The Agents of F.L.A.S.K.

[GHT]

Today is Friday 13th - supposedly the unluckiest day! But why do people always think something bad is going to happen when it comes around? Well, the truth is that no one's sure what the exact origin of the superstition is. The number 13 and Friday both have a long history of bringing bad luck - and it's the combination of the two that makes the day the most feared.
'Unlucky' 13:
Many think that the reason for the number 13's bad luck comes from the Bible. Judas, who betrayed Jesus, is thought to have been the 13th guest to sit down to the Last Supper. Even today, it's considered unlucky to have 13 people sitting at a dinner table, and some people pop a teddy bear in a seat to make the number of guests up to 14! In Norse mythology, a dinner party of the gods was ruined by the 13th guest called Loki, who caused the world to be plunged into darkness.
It seems the superstition has stuck. Some hotels will have no room 13, while a lot of tall buildings 'don't have' a 13th floor, jumping straight from 12 to 14. Some airlines also refuse to have a row 13 in their planes too.

'Unlucky' Friday:
For hundreds of years, Friday has been considered the unluckiest day of the week. In Geoffrey Chaucer's famous Canterbury Tales, written in the 14th Century, he says "and on a Friday fell all this mischance". In Britain, Friday was once known as Hangman's Day because it was usually when people who had been condemned to death would be hanged.
But Good Friday - the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion - is thought to be the only Friday that bucks the trend, hence its name.
If you're born on Good Friday you're thought to be lucky, while sailors, who are notoriously superstitious, would sometimes begin a long voyage on Good Friday because of its holy connections. There's even a special word for the fear of Friday 13th - paraskevidekatriaphobia. Try pronouncing that!

 

[Tiki Tom]

I have a friend in NY who is a bit of a nut about the Knights Templar (We all have such a friend, no?). He’s got dozens of books about them and bases all his passwords on their lore. Anyway, He pays particular attention to Friday the 13th and insists that the reason the date is anathema is because...

...At dawn on Friday, 13 October 1307, King Philip IV of France ordered Knights Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay and scores of other French Templars to be simultaneously arrested. They were charged with heresy, among other crimes. (The charges were trumped up: in reality Philip wanted the Templar’s vast treasure.) Eventually de Molay was burned alive at the stake on the Ile de Cite in the middle of the Seine in Paris. According to legend, he called out from the flames that both Pope Clement and King Philip would soon meet him before God. Pope Clement died only a month later, and King Philip died in a hunting accident before the end of the year. BTW, only within the last few years, the Vatican has exonerated the Knights Templar of all charges.

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

I think the superstition about Friday the 13th is probably much older than that, but it makes for a good story!

 

[GHT]

You're right, it is a good story. More so because it sounds so plausible and you are right in that the legend could go back further. In Ancient Rome, the number 13 was the issue. The irrational fear of the number 13. But the Roman logic was more sound than a random fear: allegedly, witches in those times gathered in groups of 12, and a 13th member was believed to be the devil.

Did you know that in the late 19th century, a New Yorker named Captain William Fowler sought to remove the enduring stigma surrounding the number thirteen and particularly the unwritten rule about not having thirteen guests at a dinner table by founding an exclusive society called the Thirteen Club?

The group dined regularly on the 13th day of the month in room 13 of the Knickerbocker Cottage, a popular watering hole Fowler owned from 1863 to 1883. Before sitting down for a thirteen course dinner, members would pass beneath a ladder and a banner reading “Morituri te Salutamus,” Latin for “Those of us who are about to die salute you.” Four former U.S. presidents Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt would join the Thirteen Club’s ranks at one time or another.

 

[Tiki Tom]

That's a great story about the Thirteen Club!

Another story: in 1934 Ernest Hemingway first met Marlene Dietrich on the French luxury liner Ile de France. He was on his way home from a safari in Africa, she was headed for Hollywood. In the club room some guests invited Dietrich to sit at their table. The superstitious Dietrich demurred, saying she couldn't because she would be number 13 at the table. From a nearby table Hemingway jumped up and offered to be number fourteen. That was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and a lifelong exchange of letters. EH later said they were “victims of unsynchronized passion” because whenever one of them became free, the other was deeply involved in a relationship. She wrote to him in 1951 saying "I think it is high time to tell you that I think of you constantly." Anyway... some #13 trivia there.

Perhaps you can tell: I'm "working" from home today! (and its Friday afternoon, for Pete's sake.)

 

[Tiki Tom]

Happy Monday! Time for another monster of the week!

Another unknown lake creature. This time in Alaska; This is possibly the biggest lake that I have never heard of.

If I was sitting in a boat and a giant fish started gulping down swans nearby, that would certainly get my attention. What makes this story interesting is that these guys are actually hunting the monster. Other sightings include seaplane pilots seeing it from overhead.

Best guess is that the Iliamna lake monster might be an unknown species of giant Northern Pike or maybe a giant White Sturgeon. Do giant fish actually count as monsters??

It’s a “one that got away” story. It even sounds plausible. But, again, how come a dead specimen has never washed ashore?

https://www.juneauempire.com/news/pride-of-bristol-bay-catching-the-iliamna-lake-monster/

More sightings of the Iliamna lake monster (posted by a very nice looking local fishing lodge):

https://www.fishasl.com/timeline-hi...Lake Monster (commonly,between 10 and 30 feet.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Do giant fish actually count as monsters?

YES.

 

[Benny Holiday]

River Monsters with Jeremy Wade, what a great show! Those tiger fish are bad!

 

[GHT]

What is the mystery of the mirrored monoliths? Weird or what?
See here.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Thank you! I agree that the monoliths are perfect subject for F.L.A.S.K.
That said, there is already a thorough discussion of the topic over at the Oumuamua thread. It does fall into the official file labeled “Weird Stuff, Indeed.”

How about the mysterious big cat seen in Halifax??

https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/ne...hird-alleged-sighting-big-cat-halifax-3052124

 

[Benny Holiday]

Far out! My grandfather lived in Halifax before he emigrated to Australia (via New Zealand) in the 1920s. These black panther-looking cats are popping up all over the place.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

You're not going to like this Tiki but.........................
One thing strike me as odd, well a few things actually but one in particular. In the first video, every object is casting a shadow towards the camera & yet the 'cat' isn't. I'm not saying it's fake, just odd.

 

[Zombie_61]

You're not going to like this Tiki but.........................
One thing strike me as odd, well a few things actually but one in particular. In the first video, every object is casting a shadow towards the camera & yet the 'cat' isn't. I'm not saying it's fake, just odd...

Interesting; I hadn't noticed that. But there's a shot at the end of the video of allegedly the same cat (or same breed) crossing what appears to be an external hallway and, if it's faked, the culprits took the time to add the cat's shadow to that video. Strange.

 

[Tiki Tom]

You're not going to like this Tiki but...

Hey, I’m just reporting the news...

I do note that Benny Holiday seems to be correct in that big cat sightings (usually black panthers) seem to be a weirdly regular occurrence in Great Britain. If this is a sublimated psychological response to Brexit (big cats standing in for Brussels), I cannot say.

 

[GHT]

There have been numerous big cat sightings descriptions vary from a black panther to a tabby on steroids, one big cat was definitely for real. It had escaped from a zoo and was on the run for more then three weeks. But the amount of sightings, if they are true, does deepen the mystery. Why I am sceptical though is not because there's ever nothing more than a grainy, out of focus photo, but why have any of these big cats never left a pile of poop anywhere? Are they all cat-litter trained to cover it up, and then think: "That will keep them guessing."
https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/every-big-cat-sightings-reported-4421207

 

[Tiki Tom]

Another big cat sighting in the United Kingdom.

https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/1...e---second-big-cat-sighting-flintshire-month/

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Another big cat sighting in the United Kingdom.

https://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/1...e---second-big-cat-sighting-flintshire-month/

Someone doesn't know their ass from their elbow. The headline reads ; 'Dogwalker sees 'puma' ......& then in the 'dogwalker's' account he states he saw "An enormous black cat " .... Pumas/cougars/mountain lions ain't black.

Definately a black something though.....Labrador ? hippo ? warthog ? black panther ?

 

[GHT]

Another, indistinguishable, grainy photo. Why is there never any other evidence? Big cats, like their domestic cousins, like to scratch to keep their claws from growing too long. Where's the scratches on trees, same place as the droppings, in the mind.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Big Cat tracker says the UK has a breeding population.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...ms-UK-healthy-populations-leopards-pumas.html

Again: I’m just passing the news along!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

It's just a shame that all these publicity seeking 'experts' (given the time they supposidly track the beasties, & the number of times they presumably lie in wait with camera ready,) can't come up with any irrefutable proof.
But I suppose that's the thing. If they was real evidence that big cats roam free in Britain then these experts would not be called upon any more & if there ain't any big cats, then they will be called charlatans, so they have every interest in perpetuating the doubt.
I believe that there may be a few big cats roaming the British countryside but I don't believe that every sighting is necessarily what it appears to be & if there were that many as some claim, there would be far more sightings, England isn't exactly the Rockies.

 

[GHT]

Couldn't have put it better myself, Lean'n'mean, well said. Have you also noticed that there has never been a report from any farmer of mutilated remains of farm animals?

The New Forest, along with other designated areas, have in the last decade or two, had wild boar reintroduced to the habitat. Adult boars, especially the males, grow to quite a size. Sightings of those boars spawned many a big cat or perhaps, a wild dog speculation. The local newspaper had so many calls that they ran a feature on the boars.