To Every Englishman and Englishwoman On My F'list

Happy St George's Day, people!

And yes, I know I'm a Welshman, and there's all that history between us, but that is what it is. History. Right now, there's a bunch of people living to the east of me, across some invisible line, who have every reason on earth to be proud of who they are.

So far be it for me to detract from other people feeling joy.

Also, it's the anniversary of the birth, and death, of William Shakespeare, and also Vladimir Nabokov (thanks, nyghtshayde for pointing that last bit out).

The Hunter: the Vigil Logo

Just released on White Wolf's website:-



"Hunter Logo Revealed
Presenting the Hunter: The Vigil logo
Posted: 2008-04-22

Though we won't be lifting the veil of secrecy surrounding Hunter: The Vigil just yet, White Wolf is excited to offer fans a peak behind it. Attendees of the GAMA Trade Show may be familiar with the logo from earlier this week, but this is the first time it is being shown in full color, as it will appear on the cover of Hunter: The Vigil.

As long as monsters have prowled the darkness, brave and desperate mortals have walked out of the protective ring of firelight to pursue those shadows.

Some die. Many go mad.

But someone else always picks up the candle and steps into the dark ..."

Penis Theft Scare in Congo

Congo Penis Theft Scare

By Joe Bavier
Wed Apr 23, 1:07 PM ET

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

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But that's not the only weird news I've got for you tonight ...

The Atlanta Bum Bot

Jelly Explosion

Who'd Want To Get Sick In Australia?