Yule have a happy solstice!

Greetings to the few who may read this blog.


This year has been exciting, busy - and unexpected in many ways. Of these things, let me tell you why the magazine was suspended, and why i've decided to refocus on some new topics.


Several years ago, in my mid twenties - I had a meditation that gave me some insight on a certain perspective of reality. This is talked about by many other Bloggers out there that do many sync blogs.

Many blogs I read, and enjoy have covered various aspects to things I enjoy in life, as well as to some areas of information that I view life at.

Many Thanks to Christopher Knowles over at The Secret Sun, The Celtic Rebel, Renegade Futurist , Jason Miller, I guess I could go on and on...

Anyway. I'm going to shift a bit from some content i was debating on - and i'm going in the direction of my intuition. My aim is to make a magazine, with a bit of a different spin to it. Many others have content that is sort of similar, what i want to focus on is making an open source magazine which can give many new ideas, artists, bloggers, etc a venue to share their knowledge, and allow people to express art in all mediums: Written, Visual, Spoken, Sung, etc etc.

Welcome to the new age, the new arena - The HyperCube is the doorway to the new paradigm.

This year has been interesting. I've turned 30, got on my own two feet - and decided to relaunch the magazine with more DIY project ideas - art, and just ideas.

Also in the works, is a few Rave type parties, and music festivals that i'm hoping to have put together (with some serious help and effort from those around me - we will have a success).

This is exciting, and i'm hoping to share it with you all.


There is much Magick in the world, and after some final steps of "know thyself" - do i now feel ready to not stand in my way.

I'm really excited, and i can't wait to get in contact with several of you (some i've already listed) in hopes that we can collaberate and take advantage of where we are going.

Thanks,

Alkemical....

Borromean Rings for Christmas....

http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/091216-reappearing-particle-trio.html

Strange Physical Theory Proved After Nearly 40 Years




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This is pretty interesting for me. I believe that symbols are actually information. It is at a different level of communication than what we perceive as the language we use to communicate with.

Symbols contain information, ala like the logo for my magazine... These rings, the hindu/indian mandalas, alchemical pictures, etc.

It's also why i think the hypercube is the "logos" for the 2012 event.

Also nice of this to appear right near Christmas... ;)

Human Nature: Cannable Animals

Why your boss is incompetent: "The Peter principle says people get promoted until they reach the level of their own incompetence – now mathematics proves it

&

Five Behaviours of Manipulative People



My Friend over at Free Speech referenced the latter article above in a post about manipulative behaviour. The first article is about the "Peter Principle". I think both of these articles go hand in hand, when looking at human behaviour. People are people.

I had a conversation with a co-worker recently in which she made a comment that, "there had to be one person out there who isn't a hypocrite".

"Find me one who doesn't lie, and that will be the same person" I replied.

Indeed.

Pet squirrel thinks he's a cat

Pet squirrel thinks he's a cat: "

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Photo

Photo: "

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Britain: Cash Prizes for Catching CCTV Criminals

Britain: Cash Prizes for Catching CCTV Criminals: "Via: BBC:
There are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain watching our every move.
In London, there are more CCTV cameras than any other city in the world with one camera for every eight Londoners.
But as victims of crime have found to their cost, catching criminals on camera is dependent on the equipment being both monitored and [...]"

If Marijuana Production Were Legal: Projected Tax Revenues, by State

If Marijuana Production Were Legal: Projected Tax Revenues, by State: "

A great chart from SloshSpot:

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2,000fps Slo-Mo Video of Water Drops

2,000fps Slo-Mo Video of Water Drops: "

So it turns out that when a drop of water falls into a pool of water, some very weird things happen. Rather than merging directly with the pool of water beneath, the drop very briefly becomes a sphere resting atop the pool, with an air layer between. When the sphere touches the water below (because of gravity, it forces the air layer away), most of the drop joins the water below and a second sphere is created, which again “floats” briefly on the pool. The cycle continues until eventually the water drop is actually fully subsumed by the water puddle below. Who knew? Check it out in this video clip, apparently from the Discovery show Time Warp, which is all about ultra-slow-mo (this video is shot at 2,000 frames per second, which is about 67 times more than normal 30fps video).

(Via Kottke.org.)

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Wall Street bonuses to rise 40%

Wall Street bonuses to rise 40%: "

There has been plenty of evidence that firms like Goldman Sachs (GS) have had such huge profits that their bonus payouts may be at all-time highs.

The federal government has systematically begun to control bank pay packages. The Treasury “pay czar” is effectively controlling compensation at companies which still owe TARP money. The Fed is pressuring other large financial firms to tie pay to risk.

None of those efforts seems to be working well, because bankers are ignoring the signals from Washington.

A new compensation survey described in The Wall Street Journal predicts that Wall Street incentive pay will rise 40% this year. For those in the fixed-income part of the industry, the increase could be closer to 60%.

MSN Money: Wall Street bonuses to rise 40%

(via Braincrowbar)

Related posts:

1. The Big Takeover: How Wall Street Insiders are Using the Bailout to Stage a Revolution
2. Dean Baker: Wall Street Follows the Path of the Steel Industry in Pittsburgh
3. Wall Street Gambles on Old People Dying

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Recipes to Make Your Own Soap, Lotion and More

Recipes to Make Your Own Soap, Lotion and More: "

You can easily make safe, effective toiletries - including lotion and deodorant - at home, using simple, healthy ingredients.

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Lucifer’s Friend: The Best Seventies Metal You’ve Never Heard

Lucifer’s Friend: The Best Seventies Metal You’ve Never Heard: "Lucifer’s Friend was a seventies prog-metal band that… OK, you stopped reading at “prog-metal.” I know, I know. But hear me out… these guys were one of the best of the whole lot, and are criminally underrated. I heard their album Banquet a couple years ago, and it’s irresistible, like Sammy Davis Jr. fronted Traffic or something.

Allmusic gives the backstory:

A German outfit fronted by a British singer, Lucifer’s Friend first gained minor notoriety, and later major cult status, as both early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock. Formed in 1970 Hamburg, by former German Bonds members Peter Hesslein (guitar), Peter Hecht (keyboards), Dieter Horns (bass), and Joachim Rietenbach (drums), the group was initially dubbed Asterix and recorded an entire album’s worth of material before connecting with singer John Lawton, whose then band, Stonewall, was playing a residency at the city’s famed Top Ten Club. Lawton’s vocals would grace Asterix’s only, eponymous album later the same year, and all involved were excited enough by the results that they immediately began collaborating on more material with which to relaunch the band under the provocative new moniker of Lucifer’s Friend…

Click the sample track below—the first from the album—for an epically uncool yet absolutely compelling fusion voyage to the Nether Side.

(Lucifer’s Friend: Banquet)"

The Fast Food-Depression Connection

The Fast Food-Depression Connection: " 
Before you order that 1400-calorie Hardee’s Monster Burger, consider this: a research team at London-based University College has found (surprise?) a link between depression and a diet rich in processed foods.  They also (bigger surprise?) found a link between a lack of depression and a diet rich in fish, fruits and vegetables. 

The team split the study participants into two groups.  After accounting for such factors as age, gender, and education, it was determined that the whole food-eating group would have a 26% lower risk for future depression.  The group eating a diet rich in sweets, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products had a risk of depression 58% higher than their whole food-eating counterparts.

Study author Dr. Archana Singh-Manoux added, “It is not yet clear why some foods may protect against or increase the risk of depression, but scientists think there may be a link with inflammation as with conditions such as heart disease.”

BBC News: Depression Link To Processed Food"

Revel and Ritual in the Post-Prosperity Age (UPDATE)

Revel and Ritual in the Post-Prosperity Age (UPDATE): "

In America, one of the lingering legacies of our Puritan roots is a simultaneous mistrust and economic exploitation of holidays and festivals. It really wasn't until the late 19th Century that holidays like Christmas and Halloween became popular- or even tolerated in some quarters. But there's still a strange sense of impropriety about it all, as if we should feel guilty about the act of celebration.

In addition, our holidays have become a minefield of commercial exploitation, which -surprise, surprise - only feeds into our alienation. Christmas has all but been destroyed by commercialism and sectarianism. It needs a major makeover and will probably get one if the economy continues to tank. Given the current political climate, it would probably need to be some kind of generic Winter Solstice festival, but that's where most of the familiar Christmas trappings- the cool ones, at least- originally come from anyhow.

At their roots all of our holidays are keyed into the rhythms of nature, which we have almost completely divorced ourselves from in our denatured existence. But there are signs of change. A lot of this is bleedover from the gay community, a lot of is coming from the neopagan and goth communities. You also have the equivalent of holidays-slash-pilgrimages with the convention circuit in different fan communities as well.

When you think about how we go through the workaday week, you realize it's these kind of holidays that give structure to our day to day life. It may be counterintuitive, but I don't see why Christmas and Easter (read: Ishtar) can't be celebrated by everybody, since they are in fact impossibly ancient holidays that were Christianized solely for political reasons.

I'm very encouraged by the Halloween revival and all of the Burning Man offshoots out there. The Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, St. Paddy's, Easter, Cinco De Mayo, Summer Solstice, Fourth of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve- hell, bring it on. Get together and dress up and celebrate and drink and screw and eat and laugh and puke. It may end up being the closest thing to a social glue we have.

Meanwhile, I'll just sit in my space capsule here and try to parse the meaning of it all. And one meaning I've parsed is that not only are these festivals increasingly independent of belief systems, they may actually be better off without them. The meaning is the act of the celebration itself. But again, at their core these festivals are based in those rhythms of nature that religious narratives were later imposed on.

The corporatization of our culture breeds alienation and isolation, and the result of that is paranoia. The cure for that debilitating disease is community, gathering, interaction, networking. And this new model of holiday gives these processes a compelling structure. The gay community has traditionally used festival and celebration as a way to deal with alienation and isolation, as have marginalized immigrant communities.

Now that we are all made to feel alien and expendable, it's only natural for this process to spread into the mainstream.

In their purest form, holidays give us an opportunity to reconnect with symbol and with ritual, which can't help but feed the Dreaming Mind. But only if these rituals are taken back from the pimps and ripoff artists who've been controlling them for the past hundred years.

UPDATE: This is interesting. Cheers to Astronut.

UPDATE: Please tell me this is a joke:

Earlier this week the Catholic Church in Spain also condemned the growing popularity of Halloween, saying it threatened to overshadow the Christian festival of All Saints' Day.

The Bishop of Siguenza-Guadalajara, Jose Sanchez, said there was a risk that Halloween could 'replace Christian customs like devotion to saints and praying for the dead.'

Uh, excuse me, your holiness but don't you have it the wrong way round?

"

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement

This is from Boingboing:

Secret copyright treaty leaks. It's bad. Very bad.

The internet chapter of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a secret copyright treaty whose text Obama's administration refused to disclose due to "national security" concerns, has leaked. It's bad. It says:

* * That ISPs have to proactively police copyright on user-contributed material. This means that it will be impossible to run a service like Flickr or YouTube or Blogger, since hiring enough lawyers to ensure that the mountain of material uploaded every second isn't infringing will exceed any hope of profitability.

* * That ISPs have to cut off the Internet access of accused copyright infringers or face liability. This means that your entire family could be denied to the internet -- and hence to civic participation, health information, education, communications, and their means of earning a living -- if one member is accused of copyright infringement, without access to a trial or counsel.

* * That the whole world must adopt US-style "notice-and-takedown" rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused -- again, without evidence or trial -- of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.

* * Mandatory prohibitions on breaking DRM, even if doing so for a lawful purpose (e.g., to make a work available to disabled people; for archival preservation; because you own the copyrighted work that is locked up with DRM)

Why Do Some People See Ghosts And Others Don’t?

Why Do Some People See Ghosts And Others Don’t?: "

Science Blog writes:

People seeing ghosts? There may be a genuine mind-body foundation for such anomalous perceptions, according to two researchers, Michael Jawer and Marc Micozzi, MD, PhD. Their book, The Spiritual Anatomy of Emotion, suggests that sensing a presence, seeing an apparition, or feeling energy around a person or place may be related to the workings of the limbic system — the “emotional brain” — as well as a personality type that rapidly registers feelings.

As surveys consistently show that anywhere from one-third to two-thirds of the public say they’ve had an extra-sensory experience — with nearly 25% of respondents stating they’ve actually seen or felt a ghost — anomalous perceptions are nothing to shrug off. “People have had these experiences down the ages and across all cultures,” comments Micozzi, a physician and anthropologist. “They’re quite universal. What we’ve begun to document is that there’s a certain type of person most likely to experience them.”

That person is environmentally sensitive, according to Jawer, an expert on the condition known as Sick Building Syndrome. “Our data show that anomalous perceptions parallel other forms of environmental sensitivity, such as having pronounced or longstanding allergies, migraine headache, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, irritable bowel, even synesthesia (overlapping senses) and heightened sensitivity to light, sound, touch, and smell. Women make up three-quarters of this sensitive population but there are other markers as well: being ambidextrous, for instance, or recalling a traumatic childhood. The more we look at the people who say they’re psychic, or who have recurring anomalous experience, the more it seems there’s a mix of nature and nurture that predisposes them.”

The researchers posit that brain and body are effectively unified — a perspective taken by the pioneering field of psychoneuroimmunology — and that highly sensitive people react more strongly than others to what they’re feeling as well as to incoming environmental stimuli. This raises the possibility, Jawer and Micozzi assert, that subliminal feelings and other environmental nuances could be picked up by individuals who are sufficiently sensitive. A reputedly “haunted” place, therefore, could exhibit stimuli that register more with certain people and less with others.

More on Science Blog

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“Bones” in the Money Pit

“Bones” in the Money Pit: "

By Robert Singer

“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”—JFK.

Our consumer society didn’t just happen, it was planned. Not in 1910, or 1954, but in the year 1832, the year William Huntington Russell and fellow classmate Alphonso Taft at Yale University founded the Skull and Bones society, a branch of the Bavarian Illuminati.

According to most of the available biographical data on its early members, the money required to sustain the secret order’s campus affairs and its broader role in placing its members into key positions of influence upon their graduation from Yale was derived from the opium trade in the Far East.

Members, known as “Bonesmen,” include Rockefeller, Kuhn, Loeb and Morgan all connected to the House of Rothschild’s global financial empire. They are founders of the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, France, and Germany or, for that matter, any central bank anywhere in the world. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, one of the most important domestic acts in the nation’s history, took the power to create money from the people and gave it to the Bonesmen, in theory, for profit.

Russ Baker’s new book, “Family of Secrets: the Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put It in the White House, And What Their Influence Means for America,” is about George H. W. Bush’s secret intelligence work with the CIA many years before he became the Agency’s director. Bush Sr. had played a powerful but hidden role in determining the direction of the U.S. government.

It’s common knowledge that the Bushes sit at the intersection of America’s business and intelligence communities, but it not so common knowledge that the Bush Family, Bush Sr., Jr. and grandfather Prescott Bush, were all Bonesmen. Prescott Bush’s initiation in 1918 is said to have included robbing the grave of the Native American warrior, Geronimo. Prescott Bush helped Henry Ford, Averell Harriman and others finance Adolph Hitler.

Russ Baker suggests the strong possibility that Bush Sr. was connected to the assassination of President Kennedy because “Lyndon Johnson would be more obedient to Texas oil men.”

A more plausible connection is Abraham Lincoln was killed for the Legal Tender Act of 1862 and Kennedy for Executive Order 11110.  Lincoln’s “greenbacks” would have prevented the Federal Reserve from creating $500 trillion of money out of thin air, money that Warren Buffett and Marketwatch say financed our global consumer society.

And, JFK’s “United States notes” backed by silver, which were withdrawn the day he was shot, would have put the Federal Reserve out of business and returned to the Treasury Department the Constitutional power to create and issue a debt-free currency.

Anyone who spoke against the “Creature from Jekyll Island” (Federal Reserve banking cartel exposed by G. Edward Griffin) was silenced. Presidents Garfield and McKinley, outspoken champions of “sound” money and a central bank, were silenced permanently.

In 1908, President William Howard Taft, a second-generation Bonesmen, sent Congress a Constitutional amendment authorizing the Federal Income Tax, the foundation for the Federal Reserve System that was signed into law furtively by Taft’s successor, Woodrow Wilson, on Christmas Eve of 1913.

Robert Owens, a co-author of the income tax act, later testified that the banking industry had conspired to create a series of financial panics throughout the 19th century in order to rouse the people to demand “reforms” that served the interests of the financiers. The public became convinced that the country needed a central banking system to stop future panics, and helped the Bonesmen pass legislation that allowed  the nation’s money to be issued by a private central bank.

The Rothschild Brothers of London observed, “The few who understand the (Federal Reserve) system will either be so interested from its profits or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class.”

In 1980 Ronald Reagan is elected president of the United States and he and George H. W. Bush move into the White House.

Two weeks after taking office, Reagan addressed the nation on the economy.

“By 1960 our national debt stood at $284 billion. Today the debt is $934 billion. We can leave our children with an un-repayable massive debt and a shattered economy, or we can leave them liberty in a land where every individual has the opportunity to be whatever God intended us to be. Together we can forge a new beginning for America.”

In the same speech Reagan displays his innocence of Federal Reserve politics, “Now, in all of this we will, of course, work closely with the Federal Reserve System toward the objective of a stable monetary policy.”

On March 26, 1981 Reagan signs Executive Order 12301 establishing the Presidential Council on Integrity & Efficiency to review federal programs for inefficiencies and corruption.

Predictably, four days later, the Federal Reserve and H.W. Bush “works with” John Hinckley Jr. to instruct Reagan on the first lesson of Federal Reserve politics. A president can be more popular than the vice president, but not always more powerful.

Although the Bush and Hinckley family had long, close ties overlooked by the press— the brother of the man who tried to kill the president was acquainted with the son of the man who would have become president if the attack had been successful—the family connection between Scott Hinckley and Neil Bush did not escape Alexander Haig, who, after the Reagan assassination attempt, temporarily prevented Vice President Bush from taking control of the White House.

Reagan learned the lesson: he was a figurehead relegated to witnessing the growth of America’s hyper-consumer society and national debt from the sidelines.

Directly and indirectly, the Bonesmen orchestrated the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the stagflation of the 1970’s and the dot-com and the housing market bubbles.

One of the more absurd notions that has found its way into the history books and the writings of economic experts is that somehow these men were made wealthier from the Monopoly money they printed, the same money that enabled consumers to buy houses, second houses, cars, RVs, TVs and DVDs, i.e. the cheap “stuff” we use on a daily basis. Let’s not forget the fact that in 1910 these men already controlled one-sixth of the world’s wealth. And that was real wealth—gold, silver and raw materials—not the fiat currency we call money. Don’t forget the world they owned and controlled in 1910 had a mostly balanced ecology.

The Skull and Bones society and the Federal Reserve were critical to the growth of our industrial and consumer society, but responsible for much of the financial and environmental damage done to the planet.

We perceive our Country as a constitutional republic, a government representative of the people and accountable to them; but it now seems that premise is nothing more than an illusionary, sentimental belief.

Want to know what steps must be taken to take our country back?  Watch the informative documentary, “How Cuba Survived Peak Oil.”

__________________________________________________________

Robert Singer is an Entrepreneur and the author of a forthcoming book on the Federal Reserve. His articles cover politics and the financial and environmental implications of our consumer society.  The articles have been main headlined and can be found on numerous popular websites: Marketoracle, Silverseek, Goldseek, disinformation.com, Daylife, LAprogressive, Canadafreepress, Opednews, Daily.pk and many of the Wordpress sites. Richard Daughty, The Mogambo Guru, proclaimed him a Junior Mogambo Ranger (JMR).

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brittymhoward:(via thesecretpostcards)

brittymhoward:(via thesecretpostcards): "

brittymhoward:(via thesecretpostcards)

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Woof

Woof: "

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Manly P. Hall - The Love of Truth

Manly P. Hall - The Love of Truth: "

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Creating a virtual cancer

Creating a virtual cancer

One Step Beyond: Sacred Mushroom

One Step Beyond: Sacred Mushroom: "

Here we present "Sacred Mushroom" an (in)famous and rarely repeated episode of One Step Beyond which looks at a magic Mexican mushroom that might give extra sensory powers. Hailing from a more innocent age (1961 to be exact) they leap straight in, start stuffing down these mushrooms and doing tests to see if their minds have been expanded beyond the limits of the human capability.

As well as an eye-opening, period piece (which feels very much like faked, documentary slipped into a film just before some terrible supernatural beastie is launched at the screen), the key figure here is Andrija Puharich who was the man who discovered Uri Geller, did CIA-sponsored ESP research at the Stanford Research Institute and is intimately connected with the mystery of The Nine. He has been described as an éminence grise looming largely behind a lot of the wildest claims of the last 50 years. I mention him in passing in Darklore 4 and will be returning to him in the near future.

Are you now ready? Are you sure? Well OK, then carry on:

Source

Hat tip

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(via spiderlashes)

(via spiderlashes): "

(via spiderlashes)

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Leopard enjoys a ride in a car

Leopard enjoys a ride in a car: "

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5 Scary Places and the Legends Behind Them

5 Scary Places and the Legends Behind Them: "

There are more haunted places and scary stories around the world than you can shake a stick at. Here are a few you might not be familiar with already.

The Haunted Tunnel

Moonville, Ohio was once a thriving mining town with a population that peaked at about 100 people. Nearby is a railroad tunnel that is purported to be haunted by any of the four people who died there. The most famous is a railroad brakeman who had too much to drink and tried to stop a train, but was hit in March of 1859. The train wheels mangled his leg and he died of his injuries within days. The other deaths were a miner who was trapped in a collapsed mine, a woman who was crossing the railroad trestle when a train passed, and a fellow who crossed the tracks after a train, but didn’t see another portion of the train that had become detached and was still moving in the same direction. Several accounts exist of people who see the brakeman near the tunnel, swinging a light in an attempt to stop the train, or see the woman who died in 1905 walking beside the tracks. Railroad workers occasionally see a semi-transparent man being hit, and sometimes they hear screams, but no solid body is hit during those events.

Devil’s Town

Djavolja Varos translates to English as Devil’s Town, and is located between Devil’s Gully and Hell’s Gully in Serbia. This area has hundreds of stone towers made of volcanic stone that rise when the surrounding soil is washed away. They only last a few hundred years, so the landscape changes and this led to the legend of demons fighting each other. The story goes that the devil placed a curse on the local waters and those who drank it forgot their ancestry. This led to a wedding between brother and sister. A fairy tried to stop the marriage, but the couple refused. The fairy was left with no choice but to turn them into stone, along with all the wedding guests. The legend is fed by the presence of mineral springs in the area, one that is used for medicinal purposes and another that produces red water. Acoustics play a part in the haunting as well. When the wind whips around the stone towers, you can hear eerie whistles, howls, cries, and squeaks. Image by Geologicharka.

The Curse of English Cave

A cave runs under Benton Park in St. Louis, but no one can find a way in. The main entrance to English Cave, named after its first owner, was sealed up 100 years ago after it was found that water was draining in to it from Benton Park. In the early days of St. Louis, several businesses tried to use the cave and failed. Ezra English used it for storage for his brewery. He opened a beer garden attraction in 1849, which was also the year a cholera epidemic his St. Louis. The city even opened a new graveyard for cholera victims nearby. The cave attraction fizzled. In 1887, news owners tried a mushroom farm, which went out of business in two years. A winery used the cave in 1897, but that business didn’t last long, either. Was the cave cursed? Legend has it that English Cave was the hiding place of two Native American lovers who fled there to avoid the tribal war chief, to whom the woman was promised in marriage. The chief and his warriors kept vigil outside the cave, until the couple inside died of starvation. Many years later, white explorers found two skeletons in the cave. Some say the ghosts of the couple are the real reason no business can thrive in English Cave.

The Haunted Bridge

An old stone bridge called Packhorse Bridge in the northeastern Welsh village of Caergwrle is the scene of this ghostly photograph. Locals say this is the ghost of “Squire Yonge”. However, this term turns up in Chaucer as well as Arthurian literature, and means young squire, which could refer to any number of people. The bridge was built in the 17th century. Nearby Caergwrle Castle was mostly completed by 1282, the final castle built before Wales lost its independent to England. The retreating Welsh filled in the well and sabotaged the castle in order to reduce its value to the English. It is mostly in ruins now. See more spooky night pictures of the bridge.

Fisher’s Ghost

Every November, Campbelltown, NSW, Australia holds the Festival of Fisher’s Ghost. Frederick Fisher was a local businessman who had been in and out of prison. His neighbor George Worrall held power of attorney over Fisher’s property while he was incarcerated. On the night of June 17, 1826, Worrall announced that Fisher had fled to England to avoid more legal trouble. Worrall soon disposed of Fisher’s assets, and the suspicious citizenry had him arrested. Worrall blamed four other men, who were also arrested. But where was the evidence? The legend is that farmer John Farley saw the ghost of Fisher sitting on a bridge, pointing to an area where his body was subsequently found. The ghostly story was not used as evidence in the trial, but Fisher’s body was recovered on October 25th, and Worrall was convicted of the murder and hanged. The story was made into a movie in 1924.

"

The Quick Seven: Seven Haunted Objects

The Quick Seven: Seven Haunted Objects: "

As promised, we’re back to our Halloween-related posts here on the Q10. Haunted objects have long been the subject of many a horror tale – haunted vehicles (Christine, of course), haunted dolls (the dreaded Chucky, among others) and haunted clowns (that creepy toy in Poltergeist, ugh). But haunted objects exist in real life, too – at least, they do if you believe these seven stories. Here are a few inanimate objects that might just be a little more animated than we think.

1. Robert the Doll. I personally find all dolls to be more than a little bit creepy, but Robert is certainly spookier than most. Robert has been around since at least 1896 and belonged to a little boy (who grew up to be famous artist Robert Eugene Otto) in Key West. The two of them were as thick as thieves and the little boy often chatted with his doll – but, servants and family members said, Robert the Doll often talked back. Neighbors claimed they saw Robert move to different windows of the house when they knew no one was inside; entire rooms were trashed and the little boy, seemingly terrified, would claim that Robert had done it. The boy eventually inherited his parents’ house, and in 1972, he died and another family bought it. The family had a little girl who discovered Robert in the attic and was terrified of it, claiming even 30 years later that the doll was alive and wanted to kill her. These days Robert resides at the Martello Gallery-Key West Art and Historical Museum. If you want a picture of him, you have to ask – a slight tilt of his head means yes. If you don’t get the tilt and take a picture anyway, beware – Robert will curse you. I haven’t been there to verify this, but supposedly there are letters in the Museum from people apologizing for taking pictures of Robert or for not believing in his powers. Has anyone seen Robert in person?

2. The Haunted Mirror at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Even though Marilyn Monroe has been dead for nearly 50 years, you can still see her at the Hollywood Roosevelt… at least, if you believe the stories. Marilyn lived at the Roosevelt a couple of different times during her life, and especially loved Suite 1200. At some point the mirror from Suite 1200 moved to the manager’s office, and when a housekeeper was cleaning it one day, she got quite a fright – a beautiful blonde woman was staring right back at her. Not one to shy away from publicity, the Roosevelt moved the mirror to a public area so guests could experience Miss Monroe as well. And supposedly they have – lots of people have reported seeing her image. But that makes sense – the Roosevelt has cleverly decided to hang a portrait right next to it.

3. The Haunted Mirror at the Myrtles Plantation. Our own Miss Cellania wrote about the Myrtles earlier this week. If you’re looking for a spooky read, you should definitely click on over.

4. Annabelle the Haunted Doll. I’ve always thought Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls looked particularly evil, and here’s my proof. Raggedy Ann was given to a little girl named Donna in the ‘70s, and she and her family immediately began to notice strange things. The doll would seemingly repose itself when no one was looking, and once it was even found in a kneeling position. When Donna tried to replicate the pose with the doll, she couldn’t – it was too soft to stay in that position and would just fall over. Childish writing began to appear on the walls and the family got scared. They found a medium and held a séance, where they found out that a little girl named Annabelle had once lived there, long before the apartment building was there, and wanted to play with them. Even worse things began to happen afterward – Donna’s father received inexplicable burn marks on his chest and everyone in the house began having nightmares. You can read a really detailed account of the whole thing here, but suffice it to say, Donna and her family got rid of Annabelle the Doll. It’s now in an occult museum; she apparently makes new “friends” every day.

5. Haunted Wedding Dress. At the historic Baker Mansion in Altoona, Pa., there lives a wedding dress that sits in a display case and moves all by itself. The story goes something like this: In the mid-1800s, Anna Baker got engaged to one of her father’s employees. She bought her wedding dress and was secretly making preparations when her father caught on, fired the man and had him sent away. She never married and the dress went unused. When the Blair County Historical Society bought the mansion, they found the dress displayed it under glass. Apparently Anna thought she would finally get some use out of the dress, because ever since then, it’s been moving and swaying of its own accord from behind the glass. The Historical Society pooh-poohed it, saying that some of the floorboards under the display case were loose, so when people came near the case would be slightly disturbed, making the gown appear to move. But at least one story says that the Society caught it moving on its security cameras when no one else was in the room, and that’s why it’s no longer on display at the Baker Mansion.

6. Haunted Chairs. Not just one, but two haunted chairs furnish the Gothic Ballroom of Belcourt Castle in Newport, R.I. The Castle is open to tours, and people who have come to view this gorgeous mansion have reported feeling chills and a strange energy when they get near two chairs in particular. The word is that if you’re daring enough to actually try sitting in one of the chairs, you’ll get a definite feeling of resistance and may even end up on your butt on the floor. There’s supposedly a documented case of just that happening, but I sure can’t find it. If you live nearby, you should check out the current ghost tour at Belcourt and let us know if the hype is true. (That’s the Ballroom in the picture.)

7. Haunted Painting. I’ve purposely avoided mentioning “haunted” items on eBay, because anyone can throw something out there and claim it’s haunted. But this one seems to have garnered a lot of press, so I’m going to include it. Artist Bill Stoneham painted “Hands Resist Him” in 1972 and then lost track of it after a gallery show (it had been purchased by actor John Marley, who played the dude that found the horse’s head in his bed in The Godfather). Fast forward many years, where a family found the painting abandoned at a dumpster behind a brewery and wondered why anyone would throw out such cool art. They took it home, and shortly thereafter, the four-year-old daughter of the family announced to her mom and dad that the children in the painting were fighting. They then recorded the painting over a period of several nights and thought the figures were, in fact, moving, and decided that they didn’t really need the painting in their house anymore. They sold it on eBay, accompanied by their story, for $1025.00. Bill Stoneham later surfaced and said that he remembered that the owner of the gallery that originally showed the painting died shortly after the show, as did a Los Angeles Times critic who reviewed it.

There are plenty of other “haunted” items out there, but when it comes to things like, “Haunted Barney Doll” or “Haunted Grilled Cheese” I have to draw the line. But do you know of any other famously haunted objects that I missed?

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Judge Napolitano on Forced Vaccinations in Massachusetts (Video)

Judge Napolitano on Forced Vaccinations in Massachusetts (Video): "Judge Andrew Napolitano comments on the completely unconstitutional bill in Massachusetts that will allow the governor to declare an emergency and 'allow' police to force their way into your homes to vaccinate you. As Gerald Celente has said, has the Second American Revolution begun? Source: youtube.com"

'Boar hair' girl baffles doctors

'Boar hair' girl baffles doctors: "A six-year-old girl has baffled doctors after her skin apparently turned into boar hide. Until just a few months ago she had just a small birthmark on her back.

But the hairy hide has grown and grown and now it covers Li Xiaoyuan's entire back and is starting to grow on her arms and face. The schoolgirl, from Fengkai, southern China, is under near constant medical supervision as doctors try to work out what's wrong.

Her dad Li Yan said: 'Doctors told us it was just a birthmark even when it started spreading but now it covers half her body.



'None of the other children want to play with her – they are really mean.' Mum Li Jiang added: 'It breaks our hearts to see her suffer like this.'

Surgeon Dr Lou Zhongquan of Zhaoqing City Dermatological Hospital believes the youngster may be suffering from a rare hereditary disease that has sent normal moles out of control.

He said: 'If they were smaller we could use laser treatment. But even if we removed these with surgery there is a very strong chance of post surgery haemorrhage.'

"

35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography

35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography: "

Wired: 35 Years of the World’s Best Microscope Photography

Related posts:

1. How do you prove photography to a blind man?
2. The photography of Gretchen Drew
3. The photography of Jason King

"

Everything is OK, Your Government is in Control

Everything is OK, Your Government is in Control: "

"

Ghost of a Chance...

This was posted via http://peeringthrough.blogspot.com/2009/10/ghost-of-chance.html -

Ghost of a Chance...: "

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6856134.ece

Without getting into a morality argument in the Roman Polanski saga, I am perplexed with the timing of his recent detainment in Zurich. These charges are WELL known, have been haunting him and his victim for some 32 years. Aside from not reentering the U.S., Roman is a HIGH profile world traveler...he very well could have been picked up by just about any Government in the World at any time if there had been an 'Okay' from the powers that be.

Polanski's infamous 'Deal with the Devil'; the sacrificial exchange of his wife and unborn child for directorial success and power is a theory that has existed in the dark recesses of conspiracy circles for many years. Is it possible that the dark powers that have held Polanski's marker since 1969 have finally decided to collect? Is it even more possible that the reason this Faustian drama is going to come to an end here and now is directly related to block the completion and release of the heralded director's upcoming film, 'The Ghost'?

Based directly on the novel of the same name by Brit journalist/author Robert Harris, 'The Ghost' deals with a fictionalized former British Prime Minister Tony Blair; explosive evidence is uncovered by a ghost-writer hired to write the Prime Minister's memoirs which would implicate him of International War crimes committed during the War with Iraq.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ghost_(novel)

Did Polanski cross the line desiring to bring this story to the public? An egotistical slap-in-the-face to the dark powers that made him who he has been, and kept him safe from prosecution all these many years. I could see this story not siting well within the Secret Commonwealth...

"

allcreatures:via

allcreatures:via: "

allcreatures:via"

LSD Research Resurgence

LSD Research Resurgence: "

Erin Halliday, SF Gate:

Nearly 40 years after widespread fear over recreational abuse of LSD and other hallucinogens forced dozens of scientists to abandon their work, researchers at a handful of major institutions – including UCSF and Harvard University – are reigniting studies. Scientists started looking at less controversial drugs, like ecstasy and magic mushrooms, in the late 1990s, but LSD studies only began about a year ago and are still rare.

The study at UCSF, which is being run by a UC Berkeley graduate student, is looking into the mechanisms of LSD and how it works in the brain. The hope is that such research might support further studies into medical applications of LSD – for chronic headaches, for example — or psychiatric uses. [...]

In 1966, the federal government made LSD illegal, and by the early 1970s, research into all psychedelic drugs in humans had come to a halt, although some scientists continued to study the drugs in animals.

(What a Wonderful Place to Be)

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goodnightvenom:whatshisname:(via evanmichaell)

goodnightvenom:whatshisname:(via evanmichaell): "

goodnightvenom:whatshisname:(via evanmichaell)"