STUFF: News, Technology, the cool and the plain weird

[MIKA27]

This Incredible Aurora Is 2014's Best Astronomy Photograph

Another year, and another set of winners of the Royal Observatory’s Best Astronomy Photographer. This year’s overall winner is this insane shot of an aurora captured over a glacier, which is so other-wordly it looks like it was made with special effects.

The winning shot was captured by the UK’s James Woodend over the Vatnajökull Glacier in Iceland, using a Canon 5D and a ten-second exposure. The judges sum everything up perfectly:

‘This beautiful image captures what it’s really like to see a good aurora — the landscape, with the reflections which seem almost sharper than the shapes in the sky, is a terrific bonus too! This is the first time an aurora image has won the overall prize: I think what captivated the judges was that it really looked like the aurora was right in front of the viewer — there’s no need for exaggerated or stretched colour.’

Woodend wasn’t the only winner, though: there’s a whole series of individual-category images, with everything from telescopic glimpses at alien planets to shooting-star landscapes winning prizes. The full list is worth a look, over on the Royal Observatory’s Website.

[MIKA27]

After 10 Months In Space, NASA's MAVEN Is Preparing To Enter Orbit Around Mars

Having travelled over 700 million kilometres, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution is getting ready to enter orbit around Mars. Hopefully, it will gather enough information to give scientists a better understanding of the planet’s atmosphere and how its climate and structure has changed over time.

It’ll take a little bit of manoeuvring for the craft to enter orbit, according to an update from NASA posted earlier this month. MAVEN will have to burn its six thrusters and use half its fuel for over 30 minutes just to slow down, after which it should find itself in orbit 380km above Mars.

However, NASA won’t know if everything worked as planned until the craft has repositioned its antenna to contact Earth. It’s at that point MAVEN’s mission will be able to start:

The team will perform six maneuvers to move the spacecraft from its insertion orbit into the four-and-a-half-hour orbit that will be used to gather science data.

This science orbit will be elliptical, with the spacecraft flying about 90 miles (approximately 150 kilometers) above the surface at periapsis, or closest point, in the orbit to “sniff” the upper atmosphere. At apoapsis, the farthest point from the surface, MAVEN will pull back 3,900 miles (roughly 6,300 kilometers) to observe the entire atmosphere.

With each pass, MAVEN will make measurements of the composition, structure and escape of atmospheric gases.

The video above explains the preparations NASA went through just to get MAVEN travelling in the right direction — much like Dave Lister, NASA plays pool with planets (well, planets, rockets and spacecraft).

[MIKA27]

An Electric Wakeboard Is Probably The Best Way To Spend $22,000

If you’ve ever wanted to go wakeboarding, but thought “Man! Those ski boats are expensive!”, then never fear: the budget wakeboarding option is here.

For just €15,000 ($22,000), Swedish entrepeneurs Alexander Lind and Philip Werner will sell you a jet-propelled, electrically-powered wakeboard. Using a salt-water-resistant jet, their creation (dubbed Radinn) will get you up to around 50km/h, where the conventional wakeboard bindings give you enough control to pull some huge turns — think longboarding, but on water.

For what it’s worth, the promo video does seem to show them having a blast — cruising around perfectly flat canals, low to the water, without being dragged behind a boat looks like serious fun. I’m just not sure that you can call it wakeboarding.

[MIKA27]

Here's Another Government Review That Says The Australia Tax Is Bad

A few months ago, the Government flagged it would undertake a “root-and-branch” review into Australia’s competition laws. At the time, the Chair of the review said that it would use it as an opportunity to once again re-examine the nature of IT Pricing in Australia. A few months on, and the final report is out. And whaddayaknow: the Australia Tax is bad.

Interestingly, the Competition Policy Review Panel said that it wouldn’t recommend that the government introduce new laws to combat the Australia Tax, or what it refers to more formally as “International Price Discrimination”. Instead, it wants you to fire up your VPN, use an international mailing service and buy all your tech from overseas to dodge price gouging from big companies.

By doing so, the panel says that local firms will get the message that Aussies will vote with their wallets and order products from international vendors rather than their Australian counterparts. Market forces will then cause local vendors to drop their prices to parity with the US market.

Here’s the section on “International Pricing Discrimination” (emphasis added):

The Panel favours encouraging the use of market-based mechanisms to address international price discrimination, rather than attempting to introduce a legislative solution. The Panel notes the recommendations of the July 2013 report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications into IT pricing in Australia.

That Committee recommended the removal of restrictions on parallel imports, consistent with Draft Recommendation 9 of this Draft Report. In addition, the Committee made a number of recommendations (as set out in Box 16.4) that the Panel endorses in principle as a means of encouraging a market-based, consumer driven solution to concerns about international price discrimination, as well as a number of recommendations that could form part of the overarching review of intellectual property proposed at Draft Recommendation 7.

Curiously, we’re still waiting on a formal response from the Abbott Government on the existing Parliamentary Report into IT Pricing in Australia conducted under the previous Labor government. That “endorsement” of the recommendations may be the only acknowledgement and response we get.

Read the full report here.

[MIKA27]

Rockefellers to switch investments to 'clean energy'

Heirs to the Rockefeller family, which made its vast fortune from oil, are to sell investments in fossil fuels and reinvest in clean energy, reports say.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund is joining a coalition of philanthropists pledging to rid themselves of more than $50 bn (£31 bn) in fossil fuel assets.

The announcement will be made on Monday, a day before the UN climate change summit opens on Tuesday.

Some 650 individuals and 180 institutions have joined the coalition.

It is part of a growing global initiative called Global Divest-Invest, which began on university campuses several years ago, the New York Times reports.

Pledges from pension funds, religious groups and big universities have reportedly doubled since the start of 2014.

UN summit

Rockefeller Brothers Fund director Stephen Heintz said the move to divest from fossil fuels would be in line with oil tycoon John D Rockefeller's wishes,

"We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy," Mr Heintz said in a statement.

The last major conference on climate change, in Copenhagen in 2009, ended without results

The philanthropic organisation was founded in 1940 by the sons of John D Rockefeller. As of 31 July 2014, the fund's investment assets were worth $860 million.

"There is a moral imperative to preserve a healthy planet," Valerie Rockefeller Wayne, a great-great-granddaughter of Mr Rockefeller and a trustee of the fund, is quoted by the Washington Post as saying.

A climate change summit is due to start on Tuesday at the UN headquarters in New York, with 125 heads of state and government members expected to attend.

It is the first such gathering since the unsuccessful climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon hopes leaders can make progress on a universal climate agreement to be signed by all nations at the end of 2015.

On Sunday, hundreds of thousands of marchers took to the streets in more than 2,000 locations worldwide, demanding urgent action on climate change and calling for curbs on carbon emissions.

Business leaders, environmentalists and celebrities also joined the demonstrations, which were organised by The People's Climate March.

[MIKA27]

Greeks captivated by Alexander-era tomb at Amphipolis

Two sphinxes guard the entrance to the tomb at Amphipolis

The discovery of an enormous tomb in northern Greece, dating to the time of Alexander the Great of Macedonia, has enthused Greeks, distracting them from a dire economic crisis.

Who, they are asking, is buried within.

In early August, a team of Greek archaeologists led by Katerina Peristeri unearthed what officials say is the largest burial site ever to be discovered in the country. The mound is in ancient Amphipolis, a major city of the Macedonian kingdom, 100km (62 miles) east of Thessaloniki, Greece's second city.

The structure dates back to the late 4th Century BC and the wall surrounding it is 500m (1,600ft) in circumference, dwarfing the burial site of Alexander's father, Philip II, in Vergina, west of Thessaloniki.

"We are watching in awe and with deep emotion the excavation in Amphipolis," Greek Culture Minister Konstantinos Tasoulas told the BBC.

"This is a burial monument of unique dimensions and impressive artistic mastery. The most beautiful secrets are hidden right underneath our feet."

Ancient and modern guardians

The western caryatid’s face shown here is almost intact whereas the eastern caryatid’s face is missing

Inside the tomb, archaeologists discovered two magnificent caryatids. Each of the sculpted female figures has one arm outstretched, presumably to discourage intruders from entering the tomb's main chamber.

New photos released on 21 September revealed the 2.27m (7ft) height of the caryatids

The caryatids' modern counterparts are sitting in a police car, some 200m (650 feet) from the tomb's entrance.

The dig site is protected 24 hours a day by two police officers.

Their mission is to keep away the scores of journalists and tourists who arrive here by a winding dirt road from the nearby village of Mesolakkia.

An imposing no-entry traffic sign serves the same purpose.

Amphipolis site

• 437 BC Founded by Athenians near gold and silver mines of Pangaion hills
• 357 BC Conquered by Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great's father
• Under Alexander, served as major naval base, from which fleet sailed for Asia
• 1964 First official excavation began, led by Dimitris Lazaridis

The site is guarded around the clock to keep visitors away from the ancient tomb

But from a distance it is clear that major work is taking place

The excavation team has made no statement regarding the identity of the tomb's occupant.

But this has not prevented the media, archaeologists and laypersons alike from becoming embroiled in an often heated guessing game.

Archaeologists agree that the magnificence of the tomb means it was built for a prominent person - perhaps a member of Alexander's immediate family; maybe his mother, Olympias, or his wife, Roxana -or some noble Macedonian.

Others say it could be a cenotaph.

But only the excavation team can give definitive answers, and progress has been slow since the workers discovered a third chamber that is in danger of collapse.

A sketch of the tomb shows the two sphinxes at the front and the two caryatids guarding behind

Experts have not reached a verdict, but for the few hundred inhabitants of modern-day Amfipoli and Mesolakkia, the two villages closest to the burial site, there is no doubt: interred inside the marble-walled tomb unearthed near their homes is none other than Alexander the Great.

"Only Alexander merits such a monument," says farmer Antonis Papadopoulos, 61, as he enjoys his morning coffee with fellow villagers in a taverna opposite the Amfipoli archaeological museum.

"The magnitude and opulence of this tomb is unique. Common sense says he is the one buried inside."

Archaeologists and the Greek ministry of culture warn against such speculation, especially since Alexander the Great is known to have been buried in Egypt.

"We are naturally eager to learn the identity of the tomb's resident, but this will be revealed in due course by the excavators," Mr Tasoulas, the culture minister, says.

Alexander the Great

• Born 356 BC in Pella, son of Philip of Macedon and Olympias, educated by Aristotle
• Became king of ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon at age 20
• Military victories in Persian territories of Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt - "great king" of Persia at 25
• Founded 70 cities and empire as far east as the Indian Punjab
• Died 323 BC of fever in Babylon

The discovery, made after two years of digging, was announced during a visit to the site last month by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, who described it as "very important".

Since that announcement, Amfipoli and Mesolakkia have been teeming with people, who have disturbed the slow rhythms and tranquillity of village life.

Villagers at the cafe in Mesolakkia say they have been approached with offers to help sell their land

"Journalists and visitors suddenly started pouring in from all over Greece and abroad. We used to walk by the site every day, working the fields. We knew something was there, but we did not expect the magnitude of this discovery," says Athanasios Zournatzis, head of Mesolakkia's community.

A Belgian couple from Liege pass by and tell me they came to visit after reading about the tomb in the newspaper at home.

The discovery has given rise to a wave of Greek pride and patriotism, and has helped the nation put its economic predicament to one side - temporarily at least.

• Amfipoli resident Giorgos Bikos believes news of the tomb "has thrown Greeks a lifeline"
• Leading daily Kathimerini suggested people were naturally looking for good news amid a "constant barrage of doom and gloom"
• Culture Minister Mr Tasoulas says it is a reminder that Greece is the "cradle of an unsurpassed civilisation and a country that deserves, with this unique [cultural] capital and its present-day accomplishments, to claim its return to progress and prosperity"

The residents of Amfipoli and Mesolakkia are hoping this feel-good factor will last long enough to make their villages tourist attractions and give them a much-needed economic boost.

At Mesolakkia, the meeting point of visitors and journalists is a traditional kafenio, or cafe, with a dominating platanus tree providing protection from the warm September sun.

Mr Zournatzis says the villagers are "hoping they have won the lottery".

Father Konstantinos, a 92-year-old priest, says he is following developments and "shares the excitement".

Villagers say they have already been approached with offers to sell their land. Most could use the money, but they are holding off until archaeologists make an official announcement.

"Before the discovery, land here was worth close to nothing. But now no one is selling," says Mesolakkia resident Menia Kyriakou.

A group of six women drinking their morning coffee at a nearby table explain that following latest developments is not straightforward.

Balkan Studies graduate Eleni Tzimoka, who recently moved back to the village from Thessaloniki, says they are waiting at the cafe for the phone company to install an internet connection.

"We know the tomb story is big, but without access to the web, it is hard to keep up."

[MIKA27]

The Seething Anger of Putin's Russia

The standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine is a relatively recent development, but it is sickeningly familiar to anyone who grew up in the Cold War decades. It is, most of all, uniquely ominous: When nuclear-armed America and Russia quarrel, peace and life as we know it are threatened the world over. The risks of errors, miscalculations, unintended escalation, and culture-based misunderstandings loom large—especially when mutual trust has been shattered and little remains of a working relationship between Washington and Moscow.

Such risks are especially high right now. NATO and NATO-allied forces are conducting military exercises in western Ukraine, while Russian-backed separatists and Russian troops remain entrenched in that country’s east. Last Wednesday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned that “the situation in Ukraine has escalated sharply and the presence of foreign military has increased in the immediate vicinity of our borders,” while announcing the deployment of the first of six stealth submarines to its Black Sea fleet. This came just days after Russia’s successful submarine-based test launch of a Bulava ICBM—a long-range nuclear missile designed to hit targets in the United States. Russia’s $700-billion defense buildup, scheduled to be completed in 2020, continues unabated.

Ukraine isn’t the only potential hot spot. Earlier this month, a representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, addressing Russian residents of Riga, the capital of NATO member Latvia, announced, in words similar to those it has used to describe the situation in Ukraine, that as a result of “neo-Nazi sentiments ... whole segments of the Russian world ... face serious problems in securing their rights and lawful interests,” and warned that Russia “will not tolerate the creeping offensive against the Russian language” underway in the Baltics. In a speech several weeks ago in the Estonian capital of Tallinn, President Obama declared that “the defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris,” and that NATO forces, including those of the United States, would defend the Baltics if they were attacked. The prospect of Russia taking measures—which could include closing its airspace to Western countries—to retaliate against the latest round of Western sanctions against it now seems like the least of our problems. (Ironically, the West’s crisis with Russia, though deepening, may all be for naught: The Kremlin has successfully pressured Ukraine into delaying a key free-trade provision in a newly ratified association agreement with the EU and offering its rebellious eastern provinces three years of self-rule.)

We did not have to travel down this road, but we did, and there appears to be no way to turn back—or no way leaders in the West or Russia are prepared to take. Our newly precarious state of affairs derives, in great measure, from a failure on the part of Western, and mostly American, leaders to understand Russia, which they should have tried to do, given its strategic importance, nuclear arsenal, continental dimensions, natural resources, and potential as a troublemaker—or dealmaker—in many troubled parts of the world. It also stems from our refusal to recognize Russia’s concern about the eventual expansion of NATO, a military bloc inherently inimical to it, into more terrain along its western border—terrain that is closer to Moscow than the Baltics. How would the United States react to a Russian incursion in the Western hemisphere? This is no hypothetical question. In 1962, President Kennedy took the world to the brink of atomic war to force the Soviet Union to withdraw its nuclear missiles from Cuba.

A deal ended that confrontation, and one is needed now. But to strike one, Western leaders would have to reassess their view of, and policies toward, Russia. Russia, for reasons of history, culture, size, and geography, is what it is: not Western, not Eastern, but sui generis, its own world. Predicating policy on the hopes of a peaceful uprising and the triumph of democracy here—or, conversely, on predictions of the country’s collapse, with a new, West-friendly government emerging from the rubble—is futile. In the same vein, announcements of economic sanctions designed to make Russia “pay” for annexing Crimea or stirring up trouble in eastern Ukraine ring hollow to Russian ears.

And with good reason. Russians have spent the last hundred years surviving various apocalypses, many of their own making—the 1917 Bolshevik revolution and civil war (which included foreign, and American, intervention); famine, both man-made and natural; the Nazi invasion and the loss of at least 25 million souls; almost three decades of Stalinist despotism, with perhaps 20 million Soviets dispatched to the gulag, to say nothing of mass executions, the deportation of entire peoples, and ecological disasters. Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union, sudden widespread impoverishment, two separatist wars, and an Islamist insurgency in the Caucasus that involves terrorist attacks in Russian cities to this day. Put simply, in Russia the worst has already happened.

This uniquely calamitous past has inured Russians in very real ways to suffering, and certainly to worrying about suffering as a result of the “isolation” President Obama wishes to impose or the “economic pain” of sanctions, which have only solidified support for Vladimir Putin and his stance against the West, and especially against the United States. In any case, Russia has set about decoupling from the West, concluding a major hydrocarbons deal with China, helping Iran weather the effects of Western sanctions, planning its own alternative to the interbank messaging service SWIFT, and establishing financial institutions to counter the World Bank and the IMF. It could at any moment derail the United States’ withdrawal from Afghanistan; the route home for American troops and materiel leads across Russia. Moscow cannot be bullied into changing course.

If one assumes that Putin seized Crimea and has fomented war in Ukraine’s east to keep NATO out, then an accommodation with Russia based on now-unfashionable principles of realpolitik offers the only chance of a (reasonably) stable peace. The U.S. and NATO could offer neutrality for Ukraine—that is, pledge in writing not to invite it to join the alliance, and prevail upon Ukraine’s leadership, which is now entirely dependent on Western largesse for its survival, to withdraw the bill Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is ushering through parliament that would annul the country’s non-bloc status. If Western leaders did this now, they might be able to forestall the worst-case scenario: Putin seeking to replicate the seizure of Crimea elsewhere—say, in the Baltics—where Russian-speaking populations exist outside Russia’s borders. It’s still not clear that this is what he is set on doing. But if he believes he has nothing to gain by cooperating with the West, he may try to oppose it by expanding Russia’s control over former Soviet territory.

We embark on this road to confrontation without sure, seasoned hands at the wheel in the White House; in modern history, no U.S. administration has proved more inept at dealing with Russia. This ineptitude, combined with the relative weakness of Russia’s conventional armed forces, a still-lethal nuclear arsenal, a military doctrine that foresees the use of battlefield nuclear weapons to de-escalate conflicts, to say nothing of a wounded psyche, make this a perilous moment in history. We are being marched off to a new war—a cold one for now—with no idea of what the outcome will be. We need to demand of the Obama administration: “Tell us how this ends.”

Bill Clinton plays a saxophone given to him by Russian President Boris Yeltsin (center) in 1994, three years before NATO expansion set their relationship on edge.

The crisis has been long in coming. When Russia was weakest, in the mid-1990s, NATO chose to announce plans for eastward expansion, in violation of a gentleman’s agreement that Mikhail Gorbachev had struck with the first Bush administration. Boris Yeltsin objected angrily to NATO’s reneging, but to no avail. The first round of enlargement came in 1997 and included the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary. Three subsequent rounds inducted other Eastern European countries, including the Baltics in 2004. Ukraine and Georgia, though denied invitations to initiate membership proceedings in 2008, were assured that they would eventually be allowed to join.

No matter how often Western leaders and NATO voiced benign intentions toward Russia, they persuaded no one here. The four-letter acronym standing for the world’s mightiest military alliance sounds to Russian ears about as harmless as “Warsaw Pact” once did to ours. The Bush administration’s 2002 abrogation of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty—the 1972 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union severely limiting the deployment of missile-defense systems in both countries—combined with its plans to build such installations in Eastern Europe, stoked the fire. The East-West “armed bloc” mentality that had supposedly died with the Cold War, in favor of a “Europe Whole and Free,” was alive and well.

Thus, the Russia-U.S. partnership destined to last, said Yeltsin in 1995, not “for one year ... [but] for a millennium,” began breaking down just a few years after its inception. This was predictable, and predicted. In 1998, the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman spoke to George Kennan, who authored the containment policy that guided U.S. relations with the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and got his take on NATO’s enlargement. It deserves to be quoted at length:

"I think [NATO’s expansion] is the beginning of a new cold war," said Mr. Kennan from his Princeton home. "I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. This expansion would make the Founding Fathers of this country turn over in their graves. We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way. [NATO expansion] was simply a light-hearted action by a Senate that has no real interest in foreign affairs." ...

"I was particularly bothered by the references to Russia as a country dying to attack Western Europe. Don’t people understand? Our differences in the cold war were with the Soviet Communist regime. And now we are turning our backs on the very people who mounted the greatest bloodless revolution in history to remove that Soviet regime.”

NATO’s expansion, Kennan said, “shows so little understanding of Russian history and Soviet history. Of course there is going to be a bad reaction from Russia, and then [the NATO expanders] will say that we always told you that is how the Russians are—but this is just wrong.”

Kennan also predicted that the alliance’s enlargement would result in a “new cold war, probably ending in a hot one” and the death of democracy in Russia. There is no more succinct a diagnosis of what happened than his.

But there is something to add. While Western leaders have long held that great-power politics belongs to the past, Russians have seen proof of the opposite—and of the West’s hypocrisy. During the Yeltsin years, they watched Western disdain for their country’s interests increase. The popular perception was, “The West, and especially America, is taking advantage of our weakness and advancing on us with NATO.” The 1999 NATO intervention over Kosovo in Yugoslavia, with which Russia shares a religion and Slavic ancestry, provoked long-lasting anger. During the Soviet decades, NATO would not have launched an unprovoked 78-day bombing campaign on the border of Warsaw Pact countries. In more recent years, Russians watched the United States invade Afghanistan and Iraq, torture detainees, drone suspected terrorists, spy on its population and allies (as revealed by Edward Snowden), favor the super-wealthy in Supreme Court rulings, and suffer a seemingly endless series of mass shootings that would be unimaginable in Russia or almost anywhere else. 'Who are the Americans to lecture us?' they asked. The West’s moral authority, always shaky here, disappeared. For many Russians, the conflict over Ukraine has been nothing more than a base, old-fashioned power struggle between two morally equivalent, equally self-interested blocs.

While Putin is undeniably popular in Russia now, I am not arguing that Russian democracy has survived. It has not. But Putin’s icy demeanor, agate-blue eyes, and judo-trained physique all befit the current mood in Russia: seething anger over everything lost with the fall of the Soviet Union—superpower status, national pride, a generous social-welfare state, a low crime rate, and more. Democracy, barely tried in the 1990s, did not confer those things on Russia. Putin—plus high oil prices—did. Or such is the popular perception.

Whether or not we Westerners agree with how Putin rose to power or rules today, we need to recognize that in the interests of peace and stability, Russia’s interests have to count and be accommodated in some way. Russia must have a place at the table. We did not exclude it (entirely) during the Cold War years. We cannot afford to do so now.

But will we change course? The NATO summit in Wales has set in motion moves to create a rapid-reaction “spearhead” force that, though of little real import, will further convince Russia of the threat posed by the bloc. The logic of escalation moves in only one direction: up.

[MIKA27]

BUMMER & LAZARUS GIN BY RAFF DISTILLERIE

The Raff Distillerie is a fantastic little liquor factory on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, it’s unique in the burgeoning world of micro distilleries in that all of the stills were hand built by the same guy who makes the spirits – a quietly talented Master Distiller and 5th generation San Franciscan by the name of Carter Raff.

Carter’s Bummer & Lazarus Gin starts life as an artisanal brandy made from Californian grapes, it’s then distilled again with juniper berries, angelica root, lemon peel, coriander seed, cinnamon bark, orris root, bitter orange peel and liquorice root. It’s a finely balanced gin with hints of citrus and juniper, it’s 92 proof and can be ordered here via Caskers.

Visit Raff Distillerie here.

[MIKA27]

GROVEMADE WALNUT IPHONE 6 CASES

Now that Apple’s iPhone 6 has finally hit the retail market (selling an astounding 10 million units in its first weekend alone), it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to protect that beauty. Our friends at Grovemade have the perfect solution in their new series of Walnut iPhone 6 protective cases.

We think cases are nearly essentially to all smartphones (you want to protect your investment), but it’s hard to find cases that won’t ruin the aesthetic appeal of the device. Grovemade does a fine job with their Walnut cases. The collection includes the Walnut & Leather iPhone Case ($129), the Walnut iPhone Case ($89), and the more minimalistic Walnut iPhone Bumper ($49). All 3 options are handcrafted from Oregon-sourced Claro Walnut, while the more comprehensive Walnut & Leather Case has been outfitted with premium vegetable tanned leather. Each case from the collection is also available in Eastern Hardrock Maple, and will become available during this fall season. GROVEMADE

[MIKA27]

BMW 328 HOMMAGE

The BMW 328 is one of the most beloved vehicles of all time, and to celebrate the model’s 75th birthday a few years ago (2011), the luxury auto maker unveiled the BMW 328 Hommage.

The one-off sports car was designed and built to mirror the aesthetic appeal of the original 328. The 2-seater utilizes a carbon fiber reinforced plastic constructed, which helps keep the curb weight at an ultralight 1,720 pounds. The Hommage is equipped with a 3.0-liter six-cylinder engine, and while exact power numbers are unknown, we’d be willing to bet this thing is fully capable on the track. As far as aesthetics are concerned, the vehicle sports circular headlamps, a lung shaped double vertical grill, and leather straps used to keep the hood closed. The windshield has been divided into two, and it’s also worth noting that there are no doors on either side of the Hommage.

[MIKA27]

OMEGA SEAMASTER AQUA TERRA GOLDFINGER WATCH

James Bond has famously worn a Seamaster on many of his adventures, andGoldfinger happens to be among the best of them.

Created to celebrate the film's 50th anniversary, the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra Goldfinger Watch does so in spectacular fashion.

This one-of-a-kind timepiece features a 38.5mm yellow gold case, a matching 18K yellow gold bracelet, a Co-Axial calibre 8501 movement with 18K yellow gold rotor and bridge, visible through the transparent crystal caseback, and a dial and hands made from — you guessed it — 18K yellow gold, with a 007 counterweight on the seconds hand. In other words, it's a perfect way to honor this iconic film.

[MIKA27]

Watch This Madman Fix The iPhone 6's Biggest Design Flaw With A Grinder

The industrial design of the iPhone 6 is close to flawless… except for one flaw so weird, so major, that it’s maddening: The fact that the camera protrudes from the body of the phone, meaning it never lies completely flat and gets caught on all kinds of stuff. The perfectionists at PeripateticPandas have a solution, and it involves industrial machinery.

This video, pointed out by Ambruso on Twitter, begins as a charmingly perfect impersonation of Jony Ive’s distinctive vocal cadence (“seamlessly integrating… a gorgeous display… into an aluminium body”) and quickly spirals out of control into a nightmarish revenge fantasy against the Apple design team that decided this particular detail was OK.

Against the backdrop of Budapest’s parliament, for some reason, a figure in a full-body suit and mask grinds down the camera until it’s perfectly flush with the body. Finally.

MIKA: Seriously I don't get it with people.... Drop testing mobiles, freezing in liquid nitrogen, now grinding!? None of these are normal uses for a mobile so why should it matter? If you don't like Android, don't buy it, if you don't like Apple, don't buy it either. Just released mobile and ruining it.

[MIKA27]

Is This The Most Ridiculous Scientific Discovery Of All Time?

This is Gary Dryfoos demonstrating one of the 2014 Ig Noble prizes: Use bacon “to stop uncontrollable, life-threatening nosebleeds”. Seriously, it’s a real research paper and it has already saved lives. Watch the ceremony to see the most ridiculous — but sometimes crucial and enlightening — scientific research of 2014.

Here’s a list, linking to the original peer-reviewed research papers:

• Bacon to stop uncontrollable nosebleeds (it works.)
• Calculation of the friction coefficient under a banana peel (bananas can kill Godzilla.)
• The dangers of having cats for your mental health (crazy cat lady is not a myth.)
• Dogs are sensitive to the variations on Earth’s magnetic fields
• How reindeers react to polar bears (the scientists actually dressed as polar bears to try this.)
• How to use bacteria from baby poop to cure meat
• Economy Ig Nobel went to Italy and how they included prostitution, illegal drug sales, contraband and other illegal transactions to increase their GDP

The Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded by the Annals of Improbable Research magazine last Thursday at Harvard University, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[MIKA27]

Everything You Need To Know About NASA's New Mars Orbiter

It took just ten months for NASA’s water-seeking satellite to traverse the 711 million kilometres between Earth and Mars. And, now that it has successfully entered stable orbit around the red planet, it’s time to get to work figuring out where the heck all that water went.

The MAVEN spacecraft won’t pound the soil with ground penetrating radar in search of Dihydrogen Monoxide but rather observe the planet’s thin upper atmosphere for clues. According to a NASA press release published last Wednesday, remotely inserting a satellite into orbit from more than 400 million miles away was not quite as simple as it sounds:

The orbit-insertion manoeuvre will begin with the brief firing of six small thruster engines to steady the spacecraft. The engines will ignite and burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be pulled into an elliptical orbit with a period of 35 hours.

Over the next six weeks, the MAVEN will finalise its orbit, unfurl its instruments, and boot up its analysers ahead of a year-long mission to study the composition and structure of our sister planet’s atmosphere. [NASA]

[MIKA27]

Here's A Guy Bending An iPhone 6 Plus With His Bare Hands

Earlier today, we started hearing reports that a small sampling of iPhone 6 Plus owners have experienced a slight bend to their phone after putting the device in their front pockets. And now, here’s what appears to be video proof that — yep, this smartphone sure can bend. Although it sure takes some effort.

Lou from Unbox Therapy puts the rumours to the test with his bare hands, and though it clearly takes quite a bit of force, he is able to give that handset one hell of an angle. The glass hangs in there, though, so it’s still functional. And while it’s clearly not something that will happen with normal use, the fact that it could happen at all is a bit concerning.

[MIKA27]

US Navy Launches Tomahawk Missiles Against ISIS In Syria

The attack against ISIS in Syria has begun, according to the Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby: “US military & partner nation forces have begun striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles.” The US Navy has released these videos to prove it.

Here are some F-18 and Growlers launching from the USS George H.W. Bush:

[MIKA27]

Cyclist Miraculously Escapes Death In Spectacular Traffic Accident

This Russian cyclist miraculously escaped death when he got involved in what could have been a terrible traffic accident. Luckily no one got hurt, but I couldn’t help but to gasp when I saw the debris, resulting from the collision between the car and the truck, passing inches away from him.

MIKA: I'm assuming the driver of the truck who failed to give way was the one on top of the truck toward the end surrounded by that mob of people?

[MIKA27]

Bombay's Crazy New Distillery Looks Like It Was Inspired By Its Bottles

This is a new glass house on the grounds of the new Bombay Sapphire complex in Hampshire, England, opening this week. The Thomas Heatherwick designed-building almost looks like one of the company’s iconic blue bottles of booze. Gin and tonic, anyone?

Aside from looking very cool and very gin-like, the structure has some sustainable qualities — it’s heated using warm air made during distillation. And plants that are used to flavour the hooch are grown inside the greenhouse. The modern structure sits among a larger complex of Victorian-era buildings, once home to a paper mill that made English currency. Now Heatherwick — known for designing such projects as the 2012 Olympic Cauldron and the UK Pavilion at Shanghai 2010 Expo — has created a lovely mix of old and new. Many of the old buildings sat in disrepair until Bacardi (Bombay’s parent company) bought the property and commissioned Heatherwick to update the old buildings and add the new one.

And the result is this beautiful glass house, distillery, and surrounding structures, which all together make Bombay Sapphire’s new home. Now when’s happy hour?

[MIKA27]

How Sigmund Freud Wanted to Die

Anecdotes from his doctors reveal that the famed psychoanalyst's request has echoes in today's assisted-suicide debate.

In 1956, Dr. Felix Deutsch was invited to Boston to address the American Psychosomatic Society and offer reflections on Sigmund Freud’s 100th birthday. He asked the assembly to consider the following question: “How much and when shall a patient be told about his condition, about the nature of his illness and the threat to his life he has to face?” Deutsch then described how in April 1923, his 67-year-old patient said to him, “Be prepared to see something that you will not like.” Standing at the podium, the doctor recounted what happened after he looked into Freud’s mouth.

“At the very first glance,” Deutsch told his attentive audience, “I had no doubt that it was an advanced cancer. To gain time I took a second look and decided to call it a bad case of leukoplakia, due to excessive smoking.”

It wasn’t leukoplakia, a pre-cancerous condition. Deutsch knew immediately that it was an epithelioma, a more dire, malignant cancer. Thirty-three years later, he addressed his colleagues and tried to convince them why he had prevaricated.

Deutsch began by explaining how physicians of his era feared doing more harm than good by using the dreaded word, cancer, and that concealment of a “bad” diagnosis was commonplace. At the time, physicians made unilateral decisions as to how much they would disclose and what course of treatment to provide.

Deutsch correctly identified the type of cancer, but he incorrectly sized up the man. He had recently witnessed Freud’s intense grief following the death of a beloved six-year-old grandson from tuberculosis, and he told his audience that he feared the truth might give Freud a heart attack.

Freud had also previously inquired about Deutsch’s willingness to help him if he was suffering to “disappear from this world with decency.” Freud was an admirer of the philosopher-physicist, Joseph Popper-Lynkeus, and Deutsch read to his Boston audience a few sentences from a Lynkeus book, The Duty to Live and the Right to Die: “The knowledge of always being free to determine when or whether to give up one's life inspires me with the feeling of a new power and gives me a composure comparable to the consciousness of the soldier on the battlefield …”

The physician blundered further when he involved six of Freud’s closest intimates in a conspiracy of silence. The men had assembled at Freud’s home to confer about psychoanalytic matters and Deutsch confided the diagnosis to them. In a letter, one of them, Ernest Jones, wrote, “The chief news is that F. has a real cancer, slowly growing and may last years. He doesn’t know. [it] is a most deadly secret.”

Deutsch concluded his speech to the American Psychosomatic Society by saying, “I believe it paid not to have told him the diagnosis ‘cancer’.” He then grudgingly admitted, “Freud, however, did not share this opinion when we talked about it in later years.”

Helene Deutsch recounts in a memoir that her husband came home following Freud’s first surgery and remained alone in his study until 4 o’clock in the morning, when he finally emerged to speak with her. She wrote, “Felix resigned from his position as Freud’s personal physician with the explanation that a doctor’s most important possession is the full confidence of his patients and that he had obviously lost Freud’s ... Freud was angry because he believed my husband had underestimated his strength.”

Later, when Jones finally confessed to Freud that their small group had discussed the cancer with Deutsch and agreed to not disclose the diagnosis, an enraged Freud demanded, “Mit welchem Recht?”—“With what right?”

It was not until 1969 that Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross would write about the harm done to patients with cancer by healthcare professionals who do not honestly address the severity of the disease. Patients often know the extent of their health and whether or not they are dying, she wrote. Kubler-Ross made her observations at a moment in which American society began to reject the paternalism of previous generations and to question false reassurances by medical authorities. Freud had arrived at these same conclusions decades earlier. After Deutsch’s firing/resignation, the news was rapidly broadcast among Freud’s intimates that the professor needed a new doctor.

In 1926, a young internist named Max Schur began providing medical care to Princess Marie Bonaparte, who had come to Vienna to be analyzed by Freud. The princess later suggested that Schur would be an excellent replacement for Deutsch. Afterwards, Schur wrote in considerable detail about his interview with Freud.

During that meeting, Freud informed the young internist (40 years his junior) about two elements of the doctor‑patient relationship that he considered essential. The first was that they always tell each other the truth. The second was “that when the time comes, you won't let me suffer unnecessarily.” Schur readily agreed to these conditions.

Over the next few years, Schur supervised Freud’s medical treatment and arranged his various surgeries. Schur and his patient spoke often about the international financial depression and the rise of Nazism in Germany. Freud was aghast to see what was happening to “the home of Goethe and Kant.” Shortly after Hitler came to power in March 1933, all Jewish analysts, including Freud’s sons, had to flee Germany or face extermination. Austrians began to worry that the Nazis would take over their country, too.

On May 6, Freud’s birthday, Schur came for a house call. Schur’s wife, Helen, was pregnant and uncomfortably overdue with their first child. Freud urged him to hasten back home, and remarked, “You are going from a man who doesn’t want to leave the world to a child who doesn’t want to come into it.” Three days later, Peter Schur was born, and Freud gave the parents a gift of several gold Austrian coins.

On May 10, the newspapers reported widespread burning of Freud’s works by crowds of Nazi sympathizers. As books were fed into fiery pyres the mob loudly chanted, “Against the soul-destroying overestimation of the sex life─and on behalf of the nobility of the human soul, we offer the flames the writings of Sigmund Freud.”

Freud’s cancer remained relatively stable until 1936 when new malignant tumors spread on his palate and required aggressive surgery. 1937 was punctuated by more cancer and further procedures. In 1938, Freud’s surgeon determined that part of the carcinoma was now inaccessible.

In February 1938, Hitler issued an ultimatum to the Austrian chancellor to capitulate or be invaded. Schur went to the U.S. embassy and applied for a visa, and he urged Freud to leave the country immediately. Freud ignored his advice, and on March 11 the German army invaded and rapidly annexed Austria. Nazi flags fluttered in front of many residential homes. Thugs clad in brown shirts and marauding hooligans wearing swastika armbands assaulted Jewish stores, synagogues, and homes, and there ensued a wave of attacks and murders. This was followed by a virtual epidemic of suicides, and during the spring, some 500 Austrian Jews killed themselves in order to avoid further humiliation and assaults.

Shortly following the Nazi occupation of Austria, Anna Freud asked her father, “Wouldn’t it be better if we all killed ourselves?”

Freud replied, “Why? Because they would like us to?”

Anna feared that she and her brother, Martin, would be arrested. The two younger Freuds quietly met with Schur, who gave them a sufficient amount of a barbiturate to be able to choose suicide over torture or internment in a concentration camp. He promised them that he would take care of their father as long as he could.

The Gestapo believed psychoanalysis was part of a Marxist leftist and Jewish conspiracy, and that Freud and his family were potential ringleaders. The Gestapo searched Freud’s home twice and on the last visit insisted that Anna accompany them to their headquarters. She was escorted outside to a big black touring car that had two heavily armed officers in front and two in the back. Martin recalled, “Far from showing fear, or even much interest, she sat in the car as a woman might sit in a taxi on her way to enjoy a shopping expedition.” Concealed amidst her clothing was the barbiturate obtained from Schur.

The Gestapo drove away with Anna at noon. Seven “endless” hours later, she returned, shaken, but unharmed. Schur was with Freud throughout that terrifying time; the two men talked and paced around the house while Freud smoked cigar after cigar. When Anna safely walked into the house, he wept and declared they must all flee Vienna.

Following Anna’s release from Gestapo headquarters, Freud prepared a list for the British Consul in Vienna of the 16 people, including four members of the Schur family, that he wanted to accompany him to England. Through the combined efforts of Ernest Jones, Marie Bonaparte, and others, they were able to arrange exit visas and permit papers, and the group was permitted to travel to London.

The British government allowed Schur to act as Freud’s physician even before he passed the required national medical examinations. In February 1939, Schur discovered another malignant lesion and deemed it inoperable. Freud started radiation therapy.

Although Freud continued to see a few analytic patients, his condition markedly deteriorated, and Schur moved into his home. Freud adored his pet dog, a chow named Lün, but now the smell of necrotic bone from his jaw was so repulsive that the animal howled and refused to stay in the same room as the master. During the final six months, Anna attended her father constantly, and she woke several times each night to apply a local anesthetic. He was confined to bed and entirely dependent on her care.

Over a span of 16 years, Freud had undergone 30-some operations and several courses of radiation therapy. During much of this time, Freud was reduced to wearing a hideous, denture-like prosthesis to keep his oral and nasal cavities separated, and this device prevented him from eating and speaking normally. Following the first series of surgeries in 1923, he became deaf in his right ear and shifted his analytic couch from one wall to the other so that he could listen with his left ear. Nevertheless, he continued to see patients. In London, he had four patients in treatment, and he only disbanded his clinical practice two months before his death. During the final days, Freud requested that his bed be brought down to the study so that he could be near his books, desk, and beloved collection of antiquities.

On September 21, according to Schur’s first-person account, Freud reached out, grasped him by the hand, and said, “My dear Schur, you certainly remember our first talk. You promised me then not to forsake me when my time comes. Now it's nothing but torture and makes no sense any more.”

Schur said he had not forgotten. He wrote that Freud “sighed with relief, held my hand for a moment longer, and said ‘I thank you,' and after a moment of hesitation he added: ‘Tell Anna about this.' All this was said without a trace of emotionality or self‑pity, and with full consciousness of reality.”

Schur continued, “I informed Anna of our conversation, as Freud had asked.” She reluctantly agreed, thankful her father had remained lucid and able to make this final decision.

Schur wrote, “When he was again in agony, I gave him a hypodermic of two centigrams of morphine [approximately 15 to 25 mg]. He soon felt relief and fell into a peaceful sleep. The expression of pain and suffering was gone. I repeated this dose after about 12 hours. Freud was obviously so close to the end of his reserves that he lapsed into a coma and did not wake up again.”

Freud quietly died at three in the morning of September 23, 1939, 75 years ago. Three days later, his body was cremated. Freud’s ashes were placed in an ancient Greek urn that had been a gift from Marie Bonaparte. Freud bequeathed to Schur his pocket watch, which in turn was passed along to Schur’s children and their children in perpetuity.

The world that Sigmund Freud left behind became increasingly tumultuous as the German blitzkrieg tore through Europe, and both of Freud’s doctors immigrated to America. Max and Helene Deutsch settled in Massachusetts and became faculty members and training analysts at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. Felix Deutsch died in 1964.

Max Schur and his family booked passage on the S.S. President Harding for New York City, where he reestablished a private internal medicine practice. A cardiologist, Dr. Steven Wittenberg, describes Schur as being, “an avuncular figure, who not only cared about his patients’ health but also offered them and their families a remarkable degree of emotional support and counseling.” Schur and his wife became training analysts at the New York Psychoanalytic Society and faculty members at the State University of New York’s Downstate psychoanalytic program in Brooklyn. He developed a cardiac condition, but refused to be hospitalized and died in his home in 1969.

His son, Dr. Peter Schur, is now 81 years old, a Harvard Medical School professor of medicine and senior physician in medicine and rheumatology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital. “Euthanasia,” he explains, “was not uncommon, but nobody talked about it.” In a recent interview, Peter Schur said he was proud of his father’s treatment of Freud and believes, “You should give patients the opportunity to explain just how they want to die.”

[MIKA27]

HARD GRAFT IPHONE 6 CASES

It didn’t take long for the London-based designers at Hard Graft to release a collection of cases for the new Apple iPhone 6. And as we’ve come to expect from the brand, this collection does not disappoint.

Hard Graft has built a solid reputation by crafting simple, elegant, high quality luggage and accessories, so why would this collection be any different? The brand created several different cases/wallets to protect your new Apple device, all of which are constructed from premium vegetable tanned Italian leather alongside 100% premium wool felt – a combination we have become all too familiar with from Hard Graft. There’s both upright and side configurations in the collection, and many options offer users extra storage for storing both cash and cards. Whether you picked up the iPhone 6 or opted for the larger iPhone 6 Plus, Hard Graft has you covered. [Purchase]

[tmac77]

US Navy Launches Tomahawk Missiles Against ISIS In Syria

The attack against ISIS in Syria has begun, according to the Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby: “US military & partner nation forces have begun striking ISIL targets in Syria using mix of fighters, bombers and Tomahawk missiles.” The US Navy has released these videos to prove it.

Here are some F-18 and Growlers launching from the USS George H.W. Bush:

I can never get tired of watching these type of videos.

[MIKA27]

HMM MUGR ADDS A WOOD HANDLE TO YOUR COFFEE MUG

Coffee mugs come in plenty of different shapes and sizes, but we’re all generally most familiar with the standard ceramic mug. It comes in a lot of different colors. It comes with a lot of different logos plastered on the side. Those elements might change from mug to mug, but the comfortable, familiar handle generally remains the same.

The MUGr from HMM might be one of the coolest ceramic mugs we’ve seen. MUGr starts with black, Japanese ceramic that’s slightly tapered instead of straight up like a normal mug, and then HMM adds something special in the form of a walnut wood handle. The “r” shape of the handle makes it easier to hold, and also easily stackable so you can reclaim valuable cabinet space. MUGr

[polarbear]

Here's A Guy Bending An iPhone 6 Plus With His Bare Hands

Earlier today, we started hearing reports that a small sampling of iPhone 6 Plus owners have experienced a slight bend to their phone after putting the device in their front pockets. And now, here’s what appears to be video proof that — yep, this smartphone sure can bend. Although it sure takes some effort.

Lou from Unbox Therapy puts the rumours to the test with his bare hands, and though it clearly takes quite a bit of force, he is able to give that handset one hell of an angle. The glass hangs in there, though, so it’s still functional. And while it’s clearly not something that will happen with normal use, the fact that it could happen at all is a bit concerning.

Finally, the new iPhone can do something that Android phones haven't already been doing for years

[MIKA27]

BASEMENT STORAGE ROOM TRANSFORMED INTO CABIN MAN CAVE

Sometimes, a man just needs a place of his own to go hide from the outside world, enjoy a beer and be in the company of stereotypically manly s**t like guns, cigars, taxidermy and a whole lot of wood. Redditor kelhans, a father of seven, transformed an unused storage room in his basement to his own personal man cave / paradise. The results are beautiful, but the entire transformation is even more fantastic because he did it all for around $100. The only unfortunate thing about this entire project is that we can’t pay him to come do this to all the rooms in our place.

[MIKA27]

Witchcraft, Nazi Spies and Unsolved Murder

They found the woman’s body jammed inside a tree. As Nazi bombs rained down on wartime Britain, her death might have been passed off as just another statistic. Instead, it became one of the most intriguing mysteries of the war. It was murder, but the victim was never identified. There were hints she had been an enemy agent, and that the authorities knew more than they let on. There were ritual aspects to the murder strongly suggestive of witchcraft and the occult. Finally there were the anonymous graffiti messages, popping up everywhere, asking the question that remains unanswered to this day: “Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?”

It started in April 1943. A decomposed human body – by this time little more than a skeleton – was found inside a hollow tree trunk in Hagley Wood, about ten miles from the industrial city of Birmingham in the English midlands. Tattered fragments of clothing and a cheap, imitation gold ring indicated the victim had been a woman. The skeleton was complete except for one thing: The woman’s severed right hand was found 40 feet away.

A wad of fabric had been stuffed inside the victim’s mouth, and the pathologist concluded she had died from asphyxiation. He estimated her age as 35, and the time of death as approximately 18 months prior to the discovery of the body – October 1941. The police scoured missing person reports from all over the country, but without success. They failed to identify her from dental records, and no labels were found on any of the clothing. The woman’s identity remained a total mystery.

The Wych Elm and the body (images from 1943)

There may be a clue in the date of the murder. In October 1941, early in the Second World War, German bombers regularly targeted industrial sites around Birmingham. There was a constant threat of invasion, and people were always on the lookout for Nazi parachutists. A Home Guard soldier remembered finding a parachute near Hagley Wood some time in the fall of 1941, and seeing a suspicious-looking car parked in the woods near where the parachute had come down. In 1953, a local newspaper received an anonymous letter claiming the murder victim was a Dutch woman who had been working as a Nazi agent. Allegedly she was part of a spy ring that acted as forward air controllers for German aircraft, signalling their way to prime industrial targets using flashlights.

There is evidence the story was taken seriously by MI5, but nothing to suggest any official action was taken – except perhaps a cover-up of the truth. The skeleton, with its potentially valuable forensic evidence, disappeared under mysterious circumstances. After the autopsy the pathologist sent the remains to Birmingham University for safe-keeping, but there is no record the university ever received them. The police have doggedly refused to allow private investigators or journalists access to the case files.

One of the strangest twists in the case came in December 1943, eight months after the discovery of the body. An anonymous graffiti artist scrawled a cryptic message on the wall of a building on Upper Dean Street in central Birmingham: “Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?” Over the following weeks and months, similar messages appeared all over the area – most famously on the plinth of the Wychbury obelisk, just half a mile from where the body was found. By then, the spelling had been subtly and spookily altered – “Wych Elm” had become “Witch Elm”.

The graffiti is remarkable in that it gives the previously unidentified victim a name – Bella. The name was commonly associated with witches, as a shortened form of Belladonna. The body really was found in a Wych Elm – a tree that also has associations with witchcraft, even though the word “wych” derives historically from “wicker” rather than “witch”.

In pagan traditions, the sound of a word is as important as its original meaning. “Wych Elm” conjures up images of witchcraft, just as “Wychbury” does. “Bella” echoes belladonna, and “Hagley” echoes hag. Indeed, Hagley Wood had strong associations with paganism and witchcraft, and it’s reputed that Witches’ Sabbaths were regularly held there before the war.

The connection with witchcraft and the occult was strengthened when Margaret Murray became involved in the case. A retired professor from University College, London, she was one of the first academics to study witchcraft as a serious religious tradition, in contrast to the ignorant image of “Devil Worship” prevalent at the time. She put forward the theory that Bella’s death had been some form of ritual sacrifice, as evidenced by the symbolic disposal of the body in a “witch tree” and the removal of the body’s right hand.

Murray identified this as the “hand of glory” – a powerful ritual object described in the 17th century Compendium Maleficarum.

The “witchcraft theory” explains certain facts that remain puzzling in the “Nazi spy theory”, such as the severed hand and the body’s placement in a tree. On the other hand, why was the woman never identified, and why were the authorities so secretive about what they knew of the case? These facts point more towards the spy theory than witchcraft.

My own view is that BOTH theories are correct. Contrary to centuries of prejudice and superstition, witches are not evil people. They are on the side of good, but they go about it using their own methods and traditions. The Nazis, on the other hand, really were evil. What if a coven of witches discovered that a Nazi spy was lurking in their midst? Might they not have dealt with the problem in their own way… by putting Bella in the Wych Elm?