Is this really a good idea?

Haven't they seen 28 days later?

"And now, today's edition of "I Really Hope They Know What They're Doing."

Researchers at a facility in Canada have resurrected the virus behind the 1918 flu pandemic and infected monkeys with it.

The pandemic, which claimed millions of lives worldwide, was unusual because it killed lots of young people instead of the elderly. Here are some details of the new research:

By infecting monkeys with the virus, the team was able to show that the 1918 virus prompted a deadly respiratory infection that echoed historical accounts of how the disease claimed its victims."

http://blog.wired.com/biotech/2007/01/scientists_infe.html

I went down to see Seahenge in the big fuss about it back in 1999. Still have very mixed feelings about what happened.

http://www.lynnnews.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=991&ArticleID=1926097

This site gives wider background.
http://www.norwichmoot.paganearth.com/seahenge.htm

Went to see Pan's Labyrinth last night. Brought back memories of my own strange faery encounter recently a really great film though.

Always been interested in the history of this and now a case has occured in London It was involved in cases like the Salem witchtrials and other bizzare events strange how things can get out of control so quick.

"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one." Mackay

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,174-2493012,00.html

This accusation turned up in the Independent not long ago :)

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2006/04/george-w-bush-barbara-bush-and.html

VILLAGERS who protested that a new housing estate would “harm the fairies” living in their midst have forced a property company to scrap its building plans and start again. Marcus Salter, head of Genesis Properties, estimates that the small colony of fairies believed to live beneath a rock in St Fillans, Perthshire, has cost him £15,000.

His first notice of the residential sensibilities of the netherworld came as his diggers moved on to a site on the outskirts of the village, which crowns the easterly shore of Loch Earn.

He said: “A neighbour came over shouting, ‘Don’t move that rock. You’ll kill the fairies’.” The rock protruded from the centre of a gently shelving field, edged by the steep slopes of Dundurn mountain, where in the sixth century the Celtic missionary St Fillan set up camp and attempted to convert the Picts from the pagan darkness of superstition (Their words, not ours! - Ed).

“Then we got a series of phone calls, saying we were disturbing the fairies. I thought they were joking. It didn’t go down very well,” Mr Salter said.

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=2146412390

Some interesting articles here
http://www.genesisproperties.co.uk/press_st_fillans.htm

By REBECCA BOONE, Associated Press Writer Sat Oct 28, 5:19 PM ET

BOISE, Idaho - No black cat will cross your path this Halloween, not if a northern Idaho animal shelter can help it. Like many shelters around the country, the Kootenai Humane Society in Coeur d'Alene is prohibiting black cat adoptions from now to Nov. 2, fearing the animals could be mistreated in Halloween pranks — or worse, sacrificed in some satanic ritual.
he risk may be remote, said the shelter's executive director, Phil Morgan.

"It's kind of an urban legend. But in the humane industry it's pretty typical that shelters don't do adoptions of black cats or white bunnies because of the whole satanic sacrificial thing," Morgan said. "If we prevent one animal from getting hurt, then it serves its purpose."

Out of 97 cats at the shelter, 28 are black, Morgan said.
Black cat adoptions banned on Halloween

However, some animal experts say the practice does more to hurt animals than protect them.

"Black cats already suffer a stigma because of their color," said Gail Buchwald, vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter in New York City. "Why penalize them any more by limiting the times when they can be adopted?"

Black cats tend to be adopted less often than other felines, Buchwald said.

"Behaviorally, there's no difference from the color of the cat. It's tied into this whole mythology about the animal — don't let it cross your path or some foreboding or foreshadowing of evil — and that's an outdated superstition," she said.

It's not clear how many shelters still seasonally ban black cat adoptions, said Kim Intino, director of animal sheltering issues for the Humane Society of the United States, but the trend seems to be fading — along with the once-common bans on bunny adoptions around Easter or puppy adoptions as Christmas gifts.

"If there were people out there performing rituals with animals, then I would think that Halloween would be a time for that, but a good adoption process would tend to weed that out," Intino said. "There's going to be incidents of weird abuse that happen no matter what. The remedy is not banning black cat adoptions."

Been looking at www.lonelygirl15.com quite a bit. Even though it is fictional it is interesting. Like trying to search out the occult influnces.

Not really used to this blog idea not sure how much I will use it might be useful though to keep notes on general Forteana, supernatural stuff. Talking of which something weird happened to me the other day.

Went to see Repatriating The Ark exhibition at the Garden Museum. I went because I was very interested in the Christian Nold Bio mapping project which was fascinating. The result of it was an emotional map of Greenwich which was really interesting.

An unexpected discovery was The Court of the Fairy by an artist called Tessa Farmer. There was rather menacing atmosphere about the whole thing I thought which reminded me a bit of a time I once went to the Rollright Stones by myself and I felt there was something creepy waiting to happen. She really caught the idea the Fay are inhuman creatures whose idea of fun is rather unpleasant. You can see more of her work here:
http://www.claphamartgallery.com/artists-tessa-farmer.htm

So I was looking at these bizarre little creatures busy fighting some insect when I suddenly thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. One of the faeries moved towards me. I was a bit shocked just at that moment and jumped, but soon recovered and I put it down to it being an optical illusion.  The really  odd thing was last night I was out with a friend who also went to the exhibition and she said a very similar thing happened to her she thought she saw one of the fairies move.

 If it was just me I would ignore it as I am a bit obsessed by the subject matter but with two people it seems more significant. It was quite an unsettling experience.

Current Mood: indescribable

Always been fascinated by this story. Conan Doyle's book is here. Must go back and reread.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/cof/index.htm