Converting lions / Mrs. Fields' Orange Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Today's Christian Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

A man leaped into a lion's den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday, November 3, 2004 to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts. "Jesus will save you!" shouted the 46-year-old man at two African lions lounging under a tree a few meters away. "Come bite me!" he said with both hands raised, television footage showed. One of the lions, a large male with a shaggy mane, bit the man in his right leg before zoo workers drove it off with water hoses and tranquilizer guns. Newspapers said that the lions had been fed earlier in the day, otherwise the man might have been more seriously hurt ... or worse.

Culled from: Reuters
Generously donated by: Methlehem

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More proof that religion is bad for you. In the olde days, they would have called this "religious derangement."

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The Comtesse Critiques...

Weird Illinois by Troy Taylor

Over the weekend, my girlfriend and I journeyed to Lansing, Michigan to visit some friends and during the drive, I kept us entertained by reading aloud the entirety of Weird Illinois by local ghostlore figure Troy Taylor. I must say, we both found the book to be far less than fascinating. Maybe the problem is that we are both skeptics at heart, so some of the conclusions that Taylor jumps to are just silly to us. For example, he discusses the fact that no grass grew on the empty lot where the John Wayne Gacy house once stood for several years after the house was torn down. He uses this as evidence that the soil was infested with negative ghostly energy from the murder victims or some such thing. Of course, he's ignoring the obvious explanations for this: 1. The hard, compacted soil found in previously occupied lots requires considerable breaking down before anything can grow well on it. 2. The type of grass that you see growing on lawns is not native to Illinois, and must be PLANTED in order to take root anywhere. But, no, let's just say it's haunted - it's so much more interesting that way. Sheesh.

The book does have an excellent design, and does discuss some very interesting abandoned sites and legends that I would like to investigate further. However, the author annoyingly does not provide directions to any of the landmarks. So in order to actually see any of these sites for myself, I'm going to have to do additional research to find out where they are. Thanks so much.

I don't want to be too negative because I do like the Weird America people and the book is a fun, interesting read. However, for serious morbid sightseeing, I'd suggest you purchase the far more helpful and comprehensive Oddball Illinois - at least until my own book comes out in a year or two, which of course will become THE morbid sightseeing guide for Illinois.

3/5 skulls

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Wretched Recommendations!

Here's a film to look out for - a documentary on Jonestown!

Thanks to Nina for the link.

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Ghastly!

Amos Quito sends this one with the following description: "Here's an old practical joke from our high school days.... we used to get everybody with this one!!"

Apparently, it's still most successful.


Mrs. Fields' Orange Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Categories: Cookies, Mimi
Yield: 1 serving

2 1/2 cups Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Grated orange peel
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Light brown sugar, packed
1 cup Butter, softened
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Orange extract
1 1/2 cups Semisweet chocolate bar, Coarsely chopped (8 oz)

Preheat oven to 300°F. In a medium bowl... combine flour, baking soda, salt, and orange peel. Mix well and set aside. In a large bowl, blend sugars with electric mixer at medium speed. Add butter and beat to form a grainy paste, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Add eggs and orange extract, and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and chopped chocolate. Blend on low speed just until mixed. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 22-24 minutes until cookies are slightly brown along the edges. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface.