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Friday, May 16, 2014

Daily 2 Cents: Strange Lights Near the Pig Pen -- Walking Cabbages -- Pregnant Christian Woman Given Death Sentence In Sudan


Strange Lights Near the Pig Pen

My wife and I own about fifty acres of land along a creek. Most of it is wooded. About a quarter of a mile back from my house up by the road. We have a pig pen with three small pigs. My wife decided to put a game camera up to watch the pigs. There is a roadway we put in that takes you to the pig pen and a lot further back. One day she checked the camera chip and found strange lights beaming down or up - question. I put the picture on my lap top. I can pick out seven to eight lights on a angle from the north. Only one picture was snapped of big and small lights around the pigs house. I have no clue of what made these lights. The picture was taken on 04/15/2014 at 10:55 pm. the night of the blood moon. The moon as far as I know was not north west of camera I did some research and came up with nothing to help me find the source. We will keep camera set up and maybe put more up. We have a cabin and house trailer Further back to the west. we spend a great deal of time out there night and day. I want to stay out there at night but the picture has me abet rattled. And if I do I will be somewhat on edge. But I will be armed with light, camera and protection. If you can shed some light on this or need more info please let me know. - MUFON CMS

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Walking Cabbages

Teenagers in China have taken to walking cabbages as a way to get over depression and loneliness.

The youngsters are able to meet other people who also walk the green foods.

Chinese psychiatrist Wen Chao said: 'The idea is simple – you feel as lonely and as simple as a cabbage, so you begin to act like one and befriend one.

'And in that acceptance comes change.'

The sight of people pulling cabbages down the street has surprised many, but Lui Ja Chen, 17, defended the pastime and said it had helped him.

'I feel I can transfer my negative thoughts about myself to the cabbage, go for a walk with it and come home feeling better about myself.

'If I see someone else its easy to start up a conversation with them about their cabbage, and they are better than dogs as they don't bark, or start fights with other cabbages, it doesn't even need feeding, or leave a mess on the pavement.

'In fact afterwards, I can throw the cabbage away and feel that I have tossed my feelings out with it.' - Newsbite

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Family of five hit by lightning strike

Five members of the same family were struck by a bolt from the blue while out in their garden.

They say lightning never strikes twice, yet in the case of one family living in the German city of Chemnitz, it didn't need to. A freak lightning strike in the otherwise safe haven of their back yard sent a nine-year-old boy, his grandmother, his aunt, his mother and his two siblings to hospital.

One of the family, Ricarda, had been chopping wood when the incident happened. As it started to rain she got up to take in the garden furniture when she felt what she described as "a tingling sensation from head to toe." As she came to her senses she realized that she must have been struck by a bolt of lightning and that she had not been the only one affected.

"There was chaos," she said. "Everybody was just acting on autopilot. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived." Her nine-year-old nephew stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated before being rushed to intensive care. The others were taken to hospital as well to be treated but only suffered comparatively minor injuries.

More than 24,000 people are killed and a further 240,000 injured every year by lightning strikes.

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Pregnant woman in Sudan sentenced to death for being a Christian

On Thursday a Sudan court sentenced an eight-months pregnant woman to death by hanging because she practices Christianity. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, has refused to recant her faith despite given the opportunity to in order to save her life.

"I am a Christian," she defiantly told the Khartoum court. "And I will remain a Christian."

Sharia law finds pregnant woman guilty

However, Sharia law, the predominant law in the country, says she is Muslim because her father was Muslim. But he left when Ibrahim was six and her mother raised her a Christian. Sharia law does not recognize that and the court ruled that because Ibrahim practices the Christian faith she is guilty of being an apostate, one who has renounced her faith.

To make this case all the more astonishing she has also been found guilty of adultery. This is because her husband, Daniel Wani, is Christian also. Here Sharia law says that being a Muslim (which of course she does not consider herself to be) she cannot marry anyone but another Muslim, and therefore her marriage is void. As a result, she's been sentenced to 100 lashes for the crime of adultery.

Her lawyer, Mohamed Jar Elnabi, says she is having a difficult pregnancy but officials won't let her move to a hospital. Her 20-month-old son is with her in prison and, her lawyer said, is not handling the situation well.

Further, Ibrahim's husband, Wani, is in a wheelchair and having difficulty without his wife. He says he is praying for her and he can do little else, he was not acknowledged by the court and was forbidden to attend court proceedings. "I'm so frustrated. I don't know what to do," Wani told CNN. "I'm just praying."

Lawyer to appeal Sharia law verdict

Elnabi will appeal but did not say on what grounds. Human rights groups have decried the ruling and, along with the Sudanese embassies of many countries, including the U.S. and Canada, are appealing to the government to respect religious freedom. And some 50 protesters bravely attended outside the sentencing, carrying placards, some of which noted that the constitution allows people to practice religions other than Muslim.

Finally, Elnabi has received a death threat by telephone, telling him to abandon the case or he will be killed. He told media he is scared but that it is a case of principles and he would never quit defending his client.

"I must help someone who is in need," he said. "Even if it will cost me my life." - Digital Journal

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Australian Museum opens archives to show off weird and wonderful

Staff at the Australian Museum have thrown open the vaults, trawling through an 18-million-strong collection of exhibits for new displays.

Just weeks into the job and the museum's new director, Kim McKay, is overhauling the long gallery at the heart of the centre, taking it back to its roots.

"We're seeing this trend all over the world to start to style the museum as it probably was originally, bring out these collections, place them with other objects which are quite contrary to them, and so that you can have your own modern interpretation," she said.

The search is on to find the must-see pieces tucked away in the museum's expansive archives.

Rather than have them filtered off into designated displays, they will be thrown in together as a collection of curiosities.

For Mrs McKay, finding the treasures has been half the fun.

"I'm like the proverbial kid in the candy store here. We've got amazing creatures everything from tape worms to scorpions and extraordinary spiders."

Fish research dries up

Some of the most bizarre creatures have been found in the museum's fish archives.

Mark McGrouther manages the collection of 1.8 million fish, including everything from the deep sea blobfish, made famous in the movie Men in Black 3, and the severed head of a rare goblin shark.

"Having collections of all sorts of animal groups is really, really important," he said.

"We have not only a baseline now, but we have records that go back over 100 years. We can look at distribution and distributional changes."

The division functions like a library, loaning fish to researchers around the world, but its own research has dried up.

Mr McGrouther says it is concerning that 15 years ago there were three fish researchers at the Australian Museum but now there are none.

"With climate change we're seeing now all kinds of different distributional changes, range extensions, fishes coming further down the east Australian coast," he said.

"A good example is the NSW fish emblem, the blue groper. The blue groper is now found in Tasmania, previously unrecorded in Tasmania. That just reflects those warming currents that are coming down."

He says turning these problems around will take money.

Pop-up museums may help to generate revenue

It is a tough ask in tight fiscal times but Mrs McKay says reinvigorating the museum will drive up public interest and revenue.

"The Australian Museum Research Institute does have a staff of around 80 to 90 researchers and scientists working, so it's a significant institute and we've got to look at where we put our emphasis in the future to meet the demands of research," she said.

In round table meetings all staff are getting involved, putting forward ideas for research, display and community outreach priorities.

Dion Peita from the museum's Pacific collections says it is an opportunity for innovation.

"I want to see greater diversity in our program delivery that's both onsite as well as offsite, so having a new director, having new ideas, being bold and stepping forward I think will only benefit the entire institution," he said.

Mr Peita is pushing for more pop-up museums, taking sample displays to western Sydney and beyond.

He says it will also help bridge the cultural gap experienced by young Pacific Islanders.

"They're disconnected from culture. They may not have the identity that they once had or their parents have so it was about establishing a way in which culture could be a platform to strengthen their self-esteem," he said. - Yahoo

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TODAY'S TOP LINKS

Cattle-Mutilations and a Curious Movie

Mystery objects in Chinese sky after claims moon rover "killed by UFO"

Did a UFO destroy China’s moon rover?

How H.R. Giger Gave Us Better Nightmares

Is it Black Shuck or Just Another Huge Hairy Hellish Hound?


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No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State