The latest issue of Fortean Times (#195) is out for sale, so pick yourself up a copy if you get the chance. This month's mag has a headline story on the UK myth of the 'Black Dog', as well as other articles on Scotland's murdering cannibals and the legacy of the multi-talented Alfred Lawson. See the latest issue page for details - remember too that a new issue means new archived feature content available from the front page of the site.

Let's all have a go, sans dictionary: What exactly is virginity?

• With no words for want, worry, wealth, or when, nomadic Moken remain close to nature.
• Women and men differ genetically almost as much as humans differ from chimpanzees.
• Protein recovered from dinosaur eggs. Looks like we'll soon be needing a review of Crichton's Jurassic Park.
• Silver coin offers solid evidence for a long-dismissed claim that Domitianus had indeed declared himself an emperor at a time of upheaval in the Roman Empire.
• Archaeologists date Afghanistan's Bamiyan Buddhas.
• The tomb of a four-year-old heir of the Medicis has mysteriously disappeared.
• At Rosslyn chapel, present-day Knights Templar are just the Rotary Club in fancy dress. Knight says, "There's no hocus pocus here."
• Saladin and Sir Ridley: Kingdom of Heaven will soon bring the Knights Templar and the Crusades to the big screen, but what's historical fact and what's fiction?
• Scientific genius isn't just about I.Q. It helps to be an outcast with nothing invested in the status quo, and no academic position or reputation to lose.
• Son's disease propels stem cell pioneer to continue research - in an unmarked Harvard lab, kept secret for fear of protesters.
• Gigantic ripples in space-time - larger than the observable universe - may be the cause of the accelerating expansion of the universe.
• Light may arise from relativity violations.
• Parallel Universes & The Suppression of Ether Physics.
• Emerging vision of the body electric is providing fixes beyond the ken of the medical mainstream.
• Will a 19th-century invention, the Stirling engine, become the 21st-century's solar powered alternative-energy miracle?
• Have hackers recruited your PC? More than one million computers on the net have been hijacked to attack websites, pump out spam and viruses, and worse.
• Just don't call it "telepathy": Neuroscientist says "distant neural signaling" is a real phenomena.
• Love at first smell: Males previously rejected by females were rendered irresistible after the synthetic perfume had been applied.
• Why colonize the Moon before going to Mars?
• Tsunami victims, Iraqis to get first taste of recycled water from space technology.
• The Gift Of ADHD?
• Bust-Up chewing gum is said to fight aging, reduce stress, help circulation, tone muscles, and oh yeah, it increases the size of women's breasts while also improving their shape and tone. Who wants to volunteer for the clinical trial?
• U.S.'s Billion Dollar Abstinence Education Program Yields Results: Adolescent Virginity Pledgers More Likely to Engage in Risky Sexual Behavior.
• New report says UK's I.D. card plans too risky.
• A special report published by eminent scientist Leuren Moret names Depleted Uranium as the definitive cause of Gulf War Syndrome. Of 580,400 U.S. soldiers who served in the first Gulf War, 11,000 are now dead, and as of the year 2000, 325,000 were on permanent medical disability.
• Network of top scientists helped 'Angel of Death' Mengele.
• Hitler's Mein Kampf sells 50,000 copies in Turkey in three months.
• Collective Narcissism - Narcissism, Culture, and Society.
• 'The Military Unleashed My Mind' Says Paul H. Smith, author of Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate--America's Psychic Espionage Program.
• London Druids celebrate rites of spring.
• Iceland grants citizenship for former world chess champion Bobby Fischer.
• Smitten Bigfooters keep making tracks into Oregon's Blue Mountains.
• New cameras, Internet connections, sophisticated DNA and fingerprint examinations have already produced a wealth of new information which has researchers convinced modern technology is on the verge of proving Bigfoot's existence.

Quote of the Day:

A major truth about the Grail, often overlooked, is that it can take different forms. It is not just 'one thing', contrary to popular belief.

Karen Ralls, PhD, medieval historian and Celtic scholar

Popping my head in quickly before I disappear into the wilds of Northern Australia (where, if Grandma Grail is to believed, I may be able to spot the odd UFO or black panther). There is plenty of fresh content up at the website of author Ian Lawton, the easiest place to get a handle on what's new is, appropriately enough, at the What's New section of his website. There are new extracts and commentaries available related to each of Ian's books - check the latest updates to the Giza: The Truth, Genesis Unveiled and The Book of the Soul sections of the site for the full run-down.

Issue 51 of Atlantis Rising is completed and likely to be on news-stands in mid-April. However, for those with bandwidth to spare, you can skip the wait (and news-stand price) by going to the Atlantis Rising website and downloading the PDF file of the entire issue for free. Some of the contents in this issue:

• Some guy called Greg Taylor does an essay on whether the Ku Klux Klan will be in Dan Brown's next book.
  
• Archaeologist Greg Little looks at new evidence for Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Looking after the Daily Grail while Greg's away getting in touch with his inner yowie has given me a greater admiration for the work he puts into this website. I have enough trouble getting out of bed Monday mornings ...

• Scientists warn that climate change is inevitable. Is this a valid reason to continue polluting our environment?
• The US is exporting its nitrogen pollution to other parts of the world.
• Environment and development ministers from the G8 promise to tackle illegal logging. Promises, promises ...
• Every home will one day be a factory. Reminds me of the Lucky Dragon Nanofax, from All Tomorrow's Parties (Amazon US or UK) by William Gibson.
• Nano-probes allow an inside look at cell nuclei.
• NASA will have a four-person rescue team in case something goes wrong with the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Thunderbirds are go!
• Hourglass-shaped craters on Mars show evidence of glaciers.
• Saturn's moon Enceladus (why do I suddenly have a craving for mexican food?) has an atmosphere.
• A young mathematician has solved a crucial part of a puzzle that has haunted number theorists for decades.
• A fireball created in a particle accelerator has the characteristics of a black hole. Haven't these guys played the Half-Life computer game?
• Watch out for the animatronic T-Rex at London's Natural History Museum.
• A detailed 3D image of the UK's one and only space impact crater.
• Are you a man who thinks like a woman, or a woman who thinks like a man? Take this test to find out.
• What makes us human? Comparing the human genome to the genomes of other great apes.
• An interview with Bert Roberts, one of the Australian scientists who discovered Homo Floresiensis.
• Major petroglyph sites in the USA are finally being documented by archaeologists. Beautiful photos in the first link.
• What will extraterrestrials look like? Just like you and I, only with bumpier foreheads.
• Richard Dolan investigates the UFO phenomenon from a historian's perspective, and believes the fringe is the place to be.
• The mystery chupacabra with mangey fur is back. Excellent photo, including a pic of a similar unknown animal with healthy fur.
• A German tourist's photographs of a Tasmanian Tiger appear to be a hoax.
• Rare white lions return to Timbavati. None of them have been named Kimba. Sadly, it's only a matter of time before some wanker shoots them.
• Remember the bridge in Scotland where dogs leap to their deaths? Hendrix the collie-cross plummeted 40 feet and survived.
• A girl partially turned into a lizard from the evils of television. I've turned into a Lounge Lizard from time to time myself.
• Television mysticism is blamed for an increase in asylum tensions. Reality tv will do that to anyone.
• Members of the Knights Templar are annoyed with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code ... or are they worried about all the attention?
• The legend of the one-eyed dragon with a pearl in its mouth.
• Ancient Egyptian seafaring ships have been discovered in a cave.
• Are scientists concerned about the ground collapsing underneath the Axum Obelisk, or are they looking for something else?
• A scud missile complete with launcher truck is available on Ebay.
• A British politician is mistaken for an extra on the set of Dr Who. George W. Bush had the same problem with Lost (he's the Monster in the jungle).

Thanks Max.

Quote of the Day:

A truth is not hard to kill, and a lie well told is immortal.

Mark Twain

Book Review - State of Fear by Michael Crichton

Michael Crichton's State of Fear is rapidly climbing the best seller lists. I had asked TDG member X_O to review the novel but I was not around when he published it on his blog. Now that I've returned, I am reposting the review:

STATE of FEAR by Michael Crichton

A review by X_O

State of Fear is available at Amazon US and UK.
Thanks X_O.

I was just putting the final polish on the news post when one of Greg’s demons perched her hideous self atop my printer, grinned her fangs, and hissed, “Publish the news now or I’ll rip your heart out and eat it.”

Here’s what happened next ………..

• The first reconstruction of a complete Neanderthal skeleton reveals more clearly than ever the similarities and differences between us and them.
• Tsunami reveals the reality of generations of legends hidden by the water off India.
• The best excavations in Egypt today seem to be inside the Cairo Museum.
• Droppings reveal the health of Scotland's ancient inhabitants.
• An Atlantis investigator explains and vindicates the dialogues of Plato’s Timaeus and the Critias. If this article interests you, be sure to see the additional articles listed in the box to the right on the website.
• Archaeologist discovers ancient ships in Egypt.
• How much can your mind keep track of?
• Are supernatural beings causing jail deaths?
• Stalin's secret files on Hitler have been found.
• Lightning may not strike twice but earthquakes do. A repeat of the Indian Ocean quake that caused the December's Indian Ocean tsunami is likely.
• The USDA may approve rice with human genes in Missouri.
• Biologists with the Idaho National Guard have discovered a new species of fairy shrimp living in the oft-dry lake beds of Idaho's desert. What a grim life.
• An autonomous robot has found life in one of the most lifeless places on Earth: the Atacama desert in northern Chile.
• Vampire bats fly, drink blood — and run.
• Worldwide protests target Canada's seal hunt.
• A Finnish subsidiary of John Deere is building giant spiderbots. See pic - does it remind you of anything?
• 'Vampire' flogged, stabbed and hanged in public.
• Despite UN atomic watchdog efforts, Pakistan is reviving the nuclear black market. Somebody remind me why we have a UN.
• Russian oligarchs want immortality.
• Genetic differences between men and women are more extensive and profound than previously believed, according to a study that unravels the chemistry of the sexes.
• Need a building? Just add water.
• Giving inspiration to the romantically challenged, an inventor has attached electrodes to regular eating utensils that can pick up on whether the person across the table feels uncomfortable or pleased.

It's all part of the process...

• Italy's soothsayers and magicians were contemplating a future condemned to darkness yesterday after the national media watchdog said it was banning them from daytime television.
• The latest edition of New Scientist is now available online. Check it out here. This week, 13 things that don't make sense.
• Defining Bullshit. A philosophy professor says it's a process, not a product.
• If you've seen the movie The 13th Warrior or read the Michael Crichton book it was based on, you will find 'Viking Answer Lady' interesting as she separates truth from fiction.
• It's Thursday so it's time for Parrot News. Look who's talking.
• When Egyptologists unwrapped the body of "Unknown Man E" which had been found along with numerous royal mummies in the Dier el-Bahri cache in 1881, a horrible sight awaited them. Had he been buried alive?
• There have been questions in Defense Department circles about whether or not it's a good idea to fund a "giant, kevlar fly swatter that is supposed to whack satellites out of the orbit."
• Are supernatural beings causing deaths at a prison in the Phillipines?
• Last week it was positive proof of cougars in Canada, now Michigan police have possible footage of a cougar, thought to be extinct in the area. Looks like these big cats are more resilient than anyone expected.
• Fish fill water with idle chatter - some fish communicate through the bubbles they release from their bodies, according to marine research.
• A Cardinal finally breaks the Catholic Church's silence on "The Da Vinci Code, calling it "shameful and unfounded lies".
• More mysterious mountain lion sightings - this time in Los Angeles.
• The Pentagon is working to develop a suborbital space capsule within the next five years that would be launched from the United States and could deliver conventional weapons anywhere in the world within two hours.
• Psychedelic books, guitars and artwork go up for auction on eBay. The proceeds will help cover the costs of clinical research into psychoactive drugs like ecstasy and marijuana.
• Vast untapped reserves of frozen natural gas lie beneath the oceans. Trapped in ice, which literally burns, the gas deposits could provide energy for decades, and scientists are starting to figure out how to mine it.
• Nick Redfern speaks with Ed & Kris Sherwood, two of the most well-known and respected researchers of the Crop Circle mystery.
• Long before Shakespeare portrayed her as history's most exotic femme fatale, Cleopatra was revered throughout the Arab world - for her brain.
• Many holy wells have gruesome legends attached to them, but the one associated with Lidwell in Devon isn't your usual tale of saintly self-sacrifice. Instead, the well was used by an early serial killer.
• Some scholars think the Olmec civilization was the first anywhere in America. Were Olmecs the "mother" culture? Or were they one among "sister" cultures?
• There are new signs of recent glaciers, flowing water and volcanoes on Mars.
• A build-up of stress on faults in Sumatra following the Indonesian earthquake is likely to trigger another large quake and perhaps a tsunami.

Thanks as always to Shadows the link angel.
Quote of the Day:

A serious and good philosophical work could be written consisting entirely of jokes.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Some very interesting stories today - at least, interesting to me. Of note, how useful the yawn maybe.

• Historian claims Nazis tested small atom bombs in the final months of WW2.
• DNA with three base pairs: A step towards expanding the genetic code.
• Liposome finding implies electrical effect on cell development.
• Extra-terrestrial underwater experiments near Sumatra – are they trying to diffuse a super volcano repeat eruption like the one 74,000 years back.
• Searching for the Welsh-Hindi link.
• Japanese island holds secrets of long life.
• Next stop Atlantis, Cuba.
• Mount St. Helens lava dome.
• The latest on avian flu.
• No Arabs on Flight 77.
• Pentagon hid damning Halliburton audit.
• Welcome to Doomsday.
• Martian dust devils finally caught on camera.
• You are being lied to. Warning: patience required.
• Jupiter's high-voltage auroras probed by Chandra.
• DNA weak links may provide clues to cancer biology.
• Did Black Death boost HIV immunity in Europe?
• The hidden sexuality of the human yawn.
• Galaxy makes order out of chaos.
• Hydrogen powered bike is too quiet.
• Cell discovery could put cancer to sleep.
• David Icke: The Biggest Secret. You'll need patience for the download and patience for the reading, thereafter you may become a patient, of sorts.

Quote of the Day:

To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains.

Mary Poole

As it does every morning, humanity will yawn and drink it's cuppa on the day it decides the time has come to wrest the future of civilization from the grip of malignant complacency.

• Experts Find 12th Century Church in Aberdeen.
• Neanderthals had strong, high-pitched, voices.
• Bones of contention.
• Cleopatra was a thinker not a lover, contends author of Egyptology The Missing Millennium: Ancient Egypt In Medieval Arabic Writings. Amazon US.
• Early universe was a zoo.
• The rock-and-roll galaxies of the early universe.
• Amazon founder, Bezos, wants "an enduring human presence in space," and a spaceport in Texas.
• Space transports: We don't know as much as we think we do.
• Space Scientists Angry Over Program Terminations. V'Ger to develop bad attitude toward carbon-based units.
• Martian devil gives Spirit new life.
• Charity begins at Homo sapiens.
• New link to the article: The End of Poverty, by Jeffery D. Sachs, author of the newly published book, The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. Amazon US, with reviews. (Expletive deleted regarding Time moving this article to 'premium content'.)
• Why is it hard to share the wealth?
• Trusting strangers on the Internet: German firm does eBay one better.
• Are Nanobacteria Making Us Ill?
• Artificial antenna helps 'cockroach robot' scurry along walls.
• So, is there more to men than sex and cars? Dream on.
• Face to face – in realistic 3D.
• U.S. Government Clamping Down on Access to Info. Across U.S., Citizens Fight for Records.
• Writer pays price for Bush tapes.
• Fingerprint food.
• Understanding biological foundation of human behavior critical to improving laws.
• The link between brain histamine, anxiety and alcoholism.
• What are little boys made of?
• Russian man lives without a tell-tale heart.
• Why low-carb diets produce fast results.
• Unique weather a factor in record 2004 Midwest crop yields. The good side of global warming?
• Europe Under Snow. The bad side of global warming?
• Ancient Icelandic sagas linked to climate changes.
• A Tale of Two El Ninos.
• Protestants begin saying, 'Hail, Mary'.
• Significance of Jerusalem in Islam, Judaism and Christianity.
• Downfall: The Human Face of Evil.
• Narcissistic Leaders.
• Local and international politics are stark raving bonkers because so many leaders are deranged.
• More Than Human: Embracing the Promise of Biological Enhancement. Amazon US.
• Crowley, Aliens and The Book of Thoth: second part of a series which began last week with 'Extraterrestrials and the Occult Connection'.
• The Connection between Crowley and Wicca. By someone who may have an ax or two to grind.
• Family of necromancers: John Napier's wizard roots.
• The Brahan Seer: Scotland's Nostradamus.
• Revenge of the Sith: Scare Them It Will.
• "The Grim, my dear, the Grim! The giant, spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear boy, it is an omen ... the worst omen ... of death!"*

*Quote from Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Quote of the Day:

I thought it might have a practical use in something like neon signs.

Harold C. Urey, 1934 Nobel laureate, on developing heavy water, vital to the atomic bomb.