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UFO ABDUCTED TOWN RESIDENTS IN 1965 SAYS AUTHOR

Were you in Grantham on the evening of November 9, 1965?

Yes? Then you were abducted by aliens but inconveniently have had the memory wiped, according to a new book. Indeed, only a cover-up by the Journal and all the usual Government suspects has prevented the story being told ... until now.

Asylum – The Definitive UFO and Alien Abduction Experience is written by Anthony R. Mallin and claims to be based on the story of a real person, Clive Powers, who as a boy in 1960 was groomed by the aliens when they touched down in Syston five years earlier.

When the Grantham landing happened in Green Lane, Powers suffered the torment of abduction while 'drawn' out to the site with his mate.

He was sent to Rauceby and thence to an asylum in Croydon where his memory was agonizingly unraveled by a mysterious psychiatrist.

It can be difficult to follow what's going on and it's difficult to check as the author claims names have been changed, oddly, to avoid "possible contraventions" of the Official Secrets Act. Perhaps there might have been greater concerns about making enemies from further afield.

But there are plenty of place names and so on to tickle the fancy of the Grantham reader, even if you were lucky enough not to get whisked away on that evening 40 years ago.

Powers, who seemed to live in both Hamilton Road and Melbourne Road, went to Belton Lane Primary School and St Wulfram's (where some pretty amazing things happened). He worked at Parnell's TV shop and there is, inevitably, a big Ministry of Defense cover-up surrounding RAF Spitalgate and possibly the goings-on at Barkston Heath.

But the real villains of the piece are at the Journal. When our intrepid hero is attempting to research what really happened he is met by sinister questions.

"They wanted to know who we were and where we were from and how to make contact with us. Without thinking twice we agreed to supplying our contact details to them.

"Looking back that was stupid. Even now we don't actually know who these people were and we immediately realized my quest for the truth was no longer a private matter."

Hmmm. Actually that quote has been adjusted, because the author has difficulty knowing when to use full stops and when to start new sentences which adds to the rambling nature of the narrative and the suspicion that he might just be completely barking.

But the camera never lies, surely? If you find yourself having a skeptical moment, or if you're struggling to work out just what's going on, you can flick to the end of the book to see the pictures of the aliens.

Let me nail my colors to the mast. I say it didn't happen ... but then in my position I would, wouldn't I?

SOURCE: Grantham Journal
http://www.granthamtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=833&ArticleID=1553520
Conspiracy Journal 6/16/06 #370
http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal370.html

ALIEN IMPLANT REMOVAL SURGERY

On December the 5th 2003, A&S. Research and Dr. Roger Leir performed the eleventh surgery for removal of an object suspected of being an Alien Implant. Most readers might be aware of the long hiatus since the last surgery. This was due to limited funds and our concentration on other non-surgical cases such as the Gary Lowery case, which involved the expensive DNA research, reported on in the last issue of the journal. Because A&S Research, a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization depends solely on contributions and grants to operate coupled with the fact no charges are made to any of the surgical patients, places a limitation on the amount of research performed. The sale of all our educational material, including videos and books can be obtained through our website, (Alienscalpel.com) or by calling, 805-495-2613. In addition to the knowledge gained by the reader or viewer, the costs may be used as a bonified tax-deductible contribution. Also it should be known, there are no lack of individuals who fit the stringent pattern of abduction for us to operate on. Our e-mail continues to run about 300 hundred behind per month and contain numerous requests for possible implant investigations.

Approximately one and half years ago a lady e-mailed me about a friend of hers who she stated might fit the criteria for an implant removal. When we receive calls from individuals who write us about so-called friends, we are always suspicious they might actually be talking about themselves. Our experience has taught us that most abductees do not want to admit they are involved with the phenomena and remain quite reclusive. In this case however, the person was telling the truth. She did indeed, have a close friend who was having experiences that indicated an involvement with Alien Abduction. Many months passed before a direct communication occurred between the patient and myself. It took about one month of e-mails to finally break down the barrier, which allowed the patient to trust me with her telephone number.

Because of promised anonymity, we shall refer to her as Brenda. It took several months of continued telephone calls and e-mails to actually determine if Brenda was a candidate for the next step. She was then sent a large package, containing questions which when evaluated would indicate the extent of her involvement.

For many years, this 44-year-old female appeared to be having strange dreams involving visitations of creatures and other representative associations with the abduction phenomena. She was able to draw quite accurately a figure she saw in her bedroom that woke her out of a deep sleep by choking her. She asked him why he was doing what he did and he simply stated, “I’m just trying to wake you up.” The Being she illustrated in her drawing was what we have come to know as a “Preying Mantis Being”. She stated she could see him quite clearly and described him in her drawing with much detail.

There also was a history of her association with other Beings. In addition a strong history of other characteristics associated with the phenomena such as strange body markings, fears of Bears, a strong dislike of circuses and clowns, desire for salty foods, aversion to strong lights in a medical setting such as the light above a dental chair and the necessity for her dentist to use large amounts of anesthesia to accomplish his task.

Next, she explained she had a strange metallic object somewhere in her mouth. Brenda told us she had numerous x-rays taken by her dentist and was questioned about the object. She told him she knew nothing about its origin or how it could have gotten inside her mouth. They were uncertain as to the exact location of the object due to the dental views taken. I asked her to send the films for evaluation and she complied. We then used dental consultants on our panel of specialists to review the films and give us an opinion. What seemed to me initially to be a very simple diagnostic assignment became more complex because they were not able to determine the exact location of the object. In one view it would appear to be in the gum area and in other views it appeared to be in the soft tissue of the lining of the mouth. I then asked Brenda to have more x-ray views taken according to the wishes of our dental experts. She complied without hesitation or argument. Finally she was requested to have a CAT scan performed. When this data arrived the dental consults agreed the object was in her cheek. At that point all the reports and films were taken to out radiological expert. He determined the object was about 6mm in length and about 1mm in thickness, located superficial to one of the facial muscles and relatively close to the skin of the right cheek.

Once this information was in our hands, the case was fully evaluated by our scientific panel. We then agreed to perform the surgery for removal of the object. It should be noted, as with the other surgeries we have performed, Brenda had never undergone regressive hypnosis to advance her memories. We have come to believe, if the process of abduction goes according to plan, then the victim is to have no memory of the event or events whatsoever. In many instances the surgical patient determines he or she would like to have this procedure performed and so we try and help by arranging a hypnotic regression at sometime following the surgical extraction. In Brenda’s case, we called Budd Hopkins, who in turn conversed with her at length on the telephone. He agreed to arrange a session with her after the surgery was performed, sometime in January of 2004. We will continue to share pertinent information with Budd during the time in-between the surgery and his regression.

Brenda arrived in California a couple of days before the day of the surgery so that we could evaluate her laboratory tests and perform other tests necessary to better understand the object contained within her cheek. A gauss meter was used to determine if there was an electromagnetic field surrounding the object. We physically took the patient out into a parking lot, away from any electromagnetic sources and determined there was a field surrounding the object of 2.5 mill gauss. In addition, with the use of a Radio Frequency Detector, we determined there were emanations coming from her cheek that registered at 92.7 and 102.9 megahertz. Also, using a small compact instrument, which measures density, we were able to pin point the exact location of the object. What does all this mean? To be quite frank, I would have to say we do not know. It is data that will have to be evaluated down the line and then compared to the findings from other patients. We have had several other cases in which there were electromagnetic fields surrounding the object but have never had the opportunity to look for radio frequencies.

After evaluating all the laboratory data it was determined that Brenda was in satisfactory physical health and the surgery could go forward. On December the 5th, her surgery was performed. If it were not for the fact we had use of a sophisticated and new Fluoroscan Unit, we would have never been able to remove the object. The surgeon placed an instrument into the wound and we observed the object along with the metallic instrument on a television screen. We all stood dumbfounded as we watched the small metallic object simply turn and dance away from the instrument. For almost an hour a very frustrated and patient surgical team painstakingly sought to grasp this illusive metallic rod. Suddenly there it was, between the teeth of the instrument and came to the surface easily, seemingly attached to nothing. What is the explanation for all the illusive movement? Was it simply due to the object’s magnetic field or was there some other reason we do not understand?

I removed the object from the surgical sponge and placed it in the solution of blood serum for safekeeping and transportation. When this was done I noted the stainless steel instrument I had just used to transfer the object had been magnetized. This again is strange because these instruments are made to reduce the possibility of this occurring.

The patient is recovering nicely from the procedure and has gone home to her family. We have just sent the soft tissue surrounding the object to the laboratory for analysis. The metallic object is about 6mm in length and is about 1mm in diameter. It is bronze in color and seems to have thickened and beveled ends. It is very lightweight and highly magnetic. Once close up photographs have been performed with such equipment as the atomic force microscope, the object will go for its first internal test of scanning electron microscopy. The full results of these examinations will be available in the MUFON Journal at a later date.

SOURCE: http://www.alienscalpel.com/MUFON.htm

~AND~

Alien Implant Removal: Surgery Pictures

All images by Michael Portanova, photographer for A & S Research.
#1 (l to r) George Noory, Tom Danheiser, Dr. Roger Leir
        http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205b.jpg
#2 Surgery image
      http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205c.jpg
#3 Surgery image
        http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/sugery1205d.jpg
#4 Surgery image
      http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205e.jpg
#5 Implant (near scissors at top)
        http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205g.jpg
#6 Close-up of Implant
        http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205f.jpg
#7 George Noory & Dr. Leir
        http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/surgery1205a.jpg

SOURCE: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2003/12/05.html#pics

~AND~

Alien Implant Removal Surgery December 15, 2003

"I've got to tell you, this was very fascinating," said George Noory, who earlier in the day had attended an "alien implant" removal operation, that was overseen by Dr. Roger Leir (alienscalpel.com), the guest for the first half of Friday's show.

Brenda, the patient who had the implant, told George that over the years she had spotted entities in her bedroom, and had had one particularly haunting encounter with a winged humanoid who floated 5ft. off the ground. Dental X-rays eventually revealed the implant which was embedded in the cheek area under her eye.

The operation, of which an audio portion was played on the show, proved to be difficult, Dr. Leir said, as the implant seemed to move every time they attempted to dislodge it. Leir and his associates were aided by the use of a fluoroscan, which allowed them to view the small metallic object during the procedure.

"Thank God for that," said Brenda after the removal of the foreign object which was found to be 3-4mm in length. In previous implant removals, lab results possibly indicated the objects may be a type of nanotechnology, said Leir, whose best guess as to their purpose is that they are "devices for measuring genetic changes about the body," probably of "non-terrestrial" origin.

SOURCE: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2003/12/05.html

~AND~

UPDATE: Dr. Roger discusses findings from 2005 alien implant removal surgery
Coast to Coast Friday March 24th, 2006

Alien Implant Update
In the second half-hour, George Noory was joined by surgeon Dr. Roger Leir, who discussed findings from an alien implant removal surgery he performed on December 5, 2003.

Leir described the removed object as a magnetic, metallic rod, 6mm in length with distinctive groove lines. Scanning electronic microscopy and x-ray diffraction tests revealed the implant was composed primarily of iron with an amorphous structure, which Leir said was odd for something that was highly magnetic.

For his appearance, Dr. Leir provided several images showing an alien implant he removed from his patient:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_1a.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_2.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_3.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_4.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_5.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_6.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_7.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_8.jpg
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/leir_images032406_9.jpg

Leir stayed on through the second hour to take listeners' calls and also talked about a movie he is currently developing called Earth's Original Sin. In the final hour, George played audio from the December 5th implant removal operation, which he and Coast line producer Tom Danheiser attended.

NOTE: Audio clips with more information are available to paid Coast to Coast subscribers.

SOURCE: http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2006/03/24.html

CANADA: COMMERCIAL PILOT REPORT

Calgary -- Barb Campbell writes she received this report:
"I am an airline Captain with Westjet Airlines. As a pilot I love taking pictures of airplanes and the sky that surrounds us. I took the attached picture of the winglet on one of our Boeing 737 NG aircraft on a flight to Calgary at 41,000 feet while seated, as a passenger, in the last row of the airplane."

IMAGE: http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/23canpilot.jpg

When I saw the nice reflection the Sun was making on the winglet I was ready and fired the shot with my Panasonic DMC-FZ 30 camera. To my surprise when I looked at the picture in my computer at home I noticed a dot on the upper right corner so I proceeded to zoom on it and realized that perhaps there was a distant "object" in the picture.

I would like to ask you if you could study this picture and let me know what you think of it. I have to admit that while I have never seen a UFO in my 37 years of flying, I am a firm believer that we are not alone in this Universe. I am sending 2 pictures, the original size and one that will fit on your screen.
- - -
Barb Campbell, investigator Saskatchewan Paranormal Research Centre (formerly NWSURC)
Photos are Copyright (C)2006 F. H. and can be viewed at (photo resized) www.ufo-connection.com

SOURCE: Filer's Files #23 - 7 June 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_84.php
 

NON-TERRESTRIAL OFFICERS?
Hacker Uncovered US Off-Planet Space Navy
6-15-6

Rense Note - This is - possibly - a profoundly important development. If Mr. McKinnon's data and assumption are correct, it validates what I and others have been postulating for many years: that the US Navy/Military may well be operating off-planet via back-engineered ET technology (or WWII German?) for a long time ... long enough to have a 'fleet' of space craft and officers to either man them or otherwise control them. For those who remember the Clementine mission, you will recall it was a US Navy project which micro-mapped the entire Moon. If McKinnon stumbled onto a secret file of 'Non-Terrestrial Officers' ... it would, indeed, suggest the US Military has been quietly, efficiently, secretly running off-planet operations for a long time. - JR

Sploid.com
6-15-6

Gary McKinnon, the English hacker facing 70 years in U.S. prison for searching Pentagon sites for UFO evidence, says the weirdest thing he found was a list of "Non-Terrestrial Officers" and fleet transfers between ships that don't exist in the U.S. Navy.

'I found a list of officers' names,' he claims, 'under the heading Non-Terrestrial Officers.'

'Non-Terrestrial Officers?'

'Yeah, I looked it up,' says Gary, 'and it's nowhere. It doesn't mean little green men. What I think it means is not earth-based. I found a list of fleet-to-fleet transfers, and a list of ship names. I looked them up. They weren't U.S. navy ships. What I saw made me believe they have some kind of spaceship, off-planet.'

SOURCE: http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/07/hacker_uncovere.php
 http://rense.com/general72/totp.htm
 

ANCIENT CALENDAR UNEARTHED IN PERU
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News

June 2, 2006— Archaeologists have discovered an enormous prehistoric calendar, formed by sculptures arranged in a circle, at the Temple of the Fox in Buena Vista, Peru.

The calendar, which dates to 2200 B.C., is the oldest known structure of its kind found in the Americas. Similar monuments erected by the Mayans of Mexico have also been found, but those have dated to approximately 2,000 years ago.

There have been European versions too.

“Early solstice markers are known in Ireland with dates earlier than Buena Vista, but not, to my knowledge, with multiple instruments,” said Robert Benfer, who oversaw the project and is a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

“The most famous would be the case of (Egyptian ruler) Amenhotep, who at 1,500 B.C. had statues erected to gaze at the solstice when the Nile was about to flood,” Benfer said.

The Peruvian calendar would have been a dramatic sight for onlookers 4,000 years ago. Its towering sculptures— made of mud plaster mixed with grass and covered with clay— were painted bright yellow and red.

The researchers presented the findings recently at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Benfer told Discovery News the temple and its sculptures seem linked to astronomical alignments that would have guided practitioners of flood plain agriculture, which persists in the region.

Major celestial events, such as the rising and setting of the sun during equinoxes and solstices, would have drawn lines connecting points at the temple’s entrance, sculptures, surrounding ridges and chambers.

One chamber creates a line aimed toward the rising sun on Dec. 21, which marks the season when floodwaters begin to rise. On March 21, when these waters recede, the same line points towards the Andean constellation of the fox.

Field director Neil Duncan, who worked with Peruvian archaeologist Bernardino Ojeda, told Discovery News the chambers contained remnants of offerings.

“The offerings primarily consist of plant remains: cotton and cotton seeds, fruits such as lucuma and guava, squash and gourds, beans and grass,” Duncan explained.

He added that a sunken pit in the center of the temple also contained shellfish, crab and mussel shells, and anchovy-sized fish bones.

“These are like ritual offerings, given the context in which we found them,” Duncan said. “This type of ritual, where food or other offerings are given to a deity or deities to appease them or secure supernatural insurance, are ubiquitous all over the world.”

The researchers found no evidence of human sacrifice, but they did discover a cotton-shrouded mummy of a woman in the fetal position.

“It is a very ancient Andean tradition to bury dead in places of power,” explained Duncan. “This site certainly would fit the bill.”

Perhaps the most striking object found at the temple was a large personified disk that frowns at the sunset on June 21, the traditional start of the harvest.

The ancients may have enjoyed a bit of dry humor, given all of the upcoming work.

Hugo Ludeña, a researcher at the Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal in Lima, however, thinks the frowning face represents Pacha Mama, an Earth mother goddess who became sad when the sun set.

Benfer and his team plan to continue excavations at the Buena Vista site this summer.

SOURCE: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/06/02/calendar_arc.html?
category=archaeology&guid=20060602094621
 

STONE TOOLS USED TO BACK 'HOBBIT' THEORY
By Steve Connor, Science Editor 01 June 2006

Scientists have produced further evidence to support the idea that a miniature species of human, nicknamed "the hobbit", lived on a remote Indonesian island until becoming extinct more than 10,000 years ago.

The latest study suggests the one meter-high creatures could make fairly sophisticated stone tools despite having brains no bigger than grapefruits.

Specialists are divided over ancient bones found in a cave on the island of Flores which seem to suggest that another human species lived alongside Homo sapiens as recently as 12,000 years ago.

Skeletal remains of the creature - formally named Homo floresiensis - suggested that adults walked upright, were about 3ft tall and, unlike modern-day pygmies, had a small head in perfect proportion to the rest of the body.

The most important specimen recovered from the floor of the cave at Liang Bua in Flores was of a complete skull, although the bones of about eight other individuals have also been dug out and analyzed.

The skull is so small that it can fit neatly into the palm of a hand. It has a cranial capacity of just 400 cubic centimeters - about two or three times smaller than the brain of modern humans.

Skeptics have argued that a creature with such a small brain could not have possibly made the fine stone tools found at the same level in the cave sediments - and presumably buried at the same time that H. floresiensis had lived there.

Proponents of the hobbit concept have suggested that the creature used the tools to hunt and butcher the miniature elephants, giant komodo dragons and oversized rats, whose remains were also found alongside the human bones.

However, last month skeptics poured scorn on the idea, saying that the skull belonged to a person with microcephaly, a congenital disease resulting in exceptionally small skulls and stunted growth.

James Phillips, professor of anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that it was wrong to suggest that the stone tools could have been made by earlier species of humans, such as Homo erectus, a creature that evolved more than 1.8 million years ago and predated modern humans by many hundreds of thousands of years.

"These tools are so advanced that there is no way they were made by anyone other than Homo sapiens," Professor Phillips said.

Now, however, another team of stone-tool experts has cast doubt on this judgment, saying that similar stone tools have been uncovered on the island that clearly predate the arrival of modern Homo sapiens.

Adam Brumm of the Australian National University in Canberra and his colleagues report in the journal Nature that they have found hundreds of almost identical stone tools at a site called Mata Menge just 30 miles away from the Liang Bua cave. They say the tools are between 700,000 and 840,000 years old - too old to have been made by Homo sapiens - and that the production techniques are practically identical to that used at Liang Bua 18,000 years ago.

"The Mata Menga evidence negates claims that stone artifacts associated with H. floresiensis are so complex that they must have been made by modern humans," the scientists say. "Despite being separated by 30 miles and at least 700,000 years, there are remarkable similarities between the stone artifact assemblage from Mata Menge and that found with H. floresiensis at Liang Bua."

No human remains have yet been found at Mata Menge so it is not clear who made the stone tools found at the site, but the scientists point to the only known possibility - Homo erectus. They suggest H. floresiensis could therefore be a direct descendent of H. erectus and that the knowledge of how to make the stone tools was passed down the generations to descendants who had evolved into a miniature form.

"Pronouncements that H. floresiensis lacked the brain size necessary to make stone artifacts are therefore based on preconceptions rather than evidence," the researchers say.

Bones of contention
PILTDOWN MAN: The skull and stone tools of an apparent ape-man were dug from gravel deposits in Piltdown, East Sussex between 1911 and 1915 and were soon declared the "missing link" between apes and humans. In 1953, a study showed that the artifacts were elaborate forgeries, a mixture of human and primate bones. One of biggest scientific discoveries in human origins was declared an embarrassing hoax.

TOUMAI MAN: French scientists discovered a six to seven million-year-old skull in northern Chad in 2002. Formally named Sahelanthropus tchadensis, the creature became the oldest known member of the human family. Other scientists later dismissed it as belonging to an extinct species of ape who did not habitually walk on two legs, a distinguishing characteristic of the human family. The journal Science, however, voted the discovery its Breakthrough of the Year.

DMANISI MAN: Scientists discovered several skulls of early humans dating to about 1.8 million years ago near Dmanisi in Georgia. The small-brained creatures belonged to a species called Homo erectus and reignited the debate over early human migrations. One theory is that Homo erectus died out and was replaced by Homo sapiens, another theory is that the two species interbred and modern humans evolved not solely in Africa but in several regions of the world.

SOURCE: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article622749.ece
 

HUMAN PORTRAIT IN PREHISTORIC VILHONNEUR CAVE (Charente)
2-June-2006

The artistic expertise achieved in the prehistoric cave at Vilhonneur (Charente) "confirms the major importance of this site," stated the regional archeology service of Poitou-Charente.

The interest lies "in the association between the paintings and the contemporary human remains" that date back to the upper Paleolithic period, 27000 years ago. The site was discovered in December 2005 by a group of spelunkers, 25 kilometers from Angoulême.

Jean-Yves Baratin, archaeology curator for the Poitou-Charentes region, underscored the significance of the human skeleton having been placed on the ground inside a decorated room. This is only the second time that human remains of that period were placed in rooms decorated with cave paintings.

A similar site was discovered in 2001 in Cussac (Dordogne), a cave that experts have said was as important for engravings as paintings are for the famed Lascaux caves. The Lascaux Cave is in Montignac, in the southwest Dordogne region. It has long been considered one of the finest examples of cave art. However, that art dates to 13,000 years, making the Vilhonneur art much older. Another cave, Chauvet, discovered in the mid-1990s in southeast France, features some 300 examples of Paleolithic animal art, some dating back 31,000 years.

The remains at Vilhonneur are those of a young man. It has not yet been determined if the cave was a tomb.

The Vilhonneur cave features a series of paintings, including one in which a human hand, drawn with manganese or charcoal, is imprinted on the wall by adding color around it.

A single painted face found in the cave also could be among the oldest graphic representations of the human face. This unusual portrait, which could be of a man, was drawn by a painter who "knew how to use an abnormality on the surface of the cave wall and drew a face with four black features," explained Baratin. A solidified mass surrounding the painted elements may represent hair.

The site consists of two 9 square-meter chambers; one where the paintings were discovered and one where the remains of five hyenas were found. Archaeologists think that this may be part of a network of caves yet to be discovered.

Due to scientific interest in the prehistoric cave, the government took over ownership on May 12. The priority is "for exploration and scientific research, and therefore for the preservation of the site," explained the Prefect of Charente, Michel Bilaud.

Vilhonneur cave will not be opened to the public.

SOURCE: http://cultureetloisirs.france2.fr/patrimoine/actu/21712571-fr.php
and http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1711938,00050003.htm
 

ANCIENT ROCK ART MAY DEPICT EXPLODING STAR
By Ker Than, SPACE.com
June 6, 2006

(SPACE.com) -- A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star explosion seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today. If confirmed, the rock carving, or "petroglyph" would be the only known record in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006.

The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside Phoenix, in an area believed to have been occupied by a group of Native Americans called the Hohokam from about 500 to 1100 A.D. The finding is being announced today at the 208th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Calgary, Canada.

Night light
In the spring of 1006, stargazers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe recorded the birth of a "new star" above the southern horizon of the night sky, in the constellation Lupus, just south of Scorpio.

Unknown to them, what those ancient astronomers were actually witnessing was the swan song of a star as it blew itself apart in a violent explosion called a supernova.

Although nearly invisible today, the supernova of 1006, or SN 1006, was perhaps the brightest stellar event ever to occur in recorded human history. At its peak, the supernova was about the quarter the brightness of the moon, so radiant that people could have read by its light at midnight, scientists say.

The Hohokam petroglyph depicts symbols of a scorpion and stars that match a model showing the relative positions of the supernova with respect to the constellation Scorpius. The model was created by John Barentine, an astronomer at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico and Gilbert Esquerdo, a research assistant at the Planetary Science Institute in Arizona.

"If confirmed, this discovery supports the idea that ancient Native Americans were aware of changes in the night sky and moved to commemorate them in their cultural record," said Barentine, who studies Southwest archeology as a hobby.

Astronomer by day
Barentine thinks the finding could also help archeologists date other petroglyphs in the Southwest and elsewhere in the world. Dating art made by prehistoric Native Americans has traditionally been difficult because many did not have a written language and shared little in common with the culture and folklore of tribes that came later.

"Quantitative methods such as carbon-14 dating are alternative means to assign ages to works of prehistoric art, but they lack precision of more than a few decades, so any depiction in art that can be fixed to a specific year is extremely valuable," Barentine said.

A similar petroglyph discovered near Penasco Blanco in Chaco Canyon National Monument, New Mexico is also believed to represent a supernova, but one that occurred later, on July 4, 1054.

SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/06/05/rock.art/
 

EGYPTIAN TOMB REVEALS FLOWERS, NOT MUMMIES
Friday, June 30, 2006

Dug deep into white rock, the tomb is known only by the acronym KV63 -- the 63rd tomb found in the valley, a desert region near the southern city of Luxor used as a burial ground for pharaohs, queens and nobles between 1500 and 1000 BC

LUXOR - The Associated Press - Archaeologists hoped the first tomb discovered in the Valley of the Kings in 80 years would hold the mummy of King Tut's mother. They opened the last of eight sarcophagi, revealing no mummies but finding something almost as valuable: embalming materials and ancient woven flowers.

Hushed researchers craned their necks and media scuffled inside the stiflingly hot underground stone chamber on Wednesday as Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass slowly cracked open the coffin's lid -- for what scientists believe is the first time in more than 3,000 years.

But instead of a mummy, as archaeologists had expected, the coffin revealed a tangle of fabric and rusty-colored dehydrated flowers woven together in laurels that looked likely to crumble to dust if touched.

"I prayed to find a mummy, but when I saw this, I said it's better -- it's really beautiful," said Nadia Lokma, chief curator of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The flowers were likely the remains of garlands, often entwined with gold strips, that ancient Egyptian royals wore around their shoulders in both life and death, she said.

"It's very rare -- there's nothing like it in any museum. We've seen things like it in drawings, but we've never seen this before in real life -- it's magnificent," Lokma said.

Dug deep into white rock, the tomb is known only by the acronym KV63 -- the 63rd tomb found in the valley, a desert region near the southern city of Luxor used as a burial ground for pharaohs, queens and nobles between 1500 and 1000 B.C.

The burial chamber was discovered accidentally last year by U.S. archaeologists working on the neighboring tomb of Amenmeses, a late 19th Dynasty pharaoh. It was the first uncovered since the famed tomb of King Tutankhamen in 1922.

"For decades, archaeologists have been cleaning up tombs that were found earlier, so it's very exciting to discover something new," said Otto Schaden, an Egyptologist from the University of Memphis, who found the tomb and heads excavations there.

Scientists cut a hole in the tomb's door and got their first glimpse into the 12-foot-by-15-foot (3 1/2-meter-by-4 1/2-meter) chamber in February. At the time, they believed it contained seven sarcophagi, but Lokma said a total of eight were inside.

Since then, the lids of seven of the coffins -- including a tiny one built for an infant and filled with feather-stuffed pillows -- were peeled back one by one, revealing pottery shards and fabric but no mummies.

With the last opened on Wednesday, the tomb still had more mysteries than answers.

Lokma hoped hieroglyphs would help scientists identify who the coffins and tomb were made for and what happened to the bodies.

Termites had long ago devoured the wood of the final sarcophagus, leaving only a tenth-of-an-inch-thick crust of resin frozen in the likeness of its anonymous owner. Archaeologists strengthened the coffin by coating it with white strips before opening it.

They will now begin analyzing the contents and transport the newly opened coffin and two others up a steep shaft to higher ground, where the five other sarcophagi have already been placed and where guards stand watch 24 hours a day, Lokma said.

Sixteen of the 28 funeral jars found in the tomb also have yet to be opened.

The discovery broke the long-held belief that nothing is left to dig up in the Valley of the Kings.

Hawass, who heads the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, said he believed the new tomb could have belonged to King Tut's mother. Closely related Egyptian royals tended to be buried near each other and graves of the rest of Tut's family have already been found, he said.

"It would make sense, his tomb is so close that it looks like he chose to be buried next to his mother," who died years before the young king, Hawass said.

The tomb may also have been used as a secret embalming chamber under later pharaohs before being forgotten for centuries, Lokma said.

Though the new discovery did not compare with the marvels of golden masks, jewels and statues found in Tut's tomb, experts said it was a major scientific discovery that could ultimately catapult understanding of ancient Egypt.

"These discoveries are always very thrilling, because they give us a new glimpse into the ancient Egyptians' universe, and can push scientific research forward," Lokma said.

SOURCE: http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=47580
 

ASTRONOMERS GET FIRST GOOD LOOK AT NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID
June 2, 2006

Last November the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa made the first ever attempt to land on an asteroid and collect a sample to bring back to Earth. Although it is not yet known whether the sampling was successful, the mission has provided scientists with an unprecedented close-up view of a near-Earth asteroid, detailed in several papers published today in the journal Science.

The asteroid Itokawa is typical of the thousands of asteroids with Earth-crossing orbits. "This mission is so important because it's the first visit we've ever had to an asteroid of this size. It's the smallest, most common type of asteroid. It's the size that we care about. If one of these strikes the earth, it could potentially cause a global catastrophe," says Erik Asphaug, an asteroid expert at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who is not associated with the mission.

Roughly 500 meters long, Itokawa is composed of loosely packed rocky rubble, barely held together under the asteroid's own gravity. Despite predictions by some experts that most asteroids should have such a rubble-pile structure (the result of millions of years of deep space collisions), this is the first time an asteroid of this type has been directly observed. Those studied previously were all found to be solid chunks of rock. Itokawa, however, probably coalesced out of the debris from collisions between these larger objects. Like all asteroids, its mineral composition offers a glimpse of the building blocks of the solar system. Earth and the other inner planets formed from chunks of rock that were similar to Itokawa, made up of the silicates olivine and pyroxene, as well as iron.

Though the Hayabusa mission's data collection was a tremendous success, the scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are less certain about the sampling attempts. A small amount of debris may have been captured as the spacecraft bounced off the asteroid in the first of two touchdowns, so the JAXA team is now attempting to steer it back to Earth. The craft, however, was seriously crippled in a series of setbacks; with no battery power and very little fuel, it will no longer arrive next summer as originally planned. Scientists will have to wait until 2010 to examine what could be the first bits of asteroid ever brought to Earth. --Karen Schrock

SOURCE: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=
0000CA06-5BDC-147F-9A7083414B7F4945

~AND~

ASTEROID PROVIDES PRISTINE RECORD OF SOLAR SYSTEM'S HISTORY
by Staff Writers
Ann Arbor MH (SPX) Jun 02, 2006

A small, near-Earth asteroid named Itokawa is just a pile of floating rubble, probably created from the breakup of an ancient planet, according to a University of Michigan researcher was part of the Japanese space mission Hayabusa.

The finding suggests that asteroids created from rubble would be pristine records of early planet formation.

Daniel Scheeres, U-M associate professor of aerospace engineering, was part of the team that determined the asteroid's mass, surface environment, and gravitational pull and helped interpret the images that were taken of the asteroid from the spacecraft. Some of the findings will be discussed in a special issue of the journal Science on June 2. The mission is led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

The Hayabusa space probe arrived at asteroid Itokawa last fall and orbited for three months. During that time it descended twice to the surface of the asteroid, which is named for the father of Japanese rocketry, to collect samples.

In 2010 the probe will return to Earth and eject a sample canister that will reenter the atmosphere and land in central Australia. Researchers hope this will be the first asteroid sample brought back to Earth.

Scheeres said that the confirmation of Itokawa's makeup as rubble rather than a single rock has large implications for theories of how asteroids evolved, and will lead to a better understanding of the early solar system. Asteroids are thought to be the remnants of material that formed the inner planets, which include Earth, and could bear the record of events in the early stages of planet formation.

It is a significant finding that Itokawa is a pile of rocks ranging in size from tiny sand grains all the way up to boulders 50 meters wide, because it verifies a number of theories about the makeup and history of asteroids.

The existence of very large boulders and pillars suggests that an earlier "parent" asteroid was shattered by a collision and then re-formed into a rubble pile, the researchers conclude in the paper.

It's likely that most asteroids have a similar past, Scheeres said. "Analysis of the asteroid samples will give us a snapshot of the early solar system, and provide valuable clues on how the planets were formed."

Also, knowing if an asteroid is a single, big rock or a pile of rubble will have a major influence on how to nudge it off course, Scheeres said, should its orbit be aimed at Earth. An asteroid collision with Earth, while unlikely, could have disastrous consequences. It's widely thought that an asteroid collision caused the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, so some have discussed ways to demolish or steer an approaching asteroid, should we see one coming.

Another striking finding, Scheeres said, is that regions of Itokawa's surface are smooth, "almost like a sea of desert sand" and others are very rugged. This indicates that the surfaces of asteroids are, in some sense, active, with material being moved from one region to another. Gravity holds the mass of rubble together.

"These are the first such detailed observations of an asteroid from this close," Scheeres said.

SOURCE: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/
Asteroid_Provides_Pristine_Record_Of_Solar_Systems_History.html
 

NORWAY METEOR IMPACT
10-Jun-2006

The Aftenposten newspaper in Norway reports [article below] that early Wednesday morning, the country was struck by a meteor that had the explosive force of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. The meteor hit the side of a mountain. There are no reports of damage or casualties, but if the impact was as great as it appears, it is one of the most significant such events in decades.

Aftenposten quoted Norwegian astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard as saying, "There were ground tremors, a house shook and a curtain was blown into the house. This is simply exceptional. I cannot imagine that we have had such a powerful meteorite impact in Norway in modern times. If the meteorite was as large as it seems to have been, we can compare it to the Hiroshima bomb. Of course the meteorite is not radioactive, but in explosive force we may be able to compare it to the (atomic) bomb." Ødegaard seemed surprised by the fact that no astronomer anywhere in the world was aware that this meteor was on its way.

Ødegaard said the meteorite was visible for over 100 miles. Despite the fact that in summer, the midnight sky in Norway stays lit up by the sun, the meteor flash was witnessed by almost everyone in the country. Residents of the northern part of Norway, especially, reported seeing a "ball of fire" that took several seconds to streak across the sky.

Peter Bruvold, who caught the meteor on camera, says, "I saw a brilliant flash of light in the sky, and this became a light with a tail of smoke." He then heard an enormous crash. He says, "I heard the bang seven minutes later. It sounded like when you set off a solid charge of dynamite a kilometer (over half a mile) away."

SOURCE: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5347

~AND~

RECORD METEORITE HIT NORWAY

As Wednesday morning dawned, northern Norway was hit with an impact comparable to the atomic bomb used on Hiroshima.

PHOTO: Peter Bruvold witnessed the meteorite streaking across the night sky.
PETER BRUVOLD http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00410/_A-Meteoritt_6sek_j_410790h.jpg

The map shows the meteorite's direction of fall (the arrow) and the possible impact area over Troms and Finnmark counties: http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00410/_meteoritt_jpg_410803h.jpg

At around 2:05 a.m. on Wednesday, residents of the northern part of Troms and the western areas of Finnmark could clearly see a ball of fire taking several seconds to travel across the sky.

A few minutes later an impact could be heard and geophysics and seismology research foundation NORSAR registered a powerful sound and seismic disturbances at 02:13.25 a.m. at their station in Karasjok.

Farmer Peter Bruvold was out on his farm in Lyngseidet with a camera because his mare Virika was about to foal for the first time.

"I saw a brilliant flash of light in the sky, and this became a light with a tail of smoke," Bruvold told Aftenposten.no. He photographed the object and then continued to tend to his animals when he heard an enormous crash.

"I heard the bang seven minutes later. It sounded like when you set off a solid charge of dynamite a kilometer (0.62 miles) away," Bruvold said.

Astronomers were excited by the news
"There were ground tremors, a house shook and a curtain was blown into the house," Norway's best known astronomer Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard told Aftenposten.no.

Røed Ødegaard said the meteorite was visible to an area of several hundred kilometers despite the brightness of the midnight sunlit summer sky. The meteorite hit a mountainside in Reisadalen in North Troms.

"This is simply exceptional. I cannot imagine that we have had such a powerful meteorite impact in Norway in modern times. If the meteorite was as large as it seems to have been, we can compare it to the Hiroshima bomb. Of course the meteorite is not radioactive, but in explosive force we may be able to compare it to the (atomic) bomb," Røed Ødegaard said.

The astronomer believes the meteorite was a giant rock and probably the largest known to have struck Norway.

"The record was the Alta meteorite that landed in 1904. That one was 90 kilos (198 lbs) but we think the meteorite that landed Wednesday was considerably larger," Røed Ødegaard said, and urged members of the public who saw the object or may have found remnants to contact the Institute of Astrophysics.

SOURCE: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1346411.ece
Aftenposten's Norwegian reporter: Nina Lødemel

~AND~

HERE'S WHERE THE METEORITE HIT

Residents of the Norwegian county of Nord-Troms were shaken when a meteorite struck the valley of Reisadalen last week. Experts are debating its impact, but they've found the site where it hit the ground.

PHOTO: This is where last week's meteorite is believed to have hit, at Reisadalen, east of Tromsø.
http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00411/_L04nedslaget1006_j_411040h.jpg
OLA SOLVANG / NORDLYS

An astronomer at the University of Oslo, Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, told Aftenposten.no last week that he thought the meteorite that was photographed streaking through the sky could have had the same impact as the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima in 1945.

"Of course the meteorite is not radioactive, but in explosive force we may be able to compare it to the (atomic) bomb," Røed Ødegaard said.

Truls Lynne Hansen of the Northern Lights Observatory (Nordlysobservatoriet) in Tromsø disputes Røed Ødegaard's description, calling it an exaggeration.

"Our atmosphere is peppered with small stones from outer space all the time," Hansen told newspaper Aftenposten. "Most burn up and disappear, but some land here."

He thinks that what hit northern Norway last week was a stone weighing around 12 kilos (about 26 pounds). "Out in space it generated enormous speed, but after entering our atmosphere its tempo eased," Hansen said. "This kind of meteorite isn't radioactive and it's not glowing when it hits the ground."

The meteorite, whatever its size, created a stir nonetheless. Norway's Defense Ministry tries to track all flying objects and be prepared via radar on land, at sea and in the air.

"We can observe such meteorites," said John Espen Lien of the northern military command in Bodø. "But everything happens so fast, and most of them disappear before they hit the ground."

SOURCE: http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1348689.ece
Aftenposten's reporter Ole Magnus Rapp
 

COSMIC DEFENSE IDEA: FIGHT ASTEROIDS WITH ASTEROIDS
By Robert Roy Britt, Senior Science Writer
20 June 2006

In a Space Age version of fighting fire with fire, French scientists have suggested using one asteroid to destroy another rather than letting Earth get pummeled. The offbeat plan is intentionally incomplete and would allow the planet to be showered by fragments. But it might be better than a civilization-ending whack.

No asteroids are presently known to be on collision courses with Earth. But existing holes in the ground suggest that inevitably one will eventually be found. There is no firm plan for how to deflect or destroy an incoming asteroid, though scientists have pondered firing rockets at them, moving them gently with solar sails, or nudging them with nuclear explosions.

Lock and load
The new idea is to capture a relatively small asteroid—perhaps 100 feet (30 meters) wide—by sending a robot to it. The robot would heave material from the asteroid's surface into space, and the reaction force would gradually direct the asteroid to a Lagrange point, one of a handful of nodes along Earth's orbit where the gravity of Earth and the Sun balance out. Scientists know that objects can be kept stable at a Lagrange point with little or no energy.

The captured rocky weapon would be held there, traveling around the Sun ahead of or behind the Earth, held until needed.

Then, if a large asteroid threatens to hit us, the small one is moved into its path, using the same heaving technique. The rocks collide, and the big one is broken into somewhat less harmful bits. The collision disperses the fragments of the incoming asteroid, so that not all of them hit the planet.

But...
Depending on the relative masses of the two objects, between 10 and 20 percent of the incoming asteroid mass would still hit, "but the fragments would be dispersed all over the Earth and, hopefully, none would be large enough to reach the ground with a large remaining destructive power," said Didier Massonnet of the CNES research center in France.

Massonnet and colleague Benoit Meyssignac say the collision should be engineered to occur at least 620,000 miles (1 million kilometers) from Earth and would take about eight months to execute from the Lagrange point.

The plan is detailed in the July-September, 2006 issue of the journal Acta Astronautica. The researchers first floated it at a scientific conference last fall. One small asteroid that could fit the bill already been identified; it is called 2000 SG344, and Massonnet suspects there are many others that would work.

Fuel for thought
The researchers admit their entire scheme is not quite ready for prime time.

"We are more confident in our capability to capture the asteroid than in our capability to redirect it to an incoming body," Massonnet told SPACE.com. "The scenario of this last stage requires further studies on the very unstable trajectories which will be required."

Meanwhile, there is another aspect to the plan that could make it appealing.

Material mined from a small, nearby asteroid could provide liquid oxygen for other space missions more efficiently than mining it from the Moon, which other researchers have proposed. Liquid oxygen could be used as fuel at a cosmic gas station that would allow spacecraft to be launched from Earth with much smaller tanks and therefore more cheaply.

Other researchers have suggesting mining asteroids for their metals.

"Several thousands of tons of oxygen might become available sitting on the outer rim of Earth's gravity field," the researchers write.

SOURCE: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060620_science_tuesday.html
 

JUNE FORMATIONS FROM THE CROP CIRCLE CONNECTOR

It is now summer in the northern hemisphere, and with summer comes crop circle season. The links below direct you to the Crop Circle Connector, where you can see photos and read analyses of the formations.

UK
9 June - North Farm, nr West Overton, Wiltshire
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/northfarm/northfarm2006a.html
11 June - Waterditch Farm, nr Christchurch, Dorset
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/newmilton/newmilton2006a.html
21 June - Silbury Hill, Nr Avebury, Wiltshire
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/silburyhill/silburyhill2006a.html
21 June - Cess Road, Nr Martham, Norfolk
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/CessRoad/Cess%20Road2006a.html
22 June - Lower Blue Bell Hill nr Aylesford, Kent
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/lowerbluebellhill/LowerBlueBell%20Hill2006a.html
24 June - The Pilgrims Way, Burham nr. Maidstone Kent
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/ThePilgrimsWay/ThePilgrimsWay2006a.html
30 June - Avebury Trusloe, nr Beckhampton, Wiltshire
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/2006/aveburytrusloe/aveburytrusloe2006a.html

BELGIUM
17 June - Waterloo, near the "lion's mound" Belgium
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/belgium/belgium2006.html

CROATIA
8 June - Vrhovljan
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/Croatia/Croatia2006.html

FINLAND
15 June - Southern Finland
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/finland/finland2006.html

FRANCE
16 June - Les Deux-Sèvres (79) - La Mothe Saint Héray
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/France/france2006.html

GERMANY
21 June - Doernberg, near Kassel, Hessen
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/Germany/Germany2006.html

ITALY
28 June Osimo - Castelfidardo (Ancona)
23 June Cerchio nel grano a Lizzano (Cesena)
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/italy/italy2006.html

USA
10 June - Huntingburg, Dubois County, Indiana
2 June - Herington, Kansas
   http://www.cropcircleconnector.com/inter2006/northamerica/northamerica2006.html
 

BIGFOOT IN ILLINOIS
Does Bigfoot live in Illinois?

June 14, 2006 - Professional "Bigfoot" trackers have returned to central Illinois, looking for Sasquatch after reports of more activity.

Tom Biscaridi and his crew are in a McLean County forest looking for tracks, droppings and split trees. He says there are a lot of signs of the creature of folklore and he believes he's getting closer to tracking him down.

Biscaridi even brought a hand with him that he thinks could be from the elusive creature. A man who reported a sighting in the woods says it was a mother and baby Bigfoot.

The team's last sightings in the area were in February. They plan to continue to come back to gather more evidence and set up traps. They're also using infrared glasses and heat-seeking devices. They hope their search will bring Bigfoot out of legend and into the light.

SOURCE: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4271154
 

DRAGONS IN THE WATER

Dragon boat festivals are once again underway all across Canada, and while tens of thousands of people will attend the events, very few are familiar with the ancient history of the tradition.

The festivals, or rituals, started approximately 2500 years ago in southern China along the banks of the Yangtze River and were originally carried out to please the Asian water dragon deity. The rituals often included human sacrifices and violent battles between crew members of competing boats who hurled stones and struck opponents with bamboo sticks. It was considered to be unlucky if there wasn't at least one drowning during the course of the event.

The Asian water dragon is not alone in its class. In Canada alone there are many stories and eyewitness accounts of aquatic beasts comparable to the Chinese water dragon. These aquatic beastie boys and girls have been given names; Ogopogo, Champ, Manipogo, Kempenfelt Kelly, The Cadboro Bay Sea Serpent, The Thetis Lake Monster, The Lake Erie Monster, The Wendigo, The New Brunswick Lake Utopia Monster — the list goes on.

The number of eye witness accounts of these underwater monstrosities coming to the surface is staggering, yet even with the help of giant nets, submarines, underwater cameras, sonar, and crews of observers no solid evidence has been ever been obtained to prove that these monsters exist.

The most famous of Canadian aquatic beasts is undoubtedly Ogopogo of Lake Okanagan, located in the south central interior of British Columbia. According to numerous sightings each year, Ogopogo is 20 to 50 feet long with a horse shaped head and snake-like body and favors an area of the lake south of Kelowna near Peachland. The indigenous people of BC knew of the monster which they called N'ha-a-itk, or Lake Demon, long before European settlers came to Canada. They placed the monster's lair at a cave under Squally Point near Rattlesnake Island. According to Ogopogo expert Arlne Gaal, the First Nations' custom of offering a small animal to appease the lake demon when traveling near the lair was adopted by fearful European settlers who also patrolled the shoreline, in case the monster attacked.

Lake Champlain, a lake mostly within the borders of the United States but stretching north into Quebec, is home to another oceanic oddity: Champ. There have been over 240 sightings of Champ, the first of which, by Sheriff Nathan H. Mooney in 1883, reported a gigantic water serpent over 25 feet in length which rose five feet out of the water. Other eyewitnesses present at this event were close enough to clearly see round white spots inside the creature's mouth.

Another beast from Quebec goes by the name of Memphre. Lake Memphremagog, home to Memphre, stretches 33 miles from Newport, Vermont to Magog, Quebec. There has been an average of eight sightings per year of this particular prehistoric pond dweller, the fist of which dates back to 1816. One of the most compelling recent sightings was reported in July 1996 when four people in two boats saw a 20 foot long creature with several humps swim approximately 50 yards between their boats and the shore. A similar sighting of the beast took place three hours before and was seen by three persons standing on shore. To date there have been more than 215 reported and documented sightings

Manipogo, of Lake Manitoba, has a history dating back to 1908. There have been numerous sightings of the creature which is rumored to be snake-like in appearance with a long tubular body and a head comparable to a sheep's. In the 1950's the Manitoba Government launched an official expedition to search for the serpent to no avail. A photograph taken by two fishermen in 1962 showed what they said was an image of Manipogo, but was not clear enough to be considered verifiable proof.

Thetis Lake is a very popular swimming destination for Vancouver Islanders during the summertime, and is also the reputed home of the Thetis Lake Monster, a fact widely unknown among swimmers. This freakishly scary fiend of a fish is quite different from most lake monsters in that it has a humanoid body similar to that of the beast from the film The Creature from the Black Lagoon. In 1972, two teenagers on the shore of the lake said they witnessed a scaly, humanoid form suddenly rise from the water. The two teens turned and took off, but the creature caught up and cut one the boy's hands with a barbed fin on its skull.

There are many theories that attempt to explain these unsolved modern mysteries. Many believe that the monsters are relics from another time; prehistoric beasts who survived the ages. Some say the creatures are spiritual guardians who protect their sacred aquatic turf. Others believe that they are an undiscovered species of long necked seal. There has been much speculation that the monsters are actually plesiosaurs; aquatic dinosaurs from the Triassic period (over 200 million years ago). Still, most people are skeptical and believe that the beasts are nothing more than floating logs, strange reflections off of waves, or flat out hoaxes.

One notable similarity among these elusive entities can be found in the places they are rumored to dwell. Almost all of the river and lake systems that the monsters call their home are, or have been at some point, connected to the sea. They also all harbor, or have harbored migratory fish, and are deep, cold bodies of water.

So, if your summer plans this year include outdoor water sports, you might want to think twice before jumping in — you never know what might be waiting for you just below the surface.

SOURCE: Epoch Times http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-6-22/43063.html
Conspiracy Journal 6/23/06 http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal371.html
 

THE TROPICS MAY BE EXPANDING

Newswise — Atmospheric temperature measurements by U.S. weather satellites indicate Earth’s hot, tropical zone has expanded farther from the equator since 1979, says a study by scientists from the University of Utah and University of Washington.

Researchers say the apparent north-south widening of the tropics amounts to 2 degrees of latitude or 140 miles. But they do not know yet if the tropical expansion was triggered by natural climate variation or by human-caused phenomena such as depletion of the atmosphere’s ozone layer or global warming due to the greenhouse effect.

The study is being published in the Friday May 26 issue of the journal Science.

“It’s a big deal. The tropics may be expanding and getting larger,” says study co-author Thomas Reichler, an assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Utah. “If this is true, it also would mean that subtropical deserts are expanding into heavily populated mid-latitude regions.”

Droughts and unusually dry conditions in recent years in the subtropical American Southwest and Mediterranean Europe may be related to expansion of the tropics, he added.

Reichler conducted the study with principal author Qiang Fu, who earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Utah and now is an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle. Other co-authors were Professor John M. Wallace and graduate student Celeste Johanson, also atmospheric scientists at Washington.

Satellites Take Earth’s Temperature
Reichler said the study makes no conclusion about the cause of the tropical expansion, but is purely observational, based on 1979-2005 measurements by the TIROS-N and NOAA 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 weather satellites. NOAA is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, parent agency of the National Weather Service.

There has been debate over the interpretation of atmospheric temperature measurements collected by microwave sounding units (MSUs) on the weather satellites. But Science reported in a May 12 news story (“No Doubt About It, the World Is Warming,” page 825) that scientists with competing views hashed out their differences and now agree the weather satellite data show warming of the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, which extends from the ground up to 55,000 feet at the equator and 23,000 feet at the poles.

While those measurements dealt with global averages, the new study shows specifically that Earth’s mid-latitudes got about 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer during the past 26 years, suggesting there has been a change in the average position of the subtropical jet streams. These rivers of air – one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere – move west to east and mark the meteorological transition from tropical to subtropical climates.

“We analyzed 26-year-long satellite measurements of atmospheric temperatures and found a distinct and very robust pattern of warming, which suggests that each subtropical jet stream has moved poleward by about 1 degree latitude,” Reichler says. “This poleward movement took place over both hemispheres, indicating that the tropics have been widening. … Independent [weather balloon] observations of the atmosphere confirm these findings.”

He adds: “The possible expansion of the tropics may be a totally new aspect of climate change. We don’t know for sure what triggered it. My research is investigating whether it is related to global warming or not. … One can certainly think of various mechanisms of how global warming-related changes in the atmosphere could induce the changes we see. But it’s very speculative at this point. That’s what our research is going to look at.”

The tropical zone is defined geographically as the portion of Earth’s surface characterized by hot weather and located between the Tropic of Cancer at 23.5 degrees north latitude and the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.5 degrees south latitude. But meteorologists generally consider the tropics extend 30 degrees latitude north and south of the equator.

The subtropics – which also tend to have hot climates – are the indefinite belts in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres that are between tropical and temperate zones. The U.S. desert Southwest is considered subtropical, Reichler says.

Earth has two polar jet streams at polar latitudes, one in each hemisphere, and two subtropical jet streams closer to the equator, also one in each hemisphere. The jet streams, at altitudes of roughly 30,000 feet, are relatively narrow streams or tubes of high-speed air moving generally west-to-east, but in a path that meanders widely in a north-south direction. They represent boundaries between warm, tropical air masses and cooler air closer to the poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, the polar jet stream generally is found between 30 degrees and 70 degrees north latitude, while the subtropical jet stream generally is confined between 20 degrees and 50 degrees north latitude.

The average position of each subtropical jet stream marks the location of dry, subtropical desert regions on the land below, such as southwestern United States. But in winter, Pacific cyclones can move along the track of the jet, bringing storms to California.

Pushing the Subtropical Jets toward the Poles
The study implies that warmer mid-latitude temperatures mean the subtropical jet streams have moved farther from the equator based on the idea that warmer air makes the lower atmosphere, or troposphere, expand and bulge upward. Thus, warmer mid-latitude temperatures create a bulge that pushes the subtropical jet streams toward the poles.

The study found that while the lower atmosphere or troposphere at mid-latitudes got warmer during the past 25 years, the overlying stratosphere got cooler.

“This pattern of warming in the troposphere where we live and cooling of the stratosphere above may actually cause a change of the jet positions,” Reichler says.

Global warming might cause tropical expansion another way, he adds. The El Nino climate phenomenon – characterized by a pool of warm water in the western tropical Pacific moving eastward toward the Americas – often causes warmer, drier summers at mid-latitudes. Other studies have shown tropical sea surface temperatures have warmed during the past 25 years. If ocean warming by El Nino can cause warmer, drier summers, then so should a general increase in tropical ocean temperatures – a possible mechanism for tropical expansion, Reichler says.

The researchers considered the possibility that the 26-year warming trend might be an illusion caused by data from the strong El Nino of 1997, which caused record mid-latitude temperatures in 1998. But the mid-latitude warming trend remained even when data from the 1997 El Nino was excluded.

If global warming isn’t responsible for tropical expansion, another possible cause is the depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer due to pollutants such as refrigerant gases. Ozone loss cools the stratosphere while the troposphere warms – the same pattern from global warming due to greenhouse gases.

SOURCE: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/520675/?sc=dwhn

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FASTER ATMOSPHERIC WARMING IN SUBTROPICS PUSHES JET STREAMS TOWARDS POLES

Newswise — The atmosphere is warming faster in subtropical areas, around 30 degrees north and south latitude, than it is elsewhere, University of Washington-led research shows. But scientists examining more than 25 years of satellite data also found that each hemisphere's jet stream has moved toward the pole by about 1 degree of latitude, or 70 miles. That could widen the tropics and expand some of the world's driest regions, they say.

"It is direct observational evidence of atmospheric circulation changes seen from satellites," said Qiang Fu, a University of Washington associate professor of atmospheric sciences and lead author of a paper detailing the findings in the May 26 edition of the journal Science.

Co-author John M. Wallace, a UW atmospheric sciences professor, said it is not clear yet whether the movement of the jet streams is key evidence for global warming or just an anomaly. He said more work is needed to understand precisely why the jet streams are moving, but he added that if the movement continues the long-term impact on rainfall could be serious.

"The jet streams mark the edge of the tropics, so if they are moving poleward that means the tropics are getting wider," Wallace said. "If they move another 2 to 3 degrees poleward in this century, very dry areas such as the Sahara Desert could nudge farther toward the pole, perhaps by a few hundred miles."

The researchers analyzed satellite temperature data collected from 1979 through 2005 and found the troposphere was warming faster in a band around 30 degrees north latitude – which crosses the southern United States, southern China and north Africa – and around 30 degrees south latitude – which crosses southern Australia, South Africa and southern South America. The troposphere is the layer from the Earth's surface to about 7.5 miles in altitude, the part of the atmosphere in which most weather occurs.

While a poleward shift of jet streams is a strongly supported prediction by computer models of 21st century climate, the models also show the fastest warming will occur in the tropical upper troposphere. Instead, the research found that warming was actually a bit faster at 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres than over the equator. The enhanced warming at 30 degrees latitude has helped to reshape the atmosphere's pressure surfaces in a way that pushed the jet streams toward the poles, Fu said. The position of the jet streams – the band of strongest westerly winds aloft – is important because it determines the northern and southern limits of the major wet and dry belts on the surface.

Other authors of the paper are Celeste Johanson, a UW atmospheric sciences research assistant and graduate student, and Thomas Reichler, an assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Utah. The work was supported by grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The scientists examined measurements from devices called microwave-sounding units on NOAA satellites. The satellites use similar equipment and techniques to measure microwave radiation emitted by oxygen in the atmosphere and determine its temperature.

Fu and colleagues previously analyzed these measurements to show that the troposphere actually is warming as much as the Earth's surface, a key piece of evidence to demonstrate that the Earth is warming faster than can be accounted for by natural processes.

The new research suggests that faster subtropical warming of the troposphere, which moves the jet streams, also could shift mid-latitude storm tracks poleward, Wallace said. That could reduce winter precipitation in regions such as southern Europe, including the Alps, and southern Australia.

Fu noted the research also appears to show that enhanced warming in the troposphere corresponds closely with enhanced cooling in a higher atmospheric layer called the stratosphere, which extends from about 7.5 miles in altitude to about 31 miles.

"It's a very intriguing problem, why the increase in tropospheric temperatures and the decrease in stratospheric temperatures in the subtropical region happens in tandem, almost exactly," he said.

SOURCE: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/520721/?sc=dwhn
 

EVIDENCE OF EARLY GLACIAL DEVELOPMENT, HISTORY OF ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET REVISED

Newswise — Syracuse University Professors Linda C. Ivany and Scott D. Samson along with colleagues at the University of Leuven in Belgium and Hamilton College have found evidence that expands our understanding about how the ice sheet covering most of Antarctica really began. Their findings were published in the article “Evidence for an Earliest Oligocene Ice Sheet on the Antarctic Peninsula,” in the May 2006 issue of the journal, Geology. The research was supported by funding from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.

“One of the most fundamental climate shifts that this planet has undergone since the events that precipitated the extinction of the dinosaurs is the so-called ‘greenhouse to icehouse transition’—the time when Earth went from having virtually no ice on it at all to one with a more or less permanent ice sheet covering Antarctica,” says Ivany, professor of earth science in The College of Arts and Sciences at SU and principal investigator on the project. “This happened about 34 million years ago, and is marked by dramatic changes in the chemistry of the oceans and the appearance of ‘ice rafted debris’ in ocean sediments around Antarctica, carried there by icebergs from land that floated out and melted far from the continent, releasing the sand and rock that had been frozen into them.”

Though scientists are quite sure that glaciers grew on Antarctica at this time, it is not clear where that ice was, nor how much of it there was initially. This is because most of the continent is now under the ice, and it is difficult to find places where sediments are exposed that record this interval of time.

Until now, the assumption has been that glaciers were confined to the eastern part of Antarctica, where the biggest ice sheet is today. Ivany’s research team found evidence that glaciers may have covered a much bigger area at the early stages of this transition. Sediments on Seymour Island, off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, have been dated to just this time, and show features characteristic of deposition by glacial ice. Because this island is at the far northern reaches of the Peninsula, in western Antarctica, they suggest that the initial pulse of glaciation was far more extensive than originally suspected.

Scientists believe that growth of the Antarctic ice sheet was initiated by a drop in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere in combination with a change in ocean circulation caused by South America pulling away from Antarctica. The climatic response to these gradual changes now appears to be even bigger than previously thought, showing that Earth cooled fast enough to allow the growth of ice on the entire continent all at once.

Ivany’s team concludes that because Earth’s climate system is capable of shifting this rapidly and dramatically to such a new and different state, their discovery may provide an insight into how things could change in the future if we continue to alter our environment.

To view the article in Geology, visit the journal’s website at
http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-current-toc&issn=0091-7613

SOURCE: http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/520251/?sc=dwhn
 

VOLCANIC ACTIVITY INCREASING RAPIDLY
08-Jun-2006

Volcanic activity in the Pacific Ring of Fire appears to be increasing as volcanoes in Japan and New Zealand become active and eight volcanoes in the Philippines are put on the watch list.

Mt. Merapi on the island of Java continues to emit large quantities of gasses and magma, endangering the lives of thousands who live on its slopes.

Meanwhile, Mt. Sakurajima in southern Japan erupted yesterday at 5:30 PM local time. Sakurajima is one of Japan's most active volcanoes.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology announced that it was monitoring eight volcanoes that are showing eruptive signs. Philvocs Director Renato Solidum said that the increased volcanism in the country could lead to "strong earthquakes." Volcanic activity is often associated with quakes, as was true on Java two weeks ago, when a 6.2 quake related to Mt. Merapi's activity severely damaged local towns and cities, leaving more than 6,000 people dead, 36,000 injured and nearly half a million homeless.

Volcanologists are also began monitoring Mount Ngauruhoe, one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes, after seismographs on Wednesday showed a rise in the frequency and magnitude of earthquakes in the area.

Ngauruhoe periodically emits steam and gas but has not erupted since February 1975.

Many of the volcanoes that are either erupting or on watch lists are normally active, but it is not normal for so many to become active at once. Scientists speculate that rising sea levels due to melt of glacial and continental ice will contribute to increased volcanism, but have not expected that the small sea level rise seen so far would be responsible for this.

UPDATE: New Scientist Magazine reports that one way to know if a volcano is going to blow is to look for tall, green plants at the place where the magma is likely to rupture. Satellites reveal that plants grow taller and greener in the “seams” that eventually split open during an eruption.

SOURCE: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5342

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PLANTS PREDICT WHERE RUMBLING VOLCANOES WILL BLOW
09 June 2006
NewScientist.com news service

WANT to know where a rumbling volcano is likely to split at the seams? Look for the tallest and greenest plants.

Vigorous plant growth on the flanks of a volcano like that at Rabaul, Papua New Guinea (above), can indicate where magma is most likely to spurt out. Satellite images reveal that shrubs and trees grow taller and greener along stripes where the volcano eventually ruptures.

Nicolas Houlié from the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues studied satellite images of Mount Etna in Sicily and Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. When they compared before and after pictures of the volcanoes they found a significant increase in plant reflectivity and greenness along the eruption fissures. These changes were visible up to two years before the eruptions, the team says in a forthcoming issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Theories for why this pattern of growth occurs include better water supply in the cracks where the plants grow, and more carbon dioxide seeping out of the ground.

"I was happy to see this paper as this technique could apply to many volcanoes and be of great help," says Agust Gudmundsson, a volcanologist at the University of Göttingen in Germany. Knowing which way lava is likely to flow would help in planning evacuations.

SOURCE: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19025554.900.html
From issue 2555 of New Scientist magazine, 09 June 2006, page 22
 

"HIGH CONFIDENCE" IN SURFACE TEMPERATURE RECONSTRUCTIONS
SINCE 1600 A.D.
Chair Gerald North speaks at a public briefing (National Academies/John Bavier)

June 22 -- There is sufficient evidence from tree rings, retreating glaciers, and other "proxies" to say with confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years, according to a new National Research Council report. There is less confidence in reconstructions of surface temperatures from 1600 back to A.D. 900, and very little confidence in findings on average temperatures before then.

SOURCE: http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20060622.html

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'HIGH CONFIDENCE' THAT PLANET IS WARMEST IN 400 YEARS;
Less Confidence in Temperature Reconstructions Prior to 1600
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: June 22, 2006

WASHINGTON -- There is sufficient evidence from tree rings, boreholes, retreating glaciers, and other "proxies" of past surface temperatures to say with a high level of confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years, according to a new report from the National Research Council. Less confidence can be placed in proxy-based reconstructions of surface temperatures for A.D. 900 to 1600, said the committee that wrote the report, although the available proxy evidence does indicate that many locations were warmer during the past 25 years than during any other 25-year period since 900. Very little confidence can be placed in statements about average global surface temperatures prior to A.D. 900 because the proxy data for that time frame are sparse, the committee added.

Scientists rely on proxies to reconstruct paleoclimatic surface temperatures because geographically widespread records of temperatures measured with instruments date back only about 150 years. Other proxies include corals, ocean and lake sediments, ice cores, cave deposits, and documentary sources, such as historic drawings of glaciers. The globally averaged warming of about 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) that instruments have recorded during the last century is also reflected in proxy data for that time period, the committee noted.

The report was requested by Congress after a controversy arose last year over surface temperature reconstructions published by climatologist Michael Mann and his colleagues in the late 1990s. The researchers concluded that the warming of the Northern Hemisphere in the last decades of the 20th century was unprecedented in the past thousand years. In particular, they concluded that the 1990s were the warmest decade, and 1998 the warmest year. Their graph depicting a rise in temperatures at the end of a long era became known as the "hockey stick."

The Research Council committee found the Mann team's conclusion that warming in the last few decades of the 20th century was unprecedented over the last thousand years to be plausible, but it had less confidence that the warming was unprecedented prior to 1600; fewer proxies -- in fewer locations -- provide temperatures for periods before then. Because of larger uncertainties in temperature reconstructions for decades and individual years, and because not all proxies record temperatures for such short timescales, even less confidence can be placed in the Mann team's conclusions about the 1990s, and 1998 in particular.

The committee noted that scientists' reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere surface temperatures for the past thousand years are generally consistent. The reconstructions show relatively warm conditions centered around the year 1000, and a relatively cold period, or "Little Ice Age," from roughly 1500 to 1850. The exact timing of warm episodes in the medieval period may have varied by region, and the magnitude and geographical extent of the warmth is uncertain, the committee said. None of the reconstructions indicates that temperatures were warmer during medieval times than during the past few decades, the committee added.

The scarcity of precisely dated proxy evidence for temperatures before 1600, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, is the main reason there is less confidence in global reconstructions dating back further than that. Other factors that limit confidence include the short length of the instrumental record, which is used to calibrate and validate reconstructions, and the possibility that the relationship between proxy data and local surface temperatures may have varied over time. It also is difficult to estimate a mean global temperature using data from a limited number of sites. On the other hand, confidence in large-scale reconstructions is boosted by the fact that the proxies on which they are based generally exhibit strong correlations with local environmental conditions. Confidence increases further when multiple independent lines of evidence point to the same general phenomenon, such as the Little Ice Age.

Collecting additional proxy data, especially for years before 1600 and for areas where the current data are relatively sparse, would increase our understanding of temperature variations over the last 2,000 years, the report says. In addition, improving access to data on which published temperature reconstructions are based would boost confidence in the results. The report also notes that new analytical methods, or more careful use of existing methods, might help circumvent some of the current limitations associated with large-scale reconstructions.

The committee pointed out that surface temperature reconstructions for periods before the Industrial Revolution -- when levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases were much lower -- are only one of multiple lines of evidence supporting the conclusion that current warming is occurring in response to human activities, and they are not the primary evidence.

The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science and technology advice under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows.

Copies of Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years will be available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a pre-publication copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).

[This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org]

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