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FT405

Just got it! Although... possibly for the first time ever - that advertising insert in the separate envelope. Are FT so short of money that they have to hook up with a company who operate just on the edge of legitimacy, whose "service" is in the grey area between "legal" and "scam"? "Your 10 NATIONAL LOTTERY Lines completely free"

So I might win the lottery through them but I definitely do have to give them my bank details first and tie myself into a DD and an indefinite contract that's going to be hard to get out of. No thanks. And everything I find out about YourLottoService UK tells me they're a hard sell cowboy outfit who might be fully legal, but operating on the wrong side of ethical. Incidentally - reviews and reports on the Web suggest a mailshot like this via a "partner" might well be followed up by cold-calling pushy sales people. I hope FT and Dennis Publishing aren't going to be so stupid as to sell them the subscription list? If I get cold-called from them, then I'd be asking hard questions about where they got my phone number from. Just saying.
 
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And in other news... really felt for the scientifically-minded kid who put himself through a world of discomfort when he swallowed powerful magnets "to see what would happen".

When I was about seven or eight.... well, more imaginative rather than empirically minded. I was playing with the latest batch of Airfix figures and I had a glass of lemonade or something on the go. The figure set was the tie-in to the TV show Tarzan and the Apes, or something like that. I'd just taken Tarzan off the sprue - he was important, only one of him in the set - and I'd seen him swimming on the TV show. So I got him to swim in my lemonade. Nearest liquid source.

This was all very well till I got distracted. Reached for lemonade, took a swig... and Tarzan, my newly bought Tarzan, was going on a wholly unplanned spontaneous adventure. I was dischuffed. OK, I got another set the following week - Tarzan now with twice as many chums and enemies to play with, and possibly two Janes, one being the widow from the previous week.. But I do wonder about the original Tarzan figure. I came to no grief, shrank from checking to see if he, you know, made it out in one piece (I didn't look too hard). For all I know he's still in there. Tarzan of the Upper Rising Colon.
 
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But I do wonder about the original Tarzan figure. I came to no grief, shrank from checking to see if he, you know, made it out in one piece (I didn't look too hard). For all I know he's still in there. Tarzan of the Upper Rising Colon.

The MRI:

TZNMagnificentQuicksand01.jpg


maximus otter
 
The letter from Simon Spurrier about migraine auras and visual field disturbances. I get those myself; have done since puberty. I remember FT ran a full page article about this a while back, in the context of visions by mediaeval saints and how this might have contributed to visions of a "castle of light". The disturbance was named as "Hemicrania sine Dolorosa" - HSD - and was described as being a migraine without the headache, therefore sine dolorosa - "pain free". I wonder if anyone can nail this down to the exact copy?
 
I was very happy to see a double page IHTM spread. The two long articles were good. But the numbers thing, so many people get that. Even I do. Wasn’t there anything better?
 
I was disappointed with the cover article I thought there would be more examples with the phone calls.

Sorry to read you say that, I liked it a lot! Did you think there was too much about the researchers in the article? I thought they highlighted some pretty good cases.
 
The letter from Simon Spurrier about migraine auras and visual field disturbances. I get those myself; have done since puberty. I remember FT ran a full page article about this a while back, in the context of visions by mediaeval saints and how this might have contributed to visions of a "castle of light". The disturbance was named as "Hemicrania sine Dolorosa" - HSD - and was described as being a migraine without the headache, therefore sine dolorosa - "pain free". I wonder if anyone can nail this down to the exact copy?

You(? - "AgProv2") mentioned reading about this in Fortean Times back in 2007 on another forum:

https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A882876/conversation/view/F105163/T4353053

The only article I've found that seems to match your description is this one from 1998:

Me and Hildegard of Bingen
A David Langford column for Fortean Times.
First published in Fortean Times #115, October 1998.

https://ansible.uk/writing/ft115.html
 
Sorry to read you say that, I liked it a lot! Did you think there was too much about the researchers in the article? I thought they highlighted some pretty good cases.

Yes that’s it. I wanted more about the findings than the research.
 
Oh, well, for that I suppose you read the books they were plugging!

I also really liked the forum piece on the horribly-named Jack the Stripper, it sounds like the author has written a very interesting book on it, unfortunately for me I have about fifty books on the "to be read" pile, so probably won't get around to it.
 
Oh, well, for that I suppose you read the books they were plugging!

...
But it doesn’t advertise it as ‘researching phone calls from beyond the grave’. I just think it’s misleading especially when that’s what’s on the cover.
 

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You(? - "AgProv2") mentioned reading about this in Fortean Times back in 2007 on another forum:

https://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A882876/conversation/view/F105163/T4353053

The only article I've found that seems to match your description is this one from 1998:

Me and Hildegard of Bingen
A David Langford column for Fortean Times.
First published in Fortean Times #115, October 1998.

https://ansible.uk/writing/ft115.html
Oh, wow, that was me... haven't been to h2g2 in ages....


Anyway. "Jack the Stripper". Colin Wilson gives this murder case quite a lot of a chapter in his book on apparently random and motiveless serial killers, Order of Assassins. Interestingly enough, Wilson quotes the senior copper who led the inquiry as being absolutely certain of the identity of the murderer. The man they wanted fitted the known evidence, but as the police closed in, he committed suicide. The cop-in-charge made the decsion to close the case at this point and was principled enough not to release the prime suspect's identity, arguing that he had not been tried and found guilty in a court of law, and that whatever you might have thought about the crimes, the suspect still had a family who would be caused needless hurt and continuing suffering. Nothing could be gained from this.

That was back in the sixties; I really wonder if a copper of today would be able to do this with politicans and the press screaming for "closure" (ie, a story that sells newspapers). Not to mention performance statistics demanding a successful investigation.
 
Pretty good one this month! The phone calls from the dead article I found very interesting, but like Morning Angel I would have liked more examples. The only thing I didn't like was the article on the James Merrill poem. An overlong account of what sounds like a deeply pretentious piece of work! I couldn't finish reading the article as I found it rather boring. Apart from that, a good issue.
 
I've just watched something on Jack the Stripper on Netflix. Interviews with the detective and 'revealing the murderer' - apparently a man who'd been guilty of murdering in a similar fashion in his teens, now released from prison and living under a different name with a family who were ignorant of his past. This one didn't commit suicide though, he died of cancer. The programme revolves around why nobody interviewed him or even flagged him as suspect, despite him living at the epicentre of the murders.
 
There was a really good documentary on boxer Freddie Mills on BBC4, where they investigated whether he was the murderer (as well as whether he had been murdered himself).

It's still on iPlayer:
Link

The answer appears to be, nobody knows for sure, and the culprit will be long dead by now.
 
Maybe the article on phone calls form the dead somehow will make Cooper's book to be put back in print.
 
I told my mum to cancel the gift sub ages ago but I think she doesn't want to do it or something, they keep turning up.
I've read the ghost phone calls piece and enjoyed it, but, like Morning Angel I was a bit disappointed with the low number of cases and, well, it was all just hearsay wasn't it? With something like a phone call it should be possible to get proof but, like a genuine UFO or ghost photo, no-one's managed it yet and no doubt never will.
As for the advertising envelope inside? Disgrace IMO, and it went straight into the bin.
 
I’m all for low key strangeness but surely the FT could have made more of the fact Sideline ‘Transport Whizz’ is dated 6 Nov 2021.
 
My copy arrived today...
 
I loved the story about the Roman parrot: A ca second century Roman mosaic clearly featuring a bird native to South America. Would have been a cryptozoological/historical sensation of course. Unfortunately, it wasn't, as Karl Shuker found out. (FT 405:22)

I easily found lot 248 as it was presented by Christie's way back in 2003:
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4205444

Some additional info here, including the selling price (including fees) of no less than $107,550:
https://www.thecityreview.com/f03cant.html

Wonder what the buyer said when the actual provenance of the "Roman" mosaic was revealed? Or is said buyer still in the dark?
 
I loved the story about the Roman parrot: A ca second century Roman mosaic clearly featuring a bird native to South America. Would have been a cryptozoological/historical sensation of course. Unfortunately, it wasn't, as Karl Shuker found out. (FT 405:22)

I easily found lot 248 as it was presented by Christie's way back in 2003:
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-4205444

Some additional info here, including the selling price (including fees) of no less than $107,550:
https://www.thecityreview.com/f03cant.html

Wonder what the buyer said when the actual provenance of the "Roman" mosaic was revealed? Or is said buyer still in the dark?
Description is incorrect. They describe the bird bottom right as a pileated woodpecker, its not, its a Hoopoe.

"A ROMAN MARBLE MOSAIC PANEL
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Composed of minute tesserae in multiple shades of red, green, black, gray and tan on a cream ground, the rectangular panel centered by an elegant water-filled krater with a trumpet-shaped foot, wide flaring mouth and vertical voluted handles, a parrot and a greenfinch perched on either side of the rim, the greenfinch dipping to take a drink, its tail uplifted, a chaffinch on the upper left pecking at a floral, a large partridge below, its wing unfolded, facing right and pecking at foliage, and a pileated woodpecker bottom right, facing left, with additional foliage in the field
44 in. x 32¾ in. (111.8 cm. x 83.2 cm.)"
Screenshot_2021-05-11 A ROMAN MARBLE MOSAIC PANEL.png
 
Description is incorrect. They describe the bird bottom right as a pileated woodpecker, its not, its a Hoopoe.

"A ROMAN MARBLE MOSAIC PANEL
Circa 2nd Century A.D.
Composed of minute tesserae in multiple shades of red, green, black, gray and tan on a cream ground, the rectangular panel centered by an elegant water-filled krater with a trumpet-shaped foot, wide flaring mouth and vertical voluted handles, a parrot and a greenfinch perched on either side of the rim, the greenfinch dipping to take a drink, its tail uplifted, a chaffinch on the upper left pecking at a floral, a large partridge below, its wing unfolded, facing right and pecking at foliage, and a pileated woodpecker bottom right, facing left, with additional foliage in the field
44 in. x 32¾ in. (111.8 cm. x 83.2 cm.)"
View attachment 39194
Ha ha, what? As if hoopoes weren't recognizable enough. Christie's, really.
 
The "chaffinch... pecking at a floral" looks more like a goldfinch on a thistle head.
 
The letter from Simon Spurrier about migraine auras and visual field disturbances. I get those myself; have done since puberty. I remember FT ran a full page article about this a while back, in the context of visions by mediaeval saints and how this might have contributed to visions of a "castle of light". The disturbance was named as "Hemicrania sine Dolorosa" - HSD - and was described as being a migraine without the headache, therefore sine dolorosa - "pain free". I wonder if anyone can nail this down to the exact copy?
Me too, but infrequently and until now, thought I'd looked at the sun without realising it. Interestingly, just mentioned it to the wife and she also gets it so perhaps it's common but unreported (good title for a thread!)
 
Coming back to this issue for a random read... picked up the sidebar article on page 9 about the dominant alpha female, in the tower of London's raven population, upping wings, flying away and disappearing in December 2020. Granted, only one out of eight or nine or ten or however many there are. But the legend does say if the ravens go, England is in trouble. And in hindsight... look at what began happening from 2021 onwards!
 
Coming back to this issue for a random read... picked up the sidebar article on page 9 about the dominant alpha female, in the tower of London's raven population, upping wings, flying away and disappearing in December 2020. Granted, only one out of eight or nine or ten or however many there are. But the legend does say if the ravens go, England is in trouble. And in hindsight... look at what began happening from 2021 onwards!

Raven's are associated with Bran the Blessed from The Mabinogion whose head is buried under tower hill. I think they are often escaping/dying and there are constant "back up" ones being drafted in as it were, it's a bit like when you're a kid and your parents have to keep replacing your gold fish because it keeps carking it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brân_the_Blessed
 
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