Meets The Weird » News

Venezuelan Mimes Fight Back Against Nightmarish Traffic

John D — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:45:39 +0000

To say that in Caracas, Venezuela traffic is a problem would be making a gross understatement. In the Sucre district of the city it has become such a problem that the mayor has turned to mimes to help tame the area’s traffic woes. The 120 specially trained mimes wearing brightly colored “clown-like” costumes took to the streets the past week to admonish traffic law violators. Surprisingly, this isn’t a new idea. A similar program that was successful in Bogota, Colombia prompted Sucre’s mayor Carlos Ocariz to give the mimes a try. Will giving bad drivers the “silent treatment” prompt them to change their ways?

In Venezuela, gas is cheap (like 14 cents a gallon cheap), driving is seen as a right and very little is done to regulate it. In fact, Venezuelan authorities were unable to even suspend drivers licenses until 2008 and they didn’t actually suspend a single license until earlier this year when police stopped a bus driver whose vehicle was overloaded with passengers, speeding and missing a wheel. The driver’s license was suspended for one year. The maximum suspension that the law allows is 5 years, but you need to kill someone to receive that harsh a punishment. With no real penalties for breaking traffic laws drivers are free to do what ever they want on the roads. Speeds on Venezuela’s pothole filled highways routinely exceed 100 miles per hour as drivers weave from lane to lane and motorcyclists treat sidewalks as their own passing lanes. With such little emphasis on traffic safety, it is hard to imagine that putting mimes on the street in will do anything but add to the chaos.

City Hires Mimes to Give Bad Drivers the Silent Treatment

Does the NYPD Have Anti-Aircraft Capabilities?

John D — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:00:58 +0000

Last night on 60 Minutes NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly shared an interesting piece of information. Apparently, according to Kelly, the NYPD has anti-aircraft capabilities. While Commissioner Kelly was careful to point out that the decision to deploy the cities AA assets would only be made in the most extreme situations, he did say they are equipped and prepared should the need arise.

Because Kelly declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the NYPD’s anti-aircraft arsenal we are left to speculate what exactly that might be. While there are a vast array of AA weapon systems available, my guess is that the NYPD is most likely fielding the FIM-92 Stinger Missile in its man portable configuration (seen to the left being fired by a US Marine). Since the NYPD would most likely need to deploy its anti-aircraft weapons against a single small aircraft, a shoulder fired solution seems like the best choice. In this sort of situation the city wouldn’t need the multi-fire capability of a vehicle mounted system and being man portable, the stinger can be discreetly transported without panicking the public, is quickly deployable and still deadly accurate (ironically the same reason authorities are afraid terrorist may choose to use a shoulder fired missile against a commercial aircraft).

Regardless of the weapons system the NYPD is using, the fact of the matter is that they are capable of shooting an aircraft that they feel is a threat out of the sky. Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about this. On one hand I can understand a municipality to wanting to be able to protect its citizens (and thus its businesses and tax revenue) from every possible threat. However, what we are witnessing is incredibly powerful weaponry being placed in the hands of police officers and I don’t know if that is a good thing. What do you think?

Fighting terrorism in New York City [via Gizmodo]

Rabbit Saves Family From Blaze

John D — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 21:15:05 +0000

Quite often animals are dismissed as simple creatures driven by very basic instincts. Occasionally an animal acts in a way that flies in the face of what someone would expect from a flight or fight response and instead exhibits what in humans we would label as bravery. A pet rabbit in Ketchikan, Alaska became one such case when it saved its owners from a house fire. According to fire officials, the homeowner was alerted to the fire when her pet rabbit jumped onto her bed and began scratching her chest. Thanks to the rabbit, the homeowner and her daughter were able to escape the house unscathed. Unfortunately the rabbit was not so lucky and succumbed to smoke inhalation.

Hero rabbit saves owners from house fire [via Gizmodo]

UFO Flies Through Today Show Segment?

John D — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:50:24 +0000

Did the Today Show unwittingly capture footage of a UFO flying over the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, or is it something far more earthly? At approximately 1:25 into a segment about the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake a black object flies across the frame seemingly just behind the reporter. To say that the UFO in this clip is quite noticeable is an understatement. So, is it possible that the news crew was so focused on the reporter and the segment that they completely missed a UFO flying across the San Fransico Bay in broad daylight, or is there another possible explanation for the object? Here is the clip in question, direct from the Today Show’s website:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As you can see the object quickly passes through the frame, silently traveling a path that places it somewhere between the unaware reporter and the bridge. How could the news crew miss something so large crossing their shot? While the quality of the video is so low, a positive identification is unlikely, I think there is a plausible explanation for the object and the news team’s indifference. In fact, you probably see at least one of the “object” everyday and don’t even notice it. I believe that the Today Show crew didn’t capture evidence of a UFO but instead captured footage of the bay area’s indigenous wildlife in the form of a bird flying along the bay. Do you agree? Is this a bird gliding gently on the breeze, or do you think that the Today Show has captured evidence of a UFO over San Francisco Bay? Feel free the share your thoughts in the comments.

Today Show: Is California due for another ‘big one’?

Meets the Weird, now formatted to fit in your pocket

John D — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 20:41:55 +0000

For those of you using smart phones, I made a small change to the site last night to make it easier to get your fill of Meets the Weird on the go. Now when you visit the site from your Blackberry, iPhone, or Android device (more devices can be added to that list, just shoot me an email at john@meetstheweird.com and I will try and make sure you can access the mobile site) the page should be optimally formatted for your phone’s smaller screen. The best part about all of this is that you, my valued reader, don’t have to do a single thing to get access to the mobile version of the site. Simply visit the normal URL (http://www.meetstheweird.com) and the page will be automagically reformatted to be easy to read and navigate from your phone.

In other site news, a tag cloud has been added to the navigation bar to make it easier to find the posts that interest you most.

As always, if you are not already, be sure to follow Meets The Weird on Twitter and subscribe to our RSS feed to stay up to date on all the latest happenings on the site.

How to completely opt out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization

History Channel Seeks Lead Investigators For Documentary

John D — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:28:56 +0000

If you are a scientist or researcher looking to raise your public profile, this may be right up your alley: Go Go Luckey Entertainment & BermanBraun Television Productions are looking to cast two lead investigators for a documentary series that will look into 2012 predictions. They want to set up a Mulder and Scully sort of team (though with an Indiana Jones type twist) that meets the following requirements:

Male & Female Investigators between the ages of 30 and 45, who are scientists, explorers, or adventurers with advanced degrees (Ph.D desired).

Ideal Investigators would already be a team (husband and wife, co- workers) who fall somewhere between the FBI Agents on “The X Files” and “Indiana Jones”. One is a believer, the other a skeptic. One is driven by reason, science and empirical evidence, the other by feelings, intuitions and faith.

Ideally, the woman would be the skeptic and the man the believer. We are not limiting ourselves to an existing team nor will we rule out a woman who is the believer and a man who is the skeptic. We are open to any combination as long as they are articulate, passionate, and knowledgeable.

Investigators must also be genuinely curious as to why there are predictions in nearly every culture that the world will end in 2012.

Each episode is supposed to center around investigations into End of Days profecies and other unsolved mysteries from around the world.

If you meet their qualifications, this seems like an interesting opportunity, or if you don’t qualify (like me) this looks like a show that will definitely be worth watching when it airs.

Seekers 2012 Casting

Could a Third of “Known” Dinosaurs Never Have Existed?

John D — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:45:31 +0000

According to National Geographic a controversial new theory suggests that as many of a third of currently recognized dinosaur species may never have existed at all. At least not as a true species. According to analysis by paleontologists from UC Berkley and Montana State University, many currently recognized species may in fact be misidentified juveniles of other known species. The paleontologists theorize that, like birds, the dinosaurs underwent drastic physical changes during adulthood. While other paleontologists acknowledge that some species may have been misidentified juveniles, just how many have been mistaken is the source of much controversy. Unfortunately, the amount of fossil material currently available to researchers is insufficient to adequately test this new theory.

A Third of Dinosaur Species Never Existed? [via IQXS]

New Lead in D.B. Cooper Mystery

John D — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 19:33:27 +0000

The Seattle Post-Intellengencer is reporting that the FBI has a new lead in the 37 year old D.B. Cooper hijacking case that raises more questions than it answers. A south west Washington resident’s children found a parachute while playing in a rural field he had recently plowed. The FBI believes the parachute is possibly of the same type used by a passenger identifying himself as Dan Cooper during the hijacking of a 727 in 1971. After receiving $200,000 in ransom money and releasing the jet’s passengers, Cooper instructed the pilot to take off, eventually jumping from the jet’s rear stairway mid-flight, ransom in hand. The recent parachute discovery is within the area where Cooper would have landed. If found to belong to Cooper, this new parachute raises some new issues that add to the theory that Cooper was not killed during his escape as the FBI claim. In 1980 a young boy on a picnic with his family found $5,880 of the ransom money along the Columbia River. Experts agree that because of the money’s shallow depth that it could not have been placed on the shores of the Columbia River any earlier than 1974, three years after the hijacking. The lack of a body at the parachute discovery site and its distance from the spot where the ransom money was discovered makes the possibility that Cooper survived the jump quite plausible if the parachute can be linked to the ones given to him in 1971. I personally think that Cooper made the jump, escaping with the ransom and the cache of money found on the banks of the Columbia was a back-up stash placed by Cooper if he felt he needed to run from where ever he settled. While we may never know what happened to D.B., please feel free to share your own theories in the comments.

Possible D.B. Cooper Chute Investigated [via Phantoms and Monsters]
More about D.B. Cooper @ Wikipedia

Spirit Rover Stays One Step Ahead of the Reaper

John D — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 22:12:27 +0000

Last week it looked like Spirit, one of two remote controlled NASA rovers currently exploring Mars, might not make it out of its winter hibernation. The worst part of this robotic near death experience is that it had nothing to do with technical difficulties on the aging rover. Budget cuts at NASA were to blame. Fortunately, NASA rescinded the letter it sent last week mandating budget cuts that would have abandoned Spirit and greatly reduced Opportunity’s (Spirit’s sister rover) exploration of the red planet. Both rovers have long outlasted their intended lifespan of only a few months, sending back valuable scientific data for 4 years. Gimping the rover program at this point would have been an incredibly stupid move. Especially when considering the cost of sending another rover to Mars (one of the reasons for the budget cut) when you have two healthy robots already in place whose yearly operating budget is fractional in comparison. I would hope that NASA came to this conclusion on its own, but I feel that it is more likely that outcry over the incident from the scientific community and the general public caused NASA to reconsider giving Spirit its walking papers just yet. While the loss of an incredible scientific tool is nothing to scoff about, this incident puts a light on a much larger issue: How the US government allocates it’s citizen’s tax dollars.

NASA, regardless of whether or not you think it is participating in the coverup of the existence of extraterrestrial life, is an important part of America and the World’s scientific growth. (DISCLAIMER: I have some relatives that in the past have worked either directly for NASA or one of its contractors.) NASA has made and made possible numerous discoveries that have expanded our understanding of the universe and improved life on Earth. Yet, this important agency constantly suffers budget cuts and may one day be budget cut out of existence while an endless stream of money is spent ensuring fuel costs continue to rise generating record profits for oil companies… oh, wait sorry I meant fighting the “war on terror”. In this particular instance, a program that cost roughly $20 million dollars a year to run found its head on the chopping block when the US spends an estimated $720 million dollars A DAY funding the war in Iraq. Taking a single day off from the war could fund the Mars rover project in its current state for another 36 years!!! A day and a half off is enough to develop and send another two rovers to Mars and fund them for 13 years!!! Imagine the scientific exploration and discovery that would be possible if we spent more on science and less on an un-winnable war whose only logical purpose can be ensuring unrest in the Middle East, giving the oil companies that line American politician’s pockets an excuse to jack up prices and guarantee record profits. Hopefully, before it is too late, the American people will wake up and elect representatives that are more interested in America and the World’s peaceful future than sustaining corporate dinosaurs, whose unwillingness to evolve should have ensured their extinction long ago.

NASA Cut Means No Roving for Mars Rover [via Gizmodo]
NASA Mars Rovers Won’t Be Cut [via Gizmodo]
War Costing $720 Million Each Day @ washingtonpost.com

Sir Arthur C. Clarke Passes Away At 90

John D — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:30:24 +0000

Author, inventor and futurist Sir Arthur C. Clark passed away early Wednesday at a hospital near his home in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Possibly best known as the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke also was the originated of the concept of using geostationary satellites as telecommunications relays in the 1940′s. He also was the first to describe space elevators, something he felt would be his legacy, eclipsing the telecommunications satellite once space elevators replaced rockets as the primary means of reaching or the stars. His television shows, Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World and Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious Universe brought topics such as UFOs, cryptids and the paranormal into living rooms around the world. These shows were responsible for many people’s first contact with unexplained phenomena (I know they were mine).

Sir Arthur C. Clark @ Wikipedia
Author Arthur C. Clark Dies @ CNN.com

Did Sir Arthur Conan Doyle use this ouiji board?