MUFON CMS - Howland, OH, October 12, 2010: At a soccer game yesterday in Howland, our team was sitting on the field stretching. I went to stretch my quads and laid on my back with my leg under me. As I stared up, I noticed how clear the sky was, and I could see the moon perfectly. Then, as my eyes scanned the sky, I noticed an object that I jokingly pointed out to my friends as "a Russian spy-plane!"
As I stared at this strange aircraft, I noticed that it was extremely high, and was white in color (against the blue sky), with the shape of a "Z". The closest shape above would be compared to a boomerang, but one side of the the object was facing the opposite direction of another point, giving the object a "Z"-like appearance. It was common knowledge that no regular aircraft took that shape or could fly at such a high altitude, moving so unbearably slow across the sky away from the moon (moving southwest). Also, the object made absolutely no audible noise, nor did it emit any type of visible exhaust. We discussed what it could be, while staring at this incredibly high, white, object. Right before our eyes, it began emitting a white light out of the western-most side of the object. The light did not flash, blink, or flicker; it was a constant white beam, but it was not bright, and was still barely noticeable.
After about 3 minutes of staring at this object, it had vanished right before our eyes. My reactional thought process was "there is no way...that could NOT have been a U.F.O.", as I tried to think of logical explanations for the sudden complete disappearance of this object, in the cloudless sky. I truly believe, after thinking about it all night, that this MUST have been a U.F.O.... no aircraft known to man would hover at such a high altitude, moving incredibly slowly, and vanish instantly.
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Saturn's Moons Engage in Cosmic Paintball Fight
space.com - Five of Saturn's inner moons are engaged in a cosmic paintball fight, pelting each other with particles that leave bright, colorful splotches and may be the source of a Pac-man feature on one of the satellites.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently spotted reddish and blue splashes on the icy surfaces of Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea. The colors are helping scientists map out how material travels between these moons of the ringed planet, and they're highlighting how "space weathering" can impact bodies in our solar system, researchers said. [New photo of colorful Saturn moon.]
The discovery may also help explain the mysterious Pac-Man heat pattern Cassini spotted on Mimas earlier this year, scientists said.
"The beauty of it all is how the satellites behave as a family, recording similar processes and events on their surfaces, each in its own unique way," said study lead author Paul Schenk, of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, in a statement. "I don't think anyone expected that electrons would leave such obvious fingerprints on planetary surfaces, but we see it on several moons, including Mimas, which was once thought to be rather bland."
The research is detailed in a recent online edition of the science journal Icarus.
Enceladus: The aggressor
In the new study, Schenk and his colleagues used raw images taken by Cassini from 2004 to 2009, to produce new, high-resolution global color maps of the five Saturn moons.
The new maps incorporate images shot through visible-light, ultraviolet and infrared filters. Scientists processed the photos to reveal details the human eye can't detect.
The chief aggressor in the Saturnian particle paint war appears to be icy Enceladus, researchers said.
Mysterious ice geysers blast from the south polar region of this small moon. Particles from these icy jets make up most of Saturn's misty E ring, and they also appear to splatter Tethys, Dione and Rhea.
These three moons run head-on into Enceladus' spray as they orbit Saturn, and the gunk leaves a coral-colored stain on their icy surfaces, researchers said.
Enceladus' spray also tags Mimas, but it hits the moon's trailing side. This probably occurs because Mimas orbits inside the path of Enceladus — or closer to Saturn — while Tethys, Dione and Rhea are on the outside, scientists said.
But Enceladus doesn't emerge from the paintball fight unscathed: Some of its own icy material blows back onto the moon, dyeing parts of its surface bright blue.
Scientists aren't sure why the frost stains the other moons pinkish and Enceladus blue, but they're working on figuring it out.
Mimas' Pac-Man pattern
On Tethys, Dione and Rhea, darker, rusty reds paint the entire trailing hemisphere — the side that faces backward in the orbit around Saturn, scientists said. These colors are thought to be caused by tiny particle strikes from circulating plasma — an electrically charged form of matter similar to gas — in Saturn's magnetic environment.
In addition, Mimas and Tethys both sport a dark bluish band. The bands match patterns that might be produced if the surface were being irradiated by high-energy electrons drifting in a direction opposite to the flow of plasma in the magnetic bubble around Saturn, researchers said.
Scientists are still figuring out exactly what is happening, but the electrons appear to be zapping the Mimas surface in a way that matches the Pac-Man thermal pattern detected by Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer, Schenk said.
Schenk and his colleagues also found a unique chain of bluish splotches along the equator of Rhea that re-opens the question of whether Rhea ever had a ring around it. The splotches do not seem related to Enceladus, but rather appear where fresh, bluish ice has been exposed on older crater rims.
Though scientists recently reported that they did not see evidence in Cassini images of a ring around Rhea, the authors of the new study suggest the crash of orbiting material — perhaps a ring — to the surface of Rhea in the not-too-distant past could explain the bluish splotches.
"Analyzing the image color ratios is a great way to really enhance the otherwise subtle color variations and make apparent some of the processes at play in the Saturn system," said Amanda Hendrix, Cassini deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "The Cassini images highlight the importance and potential effects of so-called 'space weathering' that occurs throughout the solar system – on any surface that isn't protected by a thick atmosphere or magnetic field."
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Uproar Over Proposal to Dig Up Muslim Cemetery
thedailystar - The regular Thursday meeting of the Sidney, NY Town Board ended abruptly when chants for the town supervisor's resignation erupted from many of the more than 100 people in attendance.
The 7 p.m. meeting was held Thursday in a larger than usual room for a town board meeting.
The session followed nationwide controversy that began following a town board resolution in August to begin legal proceedings against the Muslim Osmanli Naksibendi Hakkani Sufi Order on Wheat Hill Road in Sidney Center. The town claimed that two burials in the private cemetery on its land were done illegally. A letter from the town's attorney, provided to The Daily Star on Wednesday, said that after review he decided not to take any action.
Town Supervisor Bob McCarthy previously said that the town board would seek to have the bodies disinterred. He refused to apologize during Thursday's meeting and at one point tried to deny his comments. When the question was pursued, he said, "I don't know if I did that. If I did, whatever."
The meeting started with town clerk Lisa French reading a statement from the board that said although McCarthy has done well for the town in economic matters, "We do understand that he may need to improve his people skills, and we, as a board will continue to encourage that."
The statement went on to explain that the board decided to look into the cemetery issue after a second burial permit at the Sufi order was requested in August.
It asked its attorney, Joseph Ermeti, to research the matter as part of the board's responsibility, to make sure that it wasn't later forced to take over the maintenance of a cemetery, as it had been before.
She also read the letter from Ermeti stating his findings.
While the board went through routine business, calls from several in the audience asked for a public comment session and others asked why the board would not apologize to the Muslim community for its actions.
A couple of audience members argued on the board's behalf, but most of the comments were against its position.
McCarthy repeatedly told the speakers they were out of order and several times threatened to have people removed.
Ermeti explained a new proposed local law that would address his concerns. This included the regulation of burials on private property with the exception of religious, nonprofit or municipal corporations. Under this law the Sufi cemetery would not be affected, he said.
During a public comment period at the end of the meeting, one of the Sufi property owners, Meryem Brawley, said that she was surprised that after the questions were raised, nobody from the town came to the Sufi order.
"Nobody called me, nobody sent me a letter," she said.
"You made assumptions about us that were not true," she said in asking for an apology, which was not given.
Ermeti said that before anyone came to the center, it had to be determined if there was a legal reason to do so. As far as he can determine, the cemetery is not in violation of any regulations, and the town will not proceed against it.
But in another exchange, Hans Hass, who has served as a spokesman for the Sufi order, asked McCarthy to at least say that the cemetery was legal.
McCarthy declined to say that.
The scene quickly deteriorated when longtime Sidney resident Floyd Howard said he has never seen such a "mess" in his community, caused by McCarthy's actions.
"You've brought shame (on the town)," he said.
Chants for McCarthy's resignation followed and he declared the meeting over about an hour after it began.
Afterward, Carl Cable, another longtime resident, praised McCarthy as the first elected official that he can remember who was not afraid to stand up for what was right.
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Witchcraft Updates
Mozambican boy castrated for witchcraft
capitalfm - Two men were sentenced to 20 years in prison for cutting off a nine-year-old boy's testicles, penis and eyes to sell to a Malawian witchdoctor, Mozambican state radio reported Thursday.
One of the men was the boy's uncle, who lured him with crackers to go rat-hunting in woods near the Malawi border, while the accomplice hid nearby, the court sentence read.
One attacker covered the youth's mouth while the other hit him on the chest with a rock. They then cut off his organs and left him for dead, while one took the body parts in a bag to a middleman in Malawi, where they hoped to sell the flesh for about 560 dollars (400 euros).
The boy was discovered alive the next day and taken to hospital in Malawi.
"The crime they committed was horrible. The court condemns them to 20 years' imprisonment," judge Jorge Langa said, according to the radio report.
Many Mozambicans believe in witches who use human parts in remedies to cure diseases.
Woman killed for practicing 'witchcraft'
hindustantimes - A woman was killed for allegedly practicising witchcraft at Majhaulia village in Sitamarhi district on Saturday. The 35-year-old woman, Ramsumari Devi, was beaten to death by local people at the village under Bathanaha police station, Superintendent of Police Rakesh Rathi said.
An FIR was registered against 38 persons, including village head Lalbabu Bhagat following a complaint by the victim's husband Nandlal Bhagat, he said.
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UFO Disclosure Countdown Clock: NYC UFO Event
Rick Phillips posts his thoughts on the The NYC `UFO Event' - The Day After - A Gathering Of Information and The 'NYC UFO Event' - My Analysis, Opinion, and Speculations.
It's been about 48 hours - the day after the day after.
I've been posting to this website since late 2007; a website started because of my interest in UFO's since a up close 1991 sighting by myself (link in sidebar). And, if you check my sidebar, you will note a particularly skeptical attitude to `the whole UFO thing' from the stated government points of view, to the psychics predicting this and that, to `proof' via Videos of observers - to the hopeless and hapless media coverage of the whole saga - especially their hands off approach to interviewing the one man who has seen most of the FAA UFO reports for the past decade or so - Robert Bigelow. Continue reading at The NYC `UFO Event' - The Day After - A Gathering Of Information
Ok, so I woke up on the 13th thinking about the prediction of the UFO show; but, I run a UFO blog - how many other people woke up with similar thoughts? I can certainly say that it was a minimal number as this particular prediction seemingly had even less media attention than Blossom Goodchild's prediction of nearly the same date (Oct 14th was her prediction in 2008 - and BTW it would have been 10-14 in parts of the world). But, that said, perhaps many in NYC (it being a major city as the prediction said) did wake up with similar thoughts (this will be important in my speculations). IF even 1/10th of 1% of the metro area did have similar thoughts before hand (let's be conservative and just call the metro area 10 million) - that would be 10,000 folks. Continue reading at The 'NYC UFO Event' - My Analysis, Opinion, and Speculations
