New Nessie Sighting
It's been said before and it's being said again .. Nessie is alive under the waves of Loch Ness.
Once more the notoriously shy Loch Ness monster has been reportedly sighted in Scotland's deepest loch. This time close to a commercial fish farm.
Jon Rowe, from nearby Lewiston in Drumnadrochit, took the eerie snaps moments before the mysterious shape slipped beneath the water.
Could this be Nessie? Jon Rowe says his image shows a pair of humps which soon disappeared under the waves
And the stunned fish farmer is convinced that the shapes he saw in the morning light are Nessie.
He said: 'It was a very strange morning. It was misty with a bit of rain and sunny at the same time.
'There was a rainbow so I got my camera out to take a photo and noticed this really large dark shape in the loch with two humps that were barely out of the water.
'My instant reaction was "That's Nessie".'
Loch Ness: The two humps are clearly visible bottom centre in Jon Rowe's photo, as is the rainbow he originally set out to capture
Mr Rowe has dismissed claims that the shapes he saw in the water were not the legendary beast of the deep said to stalk the atmospheric Highland loch.
He added: 'I have no doubt, I work on the loch everyday and I've never seen anything like it.
'Almost as soon as I took the shot the shape disappeared under the water and out of sight.
The 31-year-old told how he had not believed that a monster swam the depths of Loch Ness until he captured Nessie on film.
'It can't have been a buoy or a mooring as it's in the wrong place and the ropes would be visible in the water.
'A few people have said it was birds diving under the water - but I didn't see any birds fly by. It can't have been birds - the whole thing went down into the loch.
'It was quite spooky but I think it's really interesting.'
The legend of the Loch Ness Monster began in 1933 when its 'existence' was first brought to the world's attention by George Spicer and his wife. They said they saw an unusual animal cross the road in front of them.
Countless subsequent searches of the loch over the years using sonar and other high tech approaches have failed to prove that the monster exists and lives in the loch.
The most frequent speculation surrounding the mythical creature states that it could be from a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs, though this has never been proved.
As a result the Loch Ness Monster remains a modern-day myth and sightings are often dismissed by the scientific community as wishful thinking. - dailymail
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Highways to High Strangeness
Another 'must-read' article by Scott Corrales - Inexplicata - We’ve all driven in the dark of night. On our way to college at the start of a school year, off to see relatives, or simply to catch the earliest flight out of a distant airport. Our companions are the radio and a cup of coffee – or the beverage of choice – as we hold on to the wheel and stare through glass at the expanse of road ahead. We do so with certain information in the back of our minds: that there will be exits off the expressway where food or fuel can be secured, rest areas at which we can close our eyes for a few minutes, and the security of calling a towing service if our vehicle should break down.
There are parts of the world, however, where driving is truly an adventure. Highways stretch though the emptiness for hundreds of miles, bereft of services, with only the moon providing the least bit of illumination. Drivers in some of these countries are necessarily mechanics, as the possibility of assistance is slim at best. Even the legendary Pan-American Highway, while fully paved and marked, traverses some of the most unforgiving landscapes on earth, from terrifying mountain heights to vast silent deserts like the Salar de Atacama in northern Chile. Continue reading at Highways to High Strangeness
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Venezuela's Chavez turns to shamans to fight cancer
Shamans from tribes in Venezuela's Amazon jungle held a ceremony at the Miraflores presidential palace Saturday to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recover from his cancer treatment.
Chavez, who insists that he was "not sick but recovering" from cancer, greeted the shamans wearing a track suit in the colors of the Venezuelan national flag and wore a crown of feathers the visitors gave him.
Members of the Yekuana, Jivi and Wayuu communities danced, sang and prayed as they invoked their ancestors to protect the Venezuelan leader.
The ritual was aimed at protecting Chavez "against enemies and bad health," said Miguel Morales, a shaman from the Jivi community.
It also serves "so that he is left in peace, politically," he said.
"We came from far away, from the (southern) state of Amazonas, to bless him," Morales said.
Chavez thanked the shamans for the crown of feathers. "I consider it sacred and will keep it for my whole life," Chavez told them.
"The cancer was removed, and with the power of god and all the gods it has gone and will never return," said Chavez, 57.
Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a tumor in his pelvic area. He has offered little information on his cancer, for which he underwent chemotherapy in Cuba in July and August. A third round of chemo was done in Caracas last week.
Since the operation Chavez has limited his public appearances, lost weight and lost most of his hair from his cancer treatment.
The leftist populist leader on Wednesday vowed to be fully recovered by December to compete in the 2012 presidential election, when he expects "knock-out" the opposition.
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Eel removed from man's bladder
Zhang Nan was bathing with live eels to cleanse his skin when one rogue serpent took a liking to his manhood.
The eel treatment in question is a similar concept to the popular London spas that offer fish pedicures.
Thinking that the eels would make him look ten years younger, Nan dived into the water and let them feast upon layers of dead skin.
But after laying in the spa bath, Nan felt a sharp pain and realised a small eel was working its way up his urethra and into his bladder.
'I climbed into the bath and I could feel the eels nibbling my body. But then suddenly I felt a severe pain and realised a small eel had gone into the end of my penis,' the 56-year-old from Honghu, Hubei province said.
'I tried to hold it and take it out, but the eel was too slippery to be held and it disappeared up my penis.'
Rushing himself to hospital, the man underwent a three-hour operation to remove the six-inch eel which was dead by the time doctors found it.
Surgeon Jin Wang said that, because of the eel's slippery nature, it was able to make a smooth entry into the genitals of Nan.
'The diameter of the urethra in a man's penis is just a little narrower, but because eels are quite slippery, its body worked as a lubricant and so it got into the penis smoothly,' he said.
Believe it or not, Nan's case follows a similar incident when a 14-year-old boy in India had to undergo emergency surgery.
In a case study published by urologists Dr G Vezhaventhan and R Jeyaraman, they described how they removed a 2cm-long fish from the boy's bladder.
The teenager said that while holding the fish he had gone to the toilet and, while urinating, the fish had 'slipped from his hand and entered his urethra'. - metro
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‘Pangbourne Panther back on the prowl’
A furry scourge of Reading’s countryside might be back – if the legend of the Pangbourne Panther is to be believed.
Young mum Natasha Wysockyj, 23, told getreading she was “freaked out” after she was convinced she was “stalked” by a black panther while out walking with her family in woodland close to Pangbourne.
The Tadley woman was walking in the area on the evening of Monday, August 29, with her partner Richard Fiddler, 21, and their three-and-a-half-month old twins when they heard strange noises and felt as though they were being watched by something that was “big and black”.
Miss Wysockyj claims the creature stopped each time the family turned around to investigate where the noises were coming from.
She said: “It definitely followed us all the way along the tree line. It was behind a wire mesh fence and part of the fence had been broken.
“I didn’t know what it was but we could hear it was quite heavy and every time we stopped to look back the noises stopped.”
Miss Wysockyj jumped over a fence to see if it would be safer to walk in a different part of the area and, as she did so, Mr Fiddler told her that the beast “bolted” towards her but he could not see what it was clearly.
The worried family then left the area and returned to the safety of their car but they said they were followed until they reached their vehicle.
Mr Fiddler said he thought the animal may have been a panther so Miss Wysockyj called her father who recalled Reading Post reports of a panther being spotted in the Pangbourne area in November 2007.
At the time, Earley woman Patricia Lewis said she saw the creature on the prowl in a wooded valley just outside Pangbourne while Caversham Park couple Geoff and Sylvia Killgallon spotted the mighty moggy stalking the fields around their home.
A similar creature was also seen in Shinfield and Ashampstead in December 2007 and before this a long, black cat-like creature dubbed the Beast of Berkshire was seen stalking through the countryside between Tilehurst and Pangbourne in 2005.
Miss Wysockyj, who used to visit the area with her friends, added: “I was freaked out. I won’t be going back there again, that’s for sure.”
These have not been the first sightings of exotic creatures around the town.
Feathered beauty Captain Peacock was spotted running around Reading in 2006, then a kangaroo was seen in West Reading before an alligator was snapped in the same area.
A wallaby was seen near the Asda supermarket in Lower Earley in July 2006 and later a parrot was also seen flying around Tilehurst in 2007. - getreading