creatures

Build a Better Mousetrap for the End of the World

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Would you even guess this is a mousetrap? It’s vintage, from the 1930’s approximately. I first saw it on a video from Shawn Woods and then I went looking on eBay out of curiousity. Shawn Woods makes videos of how mousetraps actually work at catching mice. If you are especially squeamish or strongly against killing rodents, don’t watch.  I … Read more

From Fred, the Missing Strange Traveler

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The following is cut and pasted from an abandoned site, on Tripod. I would have reposted more newsletters, but I only found two.

Welcome, to The STRANGE TRAVELER

Hi. I’m Fred, the Robin Leach of haunted castles, alien landing fields, mystical monoliths and really cool bars. You have just stumbled into the only travel Website on the Internet that takes a “Twilight Zone” approach to vacation planning.

This is how it works: First, dim the lights.

Stare deeply into your computer screen.

Then imagine you are in the black-and-white world of early 1960s television, sitting in a AAA travel office filled with happy brochures on Disneyland, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.

Suddenly, you realize that the terse, thin-lipped agent marking up your TripTik is actually Rod Serling, host of “The Twilight Zone” and one of modern society’s first supernatural tour guides.

In your head, you hear his clipped, dramatically inflected words offering guidance in your search for vacation ideas that don’t center on theme parks, relatives or all-inclusive resorts:

“You’re traveling through another dimension – a dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead. Your next stop …Alton, Illinois.”

Or Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Or Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Paris, Roswell, Loch Ness, the Nazca Plain, Stonehenge, Area 51, The Queen Mary or that spooky old house everyone whispered about in the neighborhood you grew up in.

The Strange Traveler thinks vacations should be more than sunscreen and lengthy discussions about where to eat dinner. Your travel tales should make jaws drop around the office water cooler, and widen the eyes of fellow parents on the T-ball sidelines.

You see, the world is filled with Strange Travel possibilities: destinations reputed to be haunted, cursed, charmed, visited by aliens, inhabited by monsters, worshiped by strange cults, or infested by vampires, faeries and zombies. Some of these places are the doorways to true mysteries. Others are heavily hyped tourist traps. Most have overnight accommodations, lots of local color, and at least one decent bar.

That’s where The Strange Traveler comes in.

This Website and its newsletter are your tour guides to bizarre, out-of-the-way destinations. This e-zine both guides readers to strange places they can visit, and advises them of the supernatural undercurrents flowing beneath traditional getaways.

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Tapestries: An Exploration of World Maps

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Reprinted from an article directory. I couldn’t resist posting information about maps in history. Article by: Angela Dawson-Field People have always been curious about the world around them and the development of maps has echoed this historical fascination. Maps were once considered to be valuable objects and were treasured by their owners and regarded as works … Read more

Creative Drawing and Journaling

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Originally posted to SuiteU, part of Suite101. SuiteU is being removed from the site. I wanted to save the ecourses so this resource would not disappear. Drawing 101 By Joan Martine Murphy Introduction Most people would love to be able to draw what they see. Many people find enormous pleasure in the art of self-expression. … Read more

Dust Bunnies

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What do you know about dust bunnies? Or do you think they don’t really exist, like pixies, fairies and the Loch Ness Monster? Dust bunnies are real, I’ve seen them. I’ve swept them up and cleaned up after them. Downtown Dust Bunnies – Two sets of sisters on a mission to uncover the cause of … Read more

The Changling Test

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Your result for Which Changeling Are You?… The Courtless My mother killed her little son, My father smiled when I was gone, My sister loved me best of all; She buried the family one and all. Once there was a girl, who had no father or mother. All alone in a shack at the end … Read more

The Astrology Thing

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It never fails, I know it’s kind of flakey, but I always do an astrology check when I think about dating a guy. So, here is the theory/ check for Wood Dragon (me) and Water Rabbit (him). Likely this will only be the first, be prepared to skim over those too. Wood Dragon The Dragon … Read more