by Ian Punnett

In the weeks ahead, we’ve got some great shows on the way. Sunday, Sept 13th - 2nd Sunday in September, John Geiger, author of The Third Man Factor:

“ . . .  a biography of an extraordinary idea: That people at the very edge of death, often adventurers or explorers, experience a sense of an incorporeal being beside them who encourages them to make one final effort to survive.

“If only a handful of people had ever experienced the Third Man, it might be dismissed as an unusual delusion shared by a few overstressed minds. But the amazing thing is this: over the years, the experience has occurred again and again, to 9/11 survivors, mountaineers, divers, polar explorers, prisoners of war, solo sailors, aviators and astronauts. All have escaped traumatic events only to tell strikingly similar stories of having experienced the close presence of a helper or guardian.”

Sometime before that, perhaps the only book that can adequately describe the brain disfunction of people like this couple in California that kidnapped that poor girl 18 years ago and kept her in the backyard like a dog, The Anatomy of Evil by Dr. Michael Stone.  No date yet.

Speaking of evil:

RICHMOND, Va. (Aug. 28) - Authorities stepped up patrols Friday near an area of Jefferson National Forest where a Virginia Tech couple described by their minister as "godly young people" were found slain.

A man walking his dog early Thursday found the bodies of David Lee Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg and Heidi Lynn Childs, 18, of Forest in the parking lot of a day use area and campground that is a popular hangout for Virginia Tech students.

Uh, about that Axis of Evil . . . 

Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean-manufactured munitions, detonators, explosives and rocket-propelled grenades bound for Iran in violation of United Nations sanctions, diplomats said.

The UAE two weeks ago notified the UN Security Council of the seizure, according to the diplomats, who spoke on condition they aren’t named because the communication hasn’t been made public. They said the ship, owned by an Australian subsidiary of a French company and sailing under a Bahamian flag, was carrying 10 containers of arms disguised as oil equipment.

Meanwhile, the axis of our international economy may be smaller than you think--or as small as you fear:

WASHINGTON -- A recent analysis of the 2007 financial markets of 48 countries has revealed that the world's finances are in the hands of just a few mutual funds, banks, and corporations. This is the first clear picture of the global concentration of financial power, and point out the worldwide financial system's vulnerability as it stood on the brink of the current economic crisis.

A pair of physicists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich did a physics-based analysis of the world economy as it looked in early 2007 and found that 24,877 stocks and 106,141 shareholding entities in 48 countries,  which represented the owners of 80 percent of a country's market capital, was controlled by remarkably few shareholders. (Live Science)

If that’s true--and I have no doubt that it isn’t--aren’t all these financial shows wasting a lot of time broadcasting to millions of people when they could just be texting to a handful of powerful people in some back room some where.

I’ll mention that to the Mad Money’s Jim Cramer.  I saw him last week when I was in New York by accident.  He was right next to me at breakfast in my hotel having a meeting.  He’s not as crazy in person.  Good thing.  If he had been waving his arms around as much as he does on TV, we were sitting so close to me he would have hit me with his toast.

Back in July, President Obama met a lot of famous people on his world tour as Jeff Israely reported in Time magazine:

There was a poignant footnote to President Obama's historic July 10 meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Behind closed doors in the papal library, Obama handed Benedict a letter that Senator Edward Kennedy had asked him to personally deliver to the pontiff. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs later told reporters that nobody - not even the President - knew the contents of the sealed missive. Obama himself asked Benedict to pray for Kennedy, and called the ailing Senator afterward to fill him in on his encounter with the 82-year-old Pope.

The letter, most likely already re-sealed and tucked away in the Vatican archives, was probably just a dying Catholic's request for a papal blessing. In the eyes of the traditionalist wing of the Church, however, Kennedy should have been asking the Pope for forgiveness. The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano reported Kennedy's death, praising his work on civil rights and fighting poverty, but noted that his record was marred by his stance on abortion. As of yet, unlike some other world leaders, Pope Benedict has not commented or issued an official communique in response to Kennedy's death. (Time)

Obviously abortion is a sin in the Catholic church.  We’ll see if Pope Benedict ever issues anything about the death of Sen. Kennedy.  Of course, suicide is a sin too according to the church but would Jesus forgive these cows?

In the picturesque Swiss village of Lauterbrunnen, the locals are worried.

Dozens of alpine cows appear to be committing suicide by throwing themselves off a cliff near the small village in the Alps.

In the space of just three days, 28 cows and bulls have mysteriously died after they plunged hundreds of metres to rocks below where they were killed instantly.

“We are investigating because cows growing up in the mountains normally can estimate dangers and do not plunge down cliffs.” 

(Call it moo-icide).

According to local reports, there had been violent thunderstorms in the area which may well have spooked the animals.  (The Daily Mail)

Spooking of being speaked:

Patrick Stewart has told fellow actors that he saw a ghost in what is reputed to be one of Britain's most haunted theatres.

He saw the apparition while performing Waiting for Godot with Sir Ian McKellen.

Stage hands believe he saw the ghost of John Baldwin Buckstone, who was actor-manager of the Theatre Royal Haymarket in the mid 19th century and a friend of Charles ****ens.

Buckstone had a long association with the Theatre Royal, first as a comic actor, then as a playwright and finally as its actor-manager from 1853 to 1877, during which time it put on some 200 productions. The house became the leading comic theatre of the day.

He did not die in the building, passing away peacefully at home in Sydenham, Kent, after a long illness in 1879 aged 77. But theatre lore professes that he nevertheless haunts the place to the present day.

Nigel Everett, a director of the theatre, said: "Patrick told us all about it. He was stunned. I would not say frightened, but I would say impressed.” (The Telegraph.UK)

More impressive than the success of Merck's antidepressant research:

In 2002, Merck, the pharmaceutical giant, was falling behind its rivals in sales. 

In interviews with the press, Edward Scolnick, Merck's research director, laid out his battle plan to restore the firm to preeminence. Key to his strategy was expanding the company's reach into the antidepressant market.

His plan hinged on the success of an experimental antidepressant codenamed MK-869. Still in clinical trials, it looked like every pharma executive's dream: a new kind of medication that exploited brain chemistry in innovative ways to promote feelings of well-being. The drug tested brilliantly early on, with minimal side effects, and Merck touted its game-changing potential at a meeting of 300 securities analysts.

Behind the scenes, however, MK-869 was starting to unravel. 

True, many test subjects treated with the medication felt their hopelessness and anxiety lift. But so did nearly the same number who took a placebo, a look-alike pill made of milk sugar or another inert substance given to groups of volunteers in clinical trials to gauge how much more effective the real drug is by comparison. The fact that taking a faux drug can powerfully improve some people's health—the so-called placebo effect—has long been considered an embarrassment to the serious practice of pharmacology.(Wired)

Sounds to me like the perfect antidote for our healthcare problems.  Think of how much money we could save if instead of spending all that money on developing new drugs, we just invest in making better placebos!

Make mine chocolate . . .

Finally just for fun:

fm1071.com/show_elements/link.php?entryI...

Enjoy!