How would you like to be a part of THIS tradition?
This might be your worst nightmare, but in Shaoyang, China, it’s just part of an annual tradition.
The annual bee-wearing contest didn’t exactly attract a swarm of entrants, but two Chinese apiarists competed to see who could attract the most bugs to their bodies in an hour-long contest,the BBC reported.
Contenstants wore nothing but shorts, goggles, and nose plugs, and stood on a scales so that the weight of the bees could be calculated.
Each contestant attracted the bees by locking a queen bee in a small cage and tying it to his body.
The victor? 42-year old Wang Dalin, who added about 52 pounds of bees to his frame
What do you get the two-headed, six-legged bearded dragon who has everything?
Well, everything it needs, anyway.
For Todd Ray, who actually owns such a creature — a reptile he calls “Pancho and Lefty” — the answer was found in a lookalike pinata.
Yep, you read that correctly: A giant pinata that looks like his beloved pet two-headed, six-legged bearded dragon.
Pancho and Lefty turned 1 back in May, but Ray, who runs the Venice Beach Freakshow in Los Angeles, is celebrating the big day on June 11 with a big shindig fit for, well, a two-headed, six-legged bearded dragon.
“These are literally the rarest animals in the world,” Ray told AOL Weird News, and he should know. He has the largest collection of two-headed animals around, more than 100 specimens including 22 living creatures.
Ray has been collecting double-domed animals for the past 10 years and exhibiting them publicly for six. He considers it a calling.
Interesting little bit about this young boy claiming to be “magnetized”.
What do you think?
Young Ivan Stoiljkovic poses for pictures with a Samsung Galaxy Tab stuck to his chest in front of his home near Koprivnica, about 62 miles (100km) north of Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb, on May 12, 2011.
Ivan, 6, is purported to posess an extraordinary and seemingly magical talent: the ability to attract metallic objects — from spoons to heavy frying pans — to his body.
He is said to be able to carry up to 25 kg of metal stuck to his torso. Ivan’s family also claims that his hands can emit heat and his mysterious ability has also given him healing powers.
“Medical checkups so far have reaped inconclusive results,” reports Reuters. More images follow, in which Ivan “attracts” cutlery, cookware, an iron, and other metallic objects. In the image below, his grandfather tosses coins at his chest. Surely this isn’t a hoax!
HUGE new ocean-dwelling dinosaur has been discovered that could SNACK on a T-rex!
It is said to be “the most fearsome predator that ever lived,” according to a BBC News report. It is a pliosaur, or “sea monster,” and now its 2.4 meter-long skull has been unearthed and presented to the public. UPI reports that Naturalist and TV presenter David Attenborough unveiled the fossil to the public this past Saturday.
The 155-million-year-old fossil was accidentally discovered in Dorset, U.K. by local collector Kevan Sheehan, who told BBC News: “It was sheer luck – I was sitting on the beach, and saw three pieces. I had no idea what they were, but I proceeded to drag them back. Then over several years, I’d go back every year and find a new piece.” According to The Guardian, Dorset county council has decided not to reveal the specific location of the find, since the area is prone to rock falls.
It is possible that the discovered creature may be a new species, or possibly even genus. Scientists estimate that the predator could have measured up to 18 meters from tip to tail.
[Ouija appears to be a combination of the French “oui” and German “ja,” which both mean “yes.” The French “non” and German “nein” both mean “no.” You probably already knew that.]
Recently I picked up something nice… well, nice for me anyway. It’s a 50-year-old talking board, or Ouija® board. (It’s pronounced “wee-jah” by the way, not “wee-jee.” Look at the word!) It’s a William Fuld board, made in the 1960s, before the rights went to Parker Brothers. It did not come with a planchette (that little triangle thing that they use today). It’s intended to be used with a overturned glass. I had my eye on a proper board from around 1920, but I got distracted during the critical final moments on eBay. Alas! (Yes, I use eBay. I’m a mystic, not a Luddite.)
Doc's new, old Ouija board
There is a lot of fear for people around talking boards, especially the Ouija brand. (Frankly, I find it difficult to put too much fear into the object itself. After all, it is now largely plastic, glows in the dark and made in the same factory with Mr. Potato Head!) If some of the stories people tell are true, Toys R Us would be the most terrifying place in the world. Perhaps it is!) In truth, people have explored ways of communicating with spirits before you could buy a talking board in a box. It all really got going in the mid 1800s with spirit knocks and table-tipping and all those wonderfully creative ideas that people have come up with to get around the fact that the spirit world hasn’t caught on to email.
From my own experience, working with a talking board is no more dangerous than using a pendulum or any other method where I wish to interact directly with a spirit. There is nothing about the Ouija board that makes it especially evil (except, perhaps, that it is plastic and glowy and sold in a toy store). There is nothing that makes it especially effective (except, perhaps, that people’s belief in the stories allow them to open up enough to let something happen). You could accomplish the same results with an overturned glass and a circle of Scrabble® tiles. It’s not the tool, but how you use it.
Let’s talk mechanics here for a moment. When you use a pendulum, or a talking board — or just about anything that you use to communicate with the spirits by having it move as you hold it — you are dealing with ideo motor responses. This means that your brain is subconsciously sending signals to your muscles to make something happen. Because you are not consciously doing this, it feels like it happens with an outside force, all by itself, but you are making it happen. “Gasp!” I hear some of you say. “He’s saying it’s all fake.” No! I am not! I am saying that there are natural means involved and that it’s not being pushed by “magic fingers.” You won’t get anywhere if you wait for the universe to do things without you.
You must understand that you are involved with moving these things in order to appreciate how they can become dangerous. If you want to sit down with one of these things and make it spell out whatever you wish, then you can do that. (It can be fun to get some squeally teeny-boppers and just completely punk them with what the board says. They’re not taking it seriously anyway, so why should I?) However, if you are doing it properly, you are letting go of the answers that you want it to say and letting your subconscious drive things. In other word, you are letting go of the outcome and allowing something else to drive it. Now, that may simply be thoughts hidden in your brain that are only available to your subconscious, like the last place you really saw that key. There are those who believe, though, that our subconscious mind is the one that can connect with outside influences, including spirits. In other words, you might open the communication line and become a channel for these things to talk to you. Can you see a potential problem with that?
If you believe that all this is crap, then you’re probably find no matter what. You’re mind will be closed enough that it’s pretty unlikely anything will get through. (See! Finally an advantage to being asleep!) However, if you are legitimately experimenting with these ideas and opening yourself to the possibilities, then there are some things you need to do:
Take responsibility for what you are doing. You are exploring in what may be dangerous territory. You need to be smart and you need to be attentive. If you come into contact with bad things you will have to be willing to get you and your fellow participants to safety. If that idea gives you serious doubts then leave it alone. If you make a mess, you will need to have the guts and wisdom to see that there is a problem and clean it up.
Ground, clean and clear. If you were going to meet with strangers, would you go to a rat-infested hole that was unfamiliar to you or would you try to go somewhere comfortable and safe? I guess if you’re buying crack you go wherever it is, but most of us would want to meet someplace that was at least neutral. So, take some time to make the place spiritually comfortable before you start inviting people in. I don’t think that there is a particular practice that is superior. It all depends on your own spirituality. (If you don’t have any, then this probably isn’t a good idea. If you just want the thrills, rent a movie instead.) Do what is done before you take on a serious ritual or sacrament. It may be smudging the site and casting a circle. It may be joining together and saying a prayer. If you don’t know, then you should probably work with someone who has more experience in this area before you try to do anything on your own. From what I have encountered, most of the bad things that happen with things like talking boards happen because people skip this step. They don’t bring any sort of protective force and place themselves at the mercy of anything that they encounter.
Don’t be an idiot. If something feels wrong to you, stop it. If you encounter something that feels dangerous, move away from it. There are old, dark things out there that are looking for opportunities to mess you up. You will not outsmart them like Captain Kirk giving something a logic puzzle. Forget the movies and the TV shows. Pay attention to your instincts. It would be better for you to lose out on a conversation than to allow something nasty to work through you or your friends. If something seems like it’s hiding something or the “vibe” you get is inconsistent with the words, let it go. If someone says that they are uncomfortable or describes something that they are picking up, don’t act as though it can’t be real if it didn’t happen to you. Don’t bully people into keeping contact with something that may not be nice to them. I know I’m being a little dramatic here, but you get these things for a reason. Don’t ignore them and cause unnecessary trouble for yourself.
Set some guidelines for what you are trying to do. Don’t just say “Hey! Is anyone there?” That’s like posting something on the Internet that says “Everyone come to my house! Here’s the address.” Make some decisions about who you want to contact and why. Start there and let them introduce you to other entities. Remember that bad things (or merely mischievous things) will lie to you. Don’t assume it’s Elvis just because he says so. Take some time. Be polite. An excellent place to start is to try to contact a spirit guide that is already connected to one of the participants. You may have one and not even know it. The point is that you want to connect with something that has your interests at heart. Starting there will save you a lot of trouble down the road.
Take notes. Keep some kind of record of who you contact and what they tell you. It gives you something to help verify anyone that you contact. It also helps you watch for inconsistencies, which can be a sign of something that’s messing with you.
Clean up when you’re finished. Just like after a big party you may need to wander through the place and make sure that everyone has actually gone home, you need to close things out after a session like this. Thank everyone who talked to you and ask them to depart until you invite them again. Do a closing prayer, or open the circle or whatever makes sense for your path. Just don’t leave things hanging.
There’s no way that this little list of ideas could cover all the possibilities when working with these tools. Hopefully, though, I’ve got you thinking. If you have questions, ask them. In the mean time, I’m going to see which of these glasses seems to like my Fuld board.
Found this on Discovery.com, thought our readers would be interested. Enjoy!
A Triceratops may have been the last dinosaur standing, according to a new study that determined a fossil from Montana’s Hell Creek Formation is “the youngest dinosaur known to science.”
The Triceratops, described in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters, dates to 65 million years ago, the critical period of time associated with the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) extinction event that wiped out all non-avian dinosaurs and many other animals and plants.
Since this rhinoceros-looking, three-horned dinosaur lived so close to the mass extinction moment, it could negate an earlier theory that dinosaurs gradually died out before 65 million years ago.
Heard of “Lizard Man” yet? If not, that may soon change. Because the new mystery creature is stalking car fenders in rural South Carolina in the dead of night. That’s a diet Bigfoot never went for in his pursuit of wild berries and always making sure he was just out of camera range. There’s nothing like eating the clunker in the front yard for pushing you up to the top of the Cryptid sighting list.
According to local channel 19 in Lee County, SC, the legendary lizard creature made a return after a 23-year hiatus, and he’s up to his old tricks.
Witnesses on a rural road in the county are saying they heard a strange noise on the morning of July 4th and went outside to investigate.
That’s when they discovered the front bumper of their car had been chewed and clawed in a way no normal creature of the woods could manage. Police veterans realized they’d heard this story before.
“This part here is how it all started in 1988,” explained former Lee County Sheriff Liston Truesdale. “We got a call to come and look at something that had mauled a car. I went out there and looked at that damaged car, and I haven’t seen anything like that before.”
Then reports of a lizard-like creature in the area started coming in. Only this terrifying animal was 7-feet tall, with red eyes and three claw-like fingers on each hand. With an appetite for chrome… just like the old days.
So the hunt is on, pushing Bigfoot off the front pages. But he hasn’t been seen in a while anyway.
10:00 PM CST, TONIGHT: It’s that time of the week… time to ease into your favorite chair, sit back and relax as we explore the sublime world of the strange, the odd, and the unusual. It’s time once again for… The Shadow Hour.
Tonight’s guest, Austin reader Diane Parma, joins us again to talk astrology. While Diane is not a full time astrologer, she has long used astrological information as part of her work. She’ll talk to us about different perspectives on astrology and how it connects to the other tools that hse uses. If you’ve been curious about astrology, this will be a great place to begin.
As always, you can listen right here with our blogtalkradio widget! You can listen to past broadcasts at any time, or tune in tonight (Wednesday, July 6th) at 10pm Central for the live broadcast. See you in the shadows…
Ready to go: The Terrafugia Transition has finally been declared road legal, and it could be in U.S. garages as early as next year. It was first developed in 2009, but has faced years of hold-ups
It’s been cleared to take to the skies for more than a year – but that’s not much use when you’re supposed to be able to drive it, too.
But now the flying car has at least been declared officially road legal.
It means the Terrafugia Transition could be in U.S. garages as early as next autumn, after two years of delays.
It may not be the world’s first flying car, but its makers say it is the first to have wings that fold up automatically at the push of a button.
It costs $200,000 – about the same price as a Ferrari – and can be reserved online for what Terrafugia describes as a ‘modest’ $10,000 deposit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has officially announced the Transition, called a ‘roadable aircraft’ by its makers, can now be legally driven on America’s roads.
It granted the vehicle special dispensations, which allow it to use airplane-style plastic windows instead of the safety glass usually used in cars, as it would be too heavy.
Innovative: The Transition 'roadable aircraft' costs $200,000, and can be reserved for a $10,000 depositReady for lift-off: It takes just 30 seconds for the Transition to convert from a car into a plane
The polycarbonate windscreens can withstand the impact of birds, so they won’t fracture.
The administration has also granted Terrafugia permission to use heavier-grade tyres, which are not normally allowed on multi-purpose vehicles.
It’s the second hurdle the Transition had to overcome before it could go on sale, after the Federal Aviation Administration ruled last year it could fly with its current weight, 110lbs over the normal legal limit for light sport aircraft category.
Terrafugia had originally hoped to deliver its first production vehicles as early as this year, but after problems with suppliers it has had to delay the release date to late 2012.
A 25-foot-long giant squid is splayed out on a tarp after it was picked up by a fishing crew over the weekend.
By Nidhi Subbaraman
Florida fishermen snared a real-life sea monster over the weekend: a giant squid measuring 25 feet in length.
“It’s really, really, really rare to get giant squids because they’re so huge, and live so deep,” John Slapcinsky, a collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural History, told me. For museum workers and scientists who specialize in giant squids, this specimen is quite the catch.
University of Florida researcher Roger Portell injects preservative into the giant squid.
The animal was bobbing in the water when the fisherman chanced upon it on Sunday. They hauled it onto their boat, put it on ice, and brought it to shore. There, they alerted the Florida Fish and Wildlife conservation commission, who called in the Florida Museum of Natural History.
“I thought we definitely need to bring it in, because no one’s going to believe us if we don’t,” Robert Benz, one of the original squid finders, said in a press release. “I didn’t want to leave it out there and just let the sharks eat it.”
Somewhere along the way, the squid died.
It’s now been relocated to the Florida Museum of Natural History, where Slapcinsky and his colleagues are preserving the massive invertebrate. “Soft bodied squids spoil easily,” Slapcinsky told me.
The squid will be put through quite the regimen over the next month, and will be injected with and bathed in a cocktail of preservatives. These will kill the bacteria in the body of the squid and firm up the soft tissue of the animal, Slapcinsky explained.
A tentacle coils out from the dead squid's body. Studying the creature and sequencing its DNA should help scientists determine how various breeds of deep-sea squid are related.
Because they’re so rarely observed in the wild, or found dead (they get eaten pretty quickly), there’s a lot that scientists don’t know about the behavior of the enormous animals, like how they reproduce or what they eat. Also, a debate continues about whether giant squids make up a single species, or several, and Slapcisnky hopes that DNA analysis of this new squid will have some answers.
It’s not yet clear if the squid will make it into a museum exhibit, Slapcinsky says — the museum may not have the right equipment or the space to show off the spineless specimen. But it will be available for squid researchers to visit, to take a closer look.
