Absolutely Fascinating Part 5

Yes, it is that time once again. The time when I give you a peek into some of the strange and bizarre things that go on in this world. As a  librarian, I have uncovered some absolutely fascinating but completely useless knowledge over the years. If you want to entertain yourself for a while try looking up information on the Internet about these bizarre but oddly enthralling subjects.

WARNING: Clicking on the links below will take you to outside webpages whose changing content I have no control over.  Click at your own risk.

Virtual pop stars? 

I kid you not. These girls don't actually exist. The holographic singer's voice is even synthesized.That's right, that is actually a computer singing, not a human being. And she's got a sold out concert in L.A. this coming Monday, right here in the USA. Just a little too freaky for me.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2011/07/01/lah.japan.cg.video.star.cnn?hpt=hp_c2

And this leads us to . . . 

The Uncanny Valley

This is a psychological fear of something that looks human but isn't. We humans tend to feel uncomfortable or even fearful when a man made object gets a little too human looking, but isn't quite the real thing. Example: ultra realistic robots, CGI, or even dolls. (Think wax museum.) Something seems just a tiny bit off to us when we look at them and this triggers fear. Scientists have tried to study this phenomenon for years. Watch the video below to see some great examples of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNdAIPoh8a4 

Think of all the people who are terrified of dolls--or clowns. That's the Uncanny Valley. Freaky, huh?

Almost as freaky as . . .

Training Your Goldfish to Do Tricks

I saw the guys on Mythbusters attempting to train goldfish once. To my amazement, it actually worked. I've had lots of pet goldfish in my life--none of them did anything like the ones in the video below.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_Iznh9VbsY

Distorted Beauty Perceptions

This video shows the way society has distorted our perception of beauty. That gorgeous woman you see on the billboard, she doesn't exist. So why do woman spend so much time and money trying to look just like her? It just shows how much we've all bought into the myth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhgoGfnD8sc

If you are interested, here are links to past Absolutely Fascinating posts with even more strangely curious stuff to read up on:

Absolutely Fascinating Part 4
Absolutely Fascinating Part 3
Absolutely Fascinating Part 2
Absolutely Fascinating Part 1

Absolutely Fascinating Part 4

The world can be a strange but fascinating place full of mysteries. Here are just a few of the stories I've collected over the past couple months.

Meteors in All Their Glory

Here are two particularly spectacular meteors which were caught on video tape. Click here for the one in Canada and here for the one in Denver. Cool doesn't even begin to cover it. Especially the one in Denver. So wishing that I could have been there to see it in person!

Demon of Dartmoor

Okay, this one was too bizarre for words, especially when I saw it how it played out in the end. Someone captured a picture of this terrible looking, big, black beast wandering only a few hundred yards from a group of helpless school children. Click here for the original article. Pretty scary, right? I mean look at that thing? Well then I saw this link here and couldn't stop laughing.

He's sooooo adorably cute!

The Doll That Grew Old in the Attic

You have to see this one to believe it. Click here for the original article. As a doll collector, I know how easily dolls can be damaged by the elements. Humidity, extreme temperatures, bright light and even pollution can do some pretty horrible things given enough time. Older dolls are especially bad this way--but DANG--if I found this had happened to one of my dolls--I'd get rid of it as fast as I could too! That's just creepy.

Insanely Small Miniature Sculptures

Click here to see the smallest sculptures you will ever lay eyes on. Most of these fit inside the eye of a needle or on top of the head of a pin. As a person who likes to sculpt in miniature myself, even I can not tell you how the artist did this. At this size, you could accidentally breath in the piece if you are not careful. The beat of your heart could cause your hand to shake and destroy the piece.

For more fun and bizarre facts to blow your mind, click on the links below for past posts:

Absolutely Fascinating Part I

Absolutely Fascinating Part II

Absolutely Fascinating Part III

Absolutely Facinating (Part Three)

I love a good mystery which would probably explain why I love learning about the strange but true things that often go on in this universe. As a librarian, I find myself stumbling onto some of the most curious facts and bizarre occurrences. Kids love this stuff, and their enthusiasm has rubbed off on me.

The Mystery Hum - Did you know there are certain places in the world where residents hear a strange humming noise from time to time? The only problem is, the sound can not be recorded on any audio equipment and there doesn't seem to be any reason for the sound. Click the link below to read more about this strange phenomenon.

http://www.qsl.net/w5www/taoshum.html


The Palenque Mask - You'll have to click on the link below if you want to learn about this one, it's too bizarre to explain in five sentences or less.

http://www.stateoftheart.nl/phenomenon/frames/subjects/civi/mayan/palmask/palmaskmain.htm

The Winchester Mystery House - I've actually visited this strange aberration of architecture when I was young. They used to hold charity drives where people would pay to play hide and seek in the house on Halloween. I really wish I could have been a part of that. I did not see any ghosts while there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dy0TnZ_vpk



Bizarre Meteorological Phenomena - There is some pretty wild stuff going on in nature. Click the link below to see some of the most unbelievably fascinating weather phenomena of the natural world.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/most-bizarre-meteorological-phenomena/6091

Panama Creature - A wierd creature was found and killed in Panama. (Warning: the photos of the dead creature's body are a little freaky looking. The squeemish might want to skip this one.)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1214182/Remember-Monster-washed-ashore-Terrified-teens-claim-beat-new-mysterious-beast-death-Panama.html

It looks like a hairless sloth to me. Poor thing.

Monsters of the Deep - These fish look like something created by hollywood for a horror movie but they are 100% real. *Shudder*

http://www.who-sucks.com/animals/real-life-sea-monsters-24-bizarre-creatures-of-the-deep

Absolutely Fascinating: Part Two

As a children’s librarian I have picked up some absolutely fascinating but completely useless knowledge over the years. Last year I made a list of some of my favorite strange but true trivia and decided to keep up the tradition this year by sharing some more. If you want to entertain yourself for hours try looking up information on the internet about these bizarre but oddly enthralling subjects.

Singing Sands –Have you ever heard of the Singing Sands? I hadn’t. Desert winds can cause sliding avalanches which make some pretty eerie, almost musical, sounds. Not every desert sounds like these do because only a certain kind of sand can create these noises. The sand has to be just the right shape, size, and substance to work right. The explorer, Marco Polo, heard these sounds and believed them to be made by evil spirits. The website below is in a foreign language so just click on the pictures and you will see video of the different types of sounds the sand can make when people simulate avalanches (on a much smaller scale) with their hands, feet, or backsides. It’s even spookier when created naturally because all of these different sounds harmonize together. You have to really turn up the volume to get the full effect.

http://www.lps.ens.fr/~douady/SongofDunesIndex.html

Coral Castle - A man who was jilted at the altar by his young fiancé built an entire castle, all by himself, to commemorate his lost love. It took him 28 years and he never let anyone watch him work, often building at night so no one would see how he did it. Many of the stones involved were so big experts say it would be impossible for one man to have moved them alone.
Hmmm . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amXsPcD7g5g&feature=related

Lioness Adopts Baby Gazelle – A lioness in Africa by the name of Kamuniak decided to adopt a baby gazelle as her own. She was so worried some other lion would eat her new foster baby she stopped hunting and began starving herself. I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen video of this story with my own eyes. Neither will you. If you put in the words, “lioness adopts oryx” as a search in Google you’ll get all sorts of great stuff.

The Principality of Sealand - Just click on the link below. You have to see to this one to believe it! Make sure to click on the Picture Gallery and Fact File links as well.

http://www.fruitsofthesea.demon.co.uk/sealand/

Oak Island Treasure – Millions of dollars and six lives have been lost searching for this hidden treasure no one has ever been able to find. Something was definitely hidden there once, the deep shaft and booby traps left behind attest to that. Is the treasure still there? No one may ever know.

http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/content/section/5/35/

Marfa Ghost Lights – Marfa, Texas has quite a mystery on its hands. Strange glowing lights that have been appearing there since the 1800’s. There are all sorts of theories about what causes the phenomenon. Check out the facts and decide for yourself.

Try not to get a headache while still wondering about it all at three o'clock in the morning. : )

Absolutely Fascinating!

As a children’s librarian I find myself hunting down the answers to a lot of bizarre questions put to me by kids. Because of this I have picked up some absolutely fascinating but completely useless knowledge over the years. I don’t know how the kids hear about this stuff but I’ve learned to look information up and ask questions later. If you want to entertain yourself for hours try looking up information on the internet about these bizarre but oddly enthralling subjects.

The Mysterious Moving Stones of Death Valley – These rocks move by themselves. Seriously. There are lots of different theories, but no one knows for sure how they do what they do. Two stones right next to each other will sometimes move in completely opposite directions. Don’t believe me? Look up some pictures on the internet. You won’t be able to sleep at night for wondering how those darn rocks do that!

Faces of Belmez – Images of strange faces began spontaneously appearing on the kitchen floor of one home in Belmez, Spain. They dug up the floor and laid a new one. New and different faces quickly appeared in the cement. Faces also appeared around the rest of the home with alarming frequency. This is probably a hoax, but I find it intriguing that no one has been able to figure out how they did it. The pictures are not just on the surface but inside the cement. Hmmmm.

Tunguska Event – A big explosion more powerful than an atom bomb happened out in the middle of nowhere. It leveled trees for miles but left no impact crater. People saw a ball of light in the sky and were knocked over by the explosion. Science has explained this one but it is facinating all the same.

The Cottingley Fairies – Two young girls in 1917 take photographs of real fairies. Or so they claimed. Many people believed them, including Sir Arthur Connan Doyle of Sherlock Holmes fame. Eventually they addmitted the whole thing was a hoax. I can’t help wondering what the girls thought when their little prank got so out of control. Till the day they died both women swore they had seen real fairies and that the last photo they took was genuine. Curiousier and Curiousier.

Ball Lightning – According to eyewitness accounts this stuff is really creepy. Floating balls of light have been known to appear inside airplanes while in flight, come up out of the ground after a lightning strike, and it has even been known to burn or kill people. I hope I never have to see any in my lifetime.

Tasmanian Tiger (Thycline) - Last captive Tasmanian Tiger died in 1936 at Hobart Zoo. These animals are officially extinct. So how come people still report seeing them in England every year? Logging companies actually put out poison whenever there is a sighting near their camps because they know they would be shut down if there was proof these rare animals had managed to survive after all this time. No one can stop the logging companies putting out poison because officially Thyclines don’t exist.

Mentos and Diet Coke – Try putting a Mento into a bottle of Diet Coke and watch what happens. Just make sure you do it OUTSIDE and stand back. YouTube has some really hilarious videos on this subject.

There are some really strange things in this world. Try not to lose sleep over any of them tonight. : )