Today I ran across a joint venture between Amnesty International and The Guardian to get out the word about the censorship on the internet that occurs around the world. At the previous link you can sign a petition that will be presented to the UN.

You'll also see that over on my sidebar, right above my links, there's a box that displays an item of censored material from somewhere in the world with each load of this page. If you want to add a box like it to your site, click here. I think it's a worthwhile campaign.

For anyone who doesn't know about the Book of THoTH's upcoming book competitions, here's a chance to get caught up.

The Book of THoTH, with the help of best selling author Philip Gardiner, has struck a deal with one of the world’s leading Music and DVD companies - Reality Entertainment - to provide thousands of dollars worth of prizes for written articles. The best articles will be chosen to appear in a new Book to be launched world-wide by Reality Press entitled "The Book of THoTH: Wisdom of the Ages".

Although there will be no royalty payments for articles used in the book, presently unpublished authors will have the chance to see their name in print in a major new book, they will then be able to use this as a catalyst to further their publishing career, or simply show to friends and family.

Basically, if you've ever wanted to break into being an author, get an article published, or even if you just have an idea you want to share with people, this is your chance. You have until December 31st to submit articles for the book release.

That's not all, though, as if that wasn't enough. There's an ongoing competition for graphic artists to design the cover of the book as well at Renderosity. This competition ends on the 13th, in about two weeks, so you'll have to hurry up and get something in for that. Even if you don't plan on submitting anything, register over at Renderosity and check out all of the entries we've received so far, there's over 80 of them right now.

For all the up to date information on each of the contests, check out the competition page before you start designing the cover and writing articles!

Loren Coleman from Cryptomundo has added to his list of the top 13 most credible cryptids and now has a list of the top 50 cryptids from around the world.

Certainly worth a read over, as most people have probably never even heard of most of them. Another good source of info on the subject is the Leaves of Wisdom information source at Book of THoTH. There's a cryptids page there that has a fairly extensive list.

While these two babies certainly don't look anything like each other, they're actually twins. In a very rare genetic occurrence, the boys each inherited a different set of genes from their mother, who is of mixed race, Nigerian and English.

How many genetic tests do you think it took to make the parents believe that one? I certainly would have been convinced the hospital made a mistake...

Perhaps the single biggest fraud ever perpetrated upon the citizens of the United States of America is the election fraud to which we were submitted to in 2000 and 2004. I, personally, don't believe that Bush actually won either election. In the graph above, in the first row, you'll see a sample of paper votes and how the results compared with exit polling. Pretty close. In the bottom two rows you'll see electronic voting and how it compared with exit polls. Not even close, and inevitably in Bush's favor.

Below you'll see a video sent to me by my good friend John today of a computer programmer testifying in court that Tom Feeney(Speaker of the House of Florida in 2004) attempted to pay him to rig the machine vote count in the 2004 election.



I think anyone can draw their own conclusions about this. There's plenty of evidence out there, and it just grows more and more with each passing day. If there are vote counting machines in your district, particularly the Diebold variety, think about voting on a paper ballot via absentee voting.

Apparently the most detailed economic assessment to date on the effects of climate change has been completed, and a preview of the findings have been released. The findings are that, one, global leaders need to deal with climate change or face, perhaps, the biggest recession in the world yet. Two, if the $15 trillion investment in new energy sources required over the next fifteen years to move beyond our current energy systems is actually invested, it might bail out the economies of the countries who reap the benefits of the research. Seems like a no brainer to me, but I'm certainly not in charge of how we spend our research money here in the US.

New Scientist today has a list of the top ten list of the most controversial pieces of evidence for extraterrestrial life, along with articles on each piece of evidence. It's certainly worth a read, and seems to speak to a more life filled universe than most people think.

1. 1976, The Viking Mars landers detect chemical signatures indicative of life

2. 1977, The unexplained extraterrestrial "Wow!" signal is detected by an Ohio State University radio telescope

3. 1996, Martian "fossils" are discovered in meteorite ALH80041 from Antarctica

4. 2001, A more rigorous estimate of the "Drake equation" suggests that our galaxy may contain hundreds of thousands of life-bearing planets

5. 2001, The red tinge of Jupiter's moon Europa proposed to be due to frozen bits of bacteria, which also helps explain the mysterious infrared signal it gives off

6. 2002, Russian scientists argue that a mysterious radiation-proof microbe may have evolved on Mars

7. 2002, Chemical hints of life are found in old data from Venus probes and landers. Could microbes exist in Venusian clouds?

8. 2003, Sulphur traces on Jupiter's moon Europa may be the waste products of underground bacterial colonies

9. 2004, Methane in the Martian atmosphere hints at microbial metabolism

10. 2004, A mysterious radio signal is received by the SETI project on three occasions - from the same region of space

After yesterday's review of the Mothman episode of sci-fi investigates by Loren Coleman, today one of the members of the show, and possibly the only one worth watching, Richard Dolan, has written a response to Mr. Coleman at Cryptomundo.

Also today at Cryptomundo Loren Coleman has his list of the top thirteen most credible cryptids among others.

1. Bigfoot/Sasquatch (Pacific Northwest specific)
2. Orang Pendek
3. Giant Octopus
4. Cryptid Cetacean
5. Thylacine
6. Yeti
7. Nguoi Rung
8. Yeren
9. Queensland Tiger
10. Sea Serpent
11. Ogopogo
12. Spotted Lion
13. Loch Ness Monster/Nessie

There's an article today on Red Orbit about scientists studying ancient mythology to find geological hot spots. Two of the examples given are scientists finding ancient fault lines from the story of the Oracle of Delphi, and geologists finding a new fault line from stories from the Duwamish people near Seattle.

I've often wondered why mythology and ancient stories are so readily thrown away by the mainstream. Even though many of the stories seem to tell of such fantastic stories that they're easy to ignore as pure fiction, most of them are at least based on facts. Many of these myths and stories contain ancient knowledge that has somehow been forgotten by modern humanity.

Over at the Book of THoTH, there's been a lot of mythology sources added to The Book, aka. The Leaves of Wisdom over the last few months. It's worth the time to read some of the fascinating stories and legends, and maybe you'll even learn something about the world while you're at it.

C. Scott Littleton, a professor of anthropology at Occidental College in Los Angeles, has posted an interesting write up of the Battle Of Los Angeles. As a boy, he was one of the many witnesses, and he's now written what looks like part one of his eyewitness account of that night's events.

The two of us stood side by side in front of the house, huddling together in the chill night air and staring up into the sky. The planes we’d heard were not in sight, but what captured our rapt attention was a silvery, lozenge-shaped “bug,” as my mother later described it, that was clearly visible in the searchlight beams that pinpointed it. Although it was a clear, moonlit night, no other details could be discerned, despite the fact that, when we first saw it, the object was hanging motionless almost directly overhead. Its altitude is hard to estimate, especially after all these years, but I’d guess that it was somewhere between 4,000 and 8,000 feet. This may explain why we didn’t see the orange glow reported by several eyewitnesses in Santa Monica and Culver City, where the object was apparently much lower. (One witness suggests that this glow may simply have been the reflection of shell bursts against the object’s “silvery” body.)

This is one of the most well known UFO sightings of all time, and was witnessed by over a million people on February 25th 1942, just three months after Pearl Harbor. Obviously, in that climate, the air defenses in the west coast were on heightened alert, so when something flew over California in the very early hours of the morning, the first response was that it was likely another attack. At that point the "target" was lit up with spotlights, and at least 1400 rounds of 12.8 pound, anti-aircraft artillery was fired at it. Much to their dismay, the object simply hung around for a while, and then flew off again, seemingly impervious to their attack. According to some reports, there were multiple crafts sighted during the late night of the 24th, and the early morning of the 25th, however, the one featured in the picture above seems to be the only one which was fired upon. Although the official word from the Navy about that night is that it was simply a case of "war nerves" and they were firing at nothing, the million or so people who witnessed the craft would probably disagree.

If you've watched any of the new sci-fi channel's show "Sci-Fi Investigates" you know that it's basically a waste of an hour of your life. At least, that's my personal take from the first two episodes.

Thankfully, I didn't watch any of last night's show on the Mothman investigation, but Loren Coleman, of Cryptomundo has a review of last night's episode, and the show in general, neither of which are too flattering. Seems to me he nailed the show and its demeanor exactly from what I've seen. But, as he points out, sizzle, and not substance, seems to be the characteristic of this show.

Bioluminescence? Eyes glowing on their own? Obviously not, but would you know this from watching this 2006 Sci-Fi television program? No, because it was scarier to talk about “searching the TNT for glowing red eyes”! And boring to talk about the reality of animal eyeshine.

Some of the points that Mr. Coleman make seem very slightly different than the Robert Goerman article featured on Book of THoTH recently, but I think that's part of the point Mr. Coleman was trying to make. It's extremely difficult to research such an old story at this point when people's recollections have been tainted by movies and stories over the years.

On the New Scientist website there's an interesting article about the Viking landers and some new interpretations of their Mars soil sampling. According to some researchers, there's two possible interpretations of the Viking data which support the current existence of microbial life on Mars. The first is that the landers simply didn't have sensitive enough sensors to find life in the first place. Using the same system on the Viking mission, researchers found that they couldn't detect life in some locations here on Earth, which certainly do contain life.

In some soils – including samples taken from Rio Tinto in Spain, which contain iron compounds similar to those detected in Mars soils by NASA's rover Opportunity, the sensitivity of the GCMS was actually a million times lower than its claimed threshold for detection.

The second interpretation is that microbes in Mars may have evolved to use water and hydrogen peroxide as an intracellular fluid, rather than just water, as Earth organisms do. This possibility would not only explain the low level of organics detected, since they would be oxidized by the hydrogen peroxide, and the high reactivity of the soil, it would also give the organisms a greater ability to maintain liquid in their cells at very cold temperatures.

It's amazing how we're still debating the results of experiments that were carried out so long ago. It certainly looks like the latest results may shed some light on the mysterious results obtained by the landers and boost the idea that there's currently life on Mars at the same time.

Here's an interesting article on the history of UFOs as vehicles of demons from hell. It also explores various Christian groups and the contradicting beliefs of UFOs as vehicles for angels sent by God to watch over Earth, as well as the other end of the spectrum, being the belief that UFOs simply can't be from other life sources because the Bible doesn't support the existence of life off of this planet. I'm not sure it was exactly what the author was going for, but I think it's an interesting look at certain belief systems and how people have tried to fit UFOs into their preconceived notions.

The photo above, from the Associated Press, is of the Yellow River in China after a discharge pipe was seen dumping "red and smelly" liquid into it for a couple of hours. Hundreds of millions of people live without clean water, and the city of Lanzhou(population 2 million) uses that stretch of the Yellow River for its water supply.

It never ceases to amaze me what human beings do to the environment. The really stupid part is that the same people who dumped the liquid into the river also have to use that river as their local water source. You'd think that might made them at least try to keep it clean.

Sorry again for more of our server issues. Looks like we're back, and hopefully to stick this time!

A team of British and American chemists have created the first interlocked molecules, which, while not chemically bonded, are still stuck together. They describe it as "a 'torso' with two or more 'limbs' that are completely enveloped in a one-piece 'suit'." They tout this as a step toward making artificial systems similar to a living cell. Is this one more step toward AI that's nearly impossible to tell apart from you or me? Time will tell...

While I understand that Richard Hoagland has made a lot of people think about the oddities of the solar system, and that's a good thing, I really have to wonder exactly what this latest post on his site is all about. Am I supposed to seriously consider the supposition that Data, from Star Trek, is stuck on the moon? If he's simply suggesting that there might be some interesting artifacts in various locations on the moon, then fine. I can buy it as a theory to be explored. If he's seriously suggesting that Star Trek is real and Data is on the moon, well, then he might want to lay off the LSD while watching sci-fi, in my opinion. Yes, he suggests that he doesn't care if it was really Data's head, or some other mechanical artifact, but please, someone, tell me why he even suggests that it might be Data's head in the first place...

Book of THoTH member Sol just keeps churning out great articles. I wish I could write as much and as well as he does! The latest article is about the Ark of Covenant and the rituals that came along with approaching it. Specifically he spends a large part of the article investigating the Biblical plant kanneh-bosem, and he follows the story to Ethiopia, said to be the resting place of the Ark. Many people will be surprised to see where this one ends up...

Don't miss this one, much like a couple of his articles, it'll probably get picked up by a magazine soon. Why pay to read it later when you can read it right now?

I read a really great article from Kevin Tillman today. Kevin is the brother of Pat Tillman, who many people know as the NFL football player who gave up tens of millions of dollars playing a game to join the army. He has now written an article about just how bad the direction the US is going really is.

Somehow we were sent to invade a nation because it was a direct threat to the American people, or to the world, or harbored terrorists, or was involved in the September 11 attacks, or received weapons-grade uranium from Niger, or had mobile weapons labs, or WMD, or had a need to be liberated, or we needed to establish a democracy, or stop an insurgency, or stop a civil war we created that can’t be called a civil war even though it is. Something like that.

Somehow our elected leaders were subverting international law and humanity by setting up secret prisons around the world, secretly kidnapping people, secretly holding them indefinitely, secretly not charging them with anything, secretly torturing them. Somehow that overt policy of torture became the fault of a few “bad apples” in the military.

...

Somehow subversion of the Bill of Rights and The Constitution is tolerated.

Somehow suspension of Habeas Corpus is supposed to keep this country safe.

That's as well said as anywhere I've ever read. Be sure to read the whole article and pass it on.

I'm working on some final research for writing an article today, so I don't really have all that much to say. While I do some writing, here's a UFO case that I've been keeping an eye on.



In 1953 a jet was scrambled over Lake Superior because of a UFO on an air force base radar screen. The jet never came back, and it and its crew, pilot Felix Moncla and radar observer Robert Wilson, had been lost ever since. This has been called the Kinross UFO case.

Apparently, in 2005, a dive company in the Great Lakes area found it. Using sonar, they mapped out the jet, missing a wing, under the water, and a disc shaped object in the water nearby. They released the sonar image of the jet a while back, and then the disc just recently. However, not too long after releasing the image, their website was shut down. Immediately the rumors started that they'd been shut down by the government, or some anti-UFO agencies. However, Dirk Vander Ploeg, the editor and publisher of UFODigest.com, seems to think, after speaking with them, that perhaps they just got scared off by all of the attention they were getting, and they decided to pull back, regroup, and then explore further at a later date.

Like he said, I guess after waiting 53 years to find out what happened, we can all wait another couple of months at this point.

I read a story today in the Guardian today about a study from New Scientist. The study showed that giving violent youth offenders vitamin supplements decreased their violent offenses by 37%. I remember when this study originally came out, in 2002(link for New Scientist subscribers only), and I couldn't believe back then that people seemed shocked that malnutrition led to violent and/or serious crime. I was also pretty disgusted that the US and UK governments decided that it was OK to prescribe powerful drugs for offenders in jail, even minors, but deemed a vitamin supplement unnecessary...but that's a blog for another day.

It's amazing what we, in the modern era, eat, and still we expect to maintain happy healthy lives. It's as if most people assume that it's McDonald's job to give you all the vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy. Somehow, someway, we've got to change the modern world's diet, and fast food simply isn't the answer.

As an example, here's an average daily diet for one of the offenders in the trial:

Breakfast: nothing (asleep)

Mid morning: nothing (asleep)

Lunchtime: 4 or 5 cups of coffee with milk and 2½ heaped teaspoons of sugar

Mid afternoon: 3 or 4 cups of coffee with milk and 2½ heaped sugars

Tea: chips, egg, ketchup, 2 slices of white bread, 5 cups of tea or coffee with milk and sugar

Evening: 5 cups of tea or coffee with milk and sugar, 20 cigarettes, £2 worth of sweets, cakes and if money available 3 or 4 pints of beer.

The sad fact is, this is probably what the kid ate his entire life, and probably all he's ever known. Sadly, I don't think there's any possible way his brain chemistry can be normal given that diet. Our culture's diet is actually making criminals, and then our society is prescribing them expensive, powerful drugs in an attempt to counteract it. Does that make any sense?

I think Keith Olbermann really explains the death of Habeas Corpus, put over upon us by the current administration, better than anyone else I've seen. Most people don't seem to understand the importance of the law that was signed by the President on the 17th. Watch how it's explained that by signing this one simple bill into law, 9 out of 10 items in the Bill of Rights are now gone.



And then a commentary on what it all means and how it happened.



I highly recommend telling everyone you know about exactly what's happened here in the US. Somehow, most people don't seem to have caught on yet.

You can also download these videos through TruthOut right here.

Michael Bourne, aka. THoTH, of Book of THoTH has written a nice front page article detailing some old UFO sightings in an attempt to show that the phenomenon extends far beyond the 1940's, as many people will have you believe. Taking his inspiration from an old book he recently found, he explores seven sightings from 1833 to 1904, including a "Huge Green Disc" from 1882 seen by a prominent astronomer of the day, "Missiles from Mars" in 1873, also seen by two astronomers, and "Impossible ‘Meteors’" in 1833 seen by astronomers and many others.

Hopefully, if I find a cure for writer's block, I'll write an article about older sightings...However, this is a must read for anyone who's interested in the UFO phenomenon and it's very well put together.

Author Philip Coppens continues to write great articles for his site. His latest is about Socrates. In it, he explores a really great question, namely, "Was Socrates a real philosopher, or was he just a literary tool Plato used to explore his own thoughts?"

I might be in the ignorant minority here, but I did not realize that nothing Socrates supposedly wrote has survived to this day, nor did I know most of the historical facts about the man that Philip writes about. Another great article by Mr. Coppens.

The wonders of modern technology...

A UNC professor has taken armchair archaeology to a whole new level. After hearing about google earth, Scott Madry sat down on his laptop and recorded 101 possible archeological sites using only the satellite images from google. 75 of them turned out to be known sites, and he's hoping the other 26 turn out to be new sites to explore.

After reading about the Italian man's good luck, Madry got out his laptop, fired up Google Earth and looked over lands in Burgundy near his research area. Google Earth displays that area in particularly good resolution. Immediately he spotted features that, to his trained eye, resembled outlines of Iron Age, Bronze Age, ancient Roman and medieval residences, forts, roads and monuments.

It's pretty cool being able to access such great data from your own living room whenever you want.

This story immediately reminded me of a site I used to check out all the time, but for some unknown reason hadn't been to in a while. Satellite Discoveries is a very cool site that analyzes satellite data looking for interesting images. Some of the things they've analyzed include:

Underwater linear anomalies have been documented off the Southern tip of Florida

An image study that includes 4 areas off the coast of Cuba that contain unexplained, linear features

Sub-surface anomalies have been detected in this area that may be an ancient burial site near Giza

Images of an extremely large gridded feature on the Eastern side of the Cay Sal Bank, which also include a large triangular and linear anomaly

Linear, Mound-like features have been found on the Great Bahama Bank near the Bimini Islands

And probably hundreds more...

Once you get into this site, you'll probably be there looking around for a while, so be sure to check it out when you have the time!

There's an article on future aircrafts which will morph during flight on Live Science. The experimental planes would morph their structure during flight to use less energy in flight, or to make for better maneuverability.

The reason I bring this up is because I've heard many times over the years I've looked at UFO reports that people claim that the structure of what they're seeing changes shape. I've previously written that maybe people aren't seeing solid objects in the first place, which would certainly account for "structure" which changes in flight. However, maybe this idea accounts for that as well. If so, it would seem to point to futuristic technology in sightings again.

Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoy beer. I enjoy making it, I enjoy tasting new beers, and I certainly enjoy just sitting down and drinking a couple of 'em. So, while surfing around yesterday, I came across a pretty good little blog on all things beer that you should check out.

There are some new updates from Mac and Paul on the recent New Frontiers Symposium.

Paul has part II of his New Frontiers Symposium Report. He talks a bit about each of the presentations and some of the things they all did over the weekend. The reports on each speaker sound very interesting and really make me wish I'd been able to attend!

Mac's got three posts today on the symposium, so you'd better just read his whole blog! You'll be thoroughly entertained everyday if you do...but...if you're like me and you like to know where certain subjects are, then here's a few links:

Halifax photos part 1

Halifax photos part 2

Those two form a pseudo photo blog of his trip to the symposium.

And, Mac commenting on Paul's commenting on his talk. Sounds like he did a great job to me.

And, while I'm at it, even though I'm adding it in a little late, lets not forget Jezzie's two part review. Really a great job by her, made me feel like I was there. Part One.
And part two.

The EU has pending legislation to prevent anyone from uploading video to the 'net without a license. Coming on the heels of the US government attempting to gather more data on social networking sites such as MySpace, and the pending of internet 2, I really wonder how much longer the fairly free exchange of information on the internet is going to be available. Lets hope the sucesses of the last decade don't get taken away for a system in which only "acceptable" data can be sent and received.

I found another pretty interesting political blog while surfing around the other day. It's called Pressing the Flesh, and the blog that got me there originally is a look at some political polls and a breakdown of the current standings of some close congressional races.

As many of you know, Book of THoTH is back up and on our new server. A big thanks goes out to THoTH who, probably, hasn't slept in days at this point. Great job bud!

Here's a video from a Princeton project showing just how easy it is to hack election results here in the US.

Paul Kimball's posted volume one of a review of the New Frontiers Symposium which happened over the weekend. The best news I've heard in a while is that he's planning a 2007 version, possibly in the spring, and possibly with some web video casting allowing more people to view it. Lets hope him and computer genius Will Wise are able to pull that one off. Hopefully, no matter what format, he'll be able to put together another one, because everything I've heard so far tells me that this was a great event. Personally, I can't wait to make it to NFS '07!

Speaking of Paul...I missed part two of his Binnall of America interview until I saw it at the Daily Grail today. If it's as good as part one, you really don't want to miss it.

Over at Jezzie's blog she's posted some really great panoramas of the Halifax area. Looks like a beautiful spot.

While I'm speaking about the symposium, there's a couple of news write-ups that I've seen today worth taking a look at.

First up is Mysteries Canada who did a nice write up of the symposium's afternoon speakers along with a couple of photos. Included is a bit about each of the afternoon topics, including Greg Bishop and the contactee movement, Paul Kimball and memorable UFO cases(even if they do call him Paul Bishop once...), and Stanton Friedman and physics and flight, along with a recounting of the Betty and Barney Hill abductee case with now known facts about a very accurate star-map which she drew under hypnosis.

The other write up comes from The Daily News, a local Halifax paper. In their review, they focused a bit on a question from Stanton Friedman, which doubled as the title of their article, "What if Earth is a penal colony for aliens?" While they focused on a little bit more of the "kooky" aspects of the conference, they gave it a fairly balanced look.

Overall, a big congratulations to Paul for pulling this off, and here's wishing you luck for the future. I hope this becomes a bigtime annual event.

Well, the continuing saga of the server change continues today. It looks like we're back up, but not fully functional yet. Look for an update later today as everything gets back to normal. Anyone who wants Book of THoTH updates should we ever go down again should join our new google group at:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/thebookofthoth/

Looks like in order to stay alive Book of THoTH is going to have to switch to a new server today. Hopefully we won't be down too long, and I'll try to post some new stories later in the day. Wish us luck on our move!

If we are down for an extended period of time, look at the Genetic Theory site for an update on when BoT will be back on-line.

Well, believe it or not, Book of THoTH is too popular for our server! The server outage today was due to the number of hits we've been getting, and while we're getting 30-50,000 page views a day it looks like we might have to move to a new server. So, if this blog goes down again, I apologize, it's beyond my control. Please bear with us as we prepare for bigger and better things!

Sorry about the server outage everyone. It was far beyond my control.

I'm off to go watch the Denver Broncos pound the Oakland Raiders into submission tonight, but I'll be back to blogging tomorrow!

Oh, and, how about those Buffs? They made this alumnus proud yesterday.

If you enjoyed the article from author and Book of THoTH member Gary David that I wrote about a couple of days ago, make sure you check out another article on his site. Titled "Mystery Mesa" it's about Gary's visit to a mesa in Arizona where there's an old freemason temple alongside some much older, interesting Anasazi inscriptions.

So what is going on here? We have a Freemasonry temple built in the early 20th century next to a pueblo constructed in the late 13th century. In the adjacent rock art we find Mayan and Egyptian symbology mixed with traditional Anasazi petroglyph designs. Why did the Masons chose this particular mesa to erect their open-air worship center? Did the crumbling foundations of the village remind them of their sacred office? Did they recognize the non-indigenous iconography of this rock art, which resonated with specific elements in their holy ceremonies? Was an elite cabal operating within the rural Arizona Masonic lodge privy to arcane lore which dictated that the site be established precisely where we find its ruins today?

This article's also got a lot of great pictures of petroglyphs, which I've grown to love having spent a lot of time in the southwest.

The New Frontiers Symposium is today. If you happen to be in Halifax, you know where you need to be!

In the interest of keeping politics and such to a minimum here, I won't really comment on this site. However, Physics 9-11: A Scientific Panel Investigating nine-eleven is well worth a thorough read, in my opinion.

Oh, and, by the way, the cost of the Iraq war is now over $334 billion.

And, while I'm at it, please take the time to read Glenn Greenwald's article on the torture of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla. In case you don't remember, he's a US citizen, snatched up in the US, and declared an "enemy combatant" so that the administration could take away all his human rights.

Lets all hope that my alma mater, the University of Colorado, can end their big losing streak in football today against Texas Tech. It's up to ten straight games, and you just know that Tech's going to throw the ball all over the field. Lets just hope CU can keep pace offensively today. Go buffs!

There's another wonderful front page article on Book of THoTH today from member SolAris. For anyone who hasn't read anything he's written, check this one out. It's called "The Ghosts of Emmaus" and it's about his walking trip about 200 miles from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, then around the Jerusalem mountains and off south-west from there towards the old Philistine city of Gath, today the modern town of Kiryat Gat. Specifically, this one's about a night time excursion which he took one evening around some ruins. It contains ghosts, demolished cities, and an encounter with some very serious soldiers.

On the night in question, the full moon, I took my water bottle, walking stick and machete, and headed downhill towards the little lake, having decided it’s time to finally go up that old Roman watercourse all the way to the top. And of course it’s no fun at all just walking down an actual road, so I cut across the hillside to get there, through an old grove of olive and fig trees, interspersed with opuntia cactus. The moon was huge and I could see everything just like in sunlight, but silvery gray in the ambivalent shadows of the night.

...

Suddenly there was an unbelievable blood-curdling scream on the terrace right above me! As if a child screamed out in pain. It shattered the silence of the night...like an explosion.

It would be hard to describe the somersaults my heart did, as I dove down and tried to melt myself into a bush. It seemed obvious that I’ve been discovered, and "they" were coming. I braced myself and pulled out the machete.

This story is an enthralling read from start to finish, from a really quality storyteller. Be sure to check it out!

A big congratulations to my on-line friend and author Gary Osborn. The Amazingly Dense, Stubborn and Elusive Randi has mocked you in his latest newsletter. In the section News of Scientific Woo Woo he not only mocks you, but the entire idea of synchronicity. I only hope that someday, somehow, Randi will mock me as well. That'll be the day I know that I've made it to the bigtime.

Being a chemist, this interested me. A group of University of Pennsylvania researchers have created a new process for free radical polymerization, which takes place at room temperature, uses less metal catalyst to drive the reaction and requires a very short reaction time. If everything they claim in the story turns out to be reproducible, they've hit the jackpot for the plastics and rubbers industries, among many others, and the entire process of making millions of modern day materials could change practically overnight.

Soldiers in Afghanistan chasing the Taliban have encountered an unexpected problem...a nearly impenenetrable forest of 10 foot tall marijuana plants. As you might think, they tried setting the forest on fire, but, alas, most of it was too wet to burn and that which did burn didn't have the effect the military wanted..."a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects..."

I'm assuming the "ill effects" included the munchies and a severe lack of will to kill people.

Yesterday I wrote about yahoo beaming a message out into space. Well, it looks like they won't be doing it from the Mexican pyramid. The local government has decided that they don't want yahoo there doing that, so yahoo's looking for a new location. In the meantime, they'll still be collecting information to beam out at their site HERE. You have until November 8th to send info into them now.

New Scientist today has an exclusive article titled, "Imagine Earth Without People." It explores a virtual timeline of how long it would take for each piece of human existence to be wiped off of the planet if we suddenly disappeared. For instance, within 20 years rural roads and villages would be totally overgrown, and within 100 years urban environments would face the same fate. By 50,000 years there wouldn't be any trace except our nuclear waste and a few archeological remains.

I find it fascinating to think that in such a short period of time, scientifically speaking, it would be debateable as to whether we were really here or not. I think everyone who is so assured that there is no trace of any ancient civilizations on Earth, Mars and elsewhere should think about that for a minute.

At the beginning of the month I posted about a metallic sphere sighting that I had, along with the picture I got of it. Today a friend pointed me toward a vhort video clip he saw on the Lothian and Scotland UFO Society homepage. It was taken in 2003 and seems to show a very similar, if not identical object. Only problem being, theirs seems to have no background to judge size or speed on. You can see the short clip they have up HERE. The only info I've gotten on it so far is this, from the head of the site, Jackie:

I took this footage over birkenside gorebridge midlothian in 2003 the UFO made no sound as it went over it came from a east heading west in the full footage you can see this object move away over the tree tops i filmed this with two others around 11.00 am in febuary 2003.

Obviously, I still have no idea what it was that I saw that day, but at least I think someone else may have seen the same phenomenon now.

The one and only Book of THoTH has another great article from author and member Gary David on the front page today. This one is titled, "Phoenix: Masonic Metropolis in the Valley of the Sun." This fabulous article is an excerpt from his book "The Orion Zone: Ancient Star Cities of the American Southwest" which has a new expanded edition coming out on November 1st.

My birthday is the 14th of November, and I do believe I'm getting a copy, so I'll post a review on the new edition in a little over a month, hopefully.

Speaking of the symposium and the interviews...A couple of people have asked why we decided to go with such a similar set of questions for each person. We debated it, and decided to do it this way because then we could pull out similarities and differences between each person. One of my favorite questions was the recomended reading list from each of them. Here's each of their favorite researchers and/or writers:

Paul Kimball: "The late Karl Pflock was a friend of mine, and I admired his work and outlook. Brad Sparks is the best researcher of the UFO phenomenon over the past 25 years, hands down. He’s talked to more people, and dug out more material, than anyone else. Robert Todd was also an excellent researcher, although he ticked people off within ufology because he had an abrasive personality.

Kevin Randle does good work, and has for years - he keeps an open mind, which is important. David Clarke and Andy Roberts in the United Kingdom have done excellent work over there in digging material out. Mac Tonnies is a bright young guy with a lot of interesting ideas, and a flair for writing. Nick Redfern and Greg Bishop. Stan Friedman for his sheer persistence, although I think he’s gotten some big things wrong over the years, particularly MJ-12. And, last but not least, Jim Moseley, because he’s always seen the humour in it all."

Mac Tonnies: "Writers who really changed my way of looking at the "paranormal" (as well as the "normal," if there is such a thing) include Jacques Vallee, Carl Sagan, John Keel, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Anton Wilson. These are just a few, but they played an especially important role in reweaving my synaptic fabric."

Robert Zimmerman: "William Shakespeare, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Arthur Clarke, Winston Churchill, Larry Niven, Eric Frank Russell, Thomas Jefferson, Dorothy Sayers, Charles Johnson, to name a few."

Nick Redfern: "My favorite writer in the field of the unexplained is my good mate back in the UK, Jonathan Downes. He combines classic Forteana with a Hunter S. Thompson style and has written some great books - Monster Hunter; Only Fools and Goat Suckers; The Monster of the Mere; and loads more. Jon’s my closest friend in this weird field that we’re in and we’ve done a lot of on the road investigations, including a week-long expedition to Puerto Rico looking for the Chupacabras, and a Texas Bigfoot hunt. I spoke at his Weird Weekend conference in the UK last month. I crashed on his floor and we had a good time, playing music, flipping a few British beers and entertaining the crowds. I like Keel’s stuff a lot too. Also Terence McKenna, Greg Bishop’s work which is very insightful, Rick Strassman. I’m a big fan of Gray Barker’s books as he was a very atmospheric writer. A lot of people think I would be a fan of sci-fi but I hate it. I love horror though, particularly HP Lovecraft, and ultra-violent zombie movies."

Will Wise: "I’ll list these folks in alphabetical order and mix researchers and writers together.

Jerome Clark’s UFO Encyclopedia is absolutely essential. Anyone with a serious interest in the subject of UFOs should read these two volumes cover to cover. Incidentally, Brad’s RB47 case analysis appears between the covers of these hefty tomes.

Richard Hall’s UFO Evidence and UFO Evidence II are equally important works on the subject. His impact on the field spans decades and is almost impossible to overstate. His Journal of UFO History is a must read.

Brad Sparks’ contribution has been a bit behind the scenes over the years but nevertheless he has been very influential. His analysis of the RB47 case alone qualifies him for this list. Beyond that, his knowledge of the subject is encyclopedic and factually all but unerring. We can only hope that he’ll one day publish his unfinished manuscript.

As a researcher, Francis Ridge has really taken the bull by the horns and assembled a great team to provide content for his web-site at http://www.nicap.org. He works tirelessly and without publicity and responds to criticism without emotion. If something is incorrect or needs massaging he sees that it is done.

There are many others who deserve to be mentioned like Wendy Connors, Dr. Mark Rodeghier, Dr. Michael Swords, and of course J. Allen Hynek, Donald Keyhoe, and Edward Ruppelt."

Greg Bishop: "This is NOT in any particular order, but:

Jacques Vallee
John Keel
Nick Redfern
Jim Brandon
Kenn Thomas
Rob Sterling
Jim Keith
Loren Coleman
Jim Moseley
Whitley Strieber
Joe Mc Moneagle
Gray Barker
Greg Palast
Dean Radin
Robert Anton Wilson
William S. Burroughs
Edward Abbey
John Fante
Lafcadio Hearn

Not all of them are non-fiction or anomalies writers, as you may notice."

Stanton Friedman: "I try to avoid TOP TEN lists. I have very high regard for the work of Dr. Bruce Maccabee, John Schuessler, for Budd Hopkins, Rob Swiatek, Tim Good."


Some really great answers in there. I was particularly heartened to see Hunter S. Thompson mentioned along the way by Nick Redfern. He was a man I spent a little bit of time with years ago, and I wouldn't be writing anything today without his encouragement.

The New Frontiers Symposium is coming up in less than 48 hours by now. If you've missed the individual interviews with the speakers, check them out. I think they're all worth reading.

Mac's on his way and Paul's warning folks about the weather. So, make sure you all stay safe. Otherwise, I hope a lot of people are planning on attending, and having a good time. I'm sure this is going to be a great event, and I hope everyone enjoys themselves and learns a lot. I can't wait to hear all about it next week!

Speaking of the current administration...

According to New Scientist today, the death toll in Iraq as a result of the US-led coalition invasion is truly gigantic. The largest scientific study yet shows that approximately 655,000 people have died to date. Critics state that the study wasn't large enough to extrapolate to the entire country, but even they seem to say that there were at least 392,976 excess deaths. Either way, what ridiculously sick and disgusting numbers.

The Tropical Forest Conservation Act of 1998 has another success story attributed to it today. National Geograpihc News is reporting today that the US has forgiven 24.4 million dollars in debt to Guatemala in return for them investing in protecting their local ecosystem.

This act has actually done some pretty good things in its time, including about $11 million each in Peru and Belize, and $10 million in Panama, among others. Not a surprise it didn't come from the current administration...

Ever want to beam a message out into space via laser? Yahoo's time capsule project is going to give you the chance. Submitted text, images, video and sounds that reflect human nature will be sent off from a Mexican pyramid in Teotihuacan on October 25th.

My internet access has been up and down today, mostly down, but I'll try to slip in a couple of things in before it disappears again!

At The Daily Grail today they linked to a story about an ancient Indian text, the Mahabharata, and the excavations of Mohenjo-Daro in the early 1900's. This story has always fascinated me, and it's entirely likely I'll write something including it for The Book of THoTH competition, so I won't say too much about it now. The basic story, however, is that in the Mahabharata there's a tale about the city being destroyed with what sounds like a nuclear weapon. It's been translated as, in part, "When the shell hit the ground, the darkness covered the sky, twisters and storms leveled the towns. A horrible blast burnt thousands of animals and people to ashes. Peasants, townspeople and warriors dived in the river to wash away the poisonous dust."

When the city was excavated, the findings seem to back up the amazing story. The skeletons left there seem to have been killed in the midst of their day, and registered high levels of residual radiation. The sand below the city showed signs of being fused into glass, like the modern day Nevada test site, and seems to have been subjected to temperatures of at least 1,500 degrees celsius.

An interesting aside to this story, is that when Dr. Oppenheimer, of the Manhattan Project, watched the first atomic blast, he quoted the Mahabharata, and claimed Krishna's words, "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." I worked at Los Alamos for a while, and actually studied some of the Manhattan Project scientists a bit. Many of them believed in UFOs and an ancient civilization here on Earth, either our own or from somewhere else. However, that's a another story for another day.

Since the original texts of the Mahabharata that have been found of the story are written in Sanskrit, the story itself must be quite old. It's been dated anywhere from about 3,500 years ago to over 7,500 years ago. So, the question we're left with is, is it possible that there was nuclear warfare in ancient times? If so, was it from an ancient human society? Or someone else? There are many interesting, and possibly anomalous, stories contained in ancient Indian texts, a subject I'll explore more as time goes on.

Cryptomundo has picked up the possible thylacine photo that I posted here a couple of weeks back, and which was submitted to the Book of THoTH Cryptozoology forum. You can see the cryptomundo discussion HERE.

While the general consensus from the Book of THoTH seems to be that it's an interesting photo, but possibly not a thylacine, people there are still up in the air about it. At cryptomundo, so far, people seem to think it is. Check it out and make up your own mind about it. In the BoT forum the member who submitted it also submitted some wonderful info about thylacines, which was very educational for me, and definetely worth a look.

InfoMonkey has a small article about the New Frontiers Symposium which is coming up fast on Saturday. Check it out HERE.

It's a nice little write up, even though they spelled Mac's name wrong.

Speaking of ghost stories, there's an interesting article at The Daily Southtown about animal ghosts. I've always assumed that if there can be human ghosts, there could very well be animal ghosts as well. In fact, once I was standing in an apartment looking out the window, and turned around...when I did, I kind of tripped, because I thought I was about to step on a cat. It took me a second to realize that there were no animals in that apartment, and when I looked in the corner that the "cat" had run to, there was nothing there. I've always wondered if I saw a ghost cat that day.

Over at Jezzie's blog there's another cool ghost story. It's about the Keg Mansion Restaurant in Toronto. Have a read!

Yesterday, Monday, October the 9th, the world went into the ecological red. For the rest of the year, every resource expended in the world exceeds the ability of the planet to replace it. That's just about a full three months left in the year, which makes me wonder. How well would we do, as a whole, using 25% fewer resources? Of course, to really be sustainable we'd have to use a whole lot less than that in the US, but that's a different story. I don't even think we could cut down 25%, personally.

There's an article today from Scotsman.com about the old story of Spring-heeled Jack. If you're interested, there's more info about Spring-heeled Jack from The Book(soon to be renamed).

I've always found the old stories pretty interesting, in that, they don't seem to tell of a "devil" or a regular person like Jack the Ripper. What I thought they spoke of the first time I ever heard them was a robot of some kind. He leaps over 20 foot fences, and breathes flames. Doesn't sound much like any other urban legend that I know of off the top of my head. Quite an interesting story, in my opinion.

From Science a GoGo there's a look at the latest Mars Orbiter pictures. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken some very cool hi-res pictures of the location where one of the rovers currently is. You can see the rover, its shadow, and even the rover tracks in the sand. Here's hoping some great new images from this orbiter during this mission, and all the data is released out in the open for everyone to draw their own conclusions from.

You can go straight to the image database HERE. I haven't been through them all yet, but there's about 25 of them up so far and they make for some very cool viewing.

Not that science doesn't make me wonder from time to time as well. The debate on whether the "hobbit", or Homo floresiensis, is a separate species or not rages on. With authors who have expertise in scaling effects of body size, notably with respect to the brain, clinical and genetic aspects of human microcephaly, and stone tools, the new research which will be published in the November 2006 issue of Anatomical Record says that the "hobbit" is simply a modern human being with a genetic condition known as microcephaly. Maybe that will be the final word, but probably not.

I'm sure I'll take some crap for this from some people I know, but if the arbitrary nature of most organized religions never bothered you before, how about this article? The Pope is considering simply abolishing limbo. Yes, the Pope might simply wave his magic wand(or whatever the Pope wields) and make it go away...

Over at Jezzie's blog there's a couple of great ghost stories to check out.

The first one is about a hanuted duplex.

The second one is about the Bradmar Manor in Denver, Colorado, a spot I heard a bit about growing up down the road in Boulder.

The last individual interview in the Book of THoTH interview series with the New Frontiers Symposium is now up on the front page. Yes, the Stanton Friedman interview is up. This was a big thrill for me, and I'd like to thank Paul Kimball for setting me up with Stanton, and Mac Tonnies for agreeing to do the first interview and giving me Paul's e-mail address.

Every single interview was fun, interesting, and entirely educational. I had a lot of fun, and I'd like to thank each and every one of the New Frontiers speakers for spending a little time answering the questions. I really hope that the symposium goes over well, and everyone has a great time.

Just to review, here's the links for each of the speaker's interviews with me at BoT.

Stan Friedman

Greg Bishop

Will Wise

Nick Redfern

Bob Zimmerman

Mac Tonnies

Paul Kimball

There's an article today from The Huntsville Times that everyone who refuses to believe in any unknown animals should read, as should anyone who's interested in crypyozoology. "If ivory-billeds survived, why were they said to be extinct?" asks a very important question, namely, if such substantial evidence existed that these woodpeckers existed, and so many people reported sightings, why didn't anyone believe them? I think this applies to all cryptozoology. Sometimes titles mean more than the truth. If something's labeled "extinct" or if it's said to "not exist" in the first place, people will always look for alternate theories to sightings. It's easier to ignore sightings than it is to change classifications and titles in a lot of people's minds.

The UFO experiences blog has reposted a New Dawn Magazine article about the idea of mankind having been "created" by an extraterestrial intelligence. It's titled "The Dark Gods" and it's worth a read.

Be sure to keep an eye on Paul Kimball's blog as he leads everyone up to the New Frontiers Symposium in Halifax on the 14th. Paul's got a post today keeping everyone up to date with the latest info on all the happenings.

There's a couple of items to keep an eye on immediately...

Tonight Paul will be on the Binnall of America's Audio Series in the first part of a two part interview with Tim Binnall.

Also tonight, Mac Tonnies and Greg Bishop will be on Strange days...indeed. Should be very interesting.

Speaking of Greg Bishop, seems like his interview on Book of THoTH, part of the New Frontiers interview series, has been a big hit! Be sure to keep an eye out for Stanton Friedman's interview on the front page very soon.

I already leaked out a little bit of the Friedman interview, so I might as well put it here, too! When asked about his upcoming talk at the NFS, here's what he had to say:

My illustrated lecture "Flying Saucers and Physics" will review the silly arguments often made that flying saucers can't be real because they would violate the laws of physics.. one can't get here from there, one can't stand high acceleration, moving at high speed in the atmosphere is impossible without burning up or making sonic booms, etc ad nauseum. I will of course review similar past "it is impossible claims".. especially by astronomers.. that also turned out to be totally wrong. I will, for example show pictures of Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion sysems, fission rockets, etc and also discuss fusion rockets which can provide 10 million times as much energy per emitted particle as in a dumb old chemical rocket. I won't be using equations and will talk in terms everybody can understand.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I sure wish I could be there!

Author Philip Coppens has posted another well researched article. This one is about the Cult of Mithras, and how it, barely, lost out to Christianity as the religion that dominated Western Europe. He also traces some aspects of modern day Christianity that seem to have been absorbed from Mithras, such as celebrating the birth of Jesus on December 25th. December 25th used to be the day that the birth of Mithras was celebrated, while Christians celebrated January 6th.

If you've never taken a trip around Philip's site, do it now. It's a great resource which covers all kinds of interesting stories.

Today on Mars Daily there's an article on a possible way for future explorers to grow food on the Moon or Mars. They accomplished their research by using growing chambers that functioned in low pressure, and the food was grown with long periods of total darkness. One of the interesting findings was that the lettuce heads grew better under low pressure.

The Ig Nobel prize winners for 2006 were announced last night. The Ig Nobels, touted as "Research that makes people laugh, then think", have become a tradition in the scientific community, and are always amusing. This year is the 16th year the prizes have been awarded.

The winners for this year include:

A scientist who studied woodpeckers to find out why they don't get headaches.

A team of scientists who researched the velocity of ultrasonic sound in cheddar cheese.

A team of researchers who found that female mosquitoes were just as attracted to the smell of limburger cheese as human feet.

One that many people could probably use...an electromechanical teenager repellant reserched by a scientist in Wales.

And, perhaps most disturbingly...a study that showed that intractable hiccups can be terminated by "digital rectal massage".

Check out the complete list of winners, with video of the awards to be posted soon.

Peruvian archeologists have discovered a cave in the northern Amazon jungle which seems to have been a burial ground for the Chacapoyas roughly 600 years ago. The Chacapoyas were a white-skinned tribe known as the "Cloud People" by the Incas because of the cloud forests they inhabited in northern Peru. They managed to maintain their own rule in the area until approximately 1475 when the Incas took them over.

Findings like this amaze me in the fact that we know so little about what happened 600 years ago on this planet. 600 years is not a significantly long amount of time on a planet that is roughly 4.5 billion years old. It's amazing that we know anything about our history on this planet the way that we've simply destroyed old cultures and moved onto the next so rapidly throughout time.

Also from Boing Boing check out the "Get Illuminated!" podcast featuring author and famed cryptozoologist Loren Coleman. Many people are familiar with him from Cryptomundo, and the interview is well worth a listen.

There's a really heartwarming note from Robert Anton Wilson and his daughter posted on Boing Boing. It's really nice to know that people have supported him in his time of need. Maybe there's some hope for us humans yet.

In part of the note, RAW says:

Dear Friends, my God, what can I say. I am dumbfounded, flabbergasted, and totally stunned by the charity and compassion that has poured in here the last three days.

To steal from Jack Benny, "I do not deserve this, but I also have severe leg problems and I don't deserve them either."

Because he was a kind man as well as a funny one, Benny was beloved. I find it hard to believe that I am equally beloved and especially that I deserve such love.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, know that my love is with you.

You have all reminded me that despite George W. Bush and all his cohorts, there is still a lot of beautiful kindness in the world.

Blessings.

Robert Anton Wilson

The San Francisco Chronicle science editor featured an article about new Hubble images which showed 16 Jupiter-like planets circling near-by stars. When extrapolated out, the astronomers believe this means that there might be billions more out there, many of which should contain "habitable zones" in which Earth-like planets might exist.

This reminded me of the really amazing Hubble video I posted a while back which features really stunning views of the vastness of the universe.

Check out Mac Tonnies Posthuman blues blog today for an article about a second synthetic-perspective view of the Face on Mars.

As Mac points out in his post on the subject today, this "other" view of the face is quite interesting in that it suddenly doesn't have a horn and looks very much like a face again. In the ESA link to the images there's some interesting views of the pyramids in the Cydonia region as well. It's well worth checking out the hi-res graphics there today.

There's also an article today on Reuters from researchers on Spitsbergen island, about 1300 miles from the North Pole in Norway, where a "Jurassic graveyard" was found containing many, seemingly intact, skeletons. Included is a 33 foot fish-like reptile with "vertebrae the size of dinner plates and teeth the size of cucumbers." The researchers are calling it "one of the most important new sites for marine reptiles to have been discovered in the last several decades" and are continuing their study there.

Today at Scientific American there's an article on a new archeological find in Mexico. Mexican archeologists have found what may be the most significant Aztec ruin in decades, with the unearthing of an altar and a monolith in the busy heart of Mexico City. The altar has a frieze of the rain god Tlaloc, and the extent of the find isn't known yet. They're still unearthing the monolith which might be part of an underground chamber.

There's a pretty interesting article on the front page of Book of THoTH today attempting to debunk the idea that the mothman sightings of '66 and '67 were merely bird sightings. The article's by Robert A. Goerman and certainly makes some good points. Goerman takes on the idea that over 100 people mistook a sandhill crane for a "winged creature that stood taller and broader than a man, walked on humanlike legs, took off straight up like a helicopter, chased cars, and emitted humming and squeaking sounds..[with] red glowing eyes, set into the shoulders, [which] seem to have been more terrifying than either the size of the creature or ten-foot-plus span of its wings."

Sorry to anyone who tried to read my blog last night. I have no idea what happened. It looked fine when I went to bed, but obviously it wasn't this morning. All seems to be fixed, though.

I'll probably write a bit more about the Book of THoTH interview series with the speakers from the New Frontiers Symposium tomorrow, but we just put up the Greg Bishop interview. Certainly worth a read! Check it out right HERE

Look for Stanton Friedman early next week.

I have a personal confession to make...I'm completely and totally addicted to the television show Lost. I can't wait for it to come back tonight. I've watched every previous minute of the show, and I will, in all likelyhood, watch every minute of this season as well. Not only that, but tomorrow I'll probably read all about it on-line, even though I watched every minute myself. It's sick, and I know it..but I love every minute of it...I might need help...

French archaeologists working on the banks of the Euphrates in northern Syria made a discovery of an 11-millennium-old building. The scientists report that part of the building took on the shape of a bull's head and is complete with the oldest known painted decorations in the middle east. If only they had included some pictures with the article!

Here's an article with another dire environmental prediction based on global warming. Is anyone listening yet?

Drought threatening the lives of millions will spread across half the land surface of the Earth in the coming century because of global warming, according to new predictions from Britain's leading climate scientists.

Extreme drought, in which agriculture is in effect impossible, will affect about a third of the planet, according to the study from the Met Office's Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research.

Thanks to Mac Tonnies for posting this article earlier.

A couple of days ago George Dvorsky posted a rant on his blog entitled Unidentified Flying Idiots. The responses at the blogs I frequent have been amusing, intelligent, and pretty darn polite, all things considered. From Paul's Transhumanism vs. UFOs to Ray's Lack Of Air To Dvorsky’s Brain Affects His Thinking; Doctors Rush To Place Oxygen Line Up His Backside and Mac's polite When Transhumanists Attack, everyone has made legitimate, interesting points.

After reading Dvorsky's initial post, my reaction was, "Who does this guy think he is demanding that everyone conform to his views?" After reading it over again, however, I have a slightly different take. It's, "Why is anyone listening to his UFO ideas in the first place?" I mean, I know he has some very interesting and thought provoking ideas on transhumanism and philosophy. I don't know him anymore than anyone who's read though his blog, but he's probably a fairly intelligent person. He could stand to tone down his rhetoric a bit, so he doesn't come off like a preacher on a rant, though.

My point being, he simply doesn't know what he's talking about on the subject of UFOs. He's the typical debunker who equates unidentified flying objects with little green(or grey as he points out) men and an X-Files infatuation. If he took the time out to do a little research, learn to separate the fringe from the real phenomenon, and then rethink his rant, I'd like to think he'd come to the same conclusion that so many intelligent people have before him:

There's something going on with the UFO phenomenon. It's possible that no one knows exactly what that is. Finally, doesn't it make more sense to figure it out rather than pretend there's nothing there?

The article by SolAris that I wrote about yesterday has been expanded on and turned into a full front page article. Be sure to check this one out before Friday the 13th next week!

Book of THoTH member Benn put together this interesting video of reptilian images in society a while back. It's fairly thought provoking and worth a good look.

Benn also has a few sites and blogs, but the two that I check out from time to time are They Live, and Video Conspiracy.

First, and certainly foremost today, is sad news about Robert Anton Wilson. His writing has had made a real mark on many people's lives, and I hope that everyone who's felt that he's made a mark in your life helps him out now in his time of need.

Robert is dying at his home from post polio syndrome. He has enough money for next months rent and after that, will be unable to pay. He cannot walk, has a hard time talking and swallowing, is extremely frail and needs full time care that is being provided by several friends-fans-volunteers and family.

If you're interested in helping, all monies will go directly to Robert and can be sent to his PayPal address olgaceline@gmail.com. You can also send a check to RAW c/o Futique Trust, P.O. Box 3561, Santa Cruz, Ca 95063.

Author and Book of THoTH member Philip Gardiner has written a very in depth article looking at the secret code. This article follows through from the Priory of Sion, to the Sang Real(or San Graal or Holy Grail, depending on the interpretation), to Leonardo Da Vinci, to the Catholic Church to reveal the truth behind the Da Vinci Code. I'd like to quote the first and the last paragraphs, and let everyone read what's between them.

The Da Vinci Code and the madness that surrounds it is indicative of one thing – the fact that in the 21st century mankind is still in the dark about a great many things. We may have sent rockets into space; we may be able to develop nano-technology and we can even heat up food with micro-wave radiation, but we are still no closer to the truth about our own religions and the secretive organisations that surround them. The most powerful of them all is of course the Catholic Church and it is this Empire building religion that lies at the heart of the book.

So what is the truth? Does the Catholic Church have its tentacles in every part of the globe? Are they at the centre of a huge web of control? I have said on many occasions – if you want to win a football match, then own both teams. This is a skill that mankind has used for centuries, playing both sides. The historical evidence shows that the Jesuit Order, and now the Opus Dei have been at the centre of the growth of wealth, at the heart of power and control. What more do we need to understand that our religious leaders are not always there for the love of God? And just who is promulgating this “bloodline” nonsense? Who owns team Brown?

This is another great article from a great author. You won't be disappointed if you take the time to read it through.

A big thanks goes out to Jezzie for the kind words about Book of THoTH and this blog today!

After the New Frontiers Symposium, which she's attending, I'll be getting her thoughts about it to, hopefully, go with a couple of thoughts from the speakers for the final installment of the interview series at Book of ThoTH.

On that topic, look for the Greg Bishop interview tomorrow or Thursday, and Stanton Friedman's interview early next week.

Another Book of THoTH member, SolAris, has posted an article about Friday the 13th, the Templar Order, and what this coming Friday the 13th might mean.

Exactly ten days from now it will be Friday the 13th again. But this time it won't be just ANY such date, this will be the actual anniversary of the original day.

Friday, October 13, 1307 - was the date on which the Templar Order was routed in France, its members arrested and later executed. According to many researchers, that's what led to this date conjuction to be considered unlucky (or horrible.)

For two hundred years before that day, The Templar Order was the most prominent force in Europe, whose wealth and power easily rivaled and even surpassed that of the Vatican itself. But after having been rounded up in France on that day, the Order basically ceased to exist in its original form.

The "timely" conjuction this year will celebrate no less than the 699th anniversary of that original fatal date. And "699" is in fact a most significant figure in Templar lore.

Make sure you check out the rest, it's well worth a read.

What an amazing picture from the Book of THoTH gallery. BoT member Kira says that it's an actual picture of lightning starting a fire in Oregon a couple of years ago.
Originally seen at KOMO TV.

While I was thinking about the story about Egyptian rock art out in the desert, I started thinking about all of the similarities between ancient Earth societies. I'm a longtime fan of Forbidden Archeology, and perhaps my views on the history of the planet have been shaded by that. However, the one aspect I'd like to talk about today is all about author Gary David's work.

For whatever reason, if you bring up the fact that the three main pyramids in Egypt seem to align with the Orion's belt constellation, most people won't argue. But if you mention that in the American southwest, the Anasazi "star cities" seem to represent each and every major star in the entire Orion constellation, most people will look at you like you're way out there.





Please see the other maps on Gary David's site HERE


So what led people on opposite sides of the planet to mirror orion so closely with major structures? I believe, as do many others, that "isolated" ancient civilizations were not nearly as isolated as most people think. If they became isolated over time, it was likely due to changes beyond their control. However, once upon a time, I think the evidence shows that the great ancient societies here on Earth were very much connected. Egyptian symbols on rock art have been seen all the way in Australia, so I see no reason to think that at that time all major societies on Earth couldn't have known of each other.

An interesting point to consider is that the Hopi believe that the outline was spiritually mandated by a god they call Masau'u. So what compelled the Egyptians to put their major pyramids in alignment with Orion's belt?

I'll refer you to Gary David's Orion Zone overview for a more detailed look at the cities of the American southwest. A great deal of research has gone into his work, and I, for one, can't wait until the new expanded edition comes out on November 1st.

I have promised not to talk too much politics, so have a look at Glenn Greenwald's blog from time to time, and check out his thoughts on the legalization of torture and permanent detention, of which I spoke a little about a few days ago.

A University of Illinois professor has found rock art from an unknown source in the Egyptian desert. He went out trying to prove that there was an off-shoot of the local Egyptian civilization in the desert, but ended up finding evidence that the people out in the desert were much closer to the main civilization than previously thought. Perhaps the civilization was simply larger, or more well-traveled than previously assumed? I've seen evidence of the Egyptians getting on ships and sailing all around the world before, so why wouldn't they have rock art a little ways out in the desert?

One part I found a little disturbing, though...

In one of his most unexpected discoveries in Egypt over the years, Brewer and his fellow researchers once decided to get rid of a notorious speed bump that had always given them bone-rattling jolts whenever they drove over it near their dig site. As it turned out, this “speed bump” was really a 12-foot statue of the pharaoh Ramses II buried close to the soil surface. The statue now stands in an Egyptian museum at Luxor.

It begs the question...How many archaeologists in cars does it take to discover a 12-foot statue in the middle of the road?

Author Ellen Lloyd has written an article that appears in the American Chronicle about the great flood, at time at which she believes the alien gods fled the earth. Thanks to The Daily Grail for the link to the article.

I'm not sure about the conclusions of her article, but I do believe there's plenty of evidence that water levels are quite a bit higher than they were at one point in Earth's civilizations, as witnessed by underwater cities and artifacts, and that the idea of the great flood may very well be completely accurate.

An article today from the Daily Comet looks at the growing trend of on-line scientific journals.

I've liked this idea ever since I first published a paper in one of the American Chemical Society journals. The peer review of the article was ludicrous. Scientists have become so specialized it's nearly impossible to find competent reviewers in many subjects. When we first tried to publish the first article that was to have my name on it, one reviewer steadfastly assured us, via written communication, that the premise of the research was wrong. Unfortunately, it became immediately obvious upon reading his review that he either, one, hadn't even bothered to read the article, or two, didn't have the slightest clue what he was talking about. Since we were, basically, unveiling a new paradigm in extraction technologies, it became obvious that there were no competent reviewers. After resubmitting the article, with no changes, to a different ACS journal, it was published without any dissent. I think the idea of on-line journals is a good one, but I do wonder how they will keep out all of the faux-science that is so prevalent in our society.

I don't know much about this video, but I found it interesting.

What I do know about, is my own "sphere" sighting. I've talked about it in a couple of places before, and all I can say about is that it was there, and then it wasn't. I did get a picture of it, and I'll submit it for anyone to see.



I watched it for a a minute or two, simply hovering over the Hudson River, before it occured to me that I actually had a digital camera with me. Unfortunately for me, this was a few years ago and I had a much lower quality camera than I do today. But, I did get one good picture, and then within about 10 seconds as I was preparing to take a second, it was simply gone.



Someone who's used to analyzing images took a look at it and said this:

It's probably hard for most to see a sphere in this, but it's apparent to my eyes. The classic "hide on a baseball" peanut shape of the midsection, along with the near equal sized lenticular shadow and opposed light washout are typical of a reflective sphere illuminated from a single overhead background source.

From what I could see in the image, I'd hazard a guess that the sun was at roughly 2 oclock position in the sky (clock face position, not hour of day) relative to the direction the camera was pointed.

I did the channel splits for red/green/blue and cyan/magenta/yellow/black and all seven data channels looked indistinguishable from the original image.

The hue/saturation/brightness split though showed clearly that the thing was not at all self luminous but was reflecting ambient light. hue and saturation channels show nothing of the anomaly, but the brightness channel is virtually identical to the original image. all the exact same detail is present.

This indicates two things: that the thing was just reflecting light, not being a source of it, and that [his] metallic description is dead on, as these characteristics clearly indicate a metallic (or at least metallic looking) surface reflectivity.

There really isn't anything else I can manage to pry out of the pic as far as more detail or information, but everything I saw indicates a real, physical reflective anomaly and not any sort of digital or optical artifact.

I may never know what it was that I saw, but I'll leave it open to everyone's interpretation as to what it was. What I should add to this, is that each picture here is taken off of the BoT forums onto which the pictures were put by the person analyzing them. They are both slightly enlarged toward the sphere, and not the original full photograph. I fear that I lost the original in a hard drive crash about two years ago, but I may have it on an external hard drive to which all data saved from the crash was put. If anyone is interested, I can try to find the original.

As promised the latest intervew in the New Frontiers Interview Series from Book of ThoTH is featured on the front page. This time it's Will Wise, curator of the wonderful Project Blue Book Archive, talking about his career, UFOs and even what Paul Kimball has meant to his project.

Don't forget that the interview series started with Paul Kimball's interview, then moved to Mac Tonnies', then Robert Zimmerman's, and then Nick Redfern's before Will's. Next up will either be Greg Bishop or Stanton Friedman. Either way, you won't want to miss it.

A Trip Beyond Space



Thanks to member ThothMosesIII, from Book of THoTH, for pointing out this video. It's a syncro between Cosmic Voyage & High Hopes (Pink Floyd), by Pinky Floyde (www.pinkfloyd.cl).

There's an interesting new thread on Book of THoTH today from a new member, chaotika, about a possible thylacine photograph that she has received from a friend who recently vacationed in Australia. I certainly don't know enough about the animal to tell what it is, but if anyone does, some help in identifying it would be appreciated!

I certainly don't claim to understand what the abduction experience is all about. All I can do is read their accounts of what happened to them, and try to put it into a framework of things that I understand. In that light, here's an interesting interview with new author Jim Sparks on his experiences. This one comes from Earthfiles.

There's a couple of great posts at Mac Tonnies' Blog today.

First, an update on the ongoing Mars situation; the horn fiasco. The more you read, the more you have to believe that there's no way the thing exists, unless it sprouted up between now and the last round of data taken there. More plausibly, it's either a data artifact exaggerated by an untrained analyst at the ESA, or a deliberate misdirection like the cat-box. Today, Mac turns it over to image processor Lan Fleming and optical physicist Bruce Maccabee in the latest update.

Also, check out George Dvorsky's article on Richard Dawkins new book, "The God Delusion" and the comments on Mac's blog about it in protecting our children from the god delusion. I certainly couldn't say it any better than others there did, so I won't try.