Crowley and Barbara

• I love goofy conspricy theories, and this one is certainly goofier than most: Is Aleister Crowley the father of Barbara Bush?
  

mtDNA studies, PKD, and JFK.

• It's a small world: the BBC has an article on the surprise discovery of Native American mitochondrial DNA in the UK: DNA testing has uncovered British descendents of Native Americans brought to the UK centuries ago as slaves, translators or tribal representatives. Genetic analysis turned up two white British women with a DNA signature characteristic of American Indians. An Oxford scientist said it was extremely unusual to find these DNA lineages in Britons with no previous knowledge of Native American ancestry. Thanks to Dienekes' Anthropology Blog for the link.
• The New York Times has a piece on Philip K. Dick. It's rather what you'd expect a New York Times article on PKD to be.
• Juicy conspiracy theory nibbles from Saint John Hunt, son of E. Howard Hunt. According to the Saint John, his dad was indeed involved in the Kennedy assassination: Hunt was first made aware of what his father knew about the events of November 22nd 1963 when he came into receipt of hand-written memos that outlined the birth of the plot to kill JFK in Miami where it was discussed that a coup needed to take place in order to topple Kennedy and save the CIA from being splintered into a thousand pieces, as JFK had promised. Saint John then opened his mailbox one January morning in 2004 to discover an unlabeled cassette tape on which his father details the identity of the individuals that were involved in the actual assassination of JFK.

They've been saying it for years

• Of interest to conspiracy buffs and eschatologists, comes the news from the Winston-Salem Journal ('Your guide to life in Northwest North Carolina') that animal sacrifice may soon resume on the temple mount:
  In a donated apartment concealed among the narrow streets of the Jerusalem suburb of Nahlaot, 13 Orthodox Jewish men meet every Tuesday to debate matters of Jewish law. They are the management team of a larger developing Sanhedrin, or religious court, in Israel.
  They plan to sacrifice sheep on the Temple Mount on the day before or one month after Passover, which will start at sundown April 2. Either date is permissible under Jewish law. "If the government will not resist," said Rabbi Dov Stein, 68, a member of the group, "we will do it."
  ...
  The Passover sacrifice will draw the attention of some religious Jews as well as evangelical Christians who see both the restoration of the Sanhedrin and sacrifice as part of end-times prophecy. Other Orthodox Jews want to distance themselves from this group, which they consider extremist.

New JFK video, why I keep the sound down, social networking, and Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan

• A new video of JFK's assassination surfaces. From the BBC:
  Amateur photographer George Jefferies held onto the film for more than 40 years believing it was unimportant.
  And on the possible implications:
  ...the president's jacket was riding high on his back, the entry wound in his body did not appear to match the expected position in his coat, which would add fuel to claims that more than three shots were fired.
• This is why I keep the sound low:
  WAUKESHA - An Oconomowoc man who thought he heard a woman being raped allegedly busted through a neighbor’s door, carrying a sword, only to find the neighbor watching pornography.
• Not dead yet: although everybody seems to be on Myspace or Tribe, my Friendster account is being to see a lot of action again. No Orkut invite yet. Huh, looks like they have opened up Orkut up to general use. Just created a basic profile.
• I realize that I just wrote about this yesterday, but Paul Manansala's 'Quests of the Dragon and Bird Clan' blog is quite brilliant. Take a look at his post regarding the Sambatyon River:
  The first mention of a river of sand and stones connected in some way with the "lost tribes" actually occurs in Islamic literature. A group known as the "people of Moses" is mentioned in the Quran, and the commentator Muqatil bin Sulayman (767 CE) associates them with the lost tribes. He further places the people of Moses, numbering 70,000, beyond a river of sand in China. Several hadith tell of how the people of Moses dug a tunnel from the Temple Mount to or beyond China where they lived pious lives, and where Muhammed introduced them to Islam during his "night journey."