Probe started on Massachusetts UFO
Volunteer UFO investigators would like to learn more about a strange object they said a passing motorist reported and photographed at the Acton/Littleton line last July.
Steve Firmani, director of the New England Mutual UFO Network, confirmed the organization received a report and photograph depicting an object a motorist reported seeing over Route 2 near the Acton and Littleton town lines on July 31.
In the report, the unnamed motorist described seeing a “reflective, black tube-shaped object traveling in an easterly direction.” The driver, headed west on Route 2, stopped at the Newtown Road exit to take a picture.
The object is described as about 30 feet long and six feet in diameter and was perhaps 200 to 300 feet in the air when first spotted.
At this time, the motorist said the object was now about 1,000 to 1,500 feet high and still traveling east.
The photo attached to the report was taken with a 35-millimeter film camera, the report said.
The report describes the model of camera and speed and type of film used, as well as the zoom of the camera used to take the photo.
The Mutual UFO Network, commonly known as MUFON, is a multi-chapter organization of volunteers that fields reports of unidentified flying objects and other mysterious sightings.
Volunteer investigators interview those who report sightings and may call in expert help to examine evidence that is offered, such as photographs.
Firmani, of Leominster, said his MUFON chapter hopes to assign an investigator to the report soon.
Ruling out possibilities
Firmani said the majority of sightings received by his and other MUFON chapters turn out to be ordinary objects.
“Right now, you could say, this case is ‘up in the air, 'pending assigning an investigator and asking some questions,” Firmani said.
“The first thing we do is try and contact the witness and set up a phone interview.”
He said, “Eighty-five to 90 percent of UFO sightings can be explained as manmade or natural phenomena – such as stars, planets, even birds. We have had situations where a sunlight is reflecting off a bird.”
Firmani said satellites are another common source of so-called UFO sightings. In strictest terms, "UFO" simply means "unidentified flying object," with no implications as to its origin.
Firmani said in recent years, a commonly reported sighting is that of triangular lights; a tubular object such as the one described in the report is less common but not unheard of.
In UFO lore, one celebrated case describes a glittering, tubular-shaped object crashing into windmill in Aurora,Texas in 1897.
Firmani said regional differences in linguistics or descriptions can make it difficult to tell if viewers in different parts of New England or the country have seen the same or a similar object.
Acton police said no one called to report an object like the one the MUFON report describes.
As with most police departments, Acton police receives calls from time to time about unusual or erratic lights or objects, but generally receives these reports at night.
One such report concerned a gleaming light a caller saw early in the morning but that turned out to be light reflecting off a hot-air balloon.
In popular culture, the sightings of UFOs have been linked to a belief in extraterrestrial crafts or visitors.
Firmani said the investigators at MUFON strive to examine such reports objectively and without bias.
“Just because we can’t find an explanation for the sighting, it doesn’t mean it is some kind of alien space craft,” Firmani said. - wickedlocal
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United Arab Emirates laws you must know to stay out of trouble...and even jail
The UAE Ministry of Interior’s ‘999’ magazine recently published research that stated 72 per cent of expats in the UAE lack knowledge of local customs and traditions.
In addition, only one-third of the 2,000 respondents surveyed said they to set aside any time to find out more about local culture.
This kind of complacency, according to the article, results in “Many expats enduring court trials, facing social embarrassment and suffering a long list of inconveniences –simply due to not knowing the rules.”
Ignorance of the country’s moral boundaries is resulting in an increase in incidents of expats falling foul of the law.
Emirates 24|7 listed ten rules that have often cropped up in cases where expats have claimed ignorance of the law, but not escaped its effects.
No kissing, no touching
If you have been residing in the UAE for a while, you might already have figured it out. Holding hands may be OK, but kissing and petting is not. Expect a tap on your shoulder, or a correcting finger reminding you to abide by the local customs, deeming this behavior inappropriate.
No swearing/making indecent gestures
Not everybody will be offended by it to the same extent, but in the UAE it is forbidden. “No swearing and no indecent gesturing” is the warning in many tourist guidebooks as it has occurred in the past that unaware foreign visitors or residents have been fined or imprisoned for expressing themselves in a way that is not be appreciated in the UAE.
Giving the finger, pulling out your tongue and even a somewhat aggressive hand move are all considered indecent.
Moving your thumb up and down hoping to catch a hitch hike is not done and pointing at something or someone is considered impolite.
No taking pictures of others without permission
Again, it will most likely involve the innocent, unaware tourist who likes to capture images of everything looking just a little different than back home. Forget about it. Any person being captured on camera in any public space in the UAE can bring the photographer to court.
Especially women and families are sensitive towards the issue. Fines are the result.
Disrespecting any religion
Religious values are widely respected in the UAE. As such, committing blasphemy or sacrilege against any religion is considered deeply offensive.
Islam being the official religion of the UAE, some simple rules are followed in order to show respect and avoid misunderstandings, states the Code of Conduct.
It is important to be aware of these rules, as religious values may not be the same all over the world. When a newspaper contains the name of the Prophet (PBUH), do not use it as wrapping paper. When you hear the call for prayer, do not disrupt its sound in an obvious way. Do not forget that during Ramadan rules are different all together.
No sharing private space with opposite sex
Strictly speaking, sharing a private space with a member of the opposite sex when not related by family ties or marriage is forbidden. Private space would be a house, room, hotel room and even car.
However, certain behavior is tolerated. Hotel reservations are easily made for unmarried couples wanting to share a room and there are many cases of single men and women sharing a villa, apartment and even a room. Any punishment depends on the situation.
No indecent clothing
Another way the UAE decency law may affect the unsuspecting resident is by the guidelines it puts on clothing. Summer heat may tempt you to pull out the most exotic outfit you have to parade and mingle in the place where it’s all about the looks. Wrong again.
In public places, guidelines say shorts and skirts need to be of appropriate length not to indecently expose parts of the body, be transparent, or display obscene or offensive pictures and slogans. On beaches rules are more lenient; swimwear is accepted but should be appropriate. Top-less sunbathing or the wearing of a thong is not allowed.
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NC man loses $49k collection of poisonous snakes, reptiles
A North Carolina man is losing his exotic reptile collection worth $49,000 after police found dozens of venomous lizards and snakes in his home.
Fifty-one-year-old Walter Kidd of Hendersonville pleaded guilty Friday to 30 misdemeanor charges of possessing endangered animals and failing to properly label containers of poisonous snakes.
Police seized the reptiles in August after Kidd was bitten by an exotic venomous snake and rushed to a hospital. Officers said his mobile home was packed with snakes in plastic containers.
Kidd's attorney says the reptiles were not a danger because they were kept inside his home.
The creatures were taken to the state natural sciences museum in Raleigh. - abclocal
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Students Poison Teacher's Coffee, Cupcake In Fifth Grade Class
Teachers beware: The bad apples in your classrooms may be the ones left on educators' desks.
One instructor at Balderas Elementary in Fresno, Calif., learned this lesson first-hand as three fifth grade students were expelled Saturday for attempting to poison their teacher.
According to Fresno TV station CBS47, two boys and one girl attempted to feed their teacher rat poison in a cup of coffee and, later, in the frosting of a cupcake. The CBS affiliate reported that the plot was uncovered two months after an attempt when "a parent was bragging that her son saved the teacher's life by preventing her from drinking the poisoned coffee." The boy in question was allegedly the one who came up with the idea in the first place.
The incident occurred the week before the school's December vacation, after the young boy urged a female classmate to bring in some rat poison leftover from work being done at her home. KMJ News reported that the boy told her to "Bring some of that, we have rodents too."
Fresno Teacher's Association President Greg Gadams told KMJ News that "a systematic 'lack of action' on the part of Fresno Unified breeds these problems because they 'provide nothing for these students beyond disciplinary action.'"
The three students -- two age 10 and one age 11 -- have been transferred to the Phoenix Academy, which Raw Story reported regularly enrolls expelled students. According to the website, at least one teacher at their new school is openly concerned about the children.
"I believe the police should press criminal charges against these students," teacher David Cross told Raw Story. "They've openly admitted they've done it."
Gadams expressed similar sentiments, telling KMJ News that the students should be charged for their actions as the alleged poisoning attempt was clearly premeditated.
A sixth-grader at Balderas Elementary School told CBS47, "I heard that they reason why they did it was because they didn't like the teacher... Because [they're] strict." - THP
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Hitler had son with French teen
Jean-Marie Loret, who died in 1985 aged 67, never met his father, but went on to fight Nazi forces during the Second World War.
His extraordinary story has now been backed up by a range of compelling evidence, both in France and in Germany, which was published in Paris's Le Point magazine.
Hitler is said to have had an affair with Mr Loret's mother, Charlotte Lobjoie, 16, as he took a break from the trenches in June 1917.
Although he was fighting the French near Seboncourt, in the northern Picardy region, Hitler made his way to Fournes-in-Weppe, a small town west of Lille, for regular leave.
There he met Miss Lobjoie, who later told their son: "One day I was cutting hay with other women, when we saw a German soldier on the other side of the street.
"He had a sketch pad and seemed to be drawing. All the women found this interesting, and were curious to know what he was drawing.
"I was designated to approach him."
The pair started a brief relationship, which resulted in the birth of Jean-Marie, who was born in March 1918 after being conceived during a 'tipsy' evening in June 1917.
Miss Lobjoie later told Jean-Marie: "When your father was around, which was very rarely, he liked to take me for walks in the countryside.
"But these walks usually ended badly. In fact, your father, inspired by nature, launched into speeches which I did not really understand.
"He did not speak French, but solely ranted in German, talking to an imaginary audience. Even if I spoke German I would not be able to follow him, as the histories of Prussia, Austria and Bavaria where not familiar to me at all, far from it.
"My reaction used to anger your father so much that I did not show any reaction."
Jean-Marie was, like thousands of other French children with German soldier fathers, badly treated by his peers at school.
He was referred to as 'the son of the Boche', and often had fights as he tried to defend his father, who had by now disappeared over the border back to Germany.
Miss Lobjoie, meanwhile, refused to discuss Jean-Marie's father, and ended up giving her only son away for adoption in the 1930s to a family called Loret.
His real father would not recognise Jean-Marie, but continued to stay in contact with Miss Lobjoie.
Incredibly, Mr Loret went on to fight the Germans in 1939, defending the Maginot Line before it was bypassed during the Nazi invasion which resulted in France being occupied from 1940 until 1944.
Mr Loret even joined the French Resistance, and was given the codename 'Clement'.
Just before her death in the early 1950s, Miss Lobjoie finally told Jean-Marie that his father was arguably the most infamous dictator in human history.
Mr Loret said: "In order not to get depressed, I worked non-stop, never took a holiday, and had no hobbies. For twenty years I didn't even go to the cinema."
Mr Loret began investigating his past in great detail, employing scientists to prove that he has the same blood type as Hitler, and that they even have similar handwriting.
Photographs of the two also reveal an astonishing resemblance.
Other elements which corroborate the story are official Wehrmacht, or German Army, papers which show that officers brought envelopes of cash to Miss Lobjoie during the Second World War.
When Miss Lobjoie died, Mr Loret also found paintings in her attic which were signed by Hitler, who was an accomplished artist.
In Germany, meanwhile, a picture of a woman painted by Hitler looked exactly like Miss Lobjoie.
Francois Gibault, Mr Loret's Paris lawyer, said: "He first came to see me in 1979, but was a bit lost and did not know whether he wanted to be publicly recognised as Hitler's son, or to erase all that completely.
"He had the feelings of many illegitimate children: the desire to find a past, however heavy, but also the fear of returning to the old routine.
"I talked with him a lot, playing the role of psychologist rather than lawyer."
Mr Gibault said that Mr Loret's own children might now be in a position to claim royalties from Mein Kampf ('My Struggle'), Hitler's famous book which has sold millions of copies around the world.
Mr Loret wrote a book called 'Your Father's Name Was Hitler' in 1981, and it is now set to be re-published with all the new evidence.
Hitler, who was born in an Austrian village, frequently spoke of his love for France, and especially for Paris.
In December 1940, he paid an emotional visit to the capital city, where he was pictured saluting Napoleon's tomb in front of his bemused generals.
More intriguingly still, Hitler transferred from Vienna part of the remains of Napoleon II, Napoleon Bonaparte's son with Marie Louise of Austria.
Hitler often enthused about the greatness of Napoleon, saying that he wanted to have as big an impact on history as the Frenchman.
Although he never officially had any sons or daughters of his own, Hitler often spoke of his love of children and animals.
He married his mistress, Eva Braun, as the Red Army shelled his bunker in Berlin, in 1945, and committed suicide shortly afterwards. - telegraph
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Flatworms could hold key to immortality
British researchers believe that the worms, which live in ponds and lakes, could live forever after examining their ability to repeatedly regenerate.
Experts from Nottingham University managed to create a colony of more than 20,000 flatworms from one original by chopping it into pieces and observing each section grow into a new complete worm.
They believe that it could help scientists develop new methods to allow humans to stay younger for longer.
"Our data satisfy one of the predictions about what it would take for an animal to be potentially immortal," Aziz Aboobaker, who led the research.
"The next goals for us are to understand the mechanisms in more detail and to understand more.
Flatworms, known as planarian worms, have long fascinated scientists because they have an extraordinary ability to regenerate.
A planarian worm split lengthways or crossways will regenerate into two separate living worms.
The researchers found that flatworms can continuously maintain the length of a crucial part of their DNA, known as telomeres, during regeneration.
Dr Aboobaker's team studied two types of planarian – those that reproduce sexually, like humans, and those that reproduce asexually by simply dividing in two.
Both types appear to regenerate indefinitely by growing new muscles, skin, guts and even entire brains again and again, but the asexual ones also renew their stocks of a key enzyme which may mean they can be immortal, the study said.
Scientists know that one of the key factors associated with ageing cells is telomere length.
Telomeres are sections of DNA that cap the ends of chromosomes, protecting them from damage and the loss of cell functions linked to ageing.
Shorter telomeres are thought to be an indicator of faster ageing. - telegraph
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Ricky D is on a stake out!
Ricky D is reporting (while camouflaged) that he received a report from police that a Bigfoot was spotted on a bridge nearby. Since Ricky D is undercover no location was disclosed. He says he will stay out all night and will shoot the Bigfoot...already has permission from the land owner. He is confident that the media will pick up on his quest very soon and report that 'Gonna Get Me A Bigfoot' is the best Bigfoot killers in the world!
