Blog Heap of Links for the day 21 May 2014

…a new series of mysterious signals, known as Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs), has again got astronomers scratching their heads and wondering if, maybe, we’re picking up alien messages….

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? (Psalm 11)

Not only did the leopard seals not attack as some predicted they would, they fed me penguins, followed me around, and generally put on a nonstop show.” [Photos at link]

The Poteau Runestone was found by schoolboys in 1967 near Poteau in Le Flore County, Oklahoma. [Another runestone with old language and some characters backward.]

The Heavener Runestone is an inscribed stone located in Heavener, Oklahoma… [I'm certainl no expert, but the reasons given for disbelieving its authenticity are 1) the language is older than the times of known Viking exploration of N. America; 2) the writer got a couple of letters backward; 3) No other signs of Vikings were found. Also, 4) other similar stones have been proven to be modern fakes. Hm. Other things being fakes proves nothing. If the language is older, the stone may be too, and whatever wanderer carved his name left no other obvious signs while passing through. And he was slightly dyslexic. I'm not saying it's authentic; I'm saying the reasoning is "we don't want to think it's real, so we'll make up reasons why it's probably not and state them as authoritative."]

A 25-year-old woman who vanished as a teenager from her California home has contacted police after 10 years, claiming she was held captive and sexually assaulted for nearly a decade. …charged her alleged captor, 41-year-old Isidro Garcia, of Bell Gardens, with kidnap for rape, lewd act with a minor and false imprisonment. …Garcia was dating the woman's mother at the time of the kidnapping….

In the laid back California town of sunny San Rafael
Lived a girl named Pearly Sweetcake, you prob’ly knew her well.
She’d been stoned fifteen of her eighteen years and the story was widely told
That she could smoke 'em faster than anyone could roll….
—Shel Silverstein