Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff): July 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

TFO: Naughty Nightie Night at the Crest

Pics of my kooky friends at the Naughty Nightie and Zombie Pillow Fight at the Crest.

Sound Tests: “She’s Going to India”

Here's a super short song I wrong so I could play with some effects tonight. This is all the same recording with different effects applied on a little digital multi-track unit about the size of a walkman in my bedroom.

Going2India-Cleanish.mp3
Going2India-TerribleEcho.mp3
Going2India-SuperLowPitchShift.mp3
Going2India-Flange.mp3
Going2India-BassEcho.mp3
Going2India-SmallRadio.mp3
Going2India-Clean.mp3

Xeno at the Sacramento Film and Music Festival this Sat Night.

Hey all, I'll be layin' out some smooth and freaky tunes in the lounge at the Crest Theatre this Saturday Night, August 5th, in between bands and movies. Come on by and say hello. Here is the web site.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Hours and Hours of Recent Free University Physics Lecture Videos

Friday, July 28, 2006

Ethanol Benefits Video

Ethanol (E85) and flex fuel (FFV) cars are the answer for US energy security and environmental improvement.

[googlevideo]-570288889128950913[/googlevideo]

Wizard of Oz and the Dark Side of the Moon.

I've heard of this before, but I've never seen it until now. The unplanned synchronicity between the "Wizard of Oz" movie and the Pink Floyd album "Dark side of the Moon" is down right EERIE! Seriously, I know the mind fills in the blanks and all, but I about jumped out of my skin when the Wicked Witch shows up on a bicycle and the alarms all go off. The crazy Saxophone when the good witch appears is freaky too.

[googlevideo]-4935715412555856092[/googlevideo]

Check it out before it is pulled down. ( Uh, yeah, being single on a Friday night is great! Hehe. ) Oh wow, the line "Black and Blue" about 29 minutes in is way too much. And what about the line "Witches' is Witch"!! I'm freakin' out. :-)

6 Shot, 1 Fatally at Seattle Jewish Center

Here is video of the arrest. Looks like the police were expecting an ambush from somewhere when they arrested the "one" shooter?

A man walked into a Jewish organization Friday afternoon and opened fire, killing one person and injuring at least five others before he was arrested, officials said.

The gunman, who employees said claimed to be a Muslim angry at Israel, forced his way through the security door at the Jewish Federation after an employee had punched in her security code, said Marla Meislin-Dietrich, a co-worker who was not at the building at the time. Staff members said they overheard him saying "'I am a Muslim American, angry at Israel,' before opening fire on everyone," Meislin-Dietrich said. "He was randomly shooting at everyone." Police would not confirm the account. - forbes

"Seattle police say they're confident there was only one gunman behind the shooting, and that they have that person in custody. There were initial media reports that a second gunman was being sought." - kcbs

" Police have taken one person into custody but there may be more suspects in or around the building. Police have their weapons pointed toward the second floor of the building." - fox11

"Sources told KING 5 the suspect is a Pakistani man with a criminal background. He is from the Tri-Cities but his citizenship is unknown. Officials are on the way to the Tri-Cities to interview his family." - lgf

Yes, this is part of the conspiracy I told you about yesterday. I find it productive to assume that some secret powerful group is? using religion and patriotism to get the less intelligent people on the planet to kill and die, thus reducing the population so they have enough food and water to survive the global warming (141 dead from the heat in CA). You see, already, their plan is spreading to the USA. So sick and sad. Don't be tricked into dying. This is YOUR life. Live it. Love it. Love others. Shun haters. Tell people about the scam. The smart ones will believe you. Tell them not to be fooled by the lies and hate.

Vegan diet beats ADA diet; improves health of diabetes patients

In a study published in the journal Diabetes Care, researchers found that a vegan diet may be better for type 2 diabetics than other diets, even the ones recommended by the American Diabetes Association. Researchers from George Washington University tested a vegan diet and the ADA-recommended diet to see which worked best in the management of diabetes, kidney function, cholesterol levels and weight loss. Around 100 adults diagnosed with type 2 diabetes participated, with half following a low-fat vegan diet and half following the ADA-recommended guidelines. Overweight ADA dieters were also advised to reduce their calorie intake by 500-1,000 calories. According to experts, one small risk associated with a vegan diet is a lack of vitamin B12, so the vegan participants' meals were supplemented with B12 vitamins. Forty-three percent of the people who followed the vegan diet for 22 weeks reduced their dependence on diabetes management drugs, whereas only 26 percent of the ADA dieters had the same results. The vegan dieters also lost an average of 14 pounds compared to an average of 7 pounds in the ADA diet group. - newstarget

Vegan Food Pyramid

U.N. Rights Panel tells US to shut “secret” jails. / Coulter Commentary.

The U.S. should immediately shut down any secret detention facilities and grant prompt access to the Red Cross to any person detained in connection with an armed conflict, a U.N. rights panel said in a report released Friday.

[ "In Afghanistan, the largest CIA covert prison was code-named the Salt Pit" - washpost]

"The committee is concerned by credible and uncontested information that the [USA] has seen fit to engage in the practice of detaining people secretly and in secret places for months and years on end," according to the 12-page U.N. Human Rights Committee report. - cbs

Bush mob reply: No Fair! We Americans only have to follow our own laws inside our own borders. Outside, we can do any evil things we want. Besides, we really enjoy making people vanish into torture chambers when they learn too much about our crimes.

As neocon spokesperson Ann Coulter puts it:

"We need to execute people... in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too." ... "Liberals hate America, ... they hate all religions except Islam, post 9/11. Even Islamic terrorists don't hate America like liberals do.

According to Webster's dictionary, a liberal is someone who supports, "a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race, and the autonomy of the individual and standing for the protection of political and civil liberties". That sounds just horrible doesn't it? No wonder Ann hates liberals so much.? She must be convinced that the human race is evil, progress is bad, people should be controlled and civil and political rights should not be protected. This belief most likely comes from her own personal experience: She must feel she is evil, she needs to be controlled, that freedom frightens her, and so on.

20,000 year old foot prints.

Dating of the thin clay-like sand sheet covering the footprints show them to be between 19 and 23 thousand years old.

The footprints were found in southeastern Australia, along the shore of one of 19 dried up lakes that comprise the Willandra Lakes system.

The researchers believe the prints were made over a series of weeks or months about 20,000 years ago when the site was exposed. Males and females, ranging from children to adults, are represented, and many of them seem to be doing different things.

"Quite a few people seem to be running and heading the same way," Cupper told LiveScience. "Some of the little children were walking slower. This may suggest that there were several events represented."

Australia is thought to have first been colonized by humans about 50,000 years ago. Those who made the newfound footprints were likely the ancestors of today's Australian aborigines, the researchers say. - yahoo

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Conspiracy: Population Reduction Plan

My inside sources have told me what is really going on. I will reveal it to you. They were planning to use a virus (or just the threat of a virus), but the current plan is to use religion and patriotism to get the less intelligent people on the planet to fight and die to reduce the world's population.

Of course, it is all a scam. Bin Laden and Bush were buddies (before Bin Laden died a few years ago), as are the top leaders of other groups at war. They are putting on an act to get people to kill eachother in large numbers. This must be done to get the human population down from 6.5 billion to 1 or 2 billion people. Here are some stories:

Bin Laden's deputy calls for global war on 'crusaders'

Israel approves calling up 30,000 reservists

Bringing on 'World War III'

"The Cold War was the best thing that ever happened to American capitalism, and the collapse of the Soviet Union was a disaster for the Eisenhower-named military-industrial complex," Stauber pointed out.

"The strategists among the pro-war right jumped all over 9/11; an endless, secret, war against a foreign enemy bent on terrorism and acquiring weapons of mass destruction is an even better scenario for American militarists than the Cold War."

We are Already in a Religious War

'Our religion says to fight for jihad' (India & Pakistan)

ABC News: Avian Flu: Is the Government Ready for an Epidemic?

Apollo 11 Astronauts Witnessed UFO

"A new TV documentary unveils that the first men to walk on the Moon reported seeing a UFO. The new TV documentary about the first men to walk on the Moon unveils a UFO cover-up. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon's surface after Neil Armstrong, says space agency bosses covered up their sighting.

And the Apollo 11 astronauts were also careful not to talk openly about it. He said: "There was something out there, close enough to be observed, and what could it be?

"Now, obviously the three of us weren't going to blurt out, 'Hey, Houston, we've got something moving alongside of us and we don't know what it is, you know? "Can you tell us what it is?' "We weren't about to do that, because we knew that that those transmissions would be heard by all sorts of people and somebody might have demanded we turn back because of aliens or whatever the reason is."

The documentary also reveals that the astronauts had to repair the lunar module with a ballpoint pen after the historic landing in July 1969. In the cramped conditions, someone's bulky spacesuit had snapped off a circuit breaker essential for starting up the engine. To this day, Aldrin treasures the everyday object that saved their lives. He said: "I used a pen, one of several that we had on board that didn't have metal on the end, and we used that to push the circuit breaker in."

The documentary also draws on classified documents made public for the first time." - 1, 2, 3.

This transcript is interesting.

Utilities giving big bucks to Virginia global warming skeptic

He'll support any position, true or not, for price? That would make him the Rush-Limbaugh of Climatology.

"Coal-burning utilities are raising money for one of the few remaining scientists skeptical of the global warming harm caused by industries that burn fossil fuels. Pat Michaels is Virginia's state climatologist and a University of Virginia professor. He told business leaders last year that he was running out of money to analyze global warming research. So last week, a utility organized a collection campaign to help him out. The Intermountain Rural Electric Association in Colorado gave Michaels 100-thousand dollars and started the fundraising drive. One company planned to give 50-thousand dollars and a third plans to give Michaels money next year. While the utilities are upfront about the funding, others are calling it a clear conflict of interest." - wavy

Missing Mauldin Man Found Alive

Probably just a simple alien abduction... or he's lying?

21 year-old Alex Gibbs says it's good to be home. The Mauldin resident was last seen by his family Saturday night when he went out to run some errands. Gibbs says the last thing he remembers was parking his car at Barnes and Noble on Haywood Road Saturday.? Days later he says he woke up 132 miles away in Doraville Georgia. Confused?? He says so is he. His face was plastered on hundreds of fliers that plastered Greenville starting Sunday.

"I woke up and I was laying down in the woods and my head hurt really bad and my foot hurt really bad," Gibbs said.? Then he says he walked out to a police station in the Atlanta suburb.? His truck was gone.? So was his memory."I don't remember anything other than driving to Barnes and Noble," where he said time stopped until three days later."I had a swim meet that feels like today. And I was supposed to go to Europe on Monday. That feels like tomorrow."

... Mauldin Police say they're closing their missing persons case because Alex is home.? They are now trying to decide whether to turn the case over to Greenville for the carjacking Alex says took place. Doctors at an Atlanta hospital where Alex was treated Tuesday night say he's suffering from Global Amnesia. We did some checking and found causes of the condition can be emotional stress or even driving in a car. Because Alex doesn't have an apparent injuries, the doctors say he will need more tests. - wspa

Cell Phone Picture Called Obstruction Of Justice

A Philadelphia family said they are outraged over the arrest of one of their family members. The family of Neftaly Cruz said police had no right to come onto their property and arrest their 21-year-old son simply because he was using his cell phone's camera. They told their story to Harry Hairston and the NBC 10 Investigators. Cruz, 21, told the NBC 10 Investigators that police arrested him last Wednesday for taking a picture of police activity with his cell phone. Police at the 35th district said they were in Cruz's neighborhood that night arresting a drug dealer. Cruz said that when he heard a commotion, he walked out of his back door with his cell phone to see what was happening. He said that when he saw the street lined with police cars, he decided to take a picture of the scene."I opened (the phone) and took a shot," Cruz said.Moments later, Cruz said he got the shock of his life when an officer came to his back yard gate.

"He opened the gate and took me by my right hand," Cruz said.Cruz said the officer threw him onto a police car, cuffed him and took him to jail.A neighbor said she witnessed the incident and could not believe what she saw. "He opened up the gate and Neffy was coming down and he went up to Neffy, pulled him down, had Neffy on the car and was telling him, 'You should have just went in the house and minded your own business instead of trying to take pictures off your picture phone,'" said Gerrell Martin.Cruz said police told him that he broke a new law that prohibits people from taking pictures of police with cell phones. "They threatened to charge me with conspiracy, impeding an investigation, obstruction of a investigation. ? They said, 'You were impeding this investigation.' (I asked,) "By doing what?' (The officer said,) 'By taking a picture of the police officers with a camera phone,'" Cruz said.Cruz's parents, who got him out of jail, said police told them the same thing. "He said he was taking pictures with his cell phone and that was obstructing an investigation," said Aracelis Cruz, Neftaly Cruz's mother. The NBC 10 Investigators asked the ACLU union how they viewed the incident. "There is no law that prevents people from taking pictures of what anybody can see on the street," said Larry Frankel of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I think it's rather scary that in this country you could actually be taken down to police headquarters for taking a picture on your cell phone of activities that are clearly visible on the street. "Frankel said Cruz's civil rights might have been violated. "He was unlawfully seized, which is a violation of the 4th amendment the last time we checked," Frankel said. Cruz, a Penn State University senior, said that after about an hour police told him he was lucky because there was no supervisor on duty, so they released him. "They said if the supervisor was there I wouldn't be a free man and that he is letting me go because he felt that I was a good person," Cruz said. - nbc

VeriChip’s human-implatable RFID chips clonable, sez hackers

In case anyone needed more proof that we're all living in a Philip K. Dick novel, a pair of hackers have recently demonstrated how human-implantable RFID chips from VeriChip can be easily cloned, effectively stealing the person's identity. Annalee Newitz and Jonathan Westhues showed off their handiwork at the HOPE Number Six conference in New York City this weekend, with Newitz herself playing the role of guinea pig, implanting a VeriChip RFID chip in her right arm. To clone the chip, Westhues first read Newitz's arm with a standard RFID reader, then scanned it again with a homebrew antenna connected to his laptop, which recorded the signal off the chip. He then used the same RFID reader to read the signal from his laptop, which promptly spit out Newtiz's supposedly unique ID. For its part, VeriChip has only said they haven't yet had a chance to review the evidence but still insist that "it's very difficult to steal a VeriChip." - engaget

Fox News Says Hezbollah ‘Certain’ To Nuke Major City

... Following the ceaseless bombing of Lebanon, Fox News has gone thermonuclear in its mission to drive fear into the hearts of Americans by insisting that Hezbollah's use of a nuclear device in a major US or Israeli city is inevitable and that only increased surveillance of Americans can stop it.

Couched in a bizarre Hannity and Colmes demonstration, where a Geiger counter (soon to be a common household object apparently) was used to measure radiation of packets placed in the two presenter's pockets, guest Cham Dallas, director for the Center for Mass Destruction Defense, was determined to get his message across.

Dallas: Sometime in the future there's going to be a nuclear weapon used in the United States - certainly a radiological device is going to be used and a lot of radioactivity is going to fall on American citizens.

Colmes: You say that like it's a certainty, like there's no question it's going to happen.

Dallas: There's no doubt in my mind that at some point in the future we will have a radiological device probably soon and a nuclear device at some point five or ten years after. - prisonplanet

Ladies, Watch for Men with Sports Bags

EXCLUSIVE: I'M NOT FILMING UP SKIRTS I'M SPYING ON AL-QAEDA
EXCLUSIVE Anti-terror cop held over hidden camera antics

A DETECTIVE was arrested for allegedly filming up women's skirts with a hidden camera. The married anti-terrorist officer told police he was working undercover to video al-Qaeda suspects. But back at the station they found his camera had close-ups of bottoms and knickers.

He was nabbed by a plain-clothes team watching out for perverts and paedophiles in Trafalgar Square, Central London, on Tuesday. A police source claimed the man, a Scotland Yard surveillance expert with more than 20 years' experience, had the camera hidden in a sports bag. He added: "The officer used surveillance techniques for his own perverted hobby - taking pictures up women's skirts.

"It was one of the year's hottest days and Trafalgar Square was packed with young women in skimpy clothes. When officers moved in, he told them he was a cop on an anti-terror operation. "But the pictures were not of terrorist suspects planning a bombing, they were of knickers." The officer was arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance. He has been suspended. - mirroruk

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

In the UK: It is not illegal for people to send snakes via mail

A woman caused panic in a German post office when a 1.5m (5ft) albino python snake she was trying to send through the mail broke free of its packaging. The 28-year-old woman had sold the snake over the internet and was mailing it to its new owner labelled "glass".

"Staff accepted the package and put it in the back of the office - they had no idea what it was," police said.

"All of a sudden, they noticed that it started moving around and then saw a big snake wriggling out of it."

One of the workers at the western city of Mechernich's post office wrestled the escaping snake and put it in a container.

It is not illegal for people to send snakes via mail, but the woman will be investigated by police over a mistreatment of animals charge. - bbc

Freaky looking fish washes up on Oregon beach

A strange and rare discovery in Oregon was puzzling marine scientists Monday. A nearly six foot long King-of-the-Salmon washed up on the beach. It?s a member of the Ribbonfish family normally found 1,600 below the surface of the ocean, from Alaska to Baja and along the coast of Chile. They can grow up to, and possibly exceed six feet.

Keith Chandler, of the Seaside Aquarium, says it?s the first time he?s seen one wash up on an Oregon beach in his 27 year marine science career. He says he?s not sure what kind of conditions could?ve brought the creature up this far above its normal environment.

?The name King-of-the-Salmon originated from an Indian legend which describes the fish as the ?king? who leads salmon back to the rivers to spawn,? said Tiffany Booth, of the Seaside Aquarium. ?They?re rarely seen, but fishermen have been known to catch them both in nets and on line. The adults eat squid and juvenile rockfish.?

The fish is currently frozen at the Seaside Aquarium. - fox11

What is red mercury?

Three men have been cleared of trying to procure the raw ingredients for a "dirty bomb" which the prosecution claimed could have devastated a British city if it fell into the hands of terrorists. But mystery surrounds the material at the centre of the plot. So what exactly is red mercury?

The most bizarre aspect of the trial of Abdurahman Kanyare and his two co-defendants was the fact that no-one in the court could be certain whether the terrifying substance on which the entire prosecution case was based actually existed.

The prosecutor, Mark Ellison, admitted the police had no idea if there even was such a thing as red mercury - supposedly the main ingredient for a "dirty bomb" which could have devastated London. [One theory: It is ] a military codeword for a new nuclear material, probably manufactured in Russia. - bbc

Video of A Car Shredder

Woah...

Monday, July 24, 2006

Rolling Blackouts Possible Soon in CA

... The state only avoided blackouts Monday because every available power plant, including some not usually in service, ran at full capacity and residents curtailed their energy use, according to the California Independent System Operator. And about 1 p.m., state officials declared a Stage 2 power emergency, requiring some companies to switch off the power grid and fire up their own generators.

Power demand peaked midafternoon at 50,270 megawatts statewide -- up about 8 percent from just a week ago and more than 20 percent above the level seen during the 2000-2001 power crisis. Demand is expected to exceed 50,000 megawatts again today, just 2,000 megawatts less than the load that wasn't expected until 2011.

``This is really incredible,'' said Gregg Fishman, a spokesman for the state grid operator. - sjmn

Sniper shootings on Indiana interstates

12:23 a.m. - A 911 call reports a shooting along southbound lanes of I-65 near the 52 mile marker, about 50 miles south of Indianapolis. Jerry L. Ross, 40, of New Albany, a passenger in a Chevrolet pickup, dies after a bullet passes through the windshield. Two other passengers are not injured.

12:30 a.m. - Seymour Police receive a call from a nearby Shell gas station to report a second injured passenger. Robert John Otto Hartl, 25, of Audubon, Iowa, is grazed in the head while driving in a Dodge Ram pickup truck on I-65 to Florida. The bullet tore a hole near the middle of the front windshield and shattered the rear window. Hartl is treated at Seymour hospital and released.

2:30 a.m. - Driving north through Delaware County on I-69, Richard G. Greek, 57, of Kunkle, Ohio, hears a series of pops as he passes the 42 mile marker 50 miles north of Indianapolis. Greek realizes his tractor trailer has been struck by gunfire. He was not injured and drives to a nearby truck stop to call police.

3:30 a.m. - An unattended car parked at service station near the 41 mile marker of I-69 is shot multiple times. A clerk reports the gunfire.

9:00 a.m. - Police reopen a 14-mile stretch of I-65 after closing the highway for eight hours to search for clues. - fortwayne

Deja vu ‘recreated in laboratory’

Scientists believe they have found a way to probe the mysterious phenomenon of feeling you have witnessed something before - deja vu.

Leeds Memory Group researchers say they have gone some way to recreating the sensation in the lab using hypnosis.

... Some people with temporal lobe epilepsy report frequent deja vu.

And previous work in France has found that electrically stimulating parts of the temporal lobe can trigger a sensation of familiarity with everything a person encounters.

Professor Alan Brown, an expert in deja vu at South Methodist University in Dallas, said: "Using hypnotic suggestion to either stimulate, or simulate, a deja vu experience could potentially be a very fruitful way to explore this phenomenon. - bbc

Man makes Android Copy of Himself

Hiroshi Ishiguro poses with his android clone, Geminoid HI-1. Constructed of silicone and steel and powered by pressurized air and small actuators, Ishiguro's life-size doppelg?nger is uncannily realistic since it was made from casts taken from the roboticist's body. - more at wired

Teen Uses Discovery Channel Tip To Escape Alligator Attack

A 16-year-old being dragged into a Central Florida lake by an 11-foot alligator used a tip he watched on a Discovery Channel show to break free and save his life, according to a Local 6 News report.Corey Workman was in a remote area of the St. John's River in Volusia County, Fla., just before midnight Saturday, throwing rocks and sticks into the water when he was attacked.Authorities said an alligator jumped out of the water, grabbed Workman's left foot and dragged him into the lake.? He struggled with the alligator but could not get free until he remembered something he saw on the Discovery Channel about what to do if you are getting attacked by an alligator," Local 6 reporter Deborah Garcia said."For some reason, I remembered a couple of months ago I was watching the television show and they were saying in certain situations whenever you are in, you have to put your thumb in its eye since it is the most sensitive part on the alligator," Workman told Local 6 News Monday. "It was the first thing I did."Workman poked the alligator in the eye with his thumb as he was told to do on the television show.His mom said the lesson of poking at the alligator's eye saved her son's life, Garcia said."If he was every bitten by a shark, he (learned) to put his hand in its gills and if he was ever attacked by a gator, to take his thumb and poke his thumb all the way in his eye and the gator released him," mother Elisa Badger said. "Thank God he was able to maintain his composure and not panic. He knew exactly what to do."? - local6

Accused troops: We were under orders to kill

Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to ?kill all military age males,? according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press. The soldiers first took some of the men into custody because they were using two women and a toddler as human shields. They shot three of the men after the women and child were safe and say the men attacked them. ?The ROE (rule of engagement) was to kill all military age males on Objective Murray,? Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard told investigators, referring to the target by its code name. - msnbc

Elephant ’self-portrait’ on show

Pictures which were painted by elephants have gone on display at an Edinburgh gallery. Art graduate Victoria Khunapramot, 26, has brought the paintings from Thailand to the Dundas Gallery on Dundas Street.

They include "self-portraits" by Paya, who is said to be the only elephant to have mastered his own likeness.

Paya is one of six elephants whose keepers have taught them how to hold a paintbrush in their trunks. They drop the brush when they want a new colour.

Mrs Khunapramot, from Newington, said: "Many people cannot believe that an elephant is capable of producing any kind of artwork, never mind a self-portrait.

"But they are very intelligent animals and create the entire paintings with great gusto and concentration within just five or 10 minutes - the only thing they cannot do on their own is pick up a paintbrush, so it gets handed to them.

"They are trained by artists who fine-tune their skills, and they paint in front of an audience in their conservation village, leaving no one in any doubt that they are authentic elephant creations." ...

Elephant expert Dr Joyce Poole, who has studied the animals for 30 years, said she owned an elephant painting but had not come across animals painting their own images. The Oslo-based scientist said: "I have seen elephants painting, but it was very free-flow. "It's certainly capable of drawing an elephant, and could be trained, but might not really understand what it was doing." - bbc

"Might" not. But, might.

Two killed as artwork ‘lifts off’

Two people have been killed and 13 injured after a giant, inflatable sculpture blew free from its moorings. Many were inside the artwork, which consists of connected rooms, when it lifted 30ft into the air at Riverside Park, Chester-le-Street, County Durham.

The Dreamspace sculpture is thought to have drifted for about 40m.

A 38-year-old woman from the town and a 68-year-old woman from Seaham died. A three-year-old girl was seriously injured and was flown to hospital.

The girl, from Langley Park near Durham, is in Newcastle General Hospital.

The Health and Safety executive has launched an investigation. - bbc

Cry of an enfant sauvage

For five years, Oxana Malaya lived with dogs and survived on raw meat and scraps. When she was found she was running around on all fours barking.?

... She bounds along on all fours through long grass, panting towards water with her tongue hanging out. When she reaches the tap she paws at the ground with her forefeet, drinks noisily with her jaws wide and lets the water cascade over her head.

Up to this point, you think the girl could be acting - but the moment she shakes her head and neck free of droplets, exactly like a dog when it emerges from a swim, you get a creepy sense that this is something beyond imitation. Then, she barks.

The furious sound she makes is not like a human being pretending to be a dog. It is a proper, chilling, canine burst of aggression and it is coming from the mouth of a young woman, dressed in T-shirt and shorts.

... "Her language is odd. She speaks flatly as though it's an order. There is no cadence or rhythm or music to her speech, no inflection or tone. But she has a sense of humour. She likes to be the centre of attention, to make people laugh. Showing off is quite a surprising skill when you consider her background. ...

The definition of a feral child (or "wild child") is one who, from a very young age, has lived in isolation from human contact, unaware of human social behaviour and unexposed to language. The most famous was Victor of Aveyron (1797) portrayed in the 1969 film The Wild Child by Fran?ois Truffaut. - telegraph

Man catches the same fish… twice

Angler Bob Watton was stunned when he caught the same fish in the open sea twice in a week - beating odds of one million to one.

Bob, 56, was left frustrated when the 11lbs sea bass got away from him while he was out fishing off the south coast.

In a 10 minute tussle, the 2ft long specimen dived for a reef and severed Bob's line in the process.

Three days later the father-of-two returned to the same spot in his boat two miles off Bournemouth, Dorset, and quickly got a bite.

But he was amazed when he landed the fish in his net and realised it was the same one as it still had his hook and fishing line attached to it.

Because there are around 10,000 bass in a 100 square mile area of sea off Bournemouth bookmakers reckon the odds of catching the same fish are about 1,000,000-1. - dailymail

Live death freeze show

The first-ever footage of a person Liquid nitrogen being cryonically frozen after death is to be shown on Channel Five.

The 60-minute film Death in the Deep Freeze will follow a woman who is terminally ill with cancer. It will also show the 'shocking and compelling' invasive procedure used to freeze her, along with interviews while she is still alive. The process, which has been performed on about 150 people, involves freezing the body in the hope that it can one day be brought back to life.

Soon after the person dies, water in the body is replaced with an antifreeze to stop cells deteriorating. Once the water has been replaced, the body is cooled using dry ice until it reaches -130?C (-202?F) The final step is to put the body into a metal container and immerse it in a tank full of liquid nitrogen.

Independent production firm Zig Zag, which is also making the controversial documentary on Britain's first 'masturbate-a-thon' for Channel 4, spent months negotiating to secure access to the procedure. Executive producer Jes Wilkins said: 'We're really very proud of what we have achieved with this programme. The human and emotional journey we captured and the ethical questions raised makes for one of our most fascinating productions to date.' The Cryonics Institute in Michigan, where the film was made, has 70 bodies in liquid nitrogen. Its president Ben Best said he was happy for viewers to see the procedure.

'I hope this film opens people's eyes to the benefits of cryonics,' he added.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

The Backrub

Waaagh! Head's up! Here is the most entertaining video on YouTube of Bush putting an unwelcome back rub move on Angela Merkel the German Chencellor at the G8 Summit. A real nowhere man?

[youtube]CGwORpJs96E[/youtube]

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Scientists Plan to Rebuild Neanderthal Genome

Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Leipzig, Germany, plan to reconstruct the genome of Neanderthals, the archaic human species that occupied Europe from 300,000 years ago until 30,000 years ago until being displaced by modern humans. The genome will initially be reconstructed using DNA extracted from Neanderthal bones that are 45,000 years old, which were found in Croatia, though bones from other sites may be analyzed later.

The project is a collaboration between Dr. Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and 454 Life Sciences, a Connecticut company that has developed a new method of sequencing, or decoding, DNA. The sequencing of Neanderthal DNA, long a forlorn hope, suddenly seems possible because of a combination of analytic work on ancient DNA by Dr. Paabo and a new kind of DNA sequencing machine developed by 454 Life Sciences.
Because the genome must be kept in constant repair and starts to break up immediately after the death of the cell, the DNA in Neanderthal bones exists in tiny fragments 100 or so units in length. As it happens, this is just the length that works best with the 454 machine, which is also able to decode vast amounts of DNA at low cost. Read more at nytimes.com ...

Purported Baby Cloner Gives Details

For those keeping score of my psychic predictions, my song "I'm growing your clone" predicted clones from DNA in skin cells years ago. This didn't work... yet... but it will eventually. Wahahahahaha. Whahahahah!

"A maverick fertility expert has revealed hard evidence of a controversial attempt to produce the world's first cloned human baby.

Panos Zavos, a reproductive scientist, created a storm in 2004 when he called a press conference in London to announce he had cloned a human embryo from the skin cells of an infertile man and transferred it to the uterus of the man's wife. He later said the transfer had failed and the woman did not become pregnant, but many scientists doubted whether he had performed the experiment at all.

Most cloning and fertility experts say such a move to create a clone baby would be unethical and dangerous for mother and child - few female animals implanted with cloned embryos carry them to term or give birth to healthy offspring. The idea could not be taken seriously, they said, until Dr Zavos, who is based at the University of Kentucky and runs a private fertility clinic in Cyprus, published his results and methods in a scientific journal.

Details have now appeared in this month's issue of the Archives of Andrology - effectively placing the experiments on the scientific record, albeit in a little-known specialist journal.

In the paper, Dr Zavos and his colleague Karl Illmensee described how they copied the technique used by UK scientists to make Dolly the sheep - known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). They said they took DNA from the man's skin cells and fused it inside three eggs taken from the woman's ovaries, which were given a burst of electricity to encourage them to develop as embryos.

After three days, the paper said, one of the embryos had reached the four-cell stage and "was subsequently transferred into the patient's uterus". Two weeks later, blood tests showed the 35-year-old woman was not pregnant." - GuardianUK

“Bigfoot Hand” may be Black Bear Claw

See story and more pictures on Cryptomundo.

Figure 1. Comparison of black bear paw bones (left) with an x-ray of a purported sasquatch hand displayed by Tom Biscardi in 2006. The claws are missing from both images. The x-ray on the right shows that only the metacarpal remains of the first digit. One might conjecture that the proximal phalange of the first digit was intentionally removed from the Biscardi ?hand? to increase the general similarity to a primate hand.
Left image from Bone Clones.

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Cover up: USDA to cut back BSE testing program

The old "saving money by looking the other way" food safety method. Makes sense. Actually, like most things, we probably don't know the half of it. Have you "herd" about the Mad Cow "cover up", "cover up", "cover up"? Beef, so I hear, is the largest source of revenue for US agriculture at $150 billion dollars per year. The scary thing is, there may be a chemical source for all Alzheimer's, BSE and CJD: Organophosphates developed by the Nazi during WWII as nerve agent weapon are now used in insecticides. At least one site hints that the pharmaceutical industry is behind the suspicious deaths of two leading brain CJD and Alzheimer's brain researchers in recent years to keep that connection hidden. ( To avoid lawsuits in the billions, govt liability, etc. )

"...the [Mark Purdey / David R. Brown] chemical poisoning model matches with the epidermiological spread of CJD clusters in humans. It also predicts the incidence of BSE-type diseases in animals. The accepted infectious model fits neither." - mercola

"Farmers were instructed to pour the pesticides directly over the spines of cows to kill the warble fly larvae;" - cdreams

"Cambridge scientist David R. Brown is hot on the trail. His recent research has shown that the prion proteins linked to BSE can bond destructively with manganese found in animal feeds or mineral licks. His latest, as yet unpublished work has found a tenfold increase in the metal manganese in brains of CJD victims. ... manganese-tipped prions could be the principal cause of the neurological degeneration seen in BSE. But manganese is only the bullet -- organophosphate insecticide is the high-velocity gun. It fires manganese into the brain by depleting copper which the manganese then replaces. Purdey says the manganese-tipped prions set off lethal chain reactions that neurologically burn through the animal. Phosmet organophosphate has been used at high doses in British warble fly campaigns. Privately, scientists will confirm that prions in the bovine spine -- along which this insecticide is applied -- can be damaged by ICI's Phosmet organophosphate insecticide. But few will state it publicly or publish it as scientific finding. " - cqs

So, there's some background, now read the normal news story that everyone else is reading...

The US government's expanded testing program for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) will be cut back soon, having shown that the nation has "no significant BSE problem," Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said today. - umn

Hear that? "No significant BSE problem" ... but about 4.5 million people in the U.S. have Alzheimer's disease and that number is expected to skyrocket. Are chemical companies killing millions and causing horrible suffering for families? Eat organic. Insecticides like Phosmet are used in the US on fruit as well as cattle.

Carved stone still mystifies scholars

In 1872, so the story goes, workers digging a hole for a fence post near Lake Winnipesaukee in the central part of this New England state found a lump of clay that seemed out of place. There was something inside -- a dark, odd-looking, egg-shaped stone with a variety of carvings, including a face, teepee, ear of corn and starlike circles.

And there were many questions: Who made the stone and why? How old was it? How was it carved?

To date, no one has been able to say for sure, and the item has come to be known as the "Mystery Stone." Seneca Ladd, a local businessman who hired the workers, was credited with the discovery.

"I've seen a number of holes bored in stone with technology that you would associate with prehistoric North America," said Richard Boisvert, state archaeologist. "There's a certain amount of unevenness ... and this hole was extremely regular throughout."

Boisvert suggested the holes were drilled by power tools, perhaps from the 19th or 20th centuries. "What we did not see was variations that would be consistent with something that was several hundred years old," he said.

The analysis, which included comments from geologist Eugene Boudette, concluded that the stone is a type of quartzite, derived from sandstone, or mylonite, a fine-grained, laminated rock formed by the shifting of rock layers along faults. The rock type was not familiar to New Hampshire, but the state could not be ruled out as the source, Boudette said.

Boisvert said to his knowledge, the stone is unique. "That makes it very hard to figure out where it fits," he said. - cnn

Fish with Human-like Teeth Caught

Fisherman Scott Curry reeled in the 20-pound fish on Buffalo Springs Lake and immediately noticed the catch had human-like teeth. A game warden photographed the fish and is attempting to identify it. General Manager of Buffalo Springs Lake Greg Thornton told KLBK13-TV in Texas that he has never seen anything like the fish in the 36 years he has lived near the lake.

A search for what the fish may be suggested that it may be a pacu, which is found in South America. Curry said he believes he saw another similar fish while on the lake. A Texas television station reported that lake officials will give $100 to anyone catching a similar fish.Watch Local 6 News for more on this story. - local6

Here is a different pacu fish with a close picture of the teeth. The do look human.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Global Warming: UK hits 100 degrees for second time since 1659.

"With the mercury expected to approach 100F (37.8C) for only the second time in Britain's history - but also the second time in under three years - researchers said the unusual heat was entirely consistent with predictions of climate change caused by rising emissions of greenhouses gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) from power stations, motor transport and, increasingly, aircraft." - commond

Nude man beats car with pigeon

Two Whaleyville, Va., residents were stunned when a naked man accosted their car in their driveway and began hitting it with their pet pigeon. The couple had just pulled into their driveway Friday night when Juan Lopez, 30, of Virginia Beach, appeared naked and began striking their car with the bird, the Virginian Pilot reported Tuesday.

They fled to a neighbor's house and called police who found the suspect in nearby woods. A Suffolk, Va., police spokeswoman told the newspaper Lopez was "obviously having some sort of issues that night."

He had allegedly gotten into the homeowners' bird cages that held 15 chickens and four pigeons. Four of the birds were killed. Lopez was charged with burglary, destruction of property and larceny of poultry.? - upi

The Next Prez: Six Questions with… Steve Adams

This is a pretty good political pitch for an unknown to become our next president. Meet Steve Adams. The environment has to be one of the top three most important issues in my book, however. Without a planet on which we can survive, not much else matters.

Pentagon Papers Author Daniel Ellsberg Says Government May Have Carried Out 9/11

I don't think "detention camps for American dissenters" would work: There are over one hundred fifty million of them ( 6 in 10 Americans).

Daniel Ellsberg is a former American military analyst employed by the RAND Corporation who precipitated a national firestorm in 1971 when he released the Pentagon Papers, the US military's account of activities during the Vietnam War, to The New York Times. The release awakened the American people to a systematic program of organized deception carried out by the Pentagon against the population to continue the Vietnam War.

Daniel Ellsberg, speaking on air to GCN radio host Jack Blood, stated his concerns that criminal elements of the US government were psychologically capable to have carried out 9/11. He warned that within days after a US military strike on Iran that Bush's handlers would probably stage some type of terror attack in the West to legitimize the new war.

Ellsberg went on to state that another major Reichstag-like state-sponsored attack would be followed by a martial law scenario which might include detention camps for American dissenters. - infowars

100 People Injured, 20 Seriously In Cruise Ship Incident

Was the ship in the Bermuda Triangle? Did it hit something? Was it hit by something? Perhaps it turned sharply to miss something, but how could it have the power and rudders to turn so sharply that it nearly capsizes? Seems unlikely.

Holidaymakers clung on for dear life as their luxury cruiseship came close to capsizing, washing people out of the swimming pool "like a mini-tsunami" and scattering furniture overboard.

The freak roll sent passengers aboard the 113,000-ton Crown Princess flying off their sunloungers and smashed them against the railings. Stairwells and lift shafts became waterfalls as the ship?s four pools emptied over the 15 decks, which were left strewn with broken glass and blood.

The incident happened 11 miles off the east coast of Florida last night. Emergency officials said that 98 people were taken to hospital when the ship docked in Port Canaveral, including a young girl said to have life-threatening injuries. Ironically, the ship?s poolside cinema had been due to screen Titanic hours later.

"The ship just started tipping and it was the most terrifying experience of my life," said passenger Carol O?Connell. "I actually felt like we were going overboard. People were screaming." - timesuk

Extra ironic credit: "Martha Stewart christened the Crown Princess last month before it embarked on its maiden voyage..."

Forest fires remobilize fallout from bomb tests

A sensitive instrument installed in the Canadian Arctic to monitor fallout from modern nuclear tests has detected small amounts of radioactive cesium produced by bomb tests decades ago. The material, which during the Cold War was spread across northern latitudes by high-altitude winds, is still being redistributed far and wide by forest fires, researchers say.

Scientists use a worldwide network of sensors to ensure compliance with the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. While some devices are on the lookout for the telltale seismic vibrations generated by nuclear tests, others sniff the air for radioactive fallout ...The researchers aren't sure how the radioactive element makes its way from fallout-tainted soil into the atmosphere. Cesium, a chemical relative of potassium, is readily taken up by plants, so ash derived from wood and leaves could contain traces of the element. Another possibility is that because cesium has a boiling point of 670?C, some of the radioactive atoms may be vaporized from the ground by fires and then condense on airborne ash and soot, says Wotawa.

The cesium-137 lofted during a forest fire is diffusely distributed. "This isn't a health risk, but it's interesting," Wotawa notes. Scientists will have to account for the presence of wildfires when they're interpreting the readings from radiation sniffers, he says. - sciencenews

Direct lightning strike melts gold cross pendant, girl survives

The last comment where a doctor says "most [people hit by lightning] develop telepathic or psychic abilities" makes me raise a skeptical eyebrow, but the picture seems convincing. I'm sure there is no connection with other stories like this and this. Freaky. The city checks out as real.

"A 16-year-old girl has survived a direct lightning strike. The gold cross pendant on a chain melted and evaporated from the girl?s neck. Marina Motygina from Ekaterinburg in Russia?s Urals went bathing with her friend Anya. She had just got out of water when a thunderstorm broke out, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reports. " - mosnews

The Boy Who Sees with Sound

Here's a local story that is world class amazing.

"Ask people about Ben Underwood and you'll hear dozens of stories like this ? about the amazing boy who doesn't seem to know he's blind. There's Ben zooming around on his skateboard outside his home in Sacramento; there he is playing kickball with his buddies. To see him speed down hallways and make sharp turns around corners is to observe a typical teen ? except, that is, for the clicking. Completely blind since the age of 3, after retinal cancer claimed both his eyes (he now wears two prostheses), Ben has learned to perceive and locate objects by making a steady stream of sounds with his tongue, then listening for the echoes as they bounce off the surfaces around him. About as loud as the snapping of fingers, Ben's clicks tell him what's ahead: the echoes they produce can be soft (indicating metals), dense (wood) or sharp (glass). Judging by how loud or faint they are, Ben has learned to gauge distances.

The technique is called echolocation, and many species, most notably bats and dolphins, use it to get around. But a 14-year-old boy from Sacramento? While many blind people listen for echoes to some degree, Ben's ability to navigate in his sightless world is, say experts, extraordinary. "His skills are rare," says Dan Kish, a blind psychologist and leading teacher of echomobility among the blind. "Ben pushes the limits of human perception."... on June 25 he took a trip to San Diego's SeaWorld Adventure Park to swim with dolphins and hear how they use echolocation. Waist-deep in a saltwater pool, he immersed one ear as Sandy, a bottle-nosed dolphin, swam toward him. "Man," he said, "she clicks fast!"... Bob McMains, supervisor of SeaWorld's dolphin program, says that in his 23 years there, few people have listened so intently to the sounds the dolphins make. "He's got a gift with dolphins; he's truly unique," says McMains. "I told him, once he's 18 he's got a job here anytime." - peoplemagazine

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Man fights aliens, then pops the question

Ross Savedra fought aliens to rescue his girlfriend, then popped the question in an out-of-this-world proposal. Savedra, 32, staged his elaborate proposal Sunday afternoon for Ariana Ash, 23, with the help for family members and Roswell's UFO Museum.Savedra and Ash were touring the museum when a silver-suited, masked alien from an exhibit called "alien autopsy" suddenly abducted Ash from in front of a group of tourists. Savedra dashed through the crowd, fought two aliens and rescued her. Then he dropped to his knees, presented her a ring and asked her to marry him. They embraced in a cloud of shiny colored confetti tossed by onlookers and were applauded by tourists who had been tipped off by the aliens ? Ash's brother-in-law and stepfather.

"By the way, everyone, she said yes," Julie Shuster, the museum's director, announced over the sound system. - yahoo

Smallest One Man Helicopter

I've heard the counterrotating blades idea before... in connection with a man made "UFO" designed around 1955. I see it works.

"The GEN H-4 requires approximately 30-40 hours to assemble the pre-manufactured parts. " - byu

Empty weight?
Max takeoff weight?
Endurance?
Cruising speed?
Ceiling?
VNE? 155 lb (70 kg)
420 lb (190 kg)
Approx. 60 min. (Depending on payload)
55 mph (100 km/h)
10,000 ft (3,000m) (estimate)
120 mph (200 km/h)

Man Flies in Homemade Plane. Power Source: 160 AA Batteries

A manned plane powered by conventional batteries took off from Tokyo on Sunday - and flew for 59 seconds. The one-man, glider-like plane took off from a private airport and reached a height of 5.2m (16ft). It was powered by 160 AA batteries, which are commonly used in portable CD players and cameras. ... "I was careful at take-off as it was very difficult," said pilot Tomohiro Kamiya, a senior member at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He added: "As it soared 5m, people on the ground looked so small to me. - bbc

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