The Boogeyman Across Cultures

It seems that the idea of a nasty character who carries a bag into which he or she stuffs naughty children, who are then, never again heard from is common around the world, and in many cultures this character has a name that is similar to "boogeyman." In Scotland children are told they may be taken by a bogger, bogart, for instance. From Wikipedia:

In many countries, a bogeyman-like creature is portrayed as a man with a sack on his back who carries naughty children away. This is true for many Latin countries, such as Spain, Portugal, Brazil and the countries of Spanish America, where it referred to as el "Hombre de la Bolsa", el hombre del saco, or in Portuguese, o homem do saco (all of which mean "the sack man"). Similar legends are also very common in Eastern Europe, as well as Haiti and some countries in Asia. 

Were you ever told about a monster that would come and take you if you  misbehaved? Many stories have origins in warning children away from dangerous things that they can't rationally understand. Others seem formulated to scare the beegeezus out of impressionable children to make them more pliable. We tell these stories to adults, too, though. Human consciousness seems programmed to imagine supernatural terrors awaiting us if we take too many missteps. What ever. My imaginary friend is always on call to aid me.

Disposable Chopsticks = Deforestation

Your good old reusable flatware is way more environmentally friendly.

Usually when one hears about rates of global deforestation, you get stats such as "Amazonian rain forests are being decimated at a rate of 2.4 acres per second." But recently I'm hearing more about the amount of forest being razed to create disposable / one-time-use chopsticks throughout Asia:

China now produces and discards more than 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year, cutting down as many as 25 million trees in the process, according to government statistics. Another 15 billion pairs are exported to Japan, South Korea and other countries. At the current rate of timber use, environmentalists warn, China will consume its remaining forests in about a decade.
And despite China's great land mass, they're importing 60 million cubic meters of timber yearly to meet demand. To make matters worse, the Chinese government actively encouraged disposable chopstick use for years to inhibit communicable disease. There is a nascent environmental movement in China which encourages people to carry their own non-disposable chopsticks, but I've heard from Chinese environmentalists that environmentalism in China gets even more strange looks than it does in the U.S.

So... what happens in a decade, when all of China's forests are gone?

Sex Pistols in San Antonio

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (U.S. Version)


There's something here. 

Darned Interesting: The Writer Who Couldn't Read

UFOs to Arrive for July 4th Celebrations?

Yes, in fact, the UFOs will arrive for July 4th. Whether you'll see them or not is another matter, but they will be with us. Rumor has it that humans will have an opportunity to watch their fireworks, and, if the mood strikes them, move into the fifth dimension. Just remember: you read it here first.

Je Ne Sais Quoi

David Lynch sells cigarettes. Don't smoke kids. Really don't smoke them.

A Scientific Explanation for Ghosts?

To start with at beginning, the fourth dimension is time, and this refers to all the time in our existence. From things long passed to things yet to happen. We live in this dimension and therefore can only see a cross section of it, this being the present.
To see time as a whole you must, like with all dimensions, be one dimension higher than the one your observing.
Just like we can see the whole of a two dimensional object, from its insides to the surrounding area. While the two dimensional being would only be able to see one dimensional lines and thus not the insides of enclosed objects.
With use of this same principle we can assume that a five dimensional being would be able to see time as a whole, like we see a drawing on paper.
This being would to see us as long snakes, starting at our birth and ending at our death. But not only us, they would see this with everything that exists in our dimension, from the smallest particle to the very universe itself.

full article here. Via professor hex

Odd Musical Instrument: Beer Bottle Organ

Here's a nifty idea for re-using all those empty bottles after the Fourth of July barbeque. If you have a lot of time and technical expertise, that is. It was made by Peterson Electo-Musical Products. This beer bottle organ includes 72 beer bottles and was sponsored by Guiness. The bottles contain varying amounts of glycerine, and air blowing over the tops makes the sound. Pretty interesting. Check out this news clip about the beer bottle organ:

Delphic Oracle's Secret Discovered by Geologists

The Priestess of Delphi, by John Collier

Nay, when a mule becometh king of Medes, flee, soft-soled Lydian, by pebbly Hermus, and stay not, nor feel shame to be a coward. After crossing the Halys, Croesus will destroy a great empire.

After recieving this prophesy, Croesis attacked Persia and lost, thereby destroying his own great empire.

According Pythagoras the Delphic Oracle derived her abilities from gasses that were trapped inside the temple which rose up from the ground. Until recently this was considered a myth, but geologists revisiting the theory have found evidence that the Pythagoras story was true. Ethylene gasses were found to be emanating from a spring in the area of the temple. Ethylene gasses have a narcotic and hallucinogenic effect and the temple of Delphi was built over a spring. Apparently a lack of tectonic plate activity caused the gasses to dissipate over time and the oracle's popularity fell off.

The Road to Delphi: Scenes from the History of Oraclesis a beautiful exporatioin of prophesy through history.

Poem for Summer Night: In A Dark Time

by Theodore Roethke

In a dark time, the eye begins to see,
I meet my shadow in the deepening shade;
I hear my echo in the echoing wood--
A lord of nature weeping to a tree.
I live between the heron and the wren,
Beasts of the hill and serpents of the den.

What's madness but nobility of soul
At odds with circumstance? The day's on fire!
I know the purity of pure despair,
My shadow pinned against a sweating wall.
That place among the rocks--is it a cave,
Or winding path? The edge is what I have.

A steady storm of correspondences!
A night flowing with birds, a ragged moon,
And in broad day the midnight come again!
A man goes far to find out what he is--
Death of the self in a long, tearless night,
All natural shapes blazing unnatural light.

Dark, dark my light, and darker my desire.
My soul, like some heat-maddened summer fly,
Keeps buzzing at the sill. Which I is I?
A fallen man, I climb out of my fear.
The mind enters itself, and God the mind,
And one is One, free in the tearing wind.

Celebrating Summer Solstice in West Texas

photo by Mara ~earth light~

Summer solstice is the longest day and the shortest night of the year and it's the first official day of summer.  It's also a very active night for strange activity, and there was no shortage of strange activity last night at the Black Mansion. The chupacabras were restless after so long in the caves where they avoid the sunlight, emerging at dusk to feed on unguarded goats. Of course, in the alternate universe area known as Sugarland Not-Texas the Marfa lights play in the daytime, as tiny black holes. It makes them un-reliable come nightfall in West Texas, though, which made the jackalopes all the more jumpy and aggressive. Strange bonfires could be seen on the hillsides and a hideous cackling rang out in the night. One can only guess the source of that treacherous sound. So, we're resting here today, basking in the shade of the mesquite trees and hoping the kissing bugs don't bite. 

Contortionists and Potato Salad- A Strange Act Out of West Texas

Via Durango Texas.

The Ross sisters were actually natives of West Texas. They performed, as you see, contortionist routines with light hearted ditties, reaching the peak of their popularity in the 1940s. Pretty amazing stuff. Here's their Wikipedia entry.

The Heaventree of Stars

hung with humid nightblue fruit.

Hubble and Joyce.
Ulysses

The Jackalope: An Examination of the Species

We found a lovely little explanation of some of the odd behaviors of the elusive Jackalope today at the Museum of Hoaxes. They seem to know a bit about the animal's behavior. An excerpt:

The jackalope is an aggressive species, willing to use its antlers to fight. Thus, it is also sometimes called the "warrior rabbit."

Jackalopes possess an uncanny ability to mimic human sounds. In the old West, when cowboys would gather by their campfires to sing at night, jackalopes would frequently be heard singing back, mimicking the voices of the cowboys. Jackalopes become especially vocal before thunderstorms, perhaps because they mate only when lightning flashes (or so it is theorized).

When chased, the jackalope will use its vocal abilities to elude capture. For instance, when chased by people it will call out phrases such as, "There he goes, over there," in order to throw pursuers off its track. The best way to catch a jackalope is to lure it with whiskey, as they have a particular fondness for this drink. Once intoxicated, the animal becomes slower and easier to hunt.

If you're thinking of a run to West Texas you might want to give the whole thing a read, just so you'll know what to do if you encounter one of these horrid critters.