Archive for April, 2010
High Weirdness at Loch Ness: Frank Searle’s Lost Second Book
Mike Dash writes on the Charles Fort Institute:
From Searle’s point of view, renown also brought the useful perk of short-lived young female assistants — he called them “Girl Fridays” — willing to share his watching duties and his bed.
There were several of these girls, one an Australian, another a Brit. A third, a Belgian named Lieve Peten, reminisced: “There was no romantic involvement, not for him, not for me, but there was a physical involvement. It sounds harsh, perhaps, but that was the Seventies, people experimented. And there was no AIDS back then.”
It seems reasonable to assume that she, and perhaps some of the other assistants recruited from small ads placed (the Glasgow Herald noted) in “parts of the country where the unemployment was high,” were more attracted to the romance of monster hunting than they were to the short, baked bean munching, prosthetic-footed (he was wounded in the war) Frank…
Catholics Outraged Over German Cartoon
Scott Roxborough writes in the Hollywood Reporter:
COLOGNE, Germany — A German cartoon mocking the Catholic Church has sparked holy outrage among believers here who say it incites hatred against the Pope and the Catholic faith.
The caricature, published in the Good Friday edition of satire magazine Titanic, shows a priest apparently having oral sex with a crucifix of Jesus on the cross.
The crucifix cartoon is a barbed commentary on recent revelations that 250 people in Germany were sexual abused at Church-run schools in the past decades. The scandal has shaken the German Church. A recent poll said Germans’ trust in the Catholic Church had fallen to 17% from 29% in late January and approval ratings for Pope Benedict have dropped from 38% to 24%.
The German Press Council reported that some 100 formal complaints have been filed since the magazine came out, a level of protest not seen since 2006, when German…
The “No Woods” — EERIE Radio
EERIE Radio — Episode 150: The “No Woods”
Website • iTunes • Direct Download • RSS
In episode 
150 of EERIE Radio, we forgo interviewing a guest and instead take call-ins and discuss personal memories of places and objects viewed as sacred during our childhoods. DK shares stories of his youthful pilgrimages to a mysterious spot in the woods, a spot a listener diagnoses as a “place of power.”
We also discuss the curiously controversial Ouija Board and the online campaign against Hasbro’s new pink Ouija Board, then break out urkotic’s very manly Hellboy Talking Board to attempt some divination of our own. A listener calls in to tell her story of unwanted romantic overtures received via Ouija. Could this tale of lovers from different worlds be the next Twilight? All this and EERIE News.
Hate-Filled Westboro Baptist Church Gets Out-Protested in West Virginia Coal Mine Stunt (Video)
Timothy B. Hurst writes on ecopolitology:
Never missing a chance to hide behind their children and trot them around carrying signs with hate-filled messages to display for the cameras, members of the radical Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas showed up in Charleston, West Virginia on Thursday to tell the world that the reason the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine accident happened is because God is punishing America for tolerating homosexuality.
A message on the Westboro Baptist Church website on Thursday reportedly read: “So God reached down and smacked one of those mines, killing 25.” According to the Charleston Gazette, ”Only six Westboro pickets showed up in front of the Capitol, including two men, one woman and three young children. They held up signs proclaiming: “America Is Doomed,” “Thank God for Dead Miners,” “God Hates Your Tears,” “God Hates West Virginia” and “God Hates You.”
Not to be outdone by the hate-filled Westboro parishioners, a large group of no-hate counter protesters held a rally of their own on the steps of the Statehouse in Charleston.
Baby Washing A 15 Foot Python (Photo)
I can’t tell yet if this photo from the internets is for real, I’m calling it Photoshopped:
Cellphone Camera Performs Background Checks on Your ‘Future’ Facebook Friends
Via h+ magazine:
A new “Augmented Reality” app uses facial recognition software to instantly match faces viewed through an Android smartphone camera to that person’s social network profiles.
“Point your phone’s camera at someone nearby, and Recognizr measures facial features, builds a 3-D model, and sends the resulting signature to a server. If your subject has uploaded their photo and profile information, you’ll see their name and icons that link to their profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo!, Twitter, Flickr, etc., all floating around their face!”
Drunken Mugshots Are Nothing New: Here Are Some British DUIs From 1904
Caught drunk driving a steam engine? Via the Daily Mail:
James Doyle, a labourer, was convicted of being drunk and disorderly in a public house in 1904.
Angry, bewildered and shame-faced these Edwardian drunks stare into the lens of the police camera.
They were ‘habitual drunkards’ whose offences included being caught while in charge of a horse, carriage and even a steam engine.
Issued a century ago, the drunks were given the equivalent of modern-day Asbos in that they were banned from being served in pubs because of their past behaviour.
Information was compiled by the Watch Committee of the City of Birmingham, which was set up by the police to enforce the Licensing Act of 1902.
The act was passed in an attempt to deal with public drunks, giving police the power to apprehend those found drunk in any public place and unable to take care of themselves.
Read More and see lots of photos in the…
Freemasonry and the French Revolution
From Fortean Times:
Dominating the Freemasons’ Hall’s new exhibition, Freemasonry and the French Revolution, a giant chair, all puffed up with majesty and pomp, looms over the display cases — an effect rather undermined by its resemblance to an oversized, over-pimped prop in a novelty Hip Hop video, and its having been designed to be disassembled and moved around like eighteenth-century flat pack.
Still, it’s clear what it’s trying to say: built for the Prince of Wales (later George IV), who was elected Grand Master in 1790, it reflects the extraordinary prestige and respectability accorded to English Freemasonry by the late eighteenth century. Meanwhile, over in France, Freemasonry was about to be plunged into a terrible whirl of suspicion, accusations and fear.
Many, both contemporaries and later historians, have suggested Freemasonry bears some responsibility for the French Revolution. Elements of French Freemasonry can be traced through to the Jacobin clubs — the language,…
Mexico May Cut Millions of Cellphones to “Fight Crime”
From Reuters:
Tens of millions of Mexicans could find their cellphones disconnected this weekend if the government goes ahead with a new law meant to fight crime by forcing people to register their identities.
Advertisements on government radio and television have been urging Mexicans for weeks to register their cellphones by sending their personal details as a text message, but on Thursday 30 million lines remained unregistered as the Saturday deadline neared.
Analysts said that any related losses for Mexico’s largest wireless operator, America Movil, would be tiny relative to the company’s overall sales.
Still, America Movil, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, is urging senators to extend the deadline for implementing the law, passed a year ago to try to stop criminals from using cellphones for extortion and to negotiate ransoms in kidnappings.
Medical Marijuana Bill Moves Through Maryland Senate In Landslide
From the Huffington Post:
The Maryland Senate voted on Saturday to allow patients access to medical marijuana at state-licensed dispensaries. The bill now moves to the state’s lower chamber.
The bill was approved overwhelmingly, with bipartisan support and without objections or discussion, by a 35-12 margin.
Maryland would join 14 other states in legalizing medical marijuana. The neighboring District of Columbia legalized it in a 1998 referendum that was only recently allowed by Congress to go into effect. The District’s city council is writing rules to establish the city’s medical marijuana policy.
Current Maryland law allows defendants charged with pot possession to cite a medical necessity defense. If a judge deems the drug to be beneficial, a maximum hundred dollar civil fine is imposed.
Lawmakers and advocates argued that the law unfairly forced patients to obtain marijuana in the black market. The new law would bring
[Read more at the Huffington Post]
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Purported Serial-Killing Film Critic Reviews the ‘Star Wars’ Prequels (Video)
If you haven’t seen Red Letter Media’s (a.k.a. Milwaukee-based filmmaker Mike Stoklasa’s) take on the Star Wars prequels, they are really worth the lengthy video reviews.
Do note that his twisted sense of humor isn’t for everyone, particular his “Buffalo Bob”-style narration and the “Mr. Plinkett” scenes in these reviews can be distracting. (My take is he does this in the reviews to say that it’s even obvious to someone psychotic that these movies are terrible … or he might just enjoy playing a psycho.)
Regardless, he does have some salient points about filmmaking, particularly on establishing a protagonist the audience can identify with and actually having a story arc in your movie. Stoklasa also does a great job at pointing out the pitfalls of completely digital filmmaking and a (seemingly) lack of true collaboration between Lucas and his staff in the making of these prequels.
If you haven’t seen it yet I’d start from the beginning with his review of The Phantom Menace, but if you’ve already seen those, Red Letter Media’s take on Attack of The Clones is now out.
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Review (Part 1 of 7)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Review (Part 1 of 9)
‘I’m With the Brand’: How The Black Eyed Peas Became The World’s Most Corporate Band
The Black Eyed Peas in Paris. Photo: Nicolas Genin (CC)
In the music business these days, it’s not about selling the most CDs, it’s having the best sponsors. John Jurgensen tells how the Black Eyed Peas became the face of Samsung, Apple, BlackBerry, Bacardi and more, in the Wall Street Journal:
About 30 minutes into every concert on the Black Eyed Peas’ current tour, band leader will.i.am performs a freestyle rap, riffing on text messages sent by audience members. It’s a flashy solo turn for the musician who has steered the group since 1995. It’s also a moment in the spotlight for the tour’s primary sponsor, BlackBerry, which delivers the messages scrolling up two huge screens on the stage.
On its path from rootsy L.A. hip-hop troupe to pop juggernaut, the Black Eyed Peas have been escorted by a parade of corporate backers. From Coors to Levi’s, Honda to Apple, Verizon to Pepsi,…
The Modern Day Marshalsea
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
In modern times, the poorhouse isn’t the same Dickensian debtor’s prison of the 19th century — such a thing, even in its worst and most inhumane forms, would be considered a socialist abomination in Fox News’ America.
Today’s poorhouses and debtor’s prisons are individual cycles of one financial tragedy after another, where a lost job, bad decision or medical ailment follows us around for years or decades, creating new fiscal problems and perpetuating debt.
Most of the time, this follows us — from early adulthood to death — in the form of our credit score.
Plane Crash of Poland’s Government: Your Theories
Tupolev Tu-154M, Polish Air Force. Photo: Hiuppo (CC)
Damian Thompson writes in the UK’s Daily Telegraph that he fully expects myriad conspiracy theories about the unfortunate plane crash killing Poland’s president and other government members. I’m sure he’s right, but having flown on a similarly vintage Tupolev jet I suspect that it’s more likely a case of the Russian plane being unsafe, too old and way past it’s junkyard date. Here’s Thompson’s view:
Polish president Lech Kaczynski has been killed in an air crash, along with many of his country’s top brass. One of the nastier consequences of international disasters is that conspiracy theorists rush to judgment – and I do mean rush. The fact that the president and so many of the Polish elite were on a visit to Russia will feature prominently in the fantastic stories being cooked up in cyberspace right now. And I can say with confidence that they…
Obama Wields the Sword of Omens (Photo)
How did Obama get the Eye of Thundera? It’s the source of the ThunderCat’s power! An inside source at Flickr has discovered this undoubtedly classified photo. WikiLeaks, eat your heart out.
Does this mean Cheney is Mumm-Ra?
Kyrgyzstan Intends to Remove a U.S. Military Base From Their Soil
Via Press TV:
Kyrgyzstan’s new leaders have said they intend to remove a US military base, which currently serves as the premier air mobility hub for the US-led forces in Afghanistan, from their soil.
The interim government led by ex-foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, has said it wants the US base, Manas, closed down for security reasons. The remarks came amid growing uncertainty over whether the new Kyrgyz authorities would allow the US to use the base.
Russia, which itself maintains an air base at Kant, just 20 miles from Manas, has been keen to block US military presence in the region. Moscow has been increasingly concerned about US military’s prolonged presence in the geo-strategically important Region.
This is while the opposition has taken power and dissolved the parliament. Otunbayeva has promised a new constitution and a presidential election at some point in the next six months. She says a care-taker government will serve as…
Future Pope Stalled California Pedophile Priest Case
GILLIAN FLACCUS writes in the AP:
LOS ANGELES — Four years after a California priest and convicted child molester asked to be defrocked, his bishop pleaded with the future Pope Benedict XVI to remove the man from the priesthood. Then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger replied, urging caution.”
Consider the good of the Universal Church,” Ratzinger wrote in a 1985 letter to Oakland Bishop John Cummins. “It is necessary for this Congregation to submit incidents of this sort to very careful consideration, which necessitates a longer period of time.”
Two more years would pass before the Vatican acted on the Rev. Stephen Kiesle’s request to leave.
A copy of the letter, typewritten in Latin and signed by Ratzinger, was obtained by The Associated Press. It constitutes the strongest challenge yet to the Vatican’s insistence that Benedict played no role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests during his years as head of the Catholic Church’s doctrinal watchdog…
NASA Debuts Spy Plane
NASA's Global Hawk Credit: NASA/Dryden/Carla Thomas
The Los Angeles Times is excited about NASA finding another use for those ubiquitous drones:
NASA transformed a robotic plane that’s typically used by the U.S. military to uncover nests of insurgents into a scientific tool capable of collecting atmospheric information over the Pacific and Arctic oceans.
On April 7, NASA used the unmanned spy plane, called the Global Hawk, on the first of five flights it has scheduled this month to study air quality.
Instead of the high-resolution cameras and heat-seeking sensors the plane is typically carries when used in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Global Hawk was outfitted with a series of instruments capable of measuring and sampling greenhouse gases, ozone-depleting substances, and aerosols.
NASA’s mission, a joint project with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has been dubbed Global Hawk Pacific, or GloPac.
The Global Hawk took off and landed at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in the Mojave Desert…
Playground Politics: Geopolitics Made Simple By Children, On a Playground (Video)
From HBO’s Funny Or Die Presents, the lesson learned from this episode featuring the USA and Africa is: “If you have natural resources, then you’ll receive food…”
