I'll put it this way. If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I'd take the fingers, no question.
Geminiderna (7–17 december) är en av himlens finaste skurar. I år störs de ljusa meteorerna knappast av månen (går ned strax efter kl 20 den 14 dec). Maximum nås omkring 14 december kl 17.45 (+/–2,3 timmar) med upp till 120 meteorer/timme (ZHR). Meteorerna är relativt långsamma med en medelhastighet på 35 km/s. Radianten (cirkumpolär, kulm kl 01.54 den 14 dec) befinner sig i Gemini (Tvillingarna) vid RA 7h28m dekl +33°, knappt 2°N om Castor – se illustrationen till höger. Geminidernas ursprung är asteroiden Phaethon, kanske en gammal slocknad kometkärna, som rör sig runt Solen på 524 dygn.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- New Yorker Alison Wilson was walking down Prince Street in SoHo last week when she heard a woman's voice right in her ear asking, "Who's there? Who's there?" She looked around to find no one in her immediate surroundings. Then the voice said, "It's not your imagination."
Indeed it isn't. It's an ad for "Paranormal State," a ghost-themed series premiering on A&E this week. The billboard uses technology manufactured by Holosonic that transmits an "audio spotlight" from a rooftop speaker so that the sound is contained within your cranium. The technology, ideal for museums and libraries or environments that require a quiet atmosphere for isolated audio slideshows, has rarely been used on such a scale before. For random passersby and residents who have to walk unwittingly through the area where the voice will penetrate their inner peace, it's another story.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - They thought it was a man hanging on for dear life. Instead, it was just a "Man Hanging Out." Folks surprised to see a body hanging from atop the Trade Center Building in Grand Rapids called the police and fire departments Tuesday. It turned out to be a life-sized sculpture of Sigmund Freud.
WZZM-TV reported the artwork by Czech sculptor David Cerny was suspended by one hand from a pole, seven stories up. It also has appeared in Prague and London. It was in Chicago over the summer.
The police and fire departments say they weren't informed of the statue's placement, but the owner of an art gallery says she has a permit for it.
The Companions of Saint Nicholas go by many names: Knecht Ruprecht (Farmhand Ruprecht or Servant Ruprecht), Krampus, Klaubauf, Bartel, Pelzebock, Pelznickel, Belzeniggl, Belsnickel, Schmutzli, Rumpelklas, Bellzebub, Hans Muff, Drapp or Buzebergt, Hanstrapp, Le Père Fouettard, and Zwarte Piet (Black Pete).
These servants accompany Saint Nicholas, in various European traditions, and are usually portrayed as the inverse of him in both dress and character. More often than not they are clothed in black and carry a sack and club (though weapons range from switchblades to pistols). Their intentions range from pure evil, to merely mischievous. France’s Père Fouettard, for example, is said to have butchered three children, all of whom Saint Nicholas resurrected. In his shame, Fouettard became a willing servant in order to repent. In Croatia, Krampus is represented much like the traditional Devil, and is said to take children away in his sack if they have been naughty.
Similar traditions are even found in parts of the United States with 19th century accounts of, not Santa Claus, but someone known as “Kriskinkle, Beltznickle and sometimes as the Xmas woman.” A person would dress up as this individual, usually in female garb and a hideous mask, and scatter treats on the floor with one hand for children to snatch up, while with the other they would whip them with a switch.
Today, in Austria, there is an annual Krampus festival which draws hundreds of people, who parade through the streets of Schladming, dressed in goat hair costumes with carved masks, striking onlookers with bundles of sticks. It seems a more interesting alternative to having to endure weeks of adult contemporary/bubblegum pop versions of sappy Christmas carols.
Scientists today announced the discovery of an extraordinarily preserved "dinosaur mummy" with much of its tissues and bones still encased in an uncollapsed envelope of skin.
Preliminary studies of the 67-million-year-old hadrosaur, named Dakota, are already altering theories of what the ancient creatures' skin looked like and how quickly they moved, project researchers say.
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