The Curious Expeditions blog has a cultural history of the Evil Eye, including interesting tidbits like this one:

Ronnie James Dio’s grandmother often deployed the horned hands and when Dio became the front man for Black Sabbath, he replaced Ozzy Osborne’s peace symbol with the corna or as most of us know it, the metal hand. From an Interview with Dio at Metal-Rules.com.

“It was symbol that I thought was reflective of what that band was supposed to be all about. It’s not the devil’s sign like we’re here with the devil. It’s an Italian thing I got from my Grandmother called the Malocchio. It’s to ward off the Evil Eye.”

So the best place to find protection from the evil eye would be a heavy metal concert. Who knew?

We have a pretty blue Nazar amulet that Shadow Jack brought back from Turkey hanging in our kitchen, and I can attest to the fact that we’ve never caught the plague nor have all our cattle died. So it’s darned effective, let me tell you.

Link (via BoingBoing)