The first time that Jason Martell ripped off my article, I sent him an e-mail. He never responded, but when Michael Bourne, owner and webmaster of Book of THoTH contacted him, he basically replied that he'd take it down, but he was glad that people thought he had written my article.

Well, that didn't last long. He took it down from his main site, and has now posted it on his blog, again, having taken off my name and used the entire article, insinuating that it's his own.

I'd appreciate it if anyone who cares, which, I'm sure is very few people, take the time to e-mail Jason(who makes his living off of his "research", mostly stolen, and speaking engagements in person and on TV) and give him a piece of your mind for all the authors he's ripped off to prop up his fake career. Then tell him that Dustin sent you. Thanks.

Jason@xfacts.com

Up at the Book of THoTH front page there's three new articles.

First up is an article by Gary David called "The Tau (or T-shaped) Cross: Hopi-Maya-Egyptian Connections".

Next one is an article titled "Ancient Indian Vimanas" by Ashini Pandit.

And, last, but hopefully not least, "Mythology, the Ages of Man and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis" written by me.

Thanks to Jezzie for pointing out that I had a link to Renderosity for the other winners of the cover competition which you had to be registered there to see.

Of course, we have the winners in the Book of THoTH gallery as well, and you can look at them without registering. Enjoy! They were all really good.

I've finished another article for the Book of THoTH. I'm never sure I like my writing, and I always tweak and change things until I simply get tired of seeing it anymore. Sometimes I think that leads to disjointed stories, but you can all have a look before(hopefully) it gets to the front page.

"Mythology, the Ages of Man and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis"

Philip Gardiner has tentatively booked the latest speaker for the upcoming Forbidden Knowledge Conference 2007 in California.

I'm proud to announce he's someone that most readers of this blog should be quite familiar with...Mac Tonnies! Tentatively scheduled for December 13th of 2007, Mac will speak on the topic of his choice, yet to be decided I'm assuming. Congratulations Mac! A great choice by Phil on this one.

Of course, there will be plenty more speakers and announcements over the next few months as the schedule for the conference is finalized, so keep an eye out here for all the news.

Two big announcements today!

The cover for the upcoming book The Book of THoTH: Wisdom of the Ages has been chosen in the cover competition hosted by Renderosity. The first place winner, and the featured cover is right here:


(Image copyright BoT 2006)

I know Philip Gardiner and Michael Bourne had a hard time deciding on a winner, and six other entries each received prizes as well.

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the competition, the entries were amazing, and we ended up with over 200 of them!

Don't forget, there's still time to get your article entered into the competition to get it published in the book. That competition ends December 31st, and we've had some wonderful articles submitted so far. I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes in over the last five weeks. With any luck I'll even get an article or two of my own entered this week.

Over at Mac Tonnies' blog I saw a link to an article that shows exactly where Fox News and many in the republican party stand on environmentalism and global warming. I think the way to put it would be "Let God handle it." Honestly...

James Inhofe, the outgoing Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, told Fox News in an interview(with the tag line "Is Global Warming a Hoax? below him) that we shouldn't worry about global warming because, "God's still up there." I can't even begin to put into words how I feel about that, so I'll just let you read the article here.

Philip Coppens has posted a new article at his site. This one's on The Lament, an ancient prophecy describing the end of Egyptian civilization, and it's titled "Corpus Hermeticum".

Linda Moulton Howe at Earthfiles has an interesting story with a twist on your typical cattle mutilation story. Apparently while out working with a team from the upcoming series Best Evidence, they came across a story of a mutilated cow which had, apparently, been dropped from high enough up in the air to bounce before coming to its final resting place.

Author Philip Gardiner's got a new article on his blog by Derek Skhane titled "Number" which takes a thoroughly in-depth look at ancient mysteries, the dimensions of monuments, and how numbers tie in.

Having studied the Ancient Mysteries, likewise Plato, Herodotus, and abundant others for numerous years, a belief, long held since my childhood days spent gazing intently at the majesty of the night sky became confirmed in my psyche that all number is integrated.
...

Further research into the dimensions of the splendid monuments bequeathed to humankind so strategically sited the world over. In particular, the Great Pyramid of Giza combined with my research into the Hebraic and Greek systems of Gematria, in concert with the codification of number, left me convinced that the entire are linked via a manner that we at present are only currently beginning to comprehend.

Researchers have just discovered the secret behind crucibles made in the Hesse region of Germany since the Middle Ages. It turns out the 500 year old recipe using kaolinitic clay, which was fired at 1,100 degrees, was making a very modern material known as mullite, which is used in advanced ceramics today.

Just recently it was found that swords made in Damascus nearly 1,000 years ago were so sharp because the edges contained carbon nanotubes. Unfortunately, the method for making those swords has been lost for hundreds of years.

Much like mythology has something to teach us in the modern day, many alchemical recipes have been found to harbor secrets to modern day materials over the last few years. Scientists who take the time to study the past often have insights into the way things work that the modern era seems to have forgotten.

BBC News is reporting this week that new video and photographic evidence shows CIA agents were present at the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Some of the agents were apparently based in Asia at the time, and had no known reason for being present at the assassination scene. This, of course, is renewing speculation that Robert, and perhaps even his brother, were killed by agents of their own government. The theory furthered is that Sirhan Sirhan was just used as a decoy during the killing.

The report is the result of a three-year investigation by filmmaker Shane O'Sullivan. He reveals new video and photographs showing three senior CIA operatives at the hotel.

Three of these men have been positively identified as senior officers who worked together in 1963 at JMWAVE, the CIA's Miami base for its Secret War on Castro.

David Morales was Chief of Operations and once told friends:

"I was in Dallas when we got the son of a bitch and I was in Los Angeles when we got the little bastard."

The video's on the BBC site at the link provided above, and I'll warn you it's a bit disturbing to watch.

It seems there's pretty good evidence that the jet and disc-shaped object which was claimed to have been found in the Great Lakes by a dive company may have been a hoax. I wrote a little bit about this one a few weeks back, and it seemed hopeful. However, now it looks like while the sonar images may be real, the rest of the story around the discovery is falling apart.

An international online survey of the paranormal is getting a huge response just six weeks in. So far over 2,000 people have participated, with 96% of them claiming to have had at least one paranormal experience in their lifetimes. While the data may be skewed by the fact that people who've never had a paranormal experience are probably less likely to participate, a gallup poll also concluded that three quarters of Americans believe in at least one "paranormal" subject.

This survey is trying to put some numbers and statistics onto paranormal experiences such as premonitions, out-of-body and near-death episodes, telepathy and apparitions. If you'd like to participate you can do so by filling out the survey at this link.

OK, to change the tone after my rant just a bit, here's a great little clip of Mac Tonnies talking about UFOs for Paul Kimball's upcoming film Best Evidence.

Very well said Mac! That's something I've tried to say, fairly unsuccessfully perhaps, so many times, and you put it into a short, concise clip. I'm certainly looking forward to getting a look at Best Evidence when it comes out.

You might have noticed an optimistic, almost cheerful tone to my posts today. Well, that's over. You see, we made the mistake of running out of cat food on, of all days, Black Friday. Not thinking too deeply about it, I decided to go to the local pet food store. Unfortunately, this pet food store happens to be next to a Wal-Mart and a Target...

Wow people. Get a frigg'n clue. Let me try to clue you folks in a few things...

If you drive an SUV out to Walmart today to spend god knows how much money on completely and totally worthless crap, may I suggest professional help? That professional help I'm speaking of, of course, would be in the form of sterilization so I don't have to witness...

...If you drive the biggest, smelliest, nastiest car ever created to roam the roadways(a Hummer, of course), let me tell you sir, this does NOT entitle you to swerve back and forth across the road shoving smaller cars out of your way so that you can drag your plastic surgery addicted wife and your 12 year old daughter both wearing tight, denim mini-skirts and thigh highs through Target buying worthless crap. Please sir, STOP REPRODUCING!

If you get rear-ended hard enough to push your trunk through your back window, the proper thing to do is NOT to simply push your car off the road into the median, abandon it, and proceed to walk over to the strip mall to get in on the shopping orgy. Lady, get a clue. Please. Your car is still sitting in the median. On a positive note, however, there were no obvious signs that you've ever reproduced. Thanks.

OK everyone, thanks for letting me rant. If you're still here, you can go ahead and scroll down to proceed with your regularly scheduled postings.

Some big news from author Philip Gardiner was released at Book of THoTH on Wednesday. It seems that the Forbidden Knowledge Conference UK(FKCUK) will be expanding beyond the UK this year. On December 12th to the 15th, 2007, there will be a Forbidden Knowledge Conference in the US, specifically in California. So far the only names which he's released as confirmed speakers are Ellis Taylor, Clinton Deyer and Nick Pope, but he promises there are many big stars yet to be named on board. I'll be sure to post more info on this as I get it. I'm sure this is going to be a big event, and one to look forward to! I know I'm going to do my best to be out in California in mid-December next year.

Finally, a little good news on the environmental front. Global atmospheric methane concentrations seem to be leveling off. If the trend continues, predicted global warming temperature rises won't be as dramatic. Maybe people really can make a difference still. Here's hoping, at least.

Sorry folks. Seems like the cat and dog in Brazil didn't really have kuppies or pittens. They're just cats that look a lot like dogs. I really did find this quote to be in bad taste, though:

"People who aren't experts often imagine things," said Pacheco, director of the Institute of Biological Sciences of the University of Passo Fundo.

Wow. I nominate him for most pompous scientist of the year.

Edit: OK, I must admit, after reading the little article again, I think they're saying that the cat adopted the puppies as her own, so they're not kittens, they're puppies, which are being nursed by a cat. Confused yet?

Ever since I switched to the new beta blogger I've only had one issue. Sometimes someone leaves a comment, I get an e-mail telling me about it, but it never actually shows up on my blog. Anyone else having problems with comments not publishing?

I hope everyone in the US had a nice Thanksgiving. I certainly did. Even though it was a non-traditional food holiday, it was certainly nice in its own way. For the first time in many years, I think I actually enjoyed a winter holiday. Maybe there's hope for Christmas after all!

I hope everyone in the US has a very Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow. I haven't posted much the last couple of days because I've been trying to get ready for the holiday, interview at new jobs, and put the finishing touches on an article I've been writing that looks at Hopi mythology. Here's a little preview of a rough draft of the section about the First World to have a look at until I manage to get the whole thing finished and entered into the Book of THoTH article competition. I'll be back on Friday!

The First World

The newly created people are living in it, and they follow the way of the Creator, at first. However, as they advance, and as they grow farther apart from the "Gods" who made them, many of them begin to stray from the way of the Creator. As they grow out and form different villages they begin to fight. While they were originally taught that they are all brothers, "The Talker" who looks like a bird, tells them all that they are different. Then Katoya, who has the form of a snake, teaches them to be warlike.

At this point Sotuknang came with the "sound as of a mighty wind and suddenly appeared" before the ones who still followed the ways of the creator. He told them, "We have decided this world must be destroyed and another one created so you people can start over again. Your inner wisdom will give you the sight to see a certain cloud, which you will follow by day, and a certain star, which you will follow by night." They followed the star by night, and the cloud by day, facing ridicule from the ones who had strayed along the way, until they came to a big mound where the Ant People lived. They opened up the anthill, and the good people lived in there for a while where the light came from "tiny bits of crystal" which "had absorbed the light of the sun"

Once again, this is an interesting part of the story which seems to tie into other stories, and hints at a fantastic ability by these "Gods" and how they travel. How is it that Sotuknang manages to simply appear before them, and why the distinctive sound each time? How does he manifest a cloud that they can follow each day, which then turns into a moving star to follow each night? Are the "Gods" simply using some sort of a flying craft?

For those in the Western world who tend to be more familiar with the Bible than any other stories or mythology, this might very well sound similar to the Star of Bethlehem. This "star" is said to have appeared, and moved differently than any other star in the sky. From the bible, in Matthew 2:

"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed."

Just as in this story, people followed it, and in the Bible the Magi ended up at the birthplace of Jesus; here, they end up in a slightly different location.

Another story that seems to tie in very well with this one is in the ancient Indian text "The Vimaanika Shastra" in which ancient flying machines, called Vimanas, are discussed. One of the ways in which it states that the flying machines can be disguised is as a cloud. Perhaps what is being discussed here is a flying craft which can be disguised as a cloud by day, and can illuminate during the night time so that it can continue to be followed.

Also, what struck me in this part of the story is how the people described the source of light which they lived with while underground. It seems to me this is how people with very little technological knowledge, having never seen indoor lighting, might describe electric lights, or even solar powered lighting. Solar technology "absorbs" the sunlight, and then gives it back on command. Perhaps if this technology were described to a non-technological society, this is how they would then relate to it.

When the people who continued to follow the ways of the Creator are safe in the anthill, the destruction of the first world commenced. "Fire came from above and below and all around...until there was nothing left except the people safe inside the womb of the earth." It had not taken him long to destroy the world, nor would it take long before he created another, but it was taking a long time for the world to cool down. Finally, with the world cooled enough for the people to come back out they noticed just how different the new world was. "He changed its form completely, putting land where the water was, and water where the land had been."

Here's a very interesting article on how electronic voting went in the latest elections.

Some really sad news today. PEAR, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory, is shutting down. PEAR has done a lot of really great research, illuminated quite a few strange occurrences, and really published some terrific papers. Their research will really be missed in the paranormal/parascience realm.

There's two new front page articles on BoT today, part one and two of an article by Derek Skhane. They're titled "Pyramid Angles" part one and part two.

I've basically got a bunch of interesting articles, and news, from Book of THoTH today, so I thought I'd wrap it all into my 200th post.

Have I really babbled that much in such a short time? Apparently I have...I hope everyone's enjoyed reading it as much as I have writing it so far.

First up, IlluminatusRex, a BoT member, has written a new article titled "Why Are Aliens So Shy?" This articles takes a look at the extraterrestrial hypothesis from the stand point of them visiting, but not revealing themselves to people as a whole, and then explores the implications. IR did a nice job on this one and whether you agree with him or not, give his article a read and see what you think.

In the realm of extraterrestrial study there are few questions asked as often as the most natural one: "Why don't they reveal themselves?". Many theories have been created as an explanation for why this hasn't happened.

These 3 are probably the most prevalent ......

1. Revealing themselves would cause mass hysteria amongst us and/or we'd attack them.
2. Mankind is too unevolved and disappointing for them to associate with us.
3. They don't want to interfere with our natural course of development as a species.

Next up is Sol's new article "The Players of Null-A" which takes a look at philosophy, thought patterns, utopian society and auto-suggestion. This is a thoroughly researched article which is really quite enlightening. A must read.

Towards the middle of the 20th Century a novel and original system of thought arose, which was to have far-reaching implications on today's thinking patterns. It was a philosophical theory whose precise didactic argumentation was not readily accessible to laymen, which caused it to remain in the musky realm of scholars and tenured Humanities professors. It had furthermore been criticized as being an incomplete and distorted picture of our reality, and has been largely discounted in its original form by the philosophy establishment, except as a curious historical trend.

Thus the influence of this theory has largely escaped public notice. And yet from its inception, it had been used by its proponents for such a wide range of pursuits as treating shell-shocked soldiers or stopping college riots. It has also spawned several very interesting "cult-like" doctrines, such as Dianetics. Most curiously, many of this theory's tenets have been accepted for granted in the New Age era, though in an entirely different way than what its creator envisioned.

Such was the theory of General Semantics, as outlined by Count Alfred Korzybski in his 1933 book, "Science and Sanity: An Introduction to Non-Aristotelian Systems and General Semantics."

There's also some new news on Philip Gardiner and Michael Bourne's upcoming documentary which I wrote about before. The new article includes quotes from Phil and Michael, along with the official announcement of Nick Pope's involvement.

Last up, but certainly not least, is the official launching of Beyond the Cosmos, which Philip Gardiner and I accidentally broke the news of a little early a couple of weeks ago.

Beyond The Cosmos is the brainchild of Philip Gardiner and THoTH from the Book Of THoTH. The site itself belongs to Angela Davies (Angel) and Philip Gardiner. In here you will find plenty of things to keep you informed and entertained, whilst being able to directly purchase items specifically geared to your interests.

The new site will focus on articles ranging from the paranormal to Ufology, from the esoteric to ancient mysteries. The internet is today's voice of the people. No longer do we need to impress the publishers or agents, now we can share our knowledge with the world. The team behind Beyond The Cosmos want this to be a portal for everybody so come along and join in. Bring your thoughts, your ideas, your knowledge and share with the rest of the world.

I saw an article a few days ago titled "Do UFOs Exist in the History of Arts?" I wanted to share this article because it's always been something that fascinated me, honestly. I think there's many very obvious examples of the types of UFOs reported throughout time up to the modern era represented in many works of art, far more than are featured in this article even. One thing that has always interested me in this area of research, is that so many of these artworks are religious and also feature biblical characters. Just something to think about this weekend.

I saw an article today linked from The Debris Field Blog on the Costa Rican stone balls. It's a translated article, so it doesn't always make the most sense grammatically, but you'll get the idea.

These stone balls, as seen in the image above taken from the article, have been found all over the place, on hills, in the jungle, and they're always amazingly spherical. I always wondered if they were found in the locations at which they were placed, and then mapped out, if you'd find a correlation to constellations, or some other noticeable pattern. Unfortunately, over the past couple of decades it became fashionable for upper-class citizens to use them as lawn ornaments, and most of them have been moved from their original resting places by now.

I've heard this morning that the student from the video below is suing the UCPD, no big surprise there, and that the UCPD has hired an independent investigator to look at the case and recommend any procedural changes that he might feel are necessary. I sincerely hope that it's obvious to him that some kind of change is necessary. I'm sure we'll all be hearing a lot more about this along the way.

Don't press play on the video below unless you're ready to watch, and hear the screams of, an unarmed college student repeatedly dragged around and tasered by UCPD "officers" on the UCLA campus. His crime? Not having his ID card at the library. At this point I'm sure you're asking why, as am I. I imagine his name may point us in the right direction, but I'm not sure. His name? Mostafa Tabatabainejad. There are some other new posts below this, so even if you don't want to watch this video, go ahead and scroll down. It won't start playing unless you click play. I just thought this was an important video to show what's going on in some parts of this country today.

The red rain of India is back in the news again. This time the BBC has an article about the latest scientific studies, which once again seem to suggest a non-terrestrial origin for the phenomenon.

The more it's studied, the more it looks as though this might be the proof that bacteria can travel through space, furthering the Panspermia theory. Panspermia being the theory in which life on Earth originated elsewhere in the universe. As a scientist says, "Bacteria seem to me to be born space travelers."

There's a guest article at The Daily Grail from Colm Kelleher, co-author of "Hunt for the Skinwalker" which is basically an excerpt from the book.

“It’s still moving” he was muttering. All of a sudden he yelled. “Its got me”, “its saying: “we are watching you” he continued, his voice rising a couple of octaves. Then there was silence. I continued trying to take increasingly longer exposures to try to catch whatever he was talking about. Every time I looked up from my camera to see if I could see what was causing him such intense anxiety, I could see nothing except the dark shadows of the tree line directly in front of me. The feeling in the pasture was very spooky, a chilling desolate feeling. Then he said:”its getting smaller”. Then: “its gone”. He kept muttering “Jesus Christ” “Jesus Christ”. He repeated the same phrase over and over again. His voice betrayed that he was very freaked out.

I asked him what had happened. It was obvious that he was still shaken. “Something big was in the trees just in front of us, it blotted out all the stars through the binoculars,” he declared. “It took control of my mind”. “It told me it was watching us”. He sounded very confused and bewildered. This guy was a Ph.D level physicist. He had spent time on the famous NASA Voyager missions, when the celebrated remote Voyager probes had mapped the surfaces of Saturn and Jupiter for the first time in history. This guy was not prone to sudden nervous breakdowns. But now, he was almost babbling. He definitely had not met anything like this before in his academic career. As team leader, I was concerned.

Be sure to check out he rest of this article, it's certainly interesting. The book's been on my "things to read" list for a while, but I've heard it's a great book.

For those who aren't familiar with the story of the ranch, there's an entry on it here.

Jeremy Vaeni, a Book of THoTH member, whom I've written about before, has gotten a write-up of his self-produced movie in ufos.about.com. Congratulations Jeremy!

Over at Book of THoTH we're pround to announce that Philip Gardiner along with THoTH and Reality Entertainment are about to join forces again to create a new documentary on the UFO / Alien phenomena, and they're on the look out for evidence. If you have, or know of, something that you think will help, they could use it. If you want to contribute to this DVD, they're looking for new videos, photographs, stories, artifacts, and anything else new and lesser known that would help in the search to find answers. This isn't going to be one that repeats the same famous incidents over and over, this one aims to focus on new evidence and the different theories out there.

If you have anything to offer, please hurry because they are hoping to start filming in the next few months. If what you provide is used in the DVD, Reality Entertainment will provide some nice free goodies as payment. To submit any material, please contact Philip via the contacts page on his site.

For more discussion on the documentary and any questions, please see Philip Gardiner's thread in the UFOs section at BoT.

Be sure to check out the new press release, too!

Best selling author Philip Gardiner has written another excellent article for the front page of the Book of THoTH. This one is titled "Spirals, Symbols and Snakes" and it takes a look at some of the most prolific symbols in history, what they mean, and how universal many of them really are on our planet.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to explore some parts of Florida that I'd never seen before. I took some pictures along the way and I thought I'd share some of them.

First up are pictures from the Crystal River Archaeological State Park, which contains a Pre-Columbian mound complex on the edge of the Crystal River.



This is a look at the Crystal River itself.



This is the largest mound at the site, and from the looks of it where it has eroded thus far, it looks like the side of it that's closest to the river is mostly made of clam shells.



This is one of the mounds in the middle of the site.

Next up was the Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. This park is full of native Floridian wildlife species, and many of them are free to come and go as they wish. A river runs through the park which houses native fish and manatees, and most of the bird area is wide open allowing the birds to come and go as they wish, although most of them seem quite content to just hang out and get regular feedings.



This is the park's hippo. While I've seen hippos before, this one is really quite huge, and you can get really close at the park.



Not being a native Floridian, this is the very first manatee I've ever seen. This one is the park's biggest, and weighs 3200 pounds. It was a lot of fun to watch them feed three of the park's manatees some lettuce and carrots and bananas.



The bird area at the park is huge and has, probably, thousands of birds. In the middle this flock of flamingos was just hanging out.



Being Florida there's lots of gators, and this one was enjoying the water while the rest were sunning themselves on the edge.