Misteryo at Lohika

Misteryo: The Science of Voodoo

2009-05-14T14:57:00.000-07:00

Late one night in a small Alabama cemetery, Vance Vanders had a run-in with the local witch doctor, who wafted a bottle of unpleasant-smelling liquid in front of his face, and told him he was about to die and that no one could save him.

Back home, Vanders took to his bed and began to deteriorate. Some weeks later, emaciated and near death, he was admitted to the local hospital, where doctors were unable to find a cause for his symptoms or slow his decline.

Only then did his wife tell one of the doctors, Drayton Doherty, of the hex.

Doherty thought long and hard. The next morning, he called Vanders's family to his bedside. He told them that the previous night he had lured the witch doctor back to the cemetery, where he had choked him against a tree until he explained how the curse worked. The medicine man had, he said, rubbed lizard eggs into Vanders's stomach, which had hatched inside his body. One reptile remained, which was eating Vanders from the inside out.

Great ceremony
Doherty then summoned a nurse who had, by prior arrangement, filled a large syringe with a powerful emetic. With great ceremony, he inspected the instrument and injected its contents into Vanders' arm. A few minutes later, Vanders began to gag and vomit uncontrollably. In the midst of it all, unnoticed by everyone in the room, Doherty produced his pièce de résistance - a green lizard he had stashed in his black bag. "Look what has come out of you Vance," he cried. "The voodoo curse is lifted."

Vanders did a double take, lurched backwards to the head of the bed, then drifted into a deep sleep. When he woke next day he was alert and ravenous. He quickly regained his strength and was discharged a week later.

The facts of this case from 80 years ago were corroborated by four medical professionals. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about it is that Vanders survived. There are numerous documented instances from many parts of the globe of people dying after being cursed.
With no medical records and no autopsy results, there's no way to be sure exactly how these people met their end. The common thread in these cases, however, is that a respected figure puts a curse on someone, perhaps by chanting or pointing a bone at them. Soon afterwards, the victim dies, apparently of natural causes.

Voodoo nouveau
You might think this sort of thing is increasingly rare, and limited to remote tribes. But according to Clifton Meador, a doctor at Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee, who has documented cases like Vanders, the curse has taken on a new form.

Take Sam Shoeman, who was diagnosed with end-stage liver cancer in the 1970s and given just months to live. Shoeman duly died in the allotted time frame - yet the autopsy revealed that his doctors had got it wrong. The tumour was tiny and had not spread. "He didn't die from cancer, but from believing he was dying of cancer," says Meador. "If everyone treats you as if you are dying, you buy into it. Everything in your whole being becomes about dying."

He didn't die from cancer but from believing he was dying of cancer

Cases such as Shoeman's may be extreme examples of a far more widespread phenomenon. Many patients who suffer harmful side effects, for instance, may do so only because they have been told to expect them. What's more, people who believe they have a high risk of certain diseases are more likely to get them than people with the same risk factors who believe they have a low risk. It seems modern witch doctors wear white coats and carry stethoscopes.

The nocebo effect

The idea that believing you are ill can make you ill may seem far-fetched, yet rigorous trials have established beyond doubt that the converse is true - that the power of suggestion can improve health. This is the well-known placebo effect. Placebos cannot produce miracles, but they do produce measurable physical effects.

The placebo effect has an evil twin: the nocebo effect, in which dummy pills and negative expectations can produce harmful effects. The term "nocebo", which means "I will harm", was not coined until the 1960s, and the phenomenon has been far less studied than the placebo effect. It's not easy, after all, to get ethical approval for studies designed to make people feel worse.

What we do know suggests the impact of nocebo is far-reaching. "Voodoo death, if it exists, may represent an extreme form of the nocebo phenomenon," says anthropologist Robert Hahn of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, who has studied the nocebo effect.

Life threatening
In clinical trials, around a quarter of patients in control groups - those given supposedly inert therapies - experience negative side effects. The severity of these side effects sometimes matches those associated with real drugs. A retrospective study of 15 trials involving thousands of patients prescribed either beta blockers or a control showed that both groups reported comparable levels of side effects, including fatigue, depressive symptoms and sexual dysfunction.

A similar number had to withdraw from the studies because of them.

Occasionally, the effects can be life-threatening (see "The overdose"). "Beliefs and expectations are not only conscious, logical phenomena, they also have physical consequences," says Hahn.

Nocebo effects are also seen in normal medical practice. Around 60 per cent of patients undergoing chemotherapy start feeling sick before their treatment. "It can happen days before, or on the journey on the way in," says clinical psychologist Guy Montgomery from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Sometimes the mere thought of treatment or the doctor's voice is enough to make patients feel unwell. This "anticipatory nausea" may be partly due to conditioning - when patients subconsciously link some part of their experience with nausea - and partly due to expectation.

Catching
Alarmingly, the nocebo effect can even be catching. Cases where symptoms without an identifiable cause spread through groups of people have been around for centuries, a phenomenon known as mass psychogenic illness. One outbreak (see "It's catching") inspired a recent study by psychologists Irving Kirsch and Giuliana Mazzoni of the University of Hull in the UK.

They asked some of a group of students to inhale a sample of normal air, which all participants were told contained "a suspected environmental toxin" linked to headache, nausea, itchy skin and drowsiness. Half of the participants also watched a woman inhale the sample and apparently develop these symptoms. Students who inhaled were more likely to report these symptoms than those who did not. Symptoms were also more pronounced in women, particularly those who had seen another apparently become ill - a bias also seen in mass psychogenic illness.

The study shows that if you hear of or observe a possible side effect, you are more likely to develop it yourself. That puts doctors in a tricky situation. "On the one hand people have the right to be informed about what to expect, but this makes it more likely they will experience these effects," says Mazzoni.

Catch 22
This means doctors need to choose their words carefully so as to minimise negative expectations, says Montgomery. "It's all about how you say it."

Hypnosis might also help. "Hypnosis changes expectancies, which decreases anxiety and stress, which improves the outcome," Montgomery says. "I think hypnosis could be applied to a wide variety of symptoms where expectancy plays a role."

Is the scale of the nocebo problem serious enough to justify such countermeasures? We just don't know, because so many questions remain unanswered. In what circumstances do nocebo effects occur? And how long do the symptoms last?

It appears that, as with the placebo response, nocebo effects vary widely, and may depend heavily on context. Placebo effects in clinical settings are often much more potent than those induced in the laboratory, says Paul Enck, a psychologist at the University Hospital in Tübingen, Germany, which suggests the nocebo problem may have profound effects in the real world. For obvious reasons, though, lab experiments are designed to induce only mild and temporary nocebo symptoms.

Real consequences
It is also unclear who is susceptible. A person's optimism or pessimism may play a role, but there are no consistent personality predictors. Both sexes can succumb to mass psychogenic illness, though women report more symptoms than men. Enck has shown that in men, expectancy rather than conditioning is more likely to influence nocebo symptoms. For women, the opposite is true. "Women tend to operate more on past experiences, whereas men seem more reluctant to take history into a situation," he says.

What is becoming clear is that these apparently psychological phenomena have very real consequences in the brain. Using PET scans to peer into the brains of people given a placebo or nocebo, Jon-Kar Zubieta of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, showed last year that nocebo effects were linked with a decrease in dopamine and opioid activity. This would explain how nocebos can increase pain. Placebos, unsurprisingly, produced the opposite response.

Meanwhile, Fabrizio Benedetti of the University of Turin Medical School in Italy has found that nocebo-induced pain can be suppressed by a drug called proglumide, which blocks receptors for a hormone called cholecystokinin (CCK). Normally, expectations of pain induce anxiety, which activates CCK receptors, enhancing pain.

Ultimate cause
The ultimate cause of the nocebo effect, however, is not neurochemistry but belief. According to Hahn, surgeons are often wary of operating on people who think they will die - because such patients often do. And the mere belief that one is susceptible to a heart attack is itself a risk factor. One study found that women who believed they are particularly prone to heart attack are nearly four times as likely to die from coronary conditions than other women with the same risk factors.

Despite the growing evidence that the nocebo effect is all too real, it is hard in this rational age to accept that people's beliefs can kill them. After all, most of us would laugh if a strangely attired man leapt about waving a bone and told us we were going to die. But imagine how you would feel if you were told the same thing by a smartly dressed doctor with a wallful of medical degrees and a computerful of your scans and test results. The social and cultural background is crucial, says Enck.

Meador argues that Shoeman's misdiagnosis and subsequent death shares many of the crucial elements found in hex death. A powerful doctor pronounces a death sentence, which is accepted unquestioningly by the "victim" and his family, who then start to act upon that belief. Shoeman, his family and his doctors all believed he was dying from cancer. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Nothing mystical
"Bad news promotes bad physiology. I think you can persuade people that they're going to die and have it happen," Meador says. "I don't think there's anything mystical about it. We're uncomfortable with the idea that words or symbolic actions can cause death because it challenges our biomolecular model of the world."

Perhaps when the biomedical basis of voodoo death is revealed in detail we will find it easier to accept that it is real - and that it can affect any one of us.

Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227081.100-the-science-of-voodoo-when-mind-attacks-body.html?full=true

Editorial: Breaking the voodoo spell

Misteryo: Can We Survive The Coming Century?

2009-02-26T05:38:00.000-08:00

The new scientist.com features an in-depth study and analysis on how Earth would be look like in the next century until 2099. It is said that most humans could not survive if the whole planet will be warmer by 4 degrees Celsius. Read the article below.

ALLIGATORS basking off the English coast; a vast Brazilian desert; the mythical lost cities of Saigon, New Orleans, Venice and Mumbai; and 90 per cent of humanity vanished. Welcome to the world warmed by 4 °C.

Clearly this is a vision of the future that no one wants, but it might happen. Fearing that the best efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions may fail, or that planetary climate feedback mechanisms will accelerate warming, some scientists and economists are considering not only what this world of the future might be like, but how it could sustain a growing human population. They argue that surviving in the kinds of numbers that exist today, or even more, will be possible, but only if we use our uniquely human ingenuity to cooperate as a species to radically reorganise our world.

The good news is that the survival of humankind itself is not at stake: the species could continue if only a couple of hundred individuals remained. But maintaining the current global population of nearly 7 billion, or more, is going to require serious planning.

Four degrees may not sound like much - after all, it is less than a typical temperature change between night and day. It might sound quite pleasant, like moving to Florida from Boston, say, or retiring from the UK to southern Spain. An average warming of the entire globe by 4 °C is a very different matter, however, and would render the planet unrecognisable from anything humans have ever experienced. Indeed, human activity has and will have such a great impact that some have proposed describing the time from the 18th century onward as a new geological era, marked by human activity. "It can be considered the Anthropocene," says Nobel prizewinning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.

A 4 °C rise could easily occur. The 2007 report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whose conclusions are generally accepted as conservative, predicted a rise of anywhere between 2 °C and 6.4 °C this century. And in August 2008, Bob Watson, former chair of the IPCC, warned that the world should work on mitigation and adaptation strategies to "prepare for 4 °C of warming".

A key factor in how well we deal with a warmer world is how much time we have to adapt. When, and if, we get this hot depends not only on how much greenhouse gas we pump into the atmosphere and how quickly, but how sensitive the world's climate is to these gases. It also depends whether "tipping points" are reached, in which climate feedback mechanisms rapidly speed warming. According to models, we could cook the planet by 4 °C by 2100. Some scientists fear that we may get there as soon as 2050.

If this happens, the ramifications for life on Earth are so terrifying that many scientists contacted for this article preferred not to contemplate them, saying only that we should concentrate on reducing emissions to a level where such a rise is known only in nightmares.

"Climatologists tend to fall into two camps: there are the cautious ones who say we need to cut emissions and won't even think about high global temperatures; and there are the ones who tell us to run for the hills because we're all doomed," says Peter Cox, who studies the dynamics of climate systems at the University of Exeter, UK. "I prefer a middle ground. We have to accept that changes are inevitable and start to adapt now."

Bearing in mind that a generation alive today might experience the scary side of these climate predictions, let us head bravely into this hotter world and consider whether and how we could survive it with most of our population intact. What might this future hold?

The last time the world experienced temperature rises of this magnitude was 55 million years ago, after the so-called Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum event. Then, the culprits were clathrates - large areas of frozen, chemically caged methane - which were released from the deep ocean in explosive belches that filled the atmosphere with around 5 gigatonnes of carbon. The already warm planet rocketed by 5 or 6 °C, tropical forests sprang up in ice-free polar regions, and the oceans turned so acidic from dissolved carbon dioxide that there was a vast die-off of sea life. Sea levels rose to 100 metres higher than today's and desert stretched from southern Africa into Europe.

While the exact changes would depend on how quickly the temperature rose and how much polar ice melted, we can expect similar scenarios to unfold this time around. The first problem would be that many of the places where people live and grow food would no longer be suitable for either. Rising sea levels - from thermal expansion of the oceans, melting glaciers and storm surges - would drown today's coastal regions in up to 2 metres of water initially, and possibly much more if the Greenland ice sheet and parts of Antarctica were to melt.

"It's hard to see west Antarctica's ice sheets surviving the century, meaning a sea-level rise of at least 1 or 2 metres," says climatologist James Hansen, who heads NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. "CO2 concentrations of 550 parts per million [compared with about 385 ppm now] would be disastrous," he adds, "certainly leading to an ice-free planet, with sea level about 80 metres higher... and the trip getting there would be horrendous."

From the NewScientist.com: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126971.700-how-to-survive-the-coming-century.html?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg20126971.700

New Model of planet Earth on 2099: http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20126971.700/1-how-to-survive-the-coming-century.html

Strange Flying Creatures in Agta Cave, Cebu

2008-04-04T05:48:00.000-07:00

A group of mountaineers with local tourist guides encountered strange flying creatures locally known as rods while others call them as flying snakes or skyfish. These creatures were also spotted in the mountain areas of Mexico, Japan and Europe.

The mountaineers described them as they have appendages along their torsos that reportedly flap in a wave motion while moving.

But according to The Straight Dope, a syndicated column in the US, the video footage are that of ordinary insects.

It said that the camera’s video capture framerate is too slow to capture the number of cycles of the insect’s wing beat, resulting in a distorted image that looks like a flying rod.

“Essentially what you see is several wingbeat cycles of the insect on each frame of the video, creating the illusion of a “rod” with bulges along its length.

The blurred body of the insect as it moves forward forms the “rod,” and the oscillation of the wings up and down forms the bulges.” “Anyone with a video camera can duplicate the effect, if you shoot enough footage of flying insects from the right distance,” said a Straight Dope column published in September 2000. “We have consulted photographers and experts. They insisted that the object is not a reflection of anything. Right now, we’re in a quandary. Probably, they’re flying rods,” said Alex K. Gonzales, Argao tourism officer. Gonzales said the photos bearing the skyfish were taken when a group of eight call center agents were touring the House of Giants cave, known as Balay sa Agta, in Barangay Conalum, a hilly village 10 kilometers from the town proper. The cave, a tourist destination, got its name because of its large natural hollow, which can accommodate the entire, if not two St. Michael Parish buildings, Argao’s centuries-old church, he said.

Rainerio Alcarez and Jerome Montejo Jr., both accredited tour guides, accompanied the group during their eco-tour last Sunday. They said they did not expect a rare phenomenon to happen. Alcarez said they were on their way out when he sensed something unusual, the intensity of sunlight emanating from the cave’s open sinkhole at around 11:30 a.m. The sinkhole, which the Argao tourism office calls an open cathedral, is located in the mid-portion of the cave’s center covering. Alcarez considered the sunlight’s brightness that time as strange, as it was the first time he encountered this since working as a tour guide for seven years. “I told them to take pictures using their digital cameras because the brightness of sunlight that day was really unusual,” he said.

Upon returning to the tourism office in Poblacion, Alcarez said he was shocked to see two flying objects caught on camera when he downloaded the photos into the office computer. At least four shots from different angles were taken of the creatures that were caught right in the light emanating from the cave’s sinkhole. Gonzales said they already consulted officials of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources but they could not also explain the existence of these two flying objects. The local tourism office, he said, will not close the cave while they are bent on looking for experts to identify these flying creatures. “It encourages us more to protect the cave. We will not allow tourists to go in there without our local guardians for their safety,” Gonzales said.

News Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2008/04/03/news/trekkers.cameras.catch.flying.objects.html

Video Slideshow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVaTdceJDAg

RS sites: http://misteryolohika.tripod.com
http://misteryo.multiply.com/video/item/223

Ghosts Appear in a Photo

2008-03-06T04:59:00.000-08:00

This ghost photo is authentic based on the credibility of people who submitted this picture. Taken inside one of the buildings of Centro Escolar University - Mendiola Campus, Manila. The school was said to be haunted by souls of dead people trapped in this reality of existence. The student narrated her story of the ghost encounter. "Last Saturday (March 1, 2008), our classmates and I were in a classroom in our school. We fooled around a bit, so we played with our camera phones. Accidentally, when one of my classmates got a snapshot of the rooms windows, an image of a lady appeared." Kindly give comments about the photo especially the ghost. I could see it a sad face of a girl. She looks like wearing the school's on-the-job-training (OJT) uniform. An update about this ghost encounter: The photo owner says she had a nightmare with this entity trying to take her to the other side (after life). Convinced with others' observation of the picture, three ghosts can be seen in this photo. But as i observed it deeper I could see at least 6 ghost entities.

Visit my other site: http://misteryo.multiply.com/journal/item/28

Sigbins Attack Goats and Poultry in Capiz

2008-01-14T23:38:00.001-08:00

Local residents of Roxas City, Capiz were alarmed of alleged rising incidents of unexplained killings of domestic animals such as goats and chickens.

The culprit of these killings are those crypto-animals commonly known as chupacabras.

Chupacabras were seen in many places in Puerto Rico, Mexico and other places in Latin America and said to be behind the killings (by blood sucking) of goats and cattles.

Recently, in a remote area in Roxas City, a poultry raiser in brgy. Dumolog named Jojo Canobia was shocked and scared when he saw a dog-like animal attacked his chickens and found them headless.

Another local resident, provincial engineer Joel Jumbas reported an attacked of chupacabra killing his two goats. The chupacabra sucked the blood of his goats.

Chupacabra (also chupacabras /tʃupa'kabɾas/, from Spanish chupar: to suck, cabra: goat; goat sucker) is a cryptid said to inhabit parts of the Americas.

It is associated with the ancient myth of the chimera or griffin, and more recently with sightings of an allegedly unknown animal in Puerto Rico (where these sightings were first reported), Mexico, and the United States, especially in the latter's Latin American communities.

The name comes from the animal's reported habit of attacking and drinking the blood of livestock, especially goats. Physical descriptions of the creature vary.

Eyewitness sightings have been claimed as early as 1990 in Puerto Rico, and have since been reported as far north as Maine, and as far south as Chile.

It is supposedly a heavy creature, the size of a small bear, with a row of spines reaching from the neck to the base of the tail.

Most biologists and wildlife management officials view the chupacabra as an urban legend.

More on Sigbin:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080114-112177/Blood-sucker-killing-farm-animals-in-Capiz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigbin

Dwarves Appear in Photo

2008-01-14T00:53:00.000-08:00

This photo was shared to me by a friend after she noticed something like an elf-like image appeared beside her right ear. When I examined the picture, i saw not only one elf-like image but two - a male and a female. They seemed to be embracing each other.

Technical people especially those in the field of photography explain digital cameras could capture spirits and other non-physical beings vibrating at very high frequency.

Normally, digicams could easily capture orbs, light streaks and smoke-like images but in many cases the real images of other dimensional beings like elementals, ghosts and extraterrestrials.

GMA Faces More Coup in 2008; Pacman Falls

2008-01-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

More coup attempts will be launched against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) this year based on predictions. Philippine boxing idol Manny Pacquiao could lose in a title bout in 2008. More about predictions for the Year of the Earth Rat just read the Pilipino version about this article:

Prediksyon sa 2008: GMA uulanin pa rin ng kudeta, Pacquiao matatalo sa boxing
Ni Rose Tamayo-Tesoro
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Magiging masalimuot o maligalig umano at puno ng matinding dagok ang buhay-pulitika ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo kung saan ay uulanin ng coup-de-etat ang termino nito sa taon ng mga daga o 2008 samantalang magi ging maganda naman ang takbo ng ekonomiya ng bansa sa loob ng taong ito.

Makakaranas rin umano ang ating bansa ng mga matinding trahedya sa himpapawid, lindol, pagguho, bagyo at pagbaha.

Habang si boxing champ Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao ay makakaranas umano ng pagkatalo sa boxing sa taong ito kasabay din umano ng unti-unting pagbagsak ng kanyang boxing career.
Hindi rin umano maswerte para kay Pacquiao na ipinanganak sa “year of the horse” ang 2008 sa larangan ng business, acting at film industry.

May isa namang mataas na opisyal din ng gobyerno ang mamamatay sa matin ding karamdaman habang may mga bantog o celebrity couples umano na maghihiwalay sa nasabing taon.

Ang lahat ng mga nabanggit ay ilan lamang sa mga naging “fearless forecast” ng ilang mga bantog na psychic, astrologers, feng sui experts at religious consultants para sa 2008.
Batay sa naging forecast ng bantog na spiritual consultant na si Maricel Gaskel, makakaranas ng matinding hambalos sa kanyang panunungkulan sa loob ng taong 2008 si Pangulong Arroyo na ipinanganak rin sa “year of the rat”.

Sinabi pa ni Gaskel na hindi tatantanan si Pangulong Arroyo ng mga kalaban at kritiko nito sa pulitika sa pagtatangkang pag-agaw sa kanyang kapang yarihan at pagpatalsik sa kanyang pwesto, kasabay ng paglunsad ng kudeta.

Ayon pa kay Gaskel, bagaman magiging masalimuot ang buhay-pulitika ng Pangulo, malalampasan niya ito at kanyang mata tapos ang kanyang termino bilang chief executive ng bansa hanggang sa 2010.

“The president is a strong person at matatapos niya ang kanyang termino bilang Pangulo hanggang sa 2010.

Magiging mortal na kalaban pa rin umano ng Pangulo ang nakakulong na si Sen. Antonio Trillanes at hindi umano ito titigil sa tangka nitong pagpapabag sak sa una bagama’t hindi umano magtatagumpay ang huli sa kanyang layunin.

Si Trillanes na ipinanganak naman sa “year of the ox” na matinding kalaban naman ng mga ipinanganak sa “year of the rat” na tulad ng Pangulo.

Ayon pa kay Gaskel, magkakaroon din ng matindi at malawakang balasahan sa executive department ng gobyerno.

Mahahati o magkakawatak-watak naman umano ang opposition at uusbong mula rito ang isa pang partido ng opposition.

Ayon naman kay Madam Suzette Arandela na isang psychic at feng sui expert, magkakaroon ng malakas na lindol, landslides, bagyo at mga bombings sa iba’t ibang panig ng bansa sa mga buwan ng Hunyo, Hulyo at Setyembre ng 2008.

Si dating Pangulong Joseph Estrada naman umano ay mararatay sa heart ailment samantalang ang biyuda ng namayapa at kumpare nitong si Fernando Poe Jr. na si Susan Roces ang mahigpit na makakabangga nito sa pulitika habang patuloy umanong tutulong ang una sa mga kapus-palad na mamamayan ng bansa.

Pwede rin umanong gamitin si Susan ni Erap sa pulitika sa 2010, habang ang una naman ay may posibilidad din umano na gamitin ng administrasyon sa pulitika.

Ayon naman sa astrologer na si Malou Lamoste, tataas ang bilang ng aksidente sa taong ito dahil sa init ng ulo, habang hindi umano maganda ang taong ito para sa mga homosexual dahil marami sa mga ito ang makakaranas ng depression na posibleng ma uuwi sa pagpapakamatay.

Sinabi pa ni Lamoste na dapat iwasan ang mag-isip ng negatibo, pagiging hardheaded, maawain sa sarili at kung maaari ay lumabas at magpainit sa araw para magkaroon ng positive energy at lapitan ng swerte.

Magiging maganda ang ekonomiya ng bansa sa 2008 ayon pa kay Lamoste at an
gkop ang taong ito sa pagne-negosyo sa larangan ng real state, pagpapaganda, computer internet, mechanical o machineries, habang malas naman daw para sa nasa negosyo ng tubig at soda.

Si Pangulong Arroyo naman umano ay madadala sa pagamutan sa taong ito dahil sa stomach ailment habang kinakailangan ng una na mag-ingat sa mga taong nakapalibot sa kanya at mas magiging masahol rin umano ang red tape sa gobyerno. Maswerte na man umano ang pulitika sa taong ito para sa lahat ng mga kababaihan habang sa industriya naman ng puting-tabing, ang actress naman umano na si Regine Velasquez ay mabubuntis sa taong ito.

The First Hypersonic Craft Developed

2007-12-17T05:37:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Hypersonic Age!

Man has developed a hypersonic jet known as "scramjet" - supersonic combustion ramjet that could reach a maximum speed of Mach 15 - nearly 10, 000 miles per hour. This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney.

It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them.

After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.

Ordinary jets have a major limitation: They can't go faster than Mach 3 without their turbine blades melting. Rocket ships can reach Mach 25, but they have to carry tremendous amounts of liquid oxygen to burn their fuel. The space shuttle, for example, weighs only 165,000 pounds empty, but it must carry 226,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and 1.4 million pounds of liquid oxygen to reach orbit. An air-breathing jet engine with no moving, meltable parts, such as a scramjet, can solve these problems.

A scramjet is an advanced form of a "ramjet," an engine that takes the air rushing into the engine and "rams" it into the combustion chamber, creating intense pressures that can sustain combustion at the furious rate that Mach-3-plus speeds demand.

But ramjets have limits too. The air entering the engine has to be slowed to subsonic speeds for it to run efficiently. And that air is so hot that no matter what measures are taken to cool it, a ramjet-powered craft must stay under Mach 5 to keep from disintegrating.

But a scramjet—a "supersonic combustion ramjet"—changes things. A scramjet does away with the diffuser that a ramjet uses to slow down incoming air, allowing the air to move through the engine at supersonic speeds so it can fly above Mach 5.

The tradeoff: A scramjet engine in flight is a delicate system. Achieving balanced combustion at those speeds is an engineering challenge often compared to keeping a match lit in a hurricane.

More about this topic: http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/a3bfe2e6fb5c6110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

The Complete article about Scramjet

Nick Kaloterakis

Silver Bullet: If it works, the HTV-3X will be the first reusable scramjet-powered plane. It will be able to take off from a runway, fly at speeds of up to Mach 6, land safely, and then do it again.

The Hypersonic Age is Near
Recent breakthroughs in scramjet engines could mean two-hour flights from New York to Tokyo. They could also mean missiles capable of striking any continent in a moment's notice. No wonder the race to develop them is as fierce as ever.

Last March, engineers from Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) gathered in the control room of a high-temperature tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. After a countdown, a jet of blue flame fueled by methane gas roared down the 12-foot length of the tunnel. A low rumble crept into the control room. It sounded like a rocket firing, which actually wasn't far from the truth.

"Okay to inject," a test director announced when the flame had reached full force. An angular pedestal covered in bolted copper plates rose from the floor of the chamber, placing an experimental scramjet engine called the X-1 into the inferno. "AOA modulating," called the test director as the engine tilted slightly. "Model on centerline." Then, "We are in ignition." And with that, an exhaust flame even hotter than the 2,000°F-plus methane jet around it began to dance behind the activated engine, growing brighter as it ramped up to full thrust. After one minute, the engine shut down and descended through the floor.

The test was part of the X-51A Flight Test Program, a research project funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), the Pentagon's research arm. The X-51A project is, in turn, one piece of a global effort—part collaboration, part race—to build jet-powered aircraft that fly as fast as rocket ships. And the technology that will make this breakthrough possible is the scramjet, an engine that inhales air at tremendous speeds, squeezes the air until it's thousands of degrees hot, and then mixes that air with fuel to generate massive thrust at higher speeds than any other jet-engine design.

The X-1 scramjet engine, which will eventually power the X-51A aircraft, is the most advanced scramjet engine ever built. The blowtorch blasting through the chamber was meant to simulate the extreme heat generated by flying faster than Mach 6. In all, the team at Langley would repeat this test 44 times. "We tested it at Mach 4.6, 5.0 and 6.5," says Curtis Berger, the X-51A program manager at PWR. "The amount of time that this thing was actually running and creating thrust was just about 17.8 minutes." He pauses to let that sink in. "Over 17 minutes of time on this engine. That's a lot of time for a scramjet engine."

To put things in context, the world's fastest jet, the Air Force's SR-71 Blackbird spy plane, set a speed record of Mach 3.3 in 1990 when it flew from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., in just over an hour. That's about the limit for jet engines; the fastest fighter planes barely crack Mach 1.6. Scramjets, on the other hand, can theoretically fly as fast as Mach 15—nearly 10,000 mph.

This could mean two-hour flights from New York to Sydney. It could also mean missiles capable of hitting targets on another continent at a moment's notice, and when you put it that way, it's not surprising that militaries around the world—the U.S., Australia, China and perhaps others—are trying to build them. After decades on the drawing board, it seems scramjet technology is finally about to arrive.

A Match in a Hurricane
Ordinary jets have a major limitation: They can't go faster than Mach 3 without their turbine blades melting. Rocket ships can reach Mach 25, but they have to carry tremendous amounts of liquid oxygen to burn their fuel. The space shuttle, for example, weighs only 165,000 pounds empty, but it must carry 226,000 pounds of liquid hydrogen and 1.4 million pounds of liquid oxygen to reach orbit.

An air-breathing jet engine with no moving, meltable parts, such as a scramjet, can solve these problems. A scramjet is an advanced form of a "ramjet," an engine that takes the air rushing into the engine and "rams" it into the combustion chamber, creating intense pressures that can sustain combustion at the furious rate that Mach-3-plus speeds demand. But ramjets have limits too. The air entering the engine has to be slowed to subsonic speeds for it to run efficiently. And that air is so hot that no matter what measures are taken to cool it, a ramjet-powered craft must stay under Mach 5 to keep from disintegrating.

But a scramjet—a "supersonic combustion ramjet"—changes things. A scramjet does away with the diffuser that a ramjet uses to slow down incoming air, allowing the air to move through the engine at supersonic speeds so it can fly above Mach 5. The tradeoff: A scramjet engine in flight is a delicate system. Achieving balanced combustion at those speeds is an engineering challenge often compared to keeping a match lit in a hurricane.

So far, the most public scramjet project has been the National Aerospace Plane, or NASP. Unfortunately, it was a spectacular failure. Announcing the project in his 1986 State of the Union address, President Reagan called it "a new Orient Express" that would be able to reach Tokyo from Dulles Airport in two hours; the goal was to have it running by the late 1990s. NASP was meant to be all things to all customers—America's next space shuttle as well as the Air Force's next bomber and the next big thing in passenger travel. But by 1994, it appeared that research had stalled, and President Clinton canceled NASP. That might have been a good thing. "We didn't stop our research," says Charlie Brink, a scramjet program manager at the Propulsion Directorate at the Air Force Research Laboratory. "We reevaluated it and said: Now that we're not trying to make a Mach-0-to-25 vehicle take off from a runway, let's take the technical problem and break it down into more manageable chunks."

"What you're seeing now is a transition of the technology out of the laboratories into the flight-test domain," says David Van Wie, a scramjet research scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Armed with a new understanding of hypersonic aerodynamics and air-breathing propulsion, Van Wie says, "it's really to the point that people who work in the field feel they're ready to take the steps into flight test, experimentation and demonstration."

Escape from the Lab
In 2002, Australian researchers with the HyShot program at the University of Queensland's Centre for Hypersonics made history by conducting the world's first scramjet "flight." They strapped a small scramjet engine into the nose cone of a solid-fuel rocket and launched it to the edge of space. Then, some 200 miles up, the rocket dropped off, the scramjet shed its protective fairing and, as planned, nosed over and plummeted back toward Earth at thousands of miles an hour. At an altitude of 20 miles, the scramjet engine kicked in, firing for five seconds and reaching Mach 7.6, or more than 5,000 mph, before slamming into the ground. It wasn't graceful, but it was a historic achievement and a scientific success—a low-cost way to gather data from a scramjet while subjecting it to brutal heat and incredible velocity outside of a wind tunnel.

Nick Kaloterakis

How to go really, really fast isn't the only problem facing the designers of hypersonic vehicles. Thermal management—that is, making sure your aircraft doesn't melt while doing Mach 10 —is a huge challenge, and one that will drive the design of any scramjet-powered craft. Here are a few of the ways engineers hope to solve that and other problems.

Since then, a loose federation of researchers from NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, Darpa and the University of Queensland, working on a variety of projects, has conducted a number of tests outside the lab. So far, no engine has pulled off more than a few seconds of sustained flight. But there have been major breakthroughs along the way. In 2004, NASA's unmanned X-43A—a disposable, rocket-boosted craft that was launched from a moving airplane—reached Mach 9.6, setting the world speed record for a jet-powered aircraft. It took only 10 seconds of scramjet power to get it up to that speed. And HyCause, the program that succeeded HyShot, conducted tests in Australia last summer that reached Mach 10, but only for three seconds.

A scramjet that can stay lit for several minutes could power a hypersonic long-range missile. That, at least, is the idea behind a joint Darpa and Navy project called Hypersonics Flight Demonstration, or HyFly. Last fall, the program carried out the latest in a series of test flights in which a scramjet was dropped from an F-15 fighter jet off Point Mugu in California and boosted to operating speed by rocket. The goal was to reach Mach 6 and keep the scramjet going for 100 seconds or more. (It didn't make it that time, but the tests will continue, program officials say.)

A HyCause rocket with a scramjet
engine on its nose takes off.
Chris Stacey/University of Queensland

A payload-carrying, piloted craft that can take off and land under its own power will need an engine that can produce power for a lot longer than 100 seconds, though. Breaking that barrier is the goal of the X-51A Flight Test Program, whose engineers spent much of last year torching its X-1 engine design in Langley's high-temperature test tunnel. So far, the X-1 has had to take more punishment than any scramjet engine ever built. It's made of a steel-nickel alloy that stays strong up to 2,100°F, and its leading edges are coated in a heat-resistant carbon mesh. Even these materials aren't enough, though, so the X-1's engineers borrowed a technique from rocket designers, who typically circulate fuel—in this case, the same petroleum-based jet fuel that powered the SR-71—along channels within the engine's walls before it enters the combustor. This both cools the 3,000°F-plus combustor and preconditions the fuel, turning it into a hot gas that packs 10 percent more energy than it does in liquid form.

The X-51A's target is five minutes of uninterrupted scramjet-powered flight. If it works, longer-burning scramjets should quickly follow. "The five minutes of flight we're talking about is not limited by the propulsion system," Berger says. "That's just how much gas we have in the tank." On a modified vehicle with a bigger gas tank, that five minutes could easily turn into an hour or longer. And that, says Mike McKeon, PWR's manager of Hypersonic and Advanced Programs, is key. "This engine has demonstrated that the propulsion technology is ready for application," he says of the X-1. "It's no longer in the research-technology mode." Next-generation engines based on the X-1 are already being built at PWR's plant in Florida.

With any luck, sometime in 2009, the X51-A will shatter all previous records for sustained scramjet ignition. The PWR team imagines that a B-52 bomber will take off from Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, head toward the coast and, at 45,000 feet, drop the X-51A from the plane. A solid-fuel rocket attached to the X-51A will fire, blasting it up to 60,000 feet and past Mach 4.5, and then drop off to let the scramjet ignite. For five minutes, the scramjet will accelerate the X-51A to a peak speed past Mach 6 and an altitude above 80,000 feet. Then it will fly into the Pacific, its data safely telemetered to engineers on the ground. The test will also mark the moment when scramjets move from flash-in-the-pan science experiments to useful tools. "This is an airplane," Berger emphasizes, "not just something where you light a scramjet and fire it and see where it goes. This is really beyond something you might do for a weapon application. The whole idea is to prove the practicality of a free-flying, scalable, scramjet-powered vehicle."

The Real Race Begins
The first true reusable, free-flying scramjet could be Darpa's HTV-3X. Also known as Blackswift, the unmanned vehicle looks like an alien spaceship, with black curves, a rapier-like prow and oval exhaust ports. It's still only in the planning stages as part of Darpa's Falcon program, but it could represent the biggest breakthrough in aeronautics since the jet engine itself. It will demonstrate for the first time all the technologies needed for a practical scramjet-powered aircraft by taking off and landing under its own power and running on scramjets as long as needed to complete its mission.

The HTV-3x could make its inaugural flight as early as 2012. Here's how a perfect mission would go: The unmanned craft taxis out of a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base. Its twin conventional turbine engines throttle up before it accelerates down the runway and climbs into the desert sky, followed closely by a chase plane. The chase plane keeps pace until shortly after the unmanned craft hits the speed of sound. At Mach 2, doors just within the jets' inlets close off the turbines and open the airflow to the scramjet engines, which fire out of the same nozzles used by the turbine jets. On the ground, engineers watch their bird hit Mach 6, twice as fast as any turbine- jet-powered craft ever built. The test completed, the craft slows to subsonic speed, switches to turbine jets, and lands back at Edwards, mission accomplished.

Darpa officials are keeping quiet about Blackswift for now. Spokesperson Jan Walker says no project engineers could give interviews for this article because "it's a very busy time for the program." But Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is already at work on the engine that HTV-3X will use—a combined-cycle turbine-scramjet engine—and although Lockheed Martin won't confirm it, the company's famously secretive Skunk Works division is widely believed to be building the vehicle itself.

Meanwhile, there's competition. Last July, engineers from China showed up at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Joint Propulsion Conference in Cincinnati and revealed a growing scramjet research program of their own, including a new hypersonic wind tunnel in Beijing and work on rocket-powered combined-cycle scramjets. None of the American scramjet experts we talked to would discuss their reactions to the Chinese revelations. But Craig Covault, an editor at Aviation Week & Space Technology who reported on the conference, believes one of the main reasons the Chinese attended was to glean all available intel on Western scramjet research. "I would bet that they have a serious research program under way that has a lot more going on than just the few papers that they issued at this forum," Covault says. "The reason that they issued them was just kind of a message to the rest of the world that they are engaged in these high-tech things. It also allowed them to get the 500 or more other papers in propulsion technology of all kinds delivered at the conference."

Scramjet projects have failed before, and some of the initiatives under way today could fail too. But many researchers say that this time around, scramjets are for real. "Advanced propulsion technology has a development timescale that appears to be on the order of decades," says Johns Hopkins's Van Wie. "The first scientific paper on rockets was published in 1903, and rockets became practical during World War II, 40-some years later." He points to a seminal conference in 1960 during which researchers first hashed out the major challenges to building practical scramjets. "So if you look at that—1960 to now, 47 years or so—it's kind of on the same timescale to see this roll out." In other words, that two-hour flight to Tokyo just might be leaving sooner than you think.

See more pictures of the test program in action, launch the gallery here.

Haunted Places in the Philippines

2007-12-16T19:29:00.000-08:00

Philippines has many haunted places where ghosts and paranormal activities manifest.

A place is considered to be haunted when the presence of spirits such as ghosts of dead people is at a very high level.

Meaning they could always manifest anytime of the day - day and night times.

The hauntings could be the result of a tragic history of a certain place where tens and hundreds of souls were trapped in the area.

There are famous haunted places in the Philippines that could be the subjects of paranormal investigations.

Baguio City - Diplomat Hotel - This was a Seminary during the early 1900, world war 2 came and several priest and nuns were killed some of them beheaded by japanese occupying forces. This was converted into a hotel after the war. In it self it was pretty eerie, big rooms with to king size beds bibles at the side tables and the rooms are dimly lit. Clerks, bell hops, and hotel guest, complain of wailing even during day time, and when night comes, apparitions of headless priest roam the corridors, some even say that they see ghost carrying their heads on a platter. Haunting s are not limited inside the hotel for when you stroll outside the compound you would see neighboring houses with crosses painted on their doors and windows, and are kept shut when darkness falls.

Baguio City - Philippine Military Academy - Several ghosts haunt this place. Sometimes late at night a platoon can be heard marching in the parade grounds. A ghost of a cadet dressed in parade uniform and left in one of the lockers still appears. A ghost of a priest who was beheaded during the Japanese occupation period appears here as well as the ghost of a white lady.

Baguio City - Teacher's Camp - It is believed that this was once a battlefield of the native citizens there. Ghosts of native warriors, as well as spirits that are still restless, are reportedly seen there.

Corregidor - Hospital Ruins, and bunkers - Sounds of activities can be heard within the area of the hospital ruins, which were destroyed during WW2, sounds such as footsteps, and rumblings of normal hospital activities. Around the bunker area, sounds of ghostly moans can be heard, assorted noises as well.

Corregidor - Malinta Tunnel - Witnesses report eerie sounds and seeing a spirit near by.

Davao City - Juna Subdivision - Champaca Street - ghosts caught on video and seen by the naked eye.

Diliman Teacher's Village - Claret School qc - Many stories were spread since 97 the first was the high school student who jumped from the 5th floor to the ground that appears when the area is silent and the 2nd is the headless priest. That school is said to be an old cemetery.

Espana - Manila - University of Santo Tomas - Ghosts and wailing voices are heard from the 3rd and 2nd floars of UST Main Building. Since this is the oldest building in the oldest Catholic university in the Philippines, it is undoubted that some Spanish friars and Filipino souls were tormented and killed in this place.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - This school was founded by American Missionaries and during WW2 many of the missionaries were executed by the Japanese.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Football Field - A female ghost is said to be seen jogging on the tracks early in the morning. She is said to join you while you are jogging and strikes up a conversation and will disappear after she passes a certain spot. Several students, teachers, and the school president have reported jogging with her.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Ruby Hall - A school janitor as well as students and teachers have reported that wile passing by the building at night after it is locked down, one classrooms lights would always be turned on while everything else is shut off. They have reported strange imp like creatures running around the classroom. This is one of the most haunted halls in the university. This is a medical hall and it houses several cadavers for the use of the med. students. From cold spots and moving furniture, to sometimes being pushed or tripped while walking.

Iloilo City - Central Philippine University (CPU) - Valentine Hall - The ghost of a dead female student haunts the women’s restroom, several female students since the early 70's have reported seeing her. The ghost is usually seen during noon. Classes have been interrupted because of screams from the girls. According to the students she appears behind them while they are looking in the mirror while doing their make up or fixing their hair. The ghost of Rev. Valentine who was beheaded can be seen on certain nights standing at the entrance of the hall dedicated to him. The ghost is reported to be headless.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Balete Drive - Balete Drive is a residential area famous for the apparition of a white lady. It is told that there was a teenage girl who was raped by a cab driver in the 50s in that area. It is possible that the lady of Balete is seeking revenge. Never walk alone at night in eerie Balete Drive.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - on the 2nd floor ladies comfort room of the caritas building a nun haunts the bathroom and is said to peak over the stall while girls are using the bathroom. A face can be seen when you look above the door, but there are no feet when you look below the door

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - CSC - there was also this "manananggal" that lives there. It used to be a student that was hit by a car inside the campus. Rumors are that every school fair, someone faints.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - Immaculate Heart Of Mary Hall - One witness claims that when they where in Grade 3 encountered that a spirit scratched her ankle when they were doing the 99 steps. And then, when she came back to the corridor, she was crying. And then she told us all to cover our nametags and never shout our name until class time.

Katipunan - Quezon City - Miriam College - Miriam Of Nazareth Hall - in the Grade 2 bathroom, there was this girl who was washing her hands, and there was a demon that came out of the toilet bowl. The girl prayed hard but nothing happened.

Katipunan - Quezon City - University of the Philippines Diliman - Ghosts sightings at the College of Education, College of Science Library, Palma Hall, College of Mass Communication, UP Main Library.

Makati City - Asian Institute of Management - A Professor died of a heart attack a few years ago in one of lecture rooms on the third floor of the main building. There are voices; shadows and cold spots can be felt in that specific room where the professor died. His car remains in the faculty parking area even until now.

Makati City - International School Manila (Former Campus) - Fine Arts Theatre - One year, one of the high school students was acting as the stage manager for the Community Play. The theatre was already uncomfortable for her when it was dark, but one night, on her way out, she was leaving through the front doors of the auditorium, something she couldn't see followed her up the aisle. Very aggressive, very menacing and very scary. She ran out the door just in time as they slammed shut behind her. Suffice it to say, she never stayed in the theater alone again.

Manila - Arellano high school - there are spirits mostly seen by the students and teachers because when a building in front of the school collapsed by an earthquake many years ago, the remains were placed in the said school. so the spirits were staying in that place.

Manila - De La Salle University - A chapel located on the 2nd floor of the De La Salle University -main Building is haunted by several ghosts said to be the victims of a mass killing during World War II. They start haunting the place when evening has crept in and the area is already silent. Sightings of headless monks and screams of people are being heard there during rainy nights.

Manila - Film Center - When the construction of Film Center at the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex was rushed in the early 1980s for a film fest, the ceiling scaffolding collapsed killing several workmen who fell to the orchestra below. Rather than halt construction to rescue survivors and retrieve the bodies of dead workmen, cement was poured into the orchestra, entombing the fallen workmen. Some of them were buried alive in the orchestra. Various ghostly activities were reported on the site including mysterious sounds, voices and poltergeist activity. In the late 1990s a group called the Spirit Questors began to make visits to the film center in an attempt to contact and appease the souls of the workmen who were killed in the building. Some of these spirits claimed to have moved on but a few allegedly remain.

Manila - Ozone Disco - Once there was a disco there and it caught on fire people tried to get out but people were pushing and panicking so no one got out. Some people hear disco music in their houses at night and see faint people dancing and no one can explain how.

Manila - Rizal Park area - Near the Rizal Park in Manila has the angry spirits of dead Japanese soldiers in the ruins of a building outside of the park. many Japanese soldiers died in the building when it was blasted. Reports of a cold presence and menacing feelings.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - An overgrown black bird with powerful wings can be heard circling the village whenever there's a pregnant woman. It's wings are so powerful that you'll sometimes feel like its windy but only on the place where you're standing at.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Bernadette St. - From 12 midnight onwards, a lot of tricycle drivers have already encountered the white lady who loves to get a free ride. More often, this lady would be sitting beside the driver. Other times, a red lady is said to roam around the area following people who dread to walk this haunted street at night.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Clemence Street - Another white lady haunts St. Clemence Street where her hair stands up and appears to be very angry.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. George Street - At St. George Street you can sometimes hear someone calling you but the voice is hidden in the tall grasses beside the street.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Joseph - a mysterious headless priest is said to haunt the playground and the hill beside it.

Muntinlupa - San Jose Village - St. Peter’s Street - Ghostly apparitions of people partying near an old cave at St. Peter's Street can be seen during unholy hours from 12mn to 3am.

San Juan Greenhills - Resalest educational center - A principal who haunts the students and stole money from them, people said that the haunted principal is a greedy ghost who lives in that school.

Source: http://theshadowlands.net/places/philippines.htm

The First Image of Santa Claus

2007-12-16T15:14:00.000-08:00

Thomas Nast (1840-1902), was the man who first drew the popular image of Santa Claus as portrayed in many stories for the past generations of man on earth.

The first illustration appeared in the January 3, 1863 edition of Harper's Weekly, and shows Santa Claus visiting a Civil War Camp. In the background of the illustration, a sign can be seen that reads "Welcome Santa Claus."

The illustration shows Santa handing out gifts to children and soldiers. One soldier receives a new pair of socks, which would no doubt be one of the most wonderful things a soldier of the time could receive.

Santa is pictured sitting on his sleigh, which is being pulled by reindeer. Santa is pictured with a long white beard, a furry hat, collar and belt. We can see that many of our modern perceptions of Santa Claus are demonstrated in the 141 year old print.

Thomas Nast, the man who, along with Clement Moore, created our current image of Santa Claus, was featured in the New Yorker magazine (December 15, 1997).

Here is an excerpt (pp. 84-102) from the article by Adam Gopnik.

"Like so many of the great makers of nineteenth-century American art, Nast was a foreigner. He was born in 1840 in the little German town of Landau . His father was a musician, who played trombone in a military band. He was also a liberal of the great generation of 1848 and, with his family, he fled reaction to come to New York . Nast was a pure product of the German-American culture that in many ways dominated New York then, and still survives, in fragments, up around East Eighty-sixth Street . It was a culture built around sacredness of concert music, particularly Beethoven (Nast's father was a member of the Philharmonic Society, and, odd as it seems now, after a hundred years of darker views of Germanness, around a sense of comfort that eventually produced the American cult of Christmas. In Nast's generation, it was the Germans who brought warmth and music to a parched and tinny American Protestantism.

"More important, Nast remained a German artist in the same manner that Audubon remained French. He had a distinctly German combination of liberal feeling and prim, self-righteous Protestant offense at excess; it is not always easy to separate the anti-corruption from the anti-Catholic feeling in his mature cartooning."
Below is Nast's most famous drawing, "Merry Old Santa Claus," from Harper's Weekly, January 1, 1881

Source: http://www.billcasselman.com/wintergram_archive/nast_santa.htm

Who is Santa Claus?

2007-12-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

People are always asking about Santa Claus. Was he existed on this planet? Was he really the person as portrayed in many stories, a fat bearded man riding a flying sleigh with reindeers, distributing gifts to people during Christmas eve?

As early as 4th Century, there is somehow a real story about Santa Claus

Origin of Santa Claus:

4th century: There are two main, incompatible belief systems about St. Nicholas:

Among Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants, there is a near universal belief that St. Nicholas of Bari once lived in Asia Minor, and died in either 345 or 352 CE. The Catholic Information Network speculates that he was probably born in Patara in the province of Myra in Asia Minor; this is apparently based on the belief that he later became bishop of Myra in Lycia (now Turkey). ₈. He is alleged to have attended the first council of Nicea; however, his name does not appear on lists of attending bishops. He is honored as a Patron Saint in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sicily, and Switzerland. ₂He is also considered the patron saint of children and sailors.

Many legends and miracles are attributed to him:

	When he was an infant, his mother only nursed him on Wednesdays and Fridays; he fasted the remaining days.
	He halted a storm at sea in order to save three drowning sailors.
	During his lifetime, he adored children and often threw gifts anonymously into the windows of their homes.
	His father left him a fortune which he used to help poor children.
	He grabbed the sword of an executioner to save the life of a political prisoner.
	He brought back to life several children who had been killed.

Some religious historians and experts in folklore believe that there is no valid evidence to indicate that St. Nicholas ever existed as a human. In fact, there are quite a few indicators that his life story was simply recycled from those of Pagan gods. Many other ancient Pagan gods and goddesses were similarly Christianized in the early centuries of the Church. His legends seems to have been mainly created out of myths attributed to the Greek God Poseidon, the Roman God Neptune, and the Teutonic God Hold Nickar. "In the popular imagination [of many Russians] he became the heir of Mikoula, the god of harvest, 'who will replace God, when God becomes too old.' " ₈

When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon's title "the Sailor." They seem to have picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas. ₁"In medieval England... in tiny sea ports we find the typical little chapel built on an eminence and looking out to sea." ₈ St. Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of "The Grandmother" or Befana from Italy. She was said to have filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari was also converted into a shrine to St. Nicholas.

The Christian church created a fictional life history for St. Nicholas. He was given the name Hagios Nikolaos (a.k.a. St. Nicholas of Myra).

10^th century: The Christian author Metaphrastes collected and wrote many traditional legends about St. Nicholas.

11^th century: The Roman Catholic Church teaches that during the Muslim invasion of Asia Minor, his remains were transferred to Bari in Italy, where he became known as Nicholas of Bari.

19th century: St. Nicholas was superseded in much of Europe by Christkindlein, the Christ child, who delivered gifts in secret to the children. He traveled with a dwarf-like helper called Pelznickel (a.k.a. Belsnickle) or with St. Nicholas-like figures. Eventually, all three were combined into the image that we now know as Santa Claus. "Christkindlein" became Kriss Kringle.

Before the communist revolution, large numbers of Russian Orthodox pilgrims came to Bari to visit St Nicholas' tomb. "He and St Andrew the apostle are the patrons of Russia." ₈

Present day:

	Throughout many countries in Europe, St. Nicholas/Santa distributes gifts to the children on DEC-5, the eve of his feast day. In some countries, the gifts come at another time during Advent or on Christmas eve.
	In Germany, Weinachtsmann (Christmas man) is a helper of the Christkind (Christ Child)
	In France, Père Noël distributes the gifts.
	In Russia, under the influence of communism, St. Nicolas evolved into the secular Father Frost. He distributes toys to children on New Year's Eve. ₃
	In England, Father Christmas delivers the presents. He is shown with holly, ivy or mistletoe.
	In Scandinavian countries, the ancient Pagan Yule goat has transmuted into Joulupukki - similar to the American Santa.
	In North America, Santa Claus rules, thanks to a certain brand of soda.
	According to Roman Catholic church, his body is said to have not decomposed. In his shrine in Bari, Italy, it is believed by many pilgrims to exude a sweet smelling odor which cures medical disorders and illnesses.

History of Santa in America:

Santa Claus can be traced back for four centuries in the U.S.:

	1600's: The Puritans made it illegal to mention St. Nicolas' name. People were not allowed to exchange gifts, light a candle, or sing Christmas carols.
	17th century: Dutch immigrants brought with them the legend of Sinter Klaas.
	1773: Santa first appeared in the media as St. A Claus.
	1804: The New York Historical Society was founded with St. Nicolas as its patron saint. Its members engaged in the Dutch practice of gift-giving at Christmas.
	1809: Washington Irving, writing under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker, included Saint Nicolas in his book "A History of New York." Nicolas is described as riding into town on a horse.
	1812: Irving, revised his book to include Nicolas riding over the trees in a wagon.
	1821: William Gilley printed a poem about "Santeclaus" who was dressed in fur and drove a sleigh drawn by a single reindeer.
	1822: Dentist Clement Clarke Moore is believed by many to have written a poem "An Account of a Visit from Saint Nicolas," which became better known as "The Night before Christmas." Santa is portrayed as an elf with a miniature sleigh equipped with eight reindeer which are named in the poem as Blitzem, Comet, Cupid, Dancer, Dasher, Donder, Prancer, and Vixen. Others attribute the poem to a contemporary, Henry Livingston, Jr. Two have since been renamed Donner and Blitzen.
	1841: J.W. Parkinson, a Philadelphia merchant, hired a man to dress up in a "Criscringle" outfit and climb the chimney of his store.
	1863: Illustrator Thomas Nast created images of Santa for the Christmas editions of Harper's Magazine. These continued through the 1890's.
	1860s: President Abraham Lincoln asked Nast to create a drawing of Santa with some Union soldiers. This image of Santa supporting the enemy had a demoralizing influence on the Confederate army -- an early example of psychological warfare.
	1897: Francis P Church, Editor of the New York Sun, wrote an editorial in response to a letter from an eight year-old girl, Virginia O'Hanlon. She had written the paper asking whether there really was a Santa Claus. It has become known as the "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" letter. ₄
	1920's: The image of Santa had been standardized to portray a bearded, over-weight, jolly man dressed in a red suit with white trim. ₅
	1931: Haddon Sundblom, illustrator for The Coca-Cola ™ company drew a series of Santa images in their Christmas advertisements until 1964. The company holds the trademark for the Coca-Cola Santa design. Christmas ads including Santa continue to the present day.
	1939 Copywriter Robert L. May of the Montgomery Ward Company created a poem about Rudolph, the ninth reindeer. May had been "often taunted as a child for being shy, small and slight." He created an ostracized reindeer with a shiny red nose who became a hero one foggy Christmas eve. Santa was part-way through deliveries when the visibility started to degenerate. Santa added Rudolph to his team of reindeer to help illuminate the path. A copy of the poem was given free to Montgomery Ward customers. ₆
	1949: Johnny Marks wrote the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Rudolph was relocated to the North Pole where he was initially rejected by the other reindeer who wouldn't let him play in their reindeer games because of his strange looking nose. The song was recorded by Gene Autry and became his all-time best seller. Next to "White Christmas" it is the most popular song of all time.
	1993: An urban folk tale began to circulate about a Japanese department store displaying a life-sized Santa Claus being crucified on a cross. It never happened.
	1997: Artist Robert Cenedella drew a painting of a crucified Santa Claus. It was displayed in the window of the New York's Art Students League and received intense criticism from some religious groups. His drawing was a protest. He attempted to show how Santa Claus had replaced Jesus Christ as the most important personality at Christmas time.

source: http://www.religioustolerance.org/santa1.htm

Swarm of Comets Could Lead to Catastrophe

2007-11-29T14:23:00.000-08:00

Planetary alignments including those swarm of comets are believed to be have influence with Earth's planetary condition.

But normally, these influences could lead to catastrophic events such as earthquakes, tsunamis, storms and natural calamities.

Three comets 17P/Holmes, 8P/Tuttle, and Boattini are in alignment December 18-31, 2007, and which, according to the ancient calculations of the Persian Magi, presages violent Earth upheavals, of which the last such alignment occurred on December 26, 2004, during which the catastrophic Great Earthquake and Tsunami occurred costing the lives of over 250,000 human beings.

More about this article: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1050.htm

Famed NASA Astronaut confirms Extraterrestrials are Here

2007-11-15T04:54:00.000-08:00

Printed in The Canadian
Thursday 15. Nov 2007

by Clark C. McClelland, former ScO, U.S. Space Shuttle Fleet,
KSC, Florida 1958 to 1992

Space Shuttle Columbia during STS-80 took a crew of five astronauts into a 17 day, 15 hour and 54 minute mission around the earth, the longest flight in the history of this vehicle. During this lengthy flight a very strange event occurred that even had crewman Dr. Story Musgrave unable to explain what he observed from the shuttle windows.

A large disc shaped object appeared below the Columbia. The shuttle was approximately, 190 Nautical miles high.

The disc was first observed to miraculously appear from out of nowhere, flying through the clouds below and progressing from right to left as the astronauts stared in utter amazement. The outer rim of the craft appeared to be rotating counter-clockwise. It was very large (compared to common space junk and breakaway ice), approximately 50 to 150 feet in diameter.

There seems to be more and more articles coming to light... I think we are in for a wave of disclosures and sighting reports...

A further quote in the article...

During an earlier interview, Dr. Musgrave stated he attempted to communicate with ET life forms during each of his six missions. He actually asked them to take him with them. Now that's an astronaut with a lot of courage. Dr. Musgrave retired after this flight from NASA. Since then he's been spreading his considered opinion that alien life exists. When Musgrave speaks of this, it's no great leap for one to assume he's admitting knowledge of alien life. As the final slide of a "Grey" ET was shown during a recent astronomy presentation by Dr. Musgrave, he made this surprising comment: "These guys are real... I guarantee it!" Dr. Musgrave does know the truth. This author guarantees it!

More about this: http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread315558/pg1

New UFO Sightings Classification

2007-10-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

A new classification for UFO sightings have been proposed in 1999 and I would see it useful for those who encounter these odd flying objects.

The original article about this was posted in rense.com

http://www.rense.com/ufo5/newufoguide.htm

New UFO Classification Guide Proposed 11-28-99

Hello Jeff If you find this report as worthwhile as we like to think it is, please post this on your newspage. We would be most grateful to you, mate! With gratitude for your dedicated success, Mike Farrell & Barry Taylor UFO Researchers New South Wales, Australia 11-28-99 _____ PROPOSAL FOR NEW "UFO CLASSIFICATION GUIDELINE" FOR 2000 As the Director of Project GUFONE 2000, (Global UFO NewsVideo Exchange): A growing problem with describing UFO sightings has been brought to my attention. Many researchers, journalists, magazine publishers, television networks, and video producers are still using vague and often contradictory terms when classifying UFO sightings. As we welcome the dawn of a new millennium, the time has come to update and clarify the terms we use as researchers to describe and classify sightings of UFO's. All during the nineties, and especially in the last year or two, we have seen a dramatic increase in new and different kinds of objects captured on amateur and professional video tape. And yet our language has not progressed enough to keep up with the increased number and diversity of UFO's caught on tape. We are still using vague "old" terms to describe a variety of new and sometimes subtle differences in UFO sightings. Credit for this timely proposal must go to Barry Taylor, (Australian Independent UFO Researcher and Skywatcher) who has recently captured UFO "clusters" on video, that defy description by currently misused terms. Visit Barry's Homepage to see stills of the new true "cluster" UFO's. http://www.nor.com.au/users/stingray/latesite.htm Please consider the following proposal by Barry Taylor for general and accepted usage. Thank You for your consideration and feedback, Mike Farrell http://www.fan.net.au/~tkbnetw/new/mikes.htm http://www.flex.com.au/~eagle1/in8.htm _____ PROPOSAL FOR NEW "UFO CLASSIFICATION GUIDELINE" Because of the many Researchers around the world using video footage to educate and inform other researchers and the general population of these events through Video Productions, Print Media, Seminars, Conferences and over the Internet, we now need to eliminate the evident confusion when describing individual UFO sightings, particularly multiple object sightings. Most descriptions of UFO sightings are self explanatory, but some confusion has arisen determining the difference between "Clusters", "Group Formations", "Triangle", "Boomerang" and "V" formations, and this is what is proposed to remedy. Once we determine an accepted "UFO Classification Guideline", we will then instantly recognise each UFO sighting report as fitting the appropriate category. This is an essential requirement for accurate record keeping, report filing and verbal description when relaying the information to others. The suggested individual classifications that follow, are derived from personal observations and study of all those listed except the "Triangle Craft".... 1) SINGLE OBJECT Visual features described. (see "Object description" below.) 2) GROUP Two (2) or more objects, with noticeable space between them, in random formation, and sometimes change position within the group in relation to the other object/s. 3) GROUP FORMATION Multiple objects with noticeable space between them, that maintain their position within the group throughout the sighting and because of their positioning, appear to form random patterns. 4) TRIANGLE OBJECT An individual three sided solid object that may have an illumination at each corner when seen at night. 5) TRIANGLE FORMATION Three (3) individual objects spaced out to form a triangle shape and moving in the one direction. 6) BOOMERANG FORMATION Multiple objects with noticeable space between them, positioned in such a way as to form a slightly bent line or typical 'Boomerang' shape, and all objects moving as one within the formation in the one direction. 7) BOOMERANG CRAFT A single solid object of boomerang shape that may have multiple illuminations forming the shape. (Sometimes difficult to establish between single object or formation of individual objects unless outline of craft is established.) 8) "V" FORMATION A tight "V" formation of multiple individual objects, with noticeable space between them, moving 'as one unit' as if 'locked' into the formation. NOTE Individual objects within the "Boomerang" and "V" formations are often surrounded by a white hazy illumination. This is due to the ionisation of the air surrounding the object. This can give the false impression that the formation is actually a single large object, and should be noted by those responsible for recording such reports. 9) CLUSTERS Multiple single objects, with NO noticeable space between objects and grouped so closely together that they appear like a "bunch of grapes" or "frogs eggs", even balloons tied together, and move together as a 'tight unit.' The objects within these 'clusters' constantly 'roll and tumble' around one another. Further information: This is a unique feature of these rare 'cluster' UFO's and appear to be new to the scene. This is the main reason why we now have to establish universal "UFO Classification Guidelines," so as to make room for new features we see in UFO multiple object sightings. The 'CLUSTER' classification as described above should be kept for that specific type of UFO description, because it appears that a specific type of UFO forms this cluster group. Any multiple UFO sighting where the objects are so close together that they appear to be touching one another, could be classified as a 'cluster.' And if the description does not fit the 'cluster' description above, than 'close group' classification should be used so as not to confuse non-cluster sightings with 'true' cluster sightings. The special features that the 'CLUSTER' as described above have shown, make this a 'stand alone' classification for that type of event. The type of objects within these 'clusters' are a unique type of object. They are not discs, plasma balls or structured craft as some may imagine. They are an 'Earth light' type energy sphere, orange, blue, white and sometimes with unusual black objects included. So this makes these 'clusters' unique, and an important study within themselves. These CLUSTERS have been Videoed my Tom King and Chris Miller in the U.S.A., Barry Taylor in Australia and an anonymous person in Korea. The Mexican footage has been mistakenly (for description purposes only) been called clusters, but are in fact "GROUP FORMATIONS" (see classification above) There is footage from Mexico showing a line of objects side-by-side which could be classified as a "LINE CLUSTER" (I would prefer "LINE GROUP" -B.T.). But if this line of objects was slightly bent and maintained that form, it would be called a "BOOMERANG FORMATION". There will always be some sightings that will not quite seem to fit any identical description, so we will have to improvise. But by using a "Guideline" such as we are trying to establish here, all basic multiple object sightings will fit a determined criteria. OBJECT DESCRIPTION Most object descriptions have been established and are self explanatory. SPHERE A round ball shaped solid object, either metallic or glowing. OBOL A round ball shaped illumination, either orange, white or any colour, that does not appear to be a solid object but a "Plasma". PLASMA A self contained illumination not appearing solid. The illumination appears to have depth and can sometimes change shape and 'switch off' to disappear. The light does not reflect or beam onto nearby surfaces like trees and ground. Object outline is defined and fuzzy. RADIANT PLASMA Bright illumination from solid object featuring 'spikes' similar to stars. When these objects are video taped, the colour is 'washed out' and shown as a 'flash' of colour underneath the silvery object. ('flash' colour depends on radiant plasma colour) Your input is welcome in clarification of this terminology. Please notify if you agree as written. Barry Taylor http://www.nor.com.au/users/stingray/

GOD Responds to Lawsuit

2007-09-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.

"This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here – poof!" Friend said.

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha sued God last week, seeking a permanent injunction against the Almighty for making terroristic threats, inspiring fear and causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Chambers, a self-proclaimed agnostic who often criticizes Christians, said his filing was triggered by a federal lawsuit he considers frivolous. He said he's trying to makes the point that anybody can sue anybody.

Not so, says "God." His response argues that the defendant is immune from some earthly laws and the court lacks jurisdiction.

It adds that blaming God for human oppression and suffering misses an important point.

"I created man and woman with free will and next to the promise of immortal life, free will is my greatest gift to you," according to the response, as read by Friend.

There was no contact information on the filing, although St. Michael the Archangel is listed as a witness, Friend said.

A second response from "God" disputing Chambers' allegations lists a phone number for a Corpus Christi law office. A message left for that office was not immediately returned Thursday.

Attempts to reach Chambers by phone and at his Capitol office Thursday were unsuccessful.

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/ap/article.html?mi=D8RPJGMG0&apc=9024

Nebraska State Senator Sues God Over Natural Disasters

2007-09-20T02:35:00.000-07:00

Nebraska Democratic State Senator Ernie Chambers has decided to go straight to the top in an effort to stop natural disasters from befalling the world.

Chambers filed a lawsuit against God in Douglas County Court Friday afternoon, KPTM Fox 42 reported.

Click here for more from KPTM Fox 42 in Omaha.

The suit asks for a "permanent injunction ordering Defendant to cease certain harmful activities and the making of terroristic threats."

The lawsuit identifies the plaintiff as, "the duly elected and serving State Senator from the 11th Legislative District in Omaha, Nebraska."

Chambers also cites that the, "defendant directly and proximately has caused, inter alia, fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornados, pestilential plagues..."

Chambers says he isn't suing God because he has any kind of beef with the deity. He says the suit is to fight possible laws restricting the filing of frivolous lawsuits. Chambers tells KPTM FOX 42 News that his lawsuit is in response to bills brought forth by other state senators to try and stop lawsuits from being filed.

"The Constitution requires that the courthouse doors be open, so you cannot prohibit the filing of suits," Chambers says. "Anyone can sue anyone they choose, even God."
Chambers bases his ability to sue God, as, "that defendant, being omnipresent, is personally present in Douglas County."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297121,00.html

Scientists Say "Death Cat" is Real

2007-07-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Cat predicts Death?Real or Mystery?

Scientists say its REAL and they are now convinced about animals' "sixth sense" though their explanations could always be more logical than paranormal.

In fact, Dr. David M. Dosa, MD, MPH, a geriatrician who cares for patients at the nursing home, Providence, Rhode Island wrote an essay about Oscar, the "death cat" and submitted it to The New England Journal of Medicine, known more for its scientific reports on chemotherapy regimens, drug reactions, infections and heart defects than reports on feline behavior.

Dosa admits he was quite surprised the journal agreed to publish his essay and "it is not usually the type of article they will publish."

The published essay reported that the 2-year old cat named Oscar, rescued as a kitten from an animal refuge two years ago, has presided over the deaths of 25 patients at Steere House. The cat predicts when patients are going to die.

He does not usually care much for human company but every now and then, he snaps to attention, seeks out a patient and curls up in bed next to them.

He stays there paying attention to the patient as family members say their goodbyes and the priest give last rights, and then dissappears once the patient has died.

The ABC news further reported about Oscar, the death cat's remarkable ability

Dr Kirstie Seksel, a vet and a specialist in animal behaviour, says she is not surprised by the descriptions of Oscar's behaviour.

"Animals are very good at reading body language, so this cat's probably picking up that even though the people are older and they don't move around much, there are differences in their respiration rate," she said.

"I suspect there are also some pheromones or different smells that these people are emitting that we're not able to detect and this is what the cat has picked up on."

Dr Seksel says genetic differences could explain why other cats in the nursing home do not display similar behaviour.

"Maybe this is a cat that can actually smell pheromones and other cats can't, just like with some people - they're able to detect key tones on human breath and other people can't," she said.

"It's a genetic thing that you're born with - you either can or you can't, a bit like you can curl your tongue or you can't curl your tongue."

Oscar's predictions have been so accurate that staff now call a patient's family if the cat appears purring at the door. Loved ones often have just enough time to say goodbye.

But nurse Mary-Lee Humphrey, who works the night shift at Steere House, says families have very fond feelings for the cat, despite his grim reaper-like role.

"The families surprisingly feel comforted about it," she said.

"As a matter of fact, I had a patient pass away and the family was not here at the time. They called later on and asked me, 'Was Oscar in the room when he passed away?' And Oscar was.

"If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I actually wouldn't have believed it. I think it's wonderful because he can sense it."

Maybe it does have to be seen to be believed but Oscar has not only drawn the attention of the New England Journal of Medicine, he has also been honoured by the Hospice Service of Rhode Island.

Though scientists could lean on a very scientific explanation about Oscar's ability but personally, it is more on the psychic ability of the pet, because as a cat it has also a psyche or soul and I could say he has the clairvoyant ability to sense dying people.

I presume Oscar could see the aura of the dying person that is usually depleted when the death comes, or the cat could also see those souls (the welcome committee) coming to assist a person when he dies.

But of course, the scientific explanation could satisfy a very logical and skeptical mind, though the paranormal explanation could also fit those leaning on the spiritual perspective.

Sources: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/26/1989518.htm

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/25/health/webmd/main3097899.shtml

Alien Interview: Fake or Real?

2007-06-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

Up to this date, this controversial Alien Interview video smuggled out by a man referred to himself as "Victor" from Groom Lake Military facility in Nevada known as Area 51, is still in question "if it's real or hoax." Ten years after its first exposure to the public last March 13, 1997 in Art Bell's Radio Show Coast to Coast, no one could firmly say that the taped interview is fake nor real because of many factors that could support a claim that this video is authentic. If so, then the public have the right to know the truth behind the secrecy of the US government in dealing with Extraterrestrial beings. Please see the video and make some comments about it. http://misteryo.multiply.com/video/item/10. You can also read some comments posted by people in a forum of Above Top Secret.com when they discussed about this video. Included here is the background of the Alien Interview.

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread60045/pg1

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread220200/pg3

Nun Levitates While In Trance

2007-05-12T05:29:00.000-07:00

I saw this photo in worth1000.com and the creator explains it well about levitation. "On the Feast of the Assumption, Sister Genesius would drink a pot of black tea in the convent garden, say a decade of the rosary, fall into a trance, then levitate in her chair. Her "miraculous flight" would reportedly last up to four minutes, reaching heights of two to three meters, before she would serenely descend to the earth. This is the only known photo of her levitation in progress."

Also view other "supernatural" photos in this link:

http://www.worth1000.com/cache/contest/contestcache.asp?contest_id=10665

The Mystery of Spontaneous Human Combustion

2007-05-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Spontaneous Human Combustion is often considered an urban legend of distinctly modern origin. However, there are many historical accounts of mysterious combustion of humans. What follows is not intended to be taken as a complete list.

There are many mentions of something like SHC in medieval literature. One such instance is the combustion of a knight named Polonus Vorstius sometime during the reign of Queen Bona Sforza in Milan (sometime between 1515 and 1557) [2] In the Sixteenth Century, the Academic Senate of Copenhagen was sent a deposition about a person who died after belching flames, and then being consumed from the inside. (Historiarum Anatomicarum Rariorum by Thomas Bartholin).

Another case in the 17th Century was that of an elderly woman who was found burned to death in north Essex, England. Although the heat must have been intense, nothing else in the cottage (not so much as the bedclothes on which she lay) were even scorched. "No man knoweth what this doth portend" one observer was recorded as saying, hinting darkly at Divine Retribution. In 1731, an account was published about the remains of the Countess Cornelia di Bandi of Cesena, Italy, which were found on the floor of her bedroom. Her body was allegedly ashes but her stockinged legs remained, as did a large portion of her head. However, the first generally accepted claim dates from 1763 when Jonas Dupont compiled a casebook of SHC cases in a book called De Incendiis Corporis Humani Spontaneis, having been compelled by the Nicole Millet case.

In 1861, George Henry Lewes published a sequence of letters between him and Charles Dickens, in which Lewes chided Dickens for propagating the 'myth' of SHC in his novel Bleak House: "In these accounts it is usually stated that the body entirely disappears down to a greasy stain on the floor and some remains of bones. Everyone knows this to be impossible." Dickens added his own response to the second edition of Bleak House, referring to the case of a German liquor-shop owner in Columbus, Ohio who mysteriously burst into flames in 1853.

In 1870[4], the Assistant Professor of Medical Jurisprudence at the University of Aberdeen published a paper entitled On Spontaneous Combustion. In it, he wrote that he had found 54 contemporary scientists who had written on the subject of SHC. Of these, 35 expressed definite opinions on the validity of the alleged phenomenon:

Five of these (including Liebig) were entirely skeptical.

Three (including Dupuytren) believed that SHC was best accounted for in terms of preternatural combustion (broadly speaking, misidentification theory, discussed below).

Twenty-seven (including Devergie and Orfila) stated their definite belief in the spontaneous ignitability of the human body.

In the late 1950s, a 19-year-old secretary, dancing with her boyfriend in a London discotheque, was recorded as suddenly bursting into flames. As though driven by an inner storm, fire burst furiously from her back and chest, enveloping her head and igniting her hair, turning her in seconds to a human torch, and was dead before her horrified companion and other people on the dance floor could beat out the flames. Her boyfriend testified at the inquest: "I saw no one smoking on the dance floor. There were no candles on the tables and I did not see her dress catch fire from anything. I know it sounds incredible, but it appeared to me that the flames burst outwards, as if they originated within her body". Other witnesses agreed with him, and the coroner's verdict was eventually 'Death by misadventure, caused by a fire of unknown origin'.

More recently, an English building contractor was driving past one of his construction sites and waved through the car window; a moment later, he allegedly simply burst into flames.[citation needed] Similarly, a man from Cheshire, in the north of England, was found totally incinerated in the cab of his truck. The London Daily Telegraph reported: "Police witnesses testified they had found the petrol(gasoline) tank full and unharmed by fire, the doors of the cab opened easily, but the interior was a 'veritable furnace'. The coroner's jury declared they were unable to determine how the incident occurred." Reynold's News, a few years later, recorded the tragic death of a west London man who, while walking along the street, 'appeared to explode. His clothes burned fiercely, his hair was burned off, and the rubber-soled boots melted on his feet'.

More on SHC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion
Video: http://misteryo.multiply.com/video/item/74

Scientists Found "Kryptonite"

2007-04-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Serbian geologists unearthed a mineral shares virtually the same chemical composition as the fictional kryptonite from outer space, used by the superhero's nemesis Lex Luther to weaken him in the film "Superman Returns". "We will have to be careful with it -- we wouldn't want to deprive Earth of its most famous superhero!," said Dr Chris Stanley, a mineralogist at the Natural History Museum.

More on this report: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/042607dnintkryptonite.86af423.html

Vatican abolishes the concept of limbo

2007-04-21T14:41:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Times reports last April 21, 2007 about the decision of the Vatican to abolish the concept of Limbo in Catholic belief. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003675522_limbo21.html

ROME — Limbo has been in limbo for quite some time, but is now on its way to extinction.
A Vatican committee that spent years examining the medieval concept on Friday published a much-anticipated report reversing limbo's basic tenet that unbaptized babies who die may not go to heaven.

That could reverse centuries of Roman Catholic traditional belief that the souls of unbaptized babies are condemned to eternity in limbo, a place that is neither heaven nor hell, giving rise to the popular usage meaning "in between."

Limbo is not unpleasant, but it is not a seat alongside God.

In his 14th-century work "The Divine Comedy," the Italian poet Dante famously placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo.

Catholic doctrine states that because all humans are tainted by original sin thanks to the experience of Adam and Eve, baptism is essential for salvation. But the idea of limbo has fallen out of favor for many Catholics, who see it as harsh and not befitting a merciful God.

The Vatican's International Theological Commission issued its findings — with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI — in a document published by the Catholic News Service, the news agency of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Limbo, the commission said, "reflects an unduly restrictive view of salvation."

"Our conclusion," the commission said in its 41-page report, is that there are "serious theological and liturgical grounds for hope that unbaptized infants who die will be saved and brought into eternal happiness." The commission added that while this is not "sure knowledge," it comes in the context of a loving and just God who "wants all human beings to be saved."

A church decision to abolish limbo has long been expected.
Benedict and his predecessor, the late Pope John Paul II, expressed misgivings about the concept. Benedict, when he was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and the church's top enforcer of dogma, said he viewed limbo as a mere "theological hypothesis."

The document published Friday said the question of limbo has become a "matter of pastoral urgency" because of the growing number of babies who do not receive the baptismal rite.

Especially in Africa and other parts of the world where Catholicism is growing but has competition from other faiths such as Islam, high infant-mortality rates mean many families live with a church teaching them that their babies could not go to heaven.

Catholic parents should still baptize their children, as that sacrament is the way salvation is revealed, the document said.

The Rev. Thomas Weinandy, executive director for doctrine at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the document "addresses the issue from a whole new perspective — if we are now hoping these children get to heaven, there is no longer any point in worrying about limbo.
"Although it doesn't actually dismiss limbo altogether," Weinandy added, "it argues for other ways of dealing with salvation for infants who died unbaptized."

Catholic conservatives criticized any effort to relegate limbo to oblivion.

Removing the concept from church teaching would lessen the importance of baptism and discourage parents from christening their infants, said Kenneth J. Wolfe, a Washington-based columnist for the traditionalist Catholic newspaper The Remnant.

"It makes baptism a formality, a party, instead of a necessity," Wolfe said. "There would be no reason for infant baptisms. It would put the Catholic Church on par with the Protestants."

It would also deprive Catholic leaders of a tool in their fight against abortion, Wolfe said. Priests have long told women that their aborted fetuses cannot go to heaven, which in theory was another argument against ending pregnancy. Without limbo, those fetuses would presumably no longer be denied communion with God.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003675522_limbo21.html

The Ghosts of Bud Daho

2007-01-22T23:19:00.000-08:00

This is a very interesting story about a mysterious white agong in Jolo. I repost the full story of the inq7. net about this.

The ghosts of Bud Daho return to Jolo
By Germelina LacorteInquirerLast updated 12:55pm (Mla time) 01/22/2007

WHOEVER made or put the mysterious white “agong” in the small cave at the foot of Bud Daho remains a mystery to this day.

The “agong” is a musical instrument which produces a single note when pounded with a mallet or a large drumstick. It is commonly used by many Asian tribes along with other native brass instruments and is largely associated with religious rituals or festivities.

The people living near Bud Daho even believe that the silver gong is enchanted and that nobody has dared take it away from its nesting place.

IN villages near Bud Daho (Mt. Daho) in Jolo, Sulu, where over a thousand people died in a massacre by American forces over a hundred years ago, the sound of the puting agong has often been heard as a warning.

“When the weather is bad, the agong plays and different voices seem to come out of it,” said Normina Hadi, a Tausug artist.

“Usually, it comes when something is about to happen, as when there is a calamity or a really big storm is brewing. When people hear the sound, they would stop on their tracks and pray,” Hadi added.

So, when playwright Arnel Marduquio came up with the idea of the antigong agong (ancient agong) after a two-month research and immersion in the communities of Bud Daho, he was surprised to discover that one already existed in the people’s mind.

“I was amazed when they told me that such an agong existed,” Marduquio said.

Community people, equally surprised, had asked him how he came to know about it. Not everyone could go to that cave where the agong, (it’s made of silver), would make itself appear at certain times, Marduquio was told.

The place where it is found is sacred ground among the Tausug and anyone who goes there has to go through a certain ritual, lest something bad will happen.

Musical
“Antigong Agong,” the musical, recounts the killing of over a thousand Tausug on Bud Daho by American forces over a hundred years ago. The story starts with the quest for an ancient agong to raise dowry for a traditional Tausug wedding, but which eventually leads to the discovery of the March 8, 1906 carnage at the foot of the mountain.

With Popong Landero as musical director and Mario Leofer Lim as assistant director and choreographer, Marduquio directed the show with a cast of 20 young Tausug artists who desire lasting peace in their homeland.

The show was mounted on Dec. 2 last year and presented in Sulu, Zamboanga and Davao, in time for the massacre’s centennial and as part of the group’s peace advocacy in Mindanao.
This year, it will be brought to the rest of Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon to culminate at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City.

The group aims to bring the show to Filipino-American communities in the United States, said Marduquio, who was earlier involved in another musical performance tour of Salima.

He talked about a community in Barangay Danag in Patikul, Sulu, near Bud Daho, where 80 percent of those who lived are descendants of a massacre survivor. The tragedy was never written in history books.

“But their (the Tausug) oral history is still very much alive in the form of a lugo (chant), kissa (historical account chanted with the accompaniment of gabbang and viola) and istorya (storytelling),” said Marduquio.

“That was how the story of the massacre survived to this day,” he said.

Mission
Unlike other theaters, however, Antigong Agong is not meant just to entertain. It wants to bring about the message of peace, to turn Sulu from a war zone into a land of peace.

“This show has a mission,” Marduquio said. “The play may not be able to change the situation of Jolo but a good story can be the start of the long process of resolving the conflict.”

It is ironic, though that a hundred years after the Bud Daho massacre, American forces are back in Jolo for the Balikatan military exercises.

“They have never left the place,” said Marduquio.

Through telling and retelling of the tragic event, the people of Sulu seek a formal closure of the incident. Up to now, however, the US government has never admitted its mistake or openly gave public apology to the aggrieved, said Marduquio.

“At this point, history needs closure but that closure should include the healing of the wounds of war,” he said. “Justice should be delivered.”

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/philippineexplorer/philippineexplorer/view_article.php?article_id=44860

My Image As Angel?

2007-01-11T02:49:00.000-08:00

I got this photo from the internet when I search for the pictures about angels. I don't know who created this image and the origin of this, and I just wanted to download it for my own personal reference or just a wallpaper for my computer monitor and cellphone. It took at least two to three weeks until one of my officemates named "Yeng" one day called my attention and asked me if where did I get this picture. Beforehand, about a week after I downloaded this photo, I shared this to Yeng because she told me that she's also interested about angels and and asked me if i have some photos that I could share to her. To make the story short, when Yeng closely looked at the picture, she was amazed when she can recognize the structure of face of the angel - same as mine. I can't believe myself when I saw the photo and it looked like me....."Oh my GOD, whoever created this picture or image, he must be kidding". How did he/she did this without any knowledge that a person might looked like this angelic being. Yeng called other people around and their impressions too were the same as hers - the angelic being's face was me. Even my wife and kids could see my face in this picture, saying "parang sinadya" (intentionally crafted). One of my friends actually teased me and maybe I intentionally manipulated the image of the photo to look like me, we'll I just said "How and why should I do it? I would only fooling myself If I did it. Being an honest person, If I really did this then I must admit it saying sorry, but no and never, because in the first place I have no software and I don't want to waste my tine manipulating a picture like this, but of course everybody knows that everything especially photos can be manipulated today. Well, just to defend my integrity about this "I am calling the person, whoever you are who did this please contact me (asap) and we can make some friendly discussions about this. I would ask some questions for curiousity, how and why you did this without any knowledge of my face. I'm sure this person might say I just did it. The simplest explanation to this is maybe at the time he did this, he unconsciously received an idea what might be the face of an angel comforting Jesus Christ in this picture.

Roles of Angels

2007-01-02T01:30:00.000-08:00

The Bible has many things to say about the roles of angels. Mostly, we thought that angels are guardians, guides, protectors and messengers. Personally, all of these are true but angels function according to what God has given them, or what could be the wishes from human beings and other entities who need their help.

Now, there are verses in the Bible that could describe angels roles. In Matthew 18:10, we read, "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven." If we interpret Matthew 18:10 as referring to "guardian angels," it would seem that these angels are not on active duty, but rather, "always see the face of" the Father in heaven. The active duty or "oversight" role seems then to come more from God than the angels. In our society today, it's "in" to believe in angels.

In context, "these little ones" could either apply to those who believe in Him (Matthew 18:6) or to the little children (Matthew 18:3-5). This is the key passage pointed to when people discuss the possibility of guardian angels. There's no doubt that good angels help protect (Daniel 6:20-23; 2 Kings 6:13-17), reveal information (Acts 7:52-53; Luke 1:11-20), guide (Matthew 1:20-21; Acts 8:26), provide for (Genesis 21:17-20; 1 Kings 19:5-7), and minister to believers in general (Hebrews 1:14). It's not so apparent from Scripture whether each person or each believer has an angel assigned to him or her. In the Old Testament, the Nation of Israel had the archangel Michael assigned to it (Daniel 10:21; 12:1), but there's really no place in Scripture where it states that an angel was ever "assigned" to an individual (they were sometimes sent to individuals on different occasions, but no mention of "permanent" assignment is given).

http://www.allaboutgod.com/Angel-Picture.htm

Boy Plays with Extraterrestrial Kids

2006-11-22T19:19:00.000-08:00

Sometime early 2006, 8-year old Raymart told me he had dreams playing with little alien beings. He told me that these alien kids are nice to him, and playful. There were series of nights that he was being "taken" to different places in their dimension, while asleep. An experience I would not consider as abduction but invitation. They showed him their spaceships and met with other alien beings with different faces and shapes. To support his claim, he gave me his drawings of these alien kids and to my surprise, he encountered almost all kinds of extraterrestrial beings. He encountered beings with wings, aliens belonging to avian type ETs. There is a being I could assume as a metalic type or robotic being standing about 10 to 12 feet high. Of course, he had encountered the typical type of alien beings with almond shape big eyes and bulbous head. As of this writing, Raymart's ability improved and he can see now Angelic Beings. He told me he could see them as holographic forms and can communicate with them telepathically. The first time he saw them was last November 16, 2006 and the beings introduced themselves as angels Leonardo and Raymund. He admitted seeing ghosts and nature spirits such as dwendes (elves) and Kapres. Last November 18, 2006, Raymart met with the kid ghost appeared in a photo taken sometime in Star City. The ghost was with me the whole night when i attended a party of PAL Communications Office in Makati City. The 8-year old boy admittd he encountered ghost hauntings and manifestations in their school but he learned to face them without fear.

Clairvoyant's Encounter of Ghosts, Angels, ETs in DzRH

2006-11-22T16:45:00.000-08:00

A 21-year old clairvoyant Mass Communication student of Centro Escolar University encounters ghosts, angels, ETs and nature spirits in our station DzRH. The person, who requested to hide herself behind the name "Angela", is an objective clairvoyant. She could see spirits with her physical eyes and could communicate with them thru telepathy. In fact, when I interviewed her in my Misteryo program last November 18, 2006, she actually saw the spirits of the dead people around us inside the announcer's booth and communicated with them while we're on air listened by millions of Flipinos worldwide. While she's in our office, she saw a couple of Angels, Extraterrestrials and some nature spirits such as elves. She said the angels introduced themselves as "michael, uriel, augustine" and want to inform human beings their readiness to help anytime in the name of GOD and Saint Michael the Archangel. She managed to communicate with my little friends (dwendes) and told her to keep communicating the good spirits, acknowledge them and help the souls ascend to their enlightenment. "Angela" made some sketches of spirits she encountered. The other one with the antenna and called himself David Lex is a Martian, while the two others are spirits of the dead people. She even saw a person in human physical body with wings. She admitted it was the first time she saw a human being with spiritual wings. This could also prove some beliefs that angels could have been reincarnated to this physical plane of existence to assist in the evolution of human souls. Click here for the exclusive interview with Angela http://misteryo.multiply.com/music/item/42

What Does Figure of Lucifer Over St. Michael Mean?

2006-11-01T11:13:00.000-08:00

THE SPEAR is gone now, but the figure of Lucifer poised to impale a fallen Archangel Michael continues not only to draw curious crowds but to evoke incredible stories.

The stone tableau sits atop the tombs of Paciencia Flores Anzures (Sept. 6, 1918-May 15 2001), Eugenio S. Anzures (Sept. 6, 1918-May 30 1967) and Anita Flores (May 20, 1930-Jan. 25, 1983) in a public cemetery in Tugatog, Malabon City.

“I remember that the first time I saw it when I was seven, the Archangel and Lucifer were both standing and facing each other,” said Alice Adriano, whose mother and grandmother’s tombs are located only two meters away.

Adriano and her siblings were at the cemetery again yesterday on their yearly visit.
“We never fail to visit the graveyard, and each time the position of the Archangel changes,” Adriano said, adding that with every visit, the figure seemed to be falling down.
“Now Lucifer is already standing over the Archangel with his foot on the latter’s back,” she said.
Iron enclosure

Adriano said she did not know how the positions of the stone figures changed through the years.
She claimed that some people had tried to destroy the tableau, “so the owners built a stronger enclosure to protect it from ruin.”

An iron enclosure estimated to be at least three meters long by two meters wide now surrounds the statues.

Written on the left side of the enclosure is a supposed exchange between Lucifer and the Archangel; on the other side, naked images of a man and a woman face each other.
Time and the elements have done their worst on the supposed conversation.

The words in Filipino can no longer be deciphered except for the last line, supposedly uttered by the Archangel to humankind: “Tao, tulungan ninyo ako na labanan ang kasamaan at iwasan ang kasakiman sa salapi at kapangyarihan na pinagmulan ng ligalig (People help me battle evil and shun greed for money and power, the root of all trouble).”

According to Alex Quintos, administration officer of the cemetery, no untoward incident has taken place involving the tableau since he got the job more than a year ago.
“We just know it’s owned by the Bernardo family and has not been visited since the time I was assigned here,” he said.

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=29898

Some New Age People Practice Evil

2006-11-01T02:39:00.001-08:00

I am happy with the warnings aired by Fr. Jose Francisco Syquia against indulging into seances such as spirit of the glass, ouija board and other tools for contacting dead people's spirits because as the priest himself said “spirit of the glass is an occult means to get in touch with fallen angels.”

In fact, in my previous columns in Balita I warned people against doing these practices because demons or should I say "fallen angels" as Fr. Syquia called evil spirits could disguise themselves as the spirits of the dead people, dead relatives, angels etc. http://misteryo.blogspot.com/2005/04/babala-laban-sa-paggamit-ng-spirit-of.html

I always advice people not to summon the souls of their dead relatives but let's just give them open chances to communicate with us if they have something to tell us that could help us in our daily lives.

Nevertheless, souls can be contacted thru seances though people involved must know the pros and cons of the practice to avoid demonic possessions. Other form of mediumship like channeling could contact the dead and even higher spirits like GOD could also be communicated by these means of spiritism.

Dead people could also manifest thru dreams wherein our physical body is completely at a very relax state. During sleep state when our body and the conscious mind rest, the subconscious part is very active, a way spirits whether dead relatives or other entities could communicate and send us messages.

In fact, not only souls of the dead but also GOD and other higher beings such as good angels could contact or communicate with us while we are sleeping because it is the time that our conscious mind and these disembodied spirits meet. My opinion at this point is contrary to the statement of Fr. Syquia when he said "neither God, the holy angels nor the souls of the dead use occult practices like Spirit of the Glass to send messages to the living."

As the priest declared occult practices used by the New Age people are all for contacting evil spirits, I would say it depends on what the intentions are for executing such acts because in fairness to other practitioners, they used seances as the last resort to help people especially those relatives of the dead but should be done with extra caution by the experienced individuals.

Now, about the practice of New Age, what is evil about them? Is meditation as one of the new age practices evil? How about holistic healing, is it evil? The Wikipedia defines New Age as “the alternative spiritual subculture interested in such things as meditation, channelling, reincarnation, crystals, psychic experience, holistic health, environmentalism, other fields associated with pseudoscience and anomalous phenomena, and various “unsolved mysteries” such as UFOs, Earth mysteries and Crop circles. Typical activities of this subculture include participation in study or meditation groups, attendance at lectures and fairs; the purchase of books, music, and other products such as crystals or incense; and patronage of fortune-tellers, healers and spiritual counselors.”

As an ordinary citizen and a paranormal researcher, I can't question the authority of the Church people involved in spiritual battle against evil but I know I have the right to air my own personal views and I would like to appeal to Church to please refrain from saying "sweeping statements" and don't label all practitioners of the New Age as "evil" and only those in the Church are "holy."

For our readers information, New Age people are those engaged in occult practices never recognized by the Church or should I say not publicly acknowledged which for them are ways to contact the forces of evil. Though there are some priests could see nothing wrong with New Age practice.

But in fairness to many good New Age practitioners, they do some of these spiritual practices to help people and the spirits as well especially those "soul roamers" to ascend to higher levels of consciousness on the other side of this life.

Occult practices earned its bad connotations mostly associated with evil thru Church campaign but in fact when you look for its true meaning, the word "occult" is derived from the latin "occultus" means clandestine, hidden or secret. These practices were hidden because the Church declared them as evil and not to be practiced.

I would like also to clarify and maybe the Church people would listen that not all nature spirits like elves, dwarves, kapre, tikbalang and fairies are bad. Most of them I would say are "naughty" but not evil. Please let's respect their existence because they themselves are also living in duality like us in this plane of existence – good and bad. Take note: GOD created them ahead of the physcial realm and not all are evil.

Fr. Syquia even attacked Faith Healers (Herbolarios) saying "herbolarios themselves had powers coming from doubtful sources because they had no divine authority to drive away evil spirits."

As far as I know, most Faith Healers are asking for GOD's intervention to assist them to heal the sicked and wicked people, of course we can't deny the fact that there are other practitioners, who abuse their inner powers.

I hope any member of the Church would respect other people and other entity's rights to evolve their spirituality and not just making sweeping comments that those engage in New Age practices are unholy, maybe some but not all.

Instead of airing such negative comments against a sector (new age), I would suggest the church people should cleanse first their ranks from "unholy" priests, who are accused of sexual acts and abuse.

The Church should admit the fact that many of their members are maybe "possessed" by evil spirits. That's why I may suggest the Church should exorcise first their members before labelling others as demon practitioners.

For Fr. Syquia's Story:
http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=29896

Seance Goes High Tech

2006-10-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

Rey Sibayan: This is a true story about an actual seance conducted by a group of people, who tried to use the high tech electronic gadget for contacting the spirits.

As I always warn everyone don't do this because it could lead to a demonic possesson. Only those who are experts can do this. The following is the whole story from: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic/0,39029432,49284801,00.htm

When we first heard that occultists were using the new iPod to channel spirits, we had our doubts. Why would ancient spirits choose to manifest themselves in consumer electronics -- don't they prefer the dusty seclusion of basement seances? Apparently not.

The introduction of the Click Wheel alphabet-search system in the new iPod range has opened the floodgates to a new breed of occultist. Not only can the Click Wheel emulate the traditional Ouija board and planchette, but it does so in a small, portable format. Leading Ouija boardists have discovered that the iPod can not only provide the traditional letters and numbers of the board, but spirits are now able to pick songs, or playlists, to convey their messages.

It being Halloween today, we decided to give it a go. Our iOuija board is a new electric pink iPod nano. We placed our fingers on the iPod and our PC Editor invoked ancient chants to open a gate to the world beyond. Once we were fairly sure a spirit had possessed the iPod, we asked it, "What is your name?"

This first effort was unexpectedly successful. It took a while for our fingers to move around the Click Wheel, and the iPod shifted about a bit on the desk (to be expected when it's channelling other worlds). The spirit's name appeared to be 'brad'. We asked brad, "When did you die?"

The results of this question were rather less impressive. Perhaps Brad had become petulant, perhaps Brad didn't want us summoning him and asking bothersome questions. Alternatively, Brad was bad at spelling:

We asked Brad, "How did you die?" Our fingers slipped on the Click Wheel and transitioned to a different menu. Clearly Brad wanted to communicate with us using the medium of song. Our fingers scrolled slowly though the tracks, as it neared the 'M' section it slowed to almost a stop before settling, chillingly, on Murder Incorporated. This was a shock few of us were ready for -- the ghost liked Bruce Springsteen.

We asked Brad some more questions, which he refused to answer in any coherent manner. After a long pause, our fingers shot down the track listing again, spinning the Click Wheel like a demonic merry-go-round. The Wheel settled on Better Be Home Soon.

Brad was telling us he wanted to go. We all took our fingers off the iPod planchette and let Brad return to the spirit world.

The iPod iOuija board works far better than the traditional Ouija board. During future sessions we intend to plug it into a loud stereo system to increase the scary quotient when a spirit picks a track. Let us know how you got on with channelling spirits with your own iPods. Owners of an iPod prior to the latest versions won't be able to use the search feature as a planchette, but they can still let spirits pick tracks. Happy Halloween! -CS

Scientists Discover Mona Lisa was a New Mother

2006-09-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

Mona Lisa, the mysterious woman immortalized in Leonardo da Vinci's 16th century masterpiece, had just given birth to her second son when she sat for the painting, a French art expert said on Tuesday.

The discovery was made by a team of Canadian scientists who used special infrared and three-dimensional technology to peer through hitherto impenetrable paint layers on the work, which now sits in the Louvre museum in Paris.

Bruno Mottin of the French Museums' Center for Research and Restoration said that on very close examination of the painting it became clear that the Mona Lisa's dress was covered in a thin transparent gauze veil.

"This type of gauze dress ... was typical of the kind worn in early 16th century Italy by women who were pregnant or who had just given birth. This is something that had never been seen up to now because the painting was always judged to be dark and difficult to examine," he told a news conference.

"We can now say that this painting by Leonardo da Vinci was painted to commemorate the birth of the second son of the Mona Lisa, which helps us to date it more precisely to around 1503."
The young woman with the ambiguous half smile has been identified as Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco de Giocondo. She had five children.

Mottin also said that, contrary to popular belief, the subject had not let her hair hang freely but in fact wore a bonnet from which only a few curls managed to escape.

"People always wrote that the Mona Lisa had allowed her hang to hang freely over her shoulders. This greatly surprised historians because letting your hair hang freely during the Renaissance was typical of young girls and women of poor virtue," he said

http://today.reuters.com/news/ArticleNews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-09-26T195910Z_01_L25902498_RTRUKOC_0_US-ARTS-MONALISA.xml

Devotees flock to Lipa for Virgin’s birthday

2006-09-17T08:04:00.000-07:00

FORTY-EIGHT YEARS AFTER THE blessed Virgin Mary appeared to the postulant Teresing Castillo on Sept. 12, 1948 in the garden of the Carmelite monastery in Lipa, Batangas, thousands joined the pilgrimage to the blessed place last Sept. 12.

They prayed for peace and celebrated the feast of the holy name of Mary.

Sept. 12 was declared National Day of Prayer, Reparation and Consecration by President Macapagal-Arroyo. Whether the influx of devotees to Lipa, where the image of Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace is enshrined in the monastery chapel, would finally move the Philippine church hierarchy into declaring the apparitions as authentic and true is another matter.
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) led the call “let us go to Mary” and pleaded for peace and harmony.

CBCP declared 2006 as “Year of Social Concern” dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles expressed his personal belief in the Lipa apparitions. He said, as a young seminarian, he visited Our Lady Mediatrix of All Grace in her chapel. He asked for “forgiving the past [when the devotion to her was stopped in 1951] and going on to honor Mary and love her as our Mother.”

Fr. Melvin Castro launched the Confraternity of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace during the Sept. 12 Mass at the grounds of the Carmelite Monastery. It will work for the approval and recognition of the Lipa apparitions.

Our Lady’s presence
Sometime in 2003, Danny Dolor brought me to Tayabas, Quezon to show me the tomb of Bishop Alfredo Obviar, founder of the Missionary Catechists of St. Therese and the first bishop of Lipa.
We dropped by the Carmelite monastery and were able to go inside the garden where Our Lady appeared to Sister Teresing.

Immediately I could feel Our Lady’s presence by the warm feeling that enveloped me. I fell to my knees as if told it was holy ground.

Danny Dolor knelt, too, and we prayed for a while.

Book of miracles
When Mama Mary wants something to happen, it will happen. Such was the case with this writer’s “Purely Personal Book of Miracles” launched Sept. 8 at Manila Manor Hotel. The book is a collection of my columns published in the Inquirer the past 18 years.

Bishop Joel Baylon flew from Masbate to concelebrate the Thanksgiving Mass with Fr. Vir Mendoza of General Trias, Cavite; Fr. Diwane Cacao of the Sancti Dei Healing Center in Lopez Village, Los Baños, Laguna; Fr. Bernie Diaz of St. Vincent Seminary and former rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal; Msgr. Samuel Baculi of the Basilica of Piat in Cagayan Valley; and two Vietnamese priests.

Bobby Caballero was emcee. An icon of Our Lady of Piat on tarpaulin hung in the back. Tall flower arrangements came from the Society of St. Expeditus, Eucharistic Adorers League and Maris Dizon.

The beautiful High Mass was made more solemn by the Boses ng Diyos all-male choir brought by Tess Alsua, sister of Mark Jimenez. At least 200 friends celebrated with me.

I cried as I recounted how I suffered achalasia for five years before I wrote my first column “The Miracle of Our Lady of Manaoag in my Life.” Achalasia prevented me from having food normally.

The miracle came when Dr. William Olalia of the University of Santo Tomas Hospital operated on me in 1985. My Lola Cela prayed to “Apo Baket” (Our Lady of Manaoag) during those five years, my brother Joe told me after the operation.

So I told friends not to stop praying and not to give up. I kept praying until the miracle happened. Sound Publishing Corp. will make the book available at National Bookstore in two weeks.

Convention
Filipinos will attend the international convention of the Cofradia de Immaculada-Fatima in Fatima, Portugal. They will be led by Msgr. Josefino Ramirez, national spiritual director of the cofradia in the Philippines.

Other places to be visited are Lisbon, Lourdes, Santiago de Compostela, Madrid, Montserrat, Barcelona, Zaragoza, Cavadonga, Salamanca, Porto and Oviedo. Call 5211651, 5211638 or 5211698.

Feast day
Parishes dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy will celebrate her feast day Sept. 24: Taysan, Batangas; Matatalahib, Tarlac; Bahay Pare, Candaba, Pampanga; Novaliches, QC; and Holy Trinity Parish, Barrio San Nicolas, Bacoor, Cavite.

Barrios in Bacoor will join the karakol at 7 a.m. from Molino I. Mercy Naral donated the new vestments of “Nana Cedes” (the affectionate name for Our Lady of Mercy), Gina Manome gave the new crown while Boy Ponce provided the vestments for Mass to be worn by Bishop Chito Tagle and Fr. Boyet Santiago, parish priest, who will concelebrate the 8:30 a.m. Mass.

Goodbye
Former Legazpi Mayor Mely Roces died of aneurysm several days recently. Those who knew her were truly devastated by the news.

I have been the blessed recipient of Tita Mely’s kindness and hospitality when I covered the Ibalong festival in Legazpi in the early ’90s.

Tita Mely supported the arts and culture of Bicol, making us aware of how rich the people were in traditions. She was a very good mayor.

Condolences to her family, especially my dear friend Billy Roces, and the people who were blessed with her kindness.

http://showbizandstyle.inq7.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=21405

Baby Declared Dead, Risen After 5 Hours

2006-09-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

A Miracle! This is what most of us would say when a premature baby (7-month old) is declared alive after 5 hours of his lifeless moments.

According to his grandmother, Sherry Jean Botabara, the baby was declared dead by a doctor in a hospital in Bacoor, Cavite around 7:30 pm, Thursday (Sept. 14) and advised the relatives to take the baby's body home and prepare for his wake and burial.

The doctor advised the family to put the baby in a carton box and they covered it with plastic sheet, thinking that the baby is cold dead as per doctor's declaration.

The family were very upset about the baby's fate especially because he's the first born child, came out prematurely without completing the nine months development period inside his mother's womb.

Around 10 pm, Sherry arrived from work and decided to personally supervise the preparation for the baby's wake. The family members discussed how to make things work, the baby's wake and burial, and his mother's hospitalization.

12 midnight, the family decided to put the baby in a bottle of formalin, as normally practiced for dead premature babies and unborn fetuses, and give him a descent burial after a couple of days of wake period.

But, when the baby's grandfather voluntered to open the box after removing the plastic cover, the baby suddenly moved his legs and cried aloud, A SIGN OF LIFE.

The family members were freeze to their amazement and they can't imagine how could a baby be alive, 5 hours after he was declared dead by a professional doctor-- a MIRACLE!!!

Sherry, her husband and the rest of the family felt relieved and decided to take the baby to the Manila Sanitarium in Pasay City, hoping the doctors could save the infant from any danger.

The doctors responded immediately upon the family's arrival in the hospital and gave the baby the necessary medical attention.

For the skeptics, they would conclude this case as a mere medical blunder because the doctor who made the first diagnosis failed to give the baby the full medical attention assuming the baby could be in the comatose condition.

But the question is, if the baby was indeed comatose, how could he survived for 5 hours without any life supporting devices like oxygen, though the normal practice if a baby is born premature, he must be put immediately inside an incubator for further medical observation and assistance.

I would see this as a special Near-Death-Experience case, because unlike other NDE cases of a person died of accident or of disease, the baby here is dead upon birth. I presume there could be a soul, maybe a higher soul, who managed to enter the baby's body when the original soul failed to survive.

The baby, who maybe baptized by the name "Marvelous", is a special child and I know he has a special mission in his lifetime. Like other people, who experienced NDE and acquired special abilities like healing, psychic readings and other inner powers, the baby could have his own special task to help people.

Patroness of Ilocos Norte

2006-09-12T08:10:00.000-07:00

THE PEOPLE OF THE BEAUTIFUL province of Ilocos Norte honor La Virgen Milagrosa de Badoc (Miraculous Virgin of Badoc) as their patroness and cause of their joy.
Fr. Danny Laeda, a son of Badoc and the diocese’s historian, wrote that the Virgin was canonically crowned by Nueva Segovia Archbishop Juan Sison and Laoag Bishop Edmundo Abaya in 1980.

She was declared patroness and “Cause of our Joy.” Why she was brought up in my conversation with Fr. Ian Rabago meant she was giving the signal that I could write about her.
By some miraculous circumstance, I met Fr. Laeda in July when I went home to Laoag for the first anniversary of my brother Pompeyo’s death. I was with my friends Myrna de la Cuesta-Campos, Tessie Ablan, Lita Sy-Valero and Letty Miguel-Chiong when I interviewed the priest.
The celebration on Dec. 8 marks the 21st anniversary of the canonical coronation of the Virgin. It is also her feast day.

My mother, Lourdes Darang, told me that pilgrims went to her centuries-old church in Badoc on Sept. 8, her birthday. My mother and her friends always go there on that day.

The devotion of Fr. Rabago, chancellor of the diocese of Laoag, is deep and committed. He says, “All the priests of the diocese are devotees of Our Lady of Badoc. All our successful endeavors are attributed to her because we cling to her before embarking on something.”

Badoc is chosen
Oral history says in 1620 or thereabout, fishermen on the beach of Dadalaquiten that borders Badoc and Sinait saw a large wooden box carried by the tide. Hauling the mysterious box to the shore, they discovered a life-size statue of the Sto. Cristo Milagroso and a smaller, delicately hand-painted image of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus.

The residents of Badoc wanted the Crucified Christ, while those from Sinait chose the Virgin. To their surprise, they couldn’t move the statues until those from Badoc took the Virgin.

The people of Badoc were able to bring the Virgin to the church and those from Sinait brought home the Crucified Christ. Both images have been venerated for centuries and miracles have been reported in these two towns.

My grandmother, Lorenza Foronda-Pascua, married Esteban Pascua from Badoc after my mother’s father died. I remember visiting her in Badoc, but it was only in 1993 that my former classmates and I discovered the Virgin in her church.

We went up to her altar and whispered prayers to her. She was so close that we could reach out to her and look at her beautiful face.

Those who want estampitas of Our Lady of Badoc can write to me c/o P.O. Box 2050, Manila. Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. For testimonies of miracles wrought by God through the intercession of the Virgin under this title, you can write to the same address.

Book fair
Spiritual publications are included in the 27th Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) Aug. 30-Sept. 3 at the World Trade Center. At least 15 exhibitors of religious books are participating. For details, call 8900661 or e-mail bookfair primetradeasia.com

Among the participants are Christian Literature Crusade, Claretian Communication Foundation, Lighthouse Bookstore, Logos Publications, OMF Literature, Pauline’s, Philippine Bible Society, Sinag-tala Publishers, The Catholic Book Center, and Word and Life Publication.

Pilgrimage
Fr. Paul Marquez, SSP, will lead a pilgrimage to Europe Oct. 21-Nov. 1. The pilgrimage covers, among others, Rome for a visit to the Basilica of St. Mary Major; Lourdes, France for the grotto; Paris for Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Church; Barcelona to go up the Apolonian Mountain for Our Lady of Montserrat and Garabandal.

Call Ephesus Travel 5265211 or text 0917-8938267.

Visit
Filipino pilgrims led by Fr. Sanny de Claro will fly to Mexico via Los Angeles to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe in her Basilica in Mexico. Set to leave Oct. 17, the pilgrims will visit other Marian shrines.

The Filipino flag is among flags from different nations displayed at the wall of the main altar of the Guadalupe Basilica. A conveyor behind the altar brings pilgrims up close to the more than 400 years old icon of Our Lady. Call 5211651 or text 0918-9083676.

Caysasay play
Executive producer Ramon Orlina is bringing the play “Ang Mapaghimalang Virgen ng Caysasay” to the Far Eastern University auditorium, on Aug. 16, 10:45 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Text him at 0917-8805108.

Class reunion
Alumni of the Baguio Military Institute will hold a reunion on Sept. 1, 6 p.m., at Club Filipino.
Parish is 55

Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Leveriza, Malate, celebrates its 55th anniversary Aug. 15, feast of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales will officiate in the Concelebrated Mass at 6 p.m. Fr. Nick Blanquisco is the parish priest. Hermano mayor is Cleto Belda and family.

http://showbizandstyle.inq7.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=14933

Human Mind Creates Ghost

2006-09-10T01:02:00.000-07:00

In the early 1970s, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) conducted an experiment if they could create a ghost. They assembled a group of people, made up a completely fictional character and then, through seances, they could contacted him and receive messages and other physical phenomena - such as apparition. This proves some theories that most ghosts were created by our thoughts such as poltergeist - the noisy ghost.

How to Create a Ghost
In the 1970s, a psychical research group "invented" a spirit named Philip. To their astonishment, Philip actually made contact with them through a host of incredible psychokinetic phenomena.

A group of teenagers gathered around a Ouija board receives mysterious messages from a person's spirit who claims to have died 40 years ago. A paranormal society conducts a séance where they contact a ghost that communicates though table rappings. The residents of a century-old home continually see the spirit of a young child playing in the hallway.

What are these manifestations? Are they truly the ghosts of departed people? Or are they creations of the minds of the people who see them?

Many researchers of the paranormal suspect that ghostly manifestations and poltergeist phenomena (objects flying through the air, unexplained footsteps and door slammings) are products of the human mind. To test that idea, a fascinating experiment was conducted in the early 1970s by the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) to see if they could create a ghost. The idea was to assemble a group of people who would make up a completely fictional character and then, through séances, see if they could contact him and receive messages and other physical phenomena - perhaps even an apparition.

The results of the experiment - which were fully documented on film and audiotape - are astonishing.

The Birth of Philip
The TSPR, under the guidance of Dr. A.R.G. Owen, assembled a group of eight people culled from its membership, none of whom claimed to have any psychic gifts. The group, which became known as the Owen group, consisted of Dr. Owen's wife, a woman who was the former chairperson of MENSA (an organization for high-IQ people), an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a bookkeeper and a sociology student. A psychologist named Dr. Joel Whitton also attended many of the group's sessions as an observer.

The group's first task was to create their fictional historical character. Together they wrote a short biography of the person they named Philip Aylesford. Here, in part, is that biography:

Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman.

One day when out riding on the boundaries of his estates Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her. He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home.

For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.

The Owen group even enlisted the artistic talents of one of its members to sketch a portrait of Philip (see picture above). With their creation's life and appearance now firmly established in their minds, the group began the second phase of the experiment: contact.

The Séances Begin
In September 1972, the group began their "sittings" - informal gatherings in which they would discuss Philip and his life, meditate on him and try to visualize their "collective hallucination" in more detail. These sittings, conducted in a fully lit room, went on for about a year with no results. Some members of the group occasionally claimed they felt a presence in the room, but there was no result they could consider any kind of communication from Philip.

So they changed their tactics. The group decided they might have better luck if they attempted to duplicate the atmosphere of a classic spiritualist séance. They dimmed the room's lights, sat around a table, sang songs and surrounded themselves with pictures of the type of castle they imagined Philip would have lived in, as well as objects from that time period.

It worked. During one evening's séance, the group received its first communication from Philip in the form of a distinct rap on the table. Soon Philip was answering questions asked by the group - one rap for yes, two for no. They knew it was Philip because, well, they asked him.
The sessions took off from there, producing a range of phenomena that could not be explained scientifically.

Through the table-rapping communication, the group was able to learn finer details about Philip's life. He even seemed to exhibit a personality, conveying his likes and dislikes, and his strong views on various subjects, made plain by the enthusiasm or hesitancy of his knockings. His "spirit" was also able to move the table, sliding it from side to side despite the fact that the floor was covered with thick carpeting. At times it would even "dance" on one leg.

Philip's Limitations and Power
That Philip was a creation of the group's collective imagination was evident in his limitations. Although he could accurately answer questions about events and people of his time period, it did not appear to be information that the group was unaware of. In other words, Philip's responses were coming from their subconscious - their own minds. Some members thought they heard whispers in response to questions, but no voice was ever captured on tape.

Philip's psychokinetic powers, however, were amazing and completely unexplained. If the group asked Philip to dim the lights, they would dim instantly. When asked to restore the lights, he would oblige. The table around which the group sat was almost always the focal point of peculiar phenomena. After feeling a cool breeze blow across the table, they asked Philip if he could cause it to start and stop at will. He could and he did.

The group noticed that the table itself felt different to the touch whenever Philip was present, having a subtle electric or "alive" quality. On a few occasions, a fine mist formed over the center of the table. Most astonishing, the group reported that the table would sometimes be so animated that it would rush over to meet latecomers to the session, or even trap members in the corner of the room.

The climax of the experiment was a séance conducted before a live audience of 50 people. The session was also filmed as part of a television documentary. Fortunately, Philip was not stage shy and performed above expectations. Besides table rappings, other noises around the room and making lights blink off and on, the group actually attained a full levitation of the table. It rose only a half inch above the floor, but this incredible feat was witnessed by the group and the film crew. Unfortunately, the dim lighting prevented the levitation from being captured on the film.

Although the Philip experiment gave the Owen group far more than they ever imagined possible, it was never able to attain one of their original goals - to have the spirit of Philip actually materialize.

The Aftermath
The Philip experiment was so successful that the Toronto organization decided to try it again with a completely different group of people and a new fictional character. After just five weeks, the new group established "contact" with their new "ghost," Lilith, a French Canadian spy. Other similar experiments conjured up such entities as Sebastian, a medieval alchemist and even Axel, a man from the future. All of them were completely fictional, yet all produced unexplained communication through their unique raps.

Recently, a Sydney, Australia group attempted a similar test with "the Skippy Experiment." The six participants created the story of Skippy Cartman, a 14-year-old Australian girl. The group reports that Skippy communicated with them through raps and scratching sounds.
Conclusions

What are we to make of these incredible experiments? While some would conclude that they prove that ghosts don't exist, that such things are in our minds only, others say that our unconscious could be responsible for this kind of the phenomena some of the time. They do not (in fact, cannot) prove that there are no ghosts.

Another point of view is that even though Philip was completely fictional, the Owen group really did contact the spirit world. A playful (or perhaps demonic, some would argue) spirit took the opportunity of these séances to "act" as Philip and produce the extraordinary psychokinetic phenomena recorded.

In any case, the experiments proved that paranormal phenomena are quite real. And like most such investigations, they leave us with more questions than answers about the world in which we live. The only certain conclusion is that there is much to our existence that is still unexplained.

http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa102201a.htm?nl=1

Telephone Telepathy Proven Real?

2006-09-06T18:00:00.000-07:00

Telephone Telepathy Proven Real?
By Tashi Singh
Sep 6, 2006

Telephone telepathy may be proven to exist, according to scientist Rupert Sheldrake. Telephone telepathy is something that many people experience where after thinking about someone, you receive a telephone call from them. Coincidence?
Sheldrake thinks not.

Sheldrake claimed on Tuesday he had tested his telephone telepathy theory out, and it proves that such premonitions really do exist for phone calls and e-mails.

Sheldrake had the people being tested give researchers four names and corresponding numbers of relatives or friends. The numbers were called randomly where the recipient would be asked to call the person being observed. The subject then had to predict which relative or friend was calling.

Sheldrake told British Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting, "The hit rate was 45 percent, well above the 25 percent you would have expected."

"The odds against this being a chance effect are 1,000 billion to one."

The well-known scientist also discovered the same findings with e-mails.

The telephone and email control groups were small, consisting of only 63 and 50. Hopefully he'll conduct a larger experiment somewhere down the road.

But I knew it was never a lucky guess.

Didn't you? Haha.

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/science/article_21237943.shtml

Plutonians Condemn Demoting Pluto’s Status

2006-08-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

To those people believed Extraterrestrials do exist, they would also agree that the Plutonians protested recent decision of the International Astronomical Union, demoting Pluto’s status into just a “dwarf planet.”

Last Thursday, August 24, 2006, the Earth’s Astronomers scorned Pluto considered it as too dinky and distant, eventually, downgraded its 76-year status as one of the major planets in the solar system.

Yesterday, August 28, 2006, I was informed by a human Extraterrestrial Contactee (EC), that she received a message from one of the leaders of the Morbid Alliance of Pluto in the name of Queen Ulfoffma.

The following is the statement of the Plutonian Queen thru the EC:

“In behalf of my alliance, I represent to you (humans) myself, I, Queen Ulfoffma of Planet Pluto. Doing things behind is out of nowhere. We are the inhabitant of planet Pluto, living the natural way is one of our Great Purpose in Life. We are the good ones to consider. We do nothing to harm you but to protect you humans. Without even knowing we share our love to you -- our DEEPEST AND SINCERE WAY OF FRIENDSHIP. We are now looking forward to create more good things in life. The idea of getting to lose our beloved planet Pluto is not illegal nor legal because of the unwise decision of other human being was absolutely nothing, and full of lies and USELESS.”

The Plutonian Queen also called on Humans not to consider them as enemies because in fact they are friends and they are helping mankind for its evolution. Ulfoffma appealed to human to reconsider its decision against the planetary status of Pluto.

They can’t deny their heartfelt disappointment with the Earth Astronomers’ decision but they hope in due time, man would correct their mistake. They just want their voice be heard before doing such decisions.

The ET Contactee also told me that the Extraterrestrials of different races in our solar system conducted their meeting and discussed the decision made by human astronomers, and they presumed the decision was actually influenced by their extraterrestrial enemies – those in connivance with the powerful nations of Earth.

Extraterrestrials are living in duality, meaning they divide themselves into two – good and bad. The bad guys have planned to invade many planets as they want to survive while the good guys are doing their best to protect the solar system led by the Martians. Martians are considered to be very powerful in armaments and has superior military tactics.

http://wrecktangle.blogspot.com/2006/08/to-plutonians.html
http://www.messagefrompluto.com/view.html

Pluto Demoted into A Dwarf Planet
August 24, 2006

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) -- Pluto, beloved by some as a cosmic underdog but scorned by astronomers who considered it too dinky and distant, was unceremoniously stripped of its status as a planet Thursday.

The International Astronomical Union, dramatically reversing course just a week after floating the idea of reaffirming Pluto's planethood and adding three new planets to Earth's neighborhood, downgraded the ninth rock from the sun in historic new galactic guidelines.
The shift will have the world's teachers scrambling to alter lesson plans just as schools open for the fall term.

"It will all take some explanation, but it is really just a reclassification and I can't see that it will cause any problems," said Neil Crumpton, who teaches science at a high school north of London. "Science is an evolving subject and always will be."

Powerful new telescopes, experts said, are changing the way they size up the mysteries of the solar system and beyond. But the scientists at the conference showed a soft side, waving plush toys of the Walt Disney character Pluto the dog - and insisting that Pluto's spirit will live on in the exciting discoveries yet to come.

"The word 'planet' and the idea of planets can be emotional because they're something we learn as children," said Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who helped hammer out the new definition.

"This is really all about science, which is all about getting new facts," he said. "Science has marched on. ... Many more Plutos wait to be discovered."

Pluto, a planet since 1930, got the boot because it didn't meet the new rules, which say a planet not only must orbit the sun and be large enough to assume a nearly round shape, but must "clear the neighborhood around its orbit." That disqualifies Pluto, whose oblong orbit overlaps Neptune's, downsizing the solar system to eight planets from the traditional nine.

Astronomers have labored without a universal definition of a planet since well before the time of Copernicus, who proved that the Earth revolves around the sun, and the experts gathered in Prague burst into applause when the guidelines were passed.

Predictably, Pluto's demotion provoked plenty of wistful nostalgia.
"It's disappointing in a way, and confusing," said Patricia Tombaugh, the 93-year-old widow of Pluto discoverer Clyde Tombaugh.

"I don't know just how you handle it. It kind of sounds like I just lost my job," she said from Las Cruces, N.M. "But I understand science is not something that just sits there. It goes on. Clyde finally said before he died, 'It's there. Whatever it is. It is there.'"

The decision by the IAU, the official arbiter of heavenly objects, restricts membership in the elite cosmic club to the eight classical planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

Pluto and objects like it will be known as "dwarf planets," which raised some thorny questions about semantics: If a raincoat is still a coat, and a cell phone is still a phone, why isn't a dwarf planet still a planet?

NASA said Pluto's downgrade would not affect its $700 million New Horizons spacecraft mission, which this year began a 9 1/2-year journey to the oddball object to unearth more of its secrets.
But mission head Alan Stern said he was "embarrassed" by Pluto's undoing and predicted that Thursday's vote would not end the debate. Although 2,500 astronomers from 75 nations attended the conference, only about 300 showed up to vote.

"It's a sloppy definition. It's bad science," he said. "It ain't over."
Under the new rules, two of the three objects that came tantalizingly close to planethood will join Pluto as dwarfs: the asteroid Ceres, which was a planet in the 1800s before it got demoted, and 2003 UB313, an icy object slightly larger than Pluto whose discoverer, Michael Brown of the California Institute of Technology, has nicknamed "Xena." The third object, Pluto's largest moon, Charon, isn't in line for any special designation.

Brown, whose Xena find rekindled calls for Pluto's demise because it showed it isn't nearly as unique as it once seemed, waxed philosophical.

"Eight is enough," he said, jokingly adding: "I may go down in history as the guy who killed Pluto."

Demoting the icy orb named for the Roman god of the underworld isn't personal - it's just business - said Jack Horkheimer, director of the Miami Space Transit Planetarium and host of the PBS show "Star Gazer."

"It's like an amicable divorce," he said. "The legal status has changed but the person really hasn't. It's just single again."
---
AP Science Writers Alicia Chang in Los Angeles and Seth Borenstein in Washington, and correspondents Sue Leeman in London and Mike Schneider in Cape Canaveral, Fla., contributed to this story.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PLANET_MUTINY?SITE=WSAW&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Island parish marks fiesta of Our Lady of Peñafrancia

2006-08-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

THE FIRST AND ONLY ISLAND PARISH OF Our Lady of Peñafrancia, in Barrio Balaton, Lagonoy, Camarines Sur, will celebrate its second fiesta on Sept. 6. The new mission church was elevated to a parish in 2005 by Nueva Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legaspi.

The parish can be reached by motorized bancas. Only 35 percent of the population are Catholics, and the rest are Aglipayans. Fr. Alex Guimpol is the brave parish priest committed to building a proper church for his parishioners who are mostly farmers and fishermen.

Right now, Masses are celebrated in a temporary chapel made of nipa and coco lumber.
Those who wish to help can write Fr. Alex Guimpol c/o Bishop Jose Rojas at Immaculate Conception Parish, PO Box 8824, Concepcion Pequeña, Naga City, or text 0918-6188673.

‘Ina’ in Metro
Devotees of “Ina” (Our Lady of Peñafrancia) in Metro Manila will hold a Triduum of Masses at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 7-9, at St. Andrew the Apostle Parish in Bel Air, Makati. Novena will be at 5:30 p.m.

The image of “Ina” will be brought to the church at 2 p.m. by motorcade from the RGC building, 219 Apo Street, Mandaluyong, with a brief stopover at Mandaluyong City Hall and the Medical Center.

At 12 noon on Sept. 10, a special Mass will be offered by devotees from Nabua, Camarines Sur at St. Andrew Parish. At 2 p.m., the miraculous image will be brought by motorcade to the Ayala Bridge where a fluvial procession will begin toward Jones Bridge.

At 5 p.m., a procession of devotees, mostly women, will bring the image to the Manila Cathedral for a concelebrated Mass.

I always find it touching when the Virgin and the Divino Rostro are brought to the Cathedral. With bells ringing and people waiting in anticipation, it is a joyous moment. People are assured that Jesus and Mary are truly there to help them.

Lipa gathering
On Sept. 12, Marian devotees from all over the Philippines will gather once more at the Carmelite Monastery in Lipa for the National Day of Prayer, Preparation and Consecration. On the same day in 1948, Our Lady appeared for the first time to Sister Teresing Castillo, a Carmelite postulant.

Asked who she was when she appeared on the second day, Our Lady told Teresing, “I am thy Mother, my little one.”

Sept. 12, the feast of the Holy Name of Mary, has been declared national day of prayer by the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines .

On Sept. 16, 1948 Our Lady told Teresing that a statue be placed where she appeared. On Sept. 26, she declared that she was “Mary Mediatrix of All Grace.”

This year, a new Marian organization, Confraternity of Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, will be launched. Its founder is Fr. Melvin Castro, chancellor and secretary to the bishop of Tarlac.
Other Marian organizations are invited to join the National Movement for Mary working for the approval and official church recognition of the Lipa apparitions. Text Fr. Melvin at 0915-4202191.

‘Sagala’
The coffee-table book, “Sagala: The Queen of the Philippines’ Festivals”, written by Abe Florendo presents the historical background of the Flores de Mayo and the Santacruzan, peculiar practices associated with them— dramatizations with songs and dances, folk influences on liturgies and customs, traditions of the hermanos and hermanas, related festivals of Maytinis and Sunduan—and Marian devotion in the country.

“Sagala” contains vintage photographs and illustrations dating back to the 1890s, complemented by an exclusive folio of photographs of contemporary sagalas such as beauty queens, fashion models, entertainment icons, along with distinguished hermanos and hermanas wearing the best creations of the Fashion Designers Association of the Philippines.

Book design is by Eduardo Davad and photography by Richard Papa, with additional photos by Alfred Mendoza and Ramon Jeffrey Florendo.

Filipino volunteer
A long-time volunteer in the church where Hollywood stars and celebrities are seen, Daves Aguas, has been designated to do the flowers for the centennial celebration on Sept. 9 of St. Victor’s Catholic Church. A solemn High Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal Roger Mahoney.
For several years now, Daves’ arrangements, especially during Easter, are a must-see in the archdiocese of Los Angeles. He says, “If I have brought a soul to church because of my flowers, then I have fulfilled a mission.” Incidentally, St. Victor, the first African Pope, instituted the celebration of Easter on Sunday.

Values awareness
In this era of globalization, everyone is on the fast lane, each trying to survive physical, mental or emotional pressures. Geraldine Tiongson-Osias is a cross-cultural consultant on personal growth and management development. She specializes in needs assessment and design of learning and training modules. Text 0927-6556298.

http://showbizandstyle.inq7.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=17417

White Lady Appears Outside the Window

2006-08-17T03:34:00.000-07:00

The photo was taken last July 9, 2006 in the third floor of the Philippine General Hospital. It was past midnight when the picture was taken using a phone digital camera. The person took the picture did not notice any one in the background of the three girls not until the photo was registered in the phone. The girls were shocked and scared to the teeth when they saw the picture with a ghostly image of a girl ---- a"White Lady", behind them. Take note: The ghost appeared outside the window, where the operating room is located. A clairvoyant said, it seems the ghost wants to say she misses taking pictures and a closer look to her image, of course we can't really described her face but my personal impression is she is pretty when she's still alive and you'll notice something like she's wearing a neck brace, maybe she was confined for a couple of days in the hospital then she died. A student said, she has impressions that the girl was involved in a car accident.

A Proof of Walk-In Soul

2006-07-24T04:30:00.000-07:00

As I expected, the case of 10-year old Dante "Jun-Jun" Cardel Jr. of Legazpi City is a Near-Death Experience and a proof of a Walk-In Soul.

A month after his "ressurection", Jun-Jun is now healing people thru his touch, regardless of illnesses they have and instantly they got healed miraculously.

His grandfather Fortunato MOneda, 42, who had been suffering from arthritis for a year, revealed that his grandson had healed his sickness.

Moneda said, he used to feel pain in his feet everytime he ate mung beans, which triggered his arthritis.

But when his grandson's cold hands gently massaged his entire body, he no longer get any pain after eating the beans.

It was also reported that a pregnant woman and her mother went to Jun-Jun's house hoping to be healed.

Shiela Baldo, 25, who was 8 months pregnant, said she also asked the boy to gently massage her stomach and guess what her baby's gender was.

"I was surprised when he told me that my baby would be a boy because that was also the result of my ultrasound test," she said.

Baldo's mother, Eden Apinado, 60, said she felt light when Jun-Jun touched her. She said she hoped that her blood pressure would normalize.

Jun-Jun's parents could not really believe what happened to their son, because the day when the boy was "risen" from dead, he started to show unusual things like his sickness was totally healed and he acts differently.

I would say that Jun-Jun after his Near-Death Experience (NDE) is a new soul inside the boy's body. This soul is called Walk-In, a soul decided to enter the body to fulfill a special mission in the physical world.

In Hinduism, walk-in souls are believed to be of higher level spirits, who made an agreement with the soul of a person to enter his body during the process of dying.

Jun-Jun as I presumed actually died and his soul left the body to let the other soul continue the boy's life on Earth but for a special purpose.

This is the reason why most Walk-In persons are highly psychically sensitive, and have the power to heal illness.

Even the healing priest named Father Efren Borromeo, also known as (aka) Father Momoy admitted he acquired his healing ability after a car accident many years back.

Father Momoy is based in Trinitas Home for Contemplation, Retreat and Healing Center in Bonga, Bcacay, Albay.

Story appeared: Across the Nation, A23, PDI, Monday, July 24, 2006

The Beauteous Mayon

2006-07-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

LEGEND OF MOUNT MAYON
By: Anastacio C. Canciller

A long time ago when the Philippines was not yet separated by a wide stretch of water from the mainland of Asia, there was neither then high mountain nor volcano in the region now known as Bikolandia or Kabikolan the old name given by the inhabitants to this place. There once dwelt a distinct group of people composed of beautiful women and sturdy warriors. Many suitors from far away regions went to Kabikolan purposely to court its maidens. They, however, returned home dejectedly because it was the unbroken code of that place that no strangers could marry its daragas (maidens). So strict were the fathers with regard to the marriage of their daughters that tribal wars would frequently mar the beauty of the village. The inhabitants, of course, were secure from the onslaught of the invaders from all of them were mostly experienced warriors.
Of all the women in Kabikolan, none was more winsome than Tiong Makusog’s daughter, Daragang Magayon, whose name literally means woman beauteous. That was why in the whole region, she was the kabinibinihan (modest) of them all. Among the native who fell madly in love with her, was the wealthy but selfish Paratuga. Thrice did this suitor thrust his spear near the stairs of Tiong Makusog’s house as a sign of his love of Daragang Magayon, and thrice did he present valuable gift of pearls, diamonds and gold, only to be answered with firm words of refusal. “He is not the man for me, father,” the beautiful woman would say whenever she was enjoined by Tiong Makusog in behaolf of the native lover. Since the old man was open-minded, he could do no other but follow her wish.
One midnight, while silence pervaded the place, Daragang Magayon unexpectedly confessed to her father of her love affair with a certain man who lives beyond the border of Kabikolan.
“Tatay”, she began tremulously,” it will mean eternal disgrace to our family if I am known to be in love with a stranger who lives on the other side of Kabikolan (the boundary river that separates Kabikolan from Katagalogan, the region inhabited by the tagalogs). To me he is the handsomest of all men I have ever seen. I owe my life to him, because he was the brave man who saved me from the mad currents of Kabikolan, when one morning while I was bathing in the river, my feet unfortunately slipped on the rock I stood upon”.
Tiong Makusog became grief-stricken after learning that his only daughter had already chosen her life-partner without his knowledge. Nevetherless, he controlled himself, and queried, although scarcely intelligible, who her strange sweetheart was.
“That is it”, Daragang Magayon seemed to have trailed her father thoughts, “I am sure you don’t know his name because when you arrived, I was already saved from drowning and he had immediately told me, “Namomotan Ta Ka”, (I love you) he told me one sunset when we met again at the bank of the river. “Namomotan ta ka man,” (I love you too) I replied, whereupon, I felt his lifps tenderly pressing on mine. What shall we do father? I don’t love Paratuga. I prefer a thousand deaths than wed him!” She ended firmly.
“I will help you to find the best way out, my daughter,” Tiong Makusog, albeit heavy was his heart, assured her.
Unfortunately one morning, while Tiong Makusog was hunting in a nearby forest, several strong henchmen of Paratuga suddenly seized him unawares. He was taken to the home of this treacherous suitor where he was demanded as ransom, the hand of his daughter, otherwise death from the wounds of hundred arrows would be his punishment.
That same day, a few hours after Tiong Makusog had been taken as captive, Linog, Paratuga’s chief messenger arrived at Daranga Magayon’s house and delivered to her a letter written on a piece of white bamboo.
It contained a demand for her hand in marriage to Paratuga, or her refusal would mean immediate death of her father. Realizing the futility of a further refusal, Daragang Magayon forgot her gentle Panganoron, the man who had saved her from drowning. She at once rushed down the stairs and proceeded to Paratuga’s village to accept his terms to be his wife, to save her father.
The date of the wedding of Daragang Magayon to the wealthy Paratuga was immediately announced. Pearls, diamonds, gold and other precious stones were given lavishly to Tiong Makusog as gifts to the would-be bride. Messengers with swift heels were sent to al villages in Kabikolan purposely to broadcast the news and to invite every one to attend the nuptials.
As if aided by the wind, the news of Daragang Magayon’s proposed marriage speedily spread far and wide. It finally reached Panganoron’s ears whom upon learning the strange happening, was moved with surprise. For did she not assure him of her love, whatever consequence might befall on her? Indeed, the real lover could not believe what he heard. To him only force could make Daragang Magayon accept the marriage to that hated man. So with a bold determination to save his sweetheart from an impending danger, the daring warrior, with his trusted guide, Amihan, gathered all his men in Katagalogan to invade Kabikolan.
Panganoron and his followers arrived in Kabikolan on the day of Magayon’s marriage with Paratuga. The invaders were determined to slay the unwanted suitor and his people. Before the altar sat Tiong Makusog, with Daragang Magayon and Paratugaon each of his side. In front of them was the high priest who was busily mumbling words of incantation prior to the formal proclamation of the two parties as husband and wife. To the thousand pairs of eyes that witnessed the splendid ceremony, Daragang Magayon appeared immensely beautiful. Never before had they seen such a winsome woman. However, they could see that grief had lodged on her lovely face.
In the midst of the wedding ceremony, nevertheless, a sharp cry of “Tulisanes are coming!” from a villager outside suddenly put the scene into a medley of shrieking voices. Men, women and children speed away for safety. Only Daragang Magayon, Paratuga and his warriors remained to await the invaders headed by Panganoron. In a moment the battle was on. The sharp metallic clash of blade filled the air, and mounds of dying warriors gave a horrible sound in the fight. Paratuga was the first to gall, at the hands of the bold Panganoron. Seeing her returned lover, Daragang Magayon at once rushed to him, but sadly enough, a stray arrow fatally hit her. In his efforts to lift the weakening body of his sweetheart, Panganoron was unnoticeably attacked from behind. He reeled to the ground, bleeding and breathless. His men, sensing that their leader was dead and realizing that they were outnumbered, took to their heels and left him lifeless to their enemy.
The next day, all the natives of Kabikolan were sad. Daragang Magayon was dead. Tiong Makusog buried her beside the sea. In her grave, he laid all that she had possessed, including the priceless gifts of Paratuga. A week, however, after the burial, all the inhabitants of that place were surprised to find the grave mound of Daragang Magayon steadily rising into a hill. They were amazed, too, why sometimes a flock of white clouds floating over the hill would suddenly turn black and burst into a cloud and heavy shower strangely enough, pouring particularly on the crest of the hill. At night the people would be awakened by strong earthquakes that seemed to emanate from the grave of Daragang Magayon, followed by a thundering noise of rolling stones, along its steeply slope. This horrible occurrence frightened the natives so that in a short period, the place had become deserted.
During the countless years that followed that incident, the burial-hill of Darangang Magayon had kept on growing and growing until it was transformed into a high mountain, with its top almost piercing the clouds.
Nowadays the Albayanos, believed that the spirit of Paratuga is the cause of the occasional eruption of the mountain that was formerly the grave-mound of Daragang Magayon. The legend tells us that in order to avenge his failure to wed the beautiful daughter of Tiong Makusog, the spirit of Paratuga, with the help of Linog’s, is trying every once in a while to exhume her grave to emit all the pearls, diamonds and gold he had given to her as gifts. Instead of the gifts, however, large masses of stones with heavy layers of ashes, are thrown out, as when a volcano erupts.
The spirit of Panganoron, on the other hand, so the legend says, is wandering in the form of clouds above the peak of the mountain. These clouds usually visit the burial-place of Daragang Magayon and never fail to kiss it. Apparently the spirit of Panganoron seems to be grieving over the death of his sweetheart, for whenever clouds gather at the top, they usually disperse into volleys of raindrops, thus keeping the plant vegetating on the mountain slopes fresh all year round. The people of Albay contend that these frequent visits of the spirit of Panganoron to the mountain of Daragang Magayon, in the form of clouds and rain may account for its having a heavy rainfall every year.
Today the imposing mountain of Daragang Magayon still stands in Albay, perpetually clad with the green foliage of plants. Indeed, what a striking parallelism to find this mountain, like the winsome lady of former Kabikolan, always a radiant symbol of hope, to honor and remember the memory of Daragang Magayon, the mountain that marks her resting place is now called Mayon (short for Magayon) and the village by its slopes is at present a thriving town as Daraga (derived from Daragang) which is still noted for its pretty women.□

http://tourism.albay.gov.ph/legend.html

The lingering mystique of Siquijor

2006-07-07T00:21:00.000-07:00

In olden times, Siquijor had an abundance of fireflies glowing around the trees at night. It must have been an eerie and fascinating sight, and the Spaniards called the area Isla de Fuego or Island of Fire.

The Japanese military, during World War II, were less captivated by the island and they engaged in manganese mining that destroyed the environment. To flush out the guerillas in Siquijor’s Mt. Bandila-an, the Japanese razed the mountain to the ground; only five hectares remained untouched.

Isla de Fuego had literally become an Island of Fire.

During the postwar era, the national government embarked on a massive reforestation program; and today Mt. Bandila-an is a nature park, an ecological destination area of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Peaceful and pastoral, almost pristine, the province of Siquijor has a reputation for sorcery most Siquihodnons would rather not dwell on. “There are no witches here, only traditional healers,” claimed a local tourism official once.

Last Holy Week, faith healers from other provinces joined their local counterparts to mix many species with the special oil found here. And, amid rituals and incantations, they created potions, which may include love potions and other kinds of heady brew.

The medicines are said to be most effective when gathered on Good Friday.

Siquijor lies south of Cebu and Bohol in Central Visayas. The entry point is Dumaguete City, capital of Negros Oriental, in my case via the SuperFerry (P3,700 round-trip promo, economy/aircon). Thanks to Judd Salas of the Aboitiz Transport System, I was upgraded to a stateroom on board SF-2 (and to a cabinette in SF-5 on the return trip).

From Dumaguete, it is a one-hour ferry-boat ride (P160) to the capital of Siquijor, also called Siquijor. There are five other towns in the province —all of them also coastal: Larena, San Juan, Lazi, Maria and Enrique Villanueva.

Siquijor is all of 33,000 hectares, and it only takes three hours of leisurely driving to traverse the island through the circumferential coastal highway.

There are numerous budget hotels and beach resorts in Siquijor, the most pricey being the standard Coco Grove in San Juan. For this budget-conscious traveler spending his own money, my host Oscar Magallones, the DENR provincial officer, recommended the Siquijor State College in Larena, which has executive guesthouses and air con, quite satisfactory at P650.

The state college has an attractive beachfront area below the hostel, with picnic huts, rock formations, sea grass and clear waters - a favorite swimming area of the boisterous local children, mostly boys.

Across the bay are the mountains of Cebu and Negros Oriental. (These disappear, however, during hazy and misty mornings.)

Cultural landmarks
The island of Siquijor is filled with unspoiled beaches, mangroves, caves, butterfly and marine sanctuaries, and cultural landmarks.

The St. Francis of Assisi Church in Maria with its bell tower dates back to 1857. Even more famous is the St. Isidore church in Lazi and its convent-house, declared a historical landmark in 1985. It is the oldest and biggest convent in the country.

For swimmers, there’s the Capilez Spring Park in San Juan, a natural pool with spring waters that is a favorite of the local youth, and Salagdo-on Beach in Maria. Before reaching Salagdo-on, which is also a diving site, you enter a manmade forest filled with thousands of trees.

Salagdo-on has attractive twin beach coves and a resort with cottages, among other amenities. The waters are deep and crystal clear, with corals in relatively good condition; and the two beaches have white sand.

Contabon in Mt. Bandila-an is the most explored of the province’s many caves. It has abundant deposits of stalagtites and stalagmites, and a subterranean stream.

The Mt. Bandila-an Nature Park is a proposed Protected Landscape. “It has 187 identified species of flora, 36 identified species of birds and 100 butterfly species,” reports the DENR’s Magallones (who is from San Carlos, Bukidnon). “Mahogany is dominant among the tree species.”

The mountain is accessible by vehicle up to midpoint, which is the Bandila-an Lodge and project site, where tourists like to bring tents and set up camp. They can also stay overnight in the lodge with the permission of forester Urcisio Galamiton.

Nearby are mini-falls, a grotto and Stations of the Cross leading to the summit, as well as a century-old, spreading balete tree which is, as forester Galamiton put it, “the dwelling place of the spirits in Siquijor.”

The ascent by foot from midpoint to the peak—600 meters (around 2,000 feet) above sea level — is facilitated by a manmade stone stairway along the trails. I was practically limping and in near-agony, however, because of a foot allergy.

There are three crosses on the summit (with vandals leaving their inscriptions at the back of each cross) and a steel tower-viewpoint, with all of Siquijor below you. There is the Mindanao Sea and, as a backdrop, the mountains of Cebu, Bohol and Negros Oriental. Apo Island sanctuary is a dot on the horizon. To the south is the Zamboanga Peninsula, though hardly visible.

On the way down, with the DENR vehicle negotiating the zigzag, the mountain peaks of the island province of Camiguin materialized in the distance, like Venus rising from the sea.

http://globalnation.inq7.net/philippineexplorer/philippineexplorer/view_article.php?article_id=8633

The Roswell UFO Crash

2006-07-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

"Roswell." The very mention of the word evokes images of a crashed UFO, aliens, government cover-up, autopsies, hidden debris, guarded charred bodies, and weather balloons. In the history of UFO reports, no case has received the world-wide attention as the Roswell event of 1947. Not only did the alleged crash of a flying saucer create mass coverage at the time of the event, but remains today as an often discussed case by which all other cases are judged. So many books and articles have been written about Roswell, it is not an easy task to write another, but I feel that no UFO enthusiast cannot include it among his comments. The Roswell event is the cornerstone of UFO research. The case offers everything one could imagine; a crash of some flying craft, direct, hands on testimony of witnesses who handled crash debris, government cover-up and secrecy, and most of all a list of participants which has generated around 500 first and secondhand testimonials.

Ironically, the alleged crash story originally died as quickly as it began. It would be many years before UFO researchers refueled the fire behind its enormous potential. Most all of us are familiar with the famous Roswell headline stating that the Army had captured a "flying saucer," and then the retraction a few hours later, substituting a balloon for the crashed saucer. At the time of the original event, a sense of naivety and trust gave birth to a rapid, quiet acceptance of the retraction, and there the event died. But, fortunately, it was resurrected in 1976, and has kept pace with all other UFO events of the last 50+ years. It would be January 1976, when ufologists William Moore, and Stanton R. Friedman were mulling over some interview notes from two witnesses whom Friedman had met with. A man and a woman, who both had knowledge of a crashed saucer in July 1947 in Corona, New Mexico were the key witnesses.
A retired Air Force officer, Major Jesse A. Marcel asserted that he had first hand involvement in the crash debris, and the Air Force cover-up. The woman was Lydia Sleppy, who had been employed at an Albuquerque radio station KOAT. She claimed that the military had covered-up the story of a crashed saucer, and the bodies of "little men," who were aboard the craft. She also claimed that the Air Force had literally stopped the sending of a teletype news report of the incident.

The USA Military had announced to the world that it had captured a flying saucer on a remote ranch in Corona, and then about four hours later corrected the story, saying that what was found was just a weather balloon with a radar reflector kite. We have two stories. Which one is the truth? Though subsequent confirmations of the balloon theory continue, as long as we have firsthand witnesses who defy this explanation, the investigation must continue. Of all of the explanations given to Project Bluebook, it is quite strange that the Roswell story was never mentioned. The story that died so quickly was rarely mentioned from the beginning, the only one, to my knowledge, was in a mid-1950's lecture by UFO enthusiast Frank Edward. It seems that from the beginning, a grass roots group of believers would perpetuate this grand story. When we solve the puzzle of the many UFO reports, it will be due to this grass roots movement. The truth is hard to kill.

It would be June 24, 1947, when the term, "flying saucer" was coined by pilot Kenneth Arnold. He used this term to describe UFOs flying over Mr. Ranier, and only a couple of weeks later, the phrase was used by the Air Force to explain what had been found in Corona, New Mexico. The alleged crash debris was flown to Eight Army Air Force Headquarters in Ft. Worth, Texas, and somehow between the time that Jesse Marcel Sr. had handled the "other worldly" material and its arrival in Ft. Worth, the strange material had lost its luster, and became just a weather balloon. The Air Force had effectively murdered the eye witness accounts, and made fools of all who were involved. Marcel would categorically state that the debris he held in his hands, and showed to his family, was not the same material shown in photos of the alleged "balloon wreckage."

What happened to the saucer debris? An uncertified, but controversial document might provide an answer. Supposedly a brief prepared for then President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower, this document was authored on November 18, 1952. It asserts that on September 24, 1947, President Harry S. Truman ordered the genesis of the highly top-secret "Operation Majestic-12," to study the remains of the Roswell crash. These papers would arrive in a plain manilla envelope, postmarked Albuquerque, in the post of Los Angeles television producer Jaime Shandera in December 1984. In the early part of 1987, another copy was given to Timothy Good, a highly respected British ufologist. Good released it to the British press in May. These documents caused quite a stir, but their authenticity cannot be established beyond doubt. The jury is still out on the MJ-12 papers, but many ufologists view it as a hoax. The issue itself is not insurmountable, however, as a huge amount of evidence still remains to establish the Roswell crash as a reality beyond MJ-12.

The Roswell saga actually began in Silver City, New Mexico on June 25. Dr. R. F. Sensenbaugher, a dentist, reported sighting a saucer-shaped UFO fly over, that was about one-half the size of the full moon. Two days later, in Pope, New Mexico, W. C. Dobbs reported a white, glowing object flying overhead, not too far from the White Sands missile range. On the same day, Captain E. B. Detchmendy reported to his commanding officer that he saw a white, glowing UFO pass over the missile range. Two days later, on June 29, Rocket expert C. J. Zohn and three of his technicians, who were stationed at White Sands, watched a giant silver disc moving northward over the desert. On July 2, a UFO was tracked at three separate installations; Alamogordo, White Sands, and Roswell. In Roswell, on the same day, Mr. and Mrs. Dan Wilmot saw a UFO. They reported its appearance as "two inverted saucers faced mouth to mouth," moving at a high rate of speed over their house.

Enter rancher Mac Brazel.

The events of Roswell began on either July 2 or July 4 (there is some disagreement here). A throwback to western days, William W. "Mac" Brazel, a sheep rancher, would etch his name forever into UFO history, a designation that he neither desired, nor appreciated. A common working man, Brazel was foreman of the Foster Ranch in Lincoln County, near Corona, New Mexico. Brazel was a family man, but his wife and children lived in Tularosa, near Alamogordo. The reason for this arrangement was so his children could attend better schools than they would at Corona. Brazel stayed in an older house on the ranch, where he tended sheep, and the general chores of the ranch. He was a simple man, content with his job, family, and his life. Mac would be thrust into the limelight for a brief period of time, and ultimately regret ever reporting what he was about to discover on the range of the Foster Ranch.

An evening thunderstorm was raging at the close of another workday. The storm was highlighted by numerous bolts of lightning. These summer storms were not uncommon for these parts, but this evening Mac noticed something different...a sound, like an explosion mingled with the typical sounds of a storm. Two of Mac's children were staying with him that night at his farm house. Mac retired with his two children, and temporarily forgot about the sounds of that night. The next day's sun brought Mac out again to ride the fences, and check on his sheep. He was accompanied that day with a seven-year-old neighbor boy, William D. "Dee" Proctor, who often rode with Mac.

As they rode into the open field, ahead of them they noticed an area about a quarter of a mile long and several hundred feet wide, covered with debris of some type. The debris was composed of small pieces of a shiny, metallic material, a material that Mac had never seen before. The sheep would not cross the fragmented pieces, and they had to be taken the long way around that day. Because of the curious nature of the debris, Mac picked up some of it and carried it back to store in a shed. Little did he know the significance of his find.

One of his children, Bessie Brazel recalled: "There was what appeared to be pieces of heavily waxed paper and a sort of aluminum-like foil. Some of these pieces had something like numbers and lettering on them, but there were no words you were able to make out. Some of the metal-foil pieces had a sort of tape stuck to them, and when these were held to the light they showed what looked like pastel flowers or designs. Even though the stuff looked like tape it could not be peeled off or removed at all."

"[The writing] looked like numbers mostly, at least I assumed them to be numbers. They were written out like you would write numbers in columns to do an addition problem. But they didn't look like the numbers we use at all. What gave me the idea they were numbers, I guess, was the way they were all ranged out in columns."

"No, it was definitely not a balloon. We had seen weather balloons quite a lot, both on the ground and in the air. We had even found a couple of Japanese-style balloons that had come down in the area once. We had also picked up a couple of those thin rubber weather balloons with instrument packages. This was nothing like that. I have never seen anything resembling this sort of thing before,- or since..."

Later that afternoon, Mac took young Dee Proctor back home, a journey of about 10 miles. He took along a piece of the debris that he had found, and showed it to Dee's parents, Floyd, and Loretta. Mac tried to get the Proctors to go back with him, and look at the strange material strewn in the fields.

Floyd Proctor would later relate: "[He said] it wasn't paper because he couldn't cut it with his knife, and the metal was different from anything he had ever seen. He said the designs looked like the kind of stuff you would find on firecracker wrappers...some sort of figures all done up in pastels, but not writing like we would do it."

Loretta Proctor remembered: "The piece he brought looked like a kind of tan, light-brown plastic...it was very lightweight, like balsa wood. It wasn't a large piece, maybe about four inches long, maybe just larger than a pencil.""We cut on it with a knife and would hold a match on it, and it wouldn't burn. We knew it wasn't wood. It was smooth like plastic, it didn't have real sharp corners, kind of like a dowel stick. Kind of dark tan. It didn't have any grain...just smooth."
"We should have gone [to look at the debris field], but gas and tires were expensive then. We had our own chores, and it would have been twenty miles."(round-trip)

The first hint that the debris could be "not of this world" would come the next night from Mac's uncle, Hollis Wilson. Mac told Hollis about his find, and Hollis urged Mac to report the findings since there had been reports of "flying saucers" in the area as of late. On July 6, Mac was going to Roswell to strike up a deal for a new pickup truck. He took along some of the debris, and stopped off at the Chaves County Sheriff's Office and spoke to George Wilcox. The story of the find was not significant to Wilcox until he actually handled a piece of the silvery material. Wilcox telephoned the Roswell Army Air Field, and spoke to one Major Jesse A. Marcel, who was the base intelligence officer. Marcel told the Sheriff he would come into Roswell and talk to Brazel about his find. Word of the goings on began to spread rapidly in the community, and soon Mac was talking to radio station KGFL about the incident. Mac told the station what he knew over the telephone.

Marcel and Brazel met at the Sheriff's office. Mac told Marcel what he knew, and showed him a piece of debris. Marcel reported the results of his interview to Colonel William H. Blanchard back at Roswell Army Base. A decision was made for Brazel to go out to the site, and investigate for himself. Marcel would take his old Buick, and Army Counter Intelligence Corps officer Sheridan Cavitt accompanied him in a Jeep all-terrain vehicle. Following Marcel back to the ranch, it was too late that day to visit the site, so they all three stayed in Mac's ranch house. After a dinner of beans, the three headed to the site the next morning. After a brief look around, Mac left Marcel and Cavitt, returning to his chores.

Radio station KGFL reporter Frank Joyce informed his boss, Walt Whitmore Sr. about the recent developments, and Whitmore drove out and picked up Brazel and took him to his home in Roswell. There an interview took place, all taped into a recorder, but the interview would never be made public. Threats from the military would prevent the transmission of the tape. The next day, Whitmore took Brazel to the radio station, and called the Roswell Army Base. What Whitmore told the Base is not known exactly, but the military came and picked Mac up, and transported him to the base, where he was a "guest" of sorts, for about a week. On July 8, the military returned Mac to the Roswell Daily Record, where a press conference was conducted.
Oddly enough, Mac's story was somewhat different after his "stay" at Roswell Army Base. Mac now said that he and his son had discovered the debris on June 14, but he was so busy, that he didn't pay it any attention. He stated that some weeks later, on July 4th, he, his wife, and two children drove out to the debris field, and collected some samples. Among the collection were gray rubber strips, tinfoil, a type of heavy paper, and small wooden sticks. Mac further asserted that he had found balloons on several occasions, but that this debris was totally different from the other finds. "I am sure what I found was not any weather observation balloon," he said. "But if I find anything else beside a bomb they are going to have a hard time getting me to say anything about it," he said.

Mac's military escort led him out to a car after the conference, and drove him to KGFL. Eye witness accounts say that as Mac left the newspaper office, he kept his head pointed to the ground, and did not speak to any of his friends who were present at the time. Brazel went into the radio station without his escort, and began telling Frank Joyce the same story he had related at the press conference. Joyce was shocked by the sudden change in the story's details, and interrupted Brazel at one point, asking him why he had changed his story. Brazel became upset at the question, and stated, "It'll go hard on me."

After this interview, Mac was taken back to the Army Base. After finally being released from Roswell Base, suddenly Mac didn't want to discuss his find anymore. Those who knew him say that in private, he complained about his harsh treatment by the military. He was not allowed even to call his wife during his stay at the base, and he told his children that he took an oath to never discuss the details of the debris field. Within a year after finding the strange debris, Mac had moved off the ranch he loved so much, into the town of Tularosa, where he opened a small business of his own. He passed away in 1963. All of this for a weather balloon?

Major Jesse A. Marcel was the intelligence officer at Roswell Army Air Force Base, which was home of the only bomb group in existence at the time. It should be noted that all of the personnel at the base had high security clearance. Marcel was a veteran officer, who was trusted fully. He had been a highly skilled cartographer before World War II, and was sent to intelligence training by the Army, because of his impeccable character. He was even an instructor for a time at the training school. He also logged over 450 hours of combat duty as a pilot during the War, and was highly decorated with five air medals for shooting down enemy aircraft. After the War ended, he was chosen as a member of the 509th Bomb Wing, handling security for "Operation Crossroads," which conducted nuclear testing in 1946. After being awarded a commendation for his work on the nuclear project, he was named the intelligence officer for Roswell AAFB.

Marcel was on a lunch break when he received a phone call from Sheriff Wilcox. Wilcox informed him that rancher Mac Brazel had found debris from a crash of some object on a sheep ranch. Marcel went to town, talked to Brazel, and reported his findings to Colonel Blanchard. Marcel was given orders to go to the site, which he did, accompanied by CIC officer Sheridan Cavitt. Arriving too late for ample light for a search, the two soldiers spent the night with Brazel, and then proceeded to the sight the next morning.

Marcell related the events of the search through the debris in his own words: "When we arrived at the crash site, it was amazing to see the vast amount of area it covered."
"...it scattered over an area of about three quarters of a mile long, I would say, and fairly wide, several hundred feet wide. "It was definitely not a weather or tracking device, nor was it any sort of plane or missile."

"I don't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't anything built by us and it most certainly wasn't any weather balloon."

"...small beams about three eighths or a half inch square with some sort of hieroglyphics on them that nobody could decipher. These looked something like balsa wood, and were about the same weight, except that they were not wood at all. They were very hard, although flexible, and would not burn at all. There was a great deal of an unusual parchment-like substance which was brown in color and extremely strong, and great number of small pieces of a metal like tinfoil, except that it wasn't tinfoil. I was interested in electronics and kept looking for something that resembled instruments or electronic equipment, but I didn't find anything.

"...Cavitt, I think, found a black, metallic-looking box several inches square. As there was no apparent way to open this, and since it didn't appear to be an instrument package of any sort, we threw it in with the rest of the stuff." "It had little numbers with symbols that we had to call hieroglyphics because I could not understand them. They were pink and purple. They looked like they were painted on. I even took my cigarette lighter and tried to burn the material we found that resembled parchment and balsa, but it would not burn , wouldn't even smoke," "...the pieces of metal that we brought back were so thin, just like the tinfoil in a pack of cigarettes," "...you could not tear or cut it either. We even tried making a dent in it with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer, and there was still no dent in it." Having rode to the site in two vehicles, Marcel sent Cavitt back to the base with his Jeep full of the material, and Marcel took his Buick, and stopped by his house to show his wife and son his amazing find.

Dr. Jesse Marcel Jr.(Marcel's son):

"The material was foil-like stuff, very thin, metallic-like but not metal, and very tough. There was also some structural-like material too,- beams and so on. Also a quantity of black plastic material which looked organic in nature." "Imprinted along the edge of some of the beam remnants were hieroglyphic-type characters."

When Marcel arrived back at the base, he was instructed by Colonel Blanchard to load the debris on a B-29, and fly with it to Wright Field in Ohio, stopping on the way at Carswell AAFB in Ft. Worth, Texas. The military was hard at work at Roswell. Colonel Walter Haut was given an order from Col. Blanchard to write a press release stating that the RAAF had in its possession a "crashed saucer." According to Haut, the saucer was transported to the 8th Air Force, to be turned over to General Ramey. Haut discharged his duty, and finished the press release he'd been ordered to write, giving copies of the release to the two radio stations and both of the newspapers. The famous headlines hit the newspapers.

"RAAF CAPTURES FLYING SAUCER ON RANCH IN ROSWELL REGION"
When Marcel arrived at Carswell, Brigadier General Roger Ramey, Commander of the 8th Air Force took full charge of the case. The debris from Brazel's field was taken into Ramey's office, and photographed. The photographer was James Bond Johnson. Marcel was in one photo with the real debris. Ramey took Marcel into another office, and upon their return to Ramey's office, some new and different material was spread on the floor. Marcel, under orders, stated that this debris was from a weather balloon. After more photos were taken, Ramey sent Marcel back to Roswell, along with a stern warning not to disclose anything he had seen at Carswell. It was then reported that General Ramey recognized the remains as part of a weather balloon. Brigadier General Thomas DuBose, the chief of staff of the Eighth Air Force, after many years of silence would state: "[It] was a cover story. The whole balloon part of it. That was the part of the story we were told to give to the public and news and that was it." There can be NO doubt that the orders to cover-up the saucer story came from our Chief Executive.

Marcel was stunned to find upon his return to his home base, that he was made a laughing stock because he ignorantly misidentified the balloon material with that of "something unknown." Some three months later, however, Marcel was promoted to Lt. Colonel, and assigned to a new program. He was in charge of testing atmospheric particles to detect Russian atomic discharges. When he was interviewed in 1978, he maintained that the debris he found on the Foster ranch was definitely NOT a weather balloon. He insisted that it was like nothing he had ever seen...

Through the first part of the Roswell story, we have heard of strange debris, and two different explanations of what that debris was. So what about the alleged alien bodies, an actual saucer on the ground, or an alien autopsy? To accurately continue our quest for all of the facts behind the Roswell case, me move to a new location. The site is San Agustin, near Magdalena, New Mexico. This story is based upon the testimony of Vern and Jean Maltais. The couple states that in February 1950, an engineer friend of theirs, Grady L. "Barney" Barnett told them that while working in the fields near Magdalena, July 3, 1947, he had come upon a crashed disc-shaped object. This flying disc had alien bodies strewn about it. There were aliens inside and outside of the craft. As important as this seems, there is a flaw in his story. It seems that Barnett's wife kept a diary of his comings and goings. His wife stated that his diary did not corroborate the date as July 3, 1947. This may or not mean anything, as surely a mistake could have been made, or a date mixed up, or plans changed after the entry was made.

Barnett's claims were controversial though, until yet another witness would come forward which would shed new light on his claims. After an airing of a "Roswell Crash" segment on the popular "Unsolved Mysteries" show in 1990, Gerald Anderson came forward with some fascinating details. Anderson states that he and his family were hunting rocks on the Plains of San Agustin in early July 1947, when they also came upon a crashed saucer-shaped craft. The craft had four dead aliens inside. Though Gerald was only six years old at the time, the extraordinary sighting was one he would never forget. To take matters a step further, archaeologist, Dr. Buskirk, and five of his students also came upon the crash scene. Anderson's story also has holes in it, however. It seems that Dr. Buskirk was a former teacher of Anderson. Records indicate that the Doctor was in Arizona at the time of the alleged sighting.

There is also a case for a second crash near Roswell. Testimony of mortician Glenn Dennis, along with Captain Oliver Wendell "Pappy" Henderson seem to substantiate this theory. The actions of the military can tell us a lot. Supposedly cordoning off the area, and removing every iota of the debris field does not make sense if all that was there was weather balloon material. Much importance must also be put upon Marcel. His word seems to be above reproach. He states without wavering that the debris was NOT balloon material. He should know. He also states that the debris he brought from Brazel's field was NOT the debris in the newspaper photographs. What about all of the eyewitnesses? In all fairness, it must be said that many of the witnesses are NOT first hand. We know how stories can be changed, or amended by being passed down the line. But there are also many firsthand witnesses. What about their testimony? If their stories are all lies, then a large group of people, some unbeknownst to the others, have perpetuated one of the best organized conspiracies in the last century. Let's examine the testimony of these "first hand" witnesses. Maybe the truth is out there after all. Is there a way to reconcile all of the different theories into one authentic account of the events of Roswell?

What about the alien bodies? There are many rumors about the "little men." Some say there were three, some say four, some even count 5. Let's see if we can find the truth behind the rumors by relying on eye witness testimony.

Ray Danzer, a plumbing contractor, was working on the Roswell Base. He was standing outside of the emergency room, when he saw alien bodies being brought into the base hospital on stretchers. Dumbfounded by the event, he was shaken back to reality by military police who warned him to leave, and forget what he saw.

Steve MacKenzie saw four bodies around the crashed UFO. He said that another one was out of sight.

Major Edwin Easley was commander of the Military Police who cordoned off the crash site. He related to his family that he made a promise to the President that he would never speak of what he saw that day.

Herbert Ellis, a painting contractor at Roswell AAFB, reported that he saw an alien "walking" into the Roswell Army hospital.

Mary Bush, who was secretary to the base hospital administrator, told mortician Glenn Dennis that she saw "a creature from another world." She was called on to assist two doctors in a hospital room where three "alien" bodies were being examined. Though suffocated by an overwhelming odor from the bodies, she clearly recalled that the aliens had four fingers, and no thumbs.

Joseph Montoya, Lt. Governor of New Mexico, told Pete Anaya that he had seen "four little men." One of them was still alive. He states that they had oversized heads, with big eyes. Their mouth was small, like a cut across a piece of wood. "I tell you they're not from this world."
Sergeant Thomas Gonzales, with the 509th, was a guard at the crash site, and saw bodies he called "little men."

A member of the Army COINTEL, Frank Kaufman, saw a "strange looking craft embedded in a cliff." He also states that he saw debris being put into crates which were stored under heavy military guard at Roswell AAFB.

Again, we must ask the question. Are all of these witnesses lying? Are these stories simply fabrications? What are the odds? How far would this kind of testimony go in a court of law? The conclusion to me is obvious. Although every tiny detail can be put under a microscope to find fault and error, it is only a normal human assumption to believe this story. There is just too much evidence to support it. Many researchers have, in my opinion, wasted countless hours trying to find fault in a report by one witness or so. At times, there have been discrepancies found in a date, a name misspelled, a time of day an hour or two off, and these researchers believe that the ability to discredit one witness makes it logical to assume that ALL of the other witnesses who say essentially the same thing are not to be believed. On the contrary, when so many agree on one general concept, even with small errors in detail, all the more reason to believe the consensus of the gist of the whole.

There can be NO doubt that a flying craft of unknown origin crashed into the deserts of New Mexico. At least three dead bodies were found, and examined. It seems that possibly one of the aliens lived through the crash. Many theories abound about the location of these bodies, and the crash debris. I have no answers to that end. There are just too many first-hand witnesses to the events of Roswell not to believe their accounts. The saga of Roswell continues even today.

More pictures from UFO casebook: http://www.ufocasebook.com/Roswellpictures.html

Germans Built Spaceships

2006-06-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

Probably the most misunderstood and problematic of all terrestrial-based disc technology lies at the heart of the German disc programs that started with the birth of the NSDAP (Nazi Party) in 1920- a full thirteen years before Adolf Hitler came to power as the leader of the Third Reich.

To fully comprehend the depth of these programs requires the knowledge that above all else the NSDAP was founded from the onset by the occult Thule (1917) and Vril (1919) Gesellschafts (Societies), and other occult groups like the DHvSS (Men of the Black Stone) that stretched back to the turn of the twentieth century with the Old German Order (a.k.a. Order of Teutons).

As such, the very first disc project built in Germany...... in 1922 was not even an aircraft but an inter-dimensional flight machine in disc form-the JenseitsFlugMaschine (JFM) built by Thule-Vril using secret business member funding.

When Adolf Hitler (a Thule member along with Goering, Himmler, and various other top Nazi officials) became chancellor of Germany in 1933 the eleven year occult metaphysical science of Thule-Vril became strengthened by official state backing for the continued disc development programs starting with an RFZ (RundFlugZeug), or "Round Aircraft" series of discs that utilized levitators developed by W.O. Schumann of the Technical University of Munich who worked on the mysterious JFM from 1922-24.1934 saw the first RFZ discs built, RFZ units 1-3. The first RFZ series utilized the Schumann levitators, but often with disastrous results.

The very first disc, RFZ-1 rose very briefly only to 60 meters before losing control. Pilot Lothar Waiz, testing the machine at Arado-Brandenburg, quickly bailed from the spinning disc whose Ar 196 controls and tail unit failed to function causing the machine to spin out of control and crash into the ground. Not to be discouraged the RFZ-2 was built the same year and achieved a measure of success.

This was a small armed disc with two MG that was used in 1940 for recon over the British Isles and in the South Atlantic with a rendezvous with the German raider Atlantis in 1942.The RFZ 3,4, and 6 were all prototypes that grew larger and more powerful in each subsequent model. They were built from 1934-1940. The RFZ-5 was renamed Haunebu in 1939 with the RFZ-7 becoming the Vril-1 Jager in 1941.

These highly advanced disc aircraft were overseen by Himmler's SS- specifically, the SS Technical Branch Unit E-IV (Entwicklungsstelle 4) which was created to explore various alternative energies. This unit was tasked with developing both the Haunebu and Vril disc designs that utilized the world's first electro-magnetic-gravitic drive systems: the Vril and Thule Triebwerks.

These drives relied on Hans Coler's free energy Konverter coupled to a Van De Graaf band generator and Marconi vortex dynamo (a huge spherical tank of mercury) to create powerful rotating electromagnetic fields that affected gravity. Many have often inquired "why" then when war started in 1939 did Germany not use these advanced and unique machines in air combat? The simple truth lies in the fact that these machines, despite their superior overall performance to conventional piston-engined aircraft and early jets, could not be realistically adapted to any useful military role other than the most basic transport and recon work.

The strong electromagnetic engines were difficult to control and required a complex celestial navigation system to fly. While maximum speed and range were incredible for the time, the flight characteristics of the discs could not hope to imitate high-performance fighters like the Me Bf 109 or Fw 190.

There was very little room for either offensive or defensive armament in these designs except for a few experimental light MG and MK cannons that proved impractical in flight and a rather large experimental Donar (Thunder) Kraftstrahlkanone (Strong Jet Cannon).These guns tended to destabilize the discs badly and were eventually removed or replaced with lighter automated guns. The disc bodies themselves were not capable of carrying any ordnance at all internally or externally (no bombs, rockets, or missiles) and could make only turns of 22.5, 45, and 90 degrees.

Nevertheless, the SS pursued an aggressive policy of theft, forced cooperation, and strong internal development of these types of machines due to the increasing Allied bombing offensive that made conventional aircraft take-offs and landings highly dangerous. VTOL was seen as the logical solution to this problem.

If the SS could develop a production machine that in the future could be armed (with cannon, missiles, or even an electrostatic weapon) then Germany might be able to turn the air war.To shorten the time of finding VTOL solutions, the SS robbed both Germany's patent office and every patent office in occupied Europe.

Those with aeronautical skill enough to contribute to the SS effort were either arrested or coerced into participating in the programs- among them Viktor Schauberger of Austria and Henri Coanda of Rumania. The SS also used its large slave labor force to assist in construction of large underground facilities for these discs and often for production of components to these machines.

Though the SS requested additional slave laborers from Armaments Minister Albert Speer, Speer himself was not told what war projects the laborers would be used for; indeed, Speer was deliberately kept out of the entire SS disc development programs for security reasons and the fact that the SS was a state-within-a-state with its own production facilities, war material, scientists and technicians, slave workforce, and the knowledge of secret Third Reich military bases outside Germany where the discs were both tested and stored.

Among those held, Viktor Schauberger became the leader of most interest due to his highly unconventional use of liquid vortex technology which was perfected while he was in custody at Mauthausen. Originally designed for an odd bio-submarine, the strange Repulsin discoid motors were to be adapted to aircraft.

Heinkel was the first to receive the early results of the discoid motor tests but refused to act on it in the same way the Luftwaffe refused to act on Heinkel's flight of its first jet aircraft, the He 178, three days before the start of WW2.A year after the Repulsin Model A motor was being studied one of Heinkel's own engineers named Rudolf Schriever proposed his own "Flugkreisel" (Flying Gyro) that utilized conventional jet engines instead of the Repulsin discoid motor.

His design was taken from him by the SS and handed over to a team of scientists for further study and construction of a large flying prototype, The team consisted of Dr. Richard Miethe, Klaus Habermohl, and Dr.Guiseppe Belluzzo who had come up with his own design for a jet powered round flying bomb- the Turboproietti.

Meanwhile, BMW (who was to provide the turbojets for Heinkel's jets) started work on a design very similar to Schriever's Flugkreisel but utilizing the company's own BMW 003 jet engines. These machines, called "Flugelrads" (Winged Wheels) were not true disc aircraft but jet autogyros that used a standard BMW 003 with a Strahlrohr (Jet pipe) deflector to power a multi-blade disc rotor.

These craft were built on a much smaller scale than Schriever's Flugkreisel so work proceeded from 1941-45 with construction of prototypes beginning in 1943. Instability, however, was never really solved in the earlier designs.

Only one disc, a BMW Flugelrad II V-2 (or V-3) possibly achieved flight in April 1945. Schriever's own design began to take shape in 1942 and flew in 1943. It flew under jet power provided by three attached special kerosene-burning engines driving the disc rotor as well as two kerosene jets attached to the body for forward thrust and horizontal stability.

Flight characteristics were said to be good but then the SS decided to abruptly drop Schriever's jet-fan design in favor of Miethe's version that eliminated the large disc rotor blades driven by jet engines for Schauberger's liquid vortex engine, but on a larger scale. With Schauberger released back to Austria in 1944 by the SS, the Miethe prototype took to the air the same year over the Baltic. It's resemblance to the Repulsin Model B was unmistakable except for the addition of a bubble cockpit on top and water drainage (bleed) pipes to the rear of the craft instead of at the bottom.

At the same time a private venture with official backing from Air Ministry General Udet was taking shape in Leipzig. Arthur Sack who caught the attention of Udet way back in 1939 with his A.S.1 circular wing flying aero model was given permission and some funding to build a manned large-scale version of his model. Sack took up the challenge and built four more models of increasing size.

When the A.S.5 demonstrated that the basic concept was sound construction began on the manned version in early 1944- the A.S.6. Within a month the strange largely wooden aircraft utilizing salvaged parts from a Me Bf 108 was taxiing and making attempts to fly. But this project was doomed from the start with an underpowered engine and plagued by structural problems which meant that the aircraft could "hop"- but never fly.

Due to round-the-clock bombing the SS was forced to try even more drastic measures, launching unmanned interceptor discs from the Schwarzwald. These discs were known as the "Feuerball" weapon, sometimes erroneously referred to as the mystery V-7 weapon (of which there never was an official designation). The WNF Feuerball relied on a rocket motor for launch, a plume sensor for aerial detection, and an electrostatic field weapon invented at Messerschmitt's Oberammergau facility for attack.

Production of these craft was initially performed by WNF under SS direction. Because the discs burned chemicals around its ring to create the electrostatic field necessary to disable Allied bomber engines and radar the object was soon nicknamed the "Foo Fighter" by the Allies who sighted this fiery halo weapon approaching them by day or night. "Foo" was a take on the French word Feu (Fire) and from the Smokey Stover comic of a bumbling fireman that actually started fires!Naturally, WNF observed the burning effect too and soon nicknamed their weapon the WNF Feuerball (Fireball).

The "Feuerballs" plagued the 415th NFS from November 1944 to April 1945. By that time production had been shifted to the Zeppelin Werk that nicknamed their enlarged improved weapon as the "Kugelblitz" (Ball Lightning). The Allies seemed confused by these weapons which ranged in size from small to large and attacked in singles or multiples.The Germans added to this confusion by introducing two other weapons with the Feuerball/Kugelblitz- the "Seifenblasen" and "Kugelwaffen". "Seifenblasen" (Soap Bubbles) were large meteorological balloons trailing metal strips that confused Allied radar.

Their large round shape and metallic coating reflected in daylight gave them the appearance of a shining globe mistaken for a Feuerball. Along with the Seifenblasen were launched purely spherical aerial probes that were used as psychological weapons. These "Kugelwaffen" (Ball Weapons) played aerial games with the Allied bomber gunners that would have in time distracted them from the real threat of larger approaching Kugelblitz discs.But by the spring of 1945 the war was lost regardless and most of the remaining programs were halted. Henri Coanda had been arrested in Paris in 1940 and forced to work on a disc under SS supervision. His design for a lenticular disc that benefited from his own "Coanda Effect" was a masterpiece of jet disc design.

But because it required twelve Jumo 004 jets to power the huge machine the project never got past the wind tunnel testing phase. Likewise, Andreas Epps independent Omega Diskus which utilized two Pabst ramjets and eight Argus lift fans was also confined to 1/10th scale model testing. Dr. Alexander Lippisch had also studied disc aerodynes back in 1941 but was too involved in the Me 153 Komet and DM-1 delta glider programs to produce anything more than brief design concepts based on the Gottingen K 1253 circular wing profile. The Horten brother, experts with flying wings, also studied circular wing designs but did not actually work on any in Nazi Germany.

They did so for the US Govt. postwar in late 1945-46 producing what is now believed to be the craft that crashed at Roswell in 1947- a spy craft parabolic lifting body carried by a large meteorological balloon.In the face of imminent defeat BMW destroyed all their Flugelrads and possibly Schriever's Flugkreisel which was testing at the same facility. Miethe's disc may have been captured as Miethe went to Canada postwar to work on AVRO's disc designs. Habermohl was captured by the Russians while Dr. Belluzzo went back to Italy. Schauberger's Repulsins were captured by the Allies while most of the SS Technical Branch records still intact were captured by the British who postwar attempted to create a working design through AVRO Canada with eventual US assistance.One very little known Peenemunde disc project under Henrich Fleissner was the last disc to take off from Berlin in late April 1945 on an official mission. But details of the "Dusenscheibe" (Nozzle Disc) remain clouded in mystery.

Meanwhile, the Feuerball attacks that stopped in April 1945 in Germany resumed in August 1945 in Japan- an obvious technology transfer from Germany to Japan via U-boat. The Japanese, however, lacked all the documentation for this weapon and only launched a few. It is said that the Japanese were frightened by this "demonic thing" and destroyed the remaining Feuerballs by dynamiting them in a pit. Photographic evidence also seems to identify "Kugelwaffen" sent to Japan as several are seen trailing Sally bombers, probably for flight testing.But the Third Reich story ends as strangely as it had begun. What about the mysterious Thule-Vril discs which were actually built in small numbers? By 1945 there were quite a few Haunebu II and Vril 7 discs flying.

Vril had even tested the Vril 8 Odin and possibly even the more streamlined Vril 9 Abjager. These craft were not destroyed but evacuated from March 1945 to an area safe from Allied bombing or capture.In the year preceding the start of WW2 Germany sent an expedition to Antarctica to scout out a location for a military base there. The Germans found such a location in the former Queen Maud Land which Germany renamed Neu Schwabenland. There, in secret during 1942-43, a base was built in the Muhlig-Hoffman Mountains. Base 211 (or Station 211). The base was supplied with slave laborers shipped by sea and U-boats to construct an elaborate cave complex deep within the mountains- an impregnable fortress. Hot internal springs were found there, iron ore deposits, vegetation, and access was achieved primarily through an underwater trench that ran through the area.

During the war, especially the latter part, German U-boats made frequent trips to the South Atlantic, South America, and Antarctica. Germany also set up floating meteorological buoys in Antarctic waters and weather stations on islands located between Antarctica and the tip of South America. The SS RuSHA (Rasse und SeidlungsHauptAmt- Race and Settlement Bereau) began in 1942 to take women of Aryan decent (Volksdeutsch) from the Ukraine solely for the purpose of transporting them to Base 211.Ten thousand women between the ages of 17-24, blonde and well proportioned, were recruited for the project along with 2,500 Waffen SS soldiers serving in Russia.

The goal of this massive undertaking was to create a colony at Base 211 suitable for the habitation and continued development of the Thule-Vril technology. It is believed that both the Thule and Vril Gesellschafts evacuated that technology to Base 211 at the close of the war under SS General Kammler, who was in charge of Germany's most secret weapons programs. Two U-boats that surrendered after the war in Argentina are also believed to have carried cargo and high-ranking SS to Base 211. Both boats were empty upon surrender with the crews refusing to disclose their cargos and destinations.It became apparent in 1946 that 54 U-boats and over 6,000 technicians and scientists were "missing" from Germany- especially from the SS Technical Branch.

There were also 40,000 slave laborers and between 142,000-250,000 German citizens unaccounted for. Despite simply writing these off as probable losses and deaths of the war, Washington suspected that a large number of these missing actually escaped to South America and Base 211 (if such a base existed). The United States then went on the hunt using the "war criminal" propaganda to cover up the search for technology akin to a South American version of "Operation Paperclip".The United States was so concerned about the secret base that in 1947 with the first Antarctic summer "Operation Highjump" was launched with a full military task force headed by Admiral Byrd. The task force was to head straight for Neu Schwabenland and recon the area for a base.

If one was found 4,700 armed troops would have been sent to capture or destroy it. The task force performed the aerial recon, trailing magnetometers to detect any magnetic anomalies under the ice... but several of Byrd's planes were lost. The aircraft had run into enemy opposition."Operation Highjump" ended in failure as Byrd headed back after several weeks, far short of the eight months that was intended. In his unofficial comments to the South American press Byrd stated that he was attacked by "enemy aircraft that could fly from pole to pole at incredible speed". Subsequently, the modern UFO phenomenon sprang up in 1947 and concentrated disc development programs were initiated in the 1950s that have continued on to present-day "black project" aircraft operated by the CIA, NSA, and NRO. So the story of the Third Reich disc programs does not end with the collapse of the Third Reich itself.

http://www.thothweb.com/content-390.html

The Serpo Story

2006-06-26T02:14:00.000-07:00

This is the original posting by 'Anonymous', the key information provider on this site. Also included are three responses and seemingly independent verifications of the information.

First let me introduce myself. My name is Request Anonymous. I am a retired employee of the U.S. Government. I won't go into any great details about my past, but I was involved in a special program.

As for Roswell, it occurred, but not like the story books tell. There were two crash sites. One southwest of Corona, New Mexico and the second site at Pelona Peak, south of Datil, New Mexico.

The crash involved two extraterrestrial aircraft. The Corona site was found a day later by an archaeology team. This team reported the crash site to the Lincoln County Sheriff's department. A deputy arrived the next day and summoned a state police officer. One live entity [EBE] was found hiding behind a rock. The entity was given water but declined food. The entity was later transferred to Los Alamos.

The information eventually went to Roswell Army Air Field. The site was examined and all evidence was removed. The bodies were taken to Los Alamos National Laboratory because they had a freezing system that allowed the bodies to remain frozen for research. The craft was taken to Roswell and then onto Wright Field, Ohio.

The second site was not discovered until August 1949 by two ranchers. They reported their findings several days later to the sheriff of Catron County, New Mexico. Because of the remote location, it took the sheriff several days to make his way to the crash site. Once at the site, the sheriff took photographs and then drove back to Datil.

Sandia Army Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico was then notified. A recovery team from Sandia took custody of all evidence, including six bodies. The bodies were taken to Sandia Base, but later transferred to Los Alamos.

The live entity established communications with us and provided us with a location of his home planet. The entity remained alive until 1952, when he died. But before his death, he provided us with a full explanation of the items found inside the two crafts. One item was a communication device. The entity was allowed to make contact with his planet.

Somehow, I never knew this information, but a meeting date was set for April 1964 near Alamogordo New Mexico. The Aliens landed and retrieved the bodies of their dead comrades. Information was exchanged. Communication was in English. The aliens had a translation device.

In 1965, we had an exchange program with the aliens. We carefully selected 12 military personnel; ten men and two women. They were trained, vetted and carefully removed from the military system. The 12 were skilled in various specialities.

Near the northern part of the Nevada Test Site, the aliens landed and the 12 Americans left. One entity was left on Earth. The original plan was for our 12 people to stay 10 years and then return to Earth.

But something went wrong. The 12 remained until 1978, when they were returned to the same location in Nevada. Seven men and one woman returned. Two died on the alien's home planet. Four others decided to remain, according to the returnees. Of the eight that returned, all have died. The last survivor died in 2002.

[Clarification (BR/ Victor Martinez): the paragraph above contains a typo in the original. Twelve team members went, and eight returned – two having died on Serpo and two having chosen to remain; these two were not ordered to return.]

The returnees were isolated from 1978 until 1984 at various military installations. The Air Force Office of Special Investigation (AFOSI) was responsible for their security and safety. AFOSI also conducted debriefing sessions with the returnees.

I have never seen or read anything about the exchange program. I once heard a little bit of information from Linda Howe, but she didn't have much information.

I've monitored your e-mails for about six months. I've read e-mails from you and others. But I've never seen nor heard the truth about the real Roswell incident or the exchange program.

I'd like to hear what others say about this.

Comment 1 (by Gene Loscowski):
Who is this person? Most of the information is absolutely correct.

However, I never heard of any females going. To the best of my knowledge, we had 12 men, all military men. Eight USAF, two Army and two Navy guys. I think the females are a red herring. But maybe I just didn't have the clearance for that.

They left and was gone 20 years, as I was told. When they came back they were put in quarantine for 365 days at the complex. Only eight came back, that much is right. Two died a few years into their assignment on the Visitor's planet. Two others decided to remain and maybe are still alive today. Since their return, all have died. The last being in 2003 in a VA hospital.

As for the Roswell incident. Whomever sent the e-mail is correct.

The complete debriefing is contained in: "PROJECT SERPO," Final Report-80HQD893-020, classified TS, Codeword. Ask [Rick] Doty about that report because I think it is an OSI report. Paul [McGovern] should be commenting on this since he was involved in the debriefing.

[Clarification by Victor Martinez, 1 December: Ths project classification was provided by Paul McGovern, not Gene Loscowski. Apologies for the error.]

Comment 2 (by Paul McGovern):
Interesting but not totally correct [commenting on Anonymous's original e-mail]. As for the Roswell incident: absolutely right. Few people have ever gotten it entirely correct. Two crash sites, not one. As for the exchange program: Unauthorized Release of Classified Information, as I see it. But maybe someone currently within our government wants it out. No females were sent. Twelve men, all military. 8 USAF, 2 U.S. Army and 2 U.S. Navy. Two were doctors; three were scientists; two were language specialists; two were security personnel; two were pilots and one was the leader (Colonel-AF).

All were sheep-dipped and completely erased from the military roles. I'm not totally sure of the training period, but I think it was about six months. They were able to transmit messages to Earth by means of a communication system set up prior to their trip.

One doctor and one of the security personnel died three years into their visit. The doctor died of pneumonia and the security guy died of an injury. The exchange team had to endure extreme hardship adjusting to the environment of the visitor's planet.

The heat was extreme and took many years to adjust. The food was something of a problem because the human system had problems digesting it. The team took enough food for two years and rationed it another eight months, but eventually had to eat the visitor's [Eben's: alien's name] food. This caused all team members gastrointestinal problems. Eventually, they adjusted. The visitors tried to create different foods but few worked.

The team was never isolated or restricted by the visitors. They could travel as they wished and see whatever they wanted to see. After about six years, the team moved to a northern portion of the visitor's planet, where the temperature was cooler and which contained ample vegatation.

The visitors built a small community for the team. The only major problem was time. Time was ifferent on the visitor's planet. I don't think anyone ever figured it out. The visitors had no clocks. They didn't judge or account for time as we did. The visitors found our attempts to account for time strange.

The visitors were extremely disciplined in their daily lives. Every visitor worked on a schedule, which was not by a clock, but by the movement of their sun. Each little community had a large tower, which filtered the sun through. When the sun was at a particular point on the tower, it meant the visitors had to do a particular thing.

There was never complete darkness on the visitors planet. It got dim but not dark. The visitors had rest periods, but not like our sleep periods. The visitors rested three times during their sun days. Our team determined the entire work period was approx. 43 hours. They had three rest periods within that 43 hours. That is still about 14 hours straight,... couldn't get too many of our workers to do that! The visitors also didn't have months or years.

They did have life periods, as our team coined it. It was impossible to judge the visitor's age, although our team did find graves. The population of the visitor's planet was about 650,000. There were small communities throughout the planet. There were underground rivers, which fed into open valleys. There was industry.

But all of the food was grown, either in fields or in large buildings. They did have animals. Different types. Strange large beasts, they used for work and other things, but no meat was eaten. The geological make up of the planet was so much different than ours. Few mountains, no oceans, some trees or something similar to trees and no other civilization except the Ebens.

Everyone looked the same initially to our team. But after some time, the team members learned to identify different Ebens by their voices. Although the Ebens couldn't speak English, they did make noises that our team members were able to translate into English. After five years, we had their language completely translated into English. The complete debriefing accounts for about three thousand pages.

Comment 3 (by "Anonymous II"):
I would prefer you keep my name private.

But here is my evaluation of the information from "Anonymous."

1. As for the Roswell incident [described by Anonymous in his e-mail]: This was the story I read in the historical document called the "Red Book." Almost exactly to the word. Although there were more details about the crash sites and what was recovered.

2. As for the Exchange Program: I read about it but thought there were 12 men; I don't recall any women. But that was about all I knew. We did have a special unit that handled their debriefing but USAF positive intelligence was also involved. I was never involved in that program, but I knew other agents who were.

3. I'd like to contact this source. I have about a million questions to ask!

I heard Linda Howe speak about the exchange program some years ago. I always wondered where she got her information.

Keep up the excellent work!

Posting Two by Anonymous (4 November, 2005)

Paul is not correct. There were two females, one being a doctor and the other being a linguist. There was a period of darkness, but not total darkness. The Eben planet is located within a solar system of the Zeta Recticular Star System [two 5th-magnitude yellow double stars, similar to our Sun located near the Large Magellanic Cloud]. The planet had two suns but their angles were small and allowed some darkness on the planet depending on one's location. The planet was tilted which allowed the northern part of the planet to be cooler. The planet was a little less than Earth's size. The atmosphere was similar to Earths and contained the elements of CHON [Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen]. Zeta Recticular is approximately 37 light years from us. It took our team, in an Eben craft, nine months to travel the distance. During the trip, each of our team members were frequently dizzy, disoriented and suffered headaches. The craft did not go through any weightlessness during the trip. The craft was very large and allowed the team to exercise. Once the team arrived on the Eben planet, it took them several months to adjust to the atmosphere. During the adjustment period, they suffered headaches, dizziness and disorientation. The bright suns of the Eben planet also presented problems. Although they had sunglasses, they still suffered from the bright sunlight and the danger of sun exposure. The radiation levels of the planet was a little higher than that of Earth. They were careful to cover their bodies at all times. The Ebens had no forms of refrigeration, except in industry. The temperature of the planet, at the center portion, stayed between 94° and 115.° They did have clouds and rain, but not frequently. At the northern hemisphere of the planet, the temperature dropped to between 55 and 80 degrees. This was too cool for the Ebens, or at least most. Our team did find Ebens living in the north, but in very small villages. Our team eventually relocated to the north in order to stay cool. The ground transportation used by our team was similar to a helicopter. The power system was a sealed energy device that provided electrical power and lift for the craft. It was very easy to fly and our pilots learned the system within days. The Ebens did have vehicles, which floated above the ground and did not have any tires or wheels. There were leaders, but no real form of government. There was virtually no crime seen by the team. They had an army, which also acted as the police force. But no guns or weapons of any type were seen by our team. There were regular meetings within each small community. There was one large community, which acted as the central point of the civilization. All the industry was at this one large community. There was no money. Every Eben was issued what they needed. No stores, malls or shopping locations. There were central distribution centers where Ebens went to obtain items of needs. All Ebens worked in some capacity. Children were kept very isolated. The only trouble our team members got into was when they attempted to photograph Eben children. The Army politely escorted them away and cautioned them not to do it again.

Good or Bad Omen?

2006-06-12T17:02:00.000-07:00

The Giant Philippine Flag was raised in the traditional flag raising ceremony at Rizal (Luneta) Park for the celebration of 108th Year Anniversary of the Philippine Independence (June 12, 2006).

In this photo taken by the Manila Times photographer Aaron Favila, the flag seems to express a patriotic message for the Filipinos. Spectators saw in this photo the UP oblation, and the Winged Victory symbol.

Personally, I would see these symbols as good and bad omen.

The winged victory would mean there is hope the Philippines would achieve its success but it can't really fly freely because of many problems our country is facing.

The oblation would want to relay a message that the citizenry wants a total freedom to express certain issues mostly related to political killings (his feet seems to be standing in a pool of blood) and suppression (his raised hog tied hands). It seems the people always thirst the freedom to move, to think and to express his rights to be heard and defend himself.

I hope the government people and all sectors would see these messages, ponder them and resolve certain issues in our country.

Most of the time, highly evolved beings would materialize symbols and other weird events to express their messages and awaken people from a deep sleep, so that they would realize every mistake must be corrected to gain a congruous life.

Alien Head Appears in Duck's X-Ray

2006-06-05T18:59:00.000-07:00

An alien head inside duck's belly? One of many questions in the mind of people who saw this x-ray of a mallard duck. The strange discovery started last Sunday (June 4, 2006) when a mallard was dropped off at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia with a broken wing. But when the center's assistant manager Marie Travers radiographed the bird, the x-ray came back with more than just broken bones."I saw a face. The stereotypical alien head ... with big eyes," Travers said. And Travers wasn't the only one who saw the large bulbous eye sockets and odd alien grimace on the head clearly seen tucked away in the duck's stomach. "It clearly stood out," said center director Jay Holcomb. "We were looking at the broken wing, but the face is all we could look at." Most assumed the bird may have inadvertantly eaten a toy alien or gobbled up something that closely resembled an otherworldly visitor. But after the duck succumbed to his injuries, a necropsy turned up even more suprises in the mallard's innards."Just corn, corn and grit," Travers said."No alien heads," Holcomb added. While the investigation turned up no evidence of extraterrestrial intervention, Holcomb hopes the undeniably odd x-ray could help raise the center some cash from an online curiousity connoisseur. "The poor bird didn't make it, but if we can raise money to take care of other birds, that's great," Holcomb said. The x-ray was posted on eBay to attract bidders and the last bid was US$9, 6000. And Holcomb said around Cordelia, a place where unusual crop circles back in 2003 were just one example of the area's proclivity for the otherworldly, the alien head may be more than just a x-ray anomoly."Cordelia's a hot bed of alien activity," Holcomb explained. "We've seen the crop circles, so it stands to reason we'd see an alien face staring out of a duck."

http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=49756&provider=top

Ghosts of Baclayan Church

2006-05-30T01:52:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken inside Baclayan church, Bohol sometime November, 2005. Eric San Pedro of Radyo Natin, an experienced photographer, said he felt eerie when he entered the church and tried to take pictures of the altar using his digital phone camera. Eric was with a group of ten people when they requested the administrator to visit the church. The church is known to be a historical monument in the province.

Spirits Caught in Digital Photo

2006-05-30T01:08:00.000-07:00

Unknown spirits were caught in this picture by a digital camera, while a group of real estate people conduct their rally in Silang, Cavite. This photo was shared to me by Mr. Carlos Yu.

Yu said "the photo was taken in October 2005 during the real estate sales rally in a subdivision in Silang Cavite. We didnt notice the entities right away it was only when my wife got sick that we started to look for reason why she was not getting well that time."

Ghost Child Caught In Video

2006-05-16T16:28:00.000-07:00

This image was extracted from a video of a couple while they were making their joy ride in Makati City using their newly-acquired second hand car. The woman introduced herself as "liza" tried to capture her image using a phone camera but to her surprised, there was no recorded image of hers in the phone. She thought there was something wrong with the phone so decided to just set aside the problem. Her hubby, "raul", mwss employee, tried to check the content of the phone memory and was shocked to discover that the supposedly image taken by his wife was actually a video clip with a ghost of a boy. Upon reviewing the whole video clip, not only one but two ghosts, both were boys, one of which has wounded face, were caught by the phone camera. The couple swore they have no passenger during the time they took the video and they believed what the phone camera caught were real ghosts. Spirits or non-physical entities like ghosts could manifest anytime they want in the physical world and can be caught by digital cameras, either video or still shots.
Source: http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?page=news&id=1938&sid=15&urldate=2006-05-13

An enchanting and ‘enchanted’ spot in Quezon

2006-05-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

If you wish to go the famed Pahiyas festival of Lucban, Quezon, but are discouraged by the idea of joining the similarly minded mass of humanity headed there on May 15, why not ensconce yourself a day or two before the event in a place that is close to nature and just a couple of kilometers away from the town center?

You no longer have to travel far to participate in the many events of Lucban’s traditional thanksgiving feast for a bountiful harvest. And having had your fill of the celebrating, you can retreat to a quiet room or cottage far from the crowds the Pahiyas usually draws.

The Batis Aramin Resort in Barrio Malupak brings you as close to nature as you want and yet near enough to the hub of Lucban. It is also just across from new Lucban crowd drawers like the Grotto of Healing and Way of Purification and Kamay ni Hesus Healing Church, where the “healing priest” Fr. Joseph “Joey” Faller holds regular Sunday afternoon masses.

At the resort, you literally walk and sleep under the watchful eyes of Jesus as the towering image of the Christ atop the grotto towers over the landscape.

Owned by husband and wife Filomeno and Teresita Valde, Batis Aramin sits at the foot of mystical Mount Banahaw. Its two large swimming pools, children’s pools, ponds, a lake for fishing, and two or three small waterfalls are all fed by the Aramin spring from the mountains.
You can go swimming, fishing, camping, boating or simply relax and enjoy the clean, fresh air; lush vegetation and the quiet with only the sounds of nature to disturb the peace.

Picnic spot
Originally called Piknikan sa Lucban, a spot for local residents, the Valdeses decided to have a full-fledged Batis Aramin resort for people who want to commune with nature for more than just a few hours.

They built thatch-roofed huts and a two-story modest hotel on the side nearest the highway, pretty much keeping the old trees and greenery intact.

The results are enchanting, with misty green corners screened by thick foliage, the tips of gnarled old branches and roots of ancient air plants dipping delicately into the various pools.
You almost expect to see fairies and nymphs gamboling about as you explore the hidden nooks and crannies connected by wooden bridges and mossy stone paths.

And if you have a craving for some of the delicacies Lucban is famous for, the restaurant at the hotel’s ground floor offers you the local longganisa and pansit, among others.

To get to Lucban and Batis Aramin, you can take either the Batangas or Laguna route. The Batangas route takes you through about five other Quezon towns before you reach Lucban. If you choose to go through Laguna, the Pahiyas town becomes your gateway to Quezon province.

http://globalnation.inq7.net/philippineexplorer/philippineexplorer/view_article.php?article_id=1715

Materialization is Real!

2006-05-11T16:01:00.000-07:00

I met Swami Abe Kenji, a japanese scientist turned Indian spiritual guru when he was our guest speaker in the IMAP Monthly General Membership Meeting last May 9, 2006.

IMAP members including Prof. Jimmy Licauco were fascinated with the extraordinary ability of Swami Kenji when he performed his materialization/dematerialization feats during the meeting.

Kenji earned his title as swami after studying under several gurus in India. As a scientist, he admitted not believing GOD but when he started his spiritual studies and training in India, he realized that "man can't live without GOD".

Swami Kenji shared his insights about life and told us that the only secret he knows to materialize/dematerialize things is to act, think and believe oneself as GOD. Jesus Christ, according to Kenji, performed miracles like materialization (the feeding of hungry crowd as written in the Bible - John 6:1-15 & Mark 6:35-44) during his time because Jesus himself knows He is God. "We can all make things possible with the help of GOD and realizing ourselves as Gods."

In his weekly column Inner Awareness with Philippine Daily Inquirer, Professor Licauco admitted he was struck by Swami Kenji as the most unusual participant for several reasons in the recent one-week seminar on Philippine spiritualism and mediumship held in Baguio City.

"Not only was he the first Japanese swami I ever met, but he also could materialize objects, like the well-known Indian spiritual guru Sathya Sai Baba and Swami Premananda. Kenji’s background is also unusual. He holds a graduate degree in the physical sciences, worked as a Formula 3 race driver and test driver for Mazda. He was a singer, guitar player and composer. He gave up a promising career to pursue spirituality," Licauco said.

Swami Kenji fascinated Licauco and the two German participants, Mathias and Martina, when he materialized in Licauco's palm a 1.25-carat diamond stone.

"It was brilliant and certainly beautiful. He chanted while swirling his arm and then put his open palm on top of my palm. I felt something drop to my palm. When he removed his hand, a diamond ring was on my palm," Licauco added.

During the meeting, Swami Kenji performed his feats by materializing a miniature figure made up of I think jade stone and gave it to a girl, who needs lucky charm for prosperity when she complained of hardship in life.

Another girl approached Kenji and told him about her problems in life and the swami again used his ability this time is dematerialization of objects. He placed two square pieces of hindu golden paper in the palms of the girl, chanted Indian prayer, and the pieces of paper vanished without any trace.

I would conclude that though stage magicians could do materialization/dematerialization tricks to entertain people, but Kenji could do it not with the sleight of hands but thru the power of his higher spirituality that might be closer to the Christhood level where Jesus achieved during His life on Earth.

Cloaking Technology Feasible - Scientists

2006-05-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

'Cloaking device' idea proposed
By Paul Rincon BBC News science reporter

The work brings science fiction closer to science fact - just a littleThe cloaking devices that are used to render spacecraft invisible in Star Trek might just work in reality, two mathematicians have claimed.

They have outlined their concept in a research paper published in one of the UK Royal Society's scientific journals.
Nicolae Nicorovici and Graeme Milton propose that placing certain objects close to a material called a superlens could make them appear to vanish.

It would rely on an effect known as "anomalous localised resonance".
If the speck of dust is close enough it induces a very aggressive response in the cloaking material
Professor Sir John Pendry, Imperial College London
However, the authors have so far only done the maths to verify that the concept could work. Building such a device would undoubtedly pose a significant challenge.

Starting small
Cloaking devices are a form of stealth technology much favoured by Star Trek baddies such as the Romulans and Klingons.

The complex mathematical phenomenon outlined by Milton and Nicorovici closes the gap a little between science fiction and fact.

The phenomenon is analogous to a tuning fork (which rings with a single sound frequency) being placed next to a wine glass. The wine glass will start to ring with the same frequency; it resonates.

The cloaking effect would exploit a resonance with light waves rather than sound waves.
The concept is at such a primitive stage that scientists are talking only at the moment of being able to cloak particles of dust - not spaceships.

In this example, an illuminated speck of dust would scatter light at frequencies that induce a strong, finely tuned resonance in a cloaking material placed very close by.
The resonance effectively cancels out the light bouncing off the speck of dust, rendering the dust particle invisible.

One way to construct a cloaking device is to use a superlens, made of recently discovered materials that force light to behave in unusual ways.

Vanishing point
Professor Sir John Pendry, of Imperial College London, who helped pioneer superlenses, said: "If the speck of dust is close enough it induces a very aggressive response in the cloaking material which essentially acts back on the speck of dust and forces it to stop shining.
"Even though light is hitting the speck of dust, scattering of the light is prevented by the cloak which is in close proximity," he told the BBC News website.
The authors of the paper argue that the cloak needn't just work with a speck of dust, but could also apply to larger objects.

But they admit the cloaking effect works only at certain frequencies of light, so that some objects placed near the cloak might only partially disappear.
"I believe their claims about the speck of dust and a certain class of objects. In the paper, they do give an instance about a particular shape of material they can't cloak. So they can't cloak everything," said Professor Pendry.

"Nevertheless, it's a very neat idea to get this aggressive response from the material to stop tiny things emitting light."
The Imperial College physicist agreed this particular concept had potential military uses: "Providing the specks of dust are within the cloaked area, the effect will happen. A cloak that only fits one particular set of circumstances is very restrictive - you can't redesign the furniture without redesigning the cloak."

Details are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences.
Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4968338.stm

Test Your Clairvoyant Ability!!!

2006-04-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Are You A Clairvoyant? If so test your ability with this picture. I took this picture inside the recording booth of DZRH using my phone digital camera with 1.3 megapixel lens. Minutes before this, I invited entities around to join me in taking my pictures. And an entity - a ghost sitted beside me and makes its own pose for the picture. One day, a clairvoyant friend saw my picture and was amazed to see a ghost sitting beside me. If you can see the entity, try to describe it and send it to my e-mail add: misteryolohika@gmail.com. I am also inviting everyone if you have photos with ghost or entities in them, send the picture to me thru my e-mail add. Or you can send them by snail mail or hand carry at my office address: reysibayan c/0DZRH, MBC Building beside Star City, Sotto St., CCP Complex, Pasay City.

The Mystical Mount Makiling

2006-04-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Mt. Makiling - According to old legends, the slopes of Mt. Makiling are shaped like that of a woman lying down. Some say that it is the profile of the sleeping Mariang Makiling who dwells in this mountain and protects it from harm. The mystical Mt. Makiling is an inactive volcano, rising to about 1,109 meters above sea level. The vegetation consists of approximately 2,048 different species of plants. The lower slope is a tall dipterocarp forest while the summit is a dwarf mossy forest. Mt. Makiling is ideal for all types of nature tripping- from trekking, to bird and butterfly watching, and even camping.

Phillippine Myth about Makiling
http://www.faerytales.net/mm.html

The Legend of Maria Makiling
As Retold by Michelle Lanuza Email lanuza@skyinet.net
Once upon a time, a diwata lived in a mountain of Laguna. She was called Maria Makiling. She has light olive skin, long shining black hair and twinkling eyes. She was breathtakingly beautiful. Maria was always about helping other people. One time, the children of a farmer got sick. When he went to Maria to seek help, he was given a bilao full of ginger. The farmer sadly went home carrying the bilao of ginger. When he reached his hut, he was greatly surprised: the ginger had turned to gold! Because of Maria's kindness, the townsfolk had grown to love her.

Maria was a great beauty. She was sought for and wooed by many suitors. Three of them were very much determined to have her. One is Captain Lara, a Spanish soldier who always brought her gifts from Europe. The other is Joselito, a Spanish mestizo who was studying in Manila . Every time Joselito visits Maria, he had many stories to tell her about foreign countries and the things that he had read in books. He dreamed of going to Spain. He didn't like to live in the Philippines.

Of the three, it was Juan who is the most industrious. He is a common farmer. But he is so hard working, and his fruits and vegetable grew fat and juicy. He also had many pet animals and birds. But if truth be told, it was Juan who Maria secretly admired. As time passed, her suitors became more and more impatient and demanded that Maria tell them who she loves. So the diwata was forced to promise: "By the night of the full moon, I will tell you my answer."
When the night of the full moon arrived, all of her suitors climbed up the mountain to know her decision. All was startled when Maria told them that it was Juan whom she loved. The suitors went away feeling dejected. On the other hand, Joselito and Captain Lara were very much angry with Juan. They thought of a plan against him.

One day, all was surprised when a huge fire devoured the cuartel of the Spanish. Because of the fire, Captain Lara ordered many Filipinos to be captured. Secretly, Joselito helped him. Juan was among those who they imprisoned and tortured.

Many prisoners did not last long from the tortures the Spanish had inflicted upon them. One night, Captain Lara and Joselito secretly spoke with the prisoners. The next day, Juan was blamed for the burning of the Spanish cuartel. "I did not do it!" cried Juan. But the prisoners pointed at him because Captain Lara and Joselito frightened them.

The soldiers brought Juan to the plaza. In front of hundreds of people, Juan was shot as the enemy of the Spaniards. He was killed even though he didn't commit any wrongdoing. But before he died, he managed to shout out loud Maria's name. It was heard by the diwata so she quickly went down her mountain.

But Juan was already dead when Maria arrived. Tears falling down her face, she embraced tightly his lifeless body. Afterwards, she faced the crowd. "Why did you not take care of him?" she shouted. Meanwhile, Captain Lara and Joselito fled to Manila because they were afraid of Maria. When she learned of this, she cursed the two. She also cursed those men who cannot accept failure in love. Soon, the curse took effect. Joselito suddenly became ill. There was no cure for his illness.

Captain Lara, on the other hand, was called back to Laguna when the Filipinos revolted against the abuse that the Spaniards had inflicted upon them. The revolution quickly spread to many parts of the Philippines. The revolutionary Filipinos killed Captain Lara.

From then on, Maria never let herself be seen by the people. Every time somebody got lost on the mountain, they remember the curse of the diwata. They remember the great love of Maria Makiling.

Encounter with Merlin, the Enchanter, Wizard and the Prophet

2006-04-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sometime April 2006, I was with a clairvoyant friend when I decided to make a contact with one of the greatest figure in mystical belief, Merlin the Wizard. At first, I was not sure if Merlin really existed on this planet because we were told that he was only a mythical figure of the Arthurian Legend. According to Arthurian Mythology, Merlin also sometimes called Myrddin, was the one constructed the mystical Stonehenge with his magical powers. Other Merlin's works was supposed to be King Arthur's famous Round Table. Enchanter, wizard and prophet who oversees Arthur's conception and birth, enables his ascension and acts as high counsel to the King in the early phase of his reign. Geofrrey of Monmouth is said to be responsible for the Merlin known to literature today. His name, "Merlinus," is a latinized adaptation of the Welsh "Myrddin" - the name of a late sixth century northern bard reported to have the gift of sight who predicted a Celtic uprising. During the encounter, I and my clairvoyant friend asked Merlin if he really existed and he nodded saying that almost all the figures in folklore and mythical belief are part of the Man's history. Meaning all the myths and ancient beliefs are true and not merely products of early people's imaginations. In fact, imagination itself is true because everything we think could manifest in the physical realm. My clairvoyant friend described Merlin as a bearded smiling old-man wearing blue wizard robe and hat and stands about 6 feet. He is holding a wand. Wands are tools normally used by wizards to cast their spells or perform their magic feats. When I asked Merlin if there is a prayer that can be chanted by any person who wants to open his/her third eye, he recommended an english prayer that my friend said was given to him by a clairvoyant priest. The prayer is as follows:

(Prayer to Open the Third Eye, as recommended by Merlin, the Wizard)
Oh heavenly father, in your abode all is crystal clear;
please grant us the clarity of vision, to see with our mind;
the sharpness of audible ability, to hear with our hearts;
and the openness of speech, with the golden voice to express the truth
we ask this tonight/today and in the coming days of our journey to perfection, amen. (3x)

visit these sites: http://www.mythicalrealm.com/legends/wizard.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merlin_(wizard)
http://www.wizardwonderland.com/
http://www.legends.dm.net/kingarthur/merlin.html

Orbs in Diplomat Hotel, Baguio City

2006-04-03T02:03:00.000-07:00

Flying Triangle Sighted in Antipolo

2006-02-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Gerald Jambora, our air traffic correspondent of DZRH Eye in the Sky reported seeing a flying object that appears to be triangular in shape.

The object is flying at an altitude of less than 3000 ft. around 8:50 pm (February 5, 2006) in Antipolo city.

Jambora said, it was clear skies when the flying object appeared before him and his 14-year old daughter, Claudine. The object has lights of colored red, orange and green in a triangular formation and it is moving westward at a great speed.

Jambora noticed that the object has a joggling motion while travelling in the skies and has no sound.

He recalled when he also witnessed an unidentified flying object way back November 1970 with his daddy.

The object is flying over Muntinlupa City with revolving light at an altitude of 1000 feet.

Flying Saucers for Real

2006-01-19T03:45:00.000-08:00

This article and pictures were being imported from the original website about the THE REAL FLYING SAUCERS, www.usafflyingsaucers.com.

Unfortunately, the site is now non-existent due to non-funding and lack of maintenance. I just want to relay a message here whether we believe or not, that man has already been built a flying saucer actually flying saucers without declaring it publicly due to unknown reasons.

What you are about to read is still classified "TOP SECRET" by the United States Air Force. Now, after 60 years, the true story of the U.S. involvement into the design and construction of "Flying Saucers" can now finally come to light. This is not your run-of-the-mill "light in the sky" saucer story. In this case, the dates, names, and locations of very specific personnel and hardware can now be identified, which point to a very "terrestrial" explanation for many of the "UFO" sightings beginning since 1947.

THE REAL STORY: The case for U.S. built flying wing disc aircraft (aka flying saucers) begins with an unprecedented true account by a retired WWII combat veteran and publisher, herein referred to as "Jack". During the 1960's, and on into 1972, Jack and his business associate Harold published for the Air Force certain house-organ magazines (club-calendar-events) for NCO and Officer's Club facilities for several military bases in Florida. It was 1967 when the Adjutant General's Office at MacDill AFB (Tampa Florida) proposed a front cover, and two-and-a-half page article within. The subject was Vintage, Historical or Experimental aircraft.

THEY DO EXIST: Jack and Harold learned that some experimental jet aircraft were being stored at the base salvage/scrap-yard (see picture 2, illustration 3 & 4). These particular aircraft had already been decommissioned/declassified, and were parked directly outside, and NOT in a hangar. In September of 1967, both Jack and Harold drove together to where these aircraft were being parked. Upon arriving at the chain link fence, which surrounded the perimeter of the base near the scrap-yard, Jack first saw the most awe-inspiring aircraft ever built. Jack's initial thought was: "My gosh!

Those are Flying Saucers! Those things really do exist!". There, parked outside on a taxi-way near the base scrap-yard, were four flying wing discs, measuring 20, 40, 70 and 116 feet in diameter (see arrow MacDill AFB aerial photo #2). Jack recalled that the chain link fence was only 50 feet from were the discs were parked. Because they were the last remaining of their model, the Master Sergeant of the Non-Commissioned Officer's Club telephoned the Adjutant General's Office for permission for polaroid photographs to be taken, even though all of the tires were completely flat down to their wheel rims. The Master Sergeant stated to Jack that he was not sure what these aircraft were for, but thought they might be some sort of "test" aircraft. The General's Office suggested that Jack use higher quality official Air Force photographs available at the Adjutant General's library at MacDill. Apparently, the Air Force wanted to make a good impression, and did not want to release photos of these aircraft with flat tires and at least one sagging landing gear strut (see sub-heading Large Disc).

Jack was also informed that it would not take long to bring these aircraft back up to "flying status". Jack was issued for his article, the highest security clearance ever given to any civilian publisher due to his prior work with SAC/TAC/Navy/Army bases. Under armed military guard, Jack was personally shown literally hundreds of official U.S.A.F. photographs of these aircraft in formation flight, on the tarmac, and was shown portions of motion picture footage of these aircraft in flight (see aerial photos/illustrations 12-20).

Jack was allowed to select those photographs best suited for the up-coming NCO Club newsletter article, and obtain additional detailed information concerning the discs. It's important to note, that these four aircraft are NOT to be confused with the well known Avro VZ-9 Avrocar, Chance Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake", Project Silverbug, or the Chance Vought XF5U-1.

Ten Ways to Success/Wake Up Your Will Power

2006-01-03T18:34:00.000-08:00

1. Write down exactly what you want to achieve, word it clearly. This is the TARGET.
2. Repeat the target over and over. Believe in it.
3. Forbid all other ideas to distract you from the target.
4. Imagine how life will be when you achieve the target. Visualise the details vividly, with tastes, sensations, and sounds.
5. Create a movie in your head and watch yourself achieving your aim - hitting the target.
6. Visualise how others will react to you when you have achieved your target.
7. Speak out clearly, never mumble - how else can the world hear you?
8. Before you sleep, run the target words three times through your mind like a hypnotist.
9. Always believe in yourself. You have the Mindpower.
10. Only you can achieve your target. No one else can do it for you. Seize the responsibility, go for it!

Source: http://www.uri-geller.com/waystosuccess.htm

5 Instant Meditations

2006-01-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Uri Geller's Little Book of Mindpower

URI'S 5 FAVOURITE INSTANT MEDITATIONS, OR, HOW TO FLY FROM WHERE YOU ARE TO WHERE YOU WANT TO BE

1. Look up at the ultimate Millenium Dome the night sky. Think how the light from uncountable millions of stars has flown across uncountable billions of light years directly into your own eyes.

2. Picture a river. Imagine your thoughts are like its waters. They flow to your head swirl for a moment and then are gone. Let them go.

3. Breathe in deeply. No one need know. You are simply breathing. Count the breath. 1. Let it go. Breathe again. Count 2. Let it go. Keep breathing. Keep counting. This is your secret meditation.

4. Go to a hospital. Stand outside and look up at the window. Whoever might be inside - a child, a parent, an old man or woman - say a prayer that they will be well soon. They need your prayers more urgently than you do because you are on the outside of the hospital.

5. Travel in time. Look into your mind and unlock a happy memory. Something you have not thought about in years. Surprise yourself, live this memory. Revive the colours, the smells, the textures; use every sense. You have just travelled back in time

Source: http://www.uri-geller.com/instantmeditation.htm

The Fatima Prophecies

2005-12-12T13:31:00.000-08:00

The Fatima Prophecies

In May, 2000, the long-awaited "third prophecy" of Fatima was finally revealed by the Vatican. For some, it was a relief and for others an anticlimactic disappointment.

The "miracle at Fatima" is arguably the most well-known apparition of the Blessed Mother. Her appearance to three shepherd children in Portugal in 1917 was, according to many witnesses, accompanied by several unexplained events, including a shared vision of the sun dancing and moving about erratically in the sky.

During her many appearances to the children, "Our Lady" bestowed upon them three prophecies. The first two were disclosed by Lucia dos Santos, the eldest of the three children, after she wrote them down in the early 1940s, but the third and final prophecy was not to be revealed until 1960. Well, 1960 came and went, and the third prophecy was not revealed because the Vatican said the world was not quite ready for it. This reluctance to disclose the secret lead to speculation among the faithful that it contained information about our future that was so horrific that the Pope dared not reveal it. Perhaps it foretold a nuclear war... or the end of the world.

The First Prophecy
In the first prophecy, the children were shown a terrifying vision of Hell and were told that's "where the souls of poor sinners go." Then they were told that the world war then taking place - what we now call World War I - would soon end. "The war is going to end," Lucia quoted the Blessed Mother as saying, "but if people do not cease offending God, a worse one will break out during the reign of Pius XI. When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given to you by God that He is about to punish the world for its crimes, by means of war, famine and persecutions of the Church and of the Holy Father."

Did this prophecy come true? World War I did indeed end and was followed by a worse war, World War II. But remember that Lucia revealed this prophecy in writing during 1940 - after the Second World War had already begun. Also, it's interesting that Pius XI is actually named in the prophecy. When the apparition of Our Lady allegedly made the prophecy in 1917, Benedict XV was Pope. Pius XI became Pope in 1922. So either Our Lady also predicted the name of the future Pope, who reigned until 1939, or Lucia did some prophecy fulfilling of her own.

What about the sign of "a night illuminated by an unknown light" before the outbreak of war? According to Fatima Prophecies, "on January 25, 1938, a remarkable display of aurora borealis was visible across Europe, the year before World War II began." The Secrets of Fatima elaborates: "This aurora appeared as far south as Galicia, Spain, where Sister Lucy was then cloistered, and she, the only survivor of the three Fatima shepherds, recognized it immediately as the sign. Visible even to Pius XI in Rome, the unprecedented aurora was accompanied by a ‘crackling' sound, possibly attributable to discharges of atmospheric energy. Indeed, in many areas of Europe, panic broke out, as the populace concluded that the world was on fire and that the End had come." This display of northern lights might have illuminated the night in some spectacular fashion, but even in 1917 the aurora borealis was hardly an "unknown light." Also, again, Lucia revealed this prophecy after the fact.

The Second Prophecy
"When you see a night illumined by an unknown light, know that this is the great sign given you by God that he is about to punish the world. To prevent this, I shall come to ask for the consecration of Russia to My Immaculate Heart, and the Communion of Reparation on the First Saturdays [of each month]. If My requests are heeded, Russia will be converted, and there will be peace; if not, she will spread her errors throughout the world, causing wars and persecutions of the Church. The good will be martyred, the Holy Father will have much to suffer, various nations will be annihilated."

Many believers assert that this prophecy foresees the spreading of Communism by Russia, which had become the Soviet Union. Wars were, of course, fought to halt the spread of Communism. Then in 1984, Pope John Paul II consecrated the Soviet Union. Subsequently, in 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated into 15 separate countries, but it can hardly be said that Russia has undergone a religious conversion. Has there been peace as predicted? While there haven't been any worldwide wars, there have been many minor ones (if any war can be considered minor) and the world still is not a peaceful place.

When it comes down to it, the accuracy of the first two Fatima prophecies rests on faith. Skeptics can poke large holes into them while believers hold them up as proof that Heaven has a vested interest in life on the Earth. So what of the third prophecy?

The Third Prophecy
In 1944, Lucia wrote out the third prophecy, as she said she heard it as a 10-year-old girl in 1917, sealed it and presented it to Portugal's Bishop of Leiria. She told him that Our Lady's instructions were that it was not to be revealed to the public until 1960. The Bishop turned over the prophecy to the Vatican. In 1960, Paul John XXIII opened the sealed prophecy and read it, and the faithful anxiously awaited its promised revelation. But it was not to be. In apparent defiance of the Blessed Mother's instructions, the Pope refused to reveal the contents of the prophecy saying, "This prophecy does not relate to my time." According to Kathleen A. Keating, however, author of The Final Warning: Your Survival Guide to the New Millennium, "John XXIII fainted when he read the third secret because it specifically states, according to eyewitnesses, that the Pope would betray the flock and turn his sheep over to the slaughter devised by Lucifer himself. John XXIII fainted because he thought he would be the Pope who would open the door to Satan and that he would be the long awaited antipope."

It has been speculated that subsequent Popes also read the prophecy and likewise chose not to make it public. Now, 40 years later, the complete text of the prophecy has been released, but the controversy surrounding it is far from over.

On May 13, 2000 (the anniversary of the assassination attempt on him), the Pope visited the shrine at Fatima and made a surprise announcement that the secret would finally be revealed. The Vatican then told the world that the secret was a foretelling of the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. The referred-to passage states: "...the Holy Father passed through a big city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the top of the mountain, on his knees at the foot of the big Cross he was killed by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows at him..."

This scenario hardly describes the attack on John Paul by a lone gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, right in St. Peter's Square in May, 1981. The setting is not the same, there was no group of soldiers and the Pope, though seriously wounded, was not killed. Ironically, however, Ali Agca - even before the revelation of the secret was made - had said that he was compelled to try to kill the Pope as part of some divine plan, and that the act was related to the third secret of Fatima. And the Pope, shortly after he was shot, said he believed it was the hand of the Virgin Mary that deflected the attacker's bullet, allowing him to survive.

The Controversy
Since the revelation, the Vatican has been quick to downplay the significance of the prophecy. For one thing, Catholics are under no obligation to believe in the events at Fatima - they can take them or leave them since they are not part of church doctrine. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a prefect for the Doctrine of Faith, said about the prophecy: "Those who expected exciting apocalyptic revelations about the end of the world or the future course of history are bound to be disappointed. Fatima does not satisfy our curiosity in this way, just as Christian faith cannot be reduced to an object of mere curiosity. There is no immutable destiny. In the end, prayer is more powerful than bullets and faith more powerful than armies." He seemed to be implying that the prayers of the faithful had deflected the terrible scene warned of in the prophecy.

Many Fatima devotees are not satisfied with what the Vatican has chosen to reveal, suspecting that they have either altered the message or not disclosed it in its entirety. Why, after all, were five successive Popes so reluctant to make the prophecy public? Ratzinger explained that the secret was kept because of the fuzziness of the message, which he said could by deciphered "only in the light of history." And when he was asked if the Fatima secrets pertained only to the past, he replied, "I think so."

Some Fatima devotees are not buying that explanation, however. "We still have a bigger punishment in store for us if we don't turn away from sin," said Christopher Ferrara, a spokesman for the Fatima Center in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. Others at the center called the Vatican's interpretation "a whitewash."
By contrast, Ratzinger put a positive spin on the prophecy. "It encourages us by showing that even in a world which was half destroyed," he said, "there is a greater force and death does not have the last word. At the end of a century and a millennium, we were able to propose this text to humanity and to the Church in a positive spirit. It indicates that we should use the power of love against the power of violence."

Kathleen A. Keating wrote of the recent revelation: "The Third Secret of Fatima is still a secret. In the press release issued by the Vatican today, the public was made privy to, at best, a watered down version of one sentence of the true secret. This ridiculous revelation bears no resemblance to the remarks made by Pope John Paul II in Fatima, May 13, 2000, when he said that we are in fact in the midst of Revelation-Chapter 12, verse 3: And another sign in heaven; and behold a great Red Dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns; and on his heads seven diadems… I have a source, deep inside the Vatican, who let me know some time ago that what would be revealed today would only distantly resemble the actual Third Secret, that it would be pared down, containing very little fact."

Were the messages at Fatima prophecies of our future, warnings about possible outcomes or just imaginings inspired by the faith of three small children? Like most such things, it comes down to what you choose to believe.

Source: http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa070300a.htm

Who is Santa Claus?

2005-12-06T03:58:00.000-08:00

Who is Santa Claus?
Rey T. Sibayan
December 6, 2005

Who is Santa Claus? Does Santa exist? Were there physical proofs that Santa Claus lived in this world?
It is said that during the 4th Century, there are two main, incompatible belief systems about St. Nicholas also known as Santa Claus.
Among Roman Catholics and conservative Protestants, there is a near universal belief that St. Nicholas of Bari once lived in Asia Minor, and died in either 345 or 352 B.C. or the Christian Era.
The Catholic Information Network speculates that he was probably born in Patara in the province of Myra in Asia Minor; this is apparently based on the belief that he later became bishop of Myra in Lycia (now Turkey).
He is alleged to have attended the first council of Nicea; however, his name does not appear on lists of attending bishops. He is honored as a Patron Saint in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sicily, and Switzerland. 2 He is also considered the patron saint of children and sailors.
The other belief system is from most religious historians and experts in folklore, who say that there is no valid evidence to indicate that Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) ever existed as a human. The belief that there are quite a few indicators that his life story was simply recycled from those of Pagan gods. Many other ancient Pagan gods and goddesses were similarly Christianized in the early centuries of the Church.
His legends seems to have been mainly created out of myths attributed to the Greek God Poseidon, the Roman God Neptune, and the Teutonic God Hold Nickar. "In the popular imagination [of many Russians] he became the heir of Mikoula, the god of harvest, 'who will replace God, when God becomes too old.'
When the church created the persona of St. Nicholas, they adopted Poseidon's title "the Sailor." They seem to have picked up his last name from Nickar. Various temples of Poseidon became shrines of St. Nicholas.
"In medieval England... in tiny sea ports we find the typical little chapel built on an eminence and looking out to sea." St. Nicholas also adopted some of the qualities of "The Grandmother" or Befana from Italy. She was said to have filled children's stockings with gifts. Her shrine at Bari was also converted into a shrine to St. Nicholas.
It is also reported that the Christian church created a fictional life history for St. Nicholas. He was given the name Hagios Nikolaos (a.k.a. St. Nicholas of Myra).
There are many legends and miracles attributed to Santa Claus such as: When he was an infant, his mother only nursed him on Wednesdays and Fridays; he fasted the remaining days; He halted a storm at sea in order to save three drowning sailors; During his lifetime, he adored children and often threw gifts anonymously into the windows of their homes; His father left him a fortune which he used to help poor children; He grabbed the sword of an executioner to save the life of a political prisoner; He brought back to life several children who had been killed.

During the 11th Century, the Roman Catholic Church teaches that during the Muslim invasion of Asia Minor, his remains were transferred to Bari in Italy, where he became known as Nicholas of Bari.
In 19th Century, St. Nicholas was superseded in much of Europe by Christkindlein, the Christ child, who delivered gifts in secret to the children. He traveled with a dwarf-like helper called Pelznickel (a.k.a. Belsnickle) or with St. Nicholas-like figures. Eventually, all three were combined into the image that we now know as Santa Claus. "Christkindlein" became Kriss Kringle.
Before the communist revolution, large numbers of Russian Orthodox pilgrims came to Bari to visit St Nicholas' tomb. "He and St Andrew the apostle are the patrons of Russia."
If we consider all of these stories and beliefs about Santa Claus, it is now clear that what we see in the movies and what we heard from our parents about the story of Santa, who rides his sleigh of reindeers distributing gifts, is merely a fiction to fit the children’s belief about an extraordinary person.
But the most important message we have to digest from these stories about Santa whether he existed or not in the physical world, is the importance of giving and sharing what we have to other people, and sending the energies of LOVE to all creations in the Universe. # (Rey T. Sibayan, http://misteryolohika.tripod.com.)

When was Christmas Began?

2005-11-29T22:48:00.000-08:00

The History of Christmas

The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.

Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god - Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.

The Mesopotamian king would return to the temple of Marduk and swear his faithfulness to the god. The traditions called for the king to die at the end of the year and to return with Marduk to battle at his side.

To spare their king, the Mesopotamians used the idea of a "mock" king. A criminal was chosen and dressed in royal clothes. He was given all the respect and privileges of a real king. At the end of the celebration the "mock" king was stripped of the royal clothes and slain, sparing the life of the real king.

The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey.

Early Europeans believed in evil spirits, witches, ghosts and trolls. As the Winter Solstice approached, with its long cold nights and short days, many people feared the sun would not return. Special rituals and celebrations were held to welcome back the sun.

In Scandinavia during the winter months the sun would disappear for many days. After thirty-five days scouts would be sent to the mountain tops to look for the return of the sun. When the first light was seen the scouts would return with the good news. A great festival would be held, called the Yuletide, and a special feast would be served around a fire burning with the Yule log. Great bonfires would also be lit to celebrate the return of the sun. In some areas people would tie apples to branches of trees to remind themselves that spring and summer would return.

The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.

The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits).
The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.

"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians though it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.

But as Christianity spread they were alarmed by the continuing celebration of pagan customs and Saturnalia among their converts. At first the Church forbid this kind of celebration. But it was to no avail. Eventually it was decided that the celebration would be tamed and made into a celebration fit for the Christian Son of God.

Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The exact day of the Christ child's birth has never been pinpointed. Traditions say that it has been celebrated since the year 98 AD. In 137 AD the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of the Christ Child celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD another Bishop of Rome, Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance of Christmas.

Source: http://www.holidays.net/christmas/story.htm