Incredibly Strange Coincidences 2003

Incredibly Strange Coincidences 2003...

Simulacrum No More
The historic landmark "The Old Man Of The Mountain" was a well known simulacrum of a human face that appeared on a rock outcropping in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Sometime during May 1-3, this landmark that had stood for thousands of years collapsed in bad weather.

The Old Man of the Mountain has several names including "The Profile", "The Great Stone Face", "The Old Man," and "The Old Man of the Mountains".

Daniel Webster once said:

"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

It was so well-known the state used it on its offiicial seal, road signs, license plates, and even chose it as the image on the commemorative quarter coin for the year 2000.

Links to More Articles:

Old Man Memorial May 10, 2003 (CNN)

Boston Globe Article

New England Travel Article

Official New Hampshire Tourism Site

Joe Mason's Old Man Tribute Page

From CNN: Are the State Quarters CURSED??

More Photos:

Before:

Photo Taken By Jeanne Daigle in October 2002

After:

LaPlata Tornado, April 28, 2002 Revisited
The most powerful tornado (F5) to hit the East Coast of the United States in over 50 years tore a path through LaPlata Maryland on Sunday April 28, 2002, nearly wiping out the entire business district and leaving a 40 mile path of destruction across Charles and Calvert counties.

The photo above was taken from the observation deck of a nuclear power plant on the Chesapeake Bay, after the storm moved across water. WHAT IF the storm track had been a few miles south and the power plant had been hit?

On the one year anniversary, local television stations gathered to commemorate the event, and report on how LaPlata has been rebuilt. Most local weather reports were done "on location" that day.

By early May 2003, this year's tornado season had already broken many records with dozens of twisters reported in Oklahoma, Kansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Alabama, and other states.

More scary tornado pictures from 2002...

But this is NOT the first time southern Maryland has been hit by tornados.
A storm with very similar characteristics followed almost exactly the same path killing 15 people,
in 1926.....

Coincidence or synchronicity? You decide.

More Weather Links:
My Weather Links page.
Tornado over DC , Sept 24, 2001.

How Many Chris Mastrangelos are there?

When I lived in Philadelphia in the early 1980s, I went to the public library to apply for a library card.
They told me there was already a card issued in that name, but it was a children's card. So I was aware
as early as 1982 that there was another little boy named Chris Mastrangelo running around South Philly.

Of course that was 20 years ago, so that boy is probably grown up now. Maybe he was the
same Chris Mastrangelo who worked for Exxon Mobil in Malvern PA exactly one year before
*I* started working for Exxon Mobil in Fairfax Virginia in 2000?

In 2001, when I started working at the Marine Base in Quantico Virginia, I naturally had to check out
the local diners. In Quantico town, in the heart of the base, there used to be a little place called the " Five Fifteen ."
The waitress, Donna, saw my name tag and said "Do you have a daughter who lives in Stafford?"

First of all, my oldest daughter was only six at the time, even though I look old enough to have a daughter who is grown.
But the point is- everywhere I go, there are Mastrangelos!

A " Google " internet search for "Chris Mastrangelo" reveals that there are even more CHRIS Mastrangelos
than you might imagine.

I was NOT the student at Brown University who wrote a comic strip called "Fluble " for the school newspaper.
Actually, that Chris M graduated in May 2001- I wonder what he is doing now?

His roommate at Brown was John Leen , and so far, John is the only one to return my emails.
They lived in "Tech House" - kind of like Hill House at Penn? More like Geek Central!
Which is probably why *I* would have fit in there- if this had all happened ten years earlier.
These guys were all math and engineering majors from the Boston area.

In 1993, there was another Chris Mastrangelo who graduated from Colby College in Maine
and went on to graduate from Boston University Law School in 1995. I found that recently
while doing a Google search that found the Colby alumni newsletter for the class of 1993.
That's especially spooky, since I grew up within walking distance of the BU campus, attended BU in the 1980s.

Further research reveals that as an undergraduate, he was a member of a banned underground fraternity (" DEKE ").

So that means that in the early 1990s, another Chris Mastrangelo was hanging in my old neighborhood!
And look, I found a photo of him from 1999!

Could that be the same Chris Mastrangelo who is currently a physical education teacher at
the Galvin School in Wakefield, Massachusetts? Probably not- if you had a law degree would you coach hockey?

There is a Christina Mastrangelo who is an assistant professor of systems engineering at the
University of Virginia in Charlottesville. I was in Charlottesville in July during our summer vacation.
A recent issue of the Inside UVa online magazine says that she commutes to northern Virginia to
teach a seminar at the UVa satellite campus. which is within 3 miles of my house.
Maybe I will run into her one of these days in Merrifield? Maybe I already have and didn't know it?!?!

If I meet one of the other Chris Mastrangelos in real life, will the universe annihilate itself ?
Or will we have to duel forever in a closed dimensional portal to prevent identical atoms
of matter and anti-matter from colliding outside the containment chamber?

Rock of Ages?
There is a Rocco Mastrangelo who graduated in May 2001 with a degree in finance from Penn State University.
According to the PSU Collegian, he started a new job in... Bethesda Maryland!
So it is entirely possible that I could run into this guy!?

But that's not even the weird part. Email me and I will send you more details! STAY TUNED!!

Attack Of The Clones!
I found an actual photograph of one of the "others."

One of the other "Chris Mastrangelos" is in this wedding picture. He is kneeling in the middle of the photo next to the blond woman's elbow. I found this picture of the "Margaret and Scott Sanel" wedding taken in September 1999 on the Colby Alumni website... Colby College Alumni Gatherings- Wedding Photos

Score! Who is the Clone?
Peabody High School Basketball Team photo for 2002-2003... guess which one is a Mastrangelo?!

My first guess was the short guy on the left. But that's assistant coach Dom Coleman.
Head coach "Chris Mastrangelo" is the tall guy on the right!

P.S. What if?
What if you searched online and found your own obituary ?!? It's like a "Twilight Zone" episode!
Use Ctrl-F to search for "Mastrangelo."

P.P.S. Have you ever "Googled" yourself?
You might be surprised! UFOs, New Religious Movements, Subliminal Images??

Other Important Links:
Spaceweather.com
My Astronomy Links page.
My Weather Links page.

Incredibly Strange Coincidences 2000 | 2001 | Q1/Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | 9-11

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