All things strange, weird and bat-shit crazy
New Year's resolutions Portland Daily Sun Herb Adams; (4) Begin our monthly “Monster Movies At The Cryptozoology Museum” by the Spring of 2012, in which we show classic Abominable Snowmen, Bigfoot, and Loch Ness Monster films, with each introduced by zoological and cryptozoological experts; ... |
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A whirlwind of pillows bearing the names of bosses and teachers filled the air as hundreds of Chinese gathered to blow off stress in Shanghai, staging a massive pillow battle.
The annual event marked its fifth year with such a surge in interest from stressed young office workers and students that organizers held two nights of pillow fighting before Christmas Day and plan another for Dec 30.
"Nowadays there are many white collar workers and students that are facing huge pressures at work and at school, so we hope to give them an outlet to release their stress before the end of the year," said Eleven Wang, the founder and mastermind behind the epic pillow fights.
"Sometimes we have pressure on us by our bosses, teachers and exams, so today we can go crazy. Everyone will get to write onto the pillows the names of their bosses, teachers and exam subjects, and enjoy and vent to the maximum," he added.
"After releasing the stress, we can once again face our daily life with joy."
Pillows were handed out at the door as participants entered, then emotion stoked by a rock concert, with many on the floor of the huge event space rocking and waving their pillows in time to the music.
Then came the fighting.
Pillows filled the air, with many combatants opting for throwing rather than using them to whack opponents. A few hapless participants shielded their heads with as many pillows as they could hold, but most ventured eagerly in to the fray.
"I really enjoyed the fight, but my friend was useless. He joined in for two ticks and could not go on, he was afraid of getting beaten by other people," said 24-year-old Chen Yi.
"I thought it was pretty meaningful. I've just been working so much (at the office) and never get to break out in a sweat, so it felt really good."
Others gamely said they enjoyed the experience even though they ended up as attackees rather than attackers.
"I don't know who pushed me, but all of a sudden I was in the pile of pillows, where I became the target of many people, and was beaten by all sorts of people," said university student Zhu Shishan. "Very meaningful."
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Elaine Lies)
I thought you might be interested in this update. I had to take the painting out of storage for an interview with a TV show so I decided to once again record overnight. I recorded for six hours and along with the usual noises I recorded a smoke like mist (see link below). At first it looks like smoke rising then it suddenly seems to take another form and change direction. There is no way there could have been any smoke or mist in that room. Thank you.
 DigitalJournal.com | National Geographic's UFO hoax over Connecticut mall DigitalJournal.com Winsted - A photo and video analyst for Mutual UFO Network Marc Dantonio, created a "quadcopter" for a coming National Geographic special, "The Truth Behind UFOs." The purpose was to show how technology can fool anyone into thinking they are seeing a ... 2011's Top UFO Sightings And Paranormal News (VIDEO) |
 Allnewsweb.com | Cloud making UFO brings Russian city to standstill, video Allnewsweb.com A cloud emitting UFO has brought an entire Russian city to a standstill, overshadowing Christmas and New Year celebrations and leaving residents perplexed and seeking answers from local politicians (see video below). The event took place yesterday in ... |
 RedOrbit | The "UFO" that panicked Kansas CBS News Is it any wonder that slightly cowed Cowleyites believed this to be a UFO? Because technology lies at the very heart of Kansas--why, Sprint is headquartered there--the locals filmed this troubling sight. The saucer must have been at least 30 feet wide. ... Was UFO towed down Kansas street? The truth is out there UFO spotted on flatbed was actually a military drone UFO Sighting In Kansas? Not So Fast! |
Part II interview with comic book writer genius Martin Powell as the new film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is just released! To find Part I please click here.
Alexandra Holzer: Congratulations on the new release of your 25th Anniversary Edition of Scarlet in Gaslight! How has that been going for you?
MARTIN POWELL: Thank you. It's been wildly gratifying for me, to say the least. When the book was first published, twenty-five years ago, I never dreamed it would last so long. Who could know? I remember hoping I would catch a bit of attention, at most, and then I moved on to the next project. After all, Scarlet in Gaslight took almost two years to find a publisher, so hardly felt as if I had a hit on my hands. Still, it was an important story for me, being the first thing of any length and significance I ever attempted. Ultimately, of course, it was published and it worked out better than I could ever have hoped, selling out its original print run, and receiving an Eisner Award nomination, and was even very favorably reviewed in the Washington Post just this past year. Although I'm passionate about the book, I was more surprised than anyone that it ended up making my career, professionally, and has remained in print all these years. By the way, I want to express a special thanks to Pulp 2.0 Press, who restored the pages with artist Seppo Makinen, and added cool new special features which has made this volume the definitive edition of the book. They've really given Scarlet in Gaslight the star treatment. It looks gorgeous.
AH: I understand that this book has a bit in common with the new Sherlock Holmes film opening today in theaters. Can you explain a bit about that?
MP: Well, although both the new film and my book feature Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective, I'm really not sure at this point what else they may share in common--as I haven't yet seen the new movie. I understand Professor Moriarty, Holmes' arch-nemesis, is in this film and he plays a major role in Scarlet in Gaslight, too. Beyond that, I'm not certain about any other similarities. We'll have to wait and see. It's exciting to see a resurgence of popular interest in Sherlock Holmes again, that's for certain, although he's never really ever gone away.â?¨
AH: In closing, being that this graphic novel which pits "The World's Greatest Detective, Sherlock Holmes against Count Dracula, the Lord of the Vampires, is amazing in its own right, do you see more series like this in the future, maybe for television?
MP: I have written nine other Sherlock Holmes adventures over the years, and just finished my interpretation of The Hound of the Baskervilles as a graphic novel for Sequential Pulp/Dark Horse Comics. I've had several other Dracula tales published, too. All of these will be getting their own new editions in 2012 and for some time to come. Regarding Scarlet in Gaslight itself, there will be merchandise soon, too, t-shirts and the like, and I would very much like to see a film come from it. When I originally wrote the book, I did it as a sort of tribute to the British Hammer Studios horror movies, which I love. I constructed the mystery-adventure like a screenplay, which is one of the reasons it's so visual. I longed to see such a movie when I was in my teens, which partially influenced my writing years later. Although there have been such things since from other writers and artists, Seppo and I were the first to present Sherlock Holmes and Count Dracula together in comics. It seems inevitable one day such a film will be produced, and obviously I hope Scarlet in Gaslight is the one which makes it to the screen. For now, I'm thrilled the book has been released in such an elegant new package. It's my own early Christmas present.
To find this graphics novel for purchasing, please go here.
Awesome or Off-Putting: The Man With X-Ray Eyes hecklerspray by Shawn Lindseth 0 Comments Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, ancient artifacts, strange facts, ... |
 Allnewsweb.com | UFO appears on the official White House Xmas card Allnewsweb.com A resident of Pine Ridge in South Dakota, Ms Dawn Brown-Eyes, is claiming to have received an official White House Xmas card from First Lady Michelle Obama that shows a UFO or possibly two UFOs on the cover image (see video below). The UFO/UFOs appear ... Glasto is UFO hotspot UFO on White House Christmas card turns out to be a hoax Glastonbury 'UFO calls hotspot' |
 Ultimate-Guitar.Com | UFO Reveal Details Of 'Seven Deadly' Ultimate-Guitar.Com According to Blabbermouth.net, British rock legends UFO will release their new album, "Seven Deadly", on February 28, 2012 (one day earlier internationally) via SPV/Steamhammer. The effort, which was recorded with producer Tommy Newton at his Area 51 ... UFO To Release Seven Deadly Album In February |
Chemtrails Kill Santa The Spoof (satire) Santa and his reindeer ran into a nasty patch of chemtrails last year,and the results were fatal. All the reindeer have already followed Santa to the grave. Chemtrails are those wicked stripes in the sky that no one is supposed to notice or talk about. ... |
Top ten lake monsters (besides Nessie) Gadling by Sean McLachlan (RSS feed) on Dec 16th 2011 at 10:00AM Here at Gadling we've reported a lot of news about the Loch Ness Monster. Nessie gets so much media attention that one might think its Scottish loch is the only body of water haunted by a ... |
Many differences divide traditional North American and Asian food cultures -- cooking methods, dining habits, famous recipes. They each have signature ingredients -- think of soy sauce, ginger and sriracha in Southeast Asian food or butter and molasses in Southern food. But a new study from an international team led by Yong-Yeol Ahn of Northeastern University shows that there are actually deeper patterns at play.
It turns out North American and Western European cuisines tend to include ingredients with similar flavor molecules together in one recipe, while East Asian and Southern European cuisines tend not to. That means that the ingredients in most recipes traditionally associated with Western cuisine overlap and deepen each others' constituent flavors, while those in Asian recipes tend to bristle against one another with distinctive flavors.
The researchers discovered this trend by analyzing recipes they found online at AllRecipes and Epicurious. They downloaded the tens of thousands of recipes available on each of those databases, then added added data on the underlying flavor molecules that make each ingredient taste the way it does.
The process of appending flavor molecules to ingredients allowed them to find the degree of taste-similarity of any given pair of ingredients. This in itself led to some interesting findings -- including the "flavor network" visualized above, which divides the world of ingredients into different zones of similar flavor groups. That allowed the researchers to empirically demonstrate the overlap in flavors between alcohols and fruits, between vegetables and herbs and between meats and beans.
But the real interest of the study comes through its application of this raw data to differences in cultures' cuisines. After a lot of dense statistical analysis, the researchers found that much of the divide between the flavor-coordination tendencies of each cuisine can be ascribed to the prevalence of just a few ingredients.
The harmoniousness of North American cuisine's flavors really stems from its reliance on a few heavy-tasting products commonly associated with baked goods, especially milk, butter, cocoa, vanilla, cream, cream cheese, egg, peanut butter and strawberries. And the study chalked the dissonance of East Asian cuisine up to its use of beef, ginger, pork, cayenne, chicken and onion. These ingredients are characteristic of the recipes in each cultures' ingredients -- and share relatively many flavor molecules, and relatively few flavor molecules, respectively, with the ingredients they're often paired with.
One intriguing nugget from the study, though, bodes well for the future careers of the world's ambitious chefs. In the introduction to the piece, the researchers note that the ingredients they found in their two recipe databases could theoretically be combined into 10 quadrillion recipes -- of which only one million, just .0000001%, have already been recorded.
Nod nod nod Kuwait Times Right up there with the case of the Bermuda Triangle, Area 51, the Loch Ness Monster, crop circles and several other world famous mysteries is another one which nobody has been able to crack: The Indian Head Wobble. ... |
A few nice ghosts images I found:
Ghost
Image by Dan Castleberry
My first attempt at "ghost" photography. I know it is a little "dark", but I'm just toying around with something new. You have to love Photoshop!
ghost bike
Image by mhartford
Ghost bike for Virginia Heuer at Summit and Snelling, a sobering daily reminder that the Twin Cities may be the best bicycling town in the U.S., but we still have some progress to make.
Barack Obama's mom working for the CIA may not seem to have much in common with Kim Kardashian's wedding, but both events inspired two of 2011's biggest conspiracies, according to TruTV,
The truth? Well, it's out there (in more ways than one).
Check out these electronic voice phenomena images:
E.V.P.
Image by BEYOURPET
beyourpet || Brittanie Pendleton
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Day 0491 - 06MAY2010 - Newport - West Usk Lighthouse - Warning, EVP
Image by Alex in Leeds
The owners of the lighthouse believe in electronic voice phenomena (EVP) and are aiming to use the lantern room to contact spirits.
I wanted to spend a night in a lighthouse because of this goal - 101ofawolf.blogspot.com/2008/12/002-spend-night-in-lighth...
A few nice loch ness monster images I found:
Loch Ness Monster
Image by sdettling
The Loch Ness Monster begins it's journey out of the station.
loch ness monster
Image by red5standingby
In a moment of inspiration at work I made a Loch Ness monster out of onion ring crisps.
I think I must have got my onion-ring-greasy fingers all over the camera lens resulting in the foggy nature of the photo.
Which I thinks adds to it no end.
NASA announced Monday the discovery of Kepler-22b, the first planet the Kepler spacecraft has discovered in the habitable zone, an area with a distance from a star where temperatures will permit the existence of liquid water.
The discovery of Kepler-22b, which is 600 light-years away from Earth, brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet that could possibly harbor life.
"This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist said in a statement. "Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe."
IMAGE BELOW
Kepler-22b has several Earth-like characteristics: Its temperature is around 72 degrees Fahrenheit and its radius is 2.4 times Earth's. The planet completely orbits its star, which is similar to our sun, every 290 days, just 75 days shy of an Earth year.
Last week, the National Optical Astronomy Observatory announced the discovery of Kepler-21b, a planet with a radius 1.6 times Earth's. But unlike Kepler-21b, which is only about 3.7 million miles away from its sun and is therefore a scorching 2,960 degrees Fahrenheit, Kepler-22b is about 79 million miles from its sun, coming in at a pleasant 72 degrees.
Still, NASA says it's not yet clear if Kepler-22b is composed or rock, gas or liquid.
Scientists use the Kepler spacecraft to discover planets by analyzing extremely faint dips in light from far-away stars. These "dips" occur each time the planet passes between the Kepler and its sun, therefore obstructing the star's light. In order for a planet to be confirmed, scientists must observe the celestial body orbit its sun three times.
Since Kepler-22B takes 290 days to orbit its sun, it took nearly three Earth years for scientists to confirm that it was a planet. Steve Howell, a scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center who's on the Kepler team, told The Huffington Post that scientists first noticed the a drop in light only days after Kepler was launched in 2009.
"We were just real lucky," Howell told HuffPost. "We saw the first hint of this three days after we started doing science operations right after launch."
According to CNN, the Kepler spacecraft has led to the identification of 2,326 planet candidates since its mission began.
But the most thrilling discoveries are still to come.
"It's tremendously exciting," Howell said, adding that the Kepler spacecraft continues to find planets more and more like Earth. "We're moving out to orbital periods that are nearly and equal to the Earth, and that means very soon we're going to be finding [planets] very near the earth, what we'd call true earth analogs. We'll be there. We'll be there probably within a year, very easily."
LOOK: Kepler-22b System
 The Hindu | Book Worm: Adventure in the hills The Hindu The abominable snowman, Yeti, Lochness Monster and many others live on in the imagination of all who love mystery and intrigue. And anyone with a little imagination and courage would like an opportunity to glimpse these creatures. On the Yeti's Trail, ... |
Online dating has long catered to all sorts of people with strange quirks and bizarre habits. But now, there's a dating service that matches people up to share their leftovers-- as in food, not lovers.
Dubbed Restdejting, suitors are invited to enter five ingredients left in their fridge, reports Wired.
The selected ingredients are then published on Facebook for other Restdejting singletons to see.
Springwise reports there's also a speed dating version where you select ingredients before penciling in a date for two, three or even four people.
One ad from the website reads:
"Leftover lettuce looking for steamed crab. Meal for three? Please let me know."
Another ad opts to marry a nut with some dairy:
"Large walnut looking for strong cheese. Meal for two? Look forward to hearing from you!"
The brainchild of Lantmannen, a Swedish farmers cooperative, the dating service aims to spark romance between the like-minded eco-conscious without harming the Earth.
So far, the website is only available in Swedish, where a fifth of all food is reportedly thrown out.
The Scandinavian country isn't the only nation guilty of food waste. In fact, the problem is global.
In the U.S., Americans generate more than 34 million tons food waste per year, reports the EPA.
Meanwhile, some 25 percent of all freshwater, and 4 percent of all oil consumed, are used to produce food that is never eaten.
 Gather.com | UFO plunges through Massachusetts roof, FAA says it is not part of a plane Torrington Register Citizen By AP PLYMOUTH, Mass. — The owners of a furniture warehouse in Plymouth, Mass., want to know the origin of a chunk of metal that plunged through the roof. No one was hurt when the 6-inch, cylindrical piece of metal weighing about 5 pounds came through ... UFO News: FAA Says Falling Debris Not from Any Known Aircraft (Video) UFO drops metal piece through roof in Plymouth, MA? UFO: Unidentified falling object |
We are told we recorded a female Bigfoot while exploring the Paulding Light area. Here is my Youtube link.
Please let me know what you guys think.
Thank you!
An inmate who jumped from a moving van while being taken back to prison Friday afternoon was found by police six hours after making his bold escape -- in an Illinois port-a-potty.
Cesar Sanchez, 37, was on his way to the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Ill. following a court appearance when he somehow jumped from the prisoner transport van in southwest suburban Lockport, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.
Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman Sharyn Elman told the Chicago Tribune that authorities were investigating whether Sanchez, who was handcuffed and in a prison jumpsuit, kicked open the van door before jumping out.
After making his escape, Sanchez reportedly hitched a ride on a delivery truck to Rockdale, near Joliet, NBC Chicago reports. He was ultimately tracked to Waste Management facility in the area which contained several hundred portable toilets.
"As you can imagine, looking through 300 port-a-potties was going to be quite a job," Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas told NBC Chicago.
Police did not have to open every door, however. Authorities used "infrared, heat-sensing technology attached to a helicopter" and dogs to narrow the search, the Sun-Times reports. They found the inmate inside one of the portable toilets about 8:15 p.m.
â??He was in the doo-doo,â? Kaupas told CBS Chicago.
Sanchez is serving a 7-year-sentence for burglary. His previous convictions include shoplifting, robbery, aggravated battery, motor vehicle theft and unlawful use of a credit card
Some cool nessie images:
nessie
Image by dalancarter
Nessie play feature in Manor Park - head
Nessie
Image by cronewynd
Nessie was busy turning when we got to the riverbank... I just missed a good shot of her green side...
Nessie!
Image by paulafunnell
Nessie on Loch Ness!
Australian police are calling it a pot prank. Someone apparently planted dozens of marijuana plants in the front garden of the Bellingen Court House in New South Wales.
A few nice loch ness monster images I found:
Loch Ness Monster
Image by Anosmia
35 mm shot of poor Nessie being harrassed by tourists at the Loch Ness Monster Visitor Centre in Drumnadrochit
Loch Ness Monster maintenance room
Image by Spatch
The Loch Ness Monster trains are serviced and maintained here. While Arrow Dynamics no longer makes roller coasters, Busch can still get parts fabricated. They also rely on other coasters, receiving one of the trains from Python at Busch Gardens Tampa when that ride closed.
Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, amateur college athletes TheNewsTribune.com “A college needs something else besides education. And what this college needs is a good football team, and you can't have a good football team unless you have good football players.” – “Horse Feathers,” 1932 “A college needs something else besides ... |
