The Devil Done Left Town

Citizens of Reeves, LA are being allowed to change their area code prefix from 666 to 749, if they so choose. The number, 666, is traditionally associated with the Devil, a being from Judaeo-Christian mythology thought to be the arch-nemesis of God. In actuality, the number and passage from which this superstition is derived refers to none other than one Julius Caesar, whose full name consisted of six letters in each (6, 6, and 6 = "for it is a human number"). But even this is arguable.

The mayor, Scott Walker, called the phone company's decision to grant citizens a three-month window allowing them to voluntarily change their number "divine intervention" and called the unfortunate mathematics "a stigma."

Some scholars claim to have found documents listing the "number of the beast" as both 616 and 665. Using the Jewish system of Gematria, the number can be be translated to mean either Nero or Diocletian, both of whom put great numbers of Christians to death during their respective reigns.

The irrational fear of the number, 666, is termed hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

A Sort-Of Apology

Hey guys, I just wanted to kind-of apologize for the utter lack of activity these past few weeks. As all the American readers know (let's be honest - not too many readers in general, these days), both holidays came at the first of the week, which meant (basically) four-day holidays for most, but my personal hell is that the places around here are only open 1/2-days on both Wednesdays and Saturdays, which resulted in my basically having to run roughshod to try and contact businesses and so forth the entire week! Both holidays crept-up on me and by the time I realized they were here, I was further shocked to find out they were at the start of the week, so I totally put like one or two things off one day and woke up the next to find out that I wasn't going to be able to get anything accomplished for two fucking weeks!

Not to mention I have been waiting for two deliveries for literally three weeks now, so I have been afraid to leave the house! Partially because I don't want to miss the delivery guy, but also because I'm at least 100% positive one of the assholes who lives in the complex would steal anything they found left outside my door. I'm left to hope that I would need to sign for whatever arrives and I have not heard back from any of the companies...

I mean, I love the holidays, but it is kind of ridiculous, you know?

Anyway, I had a pretty good Christmas, as I hope all of you did as well, and this is like the third day in a row I've been drinking (with at least one more to go), so the New Year looks good from the bottom of this glass (knock wood)...

A few "odd" news stories cropped-up over the holidays, but nothing paranormal in nature, nor newsworthy enough to report, really. Oh! I met a Sasquatch... at least I'm pretty sure it was a Sasquatch; she was tending bar in Decatur County, TN.

Anyway, I am thinking of combing through search engines to find some of the New Year's traditions and superstitions to bring you... you know, that's sort of the thing with this blog, as I've said before: if you really care to know these things, you can find them out on your own, even if you do have to spend a lot of time and money to do so, so it's kind of nice to have one place where you can go to just get the overall "gist" of certain weird topics without having to do a lot of work on your own. And to those ends, I honestly try to bring you insightful and fairly replete coverage of such things. Lately, I've been spinning a lot of plates and had a lot of personal stuff to deal with as well, so it hasn't been as easy. Hopefully, all of that will be well out of the way very, very soon, and we'll see what comes out of the rest of this.

Thanks for reading and here's to you and yours!

Unprovoked Attack Results in Infant's Death, Reminder for Public

A 2-year old Rottweiler snatched an infant from a 7-year old's arms and dragged it into the yard Friday. The attack happened without warning and the dog had interacted with family members of all ages, as well as another dog and a cat, for the previous six months without incident, having shown no signs of aggressive behavior. The dog was shot on sight, but no one was charged (with negligence) in the unprovoked attack (yet). The infant's 16-year old aunt, in whose charge the child was left, was not in the area when the attack occurred.

Though Rottweilers were bred for war (Germany), they are a well-bred species that is not generally known for such behavior. In fact, while the Pit Bull breed is most well-known for its aggression, veterinarians say that the Chinese war dog breed, the Chow, is the most aggressive, along with the Akita.

While the incident is horrible beyond words, as one expert reminded the public in its wake, dogs are still animals, no matter how domesticated. When confronted with situations they do not understand or are unfamiliar with, there is no telling how they will react. Children should never be left in the company of large dogs unattended.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Wholesale Insurance

Insurance is something you simply cannot do without. Much like credit cards, you simply have to have some coverage nowadays. The problem is that a lot of people don't think they can afford insurance, when the truth is that they can't afford not to have any!

Regardless of the kind of policy you are looking for, Wholesale Insurance can help. Surf over there to get your term life insurance quote now, and take a look at all their other policies and offers while you are there.

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys, Merry Christmas!

I meant to get this post out on Christmas Eve or at least yesterday, but -- as I mentioned over to The Rundown yesterday -- I got caught-up playing The Sims and watching movies with my family and so forth and never got around to it.   In fact, what little posting I did over there is all I have done this week, so far.

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Chrimmas holiday and is looking forward to a wonderful New Year weekend.   How cool is it that it worked out the way it did this year?  Hopefully, everyone will get a long, four-day weekend, but I realize I am one of the lucky few.  What can I say?  Suffer, consumers.  Besides, I'm sure some of you will take that long, four-day weekend regardless.

I finally got my new monitor and am still awaiting other arrivals.  Obviously, the deliveries have gotten backed-up thanks to the holidays, so I didn't complain.  I am still tweaking it, but I have never had such a large monitor and my eyeballs are still adjusting to it.  Plus, it's like concave, or convex -- whichever goes inward.  I have never had one like that before, either.

So we'll get back around to the ol' bloggy-blogging off and on between now and the New Year, but with that being both a holiday and the first of the month when I have all my appointments and bill-paying hassles, it may be another week or so before things get back to normal... and then another week or so after that until we get back on a real schedule.

So enjoy all this downtime, as I am trying to do, and have yourselves a very Merry... er, Happy New Year!

Teacher-Student Relationships, the Double-Standard

I was watching the South Park episode, Teacher Bangs a Boy, where Ike's teacher initiates a sexual relationship, and the news has been filled with this sort of traditional "role-reversal" here in America as late, so I wanted to address it.

Yes, I have been thinking too much lately, and while this is a paranormal-based blog, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and similar matters are always important to these studies - especially since so many "mainstream" researchers and scientists often point to changes in, or a general lack of knowledge on, these subjects to explain-away a lot of genuinely paranormal phenomena. Now, exactly how this particular topic is applicable to anything paranormal, I can't say; it may well not be. But it does have to do with sociology, philosophy, morals, mores, and values - all of which are important - so I include it.

As the episode illustrates, and many have pointed out before, there is an incredible double-standard involved in these molestation cases: when an adult male is the perpetrator, he is socially and criminally condemned; when a female is the perpetrator, the entire case is all but openly laughed about. It isn't even so much the double-standard involved here that bothers me; I truly wonder if there is a psychological difference in the cases.

One of the biggest excuses/reasons I hear whenever it is discussed is how "some boys are very mature for their age." Yet, traditional knowledge tells us that girls mature faster than boys... so how is it that boys who enter into sexual relationships with older women are naturally more mature and therefore, it's not as big a deal as when the roles are reversed? Why is it that only girls can be victimized thusly? Again, ignoring the obvious social double-standard at play here, is there any scientific truth this this concept; are young girls more predisposed to lasting psychological damage from such relationships?

Obviously, society plays the largest role in this, as it decides to see and portray the girl as victims, but not the boys. And while this is dangerous to my mind, what is even more dangerous is the implication: that young boys who engage in sexual relations with older women are "manly" and to be quietly revered, while the young girls are to be pitied and coddled. These are dangerous concepts for a host of reasons, but the most important is the legal ramifications for the perpetrator; the adult male is seen as a victimizer, while the adult female is seen as psychologically or emotionally disturbed - and each is handled accordingly by the law.

That is the real double-standard at play here.

But is there really a similarity in the psychological damage young boys and girls experience as a result of these relationships, or are they so different that they deserve to be separated as they are? And do the young people in these relationships later display similar behavior and psychology? We know that molestation victims tend to become hypersexual in adulthood, but is this true for both genders?

Further, given the sociological double-standard at play in such cases, is anyone even bothering to look into these matters?

Is the World a Worse Place?

This is nothing new and I have discussed it both here, as well as over to The Rundown, several times before, but this being the holiday season - and due to some personal betrayals lately - it has been weighing on my mind:

Is the world a worse place today than it was in the past? I mean, is there something failing in our general cultural and social values, especially in America?

I realize we don't necessarily throw Christians to the lions and so forth; we have cutlery, microwaves, computers and the Internet, blahblahblah; but I am not talking about technological or similar advances. Life is more convenient, in many ways easier, but that isn't what this is about. I think people today are angrier and more violent than they have been in the last several generations. Or, maybe it's just that there has been a recent dearth of true humanitarian and philosophical advancements to offset Man's nature?

I have spent a lot of time wrestling with this whole concept. Previously, this anger and violence seemed to be aimed at specific people/groups - Jews, Christians, black Americans, homosexuals - and still is, but there is a general anger and hatred nowadays, a blanket frustration with everything that seems always on the verge of erupting into violence. So, to some extent, it can be argued that nothing much has changed, but I remain steadfast in my opinion that the world is just a worse place now than before.

In the past, this anger and hatred was somewhat contained, or at least controlled. Anger, violence, hatred, frustration, and open hostility seem omnipresent across the board today; it appears in popular entertainment, religious beliefs, politics - it's everywhere. Everyone has some group or belief system they "hate" and everyone finds some reason(s) to be offended whenever possible. And instead of encouraging people to work through this, society is actively supporting their "right" to be angry, to be offended, to "vent" their frustrations and confront their offenders and so on.

And yes, venting your anger and frustration is far healthier than denying and suppressing it, but I think the real problem is that society is supporting peoples' right to feel negative, without offering any positive outlets or solutions. We have become a society that validates negative feelings without putting them into context or defining how to handle them. This has lead to an overly litigious, consistently violent society which has become obsessed with finding joy in in others' human frailties.

And while I am specifically talking about America, it's obvious from a quick scan of any day's world news and events that this applies generally to the entire globe.

Of course, I like to at least try to suggest some solution when I discuss a problem, and that's my suggestion: let's try harder to develop, popularize, and promote healthy, positive outlets for this widespread anger and frustration. We can't rely on the courts, nor any legal or political system to do so; such factions in America are concerned solely with profiting from others' bad choices.

I really am going to do my part, because I have been increasingly frustrated and angry lately, and I need to find more constructive ways to not only express these feelings (blogging really is a good way, for me, to express this anger, but it doesn't change anything) but get rid of them somehow - find some way to channel them into something positive and hopefully constructive.

So look forward to more posts along these lines in coming months.

7 Medical Myths

I think I need to make a tag, "I told you so." Not that I'm necessarily bragging, per se, but I have brought this whole thing up at least a few hundred times - as to how they keep flip-flopping all the medical reports. But this time, it's actually fairly good news, I guess, because they're at least trying to do some good.

These seven medical myths have persisted for years now - in fact, I have been plagued by one in particular: I have to shave my shoulders and the back of my neck because I have Degenerative Disc Disease and I have this little shocker-thingy with sticky pads I have to place there. A friend got onto me, telling me that I have to wax them because it's making the hairs grow back darker and coarser. I told her I didn't really care, and she told me I should... I can't wait to show her this:

The 7 medical myths US researchers now say are untrue:

1. Drink 8 glasses of water a day
2. We only use 10% of our brains
3. Hair and fingernails continue to grow after death
4. Reading in dim light harms your eyesight
5. Shaving causes hair to grow back faster and coarser
6. Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
7. Eating turkey makes people drowsier than other meats

But the scientists do warn that "absence of evidence does not necessarily mean absence of effect."

Two New Species Discovered

Researchers working with a film crew in the "lost world" of the New Guinea mountain jungles have discovered two previously unknown species - one a giant rat about 5x the size of your average urban variety and the other a pygmy opossum.

Further, they also recorded the mating rituals of several rare birds. This was the second visit to the Foja Mountains in the Mamberamo Basin, dubbed a "lost world" due to its unspoiled nature and general inaccessibility. One of the rare birds was recently "rediscovered" in 2005 after over 20 years without a sighting by Westerners; another was filmed for the first time and is only known from the region.

Japanese Gov. Spokesman: "UFOs Definitely Exist"

An opposition lawmaker, Democratic Party of Japan's Ryuji Yamane, lodged formal demands for an inquiry into UFOs. The official government reply was that the Japanese air force has never spotted any UFOs, but they have jets ready and willing to scramble and intercept any craft entering their constantly-monitored airspace.

While they released an official reply stating that, "it had not confirmed sightings of unidentified flying objects believed to be from outer space," Chief Cabinet Secretary, Nobutaka Machimura told reporters he, "definitely believes they exist."

Reporters are said to have burst into laughter.

Albinos Unsafe in Africa

There are nearly 300,000 albinos in Tanzania and they are under attack from the barbaric, uneducated populace. According to popular thought in the region, albinos are believed to be cursed, practitioners of witchcraft, or some kind of ghost-like creature. Further, witchdoctors believe their limbs to be useful in potions which can bring their users great wealth.

There have been four albino deaths in the past three months in the region and albino women have been targeted in the past, but this is the first time albinos have been the target of ritual killings. Fear has gripped the albino community and the Tanzanian Albino Society says these backward beliefs are the cause of these murders and must be wiped-out. A teacher was recently arrested for killing his own albino child, but the TAS is calling for police to do more, including arresting the witchdoctors.

New Address

Hey guys, this is just a quick note to inform you that The OddBlog's URL has changed. Although you can still access it at the old address, The OddBlog now resides on its own sub-domain.

Again, while you can still access the site at its old URL, you will not be able to access individual posts this way, so you should update your bookmarks now. Thanks!

Unconfirmed Oldest Man Dies Confirmed Bachelor

Hryhoriy Nestor of the Ukraine died in his sleep Friday night in the village of Stary Yarychev at 116. A confirmed bachelor, Nestor was believed to be the oldest living human being. Unfortunately, proof of his age did not reach the Guinness World Records people before his death.

The oldest living human being on record right now is Edna Parker of the US. Ms. Parker turned 114 in April.

Santa Gets Sacked

Christmas is a truly unique holiday, in that it encompasses so many religious beliefs, pagan rituals, and modern mythology.  Most of the traditions associated with the holiday are based on pagan rituals (yuletide logs, the Christmas tree, wreaths, and more), while Christians associate it with the birth of Christ and the generosity of St. Nicholas, and American lore invented the entire notion of Santa Claus.  So it is bizarre to see Christmas under attack by the self-proclaimed politically-correct.

In Australia, 70-year-old John Oakes was fired from his job as Father Christmas for singing carols and saying "Ho, ho, ho."  The staffing service which employed the septuagenarian said he was sacked because of his attitude, and not for saying "Ho, ho, ho."  But others have reported that they were told not to use the time-honored laugh because it might offend bitches; they were told to say, "Ha, ha, ha" instead.

Oakes said, "They're trying to kill the spirit of Christmas."

OpenID Compliant

As you may know, The OddBlog and several of the other blogs from The Weirding run through Blogger FTP. While we allow comments from anonymous users, all comments are held for moderation to reduce spam and pointless flames (we publish good flames, just not the ones that are nothing more than strings of curse words and "your a looser"-type vitriol). 

Many commentators actually would post with their screen names, but they don't have a Blogger account and don't want to create one just to post a single comment, or even a handful now and again on several blogs - and I understand that. I know from personal experience how many accounts I have strewn across the Web and how few of them I log into on anything close to a regular basis.

But Blogger now supports OpenID, and so does The Weirding. This means that you can leave comments with your OpenID on any of The Weirding blogs. Since we are new to this, we have not signed up to become an OpenID affiliate, meaning that if you sign up, you'll probably have to surf back here manually, so here's a great excuse to bookmark us! Or better yet, add us to your RSS feed reader (just click the little orange icon in the address bar).

We'll keep you posted as to any further developments, should it be necessary. But for now, just know that you don't have to remain anonymous if you don't have a Blogger account.

Rare Indian Crocs Dying Inexplicably

The gharial is a crocodilian reptile with a long snout for catching fish. They are one of the longest crocodiles, growing up to 20' in length and are sometimes called the Indian Crocodile. Gharial have been on the endangered species list for decades. Indian government funding has allowed for the Indian Crocodile to be bred in captivity and around 500 were released into the wild in 1986, but few are thought to have survived.

At least 20 have been found dead along the shores of the Chambal River in India over the past 3 days. Analysis shows cirrhosis of the liver to be the cause of death. Poisoning is not suspected, as no fish have died.

Some experts believe the gharial are unable to adapt to conditions outside of the zoos in which they were raised, while others blame pollution and other factors.

Brits Best Americans Again

Once again, the British prove they are philosophically and politically superior to us Americans and modern American culture:

Critics have been outspoken in criticizing Britain's police tactics when it comes to what they are calling "target" laws. This practice, a long-standing staple of the American legal system, rewards police for making more arrests. In a trickle-down effect, police then make more and more arrests for minor offenses. As one UK citizen put it, "Quite simply the government are using the police to nick the public for any offense that raises money for them."

As readers of any of The Weirding blogs know, I live in a community with similarly dishonorable "standards," and found myself on the receiving-end of this corruption a few months back. I am still worried sick that these terrible, corrupt officials will find some other excuse to turn the knife - so much so that I have quit driving and am saving money to move out of the area!

As I said in regards to another matter yesterday, the police are doing this at a time when prison overcrowding has become an issue basically worldwide, and this is the very reason that it is an issue! They keep the jails and prisons overcrowded so they can receive more funding, while simultaneously upping the fines passed onto the imprisoned. This has further socio-economic repercussions, as it can affect peoples' jobs and employment opportunities, as well as their social standing within the community; if things continue along in this fashion, there will come a time when the individual who has not gone to jail at least once will be the anomaly and fall under more suspicion than those of us who have! And, of course, this recrementitious brand of (in-)justice undermines police authority, as it leads to distrust of the cops - as well it should! - but it leads to a general unease and distrust throughout the whole community.

Apparently, police corruption and abuse of authority is not just an American issue, and I think it needs to be addressed on a larger scale. And while they may not have any solutions to the problem as yet, they are superior to us in the sense that they are making headline news in addressing the issue instead of collectively shrugging it off as one more issue over which they have no control.


© C Harris Lynn, 2008

Ah, Technology

I don't know where I'm going with this, so bear with me here:

I got my new computer Tuesday and played with it for a few minutes at my parents' house - just the very basics of setting it up - then I set it to defrag while I slept and brought it home the next day. That's when the real fun began:

I started by loading the software I use most, keeping my fingers crossed that it would be compatible, and checked for updates and patches and so forth. Then I dragged out the dozens of CDs from over the years - most of which had programs I no longer need or are specific to an earlier, or different, OS - but there were several accessories and programs that are both compatible and useful. Then it was on to fonts and icons - I have, literally, thousands of fonts and icons, both purchased and downloaded from sites throughout the years - and I am still going through those, as I have been for the past 3 days. Then came the music: first the MP3s and Windows media files, then the audio CDs. I still have dozens more to go when it comes to that, as well...

It is simply... I cannot begin to describe the feeling of having a hard drive large enough to hold literally everything I have without worrying about running out of space or affecting performance; I really can't think of a word or phrase to impart my overwhelming joy. Thousands of fonts and icons, hundreds of songs and pictures - I even loaded The Sims and played it for a few hours the other night and I haven't played it in nearly 5 years, not to mention I have several of the expansions!

I am just so excited to be able to have everything on this one computer. No more searching through CDs for this particular file, picture, song, or font; no more getting bored and wishing I could just load The Sims and play around for an hour or two (but not doing it because I know I'll just have to turn around and take it off because it's so massive that I can't leave it on there, and that's just going to bloat the registry, so what's the point in fooling with it at all?); no more spending entire afternoons pruning the Music folder and ripping new songs just to change the playlist. But all this convenience comes with its own caveat:

Don't put all your eggs in one basket!

Maybe all these conservative computing tactics have just become ingrained over the years, but I'm a little nervous about the whole thing - it's like I won't allow myself to relax and enjoy the marvels of a brand new computer and so much empty HD space. I want to set up everything: MS Works, my Calendar, fill my Address Book, make playlists for every occasion, configure my everything... but I can't help waiting for the other shoe to drop. Everytime I insert a 10-year old CD that's scratched all to Hell and back and the system hangs, I actually get excited!: "Ha! Finally, I crashed it - now I can use the recovery disc and bitch and moan about it and get on with my life!" It's crazy.

But it's a good crazy - a great crazy, actually! - it sure as hell beats feeling this way over a decade-old box that's already crashed a few times. Still, it's a nervous angst that I've yet to shake; I feel like a virgin on her wedding night... not that I - I wouldn't know what that... you get my point.

So I got a few things out of the way today and I'm sure you noticed that some of them were pretty dated by now, but going through all the bookmarks was one of the projects I have been putting-off for far too long and I finally had a real reason to do it, so I got a lot more to get to you even if it is old stuff by now. And you will start seeing a lot more action, along the lines of the old days actually; once I get to the point that I'm not constantly having to spend a whole day fixing a hardware issue or restart an entire project from scratch because the files I was working on are on another hard drive I can't get to, etc., etc., I will obviously be far more productive. Not to mention that I'm no longer having to wait for 5 minutes for every damn page I surf to to load!

Though I am still having to wait 5 minutes for Blogger to publish through FTP...

Cosmic Rays' Source Discovered?

Scientists have been puzzled as to the origins of cosmic rays which bombard the Earth. But over 370 of them from 17 countries, working at the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina believe they have discovered that source: black holes.

They found that the rays do not arrive evenly dispersed, but hail from those areas of the sky occupied by compact centers of nearby galaxies which contain black holes. The magnetic fields surrounding these black holes may speed up the cosmic rays, explaining their super energies.

Cosmic rays are fast moving su-atomic particles and nuclei from outer space. Lower energy forms are produced by the sun, stars, and exploding stars. Cosmic rays are responsible for the creation of the Fantastic Four.

Suspected Serial Killer Gets 438 Years

A suspected serial killer in Phoenix, AZ, received a sentence of 438 years for the sexual assault of two sisters! 43-year old Mark Goudeau, pleaded innocent to the charges of raping one of the women and sexually assaulting the other, one of which was 6 months pregnant. Both women identified Goudeau as their attacker and DNA evidence linked him to the crimes. Goudeau is also facing charges in connection with the murders of eight people which occurred between 2005 and 2006; he is one of three suspects arrested by Phoenix police believed to be the Baseline Killer, so named for a street in south Phoenix where many of the attacks took place.

It is unclear exactly what charges Goudeau faces in the other trial, as there appear to have been two serial killing sprees in the area at the same time, committed by three men... or something. It is most likely the police and legal system are using the cases as an excuse to "clean-up the streets" and remove as many of those they deem "trouble" from society.

438 years is an outrageous length of time for sexual assault, no matter how you slice it - that's a pretty ridiculous amount of time for any crime! Of course he deserves a harsh sentence - rape is one of the most heinous of all crimes - and I realize the sentence is meant to serve as an example to other would-be rapists, but the American justice system really needs to check itself. These outlandish prison terms when we're in the throes of a prison overcrowding epidemic is inexcusable; it's a big part of why there is an overcrowding problem to begin with. I mean, it's not as if the guy's going to get out before he dies, had he just been given a life sentence and although I would completely understand that, even that seems a but much for a rape case, given the current state of the penal system. The Deputy County Attorney was able to prove a previous violent criminal record which made him eligible for a higher sentence and they were obviously trying to make a point to the community in this election year, for which the entire tribe should be condemned and brought-up on charges of misconduct (though they won't be).

But my real concern is that I have a theory concerning these longer-than-life sentences: could it be that these sentences actually cause hauntings?

The Lord's Prayer contains the line, "...Thou will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven," and the story of Cain and Abel tells us that Cain's sentence was to walk the Earth forever, where no man could touch him. Could it be that these sentences damn the guilty to do just that?

Of course, I'm relaying this theory from a Judaeo-Christian standpoint, but it needn't be so; I think the theory stand up just fine, divorced from Christianity - or any other religion - as it is only a theory.

Mystery Mammal Caught on Film for First Time!

The long-eared jerboa is a desert mouse whose ears, as its name indicates, far outsize its tiny body. Indigenous to the deserts of Mongolia and China, the jerboa is nocturnal and on the endangered species list. Researchers on an expedition in the Gobi desert filmed the little creature recently. Scientists believe this is the first and only instance of the jerboa being captured on film.

The footage showed that the animals spend their daylight hours in underground tunnels and have little hairs on their feet that allow them to hop across the sand, much like a kangaroo. The jerboa is on the verge of extinction, due largely to habitat disturbance and climate change.

Human Evolution Faster Than Thought?

Contrary to the popular notion that human evolution has slowed dramatically, US scientists say that it has actually increased - at a rate approximately 100 times faster than any other in history!

Prof. Henry Harpending, author of the study conducted at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), said "Genes are evolving fast in Europe, Asia and Africa, but almost all of these are unique to their continent of origin. We are getting less alike, not merging into a single, mixed humanity." The professor said this is happening because there has not been much "flow" between different regions since humans first left Africa for the rest of the world.

The researchers provided two theories for why evolution is speeding up:

1. There are more people, meaning advantageous mutations have more chance to appear
2. Environmental and dietary changes

Professor Steve Jones of the University College London, a geneticist, called the first theory "contentious," as the evidence is not clear. He said that it is clear that human evolution has sped-up over the past 10,000 years, but to suggest that it is happening at this instant is "probably wrong."

New Computer, Baby!

Yes! I said it might happen and it finally did! After 10 years on the same machine (interrupted by several spates of using the old 98 back-up box), I finally, finally got a new computer. and what a computer it is!

I got an eMachine (I know - the boards go out after 3-4 years on the older models, so I can only hope that won't be the case with this one) with a 320GB hard drive and dual processor. May be more computer than I need, but so long as I'm very careful and do the best I can, maybe it will last me another decade or so - the last one did and the 98 machine I've been having to work on lately is a decade old. Hell, I still have the old Tandy I first got into computers on with Windows 3.1-3.11! The one I ran the old Renegade BBS on.

And it's not like I should have to upgrade this puppy anytime real soon (he said hopefully). I discussed the features and so forth over to The Rundown a bit ago, so you can surf over there to find out more, if you're interested.

Anyway, the point is that things may be a little slow for the next week or so, as I get everything configured, get the old stuff over here, and learn the new OS, etc, but not completely. One of the things I did during this process was go through the bookmarks and found tons of great stuff I had flagged to discuss, then never got around to (usually because I lost the bookmark!), so I'll get some of those out to you, even though they are dated. But it's obviously going to take some time to get adjusted to all the new-fangledness.

Anyway, hope everyone's having a great day and I'll see you with something more before the day is out!

AFK

Okay, so I got Blogger to work - well, okay, so someone got Blogger working - and then I had to leave home to come and look at a computer. I'm hoping against hope it works well enough that I can use it and then I can access all the stuff on my old hard drive. If that happens - if, if - then the website will get a sudden flurry of activity, as I publish all the stuff I was working on when it crapped-out. Not to mention get back to work, proper.

I wish I had more to tell you right now, but all my bookmarks are on my desktop at home. I'm on a family member's laptop and he doesn't even have Firefox installed on here! BLASPHEMER! Anyway, I have to get a few stories out the door regardless, and then I promise to make some special time for The OddBlog tomorrow, now that it's working.

12-11-07

I have several stories over the past couple of days to get to you, but Blogger was having FTP issues again and I had a lot of other stuff to get to. I have got to break down and get a new computer, and most likely broadband access - I don't know how I'm going to afford either, but it simply has to be done. I cannot afford to put it off any longer.

Some of the sites and functions I need to access on a regular basis simply aren't available on/through 98, so this still makes for a good back-up box, but I can't rely on it for any significant length of time and I've been using it steadily for the last, like, two months.

I went to the library earlier and spent 50 minutes trying to do damn near anything. I could not, for the life of me, figure out why nothing would come up... then I realized it was due to the damned filtering software! The woman told me she could disable it for me, but I only had like 12 minutes left, so what good would that have done? Anyway, I thanked her and I'll remember it next time, but I just came on home.

We'll see how this post goes through and then I'll try to get the rest of these out to you.

By the way, the new address for The OddBlog is:

oddblog.theweirding.net

But you can still access it from this address (for now, at least).

Paranormal State - A Review

Paranormal State on A&E

Tonight was the premiere of A&E's new Paranormal State -- basically another reality show along the lines of Ghost Hunters. It involves a group of ghost hunters from PA, comprising almost solely college students, who go about, helping those who believe they are experiencing the Supernatural. 

That's where the similarity to Ghost Hunters ends.

I immediately got a sense of "bullshit" when watching Paranormal State. Let's keep in mind that these are college students who all claim to have had paranormal encounters in the past -- all of them -- and not just, "I think I saw something in a graveyard once"-type encounters. These cats have full-fledged, horror movie-style encounters, replete with murderous dolls, monsters in the bedroom closet, and so forth. They all have piercings and take themselves very, very fucking seriously.

College students are melodramatic by nature. Young people with lots of piercings are melodramatic by nature. Young college students with lots of piercings who claim to have had paranormal encounters along the lines of Hollywood blockbusters are... you get where I'm going with this?

There is an all-too serious voice-over that's done in that horror movie radio voice (spooky!) and the guy actually starts off each "entry" with, "Director's log..." They even called in Lorraine Warren on one of these investigations! Seriously!

In fact, this second episode is the one I believe sets the tone for what is to follow: These black dye #1 superfans went to a house that's supposed to be haunted and cried when they found the graves of a family that was murdered there in the 19^th-Century. Then the leader of the pack got all moody and pensive and claimed he'd been dreaming about a daemon's name -- a daemon he once encountered on a case he underwent with the Catholic Church! The Daemon Who Shall Remain Unnamed.

They called in psychic, Chip Coffey, and sat around a table. Someone passed the pierced and pensive little man a note and on it was written The Name -- The Name of the Thing What Should Not Be Named -- and he got all pensive and moody, and they all almost cried again. So they called in infamous Daemonologist, Lorraine Warren, who actually brought a sense of reality to the show.

Next week, The Daemon Returns, as they go to a house and a crucifix turns upside-down of its own volition. As if that weren't enough, the man who owns the house is going to get possessed! I'm sure they'll do an exorcism.

I mean, come on -- wouldn't one of the little girls have played better as the possession victim? When does one of them spit split-pea soup?

"Over the top" doesn't begin to describe this one. I hope it gets better, but I'm not sure I can take these guys seriously. It may make for a good show, but it's kind of embarrassing to watch.

Critics of Ghost Hunters should take note: TAPS shows you how it's supposed to be done; Paranormal State is just a show.

Bigots Split with Church

The congregation of the San Joaquin diocese in Fresno, California voted to secede from the Episcopal Church because they despise homosexuals.

The Episcopalian Church appointed a gay bishop in 2003 and the church has struggled internally with this decision since then. The Church said that 32 of its 7600 congregations had left, with another 23 voting on the issue. San Joaquin is the first diocese to complete the split.

The diocese then accepted an invitation to join a conservative South American Anglican congregation.

It is true that The Bible contains many passages condemning homosexuality, but Christianity was supposedly founded on the teachings of Jesus Christ, whose primary message stressed the issues of acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

Homosexuality does not appear in the Ten Commandments, though both adultery and stealing do. This is very interesting to me because so many self-proclaimed Christians are very forgiving of drug addicts who routinely participate in thievery, as well as the time-honored practice of cheating on one's spouse. For some reason, these people - who are committing sins, according to the Ten Commandments set forth in the Old Testament - "have problems," whereas homosexuals are to be "damned to Hellfires for an Eternity."

The Episcopalian Church made great strides in proving their commitment to Christ's teachings when they appointed the openly gay Gene Robinson to the office of bishop in New Hampshire in 2003, but some of their members are dead-set on leaving a legacy of hatred, bigotry, and discrimination.

More blood has been shed in the name of the Christian God than for any other reason throughout the history of Mankind.

Psychic Computing

In an apparent attempt to make up for their ridiculously small storage capacity, a Japanese firm has decided to make their removable media sticks psychic.

Yes, Princeton has created USB media drives with psychic software, driven by (or based on, we're not sure) famed Japanese psychic, Masako Mitaki. The software apparently comes packaged with the product and I guess you load it on your computer and psychic away.

Try though I might, I could not find out much about this, because all of the related websites are in Japanese...

Germans to Ban Scientology?

German officials have ruled the Church of Scientology unconstitutional, leading many to speculate that the fringe religion may soon be banned in the country.  Many Germans, like many around the world, accuse the organization of cult-like practices and financially exploiting its members.

Scientology is not recognized as a religion in Germany and officials have asked their domestic intelligence agency to look into their status as an association.  Scientology has been closely monitored by German agencies for years and these agencies are now being asked to draw up a report in advance of this decision.

This has come to a head since January, when Scientologists opened a new church in the German capital of Berlin.  Many people have complained about active recruiting.  Germany has approximately 6000 Scientologists who demand a right to "freedom of religion."

Scientology was founded in America by science-fiction writer, L. Ron Hubbard, in the 1950s.  It has come under scrutiny throughout the years for its closely-guarded secret rites, as well as many of its beliefs.  Scientology has become very popular since the 1990s, when it became Hollywood's religion du jour, boasting such A-list celebrity members as Tom Cruise and Jada Pinkett Smith.

The Weirding, 2007

UPDATE (2018):
According to Wikipedia, Scientology has not been banned in Germany, and claims to have five churches coming this year.  Although residents may remain skeptical, Germany is known for its sound decision-making and responsible choices.

The Weirding, 2018

Pope Grants Indulgences

Very important historically and religiously, Pope Benedict XVI has authorized special indulgences to commemorate the 150^th anniversary of the Virgin Mary's appearance at Lourdes to shepherdess, Bernadette Soubirous, in 1858.

The pontiff said that Catholics praying at places of worship dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes from February 2^nd to 11^th will receive indulgences, as will those visiting the actual site in December of next year. Indulgences reduce the time spent in Purgatory.

They became infamous in the 16^th-Century for being sold, as opposed to being earned, which lead to the Protestant reformation.

Bernadette Soubirous claimed to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary in a cave, which told her she was the Immaculate Conception and that a church should be erected at the site. Authorities tried to force her to recant, but she remained strong and even had further visions throughout the year. Suddenly, a spring emerged from the cave and was reputed to have extraordinary healing powers. Authorities tried to stop the flow of the spring and delay the construction of the church, but the stories reached the French Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, and construction went forward.

Bernadette Soubirous was beatified in 1925 and canonized in 1933.

Mad Gasser of Britain

We can get pretty serious here for the most part. I know that this is about subjects a lot of people find incredulous or even laughable, and I definitely try to make sure to take it as seriously as possible while injecting a little humor from time to time. Too much humor and it reads like I'm poking fun of the topics; too little and it reads as a dry, technical manual. So every now and again, I come across a piece that, while not Unexplained or paranormal, is definitely odd and humorous, and I think y'all will like it. This is one such piece:

Englishman, Maurice Fox, a 77-year old pensioner, received a letter from one of his favorite hang-outs, a social club in Paignton, sometime back, asking him to "...please consider that your actions are considered disgusting to fellow members and visitors." It urged him to heed this warning.

Mr. Fox told the press, "I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy - I am an old fart now."I am happy to oblige them, there is no problem. I do get a bit windy - I am an old fart now. I think someone has complained about the noise. I am a loud farter, but there is no smell. I think someone has complained about the noise. I am a loud farter, but there is no smell."

In keeping with the spirit of The OddBlog, I would just like to point out that, as Mr. Fox noted, the reasons for his receiving the letter are Unknown.

Was someone offended by the sound of his flatulence? Is Mr. Fox wrong when he thinks his own shit doesn't smell? We cannot say, but seeing as how Mr. Fox has agreed to excuse himself form the room from now on, there is no real need to get to the bottom of this.

After all, the world would be a poorer place without some mystery...

Updating Mythology

I just finished watching Sci-Fi Channel's Tin Man, a modernization of the L. Frank Baum classic, The Wizard of Oz. I give a review of the first in the series over to The Rundown and will actually review the entire show later this weekend (they are replaying the entire series Sunday afternoon) there as well, but I wanted to post here about the updating of mythologies, because Wizard of Oz is truly an American fairy tale and we have discussed this sort of thing here before.

Before the show aired, I saw a special about the making of it and someone mentioned that "all classics need to be reworked once every 50 years to make it accessible to modern viewers." But, as I say in the review of the first episode, this current reworking really didn't so much rework anything as just modernize it - and there is a difference.

While I'm going to cover this more in the review later on, Tin Man didn't really remain true to the story and instead "hipped" it up with a bunch of pointless lingo, acronyms to replace names, and digressions from the original story. In truth, it didn't retell the classic as try to reinvent it. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but I found the entire promotion of it misleading.

Imagine if they did Little Red Riding in da Hood along the lines of the Grand Theft Auto videogame - it just isn't the same story, doesn't have the same focus, and doesn't carry the same weight.

I haven't seen the new Beowulf movie, but the trailers lead me to think that it is truly more an update of the original story - simply presenting it with better special effects and keeping the adult themes and subject matter (subtly intoned or completely jettisoned in the original) intact in the narrative. If Beowulf had become a Nicaraguan guerilla, fighting the oppressive Grendela regime with laser guns and running drugs on the side to fund their operations... well, that just wouldn't be the same, would it?

Musings and Dissertations

You've probably noticed I've been dishing out a lot more of the philosophical rants and dissertations as late. I had always meant to do this here, as a lot of what this blog deals with is exactly that. You know, Jung wrote about it often, as to how our sociology - our mores, norms, values, and ideals - lend to our current beliefs and interests. To those ends, the state of the world today definitely has to do with our current interest in the Occult and Unknown, and it's interesting to me to pontificate on where the two meet and diverge.

How much of all this paranormal reality TV and entertainment is driving our desire to learn more, and how much is our desire for knowledge on these subjects driving the entertainment industry to dole-out more?

Even further, current religious debates, while they haven't changed much (if at all), have once again come to the forefront and I think part of that has to do with my own Generation X, who were largely void of religion, if not downright anti-religious. This was a logical extension of rebellion from previous generations' norms, mores, and values, and it is just as logical that it has since turned to the other end of the spectrum. This is also part of what is fueling the renewed interest in the Unknown and paranormal.

So, that's why I have been doing more of this lately. It is all meant to dovetail with the scientific reports and ideas we cover here; all of these disparate sciences, ideas, teachings, and studies work in tandem and in contrast to shape the whole of the paranormal today - what we think of it, whether or not we believe it (may) exists, the theories we forward to explain that which we cannot - all of it is important to the study of this phenomena as a whole, and why I like to muse on it when I can.

And I am clearly in love with the sound of my own voice.

Ugly Attacks!

I came to this story because I was intrigued by the title, but once I started reading it, I knew I had to write about it - if for no other reason than to pass it along to you.

It seems a young writer in Buenos Aires, Argentina, has decided to take on "The Beautiful People," whom he feels should be taxed for the unfair advantages they receive. The writer, Gonzalo Otalora, was an admittedly "ugly" teen who suffered immensely because of it, according to him. While some would disagree, Buenos Aires is said to have a very unhealthy preoccupation with physical beauty. I find it hard to believe anywhere could be as bad, much less worse, than America, but one of the comments agreeing with Otalora's assessment was from a guy in LA who had visited Argentina not long ago.

I was an "ugly duckling." Not that I am such a swan now, mind you, but when I was younger, I had bad acne, orange hair, hideously crooked teeth, freckles, and absolutely no sense of style. I did not like myself very much because I was so insecure about my looks. But when I turned 18, I finally grew my hair out like I'd always wanted to (I had one of those, "When you're 18, you can do what you want, but while you live under my roof..." dads), affected a goatee/Van Dyke, got into decent shape playing the drums for a death metal band(s), and things seemed to turn around.

I can say this though: it is really hard to forget that "ugly duckling" stage. To this day, I sometimes get what others would recognize as flattering looks and I do not recognize them until I am far removed from the situation. For instance, a very attractive young lady was giving me The Eye at the gas station the other morning and I just thought she was stricken by my long hair or something along those lines. It wasn't until I was on the way back home that it struck me, "DOH! That was the 'Hi, you' look!"

A lot of general modern day life is tied into physical appearance and I am not completely certain it is so unhealthy. I also don't feel too much pity for "ugly" people. As Gonzalo Otalora himself says, it really comes down to a matter of security and self-assuredness; no matter how your physical looks measure up to conventional standards, if you are comfortable with yourself, you can certainly compete with "The Beautiful People." And building that self-esteem generally requires nothing more than finding something you are good at and succeeding or giving of yourself to others.

That sounds like a bunch of blah, but I am serious. Nothing builds confidence like success and while you can be successful at something you don't like, there isn't that degree of satisfaction you really feel when you succeed at something you really want. As for the other, when you give of yourself freely (I don't mean be a tool - I mean volunteering, tutoring, being a friend, guide, or mentor), others treat you with respect and judge you according to your contributions to the community and society as a whole.

But too, why not groom yourself a little more and make an effort to learn how to dress and compose yourself better? A little effort goes a long way in this department.

Ancient Reptilian Evidence Changes History

Researchers believe the oldest evidence for reptiles was found this past October in Canada. The 315 million-year-old tracks were found in the sea cliffs at New Brunswick by UK scientist, Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, who called the discovery "pure luck."

The fossils suggest that reptiles first left the water and walked on land at least one to three million years earlier than previously thought. If this is true, the implications are staggering across all fields of science and philosophy.

While they cannot be sure, there were only a handful of reptiles around the time that could have left the footprints, and they think it was the Hylonomus lyelli.

Before the discovery, the oldest evidence for reptiles was thought to be skeletal fossils of the Hylonomus lyelli, found in the 19^th-Century.

Paranormal TV

We spoke a few days back as to how the Occult and general paranormal has all but taken over the television airwaves the past several years. Actually, we were discussing the prevalence throughout all entertainment, but TV was a particular focus.

While even scripted TV shows have tackled the matter, including "straight" shows that have had a plot or story about them here and there (such as the Law & Order and CSI franchises, for example), the paranormal has made a particular impact on reality TV.

We have had all sorts of reality scenarios and concepts lately, with a real focus on ghost hunting and psychic phenomena, not to mention the break-out hit, Destination Truth, which focuses on all things cryptozoological. There have also been a lot of specials dealing with ufology, legend/lore (Atlantis), and more "weird" stuff.

The 2008 season brings an even greater amount of likeminded fare across the channels, with A&E getting in on the ghost hunting with their Paranormal State (next Monday, the 10^th). Lifetime is bringing back Speaking with the Dead and Sci-Fi Channel is adding Ghost Hunters International (featuring the uniquely-gifted Brian Harnois as lead investigator) to their roster this January. History Channel is continuing with new episodes of MonsterQuest and Sci-Fi Channel's Destination Truth returns this January. Also on History Channel this February comes UFO Hunters.

CourtTV is changing its name to Tru TV, a reality-based network (aren't they all nowadays?), so depending on the popularity of these shows, you can look for both it and Discovery to jump on the bandwagon sometime along the way. And obviously, if any of these are breakout hits, you can expect the parent network to beef-up its paranormal fare. History Channel has the most and its famous History's Mysteries series and the like may once again become ubiquitous on the network.

While some of these shows are destined to fail, the WGA strike shows no signs of ending anytime soon, so we can expect good runs of even the most pedestrian of these, with or without retooling at the midway-point.

All in all, while this was a short fall season for scripted shows (there are only 4 or 5 of those, anyway), it looks to be a good season for all things Odd!

Technicalese

We'll be churning out some stuff over the next couple days, but then we may be on a (very) brief hiatus while we do some more behind-the-scenes work. I don't mean a week or anything; specifically, we may take a day or two off to try and get this stuff done, but you know how these things go... if everything doesn't work out just right, it may stretch into several days. Hopefully, this won't be the case, but I can't say for certain, so I wanted to give everyone the heads-up.

Here's more or less what's going down:

Google dipped into the time-honored "business practice" of extortion to try and force those of us who employ sponsored posts and other advertisers to go back to using only Google AdSense. This caused our Google Page Rank (PR) to drop dramatically, which has forced us lower down the Google search engine listings. Where normally I don't bother with this kind of stuff, I am trying to at least make enough money so that the site will pay for itself and I am not paying for hosting and all that, so it's one of those things that I have to be concerned with.

To those ends, one of our sponsors was singled-out by Google and I stood up for them. I don't respond well to threats, especially not from monopolies. Unfortunately, their hands are also tied and they simply cannot offer us the money and opportunities they once did. While I fully support Izea and PayPerPost, the unfortunate fallout is that I am getting double-whammied here: I am forced to remove the sponsored badges and logos in order to attempt and regain some of the PR Google unceremoniously stripped me of because I am losing visitors and money and PPP cannot do anything to help me with that.

Further, I am in the process of moving each of the blogs to their own sub-domain. Had I gotten this done previously, it would have softened the blow, since each sub-domain would be seen by Google as basically a separate website, in a manner of speaking. However, preparing for this while trying to maintain the blogs and keep them visible without you getting a bunch of dead and broken links and etc. is no mean feat.

What this all comes down to is that I am going to be busy as hell for at least a week or two and you probably won't be able to tell from your end. I am going to do my best to keep things moving, but (as with any major remodeling job) in the case of any major setbacks, I am obviously going to be up to my neck trying to smooth things out technically, and you might not see many posts until it gets done - not just here, but on any of the blogs.

Keep watching The Wording for any updates on how things are going and I'll do my best to keep you apprised here. In the meantime, I'll go on and get you some of this good stuff I've got here to keep you busy for a while, at least!

Tentative Good News

My head and neck have been bothering me off and on all day, which is why I simply haven't gotten more done. The thing about taking pain medicine is that, when you run out, the withdrawal symptoms generally resemble those of the flu, which is basically how I've been feeling this past week or so. I'm really not sure if it's that or this crazy, up and down weather we've been having lately.

But that isn't what I'm writing about. I got some tentatively good news that I have been dying to share, but afraid of jinxing:

I may - just may, just maybe - be getting a new computer! This will be the first in nearly 10 years. "10 YEARS?!" I hear you say - yes, 10 years. See, I got my last one back in 1999 and I take pretty good care of my stuff. I guess it comes from being a comics collector, but a lot of what I have is pretty old. I just tend to take fairly good care of it... except for my couch and blankets - I burn holes in them left and right and never realize it until long after I've done it...

Anyway, this is great news for all concerned because, if it happens, I will definitely be more productive. I have had so many computer issues lately that it's really set me back for weeks on-end. I've been on this Win 98 computer now for over a month! Turns out a lot of things online nowadays simply don't want to work with Win 98 - who'da thunk it?

Anyway, like I've said, I have a lot of running around to do tomorrow, so I don't know if anything will get posted or not. Hopefully, I'll have at least one or two things to get to you, but you know how it goes. I just figured I'd come and share the good (maybe!) news with everyone, in case I pop-up and let you know I'll be offline for a day or two so I can get it all set up and working.

Get 'Em While They're Young

Hershey's candy company released the Ice Breakers mints last month. The candy comes in dissolvable "nickel" bags similar to those in which hard drugs are sold, such as crack, heroin, and meth amphetamine.

A Philadelphia policeman raised concerns as to whether the packaging was intended to glorify drugs and cash-in on their appeal. A spokesman for Hershey's insisted the packaging was not meant to "simulate" anything, but declined to answer whether or not executives, parents, or other law enforcement agents had raised the same concerns. He also did not say whether or not the company had plans to change the packaging.

CEOs aside, what else would such packaging even be for? Of course Hershey is trying to capitalize on the popularity of the drug sub-culture with this product and regardless of how you feel about drug consumption, hard drugs don't just kill people, they destroy lives - not just the user's, but those of the user's friends and family, as well. Hershey should be ashamed of such a low-down campaign, but so long as they're turning a buck, why should they care?

Just remember kids, one day even you can afford the real stuff - just like the "cool" kids.

Destination Truth Discovers Yeti Prints

The Sci-Fi Channel's Destination Truth uncovered what may be Yeti footprints while filming in the Nepalese mountains, near Mt. Everest.

Reports of "abominable snowmen," Yeti, or "wild men" have surfaced since the 1920s and even further back. Local sherpas tell stories of the beast, which is sometimes seen as a protector, more often a destructive force. Many years ago, videotaped evidence of an unidentified creature following an anonymous couple up a mountain surfaced, but was immediately called into question because the source of the tape could not be verified.

Footprints have been found throughout the years, but few have claimed to actually spotted the beast. Aside from this, little scientific evidence exists to verify the creatures' existence.

The episode will air next season on Destination Truth.

Today

Had to take a few days off due to pain, not to mention a general malaise. I think it all comes down to the weather, which has been bone-chilling one day and downright sunbathingly warm the next. My neck and back got to hurting so bad yesterday that I barely got off the couch the entire day and went to bed early, but then couldn't sleep well last night because I had been napping all day, so I got off to a slow start today.

Anyway, I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow and can't promise how much I'll be here, if at all, so I figured I'd get enough out to you to keep you busy through Tuesday, when everything should be back on schedule (he said hopefully).

But at least we have some cool news to get to you, including breaking stories of Yeti footprints uncovered by an American TV team!