A Frog's Eye View Isn't Always Pretty ...

 

From Fox News:

 

A still camera on a sound trigger captured this intriguing photo of an airborne frog leaping for his life as NASA's LADEE spacecraft lifts off from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

In a caption listed along with the photo on NASA’s Instagram page, the space agency writes that the frog was captured in a single frame by one of the remote cameras used to photograph the launch.

The condition of the frog, however, is uncertain.

 

IN OTHER NEWS:

Brenda Chapman explains why she chose to start her new mystery novel in Kermit.

You Had Us at Hello!

Check out the opening line of Brenda Chapman's new mystery, entitled My Sister's Keeper, which is scheduled for publication this month:

"It was the middle of a steamy August night in Kermit, Texas, and my bedside phone was ringing."

 

 

We've gotta read it!  Stay tuned!

 

 

Matilda the UTPB Ghost

 

(Liz graduated from UTPB and for a summer she worked in the library, which at that time was housed in the Mesa Building.  She never experienced Matilda firsthand, but she can testify to the strange noises that occur in the building late at night, as well as the reactions of students and staff who had felt or heard something out of the ordinary ...

I briefly mentioned the Matilda legend once before in these pages.  The OA ran this article Sunday as part of the 40th anniversary of the university.)

From the Odessa American:

by Celinda Hawkins

I was doing some online perusing recently and came across an Odessa ghost story that I had never heard before involving a haunting in the hallowed halls of UTPB.

In 2009, the good students at the Mesa Journal did some digging and found out that yes, there have been stories about a ghost at UTPB for years and her name is “Matilda.” According to a story penned by Amber Batura, the most common legend claims that Matilda was the wife or girlfriend of a construction worker on campus while the Mesa Building was being built in the early 1970s. Legend has it (remember, this is legend and speculation, not fact) he may have killed her (although the circumstances are vague) and buried her remains somewhere in the building, perhaps somewhere in the foundation of stairwell six.

The legend of Matilda is alive and well — even if she isn’t. The “Matilda” part of the campus lore during orientation is always a favorite of new students. Last week, orientation students could not wait to get to stairwell six.

“They took a photo there and gathered around like they had their arms around Matilda,” said Jessica Zuniga, director of student life. Sadly, Matilda did not appear in the photo. Maybe she was there…in spirit.

Zuniga said there have even been strange orbs that have appeared in photos taken in the Student Union Building.

“If you ask any of the folks that work there or the students — everybody has Matilda stories,” Zuniga told me, especially the security guards who are there late at night. One said Matilda talked to him and may have even forced a soda out of the machine when he was thirsty, Zuniga said.

Some folks were talking about the story on Facebook: a woman said she had always heard about the legend of the ghostly apparition of a woman was haunting the hallowed halls of the Mesa Building at UTPB.

Michele Thompson posted that while she was a student at UTPB there were reports that the gal ghost was haunting the student union area and had been spotted on a stairwell in the building. She admitted hearing lots of different versions, but wanted to quash the rumor mill once and for all.

It was obviously no secret since lots of other folks weighed in. Cindy Wagnon Cole recalled in a post the tale of a UTPB officer in 1985 who said he saw the ghost as he was locking up the doors on the stairwell at the Mesa Building.

“As he is opening the door he saw a figure of a woman with long hair, arms with no legs, staring right at him and in an instant she moved to her right and disappeared,” Cole posted. “Within 2-3 seconds after that the large metal door to the stairwell where she disappeared SLAMMED open!”

She said the officer recalled feeling a bit like a jittery, bug –eyed Don Knotts because when he ran back to the office, he was shaking so bad he couldn’t get his keys in the door.

“…When the dispatcher came out and she said you look like you’ve just seen a ghost,” she posted. “without knowing he really did.”

According to Batura’s report, Matilda mostly haunts the Student Union women’s restroom, the fourth floor and the sixth stairwell. But the reporter also uncovered stories of hearing the voice of a sad and forlorn female in an eerie whisper beckoning him to “come here.”

Other former students and employees have heard of the Matilda legend too. “

I went to school at UTPB and later worked there for five years,” Janice Slaughter Golden posted. “I heard stories from staff members about seeing “Matilda.” One was the Chief of Campus Police at the time, who told a story about doing his security check of the gym building. He said no one was supposed to be in the building and all the lights were out, but he heard noises coming from the weight room. He went to check....no one there. I guess Matilda liked to work out!...”

So if you happen to be at the Mesa Building walking up or down stairwell six and you see an orb, feel a cold chill or see a soda coming flying out of the machine — don’t fret, it’s just Matilda saying hello.

Contact Celinda Hawkins on Twitter at @OAciti or call 432-333-7779.

The Day the Clown Cried

 

Okay, we live in an age that has survived Sharknado and Jar Jar Binks.  So what could be so terrible about this show?

 

Harry Shearer claims to have viewed the whole film, and here he discusses it with Howard Stern.

 

MORE BANNED FUNNIES:

• This Dennis the Menace cartoon actually ran in 1970, resulting in many complaints.
• These two Opus strips, here and here, in which Lola Granola's spiritual search leads her to embrace jihad, were censored by "a large number"of newspapers.
• A list of censored Looney Tunes.  Happy browsing!

 



A Scientific Ghost Town

From the Associated Press:

Hobbs, NM, picked as site of scientific ghost town
By JERI CLAUSING, Associated Press

(Hobbs is about 60 miles north of Kermit, soz ya know. - DK)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A scientific ghost town in the heart of southeastern New Mexico oil and gas country will hum with the latest next-generation technology — but no people.

A $1 billion city without residents will be developed in Lea County near Hobbs, officials said Tuesday, to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said the unique research facility that looks like an empty city will be a key for diversifying the economy of the nearby community, which after the oil bust of the 1980s saw bumper stickers asking the last person to leave to turn out the lights.

"It brings so many great opportunities and puts us on a world stage," Cobb told The Associated Press before the announcement.

Pegasus Holdings and its New Mexico subsidiary, CITE Development, said Hobbs and Lea County beat out Las Cruces, for the Center for Innovation, Technology and Testing.

The CITE project is being billed as a first-of-its kind smart city, or ghost town of sorts, that will be developed on about 15 square miles west of Hobbs.

Bob Brumley, senior managing director of Pegasus Holdings, said the town will be modeled after the real city of Rock Hill, S.C., complete with highways, houses and commercial buildings, old and new. No one will live there, although they could as houses will include all the necessities, like appliances and plumbing.

The point of the town is to enable researchers to test new technologies on existing infrastructure without interfering in everyday life. For instance, while some researchers will be testing smart technologies on old grids, others might be using the streets to test self-driving cars.

"The only thing we won't be doing is destructive testing, blowing things up — I hope," said Brumley.

Not far from the Texas border, Hobbs has seen new growth in recent years but local leaders have been pushing to expand the area's reputation to include economic development ventures beyond the staple of oil and gas.

The investors developing CITE were looking for open spaces. Brumley said his group scoured the country for potential sites, "but we kept coming back to New Mexico. New Mexico is unique in so many ways."

One big plus for New Mexico was its federal research facilities like White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico and Los Alamos and Sandia national labs.

Gov. Susana Martinez joined officials in announcing final site selection for the project, which she hailed as "one of the most unique and innovative" economic development projects the state has seen. She noted that no tax breaks were given for the development. "The only thing they have asked for is guidance," she said.

Brumley said plans are to break ground on the town by June 30. The initial development cost is estimated at $400 million, although Brumley estimates the overall investment in the project to top $1 billion.

The project is expected to create 350 permanent jobs and about 3,500 indirect jobs in its design, development, construction and ongoing operational phases.

Hobbs, a community of about 43,000 people, currently has two non-stop flights from Houston each day and is working on getting daily service to Albuquerque and Denver.

The mayor said discussions for the new flights have just started but having the research center may bolster efforts to connect Hobbs to more cities.

Follow Jeri Clausing on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jericlausing

The Jesus Tortilla of Lake Arthur, New Mexico

(I go through the tiny village of Lake Arthur about once every three months, but I first heard about the tortilla in this book.  The tortilla is also the basis for a 2007 movie.)

From roadsideamerica.com:

No one realized at the time, but the 1977 appearance of Jesus Christ on a flour tortilla set the international standard for miracle sightings. Once confined to obscure grotto appearances, the Tortilla was the crossover miracle that put God in the Extra Value Meal of the average American.

Now, no object is too outrageous for an Almighty (or Virgin Mary) cameo. He's materialized on a Pizza Hut billboard in a plate of spaghetti; on a bowling alley chimney; reflected from a porch light onto a car bumper (until the light was turned off and the car moved); on a diner place mat; and even on a dead priest's shoe.

But the Miracle Tortilla was the first to fully wrap around the collective pop subconscious.

In October of 1977, Maria Rubio was rolling up a burrito for her husband Eduardo's breakfast, when she noticed a thumb-sized configuration of skillet burns on the tortilla that resembled the face of Jesus. Needless to say, Eduardo went hungry that meal as Maria told family and neighbors of the miraculous event. It happened in the small town of Lake Arthur, New Mexico, 40 minutes south of Roswell.

Space Alien fever had yet to infect the state, and visitations were of a predominantly religious nature. NM's historic Santuario de Chimayo, with its miracle dirt pit, drew thousands of annual visitors looking for spiritual connection to the miraculous cross that burst from the hillside in 1810. Elsewhere, statues occasionally shed a tear, or passing clouds took on the shape of the Blessed Mother.

Wide-eyed believers call them "signs."

Cranky skeptics ascribe them to a human faculty for delusion called "pareidolia," a perception of pattern and meaning from natural randomness. At the same time, scientists believe humans are hardwired to recognize facial patterns, our hunkered fore-apes' need to quickly identify foe, friend or mate. We'll perceive a familiar face in an unfamiliar place, before seeing, say, a locomotive or a cotton gin.

Despite the braying of scientists and skeptics, the Holy Tortilla quickly developed a solid fan base. By 1979, over 35,000 people had visited, bringing flowers and photos of sick loved ones.

Mrs. Rubio quit her job as a maid to attend full-time to the hastily constructed "Shrine of the Holy Tortilla" in her home. When away, she'd leave the door unlocked so that no one would be denied access.

She mounted the Tex-Mex Relic in a wooden frame under glass, a puffy wad of cotton along the bottom making it appear as if Tortilla Christ was suspended just inside the Pearly Gates.

In the wake of this first Tortilla visitation, all heaven broke loose. November 1977 -- a competing Miracle Tortilla appeared in the skillet of Phoenix housewife Ramona Barreras. It was the face of Jesus, this time accompanied by the letters K, J, C, and B, which Ramona believed stood for "King Jesus is Coming Back." According to the Phoenix New Times in 1997, the Barreras Miracle Tortilla "rests in a Plexiglas box in a kitchen drawer."

In March 1983, housewife Paula Rivera claimed the image of Jesus appeared on a corn tortilla she was making in Hidalgo Texas. She created her own "Shrine of the Holy Tortilla."

In the meantime, the faithful still traveled to Lake Arthur to see the original. Mrs. Rubio eventually moved it to a small wooden shed in the backyard. Years of merciless southwestern heat have literally fried and refried the tortilla. The image, once recognizable even in photographs, has faded to a half dozen brown spots and a wiggly burnt blotch.

There are no signs that any healings have happened recently -- no leftover crutches -- so perhaps this miracle has run its course. But Mrs. Rubio's family is perfectly happy to open up the shrine for any and all visitors....

UPDATE - December 2006: Disaster! In 2005, Mrs. Rubio's granddaughter took the Miracle Tortilla into school for Show and Tell, and it was dropped and broken! The shed shrine has been closed and the remains retired to a drawer in the Rubios' home.

UFO Over Jerusalem

From Fox News:  (Thanks to Rawhide)

A glowing orb filmed hovering over the skyline of Jerusalem has left UFO experts dumbfounded.

The circular object was seen descending slowly over the holy city's iconic Dome of the Rock before flickering and shooting skyward like a rocket. Similar clips have been seen before and debunked as hoaxes. But this latest sighting has proved more difficult to dismiss -- as it was recorded from four different perspectives.

Some UFO enthusiasts believe the videos -- which have taken the Internet by storm -- are final proof that aliens exist, while others say the unidentified object was the Hebrew god Elohim.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that flying over the Dome of the Rock landmark -- an ancient Islamic shrine -- is forbidden.

Two witnesses at the Armon Hanatziv panoramic lookout near Mount Zion filmed the object at 1am on Saturday. A little after one minute into the clip, the object descends slowly, almost to ground level.

The craft hovers there for a short while and then flickers before shooting upwards at an incredible speed.

Former Ministry of Defense UFO investigator Nick Pope said: "If these are real, they are some of the most incredible videos ever shot.

"If they are not, then this is a very well-planned and coordinated hoax designed to eliminate elements of doubt.

"The way it shoots up into the sky suggests it is unmanned, because no living thing could survive those kinds of G-forces.

"We know the Israeli army has some very high-tech drones at its disposal. If this is one, it is one of the most advanced pieces of technology created by man."

Another set of observers also uploaded their mobile phone footage to YouTube on Saturday.

They wrote: "Have fun debunking this one." In their video, the American tourists can be heard saying: "We've seen them in Mississippi like this."

Two other clips filmed from different viewpoints were posted online. Skeptics have noted the views come from perspectives that could make nearby objects seem farther away and faster-moving. Others say the whole thing was faked and have prepared several alternative versions of the videos which they say prove they are not real.

These include stabilized versions in which the brightness and contrast have been increased, which they claim highlights a major flaw of perspective.

Another is motion-tracked, and apparently shows the UFO "bouncing around like crazy" -- which, say the sceptics, shows the makers had trouble inserting it into the scene.

The Frozen Man of Carlsbad

From the Carlsbad Current-Argus:
Woman allegedly froze husband's body, kept receiving his retirement
By Matlin Smith
Current-Argus Staff Writer
Posted: 01/26/2011 04:14:32 PM MST


CARLSBAD, New Mexico — Investigators with the Eddy County Sheriff's Office have released bizarre details in the case of the man's body found Monday evening in the freezer of a home south of town.  (Video here)

According to information from Capt. Jeff Zuniga, at 7:50 p.m. Monday, the body of a human male was discovered in a chest-type freezer at a residence on the 1200 block of Haston Road.

The body was discovered by a daughter and son-in-law who were cleaning out the home of their mother, Barbara Sharpe, who passed away in November 2010.

Upon finding the body, the pair loaded the freezer into the back of a pickup truck and transported it to the Carlsbad Police Department. After determining that the incident occurred in the county, the CPD turned the investigation over to the sheriff's department.

"The body located within the freezer may be that of James Sharpe of Carlsbad, who has been unaccounted for since 1997," said Zuniga.

James Sharpe was known to be the husband of the late Barbara Sharpe, who died of health complications at the age of 63.

Before her death, Barbara Sharpe most recently went by Barbara Campbell, after assuming the last name of a male companion who came into the picture a few years after Sharpe's death.

According to investigators, at this point in the investigation nothing has surfaced to indicate that the companion was aware of the body in the freezer. Prior to its discovery, the freezer reportedly was in Barbara Sharpe's bedroom on Haston Road.

Investigators say information uncovered so far leans towards the possibility that James Sharpe may have died due to a terminal health condition in 1997; he would have been in his early 70s then.

"Barbara had mentioned to a health care worker prior to her death that she had stored her late husband in a freezer. The health care worker dismissed the statement due to Barbara Sharpe's grave condition," Zuniga stated.

The health care worker is the only person who has come forward with any knowledge of the body thus far, said Zuniga.

Additionally, documentation allegedly drafted by Barbara Sharpe was found in her personal property explaining why her husband was in the freezer.

The documentation reportedly indicated that she was remorseful, but couldn't afford to survive without his retirement income.

"The ECSO Special Investigations Unit will continue to work closely with the Office of the Medical Investigator to confirm the official identity of the decedent as well as the cause and manner of death," said Zuniga.

OTHER BLOGS THAT CARRIED THIS STORY INCLUDE:

• A funeral blog for people who don't plan to die.
• A freezer site.
• A Cthulhu/Lovecraft blog.

What's Going On In Arkansas?

From the New York Times:

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: January 3, 2011
Times Square had the ball drop, and Brasstown, N.C., had its descending possum. But no place had a New Year’s Eve as unusual, or freakishly disturbing, as Beebe, Ark.

Around 11 that night, thousands of red-winged blackbirds began falling out of the sky over this small city about 35 miles northeast of Little Rock. They landed on roofs, roads, front lawns and backyards, turning the ground nearly black and terrifying anyone who happened to be outside.

“One of them almost hit my best friend in the head,” said Christy Stephens, who was standing outside among the crowd at a party. “We went inside after that.”

The cause is still being determined, but preliminary lab results from the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission revealed “acute physical trauma” in samples of the dead birds. There were no indications of disease, though tests were still being done for the presence of toxic chemicals.

Karen Rowe, the bird conservation program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the prevailing theory was that the birds had been startled by New Year’s Eve fireworks and suddenly dispersed, flying low enough to run into chimneys, houses and trees. Pyrotechnics are used to scatter blackbirds for bird control, though only during the day, given the birds’ poor vision.

Beebe (pronounced BEE-be) is a congregating spot for blackbirds, and one witness told Ms. Rowe that he saw the birds roosting earlier in the day and heard them again at night just after the fireworks started.

“It was the right mix of things happening in a perfect time sequence,” Ms. Rowe said.

At most recent count, up to 5,000 birds fell on the city. Sixty five samples were sent to labs, one of which is at the Livestock and Poultry Commission and the other in Madison, Wis.

Keith Stephens, a spokesman for the commission, said he was not aware of a case this large. “About nine years ago we had some ducks,” he said, “but that was only a couple of dozen.”

The town contacted an environmental cleanup firm, which by Monday afternoon had picked up nearly all the birds, some of which were bagged and left at the end of driveways by residents.

“It just looked as if it had rained birds,” said Tracy Lightfoot, a member of the City Council, declining to speculate on the reason. “There’s lots of theories running around. I have no idea. I just don’t have a clue.”

State scientists believe one thing to be almost certain: that the bird deaths were not related to the roughly 85,000 fish that died a few days before near Ozark, in the western part of the state, the biggest fish kill in Arkansas that anyone can remember. They were spotted by anglers along the Arkansas River last week and reported to the Game and Fish Commission, which spent New Year’s Eve measuring and counting dead fish that had spread out for nearly 20 miles.

In that case, the victims were almost all drum, and almost all younger ones. That suggests the culprit was disease, said Mark Oliver, the chief of fisheries for the commission. He said fish kills were not uncommon, especially in winter when the fish are packed more closely, but he did not recall one of this size.

Meanwhile roughly 500 dead birds were found on Monday outside New Roads, La. Those birds were much more varied, with starlings and grackle in addition to blackbirds, and a few samples picked up by James LaCour, a wildlife veterinarian with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, did not show any signs of trauma, he said.

Does Al Gore Know?

From Geek.com:  Wi-Fi Killing Trees?

WiFi may bring with it all of the good things in life — fun, entertainment and more — but it may be bringing about a miniature environmental apocalypse along with it: the death of the trees around you.

The surprising finding comes from the city of Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands, which noticed that its trees were starting to mutagenically sprout strange growths and other abnormalities otherwise not usually seen in arborology.

To figure out what was behind the strange outbreak, Aplhen aan den Rijn commissioned a study half a decade ago from a researcher at Wageningen University. He found that over 70% of the trees today in the urban areas of the Netherlands exhibited strange tree growth, while only ten percent did five years ago.

It’s not entirely certain what is causing the outbreak, but there’s some pretty strong correlation suggesting that the rise of WiFi is to blame. As part of his study, the researcher exposed twenty ash trees to various radiation sources for three months; those placed closest to a WiFi router quickly developed a “lead-like” shine on their leaves that was caused by the death of the upper and lower epidermis of the leaves, and eventually kill off parts of the leaves entirely.

It’s not just trees: the researcher also discovered that WiFi could inhibit the growth of corn. Is the death of the plants around you enough to make you shackle yourself to a Cat-5 again?

Read more at Antennebureau

The Haunting of LCU and Other Links

Here are some things, some wise and some weird, that I'm in the mood to share:

• Ghosts seem to haunt college campi.  LCU is no exception.
• Odessa's UTPB, Liz's alma mater, is haunted by a spirit named Matilda.  (You will have to scroll down after the jump.)
• Where do I get one of these?
• Meet Twinkle Dwivedi, the girl who cries blood.
• Here's an excellent post about the disease of perfection.  (Thanks to shallowfrozenwater.)
• My parent is an idiot!
• Ten reasons Trey Morgan loves living in a small town.

Time Traveller?

Weirdness in Monahans?

Monahans, Texas is a city twenty miles south of Kermit. Apparently they have a store there where brooms stand up by themselves. Or maybe this only happens around Halloween. Check out this (mostly silent) video.



Forty-two days after this was shot, a UFO with two aliens reportedly invaded a Monahans backyard barbecue. Coincidence? I think not.


Report a UFO.

Report a standing broom.

The Midland Chupacabra

A Midland farmer thinks his goats are being killed by a
chupacabra!

Everyone except me has seen this video of an alleged chupacabra near Cuero, which is near San Antonio and nowhere near here:

He Coulda Won a Grammy ...

On Friday March 13th, we went to Dallas to see King Tut. Well, his treasures anyway.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures of the artifacts, but Floyd's Ancient Wonders Blog was evidently able to sneak a camera in.

The piece above was on the head of Tutankhamun when they found him.

Tutankhamun's name in heiroglyphics.

There's a cool story about the scarab in the above picture. It was carved from obsidian glass which may have been formed by a meteorite. (Watch out for the auto-start music!)

The tour ended with a sign that said this exhibit had hopefully honored Tutankhamun's memory and given him the eternal life which he had so eagerly sought.

Not 50 feet away from the aforementioned sign, the gift shop had this tacky Tut tissue box for sale. What kind of afterlife is this?
But then these stuffed camels were kinda cute.

We met up with our great niece and her fiance, both of whom blog also. It was good to see them again.

The next day, we went to the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science to see dinosaur bones found in the Big Bend area of Texas.

Robert digging for plaster casts of dinosaur bones.

We almost visited Rick Atchley's church on Sunday, but my tired family was ready to come home, so that's what we did.

Roswell 2008

I can't get enough of this stuff, and I really don't know why. So here we go:

Associated Press - July 8, 2008 9:55 AM ET
ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) - International UFO Museum and Research Center officials say attendance at Roswell's annual UFO festival jumped more than 25% this year.

The museum's executive director, Julie Shuster, says 7,216 people attended lectures, workshops, celebrity appearances and other events Thursday through Sunday.

She says she would have been happy if last year's attendance total had been met, especially with the economy the way it is and with gasoline prices rising.

The annual festival marks the anniversary of the Roswell Incident, a purported UFO crash on a nearby ranch in July 1947. The military later said it was a top-secret weather balloon.

Information from: Roswell Daily Record, http://www.roswell-record.com/

Miss New Mexico Galaxy 2008 Joan Marie Yazze-Gallegos and her dog 'Misty' participate in the CBS live broadcast of 'The Early Show' Thursday morning, July 3, 2008, helping kick off the 2008 UFO Festival.(AP Photo/Roswell Daily Record, Mark Wilson)

'Baby,' sporting designer glasses, participates in the pet costume contest held at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center Saturday morning July 5, 2008, during the 2008 Roswell UFO Festival. 'Baby' eventually took the 3rd place prize.(AP Photo/Roswell Daily Record, Mark Wilson)

Roswell Space Center owners Sharon Welz, left, and her husband Larry Welz, are pictured outside their store in Roswell, N.M., Tuesday, May 22, 2007. Sharon Welz said that 'we would welcome something like an alien roller coaster or a theme park, absolutely,' regarding a desire by city officials who want to build a UFO-themed amusement park, complete with an indoor roller coaster that would take passengers on a simulated alien abduction.(AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf)

Roswell's biggest attraction is the International UFO Museum and Research Center, which has drawn 2.5 million visitors since opening in 1992, seen here along Main Street in downtown Roswell, N.M., Wednesday, May 23, 2007.(AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf)

Alien eyes adorn a lamp post along Main Street in downtown Roswell, N.M., Wednesday, May 23, 2007.(AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf)

Hot Links

I haven't had much time to blog lately due to house projects, so here's some miscellaneous reading to keep you occupied in the meantime........

Does politics bring out the worst in Christians?...

This blog was quoted in a Yahoo! answer several weeks ago. (You have to scroll down to the 22nd answer to find it.)

Here's a stupid joke involving Kermit...

A sinkhole in Daisetta, Texas (near Houston) has its own blog! How cool is that?

Wink's Roy Orbison Festival happened this past weekend, but I wasn't able to go...

When frogs fly: Yes, Winkler County has an airport!

And it's time once again for the
Roswell UFO Festival !

First Delegate Arrives in Minnesota?

Minnesota's Lake Pepin, shown here on a really creepy day, is supposed to be home to a monster, and there's a $5,000 reward for a picture of the beast!Thankfully, nothing else strange or unusual is scheduled to happen in Minnesota this year!

Landmark: The Wink Sink(s)

This is Winkler County's most interesting geological phenomenon. It's about six miles southwest of Kermit. I stole these pictures from a site called Caver.net: The Wink Sink (or Kermit Crater) opened up without warning June 1st through 4th of 1980. It gained national attention because it is near state highway 115, which was closed for some time. No one knows for sure what caused this or how deep this thing is. A UTPB diving team years ago failed to find a bottom.
You're not supposed to be able to ride an ATV down there!This was once a straight pipe!

There is a second Wink Sink now, larger than the first and a mile south of the first. It opened up in 2002, almost 22 years to the day of the original. And - this is weird - when it opened up, the first one, which had stabilized in size, began growing again! Geologists are watching a depression which they say will someday be Wink Sink 3!

WINK SINK LINKS:

They're still trying to fund a study of the sinks.

See Wink Sink 2 from the air.

This is from a book called Weird Texas.

Lots more history including original newspaper stories!