According to a study, reaching for a snack with your non-dominant hand helps you eat less.
SUMMUM
Close Encounter: One afternoon in October 1975, a former aerobics instructor named Claude King was relaxing, eyes closed, on the couch in his Salt Lake City, Utah, apartment. He’d had some ringing in his ears lately, but this time it was much more intense: King claimed he was “engulfed” by the sound and teleported to an alien world. When he opened his eyes, he was standing next to a giant pyramid on a green lawn, under a blue sky filled with stars. It was the first of many visits to the world of “angelic Beings” known as Summa Individuals, who transmitted their Summum philosophy (“Nothingness and Possibility come in and out of bond infinite times in a finite moment”) to King via mental telepathy.
What Happened: King had his name legally changed to Summum Bonum Amon Ra (though he still went by his nickname, Corky). He then founded the ancient-Egypt-themed Summum religion, which today is headquartered in a pyramid-shaped temple in Salt Lake City and promotes the “Seven Summum Principles: Psychokinesis, Correspondence, Vibration, Opposition, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender.”
The movement has even developed a form of mummification that draws inspiration from the practices of the ancient Egyptians but incorporates modern materials like fiberglass and polyurethane. The service is available to the public: Human mummification costs $67,000, pets around $6,000. Practitioners of Summum also make sacramental wine called “nectar publications” and meditate over it to fill it with “spiritual concepts.” The group says it has given away more than 250,000 bottles over the years, but only to Summum adherents. Drinking the spiritually spiked wine is said to enhance seven different types of meditation.
Aftermath: The first human to be mummified using the Summum technique: Corky Ra himself, who died in 2008. His mummy is stored inside the Summum pyramid, in an upright gold “mummiform” coffin just like King Tut’s (except that Corky’s face served as the model for the face on the coffin). The group says that more than 100 people have signed up to be mummified when they die.
THE AETHERIUS SOCIETY
Close Encounter: On May 8, 1954, a London taxi driver and yoga enthusiast named George King was alone in his apartment when he heard a voice command, “Prepare yourself! You are to become the voice of Interplanetary Parliament.” The message was from an alien named The Master Aetherius. King, by virtue of his mastery of yoga, had been selected to be “the Primary Terrestrial Mental Channel for the Cosmic Masters of the Solar System.” These Masters, hailing from Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, would use King to transmit their messages to the world.
In 1953 driver Tim Flock won a NASCAR race with a rhesus monkey as his “co-driver.”
What Happened: The Masters told King that selfishness, violence, and other human ills had knocked the Earth’s karma out of balance, as evidenced by pollution, warfare, and other global ills. The aliens, who regularly visited Earth in their flying saucers, wanted to help restore the karmic balance, using spiritual energy generated by prayer circles practicing a “powerful new form of Karma Yoga.” On the Cosmic Masters’ instructions, King formed the Aetherius Society to get the message out.
There’s certainly nothing unusual about praying for the purpose of achieving positive ends, but what sets the Aetherius Society apart are devices they use called “radionic batteries.” These sit in the middle of each prayer circle and soak up the spiritual energy. The batteries are “charged” with prayer week after week; then when a disaster strikes, such as a hurricane or the earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear meltdown in Japan in 2011, the Society releases the energy using a machine called a “spiritual energy radiator” and transmits it directly to the trouble spot.
Aftermath: Dr. King died in Santa Barbara, California, in 1997, but the Aetherius Society, now headquartered in Hollywood, is still praying away. It has about 650 members worldwide.
THE INTERNATIONAL RAËLIAN MOVEMENT
Close Encounter: If prayer circles don’t float your boat, perhaps the Raëlians are more your speed. As we told you in our book The World’s Gone Crazy, the Raëlian movement was founded in 1973 by an aging French pop star named Claude Vorilhon after he went hiking in a dormant volcano crater in central France. There he met an alien with skin that was “white with a slightly greenish tinge, a bit like someone with liver trouble,” he writes in his book, The Message Given to Me by Extra-Terrestrials. The alien, a member of an advanced race called the Elohim, invited Vorilhon back to his UFO. During this and subsequent visits, Vorilhon was taught the true origin of humanity—namely that humans were created by the aliens in test tubes in a laboratory 25,000 years ago, and prophets like Moses, Jesus, and Buddha were emissaries of the aliens, just like Vorilhon. The aliens told him that when humans perfect cloning and develop the ability to transfer memory and personality from aging bodies into healthy new ones, they will live forever. They also told him that having unlimited, uninhibited sex would enable them to achieve “perfect freedom.”
First Facebook page to reach 10 million fans: Michael Jackson’s (after his death).
What Happened: After his first alien encounter, Vorilhon changed his name to Claude Raël and founded the International Raëlian Movement. He dressed in flowing white garments and grew a topknot of hair that he said was an antenna for receiving further messages from outer space. The messages revealed the extraterrestrial “truth” of stories in the Bible: Jesus walked on water using “antigravitational beams,” Jonah was swallowed by an alien submarine he thought was a whale, and the ancient Hebrews became the chosen people by winning a contest.
Aftermath: Thrown out—and laughed out—of France in the mid-1980s, Raël moved to Spain and eventually to Canada. He and his free-loving followers still live there, in a compound near Montreal. They run a museum called UFOland that presents Raëlianism to the general public, and they’re raising money to build a $20- million extraterrestrial “embassy” that will also serve as an alien spaceport. As soon as it’s finished, Raël says, Moses, Jesus, and all the other prophets (who have been kept alive through cloning) will return to Earth in their UFOs.
The aliens have told Raël that they would prefer the embassy to be built in “neutral” territory on land donated by the Israeli government. But the Raëlian movement’s symbol, a swastika inside of a Star of David, has complicated negotiations with the Israelis. (The Raëlians say they’re trying to “reclaim” the swastika from the Nazis.) In 1991 the symbol was changed to a less offensive pinwheel appearance, but that didn’t seem to help much. If the embassy ever really does get built, it probably won’t be built in Israel. The Raëlians claim to have 65,000 members in more than 80 countries. (No word on how many of them are just in it for the unlimited, uninhibited sex.)
Of the 20 highest mountain peaks in the U.S., 17 are in Alaska.
NUDES AND PRUDES
More stories of nudes and the prudes who find the nudes to be rude and or lewd.
NUDE: Camp Pendleton, a military base on the Southern California coast, is where the U.S. Marines practice their amphibious assault landings. In 2011 the base was faced with an invasion of a different kind: nudists from the neighboring beach, a state park. Nudity was banned in the park in 2009. Since then nudists had been crossing onto the base’s beaches in increasing numbers, trying to get away from the park rangers, who they claim were singling them out for harassment. “You have rangers hiding between the bushes, within rocks, in trees, with cameras trying to take pictures. It’s insane,” a beachgoer named John Squicciarini told the Orange County Register. The rangers’ response: They’re just enforcing the law. “The naturists are mischaracterizing this as usual,” said a spokesperson.
PRUDE: In November 2009, the Swiss Alpine village of Appenzell introduced a law making nude hiking punishable by a fine of 200 Swiss francs (about $225). It did so after a German “naturist” organization, citing the region’s lax regulations regarding nudity, named Appenzell as an ideal spot for hiking in the bu
ff. The area was soon flooded by German hikers wearing hats, hiking boots, and not much else. Nude hiking was illegal even before the new law was introduced, but the police could respond only to formal public complaints, and few locals were willing to go on the record. Now police can cite nudists on their own authority. “It’s a sort of joke,” Stephanie Sutter, a tourist official, told London’s Independent newspaper. “But there are lots of kids hiking in this area and they shouldn’t have to face these people.”
NUDES VS. NUDES: France’s Cap d’Agde, also known as “Naked City,” is Europe’s largest nudist colony. The community of 40,000 nudists was also one of the most sedate…until the early 2000s, when swingers, exhibitionists, and other “libertines” began flocking to the seaside town. The two camps have been at war ever since. The libertines complain that traditional nudists are too uptight, and the traditionalists are furious because the libertines—when they aren’t wife-swapping or engaging in public displays of lewdness—wear clothes. “There are often more people walking around dressed than undressed. If you are just an ordinary nudist, they stare at you as if you were something bizarre,” a traditionalist complained to the Independent newspaper in 2010. (Three libertine orgy clubs were destroyed by arson fires in 2008. The culprits were never found, but police suspect the fires were set by traditionalists to drive the libertines out.) Traditionalists dream of returning to the good old days of sinless, nonviolent public nudity, but Mayor Gilles d’Ettore thinks that’s unlikely. “I can’t put a policeman behind all 40,000 nudists,” he says.
Originally, the term “movies” did not mean films, but the people who made them.
NUDES VS. PRUDES: Four years after members of the New Beginnings Ministries church in Warsaw, Ohio, began a weekly protest in front of the Fox Hole strip club, the strippers decided to give the church a taste of its own medicine: In August 2010, they began protesting in front of the church during religious services each Sunday. Dressed for the occasion in shorts and bikini tops, the strippers kept at it for three months, hoping to pressure the church into leaving the Fox Hole alone. They failed: The strippers no longer demonstrate in front of the church, but at last report churchgoers were still protesting in front of the strip joint. “We cannot share territory with the Devil,” Pastor Bill Dunfee told the Associated Press. “Light and darkness cannot exist together, so the Fox Hole has got to go.”
PRUDE NUDES: In March 2009, police were called to escort John Harrison and his wife, Lyn, from Australia’s White Cockatoo resort in north Queensland. Reason: March is the resort’s “clothing optional” month, and the Harrisons, who were dining away from the resort that evening, opted (necessarily) to dress. It turns out clothing wasn’t so optional after all. When Harrison finished dressing and stepped outside to wait for his wife, four nude women took offense at his state of un-undress and complained. “They felt uncomfortable with him eyeing them,” resort owner Tony Fox explains. “I asked him to show respect and take his clothes off. He threatened to bash me, there was some argy-bargy [pushing and shoving] and police were called.”
Dogs of War: The ancient Romans and the Gauls trained dogs to fight in battle.
WARNING LABELS
Some things in life should go without saying, but there’s always the occasional genius who needs to be told not to shave during an earthquake.
On a salt packet: “Warning: Contains salt.”
On a can of aerosol cheese: “For best results, remove cap.”
On an information booklet: “Do not use if you cannot see clearly to read the information in the information booklet.”
On air freshener: “For use by trained personnel only.”
On dog medicine: “Alcohol may intensify the effects.”
On rubbing alcohol: “Avoid contact with eyes, ears, brain, and surrounding membranes.”
On a letter opener: “Safety goggles recommended.”
On a travel pillow: “Do not use while sleeping.”
On a dust mask: “Does not supply oxygen.”
On a disposable razor: “Do not use during an earthquake.”
On a box of dice: “Not for human consumption.”
On a toy called Rubber Band Shooter: “Caution: Shoots rubber bands.”
On a bicycle: “Removing the wheel can influence the performance of the bicycle.”
On a disc-shaped chocolate: “Do not place chocolate into any electronic equipment.”
On a cleaner for eyeglasses: “Not for or direct use in eyes.”
On a birthday badge for two-year-olds (it says “I am 2” on one side): “Not to be used by children under 3 yrs. of age.”
On a dishwasher: “Do not allow children to play in the dishwasher.”
On a can of tuna: “Caution: Contains fish.”
On toilet bowl cleaner: “Safe around pets and children, although it’s not recommended that either be permitted to drink from the toilet.”
Japan has “cat cafés”—for people who can’t have pets, but want to play with a kitty.
EXTREME SPORT:
FREE-SOLO CLIMBING
Here’s the rundown on another death-defying sport. (BASE jumping is on page 165.)
DANGER ZONE
When it comes to the deadliest adventure sport, free-solo climbing is a close second to BASE jumping. How does a climber free-solo? By leaving behind ropes, harnesses, and other protective gear and relying on three things: physical strength, climbing skill, and psychological fortitude. Without all three, say experts, the consequences can be deadly.
In 2011 Sacramento free-solo climber Alex Honnold scaled the sheer rock face of Yosemite’s Sentinel Rock with TV’s 60 Minutes crew filming every move. Clinging to a crack in the granite wall more than 2,600 feet above solid ground, the 26-year-old climber was so high above Yosemite Valley’s floor that the trees below looked like toothpicks. Within minutes of starting the Sentinel ascent, Honnold reached “the point of no return,” at which a climber must confront the danger and continue…or lose his nerve and go back. Honnold’s point of no return: wet rock. He clung to the wall despite the water oozing onto it and reached for the chalk bag tied around his waist. He managed to get enough chalk to absorb the moisture on his hands and continued to the top.
The 2011 ascent made Honnold the first person to climb the Chouinard-Herbert route without a safety harness or rope.
STAYING ALIVE
“Nobody ever thought about doing it before,” said adventurer and rock climber John Long, who watched the mind-blowing climb from below. Long is the elder statesman of free-soloing, credited for starting the extreme sport in the 1970s. Even he admits that in this area, Honnold is “unquestionably, the best guy alive today.”
The “alive” part is, of course, critical. When asked what he considered Honnold’s greatest achievement to date, Long says, “That he’s still alive. If you look at the past, people who have made a real habit of soloing, at least half of them are dead.”
Hollywood’s first stuntman: ex-U.S. cavalryman Frank Hanaway. He was cast in The Great Train Robbery (1903) for his ability to fall off a horse.
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
Honnold’s key to surviving: keeping his cool. His nickname among other climbers is “Alex No Big Deal.” That attitude has helped him prevent the adrenalin-spiked jitters that can kill a free-soloer. Honnold has a method: When caught in a seemingly impossible situation, he starts whistling a favorite tune. And if he does get an adrenaline rush? “It means that something has gone horribly wrong,” Honnold says. “The whole thing should be pretty slow and controlled…mellow.”
“The real challenge about climbing without rope,” Long explains, “is that ‘the feeling’ can come up in a split second and you have to dial that back quickly…or else you’re not gonna be able to breathe.” He should know. Sylvester Stallone’s movie Cliffhanger was based on Long’s novella Rogue’s Babylon, which he based on his own climbing experiences. If fear takes over while you climb, Long says, “You have no chance. You’re gonna die.”
SHE’S A LADY
Illinois native Steph Davis made her first climb in 1990. At the time, Davis was a freshman at the University of Maryland. Before long, she’d switched to Colorado State University—not for the academics, but because she’d fallen in love with climbing and Colorado had higher mountains. Davis earned a master’s degree in literature, then after five days of law school, she dropped out to become what she calls a “dirtbag climber.” With her grandmother’s beat-up Cutlass Sierra and a faithful Blue Heeler mix named Fletch in tow, all Davis needed was a mountain. She built a bed in the backseat of the car and spent seven years living out of it and waiting tables for cash before landing sponsors to help support her expeditions.
She pushed herself hard and in 2005 became the first woman to free-solo El Capitan’s huge Salathe wall. The brutal climb took nearly two weeks, with Davis sleeping on ledges the width of a diving board until she reached the top. Davis says she took up free-soloing as a way of facing her biggest fear: death. “When I was soloing, I didn’t think about death, I felt alive,” she says. “Doing physical acts that I find scary, and figuring out how to feel in control, is part of understanding how to be free from it.”
DON’T FEAR THE REAPER
Davis went head-to-head with death in 2007 when she decided to climb Longs Peak in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park. Elevation: 14,255 feet. (The famed British climber Doug Scott once said, “The Himalayas are a great place to train for Longs Peak.”) She set her sights on the Diamond, 900 feet of vertical and overhanging terrain—in particular, Pervertical Sanctuary, a steep crack that goes straight up the Diamond’s face. On the Class 1 to Class 6 Yosemite Decimal System (YDS), Class 5 denotes vertical rock requiring skill and a rope; falls from Class 5 climbs typically result in severe injury or death. The Pervertical Sanctuary is rated 5.11a.
Uncle John's Fully Loaded 25th Anniversary Bathroom Reader (Uncle John's Bathroom Reader) Page 41
