Penny Arcade is not a place you want to buy books from.
http://odontomachus.livejournal.com/18970.html
Friday, December 19, 2008
Care for turtles
Interesting. I never knew what to feed them.
http://odontomachus.livejournal.com/18575.html
http://odontomachus.livejournal.com/18575.html
Transmat Commuting
It's sad that this paranormal story came from Kansas City. It's pretty lame, especially due to the lack of detail. The author is a "Rudy Martin."
"There is not enough words for me to prove the truth of this story. I can only wish you had been there with me. This occurrence will give an idea of the prodigious way to travel from point A to point B. I drove out to work one day. It was one of those usual clear, sunny mornings and everything was normal except traffic. Within minutes, I ran into a hardly moving, bumper to bumper jam. Losing patience and in attempt to outsmart this queue, I turned left, thinking I could loop back ahead somewhere. A few turns and I knew I was beginning to get lost. The river to my left was the only landmark I had and I was sure it was the North side, so I knew I was headed East. A few more turns and not a thing was familiar anymore. I was completely lost."
I understand how being lost can make you feel like you're on an alien planet, but if you're honest with yourself, you know that there are things that are recognizable, however useless they may be. McDonalds, for example. This author disagrees.
"I drove past a fenced power transformer station and that was the last landmark that had registered in my memory. Tense, looking from side to side, looking just like a lost driver, I continued driving on this straight stretch of road through this entirely unfamiliar place, not knowing which direction I was headed. Houses of modern design, some new, hinted that I had entered a subdivision."
Could we have a street name? A sign indicating which subdivision, please?
"Then, all of a sudden, there was a traffic light at the intersection up ahead about one block. It was here where the inexplicable occurred."
Let me guess. It stayed red for an entire hour and people were honking their horns.
"A brief description is in order at this point to help visualize the map of the area. An old highway runs North-South between two residential areas. It has two lanes on each side, divided at the middle throughout its length by a concrete-curbed grassy island."
I have no idea what you are talking about, and I live in Kansas City. Is it I-35? I-435N?
"Both the West and East sides of this highway are fenced with heavy concrete walls in some parts and rock boulders in others all the way South beginning from the embankments by the river at the North. As far as I can recall there is no link between the two residential areas East and West of the highway except at the intersection I just mentioned above."
I somehow wonder if this place even exists.
"Needless to say, to go from the residential area on one side of the highway to the residential area on the other side one must cross the highway and the only crossing is at that intersection. As I approached the intersection, I realized I was about to cross the highway. I had occasionally passed by this intersection while driving down the highway, so this was a familiar site."
Okay, so if it's familiar, it can be remembered. What was this intersection? Where was it?
"On the other side of the traffic light was the well known hotel."
Ah. The Well Known Hotel. I've been there lots of times. C'mon, Rudy! Tell us the name!
"From this I got a positive bearing: I was on the East side of the highway headed West towards the intersection. But something very bizarre happened. As I slowed down towards the traffic light, I noticed that the North side of the hotel with its great big name was facing East."
And the "great big name" is? Sheraton? Mariott? Comfort Inn?
"It should have been facing North!"
I've had the same experience. I've gone driving down a street, trying to find a building, and I say, "Damn you, you should have been on the right side!" But when I'm being honest with myself, I decide that I just have a lousy sense of direction.
"Then, as I stepped on the brake and just as the car stopped, the hotel switched to
its normal position (turned 90 degrees) in the wink of an eye! that is, its East side facing east, its North side facing North - right in front of my very eyes, just like one would see on television!"
Yeah, when I get angry enough at being lost, I often make that accusation.
"It was while waiting for the go signal at this intersection when things became clear to me: I got lost on the WEST side of the highway, near the river, past a power transformer station, I never crossed the highway ..... what was I doing waiting for the green light here at the intersection EAST of the highway? How did I get here? All hairs began rising at this point, not from fear but probably from the realization of this impossibility!"
Yeah, it seems impossible to me that when I want to find an office for a job interview, and get lost, it ends up being on the other side of town and I miss the appointment. But I own up to it being my fault.
"Whatever it was that occurred, I found my bewildered self on this spot at the exit gate of a private property just before the intersection under the traffic light EAST of the highway. To arrive at this spot from somewhere in the subdivision WEST of the highway where I got lost I had to drive East, ram through those concrete walls, or fly off rock boulders then cross the highway, fight traffic, hover over the concrete-curbed island, fight traffic again if still in one piece; OR cross this intersection in peace and ease; then turn around and face the traffic light."
Yeah, getting lost can be disorienting. It seems impossible that the street layout could be like it is, but then you go there and it's not where you thought it would be. I tried to find the Walgreens in Raytown and I ended up going down this strange road and not seeing what I was looking for. I could have sworn the Walgreens was there. But I'm not going to say it's paranormal.
"I did none of the above and yet as sure as the sun brings light I landed here from the WEST."
I guess I should believe you. After all, you swore by the fact that "the sun brings light."
"Later on I found out that the fenced power transformer station - the last land mark stored in my memory - West of the highway where I got lost was approximately 7 miles Northwest from this exact spot."
Vague.
"May be some human being can explain at least in theory how an occurrence such as this happens. I've heard some of those theories. However, how far those theories are from what this really and actually is ..... in other words the truth behind the occurrence ..... is beyond human knowledge. A fact that we just have to accept."
Oh I don't know. You being frustrated and disoriented by being lost is not hard to accept at all.
"Nonetheless, may be something can be learned. I have only some physics and chemistry to lay down as guesstimates for this occurrence. Nevertheless, I can calculate how much time this occurrence saved me from that traffic queue to reach my office - at least 70 minutes!"
Wow! I need to find that Well Known Hotel road myself! I hate being late for work!
"There is not enough words for me to prove the truth of this story. I can only wish you had been there with me. This occurrence will give an idea of the prodigious way to travel from point A to point B. I drove out to work one day. It was one of those usual clear, sunny mornings and everything was normal except traffic. Within minutes, I ran into a hardly moving, bumper to bumper jam. Losing patience and in attempt to outsmart this queue, I turned left, thinking I could loop back ahead somewhere. A few turns and I knew I was beginning to get lost. The river to my left was the only landmark I had and I was sure it was the North side, so I knew I was headed East. A few more turns and not a thing was familiar anymore. I was completely lost."
I understand how being lost can make you feel like you're on an alien planet, but if you're honest with yourself, you know that there are things that are recognizable, however useless they may be. McDonalds, for example. This author disagrees.
"I drove past a fenced power transformer station and that was the last landmark that had registered in my memory. Tense, looking from side to side, looking just like a lost driver, I continued driving on this straight stretch of road through this entirely unfamiliar place, not knowing which direction I was headed. Houses of modern design, some new, hinted that I had entered a subdivision."
Could we have a street name? A sign indicating which subdivision, please?
"Then, all of a sudden, there was a traffic light at the intersection up ahead about one block. It was here where the inexplicable occurred."
Let me guess. It stayed red for an entire hour and people were honking their horns.
"A brief description is in order at this point to help visualize the map of the area. An old highway runs North-South between two residential areas. It has two lanes on each side, divided at the middle throughout its length by a concrete-curbed grassy island."
I have no idea what you are talking about, and I live in Kansas City. Is it I-35? I-435N?
"Both the West and East sides of this highway are fenced with heavy concrete walls in some parts and rock boulders in others all the way South beginning from the embankments by the river at the North. As far as I can recall there is no link between the two residential areas East and West of the highway except at the intersection I just mentioned above."
I somehow wonder if this place even exists.
"Needless to say, to go from the residential area on one side of the highway to the residential area on the other side one must cross the highway and the only crossing is at that intersection. As I approached the intersection, I realized I was about to cross the highway. I had occasionally passed by this intersection while driving down the highway, so this was a familiar site."
Okay, so if it's familiar, it can be remembered. What was this intersection? Where was it?
"On the other side of the traffic light was the well known hotel."
Ah. The Well Known Hotel. I've been there lots of times. C'mon, Rudy! Tell us the name!
"From this I got a positive bearing: I was on the East side of the highway headed West towards the intersection. But something very bizarre happened. As I slowed down towards the traffic light, I noticed that the North side of the hotel with its great big name was facing East."
And the "great big name" is? Sheraton? Mariott? Comfort Inn?
"It should have been facing North!"
I've had the same experience. I've gone driving down a street, trying to find a building, and I say, "Damn you, you should have been on the right side!" But when I'm being honest with myself, I decide that I just have a lousy sense of direction.
"Then, as I stepped on the brake and just as the car stopped, the hotel switched to
its normal position (turned 90 degrees) in the wink of an eye! that is, its East side facing east, its North side facing North - right in front of my very eyes, just like one would see on television!"
Yeah, when I get angry enough at being lost, I often make that accusation.
"It was while waiting for the go signal at this intersection when things became clear to me: I got lost on the WEST side of the highway, near the river, past a power transformer station, I never crossed the highway ..... what was I doing waiting for the green light here at the intersection EAST of the highway? How did I get here? All hairs began rising at this point, not from fear but probably from the realization of this impossibility!"
Yeah, it seems impossible to me that when I want to find an office for a job interview, and get lost, it ends up being on the other side of town and I miss the appointment. But I own up to it being my fault.
"Whatever it was that occurred, I found my bewildered self on this spot at the exit gate of a private property just before the intersection under the traffic light EAST of the highway. To arrive at this spot from somewhere in the subdivision WEST of the highway where I got lost I had to drive East, ram through those concrete walls, or fly off rock boulders then cross the highway, fight traffic, hover over the concrete-curbed island, fight traffic again if still in one piece; OR cross this intersection in peace and ease; then turn around and face the traffic light."
Yeah, getting lost can be disorienting. It seems impossible that the street layout could be like it is, but then you go there and it's not where you thought it would be. I tried to find the Walgreens in Raytown and I ended up going down this strange road and not seeing what I was looking for. I could have sworn the Walgreens was there. But I'm not going to say it's paranormal.
"I did none of the above and yet as sure as the sun brings light I landed here from the WEST."
I guess I should believe you. After all, you swore by the fact that "the sun brings light."
"Later on I found out that the fenced power transformer station - the last land mark stored in my memory - West of the highway where I got lost was approximately 7 miles Northwest from this exact spot."
Vague.
"May be some human being can explain at least in theory how an occurrence such as this happens. I've heard some of those theories. However, how far those theories are from what this really and actually is ..... in other words the truth behind the occurrence ..... is beyond human knowledge. A fact that we just have to accept."
Oh I don't know. You being frustrated and disoriented by being lost is not hard to accept at all.
"Nonetheless, may be something can be learned. I have only some physics and chemistry to lay down as guesstimates for this occurrence. Nevertheless, I can calculate how much time this occurrence saved me from that traffic queue to reach my office - at least 70 minutes!"
Wow! I need to find that Well Known Hotel road myself! I hate being late for work!
Identified lights in the sky
"I am a 47-year-old crosscountry truckdriver who spends many a night driving."
Knowing what I know about sleepy truck drivers swerving off the road and people with no sleep seeing hallucinations, this is not a good way to start a UFO story.
"I have a high school education and average intelligence. One night several years ago I was headed West from Alabama into Mississippi on I-10. The time was about 90 minutes after sundown. I noticed that a light was blinking in the sky. It was about 10 to 15 de grees above the horizon and almost straight in front of me."
At the right angle, another car, a billboard, or even the lights from your own truck can become a "UFO."
"I could not judge the dis- tance but I guess the light was miles away. My point is that this light blinked at very irregular non-repeating rythum. Sometimes the light blinked as slow as one flash per second. Other times it was as fast as 20 times per second. The rythum was eerie. The beats changed constantly."
So it could be a car or a billboard.
"I have a background in telephone repair so I do know how fast 20 flashes per second is."
Actually, that's the last thing that I'd criticize about this story. Too many other things are left out for me to worry about it.
"I watched for about half an hour and then,as easily as it had appeared, it was gone. I didn't see it move away, it simply seemed to stop blinking. I have never seen anything like it before or since."
So it was probably a car that hugged your bumper for a few miles. Or maybe an unusual billboard.
Knowing what I know about sleepy truck drivers swerving off the road and people with no sleep seeing hallucinations, this is not a good way to start a UFO story.
"I have a high school education and average intelligence. One night several years ago I was headed West from Alabama into Mississippi on I-10. The time was about 90 minutes after sundown. I noticed that a light was blinking in the sky. It was about 10 to 15 de grees above the horizon and almost straight in front of me."
At the right angle, another car, a billboard, or even the lights from your own truck can become a "UFO."
"I could not judge the dis- tance but I guess the light was miles away. My point is that this light blinked at very irregular non-repeating rythum. Sometimes the light blinked as slow as one flash per second. Other times it was as fast as 20 times per second. The rythum was eerie. The beats changed constantly."
So it could be a car or a billboard.
"I have a background in telephone repair so I do know how fast 20 flashes per second is."
Actually, that's the last thing that I'd criticize about this story. Too many other things are left out for me to worry about it.
"I watched for about half an hour and then,as easily as it had appeared, it was gone. I didn't see it move away, it simply seemed to stop blinking. I have never seen anything like it before or since."
So it was probably a car that hugged your bumper for a few miles. Or maybe an unusual billboard.
Close encounters of the identified kind
S. Benson writes a story at http://www.qsl.net/w5www/stories2.html that sounds a lot like a case of nerves and scary identified objects.
"Sighting #1: It was the year 1999. I was homeschooled, so I could stay up late ( I am a night owl). One night, I turned off the t.v. at around 1:30 A.M. I went into my room, and started to make my bed. I felt a breeze, and turned around to shut the windows. There, in front of me, in the left window, was a face. The face was beastly, yet had a manly air about it. Hair, like a mane, surrounded it's pale brown face, and faded as it reached the face features. It had glowing yellow eyes that stared directly at me. It had a curved nose, like a dog's, and an open mouth. Black lips pulled back, revealing long, sharp. yellow-stained teeth. I could hear it's breath through the screen."
If it's a window and it's dark, that could be your scary face superimposed on an object outside. It could also be a raccoon or a possum. In the dark, a dog can look like the grim reaper. The noise could have been the wind, the animal breathing, or an object in the house that amplifies sounds, like the sound of your breath.
"I had frozen in fear, and didn't faint only with the wonder of what might happen to me if I did. I finally ran from the room, and spent a sleepless night in the guest bed. Since the first sighting, I kept all of my shades closed, and reclined from going in my room, but my mother would often open them to let light in."
Did your reclining position prevent you from going in the room?
"One night, I entered my room to see that the shades were open. I checked each one, and when I came to the third window, the window that I had previously seen the beast in, I saw it once more! It was just staring at me! This time, I gathered my courage, and decided to stay, and see what it would do. After a while, it just left!"
There could be a mirrored surface outside the window and you can't see it through the screen very well. If you live in a scrap yard, or a place that's filled with junk, perhaps a piece of reflective debris is stuck in front of your window. Or maybe your brother is playing a prank on you.
"The last sighting... hopefully. I had started to trust the room again, believing that there was no chance that I could see it again. I was laying on my bed one night, reading. I started to open the shades to let the cool air in. I came to the third window, and hesitated upon opening it. When I finally did, though, the face was there once again! I stepped back, and waited for it to do something. Once again, it just left! This all happened in a period of four months. I haven't seen it since."
The fact that it didn't do anything lends credence to it being one of the possibilities above, or something else equally mundane.
"Sighting #1: It was the year 1999. I was homeschooled, so I could stay up late ( I am a night owl). One night, I turned off the t.v. at around 1:30 A.M. I went into my room, and started to make my bed. I felt a breeze, and turned around to shut the windows. There, in front of me, in the left window, was a face. The face was beastly, yet had a manly air about it. Hair, like a mane, surrounded it's pale brown face, and faded as it reached the face features. It had glowing yellow eyes that stared directly at me. It had a curved nose, like a dog's, and an open mouth. Black lips pulled back, revealing long, sharp. yellow-stained teeth. I could hear it's breath through the screen."
If it's a window and it's dark, that could be your scary face superimposed on an object outside. It could also be a raccoon or a possum. In the dark, a dog can look like the grim reaper. The noise could have been the wind, the animal breathing, or an object in the house that amplifies sounds, like the sound of your breath.
"I had frozen in fear, and didn't faint only with the wonder of what might happen to me if I did. I finally ran from the room, and spent a sleepless night in the guest bed. Since the first sighting, I kept all of my shades closed, and reclined from going in my room, but my mother would often open them to let light in."
Did your reclining position prevent you from going in the room?
"One night, I entered my room to see that the shades were open. I checked each one, and when I came to the third window, the window that I had previously seen the beast in, I saw it once more! It was just staring at me! This time, I gathered my courage, and decided to stay, and see what it would do. After a while, it just left!"
There could be a mirrored surface outside the window and you can't see it through the screen very well. If you live in a scrap yard, or a place that's filled with junk, perhaps a piece of reflective debris is stuck in front of your window. Or maybe your brother is playing a prank on you.
"The last sighting... hopefully. I had started to trust the room again, believing that there was no chance that I could see it again. I was laying on my bed one night, reading. I started to open the shades to let the cool air in. I came to the third window, and hesitated upon opening it. When I finally did, though, the face was there once again! I stepped back, and waited for it to do something. Once again, it just left! This all happened in a period of four months. I haven't seen it since."
The fact that it didn't do anything lends credence to it being one of the possibilities above, or something else equally mundane.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Interesting narratives, beautiful descriptions
http://autumn-sunrise.livejournal.com/196972.html
http://autumn-sunrise.livejournal.com/201938.html
http://autumn-sunrise.livejournal.com/201938.html
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