HOME |
RSS | 
Karl Stefanovic, an Australian newscaster, got a chance to sit down and talk with the Dalai Lama. Naturally, he took the opportunity to tell the Dalai Lama a Buddhism joke. At least, Buddhism as it is popularly understood in the West — your own theological mileage may vary. Watch and see how well it went over.
via reddit
Ed Wozniak, who brought us lists of Norse and Hawaiian dieties, has a list of gods in the pantheon of the Inuits, whose homelands stretch all around the northernmost regions of the world. Some have downright scary stories, like the sea goddess Sedna.
She was the daughter of the god and goddess Anguta and Isarrataitsoq and, like countless female figures in Inuit myths, she refused all prospective husbands. Sedna instead had sexual relations with dogs and the “freakish” offspring of these unions were said to be white people and Native American tribes that the Inuit were often at war with. A ghoulish twist to the story is how Sedna took to using her parents as food (a recurring theme in Inuit myths because of the scarcity of food in the frozen north at times and how instances of cannibalism during such famines were much-discussed). Sedna devoured both of her mother Isarrataitsoq’s arms and had finished eating one of her father’s arms before he was able to subdue her and take her out to sea in his canoe, intent on banishing her to the sea. Continuing to struggle, Sedna clutched the sides of the canoe as her father tried to submerge her, prompting him to take his long knife and cut off her fingers. Since, to the Inuit, loss or mutilation of the hands was often seen as a horrific transformation into something new, the myth states that Sedna now embraced her fate, transforming her now-fingerless hands into flippers and transforming her severed digits into the various species of sea animals.
Read more about Sedna and eleven other Inuit deities at Balladeer’s Blog. Link
First they blew your mind when they told you Pluto isn’t actually a planet, then they told you that not only is Atlantis real, it’s been sitting in the bottom of some mudflats in Spain for a few thousand years. It seems history and science keep changing right in front of our eyes and pretty soon, nothing we learned in school will be true any more. Well, if you can’t deal with change, then you aren’t going to like these four things you learned in school are actually completely bogus.
If you learned one thing about Egypt in school, it was that the pyramids are marvels of ancient technology…and that they were built by slaves. There are movies based around slaves working on the pyramids and every one has seen at least half a dozen pictures of the poor workers straining under the hot sun as their cruel masters wait, whip in hand, for someone to slack off.
But working on the pyramids might not have been so bad after all. While it was still hard work to construct the massive monuments, recent research has shown that the workers were more likely skilled masons who had the right to leave whenever they wanted. Evidence to back this claim is supported in the fact that the workers had their own tombs right beside the pyramids. Egyptologists point out that someone that low on the social ladder would never have been buried so close to the pharaohs.
Image via anniemarieangelo [Flickr]
Ok, maybe not everything you learned about dinos back in school was wrong, but a lot of it sure was. For one thing, there is no brontosaurus. Yeah, that giant lumbering monster we all learned about in grade school was actually an apatosaurus with the head of a camarasaurus. The worst thing about this inaccuracy is that it was discovered over a century ago, but up until recently, everyone (including a lot of elementary school teachers) still insisted on calling apatosauruses brontosauruses.
I guess one mislabeled dino isn’t that big of a deal…but the incorrect visual representation of just about every dinosaur imaginable is. By now, you’ve probably heard that many dinosaurs probably had feathers, a huge change for those of us who grew up thinking about giant lizards roaming the prehistoric plains. But even those that probably didn’t look like giant birds still looked way cooler and more versatile than the oversized iguanas popularly imagined. These days, we even know what color some dinosaurs were, and they are a far call from the multitude of green shades we once imagined. If you really want to know just how different dinosaurs were compared to what we were taught, check out this great article on Listverse, about the Top 10 Dinosaurs That Aren’t What They Were.
Image via Geoff S. [Flickr]
If you learned chemistry or biology in high school, you were probably taught that there are six chemical elements known as the “building blocks of life.” They are carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. These components make up the chemical composition of DNA and without them, life isn’t possible…or at least, we thought it wasn’t possible.
Last year, scientists discovered a bacteria species living in a salt lake in California that was missing one of the building blocks of life, phosphorus, and instead had arsenic in its place. For some people, this might not seem like such a huge deal, particularly considering that arsenic is very close to phosphorus in its physical and chemical properties, but it’s a huge deal to scientists who suddenly saw a massive expansion in the scope of potential living things. It really makes a difference in intergalactic research, since the discovery opens up whole new planets as potential life-supporting ecosystems.
Image via Artful Magpie [Flickr]
Maybe this wasn’t the case for all of you, but when I was in school, the teachers seemed overly fascinated with telling us how much better humans are than other animals. They’d tell the class, “we’re the only animals who have complex emotions,” “no other animal is self-aware like we are,” “humans are the only creatures who use tools,” “we are the only species to communicate through complex language,” etc. I don’t know why they felt our fragile homo sapien egos were so threatened by other creatures, but I always thought that was a little strange. As it turns out, it was completely incorrect too.
Recent studies show that elephants mourn the loss of their companions and many animals, particularly dogs (who have evolved in the companionship of humans), have far more complex emotions than scientists had ever imagined. And chimps don’t just have emotions; they also are self-aware enough to understand how their own actions will affect those around them.
Well, we still have our intelligence to set us apart from the beasts right? Not so quick you homo sapien- supremacists. Actually, there are a lot of intelligent animals out there, many of which use tools and converse amongst themselves. Chimps have used spears to hunt for thousands of years, octopuses use coconut shells as both camouflage and as protection, and dolphins use sponges to help uncover fish that are hiding in the sand.
As for language, bees have an incredibly complex language system allowing them to communicate what type of flower is located in a given place and how to get to that location. Monkeys not only communicate with one another vocally, but they even understand grammar rules. In fact, in some ways, animals are actually ahead of us in the language game. While humans cannot yet speak the language of any other animals, primates can be taught sign language so they can communicate with us in our own language.
Image via Mundoo [Flickr]
If this crushed your memories of grade school, I’m sorry, but now it’s your turn to get revenge. What have you learned isn’t true even though they told you it was a “fact” back in school?
So, obviously the world didn’t end on May 21, 2011 – but don’t you worry. Harold Camping, the Family Radio preacher who was behind the (most recent) doomsday movement said that Armageddon is still coming.
The new date? October 21. So mark that on your calendar for the next End of the World Party (I’ll bring chips):
Harold Camping, who predicted that 200 million Christians would be taken to heaven Saturday before catastrophe struck the planet, apologized Monday evening for not having the dates "worked out as accurately as I could have."
He spoke to the media at the Oakland headquarters of his Family Radio International, which spent millions of dollars_ some of it from donations made by followers — on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.
It was not the first time Camping was forced to explain when his prediction didn’t come to pass. The 89-year-old retired civil engineer also prophesied the Apocalypse would come in 1994, but said later that didn’t happen then because of a mathematical error.Through chatting with a friend over what he acknowledged was a very difficult weekend, it dawned on him that instead of the biblical Rapture in which the faithful would be swept up to the heavens, May 21 had instead been a "spiritual" Judgment Day, which places the entire world under Christ’s judgment, he said.
The globe will be completely destroyed in five months, he said, when the apocalypse comes. But because God’s judgment and salvation were completed on Saturday, there’s no point in continuing to warn people about it, so his network will now just play Christian music and programs until the final end on Oct. 21.
Link | And if that doesn’t work out, there’s always 2012!
On another note, the failed doomsday prediction is fun and games for most of us, but has deadly consequences to a few others.
Just because Armageddon is happening Saturday as foretold by Family
Radio Worldwide’s Harold Camping doesn’t mean you have to give up the
love of your pets. One group is offering services to take care of your
furry loved ones while you are in Heaven. You can make arrangements to
have your pet cared for at the link.
You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when
the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left
behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.
An all-female religious sect has sprung up in Russia with a rather unusual belief that Vladimir Putin is actually Paul the Apostle. I can see why. I mean, just look at him all macho and shirtless. Surely you agree (heck the guy’s even met Reagan!):
"According to the Bible, Paul the Apostle was a military commander at first and an evil persecutor of Christians before he started spreading the Christian gospel," the sect’s founder, who styles herself Mother Fotina, said.
"In his days in the KGB, Putin also did some rather unrighteous things. But once he became president, he was imbued with the Holy Spirit, and just like the apostle, he started wisely leading his flock. It is hard for him now but he is fulfilling his heroic deed as an apostle."
Link (Photo: Ria Novosti)
Photo: Mito Habe-Evans/NPR
The End of the World has been foretold time and time again, but this time it’s for real. Well, according to Brian Haubert and a small group of true believers, anyway. They claimed that hidden in the Bible are some clues that the world will end May 21, 2011.
NPR’s Weekend Edition takes a peek inside the Judgment Day movement (and the radio show behind the latest J-date):
"I’ve crunched the numbers, and it’s going to happen," he says.
Haubert says the Bible contains coded "proofs" that reveal the timing. For example, he says, from the time of Noah’s flood to May 21, 2011, is exactly 7,000 years. Revelations like this have changed his life.
"I no longer think about 401(k)s and retirement," he says. "I’m not stressed about losing my job, which a lot of other people are in this economy. I’m just a lot less stressed, and in a way I’m more carefree."
He’s tried to warn his friends and family. They think he’s crazy. And that saddens him.
"Oh, it’s very hard," he says. "I worry about friends and family and loved ones. But I guess more recently, I’m just really looking forward to it."
Haubert is 33 and single. Brown is married with several young children, and none of them shares his beliefs. It’s caused a rift with his wife — but he says that, too, was predicted in the Bible.
"God says, ‘Do you love husband or wife over me? Do you love son or daughter over me?’ There is a test. There is a trial here that the believers are going through. It’s a fiery trial."
As May 21 nears, Brown says he feels as if he’s on a "roller coaster." What if he is raptured but his family is left behind?
"I’m crying over my loved ones one minute; I’m elated the next minute," he says. "It’s all over the place."
Does an angry and vengeful God make for better people? Apparently so according to a new study by University of Oregon psychologists, who found the link between one’s willingness to cheat and the belief of a benevolent God:
In line with many previous studies, it found no difference between the ethical behavior of believers and nonbelievers. But those who believed in a loving, compassionate God were more likely to cheat than those who believed in an angry, punitive God.
"The take-home message is not whether you believe in God, but what God you believe in," said Azim Shariff, a psychologist at the University of Oregon. Shariff conducted the study with psychologist Ara Norenzayan, who had been his doctoral advisor at the University of British Columbia.
Doesn’t this remind you of the age-old joke of "I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."
Some Chinese legends say that hell, or diyu, is an unground maze with 18 levels and various chambers in which one must pay for the sins of their life. Wouldn’t that make a great video game? They are quite frightening- there’s the chamber of tongue ripping (shown), the chamber of steamer, the mountain of knives, the cauldron of boiling oil, and more. See each level illustrated at China Underground. Link -Thanks, CinaOggi!
There is a cave on the side of the side Gellert Hill near Budapest, Hungary, in which it is said that a monk, possibly St. Istvan, lived his life. It later became a place of worship run by the Pauline monks. In 1951, the communist government arrested the monks and sealed the cave with a wall of concrete. The wall was torn down in 1989, and once more the cave is used as a church. Read more about it at Atlas Obscura. Link
Poor Easter Bunny! Seattle public school is renaming Easter eggs “Spring Spheres.” The story broke on Dori Monson Show on the radio:
Jessica, 16, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show that a week before spring break, the students commit to a week-long community service project. She decided to volunteer in a third grade class at a public school, which she would like to remain nameless.
“At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that,” Jessica said.
She was concerned how the teacher might react to the eggs after of a meeting earlier in the week where she learned about “their abstract behavior rules.”
“I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay,” Jessica explained. “She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.”
The School District said that it was done to comply with their “Religion and Religious Accommodation” policy, where “no religious belief or non-belief should be promoted by the School District or its employees, and none should be disparaged.” (Update 4/19/11 – The School District didn’t say it was done to comply with their policy. That was my mistake – they did put a statement pointing to their Religion and Religious Accommodation policy – Thanks Joe Mondo!).
A+ for political correctness, but what grade do you think the school should get for common sense? Link
Meet Father Jose Francisco Syquia. He’s a Roman Catholic priest in Manila, Philippines, with a rather unusual job: he’s head of the Manila Archdiocese’s Office of Exorcism.
A blood-curdling scream echoes through the Roman Catholic chapel in Manila as Father Jose Francisco Syquia says a prayer of exorcism over a Satanic cult member believed to be possessed by the devil.
"It’s very painful," the woman cries in an unearthly voice, her body contorting in an attempt to break free from the tight grasp of Syquia’s assistants. After a few minutes she falls silent, her limp body exhausted.
The case is among hundreds documented on video and kept by Syquia, who heads the Manila Archdiocese’s Office of Exorcism — the only one that exists in the Catholic nation of 94 million people.
"She would have levitated had she not been restrained," Syquia said of the woman in the video, portions of which were shown to AFP during a rare interview at his office in the basement of a seminary in Manila.
Syquia believes he is in the frontline of the battle between good and evil on earth.
"There is a great dramatic increase of possessions right now," said the 44-year-old priest. "More and more the demons are gaining a foothold into this society."
What if Moses had Facebook? That’s what Jewish content website Aish.com asked (and answered) with this clever YouTube clip:
Photo: Shutterstock
Researchers from the Northwestern University noticed there’s something strange about religion: it’s making people fatter.
We don’t recall any of the commandments saying "thou shall eat chocolate cake," but an unusual new study has found that people who regularly attend religious activities are 50 percent more likely to battle obesity by middle age.
God only knows why. The scientists sure don’t.
"We don’t know why frequent religious participation is associated with development of obesity," said Matthew Feinstein, the study’s lead investigator and a fourth-year student at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "It’s possible that getting together once a week and associating good works and happiness with eating unhealthy foods could lead to the development of habits that are associated with greater body weight and obesity."
The study tracked nearly 2,500 men and women over 18 years. They filtered for age, race, sex, education, income and baseline body mass index. The last one’s important, because it shows that the religious were getting fatter, not that fat people were getting religious.
See also: Dear Lord, If You Can’t Make Me Skinny, Please Make My Friends Fat!
When I was working on my geeky cross stitch article, I happened to come across this amazing piece, but I couldn’t include it because it just wasn’t nerdy. Even so, I thought that you guys would appreciate this stunning rendition of the Sistine Chapel done in cross stitch. There’s more detail at the link.
J. Wilson is a beer blogger who is observing Lent the old-fashioned way -on beer. Wilson read about German monks who fasted and sustained themselves with “liquid bread,” or the beer they brewed themselves in the 1600s.
“The idea came to me a couple years ago, and it didn’t really make sense then, my wife quickly pointed out,” said Wilson, 38, adding that he worked 13 hours a day in a restaurant back then. “I did not live the life of a monk at that time.”
But with preparations that began in August, including bulking up from his normal 140 pounds to 160 since Thanksgiving, Wilson says he was ready to give it a go. He says he already was down to 157 pounds by Thursday.
Wilson is limiting himself to four 12-ounce beers a day, and says he will consult with a doctor. Link
A Church in Florida is on a mission to bring scumbags closer to God. Pastor Moses Robbins of the Saturday Night Live Church in Florida feels so strongly about his calling that he commissioned a billboard. It simply states, “Scumbags Welcome!”
What’s on the agenda for his next billboard?
Robbins said he is planning to post another controversial message about sex within the next few months.
I guess we will have to wait and see if the next billboard lives up to the hype.
You know about the Roman gods our planets are named for, and their earlier Greek counterparts, but how much do you know about Hawaiian mythology? For example, there’s Kamoho, the leader of the shark gods.
Kamoho was the brother of the fire goddess Pele and was considered the guardian god of the Hawaiian Islands. He alone of all Pele’s relatives tried to aid her when she was seeking to avoid her marriage to the boar god Kamapua’a. Kamoho also ruled over the shark-men, or “were-sharks” as I call them. These beings were greedy humans cursed by Kamoho to periodically transform into sharks. They could be recognized by the large shark tattoos that Kamoho branded onto their backs.
Read about the other ten at Balladeer’s Blog. Link -Thanks, Ed!
Comments Off
In 1998, after flirting with death, folk artist Stephen Huneck decided to "build a chapel, one that celebrated the spiritual bond we have with our dogs, and that would be open to dogs and people. People of any faith or belief system."
The result? The Dog Chapel, as described in this intriguing Atlas Obscura post: Link
Comments Off 
Cremation is becoming increasingly common in the United States, but it’s usually done in an enclosed facility, apart from the public or even mourners. An exception to this norm is provided by an organization in the small town of Crestone, Colorado. The Crestone End of Life Project now offers open air funeral pyres. Since starting three years ago, they’ve had eighteen such funerals:
Ancient Vikings lit funeral pyres to honor their dead, and it is accepted practice among Buddhist and Hindu religions. But the practice is largely taboo in the U.S.
The pyre harkens to references in the Christian and Hebrew Bibles equating rising smoke with the ascent of the soul, said David Weddle, a religion professor at Colorado College. It can be seen as honoring a natural cycle, reducing the body to ash and the elements of which it is composed. It also can be a protest against traditional funerals, which some view as a denial of death, Weddle said.[...]
It takes up to four and a half hours for a body to burn completely. Since there’s no way of separating human ashes from those of the wood the family receives about five gallons of ashes.
Link via Ace of Spades HQ | Photo: AP/Ivan Morelo
Quick: do you think that the future will be more or less religious?
Robert Rowthorn, an emeritus professor of economics, likened religion as a gene (after all, you are most likely to "inherit" your parents’ religion) and came to an interesting conclusion:
Rowthorn’s model shows that, even when the religious defection rate is high, the overall high fertility rate of religious people will cause the religiosity allele to eventually predominate the global society. The model shows that the wide gap in fertility rates could have a significant genetic effect in just a few generations. The model predicts that the religious fraction of the population will eventually stabilize at less than 100%, and there will remain a possibly large percentage of secular individuals. But nearly all of the secular population will still carry the religious allele, since high defection rates will spread the religious allele to secular society when defectors have children with a secular partner. Overall, nearly all of the population will have a genetic predisposition toward religion, although some or many of these individuals will lead secular lives, Rowthorn concluded.
We have all heard countless stories about deranged suicide cults like Heavens Gate, the sect of castrated UFO worshipers that committed mass suicide in 1997 while wearing Nikes. Groups like them and cult leaders such as Jim Jones, David Koresh and Tom Cruise make all the big splashy headlines. However for those of us with a discerning palate interested in the best cults, we need to go a little off the beaten, brainwashed path. It’s sort of like being into an undiscovered band before they make it big or drinking beer from microbreweries; only the weirdest, edgiest unknown groups will do. So strap on your tin foil helmet, say a prayer to the Flying Spaghetti Monster and get ready for the strangest, the weirdest, the “best” cults around!
The Breatharians
Was your New Year’s resolution to lose weight? Then you might want to try joining The Breatharians, a group that claims that they do not need to ingest food or water but merely live off of air and the sun’s energy or what they call “prana” to live. Wiley Brooks (pictured) is the founder of the Breatharian Institute of America where he claims he can teach YOU how to practice Breatharianism. On his website he also states that for a mere $10,000 he will also give you an Immortality Workshop! As a special bonus “The workshop includes a visit to Earth Prime in the 5th Dimension.” Sweet deal! That’s almost as good as when I get a coupon for a free drink at Soup Plantation! However, Wiley needs to put his breath where his mouth is as he was once caught coming out of a 7- Eleven with a Slurpee, a hot dog and Twinkies.
Another prominent Breatharian, Jasmuheen, AKA Australian Ellen Greve, has been linked to the deaths of several followers who read her publications on Breatharianism and tried it for themselves. An Australian version of 60 Minutes challenged Jasmuheen to prove her claims by not eating or drinking while being observed by medical professionals. The experiment had to be stopped after four days as doctors reported she was showing signs of dehydration and at risk for kidney failure. (Watch a segment here where she maintains she doesn’t need food while about to pass out.) I would totally join a cult like this, but I’m too lazy and I love pizza.
Children of God
A lot of law enforcement agencies get up in arms over cults, but they need to just step back and see how fulfilling they can be! Hey, this is America; if you want to join a cult that makes you cover yourself in feces and get castrated well that’s just great –go right ahead. We just ask one thing, that you don’t harm the children –leave them out of it. Alas, this is one area that a lot of cults can’t resist… they have to get some of that child love going on. Which brings us to The Children of God. Led by “prophet” David Berg AKA Moses David, the group arose out of the 1960’s hippie counter culture movement. Here’s the odd part: Berg instructed female members of his flock to go out and perform “Flirty Fishing” whereby they would have sex with random men in order to attract them to the group. What could possibly go wrong? The cult openly called women who did this “God’s Whores” and “Hookers for Jesus.” Some women who got pregnant from Flirty Fishing had what they termed Jesus Babies.
Here’s the bad part: In addition to Flirty Fishing, sexually promiscuous activities with underage members led to numerous accusations of child abuse against the group. After the death of Berg the group eventually changed their name to The Family International and in the 1990’s established a “zero tolerance policy” regarding sex with minors. In a statement the group said: “Due to the fact that our current zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual interaction between adults and underage minors was not clearly stated in our literature published before 1986, we came to the realization that during a transitional stage of our movement, from 1978 until 1986, there were cases when some minors were subject to sexually inappropriate advances…”
Well that makes sense; you have to make sure it’s in writing so everyone is up to speed on the whole sex with kids thing being taboo! Every group I’m a part of I go out of my way to put that clause in the rule book; from my golf league and bake sale fund raising club to movie night with the guys- you got to have “no sex with children” in the bylaws. Duh!
more …
Remember the Jabba The Hutt Serenity Prayer cross stitch we featured a while back? Well, Emily and Matt Fitzpatrick of Steotch have the second in the series, this time featuring Picard/Locutus from Star Trek: Link
VIAGRA FOR YOUR AFTERLIFE
(Image credit: Flickr user sweart)
Packing for the hereafter just got easier. According to a Chinese tradition, when a person dies, mourners should burn replicas of household items so the deceased can enjoy these in the afterlife. The hope is that if the dead are appeased with burnt offerings, their ghosts will refrain from haunting the living. But like many traditions, this one has evolved to reflect the times. Today, it’s not uncommon to see mourners burning paper replicas of cars, laptops, credit cards, iPods, Louis Vuitton handbags, or even bottles of Viagra!
SPINNING INTO CONTROL
(Image credit: Flickr user Anton Kan)
For members of the Sufi Mawlawi order, pondering the nature of life can literally make your head spin. As part of the Sema ceremony, these “Whirling” Dervishes meditate by twirling in circles, an act that’s meant to bring them closer to Allah. But don’t mistake the spinning for carefree fun. In order to perform the centuries-old ritual, each dancer must undergo 1,001 days of training in seclusion during which they study music, poetry, and Sufi prayers. The clothing is also distinct; participants wear white gowns that flare out like poodle skirts, and they can twirl in ecstasy for hours.
more …
Comments Off 
When you’ve got a deity as powerful as the Lord Shani, who needs locks? (I mean, according to Wikipedia, when Shani opened his eyes as a baby for the very first time, the sun went into an eclipse.)
That’s what the management of the United Commercial Bank in Shani Shinganapur, Maharashtra, India, thought when they opened the first lockless bank:
"We took note of the general belief and faith of the people. Ever since the most revered temple came into existence several years ago, the village has not witnessed a single crime. In fact, all houses in the entire village have no doors. We took the risk and started the lockless bank a week ago," a senior bank official said. [...]
Gadakh explained that, by and large, it is believed that because of Lord Shani’s power, the village has not witnessed a single theft or robbery in the recent past. "People here fear that if there is a theft or robbery, then the culprit and their family have to bear the wrath of Lord Shani," he said.
Meanwhile, the cops aren’t too happy:
… unhappy local cops said the branch has been started in violation of norms prescribed by the Centre. "In view of increasing bank robberies, the Centre has made it mandatory for all banks to provide state-of-the-art security. If a bank opens a lockless branch, it amounts to a breach of conditions. We will take it up with the DGP and RBI," a senior police official said.
Pam Fleming, a police officer in Glasgow, UK, is a Jedi. She’s one of eight Jedi officers on the force, and she claims that she uses her supernatural abilities while at work:
She even admits to using Jedi mind tricks during interviews with suspects in ‘an effort to achieve the truth’, although she tells industry magazine Police Review that she does not use ‘The Force’ to influence what suspects say or do.
Jedi mind tricks are used in the Star Wars movies by characters Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker to ‘influence the minds of weak-minded sentient beings’ to get them to do what you want them to do.
PC Fleming, who is one of ten police workers – eight of them officers – at Strathclyde Police who have listed their religion as Jedi, said her faith helped her ‘fight crime and disorder on Glasgow’s streets’.
Link via Hell in a Handbasket | Photo: Daily Mail
The story of the Three Wise Men has been told and retold since antiquity – but who were they? An intriguing ancient text, discovered in the Vatican archives by Brent Landau, suggests that they were … Chinese!
"It’s an incredibly grand story," Landau said. "So who the Magi are in this text is, they are descendants of Adam and Eve’s third son, Seth. They live in this far eastern land. The text calls the land ‘Shir’ and from other ancient texts, it seems like the place it had in mind is the land of China."
And that’s not the only surprise in the ancient text:
Landau said the rediscovered text described the Magi as practicing religious rituals, waiting for the Star of Bethlehem to appear. When the star finally did, they embarked on their journey to the City of David.
But the version of the Wise Men’s story in this text is strikingly different than the traditional one in the Bible, told in 12 verses in the Gospel of Matthew.
In the "Revelation of the Magi," Landau said, the Star of Bethlehem not only led the Wise Men, but actually became the Christ child.
"The cave is filled with light," Landau said, describing the transcribed text. "They’re kind of hesitant about this, but eventually the star…its light concentrates and reveals the small luminous human being…a star child, if you will…it’s Christ."
Link (self-starting video)
The miracle of Hanukkah, according to Jewish tradition, is that there was only enough holy oil in the Temple in Jerusalem to burn for one day, but it lasted for eight. The above chart by Towson University professor Seth Gitter explains the event from an economics perspective.
Comments Off 
The Antichrist
"The Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, is not only the last Book of the New Testament, but its most difficult, puzzling, and terrifying. It provided challenges to medieval illustrators and was the source for a number of popular images, such as Christ in Majesty, the Adoration of the Lamb, and the Madonna of the Apocalypse and contributed to the widespread use of the Evangelists’ symbols."
When the Apocalypse comes, would you know what the Antichrist would look like? Regardless of your religious beliefs (or non-belief), surely you’ll agree that the apocalyptical illustrations of the medieval Beatus Apocalypse are gorgeous.
Another great find by peacay of BibliOdyssey: Link
Believe them or not, cases of demonic possessions have persisted since the dawn of religion. Road Tickle blog has an intriguing post about 4 strange cases of demonic possession.
For example, take a look at this one of Anneliese Michel (1976, actually – not exactly the Middle Ages), which was the basis of the horror movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose
She soon had her suspicions confirmed when voices told her she was damned. The voices were paired with hallucinations during prayer. Though originally marked up to her epilepsy her behavior became increasingly bizarre; the young began eating coal, spiders, and licking up her own urine. While the 1970s aren’t exactly the bastion of the medical age it’s safe to assume that this stopped being epilepsy after the second spider-urine smoothie.
After journeying on a pilgrimage with another woman, it was determined that Anneliese was possessed when she was unable to pass by an icon of Christ. An exorcist was granted permission to attempt to exorcise the demon believed to posses her. This continued for almost a year in tandem with psychiatric treatments. Eventually Anneliese chose to rely strictly on the the exorcism sessions over any other medical treatments. These sessions proved to do very little, and on July 1st, 1976, Anneliese died in her sleep. An autopsy proved the cause of death to be starvation; during the exorcisms Anneliese refused to eat, choosing to die as a means to atone for the wayward youth.
Previously on Neatorama: The Stories Behind Four Exorcisms
| FEATURED ITEMS FROM THE NEATOSHOP | |
 |
Mustache Bottle Opener |
 |
My Cryptozoological Family - Family Car Stickers |
 |
Zombie Hand Bottle Opener |
View more: New Items &
Best Sellers |
|
