New ‘Last Supper’ theory left crashed Web sites

MILAN, Italy - A new theory that Leonardo’s “Last Supper” might hide within it a depiction of Christ blessing the bread and wine has triggered so much interest that Web sites connected to the picture have crashed.

The famous fresco is already the focus of mythical speculation after author Dan Brown based his “The Da Vinci Code” book around the painting, arguing in the novel that Jesus married his follower, Mary Magdelene, and fathered a child.

image taken from wikipedia

Now Slavisa Pesci, an information technologist and amateur scholar, says superimposing the “Last Supper” with its mirror-image throws up another picture containing a figure who looks like a Templar knight and another holding a small baby.

“I came across it by accident, from some of the details you can infer that we are not talking about chance but about a precise calculation,” Pesci told journalists when he unveiled the theory earlier this week.

Web sites www.leonardodavinci.tv, www.codicedavinci.tv, www.cenacolo.biz and www.leonardo2007.com had 15 million hits on Thursday morning alone, organizers said, adding they were trying to provide a more powerful server for the sites.

full story at: MSNBC

Two Helicopters Collide Over Phoenix

Friday July 27, 2007 10:31 PM
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - Two news helicopters collided and crashed Friday while covering a police chase on live television, killing four people on board. Both helicopters went down in a park in central Phoenix and caught fire. No one on the ground was hurt.

TV viewers did not actually witness the accident because cameras aboard both aircraft were pointed at the ground. But they saw images from one of the helicopters break up and begin to spin before the station abruptly switched to the studio.

Television station KNXV reported that it owned one of the choppers. The other was from KTVK. A pilot and photographer aboard each chopper were killed.

Within a minute, other stations with helicopters in the area began reporting news of the crash.

KNXV reporter Craig Smith, who was among the dead, was reporting live as police chased a man driving a construction truck who had fled a traffic stop and was driving erratically, hitting several cars and driving on the sidewalk at times.

Police had blown the truck's tires, and the man eventually parked it, then carjacked another vehicle nearby.

As police closed in, Smith said, ``Oh geez!''

After the picture broke up, the station switched to the studio and then briefly showed regular programming, a soap opera, before announcing that the helicopter had crashed.

Read full story at: Guardian

Explosion at Mojave Airport Kills 2

Associated Press 07.26.07, 8:58 PM ET
MOJAVE, Calif. -







An explosion killed two people and critically injured four others at a Mojave Desert airport site used by the pioneering aerospace company that sent the first private manned rocket into space, authorities said.

The blast at a Mojave Air and Space Port facility belonging to Scaled Composites LLC also left some toxic material, said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston.

Scaled is the Mojave-based builder of SpaceShipOne, the first private manned rocket to reach space, and is developing a successor for the new space tourism business Virgin Galactic.

Aerospace designer Burt Rutan, who heads Scaled, told The Associated Press he had no information and was heading to the scene.

Video news helicopters showed wrecked equipment and vehicles at the airport in the high desert north of Los Angeles near Edwards Air Force Base. The blast site was in a remote unpaved section of the airport.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, said Tony Diffenbaugh, an inspector with the fire department.

Kern County fire crews and bomb experts were headed to the scene, where there was concern that airport personnel could be exposed to hazardous materials, said sheriff's Deputy Vince Martinez.

Read Full News at: Forbes.com

Cause Found for Dallas Explosion

The explosions at a natural gas company sent columns of fire high into the air near downtown Dallas on Wednesday and launched flaming debris onto nearby roads and buildings.

Witness Trystan Bright said "flames started going everywhere, debris was flying all over the freeway with fire attached to it, you know it was kind of scary. Everybody started trying to put their car in reverse, a couple of wrecks almost occurred."

Parts of Interstates 30 and 35 had to be shut down, making traffic a nightmare.

Fire crews had to wait until the explosions ended before they could attack and extinguish the fire.

Chief Eddie Burns of Dallas Fire-Rescue says "we have the facility surrounded and we are basically just in a defensive mode, where we are just containing the fire."

Three people were injured but there are no deaths reported and no one missing in this rubble.

Fire officials say the whole thing was caused by a faulty connector used to join acetylene tanks during the filling process.

Report by: WRCB TV

11-Year-Old Dies In Deadly Weekend Across GTA

It was a shockingly violent weekend in the city, as gunfire left four people including an 11-year-old boy dead and four others injured.

The youngster, Ephraim Brown, was killed overnight Saturday into Sunday after being caught in the crossfire between two rival gangs in the Jane and Sheppard area. He had been attending a cousin's birthday party at the time.

Brown's grief-stricken sisters called for the community in North York to come together and attempt to bring an end to the gun violence before more lives are lost. The youth once attended school with 15-year-old Jordan Manners, who was fatally shot inside his high school in May.

"The community needs to take charge and take action," Camisha Brown said. "If you know anything please, help our family out."

Police Chief Bill Blair appealed for the public's help in the case and asked that those in the community refrain from retaliating for the attack. There's no word on suspects.

A 21-year-old was also wounded in the gunfire but apparently isn't helping police in the investigation.

Original Story at: Citynews.ca

White House would consider direct assaults in Pakistan

Frances Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, signaled today that the Bush administration would consider direct assaults on al-Qaeda hideouts in Pakistan.

Townsend was asked on "Fox News Sunday" why the United States isn't sending Special Forces, attack drones and anything else it can to wipe out al-Qaeda. She replied, "Just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing many of the things you're talking about."

She added, "Job number one is to protect the American people, and there are no options that are off the table."

A National Intelligence Estimate released Tuesday reported that al-Qaeda has grown stronger, in part because it has established "a safe haven" in northwest Pakistan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Area that is beyond the national government's control.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Kasuri warned on CNN's "Late Edition" against the White House bypassing the Pakistani military in any operation.

By Zachary Goldfarb | July 22, 2007; 2:07 PM ET

Read full story at: Washingtonpost

Bus carrying Poles crashes in France killing 24

PARIS (Reuters) - French police said at least 24 people died on Sunday when a coach carrying Polish pilgrims plunged down a hillside and burst into flames near the southeastern French city of Grenoble.

The coach, carrying around 50 Polish nationals, apparently suffered problems with its braking system while descending a steep incline. It left the road, cleared roadside barriers and careered downhill, emergency officials said.
Photo

The vehicle came to rest on the banks of the river Romanche and burst into flames, they added.

"The toll has now risen to 24 dead, 24 injured and two missing," gendarme (police) Lt-Colonel Thierry Rousseau told Reuters by telephone. Of the injured, 12 were in a serious condition, he added.

Local officials said the coach's speed and the state of its brakes may have been factors in the accident.

Pictures broadcast on LCI television showed rescue workers treating survivors on the grassy banks of the Romanche, the carcass of the coach still smouldering in the background.

Debris was strewn around the river bank where the coach finally came to rest.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon would visit the crash site later in the day, his office said. The Polish consul in Lyon was also heading there, Warsaw said.

Original News at: Reuters UK