This treehopper insect has developed an absolutely insane helmet that looks like an aggressive species of ant. There are more of these over at New Scientist.

[New Scientist via io9]

New World Transparent Specimens offers marine creatures from the Japanese artist Iori Tomita that are transparent with colored bones. Using a method that involves the dissolution of natural proteins Tomita adds red dye to hard bones and blue dye to soft bones.

At this point it seems that the collection is limited to marine creatures only.

[Shinsekai via Gizmodo]

A Colorado man had a rude awakening when he kneecapped himself while sleeping.

Sanford Rothman, who lives on Mineola Court in southeastern Boulder, told police he woke up to a “bang” and discovered he was shot in the left knee. He said he did not have a clear recollection of the incident.

According to the police report no alcohol or drugs were involved, and nobody else was in the house at the time. Sleepshooting could be the next exciting chapter in the field of Parasomnia.

[dailycamera]

As some of you know both I and Justin Robert Young attended the amazing Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA this past weekend. EVERY type of fandom is represented at this mega-convention, and cosplay is the main event. I spent approximately 60 billion hours walking the floor just taking it all in while trying to avoid drunk people piking on the floor, and what follows are the five most creative Dragon*Con costumes I saw.

Remember that pirate ship they found under the World Trade Center we reported on in July? Researchers gathered many samples and the investigation has now started to reveal the true origins of the ship.

The wood samples will hopefully tell us where the ship was built by analyzing the properties and age rings. They are also analyzing various woodworms in the wreckage to glean where the ship might have sailed.

The American Archaeologist site is keeping a close eye on the ship and will report findings as they happen.

[American Archaeologist]

Construction workers at the site where the World Trade Center once stood unearthed a ship from the 18th Century in New York City yesterday.  Crews rushed in to get as much data about the ship recorded before the heat of the sun turn it dust, as well as to ensure that worked continued at the historical site.

So did they build the WTC over a pirate’s hideaway, or did Revolutionary New Yorkers find a creative way to dispose of those darn Redcoats? Let us know your craziest theories in the comments!

[New York Times]

We’re planning our next podcast and we want you to be a part of it.

What weird thing do you want the “brain trust” to discuss? Just post it in the comments.

We know Charles Babbage as the inventor of the Difference Engine, the pre-cursor to the modern computer, but what about Charles Babbage, investigator for the occult and supernatural? As a young man he decided to find out if Satan was real – by trying to invoke him in a demonic ritual.

In his biography he recounts his attempt at summoning the dark lord…

I carefully collected from the traditions of different boys the visible forms in which the Prince of Darkness had been recorded to have appeared. Amongst them were — A rabbit, An owl, A black cat, very frequently, A raven, A man with a cloven foot, also frequent.

After long thinking over the subject, although checked by a belief that the inquiry was wicked, my curiosity at length over-balanced my fears, and I resolved to attempt to raise the devil. Naughty people, I was told, had made written compacts with the devil, and had signed them with their names written in their own blood. These had become very rich and great men during their life, a fact which might be well known. But, after death, they were described as having suffered and continuing to suffer physical torments throughout eternity, another fact which, to my uninstructed mind, it seemed difficult to prove.

As I only desired an interview with the gentleman in black simply to convince my senses of his existence, I declined adopting the legal forms of a bond, and preferred one more resembling that of leaving a visiting card, when, if not at home, I might expect the satisfaction of a return of the visit by the devil in person.

I then placed myself in the centre of the circle, and either said or read the Lord’s Prayer backwards. This I accomplished at first with some trepidation and in great fear towards the close of the scene. I then stood still in the centre of that magic and superstitious circle, looking with intense anxiety in all directions, especially at the window and at the chimney. Fortunately for myself, and for the reader also, if he is interested in this narrative, no owl or black cat or unlucky raven came into the room.

The reported failure of the devil to appear increased his skepticism of religion. he decided to seek out other evidence of the paranormal so Babbage and friends started a Ghost Club to investigate apparitions and other unusual phenomena:

If they heard of a phantom, these spiritual detectives speedily put themselves in pursuit ; and a haunted house was doubtless as welcome a phenomenon to them as an extraordinary dwarf, a calf without joints, or a kitten with six legs, was to the first Fellows of the Royal Society. Letters many were written on these topics, and some of the correspondence, we are told, was both ‘ interesting and instructive.’ It was certainly a very business-like mode of dealing with spectres, and indicates the true method of establishing these beings in their rights, or of expelling them, as creatures of fancy, from human philosophy.

Charles Babbage and his friends in the Ghost Club would go on to form another group calling themselves “The Extractors”. To get into that club you had to produce six certificates, three saying that you were sane and three that you were mad.

Babbage’s biography is a fascinating read. He had an extremely curious mind. It’s no surprise why he was so ahead of his time. If one were prone to believe in demons and the occult, it should make you wonder if the man who created the most advanced machines to ever exist really was unsuccessful at raising the devil…

Below are some links to his works on Google Books. Well worth checking out.

link: The Living age … – Google Books
link: Journals: Living Age (1844 – 1900)

Remember that time you went to take a photo and when you looked at it your iMac screen mysteriously shown through your body as if you were an ephemeral spirit because deep down your souls are intertwined? I do.

Got a weird photo? Send it to JustinRobertYoung@Gmail with “Weird photo” in the subject line or upload it to Flickr and tag it #weirdthingscom.

I took this photo outside Disneyland. It’s of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. No retouching took place. This is exactly how the photo appeared!

The backwoods family of homicidal, grave-robbing cannibals that form the exhumed backbone of Tobe Hooper’s 1974 horror watershed “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” are portrayed as equal parts bughouse-crazy bloodthirsty rednecks and hard-up blue collar strivers abandoned by the American dream – a little Thomas Harris, a little John Steinbeck. For as much as they killed, skinned and ate, they laughed, loved and cried. Perhaps, then, in this time of economic struggle, there are lessons to be learned from this determined American family and the values that they went to grisly, horrific lengths to preserve.

Waste Not, Want Not

For as many times as school teachers and morbidly obese plate lickers have blustered on about the Native Americans utilizing every part of the buffalos they killed, all but the contemptible found object artists among us continue to discard food packaging, old clothing and human remains. “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” paints a picture of a world where resources wasted equal a bone futon unconstructed or a skin lampshade unmade. There’s a beautiful simplicity in eating hamburger off of the cow’s hide and then defecating into its skull.

The Disabled Are People

While Sally’s wheelchair-bound brother Martin is subjected to the barbs and disrespect of his sister’s wake-and-bake buddies, he meets nothing but acceptance from Leatherface, who knows that the disabled deserve to be treated just like anyone else. Rather than letting prejudice guide his hand to slaughter Martin extra slow (out of hatred), or extra gently (out of pity), he simply lays into him with the chainsaw, quick and respectful, its blades buzzing out in steely, flesh-rending clarity, “I have a dream…”

Embrace Family Dinners

It’s an all too familiar picture: the parents eat drive-through chicken whatevers on their respective commutes home while the kids snarf down Pop Tarts between Idol votes and “Send to All” sexts. Meanwhile, somewhere in Texas, an aging patriarch sits at the head of a table, listening as his son talks human barbecue and his grandkids laugh and squabble over headcheese and murder. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”’s infamous dinner scene is clear in its message: without a nightly, communal supper, a family’s close-knit relationship, along with its finely honed cooperative system of murder, dismemberment and consumption, will crumble like so many stale Pop Tarts. Also, etiquette dictates that the giant skull hammer be placed to the right of the plate.

photo credit: Aaron Escobar™

Can an island really move like the island(s) on Lost? Short answer yes. Maybe not through a donkey wheel in the bottom of a well, but an island can definitely move around.

The not so technical term is a “floating island” or tussocks, floatons, or sudds. They form when vegetation grows out from shore and eventually becomes buoyant and the roots can’t grab hold of the ground. A heavy wind can shear it off and set it adrift. They’re actually fairly common in lakes. Some are as large as a football field (or more) and can have trees and animal life.

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Time for a little weird physics. What makes supersolids weird? Well according to sciencedaily.com “a supersolid, is an exotic state of matter that behaves simultaneously as a solid and a friction-free superfluid.” This means that supersolids are “defined by two seemingly contradictory properties. The atoms inside it are arranged in a crystalline, regular pattern, like any solid, but at the same time, the atoms are able to flow through the supersolid in an unrestricted way.” Meaning we might be able to use them to create all sorts of insane quantum materials previously unknown to mankind. The implications are mind boggling. Scientist Ludwig Mathey invites us to imagine a friction-free supersolid washing machine:

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Most of us see fairies as the most harmless of folklore. The Cottingley Fairy hoax perpetrated by Elsie Wright in 1916 comes to mind. What’s the harm? Stories to do with fairies are most often adorable tales of dainty little creatures doing pleasant things. The real life Irish fairy tale of Bridget Cleary however is a few shades darker than your average Guinness.

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You’ve heard of extraterrestrials, you’ve heard of angels, now comes….wait for it….Extraterrestrial Angels. The UFOlogists over at alienresistance.org argue the biblical evidence for aliens and explore the crossover between alien encounters and angelic visitations.

For example, aliens abduct people and according to the site:

The Bible teaches that certain angelic beings routinely abducted human women during the days of Noah, both before the great flood “…and also afterward…” (Genesis 6:1-4).

Coincidence? You decide.

According to Wikipedia” “Micronations are entities that resemble independent nations or states but which are unrecognized by world governments or major international organizations.” The Platform in the picture above is actually the Nation of Sealand. It may seem that not much goes on in Sealand judging by the photo, but this former British fort has had a rocky national history. Helicopter Invasions, massive fires, border disputes with the British Government and at one point they even issued their own passports.

Check out Sealand’s National Website.

We’re going to be bringing you a strange geographic anomaly on a weekly basis, so watch out for more Weird Geography.