The Weekly Poll
Results
The 'BCE Files' Edition...
Eenie Meenie, Chili Beanie, The Spirits are about to speak!
Have you ever experienced any manner of 'Paranormal Activity'?
(er, No, episodes involving 'shrooms, Blotter, Maui Wowie, etc. do NOT count, haha!)
Peter Y. with a delightful tale sent...
So one of my roommates was a Nichirin Shoshu Buddhist, complete with portable shrine and all (he was the son of a prominent Gettysburg lawyer, and he was a registered Republican…go figure). He claimed that chanting the Shosu way (nam myoho renge kyo) was like turning on a light. When you hit the switch it goes on, regardless if whether you believed it would or not. Chant with an outcome in mind, and it would happen. So I gave it a try. Being 19, I naturally chanted for a beautiful woman to come visit. Less than an hour later, Susie Darlington Landstreet, erstwhile Snowball Queen of her HS in Virginia, dropped by to chat. For no particular reason.
I haven't really tried since, but that was a little…eerie. But nice.
(Do ya know were I can get such a shrine? I can chant with the best of 'em and that's a fact!)
John the Chief, a PETA hero, writes...
I don't know if this is what you meant, but I get premonitions when something bad happens or has happened to animals and plants I take an interest in. I use to raise exotic pheasants such as golden, silver, and Lady Amherst pheasants along with other members of the Galliformes family such as valley quail and wild turkeys. Their pens were on the other side of the barn from my house so I couldn't hear them making noise, but if something like my neighbor's dog or another predator was bothering them I got a strong feeling and sure enough there was a problem. What brought it all together for me was when I worked at a fish hatchery whose manager set number 2 leg traps for blue heron trying to make a meal of the hatchery fish. When I drove to work in the morning and I got within a half mile of the hatchery I would get a strong feeling that a heron was in a trap, there was a bird in a trap when I checked. If I didn't get that feeling, there was no bird in a trap. That continued until the manager stopped trapping them. I can also feel when a large land mark tree is about to be cut down. This summer a large maple, six foot in diameter trunk, was cut down in the city park across the street from where I work. Before the crew even showed up to cut it down I knew this tree was in trouble.
If this is paranormal I don't know. I have read that people who are sensitive to the animals and plants they care for can pick up unconscious signals such as low frequency sound waves or pheromones when the animals or plants they care for are in trouble. That might explain why I would know when my birds were in trouble through the barn and the walls of my house and it took getting within a half mile of work to know if a heron was in trouble or not. If only I had an active power, I would have zapped my former boss with an energy bolt for being so cruel to those poor blue herons.
(Yeah! Herons gots ta eat, too, ya know?)
Charlie Y. answered...
Zip. Zilch. Nada.
No, that is. I too exclude the drug-induced variety, which don't count anyway based on the definition given below.
Those who are into this stuff should certainly be aware of James Randi's $1,000,000 paranormal challenge, discussed at randi.org, where one finds:
Webster's Online Dictionary defines "paranormal" as "not scientifically explainable; supernatural."
Randi has had many challengers for the prize, and no one yet has passed the first round. Anyone here who answers "yes" thus could win some big bucks if they can back up their claim.
Randi lectures on these things extensively of course, and this is strongly recommended:
For all that, I do vividly remember an experience that for a long time made me wonder if I had ESP. When I was in my single digit years, my mother came into my bedroom in a disturbed state, and before she said a word, I thought, she's going to say grandma had died. I had been previously unaware that this was at all imminent, but indeed that was what had happened. Grandma had lived only a few miles away then, and we visited her frequently. I think now that even at that young age, and on such short notice, it must have occurred to me quickly that there was I high probability that this was the reason my mother would barge in like that. I have since had a handful of similar experiences the details of which I don't recall so well, but I suspect the explanations must be similar, and probably almost everyone has had experiences of this sort.
(I think yer right. I know I have)
DanD pipes in (anything in the pipe, Ol' buddy, haha?)
Well, seeing as that the phantasia Genesis of human imagination was severely kickstarted when a surviving group of humans (numbering not more than a few thousand after the Sumatran super-volcano) started eating anything digestable and they ingested numberous substances -- including "shrooms," poppy-bulbs, cannabis leaves and stalks, grass, carrion, and anything else they could survive on, when that grand trip started, so did humanity's imagination-supercharged, split personality.
Tell me, what is "imagining" that special invisible friend (as children do) nothing but the innovative compostion of a ghost (of sorts)? To a child, those kind of ghosts are completely "real."
Paranormal Activity are the consequences of our own genetic memories of times past, as well as times invented (that perhaps even, we would like to occur) within our own brain-cases. Personally, I have never talked with a ghost, or for that matter, with G_d (or Jebus). I've never seen an angel. Beyond the average American politician, I've never encountered a demon. Furthermore, I don't think that anyone else has either.
Besides, being that all seeming descriptions of paranormal activity sound much to me like a good (or bad) acid trip (something that I've done both ways), Until there is physical evidence of the circumstance beyond Hollywood, well, we can always go back to the 'shrooms.
(Ah, 'shrooms! Those were the days my friend...Thanks, Dan!)
SallyP(al) with two anecdotes wrote...
This week you question your reader's Paranormal experiences - "did we have any" to be more exact.
Of course I am sure you EXPECT me to say, "Oh yes, B2BB, I have a space ship parked in my backyard," this sans LSD and its derivatives of course... (I was hopin', I'll admit)
Okay, I do have a story, but I assure you there are no spaceships involved here... (more's the pity)
Many years ago I had a girlfriend who had fallen madly in love with one of her college professors. Professor "Hunk" was very involved with a religious movement and a group which held "readings" monthly (as in, "contacting the dead"). Natch, she begged me to attend a session with her so that she could accidentally, "Run into" the guy. (I thought only guys did such weird things)
Now, at the same time, I was taking a comedy workshop (while she took English Literature). I had enough of the serious schooling by then, and decided to go for being a gag writer - much to my mother's detriment... I was relatively young and carefree back then. Of course, I seized the moment to attend the session because I saw this as a comedy writer's dream. Disrespectful? You bet! (I suffer from a logical mind...) So, with our duel quests in mind, we started out one nice night.
Okay, this is how it worked. When you get to the door you drop your, "suggested donation" of $5 into a bucket, and sat where ever you wished. About 200 people were seated in a HOTEL suite- a bummer already, because I was expecting a lot of darkness with candles and eerie music... A quick scan of the room and we saw no one we knew including Professor Hunk. Nevertheless, we decided to stay.
We soon caught on, as various "Readers" would stand in front of the audience and address the people gathered there. After a while, he/she would fix their gaze on someone and say something like: "The lady in the red dress, I see an older woman standing in back of you." "Does that mean anything to you?"
Give me a break! What person hasn't lost a mother, g/mother, aunt, et al.?
After a moment or two, the selected subject would say something like, "My grandmother just passed..."
To this the reader would respond, "She wants you to know something about 'lunch?'" Puzzled, the subject would say, "Well my grandma always made me a special lunch when I visited her as a child..."
Reader: "Yes, she (Gramma) is nodding - that's it." Then, between them, they would conjure up some "memory" which was apparently meaningful to that person...
Oh it was rich! I wondered if I dared take some notes, and was itching to get back to my typewriter when a new reader called out to me: "The woman in the purple blouse." (I can even remember what I was wearing that day.)
I awaited the usual spiel, but she simply told me that I would soon marry and have a strong connection with Europe. Then, almost as an after thought she closed her eyes and said: "I see sorrow, it will concern your first born child and a curse on the family..." The reader did not seem to want a reply from me, and quickly moved on to the next subject...This meant NOTHING to me at that time...
I blew it off, but somehow lost my interest in writing on the subject of "Readings..." It had quickly lost its humorous aspects for me. In retrospect, I was not upset, and probably blew the reading off with some humor.
Six months later I married a man who had only been in the country for less than a year, he was from Croatia, and a town about 20 miles from the border to Italy. It was a whirlwind courtship... (Strong connection to Europe) He worked for Olivette Office Machines, and we lived in Italy for almost two years thereafter (the wedding).
Our first son never came home from the hospital. He died there.
(Sorrow concerning my first child.)
My Ex-husband had two brothers. Four months after my son died, his brother and wife lost their 4-day old premature son - they lived in a remote part of the country where there were no respirators available for him.
When attending the funeral of that infant, we learned that his older brother had also lost his first baby - a son.
My Ex's father was named "Matte" a form of "Matthew," and we had all named our sons some form of that name (unbeknownst to each other).
My Ex had a brother (baby of the family) who died as an infant, during WWII, from some simple illness from which most other children would recover easily... His name was "Matte."
Years later, it was told to me that the GRANDPARENTS of my Ex had been involved in a land dispute. It went on for years, in which time the wife of the person whose land was in dispute kept invoking a, "curse" on the family - which went something like this: "I put a curse on the firstborn children of your sons" and other such threats.
The thing is, I knew nothing about this until by chance an old neighbor in a dilapidated village down near Dubrovnik told us - she thought the Ex knew... If he did, he sure never shared it with me!
His mother confirmed the event, but didn't want to discuss it in any details...
(Many Eastern Europeans are big on curses, I've read. That and the 'evil eye'...Ya never know, I say!)
Paranormal? I don't know, but it has flavored my whole life since then... (as it should)
I swear on my mother's grave that this is true as far as I can recall.
PS: My gf never did connect with her Professor, especially after she found out he was a happy, though closeted, gay American - something not spoken about freely back then...
(Thanks, Pally!)
DC Madman simply said...
No
(As I do.... I've been spooked by creepy places, though... Some of the Lighthouses I've tended on remote uninhabited islands would make great scary movie locales. Particularly on foggy nights. Yikes!)
So, that's it! Thanks to all... As always, yer the best!
BadToTheBoneBob
New Question
'The Devil is in the Details' Edition...
We all have had to make difficult decisions, from time to time, that involve compromises that can be distasteful. Such as...
A.) Would you take your dream job that has great pay and benefits, but you would have to relocate to an area that you'd loathe (such as Oklahoma)?
or...
B.) Would you live in an area that you've always wanted to but at a minimum wage, hand to mouth, subsistence level existence with no chance of improvement?
It's either A or B... No in between... Choose! Choose now! Ha Ha!
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Diana Schaub: Erotic Adventures of the Mind (thenewatlantis.com)
IN THE FINAL LINES of 'Love and Friendship,' Allan Bloom tells the story of a lecture at which students unveiled a banner declaring "Great Sex is better than Great Books." Bloom's response: "Sure, but you can't have one without the other." To be humanly satisfying, the intercourse of bodies depends on the activity of the mind or soul or imagination.
BOB HERBERT: Constraining America's Brightest (nytimes.com)
Instead of getting a chance to set the world on fire, college graduates are facing a gloomy economy, unpaid internships and unemployment.
Paul Krugman: Too Little of a Good Thing (nytimes.com)
The Obama stimulus plan is helping, but it not nearly enough. Unless something changes, high unemployment will continue for years to come.
MAUREEN DOWD: Port Mortuary's Pull (nytimes.com)
President Obama promised to renovate American society, but is trapped in the money pits of a recession and two wars.
Susan Estrich: Hold the Sneakers (creators.com)
To be honest, I don't care whether Valerie Jarrett plays basketball or not. And I certainly would hate to see Ambassador Susan Rice, known to be a good player, missing meetings at the United Nations so she can make it to the White House court.
Froma Harrop: What Does the FHA Think It Is Doing? (creators.com)
Exactly who made Bernadine Shimon think that she could buy a new house shortly after declaring bankruptcy and losing another home to foreclosure? The American taxpayer, that's who.
ALEXIS HAUK: Academia under attack . . . by zombies (thephoenix.com)
Humans vs. Zombies, a complicated role-playing tag game that can go on for weeks at a time, is spreading as fast as the zombie apocalypse itself. What started as a handful of college students looking for kicks in Maryland has now expanded into more than 200 gaming groups across the United States, England, Australia, Denmark, and Korea.
GENDY ALIMURUNG: "DEAD SEXY: 'GIRLS AND CORPSES,' A MAGAZINE" (laweekly.com)
Robert Rhine used to rent fake corpses to decorate his booth at comic-book conventions, where he would sign his graphic novels 'Chicken Soup for Satan' and 'Satan Gone Wild.' All day long, cute girls would come up and ask to have their picture taken with the fake corpse.
John Bungey: Jamie Cullum on fame, fortune and all that jazz (timesonline.co.uk)
Sales in the millions, a model fiancee, a new record on the way - Jamie Cullum is a very different jazzman.
Giles Hattersley: Singer Fergie on giving up gangs and drugs (timesonline.co.uk)
Is Stacy Ann Ferguson the most famous woman on earth we know next to nothing about? This year, with her group the Black Eyed Peas (if in doubt, turn on the radio), she has spent a record-breaking consecutive 26 weeks at the top of the US singles chart.
Roger Ebert: Dafoe admires Lars, but "his impulses are often perverse"
Has there been a more harrowing and courageous performance this year? Willem Dafoe plays a wholly evil man occupying a wholly evil world in Lars on Trier's "Antichrist," a new film that challenges its viewers so boldly that some have fled from the theater. Von Trier's films often stir up heated discussion, but never has he made a film quite this formidable.
Roger Ebert: "In Memory: Lou Jacobi (1913-2009)"
"These two newlyweds are driving down to Florida on their honeymoon," Lou Jacobi was telling me. "The guy puts his hand on his wife's leg. 'We're married now,' she tells him. Why don't you go a little farther?' So, he goes to Fort Lauderdale."
replied:
replied:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Reader Suggestion
house health care bill
text of the house health care bill - all 1990 pages
Thanks, some guy!
Reader Comment
Picture
Hi Marty,
Just want to thank you for gracing your excellent page with the lovely
(Jean Michel) Jarre - and Anne too, of course.
He gets far less attention in the U. S. than he deserves.
love ya,
Jencin
Thanks, Jencin!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
The kid brought home a cold last week, and now it's my turn. Ack.
Sponsors US Speedskating
Stephen Colbert
On Monday's "The Colbert Report," Stephen Colbert announced his show has become the primary sponsor of the U.S. Speedskating team. The team's largest annual cash sponsor, DSB Bank NV, left the team in the lurch after it declared bankruptcy in October.
The name "Colbert Nation" - the catchall for the legion of ardent fans of the satirical Comedy Central program - will be emblazoned on the team's uniforms.
The show isn't paying the team any money directly. Instead, Colbert is calling on his fans to donate to the team via www.colbertnation.com and www.usspeedskating.org . In the past, Colbert has had a great deal of success raising money this way. He has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity that assists injured service members and their families.
The Dutch bank DSB was to pay $300,000 for the sponsorship but failed to make any payments. That put U.S. Speedskating in a difficult position with little time to court new sponsors before the games begin in February.
Stephen Colbert
New Film To Sponsor Special
'Family Guy'
Fox network says an upcoming movie has stepped in for Microsoft to sponsor next Sunday's "Family Guy" special.
The upcoming Warner Bros. feature "Sherlock Holmes" will be the sole sponsor of "Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show." A sneak preview from the December release, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, will air during the broadcast.
Last week, Microsoft abruptly backed out as sponsor of the half-hour comedy-variety program, which stars "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein, who, like MacFarlane, provides voices for the animated series.
The software giant explained that the often racy "Family Guy" style might clash with the Windows brand the company planned to promote on the show.
'Family Guy'
Scandal Doesn't Hurt Ratings
David Letterman
Several weeks after David Letterman was shaken by a sex-and-extortion scandal, CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" has shown little sign of weakening audience support.
Far from hurting the host's popularity, the headlines seemingly have had little impact on his late-night show and possibly even helped the series grow its viewership compared with last year.
Letterman enjoyed an unusually strong premiere week, bolstered by appearances by Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, before he revealed during the October 1 episode that he had sexual relationships with female staffers and was a victim of an alleged blackmail plot to keep those affairs secret.
Since then, "Late Show's" weekly average rating among adults aged 18-49, a demographic coveted by advertisers, has been a consistent 1.0 or 1.1 until it went into repeats last week. It has dropped slightly among total viewers, from an average of 4.4 million for a couple of weeks after his premiere to 4.1 million for the week before the repeats.
David Letterman
Unveils Statue In Kosovo
Bill Clinton
Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name.
Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians.
Many waved American, Albanian and Kosovo flags and chanted "USA!" as the former president climbed on top of a podium with his poster in the background reading "Kosovo honors a hero."
To thunderous applause Clinton waved to the crowd as the red cover was pulled off from the statue.
The statue portrays Clinton with his left arm raised and holding a portfolio bearing his name and the date when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, on March. 24, 1999.
Bill Clinton
Scores Zero Rating In German Debut
"30 Rock"
"30 Rock" scored a 0.0 rating in its debut on German television Sunday night, meaning fewer than 5,000 viewers tuned in for the Emmy-winning comedy.
Making 82 million Germans laugh is never easy, but the debut was below even the lowest forecasts of broadcaster ZDFNeo. The digital niche channel, which is run by public broadcaster ZDF, had made "30 Rock" the flagship entry in a relaunch promising more cutting-edge programing for a younger demographic. But no one, young or old, tuned in Sunday.
The show is hardly a ratings hit in the United States. The series premiere on NBC drew a decent 8.1 million viewers in October 2006. Last week's episode averaged about 6.0 million viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.
"30 Rock"
TNT Picks Up
'Southland'
Cable network TNT says it has rescued the shot-down NBC cop drama "Southland" and will bring it back in the new year.
Beginning Jan. 12, TNT will broadcast all six episodes that were shot by NBC for its aborted second season, as well as the seven episodes from the first season.
Produced by John Wells of "ER" fame, "Southland" won good reviews but not-so-good ratings when it premiered last spring on NBC. It was renewed for this fall, but NBC canceled it before its October return.
'Southland'
Baby News
Lucia Gibson
Mel 'Sugar Tits' Gibson has become a father for the eighth time after his Russian girlfriend gave birth to a daughter, the actor's spokesman said on Monday.
"This will confirm that Oksana Grigorieva and Mel 'Sugar Tits' Gibson welcomed the arrival of a baby girl named Lucia on Friday, October 30, 2009 at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles," the spokesman said in a statement.
Lucia Gibson
Removes Anti-Choice 'Memorabilia'
Ebay
Online auction house eBay has removed items that were posted for sale by anti-abortion activists trying to raise money for defense of a man accused of killing a Kansas abortion provider, the company said Monday.
Supporters of murderer Scott Roeder - one in Kansas City, Mo. and the other in Des Moines, Iowa - posted various items late Sunday in separate eBay auctions including an Army of God manual, an underground publication for anti-abortion militants that describes ways to shut down clinics.
Roeder is charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the May 31 shooting of Dr. George Tiller at his Wichita church. Anti-abortion activists are trying to raise money for Roeder, who has been appointed public defenders but was considering hiring private lawyers. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
At least two items from Roeder's supporters remained on eBay as of Monday afternoon including a worn Bible once owned by Shelley Shannon, an Oregon woman who shot and wounded Tiller in 1993 and was later convicted in a series of abortion clinic arsons and bombings. The other is a signed book of religious teachings written by Ohio anti-abortion activist Michael Bray.
Ebay
What Global Warming?
Mount Kilimanjaro
The snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone. The African mountain's white peak - made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway - is rapidly melting, researchers report.
Some 85 percent of the ice that made up the mountaintop glaciers in 1912 was gone by 2007, researchers led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
And more than a quarter of the ice present in 2000 was gone by 2007.
The Kilimanjaro glaciers are both shrinking, as the ice at their edges melts, and thinning, the researchers found.
Mount Kilimanjaro
Boys Club Bullys
Beefeaters
At issue is the alleged bullying of a contemporary trailblazer: Moira Cameron, the first woman to serve as yeoman warder at the Tower of London, which dates back to the 11th century.
Hers was supposed to be a happy story about how one of the traditional bastions of male supremacy became a place where women, too, could serve queen and country. But it now appears Cameron, 44, was isolated and harassed by resentful male colleagues, despite her long experience in the military.
Embarrassed Tower officials said Monday that two male warders have been suspended and a third is under investigation for suspected harassment of Cameron, who joined the prestigious warders two years ago, integrating what had been an all-male preserve for centuries.
Simmering tensions were kept behind the fortress walls until Monday, when the Sun newspaper reported that Cameron's uniform had been defaced and that "nasty" notes had been left in her locker.
Beefeaters
Former Agent Jailed For Theft
Michael Arnold
A man has been jailed of 18 months for embezzling more than 500,000 pounds ($800,000) from the official composer to Queen Elizabeth II.
Michael Arnold was the agent and manager of musician Peter Maxwell Davies for more than 30 years.
Prosecutors say he stole from Maxwell Davies for 16 years. The fraud was discovered when the composer was unable to withdraw 40 pounds from a bank machine because of insufficient funds.
Arnold pleaded guilty at Kingston Crown Court to false accounting involving 522,333 pounds ($853,000). Judge Nicholas Jones said Monday that he had taken the 76-year-old defendant's age and ill-health into account, but that the serious crime deserved a jail sentence.
Michael Arnold
Says Corporate Masters Making Money
Leno
Jay Leno has shrugged off low ratings for his new prime-time nightly TV talk show, saying NBC is making money with his switch from late night to earlier and he enjoys being an underdog in the race to get viewers.
In an interview with Broadcasting and Cable magazine released on Monday, the beleaguered host of "The Jay Leno Show" said he was finding his new 10 p.m. time slot "difficult but interesting" and said that NBC was standing behind him.
"The Jay Leno Show" -- a move by struggling NBC to cut costs by airing Leno's less-costly comedy hour at a time usually reserved for expensive scripted dramas -- is getting about 5 million viewers an episode, or less than half the audience for dramas on rivals CBS and ABC at the same time.
"I enjoy being the underdog," Leno said. "I'm told that if we can keep a 1.5 (rating), they (NBC) make $300 million a year; this is what they say. So we're a little above the 1.5, we're doing OK." Rating points help measure viewership.
Asked if he regretted leaving the 11:30 p.m. time he held for 17 years, Leno said: "Yeah sure. I would have preferred that. I think it's too soon to say whether I regret anything or not...Do I enjoy the battle? Yes, I get a certain amount of satisfaction from pounding my head against the wall."
Leno
Battle Brewing in Egypt
Niqab
Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.
Egypt's state-run religious establishment wants teachers like Mohamed to remove their veils in front of female students, sparking a backlash by Islamists who say women should be able to choose to cover their faces in line with their Islamic faith.
Egypt, the birthplace of al Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri, fought a low-level Islamist insurgency in the 1990s, has faced sporadic militant attacks targeting tourists since then, and is keen to quell Islamist opposition ahead of parliamentary elections next year and a 2011 presidential vote.
The spread of the niqab, associated with the strictest interpretations of Islam, is a potent reminder to the government of the political threat posed by any Islamist resurgence emanating from the Gulf, where many young Egyptians go to work.
Niqab
Hunt Is On
Lost Words
Wassucks, ommucks and drangways -- where are they now? A dictionary publisher is trying to find out in a quest to trace English dialect words which have faded from use.
Collins is trying to work out when such regional words died out in England -- and whether anyone is still saying them.
Wassuck, meaning a waste of space, and ommuck, meaning a sandwich, are both from the Black Country, the urban area west of Birmingham in central England. A drangway means a narrow lane in the dialect of Devon, in southwest England.
Any words found to be still in existence will be added to the Collins Corpus, their word database used to compile the Collins dictionary.
Lost Words
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