If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

It is now thought that he may have been poisoned by spiritualists, psychic mediums whose claims he’d debunked, even mocked - profusely.

There has been much speculation surrounding the death of Harry Houdini on Halloween of 1926. Now, his great-nephew wants the body exhumed to answer questions that persist.

• No autopsy. Appendicitis triggered by a gut-punch was accepted as cause of death.
• Death certificate filed post-burial
• According to forensic pathologists, the certificate listed his appendix on the left side (it’s on the right) and found the diagnosis listed “very unusual.”

On an aesthetic note, I love this photo of him, always have, from a visual and symbolic perspective of a man straining to escape from under lock and key, the chains that bind, but also because he was an all-around bad-ass.

SOURCE | INFO

As if there was ever any doubt, Procter & Gamble has won $19.25M in a suit against Amway distributors who had defamed them with this rumor. For Amway, to cast aspersions is shocking to me, with THEIR secretive and cult-like meetings. They actually have to misrepresent these gatherings as a party of sorts, in order to lure unsuspecting victims into long-ass sales spiels for their MLM pipe dreams. Loons!

Personally, I never noticed this logo when it was in use, but I like it. As a logo, I probably would have simplified the lines, less swoopties and curliques because it repros like crap at smaller sizes. Also not feeling the unicorn look to the points.

I have such a crescent man-in-the-moon fetish, my only tattoo is along these lines, though in desperate need of retouching and repair.

For the topmost example, one has to reverse (horizontally flip) the image to perceive the 6’s in the hair. The 2nd one’s a real stretch, difficult to even form 6’s from. Then there are the negative connotations with the number 13, the count of stars.

SOURCE | ORIGIN

Not only is this a bad-ass AC/DC song, but also a compelling question raised in this article, “Who Made Who?” Does God exist outside of our minds, meaning he created us, or did we create God?

Spirituality and belief don’t have to equate to religious faith, Newberg said. The feelings of enlightenment and well-being some derive from religion can come to others through from artistic expression, nonreligious meditation, watching a beautiful sunset or listening to stirring music.

Scientists studied the areas of the brain stimulated by the activity of prayer, meditation and speaking in tongues (glossolalia) with interesting results:

1. Both prayer and meditation showed “decreased activity in the parts of the brain that have to do with sense of self and spatial orientation — which suggests the description of oneness with God, of transcendence sometimes experienced in meditation or prayer.”
2. Those speaking in tongues were shown not to have control over their own speech, but they were unable to locate another area of the brain as responsible for it, you can imagine the implications here.

The Center for Spirituality and the Mind is “bringing together some 20 experts from fields including medicine, pastoral care, religious studies, social work and bioethics” to explore the relationship they have demonstrated and proven via brain scanner images, and how to integrate this with treatment to complement medicinal treatments.

P.S. If you like the icon shown above, you can nab it here.

This is one of the most intense images I have seen, a mummified woman cowering and covering her face, contorted in terror over whatever she faced 600 years ago. Also, a mummified baby discovered at the same site reminds me of the styling for Tool’s Sober video.

Both are to be on display at the Museum of the Nation in Lima, Peru.

( Source )

Taunted as “witch spawn” on the playground, the 72-year-old granddaughter of Helen Duncan seeks an official pardon for her grandmother, Britain’s last convicted witch.

She was jailed for 9 months as a threat to National Security because officials feared the medium would leak information on their D-Day plans.

She disclosed — allegedly through contacts in the spirit world — the sinking of two British warships long before the news was officially made public.

She also told the parents of a missing sailor that his ship, HMS Barham, had sunk. That was true, but to preserve morale, the sinking was not announced.

She should absolutely be pardoned, for no crime was ever committed.

( Source | Support )

I’ve not seen this one before but this painting was based on the photograph and supposedly a string of unfortunate consequences begat those with the misfortune to possess it. Read the rest here.

Shown at left is a close-up on the area of interest from the painting. Click on it to see the entire painting. At right, the original photo of the Headless Man taken in Arizona. Click on it to visit the site, essentially it’s a double exposure with an inexplicable human-like image in it.

See the other infamous haunted painting here.