Ads heard during the podcast that are not in my voice are placed by third-party agencies outside of my control and should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness or myself. Stories and content in Weird Darkness can be disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only. Parental discretion is strongly advised. The quietest room in the world is at Orfield Labs in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Engineered to keep out as much noise as possible and absorb noise rather than reflect it is an average sound level of about negative 9 decibels, while most of us would call about 30 decibels a comfortable quiet level. Spending time alone in the room means that you can hear nothing but your own organs working and it is such an unsettling experience that it is led to hallucinations and a record time spent in the room of only 45 minutes. Some days all we want is silence. We spent the whole day listening to phones ringing, people talking, music playing and kids screaming, and it can seem like there is nothing more needed than some time spent in complete and total silence. But just what is silence? On average, we think of a room with a sound level of about 30 decibels as being pretty comfortably quiet. The ambient sounds of a peaceful country setting, birds, water running in the distance, the rustling of trees is somewhere around 40 decibels and the sound of our breathing is about 10 decibels. The anechoic chamber is a room that has a sound level of negative 9 decibels. The term means no echo and these specially designed chambers absorb sound rather than reflecting it, creating a chamber with an amazing amount of absolute nothingness. The walls are lined with sound proof wedge shaped structures and the floor is a mesh material. Any sound that you do hear, you hear exactly as it is created with no echoes, reflections or distortions. Most anechoic chambers are built for universities or government research facilities but there is an independently owned one in Orfield Labs in Minneapolis and it has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the quietest place on earth. The lab was ironically once a sound studio that hosted artists like Bob Dylan and Prince. Now it is home to this deeply, deeply disturbing room that does have a practical purpose. Experimental technology from computer parts to medical supplies and hearing aids. When your phone lights up or the lights on your car's dashboard come on, you don't hear it at all and that is probably in part because it has been tested in a chamber like the one in Minneapolis. Anechoic chambers are even used by NASA to train astronauts to cope with the complete lack of sound that they can experience. They need a crash course in this because no matter how crazy a day we have had, absolute silence can drive us crazier. Absolute silence is filled by the sound of your own body. You can hear your breathing, your heart beating, you can hear the blood in your veins, you can hear your pulse, you can hear your bones rub against each other, you can hear your skin sliding over your muscles, you can hear tendons creak, organs churning and that is usually about the point where people start hearing things that aren't really there. It starts with hallucinations of noise as the brain tries to fill in what we are so used to being surrounded by. That can lead to nausea and panic attacks. With no sound there are also no echoes to orient yourself and that just makes the sensations even worse. Sit in the dark and it is much, much worse. Without external stimuli, coordination and balance fail, hallucinations start and within minutes many people are asking to be let out. Most people are insufferably uncomfortable after about 30 minutes. The rare person can last 45 minutes or so but that's about the limit of our ability to deal with such complete sensory deprivation. I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Welcome Weirdos, I'm Darren Marlar and this is Weird Darkness. Here you'll find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained. If you're new here, welcome to the show and if you're already a member of this Weirdo family, please take a moment and invite someone else to listen. Recommending Weird Darkness to others helps make it possible for me to keep doing the show. And while you're listening, be sure to check out WeirdDarkness.com where you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. Coming up in this episode. Human History reports strange sightings in the skies with the appearance of three suns on naturally shaped clouds and fireballs. Do all of these ancient eyewitness accounts have a natural explanation or could we be seeing reports of extraterrestrial visitations in centuries past? A U.S. Air Force chaplain is called to duty, not against a human enemy but a spiritual one. According to oral tradition, a pair of witches came up from the underworld bringing the Native American Zuni people two gifts and one of those gifts was death. But first, according to the song, silence is golden and it really can be. There are plenty of times when we just want to shut everything out and relax in peace and quiet. But silence isn't always all it's cracked up to be either and too much silence can drive you mad. It all starts with being able to hear your own organs working and after about 45 minutes you'll start to hallucinate. Silence and other types of sensory deprivation can do some weird things to the body and mind and also to the planet. We begin there.  Sensory deprivation can take you to the edge of insanity and in extreme cases over the edge. But you don't have to believe me. Here is what Allison Davis wrote after her experience. Before I visited Brooklyn's new lift next level float spa, my entire understanding of sensory deprivation tanks was limited to an episode of The Simpsons. In the episode Make Room for Lisa, Lisa Simpson floats in a coffin size tub and hallucinates that she's entered the body of her cat Snowball. The modern incarnation I encountered was a zen-like space in Cobble Hill where you must take off your shoes and everybody whisper-speaks peaceful things at you before you begin your journey. My journey, I was whisper-told, would start in one of the spa's ocean float rooms as opposed to the claustrophobia-inducing coffin-like pod that most people think of when they imagine a sensory deprivation experience. Ocean float rooms, the attendant whisper-boasted, were better for first timers. The rooms have six-foot high ceilings adorned with twinkling LED constellations. I'd be able to stand up fully. In practice, this meant something like a liquid-filled mausoleum, a small enclosed watery space that was still reminiscent of a container for dead people. The attendant whisper-instructed me to get naked, take a shower, put Vaseline on any open wounds and prepare to float my way into enlightenment. Then I was alone. Initially what I discovered was where exactly all my unhealed cuts were, nothing like a thousand pounds of epsom salt mixed into ten inches of water to remind you of that blister on the back of your foot. Once I was situated, at first, all was well. My body floated around like a little buoy. I felt like I was headed someplace spiritual, someplace deeper. I decided to turn off all the lights and enter full sensory deprivation mode, which is when things started to go to hell. Lying in the darkness, I couldn't see anything. I couldn't hear anything, save for my own breathing and the drip of the tank's filter system. I adjusted my leg, flooding another cut with saltwater, and suddenly all I could focus on was an intense burning spreading through my ankle as the saltwater entered the wound. Is this sepsis? I thought, will I get sepsis? What is sepsis even? Then a little bead of saltwater rolled into my ear and I started to panic. My whisper guide had pointed out some vinegar that I was supposed to use to flush my ears in case saltwater got into them, and I hadn't asked what would happen if saltwater did remain in my ear. Now I was having a flashback to some girl at camp when I was ten. She'd gotten her river water in her ears and for whatever reason it made her barf every day. They took her away to the infirmary and we never saw her again.  And is this what it would have felt like to be on the Titanic? I started thinking about how many thoughts my brain was able to form in mere seconds. A voice from somewhere else in my brain started commenting on those thoughts and judging me for not being able to stop thinking about them, thereby forming more very loud thoughts. I couldn't figure out how many minutes or hours I'd been in the tank and that's when I realized there was no panic button in here and everything became a jumble of death barf panic sepsis what is sepsis thoughts. Before entering my ocean float room, I'd been told that the experience would heighten my senses. The world would seem more vibrant, so I should think carefully about what I wanted to see, feel, hear, taste and feel immediately after leaving. If I had it my way, I'd have eaten pizza and had sex, but sadly it was a work day. I biked off into Brooklyn, which smelled extra like pee. Allison's story is not unique. It's easy to freak out if you're not used to being deprived of your senses, but there are many more sensory deprivation situations than just floating in salt water in the dark. Each one more terrifying than the next. We'll look at a few when Weird Darkness returns.  Every other month I'm filming an unboxing video of the newest creepy crate that I get in the mail, then I'm boxing it all back up and giving it away by random drawing to someone subscribed to the Weird Darkness email newsletter. And before I close up the box for good, I might toss in a couple of Weird Darkness goodies as well for good measure. You can keep the creepy crate for yourself or give it away to a weirdo friend or family member. To watch my latest creepy crate unboxing video and to register to win a creepy crate of your own for free, visit WeirdDarkness.com slash CreepyCrate. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash CreepyCrate. Allison's story of the ocean float room as they called it is just one story of sensory deprivation. There are several types of sensory deprivation and not all of them are as pleasant as the nightmare Allison went through. Complete Darkness We're talking about complete absolute darkness, not the darkness of the average night. Even in the deepest night there is usually some kind of ambient light. Even when the power is out there is still light coming in from outside. But researchers from the University of Rochester have found that even in absolute darkness we still think we see. Outfitting people with sensors that tracked eye movements and then engulfing them in darkness, they found that about half of us can actually see in the dark. At least we think we can. Two groups of volunteers were outfitted with what they were told were different types of blindfolds. One was said to allow in a small amount of light while the other wouldn't allow them to see anything. In reality both blindfolds blocked out all light and when the volunteers were asked to wave their hands in front of their faces, computers tracked their eye movements. About half of the subjects could track the movement of their hand without hiccups or false starts and stops, suggesting that their eyes actually had something to focus on. That's because of the connectivity between the brain's movement and visual centers. When the brain knows that something is happening it's enough to trigger a reaction in the visual centers of the brain, what Vanderbilt University psychologists call a self-fulfilling prophecy. The connection between what the brain expects to see and what the eyes really do see might one day shed light on the weird phenomena of synesthesia when stimuli cause a reaction in senses that aren't impacted in most people like smelling colors. Darkness is one of those things that you expect to be all around us all the time. But to get a true sense of darkness there are a limited number of places on earth that you can still go. The International Dark Sky Association keeps track of light pollution and monitors how much darkness you really get in places across the globe, designating the darkest of dark areas as international dark sky places. Most of the time we now exist in a sort of sensory overload rather than sensory deprivation when it comes to light. Light pollution is everywhere and it's a huge problem. It disrupts the circadian rhythms of humans and animals alike and that alone has an impact which is compounded as you move through an ecosystem. So where do you go for a complete sensory deprivation from artificial light and light pollution? Dark sky parks and reserves are the best places to go, recognized for their pollution-free dark skies and consequently their unprecedented stargazing. Places like the Gold Tier Dark Sky Reserve on Ireland's Ivory Peninsula, the Gold Tier Non-Berrand IDSR in Africa, and the Silver Tier West Haviland IDSR are among the best locations. There are some communities that are even trying to become darker like the Dark Sky Community on Scotland's Isle of Coal. Preserving the darkness might seem like an odd thing, but it is something that even the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is getting involved with. Until fairly recently light pollution wasn't even a thing. Generations upon generations of people looked up at the night sky in a way that we will never be able to truly experience in many places. The night sky over cities is a sight we'll never actually see in our lifetimes and they're trying to preserve some of the dark areas that are left and keep them the same way that our ancestors saw them. What about the world's quietest places? True silence isn't just the absence of talk, it's the absence of the background hum of computers, of traffic in the distance and one of the most difficult things to get away from, airplanes. Even the most quiet of sounds, those we don't even really recognize as sounds, are received and rearranged by our auditory systems and manifest as tinnitus, most scientists agree. One can experience artificial silence in places like Minnesota's Sound Deprivation Room, but that's not the same thing as being out in the world and surrounded by silence. One researcher from Auckland University described his time in Antarctica and being the only living thing for miles as primeval. It was a very, very different type of silence than what's found in a chamber, a silence that has to be experienced to be believed. But even in Antarctica, those same scientists are adding noise with their remote outposts, weather monitoring equipment and boats. Plains are regularly routed over remote areas like the Sahara Desert, the North Pole and Siberia. Many colleges on a quest for a place on earth untouched by human sounds went deep into the Amazon rainforest, 1,900 km or 1,200 miles from civilization and still came back with recordings of airplanes. The general consensus is that there is no place on earth that you can go and not hear something man-made or artificial fairly regularly. That hasn't stopped people from trying to declare various places to be pretty quiet, even areas like a natural retreat in Northumberland. These places notwithstanding, it's now thought that we simply can't go anywhere anymore without something interrupting us. So what happens if you suddenly stop providing input to your vocal cords? While there are some conditions that make speech impossible, it's a different thing entirely to take a vow of silence and simply stop talking. Perhaps strangely, especially in a world where dedication to a cause knows no bounds leading some to record every waking moment in their diaries, it doesn't seem like anyone's actually made the commitment to test out just what happens when you swear to a lifetime of silence for science. There are theories though, and they're pretty fascinating. One suggestion from a Los Angeles speech pathologist is that absolutely nothing would happen as there are plenty of other things that you use those same muscles for like breathing or clearing your throat. That's certainly supported by patients who wake from comas after a long period of time and can still speak. But there might be some more devastating consequences than just atrophied vocal cords and the brain could suffer them. Scientists from NYU's Center for Neural Research suspect that while talking might not be required for keeping your vocal cords from being atrophied, it might be helping to keep the same thing from happening to your brain. Certain areas of the brain can become larger or stronger depending on how often they are used. For example, the area that governs musical ability is larger in a professional musician. The opposite is likely to happen too. Neurons that control speech would no longer be used and it's likely that those neurons would be requisitioned by other parts of the brain to do other things. While that might in part be negated by the parts of the brain that are responsible for the listening part of conversation, it's also supported by the brain structure and acute listening ability that people who have been blind for a long period of time have developed. The flexibility of the brain means that it's likely that deciding to stop forcing sensory input into talking would shrink the part of the brain responsible for it. Have you heard of the Leningrad metronome? In 1941, Nazi troops laid siege to Leningrad. It would last for a staggering 872 days and by the end, nearly 1 million people would be dead. Some were killed in combat and bombings while countless people died of starvation waiting for the siege to end. Descriptions of the conditions within the city are a different kind of sensory deprivation than what comes from inside a water-filled tank. Cold weather and starvation made people even colder and most public places started to close. Trains stopped, snow filled the streets and water pipes froze and burst. Freezing, poorly heated departments became makeshift morgues and corpses and human waste piled up outside. Those that lived were forced into extreme, despairing isolation. Even gender differences began to fade along with traditional social roles and identities. Isolation and deprivation from human contact and normal everyday lives became greater and greater and many began to cling to the sounds of their radios. There were fewer and fewer broadcasts as the siege went on, but there was one sound that filled the city of silence and dying people. A metronome. The Leningrad metronome was playing continuously, ticking slowly when all was well. People remembered clinging to the sound as though it were a heartbeat, a reminder that there were other people out there through the loneliness, hunger, pain and death. The metronome would double in speed when there was an incoming air raid, but when it returned to its normal, steady 50 beats per minute, it was the maddening sound of resistance and reassurance that even in the most extreme times, people were not alone. One of the problems with determining just what is going on with extreme cases of sensory deprivation is an ethical one.  John Lilly started his experiments in 1954, and while he is perhaps most famous for his odd relationship with dolphins, he also invented the idea of the sensory deprivation tank. Original tanks were a little different than the ones we see today, requiring the wearing of some horrifying blackout masks and total submersion. Gradually, that was adjusted to something a little less terrifying, but listening to Lilly's claims of his experiences are truly bizarre. Lilly claimed that absolute sensory deprivation allowed him to come into contact with creatures from another dimension. The tank acted as a portal, allowing him to leave his body behind and enter into a sort of mind meeting with other beings that discussed him as their agent on Earth, whose work was temporarily influenced by what he called psychoanalysis, or the process of learning how to remain human while being controlled by, relating to, and doing the work of, these otherworldly beings. The entity in control of those beings was called ECHO, or the Earth Coincidence Control Office, and Lilly got to the point where every time he went into the tank, he made contact. He never had an end goal in mind, he said, because that would have been just crazy. Sensory deprivation and out-of-body experiences, which can also be done with dolphins and apparently allows him to link up with the dolphin hive mind, open the gateway to a whole different sort of reality. Of course this probably also had something to do with the fact that as a precursor to his experiments he took LSD and ketamine. It was after doing so that he reported such breakthroughs as getting into a mental state that allowed him to connect with dolphins that were looking beneath the floor to see the stars on the other side of the planet. While sensory deprivation is the lack of external stimuli, boredom is the lack of interesting external stimuli. It turns out that it is a weirdly complicated thing too, and even though we have tried to measure it in countless ways, it is still pretty elusive. Some people are more easily bored than others, and generally it has been found that men are bored more often than women. There are a couple of different scales that have been created to try and measure boredom, but they are all highly debated. One thing that has been noticed by those who study the phenomenon of boredom, yes, that is a job, is that there are significant similarities between people who are chronically bored and those who suffered from traumatic brain injuries. When one researcher was working with patients suffering from brain injuries, one of the common questions was to ask them if they felt bored. Everyone said, yes. Just what the connection is, however, is still up for debate. That same researcher from the University of Waterloo in Ontario suggests that the higher levels of endorphins found in brain injury patients have something to do with elevating the entertainment threshold. Higher levels means that it takes more to keep the brains occupied and more to supply the stimuli to make the brain happy. These findings indicate a serious potential for finding a major key in overcoming addictions to dangerous behaviour, especially things like alcoholism, drug abuse and gambling. People who are easily bored are constantly looking for new ways to fight the boredom, and that makes them more likely to turn to risky behaviours in an attempt to make their environments more interesting. Understanding how the brain works in chronically bored people might help us understand addiction better. For instance, if the root cause is elevated levels of endorphins that make a person repeatedly turn to risky behaviours for fun, then we can figure out how to alleviate that pressure to take bigger and bigger risks for the same levels of enjoyment. Teaching addicts how to fill the boredom gap with other less risky behaviours might also have a huge impact on recovery. According to studies done by methadone clinics, many addicts said they turned to their addiction when they were bored. There has also been compelling evidence that the more bored you are, the more likely you are to develop health issues. In 1985, British researchers began a study by collecting information on the boredom levels of civil servants. A few decades later, they went back to see if there was a correlation between boredom, health issues and dying young. There was, suggesting that external stimuli aren't just keeping us entertained, they're keeping us alive. Not being able to smell or taste anything is a hugely understudied type of sensory deprivation, which is even more surprising considering how widespread it is. Estimates from smell and taste loss charity Fifth Sense suggest that about 5% of the population in the United Kingdom alone suffer from an inability to smell. Called anosmia, it means constantly living with a condition that most of us only experience when we have a cold. It can be caused by things like head trauma, frontal lobe damage or nasal polyps and the consequences can be life-changing. The majority of people who can't smell or taste report chronic feelings of loneliness and isolation. Depression is common too and it's not surprising. Not being able to truly share or understand a good meal or a fine wine with friends and family can be incredibly isolating. There are also potential health risks associated with not being able to smell.  Smell is also a major factor in bonding with other people. It's the experience of a favorite perfume, cologne or detergent, the association of roses with a birthday or the making of happy memories. Without a sense of smell to remind us of those memories, it's no wonder that life can seem pretty one-dimensional. It's made even weirder with the fact that an estimated 90% of people can overcome the condition with treatment. It's never been on the top of medical radar though, in part because of the perception that losing the ability to detect smell is less important than other types of conditions which deprive a person of a sense, like deafness or blindness. Something you might not know about is something called Black Patch Delirium. And yes, it's as terrifying as it sounds. This one is a bizarrely specific type of disorder brought on by a very specific sort of sensory deprivation. The term Black Patch Delirium was coined by Avery Wiseman and Thomas Paul Hackett Jr. in 1958 and it describes the mental state of otherwise healthy patients who go through eye surgery and are required to wear eye patches afterward. Visual hallucinations are common and are described as similar to those suffering from another disorder, Charles Bonnet syndrome. Charles Bonnet syndrome was first described in 1760, diagnosed in Bonnet's 87-year-old grandfather. Nearly blind, he was nevertheless seeing incredibly complex hallucinations, including people and animals. It was differentiated from other types of hallucinations by the fact that he was otherwise healthy and understood that the hallucinations were not real. There's more to the hallucinations with Black Patch Delirium though, associated with the sensory deprivation that comes along with the eye patches and possibly helped along by the medications that might go along with surgery, it was described as being not just hallucinations but full-blown delirium. Even today, cataract and other similar surgeries require the removal of bright light and stimulus for recovery, but today's post-operative eye surgery procedures were developed with prevention of Black Patch Delirium in mind. And then there's the horrifyingly sad reality of children who were either born into or lived in some type of sensory deprivation. We all know that neglect and sensory deprivation can be crippling to a child, but any real scientific research on the impact of such an environment is obviously pretty unethical. Sadly, the world is a way of providing, and in 2000, researchers from Harvard, Tulane and the University of Maryland started working on a study of 136 Romanian children left either in foster care or in government-run orphanages. The comparison allowed them to track just what kind of impact sensory deprivation, especially of touch, has on children. Under Nikolai Sescu, Romanian women were tasked with bearing pretty high numbers of children, and that left about 150,000 of them in state-run institutions that were ill-equipped to deal with so many kids. This meant that babies were left lying in cribs, and one caregiver was in charge of as many as 25 toddlers. In rural facilities, children were simply tied to their beds. Some stayed there for years. What they found was horrible. Charles Nelson, pediatric professor at Harvard, talked about the unearthly silence that would greet researchers when they walked into the facilities. Most babies and young children were cross-eyed, with nothing to look at and focus on their eye muscles didn't develop. Physical growth was stunted. Children that might look like little more than five or six years old were really teenagers. Lack of sensory stimulation led to a lack of growth hormone, and the universally low IQs found in the institutionalized children pointed to environmental causes, not genetic. Researchers, including Nelson, recruited and trained a group of foster families to see if they could reverse the damage that had been done to the children in their early years of neglect. Over the course of five years, researchers charted the development of the institutionalized children, the children removed to foster care, and another group of children being raised by their own parents. They found that children who were removed from institutions and exposed to all of the sensory stimuli and care of a regular family recovered fairly quickly, but not completely, and only if they were young enough. While many quickly caught up in terms of things like motor development, sitting and walking, there were still high rates of things like ADHD, repressed brain activity and small heads. For Nelson, that seemed to cement the idea that there are critical ages when children learn some of the basic skills needed throughout life. Suffering sensory deprivation at a young age can, in some cases, be irreversible. When Weird Darkness returns, human history reports streamed sightings in the skies with the appearance of three suns, unnaturally shaped clouds and fireballs in the sky. Do all of these ancient eyewitness accounts have a natural explanation, or could we be seeing reports of extraterrestrial visitations of centuries past? But first, according to oral tradition, a pair of witches came up from the underworld, bringing the Native American Zuni people two gifts, and one of those gifts was death. That story is up next. When Salem Roanoke took a job near his family's new home as a hired hand in the Texas Hill Country, he anticipated learning the rancher's trade, but a series of strange events, shocking murders, and unholy revelations divert him down another path. This terrifying trajectory puts him directly into the middle of a struggle between monsters, magic and men. Armed and backed by a militia of ranchers, Salem attempts to combat the creeping tide of evil that threatens to engulf his new home and destroy the people most important to him. Will Salem manage to save his home, or have his actions condemn everyone he hopes to save? The Witch Trials, a summer of wolves and season of the witch by SR Roanoke, available in paperback, Kindle and audiobook versions. Look for The Witch Trials by SR Roanoke on Amazon, or find it on the audiobooks page at WeirdDarkness.com. That's WeirdDarkness.com slash audiobooks. Like many other indigenous tribes of the United States, the Zuni believed in magic and witchcraft. For the Zuni, the belief in witchcraft goes back to their earliest times, including in Zuni creation myths. According to oral tradition, a pair of witches came up from the underworld bringing the people two gifts, death to keep the world from becoming overcrowded, and corn to feed the people. Magical powers were not always differentiated as good or evil, with the people using their magical skills for a number of purposes. In fact, the concept of a witch was tied to the concepts of life and human origin, with the people believing that witches existed alongside humans and not apart from other living beings. Thus, they were not supernatural. The Tua believed that witches accompany people daily and are defined as those of a different breath. However, they had a different physical and spiritual existence, not like common humans. Rather, they had to live on the unexpired lives of their victims by capturing or indoctrinating their souls. Further, they had to continually kill or perish themselves. Because of this requirement to continually kill, witchcraft was blamed for any disaster of magnitude, like droughts, epidemic diseases or a flood. Further, any disharmony among the people or infractions of proper behavior were also equated with witchcraft. At one point, witchcraft among the Zuni was the only recognized crime. The Council of High Priests decided who the witches were, and the bowel priests were tasked for their executions. Because the Council was supposed to be removed from any type of violence, the bowel priests who were associated with war enforced their decisions. The bowel priests were also responsible for examining the accused and reviewing the evidence. If the accused was found guilty, he was hung by the wrists and tortured until he confessed. If the accused revealed the source of his or her power, he might be released or at least saved from execution. Though the Spanish, when they ruled the Southwest, tried to change the culture of the Pueblo tribes, including their belief in witchcraft, they were unsuccessful. After the Pueblo revolt, the Spanish relaxed their restrictions on the Pueblo culture and the belief in witchcraft continued. When the United States obtained New Mexico and other areas of the Southwest, Indian agents were sent out to monitor the Indians and to, once again, attempt to change their culture. Over the years, several reports were made regarding Zuni witchcraft and its punishment. Reports indicated that in March of 1855, Indians of the Nambi Pueblo in New Mexico butchered three men and one woman of their village in a most horrible manner for alleged witchcraft. In 1880, an Indian agent reported seeing a man who was tied up by his wrists behind his back and lifted so that his feet could not touch the ground. The Zuni said that he had brought sickness and death to some of the people. The agent reported the incident to his superiors at Santa Fe, New Mexico, who came to the Zuni to hold a council. When questioned, the Indians replied, �We have our government and laws, and what has happened is all right. We do not want you to interfere, but we want you to allow us the same privileges as you white people claim.� And they added, �If you will tend to your own business, we will tend to ours.� Another report indicated that a Zuni Indian killed a woman of the same Pueblo, believing her to be a witch and that she had caused the death of his children. In August 1889, accusations of witchcraft were agitated because of drought. It was said that someone must be keeping away the rain. A poor old man was accused and he was hung up by his wrists, tied behind his back. After he confessed, they let him down. After he received more threats, the man left the Pueblo and a Mexican who took pity on him gave him a home. The drought continued and the witch excitement spread. In October, an old woman was hung up in like manner as a witch until she confessed. She then implicated her nephew, a boy of 16 years, a common thief. He was hung in the same way, was let down once or twice, was beaten about his head with sticks, was then hung again, remained hanging all night and all day until he died the next night. A dozen Americans saw the hanging. One gentleman tried to cut the boy down but was forbidden to interfere and told non-Americans business. In an Indian agent report of 1892, it was recorded, this evil still goes on. The victims are often those who depart from the old Pueblo customs and incline to the ways of civilized life. In the estimation of the ruling Zuni, what we call progress is the most criminal of offenses and must be trotted out by the most summary and vindictive tortures. While this report was waiting the printer, early in December, two Zuni Indians with whom I talked freely last July were seized and subjected to the witch torture methods. They were probably the most progressive of any people in the Pueblo. Seized, violently seized, they were strung up by their wrists, beaten with war clubs and kept hanging all night, all the next day and until 10 o'clock the second night. They were let down occasionally for a few moments to induce confession but suffered indescribable torture. To end the suffering, they finally confessed that they were witches and were let off when life was almost gone. Some perish in these tortures. I asked an intelligent gentleman, a resident in his Pueblo for 12 years, how often do these witch cases occur? He replied, one nearly every year, either resulting in death or being run off from the Pueblo, sometimes followed and killed.  No Zuni Indian has been brought to justice and punished for these outrages, but now three men are arrested for the late offenses and in jail awaiting trial. They are undoubtedly not the guilty parties. The real offenders, men of influence in managing the affairs of the Pueblo, turned over to the authorities these three poor men who were unable to help themselves and expect us to clear their own skirts. In 1898 through 1899, a smallpox epidemic was blamed for witchcraft and in 1910 through 1911, a measle epidemic was also blamed on sorcery. During the smallpox epidemic, two young men were held responsible. They would have been executed except for an American school teacher who got a detachment of soldiers to protect them. Though the witches were saved, some of the soldiers and their horses later died of poisoning. The U.S. government stopped the Zuni's public torture and execution of witches, but some convicted witches were still killed in secret. The last public witch trials of the Zuni, that at least we know of, were in 1925. However, a belief in witchcraft remained for many years. Since the beginning of time, people have been looking at the sky, observing celestial bodies and unexplained atmospheric phenomena. Historical records reveal that people from all cultures and times have also observed oddly shaped clouds and lights in the sky. Ancient people could not always explain them as comets, planets, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, three stars of Orion's belt, or perhaps Sirius, the dog star located to the left of Orion. How do we explain the sightings of three suns or funnel-shaped clouds on fire and other unusual atmospheric phenomena? Are some of the weird objects seen in the skies actually cloaked UFOs? On June 6, 1797, the English newspaper Brighton Advertiser reported a very interesting sighting that cannot be classified as a normal and natural atmospheric phenomenon. This extraordinary incident took place in the afternoon between the hours of four and five in St. Malo, a ring-walled old town and port in Brittany in northwestern France on the English Channel. The newspaper wrote that three perfect suns were seen all in a row above the western horizon. The sky was very clear at the time, and there was no one who saw the unusual sight that believed it to have been a mirage or other atmospheric illusion. The central seemed more brilliant than his two luminous attendants, and between the three there seemed to be a communication in the shape of waves of light composed of all the prismatic colors. At about the same time, a rainbow made its appearance at a short distance above the central sun, upside down, that is to say the two ends pointed toward the zenith and the bow's kneel toward the horizon. What did the inhabitants of St. Malo really observe in the sky? Could the three suns aligned all in a row be brightly shining unidentified flying objects? Throughout the ages, people of all nations and backgrounds have seen strange clouds in the skies. Ancient Indian manuscripts mentioned vimanas that were highly advanced space vehicles used by the gods. Present in the sky of India, these flying machines were powered by using certain chemicals, and a pilot of a vimana was able to cloak his flying machine and give it the appearance of a cloud. Strange clouds, which have been visible in the same place for hours, have also been witnessed by humans throughout the history of mankind, and still are, even in modern times. The Bible offers many good examples of such clouds, which were the most common description used when referring to Yahweh's flying machines. It is said that Yahweh was moving around the skies in thick, swift, bright, dark, low, huge, and fiery clouds. Possibly all types of clouds one can think of. Moses frequently mentioned the presence of the cloud chariots, the Lord descended in the cloud, the Lord came down in a cloud, the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them away and by night in a pillar of fire. The Prophet Daniel was another who described the use of a cloudy chariot for cosmic transportation. On August 1, 1888, at one o'clock, a strange phenomenon was witnessed in Monroe, Georgia. Mr. H. C. Harrison heard a loud noise and went outside to see what was happening. According to The New York Times, August 2, 1888, though the sky was clear and sun shining in all its splendor, a small, funnel-shaped cloud was seen approaching from the southwest at a rapid rate, attended with a rumbling sound like thunder. The whirling body rose and fell, and occasional reports were heard described as sounding like an explosion of oil barrels on fire. The body passed between Mr. Harrison's house and the Colored Baptist Church and crossed the street. It then turned in the direction of the Old Stillwell Place. In crossing a sandy flat, a shaft of sand was elevated high in the air, having the appearance of almost a solid pillow. The body afterward assumed the appearance of fire and great flaming tongues emerged from the top as from a burning building, emitting heat for some distance which was felt by those who witnessed the scene. In passing through a cotton patch, some leaves were scorched to a crisp and others on the same stalk were unharmed. The body passed into a skirt of pines and disappeared. Did Mr. Harrison perhaps see an extraterrestrial craft that used clouds as a form of camouflage to move around unnoticed? In 1973, physicist David Kubran and his wife were visiting the Pinnacles National Monument in California. They suddenly noticed a light streak by just above the treetops, producing shock waves in the air. Then it stopped without deceleration as if weightless. The light was basically ovoid in form, and as it stopped, it seemed to go into a spin, causing its light to dissipate. It lost its shape and merged somewhat with the surrounding air. David Kubran took a photo when the object began spinning. It should be noted that beneath the Pinnacles, there is a cave system largely still unexplored by archaeologists. Unfortunately, there are no surviving Indian legends that refer to the use of the caves. Another incident that can easily be classified under the category unexplained atmospheric phenomena occurred on February 11, 1922, when a mysterious fireball was seen off the Brazilian coast. On the arrival of the land port and halt liner, Vauban, from South American ports, Frank C. Blessing, the second officer, reported witnessing an unusual astronomical phenomenon which lit up the ship and startled people on deck. According to the New York Times on February 20, 1922, the officer said he was in charge of the bridge at the bells in the first watch at 9.30 p.m. When he saw a huge ball of fire rise above the horizon in the west and describe a low arc ahead of the ship and disappear below the horizon. When he took his observations, the fireball, which was as large as the full moon in the southern hemisphere and surrounded by a flaming halo lighting up the sky and sea, was about 10 degrees above the horizon. It was traveling at great speed and was in sight 3 minutes and 20 seconds. In describing the strange sight, Officer Blessing said, The ball was a very fiery and brilliant red with a tall and long fiery trail which lit up the sea in all directions. The ship, and for a quarter of a mile around, was lit up like day and the light was so brilliant that it dimmed the lamp in the binnacle and the smoking room lights which caused passengers inside to rush out on deck to see what was the matter. I was scared at the strange sight because I thought it had to do something with the end of the world. It was too large for a meteor and came up from the horizon on the west and did not drop from the zenith. I cannot estimate how far it was from the ship when it passed across the bowels. I called the captain to see it, but by the time he reached the bridge, the ball of fire had disappeared. I cannot imagine what it could have been and the astronomers attached to the observatories could not explain it to me. When we arrived at Rio de Janeiro, the scientists from the observatory came on board and questioned me as to the time I had seen the phenomenon and what it was like, and the same thing took place in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. From what the astronomers told me, the big ball of fire must have been visible with a radius of 700 miles north, southeast and west of the Vauban when we observed it. Unexplained atmospheric phenomena intrigue astronomers and other scientists, but also numerous ufologists who seriously consider that the presence of extraterrestrial spacecraft can explain many of these sightings. Until scientists can present an adequate explanation for unexplained, oddly shaped funnel clouds, strange behaving whirlwinds, and mysterious fireballs, we can assume that certain unusual atmospheric phenomena can be related to the cloaked, unidentified flying objects. Up next, the U.S. Air Force chaplain is called to duty, not against a human enemy, but a spiritual one. That story when Weird Darkness returns. I'm a man of habits. Okay, truth be told, my bride says I'm boring. I like the same stuff, and that's what I stick with. And that includes what I eat. Even for breakfast, I used to opt for a leftover pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers. Did I mention pizza? Anyway, now that I'm trying to lose weight and cut back on the carbs, I've had to make changes for breakfast. Now, instead of a big, heavy breakfast, I just grabbed one of my built bars, the best-tasting protein bar on the planet. Built bars satisfy my hunger with up to 19 grams of protein, and also satisfy my sugar craving, despite being less than 3 grams of sugar. And at only about 150 calories per bar, if I'm really hungry in the morning, I can grab two of them and still feel good about it. Try replacing your dessert or even a meal like breakfast with a built bar. You won't even know it's not really a candy bar. Visit WeirdDarkness.com slash Built and build a box of your own.  That's WeirdDarkness.com slash Built promo code WeirdDarkness. The headquarters of the U.S. Forces Japan, the Yakota Air Base, may also be home to supernatural activity, according to a couple who claim to help anyone dealing with paranormal disturbances to rid their homes of unwanted spirits. Chaplin, Captain Lance Brown of Yakota's 374th Wing Staff Agency, and his wife Karen Brown, who is working on a master's in counseling, have been performing home cleanses or anointings for the past eight years in homes where odd things occur. Supernatural activity is reported so often at this base in western Tokyo that it inspired a Facebook group, Yakota Ghost Hunter Club. Its members post about paranormal phenomena they've experienced at their homes and workplaces. Lance is endorsed by the Pentecostal Church of God, and the home cleanses are not officially sanctioned by the Air Force, he told Stars and Stripes in an interview.  We have the ability to be that beacon of hope as people invite us. The Browns said their cleansings are sometimes about helping someone cope with anxiety, heartbreak, or a troubled past than about literal evil spirits, though Lance said they are not suggesting the supposed presence of spirits is all in the person's head. Lori Pope, who lives in one of Yakota's garden units, said she started to feel uncomfortable in her home last year. My three-year-old daughter has been experiencing sleep regression the past year, she told Stars and Stripes over Facebook Messenger on March 1st. There have been several times when I'd be watching her video monitor and I would see orbs of light in her room. There have been a few instances where I'd be in my bedroom and I would see a white streak of light run past the foot of my bed, and more recently my daughter has been saying she's seeing monsters and that she's scared. Pope, at her husband, Master Sergeant Austin Pope of the 374th Maintenance Squadron, decided that since Lori is six months pregnant, they needed to do something to help their daughter feel less afraid and sleep through the night before bringing a new baby home. The family found the Browns on Facebook, and despite not identifying with any religion, decided to give it a try. I know it won't happen overnight, but I'm hoping we can all live more comfortably in our home regardless if there was a spirit existing here, Lori said. The Browns' anointing process starts with talking to the family about what is happening at home. We discuss what they're seeing, hearing and sensing to determine if it's just a creaky house or if something evil is going on here, Lance said. Some people call it a spidey sense, but we refer to it as a discernment of spirits, a heightened sense of things that are different or off. They then apply anointing oil, a mixture of frankincense, myrrh, aloes and herbs to anything that needs to be blessed, including people and objects. They also use incense and holy water. It's not as intense as movies like The Exorcist or anything like that, Karen said. After we've left, the situation has never gotten worse, ever. The Popes, who had their home anointed March 1st, are hopeful that the process worked for her family. My daughter still isn't sleeping through the night, Lori said, but I feel a much greater sense of peace being home alone, especially at night. The Browns do the cleanses free of cost, judgment or disclosure, they said. People need not be religious to have a home cleansing, and the Browns said their objective is not to convert anyone's belief systems. The couple said they received more calls at Yakota over the past year than they did at their previous assignment in Fort McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. The Browns weren't certain exactly how many calls they received on Yakota, but explained that they receive a steady flow of requests and had a cleansing arranged for right after their interview with Stars and Stripes. Belief in hauntings, dark spirits and exorcisms is rooted in several factors, including religious beliefs about the afterlife and people's desire to connect and find patterns and significance in unusual or seemingly inexplicable incidents, according to Michael Schermer, a science historian and the founder of the Skeptics Society in Altadena, California. Incidents seem significant when you're looking for it, he said in a phone interview on March 9th. The uncertainty and restrictions associated with the year-long coronavirus pandemic possibly amplified stress and emotion, Lance said. Add to that the feeling of isolation and separation from family and friends that comes with living in a foreign country. These feelings can make someone more heightened to portals for a spiritual activity, Lance said. The Browns declined to share the details of specific cleansings, but they said they have experienced fear and emotional responses themselves during some visits. It's not anything of Hollywood, but evil is a very real thing, Lance said.  Thanks for listening. All stories in Weird Darkness are purported to be true unless stated otherwise, and you can find source links or links to the authors in the show notes. Zuni Witchcraft is by Kathy Weiser for Legends of America. The disturbing effects of sensory deprivation is from Knowledge Nuts, Deborah Kelly for Listverse, and Allison P. Davis for The Cut. Flying Saucers in the Clouds is from A Sutherland for Message to Eagle. An Air Force Exorcist is by Erica Earle for Military.com. Weird Darkness theme by Alibi Music. Background music in this episode provided by Midnight Syndicate and is used with permission from the artist. Weird Darkness is a production of Marlar House Productions. And now that we're coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a little light. Matthew 16, verse 26. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? And a final thought. Sometimes angels are just ordinary people who help us believe in miracles again. I'm Darren Marlar. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.


Hello, Catamount families. Many of you are getting ready to welcome your students home for a week-long break. I know you're excited to see them and hear how this semester of in-person classes and gatherings has been going for them. Many students will be returning home for the first time since coming to UVM in August. If that's your student, don't be surprised if you're welcoming home someone who looks familiar but has changed since you saw them last. Your students have developed new routines and habits. Their exploration of new ideas and identities can feel unexpected to families, but being open and listening to your student will give you some great starting points for conversation. Thanksgiving break is a welcome respite before the end of the semester, but it's quite different from the spaciousness of winter break. This break is a concentrated time. Students are looking forward to relaxing with friends and family for a little while, but they will likely be coming home with some work to be completed over break, and in the back of their minds, they know they're going to need to jump back into the mix as soon as they return to campus. You can really help your student get ready for a strong finish to the semester, and here are a few hopefully helpful tips to do that. You may want to have a conversation early on during break about what their workload looks like. Encourage them to get the rest they need and the fun they crave, but also plan together when will be good times for them to steal away and do some schoolwork. Proactive planning can go a long way toward helping them sit down and get some projects done. Your student may express overwhelm. Some may express feelings of being pretty far behind. You're going to absorb some of that stress, and if you notice that you're feeling stressed for your student, think about what you can do with your wondering and your worry. How can you shape that into a helpful response that will help your student grow? Engaging your student in questions about what they're studying and involved in will really help them prioritize where to focus their energy during break. And for courses where they may be feeling too far behind to catch up, you might suggest that they make an appointment with their professor during office hours or at the tutoring center or writing center, because connecting with the academic resources on campus will help them think about the next steps forward and break the inertia of overwhelm. This one-week break is like the water station at the Marathon's 23-mile mark. It's meant to refresh and repower for the push to the finish line. One of your roles as their partners in this educational journey is to help them get rested and mentally organized so that when they leave at the end of the week with a suitcase full of clean laundry, they're feeling optimistic and ready for the next few weeks ahead. Your most important role is to remind them that no matter how things go, you're proud of them. They're emerging adults, and they're showing it in wonderful ways, and they still need to hear that just like when they were little, your love for them is unconditional. For my part, I have tremendous respect for all that our students have accomplished. We continue to live through difficult times, and seeing our students strive and do their very best this fall has been wonderful. As always, I appreciate your partnership, and I'm so glad that our students are here at UVM. Thank you.


I asked for finding the top rated restaurant in Miami. Here's what I got. And the first thing I put in is, what's the top Cuban restaurant in Miami? It gave me several good options, really good ones, and it is very true. Actually, the saddest restaurant, it is the best Miami restaurant for Cuban. And to be frank, it's also a little bit tourist attraction. So I'm not surprised with the number one and all other ones is very great. All the top ones.


and I just wanted to show you this quick this is the house that keeps on giving taking? taking the customer's money yeah boom, yep, that came out of the cool figure let's leave the coffins all the other way that was fun, there's all the timber and I just wanted to show you this quick I know right, so obviously we'll get this down we'll probably have a quick break and then get this whole thing knocked out for lunch so we'll get it back on time, that's all this just to come down the careful way not the fun way see how I think it's a good job, this thing's being redone how's that for a seating? doesn't even look 100mm this side's even less that side yeah, and there's your windows as well no lintels I think they've just been hacked and put in stuffed in, there you go so I go on and say I'm much better it's like we used to have access in them, the window in and gobbled it up, everything's a hack job here look at that, I can't see there being any ties in either we've got to start a spot for this probably a bridge for a single wall what the hell, big blood wolf will take this one down easily, once that door comes out the rest of it will just fall over there's a door holding it up waiting to drink the roof's off, the lid is gone what we're going to do now is get rid of all the timber, there's a fire around the back, so we're going to get all this timber out of the way so not standing on nails anything that can't go on the grab wagon is going around the back there's a big pile ready for the skit hang on Al, leave that let it go Al clear this and then we'll get back to that let's get all the wood out of the way I've got no rush for now, I want to get all this timber and all the nails out of the way so yeah, let's get all this cleared up I think all the plastics are getting kept to be reused because I'm nothing on with that so we'll put that to one side inside or maybe to one side outside if we took it down it wouldn't blow away put it over here out of the way so yeah, all the wood and anything that's not grabbable like the felt and everything has to go around the back with all this shine nice bit of a patching up there we've got a new one Jack Torrance the shiny you bring the door down instead of there's nowhere I can really put it one sec, one sec this thing's barely held in this thing's barely held in too I've no fixings in them, they were just foamed in and there's no nothing tying the porch into the house either and we've had a bit of an instant here on the external porch we've got that and then we'll put a damp course in as well which they don't bother with either there's six screws in that whole porch the roof is the best bit the roof took longer than the walls to come down right, back to town riddle with damp as well the damp was but the damp was below ground level wasn't it just below the block paver level see a look, there it is yeah block paver we'll have to wait till lunchtime and see what the customer says there's not really much you can say about that speechless nicely taught for Britain this is the house that keeps on giving taking taking the customer's money that spider go then the most of it let's get this cleared up, I'm going to go around the back and cut a hole out for the plumber I'm going to do some pipes I'm going to book a therapy session just get a chisel on that and chisel that way yeah, this isn't budging this is where we should have bought the breaker but we didn't, I think we need a breaker for this anyway, I'll go and do that whole arch and carry on with this alright, good morning we didn't really film lunch yesterday so I'll give you a quick catch up so obviously you saw us get all this down it's good that there was muddy soil the foundation was on top of soil so we spoke to the customer and the only way to fix this is to get it ripped out and give it a proper foundation wants to go over the shock yeah, wants to go over the shock to be fair, I'd be numb to it at this point you might have stuffed this thing along here but if you could do that in a minute sorry, that's my mic, I'll be picking that up it'll be dead loud carry on put it down first thank you, go over it so we've spoke to the customer so we're going to get this slab destroyed find some decent ground to put a foundation on and then hopefully concrete will be here today if not tomorrow not exactly a big deal, it gives us plenty time to dig a little thing as well just quick this docker is boarded but over there we did the concrete slab for there yesterday we didn't film any of that because it was absolute hell I'll give you a quick rundown the concrete arrived when we were still redoing the installation so they were here half an hour early fair place to the concrete company they sat and waited, they weren't pushy they weren't rushes they were nice about it but it still had to get it done quick and then so that got done in relatively quick time, thank god so this as you can see it's tight up to that bay window it was actually touching the leather roof, wasn't it so what we're going to do is we're going to centralise it so bring it away from that window and bring it back towards this window and a porch you're allowed three square metres to the external to be under planning planning permission and building megs exempt so because we're moving over slightly at the moment it's 2.8 square metres so it's going to be slightly smaller that way in width but we can bring the projection out a bit so we're going to go out a bit because we're starting from scratch again so we can mess around with it and alter it like Alex said the slab's coming out we'll take a few blockpaves around the edge and we can start from scratch and put it wherever we like, as long as it's under three square metres, I know all about that because we're hoping to get a porch in our house because the wood there's no wood, touch wood well I hope so, we bought a window yeah we've got the window for it we've got a big pile of bricks, got some blocks but onto this one, so enough babbling we'll get you set up on time that's all we see how tough this slab is quick tip breaking the slab up, especially some at this side, you can lift it up so you've got a voids underneath it put a prop underneath it, which is what we're doing now it'll just break, you just smash it to pieces, so I'll show you bar underneath, move it up like that timber on ground so that slab is now floating which means a couple of waxes and it'll snap full of bar snap pile it on the drive, next to the head yeah, that's exciting but I've got lots of time left first the slab's now gone I wanna see what the damage is under here so whoever did the slab knows how to prep a slab no, they know how to do a slab but not prep one that's pretty shocking so at least for us it means it's a bit easier to dig up I suppose this is other horizontal here yeah, Dad's just gonna go fix up a hole that needs breaking out for the... while he's doing that I'm gonna get the rest of this cleaned up then we'll have a quick dinner, break I'm getting ahead of myself here I'm getting back early today because it's the 28th of April Jedi survivors came out today so I'm waiting for a text up in the room to say it's arrived so let's make A.Y. the sun shines this is really the house I keep on giving so I've then moved all the block pavers to whereabouts we're gonna be digging and just started scraping back some soil then with this here spade and there is a pipe right in the corner, it's cracked as well that looks of it but I hope that's dead because one it's cracked and two, look where it is right in the corner well hopefully with it being near the top we might be able to find a way to get around that with lintels or something but every single thing well we'll just have to I'll wait for dad to get back he's going to pick up some milk for everybody so I'll just have to see with dad and Jason what on earth to do oh and this was all the way through as well yeah I'll wait for dad and then see what he says 10 plus 4 we're done well so I should say dad's done barely did anything couldn't do this on me at all but there you go so there's the size of it, there's dad for comparison there's the size of the dig it's the same size as an 8 before she eats 8 before she eats 12 or 15 there's what's come out of it there's one big part of the shit so pretty butterfly too but there you go so that's ready for concrete tomorrow obviously oh well we just need to do levels and everything but other than that it's ready we need to if we didn't hear him we're going to take a few pavers up now tomorrow to see if that's going anywhere because if it's dead we can get that out and it's going that way yeah it's going that way yeah that means unless those block pavers were up a lot that's going nowhere so no golly outlets it will be a tip for any description and the dance bout for the house is going to be down all hope so because it's right in the way yeah there was a dead land drain in the middle as well so that was no problem but at least we'll cut through it carefully in case it's been used to sleep but from tomorrow this porch will have a much better foundation this morning we'll have concrete in it we just didn't we just towed under there yeah we just towed under there a little bit so anyway we're using the laser yeah laser as well we'll measure down off the laser so we'll see you tomorrow for the leveling on the concrete Saturday morning Saturday the 29th and it's brutal we'll have to survive so there's the big pile of shite come out of this little hole we've spent an hour messing around with this pipe and it's running up towards me and I've got the camera off it and it just goes on and on and on but it's too high up in the ground for anything to attach to it so there's no golly anything around here there's nothing to go in it so the decision has been made to just chop it off bung it up and then if there's any problems down the line it can be redirected around because top of the pipe is three inches below ground level so it's not a big deal to move it so the main thing is getting the concrete in for this which is due now between now and two o'clock we've marked out the walls now we've got our positions you can just see a pencil line there so we've centralised it between the windows so that's 150 back and that was 50mm for insulated plasterboard to go in there same inside and when we checked it we've got a bit carried away and gone a bit over there too far so we've took another 150 back this way so walls are in the centre of the concrete now and we're putting about 450 about 400 of concrete in it so we're just waiting on the concrete to come and then we're heading inside to block that door so there you might just see it through the window that's coming out, that's getting blocked up with fibre lights and then there's a door to knock out to replace that door at the back of the house so like swapping from the front to the back because this is the extension which is like a granny flat so you just need access so that racket you can use the stairs going, new stairs so we're going to have a quick brew and take it from there well that was a little bit no I didn't again, you've got the keys you've cut the lint, haven't you nice one, right so that was a little bit rushed and hectic but concrete is in they've run out of water they've never heard of them running out of water before so thankfully thankfully the customer has a hose pipe so there's a bit of tough and wet stuff in there so but it's in to the pins, hopefully hopefully and so that's that done until Monday we're back here to build that up to foundation level and yeah we have to drop it of course because as you can see dropping it down it's already level with the hardcore level so obviously we had to adjust for that so and I think we just about made enough bricks we picked up enough for 3 or 4 courses but now we're going to pick it up so but I think we've got that at least so anyway that's now done with to Monday, next job is in there where it's blocking the doorway we've took out the blocks, we've took out the doorway already so now it's just the case of getting all the blocks in that has very kindly got them all pre-cut for me thank you very much so I think we're going to load up have a quick dinner and then I'll get a mix on so yeah time lapse the loading out and then we'll see after lunch


Lumbopelvic pain is a common problem among pregnant women in their third trimester. It has been found to be associated with decreased physical activity, travel, social relationships, and emotional health. This article was authored by Maheen Shad, Mohamed Junaid Ijiz, Mohamed Mustafa Kamar, and others.


In this session, I will talk to you about the work we do on a Dutch gender gap project. And I will focus on what we do to help new editors find a way on Wikipedia and what we do on outreach. Since this presentation is recommended for newbies, I'm pretty curious about you in the room. We do not have much time, so we cannot do a complete introduction session, but I have one question for you and maybe some people would like to answer. How many edits have you made on Wikipedia right now? Any volunteer? Anybody who likes the answers, there's a mic in the room. Maybe Netta? Yeah. There is one. 2000. 20,000. Anyone else? So, thousands of edits. Are there newbies around too? How many edits have you made? Who made less than a thousand? Wow. There's one. Two maybe. Well, thank you. So we have newbies, but most of you have made lots of edits. But let's think a little bit more about the distinction. Does it count how many edits you have made? Is it that important? For me, in 2012, I was a newbie, and it occurred to me that it was important, because every time I would meet new Wikimedians or Wikimedians, they would ask me the same question. How much edit have you made? When I would reply that I was new and just started, the conversation would stop. It felt like I wasn't important or I didn't count because I wasn't among one of the top editors. I think what would have made me feel more welcome if there would be a next question, and people would ask me, oh, Kelly, wow, welcome, you're new, and do you have any questions? Can you help me? Because can I help you? Because I think it's very important to make people feel welcome. It will encourage to continue your work on Wikipedia. Because I think first edit can turn into a next edit, and people can become pretty good members of the community. In this talk, I will ask you to share your experiences. It will not be just me broadcasting about a Dutch gender gap project. So let's learn from each other and listen to each other. I'll start. Since 2015, the Dutch gender gap project aims to attract new members for the community, and we try to get more articles about women on Wikipedia. Still no slides. Because we do have a gender gap on Dutch Wikipedia, it's obvious that among the existing community there are not enough editors to help close the gap. So the gender gap work group decided to find out what's happening, where are the people that might want to join us, and why they are not on Wikipedia already. We decided to interview some new editors and also editors that are working on Wikipedia for many years. We found out some main points that either help people and motivate people to edit Wikipedia, but also points that stop people from even starting. And what we found, and Netta already told and Rosie too, was it's about confidence. People are afraid to post wrong information, or they are afraid to ask beginners questions. People have heard from bad experiences from others, or they might even have had bad experiences themselves. People are not confident, they feel like they do not know enough about a subject, and especially not enough to even write an Wikipedia article about it. People have no Wikipedia skills, so how can we start then? People do not have enough time to edit. It's all pretty common things that Netta and Rosie also said. And there was a group that just didn't know where to write about. I'll manage without slides. Luckily there were also points that motivated people, and these were the meetups in real life. Love to meet each other, work together, and help each other to write on Wikipedia. And being able to add missing information on subjects that they think it's important to share with the world is a great motivation. So these were things that we found out among our community, the Dutch Wikipedia. And here's the part where you guys come in, I'd love to hear some things that you may have found out within your community. Is there anyone who wants to share some things that help or maybe stop people from editing? No one? That will give us a lot of time for a coffee break then. Yes? Hello? Is there a microphone? Is there a mic? Yes. People are scared of the text when they are editing. When they are clicking the edit, they see a lot of stuff that they don't understand. The codes. The codes. Yes. So it's one of the things. Yeah. Great. Thank you. Anyone else? Thank you. I'd like to respond. People are afraid of the codes. It is difficult, but that's why the visual editor was developed. And that's why you can pick up cheat sheets at the help desk here just around the corner at the registration desk that in OSA, they're in Swahili, they're in English. If you send me your translation in your own language, I make sure it has the same layout, and we'll do all the translation, and we'll put it up in comments for you if you do the translations. So that's what you see is what you get editor. Makes it far more easier for newbies to go on Wikipedia and share their knowledge. So that's actually a solution to the code problem. Do in Germany, pick closer, pick closer, we do in Germany monthly meetings for women like women edit, for to help each other to edit in Wikipedia. And in Germany, we have to prove edits from new editors, and we can help each other because there are more people, more women who can do this and do things which another offline. Okay, this is actually a solution to the real edits. We have time for one or two more. So one thing that I've seen a lot and actually experienced when I first showed up to Wikipedia is that the only people that I interacted with were people who were telling me I was doing something wrong. Yeah, exactly. And otherwise, Wikipedia kind of seemed like a quiet desert. Yeah. Just the last one. I also wanted to say that numbers are a huge thing in the Arabic community. So everybody begs about how many edits they have. And when I was just starting as well, I thought that this should be my target. So instead of, for example, adding all of the article I have in one click, I would just split it into as many clicks as I have so that I can get more edits because this is what I was told. Yeah. Yeah. It is indeed a problem. Yes. Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing that. I have to continue because otherwise there's not much time left. Well, we found out some points that motivate and we also had some points that make people hesitate to contribute to Wikipedia. And at Dutch gender gap group, we tried to take some obstacles away. We know that our group places high value on meetups in real life. So it's a perfect opportunity to work together, share experiences, and it can also help to see bad accountants into a different perspective. If you share your story and maybe even be able to have a laugh about it. So what we did, we started organizing meetups. It would be one day meetups where we focus on editing Wikipedia because we try to learn them how to edit and hope they will stay around. But what we experienced is that one day meetups, we just didn't have enough time to actually learn people how to edit Wikipedia. And it often resulted in a lot of frustration and articles being reverted. And that didn't motivate our new editors at all. So another important aspect that we found is that one day meetups do not give the opportunity for people to connect to each other. And this is one of the main things that motivates our group, connecting and working together. But if you are on a one day meetup and you just try to learn how to edit Wikipedia, you do not spend time on talking to each other and etc. So what we decided to do was the same thing as you just told me you're doing in Germany. We decided to organize monthly meetups. We have our Wiki Fridays, it's in Amsterdam, and we have Wiki Saturdays. And these are meetups open to everybody. You do not have to register, we do like that, but it never happened. We offer a safe and steady environment for people to join us and work together. And it gives the opportunity for people to get to know each other. And they know when and where to join us because we planned these meetings way ahead. And well, it's a great way to get to know each other. And this works for our group in the Netherlands. The other obstacle we talked about was the fear of posting wrong information or asking beginners questions. What happens is if you post a question on Wiki, it's out there in public. And not everybody feels comfortable with that special beginners. What we did is try to offer a safe space. And I saw it in the previous presentation too. We opened a closed Facebook group. We have about 120 members at the moment. And those are members who are very active Wikipedians and also people who just started. And we just asked questions and people asked them to take a look at the article they are working on. And actually, we also helped to keep articles that are nominated for deletion. People will see it and post it in the GENGAP Facebook group. And we work together to improve these articles. It often gives very positive results. About beginners questions, we got questions from our beginners. Like, is there a manual for editing Wikipedia? In the beginning, we said, yeah, well, you can find everything on Wikipedia. It's there. There are user manuals and tips and tricks. If you start a Wikipedia, some people manage to find the information. But what happens, there are a lot of links. And they click on the links and they will lose their way. And they cannot find what they are looking for. So we were lucky enough to have Lodewijk. And he wrote a manual for beginners. And it gives all the basic information on how to edit Wikipedia. So we're very happy with that. Still no slide. People were looking for inspiration on where to write about, what to write about. And we created, it was actually a very simple solution, like Women in Red also did. We created red linked lists. And we added links to other Wikipedia versions, language versions, if they were available. And it actually helps people who have less time to contribute, to make a translation of an existing article. So it also helps people who have less time. Well, these were some things that we have created in order to get some obstacles away. Again, is there anyone who wants to share their experience? Do you have any solutions for the obstacles that new editors find? Reem, where's the mic? Hi. It's not more a solution. I'm just trying to think. I mean, the solutions that you're talking about, it's more like women that already have time and maybe a little bit of leisure to add in the editing. So I'm thinking, why not go to, especially in indigenous languages, if you're going to attract women, you're going to go to partner with organizations that are already organizing women for issues that are of concern in their communities. In that way, they're already meeting. In that way, there's already a common cause. Then introduce Wikipedia and the benefits to their communities. Because some of the issues you're talking about, this kind of women would not even have even the capacity to think about that. Especially if you're thinking of making this more inclusive. Yeah. Thank you. That's very valuable. Yes. Yes. No slides. Is there anyone who likes to share some solutions they gave? Neta? Run. Sometimes during edit-a-thons, we bring newcomers and we bombard them with information. We are like, you can do this, you can do that. Just check out that, check out this. That's too much information, way too much information for them to process. So what we could do is to just sit down and watch them edit. And just in case they encounter some problems, we can tip in and say that, oh, this is how you can do it better, instead of just giving a lot of information and making them overwhelmed and feeling that it's a very difficult thing. Yeah. This is also what we do during Wiki Fridays, Wiki Saturdays. It's a great way. Also, another thing that we do in Egypt, whenever we have a workshop or an edit-a-thon, we decide if we have a specific audience. So for example, if they are going to translate, we developed manuals that are completely just only for the groups that translate from English into Arabic or from whatever language into Arabic. So we had also to design our own manuals in our own language, which is Arabic, because the ones existing do not address our needs at all. Great. Thanks. Okay, I'll continue, because we're running out of time. So we found, we thought of some ways to work around the obstacles that new editors encounter. And now we also wanted to reach out to new editors. And since they are not to be found in the Wikipedia community, we started looking outside Wikipedia. And we found organizations that share our goals, and they really like to organize workshops, Wikipedia workshops. But what we have learned is that sometimes these organizations, they tend to value the enthusiasm of their supporters larger than it is. And every now and then we ended up with zero participants in their registration forms, or maybe one or two. And then we would decide to cancel these meetings, these workshops. And these are things that just happened. And my advice is at least if you reach out to organizations and start with organization of a workshop, at least also inform them that it might be the case that their network might not be as enthusiastic as they might think they will be. And that's just it. We are lucky to have found Atria as a partner. They have a great network and women who like to edit Wikipedia with us. So we are just very lucky. What we also did to try to reach new editors was last year, during around International Women's Day. We did a targeted Facebook campaign. And what we saw that we had the best results on a group in which we promoted to expand STUPS. It was a surprise to me. I expect that that translation might win, but that was the second place. It was just the first time we did that and we wanted to repeat it again in order to get some better evaluation on that. These were all things that aim on new editors, but also we wanted to stay in touch with the Wikipedia community, the existing Wikipedia community. So what we also did to stay in touch with what we do is we organized challenges online, like the 100 Wiki women and the women you never met. And what we see in the past three years is that the group who joins us in these challenges is growing. So that's actually a very positive news. Yeah, I wanted to also... No, I have to continue. Sorry. I wanted to give you time to share some information, but we're running out of time again. I have one last cool thing, and Arim already mentioned it. This May we organized our first women tech storm. It was part one. It was a pilot. And our mission was to get more women and non-binary people involved in tech. And we had only 20 spots available for this tech storm. And to our big surprise, we received 99 registrations from participants. Sorry. I think the key success for this number was that the fact that we organized it for women only and we promoted a safe space environment. But another thing was we clearly indicated that this tech storm was for newcomers. So people who registered knew that when they entered this tech storm, they wouldn't be the only one asking beginners questions, which is actually normally something that people are afraid to do. I think I have to stop here. Are there any questions of people who want to comment? Yes, over there? Hello, everyone. I think the campaigns that might be done can still be exclusive considering that there are many women who can't write, who can't read. So probably bringing into the environment digital storytelling where a person can use vernacular language to share their own stories and then have those that can read and write, translate them into other languages could help. Yes. Anyone else? No, I think I will give the stage to Asaf. Thank you very much.


Hello and welcome. My name is Philipp Halfner and I'm the Director of Exercise and Sports Science at the IWAPH and I'm also the author of Advanced Concepts of Strengths and Conditioning for Tennis. In today's episode I will explain why UST President Joe Bogosin is wrong about the reasons for the decline of US tennis. Bogosin basically states three reasons. One, technological advancements. Two, too much domestic competition for talents. And three, too much competition outside of the US. Now that doesn't really sound convincing, does it? So let's take a closer look at what Joe Bogosin was saying about the decline of US tennis. According to Joe Bogosin, who is Chairman of the Board and President of the USDA, the USDA's mission is to promote and develop the growth of tennis with focusing on promoting and developing the growth of people through tennis. When asked about the explanation of why there was a recent decline in US dominance in tennis, while other countries, especially European countries, have caught up in recent years, his responses were basically like this. First, the professional game has changed significantly with advanced technology, especially with strengths. The game is now largely played from the backcourt and it's not as easy for American players who learn to serve and volley to compete. Second, in other countries, tennis is one of the most popular sports right behind soccer. In the US, the best athletes have a wide variety of other sports they can choose to take up. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world has opened up in ways we never thought possible and tennis has caught on like wildfire in countries that never used to exist. As Tom and Friedman has said, it has indeed been a fled world. But one could argue that John McGoason's answers to the problem are inadequate because his conclusions are incorrect. So let's dissect his first answer in more detail. The professional game has changed significantly with advanced technology, especially with strengths. True. The game is now largely played in the backcourt. True. He concludes, therefore it is not as easy for American players who learn to serve and volley to complete. Wrong. But first of all, I don't even know who he's talking about. American players serve and volley. He must be still thinking maybe about Pete Sampras, who was fairly successful in it.  Can you hit a slice? Can you do one handed backhand? Are you comfortable volley? Do you have a good serve? Do you have a decent second serve? Can you kick? Can you slice? All those things. Then how about fitness, mental toughness? All those things are variables that will determine how successful you're going to be on the tour. So it would have been a better approach to actually talk about how to improve the quality of USDA coaching or the overall program the USDA offers to its high performance players. Now, the second reason, in other countries, tennis is one of the most popular sports right behind soccer. True, such as in Europe. In the US, the best athletes have a wide variety of other sports they can choose to take up. True, conclusion, popularity of tennis is higher outside the US and competition with other sports is higher within the US, which implies that more and more people play tennis outside the US than inside the US. The problem with that conclusion is that he's comparing apples with oranges. In America, we have about 300 million population and 27 million of them, you know, basically play tennis on a regular basis. So we're talking about roughly 9% of the population in America is playing tennis on a regular basis. Now, if you take countries like Germany, for example, have a population of roughly 81 million and we have about 5 million people overall playing tennis, all of which one million plays on a regular basis, then we're talking about 1.2% of the population. So, in other words, even if tennis only ranks 6th in the population in America, when it comes to quantity, meaning how many people are playing, it's still a very large amount of number compared to, let's say, with Germany where tennis is ranked number 2 in popularity, but only 1.2% of the population actually playing the sport. And the third and final reason, since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the world has opened up in ways we never thought possible. True, tennis has caught on like wildfire in countries that never used to exist, maybe. Conclusion, more competition has led to a decline, to a decline of US tennis. Well, competition in sports is usually a good thing because it helps people to excel, people have to work harder and they, you know, go after each other and that's how everybody involved gets better. And it's kind of a late excuse for a market leader, if you look at it like that, like the US used to be in tennis in the 90s and actually in 2000 as well in dominating the sport and now they're always suddenly complaining about, well, it's too much competition and that's the reason why, you know, we can't keep up with the success we used to have.  So the number of people that are actually going out to the sport has dropped considerably. The infrastructure that people in America have available at the USDA, at Division I universities, I mean, now, you know, we're talking about 20 courts, hot courts, clay courts, hot through courts, grass courts in some instances, even then you have registered, you know, dieticians available for the athletes, your athletic trainers, your strengths and conditioning coaches, your tennis coaches, when you have anything that anybody could want in order, you know, to be able to be successful running tracks, anything. And yet people are not able to produce successful athletes in U.S. tennis. And so I would think it might have to do with the quality of the coaching involved. There have to be quality people involved at the highest level of the game. And I don't think that there is really the case. Well, that's it again for today's episode. As usual, opinions differ. What's your point of view? Let us know below in the comment section. A brand new episode will be available next Sunday. So make sure you don't miss it and subscribe. In the meantime, I recommend you watch some of the previous episodes. You should really watch them all. If you like what you saw, tell your friends. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I'm Philipp Halfmann. Thank you for watching and auf Wiedersehen! Music by Dan O at danosongs.com


Parliamentary representative for Babano and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Hon. Ezekiel Joseph, has fulfilled a long overdue promise of providing the constituents of Babano with fire and ambulance service. On Sunday 16 December 2018, an ultra-modern fire station was officially opened in Central Babano. The station is the ninth fully operational outpost for the Senusha Fire Service. It comes at a time when the department is making strides in dealing with resource constraints. Recently 45 recruits graduated into the service, 28 of them will serve at the Babano fire station. The operation of the new station is expected to result in a reduction in the number of responses at both service headquarters and the Grosily fire station from the shared work loop. The added staffing will serve to boost the morale of serving members and assist in addressing some human resource concerns, including the reduction of stress and burnout. The chief fire officer told the ceremony that the aim is to work with organizations to enhance safety and create resilient communities and mitigate the effects of disasters. The chief executive officer of NIPRO, which constructed the facility, said the station was designed to help fire officers meet that mandate. NIPRO financed and constructed the fire station under the build operate lease transfer arrangement referred to as bold. Constructed at an overall project cost of approximately $6.6 million, this modern facility provides accommodation for 28 persons with 10,300 square feet of floor area. This facility was designed by Inter-Island Architects and Planets Limited, represented here today by Director Mark Henicat, with consultancy services provided by Thibbles Consulting, the Structural Engineers, J.C. Francis and Associates, M.E.P. Engineers and W.R. Phoenix Limited Quantities Obeyes. The Babano constituency has a population of 12,000 people spread across 15 communities. It is one of the largest constituencies on Ireland with challenging topography. It is against that backdrop that the parliamentary representative, Hon. Ezekiel Joseph, believed that residents needed emergency services in a close proximity. It's because in Babano, we have had some bad experiences and not to any fault of the fire service, because when you look at coming from Rosilet to Babano without traffic that the ambulance have to go through, when you look at coming from Castries to Babano, I saw the need for us to have this facility built in Babano. And in fact, we saw it as part and parcel of a holistic plan for Babano. The Babano Fire Station also falls into broader development plans for the Castries northeast area. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chastner gave some insight. We are working on opening up the highway from Darnis Army Stadium to Dennery. And that is going to facilitate the opening of lands that have never been available to San Lucia previously. We're also talking about putting a major archery road from Babano to Shock, the Allen-Busky Highway, in order to be able that when you come off this highway that you'll be able to easily get back to Shock. So it means that these facilities and with the new road network we're going to put in place are actually going to be able to service a bigger part of the community than we can currently can imagine. Prime Minister Chastner reiterated government's commitment to improving the conditions of work and enumeration for fire and police officers. National Security Minister Senator Holmongale Francis informed that efforts are foot to ensure that all major communities have already access to emergency services. The West Coast is an area that needs fire station and reserves an emergency response team which is closer to the various communities. As it stands now, the Castries station responds to as far as answering and super response to the needs of countries. Our vision is to close that gap with a station along that route so that others who are still on the waiting list will not worry. Access to the delivery of the best in emergency services in this country is costly, maintenance is costly, procurement is costly. We need to take good care of what has been provided to us. Nevertheless, this is a priority area among others and in the new year you will have more of the plans of the government for the solution of fire service. Retired officers of the fire service who hailed from Babano were honoured at the opening of the Babano fire station. They included former Chief Fire Officer Augustine Gasper and Deputy Chief Fire Officer Paul Edgar from the Government Information Service. Lisa Joseph reporting.