-month quarantine. A full-fare ticket for Emily’s seat would normally cost about $6,000, and the airline even provided an escort, cargo agent Gaylia McLeod (pictured below), to accompany Emily aboard a 50-seater from Newark to Milwaukee. On her flight home, Emily passed up a menu of pepper salmon filet and opted for her French cat food and some water. After flying home in the lap of luxury, a Continental cargo agent handed her over to 9-year-old Nick, son of the cat’s owners. “She seems a little calmer than she was before, just a little quieter, a little, maybe, wiser,” said Lesly. Hopefully, Emily has had her fill of international travel.

 

 

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Single Mother With 4 Adult Children Living at Home Gives Them an Ultimatum

When Lucy Cavendish was pregnant with her first child, she had visions of an idyllic and fulfilling life. Her sister, who already had children, warned her that her finances were about to take a beating. Three decades and three more children later, she’s been proven right. What Lucy’s sister didn’t explain was that the spending never ends. Even though her four children are now between 18 and 29, she’s still forking out a fortune for them. Lucy is 59, and her children set her back about $1,350 a month, which means she’s unlikely to retire before the age of 85. The worst part about it is that they all have jobs that could support them living on their own. Unfortunately, Lucy’s not alone. A recent survey revealed that 68% of Gen Z were still living at home at the age of 23 — three times the figure for their older millennial counterparts at the same age. Lucy, a therapist and freelance writer, has to work long hours to keep the family afloat. Nearly 10 years ago, when Lucy decided to add up the cost of raising her children to the age of 18, it was a cool $1.3 million. The cost of feeding them alone was $21,130 a year. Finally, Lucy has decided the cut-off point to her generosity will be in four years, when her youngest turns 22. By then, she can have a reasonable expectation that they should all be independent. Needless to say, she’s looking forward to the day when she can downsize and live alone, spending every penny on the things SHE wants. Who knows, by the time she’s 65, she really will be able to retire.

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