Remember That UFO Story In New York City Back In October?

Here's the raw footage. Provided by CBS News, no less. Watch the entire video. These were not balloons. Not balloons. NOT BALLOONS.

Project Bluebeam, maybe, but not balloons.

File Under: Drug Lord Man Crush, Or "Bieberlicious."

Druglord Loves Justin Bieber (Fantastic Outsider art mural picture included..)

Justin Bieber has groupies where you'd least expect them. An army of Brazilian cops raided the Rio headquarters of one of the country's most notorious drug gangs.


According to Perez Hilton, it appeared to be a typical seizure. 11 tons of marijuana, a “small arsenal” of weapons and… a gigantic mural of Justin Bieber?

I wonder what 2 a.m., any night, pre-bust at the casa was like?  Who would film such a scene:  David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, or Brian DePalma? 

Side note:  Three years ago, Justin Bieber could still be confused for a "normal" kid.

New York Earthquake Jolts Long Island

Interesting location for a quake.

New York City was jolted by a 3.9-magnitude earthquake Tuesday morning, rocking the area around Long Island.
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It is thought to be the biggest quake in the region in more than 18 years.

Nothing To Deny As There's Nothing To Deny

US navy seeks to move jet fuel in rare Japan-Korea route  It's the "little stories" that worry me..  Excerpts:

The United States navy is seeking a medium-range oil tanker to move at least 30,000 tonnes of jet fuel from Japan to South Korea, industry sources said on Wednesday, at a time of heightened military tension on the Korean peninsula.

The transport route is unusual for jet fuel, shipping sources said, but an unnamed US military official said shipments of fuel for operational use are standard.

So..  Sources in shipping say this is unusual and the military says this is usual.  I'm sure the military's right..

"We don't have any information on what you are talking about in terms of the contracting," the US military official said. (Really?  Nothing?)

"There is no particular movement that has taken place in response to an incident in terms of large delivery of jet fuel or anything else."

Interesting choice of words, "no particular movement" is.

My God; It's Full Of Stars..

From AboveTopSecret, originating from Astrosurf.  Someone's been busy.  Excerpt:

This image is a 1 billion pixel RVB mosaic of the galactic center region (340 millions pixels in each R,V and B color). It shows the region spanning from Sagittarius (with the Milky Way center and M8/M20 area on the left) to Scorpius (with colorful Antares and Rho Ophiuchus region on the right) and cat paw nebula (red nebula at the bottom). This mosaic was assembled from 52 different sky fields made from 1200 individual images and 200 hours total exposure time, final image size is 24000x14000 pixels. The images were taken with a SBIG STL camera + Takahashi FSQ106Ed f/3.6 telescope and NJP160 mount from the clear skies of ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile. This mosaic is one of the three parts of the ESO Gigagalaxy Zoom project together with this incredible whole sky mosaic image by ESO/S.Brunier and this fantastic ESO mosaic image of the Lagoon nebula region.

Check all these links out.  These images are amazing.  Some will resonate with their form of "heaven," whatever that is, while more logical types might consider our species progress thousands of years from now, our future ancestors spreading out further in our system, galaxy, or universe than we can possibly imagine.  Consider:   Each and every one of these worlds, each of these points of light, could,*could* host a form of consciousness, a location for interwoven experience, for perspective, for lifeforms that we, now, couldn't begin to understand..  They could.  Could.

Now remember:  These are only the entities we are aware of.  These are only images of Observable Space, observed from our vantage point only.  What's out there that we don't  see? 

Are you beginning to grasp the enormity, the totality, the magnificence, the infinite nature of all that surrounds you?

QuakeyShakey..

6.6 Magnitude, Japan..

Jupiter's Missing Cloud Stripe Bounces Back Big Time

From Space dot com..

The dark brown stripe of clouds on Jupiter that disappeared from view last year is reappearing.

Astronomers confirmed Wednesday (Nov. 24) that the gas giant's South Equatorial Belt (SEB), one of two distinctive dark stripes formed by the planet's cloud chemistry and winds, is coming back. They attributed the return of the view to a shift in Jupiter's cloud cover.

Let's Talk About EU, Man..

Irish bailout 'stuns' experts The €35bn (£29.8bn) going into Ireland's banks shocked experts, who feared bailout might or might not help Ireland, but in any case might not contain contagion elsewhere in the eurozone.

Brian Lucey, associate professor of finance at Trinity College Dublin was "stunned" at the cash poured in: "We've already put at least €32bn into them, so that's going to be €67bn, which is 50% of GNP, that's a world record". He also warned that a new government next year could rip up the deal. "Sovereign governments have a right to effectively do whatever they want," he said.

Portugal's still feeling the heat.. Portugal's high debt burden remained a concern for the eurozone and financial markets on Monday, a day after European Union countries endorsed a plan to help Ireland with its ailing finances.

Officials in the 16 nations using the euro currency had hoped Sunday's agreement to give euro67.5 billion ($89.4 billion) in loans to Dublin would check the spread of investor jitters to other fiscally vulnerable members of the bloc, especially Portugal and Spain.

Portugal is regarded as the next weakest link after Ireland because of its high debt load and weak growth. It has been a target for market concern since Greece's bailout in May.

Trouble in Portugal also could affect neighboring Spain, where low growth and high unemployment are shackling the economy.
And:
Roubini, a professor of economics at New York University who had predicted the financial crisis, told daily paper Diario Economico it is "increasingly likely" Portugal will require international assistance.

He was quoted as saying there are ample funds to shore up Portugal, one of the eurozone's smaller countries which contributes less than 2 percent to the 16-nation bloc's gross domestic product. Roubini said Portugal is approaching "a critical point."

But, he said, Spain, Europe's fourth-largest economy, is "too big to bail out."

Meanwhile, in Greece: You know things are bad when governments can't buy arms from other governments..

Spain continues to reel: Irish backlash hits Spain, EU warns of blow to growth Contains the sentence: He commented: "Are we witnessing the early stages of a breakdown of the euro and indeed, possibly the European Union as well?"

Wiki Leaks and Korea are more sensational, but this story is no less important. The possibility of a debt implosion contagion spreading to multiple countries thereby jeopardizing the whole European Union is, at this moment, very real. We are still in unknown territory, and none of the related news is optimistic.

And, lest we forget.. Let the protests begin!

Cassini reveals oxygen atmosphere of Saturn's moon Rhea

From e! Science News Excerpts:

A tenuous atmosphere infused with oxygen and carbon-dioxide has been discovered at Saturn's moon Rhea by the Cassini-Huygens mission, the first time a spacecraft has captured direct evidence of an oxygen atmosphere at a world other than Earth. The NASA-led international mission made the discovery using combined data from Cassini's instruments, which includes a sensor designed and built at UCL's (University College London) Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Published today in Science Express, results from the mission reveal that the atmosphere of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon at 1500 km wide, is extremely thin and is sustained by high energy particles bombarding its icy surface and kicking up atoms, molecules and ions into the atmosphere.

The density of oxygen is probably about 5 trillion times less dense than in Earth's atmosphere. However, the formation of oxygen and carbon dioxide could possibly drive complex chemistry on the surfaces of many icy bodies in the universe.

"The new results suggest that active, complex chemistry involving oxygen may be quite common throughout the solar system and even our universe," said Dr Ben Teolis, a Cassini team scientist based at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio and lead author. "Such chemistry could be a pre-requisite for life. All evidence from Cassini indicates Rhea is too cold and devoid of the liquid water necessary for life as we know it."

All evidence.. For now..

Korean Update

Saber rattling continues near NLL  Excerpts:

Tensions are heightening in the area around Yeonpyeong Island, with the confirmation that North Korean forces deployed multi-launch rocket systems (MLRSs) forward to a coastal location facing the island and opened additional naval artillery firing ports on Sunday, the first day of joint South Korea-U.S. exercises. The North Korean military was also reported to have stepped up its anti-air posture targeting aerial activity by South Korean fighter planes, with the forward deployment of SA-2 earth-to-air missiles in the area north of Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands.

“The North Korean military was found to have deployed some of its 122 mm MLRSs forward to an inland area near Kaemori, from which the attack on Yeonpyeong Island was launched, and opened additional 76.2 mm naval artillery firing ports besides the previous fourteen locations,” said a military official said Sunday. “The South Korean military is also stepping up its alertness posture to prepare for a potential provocation situation.”

“It appears that North Korea positioned SA-2 earth-to-air missiles to the front following the attack on Yeonpyeong Island,” said a government source. “The government is mobilizing all its resources to precisely monitor the movements.”

Military authorities are taking this activity from North Korea as targeting South Korean fighter planes flying in the area near the NLL. The SA-2 is an anti-aircraft missile developed by the former Soviet Union, and has a firing range of 13 to 30 kilometers. The anti-ship missiles positioned by North Korean on the West Sea coast north of the NLL include Samlets and Silkworms, with a firing range of 80 km.

Although Monday's exercises were cancelled because of bad weather, the tension is still very high.  North Korea is even using the really cool phrase "Ultra-Emergency" to describe the situation..  The South Korean military is protesting, and South Korea's President said Monday "Kick sand in our face just one more time and there's gonna be trouble.."  Shit's heating up, yo..  Like I said, more updates to come..

If You Haven't Heard Of WikiLeaks Before, You Will This Week..

WikiLeaks has staged document dumps in the past(Iraq and Afghanistan, I'm looking in your direction..), but nothing like this:  Seven times the size of Iraq's release, and that was almost four hundred thousand documents!  The focus of today's release?  U.S. Diplomatic cables regarding everyone.  Everyone.  Allies, enemies..  It doesn't matter.  And now, it's going to be all out there.  And it's going to take months for press organizations, other governments, braver souls than I, etc..  to go through all these documents and really assess what they mean and the totality of their impact.  Our diplomatic relations with the rest of the world is a big deal, and "lifting the veil" on how that diplomacy works and what our government is really thinking(and how they gossip about it)is a Big Deal.

And someone's not happy with Assange/WikiLeaks.  I mean, of course, hackers(or groups wanting to look like hackers), disinformation groups, and the usual right wing types and Administration mouthpieces..

Happy 68th Birthday(Saturday), Jimi Hendrix!

Sweet tribute to Hendrix from Aquarius Papers, complete with quite a few performance videos. He was The Innovator, and music and musical history was forever changed..


Here's my post regarding Hendrix from August of last year: Jimi Hendrix; Space Alien..

Double Dog Uh-Oh..

Chinese government to make 'urgent' announcement

The Chinese government said Sunday it will make an "urgent" announcement later in the day amid rising military tensions surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

Whether anyone wants to officially admit it or not, China's involved. So there will be More-To-Follow, I'm sure..

Uh Oh..

Expats recalled as North Korea prepares for war

A mass exodus of North Korean workers from the Far East of Russia is under way, according to reports coming out of the region. As the two Koreas edged towards the brink of war this week, it appears that the workers in Russia have been called back to aid potential military operations.

Nothing coming out of the region suggests an easing of hostilities.  And there's still those pesky Military Exercises coming up..  What will happen next?

For Europe’s Future, Spain Is All That Matters

Another great analysis from Gonzalo Lira. Excerpts:

If I had to bet on which country will bring about the end of the Euro—and perhaps even the end of the European Union—I’d have to say it’s Spain.

Right now, no one is talking about Spain—Spanish spreads are as quiet as a guilty man in a police line-up—everyone’s too concerned over Ireland, and the upcoming Portuguese Situation.

But Spain is the key—Spain is what you should be paying attention to, if you want to find out what will happen to the European Monetary Union (EMU), and the European Union (EU) itself.
And:
According to IMF numbers for 2009, the gross domestic product of Greece was $331 billion, Ireland was $221 billion, and Portugal was $233 billion—

—but Spain’s GDP in 2009 was $1.468 trillion. Roughly twice Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. In other words, close to half of Germany’s GDP.
And:
Therefore, to bail out Spain, and plug up its fiscal balance sheet hole over the next three years would cost €450 billion—minimum. That’s about $600 billion.

Look at that number again—look at it closely, and take your time:

€450 billion.(600 billion US)

That’s twice the size of Ireland’s total GDP for 2009.

In order to figure out how much each party would have to shoulder of this €450 billion price tag, Bruce Krasting, in some private e-mail exchanges, thought that the percentages that the EU, the ECB and the IMF were shouldering for the Greek and Irish bailouts could serve as a template.

Fair enough: If we go by Greek and Irish percentages, then roughly a third of that €450 billion price tag to bail out Spain would be shouldered by the IMF—and as everyone knows, the U.S. puts up 20% of IMF money.

So the U.S. would be on the line for €30 billion—$40 billion—to save Spain.

Then Bruce delivered his verdict: “The U.S. is going to say ‘Yes’ to that and ‘No’ to California? No way. Not going to happen with this new Congress."
And:
Therefore, the IMF’s participation in a Spanish bail-out will be severely reduced, if not marginal. Therefore, bailing out Spain will be a strictly European affair.

Does Europe have €450 billion to bail out Spain? That is, does Germany have €450 billion to bail out Spain?

No it does not. It does not have the money for such a bailout—and even if it did, it does not have the political will to push through such a bailout.

Period.
And Finally:
Best case?

Though they remain in the European Union, the weaker economies exit the EMU and go back to local currencies, which they quickly depreciate, while their Euro-denominated sovereign debts are restructured and paid off over time. The Euro becomes the currency of France, Germany, Holland, Finland and Austria.

Worst case?

I can imagine a number of worst cases, all of them different, except for one thing in common: They’ll all be bad.

So That's What That Was.. But The Tension's Still Escalating..

North Korea intensifies threats ahead of Korea-U.S. military exercise near Yeonpyeong Island slated for Sunday.   Excerpts:

Threatening "a shower of dreadful fire," North Korea warned Friday it will wipe out its enemies if its sovereignty is violated, raising already high tension after the communist country exchanged deadly artillery barrages with South Korea earlier this week.

 The warning by the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea is the latest and one of the strongest threats the North has issued since South Korea and the U.S. agreed to hold joint drills near the communist country in a show of force.

  Two South Korean marines and two civilians were killed in the artillery exchange between the Koreas on Tuesday in one of the most violent clashes on the peninsula since the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, officially called the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), denies initiating the clash, warning it will mount additional attacks if its territorial waters are violated.
And:
Meanwhile, South Korea's military is checking reports of sounds of artillery fire around Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea border with North Korea, officials said. (Hence the "So that's what that was" reference..)

Joint Military Exercises with the U.S. start Sunday, so we've got that to look forward to..

Tensions Don't Seem To Be Easing, Do They?

'Artillery fire' heard near South Korea island  Pre War Excerpts:

South Korea's military said two explosions were heard on Friday and it was checking the source of the sounds.

The two blasts were heard off Yeonpyeong island near the disputed border in the Yellow Sea, a Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told AFP.

"We're checking the origin of the sounds," he said.

And:

Officials said “dozens” of artillery rounds had landed on Yeonpyeong Island at in the Yellow Sea, 50 miles off the South’s northwest coast in an area close to a disputed sea border.

Other reports suggested around 200 shells could have been fired in the attack which began at 2.34pm local time (7.34am GMT).

F-16 fighter jets were scrambled and South Korean land-based forces returned fire on the North as civilians were evacuated to emergency bunkers, according to witnesses quoted by the Seoul-based cable news television channel YTN.

If this turns out to be artillery fire, the Korean situation is rapidly blooming into Worldwide crisis.   Once again, timing(Global Debt Crisis)and associations(China) figure heavily into why this sabre rattling is so much more important than past border squabbles.  If we aren't already there, we're rapidly approaching the border of "One wrong move and it's over."

Reinventing Your Life, Your Profession, Your Relationships, and Your Purpose

From Robert Wilkinson at Aquarius Papers  In an article full of perfect passages, these are my two favorites:

So if you struggle with endings, of unknowns and apprehensions of what will or will not be, detach from the "not knowing" and contemplate your life as a timestream of experiences coaxing forth skills, strengths, realizations and talents throughout the difficulties and endings. You are an eternally evolving Consciousness, collecting forms of understanding to apply in your world the best you are able.

You have imagination and an ability to be creative in ways you've never known. You have a mind that when trained can easily cut through illusions and fears and express the strength of your heart's direct knowing. With an open mind and a strong heart you can move into unknown futures and find yourself doing your Being in excellent ways.

Read the whole thing.  Good stuff.

Another Lost Chapter Of History Comes To Light..

Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers'  Excerpts:

Tests found that the DNA of some villagers in Liqian, on the fringes of the Gobi Desert in north-western China, was 56 per cent Caucasian in origin.

Many of the villagers have blue or green eyes, long noses and even fair hair, prompting speculation that they have European blood.

A local man, Cai Junnian, is nicknamed by his friends and relatives Cai Luoma, or Cai the Roman, and is one of many villagers convinced that he is descended from the lost legion. (Click the link and look at that picture.  That man looks European to me..)
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The genetic tests have leant weight to the theory that Roman legionaries settled in the area in the first century BC after fleeing a disastrous battle.
..
Thousands of Romans were slaughtered and Crassus himself was beheaded, but some legionaries were said to have escaped the fighting and marched east to elude the enemy.

They supposedly fought as mercenaries in a war between the Huns and the Chinese in 36BC – Chinese chroniclers refer to the capture of a "fish-scale formation" of troops, a possible reference to the "tortoise" phalanx formation perfected by legionnaries. The wandering Roman soldiers are thought to have been released and to have settled on the steppes of western China.

The theory was first put forward in the 1950s by Homer Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at Oxford University.

We are what we are, but sometimes we discover that we are more or different than we think..

Massive Pyramid Complex Found? Bosnians Already Elated

Compelling news story from Houston's ABC affiliate about potentially THE biggest archaeological discovery EVER.  If correct, what we think we know of our ancient history all comes up for review.

Hopefully, as more discoveries are made, what we think we know regarding this existence will be obsolete..  And replaced with something much more fantastical and genuine very soon.  Here's hoping..