Thursday 31 August 2023
Pictured: New Loch Ness monster ‘sighting’
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/pictured-loch-ness-monster-sighting-101146049.html
For a celebrity creature sought for nearly a century by an army of investigators it has proven annoyingly elusive.
But now new images of what has been claimed to be the Loch Ness Monster have emerged with one investigator hailing them as the “most exciting ever”.
The photographs were taken in 2018 but were kept secret as the photographer feared public ridicule.
Chie Kelly, who took the images and claimed the creature was moving at “steady speed”, was persuaded to go public following a high-profile search for the monster last weekend.
Mrs Kelly, a translator, said she and her husband Scott had been taking photographs of the area after having lunch in the Dores Inn, on the banks of the loch, while on a family holiday on August 13, 2018.
“I was just taking pictures with my Canon camera of Scott and our daughter Alisa, who was then five, when about 200 metres from the shore, moving right to left at a steady speed was this creature,” the 51-year-old said.
“It was spinning and rolling at times. We never saw a head or neck. After a couple of minutes it just disappeared and we never saw it again.
“At first I wondered if it was an otter or a pair of otters or a seal, but we never saw a head and it never came up again for air. It was making this strange movement on the surface. We did not hear any sound. There were these strange shapes below the surface. I could not make out any colours - the water was dark.
“I could not accurately assess its length, but the two parts that were visible were less then two metres long together.”
She added: “I don’t know what it was but it was definitely a creature - an animal. At the time I did not want to face public ridicule by making the photographs public.”
She showed the pictures to Steve Feltham, who has spent more than 30 years trying to solve the mystery, having quit his job and sold his home in Dorset in 1991, and he persuaded her to release the photos.
There was disappointment at the weekend when hundreds of people took part in what was hailed as the biggest search for the creature in 30 years.
Bad weather hampered efforts to launch heat-seeking drones, and after underwater microphones picked up four “strange” sounds, investigators realised they had forgotten to turn on recording equipment.
Mr Feltham said: “These are the most exciting surface pictures [of Nessie] I have seen. They are exactly the type of pictures I have been wanting to take for three decades. It is rare to see something so clear on the surface.
“They are vindication for all the people who believe there is something unexplained in Loch Ness. They are remarkable. I have studied them and still do not know what it is.”
While the first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness monster was recorded in the year 564, the legend rose to prominence in the 1930s, following a flurry of supposed encounters and huge media interest.
It followed hotel manageress Mrs Aldie Mackay reporting seeing a “whale-like fish” in the waters of Loch Ness, On April 14, 1933, and making the Inverness Courier. The story was quickly followed up by the national press.
The following year, the most famous image of the monster, known as “The Surgeon’s Photo”, was captured and published in the Daily Mail. For decades it was seen as evidence of the monster’s existence.
However, it was described as a fake by The Telegraph in 1975, and is now believed to have been created as part of an elaborate hoax.
Wednesday 30 August 2023
Loch Ness Monster ‘might be real’ say scientists after DNA testing of water samples
The Loch Ness Monster “might be real”, a team of scientists has claimed.
Researchers made the claim after examining water samples from Loch Ness in Scotland.
They travelled the length of the loch on research vessel Deepscan taking water samples from three different depths.
The scientists collected DNA left by creatures in the loch from their skin, scales, feathers, fur and faeces.
The DNA samples were then sent to labs in New Zealand, Australia, Denmark and France to be analysed.
Professor Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago, New Zealand, who led the study, said the results are “surprising”.
He says his team tested the data against most of the main theories about the Loch Ness Monster.
Professor Gemmell said that while the full details will be released at a later stage, one of the theories “might” be correct.
One theory is that the monster is a long-necked plesiosaur that somehow survived the period when dinosaurs became extinct.
Others believe the monster is a giant sturgeon or catfish.
Professor Gemmell said he hoped to announce the full findings of the study in Scotland next month - but would not confirm which hypothesis might be right.
He said: "Is there anything deeply mysterious? It depends what you believe. Is there anything startling? There are a few things that are a bit surprising.
"What we'll have achieved is what we set out to do, which is document the biodiversity of Loch Ness in June 2018 in some level of detail.
"We've tested each one of the main monster hypotheses and three of them we can probably say aren't right and one of them might be."
Hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to Loch Ness every year to try and catch a glimpse of the mythical monster.
Nessie is worth millions of pounds to the Scottish economy - and tourist bosses previously said they are "eagerly anticipating" the results.
Announcing the study last year, Professor Gemmell said: "Scotland is dear to my heart because my mother and her family are Scottish, I’m delighted to be here to undertake our environmental DNA investigation of Loch Ness.
"It’s a place of extraordinary natural beauty.
"We’re delighted with the amount of interest the project has generated in the science and, monster or not, we are going to understand Loch Ness, and the life in it, in a new way."
India’s moon rover confirms sulphur and detects several other elements near the lunar south pole
India’s moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole as it searches for signs of frozen water nearly a week after its historic moon landing, India’s space agency said Tuesday.
The rover's laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a post on its website.
The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India’s spacecraft after last Wednesday’s touch-down near the moon’s south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has said.
The rover "unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur,” ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.
The rover also will study the moon's atmosphere and seismic activity, ISRO Chairman S. Somnath said.
On Monday, the rover's route was reprogrammed when it came close to a 4-meter-wide (13-foot-wide) crater. "It’s now safely heading on a new path," the ISRO said.
The craft moves at a slow speed of around 10 centimeters (4 inches) per second to minimize shock and damage to the vehicle from the moon's rough terrain.
After a failed attempt to land on the moon in 2019, India last week joined the United States, the Soviet Union and China as only the fourth country to achieve this milestone.
The successful mission showcases India’s rising standing as a technology and space powerhouse and dovetails with the image that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to project: an ascendant country asserting its place among the global elite.
The mission began more than a month ago at an estimated cost of $75 million.
India’s success came just days after Russia’s Luna-25, which was aiming for the same lunar region, spun into an uncontrolled orbit and crashed. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years. Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.
Active since the 1960s, India has launched satellites for itself and other countries, and successfully put one in orbit around Mars in 2014. India is planning its first mission to the International Space Station next year, in collaboration with the United States.
Tuesday 29 August 2023
Monday 28 August 2023
live worm found in Australian woman’s brain
It was a fairly regular day on the ward for Canberra hospital infectious diseases physician Dr Sanjaya Senanayake, until a neurosurgeon colleague called him and said: “Oh my God, you wouldn’t believe what I just found in this lady’s brain – and it’s alive and wriggling.”
The neurosurgeon, Dr Hari Priya Bandi, had pulled an 8cm-long parasitic roundworm from her patient, prompting her to call on Senanayake and other hospital colleagues for advice about what to do next.
The patient, a 64-year-old woman from south-eastern New South Wales, was first admitted to her local hospital in late January 2021 after suffering three weeks of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, followed by a constant dry cough, fever and night sweats.
By 2022, her symptoms also included forgetfulness and depression, prompting a referral to Canberra hospital. An MRI scan of her brain revealed abnormalities requiring surgery.
“But the neurosurgeon certainly didn’t go in there thinking they would find a wriggling worm,” Senanayake said. “Neurosurgeons regularly deal with infections in the brain, but this was a once-in-a-career finding. No one was expecting to find that.”
The surprising discovery prompted a team at the hospital to quickly come together to uncover what kind of roundworm it was and, most importantly, decide on any further treatment the patient might require.
“We just went for the textbooks, looking up all the different types of roundworm that could cause neurological invasion and disease,” Senanayake said. Their search was fruitless and they looked to outside experts for help.
“Canberra is a small place, so we sent the worm, which was still alive, straight to the laboratory of a CSIRO scientist who is very experienced with parasites,” Senanayake said. “He just looked at it and said, ‘Oh my goodness, this is Ophidascaris robertsi’.”
Ophidascaris robertsi is a roundworm usually found in pythons. The Canberra hospital patient marks the world-first case of the parasite being found in humans.
The patient resides near a lake area inhabited by carpet pythons. Despite no direct snake contact, she often collected native grasses, including warrigal greens, from around the lake to use in cooking, Senanayake said.
The doctors and scientists involved in her case hypothesise that a python may have shed the parasite via its faeces into the grass. They believe the patient was probably infected with the parasite directly from touching the native grass or after eating the greens.
Senanayake said the patient needed to be treated for other larvae that might have invaded other parts of her body, such as the liver. But given no patient had ever been treated for the parasite before, care was taken. Some medications for example could trigger inflammation as the larvae died off. An inflammation can be harmful to organs such as the brain, so they also needed to administer medications to counteract any dangerous side-effects.
“That poor patient, she was so courageous and wonderful,” Senanayake said. “You don’t want to be the first patient in the world with a roundworm found in pythons and we really take our hats off to her. She’s been wonderful.”
The patient is recovering well and is still being regularly monitored, Senanayake said, and researchers are exploring whether a preexisting medical condition that caused her to be immunocompromised could have led to the larvae taking hold. The case has been documented in the September edition of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, three-quarters of new or emerging infectious diseases in people come from animals.
Senanayake said the world-first case highlighted the danger of diseases and infections passing from animals to humans, especially as people and animals start to live more closely together and habitats overlap more.
“There have been about 30 new infections in the world in the last 30 years,” he said.
Related: Rare flesh-eating bacteria kill three in New York and Connecticut
“Of the emerging infections globally, about 75% are zoonotic, meaning there has been transmission from the animal world to the human world. This includes coronaviruses.
“This Ophidascaris infection does not transmit between people, so this patient’s case won’t cause a pandemic like Covid-19 or Ebola. However, the snake and parasite are found in other parts of the world, so it is likely that other cases will be recognised in coming years in other countries.”
Infectious diseases physician Prof Peter Collignon, who was not involved in the patient’s case, said some cases of zoonotic diseases may never be diagnosed if they are rare and physicians don’t know what to look for.
“Sometimes, people die with the cause never being found,” he said.
“It’s worth taking care when encountering animals and the environment, by washing foods thoroughly and cooking food properly, and wearing protection like long sleeves so you don’t get bitten,” he said.
Sunday 27 August 2023
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Is the Government Covering Up Dogman Attacks in the LBL? - Dogman Bigfoo...
Saturday 26 August 2023
Tuesday 22 August 2023
Why Ufology is NOT a Science and never will be
Let me be very clear about something as it is very important and shows why current and past Ufology was very -very- far from a "science" and why that will never change.
Firstly, while the flying saucer believers of the late 1940s and when they got more organised into clubs in the 1950s, accepted that things whizzing about the sky in daylight and at night were very likely from an extra-terrestrial source they were unwilling to listen to reports of landings and encounters.
With an exception: tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Venusians, Saturnians, Uranians and so on. The contactees were the ones spreading the st6ories of visiting "space brothers" and in many cases just reading the accounts showed that they really did not make much sense. There is a big clue in the descriptions of these "space brothers" as well as some of the books, papers and magazines from the 1950s and 1960s that looked down at the "lessers" like Jews and black people. It is no secret if you look into it that contactee organisations were run by right wing, white and quite racist people. It is interesting that those involved in flying saucer 'investigation' promoted these groups that were very unscientific.
There were people who genuinely believed that they had been in contact with space brothers and there were those who found that such accounts could be big earners. Money they found was more interesting than the truth.
Of course for flying saucer groups and the rapidly growing lecture circuit there was no better draw than a contactee and one of the biggest hoaxers was George Adamski who got to travel the world, treated like a celebrity and, of course, "not earning a penny" because this was all about spreading the words of our "space brothers". George Adamski (who 100% was NOT a professor) managed to link up with Flying Saucer review editor Desmond Leslie who was not beyond adding the odd fictional story into FSR. It was Leslie who backed up Adamski's claim of having no navel. Interesting as prior to one 1950s UK event Adamski had to change but with his back to one of the organisers -but the reflection from a mirror near Adamski showed that he did most definitely have a navel.
Leslie and Adamski wrote The Flying Saucers Have Landed in which many historical cases of meteorites, comets, etc suddenly become "manoeuvring disc shaped objects" and all of those reports can be checked at the source and I did so in 1980 and immediately binned the book as being useful for nothing.
Adamski is still hailed by many today in 'scientific' Ufology as genuine -some trying to be vague so as to provide themselves a "get out of gaol" clause "in case".
Contactees were accepted as they pulled in the punters -paying bums on seats and that is what flying saucer and UFO groups wanted. Even in the late 1970s I was chastised at a meeting of the British Flying Saucer Bureau for "speaking ill of Mr. Adamski" while my interest in reports such as those of Betty and Barney Hill were dismissed as "silly stories" (in the Hills case of course it was a "mixed race" couple which offended a few even though both were quite human and no other unknown race was involved). At a talk I was invited to give at the BFSB I was interrupted several times by senior members with "But we know of course from Mr Adamski's account that" and "which is hard to accept as Mr Adamski quite clearly described those people (aliens) he met".
Ufology has always jumped on the band wagon that generates the most cash. Contactees then, as digital cameras emerged, "orbs" and "rods" -all naturally explainable but that type of thing made money and drew people in to talks. The paranormal and UFOs, Bigfoot and UFOs -all these emerging at times when TV or movies promoted paranormal programmes and Bigfoot documentaries. The Spielberg movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was a major money-spinner for UFO groups.
Then things waned until Budd Hopkins introduced the false abduction scenario in the early 1980s and that took off. Money was raked in by all sides and then people wanting in on the cash flow started digging out "alien implants" and much more. Those people got in on the lecture circuit and TV gravy train. Every UFO sighting was an alien abduction of a human being no questio9ning allowed. Every pre 1980s CE3K/Entity case was then rebooted to involve "The Greys" including the account of the Hills. People observing a UFO landing and entities that lasted a couple of minutes -they looked at their watches or clocks- were dismissed unless they were willing to accept they had been abducted and undergo hypnosis.
Of course, when the decades of money from abductions started dwindling the 'researchers' sold off private percipient information and even MUFON sold such material (to Robert Bigelow) and big scandals that were washed over by those wanting to keep fat wallets full.
We know that in the United States NICAP (headed by a well known racist, Donald E. Keyhoe) was infiltrated by the CIA. In fact NICAP actively recruited ex intelligence people into top positions so the question is whether this was infiltration or taking over through invitation. Either way Keyhoe lost no money and still had book deals and TV work.
https://terryhooper.blogspot.com/2022/10/donald-keyhoe-and-nicap-counter.html
Look at how the USAF Office of Special Investigation and its main agent, Richard Doty, infiltrated Ufology. It bribed and gave William Moore false information to feed Ufology and it is also rumoured that among the other "prominent Ufologists" Doty gave false info to and also paid were Hopkins and Leonard H Stringfield who told a colleague of mine that his source was in the AFOSI. Doty even helped drive one person, Paul Bennewitz insane. Doty was outed decades ago and was observed talking to Hopkins, David Jacobs and even Vallee at UFO conventions. Conventions where rather than being asked to leave or being a target of verbal abuse he is welcomed and given free reign and allowed to "spill the beans" to those interested.
https://terryhooper.blogspot.com/2022/10/crashed-ufos-counter-intelligence-and.html
How is this all possible? Because Ufology is not and never was a science although it did and does attract scientists to it based on data rather than a belief. Investigation by such scientists soon turn up the truth: the Vallee catalogue of UFO landings involve known hoaxes, weather phenomena and reports never investigated just taken from an odd news item. The Phillips Physical Trace Catalogue, from what can be found -ditto as with Vallee. Ufology itself has not turned out any truly scientific evidence in documents that can be peer reviewed by scientists. Scientists who do ask to see such material are asked "Paying by cheque or card?"
Again, and I have stated this in writing numerous times, although anecdotal (anecdotal evidence is still acceptable to build up a data base) there are still highly rated CE3K events. Looking at my archive only around 2% of all the cases from 1947-2000 were looked into. Major incidents were ignored based on percipients/witnesses being black, single females and even "too far to travel" (within the state) -prejudices and almost a need to not want to believe that there might be living(?) entities in the objects they are supposed to be trying to get to the truth of and find answers -all play a part. 1973 saw a peak in reports and in one short space of time, around the date of the Pascagouls incident, encounters were ignored because those involved were black -the same investigators who flatly refused to look into these cases were willing to travel all across the state for a LITS (Light In The Sky) report when it came from a white person.
Another thing to note is that the UFO Wave is almost certainly a fiction. The 1954 UFO Wave was a mix of misidentifications, newspaper hoaxes and other factors. There were what appear to be genuine incidents but there were not "thousands of "genuine, investigated and documented UFO sightings". Note; that some Italian and French investigators who did look into reports some 35, 40 and 50 years after the event, were quite angry that journalists had got details wrong. They were journalists out to sell newspapers not carry out scientific investigations...that was supposedly the Ufologists job? Even today there are those who are in Ufology "intellectual elite" who openly state that they do all their investigations sat in a comfortable chair and by reading news items and based their findings on those. Why has Ufology not proven UFO reality?
The 1973 "World wide UFO wave" can be seen as per 1954. In fact, a peak(s) in CE3K incidents do not occur in those years but, of course, Ufologists do not notice this obvious fact because there are only the Hills, Walton, Pascagoula CE3Ks...right? All of this means that UFOs are not flying across the sky by the thousands each year but are rarer than is thought -Ufology has created a myth that it pushes as factual such as Thomas Mantell having been shot down while fling a jet by a UFO. Never happened. Roswell and the 65 UFO crashes that I listed before giving up -never happened.
https://terryhooper.blogspot.com/2022/12/check-facts-do-not-be-deceived.html
And we know that British Ufologists from the 1970s on faked UFO incidents -sightings and encounters- and were caught out at a UFO conference. No push-back from Ufology and they have never stated which reports were faked or for what reason meaning that from the 1970s on all UFO reports are marked as "dubious" unless personally investigated.
Fraudsters are running Ufology and people have no problem with that. Why hear the truth when fantasy is more Dr Who or X Files orientated and fun? Look at the 'genuine' interest in these reports -my books do not sell because they are not sensationalist lies. The UFO history series of books Haunted Skies I cannot recommend enough but sales are hardly there. Why? Because they are not published in an era where people want to learn and educate themselves with facts.
I have spent from 1974 looking at these reports and it is depressing to see that some are simply 2-4 lines from a newspaper and that is it. Ufology has also been very good at sweeping good reports under the carpet because they do not fit in with the prevailing crowd. This is why individuals get more done because they are not jumping on the money wagon -which is how you make money in Ufology.
Ufology is NOT a Science and never will be.
Monday 21 August 2023
Another Loch Ness Monster search
Loch Ness monster enthusiasts gear up for biggest search in 50 years
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/loch-ness-monster-enthusiasts-gear-050008208.html
It was 90 years ago that Aldie Mackay, manager of the Drumnadrochit hotel, burst into the bar one evening to tell dumbfounded patrons she had just witnessed a “water beast” in Loch Ness.
It was this sighting – zealously reported in the Inverness Courier – that began the modern myth-making around an elusive monster surviving in the depths of the Highland loch – and next weekend hundreds of Nessie enthusiasts are expected to take part in the biggest organised hunt for the mysterious creature in 50 years.
Organised by the newly revamped Loch Ness Centre, volunteers from across the globe will participate in person and online in what is believed to be the largest surface watch, searching for breaks in the water and any inexplicable movements over a two-day period.
In partnership with the voluntary research team Loch Ness Exploration, the hunt will enlist surveying equipment that has never been used on Loch Ness before, including drones to produce thermal images of the water from the air using infrared cameras, as well as a hydrophone to detect acoustic signals beneath the surface.
The recently renovated Loch Ness Centre is located at the old Drumnadrochit hotel, whereAldie Mackay worked.
Over the years, scientists and amateur enthusiasts have endeavoured to find evidence of a large fish such as a sturgeon living in the 230-metre (755ft) deep loch, or even a prehistoric marine reptile like a plesiosaur, but to no avail.
Alan McKenna, of Loch Ness Exploration, who will brief volunteers live from the Loch Ness Centre each morning on what to look out for and how to record findings, said: “It’s always been our goal to record, study and analyse all manner of natural behaviour and phenomena that may be more challenging to explain.
“It’s our hope to inspire a new generation of Loch Ness enthusiasts and by joining this large-scale surface watch, you’ll have a real opportunity to personally contribute towards this fascinating mystery that has captivated so many people from around the world.”
Fraser Campbell, director of the Cobbs Group, which owns the new Drumnadrochit hotel – as well as other sites along the A82, the road that edges the western shore of the loch – said that the renewed interest in the monster legend had led to “unbelievable” bookings across this summer season.
“Hotels and visitor attractions working together is how we are going to survive,” said Campbell, as the Highlands continue to reel from the combined impact of Brexit, depopulation and the cost of living crisis.
The area has much more to offer than a mythical monster, he adds: “At one end we’ve got the UK’s highest mountain and at the other the biggest areas of fresh water. It’s an amazing place and every season is different.”
Paul Nixon, general manager of the Loch Ness Centre, said part of the enduring appeal of the Loch Ness monster story was its accessibility: “You can literally pull up at the side of the loch and be a part of it.”
Timeline
The earliest mention of a monster in the vicinity of the loch dates back to the middle ages when Irish monk St Columba is said to have encountered a “water beast” in the River Ness, which flows from the loch.
The notion came to worldwide attention in 1933, when the Inverness Courier reported on hotel manager Aldie Mackay’s sighting of a “whale-like creature”, and later in the same year, George Spicer told the same paper about seeing “a most extraordinary form of animal” cross the road in front of their car and disappear into the loch.
Mackay later admitted she had known about the ancient tradition of a “beast” in the vicinity of the loch well before her own claimed sighting.
Since the 1940s the creature has been affectionately known as “Nessie”.
In the 1960s the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau was set up and in 1972 undertook the biggest search of the loch to date.
In 1987, Operation Deepscan deployed sonar equipment across the width of the loch and claimed to have found an “unidentified object of unusual size and strength”.
In 2018, an international team of researchers from the universities of Otago, Copenhagen, Hull and the Highlands and Islands did a DNA survey of the loch, looking for unusual species, and later ruled out the presence of any large animals likely to be behind reports of a monster.
Sunday 20 August 2023
Friday 18 August 2023
Wednesday 16 August 2023
Tuesday 15 August 2023
Sunday 13 August 2023
Haunted Skies
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Above are my copies of The Haunted Skies and you will notice via the post-it notes they are regularly looked through and referenced!
The books are published by John Hanson under the Haunted Skies imprint and John has also set up the Great British UFO Learning Centre that one day I need to get over and check out but whether he'll be able to separate me from all those paper files....we'll see!
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