Conspiracy Journal - Conspiracy Journal Archives at Zinester

- CONNECTIONS OR COINCIDENCE DEPARTMENT -

Gamma Ray Bursts, Gravity Waves, and Earthquakes

On December 26, 2004 a magnitude 9.3 earthquake occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Sumatra in Malaysia. It caused a powerful tsunami which devastated coastal regions of many countries leaving over 240,000 people either dead or missing. It was the worst tsunami to affect this area since the explosion of Krakatoa. The earthquake that produced it was so strong that it exceeded by a factor of 10 the next most powerful earthquake to occur in the past 25 years.

â€¢ Indonesian 9.3 Richter earthquake: December 26, 2004 at 00 hours 58 minutes
(Universal Time)

It is then with some alarm that we learn that just 44.6 hours later gamma ray telescopes orbiting the Earth picked up the arrival of the brightest gamma ray burst ever recorded!

â€¢ Gamma ray burst arrival: December 27, 2004 at 21 hours 36 minutes (Universal Time)

This gamma ray blast was 100 times more intense than any burst that had been previously recorded, equaling the brightness of the full Moon, but radiating most of its energy at gamma ray wavelengths. Gamma ray counts spiked to a maximum in 1.5 seconds and then declined over a 5 minute period with 7.57 second pulsations. The blast temporarily changed the shape the Earth's ionosphere, distorting the transmission of long-wavelength radio signals.

It was determined that the burst originated from the soft gamma ray repeater star, SGR 1806-20, a neutron star 20 kilometers in diameter which rotates once every 7.5 seconds, matching the GRB pulsation period. SGR 1806-20 is located about 10 degrees northeast of the Galactic center and about 45,000 light years from us, or about twice as far away as the Galactic center. It released more energy in a tenth of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years. Other gamma ray bursts have been detected whose explosions were intrinsically more powerful than this one at the source of the explosion, but since those explosions originated in other galaxies tens of thousands of times more distant, the bursts were not nearly as bright when they reached our solar system. What makes the December 27th gamma ray burst unique is that it is the first time that a burst this bright has been observed, one that also happens to originate from within our own Galaxy.

Astronomers have theorized that gamma ray bursts might travel in association with gravity wave bursts. In the course of their flight through space, gamma rays would be deflected by gravitational fields and would be scattered by dust and cosmic ray particles they encountered, so they would be expected to travel slightly slower than their associated gravity wave burst which would pass through space unimpeded. After a 45,000 year light-speed journey, a gamma ray burst arrival delay of 44.6 hours would not be unexpected. It amounts to a delay of just one part in 9 million. So if the gravity wave traveled at the speed of light (c), the gamma ray burst would have averaged a speed of 0.99999989 c, just 0.11 millionths slower. There is also the possibility that at the beginning of its journey the gravity wave may have had a superluminal speed.

The 9.3 Richter earthquake was ten times stronger than any other earthquake during the past 25 years, and was followed just 44.6 hours later on December 27th by a very intense gamma ray burst, which was 100 fold brighter than any other in the past 25 year history of gamma ray observation. It seems difficult to pass off the temporal proximity of these two Class I events as being just a matter of coincidence. A time period of 25 years compared to a time separation of 44.6 hours amounts to a time ratio of about 5000:1. For two such unique events to have such a close time proximity is highly improbable if they are not somehow related. But, as mentioned above, gravity waves would very likely be associated with gamma ray bursts, and they would be expected to precede them.

Many have inquired if there might be a connection between these two events. Not thinking of the gravity wave connection, astronomers have been reluctant to admit there might be a connection since they know of no mechanism by which gamma rays by themselves could trigger earthquakes. They admit that the December 27th gamma ray burst had slightly affected the ionization state of the Earth's atmosphere, but this by itself should not have caused earthquakes. However, if a longitudinal gravity potential wave pulse were to accompany a gamma ray burst, the mystery becomes resolved. The connection between earthquakes and gamma ray bursts now becomes plausible.

In his 1983 Ph.D. dissertation, Paul LaViolette called attention to terrestrial dangers of Galactic core explosions, pointing out that the arrival of the cosmic ray superwave they produced would be signaled by a high intensity gamma ray burst which would also generate EMP effects.   He also noted that a strong gravity wave might be expected to travel forward at the forefront of this superwave and might be the first indication of a superwave's arrival. He pointed out that such gravity waves could induce substantial tidal forces on the Earth during their passage which could induce earthquakes and cause polar axis torquing effects.   In his book Earth Under Fire (as well as in his dissertation), he presents evidence showing that the superwave that passed through the solar system around 14,200 years ago had triggered supernova explosions as it swept through the Galaxy. Among these were the Vela and Crab supernova explosions whose explosion dates align with this superwave event horizon. He points out that these explosions could be explained if a gravity wave accompanied this superwave, it could have produced tidal forces which could have triggered unstable stars to explode as it passed through.

He wrote at a time when gamma ray bursts had just begun to be discovered, and when no one was concerned with them as potential terrestrial hazards. In recent years scientific opinion has come around to adopt LaViolette's concern, as can be seen in news articles discussing the SGR 1806-20 gamma ray outburst. They note that if this gamma ray burst had been as close as 10 light years it would have completely destroyed the ozone layer. By comparison, the Galactic superwaves LaViolette has postulated to have been generated as a result of an outburst of our Galaxy's core and to have impacted the Solar system during the last ice age would have impacted the solar system with a cosmic ray electron volley having an energy intensity 100 times greater than this hypothetical 10 light year distant stellar gamma ray burst.   In comparision, SGR 1806-20 has been estimated to have a stellar progenitor mass of 150 solar masses, whereas our Galactic core has a mass of 2.6 million solar masses. In its present active phase, SGR 1806-20 is estimated to have a luminosity 40 million times that of the Sun, whereas during its active phase the Galactic center could reach luminosities of 400 trillion times that of the Sun.   So it is understandable that if the Galactic center were to erupt, it would produce a gamma ray burst and a gravity wave far more intense than the outburst from this star.

If anything, the December 27, 2004 gamma ray burst shows us that we do not live in a peaceful celestial environment. And if the December 26th earthquake was in fact part of this same celestial event, we see that this stellar eruption has claimed many lives. For this reason, it is important that we prepare for the possibility of even stronger events in the future, the arrival of superwaves issuing from the core of our Galaxy. Like the December 26th earthquake and the December 27th gamma ray burst, the next superwave will arrive unexpectedly. It will take us by surprise.

As a next step, it is advisable to investigate data from gravity wave telescopes to see if a celestial gravity wave may have arrived immediately prior to the December 26, 2004 earthquake. Since seismic waves from the Indonesian earthquake would have taken some time to propagate through the Earth to these gravity wave antenna, their signature could be distinguished from the gravity wave coming from SGR 1806-20. LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravity Wave Observatory), which consists of two correlated telescopes, one in Washington and one in Louisiana, each having a 4 kilometer long laser interferometer beam path, was in the process of being made operational and may not have been collecting data at that time. Nevertheless their research team is being contacted to see if any data may be available for this time period. Another gravity wave antenna that may have been operational during the December time period is the TAMA antenna in Japan.

The LIGO research team had earlier investigated whether there might be a correlation between their gravity wave data and a particularly strong gamma ray burst (No. 030329) that was recorded in 2003 and identified with a supernova occurring in a galaxy about 2600 light years away. They found no correlation with their data. They operated on the stated assumption that the gravity wave would have traveled at the speed of light and would have been nearly coincident with the gamma ray pulse. However, as mentioned above there is little likelihood that the gamma ray burst and its gravity wave burst would arrive coincidentally. Moreover, the December 27th gamma ray pulse had a far higher intensity, so there is a greater possibility that its gravity wave is registered in the LIGO data.

The December 27th GRB was not accompanied by any rise in the cosmic ray background, indicating that if it was accompanied by cosmic rays their intensity was unable to exceed the relatively constant extragalactic background flux arriving from distant galaxies. A Galactic superwave, on the other hand, would most likely produce a substantial rise in these levels.

Note that almost two months passed before the December 27th gamma ray burst found its way into news media stories. If unusually intense activity were to occur in the near future as the beginning stages of a superwave arrival, it is hoped that scientists will not keep this knowledge to themselves but rather allow the global news media to disseminate the story quickly to inform the world.

Experiments carried out by Eugene Podkletnov show that a shock front outburst produces a longitudinal gravitational wave that travels forward with the burst. He has found that this gravity wave pulse has a speed in excess of 64 times the speed of light (personal communication). Also Guy Obolensky has produced spark discharge electric potential shock fronts and observed them to propagate forward at speeds as high as seven times the speed of light. Observations suggest that the gravity wave from an expanding stellar explosion will decrease its superluminal speed and eventually approach the speed of light as the shock front expands. But meanwhile, the gravity wave will have obtained a headstart over the electromagnetic wave radiation component traveling in its wake (light waves, gamma rays, etc.). So one would expect that the gravity wave from such an outburst (and its resultant earthquake activity) would precede the gamma ray burst component.

Source: Etheric.com
http://www.etheric.com/GalacticCenter/GRB.html

- IDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS -

The CIA's Secret Air Force Targets Iran

The U.S. Air Force is not flying its unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over Iran, but the Central Intelligence Agency is, say military and aerospace industry officials.

Doing the politically sensitive work of looking for Iranian nuclear facilities and delivery systems, such as long-range ballistic missiles, is not the role of the Air Force's U-2s or Global Hawk UAVs that fly out of Al Dhafra AB in the United Arab Emirates. "The aircraft being flown over Iran belong to the CIA, not the Defense Dept.," says a senior Air Force official.

"They are using the I-Gnats and Predators used early in the Afghanistan war. They are not wide-area collectors like the Global Hawk. They focus on small areas, and that's what they need to find those dispersed [nuclear weapons development] sites," he adds. "The data are sent back to Beale [AFB, Calif., via satellite] just like the Global Hawk imagery. The information is then separated by its code word [prefix] and sent to the proper agency."

Beale is the major intelligence exploitation center; processed information is then distributed, often by secure landline, to other bases such as Indian Springs auxiliary airfield near Las Vegas, where Predator missions are controlled.

The CIA first used armed Predators, although flown remotely by USAF pilots, that were launched on combat missions from bases in Uzbekistan. Since both the Army and Air Force now operate similar UAVs, the CIA's small fleet could be flown from the same bases in the theater or from small bases in remote areas of Afghanistan or Iraq. For example, prior to the current Iraq war, the U.S. built airstrips in Kurdish-controlled areas of Iraq near the Iranian border that could now be used by UAVs. The number of UAVs in operation--including those of the Army, Air Force, CIA and British--makes it a difficult task for anyone trying to track all their flights. UAVs are also known to operate from other countries in the region, including the UAE and Djibouti. From there, analysts can monitor insurgent operations in Somalia and other African nations where failed or weak governments offer no interference with efforts to recruit, arm and launch new groups into the terrorist pipeline.

Iranian newspapers and even China's Xinhua News Agency in Tehran have been publishing stories since August 2004 about unidentified aircraft intruding into eastern and southwestern Iran. Local reports identified the intrusions as originating in Afghanistan and Iraq. Commander Yahya Rahim-Safavi of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps issued orders to shoot down any suspicious object that violated Iranian airspace.

The Fiscal 2005 emergency supplemental defense budget is full of clues about the U.S. effort to build up its intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities in the region. There is a request for $66 million to construct ISR launch, recovery and maintenance facilities at Al Dhafra, where U-2s also are stationed. On the opposite side of Iran, the U.S. is spending $42.5 million for enlarging the runway, building taxiways and adding airfield lighting to Karshi-Khanabad AB, Uzbekistan. U.S. Central Command "identified an expanded mission at this airfield that will require the runway condition to be improved."

Balad AB, which is north of Baghdad and the home of many UAV operations in Iraq, is slated for $57 million in upgrades including a "separate compound for Special Operations rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft parking. Classified payloads and configurations require . . . an isolated and secure operating and loading/staging area, separate from other units and aircraft," according to the supplemental. Military officials who have worked with the CIA during the conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan while conducting UAV flights from the same base say the agency always demands physically separate facilities.

Emergency supplement requests will support the analytical side of intelligence gathering. Another $95 million is targeted to meet classified requirements for the Distributed Common Ground System. The DCGS is a key tool (some are in the U.S.; others, overseas) for integrating all the information being collected by various sensors and platforms. It is additionally a crucial capability for responding to time-critical targets. Another $23 billion is dedicated to air-dropped, ground-emplaced sensors that provide seismic and acoustic detection of moving targets. These sensors constitute a major input for gathering measurements and signatures intelligence (masint). Some of these sensors are delivered by fighter aircraft and bury themselves before becoming operational.

While not the primary aircraft for collecting intelligence about Iran, Global Hawk is slated for a series of upgrades in the supplemental. They include $16.5 million in critical spares to allow 100% sustainment of theater combat capability; $1.8 million for deploying Northrop Grumman contractors to support operations in Iraq; and $39.7 million for upgrades to Lot 1 and 2 air vehicles.

"There is a major Global Hawk operating base being built in the UAE," the Air Force official says. "Supporting it is a good [Global Hawk] program with robust vehicles and sensors."

The Air Force also is asking for $102.5 million to develop a multichannel receiver that collects joint-service UAV videos and aids in rapid location of time-sensitive targets. Service officials requested at least $350 million for several other classified programs.

A total of $172.7 million is being requested to procure 13 Shadow UAVs to support, among other units, deployment of the 101st Airborne, 4th Infantry and 10th Mountain divisions to Iraq in Fiscal 2006. Another $94.9 million will go for 39 Prophet ground communications intelligence sensors that allow Army units to detect, identify and electronically attack enemy emitters.

Airborne Reconnaissance Low, a four-engine intel-gathering aircraft operated for several years in South Korea, is identified for $36 million in upgrades. The package will replace the existing radar, add digital imagery capability and replace the communication intelligence payload that would increase the aircraft's effectiveness against specific targets in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also would be better able to disseminate intelligence, including full-motion video, while in flight.

Source: Aviation Week
http://aviationnow.ecnext.com/free-scripts/comsite2.pl?
page=aw_document&article=02285p01

- EXTRATERRESTRIAL OR SOMETHING ELSE DEPARTMENT -

Extraterrestrials and the Occult Connection

The name Aleister Crowley is synonymous with secret societies and occult workings. Revered in occult circles as the master of occult matters his name still evokes vehement horror in the minds of some, who regard him as the anti Christ personified. A master self-publicist and antiestablishmentarian, he adopted the magical number 666 as his own and positively embraced â€˜The Beastâ€™ label the largely ignorant British press gave him in response to this.

What has a Hermetic magician and high ranking member of several secret societies (The Freemasons, Golden Dawn, Order of the Silver Star, Thelma and O.T.O) have to do with extra terrestrials you may ask.

The answer lies in the rather interesting drawing shown above that Crowley made in 1918. It shows an alien intelligence that he came into contact with during a series of invocations called the Amalantrah workings that he carried out in New York over a three month period in 1918. Crowley was in the practice of sketching the beings that he encountered during his evocations to add to the detailed written records that he kept of all his magickal workings.

The Amalantrah working was part of what Crowley termed â€˜The Great Workâ€™; the intentional cultivation of spiritual growth. According to Crowley part of the great work involved â€œthe establishment of contact with non-human intelligences" - in other word, beings that were not of this world â€“ or what we would term extraterrestrials.

The purpose of the Amalantrah invocations, by Crowleyâ€™s own admission was to open an interdimensional portal that would allow him access to beings from other dimensions. One of the beings that came through this portal, the one Crowley sketched was named Lam. Lam it should be noted is regarded by occultists as a generic entity rather than an individual being. The drawing seems to bear a startling resemblance to the popular conception of a Grey.

The picture of Lam itself can certainly be considered genuine as it has a verifiable history. Crowley actually included the portrait of Lam in his â€˜Dead Souls exhibitionâ€™ held in Greenwich Village, New York, in 1919. It was also used as an illustration to H.P Blavatskyâ€™s book â€˜The Voice of the Silenceâ€™ around the same time.

Beneath the picture Blavatsky wrote: â€œLam is the Tibetan word for Way or Path, and LAMA is He who Goeth, the specific title of the Gods of Egypt, the Treader of the Path, in Buddhistic phraseology."

When the Amalantrah working were complete Crowley ensured that the portal he had used to grant Lam access to our world was sealed.

The original drawing of Lam was given to Kenneth Grant, one of Crowleyâ€™s brightest students and eventual successor as head of O.T.O in 1945. Grants interest in CETI (Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence) phenomena is long-standing and his position as head of O.T.O has enabled him to pursue and develop this interest amongst he membership of his organisation.

In 1955 Grant announced the discovery of a trans-plutonian planet called Isis. It was at this time that he established an order called the New Isis Lodge OTO for the purpose (among others) of contacting higher intelligences.

The story goes that in the late 1980s, Grant allegedly received â€˜messagesâ€™ that led to him conclude that Crowleyâ€™s portrait of Lam could be used to provide a focus point for the extraterrestrial energy that had originally invoked in 1918. Why it took Grant so long to realise this is unclear as using such objects as a point of focus is not uncommon in occult circles. Possibly it was the scale of the activity that Grant realised needed to be increased to allow the potential of Lam was to be fully realised.

To promote and regulate use of the portrait amongst his societies members Grant wrote a text called the â€˜Lam Statement. The purpose of the Lam statement was "regularise the mode of rapport and construct a magical formula for establishing communication with Lam." This coincided with Grants creation of a second subdivision of the O.T.O - â€˜The Cult of Lamâ€™. The invocation of Lam or the beings we know as Greys was thus officially endorsed by O.T.O. Despite the fact that Crowley had been meticulous in his sealing of the portal I 1918 when occultists invoke Lam, Lam enters through the portal that he created. How is this possible? To answer that question we have to examine the activities of two other well known occultists.

Two of Crowleyâ€™s unofficial â€˜studentsâ€™ during his final years were L Ron Hubbard who later founded the Scientology movement and the charismatic Jack Parsons who founded the Jet Propulsion Laboratories. The pair of them studied Crowleyâ€™s work at length especially in relation to the interdimensional portal that Crowley had created using his extensive occult knowledge.

Crowley was concerned at what he saw as the pairâ€™s recklessness when dealing with higher energies. Having spent a lifetime mastering his interaction with supernatural forces he considered them over confident and inexperienced and told them as much, finally ceasing all communication with them. Neither man would not be deterred and Hubbard and Parsons proceeded to work with the dormant portal that Crowley had left almost 30 years earlier.

Thus in 1946 they began what is known in occult circles as the Babalon workings. The intention was to use â€˜sex magickâ€™ to create a â€˜childâ€™ in the spiritual realms. They would then â€˜call downâ€™ the spiritual baby and direct it into the womb of a female volunteer (thought to be Marjorie Cameron who Parsons later married) where it would manifest as â€˜humanâ€™ after the usual nine month period of gestation. When born, this child would incarnate the forces of Babalon - the Scarlet woman of Revelations which in occult circles symbolises the dawning of the Age of Horus, the new age. The Babalon working not only reopened the portal, it also increased its intensity and made it highly unstable. The Babalon workings were well documented and many say seem to highlight Parsons and Hubbards inability to close the portal that they had reopened and which seemed to have slipped from their control.

Itâ€™s interesting to consider the time frame between Hubbard & Parsons reopening the interdimensional portal or what we could easily term a stargate and the wave of extraterrestrial activity and UFO sightings that began with the Kenneth Arnold's sighting of nine â€˜flying silver discsâ€™ over the cascade Mountains in June 1947 and not long after the Roswell incident were it is alleged that aliens quite possibly greys and had crashed in a flying saucer. UFO activity has been steady since then. It could well be (although we canâ€™t say for sure) that these extraterrestrial visitors are accessing the planet through this reopened and highly unstable portal.

An interesting point is that both the Amalantrah workings and the Babalon workings were conducted in America which seems to be the place that attracts the most interest from the Greys suggesting that the site of the workings themselves provide a focus point or a marker of some description for the Greys.

The Cult of Lam

The Cult of Lam still continues to encourage its members to invoke Lam.

Kenneth Grant has been quoted as saying "Lam is a Great Old One whose archetype is recognizable in accounts of UFO occupants." The Lam (or Greys) continue to be invoked by the cult of Lam and encouraged to interact with humanity in order to further the spiritual and conscious development of mankind. On the subject of invoking Lam, Grant is quoted as saying "To gaze into the eyes of this entity is to invite potent contact. One feels an immediate sensation of lightness, of weightlessness, and then a sensation of falling... of being sucked into a vortex...." This sounds very similar to witness testimony provided by contactees who have encountered Greys.

Grant has also been quoted as making the following statementsâ€¦

§ Lam is known to be a link between the star systems of Sirius and Andromeda

§ Lam is the gateway to the Void. Its number, 71, is that of "NoThing", an apparition

§ Lam is the occult energy beaming the vibrations of Maat and may proceed from that future aeon

§ Lam, as a Great Old One, whose archetype is recognizable in accounts of UFO occupants

§ "...therein am I as a babe in an egg" AL.II.49

§ Lam has been invoked to fulfil the work set afoot by Aiwass; as a reflex of Aiwass

§ Lam as the transmitter to AL of the vibrations of LA via MA, the key to the Aeon of Maat

§ Crowley considered Lam to be the soul of a dead lama of Lêng, between China and Tibet

§ note: Crowley gave to Grant his original drawing of Lam in 1945

Conclusion

The Stargate or stellar rift between time and space, created by Crowleyâ€™s Amalantrah Working, created a portal through which Lam and other extra-cosmic influences can enter the known universe. Although Crowley himself was careful to seal this portal on the completion of the working, subsequent magical operations have served to reopen the portal and leave it in a state whereby extraterrestrial beings can use it to access our world. Whether or not this is actually true, it is clear that many in occult circles do believe that this to be the case and that the being known as Lam is in fact a Grey. It is the intention of a certain occultists to encourage the Greys interaction with mankind, anticipating that they hold the key to the spiritual evolution of humanity.

This article is provided courtesy of www.the-book-of-thoth-com and may be freely reproduced for non commercial purposes providing this notice and link remains intact.

Source: The Book of Thoth
http://www.the-book-of-thoth.com/modules.php?name=News&file=
article&sid=126&mode=&order=0&thold=0

- THE FAMILY OF MAN DEPARTMENT -

Hobbits or Orang Pendek?

We will never know her name - indeed, we will never know whether she even had a name - but when her remains were unearthed last year in a cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, she caused the kind of stir that we normally associate with Hollywood film stars.

She died in complete obscurity around 18,000 years ago, only to be catapulted into glittering fame by a chance discovery.

Soon nicknamed "The Hobbit", below, she excited the world of evolutionary science and sent media into something of a spin amid claims that the story of human evolution would have to be rewritten.

In fact the truth was a little more prosaic, but just as remarkable for all that. She was certainly distinctive enough to be given a new species name, Homo floriensis, after her home island. But what made the Hobbit so newsworthy was not that she was one of our direct ancestors - in fact, we probably last shared a common ancestor with her about a million and a half years ago - but the fact that her kind had survived at all for so long.

Our current understanding of human evolution, based on the fossil evidence we currently have, goes something like the following. After the long haul of the "apeman" phase (typified by the 3.3 million-year-old "Lucy" skeleton from Ethiopia), our ancestors underwent a relatively rapid shift into a more obviously humanlike form known to scientists as Homo erectus (literally "erect man") sometime just short of 1.5 million years ago. Though brain size increased quite a bit from the 350cc typical of its earlier apelike size, it was still a long way off the relatively massive 1,250cc that we find in modern humans. What we do find in Homo erectus, however, is a new body shape that has the same long legs, narrow hips and barrel chest that modern humans have - features associated with a more efficient form of striding walk that was good for covering long distances in a nomadic, migratory lifestyle.

Armed with its long legs, Homo erectus set off to conquer the world, breaking out of Africa for the first time around a million years ago, and very rapidly colonising the furthest corners of mainland Asia. In the millennia that followed, the Asian populations went their own way, cut off from their African cousins.

Around half a million years ago, some of the African populations began to undergo rapid change, mainly involving a dramatic increase in brain size. Over the space of a couple of hundred thousand years, the African erectus metamorphosed into modern humans, exploded out of Africa once again (about 70,000 years ago).

In the next 10,000 years they colonised every corner of the Old World and Australia, finally even launching themselves across the Bering Strait into the Americas around 20,000 years ago.

When modern humans reached the Far East, it seems likely that they came into contact with the remnants of the east Asian erectus population who had survived in the backwaters of China long after their African equivalents had died out or evolved into the modern human form. But so far as we knew, none of these Asian erectus populations had survived past 60,000 years ago.

The little lady of Flores island changed all that. Here she was, hale and hearty as recently as 13,000 years ago, a mere handshakeâ€™s distance in geological time. What makes her all the more remarkable was her small brain size. We are familiar enough today with diminutive humans - the pygmies of the south Asian forests and Africa are not much bigger than she was. Whereas all these modern human pygmies have brains that are the same size as everyone elseâ€™s, the Hobbit and her kind had brains that were no bigger than those of our mutual apeman ancestors.

To cap it all, along with their bones were found stone tools of a modestly sophisticated kind, and evidence for fire and the hunting of large animals, including the now-extinct stegadon - a primitive elephant. For someone the size of a three-year-old human child, killing a one tonne stegadon would be no mean feat; which at best suggests some degree of co-ordinated planning and cooperation.

On the nearby island of Borneo, aboriginal forest tribes have long claimed that they were familiar with three kinds of people in the forest: humans, the orang-utan (the familiar Asian great ape) and the orang pendek (a diminutive forest dweller). Perhaps the orang pendek is the surviving folk memory of contact with the Hobbit. We came within just a whisker of shaking her hand.

- THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING DEPARTMENT -

Earth Magnetic Field Reversa 41116/73451_magneticfield.jpg xt-align: justify;">

Seeing the powerful earthquakes such as the December 26th, 2004 event that triggered the tsunami disaster, people are looking for possible causes for the apparent instability of earth's crust. "End-times" alarmists and backyard researchers believe that the predicted imminent reversal of the earth's magnetic field may be a significant clue to these eschatological-scale events.

Scientists have been observing changes in the direction of earth's magnetic field which took place recently as well as in the distant past. NASAâ€™s website features a map showing the gradual northward migration of the north magnetic pole in the past century and a half. Since more than double the time interval has elapsed since the last reversal, compared to the time lapse between the previous two pole reversals, some believe we may be overdue for the next north-south flip. However, though the interval between reversals of the Earthâ€™s magnetic field can be as short as 5,000 years, it can also be as long as 50 million years. There does not seem to be any logic or rule governing the planetâ€™s behavior.

It is not only the direction but also the strength of this magnetic field that is a concern. In the time of dinosaurs, at an estimated 2.5 gauss, it was eighty percent stronger than it is now. This may have been one of the reasons such gigantic life forms thrived. It is now accepted that a catastrophic event ended the reign of giant reptiles. However, they did not re-evolve to equivalent dimensions. And the disappearance of mammalian â€œmega-faunaâ€ in more recent times is still considered to be a mystery. The mastodons and mammoths would have towered over modern elephants. Why are there so few large terrestrial animals today?

The smaller average size of modern animals may be due to the gradual decline of Earth's "steady state" (as opposed to â€œpulsedâ€) magnetism. Thousands of years ago the Chinese, with their astute discovery of bio-electrical energy flows known as â€œmeridiansâ€, learned that magnetism promotes vigor in biological life. They used magnetic rocks in medical treatment. In the past century there has been a further decline of earth's magnetic field by another five percent down to only 0.5 gauss. This has led Dr. Dean Bonlie to identify a "magnetic deficiency syndrome" resulting from the biological stress caused by the weakening of this "energy base" for life.

The weakening of earthâ€™s magnetism is one of the factors believed to be predictive of a pole reversal. That magnetic field reversals have occurred in the past is confirmed in the geological record. What is unclear is how precisely the transition occurs, and what happens to life forms extant at the time of this pole flip.

Does the magnetic field drop to zero gauss? Dire predictions follow upon the heels of this theory. Electronic devices would all be at risk: there may be damage to, or complete loss of, all near-earth-orbiting satellites and possibly the space station itself. Effects on life forms could range from migrating birds losing their sense of direction to immune system decline and even widespread die-off from radiation-induced cancers.

Losing its protective magnetic envelope, the atmosphere would expand and become thinner, possibly leading to altitude sickness near sea level. No longer filtered out, deadly cosmic rays would kill most if, not all, living creatures on the surface. Only those living in deep caves would be safe. This scenario has prompted some to build underground bunkers in hopes of surviving.

Countering this frightening vision, NASA predicts that, rather than declining to zero gauss, the magnetic field would become disordered. Thus we might for short time have more than one north and south pole on the planet. This official scientific stance says that the magnetosphere which shields us from cosmic radiation would not entirely disappear either. Thus, while communications would be erratic and perhaps at times completely inactivated, humans would find ways to survive. However, there are dissenters in the ranks, pointing to the vast South Atlantic magnetic anomaly and radiation damage to satellites over that region attributed to weakening of the protective magnetosphere.

The disorderly-flip theory is supported by evidence from geology that in past reversals the decline was not total. Lava flows that solidified at Steen's Mountain during a lengthy reversal process show that the magnetic poles wandered across the equator three times. Though strength of the field was reduced to about 20% of maximum, there is no record that it fell to zero gauss during that transitional period.

The theory that activity in the turbulent molten outer iron core of the planet generates its magnetic field currently dominates scientific thinking. Stormy activity deep in the earth's outer core, believed to be filled with roiling convection flows of molten iron, is understood to generate the planetâ€™s magnetic field. Such violent seething could affect the mantle as well, possibly disturbing the earth's crust and causing the quakes.

However, there is an alternate theory of how the magnetic field is generated. In his article, "Origin of the Earth's Magnetic Field", Ernest McFarlane outlines gaps in the molten-iron convection theory. He proposes a system of electronic cells in a crystalline metal core with hot spots of heavy metals releasing alpha and beta particles. Due to the high heat the alpha particles are unable to combine with the free electrons. "Consequently an electron current flow is produced and conditions are set up for the generation of current loops throughout the inner and outer core. ... magnetic fields are produced as a consequence, in accordance with the right hand rule of electromagnetic theory."

Which theory is right? We may find out from experience sooner than we can come to amicable agreement, given the conflicting theories and computer models. The actual dynamics may include aspects of both, or new insights not yet fully developed.

The sun reverses its magnetic field like clockwork every eleven years at the peak of the sunspot cycle. The next solar flip is due in 2012. South-pointing magnetic flux moves from sunspots, which are intense magnetic loops near the equator of the sun, along â€œmeridional flowsâ€ to the north magnetic pole, and vice versa. As the oppositely-directed charge accumulates at the poles the field declines, until eventually the reverse charge predominates.

Scientists point out that the heliosphere does not wink out of existence during this reversal. The sunspots are intense magnetic knots, much stronger than the starâ€™s main field, which continue to spiral outward even when the main dipole field vanishes briefly. Though the solar magnetic reversal is not completely understood, the Ulysses space probe has sent back detailed data which has supplied answers to many questions.

The mechanism that controls earth's field reversals may not be based on similar principles. For one thing, a planet does not seem to have any equivalent to the powerful sunspots. McFarlane refers to there being more than one north-south pole system and about 10% of the total field being involved in smaller extra fields. If these subordinate minor magnetic fields take up more of the magnetic activity during the main fieldâ€™s decline, they might become active enough to sustain a minimal protective layer shielding the biosphere, even if the main dipole field declines to zero gauss. This could be important for our survival, as the Steenâ€™s mountain lava flows indicate that the reversal took 4,500 years to be completed!

Whether the magnetic field is primarily molten-metal flow dynamics or electron current loops, or a combination of those and other factors, a magnetic pole reversal may be of significance to the search for clean energy generation and transportation. If earth magnetic anomalies become more frequent or are concentrated in certain areas, we could see disruption of existing electrical grids, even without the dramatic atmosphere expansion and radiation damaging to life and computers.

PES Network Inc. wants to encourage people in all geographical regions to participate in magnetic-pole data collection and reporting. A community-editable directory page at PESWiki.com has been created for this purpose. It is recommended that you first establish a â€œbase lineâ€ by determining the accurate magnetic north reading for your location, and report the number of degrees and direction of any deviation from this norm. If you are able to access equipment to determine field strength as well, this additional data would be of interest too.

This data may be useful in helping inventors and researchers test the tolerance of Zero-point technologies, magnetic motors and other new generation systems in adverse situations. As we may have to live through ongoing magnetic disturbance for a long time, we will need to know whether the new systems will be robust under conditions of planetary pole reversal.

Ordinary citizens do not usually have access to instrumentation that would allow them to examine the deeper layers of the planet, nor the high atmosphere, nor the magnetospheres in space. However, if many people collect observations on magnetic field direction from different locations across the continent of North America, and indeed around the world, this data may become relevant in more ways than feeding "end-time" theorizing.

The subject is complex, and whichever scenario may be about to occur, some individuals have been taking note of unusually large fluctuations in the apparent position of the magnetic north pole. Using a large, stationary, home-built compass, one individual in western Canada noticed a ten-degree variation within a few days. This was so unusual that, concerned about a sudden pole shift, he described and published his observations, and asked for input.

No one else was seeing this rapid "pole shift".

On borrowing a very sensitive water-filled portable compass and quartering the area, he discovered that this was indeed a highly localized anomaly in which his domicile happened to be situated dead center. He is now theorizing that the phenomenon may be a vortex related to the nearby extinct volcano Mount Ida. Vortices have been known to occur in volcanic mountain areas, and in the past some have become tourist attractions.

Individual observations are of value, but need to be balanced by additional data from a much wider geographical area. Thus alarms about sudden general "pole shift" may be put to rest, and anomalies studied for what they are.