Month: October 2011

News of the strange: Family lost in a corn maze dials 911 for help

Panic descended on the Conners Farm Corn Maze in Danvers, Massachusetts. At around 7pm, on Tuesday this week, a 911 call put the maze on the map and caused a nationwide marathon of jokes.
The Everett family were on the maze.. a couple with two children, one age 5 and one only three weeks old. They became lost on the corn maze and in a panic called 911 after darkness swept the corn maze due to the time of day.
Their calls have been played nationwide on 24-7 news broadcasts and they have become the unfortunate butt of jokes at their expense. The family was 25 feet in the maze when police arrived at the scene. They were escorted out of the maze to safety.
According to WCVB ABC in Boston, the farm said no one ever became lost in the maze before. The maze must be good, though, as it takes about an hour to complete for most who attend. 
No one lost before. But there’s always a first. No better time than Halloween. 
Perhaps next time the Everett family should start the maze a bit earlier.

Lady Goo Goo no more: Gaga wins one for the monsters

Chalk it up too creative marketing.. And while Lady Goo Goo may have been an up and coming favorite among kids, Lady Gaga would have none of it: She clamped down before it got too late.

Because after all, Lady Gaga’s image matters, right? ..

It all began as one of 52 characters on Moshi Monsters–a website that allows children to name and adopt creatures. It just so happened that one of those ficticious creatures was Lady Goo Goo. Real and fictitious creature Lady Gaga got angry, and in a UK court, won an injunction banning the release of the character’s new song called the Moshi Dance. 

The Moshi Monsters site has 50 million users around the world.. but it’s presumable that Stephanie Germanotta is not one of them..

Lady Goo Goo gone from pop culture. 15 minutes up. Lady Gaga, to some, may have overstayed the welcome.

Friday photo of the week

The lonely vision of autumn as taken from an interstate in Pennsylvania on Earth Informer equipment.. The hazy shade of summer is ending.. the lazy nights of fall have arrived. And soon, after the leaves are gone from the stressed trees, snow will fall on top of ice to make life miserable –but beautiful all at the same time.

Obama sending troops to Africa

President Obama will send 100 American soldiers to Central Africa.

Obama said today in a letter to House and Senate leaders:

‘I have authorized a small number of combat-equipped U.S. forces to deploy to central Africa to provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward the removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield.
I believe that deploying these U.S. Armed Forces furthers U.S. national security interests and foreign policy and will be a significant contribution toward counter-LRA efforts in central Africa.’


Is it a war? The soldiers are there not for battle, the White House said.. The president said the troops will not engage Lord’s Resistance Army forces “unless necessary for self-de fense.”

Amateurs find something the professionals didn’t

image released of the newly discovered Asteroid

Amateur astronomors found something that professionals did not: An asteroid about 18 million miles away from the planet Earth.

European scientists from the Space Situational Awareness program released images this week of the asteroid..

Ironically, a telescope from the earthquake and volcano-rattled Canary Islands picked up the image of the asteroid–which is considered to be close enough to be a threat to the planet.

The asteroid is called SF108.. And at this point there are no specifics on the size of the object.

There is also no imminent danger to Earth from the asteroid. But it is, like many others still not seen with manmade telescopes, a danger for a future time.

Katla coming alive?

While the Canary Islands are shaking, the earth may now be moving somewhere else, too.. Around Katla, clusters of small earthquakes are being detected, which means an eruption could be imminent. Iceland watching. EarthInformer is, too.

The ‘Church of Christ’ buys a ghost town

The Halloween season brings with it typical tales of ghosts, goblins, and other high strangeness–stories most hope are only fiction. This year, a very real event is unfolding in South Dokata. Perhaps there is no better time than October to explore a modern mystery: Why did a church buy an abandoned ghost town anyway?

The town of Scenic SD was once popular for people traveling to Rapid City from the Badlands to the east or Pine Ridge Reservation to the south. Now it’s filled with high weeds, dusty brush, an empty saloon, and rusted jail cells.

It’s no wonder, therefore, that when the AP reported that a church bought the town for $700,000, it peaked interest not only in the town but around the globe, as well.

As the AP reports, the town has one business: A post office. And that post office has one employee.

The entire town was listed recently for $3 mil–and with no interest in the town for the price it dropped down fast.

Recently, the Iglesia ni Cristo church, established in the Philippines in 1914, bought the property for $700,000–with no official word coming from them or the real estate company as to the plans for Scenic.

The church is a conservative Christian establishment and its original founder, Felix Manalo, broke away from the Catholic church.

Meanwhile in South Dakota, no word from the church has been given to officials on the plans either. According to a report in the Rapid City JOURNAL, a listing on the church website indicates members being in Rapid City.. But an entire town to house them?

According to reports, Coldwell Banker realtor Dave Olson won’t give answers either: a non disclosure document exists on the sale.

However, another person from Coldwell, Joe Bennington, told the Rapid City JOURNAL that the plan for the town will make it ‘fully functioning’ and ‘positive.’

The puzzle: Would El Hierro erupting cause an East Coast tsunami?

The internet is buzzing with rumors about impending volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands. The theory, as spoken about by vulcanologists would have it that earthquakes or a volcano would strike La Palma, a significant part of the island would collapse into the ocean and spawn a massive tidal wave–one that would smash into the East Coast hours later with 200+ feet waves..

The claim has been debated. In the early 2000s, a BBC documentary reported on the research about a mega tsunami. Others have dismissed the whole notion as fear porn.

Volcanic activity in the Canary Islands has been dormant for decades. Recently over 10,000 quakes have been registered since July–days ago an underwater eruption occurred causing evacuations and a code red alert from the government.

Various sources indicate that a massive tidal wave may have occurred approximately 50,000 years ago after a volcanic trigger. No scientific verification of that event has yet occurred.

However, it has not stopped the Internet rumor machine from cranking out apocalyptic scenarios–scenarios that would include horrid destruction of much of the modern world.