WHO’S AFRAID OF AN OLD SUNSPOT? Sunspot AR1429, the source of many strong flares and geomagnetic storms earlier this month, has returned, but it’s no longer the behemoth it once was. After a two week transit around the backside of the sun, AR1429 has substantially decayed. All that’s left is a few small dark cores scattered among some bright magnetic froth:
Even the corpse of AR1429 might still be potent, however. Just yesterday it produced a flurry of five C-class flares and sent waves of ionization rippling through the high atmosphere over Europe. Furthermore, NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of M-class flares during the next 24 hours.
Some activity from this diminished active region is certainly possible, but it is unlikely to be anything like the strong storms of early March. Stay tuned for updates
El Hierro Volcano : Yellow alert – Salvamar Adhara spends a couple of hours above the vent “filming”
Last update: March 30, 2012 at 4:19 pm by By Armand Vervaeck
Camera used by SCIC for underwater filming
Update 30/03 – 15:42 UTC – Joke was (of course) in the port at the return of the Salvamar Adhara who spend a couple of hours above the vent. Based on what we have seen in the past weeks and months, we know that if the Salvamar Adhara remains a while on the sea, it is not for water sampling only (takes very short time). Bathymetry was done yesterday by the BIO Hesperides, so bathymetry should be excluded too. So Joke asked Maria José Jurado, the CSIC representative on board, if she had worked with the floating video camera (it is a camera on a rope pulled by the Salvamar Adhara, not a ROV). She said yes, we did.
Joke continued asking Maria José about what she has seen on the camera. She said that she had some interesting material, but she had to analyze it further on. She also said, that when the quality would be good enough, CSIC will send it to the Gobierno de Canarias to publish the video.
Joke also asked : was there still some activity ? She said : Yes, we still see some gases coming out of the vent. Joke continued asking : also gases at the surface ? She said : NO.
We will publish Joke’s images from the boat, spectators, camera on board, a few jelly fish in a while. ER comment : nothing new here of course, at least nothing which surprises us. The jacuzzis we have seen for many days in a row are absolute signs of further degassing. The main question remains, is there still lava coming out of the vent. The last time we know for sure that that was the case was on March 14 when the ULPGC ROV made a video recording of it. The latest bathymetry data from CSIC did tell us that the cone was at 88 meter. But this depth was measured at the end of February ! All frequent El Hierro eruption followers have 1 major question. How deep is the crater rim at this moment ? Is it a coincidence that the Salvamar Adhara starts filming again 1 day after that the BIO Hesperides measured the depth of the Las Calmas sea floor or cone ? Probably yes or probably not. At least we know that fresh erupted lava was seen by the ULPGC ROV on March 14, and there are NO indications that this pattern has changed since then. Does this mean that the depth will be less ? Not necessarily. Let us all hope that the results will be published soon in the website of the Gobierno de Canarias.
Update 30/03 – 09:59 UTC – Joke told us that the Salvamar Adhara has just been spotted at the main vent, probably taking water samples
– On Jokes images (click on the thumbnails below), the main vent can well be seen as well as a far bigger colored area. There is doubt whether this is current coloring or a stain. We go for the stain.
Update 30/03 – 09:59 UTC – Joke just send us a morning report. When walking down the lave fields to La Restinga, she stumbled in a AA lava field (thick sharp lava flowing out of a crater at a slow speed) but fell luckily in a lapilli field (small volcanic stones falling out of the sky during an eruption – more or less like thick ash). It is a little painful but everything is still functioning (including her cameras)
– While driving down with the bus this morning, Joke saw a jacuzzi, but in the meantime he disappeared again
– Joke told us that she saw technicians at the webcam mast ! Let’s hope that they will leave the webcams untouched as we will never see them again in time if necessary ! As politics are against any further “bad news”, we have no hope at all that they will reactivate the webcam.
– 1 earthquake since midnight.
– continuing microseismicity
– NO change in horizontal GPS deformation
Update 29/03 – 22:20 UTC Julio del Castillo Vivero has created a fantastic high resolution panoramic image with 60 images from Joke Volta ! (they regularly share their work). The result El Hierro as a color palette
Picture info : 180 meters above sea level – Taken today (29th March) – Mountain Dácila – Finca José Pérez, locals call it Montaña La Restinga
Click on the image to see this great picture in Full Size.
Update 29/03 – 21:20 UTC – The BIO (Buque de Investigación Oceanográfica) has made a short bathymetry mission stop at El Hierro today during his return trip from Antarctica. Spain has an Antarctica base and during the months November to February, the Antarctic peninsula is merely ice free.
– And to make the day complete, here are the beautiful evening images of Joke Volta
Update 29/03 – 21:04 UTC – The Spanish Army is really good in public relations. IGN needs to take an example on them. In a press report on the Armada Española website this evening, the bathymetry mission was highlighted.
“El buque ha realizado varias líneas de prospección en una cuadrícula de trabajo situada en las coordenadas: 27º 40´N // 27º 30´N de latitud y 18º 05´W // 17º 55´W de longitud, para determinar el punto de mayor altura del edificio volcánico y comprobar posibles variaciones desde el último levantamiento batimétrico.” Human translation : The vessel has done several rectangle routes under the coordinates : 27º 40´N // 27º 30´N de latitude y 18º 05´W // 17º 55´W longitude to determine the highest point of the volcano and check any possible changes since last bathymetry.
– Afternoon images Joke Volta (beautiful colors !)
for more information, and updates, go to:
Camera used by SCIC for underwater filming
Update 30/03 – 15:42 UTC – Joke was (of course) in the port at the return of the Salvamar Adhara who spend a couple of hours above the vent. Based on what we have seen in the past weeks and months, we know that if the Salvamar Adhara remains a while on the sea, it is not for water sampling only (takes very short time). Bathymetry was done yesterday by the BIO Hesperides, so bathymetry should be excluded too. So Joke asked Maria José Jurado, the CSIC representative on board, if she had worked with the floating video camera (it is a camera on a rope pulled by the Salvamar Adhara, not a ROV). She said yes, we did.
Joke continued asking Maria José about what she has seen on the camera. She said that she had some interesting material, but she had to analyze it further on. She also said, that when the quality would be good enough, CSIC will send it to the Gobierno de Canarias to publish the video.
Joke also asked : was there still some activity ? She said : Yes, we still see some gases coming out of the vent. Joke continued asking : also gases at the surface ? She said : NO.
We will publish Joke’s images from the boat, spectators, camera on board, a few jelly fish in a while. ER comment : nothing new here of course, at least nothing which surprises us. The jacuzzis we have seen for many days in a row are absolute signs of further degassing. The main question remains, is there still lava coming out of the vent. The last time we know for sure that that was the case was on March 14 when the ULPGC ROV made a video recording of it. The latest bathymetry data from CSIC did tell us that the cone was at 88 meter. But this depth was measured at the end of February ! All frequent El Hierro eruption followers have 1 major question. How deep is the crater rim at this moment ? Is it a coincidence that the Salvamar Adhara starts filming again 1 day after that the BIO Hesperides measured the depth of the Las Calmas sea floor or cone ? Probably yes or probably not. At least we know that fresh erupted lava was seen by the ULPGC ROV on March 14, and there are NO indications that this pattern has changed since then. Does this mean that the depth will be less ? Not necessarily. Let us all hope that the results will be published soon in the website of the Gobierno de Canarias.
Update 30/03 – 09:59 UTC – Joke told us that the Salvamar Adhara has just been spotted at the main vent, probably taking water samples
– On Jokes images (click on the thumbnails below), the main vent can well be seen as well as a far bigger colored area. There is doubt whether this is current coloring or a stain. We go for the stain.
Update 30/03 – 09:59 UTC – Joke just send us a morning report. When walking down the lave fields to La Restinga, she stumbled in a AA lava field (thick sharp lava flowing out of a crater at a slow speed) but fell luckily in a lapilli field (small volcanic stones falling out of the sky during an eruption – more or less like thick ash). It is a little painful but everything is still functioning (including her cameras)
– While driving down with the bus this morning, Joke saw a jacuzzi, but in the meantime he disappeared again
– Joke told us that she saw technicians at the webcam mast ! Let’s hope that they will leave the webcams untouched as we will never see them again in time if necessary ! As politics are against any further “bad news”, we have no hope at all that they will reactivate the webcam.
– 1 earthquake since midnight.
– continuing microseismicity
– NO change in horizontal GPS deformation
Update 29/03 – 22:20 UTC Julio del Castillo Vivero has created a fantastic high resolution panoramic image with 60 images from Joke Volta ! (they regularly share their work). The result El Hierro as a color palette
Picture info : 180 meters above sea level – Taken today (29th March) – Mountain Dácila – Finca José Pérez, locals call it Montaña La Restinga
Click on the image to see this great picture in Full Size.
Update 29/03 – 21:20 UTC – The BIO (Buque de Investigación Oceanográfica) has made a short bathymetry mission stop at El Hierro today during his return trip from Antarctica. Spain has an Antarctica base and during the months November to February, the Antarctic peninsula is merely ice free.
– And to make the day complete, here are the beautiful evening images of Joke Volta
Update 29/03 – 21:04 UTC – The Spanish Army is really good in public relations. IGN needs to take an example on them. In a press report on the Armada Española website this evening, the bathymetry mission was highlighted.
“El buque ha realizado varias líneas de prospección en una cuadrícula de trabajo situada en las coordenadas: 27º 40´N // 27º 30´N de latitud y 18º 05´W // 17º 55´W de longitud, para determinar el punto de mayor altura del edificio volcánico y comprobar posibles variaciones desde el último levantamiento batimétrico.” Human translation : The vessel has done several rectangle routes under the coordinates : 27º 40´N // 27º 30´N de latitude y 18º 05´W // 17º 55´W longitude to determine the highest point of the volcano and check any possible changes since last bathymetry.
– Afternoon images Joke Volta (beautiful colors !)
Radical Innovation, Relocalization and Sustainability
Brian O’Leary, February 2011
One of the most vexing and urgent question of our time is, how can we achieve sustainabiity? That was the question twenty-seven of us souls mulled over for a week during the Phoenix Gathering here at Montesueños in June 2008 and re-localization was surely a central theme throughout the meeting and afterwards. But would re-localization in and of itself be enough to solve the sustainability problem? I don’t think so. Surely innovation must also play a part in creating the new world.
The technology piece is more elusive to many of us because of a collective lack of awareness of transcendent possibilities that also threaten the status quo, especially the “free” energy technologies that have shown proofs-of-concept but have been violently suppressed ever since the time of Nikola Tesla. But many of us are skeptical of even its possibility because we don’t have it now and we don’t understand the complex process of research and development of bold new technologies, which in this case has not at all been supported. I’m certain we could have it through further development if we so choose, in spite of all the scientific naysaying. My essay The Turquoise Revolution posted on my website addresses the nagging question of why most scientists, environmentalists and progressives deny the possibility of a future with breakthrough clean energy and water technologies.
This is quite analogous to the development of aviation. The Wrights had been flying for about two years, with thousands witnessing this, yet the journalist covering the first flights was fired and Scientific American wrote an editorial saying aviation was a fraud. Well, on the energy question, the Wrights have been flying many times and while we can’t project exactly which specific technology(ies) will be the one(s) we’ll adopt, we are learning the principles that will make it work after further development. The results can be elegant by imposing the requirement of sustainability throughout the process–unlike the development of nuclear power.
I completely agree that 1950s sci-fi style technology, i.e., monorails, etc, will not do the trick. But newer, more sustainable technologies could be researched. When combined with re-localized governance and monetary systems, radical innovation will be necessary for us to have a prayer of achieving a truly sustainable future. Unfortunately, the earlier Zeitgeist films did not represent these possibilities (I haven’t seen the latest one), and restricts the visionary part of the film to the work of Jacques Fresco of the Venus Project, which is a very limited vision (e.g., monorails) of what we can actually create.
The caveat in doing the research and introducing the technologies is IF they can be responsibly implemented. This goes back to the question of social/economic/political responsibility at all levels of action, from local to regional to global. In other words, from my perspective, having seen experimental devices actually work in many laboratories in many countries but where these researchers have been stymied, I can vouch with high confidence that the technology piece can be established and a truly sustainable future can be designed, the hard parts being to undo the suppression and to implement the new projects ethically.
To achieve our shared desire for sustainability, I believe we’re going to need to have protected R&D centers worldwide, or “innovation sanctuaries” (an idea we introduced in one of our breakout groups during the Phoenix Gathering) and a very careful management for the implementation. I’m talking principally about breakthrough clean energy, water purification/restructuring, and some of the excellent ideas now coming out in restoration ecology and other nature-friendly ideas (e.g., Gunter Pauli’s The Blue Economy). The state-of-the-art of sustainable innovation needs to be much better understood by all of us so we can make intelligent choices rather than flying blind as we are now, where by default, the important decisions are being made at the corporate/government level with no regard to sustainability. But technology can serve us well if we’re wise about how it should be applied; we needn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
So I see re-localization as a promising social innovation, with a cross-cut of sustainable R&D carefully introduced into a distributed culture. Our imperiled planetary environment is a physical situation that calls out for physical solutions that only deeper awareness, knowledge and wisdom can solve.
An inspiring video on new energy available for free viewing on Google Video is the best documentary available on new energy sources which can powerfully transform our world. The award-winning documentary, Free Energy—The Race to Zero Point, provides a thorough, professional examination of the leading theories and practical inventions that tap into zero point energy—now acknowledged by quantum physicists to exist in all space as a potential source of infinite and accessible electromagnetic energy. Respected engineers and scientists explain in understandable terms how amazing new energy technologies and inventions can go beyond alternative energy to solve the energy crisis on our planet.
To view this inspiring new energy documentary free online (110 minutes), click here.
By illuminating the historical contributions of the many visionaries pioneering the new energy field, this engaging documentary will transform the way you think about science and energy. Working models of a variety of engines which—by tapping the zero point field—produce more energy than they consume are both explained and demonstrated by numerous creative inventors. Any one of these inventions could resolve the energy and oil crisis if only given the proper attention and funding, yet certain vested interests stand to lose billions of dollars should they succeed. How far will they go to suppress these breakthrough technologies?
A series of coinciding eruptive events .. dozens of plumes.. all appear / erupt at the same time … 1815 UTC / 215CDT on 3/26/2012 .. Viewable throughout the south, midwest, and southwest USA — Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina… possibly more that I did not cover in this video .
The chances of having THIS MANY WILDFIRES pop up at once sometime right before 215pm CDT — these chances are astronomical if not on the edge of borderline IMPOSSIBLE (imo)……
Approx plume locations in Arkansas : 34°45’6.81″N , 94°11’0.39″W
35°35’56.03″N , 93°26’56.25″W
34°37’6.85″N , 93°41’3.64″W
34°59’14.25″N , 93°12’37.80″W
35°10’37.07″N , 93°35’56.10″W
approx plume locations in missouri :
37° 5’34.58″N , 91°11’30.85″W
36°54’29.07″N , 91° 6’46.49″W
approx plume locations in oklahoma :
36°22’42.98″N , 94°57’6.55″W
34° 7’25.90″N , 94°56’56.67″W
approx plume locations in texas:
33°47’4.99″N , 95°56’28.75″W
There are MANY more in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.
The way to find the plume epicenter is simple, using college of dupage — turn on the “county map overlay”.. then pause the image as you see the plumes erupt.. then using google earth http://earth.google.com .. match up the areas using the county lines as marks from which to measure the approximate origin point of the plumes.
Be aware of a possible earthquake ramification for this event.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the recent “rumble” and “underground explosion” reports around the USA… Wisconsin and Georgia are two examples… I think these events may actually all be related.
Personally, first hand account from my wife and I… yesterday (3/26/2012).. we felt several “rumbles” on the south side of Saint Louis Missouri… especially this afternoon. NOT a jet… clearly from the ground only… made a few things shake. I checked the charts and NOTHING showed at the CERI/SLU helicorder located at St. Louis University in downtown StL.
Did we “feel” the eruption of the event in southeast missouri today? I’m waiting to see if others report anything similar.. but the times sure match.
To see the other events and proof for their craton / volcanic / deep earth origin.. here is a link below:
Self-creation is a Holy Experience. It is sacred. It is you, deciding Who You Are. What do you think of yourself in the morning? First thing in the morning, what is your idea about yourself? How about the last thing at night? What is your final assessment of Self just before falling asleep?
This is you, deciding about you. Some people call it “wrestling with your conscience.”
In the quiet moments of your day, what do you think and do? When you are with your Self and no one else, how does life proceed for you? Do you eat well, or do you “sneak” a treat that you would not have if someone were watching?
Do you meditate every morning, or only the mornings that another is there? Do you exercise each day, or only on the days that another reminds you, cajoles you, shames you into it? Who are you when you are alone?
Are you reconciled with your Self? When you talk to your Self, in your mind or even out loud, is your Self happy with you? How do you make the Self happy? How do you bring the Self joy? The answer to these questions says a great deal about you.
From where does your joy originate? Is it from something exterior to you, or from something interior? Is it from something you are doing, or something you are being?
And how do you bring your Self peace?
Finally: who do you think you are, anyway…?
And we will continue our explorations of all of this here next week. Until then…
My name is Ronny, I’m 41 years old. I’m a father, a teacher, a Graphic Designer.
I’m an Israeli citizen and I need your help.
Lately, in the news, we’ve been hearing about a war coming while we the common people are sitting and watching it coming like it has nothing to do with us.
Iranians. We love you. We will never bomb your country.
Within 24 hours, thousands of people shared the poster on Facebook, and I started receiving messages from Iran.
The next day, we got featured on TV and newspapers, proving that the message was traveling. Fast.
Please help us prevent this war by spreading this message. make your own posters , send this message to your friends and share it.
We are raising money in order to produce more posters and keep the movement grow.
thanks to all of you for your support and love.
may we prevent this war.
ronny edry
………………….
AMID WAR FEVER, SOME ISRAELIS AND IRANIANS TALK OF PEACE
By Sheera Frenkel
McClatchy Newspapers / Miami Herald
March 21, 2012
Hoping to counter the incessant saber rattling from their respective governments, some Israelis and Iranians have started an online campaign to exchange simple message of friendship and love.
The initiative, which began with Israeli couple Ronny Edry and Michal Tamir, calls for residents of each country to exchange photographs with the words, “We love you.”
“I’m not an official representative of my country. I’m a father and a teacher,” Edry wrote on his blog, www.IsraellovesIran.com. He included a photograph of him and his son. “I know the streets of my town, I talk with my neighbors, my family, my students, my friends and in the name of all these people … we love you. We mean you no harm. On the contrary, we want to meet, have some coffee and talk about sports.”
Within days, the first responses from Iran began to appear. The images posted by Israelis and Iranians are strikingly similar — they show people in the midst of daily activities, posing with their children, dog or favorite book. Some include messages such as “We don’t want war,” and “I wish we both get rid of our idiot politicians.” Often, it’s impossible to tell where the message originated until the telltale tag line, Iran (or Israel) we love you.
Roee Ras said he had never taken part in a “political” movement before, but the 31-year-old was drawn to post a photograph of himself after a friend posted a link to the project on Facebook.
“It felt so human. We are talking about each other, but I don’t know anything except what the newspaper tells me. I can’t talk to an Iranian and find out what they really think and want,” he said.
He went out and took a photo on a sunny beach in Tel Aviv, then posted it to the site. By the next morning, he said, he had received replies including one from a young woman who said he was “cute” and “wished she could join me on the beach,” Ras said.
Talk of imminent war between Israel and Iran has filled newspapers, both here and abroad. Earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was “not afraid” to confront the Iranian nuclear threat and promised he would do what was needed to stop Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. Iran’s leadership has issued similarly inflammatory statements, announcing that they “must” attack Israel by 2014 and repeating threats to “wipe Israel off the map.”
Polls conducted in Israel show that there is little appetite for an attack on Iran. One published by the Knesset Channel last week found that 50 percent of Israelis believe that Israel should not attack Iran’s nuclear installations, even if diplomatic efforts fail, while 43 percent favored a strike on Iran. Only 16 percent of respondents said they thought a military strike would eliminate Iran’s nuclear capability altogether.
Ras said even those who support a strike on Iran have their doubts.
“Maybe we are all being sold on a war we don’t understand. It’s scary the way some of the leaders are happy to walk us into some big war,” said Ras. “Since I don’t know Iranians, I can’t ask them what they think, and if they think their country would use a nuclear bomb against me here in Tel Aviv.”
One exchange on Edry’s blog reflected an eagerness for Israelis and Iranians to get to know each other.
An Israeli named “Asaf” wrote that years ago he traveled to Pune, India, and encountered a group of Iranian students on a trip to a local university. “Silly me I was too scared to say a word and present myself to someone (maybe someone there hates me because I’m from Israel), so I just sat quietly and watched all the other tables and saw only young beautiful men and women that all looked very nice and intelligent and looked to me very similar to the best of the people I know here in my own country.”
An Iranian with the username “SAye73″ responded to him, “Thank you so much dear friend! It’s very kind of you to think so well of us! I’m an Iranian and I know there is a long historical story of friendship between us and you! Damn Ayatollah and those Israelis fanatics politicians who abuse us! I like to visit Israel.”
Hundreds of new pictures and postings are being added daily, most of them earnest, but some posters inevitably have taken the comic route. One photograph added recently showed a fluffy white Persian cat. The caption reads: “Israeli cats we love you. Persian cats against war.”
A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit
By Tim Ryan
In one of the most optimistic books to come out of Washington during these trying times, Congressman Tim Ryan presents us with an inspiring and hopeful view of our country’s future — and a roadmap for how to get there. Across America, people are feeling squeezed, exhausted, and running faster and faster while falling farther behind. The economy continues to struggle, wars rage on, and every week brings news of another environmental disaster. Everything seems broken and people feel helpless to make a difference. Despite this bleak outlook, there are strands of quiet hope and confidence. People are beginning to take action in a new way: they are slowing down, paying attention, and gaining an awareness of the inner resources at their disposal.
This new way is based on the timeless and universal practice of mindfulness, the natural capabilities of our brains and minds, and the core American values of self-reliance, stick-to-it-iveness, and getting the job done. And it’s manifesting in every sector of our society — it’s helping sick people work with their pain, school children improve their learning, veterans heal from trauma, and CEOs become more inclusive and effective leaders. All these benefits — and more — are supported by scientific research on mindfulness that is regularly reported by the mainstream media, such as ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.
In A Mindful Nation, Congressman Tim Ryan — an all-American guy from the heartland who is also a thoughtful, committed leader — takes this story about the benefits of mindfulness to the next level. He connects the dots between what’s happening with mindfulness in the classrooms, hospitals, boardrooms, research labs, and army bases across the country by sharing his interactions with experts in education, defense, health care, criminal justice, and the environment. A Mindful Nation paints a picture of emerging solutions that both benefit the reader and address the societal difficulties we are facing. Ryan’s folksy, warm, and encouraging voice uplifts us and shows that there is something we can do right here and right now to help ourselves and our country.
Both inspiring and pragmatic, A Mindful Nation shows how the benefits of mindfulness apply to the current challenges that affect each of us in our own lives and in our communities, and thus have implications for our society as a whole. With a hard-nosed understanding of politics, government budgets, and what it takes to get something done, Ryan connects a practical approach — lead with the science, show the savings and show how this can help us educate our children to be competitive in the world arena — with a hopeful vision for how mindfulness can reinvigorate our core American values and transform and revitalize our communities.
……..
About the Author
Tim Ryan was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002, at the age of 29, and is currently serving in his fifth term representing Ohio’s 17th Congressional District. He maintains a strong commitment to the economic and social well-being of his constituents in northeast Ohio. He serves as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as its Subcommittees on Readiness and on Emerging Threats and Capabilities. He also serves as a member of the House Budget Committee and co-chairman of the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus.
Congressman Ryan has a daily mindfulness meditation practice. He has been an outspoken advocate for promoting mindfulness practice as an aid to dealing with the variety of complex problems facing the nation. During his tenure in the House, he has helped to get mindfulness and social and emotional learning programs established in several schools in his district. He also spearheaded a conference at a medical school in his district on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Before being elected to Congress, Ryan served in the Ohio State Senate, as president of the Trumbull County Young Democrats, as chairman of Earning by Learning in Warren, Ohio, and as a congressional aide.
A mountain looming over a French commune with a population of just 200 is being touted as a modern Noah’s Ark when doomsday arrives – supposedly less than nine months from now.
A rapidly increasing stream of New Age believers – or esoterics, as locals call them – have descended in their camper van-loads on the usually picturesque and tranquil Pyrenean village of Bugarach. They believe that when apocalypse strikes on 21 December this year, the aliens waiting in their spacecraft inside Pic de Bugarach will save all the humans near by and beam them off to the next age.
As the cataclysmic date – which, according to eschatological beliefs and predicted astrological alignments, concludes a 5,125-year cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar – nears, the goings-on around the peak have become more bizarre and ritualistic.
For decades, there has been a belief that Pic de Bugarach, which, at 1,230 metres, is the highest in the Corbières mountain range, possesses an eery power. Often called the “upside-down mountain” – geologists think that it exploded after its formation and the top landed the wrong way up – it is thought to have inspired Jules Verne’s Journey to the Centre of the Earth and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Since the 1960s, it has attracted New Agers, who insist that it emits special magnetic waves.
Further, rumours persist that the country’s late president François Mitterrand was transported by helicopter on to the peak, while the Nazis, and, later, Israel’s Mossad, performed mysterious digs there. Now the nearby village is awash with New Agers, who have boosted the local economy, though their naked group climbs up to the peak have raised concerns as well as eyebrows. Among other oddities, some hikers have been spotted scaling the mountain carrying a ball with a golden ring, strung together by a single thread.
A grizzled man wearing a white linen smock, who calls himself Jean, set up a yurt in the forest a couple of years ago to prepare for the earth’s demise. “The apocalypse we believe in is the end of a certain world and the beginning of another,” he offers. “A new spiritual world. The year 2012 is the end of a cycle of suffering. Bugarach is one of the major chakras of the earth, a place devoted to welcoming the energies of tomorrow.”
Upwards of 100,000 people are thought to be planning a trip to the mountain, 30 miles west of Perpignan, in time for 21 December, and opportunistic entrepreneurs are shamelessly cashing in on the phenomenon. While American travel agents have been offering special, one-way deals to witness the end of the world, a neighbouring village, Saint-Paul de Fenouillet, has produced a wine to celebrate the occasion.
Jean-Pierre Delord, the perplexed mayor of Bugarach, has flagged up the situation to the French authorities, requesting they scramble the army to the tiny village for fear of a mass suicide. It has also caught the attention of France’s sect watchdog, Miviludes.
A genial sexagenarian, Mr Delord says: “We’ve seen a huge rise in visitors. Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. They think Pic de Bugarach is ‘un garage à ovnis’ [an alien garage]. The villagers are exasperated: the exaggerated importance of something which they see as completely removed from reality is bewildering. After 21 December, this will surely return to normal.”
Masking his fears of what might happen on 21 December, Mr Delord jokes that he will throw a party and supply vin chaud and cheese. “I’m sure we’ll have a little fete to celebrate that we’re still alive,” he smiles. “I suppose it’s up to each of us to find our own way.”
Here is an interesting set of course materials dealing with some of the hidden and conspiratorial aspects of these times. As always, you can choose to investigate or not, believe or not. Use your discretion. Follow your intuition.
The Hidden Knowledge Course
Shining Light on the Shadow Aspects of Our World
The Hidden Knowledge Course provides an in-depth, comprehensive understanding of powerful forces at work behind the scenes in our world of which few are aware. The vital information presented here is carefully hidden from the public by various factions of the largely invisible global power elite.
The course starts with media censorship, which limits the range of public debate by failing to report some of the biggest stories of our time. The 11 information-packed lessons then go on to expose little-known facts about war agendas, banking corruption, suppressed energy technologies, 9/11 intrigues, the UFO question, and more. To verify the many astounding facts presented, links are always provided to reliable sources. And most important, the course gives hope for our future.
This engaging course connects the dots, allowing you to understand the big picture with its many complexities, while also examining the relatively simple principles upon which the many layers of deception are based. The powerful lessons here contain highly revealing essays, thought-provoking quotes, inspiring photos, powerful online videos, and suggested exercises designed to give you full spectrum understanding of all that is going on in our world.
Much of the revealing material in this eye-opening course was compiled from the respected WantToKnow.info website, which specializes in selecting the most reliable reports from verifiable sources to expose major cover-ups. The deeper purpose of WantToKnow.info and this course is to call readers to join together in stopping disempowering secret agendas which benefit the power elite of our world at the expense of almost everyone else, and to work together for the good of all.
This course will leave you inspired that we can and will make a difference. Yet it is largely focused on the shadowy underbelly of our world. For those who feel this information might be overwhelming, or for those who would like to read the same powerful material interspersed with inspiring lessons to balance the dark cover-ups, we highly encourage you to click here to see if one of the other free online courses designed by PEERS might be a more appropriate choice for you.
Thanks to the amazing power of the Internet, the mind-expanding Hidden Knowledge Course is able to dive right into the deepest, darkest corners of our world to shed light in places which have long been hidden. The course will not only leave you better informed than the vast majority of people in our world, it will also better equip you to deal with these hidden realities and inspire you to make a difference in our world.
