Mystery lights have Ontario residents abuzz
Similar lights were seen over the Niagara Falls area earlier this year
thewhig - Sarah Fisher doesn't believe in UFOs -- at least, she didn't until Friday night.
"There were three bright lights in the sky," she said of what she saw near Ingleside, Ont., around 6:45 p.m. on Nov. 12.
"They got closer and bigger. Then poof, they disappeared."
Nearly five hours earlier, when Fisher was driving west near Long Sault, Ont., she noticed four strange shapes in the sky.
"They looked like rockets or spaceships," she said.
Fisher said she stopped her car for a closer look, but after a few minutes the objects went straight up until they disappeared.
While she found the sight odd, it was the three lights that hovered in the night sky for about 30 seconds that haunted her.
"Last night I could not even sleep," she said Saturday. "Every time I closed my eyes I saw those three lights."
She said one was lower and between the other two, and they turned very slowly.
"It was amazing but scary at the same time," she said. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Fisher said she watched tons of news coverage that night, but heard nothing about the lights.
An OPP officer said they didn't have any calls about the lights or reports of strange activity, but Fisher is not the only one who viewed the phenomenon.
A local resident wrote his story on a paranormal sighting blog, detailing how he saw three orange lights appear one after the other over Cornwall Island. He said he spoke to several people who also witnessed it Friday evening.
Ingleside resident Jennifer Lalonde was sitting on her porch when the orbs suddenly appeared in the sky.
"They weren't normal lights," she said. "My husband and I were talking about it, but we have no clue what it could have been."
She said the lights were separate, yet close enough and with a line around them that made her believe they were all connected.
"It looked a lot like a UFO or something like that," said Lalonde. "It was so low but the lights were so bright. You couldn't see what it was because the lights were so bright."
Lalonde said the strange sight disappeared after less than a minute and so suddenly it was like someone flipped a light switch.
"It didn't fade away or anything," she said.
Lalonde said she also had trouble sleeping after the sighting, though for her the experience caused more fright than curiosity.
"I was petrified," she said. "I seriously thought there were bombs going off, there was a war going on."
Fisher agreed that it was an unsettling experience, one that she will mull over for years.
"I have no clue what it was," she said, "But to be honest, it was freaky. It's always going to puzzle me."
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Birth of a Black Hole
For the first time, scientists believe they have witnessed the birth of a black hole.
The evidence began arriving 30 years ago from a star 50 million light-years away that had imploded, setting into motion events that created a region where gravity is so great that nothing can escape, even light.
The initial 1979 observation of the exploding star was made by an amateur astronomer from Western Maryland, but the profession's top scientists have studied it intently with increasingly sophisticated orbiting X-ray telescopes.
In announcing the discovery Monday at NASA headquarters, the researchers said that although the information they have collected is consistent with the birth of a baby black hole, they cannot rule out other possibilities. Nonetheless, they spoke enthusiastically about what they are learning and will learn about the evolution of black holes. Continue reading at WashingtonPost.
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UK author jailed for book on Singapore hangings
AFP - A Singapore court jailed a 75-year-old British author for six weeks on Tuesday for publishing a book critical of executions in the city-state.
Alan Shadrake was handed the prison sentence and a fine of 20,000 Singapore dollars (15,000 US) for contempt of court over the book, which features an interview with a former chief executioner.
High Court Judge Quentin Loh dismissed a last-minute apology by Shadrake as "nothing more than a tactical ploy in court to obtain a reduced sentence" and ruled that the freelance journalist will have to serve two extra weeks in prison if he fails to pay the fine.
"A fine should be imposed to prevent Mr Shadrake from profiting from his contempt (of court)," the judge said.
The ruling said the sentence was the stiffest ever imposed for contempt of court in Singapore. The previous longest jail term was 15 days.
Shadrake, who lives in Malaysia and Britain, was arrested by Singapore police in July after launching the book, "Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock".
It includes a profile of Darshan Singh, the former chief executioner at Singapore's Changi Prison who, according to the author, executed around 1,000 men and women from 1959 until he retired in 2006.
It also features interviews with human rights activists, lawyers and former police officers on cases involving capital punishment.
In a November 3 ruling that found Shadrake guilty, the judge said, "Mr Shadrake's technique is to make or insinuate his claims against a dissembling and selective background of truths and half-truths, and sometimes outright falsehoods.
"A casual and unwary reader, who does not subject the book to detailed scrutiny, might well believe his claims... and in so doing would have lost confidence in the administration of justice in Singapore."
NOTE: Singapore's justice system is a travesty. Research some of the penalties and punishment doled out for minor crime as well as the uneven sentences for major infractions. I'm surprised there is very little said about it. Here is an article link - The uneven nature of Singapore's justice system and a historical perspective - Singapore's Criminal Law And Justice System...Lon
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Learn How to Create Your Own Cult!
How to Create Your Own Cult, the Scientology Way
by Martin Poulter
When: Thu, Nov 18, 2011 8.00 – 11.00 PM [2011 is prolly a typo]*
Where: The Vines (aka the Big House), 81 Lime Street, Liverpool
Summary
Scientology has been described in the States as “ruthless, litigious and lucrative” and in this country as “corrupt, sinister and dangerous”, yet it boasts global success and has made hundreds of millions of dollars. Thanks to the Internet, it now faces an unprecedented global opposition. The scary secrets of Scientology and its recruitment methods will be exposed in this talk. It will be useful for anyone wanting to set up their own lucrative cult.
Biography
Martin Poulter first encountered skepticism while a teenager. He has a Philosophy and Psychology degree from Oxford University and a PhD in Philosophy of Science from the University of Bristol. He has been a Scientology-watcher since 1995, when he was threatened with legal action over material he posted online. He is an ordained minister in the Church of the SubGenius, which offers eternal spiritual salvation or triple your money back.
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Another attempt to create demand: 'My First Bacon', a huggable talking slab of meat
westword - "What child on this planet wouldn't want to befriend a piece of mostly meat held together with fat and love?" asks ThinkGeek, the affable producer of all kinds of geeky wares.
Mario Batali jokes notwithstanding, we have the same question. Who WOULDN'T love that? That's why ThinkGeek created My First Bacon, an adorable, fuzzy hunk of meat that says, "I'm bacon!" when squeezed. And yes, it's actually available for purchase.
ThinkGeek designed the stuffed strip as an April Fools' Day joke and brought it to life at the request of several customers. Now the company is releasing it just in time for the holiday season.
We're normally against toys that make noise when shopping for the Fraggles in our families, but we'll make an exception for the cuddly, stuffed pork product with an important lesson to teach. Raising kids with discriminating palates is tough, after all, and we'll take all the help we can get. As ThinkGeek says, My First Bacon shares the message "You've got a friend in meat." That's a good first nugget in the body of food wisdom we'll eventually bestow on Junior. Plus, it could subliminally ensure that the little guy will never go to the dark side, condemning the consumption of animal protein and becoming a militant vegan.
And just in case anyone was looking for gift ideas for us, we kind of want one for ourselves.
