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Post by theshee on Nov 2, 2014 10:29:52 GMT 10
AT A time when sightings of the nation’s most elusive inhabitant were treated with gravity by British officialdom, it was a fiendish plan to snatch her from under Scottish noses. Newly discovered documents have revealed how the National History Museum (NHM) in London appealed to so-called bounty hunters to help secure the carcase of the Loch Ness monster, according to a new book. It claims the files, dating back to the 1930s, show staff at the institution were keen to steal a march on museums in Scotland and around the world by exhibiting all – or part – of the beast’s remains. Although Nessie now occupies a prized place in Scottish mythology alongside flying haggis and Brigadoon, the correspondence from the museum’s archives demonstrate the seriousness with which early rumours of her existence were treated. In 1934, a year after the first sightings of a supposedly mysterious creature lurking in the loch’s depths, the book claims, an NHM employee made clear it would be keen to trump institutions such as Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Museum (RSM). In a letter dated March of that year, the unnamed official responded to questions about the museum’s policy on Nessie. The message was black and white. “Should you ever come within range of the ‘Monster’ I hope you will not be deterred ?by humanitarian considerations from shooting him on the ?spot and sending the carcase to us in cold storage, carriage forward,” the letter stated, before adding: “Short of this, a flipper, a jaw or a tooth would be very welcome.” The remarkable advice is detailed in Britain’s X-traordinary Files, a book examining various myths and stories in the country’s folklore. Author David Clarke said while researchers already knew about similar files at the RSM, the discovery of similar documents at the NHM left him “astonished”. He said: “Many influential people – including MPs and famous naturalists like Sir Peter Scott – believed in the existence of Nessie and a lot of pressure was placed on the Scottish Office to give it special protection. “During the 1930s, the monster became an important symbol for Scottish Nationalists who wanted the police to protect the creature from big game hunters. “Nessie had become a Scottish icon – a symbol of national identity.” He added: “There was genuine outrage at the possibility that the corpse of the monster might be taken for display in London.” While the NHM was working behind the scenes to secure the creature, the RSM warned against the prospect of Nessie being put on display south of the Border. In a 1934 letter to the then secretary of state for Scotland, Sir Godfrey Collins, the museum staked Edinburgh’s claim to the carcase. It stated: “The museum urges strongly that the RSM have the reversionary rights to the ‘Monster’ if and when its corpse should become available. “We think the Monster should not be allowed to find its last resting place in England. “Such a fate would surely outrage Scottish nationalism which at the moment is thriving greatly under the Monster’s beneficent influence.” The Scotland Office opened a file on the monster in December 1933 in Edinburgh after being bombarded with inquiries from the press. According to more files found in Edinburgh, pressure was already growing for a special act of parliament to prevent Nessie being killed or captured. The campaign was led by Inverness MP Murdoch MacDonald who assured Sir Godfrey the creature was no myth. “Evidence of its presence can be taken as undoubted. Far too many people have seen something abnormal to question its existence,” he wrote. He demanded a bill be put before parliament to protect the creature and asked Sir Godfrey what could be done to spare it from harm in the meantime. Sir Godfrey was advised there was “no law for the protection of Monsters” and “great fish, including those of no known denomination, may be claimed by The Crown”. In later decades, the NHM’s appetite for all matters Nessie waned considerably. The archives show that in October 1959, it wrote to employees warning them the trustees “do not approve of the spending of official time or official leave on the so-called Loch Ness phenomena”. link
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Post by theshee on Nov 2, 2014 10:19:22 GMT 10
A Wildlife Conservation Society survey recorded five sightings of the rare Kashmir musk deer, which was last seen in 1948. A rare species fanged deer feared extinct after not being seen for more than 60 years has made a shock re-appearance. The endangered Kashmir musk deer, which has unique vampire-like fangs, looked doomed after it was last spotted in Afghanistan by Danish scientists in 1948. However, a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has revealed the species still inhabits Afghan north-eastern forests. Five sightings were recorded by the survey team, including a adult male, who was spotted in three locations, and a female with a youngster. "Musk deer are one of Afghanistan's living treasures," said co-author Peter Zahler, WCS Deputy Director of Asia Programs. "This rare species, along with better known wildlife such as snow leopards, are the natural heritage of this struggling nation. "We hope that conditions will stabilize soon to allow WCS and local partners to better evaluate conservation needs of this species." Rapidly declining numbers have been blamed on poachers, who target the deer's precious scent glands which are considered more valuable than gold. Poachers also target the male's distinct sabre-like tusks, which are used during the rutting season. link
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Post by theshee on Nov 2, 2014 9:58:58 GMT 10
I have often wondered if this could happen the past few years. It does make you wonder! A team of researchers have managed to resurrect a 700-year-old virus from reindeer faeces – and say there’s a possibility that ancient viruses could be unleashed on the world as the ice melts. Eric Delwart and his colleagues discovered the ancient fecal matter buried in an ice core in Canada after he learned that high mountain regions contained interesting objects like old shoes and arrowheads, perfectly preserved for hundreds of years. And while Dr Delwart’s find was less than glamorous, he and his team were able to use it for some scientific benefit – they resurrected a virus. ‘I mean we’re constantly shoving viruses down our throat and if you look at poo samples from humans and from animals you will find a lot of viruses,’ Dr Delwart, a researcher at Blood Systems Research Institute in San Francisco, told NPR. ‘The find confirms that virus particles are very good “time capsules” that preserve their core genomic material, making it likely that many prehistoric viruses are still infectious to plants, animals or humans.’ The revelation, according to Dr Delwart, means that viruses could be unleashed on the world as the ice melts or Arctic regions are drilled. link
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Post by theshee on Nov 2, 2014 9:50:25 GMT 10
Thank you hairball
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:46:13 GMT 10
Amelia Earhart plane fragment identifiedA piece of aluminum debris recovered in 1991 appears to belong to Earhart’s lost plane.A fragment of Amelia Earhart's lost aircraft has been identified to a high degree of certainty for the first time ever since her plane vanished over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, 1937, in a record attempt to fly around the world at the equator. New research strongly suggests that a piece of aluminum aircraft debris recovered in 1991 from Nikumaroro, an uninhabited atoll in the southwestern Pacific republic of Kiribati, does belong to Earhart's twin-engined Lockheed Electra. According to researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating the last, fateful flight taken by Earhart 77 years ago, the aluminum sheet is a patch of metal installed on the Electra during the aviator's eight-day stay in Miami, which was the fourth stop on her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. The patch replaced a navigational window: A Miami Herald photo shows the Electra departing for San Juan, Puerto Rico on the morning of Tuesday, June 1, 1937 with a shiny patch of metal where the window had been. According to researchers at The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), which has long been investigating the last, fateful flight taken by Earhart 77 years ago, the aluminum sheet is a patch of metal installed on the Electra during the aviator’s eight-day stay in Miami, which was the fourth stop on her attempt to circumnavigate the globe."The Miami Patch was an expedient field repair," Ric Gillespie, executive director of TIGHAR, told Discovery News. "Its complex fingerprint of dimensions, proportions, materials and rivet patterns was as unique to Earhart's Electra as a fingerprint is to an individual." TIGHAR researchers went to Wichita Air Services in Newton, Kans., and compared the dimensions and features of the Artifact 2-2-V-1, as the metal sheet found on Nikumaroro was called, with the structural components of a Lockheed Electra being restored to airworthy condition. The rivet pattern and other features on the 19-inch-wide by 23-inch-long Nikumaroro artifact matched the patch and lined up with the structural components of the Lockheed Electra. TIGHAR detailed the finding in a report on its website. "This is the first time an artifact found on Nikumaroro has been shown to have a direct link to Amelia Earhart," Gillespie said. The breakthrough would prove that, contrary to what was generally believed, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did not crash in the Pacific Ocean, running out of fuel somewhere near their target destination of Howland Island. Instead, they made a forced landing on Nikumaroro' smooth, flat coral reef. The two became castaways and eventually died on the atoll, which is some 350 miles southeast of Howland Island. In 10 archaeological expeditions to Nikumaroro, Gillespie and his team uncovered a number of artifacts which, combined with archival research, provide strong circumstantial evidence for a castaway presence. "Earhart sent radio distress calls for at least five nights before the Electra was washed into the ocean by rising tides and surf," Gillespie said. Previous research on a photograph of Nikumaroro's western shoreline taken three months after Earhart's disappearance revealed an unexplained object protruding from the water on the fringing reef. Forensic imaging analyses of the photo suggested that the shape and dimension of the object are consistent with the landing gear of a Lockheed Electra. Moreover, an "anomaly" that might possibly be the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's aircraft emerged from analysis of the sonar imagery captured off Nikumaroro during TIGHAR's last expedition. The object rests at a depth of 600 feet at the base of a cliff just offshore where, according to TIGHAR, the Electra was washed into the ocean. An analysis of the anomaly by Ocean Imaging Consultants, Inc. of Honolulu, experts in post-processing sonar data, revealed the anomaly to be the right size and shape to be the fuselage of Earhart's aircraft. The new research on Artifact 2-2-V-1 may reinforce the possibility that the anomaly is the rest of the aircraft. "The many fractures, tears, dents and gouges found on this battered sheet of aluminum may be important clues to the fate and resting place of the Electra," Gillespie said. In June 2015, TIGHAR will return to Nikumaroro to investigate the anomaly with Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) technology supported by Nai'a, a 120-foot Fiji-based vessel that has served five previous TIGHAR explorations. During the 24-day expedition, divers will search for other wreckage at shallower depths and an onshore search team will seek to identify objects detected in historical photographs that may be relics of an initial survival camp. "Funding is being sought, in part, from individuals who will make a substantial contribution in return for a place on the expedition team," Gillespie said. link
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:41:00 GMT 10
A clandestine Home Office experiment in 1982 tested Britain's capacity to rebuild after a catastrophic nuclear assault. Previously secret files, made public by the National Archives, document proposals to keep order using psychopathic recruits. The exercise, dubbed 'Regenerate', was devised to prepare Britain to cope with a massive nuclear attack. The project aimed to create back-up measures in the event of a World War Three scenario. Establishment officials imagined a situation where a nuclear exchange had devastated Britain's major cities, causing millions of casualties and widespread radiation poisoning. The Cold War experiment's strategic means of dealing with such a disaster entailed assembling and recruiting a large group of officials, who would report to 12 carefully selected commissioners. Those who participated in the experiment were predominantly police officers, state officials, military officers and fire services. All were to be dispatched to underground bunkers across the country, ready to emerge in the aftermath of the assault to restore law and order and to rebuild the nation. Regenerate was devised to focus specifically on Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, the National Archive files reveal. The project's architects predicted the most likely targets and forecast the immediate and residual damage of such attacks. At the points of impact there would be "unimaginable" destruction, while further out, broken panes of glass and "debris in the streets" could be expected, the documents suggest. Scientific advisers, engaged in the project, estimated that 50 percent of Britain's landmass would remain intact following such strikes. Lingering survivors, however, could be plagued by illness from radiation poisoning, they files revealed. Central to the planning phase of the Cold War exercise was the consideration of how law and order would be preserved in the aftermath of such an onslaught. Jane Hogg, a Home Office official cited in the National Archive documents, predicted police officers would be occupied in assisting "inadequate" individuals. Others, therefore, would have to be recruited to preserve law and order, she suggested. Hogg further claimed that psychopaths would be "very good in crises" as "they have no feelings for others, nor moral code, and tend to be very intelligent and logical."Her superiors, however, were unconvinced by the proposal. "I am not at all sure you convince me. I would regard them as dangerous whether or not recruited into post-attack organization," one senior wrote. British historian and author of The Secret State, Lord Hennessy, was bewildered by the defense project and the suggestion that psychopaths could maintain order amid the chaos. He described Hogg's suggestion as "extraordinary" and "bizarre." Hennessy acknowledged, however, the idea was ruled out "pretty quickly." linkIts not to far from the truth!
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:38:37 GMT 10
The Big Circle called J1 is about 390 meters (1,280 feet) in diameter, with an open area created by bulldozing in its interior.Huge stone circles in the Middle East have been imaged from above, revealing details of structures that have been shrouded in mystery for decades. Archaeologists in Jordan have taken high-resolution aerial images of 11 ancient "Big Circles," all but one of which are around 400 meters (1,312 feet) in diameter. Why they are so similar is unknown but the similarity seems "too close to be a coincidence" said researcher David Kennedy. The Big Circles (as archaeologists call them) were built with low stone walls that are no more than a few feet high. The circles originally contained no openings, and people would have had to hop over the walls in order to get inside. Their purpose is unknown, and archaeologists are unsure when these structures were built. Analysis of the photographs, as well as artifacts found on the ground, suggest the circles date back at least 2,000 years, but they may be much older. They could even have been constructed in prehistoric times, before writing was invented, scientists say. Though the Big Circles were first spotted by aircraft in the 1920s, little research has focused on these structures, and many scientists are not even aware of their existence, something these archaeologists hope the new aerial images will help to change. A mysterious stone circle, called a Big Circle as seen from above in Jordan. This circle has been labeled J3. The "most important contribution is simply to collect and make known a large group of rather remarkable sites," writes Kennedy, a professor at the University of Western Australia, in an article published recently in the journal Zeitschrift für Orient Archäologie. In addition to the 11 photographed circles, researchers have identified another similar circle in Jordan, which appears to have been only partially completed, Kennedy noted. Old satellite imagery also reveals two circles, one in Jordan and another in Syria, which have both been destroyed. The circle in Syria was destroyed within the last decade and the one in Jordan a few decades ago. A separate research team, from Durham University, investigated the Syria circle before it was completely gone. While there are many smaller stone circles in the Middle East, what makes these 11 Big Circles stand out is their large size and ancient age, Kennedy said. Kennedy has been leading the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan Project (AAJ) since 1997 and also co-directs the Aerial Photographic Archive for Archaeology in the Middle East (APAAME). Building the Big Circles The circles would not have been hard to build, Kennedy said. They were constructed mainly with local rocks, and a dozen people working hard could potentially complete a Big Circle in a week, Kennedy told Live Science in an email. However, building the circles in a precise shape would have taken some planning. "In the case of those circles that [are] near-precise circles, it would have required at least one person as 'architect,'" Kennedy said, adding that this architect could simply have tied a long rope to a post and walked in a circle, marking the ground as he or she moved around. "That would also explain the glitches [in the circles] where the land was uneven," as the architect wouldn't have been able to keep walking in a perfect circle at those spots. The purpose of the Big Circles is a mystery, Kennedy said. It seems unlikely that they were originally used as corrals, as the walls were no more than a few feet high, the circles contain no structures that would have helped maintain an animal herd and there's no need for animal corrals to have such a precise shape, he said. One of the circles contains three cairns, or rock piles, on its edges that may have been used for burial. However, Kennedy said, "my inference is that the cairns [were built] later, when the enclosure was no longer significant." Solving the circle mystery In order to solve the mystery, archaeologists must conduct more actual fieldwork, Kennedy said, noting that aerial images are helpful but can't replace excavation. Archaeologists Graham Philip and Jennie Bradbury, both with Durham University in England, have examined a Big Circle they found near Homs in Syria. While the circle was "badly damaged" when the researchers found it, they completed their fieldwork before land development completely destroyed the structure. This Big Circle was positioned in such a way that it could give someone standing inside it a "panoramic" view of a basin that would have held crops and settlements, the researchers reported in a 2010 paper in the journal Levant. This "may have played an important part in the location of the enclosure," the two archaeologists wrote in the Levant article. Recent satellite imagery shows that the circle near Homs is now virtually destroyed, Kennedy wrote. Megalithic landscape While the purpose of the Big Circles remains unknown, the research by Kennedy and his team shows that the creations were part of a landscape rich in stone structures. His team has found thousands of stone structures in Jordan and the broader Middle East. They come in a variety of shapes, including "Wheels" (circular structures with spokes radiating out); Kites (stone structures that forced animals to run into a kill zone); Pendants (lines of stone cairns that run from burials); and walls (mysterious structures that meander across the landscape for more than a mile - or up to several thousand meters - and have no apparent practical use). The aerial photography program his team is conducting, combined with satellite imagery from sites like Google Earth, has led to many discoveries, Kennedy said. "As soon as you get up a few hundred feet, it all comes into focus. You can suddenly see the shape of what you've been looking at," Kennedy said in a YouTube video made by Google as part of their Search Stories series. link
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:29:36 GMT 10
I thought it was Boyd Bushman too Brill when I read it!
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:27:13 GMT 10
Thanks guys I had a great time, I've even started counting backwards now
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Post by theshee on Nov 1, 2014 9:26:13 GMT 10
Anything has to be better than what their running at the moment, they are never right, sometimes not even close!
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