Dan Mitchell has once again flipped the switch and is allowing comments on his blog Luminosity:

http://wellofhighstrangeness.blogspot.co...

This has also coincided with yet another change of tack on The Phenomena, moving away from a focus on soley reporting his experiences towards a more critical stance researching the possible causes and motivations behind them.

He also sounds happier, which for long time readers is a relief. I wish him luck, and welcome him back to the conversation.

Just came across a piece that journalist Karen Spears Zacharias wrote for religion blog Patheos.com, the third instalment of a series interviewing various millennialists and other End-Timers across America.

In this one she interviews the pseudonymous "Star Captain", a man who appears to have confirmed the impending 2012 apocalypse for himself through astrological charts.

Read the entire piece: it's a fascinating exposition of the millenialist mind.

But what I find curious is his admission that:

Thirty days before 9-11 he was visited by a creature. “A big winged-creature.” A Phoenix bird. “He was at my front door.”

Uh. Oh. Uh. Oh. Uh. Oh.

Native Americans consider it a great blessing when the Eagle swoops down to visit them. It’s a sign from the Great Father. But you don’t want the Phoenix creature to come a’knocking. Star Captain took the creature’s appearance for the warning it was intended.

Now if that doesn't sound like our Mothman I'm a cryptozoologists' uncle.

Zacharias clearly reckons that:

It’s kind of whoo-hoo creepy but I believe Star Captain has the gift of knowing things, things like my daughter’s age. He tells me more stuff about myself, mostly true: You live in a house that’s less than 10 years old. You have a dog. A male dog. Small. Mostly white. You have long windows next to your front door. You need to replace that front door. It’s not secure. Get a solid wood one.

Star Captain claims not to have internet access, and not read her blog. Maybe he is a cold reader, but I also recall Keel claiming that Mothman witnesses often developed mostly pointless 'psychic' abilities just like these.

Any ideas?

I don't remember how I started reading Dan Mitchell's blog (maybe it was From the Shadows)but its content disturbed and attracted me as a genuine expression of the numinous: mysterium tremendum, mysterium fascinans.

It was even creepier when it began to shudder with fits and starts, with several months between posts and suggestions of electromagnetic interference if not intervention.

But suddenly and as mysteriously it's back - a fact also noted by Mike Clelland over at:

http://hiddenexperience.blogspot.com/201...

Mitchell's blog immediately reminded me of Jeff Wells's blog Rigorous Intuition:

http://rigint.blogspot.com/

and makes me suspect a literary experiment in much the same way, even more now that Mitchell added a disclaimer to the new version: "I present this blog as a work of fiction, but I have a penchant for sarcasm. I present myself as a intellectual function and nothing more."

Honestly, I don't know quite what to make of it except to say it is unique among 'experiencer' accounts for many reasons, not the least the author's grasp of ancient and modern esoteric and mystic teachings (Plotinus, Guenon) the understanding of which he embeds his experience.

A great marketing strategy for a new book, the after effects of mental breakdown a la Shaver, an idiosyncratic (mis)interpretation of contemporary occulture? Any ideas, Daily Grailers? Whatever it is, it leaves my very uneasy - maybe I'm just easily frightened ...

Hi all,

Even as we are still reeling from Mac's sudden and too early death, the internet yet again proves itself to be a very uncivil place. The original post was deleted because it contravened MeFi's obscure self-linking policy:

http://www.metafilter.com/86118/PostPost...

The author (Paracat's David Beidny) then posted a plea to redo the post with the offending poscasts he did with Mac:

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/18368/del...

Eventually an admin allowed someone to re-post:

http://www.metafilter.com/86121/PostPost...

If that were not enough many MiFiers then came out in numbers either to denigrate Mac or the grief-stricken author. A lot of them come over all bureaucratic about the self-posting principle, many arguing that the author was too close to Mac to post, with or without the podcasts.

Not being a regular MiFier, the whole thing just puzzles me ... any thoughts?

For anyone whose every read his posts, Rigorous Intuition needs no introduction.I have missed the literary stylings of Jeff Wells, one of the best Fortean/tinfoil bloggers around. I'd almost given up on him as having decided that actually getting a book published was finally more important than his truly counter-cultural visions of contemporary culture.

Thankfully, I was mistaken:

http://rigint.blogspot.com/2009/03/hey-h...

And for those of you who never had the chance to encounter him because of the hiatus, and are about to do so for the fist time, I envy you ...

New Scientist has as article arguing that the expansion in hominid brain size that occurred about two million years ago was due to the ice age which allowed an energy burning, heat generating brain to develop with sufficient environmental cooling:

http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2009/07/wh...

It joins an ever growing list of theories that attempt to explain how our forebears 'suddenly' seemed to experience evolutionary brain expansion.

These include:

A diet high in meat.

A diet high in starch.

Social competition.

The development of cooking.

Essential fatty acids and schizophrenia.

An unspecified "special event".

Links provided in the article.

More notes from the second edition of Biorama, a symposium and workshop that invited artists and experts to share their views, works and discoveries about the biology of the underground. Andy Gracie kicked off the artists presentations with a compelling introduction to the mythological theories about the structure of the Earth and the civilization, often called the Agharta, that live inside it:

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/01...

And cross-posted here:

http://www.we-make-money-not-art.com/arc...

Gives a brief history of its modern permutations, and provides numerous links and videos - including a link to a patent for the Hollow Earth Theory:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagen...

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagen...

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagen...

Some soldiers seem to have a sixth sense at being able to spot improvised explosive devices, researchers at the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) found, while others were unable to see the deadly weapons hidden in brush or buried in the middle of a road - links are below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/28/health...

http://www.army.mil/-news/2009/04/03/192...

http://soldiersmind.com/2009/04/08/goal-...

An article appeared on Ninemsn on 15th July with the misleading title "No solid evidence of Lithgow panther":

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8378...

It gave some sketchy details of a NSW government report produced by the the Department of Primary Industries says which recommended that while there's no conclusive evidence of a large black cat prowling Sydney's western outskirts, evidence of any future sightings should still be collected.

The Department have helpfully provided the following identification fact sheet and unidentified animal reporting form to aid the public:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pe...

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/?a...

The report also suggests a whole-of-government taskforce be formed should any compelling evidence emerge.

However, the article claims the release of three pages of findings has been "watered down".

A 24-page report is said to recommend the government erect warning signs about the potential existence of the animals, or conduct education sessions at local schools.

You can decide for yourself here:

http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/pe...

Curiously, although the story broke just a few days ago, the report itself is dated 26 Mar 2009 ...

Renewed state government interest in the possible existence of the cat was sparked last year when the unpopular NSW Premier Nathan Rees said he no longer believed the reports were an urban myth.

The creatures are said to roam from Penrith to the Hawkesbury region in Sydney's northwest, along the Nepean River and across the Blue Mountains to Lithgow.

Ironically, this supposed territory coincides with that of the local NRL football club called the Penrith Panthers - a title by which the ABC is also known.

Mr Rees was refusing to talk about the panther's existence following the report's release on Wednesday. It is not known if the Premier is a Penrith Panthers fan ...

I dare you not to smile!

Sasquatch Militia:

http://zapatopi.net/bsa/militia/

Save The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus:

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

The TRUTH About Black Helicopters!:

http://zapatopi.net/blackhelicopters/

And that's just scratching the surface. For more, see

ZPi | Intradomain Log:

http://zapatopi.net/blog/