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Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Giant waves: Tall tales or alarming fact?
Editor's note: Professor Paul H. Taylor is Shell-Pocock Fellow in Civil Engineering And Director of Studies for Engineering Science at Keble College and Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford
London, England (CNN) -- Cinemagoers will be familiar with the thrill of giant waves.
But what most people do not know is that the film "The Poseidon Adventure" was based on an incident involving the Queen Mary in World War II.
The famous liner was hit side-on by a giant wall of water while she was carrying 15,000 American troops to Britain in 1942. The ship listed to an astonishing 52 degrees and almost capsized.
Read how deadly wave struck Mediterranean cruise ship
More recently, "The Perfect Storm" will be familiar to most, providing an account of the sinking of the Andrea Gail south of Newfoundland in 1991.
Waves have been a source of fascination ever since mankind first gazed at the ocean, and the sea has been a favorite subject for many artists over the centuries.
Romantic artist William Turner painted many storm scenes including the Bell Rock Lighthouse off the coast of Scotland -- a building of considerable engineering interest and with a family connection to Robert Louis Stevenson of "Treasure Island" fame.
Video: Two killed by giant wave
Video: Deadly wave's storm The 19th century print "In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa" by the Japanese artist Hokusai, showing a giant breaking wave about to engulf some unfortunate fishermen, is now re-interpreted almost daily in popular culture.
The open ocean in winter can be an unpleasant place. In 1995 the liner QE2 was en route from Cherbourg in France to New York when she was hit by a giant wave. Her captain subsequently described the encounter as seeing a wall of water "as though the ship was headed for the white cliffs of Dover."
The consequences of oceanic yacht racing in bad weather are regularly reported. There is nothing new in this: Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail single-handed around the world in the late 19th century, describes surviving a giant wave off the coast of Patagonia.
In fact there are remarkable similarities between the various accounts of seafarers' encounters with giant waves: Walls of water, a hole in the ocean, and a train of rollers. But what does modern research have to say about such descriptions?
First, such giant waves are rare, and seldom recorded by reliable oceanographic instruments. However, on January 1, 1995, a sensor on a platform in the central North Sea recorded a giant 60ft high wave crest, so "freak" waves are not just mariners' tall tales.
Such waves are thought to be very rare, but just how rare? What physics drives such waves? Is a "wall of water" plausible?
Computer simulations can now be made which incorporate much of the known physics of waves.
These can give information on the dynamics of giant waves and show that there is a tendency to form a high and long-crested event, which if steep enough, would match descriptions of a "wall of water."
Just as a wall is possible, so is a deep trench -- often described as a "hole in the ocean." Both can appear in simulations, it is simply a question of where the extreme event forms relative to the unfortunate observer. Such simulations are best visualized as computer-generated movies.
While computer simulations are possible, there is still the need for explanation and interpretation.
The simplest model to reproduce the basic properties of the simulations is the nonlinear Schrödinger equation -- an equation belonging to an area of applied mathematics investigated extensively over the last 40 years.
The basic process is related to the local concentration of energy that occurs when large waves form. Large waves move faster than small ones, causing a group of large waves to contract along the direction of propagation.
Like squeezing a tube of toothpaste, the energy is forced out sideways -- extending the length of the wave crests, and appearing to an observer as "a wall of water."
From the application of sophisticated mathematics we return to the real ocean.
It is important to appreciate that some degree of risk is inevitable. Large waves can occur and they may be larger than those a structure or ship is designed for.
Engineers and naval architects should not produce a design that will just survive the "design wave." Instead, designs should be robust -- able to survive, perhaps with damage, if waves greater than those anticipated should occur.
I described some work in this area in a lecture I gave in London in 2008, after which members of the audience came to tell me about their own encounters with giant waves on cruises in various parts of the world.
Mystery solved. Giant asteroid killed the dinosaurs, say scientists
A new scientific study claims to have found the definitive answer as to what killed the dinosaur - Chicxulub asteroid.
The coldest of cold cases is now officially solved.
A team of scientists has agreed on a cause of death in the extinction of the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago: a gargantuan asteroid that slammed into the Earth in Yucatan, Mexico.
"The world changed immediately due to the effects of this impact, and things were really, really bad for at least a decade afterward," Jim Melosh, professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue University and one of the authors of the study, told the Daily News. "We think that during that time, 90% of life on the planet died."
Even apex predators like the Tyrannosaurus rex were no match for the 7.5-mile-wide asteroid, the impact of which was a billion times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic explosion, according to the report by 41 scientists, published in Friday's issue of Science.
The asteroid strike created a perfect storm of death and destruction, said Melosh. All life within a half-continent was almost immediately wiped out in the blast – and then things really got bad.
"It was the global effects that did everything in," said Melosh. "The impact blasted out the crater at full speed. Debris blasted up in the sky like ballistic missiles, raining back down into the atmosphere, caused a burst of heat equal to 10 noonday suns, probably blistering the skins of dinosaurs and causing wildfires."
The devastation didn't stop there: The Chicxulub asteroid hit "an unusually lethal site," rich in sulfur, said Melosh. When that sulfur combined with water vapor in the sky after being blasted upward, it created clouds that blotted out the sun for about a decade – and rained sulfuric acid.
The dinosaurs never had a chance.
The 41 scientists who collaborated on the paper found that chemical analyses of soil samples and fossils provided the smoking gun, so to speak. Data showed an almost uniform layer of rock with high concentrations of iridium, coinciding exactly with the period of the massive impact. Iridium is an element found in higher concentrations in meteors.
The paper contends that all other theories regarding the demise of the dinosaurs, including the massive volcanic eruptions in India during that period, should now be rendered extinct.
"The world was a pretty busy place at the time of the dinosaurs' extinction – some scientists have had trouble with the deus ex machina concept of an extraterrestrial object falling from the sky [and causing the extinction,]" said Melosh. "[But] the evidence is so overwhelming."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/03/05/2010-03-05_mystery_solved_giant_asteroid_killed_the_dinosaurs_say_scientists.html#ixzz0hMhBq2d2
I Had Bigfoot in My Sights
Some of the best evidence we have for the existence of Bigfoot creatures comes in the form of eyewitness accounts. The most plausible of these anecdotes are from people who are quite familiar with the animals of the region and are not likely to mistake a deer or bear for what they clearly see as a hairy biped. A 13-year-old boy, who provides the name Jimbob, is one such witness. He very ably, and in careful detail, tells of his encounter. This is Jimbob's story:
It was October 17, 2003. My 13th birthday was Saturday the 18th, and some friends and I were going to my grandma's 160-acre farm in Wheeler County, Texas to play war games for the weekend. Done with school for the week, we piled into my mom's car and headed for the farm at about 6:30 p.m. for the two-hour drive. Six of us all had our clothes, paintball guns and other gear cramped into the white Voyager.
We arrived at about 8:30, found our designated rooms and unpacked. The farm house is a small three-bedroom stucco structure. Behind it is a chicken coop, barn and sheep barn. There was no livestock, except for a few cows. And there were no crops whatsoever. The land was hilly and most of it was covered by trees. That night went on without incident.
In the morning, we all got ready to play war games. We had harmless guns of various kinds: paintball, play, air soft and bb guns. Only I had a real .22 rifle, which was not loaded. One of my friends from church and I were on a team (Team 1), my other friend from church and my best friend's brother were on another (Team 2), and my cousin, my best friend and my mom were Team 3. My team, Team 1, went out first. We went down the hill into the shelter belt that went across the property. As we entered the shelter belt, the other teams left together, which really aggravated me.
The Figures in Black
We went up on a hill that lay behind the shelter belt and on the north side of the pond, which also lay on the other side of the shelter belt. The grass was about three feet tall and could easily conceal us. My friend hid behind a tree, not being very brave. I was in the tall grass, crouched, waiting for anyone to come by. For about five minutes nothing happened.
Suddenly, there was a whistle to our right, where the trees went all the way to the end of the property. We all had whistles in case we got lost. My mom and I were the only ones who knew our way around, but we had whistles just in case. In front of us was the pond and open fields. How the other team got past us, I do not know.
Several minutes later, I was looking out into the fields. From my left, at the bottom of the hill, for adult-sized "people" walked in a single-file line around the bottom of the hill and into the trees to our right. They were all "dressed" in black, from head to toe. My friend, cowering in the trees behind me, didn't see them.
I don't know what I was thinking, but for some reason I thought they were the other two teams teaming up on us to find us, even though I knew none of them were wearing black and my mom was the only adult. Besides, one team was already to our right and there were only seven of us there. As these figures were passing, the one in the lead looked up in my direction, even though I was concealed in the grass. It was as if he smelled me. But they kept on walking into the trees.
Suddenly, we heard "BANG! BANG! You're dead!" It was my cousin confirming that we'd been "shot." We walked back to the house in defeat to wait for the others.
Sights
About 30 minutes later, Team 2 came up to the house. We'd asked them if they'd been shot and they said no. So we waited for the others. Soon after, they came. As we told each other where we were hiding, I told my tale of what I saw. To my surprise, Team 3, which was to our right in the shelter belt, had seen the same figures I saw going down in my direction. Team 2 said they had also seen something in the trees. They said it went into the trees near the fence and just disappeared.
Strangely, all our accounts were exactly alike. This scared my mom because nobody but us had permission to be on the property. So the rest of the time I went around with the .22 loaded and we didn't go back out to play war games.
Later in the afternoon, my friends and I went down into the trees where Team 2 saw the "things." It had later been suggested by someone that perhaps these were not people, but in fact some big hairy creature, like Bigfoot or Sasquatch, a theory that seems to fit better than the idea of five adults walking around where they're not supposed to be – all black in the hot sun. But at this point, we weren't thinking of Bigfoot and we had no fear of people.
So I got the .22 and were just walking in the trees. We stopped to talk about church, school and stuff when one of my friends said, "Hey, what's that?" He pointed to a tree behind me and my other friend. As we turned around, we were startled by what we saw. It was about three to four feet tall, was covered in brown hair and had the appearance of a small human child.
It Watched Us As We Watched It
We got only a brief glance before it ran away. It had apparently been watching us from behind the tree as we talked. For some reason, I was not scared, but curious and wanted to see what it was. So we all hid behind a hill in front of the property fence. We could see the creature was on the other side. We could see it in the distance in some trees. My .22 had a scope on it and I tried to use it to watch the thing up close, but this proved unsuccessful because this creature was amazingly fast. I had to watch it without the scope if I wanted to catch more than a glimpse.
Then it stopped by a tree and I finally got to focus on it with my scope. I saw something I'll never forget. It seemed to be looking right at me through the scope, even though it was a distance away. I froze in fear. My eyes started to water as if I were going to cry, but the tears never came. I felt a lump in my throat and could barely speak. My friends reacted the same way.
"What is it?" one of them asked. I could not answer. I lay the rifle down as not to make the creature feel threatened. Normally, I would have run for my life, but curiosity seemed to overcome my fear.
For about a half hour, we sat and watched as the creature simply watched back, then it finally wandered off into the distance. As it went away, my curiosity disappeared and fear took over. I urged my friends that we go back to the house as fast as we could.
We ran out of the trees and to the pond where we rested before finally going back up to the house. Before we left the pond, however, I saw something run up onto the hill I was on earlier. I could not get a good look at it, but it rustled the grass and there was no wind.
After we told my mom what we saw, we all went down there to look again. My cousin and my best friend didn't believe me and started lighting firecrackers. So with no success, we went back to the house and played games.
The people down the road own some dogs, and late that night they were barking up a storm, as usual. For some reason, they stopped suddenly. My mom had lived at the farm when she was younger and she said she never heard anything like what she heard that night. It sounded like the coyotes were feasting on another cow or some other animal. But as we listened, it became horrible. It didn't sound like coyotes at all. It was horrible! It was as if the creatures were having a feeding frenzy, and it sounded gruesome. After a while it stopped, and we went to bed.
The Bones
The next morning, Sunday, my best friend and I went out to the back of the property to explore. It's the only part of the property we hadn't explored. I was armed with a small Ruger .22. We found a place that was new to us. I was on the other side of a hill. It was green and rather lush. All the vegetation was ankle high or higher.
When we heard my four other friends coming to look for us, we ventured deeper into the vegetation, deciding to make it into a game and run from them. We ran into some bushes, only to find that the ground for about 20 feet around was littered with bones! Bones of all sizes, probably from 10 different species, but mostly cow. There were a lot of cow bones around the property, but there were more bones here than on the rest of the property, which we now think is a feeding ground and possible place of rest for the creatures we saw.
We all headed back to the house. When we got there, my grandparents (who owned the farm) were waiting there with my brother and sister. We told them about all the strange things we had seen and experienced that weekend.
As it turns out, those weren't the only strange things that happened at the farm. A few years back, my uncle was down near the shelter belt in the evening when he saw a black panther. To this day he still swears he saw it. Just recently we have found big cat paw prints there, but we figured they could be mountain lions, because we haven't seen the panther since.
A few months after the Bigfoot incident, I moved to Kansas because my dad was in the military. But recently we visited Amarillo and on two weekends we went to the farm. My grandma, grandpa, step-aunt and I were in a blind my grandma had set up. We were watching turkeys when two deer came running out of the trees, and then we heard a loud screech, which we believe was the creature.
My grandparents say they have seen it chasing animals and have heard it several more times. The neighboring ranchers have also reported similar creatures. The search now continues for the thing. Hopefully, we'll get some conclusive evidence soon.
It was October 17, 2003. My 13th birthday was Saturday the 18th, and some friends and I were going to my grandma's 160-acre farm in Wheeler County, Texas to play war games for the weekend. Done with school for the week, we piled into my mom's car and headed for the farm at about 6:30 p.m. for the two-hour drive. Six of us all had our clothes, paintball guns and other gear cramped into the white Voyager.
We arrived at about 8:30, found our designated rooms and unpacked. The farm house is a small three-bedroom stucco structure. Behind it is a chicken coop, barn and sheep barn. There was no livestock, except for a few cows. And there were no crops whatsoever. The land was hilly and most of it was covered by trees. That night went on without incident.
In the morning, we all got ready to play war games. We had harmless guns of various kinds: paintball, play, air soft and bb guns. Only I had a real .22 rifle, which was not loaded. One of my friends from church and I were on a team (Team 1), my other friend from church and my best friend's brother were on another (Team 2), and my cousin, my best friend and my mom were Team 3. My team, Team 1, went out first. We went down the hill into the shelter belt that went across the property. As we entered the shelter belt, the other teams left together, which really aggravated me.
The Figures in Black
We went up on a hill that lay behind the shelter belt and on the north side of the pond, which also lay on the other side of the shelter belt. The grass was about three feet tall and could easily conceal us. My friend hid behind a tree, not being very brave. I was in the tall grass, crouched, waiting for anyone to come by. For about five minutes nothing happened.
Suddenly, there was a whistle to our right, where the trees went all the way to the end of the property. We all had whistles in case we got lost. My mom and I were the only ones who knew our way around, but we had whistles just in case. In front of us was the pond and open fields. How the other team got past us, I do not know.
Several minutes later, I was looking out into the fields. From my left, at the bottom of the hill, for adult-sized "people" walked in a single-file line around the bottom of the hill and into the trees to our right. They were all "dressed" in black, from head to toe. My friend, cowering in the trees behind me, didn't see them.
I don't know what I was thinking, but for some reason I thought they were the other two teams teaming up on us to find us, even though I knew none of them were wearing black and my mom was the only adult. Besides, one team was already to our right and there were only seven of us there. As these figures were passing, the one in the lead looked up in my direction, even though I was concealed in the grass. It was as if he smelled me. But they kept on walking into the trees.
Suddenly, we heard "BANG! BANG! You're dead!" It was my cousin confirming that we'd been "shot." We walked back to the house in defeat to wait for the others.
Sights
About 30 minutes later, Team 2 came up to the house. We'd asked them if they'd been shot and they said no. So we waited for the others. Soon after, they came. As we told each other where we were hiding, I told my tale of what I saw. To my surprise, Team 3, which was to our right in the shelter belt, had seen the same figures I saw going down in my direction. Team 2 said they had also seen something in the trees. They said it went into the trees near the fence and just disappeared.
Strangely, all our accounts were exactly alike. This scared my mom because nobody but us had permission to be on the property. So the rest of the time I went around with the .22 loaded and we didn't go back out to play war games.
Later in the afternoon, my friends and I went down into the trees where Team 2 saw the "things." It had later been suggested by someone that perhaps these were not people, but in fact some big hairy creature, like Bigfoot or Sasquatch, a theory that seems to fit better than the idea of five adults walking around where they're not supposed to be – all black in the hot sun. But at this point, we weren't thinking of Bigfoot and we had no fear of people.
So I got the .22 and were just walking in the trees. We stopped to talk about church, school and stuff when one of my friends said, "Hey, what's that?" He pointed to a tree behind me and my other friend. As we turned around, we were startled by what we saw. It was about three to four feet tall, was covered in brown hair and had the appearance of a small human child.
It Watched Us As We Watched It
We got only a brief glance before it ran away. It had apparently been watching us from behind the tree as we talked. For some reason, I was not scared, but curious and wanted to see what it was. So we all hid behind a hill in front of the property fence. We could see the creature was on the other side. We could see it in the distance in some trees. My .22 had a scope on it and I tried to use it to watch the thing up close, but this proved unsuccessful because this creature was amazingly fast. I had to watch it without the scope if I wanted to catch more than a glimpse.
Then it stopped by a tree and I finally got to focus on it with my scope. I saw something I'll never forget. It seemed to be looking right at me through the scope, even though it was a distance away. I froze in fear. My eyes started to water as if I were going to cry, but the tears never came. I felt a lump in my throat and could barely speak. My friends reacted the same way.
"What is it?" one of them asked. I could not answer. I lay the rifle down as not to make the creature feel threatened. Normally, I would have run for my life, but curiosity seemed to overcome my fear.
For about a half hour, we sat and watched as the creature simply watched back, then it finally wandered off into the distance. As it went away, my curiosity disappeared and fear took over. I urged my friends that we go back to the house as fast as we could.
We ran out of the trees and to the pond where we rested before finally going back up to the house. Before we left the pond, however, I saw something run up onto the hill I was on earlier. I could not get a good look at it, but it rustled the grass and there was no wind.
After we told my mom what we saw, we all went down there to look again. My cousin and my best friend didn't believe me and started lighting firecrackers. So with no success, we went back to the house and played games.
The people down the road own some dogs, and late that night they were barking up a storm, as usual. For some reason, they stopped suddenly. My mom had lived at the farm when she was younger and she said she never heard anything like what she heard that night. It sounded like the coyotes were feasting on another cow or some other animal. But as we listened, it became horrible. It didn't sound like coyotes at all. It was horrible! It was as if the creatures were having a feeding frenzy, and it sounded gruesome. After a while it stopped, and we went to bed.
The Bones
The next morning, Sunday, my best friend and I went out to the back of the property to explore. It's the only part of the property we hadn't explored. I was armed with a small Ruger .22. We found a place that was new to us. I was on the other side of a hill. It was green and rather lush. All the vegetation was ankle high or higher.
When we heard my four other friends coming to look for us, we ventured deeper into the vegetation, deciding to make it into a game and run from them. We ran into some bushes, only to find that the ground for about 20 feet around was littered with bones! Bones of all sizes, probably from 10 different species, but mostly cow. There were a lot of cow bones around the property, but there were more bones here than on the rest of the property, which we now think is a feeding ground and possible place of rest for the creatures we saw.
We all headed back to the house. When we got there, my grandparents (who owned the farm) were waiting there with my brother and sister. We told them about all the strange things we had seen and experienced that weekend.
As it turns out, those weren't the only strange things that happened at the farm. A few years back, my uncle was down near the shelter belt in the evening when he saw a black panther. To this day he still swears he saw it. Just recently we have found big cat paw prints there, but we figured they could be mountain lions, because we haven't seen the panther since.
A few months after the Bigfoot incident, I moved to Kansas because my dad was in the military. But recently we visited Amarillo and on two weekends we went to the farm. My grandma, grandpa, step-aunt and I were in a blind my grandma had set up. We were watching turkeys when two deer came running out of the trees, and then we heard a loud screech, which we believe was the creature.
My grandparents say they have seen it chasing animals and have heard it several more times. The neighboring ranchers have also reported similar creatures. The search now continues for the thing. Hopefully, we'll get some conclusive evidence soon.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Cranberry Juice for a Healthy Heart?
New research suggests that cranberry juice may boost heart health.
In test-tube experiments, scientists compared the cardioprotective effects of cranberry juice to those of apple, cocoa, red wine, and green tea. Their findings revealed that cranberry juice contains compounds known to prevent the constriction of blood vessels and, in turn, protect against high blood pressure.
While it's too soon to tell whether cranberry juice can promote cardiovascular health in humans, previous studies have shown that the antioxidant-rich drink may help prevent urinary tract infections and reduce risk of gum disease.
A number of other natural substances are known to shield heart health. Flaxseed may help keep cholesterol in check, for instance, while vitamin D could help curb inflammation (a key risk factor for heart disease).
In test-tube experiments, scientists compared the cardioprotective effects of cranberry juice to those of apple, cocoa, red wine, and green tea. Their findings revealed that cranberry juice contains compounds known to prevent the constriction of blood vessels and, in turn, protect against high blood pressure.
While it's too soon to tell whether cranberry juice can promote cardiovascular health in humans, previous studies have shown that the antioxidant-rich drink may help prevent urinary tract infections and reduce risk of gum disease.
A number of other natural substances are known to shield heart health. Flaxseed may help keep cholesterol in check, for instance, while vitamin D could help curb inflammation (a key risk factor for heart disease).
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Are Vampires Real?
The enormous interest in these creatures prompts the question: Are vampires real?
INTEREST IN THE vampire mythos is at an all-time high. The recent enthusiasm for this blood-sucking immortal began perhaps with the highly popular Anne Rice novel, Interview with the Vampire published in 1976, and which she followed up with several more books about the vampire world she created. Movies and television capitalized on this popularity with such offerings as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, Francis Ford Coppola's film version of Dracula, Underworld, and the Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire.
The genre is more popular than ever thanks to TV's True Blood and Vampire Diaries, and especially the enormous success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series of novels, which also are getting the Hollywood treatment.
When a phenomenon like this creeps into our mass consciousness - you can barely turn around without bumping into vampire-related media - some people begin to think it's real. Or they want it to be real because they so enjoy the fantasy. So what about it? Are there real vampires?
THE SUPERNATURAL VAMPIRE
The question of whether vampires are real or not depends on the definition. If by vampire we mean the supernatural creature who is practically immortal, has fangs through which he or she can suck blood, has an aversion to sunlight, can shapeshift into other creatures, fears garlic and crosses, and can even fly... then we have to say no, such a creature does not exist. At least there's no good evidence that it exists. Such a creature is a fabrication of novels, TV shows and movies.
If we dispense with the supernatural attributes, however, there are people who call themselves vampires of one kind or another.
LIFESTYLE VAMPIRES
Largely due to the influence of vampires in the media, there is now a subculture of vampirism, the members of which seek to mimic the lifestyle of their fictional heroes (or antiheroes). There is some overlap with the Goth community, both of which seem to seek empowerment in the dark, mysterious side of things. The lifestyle vampires typically dress in black and other accouterments of the "vampire aesthetic" and favor a goth music genre. According to one website, these lifestylers take this on "not just as something to do at clubs, but as part of their total lifestyle, and who form alternative extended families modeled on the covens, clans, etc. found in some vampire fiction and role-playing games."
Lifestyle vampires make no claims of supernatural powers. And it would be unfair to dismiss them as people who just like to play at Halloween year-round. They take their lifestyle quite seriously as it fulfills for them some inner, even spiritual need.
INTEREST IN THE vampire mythos is at an all-time high. The recent enthusiasm for this blood-sucking immortal began perhaps with the highly popular Anne Rice novel, Interview with the Vampire published in 1976, and which she followed up with several more books about the vampire world she created. Movies and television capitalized on this popularity with such offerings as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lost Boys, Francis Ford Coppola's film version of Dracula, Underworld, and the Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt film adaptation of Interview with the Vampire.
The genre is more popular than ever thanks to TV's True Blood and Vampire Diaries, and especially the enormous success of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series of novels, which also are getting the Hollywood treatment.
When a phenomenon like this creeps into our mass consciousness - you can barely turn around without bumping into vampire-related media - some people begin to think it's real. Or they want it to be real because they so enjoy the fantasy. So what about it? Are there real vampires?
THE SUPERNATURAL VAMPIRE
The question of whether vampires are real or not depends on the definition. If by vampire we mean the supernatural creature who is practically immortal, has fangs through which he or she can suck blood, has an aversion to sunlight, can shapeshift into other creatures, fears garlic and crosses, and can even fly... then we have to say no, such a creature does not exist. At least there's no good evidence that it exists. Such a creature is a fabrication of novels, TV shows and movies.
If we dispense with the supernatural attributes, however, there are people who call themselves vampires of one kind or another.
LIFESTYLE VAMPIRES
Largely due to the influence of vampires in the media, there is now a subculture of vampirism, the members of which seek to mimic the lifestyle of their fictional heroes (or antiheroes). There is some overlap with the Goth community, both of which seem to seek empowerment in the dark, mysterious side of things. The lifestyle vampires typically dress in black and other accouterments of the "vampire aesthetic" and favor a goth music genre. According to one website, these lifestylers take this on "not just as something to do at clubs, but as part of their total lifestyle, and who form alternative extended families modeled on the covens, clans, etc. found in some vampire fiction and role-playing games."
Lifestyle vampires make no claims of supernatural powers. And it would be unfair to dismiss them as people who just like to play at Halloween year-round. They take their lifestyle quite seriously as it fulfills for them some inner, even spiritual need.
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