Ladyboy lizards use transvestite trickery: researchers

March 5, 2009 by Webmaster

MELBOURNE (AFP) - - Young male lizards in South Africa imitate females to fool aggressive older males into leaving them alone, in an example of transvestism in the natural world, researchers have found.

The lizards not only avoid fights but gain access to females under the nose of their more macho rivals, the South African and Australian researchers discovered. >> READ MORE

No ghosts on 'spooky' S'pore tour

February 14, 2009 by Webmaster

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Don't take the Singapore Spooky Tour expecting to see ghosts, but those seeking an old-fashioned thrill in this modern state are likely to get it through insights into abandoned sites and ancient practices.

The tour is conducted by the Asia Paranormal Investigators (API, api.sg) who spend most of their time poring over legal texts and archives to unravel the beliefs and confusion surrounding supposedly paranormal phenomena. >> READ MORE

Jessecca Liu & Pierre Png - On Taboos and Beliefs

February 4, 2009 by Webmaster

Superstitions and cultural traditions; are they real or simply placebo effects?

Have you met with any strange encounters when you are filming on locations?
J: Some people insist on offering incense and roasted pig. To avoid rain, they place some chilli and garlic nearby.
P: When it rains while we're filming outdoors, someone will shout: Who did not bathe?!
J: That's just to tease people.
P: If we have no choice but to pee in forests, we have to say "Excuse me". >> READ MORE

Indonesian 'sex cult' leader arrested

February 2, 2009 by Webmaster

JAKARTA (AFP) - - An Indonesian cult head accused of leading his followers in wild orgies and giving sermons in his underpants was arrested Thursday and faces charges of "lewd acts" and insulting religion, police said.

Agus Noro, the head of the Satria Piningit Weteng Buwono sect, turned himself in early in the morning after a three-day hunt, Jakarta police spokesman Zulkarnain told AFP.

Noro, who is called Agus Imam Solihin or "leader of the faithful" by followers, is alleged to have had sex with his disciples and instructed them to have group sex while he watched in the sect's mansion outside Jakarta. >> READ MORE

The Next Generation of Cloaking Devices

January 30, 2009 by Webmaster

DURHAM, N.C. — A device that can bestow invisibility to an object by “cloaking” it from visual light is closer to reality. After being the first to demonstrate the feasibility of such a device by constructing a prototype in 2006, a team of Duke University engineers has produced a new type of cloaking device, which is significantly more sophisticated at cloaking in a broad range of frequencies.
The Cloak Device (Credit: Duke University Photography)
Pictured is the new cloak with bump, left, and the prototype, right. (Credit: Duke University Photography) >> READ MORE

Chinese student decapitated at Virginia Tech

January 24, 2009 by Webmaster

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - A female Chinese graduate student was decapitated by a fellow student in a campus cafe at Virginia Tech, the scene of the worst school shooting in US history in 2007, police said.

At approximately 7:00 pm Wednesday (0000 GMT Thursday), Yang Xin, a 22-year-old graduate student from Beijing, was killed at an Au Bon Pain cafe on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, university officials said. >> READ MORE

Duke Zhou's out of the world encounter

November 15, 2008 by Webmaster

MediaCorp Radio YES933 FM's DJ Dennis Chew is lately referred to as the "Duke Zhou". But this is not the usual "Duke of Zhou" whom we also commonly refer to as the "God of Dreams" but one who speaks of ghosts, gets your hair standing and gives you nightmares. And if you are ready, Dennis he is about to share a true ghost story with us.

"I'm not a superstitious person but I would rather believe in it (ghosts)," he says. Dennis has not only heard "them" speaking but has also seen them with his own naked eye. >> READ MORE

Too many 'foreign' spirits in this school

September 8, 2008 by Webmaster

MALAYSIA - GHOSTS, spirits, jin and other supernatural beings are abundant at SMK Tanjung Lumpur, claim dozens of bomoh as well as spiritual and faith healers who have visited the school in Kuantan in the past weeks. Some of the bomoh have even claimed that they have "communicated" with the spirits who were responsible for bouts of hysteria at the school since May.

The so-called spirits, which are aplenty based on the names given by the bomoh, have made several demands including a special feast before they leave the school. >> READ MORE

I want ghost wedding with drowned lover

August 9, 2008 by Webmaster

HER lover may be dead, but Miss Dang Thi Tho still wants to marry him.

The 25-year-old Vietnamese, who nearly drowned when her married boyfriend dragged her into the sea, intends to have a ghost wedding when she returns to her country.

The man, a 35-year-old China national whose name she gave as Mr Yang, had wanted the two of them to drown together on Monday night at East Coast Park.

He felt it was the only way out because his wife in China wouldn't agree to a divorce and Miss Dang had repeatedly refused to cohabit with him, she said. >> READ MORE