2012 – Page 11 – Museum of the Weird

Posted on August 25, 2012 by MOTW Admin

HAVE WE FOUND AMELIA EARHART’S PLANE WRECKAGE?

Researchers believe they've found the actual debris field from Amelia Earhart's legendary last flight.

The mystery of Amelia Earhart has intrigued the world ever since her disappearance on what would have been her record-breaking around-the-world flight in 1937.

Researchers, conspiracists, and just plain curious people from all over continue to investigate and could have possibly found her!

ABC News writes:

Forensic imaging specialists have found what looks like a wheel and other landing gear off the coast of Nikumaroro Island in the Pacific Ocean, right where analysts and archeologists think Amelia Earhart’s plane went down in 1937.

“We don’t know whether it’s her plane, but what we have is a debris field in a place where there should be a debris field if what we had put together based on the evidence that we had is correct,” said Ric Gillespie, executive director of The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which led the $2.2 million expedition last month.

During the trip, Gillespie said he was “bummed” because they didn’t see much in the coral reef from their standard video camera. The high definition camera footage couldn’t be viewed in real time, so they had to process it and send it over to forensic analyst Jeff Glickman before they could get any answers.

“On Tuesday afternoon, he calls me and says, ‘You know, there’s stuff here. It looks like manmade debris,” Gillespie said.

So Gillespie compared the logs to his maps and said, “Whoa. What he’s seeing is right where we reasoned things should be.”

Based on the last thing Earhart ever said over the radio, she was on a navigational line called 157337, which has two other islands along it other than Howard Island, which was where Earhart was aiming to land. Although the Navy began looking for her along the route initially, the idea was forgotten until two retired Navy officers approached Gillespie in 1988.

THERE WERE NOT ONE, BUT TWO UFOS THAT CRASHED IN ROSWELL

An Air Force Colonel has come forward to state there were in fact, 2 seperate crashes in Roswell, N.M.

As if the controversy and speculation around that fateful day in Roswell, New Mexico, retired Air Force Colonel Richard French is stirring things up a bit by saying that there were 2 seperate ufos recovered.

Huffington Post writes:

The 1947 UFO controversy of Roswell, N.M. is like a bad penny: It keeps turning up.

The legend, rehashed by conspiracy theorists in countless documentaries, revolves around allegations that an unusual object fell from the sky — an object so bizarre that the U.S. Air Force issued a press release that a flying saucer had crashed.

That story was quickly recanted, creating what would become one of the greatest urban legends in American history.

Until now, most debunkers doubted that there was even one crash. Now, in an exclusive interview, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard French told The Huffington Post that there were actually two crashes.

This revelation is especially remarkable considering that French was known in the past to debunk UFO stories.

“There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don’t know,” French told HuffPost. “The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that’s why it crashed.”

French — an Air Force pilot who was in Alamagordo, N.M., in 1947, being tested in an altitude chamber, an annual requirement for rated officers — was very specific in how the military allegedly brought down what he believes was a spacecraft from another world.

“When they hit it with that electromagnetic pulse — bingo! — there goes all their electronics and, consequently, the UFO was uncontrollable,” said French, who flew hundreds of combat missions in Korea and Southeast Asia, and who held several positions working for Military Intelligence.

Another retired officer doubts French’s story.

“No chance! Zero chance!” said Army Col. John Alexander, whose own top-secret clearance gave him access in the 1980s to official documents and UFO accounts. He created a top-level group of government officials and scientists who determined that, while UFOs are real, they couldn’t find evidence of an official cover-up.

GOOD-INTENTIONED GRAFFITI GOES WRONG

A good intentioned touch-up turned out not-so great.

What started out as a good-intentioned touch-up of a 100 year old painting inside a church near Zaragoza, Spain turned out to be, to put it nicely, quite the poorly done “restoration” of the work of art feature Jesus himself.

Entertainment on Today writes:

Would you think to match your home-grown painting skills against a classical artist? Probably not, but that’s just what a well-intentioned woman in her 80s did recently in Spain.

The three photos above tell the tale. The image on the left is the original work, a century-old oil painting of Christ called “Ecce Homo (Behold the Man)” that was painted on a column inside a church near Zaragoza, Spain, by artist Elias Garcia Martinez.

Over the years, the work began to deteriorate, as shown in the second image. According to the Centre de Estudios Borjanos, the unnamed amateur artist (without permission from the church, needless to say) thought she could improve the work and set to work with paints and brushes. The third picture is the result.

The BBC reports that the woman realized her mistake and contacted Juan Maria Ojeda, a city council member in charge of cultural affairs for the area. “I think she had good intentions,” Ojeda told the BBC.

A team of art restoration experts is reportedly examining the painting, will quiz the woman on what materials she used in her attempt, and will figure out how best to proceed.

Read more at todayentertainment.today.com

Posted on August 22, 2012 by MOTW Admin

MAN FINDS 10 YEAR OLD LOST FORK… IN HIS STOMACH

The fork had remained intact inside his stomach despite lying in a pool of stomach acid for a decade. - Caters News

Apparently one meal didn’t go quite the way Lee Gardner of Cudworth, England, instead of swallowing his food, he swallowed the utensil!

BBC News writes:

Doctors operating on a man who was taken to hospital with stomach pains discovered a 9in long plastic fork that he swallowed a decade ago.

Lee Gardner was taken to Barnsley Hospital when he started vomiting blood and having cramps.

He said he was told the fork, which he swallowed 10 years ago, would pass through his system naturally so he did not think to mention it to doctors.

Surgeon Hanis Shiwani said Mr Gardner was lucky there was not more damage.

Mr Gardner, from Cudworth, Barnsley, said: “I can’t believe it. I have never had any problems with my stomach except once a couple of years ago I remember thinking I felt like something had lodged when I bent over awkwardly.

“But the advice at the time was that it would just pass through my system, and as that was so many years before I really didn’t think it could be the fork.”

DNA TESTING TO DETERMINE THE ELEPHANT MAN’S AILMENT

The Elephant Man suffered from an unknown disease that scientist are now trying to name.

Joseph Merrick didn’t exactly have the most peaceful life, having been the now, and then, famous Elephant Man of London but, even in death he shall not rest peacefully for scientists plan on investigating his bones to determine just what caused his problems.

The Independent writes:

He was the thing of children’s nightmares, outcast by a Victorian society unable to comprehend his grotesque deformities, but was later immortalised in films and plays. Joseph Merrick, better known as the Elephant Man, is one of medical history’s enigmas: 122 years after his death, no one knows exactly what caused his extreme disfigurement. But scientists will attempt to solve the puzzle next month by extracting DNA from his bones for analysis.

Merrick came to the attention of the medical profession in the 1880s. Ever since, scientists have struggled to explain the huge growths that caused him to be first shunned and finally celebrated by society – by the end of his life his courage and humility had, at last, been recognised. Merrick became a folk hero for speaking up for others who were similarly afflicted.

It was initially thought that he suffered from Elephantiasis, a parasitic infection characterised by the thickening and enlargement of skin and tissue, hence his nickname.

Then, in 2001, some scientists suggested that Merrick had suffered from a rare disease called Proteus syndrome – a congenital disorder that causes skin overgrowth and abnormal bone development. But other experts questioned the diagnosis, saying that the way his disease manifested was not typical of that condition. It is hoped this latest research will finally prove conclusive.

Scientists will extract DNA from Merrick’s skeleton, which has been kept at the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel, east London, since his death, aged 27, in 1890. Tests will then be carried out to see if it is possible to sequence Merrick’s genome thereby identifying any gene alteration. The already complex technique has been made harder by the fact that Merrick’s skeleton has been poorly preserved, and years of bleaching to keep it clean have degraded the remains.

Researchers hope that, by finally diagnosing his condition, they will be able to treat other sufferers.

Read more at independent.co.uk/news/science

Posted on August 16, 2012 by MOTW Admin

LARGEST PYTHON EVER FOUND IN FLORIDA EVERGLADES NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THERE

Giant Burmese Pythons have been taking over the Florida Everglades

Things are getting bad in the beautiful Everglades of Florida. They’re being over run by giant snakes that are non-native to the area… and they’re getting bigger.

This little lady was the most recent find, and the largest ever. Not to mention the 87 eggs she had in her.

Huffington Post writes:

There are some Florida records no one wants to see broken, but apparently the exotic snakes invading the Everglades weren’t informed.

Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey captured a state record-breaking Burmese python that was not only a whopping 17 feet and 7 inches long, but carrying an also-record-breaking 87 eggs.

The massive gal weighed 164 pounds, according to staff at the University of Florida, who said the previous records for length and fertility were a measly 16.8 feet and 85 eggs.

“She was a beast!” USGS research ecologist Dr. Kristen Hart, whose team caught the snake, told HuffPost. “She was really impressive.”

The massive python was nearly a foot wide, said the Florida Museum of Natural History’s herpetology collection manager Dr. Kenneth Krysko (hear him describe her in the video in the slideshow below). The python was sent to the Gainesville museum so UF staff could perform a necropsy for research before mounting the body, which will eventually be returned to Everglades National Park. And then, presumably, there’s a party to be had.

“When you find something outside the known or expected range,” said FMNH’s Ichthyology collection manager Rob Robins, “it’s exciting.”

Hart said the huge python was initially spotted in March when a “judas snake” — a male python outfitted with a transmitter for tracking during mating season — led USGS biologists Thomas Selby and Brian Smith straight to her. Getting the snake from the brush to the office was no small feat, though the very fit Selby and Smith are roughly 6′ 5″ and 5′ 10″, respectively.

“She was tired from pulling against them, they were tired from wrestling her,” Hart said. “They were just exhausted but also excited: ‘You’re not gonna believe how big this snake is!'”

ANCIENT INK: SIBERIAN TATTOO THAT’S 2,500 YEARS OLD

Princess Ukok, preserved for 2,500 years, of ancient Russia had several intricate tattoos.

It seems that right now is far from the first time for humans to have tattoos come into fashion, it’s just taken a little bit time to come back around. Like, 2,5o0 years or so.

Daily Mail writes:

The astonishing 2,500 year old tattoos of a Siberian princess, and how they reveal little has changed in the way we decorate our bodies

Incredibly well preserved body found high in the Altai mountains, with two warriors buried close by for protections and six horses to ease the journey into the next life

Tattoos on left shoulder, including a deer with a griffon’s beak and a Capricorn’s antlers.

The intricate patterns of 2,500-year-old tattoos – some from the body of a Siberian ‘princess’ preserved in the permafrost – have been revealed in Russia.

The remarkable body art includes mythological creatures and experts say the elaborate drawings were a sign of age and status for the ancient nomadic Pazyryk people, described in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus.

But scientist Natalia Polosmak – who discovered the remains of ice-clad ‘Princess Ukok’ high in the Altai Mountains – is also struck about how little has changed in more than two millennia.

‘I think we have not moved far from Pazyryks in how the tattoos are made,’ she told the Siberian Times ( SiberianTimes.com ).

‘It is still about a craving to make yourself as beautiful as possible.’

‘For example, about the British.

‘A lot of them go on holiday to Greece, and when I’ve been there I heard how Greeks were smiling and saying that a British man’s age can be easily understood by the number of tattoos on his body.

‘I’m talking the working class now.

‘And I noticed it, too.

‘The older a person, the more tattoos are on his body.’

Posted on August 14, 2012 by MOTW Admin

BLOOD RED WATER FLOWS IN FRANCE

In the flats of Camargue, the usually blue water turns a very creepy red.

Horror movie scenes and natural phenomena collide in the salt flats of France where the Rhône river meets the sea, creating quite the startling sight.

The high concentration of salt not only turns the water red, but also collects on just about everything.

NY Daily News writes:

At first glance, it might look like a sign of the apocalypse – but scientists say the blood red lakes in southern France are actually a natural phenomenon.

Camargue, France is a river delta where the Rhône meets the sea. The picturesque area is home to numerous salt flats, and it is this concentration of salt that will occasionally stain red the regions normally blue water.

A photographer driving through the region recently stopped to chronicle the incredible blood-red color of the water and the trillions of salt crystals crusting rocks, branches and shoreline.

Though it is unclear how often this phenomenon occurs, salt has been a lifeblood of the region for hundreds of years.

Today, evaporation pans at Salin-de-Giraud, the largest salt extraction city in Europe, extend for thousands of acres and produce some 1,000,000 metric tons of salt per year, according to Languedoc.com.

The area is also home to riz rouge, or red rice, so-named for its unmistakable blood red color.

20,000 MILLION YEAR OLD ANTARCTIC LAKE 12,000FT BELOW ICE HAS BEEN REACHED

The Russian research team made contact with the lake 12,366 feet (3,769 meters) below the ice on Sunday, 05/02/12.

What this looks like to me is the opening scene of a sci-fi horror movie, where the scientists out in the ice deserts of Antarctica break through ancient ice to an underground lake of freshwater that’s been cutoff from the outside world for 20 million years except, nothing scary happened when these guys actually did just that. Bummer?

Msnbc.msn.com writes:

MOSCOW — Opening a scientific frontier miles under the Antarctic ice, Russian experts drilled down and finally reached the surface of a gigantic freshwater lake, an achievement the mission chief likened to placing a man on the moon.

Lake Vostok could hold living organisms that have been locked in icy darkness for some 20 million years, as well as clues to the search for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Touching the surface of the lake, the largest of nearly 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, came after more than two decades of drilling. It was a major achievement avidly anticipated by scientists around the world.

“In the simplest sense, it can transform the way we think about life,” NASA’s chief scientist, Waleed Abdalati, told The Associated Press in an email Wednesday.

The Russian team made contact with the lake water Sunday at a depth of 12,366 feet (3,769 meters), about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) east of the South Pole in the central part of the continent.

Scientists hope the lake might allow a glimpse into microbial life forms that existed before the Ice Age and are not visible to the naked eye. Scientists believe that microbial life may exist in the dark depths of the lake despite its high pressure and constant cold — conditions similar to those believed to be found under the ice crust on Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.

Akin to the space race
Valery Lukin, the head of Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, said reaching the lake was akin to the Americans winning the space race in 1969.

“I think it’s fair to compare this project to flying to the moon,” said Lukin, who oversaw the mission and announced its success.

American and British teams are drilling to reach their own subglacial Antarctic lakes, but Columbia University glaciologist Robin Bell said those are smaller and younger than Vostok, which is the big scientific prize.

“It’s like exploring another planet, except this one is ours,” she said.

1ST EVER PANORAMIC VIEW OF MARS, FROM MARS!

A panoramic view from the Curiosity Rover inside Gale Crater on mars.

No signs of life, yet.

Here’s a cool video NASA has released of Curiosty’s actual decent on the red planet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=UcGMDXy-Y1I

NASA writes:

PASADENA, Calif. – The first images from Curiosity’s color Mast Camera, or Mastcam, have been received by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. The 130 low-resolution thumbnails, which were received Thursday morning, provide scientists and engineers of NASA’s newest Mars rover their first color, horizon-to-horizon glimpse of Gale Crater.

“After a year in cold storage, where it endured the rigors of launch, the deep space cruise to Mars and everything that went on during landing, it is great to see our camera is working as planned,” said Mike Malin, principal investigator of the Mastcam instrument from Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. “As engaging as this color panorama is, it is important to note this is only one-eighth the potential resolution of images from this camera.”

The Curiosity team also continued to downlink high-resolution black-and-white images from its Navigation Camera, or Navcam. These individual images have been stitched together to provide a high-resolution Navcam panorama, including a glimpse of the rover’s deck. Evident on some portions of the deck are some small Martian pebbles.

“The latest Navcam images show us that the rocket engines on our descent stage kicked up some material from the surface of Mars, several pieces which ended up on our rover’s deck,” said Mike Watkins, mission manager for Curiosity from JPL. “These small pebbles we currently see are up to about 1 centimeter [0.4 inch] in size and should pose no problems for mission operations. It will be interesting to see how long our hitchhikers stick around.”

Curiosity’s color panorama of Gale Crater is online at: http://1.usa.gov/P7VsUw . Additional images from Curiosity are available at: http://1.usa.gov/MfiyD0 .