shams adnan

 Did u know the popular legend of the Bermuda Triangle began with a 1964 article in the magazine Argosy that described and named the Triangle. Further articles and reports in such magazines as National Geographic and Playboy merely repeated the legend without additional research. Many of the disappearances discussed in these articles and others did not even occur in the area of the Triangle.

The 1945 disappearance of five military airplanes and a rescue plane was the primary focus of the legend. In December of that year, Flight 19 set out on a training mission from Florida with a leader who wasn't feeling well, an underexperienced crew, a lack of navigation equipment, a limited supply of fuel, and rough seas below. Though the loss of Flight 19 may have initially seemed mysterious, the cause of its failure is well documented today.

There are a few real hazards in the area of the Bermuda Triangle that contribute to the accidents that occur in the wide swath of sea. The first is the lack of magnetic declination near 80° west (just off the coast of Miami). This agonic line is one of two points on the earth's surface where compasses point directly to the North Pole, versus to the Magnetic North Pole elsewhere on the planet. The change in declination can make compass navigation difficult.

Inexperienced pleasure boaters and aviators are common in the area of the triangle and the U.S. Coast Guard receives many distress calls from stranded seamen. They travel too far from the coast and often have an insufficient supply of fuel or knowledge of the swiftly moving Gulf Stream current.

Overall, the mystery surrounding the Bermuda Triangle is not much of a mystery at all but has simply been the result of an overemphasis on the accidents which have occurred in the area.?

 In 1975 a librarian by the name of Larry Kusche published a book entitled The Bermuda Triangle Mystery-Solved. In the book Kusche revealed that many of the strange accidents and disappearances reported in the Bermuda Triangle were not so "paranormal" after all. In many accounts, he discovered that when a writer had noted that a ship went down in calm waters, a raging storm had caused the ship to sink, or when other ships were reported to have mysteriously vanished, their remains had been found and the cause of the disaster explained. Of course, Kusche's theories have been debated and although others have claimed to solve the mysterious accidents and disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle, it can still to this day comfortably fit into the realm of unsolved mysteries.

The Bermuda Triangle or "devil's triangle" is an imaginary triangle stretching from Norfolk to the island of Bermuda and back to Puerto Rico . The term "Bermuda Triangle" was first used in an article written for Argosy magazine in 1964. The author claimed that in this strange expanse of sea a number of planes and ships had disappeared without explanation. Although it was the first time the term was used, the mystery of the triangle was already known. Actually, as early as 1492, Christopher Columbus reported that while he sailed through the area, his compass went haywire and he spotted a ball of fire in the sky. This could easily be explained away as a meteor and the trouble with his compass as a discrepancy between true north and magnetic north that exists in the triangle.

Another famous encounter is the discovery of the abandoned ship Mary Celeste in 1892. There was no sign of the captain, his family, and the eight crew members or what happened to them. Save for one lifeboat, all the supplies had been left on the ship. It appeared that they had abandoned ship quickly, but why?

And the most famous of all strange occurences in the triangle: the disappearance of the five navy avenger bombers of Flight 19, is to this day blamed on the deadly triangle, but when the facts are laid out, the mystery isn't so mysterious. All of the crewmen were inexperienced trainees except for the patrol leader Lt. Charles Taylor. Taylor's compass malfunctioned during the flight and he chose to rely solely on navigating on landmarks below, but the brewing storm caused poor visibility, and he unknowingly led them farther into sea. The explanation is that the five planes ran out of gas and plunged into the sea, but to this day, the wreckage has never been found. Of course, these are just a few of the happenings in the infamous triangle

The term Earth Mysteries,coined in the early 1970s, is today used to describe a multi-disciplined or 'holistic' approach to the study of ancient sites and landscapes. It tends to fall largely outside the accepted range of mainstream research and is generally regarded with suspicion by academics.

Who or what makes crop circles? In the month preceding the release of M. Knight Shyamalan's film Signs, at least, the Disney company was responsible for creating a few of them. A crop pictogram appearing on July 12, 2002 in Wiltshire, England, for example, was identical to the formation on the movie's poster - except for the addition of a pair of "Mickey Mouse ears" on the top.

Okay, so we know that one was manmade. But what about the rest of them? Are all crop formations manmade? Some of them? In a recent article, "Crop Circles: Best Evidence," we examined the various anomalies that crop formation researchers say lend proof to the notion that many are not manmade. With all the renewed interest that Signs has generated about crop formations, it's time to examine the other main question about them: Where do they come from? There are several theories.

Extraterrestrials
UFOs and extraterrestrials have been associated with crop circles since they first began appearing in the 1970s and 1980s, when most of them were fairly simple circles. What else, some people wondered, could possibly account for these large circles pressed down overnight in wheat, corn and other crops? UFOs and aliens were hot topics at the time, and there seemed to be no reason for people to create the circles. So extraterrestrials must be responsible, they reasoned; the formations were even round - like their saucers!

When the more complicated pictograms began appearing in the 1990s, people really flipped out. Human beings couldn't possibly have created these complex images, the thinking went. These must be messages - messages of alien origin. They are try to communicate something to us - a greeting... or a warning. But it was never satisfactorily explained why technologically advanced beings would send us messages in fields of crops rather than through a more practical and straightforward medium - like television.

Being a science fiction film, director Shyamalan's Signs opts for the extraterrestrial explanation. A Pennsylvania farmer, played by Mel Gibson, awakes one morning to find a large formation in his field of corn. He and his family soon learn that similar formations are being discovered around the world. The extraterrestrial connection is then revealed, and it is theorized that the aliens are creating and using the crop formations as navigation signposts. The film is not really about crop circles, however. Shyamalan, who also wrote and directed the hits The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, expertly uses science fiction, blending in plenty of chills and humor, to explore the themes of human fear and faith. (A big thumbs up from this reviewer.)

In real life, the crop formation-extraterrestrial association persists to this day. Mysterious lights and flying saucers have been reported over fields just prior to or just after some crop formations have been discovered. If aliens are responsible, this method of communication is ineffective: we still don't know what they're trying to tell us or why they're using crop fields. Unless... they really are navigation signposts for some diabolical purpose.

Natural Phenomena
The skeptics who have actually looked at all the evidence regarding crop formations (the strange anomalies) and who suspect that some of them might not be manmade, suggest there are little-understood natural phenomena at work. Dramatic whirlwinds and plasma vortexes, they suggest, could be the culprits. It's not unreasonable, I suppose, to envision a strong whirlwind flattening an area of grain into a circular pattern or even a series of circles. And the nature of plasma phenomena, such as ball lightning, is so unfamiliar and mysterious that it's worth considering that it could be responsible for some circles (it could, for example, explain the heat effect noted on some formation plants).

It's conceivable that either could create circular patterns. But to think that any kind of whirlwind or natural plasma energy - which by their nature are random in their behavior - could create pictograms and complex, highly organized patterns and geometric shapes is ludicrous on the face of it. Most crop formations are quite obviously planned and created by an intelligence, not a random act of nature.

Our direct knowledge of the earth's interior is minuscule. The earth has a radius of about 6370 km, but the deepest scientific borehole ever drilled is only 12 km. To put this in perspective: if the earth were reduced to a tabletop globe 50 centimetres (20 inches) in diameter, the portion accessible to direct observation through the deepest borehole would be the equivalent of a very thin skin less than 1 millimetre (0.04 inch) thick. In other words, scientists have barely scratched the surface of our globe.

    Nevertheless, over the past 100 years or so, geoscientists have put together a detailed picture of the earth's interior based largely on indirect evidence -- mainly the behaviour of seismic waves that travel through the earth [1]. The earth's interior is believed to consist of several concentric spheres: an outer solid crust, averaging 7 km thick beneath oceans and 35 km beneath continents; a mainly solid mantle extending to a depth of 2900 km; an outer core of liquid iron extending to a depth of 5150 km; and an inner core of solid iron, with a radius of about 1220 km

Most earthquakes are shallow, no deeper than 20-25 km, and occur when rocks snap and fracture under increasing stress. Earthquakes at much greater depths pose a major challenge to the standard earth model because below about 60 km, the rocks should be so hot and tightly compacted that they become ductile; instead of breaking catastrophically under stress, they should deform or flow plastically. Yet 30% of earthquakes occur at depths exceeding 70 km, and some have been recorded as far down as 700 km. Most deep-focus earthquakes occur in Benioff zones; in plate-tectonic theory these deep-rooted fault zones are labelled 'subduction zones', where slabs of ocean lithosphere supposedly plunge into the earth's mantle (though there is abundant evidence contradicting this hypothesis [1]). However, some deep earthquakes have shaken Romania and the Hindu Kush where there are no 'subduction zones'. A variety of mechanisms for deep earthquakes have been proposed, but they are all controversial [2].

    The seismic radiation of deep earthquakes is similar to that of shallow earthquakes. It used to be said that deep-focus earthquakes were followed by fewer aftershocks than shallow ones, but there are indications that many of the aftershocks are simply difficult to detect, and that there is much more activity at such depths than is currently believed. The fact that deep earthquakes share many characteristics with shallow earthquakes suggests that they may be caused by similar mechanisms. However, most earth scientists are incapable of entertaining the notion that the earth could be rigid at such depths. One exception is E.A. Skobelin, who draws the logical conclusion that since deep-focus earthquakes cannot originate in plastic material but must be linked to some kind of stress in solid rock, the solid, rigid lithosphere must extend to depths of up to 700 km [3].

    On 8 June 1994, one of the largest deep earthquakes of the 20th century, with a magnitude of 8.3 on the Richter scale, exploded 640 km beneath Bolivia. It caused the whole earth to ring like a bell for months on end; every 20 minutes or so, the entire planet expanded and contracted by a minute amount. A significant feature of the Bolivian earthquake was that it extended horizontally across a 30- by 50-km plane within the 'subducting slab'. This undermines the hypothesis that such quakes are caused by olivine within the 'cold' centre of a slab suddenly being transformed into spinel in a runaway reaction when the temperature rises above 600°C. It also undermines the theory that gravity increases with depth; if this were true, the motion of earthquakes at such depths should be nearly vertical [4]. There appears to be something very wrong with scientific theories about what exists and what is happening deep within the earth.

    The acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s² at the earth's surface and the prevailing view is that it rises to a maximum of 10.4 m/s² at the core-mantle boundary (2900 km), before falling to zero at the earth's centre. But not all earth scientists agree. Skobelin argues that the normal, downwardly-directed gravitational force may be replaced by a reversed, upwardly-directed force at depths of 2700 to 4980 km, and that the widely-accepted figure of 3500 kilobars for the pressure at the earth's centre, may be an order of magnitude too high [5].

    Earthquakes and volcanoes tend to concentrate along certain major fault lines in the earth's crust. The fact that heightened geological activity occurs along these 'plate boundaries' is sometimes hailed as one of the great successes of plate tectonics. However, it is precisely the high incidence of earthquake and volcanic activity that led geologists to label these belts as 'plate boundaries' in the first place! Plate tectonics sheds no light on earthquakes that happen within plates. Officer and Page state: 'We know very little about the mechanisms involved in such intraplate earthquakes, but [they sometimes] illustrate effects that one might expect from a gigantic internal explosion, odd as such a concept may appear' [6].

    Thomas Gold has argued that, during its formation, the earth retained large quantities of hydrocarbons in its interior. He holds that various gases are sometimes released from depths of about 150 km, and when they invade the outer brittle layers of rock they weaken them by creating new fractures or reducing friction in existing faults, thereby causing or facilitating earthquakes [7]. The emission of gases (e.g. methane) from the ground is already known to cause mud volcanoes on land, circular pockmarks on the ocean floor, and 'ice volcanoes' or pingos on ice fields. Hydrocarbons and hydrogen are also major components of the gases emitted during major volcanic eruptions.

    Eyewitness accounts provide strong evidence that gas emissions also help to cause earthquakes in general, but nowadays scientists tend to ignore these 'subjective' accounts in favour of 'hard' seismic data. Eruptions, flames, roaring and hissing noises, sulphurous odours, hazes and fogs, asphyxiation, fountains of water and mud, vigorous bubbling in bodies of water -- all these are observed today in conjunction with earthquakes, just as they were in past. On the basis of such evidence, the ancients held that the movement and eruption of subterranean 'air' (i.e. gases) caused volcanoes if they found an outlet, and otherwise generated earthquakes. Gold argues that this mechanism could explain deep earthquakes, since he believes that the mechanism of sudden rock shear cannot operate deep in the earth's interior. But as already noted, this belief may be wrong, and both mechanisms may apply at all depths.

Most earth scientists believe that, as well as having a high density, the earth's core, unlike the mantle, must be metallic in order to generate the geomagnetic field. According to the dynamo theory, fluid motion in the earth's outer core moves conducting material (liquid iron) across an already existing, weak magnetic field and generates an electric current. The electric current, in turn, produces a magnetic field that also interacts with the fluid motion to create a secondary magnetic field. Together, the two fields are stronger than the original and lie essentially along the earth's rotation axis.

    The main characteristics of the geomagnetic field include short-term and long-term fluctuations in intensity, reversals of polarity at irregular intervals (ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions of years), the 11° offset between the geomagnetic axis and spin axis, and the drift of the magnetic poles around the geographic poles in an estimated period of several thousand years. Scientists assume that the dynamo theory can explain these features, though a detailed understanding is lacking. There are competing dynamo models, and a great deal of fudging is required to get the numerical models to reproduce some of the features of the actual magnetic field [1].

    To explain the offset between the earth's geomagnetic axis and the spin axis, some scientists maintain that the earth's overall field may be a combination of a central, dynamo-created dipole field, aligned with the rotation axis, and several variable dipole fields located in the outermost portions of the core. But other scientists argue that there is no physical mechanism to generate dipoles near the core's surface [2]. Some planets have even greater and more puzzling tilts between their magnetic and rotation axes: 46.8° in the case of Neptune, and 58.6° in the case of Uranus.

    Even assuming that an outer core of liquid iron exists, there are major problems with the dynamo theory. Joseph Cater writes:

Scientists are somewhat vague as to how a magnetic field could extend 2,000 miles beyond an electric current. It requires a very powerful current to produce even relatively weak magnetic effects a very short distance above the flow. The electrical resistance of iron, at the alleged temperatures of the core, would be staggering. A steady flow of electricity requires constant potential differences. How are such potential differences produced and maintained in this hypothetical core?
    The magnitude, width, and depth of such currents would have to be unbelievable to extend the magnetic field even a small fraction of the distance required, and the EMF [electromotive force] required to produce it would be even more incredible. Where could such an EMF come from? So far, scientists seem reluctant to explain this, especially since these currents are confined to a ball and would therefore follow closed paths. [3]

    V.N. Larin questions whether a mechanism exists to maintain strong electric currents in the earth's interior during its entire evolution, and argues that the very existence of active convection in the core is dubious. If convection is of thermal origin, then the source of heat in the iron core is incomprehensible. Another possibility is radioactivity, but no mechanism is known which might have segregated radioactive elements together with iron and nickel. Some scientists think that the heat source of convection may be the ongoing growth of the core. In this case, the heat would come from the potential energy of heavy particles settling in the gravity field, but this is unlikely to have lasted several billion years [4].

    An alternative theory has been proposed by J.M. Herndon, who suggests that the earth's magnetic field is largely produced by electric currents generated by a self-sustaining nuclear fission reaction in a uranium (and thorium) subcore at the centre of the earth, having a density as high as 26 g/cm³ [5]. However, the existence of such a subcore is entirely hypothetical.

    Given their belief in the generation of magnetic fields by convection currents of electrically conducting liquid iron in a planet's core, scientists were puzzled by the discovery that the Moon and Mercury had significant magnetic fields, since the Moon's core is believed to be entirely solid and Mercury's core nearly so. Venus is believed to have an entirely liquid core and was expected to possess a strong magnetic field, but no significant self-generated field has been detected. The magnetic fields of Jupiter and Saturn are believed to be generated by electric currents within a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen inside them, while the fields of Neptune and Uranus are thought to be produced in their superheated liquid mantles -- but all this is little better than guesswork [6]. Clearly the present dynamo theory cannot explain the magnetic fields detected around some asteroids.

Timaeus and critias, two of Plato's dialogues, are the only existing written records which specifically refer to Atlantis.

The dialogues are conversations between Socrates, Hermocrates, Timaeus, and Critias. Apparently in response to a prior talk by Socrates about ideal societies, Timaeus and Critias agree to entertain Socrates with a tale that is "not a fiction but a true story."

The story is about the conflict between the ancient Athenians and the Atlantians 9000 years before Plato's time.  Knowledge of the distant past apparently forgotten to the Athenians of Plato's day, the story of Atlantis was conveyed to Solon by Egyptian priests. Solon passed the tale to Dropides, the great-grandfather of Critias. Critias learned of it from his grandfather also named Critias, son of Dropides.

Cast of Characters

All of the men, except for Timaeus, who take part in or are mentioned in Timaeus and Critias are known to have actually existed in ancient Greece. Records of their lives and deeds have been recorded in other writings from the time period.

Note: There are 2 people named Critias related to the story of Atlantis and this can lead to some confusion. There is the Critias who actually takes part in the dialogues. He is the one who tells the story of Atlantis to Socrates. Then there is Critias who was the grandfather of the Critias of the dialogues. This elder Critias told the story of Atlantis to his grandson, Critias, who then conveyed the story to Socrates in the dialogues.

Those who actually take part in the dialogues:

Timaeus - there is no historical record of him.
Critias - Plato's great grandfather.
Socrates - Plato's mentor and teacher. He was condemned to death by authorities in Athens for "corrupting the moral of Athenian youth"; He lived from 469 to 399 BC.
Hermocrates - statesman and soldier from Syracuse.

Those mentioned in the dialogues:

Solon - Athenian traveler, poet, and lawgiver who lived from approximately 638-559 BC. According to Plato it was he who learned of the story of Atlantis from an Egyptian priest.
Dropides - Critias' great grandfather who was told the story of Atlantis by Solon, a distant relative and close friend.
Critias - Son of Dropides and grandfather of the Critias who takes part in the dialogues. It was he who related the story of Atlantis to the Critias of the dialogues.

What's a UFO?

Since man first started looking up into the skies he saw things he couldn't explain. For the last fifty years or so these things have taken on the label "UFOs." Originally an abbreviation for the Air Force term "Unidentified Flying Object", it has become a synonym to most people for "Alien Spaceship." For the Air Force, though, it is simply a term to refer to something in the skies that the observer can see but not recognize. Usually the explanation is less extraordinary than a flying saucer manned by visitors from other worlds. Often a weather balloon or natural phenomenon is the cause. However, there are cases on record where no good common explanation was ever found.

A History of Strange Things in the Sky

Some claim that UFOs have been visiting the earth since ancient times. Author Erich von Daniken sees evidence of these ancient astronauts in the records our ancestors left. He sites art that includes flying beings, stories of visitors from the sky and archaeological oddities as proof. While evidence that would convince most scientists is lacking, certainly the idea that we were visited by extra-terrestrial beings in the past has it appeal and Von Daniken was able to write several successful, if somewhat inaccurate books, on the subject.

Certainly there are stories about men seeing things in the sky since ancient times. A sailor aboard Columbus's ship ,the Santa Maria, saw a glittering thing in the distance. At the end of the 19th century America experienced a flap of "airship" sightings across the nation. During World War II pilots spotted strange lights in the sky that neither seemed to be friendly or enemy craft and nicknamed them "foo fighters." The modern history of UFOs, though, perhaps begins in 1947 with an Idaho businessman and pilot named Kenneth Arnold. While flying near Mount Rainier, Washington, Arnold spotted a formation of nine silvery, disc shaped objects flying in and out of the mountains of the Cascade Range. He estimated their speed at some 1,200 miles per hour, more than twice as fast as any known aircraft of that day. He described the disc's movements to a reporter as "like pie plates skipping over the water." In his story the next day the reporter coined the term "flying saucers" and the label stuck. Sightings like Arnolds, and more fantastic stories including actual contact with occupants of the saucers, and rumors that the U.S. government had salvaged a crashed alien spaceship, and that U.S. plane had been shot down by a UFO, flourished in the late 1940's. In response the U.S. government created a group to investigate these reports. Operating under several names, the most well known being "Project Blue Book", the Air Force continued to investigate UFO reports for some twenty years. Project Blue Book hired Dr. J Allen Hynek, an astronomer at Ohio State University, as a consultant to the project. While a skeptic himself he became disillusioned with Project Blue Book, which had never been staffed with more that two or three people and given a low priority, saying it was nothing more than a "public-relations effort designed to debunk the whole thing." While not believing that UFOs where actually alien spaceships, Hynek did come to believe that there was indeed a real phenomenon at work warranting scientific investigation.

Hynek continued to work gathering information about UFO sightings without the help of the United States Air Force. He, with other interested UFO researchers, formed the Center for UFO Studies at Evanston, Illinois. Hynek and his colleagues have been responsible for organizing UFO reports into a classification system based on criteria like the distance of the sighting and the time of day.

Hynek's group broke down sightings into two major categories: Closer than 500 feet and further than 500 feet. These majors groups were then broken down into nocturnal visual observations (the majority of reports), daytime visual, and radar visual (where the object is observed both by eye and on radar).

Three Kinds of Encounters

The Center for UFO Studies also categorizes contacts with UFO's based on the amount of interaction with the witnesses as "Close Encounters" of the first, second, or third kind. Encounters of the first kind are usually reports of objects in the sky or unexplained lights. The famous Hudson Valley UFO sightings fall into this catogory. Encounters of the second kind are marked by the UFO having some kind of tangible effect on the Earth environment, such as burn marks or radioactivity. Close encounters of the third kind include reports of interaction been the witnesses and the crew of the alien spaceship.

There are also a group of reports that can be termed " alien abductions". These are stories of people who claim they were actually forced aboard a UFO by the occupants. Typically the subjects are examined by the aliens, then released. While these reports are rare when compared to the number of close encounters of the first or second kind, many people from different walks of life have reported this strange experience.

Identified Flying Objects

The wide majority of UFO reports, perhaps 80%, are simple cases of mistaken identity. Natural Identified Flying Objects (IFOs), some as common as planets like Venus and Jupiter, or as unusual as the electrical glow of Saint Elmo's Fire, may fool casual, and often even expert, observers.

Almost any man-made object that flies has also been mistaken for a UFO at one time or another. Kites, balloons and aircraft can all seem unfamiliar when seen at strange angles and in poor lighting. Experimental, or secret military aircraft may also account for a few sightings. Power lines, displaying an effect similar to the natural occuring Saint Elmo's Fire, are undoubtedly the source of a few UFO reports given how ofen UFOs are seen near high voltage transmission lines.

Hoaxes

A small portion of UFO reports are fraudulent. Either the person reporting the sighting has filed a false report, or someone has purposefully used some special effect to fool the witness into thinking he has seen something he hasn't. A UFO hoax, in general, is not illegal, so there is little to restrain someone from using one for a practical joke. Occasionally a charlatan attempts to use a hoax for profit, though more often it seems that the perpetrator is looking to feel important or gain recognition. Hoaxes can be difficult to spot and many only come to light when the hoaxer confesses his story.

UFO in Entertainment

The image most people form of UFOs, flying saucers and alien abductions is through entertainment media like books, movies and television. There is no doubt that what people see and hear in entertainment affects their perception of what they expect to see when dealing with UFO's. It is reported, though disputed, that after the success of the movieClose Encounters of the Third Kind,in 1977, UFO reports surged.

Entertainment certainly seems to affect the way we view aliens themselves. Movies have portrayed extra-terrestrial visitors as evil human eating monsters in Species to gentle kind creatures in ET.

If They are Out There, Where?

If we do assume there is intelligent life in places other than Earth, where might they be? Though scientists last century thought the planet Mars might be a good candidate, and some even thought they detected a huge canal system stretching across the planet, recent probes sent to Mars have failed to detect even bacteria-like creatures, let alone a civilization capable of producing a flying saucer. With the rest of the planets in our solar system seemingly too hot or cold, the best hope for intelligent life seems to be across the void of interstellar space in other parts of our galaxy.

In an attempt to detect intelligent life beyond our solar system researchers have conducted a number of SETI programs trying to use radio waves to detect the existence of other civilizations. So far no SETI program has been successful in finding intelligent life, but there are millions of stars in our galaxy alone that might have planets that could harbor life and carefully looking at each one of them will take a long time.

Is there intelligent life on other planets? Have they visited us on Earth? Are some UFOs alien spaceships? Or are there other explanations for saucers in the sky? Nobody has final proof one way or another. We need to keep open eyes and open minds.

all of this has been taken from different sites