NASA's Extraterrestrial Life News Wasn't Necessarily About Aliens

NASA - NASA-funded astrobiology research has changed the fundamental knowledge about what comprises all known life on Earth.

Researchers conducting tests in the harsh environment of Mono Lake in California have discovered the first known microorganism on Earth able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. The microorganism substitutes arsenic for phosphorus in its cell components.

"The definition of life has just expanded," said Ed Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at the agency's Headquarters in Washington. "As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it."

This finding of an alternative biochemistry makeup will alter biology textbooks and expand the scope of the search for life beyond Earth. The research is published in this week's edition of Science Express.

Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur are the six basic building blocks of all known forms of life on Earth. Phosphorus is part of the chemical backbone of DNA and RNA, the structures that carry genetic instructions for life, and is considered an essential element for all living cells.

Phosphorus is a central component of the energy-carrying molecule in all cells (adenosine triphosphate) and also the phospholipids that form all cell membranes. Arsenic, which is chemically similar to phosphorus, is poisonous for most life on Earth. Arsenic disrupts metabolic pathways because chemically it behaves similarly to phosphate.

"We know that some microbes can breathe arsenic, but what we've found is a microbe doing something new -- building parts of itself out of arsenic," said Felisa Wolfe-Simon, a NASA Astrobiology Research Fellow in residence at the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., and the research team's lead scientist. "If something here on Earth can do something so unexpected, what else can life do that we haven't seen yet?"

The newly discovered microbe, strain GFAJ-1, is a member of a common group of bacteria, the Gammaproteobacteria. In the laboratory, the researchers successfully grew microbes from the lake on a diet that was very lean on phosphorus, but included generous helpings of arsenic. When researchers removed the phosphorus and replaced it with arsenic the microbes continued to grow. Subsequent analyses indicated that the arsenic was being used to produce the building blocks of new GFAJ-1 cells.

The key issue the researchers investigated was when the microbe was grown on arsenic did the arsenic actually became incorporated into the organisms' vital biochemical machinery, such as DNA, proteins and the cell membranes. A variety of sophisticated laboratory techniques was used to determine where the arsenic was incorporated.

The team chose to explore Mono Lake because of its unusual chemistry, especially its high salinity, high alkalinity, and high levels of arsenic. This chemistry is in part a result of Mono Lake's isolation from its sources of fresh water for 50 years.

The results of this study will inform ongoing research in many areas, including the study of Earth's evolution, organic chemistry, biogeochemical cycles, disease mitigation and Earth system research. These findings also will open up new frontiers in microbiology and other areas of research.

"The idea of alternative biochemistries for life is common in science fiction," said Carl Pilcher, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at the agency's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."

The research team included scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Penn., and the Stanford Synchroton Radiation Lightsource in Menlo Park, Calif.

NASA's Astrobiology Program in Washington contributed funding for the research through its Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program and the NASA Astrobiology Institute. NASA's Astrobiology Program supports research into the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth.


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Mono Lake bacteria build their DNA using arsenic

discovermagazine - Arsenic isn’t exactly something you want to eat. It has a deserved reputation as a powerful poison. It has been used as a murder weapon and it contaminates the drinking water of millions of people. It’s about as antagonistic to life as a chemical can get. But in California’s Mono Lake, Felisa Wolfe-Simon has discovered bacteria that not only shrug off arsenic’s toxic effects, but positively thrive on it. They can even incorporate the poisonous element into their proteins and DNA, using it in place of phosphorus.

Out of the hundred-plus elements in existence, life is mostly made up of just six: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus. This elite clique is meant to be irreplaceable. But the Mono Lake bacteria may have broken their dependence on one of the group – phosphorus – by swapping it for arsenic. If that’s right, they would be the only known living things to do this.

The discovery is amazing, but it’s easy to go overboard with it. For example, this breathlessly hyperbolic piece, published last year, suggests that finding such bacteria would be “one of the most significant scientific discoveries of all time”. It would imply that “Mono Lake was home to a form of life biologically distinct from all other known life on Earth” and “strongly suggest that life got started on our planet not once, but at least twice”.

The results do nothing of the sort. For a start, the bacteria – a strain known as GFAJ-1 – don’t depend on arsenic. They still contain detectable levels of phosphorus in their molecules and they actually grow better on phosphorus if given the chance. It’s just that they might be able to do without this typically essential element – an extreme and impressive ability in itself.

Nor do the bacteria belong to a second branch of life on Earth – the so-called “shadow biosphere” that Wolfe-Simon talked about a year ago. When she studied the genes of these arsenic-lovers, she found that they belong to a group called the Oceanospirillales. They are no stranger to difficult diets. Bacteria from the same order are munching away at the oil that was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year. The arsenic-based bacteria aren’t a parallel branch of life; they’re very much part of the same tree that the rest of us belong to.

That doesn’t, however, make them any less extraordinary.

Phosphorus helps to form the backbone of DNA and it’s a crucial part of ATP, the molecule that acts as a cell’s energy currency. Arsenic sits just below phosphorus in the periodic table. The two elements have such similar properties that arsenic can usurp the place of phosphorus in many chemical reactions. But arsenic is a poor understudy – when it stands in for phosphorus, it produces similar but less stable products. This partially explains why the element is so toxic. But the bacteria of Mono Lake have clearly found a way to cope with this.

They have every reason to do so. Mono Lake sits in a sealed basin close to California’s Yosemite National Park. With no outlet connecting it to other bodies of water, any chemicals flowing into the lake tend to stay there. As a result, the lake has built up some of the highest concentrations of arsenic on the planet. To survive here, bacteria have to be able to cope with the poison.

In 2008, Ronald Oremland (who was also involved in the latest study) discovered bacteria in Mono Lake that can fuel themselves on arsenic. Like plants, they can photosynthesise, creating their own food using the power of the sun. But where plants use water in this reaction, the bacteria used arsenic. Wolfe-Simon has taken these discoveries a step further, by showing that the bacteria are actually incorporating arsenic into their most important of molecules.

She took sediment from Mono Lake and added it to Petri dishes containing a soup of vitamins and other nutrients, but not a trace of phosphorus. She took samples from these dishes and added them to fresh ones, gradually diluting them to remove any phosphorus that might have stowed away onboard. And all the while, she added more and more arsenic.

Amazingly, bacteria still grew in the dishes. Wolfe-Simon isolated one of these arsenic-lovers – a strain called GFAJ-1. Using an extremely sensitive technique called ICP-MS that measures the concentrations of different elements, she showed that the cells of these bacteria did indeed contain large amounts of arsenic.

By giving the bacteria a mildly radioactive form of arsenic, Wolfe-Simon could also track where the element ended up in the cells. The answer: everywhere. There was arsenic in the bacteria’s proteins and in their fat molecules. It had replaced phosphorus in many important molecules including ATP and glucose (a sugar). It was even in their DNA, a conclusion that Wolfe-Simon backed up with a number of other techniques. All other life uses phosphorus to create the backbone of the famous double helix, but GFAJ-1’s DNA had a spine of arsenic.

It’s an amazing result, but even here, there is room for doubt. As mentioned, Wolfe-Simon still found a smidgen of phosphorus in the bacteria by the end of the experiment. The levels were so low that the bacteria shouldn’t have been able to grow but it’s still not clear how important this phosphorus fraction is. Would the bacteria have genuinely been able to survive if there was no phosphorus at all?

Nor is it clear if the arsenic-based molecules are part of the bacteria’s natural portfolio. Bear in mind that Wolfe-Simon cultured these extreme microbes using ever-increasing levels of arsenic. In doing so, she might have artificially selected for bacteria that can use arsenic in place of phosphorus, causing the denizens of Mono Lake to evolve new abilities (or overplay existing ones) under the extreme conditions of the experiment.

Other species can cope with arsenic too. Some switch on genes that give them resistance to arsenic poisoning, while others can even “breathe” using arsenate. But GFAJ-1 uses the element to an even greater extent. How does it manage?

Under the microscope, the bacteria become around 50% larger if they grow on arsenic compared to phosphorus, and they develop large internal compartments called vacuoles. These might be the key to their success. Wolfe-Simon thinks that the vacuoles could act as a safe haven for unstable arsenic-based molecules – they might contain chemicals that steady the molecules, and they might keep out water that would hasten their breakdown.

These are questions for future research. In the mean time, the angle being used to sell the story is that this might have implications for alien life. Of course, the results have nothing to do with aliens. If anything, they expand the possibilities of what alien life might look like. If bacteria on Earth can exist using a biochemistry that’s very different to that of other microbes, it stands to reason that aliens could do the same.

That hasn’t stopped the hype machine from rolling forward, fuelled by a public announcement from NASA, teasing a press conference about an “astrobiology discovery”. It’s a shame. In teasing their own press conference two days ahead of time, and refusing to budge on the embargo when the first information trickled in, NASA effectively muzzled everyone who knew about the actual story while allowing speculation to build to fever pitch.

That may, of course, be their intention. However, I can’t help but feel that the result will be a lot of disappointed people, who’ve been robbed of an opportunity to be excited about a genuinely interesting discovery.

***********

Arsenic-loving bacteria may help in hunt for alien life

BBC - The first organism able to substitute one of the six chemical elements crucial to life has been found.

The bacterium, found in a California lake, uses the usually poisonous element arsenic in place of phosphorus.

The find, described in Science, gives weight to the long-standing idea that life on other planets may have a radically different chemical makeup.

It also has implications for the way life arose on Earth - and how many times it may have done so.

The "extremophile" bacteria were found in a briny lake in eastern California in the US.

While bacteria have been found in inhospitable environments and can consume what other life finds poisonous, this bacterial strain has actually taken arsenic on board in its cellular machinery.

Until now, the idea has been that life on Earth must be composed of at least the six elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and phosphorus - no example had ever been found that violates this golden rule of biochemistry.

The bacteria were found as part of a hunt for life forms radically different from those we know.

"At the moment we have no idea if life is just a freak, bizarre accident which is confined to Earth or whether it is a natural part of a fundamentally biofriendly universe in which life pops up wherever there are Earth-like conditions," explained Paul Davies, the Arizona State University and Nasa Astrobiology Institute researcher who co-authored the research.

"Although it is fashionable to support the latter view, we have zero evidence in favour of it," he told BBC News.

"If that is the case then life should've started many times on Earth - so perhaps there's a 'shadow biosphere' all around us and we've overlooked it because it doesn't look terribly remarkable."

Proof of that idea could come in the form of organisms on Earth that break the "golden rules" of biochemistry - in effect, finding life that evolved separately from our own lineage.

Study lead author Felisa Wolfe-Simon and her colleagues Professor Davies and Ariel Anbar of Arizona State University initially suggested in a paper an alternative scheme to life as we know it.

Their idea was that there might be life in which the normally poisonous element arsenic (in particular as chemical groups known as arsenates) could work in place of phosphorus and phosphates.

Putting it to the test, the three authors teamed up with a number of collaborators and began to study the bacteria that live in Mono Lake in California, home to arsenic-rich waters.

The researchers began to grow the bacteria in a laboratory on a diet of increasing levels of arsenic, finding to their surprise that the microbes eventually fully took up the element, even incorporating it into the phosphate groups that cling to the bacteria's DNA.

Notably, the research found that the bacteria thrived best in a phosphorus environment.

That probably means that the bacteria, while a striking first for science, are not a sign of a "second genesis" of life on Earth, adapted specifically to work best with arsenic in place of phosphorus.

However, Professor Davies said, the fact that an organism that breaks such a perceived cardinal rule of life makes it is a promising step forward.

"This is just a weird branch on the known tree of life," said Professor Davies. "We're interested ultimately in finding a different tree of life... that will be the thing that will have massive implications in the search for life in the Universe.

"The take-home message is: who knows what else is there? We've only scratched the surface of the microbial realm."

John Elliott, a Leeds Metropolitan University researcher who is a veteran of the UK's search for extraterestrial life, called the find a "major discovery".

"It starts to show life can survive outside the traditional truths and universals that we thought you have to use... this is knocking one brick out of that wall," he said.

"The general consensus is that this really could still be an evolutionary adapatation rather than a second genesis. But it's early days, within about the first year of this project; it's certainly one to think on and keep looking for that second genesis, because you've almost immediately found an example of something that's new."

Simon Conway Morris of the University of Cambridge agreed that, whatever its implications for extraterrestrial life, the find was significant for what we understand about life on Earth.

"The bacteria is effectively painted by the investigators into an 'arsenic corner', so what it certainly shows is the astonishing and perhaps under-appreciated versatility of life," he told BBC News.

"It opens some really exciting prospects as to both un-appreciated metabolic versatility... and prompting the questions as to the possible element inventory of remote Earth-like planets".


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Mermaids of the Caribbean

jamaica-gleaner - Yipe! I nearly slid into the river while trying to cross on some protruding rocks. Now it was by no means a roaring river, but I readily admit I'm no river-crossing expert.

It was my first time in Heywood Hall, St Mary, and after spending the first 20 minutes desperately trying to strike up a conversation with a woman who offered little more than a blank stare and an intermittent shake of the head, I decided to go exploring on foot.

It seemed it had rained earlier that day, so the roads in the community, which, over time, have degenerated to nothing more than glorified foot paths, were all muddy and slippery.

It was while crossing a small bridge near a community bar that I met Ornell. Now Ornell is not big on conversation, but he did offer to tell me a secret about the river that runs through the community, if I would be willing to treat him to a drink at the nearby bar.

"Mi brain nuh really wake up yet yuh know. After a drink, mi start function. Mi could tell yuh something bout di river, but not a word until mi get a drink," he said.

Before I could respond, Ornell continued.

"Me live bout di place from longer time yuh know. Heywood quiet but di river yah have whole heap a mermaid," he said, looking pleased with himself.

I paused a moment.

"Was that the secret?" I asked.

"Yeah, man," he said, quite casually. I paused again. I pointed out to Ornell that he had given the secret away before getting the drink.

The man's face went blank.

"But mi ... ahm," he stuttered. I felt bad for him, so I interjected, telling him it was fine and offered to treat him to a drink at the bar anyway.

"Tenk yuh, man. Tenk yuh," said Ornell, looking relieved.

After a short walk, we were at the bar. It really was just a shed with a fridge, overlooking the river, but it had a nice atmosphere. Ornell signalled to a girl sitting on a stool near the fridge and she handed him a bottle of beer. I walked closer to the river.

"Di river run right cross di road further down. Ah nice river fi bathe inna. Mi bathe inna it bout three time fi di day. Mi just throw off mi clothes and jump in," he said.

Eager to avoid a more detailed description of Ornell's bathing rituals, I asked him about the mermaids he mentioned earlier.

"Yeah man, nuff mermaid. When mi was likkle, mi used to see whole heap ah dem," said Ornell.

"Yuh tink ah likkle man mermaid pull inna di river wid dem? Dem mermaid deh nuh easy," he added, shaking his head.

Now, if I'm to be honest, I had very little confidence in Ornell's story. I was surprised though, when the woman behind the counter at the bar suddenly spoke up.

"Is true yuh know," she said, adjusting the zipper of the sweater she was wearing.

"My father tell me about it from mi was likkle. Dem say is one mermaid was there and she dead now, but first time yuh used to see har all di while," she said.

I had a puzzled look on my face. "True true," the woman said.

"Dem say is di same mermaid what used to deh ah Flat Bridge swim come here because it more quieter. Mi never used to believe it, but den mi seh, so much people couldn't just meck up di story so," she said.

I looked across at Ornell, who was nodding in agreement. "As granny seh, wah nuh go so, nearly go so," he said.

**********

The mermaids, also known as merfolk and sometimes referred to as Scaly Tails, are human-fish hybrids. Many are said to serve as agents of the Sirens, dragging sailors down to a watery grave.

The mermaids are amphibious beings, a hybrid of human and fish. The average mermaid has the appearance of a beautiful girl with long, flowing hair the colors of the sea, and pearly-white skin flecked with scales. From the waist down, however, a mermaid is comprised of a long, shimmering scaly tail. Further undermining their conventional beauty, mermaids hide sharp, fang-like teeth in their mouths.

It is possible that this beautiful appearance is not the true form of the mermaids; if viewed peripherally, they lost their outward beauty and seemed to transform into creatures with clawed tentacles, fangs, and barnacles and boils covering their scales. They often speak in harmony, singing a melody commonly attributed to the Sirens

The Mermaid and the Comb

Many Jamaicans grew up hearing stories about the River Mumma or Mermaid. There are many legends surrounding these beautiful sirens. The most commonly known River Mumma involves the Rio Cobre River. Legend has it that on moonlit nights one may be lucky to catch sight of her as she sits on a boulder and combs her hair with a golden comb. In other areas of the island, it is said that for one night every year the mermaid leaves her underwater home to visit the surface. If frightened while combing her hair, she would dive into the water leaving her comb behind. It is believed that anyone who finds it will become rich.

Wanting the comb to be returned, the mermaid would approach the finder in a dream and direct them to treasure underwater. This treasure, according to folklore is said to be gold left by pirates who had forgotten the hiding place.

The following anecdote has been told for several years.

In an old district in western St. Mary, a very strange thing happened. 15-year-old Elvis Smith's mother had taken ill. It was her kidneys, the doctor said. There was no money for dialysis, and a kidney transplant was out of the question - there was just no money. It was when Elvis saw his mother getting weaker that he thought that the pirate's treasure could save her life. So he determined in his mind that if there were a mermaid he would find her, and if there were a comb he would take it, and if there were pirates' treasure he would find it, for his mother's sake.

Despite his mother's protestations, Elvis built a hut of plywood and zinc just below his house, at the riverside, overlooking a rock. He had picked out that rock because he calculated that if the mermaid surfaced that was where she would sit. There the river was a silent, expansive pool. Further up, the water was fast-moving. It cut into the rocks and cascaded down and down, until it came to a narrow section from where it seemed to just trickle into the pool and become silent. Boys dived under rocks there to catch shrimps, big black shiny ones and small, almost transparent ones. Further down, the river narrowed again and became fast-moving once more. Standing over that section of the river was a massive white concrete bridge, the bridge they said separated St. Mary from St Ann.

So, while everybody in the district celebrated the coming of the New Year that night, Elvis climbed into the little hut he had made. He thought that if the mermaid were real then he would not leave there for a long time, and so he took up residence at night in the little hut. His 12-year-old sister he mandated to care for his mother at night.

Two weeks into his vigil, Pastor Lincoln came to convince him the mermaid and the comb were only folklore, brought from Africa by slaves and modified through the ages. But Elvis was not convinced. He said, 'If it is a myth, by New Year's Day next year I will know.'

Elvis' cousins and uncles and aunts came to him, telling him to stop the foolishness and go sleep in his bed, but he remained unmoved. When that still didn't work, they destroyed the hut, but he sat in the cool air outside that night, watching and waiting; and when the whole district combined couldn't get him to stop his vigil, they left him alone. Elvis rebuilt his hut and, night after night, waited for the mermaid. But she didn't come. February, March, June, July - no mermaid.

Elvis looked up at the moon and saw that it was almost in the centre of the sky. He thought it might have been up for four hours or so, and by that deduction he surmised that it was around 10 p.m.. It was a cool September night - the frogs were croaking and the crickets were scraping, and Elvis' relentless determination was still intact. He yawned, and was about to go into the hut when he heard a swoosh, then a splash.

Then in the moonlight he saw her. She was seated on the massive stone. Her hair was dark and silky....he couldn't see her face, but her great tail she curled up and rested on the rock too. She was combing her hair.

Elvis thought of running to scream in the district that he had seen the mermaid, but that wouldn't save his mother's life. He thought, 'I will have to frighten her,' so he stole past the star apple tree and floated over the soft mud near the water's edge and shouted, 'River Mumma!'

The mermaid dived quickly into the water and was gone. And there it was, the comb, golden and lovely. The moonlight lent mystery and magic to it.

Elvis was hesitant. Should he take it up? But why not? He had slept in the cold for nine months; why then should he not take it up? And how then would his mother's life be saved? He quickly grabbed it, as if he thought it might disappear, but when he examined it he saw that it was old and ugly and he wondered if it was the right comb. He looked around. Perhaps the golden comb was near him somewhere. But he saw nothing. He went to his little hut, located the bag he had placed there in January for this very purpose, and put the comb in it. Then he climbed the hill to his house, rushed to his mother's room, shook her and said, 'Here it is, Mama; your life will be saved.'

But his mother was groggy and asked: 'What yu talking 'bout, Elvis?'

'Mama, a' find the mermaid's comb, here it is, mama.'

But she turned over onto her side, curling her feet so that knees and elbows almost touched. She clasp both hands and laid her head on them, and quietly said, 'Elvis, a' really feel tired.'

'So you don't believe, Mama?'

By this time his sister had awa- kened and come into the room. To her, Elvis said: 'Here it is, see, the mermaid's comb.' He brought it up to Nicole's eyes for her to see. 'You believe though, Nicole?' And he saw the look in her eyes.

He shook his head with disappoint and said, 'So you don't' believe me either, Nicole.' Finally she asked, 'Where did you get that old comb, Elvis?' She embraced him and said, 'Let us agree that you really tried Elvis. Goodnight.'

His feet felt weak, and his gut had a strange tingle to it. They didn't believe. They just didn't believe. But when he found the treasure they would have to believe!

He went to his bed with great anticipation that night. He fell asleep with a smile on his face, for he had reasoned that that night he would have the dream revealing the place of the buried treasure and his mother and sister would believe.

But that night no dream came. He got out of his bed and dragged himself out to the road and wondered what was happening. He told his cousin about the night's events, and by noon seven or eight boys were at his house demanding to see the mermaid's comb. 'Show wi the comb!'

'Nobody going to see it,' Elvis said

And the boys said, 'Him no have no comb, a' lie him a' tell.'

Elvis thought of rushing to the hiding place to show them he had the comb but one boy said, 'Unno come yaw, a' lie him a' tell.'

That night Elvis went to bed with hope and believed that he would have his dream.

In his dream, he saw the mermaid, her face ugly and scared and angry; he was standing by the river and she was threatening him, telling him that if he didn't return the comb she would wash their house down into the river. And he saw when she dived into the water and lashed her mighty tail against it and the water rose and almost swallowed up the house, and he woke up frightened. In the morning, he rushed down to the river and saw that some of the land had actually washed away.

For a week he had the dream every night. Every morning he would rush down to the river and see that a piece of the land had been washed away. It was then that the people started to wonder: 'Wonder if Elvis really have the mermaid comb fi true?' By the start of the next week they had come to believe, and they started to exhort him to return the comb to the mermaid, and Pastor Lincoln came again to convince him to give back the comb and to save his mother's house. 'Yu father dead lef' that house fi yu mother and it going to be yours when she gone and yu using yu own hands to mash it up, boy? Now, where yu hide the comb?'

Elvis' mother and sister, too, begged him to throw the comb back into the river. But he had one thing to say to them all - that the mermaid had not kept her part of the bargain, and that he was going to keep the comb until she did because his mother's life must be saved.

It was a Sunday afternoon when it happened. The whole district had come to see, 'how the little boy mek mermaid mash up him father dead lef' house.' The men had helped to take the furniture out of the house and Elvis' mother and sister were out there too, watching the last of their house come down. But Elvis was nowhere to be found.

Then the people saw him coming up from somewhere in the bushes. And they said, 'See the fool deh.' Elvis came with the old rusty comb in his hand. And the people said, 'Then is really the comb that?'

Elvis came and stood on the bridge. He held the comb in his hand for a while, then threw it into the river. And the people said: 'It too late fi that.'

And then, with a mighty sound, the house came crumbling down. The debris fell down at the riverside and some of it was washed away.

Then, from close beside Elvis, one little boy shouted, 'Is what that?'

And a man asked, 'What, what?'

'Seet there,' the little boy said, pointing. 'Something like a trunk.'

They saw it and hurried down to the river. It was not one but three chests, and when they finally got an axe to break the chain and opened one chest they held their collective breath - for it was like a dream. In the chest were glorious things, great jewelry and gold and things they didn't know. And the man who had asked the little boy 'what' said, 'The treasure was buried under the house. The mermaid has given us the pirate's treasure.' The people looked at him strangely and he rephrased his statement: 'The mermaid has given Elvis the pirate's treasure.'

Then the people held Elvis aloft and sang 'For he's a jolly good fellow,' and Elvis went to his mother and said: 'Now you can get yu treatment properly, Mama.'

**********

Manatees: The REAL Mermaids

To the sailors of earlier Caribbean exploration, imagine the excitement of not only discovering the New World, but that it also had mermaids. Surely, this was a blessed place. What a great sailor’s tale this would make on the tall ships and in the seaports of 16th century Europe.

So what if they were a bit ugly, in fact so ugly that only a mother could love them. But they were gentle and they didn’t talk back, or shoot arrows like the native people either.

Today manatees are an endangered species in the United States and they are a protected species in all of the Caribbean as well. These gentle mammals, a mature adult can weigh up to ¾ of a ton, live and breed in warm protected bays and lagoons. With their soft whiskery muzzle they browse on sea grasses, water hyacinths, and other aquatic vegetation as they cruise along just beneath the surface.

Descended from land mammals that returned to the sea during the Tertiary Period, manatees have gradually evolved during the last 20 million years and are unique to the New World. Females give birth to a single calf after a 12-month gestation period. Individual manatees are solitary animals, but are sometimes seen in small groups. Their skin is gray, leathery, and hairless. They have 3 to 4 fingernails on the tips of their pectoral flippers, a reminder of their ancient ancestry. They have no dorsal or anal fins and their round paddle shaped tail is horizontal.

Manatees are difficult to see because they swim slowly beneath the surface stopping only occasionally to expose their nostrils when breathing. This is usually accompanied by a short burst of air. To see them you need to get lucky. Hang around in the bays and shallows early in the morning when the sea is perfectly calm. You just might catch a glimpse of one of these gentle creatures.

Today, the biggest threat to manatees is man and his machines. Collisions with boats and boat propellers are the single biggest cause of manatee fatalities each year. Please be careful and watch out for the mermaids. Their future is in our hands.

Fortean / Oddball News: Gov't Blocking Cell Phones, Oswald's Coffin For Sale and Man Marries Dog

Ohio Man Finds African Wild Cat Inside Barn

wlwt - An area man was shocked Tuesday morning when he saw an African wild cat outside his home.

Anthony Topmiller said he heard a growling sound when he opened his barn door to feed his cattle, and when he looked to see what it was, he saw what looked like a small cheetah about five feet away.

"I've never been afraid of an animal, but I will definitely say I was taken aback from this one," Topmiller said. "It sounds silly, but a 30-pound cat had my barn held hostage."

The animal was actually a serval, a medium-sized cat related to lions, hovering over a domestic cat it had just killed.

"It was not wanting to leave its prey, so we considered him fairly dangerous and called the proper authorities to come in and help us with this animal," Topmiller said.

Animal control officers picked up the serval, which a neighbor claims belongs to her.

The woman said she has been looking for the female serval, which she has raised from a baby and named Eris, since it escaped nine days ago.

She said the animal is valued at about $3,000.

The dog warden said Ohio has almost no regulations on wild animals such as this one.

"People need to be trained on what they're doing," Topmiller said. "We can't have these things wild like this. It's become a public safety (issue), and that's exactly what happened yesterday."

The serval remains with animal control officers while the neighbor attempts to regain custody.

**********

Lee Harvey Oswald's Coffin for Sale

aolnews - A California auction house is offering bidders the chance to buy the coffin of Lee Harvey Oswald, the man believed to have killed President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Bidding for the discolored, water-damaged pine box will start at $1,000, according to the website of the Nate D. Sanders auction house in Los Angeles.

"There's just a lot of interest in Kennedy and anything to do with his assassination," auction manager Laura Yntema told Reuters.

Oswald spent almost 18 years in the coffin before a bizarre set of circumstances led to his exhumation.

Oswald's widow, Marina, got into a bitter argument with his brother Robert. Marina heard rumors that the man buried in the coffin was in fact a Russian Oswald look-alike. She wanted to put it to the test.

Marina managed to get the body exhumed. Dental records proved that the corpse inside was indeed that of Oswald. The suspected assassin was then reburied in a new casket.

Oswald was arrested on Nov. 22, 1963, and was widely believed to have shot Kennedy from the roof of the Texas School Book Depository in Dallas. He had previously served in the U.S. Marines and lived and worked in the Soviet Union, according to the Biography Channel.

Oswald was killed two days after the assassination by nightclub owner Jack Ruby.

Allen Baumgardner, a funeral director who assisted at Oswald's original embalming, is selling the coffin.

**********

Missing Brit Backpacker Believed to be Eaten By Shark Off Aussie Coast

metro - Michael Utley, 30, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, went swimming with four friends on Saturday afternoon.

He was caught up in a riptide and has not been since.

A coastal search at Bremer Bay in Western Australia, had to be scaled back on Monday after a large shark was seen nearby.

Police have yet to formally identify the body but believe it is that of the missing man.

‘The body of a male person was located on Dillon Beach Bremer Bay yesterday morning at about 6.05am,’ a police spokesman said.

The search team of 50 with helicopters said a shark attack had not been ruled out. Michael, a plasterer, went travelling last December and met a group of friends.

He was swimming at Native Dog Beach when they became caught in a riptide.

All but Michael were washed ashore.

Michael’s mother, Susan, who lives in California, is flying from Germany with her husband, Graham Liles, who works there.

His father, Max, and his wife, Susan, live in Westhoughton.

Michael’s twin brother Mark from Westhoughton, said: ‘I spoke to Michael on Friday and he said he was going to stay out there because he was making good money, and when he got back we should go into the property business.’

Mark and his mother are to fly to Australia to identify the body.

**********

Gov't evaluating cell phone blocking tech in cars

MSNBC - In addition to its efforts to educate drivers about the dangers of distracted driving, the U.S. Department of Transportation is evaluating technology in automobiles that would disable cell phones. The move is a response to the growing number of deaths and injuries related to distracted driving.

"There's a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones and we're looking at that," Raymond LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation said during a discussion during MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "That's one way. But you have to have good laws, you have to have good enforcement, and you have to have people take personal responsibility. That's the bottom line."

In addition to his comments on disabled cell phones, LaHood also announced a new video campaign, "Faces of Distracted Driving." The series of online videos tells the stories of several victims of distracted driving. The DoT plans to add a new video every few weeks.

LaHood said that nearly 5,500 people died from distracted driving last year, and that about half a million were injured. That's a low estimate, according to Paul Atchley, a scientist at the University of Kansas who studies distracted driving.

LaHood's figures only account for known deaths or injuries -- suspected deaths or injuries aren't included. The real numbers, said Atchley, are likely far higher, and will only get higher.

While there is no federal law against using a cell phone while driving a vehicle, dozens of states prohibit texting while driving in an effort to reduce the number of deaths or injuries. Several other states forbid drivers from using hand-held cell phones.

Hardware, such as cell phone jammers, are illegal, and the FCC isn't likely to approve any kind of jamming equipment. That would leave software from companies like Zoomsafter, tXtBlocker and iZup.

While the specifics differ, the general idea is the same. When a cell phone or a vehicle exceeds a certain speed, determined by the car and transmitted via Bluetooth or by the speed of the cell phone itself as measured by cell phone towers, the phone is automatically disabled.

That won't work, said Atchley. Most of these services are voluntary. It is not difficult for users to either not activate them, or to work around them.

The real answer to the problem is a change in people's attitudes. The research on drunk driving and distracted driving is quite similar, but the reactions of people to both are far different.
Advertisement | ad info

"When we ask young drivers about drunk driving, they say that judges should throw the book at drunk drivers, but not the person texting while driving," said Atchley.

"The bottom line is that people want to use these devices," said Atchley. "And things are going to get worse before they get better."

**********

Man Marries Dog

thechronicle - A young Toowoomba man yesterday tied the knot with his best friend – a five-year-old labrador.

In perhaps a first for the Garden City, Laurel Bank Park hosted the wedding of Joseph Guiso and Honey, a labrador he adopted five years ago.

Thirty of the couple’s closest friends and family were in attendance for the emotional ceremony, held at dusk.

"You’re my best friend and you make every part of my day better," Mr Guiso’s vows read.

The couple decided on the location – and to tie the knot - after stumbling upon a wedding in Laurel Bank Park during an afternoon walk.

"I said that could be us," Mr Guiso said.

"She didn’t say anything so I took that as a yes."

Mr Guiso said as a "religious guy", he could no longer take the guilt of living with Honey out of wedlock.

"It’s not sexual," he assured the onlookers.

"It’s just pure love."

The couple is planning a short honeymoon to one of Toowoomba’s parks.

Military Refuses To Answer Mystery Missile Questions

WND - The Department of Defense is slamming the door on questions about the mysterious contrail filmed Nov. 8 by a KCBS television crew near Los Angeles after questions were raised about a warning from the National Geo-Spatial Intelligence Agency that there could be missiles fired in that area at that time.

The official government position has been that the contrail, which appears to have been made by a single source, was from a jet passing by.

And the refusal to provide answers to specific questions suggests a cover-up of potential secret missile testing in the area – contrary to official jet contrail explanation.

For weeks, experts have examined the billowing plume and the single-source white-hot exhaust which they contend was from a missile, not a jet.

It was in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin intelligence report where the story was broken that several experts who examined the video of the mysterious contrail confirmed it was not from a jet but a missile.

The experts who examined the video have had extensive experience working with missiles and computer security systems for various sensitive agencies of the U.S. government.

They even went so far as to suggest that the missile may have been shot from a submerged Chinese nuclear submarine, coinciding with an increasing level of confrontation between the United States and China and designed to send a message to Washington:

But it was in late October that the NGA issued the maritime warning for the Eastern North Pacific off California about "intermittent missile firing operations." While the notice gave time frames and days of the week as well as areas for missile firings, there was no specified time limit as to when they would end.

"Intermittent missile firing operations 00001Z to 2359Z daily Monday thru Sunday in the Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range," the warning said. "The majority of missile firings take place 1400Z to 2359Z and 0001Z to 0200Z daily Monday thru Friday."

The contrail sighting by the KCBS television crew occurred during these time periods.

Karen Sinn of the NGA told WND that the NGA only issued the missile launch advisory as a courtesy for its customer, the Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range at Point Mugu in California.

Point Mugu, which is located some 50 miles northwest from Los Angeles, is a massive facility that includes a weapons division and the Sea Range Operational Area, comprised of the main base complex at Point Mugu which includes the Laguna Peak complex, the offshore islands and the adjacent 36,000 square nautical miles of controlled operational air space.

At the Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, spokeswoman Becky Hall was asked by WND whether the sighting of the contrail occurred during the period of the NGA warning, and did the coordinates mentioned in the warning notice conform to the area in which the contrail was sighted.

She also was asked whether the Navy, in fact, had launched any missiles in the area during the warning period.

Hall, however, refused to answer any of the questions or make any comment on its warning issued through the NGA.

"I am sorry to say that I will be unable to help you with this request (for information)," she told WND, and referred the inquiry to the press desk of the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.

At the time of the sighting of the contrail, the Department of Defense said that it had checked with all the services involved with missiles and dismissed the contrail as coming from a jet, and not a missile.

At the Pentagon, Lt. Col. Robert Ditchey from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs reaffirmed DOD's original statement by saying that inquiries were made with each of the services and the Department of Homeland Security which includes the Federal Aviation Administration and it was concluded that there were no launches that day.

When told about the NGA notice, however, he admitted to WND that he was unaware of it and asked for a copy which was sent to him for comment.

But in a followup e-mail, he merely said that "NGA provided a report back on 10 Nov during the initial media coverage, that their Maritime Watch Desk had no information that would link the NAVAREA XII 453/2010 warning to the contrail reported in the media.

"All DOD entities with rocket and missile programs reported no launches, scheduled or inadvertent, during the time period in the area of the reported contrail," Ditchey said.

"In addition, the FAA ran radar replays from Monday afternoon (of Nov. 8) of a large area west of Los Angeles," he added. "Those replays did not reveal anything unusual. The FAA also did not receive reports of any unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area Monday afternoon."

But Ditchey referred only to the NGA warning notice which he wasn't aware of until it was brought to his attention. In addition, he would not address the fact that the NGA had issued the warning at the request of the Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range at Point Mugu, even though he was informed of that development.

Ditchey also refused to comment on whether the Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range, in fact, had conducted any missile launches at the time of the contrail sighting.

According to the initial report in G2 Bulletin, the situation sparked several provocative questions about the government's official response.

"The question that still must be answered is why NORAD's muted response was simply that North America was not threatened, and later our government approved the lame excuse that the picture recorded was simply an aircraft leaving a contrail," said retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jim Cash.

A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and commander of an F-15 squadron and an F-16 wing, Cash was assigned to NORAD as an assistant director of operations at the Cheyenne Mountain complex near Colorado Springs, Colo., and is fully knowledgeable of NORAD procedures.

"There is absolutely no doubt that what was captured on video off the coast of California was a missile launch, was clearly observed by NORAD, assessed by a four-star general in minutes, and passed to the president immediately," he said.

Even more ominously, cautioned Cash: "We must question the timing of this shot across our bow. The president was abroad being diplomatic, which means trying to placate China which is becoming overly concerned with our handling a totally out-of-control deficit in spending."

Also, Wayne Madsen, a former naval officer who has worked at the National Security Agency and the Naval Data Automation Command, said the inability to pick up what he described as a Chinese Jin-class submarine-launched ballistic missile isn't the first time U.S. Navy anti-submarine warfare sensors have failed.

Madsen, who today is an investigative journalist, said the Pentagon is working "overtime with the media and on the Internet to cover up the latest debacle. However, even some reporters who cover the Pentagon full-time are beginning to question the Pentagon's version of events ... over the skies west of Los Angeles."


Click for video

NOTE: here's a link to previous posts on this subject - California Missile Mystery Elevates To Conspiracy Theory Status...Lon


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Humanoid / Cryptid Encounter Reports 28

The following are previous humanoid / cryptid encounter reports received by various agencies worldwide:

THE WATCH

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - December 1, 2000 - 10:00 am

Several days after witnessing two low flying objects over the area, on two separate night (One of the objects was described as huge, making a rumbling like noise; it had a V-shaped tail with two rows of round and oblong windows and was black, gray, and silver in color.) and after receiving a suspicious phone call from someone claiming to be a General from the Canadian armed forces, two strange men appeared at the door of the witness' residence. They produced wallets, one black, one brown, containing photo ID that stated they were from the Canadian Air Defense. They asked to come inside. The witness extended his hand, but was ignored.

Moving into the house took them through the kitchen area, but they stopped upon seeing the microwave. After some questioning, the witness lowered a portion of a counter and they carefully slid through the extra space. Sitting down they produced a small silver colored tape recorder and inserted a small disc, between a nickel and a quarter in size. On entering the house one of the men had noticed an unusual walking stick in the hallway, to which he remarked that the head of the stick's carving, painted red, reminded him of primates back home.

The two men were olive skinned and appeared to have slanted eyes. Each wore glasses with thick rims. They wore gray suits with black shirts, one had a white tie, and the other was buttoned up to the neck. The one with the tie had a clip that contained a red "stone" that flickered. The other had a ruby ring surrounded with diamonds. His watch was square but without apparent hands, instead being encircled with buttons that periodically illuminated from white to green to mauve. The strap appeared to be molded into the skin and was a solid steel band. The belt on his pants was of metallic strips with a square buckle. Both had very large feet, estimated to be 14". Each carried a brief case that was heavy and cold.

When sitting down they never relaxed into their chairs but retained a stiff back the whole time. Not once during their stay in the house did they speak to each other. The witness' two cats were extremely agitated the whole time during the visitors stay. Also the owner's dog that lived upstairs barked during the whole episode. The men noticed that the witness was wearing a very unusual watch and one of them touched his arm. The touch felt very cold and clammy. They questioned the witness about his sightings, and one of them appeared to be taken short hand notes. When they questioned him they looked into his eyes and seemed to "pierce his brain".

As they were leaving they again carefully avoided the microwave. Outside in the yard they spent about 30 minutes scouring the ground with a Geiger counter. As they rounded the corner of the house the witness went from the kitchen to the bedroom, which gave him a clearer view of the driveway and the road. Despite the very short period of time it took him to achieve this, the two men were not in sight, nor was a car leaving, or no car door could be heard slamming, they had vanished. Later they witness discovered that on the windowsill, only six inches behind where one of the men had been sitting, was a Windex bottle and was partially melted as if heat had been applied to it. Alongside was a cassette warped in a similar manner. The witness suffered from a severe migraine type headache after the two men left, his eyes also felt gritty and teary, and his face now appeared sunburned. He also suffered from strange dreams, one that was of lying prone on a table in a round room with a bright light above him then sensing being touched.

Two days later, while going outside his house the witness saw the same two men he had seen before in the driveway. Both were dressed in white coveralls. One was carrying a Geiger counter, the other a 12 to 16 inch parabolic dish in his hand, pointing to the sky, plus earphones and a microphone that was attached. He appeared to be searching the sky. The wires all led into a black box at his waist. At one point he had what looked like a camera, although not video, aimed at a tree over which the UFO had been originally seen. During the time they were together neither was seen speaking to each other. Nor was any car seen which they might have arrived in.

In December, a few days after Christmas, A man appeared at the door of the witness. He stated that he had come to see his unusual watch. He stated that his name was Mr. Smith and showed some ID. He wore a dark charcoal suit, white shirt, and black tie. He also wore a black fedora. His feet were very large, "size 13, or 14", like the witness previous visitors. His shoes were black and shiny, with no signs of dirt on them at all. He was about 4-feet 8 inches to 5-feet tall, very thin, and very pale skinned with very long fingers. He also wore black wrap around glasses with silver frames. The witness extended his hand but was ignored (again).

Upon entering the house the visitor commented upon the carved walking stick in the hallway. He also asked the witness to turn the microwave off before he walked in front of it. Sitting down at the kitchen table he produced a small silver tape recorder, claiming it could record up to 80 hours or more. Using a pick like tool from his breast pocket he examined the witness watch. He opened a black briefcase, removed some paper, a silver pencil with a red top, and a pen like flash light that emitted a mauve, pencil thin beam, which scanned the interior of the watch with. He took a small digital type camera and with it he took several pictures of the watch. During the whole of his visit he spoke very little, and his speech seemed slurred.

Again the cats were agitated during the stranger's visit. He again expressed interest in the watch and the witness asked 500$ for it, but he replied that he had to check with his colleagues. The stranger also expressed interest in a computer saying that it had very minimal power. The stranger departed without saying good-bye. The witness went immediately to the window but could not see any sign of the visitor or any car in the vicinity, he had simply vanished. A plastic hair blower nozzle was found melted and a ruler in a drawer close to where the visitor had been sitting was bent into a slight 'S' curve. Again the witness suffered from a severe headache and an eruptive nosebleed.

In early January 2001, two peculiar strangers again visited the witness to a previous UFO encounter. These two were different from the others. They were at least six-feet tall, very bony, with head, hands and feet out of proportion to the rest of the body. They wore gray suits that seemed to be "oily", had black ties and hats plus wrap around sunglasses that they never took off. When questioned about the glasses they remarked that they could see perfectly well. Their ears stood out from their heads and their skin was pale white, whereas their fingernails were gray in color. They never removed the hats during their visit. And throughout the whole time only one of them spoke. When asked for ID's they displayed "silver" cases that contained a photo an unusual symbol, plus their names in small print.

Upon entering the kitchen they asked the witness to please unplug the microwave, they also told him to turn the computer off. The two Persian cats were going crazy dashing around the room, and trying to get out of the window, which was closed. Each man carried a briefcase with an inverted 'L' shaped handle. The man that did all the talking asked to see the witness unusual watch, he then removed from his briefcase four small containers, each had a different colored top. Opening two he proceeded to pour the contents over the watch. He told the concerned witness that no harm would come to the watch. He was given $250 for the watch and told that they would give him the rest later. He told them that he was moving soon, to this they replied "We know, don't worry, we can find you if we want to."

They soon departed without the common courtesies, staring blankly at the witness as he extended his hand. Once again the witness hurried to the bedroom window only to find, as before, no sign of either man departing, nor cold any vehicle be heard leaving. After the visit the witness felt drained, had a severe headache that lasted for two days and a rash on his arms, face and chest.

Source: Graham Conway, UFO BC

NOTE: a very detailed MIB scenario. MIB and other related incidents increased dramatically before the beginning of the new millennium. I unsuccessfully attempted to find out more on this witness and if other incidents had occurred...Lon

**********

WHITE SALAMANDERS

Near New Cambria, Kansas - Spring 1975 - 7:00 pm

A young teenage couple was driving to the country and right after crossing a cement bridge that spanned a river. They pulled into a farmer's access road and parked at the edge of a field alongside a bend in the river with the car pointing east. Soon the pair noticed a strange light that suddenly approached their location in a kind of "blur" or "warp speed" mode. Suddenly hovering a treetop level was a dark object, rectangular in shape with one red and one green running light positioned together on the lower part of the craft at its center. They stared in amazement and after about 5 minutes they noticed the craft's position had moved to the right. It seemed to move in a very slow motion to the other side of the river.

After about 5 minutes the witnesses decided to drive away from the area. As they turned onto the county road and subsequently onto the cement bridge they saw that the craft had returned to its original position, above them and slightly back from the bridge. They stopped their vehicle and got out to look at the craft. The craft was about 20-25 ft wide and this time they saw a large rectangular glass window, or what appeared to be glass, running across the middle third of its front. Standing inside to the left side looking down at the witnesses were two beings, which the witnesses could see only from the waist up but could tell that they were about 4 ft tall, with abnormally large upper heads and large black eyes. The eyes seemed devoid of emotion and their skin was pure white, like the moon, the texture resembling that of an albino salamander, their eyes ran almost north/south with their heads. The craft hovered silently the whole time.

After about a minute of eye contact with the humanoids the witnesses re-entered their vehicles and rapidly drove away from the area. They could still see the craft hovering where they had left it.

Source: NUFORC

NOTE: There was a 'flap' of humanoid encounters throughout the USA from 1975 through 1976 including some of the most bizarre animal mutilation reports. As well, the infamous Travis Walton abduction was reported in November 1975 near Snowflake, Arizona...Lon

**********

COLLECTING SAMPLES

Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin - September 1975 - 11:00 pm

The witness was watching the sky to the south of his mobile home when he saw a large saucer shaped craft slowly proceed down and just above the trees from east to west. He followed it with his eyes as it passed just before him about 100 ft away. It then settled silently in the corner of the next field about 1500 ft away. The witness walked over to where he saw it land...it was a clear, cool, moonlit night. He took no flashlight or camera and felt no fear. He easily found the craft as a very bright light shone from beneath it at the far southeast corner of the field.

As he approached about 20 ft from the craft he noticed an individual in the light from the bottom of the craft directly before him. The human-like figure appeared to have on a form fitting white suit. The eyes were covered in what appeared to be goggles or protective bubbles of tinted glass or plastic, he then noticed a second similar figure to his right only about 6 ft away. The witness was a bit startled, as he did not notice the approach of the figure. However his attention returned to the figure standing near the object by the light. This figure was busily attempting to catch a grasshopper; he held what appeared to be a glass sample container in his right hand and a stopper type lid in the other. He emitted a strange type of giggle as he finally caught the grasshopper. The figure in the trees rejoined this one carrying a sample jar as well. In it the witness could clearly see in the light that it contained a sprig from an oak tree with leaves and acorns attached. They were both about 5 ft tall and lean.

The witness then heard a sound of someone walking through the field of drying corn just to the south and behind him. It was a slow, steady type of walking sound, which someone would make walking on a field of dry grass. As it approached it stopped and then sped up as it walked around the witness. Into the light of the craft then appeared another figure in the same type of suit. He also carried a sample jar. The jars were about 4 inches around and about 15 inches tall with wide mouths and black stopper caps. In this jar he had an ear of the corn. The third arrival hastily pointed out the witness to the other two as they all looked directly at him. He could only smile and wave, and then turn slowly and walk back to his home. The craft hovered silently about 4 ft off the ground. Nothing protruded from it except the bright light from an opening in the bottom. The opening was about 4 ft in width. He could see no stairs leading up to the opening. The witness did not see the object depart.

Source: UFO Wisconsin

**********

HOODED STRANGERS

Lake Como, Pennsylvania - February 6, 1976 - 11:30 pm

Mrs. M.J. and her cousin C.W. were returning home by the lake road when they stopped to watch “shooting stars.” When they reached home, they were missing about 3 hours of time. The next morning M.J. had a sore stomach and a very inflamed navel, and C.W. had a small puncture mark on her spine with 4 little marks around it.

Under hypnosis M.J. remembered that 4 short strangers in black “snowmobile suits” with helmets over their heads had approached the car, while hovering over a field was a helmet shaped object 30-40 ft in diameter, with a big white light in the middle and little lights recessed around it. She found herself outside the car, and the beings came up and pulled at her arm; then she remembered sitting on a cot inside a room with a rounded door, where there was a chrome cylinder. A “nurse” wearing a face mask, with big black eyes, accompanied by a “doctor”, brought up a needle; M.J jumped off the cot, but was caught and fastened to it, and the needle was inserted into her stomach. Then a number of people with chalk white, cat like faces, wearing cream-colored robes, appeared; they had scaly skin and long fingernails, small noses and no visible mouths. She noticed also “a whole mess” of controls and gauges, up to the ceiling. The craft was in flight at this time.

She could see a man (of normal type) bending over C.W. She also observed a “pedestal” chair, and a box with lines going across it, on which, as on a TV, she saw “a baby crying, a war, people in the jungle with knives” and other scenes, for about 10 minutes. Then she remembered leaving the craft and returning, with C.W., to the car.

Source: Douglas Dains CUFOS / Dr. Gary Truce

Fortean / Oddball News: UFOs Are Ball Lightning? Secret Spaceplane and Brits Believe in Aliens

Astrophysicist: Ball Lightning 'May Explain UFOs'

BBC - Some UFO sightings could be explained by ball lightning and other atmospheric phenomena, claims Australian astrophysicist Stephen Hughes.

The scientist has made a detailed study of an unusual event in 2006 when large meteors were observed over Brisbane.

Their appearance occurred at the same time as a brilliant green object was seen to roll over nearby mountains.

Dr Hughes has put forward a theory linking the object - presumed to be ball lighting - to the fireballs.

His idea is that one of the fireballs may have momentarily triggered an electrical connection between the upper atmosphere and the ground, providing energy for the ball lightning to appear above the hills.

He has written up his explanation in a journal of the Royal Society.

Dr Hughes says the extraordinary episode, which occurred during a night of fine weather, is just the sort of happening that might lead some to think they had witnessed UFO activity.

"If you put together inexplicable atmospheric phenomena, maybe of an electrical nature, with human psychology and the desire to see something - that could explain a lot of these UFO sightings," he told BBC News.

The scientist, who is a senior lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology, initiated the study after being called in by the local TV station to look over and explain photos of the fireballs captured by members of the public on camera phones.

Fireballs are exceptionally bright meteors and are produced by fragments of space rock larger than the sand-grain-sized particles responsible for shooting stars; but like shooting stars they cross the sky at great speed.

A subsequent survey organised by the university brought forward many more eyewitnesses, including a farmer who recalled seeing a luminous green ball rolling down a slope of the Great Divide, a mountainous ridge about 120km west of Brisbane.

This object described as being about 30cm in diameter appeared to jump over some rocks and follow the path of a metal fence for "some minutes". The farmer said he saw the green object come into view just after a fireball had passed overhead.

He thought at first he was witnessing a plane crash and called the police, but a search the following day found no wreckage.

Ball lightning seems an obvious explanation, says Dr Hughes. These bright, hovering spheres of light are not fully understood. They are known to be associated with thunderstorms, but not always, and there was certainly no electrical storm activity in the vicinity of the Great Divide.

Dr Hughes does not offer a new explanation for the causes of ball lightning, merely how enough energy might have been put into the ground to trigger it.

He proposes that the natural flow of current that exists between the upper-most reaches of the atmosphere, the ionosphere, and the ground was increased by the passage of the meteor that streamed charged particles and other conductive materials in its wake.

"Could it be that the meteor descending through the atmosphere, having passed through the ionosphere, actually created a transient conductive connection between the ionosphere and the ground, even if it was only for a few seconds? Was that enough to put charge into the ground, and then with the discharge form some kind of plasma ball above?

"Think of the ionosphere and the ground as the terminals on the battery and you put a wire between those two terminals and current flows, and literally you get a spark."

Other scientists have suggested that charges dissipating through the ground can create balls of glowing ionised gas above it.

Dr John Abrahamson from the University of Canterbury, NZ, championed the idea 10 years ago that ball lightning consisted of vaporised mineral grains kicked out of the soil by a conventional lightning strike, an idea later tested with some success by Brazilian researchers.

He described Dr Hughes' work as "relatively feasible" and something which made "interesting connections".

"There's a long way to go before everyone will be happy and satisfied that we have a full solution," he told BBC News.

Dr Hughes said his publication in Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Physical Sciences was intended to start a debate.

"It's not a vigorous theory; it's more a suggestion that may be worth exploring," he said.

**********

Secret spaceplane set to land next weekend

tgdaily - The US Air Force's top-secret X-37B spacecraft is set to land sometime in the next few days at the Vandenberg Air Force Base.

It will be the US' first ever autonomous re-entry and runway landing.

"Space professionals from the 30th Space Wing will monitor the de-orbit and landing of the Air Force's first X-37B, called the Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1)," says the Air Force in a statement.

"While the exact landing date and time will depend on technical and weather considerations, it is expected to occur between Friday, December 3, and Monday, December 6, 2010."

Amateur astronomers have had a high old time tracking the movements of the elusive craft. At one point it seemed to disappear, until a South African skywatcher spotted it in a new orbit five days later.

The landing date was to be expected, given that the craft has been aloft since April and one of the few known facts about it is that it has a 270-day maximum flight time.

The 4.9 ton spacecraft looks rather like a miniature space shuttle. It measures a little under nine meters long and has a wingspan of 4.3 meters. It's currently in orbit at around 180 miles high.

Its true purpose has been the cause of much debate. The military says the mission was intended to test guidance, navigation and control systems for autonomous orbital flight. Inevitably, though, there has been speculation that it could be used for other, more aggressive purposes.

Another x-37B is currently under construction and is expected to launch next spring.

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Pakistani woman's nose cut-off by in-laws

timesofindia - A Pakistani woman's nose was cut off and her head tonsured by her in-laws who then locked her up for three days because they suspected her of having an affair with a neighbour, police said.

The incident took place in Gujranwala in Punjab province.

Aasiya Bibi's brother-in-law Anwar, his wife Kalsoom and sons Waqas and Awais caught hold of her and cut off her nose and shaved off her head, alleging that she had an illicit relationship with a local man.

"Aasiya has been living with her in-laws for over seven years and her husband works in Multan, so he rarely manages to visit," Express Tribune quoted Aasiya's neighbour Nida as saying.

Nida said that Aasiya's in-laws were often cruel to her.

Police said that the family locked up Aasiya in a room where she lay for three days after the incident, till a police team released her after being tipped-off.

Aasiya told the police: "I had been beaten and they didn't give me proper food. They locked me up and I was still bleeding."

Police officials said that when they found Aasiya she was in a terrible state and was promptly taken to a hospital where her wounds were stitched up. Doctors said that she narrowly managed to avoid an infection.

"We were surprised that her open wounds hadn't got infected even thought they weren't treated for three days," medical superintendent Azam Skeikh was quoted as saying.

"She is currently receiving treatment but we expect her to make a full recovery," he added.

Aasiya's in-laws were unrepentant.

Her brother-in-law Anwar said: "She was having illicit relations with a neighbour. We caught her and this was her punishment. She deserved what happened to her...I should have killed her on the spot."

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Almost half of all Britons believe in aliens

telegraph - A poll of 2,000 adults concluded that 44 per cent were convinced of the existence of extra-terrestrial life.

Men were more likely to believe with 46 per cent answering the survey saying humans are not alone.

The survey was commissioned by the Royal Society, the country's most prestigious scientific body.

Meanwhile a third of those questioned said we should try and make contact with other life forms co-existing in the universe.

However, there was little agreement when it came to decided what form alien life would take.

Prof Simon Conway Morris, an evolution expert from Cambridge University, said people should "throw away all our preconceptions" about what alien life could be like.

Meanwhile only 28 per cent of people answering the YouGov poll would rule out the existence of alien life altogether.

The Woman Behind the Monster

Classic: The original manuscript pages, complete with crossings out, of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein where Victor Frankenstein first describes the awakening of the 'monster'

dailymail - The handwritten first draft of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, Frankenstein, has gone on display in Britain for the first time.

The exhibition also includes a never before seen portrait of the author alongside belongings and literary work from her family - one of Britain's most renowned literary dynasties.

The showcase, brought together for the first time from the Bodleian Libraries and the New York Public Library, includes work by Mary Shelley, her husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and her parents William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft.

On display is previously unseen memorabilia, manuscripts, rare books and personal relics from the family archive, now based at the Bodleian in Oxford.

Richard Ovenden, associate director and keeper of the special collections said: 'This is a unique opportunity to bring together treasures from the great Shelley collections in the Bodleian Libraries and The New York Public Library.

The most famous Frankenstein: Boris Karloff in the 1931 film of Mary Shelley's book

'We are excited that the exhibition will travel to New York after closing in Oxford and enable even more people to learn about this extraordinary literary family.'

Mary Shelley was just 21 and living with the already married Percy Bysshe Shelley when she wrote Frankenstein, which began as a short story but turned into a classic novel that has spawned countless Hollywood films.

Among other personal belongings are Percy Bysshe Shelley's spy-glass - thought to have been onboard the Don Juan on Shelley s final voyage which resulted in his drowning - and his baby rattle.

The exhibition, called Shelley's Ghost: Reshaping the Image of a Literary Family, was due to run from December 3 until March 27 2011.

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Exhibition: This previously unseen portrait believed to be Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell is on display alongside manuscripts, letters, relics and portraits of the lives and literary achievements of the Shelley's and the Godwins

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)

English Romantic novelist, biographer and editor, best known as the writer of FRANKENSTEIN, OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818). Mary Shelley was 21 when the book was published; she started to write it when she was 18. The story deals with an ambitious young scientist. He creates life but then rejects his creation, a monster.

"But success shall crown my endeavours. Wherefore not? Thus far I have gone, tracking a secure way over the pathless seas: the very stars themselves being witnesses and testimonies of my triumph. Why not still proceed over the untamed yet obedient element? What can stop the determined heart and resolved will of man?" (from Frankenstein)

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was born in London. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, died of puerperal fever 10 days after giving birth to her daughter. Mary's labor lasted 18 hours and then it took four hours to remove the rest of the placenta. She was one of the first feminists, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and the novel The Wrongs of Woman, in which she wrote: "We cannot, without depraving our minds, endeavour to please a lover or husband, but in proportion as he pleases us." In the intellectual circles of London, her acquaintances included the painter Henry Fuseli, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, and William Blake, who illustrated an edition of her book, Original Stories from Real Life.

Mary Shelley's father was the writer and political journalist William Godwin, who became famous with his work An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793). Godwin had revolutionary attitudes to most social institutions, including marriage. In feminism he found an "amazonian" element. Among his other books is Things as They Are, or The Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794).

In her childhood Mary Shelley was left to educate herself amongst her father's intellectual circle, the critic Hazlitt, the essayist Lamb, the poet Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley, who came into Godwin's circle in 1812. Godwin took a second in 1801, but Mary never learned to like her. In 1812 Godwin sent her to live in Dundee. Mary published her first poem at the age of ten. At the age of 16 she ran away to France and Switzerland with Shelley; they had met at the end of 1812. Percy and Mary married in 1816 - Shelley's wife Harriet had committed suicide by drowning. Their first child, a daughter, died in Venice, Italy, a few years later. In HISTORY OF SIX WEEKS TOUR (1817) the Shelleys jointly recorded their life. Thereafter they returned to England and Mary gave birth to a son, William.

The story of Frankenstein started on summer in 1816, when Mary joined with Percy Shelley and Claire Clairmont near Geneva Lord Byron. She took a challenge, set by Lord Byron, to write a ghost story. With her husband's encouragement, she completed the novel within a year. At the Villa Diodati she had been a "silent listener" of her husband and Byron, who discussed about galvanism. At Eton College Shelley had become interested in Luigi Calvani's experiments with electric shocks to make dead frogs' muscles twitch. It is possible that his teacher, James Lind, had demonstrated the technique to Shelley. Byron and Shelley talked Dr Darwin's experiments with a piece of vermicelli. In her 'Introduction' to the 1831 edition Mary revealed that she got the story from a dream, in which she saw "the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with a uneasy, half vital motion."

FRANKENSTEIN; OR, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS (1818) The novel start with series of letters from Robert Walton to his sister. Walton is an English Arctic explorer who spots a strange creature on a dog-sled. The exhausted Victor Frankenstein arrives, in pursuit of the creature,and while recuperating tells his story. He has been born into a wealthy Geneva family. After his mother dies of scarlet fever and becomes a student of natural philosophy and medicine. Inspired by occult philosophy and the teaching of his mentor, Waldman, he builds a creature in the semblance of a man and gives it life. It body is assembled from parts which Frankenstein has stolen from butcher shops, dissecting rooms, and charnel-houses. The creature is repeatedly rejected by those who see it, but the monster proves intelligent, and later highly articulate. Receiving no love, it becomes embittered. Frankenstein deserts his creation, who disappears. "I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I have deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I have finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart." (from Frankenstein) Frankenstein hears that his younger brother has been strangled, but Justine, his family's servant confesses the murder. However, later the monster tells that he murdered William and framed Justine. Frankenstein then agrees to make a mate for the monster so that it will not bother anyone again. A wave of remorse makes him destroy the female. The lone creature swears revenge. He kills Frankenstein's bride, Elizabeth, on their wedding night. The scientist becomes mad, but recovers and chases the creature across the world. The two confront in the Arctic wastes. Frankenstein dies. The creature describes eloquently to Walton his efforts to seek out beauty and how crime has degraded it beneath the meanest animal. "He is dead who called me into being; and when I shall be no more the very remembrance of us both will speedily vanish. I shall no longer see the sun or stars, or feel the wind play on my cheeks. Light, feeling, and sense will pass away; and in this condition must I find my happiness." The monster leaps from the ship on a ice-raft, disappearing again in the darkness. - The novel contains no supernatural elements; the creation of the monster is described in the third edition on a rational scientific basis. Frankenstein is a scientist who challenges the Creator of the world with the possibilities of modern science, but is destroyed because he cannot anticipate the outcomes of his own acts. The story has also been interpreted as an exploration of the artist's - creator's - relation to society.

The first edition of book had an unsigned preface by Percy Shelley. Many thought that it is also his novel, disbelieving that only 19-year-old woman could write such horror story. However, when the book was published in 1818, it became a huge success, although it received mixed reviews. John Wilson Croker wrote in Quaterly Review (January 1818) that "the dreams of insanity are embodied in the strong and striking language of the insane, and the author, notwithstanding the rationality of his preface, often leaves us in doubt whether he is not as mad as his hero." Walter Scott, on the other hand, noted that the work was "written in plain and forcible English, without exhibiting the mixture of hyperbolical Germanisms with which tales of wonder are usually told" (Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, March 1818).

In 1818 the Shelleys left England for Italy, where they remained until Percy Shelley's death - he drowned during a heavy squall on July 28, 1822, in the Bay of Spezia near Livorno. In 1819 Mary suffered a nervous breakdown after the death of William - he died of malaria at the age of 3. Mary had also lost a daughter the previous year. In 1822 she had a dangerous miscarriage and she believed that she would die. Mary Shelley wrote to her friend Maria Gisborne about this loss and her husband's death, concluding the letter: "Well here is my story - the last story I shall have to tell - all that might have been bright in my life is now despoiled - I shall live to improve myself, to take care of my child, & render myself worthy to join him. soon my weary pilgrimage will begin - I rest now - but soon I must leave Italy -". Of their children only one, Percy Florence, survived infancy. In 1823 Mary returned with her son to England, determined not to-re-marry. She devoted herself to his welfare and education and continued her career as a professional writer. Sir Timothy Shelley, her father-in-law, was not eager to help her and her son Percy financially. Mary Shelley never married, but she flirted with the young French writer Prosper Merimee, and hoped to marry Maj. Aubrey Beauclerk.

None of Shelley's novels from this period matched the power of her first legendary achievement. Her later works include LODORE (1835) and FAULKNER (1937), both romantic pot-boilers, and unfinished MATHILDE (1819, published 1959), which draws on her relations with Godwin and Shelley. VALPERGA (1823) is a romance set in the 14th-century, and THE LAST MAN (1826), set in the 21st century republican England, depicts the end of human civilization. Its second part describes the gradual destruction of the human race by plague. The narrator is Lionel Verney, the last man of the title, living amidst the ruins of Rome. Feminist critics have paid attention to its fantasy of the total corrosion of patriarchal order.

Shelley gave up writing long fiction when realism started to gain popularity, exemplified in the works of Charles Dickens. She wrote a numerous short stories for popular periodicals, particularly The Keepsaker, produced several volumes of Lives for Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, and the first authoritative edition of Shelley's poems (1839, 4 vols.). Shelley's well-received travelogue RAMBLES IN GERMANY AND ITALY appeared in 1844. She also attempted a biography on Shelley but abandoned the work.

The story of Frankenstein's monster has inspired over 50 films. James Whale's version from 1931, starring Boris Karloff, is considered a classic, and became the major source for a number of other adaptations. The monster kills little Maria on the lake and is hunted down and killed. All reviews of the film were not positive: "I regret to report that it is just another movie, so thoroughly mixed with water as to have a horror content of about .0001 percent... The film differs greatly from the book and soon turns into a sort of comic opera with a range of cardboard mountains over which extras in French Revolution costumes dash about with flaming torches." (Creighton Peet in Outlook & Independent, December 9, 1931) Mel Brook's parody Young Frankenstein (1974), starring Gene Wilder in the role of the famous doctor, was beautifully photographed - Brooks used many archaic optical devices, including the old 1:85 aspect ratio for height and width of the frame. The film received an Academy Award nomination for its script. Among its highlights is the scene in which Peter Boyle as the monster visits a well-meaning, lonely blind man, Gene Hackman, who nearly manages to destroy his guest. Kenneth's Branagh's film Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) was faithful to the book. The director himself was Frankenstein and Robert De Niro played the monster under a heavy mask. - http://kirjasto.sci.fi


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