James Holmes' Evolving Appearance

Today is the second anniversary of the The Dark Knight Rises shooting on July 20, 2012. That mayhem took place in Theater 9 at the Century 16, in Aurora, Colorado, and left 12 people dead, 70 injured.

At top is James Holmes, during a March 2013 court appearance, showing his "new look." The photograph below is from a June 2013 court session.

Holmes reportedly converted to Islam and prays five times a day, noted 2013 news items. (See here, as well.)

Holmes' presentation of self has evolved since his arrest. 

(July 2012 left, September 2012 right).

On July 17, 2014, Circa wrote:

Witnesses at a pre-trial hearing discussing evidence told the court in Oct. 2013, that when James Holmes' bedroom was searched after the July 20, 2012, theater shooting, police found that his calendar had the date of the shooting marked "with a unique symbol."

Thomas McGrath of Dangerous Minds wrote an article, "The Copycat Effect: Meet the Man Who Predicted the Aurora Shooting," which captures well my experience of the event.

New Islamic Cry: "Destroy The Pyramids!"

This is getting serious. One of the objectives of the new Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt may be the destruction of the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt’s Great Pyramids—or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi’i, those “symbols of paganism,” which Egypt’s Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain’s “Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs” and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt’s new president, Muhammad Morsi, to “destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not.”

This is not anti-Islamic craziness. There is a reality for the fear of the loss of the Pyramids. Currently, in what the International Criminal Court is describing as a possible “war crime,” Islamic fanatics are destroying the ancient legacy of the city of Timbuktu in Mali—all to Islam’s triumphant war cry, “Allahu Akbar!”

Contemporary Muslims have already destroyed their ancestors’ heritage in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, and Tunisia. Read the full details here.

The taller Buddha of Bamiyan is shown before (left picture) and after the destruction (right) of March 2001 by the Taliban. Those are people shown at the bottom.

Site of the smaller Buddha was destroyed in 2005.

The two Buddhas had measured 55 and 37 metres (180 and 121 feet) high respectively.