Misc. Curiosities
A Case of Prescient Evolution?
Lately, a fossil moth egg was found in 75-million-year-old sediments in Massachusetts. The egg is positively assigned to the moth family Noctuidae and extends the fossil record of this family back into the Cretaceous. So what? Well, it turns out that Noctuidae family moths have special organs for detecting the ultrasonic cries of insect-hunting bats. The fossil record of the bats, however, only goes back to the early Eocene, perhaps 20 million years after the Noctuidae moths. Since no other insect predators like bats existed, it would seem that the moths developed these special organs in anticipation of the bats! (Gall, Lawrence F., and Tiffney, Bruce H.; "A Fossil Noctuid Moth Egg from the Late Cretaceous of Eastern North America," Science, 219:507, 1983.) (from Science Frontiers)http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf026/sf026p07.htm
Lately, a fossil moth egg was found in 75-million-year-old sediments in Massachusetts. The egg is positively assigned to the moth family Noctuidae and extends the fossil record of this family back into the Cretaceous. So what? Well, it turns out that Noctuidae family moths have special organs for detecting the ultrasonic cries of insect-hunting bats. The fossil record of the bats, however, only goes back to the early Eocene, perhaps 20 million years after the Noctuidae moths. Since no other insect predators like bats existed, it would seem that the moths developed these special organs in anticipation of the bats! (Gall, Lawrence F., and Tiffney, Bruce H.; "A Fossil Noctuid Moth Egg from the Late Cretaceous of Eastern North America," Science, 219:507, 1983.) (from Science Frontiers)http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf026/sf026p07.htm
Talking Animals
UFOs
This photograph was taken on January 13, 1967 by one W. Varner of USAF. It shows two UFOs hovering over the Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts
Spontaneous Images/Pareidolia
Milton Madonna
2003
2003
Springfield, MA 2008 photo:
David Molnar/The Republican/AP
Big Dig 2001 (look in lower right at image on wall)
Globe File Photo
Another image....
Woman Sees Virgin Mary On Roasting Pan
WCAU-TV
A Massachusetts woman believes she has a holy roaster in her kitchen.
Susan McGuinness, of Dorchester, said the burnt label on her roasting pan looks like the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus.
She spotted the metal "miracle" just before she put the pan in the dishwasher on Sunday.
McGuiness said she won't wash the pan -- or cook with it -- ever again.
"People are calling asking me to pray. Someone called me asking me to pick up a roasting pan. People are telling me they'll never do their dishes again," McGuinness said.
McGuinness said she will probably sell the pan on eBay.
WCAU-TV
A Massachusetts woman believes she has a holy roaster in her kitchen.
Susan McGuinness, of Dorchester, said the burnt label on her roasting pan looks like the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus.
She spotted the metal "miracle" just before she put the pan in the dishwasher on Sunday.
McGuiness said she won't wash the pan -- or cook with it -- ever again.
"People are calling asking me to pray. Someone called me asking me to pick up a roasting pan. People are telling me they'll never do their dishes again," McGuinness said.
McGuinness said she will probably sell the pan on eBay.
Jesus on an iron
Methuen, MA
photo:Grant Morris/AP Photo
/The Eagle-Tribune
photo:Grant Morris/AP Photo
/The Eagle-Tribune
Image on door in Wareham church
One Wednesday night in January 1999, parishioners gathered at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Wareham, Massachusetts, to do some decorating on the third floor. Some of the women made a start on staining the cupboard doors.
George Funnell was working next door on the bathroom when he heard one of the women exclaim, “Oh my God, Jesus, I’m so sorry I called you ugly.” “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” said George, thinking that his fellow-worker was swearing. He went into the room to find Roseanne Leverone standing in front of one of the cupboard doors. On the door, a previously unnoticed image had emerged as the wood stain soaked in - a face with familiar long hair, parted in the middle, and a beard.
Roseanne explained that when she had started on the door, she had thought the wood grain was very unappealing. “All I kept saying was, ‘This ... door ... is ... ugly.’” But then the wood stain took effect. “It’s a miracle, a real miracle!” said Roseanne.
The church’s rector, Rev Cuthbert Mandell, was not so sure. ‘I don’t know what it is and I don’t know what it is not,’ he told a local newspaper.
The church now has the door displayed on a wall in the church. “It’s a piece for meditation,” Rev. Mandell says. “The fact that it makes people think of God and Christ, that’s a positive thing. It keeps the thought before us.”
George Funnell was working next door on the bathroom when he heard one of the women exclaim, “Oh my God, Jesus, I’m so sorry I called you ugly.” “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” said George, thinking that his fellow-worker was swearing. He went into the room to find Roseanne Leverone standing in front of one of the cupboard doors. On the door, a previously unnoticed image had emerged as the wood stain soaked in - a face with familiar long hair, parted in the middle, and a beard.
Roseanne explained that when she had started on the door, she had thought the wood grain was very unappealing. “All I kept saying was, ‘This ... door ... is ... ugly.’” But then the wood stain took effect. “It’s a miracle, a real miracle!” said Roseanne.
The church’s rector, Rev Cuthbert Mandell, was not so sure. ‘I don’t know what it is and I don’t know what it is not,’ he told a local newspaper.
The church now has the door displayed on a wall in the church. “It’s a piece for meditation,” Rev. Mandell says. “The fact that it makes people think of God and Christ, that’s a positive thing. It keeps the thought before us.”
Ball Lightning/Will O'The Wisps
Hovering Ball Of Fire
June 12, 1991. Braintree, Massachusetts.
"One of Earth's rarest and most mysterious weather phenomena occurred in front of Olga Perrow's Braintree home yesterday afternoon. "Ball lightning, an orange-reddish glow of luminosity that Perrow said "looked like a bowling ball," greeted Perrow and her two grandchildren as they drove into the driveway at 665 Commercial St. during the height of yesterday's thunderstorm. "'I was stunned,' Perrow said. "It was so smooth-looking. It was like a big ball of fire.' "Perrow said the ball moved alongside the car up to the front wheel and 'exploded' when the car went into the garage. "'It sounded like a bomb,' she said. "We expected to see a hole in the ground, but there was none.' "Chase Trowbridge, Perrow's grandson, said the ball was hovering about five or six inches off the ground. 'It moved very slowly; we were watching it for about 10 seconds,' he said. 'It was weird.'"
(Macrae, Scott; "Powerful Storm Hurls Rare Ball Lightning," Quincy Patriot Ledger, June 13, 1991. Cr. B. Green wood)
(from Science Frontiers)
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf077/sf077g15.htm
June 12, 1991. Braintree, Massachusetts.
"One of Earth's rarest and most mysterious weather phenomena occurred in front of Olga Perrow's Braintree home yesterday afternoon. "Ball lightning, an orange-reddish glow of luminosity that Perrow said "looked like a bowling ball," greeted Perrow and her two grandchildren as they drove into the driveway at 665 Commercial St. during the height of yesterday's thunderstorm. "'I was stunned,' Perrow said. "It was so smooth-looking. It was like a big ball of fire.' "Perrow said the ball moved alongside the car up to the front wheel and 'exploded' when the car went into the garage. "'It sounded like a bomb,' she said. "We expected to see a hole in the ground, but there was none.' "Chase Trowbridge, Perrow's grandson, said the ball was hovering about five or six inches off the ground. 'It moved very slowly; we were watching it for about 10 seconds,' he said. 'It was weird.'"
(Macrae, Scott; "Powerful Storm Hurls Rare Ball Lightning," Quincy Patriot Ledger, June 13, 1991. Cr. B. Green wood)
(from Science Frontiers)
http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf077/sf077g15.htm
Weather/Astronomy
Aurora over Cape Cod (NASA Images)
A 'Sun Dog' Plum Island, MA (originally uploaded by rowland-w.)
10-02-02
Curious Houses
Paper House
Rockport, MA
Rockport, MA
Boston's 'Skinniest House'
Other Trivia
Seahorse, Mattapoisett, MA
giant chair
A replica of the 'Baghdad Battery'
Photo courtesy of the Berkshires Museum
"The jar was first described by German archaeologist Wilhelm Konig in 1938. It is unclear if Konig dug the object up himself or located it within the holdings of the museum, but it is known that it was found, with several others, at a place called Khujut Rabu, just outside Baghdad. The jars are believed to be about 2,000 years old and consist of an earthenware shell, with a stopper composed of asphalt. Sticking through the top of the stopper is an iron rod. Inside the jar the rod is surrounded by a cylinder of copper. Konig thought these things looked like electric batteries and published a paper on the subject in 1940. World War II prevented immediate follow-up on the jars, but after hostilities ceased, an American, Willard F. M. Gray of the General Electric High Voltage Laboratory in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, built some reproductions. When filled with an electrolyte like grape juice, the devices produced about two volts. Not all scientists accept the "electric battery" description for the jars. Some suggest that they were simply containers used to hold papyrus scrolls. The scrolls have since rotted away leaving just the jars. If they were batteries, though, who made them and what were they used for? "
from The UnMuseum
http://www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm
from The UnMuseum
http://www.unmuseum.org/bbattery.htm
