The Conspiracies, Cryptids, and Ghost Stories That Just Won't Die

Tales of conspiracies and the paranormal are, to say the least, a mainstay in popular entertainment. But for much of the world the month of October is dedicated to these tales more than any other due to the impending arrival of Halloween. Believers, along with those who aren't about to let the truth get in the way of a good story- or a good scam- seize upon the public's resulting heightened interest in the unexplained as an opportunity to sell more books and DVDs while as always, railing against anyone who dares to question their claims.

While there have certainly been plenty more before me who have turned a skeptical eye to the unexplained and the supernatural. Given the additional attention currently being payed to them, I thought I'd try and add a little extra skepticism to the mix and spend the rest of the month writing about some of the stories that just wont seem to die, no matter how hard one may try to kill them with logic, facts, or reason.

We begin tomorrow with:
Image Credit: "Cryptid" by: Frank Frazetta
"Arthur" by: Ben Edlund

"Fallen", from Vimeo, back with more later tonight

Normally today would be the day I sit and catch up on all the stuff I missed over the course of the week thanks to my typical 15-18 hour long weekday routine but today I decided to take a little overtime at work so I'll be back later tonight with something of more substance.

For now, since I last blogged about the newest episode of Bad universe,which was awesome by the way, a show that tends to focus on things falling from the sky, I thought this animation I stumbled upon on Vimeo last week would be an appropriate follow up. Enjoy.

-CAINE-

Phil Plait's Bad Universe EP2, Tonight After Mythbusters

There just isn't much on television I like In fact, I will soon be without TV again as I have grown tired of wasting my money on something I only use around 10% of and have decided to cancel my television service. But tonight one of the rare exceptions to my general disdain for television airs, episode 2 of Phil Plait's three part series, "Phil Plait's Bad Universe" will air tonight immediately following one of the only other reasons I have kept my cable on for as long as I have, Mythbusters.

So if your a fan of science, and like me would to see more of it, or anything else worth watching on your television, then be sure not only to tune in, but blog about it, tweet about it and do everything else you can to let advertisers and the Discovery channel know, you want more! Because remember, this is basically a three part pilot we're watching, so if you want to see it become a series, then you need to make as much noise about it as possible. I would like to suggest that in order to try and make it trend, we all tweet something about the show with some form of Hash tag: #Philplaitsbaduniverse, #baduniverse, or whatever, whenever the show goes to commercial or Phil says the "secrete phrase", I trust you know the secrete phrase by now.

-CAINE-


Posted by YouTube user:Discoverynetworks

This Weeks Compendium

The UK Recognizes Druids as a Legitimate Religion

Seriously UK, I love you guys but for now, I really think you should all just go stand in the corner and think about what you've done for a while. We'll talk later.

-CAINE-

*UPDATE* The point I was trying to make, which EnglishAtheist pointed out in the comments I completely failed at, was that by legitimizing any set of supernatural beliefs by granting them charitable status or recognizing them as a religion, you give a long list of nuts, crazies, and just plain bad people a new point to argue when trying to prove the validity of their claims and or scam people out of money and possessions, weather they are actually a part of the official organization being recognized or not.

Instead, I gave off the impression that the UK had opened up a new welfare line where any idiot in a Yoda robe could come to get a free handout, which is incorrect and not the point I was trying to make. Also, I'm told the charity commission does not recognize Scientology as a religion, so that comment was misleading as well.

See what happens when you don't research the articles you find in popular media before you comment on them, you get EVERYTHING wrong.

Oh well, 'll be in the corner if you need me.

-CAINE-

That Glowing Green Dot in The Sky is NOT a UFO - It's a Commet

On October 20th Comet Hartley 2 will pass within eleven million miles of earth. which you probably think sounds pretty far away but is actually closer than any other comet has come to the earth in the last few centuries. But if you happen to own a telescope, then you don't have to wait until October 20th to see it because for you, the hazy green comet is already visible in the constellation Cassiopeia. But if you don't own a telescope, don't worry, because as the comet approaches it will become easier to see using less powerful telescopes, binoculars, and finally even the naked eye under the right conditions.


Or- you could do like astronomer Bill Cooke, who took the image to the right, a four minute long
-CAINE-

Source:Wired Science

Image Credit: Top:Rolando Ligustri Bottom:Bill Cooke