INDEX OF ARTICLES:
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 ABDUCTIONS
WALKING THROUGH WALLS AND PENETRATING EARTH
AIRCRAFT ANOMALIES
UFO FOUND NEAR 1953 KINROSS F-89 SCORPION IN LAKE SUPERIOR
CANADA JET FIGHTER IN PURSUIT OF UFO
TENNESSEE UFO HAS NEAR MISS OF PLANE
MULTIPLE UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED OVER TENNESSEE
SHUTTLE CARRIES WINGS TO ISS, UFO VIDEOTAPED ANCIENT CIVILIZATION
NEANDERTHALS AND HUMANS LIVED SIDE-BY-SIDE
UNKNOWN WRITING SYSTEM UNCOVERED ON ANCIENT OLMEC TABLET
THE AMAZING FOSSIL OF 'LUCY'S LITTLE SISTER'
ANCIENT OLMECS HAD CELESTIAL NAVIGATION FORMULAS CROP CIRCLES
CROP CIRCLE CRAFT
CCCRN NEWS CRYPTOZOOLOGY / FLORA & FAUNA ANOMALIES
BIRD DEATHS PUZZLE UNALASKA
IN SEARCH OF WATER MONSTERS
WAVE OF ANIMAL MUTILATIONS
TALES OF THE FLATWOODS MONSTER
HOW NESSIE MIGHT SURPRISE VISITORS TO LAKE WINDERMERE
SKYFISH? GEOLOGY / EARTH
'DRASTIC' SHRINKAGE IN ARCTIC ICE
TOP SCIENTIST'S FEARS FOR CLIMATE
THE REVENGE OF GAIA MARS
CYDONIA--THE FACE ON MARS
METEORITE FIND SUGGESTS LIFE ON MARS
MARS PHOTOS SHOW STRANGE STRUCTURES SPACE / SCIENCE
FREE ENERGY IS REAL
SMART-1 PROBE CRASHES INTO MOON'S SURFACE UFO / ET
CANADA: EDMONTON UFO OVER CHEMTRAILS
BRITAIN SOUGHT UFO UNIT COVER-UP
UFO OVER VANCOUVER CITY HALL - 1937
AS ABOVE, SO BELOW: USOs MISCELLANEOUS
MORGELLONS AND ENVIRONMENTAL UNKNOWNs
GM CROP WHISTLEBLOWER
 WALKING THROUGH WALLS AND PENETRATING EARTH
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/36supersolidspasthroughsolids.jpg
In hundreds of abduction cases, the experiencers report being moved through walls and other solid objects. Many people have discounted their testimony calling it "impossible" or "crazy." Now that opinion is being challenged. Moses Chan and his associates at Pennsylvania State University have created the world's first "supersolids," bizarre crystals that slide through each other like ghosts. It is a finding that promises to revolutionize the way we think about matter. "It really changes one's concepts of solids," says Jason Ho, a solid-state theorist at Ohio State University in Columbus.
Supersolids pass through solids
According to the researchers, solids get their reassuring rigidness from the orderly way their atoms are arranged. Unlike liquids and gases, the atoms in a crystal are fixed, a bit like the squares on a checkerboard.
While they may quiver a little due to their thermal energy, this normally isn't enough to dislodge the atoms and cause them to flow over each other. In some crystals, the bonds between atoms are weak and an atom may break free. This leaves the crystal latticework full of gaps call "zero-point vacancies" and these vacancies are mobile. Scientists think these vacancies have energy and mass just as atoms do.
While this work does not mean we can suddenly walk through walls, it is the beginning of a whole other realm of science. No doubt it will lead to many other breakthroughs. The article "Just Passing Through," by Catherine Zandonella is should be high on all researchers’ reading list.
Source: New Scientist magazine. October 8, 2005,
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18825201.100-solids-that-can-pass-through-solids.html
Note: Let’s assume the visitors can manipulate matter. Daily we have reports of maneuvering lights in the sky that suddenly grow into large craft. Ingo Swan tells he was flown to Alaska and was situated above a large lake around midnight. A basketball size object flew in from outer space, hovered over the lake and suddenly enlarged into a huge space ship. It let hoses down into the water appeared to take on a large amount of pristine water. The hydrogen and oxygen in the water could be used for fuel for propulsion. Water is a universal product and is likely needed for liquid food processes and doing the wash.
The space ship then miniaturized back to a basketball in size and blasted off into space. Miniaturization has several advantages in space travel. Less energy would be required for propulsion and the danger from meteorites and radiation may be reduced. Radar operators and eyewitnesses claim to see the craft fly into mountains, water or the earth. George Ritter and others frequently video tape craft either entering or leaving the ground. Often these sightings occur in areas where underground caverns are known to exist.
SOURCE: Filer's Files #36 - 6 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_101.php
UFO FOUND NEAR 1953 KINROSS F-89 SCORPION IN LAKE SUPERIOR
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37untitled3.jpg Divers from the Great Lakes Dive company claim to have located a US Air Force F-89 Scorpion jet fighter 500 feet deep in Lake Superior. Two hundred feet away is a strange metallic disc shaped object almost buried in the sand. Several years ago I had interviewed a radar operator from the 665 th Radar Squadron, whose GCI call sign was Pillow. It was located at Calumet Air Force Station on Keweenaw Peninsula, that juts out into Lake Superior.
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http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37soolockssaultstmariemichigan.jpg
He was assigned there at the time of the crash and claimed UFOs were frequently seen on radar coming in and out of the Lake. He personally had received calls from the Upper Michigan Police claiming they were observing UFOs flying over them at low level.
Two F 89 aircraft from the 433 Fighter Interceptor Squadron were lost the same day on 23 November of 1953. Shortly after noon an F-89 Scorpion, from Truax Air Base in Madison, Wisconsin with Lt. John Schmidt and Capt. Glenn Collins aboard, took off to test newly installed engines, witnesses below reported hearing an explosion, and then the jet crashed into a marsh in the Arboretum, killing the crew. F-89 aircraft were assigned to the 433rd Fighter-interceptor Squadron, at Truax AFB, Wisconsin but several were moved north on temporary duty at Kinross AFB, Michigan. It was less than six hours after the crash that radar operators on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, spotted a UFO in restricted air space over the Soo Locks at Sault Ste-Marie.
An F-89c operating from Kinross AFB was scrambled to intercept a large unidentified flying object that radar had spotted over the Soo Locks. 1st Lt. Felix Moncla was the pilot and 2Lt. Robert Wilson was the Radar Intercept Officer chasing the Unidentified Flying Object that headed west over Lake Superior.. Lt. Moncla's last words from the cockpit were, "I'm going in for another look." The radar operator claims "The F-89 jet was followed on the radar screen at Pillow until its image merged with the blip, - then it was lost."That odd radar image - of the mystery craft seeming to swallow the F-89, then both disappeared from the screen - has fueled theories that the F-89 was destroyed by the UFO.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37f-89.jpg
The Air Force Accident report reads as follows:
SUMMARY: Aircraft took off at 2322 Zebra (6:22 PM local time) on 23 Nov 53 on an active Air Defense Mission to intercept an unknown aircraft approximately 160 miles northwest of Kinross Air Force Base. The aircraft was under radar control throughout the interception. At approximately 2352, Zebra the last radio contact was made by the radar station controlling the interception. At approximately 2355 Zebra, the unknown aircraft and the F-89 merged together on the radarscope. Shortly thereafter, the IFF signal disappeared from the radarscope. No further contact was established with the F-89. <Approximately 100 characters are excised from report> an extensive aerial search has revealed no trace of the aircraft. The aircraft and its crew are still missing.
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On 23 November 1953, F-89c, Serial No. 51-5853A, was scrambled by "Naples" GCI from Kinross Air Force Base, Michigan, at 1822 EST. to intercept and identify an unknown aircraft flying over Lake Superior. The interceptor became airborne from Original radar control of the aircraft was maintained by "Naples" GCI and at 1841 EST control was transferred to "Pillow" GCI which is located at Keweenaw Peninsula. The aircraft was flying at 30,000 feet at this time, at 1847 EST, at the request of "Pillow", the aircraft descended to 7,000 feet to begin the interception. Location of the aircraft was then approximately 150 miles northeast from Kinross AFB and over Northern Lake Superior. At 1851 EST, the interceptor pilot was requested to turn to a heading of 20 degrees to the cut-off vector. After the turn was completed, the pilot was advised the unidentified aircraft was at 11 o’clock, 10 miles distant. Radar returns from both aircraft were then seen to merge on "Pillow’s" radarscope. The two blips unexpectedly merged into one. The radar return from the other aircraft indicated it was continuing on its original flight path, while the return from the F-89 disappeared from the GCI station’s radarscope. Snip Thanks to USAF Accident Report
The Chicago Tribune reported eleven aircraft and numerous boats were searching for the F-89. A spokesperson at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin gave the Associated Press this official release. The Tribune headline read:
ET, TWO ABOARD VANISH OVER LAKE SUPERIOR
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"The plane was followed by radar until it merged with an object 70 miles off Keweenaw Point in Upper Michigan."
Later the US Air Force denied the F-89 had merged with anything and claimed the unknown aircraft being intercepted was a Royal Canadian Air Force Dakota (C-47), Serial # VC-912, flying from Winnipeg to Sudbury, Canada. The Canadian Government claimed their aircraft was never over water and could not have been involved. Search for the missing aircraft was conducted by both USAF and RCAF aircraft without success.
You can visit Lt. Moncla's memorial headstone at Sacred Heart Catholic Cemetery in Moreauville, Louisiana, which reads: In Loving Memory of Gene Felix Moncla Jr. 1st Lt. United States Air Force, Born October 21, 1926. Disappeared November 23, 1953 Intercepting an UFO Over Canadian Border as Pilot of a F89 Jet Plane.
The Great Dive Company says it has been overwhelmed by E-mails concerning the object that is believed to have hit the F-89c and caused it to crash. Representative Adam Jimenez, stated, "We didn't notice the object at first when we discovered the plane. But when we did a detailed search surrounding the aircraft (trying to locate the missing wing), a portion of the side scan came back distorted in an area near the wreckage of the F-89. We focused on this area and tried to scan it with the Sharc 2 but had no luck. It was still distorted.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37greatlakesdive.jpg
"One of our team recalled that F-89's were known to carry a nuclear weapon called a "Genie" rocket. Although this rocket was not deployed until later versions of the F-89, we didn't know if some sort of covert testing may have happened on earlier versions, and this could be what was causing our equipment issues. Returning with a Geiger counter a day later, we put the theory to the test and...No radiation levels were detected."
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37kinrossdisc.jpg
Initially, the object appeared to be large and almost teardrop in shape. It was only 212 feet from the F89! Jimenez added, "But the scan showed something very interesting...a plow mark trailing behind the object (as if it had crashed). This plow mark caused us to focus our immediate attention on the object; we lowered our ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to it and confirmed that the mystery object was metallic, and had a strike mark that matched the missing wing hole on the F-89.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/37lakesuperiordisc.jpg
Legend: Blue Circle- Trial that object left when crashing
Red - Object partially buried
Yellow - Pushed up bottom sand from plowing of object
It is possible that the missing wing may be underneath the mystery object. The section of the object that is visible above the sand is approximately 15 feet long by 8.4 feet wide and as previously mentioned has a teardrop shape. However, this may be just the tip of the iceberg with the majority of the craft hidden below tons of sand.
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Except for the wreckage of the F-89 Scorpion and the unidentified object, there is nothing else on the lake bottom for miles. Jimenez said, "Our conclusion is that it would be highly coincidental for this object containing a suspicious strike mark and plowed sand near the F-89 to not have anything to do with the crash." We will have to wait until next year and the new dive season for more answers about this mysterious object and the fate of the crew of the F-89 Scorpion. Thanks to www.greatlakesdive.com
SOURCE: Filer's Files #37 - 13 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_102.php ~AND~
1953 KINROSS F-89 MAY HAVE CRASHED "HEAD-ON" WITH UFO
by Dirk Vander Ploeg
(Photo Enhancements and Analysis by Robert Morningstar)
http://www.ufodigest.com/images/kinross-hor.jpg Amazing new photos have been released by The Great Lakes Dive Company concerning their discovery of the famous Kinross F-89 Scorpion jet fighter that disappeared over Lake Superior on November 23, 1953. The plane had been ordered to investigate an unknown object that was being tracked on radar.
(see original story - http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0806/kinross.html)
The photos released today show the object that lies on the bottom of the lake less than 215 feet from the plane's wreckage.
Low resoluton photos:
http://www.ufodigest.com/kinross/lo-res-object.jpg
http://www.ufodigest.com/kinross/lo-res-legend.jpg
Legend:
Blue - Trail from object as it crashed
Red - Object view from front
Yellow - Pushed lake bottom from impact
Black Box - Protects GPS and depth data
One of The Great Lakes Dive Company's engineers came up with an ingenious idea. He cannibalized a forward-looking fish finder and then fed the signal through the Sharc2 software and suddenly they had images of the object. The Sharc2 software was designed to be used with "state-of-the-art" wide trajectory side scan sonar. The fish finder on board was normally used to find shallow rocks and shoals.
High resoluton photos:
http://www.ufodigest.com/kinross/hi-resobject1.jpg
http://www.ufodigest.com/kinross/hi-res-legend.jpg
Legend:
Blue - Trial that object left when crashing
Red - Object partially buried
Yellow - Pushed up bottom sand from plowing of object
Black Box - Protects GPS and depth data
Spokesman for the company, Adam Jimenez, stated, "We didn't notice the object at first when we discovered the plane, but when we did a detailed search surrounding the aircraft (trying to locate the missing wing), a portion of the side scan came back distorted in an area near the wreckage of the F-89. We focused on this area and tried to scan it with the Sharc2 but had no luck it was still distorted. One of our team recalled that F-89's were known to carry a nuclear weapon called a "Genie" rocket. Although this rocket was not deployed until later versions of the F-89, we didn't know if some sort of covert testing may have happened on earlier versions, and this could be what was causing our equipment issues. Returning with a Geiger counter a day later, we put the theory to the test and....no radiation levels were detected."
Initially, the object appeared to be large and almost tear-drop in shape. It was only 212.5 feet from the F89! Jimenez added, "But the scan showed something very interesting...a plow mark trailing behind the object (as if it had crashed). This plow mark caused us to focus our immediate attention on the object, we lowered our ROV (remotely operated vehicle) to it and confirmed that the mystery object was metallic, and also had a strike mark that matched the missing wing hole on the F-89c Scorpion. It is possible that the missing wing may be underneath the mystery object.
The section of the object that is visible above the sand is approximately 15 feet long by 8.4 feet wide and as previously mentioned has a tear-drop shape. But this may be just the tip of the iceberg with the majority of the craft hidden below tons of sand.
Except for the wreckage of the F-89 Scorpion and the unidentified object there is nothing else on the lake bottom for miles. Jimenez said, "Our conclusion is that it would be highly coincidental for this object containing a suspicious strike mark and plowed near the F-89 to not have anything to do with the crash."
We will have to wait until next year and the new dive season for more answers about this mysterious object and the fate of the crew of the F-89 Scorpion.
Photo Analysis by Robert Morningstar:
http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0906/kinrossobject2.html
SOURCE: http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0906/kinrossobject.html
CANADA JET FIGHTER IN PURSUIT OF UFO FRASER RIVER -- I have been seeing quite a number of bright white strobes the past few days with always just the one flash, bright enough to even penetrate the cloud cover at 21:15 - 21:45 - 22:15 hours on August 21, 2006 between Surrey and Coquitlam, BC. I have been seeing maybe one per hour beginning just as soon as the sun goes down. They fly between 30 to 45 degrees altitude and appear much bigger than the average strobe on a plane. No objects or sound seen or heard.
On the evening of August 21, 2006, at 9:15 PM, I saw four large yellowish/white lights arranged in the shape of a diamond. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and and all four lights appeared to be underneath some kind of dark platform. There were several small white strobes and one bright red strobe located between the big lights.The object was moving east at the speed of a small plane below the 1200 feet clouds over the Fraser River.
I noticed a small plane passing overhead on what appeared to be an intercept course, but the object turned ENE, which put it almost directly ahead of the plane. The plane did not seem to be gaining at 9:45 PM. The lights were arranged in a narrow triangular pattern. A half hour later what appeared to be the same object coming back on a westerly course. Only this time there was just one bright red strobe at the front and one of the big lights in the rear. It appeared as if the big light was pushing the object.
SOURCE: Filer's Files #37 - 13 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_102.php
TENNESSEE UFO HAS NEAR MISS OF PLANE
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/ufocigarwisconsin1987.jpg Johnson City -- Kim Shaffer, Director of AUFORC, reports FAA confirmation: A pilot of a regional service airline reported at 10:03, he was just west of Tri Cities Regional Airport when he was nearly struck by a "meteor" while at an altitude of 4500 feet. The pilot stated the "meteor was in level flight and going "slow". Those of us who understand such things realize that meteors do not fly slow and not at 4500 feet. The control tower at "Tri" had also received a few calls concerning a burning aircraft.
Immediately following this event, a witness in Johnson City, Tennessee reported seeing a large dark cigar shaped object hovering near downtown. She described the object as" looking like one of those Vietnam helicopters"(we assume a Chinook), without props. The object, according to the witness, hovered with it's length some 45 degrees tilted up in the rear portion, had a white light top and bottom centrally. It also had a large "spotlight" like illumination on it's front pointing down. She assured the investigator that this was no helicopter she saw and it made absolutely no sound. The object hovered for some time and then sped off quickly to the southeast.
Subsequently, at about 22:30, a witness reported hearing a conversation on a scanner in Carter County regarding a flying object between two police officers or Sheriff deputies. There were "chuckles" and a request that this subject be discussed by phone. Carter County 911 has no record of this discussion.
We will be following up. Thanks to Kim Shaffer Director, AUFORC www.auforc.com
SOURCE: Filer's Files #37 - 13 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_102.php
MULTIPLE UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED OVER TENNESSEE FAA confirmation : A pilot of a regional service airline reported at 10:03, he was just west of Tri Cities Regional Airport when he was nearly struck by a "meteor" while at an altitude of 4500 feet. The pilot stated the "meteor was in level flight and going "slow". Those of us who understand such things realize that meteors do not fly slow and not at 4500 feet.
The control tower at "Tri" had also received a few calls concerning a burning aircraft.
Immediately following this event, a witness in Johnson City, Tennessee reported seeing a large dark cigar shaped object hovering near downtown. She described the object as" looking like one of those Viet-Nam helicopters" (we assume a Chinook), without props.
The object, according to the witness, hovered with it's length some 45 degrees tilted up in the rear portion, had a white light top and bottom centrally. It also had a large "spotlight" like illumination on it's front pointing down. She assured the investigator that this was no helicopter she saw and it made absolutely no sound. The object hovered for some time and then sped off quickly to the southeast.
Subsequently, at about 22:30, a witness reported hearing a conversation on a scanner in Carter County regarding a flying object between two police officers or Sheriff deputies. There were "chuckles" and a request that this subject be discussed by phone. Carter County 911 has no record of this discussion.
We will be following up with calls to both Washington and Unicoi County 911 offices to see if this object was the FAA's "burning aircraft" which calls were made in regards to.
Source & References: www.auforc.com
SOURCE: UFO Casebook http://www.ufocasebook.com/091806.html
SHUTTLE CARRIES WINGS TO ISS, UFO VIDEOTAPED
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/38shuttlests115ufo19september06.jpg CAPE CANAVERAL, FL. – NASA reports that a UFO called a mystery object, and at least two more have been sighted near the space shuttle Atlantis. The UFO has delayed the spacecraft's landing. Fox TV News on September 19, 2006, at 3 PM Eastern time showed a UFO flying below the Space Shuttle and reports NASA canceled its scheduled landing . Allegedly a UFO flew near the shuttle for an extended period. The video showed on FOX TV shows a small dark object flying below the shuttle at roughly the same speed.
Wayne Hale, NASA's shuttle program manager told reporters "The question is 'What is it?'" "The object appeared small and dark against a blue Earth in the video. The dark object was recorded on a camera in the payload bay of space shuttle Atlantis early Tuesday. The object shot by NASA TV, is located in the center of the highlight and NASA officials are not sure what it is?
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/38spaceobject19sep06.jpg
Thanks to (NASA TV) Sep 19, 2006
Flight controllers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston spotted the object floating between Atlantis and the Earth early Tuesday, September 19, 2006, just after the orbiter's astronaut crew put their vehicle through a standard pre-landing shakedown. Atlantis' six astronauts completed two inspections of the space shuttle Wednesday to make sure it wasn't damaged from the mysterious objects found floating outside the spacecraft. Landing was set for Thursday morning, a day later than originally scheduled. "Nothing was found to be missing or damaged," said Wayne Hale, space shuttle program manager. "So we feel very confident that we're in for a very good landing opportunity."
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/38shuttle_bottom19sept06.jpg
The bottom of the Space Shuttle has no damage.
NASA cleared Atlantis for a Thursday landing after finding that the space shuttle appeared undamaged and concluding the discovery of unexplained space debris did not pose a serious problem. Space shuttle Atlantis’ carried solar wings to the international space station early Thursday September 14, 2006. The new 17 1/2-ton solar wings were unfurled successfully.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/38iss18september06.jpg
Thanks to FOX News and NASA.
Editor's Note: This is the first time in memory that NASA has shown UFOs in space but insists they are just debris.
SOURCE: Filer's Files #38 - 20 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_104.php ~AND~
ATLANTIS SHUTTLE LANDING DELAYED AFTER MYSTERY OBJECTS SPOTTED
By Tariq Malik, Staff Writer
19 September 2006 CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – NASA shuttle managers are deciding whether simple camera views, a third heat shield survey or possibly even a spacewalk may be required to address a mystery object near the space shuttle Atlantis that has already delayed the spacecraft’s planned Wednesday landing.
"We have ruled out nothing and we’ll take the time that it needs to take," NASA’s shuttle program manager Wayne Hale told reporters today. "We’ll come back and maybe have a little better gelled plan later this afternoon."
The mystery object, coupled with anticipated poor weather at the Shuttle Landing Facility here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during Atlantis’ initial 5:58 a.m. EDT (0958 GMT) arrival time tomorrow, prompted mission managers to forgo the attempt altogether to settle the issue, Hale said.
[image: http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=060919_myst_object_02.jpg ]
Landing is now set for Thursday at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT), NASA said, adding that the orbiter has enough supplies to last through Saturday. A press briefing featuring the heads of Atlantis’ STS-115 Mission Management Team is expected no earlier than 6:00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT) with additional details.
"The question is 'What is it?'" Hale said, adding that the object – which appeared small and dark against a blue Earth in video – could be something as simple as ice, ceramic cloth gap-filler, or a piece of harmless shim stock plastic known to be dangling from Atlantis’ heat shield. "Is it something benign like that, which we have seen before, or is it something more critical that we should pay attention to?"
While the object’s appearance during Atlantis’ flight systems checkout – which astronauts have likened to "standing next to a howitzer" when the thrusters fire – and its relative motion near the shuttle suggest the two are the same, Hale cautioned that extreme reactions like a spacewalk or potential repair are at the far end of the list of possible responses.
Atlantis’ STS-115 crew – commanded by veteran shuttle flyer Brent Jett – has already conducted two planned detailed inspections of their spacecraft’s heat shield that cleared its vital tiles and carbon composite panels of any concerns, first after launch, and then after about nine days in orbit. The second scan was completed on Monday.
NASA’s STS-115 mission is the agency’s first to resume construction of the International Space Station (ISS) following two test flights to evaluate safety changes stemming from the 2003 Columbia accident. The shuttle delivered new solar arrays and massive trusses to the ISS early in its now 12-day spaceflight.
MYSTERY OBJECT SEEN BY "SERENDIPITY"
Hale said that discovery of the mystery object – which cannot be identified in video because of poor resolution – came at an opportune moment when mission managers were ready to declare Atlantis fit for landing.
"Normally we would have considered ourselves cleared for reentry by the end of the late inspection," Hale said. "This is just something that by serendipity we found out that we think we ought to go take another look at."
Shuttle flight controllers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston spotted the object floating between Atlantis and the Earth early Tuesday, just after the orbiter’s six-astronaut crew put their vehicle through a standard pre-landing shakedown to test thrusters, hydraulics and a number of other systems.
"We shake the ship pretty good when we do this," Hale said of the flight systems check, adding that a flight controller spotted a small object in Atlantis’ vicinity and backlit by the Earth about 15 minutes after the 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) check today.
"It could be a little something up close or a bigger something a little farther away, it’s a bit of a mystery," Hale said of the object. "We’re principally going about the task of making sure that the orbiter is safe for reentry and landing regardless of what that may have been."
Ensuring an orbiter’s heat shield integrity has been vital since the loss of Columbia’s seven-astronaut crew, since that orbiter’s heat shield was breached during launch by a piece of debris.
Atlantis’ Sept. 9 launch, however, caused no such damage, and the heat shield was found to be in pristine shape after the Monday inspection, Hale said.
A series of accelerometers, which recorded stresses or potential impacts along Atlantis’ wing leading edges did record about eight events around the time of the shuttle’s flight systems checkout, Hale said, adding that engineers are evaluating the data to determine its relevancy. The accelerometers also reported phantom signals during Atlantis’ liftoff, registering signals where no impacts were seen or damage found, Hale added.
SHUTTLE CREW NOTIFIED
Atlantis’ STS-115 astronaut crew is slated to go to sleep at about 1:45 p.m. EDT (1645 GMT), and have already been told of the landing postponement.
"We’re going to wave off for tomorrow," NASA astronaut Terry Virts, serving as spacecraft communicator, told Atlantis’ STS-115 crew, adding that potential use of the shuttle’s robotic arm or inspection boom is a possibility on Wednesday. "The good news is that you won’t have to get suited up, and get fluid-loaded and then wave off tomorrow."
"Yeah, that is good news," Jett, STS-115 commander, said.
Mission controllers did ask the Atlantis astronauts to prime the shuttle’s robotic arm system to allow its "elbow" camera to be used in a video survey. Jett later reported the sighting of an object by STS-115 mission specialist Daniel Burbank, which the crew took photographs of as it drifted away.
"It was definitely moving away," Jett told Virt, adding that the object was fairly small, moving away from Atlantis at a clip of about one to two feet per second at a seemingly constant rate. "I was able to get several shots."
Engineers and mission planners will work through the afternoon to develop a plan for either additional surveys, inspections or other required work for the STS-115 crew, Hale said. That work could go on well into the crew’s evening, and potentially until Jett and his crewmates are scheduled to awake at 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 Sept. 20 GMT) tonight for their next day of orbital work, he added.
SOURCE: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060919_sts115_landingdelay.html ~AND~
MYSTERY OBJECTS PROMPT THIRD HEAT SHIELD INSPECTION FOR ATLANTIS CREW
By Tariq Malik, Senior Space Writer
19 September 2006
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=060919_mystery_object_02.jpg CAPE CANAVERAL, – The six astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis will conduct an unprecedented third inspection of their orbiter’s heat shield before landing this week to ensure its integrity after an unidentified object appeared to shake free of the spacecraft this morning, NASA’s shuttle chief said late Tuesday.
NASA space shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said Atlantis’ STS-115 astronaut crew will use their orbiter’s 50-foot robotic arm to scan sensitive heat shield areas Wednesday and remains on track for a planned landing at the Kennedy Space Center here Thursday at 6:21 a.m. EDT (1021 GMT).
"We still aiming for Thursday," Hale said. "We have no reason, we think, not to go take a look."
Commanded by veteran NASA spaceflyer Brent Jett, Atlantis’ STS-115 crew was slated to land at the Shuttle Landing Facility here at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) at 5:58 a.m. EDT (0958 GMT) Wednesday after an 11-day mission to resume construction of the International Space Station (ISS).
But NASA postponed the landing attempt earlier today after spotting the mystery object, which appeared to have shaken loose from the orbiter during a series of standard pre-landing flight systems and thruster checks.
"There is considerable suspicion that whatever came off the vehicle came off during the flight control systems check-out," Hale said. "We think if this piece came off…it will be easier to see. We can scan faster."
Atlantis’ STS-115 astronauts have already made two detailed surveys of their orbiter’s heat shield using its robotic arm and inspection boom – one just after launch and another on Monday. Both inspections turned up no signs of any damage to the spacecraft’s heat shield.
Hale said the current plan is to awake Atlantis’ six-astronaut crew as planned at 9:45 p.m. EDT (0145 Sept. 20 GMT) tonight and begin a five-hour survey of the orbiter’s heat shield – including its underbelly – using the shuttle’s Canadian-built robotic arm. Those inspections are expected to begin by about 11:45 p.m. EDT (0345 Sept. 20 GMT), he added.
Only after that inspection will shuttle engineers and mission managers decide whether to unstow Atlantis’ sensor-laden inspection boom for a closer look at the orbiter’s heat shield, a process that would take at least three more hours if completed on time.
"It’s probably 50/50 whether we’re going to bring the boom out or not," Hale said, adding that a boom inspection must end on time in order for Atlantis’ crew to make their planned Thursday landing attempt for sure. "They’ll make a real-time call."
MYSTERY OBJECTS REDUX
A flight controller at NASA’s shuttle Mission Control room spotted the debris at about 2:45 a.m. EDT (0645 GMT) Tuesday while using one of the orbiter’s payload bay cameras during routine Earth observations, shuttle officials said.
Image analysts were unable to identify what the mystery object was, and likely will not be able to, shuttle officials said, though some engineers think it could still be a small piece of plastic inadvertently left between tiles along Atlantis’ underbelly.
"We don’t know that for sure, but it is a likely candidate," Hale said, referring to the bit of orange plastic—known as shim stock—seen dangling from a gap between the protective heat tiles along Atlantis’ belly. But a second object photographed by Atlantis’ crew is thought to be a simple plastic bag that drifted away from the orbiter.
"We do see things come off space vehicles from time to time that are really of no consequence other than we really would not like to leave litter lying around," Hale said.
Data indicating eight potential impact sites within two minutes, based on new accelerometer sensors within the leading edge of one of Atlantis’ wings has been put to rest, Hale said, adding that they signals correspond to powerful movements of the shuttle’s elevons.
The elevons are used to help steer the orbiter when it flies through Earth’s atmosphere during reentry, and are powered by hydraulics.
Flight controllers on Earth conducted a camera survey of Atlantis’ payload bay and upper orbiter surfaces while the shuttle’s STS-115 crew slept, which will cut down the amount of time the astronauts spend on robotic operations on Wednesday.
"We have, through inspection of the orbiter, cleared many areas of the orbiter," Hale said of that work, adding that thermal analysis have also found no signs of any abnormal variations along the orbiter’s hull. "In terms of making sure that the shuttle is safe for entry, that’s our primary goal and we will know that at the end of the crew’s day tomorrow."
SOURCE: http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060919_sts15_newinspections.html ~AND MORE~ Yesterday, more objects were photographed and videotaped, this time with
remarkable resemblance to the now infamous STS-75 "tether" footage...
http://www.rense.com/general73/sts115.htm
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NASA shuttle managers are deciding whether simple camera views, a third
heat shield survey or possibly even a spacewalk may be required to
address a mystery object near the space shuttle Atlantis that has
already delayed the spacecraft’s planned Wednesday landing.
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/060919_sts115_landingdelay.html
---
An unknown floating object close to the International Space Station ISS
has concerned ground control, according to reports from the US Space
Agency NASA on Tuesday.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1175999.php
NEANDERTHALS AND HUMANS LIVED SIDE-BY-SIDE
Rowan Hooper
NewScientist.com news service
13 September 2006 Neanderthals were thought to have died out as modern humans arrived in Europe. Now, artifacts found in a cave in Gibraltar reveal that the two groups coexisted for millennia before Neanderthals finally dwindled out of existence.
Homo sapiens moved into Europe about 32,000 years ago. But the newly unearthed artifacts shows that a remnant population of Homo neanderthalensis clung on until at least 28,000 years ago, a significant overlap.
Clive Finlayson at the Gibraltar Museum, and colleagues, recovered 240 stone tools and artifacts from sediments dated to the Upper Paleolithic period – between 10,000 and 30,000 years ago. Mass spectrometry dating puts them between 28,000 and 24,000 years old.
The exciting point is that the tools are all of a type known to paleontologists as Mousterian: they are flints, cherts and quartzites exclusively associated with Neanderthal manufacture.
"Mousterian technology is firmly associated with Neanderthals across Europe," says Finlayson, who adds that in the sediment layers where the tools where found there is no hint of intrusion from more recent layers, and no sign of tools made by modern humans.
GENETICALLY DISTINCT
Since modern humans and Neanderthals seem to have overlapped for thousands of years in Europe, the big question is: did they interbreed?
"The consensus now sees Neanderthals as having been largely replaced rather than assimilated into the modern human gene pool," says Katerina Harvati, at the department of human evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. "Genetic evidence from several Neanderthals shows that they were very distant genetically in their mitochondrial DNA from modern humans." So, if they did interbred, the Neanderthal genes did not survive. "The more realistic demographic models suggest that admixture (gene mixing) was unlikely, and probably minimal or zero," says Harvati.
The finding has implications for the status of a skeleton known as the Lagar Velho child. This individual, purported to be a hybrid of a Neanderthal and a modern human, was found in Portugal and has been dated to 24,500 years ago.
HANGING IN THERE
Lagar Velho's juvenile nature has made it difficult to determine if it is indeed a hybrid, and one of the other objections has been the fact that it lived thousands of years after the Neanderthals were thought to have died out. "Clearly, our results show Neanderthals may have been around at the time," says Finlayson.
The site of the discovery in Gibraltar is Gorham’s Cave, where Neanderthal artifacts were first discovered more than 50 years ago. Animal bones found with the tools indicate that the occupants butchered their hunted prey in the cave. The environment is rich and diverse, which perhaps enabled the last of the Neanderthal stragglers to survive a little longer than most. Finlayson estimates that only a small group lived in the cave itself.
Although modern humans were breeding all around them, we are not thought to have actively exterminated the Neanderthals.
"Fragmented populations survived in southern localities and their final extinction may have been due to their small numbers," says Finlayson. "Modern humans played a minor or no role in this."
Journal reference: Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature05195)
SOURCE: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn10070
UNKNOWN WRITING SYSTEM UNCOVERED ON ANCIENT OLMEC TABLET
http://www.scienceagogo.com/news/img/mesoamerican_tablet.jpg Science magazine this week details the discovery of a stone block in Veracruz, Mexico, that contains a previously unknown system of writing; believed by archeologists to be the earliest in the Americas.
The slab - named the Cascajal block - dates to the early first millennium BCE and has features that indicate it comes from the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica. One of the archaeologists behind the discovery, Brown University's Stephen D. Houston, said that the block and its ancient script "link the Olmec civilization to literacy, document an unsuspected writing system, and reveal a new complexity to this civilization."
"It's a tantalizing discovery. I think it could be the beginning of a new era of focus on Olmec civilization," explained Houston. "It's telling us that these records probably exist and that many remain to be found. If we can decode their content, these earliest voices of Mesoamerican civilization will speak to us today."
Construction workers discovered the Cascajal block in a pile of debris in the community of Lomas de Tacamichapa in the late 1990s. Surrounding the piece were ceramic shards, clay figurine fragments, and broken artifacts of ground stone, which have helped the team date the block and its text to the San Lorenzo phase, ending about 900 BCE; approximately 400 years before writing was thought to have first appeared in the Western hemisphere.
The block weighs about 26 pounds and measures 36 cm x 21 cm x 13 cm. The text itself consists of 62 signs, some of which are repeated up to four times. There is no doubt that the piece is a written work, say the archaeologists. "As products of a writing system, the sequences would, by definition, reflect patterns of language, with the probable presence of syntax and language-dependent word order," they explain.
Interestingly, the surface containing the text appears to be concave and the team believes the block has been carved repeatedly and erased - an unprecedented discovery according to Houston, who added that several paired sequences of signs could even indicate poetic couplets.
Story source brown.edu
SOURCE: http://www.ufodigest.com/news/0906/olmectablet.html ~AND~
'OLDEST' NEW WORLD WRITING FOUND
By Helen Briggs
Science reporter, BBC News Ancient civilizations in Mexico developed a writing system as early as 2,000 years ago, new evidence suggests. The discovery in the state of Veracruz of a block inscribed with symbolic shapes has astounded anthropologists.
Researchers tell Science magazine that they consider it to be the oldest example of writing in the New World. The inscriptions are thought to have been made by the Olmecs, an ancient pre-Columbian people known for creating large statues of heads.
The finding suggests that New World people developed writing some 400 years before their contemporaries in the Western hemisphere.
Co-author Stephen Houston of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, US, said it was a "tantalizing discovery".
"I think it could be the beginning of a new era of focus on Olmec civilization," he said.
"It's telling us that these records probably exist and that many remain to be found. If we can decode their content, these earliest voices of Mesoamerican civilization will speak to us today."
CHANCE FIND
The slab has been dated to the early first millennium BC. It appears to have been made by the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica, a geographical region located between the Sinaloa River valley in northern Mexico and the Gulf of Fonseca south of El Salvador.
The area, once home to the Aztecs, Mayas and their predecessors, covers much of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, and western Honduras.
The Olmecs appeared on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico around 1,200 BC. They are known to have carved glyphs - a symbolic figure or character that stands for a letter, sound, or word - since around 900 BC, but scholars are divided over whether this can be classified as true writing.
The stone slab, named the "Cascajal block", was first uncovered by road builders digging up an ancient mound at Cascajal, outside San Lorenzo, in the late 1990s.
It weighs about 12kg (26lbs) and measures 36cm (14in) in length, 21cm (8in) in width and 13cm (5in) in thickness. Its text consists of 62 signs, some of which are repeated up to four times.
Mexican archaeologists Carmen Rodríguez and Ponciano Ortíz were the first to recognise the importance of the find, and it was examined by international archaeologists earlier this year.
PRECIOUS OBJECT
The team says the text "conforms to all expectations of writing" because of its distinct elements, patterns of sequencing, and consistent reading order.
Commenting on the discovery, Mary Pohl, of Florida State University in Tallahassee, said she believed the authors had made a good case.
"I think it's a hugely important and symbolic find," she told the BBC News website. "It's new and further evidence that [the Olmecs] had writing and had text."
The block was carved from precious serpentine rock, suggesting it was probably a holy object used by high orders of society for some kind of ritual activity, she said.
The inscription is indecipherable but scientists hope that further excavations at the site could give clues to its content.
"I think more things will be found," said Dr Pohl. "We can make some progress although I don't think we'll ever be able to decipher it completely."
The Sumerians, who lived in Mesopotamia, what is now southern Iraq, are generally regarded to be the first people to develop a form of writing around 5,000 years ago; although there have been even older claims made for Chinese inscriptions.
SOURCE: BBC NEWS 9/14
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5347080.stm ~AND~
OLDEST OLMEC NEW WORLD WRITING FOUND
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39olmechead.jpg San Lorenzo, MEXICO – Frank Conway PhD. writes: The Olmecs were the first of the ancient civilizations of Mexico, notable for their colossal stone sculptures and complex calendar system later used by the Mayas. They originated in the present day state of Veracruz and flourished between 1200 to 400 BC. A Mexican stone tablet inscribed with patterned images that was unearthed in a Mexican gravel quarry with carvings of corn, insects and fish could be the earliest writing in the New World.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39olmecwritiing.jpg
The Olmecs built ceremonial cities, with construction including pyramids and temples built from earth. Typical Olmec art features jaguars, thick-lipped warriors and goatee bearded men. The largest Olmec monuments are the colossal stone heads, with thick lips and helmets. They have been found up to sixty miles from the source of the raw material. The Olmec, whose name means "rubber people" were perhaps the originators of the Mesoamerican Ballgame so prevalent among later cultures.
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39olmecc1pyarmidwww_delange_org.jpg
Seven Mesoamerican archeologists determined that the slab--named the "Cascajal block"--dates to about 900 B.C. and was carved by the ancient Olmec civilization, suggesting the Olmecs were using written language about three centuries before the oldest previously known effort. "The block and its ancient script link the Olmec civilization to literacy, document an unsuspected writing system and reveal a new complexity to these people. And the discovery also opens up the possibility of accounting and record-keeping." The stone text consists of 62 glyphs or symbols--such as insects, ears of corn and upside-down fish. The site was found near San Lorenzo, the former capital of the Olmec civilization--the western world's oldest--in the boggy lowlands of Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
SOURCE: Filer's Files #39 - 27 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_105.php
THE AMAZING FOSSIL OF 'LUCY'S LITTLE SISTER'
20 September 2006
From New Scientist Print Edition
Jeff Hecht The stunningly complete skeleton of a three-year-old girl who lived 3.3 million years ago has been uncovered in Ethiopia. The child belongs to the species Australopithecus afarensis like the famous "Lucy", who was discovered in 1974. The young age of the so-called Dikika child promises new insights into the growth of early humans.
The new find is the most complete and important skeleton of an immature Pliocene hominin ever found, says Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, who worked on the Lucy discovery. "The gist of the current paper is, 'Eureka, we have it'," he says.
A team led by Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, spotted the first bones south of the Awash river on 10 December 2000. The team spent four field seasons scouring the area for every scrap of the skeleton.
Lucy was also found in the Awash region, which is famed for its early human fossils. Many anthropologists think A. afarensis was ancestral to the genus Homo, though its exact position in the human family tree remains a matter for debate.
Alemseged's team believes that a flood rolled the child's body into a ball and buried it in sand soon after her death, before the bones could be weathered or pulled apart by scavengers.
Analysis of the skeleton has barely begun because the upper parts, including the skull, shoulder blades, collarbones, ribs and backbone, are still largely encased in a block of hard sandstone. However, a CT scan of the skull revealed tooth development matching that of a three-year-old, the team reports in Nature (vol 443, p 296).
"At least 50 per cent of the skeleton is there, but more importantly we have the face and brain endocast, and the whole skull, telling us clearly how the [child] looked," says Alemseged. He estimates the brain size was 330 cubic centimetres, between 63 and 88 per cent of the size of an adult of the species. This hints at brain growth slower than in chimpanzees, whose brains have reached 90 per cent of adult volume by age three. A. afarensis may therefore have begun evolving the slower brain development characteristic of modern humans.
The exposed leg bones show the child walked bipedally like Lucy. In contrast, the shoulder blade "in some ways resembles young gorillas", says collaborator Bill Kimbel of Arizona State University. That supports the inference from Lucy's long arms that she was a better climber than modern humans. During the girl's lifetime the environment was a mosaic of forest and savannah, so the species may have gathered food and slept in trees, but walked from place to place.
Another key discovery is a hyoid bone, which is found in the throat and in humans is involved in speech. Until now, only one fossil hyoid has ever been found, and it was from a Neanderthal. The Dikika hyoid resembles an ape's, suggesting speech had not begun to evolve in A. afarensis.
Alemseged believes much information can be gained once the skeleton is freed from its stone casing. "A clear picture will emerge of how baby human ancestors were built, and how they grew up," he says.
From issue 2570 of New Scientist magazine, 20 September 2006, page 8
SOURCE: http://www.newscientist.com/channel/being-human/mg19125703.300
ANCIENT OLMECS HAD CELESTIAL NAVIGATION FORMULAS Astronaut Gordon Cooper in his book "A Leap of Faith" tells the reader his strong views on the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence and even the distinct possibility that we have already had contact. http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39gordoncooper.jpg
His photographic team at Edwards Air Force Base photographed a landing of a disc craft. Astronaut Gordon Cooper in his book states, "During my final years with NASA, I became involved in a different kind of adventure undersea treasure hunting in Mexico." One day, accompanied by a National Geographic photographer, we landed in a small plane on an island in the Gulf of Mexico; local residents pointed out to them pyramid-shaped mounds, where they found ruins, artifacts and bones. On examination, the artifacts were determined to be 5,000 years old!
Winged Olmecfigure from www.latinamericanstudies.org
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39olmecwingedfigure.jpg
With the head of the National Archaeology Department, Pablo Bush Romero, together with Mexican archeologists the two went back to the site. After some excavating, Cooper writes, "The age of the ruins was confirmed at 3000 B.C. Engineers, farmers, artisans, and traders, the Olmecs had a remarkable civilization. But it is still not known where they originated".
(Top of the C-1 Pyramid archeological site at La Venta. Mexico)
www.delange.org/LaVenta5 .
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/uploads/39olmeclaventaarceologicalsite.jpg
Cooper wrote, "Among the findings that intrigued me most: that, when translated, turned out to be mathematical formulas used to this day for navigation, and accurate drawings of constellations, some of which would not be officially 'discovered' until the age of modern telescopes." It was this, rather than his experiences as an astronaut, that triggered Gordon Cooper's "Leap of faith": "This left me wondering: Why have celestial navigation signs if they weren't navigating celestially?" And he asks: "If 'someone' had helped the Olmecs with this knowledge, from whom did they get it?" Thanks to Gordon Cooper Chapter 11 "A Leap of Faith"
SOURCE: Filer's Files #39 - 27 September 2006
http://www.nationalufocenter.com/artman/publish/article_105.php
CROP CIRCLE CRAFT According to Jeremy Stride, The majority (and perhaps all) of the genuine, non man-made crop circle formations are providing information on the construction of a physical vehicle that uses uses among other things, hydrogen, water, and microwaves. Doug Ruby's "The Gift" - which was published in 1995 - originally posed the idea that the crop designs are the instructions for building an extroardinary craft. Unfortunately Doug went underground with his research soon thereafter. The 1997 movie "Contact" is also about constructing a cosmic craft. But in the film the blueprints were obtained by intercepting an ET signal. Interesting coincidence, huh?
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Here, you will learn that there is something more in the crop circles. Each formation is a small piece of the whole. As you will see throughout this website, the crop circles are a puzzle with their own ways of interconnecting between the designs. Once a certain symbol has been identified, it can be used in decoding other formations.
http://www.cropcircleship.com/site/intro.php
SOURCE: PAG E-NEWS: September 8 www.pagenews.info
CCCRN NEWS
E-News from the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network
September 6, 2006 Formation Report #4 - Provost, Alberta
Photos: http://www.cccrn.ca/provost06photos.html
© Judy Arndt (CCCRN Alberta / Crop Circle Quest)
'Trilateral' formation of a double-ringed circle with three connecting straight pathways and outer circles. Found around September 1. Investigation is still on-going by CCCRN Alberta. Initial details, aerial photos and diagrams are now posted (larger photos on web site). This is the fourth reported formation for 2006. Further details pending.
Also...
Update - Buffalo Pound Lake, Saskatchewan Formation
http://www.cccrn.ca/buffalopoundlake06photos.html
Additional ground photos have now been posted, showing more of the lateral sideways lay of the prairie grass within the long looping pathway of this unusual formation (?). It has now been reported that this is actually a dirt bike trail made in early July, with the grass naturally falling over it in subsequent weeks. This could explain both the uncharacteristic shape and lateral lay. Still under investigation.
Update - Armstrong, British Columbia Formation
http://www.cccrn.ca/armstrong06photos.html
A report has been posted (Details page) regarding a reported sighting of odd lights in nearby Kelowna, in a similar pattern to that of the formation, around the time that the formation was first found.
SOURCE: http://www.cccrn.ca
Paul Anderson
BIRD DEATHS PUZZLE UNALASKA
By ALEX deMARBAN and CRAIG MEDRED
Anchorage Daily News, September 1, 2006 SHEARWATERS: Captain said hail of creatures hit his boat for up to 30 minutes.
More than 1,600 sea bird carcasses have washed onto Unalaska shores over the last two days in a mysterious die-off that scientists are scrambling to understand. Some say they may have died of hunger. Others say they're smashing into boats. Maybe it's both, some scientists said.
Several hundred black, gull-like shearwaters died after flying into a crabbing boat that steamed through the early morning darkness in Unalaska Bay on Wednesday morning, said Forrest Bowers, a fisheries biologist for the state Department of Fish and Game in Unalaska.
The captain of the boat walked into Bowers' office that day to report that a hail of shearwaters struck his boat for up to 30 minutes, Bowers said. The crew pitched the dead and dying birds overboard, the captain said, according to Bowers. Bowers would not release the captain's name, saying he requested anonymity.
The captain reported that other boats were in the area and may also have been bombarded by the sea birds, Bowers said. It's happened before in Unalaska, but usually not in such big numbers, Bowers said.
Seabird specialist Art Sowls at the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge in Homer said he had neither heard nor read of massive numbers of shearwaters dying in a collision with a ship or ships.
"That's not something that would have come to mind," said the biologist, who has been called in to consult on the deaths. "There are some species that actually are attracted to lights on boats," including shearwaters, he said. He's heard of shearwaters hitting structures in Hawaii but not boats, he said. Still, he added, a massive death toll due to collision is not impossible.
"Shearwaters can be in flocks of over a million birds," Sowls said, and the birds go through a molting process that limits their ability to fly. Most should have just finished molting.
"They can fly," he said, "but they are somewhat immobile."
Given just the right circumstances, he said, maybe a ship or ships could steam into a massive flock that just couldn't get out of the way fast enough.
"That would be amazing if that was what caused it," he added.
Reid Brewer, a local marine biologist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said he counted just over 1,600 carcasses on the pebbled shores near homes in Unalaska and along beaches outside the Aleutian island community.
The birds don't appear thin and aren't oiled, he said. Some had necks twisted at odd angles, as if they had smashed into something, he said.
Seabird authority David Irons of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage had a similar reaction to the news of masses of dead shearwaters. Starvation, he said, would be a far more likely cause for the deaths than a collision.
"They don't normally run into ships," Irons said.
It is possible, however, that birds weakened by starvation could have struck boats, he added, or that the carcasses washing ashore could be a combination of birds that starved and birds that hit ships.
"Shearwaters are the most abundant bird out in the Bering Sea," Irons said. Given their sheer numbers, it would not be surprising to witness a seemingly massive die-off due to starvation or disease.
The population is so large the census is a broad estimate from 9 million to 20 million birds.
Irons said he expects that the dead birds will be checked for avian flu -- the hot disease of the day -- but everyone involved with this die-off thinks that it is an unlikely cause.
Sowls said the Fish and Wildlife Service is coordinating a carcass retrieval to get birds delivered to laboratories for testing. That's the only real way to determine the cause of the die-off, he said.
On Thursday, Sowls was also trying to contact people along the Aleutian Islands and out in the Pribilof Islands to see if they had spotted unusual numbers of dead shearwaters washing ashore -- an event that would likely coincide with a natural die-off.
"It's not unusual to have birds dying," he said, but to have hundreds or thousands of them dying at once is unusual.
Both Irons and Sowls said they expect the total number of dead birds is much larger than the 1,600 carcasses that have been found.
"Typically, you find a fairly small percentage of the ones that die," Sowls said.
SOURCE: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8145569p-8037818c.html
IN SEARCH OF WATER MONSTERS The computer-aided dinosaurs used in Steven Spielberg’s movie brought to life the mythological monsters. Information may be true or false. Information may become a "material force" capable of exerting influence on the world when the public are regularly fed with all sorts of information via the press and TV.
"We’re talking about a great sensation! The international scientific expedition has finally caught Loch Ness monster in Scotland," reported U.S. magazine News recently… As far as we are concerned, we are confident that the legendary "monster" has "swum" to the pages of the magazine from the movie Jurassic Park.
Our experts put forth the following theory as the movie just started grossing millions of dollars in rentals all over the world: "Steven Spielberg’s computer-aided dinosaurs will bring to life other mythological monsters." The experts proved to be right. Soon the reports began pouring out.
The residents of the village of Campo in Puerto Rico claim a flying dragon visits the place on a regular basis. According to the eyewitnesses – a police officer and a priest – the monster looks like a green kangaroo, it has a hard shell and red eyes shining in the dark. The monster was dubbed Chupacabras. It is reported to have appeared after dark to snap at the dogs and bite their heads off. The monster also reportedly attacked sheep and cows by tearing their throats open to suck on the jugular.
The monster of the Lake of Hanas in China came to light again lately.
There has been no news about the monster since 1985 when some students of the University of Shijiazhuang first noticed a strange big animal moving along the surface of the lake. No other reports on the mysterious monster have come over the last ten years. These days the locals are again spreading rumors about the bloodthirsty monster which is alleged to drag poultry and livestock under the water "to pick a mouthful." Just recently a dozen eyewitnesses saw a weird creature pop up on the surface in broad daylight.
The legendary monster in Lake Sturs, Sweden, came to life too.
The first reports of the monster lizard were published by local newspapers at the turn of the century. The newspapers said that an unknown species was seen crawling out of water and onto the shore. The monster was reported to have chased the locals around the beach. The residents of a nearby village set a trap for the monster after it scared to death two little girls. Yet the monster never fell into the trap. All the bloodcurdling gossip gradually died away. But more strange tracks were discovered on the beach lately. A number of other reports about the monster followed.
By and large, Loch Ness monster, otherwise known as Nessie, has been above par.
The reports on similar creatures seen in other countries were either a variety of speculations or unconvincing eyewitness accounts. On the contrary, the previously elusive Loch Ness monster has not only exposed itself to photographers who took pictures of it from different angles, it also got into the net for further research, according to the above magazine.
"The latest expedition to Lake Loch Ness was organized by the French Doctor of Zoology Michael Jennet in collaboration with several scientists from Italy, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Norway, United States and Ukraine. The expedition was a success.
The 52-meter-long steel net was lowered into the lake. The scientists used tuna as a bait to trap the creature. There were no developments for several weeks after the net was unfolded. Then something big made a hole in the net. The scientists repaired the net and modified it by reinforcing the structure. So the net was strong enough to hold the quarry when it finally got trapped the last time," says the article in News magazine.
"Right now it’s too early to name or classify the monster," said Dr. Jennet, in an interview to the above magazine. "I believe what we’ve caught is the last dinosaur on Earth. Our divers already made friends with it. They pat it on the head while feeding it some tuna," said Dr. Jennet.
It would not be an exaggeration to maintain that scientists still have a lot to learn about the fauna of the world’s seas and oceans. Discoveries reported from time to time indicate that the traditional stories featuring giant sea monsters and octopuses may hold water. For example, the eyes of a large octopus, whose dead body was washed ashore on one of the islands in New Zealand, measured nearly 30 cm in diameter. Its sucker-bearing arms were 12 m long.
Bruce Robinson, head of the Oceanographic Institute in California, took pictures of real monsters during his research trip onboard the one-man submarine. The photographs show a few deep-water eels measuring about 40 meters.
There are some mysterious creatures living in bodies of water surrounded by land – if the reports in the press are credible. Below are the geographic locations of "still waters" that run deep: - Lago Blanco is a lake in Chile. According to numerous eyewitness reports, it still has a large prehistoric reptile.
- Lake Waitorec is located in Australia. Local residents claim they repeatedly saw a large unknown creature in the lake.
- Lake Manipogo is in Canada. The locals reported an unexplained monster seen on location.
- Lake Kol Kol is located in Dzhambul region, Kazakhstan. According to popular beliefs, the "water spirit of Aidakhara" lives in the depths of it. Local shepherds repeatedly saw a giant animal dragging poultry and livestock into the water. A. Pechorsky, a regional specialist, maintains that one day he saw a strange creature as it surfaced from the depths of the lake. According to him, it looked like a giant snake measuring above 15 meters, its head is said to be one meter wide.
- Lake Labynkar is in Yakutia, northeastern part of Russia. According to numerous eyewitness accounts including those reported by helicopter pilots, a giant creature hides in the lake, which is ice-clad for the most part of the year. Locals repeatedly spotted large tracks near the unfrozen patches in an ice-covered surface. Source: Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/06-09-2006/84290-Nessie-0
and Conspiracy Journal #382 9/8/06
http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal382.html
WAVE OF ANIMAL MUTILATIONS
September 15, 2006 Brutal mutilations of pets and farm animals are being reported from numerous locations worldwide at the present time. In each case, the local media assumes that their problem is unique, and never looks at the bigger picture. At present, there are mutilations, mostly of pet cats, being reported from Bellingham and Spokane, Washington, and from Dallas and rural Louisiana.
In the Dallas case, the mutilated remains of a rabbit and a rat were found on a playground in the suburb of Colleyville, near Euless where brutally killed ducks were discovered two weeks ago. Police theorize that predators such as coyotes might be responsible, but local residents suspect some sort of satanic cult.
In Tangiapoa, Louisiana, a horse, a dog and three cats were killed by having their throats cut, and three other animals were injured. Police do not suspect ritual killing because this is usually done in hidden places, and these killings took place during the night at the home where the animals were pets.
In Bellingham, Washington, two cats were brutally mutilated and killed, with a possible third victim under study.
The Spokane cases, all of which took place around Albi Stadium, involve the classic anomalous pattern of bloodless corpses being found with extremely sharp incisions. All the victims were cats. Three animals were involved, and as in dozens of other places over the past twenty years, the remains were carefully returned to the areas where the pets had lived.
In none of these cases do authorities appear to be aware of the other situations, but, no matter who is doing this, because all the mutilations occurred within a few weeks of each other, the possibility that they are linked should not be ignored.
SOURCE: http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=5610
TALES OF THE FLATWOODS MONSTER
Author Says UFOs Still Buzzing West Virginia FLATWOODS — In the gathering dusk of a warm September evening, a sandlot football game is halted suddenly by a fiery object streaking over the lush, green hillside a short distance away. Startled by what they saw, the five boys engaged in football, accompanied by the mother of one and a second adult, rushed up the mountainside to investigate.
From behind a tree emerged a 12-foot object, emitting a strong and repulsive sulfuric odor. Crackling sounds inside it reminded the witnesses of bacon sizzling in a fry pan. Nothing verbal came from the curious object, but strong lights from the head of it formed a beam directed at the frightened onlookers. Just to the right on the hillside lay a circular object described later as the standard spaceship.
Terrified, the seven scampered down the hill, giving birth to the enduring episode of the "Braxton County Monster."
Fifty-four years later, the account endures, thanks largely to a book author Frank Feschino Jr. penned after a dozen years of painstaking research. For instance, he was the first to examine the official Air Force Blue Book on UFO sightings, unwrapped only two decades ago after years of official secrecy. Witnesses never altered their account of the bizarre incident that Sept. 12, 1952, night that put Flatwoods on national news for several days.
Based on his in-depth research that embraced "tons of reports" and numerous interviews with witnesses, Feschino is convinced the "monster" was indeed an alien inside a metallic probe, or small shuttlecraft, not unlike the lunar modules used by America astronauts, explaining why it appeared to "float" along the ground.
Feschino believes the alien was aboard one of three spacecraft that escaped a dogfight with U.S. Air Force jets over the Atlantic Ocean and landed inside the American border.
The red-and-green "monster," a moniker that has stuck over five decades, appeared to have a medieval cowl over its head, while cloaked in a metallic "skirt." Antennae were visible, but it seemed to be armless.
One of the witnesses, Kathleen May, described the lower part of its attire as "hanging drapes," not surprisingly given the vernacular of the 1950s, but Feschino says this likely was a set of pipes of the shuttlecraft. Another saw it as a suit of armor. To one, the head reminded him of the ace of spades. In less than half an hour, the "monster" was back inside his craft and took off for parts unknown.
Feschino’s research took him to articles in weekly newspapers of the era, since many witnesses to UFO sightings hadn’t bothered to contact authorities to fill out a detailed, 10-page report provided by the military.
Flatwoods became a household dateline just five years after the Roswell incident, and only a few years after the "shoot them down" directive to U.S. fighter pilots amid the mounting tensions with Russia in that era, he pointed out. If an unknown craft appeared, the author says, the military was commanded to shoot first and ask questions later, rather than risk a pre-emptive nuclear strike by the Russians, based on the revelations of one high-ranking Air Force officer.
"This was at the height of the Cold War," Feschino said, recalling how school children were drilled almost daily in survival, such as getting under desks. "You’re concerned for the safety of the country, and what if you picked up something on radar? Is it a Russian with a bomb? Or a UFO? You don’t want that on your head."
When radar detected an unfamiliar, jets were scrambled.
"Shoot Them Down," in fact, is the title Port Orange, Fla., resident has chosen for a follow-up book on the UFO phenomenon.
Likely, the aliens were conducting reconnaissance flights over America, since they were seen at atomic plants and Air Force installations, the author said. This, in turn, gave birth to a theory of galactic spying, or a "cosmic kindergarten," as one expert has described, Feschino pointed out.
"There have been tons of sightings up there," the author said. "Braxton County is a hotbed for UFO sightings."
Just why remains a puzzle, but the author also says evidence has surfaced that crop circles have surfaced in the area as well.
One of the three spaceships that eluded the fighter jets nearly clipped a passenger train in Wheeling before darting southward and landing in Bluefield, says Feschino.
"The one that landed in West Virginia actually flew over Washington half an hour earlier," he says. "I knew that every story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Flatwoods was the end of the story. I wanted to find out what happened preceding it."
So, the author fetched aerial maps and compiled one that measures about 8 by 10 feet, tediously pinpointed each sighting, then connected the dots.
"In all of that night in 1952, there were about 18 and one-half hours of sightings," he says. The Blue Book actually devoted an official case report to the Flatwoods incident, he learned. "Besides that one page, there were about 200 other pages of UFO sightings that occurred throughout the night," he said. "Flatwoods was not an isolated incident. This was not just one little incident. The one in Flatwoods was only 5 percent of the story."
In fact, he said, the "monster" was tracked as it retreated back across Braxton County that same night.
Feschino figures the aliens are still using the backwash of rural Braxton County since it is only 206 direct air miles away from the Capitol and provides dense foliage for concealment in interludes while, for whatever reasons. They are scouting out America.
As the damaged aircraft witnessed that night in 1952 flew over the backwash, parts of it crumbled and fell to the ground. No doubt, he says, many souvenir hunters grabbed them, never telling authorities about their finds.
"There could be hundreds of pieces of shrapnel and pieces in some junk cabins," he said. "We don’t know."
Feschino says the media falsely portray Americans as evenly divided on Braxton County’s incident.
"That’s not even close," he said. "I would say it’s closer to 90 percent who believe and 10 percent who are skeptical as far as the Flatwoods case is concerned."
Feschino’s book, "The Braxton County Monster: The Cover-Up of the Flatwoods Monster Revealed," was published by West Virginia Book Co. of Charleston, who says sales were "super" when it came out last year, and remain "quite steady."
"Frank does a wonderful job with tying in everything that happened in D.C. and all over the Eastern Seaboard," says owner Bill Clements. "Basically, no one would talk about it. People were ridiculed by the media. Most of them just clammed up. Feschino spent 12 years getting to know people and getting their trust."
To some denizens of Flatwoods, the "monster" is on par with Mothman, the bird-man creature that took up brief residence in Point Pleasant. Does this mean a Flatwoods-based movie could be in the offing?
"There have been a lot of offers, but just talking at this point," Feschino acknowledged. If one is made, would Feschino land a role? "I want to be the ‘monster,’" he laughed.
Source: The Register-Herald
http://www.register-herald.com/local/local_story_263222105.html
and Conspiracy Journal 9/22/06 #383
http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal383.html
HOW NESSIE MIGHT SURPRISE VISITORS TO LAKE WINDERMERE
Sighting of Unknown Creature at Lake Windermere A North beauty spot could be the home of a serpent-like creature similar to the legendary Loch Ness Monster. Lecturer Steve Burnip was alerted to its possible existence after he spotted a mysterious shape in Lake Windermere while on holiday with his wife Eileen. According to Steve the creature was long and thin with humps ... just like the classic descriptions of Nessie.
Now his claims have attracted the interest of cryptozoologists - experts in animals whose existence has yet to be proven - with a team from the Centre for Fortean Zoology set to investigate.
Steve, 51, said: "I saw a straight line of broken water with three humps. It was about 20ft long and it went in a straight line up the lake. I nudged my wife and watched open-mouthed as it gradually faded from sight. The water was not choppy, so I know it wasn't the wind, and I know what the wake from motor boats looks like and it wasn't that either."
The couple, regular visitors to the Lake District, were on a rocky outcrop providing a clear view of the lake, where Bowness is a tourist hotspot.
Steve, a lecturer in journalism at the University of Hudderfield, is convinced he saw an animal. He even has a theory why it could have remained hidden until now. He believes a recently-imposed speed limit on the lake may have encouraged it to rise to the surface more often. Experts are trying to identify what Steve and Eileen, of Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, really saw on the water last summer. Suggestions include a catfish - introduced into some lakes for anglers - or a giant eel.
Reptile expert Richard Freeman, from the Centre for Fortean Zoology, said: "We believe that serpent-like sightings could in fact be huge, sterile eels. They just stay in fresh water and get bigger and bigger."
Steve said he would like to know one way or the other. He said: "I don't think it was a catfish, absolutely not. This was a long thing and did not have the width you would expect. It may well be a sterile eel. "It was certainly something unidentified, the likes of which I will probably never see again."
SOURCE: The Sunday Sun
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/sundaysun/news/tm_objectid=17764012&method=full&siteid
=50081&headline=sighting-of-unknown-at-windermere-name_page.html
and Conspiracy Journal 9/22/06 #383
http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal383.html
SKYFISH?
Aging Angler Claims to Catch Invisible Skyfish Skyfish are mysterious, paranormal objects that fly through the skies or swim in water at speeds so incredibly fast they're invisible to the human eye, but are regularly captured on video camera. And Japan is home to one of the world's most adept skyfish anglers, according to Cyzo (October).
Incredibly, Kozo Ichikawa, a 64-year-old tangerine farmer from a rustic part of Shizuoka
Prefecture, claims he can catch the skyfish - also referred to as Unidentified Marine Animals -- with his bare hands.
Ichikawa has already displayed his talents on a DVD about the most effective methods used in skyfishing and made by Jose Escamilla, one of the world's leading experts on paranormal phenomena.
While no samples of living skyfish are in captivity, nor have any samples been found for that matter, the sexagenarian farmer has no doubts that they exist.
"When I was a little kid, I used to catch them all the time," he tells Cyzo. "Now, though, the environment's gone bad and you've got to go deeper and deeper into the mountains to see them anywhere."
Ichikawa says that he's now too old and frail to try and head up to the high mountain peaks where skyfish are easily caught by hand, but insists that it can be done. He's also refusing to take on apprentices, but says that watching the skyfishing DVDs tells anybody anything they need to know to catch one of the bizarre creatures.
Considering Japanese eat more fish than any other people on the planet, how would the skyfish go down at the local sushi bar? Not well at all, according to Ichikawa, who says skyfish aren't for consumption.
"You don't eat skyfish," he says. "You just catch them and then release them again. That's all. Mind you, if you did eat them, I guess they'd probably taste a bit like nata de coco (a healthy, jelly-like Filipino food produced from coconut milk)."
Ichikawa says the appeal of skyfishing by hand all comes down to one thing. "They feel so good to touch," he tells Cyzo.
With skyfishing growing in popularity, a follow-up DVD has recently been released onto the market featuring successful skyfishers from across the globe advising wannabe air anglers on how to catch the curious creatures. Ichikawa is delighted by the sequel.
"As a skyfisherman myself, I'd love to meet these people," Ichikawa tells Cyzo. "And I'd really like them to study my methods on skyfishing by hand and tell me if they work overseas, too."
SOURCE: Conspiracy Journal 9/29/06 #384
http://uforeview.tripod.com/conspiracyjournal384.html
FROM: Mainichi Daily News
http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20060925p2g00m0dm011000c.html
'DRASTIC' SHRINKAGE IN ARCTIC ICE
By Richard Black
Environment correspondent, BBC News website A Nasa satellite has documented startling changes in Arctic sea ice cover between 2004 and 2005. The extent of "perennial" ice - thick ice which remains all year round - declined by 14%, losing an area the size of Pakistan or Turkey.
The last few decades have seen summer ice shrink by about 0.7% per year.
The drastic shrinkage may relate partly to unusual wind patterns found in 2005, though rising temperatures in the Arctic could also be a factor.
The research is reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the global average; and recent studies have shown that the area of the Arctic covered by ice each summer, and the ice thickness, have been shrinking.
September 2005 saw the lowest recorded area of ice cover since 1978, when satellite records became available.
PERENNIAL DECAY
This latest study, from scientists led by Son Nghiem of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
California, measures something slightly different from the extent of summer ice cover - the extent of "perennial" ice cover.
Perennial or "multi-year" ice is up to 3m thick and survives through at least one summer. It is different from "seasonal" ice, which is thinner and melts more easily, surviving for just one winter before succumbing to the summer sun.
"Perennial ice contains less salinity," explained Dr Nghiem. "It's freshwater ice - there are more bubbles in it and typically its surface is much rougher - and a scatterometer [a radar-based instrument] can distinguish between the two types."
Using the scatterometer on Nasa's Quikscat satellite, researchers scanned the Arctic for perennial and seasonal ice. From October 2004 to March 2006 they plotted a steady decline.
When they compared figures for the 2004 and 2005 northern hemisphere winter solstices - 21 December - a huge change showed up.
"In previous years there is some variability, but it is much smaller and regional," Dr Nghiem told the BBC News website.
"However the change we see between 2004 and 2005 is enormous."
The area of perennial sea ice lost was about 730,000 sq km, with a huge loss in the East Arctic (defined as north of Russia and Europe) and a small gain in the West Arctic, north of the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean.
STRAY WINDS
Continuous scatterometer data has been available only since 1999, so for comparison researchers must use the records of summer ice extent - which is almost, but not exactly, the same thing as perennial ice extent.
"If we average that over the long term we find a reduction of between 6.4% and 7.8% per decade," said Dr Nghiem. "What we have here is 14% in one year - 18 times the previous rate."
The key questions are what caused it, and whether it is an anomaly or the first sign of a major change of pace for Arctic melting.
Quikscat also monitors winds, and noted unusual patterns of wind in the East Arctic in 2005 which could be related, perhaps propelling old ice from east to west, though how that could explain such a drastic loss of perennial ice is not clear.
If the pace of Arctic melting is quickening, the implications for the future are not reassuring. Ice reflects the Sun's energy back into space; open water absorbs it. So a planet with less ice warms faster, potentially turning the projected impacts of global warming into reality sooner than anticipated. -- Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
SOURCE: BBC NEWS http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5344208.stm
TOP SCIENTIST'S FEARS FOR CLIMATE One of America's top scientists has said that the world has already entered a state of dangerous climate change. In his first broadcast interview as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, John Holdren told the BBC that the climate was changing much faster than predicted.
"We are not talking anymore about what climate models say might happen in the future.
"We are experiencing dangerous human disruption of the global climate and we're going to experience more," Professor Holdren said.
He emphasised the seriousness of the melting Greenland ice cap, saying that without drastic action the world would experience more heatwaves, wild fires and floods.
He added that if the current pace of change continued, a catastrophic sea level rise of 4m (13ft) this century was within the realm of possibility; much higher than previous forecasts.
To put this in perspective, Professor Holdren pointed out that the melting of the Greenland ice cap, alone, could increase world-wide sea levels by 7m (23ft), swamping many cities.
He blamed President Bush not only for refusing to cut emissions, but also for failing to live up to his rhetoric on harnessing technology to tackle climate change.
"We are not starting to address climate change with the technology we have in hand, and we are not accelerating our investment in energy technology research and development," Professor Holdren observed.
He said research undertaken by Harvard University revealed that US government spending on energy research had not increased since 2001. In order to make any progress, funding for climate technology needed to multiply by three or four times, Professor Holdren warned.
Last year, the UK's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, held a science conference to determine the
threshold of dangerous climate change. Delegates concluded that to be relatively certain of keeping the rise below 2C (3.6F), CO2 levels in the atmosphere should not exceed 400 parts per million (ppm) and the highest prudent limit should be 450 ppm.
In October, at an international conference in Mexico, UK environment and energy ministers will try to persuade colleagues from the top 20 most polluting nations to agree on a CO2 stabilisation level.
Professor Holdren expressed doubt that progress could be achieved because if the US administration agreed that there was a need to limit CO2, this would inevitably lead to mandatory caps. President Bush has already rejected that option.
For more than a year, the BBC has invited the US government to give its view on safe levels of CO2. Our request is repeatedly passed between the White House office of the Council on Environmental Quality and the office of the US chief scientist.
To date, we have received no response to questions on this issue that Tony Blair calls the most important in the world. Professor Holdren called on the US Government to back the UK position.
John Holdren, in addition to his presidency of the AAAS, is director of t |
