Real-Life Weirdness

[Bruno]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Thunderstorm

The Great Thunderstorm of Widecombe-in-the-Moor in Dartmoor, Kingdom of England, took place on Sunday, 21 October 1638, when the church of St Pancras was apparently struck by ball lightning during a severe thunderstorm. An afternoon service was taking place at the time, and the building was packed with approximately 300 worshippers. Four of them were killed, around 60 injured, and the building severely damaged.

Locals say that the devil "...made a pact with a local card player and gambler called Jan Reynolds. The deal was that if the devil ever found him asleep in church, he could have his soul..."

"Written accounts by eyewitnesses... tell of a strange darkness, powerful thunder, and "a great ball of fire" ripping through a window and tearing part of the roof open. It is said to have rebounded through the church, killing some members of the congregation and burning many others. "

The description of the event is horrific, the legend is wonderfully picturesque, and this is a great inspiration for everything from a bit of local history or background event color to the final set-piece battle against a supernatural enemy, complete with 300 innocents to protect.

[moldymaltquaffer]

Believing that you're very good or very evil evidently boosts your physical Capabilities.

http://idle.slashdot.org/story/10/06...l-Capabilities

[moldymaltquaffer]

http://channel.nationalgeographic.co...0#tab-Overview

Over the last year, more than 40 albinos have been murdered in Tanzania, some as young as six months old. Many more have been attacked with machetes, their limbs cut off while alive. Their body parts are used by witchdoctors in potions and remedies as they are believed to bring wealth and success in business.

[moldymaltquaffer]

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/...ng-fish-stocks

Lede:

DEADLY sea monsters have woken from the deep to cause carnage among some of the world’s richest fishing grounds.

With tentacles. And people attacked and eaten.

[Anaraxes]

Including a special forces diver. Black Ops: Atlantis.

[Anaraxes]

Graverobbers blackmail Peruvian mayor into withdrawing from an election by employing his father's skull:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11404304

[Anaraxes]

Peak Chocolate:

Analysts at the prestigious British Academy of Chocolate express concern that decreasing cocoa production coupled with increasing demand will lead to an explosion in prices. Some even fear that cocoa is unsustainable, perhaps disappearing due to pressure from conversion to biofuels such as the oil palm, simple soil exhaustion, and the growers finding the hard work simply isn't worth the pay given rising wealth.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...d-2127874.html

Can it be long until Mel Gibson is fighting off punk biker gangs battling over the last few bars in the world? And only one of them still has a Golden Ticket to the Wonka factory.

[Daigoro]

Interesting, as I recently read that the world's vanilla supply was also under threat, as it's only grown in a couple of locations, based on a very narrow gene pool, and there's a virus spreading that severely affects it.

[Luke Bunyip]

This is not really OT, but IMO this is the best thread in which to post this:
http://www.musee-bizarre.ch/e_page.html

There are sets of diorama, with weird steampunky science themes.

[Anaraxes]

Nice. Transhuman Space meets Steampunk.