Clinically Lycanthropic Cultural Policy

Back in the 1980s, several clinicians revived the concept of perceived lycanthropy: the belief that one has memories of transforming into another animal, or the delusion that one has, in fact, transformed into an animal (not necessarily a wolf).

Lycanthropy has been a known rare but problematic mental and emotional disorder for milennia. Even the great tyrant Nebuchadnezzer "transformed" into a beast (in his mind) for seven years, bringing the government to a halt.

If clinical lycanthropy, the delusion that one is no different from an animal, is considered to be a mental illness, why then does it so acceptably drive social policy?

Oh well, gives me an excuse to link to apes. I love apes. You know, in a totally species-appropriate way.

Ancient Observation of the Gryffin

Adrienne Mayor is an independent scholor who studies ancient folklore and attempts to plot it against known archaeology and geology. This method led her to a conclusion that the ancient mythological beasts, at least some of them, have their origins in the scientific observation of the day, not sheer flights of fancy. In other words, the ancients were astute fossil hunters and reconstructive archaeologists and anthropologists.

A part of me wonders that if Mayor's basic assumptions are correct, is it not possible that the ancients were also astute naturalists, as well? Is it at all within the realm of scientific possibility, that the bones where fossils now lie were once, more recently than we might normally make conjencture, covered in flesh?

CLASSIFIED: Obscure Cryptids

Because it is probably the most important, most relevant item to the enrichment of your life, I thought I'd note three obscure reported but probably non-existent (certainly unproven) animals that nobody seems too interested in making movies about:

Carl Sagan's "atmospheric beast" - Lighter than air, these hypothetical creatures have been set forth as an example of life that could theoretically exist in the atmosphere of Earth or even on another planet. Sagan wasn't the first to propose such an idea, but was the first to approach it outside the realm of fantasy.

Nords - We've seen little grey men coming out of UFOs all the time (on television, at least!) but the Nord is an alien type most likely to be reported in Europe (In the U.S., the majority of sightings are the "greys"). They look sort of like Vikings (or Nordic. Thus - "nords") Which just goes to show that, even after a millenium or so, we Norwegians still have a somewhat invasive reputation.

Thunderbirds - These are one of my favorites. Some Native American tribes have stories about great thunderbirds ruling the skies, even going so far as to portray them in artwork. There's an old hoax (or tall tale) about some cowboys gunning down the last of the thunderbirds back in the 1880s.

There. I feel much better now.

Tax the Money and Run

I wish our government taxed yaks, because I really, really like the idea of a yak tax.