May 4

From Gnomon Chronicles
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Better Than News

Beyond Plausible

In Other Words

Are You Sure

• ... that Phantasmagoria was a form of horror theater which (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts onto walls, smoke, or semi-transparent screens, and that some shows added sensory stimulation including smells and electric shocks with some shows requiring fasting, fatigue (late shows), and drugs to enhance the effect, and that the shows started under the guise of actual séances in Germany in the late 18th century, and gained popularity through most of Europe (especially England) throughout the 19th century?

• ... that the Canterbury scrying engine is a relatively simple device for a cathedral the size of Canterbury, yet the engine's narthex kernel can ring the changes on theological algorithms to Six Sigma quality control specifications?

• ... that physician, patent examiner, and inventor Charles Grafton Page (1812–1868) investigated and exposed fraudulent Spiritualists (such as the Fox sisters, writing: "The prime movers in all these marvels are impostors, and their disciples, dupes. While the former are filling their coffers at the expense of the latter, they must often indulge in secret merriment at the credulity of their adherents, and particularly at the grave discussions of the learned clergy and others upon electricity, magnetism the new fluid... or the devil's immediate agency.... The instant the idea of the superhuman gets possession of the mind all fitness for investigation and power of analysis begins to vanish, and credulity swells to its utmost capacity. The most glaring inconsistencies and absurdities are not discerned and are swallowed whole ...."?

Selected Anniversaries

Topic of the Day

Aging