Last night we watched Super Comet - After the Impact, a Discovery Channel special that basically takes the comet that wiped out the dinosaurs and put into modern times. They added some cheesy drama, following the struggles of several individuals or groups, before, during, and after the impact, to show how people would react to such a global cataclysm. They used the same type of cometary body assumed to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, the same size, same impact location, and utilized all the computer modeling they have done on this past event to try to show what might happen (and to show what they think happened then). Not terribly creative and suggests that they really don't know all the effects of such an impact and are just putting things together from what little they have been able to figure out about that one impact, some (or much) of which may be just speculation, though I'm sure that there is some good science going on there.

This show highlights what we have already noted in this series of articles: the difference between the American School of Asteroid impacts that happen only at millions of years intervals and the British School which posits that showers of much smaller objects occur with great frequency in between those millions of years events.

The cheesiest part of this "docu-drama" was, of course, the depicted foibles of the humans experiencing the event. But, in a way, even those depictions were useful. The one guy who simply couldn't grasp the nature of the event, kept traveling "home" (which happened to be the site of the impact) even when it was clear that there was no home left. His emotions basically drove him to his own death.

Other people continued to act as if the world was still the same place and suffered thereby, though they learned to cope. What was clearly evident was that it was lack of knowledge about such events that was the chief problem for all of them.

During the course of the show, one of the experts made the remark "WHEN it happens," as though he - and the rest of them - knew for a fact that this was on the agenda for our near future. The very fact that so many scientists are working on these problems, including a large number of them studying the possible human reactions and behaviors and how to deal with masses of people, should warn us that there IS something they aren't telling the masses in the headlines of our daily newspapers, though certainly they are "testing" public reactions with shows such as Super Comet - After the Impact.

On my desk, before me, I have a book out of the more than 30 volumes and scores of papers on the topic of comet and asteroid impacts that I have collected in the course of this study. The title of this book is Hazards due to Comets and Asteroids edited by Tom Gehrels, with 120 contributing authors, published by the University of Arizona Press in 1994.

There is something in this book that I want to bring to your attention before we get on to our main catastrophe of the day: Mrs. O'Leary's Cometary Cow.

Reading today's story: UK Minister orders fluoride to be added to water reminded us that some years ago we had a discussion here at SOTT about Prozac. Someone mentioned the technical name of the compound and it was noted that it was similar to Fluoride. So, several members of the group started looking at this issue and, yes, sure enough, the same poison that is being used to dumb us down in so many other ways, is being given to people as a prescription for any number of psychological problems. I guess that the Powers that Be figure if you are made stupid enough, you won't have brains enough to be depressed. This material was compiled for Signs of the Times by mgt and we have updated some of the old links. It's still shocking.

The evil 'Burka bombers of Baghdad', shown here with detonator.

Did you hear the one about the exploding Iraqi women?

Two women walk into two separate pet markets in Baghdad with a box of birds. They walk up to a vendor and say: "I hear you are enjoying something of a boom in birds these days, how much will you give me for these specimens?" Before the vendor can reply a large explosion destroys most of the stalls in both markets, killing one hundred people and maiming hundreds more. Later that day a report of the events appears in all of the world's newspapers...

After reading the book Political Ponerology, A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes by Andrzej Łobaczewski, I wished to interview the author. However, given that he was sick, he was unable to respond to my questions except in the shortest way, a single paragraph. Fortunately, I was able to interview Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Henry See, editors of the book who discussed the questions with him via telephone and were thus able to speak on his behalf.

I think everyone should read this book because it provides the keys necessary for understanding events that we often can't comprehend. The book describes the origins of "Evil", its true nature, and illustrates how it spreads throughout society.

Mr. Łobaczewski spent years observing those in power whose actions were the incarnation of evil, people described in psychological terms as anti-social, psychopaths, or sociopaths.

Date: 11th January, 2008 - Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Ms. Maigret, special SOTT corespondent, reports on a successful attempt to track down and initiate contact with a mysterious Penguin apparition. The following text is a transcript of the answers given to the corespondent, including commentary and exclusive pictures of the sacred city tour.


There are times when we are faced with an undeniable reality, with something we can't really shove under the rug or stick into the dusty closet with the rest of the skeletons. As a rule, such events usually lead to cataclysms of a personal or global nature, when the way we choose to deal with them may actually determine the outcome. And because evidently we are approaching such a period, there is a need to take steps that were inadvisable otherwise. Like a decision to share with you, dear SOTT readers, my true identity and mission on this third rock from the Sun.

This morning I was thumbing through a newly arrived book: Comet/Asteroid Impacts and Human Society, published by the eminent scientific publishing house, Springer, edited by Peter T. Bobrowsky and Hans Rickman. This book is a collection of scientific papers presented at a workshop under the aegis of the International Council for Science. In the introduction, we read:

The International Council for Science recently recognized that the societal implications (social, cultural, political and economic) of a comet/asteroid impact on Earth warrants an immediate consideration by all countries in the world.

Wow! You think? You mean it's not just us here at SOTT (and a few others on the net) who are keeping track of the increasing number of Fireballs and Meteorites that suggest we are passing through rather dangerous areas of space, or that maybe Something Wicked This Way Comes?

Yes, it seems so. In the chapter entitled "Social Perspectives on Comet/Asteroid Imact (CAI) Hazards: Technocratic Authority and the Geography of Social Vulnerability" we read:

Until quite recently, research into comet and asteroid hazards was focused on establishing the scale and scope of past impacts, credible estimates of their recurrence, and models for physical impact scenarios. ... CAI hazards have moved well beyond the realm of ungrounded speculation and apocalyptic visions. The results represent more than just new findings. They revolutionize, or are about to revolutionize, some basic understandings about the Earth, its history, biological evolution and future. Although human life has had a tiny place in the story so far, our longer term fate seems to be challenged by these forces and may be decided by them.

No kidding.

In a chapter entitled "Social Science and Near-Earth Objects: an Inventory of Issues", we read:

It would have been ridiculous, not too long ago, to admit openly that you were thinking about asteroids and comets slamming into the Earth. Such events could mean the end of the world as we know it - TEOTWAWKI as millenialists call it - and that kind of talk is often ridiculed. ...

Respectable people are pondering the issues. For example, S. Pete Worden, who is a Brigadier General in the US Air Force and Deputy Director for Command and Control Headquarters at the Pentagon, has said that he believes "we should pay more attention to the 'Tunguska-class' objects - 100 meter or so objects which can strike up to several times per century with the destructiveness of a nuclear weapon."

I located the General's comments and they are now in the SOTT database. It seems that the above is not all the general said. In fact, he states quite unequivocally:

I can show people evidence of real strikes inflicting local and regional damage less than a century ago. Even more compelling are the frequent kiloton-level detonations our early warning satellites see in the earth's atmosphere. ... Within the United States space community there is a growing concern over "space situational awareness."

The general was writing back in 2000. "Less than a century ago." That would be after 1900. He said that there were "real strikes inflicting local and regional damage" since 1900?!

Did I miss something? Did all of us miss something?

Google omitting SOTT.net from search results?

A few days ago one of our readers brought this curious detail to our attention. While searching for an article on Google, they discovered a problem with results from SOTT.net being consistently omitted from Google listings.

"Dacha"

News about political upheavals, signs of impending economic disaster or projected natural catastrophes tend to generate strong 'fight or flight' emotional reactions in readers. We want to sell all we own, run for the hills and barricade ourselves in a fully stocked compound - preferably one with a bomb and meteorite shelter attached to it.

Major changes to our lifestyle are inevitable; yet the time frame and the exact way the changes will occur are uncertain, which only adds to our stress. I grew up in Russia during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the accompanying economic upheaval, i.e., during the time of high uncertainty. I was 10 when the Perestroika started in 1985. The economic situation got progressively worse, with the very worst hitting in the early 90-s. I admit I don't remember things as well as I should have. Psychologically and physically, I was sheltered by my age and its petty egotistical concerns, by my parents' effort to provide for the family, and by living in a close-knit community that had a lot of strength, spirit and intellectual resources. Now that I think about it though, memories and conclusions are coming up that I never thought about. Some of them are unexpected and counterintuitive to the prevailing survivalist mentality; but they may be relevant to the coming changes and end up being useful to someone.

©Unknown

We have looked at the cycle of good times and bad times that affects nations and countries, known as the Hysteroidal Cycle. The cycle gets its name from the similarities between the psychological state known as hysteria that affects individuals and the psychological state of a society during the course of the hysteroidal cycle.

You have probably noticed that certain aspects of American society are becoming more and more hysterical. One of the most noticeable is the overreaction of police, using extreme measures for very ordinary incidents. Some of the following come to mind:

• A woman from Iceland on a shopping trip to New York City is arrested and humiliated for a visa violation in 1995.
• A man in a pizza place in Boston gets the SWAT team called in on him because he looked "jittery". Turns out he was executive director of Geneva-based U.N. Watch, Hillel Neuer.
• Drivers are being tasered for taking too long to get out of their cars when stopped for traffic violations. One man was recently killed by a taser in Minnesota.
• But that hasn't stopped people from having taser parties and they can now get a holster that doubles as a mp3 player.
• A mother was shot and killed in her own home as she held her one year old child in her arms.

It was a warm, clear afternoon in the capital. The bustle of metropolitan commerce and tourism filled the streets. Small sailing vessels dotted the sheltered waters within sight of the government buildings, riding on a soft southerly breeze. The Sun sparkled on the gentle swells and wakes, lending a luminous glow to the poppies and tulips nodding in the parks along the water's edge. All was in order.

But suddenly, the sky brightened as if with a second, more brilliant Sun. A second set of shadows appeared; at first long and faint, they shortened and sharpened rapidly. A strange hissing, humming sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. Thousands craned their necks and looked upwards, searching the sky for the new Sun. Above them a tremendous white fireball blossomed, like the unfolding of a vast paper flower, but now blindingly bright. For several seconds the fierce fireball dominated the sky, shaming the Sun. The sky burned white-hot, then slowly faded through yellow and orange to a glowering copper-red. The awful hissing ceased. The onlookers, blinded by the flash, burned by its searing heat, covered their eyes and cringed in terror. Occupants of offices and apartments rushed to their windows, searching the sky for the source of the brilliant flare that had lit their rooms. A great blanket of turbulent, coppery cloud filled half the sky overhead. For a dozen heartbeats the city was awestruck, numbed and silent.