#skeptics

[leasthaunted]

Episode 109: Let's Get Kraken

In the most recent episode, Cody and Garth dive into the deep waters to talk about Kraken! And in Garth's corner, he covers the art of figureheads (the sculptures of the front of ships)!

Enjoy the images discussed in the episode below (trigger warning: the last two images are of dead animals, there's no blood or obvious signs of distress but y'all deserve a warning nonetheless)! And please come join the episode discussion on the Least Haunted Discord!

Sorry for the late post, I was hunting for a lake monster!

The book Cody read for the episode: Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis.

The Swine Whale (left) and possibly Kraken (right) Carta Marina map of Scandinavia (1539).

Illustration by Denys de Montfort. Historie naturelle des Mollusques (1802).

In 1861 the French ship Alecton recovered part of a Giant Squid, Achiteuthus. This event would inspire Jules Verne when writing 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

A Scandinavian grapnel anchor, aka Krake, made from the top of a spruce tree.

"The Kraken" in 1981's Clash of The Titans, although a feat of stop motion animation by Ray Harryhausen, NOT A KRAKEN.

The Mollusk album by Ween. The inspiration for SpongeBob SquarePants according to show creator, Stephen Hillenburg.

They Might Be Giants album Apollo 18 limited edition Zoetrope vinyl! Only 240 were ever made, Cody has #195 and Garth has #196.

GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S CORNER, GARTH'S FIGUREHEAD CORNER!

Here are some of the figureheads mentioned in Garth’s Corner. Special props to the YouTube Channel Baltic Empire for “Carved works and Figureheads: A History of Ship Decorations.” Garth also credits Chris Riley for his article “The History of Ship Figureheads.”

Here’s a carving of an elk’s head found in Säkkijärvi, Finland. It was made between 1750 and 1,500 BCE and is thought to have been attached to the front of a boat.

Some examples of Greek Ships with eyes.

The Oseberg Ship, a lavish ship that was buried in Norway some time in the 800s CE.

A model of the 80-gun Naseby (1655) showing Oliver Cromwell on a horse.

A mezzotint etching by Robert Sayer “Hercules as Ship's Figurehead” (1788).

A modern ship, Neptune, a replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon, originally built for the film "Pirates" (1986).

And finally, here’s an awkward mermaid Garth saw online. Not sure where he found it but here she is.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Trigger Warning Below ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dead Sperm Whale with squid scars on its skin.

Dying Architeuthis found in Toyama Bay, Japan 2015.

[beatnikbytes]

The Battle of Dong Den: Unraveling the Vietnam Rock Ape Bigfoot Myth

[pineapplerightsideupcake]

I feel like people that believe in ghosts/cryptids/supernatural stuff need to familiarize themselves with basic nature and science because a basic understanding of just about anything disproves this junk.

“I saw a huge furry create on two legs! It must have been Bigfoot!”

You saw a bear. It was a bear. The reason people all claim that Bigfoot stinks is because bears smell terrible. Bears often stand on their hind legs. Their footprints look vaguely humanoid. Bigfoot is just bears.

“I saw a creature that looked like some kind of emaciated and sickly deer with glowing eyes!!”

Your flashlight/headlights caught a sick deers eyes. You didn’t see a monster like a sick deer you just saw a sick deer.

“I heard screams of the undead from that field!”

Please google what animal sounds are in your area. Rabbits and foxes just to name a few make sounds that could easily be mistaken for human cries.

“My doors and windows shut by themselves! Wood creaks and I hear knocking/footsteps!”

You need to understand that houses shift and make sounds. Friction and moisture and air currents all change constantly. A window that stays shut when it’s humid may contract when it’s cooler and slam shut. AC vents may blow a door open. You’re hearing footsteps/knocking from impossible places because human ears are absolutely horrible at localizing sound.

“I saw something/a ghost/a demon in the shadows!”

Look up pareidolia.

“I saw a monster/ghost/demon right after I woke up!”

You experienced sleep paralysis

Like I am begging people to just learn about the world around them.

[tinfoil-hat-brigade]

I happened to run across a Twitter conversation last night about Harry and Meghan that just about made me vomit because it was exactly the same shit that’s been said by the haters about Benedict and Sophie over the last 9 years. It’s like they have templates where haters just swap out names. Meghan faked both pregnancies, Archie and Lillibet are rented children, they’re analyzing photos pixel by pixel to prove that they’ve been photoshopped, blah blah blah. 

The one tihng mentioned in the conversation that I saw before I just had to bail because it was so putrid is that Harry and Meghan bought a somewhat pricey bicycle for Archie from a local bike shop in Montecito. The shop’s owner spoke very positively about both of them, and apparently he’s now getting death threats. (Correction: The bike was actually a gift from the shop owner, which actually makes the fact that he’s getting death threats even more shitty, as if that were possible.)

Lunatic haters are everywhere. And their MO is always the same, driven by nothing more than jealousy, bitterness, erotomania, and in some prominent cases, mental illness.

I just want to add this: I live an hour north of Montecito, and I’ve heard or read absolutely nothing negative about Harry and Meghan. Not a single thing. Their privacy is respected, as it should be. Sorry if that busts the haters’ bubbles, but it’s the absolute truth.

[bandcampsnoop]

11/1/23.

John Halvorsen (Vorsen) was not part of the recent Bailter Space tour (Micah went to the SF show and said it was fantastic). But "A World On Fire" represents material from the early 1990s to the present. It definitely sounds like it was spawned from the sound of his three bands - The Gordons, Bailter Space and Skeptics. I would throw in Snapper as well.

But this really has an early to mid 1980s alternative sound too - think of The Chameleons UK, or early U2.

Leather Jacket Records is quickly earning a reputation as a label that brings us old New Zealand acts through reissues or new music. Halvorsen is from Wellington, New Zealand.

[blogparanormal]

https://ufostalker.com/

DOES 200,000+ UFO SIGHTINGS PROVE SKEPTICS WRONG?

211,873 allegedly seen so far world-wide have been reported. It appears most UFO sightings here are reporting what they have observed. There are very few obvious spoofers trolling making stuff up. There are also some very detailed UFO reports here too.

[bad-artist-non-historian]

don't get me wrong, I love Hellenistic philosophy and learning about it, but learning about a seemingly century-long debate (read: verbal brawl) between the stoics and the skeptics is exhausting, and reminds me of the free-for-all debates (read: arguments fueled entirely by feeling and yelling and not at all like fact) of Junior High & High School

[miroslawmagola]

Science fiction isn't fiction any more.

Psychokinesis or telekinesis is a hypothetical psychic ability allowing a person to influence a physical system without physical interaction.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer invited Miroslaw Magola to the Biochemical Institute of the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried to take a closer look at the abilities and phenomena Mirosław Magola exhibits in broadcasts and TV shows. This video was filmed at the Max Planck Institute and you can see what Magola showed interested scientists and skeptics.

Prof. dr. Gerhard Ruhenstroth-Bauer a German biochemist and physician. He was a professor of experimental medicine at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. In addition, Ruhenstroth-Bauer was a scientific member of the Max Planck Society and from 1962 until his retirement in 1981 director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried.

[captainjonnitkessler]

When I was a kid I had a book of like, "fun physics experiments for kids". And one of them was an "experiment" where you hold an object by a string and just by focusing on the direction you wanted it to swing, it would start to move in that direction even without your input. The book of course explained that this was the ideomotor effect, a phenomenon where your thoughts can create minute, unconscious movements in your body.

Then a couple years later I got a fortune-telling kit that included a pendulum. You hold the pendulum over a piece of paper that says "yes" and "no" and ask a question, and whichever way the pendulum moves is the answer.

At which point I was like "hey WAIT a minute", and in hindsight I think that experience explains most things about who I am as a person

[leasthaunted]

[ghost-in-the-corner]

just as a general reminder

learn how to fact-check for yourself, cause soon enough, most online sources won't be reliable

[dec0mposing]

Tag Time!!!

I was tagged, yet again, by @sowhatifiliveinfukuoka, to share five songs I've been listening to. I can't be bother tagging anyone, so feel free to continue this on if you see it and wish to!

Terror Couple Kill Colonel - Bauhaus

AFFCO - Skeptics

Hamburger Lady - Throbbing Gristle

Shit Lunch - Pretty Dumb

Love In The Darkness - a.s.o

[primepaginequotidiani]

PRIMA PAGINA Usa Today di Oggi martedì, 14 gennaio 2025