There is still fear in 2014.. There have been some interesting and unsettling earthquakes in the Canary Islands over the past few days—this has happened before. When it did, there were rumors that a giant East Coast tsunami would occur. That was helped by people like John Moore on his radio program.. Now that the rumbling is happening again, those same rumors are being told. John Hogue is weighing in on the earthquake swarm and potential ramifications if Las Palmas euptions take place..
From livescience.com: “Two years after a new underwater volcano appeared offshore of El Hierro in the Canary Islands, earthquake swarms and a sudden change in height suggest a new eruption is brewing near the island’s villages, officials announced today”
If a big tsunami did occur, it would cause devastation in the aftermath..Predictions that it would be 300 feet high, cover islands.. And here is a map of what it could do to the United States.
And it just so happened that this all occurred around the same time of these warnings of increased volcanic and seismic activity: A strong 5.4 shakes the Canary Islands..
Monday, December 30, 2013
The Canary Islands in the coal mine
Showing my age..
My niece and her friend were at our house this weekend, they’re of the age where they want to just watch mindless horror movies.. I put in Halloween from 1978, I expected them to be as amazed as I was when I was a young teenager like them..
They got bored quickly, and their only commentary on the classic movie was that the star of it now does yogurt commercials..
Yes… Jamie Lee is old now. But not when she fought Michael Myers.
Here is the full TWILIGHT ZONE marathon schedule from the SYFY channel..
It’s been the traditional way I’ve rung in the new year for a long time now.. Thanks to the SYFY channel (*then SCI FI) for all the wonderful memories of the Twilight Zone you’ve given me each and every New Years Eve..
I have already written down the times of my favorites..
Maybe I can get my wife to actually watch some this year if I tell her there will be advertisements for HER favorite show, LOST GIRLS.
Meanwhile.. the Monsters are Due on Maple street at 8:30 pm, the Shelter is prepped for 6:30 pm, and the Obsolete Man will cry at 1130 pm..
But the best happens at 12:00 am January 1, 2014 when the MIDNIGHT SUN blazes.. that one is my favorite.
Hope you find yours on their schedule.
Here is the full TWILIGHT ZONE marathon schedule from the SYFY channel..
Steam is coming from Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building — and it was observed multiple times this week
Another majorly important story about Fukushima that really no media organization is paying any mind to..
Steam is coming from Fukushima Unit 3 reactor building — and it was observed multiple times this week
Here’s one of the latest model runs for this Thursday.. 2014 may begin with a bang on the East Coast—a bang of snow and winter weather. This is a cold storm, too.. the way the arctic air will settle in beforehand would ensure that anything that falls with this scenario is frozen precipitation.
While local forecasters in the area aren’t scaring anyone to grocery stores yet, this may be one of those storms you’ll want to have a stockpile of pizza and beer, or whatever your vice may be. There could be widespread 10-15 inches of snow over the entire area shaded in blue and green..
Stay tuned. This would happen Thursday January 2, 2014, if it all comes together the right way..
What a weird year it’s been …
We started 2013 hating Vlad the impaler.. Midyear it seemed everyone wanted to boycott the Russian Olympics over the LGBT controversy. And now as the year ends, the world seems to be on his side, hoping he can save the 2014 Winter Olympics from terrorism…
The Winter Games are only weeks away, but this weekend Russia started to look like a war zone..
Security is tightening around the nation, especially near the Volograd—the location of where violence took place.
This is something that may not let you sleep easy tonight..
Imagine traveling down the highway at 65, cool wind in your hair. And suddenly your feel like you hit a truck. But you didn’t.. your car just thought you did.
Your car was hacked..
It’s a serious issue, and as this video shows, just a little data on your location may lead your air bags to deploy, your turns to be manipulated, and your safe ride to be hacked …
Sun has 'flipped upside down' as new magnetic cycle begins--with video to show it
The north and south poles of the big star that lights our world have officially flipped. The midpoint of the 22 year process has happened.
Feel better about that?
Sun has 'flipped upside down' as new magnetic cycle begins--with video to show it
The Effects of Nursing on Nurses
My niece is a nurse.. she recently linked up this article about nursing, by a nurse, on the site OFCOURSEITSABOUTYOU.COM .. The money quote perhaps that best sums up the article as a whole (though you should still read it nonetheless):
Nursing can be rewarding. But nursing is a fucking hard job. If you are afraid of healthcare rationing, you should know it is already happening. Nurses are unable to give everyone the care they need, so patients with smaller problems may not get the same level of care. A nurse may be pressed to only give the minimum amount of care to a patient if she has 5 or more very sick patients. If you don’t want healthcare rationing, talk to your local hospitals about their nurse to patient ratios. Talk to your doctors. If you hear of legislation to support nurse to patient ratios, vote for it. Support it.
Rationing is happening. And that comes from a nurse.
My father recently had a near death ailment.. and though some fine nurses worked through the wee hours of the night, I saw flaws.. Kinks in the armor of health care.
There are some major issues .. systemic problems.
And for an aging population that’s not something comforting..
The Effects of Nursing on Nurses
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Ted Cruz ‘taking steps’ to renounce Canadian citizenship
So bizarre .. will the people who got all fired up about Obama and those Kenya allegations care about Cruzin for a bruzin from Canada?
I can hear it now.. “Mr. Cruz, did you ever or do you now celebrate Boxing Day?”
Ted Cruz ‘taking steps’ to renounce Canadian citizenship
This is a very important article by Heather Linebaugh .. she worked on the US drone program and writes quite a bit about it
Among the most important things I see with this: It’s not printed in United States sources. It’s from the UK GAURDIAN.. foreign press seems to be the only place to go anymore for news about what actually happens in the United States and the effect of our foreign policy on other nations.
Heather Linebaugh’s initial paragraph sets the stage for an important story on drones and their use:
Whenever I read comments by politicians defending the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Predator and Reaper program – aka drones – I wish I could ask them some questions. I’d start with: “How many women and children have you seen incinerated by a Hellfire missile?” And: “How many men have you seen crawl across a field, trying to make it to the nearest compound for help while bleeding out from severed legs?” Or even more pointedly: “How many soldiers have you seen die on the side of a road in Afghanistan because our ever-so-accurate UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicle] were unable to detect an IED [improvised explosive device] that awaited their convoy?”
Few of these politicians who so brazenly proclaim the benefits of drones have a real clue of what actually goes on. I, on the other hand, have seen these awful sights first hand.
Be brave and read this entire article.
And after be honest with yourself..
Do you still support drones..?
This is a very important article by Heather Linebaugh .. she worked on the US drone program and writes quite a bit about it
RUSSIAN SUICIDE BOMBER CLAIMS LIVES AND INJURES DOZENS
And it’s 400 miles from the site of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Russia..
According to report, Russia fears more attacks as the Olympics approach
RUSSIAN SUICIDE BOMBER CLAIMS LIVES AND INJURES DOZENS
Saturday, December 28, 2013
This is the strawberry that was supposed to be dropped in Harrisburg PA on New Years… Things went very wrong and the strawberry fell and shattered when it dropped..
Now the question: Can they build a new one in time to save New Years?
Mysterious Christmas Eve ‘boom’ heard and felt around GTA
Around 11 p.m. Christmas Eve, people reported hearing a loud “boom” in Toronto, Newmarket, Aurora, Belleville, Richmond Hill, and Sutton. Not only was the boom heard, but it rattled houses, leaving many to believe that a tree had fallen on their rooftop
When in doubt, blame a ‘frost quake.’ And that’s just what is being blamed for these weird sounds..
Though lots of places have been booming since 2012—and there wasn’t always ice storms that accompanied the strange noises..
Mysterious Christmas Eve ‘boom’ heard and felt around GTA
Friday, December 27, 2013
Predictions for 2014
I dare make them.
- Healthcare.gov will begin working, and people will sign up for care. The problem will be lack of younger people signing up, and new rules will be fashioned to force them further into the Obamcare mandate, as the fine will not be enough to sustain the law.
- Local and state governments will face crises in 2014 and big layoffs may occur throughout the nation.
- The winter of 2014 will be warmer than normal. Less snow than normal. But when it snows it will be big. Weatherwise, there will be hurricanes that strike the United States. Tornado season will be especially dire.
- Democrats will get control of both the House and Senate. Republicans will begin to reorganize and promote Chris Christie for president.
- Art Bell will NOT return to radio.
- The Hollywood blockbusters of the summer will be huge. People are craving an escape from reality, and movies are going to feed their desires.
- There will be new court actions against the NSA spying programs. People will begin to speak out against government surveillance in bigger numbers.
- Time travel will not happen, but discoveries of the universe will feed into the notion that it can.
- Radiation from Fukushima will begin to create dire problems in the Pacific Ocean.
- Milk prices will be $7 by December 2014.
- There will be a burst of enthusiam for the Catholic Church, thanks to Pope Francis and Hollywood movies about the Bible.
- 2014 will not be that bad. All in all.
Best short-lived radio of the year
Best paranormal radio of the year
Art Bell made a deal with Siruis XM radio and returned as a paranormal radio broadcaster in September. It was a triumphant return to radio full time after years being off. Sirius paid for a full set in his Pahrump NV home. And then after his brief stint on air, he quit after his Halloween show. Six weeks of radio, and he saw his shadow..and made a decision to go back into radio hibernation and a two year non compete clause.. Not even a #FreeArtBell campaign was able to stop the Sirius suits from holding Bell to that.
Creepy Illuminati of the year
Creepy painting of the year
You are looking at an image of the official portrait of the Danish Royal Family by Thomas Kluges. And it’s really, really weird. The ghastly image is terrifying. Though the official description of the painting says the Royals are featured ‘their own universe’ in plain clothing, it looks more like the cover of a bad horror flick. The only thing missing on the girl in the left hand corner is blood dripping from her mouth. The boy directly in the middle appears to be a harbinger to an OMEN sequel, and faces on the grown men appear to be hiding a undesirable scowl of evil.
Best illuminati symbolism of the year
The Kardashian Christmas card was the best “Where’s Waldo” of conspiracy theory this year. It’s certainly not a traditional greeting.
A Dicknado struck in 2013
Dick of the year
Andy Dick was seen visibly intoxicated and harrassing people in the Hamptons. It was known as a summer DickNado.
2013: The year we looked to the sky and dodged a few bullets
Meteor of the year
It was in Russia in February. And the strength was enough that it sent a shock wave around the world twice.
Flop under the dome.
Most promising TV of the year that turned into a flop
UNDER THE DOME had so much potential. Although the book was 500 pages too long for me to finish, I thought the show had some promise. After a season, I wished the pink stars would have actually fallen on my head to block by vision from seeing his TV series. And since I am luttog
The weird secret service alien guy from earlier this year
What the hell of the year!
A Secret Service agent guarding President Barack Obama could be a shape shifting alien! That was a claim this year..
GIF of the year. Congrats Rob Ford
GIF of the year
If you did not follow the epic story of Rob Ford, you should have. The crack smoking Canadian mayor dominated headlines and become a 15-minute of fame sensation. And his trouble may be summed up with just one moving GIF.
2013's prophecy of the popes and all that weird stuff.. lightning and devil shadows oh my
Prophecy of the year
Ten months ago, St. Peter’s Square was struck by lightning. It was shortly after Pope Benedict resigned and Pope Francis was chosen—Francis the Roman? Long ago, a ‘prophecy of the Popes’ was penned supposedly by Malachi. The last Pope was going to be Peter the Roman. Francis has been steadfastly reminding us about Peter all year, even this fall putting St. Peter’s bones on display. Is it the END? Or the beginning. And if he is the final Pope, what about those weird devil shadows appearing on walls around Bergoglio?
She cooked. She said racist things. She fell.
Downfall of the year
Paula Deen cooked, Southern style. She also thought like a Cofederate soldier. Now she’s not on TV.
Underreporting and just plain bad reporting in 2013
The most under-reported story of 2013
Washington DC and the media was in a tizzy when, during the autumn government shutdown, there were reports of a ‘shooting’ in the nation’s capitol. The media picked the story and ran with it, alleging that a shooter was in the US Capitol building and that cops were down. It turned out that a woman named Miriam Carey was in a car, supposedly ran a barricade, and was chased by cops. They cornered her, and then shot and killed her without attempting to arrest her—afterwards Congress applauded the murder on the floor of the House. Late this year, it was somewhat determined that there really was no need to kill Carey. The amazing part to grasp is that an unarmed African American woman with a child in the back seat of her car was shot dead without just cause. And no civil rights leaders spoke out? No one spoke out? Instead, we as a nation applauded the verdict rendered without due process and went about business as though it never happened.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Year of the fly
Year of the fly
President Obama was photographed on multiple occasions this year with flies surrounding him or landing on him. He once caught a fly during an interview. 2013 was the year they took revenge.
Weird photo of the year
Weirdest photo of the year
Beyonce looked like this in a photo and her PR folks wanted to get the photo off the net. No luck there. I think we were looking at Sasha Fierce.
My dog just turned all Cujo and nearly attacked a neighbor's manger scene ..
And I cannot even blame it on animals, they only had Jesus and the three wise apples ..should I be worried!?
Too much celebrity in 2013
The biggest pest of 2013
It’s been the year of the Bieber Fever. At least for some—for most we’ve been trying to rid ourselves of this nasty flu for 12 solid months. The media world celebrated when Beebs grew a version of facial hair, he spit on fans, and urinated in a mop bucket. All in the year of a life of Justin Bieber. And unforuntately, we lived the life with him. He went from cute to creature. We’re stuck with him in ‘14 unless he really keeps his promise and quits music..
Worst plastic surgery of the year
It’s bad enough there is one Justin Bieber, but imagine someone paying to look like the second Justin Bieber? And in the end, he STILL does not look as womanly as Beebs..
Bad photo ops
Worst photo op of the year
Who planned this one!? Obama and Putin.. friend for life? Putin probably recalls the days of Bush. He was known as Pooty Poot. Now he’s putting Pussy Riot behind bars.
The person of the year..
Person of the year
It is not the Pope. At least not according to the Coal Speaker. Edward Snowden changed a LOT this year by exposing some of the most secret of government secrets.. By telling the citizens of the world how the government spies on them was an eye opening event—and something which may have changed the world for good.
Worst candidate for person of the year
Miley Cyrus exposed a lot this year. She twerked, she became a popular Halloween costume, and she lost her innocence for the world to see. She came in like a wrecking ball and sold lots of albums. At the end of the year, she just now looks wrecked.
The most important story of the year
The story of the year
2013 was the year I gave up politics. I will still vote, and I will still be informed, but 2013 is the year where I realized that regardless of political stripe or belief, life goes on. The news is dominated by political tirades. Right, and left. Both sides are pitted against each other in heated verbal battles. People screaming and yelling, acting like righteous rebellions for some kind of cause. Angry old men on the boob tube… But what do they really accomplish? In 2013, they shut down government and almost risked a United States default. And inaction on a farm bill may push milk prices to $8 in 2014. And for those who battle to defend the President, Obama’s health care website was so disastrous that it became the top story for months by barely working and failing to keep up with the users trying to access it. Government itself is made up of people—people who push papers and have desk jobs, those who know regulations and tell you to smile when they take your drivers license photo. In some states, like mine, government employees sell me wine and liquor. In other states, they clean up messed on streets and respond when gas lines are ruptured, threatening entire towns. I would like to believe that government is not made up of politicians. They are the roadblocks to progress, the hindrance of common sense. Politicians are reptilian shape shifters, pretending to care when they don’t and looking for the next mistress in a crowd of fans. They drink and drive.. and we pay. I am so done with politics, but not government. They are distinct and different. In 2013, I finally came to the full realization, years in the making, that “right vs left” is a sham argument, a meaningless piece of tripe given to us by the media, and a mistake to fall into. Let 2014 be the year of reason, the age when you also find out that the political beliefs you harbor have simply been implanted into your brain. Think for yourself. The nation depends on it.
2013.. the year that was.
It was not a bad year. But it just seemed that way.. That does not mean there were any overtly bad things that actually took place, but it was the overall lack of good..
Massive scares took place early on when a meteor almost hit Russia—the explosion was so fierce that it shook buildings and injured people.. From that to the strange days of government shutdowns and the wild world of a health care website that didn’t work.. It just did not seem right in ‘13.
Maybe it was the year. Maybe 2013 brought with it some unlucky times…
We beat the odds back in ‘12 when the Mayan Calender did not spell doom. So we paid the price with a lackluster and mediocre time in 2013..
The Boston bombing this year rattled nerves and killed innocent people. A young child was among the dead.. It was a tragic and horrendous act.. And in the aftermath, an entire city got locked down while police freely broke into homes searching for a teenager bomber that later was shot in the throat but lived ..
The world still seems weary.. The economy seems to be getting better on paper, but in reality there is no hope for too many. Gas prices virtually stayed the same, but it just seemed like they have gone up exponentially. And we did not get embroiled into a war (almost) but warfare is so widespread you’d think it’s going out of style..
The world so desperately wanted a hero in 2013 that it chose to applaud Vladimir Putin for hedging off a Syrian war. Of course it was while he had a Pussy Riot behind bars.
A Cardinal became a Pope in 2013. He chose the name Francis. And his actions celebrating Peter the Roman seemed way too eerily close to the Prophecy of the Popes..
Malala told Obama to stop killing innocent people with drones. The media ignored it..
That is how things worked in ‘13..
Perhaps nothing got worse in 2013—but it did not seem to get better. Little attention was paid to Fukushima. Little attention was given to really important news.. instead we were given Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. We were fed a steady diet of pop culture of doom, gloom, tongues, and salivia..
Nothing was as it seemed in 2013.
We are weary from a few bad months.
Here’s hoping ‘14 brings with it some good, some bad.. but just some of the typical.
You don’t have to tell me. It’s not going to happen.
The McDonald's employee resource site has been shut down
It’s no surprise. The site was completely out of touch with reality..
There was one section on the mock budget that left a line for second income—perhaps an acknowledgment that Mcdonalds money alone will not assist you living.
There’s a lot of debate lately about the wages Mickey Ds pays—and the lack of them. I heard some in the debate argue that making more than minimum wage is just too much for flipping burgers—but that argument discounts one important factor, that flipping burgers and the service economy as a whole is the new American job!
There isn’t much manufacturing .. Tech development in the United States is behind so many other nations.. Fast food and restaurant work is here to stay—until the robots take over I guess ..
But it really is a big economic issue.. The fact that so many, often including college graduates, are with left with no jobs besides service work, makes me almost think it propels the debate into an uncharted territory..
I don’t eat fast food much, but I have worked in restaurants most of my life and have a dream of owning one in the future .. (Distant future as I look at my
Bank account).. And I can tell you: One income from a restaurant is not enough to survive.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Bizarre media meltdown during NSA interview
Get ready to put your tin foil hat on tightly..Some very weird things started happening during an interview on WABC .. host Aaron Klein was interviewing controversial anti-NSA figure Larry Klayman.. the article explains it this way:
Audio clips saved on an independent system played at the wrong time.
Klein’s headphones had massive feedback that could be heard on the air.
At one point, the WABC call screener said, “We lost control of the software. It’s all going nuts.”
The technical difficulties started on the show about 10 minutes prior to the Klayman interview. They subsided following the two segments that featured Klayman.
“In my three years of broadcasting at WABC we never had such a technological meltdown as we are having today,” Klein told the audience.
He continued: “Calls are dropping. We cant get the guests on. Once the guests are on they are dropping. We’ve had several meltdowns. Feedback from the microphone. I can barely broadcast. … However we are going to land this airplane and we’re going to have fun doing it.”
And I know, the source is WORLD NET DAILY.. I took it with a grain of salt … and I have my tin foil cap secured comfortably.
So .. common sense would tell me that these technical glitches are perhaps a part of normal technical glitches or just purposeful chicanery behind the scenes. After all, if someone was being interviewed about gardening and this happened, no one would care..
Bizarre media meltdown during NSA interview
A great morning! Ninja Turtles pajamas with cereal as his Scooby Doo ‘bad guys’ and Darth Vader look on.. A great Christmas morning for a wonderful son. Merry Christmas to everyone.
With my son’s taste in pop culture icons, I swear he’s a reincarnated kid from the 1980s.. It’s like I am living my own childhood over and over again each day with this bright star in my life..
My wife and I were thoroughly overjoyed by seeing Ayden Morris enjoy the simplest of things this holiday. I was amazed at seeing the magic in his eyes at snow, bows, Santa, and even a music book at church.
It’s true, what other parents have said.. having a child changes everything. AS Ayden gets ready to turn 3 years old, it gets truer by the day.. and this Christmas, a whole new meaning of the season has emerged..
Now it’s time to go play! A Scooby Mystery awaits, and Darth Vader is lurking around.. Battles must be won.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.. And to all a good day.
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Darlene Love plays my favorite Christmas song every year on the LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, ‘Please come Home.’
She performs the song each season on the Letterman show..
I have always loved the 1995 performance the best. Maybe it’s because I remember just being young, staying up late to watch this song and falling in love with it.. Her voice is strong—and it still is now. This may be the happiest and saddest song I have ever heard.. I love it, even though it empties my soul of joy at the same time..
I hope you have a baby that comes home this year.. I hope you have the experience of mistletoe and parties, good fun and food, joy and love, peace and magic.
I hope you are able to regain that Christmas spirit if it left.. and if you still have it, never lose it.
A proud pappa Christmas moment
Last night young Ayden had a little bit of a toddler meltdown in the grocery store—I could not explain that he did not need a toy since Santa was bringing him lots tonight.. Nonetheless it became a ‘moment’ …
We talked in the car about it.. Finally, we made an agreement: He can buy a Pez dispenser … That’s ok with me, and only a buck out of pocket..
Afterwards, we made a trip to May’s Drive In (a great diner if you ever find yourself in Northern Schuylkill County) .. Ayden wanted french fries and pizza and I wanted a coke and grilled cheese..
A little Christmas magic happened in the process.
When we were entering the building, Ayden, still weary from his tantrum, saw a man exiting with a cane. Ayden said “I don’t have a cane like you, I have a candy cane.” It was simple innocence and the man responded in kind, “I hope you never have a cane like me.” Then conversation went on.. Ayden explained all about his dog Mutley and how he wants Scooby Doo bad guys for Christmas… The man explained that he had cancer and was on life support, nearly died, but is paralyzed on one side of his body..
It was one of those moments in time that meant something. Ayden, just being kind and pure in thought, brought great joy to someone who, as he explained, had little family or friendship this time of year.
Finally, at the end of the chance encounter, and with a little parental prodding, Ayden said “ho ho Merry Christmas!” as he shook the man’s frail hand…
And with that, I had a teaching event. Something that prevented me from being angry anymore about a two minute temper event. It may not have been a ‘ghost of Christmas’ like Scrooge saw, but it was still something.
This has been a trying month. My father found himself in a medical crisis but he is alive for Christmas. And this man, frail and limping with a cane, hopefully smiled a little more seeing a kind hearted young child wishing him a Merry Christmas..
Monday, December 23, 2013
This is a very special song for my wife. And it is too, for me. I think for very different reasons—but those reasons are somehow what also binds us together..
A song for a winter’s night.. Sarah McLachlan.
Good evening.
Ghost stories on Christmas: A tradition I'd like to bring back again
Christmas time is a modern occasion of joy..
Slurping eggnog spiked with rum and eating until you’re unable to move? That’s the American pasttime around the holiday season—and then the New Years guilt and resolutions to lose your new found weight is an annual tradition.
Kira Cochrane of the UK GUARDIAN writes this to describe humanity’s long love of telling ghost stories around this time of year:
Christmas has long been associated with ghosts, says Roger Clarke, author of A Natural History of Ghosts: 500 Years of Hunting for Proof. Just before Christmas 1642, for instance, shepherds were said to have seen ghostly civil war soldiers battling in the skies. This connection continued in the Victorian era through Dickens’s story, and through the ghost stories he later published at Christmas in his periodical All the Year Round, with contributors including Wilkie Collins and Elizabeth Gaskell. It would also continue in the tradition started by MR James, the provost of King’s College, Cambridge, who would invite a select few students and friends to his rooms each year on Christmas Eve, where he’d read one of the ghost stories he had written, which are still popular today. They include Canon Alberic’s Scrap-Book (1895), in which an ancient holy book brings forth a demonic presence, first announced by a hand covered in “coarse black hairs, longer than ever grew on a human hand; nails rising from the ends of the fingers and curving sharply down and forward, grey, horny and wrinkled”.
The popularity of ghost stories was strongly related to economic changes. The industrial revolution had led people to migrate from rural villages into towns and cities, and created a new middle class. They moved into houses that often had servants, says Clarke, many taken on around October or November, when the nights were drawing in early – and new staff found themselves “in a completely foreign house, seeing things everywhere, jumping at every creak”. Robbins says servants were “expected to be seen and not heard – actually, probably not even seen, to be honest. If you go to a stately home like Harewood House, you see the concealed doorways and servant’s corridors. You would actually have people popping in and out without you really knowing they were there, which could be quite a freaky experience. You’ve got these ghostly figures who actually inhabit the house.”
We have lost so much with the disappearance of this tradition! I call for a renaissance!
Telling ghost stories around this time of year appears to be a lost tradition. These days, we trample each other at malls and break glass doors for expensive Air Jordans that we cannot afford. But that aside, it would be sacrilegious in modern times to tell such haunting tales around the Christmas dinner table.. 50% of us celebrate the birth of Christ (though it probably would not have even happened this time of year) and the other 50% celebrate the modern rituals of present buying and giving. Ghost stories aren’t found within that celebration.. No time for the paranormal with those numbers.
We did borrow the Christmas tree and SO MUCH MORE from the pagans.. but for some reason, we ended the tales of horror in our newer centuries..
There are books and websites describing jut how popular ghostly tales were this time of year..
But that was then.
Now it’s all about fun, joy, peace, and harmony. Little thrown in of scary or weird….paranormal or other-worldly. And it seems we miss out on so much with the absence of the paranormal..
A website I follow, SPIRITDAILY.COM, had a small article on its site today concerning the ‘thin veil’ this time of year.. Of course the site had a religious bent on the argument, but it’s certainly worth considering nonetheless:
Fascinating it is that a number of mystics through the centuries have cited Christmas Day — not All Souls’ Day, or any other time — as when the greatest number of souls are released from purgatory. This was stated, we are informed, by the great doctor of the Church, Saint Teresa of Avila
While I do not contend my theories or ‘feelings’ are ever correct or a representation of anything but bizarre mental manifestations, I have long felt that two times of year were always filled with mystery: One being Halloween, and the other being Christmas. I recall nights when I was a child, especially Christmas Eve night, where I felt something mysterious in the air..something strange around me. Something like a presence—not necessarily a negative entity, but just another ‘element’ that I could not understand with my five senses. Did the pagans and others get it right.. does the veil thing? Those old ghost stories are not without purpose, they were just a way for people to express their fears of the darkness without shining light. You could argue that such ghost stories in the Victorian Age being popular was because they simply lived in scary times—gas lamps that lit the way for some with prestige and money, but darkness at night for the rest of the troubled lot.
Joy and love and peace could not be found on radio stations, and often so many younger children died from pestilence and disease, Santa Claus was not as busy as he is now.
But I still say there is something else to the story. I think there is a deeper and more profound reason that so many tall tales were expressed this time of year in centuries past. And maybe it’s because we, as humans, have a connection to a sixth sense.. maybe we have a deep affinity for the unexplained because we as humans are a PART of that unexplained. Why are we here? Ghost tales make sense of our existence in some way, because it gives credence to an afterlife. Yes, maybe spirits get trapped here, but at least we ‘go somewhere.’
Though we have an absence of the fireside chats during Victorian times, there are a few paranormal tales that withstood the test of time. Charles Dickens’ classic A CHRISTMAS CAROL is one of them, with a series of ghosts coming back to haunt a living man to scare him into being nice.. Some of the past film adaptations of CHRISTMAS CAROL were downright scary, and even the black and white versions of the story haunted me as a child, such as SCROOGE from 1935.
Some other stories from my lifetime that still keep the ‘creepy’ in Christmas: The GREMLINS was able to successfully utilize horror and holiday music, grounding up gremlins while DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR played .. that scene shaped my childhood dreams.. There were also some other badly made seasonal horror flicks, like SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT, and CHRISTMAS EVIL. Even IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE has a paranormal theme. An angel coming to save a suicidal man before he ends it all..
Even the GRINCH THAT STOLE CHRISTMAS was scary.. and the idea that an ever-knowing Santa watches children when they sleep doesn’t really give me a deep down calm feeling either.
And who could forget, we still do have Krampus at Christmas..
And finally, there could be something else scary about this time of year. Besides the ‘veil thinning’ and the pagan acknowledgement of death during winter, it’s just a scary time altogether! .. New years is coming—one calender year over, of course calenders are man made but that doesn’t make them any less foreboding. Aging is scary.. not knowing what the next year will bring is also scary. We become victims to our paranoia and fear…and maybe that is why the Victorian Age was filled with so much of it..
There is, after all, lots to be actually scared of. Yes, then it was sickness and darkness, but what really has changed? The news media informs us almost daily that a big accident may soon happen to our entire grid, leaving parts of the United States dark for ‘years.’ We are equally warned about diseases that are not being killed off anymore by antibiotics. While we don’t dress with Victorian attire, we can attest that our fears are often the same as they were during our past. That’s the common bond in the human race. We surely don’t all get happy about the same things but that’s not true about fear. Deep down, we all fear the same things.. and ghosts represent the mystery and high strangeness that humans cannot explain.
So I say we bring back ghost stories! Let’s get the fire warm, open some gifts..drink up some spirits, and tell some tales about weird creatures and sounds bumping in the night.
Keep the Christ in Christmas. And keep the creepy, too.
If not, Santa may not stop by this year, but instead give us the ghost of CHRISTMAS FUTURE—and if you recall that was the scariest spirit of them all..
Ghost stories on Christmas: A tradition I'd like to bring back again
Truly amazing… that spirit of Christmas..
Sunday, December 22, 2013
The man from Taured..
I have been mingling with some other creatures of the planet who ponder what ‘time’ is and whether there is a multiverse around us.. My own sister gave me the knowledge of the weird story of the ‘Man from Taured’ today and I have had my mind steadfastly reading about it ever since.. Here is a link to GHOSTHEORY.COM and the background..
The story took place around 1954.. Here is how GHOST THEORY summed it up:
Eight hours after landing, the mysterious man from Taured sat tired and frustrated in the cramped interrogation room. He kept insisting that he was from the country of Taured and was in Japan on a business trip. The man told the officials that he had been traveling to Japan from Taured for the last five years without problems. He pointed to the past stamps that were issued on his passport to prove that he’d been traveling back and forth from Taured to Japan without any problems in the past.
Airport officials then placed a phone call to the company the man claimed to work for and found that it did not exist. Tired and getting nowhere, they decided to send the man to a guarded hotel room so that he could rest while the proper authorities were contacted and a follow-up investigation was planned. The mystery man left the Tokyo airport escorted by police and Customs officials.
And as mysteries go, they only are prone to getting more mysterious. The man from Taured was placed in a hotel room. He vanished, never to be seen again, despite a search for him..
Though the story has been around since about 1981, it seems that it has been gaining more traction and commentary online.. I located multiple threads on message boards across the Internets about the Taured mystery. One theme of the Taured story appears to be the man’s shock when he is shown a map and the country he said he is from was not on it..
At this point, this appears to be a creepy story with little to back it up or substantiate it. But I have learned from my own weird experiences in recent weeks that there are a million possibilities when it comes to this planet—and perhaps an infinite number of possibilities if you truly consider the multiverse and 10th dimension theories to be true.
The man was Taured may not be real.. or as real as our dreams. Maybe we visit Taured when we sleep..
Perhaps the worst Christmas song ever re-re-remade. Twisted Sister sings O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL.
I post this only because as I was parusing the YouTubes, Mutley the Dog (with cone on head in his post testicle eliminating surgery) went nuts. He couldn’t the smooth voice of Dee Snider. I agree with Mutley the Dog.
Also funny, if you really really listen closely, this song sounds a LOT like We’re not Gonna Take It. Just with a Christmas ring.
Happy Sunday, December 22, 2013.
In the United States, we shop like mad during the last weekend before Christmas. In Britain, things are a little different. As a matter of fact, the Friday before Christmas is the biggest party night of the year in throughout the country.. The woman featured here is one of the party animals. You can see her image and a lot more from the night on the UK DAILY MAIL. Some aren’t pretty. Some are downright dirty..
I guess the BRITS are giving us a lesson on how to party like it’s 1999. Every Christmas.
