Piss Christ

From our friend in Argentina comes this comical story about an image of Christ found in a dog's pee-stain on a corner shop wall. The original article is presented here below with a translation following.

For those who understand Spanish, there's a brief video clip about the "miracle" if you follow the link. Apparently everyone buying lottery tickets at the store is now playing the number "33" after the Jesus' age.

No word yet on whether the dog is up for sainthood.

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El Litoral Edición Online 14-08-2008 15:38
Última actualización 17:45

Insólito: Santa Rosa de Lima

Perro orina y deja la imagen de Cristo

Grande fue el alboroto de los vecinos de Santa Rosa de Lima, al oeste de esta capital provincial, cuando descubrieron que un canino al terminar de hacer un “pis” había dejado grabada una supuesta imagen de Cristo.

El hecho ocurrió en la calle Aguado al 2500, entre La Rioja y Tucumán. Al parecer un vecino divisó una imagen rara luego que el perro hiciera su necesidad en la vereda de un comercio, la misma era muy similar a la silueta de la cara de Cristo, según confesó.

Muchos vecinos se juntaron para ver la imagen, la que califican de “milagro”, prometieron asistir al “santuario” para rezarle y prenderle velas, “es una bendición para todo el barrio” declaró a EL LITORAL una vecina.

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Dog urinates and already the image of Christ

There was quite a hubbub among the residents of Santa Rosa de Lima, to the west of the provincial capital, when they discovered that after taking a piss a canine had marked a supposed image of Christ.

The event occured on the 2500 block of Calle Aguado between La Rioja and Tucumán. Apparently a resident discerned a strange image after the dog finished doing his business on the sidewalk in front of a store; the image was very similar to the silhouette of Christ’s face, according to his testimony.

Many residents gathered to see the image they qualified a "miracle", promising to frequent the "sanctuary" to pray and light candles; "it’s a blessing for the entire neighborhood" a resident told El Litoral.

Swedish police say human foot on beach identified

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — A human foot that washed up on a beach near a Swedish tourist resort belonged to a 59-year-old man who went missing on the southwestern coast last year, police said Wednesday.

Full article here

Another foot washes ashore....this time in Washington

Just follow the link above until someone more clever comes along to shed light on this baffling mystery. LoS has posted on this a few times before. When we first wrote about it in May there were only four feet. Now there are six, not including one hoax one one foot found on the Swedish coast. There is also apparently a footless body in Washington state.

Two of the Canadian feet come from the same body and another has been identified as that of a "depressed" man who disappeared some time ago. All but one of the feet are from men. All were found in athletic shoes. None are said to have been "severed" and bodies coming apart in water is said to be quite normal.

If it's normal that feet come apart from their bodies then why are so many being found now, in more or less the same place, all them in athletic shoes? Doesn't anyone die near the water wearing espadrilles or fisherman's Wellingtons? Doesn't anyone die in the water in Florida?

Interesting fact from the article:

"Her [Simon Fraser University forensic scientist Gail Anderson] experiments last year showed that it takes scavenging crabs, seals, sharks and fish about 28 days to fully devour a decomposing pig carcass, which is similar to a human carcass in its bacteria and rates of decomposition."

Also, from the Peninsula Daily News:

"One early theory that Canadian authorities broached early in the investigation of the five severed feet has been debunked.

The RCMP in British Columbia said that none of the feet belongs to the five men who died in a plane crash in the Strait of Georgia in February 2005."

Post Script Aug. 6: This article has some good observations, including:

"Although the similar footwear may seem like a strange coincidence, it actually explains why these feet have been found.

"Most body parts would sink," Shields said. "Because the feet have running shoes on them and running shoes consist of a spongy sole that contains air, it makes the foot float."

The other parts of the body, and other feet wearing different kinds of shoes, would sink and never be found, he added."

Why not?

So there's enough LoS-type sniffers hoodling about on the yahoo and the google tonight to merit a kind of samedi soir News Roundup! Yippee-ka-yay! Yee-haw! The sound of two hands farting. Cannon balls a-roaring! Muskets ablaze, the call of the bugle! Charge!!!!

OK, calm down now. It's just three measly stories hubbled and frothed over so many times. With one pithy and probably not-so-witty remark each.

Are you Roman tonight? England's Daily Mail lobs this weird grenade into the barbecue toot sweet with a report on an "acroterion - a kind of architectural ornament often found for decoration on the corners of a sarcophagus, a stone tomb or burial chamber...."

Yup! Looks like Elvis? Darn tootin' it does. It's part of the collection of Graham Geddes and is up for auction in October. Second Century AD. Originally predicted to sell for around 30k sterling, the hubbub over the Preseleyan bouffant has pushed expectations higher.

Tim Goodman, chairman of the Bonham and Goodman auction house:

"The Elvis angle has added great humour. It is a significant piece in itself, but the resemblance to the King has added at least 100% to the price."

An strange piece and a very clever marketing strategy, to boot.

Voodoo doll doesn't sway Deltona commissioner Florida. Volusia County. Deltona. A voodoo doll found in the hedge of a town commissioner.

"The doll was stuck with many pins and included a photo of the commissioner's face pinned on the doll's head. The doll, inside a black plastic tray, was found by Denizac's husband next to a periwinkle plant near the base of her mailbox Saturday afternoon."

A periwinkle, people! Is nothind sacred anymore?

Zenaida Denizac is reported to have "'no fear' of the cloth doll."

Finally:

Edgar Mitchell: Former NASA Astronaut Claims Aliens Exist

I want to believe, as the tagline goes, but does some of the wind behind this story's wings slacken when taken in light of his apparent belief that he was healed of kidney cancer by remote healing? "I had a sonogram and MRI that was consistent with renal carcinoma." (But he never had a biopsy) After six months of remote healing the irregularities on his scans had disappeared.

What else does Mitchell believe?

Check out Quantrek:

"Promoting and accelerating the advancement of knowledge about the ultimate nature of reality utilizing the scientific method for the betterment of humankind."

In addition to Quantrek, Ed Mitchell was one of the founders of the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS). Its history page is most interesting.

Mitchell: "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes. . . . The knowledge came to me directly."

IONS: "(Dr Mitchell's story is told in the book The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut's Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds)."

"We invite you to join our organization and get involved as we continue to actualize Dr Mitchell's vision of deep exploration of consciousness, self, and society."

The organization has three levels of membership:

Basic Membership, the Shift in Action Program and the Circle Members Program, in which "More benefits are available as the annual gift level increases."

"When you make a donation to IONS above and beyond your regular membership or Circle membership dues, you help mobilize a global movement devoted to personal and collective transformation."

Interesting that his org has a three-level structure, perhaps influenced by his membership in Freemasonry. (Artesia LodgeNo. 28. Artesia, New Mexico)

What are Noetic Sciences? you may wonder. It seems to be more or less a kind of exploration of the inner self, of intuition and other non-rational ways of knowing. Their mission has a decidedly "New Agey" ring to it: they speak of the "inner cosmos" and the "frontiers of consciousness." There is vague talk of "energies" and a lot about "healing."

Mitchell is definitely influenced by estoeric traditions; the final stanza of his poem "Insight" demonstrates:

"A mind that is free, reaches out to destiny

Holding thoughts filled with awe and with love;

To allow Nature’s plan to unfold in every Man

For here below is just like that above."

Ahh, the old "As Above, So Below" doctrine. And what is that? The Mystica puts it best:

This phrase comes from the beginning of The Emerald Tablet and embraces the entire system of traditional and modern magic which was inscribed upon the tablet in cryptic wording by Hermes Trismegistus. The significance of this phrase is that it is believed to hold the key to all mysteries. All systems of magic are claimed to function by this formula. "'That which is above is the same as that which is below'...Macrocosmos is the same as microcosmos. The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man, man is the same as the cell, the cell is the same as the atom, the atom is the same as...and so on, ad infinitum."

IONS: "Noetic sciences explore the "inner cosmos" of the mind (consciousness, soul, spirit) and how it relates to the "outer cosmos" of the physical world. "

So. For some people, this is all part and parcel of a man open to all possibilities. An explorer of psychic and physical space whose credibility is supported by his (shared) record time walking on the moon, over 9 hours.

Other people might wonder if he's still there.

Strange things are afoot

Had enough of mysterious disembodied human feet? Too bad; another human foot has washed ashore, this time in Tylösand, a tourist destination in south-western Sweden.

Swedish police spokesman Christer Harplinger says a shoe was found "containing a sock, with a foot inside it." An odd way of putting it.

Although no crime is suspected at this time, the foot has been sent to a laboratory and the police are combing through lists of missing persons.

According another spokesman,it's "far too early" to make any connections with the Vancouver 5. On the Canadian side, intrepid media relations mountie Annie Linteau told the press: "We have not been in contact with the authorities over there and vice versa, they have not contacted us either. We are just continuing our own investigation."

Stay tuned.