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Faith full of folly
Submitted by Atlantis Rises- Pamela Bone: My parents were atheists, but whenever a school form required an answer about our religious denomination, my mother would tick "Presbyterian", because "that's what you're supposed to be". This aura of respectability around religion - oddly - still exists; and that is why whatever last week's census shows about the extent of religious belief in Australia, it is almost certain to be an overestimate.Even so, the percentage claiming no religion is likely to be higher than it was in the 2001 census, when it was a little more than one-fourth, because the numbers of non-believers have been growing steadily since 1971. (I use the term non-believers for convenience; because people don't believe in God it doesn't mean they don't believe in anything.) Even better news is the finding of a new survey that only 48per cent of young Australians (those born between 1976 and 1990) believe in God, though the result is unlikely to be viewed as good news by the Catholic University and the Christian Research Association, which, together with Monash University, commissioned the survey. Despite the general view that religious belief is on the rise everywhere, the picture around the world is that in nearly all prosperous liberal democracies, atheism is strong.
In Britain, about 44 per cent claim no religion; in France it is 48 per cent; in Canada, 30 per cent; in Sweden, surveys have put the proportion of those who describe themselves as agnostic or atheist at between 46 per cent and 85 per cent. Even in the most religious of Western countries, the US, a 2004 Pew Forum survey found 16 per cent of Americans had no religious affiliation. It is likely that globally the proportion of people who believe in God is growing because of the simple demographic fact that countries with high rates of religious belief also have high fertility rates. In Lebanon, those claiming no religion made up less than 3per cent of the population. In Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iraq, they are less than 1 per cent. In Nigeria, according to a 2004 poll for the BBC, 100 per cent of the population believed in God or a higher being.Comment
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Why are we so scared of snakes?
Hollywood plays upon our deepest fears with the release of "Snakes on a Plane." The title alone may cause some to hyperventilate.In the creature feature, which is debuting at Macon's Regal Rivergate 14 and AmStar Cinemas 16 with 10 p.m. screenings Thursday, Samuel L. Jackson is an FBI agent who must foil the plot of a ruthless assassin. The killer tries to dispatch a witness in protective custody by unleashing hundreds of lethal snakes inside a commercial airliner over the Pacific Ocean. It goes without saying this is a must-"not"-see film for the squeamish, and particularly those doubly afflicted by the fear of snakes and a fear of flying.Live snakes don't belong on passenger jets, or in lots of other places.Being wedged into a center seat on a long flight is itself a nightmare. Imagine also being bitten by a snake, or worse, consumed by one. (Last month a 12-foot Burmese python in Idaho made national news when it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket, control box and all. Thankfully, it left the headboard, bed frame, box springs and mattress.)
According to a Harris Poll, snakes top the list of our most common fears."It may be one of the genetic fears," says Clark Vinson, director of the Phobia Center of Dallas-Fort Worth. "Or maybe people get conditioned at an early age. But we react to snakes. There seems to be an automatic response."Snakes slither. They are silent. Their expression never changes. They have no differentiated body parts.Comment
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Ghosts created by low frequency sounds
Our story begins at a medical manufacturing facility in the midlands of Great Britain. Vic Tandy, an engineer from Coventry University, was doing research in a laboratory at the company. Tandy is an expert in computer-assisted learning. Workers at the lab told Tandy that the building was haunted, but being a reasoning man of science, he didn't believe them. At least, not at first. Late one night, when Tandy was burning the midnight oil all alone at the laboratory, he had a face-to-face encounter with the unexplained. As he sat at his desk working in the silent, desolate building, a gnawing unease began to overtake him. Although he couldn't put his finger on anything out of the ordinary, something was not right."I was sweating but cold and the feeling of depression was noticeable -- but there was also something else. It was as though something was in the room with me," Tandy said. "Then I became aware that I was being watched, and a figure slowly emerged to my left. It was indistinct and on the periphery of my vision, but it moved just as I would expect a person to. It was gray, and made no sound. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck -- I was terrified."Tandy steeled himself and turned to face the ghostly shape dead-on, but he said it immediately faded and completely disappeared. Concerned that his mind must be playing tricks on him, Tandy packed up and went home.
But in the great tradition of haunted house encounters, he didn't flee from the ghost-ridden building and swear never to return -- no sir, he came right back for more. And he got it.The morning after his weird sighting, Tandy took a break at the lab to spend some time on a hobby of his, namely the sport of fencing. He clamped a fencing foil in a vise so that he could make some adjustments on it, perhaps subconsciously thinking he might need the sword to fight off any unruly ghosts. Tandy briefly left the room, and then returned to see a phenomenal sight. The tip of the foil was vibrating intensely and continuously, for no apparent reason.The average person might have freaked out and concluded that the poltergeists were trying to go on a foil-whacking spree upside somebody's head. But not Vic Tandy, professional engineer. His first thought was that there might be low frequency sound waves coming from somewhere in the laboratory -- subsonic sounds that can be seen (in the form of surrounding vibrations) but not heard.Comment
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David Copperfield claims fountain of youth
The man who made the Statue of Liberty appear to vanish may soon claim to do the same for unsightly bags and wrinkles. Master illusionist David Copperfield says he has found the "Fountain of Youth" in the southern Bahamas, amid a cluster of four tiny islands he recently bought for $50 million (26.4 million pounds).One of his islands in the Exuma chain, Musha Cay, is a private resort that rents for up to $300,000 a week and the other islands serve as buffers to keep prying eyes away from celebrity guests on the white sand beaches.Copperfield is coy about his reasons for the Fountain of Youth claim, but the man best known for entertaining with grand deception insists his archipelago also contains the legendary waters that bestow perpetual youth. Seriously."I've discovered a true phenomenon," he told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again. ... Bugs or insects that are near death, come in contact with the water, they'll fly away. It's an amazing thing, very, very exciting."Copperfield, who turns 50 next month, said he had hired biologists and geologists to examine its potential effect on humans but he's not inviting visitors to swim in or drink from it just yet.Comment
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Ancient pyramids found in Ukraine
Gigantic pyramids, very similar to Egyptian ones, have recently been discovered in Luganshchina. Scientists conclude that five thousand years ago, a highly developed civilization lived on the territory of modern Ukraine. This unusually important find was noticed just two years ago by school-children from an archeology camp. So far, only the top sections of the huge constructions have been uncovered and scientists say that it will take a whole decade to fully clean the soil off the pyramids. In connection with this, under the authority of the Department of Tourism and Protection of Cultural Heritage of the Luganskaya regional administration, a hotel will be built next to the pyramids and the excavation site will become an open air museum. There is no gold or any kind of treasure in the pyramids; therefore the archeologists are not afraid of vandals.
However, the pyramids themselves are extremely valuable, as scientists believe that a detailed investigation into these constructions may radically change our historical understanding of ancient Europe.Comment
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Maine mystery creature is 'just a dog'
An expert who examined the remains of a mystery creature believes it was a wild dog. But that hasn't stopped runaway speculation about the beast and whether it was responsible for mauling dogs and frightening residents. Loren Coleman, a Portland author and cryptozoologist, said he didn't know for sure what the animal was based on his examination of its remains Wednesday."I think this dead animal is a chow or chow-mix, a relatively small dog, that was feral, which is unusual for that area," he told the Sun Journal newspaper. He noted, however, that his was only an educated guess based on the findings so far.State wildlife biologists and local animal control officers declined to go to Turner to examine the remains of the animal, which was found Saturday along Route 4. It was apparently hit by a car while chasing a cat.Without any official findings, the creature obtained near-mythical status as word spread in the media and on the Internet.Some say it's simply a dog. Others say it's a goat-sheep hybrid.
Still others weighed in that the creature may have been a Tasmanian devil, a dingo, a wolf or coyote. Some of the more outlandish theories involve mutations and extraterrestrials.People from Litchfield, Sabattus, Greene, Turner, Lewiston and Auburn have come forward to speak of a mystery monster that roams the woods."It's crazy. Everybody's talking about it. We sold out of newspapers by 9 this morning," said Debi Bodwell, who was at work at Schrep's Corner Store in Turner. "Everybody is mad because the game wardens haven't come out to take a look at it."By the time Coleman arrived on Wednesday there wasn't much left. The internal organs and skull were gone. All that was left were some bones and skin.
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Exhibit eyes record for 2-headed animals
Officials of the World Aquarium at the City Museum subscribe wholeheartedly to the maxim that two heads are better than one. If they're on the same animal, that is.Aquarium officials hope an exhibit that opens next week and runs through Sept. 5 will prompt the creation of a Guinness World Record for the most two-headed animals on display.So far, the aquarium has lined up 10 two-headed snakes and turtles, including "We," the aquarium's rare albino two-headed rat snake. The other nine animals are owned by Fred Lally of West Fork, Ark.And if a local reptile dealer with a two-headed snake adds his to the exhibit, the head count would rise to 22. "It should be a huge two-headed party," aquarium president Leonard Sonnenschein said Tuesday.Sonnenschein hopes two of the guests will hit it off. He would like to mate one of Lally's snakes, a two-headed albino rat snake named "Golden Girls," with We. "There are no guarantees," he said, "but it's very likely these two could mate and have babies."The aquarium has been trying to breed We since failing to sell the snake online in January. Officials had hoped it would bring $150,000, but there were no bidders and two subsequent offers were under $50,000.There's a big hitch, though: Officials aren't sure whether We is male, female or a bit of both.
Sonnenschein believes the snake could be hermaphroditic, with two snakes sharing one body. However, a surgical procedure earlier this year found that We could be female.Sonnenschein said Golden Girls is thicker, leading to speculation that it could be male.Even if the exhibit fails to produce another two-headed snake, Sonnenschein said Guinness is interested in the proposal and has created a category dubbed "Largest Exhibit of Two-headed Animals."Lally wouldn't mind being part of a record-breaking exhibit, either. That would boost the prestige of his own collection, which besides Golden Girls also includes a two-headed western diamondback rattlesnake named "Double Trouble" and seven two-headed red ear slider turtles: Wild Ones, Ms. Hazel, Zip & Pip, Lyndon, Crooked Shell, Short Neck and Baby Gill.
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