Real-Life Weirdness

[Irish Wolf]

Giant squid invading San Diego!

Where was that sunken city supposed to be again?

[Anaraxes]

That's giant flying squid, no less. And "They look all-seeing, all-knowing".

Where was that sunken city supposed to be again?

Originally Posted by The Linked Article

Research suggests the squid may have established a year-round population off California at depths of 300 to 650 feet

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Lovecraft said that R'lyeh is located at 47°9′S 126°43′W in the southern Pacific Ocean.

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh C'thulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.

[moldymaltquaffer]

In related news...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...est=latestnews
Large hairy blob of unknown origin approaches Alaska. No reports on whether or not it is "rugose".

[Anaraxes]

It appears that the dye in blue M&Ms can help cure spinal injuries.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/28...dye/index.html

They outlawed the red ones in the US in 1976. Now they want us to take the blue ones. This seems familiar for some reason...

Next up, science proves that the green ones really do contain pheromones.

[capnq]

When pigs swim.

Feral pigs greet tourists on Bahamas beach.

[William]

The Crypt of the Capuchin Monks. A tomb of some 4000 monks with Baroque decorations made out of their skulls and the rest of their skeletons. About as creepy as you can think of a tomb being.

A quote from the article:

By the last chamber, the brain is reeling. The claustrophobic confines of the crypt, the dizzy geometry of the anatomical arrangements, a Baroque delirium of rosettes and florettes and eight-pointed stars, all made of bones, bones, bones: it begins to feel like a bad-acid flashback, brought to you by Pol Pot. And then you come to appreciate the Spirograph rhythms of it all, the---gothic? grotesque?---aesthetic of the repeating visual melodies of capitals and crosses and cornices outlined in bones, and you remember something Francis Bacon said---"There is no excellent Beauty, that hath not some Strangeness in the Proportion"---and it makes a certain mad sense, after all.

Iiiii don't think I'm going to try to improve on that. ^_^

[capnq]

Originally Posted by William

The Crypt of the Capuchin Monks

That may have been the real-world inspiration for the description of one vampire's lair (inside the Catacombs of Paris) in Barbara Hambly's Those Who Hunt the Night, which is my favorite treatment of vampire society.

[Luke Bunyip]

According to the Font of All Knowledge TM, there is no MI18. Obviously this is a UK version of The Black Chamber (Pyramid 3-5).

As well, there just happens to be an eye in a pyramid in the top of the old MI-5 logo.

[William]

Photo for the strong of stomach.

Nice inspiration for a horror monster. A thumb-sized parasite that...

(1) Eats the host's tongue.
(2) Attaches itself to the stump.
(3) Thereafter functions as a tongue, occasionally munching on bits of the host's blood or mucus.

I could see this working as a demon familiar with special abilities. You don't get the magery or enthrallment powers yourself, you just stick out your tongue and the little face utters the words! In GURPS, I'd let it glean off your meals instead of munching on the inside of your mouth. You increase your food requirements and assume that the extra goes toward HP of sacrifices to the creature in preparation for spellcasting.

Of course, it's also a perfectly good parasitical infestation, at least if it takes hold quickly. Much easier to get rid of than others, though doing so leaves you tongueless.

(Taxonomic identifier is Cymothoa exigua.)

[Anaraxes]

Giant man-eating raptors that can carry away your children are real. Or were, up to 500 years ago.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10597177