Month: September 2015

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Who’s your Buddie?

NOTE: This information is provided for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to express support or opposition to the legalization of marijuana.

Photo of Buddie, a green-headed superhero shaped like a marijuana bud
ResponsibleOhio’s mascot, Buddie, cheerfully endorses the legalization of gajna.

Ohio is preparing for a vote on the legalization of marijuana. Pot, weed, Mary Jane, reefer, grass… It goes by many names and many are lobbying to legalize this plant. Is that a good idea? It’s not really our place to say. We are just thrilled by all the weird ways that people are using to get their message out.

We’ve seen one side of the argument, eloquently depicted in the classic Reefer Madness film from 1938 and on police dramas, from the Dragnet of radio days to whatever was on last week.

As the ballot moves forward in Ohio, the ResponsibleOhio group has unleashed a new superhero. His name is Buddie, and he’s got a big, green, leafy head and the kind of muscles that you won’t typically find in a donut shop. He’s part of the Green Rush Bus tour of college campuses. Some are comparing him to Joe Camel, the infamous cigarette icon which was banned because of its appeal to children. Is Buddie using the same playbook?

In these matters, it’s important to have someone we can trust to help boil it all down. Fortunately, Stephen Colbert has examined this issue and provides insight.

Good luck, Ohio, whatever you decide!

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Massive grave contains bodies of the insane

More details have come to light as archaeologists unearth an extraordinary mass grave in the UK. This video, provided in an article by the Daily Mail, shows the scope of the operation.

The unmarked graves were accidentally discovered by Crossrail construction workers who were building the new Liverpool Street rail station. The discovery grew to hundreds and then 3,000 skeletons are expected to be brought up.

Some of the bodies may date back to the late 1500s and would include victims of the Great Plague in 1665. Many others were patients of the Bethlem Royal Hopital, which later became known as Bedlam. It was Europe’s first dedicated psychiatric facility. Bethlem has a pretty unsavory history, and existed in a time when mental illness was treated with what we see today as a great deal of cruelty. Though, some day people may look back on our own modern practices as barbaric.

Very few of the graves contained anything other than bones. A crucifix was found in one and a few other artifacts were recovered. It seems that these souls were too poor to have anything else laid to rest with them.

Commentary on the article is interesting with many crying out against the excavations, wanting to let the dead rest in peace. Is it a good idea to disturb these graves? Movies like Poltergeist (the good, original one) suggest that building over the dead and disturbing graves can have unpleasant consequences. There are certainly plenty of stories by people who feel they are haunted because the dead do not want to be disturbed. On the other hand, we learn much by studying the old and ancient dead. Perhaps this will bring us closer to our brothers and sisters of the past.

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Man in bear suit harasses bears

Photo of a camera crew recording someone wearing a realistic animal suit
Was this weirdo wearing a suit like this one from Animal Makers?

Sometimes words just fail. Several news outlets, including the Daily Mail, reported that a man dressed in a bear suit was harassing some real bears feeding from the Chilkoot River near Haines, Alaska. A mother and her two cubs were fishing the stream. A crowd had gathered to watch, including a park official who was counting fish.

The man in the suit approached, unnoticed at first. Then he began to jump up and down, coming within 10 feet of the cubs. Alaska Fish and Game technician Lou Cenicola moved the bears away before something very bad happened and then spoke to the man. Cenicola is not law enforcement, so he was a little out of his element.

The man never identified himself and drove away without removing any of his costume. He reportedly told Cenicola “You have the license plate number. You figure it out.”

Photo of a strange costumed character in Beaumont, TX.
Photo of a strange costumed character in Beaumont, TX.

Fortunately, in Texas, we don’t have bear issues. We get gun-toting bananas. Oh, well. I guess it’s weird all over!

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Haunted mirrors

photo of an Asian woman brushing her teeth in a mirror with a ghostly figure of a Victorian woman reflected behind her
Are mirrors gateways into other worlds?

Mirrors are creepy. They show us a backwards view of our own world, suggesting that there is another realm just beyond. Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass gave us that image of what it might be like to pass into that world. Of course, he’s not the only one.

Jewish tradition dictates that mirrors should be draped when someone dies, a tradition that was adopted by the formal traditions of Victorian mourning. Reasons for this vary with the source. Some say it’s more about peace for the mourners. Others say it’s about the dangers of these spirit doorways which are more vulnerable at the time of someone’s passing.

Some of us have played Bloody Mary and similar games, actually daring something to reveal itself in the mirror. Is this childish or unwise? Are these just silly, spooky thrills or do we actually risk opening the door to let something nasty in?

Photo of a Victorian mirror hanging over a table with a bust statue of a woman
Does this mirror on the Myrtle Plantation contain the spirit of tortured souls?
Photo by Corey Balazowich [CC BY-ND 2.0] via flickr
There are many instances of haunted mirrors. One famous legend involves a mirror on the Myrtles Plantation in Louisiana. It is said that this mirror holds the spirit of Sara Woodruff. After Sara died this mirror was accidentally left uncovered and she will appear or leave handprints here.

Of course, there are haunted mirrors right here in Austin, Texas. The famously bespooked Driskill Hotel, a few blocks from the Museum, has the Maximilian Room. It’s named for the Mexican Emperor Maximilian and contains mirrors that he commissioned for his wife, Carlotta, before he was killed in an uprising. They were beautifully crafted in France, but never delivered. Three years after Carlotta died, The Driskill purchased the mirrors and hung them in an elegant new dining room, often used for weddings.

Legend has it that a mysterious White Lady is sometimes seen reflected in the mirrors. Some suggest that this apparition is the Empress Carlotta.

Do you have any stories of strange things in a mirror? Do you think they really can be doorways to other worlds? Share with us.

In the mean time, we take care with our mirrors, because you just never know.

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Stonehenge outdone

Photo of Stonhenge against a dark, stormy-looking sky.
Stonhenge, located in Wiltshire, England,
is probably the most famous henge in the world.
Photo by Diego Delso [CC BY-SA 4.0],
via Wikimedia Commons
Stonehenge is one of the world’s most mysterious places. The ancient structure, located in a field near Wiltshire, England, brings to mind images of druids and mysterious rituals. What if Stonehenge is really just an overture? What if there was something bigger…much, much bigger?Researchers have recently uncovered a series of standing stones that dwarfs Stonehenge. It’s called the Durrington Walls, and lies about 3 kilometers (1.86 miles) northeast of Stonehenge. People have been aware of the structures, but it’s not until recently that underground imaging helped us to see the scope of it all.  This dramatic video by the Irish Times shows how the full structure might look if it was all unearthed and restored.

Some people take these sorts of mysterious sites pretty seriously. A story from the Irish Examiner tells of a grave warning given by local lorekeeper, Eddie Lenihan, if the West Pharmaceutical Services factory destroys an ancient fairy fort in Waterford. He portends a run of horrible luck that will bring the new facility to ruins, along with all who work there. With that on the line, perhaps the construction could account for a little fairy park? It would be a nice place to have lunch!

 

Very little is truly known about the origins and uses of these structures. Perhaps we will never know. In the mean time, we look forward to learning more about the Superhenge.

 

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Fatal selfie

GunSelfie
Artist rendering shows how an unsuccessful gun selfie might look before the final moment.

In a previous article from July we highlighted some of the amazing ways that people have died while taking selfies and the steps the Russian government took to warn people of the danger. Apparently these tips have gone unheeded.

A Reuters report describes how a 19-year old Houston, Texas man fatally shot himself while posing with his gun for social media.

Houston police spokeswoman said “A witness told police he was taking a selfie with a gun. The gun accidentally discharged.”

We regret any unnecessary death and our heart goes out to this young man’s family. We hope that anyone reading this will take the following steps if choosing to take firearm pictures.

  1. Make sure that the firearm is not loaded.
  2. Do not point the gun at your head or at anyone. Treat it as if it were loaded.
  3. MAKE SURE that the firearm is not loaded.
  4. Use a timer to free yourself to give proper focus to the firearm so you are not distracted. Treat it as a dangerous thing that can hurt you if you’re not careful.
  5. MAKE SURE THAT THE FIREARM IS NOT LOADED.

Of course, accidents do happen. Even people trained with firearms can have unfortunate incidents, as we are reminded by this footage from January, 2015 where a Kentucky police officer accidentally shot himself in an elevator

We hope that all of our readers take heed and are exceedingly careful with weapons. Guns aren’t the only danger. This story from the Rakyat Post tells how a man from Kuala Lumpur had a similar accident, shooting himself with a steel arrow!

Please be safe!

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Adventures in time and space

Can you tell the difference between the blue boxes below?

Photo of two blue portaloos standing in a lush field
Photo © Copyright Karl and Ali and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
tardis_in_the_wild
Photo © Copyright Meirion and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

The first ones are a welcome site for someone who has had two much beer at the festival. The next one is a welcome sight for someone who wants to leave their humdrum life behind and go adventuring through time and space with The Doctor.

A woman who attended the Newlyn Fish Festival in Cornwall may not be able to tell the difference any more. She stepped into a porta-potty to take care of some personal business. While she was inside a forklift picked the unit up and moved it to a new location on the other side of the harbor. The woman was not injured, but confused about how she got to the new location.

She must have been very confused. How could someone not be aware that the “little room” they were in was being hoisted and rolled to a new location? Perhaps it’s one of the new, smooth-riding forklifts. The incident was reported by BBC news, so we know it’s true!

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Send in the prehistoric clones

Museum Nature Science Woolly Mammoth
Will we be able to see these magnificent creatures in the flesh?
Photo by Joseph Martinez [cc-by-nd 2.0]
If you read our article from 2011, you may have been wondering when that woolly mammoth clone would be available? It may be closer than you think.

A new laboratory in the icy wastelands of Siberia is devoted to cloning extinct animals, including the woolly mammoth. Located in Yakutia, the facility may have the largest collection of remains from prehistoric animals—everything from prehistoric dogs and horses to the enormous precursor to the elephant that once roamed the earth.

An article in Russian magazine, Ogonek (see original or English translation), reports that the lab is very focused on cloning mammoths as their first project in collaboration with the Sooam Biotech company, which has already had success in dog cloning. They’ll never do it, though. Right?

This article from the Telegraph tells how Harvard University researchers have already copied 14 woolly mammoth genes into the genome of an Asian elephant. While their work has not yet been published, and the genes have only lived in a lab at this point, it’s an important step toward a living, breathing mammoth.

While it would be fantastic to be able to see these prehistoric creatures in the flesh, there is always the question of whether this is a good idea. Should creatures whose time on the planet has come and gone be allowed to rest in peace? In the mean time, we’ll keep an eye on developments.

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There is no spoon

The word pareidolia has been bandied about quite a bit as a result of the strange pictures coming from Mars that seem to depict everything from a jedi woman to machinery. Now we have a strange picture that appears to be a spoon floating on Mars.

floating-spoon

NASA’s response is predictable:

It seems that we are to believe that Mars is filled with nothing but rocks and dirt! Perhaps it’s true, but where is the fun in that? I didn’t spend all my time reading H. G. Wells and watching Devil Girl from Mars to have my hopes dashed. It’s…it’s just disappointing!

Actually, it’s fascinating how our minds are so geared to find meaningful patterns. It’s what allows us to appreciate art. It’s what makes emoticons work. 🙂

It seems that that our brains are wired to seek patterns, especially faces. In his book Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark Carl Sagan wrote

“As soon as the infant can see, it recognizes faces, and we now know that this skill is hardwired in our brains. Those infants who a million years ago were unable to recognize a face smiled back less, were less likely to win the hearts of their parents, and less likely to prosper. These days, nearly every infant is quick to identify a human face, and to respond with a goony grin.”

Recognizing your parents is good, but it’s probably also helpful to see the potential for anything that might eat you. While we are less concerned about sabre tooth tigers today, haven’t we all had a moment where we saw something that looked like an intruder? The heart pounds, the body prepares to fight or fly. It ends up being a pile of clothes. From a defensive position, though, wouldn’t you rather that your body geared up for action and discovered it was a false alarm than to only activate as something was reaching out for you?

So, this fascinating ability of our brains causes us to recognize all sorts of thing, and keep the NASA public relations team up nights trying to fend it all off. Or…they really are out there and it’s all a big cover-up. Fortunately we still have pictures like this, which appears to show the silhouette of a man doing maintenance on the rover.

Mars-Conspiracy

Now, tell me what kind of rock that is! To help you keep the dreams alive, here is a trailer for Devil Girl from Mars. You might even be able to find a full version to watch!

Keep watching the skies!

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Message in a bottle over a century old!

Message-in-bottle
This bottle, discovered on a German, may contain the world record for a recovered message.

April 17th, retired postal worker, Marianne Winkler, was walking along the shore of the German island of Amrum on the North Sea coast when she found something very curious on the beach. It was a well-sealed bottle with a message inside. The Winklers tried to get the bottle opened, but were finally forced to follow the directions to extract the paper: BREAK THE BOTTLE.

It turned out to be a post-paid postcard from The Marine Biological Assocation of the UK with instructions to send the postcard back for a 1-shilling reward.

This is an image of a message that was found in a bottle from the The Marine Biological Association of the UK
Front of postcard found in the bottle.
Photo by Marine Biological Association of the UK
Back-of-postcard
Back of postcard found in the bottle.
Photo by Marine Biological Association of the UK

It’s likely that the price of postage has gone up since this bottle was dropped into the water sometime between 1904 and 1906. It was one of nearly 1,000 bottles released as part of an study on currents.

“We were very excited,” Guy Baker, a spokesman for the group, told AP, London. “We certainly weren’t expecting to receive any more of the postcards.”

Photo of front and back of 1906 Shilling coin
Example of a 1906 Shilling Coin

To reward the Winklers for their find, the Association sent them a shilling from the period which they found on E-Bay.

Information about this find is currently being reviewed by Guinness for a possible world record.