Unseen World!

Tautology club sounded like a new gym or way to get trim.  With Ash Wednesday dieting in mind, I decided to find out the definition of tautology to see if I qualified for a tautology club.  The definition of tautology may…or may not…surprise you.

I turned to old reliable, Merriam Webster, to find out the meaning of tautology:

tautology – a : needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word b : an instance of tautology
2 : a tautologous statement

As a mother and writer, I know I repeat myself a lot.  In fact, I often state I will make recordings of my speeches so I don’t have to engage in tautology.

It definitely sounds like I qualify for a tautology club.  Anyone want to start one?

Here is a YouTube video of the song Tautology (English dub):

I was going through an article of 20 Weird Superstitions at weirdworm of which I heard some and have not heard some. I wonder if anyone of you have heard these or feel you know more weird superstition then feel free to post it.

I wonder if these superstitions are created in our generation (20th Century) or BC!! Enjoy reading them and be careful what you do in future…just kidding. I personally don’t think they really effect us.

1. The number 13.

2. An acorn at the window will keep lightning out.

3. Spit on a new bat before using it for the first time to make it lucky.

4. The early appearance of butterflies indicates fair weather.
If the first butterfly is yellow, it will be sunny weather.
If the first butterfly is white, it will be rainy summer.
If the first butterfly is white, someone will die.
If the first butterfly is red, you will be healthy.
If a white butterfly comes, summer follows.
If a white butterfly flies from the southwest, expect rain.
If butterflies are found hanging from the underside of rails or branches, it’s going to rain.
If they are on the top of small branches, it will not rain.
If the first butterfly is dark, it means thunderstorms.
If the first butterfly is yellow, someone is going to give birth.
The dead are reborn as children who fly around as butterflies.
If a white butterfly enters your house and flies around you, you will die.
If a moth lands on the mother of a newborn, the baby will die.
If a butterfly flies into your house, someone you know will die.
If a butterfly flies into your house, someone will get married.
If you capture a butterfly, you will be struck dead.
If you see a butterfly at night, you will die.

5. A cat onboard a ship is considered to bring luck.

6. If three people are photographed together, the one in the middle will die first.

7. If you stick your hands in your pocket while walking past a graveyard, it will protect your parents.

8. Never take a broom along when you move. It is bad luck. Throw it out and buy a new one.

9. If a candle blows out, evil spirits are nearby.

10. It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same match.

11. Evil spirits can’t harm you when you stand inside a circle.

12. It’s bad luck to pick up a coin if it’s tails side up. Good luck comes if it’s heads up.

13. A cricket in the house brings good luck.

14. If the palm of your right hand itches, it means you will soon be getting money.
      If the palm of your left hand itches, it means you will soon be paying out money.

15. A knife as a gift from a lover means that the love will soon end. A knife placed under the bed during childbirth will ease the pain of labor.

16. Salty soup is a sign that the cook is in love.

17. Three seagulls flying together, directly overhead, are a warning of death soon to come.

18. Place a hand in front of your mouth when sneezing so that your soul cannot escape.

19. The number of Xs in the palm of your right hand is the number of children you will have.

20. A new bride must be carried over the threshold because it’s bad luck if she falls.

When 21-year-old Ashley Towns released the very first iPhone virus from his home in Wollongong a week ago he was not anticipating death threats, media interviews or job offers.

But he says he got all three in one day after an audacious viral security “experiment” got out of hand, pushing Rick Astley’s face onto hundreds of iPhone screens and making headlines around the world.

It all began when Towns was downloading programs for writing iPhone applications.

“I was reading a blog that said in bold letters to change your passwords and I wondered how many had.”

It turned out that most of the people on his network had not.

“So I started writing it from there. I stayed up all night and when I was half asleep I decided to test it.

"I didn’t really think about legal consequences at the time. I honestly never expected it to go this far.

"I thought it would spread to no more than 10 or 15 people.”

(continue reading…)

An internet rumor claiming controversial rapper Kanye West died in a Los Angeles car crash overnight is gaining momentum in the search engines this morning.

For the record, he has not. The bogus story created a firestorm of postings on social networking websites, like Facebook and Twitter. In truth, the rumor appears to have started as a prank with this posting on 4Chan.com:

“bizarre car crash in Los Angeles involving two luxury cars early this morning rapper Kanye West dead, a second injured, a third arrested for gross vehicular manslaughter and a fourth person was detained by police.”

In fact, it looks like the rumors were used to sling anti-malware scam. What losers. This is the lamest stunt since Balloon Boy (although it’s far less costly).

Users searching for more info on the fictitious fatality are liable to get redirected to sites distributing spyware, malware and "scareware," researchers warn.

The rumor itself reportedly originated on notorious image board 4chan, the seeding ground for the Anonymous campaign against Scientology and others.

A Sedona sweat lodge called Angel Valley Resort has become a scene of horror Friday. The Angel Valley sweat lodge is described as a sauna like retreat in Sedona across 70 acres.

The scene Friday is frantic -50 people in sweat boxes, people filling ill after 1 hour sessions in the boxes, 21 airlifted or transported to local area hospitals, and now news that two persons are dead.

Here is the latest.

Flagstaff Medical Center lists 3 more persons in critical condition of the remaining 19 persons transported. The 2 persons found dead were middle aged.

Homicide investigators are on scene. Hazardous materials officials are on scene but report nothing unusual.  Results are pending. AP reports testing for potential carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.The resort is in Sedona 115 miles north Phoenix.

Complete News click here

More about “Angel Valley”

The UK’s Telegraph reports that Abbie Drinkwater is convinced that her ultrasound contains an ‘effigy’ or a representation of Michael Jackson.

This is Abbies first child and incredibly, Abbie claims she learned that she was pregnant on June 25th, the day that Michael Jackson died.

Careful examination of the ultrasound does suggest a likeness of Michael Jackson in her womb, as part of her 17-week-old fetus.

Abbie told the Telegraph; “At first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was quite a shock. I didn’t notice it at first as I was so excited about seeing my baby. It wasn’t until later when I was at home and just gazing at the scan picture that I saw Michael Jackson. I thought ‘wow!’ this is unbelievable”

“The likeness is amazing” she said.

Abbie, a lifelong Michael Jackson fan, says she will name the child Michael if it is a boy and presumably Michaela if it’s a girl

An already pregnant woman who gets pregnant again! Shocking? Amazing? This is called Superfetation. Julia Grovenburg is a pregnant woman in Arkansas who has been diagnosed today as being pregnant with another baby again while she is still pregnant with a first baby.

Superfetation is fertilization of a second ovum after a pregnancy has begun; results in two fetuses of different ages in the uterus at the same time.

An Arkansas couple received a rather huge surprise at their most recent ultrasound visit – turns out the Julie Grovenburg is pregnant again!! And they’re not twins! That’s right, the 2 babies were conceived 2 and 1/2 weeks apart from each other. Doctors noticed a second tiny sack during the ultrasound and heard a second heartbeat. They say that the two babies aren’t twins because their developmental stages are both at different rates. Both babies also have separate expected due dates. The first one is expected in December of 2009 while the second is due in January of 2010. Hey, at least they’ll have different birth years!

“When the woman had her ultrasound initially, they saw one sack, one baby developing, and that baby had a certain gestational age; then they noticed a second heartbeat in a child that was much, much younger developmentally,” Dr. Karen Boyle of the Greater Baltimore Medical Center said.

Crop circle enthusiasts are using Google Earth to track down the most interesting patterns in fields across Britain.

* Most complex crop circle ever discovered in British fields
* Google Earth and Facebook ‘dipping’ craze irks pool owners
* Robert Colvile: Why the world is addicted to Google Earth

The internet giant’s satellite mapping service has made it easier than ever for fans across the world to locate and study the phenomena, which previously had to be photographed from light aircraft. Message boards and online communities devoted to crop circles now play host to Google Earth maps and screenshots, allowing swift comparison of their locations and designs.

Google Earth does not provide real-time images – its maps are usually at least six months old – so recent circles like the pi figure cut into a barley field in Wiltshire earlier this month are not yet visible.

But this does mean that many of the circles cut in previous summers can still be seen.

Here we present 10 of the most impressive crop circles that have been found on Google Earth.

If you wish to have fun finding the circles on a map yourself, type the locations below into Google Earth (which you need to download) or Google Maps, and explore the nearby fields.

1) West Somerton, Norfolk

2) Martham, Norfolk

3) Newbury, Berkshire

4) Off the M1 near Barnsley, Yorkshire

5) West Meon, Hampshire

6) Hexton, Hertfordshire

7) Darfield, South Yorkshire

8)Broad Hinton, Wiltshire

9) Burwell, Lincolnshire

10) Colchester, Essex

Fish or fake? DNA researcher puts the `Filet-O-Fish’ to the test

But would Nova Southeastern professor Mahmood Shivji’s DNA abilities be enough to settle that most perplexing of seafood mysteries, the McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich?

Filet-O-What, exactly?

The Miami Herald was determined to find out. Doing so required a trip to the local McDonald’s drive-thru.

After scraping the breading, cheese and tartar sauce from two Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, the square patties were frozen inside Ziploc sandwich bags.

Then it was off to the lab, where Shivji graciously agreed to waive his normal $192-per-sample processing fee.

Shivji and his team peeled off a tiny sliver of frozen fish and inserted it into a test tube. Through a series of chemical reactions, the DNA was extracted and subsequently amplified and sequenced. Once the species DNA profile was identified, the scientists compared it against known species until they hit a match.

“Alaska pollock,” Shivji said at last, officially laying to rest any conspiracy theories that the chewy, mild-tasting fish patty isn’t really fish at all.

“It’s a fish,” Shivji said with a laugh. “There’s no traces of pigs or anything like that.”

The authenticity of the cheese, however, could not be verified.

Pollock, a whitefish found in other fast-foot restaurants as well as frozen TV dinners, isn’t exactly the Rolls Royce of seafood — it’s a key ingredient in imitation crabmeat, and folks in Great Britain sometimes feed pollock to their cats.

But, really, how much can one expect from the Filet-O-Fishat the wallet-friendly price of $2.79?

While pollock might not be fancy, its DNA footprint in the Filet-O-Fish is proof that McDonald’s — unlike many South Florida restaurants — is at least honest about what it serves its customers. McDonald’s corporate website identifies pollock as one of two fish sources for its decades-old fish sandwich (the other being hoki, a fish found off the coasts of New Zealand and Australia).

Both fish species are recognized as sustainable, well-managed fisheries — meaning Filet-O-Fish lovers can feel good that their guilty pleasure won’t harm Mother Nature’s marine ecosytems.

“Sustainable fishing floats our boat,” the Filet-O-Fish sandwich box states.

Google this past weekend confused users with a mysterious logo that showed a UFO abducting the second ‘O’ in its logo.

Google often changes its logo on special holidays. On St. Patrick’s day they’ll have something Irish, on New Year’s Eve/Day, it’ll show some fireworks, and so on and so forth. Holidays aside, the company also displays these Google Doodles on days that mark important moments in history. Take the August 25 logo, which marked the 400th Anniversary of Galileo’s Telescope, or the August 12 logo celebrating the annual Perseid meteor shower (both shown below along with the weekend’s mystery Doodle).

However Saturday’s Google Doodle has people scratching their heads. A UFO? But why? No explanation for the picture was offered other than a statement from the company that said, "We consider the second ‘o’ critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the ‘o’ on the Google home page. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks."

Later in the day, a coded tweet from Google solved the mystery. Once deciphered, the message revealed that the Doodle was celebrating the 20^th anniversary of Zero Wing, the poorly translated Japanese video game that birthed the internet meme, "All your base are belong to us." By substituting each number for its corresponding letter in the alphabet, the message reads "all your O are belong to us."