Posted by Steve Busti
Paul Hellyer is speaking this weekend at the International UFO Congress and Film Festival in Phoenix Hills, Arizona. If you are in the area or planning on attending, you can find more information on their website, www.ufocongress.com.
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He is on an advisory body to the Queen, works as an environmental campaigner and is credited with integrating Canada’s armed forces.
But aside from all this, the ex-Canadian defence minister says UFOs are real, aliens have visited Earth and the U.S. government is covering up information about them.
Paul Hellyer says he would probably get fired for his views if he was still Canada’s Minister of National Defense today, but is adamant he has seen UFOs himself.
The 87-year-old, who is the longest-serving member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada, said he never discussed his views with top officials when he was in office.
‘This is the kind of thing that sometimes they don’t tell politicians about,’ he said.
‘I have no doubt that there were probably people in my employ who would have been more knowledgeable than I was at the time.’
‘I got periodic reports on sightings and I looked at them very casually. It was decided that about 80 per cent of them were natural phenomena of one sort or another and the other 20 per cent roughly were unexplained and therefore unidentified.’
Mr Hellyer is presenting his views on UFOs this week at the International UFO Congress in Scottsdale, Arizona, and says he is ‘convinced’ of their existence.
‘We lived too long in a sense of isolation, thinking that Earth was the centre of the cosmos, that we were the only species and, therefore, probably the most advanced.’ ‘And when we come to the realisation that we’re not any of those things, then I think we should be aware of it (and) learn to live with it,’ he told AOL News.
Mr Hellyer claims to have seen a UFO with his wife when spending last Thanksgiving near Toronto, and they stared at the sky for 20 minutes watching it moving.
He told AOL: ‘By process of elimination, we determined it wasn’t a star or satellite and it wasn’t the space station, so there was really no explanation for it other than it was, in fact, a UFO. It looked like a star, but it manoeuvred in a way that stars don’t.’
He believes the U.S. has developed new forms of energy at secret ‘black operation’ units using alien technology and that a ‘shadow government’ is behind this activity.
Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences research group, has described Mr Hellyer’s theory as an ‘important contribution’ to literature.
‘His experience in government, his interest in exo-politics and the issues of sustainability of civilization are significant areas of current discourse,’ he said.
Retired Army Colonel John Alexander, also speaking at this week’s conference, believes UFOs are real but says there has never been a cover-up.
Mr Hellyer added: ‘People keep talking about transparency and still not telling the truth, and this applies in various other areas as well as UFOs.
‘It’s just about time that we started getting open with each other and trying to get along and live together.’
He said he would ‘probably be open-mouthed about it’ and ‘might get fired for it’ if he talked about his opinions in office today.
He said in 2005 that the U.S. military was preparing weapons to use against aliens, and they ‘could get us into an intergalactic war without us ever having any warning’.
Category: Uncategorized
New “thunder-thighs” dinosaur discovered
Posted by Steve Busti
Hey, wait… “Thunder-thighs?” She’s just big-boned, alright paleontologists?
Jerks.
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A new dinosaur named Brontomerus mcintoshi, or "thunder-thighs" after its enormously powerful thigh muscles, has been discovered in Utah, USA.
A member of the long-necked sauropod group of dinosaurs which includes Diplodocus and Brachiosaurus, Brontomerus may have used its powerful thighs as a weapon to kick predators, or to help travel over rough, hilly terrain, experts believe.
Brontomerus lived about 110 million years ago, during the Early Cretaceous Period, and probably had to contend with fierce "raptors" such as Deinonychus and Utahraptor.
The new species is described in a paper recently published in the journal Acta Palaeontologica Polonica by an international team of scientists from Britain and the US.
The fossilised bones of two specimens of Brontomerus mcintoshi – an adult and a juvenile – were rescued from a previously looted and damaged quarry in eastern Utah by researchers from the Sam Noble Museum, US.
Paleontologists speculate that the larger specimen is the mother of the younger and would have weighed around 6 tons, about the size of a large elephant, and measured 14 meters in length.
At a third of the size, the smaller specimen would have weighed about 200kg, the size of a pony, and been 4.5m long.
“Hmm… let me just sit back in my office chair while this gigantic beast tramples me to death.”
The authors classified the new genus based on an incomplete skeleton including bones from the shoulder, hip, ribs, vertebrae and some unidentifiable fragments.
They used the bones to identify Brontomerus’ unique features, primarily the shape of the hip bone, which, in the case of Brontomerus, is unusually large in comparison to that of similar dinosaurs.
The wide, blade-shaped bone projects forward ahead of the hip socket, providing a proportionally massive area for the attachment of muscles.
The shape of the bone indicates that the animal would likely have had the largest leg muscles of any dinosaur in the sauropod family.
This is reflected in the name Brontomerus, which literally means "thunder-thighs." The dinosaur’s species name, mcintoshi, was chosen in honour of John "Jack" McIntosh, a retired physicist at Wesleyan University, Conn., and lifelong avocational paleontologist.
"Brontomerus mcintoshi is a charismatic dinosaur and an exciting discovery for us," said first author Dr Mike Taylor, a researcher in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London.
"When we recognised the weird shape of the hip, we wondered what its significance might be, but we concluded that kicking was the most likely.
The kick would probably have been used when two males fought over a female, but given that the mechanics were all in place it would be bizarre if it wasn’t also used in predator defence."
Tonight on The Shadow Hour – The only living Houdini
10:00 PM CST, TONIGHT: Aron Houdini calls himself "The only living Houdini." It is his real name and he follows in the footsteps of the immortal Harry Houdini as an escape artist. We’ll talk to him about his record-breaking feats and his views on the paranormal as we prepare for the Texas Ghost Show in March.
As always, the lines will be open and we encourage you to call in with your questions. The call in number for tonight’s show is (347) 826-9662 or call toll-free at (877) 867-0829.
Listen right here with our blogtalkradio widget below. You can listen to past broadcasts at any time, or tune in tonight (Wednesday, February 23rd) at 10pm Central for the live broadcast. See you in the shadows…
CIA reveals robot catfish and dragonfly spies
Posted by Steve Busti
The photo above is not of a real catfish: believe it or not, it’s actually a robotic Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (or UUV) called Charlie and it was developed by the CIA. Containing a pressurized hull, Charlie was able to spy and collect data using complex ballast, communication and propulsion systems.
And you thought this kind of stuff only happened in the movies…
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It’s the sort of idea that would be laughed out of any plot for a spy film: Secret agents using a radio-controlled robot catfish to swim up to their enemies and collect information.
Yet, unbelievably, the Central Intelligence Agency dreamed up such a device in the Seventies, called Charlie – and has now revealed it and other stranger-than-fiction gadgets on a new website.
The agency simultaneously launched a website and pages on YouTube and Flickr last week, revealing the sorts of equipment that would leave James Bond’s Q Branch green with envy.
Dragonfly spy: Another device from the Office of Research and Development (wow, what were those guys on?) is the ‘Insectothopter’. This Unmanned Aerial Vehicle is the grandfather of the modern-day drone
The agency says the sites allow visitors to ‘find new ways to connect to a broad array of Agency content’.
The YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/ciagov) has a range of unintentionally amusing ‘tours’ and potted histories of the spy agency.
But by far and away the most intriguing is its Flickr stream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciagov), which shows off some of the weird and wonderful gadgets employed since the Second World War.
Scientists able to talk with dolphins using primitive language
Posted by Steve Busti
Dolphins are amazing animals. The fact that they readily communicate with us is not surprising to me at all. What is surprising is that it has taken us humans this long to establish communication with our “second brightest creatures” on the planet. You would think that with we humans being the smartest, we would have tried interspecies communication like this a long time ago.
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Dolphins are the world’s second brightest creatures after humans and have many brain features associated with high intelligence.
So clever are the aquatic mammals that scientists have frequently communicated with those in captivity by rewarding their responses with fish.
But behavioural biologists have now carried out two-way communication with dolphins in the wild in the first study of its kind.
Dr Denise Herzing and colleagues at the Wild Dolphin Project in Jupiter, Florida, established a shared, primitive form of language using sounds, symbols and props.
‘Many studies communicate with dolphins, especially in captivity, using fish as a reward,’ Dr Herzing told Wired.com. ‘But it’s rare to ask dolphins to communicate with us.’
The experiment revolved around both dolphins and humans asking each other for props such as balls and scarves.
A large underwater keyboard formed the focus of the study; each key was painted with a different symbol and emitted a precisely pitched whistle.
When a dolphin pressed a certain key with her nose, researchers would throw the corresponding prop into the water. Should the dolphin instead decide to whistle the pitch that a certain key would emit, then that prop would be thrown in.
Over the course of three years, the scientists played with the dolphins for 40 half-hour sessions.
Tonight on The Shadow Hour – Conspiracy or coincidence?
10:00 PM CST, TONIGHT: Welcome to another episode of "The Shadow Hour," an Internet-based radio program that talks about the strange, the odd, and the unusual.
There has been a lot of strange activity, from weird weather, to mass animal deaths and more UFO sightings. What is going on? Our assistant producer, Mark Faulkner, has been curious about these things as well and has been doing some digging. We’re going to talk about the theories he has uncovered and some of the clues that he has found. We’ll also be taking calls so you can give your input.
The lines will be open and we encourage you to call in with your questions. The call in number for tonight’s show is (347) 826-9662 or call toll-free at (877) 867-0829.
Listen right here with our blogtalkradio widget below. You can listen to past broadcasts at any time, or tune in tonight at 10pm Central for the live broadcast. See you in the shadows…
Amazing photos: hippopotamus tries to rescue drowning wildebeest
Posted by Santellana
Well this is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. And I could not help reading the article and thinking it might be re-written as lyrics to perhaps the best punk song ever.
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Stuck on a rock in a crocodile infested river, this Wildebeest must have feared for its life.
And, separated from the rest of the herd with a group of hippos closing in, the prospects for the animal did not seem appealing.
But in an amazing act of animal compassion one of the passing hippos paddles over and gives the wildebeest a quick leg-up to set it on its way.
The bull hippo takes pity on the struggling creature and fixes it enormous jaws around it and lifts it away from the rock.
The wildebeest was then released from the rock and tried to join the rest of its herd which had been crossing the Masai River during an annual crossing in Masai Mara, Kenya.
Unfortunately despite the hippo’s best attempts the wildebeest struggled to make it across the river and drowned with a broken back.
Photographer Mitchell Krog, 39, said: ‘One of the more mature hippo bulls eventually came very close to the wildebeest and tried nudging him a few times to see if he could free the animal from the rocks.
‘The hippo sensed the wildebeest was injured and had no chance of survival. It’s not often an animal like a hippo shows a softer side.
‘This proved useless and eventually this same hippo grabbed the wildebeest on his back using his mouth and dragged it clear of the rocks and into a deeper section of river where he then released it into the river flow. ‘
Stabbing pain of migraine is actually from knife lodged in man’s head
Posted by Santellana
It slices, it dices! You can pound on it with a hammer and it won’t scratch and the color won’t rub off! This amazing knife can slice thru tomatoes, metal cans, human skulls, fruits, vegetables — wait. Human skulls?!
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A man who went to the doctor complaining of a headache was shocked to discover he’d had a 4in knife blade stuck in his brain for more than four years.
i Fu from Yunnan Province, China, was stabbed during a robbery in 2006, and the blade of the knife had lodged in his cranium.
But despite receiving treatment for his injuries, doctors failed to notice the knife buried deep in the 37-year-old’s skull.
The second doctor confirmed the suspicions and Li underwent an operation to remove the knife at People’s Hospital in Yuxi City, Yunnan Province on Saturday.
He is now in a stable condition in hospital.
Luo Zhiwei, a surgeon at People’s Hospital of Yuxi said he had never seen anything so bizarre in his entire career.
He said it was a miracle that Li could survive being stabbed in the head, let alone survive having the knife lodged in his brain for four years.
He said: ‘It’s a medical miracle. The knife was almost intact when we removed it.’
Read More : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357508/Chinese-man-complains-migraine-knife-brain-FOUR-years.html
Another mystery animal washes ashore in Long Island
Posted by Steve Busti
Lon Strickland, who runs the paranormal blog Phantoms and Monsters, posted this report yesterday along with some photos.
Memories of the infamous “Mountauk Monster” come to mind…
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I received these photos and message today: “I came upon this creature on the beach on Long Island in Glen Cove N.Y. today 2/12/11. Glen Cove is located in Nassau County, New York on the north shore of Long Island.”
NOTE: this may simply be a dog or an indigenous mammal…what’s your opinion? Lon
Read more: http://www.strangeunknown.com/paranormal/new-montauk-monster-washes-ashore-on-long-island/
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So what do you think, readers? An unexplained cryptid, or just another soggy dog?
Real-life ‘Da Vinci Code’: scientists date mysterious document to early 15th Century
Posted by Steve Busti
I’ve always been interested in the Voynich manuscript, a medieval handwritten book that was written by an anonymous author in a strange script in an unknown language. For centuries the manuscript has baffled scholars, and to date no one has figured out its meaning, making it a true mystery.
Today’s news comes from the Daily Mail:
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The bizarre sequence of symbols, charts and figures have baffled the world of science for the last 100 years.
But now thanks to carbon dating, researchers have finally begun to pick apart the secrets of the Voynich manuscript, the most alien artifact of its kind in the world.
They have been able to determine for the first time that it was written in the early 15th century, more than 100 years earlier than previously thought.
And while they are no closer to understanding what the complex text actually means, putting a date on it takes them a huge step closer to discovering what it is really about.
What is known sounds like the plot from a film and makes the Da Vinci Code pale by comparison.
The manuscript was discovered by rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in the Villa Mondragone near Rome in 1912 as he was trawling through a chest of books.
Wilfrid Voynich
He spent the remaining 18 years of his life trying to decipher its mixture of plants, circles and humans praying to the fountain of youth but died before completing his task.
The manuscript has been passed down through generations of scientists since then who have concluded that it is some kind of language – even if they don’t know what it means.
The latest to take up the challenge were a team from the University of Arizona who dissected four 1mm by 6mm sections from four sample pages they were given by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, which is where it is being stored.
Other experts also looked at the paints and inks that were used by the mysterious author.
Dr Greg Hodgins, an assistant research scientist and assistant professor in the UA’s department of physics, who led the project, said that they found some of the colours were consistent with those used in the Renaissance.
But what really helped was the carbon dating process, which is where scientists measure the amount of radioisotope Carbon 14 which occurs naturally in objects and decays at a predictable rate, making it possible to use it to date things.
That process allowed Dr Hodgins to pinpoint the early 15th century as the only time the manuscript could have been written.