News Briefs 20-12-2007

We haven't finished for the year just yet...

• In Tikal, the ancient Maya city in Guatemala, dawn is heard before it is seen.
• A 4000-year-old clay tablet from Iraq was pulled from eBay just minutes before it was sold illegally.
• Is the ancient city of pyramids at Caral, Peru, the mother of all civilisations?
• Bob Curran seeks sunken continents and vanished cities in Lost Lands, Forgotten Realms, with illustrations by Ian Daniels (Amazon US or UK).
• To curse a Roman emperor, all you need is a coin with his image and a piece of lead. Brutus cursed one the old-fashioned way.
• New technology has recreated the ancient Roman town of Venta Icenorum.
• A Roman warrior repaired his helmet with a superglue that is still sticks after 2000 years. With pic.
• Archaeologists have uncovered parts of 1000-year-old Prague in the cellar of the Academy of Performing Arts.
• Norway has unveiled the final design for a doomsday vault that will house seeds from all known varieties of food crops.
• Execetuive director of the Institute for Responsible Technology claims GM food kills rats. The comments section is an eye-opener. I quite like armybrat's comment, There is no shortage of food in the world - just a shortage of distribution. GM food is all about profit and control.
• Loren Coleman presents photos of the giant rat and other new species found in West Papua recently.
• The state of the planet, in graphics: pollution, mass extinction, and apathy.
• Scientists are poised to create life forms driven by synthetic DNA.
• Listen to, watch or read an interview with Naomi Klein, author of Shock Doctrine (Amazon US or UK).
• About 600'000 people die of lung cancer in China each year, but strangely pollution is not mentioned as a cause.
• How Global Warming skeptics were fooled by a hoax paper, but we Commie Hippies shouldn't gloat says the hoaxster. There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief...
• The Australian Govt is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't take action against Japanese whaling. Whales are still damned no matter what.
• During an interview with Republican Presidential hopeful Ron Paul, PAUL IS DEAD is scrolled bottom of screen continuously. Is it just a case of bad timing, Huckabee being quoted from a news conference?
• Know anyone who has half-a-trillion US dollars to splash around? Try the EU.
• A forensic tool first used by the FBI for JFK's assassination has been discredited.
• Japan's top government spokesman has admitted that UFOs exist. Domo arigato, Machimura-san.
• Are Foo Fighters still dogging aircraft in Europe? Photos from an airshow in Poland suggest they are.
• Daniel Brenton was unfairly attacked for daring to suggest UFO secrecy may be a good thing.
• Professor David Jacobs presents a strong argument for not-very-nice extraterrestrials in his book The Threat (Amazon US). Abducting you and shoving objects up your nose without your permission is not ET's way of saying hello.
• A brouhaha has erupted amongst an elite group of international scientists over whether we should try to contact alien civilisations when we don't know if they're hostile or not.
• Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan is frustrated with NASA's lack of cooperation in finding its files on the 1965 Kecksburg UFO incident.
• Here's an update on the November 12 conference calling for global government disclosure on UFO secrets.
• Dwayne Day wants two hours of his life back he spent at a Richard Hoagland lecture, author of Dark Mission: The Secret History of NASA (Amazon US or UK).
• It's been two years since Jacob Rothschild married a Sinclair (imagine the nuptials!) -- anyone know if they've been busy and laid eggs... er, I mean, had children?
• A doyen of conspiracy research, Jordan Maxwell discusses secret societies, ancient cults and symbolism that echoes through the ages.
• An excellent website providing a history of Solomon's Key and Seal.
• What are the Knights Templar digging up in the Danube town of Busse?
• Spooky times in London past: a review of the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Volume 71.4.
• Searching for paranormal activity in an abandoned tuberculosis hospital.
• The internet is haunted by abandoned and forgotten websites. Will ectoplasm ooze rom my monitor?
• The story of a Mexican schoolteacher who encountered an alien body of gelatinous material the colour of honey. How long has that jar of honey been in your fridge, Red Pill?
• Stunning images of a supermassive black hole blasting a nearby galaxy. God drank a bit too much at the office Christmas party.
• NASA's Spirit Mars rover found a patch of nearly pure silica that could have come from a hot-spring or a fumarole -- on Earth, both of these environments teem with microbial life.

Quote of the Day:

"The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which like a giant octopus sprawls its slimy length over city, state and nation. Like the octopus of real life, it operates under cover of a self created screen....At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as international bankers. The little coterie of powerful international bankers virtually run the United States government for their own selfish purposes. They practically control both political parties.

New York City Mayor John F. Hylan, 1922