Argentina to create official UFO commission!
“Inexplicata has reported that the Argentinian government has made the decision to Create an Official UFO Commission.
According to multiple news agencies, a spokesperson for the Argentinean Air Force (AAF) confirmed on December 29th, 2010, that the decision to create a commission to record and investigate claims of unidentified flying objects in that country’s air space will be created. The AAF’s media consultant, Captain Mariano Mohaupt — who confirmed that the Air Force has already recorded the unexplained experiences of some of its pilots with what may allege to be visitors from OUT OF THIS WORLD — commented on the matter:
“The Commission for the Research of Aerospatial Phenomena is in the process of being formed… and now things will be perceived from the formal, professional standpoint, contributing toward our mission, which is to control our air space.”
The team would be multidisciplinary in nature, including meteorologists, flight controllers, pilots and radar specialists, and shall receive reports made by citizens regarding phenomena seen in space. ”
Read more at American Monsters (Thanks Christopher C)
Credentialing: It May Not Be the Cat’s Meow
“The cat is out of the bag.
After many months, I’ve finally been pushed to finish this article on questionable credentialing in hypnosis and “psychotherapy.” A reporter from a major magazine wrote to “Dr. Zoe D. Katze” for input on an article she was writing on hypnosis for childbirthing. She had stumbled across Dr. Zoe’s name on the American Association of Professional Hypnotherapists’ website. I had to tell her the truth.
Dr. Zoe D. Katze, Ph.D., C.Ht., DAPA, is a cat. In fact, she is my cat. Those familiar with basic German have probably already enjoyed a laugh. “Zoe Die Katze” literally translates to “Zoe the cat.”
Dr. Katze’s credentials look impressive. She is certified by three major hypnotherapy associations, having met their “strict training requirements” and having had her background thoroughly reviewed. She holds a Diplomate in psychotherapy from an association that claims to promote the highest standards among psychotherapists.
I was motivated to credential my cat by two circumstances. First, I have become increasingly heedful of all the questionable credentials out there, and I’ve grown tired of sounding defensive to therapist-shopping clients who confront me with something along the order of: “I found somebody with all these certifications and diplomas and he/she charges half of what you psychologists charge.”
The last straw (and my moment of inspiration) came during an internet search for a colleague. I accidentally came upon the website of another “psychotherapist” who listed a doctoral degree from an infamous diploma mill. Along with his degrees, he listed a veritable alphabet soup of impressive-looking letters after his name, corresponding to various “board certifications” and his status as a “Diplomat [sic] and Fellow” of the “largest professional hypnosis association in the world.”
I decided to credential my cat.
This was a surprisingly easy thing to do. First, since so many financial transactions are conducted by credit card, I had to get Zoe some credit. No problem; I just added her as an “authorized user” of one of my own credit cards. (The credit card agent asked for Zoe’s social security number, but then cheerfully relented when I told him it would take me some time to search for it.)”
Read more at Dreichel (Thanks Josie H)
God was behind Big Bang, pope says
“God’s mind was behind complex scientific theories such as the Big Bang, and Christians should reject the idea that the universe came into being by accident, Pope Benedict said Thursday.
“The universe is not the result of chance, as some would want to make us believe,” Benedict said on the day Christians mark the Epiphany, the day the Bible says the three kings reached the site where Jesus was born by following a star.
“Contemplating it (the universe) we are invited to read something profound into it: the wisdom of the creator, the inexhaustible creativity of God,” he said in a sermon to some 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica on the feast day.
While the pope has spoken before about evolution, he has rarely delved back in time to discuss specific concepts such as the Big Bang, which scientists believe led to the formation of the universe some 13.7 billion years ago.
Researchers at CERN, the nuclear research center in Geneva, have been smashing protons together at near the speed of light to simulate conditions that they believe brought into existence the primordial universe from which stars, planets and life on earth — and perhaps elsewhere — eventually emerged.”
Read more at MSNBC (Thanks Christopher C)
This Man Somehow Sneezed Out the Bullet That Shot Him
“I’m stunned. Doctors are flabbergasted. The world is square. What. The. Hell. An Italian man was hit by a stray bullet. In the head. But it didn’t kill him! How? Well, he somehow sneezed out the very bullet that shot him.
Darco Sangermano, a 28-year-old Italian man, was partying and celebrating on New Years Eve. Just like you and me. But unlike us, he was partying in Naples where things can get a little wild—down in Naples, they fire guns with live ammunition to ring in the new year. Unfortunately for ol’ Darco, he was shot in the face by a stray bullet during one of those celebrations.
Obviously worried for his life, Darco—bloody face and all—rushed to the hospital in hopes that doctors could save him. Turns out they didn’t have to. When he got to the hospital, a big whooping sneeze overcame him and out came snot and that .22 caliber bullet he got shot with. From his nose. The doctors were absolutely stunned:
“He was a very lucky man, he could have been killed,” Dr. Sid Berrone said. “The bullet went through his temple, behind his eye, entered the nasal cavity and then became lodged in his nostril before he sneezed it out. Amazing.”
Doctors cleaned out his wound and removed bone fragments and he’s expected to make a full recovery. Amazing indeed.”
Read more at Gizmodo (Thanks Waseem S)
The Brain: A Secret History – Mind Control
In a compelling and at times disturbing series, Dr Michael Mosley explores the brutal history of experimental psychology – it features many aspects of mind control including brain washing, experimental therapy and some rather disturbing science.
To begin, Michael traces the sinister ways this science has been used to try to control our minds. He finds that the pursuit of mind control has led to some truly horrific experiments and left many casualties in its wake. Extraordinary archive captures what happened – scientists systematically change the behaviour of children; law abiding citizens give fatal electric shocks; a gay man has electrodes implanted in his head in an attempt to turn his sexuality.
Michael takes a hallucinogenic drug as part of a controlled experiment to try to understand how its mind-bending properties can change the brain.
This is a scientific journey goes to the very heart of what we hold most dear – our free will, and our ability to control our own destiny.
Available via iPlayer for a little while this is essential watching.
Herbal remedies face licence rule
“Hundreds of traditional and imported remedies on the shelves of health food shops and herbalists are set to be banned under new licensing rules.
The EU directive aims to protect users from any damaging side-effects that can arise from taking unsuitable medicines.
Only high quality, long-established and scientifically safe herbal medicines will be sold over the counter.
Some traders who sell products imported from outside the EU say their business will be hit.
Herbal medicines – with names such as Cascara Bark and Horny Goat Weed – have become popular.
But from the first of May an EU directive will be enforced, under which all such products must be licensed, following fears that some products could cause harm.
Producers and independent health store owners say the directive, passed in 2004, is draconian and skewed in favour of the largest European manufacturers.
Selwyn Soe runs The Herbal Factory, a contract manufacturer of herbal remedies in Croydon, south London. He believes smaller firms like his own will be squeezed out altogether.
“Unfortunately it looks as if we will have to close down because of this legislation,” he said.
“The problem for us is that although we would have to pay many thousands of pounds for a licence to keep making each product, unlike a drug company we would not have a licence to make that product exclusively. It just will not be worth paying out the money.”"
Read more at BBC News
Libraries of the Rich and Famous
“Celebrities may live glamorous lives, but at the end of the day, we’d like to think that a good number of them curl up at home with a good book. And that’s why it’s so gratifying to learn that a completely unexpected famous person possesses a ton of books. We gained newfound respect for Karl Lagerfeld, for instance, when the Observer published a photo of his enormous (and, of course, gorgeous) home library. Curious to find out which other celebrities are bookworms behind closed doors, we rounded up ten photos of famous bookshelves, from Woody Allen and Oprah to Greta Garbo and Michael Jackson.”
Read more at Flavorwire (Thanks Christopher C)
44% of Danish think religion is a bad thing
Close to half of Danes believe that religion makes the world a worse place. At the same time as many believe in God. But there is big difference between faith and religion, says a researcher. Religion is the root of all evil, says a proverb, based on past bloody religious conflicts. But there is some evidence that attitudes are returned when 44 percent of the Danish population responded that religion makes the world a worse place.
This is the result namely of a Gallup poll conducted last month.
By comparison, only 18 percent said religion makes the world better. The results related to the fact that Danes do not really understand religion, explains lecturer in Religion at Aarhus University Phil Zuckerman: ”The Danes are among the least religious and thinks very rationally. They simply do not understand religion, which is something very irrational. Therefore influenced their understanding of what they experience in the media. ”
Full Story at Berlingske
Zodiac signs change – or do they?
For those of you daft enough to think your zodiac in the newspaper actually means anything there’s been a lot of noise in the very same publications about the fact things have moved a bit – or have they?
There’s two forms of astrology – Tropical astrology and Sidereal astrology. Tropical astrology is the silliest of all the forms because it’s basis in anything reliable has just been proven (as no surprise to some people) to be both wildly inaccurate and not just out by a little bit – but out by few THOUSAND years.
Sidereal astrology is the system of astrology used by some Western and all Jyotish astrologers who base their interpretation around the use of the sidereal zodiac. Its primary feature is that the signs of the sidereal zodiac approximately align to the sky constellations of the same name. The signs therefore run between dates which are different from the tropical zodiac used by most Western astrologers. For example, Aries runs from about March 21 to April 19 in the tropical zodiac but extends from April 14 to May 14 in the sidereal zodiac (although the precise dates may vary depending on the differing sidereal system used).
So for those of you still using the old western form it’s time to update – there’s new dates and a new sign known as Ophiuchus (Nov. 29-Dec. 17) – here they are:
Capricorn: Jan. 20-Feb. 16.
Aquarius: Feb. 16-March 11.
Pisces: March 11-April 18.
Aries: April 18-May 13.
Taurus: May 13-June 21.
Gemini: June 21-July 20.
Cancer: July 20-Aug. 10.
Leo: Aug. 10-Sept. 16.
Virgo: Sept. 16-Oct. 30.
Libra: Oct. 30-Nov. 23.
Scorpio: Nov. 23-29.
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29-Dec. 17.
Sagittarius: Dec. 17-Jan. 20.
So for those of you who were a little skeptical and weren’t sure – hopefully this will convince you. For those of you determined to find a response to this – do post in the comments below.
Scientists plan to probe Uranus ;)
“British space scientists are leading plans to send a probe to explore giant ice planet Uranus. They have put forward a detailed proposal to the European Space Agency to launch a joint mission with NASA to the distant world, 1.8 billion miles from the sun.
It would give scientists their first close-up views of Uranus since NASA’s Voyager 2 flew past and captured fleeting pictures 25 years ago.
The £400million mission is designed to go in orbit to study the rings around Uranus and answer questions such as why it gives off so little heat.
Uranus – first spotted by Sir William Herschel from Bath, England, in 1781 – also has the most powerful wind observed in the solar system, blowing at more than 500mph.
The planet is unusual because it is tilted right over on its side. Astronomers believe this was caused when Uranus was given a mighty whack by another world in a cosmic collision.
More than 160 scientists are backing the Uranus Pathfinder project which is led by Dr Chris Arridge, of University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey.
He told Skymania in an exclusive interview: “We’ve only really scratched the surface of Uranus. It is very difficult to observe from Earth because any detail is smeared out.”
Read more at CS Monitor
