New sonar hits in Loch Ness
There is no sign of the trademark elongated neck, or the signature green humps. But the experts believe this almost unfathomable sonar image could be a breakthrough in the hint for Nessie that began in earnest in 1934.
Surrounded by fish, the ‘blip’ has a girth of about 5ft, though there is no way of estimating its length as it was moving. The image was captured by the quick thinking skipper of a pleasure boat who took a picture of the reading while waiting for his customers at Urquhart Castle, in Inverness-shire. Marcus Atkinson, 42, knows Loch Ness like the back of his hand and spends every day on its waters — but said he had never seen anything like this before.
He added: It's very weird. It was obvious it wasn‘t a shoal of fish and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. This thing is completely different from anything I've seen before.’ Mr Atkinson, of Fort Augustus, Inverness-shire, was idling in the bay when he saw the unusual sonar image. He said: ‘it's one of those moments where you just think, “What on earth is that?" I grabbed my mobile phone and took a picture before it disappeared of the screen. it's all very bizarre.‘ Mr Atkinson's picture shows a cross-section of the loch, with the boat itself at the top right of the picture.
The bright green area on the bottom right of the sonar screen is the bottom of the loch, which rises as the boat gets closer to shore. The small green flashes scattered across the monitor are deepwater fish. But the part of the picture that is exciting interest is the long, thin streak - that looks a little bit like a propeller - between the 20 and 25 metre depth markers. The measurements show it is about 5ft thick - but there is no way of telling how long it is as, if the object was following the boat, it would show up on every ‘blip’ of the sonar.
Expert Nessie hunter Steve Feltham said: ‘This is a sonar contact that defies all explanation — it's a huge object. ‘it’s fascinating, because the camera hasn't an imagination — it just shows what's there. - lochnessmystery
**********
I-5 UFO sighting
San Diego Co., California - 9/14/2011 - unedited: Twice in the last month as I have been driving North on Interstate-5 between the Del Mar Race Track & Encinitas, CA (San Diego county) I noticed a stationary object in the sky - I would say at first I thought it was a private jet heading west, just over land fall close to Solana Beach I would say it was also at a pretty high elevation. It was a sunny day with blue skies & some cloud.
As there are several marine bases in the county (specifically Coronado, Pendleton & Miramar) I then wondered if it was either some kind of military aircraft, blimp/balloon or a private plane from Carlsbad airport. As my Grandfather was in the RAF I have always liked spotting military planes & helicopters with my Mum & brother - and especially living close to Camp Pendleton when driving near Oceanside & the base you often see pilots in training with helicopters & jets running up and down the coast.
What caught my eye specifically about this one was that the object was completely white and looked almost like a paper plane at first glance (because of its white appearance), upon looking again the basic outline looked like two upside down, but connected pyramid-type shapes. The object on both occasions did not appear to be moving, as I kept expecting it to get smaller into the distance with perhaps a jet stream as it flew out over the ocean. I ascertained it was not a military craft because of its bright white appearance. I also then noticed it appeared to be 'hovering' or just suspended in the sky with no visible sign of any emissions or propulsion.
The traffic flow was reasonably light because it was around midday/1pm - so I kept an eye on it as best I could because I was confused as to why it wasn't moving & what it could be. I distinctly kept an eye on it for several miles and only after I passed a bluff (by Del Mar Heights Rd) I lost sight of it for a few seconds, and when I got a clear view of the coastline again the object disappeared from the sky. I thought nothing I know of in aviation can jet off that fast without leaving a trail surely??
Again last week on the 14th I saw the same shaped object again as I was driving north in I-5, I can't recall if I saw it in the same area of sky but it seemed to be in the sky around Del Mar/Solana Beach area... Again it was not moving and disappeared after a few miles. I know for 100% that it was not a cloud formation, as the outline was very clearly defined in my eyes. It was also a relatively nice day with blue skies, this is what caught my eye in the first place - the white shape outlined but the blue sky.
The first time I saw it I was curious and surprised, as it was very unusual to me - sadly I can't recall the exact date. The second time I was like NO WAY THERE IT IS AGAIN!! And tried not to take my eyes off it, but as I was driving on the freeway had to be careful also. I mentioned it over the phone to my brother also because I wanted to see what he thought it might of been.
It wasn't until I read on (url remove to FI box) CMS 09/20/11 00:19 cst flg about the Notre Dame game being disrupted by an almost identical object sighted & then again this article -
[Link moved to additional evidence section/cms/tg]
- that made me want to contribute what I have seen in this area recently. I have never before seen anything like this, and although I believe we cannot be the only intelligent life in the universe have never actively read or researched "UFO" sightings.
Unless this was some kind of secret military machine I know exactly what I saw was not normal. I am of sound mind, body & vision.
I hope this helps to add to your sightings & research.
Similar to this video (which was also filmed in San Diego county) only what I witnessed was in the sky for longer period of time & the shape was more pronounced with the two triangular 'peaks' (not seen in this clip but wanted to portray the contrast of white/blue)-
[Link moved to additional evidence section/cms/tg]
Uploaded picture below doesn't quite depict what I saw, but again is general idea again.
**For Question Also in the Area - I have checked helicopter, planes & balloons because although I did not see any of these on the days in question, they are known to be active in that area as a matter of course. - MUFON CMS
**********
Close encounter in Arkansas
10-15-1997: While camping on the Caddo River in Glenwood,Arkansas, I observed two lights on the other side of the river,coming down the hill toward the river.They appeared to be car or truck headlights,white and evenly spaced. As they got closer to the river, I observed the 2 lights change to 3 lights. As these lights approached the river,my view was slightly blocked by a row of trees,but I could still make out their direction very close to the river.As these lights appeared to enter the river,they changed from 3 bright lights to 6 much smaller lights and changed from white to red.The lights were coming down the river toward a bend in the river about 50 yards away from me. As the lights made the bend in the river, I observed these lights to be some sort headgear being worn by 3 small, maybe 3 1/2 to 4 feet tall beings.They were covered in a sort of silver suit and had helmets on which there lights were attached-1 on either side- to their helmets.They were walking 3 abreast, and the 1 in the middle had what appeared to be a sort of wane which, as he stuck it in the water would make a sort of buzzing sound.The 3 beings were talking but no language I could understand.As they came closer,I got up and approahed them,but when I got within maybe 20-30 yards from them,they turned back up the river and quickly disappeared. I have no explanation as to what these "things" were or what they were doing. - MUFON CMS
**********
More naysayers questioning ancient astronauts
I find it incredible and frightening that a worldwide distributed television channel that bills itself as ‘The History Channel’ can broadcast such rubbish as Ancient Aliens. If it were an entertainment programme, I’d have fewer worries (although it would still make me cross); it is the implied authority of the channel (‘The History Channel’, not just any old ‘History Channel’) that makes the broadcast of this series so potentially damaging, as we saw in the reaction of the forum poster quoted above. A channel that is making claims for its authoritative status, which offers educational resources, has a responsibility not to mislead its viewers (no doubt its executives think of them as ‘customers’). That responsibility is one that all makers and broadcasters of supposedly factual television have, but one that few of them take seriously: the responsibility to check facts.
Do read the whole post, as it’s a nice one-stop shop for debunking the “ancient astronaut” nonsense that’s been peddled around for as long as I can remember. And I’m in agreement that ideally, the History Channel shouldn’t run stuff like this and instead devote itself to more stuff about, say, history. At least, the parts of history that don’t involve alien visitors.
That said, I’m a little more sympathetic to the History Channel. The fact of the matter is, this is the kind of program that sells. People watch it (this is the second season) and so it makes money. Likewise, I’m sure the History Channel has taking to peddling its reality series for the same reason: they make more money than documentaries about history. It’s not just the history channel, either. One of the SyFy Channels biggest hits is the laughable show Ghost Hunters. A&E has a number of quality shows, but they also have a big hit in the reality show Parking Wars (a show that apparently has lots of viewers, though I’ve never met one in real life).
Much as we might pine for more historical documentaries on the History Channel, the fact of the matter is that most historical documentaries are boring: Narrator narrates over photos, paintings and or video. Cut to talking head #1. Cut to talking head #2. Back to narrating over pictures. If the show has the budget, they might do some re-enactments of a battle scene. There – that’s your standard historical documentary. And I’ll bet when the History Channel was running more of those documentaries, you weren’t watching it then, either – were you?
It doesn’t have to be that way – since I got my Netflix streaming subscription, I’ve watched a lot of documentaries that are both fascinating and entertaining. I think there’s a market for better educational programming. But I can imagine network executives during a recession being leery about experimental documentary programming. TV is a tough business, and it makes more sense to go with reality shows and paranormal crap because that’s what sells.
When will that change? When a few documentary series that tell true facts and get people to watch come out. There are a few out there – Mythbusters, of course, is the best show about scientific principles out there. Plus it has explosions. Deadliest Warrior has a great hook for teaching about military history and weaponry. But off the top of my head I can’t think of too many more, and what’s more those two shows aren’t that easily replicated.
What educational TV really needs is an entertaining, educational show that appeals to adults and whose format can be replicated. The Project Runway of educational TV, if you will. Then the copycats will come, and things will change. Until then, I can’t fault TV studios too much for going with guaranteed moneymakers. Because frankly, if they didn’t, they’d be fired and replaced with someone who would. - Forbes
NOTE: of course, I believe the 'ancient astronaut theory' is simply the tip of the iceberg and that the naysayers of the world may be in for a shock in the not to distant future...Lon
**********
A plant that sows its own seeds discovered
Scientists have discovered a tiny plant which they say bows down and sows its own seeds.
The dainty, inch-high plant with pink-and-white flowers was found growing in the backyard of a local plant collector in rural northeastern Bahia, Brazil, one of the world’s most biologically diverse areas.
The strange behaviour of the plant caught the attention of a handyman working for the plant collector, Alex Popovkin, who believed it was a new species.
A team of scientists from Rutgers University, the State University at Feira de Santana in Bahia, and Western Carolina University then collaborated to confirm that the plant was indeed a new species, a website reported.
“It is very easy to think we have found and described most plant species of the world already, but this discovery shows that there are so [many] left out there without name and recognition,” Lena Struwe, a Rutgers University specialist in plants of the Loganiaceae family, said.
The researchers found only a few minuscule plants in Popovkin’s field during the first year. The plants died in the dry season, only to reappear in the same spots at the beginning of the rain season.
This was due to the plant’s unique propagation trait, a characteristic known as geocarpy, the scientists said.
When the plant’s fruits form, the plant slowly bends its small, fruiting branches down, depositing the seed capsules carefully onto the ground — and sometimes burying them in the soft cover of moss.
Geocarpy, which is also found with peanut plants, ensures that the seeds will grow into new plants near the mother plant during the following season, the researchers reported in the taxonomic journal PhytoKeys.
Due to the plant’s dexterity, the team decided to name the new species Spigelia genuflexa. - discoveryon