Paranormal Magazine

A local council sent a letter to a woman’s pet pig offering the animal the chance to register for a vote in last week’s election.

The letters were addressed to Blossom Grant at Pig Flats – the creature’s old sty in Uckfield, East Sussex.

The building was renovated two years ago house volunteers at a local horse rescue centre, and due to a Land Registry error the pig receives several junk letters a month.

Pauline Grant, 73, Blossom’s owner, said: “I could not believe it when the letter telling Blossom to register to vote came through it was one of the strangest things I had ever seen.

“I am not sure who Blossom would have voted for but at a guess I would say the Green Party. They would probably look after her needs best.

“She is a very clever animal but I think politics might be a bit complicated for her.”

After contacting Wealden District Council bosses to point out the mix-up, Mrs Grant decided to take Blossom down to her nearest polling station on May 6.

She added: “I did it as a sort of piggy protest for poor old Blossom and the amount of paperwork she is expected to do.

“I walked her down to the polling station and took all the letters she has received. People quickly huddled around and wanted to know what was going on.

“It is getting a bit silly now, the amount of post she gets.

“I have tried to tell the local authority on many occasions to sort this out, but nothing happens.

“I have called them and said the recipient of this post is a pig but no one listens. They probably think I am joking.

“We have had letters from all sorts of establishments addressed to the pig.

“There have been lots of requests from the TV licensing people and loads from Royal Mail but I have not opened any of them they are not addressed to me.

“I do not think Blossom would have much use for a mobile phone and it is a bit unfair for her to pay for a TV licence as she does not watch television.”

A spokesman for Wealden District said: “The flat is listed as being named The Pig on a database of addresses used by local authorities.

“I can confirm no pigs voted in the area last week.”

[via: telegraph.co.uk]

Measuring longer than a school bus and sporting tentacles covered in razor-sharp hooks, the colossal squid is the stuff of nightmares. However, new research suggests the enormous sea creature may not be the fierce hunter of legend.

This finding not only upends science’s understanding of the squid itself, but forces a reevaluation of its role in the entire ecosystem where it lives some 3,000 to 6,000 feet (914 to 1,830 meters) beneath the Antarctic sea.

This new view of the colossal squid comes from data analysis made by marine biologists Rui Rosa, of the University of Lisboa, Portugal, and Brad Seibel, of the University of Rhode Island. Rosa and Seibel looked at the relationship between metabolism (how the body’s cells turn food into energy) and body size for smaller squids in the same family and used the information to predict the metabolism of the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni).

They found, the squid would’ve had a slower metabolism and so moved slower than expected, waiting for prey, rather than running it down. “Everyone thought it was an aggressive predator, but the data suggests otherwise,” Rosa told LiveScience. “It’s a squid that weights half a ton with hooks in its tentacles, but our findings show it’s more like just a big blob.”

Contrary to the image of Kraken-like shellfish attacking ships and dragging sailors to their deaths, this new data paints a picture of a mostly sedentary creature, Rosa said. Rather than swimming after prey, the colossal squid would wait to ambush passing fish.

And if the colossal squid consumed and expended less energy than previous thought, as this data indicates, then biologists will also need to reevaluate the squid’s role as whale food, Rosa said.

“Because the squid is more cold-blooded than we thought, they are not really that nutritious,” Rosa said. “The whale is not getting much by eating it. They’d have to consume a lot of squid to maintain their lifestyle.”

Rosa also noted that since so little is known about the colossal squid, almost any new discoveries are likely to overturn existing theories. The fact that the squid lives in such deep and frigid waters makes it almost impossible for scientists to acquire new specimens.

“We didn’t really have live measurements, because it’s almost impossible to go to the ocean and catch one,” Rosa said. “We know more about the moon than the deep sea. It’s a cliché, but it’s true, especially in the Antarctic.”

The study was detailed online on April 20 in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

[via: livescience.com]

A three-year-old German boy who was brought back to life after his heart stopped for three hours claims he met his grandmother in heaven.

The boy, identified in media reports only as Paul, was playing on his own beside a lake at his grandfather’s property in Brandenburg when he fell in, the Bild newspaper reports.

Paul’s grandfather found his body in the water a short time later and the youngster was rushed to Helios Hospital via helicopter.

Four doctors attempted to resuscitate Paul for three hours and 18 minutes and were about to stop when his heart suddenly began beating.

It is believed the cold water in the lake caused Paul’s body temperature to drop to 28C — nine degrees below the normal 37C — which slowed his metabolism and allowed his body to survive with little oxygen.

When Paul woke he told his parents he was in “heaven with grandma Emmi … she said that I would go back down again very quickly”.

It is not known when the boy’s grandmother died or if he had ever met her.

Researchers said yesterday that near death experiences and divine encounters were a trick of the mind caused by high levels of carbon dioxide.

Professor Lothar Schweigerer from Helios Hospital said he had never seen anything like it in his 30 years as a doctor.

“My doctors were close to saying ‘we can do no more’ after two hours of thorax compression,” Professor Schweigerer was quoted on Sky News as saying.

“[We thought] the little lad must have been brain dead … but then suddenly his heart started to beat again … it was a fantastic miracle.

“The boy is happy and healthy. It’s a wonderful thing.”

[via: news.ninemsn.com]

A mystery beast that resembles a chupacabra (”goat-sucker”), a legendary, fearsome and possibly mythical beast said to inhabit parts of the Americas and Puerto Rico, is seen shortly after its capture in a village in Suining, Sichuan Province on March 24.

In this case, the gray colored animal wasn’t attacking goats, but chickens and it was the fowls’ cries that alerted village Ke Suying to find the mystery predator tearing into his birds. He tried to drive it away with a stick but failed, though later with the help of neighbors caught it in a steel net.

It resembles a large rat or a mutant mix of kangaroo and dog, with large claws. It is about 60 centimeters long, with a 30-centimeter tail. Villagers describe it as “quite fierce” and said it ravenously consumes both meat and vegetables fed to it.

Most of its brown fur has fallen out, with only a little left on its back and a front foot.

The creature has been given to the Sichuan Province forestry department for further examination.

[via: life.globaltimes.cn]

The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn has caught an interesting new view of the tiny moon Mimas.

The probe measured temperature differences across the object’s surface and produced a map that looks just like the 1980s Pac-Man video games icon.

Scientists are unsure why Mimas should display such variations but say it is probably related to the diversity of textures in the surface materials.

Some textures may retain heat better than others, they explain.

Mimas is about 400km (250 miles) across. It has a distinctive scar called Herschel Crater which has led many to draw comparisons with the “Death Star” from the Star Wars movies.

The Cassini team says the creation of the crater itself might have played a key role in changing conditions across extensive regions of the moon’s surface.

Cassini is a joint venture between the US space agency (Nasa), the European Space Agency (Esa) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Its mission was recently extended through to 2017.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk]

Plans to more precisely plot the orbit of an asteroid with a small chance of hitting Earth in 2036 may be badly hit by funding cuts to a US radar facility.

Radar measurements set to be made in January 2013 by the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, US, could help rule out an impact by asteroid Apophis.

But the cuts mean Arecibo needs an extra $2m-$3m a year to continue.

If not, the observations planned for 2011-2013 will have to be abandoned, the facility’s director told BBC News.

Dr Michael Nolan said he was “moderately optimistic” that the money could be found.

But he pointed out that Arecibo was the only observatory in the world sensitive enough for the task.

“If we measure [Apophis] in 2013, there is something like a 95% chance that we’ll be able to prove that it can’t hit the Earth in 2036,” he explained.

[Read on at news.bbc.co.uk]

This is the time of year when most of us engage in some form of spring-cleaning – washing, dusting and sweeping spiders out of dark corners should swiftly dispel the winter gloom.

But if it doesn’t, then maybe your home is suffering from a deeper malaise than grimy curtains – or so believes ‘house healer’ Sandra Kendrew, who has been working with troubled buildings and their occupants for nearly a decade.

‘We’ve all been into houses that just don’t have a nice atmosphere, even if you can’t put your finger on what’s wrong,’ explains Sandra.

‘Often, the occupants report feelings of tiredness, unexplained headaches, depression, even relationship problems. My job is to identify the energy that’s causing the problem, and disperse it safely.’

[Read on at dailymail.co.uk]

The turritopsis nutricula species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth.

Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands of time and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).

The key lies in a process called transdifferentiation, where one type of cell is transformed into another type of cell. Some animals can undergo limited transdifferentiation and regenerate organs, such as salamanders, which can regrow limbs. Turritopsi nutricula, on the other hand, can regenerate its entire body over and over again. Researchers are studying the jellyfish to discover how it is able to reverse its aging process.

Because they are able to bypass death, the number of individuals is spiking. They’re now found in oceans around the globe rather than just in their native Caribbean waters.  ”We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion,” says Dr. Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical Marine Institute.

[via: yahoo news]

Dan Aykroyd discusses his UFO beliefs, his ideas on the end of the world and Crystal Head Vodka…

While the movie version of 2012 my not have been the blockbuster extravaganza it could have been, many Hollywood a-listers have taken the message to heart.

Aykroyd, of Ghostbusters fame, as a lifetime benefactor to MUFON has long been a believer in the paranormal. When questioned by Doug Elfman about his ideas on the topic, he explains: “the UFO phenomenon is going to figure greatly” in a 2012 “revelation,” when “the end of the world will come.”

“It won’t be the end of the world physically as we know it, as depicted in the movie. But it will be the end of consciousness and the end of perception as we know it.”

To read the rest of this article go to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The Vatican has announced a commission to investigate claims that the Virgin Mary appears on a daily basis in a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Six children first reported the apparition in the town of Medjugorje in June 1981.

However, the sightings have not yet received official recognition from the Catholic Church.

The 20-strong commission will report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the top doctrinal body.

For almost 30 years, the Virgin Mary has been said to appear daily in Medjugorje, dressed sometimes in a grey dress and veil and sometimes in gold, crowned with stars and floating on a cloud.

It is said she speaks in Croatian, uttering the words: “I’ve come because there are many true believers here. I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world.”

It is also said that three flashes of light precede her apparitions, during which the voices of the visionaries can no longer be heard.

But the Catholic Church has long debated the credibility of the sightings.

There was a recent visit by a cardinal from Vienna, Christoph Schoenberg.

But the bishop of neighbouring Mostar has frequently criticised unquestioning belief in the claims.

Until the commission reports back to the Church’s top doctrinal body, believers are likely to continue to flock to this small Bosnian town.

Around 30 million are estimated to have visited since the first sighting of what they call “Our Lady”.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk]

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