Hi folks...after my early appearance on C2C (3-5am), I'm simply running on fumes today. So today's blog is going to be limited. Thanks again for your support. Lon
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Many Russians don't think Chelyabinsk meteor was actually a meteor
They say that Russia is the motherland of conspiracy theories, and public reaction to the sudden meteor strike a week ago that stunned people in the Ural mountains, and injured more than 1,200, seems to be proving that true.
A survey published today by the fairly staid Moscow daily Noviye Izvestia found that barely half its readers believe the official report that the blast was caused by a meteor.
According to the newspaper, the other half prefer to believe in an assortment of bizarre explanations, including that the blast was a secret US weapon test, an off-course ballistic missile, a message from God, a crashing alien spaceship, or even an extraterrestrial trojan horse carrying a deadly space virus to wipe out the Earth.
"Our people remember the Soviet past, when news of disasters was concealed or lied about," says Alexei Grazhdankin, deputy director of the Levada Center, an independent Moscow polling agency.
"We have no scientific polls on what people think about the Chelyabinsk event last week, but it's safe to assume the majority of Russians accept that it was a meteorite. However, our past surveys show that up to 25 percent of Russians do believe in UFOs. A lot of our people just prefer not to accept the safe explanations they were taught at school. Even when all necessary information is available, they don't want to believe it." - CS Monitor
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Over 60 students, two teachers faint in Pakistan
Lahore: Over 60 students and two teachers fainted in a school in Pakistan's Punjab province apparently after inhaling some hazardous fumes, officials said on Friday.
The incident occurred on Thursday in Rahim Yar Khan district, 400 kms from Lahore.
Officials of a state-run rescue service said that students started fainting shortly after classes began at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Kot Samaba.
The school's administration called the rescue service, whose personnel shifted over 60 students and two female teachers to Sheikh Zayed Medical College Hospital.
Doctors said they were out of danger.
"Owing to the timely response, lives of over three dozen schoolgirls and the teachers were saved," a rescue service spokesman said.
The school's administration believes the incident occurred due to a leak of gas from a pipeline adjacent to the building.
An official of the gas utility, however, said gas was not passing through pipelines that were recently installed near the school and that the incident may have occurred due to a gas leak in the school's science laboratory.
Punjab Governor Makhdoom Ahmed Maehmood directed the managing director of Sui Gas Company to take action against those responsible for the incident. - NDTV
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500-year-old arrest warrant for Machiavelli found
Prof Stephen Milner from Manchester University discovered the historic document by accident while researching town criers and the proclamations they read out in archives in Florence.
The 1513 proclamation, which called for the arrest of Machiavelli, eventually led to his downfall and death.
"When I saw it I knew exactly what it was and it was pretty exciting," said Prof Milner.
"When you realise this document marked the fall from grace of one the world's most influential political writers, it's quite a feeling.
"The Prince is a seminal work, with a lasting influence on political thought and culture. The term 'Machiavellian' and the naming of the Devil as 'Old Nick' all derive from this single work, but the circumstances of its composition have often been overlooked."
When the Medici family returned to power in Florence in 1512, Machiavelli was removed from his post in the city's chancery because of his association with the head of a rival faction.
His name was then linked with a conspiracy to overthrow the Medici. They issued the proclamation found by Prof Milner for his arrest.
"On the same day, he was imprisoned, tortured and later released and placed under house arrest outside the city," said the historian, an authority on Renaissance Italy.
Machiavelli, known as the Prince of Darkness, then wrote The Prince in the hope of regaining the approval of the Medicis.
"But there's no evidence to suggest they even read it," said Prof Milner, who is Visiting Professor at the Harvard Centre for Italian Renaissance Studies at Villa I Tatti in Florence.
Machiavelli's fortunes spiralled downwards and he died in abject poverty 14 years later.
The academic found the document while studying hundreds of town crier proclamations issued between 1470 and 1530.
He also found documents relating to the payment of four horsemen who scoured the streets of the Tuscan city for Machiavelli.
Florence is this year celebrating the 500th anniversary of Machiavelli's writing of The Prince, a political treatise which argues that the pursuit of power can justify the use of immoral means.
The celebrations include, on February 19, a reconstruction of the events surrounding his arrest and imprisonment. - Telegraph
The Prince
The Essential Writings of Machiavelli (Modern Library Classics)
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'Beyond The Edge Radio' podcast - February 24th
Podomatic podcast - Psychic/Medium Scotty Rorek
Stitcher Radio - Psychic/Medium Scotty Rorek
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Great Lakes Lights
The following is an unedited report recently forwarded to me:
On July 30, 2011 at around 11:30 pm I witnessed something extraordinary while camping on Lake Erie with my family at the Knight's Beach Resort in Haldimand, Ontario. Just above the trees which are about 30 feet high we observed 3 circular object that looked like fire balls. When I first caught a glimpse of them I panicked thinking that it was fire spreading from tree to tree but quickly realized that this was not fire at all. Instantly I knew that this was something very special. I had this overwhelming feeling of happiness because I always believed that there were extraterrestrials and other dimensions but never thought that in my lifetime I would experience anything that would indicate to me that in fact that was the case, until that very moment. That moment changed my life. I can tell you for certain that this was not anything "earthly". These spheres/orbs glided over our campground occasionally slowing down and pausing. We all felt like we were being watched. As they started to move away from the camp my brother in law and I ran after them in hope that we would see something more. We were both afraid but just could not resist the urge to find out more. We quickly lost sight of them as they started to disappear behind the trees and we decided to run down to the beech to see if we could get a better look. By the time we got there they were gone. However, there were at least a dozen of people at the beech who just witnessed the same thing. We were told by several witnesses that there was a very bright shooting star in the sky which stopped suddenly and after a few moments broke into 3 lights. The lights flickered in different colours as if they were signalling each other. They then flew towards the shore of Lake Erie and appeared orange and red in colour. As they glided over the campground they paused and flickered again before taking off at a very high speed.
What is even more interesting is that when we returned home, Burlington Ontario, we overheard conversations between the locals about these fireballs over Lake Ontario. Apperantly these things were seen all overt the place. While I was shopping at a local grocery store I overheard a conversation between two older woman talking about watching these fireballs from their building balconies on lakeshore diving into Lake Ontario. They also commented that the fire departments were flooded with calls about fire balls. I thought I was in a middle of some kind of a cheesy 80's TV movie. I mean how bizarre is this?! I myself have never seen them in Burlington but we did wonder why the fire trucks were constantly rushing through the city. It is not common to hear fire trucks very frequently in this city. Immediately I started googling about this and looking in the local papers for any stories and to my surprise found absolutely nothing. How can there be NOTHING?! I later found a submission in the Spectator by a man whose daughters witnessed these orbs but he was basically ridiculed. People commented that they were Chinese lanterns, but I can tell you I know what a Chinese lantern looks like because I have seen them before and this was definitely not even close. I decided to send an email to the journalist at the Hamilton Spectator asking him how as a journalist he had the right to blow this guy off without doing any investigative work but he blew me off and ridiculed me.
What is really upseting to me is that we did not get a chance to film what we saw. I have since found some videos on youtube of people in Burlington and all over the world observing these things, but I have yet to see one where they were as close to the ground as the ones we saw. I forgot to mention that they did not appear to be very large. My guess would be about 3 feet in diameter. Also, when i say that they are red and orange in colour, picture heating a metal object. It had a bright orange centre and red around it. they looked like they were super hot and did not make a sound.
I have now become completely obsessed with this and continue to search for information. From watching many shows such as ancient aliens, ufo files and many others since my experience I understand that ancient civilizations have recorded existence of these orbs.
That was a truly incredible experience for me.
Sanja
Aliens in America: A UFO Hunter's Guide to Extraterrestrial Hotpspots Across the U.S.
High Strangeness: Hyperdimensions & The Process Of Alien Abduction
