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Mongolia and the Altai Mountains: Origins of Genetic Blending Between Europeans and Asians

Posted: November 16, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News, Science
Tags: Archeology, genetics

A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONEindicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.

The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west and of Mongolia and China to the east. Historically, the Central Asian steppes have been a corridor for Asian and European populations, resulting in the region’s large diversity in population today. In ancient times however the Altai Mountains, located in the middle of the steppes, represented an important barrier for the coexistence and mixture of the populations living on each side. And so they lived isolated during millennia: Europeans on the western side and Asians on the eastern side.

The research conducted by researchers from the UAB, the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) sheds new light on when and how this Eurasian genetic blending took place.

At the UAB palaeogenetic laboratory researchers analysed mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother, it allows us to trace our ancestors) extracted from the bones and teeth of 19 skeletons from the Bronze Age (7th to 10th century BCE) and from the Iron Age (2nd to 7th century BCE) from the Mongolian Altai Mountains. The remains were extracted from the tombs discovered seven years ago, in which the skeletons of Scythian warriors were discovered and which represented the first scientific evidence of this culture in East Asia.

The results obtained demonstrate that the population from the Iron Age, corresponding to the time when the Scythian culture resided in the Altai Mountains, had a perfect blend (50%) of European and Asian mitochondrial DNA lineages or sequences. The discovery is relevant, taking into account that previous populations showed no signs of lineage mixture: the DNA analysed in the tombs located in Russia and Kazakhstan belong to European lineages, whereas DNA from the eastern part, in Mongolia, contain Asian lineages.

“The results provide exceptionally valuable information about how and when the population diversity found today in Central Asian steppes appeared. They point to the possibility that this occurred in Altai over 2,000 years ago between the local population on both sides of the mountain range, coinciding with the expansion of the Scythian culture, which came from the west,” explains Assumpció Malgosa, professor of Biological Anthropology at UAB and coordinator of the research.

Studies conducted until now on ancient DNA samples from the Altai region already indicated that the Scythians were the first large population to be a mixture between Europeans and Asians. However, the only populations to be studied were those on the western part of the Eurasian steppes, suggesting that this mixture was due to population migrations from Europe to the east.

The current research is the first to offer scientific evidence of this population mixture on the eastern side of the Altai and indicates that the contact between European and Asian lineages occurred before the Iron Age when populations were present on both sides of the mountain. The study suggests that the Asian population adopted the Scythian culture, technologically and socially more advanced, and this made them improve demographically by favouring their expansion and contact with Europeans.

The idea poses a new hypothesis on the origin of today’s population diversity in Central Asia and allows for a better understanding of the demographic processes which took place.

Frozen Scythian Warrior Tombs

From 2005 to 2007, UAB researchers worked jointly with French and Mongolian researchers in a European project to excavate Scythian tombs in Mongolia’s Altai Mountains. In the three excavation campaigns carried out over twenty tombs were excavated. Many of them were frozen and contained mummified human remains of warriors buried with their possessions and horses. This was the first time Scythian warrior tombs had been discovered in Mongolia, since all other tombs previously found had been located on the western side of Altai.

The Scythians were an Indo-European people dedicated to nomadic pasturing and horse breeding. They crossed the Eurasian steppes from the Caspian Sea until reaching the Altai Mountains during the 2nd and 7th century BCE. The Scythians are known most of all thanks to ancient texts written by the Greek historian Herodotus.

Science Daily, November 12, 2012

Trusting your instincts really does work, say scientists. You’ll be right 90% of the time

Posted: November 14, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News, Science
Tags: science

For centuries scientists have studied how both instinct and intellect figure into the decision-making process.

A new study has shown that forced to choose between two options based on instinct alone, participants made the right call up to 90 percent of the time.

Professor Marius Usher of Tel Aviv University’s School of Psychological Sciences and his fellow researchers say their findings show that intuition was a surprisingly powerful and accurate tool.

The team say that following your gut and doing what you want is usually the best option

Even at the intuitive level, an important part of the decision-making process is the integration of value – that is, taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each option to come up with an overall picture, explained Prof Usher.

He said: ‘The study demonstrates that humans have a remarkable ability to integrate value when they do so intuitively, pointing to the possibility that the brain has a system that specialises in averaging value.

‘This could be the operational system on which common decision-making processes are built.

‘In order to get to the core of this system, Prof Usher designed an experiment to put participants through a controlled decision-making process.

On a computer screen, participants were shown sequences of pairs of numbers in quick succession. All numbers that appeared on the right of the screen and all on the left were considered a group; each group represented returns on the stock market.

Participants were asked to choose which of the two groups of numbers had the highest average.

Because the numbers changed so quickly – two to four pairs every second – the participants were unable to memorise the numbers or do proper mathematical calculations.

To determine the highest average of either group, they had to rely on intuitive arithmetic.
Their accuracy increased when more date was presented.

When shown six pairs of numbers the participants chose accurately 65 percent of the time.

But when they were shown 24 pairs, the accuracy rate grew to about 90 percent.

‘Intuitively, the human brain has the capacity to take in many pieces of information and decide on an overall value,’ said Prof Usher.

‘Gut reactions can be trusted to make a quality decision.’

The results of their study were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By Mark Prigg

Mail Online

Are We Getting More Stupid? Researchers Claim Our Intelligence Is Diminshing As We No Longer Need It To Survive

Posted: November 14, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News, Science

Our intelligence and behaviour requires optimal functioning of a large number of genes, which requires enormous evolutionary pressures to maintain.

Now, in a provocative theory, a team from Stanford University claim we are losing our intellectual and emotional capabilities because the intricate web of genes which endows us with our brain power is particularly vulnerable to mutations – and these mutations are not being selected against our modern society because we no longer need intelligence to survive.

But we shouldn’t lose any sleep over our diminishing brain power – as by the time it becomes a real problem technology will have found a solution making natural selection obsolete.

Researchers say be are becoming less intelligent because we no longer need intelligence to survive

‘The development of our intellectual abilities and the optimisation of thousands of intelligence genes probably occurred in relatively non-verbal, dispersed groups of peoples before our ancestors emerged from Africa,’ says Dr Gerald Crabtree, lead author of the paper published today in Cell Press journal Trends in Genetics.

In this environment, intelligence was critical for survival, and there was likely to be immense selective pressure acting on the genes required for intellectual development, leading to a peak in human intelligence.

But it was downhill from there on in as, from that point, it’s likely that we began to slowly lose ground, the researchers claim.

With the development of agriculture, came urbanisation, which may have weakened the power of selection to weed out mutations leading to intellectual disabilities.

The team believe we have sustained mutations harmful to our intelligence

Based on calculations of the frequency with which deleterious mutations appear in the human genome and the assumption that 2,000 to 5,000 genes are required for intellectual ability, Dr Crabtree estimates that within 3,000 years, about 120 generations, we have all sustained two or more mutations harmful to our intellectual or emotional stability.

Also, recent findings from neuroscience suggest that genes involved in brain function are uniquely susceptible to mutations.

Dr Crabtree argues that the combination of less selective pressure and the large number of easily affected genes is eroding our intellectual and emotional capabilities.

But the loss is quite slow, and judging by society’s rapid pace of discovery and advancement, future technologies are bound to reveal solutions to the problem, Dr Crabtree believes.

He said: ‘I think we will know each of the millions of human mutations that can compromise our intellectual function and how each of these mutations interact with each other and other processes as well as environmental influences.

‘At that time, we may be able to magically correct any mutation that has occurred in all cells of any organism at any developmental stage.

‘Thus, the brutish process of natural selection will be unnecessary.’

By Mark Prigg

Mail Online

The Bizarre Case of the Kera UFO Encounters

Posted: November 11, 2012 by phaedrap1 in Occult
Tags: Alien, ufos

In a case that might have served as one of the inspirations for the Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams blockbuster “Super 8,” a group of Japanese kids had repeated run-ins with a small, silver UFO, which they managed to not only photograph, but actually capture for a brief time during the summer of 1972.

There is inexplicably little information to be found — in the western world anyway — regarding the strange series of events that began on August 25th, 1972, in the Kera area of Kōchi City, which is the capital of Kōchi Prefecture on the Shikoku island of Japan. On the afternoon in question a 13 year-old student named Michio Seo was on his way home from middle-school when he allegedly caught site of an unbelievable metallic object hovering over a rice field.

The awestruck Seo watched the odd apparatus zip back and forth above the waterlogged paddy. The airborne object resembled a dull, silver hat with a flat bottom and a narrow lip. The curved dome atop the lip was relatively steep and level at the apex. Seo would later compare the objects movements to that of a bat making hairpin turns in pursuit of its insect prey.

Seo’s curiosity swiftly usurped his fear and he began to approach the miniature flying saucer, but before he could get too close the object allegedly shot a blinding beam toward the teen. Seo, not wishing to further provoke the UFO — or its possible occupants — quickly fled the scene.

As soon as young Seo got back to Kera he hurriedly rounded up four of his best friends — Hiroshi Mori, Yasuo Fujimoto, Katsuoka Kojima and a buddy known only as Yuji — and told them about his incredible encounter. His pals, skeptical, though intrigued, wasted no time in forming a makeshift posse to go out and find this miniature flying dome.

At approximately 7:00 pm. Seo, Mori, Fujimoto, Kojima and Yuji arrived at the rice field. The boys kept a steadfast vigil for the better part of an hour when, to the shock of everyone except Seo, the small object returned. The thrilled teens stared at the strange object that was hovering over the field approximately 60-feet from them. Then, as the sun dipped low over the horizon and dusk began to settle in, the device began to emit a pulsating multicolored light.

One of the young men, no doubt bolstered by the pressure of his peers, began to stalk the erratically floating UFO. As he neared the object it suddenly emitted an earsplitting “pop” and began to shimmer with a bluish hue. This was all the youngsters needed to send them sprinting back toward their homes.

Seo, Mori, Fujimoto, Kojima and Yuji would occasionally visit the field following their sighting and on September 4th — Just over a week after their initial run-in — their patience paid off. At about 9:30 pm. the five young men once again came face to face with the silvery object flying nearly 3-feet above the field. The little UFO started glowing and began to zoom toward the boys causing them to scatter and once again retreat with haste.

Once home, the boys reclaimed their courage and vowed to procure a camera and spend every waking moment they could staking out the field in hopes of finally capturing the unusual object on film. Their surveillance began the next evening, but the object did not return. The following night, however, would be a different story.

On September 6th the boys’ vigilance paid off when on their way to the rice paddy they spied the object lying on the ground in the middle of the field before them. The teenagers, now armed with a camera, sagely decided to snap a photo before they approached the downed “craft.”

Once the flashbulb went off the object on the ground began spinning and rapidly rose into the air. The unknown cameraman shot another photo just after its ascension.

This is where accounts get a little murky, but what seems to have happened next is that the object emitted a light that was even brighter than the flashbulb’s burst, before once again plummeting to the ground.

The still spinning object almost seemed to be burrowing into the dirt when it stopped moving.

At this point 14 year-old Hiroshi Mori cautiously moved toward the incapacitated flying saucer. The brave (or foolhardy) boy decided to bend over and lift the object up with his bare hands.

As he did so he claimed that he felt something “moving” inside. A photo of Miro holding the UFO was then taken.

The boys marveled at their peculiar prize before Miro wrapped it in a plastic bag and placed it in his backpack and took it home. Once there the boys warily measured the object and declared it to be nearly 8-inches wide and almost 4-inches in height. The now inert UFO was said to weigh about 3 lbs.

They also discovered a series of concentric curves, thirty-one small holes and three unique designs etched into the base of the object. The gang deemed that the etchings represented waves or clouds, a bird or some sort of “flying object,” and something they interpreted to be a budding flower. There was no visible propulsion system.

Following their inspection, the boys repacked the object in plastic and brought their puzzling find to the home of Yasuo Fujimoto. Fujimoto’s father, Mutsuo, was the current director of the Center for Science Education in the city of Kōchi.

The senior Fujimoto gave the object a cursory examination, assuming that the find was of little significance. That would be a decision that he would come to regret. In his own words:

“The frequent nights out of the boys began to worry parents, I told my son if it was true what he said, to bring the object. He did: it was something like an ashtray, cast iron, but too light for this metal. (It) had a top down it was impossible to open and inside were pieces similar to a radio. I did not give more importance, but now I regret not having studied more closely.”

Following Mr. Fujimoto’s brief once over, the object was returned to Mori’s backpack, but, much to the chagrin of all involved, it was discovered missing just a day later. This would not be the last time this mysterious object would be seen… or recovered for that matter.

Over the course of the next two weeks Seo, Mori, Fujimoto, Kojima and Yuji all claimed to have seen the same (or identical) objects in flight on at least six more occasions. Fujimoto himself saw it three times. The gang even managed to capture it a second time, but the object disappeared under mysterious circumstances yet again.

The boys — trying to predict when the object would next rear its proverbial head — deduced that the single unifying factor in all of their sightings was the fact that they never seemed to occur on rainy days. This, they surmised, was due to the fact that the object “feared” water. Bearing this in mind they formulated a plan to capture the device.

On September 19, the gang once again returned to the now notorious rice paddy to try and detain the mystifying UFO. This time the boys were armed with a bucket of runoff water and some tattered rags. As luck would have it they found the device sitting motionless on the ground.

The group hurriedly covered the object with rags and poured the water in the bucket over it. They then turned the object over and started to fill the perforations at the base with the remainder of the greenish water. As soon as the liquid entered the device it began emitting a deafening noise that they compared to a cicada-like buzzing. The interior of the object also started to glow.

The youngsters were abruptly struck with the notion that the object might try to retaliate to this perceived attacked and started to back away from the stationary UFO, pelting it with stones. The once flying object remained earthbound and the gang reclaimed their potentially extraterrestrial quarry.

Once back at Katsuoka Kojima’s house, the young men looked through the tiny holes and noticed what appeared to be a plethora or miniature mechanisms, Levers and weird drawings.

The intrepid youths then took more pictures and attempted to open the device by inserting a wire into one of the holes and manipulating it.

Eventually they hung the device upside down by the wire, Gravity pulled at the top of the dome resulting in a slight separation between the top and bottom sections of the object. The boys could see what they referred to as “complicated electronic equipment” inside the item as well as unidentified a viscous material. Could this have been the liquefied remains of the pilot, who — much like Oz’s Wicked Witch — melted on contact with the water?

The boys then attempted (with a dubious sense of scientific integrity, no doubt) to see how strong the exterior shell of the object was by pummeling it with a hammer. They discovered that even the thinnest parts of the light metal remained unblemished no matter how hard they hit it. This seems to be a fairly common trait of materials recovered at alleged UFO crash sites.

At this point the boys decided to try yet another experiment by putting the UFO in the oven to see what kind of temperatures it could withstand, but before they got the chance Kojima’s mother, Aiko Katsuoka, wisely put the kibosh on that. She also refused to allow them to store it in her refrigerator, which the boys believed might prevent the UFO from escaping yet again.

The gang then came to the conclusion that the device was likely some kind of “remotely controlled” surveillance mechanism of unknown origin. It was then that they decided it was time to reveal their cherished mystery mechanism to their classmates the following week, but before putting it away for the night they wrapped in additional rags under the naïve impression that it would prevent the thing from leaking any “atomic radiation.”

The object was then given to Seo and Mori for safekeeping while the rest returned home for dinner and chores. The young watchmen, feeling that the object was secure in the room with them, relaxed for an evening of comic book consumption and the anticipation of the notoriety that would greet them and their cohorts the following Monday at school when they revealed their wondrous contraption.

When the rest of the group returned later that evening to check on their discovery, they were all dismayed to discover that beneath the pile of rags there was nothing to be found. After a fruitless search, the boys reached the inescapable conclusion that their mini-saucer has once again flown the coop, so to speak.

A few hours later Kojima and Mori were playing ball at Mori’s house. Kojima lunged over the fence pursuing the ball and much to his surprise and delight stumbled across the still immobile UFO. Kojima and Mori swiftly absconded back into the house with the recovered saucer.

At his juncture the comrades shrewdly decided that they should mark the silver dome with paint lest it pull another disappearing act. This would be to confirm that they were actually encountering the same UFO over and over again, rather than disparate (though indistinguishable) machines. The boys had lost and found the object so many times by this point they naturally assumed that if it vanished it would again turn up near the rice field or in one of their backyards.

On the evening of September 22nd, the crew gathered together of a bike ride into Kōchi City. It was decided that they would all take turns carrying the device, which they no longer left unattended.

To further prevent its escape Mori determined that the UFO would be sealed in a plastic bag full of water, which they continued to hypothesize, had some sort of restraining effect on the apparatus. As if that weren’t enough, the boys tied a piece of string from the knot on the bag to the wrist of whomever was carrying it to insure that nothing would happen this time.

The knotted bag containing the UFO was then placed in duffle bag and inserted into the bicycle basket of the first carrier, and the gang set off. The bag switched from rider to rider as they tore through the city until it ended up in the basket of its last caretaker, whose name was not revealed.

The gang continued their journey until they neared a local bicycle repair shop. At that moment, the final rider claimed he felt his wrist — which was attached by string to the bag — wrench with immense force. He immediately called out to his friends, who skidded to a halt ahead of him.

The boys instantly opened the satchel and untied the string and the knots on the plastic bag, but when they looked inside they found that, even though the knots had not been tampered with, the tiny UFO was nowhere to be found. The boys would never see the object again, much to their disappointment.

THE CASE IS REOPENED:

This unique case remained largely unknown to the general public until May of 2004, when UFO Comics published an illustrated retelling of the case. This introduced the encounter to a new generation of UFO enthusiasts garnering it somewhat of a cult following in Japan.

Due to the buzz, in 2007 — a full 35 years after the events in question — Shinichiro Namiki, the director of the Japan Space Phenomena Society (JSPS,) reopened the investigation. The head of the JSPS Osaka chapter, Kazuo Hayashi, was sent to speak with the remaining witnesses and confirmed that they all maintained the veracity of their original accounts.

During the course of his investigation, Hayashi encountered another tiny UFO tale that occurred in the same prefecture as the Kera event just 4 years later. On the evening of June 6th, 1976, a 9-year-old girl named Sachiko Oyama, from the village of Agawa (now known as Niyodogawa-cho,) went outside to find her pet cat when she noticed a small, yellow luminous object floating in the eastern sky.

Oyama walked into the middle of the street to afford herself a better view. It was then that she saw the unusual object descend in a nearby wooded grove. Overcome by curiosity, the young girl followed the UFO to the edge of the tree line. It was then that the object allegedly hit a tree and proceeded to silently land on the pavement near her feet at which point it emitted a “hissing” sound.

Oyama would layer describe the object has resembling a silver (though some accounts say “black”) hat that was about 7-inches in diameter; a familiar description to say the least. The courageous girl bent over and touched the object, which she claimed was covered with a “slimy substance” that stuck to her finger.

Like the boys who encountered the virtually identical object in Kera, Oyama suddenly found herself overwhelmed by fear. She turned and began to run for the safety of her home, but when she glanced over her shoulder she noticed that the downed device had started to glow yellow once again. Oyama watched in disbelief as the UFO rose, spun counter-clockwise three times, then shot skyward and out of view.

Hayashi also confirmed that the then 40 year-old Oyama still stood by her story in 2007. It was then that Hayashi put forth the hypothesis that these flying objects were actually inter-dimensional vehicles that had temporarily lost their way after slipping into our realm.

Hayashi seemed satisfies with his theory, but what should we make of these mysterious objects that seemingly toyed with these Japanese kids back in 1972 and 1976? Were they UFOs in the classic sense of a interstellar or inter-dimensional vehicles? It goes without saying that by 1970s (or current) technological standards an object as decidedly non-aerodynamic as this could not have been capable of such precise or speedy maneuvers as were attributed to it.

Also, unlike the micro-terrestrial invasion of Malaysia in the 1970s, there seems to be little indication of any humanoid or alien influence on these devices other than that fact that it was apparently “intelligently controlled” while in flight. Nevertheless, I think we have to look elsewhere for a solution.

How about the boys’ deduction that it was a remote controlled device of unknown extraction? This theory, I must admit, seems to make more sense than that of it being some sort of spacecraft.

In fact, when I first heard about this case, my initial reaction was to assume that this was nothing more than a prank played on naïve teens by “some guy” with a remote control flying saucer, but upon closer inspection of the photographs it does not take an aeronautical engineer to realize that without a rotor or some other driving force — which this gadget seems to be distinctly lacking — there is no way it would ever get off the ground.

There has even been the wild speculation that the device might have been a conscious being akin to those cutesy sentient saucers in the Steven Spielberg produced 1987 opus “*Batteries Not Included.” While even I am skeptical about this premise, let’s look at the “evidence” that may possibly support this conjecture.

Firstly, assuming that the reports are authentic, this device flew with apparent precision even though there was apparently no recognizable propulsion device within the UFO. Secondly, the UFO appeared to be capable of evasive maneuvers and even displayed a desire to defend itself by utilizing brilliant lights and loud noises. Thirdly, like any living being, this “machine” resisted every attempt made to incarcerate it by the teens. None of the above is proof that the thing’s actions were an example of intelligent life, but the thought is intriguing.

Perhaps we’re dealing with a non-terrestrial surveillance device here. Some unknown technology sent from another world or time or dimension or even the ocean’s depths to observe the human race. Who’s to say that the unusual markings on the base of the UFO are not intended to be a message for humanity much like the one we etched into the gold plated disc on Voyager 1 for other citizens of the galaxy to discover.

Of course, there’s one, obvious explanation — that it was all just a hoax. There are some rumors that have circulated suggesting that the Kera UFO was actually a toilet training chamber pot craftily installed with radio components and pieces from a watering can, but if that were the case it not only reflects poorly on the judgment of Kōchi’s director of the Center for Science Education, Mutsuo Fujimoto, but also represents one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever perpetrated (and maintained for the better part of 4 decades) by a group of bored teens.

Casting further doubt on the hoax theory is the 2007 investigation by the JSPS, which confirmed that there was no indication of a prank. And, let’s be frank, if Kera and Agawa phenomena were merely the whimsical follies of bored teenagers and one little girl, one would have to assume that the perpetrators would almost certainly have grown weary of the ruse as they climbed from adolescence into middle age.

The fact remains that this series of all too close encounters may well represent one of the most intriguing, albeit least well known, events in history of ufology… or one of the most outlandish hoaxes ever.

by Rob Morphy

The Kybalion

Posted: November 10, 2012 by phaedrap1 in Occult, Texts, videos
Tags: Occult

C/2012 S1 comet heading toward Earth could outshine Moon in 2013

Posted: November 9, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News, Science

Russian astronomers have discovered a new comet C/2012 S1 hurtling toward Earth. Astronomers say that the comet, a two-mile-wide lump of ice and rock, may be the brightest in history and may shine brighter than the Moon when it passes close to the Earth.

According to Space.com, Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok of the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) near Kislovodsk, Russia, discovered comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) on 21 September via images taken with a 40-centimeter reflecting telescope. The International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts confirmed the discovery and announced it on 24 September.

According to National Geographic, astronomers say the comet is now approximately 615 million miles (990 million kilometers) from Earth, between the orbits of the two giant planets Saturn and Jupiter. Preliminary reports say the orbit will make its closest (perihelion) approach to the Sun on 28 November, 2013 at a distance of 0.012 AU (1,800,000 km; 1,100,000 mi) from the center-point of the Sun. Astronomers say the comet will pass approximately 1,100,000 kilometers (680,000 mi) above the Sun’s surface.

National Geographic reports C/2012 S1 is expected to pass at about 6.2 million miles/10 million kilometers (0.07 AU (10,000,000 km; 6,500,000 mi) from Mars on October 1, 2013. This will allow NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars opportunity to snap pictures.

Astronomers at the Remanzacco Observatory, Italy have assured that the comet is not on collision course with Earth. They say C/2012 S1 “will get to within 0.012AU of the Sun at the end of November 2013 and then to ~0.4AU (about 37 million miles) from Earth at the beginning of January 2014.”

However, it remains uncertain where the comet came from, although its orbit suggests it may have its origin in a spherical cloud of comets surrounding the solar system called the Oort Cloud where there are billions of other comets in orbit. Raminder Singh Samra of the H.R. MacMillan Space Center in Vancouver, Canada, said: “For astronomers, these distant origins are exciting because it allows us to study one of the oldest objects in the solar system still in its original, pristine condition.”

Remanzacco Observatory, Italy

False color rendition of C/2012 S1 at its discovery in September 2012.

Remanzacco Observatory

This comet’s orbit will bring it near the sun in 2013 and by November 2013, it may actually outshine the Moon in the sky.

C/2012 S1 was observed close to Saturn and may still be observed with powerful telescopes as a faint glow in the constellation Cancer. It is expected to become visible to the naked eye beginning in 2013.

According to National Geographic, predictions of its orbital trajectory indicate that if it survives its close approach to the Sun, the comet will be brightest in the sky in November 28, 2013 as it moves away from the Sun. It will be visible during December after sunset and in the morning sky before sunrise. New Scientist reports that scientists at the Remanzacco Observatory say that by December 9 it should be about as bright as Polaris, the North Star, and should remain visible to the naked eye until mid-January 2014. According to Astronomy Now, the comet could become brighter than the full moon around its closest approach to the Sun.

Astronomers say that the orbit of C/2012 S1 is similar to that of the Great Comet of 1680, one of the brightest in history. Space.com reports that the Great Comet of 1680 was very bright in the sky and was visible even in daylight, throwing off a bright tail that spanned the western twilight sky. Some astronomers say that given the close orbital relationship between C/2012 S1 and the Great Comet of 1680, the objects may be the same.

Gizmodo reports that Samra, says “if it lives up to expectations, this comet may be one of the brightest in history.” According to The National Geographic, the brightness of C/2012 S1, will depend on how much gas and dust is blasted off the central core of ice and rocks at its close approach to the Sun.The bigger the cloud and tail, the more reflective the comet, astronomers say.

However, Samra cautions: “While some predictions suggest it may become as bright as the full moon, and even visible during the day, one should be cautious when predicting how exciting a comet may get. Some comets have been notorious for creating a buzz but failing to put on a dazzling display. Only time will tell.”

Gizmodo leaves a note for Mayan “doom-mongers”:

“… and one last note to the Mayan death and doom-mongers: the universe apologizes but, despite its name, 2012 S1 is actually arriving in 2013 holiday season.”

By JohnThomas Didymus

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/333993#ixzz2BkrU6NBS

Rare skeleton of ‘vampire’ discovered in Britain with spikes through shoulders, heart and ankles

Posted: November 6, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News, Occult
Tags: vampires; ancient burial practices

Long dismissed as myth and legend, the vampire is associated with spooky stories or – for many teenagers – a Twilight heartthrob.

But for those who lived in the Middle Ages, it was a deadly serious business – and they took extreme measures against anyone suspected of being able to haunt them in the afterlife.

Now, details of one of the few ‘vampire’ burials in Britain have emerged.

A new archaeology report tells of the discovery of a skeleton, dating from 550-700AD, buried in the ancient minster town of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, with metal spikes through its shoulders, heart and ankles.

These remains are from a third grave unearthed in central Bulgaria linked to the ritual, which was also apparently practised in Southwell, Nottinghamshire

It is believed to be a ‘deviant burial’, where people considered the ‘dangerous dead’, such as vampires, were interred to prevent them rising from their graves to plague the living.

Only a handful of such burials have been unearthed in the UK.

The discovery is detailed in a new report by Matthew Beresford, of Southwell Archaeology.

The skeleton was found by archaeologist Charles Daniels during the original investigation of the site in Church Street in the town 1959, which revealed Roman remains.

Mr Beresford said when Mr Daniels found the skeleton he jokingly checked for fangs.

‘In the 1950s the Hammer Horror films were popular and so people had seen Christopher Lee’s Dracula so it would have been quite relevant,’ said Mr Beresford.

A new archaeology report tells of the discovery of a skeleton, dating from 550-700AD, buried in the ancient minster town of Southwell (above) with metal spikes through its shoulders, heart and ankles

In his report, Mr Beresford says: ‘The classic portrayal of the dangerous dead (more commonly known today as a vampire) is an undead corpse arising from the grave and all the accounts from this period reflect this.

‘Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the punishment of being buried in water-logged ground, face down, decapitated, staked or otherwise was reserved for thieves, murderers or traitors or later for those deviants who did not conform to societies rules: adulterers, disrupters of the peace, the unpious or oath breaker.

‘Which of these the Southwell deviant was we will never know.’

‘Throughout the Anglo-Saxon period the punishment of being buried in water-logged ground, face down, decapitated, staked or otherwise was reserved for thieves, murderers or traitors’

Matthew Beresford

Mr Beresford believes the remains may still be buried on the site where they originally lay because Mr Daniels was unable to remove the body from the ground.

He said: ‘If you look at it in a spooky way you still have the potential for it to rise at some point.’

Mr Beresford added: ‘Obviously this skeleton comes from a time in Southwell’s history that we don’t know much about.’

John Lock, chairman of Southwell Archaeology, said the body was one of a handful of such burials to be found in the UK.

He said: ‘A lot of people are interested in it but quite where it takes us I don’t know because this was found in the 1950s and now we don’t know where the remains are.

Mr Lock said no one could be sure why the body was staked in the way it was.

He said: ‘People would have a very strong view that this was somebody who, for whatever reason, they had a reason to fear and needed to ensure that this person did not come back.’

The discovery comes five months after archaeologists found remains from a third grave in central Bulgaria linked to the practise.

The skeleton was tied to the ground with four iron clamps, while burning embers were placed on top of his grave.

The bones of a man in his thirties were believed to be at least several centuries old, and experts believed he had been subjected to a superstition-driven ritual to prevent him from becoming one after his death.

By Anna Edwards

Mail Online

The Georgia Guidestones – Guidestones to an age of reason

Posted: November 6, 2012 by phaedrap1 in Monuments, Occult

More photos are located here.

Amidst the rolling pasture land and lines of pine in the northeast corner of Georgia stands an enigma–a 19 foot tall megalithic structure overlooking the quiet countryside like a gray sentinel. Only a handful of people know who designed this massive structure, and they aren’t talking. Like other large stone monuments such as England’s Stonehenge, controversy surrounds the Georgia Guidestones–are they a celestial temple, a sacrificial altar, or simply a monument to conservation? However, unlike the silence cloaking its prehistoric counterparts, the towering granite of the Georgia Guidestones speaks its own story, for carved into the faces of the stones are ten simple guides urging the preservation of the planet on which we live.

The mystery of the Georgia Guidestones began late on a Friday afternoon in June of 1979, when a well-dressed stranger, identifying himself only as Mr. Christian, walked into the Elberton Granite Finishing Company’s offices on Tate Street, and inquired of the firm’s President Joe H. Fendley, Sr. as to the cost of building a large monument to conservation. Fendley explained to the man that the company normally worked on a wholesale basis, and did not deal directly with individuals, but the stranger persisted. He told Fendley that he represented a small group of Americans who wished to remain anonymous. He outlined a plan for a monument in granite, which intrigued Fendley enough that he put Mr. Christian in touch with both of the local banks.

According to Wyatt C. Martin, President of the Granite City Bank, the stranger showed up at his office 30 minutes later introducing himself as R.C. Christian. The man repeated his proposal, and suggested that Martin be the intermediary for the project. Being a bank president, Mr. Martin insisted that Mr. Christian reveal his real identity so that Martin could verify his ability to finance the project. When Martin was satisfied that everything was on the level, he agreed to carry it out, and pledged never to reveal Mr. R.C. Christian’s true identity.

Mr. Christian told Martin that he and his sponsors selected Georgia as the location for the monument because of the availability of high quality granite, the mild climate, and the fact that his great-grandmother was a native Georgian. He also emphasized that the monument should be erected in a remote area, away from the main tourist centers. Martin suggested that, to work within the funds available, a local site should be selected because of the cost of transporting the massive stones Christian had in mind. The men spent a day inspecting various sites, and finally selected a five acre plot on the farm of Mildred and Wayne Mullenix. The plot also happens to be the highest point in Elbert county.

A few weeks later, Joe Fendley began work on the monument. The stones were quarried from the company’s Pyramid Blue Granite, and Fendley claimed that the sheer size of the stones, as well as the exacting specifications set forth by the sponsors made the project one of the most challenging ever for his company. He suggested that “those specifications were so precise that they had to be compiled by experts on stone as well as construction.” In 1980 the stones were erected. Once the project was completed, Wyatt Martin delivered his file on the affair to the anonymous sponsors and that the secret of their identity was sealed.

In accordance with Mr. Christian’s wishes, the Guidestones are located in one of the least touristy parts of the state. Elberton’s one claim to fame is the title “Granite Capitol of the World,” and aside from the rather tranquil scenery, there isn’t much to be found in the area. However, because of their proximity to a state highway, the Guidestones are easy to access–about a hundred yards to the east of Georgia Highway 77, 7.2 miles North of Elberton, and 7.8 miles South of Hartwell. The only sign for the stones is a rather small, green affair just at the turn in, but if you keep your eyes open on the east side of the road, you can’t miss them.

While the ground under the Guidestones may be the highest spot in the county, it’s in no danger of being mistaken for a mountain. It’s actually a gentle rise in the general landscape with a view of a close horizon all the way around. The Guidestones are situated in a fenced off section of a pasture, so along with a view of sloping green fields walled in by stands of pine and oak, you may be treated to a close encounter with a few cattle. Don’t worry though, they’re on the other side of the barbed wire, and are more interested in chewing their cud than bothering visitors.

Next to the Guidestones lies a flat granite slab inscribed with the technical data on the stones–height, weight, and different languages carved into them. It also bears an inscription indicating that a time capsule was to be buried under the spot, but includes no dates, so it’s a safe guess that a capsule was never placed there.

Visitors have made comparisons between the Guidestones and other megalithic structures. Some have gone so far as to call them America’s Stonehenge. In reality, this title belongs more appropriately to Sam Hill’s exact replica of Stonehenge in Washington. While the Guidestones do convey a sense of stately endurance similar to Stonehenge, they have none of the ancient aura possessed by Britain’s megalith. Rather, the Guidestones express youth and openness–something still growing, rather than something in decay. Indeed, R.C. Christian said that after completion, he hoped other conservation-minded groups would erect even more stones in an outer ring and carry the monument’s message in more languages.

The slender center stone, which the builders call the Gnomen, towers between four wider uprights topped with a capstone that just touches the corners of the four outer stones. These outer slabs are the ones actually carved with the guides, and point out from the Gnomen like spokes in an X shape. The individual letters of the guides are four inches tall, and about a half inch deep, and thus easy to read all the way to the top. The ten guides are translated into eight different languages–English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Swahili, and Hindi–one language on each side of the outer stones.

R.C. Christian said that he and the sponsors spent years planning the monument, and the ten guides for the conservation of humankind and the earth were a carefully worded, moralistic appeal to all people, regardless of national, religious, or political borders. The English version of the guides are:

Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
Guide reproduction wisely-improving fitness and diversity.
Unite humanity with a living new language.
Rule Passion-Faith-Tradition-and all things with tempered reason.
Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
Balance personal rights with social duties.
Prize truth-beauty-love-seeking harmony with the infinite.
Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.

On the 4 sides of the capstone an additional message is written in four dead languages– Classical Greek, Sanskrit, Babylonian Cuneiform, and Egyptian Hieroglyphs.

Let these be guidestones to an age of reason.

Aside from their obvious role as bearers of a written message, the stones also mark certain celestial alignments. The four outer uprights point to the limits of the moon’s declination over the course of a year. An oblique hole drilled from the south to the north side of the Gnomen aligns with the North Star. A small window is cut in the middle of the Gnomen, and aligns with the positions of the rising sun at the Summer and Winter Solstices. Sunlight beams through a 7/8 inch hole in the capstone at noon, and shines on the south face of the Gnomen. At noon of each day, the spot of light can be used to determine the day of the year.

Controversies have blazed around the stones since their erection in 1980. The pastor of a local church warned that the stones would lead to blood sacrifices on the spot where they stood. Some people view the guides as a mandate for mass extermination of a majority of the world’s population, and the establishment of an Orwellian control of the planet by one governing body. Others view the Guidestones as evidence of some occult force bent on destroying the Judeo-Christian beliefs held by many Americans. In truth, Pagan groups have held ceremonies at the Guidestones–weddings and celebrations of the solstices and equinoxes–but nothing involving blood sacrifice, and so far, no single government has taken control of the planet.

Regardless, the stones still maintain their quiet vigil, ambivalent to the religious and political beliefs of the people who come to see them. Likely, they will continue to stand long after the quarrels we find so important today are mere footnotes in the history text of some student in the distant future.

Statistical Information on the Georgia Guidestones

Overall Height: 19 feet 3 inches
Amount of Granite: 951 cubic feet
Weight: 237,746 pounds

Four Upright Stones:
6ft 6in wide; 16ft 4in high; 1ft 7in thick 42,437 lbs each on average

Gnomen:
3 ft 3in.wide; 16ft 4in high; 1ft 7in thick, Weight 20,957 lbs

Cap Stone: 6ft 6in wide, 9ft 8in long; 1ft 7in thick, Weight 24, 832 lbs

Outer Support Stones (bases): 7ft 4in long; 2ft 0in wide; 1ft 4in thick Weight 4,875 lbs each on average.

Center Support Stone: 4ft 21/2in long; 2ft 2in wide; 1ft;7in thick Weight 2,707 lbs

Read more: http://mediaspecialist.org/pistones.html#ixzz2BOUNWS1f
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial

The Mummies of the Grand Canyon

Posted: November 4, 2012 by phaedrap1 in Conspiracy, News

What if everything we know about American history is wrong? What if the ancients came here long before Columbus and Jamestown? And what if they left behind clues, so that we could one day learn the true history of humanity?

In 1909, two men stumbled upon the missing link between the ancient world and our own. Professor S.A. Jordan and explorer G.E. Kincaid (sometimes spelled Kinkaid) discovered a cave system in the Grand Canyon that was home to much more than stalagmites and bats. Actually, a tunnel-system is a better description than that of a cave. What the two men found was a dug-out maze of geometrically perfect tunnels filled with ancient Egyptian and Indian artifacts, including mummies. A Buddhist shrine with plainly Egyptian hieroglyphs, boomerangs, and distinct metal objects were also among the finds. How could this be? Why have we never heard of this?

Jordan and Kincaid were both funded by the Smithsonian, our national museum. The Phoenix Gazette published their report as a front-page story on April 5th, 1909. This raised a few eyebrows, but never gained the national media’s attention. What amounts to the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century, possibly even the greatest ever, was promptly swept under the rug.

If you ask the Smithsonian about this find, they’ll swiftly deny its validity and say they don’t know of a Professor Jordan or a G.E. Kincaid. The relics they brought back are nowhere to be found, and the section of the Grand Canyon purported to hold this tunnel system is strictly off limits. With conventional research, the trail goes cold.

We’re left with two possibilities. Either the story is an elaborate, highly detailed hoax put on by two fame-hungry explorers in cahoots with a local newspaper, or the biggest evidence of pre-historical civilization was deliberately covered up.

The hoax theory doesn’t hold much water. Newspapers used to exist to educate the public, not to sensationalize current events, like they do now. If the journalist had indeed created this whole scenario from his own vivid imagination, wouldn’t he have found some national news source to pick it up? If he was in it for fame, he sure didn’t put much effort into pitching the story. And what about Jordan and Kincaid being fictional characters? Though the Smithsonian will say, “Never heard of ‘em,” if you dig deep enough, you can find records that contain their names. After the news-story was published, however, both men seem to vanish into thin air. Is this because they never existed or because they’d seen too much?

The cover-up theory suggests that The Smithsonian and other “powers-that-be” have a vested interest in making sure that anything that disproves conventional history, especially a discovery of this magnitude, is suppressed before it shatters the status quo, the perceived reality. It runs much deeper than some grumpy old historians having to admit that they were wrong. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the ancients were privy to an advanced technology, and the monuments and relics they put away for safe-keeping are clues to this mystery. The fossil-fuel and electricity magnates would be dethroned if humankind had access to all the pieces of the puzzle. Other than our tax dollars, who do you think funds the Smithsonian?

The people we refer to as Native Americans have many legends that describe pre-Columbian visitation form advanced civilizations. The Hopi legends describe what Jordan and Kincaid found, almost exactly. These Native Americans did not mummify their dead, but numerous mummies have been unearthed in North America. They’ll tell you that Egyptians, Indians, and other cultures had a great influence on their own. Maybe it’s time we listen.

The evidence for the Grand Canyon Mummies and other claims can be found everywhere…except for a history book.

Seek and you will find.

by Claudio Zorrospín

Egyptian princess’s tomb found near Cairo

Posted: November 3, 2012 by phaedrap1 in News
Tags: Archeology, Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — Czech archaeologists have unearthed the 4,500-year-old tomb of a Pharaonic princess south of Cairo, in a finding that suggests other undiscovered tombs may be in the area, an official from Egypt’s antiquities ministry said Saturday.

Mohammed El-Bialy, who heads the Egyptian and Greco-Roman Antiquities department at the Antiquities Ministry, said that Princess Shert Nebti’s burial site is surrounded by the tombs of four high officials from the Fifth Dynasty dating to around 2,500 BC in the Abu Sir complex near the famed step pyramid of Saqqara.

“Discoveries are ongoing” at Abu Sir, El-Bialy said, adding that the excavation was in a “very early stage” and that the site was closed to the public.

Inscriptions on the four limestone pillars of the Princess’ tomb indicate that she is the daughter of King Men Salbo.

“She is the daughter of the king, but only her tomb is there, surrounded by the four officials, so the question is, are we going to discover other tombs around hers in the near future? We don’t know anything about her father, the king, or her mother, but hope that future discoveries will answer these questions,” El-Bialy said.

On Friday, Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim said that the antechamber to the princess’ tomb includes four limestone columns and hieroglyphic inscriptions. The current excavation has also unearthed an antechamber containing the sarcophagi of the four officials and statues of men, women, and a child, he said in a statement.

The Czech team’s discovery marks the “start of a new chapter” in the history of the burial sites of Abu Sir and Saqqara, Ibrahim added.

The archaeologists working at the site are from the Czech Institute of Egyptology, which is funded by the Charles University of Prague. Their excavation began this month.

The discovery comes weeks after the Egyptian government reopened a pyramid and a complex of tombs that had been closed for restoration work for a decade.

Egypt’s vital tourism industry has suffered from the country’s internal unrest in the wake of the 2011 uprising that toppled autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak. A delegation from the International Monetary Fund is currently in Egypt for negotiations over a $4.8 billion loan aimed at bolstering the country’s ailing economy.