July 2012 – Page 2 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on July 21, 2012 by MOTW Admin

IS IMMORTALITY RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER?

When one speaks of immortality, nothing but evil villains with a horrible master plan come to mind but, what if it were possilble for the people of today to begin living forever?

Many questions come to mind. Are we ready? Can we handle it? How would we react? What would people do if they knew they could indeed live forever? Would we come together to create a peaceful world with no need to fight over resources and control of land or, would we fight and turn the Earth into a world of chaos and misery? The hollywood movies we watch certainly don’t paint a pretty picture, and if you watch the news, things aren’t looking much better now.

Looks like we may have our chance to find out with researchers all over the world rushing to use the latest sciences to bring us into an entire new world with immortality being the norm.

Daily mail writes:

A Russian entrepreneur who heads a hi-tech research project called ‘Avatar’ has contacted billionaires to offer them immortality.

Itskov claims he will personally oversee their immortality process, in exchange for an undisclosed fee.

Itskov, a media entrepreneur, claims to have hired 30 scientists to reach this goal – and aims to transplant a human brain into a robot body within 10 years.

‘You have the ability to finance the extension of your own life up to immortality. Our civilization has come very close to the creation of such technologies: it’s not a science fiction fantasy. It is in your power to make sure that this goal will be achieved in your lifetime,’ says Itskov in a letter delivered to billionaires listed in Forbes magazine.

You can read more of that story over at dailymail.com but also, check out this story at SFGate.com featuring Ray Kurzweil, famous for his theories of the ‘Singularity’ or, the act of humans merging with technology to form one super intelligent, strong, disease resistant being that can live forever.

SFGate writes:

Ray Kurzweil, a world-renowned scientist and author of The Singularity is Near, thinks the world as we know it will be unrecognizable in 20 years.

One of the changes he thinks are possible: Scientists may finally crack immortality.

“I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogramme our bodies’ stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse, aging,” hewrites in The Sun. “Then nanotechnology will let us live for ever. Ultimately, nanobots will replace blood cells and do their work thousands of times more effectively.”

Kurzweil, whose fans include Bill Gates adn Bill Clinton, makes a number of other substantial claims, such as humans being able to replace all failing organs with artificial ones. He says we’ll be able to scuba dive for hours without oxygen, and write entire books within minutes thanks to advanced nanotechnology.

Oh, virtual sex will also be commonplace in the not-so-distant future.

Kurzweil’s absurd-sounding proclamations stem from the fact that technological progress is growing at an exponential rate.

“Computer technology and our understanding of genes — our body’s software programs — are accelerating at an incredible rate,” he writes. His theory of the Law of Accelerating Returns, suggests there will be another “billion-fold” increase in technology over the next quarter century.

You can read more of that story at sfgate.com/technology

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Guest Blogger

GIGANTIC OWL FOUND IN TEXAS REBIRTHS LEGEND OF LECHUZA

A giant owl found in Carrizo Springs, Tx

This thing is HUGE!

So huge in fact, many people doubt the authenticity of this photo but, for the believers, this confirms the Legend of Lechuza, a story that has been told in the Carrizo Springs area of South-West Texas for centuries.

Pro *8 News writes:

The legend of the “Lechuza” has been told in this area for years.
Now, a recent picture has sparked a discussion about whether the picture is real.
The picture believed to have been taken in Carrizo Springs shows two men holding a white owl with a very large wing span.
Our Lauren Kendrick has more in our top story.
The picture has definitely got people interested whether or not they believe in the myth.
We spoke to one of the owners of Petland who tells us this picture has her baffled when it comes to classifying the type of owl.
“I think people would like to believe it’s real just like they’d like to believe big foot’s real and the loch ness monster and all the other creatures.”
Owner of Petland Laredo, Laura Hatton, gives us her take on the picture that’s been circulating social networking sites for the past few days.
The picture was taken in Carrizo Springs.
Many people are calling the big white bird “Lechuza” from the urban legend commonly told in the Mexican heritage where the spirit of a woman or a witch turns into an owl.
“Those wives tales are there for a reason. They are a legend. Perhaps there at one time was a much larger species of an owl that was here.”
Hatton says it looks like a barn owl but is way too large. She says it’s really hard to determine the exact species by the undercarriage. By looking at the picture, she says it’s hard to tell if it is indeed real or fake.

WANT TO GO SKYDIVING? WATCH THIS ‘SKYDIVING TRIP FROM HELL’ FIRST

Skydiving can be one of life's most exhilarating experiences, sometimes.

Just when you think jumping out of a plane at thousands of feet above the Earth was just about the safest thing you could do, a video comes out that may make you think twice about ever letting your feet leave the ground.

Watch below to see this woman’s excitement turn to terror, as she just about slips out of her harness as soon as she is forced out of the plane by the instructor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtb3N7eqejM&feature=player_embedded

ABC News writes:

A video of an elderly woman’s skydiving adventure gone horribly awry has gone viral, perhaps serving as a warning literally to look before you leap — or at least to mind your elders when it looks like they actually don’t want to jump out of the plane.

The video was created by The Parachute Center, a skydiving company in Acampo, Calif., as a memento for jumpers to take home after their airborne adventures.

But someone posted it on The Chive, a video site on which a counter said it has been viewed more than 170,000 times. It shows Laverne, an energetic woman who has just turned 80 and has rounded up a crew of female relatives to go skydiving with her. She tells the camera that she’s “real excited,” and that she has wanted to do this for “at least 10 years.”

Cut to the plane taking off to an upbeat rock tune by The Offspring. We see Laverne smiling, looking out the window, and putting on her safety goggles. A few jumpers dive from the open plane window and whoosh down toward the earth below. Looks like they’re all having fun.

But wait a second — something’s wrong. The Offspring song has been cranked up and it’s Laverne’s turn to jump with her towheaded tandem instructor, but it looks as if she’s having second thoughts. She’s no longer smiling and is instead clinging to the side of the open door. Then her legs buckle and she’s sitting down, refusing to move, and appears to mouth the word “No!”

Instead of letting the poor woman just sit it out — it’s not like they’re on an episode of “Fear Factor,” right? — the instructor scoops her up and they fall forward out of the plane.

The camera person has also jumped, so from his vantage point, we see that Laverne has evidently slipped out of her harness so that the straps are attaching her to her instructor from behind her knees. She’s also clinging to him with her arms. And her shirt has flown up, so we see part of Laverne’s torso. The instructor starts trying to pull her shirt down, which is the last thing we see before the camera cuts to the scenery thousands of feet below them.

SKELETON FOUND FROM ALMOST 2 MILLION YEARS AGO

The skeleton of an as-of-yet unknown hominid species. (Related to but, not quite, Human)

This skeleton found in South Africa is believed to be the most complete of an ancient ancestor of present-day humans and is almost 2 MILLION years old!

The scientists and researchers leading the investigation at the University of Witwatersrand in Southern Africa haven’t been able to decide whether it’s a direct ancestor of us modern humans or a close relative. But, with this new find of additional bones that belong to the same skeleton, they hope to narrow it down and see how far we’ve really come.

Discovery News writes:

South African scientists said Thursday they had uncovered the most complete skeleton yet of an ancient relative of man, hidden in a rock excavated from an archaeological site three years ago.

The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, constitute the “most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered,” according to University of Witwatersrand palaeontologist Lee Berger.

“We have discovered parts of a jaw and critical aspects of the body including what appear to be a complete femur (thigh bone), ribs, vertebrae and other important limb elements, some never before seen in such completeness in the human fossil record,” said Berger, a lead professor in the finding.

The latest discovery of what is thought to be around two million years old, was made in a three-foot (one meter) wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until a technician noticed a tooth sticking out of the black stone last month.

The technician, Justin Mukanka, said: “I was lifting the block up, I just realized that there is a tooth.”

It was then scanned to reveal significant parts of an A. sediba skeleton, dubbed Karabo, whose other other parts were first discovered in 2009. Parts of three other skeletons were discovered in 2008 in the world-famous Cradle of Humankind site north of Johannesburg.

IS TIME TRAVEL CLOSE TO A REALITY?

Have we discovered the key to time travel?

I mention all the time how the scientists of Earth are making major breakthroughs and discoveries daily, well today is no exception!

A NASA-funded researcher at the University of Iowa has found in the Earth’s atmosphere what can only be described as ‘portals’, and they may actually have the ability to allow humans to travel through space AND time!

NASA writes:

A favorite theme of science fiction is “the portal”–an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travelers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they actually existed….

It turns out that they do, sort of, and a NASA-funded researcher at the University of Iowa has figured out how to find them.

“We call them X-points or electron diffusion regions,” explains plasma physicist Jack Scudder of the University of Iowa. “They’re places where the magnetic field of Earth connects to the magnetic field of the Sun, creating an uninterrupted path leading from our own planet to the sun’s atmosphere 93 million miles away.”

Observations by NASA’s THEMIS spacecraft and Europe’s Cluster probes suggest that these magnetic portals open and close dozens of times each day. They’re typically located a few tens of thousands of kilometers from Earth where the geomagnetic field meets the onrushing solar wind. Most portals are small and short-lived; others are yawning, vast, and sustained. Tons of energetic particles can flow through the openings, heating Earth’s upper atmosphere, sparking geomagnetic storms, and igniting bright polar auroras.

NASA is planning a mission called “MMS,” short for Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, due to launch in 2014, to study the phenomenon. Bristling with energetic particle detectors and magnetic sensors, the four spacecraft of MMS will spread out in Earth’s magnetosphere and surround the portals to observe how they work.

Just one problem: Finding them. Magnetic portals are invisible, unstable, and elusive. They open and close without warning “and there are no signposts to guide us in,” notes Scudder.

Actually, there are signposts, and Scudder has found them.

Read more and watch a video explanation at NASA.gov

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Guest Blogger

NEW UPDATE ON THE ‘BALTIC ANOMALY’, COULD BE NAZI SECRET WEAPON

Turns out the anomaly might not be from out-of-this world but, from the first World War.

More and more progress is being made daily on researching this ‘Baltic Anomaly’ that was discovered some months ago while treasure hunters looked for sunken ships with sonar along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The newest info from the team reports that this may, in fact, not be a crashed UFO or even the Millenium Falcon as the sonar read-out suggests, but may actually be a secret weapon from the Nazi’s during the first of Earth’s World Wars.

Daily Mail Online writes:

Sonar scans have shown that the device, raised 10ft above the seabed and measuring 200ft by 25ft, could be the base of an anti-submarine weapon.

The weapon was built with wire mesh which could have baffled submarine radar, leading enemy craft to crash – much in the same way as turning out a lighthouse could be used as a weapon against shipping.

But now former Swedish naval officer and WWII expert Anders Autellus has revealed that the structure – measuring 200ft by 25ft – could be the base of a device designed to block British and Russian submarine movements in the area.

The huge steel-and-concrete structure could be one of the most important historical finds in years.

Autellus claims it would have been built of double-skinned concrete and reinforced with wire mesh to baffle radar – which could explain why the dive team’s equipment repeatedly failed near the mystery object.

‘The area was vital to the German war machine because most of the ball bearings for its tanks and trucks came from here. Without them the German army would have ground to a halt,’ explained one expert.

‘This device dwarfs anything ever found before and is an important weapons discovery,’ they added.

Explorer Stefan Hogeborn – who is studying the images for the Ocean X diving team – agreed: ‘It is a good candidate for the answer to this mystery. The object lies directly underneath a shipping route.’

‘It would be of enormous weight in steel and concrete. Other Nazi anti-sub anchoring devices were nowhere near as large,’ he added.

While the Ocean Explorer team is understandably excited about their potentially earth-shattering find, others are slightly more sceptical and are questioning the accuracy of the sonar technology.

IS THIS REALLY ‘THE BEST EVIDENCE OF THE PARANORMAL IN THE PAST 10 YEARS’

Dubbed 'The Ghost In The Tearoom' the apparition is shown circled in red.

Some pretty bold claims are being made about recent cctv footage released from a local teamroom, Curiositeaz Vintage,
in Perth. He’s called in some specialists of the Paranormal Investigation Scotland team to take a look at it and they are very excited by what they’ve seen. So excited that they’re saying that this mans footage may, in fact, be the best evidence of paranormal activity that we’ve seen in the past 10 years.

How incredible!

But, we’ve looked long and hard but can’t seem to find the footage anywhere online. Well, we look forward to the day he releases the video to the public, since… you know, that is the evidence.

Daily Record of Scotland writes:

A CAFE owner has called in the ghost-hunters after claiming to have seen a spirit on his security camera.

Chills went down Dan Clifford’s spine when he checked his CCTV and saw what he’s convinced was a ghostly apparition hovering over a table set for two.

He summoned a team of ghost specialists, who said the sighting – said to be a figure of a woman – was the most striking evidence they had come across in almost 10 years.

Dan, 35, said yesterday: “The first time I saw the shadow moving on the camera my heart went nuts. I thought there was an intruder in the shop.

“But when I looked closer I realised it couldn’t be a live human being – I could see right through it.”

The CCTV image was taken in the dead of night after something set off a motion sensor. And Dan claims it’s not the only evidence of ghostly goings-on at his Curiositeaz Vintage Tea Room in Perth.

He said: “Over the past few months, all the staff have experienced something.

“Some have heard voices. Others have witnessed chairs moving and one was pushed forwards and felt a chill right down their spine.

“We’ve also had a number of mediums stopping in because they felt something when they walked by.

“Some have told of feeling the presence of a woman, which fits with our newest image.

“I have always believed in the spirit world but I’d never experienced anything like this until we opened Curiositeaz less than a year ago. It’s all been very exciting.”

Tonight on JOURNEY INTO TWILIGHT: Hypnosis and Past-Life Regression

Reviews were admittedly mixed for our premiere, but we hope you’ll give the program a chance to get our legs and our audience as we welcome Hypnotist, James Hazlerig. We’ll talk about some of the weird news, such as the hypnotist in Quebec who had to get his mentor to come in and break his audience out of a trance. James will also talk about the unusual area of using hypnosis to tap into our past lives.

Tune in live to call in with questions or save the podcast for later. Tonight’s episode airs live at 8:30pm Central, Thursday, July 12th, 2012 (if the show has already aired, you can always catch the episode on our Blog Talk Radio widget on the right side of the page).

Tune in for an all new experience, and join us as we Journey Into Twilight together.

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Guest Blogger

MAN BUILDS HIS OWN VIRTUAL REALITY GIRLFRIEND

Using Augmented and Virtual Reality, one man has built his own girlfriend! *Photo courtesy of Alsionesvx

…and i don’t blame!

One, possibly lonely, hacker in Japan has decided that a cat or dog wasn’t quite the companion he was looking for after having so much trouble finding a girlfiend. So, what to do? Just build one of course! Why didn’t I think of that? Well, actually… I did, but didn’t have the know-how or quite the creepiness that this guy does.

Future Of Tech on MSNBC.com writes:

In a slightly creepy but undoubtedly impressive feat of DIY electronics, an evidently lonely Japanese hacker has put together a virtual girlfriend through a combination of motion-tracking hardware, video goggles, and some scavenged 3-D game assets.

A video on YouTube, originally posted at Hack a Day, shows the view through a pair of video goggles that have been augmented with an Asus Xtion motion-tracking tool, essentially an off-brand Microsoft Kinect. This helps track his motion and the environment, and is assisted by some augmented-reality software that places virtual items on the image.

The last ingredient is, of course, a popular Japanese virtual pop idol. Hatsune Miku has starred in many games and concerts, and clearly the builder, known at the moment only by his online handle “Alsionesvx,” is a fan. He collected some 3-D models and animations from a portable game that has some augmented reality functions and merged them with his hacked-together environment.

Now Hatsune Miku not only appears before him at the park and in his apartment, but follows him when beckoned, is blocked properly by things like trees, and even casts a shadow. He interacts with her, as well, flipping her tie and patting her head.

MUMMIES MADE OF DIFFERENT BODIES FOUND IN SCOTLAND

This female mummy was found comprised of at least 3 different people.

A little over 10 years ago, archaeologists in Scotland found a set of 4 skeletons that dated back to almost 3,500 years ago but, there was a problem.

Every other bone or so dated back to a different time, some of them 100 of years apart! How could this be?

LA Times writes:

An international team of archaeologists have discovered that two mummies found on an island off the coast of Scotland are, like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, composed of body parts from several different humans. The mummified remains, as much as 3,500 years old, suggest that the first residents of the island of South Uist in the Hebrides had some previously unsuspected burial practices.

The West Coast of South Uist was densely populated from around 2000 BC until the end of the Viking period around AD 1300. Researchers led by archaeologist Michael Parker-Pearson of the University of Sheffield have been working at a site near the modern graveyard of Cladh Hallan, which gives the site its name. The team has so far excavated three roundhouses from a village that was apparently occupied from around 2200 BC to 800 BC. A little more than a decade ago, they found the two skeletons under one of the houses, as well as the remains of a teenage girl and a 3-year-old child.

The two primary skeletons were buried in a fetal position and showed evidence of having been preserved. Chemical evidence suggests they were mummified by being placed in nearby peat bogs for a year or longer. The high acidity and low oxygen content of the bog prevents bacteria from breaking down body tissues. After preservation, the skeletons were apparently removed from the bog and buried.

But the skeletons did not “look right” to the researchers. The female’s jaw didn’t fit into the rest of her skull, for example. Closer examination of the male, they reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science, showed that arthritis was present on the vertebrae of the neck, but not on the rest of the spine. The lower jaw had all of its teeth, while the upper jaw had none; but the condition of the lower jaw’s teeth showed that they had been paired with upper teeth. The team concluded that the skeleton has been assembled from parts of at least three bodies, some of which were separated by several hundred years of time.