lördag 28 december 2019

Lolita has left the building!



Actress Sue Lyon, 73 passed away in Los Angeles on Dec. 26. To most, she was probably best known for her first major role, at only 14, as Lolita in Stanley Kubrick's adaption of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel. She won the role as one of 800 young actresses auditioning for it. Her portrayal of the teen nymphet earned her the Golden Globe in the most promising newcomer-female in 1963.

Sue Lyon was born in Davenport, Iowa, but moved to Los Angeles with her family after her father died when she was only 10 months. In Los Angeles she got some work as a childmodel and at 7 she got small parts in TV-series Dennis the Menace and Letter to Loretta.

At 12, she and her childhood friend Michelle Phillips (of The Mamas and the Papas) at one time managed to check out a copy of the novel "Lolita" at the library, knowing it had been banned. Sue later claimed she hadn't finished the book because it was too complex for her

Two years later she landed the part of Lolita, and followed it up with Night of the Iguana (1964) and 7 Women (1966).

Sue Lyon was diagnosed as a manic-depressive and was prescribed lithium. She later said she had struggled on and off with this condition since she was 16.

During the 70's she did some Sci-fi and horror films, which is what I know her best from, and her last film was the horror film Alligator from 1980.


fredag 27 december 2019

May I have your attention please? Will the real Jack the Ripper please stand up?



I repeat, will the real Jack the Ripper please stand up? We're gonna have a problem here ...

During a clear-out of stock at the University of Melbourne's Theology department an old document was found between the pages of a book. The document was a letter, sent in 1889 from a Reverend William Patrick Dott, telling of an attack on a woman named Mary by a 'Kosminski' who ran screaming at her with scissors in London's East End.

The letter ended up on eBay, where amateur 'Ripperologist' Tim Atkinson spotted it and bought it for £242. Tim Atkinson claims the letter is a "game changer" in the Jack the Ripper story because it is evidence that Kosminski could be violent and aggressive.

Aaron Kosminski was not only named as one of the suspects of the Whitechapel Murders of 1888, but the two highest ranking officers with direct responsibility for the Jack the Ripper investigation, also considered him to be a strong suspect for the murders. In fact he was one of three possible Jack the Ripper's named in official police reports.

 Sir Robert Anderson, Assistant Commissioner throughout the murders, wrote in his memoirs 1910:
"...undiscovered murders are rare in London, and the "Jack-the-Ripper" crimes are not in that category ... I will merely add that the only person who had ever had a good view of the murderer unhesitatingly identified the suspect the instant he was confronted with him; but he refused to give evidence against him... In saying that he was a Polish Jew I am merely stating a definitely ascertained fact..."

Anderson never name this suspect in his memoirs, but in 1987 when Chief Inspector Donald Swanson's copy of Anderson's memoir was made public Swanson had made penciled annotations to Anderson's narrative, and in so doing provided a little more information.

When Anderson talks of a witness "unhesitatingly" identifying their suspect but refusing to give evidence against him, Swanson explains that this was because the suspect was also a Polish Jew, and to bear witness would be to send a fellow Polish Jew to the gallows which he did not wish to have on his conscience..."

Swanson goes on to say that, following this identification, the suspect was returned to his brother's house in Whitechapel where the City Police kept him under constant surveillance until he a short time later was taken to Stepney Workhouse and from there sent to Colney Hatch lunatic asylum where he died shortly afterwards. Swanson ends with the statement "Kosminski was the suspect."

At Colney Hatch lunatic asylum the admission book states that Kosminski was not a danger to others, which has made many investigaters dismiss him as the Whitechapel murderer. Tim Atkins now means that the letter describing Kosminskis previouslu unknown attack on this woman proves that he could indeed be a danger to others and that he infact at least once attacked a woman with a sharp object.

Tim Atkinson found out that William Patrick Dott was a helper at All Hallows church, Barking by the Tower, at the time. He has been to All Hallows and matched the signature on his letter with that of the Reverend's from an old parish register from 1897. Paper historians have dated the paper and ink to the relevant period, so Atkinson is convinced the letter is genuine.

There is also a woman named Tilly, mentioned, and Atkinson believes this is a reference to Mathilda Kosminski, Aaron Kosminski's sister.

Usually when a serial killer suddenly stops it's because he has died or gone to prison for some other crime. Kosminski was comitted not long after the last known Ripper-murder.

But Swanson was wrong about Kosminskis death at Calney Hatch. In April, 1894, he was transferred to Leavesden Asylum, where he would spend the remaining twenty-five years of his life, dying there on the 24th of March, 1919.



torsdag 26 december 2019

Love is a burning thing, And it makes a fiery ring



In a number of countries icluding Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, crowds of people have gathered to watch the annular eclipse. In an annular eclipse, the moon covers the centre of the Sun, giving the appearance of a bright ring of fire.

A solar eclipse always occurs about two weeks before or after a lunar eclipse. Usually, there are two eclipses in a row, but other times, there are three during the same eclipse season. This was the first eclipse this season. The second eclipse this season will be on January 10, 2020 and will be a penumbral lunar eclipse.


onsdag 25 december 2019

The times they are a changeing...



Come gather round people where ever You roam, and admit that the waters around You have grown...

No, this isn't about Greta Thunberg or the environment again but old Santa Claus and his Christmas antics. Well, maybe it's a little bit about the environment also ...

Every year Father Christmas travels around the planet with his reinders and his sleigh to deliver presents to all nice kids, but maybe it's time to upgrade this procedure for let's face it - flying reinders might have been top of the notch 50 or 100 years ago, but hey, the waters around us have grown.

MailOnline has spoken to forward-thinking industry expert Dr. Carl Diver, academic lead at Manchester Metropolitan University, who has come up with quite a few ideas to help Santa streamline his operation.

A hydrogen powered sleigh, robots for the toy factory and AI keeping Santas naughty and nice lists up to date are only some of his suggestions. Not only would such an upgrade save time for Santa but it would also make less of an imprint on our environment.

Check out the full story and Dr. Diver's suggestion in detail here:


Oh, I almost forgot ... Merry Christmas!


tisdag 24 december 2019

Straight Space: Disney Cuts Lesbian Kiss from Star Wars



The last Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker features the franchise's first same sex kissing scene. Reviewers has described the scene as "a brief flash of two women kissing among a crowd of other characters".

Prior to the films premiere director J.J. Abrams hinted at a same-sex scene in interviews and said “In the case of the LGBTQ community, it was important to me that people who go to see this movie feel that they’re being represented in the film.”  Even so the scene was critisised by people in the LGBTQ community for being a “blink-and-you-miss-it” disappointment. Most criticism went the other way though complaining of the scene being there at all. Abrams defended it by claiming it would be “insanely narrow-minded and counterintuitive to say that there wouldn’t be a homosexual character in that world.”

Anyway, Disney choose to cut the scene from the Singapore version of the movie. Singapore does not recognize same-sex marriage, and sex between men is a crime, punishable by up to two years in prison, though the law is seldom enforced. There’s nothing in the law about sex between women though, There are gay bars and clubs in Singapore, as well as an annual pride rally but there are no protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

It is unclear if Disney cut the kiss in other countries. It was reportedly shown in China but not in the United Arab Emirate.

Bollocks I say. Let people love who they want. Disney should grow some balls and tell those people they either watch Star Wars the way it is presented or they don't watch it at all. It's a bloody kiss for f**s sake, and not a hardcore sex scene. But Disney probably only care about the money and nothing else.

Does Donald Duck wear pants in Singapore?



måndag 23 december 2019

A Sign Language for Space Travellers


Sign language is different in different countries. Not as different as spoken word language, but still different.

Brittish sign language (as, I'm pretty, sure most) is missing signs for many new discoverys in especially astronomy and space research. Now an astrophysicist tied to the University of Leeds and a group of deaf astronomers collaborate to create new signs to fill up this gap in the sign language.

If Brittish sign language becomes more up to date within the fields of new science than other sign languages this could lead to them adopting the new Brittish signs and thus making them a standard within science and especially space research.

In 2010 NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson sent a specially recorded video from the International Space Station using American Sign Language (ASL). This was the first time sign language was officially used on the ISS, but it wasn't the first time it was used in space.

 In January1992, pilot Bill Readdy signed from onboard space shuttle Discovery during the STS-42 mission. He sent a greeting to hearing-impaired students encouraging them to consider a career in the space program.


lördag 21 december 2019

Make the Galaxy Great Again! - Trump launches US Space Force



OK, I'm no big fan of Donald Trump. Since I'm not american and don't live in the US, I don't really know about his politics, but from the way he acts I'd say he a ravin looney. As president of the United States he is probably the most powerful person in the world but yet he acts like a child, and most of the time seems to act without any consideration of the consequences. When Barack Obama acted with dignity and respect towards other world leaders like a true statesman, Trump throws tantrums and make upp names like "Rocket Man". Half the time he scares me and half the time he makes me laugh out loud.

Whether he's a genius, a total mental case or just living his boyhood dream, for once I'm on his side. I didn't see this coming. Not in my time.

President Trump has officially signed the Space Force into law. For now that means personel at Air Force Space Command from now on will be assigned to Space Force instead. Air Force General Jay Raymond, head of Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command will lead Space Force until a chief of space operations is confirmed by the Senate. He has stated: "I'ts going to be really important that we get this right. A uniform, a patch, a song - it gets to the culture of a service."

This is so weird I can't even believe it's happening, but had I been a U.S. citizen I would have signed up first thing monday morning. Maybe I should call France. I hear roumors of them launching something similar, and after all they allready have the Foreign Legion, so maybe they will accept other european citizens for their Space Force.

I've seen a bunch of suggestions online all ready for a patch for the new branch, and for a song I can suggest The Final Count Down by Europe, Ranch on Mars by Galactic Cowboys or if they want something more agressive (since they're a military branch) I'm Gonna Drive My Rocket Up Uranus by The Alien Sex Fiend.