Category: Uncategorized

Not surprisingly, experts are denying that a 1950s memo confirming the landing of a UFO on earth is the real deal, claiming that it’s rubbish and a tactic used to push conspiracy theories. It’s definitely nothing new; the so-called “Hottel Memo” has been released to the public before, and has yet to be confirmed or proven by a reputable source. Still, the fact that such a heated controversy surrounds the memo is enough fuel to fire the continued hope and faith that believers share—and even if it’s fake, it’s definitely not enough to disprove their theories. New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research Michael Luckman says that these documents are definitely a step in the right direction, leading toward “full disclosure” of what the FBI really knows and perhaps what’s really going on at sites such as the one at Roswell, New Mexico. I, for one, would be happy enough knowing what’s going on at our local “mapmaking facility” that’s all fenced with electric wiring, myself… Every time we drive by, we try a new theory. If these documents are indeed real, it’s doubtful that they will be proven any time soon. Still, with people like the Wikileaks folks running around, you never know.

While this news sounds like something one might hear in an Iron Man sequel, researchers believe they may have discovered a new particle, or force of nature.  An atom smasher from Fermilab physics laboratory in Batavia, Illinois called the Tevatron has stimulated thousands of particle collisions, making what scientists believe may be a new particle. It should be noted that these findings are not conclusive, and that the new particle has yet to be proven for sure. If it proves to be true, however, it means big news for the science community. It may result in the complete transformation of cosmology and high energy physics, say some researchers. Other physicists are not very impressed, citing the findings as something interesting but far from being proven yet. “The experimenters need more data. If the signal does hold up at the five standard deviation level, it is an indication of something beyond the range of what we expected,” says scientist Eugene W. Beier. That said, the “level of statistical significance in the data now is just over three standard deviations,” which means that it’s closer to being proven than any random finding.

legacy/JAGBR017.jpg

There’s a secret history of twentieth century music – well, Alex Ross told part of it – informing a huge number of players working in what amounts to noise of the most wreckless variety. With the explosion of lame tape culture and its eventual recognition by the straight press, one would have imagined that critics hearing Sightings for the first time would be able to recognize antecedents. There’re a bunch of ‘em. But in the interest of ‘breaking’ a genre, or just sounding intelligent, Sightings have gotten a pass and been granted access into some cultish world of music as studio art where everyone’s an underground star and in love with analog. Hearing City of Straw should really make just about anyone with an inquiring mind figure there was something preceding this, made with less technology in an age when recording anything other than pop songs was unheard of. Oh yeah, Brooklyn’s still a piece of trash.

legacy/Great Chain of Being by Valades.PNG

During the middle ages, the idea of a chain of existence reaching from the Earth to Heaven was popular. The lowest levels was the mineral realm followed, in ascending order, by plants, animals, humans, angelic beings and, finally, God. So we are suspended between Earth and Heaven, inanimate matter and God, himself. The picture above is one of many from Medieval times depicting the Great Chain of Being.

legacy/mercury2.jpg

NASA released on the web this week, on Tuesday, the first pictures of the planet Mercury from the Messenger space probe. This is American tax dollars paying back wonderfully, as America’s space agency technology and scientists show us, and the world, what it looks like out there in space.INMO, Mercury, with is craters, looks a bit like our moon. Well, a lot like our moonSean Solomon. the mission chief scientist said “Mercury has had an exposed surface for at least 3.5 to 4 billion years and some of those surfaces are extremely cratered to the point where there are so many craters they start to obscure one another,” Mr Solomon told the Associated Press that it is “surprising how many secondary craters there are. Those are craters created by the falling soil kicked up from space rock collisions. Those initial space rock crashes ‘throw out a lot of material in the explosive process,’”Mercury is the closets planet to the sun and the hottest planet in our solar system. It is definitely not a candidate for future settlements or for mining of natural resources with the use of special robots. So why is this a big deal?Well, besides the wow factor of successfully sending a space craft to a sister planet, and the pleasure of observing the pictures transmitted back, the study of other planets is important in providing us knowledge of our solar system and giving us a better understanding of how our own planet was formed. But the wow factor should not be discounted in anyway. The exploration of space, even for the lay observer, who limits his activity to watching the NASA videos, is an adventure of the mind and the heart, and frankly, space exploration is one of the better things that we as human beings do,

legacy/ufo-naples.jpg

ITN has a video on the net. A video that looks to me to be the worst video of a supposed UFO that I have ever seen, and I’ve seen many videos of supposed, and what looks like unexplained, UFOs.ITN is a United Kingdom news channel, and the footage of an erratic, jittery light over Naples, Italy, which it has posted on the net, footage that the ITN news announcer claims is of an orbiting light, that has led to speculation about extraterrestrial activity over Italy, is pathetic. The footage is pathetic. The claim is pathetic.I wonder who put ITN up to this? It is two days before April Fools day. Maybe somebody forgot today’s date and put this blurry thing out on the net early? The thing looks like something a mischievous middle school kid did using photo shop. It looks so fake that funny is falling off of it.I do think that there is a strong possibility of intelligent alien life, and there is a possibility of the existence of alien travelers whom are capable of flying through space, and buzzing pass us, and for no other reason than because they can.But please ITN! This is the 21st century and people are watching each other like never before. Camera are everywhere, taking pictures of everything. So why can’t we get better pictures of UFOs? This blurry, jittery, jerky camera stuff is ridiculous. A few close ups, please, with steady cams?

legacy/space.jpg

In times of financial stress space research is one of the first things to be cut back, as if space research and exploration is a hobby, an adventure play activity, to occupy the time of overgrown boys and girls, and not of the pursuit of serious people, and has little or any practical utility. President Nixon cut back space research following the Moon Landing in 1969, because he needed the dollars elsewhere. Maybe, if he hadn’t, we would be further along in space exploration, discovery and knowledge, and in technology? Last night the PBS News Hour did a segment on the Orion Spacecraft, and on its maybe bleak future? Bleak not because of science but because of the budget. Some people, a greater number than one would like, treat the American space program like it is a luxury that America can not afford. I think America can not afford to neglect space exploration and research. I think man kind can not afford the luxury of its continual ignorance of things out there beyond our planet.Earlier Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, explained the “importance” of the human race continuing the exploration of space. He thinks man will have to expand into space in order to survive. See the video.If at this time of tight budgets, the money can only be found for unmanned interplanetary trips, we should do unmanned interplanetary trips. If we can only find the dollars to send a crew of robots, then we must do that, in order to continue the research and the exploration. I think it is very important for man to master space travel. There are so many reasons why. There will come a time, if the human race survives long enough, when our sun will exhaust its fuel, and mankind will need to be able to keep the sun from dying, or will need to be able to leave this solar system. There may come a time when the earth may be under threat from intelligent guided or just natural objects, and man will need to be able to reach out into space and to save himself and to save the planet.Item from the PBS News Hour — “Despite budget constraints, Congress last October approved a deep-space crew vehicle called Orion. Lockheed-Martin, the nation’s largest defense contractor, got the assignment, and has made a major financial commitment in Denver toward completing that mission. The spacecraft was unveiled in Denver last week.” See the video.

legacy/supermoon.jpeg

This Saturday night, March 19th, as the sun goes down, the super moon will rise, the first time in twenty years. If one misses it, one will have to wait another nineteen or so years to see another one. So if one wants to see something rare and spectacular, go out doors tomorrow night and look at the sky.Yeah?What is the supermoon? Is it like the blue moon? No. The full moon? Well, no. The moon is full but — according to NASA, the moon is super, the supermoon, because it wil appear about 14% bigger and 30% brighter than normal, Why? NASA says, because the moon’s orbit is oval. Yeah? And?And there is a point when the moon’s closest orbital point to the earth and its full stage coincide to make it appear far bigger and brighter than usual. Oh?What does it mean? Werewolves will be stronger? No? Love will be stronger? There will be more light for lovers to see each other by moon light? Will tides be stronger? The moon will only appear bigger, but it will be closer. Oh?What about the loonies? Will the supermoon bring out more loony tunes?Well, this Saturday night, the supermoon will rise.. This Sunday morning, in the Northern Hemisphere, spring will begin. Finally, after this winter? Yay!Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

legacy/mercury.jpeg

One of my major joys — scratch that . Well, don’t scratch it, just hold it in thought.One of the reason why I enjoy the Internet as much as I do is, because I get to see the views from space, which NASA provides. I am a full enthusiastic member of the space age generation. Yes, I was a kid when all the talk was about NASA’s seven original astronauts, and about my generation, stepping out on a new adventure. An adventure, for the most of us, has been and will continue to, in the words of Rod Sterling, an adventure “of the mind and of the imagination.” A most enjoyable adventure just the same, and a mind expanding and learning adventure.This brings me to an item from the PBS News Hour — We are asked to “imagine traveling to a planet where the sun is eleven times stronger than on Earth, the temperature can swing 1,100 degrees and have to maintain contact with headquarters back on Earth.”In the News Hour segment, PBS Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reported on NASA’s tricky task of building a spacecraft to withstand the extreme environment on Mercury,” and on the wondrous adventure that is a trip to Mercury. See the video.And, I can’t wait to see the pictures from Mercury, which NASA will provide the world..

legacy/dogu.JPG

A few days before the big earthquake in Japan, I happened to stumble across an episode of a show on The History Channel called “Ancient Aliens” which discussed Dogu figurines in depth. I made a note to research them later, and now I can’t help but wonder what has happened to these historical sites in the disaster.  Dogu figurines are small fired clay statuettes of humanoid figures, which were made in the late Jomon Period of Japanese history, between 14,000 and 400 BC. The Jomon culture was a Paleolithic culture of hunter gatherers which settled in Japan and began to create the world’s first example of pottery vessels. There is a lot of variation in Dogu figurines, yet all of them share a similar set of qualities. Clearly these were something of a fad among the Jomon people, an artistic line that lasted for several thousand years. Most reputable anthropologists believe they are fertility symbols, or involved in fertility rituals.Dogu figurines seem humanoid, although grossly distorted. Many of them have extremely overdeveloped breasts or butts, or have a tiny waist with hugely swollen arms and legs. And a surprising number of them seem to be wearing goggles.In fact, one of the most prevalent styles of Dogu figurines are called “Shakokidogu,” derived from the term “shakoki” which means “light blocking device.” These figurines seem to be wearing slit goggles, similar to those worn by the Inuit to prevent snow blindness.You can look at Dogu figurines and think, “Gosh, they had some strange artistic fads back in the Iron Age.” Or you can look at them and think, “I bet those represent the aliens who came to Earth to give culture to the Japanese.”Such was the contention of many UFO specialists interviewed on “Ancient Aliens.” The Dogu figurines do indeed look something like a person in a weird space suit. And their emergence in the artistic record coincides with a rich period in the development of Japanese culture.Do the Dogu figurines represent aliens who brought Japan to the Japanese, so to speak? Or could they actually be time travelers who traveled back in time for the same reason?One feature which is common to almost all Dogu is the intricate patterning. Each figure is covered in swirls and stamps which coil around their torsos, encircling their limbs. And each one seems to have nipples, if not breasts. Do these represent elaborately patterned space suits? Or do they simply represent heavily tattooed people, both male and female?One of the richest archaeological sites for Dogu figurines is in a town called Ishinomaki, which was one of the hardest hit by Friday’s earthquake. Here’s hoping that the site – and the archaeologists researching it – came through the event unharmed.Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons