Sweet Mysteries of Life

Thought for the day:  It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to pursuit. [Antoine Rivarol]

For those with an inquisitive mind, life offers an almost endless stream of mysteries, curiosities, and phenomena worthy of some serious chin-scratching.

Shall we consider a handful of them?

How about those intricate crop circles that have appeared in fields all over the world? What's up with them? Aliens? Hordes of drunken frat boys? Just one big bogus joke?

Beats me.

How about the Voynich manuscript? Ever hear of that? Named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in the early 1900s, this detailed 240-page book contains still-colorful drawings, and is written in an unknown language and unknown alphabet. It includes astronomical charts and diagrams, and illustrations of plants unknown to modern botanists. Carbon dating places the book's origins somewhere between 1404 to 1438. Who wrote it? An alchemist, maybe? Where did the language come from? Did he make it up to hide his secrets?

Beats me.

I'm sure you've heard of the Bermuda Triangle. Over the years, many ships and planes have mysteriously disappeared when attempting to navigate through this area. Where did they go? Alien abductions? Is there a huge junkyard of shipwrecks and downed planes at the bottom of the sea there? Is it all a big fat fraud?

Beats me.

Ever hear of the Taos hum? It's a low-pitched humming sound that can be heard in certain parts of the world, mainly the US, UK, and northern Europe... and it can only be heard by some people. More than 2000 people, dating back to the 1940s, have reported hearing the maddening sound in London and Southampton. And I do mean maddening. Tales indicate that the sound has literally driven some people insane. Yet, others can't hear it at all. The most infamous site for the humming sound is in Taos, New Mexico. Ergo, the name. However, the humming has also been identified by other geological locations, as well. Like the Bristol hum. Sorry, I couldn't find an image to illustrate this mystery, but I did find a couple videos on Youtube. Although they were supposed to be recordings of the Taos hum, I couldn't hear a doggone thing. (Maybe I'm already mad?) So what's the source of this mysterious hum only heard by some? (But not me.)

Beats me.

Here's another lulu. Ever hear of the WOW signal? In 1977, SETI (Search for Extraterrestial Intelligence) volunteer Jerry Ehman received a loud 72-second signal with the radio telescope at Ohio State University. The signal appeared to have originated in the constellation Sagittarius — 120 light-years away. The intensity of this signal was more than thirty times greater than normal deep space signals, as evidenced in the figures Ehman circled on the printout, along with his notation WOW! Since then, attempts to relocate the signal have been fruitless. So what was it? Who or what generated it?

Beats me.

Here we have the Georgia Guidestones. This mammoth granite monument is engraved in eight languages, and each presents ten directions for an Age of Reason. Also called the American Stonehenge, the stones are also aligned to include astronomical features. Shrouded in mystery since it was commissioned in 1979, no one knows exactly who commissioned it or why. (If you're interested in more details about this monument, you can find it right here on an earlier post.)

So who was that masked man the mystery man representing that mysterious group, and why did they pay a huge amount of money to have this monument erected? And why in a field in rural Georgia?

Beats me.

Have you ever wished there were well-defined markers pointing the proper path to take through life? Well, guess what? There are! Yep, mysterious concrete arrows, as much as seventy feet in length, can be found all across the United States. Some of them are located in the middle of nowhere... even in the desert. What gives? Who laid out all those arrows for us? A benevolent God? A rich prankster? Drunken frat boys? Is it all a ridiculous plot to drive us crazy? (Just in case we can't hear the hum...)

Beats... No, wait! Actually, I know the answer to this one. When the United States opened its first coast-to-coast airmail delivery route in 1920, it wasn't able to deliver mail much faster than by ground. Why, you ask? Because there weren't any good aviation maps in those days, so pilots had to rely on visual landmarks to find their way, which meant flying during bad weather or at night was nearly impossible.

The solution? The Postal Service installed lit beacons every ten miles all the way from New York to San Francisco, each comprised of a bright yellow concrete arrow and a fifty-one-foot tower topped with a generator-powered rotating beacon. The project started in 1923, and by 1929, the massive illuminated arrows spanned the entire continent. In the '40s, as other technology took over and aviation maps improved, the beacons were decommissioned, and the towers, torn down. The yellow paint is long gone, but guess what? Believe it or not, the arrows... are still there.

One final mystery before I bid you all adieu.  Can you tell me why...  can anyone tell me why...

... why do people of a certain gender leave the lid up on the toilet? And worse... the seat?

Not that it's a problem for Smarticus and me, mind you. In all these years together, in all these years of gaping toilets left to wake my startled butt up in the middle of the night, I've only succumbed to that nefarious trap twice.( The simple solution? A night light.)

Oh well. I suppose people of that certain gender probably wonder what's the point in closing the lid when you're just gonna use it again later. (sigh)

Ah, what the heck! Vive la difference. Just one more sweet mystery...



                                                         Didn't you just love this lady?

                                                          This here is one smart dude!

Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.