MikeLigalig.com

There is a story that was told about Lao Tzu in extreme old age. Lao Tzu apparently asked his disciple to look in his mouth. “What do you see?” asked Lao Tzu. His disciple said he saw nothing. Lao Tzu asked, “No teeth?” The disciple replied, “No, no teeth. But I do see a tongue.” This was Lao Tzu’s dying lesson: that hard, brittle things disappear and the soft and yielding things remain. -- http://www.taopractice.org/

Si Goliat kasi ay pagarpar...

Quote from: chicogon on October 07, 2013, 09:50:09 AM
Bugsay puno tingali sa pagmahay
Sa panahon di pa kaayo dugay
Nagsige pag ugay-ugay
Sa batuta ilawom sa talisay.

Maamgohan niya sa kapulihay
Nga ang milamay niyang pagmahay
Dili ug dili gayod mahumpay
Kon iagi lang sa ugay-ugay.

Quote from: hubag bohol on October 04, 2013, 08:53:06 PM
I worry, though, about what might happen to our minds if most of the stories we hear are about greed, war and atrocity.

I worry most about the author of those stories. What a poor excuse of a human being...

Too late...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 05:32:18 PM
balik na, bugs.  hinay-hinay lang god.  wa na baya pod si lolla ug si taga tigs.  hinaot ningpahuway lang kadiyot.  ambot si pikoy ug votives nganong wa na mogimaw.  si fr chic, tagsa na lang pod.  i am hoping they will all be back one day, with a vengeance.  lead the way, nyor.

Second the motion si Botoy sa halangdon nga Chief Justice:

balik na, bugs.
Don't mind the thugs.
hinay-hinay lang god.
Ayaw lang kasabod.
wa na baya pod si lolla ug si taga tigs.
Ay, nasudlan na tag monkeys, donkeys, rats and pigs.
hinaot ningpahuway lang kadiyot. 
Igo lang magpabawi sa buot.
ambot si pikoy ug votives nganong wa na mogimaw. 
Gibidli tingali sa nagharihari nga hanggaw.
si fr chic, tagsa na lang pod.
Nilihay sa sinaw og simod.
i am hoping they will all be back one day, with a vengeance.
I am sure we can all count on their eternal allegiance.
lead the way, nyor.
Yo, Excelsior!

Oops, storm clouds are gathering. Time to take shelter (for a few hours, that is)...

Kaliwat jud diay. Insanity and murder often go hand in hand...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 04:24:03 PM
it's how stories are interpreted and passed on that spell the difference between myth and reality, di ba? 

Right. How it's being passed on and on and on, ad infinitum and, sometimes, ad nauseam...

I am a patient man (di hinuon mental patient), so here goes. One more time, baby...

On Sunday, father of those two boys and the grieving brother of the victim spoke for the first time.

'My sons can't stay with people like that,' Jorge Moncada said in Spanish. 'I'm going to fight for them.'

He also said these tragic events are entirely surprising.

'She threatened me and my brother several times, she planned this,' said Moncada.

According to her public defender, Gutierrez’s third child, a three-year-old, is with another man. She is now three months pregnant with the new boyfriend’s child.

Police say Reyes’ attraction to Gutierrez infuriated the new boyfriend.

On May 21, she conspired with the new lover to kill Reyes, police say. She asked her family to leave the house so that she could have Reyes over.

After the killing, she allegedly told her father that she had 'fixed the problem.'

After their arrests on Friday,  Kent says Daisy and Salvador Gutierrez admitted to the crimes in a video recording.

Neighbors of Reyes' are already starting up a collection to help the family repatriate his body to Honduras.

'He was a wonderful person, a really hard worker, really nice. Like a neighbor he always helped,' a neighbor said.

Her bond was set at $2 million Sunday. Her father’s was set at $500,000.

Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the Illinois state’s attorney’s office, said that the boyfriend has been taken into custody for questioning in New Jersey. Daly declined to identify him because he had not yet been charged.

Police say they also found human body parts in jars in the house. They have no yet determined whether those remains belong to Reyes or to someone else.

Authorities say Reyes had taken an interest in Daisy Gutierrez. He knew her because two of her young children was with his brother.

Assistant state’s attorney Heather Kent said Gutierrez has a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old with Reyes’ brother.

Scene: Police say this house on the South Side of Chicago was the site of the unthinkable crime

Police say Salvador Gutierrez spent three hours digging a hole in his backyard and watched as the killer placed the body parts in plastic bags into the hole.

Daisy Gutierrez and the still-unnamed killer then fled to New Jersey.

Reyes' body was found by police on Friday after they searched the home. It is unknown what prompted detectives to look for Reyes at the Gutierrez residence.

It is also unclear what prompted Daisy Gutierrezâ€"a mother of three who is also three months pregnant with her new boyfriend’s childâ€"to admit to the crime along with her father.#

Tricked: The 30-year-old Honduran had moved to the U.S. five years before his brutal murder. Police say he was lured to his death by Daisy Gutierrez

Grisly: Police say Jose Reyes, 30, was brutally slain and dismembered by a vengeful new boyfriend of Daisy Gutierrez on May 21

Both father and daughter made their first court appearance at a Sunday bond hearing.

56-year-old Salvador Gutierrez is charged with concealing a homicide for watching as the unnamed murderer dismembered Reyes’ body.

It was a grisly end to a brutal crime. Prosecutors say Gutierrez’s unnamed new boyfriend smashed in the bedroom door as Gutierrez began to take off her clothes.

He then allegedly stabbed Reyes and hit him with a pipe before decapitating the man, whose official cause of death was ‘multiple sharp force injuries’ and ‘assault.’

Co-conspirators: Daisy Gutierrez, 19, left, is charged with first degree murder for luring a man to his death. Her father Salvador, 56, right, is charged with helping hide the May 21 crime

Woman, 19, lured ex-boyfriend to her bedroom by undressing where new lover 'stabbed him to death and cut off his head - then convinced her father to hide the body'


By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 19:23 GMT, 6 October 2013 | UPDATED: 06:53 GMT, 7 October 2013


A 19-year-old Chicago woman has been charged with first degree murder for helping lure her ex-boyfriend into the clutches of her new lover, who then stabbed and decapitated the man.

Police don’t believe Daisy Gutierrez helped slay Jose Reyes, but they do think she knowingly lured the 30-year-old Honduran to his bloody demise with a strip tease on May 21.

They also believe she helped her killer lover bury the victim’s body parts along with her own father in the family’s Scottsdale area back yard.

Oh, well, myth-making is an enduring human activity. Sa TB lang daan...

Not the same picture, but the same subject...

Di na pud ka kakita?

Itoy gi-torture? Pakawalay kaluoy...

But the festive scene was disrupted by the smell emanating from the Gutierrez home.

"I can't even think of what it smelled like. It was just terrible. It was so bad the people next door left," Weller said.

On Saturday, investigators returned, removing sections of the house.

Weller said Salvador Gutierrez lived across the street for less than two years with a woman and a 13-year-old who went to school with his son. He described the son as a "nice polite kid," and called Salvador Gutierrez a "quiet man and a loner.”

"He stayed to himself and you very rarely saw them, just back and forth to work," Weller said. "I never really seen much of them."

CONTRIBUTING: Quinn Ford

Kayla Taylor, 17, who stood with her mother and younger sister behind the yellow police tape, said she lived a couple doors down from the house where police found the body.

Taylor said she could not believe something so grisly could happen so close to home.

"I think it's crazy because they said it happened about five months ago, so we've been living here the last five months and didn't even know," she said.

Dave Weller, 56, lives across the street from the home where Reyes’ remains were found. He described the weekend’s scene as a “party,” saying neighbors joined him on his front porch for pizza and beer as the scene unfolded on the normally quiet block.

The next day, Kent said, Daisy Gutierrez and her boyfriend fled to New Jersey. Gutierrez told authorities after her arrest on Oct. 4 she is three months pregnant, according to an arrest report.

Prosecutors said both Daisy and Salvador Gutierrez confessed to their roles in Reyes’ death. Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Daisy Gutierrez held on $2 million bond, and her father held on $500,000 bond.

Authorities spent most of Friday digging in the yard of the house on Scottsdale Avenue. On Saturday, more bones were found inside the home, authorities said, but an autopsy determined they were nonhuman.

Rumors swirled around the neighborhood about the murder.

Prosecutors said Daisy Gutierrez had children with Reyes’ brother, and that her new boyfriend â€" whose identity has not been publicly released and who has not been charged â€" was upset that Reyes was affectionate towards his girlfriend. Daisy Gutierrez and her boyfriend lured Reyes to her home on May 21, prosecutors said.

Assistant State’s Attorney Heather Kent said Daisy Gutierrez and Reyes went to her bedroom, where she began undressing. Her boyfriend then kicked in the door, attacking Reyes with pipe and a knife, slitting his throat and decapitating him.

After Reyes was dead, Daisy Gutierrez called her father “and told him she had fixed the problem,” Kent said.

When Salvador Gutierrez returned home, his daughter and her boyfriend convinced him to assist them in disposing of Reyes’ body. Kent said Salvador Gutierrez watched as the boyfriend dismembered Reyes body.

Salvador Gutierrez then spent three hours digging a hole in the back yard, and helped put Reyes’ remains in plastic bags, Kent said.

By Josh McGhee, Emily Morris and Alex Parker on October 6, 2013 9:47am | Updated on October 6, 2013 1:24pm



Jose Reyes had been missing since May, and police put out a missing person alert in June.
DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday


COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE â€" A West Elsdon woman watched as her lover killed a man and cut off his head with a knife, before asking her father to help dispose of the body, prosecutors said Sunday.

Daisy Gutierrez, 19, of the 5100 block of South Springfield Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of a man whose dismembered body was found buried in the back yard of her home at the time, in the 8300 block of South Scottsdale Avenue in the Ashburn neighborhood. Prosecutors identified the victim as Jose Reyes, 29, of the 1400 block of North Harding Avenue,

Prosecutors also charged Gutierrez’s father, Salvador Gutierrez, 56, of the 8300 block of South Scottsdale Avenue, with concealing the homicide, after he allegedly dug a hole in which to bury Reyes’ body.

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 12:00:16 PM

First Prize
Beauty of Light (International) Category
by Jingsheng Nie, China

Wa maapil sa picture...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 03:17:40 PM
tingali.  pwera nawong ha?

Good-looking ra man kaayo ni nga hyena kon ikomparar sa uban ba...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 03:16:33 PM
kaluoy gyod tuod.  gasalig ra god intawon kay wa may giila nga kontra. 

Di jud magsalig. Bisan giisip nimong higala ang tanan, naa man juy magdumot. Ila na nang problema, of course.

Hmm, naa ba kahay parakyut ning ondoya ni...

Hmm, kinsa nga TB member ang tag-iya sa mower?

Di pa ka, built-in. O kaha, built-out?

Haw abawt dis naw?

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 03:01:20 PM

How about "God will"?

Ayawg ambak, doy!

Gugma, ngano man intawong naglimbong ka...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 02:57:44 PM
mabitas gyod ang tijan ug baba, mao bitaw nga tahion na lang.

He he, ingon ani galing ang imong kinataw-an...

We live in a wonderfully complex universe, and we are curious about it by nature. Time and again we have wondered--- why are we here? Where did we and the world come from? What is the world made of? It is our privilege to live in a time when enormous progress has been made towards finding some of the answers. String theory is our most recent attempt to answer the last (and part of the second) question.

So, what is the world made of? Ordinary matter is made of atoms, which are in turn made of just three basic components: electrons whirling around a nucleus composed of neutrons and protons. The electron is a truly fundamental particle (it is one of a family of particles known as leptons), but neutrons and protons are made of smaller particles, known as quarks. Quarks are, as far as we know, truly elementary.

Our current knowledge about the subatomic composition of the universe is summarized in what is known as the Standard Model of particle physics. It describes both the fundamental building blocks out of which the world is made, and the forces through which these blocks interact. There are twelve basic building blocks. Six of these are quarks--- they go by the interesting names of up, down, charm, strange, bottom and top. (A proton, for instance, is made of two up quarks and one down quark.) The other six are leptons--- these include the electron and its two heavier siblings, the muon and the tauon, as well as three neutrinos.

There are four fundamental forces in the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, and the weak and strong nuclear forces. Each of these is produced by fundamental particles that act as carriers of the force. The most familiar of these is the photon, a particle of light, which is the mediator of electromagnetic forces. (This means that, for instance, a magnet attracts a nail because both objects exchange photons.) The graviton is the particle associated with gravity. The strong force is carried by eight particles known as gluons. Finally, the weak force is transmitted by three particles, the W+, the W- , and the Z.

The behavior of all of these particles and forces is described with impeccable precision by the Standard Model, with one notable exception: gravity. For technical reasons, the gravitational force, the most familiar in our every day lives, has proven very difficult to describe microscopically. This has been for many years one of the most important problems in theoretical physics-- to formulate a quantum theory of gravity.

In the last few decades, string theory has emerged as the most promising candidate for a microscopic theory of gravity. And it is infinitely more ambitious than that: it attempts to provide a complete, unified, and consistent description of the fundamental structure of our universe. (For this reason it is sometimes, quite arrogantly, called a 'Theory of Everything').

The essential idea behind string theory is this: all of the different 'fundamental ' particles of the Standard Model are really just different manifestations of one basic object: a string. How can that be? Well, we would ordinarily picture an electron, for instance, as a point with no internal structure. A point cannot do anything but move. But, if string theory is correct, then under an extremely powerful 'microscope' we would realize that the electron is not really a point, but a tiny loop of string. A string can do something aside from moving--- it can oscillate in different ways. If it oscillates a certain way, then from a distance, unable to tell it is really a string, we see an electron. But if it oscillates some other way, well, then we call it a photon, or a quark, or a ... you get the idea. So, if string theory is correct, the entire world is made of strings!

http://www.nuclecu.unam.mx/

Quote from: hubag bohol on October 07, 2013, 10:32:18 AM

Lami paresan ani...

Biking...my passion.

A message to Islander: "Meow!" 

Cats don’t actually meow at each other. While they use other means to communicate with fellow animals, such as body language and hissing, meowing is the sole honor of their human masters. Cats meow to say hello, get attention or food (this is why kittens will mew at their mothers, the only exception to the people-only rule), or let you know that they want something, such to be let outside. It’s just one more tactic cats have discovered to control the world. -- http://listverse.com/

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 12:07:47 PM
the grandmother of all swiss army knives should have a refrigerator too.

Aw, apili na lang og food processor...

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 12:06:58 PM
mora na man ug alien uy. 

pero di gihapon ko bilib.  way cell phone.

He he, wa man gani ang daughter, mother na ba. Aw, basin ang granddaughter...

How fast time flies! Merry Christmas na!

Miniature: Finished with a tortoise-shell handle, the knife has tiny tools embedded into it

Tools of the trade: Among the many implements can be seen a butter knife, saw and pliers

Made in Germany in 1880 for JS Holler & Co's cutlery store in New York City, the beautifully crafted knife predates the Swiss Army knife by 11 years.

According the Smithsonian website the knife - which is 3.5ins wide and 9ins long - wasn't really meant to be carried.

It reads: 'Knives like this were made exclusively for exhibition to highlight the cutlers' art.

'They were so difficult to make they were only attempted by the most notable firms with the most talented artisans.

'They could be seen at various fairs and industrial expositions during the 19th century.'

The term 'Swiss Army Knife' came into being after US soldiers based in Germany during the Second World War had difficulty pronouncing the German name, Schweizer Offiziersmesser (Swiss Officer's Knife).

Mother of all knives: The pocket knife was made in 1880 and predates the Swiss Army Knife by 11 years

The exquisite craftsmanship on the tortoise-shell handle even covers a selection of concealed miniature tools, from folding knives and scissors to a cut throat razor.



Craftmanship: The exquisite knife was meticulously designed and even includes a cheese fork

It includes a serrated blade, two dagger blades, several different types of shears and scissors and  a corkscrew.

Other features necessary for the hardy outdoors types during the turbulent days of the Wild West, include two saws, a lancet, button hook, cigar cutter, tuning fork, pens, a mechanical pencil, mirror, straight razor, a cheese fork and a butter knife.

But one modern convenience the user would have to do without is the bottle opener, because the bottle cap as we know it today wasn't invented until 1892.

Exquisite: A razor blade is extended at the bottom of the picture, next to a beautifully made pair of scissors

A device described as the 'mother of all Swiss Army knives' has gone on display, which features more than 100 tools - including a gun.

The incredible multi-tool boasts everything from a piano tuner to a .22-caliber revolver.

Owned by the Smithsonian Institution and on display at the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West in Wyoming, USA, the 'handy pocket knife' is just the tool for the typical 19th century gentleman.



Gun: The .22 pistol can be seen here at the top of the knife, just below the scissors

Mother of all Swiss Army Knives boasts 100 tools... including a REVOLVER


    Other features of the 'handy pocket knife are a tuning fork and cigar cutter
   
    The tortoise-shell implement also has two razors and a cheese fork
   
    It was made in Germany in 1880, 11 years before the Swiss Army Knife


By Stuart Woledge
http://www.dailymail.co.uk
PUBLISHED: 16:57 GMT, 3 October 2013 | UPDATED: 17:08 GMT, 3 October 2013

Kining kompyansa lagi...

Dughan gihiwa’g cutter
Ni Jeepy P. Compio
SuperBalita Davao
Sunday, October 6, 2013


KRITIKAL ang kahimtang sa usa ka lalaki human gihiwa og cutter ang iyang nawong ug dughan sa iyang katrabaho alas 3:00 sa hapon, Sabado.

Ang insidente nahitabo sud sa Asia Glass Palace sa dalang Cabaguio Avenue, siyudad sa Davao.

Giila ang biktima nga si Alexander delos Reyes Dompor, 34, minyo, empleyado sa maong tindahan ug residente sa Gempesaw Street, Barangay 27-C Poblacion, ning siyudad.

Sumala sa imbestigasyon, nasuko ang suspek nga si Rainer Ramon Climaco, hamtong, minyo, taga Bacaca Road, Barangay 19-B Poblacion, human nahulogan siya sa aluminum bar nga gidala sa biktima.

Nagkainitay ang duha hinungdan nga mikuha og cutter ang suspek dayon gibadlis sa nawong ug dughan sa biktima.

Nakahiagom og taas nga samad ang biktima nga dunay gilawmom nga tag duha ka pulgada.

Dali sab nga misibat ang suspek nga hangtud sa sa pagsuwat ning balita gipangita pa sa kapulisan.

Samtang ang biktima anaa sa talandugong kahimtang sud sa San Pedro Hospital. (Jeepy P. Compio)

Kaluoy intawon.

SuperBalita Cagayan de Oro
Ni Stephanie Viovicente-Berganio
Sunday, October 6, 2013


PATAY ang usa ka sundalo human giluba sa wala mailang lalaki niadtong nilabayng adlaw sa Barangay Poblacion, lungsod sa Initao, Misamis Oriental.

Giila ang biktima nga mao si Private First Class Beryl Martin, 29, minyo, lumad nga taga siyudad sa Pagadian ug sakop sa 36th Infantry Battalion sa Philippine Army.

Si Martin dayo lamang sa maong dapit tungod kay buot mag ninong sa anak sa usa ka higala.

Sa inisyal nga imbestigasyon nasuta nga igo lamang nga nagtan-aw sa natigayon nga disko sa maong dapit ang biktima apan sa pagpauli niini kalit lang kining giluba sa wala mailang lalaki.

Si Police Superintendent Roy Montes, hepe sa Initao Police Station, namahayag nga padayon pa nilang gisuta ang motibo sa pagpangluba ning panahona.

Ila usab gilantaw ang anggulong love triangle tungod kay daw sa wala pa nahitabo ang insidente giingong aduna kini gikahinabi nga usa ka babaye nga napuyo sa lungsod usab sa Naawan, Misamis Oriental.

Ang higala sa biktima niingon nga bag-o lang sa dapit si Martin ug wala kini kaaway. Dako sab ang pagduda niining’ gitripan ang higala.

Ang sundalo, kinsa nakaangkon og samad dinunggaban sa iyang dughan nga bahin, gisuwayan pa og dala sa Northern Mindanao Medical Center ning siyudad sa Cagayan de Oro apan nakabsan sa kinabuhi sulod sa emergency room.

Quote from: Lorenzo on October 07, 2013, 10:39:58 AM

He he, klaro sa tingsi nga kompleto pa sa ngipon...

Calling all TB photographers! Sali na next time!

Quote from: BolBuhol on January 24, 2013, 11:03:53 PM
natosok hang itlog, tsobatsotso.

Bwahaha! Kumusta kagid, to, longtaym norid...

Oops..

Kalami sa kusahos. Makapangag jud hinuon...

Init jud ang dunggan ani...

Quote from: islander on October 05, 2013, 10:00:54 AM
though one can laugh in stitches too.

Di kaha ka mabitas?

This is my life.

The chess players argue that the police response to the illegal activity that took place near the games was heavy-handed and indiscriminate.

"Have the drug deals stopped because chess has been banned?" said Andrew Resignato, a San Francisco resident who would play a game along Market Street occasionally. "It was an excuse to move homeless people away from here."

San Francisco police didn't return a phone call Sunday.

Police Capt. Michael Redmond told the San Francisco Chronicle last month that he agreed the chess players themselves weren't the problem. But others used the games as a shield for illegal activities. Redmond said arrests and complaints from merchants increased in the area.

"It's turned into a big public nuisance," Redmond said. "I think maybe it's a disguise for some other things that are going on."

Hector Torres Jr., a homeless man who scratched out a living renting his chess equipment, tables and chairs to Market Streets players, said the games were a San Francisco tradition that attracted all sorts of players from all walks of life.

Torres and others said it's unclear whether regular games will resume in their usual spots, someplace else or disappear forever.

"Chess isn't a crime, and we aren't criminals," Torres said as he knocked over his king in resignation of a game. "San Francisco is about this kind of stuff. About diversity and differences. We just want to play chess."

Associated Press
PAUL ELIAS 2 hours ago


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) â€" At least for an afternoon, the chess players were back at the usual spot they've occupied for years along downtown San Francisco's busy Market Street.

But instead of hustling a dollar here and a dollar there with deft openings and clever traps, the mostly homeless players and their supporters were playing Sunday in defiance of a recent police crackdown and ban on the public games. And they were backed by a brass band and several homeless advocates who helped organize the three-hour "chess-in" under bright, blue skies on a hot San Francisco afternoon.

Earlier this month, police confiscated chess gear, tables and chairs at the site.

Police said the games had begun to attract illegal gambling and drug sales to the area adjacent to a cable car terminal, which is a popular tourist destination. Nearby merchants had also complained about an increase in illegal activity.

"We don't mind the chess players and would like to have them back," said Cody Hunt, manager of an electronics store in front of which the games were played. "But lately, the games have attracted loud dice games and open drug deals, and nobody needs that."

Quote from: islander on October 07, 2013, 10:03:28 AM
5.  but if you must travel at the speed of light despite the odds, then travel with a loyal friend. 

Loyal friend here!

Bwahaha! Kining pagsugwak sa mga garay
Timailhan nga gikamingawan jud si Bugsay.
Balik na, Bugs, ug hatagig gamayng pahulay
Ang malagmit hapdos na kaayo nimong lagay.

But for a jewel whose existence has never been definitely proven, the Blue Diamond has caused more problems than it is worth, leading some to suggest that it’s cursed. The curse supposedly claimed its first lives back in February 1990, when three Saudi diplomats (who had been tasked with investigating the jewelry heist) were all shot execution-style on the same night. Thai police insisted that there was no proof that the murders were in any way related to the “Blue Diamond Affair,” but the Saudis thought otherwise and suspected a cover-up.

Their suspicions were fueled when the local press reported that the wives of some of Thailand’s most powerful men had been seen wearing jewelry that resembled the missing Saudi gems. Interestingly enough, the most recent alleged sighting of the elusive Blue Diamond was on Queen Sirikit, who was seen wearing a remarkably similar jewel shortly before her stroke and sudden disappearance from the public eye. Many believe that Queen Sirikit is the latest victim of the Blue Diamond curse, which is said to wreak havoc until it is returned to its rightful owner. -- http://listverse.com/

It all started back in 1989, at the palace of the Saudi royal family. A Thai janitor broke into Prince Faisal’s room and stole $20 million worth of jewelry, which he somehow managed to smuggle back to Thailand in the bag of a vacuum cleaner. Among the jewels was a prized possession of the Saudi princeâ€"a 50-carat gemstone known simply as the “Blue Diamond.”

Saudi authorities alerted Thai police of the crime and the thief was quickly arrested, but not before he had sold some of the stolen gems on the black market. The remainder of the loot was promptly returned to the Saudi royal familyâ€"except more than half of the jewels had been replaced with crude fakes. Not only that, but the Blue Diamond was still missing and, to add insult to injury, the Thai police suggested it never existed in the first place.

In July 2012, Sirikit, the beloved queen of Thailand, suffered a stroke and hasn’t been seen in public since. That wouldn’t be suspicious in and of itself, were it not for the whispered rumors of a decades-long curse that traces its origins back to one of the most audacious jewel heists in history.