Saturday, April 30, 2005
School Mistakes Huge Burrito for a Weapon
A call about a possible weapon at a middle school prompted police to put armed officers on rooftops, close nearby streets and lock down the school. All over a giant burrito.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:08 PM
Wales' Da Vinci Code tome awaits valuation
THE DISCOVERY in Wales of a mysterious 17th century manuscript called The Genealogy of Jesus Christ has caused a storm in church, collecting and academic circles.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:57 PM
Friday, April 29, 2005
The bamboo bicycle!
I want one.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:35 PM
Political Wire: Wellstone Campaign Fliers Appear
What the hell?
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:14 PM
Italy, U.S. Disagree on Agent's Iraq Death
That's a shocker.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:53 PM
Scientists Say Everyone Can Read Minds
In 1996, three neuroscientists were probing the brain of a macaque monkey when they stumbled across a curious cluster of cells in the premotor cortex, an area of the brain responsible for planning movements. The cluster of cells fired not only when the monkey performed an action, but likewise when the monkey saw the same action performed by someone else. The cells responded the same way whether the monkey reached out to grasp a peanut, or merely watched in envy as another monkey or a human did.
Because the cells reflected the actions that the monkey observed in others, the neuroscientists named them "mirror neurons."
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:52 PM
Men Who Claimed to Find Treasure Arrested
A group of men who made national headlines by claiming they found a buried treasure worth up to $125,000 was charged Friday with stealing the collection of old currency from a barn where they were working.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:49 PM
Have you seen the beast of Green Drive?
Sightings have been made of a creature the size of a labrador, but resembling a rabbit, along the popular beauty spot's walk.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:33 PM
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Doomsayers Say Benedict Fits World End Prophecy
Booga booga!
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:22 PM
Mystery of Jack the Ripper may finally be solved
More on the Welsh Ripper.
posted by Prof. Hex at 8:27 PM
Another Lost Opportunity
A convicted terrorist was providing U.S. officials with very specific information about a terrorist attack three months before 9/11.
In the spring of 2001, one of the U.S. government’s most valuable terror informants gave the FBI a far more alarming account of Al Qaeda plans to attack inside the United States than has ever been publicly disclosed, according to newly available court documents.
posted by Prof. Hex at 8:17 PM
IRAQ: Doctors warn of increasing deformities in newborn babies
Doctors in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have reported a significant increase in deformities among newborn babies.
posted by Prof. Hex at 8:12 PM
Tessie pops up for an afternoon appearance
Each Tahoe Tessie sighting adds to the mythology of the lake's beloved legendary creature.
The legend is so prevalent that Beth Douglas, of Sacramento, thought Tessie sightings happen everyday in Tahoe.
That's why Douglas didn't blink at her friend Ron Talmage's reaction last Friday afternoon to a dark shape undulating at the lake's surface about 100 yards off Tahoe Park Beach.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:56 PM
MIND READING MACHINE?
What am I thinking now?
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:49 PM
Do you believe in fairies?
If you had asked your great-great-grandmother if she believed in fairies, she would have looked at you askance. Believe in fairies? Of course she did!
Ninety-five per cent of Scots continued to believe in fairies right up until the middle of the 19th century. These were not the diminutive, be-winged fairies of 1800s children's books. No, these were strange folk who bewitched you, killed your cattle and kidnapped your wives and daughters.
Link found at the Anomalist.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:12 PM
Ancient Manuscript Discovery has 'Da Vinci Code' Touch
An ancient document likened to something which could have been featured in best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code was being analysed at a top auction house for its significance today.
The manuscript, believed to date from the 17th century, contains biographical details of every person in the Bible.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:09 PM
Pabst Blue Ribbon Condenser Mic Microphone
Very cool.
Link found at the Make Zine Blog.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:27 PM
MAKE: Blog: Hacking in Iraq, Interview with Jake Appelbaum
Very interesting.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:21 PM
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | 'Extinct' woodpecker found alive
The spectacular ivory-billed woodpecker, which was declared extinct in 1920, has been found alive in North America, Science magazine reports.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:10 PM
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
How to make a Coin Ring
Cool little how-to for all you crafty people out there.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:41 PM
This is the Dead Land...(Zodiac/Joseph Newton Chandler III)
Good article on the Zodiac from the Dark Side.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:51 PM
Bigfoot video sold to TV!
Relatives say a northern Manitoba ferry operator has sold an unnamed U.S. television show his video footage of a large, dark figure that some are describing as Bigfoot.
See also this press release: Michigan Author Declares Bigfoot Real.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:46 PM
Putting a Face to the Yeti
Storyteller Media Group, producers of the cult animal mystery investigative series Animal X, say they have on tape the face of a Big Foot - also known as Yetis or Sasquatch. The elusive 2-metre tall apes claim to have been seen by many people but have never been documented on film.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:39 PM
Bush's X-Files
From the X-files of political conspiracy theory, here's a nasty thought: What if Bush and Karl Rove aren't really expecting to win on Social Security?
What if this whole campaign and road show is a grand diversion designed to keep Democrats, and especially progressives and the labor movement, all worked up and focused on saving Social Security, while the White House and congressional Republicans (and their quizling Democratic supporters like Joe Lieberman) do major damage in myriad other areas.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:34 PM
Monsters, Myths and Mystery: Great Canadian Legends
A potpourri of Canadian weirdness.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:27 PM
The Mystery of Hollywood's Dead Republican
Gay Republican drug addict election rigger . . .family values in action!
Thanks to Hex Correspondent Ian for the tip.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:25 PM
2 want to find GOP mystery man
From the description -- short, stocky, bald -- he sounds like George Costanza..
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:00 PM
Monticello man finds gravestones in backyard
You just never know what might turn up underneath the backyard of a 100-year old house.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:54 PM
Great Polar Mystery Solved
One of the greatest mysteries of polar exploration—whether American Robert Peary was really the first person to reach the North Pole—has been solved.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:43 PM
UCLA Researchers Produce Nuclear Fusion
A tabletop experiment created nuclear fusion - long seen as a possible clean energy solution - under lab conditions, scientists reported.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:42 PM
'Radar Anomaly' Prompts Bush Protection
UFO perhaps?
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:20 PM
Black Student Confesses To Sending Hate Mail
Police say an African-American female student has confessed to sending threatening letters targeting fellow minority students at her small Christian university, apparently to convince her parents the school was too dangerous for her to stay.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:29 AM
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Flesh chunks found in Iowa water lines
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww . . .
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:34 PM
Flesh chunks found in Iowa water lines
Ewwwwwwwwwwwww . . .
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:33 PM
British Gardener Unearths Major Bronze Age Hoard
A man landscaping his garden in eastern England has unearthed a major hoard of tools and weapons dating back nearly 3,000 years, an archaeologist revealed on Tuesday.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:00 PM
Men Dig Up Buried Treasure Worth $100,000
Two Massachusetts men digging around a tree have uncovered buried treasure.
They found the loot in a wooden box. It contained $100, $1 , $2 and $20 bills, all dating as far back as 1899.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:58 PM
Rice changed terrorism report
A state department report which showed an increase in terrorism incidents around the world in 2004 was altered to strip it of its pessimistic statistics, it emerged yesterday.
The country-by-country report, Patterns of Global Terrorism, has come out every year since 1986, accompanied by statistical tables.
This year's edition showed a big increase, from 172 significant terrorist attacks in 2003 to 655 in 2004.
Much of the increase took place in Iraq, contradicting recent Pentagon claims that the insurgency there is waning.
Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, ordered the report to be withdrawn and a new one issued minus the statistics.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:31 PM
Monday, April 25, 2005
DeLay woes prompt rush to refile forms
Members of Congress are rushing to amend their travel and campaign records, fearing that the controversy over House Majority Leader Tom DeLay will trigger an ethics war that will bring greater scrutiny to their own travel and official activities.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:19 PM
A Big, Hairy, Wild Idea: Bigfoot
My heart leapt into my mouth. I slammed my car into gear and hit the gas. As soon as I came into phone range, I called one of my friends and choked out a conversation that went something like: "You ... I saw ... I don't know ... It was big and hairy and it smelled ...''
I was hyperventilating and laughing and frightened so badly I was crying. The diagnosis: I had just seen bigfoot.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:06 PM
Cleopatra’s demise investigated
Queen Cleopatra, celebrated for her love affairs with Roman rulers Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, inherited the throne of Egypt at age 17 and dodged assassination to rule for over 20 years. But to this day, her death on Aug 12, 30 BC, at the age of 39 remains shrouded in mystery.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:50 PM
Washington's pistols
Two eightenth century saddle pistols never before seen by the public, which France's Marquis de Lafayette presented to George Washington and were later owned by President Andrew jackson, were unvelied April 24.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:48 PM
Question remains of Wendy's finger origin
Authorities who allege a Las Vegas woman planted a human finger in her Wendy's chili may have a difficult time convicting her of an illegal hoax, experts said Monday.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:44 PM
The Rational Shaman
This is a 2002 interview with writer Alan Moore but still a great read.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:32 PM
A "volunteer" police state
Why were we forced out of Bush's Social Security talk? And why won't the White House identify that fake Secret Service agent who stopped us?
posted by Prof. Hex at 3:22 PM
DeLay Airfare Was Charged To Lobbyist's Credit Card
The airfare to London and Scotland in 2000 for then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) was charged to an American Express card issued to Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist at the center of a federal criminal and tax probe, according to two sources who know Abramoff's credit card account number and to a copy of a travel invoice displaying that number.
posted by Prof. Hex at 3:12 PM
Bath Bombs!
Something for the kiddies.
Link found at boing boing.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:15 PM
German crooner's megaphone-style covers of modern rock
Freaking hysterical.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:12 PM
Ancient Treasures for Sale
Do antique dealers preserve the past or steal it?As you read this, criminals somewhere in the world are destroying portions of mankind's past. With backhoe and shovel, chainsaw and crowbar, they are wrenching priceless objects from sites in the mountains of Peru, the coasts of Sicily, and the deserts of Iraq. Brutal and uncaring, these robbers leave behind a wake of decapitated statues, mutilated temples, and pillaged trenches where archaeologists were seeking clues to little-understood civilizations. The results of this looting include disfigured architectural monuments, vanished aesthetic objects, and an incalculable loss of information about the past. And it shows no signs of diminishing.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:20 PM
Bobby Clarke Bigfoot Video - Don't Believe the Hype!?
It seems some news services are scrambling for updates on the recent Bobby Clarke Bigfoot video, and a statement on the case made by James Hare, a zoology professor at the University of Manitoba is apparently the best they`ve found. Mr.Clarke is refusing interviews for the time being.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:05 PM
Chicago U Prof to Lead Volunteers in Search of Genghis Khan Tomb
Press release.
L. Orgil, President of Skybrite International announced today that Prof. John E. Woods of the University of Chicago has agreed to be the lecturer for a tour of Mongolia this summer that revolves around the search for the tomb of Genghis Khan.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:02 PM
Former Amityville Officer Recalls Massacre
Ken Gosline saw the genuine horror of Amityville, and it had nothing to do with swarms of flies, walls that dripped blood or toilets that gurgled black goo. Nor did it appear on a movie screen.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:57 PM
Mystery airships over Illinois!
Book review of Weird Illinois.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:56 PM
Evidence of Mountain Lions Still Sparse in Missouri
The Conservation Department is committed to documenting cougar sightings, but in most cases the evidence just isn't there.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:49 PM
"Novak lied" theory apparently gathering strength
For some time, the big mystery in the Novak-Plame-gate scandal has been why douchebag of liberty Robert Novak has not been forced to reveal his source.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:25 PM
How to Survive a Zombie Attack
I finally saw Dawn of the Dead (2004), and I just have to wonder, did these people even think about how they would survive a zombie attack? Since we've had a rash of zombie movies lately - 28 Day, Shaun of the Dead - I think someone needs to publish a zombie survival guide to help these people out. And that someone is me, because I for one don't welcome our new zombie overlords.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:49 AM
Fake GOP letters
The next time you read your letters to the editor page, remember this.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:48 AM
Mind-reading machine knows what you see
Okay, what am I looking at now?
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:18 AM
Secret Service records raise new questions about discredited conservative reporter
In what is unlikely to stem the controversy surrounding disgraced White House correspondent James Guckert, the Secret Service has furnished logs of the writer’s access to the White House after requests by two Democratic congressmembers.
The documents, obtained by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable access to the White House. Though he wrote under the name Jeff Gannon, the records show that he applied with his real name.
"Jeff Gannon" apparently came and went at the White House as he pleased, with little or no oversight. In our supposedly security-minded media culture you would think this would be a big story. Now type in "Jeff Gannon" into Google News and see how many hits you get concerning the FOIA documents. I got three, one from France. Kudos to the Raw Story for doing what our media seems unwiling or unable to do.
The question remains: why did "Jeff Gannon" have such remarkable access to the White House?
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:14 AM
Exploding toads baffle experts
That headline just about sums it up.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:40 AM
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Inventor Creates Soundless Sound System
Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter - an aluminum square - was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.
"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.
And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely.
Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors - the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head.
posted by Prof. Hex at 7:39 PM
Exploring Tai Chi -- Author Details History, True Purpose Behind Popular Form of Exercise
Press release.
In recent years, the ancient Chinese martial arts have seen a revival with a resurgence of concern over good health. Many practice Tai Chi, a breathing exercise, but few realize it is a fighting method, an ancient secret divulged by Peter Jaw in his new book, Tai Ji Quan: Theory, Practice & Fighting Methods (now available through AuthorHouse).
Known as a widely practiced form of breathing that is known to help arthritis, Tai Ji Quan or Tai Chi was actually created as new method of combat. Developed by Chen Wang Ting, a Chinese general from the 1600s, the method was brought to Beijing by Yang Lu Chan, who remained an undefeated warrior. His success made Tai Ji Quan widely popular.
posted by Prof. Hex at 7:12 PM
Swara Yoga: how to harmonise breath
Research has shown that air flow in the turbinates in the nose triggers neuronal responses that set up reflexes throughout the body.See also Yoga: the new wonder(?)drug. And Dogs get the yoga treatment.Pope admires Indian culture, yoga.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:46 PM
Cabinet to get report on lost city in August
The Culture, Arts and Heritage Ministry will submit to the Cabinet in August a report on the initial findings of its expedition to the lost city of Kota Gelanggi in Johor.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:09 PM
Treasure found on Haddiscoe Island
When Roger Cole stepped out of his Land-Rover on Haddiscoe Island, near Yarmouth, he put his foot on what he thought was a pile of old Co-op dividend tokens.
On closer inspection, the foreman of the flood defence work site realised they were silver coins and quickly picked up around 200 of them.
An expert from Norfolk Landscape Archaeology (NLA) was called in and found a further 100 in the tracks made by a bulldozer.
The coins are dated between 1550 and 1646, and the theory of NLA finds liaison officer Dr Adrian Marsden, based at The Castle Museum, Norwich, is that they were buried for safety during the English Civil War.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:06 PM
Satanic letters in Olean don't have high priest's backing
The high priest of the Church of Satan denounced letters left in Olean last week, which asked for new Satanists to "interrogate the laws of man and of God."
An unknown person affixed several page-long, 632-word manifestoes - denouncing God and praising Satanism - to the doors of Olean High School, Olean Middle School and near the Olean City School District athletic fields on April 15.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:02 PM
Reporter out to explain the paranormal
Seated in the passenger seat of a Kia station wagon, waiting for the ghosts of a slain Boy Scout Troop to emerge from the woods, I couldn't help but reflect on how I'd arrived in this position.
Ghost-hunting, after all, does not appear in the job description for most entry-level reporters.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:58 PM
Child brides and vampire names: Bizarre the norm in mass murder trial
The tale emerging from the trial of Marcus Wesson rivals an Anne Rice novel, with testimony of incest, child brides, vampire aliases, coffin beds and an apocalyptic obsession that led a one-time bank teller to turn his extended family into a reclusive cult.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:56 PM
Comic Book Superheroes Hit Six Figures
Jon Berk will admit it straight off: He has a thing for Spider-Man. In fact, the 53-year-old civil trial attorney in Hartford, Conn., has been enjoying comics and superheroes since the age of 7. But it was not until his law school days that he began seriously collecting them. Over 30 years, he has amassed some 18,000 comic books and 200 pieces of related original artwork now valued between $3 million and $4 million.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:53 PM
Vietnam's 'Professor Turtle' Keeps Lake Legend Alive
Meet "Professor Turtle," keeper of The Lake of the Returned Sword and its mysterious giant reptile.
Zoologist Ha Dinh Duc, one of Hanoi's best-known characters and world famous in his field for tracking the huge turtle living in the center of Vietnam's capital, is retiring soon.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:38 PM
Fake Hospital Inspectors Probed
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are looking into incidents in which people masquerading as unannounced inspectors were found poking around three hospitals in Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles.
In each case the impostors were stopped by security guards or hospital staff, and then either left or were expelled. No one has been arrested, and neither the identity of the intruders nor their motives are known.
posted by Prof. Hex at 5:27 PM
"Jeff Gannon" agrees to take a DNA test
To prove he's who he says he is . . or was, or still is. Oh hell, I don't know.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:26 PM
Love Garden says goodbye to a friend
Cayenne, R.I.P.
posted by Prof. Hex at 3:36 PM
The man who went to search for America
Thirteen years before the 'Mayflower' set sail, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold helped to establish an English-speaking colony in Virginia.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:56 AM
Shakespeare portrait is a fake
The mystery surrounding a famous portrait of William Shakespeare has been solved, say experts. Historians have disagreed about the origins of The Flower Portrait, which bears the inscription 1609.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:48 AM
Friday, April 22, 2005
Weather info could go dark
Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone?
That information is available for free from the National Weather Service
But under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, it might all disappear.
The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.
Of course, these companies get their forecasts from the NWS, so taxpayers would be supporting their businesses with no renumeration.
If anyone would like to contact Senator Rick "man-on-dog" Santorum his number in Washington is 202-224-6324. Give him a call and tell him to stop supporting corporate welfare. AccuWeather is one of his supporters.
posted by Prof. Hex at 3:52 PM
US arrest over chilli finger case
A culprit has been fingered.
posted by Prof. Hex at 3:08 PM
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Is 'Laocoon' a Michelangelo forgery?
A scholar has suggested that "Laocoon," a fabled sculpture whose unearthing in 1506 has deeply influenced thinking about the ancient Greeks and the nature of the visual arts, may well be a Renaissance forgery - possibly by Michelangelo himself.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:52 PM
Ancient Chinese secret combats stress and aging
After a day of being pounded on by children, the wooden gym floor at Jane Addams Elementary School in Royal Oak gets a chance to relax as the plaintive sounds of violin and flute in Chinese music soothe the air. The music is a calming soundtrack for the 24 Oakland County residents, many seniors, as they glide slowly across the floor practicing a form of decades old Chinese martial arts.
The instructor, 54-year-old Han Hoong Wang, moved to Royal Oak in 1986 in order to give her daughter educational opportunities she didn't have in China. That's when Wang began teaching Yang Style Tai Chi here.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:46 PM
Pre-Pharaoh necropolis found
Archaeologists have found a sprawling necropolis in southern Egypt thought to be more than 5,000 years old and containing evidence of an early form of mummification, Egypt's antiquities chief said yesterday.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:44 PM
Another look at Hunter Thompson's death
The recent slam of articles on Hunter Thompson's death has brought new information and a new question as to its cause. One article by Tim Schmitt, "Death of a Conspiracy - Johnny Gosch, Jeff Gannon, Hunter Thompson and the unraveling of a troubling tale," is truly troubling. It comes from an alternative paper called Pointblank, no less, in Des Moines, Iowa, whose doors were shut and Schmitt fired the day after publication.
What's more, if I found Thompson's suicide hard to believe originally, this article was ringing bells, reporting that Hunter Thompson directed a snuff film involving Satanic, homosexual adults and children. Yet Schmitt admittedly culled this information from the 1994 edition of John DeCamp's The Franklin Cover-Up - Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska, which led me to read the updated 2005 edition.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:42 PM
WEB SEARCH FOR LOST 'WATER MONSTER' BOWL
Historians have launched a hi-tech search for an ancient bowl which was found in Lincolnshire but has been missing for 130 years.
The Royal Society of Antiquaries is posting a 19th century drawing of the eighth century Witham Bowl on its new website, being launched tomorrow.
The silver artefact was found in the River Witham, at Washingborough, near Lincoln, in 1816.
It is a hanging bowl from the Middle Saxon period and features a mysterious animal at its centre - thought to be a dog or a water monster.
Link found at the Anomalist.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:27 PM
MK ULTRA - Bid to sue over LSD rejected
A federal judge has tentatively ordered dismissal of a $12 million lawsuit against the U.S. government, filed by a former deputy marshal who said he was unknowingly drugged with LSD as part of a CIA mind-control program before trying to hold up a San Francisco bar nearly a half century ago.
In earlier rulings, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel rejected the government's attempts to dismiss Wayne Ritchie's suit and said he had shown that a CIA mind-control experiment code-named MKULTRA was operating in San Francisco in December 1957, when Ritchie says he was drugged.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:26 AM
Priest named in lawsuit that alleges ritual abuse
A Toledo Roman Catholic diocesan priest charged in the 1980 slaying of a nun was accused yesterday in a civil lawsuit of repeatedly torturing and raping a young girl in ritual abuse ceremonies at a north-side church.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:20 AM
England's Mysterious Patron Saint
St. George, bacon salesman.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:14 AM
Skunk ape movie debuts at Bombay Club
Inquiring minds wanted to know, so they came from near and far to satisfy their curiosity, have a little cheer, and meet the man who has seen the skunk ape.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:09 AM
Bigfoot tape thrills northern community
Hundreds of residents of Norway House First Nation in Manitoba are convinced the Bigfoot legend is real after a local man captured a strange creature on videotape.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:08 AM
Ratzinger: Grand Inquisitor & Pedophile Protector
With all this talk of the prophecies for the next pope, I’d like to make a little papal prediction of my own. My money happens to be on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - mainly because his name has come up time and again in unrelated research over the past year, and he just so happens to be a very scary candidate.
Theres also a nice essay on the new Pope over at Rigorous Intuition.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:06 AM
More Questions Surfacing in the 30 Year Murder Mystery of BTK
After Dennis Rader's first appearance in March, one of his lawyers talked with KAKE about filing motions.
"A competency motion is going to have to be filed and at this point. There's no telling when that trial is going to take place. A lot of things could change between now and then, but we will certainly be asking for a change of venue," said Jama Mitchell.
That was then, this is now.
posted by Prof. Hex at 8:56 AM
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Was Jack the Ripper Welsh?
A NEW book has claimed that Whitechapel serial murderer Jack the Ripper was a former Swansea GP who killed his victims in a crazed attempt to cure infertility.
And the author of the new work, Uncle Jack, Tony Williams, is a relative of surgeon Sir John Williams, who he claims was behind the orgy of bloody killings.
Sweet.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:33 AM
The Lost City of Atlantis - an act of blasphemy
And speaking of Atlantis, check out this letter to the editor.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:29 AM
Canadian discovers Atlantis Using Personal Computer
It's a press release but you can visit his personal site at Atlantis Uncovered.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:26 AM
'Ape-man' meets Glades showman
David Shealy's life mission is singular, a little lonely, and sometimes jinxes him with the ladies. None of this may be surprising, given that for more than a decade Shealy has tried to convince the world that outsized, lumbering ape-men call the Everglades home.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:22 AM
Big cat fear after foxes torn apart
MYSTERIOUS beast behind the mutilation of foxes is raising speculation a big cat is on the prowl.
Laura Downes, 47, of Westmount Road, Eltham, discovered a dead fox in her back garden and thought there was nothing sinister involved.
But when she looked out an hour later nothing was left except clumps of fur, scattered around the garden.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:17 AM
Gyllenhaal, Downey Align for 'Zodiac'
David Fincher's Zodiac killer film looks like a go.
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:15 AM
Monday, April 18, 2005
Missouri company makes/restores organs old-fashioned way
At 6 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2001, a lone custodian at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine smelled smoke and quickly called security. By 7 a.m., the world's largest cathedral was the scene of a five-alarm fire.
Firefighters squelched the fire by 9:30 a.m., but by then the church had more than $40 million in damage.
Everything, including priceless statuary, paintings and tapestries, was burned, obscured with grime or covered with soot, including the church's four organs.
The organs were smoke-encrusted and unplayable. One, an Ernest M. Skinner organ from 1910 that was revised by Aeolian-Skinner in the 1950s, is one of America's most important pipe organs, widely admired for its color and mixtures and superbly maintained by the church's staff.
It was a $3 million job.
To bad my friends Kris and Shelly didn't get this job. They could have retired.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:29 PM
'Mystery stone' unearthed at Fort Knox
Fort Knox is the state's most visited historic site, but the thousands of people who walk the grounds of the 150-year-old fort never realize that there is a hidden Fort Knox, quite literally beneath their feet.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:24 PM
Supreme Court to Hear Appeal on Hallucinogenic Tea
The U.S. Supreme Court said on Monday it would decide whether the federal government must allow the U.S. branch of a Brazilian-based religion to import a hallucinogenic tea for use as a sacrament.
posted by Prof. Hex at 9:20 PM
Rome judge to deliver ruling on killing of 'God's banker'
As the cardinals go into conclave tomorrow a Rome judge will begin delivering his verdict on the murder of Roberto Calvi, the banker whose spectacular financial collapse cast a shadow over the early years of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Judge Orlando Villoni must decide whether there is sufficient evidence to justify a full trial for four defendants charged with conspiring to murder Calvi and suspending his body from scaffolding under Blackfriars Bridge in London in what appeared to be a macabre symbolic warning to the controversial banker's associates.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:39 AM
1987 finger mystery just a lot of tripe
A finger-in-the-menudo mystery from 1987.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:11 AM
Friday, April 15, 2005
He talks to Edison
"I converse with Thomas Edison pretty regularly. I do it telepathically and through a Ouija Board. Did you know one of his favorite poets was Edgar Allen Poe? That's one of things I liked about tonight. This is called 'Nevermore' and that's a line from one of Poe's poems."
Borri ran his right hand through his hair. He leaned close.
"Edison is not happy with current technology. He really doesn't like the pop industry. He thinks there are too many fakes being passed off as artists."
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:04 PM
At 101, Former Ziegfeld Girl Plans Return
She began dancing on Broadway while the doughboys were still fighting in France. In the 1920s, she was Al Jolson's leading lady, and later was the first to perform "Singin' in the Rain" years before Gene Kelly.
On Friday, 101-year-old Doris Eaton Travis, a former Ziegfeld Girl, was back on a 42nd Street stage, rehearsing for Broadway's 19th annual fund-raiser to fight AIDS.
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:01 PM
Nevada woman's finger doesn't match one found in Wendy's chili
Uh, yeah . . .
posted by Prof. Hex at 10:56 PM
All in the family
Conservative values in action!
For conservatives, Hillsdale is meant to be a model for how higher education should work.
But Lissa Roche's suicide has ruptured the college, guaranteeing that Hillsdale will long be known as the school whose prominent president, George Roche III, allegedly conducted a 19-year affair with his daughter-in-law, who was the mother of his grandson and an employee of the college.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:21 AM
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Man wants to exorcise Mt. Diablo
A deeply religious Oakley man has petitioned the federal government to rename Mount Diablo, calling the current name a profane salute to Satan.
posted by Prof. Hex at 6:10 AM
CLASSIFIED DEFENSE SPENDING CONTINUES TO GROW
Classified spending in the proposed 2006 defense acquisition budget totals about $28 billion, according to an analysis by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA).
That is nearly double the amount in real dollars that was spent in fiscal year 1995, which was the post-Cold War low for classified defense spending.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:21 AM
Finger in Wendy's chili may be linked to leopard attack
This story just gets weirder and weirder.
posted by Prof. Hex at 4:13 AM
Secretive ritual prompts uproar, controversy
Marianne Edwards had received her song from the other world, and now, up on Mount Newton, she stripped and backed into the black, frigid pond to purify her body and cleanse the human odors that would offend the spirits.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:00 AM
Arab world is getting its own comic-book heroes
He's a mild-mannered philosophy professor who wears button-down shirts, lives in a drab, anonymous apartment and pronounces maxims such as "There is no glory without virtue" and "Free will pushes toward creativity." But beneath the meek, pedantic exterior lies a buff, masked fighter in tights. He is endowed with supernatural strength and a mission to "fight evil until the end of time."
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:58 AM
First 'unexplained healings' come to light
According to the Scotsman newspaper, the Italian press is already discussing various alleged miracles which should help Pope John Paul II gain sainthood in record time.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:55 AM
Mysterious appearances a warning
The mysterious appearance of clams in two locations in the country has been interpreted by experts as portending a natural disaster, two Bahasa Malaysia dailies reported.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:51 AM
Savetoby.com | Only YOU have the power to Save Toby!
$50,000 by June 30th or the bunny gets it.
Link found at Cruel.com.
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:27 AM
Monday, April 11, 2005
Is Mozart the mastermind behind mysterious music?
The Musikverein, one of Europe's most renowned concert houses, is investigating whether it has discovered a score by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian state television reported.
posted by Prof. Hex at 2:50 PM
Build your own car!
I have no idea if these are street legal but they sure are cool.
Link found at Jalopnik.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:54 PM
Bionic suit offers wearers super-strength
A ROBOT suit has been developed that could help older people or those with disabilities to walk or lift heavy objects.
Dubbed HAL, or hybrid assistive limb, the latest versions of the suit will be unveiled this June at the 2005 World Expo in Aichi, Japan, which opened last month. A commercial product is slated for release by the end of the year.
Video is available here.
Link found at Sploid.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:46 PM
Eisner's Spirit on Film
Regular readers of this blog will remember that I'm a big Will Eisner fan. His seminal creation, the Spirit, is coming to the big screen. After seeing Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller's Sin City this weekend, I have high hopes.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:35 PM
Found: Hitler's horrors in full colour
"We believe Hitler was the most filmed person in the world up to his death."
posted by Prof. Hex at 11:15 AM
THE BRAD BLOG: "CLINT CURTIS PASSES POLYGRAPH EXAM!"
The Brad Blog is reporting that Clint Curtis, the Florida whistleblowing software designer who has charged in a sworn affidavit that he was asked by U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) to create an electronic vote-rigging software prototype in 2000, has passed a polygraph test regarding his allegations.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:38 AM
Friday, April 08, 2005
Loch Ness Monster Finally Identified
This is press release, but an interesting one. According to American Forensic Artist and private investigator William McDonald, the famous lake monster known as "Nessie" is neither a plesiosaur or prehistoric reptile, but a real, predatory species of water animal possessing the ability to hunt on land.
In the winter months of 2004, McDonald photographed tracks left by a large animal on a mud-covered Loch Ness shoreline in an area south of Invermoriston, just off the A-82 highway. Weeks later, McDonald was contacted by two American university students who had just returned from a Spring Break trip to Britain. The students provided McDonald with video tape footage of the remains of a 200-pound Highland red deer carcass, found in a boat-only accessible area known to local fishermen as a “Kill Zone.” The deer appears to have been torn in half, its pelt ravaged. (there are no bears in the Scottish Highlands). But the most shocking find was a shed animal tooth – found wedged between the deer’s exposed ribcage. The tooth is barbed, well-rooted, and measured nearly four inches in length!Be sure to check out the picture of "Nessie's lost tooth". The tooth was allegedly impounded by a "local water bailiff." You can check out pictures of Nessie's footprints and the tooth at www.lochnesstooth.com. It's really one wicked looking tooth.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:39 AM
Illegal organ trafficking 'not a myth'
Countries like South Africa and Brazil are being preyed upon by a new form of slavery, Nancy Scheper-Hughes said at the 2005 Anthropology Program Spring Lecture on Thursday night in the Architecture Building’s auditorium.
"Whole and [partial] body parts are being traded," she said.
posted by Prof. Hex at 1:08 AM
Get em Johnny Boy!
Johnny Gosch, Jeff Gannon, Hunter Thompson and the unraveling of a troubling tale.
Noreen Gosch sits in a booth at the West Des Moines Village Inn, nursing a cup of coffee and managing, despite her larger-than-life personality, to blend into the surroundings and keep a low profile in the almost empty restaurant. She is open with her thoughts and willing to share what information she can, yet she remains guarded - cautious and thoughtful in a manner often mistaken as cold and standoffish. She thinks carefully as she speaks about her son, Johnny, and the players in a bizarre conspiracy surrounding his disappearance in 1982 that continues to evolve, and may finally be on the verge of breaking down.
"Just because you don't want to believe something is true," says Noreen slowly, "that doesn't mean it's not true."
posted by Prof. Hex at 12:54 AM
Darth Rader
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