On september 22, 1979 an aging satellite named Vela 6911 detected two very distinct flashes in the vicinity of the Indian or South Atlantic oceans that supposedly could be only one thing: a nuclear detonation. The Carter administration held an emergency meeting, other satellites were enlisted to see if they saw the detonation, which they did not, and utter pandemonium ensued for a short time as the US government scrambled to see who or what had set off a nuclear weapon that day. It was a small explosion, estimated at only three kilotons, and while the Soviets, Chinese, French and British are unlikely as the originators, the finger was tentatively pointed at Israel or South Africa for testing a weapon.Problem is, the whole thing made no sense.

The first problem was that no other satellites had detected the detonation, even though at least three were capable of it, if not more. It might have ended there, a very scary and potentially dangerous malfunction caused a false alarm. But it didn"t. Astronomers working at the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico detected an atmospheric shockwave that could have been linked to a nuclear explosion. The US government"s hydrophone network detected a very clear echo of a large explosion. But the one piece of foolproof evidence was never found: radiation. Dozens of flights were conducted to try to detect fallout, and none was ever found, though extremely low levels of a certain radioactive element might have been detected in Australia, some time later. The blast remains asecret to this day, despite South Africa having given up all nuclear weaponry and testing decades ago. If they did it, they still aren"t saying, even though they have no motivation to keep quiet after all this time. Only if it involved Israel would it be worth keeping secret still. It couldn"t have been a natural phenomena, meteorites do not make double flashes of light characteristic of a nuclear explosion. But given that all parties that may or may not have been involved state it wasn"t theirs, and the fact that radiation fallout was never confirmed, tends to point to something else.

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Like giant, cosmic chutes between the Earth and sun, magnetic portals open up every eight minutes or so to connect our planet with its host star. Once the portals open, loads of high-energy particles can travel the 93 million miles (150 million km) through the conduit during its brief opening, space scientists say.Called a flux transfer event, or FTE, such cosmic connections not only exist but are possibly twice as common as anyone ever imagined, according to space scientists who attended the 2008 Plasma Workshop in Huntsville, Ala., last week. "Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn't exist, but now the evidence isincontrovertible," said David Sibeck, an astrophysicist at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.Researchers have long known that the Earth and sun must be connected.

For instance, particles from the sun are constantly whisked away via the solar wind and often follow magnetic field lines that connect the sun's atmosphere with terra firma. The field lines allow particles to penetrate Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet. "We used to think the connection was permanent and that solar wind could trickle into the near-Earth environment anytime the wind was active," Sibeck said. "We were wrong. The connections are not steady at all. They are often brief, bursty and very dynamic." Several speakers at the workshop outlined the formation of a flux transfer event. Oneidea is that on the side of Earth facing the sun, our magnetic field presses against the sun's magnetic field. And about every eight minutes, the two fields briefly reconnect, forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth. Sibeck said to think of the FTE as a giant rolling pin that lies flat along the boundary between the Earth's and sun's magnetic fields. (He noted the rolling pin would have to be malleable so it could pierce through both magnetic fields while lying flat.) "These FTEs kind of look like roller pins, and they form as little blob roller pins at the tip of the magnetosphere facing the sun," Sibeck told SPACE.com. "They can't decide which way they're going to slide around the Earth, so they grow there into big roller pins and then they take offand sort of spir......

Anthony North: Ever since the goddess was conceived there have been ideas of a living Earth. The goddess herself usually symbolized, in ancient times, the planet and the nature within her. She had a bond that stretched to man, nurturing and punishing as required. In the Gaia Hypothesis, James Lovelock revitalized the idea in more scientific terms. Since then, we talk of the planet as a coordinated "whole", the system geared and regulated by as yet unknown influences. It offers a strong message for environmentalism.: It presents us with the possibility that our interactions have consequences beyond merely pollution, etc. It argues that in hurting the planet we are also hurting ourselves, as weand the planet are one.

A similar message was held in animism, the usual model for tribal religion. Here, the physical world and spirit world are in parallel, with everything in nature having a spirit. To thrive in nature, the spirits had to be appeased. Religions often seem to go in tune with natural occurrences.: If we go to Biblical times there is an argument that the popularity of Monotheism came in line with earthquake activity in the area. Towards the end of the European Dark Ages there was an outburst of religious fervor which led to Christendom. It is theorized that this went in line with a prolonged meteor shower. Could the two be related? There are always religious gurus around.: But could it be that, for a guru to be particularly successful, he needs a helping hand from planet Earth? It seemsa ridiculous notion -at first. Religions have answers within human societies. They provide cultures, and these have an effect upon us. Also, there are times when a culture seems redundant, and there is a need for change. Now, those changes are political. In the past, politics worked through other means -namely religion. The book of revelation, however, offers a different idea.: It speaks of the Rapture, when people will be taken up en masse to the Kingdom of Heaven. As to what actually happens, it is vague.

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He sailed around the world in 58 days, plunged 9,000 metres in a burning capsule into the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia, only to be defeated in the end by the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, a fitting place for a cowboy to die.Police cadaver dogs began searching yesterday for the remains of millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett, after the wreckage of the single-engine plane he was piloting was found near a hiking trail in Inyo National Forest, one year and one month after he went missing. Search crews found a "very small" amount of human remains -enough for DNA testing."The plane was quite burned and it was scattered so it was thought to be a pretty strong impact," said Nancy Upham,spokesperson for Inyo National Forest.

The engine was found about 100 metres from the fuselage and wings."It appeared to me, just looking at the pictures, it was a head-on crash into the side of the mountain, into a rock," said Madera County Sheriff John Anderson. The wreckage of the Bellanca Citabria Super Decathlon plane was located Wednesday night, two days and 400 metres away from where a hiker found $1,000 in $100 bills and Fossett"s withered pilot"s licence.Fossett was declared dead by a Chicago court in February, at the request of his wife Peggy. The couple married in 1967. Fossett was 63 when he went missing.Plagued by childhood asthma, Fossett became an adventurer of epic proportions, swimming the English Channel, sailing around the world in a catamaran, driving a Porsche in the 24-hour Le Mans,attempting Everest. His most spectacular feats were in the air. In 2006, he and co-pilot Einar Enevoldson became the first people to fly a glider into the stratosphere, setting an altitude record of 15,460 metres. Fossett was the first person to fly solo around the world in an airplane without refuelling. He was the first person to pilot a hot-air balloon solo around the world, after five failed attempts. In August, 1998, on his fourth try, he was sucked into a thunderstorm off the coast of Australia and the capsule he was riding in fell burning into the shark-infested Coral Sea.

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More mysterious lard-like lumps have washed up on lower North Island shores, proving a beacon to dogs and fortune hunters.   Waikanae Beach resident and shopkeeper Sue Wilkie discovered a large, white, barnacle-covered object at the water"s edge while walking her dog yesterday morning. "It really stood out. At first I thought it was an old float covered in barnacles. "When I got up to it I thought it was concrete, but when I looked around the other side it was greasy and crumbly, just like the lump found at Breaker Bay. "My German shepherd Bella was attractedto it, gave it a good sniff but backed off fast." Mrs Wilkie was keen to cut the greasy lump into blocks and sell it as moisturising sunblock.

"It could be a godsend for nudies on our beach." John Jaspers, of Lower Hutt, was on his dune buggy at Waikanae Beach with dog Conrod when they spotted a white blob on the tide. They both leapt off the buggy and Conrod sniffed the blob, but was not game enough to take a bite. After the first lump was reported at Wellington"s Breaker Bay at the weekend, opportunists tore into it, hoping it might be ambergris, a valuable spit or vomit excretion from sperm whales that is used in perfume. But it now seems more likely to be tallowor lard. Kapiti Island landowner Karl Webber also spotted three similar objects - two floating in a bay and one on the shore - at the northern end of the island. Hoping that it was ambergris, he took a sample and lit it, after being told that, if it burnt with a blue flame and had a pleasant odour, it could be the prized whale excretion. "Unfortunately it just melted and really stank," he said. "It was awful, like rancid fat or lard."

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A previously unknown piece of music by Mozart has been discovered at a library in western France. Ulrich Leisinger, head of research at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Austria, said the single sheet of music was "really important". "His handwriting is absolutely clearly identifiable," he added. "There"s no doubt that this is an original piece handwritten by Mozart." The sheet was found among the archives by staff at a library in Nantes. Mr Leisinger said the municipal Mediatheque library contacted his foundation to ask for help authenticating the work. The score was written on a sheet of paperjust 10cm in size.

It appears to be a "Credo in D major". There is a second piece which looked like a "first draft, in parts illegible," said a library official. It was part of the collection of Pierre-Antoine Laboucheroe, a 19th-century collector who donated his legacy to the city. The score was catalogued as part of the library"s collection, but was later "entirely forgotten" about. It was rediscovered by the library as it re-catalogued its archives, and authenticated by a researcher from the Mozarteum Foundation last year. Mr Leisinger said there had been just 10 Mozart finds of such importance over the past 50 years. If sold, the single sheet would likely fetch around $100,000. "Extremely rare": Mr Leisinger said itwas the "draft for a piece that Mozart did not work out, for whatever reason". "It"s a melody sketch so what"s missing is the harmony and the instrumentation, but you can make sense out of it," he said. "The tune is complete. It"s only one part, and not the whole score with eight or twelve parts. "One can really get a feeling of what Mozart meant, although we do not know how he would have orchestrated it." He added: "The fact that an entirely new sheet shows up is extremely rare."

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Submitted by Waspie Dwarf: Jack the Ripper may have killed his first victim 25 years earlier than previously thought, a retired murder detective has claimed in a new book. It is thought that Jack the Ripper killed and mutilated at least five prostitutes in the East End between August and November 1888. But Trevor Marriott says he may have struck in 1863 and 1872. Mr Marriott will be presenting his findings at the Docklands Museum which is hosting an exhibition on the killer. Bodies unattended: The body of 28-year-old prostitute Emma Jackson was found in a brothel in St Giles,central London, in April 1863.

She had five wounds to the throat and had not been robbed. The case was never solved. Mr Marriott also uncovered a second case he believes may have been committed by the Ripper. Nine years after the Jackson murder, on Christmas Day 1872, Harriet Buswell was found with her throat slit at her lodgings in nearby Great Coram Street, after returning home the previous evening with a male guest. Both cases remain unsolved. In his book, The Evil Within, Mr Marriott claims that Jack the Ripper did not remove internal organs from two of his victims. Traditionally, the serial killer is alleged to have removed organs from the bodies of his victims, including his second"official" victim Annie Chapman and Catherine Eddowes, his fourth, with a degree of medical precision. But Mr Marriott said: "The organs were not removed by the killer at the crime scenes but by person or persons unknown for medical research at some point between the bodies being removed from the crime scenes and the post mortems taking place some 12 hours later. "In both these cases the bodies had been left alone and unattended outside makeshift mortuaries."

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"And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. - Ezekiel 1:4 Ezekiel saw the wheel and spoke of it as a mysticalvision.

Was Ezekiel's vision a sign from God? Or did it signify something entirely different? Something the prophet was incapable of explaining? Since the earliest of recorded history, man has seen and reported things that could not be explained. In the sea, on the land and in the sky. The bizarre and unexplained have always been dismissed as myth, vision and fantasy. Thegreat mountain gorilla was once just a crazy story - not unlike Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster - told by madmen and savages. It is only in the modern era that gorillas have been accepted as the most common attraction at any municipal zoo. Read FullArticle