Oregon is now well on it's way into summer with the daily temperatures now reaching into the mid 80s. Now, ordinarily that doesn't bug me one bit, but here in my section of Oregon it gets humid and uncomfortable during the summer months, only getting worse as they drag on. Bizarrely this time of year in Oregon, everyone loves. They spend all winter complaining about the rain, or in the case of this last one, the snow, but love it when they are able to go outdoors without coats or umbrellas during the summer. However, this is accompanied by "Oh it's such a nice day, but to hot." which in my opinion completely defeats the concept of "Nice day." All that pales in comparison though to what happened in the early months of 2004 in Caronia, Italy, where for no apparent everyday items would catch fire.
At first they were electrical items and many began to search for reasons, such as power surges. However the phenomenon, as reported by some witnesses, even affected items that were not plugged into walls, including unplugged items, battery operated items, and possibly even standard non-electrical furniture.
Throwing another twist into it all cars and cell phones began having issues as well. In particular, car alarms would go off for no reason, or as reported in one case, the engine turned on when all the doors were locked and no one was in it. And all incidents ranging from the fires to the unusual car and phone behavior only seemed to occur when people were present to witness it.
So what was happening there in Caronia? No one really knows. Many blamed it on supernatural causes, such as demons or aliens. Others thought some bizarre natural phenomenon such as electric charges released from the Earth. And some thought someone was playing a game with Tesla style inventions. Till this day however no satisfactory answer has been found.
Sources and Further Reading:
Investigating Mysterious Fires in Italy - Unknown Country
Spontaneous Fires Break Out in Italy UPDATE: It Happened Before - Unknown Country
Caronia - Wikipedia
The mysterious fires of Canneto Di Caronia - Everything2
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Looking for strangeness in Idaho: Possible change of location?
My wife and kids just returned from vacation up in Lewiston, Idaho where they were visiting her step grandparents with my in-laws.
While she was up there, we were talking on the phone and she had suggested that we move there, which I have no problem with (been wanting to get out of our current location as it is). So as I'm looking into the idea of moving up that way, I figured I should probably look into various Fortean phenomenon and what not for Idaho.
Idaho it seems has no shortage of ghosts and in fact if you search for "Idaho Paranormal" on Google, you find like 6 paranormal investigation groups for the state. There was even an episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures that featured The State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho, in which the shows host flips out at all the snakes (Which I thought was bloody hilarious. He's perfectly willing to taunt possibly dangerous spirits, but afraid of snakes. How Indiana Jonesish of him.) as he's climbing up this hill that overlooks the prison.
As for UFOs in Idaho I found this case from 1967, in which a woman saw what can be described as a classic flying saucer. She even saw two figures through the domed top of the craft, but not very clearly.
And finally, while not necessarily paranormal or UFO related, I found that Lewiston, Idaho was the first capital of the Idaho territory, but it was voted that the capital be moved to Boise in 1964. This is where it gets interesting though, it seems that due to citizens of Lewiston being angry, the government choose to move the territorial seal from Lewiston secretly, either under the cover darkness, or as rumor has it, by river pirates (Now you know why I find it interesting and not to mention it's not to far fetched considering that Lewiston is home to the farthest inland seaport in the western US).
Sources and Further Reading:
The Old State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho, December 8, 1967, UFO with Occupants - UFO Casebook
Lewiston, Idaho - Wikipedia
While she was up there, we were talking on the phone and she had suggested that we move there, which I have no problem with (been wanting to get out of our current location as it is). So as I'm looking into the idea of moving up that way, I figured I should probably look into various Fortean phenomenon and what not for Idaho.
Idaho it seems has no shortage of ghosts and in fact if you search for "Idaho Paranormal" on Google, you find like 6 paranormal investigation groups for the state. There was even an episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures that featured The State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho, in which the shows host flips out at all the snakes (Which I thought was bloody hilarious. He's perfectly willing to taunt possibly dangerous spirits, but afraid of snakes. How Indiana Jonesish of him.) as he's climbing up this hill that overlooks the prison.
As for UFOs in Idaho I found this case from 1967, in which a woman saw what can be described as a classic flying saucer. She even saw two figures through the domed top of the craft, but not very clearly.
And finally, while not necessarily paranormal or UFO related, I found that Lewiston, Idaho was the first capital of the Idaho territory, but it was voted that the capital be moved to Boise in 1964. This is where it gets interesting though, it seems that due to citizens of Lewiston being angry, the government choose to move the territorial seal from Lewiston secretly, either under the cover darkness, or as rumor has it, by river pirates (Now you know why I find it interesting and not to mention it's not to far fetched considering that Lewiston is home to the farthest inland seaport in the western US).
Sources and Further Reading:
The Old State Penitentiary of Boise Idaho
Idaho Falls, Idaho, December 8, 1967, UFO with Occupants - UFO Casebook
Lewiston, Idaho - Wikipedia
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thoughts on "The 12th Planet" part 7
Yeah, I know I keep bouncing around on reading the book. However, I'm down to less then 100 pages left.
Anyways, the book I must say has really, really, intrigued me. There is a lot of interesting reading in it, as well as stuff that's not so interesting. There are also parts that really require you to stretch imagination. Funnily, it's not the about the Anunnaki being aliens, but about them using familiar technology.
For instance, Zecharia talks about them using multistage rockets, much like those we use now at days. Another time he interprets something about a large bird guarding a city/base as being a helicopter.
To me, if the Anunnaki were indeed aliens, I doubt that they'd use tech just like the stuff we use now at days. Maybe it resembles it superficially, at least as far as the rockets go, but the helicopter bit stretches things a bit far in my opinion.
First, a helicopter, at least to me, looks more bug like. And then who is to say that they didn't actually have some sort of big predatory (and perhaps alien) bird, or some airplane looking aircraft which would more bird like. Something like the Death Gliders in Stargate for instance.
Well perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, since I suppose it could be possible that aliens from another planet could have similar tech to ours. You could call it convergent technology, much like convergent evolution where totally different creatures have the same adapations or features.
Anyways, that's enough for this installment of my thoughts on The 12th Planet." I'm probably not gonna post another one until I'm finished with the book, in which case I'll share more overall thoughts on it as a whole.
To catch up on my thoughts on this book, click here and it'll bring up all my thoughts on it so far.
Anyways, the book I must say has really, really, intrigued me. There is a lot of interesting reading in it, as well as stuff that's not so interesting. There are also parts that really require you to stretch imagination. Funnily, it's not the about the Anunnaki being aliens, but about them using familiar technology.
For instance, Zecharia talks about them using multistage rockets, much like those we use now at days. Another time he interprets something about a large bird guarding a city/base as being a helicopter.
To me, if the Anunnaki were indeed aliens, I doubt that they'd use tech just like the stuff we use now at days. Maybe it resembles it superficially, at least as far as the rockets go, but the helicopter bit stretches things a bit far in my opinion.
First, a helicopter, at least to me, looks more bug like. And then who is to say that they didn't actually have some sort of big predatory (and perhaps alien) bird, or some airplane looking aircraft which would more bird like. Something like the Death Gliders in Stargate for instance.
Well perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, since I suppose it could be possible that aliens from another planet could have similar tech to ours. You could call it convergent technology, much like convergent evolution where totally different creatures have the same adapations or features.
Anyways, that's enough for this installment of my thoughts on The 12th Planet." I'm probably not gonna post another one until I'm finished with the book, in which case I'll share more overall thoughts on it as a whole.
To catch up on my thoughts on this book, click here and it'll bring up all my thoughts on it so far.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
What will happen if SETI has found something?
SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program may have found something, and the news is beginning to spread it's way across the infoweb.
It seems that a possible laser pulse signal has been found by an astrophysicist in Australia. Like the famous wow signal however, it's only been detected once, but that was enough to the scientist double checking everything and searching for a repeat of the signal. They need to double check and make sure it's not like a glitch, space noise, or some unknown space phenomenon, so don't get your hopes up that SETI has actually found ET (that is assuming of course that ET hasn't already found us.).
Let's assume for a second however, that this is indeed the signal that all the world has been waiting for. What does it mean for mankind?
One of the most popular ideas is that it will crush most modern religions, particularly the Abrahamic ones. Unfortunately it probably would due to the fact most proprietors of those faiths don't realize that there is nothing making ET incompatible with their religions. Overall the idea of a God and aliens is completetly compatible, it's just humanity's interpretation of religion that makes in uncompatible.
On the technological side of things, will we be able to interpret a signal from an alien species? Yet alone one that has a completely alien form of communication or language? After all, we'd have nothing to compare it to, that is assuming that the species communicates in a vocal way like we do. For all we know, they could squeak, click, or even fart to communicate.
The one obvious thing is that we will not be able to communicate back and forth with them, even if they are capable of doing so (as they point out in the article as well). Signals take hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years to travel between galaxies and stars. That also means that even if we could communicate back with them, they might not even be there when our return signal reaches their planet.
Or picture this; what if their signal was the one and only that they could send in a vain hope of getting help from another species as some disaster that was about to destroy their planet, or wipe out life on it? Wouldn't that be an ironic twist?
Finally, for those of us who believe in UFOs, would this get us any more credability? Doubtful in my opinion, unless of course this whole signal thing is a setup to release advanced UFO tech.
Imagine that the government has had ongoing communications with ET for years through years. If Roswell or any other UFO crash was indeed alien or if Eisenhower did meet with aliens during his term, we could be have been releasing alien tech for decades as some have theorized. And if the world's governments wanted to just jump the gun and go as high tech as possible while skipping generations of technology, why not claim to have found an alien signal? After all, if they've been covering up as many have assumed, they could claim they interpreted this signal SETI picked up and say it was instructions for advanced technology from "peaceful space brothers".
Anyways, those are my thoughts on this...what are yours?
It seems that a possible laser pulse signal has been found by an astrophysicist in Australia. Like the famous wow signal however, it's only been detected once, but that was enough to the scientist double checking everything and searching for a repeat of the signal. They need to double check and make sure it's not like a glitch, space noise, or some unknown space phenomenon, so don't get your hopes up that SETI has actually found ET (that is assuming of course that ET hasn't already found us.).
Let's assume for a second however, that this is indeed the signal that all the world has been waiting for. What does it mean for mankind?
One of the most popular ideas is that it will crush most modern religions, particularly the Abrahamic ones. Unfortunately it probably would due to the fact most proprietors of those faiths don't realize that there is nothing making ET incompatible with their religions. Overall the idea of a God and aliens is completetly compatible, it's just humanity's interpretation of religion that makes in uncompatible.
On the technological side of things, will we be able to interpret a signal from an alien species? Yet alone one that has a completely alien form of communication or language? After all, we'd have nothing to compare it to, that is assuming that the species communicates in a vocal way like we do. For all we know, they could squeak, click, or even fart to communicate.
The one obvious thing is that we will not be able to communicate back and forth with them, even if they are capable of doing so (as they point out in the article as well). Signals take hundreds, thousands, and even millions of years to travel between galaxies and stars. That also means that even if we could communicate back with them, they might not even be there when our return signal reaches their planet.
Or picture this; what if their signal was the one and only that they could send in a vain hope of getting help from another species as some disaster that was about to destroy their planet, or wipe out life on it? Wouldn't that be an ironic twist?
Finally, for those of us who believe in UFOs, would this get us any more credability? Doubtful in my opinion, unless of course this whole signal thing is a setup to release advanced UFO tech.
Imagine that the government has had ongoing communications with ET for years through years. If Roswell or any other UFO crash was indeed alien or if Eisenhower did meet with aliens during his term, we could be have been releasing alien tech for decades as some have theorized. And if the world's governments wanted to just jump the gun and go as high tech as possible while skipping generations of technology, why not claim to have found an alien signal? After all, if they've been covering up as many have assumed, they could claim they interpreted this signal SETI picked up and say it was instructions for advanced technology from "peaceful space brothers".
Anyways, those are my thoughts on this...what are yours?
Friday, May 15, 2009
Skeptical or Skeptic?
What does one accept as real when the line between what is real and what is not real is so thin?
For me, being what I like to call a couch researcher (someone who researches from the comfort of their own home, through books, internet, TV, and other media) it's kind of confusing sometimes.
For one thing, the internet is full, and I mean almost bursting at the seems with UFO videos. Many of these, if not most, are fakes. Creations, by those who are either bored, studying computer animation, or even trying to stir up controversy.
In my case, I've chosen to sort of take a skeptical approach to any new UFO video or picture that creates a buzz in the community. I trust almost no form of media when it comes to UFOs. Most of the time UFO photos and videos amount to nothing more then blurry objects or unusual lights in the sky, which may be anything from a speck on a camera lens to a UFO (unidentified flying object in the truest since, not necessarily ET's hot rod, but might be).
In all honesty I feel funny saying that. I've seen things myself after all, that I know weren't normal, or man made. Things that I'm confident were not of this world.
So is approaching things in the world of esoterica skeptically bad? Not all, since if one were to jump at every UFO video, or every picture, and say that they're all real, they'd be just as bad as the people who actually label themselves as "skeptics", and say everything is either swamp gas, weather balloons, or hoaxers. Not to mention they'd look just as silly.
Anyways, I think what I'm trying to say is that, no matter how hard we try to prove that a piece of evidence, like a video or picture of a UFO is extra-terrestrial or whatever, we will never know for sure. For certain there probably are those that are indeed something unknown to us, but at the same time, there are those that are just everyday things mistaken for ET's hot rod. So approaching things skeptically is not bad, just logical. As for labeling oneself a skeptic and saying it's all fake? That's not logical, just silly...if that makes sense...
For me, being what I like to call a couch researcher (someone who researches from the comfort of their own home, through books, internet, TV, and other media) it's kind of confusing sometimes.
For one thing, the internet is full, and I mean almost bursting at the seems with UFO videos. Many of these, if not most, are fakes. Creations, by those who are either bored, studying computer animation, or even trying to stir up controversy.
In my case, I've chosen to sort of take a skeptical approach to any new UFO video or picture that creates a buzz in the community. I trust almost no form of media when it comes to UFOs. Most of the time UFO photos and videos amount to nothing more then blurry objects or unusual lights in the sky, which may be anything from a speck on a camera lens to a UFO (unidentified flying object in the truest since, not necessarily ET's hot rod, but might be).
In all honesty I feel funny saying that. I've seen things myself after all, that I know weren't normal, or man made. Things that I'm confident were not of this world.
So is approaching things in the world of esoterica skeptically bad? Not all, since if one were to jump at every UFO video, or every picture, and say that they're all real, they'd be just as bad as the people who actually label themselves as "skeptics", and say everything is either swamp gas, weather balloons, or hoaxers. Not to mention they'd look just as silly.
Anyways, I think what I'm trying to say is that, no matter how hard we try to prove that a piece of evidence, like a video or picture of a UFO is extra-terrestrial or whatever, we will never know for sure. For certain there probably are those that are indeed something unknown to us, but at the same time, there are those that are just everyday things mistaken for ET's hot rod. So approaching things skeptically is not bad, just logical. As for labeling oneself a skeptic and saying it's all fake? That's not logical, just silly...if that makes sense...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Atmospheric Beasts
I was checking out a post today at the blog Whales in Space (the name reminds me of the scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where a missile is turned into a sperm whale in the atmosphere of a planet, only to gain consciousness before it plummets to it's doom.) about a UFO that looked like a jellyfish that was seen in the UK, when suddenly I felt a massive shock inside my brain. Out of nowhere, a memory appeared, and I found myself thinking about giant jellyfish and other critters flying through the air, atmospheric beasts, or what I'll call atmo beasts for short.
Now the idea of atmo beasts has really been around quite awhile. Basically, their supposed to be large, somewhat normal looking animals, that just happen to be lighter then air. That of course means they can float, which they're able to achieve without any rum, and actually makes them seem quite odd, because well jellyfish are only supposed to be able to float in water. Bizarrely though, people in the past have reported such things.
An even freakier form of atmospheric beast appeared in Crawfordsville, Indiana in September of 1891. The creature was seen on two different days, and was seen by hundreds on the second one. Described as being 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, and propelling itself with sets of flippers, the image of an oriental style dragon, is almost conjured up.
So do such creatures exist in the upper atsmospehere of our planet? Who knows. You'd think with all the planes flying around, these things would be seen regulary. Of course seeing as you can't see into clouds, yet alone while in one (what do you think fog is?) perhaps they live in there. Or perhaps they're to blame for many UFOs that are seen as Ivan T. Sanderson, a famous researcher of the bizzare, theorized.
Sources and Further Reading:
The Cryptid Zoo: Atmospheric Beasts
Subversive Element: The Crawfordsville Monster
The Crawfordsville Monster - Wikipedia
Now the idea of atmo beasts has really been around quite awhile. Basically, their supposed to be large, somewhat normal looking animals, that just happen to be lighter then air. That of course means they can float, which they're able to achieve without any rum, and actually makes them seem quite odd, because well jellyfish are only supposed to be able to float in water. Bizarrely though, people in the past have reported such things.
An even freakier form of atmospheric beast appeared in Crawfordsville, Indiana in September of 1891. The creature was seen on two different days, and was seen by hundreds on the second one. Described as being 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, and propelling itself with sets of flippers, the image of an oriental style dragon, is almost conjured up.
So do such creatures exist in the upper atsmospehere of our planet? Who knows. You'd think with all the planes flying around, these things would be seen regulary. Of course seeing as you can't see into clouds, yet alone while in one (what do you think fog is?) perhaps they live in there. Or perhaps they're to blame for many UFOs that are seen as Ivan T. Sanderson, a famous researcher of the bizzare, theorized.
Sources and Further Reading:
The Cryptid Zoo: Atmospheric Beasts
Subversive Element: The Crawfordsville Monster
The Crawfordsville Monster - Wikipedia
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Thought on Bigfoot
The other day I came across an interesting news article about a guy living in the woods in Wales. Apparently he's been living there on berries and small animals and occasionally stepping out of the woods to steal milk (they still deliver milk to the doorstep there) and clothes off clothing lines.
Anyways, the cops in the area as well as residents of the town near the woods believe he's a threat to the populace and have been looking for him, to no avail. Even with thermal imaging, dogs, and helicopters, they have not been able to find him.
Now if a modern man can live in the woods near a town and avoid being detected, then what does that say about a creature such as Bigfoot? I think such a creature would be even better at avoiding detection in the woods, having not only grown up in the environment, but also having the inherent instincts from generations Sasquatches living that way.
As far as the guy in the woods though. I say let him be. He hasn't harmed anyone and has only committed petty crimes. No harm no foul in my opinion. If he's guilty of anything, it's not fitting in into what modern society demands us to fit into, which in my opinion, is not a crime.
On an unrelated note, I'm probably not going to be making it to the McMinville UFO Festival this year as I had hoped. There is still a slight chance that I will, but it depends on time and some other things.
Anyways, the cops in the area as well as residents of the town near the woods believe he's a threat to the populace and have been looking for him, to no avail. Even with thermal imaging, dogs, and helicopters, they have not been able to find him.
Now if a modern man can live in the woods near a town and avoid being detected, then what does that say about a creature such as Bigfoot? I think such a creature would be even better at avoiding detection in the woods, having not only grown up in the environment, but also having the inherent instincts from generations Sasquatches living that way.
As far as the guy in the woods though. I say let him be. He hasn't harmed anyone and has only committed petty crimes. No harm no foul in my opinion. If he's guilty of anything, it's not fitting in into what modern society demands us to fit into, which in my opinion, is not a crime.
On an unrelated note, I'm probably not going to be making it to the McMinville UFO Festival this year as I had hoped. There is still a slight chance that I will, but it depends on time and some other things.
Friday, May 8, 2009
BRAINS! Zombie parasite #2
Honestly, the BRAINS! part is only in the title because of the mass assumption that zombies crave them (thanks largely goes to Return of the Living Dead for that I believe), forever linking the word brains to zombies. Although bizarrely, the so called "zombie" parasites do have some effect on the brain. In the case of Toxoplasma gondii, it even affects humans.
Toxoplasma gondii (or Toxo as we'll call him) likes to reproduce in the guts of cats, which one most agree is rather weird, but Toxo seems to like it. Anyways, from the gut of the cat, Toxo reproduces itself and somehow sheds eggs outside of the cat, which somehow get into passing rats and mice.
Once inside one of the named rodents, Toxo creates cysts, but also affects the brain of the infected rodent. Being as rats and mice prefer to avoid areas where cats frequently loiter, they tend to avoid areas that smell of cat urine. However, our friend Toxo eliminates the fear mice and rats have of that, and well compels the rat to do just the opposite. So the next time a cat goes wandering around one of it's preferred locations, and rat or mouse infected by Toxo might just be waiting there going "eat me!". Ok, there is no evidence that the infected rodents say "eat me.", but there might as well be seeing as they're free game.
Now, old Toxo doesn't just infect rodents and our feline friends. He can actually infect just about any warmblooded critter, including humans. Some studies apparently even been done that link Toxo to some cases of schizophrenia. However if you get infected by it, you might not necesarrily become schizo. It can however, in intial stages cause flu like symptoms, and can even causes fatal infections in people with immune system problems. Toxo also can affect unborn babies of pregnant mothers that are infected, causing birth defects or even death of the unborn child or miscarriage. Although I must say, from what I read, as long as you keep a sanitetary lifestyle and don't undercook meat, you should be safe from infection from Toxoplasma gondii.
Sources and Further Reading:
Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Mind Control
Toxoplasma gondii on Wikipedia
Toxoplasma gondii (or Toxo as we'll call him) likes to reproduce in the guts of cats, which one most agree is rather weird, but Toxo seems to like it. Anyways, from the gut of the cat, Toxo reproduces itself and somehow sheds eggs outside of the cat, which somehow get into passing rats and mice.
Once inside one of the named rodents, Toxo creates cysts, but also affects the brain of the infected rodent. Being as rats and mice prefer to avoid areas where cats frequently loiter, they tend to avoid areas that smell of cat urine. However, our friend Toxo eliminates the fear mice and rats have of that, and well compels the rat to do just the opposite. So the next time a cat goes wandering around one of it's preferred locations, and rat or mouse infected by Toxo might just be waiting there going "eat me!". Ok, there is no evidence that the infected rodents say "eat me.", but there might as well be seeing as they're free game.
Now, old Toxo doesn't just infect rodents and our feline friends. He can actually infect just about any warmblooded critter, including humans. Some studies apparently even been done that link Toxo to some cases of schizophrenia. However if you get infected by it, you might not necesarrily become schizo. It can however, in intial stages cause flu like symptoms, and can even causes fatal infections in people with immune system problems. Toxo also can affect unborn babies of pregnant mothers that are infected, causing birth defects or even death of the unborn child or miscarriage. Although I must say, from what I read, as long as you keep a sanitetary lifestyle and don't undercook meat, you should be safe from infection from Toxoplasma gondii.
Sources and Further Reading:
Toxoplasma Gondii Parasite Mind Control
Toxoplasma gondii on Wikipedia
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
New Blog
Naveed's Other Blog - Because one blog is not enough.
Going to be a personal blog so I can ramble on about things that don't quite fit here at The Realm.
Going to be a personal blog so I can ramble on about things that don't quite fit here at The Realm.
BRAINS! Zombie parasite #1
Zombies are awesome period. In fact their almost as awesome as pirates, but not nearly as fun to be (can't pillage when you're undead now can you?). Speaking of pirates, that brings to mind voodoo, which course has it's own form of zombies that I've talked about before here. However, there is another form of zombification that happens in reality, albeit not very movie like, but still quite interesting. Zombie parasites...or at least we'll call them that.
Amazing, and sometimes truly odd things exist out in nature such as the said parasites, which are highly specialized, and almost seem like they're here strictly to entertain those of us fascinated by anything remotely weird. The two zombie parasites that I'm going to talk about tonight fall into this category, since well, I fascinated by the weird.
The first parasite is a worm, or more accurately a flatworm, that has a thing for hanging in piles of bird crap. Not exactly the most savory of places to be, but it does work to their advantage. You see, in nature, all creatures have jobs, and well in the case of snails, it's to clean up after the rest of nature. Therefore snails love eating fecal matter, which is a great advantage to the flatworm, but a disadvantage to the snail that happens to ingest said worm.
In order to achieve it's goal of reproducing, the flatworm needs to change the snail by making it look appetizing to birds. It does this by invading at least one of the snails eye stalks, swelling it (or them) to massive proportions, and adding some fancy psychedelic effects as well. This accomplishes two things; the eye stalks get stuck outside the snail's head and they look a tasty psychedelic caterpillars to a birds.
The worm doesn't stop there though. It also takes over the infected snail's mind, turning it into it's own personal mode of transportation to guarantee that some bird will eventually see the psychedelic looking eye stalks and mistake it for a caterpillar. Once some poor bird falls for this clever rouge, the flatworm enjoys of a life inside the bird's digestive track, where it feeds, grows, and reproduces. The offspring and perhaps the original worm itself are then excreted back into to nature within another pile of bird crap, where the cycle starts all over again.
Sources and Further Reading:
The seven most horrifying parasites
Insane Snail Parasite
Amazing, and sometimes truly odd things exist out in nature such as the said parasites, which are highly specialized, and almost seem like they're here strictly to entertain those of us fascinated by anything remotely weird. The two zombie parasites that I'm going to talk about tonight fall into this category, since well, I fascinated by the weird.
The first parasite is a worm, or more accurately a flatworm, that has a thing for hanging in piles of bird crap. Not exactly the most savory of places to be, but it does work to their advantage. You see, in nature, all creatures have jobs, and well in the case of snails, it's to clean up after the rest of nature. Therefore snails love eating fecal matter, which is a great advantage to the flatworm, but a disadvantage to the snail that happens to ingest said worm.
In order to achieve it's goal of reproducing, the flatworm needs to change the snail by making it look appetizing to birds. It does this by invading at least one of the snails eye stalks, swelling it (or them) to massive proportions, and adding some fancy psychedelic effects as well. This accomplishes two things; the eye stalks get stuck outside the snail's head and they look a tasty psychedelic caterpillars to a birds.
The worm doesn't stop there though. It also takes over the infected snail's mind, turning it into it's own personal mode of transportation to guarantee that some bird will eventually see the psychedelic looking eye stalks and mistake it for a caterpillar. Once some poor bird falls for this clever rouge, the flatworm enjoys of a life inside the bird's digestive track, where it feeds, grows, and reproduces. The offspring and perhaps the original worm itself are then excreted back into to nature within another pile of bird crap, where the cycle starts all over again.
Sources and Further Reading:
The seven most horrifying parasites
Insane Snail Parasite
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Nephilim and Neanderthals
While browsing through my favorite blogs the other day, I came across a post over at The Gralien Report about none other then the Nephilim (who I also posted about just recently). Micah (the mind behind The Gralien Report) draws on some inspiration from a post by his friend Nick Redfern and the novel The Descent by Jeff Long and ponders over the possibility of the Nephilim being a species of proto-human. Basically an unknown or primitive species of human.
While reading his post a memory was sparked something I read in the book The Eaters of the Dead (also known as The 13th Warrior) by Michael Crichton. In A Factual Not on Eaters of the Dead (an essay written in 1992 that follows the story) Michael talks about how the story itself came to be, and about the various fictional and nonfictional aspects put into the story.
Now the most interesting part mentioned in his essay, is a segment where he mentions the Wendol (the villains of the story) are a relict group of Neanderthals that survived until the Vikings in the story wiped them out a thousand years ago. He also mentions, that in the decades since he originally wrote Eaters of the Dead (first published in the mid 1970s) some studies done had suggested that perhaps such relict groups Neanderthals may indeed have existed in remote locations. Could such groups of Neanderthals have been the Nephilim?
Not only could they count as being “proto-humans” (albeit not as tall) as Micah puts it, but this very possibility was also gone over in an episode of The Naked Archaeologist called “The Giants of Genesis”. Simcha Jacobovici, the shows host, concludes that the Nephilim are not giants as so many people believe, but perhaps a form of man believed to have been “soulless” (proposed to be Neanderthals in the episode) by the writer of Genesis, and goes to a cave system that shows that perhaps modern humans and Neanderthals lived together. Later in the episode some even more shocking evidence is presented, hinting at the possibility that humans and Neanderthals even mated and gave rise to what may have become the Nephilim in Genesis.
While reading his post a memory was sparked something I read in the book The Eaters of the Dead (also known as The 13th Warrior) by Michael Crichton. In A Factual Not on Eaters of the Dead (an essay written in 1992 that follows the story) Michael talks about how the story itself came to be, and about the various fictional and nonfictional aspects put into the story.
Now the most interesting part mentioned in his essay, is a segment where he mentions the Wendol (the villains of the story) are a relict group of Neanderthals that survived until the Vikings in the story wiped them out a thousand years ago. He also mentions, that in the decades since he originally wrote Eaters of the Dead (first published in the mid 1970s) some studies done had suggested that perhaps such relict groups Neanderthals may indeed have existed in remote locations. Could such groups of Neanderthals have been the Nephilim?
Not only could they count as being “proto-humans” (albeit not as tall) as Micah puts it, but this very possibility was also gone over in an episode of The Naked Archaeologist called “The Giants of Genesis”. Simcha Jacobovici, the shows host, concludes that the Nephilim are not giants as so many people believe, but perhaps a form of man believed to have been “soulless” (proposed to be Neanderthals in the episode) by the writer of Genesis, and goes to a cave system that shows that perhaps modern humans and Neanderthals lived together. Later in the episode some even more shocking evidence is presented, hinting at the possibility that humans and Neanderthals even mated and gave rise to what may have become the Nephilim in Genesis.
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