vignesh2012

POLE SHIFT IN 2012

2008-09-19T05:31:00.001-07:00

Solar System - Did you notice? In February 2001, the Sun did a magnetic polar shift. The next one is due again in 2012. NASA scientists who monitor the Sun say that our star's awesome magnetic field flipped 22 months ago, signaling the arrival of a solar maximum. But it wasn't so obvious to the average human. The Sun's magnetic north pole, which was in the northern hemisphere just a few months ago, now points south. It's a topsy-turvy situation, but not an unexpected one. "This always happens around the time of solar maximum," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The magnetic poles exchange places at the peak of the sunspot cycle. In fact, it's a good indication that Solar Max is really here." The Sun's magnetic poles will remain as they are now, with the north magnetic pole pointing through the Sun's southern hemisphere, until the year 2012 when they will reverse again. This transition happens, as far as we know, at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle -- like clockwork. Earth’s magnetic field also flips, but with less regularity. Consecutive reversals are spaced 5 thousand years to 50 million years apart. The last reversal happened 740,000 years ago. Some researchers think our planet is overdue for another one, but nobody knows exactly when the next reversal might occur. Although solar and terrestrial magnetic fields behave differently, they do have something in common: their shape. During solar minimum the Sun's field, like Earth's, resembles that of an iron bar magnet, with great closed loops near the equator and open field lines near the poles. Scientists call such a field a "dipole." The Sun's dipolar field is about as strong as a refrigerator magnet, or 50 gauss (a unit of magnetic intensity). Earth's magnetic field is 100 times weaker. When solar maximum arrives and sunspots pepper the face of the Sun, our star's magnetic field begins to change. Sunspots are places where intense magnetic loops -- hundreds of times stronger than the ambient dipole field -- poke through the photosphere. "Meridional flows on the Sun's surface carry magnetic fields from mid-latitude sunspots to the Sun's poles," explains Hathaway. "The poles end up flipping because these flows transport south-pointing magnetic flux to the north magnetic pole, and north-pointing flux to the south magnetic pole." The dipole field steadily weakens as oppositely-directed flux accumulates at the Sun's poles until, at the height of solar maximum, the magnetic poles change polarity and begin to grow in a new direction. Hathaway noticed the latest polar reversal in a "magnetic butterfly diagram." Using data collected by astronomers at the U.S. National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak, he plotted the Sun's average magnetic field, day by day, as a function of solar latitude and time from 1975 through the present. The result is a sort of strip chart recording that reveals evolving magnetic patterns on the Sun's surface. "We call it a butterfly diagram," he says, "because sunspots make a pattern in this plot that looks like the wings of a butterfly." In the butterfly diagram, pictured below, the Sun's polar fields appear as strips of uniform color near 90 degrees latitude. When the colors change (in this case from blue to yellow or vice versa) it means the polar fields have switched signs. The ongoing changes are not confined to the space immediately around our star, Hathaway added. The Sun's magnetic field envelops the entire solar system in a bubble that scientists call the "heliosphere." The heliosphere extends 50 to 100 astronomical units (AU) beyond the orbit of Pluto. Inside it is the solar system -- outside is interstellar space. "Changes in the Sun's magnetic field are carried outward through the heliosphere by the solar wind," explains Steve Suess, another solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "It takes about a year for disturbances to propagate all the way from the Sun to the outer bounds of the heliosphere." Because the Sun rotates (once every 27 days) solar magnetic fields corkscrew outwards in the shape of an Archimedian spiral. Far above the poles the magnetic fields twist around like a child's Slinky toy. Because of all the twists and turns, "the impact of the field reversal on the heliosphere is complicated," says Hathaway. Sunspots are sources of intense magnetic knots that spiral outwards even as the dipole field vanishes. The heliosphere doesn't simply wink out of existence when the poles flip -- there are plenty of complex magnetic structures to fill the void. Or so the theory goes.... Researchers have never seen the magnetic flip happen from the best possible point of view -- that is, from the top down. But now, the unique Ulysses spacecraft may give scientists a reality check. Ulysses, an international joint venture of the European Space Agency and NASA, was launched in 1990 to observe the solar system from very high solar latitudes. Every six years the spacecraft flies 2.2 AU over the Sun's poles. No other probe travels so far above the orbital plane of the planets. "Ulysses just passed under the Sun's south pole," says Suess, a mission co-Investigator. "Now it will loop back and fly over the north pole in the fall." "This is the most important part of our mission," he says. Ulysses last flew over the Sun's poles in 1994 and 1996, during solar minimum, and the craft made several important discoveries about cosmic rays, the solar wind, and more. "Now we get to see the Sun's poles during the other extreme: Solar Max. Our data will cover a complete solar cycle." http://www.polereversal.com/

2008-09-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

Pole Shift & Pole Reversal in 2012
In 2012 the next polar reversal will take place on earth. This means that the North Pole will be changed into the South Pole. Scientifically this can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions.
In my books I reveal the immense cataclysm that is going to torment the earth in the near future. It is presently assumed by most people and the general scientific world at large, that the rotation of the Earth is stable, however, as expounded in my previous works on this subject, this is not the case. The gruesome reports of the previous catastrophes should, hopefully, be clear to all.
The historical exploration of cosmology in previous books is founded on the translation of hieroglyphs, cracking of codes, unveiling of the magnetic reversal of the sun, study of old maps, decoding of astronomical clues, geological research, and the discovery of the most exciting archaeological find in modern times. Considering these I came to the following conclusions:
1. With clock-like regularity, sudden reversals and pole shifts are natural to the Earth. The result is worldwide destruction, and is supported by paleo-magnetic evidence and early manuscripts. 2. The reversal of the poles is attributed to the harmonic cycle of the magnetic fields of the sun. 3. Polar reversals can be calculated precisely on the basis of the sunspot cycle theory or the magnetic field theory, which the Maya and the Old Egyptians were privy to. These secrets are contained in the Labyrinth of Hawara, a huge complex consisting of three thousand rooms.
I explained abundantly clearly that life after a polar reversal is nothing but horror, pure unimaginable horror. All securities you presently have at hand, like - amongst others - food, transport, and medicines, will have disappeared in one big blow, dissolved into nothingness. As will our complete civilization. It cannot be more horrifying than this; worse than the worst nightmare. More destructive than a nuclear war in which the entire global arsenal of nuclear weapons has been deployed in one blow. Are you grasping the facts?
The earth will be subjected to total destruction. It will be many times worse than my description. Terrible hunger, cold and pain, and more will rule your daily life: without hope of a quick recovery, because all knowledge and resources will have been completely destroyed. That will be the reality of your daily life after the forthcoming polar reversal. And it is in this scenario you will have to try to survive.
The Riddle of the Magnetic Field Solved
At present scientists still do not know much about the mechanism that generates the magnetic field of the earth, which is more than frightening. Without doubt, our continued existence depends upon this. Thousands of years ago our ancestors knew that when this magnetic field tilts, a worldwide destruction takes place. The present geologists, astronomers and physicists know little about this. For that reason we are running towards our end, without a single acknowledgement from official sources.
So, what do our professors indeed know? Next to nothing. In short, the scenario is as follows: a solid central core rotates in the center of the earth. It is surrounded by a liquid iron-like layer, on top of which the earth's crust is continuously drifting. This whole structure therefore appears to be a huge rotating dynamo. In addition, the liquid layer rotates in the electrostatic field of the sun, recharging itself.
However, this is not at all efficient: more electrical potential is lost than gained. Just like a battery that is almost empty, it is difficult to recharge and it becomes exhausted more easily and quickly. This is the situation with the "battery" of the magnetic field of the earth. For this reason one sees the force of the magnetic field diminishing, almost 60% over the last two thousand years.
At this rate there will not be much left within a couple of decades! And then one can expect a reversal of the poles. But nobody knows in what way this will happen, nor what the consequences will be, in contrast to the Maya and the Old Egyptians who knew the terrible consequences only too well. Their science, their religion and way of life were completely based on them. They encoded their knowledge in Holy Numbers and in their architecture.
I needed days, weeks, months and years to follow their carefully applied clues and decode them. After an exasperatingly long search, I found out that these codes were connected with the catastrophic events on earth that were caused by pole shifts. Some of the codes were terribly complicated, although not incomprehensible. Once you have figured out the cipher, you are able to decipher the different levels of their scientific language. Then you can literally peel away layer after layer until you reach the ultimate result: the naked scientific figures regarding the background of these catastrophes.
Unknown Sunspot Cycle Theory Gives the Answer
The answers to these questions are alarming and devastating. All my deciphering points to a complex and ingenious science. Let me explain. When you, as a scientist, stumble upon results that the present astronomers do not know, you have, without doubt, stumbled upon something terribly important. Everybody will have to admit it, and that is exactly what I have done: I discovered an echo of a long-lost technological terminology; a majestic building with immensely sophisticated keys. Many numbers were based on the sunspot cycle, which they had discovered. A theory that is irrefutably correct and not known by our physicists! It cannot be more alarming!
This theory, in turn, correlates with the periodical polar reversals of the earth. I succeeded in cracking the whole puzzle and a large-scale structure appeared. Its development was such that the mathematical matrix ends on the day of the next polar reversal!
Just like the way we count down to the launching of a rocket, they counted down to the End of Times. On the last day of the calendar the magnetic north of the earth will change into the south. They knew this would not only mean the end of their civilization, but also of the whole civilized world!
Solar Lightning Causes the Polar Reversal
From legends and the sunspot cycle theory of the Maya, we can reconstruct the cause of a polar reversal. It has long been known that when a beam of lightning strikes a magnet, a reversal of the magnetic poles takes place. Let's apply this principle on a broader scale.
Our earth is a huge magnet, with its own North and South Poles. A short-circuit with another external "beam of lightning,” or magnet, can end in a catastrophic polar reversal. This means that the magnetic North Pole changes place with the magnetic South Pole. But what sort of external beam can cause this? What force is powerful enough to stop the rotation of the earth and revert it?
Only one object can cause this: our sun. You know from my book, The OrionProphecy that the magnetic field of the sun undergoes a drastic change every 11,500 to 12,000 years. Once a crucial point has been reached, it reverses instantaneously. Chaotic outbursts accompany this phenomenon and an immense cloud of plasma is catapulted into space. Then a shock wave of particles reaches our planet and the polar reversal of our earth commences.
With unknown power this solar lightning strikes our planet and causes a gigantic short circuit. That is the catastrophic truth behind a polar reversal of the earth. But how can we scientifically describe this fact? What is the precise physical cause that produces this polar reversal? Solar Storms Cause the Pole Shift
In the book Earth under Fire I came upon the correct theory. More precisely, in the chapter entitled "Solar Storms and Geomagnetic Flips." The astronomer Paul La Violette writes “Field flips have been accomplished experimentally, by shooting large quantities of loaded particles on a strong bipolar magnet. These particles are then caught in the magnetic fields and cause a "ring-stream" in them. At a certain moment this stream speeds up to such an extent that the field of the magnet reverses completely.”
In an equivalent scenario the field of the earth can reverse in just the same way. Astronomers know that the particles of a solar storm can compress the earth's magnetic field and temporarily speed up the power of the earth's field.
When the solar particles reach our planet, the electromagnetically-loaded particles will move in a spiral along the magnetic lines: from the magnetic north pole to the magnetic south pole and back. While passing this north-south axis, they will move into the direction of the equator. When they arrive there, they will join into a super powerful "ring current."
This "ring current" generates an intense magnetic field that is opposite to the earth's magnetic field. In order to overpower the earth's magnetic field you need a solar flame a hundred times more forceful than the biggest one we have ever seen. At the reversal of the magnetic field of the sun this degree will certainly be reached.
From here on, my point of view deviates from that expressed by Paul La Violette. Not only will the poles reverse, but also the earth will begin to rotate in the opposite direction! This can only occur when the "ring current" pushes the inner core of the earth in the opposite direction.
Everybody knows that when you change the poles of an electric motor, it will start turning the other way. The same holds for the interior of the earth. When an external short circuit takes place, the core cannot do otherwise but start turning in the opposite direction!
Destruction & Renewed Life
This catastrophe will not only result in the massive destruction of life on earth, but also its continued existence, however incomprehensible this may sound. Let me explain this. The magnetic field of the earth is not an accident of natural science. Its primary task is to protect us against cosmic and solar radiation. Without this field, life is practically impossible and in a short time, life on our planet would be extinguished. An all-burning, deadly radioactive radiation would torment the earth's surface.
So here we are talking about an incompatible duality: despite the fact that a huge amount of people, animals and plants will die, life will continue to exist, because the exhausted battery of the earth will be reloaded by the enormous solar storm. During thousands of years the magnetic field of the earth can therefore remain stable, protecting the flora and fauna against the damaging radiation. While doing this job, the inner battery of the earth will run out again and another cycle of destruction followed by creation and mutation will start anew.

2008-09-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Why the North Becomes South
Years ago I started my quest, intending to discover why pole shifts take place. I found answers that put my imaginative powers heavily to the test. But through my persistent search, I found evidences for it, telling of a highly advanced civilization that was exposed to three catastrophes. Each time, the movement of the earth’s axis was severely disrupted and the whole earth was subjected to a gigantic cataclysm.
From this we can state the following: The graph of human evolution does not appear as a straight line. Towards the end it draws steeply upwards, but after every disaster it slips tremendously quickly downwards. Priests and scientists knew this, and intertwined their knowledge with religion in order to make everybody fully aware of it. But with the passage of time, the knowledge was lost. Fourteen thousand years ago the priests knew how to decipher the secrets of polar reversals.
At present nothing is left of it, and there isn’t a single scientist now in possession of this knowledge; a catastrophic downfall in the pre-primeval age. Hopefully as many people as possible will hear my echo before it is too late. Or will they neglect the messages from our distant past?
The following text shows that in antiquity people were notified about the forthcoming end via The Book of Enoch: "Behold, destruction is coming, a great flood and it will destroy all living things." A great many codes hide in this short sentence, and they are relative to the forthcoming destruction. Scientific knowledge having been interwoven with religion. The Magnetic Field of the Earth Compared with that of a Dynamo
Everybody knows that the dynamo of a bicycle creates a magnetic field, and therefore electricity. As long as you keep cycling, the inner magnets keep turning around and electric power is generated. The earth has a somewhat similar, though more complicated, principle. Just like the bicycle dynamo, the magnetic field is generated in the earth’s core, because the liquid upper layer rotates with a different speed in relation to the earth’s core. There, the mechanical energy is transformed into magnetic energy, resulting in a North Pole and a South Pole.
Should you want to change the poles of a dynamo, you would have to change its direction of rotation! Expanding this principle, the earth also has to change its direction when the North Pole becomes the South Pole! So here we find a scientific proof for polar reversals. It correlates completely with the statement of the Old Egyptians on this subject: after every pole reversal the sun rose from the opposite direction. West Became East
Because the earth’s axis turns anti-clockwise, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. These are the plain facts. But, was it always like this? Is this a constant law? When you look at Pluto, you see it rotating from the east to the west, so that the sun rises in the west there. Was this the same situation on earth in earlier days? Shockingly enough, it was!
When you examine the Old Egyptians’ way of encoding, there is no other possible explanation. During their time, the earth underwent sudden drastic changes. Before the previous pole shift our sun rose in the west! From then on in the east, because the direction of rotation changed! When we apply this principle again, the sun will rise in the west after the forthcoming pole reversal!
As our present science knows, our earth cannot continue its undisturbed rotations indefinitely, and will end its task as a chronometer; it first undergoes a deceleration and then an acceleration in the opposite direction. The physical consequences of an abrupt deceleration are phenomenal: continuous earthquakes, cyclones, colossal tidal waves, scalding hot lava streams, et cetera., will wipe away the existing civilization of that time.
Of course it doesn’t stop there. Not only a deceleration takes place, but also a reversal. Instead of turning from west to east, it will start to turn from east to west. It cannot be more frightening, because it will bring along a destruction of immense proportions. Everything that took place beforehand will now happen again.
The magical Papyrus Harris speaks of a colossal catastrophe of fire and water when "the North becomes the South." Plato wrote about this in Politicus: "In certain periods, the universe has its present rotating movement and in other periods it turns in the opposite direction… Of all the changes that take place in the sky, this reversal is the biggest and the most complete."
Read again these words, remember them forever and pass them on to your children. Only in this way will this terrible truth remain in existence. It is the only way to preserve the next civilization from total destruction. Because, without this knowledge, within twelve thousand years it will be thrown back into the Stone Age, just like ours will be very soon now. Scientific Proof for a Reversal
The proof of previous events is found in the earth layers, the rocky crust of our planet. The lithosphere consists of igneous rocks like granite and basalt, topped by sedimentary rocks. The latter are formed on the igneous rocks, which form the original earth crust. One can regularly find places where the igneous rocks cover sedimentary rocks over large areas. Cuvier (1769-1832), the founder of the science of rib-skeletons was deeply impressed by the image they showed of successive earth layers.
He was convinced that the bottom of the sea had repeatedly changed into mainland and vice versa. From his studies he concluded that huge disasters had destroyed life in extensive areas. In Essay on the Theory of Earth he writes: "When the traveler moves through these fertile plains he will not have the slightest notion that nature has also had its inner wars, and that revolutions and catastrophes have tormented the terrestrial surface. But he will change his opinion when he starts digging in the ground that now looks so peaceful."
What he saw were the destructions caused by countless polar reversals. Doesn’t a sudden deceleration and acceleration of the earth mean a complete destruction of civilizations? The end of billions of animal lives? The Orphic Hymns remind this only too well: "When the arch of heaven, the mighty Olympus, tremendously trembled … and the earth was screaming terribly, the sea fumingly rose, tempestuous of purple waves."
For the survivors of the forthcoming catastrophe, the result of the next pole reversal will be more than overwhelming, as if a gigantic cosmic catastrophe could make the universe rotate in the opposite direction. The inhabitants of the earth will experience this in the same way, because all the stars and planets will now rise on a different horizon. Our sun too, the closest star, will experience this almost unbelievable situation: it will now rise in the west and set in the east, and oceans will also rise. Those are the results of a magnetic field out of control. Mountain-High Waves
The Choctaws from Oklahoma tell the following about this: "In the north appeared mountain-high waves, quickly coming closer." The Indians of Oregon tell the following story about Mount Jefferson, three kilometers high: "A huge flood inundated the land. Then the water drew back. A second time a flood inundated the land and drew back. Afraid of a next and even bigger flood, they cut the biggest cedar tree they could find and made the biggest canoe they had ever seen. When the flood came for the third time, they chose the strongest and cleverest man and woman and placed them in the canoe, together with enough food for many days. Then a bigger and deeper flood engulfed all the land and all the people."
A long time ago our ancestors gained scientific insight into the catastrophes that took place with a reversing magnetic field. To top that, they knew how to calculate this beforehand… We would now be building survival arks if wars hadn’t caused the loss of this knowledge. But it turned out to be different. All knowledge about the cataclysm that awaits us has been dissolved in the mist of times.
And when the earth reverses its direction of movement, the seas will again gather into immeasurable tides…and planetary lightning will electrocute huge parts of the earth. Without notice the astonished spectators will start fighting a battle they will lose against this planetary violence of nature adrift, and almost all will perish in a horrible way…

2008-09-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

Cosmic RaysWhat are cosmic rays?
The base structure of all things is the atom. Atoms are full of movement, both internally (electrons orbiting the nucleus) and externally (interacting with other atoms). This movement creates kinetic energy that is measured in electron volts (eV). The atoms of the air we breathe move as fast as cannonballs and generate around 0.03 eV. They bounce into other atoms of air but, like bumper cars at a fairground, they don’t do much harm to each other.
Elsewhere we find atomic particles moving much faster than this, which create more heat and more energy. Electrons within the Sun’s plasma have up to 10,000 eV, and protons in the magnetosphere [*] are higher still, in the range of 10 - 100 million eV. [1] The atomic particles in the magnetosphere move at speeds of 400-800 kilometres per second.
This is all rather calm relative to the greater universe. Bombarding the Earth from light years away are the ions we call cosmic rays. [†] They can move close to the speed of light and can pack a walloping 50 joules of kinetic energy (3 × 1020 eV). That’s the power of a cricket ball moving at 160 km/h, packed into the size of a sub-atomic particle.
Most cosmic rays are the nuclei of atoms (protons), ranging from the lightest to the heaviest elements in the periodic table. The lightest elements are the most common, with hydrogen (89%) and helium (10%) dominating, along with other light elements (lithium, beryllium and boron). A few will be medium elements like carbon or oxygen, with heavier elements becoming less and less common. This is a similar relative abundance to the elements within our solar system. [2] This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Who discovered them?
In 1912 Austrian-American physicist Victor Hess found that his electroscope discharged more rapidly as he ascended in a balloon. He theorised that there must have been radiation entering our atmosphere from outer space, which he dubbed cosmic rays. In 1936 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his discovery.

Where do they come from?
Cosmic rays hit Earth from every direction, but this tells us nothing of the location of their original source. Because they are magnetically charged, any interaction with a magnetic field, even an extremely weak one, will change their path. They are constantly deflected by magnetic fields throughout the galaxy, until any clues to their origin is lost. (However, it is possible to trace cosmic rays in other regions of the galaxy by the electromagnetic radiation they produce). [3]
Within our local planetary system the solar wind creates a magnetic field of its own. This makes it difficult for cosmic rays to make it to Earth - there is a correlation between the peak of the sunspot cycle and fewer cosmic rays reaching Earth. [4]
We don’t know where all the cosmic rays come from. The Sun emits low energy cosmic rays, typically accompanying solar flares. But even if every star in the known universe created cosmic rays in a similar manner, they would only explain a fraction of them.
The majority are believed to come from supernova explosions [‡] , which occur approximately once every 50 years in our Galaxy. They either originate from the explosion itself, or are created by the shock waves interacting with the surrounding interstellar gas. This reasoning is based on the energy requirements for creating cosmic rays, with only supernovas being deemed powerful enough to make them. In both cases the ejected matter expands at supersonic velocities, accelerating nuclei from the material they pass through, transforming them into cosmic rays. [5]
Other sources could be neutron stars, radio galaxies, X-ray binaries (such as Cygnus X-3), active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and black holes.
To measure cosmic rays directly, before they have been slowed down and broken up by the atmosphere, particle detectors can be placed on spacecraft and high altitude balloons. [6] Or they can be detected indirectly on our planet’s surface. When cosmic rays collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, they create secondary particles (pions, electrons, positrons) which shower down to the Earth, spreading out over hundreds of metres. A grid of a hundred or so detectors is used to sample this area. The more particles that are detected, the stronger the cosmic ray. The atomic number of the cosmic ray’s nucleus cannot be discovered using this technique, just statistics of size and frequency. The biggest registered so far, a 50-joule cosmic ray, was at a Utah desert observatory in October 1991. On average one of this size will enter our atmosphere every second.
The world’s biggest cosmic ray observatory is being built in Argentina and will be operational in 2004.
Cosmic rays of this size are labelled "ultra high-energy". To date, scientists have been unable to determine the limits of the cosmic-ray spectrum, simply because they lack a detector large enough. The more powerful the particle, the less common it is, and the larger a detector needs to be to spot it. So even when the galaxy is quiet, there may be much larger cosmic rays hitting Earth and going undetected.
Ultra high-energy cosmic rays are a puzzle for scientists. Astrophysicists have decided that only black holes of a billion solar masses would have the energy to create them. Because interaction with the universal microwave background (remnants of the Big Bang) causes them to lose energy, their source cannot be more than 30 million light-years away. But within our own galaxy there are no known mechanisms to create such powerful particles. [7] An obvious answer comes to mind that most scientists will have difficulty accepting, that something within our galaxy - that has yet to be observed - could create them.
It is understandably hard for us to recreate the conditions of the cosmos here on Earth. The most modern artificial vacuums do not come close to achieving the emptiness of space, which has a density as low as one atom per cubic centimetre. Because ultra high-energy cosmic rays move close to the speed of light, time-scale adds to the problem. If we could observe a cosmic ray for 10,000 years, from the particle’s point of view only one second will have passed [8] . Viewing it for a microsecond in a particle accelerator will not tell us much. The complicated electrical and magnetic fields of outer space add to the difficulties. So, even if we can estimate where cosmic rays come from, we have no idea how they are created. And the time scales are impossible to recreate. Guesses and theories abound. Definitive answers do not.
Is the rate of bombardment constant?
No. This is one reason why carbon dating (http://www.sigmaxi.org/amsci/articles/00articles/taylorcap2.html) (the carbon isotopes they measure are created by cosmic rays) is inaccurate, because it assumes that the rate is a constant, which is a typical gradualist way of looking at things. Evidence from a half-metre long stalagmite that grew between 45 000 and 11 000 years ago in a cave in the Bahamas, shows that the cosmic ray intensity for that period was double what it is today - see here or here for more info.
What happens when they hit earth?
The combined energy of all the cosmic rays approaching Earth is massive. Fortunately the atmosphere and magnetosphere [§] protect us from them as effectively as a slab of concrete four metres thick. Even so, when cosmic rays collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, they release showers of gamma rays, X-rays and subatomic particles. Most of these secondary particles will make it to the Earth’s surface. And the most energetic fragments, although rare, are capable of penetrating miles underground. [9]
Atomic structures mainly consist of space - space between the nucleus and electrons, space between the individual atoms. Because of this, sub-atomic particles can travel a great distance before they collide with anything. Consequently most cosmic rays and secondary particles pass right through houses, trees, rocks, birds and humans. But a few will occasionally crash into atoms within these structures and beings. Don’t be too alarmed; this cosmic radiation is minor compared to the Earth’s natural background radiation, which in total hardly affects any of us at all anyway.
Thousands of rays and fragments pass through our bodies every minute. [10] Outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, where some satellites and astronauts roam, cosmic rays are very dangerous indeed - their sheer frequency means they can ionise electronic circuitry and mutate the genes of astronauts.
How dangerous is flying?
Altitude matters. Whether you are flying in an airplane or living at a high altitude such as Tibet - the amount of cosmic radiation your body must deal with is increased.
During solar radiation storms, passengers on jets flying nearer Earth's poles can get zapped with than the equivalent of 10 chest X-rays
A 1996 paper in the American Journal of Epidemiology examined the incidence of cancer among 2,740 Air Canada pilots. The group had a sharply higher incidence of four specific types of cancer compared to the general population: myeloid leukemia, astrocytoma, prostate cancer, and malignant melanoma. Myeloid leukemia is definitely associated with radiation exposure, and occurred in the Air Canada pilot group four times more frequently than in the general population. A Danish study also found an association between exposure to cosmic radiation and leukemia among aircrew - it was published in Lancet 1999; 354: 2029-31 Astrocytoma (a type of brain cancer) occurred twice as often in the Air Canada pilot group as in the general population, and increased incidence has also been found in other studies of airline pilots.Significantly higher incidences of prostate cancer were found in both the Air Canada study and another study of British Airways pilots. Current thinking is that this might be related to electromagnetic radiation from weather radar and other avionics rather than from cosmic radiation.A study of female airline flight attendants in Finland and Denmark showed an increased incidence of breast cancer, and a study of male U.S. Air Force pilots showed they had significantly more genital and testicular cancer than non-flying USAF officers.
In 2000, the European Union introduced legislation which requires all European airlines to monitor cosmic radiation levels during flight and to inform aircrew of the possible health risks.
NASA says:
"Airline pilots, crew, and passengers definitely are hit by more cosmic radiation than someone on the ground. The radiation is stronger at higher altitudes, and especially over the poles. Individual flights are almost certainly not a problem, since the radiation will never get anywhere near the 2.5 millirem per hour maximum allowable radiation dose (OSHA) even for a 41,000 ft flight right over the poles. But it is possible that pilots and crew accumulate enough to slightly increase their cancer risk. A Finnish study showed a higher breast cancer rate for stewardesses than for non-stewardesses, but there are other environmental factors (air quality for instance) that could affect this.
The weight of shielding required to protect against this radiation would make these flights nearly impossible. So there's not really anything you can do except decide not to fly."
The invisible passenger : radiation risks for people who fly by Robert J. Barish
Time Magazine - JULY 9, 2001, VOL.158 NO.1
"Yet to become a legal issue is the worry over cosmic radiation. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, at 12,000 m air travelers are exposed to as much as 265 times the radiation dose they receive on the ground. Some airlines take pregnant female flight attendants off airborne duties to avoid exposing the fetus to cosmic rays. Passengers who make a transpolar journey, like the new direct Hong Kong-New York routes operated by Continental Airlines, United Airlines and, from September, Cathay Pacific, receive on average the equivalent to three chest X rays. (The rays concentrate around the North Pole's magnetic attraction.) Five round-trips on these flight paths would put the traveler in excess of the recommended annual limit for exposure to radiation, experts say. Already, since the flights commenced in March, Continental and United have rerouted one each, Continental citing passenger health concerns, United radio interference from solar radiation. (United said last week it was canceling its flight from next month for business reasons.) Maria Blettner, head of Germany's Radiation Protection Commission, is finishing a large-scale mortality study on cancer among flight crews, which is examining the medical history of 22,000 pilots and 50,000 flight attendants. Results are due soon, but Germany's Cockpit Association, a professional organization of pilots and engineers, warns the findings will reveal breast-cancer rates among stewardesses may be twice as high, and skin-cancer rates up to 15 times as high as those of the general populace."Should I worry?
Although you can’t feel them, cosmic rays, and/or their secondary particles, pass through you all the time. Mostly they won’t touch the sides. But, occasionally they will connect with one of your atoms, and, if your DNA repair system doesn’t kick in, you might in some way mutate. Standard theories of Darwinian evolution always mention random mutations, but rarely point out the mechanism behind them - cosmic rays are a leading cause.
At current levels, unless you are a pregnant frequent flier, there are many, many other factors in your daily life that do you more harm. But if the level of cosmic ray bombardment increases - as it has done in the past - it might be prudent to investigate ways of shielding yourself from them.Links:
Cosmic Ray Deflector Society (not serious)
Cosmic Ray Intensities at Major Cities Worldwide (bottom of the page)
Online Cosmic Ray Detector
High Altitude Radiation Monitoring Service
Radiation detector and software
Radioactive Products and Household Sources Of Radiation
Dosimeters - for measuring an individual’s exposure
Radiation exposure for aircrew - a big article from AVWeb
Using the Moon as a cosmic ray detector
Downloadable program - allows flight crew to calculate their levels of exposure

2008-09-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

EuropeEngland

Silbury Hill, Wiltshire has been carbon-dated at 2660 years BC, the same era as the Giza pyramids. It contains an estimated 340,000 cubic metres of chalk and earth, rising to a height of 39.6 metres. The base of the monument is 167m in diameter and it is perfectly round. The flat top is 30m across. It is part of a sequence of ancient sites in the area that are in alignment.
Despite its external appearance, this is actually a step pyramid, consisting of six, six metre high steps. The steps are walled with blocks of chalk, which easily deteriorates when left exposed. Consequently the builders preserved it, by covering it with earth and grass.
Excavations have revealed that it is not a burial mound. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Ireland
Near Drogheda, 45 kilometres north of Dublin on the east coast of Ireland, exists a concentration of standing stones, earthworks and passage graves. One of these, Newgrange, is the largest pre-historic structure in Ireland - and one of the oldest in the world. It dates back to 3250 BC.
It appears that we have drifted a long way from what might be defined as a pyramid. This egg-shaped mound of pebbles was once 14 metres in height with a diameter of 76 metres - hardly a massive monument compared to the largest pyramids, but still more than a days work. Like Silbury Hill it has no straight sides, and appears not to point to any cardinal directions, astronomical events or other structures. But if you venture inside, on the right day of the year, something magical happens. Like the Egyptian pyramids, Newgrange contains a passage and chambers. These were constructed using giant slabs of stone, and then buried under a mound of pebbles. At the end of an 18 metre long, one metre wide passage are three chambers. The roof above them, although not required to withstand as much weight, uses the same corbelled design as the pyramids in Egypt (good pic here). At dawn on the midwinter solstice, the suns rays shine through a special window above the passage entrance, down the passage and illuminated the centre of the chambers. Precisely and deliberately.
It isn't so big, yet has much in common with other pyramids, especially those in Egypt. Is it's location of any importance? We'll check on that soon.

Canary Islands
The Canary Islands are a popular solution to the location of Atlantis, based on their location west of the Mediterranean, and their mountainous terrain - they are part of a volcanic archipelago with marine trenches as deep as 3,000 metres and mountains as high as 3,718 meters above sea level.
Archaeological findings suggest that the original inhabitants were Berbers who arrived from north Africa around 200 B.C. However, some early navigators reported the Canarians as being a race of tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed people, perhaps suggesting a northern European (or Atlantean) origin.
The Canary Islands were part of the route Columbus took to the Americas - he stopped in Tenerife for provisions in 1492. Dozens more photos here
The six pyramids in Tenerife are quite small, like training exercises for those in Central America (one could almost suggest that it was Columbus that built them!). They are found near Guimar, a town on the eastern shore of Tenerife Island, about 40 kilometers (24 miles) south of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Long dismissed by locals as mere piles of rubble, Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl turned up and declared that they were indeed pyramids, not unlike those in Tucume, Peru that he had been studying.
Only a small study [i] has been of them to date, with these aspects being ascertained:There are six step pyramids, reaching a maximum height of about 12 metres. They are rubble-filled, with facings of black volcanic stone, and are the result of multiple episodes of construction. The main complex of three pyramids were found to be astronomically orientated with the sunset of the summer solstice. Stairways ascend from a level plaza to the top of each pyramid, where there is a flat summit platform covered with gravel. The stairways are all on the west wall, suggesting a ceremonial purpose, because someone ascending them on the morning of the solstice would be directly facing the rising sun.Greece
There are 16 pyramids in Greece. Ligourion
The Ligourion pyramid is found in northwestern Peloponnese, near the village of Ligourion, at the base of Mount Arachnaeum, not far from the site of ancient Epidaurus. Unfortunately it has almost totally disappeared, with its blocks being a handy source of masonry for the locals. Some of the sandstone blocks were used to construct the walls of a nearby church. Originally, its base measured 14 by 12 metres and using the method of thermoluminescence it has been dated to roughly 2100 B.C. Hellenicon
The Hellenikon pyramid is located near the village of Argolis. The Academy of Athens used thermoluminescence to determine an erection date of approximately 2720 BC, predating the earliest Egyptian pyramid by at least 100 years. Chania Pyramid
This pyramid is located in the south of the Chania area, Crete, at an altitude of 290 m above sea level. It is roughly 8.5 metres high with a circumference of 29 metres. The interior of the cone has a chamber, carved out of the solid rock, of approximately 2.2 by 2.1 by 1.4 metres. Mount Taygetus
There is a big question mark over whether this rock structure is manmade or a natural occurrence. Visitors have described how the texture of the rock surface suddenly becomes smooth, relative to that below, where the pyramid shape begins.
"The ancient Greeks believed that the sun drove in a chariot across the sky; hence the Rhodians, who worshipped the sun as their chief deity, annually dedicated a chariot and four horses to him, and flung them into the sea for his use. Doubtless they thought that after a year's work his old horses and chariot would be worn out. From a like motive, probably, the idolatrous kings of Judah dedicated chariots and horses to the sun, and the Spartans, Persians, and Massagetae sacrificed horses to him. The Spartans performed the sacrifice on the top of Mount Taygetus, the beautiful range behind which they saw the great luminary set every night. It was as natural for the inhabitants of the valley of Sparta to do this as it was for the islanders of Rhodes to throw the chariot and horses into the sea, into which the sun seemed to them to sink at evening. For thus, whether on the mountain or in the sea, the fresh horses stood ready for the weary god where they would be most welcome, at the end of his day's journey." [ii] Italy
A relatively modern pyramid was built by Gaius Cestius in Rome, 1st century BC. Built of concrete and faced with marble, it has an interior tomb vault and is 35 metres high. It was constructed during the "Cleopatra craze" in architecture that swept across Rome at the time.Montevecchia (= Old Mount in English)
Discovered only recently (from the air), in the north of Italy, 40 kn from Milan, are three pyramids, dating back to 3,000BC, and in the same alignment as Giza and Orion. The tallest is 150 metres in height, and beneath the earth are stone buildings, yet to be excavated. Alternatively, they could just be terraced hills, with stone support structures...

More here (in Czech), and here (in Italian), and here or here (in English)OthersAstana, Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s capital city of Astana is adding an iconic structure to its cityscape. World-renowned architect Lord Norman Foster has designed a "Palace of Peace," a glass pyramid with a 62-meter base, at President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s behest. The building, scheduled for completion in the summer of 2006, is designed to serve as a symbol of inter-ethnic harmony in Kazakhstan. Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun
Many experts have stated that it is not man-made. A few experts say it is. Located at the town of Visoko, northwest of Sarajevo, the 213 metre hill, upon which the Old town of Visoki was once sited, is roughly pyramid-shaped. More at Wikipedia, and the "official" site.

2008-09-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Egypt
Egypt is home to the most famous pyramids of all, three well-formed examples located at Giza on the outskirts of Cairo. Just as there are pyramids throughout the world, it should come as no surprise that Egypt has more than just these three. Egyptologists have actually catalogued over 90 major pyramids that were built over the course of 1,000 years (roughly 2600-1550 BC).
All the pyramids can be found close to the west bank (none on the east bank) of the Nile, with the majority found along a 17-kilometre stretch incorporating Abu Ghurob, Saqqara and Dashur. Giza is 11 kilometres further north. Because of their size and relative proximity, when visiting a site it is quite normal to see other pyramids on the horizon.
Although each Egyptian pyramid has individual features, they are far more alike than houses in our modern suburban streets. The shape we know. The heights range from 17 to 146 metres, with the faces at an angle to the base of 42-57 degrees, with a couple of 18 metre pyramids attaining more than 70 degrees.
The largest pyramids were built in quick succession:
"The truly gigantic stone pyramids were built over the course of only three generations: Sneferu, Khufu and Khafre. If Sneferu did indeed build the Meidum pyramid as well as his two stone pyramids at Dashur, his pyramids alone contain more than 3.5 million cu. m (124 million cu ft.) of stone. All the other pyramids of Egyptian kings combined (excluding queens' and other satellite pyramids) contain only 41 per cent of the total mass of the pyramids of Sneferu, his son Khufu and grandson Khafre." [1]
This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
It makes sense, on first impressions, to label these pyramids as gigantic mausoleums for deceased pharaohs. They typically contain secret entrances and passages, some which lead to rooms underneath the pyramid, and some that just come to an abrupt dead-end. The main rooms have stress-relieving chambers above them - to stop the immense weight crushing down and destroying whatever was in the room. These rooms have contained sarcophagi, but never with a body still within, which has prompted alternative researchers to look for other, non-burial purposes for these structures. Some sarcophagi were even found closed and sealed, yet still empty!
Ancient Egyptian texts have mentioned 80 men being required to set the lid on a stone sarcophagus. This is in keeping with the overall immensity of size and weight. The pyramids represent inconceivable size and unbearable weight. To my thinking they represent the scale between the ordinary and the incredible, between a simple burial chamber and a pyramid, between a standard earthquake or hurricane and a global cataclysm.
In close proximity to the major pyramids, there are usually temples and/or satellite pyramids - miniatures commonly known as Queens' pyramids. These can also contain passages and chambers.
The Great Pyramid of Cheops/Khufu
The pharaoh Khufu reigned for 23 years from 2789 to 2767 BC, and it is the accepted orthodox view that he constructed the Great Pyramid as his personal tomb. However, the pharaoh's body was not found within it, nor any treasure, or anything remotely related to a funeral. No mummy has ever been found in a pyramid in Egypt. Mummies have always come from mastabas or tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
Independent researchers have come up with an array of alternative dates for the construction of the Giza pyramids. But if we rule out the endless possibilities of inter-galactic visitors, there are no solid theories as to who else could possibly have made them.

Location
The Great Pyramid is huge. Its base covers 13.6 acres and for its weight estimates vary between 5.75 - 6.5 million tons, based on 2.3 - 2.6 million blocks. [2] Napoleon's surveyors calculated that the three Giza pyramids contained so much stone that they could build a three metres high by one metre thick wall around the perimeter of France with it.
The pyramid is located at 29 degrees, 58 minutes, 51.06 seconds north latitude, and 31 degrees, 9 minutes, and 0.0 seconds east longitude. This is very close to 30 degrees north, and it has been suggested that the Giza Plateau was the best spot to place such an immense weight, whereas other areas would not be able to cope. [3] The line of 30 degrees latitude is only a mile or two the north, so they may have thought it was the best they could do, short of building an unstable pyramid that might not last the required millennia.
Some believe that Giza is a special location that is at the centre of the earth's land mass. If you follow the east/west parallel around the globe, it crosses more land than any other parallel. The same goes for the north/south meridian that intersects with Giza. These two lines also cross in the ocean.

Although there appears to be more land along the Russia / Alaska parallel, if you use a globe this illusion disappears.
Much has been made of the extreme accuracy of the Great Pyramid's alignment to north, with less than 1/15 of one degree of error. [4] However, this might be the least remarkable feature, when you consider the math that has been built into it (see below).
The top of the two giant pyramids are at the same height, although the Great Pyramid is actually larger because its base is lower. A lot of effort was put into creating this effect:
"the base of Khufu's pyramid is level to within just 2.1 cm.in building the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre the ancient masons started on a sloping plateau c. 7-10 m (23-33 ft) higher than the eventual base and in each case left a massif of rock in the body of the pyramid" [5]
It is hard enough to fathom why this design aspect was so important in Giza, without considering that in Teotihuacan, Mexico they did the same thing with their Pyramids of the Sun and Moon.
Another feature which is rarely mentioned is that the four faces of the pyramid are slightly concave, a feature probably unduplicated anywhere else, ever. Some say that this curvature is the same as the earth itself, which would add weight to ideas regarding the pyramid as a model of our planet.

The centre of each side is indented to form an eight-sided pyramid. The effect is not visible from the ground or from a distance but only from the air, and then only under the proper lighting conditions. [6]
Mathematics
The measurement used in the construction of the pyramid is known as the pyramid inch "PI". It is equal to 1.0011 modern inches. Twenty-five pyramid inches made up one "Sacred Cubit".
The perimeter of the pyramid's base divided by twice its height equals "pi" to 5 decimal places:
9131*4 / 5813*2 = 3.141579+
The dimensions used are pyramid inches, but because this is a ratio, any form of measurement will give the same result. In this way it is future proof, in that alien beings could arrive and inspect it thousands of years from now, and still derive pi.
What makes this extraordinary is what is required to make this ratio occur - the slope of the pyramid's sides needs to be precisely 51 degrees, 51 minutes, and 14.3 seconds. Of the 90 major pyramids in Egypt, the Great pyramid of Giza is the only one with this angle.
The perimeter of the base is equal to the calendar year - 365.24 pyramid cubits
Many, many other equations have been discovered, with dozens of books consisting of not much more than pyramid numbers. Some are ridiculous, and most are hard to prove without a single, definitive source of measurements. Many are so complicated that they appear contrived.
By focussing on the few definites - location, size, angle and alignment, we can be certain that someone, long ago, was trying to impress upon us that they knew things. They wanted our attention.
Nubia

Nowadays located in northern Sudan, the ancient kingdom of Nubia had an incredible 180 pyramids. Admittedly, some were only a few metres in height, however a few attained a height of 40 metres or more. Built much later than their Egyptian counterparts, they were created in the last millennium BC through until about 350 AD, and situated along the banks of the Nile. For more information, see Mark Lehner's "The Complete Pyramids".
Ziggurats
You've probably heard of the biblical Tower of Babel. The word "Babel", in its original Akkadian language means "the gate to god". In Mesopotamia attempts to recreate the Tower of Babel were known as ziggurats - man-made mountains with a shrine at the top.
A ziggurat is a pyramidal, stepped temple tower. characteristic of the major cities of Mesopotamia (now in Iraq) from about 2200 until 500 BC. The ziggurat was always built with a core of mud brick and an exterior covered with baked brick. It had no internal chambers and was usually square or rectangular, averaging either 170 feet square or 125 170 feet (40 50 metres) at the base. Approximately 25 ziggurats are known, being equally divided in number among Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.
No ziggurat is preserved to its original height. Ascent was by an exterior triple stairway or by a spiral ramp, but for almost half of the known ziggurats, no means of ascent has been discovered. The sloping sides and terraces were often landscaped with trees and shrubs (hence the Hanging Gardens of Babylon). The best-preserved ziggurat is at Ur. The largest, at Chogha Zanbil in Elam, is 335 feet (102 m) square and 80 feet (24 m) high and stands at less than half its estimated original height. The legendary Tower of Babel has been popularly associated with the ziggurat of the great temple of Marduk in Babylon. [7]

As you can see from the photos, ziggurats do not have the geometric beauty of their cousins the pyramids. Yet, when broken down to components, they are very similar - religious purpose (typically there was a shrine at the summit), gigantic size, stepped and stair cased. They are also very old - the Ur ziggurat dates to the 25th century BC, making it contemporaneous with the Giza pyramids. Therefore I feel that they belong in our studies of pyramids and their purpose.
TurkeyMt Nemrut, Kâhta is a natural mountain (2150m), with a 50 metre artificial peak built on top. It was constructed as a tomb for King Antinochus I during the period 80 B.C-72 B.C. If pyramids are meant to represent mountains, the builders of this one have gone a step further by placing it on top of a real mountain.

Not just an artificial mound, this site features huge (10 metre high) statues.

2008-09-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

North America
As with other continents, the mounds and pyramids of North America vary greatly. It could be that humankind has a primal need to build fake mountains, and that there are absolutely no connections between these sites. Or perhaps size and shape are irrelevant, and location is everything, and the guidelines for their placement was once universally known. Monk's Mound at Cahokia, USA
Just east of St. Louis, near Collinsville, Illinois is the largest earth mound in the western hemisphere. It is 30 metres high and dates back to 1100-1400 AD.
"The largest of these mounds, Monk's Mound covers 16 acres; it rests on a base 1,037 feet long and 790 feet wide, with a total volume of approximately 21,690,000 cubic feet, a base and total volume greater than that of the pyramid of Khufu, the largest in Egypt. In all the world, only the pyramids at Cholula and Teotihuacan in central Mexico surpass the Cahokia pyramid in size and total volume. No other structure in the United States approached the size of the Cahokia pyramid until the building of airplane hangars, the Pentagon, and skyscrapers in the twentieth century." [1]
There are more than one hundred other, smaller mounds at Cahokia - as well as Woodhenge, which is of course a wooden counterpart to England's Stonehenge. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
According to the Cahokia website, around March 1998 something unexpected happened:
"During the process of installing horizontal drains to relieve the internal water in Monks Mound that had contributed to several severe slumping episodes along the west side (Second Terrace), the drilling rig encountered stones about 140 feet in and 40 feet below the surface of the Second Terrace. The operator said it felt like "soft stone," probably limestone or sandstone, and that it was mostly cobbles or slabs at least six inches in diameter. The drill went through about 32 feet of stones and the drill bit broke off. We have no idea what it is, what shape or size it is, or why it is there. It should not be there. No other cores or excavations have revealed stone in Monks Mound or any other mound at the site, or, as far as we know, at other Mississippian mound sites. We do not know its vertical thickness or the extent of it horizontally, other than the 32 feet that the drill went through."Etowah Mounds of Cartersville, Georgia, USA
These were made during the same Mississippian Temple Mound Building Period, as were mounds at Moundville (near Tuscaloosa, Alabama) and at Cahokia - roughly 700 AD to 1400 AD.
The six flat-topped earthen knolls and a plaza were used for rituals by several thousand Native Americans between 1000 and 1500 A.D. The largest mound has a height of 63 feet. Only nine percent of this site has been excavated, but we already know that the mounds have caves underneath them as do some Mayan and Giza pyramids.
It may also just be a coincidence, but there is a Limonite mine at Etowah. Limonite is a iron-bearing ore with a very special use - as radiation shielding for atomic bomb tests, nuclear reactors and space stations. It is also what gives Mars its red colour.Poverty Point, Louisiana, USA
Poverty Point combines mounds with an aspect of ancient Rome - an amphitheatre. Consisting of concentric ridges 5-10 feet high and 150 wide, the construction has a diameter of ¾ of a mile, five times the diameter of the Colosseum in Rome. The ridges were built with 530,000 cubic yards of earth (over 35 times the cubic amount of the Great Pyramid of Giza). Of the earth mounds, one has a base of 700 feet by 800 feet and is 70 feet high. It is shaped like a bird.Miamisburg Mound, Ohio, USA
This mound is conical, like Silbury Hill in England. Archaeologists believe that it was constructed by the Adena Indians (800 BC - 100 AD). The mound sits on a 100 foot high bluff, and measures 877 feet in circumference. Originally it attained a height of 70 feet.See also the Conus Mounds of NE USA - they are not very big, but they are manyIt is hard to determine how many mounds were built in North America, for many have been destroyed by modern civilization - but there were many. One hundred and fifty years ago, for example, there were approximately 20,000 Indian mounds in Wisconsin alone, with a large portion of them alongside the Mississippi River. Now, after a century of plowing, town construction and urban sprawl [2] , there are less than 2,000 mounds remaining in the state.
As anyone who was in the area in 1927 would tell you: the Mississippi floods. In that year over one thousand people drowned, almost a million people were forced from their homes, and over five million acres of farmland were ruined. Regular flooding replenishes the soil in this region and makes it rich. This is the same reason the ancient Egyptians lived alongside the Nile. In fact, the similarities between the Mississippi and the Nile (floods and pyramids) caused the original settlers of Illinois to name new towns after places in Egypt, such as Goshen, Cairo and Thebes.
Floods. Pyramids.
Central America
This region has many, many pyramids. Here I choose to merely describe a handful of them.Palenque, Mexico
There are three stepped pyramids within this ancient Mayan ceremonial centre, located in the Mexican state of Chiapas. The more famous of these is the Pyramid of Inscriptions. Its height of 20 metres consists of eight stepped storeys, not counting the temple on top. Inside the temple, two large vaulted chambers house three glyphic panels which collectively make the second longest known ancient Mayan inscription . Deciphered in the 1970s, the inscriptions revealed that the funerary crypt within the pyramid belonged to Lord Pacal, whose reign ended with his death in 683 AD. The crypt is found via a secret staircase below a slab in the temple floor. Within this crypt was found a five-ton slab of carved rock lying on top of Pacal's sarcophagus. Much has been made of this lid, especially by Erich von Daniken, because of its bizarre imagery - easily taken to be a man in a spaceship. See it here Central American pyramids are closely related to the ziggurats of Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria: they are step pyramids with a central staircase, and a shrine at the top. Size and geometric perfection seem to be less important than religious and mathematical function.
Pyramid of Inscriptions (left)
Ziggurat (below)

Teotihuacan
Near Mexico's current capital, this city of ruins was thought to have been home to 125,000 people in 600 AD. Teotihuacan was founded in 100 BC, and deserted by 750 AD, which sounds tragic yet few civilizations manage to last 850 years.
Founded by who? Archaeologists have been trying to figure this out and have few clues to work with. The civilization was smart enough to create this massive city, but no trace has yet been found of a writing system - there is the occasional pictograph, but no hieroglyphs or words have been found.
Whoever they were, they were succeeded by the Toltecs, and then by the Aztecs. The Aztecs named the place ("Place of the Gods") and its major structures.
From the air, it looks not unlike a computer circuit board, containing two large processor chips, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, and 600 smaller pyramids. Once again, there are parallels with Egypt - the construction of satellite pyramids. The Pyramid of the Sun has sides of 225m, giving it a similar base area to the Great Pyramid of Giza, although it is only half the height. Like the Great Pyramid, it incorporates the mathematical ratio of "pi". The perimeter of the base of the Pyramid of the Sun is 4pi times its height, whereas the Great pyramid of Giza's base perimeter is 2pi times its height.
Another Giza connection: the tops of the Pyramids of the Moon and the Sun are level, because the smaller Pyramid of the Moon is built on an elevated location. The same relationship exists between the two largest pyramids at Giza.
And another. Bottom middle of the red layout below is The Citadel, which many consider to be the base of a pyramid the size of the Pyramid of the Sun, that was never built. Had it been, the three main pyramids would've had a similar Orion layout as Giza.

In 1971 it was discovered that the Pyramid of the Sun was built over a natural cave with four chambers, which had been enlarged from a natural lava tube (the region is very volcanic). The cave was obviously a sacred place for it contained remains of offerings and rituals from a period much earlier than the pyramids.
It is common for ancient sites to have been built in stages, reinforcing the idea that it is the location that is most important. The Pyramid of the Moon went through five distinct phases of building successively larger pyramids on top of previous ones, often partially destroying the previous pyramid in the process. If the unknown civilization had continued for a few hundred years more, perhaps even larger pyramids would have been built on top of the existing ones. Anyone looking for meaning in the angles and lengths of the pyramids should perhaps take into account the prior phases buried beneath the last layer of construction.An interesting fact highlighted by Graham Hancock in Fingerprints of the Gods is that some of the pyramids contain broad, thick layers of mica, which had to be transported over 2000 miles from Brazil.[3] These sheets are ninety feet square and were not visible, but merely another layer in the construction. Perhaps its purpose was radiation shielding? Sheets and rods of mica bonded with glass can tolerate extreme temperatures, radiation, high voltage, and moisture. One of the modern uses of mica is windows for microwave ovens. It is also used in Geiger counters and cosmic ray detectors. (see here ) Chichen Itza
The Pyramid of Kukulkan is 30 metres in height, with sides that measure 55.3 metres. Graham Hancock explains the effects generated by it's positioning in Chapter XXX.
Most of the many other Mayan pyramids are of the same basic shape.South AmericaPeru
Many of Peru's ancient structures have lasted well, but not the pyramids. Most of them have eroded so much they are unrecognisable. Below is a restored adobe pyramid from around 800BC, located in the middle of the high-rise district of San Isidro.
Covering over 540 acres and including 26 major pyramids the Tucume site dates to about 1100 AD. The largest of the adobe brick pyramids, Huaca Larga, is 2300 ft long, 910 ft wide and 65 ft high, although it may have originally been three times this height.
Huaca del Sol, Moche
Is it so surprising that, with so many pyramids, the Americas also had mummies? This one was found within a pyramid at Huaca Huallamarca.

2008-09-17T05:34:00.000-07:00

Floods
The greatest flood to be accepted by orthodox science may be the deluge of 14,000 years ago[†] in the Altai Mountains of southern Siberia.
"It was an event that's very hard to describe- because nothing comparable has ever been seen by people," says Victor Baker, a geologist at the University of Arizona. "It's the largest flood we can document in the fossil record." At its height, he says, the water may have been 1,500 feet deep, racing along the Chuja River valley at 90 miles an hour.
Baker had been working with Alexey Rudoy, a Siberian geologist, who had argued for years that only massive flooding could have formed the oddly rippled terrain and giant bars of gravel found in the Chuja Valley and nearby regions - not glaciers, as was commonly believed.
"Near the end of the last ice age, they say, a glacier crawled out of a valley perpendicular to the Chuja Valley and cut across the latter, effectively damming it and creating a lake nearly 3,000 feet deep that held 200 cubic miles of water. Eventually that ice dam broke the lake either burst through the dam or lifted the entire glacier. Water rushed into the narrow river valley at the rate of 640 million cubic feet per second, in a deluge that probably lasted several days."
The Chuja Valley flood was just the largest of numerous ice-age inundations, says Baker. "Even the English Channel has been attributed by some to late-glacial catastrophic flood erosion," he says, "though it hasn't been proven."[34] This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Meanwhile in North America:The Missoula Floods, 16,000-14,000 years ago (Pleistocene)
Did you know that the largest floods to occur on the planet happened here? During the last ice age, ice sheets covered much of Canada. One lobe of ice grew southward, blocking the Clark Fork Valley in Idaho. This 2,000 foot (600 meters) high ice dam blocked the river, creating a lake that stretched for hundreds of miles. When the lake was full, it contained 600 cubic miles (2,500 cubic kilometers) of water. How much is that? Imagine a block of water a mile high (as high as the mountains around Bonneville Dam), a miles wide, and stretching from Bonneville Dam to San Francisco!
Eventually, water traveled under the ice dam. The water drained out of the lake in two or three days, flooding eastern Washington. The flood, moving up to sixty miles per hour, scoured out hundreds of miles of canyons called coulees, created the largest waterfall to ever exist, and left 300 foot (90 meter) high gravel bars. At Bonneville, the water crested at 650 feet (200 meters). If you look on the cliffs southeast of the dam, you will see a transmission tower (the one with three poles) that is 200 feet (60 meters) above the high water mark.
During a period of 2,500 years as many as 100 of these floods scoured the Gorge.
The source of this information is from a page at a U.S. Government website. It details the (orthodox) geologic history of the Columbia River Gorge. Like the Siberian flood, scientists describe a glacier that blocks a valley and creates a dam. However the trapped water does not freeze, it slowly builds up then bursts through the barrier of ice. This is apparently the only non-catastrophic, gradual situation they can think of!
Prior to the catastrophic floods, albeit 12-40 million years prior, this district was also host to a spectacular amount of volcanic activity. They state that 41,000 cubic miles (170,000 cubic kilometres) of lava spread to cover large parts of Oregon and Washington. This is enough to cover the entire continental USA with at least 12 metres of lava!! Elsewhere[35], sections of lava in the Columbia River area have been estimated to be 3,500 metres thick!!
If we were to disregard the dating of these events, then we have two obvious after-effects of a pole shift, one occurring directly on top of the other.Volcanoes
An event as catastrophic as a pole shift would undoubtedly create an increase in volcanic activity. In fact, I suspect that every volcano along the “line of most movement” would have exploded. Evidence of past lava flows indicate that our current level of volcanic activity is very low, a mere whimper. In my opinion, there has been a gradual decline of activity over the last 10,000 years, as the earth’s crust has settled into its new position, and the volcanoes have slowly died down.
A shift of the crust would require some stretching and contracting due to the equatorial bulge. Any section of the crust that moved into the area of the equator would have to stretch to accommodate the bulge. On the other side of the equator, where section of the crust were moving away, there would be contraction. Distortions of this magnitude would give us the “fire” element so often part of the flood myths – volcanoes.
"In Arizona, New Mexico and southern California there are very fresh looking volcanic formations. The lava flow in the valley of the San Jose River in New Mexico is so fresh that it lends support to Indian traditions of a “river of fire” in this locality."[36]
Ten thousand years ago, volcanoes were active everywhere. Listed here are the active areas of the southern hemisphere:[37]Nigeria
Kenya
Tanzania
Great Rift Valley
Madagascar
Indian Ocean
Burma Malaysia
Indonesia
New Hebrides
Bismarck Sea
New Guinea
New Zealand
Solander Islands Australia:
N Queensland
SE NSW
West Victoria
Tasmania Antarctica:
S. Ant. Peninsula
Ellsworth Land
Marie Byrd Land
The Andes (entire)
Brazil – Mato Grasso
Chile (800 volcanoes)
The northern hemisphere covers pretty much everywhere except Europe.
As we can see, Chile alone had more active volcanoes back then, than the 500 the entire globe has today. Volcanoes are so sensitive that we can assume the majority of them would erupt during a pole shift situation. Our atmosphere would be filled with dust and the sun would effectively disappear from view for a few years. An example of this is the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 – this single volcano lowered the mean earth temperature by about 1ºC for several years[38], and many parts of the world lost an entire growing season. With hundreds of volcanoes erupting at once our planet would be plunged into winter, with the new poles freezing over rapidly.
The amount of dust in the air, and corresponding lack of sunlight caused by a pole shift is unpredictable, but even a layman can guess that it would be many, many times more severe than the explosion of Krakatoa. A number of doomsday researchers have pointed out how the dust would create a tragic, incredibly cold period. However, the severity may well be offset in part by the carbon dioxide that volcanoes produce. While dust will stop the sun’s rays from entering our atmosphere, carbon–dioxide will stop heat from escaping, the much discussed “greenhouse effect”. Carbon dioxide also stimulates plant growth, but only when there is sunlight as well. The climate following a pole shift is very difficult to predict. Prepare for anything.Volcanic Gases. All magmas contain dissolved gases that are released during and between eruptive episodes. These gases are predominately steam, followed in abundance by carbon dioxide, compounds of sulfur and chlorine, and lesser amounts of other gases. While they rarely reach populated areas in lethal concentrations, sulfur dioxide can travel downwind and react with the atmosphere to form acid rain that causes corrosion and a host of other problems. Carbon dioxide is heavier than air and tends to collect in depressions, such as valleys, where it can occur in concentrations lethal enough to cause suffocation of people and animals.[39]
Seashells
In my own travels, during a visit to mountains in New Zealand, I pondered over why there should be seashells high upon them. Yes, New Zealand is a relatively new country – supposedly it slowly rose from the ocean 26 million years ago. But how are these shells, which easily break beneath my shoes, which I could easily turn into sand, still in one piece after 26 millions of years? Have they survived earthquakes and weather for such a terribly long time? Or could the islands of New Zealand have risen only 12,000 years ago?[40]
Graham Hancock found a similar situation at Lake Titicaca, on the border of Peru and Bolivia:
Though now more than two miles above sea level, the area around Lake Titicaca is littered with millions upon millions of fossilized sea shells. This suggests that at some stage the whole of the Altiplano was forced upwards from the sea-bed, perhaps as part of the general terrestrial rising that formed South America as a whole…[41]
This would be in line with orthodox scientists, who believe that this occurred very slowly 100 million years ago. But Hancock points out that many of the fish and crustacea in the lake are of a salt-water variety, as if they hadn’t had time to evolve into fresh water types. Indeed this is the only fresh water location on earth where seahorses live.
The ancient city of Tiahuanaco, is currently 12 miles distant, and 100 feet higher than the lake. Yet, this city has ruined docks, which implies that within the civilised history this area was subject to a major upheaval. It is frightening to think that there are forces that can shift landscapes two miles vertically, and this may have happened 12,000 years ago in South America.
+++++
You may have noticed that we haven’t discussed any internal forces that can make the poles shift – I don’t think there are any. The RB-Effect of James Bowles relies on the pull of the sun and the moon. I believe the required forces must come from farther away.
Extra-terrestrial forces are infinite and mostly unknown. If something out there is capable of tilting the Earth, we are yet to discover it. But there are a few clues. Global cataclysms have occurred previously, and presumably will happen again. Any prediction of when must be based on calculable processes. If the Mayan calendar proves to be prophetic, then this cosmic disturbance must be a regular and predictable occurrence, not a random collision or interaction. If evolution is caused by cosmic rays (see Chapter XX), then they must be a component of the disturbance. And if humanity manages to survive each cataclysm, the disturbance’s effect must fall a little short of total annihilation.
And so ends the chapter on poleshifts. Click here to return to the homepage
Related Links
On the Possibility of Very Rapid Shifts of the Poles, by Flavio Barbiero - Technical

2008-09-17T05:32:00.000-07:00

Some evidence of a recent poleshift
Regardless of what caused the shift, the poles would be relocated and climates everywhere would change dramatically. Lands of ice would melt and cause incredible floods. The new poles would freeze over, with the intense cold instantly killing life. Deserts would gain moisture; rainforests would dry up. Flora and fauna would need to adapt to the new conditions or become extinct.
If all the regions of our planet previously had different climates, and the transition had been violent, then we would expect some evidence to have been found. Here is a brief sample: Frozen Muck
In Alaska thick frozen deposits of soil, boulder, plant and animal exist, commonly known as "muck". Prof. Frank C. Hibben of the University of New Mexico described these deposits:
"In many places, Alaskan muck is packed with animal bones and debris in trainload lots. Bones of mammoths, mastodons, several kind of bison, horses, wolves, bears and lions tell a story of a faunal population. within this frozen mass lie the twisted parts of animals and trees intermingled with lenses of ice and layers of peat and mosses. It looks as though in the midst of some cataclysmic catastrophe of ten thousand years ago the whole Alaskan world of living animals and plants was suddenly frozen in mid-motion like a grim charade.twisted and torn trees are piled in splintered masses . at least four considerable layers of volcanic ash may be traced in these deposits, although they are extremely warped and distorted"[14]
This suggests that although volcanoes were erupting, other forces were required to dismember these animals - with mighty floods and hurricanes being the most likely. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Rancho La Brea tar pits
These pits in the heart of Los Angeles are one of the richest sources of fossils discovered to date. More than 565 species all somehow got stuck in the tar (asphalt to be precise) over tens of thousands of years, fossilising all the time. Well, that's what the experts at the George C. Page Museum would have us believe, but they fail to explain the incredible density of animals that "got stuck" there. During the first University of California excavations in 1906, they found a "bed of bones" which contained over seven hundred sabre-toothed tiger skulls. These combined with wolf skulls averaged twenty per cubic yard.[15] Almost more bones than tar. They are not the bones of animals that merely got stuck and waited to die. They are "broken, mashed, contorted and mixed in a most heterogeneous mass"[16], just like in the muck of Alaska. And we mustn't overlook the fossilised birds that have been dug up, 100,000 of them, including over 138 species, 19 of which are extinct. The George C. Page Museum suggests that the 3,000 birds that are predators and scavengers may have been attempting to feed on other trapped animals, when they themselves got stuck. As sensible as this idea sounds, it fails to explain the presence of the further 97,000 birds that were non-carnivorous. Or three species of fish!
At the end of the last ice age (circa 10,000 BC) many North American species became extinct, including: mammoths, camels, Pre-Columbian horses, ground sloths, peccaries, antelopes, elephants, rhinoceroses, giant armadillos, tapirs, sabre-toothed tigers and giant bison. All of these animals are relatively large. Did they all become trapped in pits of asphalt? Was it the warmer weather that killed them? If so, could they not have shifted north?
Or were they wiped out by a terrible catastrophe?Frozen Mammoths
"Fossil bones are astonishingly abundant in frozen ground of Alaska, but articulated[*] bones are scarce, and complete skeletons, except for rodents that died in their burrows, are almost unknown . the dispersal of the bones is as striking as their abundance and indicates general destruction of soft parts prior to burial."[17]
Meanwhile in Siberia, mammoths were being wiped out in a similar manner. Massive graveyards of their remains have been mined for ivory tusks. It has been estimated that more than half a million tons of mammoth tusks were buried along Siberia's Arctic coastline[18], which equates to roughly five million mammoths. Several dozen frozen mammoth carcasses have been found with the flesh still intact. They died suddenly. In their stomachs can be found undigested vegetation, including grass, bluebells, wild beans and buttercups[19] - food typically available in the summer. Scientists examining them have concluded that three of the mammoths died of asphyxiation. The cause of death of the others has not been determined.
Regardless of cause, they froze within days of dying, and when unfrozen the flesh has been fresh enough to feed to dogs. With the previous pole positioned at Hudson Bay (see below), the North Siberian coastline would have had the same latitude as Japan does today, well outside of the Arctic Circle. But when the poles shifted, the climate would have rapidly changed, from a summer savannah where mammoths munched on buttercups, to a frozen wasteland.
But wait a minute; weren't the woolly mammoths suited to living in a cold climate? They are described as woolly due to their hairy coat, but this is only hair, greaseless hair. To help protect them from the cold, all of today's Arctic mammals have glands that make their hair oily to retain warmth - the mammoths had no such gland. Although thicker, a mammoth's hair is the same as that of elephants, and they live in the tropical regions. Many animals found in equatorial jungles also have thick hair, the tiger being one such example. Anyone still unconvinced could consider this - bones of tigers, rhinoceroses and antelope were found alongside the mammoths, and these are obviously not Arctic creatures. Bone Caves
"The great problem for geological theories to explain is that amazing phenomenon, the mingling of the remains of animals of different species and climates, discovered in exhaustless quantities in the interior parts of the earth so that the exuviae of those genera which no longer exist at all, are found confusedly mixed together in the soils of the most northerly latitudes . . . The bones of those animals which can live only in the torrid zone are buried in the frozen soil of the polar regions."[20]
All around the globe there are caves which are full of bones. Many of these contain the remains of animals that would not have normally existed alongside each other. One such cave, at Oreston, near Plymouth, England contained mammoths, rhinoceroses, bears, lions and reindeer. Kent's cave in nearby Torquay yielded, amongst another things, the bones of sabre-toothed tigers.
A cave near Settle, in West Yorkshire, contains the remains of the hippo, rhino, mammoth, bison, hyena and other animals. They are buried under twelve feet of clay deposits and the cave is 1450 feet above sea level. Charles Lyell speculated that:
"The hippopotami issued from North African rivers, such as the Nile, and swam northward in summer along the coasts of the Mediterranean, or even occasionally visited islands near the shore. Here and there they may have landed to graze or browse, tarrying awhile, and afterwards continuing their course northward.. to the Somme, Thames or Severn, making timely retreat to the south before the snow and ice set in."[21]
Yet, according to his Theory of Uniformity we should be able to observe hippos doing the same thing today! So, what could have caused hippo bones to be found deep inside English caves? They may indeed have lived in England, but hippos are not known to climb mountains by choice. They could have been hiding from the cataclysm, sharing the cave with terrified hyenas and bison. Or their bodies, dismembered by a violent cataclysm, may have washed up there, as part of a concurrent great flood. It is reasonable to say that these two ideas are more sound than hippos going on a summer holiday!
In China, near the village of Choukoutien, among the animals found in caves were a porcupine, tiger, woolly rhinoceros, camel, elephant, baboon, ostrich and a species of tortoise. They are not of the same habitat - the bones have been somehow gathered up and dumped in the caves.[22] What forces of nature could do such a thing?
In Sicilian caves were found hippopotami, hyenas, lions, Megatherium, rabbits, bears and elephants.[23] On Kotelnoi Island, in the Arctic Circle above Siberia, where "neither shrubs, nor trees, nor bushes exist", are found the bones of elephants, buffaloes, horses and rhinoceroses.[24] Similar evidence is available worldwide - proof of destruction at levels we dare not imagine to be possible.Arctic Coral and Water Lilies
Spitsbergen (now known as Svalbard) is an island in the Arctic Ocean, just eleven degrees from the North Pole, to the north of Norway. It was uninhabited until the 1890s when a mining colony was established there. For almost six months of winter there is no sunlight, yet fossilised plants have been found there, including pines, firs, elms, swamp-cypress and water lilies.[25] [26] Regardless of climate change, these cannot grow anywhere without regular sunlight. At some time in the past, Spitsbergen must have been further away from the pole. Further evidence comes from Soviet archaeologists who have discovered prehistoric cave drawings of deer and whales, as well as axes fashioned from mammoth tusks.
Reef corals have been found deep within the Arctic Circle, on the islands of Ellesmere (Canada) and Spitsbergen. Under snow now, they must have originally grown in a tropical region.[27] Coral requires a minimum temperature of 64° Fahrenheit to grow, which means either a tropical location, or somewhere outside the tropics where warm currents bring tropical waters into higher latitudes (Japan, South Africa, and Bermuda for example).[28]
At the opposite pole, Antarctica, Ernest Shackleton found coal beds within 200 miles of the South Pole. The Byrd expedition of 1935 uncovered fossils that were later identified as tree ferns, as well as the footprint of a "mammallike reptile".[29] At both ends of the globe, places which are currently the coldest on earth, we find evidence of warmth equivalent to that of latitudes at least 30 degrees closer to the equator. The Weight of Ice
There is a lot of ice in the polar regions. Antarctica has ice kilometres deep. The weight of this ice, estimated at nineteen quadrillion[30] tons, will surely be compacting the land below, sinking it lower than before the ice existed. If this mass of ice were to have occurred anywhere else on land, a depression would result. Take a look at a map of the world and see if you can spot an area that may have sunk - a circular area, crushed down to sea level or lower. I found two that immediately stood out - Hudson Bay and the Gulf of Mexico.
Hudson Bay in NorthEast Canada is a large inland sea covering 730,380 sq km, yet has a rather shallow average depth of just 130 metres. It was the epicentre of the North American ice sheet during the last Ice Age, which extended as far south as Ohio. North West of Hudson Bay the subsoil is permanently frozen. Halfway between this region and the current North Pole is Greenland, the interior of which is covered in ice all year long. This is to be expected if it was within the previous polar circle as well as the current one - it never had a chance to melt.
Hudson Bay is roughly 30 degrees south of the North Pole, and the Gulf of Mexico a similar distance south again. These spots would fit a model of regular uni-directional shifts. If the shift had a more random nature then other previous polar locations could include a large depression in Africa called the Sudan Basin. It is littered with waterways, which have no apparent connection to each other, nor with the ocean. It contains Lake Chad, which originally covered 300,000 square kilometres, but is now less than one thirtieth of that size and is still shrinking.

The first two locations just noted are diametrically opposite regions of the Southern Ocean, areas where similar depressions in land cannot occur. Opposite Lake Chad is the South West Pacific, again devoid of major land masses.Recent Extinction of Large Quadrupeds
"True extinction (end of a phyletic lineage without phyletic replacement) has occurred throughout the history of life on earth. Among the terrestrial vertebrates, the fossil evidence suggests two striking episodes of extinction: one at the Mesozoic-tertiary transition saw the extinction of the last dinosaurs, the other at the Pleistocene-recent transition saw the sudden dramatic disappearance of large mammals in most but not all parts of the world."[31]
"We live in a zoologically impoverished world from which all the hugest, and fiercest, and strangest forms have recently disappeared . yet it is surely a marvellous fact, and one that has been sufficiently dwelt upon, this sudden dying out of so many large Mammalia, not in one place only but over half the land surface of the globe."[32]
In North America an estimated 40 million animals died at the end of the last ice age (12,000 years ago). Many of the mammals became extinct, especially the larger ones. The Americas were home to a range of very large mammals, such as the Megatherium (5.5 metre ground sloth), Glyptodon (4 metre giant armadillo), mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and horses.
Gradualists, who accept that climate change could not have been the sole cause, are puzzled as to how these extinctions happened. For example, we know that post-Columbian horses thrive today in the same areas where fossils of their extinct cousins are found. The problem is made more difficult when we look at southern Africa, which contains many similar climatic zones, yet lacks the recent extinction of large mammals - large mammals that are obviously less agile than other species, less suited to sudden disasters. The Smilodon (sabre-toothed tiger) for example, while being smaller in size than the African lion, was twice as heavy[33]. Imagine if a concrete apartment building had a variety of animal species as tenants, and, as we often see on television, it was detonated. Which species could possibly survive? Giraffes? Sloths? Humans? Or smaller beings like a rat, ant or cockroach. Or in the case of a flood, which animals are unable to scale steep slopes and escape the rising waters? The poor Megatherium (which weighed 3-4 tons) would not have had a chance.
Megatherium
Glyptodon
INVESTIGATE - not online - Stuart, Anthony. 1986. "Who (or what) killed the giant armadillo?" New Scientist. 17: 29-31.
Grab a globe and find the southern coast of Nigeria. On the opposite side is Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. If the North Pole's previous position was at Hudson Bay, then these two places are roughly the fulcrum points of the last pole shift. Place a finger at each position and see how you can swivel the North Pole to where Hudson Bay is today. This "line of most movement" continues down through the United States and along the west coast of South America, across Antarctica, the Indian Ocean, SouthEast Asia, China and Siberia. All points along this line would have shifted 30 degrees in latitude. The two fulcrum points are the only two spots on the globe that didn't change latitude. The closer to the fulcrum, the less the change. Closer to the "line of most movement" equals more change.
The extinctions of 10,000 years ago mostly occurred along the "line of most movement", along with major geology upheavals, such as the rising of the Andes mountain range. I suggest that during global cataclysms, at locations along the "line of most movement", there is a correlation between the size of animals and their extinction.

2008-09-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Charles Hapgood (1904-1982)
After graduating from Harvard, Charles Hapgood taught history at Keene State College in New Hampshire. In 1949 one of his students asked about Atlantis, and he transformed the query into a research project, questioning the gradualist rules of geology and seeking evidence of a catastrophe large enough to destroy the fabled land. For 10 years, aided by his eager students, Hapgood worked on his theory of earth crust displacement - an update of Hugh Auchincloss Brown's theory that the entire planet has previously capsized. Brown's theory simply stated that as the Antarctic polar ice cap gains weight [9], the planet becomes less stable, eventually becomes unbalanced and topples over. The relative weights are more akin to a speck of dust on an automobile tyre than anything more serious - the Antarctic icecap weighs less than one millionth of the entire planet. Hapgood doubted that an accumulation of ice at the poles was enough to tip the entire planet over. He believed that only the crust shifted.
Crustal displacement, from Hapgood's point of view, is a very violent and sudden shifting of only the "skin" of the planet Earth (the crust's thickness is only 0.005% of the equatorial diameter). This shift causes various disasters, with each disaster triggering another, and so on. Hapgood suggested that each Ice Age would not affect the whole earth at the same time, but only two regions of it - those that shifted into polar regions.
If it were only the skin that shifted, as Hapgood proposed, then the ice cap mechanism becomes more likely. However I do wonder whether this process could be infinitely repeatable, for if the poles ever ended up in oceanic areas, then sufficient ice would never be able to accumulate. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
In 1958 an in depth explanation was published in his book titled Earth's Shifting Crust, with its endorsement by Albert Einstein. Perhaps his ideas were just too radical for, despite the endorsement, and although he managed to avoid the ridicule previously allocated to Velikovsky, academics and the public alike ignored his book.
Undaunted by this lack of acclaim, he continued to work on his theory, with a major update being published in 1970, re-named The Path of the Pole. Helped by recent advances in geology, Hapgood replaced the ice cap mechanism with a trigger coming from within the Earth itself. Although he was unsure precisely what that trigger was, it was most likely something involving gravitational imbalances and centrifugal forces. In the introduction he wrote:
"Polar wandering is based on the idea that the outer shell of the earth shifts about from time to time, moving some continents toward and others away from the poles, changing their climates. Continental drift is based on the idea that the continents move individually... A few writers have suggested that perhaps continental drift causes polar wandering. This book advances the notion that polar wandering is primary and causes the displacement of continents.... This book will present evidence that the last shift of the earth's crust (the lithosphere) took place in recent time, at the close of the last ice age, and that it was the cause of the improvement in climate."[10]
Hapgood suggested three previous locations of the poles. The most recent North Pole is Hudson Bay, which was the epicentre of the North American ice sheet during the last Ice Age. The previous sites were in the Greenland Sea, and the Yukon district of Canada, although his evidence for these is totally dependant on radio-carbon dating.[11] Each shift was approximately 30°. These diagrams show where the previous North Poles were located, with their corresponding equators:YukonGreenland SeaHudson BayPresent Pole
1. Yukon

2. Greenland Sea
3. Hudson Bay
Interestingly, the Amazon jungle has remained at the equator during each of these shifts, which may account for its enormity.
James Bowles
James Bowles is a retired civil engineer who worked for NASA sub-contractors on the Apollo moon program. In his book The Gods, Gemini, and the Great Pyramid, gives us a straightforward, easy to grasp theory on how the crust can shift.
On the day of the pig roast everything was ready. The spit mechanism was in place, the pit had been dug, there were all kinds of charcoal, and all the guests were milling about. All we needed to start the festivities was the pig and a match. So my dear wife, along with Bonny, led us into the bathroom where the pig was laying covered with ice in the bathtub. But one look at the pig and I knew we were in trouble! . I'd figured on a fifty pound pig, because that's what we'd talked about, but this had to be 100 pounds if it was an ounce..
Well now that one and a half inch of galvanized water pipe looked like a tooth pick next to the pig, but it was too late to do anything about it at this point, besides somebody had lit the charcoal.. Half way through the night, the pipe broke, and the pig fell into the fire.. Well to make a long story short, a friend of mine and I went into town and got a bigger pipe from behind the garage and put everything back together again.[11a] The Spit Mechanism

The point is that the pipe didn't just break, it broke from fatigue.
This is torque, forces created by rotation. Bowles calls it Rotational-Bending, or the RB-Effect. If enough tension is happening within our planet, and it is constant, then one day something must give, slip or break. Everything that suffers stress will eventually crack. In our planet's case it would be the semi-plastic attachment of the crust to the asthenosphere. The stress would also create heat, and this could be a simple explanation for volcanoes - an outlet valve for all the heat created by the stresses within the earth. Bowles points out that an easy way to break a piece of wire is to bend it backwards and forwards, over and over, until it snaps. The ends of the broken wire will be quite hot - heat being a by-product of stress.
Bowles uses the analogy of cargo on a ship to further clarify his idea: When cargo is tied securely, it will ride with the ship and not come to any harm. But if the ropes are loose, and the cargo slips and slides, then damage can occur.
The earth's crust is not securely tied; rather it is connected to the core via a series of semi-plastic layers, some of which are seas of molten rock and liquid iron. The waves in the cargo analogy correspond to the gravitational pulls of the moon, sun and (to a much lesser extent) the other planets. Our situation is that we have a crust that is 99.9% securely tied to the planet's core. The sun and moon are constantly tugging away, testing the attachment. Eventually something has to give.

The centrifugal forces try to shift matter towards the equator. This is where the stress is. We talk about a pole shift, but technically it's the entire crust that shifts, around two fulcrum points, due to stresses towards the equator. I came across a science Q&A website run by NASA, and found questions regarding the number of earthquakes in Antarctica. Here are the expert's answers:
Antarctica is unusual in that there are very few earthquakes there. Of all the seven or nine continents, or of all the 7 or 25 plates (depending on how you count), it has the fewest earthquakes, and it has none of the big, damaging kind.There are very few earthquakes in Antarctica. It is one of the questions we are trying to answer out there. There are numbers of plate boundaries and we have always been astonished that we haven't seen more earthquakes. We have wanted to see them, we have tried to record them, but Antarctica is a real puzzle because there are very few earthquakes. There should be many more considering the type of plate boundaries there are, and the type of continental structures there are, but there aren't that many. We are trying to work it out. But now it is still a puzzle.
The polar regions of this globe are unaffected by the forces at work, hence very few earthquakes.
It is a puzzle if the standard continental drift model remains in use. The R-B Effect theory of Bowles declares that the closer to the equator you get, the more earthquakes there are, due to the forces of tension and compression.
When I went to high school, I was shown a trick that fascinated me. Firstly, you wedge a ballpoint pen into your desk somehow. Then you get the spring from inside a broken pen, and you stretch it out. Using this wire like a two person wood saw, you cut through the bottom of the pen's clip, and saw right through to the top of the pen. It has to be done fast. This action cuts the plastic, but friction creates heat and causes the plastic to melt together again, just behind the cutting action. The result is a pen with a surgical scar where the clip joins. I figure this is what happens to the earth when the crust slips - it breaks away, and then cements itself in place again.
In recent times orthodox scientists are re-assessing our planet's internal mechanics, and have finally started to accept pole shifts as a possibility:
July 1996: Scientists at Columbia University in New York confirmed that the earth's inner core was spinning faster than the planet itself, by approximately 1/3 of a second per day, allowing it to lap the Earth's surface approximately once every 400 years. This may help explain Earth's magnetic fields, and why they periodically reverse.
1997: Researchers at the California Institute of Technology reported that an evolutionary big bang, with relative evolutionary rates of more than 20 times normal, coincided with another apparently unique event in earth history; a 90-degree change in the direction of Earth's spin axis relative to the continents.
The poleshift began about 530 million years ago, taking roughly 15 million years to complete. [Throughout this book I ask that you ignore these large time periods, and allow that current dating techniques might, for some reason, be fallible.]
As slow as this sounds, normal continental drift cannot account for movement at such a speed. Dr. Joseph Kirschvink, a geologist and lead author of the study, speculates that it was due to:
"true polar wander" which is caused by "an imbalance in the mass distribution of the planet itself, which the laws of physics force to equalise in comparatively rapid time scales. During this redistribution, the entire solid part of the planet moves together, avoiding the internal shearing effects which impose the speed limit on conventional plate motions." [12]
The study speculates that changing weather patterns broke up ecosystems into smaller, isolated communities, thus promoting rapid evolution.
The study also implies that poleshifts and evolution have occurred in unison, although a different reason for this will be explained in Chapter XX
January 2000: Professor Sagar of Texas A&M University and Anthony Koppers of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography have, while studying underwater volcanoes, found evidence of poles shifting, albeit 84 million years ago. The shift consisted of "rapid latitude changes in various locales", with rapid meaning a relatively rapid period of two million years.
"We calculate that the sites of Washington D.C. and Dakar, Senegal would have shifted south by 15 to 20 degrees".
The article is highly technical but it appears they locate a previous pole at 58.9°N, 337.4°E[13]
How long will it be before a poleshift of 10,000 years ago is validated by scientists?

2008-09-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

But how can the poles shift?
Rather than the Earth being a solid piece of rock, it is divided into distinct layers. We live on the outer surface of the crust, which is broken up into six main continental plates and a few smaller ones. Geologists have differing opinions on what is further below, but for our purposes this simplified model will suffice:

The inner core consists of solid iron and is surrounded by an outer core of liquid iron. The lower mantle is made of molten rock. The upper mantle and crust are solid, but only loosely connected and are able to slip and slide against each other, the least effect of which is continental drift. All layers are capable of independent movement. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Directly below the Earth's crust (or lithosphere) at a depth of 50-150 kilometres is a layer called the asthenosphere. It is constructed of a low-velocity plastic material capable of flow. The crust is split into plates, and the tectonic plate theory says that these plates move individually, slipping over the hot semi-plastic asthenosphere, at a rate of 1-4 cms a year. The action of these plates pushing against each other causes mountain ranges to form, causes earthquakes and stimulates volcanic activity.
Apart from being a permanent constant (orthodox gradualist view), this movement of a miniscule 1-4 cms a year could also be the low point in a fluctuating system, or the crust's momentum finally coming to a halt after a major slippage of 30 degrees, which occurred in recent times - perhaps 12,000 years ago.
There are two ways in which the location of the poles might shift:
1. Poleshift: A sudden and radical displacement of the planet's axis of rotation (the earth tips over).
-or-
2. Poleshift: A slippage of the planet's solid crust over the molten interior - so that the polar locations change.[6]Entire planet tipping over
The layers of the Earth remain stable, and the entire planet tips over as one unit. This could either be caused by unknown extra-terrestrial forces, or the Earth somehow becoming unbalanced. A similar unbalancing event probably happened on Mars. Along its equator is a massive volcano known as Tharsis, which is the largest known gravity anomaly in our solar system. Either this volcano formed on the equator and has remained there ever since, or, more likely, it formed elsewhere and then migrated there due to centrifugal forces. If a point on a spinning globe is much heavier than average, then centrifugal forces will try to shift that point towards the equator
If this happened to Earth then it is hard to say how fast it would shift, or what level of catastrophe would occur. It could feasibly be so slow and uneventful that we wouldn't even notice.
In 1955 Thomas Gold[7] stated that if the earth were a perfect sphere instead of a flattened spheroid, 'the smallest beetle walking over it would be able to change the axis of rotation relative to markings on the sphere by an arbitrarily large angle; the axis of rotation in space would change by a small angle only'.
Fortunately, that cannot happen, because the earth has an equatorial bulge. This gives our planet stability, in the same way that a spinning top, which is wider in the middle, manages to stay upright as long as it keeps spinning.
Made out of solid wood, a top could happily spin forever without any harm coming to it. But if it were hollow, however, and something loose was rattling around inside, then its spinning actions would eventually cause it to wear our - friction and interaction between two objects will always eventually cause fatigue and destruction. The earth, as we saw above, is not a single solid unit - it has layers that scrape against each other.Slippage of the crust
Charles Hapgood proposed that this slippage between the top two layers of the Earth allows for the continental plates to move as a single unit, rapidly over great distances - just as the skin of an orange, if separated from the fruit's inner part, can move as one piece. The core remains where it is, and the axis and orbit of the planet remain unchanged. Orthodox science, fixating on the idea of gradualism, has chosen to ignore this idea. They have yet to disprove it.
The crust's movement over the asthenosphere would create mayhem. If the current level of volcanic and earthquake activity is caused by plates shifting 1-4 cms a year, then imagine what would happen if they shifted thousands of kilometres in less time!
In 1955, just prior to his death, Albert Einstein wrote this foreword to a book on pole shifts:
I frequently receive communications from people who wish to consult me concerning their unpublished ideas. It goes without saying that these ideas are very seldom possessed of scientific validity. The very first communication, however, that I received from Mr. Hapgood electrified me. His idea is original, of great simplicity, and - if it continues to prove itself - of great importance to everything that is related to the history of the earth's surface.. The author has not confined himself to a simple presentation of the idea. He has also set forth, cautiously and comprehensively, the extraordinarily rich material that supports his displacement theory. I think that this rather astonishing, even fascinating, idea deserves the serious attention of anyone who concerns himself with the theory of the earth's development."[8]

2008-09-17T05:26:00.000-07:00

Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1979)

Velikovsky was born in Vitebsk, Russia. As a child he learned several languages, and excelled in mathematics. In 1913 he travelled to Europe, visiting Palestine, briefly studying medicine at Montpelier, France, and taking premedical courses at the University of Edinburgh.

Just before the outbreak of World War I, Velikovsky returned to his homeland and enrolled in the University of Moscow, where he received a medical degree in 1921. From there he went to Berlin, where he married a young violinist and became the general editor of the journal, Scripta Universitatis. During this time he became acquainted with Albert Einstein, who edited the journal's mathematical-physical section. Velikovsky shifted to Palestine in 1924 and practiced psychoanalysis for the next 15 years. Some of his writings appeared in Freud's Imago. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

In 1940, Velikovsky studied a number of natural disasters that occur in the Bible, such as the parting of the Red Sea and the eruption of Mt. Sinai. When he compared these biblical passages to similar entries in some obscure Egyptian texts, he became convinced they were describing the same catastrophes, and went about reconstructing ancient Middle Eastern time-lines to make both sides fit.

After studying other historical records, he became convinced that many catastrophes were linked to a single global cataclysm, and that Venus was involved. In 1939 he shifted to the United States and for the next ten years he researched these topics, the result being two separate books: Ages in Chaos - a historical reconstruction covering the years 1450 BC to 840 B.C, and Worlds in Collision.

In 1950 Macmillan published Worlds in Collision. It described how 3,500 years ago Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet - then started a wayward path through the solar system. Its gravitational field moved other planets out of their orbits or affected their rotation - including Earth's. Macmillan, who publish many textbooks, came under fire from scientists and academics who considered Velikovsky's ideas to be unacceptable - ideas at odds with uniformitarianism. The book was consequently banned from many academic institutions. Although it was at the top of the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list, Macmillan gave in and transferred the book to Doubleday. In 1952 Doubleday pub1ished Velikovsky's Ages in Chaos.

As an answer to his critics, Velikovsky's third book, Earth in Upheaval (1955), presented raw data that would validate any global cataclysm theory:

"I have excluded from [these pages] all references to ancient literature, traditions, and folklore; and this I have done with intent, so that careless critics cannot decry the entire work as "tales and legends". Stones and bones are the only witness."[4]

It was fully referenced and designed to gain the support of orthodox science - however academia had already determined that anything he ever wrote would automatically be unacceptable.

Meanwhile Velikovsky had been maintaining contact with Einstein - he would send him letters and manuscripts and Einstein would return them, usually with comments written in the margins. With regards to Earth in Upheaval, Einstein accepted all the evidence of sudden violence upon the Earth, but he rejected Venus as being the cause. Nine days after their final meeting Einstein died, and a copy of Worlds in Collision was found open on his desk. He was rereading it because latest discoveries concerning Jupiter had confirmed one of Velikovsky's predictions.

It is currently accepted that a comet wiped out the dinosaurs, yet in the 1950s, when Velikovsky suggested similar ideas, he was rejected. In fact many of his radical ideas that orthodox science originally laughed at, due to their lack of scientific foundation, have become proven facts:

· Jupiter periodically becomes unstable and ejects excess mass.

· Jupiter emits non-thermal radio noise.

· Comets can be rich in hydrocarbons, with highly energetic electrical tails.

· The Moon has had recent surface melting, seismic and volcanic activity, none of which should be true for a body that had supposedly been dead for 4.5 billion years.
Velikovsky deduced each of these facts many years before mainstream science found ways to prove them. He also stated that after its close encounters with Earth, Mars and the Sun, Venus would have a much higher than expected temperature, would be enveloped in hydrocarbon clouds (remnants of its comet's tail), and would have an anomalous rotation. The scientists' predictions - a similar temperature to Earth, an atmosphere of carbon dioxide or water and standard rotation - have all since been shown to be wrong. Venus has a surface temperature of 750 degrees Kelvin - hot enough to melt lead. Its atmosphere is full of hydrocarbons and its rotation is in an opposite direction to all the other planets.

With hindsight, academia should be re-examining his work, for more of his startling ideas could also be correct. Here is Velikovsky's hypothesis on what may have previously happened to our planet:

".that under the impact of a force or the influence of an agent - and the earth does not travel in an empty universe - the axis of the earth shifted or tilted. At that moment an earthquake would make the globe shudder. Air and water would continue to move through inertia; hurricanes would sweep the earth and the seas would rush over continents, carrying gravel and sand and marine animals, and casting them on the land. Heat would be developed, rocks would melt, volcanoes would erupt, and lava would flow from fissures in the ruptured ground and cover vast areas. Mountains would spring up from the plains and would travel and climb on the shoulders of other mountains, causing faults and rifts. Lakes would be tilted and emptied, rivers would change their beds; large land areas with all their inhabitants would slip under the sea. Forests would burn, and the hurricanes and wild seas would wrest them from the ground on which they grew and pile them, branch and root, in huge heaps."

"Water evaporated from the oceans would rise in clouds and fall again in torrential rains and snowfalls. Clouds of dust, ejected by numerous volcanoes and swept by hurricanes from the ground.all this dust would keep the rays of the sun from penetrating to the earth."[5]

Perhaps the extra-terrestrial agent was a force such as an electromagnetic field? The Earth is a giant magnet, and the fields would act upon each other. Duration would not be a factor - if the strength of this field were strong enough to tip the earth over, it would happen instantly, triggering the effects Velikovsky listed above.

2008-09-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

Poleshifts
Quote #1
These repeated irruptions and retreats of the sea have neither been slow nor gradual; most of the catastrophes which have occasioned them have been sudden; and this is easily proved, especially with regard to the last of them, the traces of which are the most conspicuous. In the northern regions it has left the carcasses of some large quadrupeds which the ice has arrested, and which are preserved even to the present day with their skin, their hair, and their flesh. If they had not been frozen as soon as killed they must quickly have been decomposed by putrefaction. But this eternal frost could not have taken possession of the regions which these animals inhabited except by the same cause that destroyed them; this cause, therefore, must have been as sudden as its effect. The breaking to pieces and overturnings of the strata, which happened in former catastrophes, shew [sic] plainly enough that they were sudden and violent like the last; and the heaps of debris and rounded pebbles which are found in various places among the solid strata, demonstrate the vast force of the motions excited in the mass of waters by these overturnings. Life, therefore, has been often disturbed on this earth by terrible events - calamities which, at their commencement, have perhaps moved and overturned to a great depth the entire outside crust of the globe, but which, since these first commotions, have uniformly acted at a less depth and less generally.
Georges Cuvier (1769-1832), "Revolutions and Catastrophes in the History of the Earth"[1]
Quote #2
"The fact of the bones occurring in great caches or deposits in which various species are mixed pell-mell is very important, and it is a fact undenied by geologists that whenever we find such a locality in which animals have suffered together in a violent and instantaneous destruction, the bones are invariably mixed and, as it were, 'deposited' in a manner which could hardly be explained otherwise than by postulating the action of great tidal waves carrying fishes and all before them, depositing them far inland with no respect to order."
Howorth, Sir Henry, The Mammoth and the Flood: Uniformity and Geology, London, 1887, p.180. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Opposing Views
Not everyone aggress on the processes at work upon our planet. The new theory of uniformitarianism currently prevails, but the ancient concept of catastrophism is still alive and kicking.Uniformitarianism/Gradualism: A theory that says the natural processes that change the Earth in the present have operated in the past at the same gradual rate, and that geological formations and structures can be interpreted by observing present-day actions.
Catastrophism: A theory that says the geological features of the Earth were formed by a series of sudden, violent catastrophes rather than a gradual evolutionary process.
Since the 1830s conventional geological theory has revolved around the concept of uniformitarianism (or gradualism) - that the processes of the Earth have always been the same as we can observe today. The originator of these ideas was Scottish geologist James Hutton (1726-1797), although it took the efforts of Charles Lyell (1797-1875) and his Principles of Geology (1830) to enable the theory to become widespread. This new gradualist viewpoint, involving time-spans of millions of years, gave rise to the modern ideas of continental drift, the ice ages and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Gradualism is obvious with any visit to a beach or canyon - the actions of nature changing the face of the planet. Waves gently move grains of sand about, and rivers slowly but surely carve great gashes into the earth. Although gradualism is forced to permit small-scale catastrophes such as volcanoes and hurricanes that we can easily witness, larger activities such as continental drift, the formation of mountains, and ice ages are judged to be non-catastrophic, and must happen gradually over many millions of years. The strength of the uniformitarian convictions can be seen in the words of James Hutton:
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Not only are no powers to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted of except those of which we know the principle, and no extraordinary events to be alleged in order to explain a common appearance, the powers of nature are not to be employed in order to destroy the very object of those powers; . Chaos and confusion are not to be introduced into the order of nature, because certain things appear to our partial views as being in some disorder. Nor are we to proceed in feigning causes when those seem insufficient which occur in our experience.[2]
In my opinion, this is as preposterous as a child who closes his eyes, and declares that what he cannot see, cannot exist!
Popular for the millennia prior to the 1830s, is the more obvious idea of catastrophism. Unfortunately it has been discounted by modern scientific techniques, which require processes to be recreated in a laboratory, or at least viewed in nature within a recent timeframe. The art of making educated guesses based on the physical remnants of ancient disasters is no longer acceptable.
Even Charles Darwin, a staunch uniformitarian, upon his visit to South America, noted how global catastrophes appear to have occurred previously..
"The greater number, if not all, of these extinct quadrupeds lived at a late period, and were contemporaries of most of the existing sea-shells. Since they lived, no very great change in the form of the land can have taken place. What then, has exterminated so many species and whole genera? The mind at first is irresistibly hurried into the belief of some great catastrophe; but thus to destroy animals, both large and small, in Southern Patagonia, in Brazil, on the Cordillera of Peru, in North America up to Behring's Straits, we must shake the entire framework of the globe."[3]
Note to self - add quotes from each side & my idea that both can co-exist???
In the 1800s, when scientists changed allegiance from the old theory to the new, an important consideration was neglected - that extraterrestrial agencies could affect changes upon the Earth. Interaction between our planet and the heavens was unheard of. A classic example comes from one of the early American presidents, Thomas Jefferson, in 1807. When told that two Yale scientists were claiming that meteorites had recently struck the ground at Weston, Connecticut, he replied:
"It is easier to believe that two Yankee Professors would lie, than that stones would fall from heaven."
Similarly, the meteor crater of Arizona, with a width of 1.2 kilometers, was only determined to be created by a meteor in the last century. In the 1800s, it was considered to be a volcanic remnant. It is apparent that the new theory of gradualism was formed without consideration of extraterrestrial agencies, and may never have developed at all if meteors and supernovas had been taken into consideration.
The hypothesis of Luis Alvarez and colleagues, that a large asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, has recently been accepted by academia. This is obviously catastrophism, yet it survives the tests of uniformitarianism due to two facets: it is a brand new idea (untainted by previous arguments), and we can observe asteroids on a regular basis.
Old ideas, previously rejected, are very rarely, if ever, successfully brought back to life. Yet in recent times the Catastrophists have staged a comeback, due in part to the works of Immanuel Velikovsky, author of three controversial science books in the 1950s.

2008-09-17T05:22:00.000-07:00

Other geoglyphs
South America
The lines at Nazca aren't the only landscape figures this region boasts. 850 miles south of Nazca is perhaps the world's largest human figure, etched into the side of Solitary Mountain. The Giant of Atacama at Cerro Unitas is an incredible 393 feet high and is surrounded by lines similar to those at Nazca. In fact there is a copy of this image at Nazca, although the only place I have seen it mentioned is in Erich von Daniken's "Arrival of the Gods".
This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Below are drawings of llamas, with large images of birds, lizards, fish, crosses, humans and patterns also appearing in the Atacama desert of northern Chile.

Just 130 miles from Nazca, dug into a sloping hill at Pisco Bay on the Peruvian coast, this drawing looks very much like a candlestick - which gives it the name of "The Candelabra of the Andes". There has been much speculation about the purpose of the 595 foot high candelabra, but no definitive answer. It is constructed in a different manner to the Nazca lines, using trenches up to one metre in depth, and is best viewed from out at sea - it can be seen from as far away as 12 miles. Pottery found near the figure has been carbon dated to 200 BC.

Other, less mysterious lines and figures have been found within Peru - between the Fortaleza, Pativilca and Rimac valleys, in the Viru Valley (on the north coast), the Sierra Pintada (the painted mountains) and in the Zana Valley, over 1,000 km to the north of Nazca.*
And these at Santa Valley: Detail of Santa Valley, Peru. The scale represents 10 meters. Ignore the vertical double line - it is not a geoglyph but rather the azimuth heading of 280-degrees.
Using Google Maps, David Flynn has discovered the "Geoglyphs of Teohuanaco". Visit his article for many photos of this vast area of man-made patterns, like these:

USA
Along the Colorado river between southern Nevada and the Gulf of California are more than 200 huge figures. The first to be discovered was the giant near Blythe, California by a pilot in 1923.
Found just north of Quartzite, Arizona, is the Bouse Fisherman:

You might also want to check out a star burst at China Lake, California, and the giant of Paradise Valley in Southwestern Montana that is around 1,287 ft. long with an arm span of about 330 ft! England
The English geoglyphs are mostly chalk figures, which require constant maintenance to stop them disappearing back beneath grass and soil. This lack of durability means that many others are bound to have disappeared centuries ago.
The Uffington White Horse and the Long man of Wilmington, are famous. Visit the Hillfigure Homepage for 41 other British figures. Modern
Humans are still busy making geoglyphs, perhaps with more ease than earlier examples. Australia has a few modern geoglyphs, such as the Marree Man, constructed in 1998, and 4 kms tall - and a Giant Wallaby. You can also check out another recent one at Munich Airport.
That's the end of the information on the Nazca Lines. Click here to return to the homepage

2008-09-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Belt of Orion?
The lines appear random unless they are viewed from a great height. Only then does it become obvious that many of the lines originate from common points. In fact, there is only one line that doesn't. The others radiate out from common points, as if stars were being drawn.
Is it possible that the "radiating centres" are a map of the stars? When Aveni's plan of the ray centres is held next to a sky chart, the similarity is uncanny. The connection is made stronger if we let the Nazca River Valley represent the Milky Way, just as the ancient Egyptians did with the Nile. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Alongside the Nile, the Giza pyramids have been shown to have the same pattern as the Belt of Orion. Three of the Nazcan "stars" are more prominent than the others, and they almost form a straight line of their own, although the third is slightly astray. Their relationship appears to be the same as the Giza pyramids, imitating the belt of Orion. Could this be true? If it were, then perhaps they are part of a global pattern of coded messages, warning us of another flood will come sometime in the future.
Images sourced from:The Orion MysteryMaps of the Ancient Sea KingsThe World Atlas of Mysteries

Or then again, perhaps the Nazca Lines are a terrestrial map. The image on the left shows the portolan design lines extracted from the Piri Reis map. Does it make sense, that if the Piri Reis map is the most accurate ancient map found to date, that another ancient map (which happens to be huge and drawn on the ground) would have similar lines upon it?
Hopefully somebody will have the time and patience to compare the Nazca map with every location on Earth and perhaps find that it fits somewhere...
**The Piri Reis map also features some strange animals!
Other instances of this pattern could have come from a common ancient knowledge, like:
Pyramids of Teotihuacan
Furthering the link with Giza is the city of Cahuachi, just south of the lines. Today it is almost indistinguishable from the desert surrounding it, yet it covers 370 acres and contains plazas, terraces and some 40 structures. There are six pyramids - the largest of which is 30 metres high.[16] [17] [18] It appears that Cahuachi was a ceremonial centre, with few people actually living there. Puzzling mortuary practices occurred at Cahuachi. Ninety percent of the skulls found have the distinctive cabeza larga (long head) type of deformation.[19]
This was achieved by wrapping the heads of newborn babies with leather or wood, causing their skulls to grow into extraordinary shapes. Many of the dismembered skulls have also had round holes cut into their foreheads, a practice known as trepanning.[20]
Further clues of an advanced society can be found nearby. The Nazca Indians may have been living in a barren area, but they managed to cope quite well. They created a system of underground channels to bring them water from kilometres away, and some of their hydraulic schemes are still in working order.
As time passes by, more and more Nazcan mysteries are being brought to light, with few (if any) being solved. Catastrophic Links
As noted above, the Nazca site has many connections to a cyclical global catastrophe. The site is designed to last a long timeThe site is coded with symbolsGigantic dimensions have been usedThe reoccurrence of serpents and pyramidsA "star map" depicting the Belt of Orion, and the Milky Way
Even the name Nazca is a possible clue. The town has had this title since the Spanish Conquest, and presumably from when the lines and figures were created. It is quite likely that this name was sourced from the Quechuan word nanay, which means "pain".[21] If the drawings upon the desert were intended to tell of a great tragedy, then the name for this place is wholly appropriate. The images are rather simplistic, and showing agony or fear on their faces would have required an extra dimension of skill. A quick and easy way of bypassing this problem was to name the lines "pain", and let us make the connection for ourselves.
The site is an appropriate one for describing a cataclysm, more so than just the irony of the area's dryness. In 1983 the El Nino phenomenon caused a lot of rain to fall in Peru. Some towns experienced rain every day for several months, whereas normally they would only receive a tenth of an inch annually. Landslides wrecked homes and took out sections of the Pan American highway. Bridges were washed out and crops ruined. In 1925 the floods reached depths of ten feet. Careful examination of Peruvian river valleys has determined that a flood in 1100 AD was at least 50 feet deep![22] In an area which usually gets less than half an inch of rain in a year!
Peru is also a land of severe earthquakes. In 1970, one such quake took the lives of 70,000 Peruvians, including an entire town that disappeared under a mudslide. These are the types of disaster that occurred 10,000 years ago, floods and earthquakes, which makes Peru a perfect location for memorials and reminders of what happened. This is why the geoglyphs of the Nazca Plain exist - they are telling a story

2008-09-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

Who created the lines?
The Nazca Indians are thought to have existed here between 200 AD and 600 AD, making them the most likely constructors in the eyes of orthodox archaeology. There is little doubt that the Nazca Indians were at least contemporaneous to the lines. Much of their pottery used similar styles and motifs, and carbon dating associated with the lines appears to confirm this:
· The desert heat causes mushrooms and lichens to grow under the stones. The organic matter on nine of these stones, presumably up-turned to make the lines, have been carbon-dated to between 190 BC and 600 AD.
· A wooden stake at the end of a line was dated to roughly 525 AD.[3]
Lacking any evidence to suggest prior cultures living there, it is a reasonable hypothesis that gives these lines an uppermost age of just two thousand years. But there still remains a possibility that others may have stopped there briefly to construct the lines, then disappeared without leaving any clues to who they were. Because of the impossibility of dating the lines themselves, it is possible that they could be even ten thousand years old! This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
But how could markings etched upon the desert this long ago remain virtually intact -undisturbed by the forces of weather and time? Well, this is a desert of stones, and the stones absorb heat. The resulting cushion of warm air helps protect the surface from the effects of wind. And it only drizzles rain here for an average of twenty minutes each year, with most years being completely dry, so there is zero erosion. If there ever was some gradual deterioration of the lines, they may have been restored from time to time. Humans have a habit of repairing sites, especially if they have a ritual importance, such as the chalk figures in the English countryside.How were the lines created?
· The Spider, (46 metres long)
· The Killer Whale, (65m)
· The Monkey, (55m)
· The Lizard, (180m)
· The Guano Bird, (280m)
· The Hummingbird, (50m)
· The Pelican - an incredible 285 metres long
There are a total of 70 creatures on the Nazca Plain, as well as drawings of flowers and plants, deformed creatures and inanimate objects. Is it possible that there were once 72? If so, this would create a mathematical connection to sites such as Angkor Wat which also use this number. It is normal for the figures to be asymmetrical. Where they have fingers, the numbers will vary from limb to limb. An example this is the drawing of a weird being with two enormous hands, one normal and the other with only four fingers. The monkey has three toes, with four fingers on one hand and five on the other. The dog has either an extra leg or an extra tail. The spider has one leg that is far longer than the other seven.[4]

There are also a few anthropomorthic figures situated on the slopes, the most famous being the 32 metre Astronaut (below left) and E.T, discovered by Eduardo Herran in 1982. Others include The Man with the Hat (below right) and the Executioner. These are the most primitive figures at Nazca, and probably belong to a different time and purpose.
Maria Reiche thought that the Nazca artists prepared preliminary drawings on small six-foot-square plots, some of which are still visible near some of the larger figures. The drawings were then subdivided into small sections, to be transposed onto the desert on a larger scale. Lines could easily have been formed by stretching a rope between two posts. A rope radiating from a central point could be used to create arcs and circles. In fact, the remains of posts have been discovered[5], as well as holes in the centre of circles. But their skilled use of relative positioning puzzled Maria. In her book she wrote, "Ancient Peruvians must have had instruments and equipment which we ignore and which together with ancient knowledge were buried and hidden from they eyes of the conquerors as the one treasure which was not to be surrendered." [6]
Maybe it wasn't so difficult after all? In 1981, volunteers from the Earthwatch organization had a go at it. Evan Hadingham, author of Lines of the Mountain Gods, participated and described the process:
"We selected a remote corner of the Nazca Valley for our experiment, far from any genuine ancient markings. Though the surface here was rougher than that of most parts of the pampa I had seen, consisting of coarse volcanic stones, it was easy to create the color contrast required for our line. All we had to do was peel away the crust of dark brown surface rocks to reveal the dusty yellow-white clay immediately beneath.
Our reconstruction began with a simple surveying procedure: we lined up two tall poles to coincide with a cleft in the distant horizon and then stretched the string between them. This formed one border of our line. To set out the other border, we measured off another pair of poles side by side with the first.
Within the avenue of string thus created, we spread ourselves out at arm's length, one behind the other. The idea was that each volunteer would squat on the ground and gather up all the stones within arm's reach into a single pile. This seemed an efficient way to collaborate on removing the surface. Moreover, it reproduced the small, regularly spaced stone heaps still visible inside many (presumably unfinished) cleared figures.
The final phase was to get rid of the piles by spreading the stones out along the borders of the line. At this stage it was useful to have "Chief Priest Aveni" standing by to point out where the edges of the line still appeared ragged or crooked. Eventually the strings were removed, and the result looked remarkably like the perfectly straight avenues we were emulating."[7]
They went on to add a smooth spiral to the end of the line, and Hadingham wondered whether the skills required by the Nazcans were so amazing after all?
To take it one stage further, in 1982 Joe Nickell of Kentucky, USA, and some family members, successfully recreated the 440-foot-long condor in a field near their home. They took nine hours to plot and stake 165 points and connect them with twine. The resulting image (they used white lime to mark it) was an exact replica.
"The method we chose was quite simple: We would establish a center line and locate points on the drawing by plotting their coordinates. That is, on the small drawing we would measure along the center line from one end (the bird's beak) to a point on the line directly opposite the point to be plotted (say a wing tip). Then we would measure the distance from the center line to the desired point. A given number of units on the small drawing would require the same number of units--larger units--on the large drawing.
For this larger unit we used one gleaned by Maria Reiche from her study of the Nazca drawings and approximately equivalent to 12.68 inches. For measuring on the ground, we prepared ropes marked off with paint into these Nazca "feet," with a knot tied at each ten-"foot" interval for a total length of 100 units. To aid in accuracy in plotting on the ground, we decided to employ a "T" made of two slender strips of wood. With this we could ensure that each measurement made from the center line would be at approximate right-angles to the line."[8]

2008-09-17T05:15:00.000-07:00

Who were they created for?
Although some of the lines can be discerned from nearby hills, the majority can only be seen from the air, with some of them only visible from specific angles. Erich Von Däniken, who presumably did not consider any other possibilities, suggested that the figures were signals for spaceships, which would then land on the plain using the lines as runways. Taking time to discredit this theory (whereas most academics just laughed) Maria Reiche pointed out that the underlying ground is rather soft and the poor spacemen would have got stuck![9]
But why else would the etchings have been made so large, or even made at all? This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
When studied under a microscope, some fabric from robbed Nazca tombs was found to be more finely woven than modern day parachute material. This gave an idea to a group from the International Explorers Society, who decided to construct a balloon made only from local vegetable fibres and reeds. The hot air was sourced from a simple fire pit. This “Condor I” was launched in November 1975 and took two balloonists to a height of 180 metres before a gust of wind returned them to the ground. After they jumped out, Condor I escaped and took off across the desert, rising to 350 metres, proving that it would have indeed been possible for the Nazca Indians to see the lines from above.[10] Jim Woodman (one of the balloonists) thought that the Nazca Indians could have used similar hot-air balloons for “ceremonial flights”.[11]
( More details on the Condor I )
Unfortunately, the air is not still above the Nazca lines, with the wind typically reaching 25 knots. A team from the University of Minnesota launched a balloon in June 1984, and on its very first flight it was wrecked by these strong winds - which implies that the ancient locals would have encountered similar problems.[12]
The Nazca Indians may have had their own uses for the lines. So might have an earlier culture, one that stealthily created them many millennia ago. Or could they have been left there for humans of a distant future, hoping to inform them of something very important?What do they mean?
Almost everyone that studies this site comes up with a different idea. Some of these are: Astronomical alignmentsWeaving patternsIndicating subterranean water flow, found via rod dowsingRepresentations of gods, tribal clans or shamanic spirit animalsA hieroglyphic writing systemWork therapyUsed as athletic tracksA map of somewhere (Lake Titicaca has been suggested)
Another suggestion comes from art historian Alan Sawyer. "Most figures are composed of a single line that never crosses itself, perhaps the path of a ritual maze. If so, when the Nazcas walked the line, they could have felt they were absorbing the essence of whatever the drawing symbolized."[13]
With the desert being so incredibly dry, water is obviously of great value to anyone living there. The ancient Nazcan inhabitants created a vast system of waterworks, consisting of wells 50 feet deep and 40-odd underground aqueducts, which cut across the Nazca River valley. Water was channelled from a handful of springs to provide drinking and water and irrigation for crops. Some of the aqueducts are several miles long and large enough for a person to crawl along. They are deep below the surface to protect the water from evaporation, with inspection wells every hundred metres to help the Indians clear away any debris. Despite their great age, many of these still function properly. One of the old aqueducts was even extended in 1955 to deliver more drinking water to the town of Nazca.[14]
Anthony Aveni (Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University) observed that "most of the line centers are located along the river banks, tributaries, and bases of the mountains from where the drainage proceeds." The fact that large geometric shapes either point upstream (60%) or downstream (40%), adds weight to his argument that the lines are there to mark water tables.[15] But there is no connection between water and the animal figures. A proven, cohesive theory, covering all aspects of the lines and figures is yet to emerge.
Maria Reiche was the first to suggest the astronomical theory. Certain lines could predict where important stars would rise, on special days. Figures like the spider and monkey might represent constellations, in a similar fashion to the Zodiac. Unfortunately, there are just too many lines. If there were a dozen or so, and most of them had an astronomical alignment, then the point would be proven. But there are 800 lines, of varying lengths and widths, each pointing in a different direction. By chance alone some must appear to have astronomical importance.
Professor Gerald Hawkins (author of Stonehenge Decoded) and his group went to Nazca to investigate the idea. Using special software, they checked star positions for the last 6900 years, and checked them against the lines. After weeks of study they concluded that there were alignments, but no more than could be attributed to chance. To illustrate this, Hawkins checked out Reiche’s claim that the Great Rectangle aligned with the Pleiades constellation in 610 AD. She was accurate. But if she had suggested alignment with the rise of Regulus in 410 AD, or the setting of Antares in 210 AD, she would also have been correct. Anthony Aveni obtained similar results in 1982. In addition, Reiche failed to explain why the lines had different lengths and widths.
What did impress Hawkins was the straightness of the lines; on average they only deviate by two metres per kilometre, even over hills - as we see here, which von Daniken appropriately described as a ski jump.

All except one of the lines radiate from common points, creating star-like patterns. Many of these “radiating centres” are actually small hills, perhaps fifty feet in height. This is hard to appreciate from the air, but if one observes them from ground level, they are obviously an important aspect of the layout.

Drowned Animals?
By looking at the lines from a catastrophic viewpoint, a partial solution can be arrived at.
This is one of the driest spots on the planet.[†] This means that primitive people were unlikely to live here, and if they did, unlikely to evolve into a technological culture, which would require the luxuries of free time and abundant essentials. This is therefore one of the last places you would expect humans to achieve flight. So perhaps the lines weren’t meant to be seen until we did manage to fly. This would ensure that they could remain undisturbed until a modern era, in which we would probably have the ability to decipher their meaning. Which is now.
The drawings cover all the important genera – animal, bird, fish, insect and plant. The story being told here is not unlike that of Noah’s Ark from the Bible. Whereas Noah managed to rescue two of every species, the Nazca Plain shows us what happened to all the rest – they drowned. It shows how they have been swept together from diverse locations and dumped in one spot. They are flat, distorted and bent. Whoever designed the creatures had the ability to render them accurately, but they chose not to. Some call them stylised, I call them twisted.
There are no pairs[‡]. Single animals represent the end of the line. Pairs (like Adam and Eve) represent fertility and survival. “They” have created, ironically, a description of the greatest flood that ever was, upon one of the driest stretches of land on Earth. But what about the straight lines?

2008-09-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

The Nazca Lines
>>>> Some Nazca Links <<<< A good map of the Nazca Lines is hard to find. A 1:10,000 topographical map is listed for sale at South American Explorers for $13, plus there is a map of the figures at Peru Expeditions .

IntroductionThe world is full of mysterious places that have outlived the history of their construction. These are the pyramids, citadels, stone circles and statues that are much written about and are visited by hordes of tourists.
One quality that makes humans unique is their ability to create and appreciate works of art. Determining which ancient sites are art, and which are something more, is a tough call to make. Therefore, for the purposes of this book, I have set three requirements that can help us make such a decision. If the purpose of a site is to inform us about a cyclical global catastrophe, it must:
1. Be able to survive long periods of time
Whether the period between catastrophes is 1,000 or 100,000 years, the site must be able to endure the extremes of weather and human interaction. I doubt that any structure built today is designed to last even one millennium, and there is a reason for that - they don't need to. Yet, globally there are sites that have outlasted the very cultures that built them - often of such gigantic dimensions it would be difficult to recreate them today. 2. Use the universal languages of numbers or symbols
Written languages are impossible to rely on, for they keep on changing. Not only are they affected by the latest fads and fashions, they can disappear altogether due to the assimilations and annihilations that are caused by cultural conflict. Just look at today's near extinction of the Gaelic language, and how difficult it is to read Shakespeare's "English" today. Languages will always change, whereas mathematics is a universal constant. A building four times as long as it is wide will always represent a ratio of 4:1, no matter how old it gets, or who studies it. Symbols are not perfect, but are still far more stable than words. Especially so if they resemble a constellation, an animal, a shape and so on. Hieroglyphs that use indirect representations are more difficult to decipher, yet most of them have eventually been decoded. 3. Contain coded information concerning the nature of such a catastrophe
This is the hardest aspect to determine. A good example is the Great Pyramid of Giza. We have always known of its antiquity, and in the last century we have become aware of the mathematics contained within its dimensions. But is it trying to tell us something? Theories abound and can become overwhelming. Therefore I have chosen to concentrate on a single, succinct idea, the cyclical global catastrophe, and apply it to not only the Giza complex, but every ancient site I study.
The Nazca lines conform to these three rules. They are at least 1500 years old, and are capable of lasting very much longer than that. That they embody symbols is obvious, and it is my belief that they describe the Great Flood. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
General Information
The Nazca lines and figures cover a total area of 520 square kilometres.[1] They are situated 400 kilometres south of Lima on the Pampa Colorada - a desolate plain between the Peruvian coast and the Andes Mountains (see this map of Peru ). It is a rocky desert, rather than a sandy one. Its surface is covered in small stones that are dark red because they contain ferrous oxide. These have been cleared away to expose the lighter-coloured soil underneath, creating a multitude of lines.
Dozens of stylised figures have also been etched onto the desert, creating the world's largest piece of art. The figures have each been drawn using a singular continuous line, with the largest being some 285 metres long. There are 70 figures in total. In the most part they are creatures, such as a hummingbird, llama or dog - however a flower, loom and geometric shapes can also be seen.
It has been mentioned by other researchers that many of the creatures represented are not native to the area. The most striking example of this is the 45 metre long Spider. It was identified as a member of the rare genus Ricinulei, which is only found in the most remote and inaccessible parts of the Amazon Jungle. These spiders are only 5-10 mm in length. One leg is noticeably longer - it is a protrusible tube, and at its tip is the spider's reproductive organ, normally only visible with the aid of a microscope.[2]

This information appears to signify an advanced ancient culture at work, but fails when inspected more closely. The only similarity between the spider figure and a Ricinulei is the extended leg. Otherwise the figure could be just a common local spider. Or the same as the depiction found at the Etowah Mounds (USA). Many of the figures on the plain have an extra leg or pathway attached to them - all we have here is a coincidental stylisation.

Overlaying the figures are 800 straight lines, some stretching far away, over hills and into the distance. The longest attain a length of eight kilometres, with one being an incredible 65 kilometres long! The lines were formed on top of the drawings and cut right through them. This suggests that they were created at a later date, unless of course this effect was done deliberately.
Pilots first noticed them in the 1920s. In 1941 Dr Paul Kosok from the Long Island University was despatched to survey them. Once there, he found the faint outline of a bird - the first animal figure to be discovered. He also realised that most of the lines fanned out from "radiating centres", and decided that they described astronomical information. To survey Nazca properly would take many years, and he was too busy on other projects to do it himself. He found his replacement in a German woman who was translating an academic paper into Spanish for him. Maria Reiche had shifted to Peru in 1932 to work as a private teacher, but before long she was teaching languages and translating. Initially Reiche made short visits to the lines from her home in Lima. But as time went by, and she became more and more dedicated to solving the enigma, she moved closer to the lines - shifting from a Nazca hotel to a ranch that was within walking distance of the lines. After a decade on the ranch, she decided to live on-site, eventually dedicating her remaining 50 years to studying the patterns and working toward a solution.

It was Reiche who discovered the other animal figures. None of these were observable from the air until she had carefully cleaned away the dust of centuries that obscured them. She agreed with Kosok that their meaning was derived from astronomy, and was unable to consider other possibilities. She privately published a book on the subject, but failed to conclusively prove her theories.
Apart from the multitude of straight lines, Maria found triangles, "needle and thread" patterns, trapezoids, a labyrinth and spirals. There are more than a hundred spirals. Near the centre of one she found a stone engraved with a serpent design and a severed head - prompting her to believe that every spiral at Nazca represented a serpent. The image below is from a textile that was wrapped around a mummy found near Nazca.

Her contribution was more than just highlighting the lines' presence - she protected them as well. Human feet and vehicles can easily ruin the lines. Right up until her death at 95, Reiche almost single-handedly saved the lines from being ruined by trespassers, even known to chase them away in her wheelchair. Thanks to her efforts, which also kept governments and private enterprise at bay, the lines have now been declared a ''world cultural heritage site'' by UNESCO.
Because of their huge size, the only way to appreciate the lines and images is from the air, which automatically poses the question: Did ancient cultures have a means of flying? Authors such as Erich von Däniken latched onto this idea, and have used this site as the cornerstone of their Ancient Astronaut hypothesis, ignoring any non-UFO explanations.[*]
There are other questions we can ask that are more productive in our search for a solution...
The Nazca Lines

2008-09-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

Real Dragons?

Did the dragon once live?

All of the Oriental dragons were intimately associated with water. Dragons lived in lakes and rivers and seas, even in raindrops. They controlled the tides, floods and rainfall. If they really existed, then a source that immediately comes to mind is the Chinese alligator, Alligator sinensis. They are not as large as their American cousin, ranging from an average two metres in length to sometimes three metres. But they are dangerous, reptilian and water-based - all good reasons for linking them to the Oriental dragon. But only if you haven't heard of the predecessors of the real-life Komodo dragon .

Australian monitor lizards all belong to the genus Varanus. They are easily identifiable by their streamlined shape, elongated neck, semi-erect posture, and a forked tongue - which can give the effect of fire-breathing. They all look very similar except for their size differences, which are extreme to say the least. The smallest is the pygmy monitor Varanus brevicauda (20 centimetres long, weighs 8-10 grams). The largest in Australia is the perentie or Varanus giganteus, which can attain a length of two metres. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

Larger still are the Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) of Indonesia, a country that the ancient Chinese would certainly have visited. [20] They can reach lengths of three metres and weigh 150 kgs, [21] making them the world's largest lizards. They are formidable predators, like crocodiles that are able to run quickly across land. They were probably the reason that the stegodonts (pygmy elephants) [22] became extinct in this area. They might even have wiped out the 1-metre tall, miniature humans, Homo floresiensis, who lived there up until 12,000 years ago.

These dragons were previously more widespread, with evidence of them once occurring in Mongolia coming to light. [23] And in Queensland, Australia, only becoming extinct 19,000 years ago (take that date with a pinch of salt), was a bigger lizard still, a cousin of the Komodo dubbed Megalania prisca.

Megalania prisca, as we have learned from fossil evidence, grew to be a staggering seven metres in length and weighed 600 kgs [24]. Although it was technically a lizard, it must have had the presence of a dinosaur, and almost certainly ate a few of the humans of that era. But it's usual meal was more likely to have been rhinoceros-sized wombats. [Strange days indeed with gigantism seeming to be rampant.] These meals are believable when you consider that Komodo dragons have been known to kill water buffalo weighing three times more than themselves. [25]

Which brings us back to ancient Rome! Pliny, the Roman naturalist, said that the dragon of India was

"so enormous a size as easily to envelop the elephant with its folds and encircle with its coils. The contest is equally fatal to both; the elephant, vanquished, falls to the earth and by its weight crushes the dragon which is entwined about it."

He also mentioned the dragons of Ethiopia, which, with a length of only thirty feet, were too small to kill elephants. Other European myths state that dragons always jumped onto elephants from out of trees. Is this all just fantasy, amazing stories concocted to scare children with? Or is it just as reasonable to suggest that dragons once lived?

So where are we heading? On the one hand there are myths connecting dragons to global destruction and rebirth. On the other are links to DNA, ancient languages, ancient calendars and the I Ching. And now I am taking a big breath and suggesting that the mythical dragons were rooted in reality, that knights in shining armour actually killed real dragons, and somehow it all makes sense. This is where a new theory of evolution comes in.. stay tuned.

2008-09-17T05:03:00.000-07:00

DNA and the I Ching
Just like Quetzalcoatl of the Aztecs, Nü-Kua was a dragon that taught her people about art, irrigation and agriculture. She had a male partner, another half-dragon named Fu Xi, and he taught humans how to hunt, fish and create music. He also had a role in creating the eight trigrams which were the foundation of the I'Ching. [17]
Fu Xi became the first Emperor of China, circa 2800 BC. One day he spotted a dragon-horse rising out of the Yellow River. On its side were some markings which Fu Xi recorded. He called them the Ho Tu, from which he derived eight trigrams which represented the four cardinal directions and the diagonals between.
Figure 1: Ancient and modern forms of the Ho Tu

Figure 2: The trigrams of Fu Xi
These eight trigrams are the basis of the I-Ching, the oldest scripture in Chinese culture. In 1122 BC, the official records of the Zhou dynasty stated that three different versions of the I'Ching existed, (although only the one that we use today has survived).
Several modern books like the Tao of Chaos have demonstrated extraordinary similarities that link the I'Ching to modern knowledge of DNA structures. [18] Basically, DNA comprises of four code letters, A, T, C and G. These are combined into sets of three, known as codons. This means that there are 4 x 4 x 4 = 64 combinations available, and the I Ching also has 64 combinations. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
An 8x8 magic square can be constructed by placing the numbers 1.64 in sequence, and then reversing the order of the green positions. The total of any line gives us 260, the number of days in the Tzolkin, the Mayan sacred calendar. Is it just a coincidence that the next Year of the Dragon is 2012?
64 2 3 61 60 6 7 89 55 54 12 13 51 50 1617 47 46 20 21 43 42 2440 26 27 37 36 30 31 3232 34 35 29 28 38 39 2541 23 22 44 45 19 18 4849 15 14 52 53 11 10 568 58 59 5 4 62 63 1

DNA is of course directly related to mutations, which we shall look into in a later chapter. Also, links have been made to the description of the 22-letter Hebrew language (as described in the Hebrew book of creation Sefer Yetzirah), and the 22 major arcane Tarot cards - each corresponding to the 22 amino acid and punctuation groups of DNA.
[See Occult Genetic Code & Interpreting "Sefer Yetzirah" through Genetic Engineering]
Figure 3: DNA meets the I Ching, according to Katya Walter
DNA symbols
There are two serpentine symbols associated with medicine today, the staff of Aesculapius and the Cadeuceus, although the staff of Aesculapius has the strongest mythological association to healing. Aesculapius was a Roman physician who was such a skilled healer that he became a god, and temples were dedicated to him. The symbol of his wooden staff with only one snake coiled around it was adopted by the American Medical Association early last century.
The Cadeuceus has a slightly [*] more ancient background and, more importantly, it reinforces our links between floods, DNA and serpents/dragons.
The Cadeuceus is a figure that consists of two entwined serpents encircling a wand or rod. It was carried by Hermes in Greek myths and Mercury in Roman mythology as the messenger of the gods. It was a symbol of authority and protected the herald who carried it.
The similarity of this symbol to the double helix of DNA strands is a common observation. By looking at Greek myths we can find links to cataclysms and re-creation...
Hermes was the grandson of Atlas;Atlas kept the world steady on his shoulders (in a non-poleshift state). He was the father of MaiaMaia / Maya, was the Greek goddess of spring and rebirth. The month of May is named after her, and Maia means "the maker"Zeus made Maia his wife and she settled in a cave 1700 metres up the slopes of Mount Cyllene. It was in this cave that their son Hermes was born.The Ancient Greeks attribute many innovations to Hermes. He discovered the flame, constructed the first lyre and flute, and introduced words and numbers. He invented medicine, astrology, weights, measures and commerce. And he carried the Cadeuceus.
So, the protector from poleshifts, had a daughter in charge of the rebirth of Earth, who is was the mother of Hermes who carried the Cadeuceus.
Hermes appears to be the same character as Quetzalcoatl/Kulkulcan/Nahuatl of Mesoamerica. The both had serpent imagery (Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent, Hermes wore a winged hat and sandals and carried the Cadeuceus) and each provided similar services to their people (Quetzalcoatl cured ailments, introduced corn, science, calendars, created fire and gave instruction of music and dance). Another mythical cousin to these two is Buddha. Also a great teacher, he had a virgin mother named Maya.
Although this symbol is most famous for being carried by Hermes, we can trace it back to a much earlier civilisation. The earliest depiction of the Cadeuceus, flanked by a pair of dragons, circa 4000BC
On exhibit in the Louvre is a green libation vase, which was excavated from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Lagash. The inscription on it, from King Gudea of Lagash circa 2025 BC, is a dedication to Ningizzida. Also on the vase is an image of two entwined snakes on a rod. Some have dated the vase as far back as 4000 B.C. The rod is most likely to be Axis Mundi, the world tree, Yggdrasil, the tree of life. Ningizzida, a fertility god, was also known as 'Lord of the Tree of Life'. He was often depicted as a serpent with a human head, and later became a god of healing and magic. His companion was Tammuz/Dumuzi, who personified the creative powers of spring [19] (like the Greek Maia).
And Ningizzida was the son of Ninazu (a.k.a Anzu or Zu) - a divine storm-bird and the personification of the southern wind and the thunderclouds. [20]
In the same era the cadeuceus was being used by the people of India to represent Kundalini - but that's another story.
Could ancient scriptures and symbols, ostensively brilliantly simple descriptions of DNA, have come from a dragon? Or were they just credited to a dragon in a myth, because dragons represent order from chaos, and symbolise terrible all-changing catastrophes?
The fifth Aztec age was initiated by the dragon Quetzalcoatl in 3,113 B.C. and is due to complete its cycle on Dec. 21, 2012. Is it just a coincidence that this happens to be the next Chinese year of the Dragon? Is this the date of the next pole shift?A Theory
Here is a theory that combines all myths about dragons:
Between 5,000 and 12,000 years ago, an extraterrestrial force, with accompanying cosmic radiation, caused the Earth's poles to shift. The Norse, Greek, Aztec, Chippewa & Chinese all have flood legends which have dragons in an integral roleThe Fon and Norse legends involve the world tipping over, because of dragonsThe Norse and Babylonian flood legends involve the shifting of the stars - something that would appear to happen in a pole shift
This in turn caused a global cataclysm of floods, earthquakes, mud and volcanoes. All living things had their numbers drastically reduced. Life arose from mud. Those that survived had mutated DNA from cosmic radiation - (even today cosmic rays are the main cause of random DNA mutations). Many new species came about. The Fon, Norse, Babylonian, Aztec & Chinese all have creation legends involving dragonsThe Norse, Babylonian, Greek, Aztec & Chinese all have mutations appearing in their legends
Some, including dragons and unicorns, had genetic Achilles heels, which prevented them from surviving through until the modern era.
Dragons were the most monstrous of all the new species, and became the symbol of the cataclysm and the resulting mutations. After a few generations, two species of humans remained, the Neanderthals (giants) and the Nephilim (angels/gods). The Nephilim were the most changed, and they became associated with dragon symbolism. They had changed for the better, and they retained information from before the cataclysm. But they were few, and they were weak. The only way to survive was to mate with the Neanderthal giants. And to teach their offspring all they knew. Cecrops and Athena (Greece), Quetzalcoatl (Aztec) & Nü-Kua (China) were all dragons that introduced knowledge to their respective cultures
The ancient myths that relate to the cataclysm feature dragons and mutations, as a simplistic way of explaining what had happened. It is to their the credit of the inventors of these myths, that the underlying message has somehow managed to survive for millennia.

2008-09-17T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ancient Greece
In Greek myth the founder of Athens was Cecrops, who was born of the earth (without parents), as a half-man, half-serpent - he had a tail from the waist down:
As the first king of Attica, Cecrops greatly contributed to the civilising of the state. He was the provider of laws, and encouraged monogamy. He invented writing, ended human sacrifices and encouraged a new practice of burying the dead. He called his principal city Cecropia but his people wanted the city to be associated with a god, either Poseidon or Athena. Poseidon demonstrated his power by striking his trident and cracking the rock of the Acropolis, causing a stream of water to flow out. Athena simply created an olive tree, which the people preferred, and so they designated her the patron deity - hence the city's modern name of Athens. Poseidon was greatly upset by his loss and punished Cecrops and the city by sending a disastrous flood. The people survived and built a new city of Athens.
There are further serpentine links to be found in these stories, as well as connections to floods:
Athena was the goddess of wisdom, prudent warfare, arts and crafts, and defender of the law. She taught the science of numbers, and she invented such things as the potter's wheel, flute, chariot, ship, and plough. To this day she is a patroness of art, science, and learning - not unlike Quetzalcoatl across the Atlantic.
Athena could not prevent Hephaestus (the god of fire and metal-working) falling in love with her, yet she wished to remain a virgin. Hephaestus pursued her and caught her on the Acropolis. He brushed up against her, spilling his seed. Athena wiped it off with a piece of cloth and threw it onto the ground, fertilising it. This produced Erichthonius, a boy with a serpents tail like Cecrops, who Athena decided to keep as her own son.Children of the soil, such as Cecrops and Erichthonius were known as Autochthons, literally "sprung from the earth". They were said to have neither father nor mother, and therefore they just arose from the ground like a plant does. This race usually appeared during those periods in which the motion of the universe was reversed - caused by the withdrawal of divinity. Under such conditions, lacking a divine overseer, normal birth was not possible, so the people were born from the earth instead.
The two-shap'd Ericthonius had his birth(Without a mother) from the teeming Earth; Minerva nurs'd him, and the infant laidWithin a chest, of twining osiers made.The daughters of king Cecrops undertookTo guard the chest, commanded not to lookOn what was hid within. I stood to seeThe charge obey'd, perch'd on a neighb'ring tree. The sisters Pandrosos and Herse keepThe strict command; Aglauros needs would peep,And saw the monstrous infant, in a fright, And call'd her sisters to the hideous sight:A boy's soft shape did to the waste prevail,But the boy ended in a dragon's tail.
From Ovid's Metamorphoses
Aglauros and Herse went mad at the sight of him and hurled themselves from the top of the rocks of the Acropolis. Pandrosos, who had obeyed the rules, was made the first priestess of Athene. Athena then secretly looked after Erichthonius in her sanctuary while he grew up, and eventually he became the next King of Athens.
After the Flood of Deukalion, Zeus commanded Prometheus and Athena to call forth a new race of men from the mire left by the waters of the deluge. [13] Prometheus shaped men out of mud, and Athena breathed life into the clay figures. Also born of the mud was a great snake named Python who lived at the centre of the world, and held it together. Soon after it was killed by Apollo. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

Chinese Dragons
Wherever the Chinese New Year is observed, the dragon is the most prominent symbol. Long weaving dragons ride upon the shoulders of dozens of men, undulating through streets crowded with festive onlookers. Apart from festivities, dragons dominate the architecture, fabric and ceramics of China.
"The Chinese, when they wish for rain, make a huge dragon out of wood and paper and carry it in procession; but if it does not rain, then they destroy the dragon. Chuang-tzu maintains that this arises from the fact that the dragon and the serpent, invested with the most profound and all-embracing cosmic significance, are symbols for 'rhythmic life'." [14]
The Chinese calendar runs in cycles of twelve years, each named after a different creature:
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.
But why is the dragon included here, alongside eleven very real species that are alive today? It might just be a zodiacal image that snugly fits a pattern of stars, but if that were so, if the patterns were so obvious, then why doesn't the western zodiac contain the same symbolism?
Five clawed dragons, especially yellow ones, were the most fearsome and powerful of their kind. It was once the law in China that only the Emperor could use the symbol of a five-clawed dragon. If someone other than the Emperor was caught wearing this symbol, he or she would be put to death.
In Chinese legends dragons are capable of many things. They tend to appear at favourable moments to indicate periods of prosperity. But if disturbed they might cause a drought by shifting all the water of the area into baskets, or they could choose to eclipse the sun. They were benevolent yet also moody and volatile. Historically the worst floodings in China have been attributed to a mortal upsetting a dragon.
In the beginning, according to Chinese mythology, there was only a cosmic egg. Within it, amongst the swirling darkness of chaos, slept a giant called P'an Ku, who had been developing for eighteen thousand years. Upon awakening he smashed the egg and allowed the darkness to pour out, as well as light that had been trapped within the chaos.
The darkness fell and created earth, while fragments of light rose up and created heaven. Disturbed by the idea that chaos could return if the light and dark were to mix, P'an Ku set himself the task of keeping the earth and sky apart until he could be sure all was safe.
After tens of millennia P'an Ku decided that everything was okay - so he sank into the earth and died. His final breath became the wind and clouds. His body and limbs formed the mountains and hills, and his blood flowed as streams and rivers. Vegetation grew from his hair, and his teeth gave us precious jewels. P'an Ku created order out of chaos. [15]
A beautiful creature emerged from the heavens and saw the remains of P'an Ku. She was the dragon goddess Nü-Kua, one half woman and one half dragon. All alone on a beautiful planet she decided to create humans by fashioning them out of clay, and animating them with her breath of pure love. [16]

2008-09-17T04:58:00.000-07:00

American DragonsPiasa Bird
It was August 1675. A seven-member expedition paddled west through the Straits of Mackinac, searching the middle Mississippi River region for a passage to the Pacific. The first European exploration of the area, they were led by Father Jacques Marquette, a French missionary, and Louis Jolliet, a fur-trader and cartographer.
The explorers left despite dire warnings from local Indians - there is a winged monster in the area that devours all who come near it.
Some 15 miles downstream from where the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers join, high on the rocky bluff above the Mississippi's east bank, the adventurers saw two hideous monsters painted in yellow, green, red, and black. Father Marquette described the pictograph:
"While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters which at first made us afraid, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. They are as large as a calf; they have horns on their heads like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail."
He was describing the Piasa Bird, legendary amongst the Illini Indians of the area. Piasa (pronounced pie-a-saw) means "the bird that eats men." The Indian myths described it as a large, winged, flesh-eating animal that lived in a cave above the river, thousands of moons before the white man came, when the magolonyn and mastodon were still living. It was much feared and would fly down and carry off anyone who came too close to the bluff. Its reign of terror ended when an Indian chief named Quatonga and twenty of his warriors managed to trick it out of its cave and kill it with poison arrows.
This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

The commemorative paintings were lost when the bluff was quarried, however a recreation can still be seen there in the modern city of Alton, Illinois.
Professor John Russell of Bluffdale, Illinois, published an account of the Piasa in 1836. After listening to the legends, as told by the Indians, he decided to check out the cave for himself:
"Near the close of March of the present year, I was induced to visit the bluffs below the mouth of the Illinois and above that of the Piasa [Creek]. My curiosity was principally directed to the examination of a cave connected with the above traditions, as one of those to which the bird had carried its human victims Preceded by an intelligent guide who carried a spade, I set out on my excursion. The cave was extremely difficult of access, and at one point of our progress, I stood at an elevation of more than one hundred and fifty feet on the face of the bluff, with barely room to sustain one foot. The unbroken mass towered above me, while below was the river. After a long and perilous clambering, we reached the cave which was about fifty feet above the surface of the river. By the aid of a long pole placed on a projecting rock and the upper end touching the mouth of the cave, we succeeded in entering it.
"The roof of the cavern was vaulted, the top of which was hardly less than twenty-five feet in height. The shape of the cave was irregular, but so far as I could judge, the bottom would average twenty by thirty feet. The floor of this cave throughout its whole extent was a mass of human bones. Skulls and other bones were mingled together in the utmost confusion. To what depth they extended I was unable to decide, but we dug to the depth of three or four feet in every quarter of the cavern and still found only bones. The remains of thousands must have been deposited here: How, and by whom, and for what purpose, it is impossible to conjecture."
The Piasa is the most dragon-like of the various Thunderbirds that exist within the legends of indigenous North Americans, although the Thunderbird of the Chippewa was equally as monstrous:
"The birds eyes were fire, his glance was lightning, and the motions of his wings filled the air with thunder." [7]
The Quillayute described the Thunderbird as a very large bird, with feathers as long as a canoe paddle.
He created thunder and wind with the flap of his wings. His eyes fired lightning. If hunters got too close to his cave in the Olympic Mountains, he made thunder and rolled ice down the mountainside. His favourite food was the whale, which he caught in the ocean and ate in his cave. One time, during the Great Flood, his battle with a killer whale was so tumultuous that trees were torn up by their roots, which explains the lack of trees in Beaver Prairie today. Mountains shook. The killer whale escaped many times, each time running further away, and eventually the Thunderbird gave up. This is why the killer whales of today live deep in the oceans. [8]
Quetzalcoatlus Northropi - a giant pterosaur - lived in this region during the Mesozoic Period (65 million - 230 million years ago). It had a wingspan of 33 feet, and was possibly capable of catching killer whales. Although there are many modern stories of these creatures still existing, they are anecdotal and lacking in evidence. But the myths of North America and other continents are strong proof that a monstrous winged lizard lived within the memories of mankind. The only counter-evidence to pterosaurs living just 10,000 years ago is the dating techniques that are championed by orthodox scientists.Nanabozho
Nanabozho was the main character in many of the myths told by the Chippewa Indians, who once lived on the shores of Lake Superior, the setting of this story:
One day Nanabozho came home to find that his young cousin was missing. Searching for tracks he found the trail of the Great Serpent. The serpent must have taken his cousin. He packed a bow and arrows and followed the serpent's trail. It took him over rivers, mountains and valleys to the shores of Manitou Lake. At the bottom of the lake Nanabozho could see the house of the Great Serpent. Living there with the serpent was an assortment of monstrous and evil spirits. The serpent itself, a huge multi-coloured scaly beast, was wrapped around the body of Nanabozho's cousin.
Intent on revenge, Nanabozho utilised some of the trickery he was famous for. He ordered the clouds to disappear and the wind to be still. When the air above the lake became stagnant, he asked the sun to burn as hot and bright as it could. If the water boiled, he thought, the serpent would leave the lake and seek the shade of the trees beside the lake.
Nanabozho found a spot near the trees, transformed himself into a tree stump and waited. The sun burned fiercely. After some time the water in the lake began to simmer. Some small serpents came up to the surface. They looked around for Nanabozho but couldn't see him.
The water boiled. The Great Serpent rose out of the water and moved toward the shore, with his evil spirits behind him. It knew of Nanabozho's trickery and guessed that the stump could be him in disguise. It sent some small serpents to attack it, but Nanabozho, although he was scared, kept quiet until they gave up.
The Great Serpent slipped out of the lake and sheltered under the trees, as did all its companions. Nanabozho waited until they were all asleep. When they were, he silently drew an arrow from his quiver, and fired it at the heart of the Great Serpent. His aim was true. The serpent awoke with a howl so loud that the mountains all shook. It plunged into the water, dived to the bottom and tore the body of Nanabozho's cousin into hundreds of pieces.
The Great Serpent knew that it would soon die from the wound, so it planned one final act of revenge. It caused the water of the lake to swell upward out over the land. The flood surged across the valleys and Nanabozho fled before it. He ran back to his village, shouting
"Run to the mountains! The Great Serpent is flooding the earth! Run! Run!"
The Indians did as he said and climbed to the top of a mountain. Nanabozho kept running until he reached a high mountain near Lake Superior, the highest mountain around. Other people were also there, seeking safety from the flood. As other mountaintops disappeared below the water, Nanabozho made a raft out of timber and placed all the people and animals upon it. Then the highest mountain was also overwhelmed by the flood, but the people on the raft survived. After many days the floods receded and life started over again. The Great Serpent was dead. [9]
Many other stories of Nanabozho were made famous in the poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Longfellow - with a lot of distortion from the originals, not the least being calling the hero Hiawatha instead of Nanabozho. Quetzalcoatl
Close to Mexico City are the pyramids of Teotihuacan. They are carved with many things - including a dragon called Quetzalcoatl.
Quetzalcoatl was not an evil dragon. He was the ancient cultural hero among the Aztec, the Toltec and other Meso-American peoples. He taught them how to write and explained agriculture to them. He introduced the calendar, monotheism, music, dance and so on - in essence he civilised them. [10]
The Maya knew him as Kulkulkan, and the Quiché called him Gucumatz. The same god appeared in Zuni rituals as Kolowisi and a Hopi ritual named him as Palulukong. All of these have the same meaning: "plumed serpent".
In his dragon form he ruled the wind, the rain and the fertility of the earth, the cycles of human sustenance. As a celestial and terrestrial being he was man's magical connection to the mysteries of heaven and the sacred earthly realm.
Quetzalcoatl was an intregal part of the creation of each of the worlds/cycles/suns of the Aztecs. The fifth age was initiated by Quetzalcoatl in 3,113 B.C. and is due to complete its cycle on Dec. 21, 2012. Just prior to the age of the fifth sun, Quetzalcoatl created man by going to the underworld and retrieving the bones of an earlier human incarnation. On his return journey he stumbled and fell, breaking the bones, and therefore the resulting people came out in all different shapes and sizes.
When he was driven away by war he promised to return to his people one day. Some accounts have him leaving in a dragon boat or on a raft of serpents. Some believe he sacrificed his human body and flew off into the sky to become the bright planet we know as Venus. [11]
To the ancients the planet Venus was seen as highly important being second to the Sun and the Moon. The ancient Greeks believed that a massive comet named 'Phaeton' (or 'Blazing Star') nearly collided with earth, setting our planet on fire before it transformed into Venus.
The ancient Assyrians knew Venus as the 'fearful dragon...who is clothed in fire'. The Aztecs knew it as 'The star that smoked', and the Midrash called it the 'brilliant light... blazing from one end of the cosmos to the other'.
Were dragons and a glowing Venus part of the same set of circumstances?
At the Mayan/Toltec ruins of Chichen Itza (Yucatan, Mexico) is "El Castle", the pyramid of Kulkulcan / Quetzalcoatl - it is the largest and most important ceremonial structure there.
The pyramid is directionally oriented to mark the summer and winter solstices. Hence, it has often been erroneously labelled the Pyramid of the Sun, despite obviously being dedicated to Kulkulcan, the feathered serpent.
Although the original structure dates back to about 600 AD, successions of new temples were built upon previous ones through until the thirteenth century. Rising to a height of ninety feet the pyramid features many numbers important to the Maya. Each of its four-faces has a stairway with ninety-one steps (91x4 = 364). Adding the top platform gives us the number of days in the solar year. The faces incorporate 18 terraces, one for each month in the Mayan religious year, and 52 panels - every 52 years the Maya feared that the world would end.
At sunset of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes an interesting effect can be viewed, as witnessed by Graham Hancock:
"By about 5.15 in the evening it was clear what was happening. So skilfully was this magnificent pyramid aligned to the trajectory of the setting equinoctial sun that it had been possible for the ancient builders to contrive a pattern of light and shadow on the western side of the northern stairway. Very gradually, as the minutes ticked by and the sun fell lower in the sky, this pattern, which was projected by the north-western corner of the pyramid, gained in shape and substance. By around 5.30 p.m., it had manifested itself fully as a gigantic undulating serpent with seven coils of shadow defined by seven triangles of light. The tail of the serpent reached the top platform of the pyramid, with its body extending down the balustrade all the way to the ground where a huge sculpted serpent's head with gaping jaws completed the illusion at the base of the stairway." [12]
Elaborate panels and stone carvings featuring images of serpents appear all over the pyramid.
The association between cosmos, snakes, catastrophes and cultural deities continues..
Next: Dragon Myths of Ancient Greece & China

2008-09-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

African Dragons
The Fon of West Africa have a legend that says:
In the beginning, the world was created by Nana-Buluku, the one god, who was genderless. Nana-Buluku made itself a companion named Aido-Hwedo, who was a rainbow serpent. The dung from this serpent or dragon created the mountains, and nourished the earth so that plants could grow. The writhings of the dragon created rivers and valleys.
When the world was complete, it was so overladen with plants, animals and mountains that they feared the world might collapse. Aido-Hwedo offered to help by forming a great circular loop, with its tail in its mouth, and enfolding the world (see Ouroboros).
Because Aido-Hwedo could not tolerate heat, Nana-Buluku created a great cosmic ocean for him to live in, and there he has stayed. He was fed iron bars by red monkeys that lived beneath the sea. If and when the monkey's iron supply runs out, Aido-Hwedo will be so hungry that he will eat his own tail. Then,
"...his writhings will be so terrible that the whole earth will tilt, and then slip into the sea, and that will be that!" [3]
This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

Scandinavian Legend
The ancient legends of the Nordic race were often practical warnings, in allegorical form, against the dangers of the world. The destructive power of nature was typically symbolised by predatory animals. The wolf was the more common symbol, but it was the dragon which represented peril on the grand scale. The dragon's favourite victim was the virgin: a fertile woman who represented the source of human life, and the continuation of our species. Just as she indicated how precious our existence was, and how easily it can be lost due to major catastrophes, the dragon represented those terrible scenarios himself.
Originally there were two worlds, one of fire and one of ice. When they became joined, the ice melted and from the water came Ymir, an enormous sleeping giant. From the sweat of his armpits a race of Frost Giants were created. The goddess Audumla had also formed from the melting ice, and she gave birth to a dynasty of gods. Three brothers - Odin, Vili, and Ve, were the first Aesir gods. They attacked the sleeping Ymir and killed him. His wounds let loose a torrent of blood which drowned all of the Frost Giants except for one family that managed to float to safety, thus saving their race from extinction. Odin and his brothers proceeded to chop up Ymir's body and from the pieces they made the levels of all the worlds. Ymir's flesh became land, his bones formed mountains, his hair grew as trees, and so on. Holding it all together was the Norse symbol for the universe - the giant ash (or yew) tree Yggdrasil. Its shaft was the pivot of the revolving heavens, and its limbs and roots spread into a variety of worlds or planes of existence. There were levels within levels, all connected and each containing beings such as gods, elves, humans, giants, dwarves and the dead.
One world was above ground, that of Midgard (Middle-Earth), the world of human beings. Below it Yggdrasil's immense roots descended into three levels: one into Asgard, the second into Jutanheim, and the third into Niflheim.
Asgard was the dwelling of the gods.
Jutanheim was an eternally-frozen land and abode of the Frost Giants; enemies of men and gods.
Niflheim, was a region of cold and darkness, the land of the dead. Imprisoned there was the fallen trickster-god Loki. Mating with a giantess he produced three monstrous beings - each of which were consequently forced into binding roles by the great Odin. Their first child was Fenrir, a huge wolf, who was imprisoned in Asgard. Hel was a woman, half alive and half corpse, banished to the kingdom of Helheim, where she fed and housed the dead. And thirdly Jormungand was a huge serpent which Odin threw into the sea, where it grew until it encircled the Earth while biting on its tail - an Ouroboros. His twisting and turning beneath the sea was the cause of storms and earthquakes. Nearby lay another giant serpent-dragon Nidhoggr, who devoured the bones of the dead as well as gnawing at the root of Yggdrasil, the axis of the world. [*]
"The ash tree Yggdrasil suffers anguish More than men can know The stag bites above; on the side it rots;And the dragon gnaws from below".
Robert Graves, The White Goddess
As if the gnawing of a dragon wasn't enough, there were four deer and a goat living on Yggdrasil's limbs eating all the leaves and the trunk was infected with rot. All of these creatures were awaiting their release and the beginning of Ragnarok, the battle of the End of the World. The root that extended into Asgard was tended by the three Norns, Urdur, Verdandi and Skuld - goddesses representing the past, the present and the future. Each day they applied the healing water from Urd's Well to the trunk of Yggdrasil, chanting the Orlog - mysterious laws of the universe that the myths do not reveal to us - making sure that the great tree lived on, despite the attacks upon it. The giants were determined to eventually overthrow and destroy the gods, and Ragnarok occurred as prophesised. Battles raged for three years, followed by three summer-less years of terrible cold. Then a huge earthquake broke the bonds of Loki and his son Fenrir. The huge serpent Jormungand came ashore, making the ocean surge upon the land. The forces of good and evil met and did battle at the plain of Vigrid. Fenrir swallowed Odin. Thor killed the giant serpent Jormungand, but succumbed to its poison. The world was engulfed in fire and smoke and all those who fought were killed. The stars disappeared and the earth sank below the sea. Eventually a new, fertile world emerged, and it was populated by two humans who had hidden in the Yggdrasil tree. In another chapter we will discuss the relevance of a serpent gnawing on the axis of the world, and the disappearance of the stars. For the time being, it is enough to absorb how often dragons and "the end of the world" combine in global mythology.
Babylonian Myth
She cloaked ferocious dragons with fearsome rays And made them bear mantles of radiance, made them godlike
(Enuma Elish, - Tablet III)
The "Enuma Elish" is the Babylonian creation epic, a thousand-line poem inscribed 4000 years ago upon seven clay tablets. It was probably a chant to help welcome in the Babylonian New Year. [4]
In this epic there is a huge dragon named Tiamat who is the personification of the ocean and chaos, who is the mother of all that exists, of even the gods. She is an uncontrollable creature made of "formless primordial matter" [5]
Her partner was Apsu, the personification of the freshwater abyss that lay beneath the Earth. With their union, when saltwater mixed with freshwater, the first gods were born - Lachmu and Lachamu, who begat Ansar and Kisar, parents of Anu, Bel and Ea.
These offspring irritated Tiamat and Apsu - so they decided to kill them all. Ea discovered their plans and struck first, killing Apsu in his sleep. When Tiamat heard of this she flew into a violent rage and created a legion of eleven monstrous creatures - a viper, a shark, a scorpion man, a storm demon, a great lion, a dragon, a mad dog and four nameless ones - which she assigned to her new husband, her son Kingu.
The young gods were terrified, knowing that they were no match for the powerful Tiamat. They persuaded Ea's son Marduk to be the champion of the gods by promising to make him the supreme god and ruler of the universe. Marduk fought well and was finally able to shoot an arrow into Tiamat's mouth, cleaving her dragon body in two. From her upper half he made the arc of the sky and from her lower limbs he created the earth. He also slaughtered Kingu, and from his blood and bones Marduk created the first humans. He then firmly fixed the stars, arranging the constellations of the zodiac, and created the moon - "sets him as a creature of night, to make known the days monthly without failing". [6]
Once again stars were integral to the story. Across nations and cultures the dragon is an emblem of destruction and anarchy, misdirected violence and untameable animal passions. The myth of Tiamat represented how destruction and chaos were transformed into order

2008-09-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

2012: The Year of the DragonFar off,

unknown, beyond the range of thought,scarce reached by gods, the years' rough haggard mother,stands a primeval Cave in whose vast breast,is Time's cradle and womb. A Serpent encloses,the Cave, consuming all things with slow power,and green scales always glinting. Its mouth devours,the backbent tail as with mute motion it traces,its beginning. At the entrance Nature sits,the threshold-guardian, aged and yet lovely,and round her gather and flit on every side Spirits.A Venerable Man writes down immutable laws.He fixes the number of stars in every constellation,makes some of them move and others hang at rest.So all things live or die by predetermined laws...When the Sun rested on the cave's wide threshold,Nature ran in her might to meet him; the Old Man bentgrey hairs to the proud rays. [1]
Claudian (c. 370-408), Roman poet
Of all the world's monsters, the dragon appears to be the most universal. Dragons appear in the early literature of the English, German, Irish, Danish, Norse, Romans, Greeks, Babylonians, and Egyptians - and in oral tales from every inhabited corner of the globe.
The word "dragon" is derived from the Latin dracon, which came from the Greek word for serpent, spakov. Spakov can be traced to the Greek aorist verb, spakelv meaning "sharp-sighted one" (a reference to the perceived good vision of snakes), and is related to many other ancient words to do with sight, such as darc (Sanskrit for see), derc (Old Irish for eye), torht (Old Saxon) and zoraht (Old High German) which both mean clear, or bright.
The distinctions between words that describe dragons and snakes are often blurred, and are to some degree interchangeable. The old German word for dragon, "lindwurm", literally means "snake-worm" The ancient Anglo-Saxon word "wyrm" has been translated as meaning any of "dragon," "serpent," or "worm". An English folktale which dates back to the early fifteenth century tells of Sir John Lambton battling "the Worm." The original story makes no mention of this "worm" having legs. Early pictorial representations of dragons were almost always shown as large snakes, but from the sixteenth century onward images associated with the Lambton story are of four-legged dragons. We must consider ancient dragons to be more like giant serpents, and less like the more modern fantasy images that we know so well from role-playing games and books like The Hobbit. The Bible interchanges the words dragon and serpent liberally.
"When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child."
"Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth."
(Revelation 12:7)
[ A good Biblical description of a dragon can be found at Job 41 ]The themes of chaos and disaster are often linked to dragon lore, as well as the processes of fertility and re-birth, and the revolutions of the cosmos.
This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

Ouroboros
Dragons or serpents having importance in the cosmos are present in most ancient cultures. Also common is the image of a serpent swallowing its own tail. It is commonly known as the Ouroborus/ Uroboros. Graeco-Byzantine
The image is from The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra - an alchemical tome. The words in the centre mean "the all is one". The dark and light halves represent the same opposing principles as the Chinese yin and yang.
Greek
Old Sages by the Figure of the SnakeEncircled thus did oft expression makeOf Annual-Revolutions; and of things,Which wheele about in everlasting-rings;There ending, where they first of all begun .....These Roundells, help to shew the Mysteryof that immense and blest Eternitie,From whence the CREATURE sprung, and into whomIt shall again, with full perfection come ... [2]
Aztec
( image of unknown source)
North American Indians
A ceremonial disk found at Moundville, Alabama, USA (diameter 12.5 inches)
[curious about the eye in the hand? Visit http://www.darkfiber.com/eyeinhand/ - a very large single page]
The Ouroborus was known as far back as the twenty-first dynasty in Egypt, on the papyrus of Dama Heroub. It shows up in alchemical texts such as Chrysopoeia and Codex Marcianus, and the Greeks used it to symbolise the universe. It represents the revolutions of the cosmos, an eternal cycle of destruction and renewal. It shows catastrophism and the re-emergence of life at its most basic.

Eta Carinae

2008-09-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

Eta Carinae

What We Know...
According to the Universal Book of Astronomy, Eta Carinae is:
One of the most massive and remarkable known stars; it lies in the constellation Carina. Surrounded by the largest diffuse nebula in the sky, the Eta Carinae Nebula, it is an S Doradus star with a mass of over 100 Msun and a luminosity of about 4 million Lsun, putting it close to the theoretical limit of stellar stability. Only by shedding matter at the prodigious rate of 0.1 Msun per year has it managed to stay in one piece so far. Its variability is extraordinary.
In 1843, it reached a visual magnitude of -1, making it, briefly, the second brightest star after Sirius, despite its distance of some 7,500 light-years. Accompanying this visual brightening was an expulsion of 2 to 3 Msun of material from the star’s polar regions. This material, spewed from the star at speeds close to 700 km/s, formed two large, grayish, bipolar lobes, nicknamed the Homonculus Nebula, that have been photographed in spectacular detail by the Hubble Space Telescope. Each lobe currently expands at a rate of 2.4 million km/hr and spans about 6.4 trillion km.
After the great eruption of the mid-nineteenth century, Eta Car faded in spurts to below naked-eye visibility, settling at about seventh magnitude. Recently, it has started to brighten again, gaining a full magnitude from 1950 to 1992 and is continuing its ascent. Eta Car emits powerfully across a range of wavelengths. At some infrared wavelengths, the star and its nebula are the brightest objects in the sky beyond the Solar System. The mid-infrared emission originates in dust ejected by the star during giant mass-loss events within the past several hundred years. X-rays come from an outer, horseshoe-shaped ring with an electron temperature of about 3 million K, that is about 2 light-years in diameter and was probably caused by an outburst that happened more than a thousand years ago. Regular, small-scale variations in the star’s ultraviolet and X-ray output, with a period of 5.5 years, have led to the suggestion that Eta Car is actually a binary star. According to this theory, previous eruptions may have been due to the orbital interactions of the two stars. As for the star’s powerful X-ray emission, most astronomers agree that this is the result of the collision of two dense stellar winds, but whether these emanate from the two stars of a close interacting binary system or from the fast and slow stellar winds of a single star remains unclear. One thing seems certain: Eta Carina is doomed to explode as a supernova in the not-too-distant future.[1] [emphasis added]

2008-09-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

4. Galactic Alignment
The Mayan calendar and the fractal patterns of the McKenna brothers are only human constructs, descriptions of our journey through time. But out in our galaxy there is a giant wheel revolving - we are actually on a slow wobble and the stars are just appearing to revolve. This "precession of the equinoxes" takes 25,800 years to complete one cycle, and within this cycle we can observe conjunctions in the heavens between the stars and our solar system.

Ancient cultures recognised four major dates within each year: the two solstices (when days are at their longest or shortest) and the two equinoxes (when the lengths of day and night are equal). They could tell when these dates were approaching by watching which stars were on the horizon at sunrise and sunset, and where they were relative to the sun. If you watched for long enough, for hundreds of years, then it became apparent that the stars were moving slightly out of position each year. The star that was due east at the winter solstice sunset 70 years ago is one degree out today. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus (c. 190-120 BC) is widely acknowledged as the discoverer of the precession of the equinoxes, yet the ancient Egyptians and Maya were also aware of it. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Independent researcher (that is, not an accredited scientist) John Major Jenkins has written a long and involved book titled Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 which shows that the Maya not only understood precession, but that their 2012 end-date predicted a special happening in our universe.
Our galaxy has a centre which all the stars take millions of years to revolve around, and it is located in the starriest part of the Milky Way, as seen from Earth. On four occasions within the 25,800-year cycle our galactic centre aligns with the sunrise of a solstice or equinox. The last time it occurred was on a fall equinox 6,450 years ago, approximately the dawn of Old World civilisations. On Dec 21, 2012, which is a winter solstice (Northern Hemisphere) this centre will align with our sun once more. Jenkins presents a mass of astrological, monumental and mythological evidence to show the importance of this event for the Maya, and how their calendar runs out on this day for a reason. Unfortunately he is not sure what that reason is.His book mentions:
a door into the heart of space and time will open[1]
the cosmos will be reborn or recreated[2]
we will reach the Zero Point of the process - a moment of collective spiritual birth[3]
".our basic orientations will be inverted. On the level of human civilization, our basic assumptions and foundation values will be exposed, and we will have the opportunity to embrace values long since driven under the surface of our collective consciousness"[4]
"On a literal level of interpretation, one supported by many popular writers, the field-effect reversal that mystics and futurists intuitively feel occurring on this planet bodes an impending pole shift, a literal shift in the position of the Earth's North Celestial Pole, an event that would have disastrous effects around the globe. I suppose there is not much we can do about it... I prefer to emphasize what might be termed a pole shift in our collective psyche. This places the possibility of successful, positive transformation squarely in our own hands."[5]
So, what will happen? Maybe the McKenna's flood of change, a global cataclysm or the dawning of the Age of Aquarius? Could there be a new age love-fest in 2012?Age of Aquarius
No one knows when it starts! The twelve zodiacal constellations are of different sizes, and the borders between them are very indistinct. We will be moving into the New Aquarian Age of western astrology sometime within the next 200 years. There is no singlular date on which it will happen, just a gradual change. In the same vein we find hidden in the fifth appendix of Maya Cosmogenesis 2012 an admission from Jenkins that.
"it would be more accurate to say that the alignment occurs in the era of AD. 2012; because precession is such a slow phenomenon, fifty years on either side might be appropriate." [Author's italics][6]
It appears we must look elsewhere for the why and how of what may happen. It is unlikely that the Mayan calendar end-date coincidentally occurs on a solstice, yet a solstice is only an annual position within our orbit around the sun - a solstice on its own cannot change or harm us. I suggest that 2012 is a year that the Maya always knew of, a year in which a cosmic activity will affect our planet. Their choice of Dec 21 to end the calendar on was chosen only because the winter solstice is the gloomiest day of the year, and the most appropriate day to form myths around.

2008-09-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

3. Fractal time and the I ching

10,000 years ago humans began domesticating plants and animals. 500 years ago we invented the printing press. 100 years ago we began driving automobiles.50 years ago we invented the computer.30 years ago we landed on the moon.
The speed of change is rapid. Population, computing power, speed of transport, the sheer amount of known information, and most other things that involve humans, are all increasing at an accelerating rate. The rate at which they are increasing is increasing. We are all part of it, with younger people thinking nothing of it, and the elderly commenting on it, but generally handling it okay. But if we were to transport King Arthur to modern-day New York he'd most probably pass out from trying to grasp what was happening. But can it stop, slow down or reverse. No, for that is not in our nature.

Things will keep changing at a faster rate. Every 18 months the power of computers double. Soon they will be smarter than us, and we are already on the verge of cloning humans and close to using nanotechnology to create atomic size mini-machines. Maybe there will come a time when the rate of change will reach such a speed that change is all that will exist. Various fringe scientists have tried to calculate this point of infinity, giving us calculated dates ranging from 2010 to 2050. Dates that many of us will live to see. Perhaps the date is Dec 22, 2012. Ethnobotanists and fractal time experts Terrence and Dennis McKenna believe so, and they present their ideas in Invisible Landscape: Mind Hallucinogens and the I Ching (1993). This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Their studies began with the I Ching, which is composed of 64 hexagrams, or six-line figures. It struck them that 6 x 64 = 384, which is exceptionally close to the number of days in 13 lunar months (29.5306 x 13 = 383.8978), and that maybe the I Ching was originally an ancient Chinese calendar. Further multiples had astronomical significance:
1 day x 64 x 6 = 384 days = 13 lunar months
384 days x 64 = 67 years, 104.25 days = 6 minor sunspot cycles (11.2 years each)
67 years, 104.25 days x 64 = 4306+ years = 2 Zodiacal ages
4306+ years x 6 = 25836 years = 1 precession of the equinoxes
The McKenna brothers arrived at the 2012 end date by using fractals. Starting from a table of differences between one hexagram and the next, they developed a Mandelbrot fractal in which each level is 64 times greater then the one below it. They then laid this fractal pattern on top of a time scale. The peaks and troughs of the pattern relate to the level of connectedness or novelty in any span of time, whether it covers a day, millennia or even since the beginning of time. By matching the levels of the pattern with key periods in history, they determined it would fit best if the end of the time scale was December 22, 2012. This is the only point in which the level of novelty reaches its maximum, and everything that happens is new. Change feeds upon itself like nano-machines converting every atom in the universe into gold.
The final 80 or so pages of their Invisible Landscape (1993) describe the complicated mathematics and methodology they employed. A base period of roughly 67 years was discovered (all calculations are rough, but not inaccurate).
2012 minus 67 years = 1945, a year of great change
2012 minus 4,300 years (67x64) = 2300 BC, the beginning of historical time
2012 minus 275,000 years (4300 x 64) = the emergence of Homo sapiens
2012 minus 18 million years (275,000 x 64) = the height of the age of mammals
2012 minus 1.3 billion years = the beginning of life on our planet
About what may happen in 2012 they have this to say:
"Achievement of the zero state can be imagined to arrive in one of two forms. One is the dissolution of the cosmos in an actual cessation and unravelling of the natural laws, a literal apocalypse. The other possibility. the culmination of a human process, a process of toolmaking, which comes to completion in the perfect artefact: the monadic self, exteriorised, condensed, and visible in three dimensions; in alchemical terms, the dream of a union of spirit and matter"[i]
On top of all this they state that they calculated the 2012 end date in the early 1970's, long before they had heard of the Mayan calendar. And to their credit, the original 1975 edition of The Invisible Landscape makes no mention of the Maya. If this is true, then it would be prudent to consider their result as much more than a coincidence, and to take their ideas seriously.
Also fitting the model of increasing novelty and the 2012 end date is the idea that on a sub-conscious level humans can sense a great change approaching. Unsure of what exactly to expect, but nevertheless feeling uneasy, we are doing the best we can to "get everything done" while we still have time. A last minute desperate attempt to achieve the peak of our potential. And if we are able to somehow sense a disturbance ahead, maybe birds and animals will pick up on it as well. Maybe in December 2012 the non-human species will suddenly hush, as they have demonstrated prior to earthquakes.

CalendarThe Maya

2008-09-17T04:42:00.000-07:00

Will the world end in 2012? No, it won't.
Will there be a major cataclysm in 2012? Quite possibly.
Although this book concentrates on a potential global catastrophe at a random date within our immediate future, there are three powerful arguments for that date being Dec 21, 2012. I present them here, not as certainties, but as possibilities worth considering.2. The Mayan CalendarThe Maya
The Maya civilisation inhabited a region encompassing southern Mexico, Guatemala and Belize and flourished between the third and tenth centuries AD, but by 1200 AD their society had collapsed for reasons we can only guess at. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived, descendants still occupied the area, and still spoke the Mayan language, but were unaware of the cities their forefathers had created.
It wasn't until the late 18th century that explorers first investigated the dense Guatemalan rainforest and came across plazas, monoliths, temples and pyramids, each decorated with pictures and hieroglyphs. The ancient Maya had been keeping historical records - using a script which mixed ideographic and phonetic elements. Some of their writing still exists on stelae (stone monuments) that recount civil events and record their calendric and astronomical knowledge.
Spanish Conquest
Diego de Landa was a Spanish priest who visited Mexico on a charitable mission, became the Franciscan provincial of Yucatán in 1561 and is infamous for his destruction of priceless Maya documents and artefacts.
Although Landa was very interested in the Mayan culture, he abhorred certain aspects of their practices, particularly human sacrifice. In July 1562, when evidence of human sacrifice was found in a cave containing sacred Maya statues, a bout of religious self-righteousness saw Landa order the destruction of five thousand idols. He decided that their books were also the devil's work and saw to it that they were burned, with only three books surviving. Consequently the majority of Mayan knowledge and history was lost. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
Yet despite his actions, we are also indebted to Landa for his acute and intelligent opus on Mayan life and religion, Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (1566), which remains the classical text on Mayan civilisation. This book, which was not printed until 1864, provided a phonetic alphabet that made it possible to decipher roughly one-third of the remaining Mayan hieroglyphs.
The most important of the surviving books was what is now called the Dresden Codex, named after the city where it was lodged. It is a strange book, inscribed with hieroglyphs, which no one understood until 1880. At that time Ernst FØrstemann, a German scholar who worked at the same Dresden library, managed to crack the code of the Mayan calendar making it possible for other academics to translate the many dated inscriptions found on buildings, stelae and other ancient Mayan artefacts.
He discovered that the Codex contained detailed astrological tables, which calculated the year to be 365.2420 days long, more accurate than the Julian calendar that we use today. The tables were used exclusively by the Mayan astronomers to predict the solstices and equinoxes, the path of the planets in our solar system, the cycles of Venus and Mars, and other celestial phenomena.
Other information we have today has been gleaned from the Popol Vuh and Chilam Balam - books written just after the Spanish arrived. The knowledge found in these books and codices, combined with the uncovering of mysterious pyramids, demonstrate that the Maya had an intelligence to rival the Greeks and Egyptians.Mayan Calendar
The life of the Maya revolved around the concept of time. Priests were consulted on civil, agricultural and religious matters, and their advice would be derived from readings of the sacred calendars. Time was of such importance that children were even named after the date on which they were born.
Maya math uses only three symbols - a shell-shaped glyph for zero, a dot for one and a bar for five to represent units from zero to 19. For instance, the number 13 was represented as three dots and two bars.

Zero was an advanced concept in those days, something that the Romans were not aware of. Yet the Maya were comfortable enough with it to use a shell as its symbol, a tangible object representing an abstract concept. The Maya also used metrical calculation and place numeration, which were very clever for a culture that didn't use the wheel!
Although they had many calendars, they marked the passage of time with three cycles that ran in parallel.
The first is the scared calendar known as the Tzolkin. It combines the numbers from 1 through 13 with a sequence of 20 day-names. It works in a similar manner to our named days of the week, and their date within each month. So you might have 5-Chikchan (like our Sunday the 5th) followed by 6-Kimi (as we would have Monday the 6th). After 260 days the same number/name combination will re-occur, and the calendar starts anew. Their use of the vigesimal (base 20) numbering system probably relates to fingers and toes, whereas the 13 nicely fits the growth phase of the moon which isn't visible when new and appears full for two days on end, thus appearing to have a 13 day growth cycle. Alternatively, the length of the Tzolkin may be related to the human gestation period of nine months (273 days). It has been suggested that 260 days is the time between a woman suspecting her pregnancy (she doesn't menstruate) and when she gives birth.
The second is the agricultural calendar known as the Haab, or vague year. It consists of 18 months, each of 20 days. An addition of a five-day month (a period of apprehension and bad luck named Uayeb) gives us 365 days, an approximation of a year. This calendar's primary purpose was to keep track of the seasons, for seasonal and solar events would occur on roughly the same day of each year. The Maya were aware of the annual quarter day discrepancy, but it is not known if they ever did anything about it.
These two independently running calendars each begin again every 260 and 360+5 days. However, every 52 years they coincide:
"The Tzolkin and the Haab ran concurrently, like intermeshed cog-wheels, and to return to any given date, 52 years, or 18,980 days, would have to elapse (because both 365 x 52 and 260 x 73 = 18,980). In other words, the Tzolkin would make 73 revolutions and the Haab 52, so that every 52 calendar years of 365 days one would return to the same date. A complete date in this 52-year cycle might be, for example, 2 1k 0 Pop (2 1k being the position of the day in the Tzolkin, 0 Pop the position in the Haab). Fifty-two years would pass before another 2 1k 0 Pop date returned.
It was expected that the world would end at the completion of a 52-year cycle. At this time, among the Mexica in the Valley of Mexico, all fires were extinguished, pregnant women were locked up lest they be turned into wild animals, children were pinched to keep them awake so that they would not turn into mice, and all pottery was broken in preparation for the end of the world. In the event the gods decided to grant man another 52 years of life on earth, however, a night time ceremony was held in which the populace followed the priests through the darkness over a causeway to the top of an old extinct volcano that rises abruptly from the floor of the basin of Mexico, known today as the Hill of the Star, the hill above Ixtapalapa. There, with all eyes on the stars, they awaited the passage of the Pleiades across the center of the heavens, which would announce the continuation of the world for another 52 years. When the precise moment came, a victim was quickly sacrificed by making a single gash in his chest and extracting the still palpitating heart. In the gory cavity the priests, with a fire drill, kindled a new flame that was quickly carried by torches across the lake to the temple in Tenochititlan, and from there to all temples and villages around the lake. This was known as the New Fire Ceremony among the Mexica, and in some way this same completion and renewal of each 52-year cycle was recognized by all Mesoamericans."[i]
This is not unlike how the end of the last millennium may have felt for many Christians or doomsday cult followers.
Our modern Western calendar was first introduced in Europe in 1582. It was based upon the Gregorian calendar, which calculated the Earth's orbit to take 365.25 days. This was 0.0003 of a day per year too much, but still exceptionally accurate for scientists living over 400 years ago.
The Mayan calendars were derived from those of their predecessors, the Olmec, whose culture dates back at least 3,000 years. Without the instruments of 16th century Europe, these Central American locals managed to calculate a solar year of 365.2420 days, just 0.0002 of a day short. More accurate than the Europeans, and much earlier.The Long Count
A Mayan date utilises three calendars. The third calendar, known as the "long count", is a continuous record of days that starts over every 5000 years or so. The current Long Count began in 3114 BC. And it will end very soon.
A typical Mayan date looks like this:
12.18.16.2.6, 3 Cimi 4 Zotz
4 Zotz is the Haab date.
3 Cimi is the Tzolkin date.
12.18.16.2.6 is the Long Count date.
The basic unit is the kin (day), which is the last component of the Long Count. Going from right to left the remaining components are: unial........1 unial = 20 kin = 20 daystun..........1 tun = 18 unial = 360 days = approx. 1 yearkatun.......1 katun = 20 tun = 7,200 days = approx. 20 yearsbaktun.....1 baktun = 20 katun = 144,000 days = approx. 394 years
The kin, tun, and katun are numbered from 0 to 19.
The unial are numbered from 0 to 17.
The baktun are numbered from 1 to 13.

The Long Count is a great cycle of 13 baktuns (roughly 5,126 years), where the use of 13 may again represent the growth of the moon from new to full. The current cycle began on 13.0.0.0.0 4 Ahau 8 Cumku which correlates to Aug. 13, 3114 BC.
In Mayan mythology each Long Count cycle is a world age in which the gods attempt to create pious and subservient creatures.
The First Age began with the creation of the Earth, and it had upon it vegetation and living beings. Unfortunately, because they lacked speech, the birds and animals were unable to pay homage to the gods and were destroyed. In the Second and Third Ages the gods created humans of mud and then wood, but these also failed to please and were wiped out. We are currently in the Fourth and Final Age, the age of the modern, fully functional human. Is it possible that these Ages referred to evolutionary change? If they did, then what might occur when the current age finishes on December 21, 2012?

Bast Theory

2008-09-17T04:39:00.001-07:00

The Bast TheoryPrelude
There are two obvious camps whenever Ancient Mysteries are debated - those that cite a lack of hard physical evidence, and those that trust their instincts. Prime examples are the pyramids and flood myths. These were global phenomenons in ancient times, and the similarities appear obvious to the layman, which is why so many books on the subjects are published and sold. Serious academics, who went through university adhering to strict scientific principals, will argue that there isn't enough evidence to show that ancient societies were in contact with each other. Flood myths apparantly arose from local flooding, and global pyramids... it's all just a coincidence, they say.
It is as if 100 people witnessed a murder, and knew the murderer personally. The murderer fled. Each witness told their children, who in turn told their children. Amazingly, two generations later, the murderer returns to hand himself in. Hundreds of grandchildren of the original witnesses know who he is and that he is guilty, because of the details they had been told. But he will not be punished, because there is no physical evidence, and no original witnesses.
There is little likelihood of anything surviving the ravages of time unless it was specifically designed to do so. Even today, we are finding that we are unable to contain nuclear waste forever, and settle for a few hundred years of safety ( see here ). Ancient texts like the Dead Sea Scrolls have come to us only through a fluke of circumstances.
In the search for answers I have decided that starting with evidence and then developing theories is the wrong path. There is unlikely to ever be enough definitive evidence, and if there was, scientists and academics are the best qualified to do so. So I have begun with a theory, based on instinct and obviousness, and am now trying to gather enough proof to convince the majority of humans that are sane, regular people. I have little desire to change the opinions of academics, but I have respect for some of their methods and standards - where appropriate I will choose to quote academics over laymen, and as much as possible I will provide verifiable references for anything I find. Which means any mentions of Zacharia Sitchin or Erich von Daniken are unlikely, regardless of how well meaning and intelligent they appear to be.
I also choose not to mention UFOs. I wouldn't be too surprised if we had alien visitors from time to time, but evidence is lacking. And it would be difficult for me to remain a non-fiction author with the number of possibilities they allow. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
The Starting Point
In its purest form my theory is based on these assumptions:Ancient cultures communicated with each other in some wayMysterious Elders have appeared from time to time to guide us Pyramids and mounds had a purpose other than burying royaltyEvolution doesn't generally occur in small stagesGlobal cataclysms have occurred within the last 12,000 yearsOur galactic neighbourhood could be more dangerous than is commonly acknowledged
These assumptions are certainly not unique, and many books have been written on each, with perhaps the last being debated less often than the others.The Theory
In One Sentence: Every so often a force from space causes global cataclysms and mass mutations.The Anicent Mayan Calendar ends in 2012. We would be very foolish to ignore this warning, a doomsday date that may have been given to the Maya by others Pole shifts have occurred in the past and will occur again. There is no known terrestial mechanism that can cause pole shifts, so the trigger could well be extra-terrestial. With the universe being the mystery that it is, we should accept that anything is possible.Mass extinctions and rapid evolution occur at the same time as cataclysms. Rapid evolutionary change can only be achieved via extremely high rates of mutations, and by mutations that are not random. Unicorns and dragons once actually existed, they were mutant strains that didn't survive very long.Cosmic rays cause mutations. A huge influx of cosmic rays would cause high rates of mutations. Although scientists are unsure about where all the cosmic rays come from, the source might be the same as what powers the pole shifts.The ancients were aware of the dangers of cosmic rays and cataclysms and encoded information about them into their calendars, myths and monuments. I also believe that pyramids may have been designed as cosmic ray shelters.
All of these topics are, or will be, dealt with in-depth within these pages. Why am I investigating these ideas?
As a human it is not surprising that I like humans. I don't want them to be wiped out. And I prefer them just how they are, as opposed to any mutant strain that might occur. The Mayan end-date is not far off, and if it happens to be the date of the next cataclysm, I would like to help some of us to prepare, and survive.

Introduction

2008-09-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

1. Introduction
Here is an idea worth considering:
Thousands of years ago humankind had attained a high-level of technological achievement. They understood laws of nature that are unknown to us today. They explored Antarctica and mapped the entire globe. They made monuments that we would have difficulty recreating with our modern techniques and equipment...

Then tragedy struck in the form of a global cataclysm. They were not expecting it. The disaster was so terrible that most humans perished and many animal species became extinct. Those humans that did survive were forced to live like animals while the Earth recovered. Memories faded, and knowledge disappeared. Society began again from scratch, returning to pagan beliefs and simplistic lives. But there were some that survived who somehow managed to remember more, that retained some of the advanced techniques and ideas that others had forgotten - and had the foresight and dedication to warn future generations of the next cataclysm. Knowing that it would be more than 10,000 years before the cataclysm recurred, they had to allow for certain possibilities: that in the year 2012 we could be speaking a brand new language, following unpredictable religions and using any sort of numbering system. If they were to leave us clues to help us survive, those clues would need to be big and solid enough to last 10,000 years; and coded so as to be unambiguous - regardless of the culture that interpreted them. Some modern humans, of various backgrounds and disciplines, are working towards deciphering what they have left us. This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...
We are on the verge of cloning humans, of aping God. Regardless of ethics and laws, it will happen - for whenever scientists have had the ability to do something, they haven't been able to resist - it is in their nature. On the other side of the coin, when there are not enough clues to solve a puzzle, when none of their predecessors have made quality in-roads, they have rattled off stock answers and moved on to something easier. These unsolved mysteries are typically of a historical nature - our scientists have been unable to observe the processes in real-time, and have chosen not to make unscientific guesses. The tasks have by default been given to the independent researchers, the untrained pseudo-scientists, the men and women with imagination, verve and daring. The rebels.
This book pulls together a number of these mysteries. They all relate to the potential for a global cataclysm that may be just around the corner.
Most of the topics are much debated, with radicals and the establishment taking opposing views. Is the Sphinx 5,000 or 12,000 years old? Did the biblical flood really happen? And if it did was it regional or global? Did modern man once live in the ocean? How was it that separate ancient societies all had the ability to shift giant blocks?
We shall look at ideas that have been endorsed by great thinkers, yet are ignored by the esteemed scholars of today. The idea of a pole shift had the agreement of Einstein; the existence of Atlantis was described by Plato; global cataclysms were hinted at by Darwin.
And we will see evidence that orthodox science has chosen to ignore, evidence that fails to fit their precious paradigms. Artifacts showing human civilisations existing 100,000 or even millions of years ago. Proof of a cataclysmic poleshift 12,000 years ago. And evidence that is strangely missing, such as the missing links of evolution.
Helping bind these topics together I will present some new information concerning mythical creatures and cosmic rays. And I shall explain how a global network of monuments was created for a common purpose - to warn us of our potential extinction. Hopefully these ideas will spark enough debate so that the things we treasure, and the species that we are, continue for a long, long time.

Pyramids

2008-09-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

Pyramids -> Cosmic Ray Shelters?

I was reading a paperback from the early 80's entitled "The Nuclear Survival Handbook: Living through and after a nuclear attack", by Barry Popkess. I was looking for some tips that might be useful in the event of any non-nuclear global cataclysms (for example a pole shift), and I can thoroughly recommend reading the chapters on disease and vermin, and the grim picture he paints. But it was the chapter on shelters that sent a chill down my spine. From my point of view, his detailed descriptions of how to build a nuclear radiation shelter parallel many facets of pyramids. If I am correct about the major role of cosmic rays in global cataclysms that occured in our distant past, and the ancients believed the same, then perhaps the true purpose of pyramids can finally be understood.

I'll dispense with paragraphs of introductions, background information and side-trips, and just present the evidence as I see it. Below are excerpts from the book of Mr. Popkess, and how I feel they tie in with corresponding Great Pyramid information.

(Other pyramids require less investiagtion - they were basically a case of "the more thick stuff that is above me, the less I'll get zapped by cosmic rays" - and not designed for anything more than a specific temporary shelter) This is just a small portion of my online book, Survive 2012 - a look into possible ways our world might end, and how to survive. Available in bookstores sometime before 2012, fingers-crossed...

[ Note: Obviously Mr Popkess is not describing pyramids, but rather shelters that you or I could feasibly build. He is also not just concerned with nuclear blast, but with fallout, biowarfare and disease as well. Based on the following evidence, pyramids could therefore be shelters against any of these things, not just cosmic rays. ]
Affordability

(p67) Few persons are able to afford all the requirements of an effective modern shelter.

Kings, pharoahs, religious and political leaders had the ability and influence to convince those under them to construct pyramids. Powerful people are prone to using their power for personal gain.
Exclusivity

(p69) A drawback to the use of public shelters arises from the speed with which modern weapons may be delivered. The shorter the warning of their approach the wider the entrances to the shelter need to be. And the door is likely to be the weakest point in any shelter, because it should be capable of being opened by those inside.

He is referring to the failure of Governments to provide public shelters, and possible reasons why. In ancient times the problems were the same. It was logistically impossible to provide shelter for everyone, and impractical if the threat could arrive suddenly. Those that govern will select themselves as being more worthy of having shelter - something that the US & Russian governments (amongst others) agree with.
General Design

(p68-9) Is the building, or part of it, suitable in its design and materials?

1 Resistance to blast. Steel-framed buildings and those of reinforced concrete are least likely to collapse. Mortar between bricks of old buildings may have lost its strength;

2 floors strong enough to support sandbags and falling debris;

3 an interior room;

4 a cellar or basement;

5 incorporating heat- or fire-resistant materials;

6 stairs. Interior stairs are protected from various poisons and radiation, exterior ones from fire. In tall buildings there should be both, for lifts may not be working;

7 cubic volume of building or part of it which may be sealed against entry of fallout particles, chemicals or biological agents (For practical purposes, one tenth of the cubic area contains the oxygen reserve.);

8 roof. Its slope should allow wind and rain to readily remove fallout

The Great Pyramid of Giza has resistance to blast - it is probably the most solid building on Earth. It contains interior rooms, a basement, is heat resistant, was sealed and the roof is on a bit of a slope.
Entrance

(97) This should be through a tunnel having the following features:
at least one right angled bend
a step or ramp at its outer end to prevent entry of rainwater or fallout
a decontamination section in which clothing may be changed, and monitoring and cleaning equipment be kept
an outer end facing away from the prevailing wind
at least one efficiently sealing door with which air supply and contaminants may be controlled

The main door should be of steel plate at least half an inch thick...Though its blast resistance would be greater if it opened outwards, unless the shelter also has an emergency exit it may be better for the main door to open inwards so that marauders cannot jam it shut.

The entrance tunnel has a bend, but not at right angles. The main chambers are above the entrance, so that solves the rainwater issue. The decontamination section and prevailing wind are nuclear fallout specific, and probaly not a consideration in the contruction of the pyramid. The entrance face the prevailing north wind. The doors and plugs would have been effective seals.

The exterior entrance to the pyramid supposedly had a swivel door that opened inwards. According to Ian Lawton:

Is there physical evidence for a hinged-block system? The casing stones around the original entrance have now been stripped, as have many of the core blocks behind them, so it is impossible to judge. However the huge double gables over the “inner” entrance, albeit that they were built for support rather than decoration, somehow do not appear to us consistent with the idea of a small hinged door. Meanwhile Egyptologists such as Petrie and more recently Lepre have conducted detailed analysis’ of the way the “doors” might have worked, based primarily on the fact that the Bent Pyramid’s western entrance apparently shows signs of just such a system. The blocks on either side of the entrance are reported to contain distinct sockets in which the hinges would have swivelled, while the floor—although now filled in—originally contained a deep recess which would have been necessary for the block to swivel inwards; (this is Lepre’s reappraisal of Petrie’s theory, which suggested, apparently incorrectly and based on Strabo’s original description, that it would have swivelled outwards). Lepre also suggests that the Meidum Pyramid contains similar sockets.
Volume needed for air etc

(p90-4) Here we shall consider a group consisting of two children, their mother and father, and two additional men included as protection from looters.

The group themselves

Four adults averaging 11 stone each, and two children who average 51/2 stone each will occupy about 20 cubic feet

Their food

One man will need about 4000 calories per day while he works a manual air pump and cycle-generator and engages in other hard work. If he shares the task with others they will share the extra food allowance which therefore remains the same. The foods which this ration might include, listed below, are neither the most or least suitable for the purpose but selected at random from stocks which most supermarkets hold.:

425g tin creamed soup, 340 calories, 31.5 cu in
198g tin ham, 578 cals, 15.9 cu in
397g tin tomatoes, 79 cals, 29.7 cu in
425g tin kidney beans, 382 cals, 31.8 cu in
822g tin apricots, 715 cals, 58 cu in
200g pkt biscuits, 665 cals, 29 cu in
325g cheddar cheese, 1300 cals, 19 cu in

Total: 4059 calories, 215 cu in

Each additional and presumed 'resting' man will need about 1600 calories per day if he is to remain capable of instant strenuous activity:

500g pkt raisins, 1426 calories, 27.5 cu in
43g cheddar cheese, 175 cals, 2.53 cu in

Total: 1601 calories, 30 cu in

Each presumed 'resting' woman will need about 1300 calories per day:

410g evaporated milk, 522 cals, 29 cu in
822g apricots, 715 cals, 58 cu in

Total: 1267 calories, 87 cu in

Each child will need about 1000 calories per day:

425g tin creamed soup, 340 cals, 31.5 cu in
200g pkt biscuits, 665 cals, 29 cu in

Total: 1005 calories, 60.5 cu in

Three months' food for our group of six therefore occupies about 25 cubic feet of shelter space, and the space that everyone and everything which the shelter is to hold needs to be worked out in a similar manner.

Their individual kits

1 pair boots, 50 cu in
2 pairs trousers, 680 cu in
2 pairs pants, 200 cu in
3 pairs socks, 129 cu in
2 vests, 160 cu in
3 pullovers, 1011 cu in
1 anorak, 600 cu in
1 overcoat, 1400 cu in
1 raincoat, 600 cu in
1 pair gloves, 30 cu in
1 scarf, 110 cu in
protective clothing, 6000 cu in
1 blanket-poncho, 2000 cu in
1 mattress, 7776 cu in
1 sleeping bag, 665 cu in
eating utensils, 40 cu in
toiletries, 140 cu in
4 rolls toilet paper, 300 cu in
misc. personal possessions, 500 cu in

Individual kits of the six members of the group will occupy about 78 cubic feet of shelter space.

Shelter equipment

Partition between living and decontamination areas, 12,096 cu in
latrine, 400 cu in
heater, 1944 cu in
cooker, 393 cu in
medical, 2200 cu in
two tins disinfectant, 1200 cu in
one tin rat poison, 600 cu in
two monitors, 576 cu in
weapons for self defence, 1800 cu in
tools, 3000 cu in
cylinder of compressed air, 2289 cu in
two transistor radios, 296 cu in
pots, pans, bucket, mop etc, 500 cu in
reference books, 1296 cu in
seeds and yeast, 1728 cu in
two torches, 62 cu in
cycle, 576 cu in
cycle stand, 144 cu in
two batteries, 2240 cu in
battery charger, 648 cu in
manual air pump and filter, 3592 cu in
fuel, 32,556 cu in
lime, 4032 cu in

Total: 43 cubic feet

Water: 5.5 cubic feet

Grand Total: 171.5 cubic feet (doesn't allow for awkward shapes, is only for the purpose of calculating air reserve)

Air reserve

The supply of air from outside may at any time be interrupted by the air pump breaking down or its operators becoming tired; if, in the close conditions in the shelter, everyone sleeps of becomes ill at the same time; if there is severe air pollution outside, or if the shelter's air inlets become damaged or are blocked by looters intent on forcing the occupants to quit. Clearly, an air reserve sufficient for twelve hours should be regarded as minimal.

A twelve hour air reserve for six 'resting' people is therefore 24,000 litres or 858 cubic feet. If all six were not resting, but one was engaged in strenuous activity, his air intake might be as much as that of all his companions together, and the area enclosed by the twelve-hour air reserve therefore need to be twice as great.

Hence the minimum capacity for a purpose-built shelter for six persons is 1030 cubic feet, which, assuming an internal height of six feet three inches, allows a floor space of a hundred and sixty-six square feet. But because all the group may not be 'resting' all the time, and as the latrine and washing arrangments, decontamination procedures and working fo the air pump and cycle generator would be almost impossible in so small an area, the actual internal dimensions of the shelter should exceed these by as much as the resources of the owner reasonably permit.

According to the Pharaoh's Pump Theory of Edward J. Kunkel, the internal capacity of the pyramid is 600 cubic metres, which according to the above figures is enough space and air for 120 people. Given that the pyramid has rooms with higher ceilings (Grand Gallery is 28 feet high, Kings Chamber roughly 19 feet high), less people than 120 could live in the pyramid - but a group of 6 people definitely could. For the purposes of pumping air, high ceilings would be inefficient, so we must presume that the ancient folk who designed the pyramid shelter did not pump the air manually.

The main internal dimensions for the pyramid are:

King's Chamber
10.5 x 5.2 m, 5.8 m high

Queen's Chamber
5.8 x 5.3 m, 6 m high

Grand Gallery
46.7 x 2.1 m, 8.7 m high

Ascending Passage
39 x 1.5 m, 1.6 m high

Descending Passage
91.5 x 1.1 m, 1.2 m high

Subterranean Chamber
14 x 7.2 m, 5.3 m high
Construction Materials

(p94)The following give minimum shielding from radiation:

three inches of lead
seven inches of steel
eighteen inches of tiles
twenty inches of asbestos sheeting
two feet of concrete
twenty-six inches of asphalt or stone
thirty inches of sand
three feet of brickwork, slates, concrete blocks filled with sand or of well packed earth
five feet of water
seven feet of books or magazines
nine feet of wood

Of these the most readily available is earth. 3.3 inches of soil halves fallout radiation, and 7.5 inches of it reduces initial gamma radiation by a half. As with all barrier materials, if we double any given thickness of soil we more than double the protection from radiation which it affords. Thus three feet of soil gives twice the protection from neutrons and five times the protection from initial and fallout gamma radiation that one foot less would give.

In practice, however, concrete is the ideal material for a survival shelter. It resists blast, heat, all forms of radiation and attempts at forced entry by looters. It is fireproof and waterproof, can support such fittings as heavy doors... and is cheap. 2.2 inches of concrete halves the radiation from fallout, and 6 inches of it does the same to initial gamma radiation. It is so effective because, containing light elements such as hydrogen and also heavier ones such as calcium and silicon, it both slows neutrons and reduces gamma rays. But concrete can become an even more effective barrier to radiation if certain heavy materials are mixed with it. One such heavy additive is the iron ore limonite, and another is barite/barium sulphate from heavy spar.

There is no doubt that the thickness of the pyramid would be highly effective in blocking cosmic rays and other forms of radiation - there is almost 100 metres of stone between the King's Chamber and the sky.

The ancient Egyptians experimented with pyramids of different angled slopes, in an attempt to gain the greatest height from the least materials. Why was height important? Well, the higher the pyramid, the greater the cosmic ray protection afforded to those sheltering directly beneath the pyramid. The typical Egyptian pyramid has a cavity directly below the apex of the pyramid, just below ground level. I believe that these cavities were the original crude shelters, and the pyramids were thought up at a later date. The placing of the chambers high within the Great Pyramid could just be an aspect of the "showing off" displayed by their clever incorporation of mathematics.

The Famine Stela has been used as evidence to support the theory of the Giza pyramids being made out of concrete. Three additives to the concrete are mentioned, based on their smell:

"The garlic stone: Garlic has been suggested for HUTEM and TAAM, i.e. the root word TEM. In col. 16, the ore TEM-IKR could represent the garlic stone, the prefix KR meaning weak, i.e. the stone which has a weak smell of garlic."

"A simple method in petrography for the identification of natural minerals and ores is to heat them with a small blow lamp. If they immediatly release a smell of garlic, they belong to the arsenate family (arsenate of copper or of iron)."

It was valuable to identify arsenate, because it is very toxic - so there is a remote chance that the Giza pyramids are made of concrete which has arsenate of iron mixed in with it.

Also, a Central American pyramid contains broad, thick layers of mica, which had to be transported over 2000 miles from Brazil. These sheets are ninety feet square and were not visible, but merely another layer in the construction. Perhaps its purpose was radiation shielding? Sheets and rods of mica bonded with glass can tolerate extreme temperatures, radiation, high voltage, and moisture. One of the modern uses of mica is windows for microwave ovens. It is also used in Geiger counters and cosmic ray detectors.
Ventilation

(p101-2) A chimney leading through the roof, curved at its outside end away from the prevailing wind, or fitted with a revolving cowl, may be sealed at its inside end after warning of use of chemical or biological agents. Air inlets and vents should be fitted with blast valves which will seal the inside of the shelter from changes in air pressure outside it, and which, in a heavily built-up area should also be capable of being closed to prevent the air inside the shelter being sucked out by a firestorm which might otherwise asphyxiate the shelter's occupants.

In an elaborate ventilation system air filters may be incorporated. Fine mesh prevents entry of large particles and droplets. Activated charcoal granules, available commercially, may be used as absorbents

Heater, cooker, latrine and incinerator should be located near the air outlet.

The pyramid has four shafts which were dubbed "ventilation shafts" by nineteenth century egyptologists - because that is what they most resemble.

The Queen's Chamber has two shafts, however they had to be cut open from the inside of the chamber, and they do not reach the outside of the pyramid. It was almost as if they are spares.

The two shafts of the Queen's Chamber have hogged the limelight in recent years - due to Rudolf Gantenbrink's discovery of a door at top of one of them - and it is easy to forget that the shafts of the King's Chamber actually connect the chamber with the outside of the pyramid, like a proper air shaft should. And today the shafts are have been fitted with fans and actually used for ventilation!

There were possibly iron doors at the chamber end of the shafts:

"The plate was, after all, reported to have been found near the outer opening of the King's Chamber southern "air passage." The discrepancy between the size of the plate (30.5 x 10 cm) and the size of the opening of the shaft (30.5 x 23.3 cm) may be explained by the plate's obvious fragmentary nature. The plate in its original form could easily have been a good fit."
Temperature inside the pyramid

"When the airshafts were cleaned and opened, cool air immediately entered the King's Chamber. Since that time, the King's Chamber has always maintained a constant comfortable temperature of 68 degrees, no matter what the outside temperature was. This seems to be one of the earliest forms of air conditioning. "
http://www.gizapyramid.com/history2.htm

"There is so much stone mass in the pyramid that the interior temperature is constant and equals the average temperature of the earth, 68 degrees Fahrenheit. "
(page 40,- Dramatic Prophecies of the Great Pyramid, 1974, Rodolfo Benavides, ISBN 0-914732-00-5)

It could be that there are two main reasons why the pyramid is as big as it is. Thickness to help block cosmic rays, and density to maintain a constant temperature - a similar temperature to that experienced by other potential survivors who chose to hide underground. It would also be close to the nicest temperature to live in, considering that a common setting for air conditioners in winter is 68 degrees. In Coober Pedy, Australia, where people live underground to escape the heat, dugouts have an average temperature of 23º - 25ºC year round = 73-77 degrees fahrenheit - but they are much closer to the surface than the interior of a pyramid..
Lighting

Obviously the interior of the pyramid would be too dark to be comfortable in. Many have speculated on what would have been used. Lit torches would have been the most common means back then, but a lack of soot within the pyramid seemingly rules that out. Some have suggested an arrangement of mirrors. My favorite is more hi-tech. Several images from the crypts of Dendera appear to show modern electric light-bulbs.
http://www.doernenburg.alien.de/alternativ/dendera/dend00_e.php
http://www.doernenburg.alien.de/alternativ/dendera/dend03_e.php
Food

No need to discuss this at length - the height of the rooms means they had enough storage space for food supplies - the inhabitants could have potentially lived on top of their supplies... except to say that:

Egyptian hieroglyphics indicate that the consumption of mushrooms would bring them immortality. Perhaps this is just reflecting the ability of mushrooms to create food in an environment without light - an environment that affords an immortality of sorts to those who sheltered there?
Toilet Facilities

I vote for the subterranean chamber to be the latrine and trash area. It is unfinished which indicates the royal survivors would no spend much time there. It has a 20 metre deep pit. And there is the escape shaft (also known as the well shaft or service shaft) which looks to me like a laundry shute - ie an easy way of throwing waste down to the basement without trudging down the passageways
Sabotage & Emergency Exits

(p96) When concrete is poured, holes in it will need to be left for external fittings to be added. These fittings will include air inlet(s) and vent(s), an external aerial, the disposal chute and latrine pit, a pipe from an outside water supply, an emergency exit and, if desired an external-radiation sensor and periscope. Because air and water pipes, aerial, surface-radiation sensor and periscope are all liable to cut, blocked or damaged by looters, as well as give away the position of the shelter, they should be camouflaged and duplicated by less well-hidden decoys, the lower ends of which lead away from the direction of the shelter.

A secret entrance (obviously in this case it would be a secret exit) has long been speculated, but not yet found. A key piece of evidence is that the second pyramid (called Khafre or Chephren) has two entrances.

But this pyramid does have redundacy in the air shafts. By having two that reach the exterior, and two more that don't quite reach the exterior, one could speculate that the second set were spares, in case of sabotage. If someone on the outside rendered the air-shafts unusable, they could complete their spare shafts and breathe again.

I'm not suggesting that I know how they would complete the spare shafts, but it's easy to suggest that they used the same technology that allowed them to build the pyramid itself.

Of course one could use the air shafts to facilitate a periscope.
Giant Pump

It has been suggested that the pyramid is a giant pump - either used for raising the blocks when it was built, and/or to help with irrigation. A third possibility is to remove any water that got into the pyramid, if the local area had flooded.

2008-09-17T04:06:00.001-07:00

The Aquatic Ape Theory

(The Aquatic Ape Theory is mostly the work of just two people[1] - I have nothing new to add, except for a possible connection with global cataclysms)

Consensus amongst scientists (known as the Savannah Theory) has it that the following sequence occurred:
When human predecessors in the African jungles became overpopulated, some of them were forced to live on the open plain or savannah.
Having to hunt game for food, they learnt to stand on their hind legs to see their prey more easily
Because it was so hot out there, they shed their hair to enable sweat to flow freely
Speech and intelligence grew from the need to communicate and hunt in packs

Hence humans evolved. On the surface it makes a lot of sense, and we can be forgiven for not questioning any aspects of this theory. We know from images in encyclopedias and popular culture that primitive men hunted animals for food and skin, and that they lived in caves. They were hairy brutish thugs and a perfect intermediary between the chimpanzees and humans of today.

However, the Savannah Theory is riddled with conundrums, such as:
Primates such as baboons and vervet monkeys live on the savannah - they have not become bipedal, nor have they lost hair
The many thousands of years it took to evolve from being able to move quickly on four legs, to beings able to run on two legs, would have left the prototype humans extremely vulnerable to predators.

Mammals are not designed to walk vertically, because it is grossly inefficient. If the first apes attempted it, they would have been like year old babies: falling over all the time. Furthermore, the “missing link” would have lacked the locking mechanism of the knees that we have today. Imagine trying to stand with your knees bent for a few hours. Without a high priority reason to do so, the human predecessors would have simply given up. Evolution does not have an agenda. Animals cannot see into the future and aspire to being human, they can only respond to need. To gain a better view over the tall grass, a more obvious change, seeing as our ape relatives are good at jumping, would have been to jump higher.

The mammalian spine is designed like a clothes rack - things hang from it. It consists of a long, slightly arched rod supported by two sets of legs. The animal’s body weight is evenly distributed and the centre of gravity is low, making for a well-balanced individual. Using four legs has been shown, by the evolution of all the other species, to be best way of getting about. In rare cases like kangaroos and ostriches, you can see how evenly their weight is distributed. No other animal walks perpendicular like humans - it isn’t an efficient way of doing things. If you need more convincing, simply consider the terrible back problems the majority of us will suffer during our life time due to our ridiculous posture.

There is, however, one primate species that regularly walks on its hind legs, the proboscis monkeys of Borneo. They live in mangrove swamps and regularly drop down into the water below them. They are excellent swimmers, but if they are able to touch the bottom they elect to walk, just like humans. With the support of water around them, the instability and discomfort of terrestrial bipedalism disappears. With their heads held up high they are able to breathe easier than when swimming.

The plot thickens when we delve into he geological and climatic history of North East Africa, where the fossils of “Lucy” and other famous human ancestors have been dug up. Lucy’s scientific title is Australopithecus afarensis, because she was found in the region of Ethiopia known as Afar. From seven million to 70,000 years ago this area was an inland sea, sea water that flooded in and then got trapped, separated from the ocean proper. This is typical of the environment we would expect an Aquatic Ape to evolve in. Today it has all dried up, leaving a virtually impassable desert, with salt deposits thousands of feet deep.

A key problem cited by orthodox scientists, the lack of fossil evidence for the Aquatic Ape Theory, is ridiculous. None of the aquatic characteristics listed here can be deduced from fossils. So theoretically any ancient hominids may have had these features, we just can’t tell. For the same reason, scientists might guess at the skin or hair colour of fossils, but they cannot know.

Turns out that most African hominid fossils have been found in or near bodies of water. This is explained as “they were passing by, and stopped for a drink” or “heavy rains made the river overflow and they drowned”. The obvious explanation, that they lived in and beside the water (as most humans still do), is rarely considered.

There is considerable evidence to show that regions of Africa once had the same characteristics as the mangrove swamps of Borneo.

A press release from the University of Toronto, August 1999, states:

“The first humans may have been beach-dwellers foraging for shellfish, not grassland hunter-gatherers… ….evidence that the large brains of the earliest humans could only have evolved on the nutrient-rich diet provided by shellfish and other animal life found near shorelines. "You don't need a big brain to collect mussels and clams. But living on them gives you the excess energy and nutrients that can then be directed towards brain growth."

The popular image of the earliest humans living on the African savanna must be wrong, [Stephen] Cunnane says. His team has found that a specific fatty acid, DHA, necessary for human brain and eye development, is easily available in food near shore environments but not in the diet of savanna mammals. This suggests humans evolved near water before spreading inland, he says.

"We'd like to see early humans as hunters who took advantage of nature and grew a big brain in the process," he says. "But how could that hunting ability miraculously appear overnight? Well, it didn't. Instead, they evolved in a place where they didn't have to hunt."

Cunnane believes recent hominid finds in South Africa that show proto-human fossils in close association with the remains of aquatic creatures are more evidence for the theory, which he hopes to further test next year by isotopic analysis of early human fossils.”

Fat, Sweaty and Hairless

Charles Darwin once wrote:

“The loss of hair is an inconvenience and probably an injury to man , for he is thus exposed to the scorching of the sun and to sudden chills, especially due to wet weather. No one supposes that the nakedness of the skin is any direct advantage to man; his body therefore cannot have divested of hair through natural selection."[2]

The Savannah Theory fails in this regard. These areas of Africa can cool to 11ºC at night, and it would not be an advantage for humans to sleep there even on a dry night. It is normal for terrestrial animals to have fur or thick hair. Humans still have the capillary muscles which enable our hair to stand on end. If our hair were longer it would then trap a layer of air close to the body, creating a thermal blanket of sorts. Feathers work the same way. Most animals have the ability to adjust their exterior in accordance with changing air temperature, whereas us poor humans have to resort to clothing. Hair or fur is also very useful for protection against injury, something very important in the wild. Obviously we lost our hair, not because hairlessness was an advantage, but because at one time our habitat was such that having hair was a distinct disadvantage.

The easiest way to determine why humans are hairless is to study other mammals that have evolved into a similar situation. Charles Darwin commented thus:

“Whales and porpoises, dugongs and the hippopotamus are naked, and this may be advantageous to them for gliding through the water; nor would it be injurious to them from the loss of warmth, as the species which inhabit the colder regions are protected by a thick layer of blubber.”[3]

Elephants are virtually hairless and are capable of swimming many miles, their trunks perfectly suited to use as a snorkel. The tapir of Asia, Central and South America is like a mini elephant, with a small proboscis nose. It’s hair is very sparse and it loves to swim and dive. Pigs such as the babirusa are yet another mammalian species which have evolved to suit living in the water - losing hair and gaining blubber. (Mammals living in subterranean circumstances have also lost hair, and usually sight as well - this angle is best put aside for whoever invents The Mole Ape Theory,)

Pigs and hippopotami readily come to the minds of children when searching for animal personifications to bait their obese acquaintances with.

Compared to all the other primates, humans definitely deserve the “fatty” tag. A gorilla or chimpanzee kept in a cage might put on a fraction of extra weight, as might an old horse that can’t run about as much as it use to. But the only land mammals capable of doubling or trebling their natural weight, to have rolls of fat hanging from arms, legs, hips and bellies, to be unable to walk without breaking into a sweat, are humans.

This fattiness is normal. If a woman’s body is underweight it chooses not to conceive. A typical 16-year-old girl should have 27% of her body weight in fatty tissue. If it were to drop below 22%, her menstruation cycle will cease. The reason that we need to stitch up serious flesh wounds is because the layer of fat just below our skin tries to ooze out. The edges of the cut become separated and are unable to rejoin and heal - other mammals don’t have this problem, their skin sits on top of muscle, not fat.

The concept of sweating as a cooling device is ridiculous. This system, which is unique to humans (other mammals that sweat do it less profusely than us, and use a different type of gland) is flawed. It is prone to activating at the wrong time (in humid weather), is too slow to start and stop, provides far more than the thin layer of moisture required for cooling, and wastes salt. We are the only mammal that expels salt when we sweat. Even when a human is nearing total dehydration it will continue sweating in hot weather and even die. Our sweating system is yet another disadvantage of being human.

So why do we sweat? One possible reason is to expel salt. If and when they first took to the sea, our ancestors would have been eating seafood (which by definition is salty) and accidentally swallowing salt water. The overload on our kidneys would have created a need for a secondary system to evolve. Seabirds have special glands for removing salt from their body.

Humans cry, the function of which that has long baffled evolutionary scientists. It is also for the purpose of expelling salt. You may have noticed that if you cry too long, the saltiness will sting your eyes. Why this action is nowadays connected to our emotions is unknown. Have you heard of crocodile tears? Well it is true, crocodiles also cry as a means of expelling salt from their system (of course this is not case with freshwater crocs). Walruses cry. Elephants cry. Non-human primates do not cry. Although we obviously look like monkeys, in some ways we have close connections to water-loving mammals. Pigs love to “wallow”, and we use pigs as organ donors. Elephants are, when you think about it, smooth-skinned, swimming, crying, intelligent, overweight social animals - just like us. It appears that they evolved in the ocean as well, but chose to come back on land rather than becoming whales. Humans made a similar decision, whereas dolphins chose the sea.
Swimming & Diving
Swimmers and Divers require a large opening to enable the rapid inhalation and exhalation of air - and our mouths are large compared to the small opening of our nose and the noses of most other mammals. They also need to be able to close their air passages, making it harder for them to accidentally swallow water.

"Several unrelated aquatic species have evolved some kind of movable flap either instead of, or in addition to, valvular nostrils. The penguin has one, and the crocodile has one. Alone among the primates, humans have such a flap - that is, the back of the soft palate, known as the velum, which in our species can be raised and lowered to isolate the nasal passages from the mouth cavity. It could not opeate in this fashion if the larynx had not retreated out of its way to its present position below the back of the tongue.

"The only other mammals which are known to feature a descended larynx are diving mammmals - the sea lion and the dugong. These two species are about as unrelated to one another as they are to humans. The descended larynx must have evolved independently in each of them, after their respective land-dwelling ancestors entered an aquatic environment."[4]

While we were aquatic mammals, our descended larynx helped us with communication - as we began to speak we were capable of a wider range of sounds. The primary reason why apes such as the chimpanzee can not "speak" is not because of the limited range of sounds available to them - they can say "ah", "ee", "oo", and pronounce the letters k, p, h and m. These few sounds are ample to create a large number of words. They have proven to be capable of excellent communication using sign language, and they also understand verbal instructions, but they lack the capacity speak as we do. The reason is not intelligence, it is to do with breathing. Like most mammals, the breathing function in chimpanzees is not voluntary, it is as automatic as the heart. To some extent it is also involuntary in humans, like when we sneeze, hiccup or get a sudden fright. But the rest of the time we get to choose how we breathe - this is directly attributed to our aquatic past, when we had to hold our breath to dive below the surface.

Conscious control of breath is a characteristic that we share with all other diving mammals, and something that no other non-aquatic mammals have.

The Penis

The large comparative size of the penis in adult male humans (man 13cm vs gorilla 3cm) is not related to the frequency of deployment. It is a necessary consequence of the retraction and relative inaccessability of the vagina.

“An aquatic environment seems to have had a broadly similar effect on some other species - that is, relative retraction of the femal sex organ leading to a corresponding extension of that of the males. For example, most birds and reptiles do not possess a penis; the pressing together of the cloacal apertures seems to suffice for the transference of the sperm. But many species of aquatic reptiles (crocodiles and turtles) and aquatic birds (swans, ducks, geese) have found it necessary to evolve a penis as part of their adaption to a watery habitat.”[5]
Scent Signalling

“In mammals, oestrous status is communicated by scent signalling - a pheromonal message emitted by the female. Being airborne, it may be carried quite a long way - as evidenced by the distance a dog will travel to locate a bitch on heat. But in a wading or swimming ape the pheromones would be washed away almost as soon as they were scented.

“...But in humans the ability to receive and interpret scent signals is very low. The olfactory lobe in our brains is proportionately smaller than in the brains of apes. (This is a common feature in aquatic mammals. In whales and seals the olfactory lobe has diminished almost to vanishing point.) So one reason for the ending of the oestrus could be that it ceased to work properly. As a result of the pheronomal secretions being washed away, plus diminished scent perception, the signal was simply not getting across.”[6]

The Missionary Position

As humans we have a common sexual position that is quite different to that of other land-based mammals – front to front. The usual explanation is that we wish to kiss...

“Ventro-ventral copulation, very rare in land mammals, is the commonest mode in aquatic mammals except for those that go ashore to breed. Whales and dolphins, dugongs and manatees, beavers, and sea otters are among the numerous aquatic species which mate face to face. Swimming promotes this method of copulation in the same way that bipedalism does, because in both cases the spine and the hind limbs are realigned, forming a continuous straight line instead of the 90-degree angle found in most quadrapreds.”[7]

-----------------------------

I have only touched upon the topic. For far, far more evidence you need to read the works of Elaine Morgan, especially The Aquatic Ape Theory. Anyone of average intelligence and an open mind should find her theory to be credible.

Handy Link: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/5168/aat.html

Aquatic Apes & 2012

For humans to evolve from apes in the manner described above, one of the following needed to occur:

1) A localized flood, and all humans descended from a small group
2) A global flood

In a cataclysmic flood scenario, the usual habitats of most land-based mammals would end up underwater, and large populations would drown. Survivors would be extra hungry and more likely to attack each other. Humans may have retreated to water for the sake of safety. Because their numbers were greatly reduced, and (I believe), subjected to large doses of radiation, we have an ideal situation for rapid evolution. Where in the timeline of human development this occurred, and whether it was during the last cataclysm or one prior, I cannot say.

My thoughts are as follows:
Humans acquired intelligence and bipedalism whereas other primates did not
The aquatic scenario provides support for bipedalism and brain food
There is evidence of global cataclyms in the past, and myths of great floods
A forced change of habitat combined with increased radiation creates an ideal situation for rapid evolution

what is going to happen in 2012 ? short description

2008-09-17T02:56:00.000-07:00

NASA CLAIMS SUN'S POLAR SHIFT DUE IN 2012
The Sun's magnetic north pole, which was in the northern hemisphere just a few months ago, now points south. It's a topsy-turvy situation, but not an unexpected one.

"This always happens around the time of solar maximum," says David Hathaway, a solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The magnetic poles exchange places at the peak of the sunspot cycle. In fact, it's a good indication that Solar Max is really here."

The Sun's magnetic poles will remain as they are now, with the north magnetic pole pointing through the Sun's southern hemisphere, until the year 2012 when

Above: Sunspot counts, plotted here against an x-ray image of the Sun, are nearing their maximum for the current solar cycle. [more information]

they will reverse again. This transition happens, as far as we know, at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle -- like clockwork.

Earth’s magnetic field also flips, but with less regularity. Consecutive reversals are spaced 5 thousand years to 50 million years apart. The last reversal happened 740,000 years ago. Some researchers think our planet is overdue for another one, but nobody knows exactly when the next reversal might occur.

Although solar and terrestrial magnetic fields behave differently, they do have something in common: their shape. During solar minimum the Sun's field, like Earth's, resembles that of an iron bar magnet, with great closed loops near the equator and open field lines near the poles. Scientists call such a field a "dipole."

The Sun's dipolar field is about as strong as a refrigerator magnet, or 50 gauss (a unit of magnetic intensity). Earth's magnetic field is 100 times weaker.

When solar maximum arrives and sunspots pepper the face of the Sun, our star's magnetic field begins to change. Sunspots are places where intense magnetic loops -- hundreds of times stronger than the ambient dipole field -- poke through the photosphere.

"Meridional flows on the Sun's surface carry magnetic fields from mid-latitude sunspots to the Sun's poles," explains Hathaway. "The poles end up flipping because these flows transport south-pointing magnetic flux to the north magnetic pole, and north-pointing flux to the south magnetic pole."

The dipole field steadily weakens as oppositely-directed flux accumulates at the Sun's poles until, at the height of solar maximum, the magnetic poles change polarity and begin to grow in a new direction.

Hathaway noticed the latest polar reversal in a "magnetic butterfly diagram." Using data collected by astronomers at the U.S. National Solar Observatory on Kitt Peak, he plotted the Sun's average magnetic field, day by day, as a function of solar latitude and time from 1975 through the present. The result is a sort of strip chart recording that reveals evolving magnetic patterns on the Sun's surface.

"We call it a butterfly diagram," he says, "because sunspots make a pattern in this plot that looks like the wings of a butterfly."

In the butterfly diagram, pictured below, the Sun's polar fields appear as strips of uniform color near 90 degrees latitude. When the colors change (in this case from blue to yellow or vice versa) it means the polar fields have switched signs.
The ongoing changes are not confined to the space immediately around our star, Hathaway added. The Sun's magnetic field envelops the entire solar system in a bubble that scientists call the "heliosphere." The heliosphere extends 50 to 100 astronomical units (AU) beyond the orbit of Pluto. Inside it is the solar system -- outside is interstellar space.

"Changes in the Sun's magnetic field are carried outward through the heliosphere by the solar wind," explains Steve Suess, another solar physicist at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "It takes about a year for disturbances to propagate all the way from the Sun to the outer bounds of the heliosphere."

Because the Sun rotates (once every 27 days) solar magnetic fields corkscrew outwards in the shape of an Archimedian spiral. Far above the poles the magnetic fields twist around like a child's Slinky toy.

Because of all the twists and turns, "the impact of the field reversal on the heliosphere is complicated," says Hathaway. Sunspots are sources of intense magnetic knots that spiral outwards even as the dipole field vanishes. The heliosphere doesn't simply wink out of existence when the poles flip -- there are plenty of complex magnetic structures to fill the void. Or so the theory goes....

Researchers have never seen the magnetic flip happen from the best possible point of view -- that is, from the top down. But now, the unique Ulysses spacecraft may give scientists a reality check. Ulysses, an international joint venture of the European Space Agency and NASA, was launched in 1990 to observe the solar system from very high solar latitudes. Every six years the spacecraft flies 2.2 AU over the Sun's poles. No other probe travels so far above the orbital plane of the planets.

"Ulysses just passed under the Sun's south pole," says Suess, a mission co-Investigator. "Now it will loop back and fly over the north pole in the fall."

"This is the most important part of our mission," he says.

Ulysses last flew over the Sun's poles in 1994 and 1996, during solar minimum, and the craft made several important discoveries about cosmic rays, the solar wind, and more.

"Now we get to see the Sun's poles during the other extreme: Solar Max. Our data will cover a complete solar cycle."

To learn more about the Sun's changing magnetic field and how it is generated, please visit "The Solar Dynamo," a web page prepared by the NASA/Marshall solar research group. Updates from the Ulysses spacecraft may be found on the Internet from JPL at http://ulysses.jpl.nasa.gov.

POLE SHIFT & POLE REVERSAL IN 2012

In 2012 the next polar reversal will take place on earth. This means that the North Pole will be changed into the South Pole. Scientifically this can only be explained by the fact that the earth will start rotating in the opposite direction, together with a huge disaster of unknown proportions.

In my books I reveal the immense cataclysm that is going to torment the earth in the near future. It is presently assumed by most people and the general scientific world at large, that the rotation of the Earth is stable, however, as expounded in my previous works on this subject, this is not the case. The gruesome reports of the previous catastrophes should, hopefully, be clear to all.

The historical exploration of cosmology in previous books is founded on the translation of hieroglyphs, cracking of codes, unveiling of the magnetic reversal of the sun, study of old maps, decoding of astronomical clues, geological research, and the discovery of the most exciting archaeological find in modern times.

Considering these I came to the following conclusions:

With clock-like regularity, sudden reversals and pole shifts are natural to the Earth. The result is worldwide destruction, and is supported by paleo-magnetic evidence and early manuscripts.

The reversal of the poles is attributed to the harmonic cycle of the magnetic fields of the sun.

Polar reversals can be calculated precisely on the basis of the sunspot cycle theory or the magnetic field theory, which the Maya and the Old Egyptians were privy to. These secrets are contained in the Labyrinth of Hawara *, a huge complex consisting of three thousand rooms.

* The question of the labyrinth has also been studied by David Rohl, who thinks that there is a connection between Avaris and the Labyrinth of Hawara or Aueris (i.e. 'Avaris', meaning 'house of the department') in the Faiyum, described by the Greek traveller Herodotus. This enormous building next to the pyramid of Amenemhet III was called 'the Labyrinth' because of its endless maze of courtyards, corridors and rooms. Interestingly, it was built just before the Hyksos period.

I explained abundantly clearly that life after a polar reversal is nothing but horror, pure unimaginable horror. All securities you presently have at hand, like - amongst others - food, transport, and medicines, will have disappeared in one big blow, dissolved into nothingness. As will our complete civilization. It cannot be more horrifying than this; worse than the worst nightmare. More destructive than a nuclear war in which the entire global arsenal of nuclear weapons has been deployed in one blow.

Are you grasping the facts?

The earth will be subjected to total destruction. It will be many times worse than my description. Terrible hunger, cold and pain, and more will rule your daily life: without hope of a quick recovery, because all knowledge and resources will have been completely destroyed. That will be the reality of your daily life after the forthcoming polar reversal. And it is in this scenario you will have to try to survive.

The Riddle of the Magnetic Field Solved
At present scientists still do not know much about the mechanism that generates the magnetic field of the earth, which is more than frightening. Without doubt, our continued existence depends upon this. Thousands of years ago our ancestors knew that when this magnetic field tilts, a worldwide destruction takes place. The present geologists, astronomers and physicists know little about this. For that reason we are running towards our end, without a single acknowledgement from official sources.

So, what do our professors indeed know?

Next to nothing. In short, the scenario is as follows: a solid central core rotates in the center of the earth. It is surrounded by a liquid iron-like layer, on top of which the earth's crust is continuously drifting. This whole structure therefore appears to be a huge rotating dynamo. In addition, the liquid layer rotates in the electrostatic field of the sun, recharging itself.

However, this is not at all efficient: more electrical potential is lost than gained. Just like a battery that is almost empty, it is difficult to recharge and it becomes exhausted more easily and quickly. This is the situation with the "battery" of the magnetic field of the earth. For this reason one sees the force of the magnetic field diminishing, almost 60% over the last two thousand years.

At this rate there will not be much left within a couple of decades! And then one can expect a reversal of the poles. But nobody knows in what way this will happen, nor what the consequences will be, in contrast to the Maya and the Old Egyptians who knew the terrible consequences only too well. Their science, their religion and way of life were completely based on them. They encoded their knowledge in Holy Numbers and in their architecture.

I needed days, weeks, months and years to follow their carefully applied clues and decode them. After an exasperatingly long search, I found out that these codes were connected with the catastrophic events on earth that were caused by pole shifts. Some of the codes were terribly complicated, although not incomprehensible. Once you have figured out the cipher, you are able to decipher the different levels of their scientific language. Then you can literally peel away layer after layer until you reach the ultimate result: the naked scientific figures regarding the background of these catastrophes.

Unknown Sunspot Cycle Theory Gives the Answer
The answers to these questions are alarming and devastating. All my deciphering points to a complex and ingenious science. Let me explain. When you, as a scientist, stumble upon results that the present astronomers do not know, you have, without doubt, stumbled upon something terribly important. Everybody will have to admit it, and that is exactly what I have done: I discovered an echo of a long-lost technological terminology; a majestic building with immensely sophisticated keys. Many numbers were based on the sunspot cycle, which they had discovered. A theory that is irrefutably correct and not known by our physicists! It cannot be more alarming!

This theory, in turn, correlates with the periodical polar reversals of the earth. I succeeded in cracking the whole puzzle and a large-scale structure appeared. Its development was such that the mathematical matrix ends on the day of the next polar reversal!

Just like the way we count down to the launching of a rocket, they counted down to the End of Times. On the last day of the calendar the magnetic north of the earth will change into the south. They knew this would not only mean the end of their civilization, but also of the whole civilized world!

Solar Lightning Causes the Polar Reversal
From legends and the sunspot cycle theory of the Maya, we can reconstruct the cause of a polar reversal. It has long been known that when a beam of lightning strikes a magnet, a reversal of the magnetic poles takes place. Let's apply this principle on a broader scale.

Our earth is a huge magnet, with its own North and South Poles. A short-circuit with another external "beam of lightning,” or magnet, can end in a catastrophic polar reversal. This means that the magnetic North Pole changes place with the magnetic South Pole. But what sort of external beam can cause this? What force is powerful enough to stop the rotation of the earth and revert it?

Only one object can cause this: our sun. You know from the book, The Orion Prophecy that the magnetic field of the sun undergoes a drastic change every 11,500 to 12,000 years. Once a crucial point has been reached, it reverses instantaneously. Chaotic outbursts accompany this phenomenon and an immense cloud of plasma is catapulted into space. Then a shock wave of particles reaches our planet and the polar reversal of our earth commences.

With unknown power this solar lightning strikes our planet and causes a gigantic short circuit. That is the catastrophic truth behind a polar reversal of the earth. But how can we scientifically describe this fact? What is the precise physical cause that produces this polar reversal?

Solar Storms Cause the Pole Shift
In the book Earth under Fire I came upon the correct theory. More precisely, in the chapter entitled "Solar Storms and Geomagnetic Flips."

The astronomer Paul La Violette writes

“Field flips have been accomplished experimentally, by shooting large quantities of loaded particles on a strong bipolar magnet. These particles are then caught in the magnetic fields and cause a "ring-stream" in them. At a certain moment this stream speeds up to such an extent that the field of the magnet reverses completely.”

In an equivalent scenario the field of the earth can reverse in just the same way. Astronomers know that the particles of a solar storm can compress the earth's magnetic field and temporarily speed up the power of the earth's field.

When the solar particles reach our planet, the electromagnetically-loaded particles will move in a spiral along the magnetic lines: from the magnetic north pole to the magnetic south pole and back. While passing this north-south axis, they will move into the direction of the equator. When they arrive there, they will join into a super powerful "ring current."

This "ring current" generates an intense magnetic field that is opposite to the earth's magnetic field. In order to overpower the earth's magnetic field you need a solar flame a hundred times more forceful than the biggest one we have ever seen. At the reversal of the magnetic field of the sun this degree will certainly be reached.

From here on, my point of view deviates from that expressed by Paul La Violette. Not only will the poles reverse, but also the earth will begin to rotate in the opposite direction! This can only occur when the "ring current" pushes the inner core of the earth in the opposite direction.

Everybody knows that when you change the poles of an electric motor, it will start turning the other way. The same holds for the interior of the earth. When an external short circuit takes place, the core cannot do otherwise but start turning in the opposite direction!

DESTRUCTION & RENEWED LIFE

This catastrophe will not only result in the massive destruction of life on earth, but also its continued existence, however incomprehensible this may sound. Let me explain this.

The magnetic field of the earth is not an accident of natural science. Its primary task is to protect us against cosmic and solar radiation. Without this field, life is practically impossible and in a short time, life on our planet would be extinguished. An all-burning, deadly radioactive radiation would torment the earth's surface.

So here we are talking about an incompatible duality: despite the fact that a huge amount of people, animals and plants will die, life will continue to exist, because the exhausted battery of the earth will be reloaded by the enormous solar storm. During thousands of years the magnetic field of the earth can therefore remain stable, protecting the flora and fauna against the damaging radiation. While doing this job, the inner battery of the earth will run out again and another cycle of destruction followed by creation and mutation will start anew.