Technomyths

They have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men or women. But unlike the characters of the comic book, these extraordinary people were quite real.

The movie version of X-Men was the hottest film in the theaters when it was released. Based on the enormously popular comic book, X-Men features a collection of human mutants - both good and evil - who were born with extraordinary and sometimes bizarre powers. With such names as Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Magneto and Mystique, they bound around making blades spring from their knuckles, conjuring hurricanes from the sky or manipulating their environment through telekinesis. These characters, creations of legendary comic book author and illustrator Stan Lee, live only in the imagination, on paper and now on film.

Would you believe there are real X-Men? They may not be genetic mutants, in the strictest sense, and they may not be able to threaten or save the world with their strange and fantastic powers of the body and mind, but they are extraordinary... not at all like you and me. Here's our own gallery of real-life super-powered characters.

Lightning Man
When storm clouds gather, courageous Lightning Man stands in defiance of nature to draw deadly bolts of electricity from the heavens.

Roy Cleveland Sullivan was a Forest Ranger in Virginia who had an incredible attraction to lightning... or rather it had an attraction to him. Over his 36-year career as a ranger, Sullivan was struck by lightning seven times - and survived each jolt, but not unscathed. When struck for the first time in 1942, he suffered the loss of a nail on his big toe. Twenty-seven years passed before he was struck again, this time by a bolt that singed his eyebrows off. The next year, in 1970, another strike burned Sullivan's left shoulder. Now it looked as though lightning had it out for poor Roy, and people were starting to call him The Human Lightning Rod. He didn't disappoint them. Lightning zapped him again in 1972, setting his hair on fire and convincing him to keep a container of water in his car, just in case. The water came in handy in 1973 when, seemly just to taunt Sullivan, a low-hanging cloud shot a bolt of lightning at his head, blasting him out of his car, setting his hair on fire and knocking off a shoe. The sixth strike in 1976 injured his ankle, and the seventh strike in 1977, got him when he was fishing, and put him in the hospital for treatment of chest and stomach burns. Lightning may not have been able to kill Roy Sullivan, but perhaps the threat of it did. He took his own life in 1983. Two of his lightning-singed ranger hats are on display at Guinness World Exhibit Halls.

BeastMaster
With just the power of his mind, he can command animals to do his bidding.

Vladimir Durov was no ordinary animal trainer. As a veteran performer in a Russian circus, he claimed to use a remarkable method for communicating with his canine coworkers - through telepathy. Professor W. Bechterev, head of the institute for the Investigation of the Brain in St. Petersburg, decided to test Durov's claim. Bechterev created a list of tasks that he wanted one of Durov's dogs to perform in a specific order, without any time for training. After hearing or reading the list of tasks, Durov went to his fox terrier, Pikki, took his head in his hands and stared straight into the little dog's eyes - psychicly transferring his thoughts directly into Pikki's brain. Durov released the dog and it immediately went about performing the assigned tasks. Thinking that perhaps Durov was giving the dog subtle clues with his eyes, the test was repeated with a new set of tasks, but this time with Durov blindfolded. Pikki still responded to his psychic commands.

The Electromagneto Team
Charged like superconducting human batteries, they roam the countryside thrilling all they meet with the electrifying power at their fingertips.

There have been several documented cases of people who apparently possess inexplicable electromagnetic properties:

• For just a 10-week period in 1846, 14-year-old French girl Angelique Cottin's mere presence made the needles of compasses spin wildly; objects as heavy as furniture would slide away from her if she tried to touch them; objects near her would vibrate unnaturally.
• Jennie Morgan of Sedalia, Missouri could emit highly-charged sparks from her fingertips that were strong enough to knock people unconscious. Animals would shun her.
• After an 18-month undiagnosed illness, Canadian teenager Caroline Clare became so magnetized that metal objects, like forks and knives, stuck to her skin. The force was so powerful that another person was required to pull them off.
• Inga Gaiduchenko, a 14-year-old Soviet student was also highly magnetic. Before members of the Moscow Technological Institute, she showed how spoons and pens stuck to her hands. Even non-metallic objects such as china plates and books were affected.

The Amazing Kinetitron
With her thoughts alone, a steely glance or a subtle gesture, she can move inanimate objects at will.

Nina Kulagina became one of the most famous psychics in the Soviet Union in the 1960s because of her amazing feats of telekinesis or psychokinesis. In films smuggled out of the country, Kulagina was shown to be able to move small objects placed before her on a table. Under close scientific observation, Kulagina would hold her hands a few inches above the objects, and in a few moments they would being to slide across the table top. Wooden matches, small boxes, cigarettes and Plexiglas would all react to her intense concentration. At times, objects would continue to move even when she took her hands away. In the early 1970s, Kulagina was even recruited by the Soviet government to see if she could somehow help a sick Nikita Khrushchev.

Pyro-Elasto Man
Watch him stretch his body to incredible lengths and handle red-hot flaming embers in his bare hands.

Daniel Douglas Home was either one of the most incredible psychic mediums of the mid-1800s or one of the era's cleverest magicians. The feats this Scotsman performed at close range astounded the elite and royalty of his day. In one demonstration, he entered his usual trance state and announced he was in touch with a guardian spirit that was "very tall and strong." While being watched by two witnesses who flanked him, Home shot up an additional six inches in height, and it could be clearly seen that his slippered feet were planted flatly on the floor. Home could also hold burning embers in his bare hands completely without harm, a feat he performed on a number of occasions. Sir William Crookes of the British Society for Psychical Research, once saw Home pick up a hot coal as big as an orange and hold it nonchalantly in both hands. Home even blew on the coal until it became white hot and flames flickered around his bare fingers. Crookes then inspected Home's hands and affirmed that they did not appear to be specially treated in any way - and showed absolutely no sign of blistering, scarring or burning. Crookes remarked, in fact, that Home's hands were as soft and delicate as "a woman's." In yet another performance, Homes floated out of a second-story window, paused, then floated back inside to the utter astonishment of three witnesses on the ground.

The Incredible X-Ray
There's no hiding evil deeds from the Incredible X-Ray whose penetrating X-ray vision sees all.

Koda Box, a stage performer who billed himself as "The Man with the X-Ray Eyes," astonished audiences in the early 1900s. Box first allowed audience members to completely blind him by putting coins over his eyes and fastening them in place with adhesive tape. His entire head was then bandaged in cloth, assuring everyone that he could see nothing. He then proceeded to read messages that audience participants had written on paper. He could also read books and accurately describe objects held up by members of the audience. With is elaborate blindfold in place, Box once even safely rode a bicycle through the busy traffic of New York's Times Square.

Microscopo and Telescopique
Like super-powerd human scientific instruments, these heroes use their fantastic vision to see microscopic details or great distances.

Two gentlemen might share the title of Microsopo, both having the ability to distinguish vinyl phonograph records merely by looking at the grooves with their unaided eyes! Alvah Mason first demonstrated this talent in the 1930s, and more recently, Arthur Lintgen, a resident of Philadelphia proved to none other than The Amazing Randi that he could do the same thing. Veronica Seider, a German dentist, apparently had telescopic vision. In several demonstrations she showed that she could identify people from more than a mile distance. Seider also claimed that she could see the individual red, green and blue dots that make up the picture on a color television set.

Medictron, the Healer
With the unknown force emanating from his miraculous hands, Medictron has the power to heal all forms of injuries and maladies.

John D. Reese of Youngstown, Ohio never studied medicine. In fact, it wasn't until he was about 30 years old that Reese discovered his remarkable if latent power to heal. One day in 1887, an acquaintance of Mr. Reese had fallen from a ladder and seriously injured his spine - a "severe spinal strain" his physician called it. Reese, for some reason, ran his fingers up and down the man's back, immediately after which the man announced that his pain had ceased entirely. He got up and went back to work. Reese likewise healed Hans Wagner, a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who had been carried from the field with a back injury; he also instantly cured a politician whose hand and wrist became useless to him from so much handshaking. Doctors had told him he needed weeks and weeks of rest. After his encounter with Reese, he has perfectly fine.

Heads up! There's all kinds of strange stuff falling from the sky: frogs, sardines, jellyfish, alligators and maybe - just maybe - cows! Here are some documented cases of really weird precipitation.

As I sit writing this week's feature and glance out my home office window, it's pouring rain outside. One might say it's raining cats and dogs. Not literally, of course. But that's not to say that at times in many areas around the world that it hasn't rained things just as strange as felines and canines. Sometimes, things even stranger.

Weird rain is one of the more bizarre - and still largely unexplained - phenomena that is periodically (yet continually) reported from all corners of the globe. There have been accounts of frog rain, fish rain, squid rain, worm rain, even alligator rain. The logical explanation for the odd occurrences is that a tornado or strong whirlwind picked up the animals from a shallow body of water and carried them - sometimes for hundreds of miles - before dropping them on a bewildered populace. This explanation has yet to be proved, and it can't quite account for all of the documented incidents, as you'll see below.

Here are some of the more unusual cases - a small sampling from thousands of reports over the years - that defy all rational explanation.

Frogs

• In 1873, Scientific American reported that Kansas City, Missouri was blanketed with frogs that dropped from the sky during a storm.
• Minneapolis, Minnesota was pelted with frogs and toads in July, 1901. A news item stated: "When the storm was at its highest... there appeared as if descending directly from the sky a huge green mass. Then followed a peculiar patter, unlike that of rain or hail. When the storm abated the people found, three inches deep and covering an area of more than four blocks, a collection of a most striking variety of frogs... so thick in some places [that] travel was impossible."
• The citizens of Naphlion, a city in southern Greece, were surprised one morning in May, 1981, when they awoke to find small green frogs falling from the sky. Weighing just a few ounces each, the frogs landed in trees and plopped into the streets. The Greek Meteorological Institute surmised they were picked up by a strong wind. It must have been a very strong wind. The species of frog was native to North Africa!
• In 1995, reports Fortean Times Online, Nellie Straw of Sheffield, England, was driving through Scotland on holiday with her family when they encountered a severe storm. Along with the heavy rain, however, hundreds of frogs suddenly pelted her car.

Fish

• A powerful whirlwind might explain a rain of small fish, but it cannot account for the ones that fell on a village in India. As many as 10 people reported picking up fish that weighed as much as eight pounds that had come crashing down on them.
• In February, 1861, folks in many areas of Singapore reported a rain of fish following an earthquake. How could the two possibly correlate?
• Golfers dread gathering clouds and a rain that might ruin their game. But imagine the consternation of several duffers in Bournemouth, England, in 1948 who received a shower of herring.
• Priests often pray for blessings from above... but fish? In 1966, Father Leonard Bourne was dashing through a downpour across a courtyard in North Sydney, Australia, when a large fish fell from the sky and landed on his shoulder. The priest nearly caught it as it slid down his chest, but it squirmed away, fell to the flooded ground and swam away.
• These things don't always happen in a heavy rain. In 1989, in Ipswich, Australia, Harold and Degen's front lawn was covered with about 800 "sardines" that rained from above during a light shower.
• This report is most unusual: In an otherwise clear sky in Chilatchee, Alabama in 1956, a woman and her husband watched as a small dark cloud formed in the sky. When it was overhead, the cloud released its contents: rain, catfish, bass and bream - all of the fish alive. The dark cloud had turned to white, then dispersed.

Flesh and Blood

• In 1890, Popular Science News reported that blood rained down on Messignadi, Calabria in Italy - bird's blood. It was speculated that the birds were somehow torn part by violent winds, although there were no such winds at the time. And no other parts of the bird came down - just blood.
• J. Hudson's farm in Los Nietos Township, California endured a rain of flesh and blood for three minutes in 1869. The grisly fall covered several acres.
• The American Journal of Science confirmed a shower of blood, fat and muscle tissue that fell on a tobacco farm near Lebanon, Tennessee in August, 1841. Field workers, who actually experienced this weird shower, said they heard a rattling noise and saw "drops of blood, as they supposed...fell from a red cloud which was flying over."

Miscellaneous

• In 1881, a thunderstorm in Worcester, England, brought down tons of periwinkles and hermit crabs.
• In November, 1996, a town in southern Tasmania was slimed! Several residents woke up on a Sunday morning after a night of violent thunderstorms to find a strange, white-clear jelly-like substance on their property. Apparently, it had rained either fish eggs or baby jellyfish.
• A Korean fisherman, trolling off the coast of the Falkland Islands, was knocked unconscious by a single frozen squid that fell from the sky and konked him on the head.
• In July, 2001, a red rain fell on Kerala, India. At first it was thought that a meteor was responsible for the strange-colored rain, but an analysis showed that the water was filled with fungal spores. Still, where did all of those red spores come from to be rained down in such concentration?
• From about 1982 to 1986, kernels of corn have rained down on several houses in Evans, Colorado - tons of it, according to Gary Bryan, one of the residents. Oddly, there were no cornfields in the area that might account for the phenomenon.
• In August, 2001, the Wichita, Kansas area experienced an unexplained rain of corn husks. The news report stated that "thousands of dried corn leaves fell over east Wichita - from about Central Avenue to 37th Street North, along Woodlawn Boulevard and on east - each about 20 to 30 inches long."
• In 1877, several one-foot-long alligators fell on J. L. Smith's farm in South Carolina. They landed, unharmed, and started crawling around, reported The New York Times.

Perhaps the most bizarre report is one that, unfortunately, cannot be confirmed. It may be just the stuff of urban legend, but it's so weird and so amusing that had to be included. I'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not it's true.

Sometime around 1990, a Japanese fishing boat was sunk in the Sea of Okhotsk off the eastern coast of Siberia by a falling cow. When the crew of the wrecked ship were fished from the water, they told authorities that they had seen several cows falling from the sky, and that one of them crashed straight through the deck and hull. At first, the story goes, the fishermen were arrested for trying to perpetrate an insurance fraud, but were released when their story was verified. It seems that a Russian transport plane carrying stolen cattle was flying overhead. When the movement of the herd within the plane threw it off balance, the plane's crew, to avoid crashing, opened the loading bay at the tail of the aircraft and drove them out to fall into the water below. True story or hoax? One investigation traced the story back to a Russian television comedy series.

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Looks like Microsoft is gearing up for the release of Windows 7, hopefully the successor to Windows XP that Vista never was. They are breaking the versions into much more market specific offerings than in the past.

• Windows 7 Starter
  Netbook market, can only run 3 applications at once
• Windows 7 Home Basic
  Limited networking, limited UI sizzle, emerging markets only
• Windows 7 Home Premium
  Media Center+Tablet, Limited networking, more UI sizzle
• Windows 7 Professional
  Corporate Version, full networking, security enhancements
• Windows 7 Enterprise
  Corporate Version 2, more security and workgroup features
• Windows 7 Ultimate
  Upgrades from Home and Professional UI and feature enhancements

Microsoft is only planning to release 2 versions to major markets for retail; Home Premium and Professional. Both of those versions will contain media for Ultimate and users can go through the online activation and upgrade if they choose. Corporate offerings are similarly twofold; Professional and Enterprise. Final decisions are still being made in regards to rollback options for users who might want to try but only with the option to revert back at will. Q4 09 is the only timeline we have so far and still no hints on pricing. With Vista as the opening act one can only guess that the Windows 7 headliner should rock the house.

By Andrew Liszewski

I truly feel bad for anyone who has to wear a tie to work (or pants, a shirt, and pretty much anything except pajamas) but they at least provide a wearable canvas allowing you to express yourself to co-workers and the powers that be. For example, any gamers who’ve found themselves stuck in a crappy 9 to 5 can now show their love for 4 different classic titles including Asteroids, Tetris, Space Invaders and Pong. Each ‘Game Tie’ is made from microfiber, no fancy schmancy silk here, and they’re all available from Amazon for just $24.95 each.

Google this morning announced new software that will let mobile phone users share their whereabouts with family or friends, and it's due to turn up on the iPhone shortly.

Dubbed Google Latitude, the technology is actually a new feature of the search giant's Maps software for mobile phones and an iGoogle gadget that can be installed on your computer.

"Once you've opted in to Latitude, you can see the approximate location of your friends and loved ones who have decided to share their location with you," Google said.

"So now you can do things like see if your spouse is stuck in traffic on the way home from work, notice that a buddy is in town for the weekend, or take comfort in knowing that a loved one's flight landed safely, despite bad weather."

The new software also ties into the company's existing fleet of communication services, letting family and friends keep in constant touch through SMS messages, Google Talk, Gmail, or by status message updates. Users can also change their profile photo on the fly.

At the same time, the Mountain View-based firm said it recognizes the sensitivity of location data and has thus built "fine-grained privacy controls" right into the application. Everything about the new Latitude is said to be opt-in, allowing users to not only control exactly who gets to see their location, but also what location they see.

"For instance, let's say you are in Rome. Instead of having your approximate location detected and shared automatically, you can manually set your location for elsewhere -- perhaps a visit to Niagara Falls," Google said. "Since you may not want to share the same information with everyone, Latitude lets you change the settings on a friend-by-friend basis. So for each person, you can choose to share your best available location or your city-level location, or you can hide."

Latitude is currently available in 27 countries on the Blackberry, S60, and Windows Mobile operating systems via google.com/latitude. In the coming days, Google plans to expand the service to its Android-powered handsets. Latitude is also coming to the iPhone "very soon" through the Google Mobile App available for download on the App Store, the company said.

Meanwhile, computer users can visit google.com/latitude on their desktop or notebook to install the Latitude iGoogle gadget and share their location right from their computer.

This is the List of ghostcam i found on google:

1. Willard Library - Evansville, Indiana - http://www.libraryghost.com/
2. BBC - Lincolnshire, East of England - There is not much to this one - http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/webcams/webcampic_ghostcam.htm
3. Abandoned Hospital - Oklahoma City, OK - http://www.researchwebcam.net/
4. Linen Mill - Ireland - http://www.irelandseye.com/ghost/webcam/iugeur3ig.htm
5. Llancaiach Fawr Manor Caerphilly - South East Wales - http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/caerphilly/pages/ghostcam.html
6. http://spiritkeep.net/ghosts/ghostcams.html