Days like today...

…when I think a self-hosted Wordpress blog is the worst idea ever for a person like me who often has little time to keep up with it. And then someone hacks into it and posts 1000 posts about Viagra. UGHH..

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The sounds high above our heads on the edge of space

http://ift.tt/1Joo98s The source of the noises, which were captured 22 miles above Earth, remain a mystery to scientists, though many have speculated about the cause. Those speculations include ocean waves, gravity waves, clear air turbulence, noise from the balloon cable itself, and even a wind farm under the balloon’s path

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A strong 7.4-magnitude earthquake has struck the southern coast of Papua New Guinea, US Geological Survey reports. The quake set off a tsunami warning for an area spanning 300 kilometers around the epicenter, which includes Indonesia and Australian coast.

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Now come the locusts..

What plague will be next!? There is a fascinating story making the rounds online.. Originally reported in the Courier Mail in the UK, PLAGUES of locusts have been devouring their way through the state’s central west compounding the hardships suffered by drought-affected farmers. Get this..Matthew Killoran writes, More than 150 swarms have been reported to Biosecurity Queensland so far this year, with some reported to be more than 40ha in size and thick enough to “black out the sky”.While their activity has been dying down as winter approaches, there are fears eggs are lying dormant waiting to return in favourable weather conditions.There were only 15 swarms reported throughout the state from 2011 and 2013. But before you get ready for a Christian style rapture, keep in mind that this pest is somewhat normal and there are stories from history of it happening. And while that’s fine and dandy, just picture a wall of locusts flying at you.. Maybe it’s time to consider harvesting them. I hear they can be tasty morsels of crunchy flavor.

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Two people were shot and killed by police outside of an event billed as the "Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest" in Garland, Texas, Sunday night, according to Garland Mayor Douglas Athas.

MORE HERE..

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Life by the book. Die by the author. JK Rowling has an apology for us

17 years later, JK Rowling says sorry for killing off HARRY POTTER character.. This brings up a thought. I have always wondered if authors become glued to their characters that the create, almost with a parental duty to keep them safe. And likewise, when they kill them off, do they face some sort of never ending guilt about the consequences of creating a life and then ending it?

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THE END GAME: David Letterman special will air May 4.. and then only a few days later the host will be off TV for good as an era ends

DAVID LETTERMAN SPECIAL to air Monday May 4.. the show is targeted to new fans–those who have no clue as to how David Letterman remade TV forever.. I will undoubtedly have many more thoughts over the coming days on David Letterman..

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The WALKING DEAD becomes the SCREAMING ACTOR OF THE WALKING DEAD

WALKING DEAD star says sorry after weird NYC subway rant.. Chad Coleman blamed his three-minute rant Friday on “built-up frustration” caused by Freddie Gray’s death in Baltimore — and insisted he wasn’t drunk.. he was screaming at passengers..

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BIRD IS THE WORD.

And it’s spreading.. Iowa BIRD FLU prompts Governor to declare a state of emergency.. Four new farms have tested positive. Minnesota and Wisconsin did it, now Iowa joins in the expanding issue.. NEW BIRD FLU DISCOVERED IN CHINA!

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On death and dying

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN and published on NIGHT TERROR NEWS after the death of my friend this past week. Let me fill you in on a little secret: You saw someone today that is going to die. As a matter of fact, you saw a lot of people that are going to die. And it all started this morning when you glanced in the mirror and tried to understand the ball of electrons and atoms staring back at you, vibrating in some form of reality that your mind tries to make sense of. But in reality doesn’t get one bit of..I knew someone who died today. A few days ago, I alluded to a friend who was afflicted with cancer, and who was succumbing to the disease after his battle began to end. He passed away from this world early in the morning, and has become the latest person in my life and close circle of friends and family to meet destiny. I suppose someone out there reading this right now may have the same moment of sadness and grief as well. Death is common, after all..My heart is distraught and my mind is reeling. I am attempting to understand the significance of life and somehow juxtapose that with the rapidity of death. Our arrogance and affluence permits us to borrow time. But that time is fleeting. All things must end, including the worries and fears, smiles and hugs. All things must end.. And that’s the part that darkens my spirits this evening..The internet has been a wonderful thing. And an awful thing all at the same time. For much of my life, I expressed myself in private settings. I would summons my artistic powers and draw cartoons or comics in the good times. In the bad times I’d plant the seed of darkness and expel all of my emotions using less vibrant colors.. less humor.. More of the deeper stuff, I suppose. But with the advent of the Internet during my late high school years, that source of artistic adventure was turned off, met instead with the HTML coding and eventually blog services that would steal the paint. I have tried to draw now and then. For the most part I either can’t think of something or I am mentally unable to focus long enough to make a picture look good, good like I think they used to. So instead now, I write. And tonight I feel that need to write, to get thoughts down in this setting, and surrender myself for a while to the tears that indeed are flowing due to the death of a friend. This special person and I were also coworkers. Most of the time, when we talked, our chats would turn into conversations and often times feel never ending. But in a very good way. Once we got work off the table, our talks would turn deeper and other-worldly. He, like me, consistently pondered about the meaning of life, the purpose of our bodies, and the questionable reality of our souls. I often thought that God is math, he thought God was electricity. Either way, neither of us had the belief that God was the large white male with a beard that Catholic nuns had taught us. A little more of a nuanced approach to faith was in play once we got talking..I will forever miss these talks–these amazing moments in which both of us let our guards down on purpose and spoke freely and openly about fears and superstitions, facts and figures. Now tonight, I suppose one can say he knows the answers to the mysteries of the planet earth. As do many others by the second.x x xMy son falls asleep to music now. Instead of bed time stories, we quietly play YouTube videos of songs he likes to relax him. His little four-year-old nature is perceptive. He knew I was sad today and asked why.. I honestly told him what had occurred, and he looked down and admitted “that is sad, Daddy.” Of course, as a child would do, he eventually wanted to think about those innocent kid things again. Which was fine for me, wrestling my son when he is calling himself the Incredible Hulk is much better than focusing on negativity all night. But before he fell asleep, he picked the CIRCLE OF LIFE song from the LION KING. Somehow the words had an extra special meaning today, this day, when the CIRCLE OF LIFE was completed for one and undoubtedly beginning for a lot more.. x x x The death toll in Nepal is rising rapidly. And that is the horror so often seen in this world. One earthquake has taken the lives of thousands of poor people who were living in squalor already. The Prime Minister said the numbers could get to a frightening level of 10,000 or more.. Death at that scale happens from time to time on this planet. Either Mother Nature is busy utilizing the tricks of the trade to steal the lives of humans, or Man himself thinks of plots to murder his fellow friends on the earth. Deadly days are always here–the end of the world, feared by many, happens every single day.x x xI am not a hopeless person. I am not someone who enjoys reliving the dour over and over again–some who know me, even close friends, often accuse me of that very thing. Instead, I contemplate these events of sadness and grief in an attempt to understand them. Sometimes even to quell my loud laughter on purpose.. because I need to know what I am laughing at. Events of awful nature can often put things in a greater perspective. Ever have one of the day job moments when backbiting, sour apple co-workers, and meaningless office politics takes over your existence? When you think that those things actually matter? You get shaken up now and then. You meet a bigger destiny.. You often meet a maker. x x x Death has been called the great equalizer. We all share one bond on this planet, regardless of rich or poor dispositions: We will have the common event of an ending at some point. We hope far away in the distance.. We long for the taste and smells of life. But they go away..x x xI recall about a year ago, my work had a conference. That same person who died today was alive and well then, just diagnosed with cancer. He and others, along with me, went to a fancy steak house and he splurged, buying all of us dinner and a few rounds. He wanted no argument at the time the bill came. He wanted to pay. That was his nature–but that night even more, because he wanted us to remember a rancorous good time of loud laughter, cold beer, and great food. All on him–his gift to us… This is one of his finest moments, and perhaps one of his happiest. The sight of us allowing him to get the tab made him the happiest man in the room that evening. He was a consummate professional but also a never-ending entertainer. He played songs loud and sang louder. He lit up a room when he entered. Those rooms lit by the fire of his existence are dark this night.x x xWhat is life? What is death? Those questions are asked so often that we fail to even care anymore..Instead in the age of smart phones when a hand held device gives us all of the information we crave, we stopped asking the important things.Hillary Clinton is apparently going against some of Bill’s crime policies from the 90s. Jeb Bush did something too. I don’t recall what it was. And I frankly don’t care. These are not the stories of human passion that we should be hearing.We should be racing for the stars, trying to find Mars.. By now cancer should be gone.. At this point, all people should have a chance for a happy life. Every child should share in the dreams of a planet.. Life is too short.. By the time you get to this point in this posting, it’s even shorter for you.x x xA little rock and roll heaven may be needed for a moment like tonight.. So enjoy it.. Life is only a one night stand. If you believe in forever, of course.So do you believe in forever?About these ads

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A man hung up on Pope Francis TWO TIMES thinking he was an...

The Poltergeist forgotten

The story of the Enfield Poltergeist: It plagued a house in North London.. I am also amazed with how often paranormal stories are beginning to be seen in modern mainstream media. The barrier has been broken. Sex sells. So do UFOs and ghosts.

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May Vince Kalochie rest in peace
See you on THE OTHER SIDE

BALTIMORE BEDLEM

COPS INJURED

CARS TORCHED

ROCKS THROWN

A funeral day gone wrong..

Another angle of the JOKER

Another Look indeed. And this one appears just a little more ghoulish than the previous…

MORE: http://bloody-disgusting.com/news/3341888/another-look-joker-suicide-squad/






Still not prepared to say I fully support this.. I am just not.

Getting closer with each picture, but far away from total support..

The asteroid games

I have been following this NASA website recently: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/pdc15/ .. if you fear a life-ending asteroid, maybe you should too.

The first and most important thing to realize about the page: It is all imagined. The asteroid and work to stop it from hitting Earth is all hypothetical. But with each pretend statement about the asteroid and the would be trajectory, it seems very real. That is because the words on http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/pdc15/, though now unreal, could be accurate one day soon. We could be facing a mass extinction event. Something bigger than Chelyabinsk, something mightier. It may hit land and cause an impact zone crater on Earth. Or it could hit water and flood coastlines with a massive wave never seen during our lifetime.

The Planetary Defense Conference is a meeting of scientists, engineers, policy-makers, and people in Italy. They are playing an asteroid pre-war-game. Mapping out the possibilities and speculating on the impact aftermath.

http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/pdc15/ is where people could follow online to the games.

The games..
But on the topic of the site itself, there is rampant speculation about the ‘game’.. and the chances it could all be a diversion meant to keep our mind believing it’s unreal and really, in the end, “they” know something is coming. The conspiracy minded folk, of which I join in now and then, think that there is a killer stalking this planet.. lurking not too far from our existence. And NASA knows it. They are so aware of it that they are going to great lengths to post this ‘war game’ on the internet, along with bringing the biggest and brightest minds together. Because the reality, some would say, is that they ARE INDEED planning a course of action over a real event.

My take is a little less paranoid, at least about this game. I think the simulation is that: A simulation. But I think sooner rather than later, we will be hit with something on this planet. It is my hope that we have simulated long enough to get the reason response.

And I pray to whatever gods of life exist that we will have years, and not months, to prep. And maybe decades–not days.

Chelyabinsk should have been a wake up call to the planet. Instead it became a “and finally tonight” segment on local newscasts around the world. Science is regulated too often to the “in other news” portion after sports and weather. But if Chelyabinsk would have hit NYC, or D.C., and would have been just a little bit lower in orbit, we may have been playing a whole new REAL game right about now…….

DREAMS OF MY SON'S TURTLES

A newfound respect from me for the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES..

…AND I DON’T MEAN THE MICHAEL BAY INCARNATION..
I am talking about the cartoon..
AND I DON’T MEAN THE 20TH CENTURY VERSION..

I rarely speak much on here about the cartoon world. But thanks to fate and me having a 4-year-old TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES enthusiast, I am really getting to know the new NICKELODEON version of the show. We actively hunt down and try to acquire any new TMNT Nick toys at whatever unnamed store of choice. Some are pretty tough to find. Our family has been hitting some roadblocks..maybe AMAZON.COM is our only hope.

The show itself is amazing. I mean that. Not just because my son loves it.. not just because I am a TMNT fan.. but the storyline of the NICK cartoon is rough and tumble..ups and downs.. action packed and moving at times. It’s well done, and it has spawned something personally for me..

For about two nights in a row, I have had a nightmare about the RAT KING.

A little background on the RAT KING. When I was a kid in 1988, I really don’t remember seeing the RAT KING as a villain on the show. He made his first appearance in show #4 in February of that year.. The RAT KING has telepathic influences over, of course, rats. He has been an ally of the turtles, a villain, and evil doer.

But most recently in the NICK version of the show, he has morphed into a truly horrid looking creature who fights Master Splinter.

Though I am 34 and the show is just a cartoon, I have found myself dwelling a little too much subconsciously on the RAT KING, enough that he appeared in the last two nights of dreams. Last night, for example, I dreamed that I was trying to either hide something or myself. As the day goes on, I remember less about the dream. But what I do vividly recall from it: In the night time vision, the RAT KING was the entity hunting down either me or the unnamed hidden object. And it was startling–enough that I would consider the dream a borderline nightmare. I didn’t wake up in a cold sweat, but I was sure glad the alarm clock alerted me to daybreak so the dream could end.

There are elements of the show that are great for kids. There are also some that are perfect for those aging a bit. As for me, as a TMNT fan, the program is dark and grungy but yet filled with enough humor that it’s easy to watch. So while I am a few years behind, I am saying now: I endorse this show. It’s great. NO matter what age you are, you can still be a kid at heart..

But the RAT KING?
He is a little creepier than the average villain.

A noteworthy item of interest. This morning when my dream was over and I groggily walked into the living room to try to start the day, I almost stepped on one of my son’s Ninja Turtles action figures.
The RAT KING, no less…
Haunting at night. And a toy haunting by day…

NOT THIS:

But this:

Not even Pope Francis can fix this number

If you want to know why Catholic Churches and schools are closing throughout the United States, look no further than this number released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: $2.9 billion.

With a B.

That is the dollar amount that the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church has cost since 2004. It’s an insurmountable number, and it continues to drain the resources of the religion..

From the CATHOLIC CULTURE story filed today:

Only 59% of those funds were allotted to settlements ($62.9 million) and therapy for abuse victims ($7.7 million). The remaining funds were spent on attorneys’ fees ($28.8 million), support for offenders ($15.4 million), and other costs ($4.2 million), according to the 2014 “Report on the Implementation of the Charter for Protection of Children and Young People.”
These expenses brought the total cost of the clerical abuse scandal to American dioceses and religious institutes between 2004 and mid-2014 to $2,895,629,230, according to the data in the current report and previous reports.
The report added that dioceses, eparchies, and religious orders spent an additional $31,667,740 for child protection efforts in 2013-14.
65% of accused diocesan clergy “had already been identified in prior allegations,” and 75% “were deceased, already removed from ministry,already laicized, or missing.”
75% of those who alleged abuse by diocesan clergy and 87% of those who alleged abuse by religious-order clergy were male, and abuse typically took place between the ages of 10 and 14. Most of the allegations involved incidents that took place between 1960 and 1989, particularly the 1970s.

Reality vs fiction..

Reality is scarier than fiction.. that is exemplified in a documentary that you may be interested on NETFLIX called KILLER LEGENDS. you may learn something new.. and despite the fact no candy was ever poisoned on Halloween, the "CANDY MAN" section will still give you enough pause to check your kids' candy anyway..

I recommend the documentary for those interested in true crimes and urban legends.. this brings to light the reasons why we are freaked by hook hands, by masked killers.. and quite frankly, by people.

Among the things you may learn that you didn't know previously includes--besides no candy ever being poisoned for trick or treaters--are these facts: No babysitter killings ever happened in big numbers.. despite a number of movies being made showcasing it. The Texarkana killings are creepy--and even more creepy may be the yearly film festival showing THE TOWN THAT DREADED SUNDOWN on a location where a grisly murder took place with the movie based in part on it..

And so many others.


Urban legends.

They all come from somewhere..

The other worldly nature of horror movies are not nearly as scary as the darkest minds and hearts of evil men who perpetrate evil and murder the innocent.

KILLER LEGENDS is scary for that reason..

Cancer is a horrid circumstance.. a outright awful ailment, and a continuous plague that hits without forgiveness or mercy.

I trust that you, the reader, most likely have been faced with a family member of friend succumbing to this affliction.. There are endless tales of horror from children’s hospitals and nursing homes. No one can escape this scourge, so often..

I am writing this brief post tonight to get some emotion off my chest.

Recently, my uncle and godfather passed away after too long of a fight with cancer. He fought to stay alive. Fate would have it another way. When he lost his battle, he left behind a family of people who have yet to stop completely grieving his death.

And now, this night, a close friend of mine finds himself in an unsettling place: A hospital bed with tubes and monitors attached to him.. he beat one form of cancer only to find out it spread to another place. Suddenly, he has taken a major turn for the worse..

I hate cancer.
I hate all disease actually.

I’m 34. Half my audience may think I’m ancient. The other half probably thinks I still have a world of life ahead of me. But as I age, I find myself becoming more serious in my studies of many things.. contemplating morals and justice becomes difficult with time, however. Billy Joel’s ANGRY YOUNG MAN described a person who once believed in causes and had a pointless point of view but life went on no matter who was wrong or right. Those lyrics become truer by the day. By the moment..

As you age, you also say goodbye to many people you loved or befriended.

And often they leave with the help of a disease…
With cancer..
With the ultimate boogeyman of the medical system.

I bet any money that you–the reader–is also dealing with loss, or recently has dealt with it. You have probably even read a self-help book or website explaining how to deal with loss.. maybe you have tried to vacation. Get away from things.. But it never goes away. There is no alternative to the life we have now besides not living it. While we inhabit our temples of the soul, we will be hit with crises and upheaval.. Sometimes smiles. Sometimes frowns. And sometimes, just like those we see dying before our eyes, the same sickness that took them..

I am angry tonight.
Sad..
Accepting of it all, too.
A mixture of emotions.

But that is what life has become.
Either it’s a mixture of emotions or it turns into the final scene of THE MEANING OF LIFE..

So many highs.. so often lows. So many twists and turns and ironic shifts of fate..

x x x

People sometimes become mentally disenfranchised after being drained by loss. The human ruin–one we hardly see..

Everyone has a story. Each and every person who walks too slow in front of you, or who is trying to pass you on the interstate.. the man who glances at you as you walk on a street.. or that elderly woman who vacantly stares out of a window of a dark and dingy nursing home.

Our stories are filled with joy and raw horror.
But we all have a story.

Maybe it’s time we stop just judging everyone else and start accepting our differences, move on and stop caring about those causes that the ANGRY YOUNG MAN couldn’t realize didn’t matter before it was too late.

And find a cure for cancer..
Because that has to go away.



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