Werewolves and the Middle Ages

Shape shifters or were-creatures transcend every major culture from the Aztecs, to the Greeks to the Scandinavians. The ability of turning from human into animal plays a part in much literature and writings of the past. However, the most infamous of them all is the werewolf.

Werewolf legends appeared to have originated in the German countryside around Cologne and Bedburg in the year 1591. A much different life played out in that era and the wolf stood as a representation of fear and loathing. Many claimed to have found torn limbs on their properties and scores feared to travel in their surrounding wooded areas, despite little proof that wolves attacked people unless they were rabid or starving.

One infamous case of arrest and trial of a werewolf was Peter Stubbe. He allegedly held a special strap made of human flesh, given to him by the devil, allowing him to change into a wolf and feed on humans. Charged with killing men, women and children over a twenty-five year span, he willfully confessed his entire life to the court. He spoke of murdering his own son and eating his brains. His tales of feasting on girls in the fields while they milked cows caused panic and dread in the village.

After confessing to the heinous crimes, he was sentenced to death. Put on the wheel, a torture device, they pulled the flesh from his body with red, hot pincers. Then, his legs and arms were broken and he was eventually beheaded and burned to a heap of ashes. The investigation also implicated his mistress and his daughter as accomplices. They were burned alive that day with Peter on October 31, 1589.

The Magistrate of the town of Bedburg erected a macabre shrine to Peter. One that paid tribute to his victims but also reminded the townspeople that Satan's followers would be destroyed. They placed the torture wheel upon a pole and decorated it with his severed head. Pieces of wood hung from the wheel to commemorate his victims. A pamphlet was distributed reminding those that practiced evil to take heed.

Peter Stubbe is only one of thousands of documented executions for the crime of being a werewolf. Between 1520 and 1630, over thirty-thousand people were accused in France alone. Many were burned at the stake. The madness had taken Europe by storm, pushing the pursuit of werewolves into the realm with witches and sorcerers.

Why Jesus Died on the Cross?

Jesus died on the cross so that he could become an atonement for our sins. In the Old Testament times, the high priest had to go into the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle once every year to use the blood of sacrifice animals to cleanse his transgressions and the transgressions of the people. The blood of sacrifice animals are to be used as atonement for the sins of the people up to the time of Jesus' death (Hebrews 9:7 - 8). God is holy. Sin causes us to be separate from God. In order to be reconciled with God, we need to believe in Jesus. You must accept Jesus as your Lord and believe that he has risen from the dead on the third day before you can receive the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus died for the sins of the whole world once and for all so that there is no need to use animal blood to the sacrifice. The blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse and purify us from all kinds of sins. In the Old Testament, the Israelites get saved by their works, through obeying and doing the commandments of God. In the New Testament, salvation is open to not just the Israelites but to everyone around the world who put their faith in Jesus. By having faith in Jesus, we can get saved.

Faith in Jesus' resurrection alone will not enable us to gain eternal life. We must wholeheartedly follow Jesus and live our lives for him in order to get saved. This means that you have to read the Bible regularly. You must set aside some time to pray and worship God. You should pray for yourself and others. Once you have accepted Jesus, you are a new creation in Christ. You have to preach the gospel to others so that they can come to know Jesus as well. If you have difficulty in getting rid of your bad habit, you can ask God to help you. Jesus always listens to prayer. You must trust in Jesus and ask reasonably if you want him to answer your prayer (James 4:3; 1 Peter 5:14).

The death of Jesus has been mentioned in the Old Testament. Some of the prophecies regarding Jesus Christ are Psalm 22:6 - 8, Psalm 69, Psalm 118:22, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 50:6 and Isaiah 53:3. Jesus had prophesied about his death to his disciples in Matthew 17:22 - 23. After Jesus died on the cross, he went down into the Hades to release the captives and led them to heaven. God raised Jesus to life on the third day. When the women came to anoint Jesus with spices in the tomb, they found out that an angel was sitting inside the tomb. The angel told the women that Jesus had already risen from the dead. Jesus appeared to his disciples before he ascended into heaven.

The Buzz is All About Mini-Motorcycles

Pocket bikes are miniature motorcycles -- powered, for the most part, by oil- and gas-burning engines similar to those used in chain saws, weed whackers or other small motorized tools -- and they look just like the real thing.

The snazziest models cost thousands and are made in Italy, but the ones that are selling by the container load run from $200 to $500. They come from China, among other places, and are getting snapped up by eager teenagers and, in some cases, not-so-teenagers.

At Broadtek LLC, a South San Francisco firm that imports them, the cardboard cartons containing the small bikes are stacked to the ceiling of a tall warehouse and are quickly going out the door to eager customers.

In Walnut Creek, Eric Rahin, owner of Sonic Scooterz, says he's selling them in droves -- "from college students to people in their late 50s. It's basically a toy to have some fun with."

Manufacturers say the bikes are supposed to be used only on closed race tracks, private roads or any other place where there are no public traffic laws and, more important, no big cars or trucks to run into you. Many buyers follow that advice.

But now you see some of these new pocket bikes zinging in and out of parking lots, up and down residential streets and, occasionally into the side of a car. And therein lies the rub.

"It's very difficult for a driver (of a car) to see one on those bikes, because of their low height," said San Francisco police Lt. Kitt Crenshaw. "We've had several accidents in the last few weeks, and people went to the hospital."

The pocket bikes have a top speed of about 35 mph, but can be souped up to go faster. They evolved from tiny but highly sophisticated racing bikes that campaign on European race tracks and are sometimes used as training vehicles for Grand Prix motorcycle racers.

The bikes are faithful imitations of popular normal-size street motorcycles, which, for marketing reasons, are faithful imitations of pure race bikes, down to the disk brakes, handlebars, chain drives, twist-grip throttles and electronic ignition.

The little bikes weigh about 50 pounds, stand about a foot and a half high and can easily be put in the trunk of a car. They have tiny engines -- 47cc or 49cc displacement, less than 1/20th the size of a big motorcycle. And they are enticing.

"It's a fun little thing to ride," said Matt Damon, a 21-year-old salesman in a Martinez pet store. "It's a whole lot cheaper than a $6,000 or $7,000 big bike. For years now, I've been riding different types of motorcycles, but it's more like the small bikes are a fun thing, instead of just transportation. And it's easier to maintain and burns less gas."

But Damon did admit, "I took it for a ride down the street and got pulled over. The officer was kind of nice about it. But I got a ticket."

Police departments in the Bay Area and elsewhere in California have been cracking down on the little two-wheelers, saying they are a major accident waiting to happen. No police agency could come up with information about any deaths caused by pocket bike crashes, but police want them off the public roads before the inevitable happens.

"Their numbers are starting to increase," said Milpitas police Officer Jay Johnson, who was assigned by his department to look into the phenomenon and ultimately write about it for the weekly Milpitas Post. "Most of the complaints we're getting is that drivers can't see them or there'll be a group of them racing, or they're running stop signs."

For a while, though, until Johnson began studying up on the subject, and the California Highway Patrol sent out a memo clarifying just what is and what is not legal about the bikes, confusion seemed to be paramount.

In fact, it shouldn't be. On many bikes, there's a decal right there on the gas tank that says these things do not conform to "federal motor vehicle safety standards."

After a lengthy consult with the state Vehicle Code and the Department of Motor Vehicles, the CHP explained that the bikes do not meet a number of standards required for all vehicles registered in California -- the most telling example being the stipulation that "headlamp height (be) between 22 and 54 inches."

Technical problems aside, it's the safety issue that concerns authorities.

"We're really concerned about these things mixing with traffic," said CHP spokesman Steve Kohler. "If you think about it, something that small is difficult to see, when it's mixed in with cars, trucks and buses. Drivers don't even see full-size motorcycles. There's no way they're going to see these things."

Or, as David Edwards, editor in chief of Cycle World Magazine and a man who puts about 20,000 miles a year on motorcycles, said: "When you get out in city traffic, you'll be at more risk than on a full-size motorcycle. But they only hold (a little) gas, so you won't go too far. And they're noisy as hell, so at least people will hear you coming if not see you coming."

The Community of Online Flash Games

It has been proven time and time again that online games are very popular due to the fact that they are free and the variety of games available to the masses is actually quite enormous, so much so that these sites tend to be called community gaming sites and in fact they live up to this reputation because they do gather a lot of people interested in online gaming. Among the most popular categories in flash game application we have card games, shooting, action, strategy, arcade and board games.

Today we are going to talk about shooting games, this particular category has become famous because the very first few games that were marketed through stand alone consoles did in fact include shooting, back in the early 80s Atari came up with a wide variety of games which were not very good in the visual department -- sort to speak -- but they were really great when it came to the entertainment value they were able to provide. Later on these very same concepts were improved as technology allowed gaming companies to enhance the graphics of each game, this has been an ongoing process which even today is being done.

Flash games found on the web take the best elements of console games and joins it with the power of the Web, because of this flash technology and gaming applications are able to load a lot faster in our browsers even at limited speeds. A good example of a shooting game is called "gangster pursuit" this flash game shows a police officer who basically goes on a rampage killing all the bad guys he encounters on his city, the first level of the game is actually very easy, the controls you will be using are the and down, left and right keys of your keyword in order to control the motion of the cop, you will also have to use your mouse in order to aim and fire your weapon.

As you advance from level to level you will find that the enemies will be hiding in different places for instance, some will be waiting for you behind public chairs, others will be inside buildings aiming at you from a window and the toughest ones will drive by on a car and will even use a helicopter. All in all this is a great online shooting game which shows all the elements of similar gaming applications found in this genre, this particular type of games are hard to beat which is why it is recommended to set aside a good amount of time only for your online entertainment needs.

Audio Business Book

It is undeniable that one of the most important things that business people must do to keep up to date is read business books. However, people with important positions in many companies have to deal with a big problem due to their responsibility positions: lack of time.

I have recently had the opportunity to read some interviews to managers and company directors, where they were asked which was the last business book they have read. And most of them hadn't read one for a long time, they couldn't during the day because they didn't have time, and were very tired to do it at night when they returned home. So we were having a generation of managers, or people with responsibility positions in companies that were not reading business books.

Fortunately for them, there is a big new trend, there are lot of business books that have been recorded to obtain audio business books. Now they can listen to that audio business book when they are traveling to work, or returning home in their car, or while they are doing other tasks, such as while they are doing exercise. In this way, they can keep updated with the latest methods, trends, news about business in general, or the area where they specialize.

I presume if I listen to some similar interviews with business people in the near future, they will say something like: Well, I have not read any business books in the last days or months, but I have listened to lots of them!

Mathematics and Puzzles

As children, we all loved mathematics and working out puzzles. Mathematics was an all-important tool to answer questions, like "How many," "Who is older," "Which is larger." And puzzles were of course everywhere. We did not stop to check a dictionary to ascertain that a puzzle is something, such as a toy or game, that tests one's ingenuity. We did not care about our ingenuity a little bit, but just thrived on learning new things and skills that the nature made us curious about. Growing up was a great fun.

Time brought a change. In school we were made to realize that learning is a serious business, and for many of us much of it has ceased to be entertaining. Although not for all. Some could not give up their erstwhile pursuits of mental entertainment. There are enough of puzzle lovers to provide a living for the selected few who invent and publish puzzles - in accordance with the dictionary definition to challenge one's ingenuity, puzzles old and new. The luckiest of the breed grew to become scientists, mathematicians in particular. Mathematicians solve puzzles as a matter of vocation. Puzzlists seek puzzles in newspapers, books, and now on the Web.

There are many kinds of puzzles - jigsaw puzzles, slider puzzles, sliding blocks puzzles, logic puzzles, mazes, cryptarithms, crosswords, strategy games, dissections, magic squares - it's hard to enumerate all known kinds. Puzzlists and mathematicians have their preferences. Most of mathematicians will probably deem classification of their occupation as puzzle solving a misnomer. (Due to their mindset they will likely to inquire as to the definition of puzzle solving - just in case.) Mathematicians call their puzzles problems. Solved problems become lemmas, theorems, propositions. Why would they object to being categorized as puzzlists?

Solving both puzzles and mathematical problems require perseverance and ingenuity. However, there is a profound difference between solving puzzles and what mathematicians do for a living. The difference is mainly that of the attitude towards either activity. For a puzzlist, solving a puzzle is a goal in itself. For mathematician, solving a problem is an enjoyable and a desirable occupation but is seldom (with the exception, for instance, of great problems of a long standing, like Fermat's Last Theorem) a satisfactory achievement in itself. In most cases after solving a problem mathematician will try something else: modify or generalize the solved problem, seek another proof - perhaps simpler or more enlightening than the original one, attempt to understand what made the proof work, etc., which will lead him to another problem and so on. Whatever he does, he eventually gets a hierarchical network of interrelated solved problems - a theory. Why does mathematician seek new problems?

The reason is in that mathematics, even if perceived by many as a not very meaningful manipulation of abstract symbols, embodies in its abstractedness a rare power of explanation. Some mathematics directly explains natural phenomena, some sheds light on other portions of mathematics or other sciences. (A famous Russian mathematician V.I. Arnold even categorized mathematics as that part of physics in which experiments are inexpensive.)

Understanding in mathematics is born not only from formulas, definitions and theorems but, and even more so, from those networks of related problems. The process is very much like distilling the many meanings of a word in a Thesaurus into a unique shade of the concept that it represents. Mathematics - the most exact science of all - is least of all a dictionary of term definitions. Mathematicians seek knowledge. In search of knowledge, they enjoy themselves tremendously inventing and solving new problems.

The Interactive Mathematics Miscellany and Puzzles site makes an attempt to present mathematics as an evolving and entertaining subject in which an unsuspecting visitor may take an active part.