In late October, Denver’s calendar fills with events celebrating Día de los Muertos. And while in Mexico itself the Day of the Dead was traditionally a time for quiet family gatherings, that’s changed of late; Mexico City held its first Day of the Dead parade yesterday, with more than 1,000 costumed actors and acrobats. Still, a few readers think party-goers need to understand the difference between Halloween and Día de los Muertos. Says Marcelino:
I wonder how many people actually understand the significance of the celebration on a cultural level and not simply as a day to appropriate. The legacy of the celebration is the legacy of indigenous struggle. If you understand why that’s true, then by all means, celebrate. If not, just stick to dressing up on Halloween. …
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 31ST- GALILEO AND WHY HE WAS CONVICTED OF HERESY
This Day In History: October 31, 1992
On October 31, 1992, the Roman Catholic Church admitted it had been wrong to condemn Galileo Galilei for promoting the Copernican astronomical theory. After a 13 year investigation into the persecution of Galileo that led to his official condemnation in 1633, Pope John Paul II rectified a wrong that forced the Italian astronomer and physicist to live the last years of his life in exile, and worse yet, to recant his proven discoveries to save his hide.
Through his use of the telescope – a tool he did not invent but greatly improved upon -Galileo proved the Copernican theory that Sun, and not the Earth, was the center of the solar system. This scientific fact was in direct contradiction to certain interpretations of scripture and was therefore considered heresy at the time. The relevant text included Psalm 104:5, “the Lord set the Earth on its foundations; it can never be moved…”
Reminder: Donald Trump due in court after Election Day on child rape and racketeering charges
Donald Trump would like voters to focus on the FBI’s continuing investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server — but instead questions about his own legal troubles have been raised again.
Author Salman Rushdie reminded voters that Trump will stand trial later this month in a racketeering lawsuit and then again next month as part of a lawsuit filed by a woman who claims the Republican presidential nominee raped her when she was 13 years old.
“He is a sexual predator, hasn’t released his tax returns, and has used his foundation’s money to pay his legal fees,” Rushdie posted Sunday on his Facebook page. “He has abused the family of a war hero and … oh, but let’s talk about some emails Hillary didn’t send from someone else’s computer, that weren’t a crime anyway, because that’s how to choose a president. Come on, America. Focus.” …
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Destroys Hillary Clinton.
Clinton emails: FBI gets warrant as Comey told he may have broken law
• Senate minority leader sends scathing letter to FBI chief
• Comey accused of withholding information about Russian email hacks
• Will Clinton lose the election because of the FBI email investigation?
he FBI has acquired a warrant to investigate emails found on a laptop used by an aide to Hillary Clinton as part of its investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee’s use of a private email server.
The move came as senior Senate Democrats made an extraordinary attack on the head of the FBI, James Comey, on Sunday over the new investigation, with the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid, warning he may have broken the law.
In a scathing letter, Reid wrote: “Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another.
“My office has determined that these actions may violate the Hatch Act, which bars FBI officials from using their official authority to influence an election. Through your partisan action, you may have broken the law.” …
Will Hillary Clinton lose the US election because of the FBI email investigation?
Pollsters and observers think not, but as election day looms the Democratic nominee is losing support just as Donald Trump is experiencing a resurgence
• James Comey: FBI director divides Washington over Clinton emails
A week ago, the US election looked to be over. Hillary Clinton was riding so high in the polls after a disastrous series of gaffes by Donald Trump that few could conceive of a Republican path to victory on 8 November. Friday’s shock intervention by the FBI may not be enough to change that outcome on its own, but it has certainly set political imaginations running wild.
The worry for Democrats is that fresh inquiries regarding Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state come at a difficult time. Not only is it hard to prove a negative and re-establish her innocence with barely a week to go until the election, but the letter to congressional officials from director James Comey capped a tricky run of news that was already making a sizable dent in her polling lead.
Momentum for Trump began to recover first thanks to another set of emails, the contents of which perhaps explain why the Clintons risked so much to try to retain control of her electronic communications in the first place. Released by WikiLeaks, a factor that US intelligence agencies have blamed on Russian hackers, these emails to and from campaign chairman John Podesta have been trickling out for weeks, with mostly embarrassing rather than damaging content. …
10 Creepy Rituals We Once Used To Celebrate Halloween
By our best guesses, Halloween may be older than Christianity. In those days, it was a Celtic pagan festival called “Samhain,” a time when the barriers between the land of the living and the dead blurred.
Little is recorded of how Samhain was celebrated, and so we’ve had to gather what we know from legends and secondhand accounts. The details paint the picture of some dark and unnerving rituals and of something very different from the holiday we celebrate today.
10. The Ritualistic Murder Of Kings
In the bogs of Ireland, dead bodies have been found, still perfectly preserved. Their skin is covered in a thick layer of black peat that has kept the flesh from decomposing. The faces they wore in life are the same today, hundreds of years after their death, and even the hairs on their heads are still intact
.Many of the bodies aren’t there by chance. Archaeologists believe that these bodies are the remnants of a ceremonial sacrifice. Clothes and grooming reveal that these dead were of the ruling class, fitting into legends about the ritualistic murder of kings committed on Samhain. …
Analysis: The Vengeful World of Donald Trump, and Why It Matters
Summarizing Donald Trump’s worldview isn’t easy, but this may come close: The world is a violent place, and it demands a violent response.
His campaign might seem like a storm emitting strikes of lightning: He’s made news by giving out a Republican rival’s phone number, tweeting about a “sex tape” and even accusing his opponent, Hillary Clinton, of possibly taking drugs.
But there’s a pattern to what he says and does and the campaign’s waning days have placed that pattern in sharp focus as Trump issues apocalyptic warnings of a vast conspiracy to steal the election.
“This is a struggle for the survival of our nation, believe me, and this will be our last chance to save it on November 8,” Trump said in a speech this month. …
How the world views the US elections, from Israel to North Korea
While many countries have shown a preference for Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump has pockets of support, as Guardian journalists around the world explain
Russia
Russia has played an unexpectedly prominent role in this year’s US election, although the extent of the Kremlin’s involvement in hacking Democratic servers and the WikiLeaks disclosures will probably never be known.
What is clear is that Moscow has enjoyed making trouble. Vladimir Putin has a personal dislike of Hillary Clinton going back to her time as secretary of state, while Trump fits perfectly into the mould of “chaos candidates” that Russia has supported in other western countries.
It would take a conspiracy theorist to believe Trump is actually a Kremlin stooge rather than simply a “useful idiot”, and some in Russia believed a Trump presidency could actually have more potential for conflict than a Clinton one.
Under Clinton, relations would be unlikely to be rosy but would probably stay within a long-established paradigm of mutual distrust and limited cooperation on certain issues. …
10 Things You Didn’t Know About The History Of Halloween
Whether it’s a solemn celebration honoring the spirits of the dead or a saccharine, candy-laden costume party, Halloween is a time when we look beyond the everyday and into the weird. Take a deeper look into the holiday, and you’ll find some weird things.
10. The Religious Origins Of Costumes
While today’s costumes channel an inner fantasy, they started with a much more solemn purpose. One of the earliest examples we have of people donning costumes comes from Hallow Mass, a ceremonial mass dedicated to prayers for the dead. People appealed to their ancestors for everything from happy marriages to fertility, and costumes were a part of that.
It wasn’t until the Victorian era that the idea of dressing up really went mainstream, and a lot of that started with the Robert Burns poem “Halloween.” Originally, the best costumes were the ones that were creepy, which isn’t entirely surprising. The Victorians were obsessed with the idea of spirituality and the afterlife, so pioneering the ghost costume made a lot of logical sense. …
John Oliver Looks at Racism and School Segregation on Last Week Tonight
Many schools across the U.S. continue to be segregated
THANKS to HBO and Last Week Tonight for making this program available on YouTube.
On Last Week Tonight, John Oliver turned his gimlet eye on racism, or as he called it, “the problem that Crash failed to solve.” Instead of tackling the topic of racism at large, Oliver looked at the specific issue of modern-day school segregation. While the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was supposed to do away with institutionally mandated segregation, schools across the nation have continued to be segregated due to discriminatory housing policies and economics that helped create segregated school districts. As Oliver noted, “Even as our society has grown more diverse, nearly 7,000 schools have the same racial makeup as the audience at your average Tyler Perry movie.” …
Can Poverty Lead To Mental Illness?
After a mother killed her four young children and then herself last month in rural China, onlookers quickly pointed to life circumstances.
The family lived in extreme poverty, and bloggers speculated that her inability to escape adversity pushed her over the edge.
Can poverty really cause mental illness?
It’s a complex question that is fairly new to science. Despite high rates of both poverty and mental disorders around the world, researchers only started probing the possible links about 25 years ago.
Since then, evidence has piled up to make the case that, at the very least, there is a connection. People who live in poverty appear to be at higher risk for mental illnesses. They also report lower levels of happiness. …
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: OCTOBER 31ST- MARTIN LUTHER’S 95 THESIS
This Day In History: October 31, 1517
On the last day of October in 1517, a scholar and priest named Martin Luther did as priests commonly did at the time when they had something to discuss amongst the clergy, he nailed a piece of paper to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. Unlike many other such documents nailed to the doors of churches, this one sparked a religious and social revolution that would change the landscape of Europe and the world forever.
Like many other Roman Catholics of the day, Martin Luther was troubled by abuses going on within the Church, and the decadent lifestyles of many professing to abide by the rules of poverty, chastity and obedience. He had previously led discussions on these topics, but little came of his verbal debates.
The last straw for Luther occurred when John Tetzel, Pope Leo’s top salesman, was ordered by the Pope to sell indulgences to pay for the restoration of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In other words, the faithful were told that if they coughed up enough dough, they could buy themselves a spot in heaven, something most decidedly against scriptural teachings. …
The Dairy Industry Lost $420 Million From a Flaw in a Single Bull
Farmers have quadrupled how much milk a typical cow can make, but there are hidden downsides.
It started with a bull named Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, who had a whopping 16,000 daughters. And 500,000 granddaughters and more than 2 million great-granddaughters. Today, in fact, his genes account for 14 percent of all DNA in Holstein cows, the most popular breed in the dairy industry.
Chief—let’s call him Chief for brevity’s sake—was so popular because his daughters were fantastic milk producers. He had great genes for milk. But, geneticists now know, he also had a single copy of a deadly mutation that spread undetected through the Holstein cow population. The mutation caused some unborn calves to die in the womb. According to a recent estimate, this single mutation ended up causing more than 500,000 spontaneous abortions and costing the dairy industry $420 million in losses.
That’s a crazy number, but here’s an even crazier one: Despite the lethal mutation, using Chief’s sperm instead of an average bull’s still led to $30 billion dollars in increased milk production over the past 35 years. That’s how much a single bull could affect the industry. …
Mezcal’s meteoric rise continues, but not all industry insiders are ready to toast
Tequila’s relative is a staple in US and Mexican bars, yet some worry its popularity could damage its reputation and the rural areas where it’s produced
Mezcal , tequila’s stronger and smokier relative, has become a staple spirit in trendy bars across Mexico and the United States in recent years, and the agave-based drink has inevitably attracted the interest of global alcohol giants. In the process local growers are worried a unique spirit is under threat.
Traditionally produced in small batches by farmers who use artisanal methods, including earth-covered oven pits and horse-driven mills, mezcal has struck a chord with the growing sector of consumers passionate about slow food, farmers’ markets and craft drinks.
Yet small distillers and industry insiders warn that mezcal’s sudden popularity is fueling mass production that threatens to damage its reputation. Worse still the humble rural communities that produce the drink are left to deal with the resultant ecological damage while the newcomers leave with a greater share of the profits.
Global investment has gathered pace as mezcal has established itself as North America’s hippest new spirit. The Scotch whisky producer William Grant & Sons launched the Montelobos brand in 2012 and the following year Bacardi bought the distribution rights for Zignum, an industrially produced mezcal owned by a subsidiary of the Mexican Coca-Cola bottler Femsa. …
4 Creepy Realities Of Being A Real Life Exorcist
Thanks to Hollywood, we’ve all got a certain idea of what an exorcism entails: a ruggedly handsome young priest, a plethora of atmospherically vital candles, a crucifix doing double-duty as a metaphor for both faith and sex, maybe a side-plot about the priest questioning his faith that seems a little tacked on, and boom! Ex-demon. But is that really how it goes? To find out, we spoke to Adam Hii, Victoria Visser, and Josh Sanders about their modern-day exorcism experiences …
#4. Exorcism Is Still A Surprisingly Common Practice Worldwide
While exorcism might make for great movies (well, like four movies and one TV show, anyway), we tend to think of it as a bygone practice. We’ve come an awful long way since the dark days when you’d burn a neighbor for looking at you cross-eyed. But the fact of the matter is that exorcism is on a comeback tour. The Roman Catholic Church has been training more exorcists than ever before, to address what Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, archbishop of Madrid, referred to as an “unprecedented rise” in demon possessions. (Hell, in 2014 the Pope Leo XIII Institute opened in Milwaukee to allow more priests to earn their exorcism badges here stateside.) Bobby Jindal, who you might (but probably don’t) remember as the guy who tried for a shot at the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, claimed to have exorcised a demon from a fellow student while attending the University Of Oxford, complete with tongue-speaking and disparaging remarks about the pastimes of her classmates’ mothers.
“I CAST YOU OUT!” -Bobby Jindal, and/or voters deciding
whether he will continue to hold public office.
…
Why Porn Stars Hate California’s Ballot Initiative to Protect Their Safety on Sets
This November, voters will weigh a statewide proposition about condoms and worker rights.
If you don’t believe porn can be tedious, try reading Proposition 60, a ballot initiative in California about condoms in adult entertainment. The 13-page measure is labyrinth of legal terms, but here’s a rough summary.
Say California resident John Smith is watching porn and he doesn’t see the actors using condoms. He can file a complaint with the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA. The agency has to get back to him within 21 days. If it doesn’t, or if it declines to investigate, Smith can bring a civil action—a lawsuit—against anyone who was involved in producing or distributing the film. Assuming a judge doesn’t dismiss his suit, Smith would have to prove in court that condoms weren’t used on the porn set. If he succeeds, the producers could have to pay the state thousands of dollars—and Smith would get 25 percent of the cut. …
Fictional Extinction: How a Family of Frankenstein’s Monsters Could Wipe Out Humans in 4000 Years
A new study revealed that the request of Victor Frankenstein’s monster for a female companion could lead to the extinction of humans.
The study, published in the journal BioScience, is the newest addition of the horrors incorporated in the 1818 novel of Mary Shelley titled “Frankenstein.” Additionally, the researchers argue that the gothic novel, which is considered as the first work of science fiction, is rooted in a fundamental principle of biology.
“To date, most scholars have focused on Mary Shelley’s knowledge of then-prevailing views on alchemy, physiology and resurrection; however, the genius of Mary Shelley lies in how she combined and repackaged existing scientific debates to invent the genre of science fiction,” explained Justin D. Yeakel, an Omidyar fellow at the Santa Fe Institute and an assistant professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the University of California and co-author of the study, in a statement. “Our study adds to Mary Shelley’s legacy, by showing that her science fiction accurately anticipated fundamental concepts in ecology and evolution by many decades.” …
10 Gruesome Chainsaw Murders
Chainsaws allow murder on an industrial scale. They reduce humans to fodder while tantalizing the psyche with phallic suggestions. And real-life tales of murder and dismemberment by chainsaw wielding maniacs are even more terrifying than their fictional counterparts.
10. Chainsaw Murder-Suicide
In 2015, Christopher Peppelman slaughtered his wife with a chainsaw and then turned the power tool on himself. Nicole Peppelman, 43, was choked and stabbed, but it was the chainsaw that killed her. Christopher, 48, died from self-inflicted “gaping, sharp-force wounds” to his thigh and abdomen. Chainsaw suicide is rare but not unheard of.
The couple’s 14-year-old son stumbled across the savage scene in their home in Montgomery Country, Pennsylvania. Investigators are uncertain what caused Christopher’s violence. Nicole filed for divorce in 2011, but it had only come through earlier that year. She and her two sons were living with her parents. Friends reported that the couple had problems in the past, but nothing predicted this horrific occurrence. Their children are currently in the care of family members. …
‘People of Earth’ Star Wyatt Cenac Will Make You Believe in Aliens
The former Daily Show correspondent and his People of Earth co-star Ana Gasteyer talk their new sitcom, aliens, leaps of faith, being weird, and pushing for diversity.
From The Daily Show to hit (or at least critically respected) comedy series is a well-trodden journey. The Comedy Central program has always been one of comedy’s most fruitful incubators of talent. See: Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Josh Gad, Larry Wilmore, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Kristen Schaal, Matt Walsh, Jessica Willliams, Michael Che, and so many more.
But from the Daily Show to a series as high-concept and unusual as People of Earth? That journey is a little more, let’s say…alien.
Of course, Wyatt Cenac was never going to have a normal journey. …
UFO Sightings In Vienna Causes Panic: Are Aliens Targeting Earth?
UFO sightings startles Vienna Residents. Is this a sign of an upcoming alien domination?
Residents of the Austrian cities in Graz and Vienna were in a state of shock after reports had circulated online claiming that an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) were allegedly seen to be hovering around the skies. The said incident happened on Oct. 29 which caused a massive panic for most of the people living in the said cities.
Numerous footage of the said UFO sightings were then uploaded on various social media platforms showing the bright flying object wandering through the skies. Others were said to be doubtful of said happening while some believe that an alien invasion is already starting to take place.
As per RT, authorities are yet to release their statement regarding the incident. However, although skeptics claim it as the start of an alien invasion, experts are convinced on the other hand that it was in fact just a small remote controlled helicopter. …
THE SECRET RACE TO THE MOON
For nearly 20 years after Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon in July 1969, the Soviet Union categorically denied having a manned lunar program of its own. It wasn’t until the late 1980s that we began to learn just how close they came to beating the United States to the Moon.
HEARING IS BELIEVING
Not too long after 9:00 p.m. on the evening of April 11, 1961, a United States government listening post off Alaska picked up the sound of human voices speaking in Russian. That wasn’t unusual; in the early 1960s, the Cold War was at its height, and the listening post had been set up for the purpose of intercepting Soviet communications.
But as the analysts studied the transmission, they realized that one of the voices was coming from space—low-Earth orbit to be exact—and the other voices were transmitting from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Soviet Kazakhstan, headquarters of the USSR’s space program. As the entire world would learn in a few hours, the 27-year-old cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had just become the first human being to fly in space. As was typical with the Soviet space program, the launch had been kept a secret. The signals from space were probably the first inkling the United States had that it had been beaten in the space race once again. …
Video Goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
and not-so-goodnesses
FINALLY . . .
6 Horrifying Things That Happen To Your Body After You Die
When you leave your body for good, it’s got its own way of dealing with the breakup. Instead of eating Cherry Garcia with a garden trowel while watching Lifetime, your cadaver opens the door to an endless parade of potential indignities — from pests to postmortem boners to literal gore explosions. Resting in peace, unfortunately, is not really an option.
Death really is the beginning of the next great adventure, as long as that adventure was written and directed by David Cronenberg. Here are some of the highlights:
#6. “Angel Lust,” Or Dying With An Unavoidable Boner
Let’s ease you into this article with some nice classical art. Religious paintings are always so- OH JESUS CHRIST, WHAT THE HELL?!
“What? Never woken up with resurrection wood?”
Yes, once upon a time, creating and viewing images of the Dong of Dongs was a form of deep reverence … which makes historical sense when you consider that death erections almost exclusively happen in people who die violently, and crucifixion is no picnic. This phenomenon’s technical name is priapism, but its rad name is “angel lust,” and it’s not even exclusive to men (the ladies’ version is called clitorism, which should give you a hint of what happens). Much of what we know about this comes from anecdotal evidence throughout history — specifically, public executions that suddenly turned super awkward. If you found yourself on the wrong side of the law, you stood a pretty good chance of accidentally showing everybody your one-eyed wonder weasel while hanging. It’s not a dignified way to go out. …
Awesome! The New Roomba Will Embalm You If You Die Alone In Your Apartment https://t.co/7RVOU9T8e4 pic.twitter.com/kgMsVgrKnu
— ClickHole (@ClickHole) October 30, 2016