| February 28th 2009 Growing Stones A bizarre stone garden is attracting attention from around the world because its rocks are actually growing! The stones, known as trovants, are located near the village of Costesti, Romania. They come in various shapes and sizes, from quite small to 30 feet tall. The alien-like formations remain dormant during dry spells. But when it rains, they sprout new "growths"! "I thought I was stoned when I first saw the rocks 'having babies!'" quips geologist Dr. Vladimir Bork, of the University of Memphis. "I have never observed such a diverse array of concretions, which are growths of a living body within an inorganic mass. "It's really an amazing sight, and one that calls for a lot more investigation and research." One scientific theory says the rocks' hard cores are surrounded by sand, which creates a chemical reaction following havey rainfall. Then small blisters burst from the upper parts of the rocks, like flowers opening to the sin. "Many of the most interesting specimens are now housed in the Trovant Museum in Costesti," Bork says. "This geological reserve has drawn researchers from the U.S. and Europe to study the rocks." "I expect we'll discpver the true nature of these mysterious forms in the next few years." |
| February 27th 2009 Sistine Chapel Code Revealed An art critic says he's unraveled a secret code painted into Michelangelo's frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Waldemar Januszczak, 50, began his 20-year investigation by inspecting the paintings from the rare vantage point of maintenance scaffolding set inches away from the surface. He's also traveled to libraries around the world, researching the mystery in ancient texts. Januszczak says the key is the location of the portrait of the prophet Zechariah, who predicted the coming of a character he called the branch - a new messiah who would prepare humanity for the end of the world. Zechariah is the first image the pope sees upon entering the Sistine Chapel from his private quarters, and Pope Julius II, Michelangelo's employer, dictated what subjects the artist would paint and where they would be located. Januszczak's theory is that the Sistine Chapel's paintings are a code for what Julius thought was his destiny. The pontiff mistakenly believed himself to be the Branch, who was to lead an army into war to regain the papal territories. History shows his delusions of grandeur never materialized. |
| February 26th 2009 Jesus Made From Cocaine Federal agents busted a suspected drug trafficker at the Texas-Mexico Border after a sniffer dog alerted on a statue of Jesus made of cocaine. "This seizure goes to show what extreme measures people will go through to smuggle drugs," says Janice Ayala, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deputy special agent-in-charge. Cops say Bernardino Garcia-Cordova, 61, allegedly paid a Mexican woman $80 to carry the six-pound religious statue made of cocaine paste across the border to a bus station in Laredo, Texas. Border Patrol agents swooped down on the woman's vehicle after the police dog signaled the presence of narcotics. The drug-encrusted figurine reportedly would have been broken apart in water, sifted through a strainer and dried before being bagged and sold at an estimated street value of almost $200,000. Officials didn't arrest the female mule, who they believe was an unwitting accomplice and who cooperated with police by fingering Garcia-Cordova. He was charged with cocaine transportation, possession with intent to distribute cocoaine and conspiracy. He faces five to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine. |
| February 25th 2009 Witches' Prison A university's stone walls once rang out with the clank of chains and the tormented screams of hundreds of men and women destined for torture and death - all for being accused of the capital crime of witchcraft. Today, the building known as Palazzo Steri is part of a thriving modern college campus, serving as offices for the Vice Chancellor of Palermo University. But from 1601 to 1782, the ancient cells on the Italian Island of Sicily housed the unlucky prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition. Suspected of committing supernatural crimes, they faced the cruelest interrogations ever devised. Once found guilty of the sin of witchcraft, the prisoners - many of them poor, uneducated farm girls - were burned to death. During a recent restoration project, workers discovered an age-old secret hidden under layers of plaster. During their last days on Earth, the prisoners of the Iquisition had scribbled messages and scratched pictures into the walls of their cells. Some of the carvings tell part of a prisoner's story. One mural shows the bow of a ship. On the deck stands a doctor wearing a protective mask, declaring the ship under quarantine for carrying the plague. Other scratchings contain cries of pain and sorrow written in rural dialect. One heartrending message reads: "I feel hot and cold ... My intestine is shaking, my heart and soul are shrinking up." Historians say relics like these are important reminders of one of the darkest eras of human history. "Witchcraft panic swept the world in the 1600s, leading to some of the most extreme atrocities ever recorded," explains Dr. Charles Joyce, a history professor in Savannah, Georgia. "In Europe, the Inquisition branded accused withcs with red-hot pokers, stretched them on the rack, used bellows to fill their bodies with holy waterand burned them at the stake." "At the same time, witch-hunting hysteria hit the American colonies, culminating in the Salem Witch Trials." From 1688 to 1963, authorities in Massachusetts imprisoned over 150 people and killed at least 25. The hysteria began in Boston, when several children of the Goodwin family began screaming, falling into trance-like fits and saying outrageous things. They accused their Irish maid, Goody Glover, of consorting with the Devil. She was examined by local magistrates, tried and executed for witchcraft. Reverend Cotton Mather, a fire-and-brimsone Puritan preacher, wrote a popular pamphlet describing her trial and the symptoms of the Goodwin children. Soon, more girls were behaving the same way. Suspicion fell on Tituba, a slave woman. Under questioning, she named two other women as conspirators, which opened the floodgates. Dozens of victims pointed fingers at men, women and children from all walks of life. The lieutenant governor convened a special court to hear the cases. So many accused witched were sentenced to death, the court scheduled four execution dates to hang them all. But the worst death was reserved for 80-year-old farmer Giles Corey, who refused to enter a plea. The judge applied a form of torture called "peine forte et dure<' in which the victim was slowly crushed under stones piled on a board on his chest. After withstanding two days of intolerable pain, Corey was crushed to death without going to trial. |
| February 24th 2009 Ants Attack! UPDATE! A deadly menace has crawled out of a Texas seaport to threaten the southern United States with a one-two punch of painful stings and widespread electrical failures. They're called crazy raspberry ants, and despite their silly name, these lethal pests are no laughing matter. The "raspberry" comes from the name of the Houston-area exterminator who first noticed them, Tom Raspberry. He called them "crazy" because, unlike ordinary ants that march in strict lines with military precision, these scatter in unpredictable, fast-moving swarms. And the tiny, hairy, red-skinned insects are spreading through the Gulf Coast like wildfire. The good news is that the crazy raspberry ants - known to scientists as "paratrenicha species near pubens" - eat fire ants. Unfortunately, they also devour the ladybugs that keep aphids in check and suck the juices out of popular crops. They attack humans in vast numbers, and they're resistant to nearly every known pesticide. But worst of all, they're drawn to electrical equipment. Swarms have already caused malfunctions in computers, sewage stations, gas meters and fire alarms. "So far, nothing has stopped crazy raspberry ants from oozing out from the port of Houston in waves," explains entomologist James Blighlock. "Each nest has multiple queens, so even industrial-strength poisons have to be administered again and again - providing you can even find the nest to begin with." In towns and cities, the ants gather near large electrical junctures. "I've seen them clog the casings of traffic lights with their bodies, and burn out safety switches on control panels," Blighlock explains. "Once these ants reach major facilities - airports, military bases or nuclear power plants - there's no way to prevent them from causing a major incident." "Hundreds of thousands of lives could be at stake." |
| February 23rd 2009 Burglar Yelled At Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words were nough to foil a would-be burglar! The thief broke into Arlene Cook's home at the Woodfield Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. But instead of fleeing in fear, Cook unleashed a torrent of language she syas isn't fit for print. His response to the angry tirade: "OK, lady! Ma'am, I'm leaving!" The overwhelmed intruder slipped out the way he came. Police picked him up on a nearby roadside and hauled him off to the pokey. He now faces a felony burglary charge. |
| February 22nd 2009 Snake Venom Cosmetics Slime of snail - sting of bee - and maybe something to take the bags out from under your eyes? They might sound like elements of an ugly witch's brew, but they're really the secret ingredients of modern beauty products! "Cosmetic scientists like to give their potions technical-sounding names, but if you read carefully, you can find a whole weird world of amazing items hidden in face creams," explains industrial chemist Lorelei Stubbins. Here are a few of the most bewitching beauty formulas: ~Snake Venom Memory Cream - For $360 per small bottle, this lotion brewed by Syence Skin Care Laboratories uses snake venom peptides to smooth away wrinkles. ~Baba De Caracol - This Colombian cream, priced at $26 a jar, relies on purified snail slime extract to rejuvenate skin proteins overnight. ~Nourishment - Billing itself as a "balancing and anti-wrinkle essence," this Chinese cream uses bee mucus and genes found in nectar to turn back the clock. ~Vilact Lotion - Nanoko of Denmark laces their beauty treatment with "active first milk" - a substance also known as cow's colostrum, the liquid that precedes the production of milk. |
| February 21st 2009 London To New York... You See Visitors to the Big Apple or London can now get a trans-Atlantic treat from an amazing telescope that lets you see from one city to the other! The gizmo is billed as a long-lost tunnel, dug during the reign of Queen Victoria, that joins a site beneath the Brooklyn Bridge to a similar spot under London's Tower Bridge. In actuality, sculptor Paul St. George created the high-tech marvel using cutting-edge satellite communication technology. Spectators walk up to the Telectroscope's human-sized lens, peer into the depths of the tunnel - and see whatever's happening on the opposite end, 3,460 miles away. Passers-by use erasable boards to exchange handwritten messages. Some comment on the weather, while others get flirtatious, even going as far as to swap cell phone numbers. "We've heard rumblings of boyfriends and girlfriends and possible engagements," says spokesman Adam Bricault. |
| February 20th 2009 Bionic Monkey! Monkeys have learned to move a bionic arm using only mind control in a major medical breakthrough that promises a bright future for disabled people. University of Pittsburgh researchers implanted a grid of tiny electrodes into the region of the primates' brains that controls movement. Then the monkeys' own arms were gently restrained and the prosthetic limb was placed near, but not attached to, their shoulders. When the monkeys were offered treats like marshmallows and fruit, their brain activity flowed through the electrodes and was converted into movement of the robotic arm by a sophisticated computer program. After minimal training, the monkeys were able to direct the arm - using only their thoughts - to grasp the food and bring it to their mouths in one natural-looking motion. Researchers Dr. Andrew Schwartz says this new technology can be used to create bionic prosthetics for patients who've lost an arm or leg. And thought-controlled legs could eventually allow people with paralysis to walk again. "We're closer to the day when patients disabled by spinal cord injuries or amputations can use brain-controlled bionic limbs from the realm of science fiction towards science fact," declares neuroscientist Paul Matthews, of Imperial College London. |
| February 19th 2009 Squeaky Hips! Hundred of hip-replacement patients are players in a medical mystery as surgeons struggle to pin down what makes their artificial joints squeak! John Johnson, of Thomasvilles, Georgia, first heard the strange noise while picking up a pine cone - and thought an animal was sneaking up on him! Edward Heary, a housing appraiser in Hatboro, Pennsylvania, says clients look embarrassed and think it's their floorboards when they start hearing squeaks. Until 2003, squeaking artificial hips were extremely rare. Then medical manufacturers started using ceramic material to make joints more durable. Now, more than 7 percent of all patients say their ceramic hips make bizarre noises - and dozens have had new surgeries to stop squeaking! |
| February 18th 2009 Screaming Skulls! An artist terrorized by ghosts in a haunted hotel has recreated the ghastly encounter in a shocking painting! Greg Trader, of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, had his doubts about the spooky stories surrounding a hotel in Coronado, California. "I figured over-active imaginations were at the bottom of the spirit sightings," says Trader. "Then, on the very first night of my stay, the ghosts made sure I knew they were there by scaring the devil out of me!" The 63-year-old painter was enjoying the old-world atmosphere of the turn-of-the-century hotel, which included reading in bed by candlelight. "When I reached over to snuff put the flame on the candle, I got the shock of my life as three screaming skulls appeared in the smoke," Trader recalls with a shudder. "My eardrums felt as if they'd been pierced." Petrified with fear, the father of two leaped out of bed and ran to the light switch by the door. "The ghosts disappeared the instant the ceiling light came on," he says. "But I was so freaked out, I didn't sleep a wink. I pulled out my sketch pad to help me calm down and I drew the images I'd witnessed wafting up from the smoking candle." Trader checked with hotel staff members the next morning and discovered that a wealthy but tragic young woman, accompanied by three faithful servants, had stayed in the same room in the 1890s. "On the third day of her stay, she committed suicide on the steps of the hotel leading to the ocean," Trader says. "The desk clerk thinks the screaming ghosts are the girl's three employees, who remain to serve the tormented mistress they loved in life." "All I know is, if the spirits wanted me out of there, they got their wish. I left the next morning and don't plan to return." |
| February 17th 2009 Animals: Myth & Truth Sloths aren't slothful and ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand - no matter what we people believe! Here are the surprising truths behind some of the most widespread myths about animals. Myth: Bats are blind. Truth: They have hearing so highly developed that they can fly through pitch-black caves at night, but bats also have perfectly good eyesight. Some can even see ultraviolet light, giving them better vision than humans! Myth: Ostriches bury their heads in the sand, thinking if they can't see an enemy, the enemy can't see them. Truth: When faced with a threat, these long-legged birds do what comes naturally and run away! Like chickens, they grind up their food by swallowing grit, which they get by digging small holes in the ground, sticking their heads inside and gulping a pebble or two! Human observers originally misunderstood this maneuver as "hiding" from an enemy. Myth: Sloths barely move because they're lazy. Truth: Captive sloths might sleep 16 hours a day, but in the wild, they'll only spend 10 hours napping - and the rest of the time climbing up and down trees. Compare that with house cats, who sleep up to 18 hours a day! Myth: Goldfish swim in circles because they can't remember where they've been. Truth: They swim in circles because most of the bowls we keep them in are round! Experts have trained goldfish to navigate mazes, operate food-dispensing machines, recognize beacons and even tell time! Myth: Lemmings kill themselves by leaping off cliffs. Truth: This tall tale started with a 1958 Disney documentary called White Wilderness, which showed lemmings supposedly blindly following each other to certain doom. Allegedly, it was really a member of the film crew tossing the tiny creatures down the slope from off-camera. Lemmings really do migrate in vast numbers and sometimes face terrific obstacles, but they don't follow their leaders into any suicidal leaps if they can help it. Myth: Camels' humps are filled with water. Truth: Nope. Those humps are filled with fat, which helps camels store energy for long hikes across the desert. Camels actually store water in their bloodstream and can drink as much as 150 quarts in a single sitting! |
| February 16th 2009 Burial Plots For Work Officials in Dade City, Florida, are saving taxpayer dollars by trading employees' overtime for cemetry plots! The burial sites normally cost $350 for in-town residents and $400 for people living outside the city limits. The new deal will save nearly $800,000 in sick leave and vacation pay. "I haven't planned ahead for my funeral at all," says city worker Stanley Jones, 63. "So this is the perfect solution for me." "Hopefully, I won't need it for another 20 years or so." |
| February 15th 2009 66 Year Old Mother Adriana Iliescu called it a dream come true when she gave birth to a baby girl at the astounding age of 66 years and 230 days. But the miracle medical breakthrough has created a future frought with potential roadblocks for her toddler. As reported by ThePapNews back in August 2005, the retired professor said she was consumed with her career at the age most women become parents. Then, in her 50s, she realized what she'd missed and began hormone injections and fertility treatments. Nearly 10 years passed before she finally became pregnant by in-vitro fertilization and gave birth to Eliza Maria. Now 3 years old, Eliza is a bundle of energy with a single mom who looks and moves like a great-grandmother. But Iliescu, who went back t owork at Hyperion University in Bucharest, Romania, insists she has no problem keeping up with her rambunctious offspring. "I'm in good health and I have good genetics," Iliescu declares. "My father was 87 when he died and my mother was 86." "And I work out every day with all the running after Eliza. If I live as long as my parents, Eliza will be 20 by the time I die." But there's another element that adds to the precarious situation. Iliescu has no family or friends to help raise her daughter. So should she fall ill or have an accident, Eliza's care would fall to bureaucrats in the Romanian child care system, which is notorious for its brutality. Despite the daunting obstacles in the coming years, Ilescu faces the future with endless optimism. "If the child is going to be well looked after and have all her needs met, then it doesn't matter what age the mother is," she says. |
| February 14th 2009 Native Americans Taking It Back Centuries after the ancestral lands of Native Americans were stolen by an endless tide of European settlers, tribes are buying back their property with profits from their gambling casinos! And their purchases are having a profound effect on metropolitan areas across the country. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community has spent $100 million to recover about 1,600 acres a mere 20 miles from downtown Minneapolis. "It appears they're out to garner as much as they can get, wherever they can get it," says John Schmitt, mayor of the small town of Shakopee, Minnesota. "And they have a war chest to do just that." The tribe's land manager, Stan Ellison responds: "This land was taken by the point of a gun - and we're buying it back with American dollars." New York State is feeling the crunch after the Oneida Nation gobbled up 17,000 acres with hopes of converting it to independent territory. On the West Coast, Native American in California are buying huge tracks of land with their enormous wealth. "From an original 640 acres, we've purchased more than 3,000 additional acres outside San Diego," says Adam Day, assistant tribal manager for the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. "And what we do is, one by one, we apply to bring the land purchases into a trust." "San Diego County always opposes us, but we're batting a thousand and we'll have more in the future." "I could rattle off the names of two dozen other tribes like us all up and down California. Throw a dart at a map and you'll hit one." City administrators back in Shakopee are now worried they will eventually lose their town if the Indians have their way. "At one time, my tribe owned the southern half of Minnesota, the western edge of Wisconsin, part of Iowa and part of South Dakota," says tribal chairman Stanley Crooks. "So how much land would I like to have? I'd like to have it all back." |
| February 13th 2009 Moon Telescope The world's biggest telescope will be built on the moon, and when it's up and running, it'll allow astronomers to peer 13.2 billion years into the past - when the universe was just a baby. The telescope will focus on the first half billion years of the cosmos' life, when the only things in existence were hydrogen and helium atoms - no planets, no stars, no galaxies - a period known as the Dark Ages of the universe because so little is known of it. The Dark Ages Luner Interferometer (DALI) will consist of 100,000 antennas on the far side of the moon. The array will be so sensitive that it will be able to hear the sound of atoms spinning hundreds of millions of light years away. The antennas will be made of a light-weight plastic called polymide, which will be rolled up for transport and unfurled once they get to the moon. When fully assembled, DALI will occupy 30 square miles of the lunar surface. The ambitious project is being funded by NASA and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. |
| February 12th 2009 Bionic Armor Just like Iron Man in the blockbuster movie, soldiers of the future will be equipped with hi-tech armor that will make them just about invincible. The Army has spent $50 million on a number of exoskeleton projects, and the investment is beginning to bear fruit. The suits of armor combine robotics and lightweight materials to give our troops superhuman strength and speed while protecting them from enemy weapons. The average soldier in the field will be able to run at 20 miles per hour, lift mre than 300 pounds and jump 30 feet into the air. The suits are fitted with sensors, state-of-the-art hydraulic systems and a computerized "brain" that mimics the human central nervous system. The only remaining obstacle is cost, but engineers are working hard to get the price down to about $2,000 when the armor goes into production. With modifications, the suits can be used by law enforcement, rescue workers and even in hospitals and idustrial factories. |
| February 11th 2009 BEER ENDANGERED!!!!! OH NO!!! "OH, NO," is right PAP I wish I could say it wasn't so! Global warming has delivered a sucker punch straight to the world's beer belly! Hops, used as a preservative and flavoring agent in almost every kind of beer - especially pale ale - depends on cold winters and the late arrival of spring to mature properly. Global warming is leading to warm winters and early springs in most hops-growing areas and the plants are going stagnant before they reach maturity. America is spearheading and international effort to identify and cultivate varieties of hops that can better withstand the new weather patterns. So far, researchers at Washington State University have found two strains with the desired traits in New Mexico and Arizona, but the scientists admit they are racing the clock to bring the hops to market in time to prevent beer prices from soaring out of control. And there's more trouble brewing. Climatologists predict that environmental change will soon threaten two other essential beer ingredients - malt and barley. |
| February 10th 2009 The Power Of Gospel Music! Gospel music not only inspires the soul, it soothes the frazzled nerves of modern man. The Rev. Calvin Butts frequently sees the music of his choir profoundly affect stressed-out parishioners on a Sunday morning. "They come in looking sad and leave with a smile," says the pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City. "Music is an overpowering positive and healing influence." Renowned neurologist Dr. Oliver Sacks agrees. He has joined Butts to promote gospel music as a medium for reaching out to Alzheimer's patients, Tourette's syndrome victims and other people afflicted with brain abnormalities. "Neurologists have begun to provide direct evidence of the emotional and therapeutic impact of music," Sacks says. |
| February 9th 2009 Life After Death? A young woman has no doubt there's life after death because she was saved by a message from her mother from beyond the grave! "Mom died when I was 12 years old," says Katie Fromme, a waitress in Green Bay, Wisconsin. "I never felt her presence until one night near closing time at the cafe where I work." "I went out back for a smoke while the manager, Rick, began counting up the receipts at the register." Fromme noticed a strange car parked behind the building, but thought nothing of it. "I realized it was deathly quiet up front when I came back into the kitchen, and I heard my mother's voice saying, 'Don't move, Katie!'" Frozen with fear, the 19-year-old girl stayed put until Rick raced past her to grab the phone and call the cops. "A gunman robbed the place, and if I'd come through the back, I would have startled him and probably ended up dead," Fromme explains. "Mom's warning kept me safe." Another instatnce of a spirit reaching out to the living occurred when a man was contatcted by his beloved grandfather. "Grandpa was a highly respected baker who created magnificent wedding cakes," says Tory McManus, of Houston, Texas. "I was heartbroken when he died." "Then, a few days later, I was awakened from a sound sleep and there was Grandpa standing at the end of my bed." "He raised his hand and said, 'Everything's great and I'll always be with you." McManus discovered the old man had left him with an incredible gift soon after the visitation. "Ever since then, I've gained an amazing talent for creating cakes - something I could never do!" exclaims McManu, 38. "I've gone from being the bookkeeper for the family bakery to being the most creative decorator on staff!" |
| Another ThePapNews House House Tip To steady a wobbly chair or table, cut a horizontal slice off a wine cork and slip it under the legs. The cork won't scratch wood floors and it'll keep your furniture stable. - Richard Newman, Panorama City, California Do you have a money-saving tip for ThePapNews Readers? We'll pay you basically nothing for each one we publish. To send your helpful hint: Just keep clicking all over the screen till some other page shows up. |
| February 8th 2009 Free Or Next To Nothing In these hard times, the notion of getting something for nothing - or almost nothing - seems too good to be true. But once you weed out the scams and junk, there really ARE some great deals out there. Here are three of them. If you don't have a computer, borrow a friend's, a relative's, or use one of the freebies at your local library. The Silver Jewelry Club (www.silverjeweleryclub.com) offers free earrings, bracelets, pendants and rings. It's high quality stuff and all you pay is a tiny $5.99 shipping charge. In addition to the Internet, they also sell in wholesale outlets and stores. Ask if you don't see their products. With the Electric Orange program from ING, you'll not only get free online checking, they'll pay you up to 3.4 percent interest on your balance! You can make deposits, pay bills, transfer funds - everything you'd normally do at a regular bank - only there's no paper involved. Long onto Google, then search for "ING checking account." The Web Site www.allrecipes.com now offers recipes and even cookbooks you can download for free. |
| February 7th 2009 The Lightning Touch! A man cursed with a lightning touch has left electrical scientists stymied with his bizarre ability to zap whatever he touches with a potent static charge. Jerry T., a contractor from Cleveland, Ohio, who doesn't want his last name revealed for privacy reasons, was at a construction site in 2005 when he was struck by lightning. Ever since that heart-stopping incident, he says his life has been turned upside down by unusal "spells," during which sparks fly from his hands. "When it turns on, it's like when you walk on a shag rug in your socks in the wintertime, only turned up to a hundred," explains Jerry, who has avoided publicity over his unusual condition. "Nobody can touch me and I have trouble getting near any kind of power tool or appliance unless I'm wearing thick rubber gloves." "I've lost my wife and a heck of a lot of work over this. I just want it to stop - but I can't figuire out what to do to make it go away!" Researchers have been unable to explain what triggers the incidents, other than to note that they're more frequent when humidity is low. "The first time it happened, I thought it was some kind of prank," Jerry explains. "I was in my workshop when, all of a sudden, I heard this crack." "Next thing I knew, all the lights had blown out and there were these flashes all around me." "I thought something had shorted out, then I realized it was me!" After witnessing the bizarre effects firsthand, Jerry's doctor reffered him to a local university, where electrical engineers tried to locate the source of the electrical surges. "Jerry's somehow ionizing all particles around him into extremely high voltage, low amperage displays," explains Kurt Handford, Ph.D. "The body is an electrical instrument - our nerves and muscles work by electrical impulses. But this level of power is unheard of." |
| February 6th 2009 Drug Store Tips The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medicine for seasonal allergies. Fluticasone furoate (Veramist) is a once-a-day nasal spray treatment, the first of its kind to show consistent and significant improvement in symptoms such as itchy eyes, runny nose, congestion, cough, sneezing, sore throat and sleep problems. The drug is administered via a small, easy-to-use canister that dispenses exactly the same amount every time you use it. Side effects - headaches and nasal sores - are rare. |
| No-Alcohol Berry Sangria PAPlosion When the weather heats up, cool off with a refreshing, fruity drink - it's even alcohol-free to satisfy teetotaler! "I concocted this last Friday behind the gas station, when we were all sweltering in the heat," says Jo Jo Louden, of Phoenix, Arizona. "It really perked us up!" Thanks for sharing your delicious drink with ThePapNews readers, Jo Jo. Your $2,500 check is in the mail! 1 1/2 cup unsweetened frozen raspberries 1/2 cup unsweetened frozen strawberries 8 oz. 100% grape juice, preferably purple 8 oz. orange juice 4 oz. lime or orange seltzer Place berries in 1 qt. pitcher; mash gently with a wooden spoon. Add juices and seltzer. Mix well and pour slowly into glasses. Makes 4 servings. |
| February 5th 2009 Stop The Diesease Before It Starts Most fatal diseases don't pop up overnight - they start slowly and build quietly to a crisis. By learning to recognize two of the most common of these "pre-conditions," as doctors call the, you can spare yourself a lot of grief - and even save your life. Prehypertension: What used to be considered a normal blood pressure reading - a top nimber of 120-139 and a bottom number of 80-89 - is now labeled prehypertension, a sign that you're headed for a heart attack or stroke. Prehypertension affects one third of all American adults, most of them unaware of the danger they're in a 37-percent chance of developing full-blown htpertension (high blood pressure) and three times the risk of dying from a heart attack! To stop this pernicious disease in its track, limit your sodium intake to 2,400 milligrams (mgs.) a day. Cut out table salt and keep a careful eye on food labelsto make sure you stay within this guideline. Also, if you're over-weight, lose 15 lbs. Do it slowly and you'll greatly reduce your risk of a cardiovascular calamity. Prediabetes: More than 50 million Americans suffer from this condition, which is defined as having a fasting blood sugar level between 100 and 125. You are likely to be among this number if you've gained more than 11 pounds since your 18th birthday, exercise rarely or not at all or have a family history of diabetes. There's a 30 percent chance that three years after developing prediabetes, you'll come down with the full-fledged disease - and that means you're on your way to a host of devastating complications, including kidney failure, blindness, heart disease and circulation problems that could cause you to lose one or both legs to amputation. In fact, diabetes can damage just about every organ in your body, so it's essential to arrest its progress. Starting today, lose 7 percent of your body weight, no matter how much you weigh now. Exercise moderately for at least two hours per week and make sure fat composes no more than 25 percent of your daily intake. |
| February 4th 2009 Pain, Insomnia and Poor Immunity Tip Ordinary tap water can help you fight a host of conditions that would otherwise cost a furtone in drugs and doctor visits to treat! Hydrotherapy involves nothing more complicated or expensive than luxuriating in a hot tub or soaking your feet in hot water followed by cold. A German study found that the age-old technique is particularly effective at strengthening your immune system to fight infection. It also helps take the edge off chronic pain and enables you to develop regular, healthy sleep habits. |
| February 3rd 2009 The Vatican's 'Alien Brothers' The Jesuit priest in charge of the Vatican Observatory has declared that it's perfectly possible to have an unshakeable faith in God and still believe in intelligent alien life. Father Jose Gabriel Funes, in a recent interview with the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, said that ruling out the existence of advanced civilizations elesewhere in the universe puts a limit on God's creative freedom. "How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere ?" Funes asked. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother' and 'a sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? "It would still be part of creation!" Funes also declared that the Big Bang theory was the most reasonable explanation for the creation of the universe - but that God was the motivating force behind it. "We are not the result of chance," he insists. |
| February 2nd 2009 The Gov't Doesn't Want You To Know! A nuclear physicist and aerospace scientist has revealed the facts about UFOs - how spacecraft can travel between the stars and the web of deceit woven by official government cover-ups. Stanton T. Friedman, MSc., designed classified nuclear aircraft for McDonnell Douglas and Aerojet General. After four decades of investigating the UFO phenomenon, he's also widely hailed as America's foremost scientific ufologist. His new book, Flying Saucers and Science: A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs (New Page Books), overturns skeptical beliefs about flying saucers. "I have found out that anti-UFO arguments so often made in the name of science are based on ignorance of the facts, arrogance about the critics' 'superior' knowledge and a strong denial of the evidence," Friedman explains. "The major arguments are that there is no evidence of UFO reality, that one cannot get here frm there, that secrets cannot be covered up and that the great majority of sightings are by unrespectable people." "All of these are demonstrably false." Friedman discusses six large-scale scientific studies that include sightings reported by large groups of witnesses, including astronomers and meteorologists. He describes how UFOs could cross the gulf of space and perform dizzying aerial maneuvers using magnetic fields and plasma - a glowing, electrified substance create dby super-heating air. He also penetrates the secrecy around lethal close encounters - military reports left out of officials studies like Project Blue Book. "I have personally heard of seven instances in which military planes chasing flying saucers were never heard from again," Friedman explains. "If I've heard of seven such events, surely there have been a great many more." "Impotence in the face of intruders is not something that governments want to admit." Friedman compares government secrecy regarding UFOs with Bletchly Park, the British think tank where 12,000 mathematicians and government employees broke the Axis codes in World War II - and kept it secret for 25 years after the war ended. |
| February 1st 2009 UFO Explosion Over Resort! Terrorized natives watched in horror as a huge UFO exploded in mid-air and rained deadly debris into the waters surrounding their island paradise. Residents on Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam, say the ground shook violently during the tremendous blast. Shards of a mysterious metal began washing ashore within minutes of the detonation. "The explosion happened about five miles above the ground, and authorities couldn't identify what kind of aircraft it was," says a spokesman for the Vietnam News Agency. Soldiers were imnediately dispatched to search for survivors and collect wreckage. A government official stated there were no reports of missing aircraft in the area, but he refused to acknowledge that an alien spacecraft had crashed. However, scores of eye witnesses reported the airship was definitely not from Earth. "The shape and speed of the UFO was like nothing I've ever seen," says village elder Chinh Hai Lon. "The pieces we found are made of metal but not steel or iron - something foreign." "I got a very clear look at the spaceship before it blew apart. It was a bluish-gray and round with big, white lights on the bottom surrounding a glowing center light." The remnants of the spaceship are being examined by a team of scientists. Security on the project is extremely tight and their findings aren't expected to be announced for several months. "It appears there were no survivors of the explosion, " says Lon. "In fact, we haven't found any sign of clothing or body parts in the wreckage. It's as if they totally disintegrated." "I just hope that people from their planet don't think we shot it down. That could lead to a terrible war we're sure to lose." |