Miskatonic Valley Fine Arts

 

Miskatonic Valley Fine Art features sculptures by Joe Broers based on the ‘Cthulhu Mythos’ creations of H.P. Lovecraft and the ‘Lovecraft Circle’ of writers.  Each sculpture is cast in resin, finished, and comes with fictitious ‘documentation’ that helps provide a feeling of verisimilitude to the project.

Miskatonic Valley Fine Arts

Vanished Persian army said found in desert – Discovery.com- msnbc.com

 

The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology’s biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.

Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.

"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.

Vanished Persian army said found in desert – Discovery.com- msnbc.com

Another CONVICTED Felon part of TFM (TAPS Family) and Hawes is promising change! | SciFake.com

 

Again, scifake receives an anonymous tip in regards to a convicted felon who’s team is part of the Taps Family Membership. This person is the founder of the team and he was CONVICTED of burglary (Burglary To Church Ptc, an unclassified felony, Wisconsin Statutes 943.10. Offense date 06-21-1995).

Appropriately, this PUBLIC information was verified and forwarded to Jason Hawes (TAPS) and Britt Griffith (TAPS family manager) and both are promising a swift change of the TOS (Terms Of Service) for the Taps Family Member membership! In addition, I can tell you personally both Jason Hawes and Britt Griffith are aghast by this information and Britt has been vigilant in working to achieve a solid resolution.

After all, both have made it clear there is NO room in the Taps Family for a convicted felon and I have been advised both will be meeting with legal advisers anticipating an analysis of the Taps Family TOS (Terms of Service).

I think if we can put our personal differences aside then everybody can work on achieving an appropriate resolution as a group.

In closing, your advice and comment are appreciated; however, I ask everyone to refrain from any personal attacks. Again, this is NOT about ghost hunting for it’s about making beneficial consentient progress.

Another CONVICTED Felon part of TFM (TAPS Family) and Hawes is promising change! | SciFake.com

A peek into Temple Mount excavations – Israel News, Ynetnews

 

A peek into Temple Mount excavations

Western Wall Heritage Foundation holds tour of tunnels in attempt to ward off Muslim claims that al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger of collapsing. Waqf refuses offer for similar tour for Muslims, saying ’settlers won’t give us approval to enter a Muslim-owned area’

Ronen Medzini

Published: 
11.08.09, 18:56 / Israel News

Excavation works being held near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have sparked uproar in the Muslim world in recent years. Recent riots in the capital were allegedly sparked by a repeated Muslim claim that the Jews are attempting "to take over" the Temple Mount mosques or damage them through the digs taking place in tunnels within the mount.

According to the Muslims, the digs are taking place under the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and are threatening to collapse them.

Foreign Ministry in Damascus slams Jewish state’s activities on Temple Mount as part of ’scheme to Judaize Jerusalem’

Initial photos obtained by Ynet show the excavation works along the tunnels, as photographed during a tour held in the area about two weeks ago, which was attended by several officials and organizations from all parts of the political spectrum.

Following the tour, its participants said they did not witness attempts to dig under the mosques’ plaza.

Within the tunnels. Important archaeological remains from the First Temple

The digs begin on al-Waad Street in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter and connect to the Western Wall tunnels under the ground. The works began more than four years ago, and have since caused angry responses in the Muslim world, which is finding it difficult to receive a clear picture of the dig, due to the discrete manner in which it is are being led by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation.

One of the claims is that the dig is endangering the buildings located above it and damaging the heart of the Muslim heritage. The fears are also related to the fact that many of the members of the Western Wall Heritage Foundation are also members of the Ateret Kohanim association, whose goal is to see Jews settle in the Old City’s Muslim and Christian quarters.

The tunnels are expected to be open to the public in the future, but today they remain closed until the excavation works will be completed. In light of the many claims, however, the Foundation decided to invite several officials to tour the area.

The tour’s participants included the Foundation’s executive director Mordechai (Sullie) Eliav, Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, Jerusalem Council Members Meir Margalit (Meretz) and Rabbi Yossi Deutsch (United Torah Judaism), and representatives of left-wing organizations.

12 meters deep

The tour’s participants spoke to the excavation workers, who told them that the digging is currently 12 meters (39 feet) deep. According to estimates, the final dig will be 16 meter deep, where the workers will reach an impenetrable rock layer.

According to the participants, the workers uncovered important archaeological remains from the First Temple during the excavation.

It should be noted that the tour’s participants testified that in some of the places, improvised reinforcement works were being conducted to support the walls and ceiling, in a manner which raises fears that there is indeed a danger of collapse, or at least a danger that the land above may sink. The picture brought here support this claim.

Arab diplomats seek solution

"I don’t support digging in sensitive places, and I understand the Muslims’ fears," said Margalit. "However, in the name of intellectual integrity, I did not see any attempt to dig under the mosques’ plaza. I cannot guarantee that such a thing will not happen in the future, but it’s clear to me that in the meantime there were no signs testifying that this is in fact taking place.

"It’s important for me to say this because I am very concerned about what may happen following the wave of rumors and speculations running around this city," he added, "and everyone must contribute as much as they can to calm things down."

Margalit in one of tunnels. Very concerned

Ynet has learned that the Western Wall Heritage Foundation is now planning to conduct another tour, which will be attended by a professional Muslim delegation, in order to refute the accusations.

Margalit has even approached representatives of the Jerusalem Waqf with an offer to tour the area, but they have rejected it for now, claiming that "we will not receive approval from settlers to enter a Muslim-owned area."

Diplomats from an Arab country arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday in an attempt to come up with a creative solution which would allow a Muslim delegation to tour the area. A third party is now trying to mediate between the Foundation and the diplomats in a bid to organize such a delegation, which will be comprised of representatives from Arab countries.

A peek into Temple Mount excavations – Israel News, Ynetnews

Ghost Lab Episodes On FANCAST

I received an email from Khemarin Sokan at Fancast. Fancast is now offering Ghost Lab episodes.

 http://www.fancast.com/tv/Ghost-Lab/105620/1293982984/Ghost-Lab%3A-Disturbing-the-Peace/videos

Review: Regret-Free Living

Regret-Free Living
Hope for Past Mistakes and Freedom From Unhealthy Patterns

I was given a free copy of Regret-free Living from Bethany House to review. From the cover, I expected the book to be about regret. However; the book is really a book about relationships.

The book is pretty straight forward and easy to read. You should be able to finish it in one evening. Arterburn is uncomfortably frank and open about his own personal mistakes. He uses those as examples to help you develop stronger relationships.

I liked the use of Bible quotes to support his advice. However; I didn’t like that he neglected to tell us which Bible translation he was using.

A guest blog from Ben Winters

Jane is my Co-Pilot: The Fine Art of Making Sense and Sensibility Totally Ridiculous
By Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters,

Authors of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Since writing Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, I’ve gotten a ton of feedback about how nice it is that I’ve made Jane Austen appealing to certain readers — meaning readers who previously suffered a persistent allergy to The Classics. I am complimented for taking the prim and decorous Jane Austen and making her, A) really violent, and B) really funny.

The first compliment I will gladly accept. Over the decades since Sense and Sensibility first appeared, it has been noted by scholars and casual readers alike that the book is sorely lacking in shipwrecks, shark attacks, and vividly described decapitations. I believe it was the poet and critic Thomas Chatterton who admired the novel’s careful plotting and social critique, but lamented the total absence of vengeful ghost pirates.

But I can’t take credit for making Jane Austen funny. As is well known by passionate fans of Austen — I have yet to meet any other kind — the old girl has always been funny. Take for example Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, a set of secondary characters in Sense and Sensibility. The periodic appearances of the Palmers comprise what any comedy writer will recognize as a running gag. Mrs. Palmer is chatty and trivial, while Mr. Palmer (a delightful Hugh Laurie in the Ang Lee version) is gruff and unaffectionate. What Mrs. Palmer labels “droll,” the reader — along with Elinor, our sensible heroine — recognizes as plain distaste for his wife, her friends, and everybody else in the universe. Every time those Palmers show up, we know we’re in for the next variation on the same great gag.

Note that Austen doesn’t do to the Palmers what Charles Dickens would: Exaggerate their core traits to the point of absurdity. (Also, she doesn’t name them something like Mr. and Mrs. Featherwit). The Palmers are funny, but they’re plausible, and their primary function in the book is to provide not laughs, but a corrective to Marianne’s rosy ideal of married life. So Austen makes them funny, but not ridiculous.

Making them ridiculous was my job. When the Palmers appear in my monsterfied Sensibility, I give Mr. Palmer’s drollery a murky, weird-tales back story, part of the preposterously elaborate foreshadowing of my H.P. Lovecraft-inspired denouement.

I play the same game, of comically amplifying what’s already there, in varying ways throughout the book. Colonel Brandon, stiff and formal and middle-aged, becomes a stiff and formal and middle-aged man-monster. Genial Sir John becomes genial adventurer/explorer Sir John. Had Austen made all her characters ridiculous in that Dickensian way, if she had been the kind of writer who is forever winking at her readers, my book would be (as they say in improv comedy) a hat on a hat. But because Sense and Sensibility is so eloquent and restrained, Sea Monsters gets to go way over the top.

This is true even on the simple level of vocabulary. Austen’s precise early-19th century diction is the textual equivalent of Eustace Tilly, the top-hatted, monocled figure from the cover of the New Yorker: Her writing simply oozes good taste. The trick was to appropriate that ever-so-tasteful and old-timey Austenian style to describe things she never would have:
In the profound silence that followed, their ears were filled with a low thrashing sound, as the corpse of the bosun’s mate was noisily consumed by devil fish. At length the captain drew upon his pipe, and spoke again. “Let us only pray that this is the worst such abomination you encounter in this benighted land; for such is but a minnow, when compared to the Devonshire Fang-Beast.”

“The . . . what?”

Even more fun to play with than Austen’s eloquent vocabulary is her universe of enforced emotional rectitude. The Dashwood sisters live in a world where one’s feelings are not blurted out — or, at least, they’re not meant to be, as sensible Elinor is continually reminding sensitive Marianne. It’s a constant struggle to keep one’s emotions hidden beneath the surface; all I did was literalize that metaphor in the most preposterous way, by adding deadly and dangerous monsters which appear literally from beneath the surface.

There was one factor above all that made Sense and Sensibility such a fun comic foil, and that is the place the book holds in the cultural firmament. One question I’ve heard a lot (or read a lot, as it’s the sort of thing that comes up on blog comment-threads), is “Why didn’t you do Persuasion? That’s the Austen book that actually takes place on the water!”

The answer is simply that Persuasion, unlike Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice, may be a great book, but it is not a Great Book. It has not gathered around itself the unmistakable stink of importance.

Sense and Sensibility, on the other hand, stands in the literary tradition as Margaret Dumont stands before Groucho Marx, as the Chairman of the Reception Committee in Duck Soup: Prim and proper and radiating worthiness — just waiting, in other words, for someone to hit it with a pie.

©2009 Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters, authors of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

Author Bios
Jane Austen, coauthor of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, is coauthor of the New York Times best seller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which has been translated into 17 languages and optioned to become a major motion picture. She died in 1817.
Ben H. Winters, coauthor of Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, is a writer based in Brooklyn.
For more information please visit www.BenHWinter.com and www.quirkclassics.com

PARANORMAL GOAT: Overture Films Spoofs PARANORMAL ACTIVITY With New Ad for THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Irish authorities seize 7,000 samurai swords | Irish News | IrishCentral

In the end there can be only one …

7,000 samurai swords were seized in police raids in Dublin last Monday.

Gardai (Irish police) carried out several smash and grab raids in Dublin’s north inner city last Monday and confiscated 7,000 Samurai swords.

The raids were instigated by the Crime Prevention Unit in tandem with the Neighborhood Policing Unit,  District Detective Unit and Divisional Crime Task Force, and rank as one of the largest hauls of banned weapons ever.

Two Chinese men were questioned but released without charge as further investigations continue, and the Director of Public Prosecutions has been sent a file on the case.

Samurai swords were banned in Ireland on September 1

"The minister has been on record in recent years about the dangers posed by samurai swords. They have been used with very damaging effect on our streets,” said a spokesperson of the Minister for Justice,Mr. Dermont Ahern.

"Because of that he introduced legislation banning the swords.

"The seizure of such a vast quantity of samurai swords should reduce significantly any threat these swords might have proved to the public."

Irish authorities seize 7,000 samurai swords | Irish News | IrishCentral

Twelve Soldiers Killed in Fort Hood Shooting – ABC News

***update*** Major Hasan is NOT dead as was earlier reported.

***update*** 13 dead 

Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded in a shooting spree at a Texas military base in a murderous rampage that officials believe was carried out by an Army officer.

Gunman kills at least 7 and wounds 12 at Fort Hood.

The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Malik Nadal Hasan.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, told Fox News that military sources informed her that the gunman was about to be deployed to Iraq.

The shooter was killed and two other suspects, who are also soldiers, have been apprehended, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.

Hasan allegedly opened fire and killed 11 people on the base before he was shot, bringing the total number of fatalities to 12.

The general said there were “eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter,” and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.

Cone called the attack “a terrible tragedy, stunning.” He said the community was “absolutely devastated.”

President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a “horrific outburst of violence.”

“It is difficult enough to lose” soldiers overseas, but it is “horrifying that they should lose their lives at an Army base in the U.S.,” he said.

Twelve Soldiers Killed in Fort Hood Shooting – ABC News