Tag Archives: anomalies

Comet Hits Sun – Raises Questions

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COMET AND CME: A comet discovered by amateur astronomers on Friday, Sept. 30th, disintegrated in spectacular fashion the very next day when it plunged into the sun. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded the comet’s last hours. The end was punctuated by an unexpected explosion:

Watch the movie again. The timing of the CME so soon after the comet dove into the sun suggests a link. But what? There is no known mechanism for comets to trigger solar explosions. Before 2011 most solar physicists would have discounted the events of Oct. 1st as pure coincidence–and pure coincidence is still the most likely explanation. Earlier this year, however, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watched another sungrazer disintegrate in the sun’s atmosphere. On July 5, 2011, the unnamed comet appeared to interact with plasma and magnetic fields in its surroundings as it fell apart. Could a puny comet cause a magnetic instability that might propagate and blossom into a impressive CME? The question is not so crazy as it once seemed to be.

fr/spaceweather.com

“Janus Cat” 12 Years Old

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Twelve-year-old two-faced cat is world’s oldest

By Zach HowardPosted 2011/09/28 at 10:53 am EDT

CONWAY, Mass, Sep. 28, 2011 (Reuters) — Frank and Louie, a gray feline with two mouths, two noses and three eyes, just turned 12 years old and is the world’s oldest, living two-faced cat.

This undated handout image, obtained by Reuters on September 27, 2011, shows a Massachusetts cat with two faces that has become the world’s longest surviving so called “janus” feline at 12 years of age. REUTERS/David Niles/Handout

Sara Wilcox, a Guinness World Records spokeswoman said he is the “longest surviving Janus cat,” referring to the name coined by British zoologist Dr. Karl Shuker, based on the two-faced Roman god of transitions, gates and doorways.

Frank and Louie has craniofacial duplication, an extremely rare congenital condition. The disorder, also known as diprosopia, can cause part or all of an individual’s face to be duplicated on its head.

It has been recorded multiple times in the domestic cat, but few two-faced kittens survive into adulthood, Wilcox said.

Frank and Louie was born on September 8, 1999. His remarkable life will be commemorated in Guinness World Records’ new 2012 edition, Wilcox said.

The cat’s owner, a woman only identified as Marty, lives near Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a veterinary technician in 1999 when a day-old, two-faced kitten about the size of her thumb was brought into her clinic to be euthanized.

The life expectancy for a two-faced cat is about four days because they usually suffer from other disorders.

“When he was first born, every day was a blessing,” Marty told a local radio station on Tuesday.

She immediately adopted Frank and Louie. The cat has one brain so both faces act in unison. Two of his eyes — the outermost ones — are normal, while the middle eye is larger but doesn’t function.

The cat eats on the right side, using Frank’s face, which is connected to his esophagus, while Louie’s nose twitches at the same time, his owner said.

Marty told the local radio station that the cat is more like a dog because it walks on a leash and loves car rides.”

from:    http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre78q6fv-us-cat-twofaced/

Spontaneous Human Combustion

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Coroner Concludes Irishman Died of Spontaneous Human Combustion

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 25 September 2011 Time: 03:54 AM ET
burning candles
Credit: Dreamstime

Can people suddenly and inexplicably explode into a ball of fire?

It sounds like something in a horror film, but some people believe it happens. It’s also what an Irish coroner recently concluded about the death of Michael Faherty, a 76-year-old Irishman who burned to death in his home in December 2010. There were scorch marks above and below the body, but no evidence of any gasoline, kerosene, or other accelerant. The coroner, Ciaran McLoughlin, reported: “This fire was thoroughly investigated and I’m left with the conclusion that this fits into the category of spontaneous human combustion, for which there is no adequate explanation.”

Usually, of course, fires do not start on their own. When investigators are searching for the cause of forest fires they don’t assume that the flame ignited itself, but instead that it was probably caused by a careless camper or a lightning strike. Though rare, spontaneous combustion has long been known to occur. Under the right circumstances many things can self-ignite on a hot day, including used rags containing oil or gasoline and piles of compost. Coal dust can also spontaneously ignite, one of many dangers that miners face.

But the claim that people can suddenly burst into flames for no apparent reason is a whole different matter. The best-known case of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is actually fictional: in Charles Dickens’s 1853 novel “Bleak House” a character explodes into fire. The phenomenon has also appeared in movies and on TV shows like “The X-Files.”

But are there any confirmed real-life cases?

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/16215-spontaneous-human-combustion-real.html

Young Serbian Human Magnets?

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Are Serbian Cousins Human Magnets?

Benjamin Radford, Life’s Little Mysteries Contributor
Date: 20 September 2011 Time: 02:43 PM ET
7-year-old Bogdan is apparently magnetic.
7-year-old Bogdan
CREDIT: MSNBC

What’s in the water over in Serbia?

Earlier this year, a 7-year-old Serbian boy named Bogdan made international news with his alleged paranormal ability to make objects stick to his skin. Photos and videos of Bogdan showed various kitchen items (including flatware and plates) “magnetically” sticking to the smiling boy.

Little Bogdan may have competition on the Belgrade sideshow circuit, because it’s happened again. Twice.

Two young Serbian cousins, Luka and David Petrovic, are claimed by family members to attract small objects. Like Bogdan, photos show forks and spoons clinging to 4-year-old David’s chest. Both boys have been examined by doctors who say they are perfectly healthy and seem to suffer no ill effects from their strange ability (or affliction).Various explanations have been put forth for these and other so-called “magnetic people” over the years, including psychic powers and some unknown bodily energy field. One Belgrade radiologist told the Associated Press, “As far as I know, there is no medical or scientific explanation.”

Indeed, a closer examination is in order. We can begin by noting that not all of the objects that stick to these magnetic peoples’ skin are metal (some are glass or porcelain). So we know that whatever is making the object adhere to the skin is not based in magnetism.

Second, these objects only stick to bare skin — not through a shirt, for example. Thus we know that direct contact with skin is necessary for the objects to mysteriously stick. Third, most of the objects are fairly lightweight (such as keys and spoons), and/or have a lot of surface area compared to their weight (such as a shallow metal pan). Fourth, the objects are usually placed on the chest at an angle, so their weight is partly being supported by the chest muscles.

The answer to the mystery is that the objects are held in place by simple skin friction. Bare skin is not only pliable and elastic, but also emits oils which can cause lightweight objects to stick the skin. Most people don’t notice this, of course, because they don’t spend their time putting random household objects on their unwashed bare chests to see what sticks and what doesn’t.

So it is a hoax, or a mistake? My guess is that the Petrovic family really believes that their kids have this strange (and useless) ability. Or perhaps little Bogdan, the other Serbian magnetic kid, lives next door and they just wanted to keep up with the neighbors.

Nazca Lines in Mideast

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Visible Only From Above, Mystifying ‘Nazca Lines’ Discovered in Mideast

Owen Jarus, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 14 September 2011 Time: 10:33 AM ET
wheel stone structure in jordan
The giant stone structures form wheel shapes with spokes often radiating inside. Here a cluster of wheels in the Azraq Oasis.
CREDIT: David D. Boyer APAAME_20080925_DDB-0237

They stretch from Syria to Saudi Arabia, can be seen from the air but not the ground, and are virtually unknown to the public.

They are the Middle East’s own version of the Nazca Lines — ancient “geolyphs,” or drawings, that span deserts in southern Peru — and now, thanks to new satellite-mapping technologies, and an aerial photography program in Jordan, researchers are discovering more of them than ever before. They number well into the thousands.

Referred to by archaeologists as “wheels,” these stone structures have a wide variety of designs, with a common one being a circle with spokes radiating inside. Researchers believe that they date back to antiquity, at least 2,000 years ago. They are often found on lava fields and range from 82 feet to 230 feet (25 meters to 70 meters) across.

“In Jordan alone we’ve got stone-built structures that are far more numerous than (the) Nazca Lines, far more extensive in the area that they cover, and far older,” said David Kennedy, a professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Western Australia.

Kennedy’s new research, which will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, reveals that these wheels form part of a variety of stone landscapes. These include kites (stone structures used for funnelling and killing animals); pendants (lines of stone cairns that run from burials); and walls, mysterious structures that meander across the landscape for up to several hundred feet and have no apparent practical use.

His team’s studies are part of a long-term aerial reconnaissance project that is looking at archaeological sites across Jordan. As of now, Kennedy and his colleagues are puzzled as to what the structures may have been used for or what meaning they held.

Light Bending Yields Odd Images

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Weird Light-Bending Experiment Turns Scientists Into ‘Coneheads’

by Clara Moskowitz, LiveScience Senior Writer
A new light-bending experiment turns physicists into coneheads.
Top, clockwise from left: Patrice Genevet, Nanfang Yu, Federico Capasso, Zeno Gaburro, and Mikhail A. Kats. Bottom: A simulation of the image that would appear in a large mirror patterned with the team’s new phase mirror technology.
CREDIT: Eliza Grinnell and Nanfang Yu

In a mind-bending, and light-bending, discovery, scientists have produced a fun-house-like warping of light that defies existing laws of physics.

For centuries, simple equations (taught every year to high-school physics students) have described how light moves through different media, for example from air into glass. Now, however, researchers have found that if the boundary between media is sufficiently complex (in this case, coated with nano-sized wires), those laws no longer apply.

The discovery has prompted the physicists to rewrite the traditional equations to account for the characteristics of the boundary surface. In most cases where these tweaked equations are applied, the new laws simplify back to their traditional forms, but sometimes, they show that light can behave in incredibly strange ways

Magic Hurricane Date?

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Hurricane Irene Affirms ‘Magic’ Hurricane Date

by Brett Israel
Date: 23 August 2011 Time: 06:55 PM ET
Hurricane Irene as a Category 2 hurricane on Aug. 23.
Hurricane Irene as a Category 2 hurricane on Aug. 23.
CREDIT: NOAA/NASA.

Hurricane watchers circle Aug. 20 on their calendars every year. This is the “magic” date when hurricane season seems to kick into high gear.

Like clockwork, Hurricane Irene — the Atlantic’s first hurricane of 2011 — was born on Aug. 22, later strengthening to a Category 2 hurricane. Last year was another good example of an active storm season ramping up after Aug. 20. All of the 2010’s major hurricanes (those of Category 3 or higher) formed after Aug. 20, starting with Danielle on Aug. 21.

Aug. 20 seems to be special because around this time, the air and ocean are in just the right state to foster and feed the monster storms. In climate-speak, this time of year is when vertical shear (a change in wind directions with height) in the atmosphere is low enough and sea surface temperatures are warm enough to create big storms.

to read more, go to:    http://www.livescience.com/15717-hurricane-irene-august-20.html

Visuals: Recent Earthquake & Volcanic Activity

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8/24/2011 — Global Earthquake and Volcano overview and a CRATON representation for comparison

Posted on August 24, 2011 by dutchsinse
Compare the map of the craton to the current chart of earthquakes shown laid out on the 3D map of EQ3D….. (more here: about the craton)       Here is a shot of the activity over the past two weeks around the pacific ring of fire : to read more and see an image of this very interesting activity in the Ring of Fire, go to:     http://www.dutchsinse.com/blog/

Solar Storm Attacks Earth

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Spacecraft Sees Solar Storm Engulf Earth

August 18, 2011: For the first time, a spacecraft far from Earth has turned and watched a solar storm engulf our planet. The movie, released today during a NASA press conference, has galvanized solar physicists, who say it could lead to important advances in space weather forecasting.

“The movie sent chills down my spine,” says Craig DeForest of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado.  “It shows a CME swelling into an enormous wall of plasma and then washing over the tiny blue speck of Earth where we live.  I felt very small.”

CME Engulfs Earth (splash, 558px)

A wide-angle movie recorded by NASA’s STEREO-A spacecraft shows a solar storm traveling all the way from the sun to Earth and engulfing our planet. A 17 MB Quicktime zoom adds perspective to the main 40 MB Quicktime movie.

Sand Formation in China

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Huge Sand Formation Reported Southwest of Xining, China

© 2011 by Linda Moulton Howe

 

“… very quite regular, straight lines form the perfect circle
and the diameter of a rough estimate of 1 to 2 kilometers (.62 to 1.24 miles).”

– Chinese traveler on Qinghai Highway southwest of Xining, China

 


One of several images posted August 17, 2011, at Chinese website, Awaker.net.


Xining, Qinghai, China (upper right red circle). Red road is the Qinghai Highway.
The Awaker.net news story says the huge lines and circles pressed into
sand is at a remote location about three hours from Xining towards Tibet on the
Qinghai Highway. Madoi (middle red circle) is about 200 miles southwest of
Xining and might be the region of the sand formation.
The Tibet border is the orange/red boundary line south of Madoi.
Lhasa, Tibet, is the bottom left red circle.

to read more, go to:   http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1882&category=Environment