Still looking for the Olympic Park cryptid Killer
Wildlife experts have revealed that a mysterious giant creature is lurking in waters near the Olympic Park in East London.
Witnesses alerted environment bosses after seeing a 16lb Canada goose dragged under the surface, with fears there could now be a pike, alligator or even a large python stalking the waters near the Olympic site.
The number of swans on the river and waterways near the newly-built £9bn Olympic Park is also dropping.
Mike Wells saw the deadly attack on the Canada goose from a boat on the River Lea last month.
He said: 'We were just passing the time of day looking at a Canada goose 30 yards away, but then it just suddenly disappeared.
Nature experts are speculating as to what the mysterious River Lea beast could be.
Pike have been known to grow to up over 40lbs (18kg), but although they have attacked ducklings, they normally prey on smaller fish.
It could be an escaped pet alligator, which typically feed on anything from turtles, mammals, birds and deer to other reptiles.
It could also be an escaped pet python, which normally eat animals the size of a cat, although such a creature may struggle to survive in winter conditions.
Another possibility is a giant turtle or terrapin, which many buy as pets but dump when they become too big.
Terrapins mostly eat fish, slugs and snails, but have also been known to attack ducklings and duck eggs.
'Being a river person, I pieced together what we’d seen in seconds. The goose was prey to something.
'A Canada goose is not a small bird. They weigh about 16lb, so whatever took it was also large.'
Mr Wells, who lives in the Lea Valley, is convinced the beast is the same creature which took down a goose in the same area in 2005.
Lea Rivers Trust staff reported seeing a Canada goose being dragged beneath the surface in 2005, and large holes were found burrowed into the bank of the river.
He added: 'It must be the same creature. Some people I've spoken to think it could be a very large pike and I've seen some turtles about a foot across, but they're not really big enough to take a goose.'
In 2005 experts thought the creature could have been an alligator, snapping turtle, or some other kind of pet which had been released into the wild.
Experts said a trap would need to be set to catch the beast, but it appears to have returned to the same waters last month.
Mark Gallant, of the Lea Rivers Trust, said after the 2005 attack: 'Someone might buy it as a baby turtle.
'After they've had it in their pond, or bath, or whatever they are going to keep it for a while and the thing starts to grow and grow and grow and grow.
'Obviously they can't keep it in their homes anymore so what do they do? They think they are doing a good thing for the actual animal by putting it into a river or stream.'
Zoology graduate Michael Allen, who lives near the Olympic Park, told the Hackney Citizen: 'It might be an escaped pet snake like a python.
'It could survive in this climate, although it would be a bit sluggish. A small goose or a duck could be a perfect meal.'
A spokesman for British Waterways said of the incident last month: 'We don't believe there is a crocodile in the river.
'Things that have been suggested are a big pike or a mink, which can prey on ducks. But geese might be a bit big for them.'
She continued: 'In some areas you get terrapins which get dumped and have taken to the conditions well - they can get to the size of dinner plates.
'But geese might be too big for them to take as well.
'No-one has reported anything to British Waterways, but we would encourage people to get in touch if they have seen anything.' - dailymail
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Could This Be The End Of Cancer?
By all rights, Shari Baker should have said her final goodbyes years ago. In 2005, more than a year after three doctors dismissed a lump under her arm as a harmless cyst, she was diagnosed with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer, which takes the lives of at least 80 percent of patients within five years; it killed Elizabeth Edwards in 2010. Half of those diagnosed with breast cancer that has spread—in Baker, it had reached her spine—die within 39 months. But the 53-year-old jewelry designer in Scottsdale, Ariz., wasn’t ready to die. “I’ve been a competitive athlete and a body builder, I take care of myself and eat right,” she says. “I was going to fight this.”
Baker began searching for a clinical trial, and through the International Cancer Advocacy Network (ICAN) found an intriguing possibility: a cancer vaccine. In May 2006, she traveled to the University of Washington. The vaccine was injected into her upper arm; she got five more shots over the next five months. Today, with scans detecting no cancer anywhere, Baker seems to have beaten some extremely stiff odds.
Short of a sci-fi nano-camera to capture what was going on at the cellular level, it’s impossible to know exactly what the vaccine did. But based on studies of lab animals and cells in petri dishes, scientists have a pretty good idea. The vaccine contained fragments of a molecule called her2/neu, which, perched on the surface of tumor cells, fuels the growth and proliferation of some breast cancers. Baker’s immune system treated the flood of injected her2/neu like an invading army and mounted a counterattack. Cells called CD4, acting like biological Paul Reveres, sounded the alarm, rousing white blood cells called T cells. The body’s Minutemen, they invaded Baker’s tumor, summoning reinforcements called cytotoxic (“killer”) T cells, which destroyed the tumor cells in Baker’s breast as well as her spine. Enough of the other 21 women who received the experimental vaccine against metastatic breast cancer are doing so well that its inventor, immunologist Mary (“Nora”) Disis of UW, dares to envision a future in which vaccines “control or even eliminate cancer.” Continue reading at Could This Be The End Of Cancer?
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Close encounter - Baltimore County, MD
Baltimore Country, Maryland - 5/1/1980 - unedited: Not real sure if it was a dream or it was real but it sure felt real and I have lived with it all my life. We owned a farm in Baltimore County Md. on Rolling Rd. It was about 18 acres or so. The incident took place late at night not sure of the exact time but everyone was asleep in the house. All that I can remember is that it was a very clear night,with a few white puffy clouds.I was standing outside of the back of the house looking up dont remember even going outside of the house the memory starts with me looking up at i guess what some would call a cigar shaped craft .It looked grey on top and bottom with windows that appeared to go around the center of the craft .There was no lighting except where the windows were and that was just white continuous light that wrapped around the craft. The craft was tipped to its side and a person was standing toward the front of the craft waving .I remember that person looking just like we do as far as human features and wearing a jump suit kind of clothing. The whole incident didn't last long at all and as he was waving the craft leveled up and just casually drifted away and as that craft left I looked up and seen high up in the sky several crafts going all kinds of speeds none were super fast they were all cruising different moderate speeds.After that I just went in and went back to sleep. Its a dream that has stayed with me since I was child. I dont know how I got outside I wasn't scared or nothing like that. It actually was a very peaceful feeling .I think it happened in the summer because it was a very warm night out. I do remember going inside and just going to bed like nothing happened. It was a weird experience but a peaceful one - MUFON CMS
NOTE: I live just down the road from this location...and this is not the first report of odd activity. Since this event in 1980 the area has been inundated with unmarked facilities with heavy security and a wide range of microwave antennae and other electronic communication equipment. There have been many 'triangle' craft appear and simply vanish in the same area...Lon
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"...there's a man stuck on the roof! Uh...sorry, it's just Santa"
Police rushed to rescue a man stuck on a roof – only to find it was a Santa decoration. The alarm was raised when a member of the public reported that a man was stranded on top of a house. But when officers arrived, they found just a set of Santa’s ladders, fixed near the chimney. The false alarm was branded ‘ridiculous’ by gran Carol Fenton, who owns the house in Barton Road, Stretford.
She told how she spends hundreds of pounds every Christmas lighting up dozens of inflatable snowmen and decorations. And she vowed she wouldn’t be put off by the drama. Carol, 49, said: "When I heard what had happened I was speechless. It’s just silly that someone would see a Christmas decoration and think it was someone on the roof or even a burglar. I won’t do anything different in future – everyone loves our house. My Christmas decorations are here to stay."
Her daughter Kassy Marsland, 31, who also lives at the house with her two children blasted the person who raised the alarm. She said: "You can’t blame the cops because if they think someone is in danger or about to burgle a house, it’s their job to check it out. I thought ‘this has got to be a joke’. Someone must be taking the mickey – surely nobody is that crazy to think a Christmas decoration was a person." The family said that the ladders – which had a plastic Santa Claus attached to them until he blew off in high winds – had been on the roof for around 15 years.
Kassy said: "We’ve not liked that Santa for a long time – we tried to get the ladders down but it was too high up so I suppose it’s quite funny that it was that decoration that caused the trouble." A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police confirmed the incident. He said: "At around 9.10am on Friday, December 9, police were stopped by a member of the public concerned a man was stuck on a roof of a house on Barton Road. An officer attended and discovered it was a Christmas decoration."
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2012 Apocalypse Fears Unfounded, NASA Says
Despite the hoopla surrounding the date Dec. 21, 2012, the world is not at risk of coming to a halt, NASA says.
Aside from that date marking next year's winter solstice, the longest night of that year, nothing else interesting is expected.
All in all, "sleep well on Dec. 21 of next year," said astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., at a public talk yesterday (Dec. 8) about rumors of a 2012 apocalypse.
"What's so special about Dec. 21 of next year?" Yeomans asked. "A lot of people think it's the end of the Maya calendar."
The Mayans
The ancient Mayan calendar was, like the modern Gregorian calendar, 365 days long. In addition to the year, the ancient Maya measured time in longer periods, with a short-count and a long-count calendar, just as we measure time in decades, centuries and millennia.
"The short-count was 52 of our years, and the long-count was 5,125 years long. This long-count calendar is coming to an end on Dec. 21," Yeomans said."Of course, a new calendar would start on Dec. 22. It would be like saying that our calendar ends Dec. 31, and that's the end of time, the end of days, that's it, no regard for how a new cycle would begin. The Maya never predicted the end of the world occurred at that time."
Although there are those who believe Dec. 21, 2012 will bring about a new age of enlightenment, many, many others fear a catastrophe. "I Googled '2012 disasters,' and you know how many hits I got? 35 million hits," Yeomans said. "A lot of people are concerned about Dec. 21, 2012."
Death from Planet X
One concern is over how, from Earth's point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun routinely does this twice a year without fanfare, Yeomans said.
Another fear is that a planet dubbed "Nibiru" or "Planet X" is supposedly headed toward Earth.
Yeomans noted that well-known UFO aficionado Nancy Leider, who describes herself as being in contact with aliens from the star system Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to later change her prediction to Dec. 21, 2012.
"There's no evidence whatsoever that Nibiru exists," Yeomans said. Notions that it might be hiding behind the sun are unfounded, as "it can't hide behind the sun forever, and we would've seen it years ago," Yeomans said.
While believers in Nibiru claim that astronomers and NASA are engaged in a conspiracy to cover up Nibiru to prevent panic, "there's no way on Earth to keep astronomers quiet about anything," Yeomans joked.
Planetary conga line
There are also claims that gravitational effects from planets lining up with each other in 2012 will somehow affect Earth.
"But there is no planetary alignment on Dec. 21, 2012," Yeomans said.
Even if there were a planetary alignment then, it would not cause problems. The only bodies that have significant gravitational effects on Earth are the moon and the sun, effects we see as the tides. The tidal effects induced by the other bodies in our solar system are negligible, and we have experienced them for millions of years without troubles.
Solar storms
Another 2012 fear rests on solar storms.
Solar storms — torrents of energetic particles from the sun — do occur. These usually come and go in cycles 11 years long. When they slam into Earth, they create auroras and can cause damage to satellites and power lines, but it's "nothing that causes lasting damage," Yeomans said.
There are records of a solar "super-storm" striking the Earth in 1859. Although that caused little damage back then, there are fears that such a storm would inflict much more harm now that our world is far more dependent on electronics.
Still, "there is no evidence that one will happen on Dec. 21 next year," Yeomans said. It's impossible to predict solar activity that far out, and even an extremely strong solar storm wouldn't likely bring the apocalypse that some fear.
Pole dancing
The Earth has two kinds of poles — its geographical poles, which mark the planet's axis of rotation, and its magnetic poles, which are associated with the planet's magnetic field that makes our compasses point toward north.
Some fear that either or both of these poles will flip in 2012.
However, the geographical poles cannot flip because the moon stabilizes our planet's spin.
The magnetic poles do flip sometimes, but on time scales of about 500,000 years. These shifts are not sudden, but take place very gradually over thousands of years, "and there's no evidence of a flip on Dec. 21, 2012," Yeomans said. "Even if it did flip, it would not cause any real problems, other than us having to change our compasses from north to south."
Ultimately, smart people can believe weird things for any number of reasons, Yeoman noted. For instance, real data is often confused with junk science, while anecdotal evidence and passionate arguments on the Internet and on television shows purporting to be fact are often mistaken for the real thing.
"Scientists really have their work cut out for them," Yeomans said. "We really have to do a better job educating people about science." - space
12/21/2012: A Prophecy - John J. Ventre
The Day After 2012 - John J. Ventre
