Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Space Wants to Kill Us

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

In Michael Crichton’s 1969 novel Andromeda Strain (and subsequent film and recent TV mini-series) the premise is about an extra-terrestrial microorganism that threatens to wipe humanity off the planet through truly horrific blood clotting. It was an interesting take on the threat from outer space scenario.

So if we earthbound humans have to worry about space organisms turning our blood into dust, what do astronauts on long term space missions have to stress out about? According to a report in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (via PopSci): Earthborn bacteria mutating into killer diseases.

It turns out that bacteria that we’ve evolved pretty good defenses for could overwhelm our immune systems if we’re cooped up together on long term space voyages. So add that to the already growing list of space hazards including radiation, zero-g bone loss, space madness and your holodeck trying to kill you.

Mutant Bacteria Are Likely to Threaten Future Space Travelers | Popular Science


Carl Sagan Day

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009


Want to meet up with some of the folks behind Weird Things? Plan on being in South Florida on Saturday? Want to pay your respect to Carl Sagan? Meet James Randi, Phil Plait and others?

Then meet us at Carl Sagan day at Broward College this Saturday, November 7th.

Website: Carl Sagan Day

Can’t make it there? We’ll be live streaming it. Details to follow…


Weirdest Thing In The World Chat: Houdini Pregame

Friday, October 30th, 2009

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We are still unsure of the exact details on where but on the Weirdest Thing in the World chat today at 5:30 p.m. we are going to announce the official final line-up of celebrity word donors for our big Halloween Houdini Seance.

Other than that we’ll go over some of our weirdest stories of the week and maybe even have a little mini-challenge to find the Weirdest Element of Houdini’s Life.

Got a suggestion or a topic you want us to touch on, email JustinRobertYoung@Gmail.

It all goest down today at 5:30 p.m. EST on the Weirdest Thing In The World live chat. Believe…

Head Of A Fox, Wings Of A Bat: The Weirdest Thing In The Sky

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009
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The Indian Flying Fox Bat has the largest recorded wingspan in the world, sometimes stretching up to two meters. It was selected as the Weirdest Thing In The Sky during our Tinychat competition last week. Stay tuned for this week’s category.

Thanks to everyone for playing!

Click AFTER THE JUMP for a video of it eating some fruit at the Singapore zoo.

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Was Kennedy Advised By Little Green Men?

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

Penn Bullock reports:

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George Adamski is one of the original, pioneering Ufologists. In 1946, while watching a meteor shower (when lights tend to streak through the night sky), Adamski and his friends noticed a cluster of lights in formation that they immediately identified as an alien mothership. Again that year, at the same California campgrounds, Adamski purported to take a photograph of a “cigar-shaped” mothership sailing in front of the moon. In 1950, the Caribbean island nation of Grenada put that photo on a stamp commemorating “1950: The Year of the UFO.”

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Bizarre New York Pet Shop

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Check out this video of British graffiti artist Banksy’s latest New York exploit. The shop keeper actor is a great touch.

Here’s a link to the official site for the shop: Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grille

This is the highest quality video we could find to embed, for a higher quality video visit the BBC.

Mysterious Sicilian Boiling Hot Floor

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

hotfloor

The Fiandaca family called firefighters to their home in Sicily yesterday as temperatures emanating from the floors of their home reached boiling point. According to Maria Fiandaca, the floors had been heating up all week and suddenly became too hot to handle, the surfaces were steaming.

Italian experts have so far been unable to explain the source causing the house to heat, though Sicily is home to continuously erupting Mt. Etna and plenty of volcanic and geothermal activity, though locals would prefer to think the hot floor has paranormal origins. Did someone smell sulfur?

Weirdthings Investigates: Coral Castle Update!

Monday, May 4th, 2009

alisonforwt

Acclaimed paranormal investigator Alison Smith, has agreed to join our merry band of ‘Weird Thugs’ as we take on Coral Castle this Saturday, May 9. That’s right, a real, live woman at a paranormal investigation, who would have thunk it?

Read on about Alison and the investigation after THE JUMP…

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Fir Tree Found Growing in Russian Man’s Lung

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

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When we were little kids, we all asked the question: If I swallow a seed, will it sprout and start growing inside my stomach? Only to be reassured by our parents that no such thing could ever happen. No one ever thought to ask about inhaling a seed. The above x-ray was taken of Artyom Sidorkin’s lung. Surgeons operated on what they believed was a tumor, when they finally got sight of the cancerous growth, they were shocked to find that it was a 5 centimeter piece of Fir Tree. Estimating that it was far too large to pass through the air passageways leading to the lungs, they came to the realization that he must have inhaled a spore, which germinated and started growing in his soft, spongy lung tissue. Sidorkin was just relieved that it wasn’t cancer.

Hidden Planet

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

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A previously overlooked planet has been found hiding in an 11 year old Hubble Telescope image. Using new techniques that more accurately gauge the distribution of scattered light given off by close stars, patches that appeared as blank space years ago now could yield exciting results. More hidden planets could be discovered as more old Hubble photos are examined using the new technique.

Buddha and Jesus: Both Ukrainian

Friday, March 27th, 2009

According to Dr. Valery Bebik, a professor and deputy principal at Ukraine University:

”It is quite possible that Buddha belonged to the Scythian nation of Budins that lived on the territory of Ancient Ukraine during the first or the second millennium BC. The name of the nation is still preserved in the names of Ukraine’s contemporary settlements-Seredina-Buda, Buda, and some others,”

This head turning statement is not the first Bedik has made in recent years. Bedik, who also heads up the All-Ukrainian Association of Political Sciences, claims Jesus for Ukraine as well. Are two of the most popular spiritual leaders of all time actually Ukrainian, or does Bedik have nationalism on the brain?

-An article on Dr. Bebik’s comments.

Housing Developers Find Megalithic Stones

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Sarsen Stones, like the ones pictured above in Avebury, have been found in an unlikely place. A housing development project in Swindon, UK, has unearthed what appear to be sarsen stones. If they do turn out to be the real deal then this is an important archeological find. Are they natural, or are they man made? Find out more at Archaeo News.

-An article about the Swindon Stones.

Druid: The Other White Meat

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

When you think stone henge cannibalism isn't the first thing that comes to mind. But according to a new National Geographic News article the Druids may have ritualistically and zealously practiced cannibalism. This shouldn't come as a major shock. After all, Historical Roman accounts didn't have much favorable to say about them:

Julius Caesar, who led the first Roman landing in 55 B.C., said the native Celts “believe that the gods delight in the slaughter of prisoners and criminals, and when the supply of captives runs short, they sacrifice even the innocent.”

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They sound like cheery London gents. Mmmmm….that's good Druid.

-Link to the article

Mystery Cat on the prowl in Poland

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Grainy camera footage of the beast.

A big cat, caught on tape, has been attacking livestock in Poland, freaking out local farmers and residents. Poland doesn't have much in the way of big cat populations, so a mystified group from the Krakau Zoo took hair samples from dead animals to determine the beast's origins.

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Believers In Life After Death Cling To Life

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Polls suggest that 95 percent of the population of the United States believe they will survive their own death. I can’t help wondering how many people who claim such belief really, in their heart of hearts, hold it. If they were truly sincere, shouldn’t they all behave like the Abbot of Ampleforth? When Cardinal Basil Hume told him that he was dying, the abbot was delighted for him: ‘Congratulations! That’s brilliant news. I wish I was coming with you.’ The abbot, it seems, really was a sincere believer. But it is precisely because it is so rare and unexpected that his story catches out attention….wouldn’t you expect that religious people would be the least likely to cling unbecomingly to earthly life?

-From “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins

A study published last week in The Journal of the American Medical Association might shed some light on Dawkins’ question. The Study is called ‘Religious Coping and Use of Intensive Life-Prolonging Care Near Death in Patients With Advanced Cancer’. Researchers interviewed hundreds of patients with advanced stages of cancer at Hospitals and Cancer Centers around the US. The results are quite interesting. According to a livescience article about the study:

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Excavation Begins on Ancient Underwater Settlement

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Ok, it didn’t start underwater….The ancient artificial harbor at Limantepe in Turkey is believed to have been submerged during a massive earthquake in 700 BC. The section of the settlement being excavated is a whopping one kilometer beneath the ocean’s surface. Artifacts found date all the way back to the 7th century BC!

–Archaeologists take to the water at Limantepe site

Vorbeste sa nadoarma cred ala cu probelemele cu inima. Mai sunt Ce stim astazi despre pastile de potenta? ?i probleme legate de substan?ele care apar în aceste produse”, ne – a explicat radu farmacieproprie stoianov, ?eful serviciului notific?ri suplimente alimentare din cadrul iba. A fost un r?spuns inteligent ?i bine documentat, sau eronat. Pe lâng? faptul c? aceste schimb?ri în stilul de via?? te vor ajuta s? scapi de impoten??, ele vor avea efecte benefice ?i asupra întregului organism.