New Boston Marathon Bombing-Linked Deaths

During a training mission in Virginia, two individuals involved in the Boston bombing manhunt were killed after falling from a helicopter into the water on Friday, May 17, 2013.Christopher Lorek, 41, and Stephen Shaw, 40Lorek and Shaw both belonged to an experienced hostage rescue team that was involved in the arrest of Boston Marathon suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, according to official reports.Shaw's and Lorek's deaths occurred before Ibragim...

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Overpass Collapses in Missouri

In Rockview, Missouri, seven people were injured after a massive train collision in Scott County took down an overpass. This continues the theme of bridgeway collapses and related news for the week.Officials say around 2:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 23, 2013, there was a train crash near County Road 210 and Highway M in the Rockview community. The Highway M overpass collapsed on impact. Highway M is closed in all directions from Scott City to Chaffee.Scott...

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London Bridge Incident: The Fortean View

A "major incident" has been reported at London Bridge with reports suggesting that a man was wielding an axe in the train station. (This follows closely in time, but not space, the bridge incident yesterday in Washington State.)IBTimes UK reporter Ewan Palmer, who was at the scene, said armed police and ambulance teams were at the scene, and that no one was being let in or out of the station.He said an officer described it as a "major incident" but...

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Skagit River Bridge Collapses

The Curse Continues ©Charles Berlin 2007 = Yes, that's Loren Coleman in the vehicle.Memories of the collapse of bridges of bygone days - the Silver Bridge (at Rt. 35) at Point Pleasant, WVA and the I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis - come to mind when a new bridge falls. Popular culture has associated Mothman sightings with such collapses. The falling of tonight's bridge on I-5 out West is not linked to any reports of winged creatures being seen...

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FBI Killing Of Tsarnaev Associate Will Fan Conspiracy Theories

UPDATE: Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in a 2011 triple homicide outside Boston along with a Chechen killed Wednesday during a confrontation with the FBI and Massachusetts State Police in Orlando, Florida, a federal law enforcement official told CNN.Ibragim Todashev not only confessed to his direct role in slashing the throats of three people in the killings in Waltham, Massachusetts, he also fingered Tsarnaev in the deaths,...

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The Mystery Meridian's Tornado Deaths

In Weird America (New York: EP Dutton, 1978), Jim Brandon introduces the concept of The Mystery Meridian. Brandon identifies a series of curiosities and oddities that are "overwhelmingly concentrated along a north-south axis between the ninety-seventh and ninety-eighth meridians of longitude, give or take a few miles on either side."Brandon especially documents the weirdness along this Mystery Meridian in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. But he also...

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On the Damascus Road

Why do a few multiple news items appear to play name game tricks of their own?On Saturday, May 18, 2013, a powerful car explosion hit the Ruken al-Deen neighborhood in Damascus, killing at least three people in the latest blast to strike the Syrian capital (population 1.7 million). The SANA news agency reported that an explosive device was planted under a car parked on Rukneddin highway near Ibn al-Nafis Hospital in Damascus, Syria. The initial...

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Synchrocinema Galore: Dallas in Wonderland

The 50th anniversary of the JFK hit is fast approaching. November 22, 1963, is a day burned into the memory of anyone who was conscious back then. It will be recalled for most of November, I predict. Expect the television specials, new books, and release of films. The movie that's getting most of the mainstream buzz is Tom Hanks' production of Parkland, which has a cast including Paul Giamatti, Zac Efron, Marcia Gay Harden, Jacki Weaver, and Billy...

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More Red Dawns in a Dark Summer?

Bruce Willis brought us a bloody Valentine's Day gift on February 14, 2013.Did that open a hint of a spring and a summer of red dawns and dark movies?Are we now Into Darkness?What selections have opened and remain on the horizon in USA?What others would you suggest?Iron Man 3 (May 3, 2013)Star Trek Into Darkness (May 17, 2013)The Lone Ranger (July 3, 2013)Man of Steel, producer Christopher Nolan's dark film (June 14, 2013)Thor:...

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