The SS Ourang Medan was a Dutch cargo ship that sent out a distress call, but by the time help arrived the entire crew were dead with their eyes open, staring ahead with a look of incredible horror on their faces. As she was about to be towed to land the ship exploded, and sank to a watery grave – refusing to give up any answers as to what happened on her salty decks.
The first mention of the SS Ourang Medan and all its suddenly dead crew was in a periodical published by the United States Coast Guard. Allegedly, the ship sent out a distress call, and according to GettysburgGhosts.net, it went something like this:
“”All officers including captain are dead lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead.” This message was followed by indecipherable Morse code then [the words] “I die.”"
[Click here to read full article]
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Haunted House of Jurong (part 2)
This is based on a true story that happened when i was living in my old apartment in jurong…
My apartment was on the fourth floor and directly facing an eerie looking tree.(pls note that the tree was not the problem) When my family first shifted in, everything was ok and we love the place as it was a peaceful neighbourhood and we had a good time in the house.
Then it started, my sister was the first one to be affected by it. One night while sleeping she said that she felt someone waking her up. She told me that by instinct she went straight to the window and to her horror she found a figure without head was sitting on the swing at the playground (her room faces the playground and our hall faces the spooky tree). She just froze when suddenly the thing stops swinging as if it realises my sister was watching her. She then quickly snapped out of it and went to my mother’s room to sleep.The second incident happened to her was one day when she was watching tv with me late at night, she said she saw a white shadow dashing pass from my mother’s room to my room. As i’m not a believer of the supernatural, I just brushed it aside.
[Click here to read full article]
My apartment was on the fourth floor and directly facing an eerie looking tree.(pls note that the tree was not the problem) When my family first shifted in, everything was ok and we love the place as it was a peaceful neighbourhood and we had a good time in the house.
Then it started, my sister was the first one to be affected by it. One night while sleeping she said that she felt someone waking her up. She told me that by instinct she went straight to the window and to her horror she found a figure without head was sitting on the swing at the playground (her room faces the playground and our hall faces the spooky tree). She just froze when suddenly the thing stops swinging as if it realises my sister was watching her. She then quickly snapped out of it and went to my mother’s room to sleep.The second incident happened to her was one day when she was watching tv with me late at night, she said she saw a white shadow dashing pass from my mother’s room to my room. As i’m not a believer of the supernatural, I just brushed it aside.
[Click here to read full article]
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Cambodia Evil Mango tree spirit
In Cambodia, it has been said that if you walk at night during a certain hour, you shouldn't think of anything evil or else it will happen! A group of kids was hungry (this was during khmer rouge regime) so they decided to go look for food in the woods. There was a mango tree with a lot of fresh mangos. Everyone decided to climb it and picked the fruits. Suddenly, one the kids yelled ghost!
[Click here to read full article]
[Click here to read full article]
Haunted House of Jurong (Part 1)
My story starts a very long time ago, when i was leaving in my haunted jurong house. it’s near jurong east swimming complex. it always happened at night when we’re watching television, huge rats will start to climb our back sofa. They will chew the fabrics and shit around the floors.
The room my auntie sleeps in has a midnight visitor each and every night. My auntie says that the pontianak will sit on her cupboard and watches her as she sleeps. And when she wakes up, she’ll get blueblack marks on her legs. M late grandmother will hear her dead sister calling out her name. My mother doesn’t goes home early every night coz she was very fainthearted. She sometimes can even see old glowing green man walking past her changing room. Please believe my story and that i’d appreciate it if that you tell jurong citizens to go home at night, late……..
[Click here to read full article]
The room my auntie sleeps in has a midnight visitor each and every night. My auntie says that the pontianak will sit on her cupboard and watches her as she sleeps. And when she wakes up, she’ll get blueblack marks on her legs. M late grandmother will hear her dead sister calling out her name. My mother doesn’t goes home early every night coz she was very fainthearted. She sometimes can even see old glowing green man walking past her changing room. Please believe my story and that i’d appreciate it if that you tell jurong citizens to go home at night, late……..
[Click here to read full article]
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Kuda Kepang Powers !
I have a friend who study kuda kepang (a horse dance) and ilmu mata bintang (star eyes). They practice their skill at malay village at geylang serai. Suddenly I was interested that I like to take part in that activity. So, I register my name there.
After one week I had study the kuda kepang, I can do many things like fire came out from my mouth, can make people crazy and many more. This things can only be done when I read some “kuda kepang” verses to make devil went into our body and do it only for valid reason, not other than that. I had study the kuda kepang for about nearly one year
[Click here to read full article]
After one week I had study the kuda kepang, I can do many things like fire came out from my mouth, can make people crazy and many more. This things can only be done when I read some “kuda kepang” verses to make devil went into our body and do it only for valid reason, not other than that. I had study the kuda kepang for about nearly one year
[Click here to read full article]
Kuda Kepang (Kuda Lumping)
In Malaysia it is knowns as Kuda Kepang and in Indonesia it is Kuda Lumping.
It is basically a mystic art dance which tells a story of 9 horseman that came back in victory from a battle. It was a war won for, in the name of Islam.
It has it's origins in Java which is part of Indonesia. This dance can be seem in many places & occations such as malay weddings and many more.
The thing about it is that as long as it is just something very ordinary it is very okay.
But however the moment it becomes into something too fantastic which is something out of the norm then it considered to be the Occult version of Kuda Kepang (Kuda Lumping) even by the Muslim communities themselves.
Fantastic things can be such as eating of the grass of the horse rider, walking on fire or broken pieces of glass or jumping to a great height.
I have long been mystified by the ‘art’ of Kuda Kepang. Popular as part of the Malay culture, the dance can be seen usually during special events like weddings or opening ceremonies and is usually accompanied with the soft melodies of the Gamelan. Usually, the performance would involve the participants to dance around with a cutout of a horse, akin to riding that said horse.
However, a more mystic side of Kuda Kepang seems to be on the rise these days, after a dwindling of it for the past few years. Instead of just harnessing the powers of the human body, other ‘external’ forces from the ‘other’ world were called on to make the performance a more intriguing one.
The following would be examples of what I mean by a more intriguing performance:
[Click here to read full article]
It is basically a mystic art dance which tells a story of 9 horseman that came back in victory from a battle. It was a war won for, in the name of Islam.
It has it's origins in Java which is part of Indonesia. This dance can be seem in many places & occations such as malay weddings and many more.
The thing about it is that as long as it is just something very ordinary it is very okay.
But however the moment it becomes into something too fantastic which is something out of the norm then it considered to be the Occult version of Kuda Kepang (Kuda Lumping) even by the Muslim communities themselves.
Fantastic things can be such as eating of the grass of the horse rider, walking on fire or broken pieces of glass or jumping to a great height.
I have long been mystified by the ‘art’ of Kuda Kepang. Popular as part of the Malay culture, the dance can be seen usually during special events like weddings or opening ceremonies and is usually accompanied with the soft melodies of the Gamelan. Usually, the performance would involve the participants to dance around with a cutout of a horse, akin to riding that said horse.
However, a more mystic side of Kuda Kepang seems to be on the rise these days, after a dwindling of it for the past few years. Instead of just harnessing the powers of the human body, other ‘external’ forces from the ‘other’ world were called on to make the performance a more intriguing one.
The following would be examples of what I mean by a more intriguing performance:
[Click here to read full article]
Very haunted Places of Singapore
1) An Old School in Singapore (name of school is unknown to the author, names anyone?) -This building was constructed in the early 1900s. Many former pupils reported scary noises and passerbys reported strange lights in the building at night. Rumours include a locked toilet due to unremoveable blood stains on the floor. Others heard that “the white lady wept in the toilet every night.” The building was demolished recently.
2) Bedok Block of Flats -When these block of flats at Bedok Reservoir was still standing, it was left empty for years. Rumors included that a whole family had committed suicide in their flat and that a person had been killed by a ghost in a lift/elevator. Passerbys would sometimes see lights flinkering in the supposedly now empty flats.
3)The Cemetary – There are many incidents about a cemetery in Singapore. Some frightened passerby heard someone call from the cemetery, “Please dig the soil. Open the coffin now!” Others reported witnessing ghosts wandering around the cemetery. Foods left on the grave area to honor the departed often have teeth marks as though someone took a bite. Some heard knocking sounds coming from the cemetery. Cats meowed and dogs barked at something or someone in the cemetery. The mystery is still very much unsolved til today.
4) Changi Beach – This area is believed to be haunted by the ghosts of the executed chinese during the Japanese occupation. Passersby often report hearing strange crying and screamings. The heads of the chinese dead bodies are sometimes seen flying everywhere. Headless bodys walk around the beach as well. More scary cases include a passerby witnessing a ghostly execution leaving blood stains.
5) Changi Old Beach Houses – These houses are for rent. Mostly families wanting a break by the sea will rent them. However, a few unluckly ones would return home with a scar. Most people reported a feeling of being stared at. Few unluckly ones were slapped by unknown forces while bathing. Few had heard scary noises at night like the crying of a lady. Witnesses said that the door of the old houses creaked while opening and closing without stopping. Some cases even involved possession of body by a ghost and the sighting of a ghost. The mysteries remained unsolved til today.
6) East Coast Beach – This area is believed to be haunted by wandering ghosts. Stories include a person walking along the beach at night seeing a lady in white floating around. Strange noises were also reported. Many reports indicate that there are many people drowning in the sea. Be careful if you take an enjoyable swim or stroll along the beach at night or the ghosts could disturb you anytime.
7) Kind Ghost – Often, people returning home late at night would unexpectedly see a lady dressed in white who would claim that she was waiting for them. People would rush up the stairs only to find the lady already there. Most of the people would faint. The lady dressed in white would be seen often at Sembawang Road, Mount Faber Road and Choa Chu Kang Road.
[Click here to read full article]
2) Bedok Block of Flats -When these block of flats at Bedok Reservoir was still standing, it was left empty for years. Rumors included that a whole family had committed suicide in their flat and that a person had been killed by a ghost in a lift/elevator. Passerbys would sometimes see lights flinkering in the supposedly now empty flats.
3)The Cemetary – There are many incidents about a cemetery in Singapore. Some frightened passerby heard someone call from the cemetery, “Please dig the soil. Open the coffin now!” Others reported witnessing ghosts wandering around the cemetery. Foods left on the grave area to honor the departed often have teeth marks as though someone took a bite. Some heard knocking sounds coming from the cemetery. Cats meowed and dogs barked at something or someone in the cemetery. The mystery is still very much unsolved til today.
4) Changi Beach – This area is believed to be haunted by the ghosts of the executed chinese during the Japanese occupation. Passersby often report hearing strange crying and screamings. The heads of the chinese dead bodies are sometimes seen flying everywhere. Headless bodys walk around the beach as well. More scary cases include a passerby witnessing a ghostly execution leaving blood stains.
5) Changi Old Beach Houses – These houses are for rent. Mostly families wanting a break by the sea will rent them. However, a few unluckly ones would return home with a scar. Most people reported a feeling of being stared at. Few unluckly ones were slapped by unknown forces while bathing. Few had heard scary noises at night like the crying of a lady. Witnesses said that the door of the old houses creaked while opening and closing without stopping. Some cases even involved possession of body by a ghost and the sighting of a ghost. The mysteries remained unsolved til today.
6) East Coast Beach – This area is believed to be haunted by wandering ghosts. Stories include a person walking along the beach at night seeing a lady in white floating around. Strange noises were also reported. Many reports indicate that there are many people drowning in the sea. Be careful if you take an enjoyable swim or stroll along the beach at night or the ghosts could disturb you anytime.
7) Kind Ghost – Often, people returning home late at night would unexpectedly see a lady dressed in white who would claim that she was waiting for them. People would rush up the stairs only to find the lady already there. Most of the people would faint. The lady dressed in white would be seen often at Sembawang Road, Mount Faber Road and Choa Chu Kang Road.
[Click here to read full article]
Monday, September 27, 2010
Moon Supertitions (part 2)
There are many Superstitions concerning the moon for both the east and west.
Since it is the Moon festival Month, this month in the lunar calendar, let's look into some of them.
Repeat, looking at the new moon the first time you see it,--
New moon, true moon, tell unto, me
Who my true love is to be;
The color of his hair, the clothes he is to wear,
And when he'll be married to me.
On first seeing the new moon, hold any small object in the hand
while you repeat,--
New moon, true moon, reveal to me
Who my true love shall be;
The color of his hair, the clothes he shall wear,
And the day that we shall wedded be.
Put the object--handkerchief, pebble, or what not--under your pillow at
night, and you will dream of your future husband.
[Click here to read full article]
Since it is the Moon festival Month, this month in the lunar calendar, let's look into some of them.
Repeat, looking at the new moon the first time you see it,--
New moon, true moon, tell unto, me
Who my true love is to be;
The color of his hair, the clothes he is to wear,
And when he'll be married to me.
On first seeing the new moon, hold any small object in the hand
while you repeat,--
New moon, true moon, reveal to me
Who my true love shall be;
The color of his hair, the clothes he shall wear,
And the day that we shall wedded be.
Put the object--handkerchief, pebble, or what not--under your pillow at
night, and you will dream of your future husband.
[Click here to read full article]
Jurong West Street 75
I understand that amongst my blog readers, lie quite a substantial portion of you who live around my area, which is Jurong West St 75 (Singapore). Being right smack in the middle of two prominent ‘landmarks’ of that area, which is Gek Poh Shopping Ctr as well as Jurong Point, it therefore came as a surprise to me when I found out, after 12 years of living here, that that area (marked with a star) is haunted.
Just two days back, my uncle who was manning his stall at Gek Poh Shopping Ctr at around 5pm, was approached by a couple of gasping teenagers beckoning him frantically to help their friend. The girls, who were in their early teenagers, told him that whilst they were walking and fooling around along that stretch of road, one of their friends (A) suddenly went really quiet and her facial expression had changed.
Apparently, sensing the change in mood, the girls asked A what was wrong with her. After a long silence just standing motionless, A suddenly started to laugh manically in a very non-human like behavior and spouted incorrigible words. When one of the girls wanted to touch A, A tried to strangle the girl.
Since my uncle couldn’t assist the girls, he made them call their parents, who in turn called an exorcist. Apparently, the girl was possessed. Hearing the commotion, a customer of my uncle who was passing by, shared that her husband too has been ‘disturbed’ multiple times when he was in that area.
Being a bus driver, her husband returns home daily at around 2 – 3am in the morning and parks his bus in the huge parking lot (see above picture, right) and rides his bike home. There was a time, he spotted a bus moving and seeking company, he rode close to the bus, only to see that there was no bus driver. At another moment, upon following a bus do a turn, the bus vanished into thin air.
Oh, and let’s not talk about the number of times he saw Fatimah Rockers (Pontianaks, haha) and was actually attacked by a flock of crows. Uhuh, attacked. By crows. At 3am in the morning. Like, what are the chances?
[Click here to read full article]
Sunday, September 26, 2010
3rd door bunk of old Pulau Tekong BMTC
By The SAF Regular
This 3rd door story is pretty famous in the old BMTC of Singapore in Pulau Tekong. There are many versions to this story. The following is just one of them.
It has been said there was this teenager while during a road march in the middle of the night in a forested area of the island died and then came back to haunt his platoon mates.
it was at a certain part of the forest that the platoon drop by and then he said he wanted to urinate. He went into the darkness to urinate. However there was some cock ups. Not relizing that he wasn't back, the platoon left without him.
later they discover that among them someone was missing. they searched for throughout the island and went back to last place where he disappeared from. However after searching the whole night, none of them found anything.
The next day during the early morning, they went to search for him again and this time, he was found ! however...
When they found him, it was his corpse that they found. All of his internal organs, blood veins, skeleton, flesh, skin etc...... were being very nicely place in a very neat and tidy order at the exact same location when this boy last disappeared to urinate.
His corpse was found very near to a tree, which was believed to be the tree he urinated at. Probably there was something about this tree. It was later believed and rumoured that this boy urinated at this tree which had some spirits inside. he had urinated at the wrong tree and he forgot his manners of apology. firstly, this is a processed tree, and secondly before urinating or shitting in the wild , one should apologize to the unknow of the wild. He must have forgot !
As a result, the punishment this boy had received from the tree spirit was a human scrafice.
Perhaps this boy stood a chance of being discovered and saved from being a scrafice to the tree spirit, initially but because his platoon discovered he was missing very late and began their search for him late, this boy lost his life as a result.
since then, this boy began haunting his fellow platoon mates in the bunk every night. Every single night all of his fellow platoon mates would have experiences of being haunted inside the bunk at night. His own buddy had the worst among everyone.
However, they were still able to survive the haunting and have their BMT completed. After this group of platoon has passed out from BMT ( Basic Military Trainning), another brand new batch took over this bunk.
This new batch did not really know much of what had happened previously. sad to say, there was another boy who slept at the bed of this deceased, and he had alot of bad experiences and encounters.
Of everyone in his platoon and Bunk, he was the one and only one who had extremely terrible haunting experiences.
every single night, the spirit of the deseased with haunt this boy with everything he got for sleeping on his bed
but the problem was that absolutely nobody saw, heard or felt anything. the one and only person who has been seeing things, hearing things, feeling many strange things and dreaming of things was only him.
when he yelled and shouted and scream during the night when sleeping, there was nothing that others saw. ALL BLANK ! absolutely nothing !
As a result of such, no one believed a word or thing he said or claimed.
Nobody could understand how much he had suffered !
one fine day, when he could no longer take it any longer, this boy went into the toliet to commite suiside !
Ever since then, the cupborad next to the bed he slept on would always be shaking like anything at night, every single night without fail.
since then, no one ever occupy that particular bunk !
years later, another new batch not knowing of the past stories moved in. The haunting began as per usual.
this time, this new management decided to engaged a taoist priest to excorist the spirit.
what the priest said , was that a third door was needed in this bunk for the spirit to leave. he explained that a spirit was trapped and cannot leave this room.
the cupboard was shifted away and he pasted a paper with some drawings on the wall. he decleared that a third door was needed at that location for the spirit to leave freely.
after the exorism was done, it has been said that there was no more hauntings any longer.
today this bunk is left vacant again according to what many have said.........
This 3rd door story is pretty famous in the old BMTC of Singapore in Pulau Tekong. There are many versions to this story. The following is just one of them.
It has been said there was this teenager while during a road march in the middle of the night in a forested area of the island died and then came back to haunt his platoon mates.
it was at a certain part of the forest that the platoon drop by and then he said he wanted to urinate. He went into the darkness to urinate. However there was some cock ups. Not relizing that he wasn't back, the platoon left without him.
later they discover that among them someone was missing. they searched for throughout the island and went back to last place where he disappeared from. However after searching the whole night, none of them found anything.
The next day during the early morning, they went to search for him again and this time, he was found ! however...
When they found him, it was his corpse that they found. All of his internal organs, blood veins, skeleton, flesh, skin etc...... were being very nicely place in a very neat and tidy order at the exact same location when this boy last disappeared to urinate.
His corpse was found very near to a tree, which was believed to be the tree he urinated at. Probably there was something about this tree. It was later believed and rumoured that this boy urinated at this tree which had some spirits inside. he had urinated at the wrong tree and he forgot his manners of apology. firstly, this is a processed tree, and secondly before urinating or shitting in the wild , one should apologize to the unknow of the wild. He must have forgot !
As a result, the punishment this boy had received from the tree spirit was a human scrafice.
Perhaps this boy stood a chance of being discovered and saved from being a scrafice to the tree spirit, initially but because his platoon discovered he was missing very late and began their search for him late, this boy lost his life as a result.
since then, this boy began haunting his fellow platoon mates in the bunk every night. Every single night all of his fellow platoon mates would have experiences of being haunted inside the bunk at night. His own buddy had the worst among everyone.
However, they were still able to survive the haunting and have their BMT completed. After this group of platoon has passed out from BMT ( Basic Military Trainning), another brand new batch took over this bunk.
This new batch did not really know much of what had happened previously. sad to say, there was another boy who slept at the bed of this deceased, and he had alot of bad experiences and encounters.
Of everyone in his platoon and Bunk, he was the one and only one who had extremely terrible haunting experiences.
every single night, the spirit of the deseased with haunt this boy with everything he got for sleeping on his bed
but the problem was that absolutely nobody saw, heard or felt anything. the one and only person who has been seeing things, hearing things, feeling many strange things and dreaming of things was only him.
when he yelled and shouted and scream during the night when sleeping, there was nothing that others saw. ALL BLANK ! absolutely nothing !
As a result of such, no one believed a word or thing he said or claimed.
Nobody could understand how much he had suffered !
one fine day, when he could no longer take it any longer, this boy went into the toliet to commite suiside !
Ever since then, the cupborad next to the bed he slept on would always be shaking like anything at night, every single night without fail.
since then, no one ever occupy that particular bunk !
years later, another new batch not knowing of the past stories moved in. The haunting began as per usual.
this time, this new management decided to engaged a taoist priest to excorist the spirit.
what the priest said , was that a third door was needed in this bunk for the spirit to leave. he explained that a spirit was trapped and cannot leave this room.
the cupboard was shifted away and he pasted a paper with some drawings on the wall. he decleared that a third door was needed at that location for the spirit to leave freely.
after the exorism was done, it has been said that there was no more hauntings any longer.
today this bunk is left vacant again according to what many have said.........
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Ghost Town Sembawang
“What?! The ghost town near to Kranji issit?” I asked cause I am very very clueless about this. Pajero replied that this is a different ghost town and not the one at Neo Tiew. Excitedly to know of this existence, we immediately proceed to the location.
[Click here to read full article]
Singapore Military Camp Freaky Stories (part 2)
It is a well-known fact that Pulau Tekong has a number of ghosts. Some of you readers may have read or heard about the ghost at Charlie Company at the old basic military camp I. Unfortunately, some versions that I read or heard have been distorted over the years.
A few instructors returned to the site where he departed from this world, to offer incense and prayers. One instructor asked the late Tham not to come back and haunt us, but rather to express his last wishes in a dream so that his soul could rest in peace after his wishes were fulfilled.
But Tham did not listen.
Incident 1: One of the instructors came to the Platoon 9 bunk to remove his personal effects. When he opened up his metal cupboard, there was a foul stench from inside that could not be explained.
Incident 2: In the dead of the night, some trainees of Charlie Company heard Tham’s voice shouting for the platoon or company to fall in at the common company compound.
Incident 3 (more scary): One of the platoon 9 section mates woke up in the middle of the night and saw the white figure of Tham’s ghost standing in front of his former cupboard ! He bolted to the next double-decker bed, grabbed to share his blanket and said “ghost!” The next morning, the platoon mates could see two trainees pale and ashened by the encounter.
Incident 4: During one of the subsequent route marches (by Golf Company), the company noticed a figure of a soldier in full battle order standing in the distance among some trees. The OC (a former Commando Captain) dashed forward to take a closer look. He quickly ordered the whole company to double past without slowing down to see what he saw. Subsequent route marches were diverted to avoid that area of sighting
[Click here to read full article]
A few instructors returned to the site where he departed from this world, to offer incense and prayers. One instructor asked the late Tham not to come back and haunt us, but rather to express his last wishes in a dream so that his soul could rest in peace after his wishes were fulfilled.
But Tham did not listen.
Incident 1: One of the instructors came to the Platoon 9 bunk to remove his personal effects. When he opened up his metal cupboard, there was a foul stench from inside that could not be explained.
Incident 2: In the dead of the night, some trainees of Charlie Company heard Tham’s voice shouting for the platoon or company to fall in at the common company compound.
Incident 3 (more scary): One of the platoon 9 section mates woke up in the middle of the night and saw the white figure of Tham’s ghost standing in front of his former cupboard ! He bolted to the next double-decker bed, grabbed to share his blanket and said “ghost!” The next morning, the platoon mates could see two trainees pale and ashened by the encounter.
Incident 4: During one of the subsequent route marches (by Golf Company), the company noticed a figure of a soldier in full battle order standing in the distance among some trees. The OC (a former Commando Captain) dashed forward to take a closer look. He quickly ordered the whole company to double past without slowing down to see what he saw. Subsequent route marches were diverted to avoid that area of sighting
[Click here to read full article]
Friday, September 24, 2010
Moon Superstitions (Part 1)
There are many Superstitions concerning the moon for both the east and west.
Since it is the Moon festival Month, this month in the lunar calendar, let's look into some of them.
1) Seeing a new moon for the first time on a Monday will bring you good luck.
2)If the first time you, see a new moon is over your right shoulder it is a sign of having fun.
3) If you happen to be holding something, in both of your hands when you see the new moon for the first time you will never want for anything.
4) If you see a red moon, it is a sign of war.
Stare at a full moon closely and you will a boy and his bog burning bush.
5) Another rendition says to use a magnifying glass and look at the full moon and you will see a woman with a dog burning bush.
6) Some say you can see the man's axe and dog in the moon.
7) If the moon shines in your face as you lie in the bed at night,
you'll die during the very year.
8) It is a general belief that it is dangerous to sleep with the moon
shining on the face. If the moon shines on fish, they will spoil.
9) Horses will be cured of any one of several diseases if you will
insert a bit of silver--a dime is the favorite coin--in the part
affected; but it is imperative that you do this by the light of the
moon.
10) The Chinese have believed for many years in superstitious acts because of the strong belief that certain actions would grant rewards and prosperity. While not everyone still believes in such superstitions, there are those that still firmly consider them. Getting accustomed with the Chinese superstitions and traditions may help those who plan to travel to China or are thinking about adopting a child from China. In any case, while visiting please remember to never point to the beautiful Chinese moon, your ears may fall off!
Since it is the Moon festival Month, this month in the lunar calendar, let's look into some of them.
1) Seeing a new moon for the first time on a Monday will bring you good luck.
2)If the first time you, see a new moon is over your right shoulder it is a sign of having fun.
3) If you happen to be holding something, in both of your hands when you see the new moon for the first time you will never want for anything.
4) If you see a red moon, it is a sign of war.
Stare at a full moon closely and you will a boy and his bog burning bush.
5) Another rendition says to use a magnifying glass and look at the full moon and you will see a woman with a dog burning bush.
6) Some say you can see the man's axe and dog in the moon.
7) If the moon shines in your face as you lie in the bed at night,
you'll die during the very year.
8) It is a general belief that it is dangerous to sleep with the moon
shining on the face. If the moon shines on fish, they will spoil.
9) Horses will be cured of any one of several diseases if you will
insert a bit of silver--a dime is the favorite coin--in the part
affected; but it is imperative that you do this by the light of the
moon.
10) The Chinese have believed for many years in superstitious acts because of the strong belief that certain actions would grant rewards and prosperity. While not everyone still believes in such superstitions, there are those that still firmly consider them. Getting accustomed with the Chinese superstitions and traditions may help those who plan to travel to China or are thinking about adopting a child from China. In any case, while visiting please remember to never point to the beautiful Chinese moon, your ears may fall off!
Man-Eating Plants
All plants, unlike animals, are capable of producing their own food. They take carbon dioxide out of the air, water from the ground, light from the sun and make food through a process called photosynthesis. In addition to sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, the plants also need certain minerals to survive. These they usually take out of the soil though their roots.
Plants living in wet areas, such as bogs, have a problem, though. The water in these areas carry away many of the nutrients the plants need to grow. Some plants have found a solution to this problem by becoming carnivorous, which means "meat-eating." Rather than get the minerals they need from the soil, they trap animals, mostly insects, and take the nutrients out of the unfortunate victim's body.
Darwin originally called these flora insectivores. Later scientists decided that the plants ate enough animals (other than insects) that the term carnivore should be used.
Meat-eating plants use several different mechanisms to trap their prey. Pitcher plants have leaves that grow into a vase-like container with a hood that overhangs the opening. The edge of the hood is covered with a sweet-smelling nectar that attracts insects. Inside this lid are downward-pointing hairs that lead the insects further into the plant and slippery wax surfaces that are difficult for the victims to crawl on. At the bottom of the vase-like structure is a pool of chemicals that will digest insects if they fall in. Various versions of the plants use different methods to get the victims into their pools. For example, the yellow trumpet has a substance in its nectar that paralyzes any insect that eats it. Once the victim takes a sip, he soon tumbles into the pool and is digested.
[Click here to read full article]
Plants living in wet areas, such as bogs, have a problem, though. The water in these areas carry away many of the nutrients the plants need to grow. Some plants have found a solution to this problem by becoming carnivorous, which means "meat-eating." Rather than get the minerals they need from the soil, they trap animals, mostly insects, and take the nutrients out of the unfortunate victim's body.
Darwin originally called these flora insectivores. Later scientists decided that the plants ate enough animals (other than insects) that the term carnivore should be used.
Meat-eating plants use several different mechanisms to trap their prey. Pitcher plants have leaves that grow into a vase-like container with a hood that overhangs the opening. The edge of the hood is covered with a sweet-smelling nectar that attracts insects. Inside this lid are downward-pointing hairs that lead the insects further into the plant and slippery wax surfaces that are difficult for the victims to crawl on. At the bottom of the vase-like structure is a pool of chemicals that will digest insects if they fall in. Various versions of the plants use different methods to get the victims into their pools. For example, the yellow trumpet has a substance in its nectar that paralyzes any insect that eats it. Once the victim takes a sip, he soon tumbles into the pool and is digested.
[Click here to read full article]
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Mid Autumn Festival ( 中秋节 / 中秋節)
There are a few names that this festival is being known by in different places
1) 八月節 ( August Festival)
2) Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival
( only in Singapore , Malaysia & the Philippines)
3) Tết Trung Thu 節中秋 or Year Middle Collection
( In Vitenam )
4) Moon Festival
5) Tsukimi 月見 or Full Moon Party
(Only in Japan)
6) Chuseok ( 추석 ) / Hangawi (한가위) or Harvest Festival
(only in Korea)
However the Actual name for it is called as Mid Autumn Festival ( Zhong Qiu Jie) 中秋节 / 中秋節 as in Chinese
The below will be on this festival is all about & it's origin in brief
每年农历八月十五日，是传统的中秋佳节。这时是一年秋季的中期，所以被称为中秋。在中国的农历里，一年分为四季，每季又分为孟、仲、季三个部分，因而中秋也称仲秋。八月十五的月亮比其他几个月的满月更圆，更明亮，所以又叫做“月夕”，“八月节”。此夜，人们仰望天空如玉如盘的朗朗明月，自然会期盼家人团聚。远在他乡的游子，也借此寄托自己对故乡和亲人的思念之情。所以，中秋又称“团圆节”。
Every year since Aug. 15 , is the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. At this time of year the fall mid-term , it is called Mid-Autumn Festival . in China Lunar New Year , the year into seasons , each quarter is divided into Bangladesh , Chung , quarter three parts , which moon also calls the autumn . August 15th the moon than the other months of the full moon is more circle, more brighter, so called " on the eve of "" Ba Yuejie . " This night, people look up at the sky jade , such as disk of the bright moon , will naturally look forward to family reunion. Far away from home, but also to take this way to express their of home and family thoughts affection . Therefore, the Mid-Autumn Festival , also known as " Reunion . "
今天，月下游玩的习俗，已远没有旧时盛行。但设宴赏月仍很盛行，人们把酒问月，庆贺美好的生活，或祝远方的亲人健康快乐，和家人“千里共婵娟”。
中秋节的习俗很多，形式也各不相同，但都寄托着人们对生活无限的热爱和对美好生活的向往。
Today, under the moon playing the custom of , far the moon spread among . , but Hosted a full moon still popular , people wine ask the month to celebrate the good life , or friends loved ones healthy and happy , and his family " thousands of miles were moon . "
Mid-Autumn Festival The custom of are many forms different , but all bear people living infinite love and a better life longing for .
[Click here to read full article]
Tết Trung Thu ( Vietnam Mid Autumn Festival )
On the Lunar Calendar (typically & commonly called as the Chinese calendar by most people) of August 15, It is always a full moon.
Many countries since the ancient times of Asia, shared this common festival which is on August 15 where which it is always a full moon.
It has many names in many places of Asian countries but basically most of them are too similiar with one another.
Other names of this festival
1) 八月節 ( August Festival)
2) Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival
( only in Singapore , Malaysia & the Philippines)
3) Tết Trung Thu 節中秋 or Year Middle Collection
( In Vitenam )
4) Moon Festival
5) Tsukimi 月見 or Full Moon Party
(Only in Japan)
Theo phong tuc người Việt, Tết Trung Thu được tổ chức vào giữa mùa thu, tức là hôm rằm tháng tám hằng năm – tính theo lịch ta. Tháng tám âm lịch theo truyền thuyết là đêm thu đẹp nhất trong năm vì trăng thật to tròn, sáng và đẹp. Trong dịp này người ta làm cỗ cúng gia tiên và bày bánh trái ra sân cúng mặt trăng. Nhân dịp tết này, người lớn thì uống rượu, thưởng trăng, và hát trống quân; trẻ em thì rước đèn, đi xem múa lân, ca hát các bài hát Trung Thu, và vui hưởng bánh kẹo cùng các thứ trái cây do cha mẹ bày ở ngoài sân trong đêm Trung Thu dưới hình thức một mâm cỗ. Ở một số nơi tổ chức múa lân, múa sư tử để các em vui chơi thoả thích.
According to custom the Vietnamese , mid-autumn festival is held in mid- autumn , ie day full moon in August every year - calendar our . in August lunar month according to legend was night revenue the best of the year because the moon was to circle , bright and beautiful . On this occasion we do have the same first and display cake left the yard offering moon . On the occasion festival of this , adults, drink, enjoy the moon , and sang in the military , children, lantern parade , go lion dances , singing the song Autumn , and we enjoy candy and other things fruit by his she presented at the outside night Mid-autumn in the form of a trays . In some places of lion dance , lion dance to the children playing pleasure .
Đối với người Việt Nam thời cổ đại, Tết Trung Thu được diễn tả trong "Việt Nam Phong tục" của tác giả Phan Kế Bính với tục: Ban ngày làm cỗ cúng gia tiên, tối đến bày cỗ thưởng Nguyệt. Ðầu cỗ là bánh mặt trăng, và dùng nhiều thứ bánh trái hoa quả, nhuộm các màu các sắc, sặc sỡ xanh, đỏ, trắng, vàng, trong đó thì lễ vật hàng đầu là bánh mặt trăng, ngày nay gọi là bánh Trung Thu. Con gái hàng phố thi nhau tài khéo, gọt đu đủ thành các thứ hoa nọ hoa kia, nặn bột làm con tôm con cá coi cũng đẹp...
Theo các nhà khảo cổ học, Tết Trung Thu ở Việt Nam có từ thời xa xưa, từng được khắc trên trống đồng Ngọc Lũ, là một trong những Trống Đồng Đông Sơn có kích thước to lớn, hình dáng cổ kính, tập trung hoa văn phong phú nhất. Còn theo văn bia chùa Đọi năm 1121 thì từ đời nhà Lý, Tết Trung Thu đã được chính thức tổ chức ở kinh thành Thăng Long với các hội đua thuyền, múa rối nước và rước đèn. Đến đời Lê - Trịnh thì Tết Trung Thu đã được tổ chức cực kỳ xa hoa trong phủ Chúa mà “Tang thương ngẫu lục” đã miêu tả.
Theo "Tang Thương Ngẫu Lục", tác phẩm chữ Hán của 2 nhà văn Việt Nam Phạm Đình Hổ và Nguyễn Án viết khoảng cuối thế kỷ 18 đầu thế kỷ 19, thời vua Lê chúa Trịnh, Tết Trung Thu được tổ chức cực kỳ xa hoa trong phủ chúa. Còn theo sách “Thái Bình hoàn vũ ký” thì: “Người Lạc Việt cứ mùa thu tháng Tám thì mở hội, trai gái giao duyên, ưng ý nhau thì lấy nhau”. Như vậy, mùa thu là mùa của thành hôn.
For Vietnam the ancient, Tet Trung Thu is described in " Vietnam Etiquette "by Phan Ke Binh to continue : The day of the same family first , at the presented with prizes moon . Palm oil is cake the moon , and use more cake fruit fruits, dyed the color of the sharp , vivid blue , red, white , yellow , which the offering leading is cakes moon , are now called moon cakes Thu. Daughter of city to test different property skill , peeled papaya into things flowers bloom other , express meal as crawfish fish as well beautiful ...
According to archaeologists , Tet Trung Thu in Vietnam from ancient times, each carved on bronze drum Ngoc Lu , is one of the drums Dong Son have size great , shape ancient, concentrated flowering literature extensive The most . But according to the inscription Doi Pagoda in 1121 , then from the Ly dynasty , mid-autumn festival was officially organized in Thang Long to the racing boat , water puppetry and lantern parade . To the Le - Trinh , the Moon Festival was held ultra- luxury in the Jesus that " Tang injury accident record " described .
According to the " miserable couple , " the work Han of two writers Vietnam Pham Dinh Ho and Nguyen An article about the late 18th century early 19th century , King Le Trinh , mid-autumn festival is held extremely remote flowers in the Lords . But according to the book " Pacific universal sign "is : " The Lac Vietnamese every autumn August , the festival , boys and girls kiss , like that each other they married . " Thus , the autumn is the season of marriage
[Click here to read full article]
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Singapore Military Camp Freaky Stories (part 1)
I was surely looking forward to joining the army, you see I am the “gung ho” type and I simply love army life. I was doing my BMT in a training school in the northern part of Singapore. I was posted to a very active company and even so my platoon was even so active. They were really expecting all of some to join the Commandos. I loved it. We had great relationship in the platoon especially within my section (Just for information: A Company is has about four Platoons, a Platoon is made up of three or four Sections and a Section has about twelve men). As soon as we got ourselves into the routine of everyday Army life, we started hearing stories of strange happenings within our company.
We heard that in the first platoon one of the guys sleeping in a bed was thrown onto the floor in the night and the metal cupboard beside that bed shakes and sounds of claws scratching for the inside could be heard. They decided not to use that bed and cupboard but the scratching sound could be heard on and off. Then we heard more incidents from the second platoon (the one next to mine: I was in the third platoon). One of them was going to the toilet one night and as he was there he saw a small boy with a ball asking him if he wants to play with him. He could not believe his eyes and rushed out and took cover in his bed. The fourth platoon was not spared too. As one of the guys was sleeping and he tossed about in his bed and as he turn himself to the face the other side, he saw the small boy looking at him. He freaked out and hid himself under the sheets until daybreak.
The next day we were off to our field camp and the news spread like wild fire. Bernard was sent to the hospital for a week. Then we tried to out together the events that took place. This is what happened before we all woke up. Voon my super weirdo (he was an artist, you know how artist are, right but he was a great mate) bunkmate was sewing something under a flashlight when the above incident took place. It was two in the morning and all of a sudden Bernard rose from his bed like they do in vampire movies. He appoarched Voon but he was staring right through him. Voon called Bernard but was not responding at all. That’s when Bernard started to scream. Voon was so freaked out that he did not trying waking us in the same bunk but dashed out to wake the guys in the fourth bunk.
[Click here to read full article]
We heard that in the first platoon one of the guys sleeping in a bed was thrown onto the floor in the night and the metal cupboard beside that bed shakes and sounds of claws scratching for the inside could be heard. They decided not to use that bed and cupboard but the scratching sound could be heard on and off. Then we heard more incidents from the second platoon (the one next to mine: I was in the third platoon). One of them was going to the toilet one night and as he was there he saw a small boy with a ball asking him if he wants to play with him. He could not believe his eyes and rushed out and took cover in his bed. The fourth platoon was not spared too. As one of the guys was sleeping and he tossed about in his bed and as he turn himself to the face the other side, he saw the small boy looking at him. He freaked out and hid himself under the sheets until daybreak.
The next day we were off to our field camp and the news spread like wild fire. Bernard was sent to the hospital for a week. Then we tried to out together the events that took place. This is what happened before we all woke up. Voon my super weirdo (he was an artist, you know how artist are, right but he was a great mate) bunkmate was sewing something under a flashlight when the above incident took place. It was two in the morning and all of a sudden Bernard rose from his bed like they do in vampire movies. He appoarched Voon but he was staring right through him. Voon called Bernard but was not responding at all. That’s when Bernard started to scream. Voon was so freaked out that he did not trying waking us in the same bunk but dashed out to wake the guys in the fourth bunk.
[Click here to read full article]
Possible Hominid - McKenzie River, Central Oregon
A man took a video of himself fishing in the Mckenzie River in Central Oregon and uploaded it to the Internet, without noticing anything amiss. It was until some time later when somebody noticed a humanoid shaped creature walking in the background.
A screenshot of the sighting
A screenshot of the sighting
Monday, September 20, 2010
Jesus 'seen' in telephone pole
Picture is (C) copyright to Daily Telegraph
An image of Jesus Christ on the cross has been “seen” in a telephone pole covered in vines next to a motorway in Louisiana.
The resemblance was reported by drivers on Highway 26 in rural Jeff Davis parish.
One of them, Rickey Navarre, told US television station KPLC: “It just caught my eye. I said to myself that sure looks like an image of Jesus hanging from the telephone pole.
[Click here to read full article]
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Mysterious giants inhabit Eurasian lakes
Issik Kul is a remote deep-water lake located in the northern Tian Shan Mountains, in the Transiliysk Ala Tau area of Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia). The name means “warm water”; the lake is surrounded by snow-capped peaks but it never freezes.
According to a well-informed Ukrainian writer V. Krapiva, in the late 1930s a Russian researcher of the paranormal, Grabovsky conducted an interview with a reluctant witness. That man and his friends had explored a cave near the Issik Kul Lake, where they discovered three human skeletons, each more than three meters tall. The skeletons were adorned with decorations that looked like bats (flying mammals) made from silver. The men became scared out of their wits and kept silent about their discovery for many long years. They did melt the silver decorations, but a small piece had been saved. Soviet scientists who had studied the piece said they could not determine its age. Interestingly, a Kyrgyz legend does mention a submerged city in the lake. The city’s ruler, King Ossounes, was a creature with "long asinine ears". The lake itself has been known to experience paranormal phenomena.
The earliest mention of similar gigantic beings dates back to early 1900's. Several boys in Georgia (at the time, part of the Russian Empire) discovered a cave inside a mountain, full of humanoid skeletons. Each skeleton was about three meters tall. To get to the cave, the boys had to dive into a lake. George Papashvili and his wife recall the incident a book published in New York in 1925, St. Martin's Press (Anything can happen). In 1953, Jose Ferrer played the Georgian immigrant, George Papashvili whose book is a classic story of an immigrant adjusting to life in the United States.
Many years later a much more sinister incident took place in the Soviet Union. Russian paranormal phenomena magazine ANOMALIYA (issue #4, 1992) contained an article written by Mark Shteynberg, a Soviet veteran of the Afghan war. He is an author of several books; an expert on Russia's military, who now resides in the United States. In the summer of 1982, Mark Shteynberg, along with Lt. Colonel Gennady Zverev, actively conducted periodic training of the reconnaissance divers ("frogmen") of the Turkistan and Central Asian military regions. The training exercises had been taking place at the Issik Kul Lake.
According to media reports, this is where powerful but not too accurate Soviet torpedoes, underwater missiles, were tested during the Soviet times. Today, in Kyrgyzstan, reportedly, there is still a Russian naval long-distance communications center at the Issik-Kul Lake.
But in 1982 (a memorable year in the history of Soviet ufology) Major-General V. Demyanko, commander of the Military Diver Service of the Engineer Forces of the Ministry of Defense, USSR arrived unexpectedly and hastily to inform the local officers of an extraordinary event that had occurred during similar training exercises in the Trans-Baikal and West Siberian military regions. During their military training dives, Soviet frogmen had encountered mysterious underwater "swimmers", very humanoid beings of enormous size (almost three meters tall). The "swimmers” wore tight-fitting silvery suits, despite the icy-cold water temperatures. At the depth of fifty meters, these "swimmers" had neither scuba diving equipment (“aqualungs”), nor any other equipment; only sphere-like helmets concealing their heads.
Shteynberg stated that the local military commanders in Siberia decided to capture one of the creatures. With that purpose in mind, a special group of seven divers, under the command of an officer, had been dispatched. As the frogmen tried to cover the creature with a net, the entire team was propelled out of the deep waters to the surface by a powerful force. Because autonomous equipment of the frogmen does not allow surfacing from such depths without strict adherence to the process of decompression stops, all of the members of the ill-fated expedition were stricken by aeroembolism, or the Caisson disease. The only remedial treatment available consisted of an immediate confinement under decompression conditions in a pressure chamber. They had several such pressure chambers in the military region, but only one in working condition. It could contain no more than two persons.
Those local commanders had forced four frogmen into the chamber. As a result, three of them (including the CO of the group) perished, and the rest became invalids. The major general was dispatched, and flew to the Issik Kul to warn the local military against similar attempts to capture any "swimmers". Although the Issik Kul Lake is more shallow that the Baikal Lake, the depth of the former was sufficient to contain similar mysterious creatures. The Soviet high command was aware of "swimmers" lurking in the depths; an order was issued against the capture. Perhaps they knew much more about the Issik Kul underwater inhabitants than the independent researcher Grabovsky.
[Click here to read full article]
According to a well-informed Ukrainian writer V. Krapiva, in the late 1930s a Russian researcher of the paranormal, Grabovsky conducted an interview with a reluctant witness. That man and his friends had explored a cave near the Issik Kul Lake, where they discovered three human skeletons, each more than three meters tall. The skeletons were adorned with decorations that looked like bats (flying mammals) made from silver. The men became scared out of their wits and kept silent about their discovery for many long years. They did melt the silver decorations, but a small piece had been saved. Soviet scientists who had studied the piece said they could not determine its age. Interestingly, a Kyrgyz legend does mention a submerged city in the lake. The city’s ruler, King Ossounes, was a creature with "long asinine ears". The lake itself has been known to experience paranormal phenomena.
The earliest mention of similar gigantic beings dates back to early 1900's. Several boys in Georgia (at the time, part of the Russian Empire) discovered a cave inside a mountain, full of humanoid skeletons. Each skeleton was about three meters tall. To get to the cave, the boys had to dive into a lake. George Papashvili and his wife recall the incident a book published in New York in 1925, St. Martin's Press (Anything can happen). In 1953, Jose Ferrer played the Georgian immigrant, George Papashvili whose book is a classic story of an immigrant adjusting to life in the United States.
Many years later a much more sinister incident took place in the Soviet Union. Russian paranormal phenomena magazine ANOMALIYA (issue #4, 1992) contained an article written by Mark Shteynberg, a Soviet veteran of the Afghan war. He is an author of several books; an expert on Russia's military, who now resides in the United States. In the summer of 1982, Mark Shteynberg, along with Lt. Colonel Gennady Zverev, actively conducted periodic training of the reconnaissance divers ("frogmen") of the Turkistan and Central Asian military regions. The training exercises had been taking place at the Issik Kul Lake.
According to media reports, this is where powerful but not too accurate Soviet torpedoes, underwater missiles, were tested during the Soviet times. Today, in Kyrgyzstan, reportedly, there is still a Russian naval long-distance communications center at the Issik-Kul Lake.
But in 1982 (a memorable year in the history of Soviet ufology) Major-General V. Demyanko, commander of the Military Diver Service of the Engineer Forces of the Ministry of Defense, USSR arrived unexpectedly and hastily to inform the local officers of an extraordinary event that had occurred during similar training exercises in the Trans-Baikal and West Siberian military regions. During their military training dives, Soviet frogmen had encountered mysterious underwater "swimmers", very humanoid beings of enormous size (almost three meters tall). The "swimmers” wore tight-fitting silvery suits, despite the icy-cold water temperatures. At the depth of fifty meters, these "swimmers" had neither scuba diving equipment (“aqualungs”), nor any other equipment; only sphere-like helmets concealing their heads.
Shteynberg stated that the local military commanders in Siberia decided to capture one of the creatures. With that purpose in mind, a special group of seven divers, under the command of an officer, had been dispatched. As the frogmen tried to cover the creature with a net, the entire team was propelled out of the deep waters to the surface by a powerful force. Because autonomous equipment of the frogmen does not allow surfacing from such depths without strict adherence to the process of decompression stops, all of the members of the ill-fated expedition were stricken by aeroembolism, or the Caisson disease. The only remedial treatment available consisted of an immediate confinement under decompression conditions in a pressure chamber. They had several such pressure chambers in the military region, but only one in working condition. It could contain no more than two persons.
Those local commanders had forced four frogmen into the chamber. As a result, three of them (including the CO of the group) perished, and the rest became invalids. The major general was dispatched, and flew to the Issik Kul to warn the local military against similar attempts to capture any "swimmers". Although the Issik Kul Lake is more shallow that the Baikal Lake, the depth of the former was sufficient to contain similar mysterious creatures. The Soviet high command was aware of "swimmers" lurking in the depths; an order was issued against the capture. Perhaps they knew much more about the Issik Kul underwater inhabitants than the independent researcher Grabovsky.
[Click here to read full article]
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Unexplained Mysteries of Unit 731
In the midst of continuous denial by important members of the Japanese government individually or collectively that Japan was an aggressor in World War II, the planned exhibition of the Smithsonian Institute to commemorate the end of WWII in Asia has turned into an unusually fervid debate, with which an interest in discussing and writing on Japan's wartime atrocities has been aroused.
Most prominent among numerous writings on the subject is "Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity" penned by Nicholas D. Kristof and published inNew York Times on March 17, 1995. The article has given us a detailed account of the most shocking, heinous, cruel crime the civilized world has ever known: Japanese Unit 731 used human beings for vivisection in order to develop biological weapons. Equally unbelievable is that the United States has covered up the crime in exchange for the data on human experiments, an act utterly ignoring international laws and human justice. What a great irony to the lofty ideal of democracy and the so-called "American civilization" of the 20th century!
The shock created by Kristof's article has been felt primarily in the U.S. and a few Western countries. However, as early as 1949, the Soviet Union held a week long trial at Khabarovsk of the Japanese war criminals for biological warfare.
Among those tried, 12 people were associated with 731, including General Yamada Otozo, Commander-in-Chief of the Kuantung Army, Lt. Gen. Ryuiji Kajitsuka, Chief of the Medical Administration, and Lt. Gen. Takaatsu Takahashi, Chief of the Veterinary Division, both in the Kuantung Army; Maj. Gen. Kiyoshi Kawashima, longtime head of Unit 731's production department; Maj. Gen. Shunji Sato, head of Unit 731's Canton branch; and Lt. Col. Toshihide Nishi, Major Tomio Karasawa, Maj. Maso Onoue, Lt. Zensaku Hirazakura, Senior Sergeant Kazuo Mitomo, Corporal Norimitsu Kikuchi, and Private Yuji Kurushima, all of Unit 731.
The entire proceedings of the trial were published under the title "The Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons" by Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1950.
Since 1940, in Chinese theater, Ishii Shiro had led his Unit 731 to engage in biological warfare by attacking Ningpo, Chinhua, Chuchou of Chechiang province (during the Japanese-Soviet war at Nomonhan, Mongolia in the summer of 1939, Unit 731 was dispatched to the front to make bacterial assault).
To retaliate the U.S. air raid of Tokyo led by Col. Doolittle in April 1942, from which over 60 U.S. airmen were rescued in Chechiang area, Japan launched a largescale mopping-up campaign, in which several hundred men from Unit 731 and its subsidiary Unit 1644 of Nanking took part. Early in November 1941, Unit 731 dispatched an airplane to spread bubonic plague at Changte, Hunan, which was verified by Dr. E. J. Bannon of American Presbyterian Church hospital at Changte.
[Click here to read full article]
Most prominent among numerous writings on the subject is "Japan Confronting Gruesome War Atrocity" penned by Nicholas D. Kristof and published inNew York Times on March 17, 1995. The article has given us a detailed account of the most shocking, heinous, cruel crime the civilized world has ever known: Japanese Unit 731 used human beings for vivisection in order to develop biological weapons. Equally unbelievable is that the United States has covered up the crime in exchange for the data on human experiments, an act utterly ignoring international laws and human justice. What a great irony to the lofty ideal of democracy and the so-called "American civilization" of the 20th century!
The shock created by Kristof's article has been felt primarily in the U.S. and a few Western countries. However, as early as 1949, the Soviet Union held a week long trial at Khabarovsk of the Japanese war criminals for biological warfare.
Among those tried, 12 people were associated with 731, including General Yamada Otozo, Commander-in-Chief of the Kuantung Army, Lt. Gen. Ryuiji Kajitsuka, Chief of the Medical Administration, and Lt. Gen. Takaatsu Takahashi, Chief of the Veterinary Division, both in the Kuantung Army; Maj. Gen. Kiyoshi Kawashima, longtime head of Unit 731's production department; Maj. Gen. Shunji Sato, head of Unit 731's Canton branch; and Lt. Col. Toshihide Nishi, Major Tomio Karasawa, Maj. Maso Onoue, Lt. Zensaku Hirazakura, Senior Sergeant Kazuo Mitomo, Corporal Norimitsu Kikuchi, and Private Yuji Kurushima, all of Unit 731.
The entire proceedings of the trial were published under the title "The Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Bacteriological Weapons" by Foreign Language Publishing House, Moscow, 1950.
Since 1940, in Chinese theater, Ishii Shiro had led his Unit 731 to engage in biological warfare by attacking Ningpo, Chinhua, Chuchou of Chechiang province (during the Japanese-Soviet war at Nomonhan, Mongolia in the summer of 1939, Unit 731 was dispatched to the front to make bacterial assault).
To retaliate the U.S. air raid of Tokyo led by Col. Doolittle in April 1942, from which over 60 U.S. airmen were rescued in Chechiang area, Japan launched a largescale mopping-up campaign, in which several hundred men from Unit 731 and its subsidiary Unit 1644 of Nanking took part. Early in November 1941, Unit 731 dispatched an airplane to spread bubonic plague at Changte, Hunan, which was verified by Dr. E. J. Bannon of American Presbyterian Church hospital at Changte.
[Click here to read full article]
Friday, September 17, 2010
Living with a bullet in head for 64 years
A Chinese grandmother who went to hospital with a headache was found to have had a bullet in her head for 64 years.
Jin remembers that she was shot in 1943 during the Second World War by the invading Japanese army when she was taking supplies to her guerrilla father.
“I was 13, living along the railways in Xuzhou city. One afternoon in September, my mother asked me to take a meal to my father and his colleagues who were fighting the Japanese,” she said.
“I was spotted by the Japanese army. They ran after me and opened fire. A bullet passed through the corner of my right ear. I hit the ground and lost consciousness.”
The chief surgeon, who removed the rusty bullet, was amazed it had remained in her head for so long without causing major problems.
“The fact that the bullet lost strength and speed passing through another person, and that the point it struck is not vital, may explain her survival,” he said.
[Click here to read full article]
Jin remembers that she was shot in 1943 during the Second World War by the invading Japanese army when she was taking supplies to her guerrilla father.
“I was 13, living along the railways in Xuzhou city. One afternoon in September, my mother asked me to take a meal to my father and his colleagues who were fighting the Japanese,” she said.
“I was spotted by the Japanese army. They ran after me and opened fire. A bullet passed through the corner of my right ear. I hit the ground and lost consciousness.”
The chief surgeon, who removed the rusty bullet, was amazed it had remained in her head for so long without causing major problems.
“The fact that the bullet lost strength and speed passing through another person, and that the point it struck is not vital, may explain her survival,” he said.
[Click here to read full article]
Thousands flock to see Nepal's 'Buddha boy'
Thousands of people flocked to a remote jungle in south-east Nepal to see a boy who reappeared after missing for more than a year and who some believe is a reincarnation of Buddha.
Ram Bahadur Bamjon, 17, spoke to devotees from nearby villages on Monday (local time) in the remote forest in Ratanpuri, 150 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu, police constable Prakash Sen said.
Bamjon made international headlines in 2005 when tens of thousands of people turned up to see him sitting cross-legged under a tree in a dense forest for nearly 10 months, reportedly without food and water.
"He spoke to the devotees standing near a temple in the forest," Mr Sen said after a visit to the site.
[Click here to read full article]
Ram Bahadur Bamjon, 17, spoke to devotees from nearby villages on Monday (local time) in the remote forest in Ratanpuri, 150 kilometres south-east of Kathmandu, police constable Prakash Sen said.
Bamjon made international headlines in 2005 when tens of thousands of people turned up to see him sitting cross-legged under a tree in a dense forest for nearly 10 months, reportedly without food and water.
"He spoke to the devotees standing near a temple in the forest," Mr Sen said after a visit to the site.
[Click here to read full article]
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Unidentified Creatures Found in Russia
These weird creatures were found in an abandoned foundation pit in the Russian city of Chelyabinsk. I even don’t have an idea on which animal it can remind me. It really looks weird and scary, i wouldn’t like to hold this one in my hands.
[Source]
[Source]
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Infinite doppelgängers may explain quantum probabilities
AN IDENTICAL copy of you is also reading this story. This twin is the same in every way, living on an Earth and in a universe that looks exactly like our own. And there may be an infinite number of them. Such doppelgängers could be a natural consequence of our present conception of the universe. Now, some physicists say they could pose a serious problem for quantum mechanics. But a possible fix may also be in sight, and it could help tie abstract quantum concepts to concrete physical causes.
In the uncertain, fuzzy world of quantum mechanics, particles do not have fixed properties until they are observed. Instead, objects that obey quantum rules exist in a "superposition" of all their possible states simultaneously. Schrödinger's famous cat, for example, is both alive and dead until we take a peek inside the booby-trapped box in which it has been placed.
[Click here to read full article]
In the uncertain, fuzzy world of quantum mechanics, particles do not have fixed properties until they are observed. Instead, objects that obey quantum rules exist in a "superposition" of all their possible states simultaneously. Schrödinger's famous cat, for example, is both alive and dead until we take a peek inside the booby-trapped box in which it has been placed.
[Click here to read full article]
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
One year old child found pregnant in Saudi Arabia
One year old child found pregnant in Saudi Arabia. Doctors says it’s a unique case for this world! Medical Science Report says : “When the mother of this child was pregnant, she had 2 fetuses inside her. But one of the fetus grew inside the other, this why this girl was born with the other fetus inside her womb.”
Batutut - Crytids
The Batutut is a hominid of legend across Vietnam, Laos and Malaysia and was first sighted in1918 according to local history. Described as being covered from head to toe in hair with the exception of a leathery looking neck and a pot belly, the Batutut is said to be approximately 4 feet tall and sightings of female Batutut describe them as having extremely sagging breasts. Otherwise resembling a human the Batutut is said to walk more like an ape.
Some of the more credible accounts of for the existence of Batutut came between 1970 – early 80s’. John Mackinnon who is a very well known zoologist discovered what were described as footprints akin to that of a human but smaller and were located deep in the Malaysian rain forest. This was the first credible source and was dated 1970. Some time later in 1982 extremely similar footprints were discovered in Vietnam by a well known professor Tran Hong Viet, the Vietnamese call these Batutut ‘Orang Pendek’ which literally means ‘short man’.
In some of the more isolated villages of Sumatra locals claim to have even had close encounters with Batutut, in some cases even offering food and sharing moments watching as the Batutut would eat and speak in an unidentified dialect.
[Click here to read full article]
Some of the more credible accounts of for the existence of Batutut came between 1970 – early 80s’. John Mackinnon who is a very well known zoologist discovered what were described as footprints akin to that of a human but smaller and were located deep in the Malaysian rain forest. This was the first credible source and was dated 1970. Some time later in 1982 extremely similar footprints were discovered in Vietnam by a well known professor Tran Hong Viet, the Vietnamese call these Batutut ‘Orang Pendek’ which literally means ‘short man’.
In some of the more isolated villages of Sumatra locals claim to have even had close encounters with Batutut, in some cases even offering food and sharing moments watching as the Batutut would eat and speak in an unidentified dialect.
[Click here to read full article]
Monday, September 13, 2010
Pregnant for 58 Years
In Sichuan China, a doctor preformed an X-ray on a 90 year-old woman and found that she was carrying a dead fetus for 58 years.
For 58 years, she didn’t feel that it was bothering her at all besides carrying a big belly all the time, and now it’s already became a part of her body. The doctors said the fetus might already be calcified, but it’s still a miracle.
[Click here to read full article]
For 58 years, she didn’t feel that it was bothering her at all besides carrying a big belly all the time, and now it’s already became a part of her body. The doctors said the fetus might already be calcified, but it’s still a miracle.
[Click here to read full article]
This bizarre elongated crater is a Martian mystery
This crater, known as Orcus Patera, is a strange, elliptical crater located near Mars's equator. Roughly 240 miles long by 90 miles wide, its elongated shape doesn't fit with standard models of crater formation, leaving astronomers with a baffling mystery.
Picture is (C) copyright to NASA
Orcus Patera is located between two of Mars's biggest volcanoes, Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons (which is also the highest peak in the solar system). Beyond its immense length and width - it's not quite as long as the Grand Canyon, but five times as wide - it rises up over a mile above the surrounding area, and it reaches depths more than a third of a mile beneath the Martian surface.
[Click here to read full article]
Picture is (C) copyright to NASA
Orcus Patera is located between two of Mars's biggest volcanoes, Elysium Mons and Olympus Mons (which is also the highest peak in the solar system). Beyond its immense length and width - it's not quite as long as the Grand Canyon, but five times as wide - it rises up over a mile above the surrounding area, and it reaches depths more than a third of a mile beneath the Martian surface.
[Click here to read full article]
Sunday, September 12, 2010
12 Truly Bizarre Funeral Customs from Around the World
For thousands of years, humans have mourned their dead. Evidence from Shanidar Cave in Iraq indicates that, perhaps, Neanderthals originated the idea of a funeral. Different customs surrounding the dead have grown up in various places around the world. Funeral and burial customs are still evolving today, as technology advances. Here are 12 interesting funeral and burial customs from around the world:
[Click here to read full article]
[Click here to read full article]
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Russian boy dies during exorcism by Korean shaman ( 러시아어 소년 한국의 무당에 의해 엑소시즘 도중 사망 ) (Русский мальчик умирает во время экзорцизма корейской шамана)
A four-year-old Russian boy with pneumonia died in the Primorye region during an exorcism after his parents told a Korean shaman to remove "evil spirits" from his body, multiple Russian news reports said Thursday.
The child, identified as Dmitry Kazachuk, stopped breathing during the ritual in the local village of Sergeyevka on Saturday, after the parents of the child asked So Dyavor and her Korean husband Kim Sende to perform a ritual to exorcise "evil spirits."
There was no trace of violence on the boy's body and that the cause of his death has not been found, according to news reports.
4세 러시아 소년 한국식 굿 도중 사망
페렴을 앓던 4세 러시아 소년이 러시아 프리모리에 지역에서 한국 무당에게 “악령”을 쫓아낸다는 굿을 받는 도중 사망 했다고 러시아 언론 매체들이 보도했다.
[Click here to read full article]
The child, identified as Dmitry Kazachuk, stopped breathing during the ritual in the local village of Sergeyevka on Saturday, after the parents of the child asked So Dyavor and her Korean husband Kim Sende to perform a ritual to exorcise "evil spirits."
There was no trace of violence on the boy's body and that the cause of his death has not been found, according to news reports.
4세 러시아 소년 한국식 굿 도중 사망
페렴을 앓던 4세 러시아 소년이 러시아 프리모리에 지역에서 한국 무당에게 “악령”을 쫓아낸다는 굿을 받는 도중 사망 했다고 러시아 언론 매체들이 보도했다.
[Click here to read full article]
Friday, September 10, 2010
Top 10 Mysteries of the Universe
by Joan Seth
I suppose one of the biggest questions of all time has to be: Could we ever fully comprehend the Universe? Actually, for all our scientific progress, our understanding of the Universe is still quite primitive indeed. Unfortunately, we may never be able to fully understand the entire Universe (perhaps not achievable in my lifetime), but we can sure appreciate the fact that it’s so complex that it eludes us.
This list takes a look at some of the more mysterious aspects of the Universe.
1. Counter-Earth
Sometime in the 500th BC, Philolaus, a Greek philosopher, thought of the Earth as revolving around a fixed point in the Universe (The Central Fire). However, he soon realized that if so, everything on Earth will spill out into space (The Theory of Gravity would not be formulated for at least another 2000 years).
Thus, he thought of a Counter Earth, essentially, a twin Earth planet orbiting the other side of the Central Fire. The Counter Earth would orbit exactly at the same rate around the Central Fire as the real Earth, making it essentially invisible to us. This Counter Earth acts as a counter balance of mass, preventing things on Earth from spilling out to space.
However, his theory will be superseded later by Newton's Law of Gravitation. Scientific evidence has shown no such a planet orbiting the other side of the Sun (Gravitational influences by such planet would be detectable on Earth). This idea is still prevalent in modern times though, mainly in science fiction and fantasy stories, movies and games.
Diagram of the Counter Earth theory
[More Info]
2.The Moon
Since ancient times, people had believed and thought of the Moon as inhabited by aliens, monsters, deities and demons. In 1968, Man landed on the Moon for the first time ever. It was a monumental acheivement and victory for all mankind. However, there were some disappointment as the Apollo astronauts described the Moon as a lifeless rock.
But were they telling the truth? Many people who analysed footage shot from the Apollo Moon Landings described seeing various structures and artifacts which did not seem natural. Furthermore, some people have accused NASA of covering up these discoveries and censoring them on the actual footage shot. Others have even accused NASA of hoaxing the Apollo Moon Landings - that the whole thing was shot in a movie studio.
Does the evidence point to the fact that extraterrestrials inhabited the Moon? Or did ancient Humans once lived there?
A pillar-like structure on the Moon
[More Info]
3. Sounds from Outer Space
Sound waves are mechanical pressure waves carried though a medium, be it a solid, liquid or gas. However, outer space is a vaccum, devoid of air. So that explains why we cannot pick up sound waves from outer space. We do however, pick up other waves from the Electromagnetic spectrum, like Radio Waves, Infrared Rays, Gamma Rays or Ultraviolet Rays.
The Cassini space probe recorded radio waves on Dec. 8, 2000, at a distance of about 23 million kilometers (14 million miles) from Jupiter. They are likely to have derived from an interaction of the magnetic field that surrounds Jupiter and the solar wind of particles speeding away from the Sun.
[Alien Speech? Found In NASA's Saturn Radio Signal]
[Sounds Of Jupiter]
4. Planet X
During ancient times, Man thought there were only five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as they were the only ones able to be seen with the naked eye. With the invention of the telescope, Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781 and Neptune by Urbain Le Verrier and John Adams in 1846.
Conventional astronomical studies have shown that apparent discrepancies in the orbits of the gas giants, particularly Uranus and Neptune can be explained by gravity from a large unseen planet beyond Neptune. What could have accounted for these discrepancies then?
But still, there have been some theories about more planets lying beyond Neptune - Planet X. Examples of Planet X can be seen extensively only in science fiction. A few fringe groups still believe in the existence of planets beyond Neptune.
Diagram of the orbit of a hypothetical Planet X
[More Info]
5. The Eye of God and the Pillars of Creation
The Helix Nebula was discovered in 1824 by Karl Ludwig Harding. It is one of the nearest Nebulae at about 700 light years. Just take a look at this picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is really breathtaking.
The Helix Nebula
However, in around 2003, rumours starting appearing on the Internet about the 'Eye of God'. It was claimed that the Helix Nebula was in fact, the eye of God, and that looking at the photo grants miracles.
The Eagle Nebula
A region of the Eagle Nebula, was dubbed the Pillars of Creation. When this picture was released, many people claimed they could see faces in the clouds. Others claim to see angelic faces in the SSC2005-23A Nebula.
The SSC2005-23A Nebula
We all know nebulae are just clouds of gas and dust which can form planets and other planetary objects. Or is there something else there?
[Debunking the myths]
[More Info]
6. Extraterrestrial Life
Are we alone in the Universe? This has been a question asked since ancient times. Philosophy, Religion and Science has always struggled to answer this question. A simple argument supporting the existence of extraterrestrial life would be the vast infinite size of the Universe. It would seem rather improbable that the only intelligent life developed on Earth. Many scientists do think that life, either exists or has existed somewhere else in the Universe.
Other theories include Panspermia, where life spreads all over the Universe through meteors, comets or asteroids; Exogenesis states that life on Earth began from somewhere else in the Universe. Can these be true? Astronomers did find some sort of evidence that liquid water may exist elsewhere in the Universe. Water is one of the main ingredients for life to develop.
Elsewhere, many people also claim to have been visited and abducted by Extraterrestrials. Although the large number of reports and physical evidence is staggering, one would like to believe in the non plausibility of these claims. Why would developed intelligent life travel enormous distances (millions of light years) to abduct humans?
Electron micrograph of martian meteorite ALH84001 showing structures that could be fossilized bacteria-like lifeforms.
[More Info]
7. Dark Matter and Dark Energy
The Universe is vast indeed - Go right down into its elemental components, the Observable Universe mostly contains heavy elements (in planets, comets, asteroids, etc) and gases (in nebulae, galaxies, etc). However, the mass contained in the Observable Universe is pretty insignificant compared to the the rest - 95% of the mass in the Universe is actually composed of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Dark Matter is a theoretical form of matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. It is undetectable by emitted or scattered electromagnetic radiation. Dark Matter was hypothesized to account for discrepancies between measurements of the mass of galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the entire Universe.
Dark Energy is actually a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the Universe. According to the Law of Gravitation, objects should attract each other and pull in other objects due to Gravity. However, this is not the case. Galaxy clusters are moving further apart. Dark Energy is a theory to explain why the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. The exact nature of this dark energy is a matter of speculation. It is known to be very homogeneous, not very dense and is not known to interact through any of the fundamental forces other than gravity.
A diagram showing the elemental composition of the Universe
[More Info]
8. Multiverse and Portals
The Multiverse is a hypothetical set of possible Universes (including our Universe) that together consists of everything that exists physically: All of space, time, matter, energy, momentum and physical laws and constants that govern them.
Each of these different Universes are called parallel Universes. Some scientists speculate that each parallel Universe are indirect copies of each other - That in another parallel Universe, there could be another version of you existing.
Others believe that black holes could be portals that connect parallel Universes. On the other side of the black hole (assuming your spaceship is tough enough to survive the gravitational forces) could be a white hole, which extends out to another Universe.
The concept of a Multiverse has been commonly depicted in science fiction movies, shows, games and stories. However, as far as we know, there is absolutely no technology in which to contact or travel to a parallel Universe, assuming they exist.
A rendering of the Multiverse theory
[More Info]
9. Beginning of the Universe
How did it all begin? The Big Bang Theory was accepted as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos after the discovery and confirmation of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964.
So what happened in the beginning? At a certain point in time and space (roughly 13-14 billion years ago), the Big Bang occurred. After a period of time (the Planck epoch), the Inflationary epoch occurred. (roughly 10-36 seconds and 10-32 seconds after the Big Bang). The Universe expanded by a factor of at least 1078 in volume. For thousands of years next, matter began to form. After millions of years, heavier elements began formation (stars, galaxies and planets formed).
So is this all confirmed? To the best of our scientific knowledge and experiments, we can safely say that the Big Bang Theory is the most plausible theory of all. (compared to other theories, e.g. Steady State Theory) However, to actually be able to observe this theory would be impossible.
Furthermore, some people question: What about before? What happened before the Big Bang. Scientifically, this question makes no sense. Space and Time began with the Big Bang; there is no 'before'. Other questions include: What/How/Who/Why started the Big Bang? Where did all the energy and matter come from? Unfortunately, we might not be able to answer these questions ever.
A diagram of the Big Bang Theory
[More Info]
10. Fate of the Universe
Everything that has a beginning has an end. Unfortunately, our Universe will come to an ending sometime in the future. How does it end, however, is still speculation. There have been various theories hypothesized to explain the fate of the Universe.
One scenario would be that the Universe will end up in Heat Death. The Universe will continue expanding, until it reaches maximum entropy. The mechanical movement of the Universe will run down in time according to the second law of Thermodynamics. Basically speaking, the Universe will run out of energy to support life. Everything will be dead.
A model of the Big Crunch Theory
Another possibility is the Big Crunch. It comes about from a symmetrical view of the Universe - since the Universe started in a fiery Big Bang, it will end in a fiery Big Crunch. The expansion of the Universe will eventually reverse itself, and all matter will be destroyed. The Universe will end as a black hole singularity. Some theorize that the universe could collapse to the state where it began and then initiate another Big Bang, so in this way the universe would last forever, but would pass through phases of expansion (Big Bang) and contraction (Big Crunch).
Earlier on, we talked about the concept of the Multiverse. One multiverse hypothesis states that our uni-"verse" is merely one Big Bang among an infinite number of simultaneously expanding Big Bangs that are spread out over endless distances (open space). Thus, as one Universe ends, another Universe will be fueled by energy from the dying Universe, creating it. The multiverse as a whole may never end completely.
So as far as it goes, the most popular theory currently is that the Universe will go and expanding and may result in Heat Death. The Universe is likely to go on for trillions and trillions of years at least. However, at the end of the Universe,
The Universe will not be a very hospitable place to live in. Most of the stars will have died out. Very few planets will be able to support life. Humanity, if we still exist, might die out eventually together with the Universe.
[More Info]
Bonus: The Universe is a simulated reality
In the movie, the Matrix, people lived in a world where everything was simulated and part of a virtual reality created by robots. Long before The Matrix, folks like Jacques Vallee, John Keel, Rudy Rucker, and Hans Moravec played with this idea before.
So can this be true? Are we all living in perhaps, maybe a supercomputer, residing in someone's home?
If you've ever thought life was actually a dream, take comfort. Philosophers have long questioned whether there is in fact a real world out there, or whether "reality" is just a figment of our imagination. Quantum Mechanics unveiled an Alice-in-Wonderland realm of atomic uncertainty, where particles can be waves and solid objects dissolve away into ghostly patterns of quantum energy.
Now cosmologists have got in on the act, suggesting that what we perceive as the universe might in fact be nothing more than a gigantic simulation.
Pro arguments for this theory state that all the physical constants and laws are too 'perfect'. For example, if the gravitational force was weaker, no planets or stars could have been formed. The Multiverse theory could explain this though, where parallel Universes hold slightly different physical laws and constants.
The vast majority of these other Universes would not be able to support life, thus supporting the idea that our Universe was the one which was 'just right' for us. Although this is a neat explanation, it would assume that there are some Universes where an advanced civilization has enough computer power to create artificial consciousness.
So if there exist civilisations with cosmic simulating ability, then the fake universes they create would outnumber the real ones. After all, virtual reality is a lot easier to create than the real thing.
But how do we reconcile this idea? If we are all just part of a huge computer simulation, then do we have any free will? Are we ever conscious? What are thoughts, emotions, sensations; if everything is simulated? And why, was our Universe created?
And what if one day, the 'person' running the simulation know we are on to them, and the game is up, they may lose interest and decide to hit the delete button.
Game over.
[More Info]
Some pictures and text in this article are granted permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; and as such are reproduced in this article.
I suppose one of the biggest questions of all time has to be: Could we ever fully comprehend the Universe? Actually, for all our scientific progress, our understanding of the Universe is still quite primitive indeed. Unfortunately, we may never be able to fully understand the entire Universe (perhaps not achievable in my lifetime), but we can sure appreciate the fact that it’s so complex that it eludes us.
This list takes a look at some of the more mysterious aspects of the Universe.
1. Counter-Earth
Sometime in the 500th BC, Philolaus, a Greek philosopher, thought of the Earth as revolving around a fixed point in the Universe (The Central Fire). However, he soon realized that if so, everything on Earth will spill out into space (The Theory of Gravity would not be formulated for at least another 2000 years).
Thus, he thought of a Counter Earth, essentially, a twin Earth planet orbiting the other side of the Central Fire. The Counter Earth would orbit exactly at the same rate around the Central Fire as the real Earth, making it essentially invisible to us. This Counter Earth acts as a counter balance of mass, preventing things on Earth from spilling out to space.
However, his theory will be superseded later by Newton's Law of Gravitation. Scientific evidence has shown no such a planet orbiting the other side of the Sun (Gravitational influences by such planet would be detectable on Earth). This idea is still prevalent in modern times though, mainly in science fiction and fantasy stories, movies and games.
Diagram of the Counter Earth theory
[More Info]
2.The Moon
Since ancient times, people had believed and thought of the Moon as inhabited by aliens, monsters, deities and demons. In 1968, Man landed on the Moon for the first time ever. It was a monumental acheivement and victory for all mankind. However, there were some disappointment as the Apollo astronauts described the Moon as a lifeless rock.
But were they telling the truth? Many people who analysed footage shot from the Apollo Moon Landings described seeing various structures and artifacts which did not seem natural. Furthermore, some people have accused NASA of covering up these discoveries and censoring them on the actual footage shot. Others have even accused NASA of hoaxing the Apollo Moon Landings - that the whole thing was shot in a movie studio.
Does the evidence point to the fact that extraterrestrials inhabited the Moon? Or did ancient Humans once lived there?
A pillar-like structure on the Moon
[More Info]
3. Sounds from Outer Space
Sound waves are mechanical pressure waves carried though a medium, be it a solid, liquid or gas. However, outer space is a vaccum, devoid of air. So that explains why we cannot pick up sound waves from outer space. We do however, pick up other waves from the Electromagnetic spectrum, like Radio Waves, Infrared Rays, Gamma Rays or Ultraviolet Rays.
The Cassini space probe recorded radio waves on Dec. 8, 2000, at a distance of about 23 million kilometers (14 million miles) from Jupiter. They are likely to have derived from an interaction of the magnetic field that surrounds Jupiter and the solar wind of particles speeding away from the Sun.
[Alien Speech? Found In NASA's Saturn Radio Signal]
[Sounds Of Jupiter]
4. Planet X
During ancient times, Man thought there were only five planets - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, as they were the only ones able to be seen with the naked eye. With the invention of the telescope, Uranus was discovered by William Herschel in 1781 and Neptune by Urbain Le Verrier and John Adams in 1846.
Conventional astronomical studies have shown that apparent discrepancies in the orbits of the gas giants, particularly Uranus and Neptune can be explained by gravity from a large unseen planet beyond Neptune. What could have accounted for these discrepancies then?
But still, there have been some theories about more planets lying beyond Neptune - Planet X. Examples of Planet X can be seen extensively only in science fiction. A few fringe groups still believe in the existence of planets beyond Neptune.
Diagram of the orbit of a hypothetical Planet X
[More Info]
5. The Eye of God and the Pillars of Creation
The Helix Nebula was discovered in 1824 by Karl Ludwig Harding. It is one of the nearest Nebulae at about 700 light years. Just take a look at this picture taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. It is really breathtaking.
The Helix Nebula
However, in around 2003, rumours starting appearing on the Internet about the 'Eye of God'. It was claimed that the Helix Nebula was in fact, the eye of God, and that looking at the photo grants miracles.
The Eagle Nebula
A region of the Eagle Nebula, was dubbed the Pillars of Creation. When this picture was released, many people claimed they could see faces in the clouds. Others claim to see angelic faces in the SSC2005-23A Nebula.
The SSC2005-23A Nebula
We all know nebulae are just clouds of gas and dust which can form planets and other planetary objects. Or is there something else there?
[Debunking the myths]
[More Info]
6. Extraterrestrial Life
Are we alone in the Universe? This has been a question asked since ancient times. Philosophy, Religion and Science has always struggled to answer this question. A simple argument supporting the existence of extraterrestrial life would be the vast infinite size of the Universe. It would seem rather improbable that the only intelligent life developed on Earth. Many scientists do think that life, either exists or has existed somewhere else in the Universe.
Other theories include Panspermia, where life spreads all over the Universe through meteors, comets or asteroids; Exogenesis states that life on Earth began from somewhere else in the Universe. Can these be true? Astronomers did find some sort of evidence that liquid water may exist elsewhere in the Universe. Water is one of the main ingredients for life to develop.
Elsewhere, many people also claim to have been visited and abducted by Extraterrestrials. Although the large number of reports and physical evidence is staggering, one would like to believe in the non plausibility of these claims. Why would developed intelligent life travel enormous distances (millions of light years) to abduct humans?
Electron micrograph of martian meteorite ALH84001 showing structures that could be fossilized bacteria-like lifeforms.
[More Info]
7. Dark Matter and Dark Energy
The Universe is vast indeed - Go right down into its elemental components, the Observable Universe mostly contains heavy elements (in planets, comets, asteroids, etc) and gases (in nebulae, galaxies, etc). However, the mass contained in the Observable Universe is pretty insignificant compared to the the rest - 95% of the mass in the Universe is actually composed of Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
Dark Matter is a theoretical form of matter that is undetectable by its emitted radiation, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. It is undetectable by emitted or scattered electromagnetic radiation. Dark Matter was hypothesized to account for discrepancies between measurements of the mass of galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the entire Universe.
Dark Energy is actually a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the Universe. According to the Law of Gravitation, objects should attract each other and pull in other objects due to Gravity. However, this is not the case. Galaxy clusters are moving further apart. Dark Energy is a theory to explain why the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. The exact nature of this dark energy is a matter of speculation. It is known to be very homogeneous, not very dense and is not known to interact through any of the fundamental forces other than gravity.
A diagram showing the elemental composition of the Universe
[More Info]
8. Multiverse and Portals
The Multiverse is a hypothetical set of possible Universes (including our Universe) that together consists of everything that exists physically: All of space, time, matter, energy, momentum and physical laws and constants that govern them.
Each of these different Universes are called parallel Universes. Some scientists speculate that each parallel Universe are indirect copies of each other - That in another parallel Universe, there could be another version of you existing.
Others believe that black holes could be portals that connect parallel Universes. On the other side of the black hole (assuming your spaceship is tough enough to survive the gravitational forces) could be a white hole, which extends out to another Universe.
The concept of a Multiverse has been commonly depicted in science fiction movies, shows, games and stories. However, as far as we know, there is absolutely no technology in which to contact or travel to a parallel Universe, assuming they exist.
A rendering of the Multiverse theory
[More Info]
9. Beginning of the Universe
How did it all begin? The Big Bang Theory was accepted as the best theory of the origin and evolution of the cosmos after the discovery and confirmation of the cosmic microwave background radiation in 1964.
So what happened in the beginning? At a certain point in time and space (roughly 13-14 billion years ago), the Big Bang occurred. After a period of time (the Planck epoch), the Inflationary epoch occurred. (roughly 10-36 seconds and 10-32 seconds after the Big Bang). The Universe expanded by a factor of at least 1078 in volume. For thousands of years next, matter began to form. After millions of years, heavier elements began formation (stars, galaxies and planets formed).
So is this all confirmed? To the best of our scientific knowledge and experiments, we can safely say that the Big Bang Theory is the most plausible theory of all. (compared to other theories, e.g. Steady State Theory) However, to actually be able to observe this theory would be impossible.
Furthermore, some people question: What about before? What happened before the Big Bang. Scientifically, this question makes no sense. Space and Time began with the Big Bang; there is no 'before'. Other questions include: What/How/Who/Why started the Big Bang? Where did all the energy and matter come from? Unfortunately, we might not be able to answer these questions ever.
A diagram of the Big Bang Theory
[More Info]
10. Fate of the Universe
Everything that has a beginning has an end. Unfortunately, our Universe will come to an ending sometime in the future. How does it end, however, is still speculation. There have been various theories hypothesized to explain the fate of the Universe.
One scenario would be that the Universe will end up in Heat Death. The Universe will continue expanding, until it reaches maximum entropy. The mechanical movement of the Universe will run down in time according to the second law of Thermodynamics. Basically speaking, the Universe will run out of energy to support life. Everything will be dead.
A model of the Big Crunch Theory
Another possibility is the Big Crunch. It comes about from a symmetrical view of the Universe - since the Universe started in a fiery Big Bang, it will end in a fiery Big Crunch. The expansion of the Universe will eventually reverse itself, and all matter will be destroyed. The Universe will end as a black hole singularity. Some theorize that the universe could collapse to the state where it began and then initiate another Big Bang, so in this way the universe would last forever, but would pass through phases of expansion (Big Bang) and contraction (Big Crunch).
Earlier on, we talked about the concept of the Multiverse. One multiverse hypothesis states that our uni-"verse" is merely one Big Bang among an infinite number of simultaneously expanding Big Bangs that are spread out over endless distances (open space). Thus, as one Universe ends, another Universe will be fueled by energy from the dying Universe, creating it. The multiverse as a whole may never end completely.
So as far as it goes, the most popular theory currently is that the Universe will go and expanding and may result in Heat Death. The Universe is likely to go on for trillions and trillions of years at least. However, at the end of the Universe,
The Universe will not be a very hospitable place to live in. Most of the stars will have died out. Very few planets will be able to support life. Humanity, if we still exist, might die out eventually together with the Universe.
[More Info]
Bonus: The Universe is a simulated reality
In the movie, the Matrix, people lived in a world where everything was simulated and part of a virtual reality created by robots. Long before The Matrix, folks like Jacques Vallee, John Keel, Rudy Rucker, and Hans Moravec played with this idea before.
So can this be true? Are we all living in perhaps, maybe a supercomputer, residing in someone's home?
If you've ever thought life was actually a dream, take comfort. Philosophers have long questioned whether there is in fact a real world out there, or whether "reality" is just a figment of our imagination. Quantum Mechanics unveiled an Alice-in-Wonderland realm of atomic uncertainty, where particles can be waves and solid objects dissolve away into ghostly patterns of quantum energy.
Now cosmologists have got in on the act, suggesting that what we perceive as the universe might in fact be nothing more than a gigantic simulation.
Pro arguments for this theory state that all the physical constants and laws are too 'perfect'. For example, if the gravitational force was weaker, no planets or stars could have been formed. The Multiverse theory could explain this though, where parallel Universes hold slightly different physical laws and constants.
The vast majority of these other Universes would not be able to support life, thus supporting the idea that our Universe was the one which was 'just right' for us. Although this is a neat explanation, it would assume that there are some Universes where an advanced civilization has enough computer power to create artificial consciousness.
So if there exist civilisations with cosmic simulating ability, then the fake universes they create would outnumber the real ones. After all, virtual reality is a lot easier to create than the real thing.
But how do we reconcile this idea? If we are all just part of a huge computer simulation, then do we have any free will? Are we ever conscious? What are thoughts, emotions, sensations; if everything is simulated? And why, was our Universe created?
And what if one day, the 'person' running the simulation know we are on to them, and the game is up, they may lose interest and decide to hit the delete button.
Game over.
[More Info]
Some pictures and text in this article are granted permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; and as such are reproduced in this article.