Skull

Stupidity - like misery - loves company, and just to prove it, more than 300 motorcyclists went to Harrisburg this week to ask for the freedom to sustain even more permanent brain damage than they already have. Every year, they make the trek to the Capitol rotunda to protest the Pennsylvania law that requires them to wear helmets while they are hurtling down the highway on two wheels, with only the air to protect them from pavement, trees, road dividers and other vehicles. They make speeches about "freedom of choice, " and listen to also-not-so- bright legislators tell them that 21 is old enough to choose to mix brain parts with concrete.

Tab Ramos will be sidelined for a minimum of two months with a slight skull fracture and could be out of action for up to six months, a spokesman for the U.S. World Cup soccer team said yesterday. Ramos, a 27-year-old midfielder from Hillside, N.J., was injured when he was elbowed by Leonardo during Brazil's 1-0 victory on Monday at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif. Ramos was held overnight at Stanford University Medical Center and was released late yesterday. Ramos was to return the U.S. team's training base in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Goalie Mike Richter of the New York Rangers will miss at least two weeks with a broken bone in his skull, further hampering the team's playoff push. The team doesn't expect him back before the last two games of the regular season. Richter, a Germantown Academy graduate, was hit in the mask twice in the first three minutes of Friday's loss to the Florida Panthers. Elsewhere: The NHL has suspended Atlanta Thrashers center Dan Snyder for three games without pay for elbowing Ottawa's Sami Salo on Saturday.

Montgomery County detectives got some help from the Smithsonian Institution in identifying a skull and other human bones found in July in a wooded area of Upper Providence Township. The bones, which were found propped up against each other in a ritualistic arrangement, date back to the mid-1800s and were believed to have come from an old cemetery, Lt. John P. Durante, the county investigator on the case, said yesterday. With the help of Museum of Natural History forensic experts who examined the bones on Sept.

Two Philadelphia men accused of breaking into a mausoleum and stealing a skull were each sentenced to two years' probation and $500 fines yesterday in Delaware County Common Pleas Court. Thomas J. Jones and Bryan J. Cartwright, both 25, pleaded no contest yesterday to charges of abuse of a corpse and criminal conspiracy in connection with the July 19 break-in at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Yeadon Borough. Each also was ordered to pay $150 to repair the damaged mausoleum. Three witnesses - men who told the District Attorney's Office they were "socializing" at the cemetery after it had closed - said Cartwright, who lived at the cemetery and worked there as a backhoe operator, and Jones, an auto mechanic who lived in the 6800 block of Paschall Avenue, pickaxed their way into the mausoleum.

Inside an old freezer are hamburger buns, a box of beef patties, three raccoons and a gray fox. Next to that, a newer freezer. Inside: 300 frozen beaver feet, perhaps soon to be made into key chains (the front ones) or ashtrays (the back). "Honest to God, I'm a nice guy," said Paul Clark, 32, who runs Head Jobs, a custom skull-refinishing business in suburban Camden County. "It's a clean hobby. I'm not bothering anybody. It keeps me off the streets. " Small blessing.

A skull and a torso, wrapped in a brown blanket and tied with a white electrical cord, were found yesterday partially buried in the basement of a house three doors away from the North Philadelphia rowhouse where police have found six bodies and the leg and foot bones of a seventh. Police were unsure whether they had found the partial remains of an eighth victim or body parts that were once connected to the leg and foot bones discovered Monday on the roof of the rowhouse at 1631 N. 19th St. Police yesterday continued their search for Harrison "Marty" Graham, who lived in the third-floor apartment at 1631 where the six bodies were discovered Sunday.

A University of Pennsylvania alumnus found dead in a campus stairwell Sunday morning died of a fractured skull and multiple injuries in a fall, a Penn official announced yesterday. Police said that Michael E. Tobin, 26, a Phi Gamma Delta alumnus, was drinking with friends for several hours Saturday night at the fraternity house on Locust Walk near 36th Street. He was last seen about 4 a.m. Sunday in the fraternity house, according to school officials. A little more than two hours later, he was discovered at the bottom of the stairs at the rear entrance of the fraternity house by fraternity members.

ONE OF the first things you notice when you enter Pat Croce's Villanova home is the pirate memorabilia. Sure, there are some mementos from his days as owner of the Sixers and there is evidence of his fascination with the late Harry Houdini. But the skull and crossbones motif is everywhere. On the walls, pillows, his desk - even in his mouth, where a molar is tattooed with a tiny skull wrapped in a red bandanna. On the stairs leading to his spacious home office, each step is decorated with tiny skulls and crossbones.

Three major two-day gallery sales will take place over the next week, offering in addition to fine furniture and paintings such diverse items as ancient pottery and a narwhal skull that stands almost eight feet tall. One of the more noteworthy pieces of furniture is a centennial pedestal dining room table with three leaf inserts that will be offered at tomorrow's session of a two-day auction at the Barry S. Slosberg Inc. gallery, 2501 E. Ontario St. Such tables are generically referred to as Empire Revival, but Slosberg associate Rob Goldstein said this one may have been made by Daniel Pabst, a Philadelphia furniture-maker in the 1870s and '80s associated with high-style Eastlake.

WHEN IT COMES to pagan religions like Voodoo, Santeria and Palo Mayombe, sacrificing and eating chickens, goats and other livestock is no big deal. "It's virtually the same thing as having Easter Sunday dinner, only you're killing and preparing the animal yourself instead of buying it," said Eric Lee, co-owner of Mystickal Tymes, an occult store in New Hope. But it seems that some occultists in Chester County might have taken their celebration too far. According to evidence found by the county's SPCA, their menu may have included dog, a big no-no in the animal-sacrificing community.

SOME MIGHT say the peacoat never went out of style, but for the past few seasons this naval-inspired look has become even more popular for men and women. And while you can find them in many different colors, navy is still the classic look with guys rocking it with skull caps or fedoras and gals pairing their coats with scarves and boots. At I. Goldberg Army-Navy you can find the original and if it's accessible prices with some flair that you want, try H&M stores. Follow Reuben Harley on Twitter at @BigRubeHarley and at streetgazing.blogspot.com.

ONE OF the first things you notice when you enter Pat Croce's Villanova home is the pirate memorabilia. Sure, there are some mementos from his days as owner of the Sixers and there is evidence of his fascination with the late Harry Houdini. But the skull and crossbones motif is everywhere. On the walls, pillows, his desk - even in his mouth, where a molar is tattooed with a tiny skull wrapped in a red bandanna. On the stairs leading to his spacious home office, each step is decorated with tiny skulls and crossbones.

Last year, while a Penn team of archaeologists was working in Morocco, members uncovered a treasure beyond anything they'd imagined - a skeleton of a child from 108,000 years ago. They don't know what killed him at about age 8, but his remains are believed to be one of the most complete ever found of this period. The skeleton promises to open a window into a pivotal time in human evolution when Neanderthals still ruled Europe, and Africans were inventing art and symbolic thought.

Behind the "staff only" door at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, student interns are wheeling around carts of human skulls from nearly every corner of the globe. The collection contains 2,000 of them, many with carefully printed labels across the foreheads - Icelandic, Peruvian, Mexican Aztec. They form part of a famous - and infamous - collection amassed by Philadelphia physician/scientist Samuel Morton. Morton used them in the 1830s to make comparative measurements of skull volume - which were seized on by others to assert that whites were smarter than other races because they had bigger brains.

Divers in Aruba began searching Saturday for any signs of a submerged skeleton possibly photographed by a snorkeling Lancaster County woman. Investigators hope the photograph might be a break in the much-publicized disappearance of Natalee Holloway, an Alabama high school student who disappeared during a graduation trip in 2005. The initial search found nothing significant, so authorities are hoping the FBI can get Patti Muldowney, and her husband, John, to help pinpoint the location, Aruba's deputy police chief, Adolpho Richardson, told the Birmingham (Ala.

Charlenni Ferreira suffered so many injuries that an assistant medical examiner needed more than half an hour to catalog them during a preliminary hearing yesterday. With the aid of gruesome autopsy photos and a collection of X-rays, the doctor methodically detailed the 10-year-old's wounds, from the fracture on the top of her skull to the bruising down her leg. "She has to be in heaven, she has to be an angel, because her life on Earth was a living hell," said Municipal Court Judge Patrick F. Dugan.

Police are investigating a case of possible animal cruelty after the remains of 75 animals and a large altar composed of primate skulls were found yesterday inside a house in the city's Feltonville section. The animals are believed to have been sacrificed as part of satanic worship and Santeria rituals, investigators said. Pentagrams were also seen in the house. The remains included bones of a variety of animals, including sheep, goats, and chickens, police said. Authorities also removed the decomposing remains of what appeared to be two small primates, probably monkeys.

An Upper Darby man wanted in the beating of his 3-month-old son has surrendered to police. Henry Paris III, 32, remained in custody yesterday, charged in the Nov. 24 attack on Henry Paris IV, who was in stable condition at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Paris arrived at Upper Darby police headquarters late Friday with relatives, Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. "He's facing significant charges: aggravated and simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, endangering the welfare of a child, causing serious bodily injury to a child," Chitwood said.

Upper Darby police were searching yesterday for a man accused of beating his 3-month-old son, causing brain damage that could be permanent. Henry Paris III, 32, of the 3700 block of Taylor Avenue in Drexel Hill, fled Thursday night in a white Nissan sedan bearing Pennsylvania tag GWK-2718. He is wanted on charges including aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child, and could face up to 20 years in prison, said Police Superintendent Michael J. Chitwood. Police believe Paris may have fled to New York City, where he has friends.