The sacred geometry of planet Earth Column: Intelligence Report Posted on Sunday, 9 November, 2008 | 5:38 | Comments: 3 William B Stoecker: The idea that certain geometric shapes possess some kind of power is very old, as is the idea that certain locations on the Earth are sacred or magical. The elites often apply sacred geometry to architecture; America's capital was built in large part with this in mind, and the most recent additions have included the Washington Monument, an obelisk built by the Freemasons, and the Pentagon, commissioned by Freemason Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But,

over the years, a number of researchers and writers have suggested that our entire planet contains a magical geometry which governs the location of sacred sites, and that this geometry may be hyper dimensional, and even that the entire universe was constructed in accordance with the laws of hyper dimensional geometry. At the same time, there is a very ancient belief that all of space is filled with an inexhaustible energy, spiritual in origin, called variously chi, ki, prana, kundalini, vril, odic force, or orgone, and that this energy may serve as a dynamic luminiferous aether, and may be the foundation of all other matter and energy. It has been suggested that this energy flows most strongly along certain paths on the Earth's surface, usually called ley lines.

Many years ago, Ivan T. Sanderson suggested that our planet may be attempting to become a crystal. The force of gravity, of course, holds the planet in a roughly spherical shape, but Sanderson suggested that some other force was trying to turn Earth into an enormous crystal, and that certain locations on our planet, regularly spaced, are prone to mysterious vanishings of ships and aircraft, and other paranormal phenomena. Researchers like Carl Munck described a global grid linking ancient sacred sites, and Hugh Harleston Jr. claimed that the ancient ruin of Teotihuacan in Mexico, with its Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon was built according to tetrahedral geometry, and he suspected that the entire universe was constructed according to tetrahedral geometry.

A tetrahedron is one of the five Platonic solids, and it is a three dimensional space bounded by four triangular sides. In a regular tetrahedron the triangles are equilateral, and all of their angles are sixty degrees each. A hexahedron has six sides; a regular hexahedron is a cube. An octahedron has eight sides, a dodecahedron has twelve, and an icosahedron has twenty. The tetrahedron and icosahedron are most germane to this discussion. Buckminster Fuller based his geodesic domes on icosahedrons, which have triangular sides; in a regular icosahedron, as in a regular tetrahedron, the sides are all equilateral triangles.

Bruce Cathie, a former airline pilot from New Zealand, developed some of these ideas into an overall theory. He suggested that the Earth somehow contains or is trying to become a regular icosahedron, and that ancient sacred sites like Stonehenge and Teotihuacan are sited according to a "world grid" based on this. According to his theory major ley lines intersect at or near its vertices, and he believed that ufos travel along the ley lines, which are separated from one another by thirty minutes of arc (one half a degree). Of course, this is counting even the minor ley lines.

In recent years, these ideas have been popularized and further developed by Richard Hoagland. Hoagland pointed out that if a regular tetrahedron of the right size existed witin a sphere like the spinning Earth, and one of its vertices were at the South Pole, the other three vertices would be spaced one hundred and twenty degrees apart some 19.47 degrees (an irrational number, like most constants) north of the equator. He pointed out that major upwellings of energy seem to cluster within a degree or two of one of these locations, like the immense Hawaiian volcanoes on Earth, the Olympus Mons volcano (the highest and most massive mountain in the Solar System) the Great Red Spot on Jupiter, and the Dark Spot on Neptune. These may be north or south of the equator, depending on the planet.

Hoagland also suggested that the current paradigm in physics, based on the twin pillars of relativity theory and quantum mechanics, may be in need of serious revision, and that physics may have been close to a grand unified theory with the original equations of James Clerk Maxwell, before Oliver Heaviside and others simplified and altered them. He believed that much of the energy of the Sun and other stars came not from hydrogen fusion, but from a universal energy from a higher, hypredimensional source, and that this energy also accounted for much of the internal heat of the planets. The energy in stars and planets (and, some of us have noticed, the intensity of their magnetic fields) seems to correlate at least roughly with their angular momentum. Of course, if all of this is true, it may be possible for us to tap this energy and perhaps also to achieve gravity control.

Two mysterious hexagons surround the north pole of the planet Saturn; the main one is 15,000 miles across and, per infrared photos, extends at least sixty miles down into the planet's interior. It does not move with the wind driven clouds, but rotates every ten hours and thirty nine minutes, as do Saturn's radio emissions. This is probably the period of axial rotation. Physicists and astronomers currently have no explanation for any of this.

Hoagland suggested that two four dimensional interlocking hyper tetrahedrons projecting down into three dimensional space could produce such a hexagon. We cannot visualize the fourth dimension, but, reasoning by analogy, we can at least partly understand it. A square is a two dimensional shape bounded by four straight lines, and its three dimensional equivalent is a cube bounded by six squares. So a four dimensional hyper cube would be bounded by six cubes. An equilateral triangle is a two dimensional shape bounded by three straight lines. A tetrahedron is a three dimensional shape bounded by four triangles. So a hyper tetrahedron would be a four dimensional space bounded by five tetrahedrons.

Long ago, a man named Ernst Chladni tried sprinkling sand on a flat metal plate and using sound to vibrate the plate. The sand grains would arrange themselves into geometric shapes, caused by standing waves, and, the higher the frequency became, the more compex the shapes became. The study of this is called cymatics, and some have suggested that this might be the cause of Saturn's hexagon; perhaps this theory and Hoagland's are not mutually exclusive.

Certainly, there is at least some evidence that something strange is going on along lines in the Earth, specifically earthquake faults and the rift zones that separate Earth's tectonic plates. Paranormal phenomena do seem to cluster at such locations, including earthquake lights.

Most of the known early developments of human culture, including the first known civilizations and the development of the major religions happened in or near these zones or (as in the case of Egypt) along earthquake faults parallel to the rifts. Clearly, this needs to be investigated, but we have to remember that the known cultures were almost certainly not the first.

A look at a map or globe of the Earth reveals some interesting oddities. Remember the triangles forming the faces of tetrahedrons and icosahedrons? All but two of Earth's continents are at least roughly triangular. Anyone can see that South America and Africa are roughly triangular. North America is not as obvious, since its shape is interrupted by, among other things, the Florida peninsula. Even Eurasia is at least very roughly triangular, with its shape marred by the Indian subcontinent. In all of these, one apex is more or less to the south, and one side makes up the north of the continent. Another oddity: most of the largest peninsulas on Earth point roughly toward the equator. The exceptions to the triangular continent pattern are Australia and Antarctica. Even if we include Tasmania and New Guinea as part of Australia (which, geologically, under very shallow water, they are) it is still not remotely triangular.

But Antarctica, located around the South Pole, may not be the exception it seems. Earth has no Saturn-style hexagon, perhaps because the Earth has a solid crust and mantle, but both Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean are roughly circular, which is at least fairly close to hexagonal. And the strangeness does not end there. The Arctic Ocean covers 5,400,000 square miles, and

Antarctica is only a tiny bit larger, just over 5,400,000 square miles. The greatest depth in the Arctic Ocean is 18,000 feet and the highest point in Antarctica, the Vinson Massif, is only 2,000 feet off at 16,050 feet above sea level. But we don't want to make too much of all this, since Earth's tectonic plates are not triangular, and, anyway, the current arrangement and shape of the continents is only temporary; continental drift has changed it greatly over the aeons.

But maybe there is something very special about the current age.

William B Stoecker

Article Copyright© William B Stoecker

The disappearing bees Column: Suzanne Hayes Posted on Wednesday, 12 November, 2008 | 4:31 | Comments: 12 Suzanne Hayes: Our bees are disappearing. If you think that this sounds like a plotline from Doctor Who, then you would be right. But this is not science fiction, and it affects every single one of us. In ancient civilisations (Mayan, Egyptian, Greek), the bee was sacred and honey was considered to be the food of the gods.

In mythological terms, the bee is said to bridge the natural world from the underworld, a carrier of souls - just as the bee returns to the hive, honest souls return to heaven, and the good and pure bees transport new souls to be re-born into the world.

The extent of the mysterious disappearance of our bees is difficult to ascertain as media, beekeepers associations and Government figures per country seem to issue contradictory figures, however, reports indicate that up to between 25 and 45% of the global population are gone!

The term Colony Collapse Disorder(CCD) was coined in 2006 in the USA, it refers to the disappearance of worker bees from honey bee colonies before the brood has reached adulthood.

However, the disappearance is not limited to hives, as reports indicate that solitary bees are disappearing in the same numbers due to cause/s unknown.

The fact that bees do not die in the hive, makes it extremely difficult for investigators to determine causes.

It is known that honey bees forage at distances between 2 - 5 km from the hive, however, considering the numbers of missing bees, investigators cannot find anywhere near a corresponding number of bee corpses - the plot thickens!

A number of universities and government agencies have formed a “CCD working group” to search for potential causes of the bee disappearance and then to formulate a working plan to mitigate CCD.

Consequences of Bee Decline

It has been estimated that the value of bees to the word economy is $ 180 billion!

The bee is responsible for one out of three mouthfuls of food we eat.

Decline will therefore significantly decrease food availability, driving food prices up.

This is a huge problem - that will affect us all.

The impact upon our already tenuous global economy cannot be underestimated.

Funding has been granted for a film to be made to explore why bees matter so much and to attempt to answer the question of why they are dying off. For more about the film, visit www.vanishingbees.com

In many hives, where the majority of bees have disappeared, scientists have found evidence of almost all known bee viruses in each of the few remaining bees. Some bees have five or six infections at once, as well as being affected by fungi, an indication, experts say, that the bee's immune system may have collapsed.

Another mystery is that other insects and non resident bees do not go near hives once they have suffered CCD, unaffected deserted hives would usually be raided for honey and pollen stores.

Theories Regarding The Cause of Decline in the Global Bee Population

There are many theories regarding CCD, a few of these are listed below:-

Virus, Disease, Parasites

The bee has many natural parasites / disease and viruses, I have listed a few of the most common, this list however is not definitive

Varroosis is caused by an Asian parasitic mite which spread to Europe in the 1990's.

The mites feed on both adult bees and the brood.

The bee is weakened by the mite which also hosts other diseases which are then spread from bee to bee.

Nosema ceranae is a microsporidian fungus, which in extreme cases can wipe out a hive within eight days. However, there has been no direct link established with this infection and CCD and the fungus has been identified within healthy hives.

Chronic bee paralysis virus

Most viral diseases of bees are associated with stress. This may take the form of climatic pressures but is more often associated with other diseases or parasites.

Affected bees, tremble, bloat and lose hair from their bodies and eventually lose the power of flight, leading to death.

It must be noted however that not all hives with CCD contained evidence of any one type of mite, disease or virus infestation which could be classified as a clear cause.

Genetically Modified Crops

A farming industry organisation entitled “The Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops” (SCIMAC) has developed guidelines for farmers growing GM crops. But there are no provisions within these for protecting beehives from contamination with GM pollen, or even to inform beekeepers if GM crops are to be grown in their area.

A small study, conducted at the University of Jena, between 2001 and 2004 examined the effects of pollen from a genetically modified maize variant called “Bt corn” on bees.

A gene from a soil bacterium had been inserted into the corn which enabled the plant to produce an agent, toxic to insect pests.

The study concluded that there was no evidence to suggest that the “Bt corn” had any adverse effects upon bees.

However, at the end of the study, the bees became infested with a natural parasite which resulted in “a significantly stronger decline in the number of bees” than would have been normally been expected - suggesting the “Bt corn” had somehow weakened the bees natural ability to fight infection.

Unfortunately further investigation into this matter was halted due to lack of funding.

Electromagnetic Disruption

Bees carry an electromagnetic charge which aids in the adherence of pollen.

It is notable that the earths natural magnetic field, which has been charted for the past 150 years has decayed by 5% in that time.

The possibility that natural decline in the earths magnetic field and/or un-natural human electrical activity / disruption has disrupted the bees natural electo-biological balance should also an avenue for investigation.

Torsion Field Disruption

Torsion fields are hypothesised to be the forces (spinning electro-magnetic waves) which hold matter in a particular form or shape.

It is interesting to note that natural bee nests with chamber cells are natural torsion generators.

Russian naturalist and entomologist Viktor Stepanovich Grebennikov came across a “bee city” in the steppes of the Kamyshlovo valley.

He became engrossed with studying the bees and decided to spend the night there - out in the open.

When he tried to fall to sleep, he had terrible and strange experiences: sensations of expansion and contracting, falling, flashes in front of his eyes, a metallic taste in the mouth, ears ringing, head spinning, feeling light and then heavy nausea - which he attributed to an effect of strong electro-magnetic torsion fields produced by the bees.

Upon return to the “bee city” a few years later he noted that the bees had died, he picked up a handful of old clay lumps with multiple chamber cells, he again experienced the odd feelings he had when he spent the night there.

Grebennikov theorised that the hollow chambers held a strong natural torsion field that appeared to affect all matter around it.

Grebennikov studied the “Cavernous Structures Effect” and found that clocks, both mechanical and digital, when placed in a strong CSE field started to run inaccurately.

Another finding of the CSE effect was that trays of dry honeycombs, positioned above the head

apparently cured headaches.

Climatic Chaos

Our planet is in a period of climatic chaos - often (inaccurately) referred to as global warming, the causes of which are yet to be identified and agreed upon.

Periods of prolonged wet weather during summer months confines bees to the hive, leaving them less time to forage for enough nectar to see them through the winter.

This disruption could also be the cause of stress to the bee, leading to a weaker immune system, thus leaving the bee vulnerable to disease / illness.

Herbicides / Pesticides

There is a widespread practice in agriculture of spraying wildflowers / crops with herbicides / pesticides.

One prolific pesticide used in many countries is known as “Neo-nicotine” (marketed in many brand names) - the chemical disorientates “pest insects”, resulting in memory loss, rotting of their digestive system and weakening of the immune system - Very similar to the observed symptoms of CCD.

It is also important to note that these pesticides are often within the seed and root of a crop - therefore, impossible to wash off by the human consumer.

A strong case for further independent scientific study has to be made in the case of pesticides.

Poor Husbandry

Inaccurate diagnosis of bee illness within a kept hive can lead to ineffectual and often harmful compounds being administered, often in the wrong dosage.

There is also evidence of stress within the particular, which is exacerbated by dwindling numbers.

Keepers often have to transport hives across country, hundreds of miles, to ensure pollination of specific crops.

Agricultural Monocultures

Selection of specialised profitable crops by farmers leads to a lack of natural choice for bees when foraging for pollen. Limited dietary factors may contribute to the CCD phenomenon.

Conclusion

CCD could be caused by any one of a number of factors, or it may be a culmination of many factors, however, with no known cause there can be no effective treatment.

Natural bee decline has been noted in previous years, but not to the extent that we are seeing it today, and with the world population at an all time high, the ramifications upon food production are critical.

It is our fundamental responsibility to determine if the cause of death for billions of bees is a consequence of human activity, as has been the case for many other species, because in this case, indifference to their plight may significantly impact upon our own.

In the meantime, we can all do our little bit to help, by planting a few wild flowers in a garden or window-box in the spring.

Suzanne Hayes

Article Copyright© Suzanne Hayes

The Curse of the Crying Boy

Could a kitsch print bring fiery disaster to its owners?

By David Clarke July 2008

By Etienne Gilfillan, with thanks to Alex Howe

FT234

Ancient curses invoked by tomb-raiders have remained a popular theme in fiction and folklore for centuries. However, belief in cursed objects is not confined to legends surrounding Egyptian relics, or to the stories of MR James. In the modern world, there are many who believe they have personally experienced uncanny phenomena as a result of contact with a cursed artefact. Portraits or human likenesses, whether carved or painted, are frequently the focus of this type of legend. In recent years, stories of bad luck and misfortune have grown up around certain artefacts that are presumed to have had ritual or magical functions, some of which are apparently quite recent in origin. [1]

In folk belief, the notion that a picture falling from a wall is an omen of impending death – particularly if it is a portrait – remains one of the most widespread modern superstitions. Similarly, eerie portraits whose eyes “seem to follow you wherever you go” have become a staple scene-setter in numerous horror flicks. Folklore is not static, but active and dynamic – especially when it invokes latent beliefs rooted in older superstitions. And so we find that fear and anxiety continue to surround an eerie portrait that has, quite literally, blazed a trail across the British Isles and around the world in the space of two decades.

THE COMING OF THE CURSE

‘The Curse of the Crying Boy’ appeared out of the blue one morning in 1985. The Sun, at that time the most popular tabloid newspaper in the English-speaking world, published on page 13 of its 4 September edition a story headlined: “Blazing Curse of the Crying Boy”. It told how Ron and May Hall blamed a cheap painting of a toddler with tears rolling down his face for a fire which gutted their terraced council home in Rotherham, a mining town in South Yorkshire. The blaze broke out in a chip-pan in the kitchen of their home of 27 years and spread rapidly. But although the downstairs rooms of the house were badly damaged, the framed print of the Crying Boy escaped unscathed. It continued to hang there, surrounded by a scene of devastation.

Normally a chip-pan blaze would merit nothing more than a couple of paragraphs in a local newspaper. What transformed this story into a page lead in Britain’s leading tabloid was the intervention of Ron Hall’s brother Peter, a firefighter based in Rotherham. A colleague of Peter’s, station officer Alan Wilkinson, said he knew of numerous other cases where prints of the ‘Crying Boy’ had turned up, undamaged, in the ruins of homes destroyed by fires.

Accompanying the article was a photograph of a ‘Crying Boy’, with the caption: “Tears for fears… the portrait that firemen claim is cursed.” The firemen concerned had not actually used the word ‘cursed’, but nevertheless the newspaper report had helped to give the story a certain level of credibility. The paper added that an estimated 50,000 ‘Crying Boy’ prints, signed ‘G Bragolin’, had been sold in branches of British department stores, particularly in the working class areas of northern England. Examples could be seen hanging in the front rooms of family homes across the nation, and one story even suggested a quarter of a million had been sold.

THE TERROR OF THE TABLOIDS

The mass media play a crucial role in creating and spreading modern folklore. Stories like the ‘Crying Boy’ behave much like a virus when they take root in the popular imagination. Furthermore, tabloid news values and the priority given to providing a ‘good

story’ frequently override accuracy and scepticism, particularly where uncanny or supernatural events are concerned.

Peter Chippindale and Chris Horrie in their warts-and-all history of The Sun, entitled Stick it up your Punter! (1990), credit legendary editor Kelvin MacKenzie as the father of the ‘Crying Boy’ curse. During the mid-80s, The Sun was engaged in a battle for readers with its Fleet Street rival the Daily Mirror. It was also responsible for publishing a series of horrific and bizarre stories with tenuous origins, of which some – such as ‘Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster’ – earned a permanent place in pop culture. The Crying Boy arrived at a time when MacKenzie was on the look-out for what journalists call ‘a great splash’, which for him meant an exclusive story that none of his rivals would dream of publishing first. MacKenzie’s genius was to spot the potential ‘splash’ buried in routine copy from a regional news agency. He announced confidently to his staff: “This one’s got legs,” his phrase for a story that would ‘run and run’.

On 5 September 1985, The Sun ran its follow-up, reporting that scores of “horrified readers claiming to be victims of the ‘Curse of the Crying Boy’ had flooded [the paper] with calls… they all feared they were jinxed by having the print of a tot with tears pouring down his face in their homes.” Readers were left with an overwhelming impression of a supernatural link, reinforced by the use of words like ‘curse’, ‘jinx’, ‘feared’ and ‘horrified’.

Typical of these additional stories was that told by Dora Mann, from Mitcham, Surrey, who claimed her house was gutted just six months after she bought a print of the painting. “All my paintings were destroyed – except the one of the Crying Boy,” she claimed. Sandra Kaske, of Kilburn, North Yorkshire, said that she, her sister-in-law, and a friend had all suffered disastrous fires since they acquired copies. Another family, from Nottingham, blamed the print for a blaze which had left them homeless. Brian Parks, whose wife and three children needed treatment for smoke inhalation, said he had destroyed his copy after returning from hospital to find it hanging – undamaged, of course – on the blackened wall of his living room.

As the stories accumulated, new details emerged that encouraged the idea that possession of a print put owners at risk of fire or serious injury. One woman from London claimed she had seen her print “swing from side to side” on the wall, while another from Paignton said her 11-year-old son had “caught his private parts on a hook” after she bought the picture. Mrs Rose Farrington of Preston, in a letter published by The Sun, wrote: “Since I bought it in 1959, my three sons and my husband have all died. I’ve often wondered if it had a curse.”

Another reader reported an attempt to destroy two of the prints by fire – only to find, to her horror, that they would not burn. Her claim was tested by security guard Paul Collier, who tossed one of his two prints onto a bonfire. Despite being left in the flames for an hour, it was not even scorched. “It was frightening – the fire wouldn’t even touch it,” he told The Sun. “I really believe it is jinxed. We feel doubly at risk with two of these in the house [and] we are determined to get rid of them.”

FIREMEN AND FOLKLORE

Collier’s story recalls the comments of the firemen who, in the aftermath of house fires in Rotherham, mentioned prints that had inexplicably escaped damage. The real mystery, from their perspective, was how the pictures had survived fires that were in themselves perfectly explicable. In most cases, straightforward explanations of carelessly discarded cigarettes, overheated chip-pans and faulty electric heaters had been found during the subsequent fire service investigation.

Rotherham fire station officer Alan Wilkinson who, it emerged, had personally logged 50 ‘Crying Boy’ fires dating back to 1973, dismissed any connection with the supernatural, having satisfied himself that most of them had been caused by human carelessness. But despite his pragmatism, he could not explain how the prints had survived infernos which generated heat sufficient to strip plaster from walls. His wife had her own theory: “I always say it’s the tears that put the fire out.” The Sun was not interested in finding a rational explanation. It ignored Wilkinson’s comments and claimed “fire chiefs have admitted they have no logical explanation for a number of recent incidents.”

Soon afterwards, it emerged that the ‘cursed’ prints were not all copies of the same painting, nor were all the prints by the same artist. The picture that survived the fire in Rotherham that initially triggered the scare was signed by the artist G Bragolin. The Sun claimed the original was “by an Italian artist”. In fact, Giovanni Bragolin was a pseudonym adopted by Spanish painter Bruno Amadio, who is also known as ‘Franchot Seville’. Attempts to trace him floundered as art historians said he did not appear to have “a coherent biography”. To make matters more confusing, further ‘Crying Boys’ that had featured in the fires, part of a series of studies called ‘Childhood’, were painted by Scottish artist Anna Zinkeisen, who died in 1976. The only common denominator was that all were examples of cheap, mass-produced prints sold in great numbers by English department stores during the 1960s and 70s. The geographical cluster simply reflected their popularity among working class communities in that part of the North.

Despite being dismissed by art critics as kitsch, ‘the Crying Boy’ remained an extremely popular print, particularly for female owners. Examples existed in at least five different variations. At least two of these had companion studies of ‘Crying Girls’ – some people owned copies of both – and others in the series included pictures of girls and boys holding flowers. In defiance of the scare headlines, some owners had developed such an emotional bond with the prints that they refused to dispose of them. “I’ve never cared for the picture myself because of its sadness,” the partner of one proud owner was quoted as saying. He then went on to pose two questions which many anxious Sun readers wanted answered: “Why would you want a picture of a child crying? Why was the child crying?”

Naturally, journalists turned to experts in the field of folklore and the occult for an explanation. When one approached Folklore Society member Georgina Boyes, the interview floundered when she refused to provide a suitably Satanic explanation.

Consequently, the journalist concerned “went off in search of ‘a witch’ or ‘somebody into the occult’ who might make a better headline”. Then Roy Vickery, secretary of the Folklore Society, was quoted to the effect that the original artist might have mistreated the child model in some way, adding: “All these fires could be the child’s curse, his way of getting revenge.” [2]

A print of Zenkeisen’s Crying Boy became the centre of the next ‘mysterious fire’ reported by The Sun. This destroyed a council house in Rotherham, which had emerged not only as the geographical location of many of the reported fires, but also as the source of the whole phenomenon. The same story quoted a Fire Brigade spokesman reassuring owners of the print that although there was no “cause for alarm… these incidents are becoming more frequent”.

The widespread anxiety this story generated led South Yorkshire Fire Service to issue a statement which aimed to debunk the connection between the fires and the prints. It pointed out that the most recent blaze was started by an electric fire left too close to a bed. Chief Divisional Officer Mick Riley said a large number of the prints had been sold and “any connection with the fires is purely coincidental… fires are not started by pictures or coincidence, but by careless acts and omissions.” Riley then revealed the service’s own explanation: “The reason why this picture has not always been destroyed in the fire is because it is printed on high density hardboard, which is very difficult to ignite.”

THE BONFIRE OF THE BOYS

The Fire Service’s statement failed to have much effect in dousing the flames that The Sun was happily stoking. Soon afterwards, news came of a Crying Boy that had survived a fire which gutted an Italian restaurant in Great Yarmouth. “Enough is enough, folks,” MacKenzie told his readers: “If you are worried about a Crying Boy picture hanging in YOUR home, send it to us immediately. We will destroy it for you – and that should see the back of any curse.”

According to Chippindale and Horrie’s account, “worried readers rang in to ask if they should get rid of their copy to stop their houses burning down. ‘Sure,’ MacKenzie replied. ‘Send them in – we’ll do the job for you.’ Bouverie Street was swamped… the Crying Boys were soon stacked 12ft (3.7m) high in the newsroom, spilling out of cupboards, and entirely filling a little-used interview room.”

Until then, MacKenzie’s staff couldn’t work out how much credence their boss attached to the story. When the assistant editor took down a picture of Churchill, which had been hanging on the newsroom wall since the Falklands War, and replaced it with a Crying Boy, the mystery was resolved: “MacKenzie, bustling into the newsroom at his normal half-run, stopped dead in his tracks and went white. ‘Take that down,’ he snapped. ‘I don’t like it. It’s bad luck.’”

Fireman Alan Wilkinson reacted in a similar fashion when his colleagues presented him with a framed Crying Boy on his retirement from the brigade. Like Kelvin MacKenzie, he denied being superstitious, but nevertheless immediately returned the painting, saying: “No thanks, you can keep it.” Similarly, Chief Officer Mick Riley, who was responsible for the statement debunking the ‘curse’, wouldn’t accept a copy of the print as a gift, saying his wife “wouldn’t like it; it wouldn’t fit in”. Interviewed by his local paper, Wilkinson admitted that he had been presented with another Crying Boy print by a worried woman who turned up at his home one night. He took it to work “as a joke” and mounted it on the office wall of the fire station. Within days, he was ordered by his superiors to take it down. Heaping irony upon comedy, the story continued: “The same day, an oven in the upstairs kitchen overheated and the firemen’s dinners were burned.”

Kelvin MacKenzie faced a similar dilemma. At the end of his six week ‘Crying Boy’ campaign, the editor of The Sun had to dream up a suitable way of disposing of 2,500 copies of the print that readers had sent in. His initial plan to burn them on the roof of the paper’s Bouverie Street offices was vetoed by both the London and Thames Valley fire brigades. Both refused to co-operate and denounced the whole campaign “as a cheap publicity stunt”. The reasons for their reluctance were becoming clear. It emerged that nationally the fire service had been the focus of hundreds of calls and visits by anxious owners who believed the prints were cursed, or that they were made of a dangerous flammable material.

Eventually, reporter Paul Hooper, with photographers and Page Three girls in tow, left the paper’s Bouverie Street HQ with two van-loads of prints ready for burning on a makeshift pyre near Reading. The Sun splashed the story – appropriately on Hallowe’en – under the headline: “Sun nails curse of the weeping boy for good.” A photograph depicted a scantily-clad “red hot Page Three beauty Sandra Jane Moore” feeding the bonfire as bemused firemen looked on.

The Hallowe’en burning was widely believed to have exorcised the ‘curse of the Crying Boy’, and the number of tabloid stories began to decrease. But in March the following year, a columnist in the Western Morning News pointed out that the industrial turmoil faced by News International (owners of The Sun), involving strikes and violent picketing at their new Fort Wapping production plant, began shortly after the paper’s bonfire. Poking fun at its Fleet Street rival, the paper implied the jinx so feared by Kelvin MacKenzie had finally been visited upon its creator.

FROM TABLOID TALE TO URBAN LEGEND

As tabloid interest waned, ‘Crying Boy’ stories began to morph into a modern legend. New versions appeared, including one which suggested those who were kind to the prints were rewarded with good luck. Another was the idea that placing a picture of the ‘Crying Girl’ next to that of the Crying Boy would bring good luck. What the story lacked was a satisfying narrative explaining how the print came to be an ignition source. Soon, that

story would be supplied and the arrival of the Internet would provide the legend with a new lease of life independent of the print media which originally set it running.

One web-source claims that during the 1990s Crying Boy fires began to be reported for the first time from other parts of the world. It also reflects how the basic ‘cursed painting’ motif was being moulded by professional story-tellers and paranormal investigators for a new audience: “A medium claims the spirit of the boy is trapped in the painting and it starts fires in an attempt to burn the painting and free itself. Others claim the painting is haunted or attracts poltergeist activity. Stories of the artist’s and subject’s misfortune had attached themselves to the painting.” [3]

The notion that the ‘Crying Boy’ had been badly treated by the artist was gaining popularity. Few cared that there were several different paintings and artists, or that this idea began life as a throwaway remark offered to The Sun a decade earlier. In 2000, Tom Slemen revived the story in book form as part of his Haunted Liverpool series of largely unreferenced books. Like many others in this genre, the stories they contain are presented in an entertaining, narrative style which appeals to a mass readership. In his entry on ‘The Crying Boy Jinx’ Slemen states as fact that the “head of the Yorkshire Fire Brigade” had told newspapers that the Crying Boy print had turned up in the rubble of houses that had “mysteriously burnt to the ground”. According to Slemen, when journalists asked him if he believed the picture was evil, “the fire chief refused to comment.”

This factually incorrect account introduced the narrative which followed, finally explaining why the picture was evil. The story was uncovered by “a well respected researcher into occult matters, a retired schoolmaster from Devon named George Mallory” in 1995. Mallory traced the artist who had painted the original, “an old Spanish portrait artist named Franchot Seville, who lives in Madrid”. Seville, as astute readers will recognise, was one of the pseudonyms used by Bruno Amadio, otherwise known as ‘G Bragolin’ whose signature appeared on some of the prints. So far so good.

According to Slemen, Seville/Amadio/Bragolin told Mallory the subject of the paintings was a little street urchin he had found wandering around Madrid in 1969. He never spoke, and had a very sorrowful look in his eyes. Seville painted the boy, and a Catholic priest identified him as Don Bonillo, a child who had run away after seeing his parents die in a blaze. “The priest told the artist to have nothing to do with the runaway, because wherever he settled, fires of unknown origin would mysteriously break out; the villagers called him ‘Diablo’ because of this.” Nevertheless, the painter ignored the priest’s advice and adopted the boy. His portraits sold well but one day his studio was destroyed by fire and the artist was ruined. He accused the little boy of arson and Bonillo ran off – naturally in tears – and was never seen again. The story continued: “From all over Europe came the reports of the unlucky Crying Boy paintings causing blazes. Seville was also regarded as a jinx, and no one commissioned him to paint, or would even look at his paintings. In 1976, a car exploded into a fireball on the outskirts of Barcelona after crashing into a wall. The victim was charred beyond recognition, but part of the victim’s driving licence in the glove compartment was only partly burned. The name on the licence was one 19-year-old Don Bonillo.” [4]

Could this be the same orphan the villagers knew as ‘Diablo’? In Wild Talents, Charles Fort referred to such people as fire genii – “[B]y genius I mean one who can’t avoid knowledge of fire, because he can’t avoid setting things afire.” While the existence of some fire starters, such as the telekinetic medium Nina Kulagina, is well documented, this was not the case with Don Bonillo. The source of Slemen’s story is unknown and the mysterious ‘George Mallory’ proves to be as untraceable as ‘Franchot Seville’ or ‘Giovanni Bragolin’.

The appearance of the Don Bonillo story completes the metamorphosis of the ‘curse of the Crying Boy’ from tabloid obscurity to a fully fledged urban legend accessible to anyone via the world wide web. The lack of any factual basis for the Bonillo legend has done nothing to erode its popularity.

THE CRYING BOY RETURNS

In 2002, I was invited to comment on the story for an episode of the reality TV series, Scream Team. Inspired by the success of Most Haunted, this plucked six young people from hundreds of hopefuls, then sent them out in a large silver bus to travel around the British Isles investigating legends, curses and ‘haunted places’. The premise was to encourage the sceptics and believers in the group to resolve each puzzle by drawing upon the expertise of assorted ‘experts’.

For the ‘Curse of the Crying Boy’, the team was dispatched to Wigan, Lancashire, where the owners of a transport café, Eddie and Marian Brockley, had recently suffered a disastrous fire. The local media had linked this to what they claimed was “one of the last surviving copies” of the print. It had survived the café blaze and remained hanging on the blackened wall, untouched by smoke or fire. Eddie, it emerged, was a typically bluff northern pragmatist. He believed the link was pure coincidence, but his wife was less certain. She had heard of similar fires associated with the Crying Boy and refused to allow the offending print – a Zinkeisen – back into the café.

Although the couple were largely ambivalent about the idea of a curse, they played along with the TV show’s plan. Then along came the sceptical journalist who did his best to place the story in its true context. My contribution, provided over a hearty full English breakfast, summarised the various stories surrounding the print that were circulating on the Internet, including Tom Slemen’s account of the infant fire-starter. There was no factual evidence, I explained, that ‘Don Bonillo’ actually existed; rather the story itself was a classic example of an urban legend created by a newspaper, and spread by the Internet.

Inevitably, the next expert introduced to the team was a trance medium whose task was to ‘tune in’ to the painting about whose history, viewers were assured, she knew absolutely nothing. Nevertheless, within minutes she was able to divine not only a direct link between the painting and an artist who lived in Spain, but also a sensation of burning and

visions of a car crash. She was even able to name the little boy involved in the crash as “Din, Don or Dan”. This was enough to convince the more superstitious members of the team that there really was something in ‘the curse’.

The programme ended with the team agreeing to destroy the Brockleys’ copy of the Crying Boy outside the café in order to disperse any surviving evil influence it might retain. The print was doused with petrol and attempts were made to ignite it. Three attempts were made before the print finally succumbed to the flames, to the great relief of the Scream Team.

The idea of the curse has so much latent energy that my own interest in the legend has led me to become the unwitting agent of its resurrection. Early last year, the Sheffield Star carried a leading article on my research into the story of the cursed painting. Soon afterwards, the paper – and my inbox – was inundated with emails and letters from owners of surviving prints, many of whom wanted me to remove them from their property. One reader, who had just cleared his mother’s house, in which a Crying Boy was discovered, wrote to say: “My wife will not have the picture in the house. I have had to hang it in the garden shed with fire extinguishers at the ready!”

Then, in July, The Star announced that the curse had returned. A fire had gutted a house in Rotherham – the very town where the legend began. The owner, Stan Jones, claimed this was the latest of three separate house fires, each of which had the picture hanging on a wall. He bought his copy for £2 at a market a decade ago and had become fond of it, but now he was naturally having second thoughts. On the third occasion, Stan and partner Michelle Houghton, who was heavily pregnant, narrowly escaped death after falling asleep after leaving their supper cooking on a grill. Stan raised the alarm and firefighters were able to reach his unconscious partner just in time to revive her.

Meanwhile, discussion boards across the world continue to debate the source of the ‘curse’ which animates the portraits. Prints occasionally turn up for sale on eBay, while a Dutch ‘Crying Boy Fan Club’ website briefly appeared, then disappeared, in 2006. A Google search throws up an intriguing posting from Rodrigo Faria from Brazil, which attributes the painting to the Spanish artist Giovanni Bragolin and adds that “feelings of terror and illness are always associated with his paintings.” Faria says the prints were popular in Brazil during the 1980s. “I’ve seen all the 28 and I can assure you all of those paintings are representing DEAD children,” he writes. “[They] are filled with [subliminal] messages.” [5]

Another Brazilian adds that Bragolin appeared on a popular Brazilian TV channel where he admitted making “an evil pact with the Devil” to sell his paintings. His advice was: “PLEASE if you have one of these paintings, throw it away right now.”

Like other enduring modern legends, the curse of the Crying Boy is alive and well… and looking for new victims.

ENMU professor examines unique ‘Roswell Rock’Comments 0 | Recommend 5 July 22, 2008 - 11:30 PMBy Thomas Garcia, PNT Staff Reporter

An Eastern New Mexico University’s professor doesn’t believe a mysterious rock discussed recently on a nationally syndicated radio program that features programming related to UFOs and conspiracy theories is extraterrestial.

ENMU professor of geology James Constantopoulos examined what is known as the Roswell Rock Circle earlier this month at the request of rock owner Robert L. Ridge of Roswell.

Flat and about the size of an egg, the rock was discovered by Ridge in 2004 near Roswell during a deer hunting trip. It is an iron-rich sandstone, according to Constantopoulos.

The face of the rock features raised crescent and circular patterns that are similar to those that were found in 1994 at a crop circle in England.

Some UFOlogists (persons who study and catalog UFOs) think that the stone has magnetic properties and is an extraterrestrial artifact.

Constantopoulos’ findings were reported in the Internet publication Earthfiles.

“The rock itself is not unusual,” Constantopoulos told the PNT on Tuesday. “It is a rock that can be commonly found in that area. The design on the rock is what makes it unique.”

There are no tool markings on the design and it does not appear that a laser was used, Constantopoulos said.

“This could be the work of a skilled craftsman,” Constantopoulos said. “With the right tools and amount of time someone could have made the markings on the rock. But after all that work why would you leave it in the hills?” ENMU professor examines unique ‘Roswell Rock’Comments 0 | Recommend 5 July 22, 2008 - 11:30 PMBy Thomas Garcia, PNT Staff Reporter

An Eastern New Mexico University’s professor doesn’t believe a mysterious rock discussed recently on a nationally syndicated radio program that features programming related to UFOs and conspiracy theories is extraterrestial.

ENMU professor of geology James Constantopoulos examined what is known as the Roswell Rock Circle earlier this month at the request of rock owner Robert L. Ridge of Roswell.

Flat and about the size of an egg, the rock was discovered by Ridge in 2004 near Roswell during a deer hunting trip. It is an iron-rich sandstone, according to Constantopoulos.

The face of the rock features raised crescent and circular patterns that are similar to those that were found in 1994 at a crop circle in England.

Some UFOlogists (persons who study and catalog UFOs) think that the stone has magnetic properties and is an extraterrestrial artifact.

Constantopoulos’ findings were reported in the Internet publication Earthfiles.

“The rock itself is not unusual,” Constantopoulos told the PNT on Tuesday. “It is a rock that can be commonly found in that area. The design on the rock is what makes it unique.”

There are no tool markings on the design and it does not appear that a laser was used, Constantopoulos said.

“This could be the work of a skilled craftsman,” Constantopoulos said. “With the right tools and amount of time someone could have made the markings on the rock. But after all that work why would you leave it in the hills?”

The rock was examined by a Portales geologist in 2005, but all data from those tests were lost in a computer hard drive crash at the university.

The age of the rock could not be determined because ENMU does not house the facilities for that procedure. Further tests to determine the rock’s makeup and origins were not allowed by Ridge, Constantopoulos said.

“I would have to take a sample from the rock and examine it,” Constantopoulos said. “Ridge was against damaging the stone in any way.”Video can be viewed on Coast to Coast AM Web site showing the rock reacting to a magnet and compass.

“The rock would react to a magnet because of the magnetite and other iron minerals making up the rock,” Constantopoulos said.

Constantopoulos said one of the bigger mysteries is why was this type of rock selected?

“There is a lot of alabaster around that area,” Constantopoulos said. “This is a typical river stone.”

The rock was examined by a Portales geologist in 2005, but all data from those tests were lost in a computer hard drive crash at the university.

The age of the rock could not be determined because ENMU does not house the facilities for that procedure. Further tests to determine the rock’s makeup and origins were not allowed by Ridge, Constantopoulos said.

“I would have to take a sample from the rock and examine it,” Constantopoulos said. “Ridge was against damaging the stone in any way.”Video can be viewed on Coast to Coast AM Web site showing the rock reacting to a magnet and compass.

“The rock would react to a magnet because of the magnetite and other iron minerals making up the rock,” Constantopoulos said.

Constantopoulos said one of the bigger mysteries is why was this type of rock selected?

“There is a lot of alabaster around that area,” Constantopoulos said. “This is a typical river stone.”

2012: The end game begins Posted on Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 | 4:55 | Comments: 53

Marie D. Jones: The world is abuzz with talk of the year 2012; however, not everyone is looking forward to the year with the same outlook or expectations. For some, the year hints at apocalyptic end times, a period in which the world will be thrown into utter chaos and violent upheaval. A turbulent and tumultuous epoch in which both natural and man-made disasters will decimate and possibly lead to the extinction of life as we know it. Other, more optimistic people perceive this date as a moment of awakening, a massive global transformation of consciousness…one which is to be anticipated with joy and celebration.

Perhaps, the real outcome lies somewhere between the two extremes. The mythology behind the 2012 enigma focuses on the ancient Mayan Long Count Calendar which was a Mesoamerican calendar system that mysteriously ends on December 21, 2012. Interestingly enough, that date also coincides with the winter solstice. This date further corresponds with a predicted “galactic alignment” which is believed to occur when our solar system passes directly through the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Although there is some valid argument for other “end dates” as prescribed by the intricate and sophisticated Mayan calendar, including the alternate end date of October 28, 2011 (as well as an end date of December 23, 2012, rather than December 21), most experts who have studied the Long Count agree that time is coming to an end. But what kind of an end? In the human mind, the etymology of the word “end” conjures a certain finality – one in which there is no hope. Thousands of years before our current civilization, did this seemingly simple agrariansociety actually predict that life would end altogether, snuffed out in an explosive supernova of disaster upon plague, warfare upon extermination?

Both the Judeo-Christian and Islamic end time scenarios, which are based upon Western fundamentalist Abrahamic thought, do indeed herald a time of literal cleansing. A time when the earth will suffer through the coming of the Four

Horsemen bearing gifts of war, famine, plague and death - with the ultimate judgment day not too far behind. Certainly, there is ample evidence in other religious traditions of an ending of one age, as in the Hindu “yugas” or ages that mark a cyclical pattern of both external and internal creation and destruction. This ongoing cycle or “kalpa” also has an end date when, according to Hindu belief, the final avatar will incarnate as Kali and bring about the destruction of all wicked people. Is that likewise an “end?” Even the oldest creation stories and mythologies tell of a cosmic cycle punctuated by a Big Ending, so to speak, although many native traditions believe that the end, though violent and deadly to be sure, would then be the beginning of a new era of peace, harmony and enlightenment.

The Mayans themselves have suggested that their own end date is really nothing more than the finishing point of a particular age or “underworld,” the one we are living in right now, the Galactic Underworld, and the entry point into the Universal Underworld of both conscious evolution and revolution. There is nothing in Mayan tradition, lore or belief that envisages a scenario in which we will all die and the planet will cease to exist. Rather, the idea is one of amazing and collective rebirth. A period of newfound cosmic awareness, an era in which humanity expands their collective conscious awareness. Then why all the angst and fear when people speak of 2012? Maybe, the answer is within us. Perhaps it is as simple as basic human psychology. Nobody likes change, especially when it is preceded by great stress, trials, tribulations, and challenges, the likes of which we are already seeing in the years leading up to 2012. Even if we were to ignore completely the Mayan Long Count Calendar and its Aztec sister version (which speaks of the very same end time transformation) and even if we did not ascribe to the religious traditions that await total human annihilation at the hands of a final battle between the devil and the Christ (don’t worry, the good guys will be raptured, we are told!), there is still ample evidence that the next few years will be rife with chaos, disorder and destruction. Why? Because what we resist persists and often grows, and if there is indeed a wave of spiritual transformation gaining momentum, then coming resistance will be more than enough to make us wonder if we will, indeed, wake up to a brave new world on the first morning of 2013.

As we have seen over the last several years, global power is shifting to the East, with economic turmoil already gripping much of the West in a headlock of plunging home values, rising energy costs, shaky markets, and a widening gap between the rich and the poor. As we approach (if we have not already) peak oil, the quest for easily extracted fuel will exponentially increase--even as the population skyrockets in urbanized areas as well as in nations such as China and India which will only serve to further demand while supplies continue dwindling to depletion. Access to potable water threatens to plunge the entire globe into new wars, even as corporations scramble to privatize what little natural resources remain. Global climate change is destroying indigenous and island lifestyles, and creating chaos all over the world as more nations are forced to deal with brutal drought, while others battle unprecedented flooding. Warm places are getting warmer, Arctic Ice is melting, and the unfortunate people of Tuvalu are watching as their entire island sinks mercilessly into rising ocean waters.

Malaria, a humid-weather disease, is moving into highlands where it never existed before while other diseases threaten to derail any attempts by our most cutting edge pharmaceuticals to fight them. West Nile Virus, SARS, MRSA and avian flu all seem poised to pounce upon nations of people unprepared for pandemics, let alone regional epidemics. And lest you think our public health and emergency preparedness systems will save us, let me remind you of the horrendous failings apparent during Hurricane Katrina. But don’t despair! The news is not all awful. Science, medicine and technology promise to explode into the stratosphere in the coming years. Computer technology historically follows an established pattern known as “Moore’s Law” which describes an important trend in the history of computer hardware whereby the number of transistors that can be inexpensively placed on an integrated circuits increase exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. Some technologists believe that this increase is steadfastly moving towards a “singularity,” when growth, development and transformation will come together in a climactic head, ushering in a brave new world of artificial intelligence. Before we know it, life itself will seem to be a sci-fi movie!

Quantum computers, bioengineering, human longevity experiments, and nanotechnology stand at the forefront of major advances in the way we live, and even die. With astonishing new genetic research, we may one day see the end of all disease. With the promising new exploration of bionics, we may never need worry about heart or liver failure again, knowing that we can order a new one that combines the best of both computer technology and biology - creating new types of living systems that promise to change not only our quality of life…but our whole culture itself. Naturally, some may fear the rise of artificial intelligence and the coming singularity due to the (perhaps warranted) concern that humans will be somehow made obsolete – or worse, that we may lose control to the very machinery that we created…machinery that can think faster and more efficiently than we do. Others still wait excitedly for the development of technologies which will make life easier than ever. However, even the promise of an easier life comes with a price. Rising rates of heart disease, cancer and obesity are directly linked with the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of most developed nations. Add to that existing rates of disease in undeveloped nations, and emerging diseases entering and re-entering the fray, and humanity may not be wiped out at all by a big, bold natural disaster or nuclear war.

Alarmingly enough, we may get snuffed out by the tiniest of threats, those packing the biggest punch of all – viruses that invade our bodies. Viruses pose a very real, very significant threat to humankind as our bodies are too weak and stressed to fight back, with pharmaceuticals rendered ineffective from years of overuse.

Surprisingly, the greatest challenges that face humanity and the earth in general, over the next few years are all preventable. With that being said, the biggest mystery is why we are not doing more to prevent them now…while we still can…and when it truly counts. Global climate change is creating a need for new ways of co-existing with the earth. Already, water shortages are threatening to derail peace agreements and further escalate already tense relations between nations into the stratosphere of war. Even the decreasing rates of food production, coupled with over inflated prices and a global market that favors the rich, hint at another coming disaster; the spread of famine into regions never having experienced lack of food before.

So what can we do as individuals, communities, and nations? How does one prepare for 2012? If the world is going to end for good, then obviously no preparation is needed. However, if the Mayans and others were right, and the ending is really more of a beginning, can we indeed prepare at all? The green movement, focusing on building sustainability now, is a great place to start. We should be doing anything possible to make the coming changes less disruptive and damaging, whether that means conserving, recycling or raising awareness of the carbon “footprints” we each leave…and how we can lessen those footprints. Local communities are already springing up around the concept of contained, sustainable living, with residents pitching in by growing food, sharing water resources, bartering services and even watching out for each other’s children to create a new sense of connectedness and unity. Should this effort spread, we may be able to greatly diminish the potential for death, disaster and disease that our overpopulated, stressed out and soon-to-be tapped out planet is quickly plummeting towards.

Ultimately, the year 2012 may be more about internal transformation rather than external change. Even with increasing numbers of super storms and earthquakes, an asteroid or two coming too close for comfort, the highest sunspot cycle activity in years, global shifts in political and economic power, and a host of other earthbound changes, we may need to concentrate on the internal work to be done first. Spiritual transformation is on the lips of many awaiting 2012. Perhaps by altering our collective consciousness we can change not only our own lives, but our destiny as a people. Wouldn’t it be great to wake up on the first morning of 2013 to a better world than we ever imagined? The problem is that before we can realize it…we must first have both the insight and the foresight to imagine it.

Source: E-mail press release.

Many gather to ponder end of Maya days

The calendar of the ancient civilization ends Dec. 21, 2012.By Louis Sahagun November 3, 2008 Reporting from San Francisco -- Hundreds of people gathered near the Golden Gate Bridge over the weekend to ponder the enigmatic date of Dec. 21, 2012, the last day of the ancient Maya calendar and the focus of many end-of-the-world predictions.

In these times of economic distress, participants shelled out $300 each to attend the sold-out 2012 Conference, where astrologers, UFO fans, shamans and New Age entrepreneurs of every stripe presented their dreams and dreads in two days of lectures, group meditations, documentaries and, of course, self-promotion.

Normally, New Age platforms attract the interest of only the narrowest group of enthusiasts. But this one has been generating wider audiences because it so forcefully underscores the turmoil of the times, as indicated by the stock market plunge, Iran's nuclear ambitions, the Sept. 11 attacks, global warming and the possibility of a magnetic pole shift and stronger sunspot cycles.

To some, the end of the Maya Long Calendar's roughly 5,000-year cycle portends calamity, or the birth of a new age, or both.

The conference's slogan: "Shift happens."

The gathering of about 300 people from as far away as Holland was launched with the blessings of a Guatemalan shaman and the scary predictions of Jay Weidner, whose firm, Sacred Mysteries, has sponsored four 2012 events in the last six months.

"The greatest crisis in human history is unfolding all around us. It's not the end of this world, but it's the end of this age," he likes to say. "To survive the 21st century, we're going to have to become a sustainable world -- people should want to know how to pound a nail, milk a cow and grow their own food."

Now, a gold rush of "2012ology" is underway. A similar conference in Hollywood this year drew an audience of more than 1,000. At least two gatherings are planned for the Los Angeles area in the spring. "A Complete Idiot's Guide to 2012" was published last month, adding to a burgeoning market of books, CDs and History Channel specials suggesting that the ancient Maya predicted the impending end of the world as we know it.

Director Michael Bay is set to make a movie titled "2012," based on a novel about multiple earths in parallel universes slated for destruction.

Stewart Guthrie, professor emeritus of anthropology at Fordham University, was not surprised by the growing interest in newfangled notions about what those Maya time keepers might have had in mind as far back as AD 200.

"When events leave us feeling powerless and confused, we are more open to new claims about the disorders of the world," he said. "If people persuade enough others to accept their answers to this crazy world, it can become a movement, for better or worse."

For example, the Gulf War and the Oklahoma City bombing boosted the popularity of doomsday predictions of famine, earthquakes and social tumult. Some were cobbled from the spooky riddles and images in the Bible's book of Revelation, which scholars believe was actually written to help early Christians cope with their Roman oppressors.

In 1973, when the appearance of Comet Kohoutek coincided with a decision by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to announce an oil embargo, the big question was whether the chunk of dirty ice hurtling through space would be the most spectacular celestial sight of the century, or wreak social unrest, tidal waves and earthquakes as claimed by some members of the New Age crowd. As it turned out, Kohoutek fizzled and shot past Earth without incident.

Then there was the worldwide turn-of-the-century panic in the late 1990s that had corporations spending millions on computer fixes, and people around the world stocking up on Spam, water, batteries and energy bars.

The scene at the 2012 Conference here had the same giddy sense of urgency. Conference co-organizer Sharron Rose said the Maya timeline foretold "the most profound event in human history. Everything we know, everything we are, is about to undergo a substantial and radical alteration."

Exactly which direction to take, however, was unclear. The group is strikingly splintered, each focused on his or her own New Age theories: Spiritual teacher Jose Arguelles, for instance, contends that the Maya were prescient space aliens. And author Daniel Pinchbeck describes 2012 as a time for "the return of the Quetzalcoatl," the mythical feathered serpent of Mesoamerica.

Maya researcher John Major Jenkins drew enthusiastic applause from the crowd with a lecture in which he said that Maya hieroglyphics are rife with images of trees and animals that represent the center of the Milky Way galaxy and what he called "the Black Hole of Maya Creation mythology."

That kind of talk irritates Boston University's William Saturno, a leading authority on the Maya, who did not attend the conference. Saturno dismissed the 2012 movement as "this

year's Nostradamus."

The ancient Maya civilization flourished in southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, and lasted nearly 2,000 years from before the time of Jesus until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. The culture's achievements included soaring pyramids, a highly accurate calendar and intricately carved stone monuments.

"I had a guy come into my office once to ask me a question about a specific Maya mural with a depiction of a hanging nest in it," he recalled. "He claimed it was the exact form of a Maya Black Hole. I said, 'Nah, I'm thinking it's a bird nest.' "

"These guys are loony and are making a buck in a market that has to be short-lived," he added. "And they will continue to do so right up until Dec. 21, 2012, when the Maya calendar simply switches over like an odometer and everything is fine."

David Stuart, an art historian and Maya glyph expert at the University of Texas at Austin, agreed. He didn't attend the San Francisco event.

"Looking back to the ancient Maya for answers to modern problems," he said, "is not the best use of our time or brain cells."

But astrological consultant Rick Levine, president and chief wizard of StarIQ.com, said such critics missed the point.

"People come to an event like this because they are hungry for information," he said. "You don't need to be a New Ager to know there's a lot of weird things going on in the world."

Sahagun is a Times staff writer.

What did Vela see?

November 5, 2008 by Admin   Filed under Original Articles, UFOs, Unexplained Phenomena

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On September 22, 1979 an aging satellite named Vela 6911 detected two very distinct flashes in the vicinity of the Indian or South Atlantic oceans that supposedly could be only one thing: a nuclear detonation. The Carter administration held an emergency meeting, other satellites were enlisted to see if they saw the detonation, which they did not, and utter pandemonium ensued for a short time as the US government scrambled to see who or what had set off a nuclear weapon that day.

It was a small explosion, estimated at only three kilotons, and while the Soviets, Chinese, French and British are unlikely as the originators, the finger was tentatively pointed at Israel or South Africa for testing a weapon. Problem is, the whole thing made no sense.

The first problem was that no other satellites had detected the detonation, even though at least three were capable of it, if not more. It might have ended there, a very scary and potentially dangerous malfunction caused a false alarm. But it didn’t. Astronomers working at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico detected an atmospheric shockwave that could have been linked to a nuclear explosion. The US government’s hydrophone network detected a very clear echo of a large explosion. But the one piece of foolproof evidence was never found: radiation. Dozens of flights were conducted to try to detect fallout, and none was ever found, though extremely low levels of a certain radioactive element might have been detected in Australia, some time later.

The blast remains a secret to this day, despite South Africa having given up all nuclear weaponry and testing decades ago. If they did it, they still aren’t saying, even though they have no motivation to keep quiet after all this time. Only if it involved Israel would it be worth keeping secret still.

It couldn’t have been a natural phenomena, meteorites do not make double flashes of light characteristic of a nuclear explosion. But given that all parties that may or may not have been involved state it wasn’t theirs, and the fact that radiation fallout was never confirmed, tends to point to something else.

Exploding UFO’s have been brought up as a cause of anomalous atmospheric detonations for some time. Tunguska, most famously, was suspected by some in the UFO community as just such a thing. While no detonation was seen before the Roswell crash, its easily possible that nothing was around capable of detecting it at the time. Could an alien spacecraft have exploded over the Indian Ocean in 1979?

Its not likely we’ll ever know. The facts surrounding the event to this day do not add up, and any potential players in the nuclear arena remain tight-lipped. Most likely, Israel tested a nuclear weapon, but how it managed to not produce detected fallout is a mystery. Could it have been a UFO? Someone in government knows, but they aren’t going to say. Random detonations that look like nuclear weapons, cause international incidents, and

could have been misconstrued by jittery cold war powers are something you tend to keep secret.

Most complex crop circle ever discovered in British fields

The most complex, "mind-boggling" crop circle ever to be seen in Britain has been discovered in a barley field in Wiltshire.

 

By Richard Savill Last Updated: 2:33PM BST 19 Jun 2008

The circle is a coded representation of pi to the 10th significant figure Photo: APEX PICTURES

The formation, measuring 150ft in diameter, is apparently a coded image representing the first 10 digits, 3.141592654, of pi.

Google Earth: Top 10 British crop circles

It is has appeared in a field near Barbury Castle, an iron-age hill fort above Wroughton, Wilts, and has been described by astrophysicists as "mind-boggling".

Michael Reed, an astrophysicist, said: "The tenth digit has even been correctly rounded up. The little dot near the centre is the decimal point.

"The code is based on 10 angular segments with the radial jumps being the indicator of each segment.

"Starting at the centre and counting the number of one-tenth segments in each section contained by the change in radius clearly shows the values of the first 10 digits in the value of pi."

Lucy Pringle, a researcher of crop formations, said: "This is an astounding development - it is a seminal event."

Mathematics codes and geometric patterns have long been an important factor in crop circle formations. One of the best known formations showed the image of a highly complex set of shapes known as The Julia Set, 12 years ago

The meaning of the butterfly

Why pop culture loves the 'butterfly effect,' and gets it totally wrong

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Peter Dizikes June 8, 2008

SOME SCIENTISTS SEE their work make headlines. But MIT meteorologist Edward Lorenz watched his work become a catch phrase. Lorenz, who died in April, created one of the most beguiling and evocative notions ever to leap from the lab into popular culture: the "butterfly effect," the concept that small events can have large, widespread consequences. The name stems from Lorenz's suggestion that a massive storm might have its roots in the faraway flapping of a tiny butterfly's wings.

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Translated into mass culture, the butterfly effect has become a metaphor for the existence of seemingly insignificant moments that alter history and shape destinies. Typically unrecognized at first, they create threads of cause and effect that appear obvious in retrospect, changing the course of a human life or rippling through the global economy.

In the 2004 movie "The Butterfly Effect" - we watched it so you don't have to - Ashton Kutcher travels back in time, altering his troubled childhood in order to influence the present, though with dismal results. In 1990's "Havana," Robert Redford, a math-wise gambler, tells Lena Olin, "A butterfly can flutter its wings over a flower in China and cause a hurricane in the Caribbean. They can even calculate the odds."

Such borrowings of Lorenz's idea might seem authoritative to unsuspecting viewers, but they share one major problem: They get his insight precisely backwards. The larger meaning of the butterfly effect is not that we can readily track such connections, but that we can't. To claim a butterfly's wings can cause a storm, after all, is to raise the question: How can we definitively say what caused any storm, if it could be something as slight as a butterfly? Lorenz's work gives us a fresh way to think about cause and effect, but does not offer easy answers.

Pop culture references to the butterfly effect may be bad physics, but they're a good barometer of how the public thinks about science. They expose the growing chasm between what the public expects from scientific research - that is, a series of ever more precise answers about the world we live in - and the realms of uncertainty into which modern science is taking us.

. . .

The butterfly effect is a deceptively simple insight extracted from a complex modern field. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. One day he changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions, from .506127 to .506. That tiny alteration utterly transformed his long-term forecast, a point Lorenz amplified in his 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?"

In the paper, Lorenz claimed the large effects of tiny atmospheric events pose both a practical problem, by limiting long-term weather forecasts, and a philosophical one, by preventing us from isolating specific causes of later conditions. The "innumerable" interconnections of nature, Lorenz noted, mean a butterfly's flap could cause a tornado - or, for all we know, could prevent one. Similarly, should we make even a tiny alteration to nature, "we shall never know what would have happened if we had not disturbed it," since subsequent changes are too complex and entangled to restore a previous state.

So a principal lesson of the butterfly effect is the opposite of Redford's line: It is extremely hard to calculate such things with certainty. There are many butterflies out there. A tornado in Texas could be caused by a butterfly in Brazil, Bali, or Budapest. Realistically, we can't know. "It's impossible for humans to measure everything infinitely accurately," says Robert Devaney, a mathematics professor at Boston University. "And if you're off at all, the behavior of the solution could be completely off." When small imprecisions matter greatly, the world is radically unpredictable.

Moreover, Lorenz also discovered stricter limits on our knowledge, proving that even models of physical systems with a few precisely known variables, like a heated gas swirling in a box, can produce endlessly unpredictable and nonrepeating effects. This is a founding idea of chaos theory, whose advocates sometimes say Lorenz helped dispel the Newtonian idea of a wholly predictable universe.

"Lorenz went beyond the butterfly," says Kerry Emanuel, a professor in the department of earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences at MIT. "To say that certain systems are not predictable, no matter how precise you make the initial conditions, is a profound statement." Instead of a vision of science in which any prediction is possible, as long as we have enough information, Lorenz's work suggested that our ability to analyze and predict the workings of the world is inherently limited.

But in the popular imagination, that one picturesque little butterfly became a metaphor for the surprising way that long chains of events unfold. A SmartMoney.com market analysis from 2007 cites Lorenz, then suggests that hypothetical problems at Sony could affect a string of shippers, retailers, and investors: "One butterfly, in this case a Japanese butterfly, sets off the entire chain." Even applied to society, rather than nature, such claims merit skepticism.

That we imagine the butterfly effect would explain things in everyday life, however, reveals more than an overeager impulse to validate ideas through science. It speaks to our larger expectation that the world should be comprehensible - that everything happens for a reason, and that we can pinpoint all those reasons, however small they may be. But nature itself defies this expectation. It is probability, not certain cause and effect, that now dictates how scientists understand many systems, from subatomic particles to storms. "People grasp that small things can make a big difference," Emanuel says. "But they make errors about the physical world. People want to attach a specific cause to events, and can't accept the randomness of the world."

Thus global warming may make big storms more likely - "loading the die," Emanuel says - but we cannot say it definitively caused Hurricane Katrina. Science helps us understand the universe, but as Lorenz showed, it sometimes does so by revealing the limits of our understanding.

Peter Dizikes is a science journalist living in Arlington.

Lindbergh's deranged quest for immortality By Brendan O'Neill

Flying had a strange effect on the great aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, leading him to team up with a French surgeon and embark on a quest for ever-lasting life... for a chosen few.

What do you know about Charles Lindbergh?

You probably know he was an American aviator. He achieved overnight world stardom when he became the first person to fly non-stop across the Atlantic, solo, in 1927.

You might also know that Lindbergh was strongly opposed to American involvement in World War II - until Pearl Harbor, after which he volunteered to fly combat missions in the Pacific.

And you might know that in later life he became a prolific author, an explorer and an environmentalist.

But did you know that he was also a machine-obsessed inventor, who entered into a macabre alliance with a French-born surgeon to try to achieve immortality?

Forget aviation hero. On the side, Lindbergh was a Dr Frankenstein figure, who used his mechanical genius to explore the possibility of conquering death - but only for the select few who were considered "worthy" of living forever.

"Beating death was something he thought about his entire life", says David M Friedman, American author of the new book The Immortalists. "Even as a small child, he couldn't accept that people had to die. He would ask: 'Why do you have to die to get to heaven?'"

Machine-enabled people

Friedman's The Immortalists relates the untold story of Lindbergh's frequently bizarre efforts to cheat death by creating machines that might sustain human life.

In the 1930s, after his historic flight over the Atlantic, Lindbergh hooked up with Alexis Carrel, a

Charles Lindbergh and Alexis Carrel, with their perfusion pump

Lindberg and his monoplane which flew from New York to Paris

brilliant surgeon born in France but who worked in a laboratory at the Rockefeller Institute in Manhattan. Carrel - who was a mystic as well as a scientist - had already won a Nobel Prize for his pioneering work on the transplantation of blood vessels. But his real dream was a future in which the human body would become, in Friedman's words, "a machine with constantly reparable or replaceable parts".

This is where Lindbergh entered the frame. Carrel hoped that his own scientific nous combined with Lindbergh's machine-making proficiency (Lindbergh had, after all, already helped design a plane that flew non-stop to Paris) would make his fantasy about immortal machine-enabled human beings a reality.

"Both of their needs were met in this rather strange relationship", says Friedman. "Carrel benefited from Lindbergh's mechanical genius and inventiveness, and for Lindbergh - well, Carrel became the most important person in his life, effectively steering the way he viewed the world and the people who lived in it."

At the Rockefeller lab, Lindbergh and Carrel - almost like a real-life Jekyll and Hyde double act - made some extraordinary breakthroughs.

Lindbergh created something that Carrel's team had singularly failed to: a perfusion pump that could keep a human organ alive outside of the body. It was called the "Model T" pump. In later years, Lindbergh's pump was further developed by others, eventually leading to the construction of the first heart-lung machine.

Eugenics

"Some people, even academics and science students, are still shocked when they hear about the contribution that the aviator Lindbergh made to developing life-saving cardiac machinery," says Friedman.

But there was a serious downside to what Friedman refers to as Lindbergh and Carrel's "daring quest" to live forever.

Carrel was a eugenicist with fascistic leanings. He believed the world was split into superior and inferior beings, and hoped that science would allow the superior - which included himself and Lindbergh, of course - to dominate and eventually weed out the inferiors.

He thought the planet was "encumbered" with people who "should be dead", including "the weak, the diseased, and the fools". Something like Lindbergh's pump was not intended to help the many, but the few.

Lindbergh himself sympathised with the Nazis.

As a pilot, he felt he had escaped the chains of mortality - he had had a god-like experience

David M Friedman

"I wouldn't say Lindbergh was the philosophical partner of Himmler or Hitler," says Friedman. "But yes, he certainly admired the order, science and technology of Nazi Germany - and the idea of creating an ethnically pure race."

Friedman says Lindbergh considered himself a "superior being". "Let's not forget that, as a pilot, he felt he had escaped the chains of mortality. He had had a god-like experience. He flew amongst the clouds, often in a cockpit that was open to the elements. Flying was such a rare experience back then. In taking to the skies, he did something humans have dreamt of for centuries. So it is perhaps not surprising that he ended up trying to play god in a laboratory."

Ethical ever-lasting life

Even contemporary transhumanists - the name given to those who want to extend human longevity and possibly conquer death - are surprised to hear about Lindbergh's contribution to machine-assisted life.

"I never knew that", says Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University and President of the World Transhumanism Association.

For Bostrom and his colleagues, aware that some people think transhumanism is the same thing as eugenics, the key today is the "ethical use of technology to extend human capabilities".

"There are many ways we have used science and technology effectively to 'cheat death'", says Bostrom, "whether it's through antibiotics, organ transplantation, or even lightning rods to deflect electrical currents from the sky. You know, when they were first invented some people said it was 'playing god' to try to deal with lightning in this way."

Bostrom believes that reversing the ageing process, or at least using stem cell therapy to slow down the negative effects of ageing, should be "the next frontier" in medical science.

"But it should be for the benefit of everyone and it should be done ethically - somewhat different to what Lindbergh got up to", he argues.

Stuart Derbyshire, a leading expert in pain based at the University of Birmingham, says it is certainly "desirable to live a long and healthy life" - but from Lindbergh's experiments to today's ethical question for longevity, he says there is also a "troubling" side to the "quest to live forever".

Alexis Carrel's quest for ever-lasting life goes on, but is now more 'ethical'

"Any life, long or short, is only worthwhile if it is lived towards some purpose. The zealous pursuit of health and longevity can too easily become a substitute for real purpose.

"Health itself becomes a quasi-religious crusade against the old sins of the flesh - gluttony, sloth, lust - with all the attendant odious associations of physical impairment or disease with moral turpitude or a bad life."

His implication is clear - while Lindbergh and Carrel's quest had all the hallmarks of Nazi-promoted eugenics, it's perhaps impossible to separate the pursuit of ever-lasting life with notions of supremacy.

The Immortalists by David M Friedman is published in the UK by JR Books on 16 June.

Below is a selection of your comments.

There is a trend towards human immortality that is almost inevitable. The research being done in cybernetics, stem cell regeneration, genetics etc... all lend themselves to fulfilling the quest for longer lives. Already humans have extended their biological capabilities with technology, and the next move will be towards embedding this technology in ourselves (nano-robots, wireless sensor networks, brain interfaces for our technology). After that it is a sure march towards immortality. Humans are still evolving, and the next stage will be through our technology rather than through our biology.Dennis, Galway, Ireland

This article focuses on "ethical". Ethical can be achieved only in limited groups. What is ethical in spending a million dollars to save a person's life in the Western World, sometimes a life left without quality, when $30/month could save from salvation a fully productive person in a poor country. Even if we don't want to admit it, there is no perfect ethical way.Andrew Valachi, Otawa, Canada

"Any life, long or short, is only worthwhile if it is lived towards some purpose. The zealous pursuit of health and longevity can too easily become a substitute for real purpose"... says a critic of Transhumanism. That itself is a pretty elitist view of the 'deserving'. Most people don't have some grand 'purpose' - they just want to get on with living and muddling through.dirk bruere, bedford

Although Lindbergh may have influenced the design of his airplane, particularly size and capacities of fuel storage, I believe it was actually built by the Ryan Aircraft Co.Bill Kilgore, Tombstone, USA

Odd that the author writes an article about Lindbergh and death without once mentioning what was called the "Crime of the Century." Lindbergh's first son was abducted and killed at age 20 months.Greta Warren, Battle Creek, Michigan

Yet another vulgar attempt to slander a great American thinker. Certain types have never forgiven him for opposing Roosevelt's campaign to get the US involved in WWII, which turned out to be a disaster, as Communist armies marched half-way across Europe and impose sixty years of backwardness and oppression. denis,

Even if contemporary transhumanists "say" they are looking to help all of humankind. The first beneficiaries of the technology will, de facto, be the wealthy. AIDS is now a deadly disease to the world's poor mostly.George Newman, West Hartford, CT

Was Lincoln Already Dying When He Got Shot?

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 April 2008, 00:00 CDT

By Lisa M. Krieger

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Did John Wilkes Booth shoot a dying man?

That's the controversial conclusion reached by physician and amateur historian Dr. John Sotos, who says that President Abraham Lincoln was suffering from a lethal genetic cancer syndrome when he was shot at Ford's Theatre 143 years ago.

"Lincoln was a rare man with a rare disease," said Sotos. He has self-published a 300-page book and 400-page database to support his conclusion, based on an exhaustive analysis of Lincoln photographs and historical eyewitness descriptions of the president's health. "This solves a puzzle."

While most Americans only reflect on dead presidents during long weekends in February, Sotos and other physician historians pore over ancient accounts of long-gone symptoms, studying aches and pains as if the patient had stepped out of the grave into the clinic.

These hobbyists have crafted a collection of retrospective diagnoses: George Washington might have suffered dementia during his last years in office; James Madison suffered seizures; Calvin Coolidge grew depressed after the death of his son; after a lifetime of heavy drinking, Franklin Pierce died of cirrhosis of the liver.

Lincoln's health has fascinated medical sleuths. In 1962, it was suggested that his great height and long limbs were linked to a genetic disorder called Marfan syndrome. Others have proposed alternate ailments - Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, perhaps, or Stickler syndrome. Some say he suffered from depression or exhaustion.

The late president's health had long puzzled Sotos.

Last year, while assembling a medical database about the 16th president, Sotos read an unrelated article about thyroid cancer, the deadly and inevitable outcome of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2B, or MEN 2B.

Many of the symptoms matched Lincoln's, and at 3:15 a.m., Sotos made a link. The condition, which causes aggressive thyroid cancer, explains Lincoln's lanky build, chronic constipation, hooded eyes, asymmetric jaw and the lumps on his lips, he said. His health was weakening in the months prior to the assassination, Sotos asserts.

If true, Lincoln's death could have been messy and lingering, Sotos speculates, not sudden and shocking. For a nation in post-war turmoil, "it would have been a much different ending."

The medical community is divided on the theory.

"Sotos has presented a very compelling case," said Dr. Charis Eng, director of the Genomic Medicine Institute of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. "It is fascinating, but the jury is still out."

More skeptical is Dr. Jeffrey F. Moley, an expert on the disease at Washington University in St. Louis. "I strongly doubt that Lincoln had MEN 2B. I have seen a hundred patients with MEN 2B and I see none of the characteristic features. It's very, very unlikely."

This isn't the first president Sotos has diagnosed, living or dead.

He's compiled meticulous medical histories on all 43 U.S. presidents - as well as Vice President Dick Cheney ("a vasculopath with an almost 30-year history of coronary atherosclerosis.") He diagnosed severe sleep apnea in William Taft and graphed the president's weight gains and losses.

Other projects include a "Periodic Table of the Senators," where legislators are arranged horizontally from the liberal left to the conservative right, in shades of blue and red. He's compiled biographies of every NASA astronaut and designed an online calculator that weighs the risk of mad cow disease vs. heart attack.

A cardiologist, colonel and chief flight surgeon in the California Air National Guard, Sotos also is a medical consultant to the TV show "House, M.D." and has founded the company Apneos, which builds devices to treat sleep apnea.

"I enjoy peeling back the boundaries of my ignorance," he said. His interests are so vast that Sotos earned his math degree from Dartmouth and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins before coming to Palo Alto to study artificial intelligence at Stanford.

Unmarried, the 50-year-old surrounds himself with rich friendships. An insatiable reader, Sotos walks the Stanford "Dish" trail two hours a day - nose in a book.

"It's paved. Except for the time I stepped on a snake, it's completely safe."

Longtime friend and former Johns Hopkins colleague Dr. Hugh Rienhoff calls him "a polymath - a fascinating character who works completely outside the system, adapting to whatever the problem is and moving with ease, rather than being straitjacketed.

"When he focuses, he becomes consumed - which lets him get to the level of granularity that he does," he said. "Once he puts his mind on something, he gets down to bedrock."

Only a DNA sample will prove if Lincoln might have soon died a natural death had Booth lost his nerve. That sample won't come from Lincoln; he's buried in concrete. It won't come from his living descendants; there are none. Only a precious sample of blood, from a saved swath of soiled fabric, would be definitive.

Until then, history offers the best clues.

"Physicians have an obligation to investigate everything that may shed light on their patient's health," said Sotos. "I have simply approached Lincoln as if he were my patient."

Information on Sotos' book can be found at www.physical-lincoln.com

Source: Charleston Gazette, The

March 28th, 2008

The Mysterious Case of Two Spheres Falling to Earth in Australia and Brazil

Written by Ian O'Neill

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On the March 24th, a story hit the web from Brazil asking for help identifying a mysterious-looking sphere found in farmland. The black, shiny object appeared to be wrapped in fibrous material and it was hot to the touch. Immediately thoughts of extra-terrestrial origin came to mind…

Today, several news sources covered the discovery of a mysterious spherical object found in the Australian outback last year. The farmer who made the discovery has only just started to make enquiries into what the object actually is.

So are the two objects connected in some way? Are they indeed from outer space?

The answer is "yes", and "yes". But don't go getting too excited, they're not bits from a broken alien spacecraft.

Before their origins are explained, a bit of background: The first story to be released was from Brazil on Monday. Just a small story on Daniel Drehmer's blog, asking "a space geek from Digg" (Digg.com being the social bookmarking site) for help to identify this strange object found by Sebastião Marques da Costa who described the orb as being hot to the touch. Either it has been heated by the Sun, or it had just crashed to Earth. On seeing the object, it does make for good science fiction material. It's a very strange looking thing, one meter in diameter, contrasting with the green countryside.

I was so intrigued by the story, I kept an eye on the blog. The following day, the Second Wave reported that an answer had been found. Obviously the geeks on Digg had been paying attention and identified the object as a Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessel (or COPV). Put very basically, it's a high pressure container for inert gases. The space shuttle carries COPVs and it seems likely that these containers will be used for a variety of space missions. They are built with a carbon fibre or Kevlar overcoat to provide reinforcement against the vast pressure gradient between the inside and outside of the container.

If the COPVs are so reinforced, it seems reasonable that they may survive re-entry through the Earth's atmosphere.

So what about our Australian farmer? Looking at the picture, the strange object in the Australian outback has some striking similarities to the Brazilian orb (only a lot more damaged).

Today many news sites picked up on the Australian find (well, last year's find), and call me suspicious, but the timing couldn't be better. The Australian farmer, James Stirton, who found the object made the surprising statement to the Reuters news agency:

"I know a lot of about sheep and cattle but I don't know much about satellites. But I would say it is a fuel cell off some stage of a rocket."

That's one very well informed guess. Perhaps he's a Digg reader…?

Either way, it would be interesting to find out to what space mission these COPVs belonged to, as it appears they are highly efficient at not only storing fuels being flown into space, they also crash to Earth pretty much intact.

Sources: Reuters, The Second Wave

Mirrors Reveal Codes in Da Vinci Art, Book SaysRossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

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Jan. 8, 2008 -- Another Da Vinci code is emerging from Leonardo's masterpieces, according to a forthcoming book by group of Da Vinci theorists who believe that biblical images are hidden within the master's artworks.

Worthy of a Dan Brown novel, the claim identifies Leonardo's mirror writing as the key to unlocking the code.

Click here to view images of mirrored works.

The Renaissance genius, who lived between 1452 and 1519, filled thousands of manuscript pages with a unique handwriting that flowed from right to left and reversed all the letters.

Scholars have believed that the artist developed this impossible writing simply because a left-handed Leonardo would have evolved a style of handwriting efficient for him.

But, according to Hugo Conti, a self-taught Argentinian historian who leads a mysterious group called "The Mirror of The Sacred Scriptures and Paintings," the writings conceal much more -- a key to secret images.

"It is easy to find invisible images in Leonardo's paintings. Many of his characters seem to be staring into space. In reality, they are indicating where one must place the mirror to visualize the images," Conti told Discovery News.

When applied to Da Vinci's painting "Saint Anne, the Virgin and Child," on display at London's National Gallery, a mirror reveals a figure which some cynical observers say looks like the Star Wars character Darth Vader.

According to Conti, the image resembles the ancient Old Testament god Jahveh, who represents the human mind's struggles against the vices of the body.

A similar face appears on Mona Lisa's right shoulder, as a mirror is placed right on a spot pointed at by her finger.

"The Last Supper," in which other probes have so far revealed a hidden Mary Magdalene, a woman holding a child, and a musical script, reveals a key image when a mirror is applied. According to Conti, one can see the Holy Grail itself overturned on the table when viewed with a mirror.

"The glance of the apostle James is not directed to Judas, but to where the Holy Grail, only viewable through a mirror, is overturned on the table, just between Jesus' hands," Conti said.

Mirrors Reveal Codes in Da Vinci Art, Book SaysRossella Lorenzi, Discovery News

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Conti says another biblical image is hidden in Leonardo's painting of John the Baptist, on display at the Louvre Museum.

Again, John the Baptist's finger points to where one must place the mirror.

The result, at first glance, is a woman being bonked by a tree. Conti believes it represents the Tree of Life in Adam and Eve's Garden of Eden.

"All these hidden biblical images are related to a secret message left by the artist. They represent the allegories of the Genesis and New Testament and open the doors to a new way of reading these artworks," Conti said.

According to Conti, Leonardo da Vinci and other Renaissance artists had knowledge of the allegories mentioned in many biblical references and in the treaties of Philo of Alexandria, a 1st century philosopher and theologian.

"All the images are related to explanations given by Philo, who reveals that the Bible is a symbolic representation of the history of the human intelligence," Conti said. "Adam is the intelligence that resides in the mind of every human, while Eve is the corporal sensibility. The hidden images in the paintings tell this story and can only be seen with a mirror by those with sharp vision."

He claims that clear references to the language of mirrors also exist in the book "Lives of the Artists" by Giorgio Vasari, the 16th century painter and art historian.

Nevertheless, the theory has raised skepticism in Italy.

While the Vatican commented that the study required "solid proof" and needed to be supported by art critics, the daily Il Giornale dismissed the claim as "pareidolia," a psychological phenomenon.

"Our brain tries to give a coherent meaning when faced with ambiguous figures, such as when we look at the clouds in the sky," Joseph Thornborn wrote in Il Giornale. "If we apply the mirror technique to a picture of Marilyn Monroe, we obtain a disquieting face with a chalice. Right, there is the Holy Grail on Marilyn's forehead."

id Bell Really Invent The Phone?

December 28, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson

A new book indicates that Alexander Graham Bell stole part of his rival's invention.

It’s one of the facts everyone learns in school – the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. But author Seth Shulman is set to debunk history in his new book, The Telephone Gambit: Chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s Secret. He claims that Bell plagiarized the phone design of his rival Elisha Gray. That’s a big claim, but on its website, Shulman’s publisher, W W Norton, says that “"Bell furtively — and illegally — copied part of Elisha Gray's invention in the race to secure what would become the most valuable US patent ever issued. As Bell's device led to the world's largest monopoly, he hid his invention's illicit beginnings." That monopoly, of course, was AT&T. Shulman not only looked at Bell’s letters, but also his journals, and has concluded that he colluded with a patent examiner to look at Gray’s patent documents, and thanks to a feisty legal team was able to claim credit for filing his patent first.          The book is published next month.

Eighth wonder of the world? The stunning temples secretly carved out below ground by 'paranormal' eccentricby HAZEL COURTENEYLast updated at 09:58 22 November 2007

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Nestling in the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy, 30 miles from the ancient city of Turin, lies the valley of Valchiusella. Peppered with medieval villages, the hillside scenery is certainly picturesque.

But it is deep underground, buried into the ancient rock, that the region's greatest wonders are concealed.

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Hall of the Earth: An amazing room built on the 'supernatural' visions of its creator

Here, 100ft down and hidden from public view, lies an astonishing secret - one that has drawn comparisons with the fabled city of Atlantis and has been dubbed 'the Eighth Wonder of the World' by the Italian government.

For weaving their way underneath the hillside are nine ornate temples, on five levels, whose scale and opulence take the breath away.

Constructed like a three-dimensional book, narrating the history of humanity, they are linked by hundreds of metres of richly decorated tunnels and occupy almost 300,000 cubic feet - Big Ben is 15,000 cubic feet.

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Light fantastic: The giant glass dome of the Hall of Mirrors

Play time: Children look happy in the amazing surroundings

Few have been granted permission to see these marvels.

Indeed, the Italian government was not even aware of their existence until a few years ago.

But the 'Temples of Damanhur' are not the great legacy of some long-lost civilisation, they are the work of a 57-year-old former insurance broker from northern Italy who, inspired by a childhood vision, began digging into the rock.

It all began in the early Sixties when Oberto Airaudi was aged ten. From an early age, he claims to have experienced visions of what he believed to be a past life, in which there were amazing temples.

Around these he dreamed there lived a highly evolved community who enjoyed an idyllic existence in which all the people worked for the common good.

More bizarrely still, Oberto appeared to have had a supernatural ability: the gift of "remote viewing" - the ability to travel in his mind's eye to describe in detail the contents of any building.

"My goal was to recreate the temples from my visions," he says.

Oberto - who prefers to use the name 'Falco' - began by digging a trial hole under his parent's home to more fully understand the principals of excavation.

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Breathtaking: The miles of tunnels enable air to circulate

House of secrets: Below this house is the Damanhurian temple which is one of the largest temple complexes in the world

But it was only as he began a successful career as an insurance broker that he began to search for his perfect site.

In 1977, he selected a remote hillside where he felt the hard rock would sustain the structures he had in mind.

A house was built on the hillside and Falco moved in with several friends who shared his vision. Using hammers and picks, they began their dig to create the temples of Damanhur - named after the ancient subterranean Egyptian temple meaning City of Light - in August 1978.

As no planning permission had been granted, they decided to share their scheme only with like-minded people.

Volunteers, who flocked from around the world, worked in four-hour shifts for the next 16 years with no formal plans other than Falco's sketches and visions, funding their scheme by setting up small businesses to serve the local community.

By 1991, several of the nine chambers were almost complete with stunning murals, mosaics, statues, secret doors and stained glass windows. But time was running out on the secret.

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Hall of Spheres: Creator Oberto Airaudi based his creation on wonderful visions

Bright window: The window decorations have a church-stained window theme

The first time the police came it was over alleged tax evasion and still the temples lay undiscovered. But a year later the police swooped on the community demanding: "Show us these temples or we will dynamite the entire hillside."

Falco and his colleagues duly complied and opened the secret door to reveal what lay beneath.

Three policemen and the public prosecutor hesitantly entered, but as they stooped down to enter the first temple - named the Hall of the Earth - their jaws dropped.

Inside was a circular chamber measuring 8m in diameter.

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Hall of mirrors: The hall has a classical Greek feel

Egyptian wall paintings: Damanhurian art is greatly influenced by both Egyptian and Celtic sytles

A central sculpted column, depicting a three dimensional man and woman, supported a ceiling of intricately painted glass.

The astonished group walked on to find sculpted columns covered with gold leaf, more than 8m high.

Stunned by what they had found, the authorities decided to seize the temples on behalf of the government.

"By the time they had seen all of the chambers, we were told to continue with the artwork, but to cease further building, as we had not been granted planning permission," says Esperide Ananas, who has written a new book called Damanhur, Temples Of Humankind.

Retrospective permission was eventually granted and today the 'Damanhurians' even have their own university, schools, organic supermarkets, vineyards, farms, bakeries and award-winning eco homes.

They do not worship a spiritual leader, though their temples have become the focus for group meditation.

'They are to remind people that we are all capable of much more than we realise and that hidden treasures can be found within every one of us once you know how to access them,' says Falco.