Oh please! Give a break already!...'End Of The World Not In 2012' According To Decoded Mayan Tablet
Good news, everyone! (yeah...yippee) The end of the world won't take place in 2012.
Sven Gronemeyer of Australia's La Trobe University says that his interpretation of certain hieroglyphs indicate that though 21 December 2012 is an important date for the ancient Mayan people, it won't necessarily be apocalyptic.
"The date acquired a symbolic value because it is seen as a reflection of the day of creation," Gronemeyer said whilst at an archaeological site in Palenque, Mexico. "It is the passage of a god and not necessarily a great leap for humanity."
His research shows that 21/12/2012 heralds the arrival of the Mayan god of creation and war, Bolon Yokte, 5,125 years after Mayan Long Count calendar began back in 3113 B.C.
His reappearance on earth is meant to indicate a new era on the planet, but not a destructive one.
Decoding the stone tablet in question - originally found at Tortuguero in the Mexican province of Tabasco - was especially difficult for Gronemeyer as it's 1,300 years old - and had a crack right through the middle of it.
This is the latest attempt by a group of Mayan archaeology experts to dismiss the popular belief that 2012 will be the end of all time, a rumour perpetuated by internet forums and cinema-goers who somehow genuinely believe in Roland Emmerich's disaster movie, 2012
- THP2012: Mayan Prophecy and the Shift of the Ages
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Flesh-eating banana fears hit Mozambique
Rumours of flesh-eating bananas in Mozambique have seen the sale of the fruit plummet there, prompting the health minister to reassure people of its safety.
"From the work conducted by the Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Trade and Industry, it was concluded that there is no record of entry of any infected banana in the country," according to a joint statement.
An email and text message hoax warning people against eating bananas for the next three weeks went viral as people feared being infected by necrotising fasciitis, or skin-eating disease.
The bacteria can destroy skin, fat and tissue covering the muscles.
The messages also advised people to see a doctor if they developed a fever after eating the killer fruit.
Bananas from KwaZulu-Natal province in neighbouring South Africa were claimed by the hoax to carry the virus.
Banana sales in the capital Maputo fell sharply despite the fact that Mozambique does not import bananas from its neighbour.
In a separate statement South Africa's agriculture ministry denounced the messages.
It strongly advised against burning the skin around the supposed infection, as suggested in the message. - couriermail
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Elvis' Swedish 'daughter' sues Presley estate
A Swedish woman who has long claimed that she is the rightful daughter of deceased US crooner Elvis Presley has sued the singer's estate for $130 million. Lisa Johansen is claiming the money as compensation for alleged defamation and infliction of emotional distress. Johansen, who was at the time living in a Stockholm suburb with her two children, claimed in a 1998 memoir entitled I, Lisa Marie: The True Story of Elvis Presley's Real Daughter
that she was the daughter of the artist and Priscilla Presley.Johansen claimed that she had been the victim of identity theft and the book caused a storm of interest, leading to the world's media hounding Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie, who was at the time married to Michael Jackson. But interest cooled quickly after Johansen refused to take a DNA test, a decision which led to her being sued by her publisher for $50 million. Johansen now claims that she submitted to a test in London last year, according to documents submitted in her lawsuit.
In an interview with the Swedish Aftonbladet daily in 1999, Johansen claimed that she had arrived in Gothenburg as a nine-year-old and grew up in Upplands-Väsby, north of Stockholm. Johansen argues in her writ, filed this week with Tennessee federal court, that Lisa Marie Presley stole her identity to prevent her from getting her inheritance after Elvis Presley, who died in 1977.
She has claimed that Priscilla Presley left her in Sweden in 1979 for "security reasons" and was due to stay in Sweden until she was 25-years-old, according to Aftonbladet. After the initial interest around the publication of her book, the story fell out of the media spotlight, but Lisa Johansen has continued to maintain her version of events, claiming that she has been subjected to harassment by the Presley family. - thelocal
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The world's biggest ever insect found in New Zealand
An explorer has found the biggest insect ever on record - so large it can eat a carrot. She's called a Weta Bug and has a huge wing span of seven inches and weighs as much as three mice. Former park ranger Mark Moffett, 55, discovered the cricket-like creature up a tree on New Zealand's Little Barrier Island.
He spent two days searching for the creepy crawly which were thought to be extinct after Europeans brought rats to the island many years ago. American Mark, 53, said: "Three of us walked the trails of this small island for two nights scanning the vegetation for a giant weta. We spent many hours with no luck finding any at all, before we saw her up in a tree.
"The giant weta is the largest insect in the world, and this is the biggest one ever found. She enjoyed the carrot so much she seemed to ignore the fact she was resting on our hands and carried on munching away. She would have finished the carrot very quickly, but this is an extremely endangered species and we didn't want to risk indigestion.
"After she had chewed a little I took this picture and we put her right back where we found her." Mark, from Colorado, added: "We bug lovers hear a lot of people who think insects are inferior in some way because of their size, so it was great to see such a big insect. This became all the more amazing when we realised that this was the largest insect recorded." - thesun
Smithsonian Handbooks: Insects (Smithsonian Handbooks)
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FAA Says Falling Debris Not from Any Known Aircraft
In the most significant UFO news to date, FAA officials are baffled by a piece of metal which crashed through the roof of a furniture warehouse in Plymouth, MA on Thursday because the debris does not belong to any known aircraft.
The 5-lb. chunk of metal was discovered on the floor of Michael's Wholesale Furniture Distributors after workers noticed a giant hole in the roof and the office below in disarray. Police were called in but soon turned the matter over to the FAA when they could not identify the metallic object.
A piece of metal crashed through the roof of a Plymouth business. (Photo Credit: Kathy Curran)
"We have no idea what it is. At this point, we can only speculate," said Plymouth police Capt. John Rogers. "This would have had to come through with some significant force or velocity to get through the warehouse roof and cause damage."
That means the object must have fallen from a great height and was not the result of some kind of explosion nearby on the ground.
A local FAA official, who was not identified in the report, said that he has "no clue" what the object is. Pictures of the debris haven't led to any conclusions either, as the piece looks to be completely solid and cylindrical.
Can this UFO news be the Holy Grail UFOlogists have been looking for? Is it possible the debris fell from an unidentified flying object? Further tests are being conducted and more FAA officials are traveling to Plymouth for a more detailed examination.
Stay tuned. - gather
