This Week's Columns

 Aurora UFO Articles (click for larger view)  and Book

                Aurora Cemetary                       Cemetery Sign (click for larger view)

On April 19, 1897, The Dallas Morning News carried accounts of statewide alien sightings on its front page, including a story of a flying saucer crashing in the town square of Aurora, Texas. According to the paper, the UFO crashed into a Judge Proctor's windmill, destroying his flower garden. Townspeople searching the wreckage reported finding the ship's log, written in hieroglyphics. They also declared the dead pilot a Martian, and burned him along with his metal craft, then buried it all. (Jim Marrs, a former Star-Telegram reporter, visited Aurora in 1973, with a fellow reporter from the Dallas Times-Herald. After they'd passed a metal detector over the grave, Marrs laughed at the positive reading, but investigated no more. He later wrote a book, Alien Agenda. Anybody ever read it?)

Famous for their canned hams and Vienna Sausage, Armour Star used to offer canned pork brains. On these cans, a recipe for eggs and brains was printed. That one container, however, contained 3500 mg of cholesterol, or 1,172% of the average recommended daily requirement.

                                                    Aepyornism

On Madagascar, at least until the 16th century, the giant elephant birds (Aepyornis) lived. Measured skeletal remains indicate these flightless birds reached a height of 10 ft (3 m) and weighed upwards of one-half ton (454 kg). Their eggs reached 13 inches (34 cm) tall, and held about 2 gallons (7.57 liters) of omelet (about 160 times greater than a chicken egg).

                                                                Leeches

The bodies of all leeches are divided into the same number of segments (34), with a powerful clinging sucker at each end. One group (the jawed leeches or Gnatbobdellida) have jaws armed with teeth which bite the host. To get their fill, these bloodsuckers produce a non-enzymatic secretion called hirudin, which reduces clotting and keeps the blood flow going. (Being both male and female, each and every one, reproduction is extremely easy.)

                 Drugs                            Drug test panel

In 1990, the U.S. government tested 29,000 federal employees for drugs. As a result, 153 workers were found to have drugs in their systems. These tests cost a total of $11.7 million, meaning each positive test result cost tax payers $76,470.

   Joseph Stalin - 1902           Yakov Dzhugashvili           Vasiliy Dzhugashvili        Svetlana Dzhugashvili - 1967

   Stalin with Vasiliy and Svetlana     A child left to starve from Stalin's
                                                                   man-made famine

Josef Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (1878-1953), known as Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, liked to be called the "Father of His Nation," yet had no time for his own children. One son drank himself to death, another son committed suicide and a third child, a daughter, defected to the West at her very earliest opportunity.

       Lisa Diane Kish

From Sanger, Texas, The Denton Record-Chronicle reported June 24, 2008, police officer Lisa Diane Kish, 33, had been arrested (accused of altering price tags at a local Wal-mart before purchases were made), then released from a Denton County jail after posting $500 bail. Police spokesman Jim Bryan told the newspaper, "I believe two pair of pants and four pairs of panties were involved," adding, "according to the report, four $3 pairs of panties were placed on a hanger and a 75-cent price tag applied for all four."

                                                                               Limelight diagram

A hundred years ago, theater stages were lighted thanks to the process of heating lime (calcium oxide) until it brightly glowed. The high melting point of lime made it the ideal product to heat, then focus through a spotlight. That's why, even today, when referring to someone who stands out, we say they are "in the limelight."

                Peter the Great

Peter I (1672-1725) known as Peter the Great, became very inventive when it came to raising wealth for himself. For instance, he imposed fines or taxes on his countrymen who had such things as beards, marriages, births, food, chimneys, funerals and hats. And in 1718, he imposed a tax on souls....

          Church bells                            Cannons

In 1784, while living in France, U.S. statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) anonymously published a letter suggesting Parisians save on candles by rationing them and placing a tax on window shutters. Also, to inforce this rationing, each morning, at daylight, he suggested all be awakened by church bells ringing and cannons being fired. (Of course, he was well known for being a prankster with a pen.)

          Jivaro indians                    Shrunken Head

Western explorers entering the deep jungles of South America in the late 19th century, met the Jivaro (hee-var-o) tribes, the only people known to practice the art of shrinking heads. These small heads fascinated the Westerners so much, they began trading guns, ammo and food for them. And, in turn, this surge of shrunken head sales caused a shortage, which could only be corrected one way...murder. Because of this, it was not long before both the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments outlawed all head trading, shrunken or not. (Making them even more valuable.)

      Kudzu Seedpods               Flowering Kudzu         Kudzu on trees in Atlanta, Georgia

Originating in Eastern Asia, Kudzu (Pueraria montana) is a perennial vine which can grow up to 20 m (60 ft) per season at a rate of about 30 cm (12 in) per day. It was introduced into the United States in 1876, at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition, where it was promoted to reduce soil erosion, and since has covered vast parts of the South. In 1953, the plant was name a "pest weed" by the USDA. Kudzu literally smothers out local vegetation, while killing trees. (Some herbicides used actually seemed to help the kudzu grow faster.)

Kansai Denryoku Hospital
in Osaka, Japan

According to the Japan Times, on August 30, 2007, a three-month pregnant, 36-year old woman in Osaka, Japan, was rushed by ambulance to a total of nine hospitals, each claiming to be already full. What's worse, while the ambulance sped toward its tenth destination, a crash occurred, and the mother-to-be to miscarried. (The year before, another pregnant woman in Nara Prefecture died after she was refused admission by about 20 hospitals, all of them claiming their beds were full.)

The Kursh family, on their way
into the store

Bridget Kursh, 25, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, trained her 10-year-old male relative to steal women's purses, while she and her 11-year-old daughter distracted the shoppers. When caught, they were all taken to jail, including the driver waiting outside.

  Photuris lucicrescens    Photuris pennsylvanicus   Pyractomena Borealis - mating

There are more than 2000 species of fireflies in the world. Whether she is just hungry, or wanting to mate, the female firefly, of the species in the genus Photuris, sends out her signal. If she is hungry, she mimics the signal of a female not of her species. When that male comes forward in the night, she eats him. Otherwise, she signals her own species and lets him "have his way."