Anomalies

[_Gazelam]

Indonesia's 'unlucky' president takes blame for quake

SOME superstitious Indonesians are blaming a supposedly "unlucky" president - and not shifting tectonic plates - for the latest earthquake in this disaster-prone country.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, popularly known by his initials SBY, has long been burdened by murmurs that he carries with him the shadow of cosmic misfortune.

A string of disasters both natural and man-made since his election in 2004, including the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 220,000 across Asia, has seen quips that SBY stands for "Selalu Bencana Ya", roughly meaning "Always A Disaster".

The latest catastrophe, believed to have killed upwards of 1,100 people with another buried 4,000 under rubble, is viewed by many in this Muslim-majority country of 234 million as yet more proof that SBY's stars are crossed.

"SBY, because of his birth date, will always attract disasters to this country, according to the Primbon (a Javanese almanac of mysticism)" Permadi, a veteran politician from the opposition Gerindra party and practising shaman, told AFP.

"Just look at the numbers of his birth date - the ninth of the ninth, '49 - that's unlucky. The more he holds on to power, the more great disasters will happen," he said.

Further reading - click here

[_Dr. Shades]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the individual in the picture Josh Skains? I could swear that it looks just like him.

You know, I thought THE EXACT SAME THING when I first saw it. I thought it would be too uncharitable to speculate, so I held my peace.

[_Gazelam]

"I've got Dungeons & Dragons... and a pair of denim overalls. And my friends in the kitchen said I had to leave because my halfling thief just got killed by a gelatinous cube which is totally unfair. God! Randy is the worst DM! I'm going out to the garage to listen to REO Speedwagon on my 8-track!"

[_Gazelam]

Human skin used for bookbinding

While it's not clear how many extant books actually have been bound in human skin, many older libraries (such as the library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia which has four such books, including one with a visible tattoo) have such tomes in their collection, suggesting that anthropodermically bound books number somewhere in the hundreds. Many of these books were likely bound in the 18th or 19th centuries, though some may be centuries older, while a few may even be younger...

Of primary interest to law students, however, is an early 17th century treatise on Spanish law in the rare book collection of the Langdell Law Library, Practicarum quaestionum circa leges regias Hispaniae… A faint inscription on the last page of the book reads: "The bynding of this booke is all that remains of my deare friende Jonas Wright, who was flayed alive by the Wavuma on the Fourth Day of August, 1632. King btesa did give me the book, it being one of poore Jonas chiefe possessions, together with ample of his skin to bynd it. Requiescat in pace." [...]

Read more Here

[_Gazelam]

If DC comic book hero's were created in 1960's Japan


Superman, with what I assume would be Jimmy Olson and his famous signal watch


Batman, Gatchaman style


Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and The Flash

[_Paracelsus]

No one expects much from a German garden gnome: typically, he has rosy cheeks, a white beard and a Noddy hat, and sits on a plastic log next to a plastic pond. A new breed has appeared, however, in the Bavarian township of Straubing — 1,250 of them, all with an arm raised in a Hitler salute.

For humans, the gesture can bring a three-year jail term. Displaying the swastika, () placing a copy of Mein Kampf in a shop window, signing a letter or e-mail with the words "Heil Hitler” or otherwise glorifying the former Nazi leader are equally unacceptable — so the provocatively styled gnomes, the work of the artist Ottmar Hörl, have immediately found themselves at the centre of controversy.
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 875471.ece)

. . .

[_Gazelam]

Baptist church will conduct Bible burning

The Amazing Grace Baptist Church will host a bonfire on Halloween, burning "Satan's works."

"Satan's works" include all non-King-James versions of the Bible.

"I believe the King James version is God's preserved, inspired, inerrant and infallible word of God," Pastor Marc Grizzard told a local news station of his 14-member parish.

Other items to be burned include "the work of "heretics" including the Pope, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Rick Warren."

Further reading : Here

[_msnobody]

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that said, "My kid has more chromosomes than yours." I think it had to do with Down's Syndrome awareness or something, but I thought it was sort of cute.

[_Gazelam]

Yes this is real, and he knew how to use it. He once stopped a departing flight to retrieve a thief from off of the plane.

[_Gazelam]