Though not one of the top sites I check, a friend of mine recently pointed me to a headline on CNN.com, because above all, what the world really needs to hear about are the Virgin Marys on toasts, and in this case, Mickey Mouse shaped potatoes. ______________________________________________________________ For those interested in the 9/11 conspiracy, and especially in the physical aspect of it, a study of a "new phenomenon" called thermal expansion has been attributed to the collapse of the towers by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Counterpoint comes from Richard Gage, the founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth and a member of the American Institute of Architects. ______________________________________________________________ A Swiss man named Yves Rossy (or self-titled "FusionMan") made a round on his jet-powered wing recently as a test for September 24th when he intends to cross the channel from Calais to Dover which will be streamed live on the National Geographic Channel. ______________________________________________________________ In other space news, ABC news recently published an article on how the mental health of astronauts is worth worrying about. A psychologist at NASA named Marc Shepanek asserts that it's more stress than depression, stating, "You're in a strange environment, you're concerned about radiation, you're in ...

SHOCKING NEWS, EVERYONE! The Bigfoot that two men from Georgia put forward was not real. Much to the chagrin of Sasquatch-enthusiasts and people whose time was wasted investigating the "evidence", I am sure, the Bigfoot carcass turned out to be nothing but a rubber gorilla suit encased in a block of ice. As the ice thawed, the truth became more and more evident. Links: Yahoo news Photo: AP

This week we cosy-up with our new pal, occult author Taylor Ellwood, to discuss the many and varied ways to approach magic/magick/chaos Magick...arrrrgh my head is exploding!! Taylor has authored many books on the subject of new and experimental approaches to magic, as well as being a professional life-coach...though, like us, he has still yet to figure out how to make fireballs come out of his hands! Featured music this week is a cool live recording of the amazing Ma Meeshka Mow Skwoz by Mr Bungle. Taylor Ellwood Biog: Taylor Ellwood lives in Portland with his beautiful mate Lupa, and two cats. He’s a co-author of Creating Magickal Entities (with David Cunninghman and Amanda Wagener), and Kink Magic (with Lupa. He is the author of Pop Culture Magick, Space/Time Magic, Inner Alchemy, Multi-Media Magic and the editor of the Magick on the Edge Anthology, Manifesting Prosperity Anthology, and the Pop Culture Grimoire. When Taylor isn’t editing Non-fiction books for Immanion Press, or working on his latest work, he can be found gaming, reading, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife. For more information about Taylor, please go to The Green Wolf or visit Magical Experiments.

"Tree Man" Dede from Indonesia might be cured after fighting warty "roots" growing from his arms and legs for years. Dr Anthony Gaspari of the University of Maryland declared that it was caused by Human Papilloma Virus and it was found that his peculiar condition worsened due to a suppressed immune system. Doses of synthetic Vitamin A will be administered to him and are likely to help the warts diminish so that he will be able to use his hands. ______________________________________________________________ If you ever wanted a faster computer, Magnetoresistive random access memory (RAM) is your answer! ______________________________________________________________ Research has shown that Democratic politicians who appear on the Colbert Report gain a 40% increase in donations within the following 30 days after their on-show appearance. The research is published in the July issue of Political Science and Politics, which you can read here ______________________________________________________________ Starting September 10th, experiments using the Large Hadron Collider- a particle accelerator built along the French-Swiss border- will take place to attempt to produce the "Higgs boson" particle. There is a possibility that other particles may be observed as well. News.cnet.com says it's "considered one of the world's largest physics experiments to date." ______________________________________________________________ New research has shown that books ...

It's V mask time again, as the kids and oldfags alike take to the streets to continue their protest against the Church of Scientology tomorrow. If you're London based and want to go along for some lulz, check here for details of how to get involved. The theme of this months protest is 'Cult-Fiction': On Saturday, August 16th, the collective known as Anonymous will again stage a protest against the Church of Scientology's corruption, and its abuse of its members and critics. This will be Anonymous' seventh global protest since the inception of its campaign in January. From 11am (local time) onwards, Anonymous will take to the streets in peaceful protest at over 130 Church of Scientology centres around the globe You never know, some of the RWYASN staff might be there as well...just for the lulz! Checkout Wirah.com, Enturbulation.org and londonlulz.com for 'MOAR' info!

It's only taken them 6 albums, a load of US tours, several Australian tours a Tzadik Masada release and a whole load of really cool 7"'s, but the Secret Chiefs 3 are FINALLY coming to the UK! To add to my excitment, the best band ever are playing at the best venue ever; Cargo in Shoreditch, London; with its bizzare set of pipes and odd outdoor sitting area gardeny thing making a perfect setting for the show. Support for the Chiefs comes in the shape of Italian Avant weirdos Zu and amazing ambient noise masters SkullFlower. So this is shaping up to be quite the night! Now, some of you may remember back in our interview with 'frontman' Trey on the podcast he did mention that the group were planning on doing a whole European tour, so we'll keep you posted on that as we hear about it! Anyway, go get your tickets for the show, which is taking place on the 16th September, here.

Episode 13 - Conspiracy 101 will be released a little later than usual this week due to some technical problems.

Today on my usual rounds of classic websites, I hit what is either a sad sad day for archiving drama...or a practical joke. You see, it's hard to tell with ED, when you think something bads happened, the next thing you know they are pointing at you and laughing. But anyway, ED, it would appear, has been been the victim of some counter-harrasment: "Encyclopaedia Dramatica is being attacked, has lost ads and has no money. Please help us by making a donation to the site. You can donate using your credit card." Would be a real shame to lose the funniest site on the internet!

So the title "Weekly Weird News" seems a bit misleading as I haven't updated weekly necessarily, but without further ado- The Waboba Ball is making quite a splash this summer as it bounces on water. Swedish inventor Jan von Heland created it after a few years of perfection. It has about the density of water an consistency of a breast implant. So much for skipping stones! Alterati notes a strange phenomenon over the past few years: washed up feet! Yes, that's right: amputated feet on many a shore! Read about it here. But what 's really plaguing the seas is this: Three women discovered and photographed recently what has become known as The "Montauk Monster," found off Plum Island. Among suggestions for identification were turtle without its shell, strange bird, and a raccoon- for its canine teath and ear length. There is much skepticism surrounding the creature, but there have been confirmations that other beach-goers that day had passed it as well. It is unsure if the picture was photographed, but if it were, it was awfully well done. Locals notice in Taiwan that "stiff soldiers" turn out to be dummies The best conspiracy theories in science fiction. A ...

Although I am a big fan of Leo Laporte, and his many geeky podcasts (he convinced me to start an Audible account); the latest episode of TWIT (This Week in Tech) brought to light a fatal flaw in my appreciation of the golden-throated podcasting Goliath! Whilst tearing apart a recent NY Times article, Laporte and his co-hosts, including the snidey (but actually quite amusing) John C. Dvorak and wannabe web-guru Wil Harris made a fatal error...or should I say exception, come on, we're all geeks here. It appears, much to my amazement, that the host and guest have totally missed, in my and many others opinions, the most important online movement of the 21st century! The author of said NYT article, an expose of 4chan, encycolpediadramatica.com and it's many major-players and clones, must have been 'Rick-Rolled' (old-meme) claims the TWITs, mistaking trolling for flaming. Anyone who follows this site, however, will know that the people being referred to in the article, including 4chans m00t, are players in the much lager Anonymous group. To not have noticed this huge and impressive online collective, who's routes famously lie in mass trolling both online MMORPG's such as Second Life and Habbo Hotel, as well as real-life efforts ...