Ken: Strange news Archives

Welcome to the Plain of Jars

By Ken on September 6, 2010 1:16 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

The legends say that these huge stone jars in Laos were drinking vessels belonging to a race of giants. There are nearly a hundred of these sites, each having as few as one jar, or sometimes hundreds, scattered about the plains like plastic cups on the floor of a general admission area after the final act leaves the stage. Perhaps that's exactly what they are, the remains of a race of strange beings that visited to see something magnificent occur, and left when the lights came up.

If it were not for all the unexploded ordinance that still litters many of these sites, we could all explore there freely, like ants, dreaming of the giants' afterparty and sifting their dregs for nourishment.

Source: Weird Asia News

Beginnings and Endings

By Ken on July 11, 2010 9:37 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Lali Singh of Sanai Sampura, India, was born with two faces, and lived for two months, according to the Wikipedia entry. Somewhat different than the condition of being a conjoined twin, Lali's condition was caused by an overabundance of a type of protein involved in the development of facial features.

How might our lives be different if we could look in two directions at once? How might language be different, if we could express two things at once? How might our lives be different if we could sing with two voices, smile with two smiles, cry twice as hard?

After she passed, it is said that they planned to build a temple in her memory. Here in the western Empire, we do not build temples to honor those so marked by difference. Mainly we bury them, and construct powerful dreams from their ashes. It's a different tradition.

The Mysteries of the Crypt of Sansevero

By Ken on June 7, 2010 1:07 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Now, as to the "black legends" surrounding the Prince of Sansevero, there are many, each stranger than the last. That he was a mysterious figure, multilingual, an inventor of wonders, a Mason, an artist - to these things we can attest, and speak of publicly.

But as to the darker rumors - the whispers that he experimented on human subjects, could create blood from nothing, and authored a process by which men could be transmuted into marble - of these things we cannot know. The path of deeper inquiry is open to you, should your -- unusual curiosities provoke you in that direction. As for us, we shall retreat to safer climes. Some stones are best left unturned.

-K

Aliens have abducted the president!

By Ken on May 14, 2010 2:34 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

Upon reading this story, I have to admit that what caught my attention first was the fact that there is a Buddhist region of Russia. This is the republic of Kalmykia, on the northern shore of the Caspian sea, and the only nation in Europe of Mongolian origin. The place sounds fantastically interesting - read more about it, here.

Their president, Kirsan Ilumzhinov, is the head of the International Chess Federation. It's nice to have a smart guy in office! You just have to allow for certain pecadilloes, like planning to build a Chess City in Dubai, or claiming during a television interview that he has met aliens on board a spaceship.

Sure, it sounds a little crazy. But supposing he's right. Do you really want to be on the wrong side of a multimillionaire businessman chessmaster president with possible Mongolian ancestry and a connection to aliens? He's nine tenths of the way to being a bona fide supervillain. I really don't think we want to push him over that edge.

His name is Steve Gory

By Ken on May 13, 2010 9:00 AM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks

You know, speaking of names having power...

Last Wednesday, a man in Grenada walked into the Grenville police station carrying two heads, in a bucket. He's expected to make his first court appearance today.

His name is Steve Gory.

Godspeed to the departed. And Steve, in custody and before a fair court, perhaps you'll be able to tell people the story you carried for, clearly, far too long.

Image source: williams,annie47 on flickr

What's in a name?

By Ken on May 9, 2010 8:29 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

According to USA Today, a man by the name of Lord Jesus Christ was struck by a car while crossing the street in a crosswalk, in Northampton Massachusetts this past Tuesday, by one Brittany Cantarella. Never trust a Brittany.

Rest easy, ye faithful. Lord Jesus Christ is 50 years old, from Belchertown, and he's doing fine. But more to the point - what is it like, to go through life with a name like Lord Jesus Christ? Is it an assumed name, or did his parents name him that? Does he get ridiculed, assaulted for being a blasphemer? Does he have an army of the faithful at his command?

Some names have a certain gravity - when that gravity is large enough, it can affect not only the named, but also those that veer into the same orbit. Brittany would have been an ordinary hit and run offender - but now she's the girl that ran over God. Bit of a cross to bear, no?