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Saturday, March 15, 2003 Murderer blames killing on being from "dark world"
In a quiet, halting tone, Alexander elaborated on the description of Jared that he began in a rambling statement he read in the Mineola courtroom on the day of his sentencing. He said Jared came from a "dark world" that was separated from this world by gates that had to be guarded by Alexander as "the chosen one." "I allowed the being from the dark world to slip through the gates and commit the ultimate crime," he said. It is a universe that he called Shystrayeb, he said, to which he travels often, and is only one of many places he goes to in his mind. "I am capable of traveling to just about any world I choose," said Alexander, who often referred to being unable to properly translate that universe's language.
Elizabeth Smart kidnapper wrote bizarre manifesto
A copy of a 27-page work called "The Book of Immanuel David Isaiah" was seized at the Montana home of one of Mitchell's relatives, authorities said. One passage indicates God decreed that polygamy had been taken away from the people as punishment for the sins of humanity - but the "blessing" of multiple marriage would be restored to those who truly followed Jesus.
The Mickey Mouse gas mask
On January 7th, 1942, one month after Pearl Harbor, T.W. Smith, Jr., the owner of the Sun Rubber Company, and his designer, Dietrich Rempel, with Walt Disneyâs approval introduced a protective mask for children. This design of the Mickey Mouse Gas Mask for children was presented to Major General William N. Porter, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service. After approval of the CWS, Sun Rubber Products Company produced sample masks for review. Other comic book character designs were to follow, depending on the success of the Mickey Mouse mask. The mask was designed so children would carry it and wear it as part of a game. This would reduce the fear associated with wearing a gas mask and hopefully, improve their wear time and, hence, survivability.
Fake shuttle photos circulating in 'Israeli satellite' e-mail
A set of electronic images of space shuttle Columbia attached to an e-mail is the latest Internet hoax concerning the orbiter. The electronic images show the shuttle exploding in a ball of fire in space. The e-mail is claiming that the photos were taken by an Israeli satellite during re-entry. The images do not appear to match with what is known about how Columbia broke up over Texas during re-entry from orbit.
Why conspiracy theories live on despite the facts
Patrick Leman of the Royal Holloway University of London tested six theories on 64 students. He found everyone was prone to forge conspiracy theories to make the explanation seem proportionate to the magnitude of the event. "Everyone ... tends to believe a major event has a major cause," he said. "So in a scenario in which a President is attacked and dies, they are more likely to invoke a conspiracy theory in place of a 'lone gunman' explanation than if he survives." But the readiness to believe such theories varied. Asked to rate six scenarios on whether they were the product of conspiracies, the students gave the highest vote to the poisoning of the food supply. The results showed that those most prone to believe such theories were less likely to accept facts that undermined their theory. Earlier research has suggested people from ethnic minorities are prone to believe conspiracy theories. "Ethnic minorities tend to feel less connected to the authority. If people become distanced from institutions of power they are more likely to distrust official accounts."
Carp speaks in Hebrew, gives apocalyptic warnings
Rosen, whose family owns the store, and Mr. Nivelo, who has worked at the shop for seven years, say that on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m. they were carving up carp. Mr. Nivelo, who is not Jewish, lifted a live carp out of a box of iced-down fish and was about to club it in the head. But the fish began speaking in Hebrew, according to the two men. Mr. Nivelo does not understand Hebrew, but the shock of a fish speaking any language, he said, forced him against the wall and down to the slimy wooden packing crates that cover the floor. (reg. req) Thursday, March 13, 2003 Another Islamic soda: Muslim Up
Bottled in the blue of the European Union and the UN flag rather than the green of Islam, "Muslim Up" soft drinks aim to use a share of profits to fight "all injustice seen in the world", a cherished value among the world's 1,2 billion Muslims. Muslim Up cola hit shops this week, its bottles bearing the slogan "Refreshment has a meaning" in French and Arabic.
Pensioner arrested for eating cats
Elias Cassini was allegedly caught skinning a Siamese cat in the backyard of his house in Sao Paulo. He is reported to have said: "I do have the habit of eating cat stew and fried cat. I do that because I don't have enough money to buy food." But Mr Cassini's family told the police he has more than enough money to support himself and that this is nothing more than a bizarre habit.
Bush painting provokes furor in Montreal
A painting showing the World Trade Center towers protruding from U.S. President George W. Bush's trousers was torn down and later restored at an art festival today at Concordia University. The painting depicts Bush wearing a cowboy hat, with the twin towers extending from his unzipped pants. Here's a pic Wednesday, March 12, 2003 Adopt a pub rat service launched on web
It's the next best thing to buying the next round: from Friday, anyone on the Internet will be able to adopt an English country pub regular for £20 (about R260) a year. Log on to www.pubs2000.com and take your pick from a growing list of seasoned Gloucestershire punters including Arthur Ayres at the Town Inn ("a real farmers pub") and Clive Ludlow at the Lansdown ("a lot nicer than my flat").
Hitler syphilis theory revived
The latest book, "Pox: Genius, Madness and the Mysteries of Syphilis" by Deborah Hayden, says that Hitler had many of the symptoms which might point to advanced syphilis. These included encephalitis, dizziness, neck pustules, chest pain and an "accentuated heartbeat". Ms Hayden also points to signals which suggests a mental decline in his last years, including "paranoid rages".
Miami Vice star Don Johnson caught with 8 billion in suitcase
The actor was stopped driving into the country from Switzerland and a paper fortune was discovered in shares, bonds, cheques and credit notes. When asked about the $8billion Johnson, 53, allegedly said: ãI am going to buy a car.ä
Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken - or KFC
In simpler times it was the canary. But today's avian suicide jockeys are chickens, which are to be press-ganged into service by the US Army when/if/when it invades Iraq. No, they won't be packed with explosives - like the kamikaze camels of Afghanistan. Instead they will sit "in cages atop Humvees, used as early warning gas detectors," the BBC reports.
Israeli peace activists tout mysticism
About 100 peace campaigners, most of them Israelis, came to this crossing point between Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday on a mission to distribute 1,000 copies of writings from the Zohar, or Book of Splendor, the central text of Kabbalah, the ancient Jewish mystical tradition that has won celebrity adherents like the singer Madonna. A tall Palestinian joined in holding his hands above his head in a gesture of benediction. "Inshalah (God willing)," he said. "Peace to everyone."
Choking Man receiving psychiatric treatment
The reign of Choking Man may be over. The middle-aged, stocky, pleasant-mannered man who staged fake choking incidents across Southwest Florida -- and sent one woman to the hospital -- is now receiving psychiatric treatment in a local mental health facility. In addition to bread, Choking Man has coughed up nuts, hard candies and pieces of celery, apple, hot dog, waffle fries and bagel. (via) Tuesday, March 11, 2003 Rael: Style guru
While modern messiahs claim to have unlocked the secrets of the universe, wardrobe remains a mystery to most of them. David Koresh led his Branch Davidians to their destiny in a wife-beater. Jim Jones wore his sunglasses at night. And members of the dot-com cult Heaven's Gate died with their Nikes on. Some saviors are smarter about shmatte. His holiness Rael, the spiritual leader behind Clonaid's baby-cloning claims, is acutely aware of how appearance affects message. Rael designed his all-white vestments almost 20 years ago, after an alien race called the Elohim allegedly showed him a good time on their home planet. A confessed admirer of Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace, Rael didn't get many fashion tips from the planet-hopping beings. ''On their planet, they are mostly nude,'' he says matter-of-factly. (reg. req.)
Movie men add special effects to media war
Fresh from the latest Michael Douglas film, one of Tinseltownâs top art directors has been hired to create a $200,000 (£125,000) set for General Tommy Franks and other American commanders to give daily updates. George Allison's work in Qatar reflects the Pentagonâs realisation that it needs to look good on prime-time television, especially given public disquiet about the war. On a set that will become instantly recognisable, generals will present updates from two podiums at the front of a stage adorned with five 50in plasma screens and two 70in television projection screens ready to show maps, graphics and videos of action. Behind them will be a soft-focus elongated map of the world, as if to suggest that the world is united behind them.
Article on Rupert Sheldrake speech
In a new book being published Tuesday, "The Sense of Being Stared At," Sheldrake says 90 percent of people have reported having this sensation. The experience is not a quirk of our brains, he writes, "but leads to the conclusion that our minds are not confined inside our heads." To test the hypothesis, Sheldrake blindfolded subjects and had a "starer" alternately look or turn away from them. The subjects then recorded whether they believed they were being looked at or not. By the laws of chance, 50 percent of guesses would be correct. But Sheldrake said results showed consistently that people end up getting it right 55 percent of the time.
Duke U screens Axis of Evil film festival
"Reel Evil," a film festival that runs into next month, is featuring movies from Iraq, Iran and North Korea, as well as from a trio of countries designated by the State Department as "rogue states" - Cuba, Libya and Syria. But the next screening, of the 1985 North Korean film "Pulgasari" could be the biggest draw. It was produced by dictator Kim Jong Il, who kidnapped a South Korean director to film the tale of a metal-eating monster who helps an army of farmers overcome a tyrannical king. Monday, March 10, 2003 Homeland security phone gets telemarketers
When a newly installed emergency telephone in Gov. John Hoeven's office rang the first three times, it wasn't someone with news of a disaster or terrorist assault. One caller had a wrong number. The other two were telemarketers. "It was a guy trying to sell him two pizzas on special," Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple said. "We're trying to figure out what kind of a disaster is taking place, and it's some guy trying to give the governor a two-for-one."
Animal bar codes to take over from Latin names
Today 40 leading scientists involved in taxonomy ö the classification of organisms ö will meet in New York with the aim of setting up an international bar-coding system using individual DNA as labels for new species. Existing species will get their own bar code, too. With the right technology, says a report co-authored by scientists at the Natural History Museum, in London, up to 1,000 species a day could be bar coded by just one institution. And that, say scientists, will make it possible to catalogue animal life on the planet within two decades, 1,000 or so years sooner than under the current system.
Hoover thwarted American Nazi Party plot to kill Trudeau
The intrigue began on April 25, when someone called Ottawa police from a beachside phone booth in Santa Monica, Calif., to tell them a pair of men had left four days earlier and were making their way northward to kill Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Hoover, keenly sensitive to these kinds of threats after the assassinations of president John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, immediately launched a round-the-clock manhunt. A May 1 memo from the L.A. field office summarizing the case said one of those connected to the plot has attended meetings of the American Nazi party. Nazis were inspired by California's eugenics program Lombardo cites an incident in which California's sterilization practices were held up as models for the Nazi regime. In 1935, Eugenics Record Office leader Harry Laughlin was invited to an international conference on eugenics in Germany. Unable to attend, Laughlin instead sent his German hosts a diagram displaying the pedigree of "a feeble-minded woman sterilized by the state of California." The chart shows how the woman was born to a mother deemed by state officials to be "neurotic (and) feeble-minded" and a father termed a "drunkard (and) gambler (with) low mentality." The woman's ovaries were removed, a permissible form of asexualization under California law. While the Nazis practiced eugenics to "purify" their race, Americans had more pragmatic reasons for trying to prevent certain people from having children. "This was about saving money. It was the economic motive." Sunday, March 09, 2003 Upskirt peeper found with nine-step manual
One man arrested earlier this month in Osaka was found to have captured footage from up the skirts of about 300 unsuspecting lasses. Most frightening was the nine-step manual he had made for himself: NEVER target women in pairs; DON'T leave the scene after getting a shot because it arouses suspicion; USE a flash as often as possible because it gives a better shot; TRY and get a shot of a woman's face if you've already got a snap inside her skirt; AVOID letting whatever you carry the camera in from ever touching the target; HANGING around in the same place for too long will attract unwanted attention; EASIEST shots are snared while women stand around reading or riding escalators; and SKIRTS made of denim or other thick material will always hide the flash, so use it at will. |
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(c) copyright by Jason Lubyk, 2002 FastCounter by bCentral |
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