Barry White dead at 58

Last Updated 2003-07-04 00:00:00.0
ArtsCanada

R&B singer Barry White, known for his deep seductive voice on such sultry hits as Can't Get Enough Of your Love, Babe, has died. He was 58.

Comment: A moment of silence here at Signs Central in honour of The Voice.

Notice to Readers: We begin publishing in today's edition responses from readers to our call for data (with an update). For those Yanks who were out picnicing yesterday, don't miss our Fourth of July Edition. Also two, new columns (see the links on the sidebar) and an article from a QFS member (that has been making the rounds on the Internet...Good work, KAH!)

Berlusconi denies apologizing for Nazi remark

Written by CBC News Online staff
Last Updated Fri, 04 Jul 2003 17:30:09

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi says he's not sorry for comparing a German politician to a concentration camp guard.

On Friday, he told reporters that his only regret is that people didn't seem to appreciate his joke...

The German government considered the matter closed after Berlusconi telephoned Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Thursday. Officials said the Italian prime minister's comments amounted to an apology.

But on Friday, Berlusconi denied ever admitting that his comments were inappropriate.

"I did not offer any apology," he said.

When asked if he considered the controversy over, Berlusconi added: "As far as I'm concerned it is."

Critics say Berlusconi's initial remarks and subsequent refusal to apologize prove that he's unable to serve as leader of the 15-member European Union. He has begun a six-month term as president of the EU's parliament, a rotating position.

Comment: Sounds more like he is doing what he is paid to do, sow discord within Europe in order toadvance the American Bush Reich project.

Taped voice purported to be Saddam Hussein's vows more attacks on Americans

STEVEN GUTKIN
04:22 AM EDT Jul 05

BAGHDAD (AP) - A speaker claiming to be Saddam Hussein in a taped message that aired Friday sought to rally Iraqis behind anti-U.S. resistance and vowed "days of hardship" for the Americans. He also mocked Washington's justification for war: "Where are these weapons of mass destruction?"

The broadcast on the Arab television station Al-Jazeera coincided with an escalation in fighting, with a mortar attack on a base that wounded 18 U.S. troops, an ambush that left 11 Iraqi attackers dead and a sniper attack that killed an American in Baghdad.

In Washington, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the CIA would assess the tape, and a U.S. intelligence official said the agency cannot verify whether it is truly the ousted Iraqi leader speaking. But the sudden emergence of a purported message from Saddam threatened to energize anti-U.S. forces and worsen the violence. [...]

Some [soldiers] were invited to join Arnold Schwarzenegger for a screening at Baghdad International Airport of his latest movie, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

"I play terminator, but you guys are the true terminators," he told the soldiers.

Comment: Right, Arnie. What a jerk. Many US soldiers are young kids, way out of their league, forced to police Iraq for the US oil companies and put into no-win situations. They are being turned into machines themselves, reacting to anything they preceive as a threat with shooting and violence. "Rise of the Machines", indeed. But one shouldn't be applauding this dehumanisation!

As for the audio tape of Saddam, the US has been perfecting voice cloning technology. We already saw this regarding Osama "I'm hiding under the bed" bin Laden. Of course, Saddam may well be alive and calling upon the Iraqi people to resist the American occupation. The ultimate goal of all the leaders appears to be a large conflagration in the Middle East.

July 4th Protest Drives President Bush Out of Philadelphia

President George W. Bush dropped plans to come to Philadelphia on July 4th. He was invited to dedicate the new and controversial National Constitution Center in Philadelphia during its scheduled July 4th opening celebration, and expectation was high he would come. The Constitution Center has been mired in controversy for being built on the graves of slaves. Plans are in place for a national protest against US policies at home and abroad to coincide with Bush's visit. Instead of facing thousands of protesters, Bush has chosen to spend the July 4th holiday speaking to uniformed troops at a US military base.

The coalition of National and Philadelphia-area organizations planning a major protest demonstration on July 4th within a block of the Constitution Center sees the Bush decision as a victory.

"A military base is probably the only place Bush thinks he can go to avoid massive protest. But what he has to know is that veterans and military families are participating in the protests here, joining thousands of others in opposition to his plans for endless war, occupation, and other policies at home and abroad," said Phoebe Jones Schellenberg of the Global Women's Strike, a spokesperson for the protest. "People of color, women and children, and other grassroots people pay the highest price for—and are the first to speak out—against priorities that lavish funding on bombing people in other countries while depriving people in Philadelphia, around the country and around the world not only of civil rights, but of even basic resources to survive, sustain and develop." [...]

AP silently strikes line about anti-Bush protestors

Bush vows to crack terrorism

US President George W Bush has used his speech on American Independence Day to warn that the nation was "still at war" with international terrorism.

Speaking at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, President Bush vowed to attack any "terrorist group or outlaw regime" that threatens America.

"We are on the offensive against terrorists... The United States will not stand by and wait for another attack or trust in the restraint and good intentions of evil men," he said. [...]

Flanked by fighter jets, attack aircraft and a Stealth bomber, President Bush reiterated his commitment to use force if he felt it was necessary.

"The enemies of America plot against us... We will act, whenever it is necessary, to protect the lives and the liberty of the American people," he said.

President Bush also promised that US troops would remain actively engaged in the world.

The BBC's Michael Buchanan says the president's patriotic, rally-the-troops speech made no mention of the situation in Iraq or the almost daily attacks on US troops there.

But our correspondent says that it comes at a time when more Americans are questioning the success of the US-led military campaign there.

Comment: As the Village People so prophetically sang:

"Everyman ought to be a macho, macho man
To live a life of freedom, machos make a stand

"Have your own lifestyles and ideals
Access the strip of competence, that's the skill
You can best believe that he's a macho man
He's the special god son in anybody's land
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

"Macho, macho man
I gotta be a macho man
Macho macho man
I gotta be a macho"

George, Would You PLEASE Shut Up!

by W. David Jenkins III July 4, 2003

All right already, that is more than enough! What the hell were you thinking? Were you thinking? Have you completely lost your mind? Is there anybody out there keeping an eye on you, kid? I really hate to rant but I just can't let this go.

July 2 - "There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White House. "My answer is bring them on. We have the force necessary to deal with the situation." - Reuters

July 3 - A day after President Bush asserted that coalition forces in Iraq were prepared to deal with any security threat; American troops came under attack again today, with 10 soldiers wounded in three separate incidents. - New York Times George, the macho routine - and I do mean "routine" - has got to go. The fact that we have kids getting killed because you lied is a travesty in and of itself. Now, once again, you start up the he-man schtick and people start getting hurt - and worse. Haven't you or any of your people learned a damned thing?

"Bring them on?"

Exactly what is your problem?

Are you bothered by the fact that you were not man enough to actually serve when it was your turn? Are you making up for the fact that you couldn't even fulfill your cushy assignment back in the early '70s because you were a blooming mess and couldn't pass a urine test? What, now you feel the need to talk tough so nobody will question what an actual coward you are? You are a coward, George. We saw that long before 9/11.

Your cowardice is the reason for what we now know as "First Amendment Zones." You know those heavily policed, barricaded, way-out-of-the-way places for people who voice their accurate opinions of you. They're usually placed so far away from where you appear that you can be assured you'll never see or hear any dissent.

And we all know why.

Because you're afraid of confrontation in any form. You've been a scaredy-cat since you stole office! Hiding under canopies and limiting access by the press as well as those who abhor you and know you for the fake that you are. George W. Bush, you have given birth to a new phrase!

"He-Man in Hiding!"

We all learned - well, most of us did - what a pathetic excuse for a "president" you are when you did the old "dead or alive" nonsense when it came to Osama bin Laden. "Smoke 'em out," you said. Mister big man.

Well, President Bounty Hunter, where the hell is he?

Hasn't it ever dawned on you that if you hadn't instructed people like John O'Neill to lay off investigating bin Laden prior to the attack, none of that 9/11 stuff would have happened? Is that why you're hiding over 800 pages of the investigative report by the Senate?

So, Mister Dead-or-Alive…where the hell is Osama?

Oh, you thought we forgot?

Y'know, George, it takes more than just talk to make you a man. It takes more than just talk to make you a leader. Sure, you have the ever-obedient sheep in the liberal media who are stretching things to the max to make you look good. Lucky for you, most of the people who rely on American media for their information are idiots who actually think that that aircraft carrier landing was something to be admired. You need to remember one thing, George.

The world is not your Congress.

Just because most of the representatives in both Houses believed every lie you told doesn't make everybody else just as compliant. Just because the lap dogs at Fox "News" wet themselves every time they mention your name doesn't mean the rest of the world community - including many of us here at home - buy your carefully manufactured machismo. Your testosterone complex is trying our patience and - worst of all - killing people who have ten times more cajones than you could ever hope to have.

For Chrissakes, George, you didn't even have the balls (excuse me) to land in Iraq a few weeks ago. No, you did a fly-over. At least your puppy, Tony Blair, had it in him to walk among the people in Basra. But you? You pathetic chicken. You ran and hid like you did on 9/11, Mr. Tough Guy. You are an embarrassment - and worst of all - you're a dangerous embarrassment. Your bravado is killing people.

"Bring them on!"

You pompous S.O.B. - you spoiled little chicken "stuff" brat. Please, please, please, shut your stupid mouth! Your cowardice is killing Americans. And Iraqis. Your big, stupid mouth is not helping the huge mess your lies have created! The world is not Old West Texas. You're not even Texas! Every time you open your big mouth either somebody gets killed or wounded or the stock market falls. Your big mouth just got ten people wounded! There's no telling what your oral nonsense will produce tomorrow.

Shut up, George! You're killing people, you coward!

*******

Hey guys, I don't know about you but I feel a heck of a lot better now - at least I can breathe. And breathing always allows me to be a little creative.

A few months ago, Americans were told to buy mass quantities of duct tape to protect themselves from those who would do them harm. I know there just have to be many, many rolls of duct tape out there that have gone un-used. And…

I have a great idea.

The next time George W. Bush decides it's time to get macho, somebody - please - oh please, grab a roll of that duct tape and wrap it around his whole head. You'll save a life and protect our national security.

It's the patriotic thing to do, the only thing to do.

Pentagon Reveals Secret Bio, Chem Tests

By ROBERT GEHRKE
Associated Press Writer
July 1, 2003, 2:50 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Several House members are asking Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to keep alive the Pentagon's investigation into 50 chemical and biological weapons tests in the 1960s that involved 5,842 military personnel.

The Defense Department released the final findings of an investigation into Project 112 and Project SHAD, which were conducted from 1962 to 1973 to test the combat capabilities of biological and chemical agents and ways to protect U.S. troops from such attacks.

Monday's report raised the number of U.S. troops identified as having been present for one or more of the tests to 5,842, many of whom were not informed of their participation.

Japanese-Americans Remember Wyoming WW II Camps

[...]More than 110,000 people -- mostly American citizens of Japanese ancestry -- were forced from their homes and scattered among 10 relocation camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. They were perceived as a national security risk by some government officials, said Alice Ito of the educational organization Densho. [...]

Global Eye -- Troubled Sleep

By Chris Floyd
Moscow Times

"When you gonna wake up, and strengthen the things that remain?"

-- Bob Dylan

The secret policemen snatched the citizen from his house. There were no charges, no warrants, no warnings. They spirited him away to a secret location; no one knew where he had gone, why he'd disappeared. The covert agents grilled him, in secret, for three months. They told him that if he didn't cooperate, he'd be declared an enemy of the state -- then they could salt him away in a military prison or the regime's concentration camp and hold him there, without charges, for as long as they wanted.

Then, if they wanted, they could haul him before a military tribunal, try him in secret and, if they wanted, have him executed -- with no judicial oversight, no recourse to appeal save one: a plea for mercy from the regime's unelected leader. This usurper, who liked to be known as "The Commander," had given himself the arbitrary authority to strip any citizen of their liberty, and he alone -- no court, no council, no legislative body -- held the ultimate power of life and death over anyone he thus decreed an "enemy."

After months in secret captivity, the prisoner -- a young truck driver with a history of mental problems -- broke down. In a secret court session, he confessed to planning a series of crimes against the state. The success of this covert operation was announced by the head of the regime's internal police forces. His declaration -- that a citizen had been snatched, interrogated, threatened and broken in secret, outside every stricture of the country's old constitution -- was greeted with cries of admiration in the national press.

Yes, it was just another day in the New America -- the fearful, fawning, fortress-land that Bush and bin Laden have made. The above facts -- openly attested in the mainstream media -- are the raw guts of truth beneath the fancy PR frocks and propaganda implants that mask the inner moral rot of the Bush Regime.

Iyman Faris, a U.S. citizen originally from Kashmir, was nabbed, threatened and processed in the exact manner described above. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Faris was a key al-Qaida operative, prowling America's highways in his monstrous diesel truck, looking for likely terror targets and sending back coded messages to his nefarious foreign controllers...

Comment: Life as usual under the Bush Reich. Floyd has a long list of sources for his story following his article. And to quote another line from Bob Dylan, "It's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there..."

Armstrong eyes fifth win at Tour de France

Lance Armstrong chases a record-equalling fifth Tour de France victory when it starts in Paris on Saturday.

Corsica seeks stake in future

By Caroline Wyatt
BBC, Corsica

The French island of Corsica goes to the polls this Sunday in a referendum to decide on a limited measure of autonomy for the island.

The referendum will ask whether the islanders want to keep their two administrative departments and one regional council, or elect a new, unified assembly with some limited powers to raise and spend taxes.

The French Government has thrown itself behind the Yes campaign, but many on the Mediterranean island fear that a Yes vote would be seen as a victory for violent nationalists who have waged a bombing and shooting campaign for independence from France since the 1970s.

Suicide Attack in Pakistan Kills Dozens

QUETTA, Pakistan, July 4 -- A suicide attack today in a mosque packed with worshipers killed more than 30 people and sent enraged Shiite Muslims on a rampage through the capital of Baluchistan province in southwestern Pakistan, officials said.

Reports of the death toll varied, and some put it as high as 47. Scores were wounded in the attack, one of the bloodiest in a long series of assaults on the country's Shiite minority.

Three Dutch Peacekeepers Wounded in Afghan Blast

Sat July 5, 2003 02:35 AM ET

KABUL (Reuters) - Three Dutch peacekeepers were wounded in Afghanistan when their vehicle was hit by an explosion while they were on patrol north of the capital, Kabul, a military spokesman said on Saturday. [...]

Myanmar dissidents give graphic account of attack on Suu Kyi

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BANGKOK, Thailand, July 4 — Screaming ''die! ''die!'' a drunken mob of about 3,000 people — some dressed as monks — quickly surrounded Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy, stripping the clothes off supporters and beating them mercilessly with bats, rods and spears, Myanmar dissidents testified Friday

The testimony by witnesses Khin Zaw and Wunna Maung before a Thai Senate panel was the most comprehensive and detailed yet of the May 30 violence that led to the Nobel laureate's arrest and the Myanmar government's crackdown on her pro-democracy party. Their statements also lend credibility to other opposition claims that up to 70 people were killed. [...]

Space center unveils telescope

Chabot's powerful new instrument available

By Laura Casey, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Chilly fog was not invited to the Wednesday evening celebration of the unveiling of Chabot Space and Science Center's new 36-inch telescope named Nellie, but it was there anyway.

The 100 or so Chabot supporters, including former City Councilman Dick Spees and telescope donors Merrill and Lillian Martin, celebrated the opening of the massive telescope to the public -- even though they could not see the stars. [...]

Chabot astronomers will hunt for star clusters and supernovas. Visitors and astronomers alike may discover new planets and moons, or help track comets while beaming images and information to the World Wide Web.

Nellie, named for the Martins' youngest daughter and Merrill Martin's grandmother, is one of the largest refractor telescopes in the United States. There are others, yet none are available to the public every weekend, as Nellie will be. [...]

Telescope to help map universe

Tue, Jul. 01, 2003
By Katy Daigle
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ARECIBO, Puerto Rico - The world's most sensitive listening device is about to hear more from the universe.

The radio telescope at Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory, powerful enough to hear planets forming several billion light years away, is receiving six more radio receivers to expand its range, scientists said Monday.

Once the upgrade, nicknamed the ALFA Project, is completed next year, the observatory's staff of 15 scientists will take on the arduous task of mapping the night sky for future generations.

The map with its collection of detailed data about location, identity and properties of what is in space will go far beyond anything currently in use, researchers say.

No such map has been made until now because the scale was too big, said observatory director Daniel Altschuler. When finished it will be a "national treasure, a legacy, so to speak." [...]

With the $1 million upgrade, Arecibo should find thousands of new pulsars, supernova, black holes and planets, "and some of those are going to be very interesting." [...]

Alternate telescope site is considered

Wire Service, Associated Press
June 27, 2003

TUCSON (AP) - A group of scientists who want to install the world's largest gamma-ray telescope system say they may have an alternative to a proposed sight which has drawn the ire of American Indian and environmental groups. [...]

The project is known as VERITAS, for Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, and is an effort of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and five American and three foreign universities.

It would build and install 34-foot mirrored telescopes to study high-energy gamma rays emitted by such things as exploding stars and black holes. Scientists first had wanted to install the cluster of seven telescopes on 10 acres in Montosa Canyon.

No decision on Mauna Kea telescope permit application

By TIFFANY EDWARDS/ West Hawaii Today

HILO - Nearly everyone contesting the University of Hawaii's permit application to build more telescopes atop Mauna Kea wants the permit denied.

However, the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, through its attorney Michael Moore, concurred with the Hearings Officer Michael Gibson's recent recommendation to the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) board that UH's permit application be approved - with conditions.

HIEDB is among six groups and individuals who intervened after the UH Institute for Astronomy submitted to the DLNR board a conservation district use permit application to allow for the expansion of the W.M. Keck Observatory by four to six "outrigger" telescopes. [...]

Comet X-ray emissions simulated in laboratory

LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY NEWS RELEASE
Posted: June 9, 2003

Physicists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have produced X-ray emissions in a laboratory setting by recreating the conditions that exist when solar winds collide with gases surrounding comets.

Using the electron beam ion trap facility located at Livermore Laboratory, physicists Peter Beiersdorfer, Hui Chen and Mark May created charge exchange between heavy ions to produce X-ray emissions, similar to what happens when solar wind and gases collide in a comet.

In collaboration with researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Columbia University Department of Physics and the University of Missouri-Rolla Department of Physics, the team will present "Laboratory Simulation of Charge Exchange-Produced X-ray Emission From Comets" in the June 6 edition of Science. [...]

Beiersdorfer said that cometary X-rays can serve as a diagnostic for solar activity and hence "space weather" by measuring the quantity and composition of the heavy ion flux in solar wind. In addition, recent work has shown that emissions can be a potential tool to gauge the speed of the solar wind. [...]

Harpooning a Comet

Astrobio.net

Europe is set to try to do something no-one has ever done before - to chase and land on a comet. The Lander science will focus on the in situ study of the composition and structure of the nucleus material.

Comet-chasing mission Rosetta has refocused its sights on Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During its meeting on May 13-14th 2003, ESA's Science Program Committee decided Rosetta's new mission baseline.

The spacecraft will be launched in February 2004 from Kourou, French Guiana, using an Ariane-5 G+ launcher. The rendezvous with the new target comet is expected in November 2014.

Delayed indefinitely earlier this year to troubleshoot launch issues, ESA's Rosetta lander, is now back on track to be the first man-made object to land on a comet. [...]

On Jan. 2, 2004, another NASA spacecraft called Stardust will fly within 75 miles of a cometary main body (called Wild-2)--close enough to trap small particles from the coma, the gas-and-dust envelope surrounding the comet's nucleus. Stardust will be traveling at about 13,400 miles per hour (mph) and will capture comet particles traveling at the speed of a bullet fired from a rifle. Its main camera, built for NASA's Voyager program, will transmit the closest-ever comet pictures back to Earth. Launched in February 1999, Stardust was designed to capture particles from Wild 2 and return them to Earth for analysis. The spacecraft already has collected grains of interstellar dust. It is the first U.S. sample-return mission since the last moon landing in 1972.

In the next 5 or so years, there will be several encounters of spacecraft with comets and asteroids. All the following missions are funded, though not all have been launched yet.

Voicemail for the aliens

MSNBC
July 4, 2003 / Noon ET

This weekend, humanity is leaving another message for E.T., via the 230-foot Evpatoria radio telescope in Ukraine. The high-power radio transmissions will include the famous 1974 Arecibo broadcast to the stars, a coded Rosetta Stone on mathematics and science developed by Stephane Dumas and Yvan Dutil, and a series of text/video/audio/photo messages from paying customers as well as dignitaries such as former astronaut Sally Ride.

The Cosmic Call, developed by Houston-based Team Encounter, will be emceed from Roswell, N.M., by journalist Hugh Downs, with activation of the transmissions scheduled for 7 p.m. ET Saturday. Images from Roswell and Evpatoria, as well as loads of background information, are being made available via the Cosmic Call Web site, publicist Susan Schonfeld said. [...]

The Cosmic Call will be directed at five stars that are considered capable of harboring life-supporting planets: 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer, 47 Ursa Majoris in the constellation Ursa Major, HIP 26335 in Orion, HIP 7918 in Andromeda and HIP 4872 in Cassiopeia. [...]

Comment: If you were an E.T. and you received a message from "paying customers as well as dignitaries," what would you think about the transmitting civilization?

EADS Space to cut additional 962 jobs by end-2005 - report

(AFX-Focus) 2003-07-03 08:21 GMT:

PARIS (AFX) - The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co's space division is to cut a further 962 jobs in Europe by the end of 2005, according to a report in Les Echos.

Without citing sources, the newspaper said details of the next phase in the unit's restructuring were presented to works representatives in the last two days.

The latest job cuts are in addition to 2,300 proposed in two previously announced rounds of job losses, also scheduled for completion by the end of 2005.

Including the latest figures, total job cuts represent 25 pct of the EADS' unit's workforce, Les Echos said.

The Space Launch Industry Recent Trends and Near-Term Outlook

Bethesda - Jul 02, 2003

Since 1996, Futron has maintained an extensive database of past and future launch activity. Futron reviews over 20 space-related publications and over 30 on-line spacerelated resources to collect launch information. The database is updated on a daily basis. [...]

With the start of the third quarter of 2003, Futron has performed a rigorous analysis of future launch activity and generated a "best estimate" forecast for the next 18 months. In comparing projected 2003 and 2004 launch numbers with those from previous years, trends and significant points become apparent. Among those are:

Worldwide launch activity (commercial and non-commercial) is cyclical, increasing some years and decreasing in others. However, by 2004, the launch industry will have experienced three years of consistent increases.

2001 experienced the lowest number of commercial launches (16) since 1994. 2002 saw a modest recovery (24) and the number of commercial launches will remain stable in 2003 and 2004 (23 and 26 respectively).

While it is too early to say definitively, there is a preliminary trend towards increasing numbers of non-commercial launches. [...]

UC Santa Barbara Astrophysicist Has Theory Supported by NASA Observations

Wed Jul 2 10:42:57 2003 Pacific Time
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 2

(AScribe Newswire) -- A theory about neutron stars first proposed by a theoretical physicist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has gained the support of a NASA study reported by an international team of scientists in the July 3 issue of the journal Nature.

Lars Bildsten, a UCSB physics professor and permanent member of UCSB's Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP), first developed a theory, published in 1998, which explains how neutron stars, the spinning compact remains of an exploded star, can only spin so fast due to the sudden onset of the emission of gravitational waves. Bildsten will be present at the NASA press conference in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, July 2, 1 p.m. Eastern Time. ...[T]he NASA news release on this topic ...

Watching the Sky

By A.P.

I read your request to pay attention to the skies on the Signs page. In relation to this, while I was reading one of the articles that you have linked to the Twin Star page, A Mystery revolves around the Sun.

I noticed that one of the researchers said that Nasa's Space Infrared Telescope Facility could be able to detect the hypothetical Dark Star once it had been launched. So I searched for the SITF and it turns out that its launch has been delayed.

Were you aware of this? Its interesting if we link this with the other recent 'accidents' concerning telescopes and observatories. This is the SITF home page Hope this helps.

What time is it? Well, no one knows for sure

As the Earth spins slower, methods of telling time diverge. Experts warn this could end in disaster

David Adam, science correspondent Thursday June 26, 2003 The Guardian

Working Group 7A of the International Telecommunication Union's Study Group 7 may sound like an anonymous international committee like any other. But this is no quango of grey bureaucrats in greyer suits arguing over the desired colour of toilet paper. At the heart of this group's discussions is something of fundamental importance to anyone who has ever taken a second to fall in love or to score a goal: time itself, and how to define it.

Unbeknown to most people there is not a single accepted way of telling the time, but several different scales running concurrently. The differences are usually small, but the scales can be as much as 30 seconds apart and the gap between them is growing steadily.

Aircraft navigation systems tell a different time from the watches of passengers, pilots and air traffic controllers. Experts are warning that this could spell disaster.

"We should only have one type of timescale throughout the world," says Bill Klepczynski, a time expert who advises the federal aviation administration. "There's a possibility for danger."

The International Telecommunication Union - the global body that agrees time standards - is taking the issue seriously, and has set up the working group to advise it what to do. "We're trying to gather data on how people are using time, what sort of problems they have and whether or not a contiguous timescale would be beneficial," says Ron Beard, who heads the group.

But the plans have not pleased everyone, and arguments about the best way forward are rattling the usually steady world of timekeeping.

The problem arises because the Earth cannot keep time as accurately as modern atomic clocks, which count the steady shaking of atoms. These atomic clocks replaced the motion of the Earth as the world's official timekeeper in 1967. The pull of the moon is gradually slowing our planet down, so every now and then our clocks are halted for a second to let it catch up.

[...] Since the debate began, the slowing of the Earth has become less pronounced and no leap seconds should be needed for several years. Experts are unsure exactly why this has happened -a number of factors can have short-term influences on its rotation, including earthquakes and even wind blowing on mountains - but they agree that the constant drag of the moon means the slowing will soon pick up again, and within a few decades we could be forced to add two or even three leap seconds a year.

[...]

What time is it? It could be a while yet before we know for sure.

Comment from a reader:

In 1972 the Earth's rate of rotation suddenly began to decelerate. This article says that it has slowed by 31 seconds since then; other sources say 21 seconds. Whatever, it is clear that the Earth is slowing down. You no doubt are familiar with the phenomenon of "nutation" whereby spinning bodies suddenly lurch and wobble. You can observe this with a spinning child's top. Whip it out on the floor and as it slows it will begin to noticeably wobble. So -- does the sudden slowing of the Earth perhaps presage an upcoming shift of the axis of rotation, or temporary wobbling about its axis?

Who knows? But the size of this slowing, in such a brief time frame, clearly means that something is going on geophysically. But what?! This is a story that is being downplayed-- reported in the popular press, but barely.

Comments from the Cs on the Earth's rotation

February 22, 1997

Q: [...](L) Is the weather being controlled or changed or in any way affected by HAARP?
A: Climate is being influenced by three factors, and soon a fourth.

Q: (L) All right, I'll take the bait; give me the three factors, and also
the fourth!.
A: 1) Wave approach. 2) Chlorofluorocarbon increase in atmosphere, thus affecting ozone layer. 3) Change in the planet's axis rotation orientation. 4) Artificial tampering by 3rd and 4th density STS forces in a number of different ways. Be vigilant. Be observant. Be cautious in your planning and be aware. Do not let emotional anomalies cloud your knowledge base. This is not a "time" to let one's guard down. Be especially careful of travel to unfamiliar locators, as well as sleeping in unfamiliar surroundings!!! You are being watched. Or, at least, it is best to assume you are, and act, think, and prepare accordingly. Remember what you have been warned about concerning attack. As you learn more and know more, you become more interesting... and, when your ranks swell, you are more vulnerable unless you are more aware!!

Q: (L) All right, were those given in the order in which they are occurring? The fourth being the one that's coming later?
A: Maybe, but remember this: a change in the speed of the rotation may not be reported while it is imperceptible except by instrumentation. Equator is slightly "wider" than the polar zones. But, this discrepancy is decreasing slowly currently. One change to occur in 21st Century is sudden glacial rebound, over Eurasia first, then North America. Ice ages develop much, much, much faster than thought. [Discussion of new scientific theory recently presented that the earth is expanding.]

Q: (T) Is the Earth expanding? That's just putting it bluntly, but, is the Earth expanding, how did you put that? (Ark) Yes, that's the theory: the idea is that the continents move away because the Earth is expanding, and this is much faster than you know, than geologists were thinking.
A: Continental "drift" is caused by the continual though variable, propelling of gases from the interior to the surface, mainly at points of magnetic significance.

Q: (J) What causes the change in the axis?
A: By slow down of rotation. Earth alternately heats up and cools down in interior.

Q: (L) Why does it do that? What's the cause of this?
A: Part of cycle related to energy exerted upon surface by the frequency resonance vibrational profile of humans and others.

April 15, 2000

Q: (L) When you described it this way, you were talking about everything "opening up." You mentioned that if the earth's rotation were to slow, even a minute bit that everything "opens up" gravitationally speaking. But, this seems to be connected to solar activity, and no so much the speed of the earth.
A: The solar and earth activities are interconnected.

Q: (L) What effects may have occurred as a result of this event on May 5, 1999?
A: Biogenetic, related to disease pathogens.

Q: (L) In what sense?
A: Transmutation.

Q: (L) Did it enable disease pathogens to mutate so that they become more difficult to deal with, or did they mutate into milder forms?
A: Some both ways.

Q: (L) Is that the main event that occurred during this solar wind lapse?
A: For now, it was so brief.

October 31, 2001

Q: (L) Now according to these guys who are writing this web page about pole shift, they say it can be predicted where the poles will shift to. Is this in fact the case?
A: No.

Q: (L) Why can't pole shifts be predicted? Can't we know where the new pole will end up?
A: Chaotic function here.

Q: (L) Okay, in a pole shift does the lithosphere of the planet slide on the core? (A) No. We have to be very precise. There are three possible things that would come under the name pole shift. Only one of them may come, or two, or three, okay? And these are the following - the axis of rotation with respect to stars is changing, straightening out for instance; this is one thing; while all the rest goes with the axis, the lithosphere and the magnetic field. Second, the axis stays where it is, maybe it shifts a little bit; the lithosphere stays where it is - maybe it wobbles - but the magnetic field changes: for instance reverses. Third, axis stays, magnetic field stays, but the lithosphere is moving. So that's three ways a pole shift can happen. And of course there are things that come together. The most dramatic one which is seen from outside is when the axis of rotation changes. The next dramatic one is probably when the lithosphere changes. And the third of unknown consequences is when the magnetic pole changes, okay? So, we want to have an understanding what will be the main change. (L) Well I guess we ought to ask an even more basic question: are we looking at a pole shift happening? That's starting at the beginning. (A) Alright. (L) In the next ten years. Is a pole shift possible in the next ten years?
A: Yes.

Q: (L) Is a pole shift of the axis...(A) Honey, you ask if the pole shift is possible, of course it's possible. But suppose it's almost zero probability? 'Is it possible' is not the right question. 'Is it going to happen?' That's a question. (L) Okay you ask, carry on. (A) Are we looking at a pole shift during the next ten or so years with a high degree of probability?
A: Yes.

Q: (A) In this concept of pole shift, what would be the main feature of this pole shift, of all those which we were discussing?
A: New axial orientation, and magnetic reversal.

Q: (L) That's fairly dramatic. (A) Alright, now, change of axis or orientation of axis of rotation: can we say we would straighten up, getting almost perpendicular to the ecliptic? Or the other possibility is that it will fall down being almost parallel to the ecliptic. The third is that we'll flip completely by 180 degrees. We know it's highly unpredictable, but can we have a clue from which one is, so to say, dominate?
A: Perpendicularity will be restored.

Q: (A) We know the axis will change dramatically and magnetic reversal will happen. You didn't mention a change or shift of the lithosphere alone. Can we...
A: Lithospheric shift will feature to some extent.

Q: (A) But, that means eventually that the equator will almost not change because...
A: Correct.

Q: (A) So it will just shift a little bit, but its not going to go to Hawaii? (L) Oh rats! That was my theory! Well, it was a good idea. (A) What about changes in the lithosphere: can we predict a little bit of change in geography, coming from motions in lithosphere and changes in water level?
A: Chaotic features predominate but in general it will be safer inland and in mountainous areas since less folding occurs in such locations.

Q: (A) Now, the major, the change of the orientation of the axis, what would be the main trigger, force, or activity, or what kind of event will trigger this change of the axis?
A: Cometary bodies.

Q: (L) Are the planets of the solar system going to kind of shift out of their orbits and run amok? Is that a possibility?
A: Yes.

Q: (A) Due to cometary orbits alone?
A: Yes. Twin sun also.

Q: (A) When we speak about these cometary bodies, are we speaking about impacts?
A: Some will hit.

Q: (A) What would be - if any - the role played by electric phenomena?
A: Twin sun grounds current flow through entire system setting the "motor" running.

Q: (L) Does this mean that all of the different bodies of the solar system are like parts of some kind of giant machine, and once this electric current flows through them, depending on their positions relative to one another at the time this current flows, that it has some influence on the way the machine runs?
A: Yes, more or less.

Q: (A) I want to ask about this magnetic pole reversal. It's the current theory or understanding of magnetic field of planets in terms of dynamo mechanism, where there is a liquid metal - iron - which is hot - there are convective currents, and there is self-excitation through magnetic field. That's the present model. They were able to model this magnetic pole reversal using this kind of magneto-hydro-dynamics. Is this model essentially correct?
A: Only partly.

Q: (A) What is the main thing that is important, and that is lacking from this model?
A: Crystalline ammonia core.

Q: (A) Everybody thinks that the core is a crystal iron; that's the present thinking. Say it's an ammonia core: is an ammonia core in all planets with magnetic fields? Is this so?
A: From this perspective, no but from the perspective of organic life, yes.

Q: (A) When we speak about crystalline ammonia, do you mean a new kind of crystalline ammonia that is not yet known on Earth to our scientists?
A: More or less.

ON THE BRINK!

The Millennium Group

It has been awhile since we published our findings concerning what we believe to be an army of immense size in the skies above. Many of you have written and asked why we haven't posted recently. The fact of the matter is - this is a very serious subject. There are so many out there willing to try and debunk or to write off these ideas that we ourselves want to be sure. I can now say that we are sure. We are absolutely positive, based upon recent evidence that you shall see below, that we are indeed on the brink of great change.

The following points are the major contentions to the previous findings:

1) The cubes seen in the GOES satellite images are equal in size and are uniform on the page, indicating that they are a product of the satellite camera or the processing.

TMG's answer: The cubes are not uniform if one takes a closer look. A close look will reveal that they have a field around each cube and each cube is distinctive within a group. There are some that appear to be close to the surface - some are very very large and several are similar sizes, but different shapes - rectangles, rounded corners, have height, etc.. The reason that they all appear to be one dimensional is because what we are seeing is primarily the fields of the cubes. In other words the view is in the eye of the beholder. Not a psychological treatment at all, but rather a trick of the view. And how can we assume this? Because we have seen them in a variety of cameras, at different supposed distances, around the sun, the moon, and in the skies above the earth. And now we have a movie of several of them moving in course together.

2) Our beliefs for why these cubes are here is too negative, we are professing doom, not the good tidings that these beings could be bringing.

Tag's answer: In our experience we have found that people either believe in evolution or they are creationists. This, of course isn't a profound statement, but when you begin to look at the details, the lines begin to be drawn. And this isn't even the beginning of the problems. The real problems come when religionists of whatever category fall out to their own separate beliefs. A practical look at what we are talking about could be the issue of Mars. Many Christians for instance do not believe that there could possibly be life on other planets, so they do not believe that there could be alien races visiting the earth. So the idea of life ever existing on Mars is difficult to incorporate into their belief system. Some believe that the earth is the center of all creation because Christ came to the earth and atoned for the sins of all creation here. This has been a common criticism of some of our past articles. The prophets of the Old Testament, many myths, Christ himself and other stories passed down through the generations speak of a final judgment of man. This judgment is always portrayed as a destruction of the wicked. The war that is to come, or judgment is not going to be a pleasant experience. Sheldon Nidle or not.

3) If there were ships in our atmosphere NASA would know and it would not be a secret. There are no conspiracies.

TMG's answer: This is just plain ignorance. There are many things that are kept from the population. Just take a stroll through American History. It is our belief that we have reached a critical point in history. We believe that the earth was a creation and that the epic of mankind has reached its pinnacle or climax. Further that there has been an opposing force on the earth over the ages, and that the earth has basically been off limits to other beings (even though some have broken that rule over the years). However, now there are others being ordered or commanded to the earth to partake in the judgment of mankind. Thus we have been seeing in some SOHO images, what appears to be craft firing beams of plasma at each other. There has been a war going on for the ages, it is just in recent years that it is coming close to home. We believe that many (not all) in our government know this. We as humans all think that we have our lives under control. This is a false belief.

These have been the primary arguments, complaints or contention concerning our previous postings.

Now... take a look at what we have seen with our own eyes... See with your own eyes....

Minimal data loss expected from SOHO problem

Despite what at first appeared to be a serious problem with the SOHO solar observatory, engineers have now discovered a way to save the vast majority of science data that was once believed to have been lost. [...]

"A Fiery Mass" fell from the sky 3/7/2003 11:45:00 pm

By T.I.

I couldn't find an English link for this, but it is all over the news here in Greece. [Editor: we just found one.]
 
A object of big mass, very probably a meteorite or some part of  a satellite, became visible from a lot of parts of Greece. According to testimonies of residents of western Greece near the Albanian border , the fiery object fell little before 23:00 pm near of Dolanis. The firefighters of Ioannina were called and sent 4 firefighting vehicles but, up to now, they have not located something, while there has been no fire. The same object was reported to the Albanian police.

Scientist pokes huge hole in climate change theory
 
Randy Boswell
CanWest News Service

OTTAWA -- Canadian scientist Jan Veizer, whose previous research about the causes of climate change was seized upon by opponents of the Kyoto accord, has published a new study certain to add more fuel to their fire.

The latest research by the University of Ottawa geologist suggests that the driving force behind climate change during the past 545 million years has been "galactic cosmic ray flux" -- the fluctuating intensity of thermal energy from the sun and stars -- rather than carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere. [...]

"Atmospheric levels of CO2 are commonly assumed to be a main driver of global climate," the authors state. "Independent empirical evidence suggests that the galactic cosmic ray flux (CRF) is linked to climate variability. We find that at least 66 per cent of the variance in the paleotemperature trend could be attributed to CRF variations likely due to solar system passages through the spiral arms of the galaxy.

"Our approach, based on entirely independent studies from astrophysics and geosciences, yields a surprisingly consistent picture of climate evolution on geological time scales," the paper says. "At a minimum, the results demonstrate that the approach is potentially viable, as is the proposition that celestial phenomena may be important for understanding the vagaries of the planetary climate."

More specifically, the authors assert that the long-term "warming effect of CO2" is "potentially lower" than generally thought. They say the carbon dioxide factor would appear to have a maximum impact of 1.9 C on sea temperatures rather than the 5.5 projected in certain worst-case scenarios.

Veizer, who also teaches at Ruhr University in Germany and was reached there Wednesday by phone, describes cosmic rays as the thermal energy emitted by stars, particularly when they are young, and which the Earth is occasionally bombarded with in combination with solar winds.

When the planet is "passing through the area of the galaxy where you have lots of new stars, then you have a big flux," he said.

Veizer's theories on climate change, based on his study of oxygen isotopes trapped in rocks formed by ancient marine fossils, first made headlines three years ago. A distinguished, Czechoslovakian-born geologist, Veizer sparked an international uproar when he argued that something other than carbon dioxide must have been driving changes to the Earth's climate over the eons because the correlation you'd expect to see between CO2 levels and the "paleotemperature" record revealed by his fossils wasn't there. [...]

Climate Oddity: "Warming Up?"

By T.W.

I find it just a bit puzzling how Europe and the Northern hemisphere has experienced the warmest June for 100's of years with the mean average up to 6 degrees above the norm, and the most horrific heat in the plus 40's. You would expect that this would not be the case in the bottom of the world at the same time would you?

Here we are in the grips of a New Zealand winter and we have experienced the warmest June Since records began 150 years ago, mean average up 3 degrees

Truely the warming up is global at the moment anyway, I cannot remember a winter that has been so like a spring so far, with highest daily temperatures all through the month of June around the low twenties (centigrade).

A.L. writes: June has been the hottest month in Suisse romande since they started recording in 1864. The article in French tells about this and other interesting statistics.

J.C. writes: The most noticable earth changes here in Scotland, are the wind and the winter temperatures. The strong winds that were seasonable in october/ november to blow down the dead leaves, and then the strong winds that we used to have in march in preperation for spring have now become constant. The wind may die down for a few days respite, but sure enough they will soon come back. Our winters too are now quite warm considering what they used to be, making the budding of plants erratic.

One other noticable change, at least to me are the chemtrails. I live in the countryside and look at the sky on a regular basis, I noticed that just before the war in Iraq there were many contrails in the sky that would take an age to dissipate, this is new but know one notices, some of those I do show try to fob them of with simple excuses then close there eyes again.

N.B. writes from Vancouver BC, Canada: I just wanted to give you a little report from my little corner of the world. Hell the first thing I must say is, as I am typing this, outside over my city there is INCREDIBLE chemetrail activity. I have also noticed the chema-bomb thing people have started to talk about. UFO activity, man according to local witnesses the activity has picked up tremendously in just the past two weeks.

[T]he night seems brighter and brighter from 12 midnight to 6 am. But I guess part of it is because of the close approach of mars. Also the weather is incredibly unstable. For example two days ago it was so hot I couldn't go out, but just today I had to take out my sweater to go out for 5 min. Believe me I've leaved here 10 years, never have I experience such variance in the weather. Also at night the stars seem like they are much closer than last summer. Hopefully I can get a camera and post some pictures soon, [un]till than I'll keep you posted on things happening locally.

Record temperatures could mean Italy going tropical

ROME (AFP) Italy is becoming increasingly hot with average June temperatures at their highest in more than half-a-century, suggesting the country's climate may be going tropical, the national meteorological bureau said Wednesday.

Rome broke its 1782 historic record on June 10, reaching 34.8 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), with an average 32.2 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) compared to 29 degrees Celsius (84 Fahrenheit) last year.

Neither has the usually temperate north been spared, with the city of Turin reaching a June historic average high of 27 degrees Celsius (81 Fahrenheit), not experienced there in June since 1753.…..

"That doesn't mean we can grow bananas or pineapples in Florence," he told AFP: "But if things go on this way, we might yet be able to."

Comment from Italian Reader: Yes, it's actually rather hot here. And, I don't like tropics! LOL! Fortunately it rains almost every week, bringing ice with the water (crazy weather!) , and today has been a normal one...28 to 20 C instead of the usual 34 or more.

'Aspen' wildfire is 'really moving now'

Steve Elliott
Associated Press

TUCSON - Firefighters lit controlled burns around homes, camps and an array of telescopes and antennas Friday as a wildfire that had already destroyed 300 mountaintop homes raged in gusting wind. [...]

Driven by the wind, the fire ballooned from 41,500 acres to 56,000 acres between Wednesday and Thursday and threatened new destruction.

An updated tally of acreage burned hadn't been completed Friday afternoon, but officials estimated it may reach 60,000 acres by today. The fire was 60 percent contained. [...]

Earthquake shakes Iran, damaging dozens of homes but causing no injuries

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TEHRAN, Iran, July 4 — A strong earthquake shook towns and villages in northeast Iran, damaging about 150 houses but causing no injuries, state-run Tehran television reported Friday.

Thursday night's 5.2-magnitude quake was centered near Torbat-e-Jam, a town near the border with Afghanistan, the television reported.

Comment: Also, recent earthquakes in Ohio, Bengkulu, Philippines, New Zealand, and Japan. Someone is concerned, and Researchers at the Pacific Geoscience Centre have developed an early warning indicator of the movement of tectonic plates deep underground. Although they are saying that it will not necessarily be entirely accurate for predicting earthquakes.

Other Scientists are c harting seismic effects on water levels. The article reports that for, "many decades, stories about earthquakes raising or lowering water levels in wells, lakes and streams have become the stuff of folklore. Just last November, the magnitude 7.9 Denali earthquake in Alaska was credited with sloshing water in Seattle's Lake Union and Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, and was blamed the next day when muddy tap water turned up in Pennsylvania, where some water tables dropped as much as 6 inches."

Tornado Outbreak Shows Need For Stuctural Improvements

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Tornadoes have a reputation for being unpredictable. However, the pattern of destruction that occurs when a tornado interacts with a building is predictable, and that makes it preventable, according to University of Arkansas researcher Panneer Selvam.

Outbreaks like the one in May, 2003, reinforce the dangers tornadoes pose. In the 10 days from May 2-11, 583 tornadoes struck in 17 states. The results include 42 deaths and more than $2.2 billion in property damage. [...]

Nuclear physicists confirm element 110 discovery

PhysicsWeb

The production of an element that has already been seen in three different laboratories would not normally be newsworthy. However, confirmation that element 110 can be made in collisions between lead and nickel nuclei is noteworthy given the recent scandal over element 118.

Last year the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US sacked physicist Victor Ninov after an internal review committee found that he had fabricated data purporting to show the existence of a new element containing 118 protons. Now an international team of nuclear physicists led by Ken Gregorich from Berkeley - and containing many of Ninov's former co-workers - has provided the first confirmation of the discovery of element 110 at the GSI laboratory in Darmstadt, Germany [...]

Chaplains at top of Navy list in officer crimes, files show

Matt Kelley
Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Navy has punished more than 40 chaplains over the past decade for offenses ranging from sexual abuse to fraud, a misconduct rate much higher than for other officers, according to documents that detail the Navy's alarm at the problem.

"Navy chaplains, in fact, create a disproportionate number of problem cases," Navy Chaplain Corps official Bradford E. Ableson wrote in a 1999 memo that is among several documents obtained by the Associated Press. [...]

U.S. church plans flag burning on Parliament Hill Protesting marriage rights for gay couples
 
Adam Grachnik
The Ottawa Citizen

Members of a radical American Baptist Church are coming to Ottawa planning to burn "Canada's fascist flag," to protest new marriage rights for gay couples.

Engineers Develop Technology To Transmit Sensation Of Touch Over Internet

Ancient site in Miami to be reburied

By Maya Bell
Miami Bureau

MIAMI -- The mysterious Miami Circle is going underground again, this time for its own good.

Floridians own the prehistoric carving at the mouth of the Miami River, but in a few weeks they won't be able to see it -- despite spending nearly $27 million to acquire the artifact more than three years ago. Archaeologists will cover the circle probably chiseled by some of Miami's earliest inhabitants 2,000 years ago with a half-ton or so of pea-sized gravel rocks. [...]

First Mary, Now Jesus Said to Adorn U.S. Hospital

By Greg Frost

MILTON, Mass. (Reuters) - First the Virgin Mary turned up in a hospital window. Now Jesus is apparently on the chimney. [...]

Test-tube 'monster' condemned by scientists

By David Derbyshire, Science Correspondent, in Madrid

An experiment that led to the deliberate creation of a hermaphrodite human embryo was condemned as irresponsible by fertility scientists yesterday.

The chimera - named after the Greek monster that was part lion, part serpent and part goat - was formed by placing cells from a newly-conceived male embryo into a three-day-old female embryo.

The resulting embryo was part male, part female and could potentially have developed into an apparently healthy foetus. [...]

Comment: In related news, see also Men May Become Pregnant Too!

Railway Board blames UFO's

NEW DELHI: Put yourself in the shoes of the relatives of those killed in the Golconda train accident. Guess what a senior Railway Board official tells you as words of comfort? That he plans a havan since the ‘‘stars and planets’’ could be behind the accident, even a UFO (unidentified flying object). [...]

Boy, 17, held on suspicion of murdering parents

The Associated Press

WENATCHEE - A 17-year-old told at least two acquaintances he hated his mother and his father and wanted them dead before they were found shot to death in the ruins of their burned-down home, according to court documents. [...]

Ice Age art engravings discovered in Britain

By David Keys Archaeology Correspondent
The Independent

The largest collection of Ice Age cave art in northern Europe, west of Russia, has been found on the border of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

Fourteen thousand year-old engravings of a horse, a wild cow, two ibex and four birds have been found by British and Spanish Stone Age art experts on the walls of three caves at Creswell Crags near Worksop.

Palaeolithic art has never before been discovered in Britain, and it raises the possibility that engravings may be undiscovered in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland. [...]

Ontario Highways

By P.S.

I am a suspicious guy by nature, and I keep my eyes open for things...

I have noticed that here in the Toronto area over the last few months there has been a proliferation of some form of antenna buried in the roadbeds of our main highways. This takes the form of rectangular or diamond shaped incisions in the road surface that have been covered with tar.

At the side of the road at that point is either a small pole with an electical cable attached, or at some locations a small shed-like construction painted grey. I believe that this stuff may be setting up for monitoring of the location of individual vehicles. I learned elsewhere that tire manufacturers are experimenting with built-in transponders inside tires that will transmit identifying codes when they are exposed to radio waves of a certain frequency.

The idea was to track tires for warranty purposes etc., but if the buyer's personal info. is linked to the transponder ID in a database, it could be made available to the people who are monitoring these road antenna devices. Another possible use of this is that they could also determine the speed of a vehicle, either passing a given antenna, or travelling between two antennas by calculating elapsed time to cover the distance.

I wonder how you would go about disabling these tire transponders....then again, it is easy to attach a small transponder to a vehicle during maintenance, and the owner would probably never know it was there...

Just more evidence of a progression towards total government control.

Website turns tables on government officials

By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 7/4/2003

Annoyed by the prospect of a massive new federal surveillance system, two researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are celebrating the Fourth of July with a new Internet service that will let citizens create dossiers on government officials.

The system will start by offering standard background information on politicians, but then go one bold step further, by asking Internet users to submit their own intelligence reports on government officials -- reports that will be published with no effort to verify their accuracy.

"It's sort of a citizen's intelligence agency," said Chris Csikszentmihalyi, assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab. He and graduate student Ryan McKinley created the Government Information Awareness (GIA) project as a response to the US government's Total Information Awareness program (TIA). [...]

Las Vegas Observations

By A.D.

I've lived here a very long time, in what often seems a bloody eternity. You could say I've gotten a real worm's eye view, from close proximity of the way that certain things work.

So, let's start with weather. It has been, up [un]til a week ago, unseasonably cool. Normally, it's anywhere from 100 to 110. It got down to an all time low of 83, which has never been recorded as long as records have been kept, for this time of year. Not that I'm complaining! It's gorgeous, and the humidity, which had been ramping up steadily over the past ten years, has been practically non existent. The sun, no longer feels quite so burning hot,except around 16.00-18.00 in the afternoon, though it is much, much brighter.

For awhile, there were chemtrails nearly every single day; haven't seen any in more than a month, although it looks like they started, then abandoned doing it this morning.

There's a major airport here, and you get used to the ground rumbling a lot, but, how about when there are no planes? I've heard/felt groans, and deep rumbling, mostly through my feet. Being partially deaf, I tend to listen with more than just my ears, but it's weird, it makes my bones vibrate in an uncomfortable way.

The hacking of bodies. Yes, hacking. Last year, a man was found stuffed into a suitcase, in parts, in an apartment dumpster. There was one dumped in a suitcase in the desert. There have been several, usually only on one news program, never to be heard of again of hacked and burned bodies. This year, another man, two suitcases, two different dumpsters. And a couple of weeks ago, a woman, hacked apart, hotel room a bloody mess, took some of the parts with him, left them in a car in California. The guy looks totally clueless.

At that same hotel, there is a hiking trail and a canyon. Two men were found (a month ago), less than a mile from the hotel, with their truck, either dehydrated and/or delusional. They refused water and were hysterical. In the fifteen minutes it took to get help, they were dead. No id, no water, no hiking gear, just them and the truck. Again, again, only a single news report. And so far, for this holiday, 4 fatalities, 3 that appear to be from falling asleep at the wheel. This is actually a lot, considering it was this morning's report that I watched.

Question: have you seen the programming lately? Well, being in France, maybe not. How about informercials during "primetime". I'm reminded of that giant sucking sound. But, where did they go?

Time anomalies

In a particular part of town, time has slowed down greatly, and it is creepy. I thought I was the only one who no- ticed it, and I was simultaneously relieved and very concerned that someone else had noticed. It's like slogging through mud, wading through taffy or molasses or really thick ooze. And, it smells like death, like a shadow has been cast over this part of the city. One day, it took me and a friend 42 minutes to go down a stretch of road that normally takes about 15 minutes. We were standing still more often than we were moving.

Let me theorize that something time related happened on that most inauspicious day in sept. I don't know what, I don't have enough info to say what it was, but like pawprints in snow, it left a track, a trail. My experience has been that, one set of events took place 'in reality', but I could sense/see a slightly different version as well. What really happened was less severe than the alternative I saw to be. It was a strange sensation, and I've stopped trying to explain it to anyone.

Since about '95, I have noticed, I don't know, I want to call it a 'lightning of the planet'. It seems as though
some measure of heaviness has been lifted. A lack of density? No, more like the weight of a shadow, if a shadow could be said to have mass. And lately, I have felt another lightening, although....this is different. As if many people are....just gone. There apears to be a shift in many things, like I can almost feel the pieces being moved around.

Question: have you ever noticed a thing by it's absence? Like, a clock on a dusty mantel. If you remove the clockwithout dusting, it's absence is glaring, don't you think? question: no payback time, or do they think they've already won? Or are they trying to stuff too much junk into an overly full suitcase/rug?

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