Comment on 10 completely bizarre Bigfoot theories of 10 completely bizarre Bigfoot theories | Rater mob

Mysteries Nolan Moore May 30, 2014Anyone who’s ever watched Animal Planet knows the world of Bigfoot hunting (aka “Squatchin’ ”) is a very weird world indeed. All Bigfoot believers are chasing an imaginary monster, and for every one for them who treats the subject with gravitas, you have 10 nutcases with completely crazy theories.

Most Bigfoot believers assume Sasquatch is some sort of hominid. After all, he supposedly walks around on two legs, has primate-like arms, and even possesses a humanish face. Of course, there’s always the possibility he’s actually an extinct ground sloth that evolved to look like an ape. According to one far-out theory, Bigfoot might actually be a member of the superorder Xenarthra, which would make him related to anteaters and armadillos.

This theory may not be based on evidence, but it is based on lack of evidence. For example, sloths have internal testicles. No one has reported seeing Bigfoot’s balls. Uncanny, eh? Similarly, sloths digest food slowly. It might take anywhere from one to three weeks for food to pass through a sloth’s guts. Perhaps that’s why we’ve never found the remains of a Bigfoot meal: Since he has a sloth gut, Bigfoot can go weeks without food.

The real nail in this crypto-coffin is the infamous Patterson-Gimlin film above. When you watch the video, pay special attention to how slowly Bigfoot moves. Why isn’t it running at breakneck speed to escape the backwoods paparazzi, you ask? Well, because it’s a slow sloth, naturally.

When Europeans came to the New World, they brought along all their viruses. Some researchers believe over 20 million Native Americans lost their lives to foreign diseases, and according to one theory, the same thing might’ve happened to Bigfoot.

The story goes that Bigfoot and all his hairy friends were having a grand old time in North America until the humans showed up and crashed the party. These short, smooth invaders brought along a bunch of new sicknesses, and the Sasquatch immune system just couldn’t cope. In addition to the viruses, humans were also packing weapons and kicked the Bigfoot people out of their territory, forcing them to retreat deep into the woods.

Evidently, Bigfoot are a lot smarter than they look. They figured out humans were bad news and decided to stay hidden. Over the years, Bigfoot elders taught their youngsters that the “Devil People” were monsters and not to be trusted. That’s the reason Bigfoot doesn’t come out of hiding and join humanity or try trading with us. They learned their lesson long ago, so they’ll just stay undiscovered, thank you very much.

Look up the word “elusive” in the dictionary, and you’ll find a photo of Bigfoot, although it’ll probably be a bit blurry. For some reason, Sasquatches are really hard to spot, and that’s troubling for Bigfoot believers. If there’s a whole community of giant ape-men living in the woods, how come more people aren’t seeing them? Well, perhaps it’s because they live underground.

Bigfoot could hide in caves and cover huge sections of forest by running through underground tunnels. If he gets hungry, Bigfoot could just snack on creepy-crawlies and fish that live in subterranean rivers.

But what about the pitch-black, soul-crushing darkness? Wouldn’t Bigfoot bump his head on a stalactite? Not if he can see in the dark. According to this particular theory, Bigfoot’s eyes might have a tapetum lucidum, the reflective layer in the retina that allows animals to see at night and look demon-possessed. However, prosimians (a group that includes lemurs) are the only primates with this ability. Could Bigfoot be some sort of lemur? Hold that thought. We’ll come back to it later.

This theory is perfectly sane compared to all the other “Bigfoot Lives Underground” ideas out there. For example, Dr. Richard Boylan posits that the Bigfoot people (along with giants, elves, and leprechauns) hide underground to escape mankind’s insanity. Ever since humans nuked Atlantis, these Inner Earth People have been camping out in tunnels, wearing “red-orangey suits,” and occasionally colonizing other planets. Hollow Earther Dennis Crenshaw thinks Bigfoot has sensitive eyes, so that’s why he spends his time hiding in caves, all the while plotting mankind’s destruction. Finally, Henry Franzoni claims Bigfoot can walk straight through solid walls. If it needs to get away from a pesky cameraman, it can just dematerialize and walk into a mountain.

Bigfoot and the Predator actually have a lot in common. They’re big, bipedal, and don’t exist in real life. They also both have cloaking abilities that allow them to disappear whenever people show up in the woods. Well, that’s what some of the nuttier folks in the Bigfoot community claim anyway, and it’s an easy explanation as to why it’s so hard to find this oversize monkey.

Some posit Bigfoot can vibrate his body at such high speeds that it distorts the light around him, causing him to appear invisible. Others claim his translucent hair reflects light like a mirror. Coupled with dark skin, these reflective hairs blend Bigfoot into the scenery like a special-ops sniper.

As proof, the cloaking crowd offers quite a few photographs—of nothing. That’s the whole point, after all. He’s invisible. If you look hard enough at these pictures, you can supposedly see Bigfoot’s outline, similar to how the Predator appears in the 1987 action film. Of course, the real culprit here is a lot of wishful thinking and a heaping dose of pareidolia.

We all know the story of how old brother Cain struck the blow that laid his brother Abel low. And we’ve all heard how God set a mark on Cain and cursed him to wander upon the Earth. But what happened to Adam and Eve’s son after that fateful day? According to the poem “Beowulf,” Cain gave birth to some rather ugly kids like Grendel and his dear old ma. And a few folks think Cain’s descendants roam the forests of North America today. Condemned to live apart from the rest of society, they grew long hair and morphed into terrible beasts.

Taking the theory even further, some Mormons point to the tale of Apostle David W. Patten. According to the legend, it was a fine day in 1835, and Patten was riding down a Tennessee road when a tall, shaggy man stepped out of the woods. As the tale goes, Patten believed the creature was Cain himself, and they spent the next few hours chatting about spiritual matters. Fast-forward a bit to the 1980s, and suddenly some Latter-day Saints started suspecting the figure was in fact the modern-day Sasquatch.

If you’re not partial to the “Cain Theory,” there are several other Biblical options you can choose from. Some say Bigfoot is related to Esau, Jacob’s older, hairier brother. Or if you want to get really screwy, there’s the “Nephilim Theory.” Fallen angels and human women got together and had Bigfoot babies.

No one can catch Bigfoot because he’s psychic, according to Linda Jo Martin. A self-proclaimed telepath, Martin believes Bigfoot picks up on the vibes of people traipsing through the woods. If it senses a cameraman or scientist coming its way, the Bigfoot disappears, leaving the glory hounds behind. That’s why Martin thinks it’s a good idea to bring a psychic along on a Bigfoot expedition. With the help of a little ESP, researchers could tell the Bigfoot they mean it no harm and even ask it to hang out for a little while. Of course, Martin warns that most of the time Bigfoot will probably say no.

Martin isn’t the only one who makes these claims. Writing for The Huffington Post, Connie Willies tells of the time she woke up during a camping trip and sensed two Sasquatches outside her tent. “This is what you came to see,” one of them said inside her brain, but Connie was too terrified to unzip the tent (or perhaps too unconscious to wake up). After deciding she didn’t want to see them, the Bigfoot disappeared without a trace.

Bigfoot is really good at vanishing, especially if Kewaunee Lapseritis is to be believed. The author of Psychic Sasquatch, Lapseritis says Bigfoot can slip in and out of various dimensions. Whenever it needs to escape, it just parts through the curtains of our universe and steps into the next. Lasperitis also claims to know Bigfoot’s true purpose on Earth. As it turns out, the big guy is actually a protector of the environment and uses its telepathic power to let people know they’re destroying the planet.

No, not the kind that posts irritating comments. We’re talking the sort that turns into stone in the sunlight and does battle with Jim Varney on Halloween.

Obviously, to accept this theory, you’ve got to believe trolls exist outside of Scandinavian folklore. Once you’ve cleared that minor hurdle, you can turn to the mountains of evidence. First, according to the theory, trolls are 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical, meaning they mostly exist in our imagination. In reality, a troll is more of a “vibration” than an actual being. In fact, it exists partly in our world and partly in another. And since trolls aren’t totally physically here on Earth, they show up quite blurry in Bigfoot photos.

Still not convinced? Well, consider that scientists have never found Bigfoot hair or DNA. Since trolls exist on a different plane, any physical evidence magically vanishes. If you were to find any concrete proof of Bigfoot’s existence, it’d turn into a stone or piece of straw the very next day. Finally, the most compelling piece of evidence is that Bigfoot tracks often disappear into thin air. You could be following a perfectly normal set of Sasquatch prints when, suddenly, they just vanish. That’s because trolls can appear and disappear at whim.

Earlier in 2014, we learned Texas isn’t the greatest place when it comes to preserving mythological species. Since Sasquatch isn’t listed as a protected animal, hunters can shoot at Bigfoot anytime they want, so long as they can actually find one. California, on the other hand, is a bit stricter when it comes to cryptid killing, claiming they’d provide protection for the legendary beast if it actually exists.

Of course, if the folks at Crypto Crew (a paranormal investigative organization) are correct, then Bigfoot is screwed no matter where he goes. In a February 2014 article, the group revealed the possibility that the government is actually hunting down rogue Bigfoot. According to unrevealed sources, the US has assembled a special Sasquatch SWAT team that’s sent to deal with problem monsters. If a Bigfoot gets too close to human areas or starts attacking people, he’s going to end up in a body bag.

According to the same report, SWAT isn’t the only way the government deals with troublesome creatures. Freelance Sasquatch killers are hired to infiltrate the Bigfoot community and gather reports of Bigfoot sightings. When they get word of a pesky ape-man terrorizing hikers, they hunt down the creature and collect their Bigfoot bounty.

Anyone familiar with Bigfoot has probably heard the “Sasquatch Is an Alien” theory. People like Dr. Franklin Ruehl point to stories dating back to 1888 in their attempt to prove Bigfoot is an extraterrestrial who occasionally visits Earth in his UFO. However, some believers take this otherworldly theory even further, claiming Bigfoot is actually an alien servant, doing E.T.’s bidding on Earth.

One of these folks is named Lyle Vann. Quite the colorful character, Mr. Vann has claimed to have seen Bigfoot on at least 31 occasions, and that’s not counting all the times he’s met their outer space overlords. According to Vann, aliens need gold and other precious metals to power their spacecraft. However, Martians are sadly lacking in the muscle department. Since it’s difficult for them to haul all that gold, they have Bigfoot do the heavy lifting instead.

However, there are those who make Mr. Vann sound like Neil deGrasse Tyson. The enigmatic Jesse Denson is one of those fellows. Denson believes Bigfoot is a robot developed by several alien nations over the past several million years. Whenever they visit Earth, aliens slip into their Bigfoot ATVs and start meandering through the forests, controlling their suits manually or through brain power. These suits allow aliens to spy on humans, but they’re also pleasure vehicles, allowing E.T. to unwind from the galactic grind and run around in the forest dressed like a monkey.

Look in the mirror. Now imagine a Bigfoot. Notice a resemblance? Sure, but Sasquatch’s forehead is probably a bit bigger than yours, and there’s something strange about those eyes. Now look at a picture of a lemur. Suddenly, everything clicks into place. Bigfoot is definitely a human-lemur crossbreed.

While most of us were unaware of Bigfoot’s heritage, Texas veterinarian Melba Ketchum has known of the creature’s crazy origins for some time. With the help of enthusiasts around the country, Ketchum collected a wide variety of hair, blood, spit, and skin. Of course, nobody actually saw where these hair and toenails came from, but when it doubt, blame it on Bigfoot.

After gathering enough evidence, Ketchum ran a DNA analysis on her samples. Much to her surprise, she discovered the mitochondrial DNA was human, but the nuclear DNA belonged to an unknown hominid. Ketchum theorized that around 15,000 years ago, a now-extinct giant lemur mated with a female human. The result was Bigfoot.

Ketchum’s idea didn’t go over too well with the scientific community. As the human DNA in her samples undoubtedly came from actual humans, her study was rejected by every single legitimate science journal. However, it did pop up in a publication called DeNovo—a journal created expressly for her study.

Nolan Moore thinks that Bigfoot is hiding out in John Lithgow’s house. If you want, you can write Nolan an email or friend/follow him on Facebook.

View the original article here

Kommentar am 10 merkwürdige Fakten über Disney Parks von 10 Bizarre Dinge nie wussten Sie Disney | AdJudged.tk

Animals May 15, 2014

Facts Mike Devlin July 16, 2013

Disneyland opened in 1955, and ever since, visiting a Disney theme park has become something of a milestone of childhood. There are currently five Disney parks—Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the United States, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. A sixth park, Shanghai Disney, is currently under construction, with plans to open in 2016. In a previous list, I detailed some people who met untimely ends while visiting the parks. This list aims to be far less grisly, but no less weird.

Although described by many visitors as “the happiest place on earth,” Disney parks often prove just the opposite to their employees. The staff at Disneyland Paris seem particularly hard-hit; in 2010, after a shift in management that increased their workload, two park employees committed suicide. One, a chef named Frank, scratched a message into his wall before hanging himself: “Je ne veux pas retourner chez Mickey” (I don’t want to go back to Mickey’s house).

Employees (many of whom make just over minimum wage), complain of exhausting six-day workweeks, and claim there is little chance for advancement. When management got wind that their disgruntled staff was referring to the park as “Mousewitz” after concentration camp Auschwitz, they urged them to stop. The staff complied, switching the name to “Duckau.”

When it opened in 1955, Disneyland was far from a sure thing. Walt relied heavily on outside corporate sponsorship to keep the money rolling in. One such sponsor was the Hollywood-Maxell Brassiere Co. of Los Angeles, which operated a store inside the park called “Intimate Apparel, Brassieres, Torsolettes.” About half the store was dedicated to selling modern lingerie, the other given over to a museum of the history of the undergarment. This gallery was overseen by an animatronic, vizier-like character in a turban called “The Wizard of Bras.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the store only lasted about six months, and in January, 1956, the Wizard was relegated to history books.

Historically, those who have been cremated have requested to have their ashes scattered in some place of beauty and solace, perhaps a Hawaiian beach at sunset. In November of 2007, security cameras caught a woman dumping an unknown substance during the “Pirates of the Caribbean” ride at Disneyland. Security arrived after the woman left, and Anaheim police identified the substance as cremated human remains. The ride was shut down, and it took over an hour to clean up the mess. Strangely enough, this is not an isolated occurrence. Some people even ask Disney for official permission (the answer is always “no”). Perhaps not coincidentally, Disney insiders have asserted that the most common ride for mourners to pour ashes from is the “Haunted Mansion.”

Behind a nondescript green door in the New Orleans Square section of Disneyland is one of the most elite and exclusive clubs in all the world, with a waiting list over 10 years long. Club 33 was Walt Disney’s answer to a VIP lounge, an ornate bar and restaurant that calls to mind an ornate, plantation-style mansion. In 2012, in honor of the Club’s 45th anniversary, memberships were offered at a cost of $25,000 each (with an additional $10,000 in annual dues). Club 33 is the only place on the entire grounds of Disneyland where alcohol can be purchased. It is rumored that only about 500 or so people are members, and celebrities alleged to have been seen there include Tom Hanks and Jack Nicholson.

Keeping up the illusion of a pristine, child-friendly utopia on Disneyland’s sprawling 85 acres is no easy task. After the park closes, an army of workers descend on its streets, sweeping and blasting away gum stuck to the sidewalk. There are even divers that collect the garbage that is dropped in water rides. But Disney has even more unorthodox “employees,” a legion of some 200 feral cats that roam the grounds after sunset. While it might seem to behoove the park to rid itself of the cats, they serve an important purpose: keeping the rodent population in check. The animals are well cared for; Disney spays and neuters adults, and brings kittens to shelters. Food stations are set up throughout the park. For their part, the cats behave themselves, lying low dunvinced it would be far less traumatizing than seeing a rat scamper across Main Street, USA.ring daylight hours. And should a kitty peek out at you from behind the Matterhorn, Disney management seems co

The Beatles require little introduction. Unfortunately, they were nearly as well-known for dissension in their ranks as they were for their hits. They squabbled over financial advisors, George Harrison slept with Ringo’s wife, John Lennon sought a singles career alongside paramour Yoko Ono: the list spiraled out of control. It was all over by 1970, but litigation continued until 1974. On December 29, 1974, while vacationing at Walt Disney World’s Polynesian Resort with his family, John Lennon finally signed the paperwork that broke up The Beatles forever.

For decades, North Korea has been known as something of an “evil empire,” and its leaders have been recognized for cartoonish excesses. There seemed no limit to the superhuman extravagance of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Il; he reportedly consumed $750,000 worth of Hennessey cognac every year, owned over 17 mansions, and (according to the North Korean state website) never pooped. Once, he kidnapped a pair of directors to make him his very own Godzilla knock-off movie. It should not seem so very strange that his sons would have similar fixations.

Using false identities, both current ruler Kim Jong-Un and his brother, Kim Jong-Chul, visited Tokyo Disneyland as children. In 2001, eldest son Kim Jong-Nam brought shame on the family (and dashed his hopes of becoming the heir to the rule of North Korea) when he was caught using a forged Dominican Republic passport trying to sneak into Japan so he could visit Tokyo Disneyland himself.

Although every commander in chief from George Washington to Barack Obama is represented with an individual animatronic figure in Walt Disney World’s “Hall of Presidents,” few have been as deeply tied to Disney as Richard Nixon. A very frequent visitor to Disneyland, he first stopped through with his family a few weeks after it opened, when he was still Vice President under Dwight Eisenhower. But his most epic moment at Disney would be held in Florida, at Walt Disney World’s Contemporary Resort, on November 17, 1973. Facing down hundreds of reporters in the midst of the Watergate scandal, he delivered his famous “I am not a crook” speech. But of course he was, and nine months later, he delivered a somewhat less-vehement speech announcing his resignation from the Presidency.

The cast of Splash Mountain may be unfamiliar, particularly to younger guests. The characters are adapted the from 1946 Disney movie Song of the South

, which has not been released on video in the United States due to its overtly racist tone. Song of the South is the tale of slave storyteller Uncle Remus, who spins yarns of the clever Brer Rabbit. But Splash Mountain has long been known more for its nudity than any ties to bigotry.

Beginning in the 1990s, female guests began a campaign of baring their breasts just as the log flume began its final descent. A camera set up to take souvenir photos would catch them in flagrante

. The pictures rapidly spread on the Internet, and scores can be found with a simple Google search. Soon, Disney began training employees specifically to weed out these pictures, and their frequency subsided (although recent staff cuts have allowed the phenomenon some new life). One plus side—if someone else flashes the camera while you’re on Splash Mountain, informing a Disney employee will allow you to cut the line and ride again without the boobies.

Perhaps the most bizarre tale to emerge from Disney parks is the prevalence of lewd cartoon characters. In 1976, a woman filed a lawsuit claiming one of the Three Little Pigs grabbed her (she later dropped the lawsuit after it was shown the character’s suit had inoperable arms). In 2004, a Tigger actor was acquitted of molesting a 13-year-old girl and her mother. In 2011, Disney settled out of court with a woman who claims a man in a Donald Duck costume grabbed her breast. Strangely enough, this is is not all one-sided. In 2009, a 60-year-old man named John Moyer was convicted of misdemeanor battery for groping Brittney McGoldrick, who was wearing a Minnie Mouse costume at Disney World.

Mike Devlin is an aspiring novelist.

View the original article here

Comment on the 10 forgotten facts about classic cartoon characters of 10 bizarre things never did you know Disney | AdJudged.tk

 Animals May 15, 2014

Movies and TV Tom Creus December 2, 2013

We think we are pretty familiar with Mickey, Goofy, and all the other famous cartoon characters—but are we really? It’s true that many cartoon characters changed over time from their original design, but not many people know that Betty Boop was once a dog or that Tom and Jerry were originally called Jasper and Jinx. Here are 10 surprising facts about classic cartoon characters.

In 1930, when the Fleischer brothers created the Betty Boop character, she was a French poodle, drawn with flabby ears and a black round nose. In her first appearance on screen, at 2:39 in 1930's “Dizzy Dishes” above, she looks very much like an anthropomorphized dog. She was only slowly was transformed into a fully human character. In the wonderfully trippy “Bimbo’s Initiation” from 1931, when she seduces Bimbo in the final scene, she no longer has a very pronounced dog face but she still sports long flabby ears.

It was only in 1932, in “Any Rags,” that she became completely human and her former poodle ears were transformed into earrings. Incidentally, perhaps to prove her full femininity, this short features Betty Boop revealing her bra—twice.

Everybody knows that Donald Duck once was portrayed as a Nazi in a series of propaganda cartoons during World War II. Less widely known is Donald Duck’s participation in a series of educational films during the ’60s, the last of which was about the dicey subject of family planning. In the 1968 film seen above, called simply “Family Planning” and produced by Disney for the US Population Council, an “average couple” of the world (a Latino man and his Indian wife) is lectured on how to have fewer babies. The idea is to restore the “population balance,” which was compromised because, as the narrator tells us, modern medicine saved too many children from death.

Donald Duck appears between each segment performing clumsy antics, and he even dresses as a doctor to give the couple the “key” to the magic of family planning. As the narrator explains, this magical key can be obtained “merely by taking pills or using simple devices.”

In the end, the video is not as shocking as it seems and it offers a somewhat sensible message, but it is strange to see a beloved children’s character like Donald Duck taking part in such piece. In the end of the short, Donald even points menacingly to the audience while the narrator says, “and all of us have a responsibility towards the family of man—including YOU!”

At 2:24 in his first appearance in the above 1941 cartoon “Puss Gets the Boot,” Tom is called “Jasper” by his owner, Mammy Two Shoes. Although Jerry is unnamed in the short movie, creator Willian Hannah stated that the original name of the mouse was Jinx. The name “Tom and Jerry” was a suggestion by another MGM animator, although some say that the names were inspired by WW II, when the British soldiers were called “Tommies” and the Germans, “Jerries.” While “Tom and Jerry” was certainly an improvement over “Jasper and Jinx”, no one seemed to have thought of changing the name “Mammy Two Shoes” to something more resembling a real name and less a racist horror.

Tom’s name is, in fact, Thomas. In the second episode, “The Midnight Snack,” Tom is only called “Thomas” by Mammy, although in the title card he is identified as Tom. It is not known if Jerry is similarly a diminutive of Gerald or Jerome, as no one calls him by his name.

In the first cartoons, Mickey was not exactly a role model for children—or even for adults. In his first film produced, 1928's “Plane Crazy” (seen video above), he basically date-rapes Minnie, forcing her to kiss him during an airplane ride. At 4:55, she ends up jumping from the plane to avoid further advances from the sex-crazed mouse.

In “The Galloping Gaucho,” the second film produced from the same year, he watches Minnie dance for other men in a bar, while he laughs and drinks beer.

The early Mickey also takes pleasure in abusing other animals. In “Plane Crazy,” he uses a wiener dog as a motor for his first airplane, and forcefully tears out the feathers of a peacock to use as a tail for his second airplane. In “Steamboat Willie,” he tortures a cat, a goat, and a duck, using them as musical instruments.

Totoro is a beloved cartoon character created in 1988 by Japanese animator Hazao Miyazaki in My Neighbor Totoro

. Totoro is so popular in Asia that when new species of velvet worm was recently discovered in Vietnam, it was named Eopepiparus totoro in homage to the film. Visually, the scientists were inspired not so much by the character Totoro itself, but by the “cat bus” in the same movie, whose multiple pairs of legs resemble the velvet worm’s.

This is not the first time that a cartoon character inspires creative biologists. There were a few other names of species inspired by ‘toons, the most unusual perhaps being a sponge-like mushroom named Spongiforma squarepantsii

, obviously after SpongeBob Squarepants. There is also a species of chameleon native to Madagascar forests which was named Calumna tarzan after the King of the Jungle.

In the beginning, the Smurfs were all male—or, at the very least, genderless blue creatures. Then the evil sorcerer Gargamel created a female Smurf and sends her to the village to seduce and trick the Smurfs, as seen at 1:55 in the above video. They are not impressed, however, and she ends up repenting and crying—so Papa Smurf makes her blonde. After the transformation, they all fall in love with her and accept her as one of their own. Gentlemen prefer blondes, and apparently Smurfs do, too.

Although Smurfette was the only female Smurf in the village for a long time, facing no competition for male attention, later seasons included other female characters such as Sassette Smurf and Nanny Smurf. While some wonder how the Smurfs reproduced before the advent of females, the fact is that they can actually be magically created from blue clay.

In 1936, Olive Oyl made a cameo appearance in the film Somewhere in Dreamland

, which was produced by the same studio that created the Popeye cartoons. Starting at 2:02 in the above video, she appears as a single mother with two children living in poverty during the Great Depression. Although the character is just called “Mother” in the film, she uses the same traditional clothes of Olive Oyl, has the same physical appearance—thin body, no breasts, large feet—and is voiced by the same actress, Mae Questel.

Cameos by cartoon characters in different productions than their own series are not uncommon, either today or during the ’30s. The Fleischer Studios even used Mickey in one of their shorts, portraying him as an evil mouse that locks Betty Boop’s boyfriend inside a manhole and laughs in “Bimbo’s Initiation.”

The actress we just mentioned, Mae Questel, was most famous for voicing Betty Boop, all the way from the early Fleischer Studio shorts in the ’30s to her last appearance as Betty in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

However, she also voiced Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons during the ’30s and Audrey in the “Little Audrey” series. She was also the voice behind Casper the Friendly Ghost in at least one episode and Felix the Cat in the three sound and color episodes produced during the ’30s. Many of her appearances were uncredited.

Besides her work as the voice of famous cartoon characters, she had some memorable roles as on-camera actress. For instance, the woman born an Orthodox Jew with the surname Kwestel played the Jewish mother in Woody Allen’s Oedipus Wrecks

and Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Speaking of Felix the Cat, he was the most popular cartoon character of the ’20s. Despite all that success, however, he was not lucky with women—well, female cats. In the above video, 1925's “Felix Finds ‘Em Fickle,” Felix’s girlfriend rejects a flower that the hero kindly offers her. “If you love me, get me that one!” she says, pointing to a flower resting on the top of a mountain that reaches 40,000 feet. Felix climbs it, fights bears and vultures, and returns victoriously with the flower, but she is still unhappy. She calls him a “dumb-bell” and says, “I wanted the one next to it!” Felix understandably faints.

In “Comicalamities” three years later, Felix’s love interest has an ugly face, so with a little help from the cartoonist, he re-draws it. To demonstrate her gratitude, she asks for jewels. He gets her a pearl necklace and a fur coat, but she still wants more gifts and won’t put out, so—filled with rage—he just rips her out from the cartoon.

In 1922's “Felix Turns the Tide,” his girlfriend is excited to see him go to war, and promises to marry him when he comes back. When he returns, however, he finds that she has married his rival, and that they had dozens of kittens together. This time, perhaps getting used to it, Felix is not hurt, and he even laughs: “Gosh, I had a narrow escape!” The timeless transformation from hapless Nice Guy to bitter misogynist was finally complete.

In most of the cartoons of the early ’50s, Goofy was called George Geef, and he had a wife and child. While the face of Goofy’s wife is never shown, we can assume that she is fully human and not an anthropomorphic dog-like creature because she has five fingers instead of four—as Goofy and most of Disney’s animal characters do—as you can see at 4:06 in the video above, 1951's “The Cold War.” Additionally, all female characters in the Goofy cartoons of the period are shown as regular women without dog features. We can actually see the back of her head in at least one episode—and she has normal human hair, as can be seen in the episode “Father’s Weekend.”

Goofy’s unnamed wife does not seem to have the best reputation in town, either. In 1953's “Father’s Day Off,” it is suggested that she regularly receives with kisses the milkman, the grocery store man, and the laundry man while Goofy is away. Perhaps because of such shameless behavior, Goofy’s wife disappeared without explanation in later cartoons, and in 1995's A Goofy Movie

, it is implied that she died. It would seem that Goofy is one cartoon dog you don’t want to cross.Tom Creus is a freelance writer and animator. He has directed several stop motion shorts and wrote the screenplay for the just-released animation feature ‘Til Sbornia Do Us Part. He writes occasionally at tomwaiting.wordpress.com.

View the original article here

Comment on the 10 incredible ways science is tomorrow cops from the 10 bizarre things you don't know about saliva | Acquaintanceship.TK must visit

 Pop Culture May 11, 2014

Technology Asher Bayot February 16, 2014

Public opinion about the police force tends to vary. Some see them as a mighty legion of men and women who exist to serve and protect, while others see them as the invasive, abusive minions of a Big Brother figure. Nevertheless, the police are undeniably an important part of society. From issuing parking tickets to arresting drug lords, police forces work hard to prevent criminal pursuits and maintain peace and order in the community.

Because crime keeps up with current technology, police forces are pressured to do the same. Thankfully, various innovations in science and technology are making police work faster and more effective than ever before. Here are some cool ways science is advancing police work.

February 20th marks National Handcuffs Day, an unofficial holiday that commemorates the birthday of modern handcuffs. The design we all know and love was patented in 1912 by George A. Carney, and has remained almost unchanged since its invention. Today, modern handcuffs are widely used by police departments around the world and are mostly produced by the Peerless Handcuff Company, which bought the patent from George A. Carney.

A new model of handcuffs seeks to challenge the century-old handcuffs designed by Carney. A fascinating—yet frightening—design of high-tech handcuffs promises to not only restrain, but also to electrocute or drug the detainee when necessary. The handcuffs, developed by a US company called Scotsdale Inventions, contain a microphone, a camera, and sensors that can determine a detainee’s present location and physical health. It also contains a device that can send electric shocks to anyone who tries to resist arrest.

The shocks can be activated either by the one guarding the detainee or by the detainee himself through acts of aggression. If a detainee attempts something violent, like grabbing a police officer’s weapon, while wearing the high-tech handcuffs, an immediate shock gets delivered straight into their wrists. The intensity of the shocks can range from 20,000 to 150,000 volts, and can last as long as 10 seconds.

The restraining device also contains a “substance delivery system” which injects different types of drugs into a detainee’s system. A needle or a gas injection system installed in the handcuffs can deliver either a strong sedative or a paralytic.

As cool as this may seem, it’s also pretty terrifying. While detainees can be violent at times even while in handcuffs, police-perpetrated torture and abuse of detainees in handcuffs is not unheard of, and this device could just make it all the easier.

According to the FBI, one out of every 100 high-speed police pursuits ends in a fatality. Police pursuits account for at least one death per day, and they cause one percent of all police officer deaths in the US. Forty percent of all police chases end up in crashes, and one third of the deaths that result from violent police pursuits are of innocent bystanders. In December 2013, four separate police pursuits in four days caused the deaths of five people in Los Angeles alone.

Because of these terrifying numbers, many people are criticizing the effectiveness of police pursuits in combating crime. That is why a company is lending their help to make police pursuits less violent and more effective. A Virginia-based company called StarChase invented a small GPS device that can be shot toward a vehicle fleeing from the scene of the crime. While the suspect is speeding away, the GPS device—and not a police car—will track the suspect’s location and relay this information to police officers in nearby areas.

Once the GPS device is attached to the escaping vehicle, police officers around the area will be alerted of the car’s coordinates every three to five seconds. The police car that shot the GPS device can even turn off their siren and slow down to make the suspect think that no one’s giving chase. As many as 15 law enforcement agencies are already using this device, including officers located on the US-Mexico border, where car chases are a fairly common occurrence.

Many political leaders endorse the widespread installation of CCTV cameras to keep a watchful eye on their constituents. An extreme example would be the Russian government, which placed surveillance cameras inside the shower rooms of the participants of the Sochi Olympics. Despite claims that CCTV cameras are meant to prevent crimes from occurring, official numbers would reveal that surveillance cameras have actually done almost nothing to prevent criminal activities. In the UK, it was found that that only one case a year is solved per 1,000 surveillance cameras installed.

However, a new innovation in surveillance technology may actually be able to bridge that gap. Shahriar Nirjon and his fellow researchers from the University of Virginia have created a camera that can predict if a person is about do something violent. The camera generates a 3D skeleton figure of the subject and analyses its movement, looking out for precursors of potentially aggressive actions. Nirjon’s camera was able to predict a kick with 90 percent accuracy without even requiring the subject to face the camera. The researchers say they also plan to enable the camera to predict verbal aggression.

The camera was based on the gaming sensor Kinect and was originally intended to warn hospital staff when a patient is about to get violent, but these aggression-predicting cameras could easily be used to replace the ineffective security cameras currently installed in metropolitan areas.

New York City has one of the biggest police forces in the world, with 34,500 police officers and 51,000 employees overall. That averages out to around one cop per 250 New Yorkers. Despite having a security force larger than the FBI, New York is still home to a huge number of criminal activities. Violent crimes in New York are around one third higher than the US average, while 2,817 registered sex offenders are recorded to be living within the city.

Only last year, the NYPD revealed a program to modernize their police force that could curb New York’s crime problem once and for all. The program is called NYPD2020, and its primary project is creating a wave of police cars that are equipped with high-tech tools that will make police work much more efficient. One such tool is an infrared scanner that can read and remember every number that it detects—from plate numbers to addresses—and can automatically send that data to an NYPD command post. This will be efficient for tracking vehicles that may have been stolen or used for previous criminal activity. The cars would also be equipped with cameras that can stream live videos back to the NYPD headquarters. The department also plans to add fingerprint scanners and facial-recognition software to these modern cruisers.

One of the most important—yet difficult—tasks of forensic investigation is identifying corpses. During the recent devastation of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, hundreds of bodies had to be buried in mass graves before they were properly identified. In India, the police estimate that as many as 102 dead bodies were left unidentified each day in the country.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have devised a system to make identifying dead bodies easier. Forensic anthropologist Ann Ross and her team created a software called the 3D-ID that can determine the identity of a body using its skull. The software compares the skull with a database of CT scans that are stored in the software, which will help the investigator identify the ancestry and sex of the unidentified body, narrowing down the potential choices. The investigator can then use this information to arrive at an accurate identity for the body.

Contrary to what popular TV shows might tell you, matching a DNA sample isn’t as simple as “running it in the lab” overnight. Rigorous methods are involved with DNA profiling, all of which require long hours and expensive equipment. However, a company called LGC Forensics promises a new device that can profile a person’s DNA in just under an hour.

They call it the RapiDNA system, and it’s a portable tool that can be brought to the scene of the crime for immediate analysis. Around the size of an airline carry-on bag, the RapiDNA system can extract genetic information from organic materials like blood, semen, or saliva left on a crime scene. This information can be compared with available profiles on the National DNA Database to successfully match the DNA with a suspect. All of this can be accomplished in less than 60 minutes.

Because justice is sometimes slow for victims of horrible crimes, the RapiDNA system aims to make police work easier and faster by providing a tool that can help put them on the criminal’s tail almost immediately after a crime is committed.

TV shows like NCIS and CSI regularly depict scenes where the detectives consult the department’s computer geek and try to determine who a suspect is by analyzing low-resolution images that were taken during the crime. Perhaps drawing inspiration from this ridiculously common TV trope, researchers Rob Jenkins and Christie Kerr are developing a method called corneal imaging, a simple way to identify people or objects reflected on the cornea of a person’s eye—from nothing more than a photo. Using a typical digital camera, the scientists took pictures of a person’s face and enhanced the eye of the person in the photo using an image processing software. They found out that the cornea of the subject was able to reflect the images of the people near them when the photo was taken.

To see if these reflections can be put to practical use, a face-matching experiment was conducted by the researchers. They asked each of five volunteers to have their photos taken. While not being photographed, some of the volunteers were asked to stand close to a volunteer who was currently having their picture taken so that their image would be reflected on the subject’s cornea. Another set of volunteers was asked to match the actual pictures of the volunteers with the corneal reflections that were derived from the photos. The volunteers were able to successfully match the photos with the corneal images 84 percent of the time.

Autopsies are an integral part of an investigation, especially in cases that involve horrible incidents like murder or suicide. However, autopsies aren’t always a guaranteed thing when the police are dealing with a corpse. There are many religions, for example, that do not allow their dead to be autopsied. Various cultural backgrounds of the victims may also prevent pathologists from even considering putting the deceased bodies under the knife.

That is why a newly developed method of autopsy may be very helpful in these types of situations. With virtual autopsy, a combination of CT and MRI scans will generate a 3D image of a body, which a pathologist can “dissect” using a computer. Without actually cutting up the body, the pathologist will be able to determine the nature of the person’s death.

Aside from religious and cultural issues that the virtual autopsy solves, the method can also prevent more errors in describing autopsies, as the 3D image can be shown to other pathologists to acquire a consensus on the victim’s death. It will also be the first time police departments can keep a real 3D image of a victim’s body for documentation purposes. And believe it or not, decomposing bodies can also receive a more thorough analysis through virtual autopsy than with the physical procedure.

In the 1987 film Robocop

, Alex Murphy was brutally killed in the line of duty by a crime syndicate, then brought back to life in the form of a law enforcing cyborg who paraded vengeful justice through the streets of Detroit.

Though perhaps not as dramatic as what happened to Alex Murphy, there’s something similar happening in real-life police departments. There are a huge number of real police officers who suffer from serious injuries on a daily basis. Aside from having to endure physical pain and limitations, disabled police officers are also usually the first to go when police departments decide to cut costs and save money. In 2010, as many as 18,000 injured police officers from the UK faced the threat of being relieved from duty because they weren’t fit enough to work on the streets anymore.

A collaborative effort between Florida International University and the US Navy Reserves may help disabled police officers become a force to be reckoned with on the front lines once again. The project is taking two robots from the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition and redesigning them as wheeled police officers that can patrol streets and alleys, write parking tickets, and even respond to 911 calls.

For these robots to be able to do these things, disabled police officers will be assigned to control them virtually from their offices in the police headquarters. This will allow disabled and seriously injured officers to work without being physically present in the streets. The researchers say the challenge in designing the robots is that they need to look intimidating enough to scare away outlaws, but also approachable enough that a three-year-old won’t hesitate to ask for their assistance.

According to psychologists, super-recognizers are people who can never forget a face. While some people might find their ability creepy and unsettling, the London police think otherwise. Super-recognizers are currently one of the most effective tools the London police force uses to solve crimes in the city. Around 200 people with this special ability have been recruited by the London Police Department to become a part of a special unit of police officers that fight crime using this “superpower.” The super-recognizer squad have been able to solve crimes ranging from simple muggings to big-time drug deals, using mainly their uncanny ability to recognize a perpetrator’s face.

During the 2011 London riots, as many as 30 percent of the 5,000 total arrests made were because of the super-recognizers. One super-recognizer even identified 300 rioters by himself during the investigation. On the other hand, the department’s facial recognition software was only able to identify one rioter. Super-recognizers were also useful during the Notting Hill Carnival, where they were able to prevent potential criminal activities by identifying known criminals and gang members in the crowd.

Others aren’t too thrilled with the London Police’s use of super-recognizers. NO CCTV, a UK-based pro-privacy organization, says that this “gimmick” is just another ploy to push widespread surveillance among the citizens of London. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of super-recognizers in combating crime is undeniable.

Asher Bayot is currently in grad school and is pursuing a career in cognitive psychology. In his spare time, he watches lots of sitcoms and eats lots of ramen. You can send him an email here or follow him on Twitter. 

View the original article here

Kommentar am Top 10 Bizarre Flüche von 10 Dinge, die Sie möglicherweise nicht über Superman | AdJudged.tk must visit

 Technology May 10, 2014

Creepy Jamie Frater October 11, 2007

History is full of curses – even dating back as far as Biblical times. These curses are normally attributed to simple bad luck but many of them do make for very eerie reading. This is a list of the ten most famous curses.

10. Björketorp Runestone

This is one of a group of runestones found in Blekinge, Sweden, dating back to the 6th century AD. The stones measure up to 4.2 metres in height. Some of the stones appear in circles while others stand alone. The Björketorp stone bears the following inscription:

I, master of the runes(?) conceal here runes of power. Incessantly (plagued by) maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who breaks this (monument). I prophesy destruction / prophecy of destruction.

A local legend relates that the curse was once tested and proved. A very long time ago, a man wanted to remove the stone so as to get more land to cultivate. He piled wood around it in order to heat it up and then crack it with water. The weather was dead calm and there was no wind. He had just lit the fire when a sudden gust of wind turned the direction of the flame setting the man’s hair on fire. He threw himself on the ground to extinguish it, but it spread to his clothes and the poor man died in terrible agony. However, the fire around the rune stone was extinguished as if an enormous hand had enveloped the stone and smothered the fire.

9. Curse of the Bambino

The curse of the Bambino refers to the run of bad luck that the Boston Red Sox experienced after trading Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees in 1920. Up until that time, the NY Yankees had never won a World Series, and hoped that Ruth would change this for them; he did. After the trade, the Boston Red Sox did not win the World Series Title again until 2004. During their winning game, a total lunar eclipse occurred – a first for the World Series. Even more dramatic was the fact that the 2004 win was against the New York Yankees.

8. Curse of Tippecanoe

William Henry Harrison won the presidency in 1840 with the slogan, “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too.” This refers to his participation in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. One year later, he died. From then, until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, every president elected in a year ending in a zero died whilst serving their term. The years and presidents who suffered this curse were: 1840 (W Harrison – natural causes), 1860 (Lincoln – shot), 1880 (Garfield – shot), 1900 (McKinley – shot), 1920 (Harding – natural causes), 1940 (F Roosevelt – natural causes) and 1960 (Kennedy – shot). Interestingly, an assassination attempt was aimed at Reagan – had it succeeded, he would have died before the end of his first term.

7. Curse Of Superman

The superman curse refers to the misfortunes that occurred to people involved with the Superman story over the years. Probably the most famous people to have been allegedly afflicted by this curse are George Reeves, who played superman in the television series, and Christopher Reeve who played the character in the early movies. George Reeves committed suicide, and Christopher Reeve became paralyzed after falling from his horse. Other victims often named are Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster who created the character but made very little money from it because DC Comics, their employer, held all the rights. Some even say that Jerry and Joe put the curse on the character because of what they believed was unfair compensation for their work. There is even speculation that John F Kennedy was a victim of the curse. Shortly before his death, his staff approved a Superman story in which the hero touts the president’s physical fitness initiatives, scheduled to be published with an April 1964 cover date. Because of this curse, many actors have refused to play the role of Superman in the latest movie. Paul Walker (Top 10 Bad Male Actors) was one of these actors, though perhaps in his case it is for the best, as he was more likely to kill the role than to have the role kill him.

6. Curse of the Billy Goat

The Curse of the Billy Goat is a curse on the Chicago Cubs that started in 1945. As the story goes, Billy Sianis, a Greek immigrant, had two $7.20 box seat tickets to Game 4 of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers, and decided to take along his pet goat, Murphy (or Sinovia). The goat wore a blanket with a sign pinned to it which read “We got Detroit’s goat”. Sianis and the goat were allowed into Wrigley Field and even paraded about on the playing field before the game before ushers intervened and led them off the field. After a heated argument, both Sianis and the goat were permitted to stay in the stadium occupying the box seat for which he had tickets. Before the game was over, Sianis and the goat were ejected from the stadium at the command of Cubs owner, Philip Knight Wrigley, due to the animal’s objectionable odor. Because the Cubs organization had insulted his goat, Sianis was outraged and allegedly placed a curse upon the Cubs, that they would never win another pennant or play in a World Series at Wrigley Field. The Cubs lost Game 4 and eventually the 1945 World Series, prompting Sianis to write to Wrigley from Greece, saying, “Who stinks now?” Following a third-place finish in the National League in 1946, the Cubs would finish in the league’s second division for the next 20 consecutive years. This streak finally ended in 1967, the year after Leo Durocher became the club’s manager.

5. James Dean’s Porsche

At 5:45 p.m. on 30 September 1955, film icon James Dean was killed in a car accident when his new Porsche Spyder (nicknamed “Little Bastard”) crashed head on into another car. Rolf Wutherich, Dean’s friend and mechanic (who had been riding with the movie star) was thrown from the Spyder and survived the wreck, but Dean was pinned inside, his neck broken. Donald Turnupseed, the driver of the other car, suffered only relatively minor injuries. After the tragedy, master car customizer George Barris bought the wreck for $2,500. When the wreck arrived at Barris’ garage, the Porsche slipped and fell on one of the mechanics unloading it. The accident broke both of the mechanic’s legs. While Barris had bad feelings about the car when he first saw it, his suspicions were confirmed during a race at the Pomona Fair Grounds on October 24, 1956. Two physicians, Troy McHenry and William Eschrid, were both racing cars that had parts from the “Little Bastard.” McHenry died when his car, which had the Porsche’s engine installed, went out of control and hit a tree. Eschrid’s car flipped over. Eschrid, who survived despite serious injuries, later said that the car suddenly locked up when he went into a curve. Accidents continued to occur in relation to the car, until 1960 when it vanished. Its whereabouts is still known.

4. The Kennedy Curse

The Kennedy Curse refers to a series of unfortunate events that have happened to the Kennedy family. While these events could have happened to any family, some have referred to the continual misfortune of the Kennedy family as a curse. Several of the Kennedys died young, notably brothers John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy who were assassinated while in office, and John F. Kennedy, Jr., who died in a 1999 plane crash. Other members of the family cited as evidence of the curse are John F Kennedy’s sister, Rosemarie, who was institutionalized due to an unnecessary lobotomy, Joseph Kennedy, killed during World War II, Edward Kennedy Jr, who had his leg amputated at age 12, and Michael Kennedy, who died in a skiing accident.

3. The Hope Diamond

The Hope Diamond dates back to 1642, it is a diamond noted for its remarkable color, size, clarity, beauty, and history. The Hope Diamond is a very brilliant deep blue faceted ovoid diamond, that measures 25.60 millimeters by 21.78 millimeters by 12.00 millimeters and weights 45.52 carats. The diamond is set in a pendent in which it is encircled by sixteen white diamonds. The Hope’s color is a combination of blue, caused by boron, as in all blue diamonds, and gray diamonds. It is most famous for bringing great misfortune upon its owner. According to the legend, a man named Tavernier made a trip to India and while he was there, he stole the large blue diamond from the forehead (or eye) of a statue of the Hindu goddess Sita. For this transgression, Tavernier was torn apart by wild dogs on a trip to Russia (after he had sold the diamond). King Louis XVI is probably the most famous owner of the diamond – he was ultimately beheaded along with his wife Queen Marie Antoinette. It was eventually donated to the Smithsonian institute. The Hope diamond is currently on display as part of the National Gem and Mineral Collection in the National Museum of Natural History for all to see.

2. The 27 Club

The 27 Club, also occasionally known as the Forever 27 Club, is a popular culture name for a group of influential rock and blues musicians who all died at the age of 27, sometimes under mysterious circumstances. There is some debate as to the criteria used to include people in the “27 Club”. The impetus for the Club’s creation was the death of an unusual number of 27 year old prominent musicians within a two year period of time. Lists commonly include Hendrix, Morrison, and Joplin; Brian Jones is usually included too. Kurt Cobain is now often included due to his impact on music in more recent years.

1. The Curse of Tutankhamen

A few months after the opening of Tutankhamen’s tomb tragedy struck. Lord Carnarvon (the financial backer of the search for Tutankhamen’s tomb), 57, was taken ill and rushed to Cairo. He died a few days later. The exact cause of death was not known, but it seemed to be from an infection started by an insect bite. Legend has it that when he died, there was a short power failure and all the lights throughout Cairo went out. His son reported that back on his estate in England his favorite dog howled and suddenly dropped dead. Even stranger, when the mummy of Tutankhamun was unwrapped in 1925, it was found to have a wound on the left cheek in the exact position as the insect bite on Carnarvon that lead to his death. By 1929 eleven people connected with the discovery of the Tomb had died early and of unnatural causes. This included two of Carnarvon’s relatives, Carter’s personal secretary, Richard Bethell, and Bethell’s father, Lord Westbury. Westbury killed himself by jumping from a building. He left a note that read, “I really cannot stand any more horrors and hardly see what good I am going to do here, so I am making my exit.”

This article is licensed under the GFDL. It uses material from the Wikipedia articles: Björketorp Runestone, Curse of the Billy Goat, Kennedy Curse, and 27 Club

Technorati Tags: curses

http://loveandsmileplus.blogspot.com/

View the original article here