Tornadoes - Nature's Most Violent Storms ( I )

Although tornadoes occur in many parts of the world, these destructive forces of nature are found most frequently in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the spring and summer months. In an average year, 800 tornadoes are reported nationwide, resulting in 80 deaths and over 1,500 injuries.

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air which descends from a thunderstorm to the ground. No other weather phenomenon can match the fury and destructive power of tornadoes. Tornadoes can be strong enough to destroy large buildings, leaving only the bare concrete foundation. In addition, they can lift 20-ton railroad cars from their tracks and they can drive straw and blades of grass into tree and telephone poles.

How do tornadoes form?

The truth is that scientists don't fully understand how tornadoes form. Typically, tornadoes develop several thousand feet above the earth's surface inside of a severe rotating thunderstorm. Thunderstorms develop in warm, moist air in advance of eastward-moving cold fronts. These thunderstorms often produce large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes. Tornadoes in the winter and early spring are often associated with strong, frontal systems that form in the Central States and move east. Occasionally, large outbreaks of tornadoes occur with this type of weather pattern. Several states may be affected by numerous severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

During the spring in the Central Plains, thunderstorms frequently develop along a "dryline," which separates very warm, moist air to the east from hot, dry air to the west. Tornado-producing thunderstorms may form as the dryline moves east during the afternoon hours.

Along the front range of the Rocky Mountains, in the Texas panhandle, and in the southern High Plains, thunderstorms frequently form as air near the ground flows "upslope" toward higher terrain. If other favorable conditions exist, these thunderstorms can produce tornadoes.

Tornadoes occasionally accompany tropical storms and hurricanes that move over land. Tornadoes are most common to the right and ahead of the path of the storm center as it comes onshore.

Elizabeth Bathory - The Blood Countess

Elizabeth (or 'Erzsebet') Bathory was born the daughter of George and Anna Bathory in 1560. Bathory spent most of her adult life at Castle Cachtice. Though the castle was mistakenly reported as being in Transylvania by Raymond T. McNally, it is actually located near the town of Vishine, just north-east of what is present day Bratislava (where Austria, Hungary, and the Slovak Republic come together).

Bathory grew up in an era when much of Hungary had been overrun by the Turkish forces of the Ottoman empire and was a battleground between Turkish and Austiran (Hapsburg) armies. The area was also split by religous differences. Her family sided with the new wave of Protestantism that opposed the traditional Romanian Catholisism. She was raised on the Bathory family estate at Ecsed in Transylvania. As a child Bathory was subject to seizures accompanied by intense rage and uncontrollable behavior.


Elizabeth became pregnant as the result of a brief affair with a peasant man in 1574. When her condition became evident, she was sequestereduntil the baby's birth, due to her engagement to Count Ferenc Nadasdy. They were married in May of 1575. Since Nadasdy was a soldier, he was frequently away for long periods of time. This left Bathory with the duties of managing the affairs of the Nadasdy family estate, Castle Sarvar. It was here that Elizabeth's career of evil truly began, with the disciplining of the large household staff, especially the young girls. 


In a time period in which cruel and arbitrary behavior by those in power toward those who were servants was common, Elizabeth's level of cruelty was noteworthy. She did not just punish infringements on her rules, but found excuses to inflict punishments and delighted in the torture and death of her victim's far beyond what her contemporaries could accept. She would stick pins in various sensitive body part, such as under the fingernails. In the winter she would execute victims by having them stripped, led out into the snow, and doused with water until they were frozen.


Bathory's husband joined in some of her sadistic behavior and actually taught his wife a some new varieties of punishment. For example, he showed her a summertime version of her freezing exercise - he had a woman stripped, covered with honey, then left outside to be bitten by numerous insects. He died in 1604, and Elizabeth moved to Vienna soon after his burial.

Amongst her numerous acts and tortures, the accusation that Bathory drained the blood of her victims and bathed in it was what earned her the title of a vampire. It is also noted that she occasionally bit the flesh of the girls during their torture. It is said that the reason Bathory bathed in blood was to retain her youthful looks and beauty, and she was, by all accounts, a most attractive woman.


All records of Elizabeth were sealed for more than a century, and her name was forbidden to be spoken in Hungarian society.


Unlike most females of the time, Elizabeth was well educated and her intelligence surpassed even some of the men of her time. Elizabeth was exceptional, becoming "fluent in Hungarian, Latin, and German... when most Hungarian nobles could not even spell or write... Even the ruling prince of Transylvania at the time was barely literate." Some modern scholars and contemporaries of hers postulated that she may have been insane, thus accounting for her seemingly inconceivable atrocities, but even a brief glance into her past reveals a person fully in control of her faculties.


In the summer of 1610 an official inquiry began concerning Elizabeth's actions. However, it was not vast number of her victim's that brought Bathory to court, but rather, political concerns instead. The crown hoped to escape from paying back a rather extensive loan that her husband had made to the king, as well as wishing to confiscate her land holdings, which were rather large as well.


On December 19, 1610, Bathory was arrested, and a few days later, placed on trial. The trial, mainly for show, was conducted by an agent of the king, Count Thurzo, it was initated not only for a conviction, but for the confiscation of her lands as well. One week following the first trial, on January 7, 1611, a second trail was convened.


During the second trail a register that had been retrieved from Elizabeth's living quarters was submitted as evidence. The register recorded the naes of 650 victims, all written in Bathory's handwriting. Bathory's accomplices were sentenced to be executed. The manner of their deaths was determined by thier roles in the tortures. Elizabeth herself was sentenced to life imprisonment in solitary confinement.

Bathroy was held in a room of her Cachtice castle. The room contained no windows of doors, only a few slits for air, and a small opening for food and water to be given to her. Elizabeth remained in confinement there until her death three years later on August 21, 1614. She was buried in the Bathory lands at Ecsed.


Dracula, created by the Irish author Bram Stoker, was based, albeit loosely, on the Romanian Prince, Vlad Dracula, the Impaler. Raymond T. McNally, who has written four books on the figure of Dracula in history, literature, and vampirism, in his fifth book, Dracula was a Woman, presents insights into the fact that Stoker's Count Dracula was also strongly influenced by the legends of Elizabeth Bathory of Hungary. Why, for example, make a Romanian Prince into a Hungarian Count? Why, if there are no accounts of Vlad Dracula drinking human blood, does blood drinking consume the Dracula of Stoker's novel, who, contrary to established vampire myth, seems to appear younger after doing so? The answers, of course, lie in examining the story of Countess Elizabeth Bathory.


It was largely Slovak servants whom Elizabeth killed, so the name "Csejthe" is only spoken in derision, and she is still called "The Hungarian Whore" in the area. 

The Corset - A Symbol Of Powerful Female Expression ( II )

Corsets basically evolved into the modern bra. But there clearly remains a fashionable allure for the earlier predecessor. Described today as gorgeous, ultra-glamorous, and sexy, corsets are available in a variety of styles and colors, fabricated from all types of materials. They're often boned as were early patterns. But now, three things make modern corsets distinctly different from 16th and 17th century patterns. Today they range in size from small to 3X and above. Corsets are worn as outerwear, with jeans in casual settings and glamorized for evening wear. They are often used as lingerie, and unlike their predecessors, they're designed to be comfortable and easy to get in and out of quickly. In recent corset news, confirming the fascination with these garments, celebrities have custom designed embellished leather corsets and those made from other unusual and creative materials that have been auctioned for upwards of $1000 and beyond, to benefit charity. Not only are corsets sexy fashion, but they have become a very profitable endeavor! On the lingerie front, leather corsets or those made from classic lace or racier PVC are popular today and available in a variety of styles and sizes as well. Just like their outerwear counterparts, a myriad of designs are created to accentuate the curves of the female physique and they are consciously designed to flatter the wearer. Many lingerie corsets now have optional G-strings and detachable garters. Other options include front zippers, lace up backs, hook and eye front closure, and adjustable shoulder straps. Sometimes lycra is added for more comfort and many patterns are lined in silk or satin. It's unlikely that the "powerful women of eras past" would have considered one of these garments as a staple in their wardrobe. But as for the women of today, current day corsets, from the simplest to the most elaborate, are one way of exuding powerful feminine expression on the outside and underneath.

The Corset - A Symbol Of Powerful Female Expression ( I )

Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Beyonce and a score of other celebrities in current pop culture have repeatedly brought the corset "out from under" and into the limelight over the past couple of decades. Whether a leather corset for an erotic spectacle on stage, a beaded one for the Red Carpet or lacy and casual for lunch with friends, the image harkens back, ever so subtly, to one of the first powerful ladies to don a corset, Queen Elizabeth I of England. That's not to imply of course that Queen Elizabeth's corsets were such blatant fashion statements as these women's, but underneath it all, was there more being said than meets the eye? And it may not have been any of these celebrities' intention to associate herself with powerful women of eras past necessarily, but it's not a far stretch to say that this fashion statement speaks volumes and brings with it to its wearers a powerful history of female expression that spans centuries.

For a simple item of clothing, corsets have stirred many opinions as to their function and the role they play in the female wardrobe. In eras past, as a required fashion staple, corsets were sometimes considered to be the epitome of conservative male oppression of women with their restrictive binding. In current times however, fashion designers are less likely to consider corsets as a figment of male domination and instead covet them as a timeless fascination with shaping the female body and today's wearers can surely be considered to be clearly exhibiting the ultimate form of confidence and feminine expression. Still, others who couldn't care less about a corset's cultural implications or their ability to shape a body consider them to be ideal under-garments supporting the back in a comfortable way-a very practical fashion in this sense. Of course, no fashion would be worth its weight without a little controversy and on this point, corsets have delivered.

The First Ghost Image ( II )

 Right now we are working on spatial correlation and very soon we will be able to observe the ghost image of an object mask with sunlight as a source. This result can be interpreted as a nonlocal point-to-point image-forming correlation which is the result of interference between two-photon amplitudes, corresponding to different yet indistinguishable alternative ways of triggering a joint photodetection event. As a result of two-photon interference, ghost imaging has two peculiar features:(1) it is nonlocal and (2) its spatial resolution which is better from that of classical imaging. Consequently, ghost imaging using the sun as a light source could achieve spatial resolution equivalent to that of a classical imaging system taking pictures at a distance of 10km with a 92m-diameter lens. In conclusion, this experimental demonstration of sunlight-based ghost imaging raises a fundamentally im-portant question about whether the nonlocal ghost-imaging effect of classical thermal light is caused by quantum-mechanical two-photon interference.



References
1. T.B. Pittman, Y.H. Shih, D.V. Strekalov, and A.V. Sergienko, Phys. Rev. A52, R3429 (1995).
2. A. Valencia, G. Scarcelli, M. D'Angelo, Y. H. Shih, , Phys. Rev. Lett.94, 063601 (2005); G. Scarcelli, V. Berardi, Y. H.
Shih, Phys. Rev. Lett.96, 063602(2006); R. Meyers, K. S. Deacon, Y. H. Shih, Phys. Rev. A77, 041801(2008); Y. Shih,
SPIE News, Electronic Imaging and Signal Processing, July, (2009).
3. A. Gatti, E. Brambilla, M. Bache, L. A. Lugiato, Phys. Rev. Lett.93, 093602(2004); Phys. Rev. A70, 013802(2004).
4. D. Zhang, Y. Zhai, L. Wu, X. Chen, Optics Letters30, 2354(2005).

The Fisrt Ghost Image ( I )

Ghost imaging was first demonstrated experimentally by Pittman et al.[1]in 1995 using entangled photon
pairs as the light source. Later, using a chaotic radiation or pseudo-thermal light source, a 50% contrast
ghost image of the object was observed in terms of coincidences between the CCD and a bucket detector
that receives the scattered and reflected photons from the object [2]. In 2004, Gatti et al. demonstrated
speckle-to-speckle classical correlation between two distant planes to image the speckles of the source onto
both the object and ghost-image planes [3]. In 2005, Zhang et al. demonstrated an experiment of two-photon
correlated imaging with true thermal light from a hollow cathode lamp [4]. In this paper, we wish to report
first experimental demonstration on two-photon ghost imaging using the Sun as a light source for field imaging applications.



References
1. T.B. Pittman, Y.H. Shih, D.V. Strekalov, and A.V. Sergienko, Phys. Rev. A52, R3429 (1995).
2. A. Valencia, G. Scarcelli, M. D'Angelo, Y. H. Shih, , Phys. Rev. Lett.94, 063601 (2005); G. Scarcelli, V. Berardi, Y. H.
Shih, Phys. Rev. Lett.96, 063602(2006); R. Meyers, K. S. Deacon, Y. H. Shih, Phys. Rev. A77, 041801(2008); Y. Shih,
SPIE News, Electronic Imaging and Signal Processing, July, (2009).
3. A. Gatti, E. Brambilla, M. Bache, L. A. Lugiato, Phys. Rev. Lett.93, 093602(2004); Phys. Rev. A70, 013802(2004).
4. D. Zhang, Y. Zhai, L. Wu, X. Chen, Optics Letters30, 2354(2005).

Pleiadian Warning About Ozone Holes ( III )

Recently reseachers and scientists of different nations have progressed so far, and have proceedwed so far in their cognitions, that they have recognized the destructive work of different chemicles, and especially bromine on the ozone belt, and want to evaluate this in their irresponsible delusion for might for war-technical purposes. They have already invented basic ideas for building missile bodies, whose destructive and deathbringing substances will be bromides. Shot up into the atmosphere and brought to explosion there, it would effect the tearing of HUGE HOLES in the atmosphere and the ozone belt and all radiations from the sun would penetrate unhampered. Such a HOLE is only slowly able to close itself again, which process may take hundreds of years, if no further destructive substances invade. An additional factor that comes into effect is that the ozone belt has a certain movement, and is wandering. A HOLE would not only destroy a well defined region, but it would wander nearly uncontrollably and also destroy other regions. This is a fact which is not yet known to your scientists."

Now this a message claimed to have been received in 1975. If so it is remarkably precient. However the book I am quoting from was published in 1988, so I have no evidence that this statement actually existed in 1975 in exactly this form --using the phrase "HUGE HOLES in the atmosphere and the ozone belt."

It is claimed in the Meier book that this information was sent to Prof. Michael McElroy at Harvard University, and also to "every foreign embassy in Switzerland and only received an answer from one, West Germany, which thanked them for the information."

The exact wording of this announcement would be useful along with some evidence that this wording actually existed in 1975.

Incidentally, the banning chlorofluorocarbons (in order to protect the ozone shield) began in 1978, and is a continuing process.

If someone can show the use of the phrase "ozone hole" in print in 1975, I would be glad to revise my thinking about this strange usage of this idea by Billy Meier.

Pleiadian Warning About Ozone Holes ( II )

It would seem that Billy Meier's 1975 message from "Semjase" might be a response to this new (1974) data. Perhaps Semjase reads Nature and Science. Yet there is no hint in these data of "ozone holes." Presumably the first ozone hole (the one over Antarctica) was not discovered for another 10 years -- and it came as a surprise.

Here is Billy Meier's message from Semajase (25 February 1975) as published in English translation --from German -- (Message From the Pleiades: The Contact Notes of Eduard Billy Meier, privately published by UFO Photo Archives, Tucson, AZ, 1988, pages 92-93); and note that I have upper-cased the words HOLE and HOLES for emphasis:

"Today's message is: For many decades we have monitored all spheres of your world, the increasing changes and the dangerous effects. For some years now we have noticed a steadily increasing and dangerous change in your atmosphere, which will have deadly consequences for all Earth life: by increasing measure the ozone belt of the stratosphere changes due to irresponsible influences of human achievements. Different ozone-destroying chemicals mount as gas-substances into the stratosphere and affect the ozone belt. Especially this treats of the bromine gasses, which reach into the ozone stratum and slowly dissolves it. It is already affected and destroyed by an average measure of 6.38%. An amount of percentage which has already become harmful and dangerous for all forms of life, and is able to call up mutational changes. This is an amount which will be reached in 60 years. There are bromine gas substances which slowly destroy the ozone belt, as I have already mentioned. So increasingly, ultraviolet radiations of the sun can invade the atmosphere, which is able to affect all creatures. Over different areas the ozone belt is already dangerously affected and has become variable in its protective function. At three different places already the danger exists that it would collapse within a few decades and be comepletely destroyed, if the release of destructive factors is not limited. If this is not done, the it means HOLES will be rent in the protective screen and the ultroviolet radiation will be able to penetrate unhampered, which could carry in itself the painful death of all life. Everything that comes into reach of the radiation penetrating through the HOLES will be exposed to helpless destruction. In the main, the destroying chemicals and radiations are set free by explosion engines and matter destroying processes of all sorts, for example atom-splitting and similar operations, which in great amount since 12945 has subjected the whole world's course and all living things to a wicked change. Destructive chemicals and gasses are released by things of daily life, as each spray-bottle releases besides bromine, chemicals of other sorts, which mount to the atmosphere and destroy it slowly but systematically.

Pleiadian Warning About Ozone Holes ( I )

If Billy Meier spoke about "ozone holes" in the stratosphere in 1975, that is remarkable. Ozone depletion in the atmosphere was widely discussed since around 1970, but it was assumed that this depletion would be be gradual and fairly homogenous throughout the stratosphere.

Here is the opening paragraph of the article "The Antartic Ozone Hole" by Richard S. Stolarski (Sci.Amer. Jan. 1988, p. 30):

"In 1985 atmospheric scientists of the British Antarctic Survey published a completely unexpected finding: the springtime amounts of ozone in the atmosphere over Halley Bay, Antarctica, had decreased by more than 40 percent between 1977 and 1984. Other groups soon confirmed the report and showed that the region of oxone depletion was actually wider than the contintent and extended roughly from 12 to 24 kilometers in altitude, spanning much of the lower stratosphere. There was, in essence, an ozone 'hole' in the polar atmosphere."

One must contrast this with the scientific description of "ozone depletion" in 1975. For example the Britannica Yearbook 1975 (for events in 1974) says on page 284:

"The Ozone Shield. A new environmental threat appeared during the year, this time from aerosol sprays. For several years there had been warnings about the dangers implicit in any reduction in the belt of ozone that surrounds the planet. Ozone absorbs incomning ultraviolet radiation, and a diminution in the shield might have serious effects on living organisms at the surface. In June 1974 a report in Nature described the most authoritative mearsurements made so fare of actual ozone levels, by the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. They showed that there was a continuous downward trend in ozone concentrations below the 300km level from 1965 to 1973, whereas above 30 km, the concentration appeared to be increasing. Through previous measurements had shown a regular rise and fall in cencentrations that could be related to the solar cycle, the new trend was continuous and cut across the solar cycle.

"In 1972 and 1973 the threat was believed to come mainly from rockets, high-flying aircraft, and industrial pollutants, but a paper published in Science (September 27) suggested that the main cause might be the propellants used in aerosols. The chemicals must commonly used (chlorofluromethanes) are relatively innert and rise into the stratosphere where thay are broken down by ultraviolet light, releasing chlorine atoms which react with atmosphereic ozone. Warning of this danger came from F.S. Rowland, of the University of California at Irvine, in a address given in September at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Atlantic City, N.J."

Study finds Ozone Hole Repair Contributes to Global Warming, Sea Ice Melt

The 20th century's biggest environmental success may exacerbate the 21st century's biggest environmental crisis.
In 1985, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey found a giant hole in the ozone layer of Earth's atmosphere over the South Pole. This discovery prompted a largely successful international effort to ban CFCs, the chemicals largely responsible for man-made thinning of the ozone layer. Unfortunately, a new analysis from Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) suggests that stopping ozone depletion may actually increase global warming and speed up sea level rise. This discovery pits two important environmental missions against each other, while highlighting the complexity of our effect on the planet. SCAR's findings indicate that the extra radiation allowed through the atmosphere by the depleted ozone above Antarctica created wind patterns that cooled the eastern, more densely ice-covered, section of the continent. Those weather patterns partly protected Antarctic ice from the ravages of global warming. Now, as the hole in the atmosphere heals, those wind patterns will shift, fully subjecting the Antarctic ice to the effects climate change. According to SCAR, that means a rise in sea levels up to 4.6 feet greater than earlier predictions.

Although often confused in the mind of the public, and in news reports about the environment, climate change and ozone depletion are largely unrelated phenomena.

Atmospheric ozone, a chemical consisting of three oxygen molecules, protects animal life from cancer-causing UV radiation (hence the worry over its disappearance). Man-made chemicals like certain aerosol sprays and refrigerator coolants chemically react with ozone, creating new compounds that don't block out the radiation. While some of those chemicals are also greenhouse gases, their contribution to global warming is insignificant when compared with other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor.

The campaign to eliminate ozone depleting chemicals, starting with the 1978 ban enacted by the US, Canada, and Norway, and the subsequent 1989 Montreal Protocol banning ozone-depleting chemicals internationally, were some of the biggest triumphs of the environmental movement in the last century. Today, both acts serve as inspirations and templates for subsequent treaties and legislation that attempt to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The SCAR report's revelation that fixing one pressing environmental problem may accelerate another dangerous problem puts efforts to prevent rapid environmental change in a bit of a pickle. As the leaders of the world's nations prepare to hash out future environmental agreements, revelations like this can't help make me wonder how today's solutions might become tomorrows concerns.

HAARP ( V )

   On the October 11 Signs page, something interesting turns up from the previous day: Friday, October 10, 2003 - An apparently deranged woman who claimed to be "radioactive" barreled her car through a secure tarmac gate at Manchester Airport yesterday - coming within 800 feet of Air Force One, just minutes before President Bush was slated to board after wrapping up a New Hampshire trip. "She looked dazed, she didn't look right," said witness Frank Conery, a Bedford, N.H., resident who works across the street at MSC Industrial Supplies. "We couldn't believe they didn't shoot her."

   And then: A bomb exploded on Friday morning in front of a military casern in the southern French resort of Nice, injuring one person, French televisions reported. A female guardian of a school in front of the casern was also lightly hurt in the face. The blast took place at about 0600 (0400GMT) and the windows of the casern, the school and neighboring buildings were blown out, the report said.

   And this: Several thousand people were evacuated from their homes on Friday after a series of explosions ripped through a Ukrainian munitions dump at Artyomovsky in the eastern Donetsk region, the emergency ministry said. The explosions, caused by a fire, shattered the windows of several apartment blocks. It was not known what had caused the fire.

   And this: At least five Maoists and four security men were killed in clashes in Nepal as a temporary truce called by the rebels ended, officials said on Friday.

   This: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 rocked northern Japan Saturday morning, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

   This: Tropical Storm Mindy developed this evening near the Dominican Republic, bringing heavy rain to that nation and Puerto Rico, and compelling forecasters to post warnings in other nearby islands.

   This: A 10-year-old boy was taken into custody by the Carlsbad police after making two calls Wednesday night claiming that local schools would be blown up. [...]

   This: A 28-year-old man accused of stealing a man's penis through sorcery was beaten to death in the West African country of Gambia on Thursday, police said.

This: Florida, the lightning capital of the nation, lived up to its reputation when 20 prized, pregnant cows were killed by a bolt that hit an oak tree they were huddled under at a north Florida farm, police said. Two others were euthanized.

   And this most interesting item: Yet Another Mystery Blackout - This Time Oz ... 10-10-3 THE parlous state of WA's electricity supply was highlighted again yesterday when the Collie power station crashed, cutting power to 125,000 homes and businesses in the metropolitan area and key regional centres. Late yesterday, Western Power was still unable to explain the cause of the 2½-hour blackout, which hit at 1pm and also cut traffic lights throughout the suburbs.

   Coming back to HAARP, Peter Jennings, and MPs who tell us that we are most certainly going to get hit by an asteroid in the next few years, and Condi on the march: It seems to me that people being plunged into pits of despair and depression are like Canaries in the Mine, warning us that something is "out there."
HAARP is active, and most definitely, Angels don't play it. But neither does it control weather. It acts on people's minds, and those that are susceptible, as well as those that have possibly been programmed will feel it long before the rest of humanity sees the result.

HAARP ( IV )

The Signs Team noted "the above is the third time something similar has been reported in the media. The first one was in Colorado Springs which was blamed on the NATO exercises taking place nearby, and the other one was in Las Vegas, where no NATO or other related exercises were going on, but we can mention that this is not too far from Area 51. They have all resulted in panic and emotional theories. An understandable if not an optimal reaction, since something is just not right.
The Colorado Springs incident occurred on October 09, 2003 and the Las Vegas event occurred on February 21, 2004. One wonders if the HAARP array was active on those dates as well?
The October 10, 2003 Signs page reported that a French-language Israeli newssite is reporting Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Authority, may have died of a heart attack. This was followed by an interesting article about "Non Lethal Death" (?!) which said

Have weapons of this nature been developed and field tested? Judged by the number of individuals and groups coming forward with complaints of harassment the answer, appears, to be yes. Kim Besley, of the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp [xxv] , has compiled a fairly extensive catalogue of effects that have resulted from low frequency signals emanating from the US Greenham Common base, and, apparently, targeted upon the women protesters. These include: vertigo, retinal bleeding, burnt face (even at night), nausea, sleep disturbances, palpitations, loss of concentration, loss of memory, disorientation, severe headaches, temporary paralysis, faulty speech co-ordination, irritability and a sense of panic in non-panic situations.
Identical and similar effects have been reported elsewhere and appear to be fairly common-place amongst so called "victims". Many of these symptoms have been associated in medical literature with exposure to microwaves and especially through low intensity or non thermal exposures. [xxvi] These have been reviewed by Dr. Robert Becker, twice nominated for the Nobel Prize, and specialist in EM effects. His report confirms that the symptoms mirror those he would expect to see, had Microwave weapons been deployed. [....]

There was all kinds of speculaton that Arafat was being bombarded with waves of some sort that were killing him.
The page is an interesting one, as usual, but most of what is reported on that day is just the general mass madness the world has fallen into since 9-11. But continuing to look, we suddenly see something interesting:

Another Nokia phone explodes 09/10/2003 at 13:03 GMT Another Nokia phone has exploded - this time in Vietnam. A young woman is in hospital today being treated for burns after her mobile exploded yesterday inside her pocket. [...] Earlier this week a teenager in Holland suffered burns to his leg after his Nokia phone exploded.

Isn't that just the darnedest thing?
Then there was this: "In two concerted operations in northern Greece and Crete yesterday, dozens of anarchists invaded a radio station and a state news agency to demand the release of seven people held over June’s anti-globalization riots in Thessaloniki."
And this: CLEVELAND - A Franciscan brother admitted Thursday to shooting a Roman Catholic priest to death in his office and setting fire to the church rectory with the body inside.
And this: A 40-year-old drug addict who allegedly stole beer and dog food from an Amsterdam supermarket has been chased from the store and was kicked to death by at least four staff.
And a few tremors and a wind in Turkey that toppled a minaret.

HAARP ( III )

Massacre in Madrid Thursday, 11 March, 2004 - 190 dead 1247 injured. ... The blasts hit during the morning rush hour Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar has vowed that those responsible for the train bomb attacks in Madrid will be hunted down and punished. Ten bombs exploded without warning on trains at three stations during the morning rush hour, killing 190 people and wounding more than 1,200.

I decided to go and have a look at our March 11 Signs of The Times page, as well as pages from subsequent days, to see if there were any other clues.

From our Signs of The Times Page of March 12th, we note that there were warnings of potential terrorist attacks as though somebody was expecting a general activation of terrorist types for some reason. Hmmmm...

We also noted that South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached in a violent - and completely out-of-character - confrontation where Korean officials actually started duking it out.

There was also a curious piece headlined: Inventor patents device for ads in space, which tells us: Global advertising could take on a whole new meaning. ... Orion, the Big Dipper and Andromeda could be joined in the heavens by ads for soft drinks and cigarettes if a Russian inventor's device catches on. [...]

Curious, indeed, in view of what the above quoted authors have to say about the HAARP experiment.

Another interesting item: Nine People Found Dead in Fresno Home ... March 13 — Police officers responding to a child custody dispute said they arrived at a home to find nine bodies stacked and intertwined in a pile of clothes, 10 coffins and a 57-year-old man they believe is responsible for the slaughter. [...] The grim scene caused even veteran officers to weep. [...]

And another: Sea Lion Grabs Fisherman Off Boat Fri Mar 12... ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A 19-year-old fisherman is recovering from an encounter with a sea lion that leaped out of the water, grabbed him as he worked on his grandfather's docked boat and pulled him into the harbor at King Cove. [...]

And: 22 Dolphin deaths in Florida bay CAPE SAN BLAS, Florida (AP) -- Scientists stepped up efforts Friday to discover what's been killing bottlenose dolphins in and near a bay in the Florida Panhandle, as the death toll climbed to at least 22 over three days. [...] The scattering of dolphin carcasses in open water as well as along the shore indicates the mammals did not strand themselves...

There was a major fire and a gas explosion in Russia, both of which were suspicious, an explosion a the Pueblo airport that may or may not have been suspicious, and millions of people turned out in Spain to protest the government that had been "in league" with the Bush Reich and its Iraq occupation; the party in power was voted out.

Geological events were not really worth mentioning: a few minor rattles in Japan, an already in process cyclone came ashore killing many people, astronomer Philip Plait went after Richard Hoagland, a decorated Fort Carson Green Beret, home from Iraq for just three weeks, committed suicide, and then this:

Confusion was sparked among shoppers at a city retail park when dozens of car alarms all went off at the same time. The 100-space car park at the Kingsway Retail Park became a scene of confusion and noise on Saturday afternoon as shoppers struggled to get into their cars. People had difficulty in using the automatic locking system on their key fobs, with many not working at all. The reason why the alarms were activated at the same time remains a mystery.

HAARP ( II )

The powerful radio transmitter array at the HAARP observatory near Gakona, Alaska, is designed to transmit a narrow beam of powerful radio signals into the sky. The response to this intervention reveals details of the chemistry and physics of the ionosphere.

One such experiment carried out in March 2004 had an unexpected outcome, inducing artificial optical emissions bright enough to be seen as small speckles by the naked eye. This occurred not in the quiet ionosphere, but in the midst of a pulsating aurora, and represents features much smaller and brighter than ever observed previously.

We still don't know the exact date, so we go to the original paper which tells us:

We recently produced dramatically stronger artificial optical emissions bright enough to be visible to the naked eye in an experiment targeting the ionospheric E layer created by the natural aurora. The experiment was conducted on 10 March 2004, between 6–7 UT, using the 960-kW transmitter array at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility near Gakona, Alaska (62.4° N, 145.15° W).
The HAARP transmitter was run in a 15-s cycle alternating between 7.5 s of full power and 7.5 s off. Four filtered optical imaging systems ranging from all-sky to telescopic were operated in synchronization with the transmitter on and off intervals. Background conditions during the experiment period were characterized by aurora pulsating with apparent periods of 10 s in longitudinal bands running in the magnetic east–west direction over most of the sky, including the region within the transmitter beam. The auroral precipitation created a blanketing E layer near an altitude of 100 km with critical frequencies ranging from 4–6 MHz. [...]
For a period of approximately 10 min between about 06:40 and 06:50, a number of small speckles of enhanced green emission were observed with the HAARP telescope wide-field camera, which provided high-resolution images of the region within the transmitter beam near magnetic zenith. The speckles were present only during the image frames when the transmitter was on and were absent from exposures taken during the off periods. There is evidence of dynamic pulsations in the background aurora within this narrower field of view as well, such as the auroral bands that appear and disappear in the lower left corner of the images. The largest speckles are approximately one degree across.

 Well, they seem to be concentrating on trying to convince people that they are just experimenting with ways to sell stuff, but I don't buy it. Being the curious sort that I am, I wondered why nobody seemed to have noticed anything about this at the time. I didn't remember reading any news articles on the 11th of March about any strange lights in the sky, assuming that anybody in Alaska would have been looking up. But, just as you, dear reader, may have done, the instant I thought about March 11th, something else occurred to me: indeed, an event occurred on March 11, 2004... in Madrid.

HAARP ( I )

02 February 2005: By shooting intense radio beams into the night sky, researchers created a modest neon light show visible from the ground. The process is not well understood, but scientists speculate it could one day be employed to light a city or generate celestial advertisements. Researchers with the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) project in Alaska tickled the upper atmosphere to the extent that it glowed with green speckles. The speckles were sprinkled amid a natural display known as the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. [...]


The HAARP experiment involves acres of antennas and a 1 megawatt generator. The scientists sent radio pulses skyward every 7.5 seconds, explained team leader Todd Pederson of the Air Force Research Laboratory. "The radio waves travel up to the ionosphere, where they excite the electrons in the plasma," Pederson told LiveScience. "These electrons then collide with atmospheric gasses, which then give off light, as in a neon tube."


Pederson and his colleagues missed the show, but they snapped images. "We unfortunately were indoors watching the data on monitors during the experiment and were busy scrambling trying to make sure the effects were real and not some glitch with the equipment," he said. "We knew right away it was something extraordinary to show up in real time on the monitor against the natural aurora, but did not confirm that it would have been visible to the naked eye until a day or two later when we had a chance to calibrate the raw data."


The experiment is detailed in the Feb. 2 issue of the journalNature. The research could improve understanding of the aurora and also help explain how the ionosphere adversely affects radio communications. It is not yet clear if the aurora must already be active before an artificial sky show can be induced, says Karl Ziemelis, chief physics editor at the journal. If no pre-existing aurora is required, Ziemelis said, "we are left with the tantalizing (some would say disconcerting) possibility that such radio- fuelled emissions could form the basis of a technology for urban lighting, celestial advertising, and more."

History of The Beer

Ancient Near East  

Ancient Sumerians have the earliest written record mentioning beer. Their prayers or songs to their gods, specifically the Hymn to Ninkasi, which can be taken as an actual recipe. Hammurabi makes special mention of brewers also to assure quality. The beer in this case was most likely used for nutrition, like a liquid form of bread. Probably, the first brewers were women, the ones who processed harvested grain. Beers had a much higher nutrition value, and was a meal by itself. Could it be that nature did the process by herself, when wet grain was stored in the wrong place? What sort of person could you be to try out spoiled wet grain? 


Medieval Beer


He who drinks beer sleeps well. he who sleeps well cannot sin. He who does not sin goes to heaven. Amen.
Beer during the middle ages was very popular, and probably went through many changes. During the early medieval period, beer was being brewed in homes, and sometimes among communities. The brew probably tasted like a malted porridge of some sort, no way near what we have now. It was also probably much stronger in alcohol, since the preservative effects of hops had not yet been introduced. We can never be sure what herbs were used then, any ingredient from oak bark, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary or berries could have been used. One recipe called cock ale uses chicken for flavor! Charlemagne himself is said to have brewed and drank beer. The Domesday Book, Walter de Biblesworth, Chaucer and many other medieval authors write about ales and beer. What made beer so cherished was probably due to health reasons. In a period of plagues, water was probably the most unsafe beverage. However, beer, because of the "cooking" process was some how sterilized. By then beer had become a standard beverage, drank by men and women of all ages, and enjoyed with a meal or in a tavern. Monasteries had the best brews, with monks becoming experts at brewing. The beer they served, no doubt, had the effect of cheer for the troubled population. Hops were probably introduced in the early 16th century. From then on, beer got it's bitter taste, and aided the clearing process and improved shelf life.


Women and Beer


A woman is a lot like beer. They smell good, they look good, and you'd step over your own mother to get one.  
-Homer Simpson


We must credit women for their part in beer's development. Most likely, it was women who discovered beer. Furthermore, though most men claim this role today, beer brewers were mostly women up until the late medieval period. 

About Mandalas

Pronounced mahn-DAH-la, meaning 'house' or 'palace', the mandala represents a Buddha's divine place of residence. There are hundreds of mandalas representing each of the different tantric deities, each with its own unique set of details. To the practitioner, the mandala represents the activities and teachings of the particular deity represented in the mandala, and can be described as the residences of the respective deities and their retinues. 
Whether made of sand, cloth, or metal, mandalas are used to aid in visualizing these dwellings. Sand mandalas are one of the most magnificent types of mandala construction and are associated with the most profound and elaborate Buddhist ceremonies in Tibet. Every color, dot, and line in the mandala represents an essential part of the deity and Buddhist philosophy. Each component must be placed in exactly the same place every time the mandala is constructed. Although sand mandalas are made on a flat surface they are, to the devout, a three dimensional palace, representing the mind of the Buddha. The person contemplating the mandala enters into it, as they would a building or an enclosure.

The mandala construction itself is the result of long and disciplined effort, but it is nonetheless a temporary work. When the monks are finished, there is a dissolution ceremony where the deity is released by the dismantling of the mandala. The sand is cast into a body of water to emphasize and highlight the impermanence of all things and the importance of nonattachment. When the sand enters the water, the kindness and compassion of the deity are disseminated into the world to benefit all beings.

Mandalas are immensely complex symbolic structures, with many layers of meaning and beauty. Although very beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, mandalas are meant for religious use, and are not intended as museum works of art. It is only in recent years that the Dalai Lama has permitted mandalas to be made in public, as a means of teaching about Tibetan culture.

The teaching of the mandala is passed through an oral tradition started by Shakyamuni Buddha over 2500 years ago. It has been passed down over the ages and can be traced back through the lineages to the historical Buddha. 

In its most basic form, Tibetan Buddhism can be broken down into two schools of study. First, the study of sutras is perfected; these are the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. The next phase of study is tantra, which was also taught by the Buddha to advanced practitioners. Tantra is the study of meditation on a deity, or Buddha, and is considered to be the swift path to enlightenment. Traditionally, a student of Buddhism is required to study the sutras before being allowed to study tantra. This still holds true for traditional monastic scholars in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

In 1988, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism allowed the first construction of a mandala in the west to be open to the public. This mandala was the Kalachakra Mandala and was constructed in sand by the Namgyal Monks from Dharamsala India at the Natural History Museum in New York City. His Holiness opened up the viewing of the mandala as a cultural offering, and as a means to preserve Tibetan culture. His Holiness felt that it would be a benefit to the world, as it would enhance the lives of all living beings near the construction site.

A mandala is thought to bring peace and harmony to the area where it is being constructed. Simply viewing a mandala is believed by Buddhists to be enough to change one's mind stream by creating a strong imprint of the beauty of perfection of the Buddha's mind, as is represented in the mandala itself. As a result of this imprint, one may be able to find greater compassion, awareness, and a better sense of well-being.

His Holiness also wished to open this practice to the west as there was much confusion and misunderstanding concerning the purpose of the mandala. Since the construction of the first mandala in the west, many mandalas have been created all over the world. Many people are said to feel strong emotions upon viewing a mandala, regardless of the culture or part of the world they are from.

History of antibiotics

The Ancient Egyptians, the Chinese and Indians of central America all used molds to treat infected wounds. However, thy didn't understand the connection of the antibacterials properties of mold and the treatment of diseases. 

Late 1800's

The search for antibiotics began in the late 1800s, with the growing acceptance of the germ theory of disease, a theory which linked bacteria and other microbes to the causation of a variety of ailments. As a result, scientists began to devote time to searching for drugs that would kill these disease-causing bacteria.

1871

The surgeon Joseph Lister, began researching the phenomenon that urine contaminated with mold would not allow the successful growth of bacteria.

1890s

German doctors, Rudolf Emmerich and Oscar Low were the first to make an effective medication that they called pyocyanase from microbes. It was the first antibiotic to be used in hospitals. However, the drug often did not work.

1928

Sir Alexander Fleming observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, demonstrating antibacterial properties.

1935

Prontosil, the first sulfa drug, was discovered in 1935 by German chemist Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964).

1942

The manufacturing process for Penicillin G Procaine was invented by Howard Florey (1898–1968) and Ernst Chain (1906–1979). Penicillin could now be sold as a drug. Fleming, Florey, and Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize for medicine for their work on penicillin.

1943

In 1943, American microbiologist Selman Waksman (1888–1973) made the drug streptomycin from soil bacteria, the first of a new class of drugs called aminoglycosides. Streptomycin could treat diseases like tuberculosis, however, the side effects were often too severe.

1955

Tetracycline was patented by Lloyd Conover, which became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the United States.

1957

Nystatin was patented and used to cure many disfiguring and disabling fungal infections.

1981

SmithKline Beecham patented Amoxicillin or amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium tablets, and first sold the antibiotic in 1998 under the tradenames of Amoxicillin, Amoxil, and Trimox. Amoxicillin is a semisynthetic antibiotic.