A very merry christmas to everyone and a peacefull new year


Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was submitted by
  (N/A) on Monday, December 24, 2001 at 21:00:08
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

email: N/A

Name: anon

Date: 22/12/01

Time: 23:10

Location: glenrothes,Fife

Witness: I would prefer to remain anonymous

Description: Hovering above my house. Simple disc shape emiting dull white
light occasionaly pulsating brighter and brighter. It appeared to be around
thirty metres above the house but I could not tell how large it was. this
went on for about a minute then the light suddenly faded and I lost sight of
it as it was quite clear

Weather: relatively clear

Evidence: none

Mil\Airbases: unaware of any

Privacy: Anonymous

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


-
******************************************************************
If you see someone without a smile......give them one of yours :0)
******************************************************************
Posted by: Dave Ledger  (mailto:dledger@...)
Visit "UFO SCOTLAND" at: http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk
<A HREF="http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk"> UFO Scotland </A>
UFO SCOTLAND mailing list: mailto:UFOScotland-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UFO SCOTLAND Chatroom: http://irc.gasbubbles.com/ufoscotland.phtml
******************************************************************
THE TRUTH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!..................BUT HOW FAR?
******************************************************************
"The sands of time are trickling away from our dear mother Earth
and yet we continue to fight amongst ourselves and destroy our
natural enviroment,leaving all the mess for our children and their
children's children to inherit when we're gone."

-

ALIENS LIVE AMONG US IN NICER HOUSES!

       Coming soon! Conspiracy Zone

       premieres Jan. 6th at 9PM ET/PT

        on The New TNN!




SEE : http://www.tnnonline.com/shows/conspiracy/
ELVIS SPOTTED WITH JFK IN ROSWELL, NM

Did we really land on the moon? Who shot JFK? What are the seven secret herbs
and spices? We may never know. Then again, if you watch TNN's Conspiracy Zone,
you may find out. Hosted by comic Kevin Nealon, this series casts a
light-hearted yet open-eyed look into the world of the unexplained.

TNN'S CONSPIRACY ZONE

Premieres Jan. 6th, 2002
9PM ET/PT
On the New TNN!

* Watch for John Rhodes and the "HOLLOW EARTH" debate (he will speak about the
REPTOIDS too).



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  spacenews@...
Original Subject: Today on SPACE.com -- Wednesday, December 26, 2001
Original Date:    Wed, 26 Dec 2001 10:25:38 -0500

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Today on SPACE.com -- Wednesday, December 26, 2001 -- http://www.space.com/

* Coolest Space Science Images of 2001
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/coolest_2001_011221.html

The collective upward human gaze yields numerous special images
of space every year. Being a curious lot with a certain mastery
of technology, we keep looking deeper and with greater
resolution at the most remarkable features of the universe, near
and far.

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  SpaceWeather.com <spaceweather@...>
Original Subject: Auroras, the Moon and Saturn...
Original Date:    Wed, 26 Dec 2001 17:14:54 -0600

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Space Weather News for Dec. 26, 2001
http://www.spaceweather.com

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WARNING:  An explosion on the Sun today triggered a
solar proton storm around our planet and hurled a bright coronal mass
ejection (CME) into space.  Although the fast-moving (~1100 km/s) CME was
not squarely Earth-directed, it could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's
magnetosphere as early as Dec. 28th Universal Time -- that is, Thursday
night for North Americans, Friday morning for Europeans. NOAA forecasters
estimate a 10% chance of severe geomagnetic storms at middle latitudes
when the expanding cloud sweeps past Earth.  Sky watchers along the
northern tier of US states (and similar latitudes) should be alert for
auroras during the nights ahead.

THE MOON AND SATURN:  If you find yourself outdoors aurora watching before
dawn on Friday morning, look also for a close encounter between the
nearly-full Moon and Saturn.  The Moon will completely hide the ringed
planet from observers in North America. Visit SpaceWeather.com for
details.

http://www.spaceweather.com

---

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

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you joined our mailing list. If you want to be removed from the list,
please scroll the mail down. You can find the information at the end of this
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FILER'S FILES #52  MUFON Skywatch Investigations
George A. Filer, Director, Mutual UFO Network Eastern
December 27, 2001,  Majorstar@....
Webmaster Chuck Warren http://www.cewarren.com http://www.filersfiles.com,

NORTH POLE REPORT -- A UFO with a red nose light was seen heading south on
December 24, 2001, and has been reported almost every where by NORAD with
sightings in the US , England, France, Italy, Brazil, South Africa,
Australia, Finland, Russia, Afghanistan, India, and, Singapore.  NORAD has
tracked Santa every Christmas Eve since it was founded in 1958.  Santa is
resting after his long journey that included gunfire over the Middle East,
falling bombs in Afghanistan, no fly zones over Iraq, the American Air
Traffic Control System, and fighters launched out of Holloman Air Force Base
at 2:00 AM to intercept.  The NORAD Santa Cam picked up Santa Clause and nine
reindeer, the lead reindeer had a red nose light.

UFOs HAVE BEEN REPORTED in Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, California, and Cuba.  While
Santa reports increased, the number of UFO reports dropped as they have done
in recent years during the Holidays.

SCIENTISTS FIND SUGAR THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE

More of the building blocks of life have been found in meteorites and comets.

A discovery by a NASA scientist of sugar and several related organic
compounds in two carbonaceous meteorites provides the first evidence that
another fundamental building block of life on Earth may have come from outer
space.  A carbonaceous meteorite contains carbon as one of its important
constituents.

Previously, researchers had found in meteorites other organic, carbon-based
compounds that play major roles in life on Earth, such as amino acids and
carboxylic acids, but no sugars.  The new research is reported in a paper,
"Carbonaceous Meteorites as a Source of Sugar-related Organic Compounds for
the Early Earth," by Dr. George Cooper and coworkers at NASA's Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, Calif.    "Finding these compounds greatly adds to our
understanding of what organic materials could have been present on Earth
before life began," Cooper said. "Sugar chemistry appears to be involved in
life as far back as our records go."  As far back as 3.8 billion years, he
said.  An isotope is one of two or more atoms whose nuclei have the same
number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.  Scientists have long
believed meteorites and comets played a role in the origin of life.  Raining
down on Earth during the heavy bombardment period some 3.8 to 4.5 billion
years ago, they brought with them the materials critical for life, such as
oxygen, sulfur, hydrogen and nitrogen.  Sugars and the closely related
compounds discovered by Cooper, collectively called "polyols," are critical
to all known life forms.  They act as components of the nucleic acids RNA and
DNA, constituents of cell membranes.

"This discovery shows that it's highly likely organic synthesis critical to
life has gone on throughout the universe," said Kenneth A. Souza, acting
director of astrobiology and space research at Ames. "Then, on Earth, since
the other critical elements were in place, life could blossom."

Cooper identified a small sugar called "dihydroxyacetone" and several
sugar-like substances, known as sugar acids and sugar alcohols, in his study
of the Murchison and Murray meteorites.  All these are important for life
today.  He also found glucose, one sugar alcohol, glycerol (also known as
glycerin), that is used by all contemporary cells to build cell walls.  The
work is published in the Dec. 20 issue of "Nature" and can be found at:
http://www.nature.com.  Thanks to NASA.gov.

VIRGINIA DISK SEEN

NEWPORT NEWS -- The witness reports that on December 16, 2001, I was outside
with my dog, who was looking up at the sky and backing up.  Something in the
sky startled the dog, so I looked up and saw there was a disc shaped object
zigzagging across the morning sky from east to west at 10:30 AM.  The disc
was glowing, so I yelled for my boyfriend.  My boyfriend said it looked like
a glowing football to him, but I thought it looked like a disc.  It was very
fast and it seemed like it was producing it's own light.  It made no sound
and left no trail of itself being there.  The sky had a few cirrus clouds,
but the majority of the sky was clear.  There was only one craft and I could
see it until it met the line of trees that border the horizon, it continued
to glow for the fifteen minutes we saw it.  Thanks to Peter Davenport
Director NUFORC www.ufocenter.com at Reporting Hotline:(206) 722-3000

FLORIDA BLINKING LIGHTS

NORTH PORT -- The witness reports while driving on interstate I-75 on
December 16, 2001, between exit #33 and #34 an object appeared in the
northeastern sky at dusk.  It was 1000 feet up, and a mile from our current
position.  At first, it appeared to be a plane heading in our direction at
6:05 PM.  Almost immediately the driver of the car and I realized that this
was not an ordinary aircraft.  There were two lights in the front of the
craft like an ordinary commercial airliner but the lights were at least 10-15
feet in diameter and blinking on and off one at a time.  On the top of the
craft were five or six bright blinking lights similar to the strobe effect
what you would see on the top of a tower.  There did not appear to be any
shape of a wing or tail found on either a plane or helicopter.  As we got
closer we saw that there was another large bright white light turning on and
off and the craft was completely stationary just to the side of the
interstate.  I then stuck my head out the window and observed the same bright
lights that were in the front and side of the craft in what now appeared to
be the rear of the craft.  We were going 60 MPH and as soon as I brought my
head into the car the lights completely disappeared.  We scoured the sky for
several minutes, but it was gone.  The  craft was black or gray in color.
There was five cars driving in the group with us and all of the people in the
other cars had baffled looks on their faces.  My driver and I could not
identify the craft.  Thanks to Peter Davenport director@.... Web:
   www.UFOCENTER.com
WISCONSIN FLYING V SHAPED CRAFT

WINTERS -- Joe Trainor writes, "Here's a UFO report I received from an
eyewitness in my area.  I just got it today December 23, 2001.  The sighting
was in the heavily forested region of the Chippewa Flowage in Northern
Wisconsin, south of Ashland, a notorious UFO hotspot.  On August 13, 2001, at
7:00 PM, E. A. Gawlik and his two sons were standing on the shore of the Lake
of the Pines.  The witness says, the sun was just starting to drop below the
tree line behind us.  My son said, "Dad what the heck is that?"  He pointed
to the north and we could see an object approaching from the west at 100 feet
above the tree line moving real slow to the east.  It then flew two hundred
feet above the water and its speed could not be more than 30 mile per hour.
It was a bright silver object about the size of a dime held out at arm's
length.  I saw a metallic almost reflective object that without my glasses
was round.  My boys both said they saw a "V" shaped object.  It was a quarter
of a mile away moving very slowly to the east across the lake.  After fifteen
seconds the object turned into a small red dot.  The red dot lasted about
one-second and then it vanished.  Thanks to Joe Trainor, reports@...
and eagawlik4579@...

MISSOURI

MANITOU SPRINGS -- Kevin Jones reports that he was on 20 Mile Hike with the
Boy Scouts in the autumn of 1976.  At 10:00 PM, after camp was pitched I was
looking at an incalculable number of stars.  A light that looked like a star
moved slowly across the sky.  The light entered a box that could be drawn
with imaginary lines between four stars and started to bounce erratically
never leaving the confines of this box.  Next we saw a faster moving light
pulsating at a rapid, standard rate pass though the sky.  Then we saw another
solid light rocket across the sky low, along the tree line.  Before long, the
sky seemed to be alive with moving objects.  We saw a grouping of three stars
in a triangular formation that flew across the sky but each individual point
of light took turns taking the lead.  It traveled always leading with the
point.  We saw more than a dozen lights in motion.  All of this yellowish
starlight lights, solid and flashing, were about the same size and intensity
of bright stars.

We ran to get to camp to show the other Scouts.  At about half way there I
noticed larger illuminated objects floating over the fallow field.  We saw
relatively close lights the size of beach balls.  These objects were round
and internally illuminated, the color of dirty streetlights.  The light did
not seem to be focused in a beam but rather evenly radiating.  The motion was
like an under-inflated balloon over very hot pavement.  As the pavement heats
the balloon rises quickly.  As it rises, the air in the balloon cools so it
rises more and more slowly until the balloon achieves neutral buoyancy.  This
state lasts for only a moment until the balloon begins to sink.  The sinking
slows closer to the ground as the air inside reheats and so the cycle starts
again.  There were three or four of these bumping around over the field.
They could have been the size of cars.  Thanks to Kevin Jones
kevinjones@...

TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO LIGHTS ATTACKED

TUCUMCARI -- Lord Vile reports that a half dozen witnesses saw a high speed
object moving southeast across the sky towards Texas on December 1, 2001, in
the late evening sky.  You could hear the roar of several F-16 fighters
chasing the lights.  These lights changed direction numerous times as the
fighters gave chase.  At first they flew east, then south and then a 180
degree turn to the north.  Suddenly the fighters fired eight to ten air to
air missiles at the evading lights.  An airborne explosion was followed by
what appeared to a crash of the unknown object.

The witnesses scanned the news reports for more information.  Television
verified that missiles had been fired at an unknown object.  Later NORAD
announced that a Proton rocket had been used to launch three satellites from
Russia ten hours earlier.  The rocket had reentered the atmosphere at
approximately 2120 hours, Mountain time on Saturday, December 01, 2001.  The
actual Proton rocket debris was reported with white "tails", slower and
larger than shooting stars were seen moving from southwest to northeast.
However, accounts that reached the National Reporting Center and myself
described what appeared to be more than just the reentry of a single rocket.
Normally, reentry vehicles do not change course, nor are they chased by
fighter aircraft.

Rick Bordignon reported to NASA he was in a commercial airliner bound for Las
Vegas when he saw them. "I was looking out the left window into the starry
night when I noticed an approaching light," he recalled. "I was thinking,
Hmmmmm, looks like a missile.  But rather than raise a general sense of panic
by yelling 'Incoming!,' I did the next best thing and got out my camera.  "I
snapped one picture, but my camera is poor in low light.  So I stopped to
adjust the settings.  When I looked out again I was amazed by what I saw:
hundreds of objects with colorful glowing tails!  So I snapped another one
but it only picked up the brightest fragments -- and it was shaky, too. "The
light plume [seemed to] go up and over our plane.  After it was gone I looked
around to judge the reactions of the other passengers -- and I swear everyone
was sleeping!  "When I got off the plane, I tracked down the pilot. He said
every pilot in the Midwest saw it and it was the 'buzz of the frequencies.'
They had never witnessed anything like it before."  See following URL for
details: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast03dec_1.htm?list49634ed

Editor's Note:  Whenever, space debris is spotted there are frequently
additional UFO reports.  We could simply ignore these reports, but a pattern
is developing.  First space debris, then numerous UFO reports, then strange
associated reports not really explained such as the Louisiana report below.
Are we using space debris for target practice or are UFOs attempting to
penetrate the atmosphere using the standard space debris for cover?

LOUISIANA TWO LOW ALTITUDE, LARGE, SLOW MOVING CIGARS

S.BOSSIER -- Possibly connected to these reports on December 1, 2001, the
witness reports hearing a tremendous roaring sound at 8:45 PM, (CST).  The
noise made their house vibrate, so the witness went outside on his deck and
saw two large, low altitude craft, flying at about 2,000 feet or less.  The
craft had a strange lighting configuration, very bright red lights in the
"center of both craft, and bright white lights on front and back.  It was a
clear night with good visibility.  There were no wing lights or tail lights,
just lights spanning the length of both craft!  There were no green lights or
other lights that FAA requires.  These craft were extremely noisy, rumbling
and roaring, to the point, I feared a crash was about to occur!  The duration
of the sighting was too long to be conventional jets, judging by their size
and altitude.  Being so low and large, it was hard for me to comprehend how
they could stay airborne.  There may have been more then two, but I only saw
two craft the size of B-52's bombers. However, they were not jets like those,
they flew much too low and slow!  Thanks to Peter Davenport www.ufocenter.com

ARIZONA STAR-LIKE LIGHT VISIBLE WITH THE SUN RISEN

TEMPE This may be pretty weak, but as the sun started rising this morning at
8:00 AM I saw what looked like a bright star, about 2 degrees below the moon
on December 3, 2001.  What was unusual was that the sun was rising, and there
were no other stars out.  I was driving to work a distance of 20 miles, and
throughout that drive the star was still visible.  Even now, with the sun
entirely raised and sun beating down on the ground, the dot, though very
faint is still visible.  The position of the dot stayed constant relative to
the moon, which leads me to believe it was very far away.  It is possibly a
satellite in synchronous orbit or a planet?  but I've never noticed such a
thing before, and certainly not with the sky so bright. It did not make any
movement while I was watching it.

WASHINGTON LIGHTS

TROUT LAKE -- With over 2000 eyewitnesses here at the Sattva Sanctuary in
Trout Lake, some of which are Astro/Nuclear/Plasma physicists, 14+ hours of
video of ships stopping, lighting up on command, accelerating, making right
angle turns, landing and morphing into as many as four brilliant lights then
back to one, appearing with pre-knowledge right on schedule, and with
pictures taken by UFO investigators etc., it seems this is not enough.  This
case, if the evidence presented in a court of law, would win hands down as
proof UFOs are real.  People are executed on less evidence.  There are even
pictures of ships stepping down in vibration.  Scientists, such as Jim Todd
at the Omsi Planetarium say these are nothing more than satellites.  We are
at a complete loss as to how a scientist with any ability to reason or apply
scientific method could make such a statement after viewing the footage.

These objects are coming in every size shape and color, are seen by multiple
eyewitnesses.  They are shown maneuvering, responding to requests by people
on the ground to light up, landing on the mountain, and flying behind trees.
They allowed us to photograph them with pre-knowledge of the event.  Any
reasonable mind would come to the conclusion that these are unknowns, they do
not fit into any know parameter and indeed need further study.  There is no
landing strip in the nearby forest, and satellites do not change directions,
stop, and land.  Enjoy the latest photos:
http://www.cazekiel.org/eceti/photos2.htm

OREGON FLYING TRIANGLE

GRANTS PASS -- On December 15, 2001, the witness was driving to Eugene from
Medford and happened to look out of the window and through the clouds saw a
very large blinking red light.  His mother was driving down the freeway so he
had an opportunity to study it.  It was 6:10 PM, and at first he thought it
was just an airplane, but the witness states, "I kept looking at it, and was
surprised by the large amount of area it was lighting up."  It was moving
from north to west, now very rapidly, still blinking, then I saw its huge
enormous size as it was blinking and realized that this wasn't an airplane,
and had to be a UFO.  There was no doubt in my mind.  It was a very large
Flying Triangle UFO outlined with blinking red lights.  The triangular shape
was very large, and moving west closer down into the mountains, outlined in
red blinking lights.  Thanks to Peter B. Davenport, Director National UFO
Reporting Center www.ufocenter.com
CALIFORNIA CIRCLE

SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS -- On December 10, 2001, the witness a filmmaker was on
a backpacking trip at Henry Cowe State Park with my father and his best
friend, who were sleeping when I saw this one.  I looked up and saw something
moving twenty times faster than a plane at 3:00 AM.  There was a sphere of
light blazing through the night sky.  I have always thought the existence of
UFOs very possible.  My father and his friend at other times have actually
seen UFOs.  It was way too big and didn't move like a shooting star, and it
had no tail either.  From what I could see in twenty seconds was white in
color, like a light.  It came from beyond the horizon and just as fast as it
came it darted back into the sky.  I thought to myself: "That had to be a
UFO. think it's obvious these things exist.    Thanks to Peter B. Davenport,
www.ufocenter.com

CUBA UFO SEEN BY PILOTS

MANZANILLO --  Nick Balaskas writes that he just got back from Cuba and what
may turn out to be a UFO encountered by the pilots of a Canadian charter
airplane I was a passenger on.  Our Airbus 320 Skyservice plane (flight
SV524) was making a nighttime approach on December 14, 2001, to the airport
near Cayo Coco, Cuba.
We were startled when we heard the engines get louder and felt pushed down
into our seats.  This was shortly followed by a near weightlessness
sensation.  The captain announced that his instruments detected a false
signal of another aircraft in the area and in the interest of safety he took
evasive actions.  This was the reason for what we felt.

My final destination was the next airport near Manzanillo, Cuba, but all the
passengers were asked to disembark at Cayo Coco so the aircraft could be
cleaned for new passengers.  I spoke with a few of these passengers who said
they saw our plane "go around" after seeing a single red light fly low over
the airport as we were coming to land.  They thought it may have been a small
plane but could not explain why only a red light was observed.  Apart from
our plane, there were no others on the ground at that airport that night.

Getting back in the plane, I told the flight attendant standing by the door
next to the cockpit about the red light seen by passengers at the airport (in
a loud enough voice so the pilots could hear too who turned their heads in my
direction).  She suggested it may have been a UFO and said she would find out
for me.  I never heard back from her.  I later told the passengers seating
next me who experienced what I did and they thought they would be more
comfortable with the explanation of a near collision with a UFO than the
thought of flying in an airplane with faulty instruments.  Is there anyway of
finding out what really happened during that aborted night landing?  Thanks
to  Nick Balaskas

NEW YORK SCI-FI VIDEO ANALYSIS

NEW YORK CITY -- SCI FI Channel has repeatedly ran an advertisement that
showed  the following has announcement: "Get the Whole Story@
SCIFI.com/happens", then "SCIFI Happens in NY."  Then a thirty second video
is shown of a women riding in a helicopter on July 24 2000, near the World
Trade Center Towers.  She points to a UFO behind one of the towers that
suddenly acceleration and flies past the helicopter.  As it climbs up out of
sight the UFO leaves a contrail.  MUFON's Jeff Sainio has analyzed the video
for us and has made the following findings:

"Since careful analysis of the video shows the expected westward motion of
the helicopter, and even cars moving through an intersection, the background
video appears real, with presumably the UFO pasted in.  The violent motion of
the helicopter appears difficult to explain in this scenario, with the
chopper below the tops of, and only a few hundred feet away from nearby
skyscrapers.  Such aerobatics seem like a risk to life or a pilot's license."
  I improved my image-analysis software, allowing me to stabilize the image of
the UFO contrail.  Previously, with only cloudy reference images, the
field-by-field motion of the UFO couldn't be reliably measured.  With
stabilization, the UFO motion is shown,  toward the end of visibility, the
UFO only moves every other field (i.e. every frame, not every field).  This
is conclusive evidence that the UFO was edited into the video by a lazy faker
who didn't bother working on every field as required for a real video.  I
re-checked the helicopter motion and merely got better images verifying my
previous conclusions that the helicopter did some violent motion, and the
blades bounced around quite a bit.  Thanks to Jeff Sainio,
Jeffrey.Sainio@...

MARS SURFACE MAY HAVE WATER

NASA reports that its Scientists already know there is water ice in the polar
cap.  However, water ice near the surface in warmer regions of the planet
would be a remarkable and long-sought finding that would have broad
implications in the search for extraterrestrial life.  The data, collected
during tests of Odyssey's neutron spectrometer, show signs of hydrogen, which
may mean there is water.  Hydrogen is one component of water but also exists
alone and in other substances.  NASA researchers stressed that the findings
are preliminary at a meeting at the American Geophysical Union in San
Francisco.  The detection of hydrogen points to the possibility that there is
water ice within 3 feet (1 meter) of the surface, said James Garvin, lead
scientist for the Mars Exploration Program.  "But whatever it is, it bodes
very well for finding hydrogen in the upper few feet of Mars, and the most
likely culprit is water ice."  Such ice might melt in summer months and would
be reachable by robotic or human explorers.  It might even support microbial
life, as researchers have found on Earth that wherever there is water, there
is life.  Bill Feldman, the principal investigator of Odyssey's neutron
spectrometer reports the quantity of hydrogen detected was startling --
suggesting a huge concentration relative to what was found with a similar
instrument on Lunar Prospector, which surveyed the Moon.  Researchers may
task Odyssey to begin mapping crustal water ice during the first week
January,  Garvin said.

Garvin said a great story might be about to unfold.  The hydrogen detection
was made during the first test of Odyssey's neutron spectrometer, a subsystem
of a gamma ray spectrometer instrument.  Garvin explained that the
speculation of water ice is based on comparing observations over the
permanent ice cap with observations farther south.  Scientists know that the
polar cap contains both water ice and carbon dioxide ice, commonly thought of
as dry ice.  "This pass suggested that hydrogen was enriched in a
high-latitude region extending from around 55 degrees North to near to the
edge of the North polar cap," Garvin said.  "This suggests, that if the
hydrogen in the northern high latitudes is water, that there is ice in the
upper meter or so of this region and that it is masked by a carbon  dioxide
frost cover on the permanent cap."  Thanks to SPACE.com.

Editor's Note:  There have been strong photographic indications of water on
Mars for many years.

PRAYER IS POWERFUL!

ABC News announced on Christmas Eve that prayer, chanting, meditation and
similar forms of prayer have an amazing effect on the human body.  Blood
pressure is lowered and a feeling of relief from stress is accomplished.
Praying is excellent for your own good health and mental well being.  Also,
those who are sick are most likely to recover if prayed for by others.

Just before Christmas, several ministers were invited to the White House to
meet with President Bush who was energetic, joyful, and very focused.  One
minister asked President Bush how he could seem so calm and peaceful in the
midst of all the tragedy?  The President's reply was, "I'm feeling stronger
now than I've ever been in my life.  And the reason is because every person
in America is praying for me.  When I stay on my knees, that's when I have
power."  The ministers then asked the President how he would like them to
pray for him, and how their congregations back home should be praying.  The
President asked for clarity of mind so that he could make wise decisions, and
then he asked that we pray specifically for his wife and two daughters, as he
is very concerned about their safety.  No human leader is perfect, so let's
keep President Bush lifted up in prayer.

This years tragedies on September 11, changed the world.  Terrorism was able
to destroy some great buildings and kill some 3000 mostly innocent civilians.
  There is still a moral distinction between killing soldiers and civilians.
I hope a lesson is learned that little was gained by either side by these
actions.  Just when the UFO Disclosure Project was starting to gain momentum
the world was only concerned with terrorism and finding those responsible.
May God bless America and may His glory be done in the midst of this tragedy!
  God reigns over heaven and earth and I hope there is a Happy New Year for us
all.  A prayer for us all might even help heal your own body and perhaps our
world.

NEW NASA SHUTTLE VIDEO OF UFOs IN SPACE

Jeff Challender has prepared a new tape of various UFOs that were caught on
recent Shuttle video footage.  Jeff has over an hour-long tape of UFOs shot
in space.  Jeff spends hundreds of hours watching the shuttle broadcasts from
space and is now an expert on NASA missions and even those onboard the
shuttle are unlikely to see what Jeff does.  Using Jeff's directions you will
be able to learn the difference between space junk, ice crystals and real
UFOs.  I feel confident we could go into a court of law and convince any jury
that there are UFOs moving at high speed around the Earth.  Send $25 to: Jeff
Challender 2768 Mendel Way - Sacramento, California 95833-2011 Jeff has an
operation his back and is still in pain, we ask you to send your prayers.

NEW UFO STORE IS NOW OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The new UFO Store is open on our web site with some of the best UFO books and
paraphernalia available.  Help support UFO research by purchasing through us!
  Filer's Files is dedicated to uncovering the truth about UFOs and has sent
them out free since January 1997.  Your support is needed to cover expenses,
and when you shop in our store, you get the satisfaction of quality products,
with the knowledge that you have helped support the search for the truth.
Come help our adventure, while supporting UFO research!  Order online today,
at http://www.filersfiles.com/ufostore/index.htm

MUFON UFO JOURNAL -- For more detailed monthly investigative reports
subscribe to the MUFON JOURNAL that costs only $30 per year by contacting
MUFONHQ@....  Mention that I recommended you for membership.  Filer's
Files is copyrighted 2001 by George A. Filer, all rights reserved.  Readers
may post the complete files on their Web Sites if they credit the newsletter
and its editor by name and list the date of issue that the item appeared.
These reports and comments are not necessarily the OFFICIAL MUFON viewpoint.
Send your letters to Majorstar@....  Sending mail automatically grants
permission for us to publish and use your name.  Please state if you wish to
keep your name, address, or story confidential.  Caution, most of these are
initial reports and require further investigation.

Happy Holidays, and may God grant you all your Holiday wishes.

George A. Filer





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\
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If you want to be removed form the list,
you can unsubscribe your email address from the same
place you subcribed. http://www.filersfiles.com/index.shtml#subscribe

Project Starshine my ass. More like balls in space.

Aren't these silly baubels just going to add to the clutter of space junk
already circling the planet, and cause yet more light pollution?

And more germane to this list, won't they make it easier for the authorities to
dismiss UFO sightings as 'space disco ball' reflections?  You must admit, it
beats the old 'weather balloon' baloney.

Have a good new year everybody.

DRC.
----- Original Message -----
From: Frits Westra
Sent: 22 December 2001 20:32
To: UFOnet@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [UFOnet] Fwd = Project Starshine (covered by 845 aluminum mirrors)


Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  Internet Scout Project <scout@...>
Original Subject: The Scout Report -- December 21, 2001
Original Date:    Fri, 21 Dec 2001 13:29:01 -0600

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Project Starshine
http://www.azinet.com/starshine/

NASA Mission Specialist Dan Tani successfully deployed Starshine
2 from the Space Shuttle Endeavor into its own orbit. What
exactly is Project Starshine? Its name stands for Student
Tracked Atmospheric Research Satellite, a cooperative project
producing an 85 pound sphere-shaped satellite with a surface
covered by 845 aluminum mirrors. The mirrors were polished by
30,000 students in 660 schools in 26 countries. A nitrogen gas
system will spin Starshine 2 so that, students hope, it will
cast solar reflections onto Earth at certain times. At this
Website you can read about Starshine 1 and 2, learn how the
middle school students polished and assembled the mirrors, and
download forms for teachers who want their classes to
participate in Starshine 3/4, the next cooperative satellite
launch. Visitors to the Starshine site can also link to pages
giving information on how to catch a glimpse of the gleaming,
space disco ball from their backyards. [HCS]

From The Scout Report, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2001.
http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================



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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@...>
Original Subject: UFO UpDate: Alfred's Odd Observation #002
Original Date:    Wed, 26 Dec 2001 21:27:15 -0500

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

From: Alfred Lehmberg <Lehmberg@...>
To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@...>
Subject: Alfred's Odd Observation #002
Date: Wed, 26 Dec 2001 17:27:19 -0600


Alfred's Odd Observation #002 (Saturday December 26, 2001.)

A few mornings of miserable weather, one futile dry-run during
excellent viewing conditions, and at least one iteration of
liberal holiday libation... (I guess that could be placed under
the category of temporary illness <g>) induced a complete lack
of sighting opportunities. This explains the paucity of reports
over the last couple of days. This morning proved to be an
auspicious break to the short ufological famine. I would have
two anomalous sightings between 03:45 and 05:15.

At 04:35 a dim greenish light appeared beneath the paws of Leo
at about fifty five degrees elevation and traveled about 60
degrees of distance to the north. It maintained a steady track,
but seemed to vary it's apparent ground speed. One 5 degree
segment took 20 seconds to complete and another took 25 seconds
in about 6 minutes of observation.

Steady field glasses could resolve no further detail but the
point source of light. A typical "moving star". No sign of
aircraft position lights could be seen. The "light" was dimmer
than Polaris and maintained that degree of luminosity from blink
on to blink off.

At 4:50 and due east a bright white strobe flashed that was
brighter in magnitude than the star Sirius which chased Orion to
the horizon behind me to the west. I noted the azimuth and
started counting seconds. Experience with these "flashers"
demonstrates that continued observation of the area is usually
rewarded with another flash some 20 to 40 seconds later. The
second flash occurred 23 seconds later two degrees to the left
of the first flash and moving north. Twenty-three seconds later
another flash was observed to travel an additional two degrees
further north. This pattern cycled six times before the apparent
movement took the object out of view behind a tree.

The long frequency between strobes and absence of position
lights precludes aircraft. There was no sound from either
sighting.

Prosaic explanations are, of course, not forthcoming, or you
wouldn't be reading a report. I'm only interested in reporting
the anomalous articles I observe. Read Shermer, Posner, Oberg,
Korff, or Klass for prosaic explanations, as I'm not going to
waste the reader's time with head-in-the-sand skeptibunky
platitudes or other transparent enigma denial. I'll only report
the strange.

Until next time then...


Lehmberg@...

~~Ö~~
EXPLORE "Alfred Lehmberg's Alien View" at his HostPros URL.
http://www.alienview.net


JOHN FORD RESTORATION FUND -- John will be released eventually.
He'll need a tax free cash stake to get on his feet. Let's put
one together for him; the bigger it is -- the more attention he
gets. It could have been you. E-mail for detail. $350.00 pledged
-- $200.00 collected!

"I cleave the heavens, and soar to the infinite. What others see
from afar, I leave far behind me." - Giordano Bruno, scourged by
scurrilous skepti-bunkies.

\_______________________________________________/

UFO UpDates - Toronto - ufoupdates@...
A UFO & Related Phenomena E-Mail List operated by
Errol Bruce-Knapp

UFO UpDates Archives are available at
The Virtually Strange Network:

http://www.virtuallystrange.net/

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  JPLNews@...
Original Subject: Mars Odyssey Mission Status
Original Date:    Thu, 27 Dec 2001 13:29:07 -0800 (PST)

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

               Mars Odyssey Mission Status
                     December 27, 2001

      Flight controllers of NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey mission
report that the aerobraking phase is proceeding right on
schedule and should be completed in early January.  During the
aerobraking phase of the mission, the spacecraft is controlled
so it skims the upper reaches of the martian atmosphere on
each orbit, to reduce the vehicle's speed.

      Today, Odyssey's orbital period is three hours and 15
minutes, compared with the initial 18-and-a-half hours when
the spacecraft first entered orbit in October.  The orbital
period is the time required to complete one revolution around
the planet.

      "We plan to perform a maneuver to raise the spacecraft
up out of the atmosphere in early January.  After that it will
take about a month for us to circularize the orbit using our
onboard thrusters and then prepare to start the science
mission," said David A. Spencer, Odyssey's mission manager at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.  The
primary two-and-a-half year science mission is scheduled to
begin in February.

      The high energy neutron detector provided by Russia's
Space Institute has operated throughout much of the
aerobraking phase and has completed its calibration in
preparation for the science mission.  The instrument is part
of the gamma ray spectrometer payload suite, designed to map
the elemental composition of the martian surface.  Among its
many science objectives, Odyssey will attempt to determine the
amount and location of any near-surface water on Mars, if it
exists.

      JPL manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's
Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Principal
investigators at Arizona State University in Tempe, the
University of Arizona in Tucson, and NASA's Johnson Space
Center, Houston, Texas, operate the science instruments.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, Colo., is the prime
contractor for the project, and developed and built the
orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from
Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena.  NASA's Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va., is providing aerobraking support to
JPL's navigation team during mission operations.

# # # # #


12/27/01  MAH
2001-247

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
Washington, D.C. 20546

December 27, 2001

RELEASE 2002-032: JET PROPULSION LABORATORY EMPLOYEES CHARGED WITH
CONSPIRACY AND EMBEZZLEMENT

On December 12, 2001, Steven Craig Kamine of Moreno Valley,
California, was arrested and charged with Conspiracy, Embezzlement, and
Petty Theft.  Kamine is a senior mechanical technician employed by the
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and works at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.  On December 19,
2001, Richard Ming of West Los Angeles, California, surrendered himself
to the Superior Court of the Pasadena Judicial District and was charged
with Conspiracy and Embezzlement.  Ming is a former Caltech employee
who worked at JPL as an information technology systems administrator.

Kamine and Ming were allegedly involved in a scheme involving
embezzlement, time card fraud, submissions of false claims for payment
of services, and misuse of government equipment.  Allegedly, Kamine and
Ming used the JPL machine shop and other NASA equipment, sometimes
during work hours, to manufacture prototypes of aluminum foot pedals
for Ming's private business, Import Development, Inc.

Kamine and Ming allegedly submitted false timecards that stated they
worked on official business when in fact they had been working for
Import Development, Inc.  Ming allegedly used his government computer
during official work hours to promote his business.  In addition, Ming
allegedly paid Kamine $410 for his services, even though Kamine had
been using NASA equipment and resources to provide those services.

A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for January 17, 2002.

Special Agents of the NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of
Criminal Investigations, and the Security and Plant Protection Office,
JPL, Pasadena, California, conducted this investigation.  Deputy
District Attorneys Kathleen Gentry and Ryan Gerber are handling the
prosecution.

For more information on this release, please call Samuel A. Maxey,
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations at (202) 358-2580.

                             *** End ***





Please do not contact NASA Office of Public Affairs for information on
Office of Inspector General releases.

For additional information on the NASA Office of Inspector General,
including published reviews, audit reports, inspection/assessment reports,
press releases, and other publications, please access our web site at:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq

Report Crime, Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Mismanagement to the NASA OIG
Hotline at:  800-424-9183, TDD 800-535-8134.


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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

"Sugar from space may have nourished the first life on Earth. Two
meteorites contain a range of polyols, organic substances closely
related to sugars such as glucose"

Full article at:

http://www.nature.com/nsu/011220/011220-11.html

Joe

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL:              http://www.spacedaily.com/news/asteroid-01m.html
Original Date:    Thu, 27 Dec 2001 14:42:52 -0800

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


    Arecibo Asteroid Radar Project Gets One Year Reprieve

    Washington - Dec 21, 2001
    Dr. Colleen Hartman, Director of Solar System Exploration at NASA, has
    issued a Dear Colleague letter revising NASA's earlier decision and
    has restored funding for radar astronomy at Arecibo for the current
    fiscal year. Her letter is quoted below:

    Dear Colleague,

    After five years without any increase for inflation, the Supporting
    Research and Technology (SR&T) Programs of NASA's Office of Space
    Science have secured a modest FY 02 increase. This increase, while
    welcome and necessary, cannot undo the effects of the previous period
    of static funding.

    The current budget for the Near Earth Objects Observations (NEOO)
    program faces some especially difficult choices. Out of the entire FY
    02 NEOO budget of $3.55M, a full $3M is committed to Search and
    Follow-up observational programs designed to discover large NEOs or to
    obtain follow-up astrometry of these objects (to improve our knowledge
    of their orbits).

    This priority responds to a Congressional imperative that the
    detection rate of Earth-orbit "crossing asteroids must be increased
    substantially" (HR Report 105-610, 105th Congress 2d session. p.
    30,1990), and to NASA's own 1998 commitment to achieving the goal of
    detecting and cataloging 90% of NEOs larger than 1 km in diameter
    within ten years"

    S-band radar planetary observation efforts at Arecibo remain a
    valuable part of this commitment, and will continue to be funded with
    $400K in FY 02. That support includes the cost of turbine fuel,
    observation planning and operation of the S-band radar system, as well
    as ephemerides predictions.

    In order to bring these efforts into line with other elements of the
    NEOO program, Arecibo's S-band radar observations will be subject from
    now on to peer-review evaluation. Discussions will also be held with
    the National Science Foundation to determine whether that agency might
    provide additional funding for these observations.

    signed,
    Dr. Colleen N. Hartman
    Director, Solar System Exploration
    Office of Space Science

    The DPS applauds this action and is grateful for the restoration of
    this most important program. The DPS is also highly supportive of Dr.
    Hartman's suggestion to broaden the support base for ground-based
    radar astronomy with the NSF.

    The DPS is the world's largest professional organization dedicated to
    the exploration of the solar system.

    SPACE.WIRE

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

----- Original Message -----
From: <XXXXXXX>
To: <sightings@...>
Sent: Friday, December 28, 2001 12:43 AM
Subject: UFO Sighting


Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was submitted by
  XXXXXX on Friday, December 28, 2001 at 00:43:39
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

email: XXXXXXXX

Name: G

Date: june 2000

Time: midnight

Location: clydebank

Description: Me and about 5 friends were sitting on a hill and we saw an
object about 2miles away at first we thought it was a plane then we noticed
it flying in odd ways going one way real fast then another way real fast
then changin colour and going into a sorta forest another time i was in my
bedroom and i saw about 3objects in the sky one object came and the other
flew away then another came and then the 3 were there at once then they jst
flew away ...

Mil\Airbases: There is an airport next to both the sightings...

Privacy: Anonymous

---------------------------------------------------------------------------


-
******************************************************************
If you see someone without a smile......give them one of yours :0)
******************************************************************
Posted by: Dave Ledger  (mailto:dledger@...)
Visit "UFO SCOTLAND" at: http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk
<A HREF="http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk"> UFO Scotland </A>
UFO SCOTLAND mailing list: mailto:UFOScotland-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UFO SCOTLAND Chatroom: http://irc.gasbubbles.com/ufoscotland.phtml
******************************************************************
THE TRUTH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!..................BUT HOW FAR?
******************************************************************
"The sands of time are trickling away from our dear mother Earth
and yet we continue to fight amongst ourselves and destroy our
natural enviroment,leaving all the mess for our children and their
children's children to inherit when we're gone."

-

FILER'S FILES #52  MUFON Skywatch Investigations
George A. Filer, Director, Mutual UFO Network Eastern
December 27, 2001,  Majorstar@....
Webmaster Chuck Warren http://www.cewarren.com http://www.filersfiles.com,

NORTH POLE REPORT -- A UFO with a red nose light was seen heading south on
December 24, 2001, and has been reported almost every where by NORAD with
sightings in the US , England, France, Italy, Brazil, South Africa,
Australia, Finland, Russia, Afghanistan, India, and, Singapore.  NORAD has
tracked Santa every Christmas Eve since it was founded in 1958.  Santa is
resting after his long journey that included gunfire over the Middle East,
falling bombs in Afghanistan, no fly zones over Iraq, the American Air
Traffic Control System, and fighters launched out of Holloman Air Force Base
at 2:00 AM to intercept.  The NORAD Santa Cam picked up Santa Clause and
nine
reindeer, the lead reindeer had a red nose light.

UFOs HAVE BEEN REPORTED in Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma,
Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, California, and Cuba.  While
Santa reports increased, the number of UFO reports dropped as they have done
in recent years during the Holidays.

SCIENTISTS FIND SUGAR THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE

More of the building blocks of life have been found in meteorites and
comets.

A discovery by a NASA scientist of sugar and several related organic
compounds in two carbonaceous meteorites provides the first evidence that
another fundamental building block of life on Earth may have come from outer
space.  A carbonaceous meteorite contains carbon as one of its important
constituents.

Previously, researchers had found in meteorites other organic, carbon-based
compounds that play major roles in life on Earth, such as amino acids and
carboxylic acids, but no sugars.  The new research is reported in a paper,
"Carbonaceous Meteorites as a Source of Sugar-related Organic Compounds for
the Early Earth," by Dr. George Cooper and coworkers at NASA's Ames Research
Center, Moffett Field, Calif.    "Finding these compounds greatly adds to
our
understanding of what organic materials could have been present on Earth
before life began," Cooper said. "Sugar chemistry appears to be involved in
life as far back as our records go."  As far back as 3.8 billion years, he
said.  An isotope is one of two or more atoms whose nuclei have the same
number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.  Scientists have long
believed meteorites and comets played a role in the origin of life.  Raining
down on Earth during the heavy bombardment period some 3.8 to 4.5 billion
years ago, they brought with them the materials critical for life, such as
oxygen, sulfur, hydrogen and nitrogen.  Sugars and the closely related
compounds discovered by Cooper, collectively called "polyols," are critical
to all known life forms.  They act as components of the nucleic acids RNA
and
DNA, constituents of cell membranes.

"This discovery shows that it's highly likely organic synthesis critical to
life has gone on throughout the universe," said Kenneth A. Souza, acting
director of astrobiology and space research at Ames. "Then, on Earth, since
the other critical elements were in place, life could blossom."

Cooper identified a small sugar called "dihydroxyacetone" and several
sugar-like substances, known as sugar acids and sugar alcohols, in his study
of the Murchison and Murray meteorites.  All these are important for life
today.  He also found glucose, one sugar alcohol, glycerol (also known as
glycerin), that is used by all contemporary cells to build cell walls.  The
work is published in the Dec. 20 issue of "Nature" and can be found at:
http://www.nature.com.  Thanks to NASA.gov.

VIRGINIA DISK SEEN

NEWPORT NEWS -- The witness reports that on December 16, 2001, I was outside
with my dog, who was looking up at the sky and backing up.  Something in the
sky startled the dog, so I looked up and saw there was a disc shaped object
zigzagging across the morning sky from east to west at 10:30 AM.  The disc
was glowing, so I yelled for my boyfriend.  My boyfriend said it looked like
a glowing football to him, but I thought it looked like a disc.  It was very
fast and it seemed like it was producing it's own light.  It made no sound
and left no trail of itself being there.  The sky had a few cirrus clouds,
but the majority of the sky was clear.  There was only one craft and I could
see it until it met the line of trees that border the horizon, it continued
to glow for the fifteen minutes we saw it.  Thanks to Peter Davenport
Director NUFORC www.ufocenter.com at Reporting Hotline:(206) 722-3000

FLORIDA BLINKING LIGHTS

NORTH PORT -- The witness reports while driving on interstate I-75 on
December 16, 2001, between exit #33 and #34 an object appeared in the
northeastern sky at dusk.  It was 1000 feet up, and a mile from our current
position.  At first, it appeared to be a plane heading in our direction at
6:05 PM.  Almost immediately the driver of the car and I realized that this
was not an ordinary aircraft.  There were two lights in the front of the
craft like an ordinary commercial airliner but the lights were at least
10-15
feet in diameter and blinking on and off one at a time.  On the top of the
craft were five or six bright blinking lights similar to the strobe effect
what you would see on the top of a tower.  There did not appear to be any
shape of a wing or tail found on either a plane or helicopter.  As we got
closer we saw that there was another large bright white light turning on and
off and the craft was completely stationary just to the side of the
interstate.  I then stuck my head out the window and observed the same
bright
lights that were in the front and side of the craft in what now appeared to
be the rear of the craft.  We were going 60 MPH and as soon as I brought my
head into the car the lights completely disappeared.  We scoured the sky for
several minutes, but it was gone.  The  craft was black or gray in color.
There was five cars driving in the group with us and all of the people in
the
other cars had baffled looks on their faces.  My driver and I could not
identify the craft.  Thanks to Peter Davenport director@.... Web:
   www.UFOCENTER.com
WISCONSIN FLYING V SHAPED CRAFT

WINTERS -- Joe Trainor writes, "Here's a UFO report I received from an
eyewitness in my area.  I just got it today December 23, 2001.  The sighting
was in the heavily forested region of the Chippewa Flowage in Northern
Wisconsin, south of Ashland, a notorious UFO hotspot.  On August 13, 2001,
at
7:00 PM, E. A. Gawlik and his two sons were standing on the shore of the
Lake
of the Pines.  The witness says, the sun was just starting to drop below the
tree line behind us.  My son said, "Dad what the heck is that?"  He pointed
to the north and we could see an object approaching from the west at 100
feet
above the tree line moving real slow to the east.  It then flew two hundred
feet above the water and its speed could not be more than 30 mile per hour.
It was a bright silver object about the size of a dime held out at arm's
length.  I saw a metallic almost reflective object that without my glasses
was round.  My boys both said they saw a "V" shaped object.  It was a
quarter
of a mile away moving very slowly to the east across the lake.  After
fifteen
seconds the object turned into a small red dot.  The red dot lasted about
one-second and then it vanished.  Thanks to Joe Trainor, reports@...
and eagawlik4579@...

MISSOURI

MANITOU SPRINGS -- Kevin Jones reports that he was on 20 Mile Hike with the
Boy Scouts in the autumn of 1976.  At 10:00 PM, after camp was pitched I was
looking at an incalculable number of stars.  A light that looked like a star
moved slowly across the sky.  The light entered a box that could be drawn
with imaginary lines between four stars and started to bounce erratically
never leaving the confines of this box.  Next we saw a faster moving light
pulsating at a rapid, standard rate pass though the sky.  Then we saw
another
solid light rocket across the sky low, along the tree line.  Before long,
the
sky seemed to be alive with moving objects.  We saw a grouping of three
stars
in a triangular formation that flew across the sky but each individual point
of light took turns taking the lead.  It traveled always leading with the
point.  We saw more than a dozen lights in motion.  All of this yellowish
starlight lights, solid and flashing, were about the same size and intensity
of bright stars.

We ran to get to camp to show the other Scouts.  At about half way there I
noticed larger illuminated objects floating over the fallow field.  We saw
relatively close lights the size of beach balls.  These objects were round
and internally illuminated, the color of dirty streetlights.  The light did
not seem to be focused in a beam but rather evenly radiating.  The motion
was
like an under-inflated balloon over very hot pavement.  As the pavement
heats
the balloon rises quickly.  As it rises, the air in the balloon cools so it
rises more and more slowly until the balloon achieves neutral buoyancy.
This
state lasts for only a moment until the balloon begins to sink.  The sinking
slows closer to the ground as the air inside reheats and so the cycle starts
again.  There were three or four of these bumping around over the field.
They could have been the size of cars.  Thanks to Kevin Jones
kevinjones@...

TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO LIGHTS ATTACKED

TUCUMCARI -- Lord Vile reports that a half dozen witnesses saw a high speed
object moving southeast across the sky towards Texas on December 1, 2001, in
the late evening sky.  You could hear the roar of several F-16 fighters
chasing the lights.  These lights changed direction numerous times as the
fighters gave chase.  At first they flew east, then south and then a 180
degree turn to the north.  Suddenly the fighters fired eight to ten air to
air missiles at the evading lights.  An airborne explosion was followed by
what appeared to a crash of the unknown object.

The witnesses scanned the news reports for more information.  Television
verified that missiles had been fired at an unknown object.  Later NORAD
announced that a Proton rocket had been used to launch three satellites from
Russia ten hours earlier.  The rocket had reentered the atmosphere at
approximately 2120 hours, Mountain time on Saturday, December 01, 2001.  The
actual Proton rocket debris was reported with white "tails", slower and
larger than shooting stars were seen moving from southwest to northeast.
However, accounts that reached the National Reporting Center and myself
described what appeared to be more than just the reentry of a single rocket.
Normally, reentry vehicles do not change course, nor are they chased by
fighter aircraft.

Rick Bordignon reported to NASA he was in a commercial airliner bound for
Las
Vegas when he saw them. "I was looking out the left window into the starry
night when I noticed an approaching light," he recalled. "I was thinking,
Hmmmmm, looks like a missile.  But rather than raise a general sense of
panic
by yelling 'Incoming!,' I did the next best thing and got out my camera.  "I
snapped one picture, but my camera is poor in low light.  So I stopped to
adjust the settings.  When I looked out again I was amazed by what I saw:
hundreds of objects with colorful glowing tails!  So I snapped another one
but it only picked up the brightest fragments -- and it was shaky, too. "The
light plume [seemed to] go up and over our plane.  After it was gone I
looked
around to judge the reactions of the other passengers -- and I swear
everyone
was sleeping!  "When I got off the plane, I tracked down the pilot. He said
every pilot in the Midwest saw it and it was the 'buzz of the frequencies.'
They had never witnessed anything like it before."  See following URL for
details: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast03dec_1.htm?list49634ed

Editor's Note:  Whenever, space debris is spotted there are frequently
additional UFO reports.  We could simply ignore these reports, but a pattern
is developing.  First space debris, then numerous UFO reports, then strange
associated reports not really explained such as the Louisiana report below.
Are we using space debris for target practice or are UFOs attempting to
penetrate the atmosphere using the standard space debris for cover?

LOUISIANA TWO LOW ALTITUDE, LARGE, SLOW MOVING CIGARS

S.BOSSIER -- Possibly connected to these reports on December 1, 2001, the
witness reports hearing a tremendous roaring sound at 8:45 PM, (CST).  The
noise made their house vibrate, so the witness went outside on his deck and
saw two large, low altitude craft, flying at about 2,000 feet or less.  The
craft had a strange lighting configuration, very bright red lights in the
"center of both craft, and bright white lights on front and back.  It was a
clear night with good visibility.  There were no wing lights or tail lights,
just lights spanning the length of both craft!  There were no green lights
or
other lights that FAA requires.  These craft were extremely noisy, rumbling
and roaring, to the point, I feared a crash was about to occur!  The
duration
of the sighting was too long to be conventional jets, judging by their size
and altitude.  Being so low and large, it was hard for me to comprehend how
they could stay airborne.  There may have been more then two, but I only saw
two craft the size of B-52's bombers. However, they were not jets like
those,
they flew much too low and slow!  Thanks to Peter Davenport
www.ufocenter.com

ARIZONA STAR-LIKE LIGHT VISIBLE WITH THE SUN RISEN

TEMPE This may be pretty weak, but as the sun started rising this morning at
8:00 AM I saw what looked like a bright star, about 2 degrees below the moon
on December 3, 2001.  What was unusual was that the sun was rising, and
there
were no other stars out.  I was driving to work a distance of 20 miles, and
throughout that drive the star was still visible.  Even now, with the sun
entirely raised and sun beating down on the ground, the dot, though very
faint is still visible.  The position of the dot stayed constant relative to
the moon, which leads me to believe it was very far away.  It is possibly a
satellite in synchronous orbit or a planet?  but I've never noticed such a
thing before, and certainly not with the sky so bright. It did not make any
movement while I was watching it.

WASHINGTON LIGHTS

TROUT LAKE -- With over 2000 eyewitnesses here at the Sattva Sanctuary in
Trout Lake, some of which are Astro/Nuclear/Plasma physicists, 14+ hours of
video of ships stopping, lighting up on command, accelerating, making right
angle turns, landing and morphing into as many as four brilliant lights then
back to one, appearing with pre-knowledge right on schedule, and with
pictures taken by UFO investigators etc., it seems this is not enough.  This
case, if the evidence presented in a court of law, would win hands down as
proof UFOs are real.  People are executed on less evidence.  There are even
pictures of ships stepping down in vibration.  Scientists, such as Jim Todd
at the Omsi Planetarium say these are nothing more than satellites.  We are
at a complete loss as to how a scientist with any ability to reason or apply
scientific method could make such a statement after viewing the footage.

These objects are coming in every size shape and color, are seen by multiple
eyewitnesses.  They are shown maneuvering, responding to requests by people
on the ground to light up, landing on the mountain, and flying behind trees.
They allowed us to photograph them with pre-knowledge of the event.  Any
reasonable mind would come to the conclusion that these are unknowns, they
do
not fit into any know parameter and indeed need further study.  There is no
landing strip in the nearby forest, and satellites do not change directions,
stop, and land.  Enjoy the latest photos:
http://www.cazekiel.org/eceti/photos2.htm

OREGON FLYING TRIANGLE

GRANTS PASS -- On December 15, 2001, the witness was driving to Eugene from
Medford and happened to look out of the window and through the clouds saw a
very large blinking red light.  His mother was driving down the freeway so
he
had an opportunity to study it.  It was 6:10 PM, and at first he thought it
was just an airplane, but the witness states, "I kept looking at it, and was
surprised by the large amount of area it was lighting up."  It was moving
from north to west, now very rapidly, still blinking, then I saw its huge
enormous size as it was blinking and realized that this wasn't an airplane,
and had to be a UFO.  There was no doubt in my mind.  It was a very large
Flying Triangle UFO outlined with blinking red lights.  The triangular shape
was very large, and moving west closer down into the mountains, outlined in
red blinking lights.  Thanks to Peter B. Davenport, Director National UFO
Reporting Center www.ufocenter.com
CALIFORNIA CIRCLE

SACRAMENTO MOUNTAINS -- On December 10, 2001, the witness a filmmaker was on
a backpacking trip at Henry Cowe State Park with my father and his best
friend, who were sleeping when I saw this one.  I looked up and saw
something
moving twenty times faster than a plane at 3:00 AM.  There was a sphere of
light blazing through the night sky.  I have always thought the existence of
UFOs very possible.  My father and his friend at other times have actually
seen UFOs.  It was way too big and didn't move like a shooting star, and it
had no tail either.  From what I could see in twenty seconds was white in
color, like a light.  It came from beyond the horizon and just as fast as it
came it darted back into the sky.  I thought to myself: "That had to be a
UFO. think it's obvious these things exist.    Thanks to Peter B. Davenport,
www.ufocenter.com

CUBA UFO SEEN BY PILOTS

MANZANILLO --  Nick Balaskas writes that he just got back from Cuba and what
may turn out to be a UFO encountered by the pilots of a Canadian charter
airplane I was a passenger on.  Our Airbus 320 Skyservice plane (flight
SV524) was making a nighttime approach on December 14, 2001, to the airport
near Cayo Coco, Cuba.
We were startled when we heard the engines get louder and felt pushed down
into our seats.  This was shortly followed by a near weightlessness
sensation.  The captain announced that his instruments detected a false
signal of another aircraft in the area and in the interest of safety he took
evasive actions.  This was the reason for what we felt.

My final destination was the next airport near Manzanillo, Cuba, but all the
passengers were asked to disembark at Cayo Coco so the aircraft could be
cleaned for new passengers.  I spoke with a few of these passengers who said
they saw our plane "go around" after seeing a single red light fly low over
the airport as we were coming to land.  They thought it may have been a
small
plane but could not explain why only a red light was observed.  Apart from
our plane, there were no others on the ground at that airport that night.

Getting back in the plane, I told the flight attendant standing by the door
next to the cockpit about the red light seen by passengers at the airport
(in
a loud enough voice so the pilots could hear too who turned their heads in
my
direction).  She suggested it may have been a UFO and said she would find
out
for me.  I never heard back from her.  I later told the passengers seating
next me who experienced what I did and they thought they would be more
comfortable with the explanation of a near collision with a UFO than the
thought of flying in an airplane with faulty instruments.  Is there anyway
of
finding out what really happened during that aborted night landing?  Thanks
to  Nick Balaskas

NEW YORK SCI-FI VIDEO ANALYSIS

NEW YORK CITY -- SCI FI Channel has repeatedly ran an advertisement that
showed  the following has announcement: "Get the Whole Story@
SCIFI.com/happens", then "SCIFI Happens in NY."  Then a thirty second video
is shown of a women riding in a helicopter on July 24 2000, near the World
Trade Center Towers.  She points to a UFO behind one of the towers that
suddenly acceleration and flies past the helicopter.  As it climbs up out of
sight the UFO leaves a contrail.  MUFON's Jeff Sainio has analyzed the video
for us and has made the following findings:

"Since careful analysis of the video shows the expected westward motion of
the helicopter, and even cars moving through an intersection, the background
video appears real, with presumably the UFO pasted in.  The violent motion
of
the helicopter appears difficult to explain in this scenario, with the
chopper below the tops of, and only a few hundred feet away from nearby
skyscrapers.  Such aerobatics seem like a risk to life or a pilot's
license."
  I improved my image-analysis software, allowing me to stabilize the image
of
the UFO contrail.  Previously, with only cloudy reference images, the
field-by-field motion of the UFO couldn't be reliably measured.  With
stabilization, the UFO motion is shown,  toward the end of visibility, the
UFO only moves every other field (i.e. every frame, not every field).  This
is conclusive evidence that the UFO was edited into the video by a lazy
faker
who didn't bother working on every field as required for a real video.  I
re-checked the helicopter motion and merely got better images verifying my
previous conclusions that the helicopter did some violent motion, and the
blades bounced around quite a bit.  Thanks to Jeff Sainio,
Jeffrey.Sainio@...

MARS SURFACE MAY HAVE WATER

NASA reports that its Scientists already know there is water ice in the
polar
cap.  However, water ice near the surface in warmer regions of the planet
would be a remarkable and long-sought finding that would have broad
implications in the search for extraterrestrial life.  The data, collected
during tests of Odyssey's neutron spectrometer, show signs of hydrogen,
which
may mean there is water.  Hydrogen is one component of water but also exists
alone and in other substances.  NASA researchers stressed that the findings
are preliminary at a meeting at the American Geophysical Union in San
Francisco.  The detection of hydrogen points to the possibility that there
is
water ice within 3 feet (1 meter) of the surface, said James Garvin, lead
scientist for the Mars Exploration Program.  "But whatever it is, it bodes
very well for finding hydrogen in the upper few feet of Mars, and the most
likely culprit is water ice."  Such ice might melt in summer months and
would
be reachable by robotic or human explorers.  It might even support microbial
life, as researchers have found on Earth that wherever there is water, there
is life.  Bill Feldman, the principal investigator of Odyssey's neutron
spectrometer reports the quantity of hydrogen detected was startling --
suggesting a huge concentration relative to what was found with a similar
instrument on Lunar Prospector, which surveyed the Moon.  Researchers may
task Odyssey to begin mapping crustal water ice during the first week
January,  Garvin said.

Garvin said a great story might be about to unfold.  The hydrogen detection
was made during the first test of Odyssey's neutron spectrometer, a
subsystem
of a gamma ray spectrometer instrument.  Garvin explained that the
speculation of water ice is based on comparing observations over the
permanent ice cap with observations farther south.  Scientists know that the
polar cap contains both water ice and carbon dioxide ice, commonly thought
of
as dry ice.  "This pass suggested that hydrogen was enriched in a
high-latitude region extending from around 55 degrees North to near to the
edge of the North polar cap," Garvin said.  "This suggests, that if the
hydrogen in the northern high latitudes is water, that there is ice in the
upper meter or so of this region and that it is masked by a carbon  dioxide
frost cover on the permanent cap."  Thanks to SPACE.com.

Editor's Note:  There have been strong photographic indications of water on
Mars for many years.

PRAYER IS POWERFUL!

ABC News announced on Christmas Eve that prayer, chanting, meditation and
similar forms of prayer have an amazing effect on the human body.  Blood
pressure is lowered and a feeling of relief from stress is accomplished.
Praying is excellent for your own good health and mental well being.  Also,
those who are sick are most likely to recover if prayed for by others.

Just before Christmas, several ministers were invited to the White House to
meet with President Bush who was energetic, joyful, and very focused.  One
minister asked President Bush how he could seem so calm and peaceful in the
midst of all the tragedy?  The President's reply was, "I'm feeling stronger
now than I've ever been in my life.  And the reason is because every person
in America is praying for me.  When I stay on my knees, that's when I have
power."  The ministers then asked the President how he would like them to
pray for him, and how their congregations back home should be praying.  The
President asked for clarity of mind so that he could make wise decisions,
and
then he asked that we pray specifically for his wife and two daughters, as
he
is very concerned about their safety.  No human leader is perfect, so let's
keep President Bush lifted up in prayer.

This years tragedies on September 11, changed the world.  Terrorism was able
to destroy some great buildings and kill some 3000 mostly innocent
civilians.
  There is still a moral distinction between killing soldiers and civilians.
I hope a lesson is learned that little was gained by either side by these
actions.  Just when the UFO Disclosure Project was starting to gain momentum
the world was only concerned with terrorism and finding those responsible.
May God bless America and may His glory be done in the midst of this
tragedy!
  God reigns over heaven and earth and I hope there is a Happy New Year for
us
all.  A prayer for us all might even help heal your own body and perhaps our
world.

NEW NASA SHUTTLE VIDEO OF UFOs IN SPACE

Jeff Challender has prepared a new tape of various UFOs that were caught on
recent Shuttle video footage.  Jeff has over an hour-long tape of UFOs shot
in space.  Jeff spends hundreds of hours watching the shuttle broadcasts
from
space and is now an expert on NASA missions and even those onboard the
shuttle are unlikely to see what Jeff does.  Using Jeff's directions you
will
be able to learn the difference between space junk, ice crystals and real
UFOs.  I feel confident we could go into a court of law and convince any
jury
that there are UFOs moving at high speed around the Earth.  Send $25 to:
Jeff
Challender 2768 Mendel Way - Sacramento, California 95833-2011 Jeff has an
operation his back and is still in pain, we ask you to send your prayers.

NEW UFO STORE IS NOW OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS

The new UFO Store is open on our web site with some of the best UFO books
and
paraphernalia available.  Help support UFO research by purchasing through
us!
  Filer's Files is dedicated to uncovering the truth about UFOs and has sent
them out free since January 1997.  Your support is needed to cover expenses,
and when you shop in our store, you get the satisfaction of quality
products,
with the knowledge that you have helped support the search for the truth.
Come help our adventure, while supporting UFO research!  Order online today,
at http://www.filersfiles.com/ufostore/index.htm

MUFON UFO JOURNAL -- For more detailed monthly investigative reports
subscribe to the MUFON JOURNAL that costs only $30 per year by contacting
MUFONHQ@....  Mention that I recommended you for membership.  Filer's
Files is copyrighted 2001 by George A. Filer, all rights reserved.  Readers
may post the complete files on their Web Sites if they credit the newsletter
and its editor by name and list the date of issue that the item appeared.
These reports and comments are not necessarily the OFFICIAL MUFON viewpoint.
Send your letters to Majorstar@....  Sending mail automatically grants
permission for us to publish and use your name.  Please state if you wish to
keep your name, address, or story confidential.  Caution, most of these are
initial reports and require further investigation.

Happy Holidays, and may God grant you all your Holiday wishes.

George A. Filer


-
******************************************************************
If you see someone without a smile......give them one of yours :0)
******************************************************************
Posted by: Dave Ledger  (mailto:dledger@...)
Visit "UFO SCOTLAND" at: http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk
<A HREF="http://www.ufoscotland.co.uk"> UFO Scotland </A>
UFO SCOTLAND mailing list: mailto:UFOScotland-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
UFO SCOTLAND Chatroom: http://irc.gasbubbles.com/ufoscotland.phtml
******************************************************************
THE TRUTH IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!..................BUT HOW FAR?
******************************************************************
"The sands of time are trickling away from our dear mother Earth
and yet we continue to fight amongst ourselves and destroy our
natural enviroment,leaving all the mess for our children and their
children's children to inherit when we're gone."

-

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  owner-jsr@...
Original Subject: Jonathan's Space Report, No. 470
Original Date:    Fri, 28 Dec 2001 02:14:33 -0500 (EST)

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Jonathan's Space Report
No. 470                                              2001 Dec 28 Cambridge, MA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sender: owner-jsr@...
Precedence: bulk
Reply-To: jmcdowell@...

A happy and safe 2002 to all space cadets around the world.

Shuttle and Station
--------------------

Raffaello was transferred back to the Shuttle payload bay on Dec 14.
Endeavour undocked from Station at 1728 UTC on Dec 15 and made
a half loop around the station before making a small separation
burn at 1822 UTC.

The Starshine-2 reflector satellite was ejected from the MACH-1 bridge
in Endeavour's payload bay at 1502 UTC on Dec 16. It is part of an
educational project and will be tracked by school students around the
world.

Endeavour landed on runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center at 1755 UTC on Dec
17. The Expedition 3 crew of Culbertson, Dezhurov and Tyurin returned to
Earth aboard Endeavour, leaving the Expedition 4 crew of Yuriy
Onufrienko, Dan Bursch and Carl Walz in charge of the Station.


Recent Launches
---------------

The REFLECTOR satellite launched from Baykonur on Dec 10 consists
of four triangular fins on a square base plus a deployable boom,
with an array of laser retroreflectors. The satellite is 1.4m
long and 0.5m wide but only 6 kg in mass; it was made by NII KP
in Russia under contract to the Air Force Research Lab at Kirtland
AFB, New Mexico. It will be used to calibrate laser imaging systems
and other optical sensors. (Thanks to Richard Rast for info).

Russia launched the Kosmos-2383 naval electronic intelligence satellite
on Dec 21. The two-stage 11K69 Tsiklon-2 rocket, derived from the R-36
ICBM, was launched at 0400 UTC and put the satellite in an orbit of
approximately 145 x 405 km x 65.0 deg at 0405 UTC. At apogee, the US-P
class satellite, built by KB Arsenal, ignited its own propulsion system
to increase velocity by about 70-80 m/s and circularize the orbit at 404
x 415 km x 65.0 deg. The Tsiklon-2 second stage remained in the low
perigee orbit and probably reentered over N America at sixth perigee
(1250 UTC) or seventh perigee (1420 UTC).

Another Tsiklon rocket, this time an 11K68 Tsiklon-3 with an S5M upper
stage, was orbited on Dec 28. It carried six small communications relay
satellites in a replacement launch for a failure almost exactly a year
earlier. Three of the satellites are part of the Russian Defense
Ministry's Strela-3 program, and the other three are Rosaviakosmos
Gonets-D1s, the civilan variant of the same vehicle. The satellites are
built by the NPO PM company. The launch vehicle is built by the
Ukrainian Yuzhnoe firm.

According to a Rosaviakosmos release, the Tsiklon was launched at
0324:24 UTC and the second stage burn was complete at 0329:02. The S5M
stage separated and ignited at 0330 and shut down at 0332:00. At this
stage I estimate the vehicle would have been in a suborbital -550 x 1400
km trajectory. A second burn at apogee at 0406:15 UTC put the stage in a
1400 km orbit. The three Gonets satellites separated first, beginning at
0407:28 UTC; the last of the three Kosmos/Strela satellites was ejected
at 0408:33, and will have perigee about 15 km higher than the first of
the  deployments.

On Dec 28, Mars Odyssey was in a 99 x 2951 km x 93 deg orbit around
Mars, continuing to aerobrake.

The Deep Space 1 probe was turned off on Dec 18, completing an
incredibly successful technology proving mission. DS1's orbit is about
1.30 x 1.44AU x 0.22 deg. DS1's ion drive technology will be used for
the Dawn asteroid orbiter mission which has just been selected for
NASA's Discovery program. Editorial note: this is a very promising sign.
Historically, (and not just in the space game) institutional and
bureaucratic hurdles have meant that many technology development
initiatives don't actually get folded in to production use, even when
successful. This suggests that the New Millenium Program may really
achieve its goal of feeding new tech into NASA's operational bag of
tricks, something that is badly needed.

The FUSE ultraviolet observatory is currently in safemode following
reaction wheel problems.

Note:  I know some of you look forward to my annual launch summary. In
recent years it's been fun to get it out earlier and earlier; I had it
done on New Year's Day last year so I'm not feeling the need to prove
anything at this point. This year, pressure of real work means that I'm
not going to be doing it any time soon - sorry! I will, however,
be putting my thirty-thousand-launch sounding rocket/missile launch
database on the web in the near future - stay tuned.

Table of Recent Launches
-----------------------

Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle  Site            Mission    INTL.
                                                                           DES.
Nov 26 1824   Progress M1-7     Soyuz-FG       Baykonur LC1     Cargo
51A
Nov 27 0035   DirecTV 4S        Ariane 44LP    Kourou ELA2      TV broadcast
52A
Dec  1 1804   Kosmos-2380 )     Proton-K/DM2   Baykonur         Navsat
53A
               Kosmos-2381 )                                     Navsat
               53B
               Kosmos-2382 )                                     Navsat
               53C
Dec  5 2219   Endeavour )       Shuttle        Kennedy LC39B    Spaceship
54A
               Raffaello )                                       Cargo
Dec  7 1507   Jason 1   )       Delta 7920-10  Vandenberg SLC2W Science
55A
               TIMED     )                                       Science
               55B
Dec 10 1719   Meteor-3M )       Zenit-2        Baykonur LC45    Weather
56A
               Badr B    )                                       Imaging      56
               Maroc-Tubsat)                                     Imaging      56
               Kompas    )                                       Science      56
               Reflector )                                       Technology   56
Dec 16 1502   Starshine-2       -              Endeavour, LEO   Education
54B
Dec 21 0400   Kosmos-2383       Tsiklon-2      Baykonur LC90    Siginit
57A
Dec 28 0324   Kosmos-2384 )     Tsiklon-3      Plesetsk LC32    Comms relay  58
               Kosmos-2385 )                                     Comms relay  58
               Kosmos-2386 )                                     Comms relay  58
               Gonets-D1   )                                     Comms relay  58
               Gonets-D1   )                                     Comms relay  58
               Gonets-D1   )                                     Comms relay  58

Current Shuttle Processing Status
_________________________________

Orbiters               Location   Mission    Launch Due

OV-102 Columbia        OPF Bay 3     STS-109 2002 Feb     HST SM-3B
OV-103 Discovery       VAB           Maintenance
OV-104 Atlantis        OPF Bay 2?    STS-110 2002 Mar?    ISS 8A
OV-105 Endeavour       OPF Bay 1?    STS-111 2002 May     ISS UF-2


.-------------------------------------------------------------------------.
|  Jonathan McDowell                 |  phone : (617) 495-7176            |
|  Harvard-Smithsonian Center for    |                                    |
|   Astrophysics                     |                                    |
|  60 Garden St, MS6                 |                                    |
|  Cambridge MA 02138                |  inter : jcm@...       |
|  USA                               |          jmcdowell@... |
|                                                                         |
| JSR: http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/jsr.html                 |
| Back issues:  http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~jcm/space/jsr/back            |
| Subscribe/unsub: mail majordomo@..., (un)subscribe jsr |
'-------------------------------------------------------------------------'


========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL:              http://www.nexusmagazine.com/ParaSeti.html
Original Date:    29 Dec 2001 07:14:20 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

ParaSETI - ET Contact via Subtle Energies

by Gavin Dingley © 2000

Have signals from intelligent life elsewhere in the
Universe passed us by because our technology is not
designed to detect a range of more subtle energy
frequencies?

Extracted from Nexus Magazine, Volume 8, Number 1

--[FULL article at above URL]-----

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  SpaceWeather.com <spaceweather@...>
Original Subject: The Moon encounters Earth's shadow ... and Jupiter
Original Date:    Fri, 28 Dec 2001 15:34:17 -0600

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Space Weather News for Dec. 28, 2001
http://www.spaceweather.com

THE MOON...: The full Moon will dip into the outskirts of Earth's shadow
on Sunday morning, Dec. 30th.  North American and Pacific sky watchers
will notice a subtle dimming of the Moon's southern regions during this
"penumbral" lunar eclipse. Check SpaceWeather.com for viewing times and
maps.

... AND JUPITER: Sunday morning's lunar eclipse will be subtle, but the
Moon's Dec. 30th encounter with Jupiter will be dazzling.  The Moon and
the brilliant giant planet will lie 3 degrees apart during the eclipse,
and draw even closer during the hours that follow.  Observers,
particularly those in western North America and Hawaii, can see a truly
beautiful close-pairing shortly before local dawn on Sunday.

GOT PHOTOS?  Images of the coming Jupiter-Moon encounter and the lunar
eclipse are welcomed.  Submit them to webmaster@....

AURORA WATCH:  A coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on Dec. 26th may
have missed our planet.  Its anticipated time of arrival has come and gone
without event.

---

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL:              http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,624538,00.html
Original Date:    Fri, 28 Dec 2001 19:10:56 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


It's too quiet

Ghost sightings are down, reptilian aliens have been few and far
between, and UFOs seem to be heading to other planets in search of
intelligent life. Jonathan Sale reports on a disappointing year for
strange phenomena

Monday December 24, 2001
The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>

As if mobile phones hadn't enough strikes against them already, here
comes one more: the ghost shortage. There has long been a scarcity of
headless hauntings, attributed to the lack of beheadings in recent
centuries. (Maybe Saudi Aarbia is our best bet for a decent supply of
spectral characters with their heads under the arms.) Now it seems that
electronic pollution from mobiles is interfering with the bizarre
electrical activity which is thought in some ghost-busting circles to be
responsible for spooks turning up in old mansions. How else do you
account for the fact that in pre-mobile days the Society for Psychical
Research used to clock up a couple of new spectres per week - but now is
down to zero?

Yes, it has been another phenomenal year for Fortean Times, the "journal
of strange phenomena" named after the late Charles Fort, a collector of
curiosities who died in 1932. The magazine listens to the world's
whispers of Loch Ness monsters, UFOs, astounding coincidences, folk
myths, friend-of-a-friend yarns and mysterious creatures that frighten
policemen on dark nights. The editors do not necessarily believe these
phenomena; they merely believe that other people believe them. All
human, and inhuman, life is there. There are also touches in FT's pages
of Drop the Dead Donkey, or, to be specific, Promote the Live Penguin.
In August a tall, waddling member of the species was appointed to the
rank of Honourable Regimental Sergeant-Major of Norway, when a silver
insignia of office was attached to his right flipper.

Even more warlike are the killer seagulls dive-bombing Mr Kits Browning
outside his cottage on the Fowey peninsula, Cornwall, earlier in the
year. It was like a remake of Hitchcock's The Birds. Fact: the film was
based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, who in turn had the idea
when watching gulls - and Kits is her son. Maybe the seabirds have come
for their share of the royalties.

UFOs are also in very short supply, according to a September UFO
conference (which ought to know). Back in the 90s, a terrifyingly large
number of Americans believed in the reality of alien abductions on the
grounds that they themselves had actually been abducted by "The Greys",
those unmistakable beings who were four-feet small, hairless and, well,
grey. Now, alas, Greys have become a grey area; there is never one
around when you need something to tell your psychiatrist. There hasn't
been anything to match the red-letter day in 1989 when the then UN
secretary-general Perez de Cuellar was abducted near Brooklyn Bridge -
without him noticing!

The next big thing were aliens cunningly disguised as "Reptilians".
David Icke spotted that the Queen is a large crocodile from the Crab
Nebula, or possibly Her Majesty is a large crab from the Crocodile
Constellation. Sadly, it has been a quiet year on the reptoid front.
Fortean Times suspects the aliens might be heading off for other parts
of the universe in search of intelligent life.

In that case they will have missed a recent ABC (Alien Black Cat, such
as the Beast of Bodmin) hunted down by state troopers in Delaware. This
was a black panther about the size of a rottweiler, with a dead chicken
in its mouth. It turned out to be a case of not knowing your ABC: the
"big cat" was a stuffed toy.

Like ABCs, appearances of the Blessed Virgin Mary are a Fortean
phenomena sufficiently common to be granted their own initials: BVMs. In
April a two-foot-high image of the Holy Mother appeared on a cupboard
door in Pittsburgh, to be followed by images of fish (a symbol for early
Christians, not to mention fishmongers). More astounding than this trick
of the light was the fact that on Good Friday alone 1,500 pilgrims
queued round the block to witness the "miracle".

On the same day a similar Madonna-style vision was beheld on a lavatory
window in Lagos, Nigeria. Nothing fishy here, just an image like a
Virgin. Demonstrating that Christians do not have a monopoly of
credulity, a Hindu deity was made manifest on a tub of Philadelphia
cream cheese purchased in Edgware, North London. Irregularities on the
surface could be seen as the image of Lord Neminath, first cousin of
Krishna and 22nd prophet of the Jain religion. This time 2,500 folk
turned up for the cheesy sight. "I can't believe it's not Buddha!" was
the FT headline.
   _____

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2001

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL:              http://www.forteantimes.com/exclusive/devsounds.shtml
Original Date:    Sat, 29 Dec 2001 10:10:46 -0800

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

    SOUNDS OF YESTERYEAR

    [From Fortean Times]

    Strange new noises are emanating from both the archaelogical
    establishment and the Earth Mysteries movements, sounds that may have
    their origin in some of the world's most ancient and saced sites.
    Researchers have suggested that sound may even be integral to their
    design and purpose.

    In his latest book, Paul Devereux explores these ideas to reveal a
    radical new picture of the ancient world. GILES MORGAN spoke with him.

    In Stone Age Soundtracks Paul Devereux puts forward a simple but
    hugely perceptive idea. That ancient peoples purposely designed
    ancient sites such as Stonehenge to have powerful and effective
    acoustic properties. For Devereux this first meant acknowledging the
    importance of sound to ancient cultures, particularly in ritual
    settings. "It wasn't a visual culture so much as our present culture,
    it was orally based and traditions were passed down. It was also
    widespread - we know of a particular style of pottery, for example,
    which was found as far north as Orkney and as far south as the English
    south coast. Things were happening, ritualists, adepts and experts
    were moving around the culture".

    Devereux and a team of researchers began sonic testing of sites such
    as the Neolithic burial chamber Waylands Smithy on the Berkshire
    downs. Their research drew intriguing results. "We kept picking up
    this frequency, the chambers were resonating at 110 HZ which is the
    lower baritone range". This was echoed in sites such as Cornwall's
    Chun Quoit, a megalithic dolmen and Newgrange burial chamber in
    Ireland. This was to be one of only several discoveries made by the
    team.

    "What did strike me was the sound behaves very strangely inside these
    chambers. If you're creating a sound with a drum or a sound generator
    if you're out in the middle of a field and you walk away from it, it
    gets fainter and fainter. That doesn't happen inside. Inside a cavity
    or a stone chamber the sound wave goes out, hits the wall and bounces
    back. When you get resonance it's a standing wave. When you walk away
    it suddenly goes silent because you're in the trough of the wave. The
    effect is quiet, then loud as you walk away. We know that this is the
    effect of sound waves but to pre-historic people it would be
    supernatural".

    Learning to listen with a pre-historic ear would seem to be the key to
    the field of acoustic archaeology and recognising the drama of natural
    sounds to early people. "When you listen to a roaring waterfall, we
    know it as pink noise, but they heard it as the voices of spirits, the
    entrance to the underworld". The crashing sound of a waterfall would
    have made a major impact on pre-historic listeners and, Devereux
    argues, would have been open to mystical interpretation. "They would
    have been places where the old druids and the Bronze Age and Stone Age
    people would have gone to have prophetic dreams. It's the acoustic
    version of an inkblot test. You start reading other sounds and voices
    into it".

    The psychological framework in which ancient sites were built is an
    area in which Devereux has a fascinating theoretical overview.
    "Ancient sites are the equivalent of fragments of half forgotten
    dreams. Pre-history is like the unconscious mind because that's what
    it was. It is literally another level of consciousness. People did not
    record things. We now record things historically in a linear way as
    documents. Pre-history was literally another way of thinking. The
    druids undertook a twenty-year training period, everything was
    committed to memory. It was living; it only existed in living tissue.
    I view sacred sites as memory banks and you can draw information out
    of it if you know how to access it. One of the things to remember is
    to bring your unconscious mind to these things and then you are
    talking like to like".

    What this also appears to demonstrate is that ancient people had a
    radically different way of understanding their environment. That they
    had a sophisticated knowledge of the movements of the stars is
    demonstrated by the built-in site lines of their stone circles, and it
    is apparent from megalithic monuments that they were accomplished
    builders living in well-established societies. However, whereas we
    draw sharp distinctions between religion, science, art and myth they
    would have combined these elements into an all-encompassing cosmology.
    At the Newgrange passage grave in Ireland the builders had orientated
    its central passage towards the midwinter solstice. On 21 December
    each year a beam of light shines through a gap in the roof
    illuminating the passageway in a kind of pre-historic laser show. The
    effect even today is said to be dramatic.

    This combination of practical building skills and detailed awareness
    of astronomy creates what Devereux describes as a kind of "sacred
    showmanship". "Any great ritual or ceremonial event is a theatrical
    event. It is non-intellectual, it is visceral, and it gets over
    directly. The mistake that archaeo-astronomers like Alexander Thom
    made was that he thought stone circles were simply early astronomical
    observatories". For Devereux they represent a manifestation of an
    overall cosmology rooted in theatre. "In order to appreciate ancient
    sites you have got to put them back together again and once you do
    that, you understand them. And putting sound back into the picture
    putting a soundtrack onto it is part of doing that collectively".

    The proliferation of the use of mind-altering drugs throughout world
    cultures in sacramental settings is another area, which Devereux
    feels, is not always acknowledged by more orthodox archaeologists.
    "People project their own agendas onto the past and can suppress and
    manipulate information. We know from evidence that people were heavily
    into altered mind states".

    His fascination with the past is balanced by an understanding of its
    hardships and difficulties. "We are stuck in the world we live in but
    I do think that there are ways of looking at the world that people had
    thousands of years ago that we could usefully bring back into our
    world view today, to soften it, to deepen it a little. Our worldview
    has become very shallow and we need enrichment. I'm trying to pick up
    fragments of wisdom".

    It is Devereux's openness to new and unconventional ideas, which makes
    Stone Age Soundtracks such intriguing reading and which underpins so
    much of his approach to research and writing.

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
URL:              http://www.pressdemocrat.com/local/news/27plane_a1.html
Original Date:    Sat, 29 Dec 2001 10:10:46 -0800

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


Plane takes off from Two Rock ranch without pilot

Authorities fail to find craft, say it likely crashed after running out of
fuel; search continues today

    December 27, 2001

    By CECILIA M. VEGA and JEREMY HAY
    THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

    An unmanned airplane broke free from its moorings Wednesday while the
    pilot was working on it, taking off from a Two Rock ranch and flying
    over southern Sonoma County without a pilot for at least two hours.

    Authorities concluded the single-engine airplane eventually crashed,
    but a search for the wreckage was suspended because of darkness.

    "This will be in the aviation history books," said Walt Smith,
    regional coordinator for the Federal Aviation Administration.

    "It's pretty wild," he said. "We're all shaking our heads. We thought
    we'd heard everything."

    The search began shortly after 3 p.m. when Paul Clary III of San
    Rafael called 911 to report that his airplane had taken off from his
    son's Middle Two Rock Road ranch with no one aboard and enough fuel to
    fly for two hours.

    Clary, 67, said he was fixing a flooded engine when the plane broke
    free from its moorings.

    "It's a nightmare," he said while waiting to see if authorities could
    locate his plane before it crashed.

    Clary said he had owned the plane, a 1946 Aeronca Champion, for about
    six years.

    Sonoma County sheriff's deputies dispatched a helicopter to find the
    pilotless plane, but after about four hours of searching they gave up
    without ever seeing the yellow aircraft for themselves.

    CHP also dispatched an aircraft, and some private planes may have
    joined the search.

    Unconfirmed reports sent them to Cotati, the Sonoma Mountain area and
    back to Two Rock, but Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Scanlon said the sightings
    all turned out to be false.

    Reports to the Sheriff's Department also said an emergency locator
    signal was detected, and that the plane landed four miles east of
    Petaluma.

    But authorities conducted both ground and aerial searches of the area
    and came back empty-handed.

    Authorities plan to resume the search for the fallen aircraft early
    today.

    "It certainly is down someplace and the nice thing about Sonoma County
    is it is rural in certain areas," Smith said, adding the situation
    could have been worse had the plane come down in a populated area.

    Authorities at one point became so concerned with the plane's
    whereabouts that they notified the county's Office of Emergency
    Services, which sent out emergency broadcasts on local radio airwaves
    to warn the public of the potential danger.

    "We've all been in the business for a while and this a fairly new one
    for us," Scanlon said.

    On Wednesday afternoon, sitting grim-faced and clutching a cellphone,
    Clary, a San Francisco veterinarian, said he has flown planes for
    recreation since about 1951.

    He flew in from Novato for a quick trip to his son's ranch and had
    been there for about 10 minutes before the incident began to unfold.

    He stopped the plane after landing it and when he went to start it
    again, he said the engine flooded.

    When he turned the propeller to try to start it, the engine turned
    over and because the throttle was forward and on high, the plane
    moved.

    "It's my fault. The throttle shouldn't have been forward," he said.

    Clary and his son chased the plane north in their minivan until "we
    just lost sight of it," said Paul Clary IV.

    They were able to keep it in sight for no longer than five or 10
    minutes.

    "It's a disaster," the younger Clary said.

    Scanlon said witnesses last saw the plane climbing in the air and
    guessed it likely reached at least 5,000 feet. Based on the amount of
    fuel in its tank, the plane's weight and the weather, authorities
    believe it probably headed in a northeastern direction.

    "We know it ran out of fuel before darkness came," Smith said.

    The 1,240-pound plane has two seats. It is made of fibers and canvas
    and was designed in the late 1930s or early 1940s. It was manufactured
    for about 20 years and was sold mostly for recreational flying.

    While it's hard to believe the plane could take off by itself and fly
    without a pilot for at least two hours, it could -- technically -- be
    possible, Smith said.

    "If the control services were trimmed or set properly, it could in
    fact fly itself," he said.

    Smith said that while there was some discussion about using military
    aircraft to locate and intercept the plane, there never was any talk
    of having it shot down.

    FAA inspectors will begin their investigation into the missing plane
    today.

    "I'm sure there's going to be some kind of implication toward the
    pilot," he said. "We'll just have to see what went wrong."

    You can reach Staff Writer Cecilia M. Vega at 521-5213 or
    cvega@..., and Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 762-9667
    or jhay@....

    Copyright © 2001 The Press Democrat

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/simple_skywatching_011226.html
Original Date:    Sat, 29 Dec 2001 15:18:52 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


Simple Skywatching: Doorstep Astronomy for Late December

By Robert Roy Britt <mailto:rbritt@...>
Senior Science Writer
posted: 09:23 am ET
21 December 2001

Maybe you just got a telescope for Christmas and need a target at which
to point it. Or perhaps you just want something to do on a crisp, clear
winter night. How about a little doorstep astronomy? No equipment
required.

Now is a great time to step outside and learn something about our solar
system and the universe. Jupiter and Saturn are easy to find in the
eastern sky, and once you've located them, you can use their positions
to help identify a handful of other bright stars.

With a small telescope, you can see Saturn's rings, which are tilted for
optimal viewing right now. Or with just binoculars, you could relive the
astonishment of Galileo Galilei, who in the early 1600s spotted four
moons around Jupiter using an early, crude telescope.

How to begin

Stargazing need not be complicated. If you can find the Moon, you're on
your way to becoming a backyard astronomer. Earth's only natural
satellite, with its ancient pockmarked face, begs endless exploration.

[See our Skywatchers Guide to the Moon
<http://www.space.com/spacewatch/moon_guide-1.html> , with a printable
Moon map.]

On some nights, the Moon can serve as a great locator to help find other
objects.

On Dec. 28, for example, the Moon will be midway between Saturn and
Jupiter in the eastern sky at 9 p.m. local time -- which means wherever
you are.

Jupiter is easy to find. It's the brightest point of light in the sky
right now, rising in the east just after sunset. Saturn is already up in
the east at sunset; later in the night, you'll find Saturn above and to
the right of Jupiter. Saturn is not as bright, and it sometimes appears
yellowish.

[Click on the sky map at the top right of this page.]

Once you've found these two planets, you can then identify a handful of
bright stars, even if you live in a city. The brightest is Sirius, which
is lower than both planets and in a line running straight down from
Saturn. Sirius does not rise, however, until after 7 p.m. and may not be
visible until later depending on how low you can see on your eastern
horizon.

There! You may now call yourself a backyard astronomer. And you've
observed more than you might realize.

What you've learned

You have, for example, looked back in time. Sirius is 8.6 light-years
away, meaning that the light you saw took 8.6 years to get here. You saw
Sirius not as it looks now, but as it was 8.6 years ago.

To think of it another way, if a child on a planet near Sirius had a
10th birthday party, and you could see it, you'd be watching the party
after the child had become an adult.

The distances involved here are vast, for light is no slowpoke: it
travels 186,000 miles every second.

Your foray into amateur astronomy has also given you a sense of scale.
Consider this: While Sirius is 8.6 light-years away, Saturn is just 68
light-minutes away.

Saturn appears dimmer to us because its intrinsic brightness, as
astronomers call it, is less. Of course, Saturn and all the planets
shine only because they reflect sunlight. Sirius, on the other hand, has
its own thermonuclear furnace.

Other stars even farther away are visible. If you have dark skies,
you've probably seen stars that are thousands of light-years away. Just
so you know, our Milky Way Galaxy is more than 100,000 light-years
across. It contains billions of stars, but the most adept skywatchers
can see no more than 6,000 of them without a telescope.

Round and round

With just a few hours observation, you've also seen celestial mechanics
at work. By watching the movement of the planets and stars between, say,
dinner and bedtime, you observed how the Earth spins on its axis.

The Moon, planets, and stars traverse the night sky (and the Sun the day
sky) from east to west because the Earth rotates from west to east.

In a few nights of observing the sky, you can notice how the Earth's
yearly motion around the Sun alters the positions of the stars. Stars
near the sky's equator rise (and set) four minutes earlier each night,
explains John Mosley of the Griffith Observatory near Los Angeles.

There's some nifty magic to the math here: Stars rise (and set) two
hours earlier each month, and 24 hours earlier each year -- when the
Earth has completed one orbit around the Sun.

The four-minute rule works for the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and often
for Mars, Mosley says. Mercury and Venus orbit the Sun relatively
quickly, though, and their paths are more complicated. Stars near the
sky's north pole remain above the horizon throughout the year, and the
North Star remains in the same position -- above the North Pole of the
earth.

Pick an instrument

Sooner or later, you'll probably want a better view. This does not need
to cost a lot or be extremely complicated.

If you have a pair of good binoculars, point them at Jupiter. You could
seen one, two, three or four pinpricks of light lined up in a row, very
near the planet.

These are the Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. They
are named after their discoverer, who used them to help prove that
heavenly bodies orbited around other heavenly bodies, and thus that the
Earth was not the center of everything, as many believed in his day.

A small telescope, one that can magnify 30x or more, will reveal an even
more stunning sight: Saturn's rings. Anyone's first view of the rings is
breathtaking. Now happens to be a great time to take a look, because the
rings are tilted toward Earth more than usual.

It takes Saturn a little more than 29 years, in Earth time, to orbit the
Sun. During this orbit, the planet's rings completely change their
orientation, from our point of view, every 14 years or so. The rings are
currently tilted toward us at an angle of about 26 degrees -- the
maximum possible. By 2009, they will be edge-on and virtually invisible.

The Moon, eclipsed

Nothing in the night sky is easier to study than the Moon. With no
equipment, you can see color differences. Bright areas represent ancient
crust leftover from the Moon's formation; dark areas are relatively
newer rock that formed from lava that erupted from the interior -- still
long ago.

Binoculars or a small telescope will reveal stunning views of craters,
especially on nights when the Moon is not full; study the region where
light and dark meet and shadows are deepest.

Looking at the Moon is a sneaky way to look back in time. Most of the
craters are ancient, many having formed more than 3 billion years ago
when asteroids and comet impacts were more common. Scientists assume
Earth got hit just as hard. But the Moon has no atmosphere to cause
erosion and no significant quakes that represent the forces that fold a
planet like Earth into itself continually. The Moon's craters remain
until pummeled by another space rock.

Look also for bright streaks radiating outward from craters. These are
material cast out by impacts. What violence!

Early Sunday morning, Dec. 30, you can watch some more cosmic gears at
work, as the Earth passes directly between the Sun and the Moon,
creating what's called a lunar eclipse. This one will be a special
variety called penumbral -- a sort of see-through shadow will evolve.
Again, no viewing aids are required, but binoculars or a telescope will
make the experience richer.

Basic tips

Whether you view the night sky with your naked eye, binoculars, or a
telescope, here are a few tips to enhance the experience:

A dark location is always helpful. No matter how much light surrounds
you, more is always worse. Turn off any lights you can. Also, allow a 15
minutes or more for your eyes to adapt to the darkness; you'll soon see
more.

One thing you can't control is the atmosphere. Even a cloud-free night
isn't always great for viewing. When you look directly overhead, you're
peering through about 7 miles of the troposphere, the densest portion of
Earth's atmosphere; the light from an object nearer the horizon filters
through dozens of miles of the troposphere. The result can be blurry
stars.

Turbulent air, something you can't see or predict, can have an effect,
too. It makes objects appear to jump around or twinkle.

The bottom line: Telescopes will typically yield better results when a
target is higher in the sky and when the atmosphere is calm.

Only experience will tell you which nights are best for viewing.

Make Your Own Sky Maps
Starry Night Software <http://www.starrynight.com>
See what's up in the sky, in any direction, from where you live.


More information

* Daily Spacewatch Page
<http://www.space.com/spacewatch/spacewatch.html>
	 Night Sky information
* Lunar Eclipse Sunday Morning, Dec. 30
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/penumbral_eclipse_011221.html
	 Anyone in North America can watch the Earth shade the Moon.
* Skywatchers' Guide to the Moon
<http://www.space.com/spacewatch/moon_guide-1.html>
	 Includes a printable Moon map.
* How to Buy a Telescope
<http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/telescopes_page_000707.html>

©2001 SPACE.com, inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@...>
Original Subject: UFO UpDate: Alfred's Odd Observation #003
Original Date:    Sat, 29 Dec 2001 13:55:28 -0500

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

From: Alfred Lehmberg <Lehmberg@...>
To: UFO UpDates - Toronto <ufoupdates@...>
Subject: Alfred's Odd Observation #003
Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 06:24:26 -0600


Alfred's Odd Observation #003 (Saturday, December 29, 2001.)

My enthusiasm's boundless, and I'm soaring through the night in
an early morning cleaving where the lights that move are bright,
when Ursa, slowly rolling like that Gentle bear of lore,
presented one new diamond that then moved across her floor. The
Gem was bright as Sirius, and so slowly did it groove, I'd count
out fifteen seconds - one degree was all it moved. It rolled
just under five degrees, due north I watched it fall, but lost
it to bring glasses to my eyes to watch it crawl...

Lehmberg@...

It was about 04:15, and I was still high from some great letters
I'd gotten yesterday from people who "got it" and had briefly
celebrated the "getting it" with me in an exchange of some
_very_ satisfying E-mail <metaphoric cigarettes smoked all
around <g>.>... a little slice of heaven... but...
back at the ranch!

...It blinked on, just slightly below the big dipper, and
started (immediately) to move to the north. Movement was so slow
I thought I might be confused by some optical illusion
initially, but no, it moved against the star field, bright as
Sirius, about one degree in fifteen seconds. I watched it move
for four or five degrees, then brought my field glasses to my
eyes to see the obligatory but still anomalous point source of
light (just bigger), when the light disappeared. Not finding it
in my glasses, it was gone, subsequently, for my unaided eyes,
too.

...And did it occur to any other sky watcher out there that Ursa
was female? If not, then where did the "little" bear come from?
<g>.

And so it goes for the intrepid anomalous observer <g>. Read on!
And thanks for the mail!


~~Ö~~
EXPLORE "Alfred Lehmberg's Alien View" at his HostPros URL.
http://www.alienview.net


JOHN FORD RESTORATION FUND -- John will be released eventually.
He'll need a tax free cash stake to get on his feet. Let's put
one together for him; the bigger it is -- the more attention he
gets. It could have been you. E-mail for detail. $350.00 pledged
-- $200.00 collected!

"I cleave the heavens, and soar to the infinite. What others see
from afar, I leave far behind me." - Giordano Bruno, scourged by
scurrilous skepti-bunkies.


\_______________________________________________/

UFO UpDates - Toronto - ufoupdates@...
A UFO & Related Phenomena E-Mail List operated by
Errol Bruce-Knapp

UFO UpDates Archives are available at
The Virtually Strange Network:

http://www.virtuallystrange.net/

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  Paul Anderson <psa@...>
Original Subject: CCCRN News: New Web Site, E-News Service for Fields of Dreams
Radio Show
Original Date:    Sat, 29 Dec 2001 20:55:36 +0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


CCCRN NEWS
The E-News Service of the Canadian Crop Circle Research Network

http://www.geocities.com/cropcirclecanada

December 29, 2001

_____________________________


NEW WEB SITE, E-NEWS SERVICE FOR FIELDS OF DREAMS RADIO SHOW

Starting January 1, 2002, the Fields of Dreams webcast radio show will have
its own web site and e-news e-mail service which will provide the latest
updates on show schedules and upcoming guests.

Fields of Dreams is the premier webcast radio show (monthly) on the crop
circle phenomenon, part of the Night Search Paranormal Network
(http://www.nightsearch.net). FOD will not be a part of CCCRN specifically,
but an independent program encompassing the phenomenon as a whole, and will
continue to feature leading researchers from around the globe, providing an
audio forum for discussion of all aspects of this fascinating subject.
CCCRN will continue to focus on investigation of the phenomenon in Canada,
as usual.

Fields of Dreams web site (under construction):

http://www.geocities.com/fieldsofdreamsradio

Fields of Dreams e-news service (program / guest updates):

To subscribe to Fields of Dreams, send a blank e-mail to:
fieldsofdreams-subscribe@...

Or go to:

http://www.topica.com/lists/fieldsofdreams

The first Fields of Dreams update will be sent out January 1, with details
for the next show on January 2, with Colin Andrews (please note: while
Colin's recent views have caused much controversy in the crop circle
research community, it is the purpose of FOD to provide an objective forum
for all viewpoints). Previous guests so far since the program's start last
fall have been Beata Van Berkom, Nancy Talbott and Linda Moulton Howe.

Please note: to receive the e-mail updates, you will need to subscribe
yourself as per above, as Topica will not allow me to add addresses
manually as a privacy / anti-spam precaution feature. The same is true for
the CCCRN News updates.

Thanks again to Eddie, Colleen, Bob and everyone at NSPN for making
possible this and all the programs on the NSPN network.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Paul Anderson
Host

____________________________


CCCRN News is the e-news service of the Canadian Crop Circle
  Research Network, providing e-mail updates with the latest news
and reports on the crop circle phenomenon in Canada, as well as
other information on CCCRN-related projects and events, sent free
to your e-mail.

http://www.topica.com/lists/cccrnnews

CCCRN News Archive:
http://www.topica.com/lists/cccrnnews/read


The Canadian Crop Circle Research Network is a non-profit
research organization which investigates the crop circle
phenomenon and other possibly related phenomena in Canada,
creating a liason between researchers, farmers, the public,
the media and scientists in trying to solve this ongoing enigma.

Main Office:
202 - 325 East 14th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5T 2M9 Canada
Tel / Fax (Office): 604.731.8522
Tel (Cell): 604.727.1454
E-Mail: psa@...
Web: http://www.geocities.com/cropcirclecanada

© Canadian Crop Circle Research Network, 2001

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally From:  Edoardo Russo <e.russo@...>
Original Subject: Italian UFO Newsflash No. 338

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================


ITALIAN UFO NEWSFLASH

ISSUE NO. 338 -  21 DECEMBER 2001

by the Italian Center for UFO Studies
(Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici, CISU)

Contents:

- The Final 'UFO Forum'
- Another (Bad) UFO Book
- The 'Golden Little Martian' Cinematography Award


The Final 'UFO Forum'

Appearing in the coming days is Issue 19 of 'UFO Forum', the
technical journal from the C.I.S.U. which appears every four
months under the editorship of Giuseppe Stilo.

Among the articles in this issue: the catalog of Italian
pre-ufological cases of 'antiquity'; reflections on the
'teleportation' of Scorze; the history of state UFO research in
the U.S.S.R.; a critique on the historic-ufological materialism
of the 'Men in Red'; the stories of 'crashed UFOs' in the
Nineteenth Century.

As announced, this will be the final issue of 'UFO Forum', since
beginning with the coming year, the banner will be incorporated
into the periodical 'UFO - Rivista di informazione ufologica'
('UFO Information Magazine'), which thus becomes quarterly.

[Communication by Gian Paolo Grassino.]


Another (Bad) UFO Book

On the heels of the one by Lissoni, Macro Edizioni of Cesena is
sending to bookstores a second UFO book: "Extraterrestri Amici e
Ostili" ('Extraterrestrials: Frienda and Foes'), by the American
George Andrews, originally published in 1993 (455 pages, 18 Euro
or 34,835 Lire).

It concerns not only the umpteenth translation of a horrible
book, but a veritable 'cult,' because the author is one of the
exponents of the anti-American, para-ufological conspiracy view
and this text was one of the best-sellers of pseudo-ufological
trash overseas.

[Report by Maurizio Morini.]


The "Golden Little Martian" Cinematography Award

Speaking of 'trash': going to Michelangelo Visconti (for his
short film "Close Encounters") is the "Golden Little Martian"
Cinematography Award presented by Progetto Cinema of the Italian
Center for UFO Studies during the course of the 6th Festival of
Trash Cinema, which concluded in Turin on 16 December.

The award is intended to recognize the 'inclusion of elements
specific to the UFO phenomenon, in an ironic and iconoclastic
sense.' The plot: two boys in a brewery uncover the truth behind
an invasion by microscopic UFOs, which makes itself known in a
sudden and not inconspicuous manner.

[Collaboration by Fabrizio Dividi and Matteo Leone.]


Collaborators on this edition were: Fabrizio Dividi, Gian Paolo
Grassino, Matteo Leone and Maurizio Morini.

- - -

This is the English translation of UFOTEL, a free phone/Internet
information service on UFOs edited weekly by  Edoardo Russo for
the Italian Center for UFO Studies (Centro Italiano Studi
Ufologici), available in Italian by calling +39-011-545294, or
by e-mail subscription, or on CISU website at
http://www.arpnet.it/ufo/ultime.htm

UFOTEL is a supplement to "UFO - Rivista di informazione
ufologica", published by the Italian Center for UFO Studies,
registered at Tribunale di Torino,  No. 3670, on 19 June 1986.
Director: Giovanni Settimo. Publisher: Cooperativa UPIAR, Corso
Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Turin, Italy

Translated from Italian to English by:

Gary J. Presto, Freelance IT-EN Translator/Proofreader
1123 Revere Beach Pky., # 12
Revere, MA 02151 USA
Tel.: ++ 1.781.485.1683, Fax: ++ 1.781.485.1684
ICQ: 110502923, E-mail: gjpresto@...
Webpage: http://profiles.yahoo.com/italoman9

- - -

(c) 2001  by: CISU,
Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108,  10121 Torino, Italia

This newsletter (as a whole or in part) may be freely
copied, photocopied, reproduced, stored, distributed
and retrieved, at the only condition that Centro Italiano
Studi Ufologici is reported as the source.

You may get it directly via e-mail by subscribing
(just send a blank message to:
cisuflash-subscribe@yahoogroups.com)

The CISU is a no-profit association whose aims are:
- to promote the scientific study of UFO phenomena in Italy;
- to help circulate information about UFO phenomena and studies;
- to coordinate national activities of data collecting and studying.

You may reach Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici:
- by mail: CISU, Corso Vittorio Emanuele 108, 10121 Torino, Italia
- by phone: +39 (011) 329.02.79 (24 hours UFO Hotline)
- by fax: +39 (011) 54.50.33
- by Internet e-mail: cisu@...
- at the World Wide Web URL: http://www.cisu.org

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  Jan Sundberg <jan.sundberg@...>
Original Subject: Update from GUST: Footage of Champ may be the real thing
Original Date:    Sun, 30 Dec 2001 00:10:45 +0100

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Hi!

We have just learned that two witnesses at Lake Champlain in Vermont, USA,
has taken a footage of what may be Champ, a serpent-like creature seen in
the lake since the end of the 1800´s. The footage can be seen on Sci Fi
channels web site at http://www.scifi.com/happens/

When we took frames out of the footage, by using the button "Print Screen",
we found a frame that very much resembles a "rolling wheel" which is a
configuration often described by witnesses, and it next to impossible that
it would emerge from just a wave formation.

A smiliar configuration as the one on Lake Champlain can also be seen on
the footage that was taken of the sea serpent Selma in Lake Seljordsvatnet,
Norway, in August 1999 and from which we earlier released a still.

More analysis is necessary of course and if any of our subscribers can give
GUST the names of those who took the footage, and we could get our hands on
a copy of it, we would be happy to make a thorough analysis, because we now
have better resources to do this than ever before.

Best Regards & A Happy New Year from
Jan Sundberg, Expedition Leader
GUST: Global Underwater Search Team
Motala, Sweden

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  para-discuss@yahoogroups.com
Original Subject: [Para-Discuss] Digest Number 1739
Original Date:    29 Dec 2001 20:28:52 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

    Date: Sat, 29 Dec 2001 09:04:51 -0600
    From: "~The Lone Warrior" <Awakened4JChrist@...>
    Subject: Mind Control Book List  (Please Pass Onward)

PLEASE pass this on to ANY "proclaimed" abductee (of any
sort)/contactee, mind controlled victim, and anyone experiencing
various unexplained paranormal phenomenea, or unexplained
physical/mental struggles which doctors have mis- diagnosed/can
not explain that YOU may know personally/and appropriate
groups. There is NOT much information out there for them. They
NEED this, at least on file if nothing else!  ~The Lone Maverick

http://mindcontrolforum.com/booklist.htm
Electromagnetic Radiation &
Mind Control Book List
From an Anonymous Victim

9 March 1998

--[snipped]------

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  Elfrad-Group@yahoogroups.com
Original Subject: [Elfrad-Group] Digest Number 466
Original Date:    29 Dec 2001 19:05:45 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

    Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2001 21:41:51 -0600
    From: "David Thomson" <dave@...>
    Subject: RE: Just appeared discussion group on Tunguska event

Hi Bob,

I'm a Tesla researcher.

> Did Nikola Tesla cause the explosion in Tunguska, Siberia in 1908?

This question will never be fully answered, but so far the Tesla theory can
account for the amount of energy that was released over Tunguska and produce
the effects that were seen. The meteor theory and alien space craft theory
are both discounted since there is no crater and no trace of radiation. The
bolide theory is a total farce as even today we witness dozens of huge
bolides coming into the atmosphere without producing damage of any kind.

>Therefore Tesla did not have the equipment to create such an explosion five
years later.

Just because Wardencliffe was not operational does not mean Tesla did not
have the means for generating large oscillations over the earth. It is not
known much even today that Tesla actually had two large coils similar to the
Colorado Springs coil in Canada just north of New York. These large coils
set up in remote areas were witnessed by Tesla's last lab assistant, Mr.
Matthews. Also, Tesla claimed to have perfected and built a device capable
of vaporizing missiles and airplanes as a means of defense using a particle
beam weapon. This he did in the 1930s with a rather small device and was
supposed to have shared it with Roosevelt in January 1943. But he died a
few days before meeting with the President.

>Further, according to Dr. James Corum, in a recent phone interview, (June
5, 1997), the tower had the capability of producing only about 300 kilowatts
(six times what many radio stations produce) and delivering 10 kilowatts of
power to the opposite side of the earth. This would be approximately enough
energy to light a lightbulb. A tremendous feat in its own right, however,
nowhere near the amount of power required to create the Tunguska explosion.
Corum stated that the problem in transmitting the kind of tremendous power
required is that the air around the transmitter breaks down thereby
rendering the machine inoperable.

It is unfortunate that most people, including very learned scientists, don't
fully understand the principles of resonance, electrostatics, standing
waves, longitudinal waves, or the resonant frequency of the earth.

The earth is always resonating at around 8Hz. What Tesla did was calculate
how to add just enough directional energy into this large resonating cavity
to bring order and predictability to the resonating energy already present.
Then, with a further calculated introduction of energy, he was able to cause
a huge standing wave over a location (Tunguska was probably not his intended
target) thus creating a huge electrostatic potential between ionosphere and
ground. At any given time there are about 8000 lightning strikes around the
planet as the ionosphere dumps the trillions of watts of energy it receives
from the sun daily. Tesla was able to focus the energy that would have
otherwise gone to thousands of lightning discharges into one focal point.
The energy needed to reorganize and focus the earth's resonance is minimal
in comparison. To help understand how this is possible, think of the
vertical and horizontal adjustments on your TV cathode ray tube. The
electrons firing from the back of the CRT can be focused or scattered by
creating electrostatic charges near the path of the electron beam. Another
way of understanding this is to think of the power of an optical lens and
its ability to focus sunlight and ignite a sheet of paper. You would no
more claim the feat impossible because glass doesn't have enough energy than
you would claim Tesla couldn't cause the Tunguska blast because he didn't
generate enough power. Tesla didn't need to generate all the energy. He
was super efficient and harnessed the natural energy of the sun and earth
with a relatively small amount of man made energy.

>Tesla also states in this article and in an article the following year in
Wireless Telegraphy & Telephone, 1908, pp. 67-71, that he will be able to
direct electrical energy "with great precision" to any point of the globe.

When you understand how natural energy can be manipulated with a relatively
small amount of human energy, you can fully understand what Tesla meant in
the above quote.

In Colorado Springs Notes, Tesla devoted several pages to his observation of
a very strong electrical storm that happened to pass his way. He was
fascinated by this display of energy and took several measurements as the
storm approached and then passed his lab. Tesla accurately calculated the
resonant frequency of the earth long before Schumann did. By doing this, he
likely also calculated the dielectric strength of the atmosphere, the
capacitance between earth and ionosphere, and the inductances of both. He
spent some time figuring the wave patterns over a sphere and was also aware
of the cosmic and solar energy received by the earth. All the key elements
for harnessing the vast energy of the earth were known to Tesla; and the
Tunguska blast occurred during the prime of his work. It's not hard
evidence, but there is significant circumstantial evidence to support the
theory that Tesla did indeed cause the Tunguska blast.

Don't be misled by scientists not skilled in Tesla's art. There is much
Tesla knew that we still don't know today.

Dave

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Sarfatti has always been rude and sarcastic in his dialogue with Firmage.
Nothing new here. It is a shame as Sarfatti certainly has a lot of important
thoughts on these matters. I cannot personally get past his rudeness.

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  SpaceWeather.com <spaceweather@...>
Original Subject: New Year, Giant Planet
Original Date:    Mon, 31 Dec 2001 02:36:25 -0600

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

Space Weather News for Dec. 31, 2001
http://www.spaceweather.com

JUPITER: Tonight, New Year's Eve revelers in the northern hemisphere might
notice a bright star overhead competing for attention with traditional
fireworks.  It's the giant planet Jupiter, which comes closer than usual
to Earth on January 1, 2002.  Visit SpaceWeather.com for more information.

THE SUN: On Friday, Dec. 28th, space satellites recorded a remarkable
solar explosion from an active region hidden behind the Sun's eastern
limb.  The source of the blast, a large and complex sunspot group, is
coming into view today.

MOON SHOTS: The Moon skirted through the outskirts of Earth's shadow on
Sunday, Dec. 30th, and experienced a "penumbral" lunar eclipse. Visit our
growing photo gallery to see what it looked like -- and to enjoy the
Moon's eye-catching close encounter with a bright planet.

Happy New Year from SpaceWeather.com!

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

Forwarded by:     fwestra@... (Frits Westra)
Originally from:  Skyopen@yahoogroups.com
Original Subject: [SO] Digest Number 873
Original Date:    31 Dec 2001 09:49:46 -0000

========================== Forwarded message begins ======================

SKYWATCH INTERNATIONAL, INC. (A Non-Profit Organization)

Visit the Skywatch International Inc. website! http://www.skywatch-
international.org
------------------------------------------------------------------


    Date: Sun, 30 Dec 2001 15:48:10 +0000
    From: "Bill Hamilton" <skywatcher22@...>
    Subject: The McChord UFO Incident '72 - Top Secret

Here is another report from Air Force files.
This one has not been released as have similar ones
so it has been leaked to my friend, Robert.
Robert himself was a member of AF Intelligence
and is an engineer. There is a lot he shares
with me, but only a fraction has been released
such as this report.

BH


The McChord UFO Incident '72

by former AFOSI agent

HOME


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-

Preamble

This is from the files of AFOSI dated in October 1972. Note that Blue Book
closed it's doors in December 1969 but yet here almost three years later we
see that the Air Force is still collecting UFO reports then proceeding to
classify them. No fictitious names or places were used in this report. The
names and events are real..........Rmc


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On October 14, 1972, Airman First Class(AIC) Steven Briggs and Airman(AMN)
Dennis Hillsgeck were instructed to check the tactical air navigational
(TACAN) facility located eight miles east of McChord Air Force Base.  The
TACAN site was situated on government land maintained by the United State
Army, Ft. Lewis.  Briggs and Hillsgeck drove to the TACAN site at
approximately 1300 hours.  Upon their arrival, they opened the locked fence
surrounding the TACAN facility and entered the compound.  Once inside the
compound, they opened the TACAN building and began to conduct a systems
check of the TACAN equipment.  At approximately 1400 hours., Briggs heard a
strange sound outside the building.  According to Briggs, it sounded like a
high pitch engine.  Briggs exited the building to investigate the sound.
Once outside, Briggs observed a saucer shaped object directly above the
TACAN building.  Briggs watched as the object landed just south of the TACAN
compound.  Briggs was startled by the object and entered the TACAN building
to summoned Hillsgeck.  Once Hillsgeck and Briggs exited the building
together, they observed two “creatures” walking towards the fence.  Briggs
returned to the building and telephoned (555) the base security police.  He
yelled that they needed help at the TACAN site because “intruders” were
attempting to enter the facility.  The phone call was received by Sgt David
Holmes, the Law Enforcement Desk Sergeant, 62nd Security Police Squadron.
Sgt Holmes dispatched Sgt Dwight Reid and AIC Michael Tash to the scene.  It
took the security police patrol 17 minutes to travel to the TACAN site.
Upon their arrival, they observed Briggs and Hillsgeck standing near their
government vehicle.  Both appeared to be in a daze.  Neither could speak.
Sgt Reid summoned an USAF Ambulance to the scene.  Hillsgeck appeared to
have been burnt around the face.  AIC Tash walked around the area and found
marks in the soft Washington state dirt.  Then suddenly, Sgt Reid yelled to
AIC Tash that an object was directly over his head.  A saucer shaped object
was hovering just above the TACAN facility.  Sgt Reid attempted to
communicate to the security police law enforcement office by using his
Motorola HT-220 portable radio. However the radio did not function.  Sgt
Reid then yelled for AIC Tash to return to the police vehicle.  Sgt Reid and
AIC Tash retrieved Briggs and Hillsgeck and drove from the scene.
Approximately one mile from the TACAN site, Sgt Reid was able to communicate
with the security police office, requesting assistance and declaring a
“Covered Wagon."  Four additional security policemen arrived on scene,
including, Sgt Darren Alexander and his military dog-Champ.  Sgt Alexander
and Champ drove to the scene and started to search the area.  Approximately
400 yards south of the TACAN site, Champ alerted.  Sgt Alexander observed
two “creatures” standing near a remote power station.  Sgt Alexander yelled
for the two “creatures” to stand and raise their hands.  Both creatures then
moved towards Sgt Alexander.  Sgt Alexander observed that one of the
creatures was holding an object, which Sgt Alexander thought was a weapon.
Sgt Alexander fired six rounds from his military issued Model 15, .38
Caliber Revolver.  After firing the shots, Sgt Alexander returned to his
vehicle and radioed Sgt Reid that he had fired at the creatures.  A Security
Alert Team (similar to a police SWAT) arrived.  They conducted a search of
the area and observed the saucer shaped object sitting on the ground,
directly east of the power station.  They circled the object and called for
a supervisor.  Captain Henry Stone, Security Police Law Enforcement, arrived
on scene but the object departed just as Captain Stone walked towards the
object.  The object flew off in an easterly direction and was out of sight
in a few seconds.  Office of Special Investigations agents arrived on scene
and conducted an investigation.  Statements were taken from all involved.
Evidence was collected from the scene, to include shell casings from the
rounds fired by Sgt Alexander.

This incident was classified as Top Secret and remained in the OSI files as
unsolved.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2001 by Robert Collins


Bill Hamilton
Executive Director
Skywatch International Inc.


Bill Hamilton
Executive Director
Skywatch International, Inc.
websites:
http://home.earthlink.net/~skywatcher22
http://home.earthlink.net/~skywatcher12
http://home.earthlink.net/~xplorerx
http://home.earthlink.net/~xplorerx2

========================== Forwarded message ends ========================

**********World Of The Strange Newsletter 12/31/01*********
                           NEW YEAR'S CARD
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####################
CONTENTS
#1. PBS - Scientific America Frontiers: Life's Really Big Questions: Anybody
Out There?
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1103/features/outthere.htm
#2. Alien Research and Development Among Starfaring  Cultures as Exhibited in
UFO Sightings by: James L. Choron Kommissar@...
   http://WinterSteel.homestead.com/Home.html
#3. WOTS-Website Winner of the Month - The Lou Gentile Show
http://www.lougentile.com/index2.html    Lou
Gentile-lougentile@...
#4. "Weird" New Squid Species Discovered in Deep Sea    by: Bijal P. Trivedi
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/12/1220_TVweirdsquid.html
#5. Home Owner Claims Deceased Professor Haunts Her House  by: Tami Watson
 http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?gid=827&v=2.11&buster=130    
#6. Close Encounters And Personal Transformation by: Richard Boylan, Ph.D.
drboylan@... http://www.geocities.com/drboylan
#7. The Ultimate Long Distance Call  by: Seth Shostak
SETI Institute
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_long_distance_011227.html
#8. Ball Lightning Link To Human Combustion
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_479064.html
(Thanks to Ananova.com for this article)
#9. Scared To Death Isn't Just An Expression by: Joseph Brean
jbrean@... National Post, with file from Agence France-Presse
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20011221/931884.html&
qs=Joseph%20Brean
####################

#1. PBS - Scientific America Frontiers: Life's Really Big Questions: Anybody
Out There?
http://www.pbs.org/saf/1103/features/outthere.htm

In "Alien Worlds," David Latham and his colleagues at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics use cutting-edge science to locate planets beyond our
own solar system. Until 1995, no one had ever found an "extra-solar" planet,
and only a handful is known today. Yet, since the 1960's, scientists have
been listening for alien signals nonetheless.What are the chances intelligent
life exists beyond Earth? In 1961, radio astronomer Frank Drake presented a
means of estimating the number of technological civilizations that likely
exist in the galaxy. The equation that bears his name is thought to be among
the most important of the 20th Century, second only to Einstein's E=MC2.
Drake's Equation factors together all of the assumed conditions required for
advanced civilizations to evolve.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#2. Alien Research and Development Among Starfaring  Cultures as Exhibited in
UFO Sightings ©2001
by: James L. Choron Kommissar@...
http://WinterSteel.homestead.com/Home.html

INTRODUCTION:

The recent sighting, and capture on videotape of an Unidentified Flying
Object in the immediate vicinity of New York's World Trade Center, at the
time of the 11 September Massacre should not be a surprise to anyone who
follows such events. Still, while it should not be a surprise that there was
a UFO in the area, it does not necessarily follow that the UFO was directly
involved in the disaster, nor, that the occupants of the craft had any
significant amount of advanced warning that the attack was imminent, other
than possibly having a more sophisticated form of "early warning" system
(whatever they have that is an equivalent to Radar or Sonar).

For years, generations, in fact, fueled by a rapidly expanding market in
Science Fiction, most people have "assumed" that the civilizations behind
these craft are "far" in advance of any known Earth Civilization.  This is
simply not the case, based upon a close examination of the facts, as
exhibited by known and verifiable sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects.
While this is not intended to be a technical article, it will, however, point
out some technical aspects of UFO design and construction that lend to the
theory of an ongoing R&D (Research and Development) program among the
Starfaring races that currently visit the Earth.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#3. WOTS-Website Winner of the Month - The Lou Gentile Show
http://www.lougentile.com/index2.html    Lou
Gentile-lougentile@...

This radio Show is very well known in the East Coast but is constantly
expanding, it reaches more than 26 million, and can be listened to online
live on Monday, Wednesday and Thursdays nights at 10PM till 12AM (Eastern
Time) and it's all FREE, also you can listen to their past shows in their
Achieve section.

The Lou Gentle Show has a free number you can call into to ask questions also
at 888-829-8525...below is some insight on this show.

Here at "The Lou Gentile Show," we are on a never-ending quest for truth. We
seek answers to age-old questions that have fascinated mankind since the
beginning of civilization -- Where do we come from? Do we have a soul? Is
there anything more than physical reality? Can we really communicate with the
dead?

We may never be able to answer all of the questions that arise in our trek
towards the ultimate understanding of reality; however, with your help, we
are certain that we can, at the very least, obtain a glimpse of the ethereal.
Please join us and be part of our journey! Together, we can find the truth.

Lou strives to bring his audience the best in talk-radio, five nights a week.
Our guest list is second to none and is on-par with other talk-radio programs
of the same format that are nationally syndicated.

The topics that are covered on this show are as follows:
· - Angels, Ghosts, and other Supernatural beings
· - Demons, Devils, and other Preternatural phenomena
· - Exorcism and Possession
· - Religious Mysteries (i.e. Stigmata, bleeding statues, Marian apparitions,
etc.)
· - Poltergeists
· - Cults and the Occult
· - Ancient/Lost Civilizations
· - UFOs & Alien abductions
· - Government cover-ups and secret societies
· - Psychic phenomena (i.e. Telepathy, astral projection, remote viewing,
etc.)
· - Cryptozoology
· - Religion and Spirituality
. - Time Travel & The Philadelphia Experiment
. - Normal & Violent Hauntings
####################

#4. "Weird" New Squid Species Discovered in Deep Sea    by: Bijal P. Trivedi
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/12/1220_TVweirdsquid.html

Geographic Today December 20, 2001 Deep-sea submersibles have spotted and
filmed a new type of squid in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans.

"We have never seen anything like it," says cephalopod biologist Michael
Vecchione, of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., and
an author of a report, "Worldwide Observations of Remarkable Deep-Sea
Squids," that appears in the December 21 issue of the journal Science. "It
just shows how little we know about life-forms in the deep sea."

Underwater video from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute's remotely
operated vehicle Tiburon showing a new species of deep-sea squid at 11,090
feet (3,380 meters) depth. MBARI scientists encountered this 13-foot-long
(four-meter-long) animal during geological studies off the island of Oahu in
May 2001.

Squid are usually characterized by eight long arms and two modified shorter
arms called tentacles.

The newly discovered squid has ten indistinguishable appendages which all
appear the same length and which radiate from the main axis of the body like
spokes on a bicycle wheel. All of the appendages have a sharp bend, like an
elbow, from which the rest of the arm hangs straight down.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#5. Home Owner Claims Deceased Professor Haunts Her House  by: Tami Watson
http://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?gid=827&v=2.11&buster=130

This house at 2115 Martingale Dr., owned by Jon and Agi Lurtz, was built in
1981 by Sybrand Broersma, a retired OU physics professor who died on Dec. 20,
1987.

Sometimes even death can’t separate an individual from that which he loves.
Such seems the case between a deceased University of Oklahoma physics
professor and the Norman home he built in 1981. Mysterious occurrences have
apparently forced two — maybe three — previous owners to suddenly move out
of the home, some even leaving behind personal belongings.

Making His Presence Known

According to Agi Lurtz — who has lived at 2115 Martingale Dr. since 1994 —
Sybrand Broersma continues to occupy his unique, cream-colored creation, even
though he died in the home 15 years ago today.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#6. Close Encounters And Personal Transformation by: Richard Boylan, Ph.D.
drboylan@... http://www.geocities.com/drboylan

One of the most striking things about a first encounter with an
extraterrestrial is the intensely personal feeling, dialogue process, and
relationship formation that goes on almost instantaneously, when the lead
extraterrestrial of a group engages a human contactee in mind-to- mind
communication. Often a feeling of love is experienced from the principal
extraterrestrial. A bond, often life-long, is forged between the
extraterrestrial and the selected human visited.

The bonding experience that takes hold between a human Experiencer and
his/her primary extraterrestrial contact person leads to feelings and
behaviors that sustain the relationship. The attention to this relationship,
and the nourishing of this relationship by both sides, ET and human, is one
of the more touching aspects of the Extraterrestrial Contact phenomenon.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#7. The Ultimate Long Distance Call  by: Seth Shostak
SETI Institute
http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_long_distance_011227.html

It’s one thing to search for intelligent aliens, but it’s another to
actually talk to those we might find. This isn’t just a matter of what
language (if any!) to use, or even how to encode the information. Encoding
for mutual understanding is merely a daunting technical challenge. For
example, should we broadcast messages using pulse code modulation, AM radio,
spread-spectrum techniques, or something we don’t have a name for yet? Until
we pick up a signal, we really haven’t a clue.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#8. Ball Lightning Link To Human Combustion
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_479064.html
(Thanks to Ananova.com for this article)

Scientists studying ball lightning say it may be linked to spontaneous human
combustion.

The study includes a rare photograph taken by an Australian wildlife ranger
who sent it to scientists after hearing of how rare the phenomenon is.

Experts in various fields have got together to study the rare phenomenon
usually seen during thunderstorms.

They have put forward several theories to explain it but admit they are no
closer to solving all its mysteries.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

#9. Scared To Death Isn't Just An Expression by: Joseph Brean
jbrean@... National Post, with file from Agence France-Presse
http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20011221/931884.html&
qs=Joseph%20Brean

When Charles Baskerville met the legendary Hound of the Baskervilles one dark
night on the moors, the demonic beast's glowing fangs literally scared him to
death.

Almost one hundred years after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote this grisly yarn,
sociologists and mathematicians from the University of California at San
Diego have proved he was on to something. Fear, it seems, can kill you.

In a paper entitled The Hound of the Baskervilles Effect, in the Christmas
issue of the British Medical Journal, Professor David Phillips argues that
people die of fright every month. And just as Sir Conan attributed a weak
heart to the death of poor Charles, most victims of fear die from heart
attacks or other cardiac troubles.

Please go to the website to view more on this story.
####################

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