Bermuda Triangle in Silicon Valley?

Much to the chagrin of many who live in Bermuda, the whole notion of “The Triangle” has taken root in OTHER people’s popular culture and imaginations.  So, imagine this — some people on the internet have appropriated the name for an intersection of highways in California.  It seems kind of convoluted, so it’s probably best to let a block quote of the introduction speak for itself:

The Silicon Bermuda Triangle, or more commonly referred to as “the Bermuda Triangle” by those on the up and up, is the triangle created by the intersection of the highways 237, 85, and 101 in Mountain View and Sunnyvale, California. Instead of just naming another geographic region for it’s shape, this area has earned it’s foreboding name because of the imposibility and improbability of giving or following directions to one of the many Internet companies located within the mysterious triangle. Some believe the Internet has thrived for so long because so few of Microsoft’s spies have been able to find their way in-to or out-of the most important Internet district in not only Silicon Valley, but the world.

Because I like to pick up garbage.

I found the following in the parking lot outside of a Bricktown ShopRite:

[I didn't fill up pool it was raining]

Good lord, what does that mean!?!?!

The other side looks like:

Quote

Nestle Quick
Cherrio’s Honey Nut
Oreos
Tazo Chai Tea

That’s some shopping list.  The note goes on to say:

Quote

Kady — do the
shoping stop [or: srop, soop, or snp]
[word unintelligible, possibly: at] [word unintelligible, possibly: school] to
get card
[word unintelligible, possibly: mom]

Johann Conrad Dippel

Rather than link to Wikipedia, there’s always this PDF journal article regarding the alchemist Johann Conrad Dippel

Bermudian Monsters

ConceptArt.org has a thread called “Secret of the Bermuda Triangle.” Basically, it’s a form where a topic is suggested, and a bunch of artists take a crack at it, and post their results.  Some of those pictures require me to type WOW in all caps.  The last thing I ever want to do is violate somebody’s copyright, so I’m going to err on not grabbing some of these images and posting them here.  Plus, their file size is probably too big.

Okay, Now I Want To Vomit

One of the things, when hanging out on horror fiction message boards, is that you often find yourself talking to Canadians and Brits. Sometimes, the subject of food comes up. Since I used to live in the UK, I usually find myself publicly disparaging certain bits of British cuisine, especially black pudding. Usually, the response is “But I love black pudding!” So much so, I sometimes rethink my position, because I only had it once, when I was 7 — and 7 year olds nearly hate everything that isn’t sweet or made of chocolate. So, I thought I’d do a bit of googling on “black pudding.” So, I end up on the Foodio54 Blog, and it’s post about “The Five Most Disgusting Dishes Ever.” Yep, black pudding is one of them, and so is scrapple. However, there’s some shit on there that I can’t mention again, for fear of involuntary regurgitation.

Bermuda: Sea Monster Washes Ashore

Well, Amanda Dale certainly grabs your attention/imagination with her lede in this Royal Gazette story:

The remains of a monster of the deep have washed ashore on Bermuda.

The head, tentacles and mantle of a deep sea squid were discovered at Grape Bay by beachcombers on Sunday. The find is rare as the squid inhabit depths of between 240-940 metres and specimens are only found in the stomachs of sperm whales.

Gorelets

If one is into Horror, Science Fiction, Bizarro, or just all around strangeness, there’s always Michael Arnzen’s great little email newsletter, Gorelets. I mean, where else can you find writing prompts like these:

+ Write about a woman-eating plant (as opposed to just a man-eater).
+ Everyone says they’re afraid of clowns. What are clowns scared of? Depict their worst nightmare.
+ Ever heard the expression, “Let your freak flag fly”? Write a story or poem about a freak nation and its hallowed flag. (Option: try drawing or describing the iconography of the flag before you begin).

Edit to add:  As Mike points out below, I wrote a poem and posted it there.  It can be read here.

More Strange Graffiti

Route 35 is pretty much the road I take, whenever I go the eight miles between my home in Brick and my parent’s house in Ocean Grove/Neptune.  This recently appeared on an abandoned building.

And here’s a view obscurred by a fence:

Found During a Cemetary Stroll