"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea..."

• Einstein’s theory of gravity, confirmed? His handwritten works are on display in Jerusalem.
• Roger Penrose and the loops of time.
• The inequality aversion, explained.
• Recently restarted LHC shutting down for year to address design flaws.
• Ghostly accident or accidental ghost.
• Ghost-catching, one invention at a time at the Pump House Castle.
• Buzz Aldrin thanks the world for his birthday wishes.
• Was Pont-Saint-Esprit’s mysterious 'cursed bread' a CIA experiment with LSD?
• Vatican’s chief exorcist says Devil is in the Vatican.
• Dan Akroyd predicts the end of the world, sans Stay-Puft marshmallow man.
• Could some earthquakes be man-made?
• Meanwhile, it appears the Chilean quake may have shifted the Earth’s axis.
• Dozens of centuries-old shipwrecks discovered in Baltic Sea during construction.
• Has deforestation revealed an impact crater in Central Asia?
• Light in the California sky emits… smaller lights .
• Is Daylight Savings hazardous to your health?
• Titan’s slushy interior.
• It's Oyster vs. Anaconda in the battle for control of the waves.
• The mystery of thalidomide, unraveled.
• A mass grave of headless vikings.
• Brain scan experiment reveals what people are thinking.
• Past visions of science fiction’s science future .
• Australia’s buried rivers of antiquity.
• Are the Amazon rain forests stronger than we think?
• Archaeologists discover buried Mayan fountain.
• 15 photos from the 70‘s that raised awareness about preserving Mother Earth.
• Need a place to crash during the next polar upheaval-- try a Sea-skraper.

Many thanks to RPJ, Kat and Greg!

Quote of the Day:

“All the best stories in the world are but one story in reality-- the story of escape. It is the only thing which interests us all and at all times, how to escape…”

Walter Bagehot

Eight Martinis remote viewing magazine is also now available as a full-colour printed and delivered direct to your door magazine. This issue has a general CRV focus with great articles from people like Lyn Buchanan and CRV examples from the creator himself Ingo Swann including parts of an operational CRV session with an evaluation of its operational use.

Issue 3 contains the following articles:

• Searching...
• The Role of Sketching in Remote Viewing.
• Remote Viewing Processes and Layers of Meaning.
• A Remote Viewing Experiment.
• Frontloading and Throughput in Remote Viewing.
• The Road Ahead.
• The Cassandra Syndrome.
• Remote Viewing & Project Stargate; An interview with Lyn Buchanan.
• Remote Viewing Websites & blogs.
• Ah, the Wonderous Joy of Doing Demo Sessions.
• Remote Viewing Documents: The DIA Grill Flame Report - January 1983.

Free download of Issue 3: http://www.eightmartinis.com/

Late last year I noted that 'alternative history' author Graham Hancock had written a science fiction novel, titled Entangled, which is due to be published in the UK next month (pre-order from Amazon UK). If you're keen to learn more about the book, you'll definitely want to watch the following clips, which feature Graham reading Chapter 1 from his impending novel (warning: some NSFW language):

I haven't heard anything about a US release as yet - will keep you updated if I hear any news. Mind you, it's not that hard these days to just order it from across the pond...

May your skies be full of vibrant iridescent clouds...

• Knowing the mind of God: Seven theories of everything —and 42 is a multiple of 7!
• 'Tis the question that has puzzled man since time immemorial: does Bigfoot have a bone in its penis? —and why am I suddenly humming 70's blaxploitation movie soundtracks??
• [Video] UFOs over lake Eerie Erie?
• Quick: under the desk! Regan Lee studies reports of strange beams of white light.
• Big Think video interview with the Big Kahuna of commercial space travel: Burt Rutan.
• Moa eggshells yield ancient DNA —Hmmm... Moa huevos rancheros *salivating*
• Chinese archeologists discover a new 137-km stretch of the Great Wall.
• The search for Zheng, ancient China's greatest mariner.
• An unearthed tomb on Crete reveals a dynasty of priestesses reigned on the isle during the "Dark Ages" of ancient Greece —proving also that Greek archeology is not very P.C.
• Archeologists find conduit designed to deliver pressurized water to the Mayan city of Palenque... or human blood —Bwahahahaaaa!
• World's southernmost site of early human life uncovered in Australia.
• Why the demise of civilization may be inevitable —may? you mean I spent my entire savings building an 2012-proof shelter for nothing?!
• Black tears from the sky: Japan confirms the exisence of a secret Nuclear pact with the US.
• Listen up laddies: "Non-scientific study" (their words!) says Scottish have red hair to endure bad weather —Melbourne weather might explain Rick's ginger beard... and his Scroogish temper :-P
• Richelle Hawks on the liminality of color, and why Red is the awesomest hue of them all ;)
• "My, what beautiful 64-bit RGB eyes you have": computer vision & how robots are taught to perceive images.
• Pentagon looks to breed immoral immortal ‘synthetic organisms’. In the words of the immortal quantum-leaping Dr. Sam Beckett: "Oh Boy!"
• Conspiracy Smorgasbord @ Zorgy-awarded BOA, with Kenn Thomas. Listen to the podcast and join the list of citizens surveilled by the NSA —just kidding! or am I?
• American lawmakers are considering a national biometric ID card to counter the hiring of illegal immigrants. Might be cheaper to just tattoo a codebar in every American's right cheek...
• Lula da Silva, Latin America's defacto majority leader, seeks peace in the Middle East, while failing to criticize the totalitarian regime in Cuba. Meanwhile, political dissident Guillermo Fariñas is on the brink of death.

Thanks to Rick, Kat, Greg & Moezilla. And also thanks to Corey, for teaching me how to recognize a master vampire —Very handy info y'all.

Quote of the Day:
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal"

Albert Pike

I think I remember how to do this, it's like riding a bike... without the LSD.

• Robin Hood & the Templars of Doom: hidden history in Sherwood Forest.
• Oxford mathematician & Wonderland explorer, The Mystery Of Lewis Carroll by Jenny Woolf (Amazon US & UK).
• Algebra in Wonderland; the science of Charles Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll.
• Singalong-a sulcus: investigating how brains hear music & lyrics.
• Sputnik Observatory is a not-for-profit educational organisation dedicated to the study of contemporary culture. Guest features by Jacques Vallee, Colin Andrews, & much more. Looks brilliant.
• Lunar rock samples collected during Apollo missions suggest a wet interior. That explains this.
• Physicist claims warp speed will kill you. To timidly stay home & avoid strange new worlds...
• Ohio man films strange lights above Lake Erie over five nights.
• Unweaving the rainbow: beautiful photography, shame about the science proselytizing.
• Skeptic Ben Radford eloquently describes his visit to Machu Picchu. OMG, I actually agree with him -- and I don't have a fever! Even if he did misspell Machu Picchu.
• Excavated tomb reveals dynasty of priestesses on Crete.
• Sudan's forgotten pyramids: more mysteries than Egypt, without Zahi.
• DNA of extinct birds extracted from ancient eggshell.
• Experts seek 15th-century Chinese shipwrecks off the coast of East Africa.
• Trove of shipwrecks, one up to 800-years-old, found in Baltic Sea.
• The ultimate marine battle: great white shark vs giant squid.
• Crikey, that's not a yokai! Phantom kangaroos seen in Japan.
• In case Yokai Attack! please read (Amazon US & UK).
• The UFO Mystic tracks blue dogs & chupacabras in Texas.

Thanks Greg, Kat, & Joanne.

Quote of the Day:

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Lewis Carroll

Perhaps one of the most eloquent expositions ever of the beauty of ancient cultures and the debate over 'progress' versus so-called 'primitive' thought. In this recent lecture, anthropologist Wade Davis takes you on a non-stop, two hour journey, taking in the shamanic cultures of the Amazon, Voodoo rituals of Haiti, the aboriginal culture of Australia, the bodhisattvas of Tibet, and the resilient Inuit cultures of the north, amongst others. Enjoy:

Davis's new book The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World is available from Amazon US and UK (great cover image).

Review by Nick Redfern. For more information on The Cryptoterrestrials, visit the Anomalist books website. The book is available now from Amazon US and UK.

Over the course of the last 60 years or so, the world of ufology has spawned a truly huge number of books: many very good indeed, a not-insignificant number very bad, and a great deal hovering precariously somewhere in between. Just occasionally, however, a title comes along that is truly revolutionary, ground-breaking and - as far as its potential implications are concerned - thought-provoking in the extreme.

For me, personally, Jacque Vallee's Messengers of Deception and John Keel's UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse both fall into that latter category. Albeit in admittedly different ways, Vallee and Keel made equally strong cases for the existence of genuine UFOs in our midst. But, both Messengers and Trojan delivered to the reader two far more explicit messages: (A) UFOs are real; but that doesn't mean they are necessarily extraterrestrial; and (B) the phenomenon is clearly deceptive and manipulative in nature and intent.

Of course, for many of the longstanding (a.k.a. the bloody old) players within ufology, any talk of deceptive messengers, or of Keel's super-spectrum, is dismissed as mere speculation and not much else. For them, UFOs have to be extraterrestrial. After all, they have upheld such notions and beliefs for decades; and to relegate them to the rubbish-bin is not an option.

Well, I have a few choice words for those people who are so rigidly set in their ways: the extraterrestrial hypothesis is itself entirely speculative and totally lacking in hard evidence. All we really know for certain is that there most assuredly is a genuine UFO phenomenon. But, as for definitive proof of its actual point of origin or origins? Please! There is none. At all. There is merely a lot of data clearly demonstrating the presence of unidentified "others" amongst us.

Vallee and Keel most assuredly and astutely recognized this. They understood that a puzzle which - at first glance - seemed to be defined by the presence of nuts-and-bolts spacecraft and flesh-and-blood aliens in our midst, was far, far stranger than many within ufology wanted to admit.

And there was someone else who also recognized this ufological factor: Mac Tonnies. Mac was a very good friend of mine; and like all his friends I was shocked to the core when he passed away suddenly and tragically in October 2009, at the age of only 34.

But, I am pleased to say, Mac's latest - and, inevitably, final - piece of work ensures that his memory, legacy and ability to think outside of the conventional ufological box will live on. That work is The Cryptoterrestrials: A Meditation on Indigenous Humanoids and the Aliens Among Us.

Like Vallee and Keel, Mac rightly recognized that UFO encounters could not be dismissed as the ravings of lunatics, the tales of the fantasy-prone, or the lies of those seeking fame and fortune. But, he was also careful not to get sucked into the near-viral mindset that practically screams (take a deep breath): UFOs = alien spaceships piloted by little gray chaps from across the galaxy, who are on a mission to save their dying race by stealing our DNA, eggs and sperm.

Rather, Mac - right up until the time of his death - was chasing down the theory suggesting that the UFOnauts may actually represent the last vestiges of a very ancient race of distinctly terrestrial origins; a race that - tens of thousands of years ago may have ruled our planet, but whose position of power was thrown into overwhelming chaos by two things: (A) the appearance of a "debilitating genetic syndrome" that ravaged their society; and (B) the rising infestation of a violent species that threatened to eclipse - in number - their own society.

They are the Cryptoterrestrials. And that violent species that blusters around like an insane, unruly and spoiled child, and that has done more damage in its short life-time than can ever be truly imagined, is, of course, us.

With their society waning, their health and ability to even successfully reproduce collapsing, and their absolute worst nightmare - the Human Race - becoming the new gang in town, the Cryptoterrestrials followed what was perceived as the only viable option: they quietly retreated into the shadows, into the darkened corners of our world, below the oceans, into the deeper caverns that pepper the planet, and in their own uniquely silent and detached way, set about a new course of action.

That course of action - given that they were in some fashion genetically related to the Human Race - was to eventually resurface; to move amongst us in stealth; to pass themselves off as entities from far-off worlds (as part of a concerted effort to protect and hide their real point of origin); and to use and exploit us - medically - in an attempt to try and inject their waning species with a considerable amount of new blood: ours.

In addition, Mac believed, the Cryptoterrestrials were - and, by definition, still are - subtle-yet-brilliant, cosmic magicians. For them, however, there is no top-hat from which a white-rabbit is pulled. There is no hot babe sliced in half and then miraculously rejoined at the waist. No: their tricks are far more fantastic. As well as deceiving us about their origins, the Cryptoterrestrials have - via, perhaps, the use of advanced hologram-style technology, mind-manipulation and much more - led us to conclude that they have an infinite number of craft, resources and technologies at their disposal.

And that is the trick, the ruse: in actuality, their numbers today may be very small. They may well be staging faked UFO events to try and convince us that they have a veritable armada at their disposal when, perhaps, the exact opposite is the case. And, most important of all, they desperately want us to think of them as visitors from the stars. If their plan to rejuvenate their species is to work, then stealth, subterfuge and camouflage are the essential orders of the day.

Of course, the above all amounts to a theory - just like the ETH. And, Mac's book makes it very clear that he is theorizing, rather than being able to provide the reader with definitive proof for such a scenario. He does, however, offer a logical, and at times powerful, argument in support of the theme of his book.

As for so-called "alien abductions": the clumsy, intrusive means by which ova and sperm are taken by a race of beings we are led to believe are countless years ahead of us is addressed. That the ability of the aliens to wipe out the memories of those they abduct is constantly and regularly overturned by nothing more than simple hypnosis is highlighted. And the unlikely scenario that our DNA would even be compatible, in the first place, with extraterrestrial entities is also firmly dissected. Mac's conclusion: all this points not to the presence of highly-advanced aliens who are thousands of years ahead of us; but to the actions of an ancient Earth-based society whose technology may not be more than a century or so in advance of our current knowledge.

Mac also noted how the "aliens" seem to spend a hell of a lot time ensuring they are seen: whether its taking "soil-samples" at the side of the road; equipping their craft with bright, flashing lights; or hammering home the point to the abductees that they are from this planet, from that star-system, or from some far off galaxy. Just about anywhere aside from right here, in fact.

Roswell comes into the equation, too: and in ingenious fashion. Those who do not adhere to the extraterrestrial hypothesis for Roswell point to the fact that many of the witness descriptions of what was found at Roswell, are collectively suggestive of some form of large balloon-type structure having come down at the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, NM on that fateful day in the summer of 1947.

The possibility that ET would be flying around New Mexico in a balloon is absurd. But, as Mac notes, a race of impoverished, underground-dwellers, highly worried by the sudden influx of military activity in New Mexico (White Sands, Los Alamos etc), just might employ the use of an advance balloon-type vehicle to secretly scope out the area late at night.

Perhaps, when elements of the U.S. military came across the debris, they really did assume it was balloon-borne material and probably of American origin. Until, maybe, they stumbled across something else amid the debris, too...

The Cryptoterrestrials continues in a similar vein; to the extent that we are left with a stark and surreal image of a very ancient - and very strange - race of beings who may once have been the masters of this planet; who were sidelined thousands of years ago; and who are now - under cover of darkness and while the cities sleep - forced to grudgingly surface from their darkened lairs and interact with the very things they fear (and perhaps even hate and despise) most of all: us.

Survival is the name of their game. And deception is the means by which it is being cunningly achieved.

Whether you agree with Mac's theorizing or not, The Cryptoterrestrials is a book that is expertly and beautifully written. It challenges the reader to throw out old, rigid views. It represents the careful studies of a man who knew he was going out on a limb - but who, thankfully, didn't give a damn about appeasing the UFO research community in fawning style. And, for me, it truly is a Messengers of Deception for the 21st Century and for Generation-Next.

For more information on The Cryptoterrestrials, visit the Anomalist books website. The book is now available from Amazon US and UK.

Just a quick note bringing a couple of things to your attention. First, I've been slowly (as time allows) redesigning the blogs here on TDG, to try and make them a little more personal. Work is continuing, but things are starting to shape up - you'll notice now (see Katya's blog for example) that every member's blog now has a personal info box with avatar, bio and website. If you do not have these details but wish to, you can add them by going to 'My Account' in the right-hand navigation menu, clicking edit, and using the appropriate tabs for adding an avatar as well as biographical information.

Beneath the 'blogger info' block there is also now a block showing the ten most recent blog entries from that person, making it easier to browse through their writings.

Lastly, I have added functionality for members to embed videos from the major sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Blip etc) into their blogs. This has always been difficult to do, as it required opening up the accepted input to possibly dangerous code. However, using a specialist module, you should now be able to embed videos simply by pasting in the URL of the desired video. I have tested it and it worked okay for me, but please let me know if you experience any problems doing this. The good thing about this is that the fallback from any failure in embedding still gives readers the original link to the video in question.

I still have things on my to-do list (such as moving the navigation menu beneath the blogger info blocks), and there's a real bonus at the end of it all, but I'll let you know more as I get these things implemented.

Aw look, Zorgy #4 for the mantelpiece. Congrats to all nominated, and thanks to all who voted, even if you didn't listen to my advice…

• The return of Tron! And, the Dude abides! It's enough to make this grown man weep with nostalgia.
• Army's "mad scientists" study swarming mines and Facebook attacks. Hopefully combined.
• Chile earthquake moved the entire city of Concepcion 10 feet to the west.
• Does oarfish omen spell earthquake disaster for Japan?
• Who's the grown-up in the science vs religion debate? Maybe this guy?
• How the alphabet was born from hieroglyphs.
• Ancient texts present Mayans as literary geniuses. If they could just break out of that 2012 genre...
• Czech archaeologists find 150,000-year-old settlement in North Iraq.
• Time and Mind 3:1 has just been released with plenty of fascinating content on the ancient mind.
• The real canals of Mars are made from subterranean ice.
• Futurist Ray Kurzweil didn't like James Cameron's Avatar.
• Rupert Sheldrake and Richard Wiseman clash over parapsychology experiments.
• Erik Davis chats with Trickster and the Paranormal author George Hansen.
• Fortean and conspiracy researcher Jerry E. Smith passes away after battling pancreatic cancer.
• Tim Binnall talks to parapolitical researcher Kenn Thomas in the latest BoA podcast. Plus: here's Tim's interview with the late Jerry E. Smith.
• The biggest crop circle, ever.
• Missing persons and abductions reveal psychics' failures.
• What's in a name? Tumbling down the rabbit-hole while on the track of the Beast of White Lake Ontario.
• Even superheroes need their science.
• Cryptid colouring pages! And the best thing, as @TheDarkEngine said on Twitter, is that no-one can say you used the wrong colours.
• And you thought Michael Shermer's 'Skeptic' column in SciAm couldn't get any stupider…

Thanks Rick.

Quote of the Day:

Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

So much strange - and anti-strange - news, reading it all could make your head spin. But not to worry -- for me, a little aspirin and caffeine cast that demon headache right back out.

• Anti-alchemy boffins transmute gold into anti-strange anti-hypermatter.
• Glozal finder, Emile Fradin, who has died aged 103, was either one of the most productive archeological forgers ever known, or, as his supporters claim, the victim in France's archaeological equivalent of the Dreyfus case.
• Uri Geller is seeking Egyptian treasure on his own Scottish island.
• Virtual simulations demonstrate that Leonardo da Vinci's calculations for huge horse statue were on the mark. Leonardo da Vinci conceived, but never finished, this project -- a failure that has long puzzled scholars. Video.
• New radar map of Mars reveals remnants of a vast ice sheet hidden under the Martian rubble.
• Is there anybody out there? Scientists believe there could be 10,000 civilisations in our galaxy, and millions are being spent trying to find them.
• Jon Ronson speaks to the man who will welcome our alien overlords, Prof. Paul Davies.
• Russia to halt space tours.
• Snowball Earth: Glaciers, ice packs once met at the Equator.
• Major new inquest into the death of the dinosaurs: SciAm's report on the Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) mass extinction.
• Climate scientists hit back at the sceptics with new research they say has uncovered the 'fingerprint' of man-made global warming.
• A leading scientific institute allowed its evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into climate science to be influenced anonymously by an energy industry consultant who argues that global warming is a religion.
• The heat over bubbling Arctic methane is premature.
• The way of the dinosaurs: Skeptics ignore climate change at our own risk.
• Climate change skepticism a litmus test for Republicans.
• Organized climate-change skepticism traces back to the three founders of the conservative George C. Marshall Institute. You can preorder Naomi Oreskes' book Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, due out May 25th, at Amazon US & UK.
• Creationists seek to stop the teaching of global warming.
• In a book of memoirs, renowned exorcist Fr. Gabriele Amorth says, in the Vatican there are members of Satanic sects. When asked if members of the clergy are involved, he responded, 'There are priests, monsignors and also cardinals!'
• For sale: Two captured ghosts, trapped by an exorcist inside bottles of holy water to make them sleepy.
• Update: Two 'bottled ghosts' have sold for NZ2830 (£1305, $1,954) in an online auction in New Zealand.
• Defectors say Church of Scientology hides abuse.
• Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist? Michael Prescott presents an interpretation of history through the writings of a medium who claimed to have been present at several seances held at the White House.
• Fish and frogs aren't the only weird things that have rained from the skies.
• Creepy crawlies: Amazing Scanning Electron Microscope pictures of insects and spiders.
• Nobel laureate Ahmed H. Zewail: The scientist with the fastest eyes.
• Did life on Earth begin twice? Could the Mono Lake arsenic prove there is a shadow biosphere?
• The world's most useful tree produces food, oil for lighting, cooking and biogas, and crop fertiliser; and now, it can also purify drinking water, thanks to free instructions posted online.
• Light keeps spinach fresh and producing new vitamins, even after it's picked. Uh oh, you know what this means: the light in the refrigerator should stay on all the time.
• HIV hides out in bone marrow cells.
• Survival instincts: Comparison of Titanic and Lusitania shows self-preservation is trumped by social pressure when there is time to think.
• Neuromarketing: MRI brain scans to be used to 'design' political candidates' -- as well as other, presumably more-reliable, products.
• Cyberwar declared as China hunts for secrets. In the past year, the number of attacks on US government agencies rose to 1.6 billion a month.
• Fighting the hackers: In a command centre a huge map of the world keeps a running log of global attacks in Tokyo’s Cyber Emergency Centre.
• Police arrest Mariposa botnet masters, seize sensitive data of 800,000. 12million+ host computers were compromised including the networks of 500 of the US Fortune 1,000 companies and more than 40 major banks.
• UK's Ofcom boss, Ed Richards, wades into Net Neutrality row. He sounds nutty as a fruitcake to me.
• Microsoft sends flowers to Internet Explorer 6 funeral. Meanwhile, IE 8 is still not mingling well with 2,000 highly-visited sites, and Windows users must patch their systems every five days, on average, to stay ahead of security vulnerabilities. More.
• Mozilla lays the foundation for the web's next 100 years.
• The shocking truth about Tasers: A commuter in a diabetic coma, an 89-year-old man and children as young as 12 -- just some of the targets of British police armed with skin-piercing 50,000-volt Taser guns.
• Police got teen drunk for confession.
• It's who you kill that matters.
• Acrobatic thieves hit N.J. Best Buy avoiding cameras, motion sensors, alarms in daring heist. Speaking of thieves...
• UK's bankster bailout may be paid for by new tax on food.

Big thanks to Baldrick and Greg.

Quote of the Day:

Imagine you are in a Toyota on the highway at 60 miles per hour approaching stopped traffic, and you find that the brake pedal is broken. This is CO2. Then you figure out that the accelerator has also jammed, so that by the time you hit the truck in front of you, you will be going 90 miles per hour instead of 60. This is methane. Is now the time to get worried? No, you should already have been worried by the broken brake pedal. Methane sells newspapers, but it’s not the big story, nor does it look to be a game changer to the big story, which is CO2.

Dr. David Archer's analogy, here, regarding the recent news about methane leaking from the Arctic seabed.