Weird News Thread ....

[Jolie Rouge]

Look What They Found in Kansas!

The bones from two mammoths and one camel have been unearthed in northwest Kansas that date back 12,200 years, prompting one archaeologist to call this "one of the most important archaeological sites in North America." Camel bones? In Kansas? It turns out that these are the bones of an Ice Age camel, an animal that is now extinct.



The Associated Press reports that the bones were found last June in Sherman County, which is near the Colorado border. The bones were discovered next to a piece of stone that archaeologists say was the type of rock contained in tools that humans once used to butcher animals. Carbon-14 dating that has just been completed confirmed the age of the bones.



The find is exciting because it is rewriting history. It could mean that human beings lived on the Great Plains some 1,300 years earlier than historians have thought. "We're rethinking not only when people arrived, but where they came from," archeological geologist Rolfe Mandel of the Kansas Geological Survey told AP. If excavations this summer verify the finding of the stone tool, it would make the archaeological site among the oldest in the New World, he added. The location was probably a camp site that was occupied for a few days or weeks by a small group of nomadic peoples.

What has researchers excited is the way the bones are broken.

They are fractured in a way that could only have been done by human beings who shattered the bone with stone to either make flaked bone tools or to get to the bone marrow. "Some scientists won't be convinced that the older bones got here because of human hunters," he told AP. "I'm not convinced, either. But I'm 75 percent convinced. There are few other ways the bones could be broken naturally the way they're broken."

[Jolie Rouge]

Man Killed in Vt. Avalanche Making Film

STOWE, Vt. (AP) - A lifelong skier was killed when an avalanche carried him off a mountain while he and three friends were making a film about extreme skiing. Alec Stall, 23, was being filmed doing sweeping turns down a steep chute just before the accident Monday on Mount Mansfield.

His friends believe Stall may have caught a ski tip in a crust of snow and fell 30 feet from a cliff edge. Above him, a slab of snow broke loose and created a river of snow that swept Stall off the mountain. ``I saw this huge rush of snow coming down in a cloud,'' said colleague Chris James. ``The cloud lasted 3 or 4 seconds, and he was gone.''

Stall was later found dead of injuries suffered in the fall. No one else was hurt. The four men worked for Burlington-based Meathead Films, a company they started while attending the University of Vermont. ``The draw is (that) I like to get scared,'' Stall once told an interviewer. ``It's about taking the sport to a new level - about skiing where people wouldn't have thought possible 10 years ago.''

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...80.htm&sc=1110

02/16/05 18:13

[Jolie Rouge]

Vast palace of Rome's first kings discovered deep beneath the Forum
By Peter Popham in Rome
15 February 2005

Ancient Rome has yielded its deepest secret - one that coincides with the legend of the city's foundation. Seven metres under the ruins of imperial Rome's Forum, Professor Andrea Carandini has discovered the remains of an immense building, covering 345 square metres, which he believes to be the palace of Rome's first kings.

He has dated a section of flooring near by to 753BC - when, according to legend, the city was founded by Romulus on seven hills. Until now, historians have maintained that Rome's history could not be traced further back than the 4th or 5th century BC.

Professor Carandini's discovery, trailed in Il Messaggero newspaper, will be unveiled at a conference in Florence at the weekend. He will reveal that the centrepiece of the palace was an enormous banquet hall with walls of wood and clay and a tiled roof decorated with fine ceramics. "This palace endured at least until AD64, in other words for eight centuries," Professor Carandini said.

With the end of the Roman monarchy it became the abode of the Rex sacrorum, the sacred king, surviving until the first empire.

The archaeologist also claims to have identified the house of the vestal virgins, the priestesses who attended the Roman kings, and the fireplace where they tended the sacred fire.


http://news.independent.co.uk/europe...p?story=611193

[Jolie Rouge]

Bittersweet symphony: Swiss musician can taste music
Wed Mar 2, 2005



PARIS (AFP) - A Swiss musician sees colours when she hears music, and experiences tastes ranging from sour and bitter to low-fat cream and mown grass, astounded scientists say.

Zurich University neuropsychologists were so intrigued by the case of E.S. -- a 27-year-old professional musician whose full name has been withheld -- that they recruited her for a year-long inquiry. They say she is the world's most extreme known case of synaesthesia, the phenomenon whereby hearing music triggers a response in other sensory organs.

E.S. sees colours when she hears a tone, with for instance an F sharp causing her to see violet while a C makes her see red, quite literally.

Even more remarkable is that she also gets a taste on her tongue according to the note she hears. A tone interval of a minor second induces sourness, while a major second leaves a bitter taste. A minor third is salty, while a major third is sweet.

Other tastes, according to the tone, are of "pure water," cream (either full or low-fat, depending on the note), "disgust" and also of mown grass.

To provide an objective test, the scientists applied one of four different-tasting solutions (sour, bitter, salty and sweet) to her tongue and then asked her to press a button on a computer keyboard corresponding to four relevant tones.

She responded with perfect accuracy and much faster than five musicians, recruited for the same test, who do not have her synaesthesic gifts.

E.S.' "extraordinary" synaesthesia has probably been a boon in her career by attuning her to the right pitch, the researchers say.

The study, led by Lutz Jaencke, appears on Thursday in the British weekly science journal Nature.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...cemusicoffbeat

[Jolie Rouge]

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

X-Ray of King Tut Mummy May Reveal Cause of Death
By Sarah El Deeb -- Associated Press
15 November 2004

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- The mummy of King Tutankhamun is to be X-rayed in an attempt to solve the mystery of how the teenage Pharaoh died at age 17, Egypt's chief archaeologist said Sunday.

Zahi Hawass said that this month, the mummy will be taken from King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, outside the southern city of Luxor, and flown to Cairo, where it will be X-rayed in the Egyptian Museum. It would be the first time in 82 years that Tutankhamun's remains leave the tomb. "The question of whether he was murdered or not will be answered completely," Hawass told The Associated Press.

The short life of Tutankhamun has fascinated people since his tomb was discovered in 1922, revealing a trove of fabulous treasures in gold and precious stones that showed the wealth and craftsmanship of the Pharaonic court. King Tut ruled about 3,300 years ago. He ascended to the throne at about age 8 and died around 1323 B.C. at 17.

Several factors have prompted questions about the cause of death. Hawass said the conditions of his burial in the tomb seemed "hurried."

An X-ray in 1968 showed bone fragments inside the skull, suggesting he was killed by a blow to the head. But, Hawass said, the X-ray machine was "not sophisticated enough to find out about the damage'' to his skull. This year's X-ray will be done with a German CT scan machine donated by Siemens and National Geographic, Hawass said. "Before the beginning of 2005, the question of King Tut's (death) will be answered and his mummy will be restored," Hawass said.

The mummy, which Hawass said consists of scattered bones, has not left the tomb since the British archaeologist Howard Carter excavated the tomb. Hawass said Carter's team damaged the mummy as they used sharp tools to prize off the famous gold and blue mask. After the X-ray and restoration, the authorities will decide whether to exhibit the mummy or return it to the tomb.


http://www.livescience.com/history/k...un_041115.html

No Sign Tutankhamun Murdered But Mystery Unsolved
By Amena Bakr



CAIRO (Reuters) - A three-dimensional X-ray scan of Tutankhamun's mummy found no evidence to support theories he was murdered but failed to solve the 3,000-year-old mystery of how the young Egyptian pharaoh died.

Some members of the investigative team say he may have died from an infected thigh wound, but others doubt this, saying that injury may have been inflicted later by archaeologists, according to the team's five-page report released on Tuesday.

Either way, the team's chairman says the case should now be closed and the tomb of the king who died in 1352 BC, aged about 19, should not be disturbed again.

Some historians have speculated the ruler was murdered, based on his young age and the turbulent political and religious circumstances during that period of Egyptian history. "We don't know how the king died, but we are now sure that it was not murder. Maybe he died on his own," said Zahi Hawas, chairman of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.

"The case is closed. We should not disturb the king any more," he told Reuters after the report came out. "There is no evidence that the young king was murdered," said a press release attached to the report.

The report said some but not all of the eight team members suggested he may have died after a serious accident in which he broke his thigh, leaving an open wound which became infected. "Although the break itself would not have been life-threatening, infection might have set in," the report said, citing those members of the team. The others disagreed.

Tutankhamun came to the throne shortly after the death of Akhenaten, the maverick pharaoh who abandoned most of Egypt's old gods and tried to imposed a monotheistic religion based on worship of the Aten, the disc of the sun.

During Tutankhamun's reign, which lasted about 10 years, advocates of the old religion were regaining control of the country, turning their back on Akhenaten's innovations.

The report said the CT scan performed in January found no evidence of a blow to the back of Tutankhamun's head and no other evidence of foul play.

IN GOOD HEALTH

They found that Tutankhamun had a bent spine and an elongated skull but they ruled out pathological causes. They believe the shape of the skull to be a normal variation and the spine resulted from the way the embalmers positioned the body. "Judging from his bones, the king was generally in good health ... There are no signs of malnutrition or infectious disease during childhood," the report added.

Addressing the murder theory, the report noted that the king had two bone fragments loose in his skull. But it adds: "These cannot possibly have come from an injury from before death, as they would have become stuck in the embalming material."

The team believes the fragments were broken during the embalming process or by the team led by British archaeologist Howard Carter, who discovered Tutankhamun's intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings in southern Egypt in 1922.

Advocates of the broken thigh theory noted that there was embalming material inside the thigh wound and no obvious evidence that the wound healed, suggesting the fracture took place only days before death. But other members of the team said the fracture was the work of Carter's team when they removed the mummy from the coffin. "They argue that if such a fracture had been suffered in life, there would have been evidence for hemorrhage or hematoma present in the CT scan. They believe the embalming liquid was pushed into the fracture by Carter's team," the report said.

The team thinks it has found Tutankhamun's penis, which was present in the 1920s but had gone missing by the time of an examination in 1968. "Although they cannot be certain, the team believes that they have located (it) ... loose in the sand around the king's body," the report said.

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...20050308XAN101

03/08/05 07:21

[Jolie Rouge]

Three Teens Accused of Kidnapping Boy, 15

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) - Three teenagers kidnapped a 15-year-old and ordered his father to drop off a $50 ransom at a Taco Bell restaurant, authorities said. The father called police instead, and the teens were arrested.

Police said the dispute began over $50 that David Gibbs, 15, owed to Joseph Garrett, 17. Gibbs went to Garrett's apartment Tuesday, and Garrett asked him to repay the money, police said. Gibbs couldn't pay up, so Garrett and two other teens punched him in the face and held him at knifepoint, then forced him to phone his father and ask him to drop the money in a planter at the Taco Bell, police said.

Ralph Gibbs called police, who set up undercover officers at the restaurant. Two people who took the cash told police that Garrett had paid them $10 for the deed, and they agreed to call Garrett to arrange a meeting at a Goodwill store.

Police who went there found 16-year-old Samuel Aidoo standing by a trash bin and found he was carrying a knife. Garrett, who was at his nearby apartment with the son, saw the officers and fled, police said. The son then left the apartment.

Aidoo, 16, and Victoria Aidoo, 15, were arrested Wednesday. Garrett turned himself in the next day.



03/18/05 16:39

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...1639564624.htm


Morons-R-Us

[Jolie Rouge]

Originally Posted by Jolie Rouge

National Geographic Channel Finds Hogzilla



ALAPAHA, Ga. (AP) - The legend of Hogzilla, the prodigious porker that was supposedly shot on a nearby plantation, will be featured in a spring episode on the National Geographic Channel.

Since rumors of the hog's existence began spreading in June, newspapers around the world have carried stories on the half-ton beast that supposedly had 9-inch tusks and measured 12 feet long.

Two weeks ago, a group of forensic scientists and a National Geographic Channel television crew traveled to Alapaha and unearthed the animal's remains.

Although officials are keeping silent on their findings, property owner Ken Holyoak said they did confirm the remains were found, studied and then reburied at the original site. Holyoak owns the River Oak Plantation and Ken's Fish Hatchery, where Hogzilla was killed. ``They said when we get the reports, we're going to be really happy,'' Holyoak said. ``I'm just glad they came down here to do this. ... It's time to get the truth out there.''


The National Geographic Channel, which has acquired the rights to the award-winning Explorer documentary series, will begin airing Explorer programs in January, said Chris Albert, communications director for the National Geographic Channel. Hogzilla will be among the first episodes, he said. Albert declined Monday to provide any details on what the Hogzilla show will reveal.


Hogzilla has created quite a stir in the hearts of people in Alapaha, a town of 186 people 125 miles south of Macon.


Although some residents doubt his existence, the wild hog has brought the city almost instant fame and even became the mascot of their annual fall festival. Holyoak pulled a float during the festival that featured a life-sized replica of Hogzilla. ``We've had a hogzilla of a time with this,'' said Darlene Turner, who operates her family's business, Jernigan's Farm Supply. ``It has put us on the map.''


Holyoak said Monday that the National Geographic crew wore respirators while they worked with Hogzilla's remains. ``It looked like a dead hog,'' he said. ``It had been in there five months, so it didn't smell good either. ``They spent a solid week digging him up, measuring and sampling,'' Holyoak said. ``They don't want to do a documentary unless it's 100 percent accurate.''


Last spring, one of Holyoak's employees told him he kept seeing a large hog roaming around their property. In June, Chris Griffin shot the animal and then called his boss. ``I went right over there and couldn't believe it,'' Holyoak said. ``His head was about as big as a car tire.''


Reports of Griffin's big trophy has made him a local celebrity. People ask for his autograph.


Because the large animal wouldn't fit in a freezer intact and the meat was not suitable for eating, Holyoak said he and his crew decided to bury the animal. They cut Hogzilla's head off and put it in an undisclosed place because they were afraid someone would steal it. The rest of the carcass was buried in a grave marked by a white cross.


Although Holyoak took a few pictures and had several witnesses sign affidavits about what they saw, many people have doubted the story. ``I finally started telling people that I didn't care if they believed it or not,'' Holyoak said. ``I knew what I saw and how big it was.''


Now, maybe the National Geographic show will satisfy some of the doubters, he said. ``Up to now, they've just got my word,'' he said. ``But everybody who knows me, knows I don't tell anything wrong. I've already said my say, and a lot of people didn't believe it. Now we'll let them have their say.''


Information from: The Macon Telegraph, http://www.macontelegraph.com

http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/sto...0040728GAEM101

11/22/04 13:44

Monster swine 'Hogzilla' was real, experts say
Documentary confirms Georgia hog was 8 feet long, 800 pounds
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:54 a.m. ET March 22, 2005

ALAPAHA, Ga. - A team of National Geographic experts has confirmed south Georgia’s monster hog, known to locals as Hogzilla, was indeed real — and really, really big. They also noted the super swine didn’t quite live up to the 1,000-pound, 12-foot hype generated when Hogzilla was caught on a farm last summer and photographed hanging from a backhoe.

Donning biohazard suits to exhume the behemoth’s smelly remains, the experts estimated Hogzilla was probably only 7½ to 8 feet long, and weighed about 800 pounds. The confirmation came in a documentary aired Sunday night on the National Geographic Channel; it will be rebroadcast Wednesday and Saturday. “He was an impressive beast. He was definitely a freak of nature,” said documentary producer Nancy Donnelly. She said Hogzilla’s tusks — one measuring nearly 18 inches and the other nearly 16 inches — set a new Safari Club International North American free-range record.

That wasn’t good enough for Ken Holyoak, owner of the 1,500-acre fish farm and hunting preserve where Hogzilla was shot by guide Chris Griffin. “I need to stress that they did not have that much to work with, seeing as how the poor beast had been underground for nearly six months,” he said Monday.

12-foot claim

Holyoak said Hogzilla weighed in at half a ton on his farm scales, and that he personally measured the hog’s length at 12 feet while the freshly killed beast was dangling by straps from a backhoe. “As with any organic being after death, tissues will decompose and the body will atrophy, making actual measurements change over time,” Holyoak said. “Have you ever seen a raisin after it was a grape?”

Donnelly said the experts allowed for some shrinkage in making their final estimate.

Despite the dispute, this town 180 miles south of Atlanta has already adopted Hogzilla as its own. It went with a Hogzilla theme for its fall festival, with a parade featuring a Hogzilla princess, children in pink pig outfits and a float carrying a Hogzilla replica. “Our insides were just bubbling,” said Darlene Turner, who hosted a party to watch the documentary Sunday night. “At first, I was afraid it might be an embarrassment. But now I wish everybody could see the documentary. It would take the doubt out of people’s minds.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7264865

[Jolie Rouge]

Posted 3/24/2005

Scientists recover preserved soft tissue from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists who had to break a dinosaur bone to remove it from its sandstone location say they have recovered 70-million-year-old soft tissues from inside the bone. The find included what appear to be blood vessels, and possibly even cells, from a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The material is currently being studied, and if scientists can isolate proteins from the material they may be able to learn new details of how dinosaurs lived, lead researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University said.

The find is reported in a paper appearing in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

The material came from the thighbone of a T.Rex, known as MOR 1125, found in a sandstone formation in Montana. The bone was broken in removing it from the site and Schweitzer and colleagues then analyzed the material inside the bone. "The vessels and contents are similar in all respects to blood vessels recovered from ... ostrich bone," they reported.

In recent years evidence has accumulated that modern birds descended from dinosaurs, and Schweitzer said she chose to compare the dinosaur remains with those of an ostrich because it is the largest bird available.

Brooks Hanson, a deputy editor of Science, noted that there are few examples of soft tissues that have been preserved, largely leaves or petrified wood and a few examples of insects in amber or humans and mammoths in peat or ice. But soft tissues are rare in older finds, "that's why in a 70-million-year-old fossil is so interesting," he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science...M_Exclude=Juno

[Jolie Rouge]

Judge Gives WHAT to a Cheating Wife?

Susan Sosin lived the good life--at least monetarily--when she was married to a multimillionaire businessman. But by her own admission she cheated on Howard Sosin, founder AIG Financial Products, by having an affair with her rock-climbing guide and a man she met on a flight to China. Now the two are divorcing, and a judge has awarded Susan Sosin with about $43 million in cash and real estate assets, reports The Associated Press. Does cheating pay?


This is what Susan Sosin will receive:

--Flat cash payment of $24 million
--Manhattan apartment valued at $3.6 million
--Utah ski house valued at $2 million
--A home in Wallkill, New York valued at $800,000
--$6 million in brokerage accounts
--Eight of the couple's 18 cars
--$2.9 million in jewelry

The illicit affairs were discovered by Howard when he upgraded their computer system and found hundreds of e-mails between his wife and her lover. Susan then admitted that she had become intimate with her rock-climbing guide, but said it was an isolated occurrence. The affair with the married man she met on the plane to China, however, was lengthy and involved.


Among the items Howard Sosin gets to keep:

--$89 million in bank accounts
--10 of the couples 18 cars
--$960,000 worth of private club memberships
--$22 million in fine art
--Two mansions in Connecticut
--Three desert properties in Arizona

Superior Court Judge Howard Owens stated in his verdict, "The parties' marriage has been undeniably marred by the defendant's infidelity. Although her sexual relationship was not the sole cause of the breakdown, it did effectively terminate the marriage."

[Jolie Rouge]

Obscenity Forcibly Tattooed on Boy's Face

A 17-year-old boy from Norwich, N.Y., was assaulted by a man and another teenager who pinned him down and forcibly tattooed an obscene phrase on his forehead using a homemade tattoo tool. The Associated Press reports that the adult assailant, Kenneth D. Peer, 23, has been charged with assault and unlawful imprisonment. The 17-year-old, who is not being identified since he is a minor, was charged as a youthful offender. Both are being held in jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

The police refused to describe the tattoo other than to say it was an obscene phrase. "It's just ludicrous that someone would do something like this to another person," Officer Craig Berry told AP. A court hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

The victim, whose name is being withheld by police, walked into the police station on Friday to file a complaint against his attackers, reports AP. He said he was held down against his will by the two assailants at a home in Norwich while they forcibly tattooed the vulgarity on his forehead. So far, police have no motive for the bizarre attack. Officer Berry said the victim will require plastic surgery or a laser process to remove the tattoo ink.

[Jolie Rouge]

Fortune Cookie Fulfills Lottery Destiny
By AMY LORENTZEN

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Dozens of people recently got an extra-special dessert with their Chinese food: a winning lottery number.

A record 110 players won $500,000 and $100,000 prizes in Wednesday's Powerball drawing, most of whom apparently used the numbers included in a fortune-cookie message. Ordinarily the multistate lottery expects only four tickets to win at the Match 5 prize level.

Several winners in a half-dozen states revealed that they got the winning number from a fortune cookie, said Doug Orr, marketing director with the West Des Moines-based Multi-State Lottery Association, which operates Powerball.

``With the systems reporting so many plays of 22-28-32-33-39 and Powerball 40, it is likely that most drew their luck from that very fortunate cookie,'' Orr said.


The cookie was one number away from winning the $25.5 million jackpot: The winning numbers were: 22, 28, 32, 33 and 39, with 42 being the Powerball.


Tickets that match the first five numbers but miss the Powerball win $100,000 each. There were 89 of those.


There were 21 Power Play Match 5 winners. Those players matched the first five numbers and missed the Powerball, but placed an extra dollar on the Power Play number, a multiplier number from two to five. Last night's multiplier was five, meaning that the $100,000 prize for matching all five numbers increased to $500,000.


According to the Powerball Web site, odds of winning the grand prize are 1 in 120,526,770, and odds of winning the $100,000 prize are about 1 in 2,939,677. Before Wednesday, the most tickets to win second-tier Powerball prizes in one drawing was 91, on Aug. 25, 2001.


One ticket, bought by a South Pittsburg, Tenn., family, had all six winning numbers to win the jackpot.


http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/...0050331TNJR103


On the Net:


Multi-State Lottery Association: http://www.musl.com/


Powerball: http://www.powerball.com/


Pennsylvania Lottery: http://www.palottery.state.pa.us/



03/31/05 19:25