Age before beauty

Let me first say, politics is a blood sport and I really have lost interest of the years. It amazes me that we teach our children not to bully each other, and laws are passed stopping them, but yet politicians have free reign to destroy each other and use NSA secrets or back alley Sallys to their advantage. The more dirt the better.. the more chances a politician can be destroyed in front of the media spotlight.. And then the other guy wins.


Though I am politically an atheist at this point, I enjoy watching politics from a distance and see how the actors play their roles.
At times it's clumsy..at times it's infuriating.
And the media? Oh that media..

Hillary Clinton has announced that she will announce she is running for president. That happens tomorrow, Sunday. The strange part, in my political analyst mind, is that she is choosing to use the internet to feed a video to supporters saying she is going to run for President. No rally or big speech. Instead, a quiet video uploaded to the net.  In a sense, that's creative. In another, it misses the point. It loses the excitement.

Hillary Clinton has a lot of work to do. There are Democrats that really don't want her to be president. And some of the Democrats who don't want her to actually wanted her to in 2007 and 2008--until Barack Obama started his quest for the White House. The Clinton vs Obama match up was one for the ages. Tears, fears.. "3am ads," Obama jokes at debates about her being likable. Even Bubba himself reportedly was enraged. And Bill was forced into going to Girardville PA and eating a Tony's Screamer during the St Patrick's day Parade, all for the campaign, and something his stomach  may yet not be completely healed from.

I personally think there is something else that will work against Hillary Clinton. The media is going to start pushing the image of her as an aging war hawk, someone who has seen her years and now has become withered with time.

Remember this 1995 TIME magazine cover?

That is Bob Dole. The cover story came early in the campaign. The media summed it up. He was old. Too old. By the time October came when Bob Dole literally fell off of a stage during a campaign event in exhaustion, the media's prediction came true. He was indeed too old.

Now keep in mind, Bob Dole was 72 then. He's 91 now, and still alive. And from interviews I see when him from time to time, he also still has a full mind and spirit.

Hillary Clinton will face the same. She's 67, not the same as Dole's wrinkled banana was at the time he sought the presidency against Hill's Bill, but she's aged nonetheless.

In reading media reports hyping her bid for the presidency, I am confronted by one thing that the Hillary campaign is set to do: The propaganda is going to be amazing. Which is what a good campaign does, don't get me wrong. Someone needs to tell Rand Paul that, he's been floundering since he announced and is blaming the media instead of oiling his machine that needs oil internally.

But with Clinton, the posters and images, buttons and shirts being used are all featuring a much younger Hillary Clinton. They are showcasing her presidential candidacy photos from 2008.. they are living in the past. Take a look at these two AP photos of people inside the Hillary super PAC office. And check Hill's images being showcased:

 

Photo number two especially is promoting he younger more energetic Hillary.

Before the stroke.

Before Benghazi.
Before the baggage.

What is my point?

My point(s) follow:

1. The media is going to be a bit biased at first. They won't call attention to Hillary's age at first like they did Dole, but they will. They love a good feeding frenzy. And if someone younger and more exciting comes along in the Democratic party, Clinton will suddenly be characterized as an aging beauty of the 20th century, not ready for the new times


2. The Hillary Clinton campaign is going to use old images of Clinton to create a reality that existed then, but not now. The years are what years are: Unkind. Men and women wrinkle over time. Faces change.. the scars of the planetary revolving get noticed. And yes, we get old. Hillary Clinton is not a spring chicken. But eventually her campaign will have to come to grips with that. It appears they are recycling old images--images that don't look a thing like Hillary does now.

While I said before, I don't like taking sides in political fights because, in reality, I think I am much more nuanced than that. We all are, if we stop and think about it. The political parties are like manmade religions. Ironically, people go to church on Sunday and the political shows also air Sunday morning. (Not that either church or political shows matter anymore, of course.)

However the nuttiness of the political process, from a distance it's surely fun to watch.

I consider presidential campaigns like I do Super Bowls or World Series with teams I don't like: I love watching the process and not having to take a side. Of course I vote..and often for the lesser of the evils. But don't we all?

I am fascinated by how Hillary overcomes her State Department years. Her Benghazi 'what difference does it make' comments. Her angry tirade in front of Congress about the terrorist attack. Her email server oddities. And yes. The elephant--or should I say donkey?-- in the room: Her age, once it eventually becomes an issue. As we all know it will.

THE GOOD OLD DAYS. DOLE WAS OLD. HILL WAS 50. The future was ahead of her

 

The Hillary we know now

 

Art Bell and Keith Rowland plan to go it alone, will broadcast independently this summer

Art Bell, back in his time, had a different take. He did politics for some time. But changing the format equaled a success that has been unparalleled by any in comparison.

Art Bell is coming back to radio. But will people back to him?

There are lots of people happy about--including me, to be honest. I have been a proud card carrying member of the BELLGAB.COM forum for several years, joining in a strange arena of general disgust with George Noory and the state of modern radio..

And speaking of modern radio..

It's a cesspool of politics. Constant banter about material items that have useless end results for those who debate them. Issues that really don't matter. Gay wedding cakes, for one.. And many other things to divide a nation that is already divided into small divisions of divisions that don't have a chance of ever getting along with each other..

I think it's fair to say that Coast to Coast AM, the 1990s and early 2000s version, inspired a nation to accept the paranormal or at least question it. It led to countless ghost hunter shows, added to the aura of creepiness of the X-FILES, and make lots of night shifters and night owls hear something few others did: A bizarre four to five hours of overnight programming focusing on the absurd, the bizarre..the science.. and the shadow creatures. That may or may not exist.

And Richard C. Hoagland. Who does exist. As does his hair..

 

But a return of Art Bell?

In a market saturated by fools and frauds, it is a little difficult for me to see where Bell fits in the new scheme of things..

Radio is mean and cruel now. Some may say it always was, but regardless of history, it certainly is now. It seems that everyone who has a chip on their shoulders when they call and opine. It would appear that everything--from religion to science--has someone who backs it without prejudice or many times even logic.

Art Bell did not.

He created a new category of media that did not exist before his venture into the strange activity late in the night.

 

When Art Bell returned to SIRIUS XM radio in 2013, something seemed off. The opening intro, the guests.. the format. SIRIUS XM did not seem to be the rightful home for Art Bell. The satellite company's chief talent, Howard Stern, certainly did not welcome him with open air.. Lots of others poked fun at Bell for disallowing cursing no his unregulated program. And then when Bell chose to ask Sirius to be permitted to broadcast his show on his own website, he seemed to have an inability to grasp the notion of the contract he signed.

Little did anyone know at the time, of course, was that Coast to Coast AM was working behind the scenes to secure Art Bell's spot on the INDIE station--the home that Coast still has today on XM..

Art Bell has been toying with fans in various places for months. On BELLGAB, he has become a regular contributor to the message board site. On Facebook, he drops messages from time to time about his plans.

Tonight, he posted what seems to be a near-maybe-soon to be decision on his future program, MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT. Bell said,

Midnight in the Desert

Here is what I can tell you, Keith and I are going to think about this over this Weekend but it looks like instead of making a deal with anybody else we will do it ourselves. We will be on the Internet and everybody will be able to hear the show on Tune In (free app) Worldwide.

If we decide to move forward I will be ordering the gear by Tuesday. The music is taken care of and the time of the show will be 9PM-12AM PT M-F.

The live show will be free, but because we are doing it ourselves we will be depending on people buying membership for 5 bucks a Month which gives you the Podcast and Wormhole and so forth. If they don't we won't get very far because we pay music, Bandwidth, Producer Etc.

We could have signed with a Partner BUT they wanted to put us in a pay wall with other stuff and the price would have been at least double with all kinds of restrictions so we think we will put up the money ourselves and roll the dice. It's a gamble but so is life.

Art

The gamble..

Keith Rowland and Art Bell will undoubtedly have a tough choice on their hands this weekend. Art Bell said on BELLGAB that Rowland doesn't have much money for the game. Bell himself even said he wanted to try to save the money has put away for his family, and at the same time hinted about how expensive it will be to buy equipment to broadcast himself and how much money it was going to take to be able to play bumper music.

Five dollars a month will help him.

But will it be enough.

There are two schools of thought in my own head on the return of Art Bell to radio. On one hand, I want him back. I am a little dismayed by most of the 'paranormal' talk that is out there--those who fall victim to believing everything or others who simply pretend to understand the paranormal as a means of pretending to be the next Art. And with a return to the radio, there's a good chance that real talk will return. Questions that matter, speculation based on common sense, a fun spirit of tin-foil-hat wearing paranoia without being too paranoid. And truthseeking with critical thinking instead of gullibility.

On the other hand.. if a failure occurs, and yet another quick retirement happens, the Art Bell stock will be utterly washed up. Gone. Finished. And a mighty career and industry-changing life will be forced into the background without respect.

I am biased. As  fan, I hope scenario two never happens. I certainly don't think it will, but say it only for the purposes of possibility.

The podcasting world is saturated.

I have a very tough time keeping up with message boards and blogs that I love. I have an equally difficult time, as of late, finding the time to write as much as I crave doing so. But the podasting world? With a blog or website, you can quickly skim for the best parts. You can see the bold type and read, quickly, what may matter more than the rest of the verbiage. But with podcasting, you can't really do such things.. it's much tougher to find a batch of podcasts you really love and find the time to actually listen to them all.

And that is why Art Bell has to be good.

He will be successful, I predict, in gaining back the fans who have become weary with Coast to Coast AM. He may even build his audience a bit, based on the fact that so many newcomers to the Coast show have grown equally tired of cue-card questions and borderline stupidity displayed by George Noory. But will Art Bell be able to gather enough of the new generation to listen?

It's interesting to think that all of the things popular today, the ghost tales and stories of alien encounters, UFO sightings, and conspiracy, all have a bloodline dating back directly to Art Bell. And few in the new generation of social media or internet broadcasting have a clue as to how their world and subject matter popularity was based off of the hard work of someone who went against the grain in a time when 'paranormal' was marginalized and mocked.

In that sense, Art Bell deserves the respect of the people who buy into the ideas he promoted.

But we know that what should happen doesn't always occur.

I will not be making any predictions on whether there will be success found on MIDNIGHT IN THE DESERT. Of course, I will be working 5 bucks a month into my budget. Heck, if I subscribed (for three months) to Sirius, 5 bucks is a bargain.

Art Bell will need a lot of people like me, however.

Time will tell to see if he gets them.

Water wars coming. The next crime wave is predicted

I recall a documentary I saw back in the late 1990s, it was some sort of bad TV special--bad in acting and producing--that predicted what the next fifty or so years of life may be like. Some talked about Nostrodamus, others just predicted based off of scientific research. One particular thing stuck in my mind: The possibility of 'waters wars,' with shortages and droughts people would be forced to fight and become adversaries just for a drop of liquid.

I kept that fearful tale in the back of my mind for years.

Today, I read this headline and the fear came racing back.

Dateline, KQED Science section, an article written by Sasha Khokha:

THE NEXT CRIME WAVE IN FARM COUNTRY: STEALING WATER.

 

The story comes from the drought scourged California landscape, where water is no where and there's hardly a drop to drink, or use for farming. Underground aqueducts are quickly becoming clay. It's getting tense, with Governor Brown announcing tough restrictions on the use of water.

Meanwhile, golf courses remain green, as do the luxurious yards of the rich and famous. But that's a whole other story.

The article linked weaves a troubling tale of what the near future could look like. A maybe those 'water wars' fears from that unnamed 1990s special could actually occur.

From the story, the more important text:

“They’re taking the water hoses, taking the copper wiring,” says the county’s District Attorney, David Linn. “We’ve even had instances where they’ve come in and stolen the water pumps from the farmers.”

Linn has recently launched a new task force so rural residents and farmers can reach a deputy district attorney 24-7 to report crime, including illegal well drilling.

Linn says a hypothetical call might be, “You know over the past two weeks, the water flow on my kitchen sink has continued to decrease. I notice there’s a couple of big drill rigs across the road, looks like they’re very active.”

An investigator could come out and talk with the well driller to make sure they’re drilling where they should be.

“We want to stop the wholesale planned attempt by water drillers to essentially tap out entire neighborhoods of homes without proper legal authority,” says Linn.

If water is siphoned out of a storage tank, or a water pump goes missing, the DA’s office could dispatch investigators to the scene to collect evidence for prosecution.

Under last year’s landmark groundwater law, local officials will be taking on the primary responsibility for managing groundwater and enforcing new rules.

The Madera County Task Force also plans to educate farmers about the best kinds of fences and tank enclosures to keep out water thieves.

Imagine: Water delivery trucks will be threatened. Fire hydrants will be targets.. People will be dying--if things get really, really bad, for just one more taste of life-continuing liquid. Just one more drop of the once abundant resource that we all need to sustain life..

All of these hypothetical fears are, frighteningly, quickly become more than hypotheticals. They are becoming likely possibilities.

I recall that scene from the TWILIGHT ZONE episode the Midnight Sun, where water was scarce and the earth was moving towards the sun--before a sudden change in course and it was hurled away. But during peak hot times, the program illustrated the desperate need that law abiding people would have and how they may resort to things that, under fair circumstances, they'd never consider. And that, in the end, is what is tough for us to consider: The prospect of people doing desperate things with the scarce resource of water drying up across the populous state.

I think the entire country is hoping for rain.

But forecasters aren't giving much hope lately.

The 'ring'

THE ‘RING’ IN REAL LIFE: WHAT WAS THIS HOVERING OBJECT!?

This may be a video you have to see to believe.. Various sources on the planet earth reporting about a strange black ring that descended from the sky over Kazakhstan .. And then vanished.

According to the reports, people who saw the objected were mystified and rattled in fear..

The video has been seen countless times on YOUTUBE, with commentators suggesting a hoax may have been pulled or an artificial mechanism was used to create the smoke-like UFO…thing.

While I am intrigued by UFOs and want to find evidence I can believe in, I am not endorsing this video as anything except.. explainable..

And a video from APRIL 2014–just one year ago–can explain it..

At that time–AGAIN, one year ago this month–a weird black ring was spotted over a town in England, Warwickshire.. But video evidence shows a very natural way to create such a smoky mystery.. Watch:

While we don’t know exactly what created the RING over Kazakhstan, I’d put my money on a very similar source as the one featured in the “UFO” video from April 2014..

THE SCREAM QUEEN WE DESERVE IN 2015

Aly Semigran in BUSTLE writes a good article on the cultural meaning of the horror film IT FOLLOWS and how Maika Monroe is a ‘feminist scream queen icon we deserve in 2015′ 

This new article is just a continuation of mainstream and alternative sources giving this movie some of the best ratings and best press that any horror movie has received since HALLOWEEN in the 1970s or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS at the end of the 20th century..

It’s amazing to see so many different publications giving both street cred and real cred to a horror film–a genre normally avoided with ten foot poles by most reviewers and news agencies.

This movie has cut across cultural boundaries and has redefined what may be scary–along with it giving people commentary on teen sex and the economic collapse in Detroit..

2014 reviews of BABADOOK were kind. But the IT FOLLOWS reviews were overly generous regardless of the site or source writing them..

And it’s translating to an ever-expanding amount of theaters and change in the dynamics for horror itself..

EASTER HELL

After al Shabaab gunmen massacred nearly 150 people at a Kenyan university on Thursday, singling out Christians for point-blank executions, churches in Kenya are turning to armed guards to protect their Easter Sunday congregations »

(Image source) 

Christians who make up 83 percent of the population of 44 million in Kenya.. This Easter Sunday they are horrified to have to worship surrounded by signs of warfare.. modern hate.. the emergence of violence in their nation stunned their souls.

Shabab threatened to make Kenyan cities turn red with blood.. The attack on the school last week was a victory for terror.. Easter Sunday armed guards is a continuation of that win.

Edith Honan with REUTERS reports:

Kenya has imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew in four crime-ridden counties along its porous 700km border with Somalia, while helicopters were deployed along its palm-fringed coastal region popular with Western tourists.

Robert Kitur, the coastal region police chief, told Reuters extra uniformed and plain-clothes police officers have been deployed in the area, where Islamists have carried out attacks in the past.

"It is a delicate period but we have put the best possible surveillance," he said. "What happened in Garissa must never be seen in Mombasa or anywhere else in the region and country."

The al Qaeda-aligned al Shabaab said the Garissa assault was punishment to Kenya for sending troops into Somalia to fight the group alongside other African Union peacekeepers.

Late on Saturday, 613 students and 50 staff from Garissa University College arrived by bus in Nairobi, where they were welcomed by sobbing parents and relatives. Parents of missing children were at the city’s mortuary, trying to identify the dead.

It was the most deadly attack on Kenyan soil since al Qaeda in 1998 bombed the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, killing more than 200 people and wounding thousands of others. 

The attack has put further strain on the historically cordial relations between Kenya’s Christian and Muslim communities, which have deteriorated in recent years due to frequent Islamist attacks on Christian priests and churches.

X X X X

 

THE EASTER VIGIL, 2015

It is seeking a deeper meaning, an answer, and not an easy one, to the questions which challenge our faith, our fidelity and our very existence

We need … the humility not to take ourselves so seriously, recognizing who we really are: Creatures with strengths and weaknesses, sinners in need of forgiveness

To enter into the mystery means going beyond our own comfort zone, beyond the laziness and indifference which hold us back, and going out in search of truth, beauty and love

POPE FRANCIS, EASTER 2015

A tale of two lawns

 

ADAM NAGOURNEY, JACK HEALY and NELSON D. SCHWARTZ  all write in the NEW YORK TIMES that the California dream may be over..  Not with a bang. But a dought..

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE..

I think for me the most striking of images: The green grass around homes and golf courses, juxtaposed to dry land directly next to it.

Meanwhile, some welcome rain is coming to CALI and residents are urged to save the rainwater. It will not be enough to end the drought.. Over 90% of the state is in a severe drought. The clock is ticking on the return of the dry season to the west..

NOT SO STELLAR

After so many plans to go to the theater, and then REDBOX the movie Interstellar, I finally had the opportunity do watch it last night. My verdict isn’t so kind.. I actually didn’t like it nearly as much as I 1) expected to and 2) wanted to. There are some amazing parts, don’t get me wrong. The idea of time travel and inter dimensional communication fascinates me and, quite honestly, may be possible.. CERN could tell us that soon. But as a movie, it missed a few marks I wanted it to hit. I cheered for it.. I supported it.. But in the end, I felt let down by a somewhat empty string of dialogue and some forced emotions that didn’t seem natural with the actors involved.

I won’t spoil anything .. There’s a slight chance that at least one or two people have yet to view the film..

I give the movie a 4 out of 10. Sorry.

But I do give Anne Hathaway’s haircut a 9 out of 10, though she looked a little like a young Leonard Nimoy, and I’ll kindly rate Matthew McConaughey’s new face a 10. Except his eyebrows, which at times looked glued on.

Maybe that’s what inter dimensional space travel does to a face and a hairstyle.

ART BELL: WE HAVE A CONTRACT...but...

For weeks, Art Bell has been telling fans on BELLGAB that a contract to return to the air was forthcoming. Today he posted a brief sort-of announcement on site here:

Ok, we have a contract but as expected there are some things in there that require some re-wording and one item that would be a deal breaker if left as is. We also have possibly another way to go if
need be.

Because we are at a sensitive part of all this you may not hear from me till we come to some conclusion on Monday or we hope no later then Tuesday (my estimates)

I did have a email exchange with Dave which he started and which will reamain private, even the exchange itself should have remained private, oh well.

Art

Bell's comment referring to 'Dave' is about a George Noory hosted open lines Coast to Coast AM last night. A caller asked if Bell was returning to Coast, Noory responded no, but elaborated that an email exchange, or several of them, has recently taken place between the two hosts. Noory wouldn't say anything else regarding the conversation, but the buzz of it lit up the BELLGAB exchange today. Bell seemingly thinks the conversation between them should have stayed private--even the fact they had one.

The HORROR REPORT will follow this story as it develops and relay any pertinent information as it becomes available..

DEVELOPING..

THE RISE OF THE BLOOD MOON

Iran deals..

Nuke threats..
Russian advances..
Blood moon Easter weekends..

This is the big moment–the time many prophecy speakers and doomsayers have warned us about. The rise of the blood moon takes place Friday night and Saturday morning and Easter weekend begins..

Many say that blood moons make for dangerous times..
And this blood moon this day will also be eclipsed..

The best view: The western third of the U.S. will get to see a total eclipse, while people in the central and eastern U.S. will only see a partial eclipse before the moon sets as daylight takes over..

The next blood moon comes in September..

Between now and then we will see how bad things get.
Or .. same as they ever were.

PASTA POWER POPE: FATTY FATCIS TOLD TO LAY OFF THE CARBS

The Pope’s expansive popularity has led to an expanding waistline.. Perhaps all of the free pizza deliveries to the Pope mobile.. Maybe some hardcore heavy pasta dinners have drained the Pontiff of the svelte appearance he when he first became the leader of the Catholic flock..

The AFP is one of the sources behind this breaking news story.. Angus MacKinnon, a reporter with the agency, filed his heavy-hitting dispatch on the Francis weight gain: 

Pizza-loving Pope Francis has been told to cut down and exercise more, reports said Thursday as the pontiff made the latest in a string of allusions to feeling weary.

 The 78-year-old pontiff is visibly chubbier these days than he was when he lived in Argentina and was known for a frugal lifestyle and walking as much as he could.

Since being elected he has made several enigmatic remarks suggesting he does not expect to be pope for longer than a few years, triggering speculation about possible health issues.

The latest came in a pre-Easter mass on Thursday, when he talked about the physically and emotionally exhausting nature of the work of a parish priest.

The Pope has a slight limp that got worse.. heavy food has led him to feel more tired. His high fat and high carb diet has led him to have a much more robust waist when seen in public.. Undoubtedly the frock has been frilled and had to be enlarged a bit over the past year..

Pope Fat-cis has been a nickname bantered about since this story broke..
People must want a thin pope..

I for one am perfectly fine with a Pope who lives his life enjoying food–carby food, too..

But he better watch out or the seat in the Pope Mobile will have to be expanded.. Airlines will start charging him for two people.. And his vestments will be stretched as his body gets bigger.

He’s bigger than life already. He may as well just be bigger.

This weekend: Easter. And ham. Lots of ham.

QUAINT LITTLE PLACES.. DEGENERATING EVERY DAY

There is a troubling trend in the United States–the trend of a degenerating infrastructure and disinterest from anyone trying to fix it..

I am amazed looking at historical photos.. those “old days” and times gone by are often littered with symbols of class and money–trains running on time and people dressed well at storefronts that were occupying buildings in small town America. Fast forward to today: Ruins.. Artifacts still remain. Reminders that old style transportation once existed ..  Empty stores, falling down most of the time, becoming just dust and rubble as time goes on.

This is the new America..
A time when nothing is being built.. nothing is being celebrated..

Roads and street corners are becoming ghastly..
Potholes are nothing compared to the once mighty structures separating apart and becoming death traps for anyone who tries to visit..

The new America is watching the old America die. But we aren’t do anything to create the future. Instead most towns and small rural areas are just hopeless and sad, grungy and gritty.. Joblessness is furthered by the end of many traditional career choices for those without college or connections..

We are rapidly falling behind the world..
For many hopeless hamlets, there’s no turning around now.

The April fools abound

The April Fool’s Joke needs to stop

I am happy April fool’s day is almost. Since childhood, I hated the day. The fake humor.. the not so clever jokes.. the phony nonsense that people think is laughable but instead it just an annoyance..

But recently, really with the internet, I avoid news in general on April fools. Because everyone wants to get into this act of outdoing each other.. real news agencies report false stories, for fun.. Real outlets of information think they are being more clever than the next guy..

Instead, things like this can happen: Shareholders can get very angry.

I love humor. When it’s funny.
I like jokes, when they are meaningful..
I really like comedy. When it is done right.

The people who don’t do it right are the ones who incessantly try to do it on April Fools.. a day that just should go away for good.

And that is why I love the sarcastic humor of this video:

Don't Hug Me 4 out

 

It's a little clunky compared to the previous videos.. a little sloppier. But the style and message stays the same: Mental anarchy ensues.. This time, the message is about the dangers of the internet's virtual world destroying our lives..

Enjoy..

https://youtu.be/G9FGgwCQ22w

Thumbing through Megan Fox's new interview

Megan Fox releases the thumbs!!
She knows you don’t think she’s smart.. But there’s lot of reasons she doesn’t really care..

From her BAZAAR interview, snippets worth thumbing through:

I would say most people assume that I’m not very smart or educated or earnest, because I have this image that I’m sort of narcissistic, chasing attention, and wanting people to like me,” she says. “It makes me laugh because I’ve done plenty of interviews and when you read the article from beginning to end you can see that I’m not your typical music video model.

And this

In Transformers I was a kid, I had no idea what I was doing. There was nothing for me to do [in that movie], but then I did nothing and that was my own call. 

On the charge she was eye candy in TRANSFORMERS:

I don’t take it personally because in some ways I acknowledge and agree. But at the same time, both established comedians and Quentin Tarantino have come up to me and said, ‘I really liked Jennifer’s Body, you were really good in that.’ The people whose opinions matter liked it, so I’m okay with that.

THE EASTER SKIES

Blood Moon With Total Lunar Eclipse & Eerie Biblical Message Rising Over U.S. Easter Weekend »

Some Christians believe the blood moon lunar eclipse tetrad could be connected to Jesus’ return — or signify a world-changing event about to take place.
According to the King James Bible, “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord comes,” (Joel 2:31).

The end of the world..
Armageddon..
There has been lots of end times before, so I’m not going to pack my bags yet. I think we’ll be here for a while.
But that’s not saying things won’t stay scary.

TERRI SHIAVO TEN YEARS LATER

As wretched a this image is, it’s the artistic representation of what Terri Shiavo looked like as she lived her final moments on earth, deprived of food and water by a judge’s orders 10 years ago.

This is how we looked ten years ago as she left the planet:



This is a delicate subject.. and still as divisive today as it was then. My position then and today was that her death was wrong..and that the only person who benefited from it was her ex-husband. I still believe I am right.. I also understand the vast amount of people who think differently than me. But regardless of what anyone thinks, the description (graphic, beware) of her final hours needs to be documented for history books. Lawyers at that time were not completely honest about her “beautiful” death ..

Her brother, Bobby Schindler, wrote:

And yet, Schiavo’s attorney falsely told the public during a press conference, just days before Terri’s death, that she looked “beautiful”. This is what they want you to believe, not the harsh truth about the madness of what we permit in the rooms of hospitals, nursing homes and hospices every single day across this country.
These are the hard facts my family and I will have to live with for the rest of my life: After almost two weeks without food or water, my sister’s lips were horribly cracked, to the point where they were blistering. Her skin became jaundice with areas that turned different shades of blue. Her skin became markedly dehydrated from the lack of water. Terri’s breathing became rapid and uncontrollable, as if she was outside sprinting. Her moaning, at times, was raucous, which indicated to us the insufferable pain she was experiencing. Terri’s face became skeletal, with blood pooling in her deeply sunken eyes and her teeth protruding forward. Even as I write this, I can never properly describe the nightmare of having to watch my sister have to die this way.
What will be forever seared in my memory is the look of utter horror on my sister’s face when my family visited her just after she died.

The full article is here..

I believed in 2005 that this was not a case of a ‘right to die’ patient despite that current thought that it was.... Instead I believed there to be ulterior motives to the man who was requesting her death. It may be unfair to be a judge of character .. and I know this post may find some people who disagree with me. Fair enough.

But fair game: The truth about her final moments on the planet.. During a full moon in Florida, March 31, 2005.

A GERMANWINGS THING: THE MISSING FLIGHT DATA RECORDER CARD AND THE AX MAN OF FLIGHT 9525

LET’S START WITH THIS STORY: GERMANWINGS CO-PILOT HAD DREAMS ABOUT PLANE CRASHING, REPORT SAYS »

The co-pilot Andreas Lubitz who steered an airline with 150 people on board into a French mountainside had been dumped by his girlfriend the day prior to the crash and was undergoing treatment for depression from a doctor, according to reports Saturday.

But we are just finding out so much about Lubitz so quickly, aren’t we?  The problem I have with all of these stories is that unnamed people are being quoted and we are not finding the true source of the information. Where does it come from? Family? Friends? The EX?  I am not trying to cast too big a shadow of doubt—I believe in conspiracy but also know that not everything is one, so i am trying to be cautious but sensible.  But here is a quote from the FOX NEWS story that gets me into the caution zone:

The New York Post reported that the German newspaper Bild quoted an ex-girlfriend saying that Lubitz “would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “We’re crashing!”
“When I heard about the crash, one thing that he said kept going through my head: ‘One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember it.’ ” the woman told the paper, according to the Post.
“I didn’t know what he meant, but now it makes sense,” the woman added.
The Post also reported that French TV channel iTELE reported Lubitz and another girlfriend of seven years shared an apartment in Dusseldorf and planned to get married next year. However, the channel had said Lubtiz’s fiancée ended the relationship the day before the crash.

So how convenient. Suddenly when a big crime is committed, we are told by this EX that she broke up with him a day prior.. And we also have been told as a child he loved this area of the ALPS. And we also know that he was DREAMING about crashing a plane now.. All of this added up together sure sounds like the perfect story book beginning and ending …

I think this girlfriend story is a little sketchy. Don’t get me wrong, again, I am not trying to create rumors where there are none.. but I would think investigators should be asking more about this EX.. asking why the breakup happened. If it did. Asking more about those dreams. If they did..

And if someone is speaking about ‘doing something everyone will remember,’ or something of the like, the partner usually queries a lot more about that than this girlfriend apparently did.

And now pilots are going to have to sign away their medical information on a regular basis to a corporation to ensure something of this nature will never happen again.. I guess Andreas Lubitz will be remembered for that…

….but I keep pondering the ‘we’re crashing!!’ dreams, and they are peculiar.  I have reservations about buying into the storyline at this point—at least as it is being presented by the supposed ex-girlfriend of 24 hours.

And let me ask something more.. in our information age where everyone tweets and tumbles and Facebooks into the night, where is the social media presence of Lubitz? Or this girlfriend?

x x x 

I am not offering up any theories of my own, I am simply adding a mixture of doubt and logic to this whole thing..

From a distance, we have a perfect story.  A mentally unstable pilot breaks up with his girlfriend a day before—the same girlfriend who now says he had dreams about planes crashing. Then he locks out his fellow pilot and he crashes a plane, murdering 150 people, into a location in the Alps he supposedly enjoyed visiting as a child.

There is no letter, though. No motive. But we do have a great set of audio files of people screaming and a pilot using an ax, we are told, to chop away at the door while screaming “My God” … The crash takes 8 minutes. Scratch that. Eighteen. Wait. No. Seven. . Well, pick your own on that.

It glides into the hell on earth, leaving behind a dead metal cylinder of humanity. A tragic story. But we have a villain.. An evil pilot who was hellbent on killing all the innocent souls that day.

This flight recording from the moment of impact is the latest bit that has me a little perplexed.. We seem to know the full extent of the horror that day.  AGerman newspaper BILD is releasing a transcript of the ‘recording’ though admitting the recording hasn’t been released and they haven’t heard it.  Andreas Lubitz, though, is busy crashing the plane while co-pilot Patrick Sondenheimer, now relieved from his bathroom trip, is busy trying to crash through the door.

This is the flight audio recording, we are told, that finishes this story and gives us the inside view of what occurred.

There is another piece of the puzzle, however, missing. And it’s a big piece that provides the scientific and industrial evidence as to how the plane crashed: The flight DATA recorder was found. But it was missing a memory card. AS The AP reported last week:

Confusion surrounded the fate of the second black box. French President Francois Hollande said the casing of the flight data recorder had been found in the scattered debris, but was missing the memory card that captures 25 hours’ worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane. Jouty refused to confirm the discovery.

Confusion, indeed.

A few days later, an aviation website reported this:

The BEA has yet to hold a follow-up briefing on the investigation and it fell to the European Cockpit Association to remind the world that investigators have yet to find the aircraft’s flight data recorder, analysis of which could prove vital to confirming the facts.

Was the memory card taken? How was it missing? We haven’t gotten much more word on this.. Instead we have seen the public trial and verdict on the pilot..

I am not arguing that he did not do it. I am not saying he is an innocent patsy.. I am not pretending that people didn’t die.. I am not attempting to begin a conspiracy theory. I am adding a little bit of cold water to a burning hot public feeding frenzy.. that is it.

And I will also add this:

If a pilot was going to intentionally crash a plane, there are two things that don’t make sense. 1) He would have had to crashed the plane while being alone.. the notion that he was alone only occurred since the co-pilot had to urinate. Are we to believe that if both pilots would have stayed put that day, this crash would not have happened? And 2) If a suicidal pilot was going to crash a plane, would have truly have done it by doing a steady descent into the alps for over ten minutes? Or wouldn’t he have just ..well..crashed the plane?

To me, these are perplexing questions that, in the heat of the moment, few are asking and none are addressing.

Instead, we have the tale of Germanwings Flight 9525.

History.

Dreams and unnamed sources: The 'EX' files on Lubitz

Germanwings co-pilot had dreams about plane crashing, report says »

The co-pilot Andreas Lubitz who steered an airline with 150 people on board into a French mountainside had been dumped by his girlfriend the day prior to the crash and was undergoing treatment for depression from a doctor, according to reports Saturday.

But we are just finding out so much about Lubitz so quickly, aren’t we?  The problem I have with all of these stories is that unnamed people are being quoted and we are not finding the true source of the information. Where does it come from? Family? Friends? The EX?  I am not trying to cast too big a shadow of doubt—I believe in conspiracy but also know that not everything is one, so i am trying to be cautious but sensible.  But here is a quote from the FOX NEWS story that gets me into the caution zone:

The New York Post reported that the German newspaper Bild quoted an ex-girlfriend saying that Lubitz “would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, “We’re crashing!”
“When I heard about the crash, one thing that he said kept going through my head: ‘One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember it.’ ” the woman told the paper, according to the Post.
“I didn’t know what he meant, but now it makes sense,” the woman added.
The Post also reported that French TV channel iTELE reported Lubitz and another girlfriend of seven years shared an apartment in Dusseldorf and planned to get married next year. However, the channel had said Lubtiz’s fiancée ended the relationship the day before the crash.

So how convenient. Suddenly when a big crime is committed, we are told by this EX that she broke up with him a day prior.. And we also have been told as a child he loved this area of the ALPS. And we also know that he was DREAMING about crashing a plane now.. All of this added up together sure sounds like the perfect story book beginning and ending …

I think this girlfriend story is a little sketchy. Don’t get me wrong, again, I am not trying to create rumors where there are none.. but I would think investigators should be asking more about this EX.. asking why the breakup happened. If it did. Asking more about those dreams. If they did..

And if someone is speaking about ‘doing something everyone will remember,’ or something of the like, the partner usually queries a lot more about that than this girlfriend apparently did.

And now pilots are going to have to sign away their medical information on a regular basis to a corporation to ensure something of this nature will never happen again.. I guess Andreas Lubitz will be remembered for that…

….but I keep pondering the ‘we’re crashing!!’ dreams, and they are peculiar.  I have reservations about buying into the storyline at this point—at least as it is being presented by the supposed ex-girlfriend of 24 hours.

And let me ask something more.. in our information age where everyone tweets and tumbles and Facebooks into the night, where is the social media presence of Lubitz? Or this girlfriend?

SCARY STORIES TO BAN IN THE DARK

Given history, I suppose it’s amazing I even got the chance to read SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK when I was a kid in the 90s. I was doing more reading on the upcoming documentary being made on this and learned something I never quite knew previously: This was among the most banned book of the 1990s..

Cody Meireck describes it best, 

The interesting thing that I have been encountering as I begin to talk about this documentary is the question of how I can “bill” the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series. It is listed as the most banned book between 1990-1999 and remained at #7 in 2000-2009. It was #1 on the list for several years in the 1990s. In the 21st Century there are a number of other books that have taken the mantel for most frequently banned… Harry Potter is often up there, and recently the bookAnd Tango Makes Three is often high on the list because of the presence of a homosexual couple (animals though they may be). So although Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is no longer top on the list, for the last 25 years that the American Library Association has been compiling a list, it has been a major title on the list. The original books are over 20 years old at this point, and yet they still show up on the lists amongst more widespread and known books such as Harry Potter and Huckleberry Finn. That says something.

I remember the moment I got my first SCARY STORIES book.. it was during grade school when a book fair truck came and set up in the school gym.. I found this black book with a skull on it and somehow was attracted to the concept and stories.. It became a treasure for me and then, with each new one, I would buy them up for the collection.

The most amazing part, given history of book bans, is that I bought my SCARY STORIES book at a Catholic school book fair!  The same Catholic school that suspended me for a day for bringing a fake Freddy Kreuger glove to class in fourth grade for our field trip..

I suppose the school’s nuns couldn’t be aware of every book that was sold. And even more, I ponder if the book seller was secretly trying to fight the pop culture movement at the time to hide these books from kids.

If it wasn’t for the SCARY STORIES books, my appreciation of the paranormal and even love of drawing perhaps would never have blossomed. I bet there’s a lot of 90s kids in the same boat as me because of this series..

THE CREEPY CLOSET AT 3AM

Let me first explain what this is.. Late at night, if you’re perched at the right place in my bathroom, this is a view directly into my bedroom.. There is a piece of blanket stuffed into the closet which pokes out. Quite frankly, perhaps my laziness has equaled this, it has been there for a long time.. Too long. As a matter of fact, each night at 3am when either nature calls or some other noise of the house startles me awake, I make my way to the bathroom and see this blanket.. The more I stare, though, the less it is looks like a blanket.



See, this blanket has been scared me for months. With the darkness of night shrouding the room and just the faint glow from a nearby night light, this little piece of blanket starts it morphing. It looks at first like a witch, sort of staring at me.. If you look long enough, it begins to change into a smiling old hag, almost with a knowing cackle on her face as she sees me have a heart begin to race.. A few times it turned into a man, posing as though he was taking his final photo of life. There was a time when it appeared to be a wolf.. Another time it was simply a blank figure but yet somehow had eyes that were staring at me, almost winking with each second I gawked back..

Sure, I know this is all a figment of the wild night time imagination–when your reality suspends for a little as you take walks between the here and the dream world there.

But each time this is so realistic that I need to check this blanket prior to attempting to regain the sleep world. Regardless of my knowledge, my distinct knowledge, that this is a blanket, my deep fear of the shapes it poses as forces me into a nightly check.

I maintain sanity, let me explain.
I maintain reality..
But in the dangerously dark night air, the shapes that objects take can piece your imagination and scare you to the bone.

Slender man never looked so good

Happy Saturday from a scary place. To your scary place. And everywhere in between ..

Rare earthquake in CHICAGO!

The earthquake occurred at a depth of about 5 miles.. It was a minor 2.9--but minor is meaningless when you consider the location, a city that isn't equipped or ready to handle shaking of much measure..

Reports indicate a loud and thunderous sound also accompanied the quake as it rattled the nerves of the windy--and shaky--city..

MORE..

CO-PILOT IDENTIFIED..

French prosecutor Brice Robin gave further chilling details of the final ten minutes in the cockpit before the Airbus A320 plunged into the French Alps killing 150 people. Revealing data extracted from the black box voice recorder, he said the co-pilot - named as 28-year-old German Andreas Günter Lubitz - locked his captain out after the senior officer left the cockpit.

MORE...

THE CO-PILOT was alive and breathing when the plane crashed .. The latest news accounts state that it was an 11 minute descent--not 8 or 18 as previously reported.. According to prosecutors commenting on the voice recording, the final 11 minutes inside the cockpit were calm, with Lubitz showing no trace of panic as he prepared to mass murder 150 people, including innocent children..

According to prosecutors, screaming could be heard on the audio recording only in the last few minutes, and death was instantaneous for those on board when the plane crashed. Whether that is true or not, perhaps we'll never know.. It certainly is easier for humans to digest the idea that death is unknown rather than an 11 minute knowing of the doom to come..

DRAMATIC GERMANWINGS DEVELOPMENTS: ALL INFORMATION POINTS TO PURPOSELY TAKE DOWN

News agencies are blasting information around the world today that the Germanwings Flight 9525 which crashed over the French Alps was most likely taken down on purpose..

Last night, it was revealed that a pilot was locked out of the cabin and audible noises were heard of him trying to break the doors--all of this as the flight glided to the hell on earth for 18 minutes. A plane filled with 150 innocent people, including high school and two infants..

NBC NEWS broke into regular programming this morning with the chimes of doom to report that prosecutors are claiming the pilot took the plane down intentionally..

The entire narrative has changed.. the story of this plane crash has turned much more sinister with these developments..

 

One pilot was locked out of cabin before Flight 9525 crashed!

This breaking news is being reported by various agencies tonight.. I chose the words from the NEW YORK TIMES as they best describe what stumped officials are contemplating as the search for debris and body aorta continue in the French Alps:

PARIS — As officials struggled Wednesday to explain why a jet with 150 people on board crashed in relatively clear skies, an investigator said evidence from a cockpit voice recorder indicated one pilot left the cockpit before the plane’s descent and was unable to get back in.

A senior military official involved in the investigation described “very smooth, very cool” conversation between the pilots during the early part of the flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf. Then the audio indicated that one of the pilots left the cockpit and could not re-enter.

“The guy outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer,” the investigator said. “And then he hits the door stronger and no answer. There is never an answer.”

The data is providing no answers, only more questions and theories..

Developing..

Bright flashes in Russia

Unexplained flashes are turning the night into day in Russia ..

We reported this when they occurred but more news agencies are picking up on the weird occurrences after midnight on March 17 in the sky above the southern Russian city of Stavropol..

Thanks to dashcams in Russia , the rest of the world has the chance to be perplexed by whatever mystery lights are creating fire in the sky after the midnight hour..


Lots of speculation..pick your favorite conspiracy theory..

2014-YB35. Let's be thankful this will not hit the planet on Friday

Huge asteroid is on near-collision course with Earth..but it will miss. »

If the 2014-YB35 asteroid hit Earth it could wipe out a country

Even more troulbing: This fire in the sky is about to skim past Earth this FRIDAY—THIS FRIDAY—at 23,000 MPH..

It will not hit us.. But it’s relatively close and will be viewed by professional and amateur astronomers alike..

It’s also a huge reminder—in size and meaning—of how much is beyond us that can endanger this planet.

While we argue about useless memes and toil away with trouble, the danger lurks in our galaxy. It can strike at any time. So far we’ve been lucky.. But you sure would think by now we would have found a way to find these threats and do something about them …

PENTAGON CONTRACTOR AND DAUGHTER THE TWO AMERICANS KILLED ON FLIGHT 9525

Earlier today it was announced that two Americans were on board flight 9525 when it went down over the French Alps.. Now the names have been revealed:

Yvonne Selke of Nokesville, Virginia, was a longtime and highly regarded employee of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. 
Daughter Emily was a 2013 graduate and music industry major from Drexel University in Philadelphia 

The family has issued a written statement asking for prayers and privacy...

MORE..

 

THIS IS JESSE EISENBERG AS LEX LUTHER

Eisenberg has been comic relief.. he was Mark Zuckerberg.. and now he will toughen up and play evil in BATMAN VS SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE..

And he looks foreboding.

Officials claim doomed Germanwings plane flew to the end..

Remi Jouty, the head of BEA, is quoted by media sources as saying that the debris field in the French Alps where Germanwings flight 9525 crashed is 'not characteristic' of a plane that exploded in mid-air.. MORE: It would be more a plane that broke apart as it hit the ground, the official said..

At this point, investigators are being dropped by helicopter to the site of the crash.. The rugged terrain and weather conditions have complicated matters..

CNN reports, 

Investigators have managed to hear some audio from the flight data recorder, one of two so-called "black boxes" on the flight. The other "black box," the flight data recorder, has not yet been found, Jouty said.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande said the outside frame of the second "black box" has been found, though not the recorder itself.

Hollywood stars: The next victims of the robot revolution?

Manufacturing and the service industry may be hardest hit during the robot boom happening in the job market.. But who knew that Hollywood stars would face the same peril..

Carolyn Giardina, reporter for the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, has a fascinating article running today about how Paul Walker was digitally created for FURIOUS 7.. Walker died in a tragic accident during filming of the movie, but that doesn't stop his starring role in the film.. HR reports,

Today, it's possible to create an actor entirely from digital composites. The Mill, for example, has completed a 90-second Johnny Walker ad featuring a CG Bruce Lee for agency BBH in China. "We created his entire face in CG and hand-animated that, using shots of the actor for reference," says Shenfield. He believes that a CG actor is an option, as long as artists can create his face convincingly. "The eyes require a lot of work," he says. "Keeping motion continuous in the musculature and the eyes is the key to making it look real."

MORE

Some movies now even create 3D scans of actors as production begins, so that they can make CG doubles for complicated stunt scenes. It's not known if that occurred on Furious 7, but it was done on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Explains VFX supervisor Scott Squires: "If there's any inkling that you might need a scan, they scan the actor at the start of production. I've also heard of certain studios having actors scanned just as an archival thing." That way, 20 years from now, filmmakers would still have access to the likeness of that actor — dead or alive.

That is a huge this, as well.. Just as labor unions in various other industries have had to respond to management phasing out employees for the systematic help of robotic machinery that never needs water breaks or paychecks, perhaps the Actors Union may face the same issue..

CGI is the future. You may not believe what you see.. what you already see isn't real. So why should be the players in the play?

Don't panic. Or panic.

Southern California may face tense moments on Wednesday.. The NOAA will issue a tsunami warning--it may or MAY NOT include the word 'test'..

MORE

The NOAA issued this

Some television systems are programmed to scroll a standard emergency alert text message and in some cases, the message may not contain the word “TEST.” An audio message will say that the message is only a test, but if the volume is turned down or otherwise unheard, viewers may not realize the message is a test.”

This seems to be the year to warn California about urgent needs to prepare for killer quakes.. Movies and television are constant reminders with upcoming summer entertainment featuring California breaking off of the United States. Also official warners from official places are speaking out about upcoming dangers during the next decade when it comes to the chances for quakes or even tsunamis..

Tomorrow will be a test of nerves.. Especially for those who don't know it's a 'test' ..

ADAM LANZA'S HOUSE DEMOLISHED

Accused Newtown shooter Adam Lanza's house has been wiped from the face of the earth.. Making good on promises to destroy it, the town of Newtown Connecticut purchased the 2-acre lot and 3100 square foot home for $1 .. it was torn down and will now be used as an empty space.

According to reports, neighbors wanted the house gone, saying it served as a reminder of the events of December 2012 in Sandy Hook elementary school.

MORE:

Everything in the house was already removed prior to the razing. Reports indicate that rugs, curtains, furniture, fixtures, and all the rest were removed from the property and incinerated.

36 Yogananda Drive is now just an address. No home. Just a vacant plot of ground on top of a hill..

WFSB 3 Connecticut

18 MINUTES OF HELL IN THE SKY

Germanwings plane crash: New information suggests that the descent took 18 minutes, not 8 »

A lot of initial reporting on the Germanwings flight crash in the French Alps has been discredited as more information has surfaced.. The initial report yesterday that a mayday distress call was placed was wrong.. And then another issue was reported, that the descent of Flight 9525 took 8 minutes. Instead, new information suggests, it took 18!

John Lichfield with the UK INDEPENDENT reports this for history:

The French environment and transport minister, Ségolène Royal,  said that the crew of the Airbus A320 had stopped responding on radio at 10.30am yesterday when the aircraft was over the Mediterranean.
The aircraft slammed into the sheer side of a mountain in the French Alps soon after 10.48am. For those 18 minutes, it gradually shed height from 28,000 feet to less than 2,000 feet without transmitting any form of distress signal.

This information is also being reported: The French interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, said that so-called “black box” had been damaged in the crash but was “usable”. .. For some reason, I hesitate buying into this at this point. With the number of times official stories have already changed, I wouldn’t doubt a change in this factoid either.

At this point, the results from yesterday’s crash are horrific.. one family last three generations of people. A school lost 16 of its best and brightest children.. The heartache extends to the United States with news that two passengers on the doomed flight were from here..

And a few more things of note as well:

Three generations of one family dead in plane crash..
Mystery: What happened on Flight 9525?
Two people from the United States were on flight..
Weather an issue in search ..

The Big Bang glitch: A shirt circuit at CERN

Today as the Germanwings flight fell to the earth over the French Alps, other news was silently being reported at the Large Hadron Collider. There was a short circuit.. Now the big firing up has been postponed, it is being reported..

This is how Reuters captured the event for historical record:

CERN scientists expressed disappointment at the last-minute problem, in just one of the underground machine’s eight sectors, which have been rewired and checked thoroughly during the closedown. But the research centre’s director general, Rolf Heuer, played down its significance.

“All the signs are good for a great run 2,” he said in a statement. “In the grand scheme of things, a few weeks delay in humankind’s quest to understand our universe is little more than the blink of an eye.”

Scientists and engineers at CERN, mindful of a serious leakage in 2008 which caused a delay of two years in the start-up for the first LHC run, have long insisted that there can be no rushing into full operations.

The eerie coincidence over the French Alps

Presented for your thoughtful consideration, the place where the Plane crashed in the French Alps today was the same exact location where another plane crashed in 1953.. ..

Meanwhile, it was reported today that pilots refusing to fly over the same part of the Alps where this occurred led to several delays and cancellation of flights..

And this is how things work.. Strange coincidences that may not be just chance, and the human reaction and emotion to tragedy..

Today was tragic. All of those lives lost in the 8 minutes to oblivion is awful..

Another day in the life of planet earth..

Germanwings crash theories abound

The crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 today is a story only a few hours old. But already theories are advancing online. Conspiracy theories.. One because the trip the plane was making was from Barcelona to Barcelonnette .. Strange, perhaps..

Already, though, it's taking 'flight' online.. That, along with questions of whether scientists were on board, perhaps officials or authorities that someone wanted to 'take out' ..

Another theory actually says that CERN--firing up the Hadron Collider soon to full power--is the reason for the crash.

Some are claiming terrorism.. Some aren't..

There is a link to a foreign news story that reports the crash--but the date on the story is March 22. Two days prior to today. That has fired up a series of theories of conspiracy as well..

We know this:
We don't know.

Already today, the news surrounding the flight crash has changed substantially.

When it was first reported, there were news accounts that a mayday distress call was made. Now it has turned out, according to official statements, that no mayday was made. And then the plane descended for 8 minutes before the final crash into the mountains of the French Alps..

This is a part of why, until the dust clears, I attempt to steer clear of reporting breaking news... we make readers aware, but on the details, it's better to allow the events to play out in real time, as no news source seems to get anything correct..

As for the events of this Germanwings crash: The theories are abounding.. This is the latest in a series of high profile crashes that have seemingly been dominating headlines over the past 14 months..
But crashes happen..

I don't want to authoritatively state any theory on why this crash occurred. To the best of our knowledge, if you believe the reporting of NBC NEWS at least, there is at least one black box recovered from the scene.   In that light, the world hopefully will find out the truth as to why the plane crashed, why no mayday was called out, and why the entire event took 8 minutes. . . just imagine the horror of those 8 minutes.

I think it's fair and proper to question all accounts, all theories, and try to ascertain what events took place. That goes for any events that occur.. But it's premature to conclude a conspiracy.

Sometimes accidents do happen. Just as every crash accident is not a conspiracy, every plane crash is not either.

I have my personal thoughts about Fligth 800 in 1996. I also have my own doubts about Flight 370.. I also think a missile took down the flight in late 2014..

As far as this one? Time will tell.
But there is one thing to note.. If this is not a conspiracy, not terrorism, not inflicted on humans by other humans, then it becomes scarier.. Why? Because it shows how out of luck we can be on this planet.. how cursed we often times are without knowing it.. And how at risk we all are to the dangers that pop up when least expected.

Yes, indeed.. Just as reality is scarier than fiction, 'chance' is much more frightening than conspiracy. Because there's no rhyme or reason or sympathy when you speak about 'chance.'

THE GERMANWINGS CRASH

German official: High school group on crashed Germanwings plane; Spanish school says 16 students involved »

German official: High school group on crashed plane; Spanish school says 16 students involved.

I remember the crash of TWA Flight 800.. I was 16 at the time (and all conspiracy and missile theories aside) that result from that crash was traumatic to my area in Pennsylvania. On Flight 800:  The town of Montoursville PA was ‘in a daze’ after a number of high school kids died on that plane (Source: USA TODAY, 1996)

I would imagine the same ‘daze’ will be happening in whatever school these kids were from—teenagers who were lucky enough to get a chance to see some new parts of the world and now after this tragedy, have perished from our earth..

Germanwings Flight 4U9525: Airbus A320 plane crashes in French Alps en route from Barcelona to Dusseldorf »

There was NO mayday..
The plane dived for 8 minutes
NBC news is reporting that at least on black box has been recovered..

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE VIOLENT SOLAR SYSTEM

Just when you think your plight in the grand scheme of things matters a bit, news comes along to give perspective to just how tiny we all are. Today, two examples exist in science news, presented for your review:

Maybe JUPITER is planet x!? There is new information to suggest that the early solar system was made up of giant super earths. And then Jupiter came along to smash things into pieces.. A theory for now, but certainly amazing when considering the mighty explosion something like this could have made..

And this other tale, a little closer to home: The huge Australian impact of an asteroid was so large that it caused cracks to the earth’s core..

When considering the history of our universe, and the ever-changing space around us, it’s pretty amazing that we are even here. That somehow we evolved into the creatures of habit we have.. and somehow still survive in a very hostile existence..

We are somehow alive..

No matter how big of planets of the past crashed and asteroids smashed.

Of course all of that could easily happen again..

THE FRENCH ALPS CRASH: NO SURVIVORS EXPECTED

A passenger jet carrying 152 people crashed Tuesday in the French Alps as it flew from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, authorities said..

Various sources reporting: The crash site was at Meolans-Revels, near the popular ski resort of Pra Loup, according to Eric Ciotti, the head of the regional council in southeast France…

There are also reports that the Germanwings Airbus A320 sent out a distress signal prior to the crash.. A long search and rescue operation has now begun, as the crash site is in an extremely mountainous region..

The CEO of the airline said that there were, in all, 152 people on board.  That number includes two babies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday that “we don’t know much about the flight and the crash yet. And we don’t know the cause.”

And more, the AP reporting:

The owner of a campground near the crash site, Pierre Polizzi, said he heard the plane making curious noises shortly before it crashed.

“At 11.30, I heard a series of loud noises in the air. There are often fighter jets flying over, so I thought it sounded just like that. I looked outside, but I couldn’t see any fighter planes,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “The noise I heard was long – like 8 seconds – as if the plane was going more slowly than a military plane. There was another long noise after about 30 seconds.”

Blood of St Januarius liquefies during Francis’s visit to Naples

read the full story.. http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2015/03/21/blood-of-st-januarius-liquifies-during-franciss-visit-to-naples/




This report claims it didn't happen since the 1800s.. it also did not kccur, the Catholic claim goes, when Benedict visited in 2007..

From the Catholic Herald report:

The blood of St Januarius liquefied in the presence of a pope for the first time since 1848 on Saturday.

The blood of the patron saint of Naples, which is normally solid, partially liquefied after Pope Francis kissed the relic during his day trip to the southern Italian city.

FRANCIS ALSO SAID TO SPREAD THE WORLD OF THE EVENT.. the Internet is, with lots of skeptics and doubters raising eyebrows and disagreeable conclusions to the liquidification claims..

SUNDAY MORNING SERIAL

Last night before bed, I made a little mistake in listening to a DARKNESS RADIO true crime show with Dave Schrader featuring the owner of Serial Killer Magazine.

The show was great and interesting. True crime fascinates me … actually scares me.

The intense reality that exists beyond the safety of our locked doors and closed windows is abhorrent, often.  There is much to be written and told of true crime—too much to start now. But I’m curious how many others out there are interested in true crime.. How many people are both fascinated and horrified by the macabre.. and how many fear reality more than fiction?

The Horror Report is what nightmares are made of

Some may say I never looked better. Others say nay.

Horse heads show up all the time with HORROR REPORT shirts..

What would MUTLEY the dog think?!

MORE CERN BURNING: THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE PLOT

Scientists at Large Hadron Collider hope to make contact with PARALLEL UNIVERSE in days.. For those who don’t know, the Hadron Collider fired back up a few days ago … so far the world didn't end or fall into a black hole. But there’s always time for that..

But I was a little intrigued when I found that the Extinction Protocol was reporting a story that scientists with CERN are going to be attempting contact with a parallel universe. You certainly don’t see headlines like that everyday, so my eyes did a triple take. The Extinction Protocol is a decent website that usually links up its information to a valid source.. In this matter, they linked a UK EXPRESS article titled:

Scientists at Large Hadron Collider hope to make contact with PARALLEL UNIVERSE in days

So a few things need to be contemplated before running into the world of lunacy.. First off, the UK EXPRESS is a clear tabloid from the land across the pond.. I read it, I enjoy it.. but I take it with a grain of salt. If the DAILY MAIL is the NY POST, the EXPRESS is probably the STAR..

Nonetheless, I read Paul Bowman’s article with extreme interest..  I sure don’t really understand what I should about physics but that doesn’t stop me from trying to.

Ironically, this all travels back in the Internets to the DAILY MAIL, the powerhouse tabloid that gets worldwide attention.  Days ago, that paper reported.

Will the Large Hadron Collider find a parallel universe? Particle smasher could become a gateway to alternate realities, say scientists

 

Mir Faizil, a scientist at CERN, gets a lot of the attention in various postings regarding this..

Back to the EXPRESS, Bowman writes,

Mir Faizal, one of the three-strong team of physicists behind the experiment, said: “Just as many parallel sheets of paper, which are two dimensional objects [breadth and length] can exist in a third dimension [height], parallel universes can also exist in higher dimensions.
“We predict that gravity can leak into extra dimensions, and if it does, then miniature black holes can be produced at the LHC.
"Normally, when people think of the multiverse, they think of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, where every possibility is actualised.
"This cannot be tested and so it is philosophy and not science.
“This is not what we mean by parallel universes. What we mean is real universes in extra dimensions.
“As gravity can flow out of our universe into the extra dimensions, such a model can be tested by the detection of mini black holes at the LHC.
“We have calculated the energy at which we expect to detect these mini black holes in ‘gravity’s rainbow’ [a new scientific theory].
“If we do detect mini black holes at this energy, then we will know that both gravity’s rainbow and extra dimensions are correct.”

Without question, there is some eyebrows raised and even panic.. Some fear that this attempt to tinker and toy with the unwritten laws of existence are dangerous.. Many fear it will shred the vale between the here and there, the now and the then.. I even read one account that this will amplify our lives and give us super abilities and senses beyond the 5 we have, but that we will die quickly since our existence in this reality cannot handle the reality from some alternate universe..

I quite frankly don’t know what will happen.
We certainly trust those who make oodles more in cash than us to have the best interest of humanity in mind when playing in the scientific sandbox. And to me, I would love there to be some confirmation that alternate universes or parallel existences have gone beyond the science fiction realm and are now becoming mainstream enough to continue studying it for proof of their respective existences.

Meanwhile, grab some popcorn.. Throw in DONNIE DARKO, and watch the pictures as they flutter around the universe(s).

Let's do the ART BELL dance

For those who don't know, radio great Art Bell is planning a return this summer. Either online, or perhaps a little online and a little AM. Undisclosed information at this time.. But my son, age four now, is happy. Perhaps by force.. He has been a captive audience member since infancy when he'd hear Art's reruns on the FINE ART STREAM and U7 Radio .. Now he fully endorses the return with his own version of a celebratory dance. I suspect if Art can muster up another ten years, Ayden will be 14 years of age. And he will have a full experience of what Art Bell was .. Amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfBLyn-GTew

And just for a perspective, here's AYDEN at age 1..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnS1gbYWHoM

Original Horror Report Artwork

I haven't drawn in years.. but thanks to a new Samsung note phone (ditched the iPhone ) I now have that power.. submitted for approval, some original and probably not so great artwork inspired by things that circulate in my night owl head.. mostly drawn late at night. One drawn at 3am. I just have been lonely.. (matchbox 20 reference for those not from the late 90s)..

The emotional snap: A second in time shows a doctor's humanity

This photo was posted to REDDIT on Thursday and shows, at least according to the description, an ER doctor stepping outside after losing a 19-year-old patient..

An EMT worker posted the photo. According to the report, the EMT had permission to share it and wanted to shed light on what it is like to work in the industry..

According to the report, moments after the photo was taken, the doctor went back into the ER to continue his work. But he obviously took a time out to contemplate and become privately emotional about not being able to save a life.

This is a moving picture—a showcase that doctors are good and that the medical profession, though flawed and often littered with bureaucracy and lawsuit fevers, can still be morally just and amazing in professionalism..

The picture can also be and instrument of attraction to get more people into the field.. or a turnoff to some who know, seeing this, they couldn’t handle the emotion of seeing young and old human beings perish in front of them..

There is a deeper meaning to life. A bigger picture. Perhaps that bigger picture is that earth is simply a stepping stone in life and our souls move on.. Maybe the bigger picture is that this brief life is the beginning and the end of our computer systems.. That there’s nothing else, that we are alone in this galaxy and that life just happened without the help of divine love.

To me, that is what this picture symbolizes.. not just the emotion of a doctor losing a patient, but the true and unadulterated humanity that shows itself during intense moments of birth and death.

This doctor, despite his high education and established career, is moved to tears by the same thing humanity itself is.. We don’t know anything. We say we do. We go to Churches with pastors who tell us what to know.. we read self help books about how to know. We listen to vague pluralities that are supposed to define the known.

But we don’t know.
Instead, we wail and cry when we face the end. We are confused by the process.. We are are succumbing, each day, to death. And this doctor couldn’t save a 19-year-old from expiring before his time..

There indeed is a lot of emotion in this photo snapped during a second in time.

But it’s a testament to the goodness that can exist in the hearts of men.