Xenophilia (True Strange Stuff)

The blog of the real Xenophilius Lovegood, a slightly mad scientist

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Archive for May 18th, 2008

>Story of a very little man, not much bigger than a Coke bottle.

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>Right after I wrote this, I went to the supermarket and as I was walking out I happened to be behind this man of short stature. One more coincidence. My life is full of them. No, really. You don’t understand.

I post this picture not to make any point about dwarfism or this particular person, other than, for me, having never seen this person before, he represented an unusual coincidence since I had been wondering about the story of the Coke Bottle man an hour before.

So, here is the story I’d blogged about an hour before: An email by T. Peter Park from Jan 2005 puts the Coke Bottle man even at 1876 and also 1976.

Little Tonnlie Barefoot was playing in a cornfield near his home
on October 12, 1876, when he saw a little man "not much bigger than a
Coke bottle," wearing a black "German-type hat," a white tie, a blue top
and trousers, and black boots. He reached for something in his pocket,
froze, squeaked like a mouse, and ran off through the cornstalks,
leaving behind footprints 2 1/4 long by 1 inch wide with bootmarks. Two
weeks later, Shirley Ann McCrimmon, coming home from a party just before
daybreak on October 25, saw a little man with light-brown skin, wearing
boots and a thin garment. He shone a tiny bright yellow light in her
eyes, and ran away when she screamed. Dogs also barked at him.
Footprints were again found, in hard ground, but none in the soft ground
where he had stood, and in the cornfield the footprints ended abruptly.

A 2003 story by David Hinson puts the date at 1976.

Dunn, North Carolina (1976) Tonnlie Barefoot was eight years old. He was playing in a cornfield on October 12 and saw a little man looking at him. He wore a blue shiny shirt with a white tie, blue pants, and black boots. He also had a black “German-type hat.” He quickly fled, but Tonnlie found footprints which he showed to his mother. Fred Bost, managing editor of a local newspaper, examined them. He insisted that they were from tiny boots; he could see cleat marks. They were just over two inches long and an inch wide at their widest part.

On October 25, Shirley Ann McCrimmon, 28 years old, saw a little man. He appeared nude, or perhaps wearing thin clothes. In any case, he also wore boots and left footprints. In each case, the location of the prints did not make sense. They were found in rather hard ground and ended abruptly, although there was adjacent softer ground that should have easily taken footprints. – geocities

Here is one with a reference to the authors:

Of Johnston County, North Carolina, Jim Brandon writes: “There is undoubtedly a presence of some kind around here. It has manifested in the form of monsters, mini-sters, bridge trolls, and even phantom reenactments in the skies of the 1865 battle of Bentonville.” [2]

Janet and Colin Bord elaborate on Brandon’s “mini-ster”: “It was also a young boy, eight-year-old Tonnlie Barefoot, who first saw the tiny entity of Dunn, North Carolina (USA), when he was playing in a field of dried cornstalks near his home on 12 October 1976. He saw the little man ‘not much bigger than a Coke bottle,’ dressed in black boots, blue trousers, and a blue shiny top, with a black ‘German-type hat’ with a pretty white tie. He seemed to be reaching for something in his back pocket, then froze, squeaked like a mouse, and ran off fast through the cornstalks. He left some footprints 2 1/4 inches long and 1 inch wide with boot marks in them. On 25 October, twenty-year-old Shirley Ann McCrimmon also saw a little man, as she came home from a party just before daybreak. He wore boots and a thin garment, and his skin was light brown. He shone a tiny bright yellow light across her eyes, and ran away when she screamed. The dogs also barked at him.” [3]

This story is from Bord, Janet and Colin. Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century. (Chicago: Contemporary Books, Inc., 1989), pp. 155-157.

Posted in Strange | 3 Comments »

>Locks of Love – Donate Your Hair to Kids with Cancer

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>A friend of mine did this. Cool idea. “Thanks Madonna”?

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.nexxus.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Do stuff, Health | Leave a Comment »

>That Quake in China may have been an 8.0. Over 42,000 dead.

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>

Nearly a week after an enormous earthquake devastated much of north central Sichuan province, officials raised the death toll to 32,476, and said at least 10,000 others were still buried and presumed dead. At least 220,000 others were injured by last Monday’s quake. Authorities said they were taking measures to prevent the spread of disease through contaminated water. – nyt

That’s a terrible loss of life. You can donate at the American Red Cross, but they don’t take PayPal. Does anyone know of a legit organization helping with disaster relief that takes PayPal?

Posted in Earth, History | Leave a Comment »

>Same-Sex Marriage Ruling Makes Waves

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>

I’m straight, but I say let consenting adults do what they want. So many uptight fundamentalists must be red faced about this. Perhaps they will leave California? From a practical standpoint, the planet is overpopulated. If people find companionship in same sex relationships, there should be more adoptions and fewer mouths to feed.

Opponents of same-sex marriage say they will ask the California Supreme Court to delay the implementation of its ruling allowing gay couples to wed in the state as those on both sides of the debate gear up for a November ballot measure aimed at undoing the court’s decision.
“It’s certainly a temporary victory for those who favor same-sex marriage,” Ron Prentice, steering committee chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, said of the decision invalidating a state law defining marriage exclusively as the union of a man and a woman. Prentice’s coalition is seeking to overturn that ruling.

In about 30 days, when the court’s ruling becomes official, same-sex couples throughout the state will no longer be denied marriage licenses. But a motion to extend the waiting period to November will be filed soon, said Mathew Staver, a lawyer for Campaign for California Families, one of the groups fighting to preserve the marriage ban.

In addition, a petition for a November ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage by amending the state constitution has collected 1.1 million signatures — far more than required — and has been handed over to election officials.

Lawyers and strategists disagree on how this debate in California will end. But they do agree that things have changed since California voters passed a similar ballot measure eight years ago banning same-sex marriage through state statute.

“There’s no question that this issue is going to dominate the fall ballot,” said Dan Schnur, a Republican political analyst. “While public opinion in California supports domestic partnerships, the majority of voters still oppose same-sex marriage. But that gap is closing.”

“It’s too early to tell whether one side or the other is going to have the advantage,” he said.

According to a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 55 percent of Americans oppose same-sex marriage, while 36 percent support it.

Opponents of same-sex marriage in California point to those numbers as proof that the majority of voters would back a state constitutional amendment. And, opponents say, the decision of California’s highest court earlier this week will rouse more support.

“The overwhelming sentiment is that people favor marriage between a man and a woman,” Staver said, adding that the high court’s decision “will erase whatever hesitation [Californians] may have about amending their constitution.”

Staver said he is confident that the court will grant his motion for a stay. Given the potential November initiative, allowing same-sex couples to wed would only create legal chaos for thousands of marriages that would be rendered moot, he asserted.

But the court is unlikely to grant the motion, according to David Cruz, a law professor at the University of Southern California. The court was well aware of the measure when it made its decision, he said.

“Here, we are definitely going to be seeing same-sex couples getting married,” Cruz said.

This Story

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He added that there is nothing in the language of the proposed November ballot measure that retroactively undoes marriages taking place before November, he said. If it were to pass, he said, married couples might be treated as domestic partners.

According to Andrew Pugno, a lawyer representing the coalition behind the ballot initiative, the measure would say that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

Pugno said the language is taken from Proposition 22, a successful past ballot initiative that defined marriage in the state code. Thursday’s ruling essentially struck down that proposition, but opponents hold up its 61 percent majority vote as a litmus test for future success.

Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist, is not so sure. “Current public polling has shown that this issue has moved substantially and that it’s 50-50,” he said. “At this point, I would say it’s a tossup.”

Unlike changing state law, voters tend not to favor changing constitutional language, Cruz said.

“That, coupled with the prospect of almost six months of same-sex couples getting married, continuing their daily lives throughout the state, letting people see that their lives haven’t changed, the sky hasn’t fallen and loving relationships have strengthened — that would make it unlikely the ballot measure would pass,” Cruz said.

Eight states and the District, in addition to California, provide some form of spousal rights for same-sex couples, and a court challenge similar to California’s is pending in Connecticut. Twenty-six states, including Virginia, have passed constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages, and Florida voters will consider one in the fall.

Many same-sex marriage supporters, comforted by what appears to be the changing of public sentiment over time, said they are not worried about the proposed measure.

“No one should have to have their love and their relationship go before the voters,” said Stuart Gaffney, 45, who was a plaintiff in the case the California Supreme Court decided Thursday. But, he added, “we’re confident that we see attitudes changing as people get to know same-sex couples and recognize this bond of love that we all share.”

Lorri L. Jean of the Equality for All campaign, a coalition of same-sex advocates preparing for a November showdown, said the measure’s potential impact should be taken seriously.

The California Supreme Court ruling “was one of the most important victories in the entire history of the movement,” Jean said. “The question is whether these extremist forces can take it away from us. This is not something that we can take lightly.” – wp

Posted in Politics | 1 Comment »

>Bush: ‘Committed’ to Deal for Palestinian State

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

> Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »

>The Greatest Prank Call Ever

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

> Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Humor | Leave a Comment »

>Swiss Rocket Powered Bicycle

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

> Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Technology | Leave a Comment »

>World Record: Swiss Rocket Man Yves Rossy’s May 14, 2008 flight (video)

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>May 14th, 2008: Yves Rossy is, as far as we know, the first man on earth to fly with wings under his own rocket power.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Sports | 1 Comment »

>Flying Man – Another wing suit

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

> Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Sports | Leave a Comment »

>Loic Jean Albert – the Human Glider

Posted by xenolovegood on May 18, 2008

>Here is a wing suit, with no jet power.

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

Posted in Sports, UFOs | Leave a Comment »