Month: March 2017

April fools! A comet will NOT hit earth

….first of all, let me say this: April fools day is the most wretched day of the year. In the old days (pre 2016) ‘fake news’ was abundant on April fools day. Now fake news is just out there every day.

Anyway, be sure of this: Tomorrow you will hear someone famous died, a war started somewhere, and aliens landed. All of it will be very unfunny lame jokes on you. April Fool’s day. Awful.. just awful.

But what IS true is this: A comet will not hit earth..

A comet named 41P/Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák is set to make its closest flyby to Earth since it was originally discovered in 1858.

A few days before Tuttle-Giacobini-Kresák reaches perihelion, the comet will be very near its closest point to Earth for a 6-day period between March 29 and April 3, according to Space.com.

The absolute closest it will come to the Earth will be smack in the middle of that date range — on April Fools’ Day — when it will zoom by approximately 13.2 million miles away. Pending atmospheric conditions, viewers in the Northern Hemisphere should be able to see it on Saturday night around 9 PM EST near the handle of the Big Dipper — however, since the comet is less than a mile in diameter, you’ll need either high-quality binoculars or a telescope to check it out.

There may be an article or two tomorrow that the comet will strike. But it won’t.

HOWEVER.. that said.. so often we are hit with stories of night skies lighting up from asteroids or comets that have gone undetected.. from meteors and space rocks flying through the atmosphere. So it’s not comforting, at least to me, to think that a comet is making a close flyby.

Space is vast and large.. we’re a pale blue dot.
….folks, it’s just a matter of time.
April fools or not. One day it won’t be a joke regulated to the final story on late local news after sports and weather..

 

Pain without gain: Exorcism images haunt

I have always wondered if most exorcisms are performed on people who simply have mental illness…. or is it a manifestation of evil? The answer you give to that basic question may depend on your educational background.. your faith.. your belief structure…

The UK SUN is showcasing a host of haunting images on its website tonight.. A few for your review:

From the article:

They were taken at the Church of the Divine Saviour in of Mexico City.

Exorcism is an ancient religious technique of evicting spirits from a person who is believed to act as a host for evil.

Although the formal catholic rite of exorcism is rarely seen and must be only conducted by a designated priest, the exorcistas still play their trade among the faithful.

They use their charisma and religious chanting to command the evil spirit to depart a victim’s mind and body, usually invoking Jesus Christ or God to intervene in favour of a possessed person.

At the time I write this post, there are only three comments on the story..

 

  1. What’s disturbing?  I just see a bunch of people that are really constipated.
  2. Tabloid garbage journalism at its finest.
  3. Wow, and many people believe that the muslim belief are extreme….

Interesting comments..

There seems to be a renewed interest in exorcisms as of late.. the Catholic Church has been somewhat unshackled when it comes to performing the ancient Rite..
But so often, so many times, I ponder if we are really being starved of goodness by ancient demons or if ancient structures are just diminishing the power of mental illness…
These pictures don’t help me discern at all.
The races look pained…in heartache..in pure hell. But a hell of demonic nature? Or a hell of brains gone bad..

PENNYWISE DANCES! THE ‘IT’ TRAILER REVEALED

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkyXfpebihk]

It begins with Georgie.. the poor boy who simply wants to float his boat down the street and encounters Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The images in the newest IT remake trailer are horrific.. they also appear to showcase that the film, directed by Andrés Muschietti is keeping true to the book written by Stephen King last century. Tim Curry did it best. But maybe–just maybe–there is hope with the new IT being released in September.

The rest of the trailer showcases the loser’s club.. and the seemingly invincible Pennywise, who is from a long ago place and time and not of earth, and manifests in whatever form a child fears.

There are so many things you can take from the trailer.. first, innocence lost. Childhood endangered by a clown prince of horror… Bullies… losers.. parents who disbelieve.

And the ancient and old fact that clowns, for all their laughter and horns, are the scariest creatures on the face of the planet..

Over the coming months I will have a lot more thoughts on the new IT remake, clowns, the generation that feared clowns because of Stephen King, and a whole lot more.

But for now.. enjoy the trailer.. as it floats by in real time and FTP on the computer.. safely in your hand or room.. Because Pennywise lurks…

‘IT’ poster revealed 

Entertainment sites were abuzz in the past 48 hours over the first official poster for IT..

The image features Georgie in his yellow rain coat.. a clown in the shadows handing him a balloon..  the picture is coupled with a Chiller-ish font saying ‘It.’
Besides the font (in my opinion) the picture on the poster works .. it shows the foreboding terror that the idea of Pennywise the dancing clown consists of. Seeing the darkness is like seeing a mystery.. knowing the fate of poor Georgie is even more awful as much as terrifying  … the whole thing is tragic. It’s horrific. It’s deeply scary.. and it has a red balloon for its own amusement and not yours…
In theaters September 8, 2017, the film is set “in a small town in Maine, where seven children known as The Losers’ Club come face to face with life problems, bullies, and a monster that takes the shape of a clown called Pennywise..

Bill Skarsgard stars as Pennywise, the sewer-dwelling monster.

Image revealed: Princess Leia before CGI in ROGUE ONE

Image revealed: Princess Leia before CGI in ROGUE ONE

Norwegian actress Ingvild Deila played Leia in Rogue One, and some new images show what she looked like on the movie’s set with motion-capture dots sprinkled on her face. The team at acclaimed effects studio Industrial Light & Magic took it from there, creating a young Leia face on Deila’s bod

Towns that dread sundown: The Spring 2017 edition

The heroin addition is real.. There are some detractors who decry that too much attention is being giving to the scourge on the rural landscape of the United States. But those dealing with the effects of drug abuse understand just how deep the nightmare scenario is.. just how real it has become. Just how horrid of a condition it creates for families, torn apart by drugs and law enforcement, and having to struggle and cope with a lifetime of addiction and pain.

I have used this image before.. it’s from the famous movie about true crime in Texarkana.. but the title and image somehow symbolize the current state of addiction. A faceless killer.. a quaint town.. a skyline with beauty.. and the fear of nightmare because of the urban and rural terrors of reality that await.

the-town-that-dreaded-sundown-poster

Just a few tidbits as reminders of what is occurring as towns across the nation, those that fear the addictions and overdoses that sundown brings, enter a rebirth of spring:

Coming to grips in York PA:  Some state lawmakers, including Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and a Republican state representative from Luzerne County, are pushing for the expansion of drug courts as a key tool in fighting the heroin and opioid epidemic that claimed more than 100 lives in York County in 2016. But there’s at least one big hurdle: Money.

# # #

Delaware nightmare: 4 dead from heroin overdoses in just one day in New Castle county..  “Each fatality occurred in separate locations in Wilmington, Newark and Claymont, said Officer First Class JP Piser, a spokesman with the New Castle County Police Department. While the cause of death for each person has yet to be determined by the state Division of Forensic Science, they all have one thing in common: heroin.”

# # #

Colorado: Pot is not enough for many, as the heroin battle continues..  “We continue to see heroin much more than I ever have in my 20 years with the department,” said Bill Linn, assistant chief at the Aspen Police Department. “Back when I started with the department, we never saw heroin, and now it just continues to build. We’ve really started to really hear about it over the past five years.”

# # #

Ohio (and lots of other places) are recognizing the problem: Newborn bundles of joy are coming with an addiction:    Hospitals are becoming flooded with cases of newborns addicted to heroin in Ohio, where the opioid epidemic is also causing a sharp spike in the number of children in foster care. Social services in the greater Cincinnati region are sounding the alarm on the damage the opioid epidemic is having on children. Officials at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report a 14-fold increase in the number of newborns suffering from heroin or other opioid related withdrawals since 2009 at hospitals in the Greater Cincinnati region. Roughly 3.3 percent of babies born in the region are exposed to opioids while in the womb, reports WCPO. Of the 814 babies exposed to opioids during pregnancy last year, 315 required extended hospital treatment for serious withdrawal symptoms.

# # #

Springtime is the season of renewal.. rebirth.. hope.. But I fear, with the addiction crisis in the United States–especially communities facing high unemployment and hopelessness, this is a new year of the same old.. the same old fears.. the same old problems.

img_1824-1

And towns that fear sundown all across the fruited plain..

The merging of man and machine

Remember when Elon Musk said humankind would have to somehow merge with machines if we want to stay relevant in the face of the inevitable war between us and our robot overlords? He wasn’t kidding, and he’s formed a new company dedicated to figuring out how to do just that. Somewhere in between electric cars,…

via Elon Musk Forming Company Dedicated To Merging Humans With Machines — Consumerist

The article is linked.. you can read it in its entirety.. Among the money quotes most important:

That tech involves embedding little electrodes in a human brain that could eventually upload and download thoughts, which is not at all creepy and we can’t see how such a process could possibly lead to any kind of mass-scale human slaughter.

At first, however, the new company has plans to develop cranial computers in order to do things like treating epilepsy or major depression, the insiders say.

While Musk didn’t respond to the WSJ’s request for comment, a person who says he’s “a member of the founding team” confirmed the company’s existence and the fact that Musk is involved.

In February, Musk said we will probably see a closer merger of biological intelligence and digital intelligence.

I think we are beyond the point of return.. So many people still raise their eyebrows at me when I mention that man and machine will be merged–and that a set goal is to make it happen! They scoff at the notion that we are creating a future minus emotion, and one clearly set on combining the most effective ways of existence with humanity..  But it is happening. It is true. And it is coming. If people still roll their eyes, read the Rolfe Winkler article from the Wall Street JOURNAL..

At this point I don’t even offer opinions.. simply telling this to people is enough. I think there is a certain point–the one of no return–where you give in. You give up. You realize that the future is coming like a steamroller, either from hell or heaven.

Will it be all that bad? Imagine just thinking about something and your brain, being connected to the Internet, googles it on its own.. knows the answer without thinking. Doesn’t need to waste time learning but instead can just “know” .. It will be too cool for school. Teachers won’t be needed.. heck, maybe even the parental nest will be antiquated and a relic of a distance 20th and early 21st century past..

This merging and connection together is going to quickly and immensely change everything we know. There is no stopping progress. Even if this is not progress to you, it’s a ‘go’ …

So prepare now.. Gather ye rosebuds while we may.. Human time a learnin’..
The same brain thinking today tomorrow will be mergin’

Supermassive black hole discovery from deep in space

A statement from NASA:

“An international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered a supermassive black hole that has been propelled out of the centre of the distant galaxy 3C186. The black hole was most likely ejected by the power of gravitational waves. This is the first time that astronomers found a supermassive black hole at such a large distance from its host galaxy centre.”

There are multiple theories.. perhaps two black holes combining..
But what is amazing: The galaxy, 8 billion light years away (meaning 8 billion light years in the past), is featuring something amazing.. a discovery to change science–something that seemingly happens daily.
At the speed the black hole is traveling: It could be from Earth to the moon in three minutes..

Reviewer writes that she is Haunted By ‘Get Out’ — But Not Because It’s A Horror Film

Reviewer writes that she is Haunted By ‘Get Out’ — But Not Because It’s A Horror Film:

GET OUT continues to garner media praise and reviewer praise alike.. while not at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes at this point, the film is still scoring above 97% and is widely loved by professional and amateur reviews alike..

The latest interesting perspective comes from Shira Hirschman Weiss. She wrote this in the HUFFINGTON POST, linked above:

Without spoiling Get Out, I will say that as a woman whose skin is pale, I came away pensive. In the resulting week, I’m more perplexed. The movie was incredibly powerful, but it highlighted for me how we can all make buffoons of ourselves in the face of diversity. In an ultra-PC environment ― that Donald Trump notoriously seems to shun ― there are several types of Americans. Among them are the blatant racists and of the other extreme, those who want to prove how un-racist they are that they end up overdoing it.

GET OUT is a prime example of horror done right: Elements of fear coupled with the modern societal horrors of a generation.. without being spoken, it can be a commentary on our world. Truly done well.

Expect a long term ramification from GET OUT.. long term results with more movies like it to follow. Especially during the hyper-political era of Donald Trump..