Saturday, June 16, 2012

With video: Two female Michigan lawmakers silenced after vagina, abortion comments

State Reps. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, left, and Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, were scolded over their remarks related to abortion. / File photos

Freedom of speech has it limits – at least in the state House of Representatives.
State Reps. Lisa Brown, D-West Bloomfield, and Barb Byrum, D-Onondaga, were told today that they wouldn’t be recognized to publicly speak on any matters before the House because of comments they made Wednesday during an emotional debate on a bill that puts new restrictions on abortion providers.MORE HERE!!

Two Hundred Years of Surgery

Surgery is a profession defined by its authority to cure by means of bodily invasion. The brutality and risks of opening a living person's body have long been apparent, the benefits only slowly and haltingly worked out. Nonetheless, over the past two centuries, surgery has become radically more effective, and its violence substantially reduced — changes that have proved central to the development of mankind's abilities to heal the sick. MORE HERE.

Saturday, June 09, 2012

Ye olde vampire slaying kit: Victorian oak box complete with wooden stakes, garlic paste and vials of holy water up for auction

Casket contains set of rosary beads, three glass bottles containing holy water, holy earth and garlic, and a book of common prayer dated 1857
Macabre artefact expected to fetch up to £2,000

By Tom Gardner
PUBLISHED: 05:51 EST, 7 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:57 EST, 7 June 2012

They say you can never be too prepared... but even for the most superstitious person this may be overkill.
A 19th century Vampire slaying kit, which includes a wooden mallet and four oak stakes, glass vials of holy water and garlic paste is expected to fetch up £2,000 when auctioned later this month.
The macabre artefact also has a percussion cap pistol - invented in the 1830 - and a steel bullet mold, all carefully crafted to offer the best protection against any creatures of the night.

The case contains a rosary and crucifix, two glass bottles containing garlic paste and holy water, alongside a pistol and bullet mold

Precautions: The case contains 1) a rosary 2) crucifix 3) a handwritten psalm (Luke 20:27) 4) a pistol 5) four oak stakes 6) a bottle of consecrated earth 7) a common prayer book 8) a wooden mallet 9) silver bullet mold 10) a cloth 11) two glass bottles containing garlic paste and holy water

Are you sure digging him up is a good idea? Archaeologists find Bulgarian 'vampires' from Middle Ages with iron rods staked through their chests

By Daniel Miller
PUBLISHED: 07:50 EST, 5 June 2012 | UPDATED: 12:46 EST, 6 June 2012

If you thought vampires were simply the stuff of myth and legend - and perhaps the odd teen horror film - think again.
Archaeologists in Bulgaria have unearthed two skeletons from the Middle Ages pierced through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into the undead.
They are the latest in a succession of finds across western and central Europe which shed new light on just how seriously people took the threat of vampires and how those beliefs transformed into the modern myth.

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Archaeologists in the Black Sea town of Sozopol, Bulgaria have unearthed two skeletons from the Middle Ages pierced through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into vampires

Find: Two skeletons, believed to be those of suspected Medieval vampires, were discovered with iron poles plunged through their chests in the Bulgarian Black Sea town of Sozopol

Old portraits of children with creepy 'ghostmothers' in the background show how far mums would go for a good photo

By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 20:58 EST, 6 June 2012 | UPDATED: 20:59 EST, 6 June 2012

In the early days of photography, many well-off families jumped at the chance to have their precious children's likeness captured for eternity.
The one trick that they had to deal with next, after finding photographers willing to set up the bulky equipment and travelling to the portrait location, was getting the little babies to sit still for the entirety of the session.
As a result, many photographers enlisted the help of the children's mothers, with often creepy outcomes.

Tricks: Mothers used to cover themselves in black cloth and hold their children upright while getting portraits taken back in the 1800s, which resulted in odd figures in the photos as well

Tricks: Mothers covered themselves in black cloth and hold their children upright while getting portraits taken back in the 1800s, resulting in odd figures in the photos

Tombstones from long ago surfacing on S.F. beach

Carl Nolte

Friday, June 8, 2012

Strong winds and shifting sands have uncovered an eerie reminder of San Francisco's past: discarded gravestones and broken tomb markers used decades ago to shore up the Ocean Beach seawall.
The tombstones became visible this week, including bits and pieces of marble and granite that once marked the final resting places of citizens long dead.