UFO Pundit

Ex-CIA Guy Says 'Hackers' Can Bring About Peaceful Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 23:08:00 +0000

In this must-watch video, Robert D. Steele explains how traitors walk among us, right here in the United States. He was a clandestine intelligence case officer for CIA. He even tried to run for President, but was unable to get the nomination of the Reform Party.

Steele has done counter-intelligence. Steele has done a lot. (See his full bio at the website of Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College.) "I'm basically intimately familiar with the way in which the U.S. government does or does not do the craft of intelligence," he said in his keynote speech at the Gnomedex 2007 conference. Watch that speech in the video above.

(I do not agree with everything that Steele says. For example, in the video below he accuses Walmart of "killing jobs" within a 200 mile radius of their stores. A two-block radius would be with the realm of credulity, but 200 miles? I'd love to see the documentation for that, but I don't want to make this into a post about Walmart. My point is that Steele says some things that are believable and some that are questionable. Even so, he's a bright guy who cannot be ignored.)

Robert D. Steele
photo credit: Unknown

"Bloggers.... you grab onto an issue or something, and you are part of structured citizen journalism blogging thing that lets no evil-doing thing go unnoticed, and that rules. I think we're at a turning point," said Steele, "I think we're at the very beginning of a historic title shift of power restoring the Constitution." Another factor on the side of the people, said Steele, is that government is actually too disorganized to effectively spy on its own citizenry.

Interestingly, Steele refers to bloggers, or citizen journalists, as "hackers." It's not what you might think, as we see in an excerpt from a PBS interview of Steele while he was attending the "Hackers in the Twenty-first Century" conference in 2000:

PBS: Your view of hackers will come as a surprise, I think, to a lot of viewers, who view them as greasy-haired, goth louts who are spending too much time in front of a computer screen.

Steele: Well, I myself have participated in a very well attended debate on whether hackers were a national resource--which is my position--or whether they are pathological scum. I would say to you that it is the media's fault that hackers are seen in this light. And it is the fault of the US Secret Service, and it is the fault of certain governments around the world who chose to treat hackers as a threat because they didn't understand hackers; they didn't understand the electronic environment that that hackers were addressing. The bottom line is that hackers are the pioneers in this electronic frontier. They are way out in front of the rest of the world. They are seeing the dangers, the vulnerabilities, the shoddy, unethical, inappropriate business behavior by communications and computing companies. They're basically saying, "Hey, look what we found." And everyone wants to shoot the messenger.

Back to the Gnomedex speech. "The reality is," said Steele to his audience, "the federal government is broken in every possible way, and it's going to be localized bottom-up resilience networks that will save us. That's where you guys come in."

So, in Steele's estimation, the people he refers to as "hackers" just mbe the salvation of democracy and constitutional government in the U.S.

In the second video here, Steele says, "I think we can have a peaceful, non-violent, legal revolution. The one vulnerability that both corporations and the U.S. government have is the power of the people to vote. Not only on election day, but with recall movements, and by removing their money from the stock market - which I expect to crash again - and from refusing to buy products." Now that's food for thought, and the beginning of a plan of action.

“A nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly against the city. But the traitor moves among those within the gates freely, his sly whispers rustling through all alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victim, and he wears their face and their garments and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared. The traitor is the plague” — Tullius Cicero

Related:

Interview: Robert D. Steele PBS Frontline
Who’s Who in Collective Intelligence: Robert David STEELE Vivas Public Intelligence Blog
Controlled Opposition – How to spot a fake leader Truth In 7 Minutes blog

RIP: Gerry Anderson, Thunderbirds creator dies at 83

noreply@blogger.com (TM9000) — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Dec. 26, 2012 - The Brit who created the 1960s hit TV show "Thunderbirds" died today at the age of 83. Thunderbirds became a cult classic, as did his other creations "UFO" and "Space: 1999." Anderson's death was announced by his son Jamie in a blog post today:

"I’m very sad to announce the death of my father, Thunderbirds creator, Gerry Anderson. He died peacefully in his sleep at midday today (26th December 2012), having suffered with mixed dementia for the past few years. He was 83. Please make donations in his memory to the Alzheimer’s Society via this just giving link: http://www.justgiving.com/RememberingGerryAnderson"

Jamie Anderson linked to an obituary "kindly written by his fan club: Fanderson."

"In addition to the shows mentioned above and many others," notes Giant Freekin Robot, "Anderson was probably best known as for his use of 'supermarionation,' the use of marionette puppets in shows such as Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterions. The shows and the supermarionation process have been referenced and parodied many times in the years since, notably in the 2004 movie Team America: World Police, from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone."

UFO was a 1970 British science fiction television series about a secret military organization which defends the Earth from Alien invaders, created by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson. Watch the show's first episode. Space: 1999 was about Moonbase Alpha, a multinational scientific research facility that finds itself on a Moon without an Earth, wandering through the cosmos. Watch the show's first episode.)

The first video below includes an interview with Gerry Anderson, Ed Bishop and the cast about the making of the 1970's TV series UFO....

Watch Huge Killer Catfish Grab Pigeons On Shoreline

noreply@blogger.com (TM9000) — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Giant, bird-eating catfish in Europe (thelocal.de)

Dec. 8, 2012 - This is one scary catfish! These big catfish actually leave the water to attack pigeons near the water's edge, grab them by the neck, then devour them. (VIDEO BELOW) These river monsters, also called "freshwater killer whales," were recorded while eating pigeons in southwest France. The big fish are "Wels Catfish" (Silurus glanis), an invasive species.

"A group of catfish in southwest France have learned how to hunt pigeons," says Science World Report. "Researchers agree that the bizarre hunting techniques were formed as a result of not being able to find their normal prey in their current ecosystem." According to the Christian Post, the big fish measure 1 to 1.5 meters long and "have a success rate of 28 percent" in catching pigeons.

However, it is nothing new for catfish to attack and eat birds. In September, 2012, DigitalSpy reported that "giant catfish are reportedly causing a headache for German fisherman as they are clearing rivers of all of their wildlife population - even ducks, swans and fellow catfish. The fishermen are becoming worried by the immense damage being caused by the catfish, which are growing increasingly both in size and in number." And then there's the legendary catfish known as "Kuno the Killer." According to a Reuters report, Kuno gained notoriety in 2001 "when he sprang from the waters of the Volksgarten park lake to swallow a Dachshund puppy whole."

The Zombie Apocalypse Cometh: World War Z - Official Trailer (HD)

noreply@blogger.com (TM9000) — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Nov. 9, 2012 - Shall the undead inherit the Earth? Not if Brad Pitt can help it. Next June, he will try to save the world - and his own wife (played by Mireille Enos) and kids - from a global contagion of the undead. Pitt, a U.N. employee, quickly teams up with fellow zombie fighters to kick zombie butt in bulk. This horror flick has it all: Things exploding all over, lots of bullets flying, zombies swarming, helicopters and jets attacking and edge-of-your-seat suspense - all moving along at a pace that would shame any bullet train. Even those who are not fans of the zombie genre of films will find World War Z to be an adrenaline pumper. See full cast and crew at IBDb.

The film is based on the Max Brooks novel "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War."

Volcano Blows In Nicaragua, Thousands Evacuated

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:54:00 +0000

San Cristobal spews ash, 8 Sept. 2012
(photo Confidencial/ Tierrapinolera/Ricci Rich Silva;
via The Nicaragua Dispatch)

Sept. 9, 2012 - Nicaragua's tallest mountain, San Cristobal, erupted three times early yesterday morning. The 5,725-foot (1,745-meter) volcano spewed a huge ash cloud and deadly gases over two miles (five kilometers) into the atmosphere and forcing the evacuation of at least 3,000 people, possibly as many as 5,000.

San Cristobal (also known as "El Viejo") is located about 95 miles (150km) north of Nicaragua's capital city Managua and is one of 19 active volcanoes in the Central American country.

The massive 7.6 earthquake in neighboring Costa Rica on Sept. 5 could have helped to rekindle San Cristobal. That quake has a lot of volcano watchers in the region worried.

Officials are also keeping close watch on four active volcanoes in neighboring Costa Rica after its 7.6 quake. "Even a small shift under one of these giants could cause an eruption," notes D. Chandler at The Guardian Express. "At least four of the seven active volcanoes in [Costa Rica] are in the crosshairs of scientists after the earthquake of 7.6magnitude occurred on Wednesday..."

TGE also reports that "it is normal that volcanic structures, especially those already vulnerable, are affected. There is a rearrangement of material and even chemical changes," according to scientists who specialize in volcanic and seismic studies.

Meanwhile, Nicaragua is bracing for another killer earthquake of its own. It seems inevitable, actually, and could happen literally any minute now. "In the past 127 years, Managua has been destroyed three times by a major earthquake that strikes every 40-45 years. It’s been 40 years since the last one," notes The Nicaragua Dispatch. With 19 active volcanoes, the thought of a devastating earthquake is made more frightening by the possibility of lava and hot gases flowing down on the rubble - and struggling survivors.

Related:

San Cristobal volcano eruptions Volcano Discovery
Volcanoes of Nicaragua Volcano Discovery
Volcanoes of Mexican and Central America Global Volcanism Program

Freak Tornado Hits New York City, Some Damage But No Injuries

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 19:02:00 +0000

September 8, 2012 - A confirmed tornado ripped through parts of New York City today, touching down in Brooklyn and Queens. (Videos below.) The twister struck around 11:00 a.m. It downed power lines, trees and - as seen in the videos - damaged buildings in its path. Cars were tossed around, too, and there was flash flooding in some areas, but fortunately there are no reported injuries. The tornado was caused by a powerful cold front that is moving through the Northeast today.

The tornado's path included part of the Rockaway Peninsula of Long Island, Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood and the Breezy Point neighborhood in Queens. "Videos taken by bystanders show a funnel cloud hurling sand and debris in the air as it moved through the Breezy Point section of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens on Saturday," reports the New York Post today. The NYPost has a few good videos, but we found a few more....

Your Home's Life Support System Needs WAVE Home Solutions Technology

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 01:07:00 +0000

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wave Home Solutions. All opinions are 100% mine.

Life on Earth can be messy. Dust and dirt. Impurities in your water, from chemicals to micro-organisms. Yuck. It's enough to make you consider moving to the planet Mars, where there are probably a lot fewer micro-critters to get into your tap water. Of course, you'd still have the dust and dirt problem. Lots of dust up there, I'm told, and the six-month trip in a spaceship would pose problems for water purification and air scrubbing. Ah, but we're stuck here on Earth, aren't we...

Wave Home Solutions to the rescue! They've got you covered for water, air, ventilation and energy consumption challenges. Okay, in all seriousness, none of us is likely to relocate off-planet in the foreseeable future. Thank goodness, then, that WAVE has great technology for your Earth-bound home.

The WAVE home ventilation system beats dehumidifiers. It provides excellent moisture control (important for mold and fungus) as well as what they call "healthy air exchanges." Another advantage: It's done without any messy buckets of water, yucky filters or hot energy chugging motors. Remember that dehumidifiers simply recycle the same old stale air over and over, and do not actually clean the air.

The Chicago apartment in which I live ususally has too much humidity in the warm months. I've noticed that this contributes to mold, and it makes cooking residue stick to the walls. The tap water I have is fine for bathing, but I have to hold my nose when I drink it for the chemical taste and smell. Ugh. Sadly, I am not able to install WAVE tech in my home, but if you're lucky enough to own the home you live in, then you really must consider WAVE's solutions to your abode's life support systems.

WAVE Air Purifiers remove and destroy biological and chemical contaminants in your home's air by using a natural ultraviolet (UV) purification process that combines two UV rays. You are your family spend a lot of time inside, which means you could be breathing in dangerous indoor air toxins that could cause illnesses. This modern technology removes the mold, viruses, influenza, bacteria, pollen, dust mites and chemical contaminants from the air you breathe in your own home everyday.

It only requires one WAVE Ventilation to give your entire home excellent moisture control. That includes your basement, any crawl spaces, and all upper levels. Those old-fashioned, messy dehumidifiers can only affect a small, specific area, which means you need more than one to accomplish what a single WAVE system provides more effectively. A WAVE Ventilation unit removes moisture from deep within your home's structure. That can help prevent expensive home repairs. Dehumidifiers do not provide the air circulation needed to dry out the structure of your home. (Check out the cool video below.)

The water you drink is vitally important to your health. Salt-based water softeners can't match the purification provided by the HydroCare Dual Action Water system by WAVE Home Solutions. It solves the problem of limescale, but it is very different from salt and chemical water softener systems. Water softener systems only remove the minerals that classify water as “hard,” but they replace those with sodium. (Why add sodium to you drinking water?)

In contrast, the HydroCare Dual Action Water system combines the most advanced water conditioning for elimination of limescale and the most effective purification technologies in to one system. All of this helps to provide healthier, cleaner and fresher tasting water. It's an easy solution that is effective and environmentally friendly. Water as it should be!

All of this can be achieved economically, too, because the products WAVE offers are environmentally friendly, energy saving, affordable, maintenance free with extended warranties and guaranteed to create a healthy, comfortable, energy-saving home.

You're going to look into this, right? I hope you do. I did, because I wanted to know what I was writing about. I sincerely believe in WAVE's solutions for Earth-bound life support systems - at home!

Updated: UFO Seen Over Israel, Lebanon, Turkey Was Russian Missile Test

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 23:59:00 +0000

Not a UFO: Russian Topol-M Missile

June 7, 2012 - Updated June 8, 2012 - Thousands of people saw fast-moving glowing objects streak through the sky today. The object was seen by thousands in Israel, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. People in those countries called local authorities about the sighting. Was it a meteor, a Russian ballistic missile, or something else? "Experts" disagreed initially, but it has now been confirmed that the object was a Russian missile. Update, June 8: We added MORE VIDEO, which you can at the end of this post, below.

Updated Information: The Russian Strategic Missile Forces were quickly announced that they had conducted a successful test of their Topol-M class intercontinental ballistic missile. The Topol is fired from mobile launchers (see a video about this, and more about the Topol series here).

A report by APA said that the missile was launched "from the firing ground at Kapustin Yar in Astrakhan, Russia." APA added that the missile's speed "wasn’t fast" and that its diameter was only 3-5 meters.

According to Russian military sources, the new version of the Topol-M series is codenamed "RS-12M" and is designed "to counter the anti-ballistic missile defense shield the U.S. is deploying in countries such as Poland," according to CBN News.

Russia's Pravda news service reported the same thing. "The unusual phenomenon in the sky above Israel, which hundreds took for a UFO," said Pravda, "could be connected with the test launch of Russia's intercontinental ballistic missile Topol. The missile was launched from Kapustin Yar test ground in Russia's Astrakhan region."

The Jerusalem Post reported that "hundreds" of people in the northern part of Israel "flooded police lines" to report what they saw. "The Israeli Astronomical Association," says the JP report, "said the object was 80 kilometers high and was not a meteor."

However, "experts" disagreed at first as to what the obect was. Lebanese news services are calling the luminous object a meteor.

The official Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. (LBCI) said that “according to the scientific explanation, the phenomenon of the glowing objects resulted from large meteorites.”

An excerpt from the LBCI report:

"Appeared on Thursday evening, objects illuminated and meteors fireworks in the skies of the north and Marjayoun and different regions of the Bekaa also appeared in a number of areas of Jordan and in northern Iraq and the Syrian-Turkish border. The specialist in the science of space, Magdy Saad of the LBCI, that scientific explanation of the phenomenon of objects illuminated as stone meteorites of the size Great burst and leave the dust in the air. He stressed that no need to fear." (Google translation)

Offering some clarification in English, Naharnet.com reported that LBCI said “glowing objects and fiery meteors appeared in the sky above the North, Marjeyuon and several Bekaa areas.”

The Lebanese reports could not have been more incorrect.

Naharnet also noted that state-run National News Agency "reported similar sightings in Akkar, Tripoli, the Bekaa, Byblos, Halat, Ashrafiyeh and Tyre, saying the objects were clearly visible."

Some of the witnesses theorize that it might have been a failed rocket launch. YnetNews.com (Israel) is wondering if the "UFO" was "a Russian ballistic missile."

Indeed, the Russians confirmed their missile launch right away.

"Later Thursday," reported Ynet, "Russian news agency Novosti quoted the Defense Ministry in Moscow, which confirmed that a missile was test-fired from the Astrakhan region in central Russia. The trail of light seen in Israel was also reported in Armenia, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan and other countries in the region." There you go. Proof once again that Lebanese "experts" don't know jack about meteors.

UPDATED: New videos added below: Nine (9) videos combined into one...

4.3 Magnitude Aftershock Hits Finale Emilia, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:14:00 +0000

Photo: MSNBC

May 23, 2012 - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck the already-suffering Italian town of Finale Emilia, Italy. The quake hit at 9:41 p.m. UTC (11:41 p.m. local time; 4:45 p.m. EST New York). The epicenter was 3 km (2 miles) south of the town (44.802°N, 11.296°E; see map).

The M4.5 is an aftershock of the devastating 5.9 quake that hit Northern Italy on Sunday, which killed at least seven people, injured 50, damaged numerous factories and historical structures, and left more than 5,200 people homeless.

"The Italian government on Tuesday declared a state of emergency," IOL News reported, "in the earthquake-hit northern region of Emilia Romagna and said it was setting aside 50-million euros for relief efforts, including securing damaged buildings and roads." More at IOL News.

Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake Hits Between Brazil and Africa, May 23, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 23 May 2012 21:47:00 +0000

May 23, 2012 - A magnitude 5.3 earthquake shook the Atlantic Ocean this afternoon at 5:50 p.m. UTC (1:50 p.m. EST/New York). The epicenter was in the Central Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 1117 km (694 miles) northeast of Natal, Brazil (0.844°N, 27.635°W; see map), at a depth of 13.9 km (8.6 miles). There are no reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warnings have been issued. More details than you need can be found at the USGS website.

According to the USGS, "The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which splits nearly the entire Atlantic Ocean north to south, is probably the best-known and most-studied example of a divergent-plate boundary." For much more about the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, visit The Encylopaedia Britannica and also PlateTectonics.com.

In August, 2011 a 5.8 quake hit the East Coast of the U.S. This quake is not expected to affect the United States.

OUTRAGE! U.S. Military Drowning In Fake Parts From China - Threatens National Security

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Tue, 22 May 2012 21:38:00 +0000

May 22, 2012 - A very disturbing report from Military.com today: "More than a million Chinese counterfeit electronic parts are estimated to be in use in U.S. military aircraft, according to a U.S. Senate report released Monday saying the discovery jeopardizes safety and national security."

Why the hell are these vital parts not being made here in the U.S. - or, at the very least, by any country other than China, which to this day remains a sworn enemy of ours?

"The Senate Armed Services Committee said its year-long investigation launched by Democratic chairman Carl Levin and ranking Republican John McCain uncovered 1,800 cases of bogus parts, including on the U.S. Air Force's largest cargo plane, special operations helicopters and Navy surveillance planes." (Note: The investigation is actually now 14 months old.)

The report, ironically, is a story from Agence France-Presse (AFP). It's good to know the French media are on top of this story. However, it's somewhat (though not very) reassuring to know that Congress has been "investigating" this problem for a while now.

What is perhaps most frightening is that the "military routinely keeps mum on fake parts," in a story by Bloomberg as reported by Gulf News. "The US Air Force suspended in January a Shenzhen, China-based company from supplying parts to US contractors," reports Gulf News, "after it sold about 84,000 suspect components, many of them installed on US aircraft, according to an example cited in the US Senate Armed Services Committee report released yesterday."

AFP reports that the Senate Armed Services Committee investigation, started by Democrat chairman Carl Levin and Republican John McCain, "uncovered 1,800 cases of bogus parts, including on the U.S. Air Force's largest cargo plane, special operations helicopters and Navy surveillance planes." Full story (by AFP) at Military.com...

The Defense Department does not seem capable of dealing with this very serious problem. The committee's report says Defense "lacks knowledge of the scope and impact of counterfeit parts on critical defense systems." The report also cites the problem of obtaining important military parts from unvetted independent distributors, which increases national security risks.

Related:

US weapons 'full of fake Chinese parts' Telegraph UK
Pitfalls of counterfeit-part epidemic ElectronicsFeed.com

NOTE: The AFP report, which is eerily similar to a Nov. 2011 report by The Washington Post, ends with "This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed," and was part of the report that was published, rewritten and redistributed by Military.com. What an odd thing for a news service to say, when their entire purpose is to have their material published, broadcast, rewritten and redistributed. It's how they make money, non? Editor's Note: I am laughing my butt off. Merci beaucoup, AFP.

UPDATED: No Casualties In Bulgaria's May 22 Earthquake

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Tue, 22 May 2012 08:30:00 +0000

UPDATE, May 22: We are happy to note that there were no serious injuries reported in this earth-quake.

"The quake, the worst in the Sofia area since 1917," reports BusinessWeek today, "shook the country at 2:58 a.m. local time, causing walls and roofs to collapse in Pernik and chimneys and plaster to fall in Sofia, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said on the ministry’s website today. There were no casualties, Prime Minister Boiko Borissov said in an interview with Nova Television station."

Our original post:
May 21, 2012 - Bulgaria has taken a hit, struck by a 5.6 magnitude earthquake at 3:00 a.m., May 22, local time (00:00 UTC). The epicenter is about 24 kilometers (14 miles) west of Sofia, the capitol city [map]. The quake had a depth of about 5.8 miles, which is fairly shallow. Shallow depths for epicenters means a greater likelihood of damage on the ground's surface. This comes a day after Italy suffered a 6.0 magnitude earthquake.

About 90 minutes after the 5.6M, a 4.9M struck very close by - 25km (16 miles) west of Sofia (USGS).

The headlines about this quake are confusing. First of all, a 5.6 quake anywhere is a serious matter. Accordingly, Earthquake-Report.com has this headline: "Strong extremely dangerous earthquake near Sofia, Bulgaria." However, the Chicago Tribune has a Reuters story that seems to downplay the seriousness of the Bulgarian temblor: "Moderate 5.8 quake hits Bulgaria near Sofia." (The USGS downgraded the magnitude to 5.6 shortly after it initially reported it.)

Click map to enlarge

"Moderate?" Not hardly. It's strong. "The earthquake was well felt in the neighboring countries from Macedonia, Serbia and Greece," says Earthquake-Report. "The earthquake was well felt in the neighboring countries from Macedonia, Serbia and Greece."

"The quake was felt across the southwestern part of Bulgaria," reports The Republic. "The small Black Sea country of fewer than 8 million people lies in Europe's earthquake-prone Balkan region."

This story is developing. More will be known after the sun comes up in Sofia, about two hours from now (8:57 p.m., Chicago Time).

How To Protect Your Computer Against Data Loss

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:16:00 +0000

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Poll: How Do YOU Think Will The World End?

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:09:00 +0000

One in every seven people (14%) of people around the world believe the world will end during their lifetime, according to a poll by Ipsos Global Public Affairs on behalf of Reuters.

Ipsos says that "One in ten (10%) believe ‘the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world’ and another one in ten (8%) admit they ‘have been experiencing anxiety or fear because the world is going to end in 2012.’ The poll was conducted among 16,262 adults in 21 countries."

WHAT DO YOU THINK? We'd like to know how you feel about this! Take our little poll here, which asks you "How Will The World End?"

Is this how it will end? And when?

Hubble Animation Shows Star Torn Apart by Black Hole 2.7 Billion Light Years Away

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 02 May 2012 22:44:00 +0000

May 2, 2012 - Hubblesite.org today released an animation recreation of a star being destroyed by a black hole. "This computer simulation," says Hubblesite, "shows a star being shredded by the gravity of a massive black hole." (continued below the video)

Image: Hubblesite.org

"Some of the stellar debris falls into the black hole and some of it is ejected into space at high speeds," says Hubblesite. "The areas in white are regions of highest density, with progressively redder colors corresponding to lower-density regions. The blue dot pinpoints the black hole's location. The elapsed time corresponds to the amount of time it takes for a Sun-like star to be ripped apart by a black hole a million times more massive than the Sun."

Credit: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University), and J. Guillochon (University of California, Santa Cruz) Hat tip to TheBadAstronomer.

Roundup of Incredible Tornado and Hail Videos from Saturday, April 14, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:10:00 +0000

April 14, 2012 - Some incredible videos of a few of the tornadoes and related severe weather that hit the nation's midsection on Saturday, April 14. Baseball-sized hail, high winds and pounding rain all made for a frightening and dangerous day in plains states. Weather authorities are warning that this will continue though the night and into Sunday, April 15. BE ALERT!

2 tornados North Platte, Nebraska 4/14/2012 (Twin tornadoes!)

Hail storm (Baseball-sized hail; April 14, 2012)
Cherokee, Oklahoma Twin Tornadoes (April 14, 2012)
Tornado North of Oxford, Nebraska - April 14, 2012
HUGE Tornado Touchdown Near Waynoka, OK (April 14, 2012)
A tornado formed in Kansas April 14, 2012
Tornado 4/14/2012 I135 North of Newton
4/14/2012 Central Kansas Tornadoes

Multiple Videos of St. Petersburg, Russia UFO on April 9, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:52:00 +0000

Several people recorded this unidentified flying object over St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) on April 9, 2012. What the heck is it?

The videos below were uploaded to YouTube by "OPENMINDZTV" on Apr 10, 2012. On the first video upload, he wrote, "There were multiple videos of this sighting over St Petersburg Russia on April 9th 2012. Here is just one of them." Of the second video, he wrote, "This sighting was filmed by various people across ST. Petersburg. I will do my best to post the other videos concerning this sighting." There are a number of other videos about this event on YouTube, however. Another good one is called "2 witnesses caught the same UFO in St Petersburg, Russia. April 9, 2012" uploaded by UfoScandinavia on April 9. He included a list of other videos there. Go to YouTube and search there for "UFO St Petersburg April 9, 2012" (without quotation marks) and you find a bunch more.

Texans Amazed, Puzzled by Super Bright Daytime 'April Fireball'

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:16:00 +0000

Source: WOAI TV

Great balls of fire! This video (below) was uploaded to YouTube by adrinilinjunky on Apr 10, 2012. It shows a real news report from WOAI-TV in San Antonio, Texas. This is great video footage of a ball of fire streaking across the daytime sky. It is truly amazing. Most likely, it was a meteor burning through the atmosphere.Witnesses say that it was very loud.

Nobody seems to know for certain, but WOAI's John Gerard reported that it was probably what is known as an "April fireball."

"I spoke to our astronomer expert Bob Kelley with the Scobee Planetarium," wrote Gerard, "and he explained that it was a phenomenon called 'April Fireballs.' Chunks of meteors enter and burn up in our atmosphere. The fireballs are brighter than a shooting star and can happen at any time of the day. For reasons astronomers don't fully understand, they occur in early April."

What is an "April fireball?" According to the American Meteor Society, "A fireball is another term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -4, which is about the same magnitude of the planet Venus in the morning or evening sky. A bolide is a special type of fireball which explodes in a bright terminal flash at its end, often with visible fragmentation." See their Fireball FAQ page.

April Fireballs(seeingisbelievingufos.wordpress.com)
Annual Meteor Showers (saguaroastro.org)
Meteor Activity Outlook for April 7-13, 2012 (amsmeteors.org)

Real or Hoax? Video Shows "UFO" Seen From Airplane Over Seoul, South Korea, April 07, 2012 UPDATED

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:52:00 +0000

Look! Down in the sky! Is that a flying saucer? A video (see it below) was uploaded to YouTube by "crazybreakingnews" on Saturday, April 7, 2012 claims that a UFO was seen from a passenger plane over Seoul, South Korea on the same date. In the video, it appears as though the UFO is below the airplane, at a lower altitude. Whatever is it - whether real or a computer-generated fake - it is saucer shaped. The video already had 2,335,126 views as of 5:50 p.m. CDT today.

"This UFO was filmed by a passenger over the City of Seoul in South Korea on April 07, 2012," wrote crazybreakingnews, "I don't know, but it looks a little bit strange and not really similar to the other videos. If it's really real and not a fake, it looks like a kind of military drone for me. What do you think?" I think it looks fake, too. Have a look at the 53-second video here and tell us what you think. Crazybreakingnews does not say what the source of the video is, which make me suspicious.

UPDATE 11 April 2012: I'm certainly not the only one who thinks this is probably not real.
"Aside from the anonymity of the cameraman," says CSMonitor.com, "the video raises some red flags about its authenticity. For one thing, the video is not complete; it has been purposely edited to leave some information out. We know this because it begins in progress, with the UFO already well in frame, in the lower right-hand corner. The video camera didn't suddenly turn on to capture that scene..."

Full MUFON Report of Diamond-Shaped, Humming UFO in Costa Mesa, CA on April 5, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 22:07:00 +0000

Image source: Phantoms & Monsters

An interesting UFO case coming to light out of California last week:

"On the evening of April 5, 2012, over the Costa Mesa area of California," reports Huffington Post, "a motorist reportedly saw a diamond-shaped object hovering about a mile away from him. In his report filed with the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON, he also claims to have heard a humming sound emanating from the object." Huffington Post has more....

You can see the full report that was filed with MUFON here:
http://mufoncms.com/cgi-bin/report_handler.pl?req=view_long_desc&id=37151&rnd=
Search for other UFO cases at MUFO at http://mufon.com/mufonreports.html

As for that "humming sound," Examiner.com reports that the California motorist who saw the UFO was "driving southbound along Harbor Blvd. toward the 405 Freeway near the Santa Ana and Costa Mesa area." He claims that he heard the diamond-shaped object making a "humming noise."

The full MUFON report, filed on April 6, did not include any videos or photos. The report, made anonymously, says this:

"I was driving south bound on harbor blvd near the 405 fwy. At this time I saw what appeared to be a diamond shape vehicle in the eastern sky abpproximately 1 mile from my location. while i was driving I noticed the vehicle hovering, so i thought it was a heliocopter, but then it did not have the aviation lights. Also, it was much to big to be a heliocopter. When arrived on harbor and baker it was still in the sky hovering/gliding south east direction. I arrived at Stater Bros which is located on the south/east corner and got out of my pickup truck. at this time the vehicle tilted on its side and then i was able to see it was in the shape of a diamond, or actually two diamonds connected in the middle. At first i thought it was a hoax but this vehicle was much too sophisticated to be a toy and very large. It made a hummimg noise that I could hear from approximately a mile away... Several people in the parking lot became spectators with me as we all watched in awe.

"The vehicle at that time proceeded to fly/hover/glide higher in altitude and in a north/east direction. i felt at tthat time it was in the Orange county airport flight path ,so it should have shown up on their radar. Also at that time, the craft emmitted 4 brighter than the sun lights, or energy sources when it tilted. Ive see many things at night and in this area but nothing to this degree. If it was a hoax it would of costed the person(s) in the millions of dollars to conduct... I am very confident I was not the only person that was watching this because of the size and duration of the incident. I know for a fact there are witnesses at the gas station, Stater bros, and possibly more that were driving in a 2-4 square mile of the craft."

Booms and Shaking In Wisconsin Caused By Swarm of Microquakes: A Link To The Ice Age

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 23:14:00 +0000

Wisconsin in the last Ice Age

March 22, 2012 - The frightening and mysterious booms that have rattled Clintonville, Wisconsin for days were probably caused by a "swarm of microquakes."

That's what the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said this afternoon. But Clintonville, it seems, is not the only town in Wisconsin to be experiencing "microquakes," and there may be a connection to the Ice Age that ended 10,000 years ago.

"This afternoon's earthquake announcement could bring officials a step closer to solving the mystery booms and shakes in Clintonville," reports WLUK-TV today.

A 1.5 magnitude earthquake was detected at approximately 12:15 a.m. on Tuesday, a by a traveling "portable array" that records seismic activity, the U.S. Geological Survey announced today as reported by the Wausau Daily Herald. The Herald notes that a “microquake" of 1.5 magnitude would probably be felt only within a 5-mile radius or so of the epicenter of the quake, according to USGS geophysicist Rafael Abreu.

Wisconsin Geological Survey

"A second Wisconsin town has reported a mysterious booming sound that shook windows and rattled nerves," reports The Wall Street Journal today. "Police Chief Richard Olson of Montello, a central Wisconsin town of 1,500 about an hour north of Madison, said most residents felt and heard the boom around 5:30 Tuesday evening."

WSJ's report also said that a hydrogeologist with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, "said scientists were focusing their theories on possible shifts in the granite bedrock beneath Clintonville and expected to get answers once the new equipment is in place. He said Montello has similar geology, so the two sounds might be related in the end."

Microquakes are not common, but not rare either. As the recent experience of Clintonville shows, they are not immediately recognized as earthquakes and could be mistaken by people as a large truck driving past their home. There was a microquake swarm in Maine last year, for example.

The Bangor Daily News reported that "Maine experiences several small earthquakes of magnitude 2 or less each year, according to Dr. Robert Marvinney, Maine state geologist and director of the Maine Geological Survey. The quakes occur in response to the movement of large rock plates that make up Earth’s crust, even though Maine is not near a plate boundary, where most of the large earthquakes occur, he said."

backyardnature.net

In that release, quoted by the Bangor Daily News, Marvinney said that “The crust in Maine is still adjusting to the loss of thick ice at the end of the last ice age, and this may be a cause for some earthquakes."

The microquakes in Wisconsin probably have very similar origins. Like Maine, Wisconsin was also covered by thick, glacial ice at the same time about 12, 000 years ago.

"The first and oldest ice sheet is known as the Nebraskan, then came the Kansan, then the Illinoian, and the last one was the Wisconsin. The glacier associated with the last ice age, the Wisconsin, began melting about 20,000 years ago. Its retreat was slow, not withdrawing from the Great Lakes region until about 10,000 years ago.The map above shows the maximum extent of all four glaciers into the US." ~ Source: backyardnature.net

Not a Refueling UFO Spaceship, It's Just a Solar Eruption

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 02:40:00 +0000

March 13, 2012 - What was that odd, dark blob protruding from the Sun recently? Some thought it might be a spacecraft refueling.

Turns out the black sphere was not a spaceship, but what scientists call a "prominence." It is clearly visible in a series of images released by Solar Dynamics Observatory and processed by NASA.

"Telescope images captured of the sun on Monday (March 12)," reports LiveScience.com, "show what appears to be a planet-size shadowy object tethered to the sun by a dark filament."

To my own eye, it looks more like a planet-sized sperm cell, but I don't actually think that that's what it is.

"In the image sequence," says LiveScience, "a burst of brightly lit material can be seen erupting from the sun's surface surrounding the dark object, after which the orb detaches from the sun and shoots out into space."

The second video here shows the formation of the blob from multiple sunclones. This video was posted to YouTube by TheDanCaudle, who noted that "This is another example of the plasma void created by one massive sunclone on March 10-11 2012. This is very peculiar on many counts."

These are streams of plasma, sometimes forming "solar tornadoes." It is not clear what the dark blob was on March 12, but my own guess it that it was just the gathering of the plasma in a cloud-like formation.

"Complex magnetic fields operating in the Sun's outer reaches," says an ITN report, can cause plasma clouds "to lift and swirl before falling back down again."

NASA scientists don't think this is either a spaceship or, as some others theorized, the birth of a new planet. The scientists are probably still chuckling over the fact that some folks think such crazy things.

BBC Victim of Iranian Cyber-Attack

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 01:48:00 +0000

March 13, 2012 - Cyber warfare keeps ratcheting up in severity and frequency. In one of the latest incidents, Iranian operatives have launched a concerted attack against the "Persian service" of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The Persian service broadcasts (bbc.co.uk/persian) in Farsi, the main language of Iran, and the Iranian government is not happy with what the BBC broadcasts to Iranians.

Reuters reports today that the BBC is the victim of a "sophisticated cyber-attack following a campaign by Iranian authorities against its Persian service, director-general Mark Thompson said on Wednesday."

Thompson, says Reuters, said there have also been "attempts to jam satellite feeds of the British Broadcasting Corporation services into Iran and to swamp its London phone lines with automated calls."

That would make it a type of DDOS attack (Dedicated Denial Of Service) the BBC's phone lines. Thompson, says Reuters, did not name Iran as the culprit, "but he described the coincidence of the attacks as 'self-evidently suspicious'."

It is illegal to own a satellite receiver in Iran, but plenty of people do, and the BBC is an extremely popular channel to tune into. In late February, the BBC reported that their audience in Iran had doubled to six million "between 2009 and 2011." The BBC broadcasts in many languages all over the world.

Fun With Maps: Going From Here to There

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:40:00 +0000

I was wondering how to get from Here to There and wondered if Google Maps could help.

Click to enlarge

I was hoping to find anything called "Here" on the U.S. East Coast, whether it was a town or a business, and the same for "There" on the West Coast.

You can get from Here to There if you are driving, walking or cycling, but you cannot get from Here to There by public transportation. Sorry.

The "Here" that I found is at 145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013. "Here" is actually the name of the business at that address. It's "Here.org," some kind of artist hotbed, "a community that nurtures career artists as they create innovative hybrid live performance in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media and visual art." Whatever.

The "There" that I found is at 131 Lytton Avenue in Palo Alto, CA 94301 and is somewhat mysterious. The only thing that seems to be at that address is something called "The 3rd Door," and when you search Google Maps for "There" in California you get that address. Huh. The 3rd Door describes itself as "a community, sharing our passion for health and fitness, eating wholesome, delicious food, and enjoying the company of others on a face-to-face basis." They're next to Darbar Indian Cuisine. It is not clear why that address shows as "There" on Google Maps, and I don't have the time or unlimited to curiosity to care much, but There it is. Happy travels.

The Real Reason Why Gas And Energy Prices Are So High

noreply@blogger.com (T.Mannis) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:16:00 +0000

February 22, 2012 - I'll get right to the point: The price of gasoline is so high because the Obama Administration wants energy costs to be high. Really.

Obama said so himself. If you don't believe me, watch this video.

Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle in January, 2008 that "under my plan, uh, of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, even, regardless of what I say about whether coal is good or bad, because I'm capping greenhouse gases, coal powered plants, y'know, natural gas, you name - whatever the plants were, whatever the industry was, they would have to, ah, retrofit their operations. That will cost money, that we'll pass that money onto consumers."

President Obama and his circle want higher energy prices. That includes the gas you need to drive to work, pick up your kids, and go to the store. It includes the gasoline and diesel that powers the trucks and trains that bring essential goods to your neighborhood. An ABC News report yesterday that we could see $5 per gallon at the gas pumps by Memorial Day.

Image via Wikipedia

A frightening blog post by Marathon Pundit today has various quotes by Obama Administration officials, which demonstrate the real goals of raising the cost of energy for Americans. One of those quotes is from Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe," Chu said in December, 2008. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, "Mr. Chu has called for gradually ramping up gasoline taxes over 15 years to coax consumers into buying more-efficient cars and living in neighborhoods closer to work."

Obama had no teleprompter with him during the 2008 SF Chronicle interview. What meant by that last, awkward sentence was that the higher prices that would be caused by his energy policies would be passed onto consumers. So, money would not be passed on to consumers. More money would be taken from consumers, he was saying, as prices of heating their homes and filling their gas tanks rise ever higher.

Obama was actually more clear about this in an earlier interview on Iowa Public Television in November, 2007. You can see that video here.

Three years in to Obama's presidency, we've seen a doubling of the price of gasoline. It's not coincidence. It's according to plan. It's what Obama and the Democrats want.

Obama and much of the Democrat leadership actually do want higher fuel and energy prices, and for two primary reasons: (a) To discourage the use of carbon-based fuels, and (b) To make the cost of "fossil" fuels so painfully expensive that it would force more popular support for alternative "green" energy technologies. There is actually a third reason why they want higher energy prices: Power. That's right, power, and I don't mean the kind that makes your lights burn. I mean political power.

It's all sheer madness, however, driven by emotions and agenda more than by logic. While Obama and others keep telling us that "green jobs" will get the sluggish economy moving again, we've seen a number of stunning green tech companies fail recently, and they did so with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. Solyndra, for example. The Obama Administration is eager to keep shoveling your taxes at losing ventures, yet they ignore and even vilify the fossil fuel industries. Oh, and if you thought Solyndra was bad, you'll just love the about-to-break Horizon Wind Energy scandal.

"At the very same time that the shale revolution is saving the economy hundreds of millions of dollars per day, directly creating tens of thousands of jobs," wrote Robert Bryce for National Review today, "decreasing the need for foreign oil, and spurring growth in manufacturing that will lead to billions of dollars of new investment and still more jobs, the president is bashing the oil-and-gas sector. Not only that, but in Obama’s new budget, he continues to insist that 'clean energy' will drive America’s future competitiveness." Repeat: The Democrats want higher energy prices.

It's not my intention to write a comprehensive analysis of Obama's energy policies. I am no expert, but there are plenty of experts out there offering their take on this subject.

Americans need to be aware that Obama and his supporters are deliberately sabotaging the consumers in this nation. They willing to make sacrificial lambs of us all in the name of fighting global warming, which continues even though the climate change alarmists have been thoroughly discredited. Power, remember? Control the sources of energy and you control the nation. Money is a driving factor, too: Cap and trade is a multi-billion dollar industry, which people like Al Gore have profited from enormously. Do your research, people.

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