Empire of the Odd

By Dan Martin

Clean me up, Scotty! While Star Trek’s heroes battled aliens and intergalactic villains, sci-fi fan Tony Alleyne has been waging a war on mould and fungus.

He said the flat he converted into a replica of a spaceship from the TV series has been damaged by heat and humidity from a cannabis farm in the property below.

Tony, 57, said the mould, fungus, and chalky residue on the walls of his Hinckley home were unexplained until police raided the flat below and confiscated cannabis plants and hydroponic growing equipment.

The Star Trek fan, who spent two years and £30,000 redesigning his flat along the lines of the Starship Voyager, said he had repainted the place twice in the past two years and treated mould-affected patches, only for the problem to return.

He said: “I had no idea what was causing it but there was mould in the bathroom and the transporter. It was a nightmare.

“I’ve had to remove the paneling and replace some lighting. I sugar-soaped the surfaces but nothing worked.

“I’ve put so much time and effort into making this place just right.”

Tony said the mystery was solved in November when police raided the flat below and found the drug-producing operation.

He said: “The police came and knocked on the door of the place below and took away 25 cannabis plants and the equipment.

“I couldn’t believe there was something like that going on right below me.

By Bigfoot, science, investigation, LiveScience’s Bad Science Columnist

posted: 16 December 2009 09:12 am ET

A photograph captured on a trail camera in the Minnesota woods has some people suggesting that Bigfoot has once again been filmed. In October, brothers Casey and Peter Kedrowski rigged a motion-activated camera to record wildlife near Chippewa National Forest. When the pair recently looked at the images, one showed a dark, featureless human-like figure that made them wonder if they had accidentally photographed the mysterious Bigfoot creature.

The figure looked a lot like a bow hunter might appear, though none of the local hunters the brothers spoke to admitted to being in the area on the night in question. Soon a pair of local Bigfoot enthusiasts arrived on the scene, and “authenticated” the mystery. Bigfoot buff Don Sherman analyzed the photo, comparing it to the most famous image of an alleged Bigfoot, seen in a 1967 film. According to Sherman, the proportions of the figure that the Kedrowskis captured are very similar to the figure in the 1967 Bigfoot film. “I am pretty convinced,” Sherman said.

Sherman may be convinced, but others aren’t—and this Bigfoot story doesn’t survive one of the most important scientific principles, Occam’s Razor. This idea (attributed to a William of Occam, who devised his version in the 1300s) is that if you have a phenomenon to be explained and several different theories are proposed as solutions, the simplest one (or the one with the fewest assumptions) is likely to be the correct answer.

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Cleveland, OH (OPENPRESS) January 6, 2011 — The Church of the SubGenius has announced that the end of the world will take place on Tuesday, July 5, 2011, at precisely 7:00 AM. In preparation for the fulfillment of this doomsday prophecy, the Church is requesting that all of its members participate in a bizarre religious ceremony taking place in southeastern Ohio, during the final weekend before the arrival of the apocalypse.

Since its inception in 1953, Church founder J.R. “Bob” Dobbs has predicted that a fleet of flying saucers will arrive at the beginning of July to destroy the worldwide Conspiracy against the Church of the SubGenius, while all ordained SubGenius ministers will be rescued by escape vessels piloted by the Alien Sex Goddesses, also known as the Xists.

The Church is inviting all of its members worldwide to gather together for the final hours in Pomeroy, Ohio from Wednesday, June 29 to Tuesday, July 5, at a clothing-optional outdoor campground called Wisteria Community. The first X-Day gathering took place in 1996 in upstate New York, and the event has increased in size and participants each following year. 1998 was designated the first true “X-Day,” and each successive year has added one to the total. This will be the first year the SubGenius cult holds its X-Day ritual at Wisteria in Ohio, after “Bob” decreed the new location is closer to the aliens’ chosen “Ground Zero” landing spot. This year’s celebration in 2011 is X-Day 14, or X-Day XIV.

The Church has been engaged in a massive recruitment campaign to increase the numbers of its membership before the arrival of the Xists. According to Church records, the organization currently has approximately 100,000 members worldwide. SubGenius recruitment has been especially dedicated among the ranks of people who refuse to conform to the norms of society, including disbelievers, blasphemers, pranksters, rebels, hackers, pornographers, geeks, and outcasts.

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A recent article in the Salem News, an Oregon based newspaper, tells the story of a married couple making their way through the woods when they heard the undeniable cry of Bigfoot.  This led me on a bit of a search and I’ve discovered that in fact, many sightings of Bigfoot are happening in Oregon in ever increasing numbers.  It doesn’t stop there, however, as the number of Bigfoot sightings, people hearing their cries and perhaps coming across dens and the like, are on the rise all over the country and other parts of the world that the animal is said to reside in.  But why?

The most obvious hypothesis would be increasing populations and deforestation.  As humans continue to amass in numbers as the forests continue to disappear, we’re bound to corner the creatures in smaller and smaller areas they can use as natural habitats.  Now add to that a growing number of outdoor enthusiasts hiking, camping and exploring and you’re bound to find them running into the elusive creature more frequently.  At times, he’s even been seen coming onto farms and into public nature reserves and the like.

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• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Jan 4, 2011 – Page: 1A

Glowing orange and red lights floated across parts of Florida’s sky New Year’s weekend, including in the Wellington and West Palm Beach areas, setting off a state of wonderment among witnesses.

But those UFOs weren’t so unidentified after all.

The drifting bulbs and streaks were probably floating lanterns, said Brian Vike, founder of the paranormal blog The Vike Factor, which fielded about 250 e-mails, 30 or so from Florida, noting the strange sightings worldwide.

“They’re all lit up and glowing,” Vike said. “They’ll go up and down and sideways, so it looks pretty weird.

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Albuquerque, NM — On his final day as Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson may be remembered for something he did not do. Richardson decided not to pardon the famous outlaw, Billy The Kid.
Richardson made the announcement on ABC’s Good Morning America Friday morning.

People around the country have been split on the Governor’s consideration to pardon Billy The Kid.

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Outgoing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is considering a pardon for celebrated outlaw Billy the Kid. An informal e-mail poll shows support. But time is running out.

By Mark Guarino, Staff writer / December 29, 2010

Billy the Kid, the mythologized gunslinger whose bloody exploits have been both romanticized and condemned, may receive his pardon from New Mexico’s governor this week – 130 years after historians say it was promised. Bill Richardson, a long-time enthusiast of Old West lore who is leaving office after eight years as governor, polled his constituents via the state website, seeking their thoughts on whether the Kid deserves a posthumous reprieve for court testimony he gave in an 1879 murder.

The governor’s office reported receiving more than 800 e-mails, mostly in favor of the pardon.

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Fruitcake cultist dubs hacktivistas ‘cartoon characters’

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Crime, 17th December 2010 12:54 GMT

Scientology head David Miscavige has declared victory over Anonymous in an internal church magazine.

Miscavige described Anonymous as a group of “mask-wearing subversive and anarchistic internet denizens”.

He continues: “Having run into the Church of Scientology, they are no longer laughing out loud or otherwise. Nor are they any longer anonymous”.

Referring to the arrest of Anonymous activists over January 2008 denial of service attacks on the Scientology website, Miscavige stated that these “ringleaders” were not the “trio of dastardly villains they had aspired to be, but more akin to cartoon characters”.

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