Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909)
A 19th-century Italian physician, who believed that there is a gene that predisposes its possessors to criminal or aberrant behavior. He claimed to have identified features that characterize criminals: “the enormous jaws, high cheek bones, prominent superciliary arches, solitary lines in the palms, extreme size of the orbits, handle-shaped ears.” He maintained that these characteristics…
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Loch ness investigation bureau
Originally called The Bureau for Investigating the Loch Ness Phenomena Ltd., a bureau that was established to serve a dual function: to receive reports of observations and investigations and to promote actively research concerning the loch and its famous inhabitant (or inhabitants) the loch ness monster. The bureau was established in 1962 at Achnahannet on…
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Loch ness monster
The most widely publicized and most widely believed survivor of the dinosaurs. The first recorded sighting of this animal, possibly a living plesiosaur, was by Saint Columba in 565 C.E. There were a very few further sightings reported until 1933. “Nessie” has since become an international celebrity, being photographed and reported in newspapers and on…
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Lindorms
Giant serpents reported to exist in Scandinavia. In 1885, Swedish scientist/folklorist Gunnar Olof Hylten-Cavallius published some 50 accounts of sightings of the lindorm, which he described as being 3 to 6 meters (10 to 20 feet) in length. These reports gave verification to the earlier discussion of lindorms in The Natural History of Norway by…
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Ley lines
An invisible network of alignments connecting sites of sacred or ritualistic significance, keys (pronounced lays) were first named and defined by Alfred Watkins, a Briton, in the 1920s when he discerned notable patterns linking ancient burial sites, beacon hills, churches built on early pagan sites, stone circles, holy wells, and other landmarks. Watkins’s books, British…
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Walter J. Levy (1947- )
Famous perpetrator of fraudulent experiments in Parapsychology. Following graduation from medical school, Fevy joined the staff of the Institute of Parapsychology headed by Joseph Banks Rhine in Durham, North Carolina. Fevy ran what appeared to be a successful series of experiments that seemed to indicate ESP in animals, especially mice and chicken embryos, from which…
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Lemmings
Rodents closely related to mice and voles. Lemmings are small (about 8 to 12 centimeters [3 to 5 inches] long) and brown or red in color. They have short tails, live underground, and eat grass, roots, and plant products. They breed often and quickly; females are capable of producing a litter of 9 young only…
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Timothy Leary (1920-1996)
US. psychologist and proponent of sensory expansion. Leary’s self- described “illumination” occurred in Mexico in August 1960 as a consequence of eating “sacred mushrooms.” In 1962, Leary, then a professor at Harvard, was introduced to the hallucinogen LSD by a biologist who had been studying the drug’s effect on spiders. Leary subsequently began to promote…
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Lawsonomy
A collection of ideas promoted by Alfred A. Lawson, which he believed provided an overarching theory for virtually everything. Lawson dismissed current orthodox theories as the work of incompetents and replaced them with an entirely new set of principles and concepts. He thought that mechanics were governed by penetrability, suction and pressure, and “zigzag-and-swirl”; for…
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Alfred A. Lawson (1869-1954)
Developer and promoter of the science of Lawsonomy. Born in London, he grew up in Detroit, and worked at various menial tasks, until he ran away from home in his teens, riding freight cars for several years. Between 1888 and 1907, Lawson became first a professional baseball player with a number of teams, later a…
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