What a crazy story this kid has! Living in the wild with his father for 5 years, only to have to bury him after an injury killed him while still in the woods. With his father gone he followed the emergency instructions given to him by his father to head to the German capital of Berlin for help.
The Gaurdian writes:
He walked out of a German forest, speaking English and knowing only his first name. Police in Berlin are trying to unravel the mystery of a teenager who says he has no idea who he is or where he comes from.
The boy presented himself to the Berlin authorities last week saying all he knew was that his first name was Ray, he was probably 17 years old and he and his father had roamed through the woods for about five years.
“He speaks fluent English and very broken German,” the Berlin police spokesman Michael Maaß told the Guardian. The police have not yet determined if his accent is American, British or that of some other English-speaking nationality.
He told youth workers that his father, whom he called Ryan, had died two weeks ago and he had buried him in a shallow grave covered with stones. The boy then walked north, following instructions his father had given him should anything happen to him.
The pair’s odyssey started after his mother, who he said was named Doreen, died. He says that he and his father never set up home but kept moving, staying in tents and huts in the woods.
It is not clear what they ate or how they survived the often harsh German winters. “He doesn’t show any signs of abuse and he is in good shape physically and psychologically,” Maaß said.
The boy says he cannot remember anything about where he lived before the five-year journey began. “We have nothing more to go on than what he told us. We don’t have any other clues as to his identity,” Maaß said.
Incredibly awesome surgery skills going to work here! This man lost his thumb and was able to have doctors use his big toe replace it. I mean, they do look a lot alike to begin with so that’s a plus. I wish this man good luck and a speedy recovery!
BBC News writes:
James Byrne, 29, from Fishponds severed the thumb on his left hand last December while sawing through wood. After an attempt to re-attach his damaged thumb failed, plastic surgeons at Frenchay Hospital transplanted his left big toe to his hand.
Surgeon Umraz Khan said: “The loss of the toe is not as disabling as losing a thumb, so the loss outweighs the gain.”
Mr Byrne said: “Mr Khan re-attached my thumb but it had been badly damaged and although we tried everything, including leeches, to get the blood flowing again it didn’t take.
“Mr Khan said to me ‘You will have a thumb even if I have to take your toe’. I thought he was joking, but he was serious and nine months later here it is. The aesthetics of it don’t bother me, “I am just happy that it works, my work as a paver would have been destroyed without the use of my hand because I couldn’t pick up a brick without a thumb but now I hope I can be back at work in a few months.”
This was a pretty genius idea, using live bacteria and mold to slowly form the name of the movie, execution is fantastic as well!
The Montreal Gazette writes:
Two billboards made from live bacteria mounted in an abandoned storefront window in downtown Toronto are giving a whole new meaning to the term “viral marketing.”
A team of scientists created the one-of-a-kind advertisements to promote director Steven Soderbergh’s film Contagion, in theatres Sept. 9, starring Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The living billboards, sure to leave germaphobes itching for hand sanitizer, were the brainchild of Mark Biernacki and Steph Mackie, the creative director duo of Lowe Roche advertising agency in Toronto.
“We wanted something that would have visual impact,” explained Mackie.
Building on the film’s plot, which follows the spread of a fast-moving and lethal airborne virus that kills within mere days, Biernacki and Mackie teamed up with U.K.-based CURB Media to transform their idea into a microbe-infused reality.
Holy cow! That entire village could fit inside this thing? Glad they were able to get it out of the waters around their village before anything serious happened.
Yahoo News writes:
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Villagers and veteran hunters have captured a one-ton saltwater crocodile which they plan to make the star of a planned ecotourism park in a southern Philippine town, an official said Monday.
Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde said dozens of villagers and experts ensnared the 21-foot (6.4-meter) male crocodile along a creek in Bunawan township in Agusan del Sur province after a three-week hunt. It could be one of the largest crocodiles to be captured alive in recent years, he said, quoting local crocodile experts.
Elorde said the crocodile killed a water buffalo in an attack witnessed by villagers last month and was also suspected of having attacked a fisherman who went missing in July.
He said he sought the help of experts at a crocodile farm in western Palawan province.
“We were nervous but it’s our duty to deal with a threat to the villagers,” Elorde told The Associated Press by telephone. “When I finally stood before it, I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
After initial sightings at a creek, the hunters set four traps, which the crocodile destroyed. They then used sturdier traps using steel cables, one of which finally caught the enormous reptile late Saturday, he said.
I lived in Houston for the majority of my life and never once thought of aliens or UFOs ever visiting the place. But, as soon as I leave, the craziness begins. NOT FAIR!
This object was seen flying/hovering over Houston on August 29th and has not received any attention yet. I think it’s pretty standard for UFO footage, not having great visibility of the object and being pretty shakey and all. This needs more attention drawn to it!
10:00 PM CST, Wednesday, 8/24/2011: 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.
ABC’s Nightline has begun a series called “Beyond Belief” that is examining paranormal claims. Their first segment, which aired 8/16/2011, mostly featured Banachek, a magician who is an outspoken critic of psychics. Since Banachek is a mentalist, a performer who uses stage magicians’ techniques to simulate mind reading and other types phenomena, he is well positioned to discus how such things can be faked. He will appear on Nightline again to demonstrate his “million dollar challenge” where he says he will give $1 million to anyone who can pass his test.
Clearly, Banachek, and people like him, believe passionately that they are fighting an important battle. They feel that people are being cheated and harmed by a belief in psychic phenomena. How does their concern affect other areas of the paranormal? Is the search for ghosts and other curiosities simply a sort of escape? Are we causing more harm than good?
Tonight, we’ll open the lines to your calls to discuss the debunking claims and how it compares to your own experiences. We will try to follow these segments and continue the discussion as the Nightline series continues.
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, August 17th) at 10pm Central for the live broadcast. See you in the shadows…
A while back, someone was talking to someone who was very excited to start their career as an amateur ghost hunter. It had never struck me before, but suddenly I realized what a strange phrase that was… “Ghost Hunter.”
Depending on your origins, hunting can have different connotations. The don’t call me the Authentic Texas Mojo Man for nothing! In Texas hunting has been a tradition since before the Tonkawa and Comanche roamed the hill country around Austin. (Today we call that land “shopping centers” and it’s all built up with steel and concrete like a pizza oven.) The hunters I knew ate what they killed and they stalked them honestly. They didn’t use robotic feeders to train the animals to gather at the kill site at a convenient time. They had respect for their prey and had as much praise for the ones who got away as the ones that ended up at the dinner table.
Slaughter of American Buffalo
Ah, but there are other kinds of hunters. There are poachers who use the most aggressive means possible and rape the environment with no concern for balance. They come in and take the one thing that they value, leaving the rest to rot. This was the case in the early European settlement of America, where herds of buffalo were slaughtered, skinned and left to rot. You can read all about it in “The Extermination of the American Bison,” by William T. Hornaday, freely available through Project Gutenberg. This kind of destruction shows no respect, only a drive to profit.
So, when people talk about “ghost hunting” I first have to ask myself “What kind of hunter are you?” Frankly, a lot of what I see from people seems to be much more about trophy hunting. They gather their experiences and trot them out for display, but what have they learned about the nature of the spirits they pursue? Even the more respected style of hunting is still about dominance. As a predator you have to win or you don’t eat. No matter how much you respect your food, you still need it to lose the game.
There is another approach to wildlife that I think is much more in tune with what people say they want to achieve: bird watching. I know some people who are birders. They have traveled far and wide for the express purpose of crossing a species off of their list. They are immensely knowledgeable about birds, appreciating the nuance of color and shape that separates them. They know the calls and can tell you a number of things about the birds that make them unique in their environment. The are damned near ornithologists in their understanding of these creatures. Their goal? To see that these animals live.
I’m sure that there are some bad birders out there, but the birds get to largely ignore them. It doesn’t kill you to be looked at. On the other hand, the good ones spread a lot of information about habitat and what these animals need to survive. (Yes, responsible hunters do that too, but it’s lost on some people because of the whole “dead animal” thing. Don’t get me wrong… I’m a huge fan of venison!)
I guess what it all comes down to for me is respect. Are you just going for chills and thrills, or do you want to grow closer to these entities that you are seeking? What are you learning as you go on your encounters? What are you doing to improve the situation?
I’ve said before that I don’t think… shall we call it “Ghost Watching?”… is all about gadgets. People are already wired to connect with the spirit world. We just devoted that energy to video games and managing fantasy football teams. You need to learn how to quieten yourself so you can experience what is there. But I’m not going to harp on that right now.
I just want you to consider when you seek a ghost, what you want to take away. You have an amazing opportunity to make some sort of connection. What are you going to do with it? Are you going to get it to tell you the color of your socks? (“Because no one could know that!”) Are you going to try to get this spirit— who for all we know was a human being just like you and me, with love and pain and joy and sorrow and a real life that they led as best as they could— are you going to get them to do tricks for you? Or, are you going to do something to find out more about what hold them here? Are you going to do something to make sure that their memory matters?
Word mean things. If you are a Ghost Hunter, that says something about you. Does it say what you mean it to? Even if you adopt the term Ghost Watcher, which I think is a better description, are you really learning about this phenomena, or just going for the exercise. Think about it. Look at that picture of the buffalo and think about it. What are you going to leave behind?
(I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t come up with the term “Ghost Watching” on my own. My friend, David, was kind enough to help draw these correspondences during a conversation over adult beverages when I expressed my dissatisfaction.)
I know someone who is much more than he will allow himself to be. As I think about it, I know a number of people like that. They are people who look at what is going on the world and they just curl up into a ball and wish that someone would come and fix things for them. You tell them that they get to pick the color of their glasses (I like mine rose-colored myself) and they look at you and say “That’s all good for you, but it doesn’t work that way for me.”
Did you hear that? They look at me and explain that their view of the world is that stuff like that doesn’t happen to them, and they are right! Drives me crazy. Of course, these are the same people that come back later asking me if I can send a little mojo their way to help them with this or that. Usually it’s not something that really needs my help. It’s something that they could do themselves, but they fear it somehow, and I sometimes lack the stamina to hand out tough love.
It saddens me terribly to see people driven by so much fear today. It’s especially sad when I can see the power that people have. I can see it, but I can’t make people use it. I can’t make them talk about themselves and their world in positive terms rather than always giving power to the negative things. I can’t make people trust themselves and their ability to get through something rather than waiting for someone to tell them that it’s safe. Ha! It’s never safe! Plans go awry; mistakes are made; plans fall apart… and every single one of those things leads you to the next thing… but with you walking your path, not shivering in the shadow of others!
OK. I’ve gotten a little excited here. I’ll calm down a bit. What I want to tell you — yes, you — is that you’ve got more mojo in your little finger than those worldly fears have in their entire being. You — yes, I’m still talking about you — can shape the world by your thoughts and your words. Now, don’t be stupid and expect to close your eyes and open them as a hip-hop star with gold records. You always start from where you are. Also, a picture like that is pretty immature. That’s something you’d see on a TV show. Do you really want to be that person, or do you want to have a happy life, with your material needs fulfilled, spending every day using your creativity, surrounded by people who appreciate your gifts? Maybe that looks like the gold-covered guy in the L.A. mansion. Maybe not. Maybe your reality — once realized — is even better.
So, universe rearranging 101 (and I’m not the only one who says this… it’s always worked like this):
Stop talking about what you don’t want and start talking about what you do want. — Stop saying things like “I wish my boss didn’t treat me like a slave.” and start saying things like “I wish my boss respected my time.” Everyone and everything follows your lead. If you keep bringing up viewing everything in negative terms, you will be right. Stop sending that garbage out there and send out the stuff that you want.
There is always another option and the choice is always yours. — This is a tough one. When you are used to being pushed around by circumstances, you imagine that there is no way out of the things you fear. There is always a way out, but you must choose it. There is always a cost associated with that choice. You may suffer some inconvenience or lose friends, possessions, or get out of your comfort zone, but it is up to you to take action or not. So, if your job makes you physically ill, leave it. If you complain about the place that you live, move. If the people around you depress you, get away from them. What will happen when you do something? Who knows? Whatever it is, it will be better than the rot that you are experiencing now. Use that mojo in your little finger to start some motion.
Pay attention to the good stuff. — This should be easy, but it seems it’s not. When good things happen to you, acknowledge them. Why? Because otherwise you will forget them as you go back to your list of evil. Good things can be simple… you woke up this morning and you weren’t dead…. you found a decent parking place… there’s a 2-for one coupon on your favorite food… anything! When something good happens I like to say “Stuff like that happens to me.” I find that as I’ve started saying that, it has become more and more true. Maybe it was always true and I wasn’t paying attention. Hmmmm? Paying attention will prove to you that your mojo is doing something… even if it’s just little ripples that are building into waves.
Express gratitude. — While you are acknowledging the good stuff, say “Thank you.” Whom shall you thank? Everyone! When the traffic breaks just when you need it to, thank God or the universe or however you envision the larger forces that make things go. If that break in traffic came from the person behind you, give a wave and think “Thank you, nice traffic person.” Look at different ways to express your thanks to people in everyday life. Get them a cup of coffee when you go to the break room. Write them a little sticky-note. There must be a hundred different on-line sites to send a free electronic card. I hear that stores still sell Thank You cards. Make gratitude a part of your life because that sends your mojo back into the universe. It takes the good that you’ve gotten and spreads it around, if only as a happy energy.
I can hear some of you grumbling about this “motivational crap.” Where’s the real power? Ha! Those are people that I’ll probably have to dress a candle for later. The truth is, the real power is in making the things that are in our head manifest out here where we can touch them. That’s what it’s all about. It can be grand and elaborate, with lots of candles and incense — and if that helps, there is nothing wrong with doing that work. It can also start to happen right there in your head.
Ahhhhh… there you go. Now you’re looking at that little finger, and you’re staring to wonder… Ha! Go for it!
Maybe, we can finally get some answers to all those questions we’ve been asking for so long. Who lived there? What was the cities purpose? What caused it and it’s people to disappear and was the entire thing a giant spaceship that just one day took off into space?
MSNBC writes:
Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain.
“This is the power of tsunamis,” head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters.
“It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that’s pretty much what we’re talking about,” said Freund, a professor at the University of Hartford who led an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis.
To solve the age-old mystery, the team analyzed satellite imagery of a suspected submerged city just north of Cadiz, Spain. There, buried in the vast marshlands of the Dona Ana Park, they believe that they pinpointed the ancient, multiringed dominion known as Atlantis.
Now, this gives a new meaning to “living art”! Let’s try to get one of these pieces into the Museum Of The Weird, it would be right at home “living” among our other oddities! Sorry, couldn’t help myself.
Wired.com writes:
When artist Oron Catts has to murder a living sculpture he has painstakingly raised by hand, he doesn’t really mind: He can always grow a fresh one. Catts, cofounder of the SymbioticA Centre of Excellence in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia, is known for culturing living cells into a variety of shapes (like Extra Ear, above). But since the cells, which feed on a slurry of nutrients and fetal-cow serum, are not part of a body with an immune system, they’re vulnerable to disease and infection; they must be kept in sterile glass or plastic chambers to maintain proper pH and temperature. When an exhibition ends, Catts sometimes opens the habitat and lets onlookers dispatch the sculpture with the poison of their bacteria-laden touch. Fifteen years ago, Catts was lucky to find a biologist willing to teach him the techniques needed to make his works. These days, SymbioticA offers residencies and workshops to artists who focus on the living world the way others blow glass or make prints. One of Catts’ pieces is slated for resurrection in China this summer. Life goes on and on.
What a crazy story this kid has! Living in the wild with his father for 5 years, only to have to bury him after an injury killed him while still in the woods. With his father gone he followed the emergency instructions given to him by his father to head to the German capital of Berlin for help.
A while back, someone was talking to someone who was very excited to start their career as an amateur ghost hunter. It had never struck me before, but suddenly I realized what a strange phrase that was… “Ghost Hunter.”
