Quote of the Day: Never believe anything until it has been officially denied. -- Claud Cockburn

Quote of the Day: Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. - Mark Twain

• The remains of an ancient civilization has been discovered in the depths of the Northern sea. Another Atlantis candidate?
• Dozens of exquisitely preserved Inca mummies are being recovered from a barren hillside on the outskirts of Lima. Any redheads?
• A large cache of jasper shards was unearthed in Virginia and further exploration led to the discovery of a jasper mine that was in use by Native Americans about 11,000 years ago.
• An ancient gate is restored in the heart of Cairo. No, not that kind of gate.
• Roman gladiators were overweight vegetarians who lived on barley and beans.
• A single pill that tackles obesity and smoking could become the next pharmaceutical industry blockbuster. Walking boosts brain power and promotes weight loss. If this works, no one will ever die.
• Toyota has unveiled a trumpet-playing robot in Japan. (with pic) Meanwhile, the Flexibot, a robot that could be used to aid the elderly and disabled with domestic tasks such as shaving, cooking and cleaning, debuts in the UK.
• This robot builder could print houses.
• Powerful explosions have rocked three Madrid train stations, killing 182 rush-hour commuters and wounding nearly 600. Evidence at the site of bombings ties the murders to Muslim extremists. A letter purporting to come from Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network claimed responsibility for the train bombings. Young Muslims in the Netherlands are being recruited for armed terrorism missions against Western targets.
• A purported al Qaeda letter says that a strike on the U.S. is nearly ready.
• Turkey's army has asked local authorities for information on individuals who could undermine the state, including ethnic minorities, magicians and people who practice meditation.
• A Norwegian legislator demands that the government outline plans for countering a looming Easter egg crisis.
• Two Dutch political parties called for laws prohibiting sex with animals. Meanwhile, the California Supreme Court issued an order today blocking San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
• Did angels intercede to save Ronald Reagan's life? Hand Of Providence : The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan is available from Amazon USand UK.
• Social manipulation through information control. Everyone always believes that others have been manipulated, not themselves.
• 'Godless Americans' launch a new political group.
• In the wake of an accidental killing, a historian explains who the Freemasons are, what they do and why conspiracy theorists seem drawn toward them.
• A device to help eliminate friendly fire during military combat has been created.
• Robotic exoskeleton could produce Super Troops. It worked for Sigourney Weaver in Alien.
• Scientists have created the first glowing butterfly, by inserting a jellyfish gene into its DNA. Now we have glowing butterflies.
• Modified genes spread by imported biotech corn threaten to displace or contaminate native ancestor varieties in Mexico, the birthplace of corn.
• The 'Pristine' Amazonian rainforests are changing.
• Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what is good, bad and ugly to one person is pretty much good, bad and ugly to another.
• The UK ivory trade is thriving and uncontrolled. How many more cue balls do we need?
• Scientists say the homes of the future could be powered by electricity generated from their owners' sewage.
• You can own the Oregon Vortex, where brooms stand on end, balls roll uphill, and walking from one spot to another makes you shrink or grow. All without drugs; no animals were hurt during the filming.
• Helicopters are searching for Finnish adventurer Dominick Arduin, 43, who hoped to be the first woman to reach the North Pole alone and unaided.
• Can ear prints be used to catch a thief? Yeah, ear prints.
• It's time for you to do your bit for El Salvador and demand that iguana become a dinner menu staple. It tastes like chicken.
• The bubonic plague, or Black Death, may have originated in ancient Egypt.
• A cloning scientist pushes for Tasmanian tiger 'ecotourism'.
• Sub-wavelength lensing in flat panels of left-hand materials (LHM) has been seen in two new experiments. I await your explanation.
• Keyboards, computer mice and telephone dials are dirtier than toilet seats. What's a telephone dial?
• Robotic vehicles race across the Mojave Desert this weekend in a DARPA-sponsored contest.
• Pravda sensation: Cities are found on the Moon.
• Geophysicists might have solved one of the biggest mysteries in the solar system - why do the magnetic fields of Uranus and Neptune differ from those of the other planets?
• Mars rovers show deserts similar to Earth deserts.
• A tiny community in the hilly depths of rural Germany fears US President George W. Bush's ambitious space program will harm their pieces of moon. There's one born every minute.
• Orion, the Big Dipper and Andromeda could be joined in the heavens by ads for soft drinks and cigarettes if a Russian inventor's device catches on.
• Senators have asked NASA to seek an outside analysis of the agency's plans to cancel a repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.
• The Spirit rover has captured a unique perspective on the Earth and some familiar stars, as seen from the surface of another planet.
• Could Mars be a wet world teeming with tiny Martians?
• Thanks to NASA, the Mars rovers, and the Internet, we have all become explorers of Mars.

Quote of the Day: Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. Voltaire

• The archaeological tragedy unfolding in the UK.
• NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) - an anomalous SETI signal.
• Scientists see god particle?
• Mars stinks...literally. Sulfur deposits probably make the Red Planet a putrid place.
• Mega-corporations throw full force into battle against spammers.
• Reviews of two recent books on Easter Island. THE ENIGMAS OF EASTER ISLAND (Amazon US and UK), and AMONG STONE GIANTS (Amazon US and UK).
• More on the exciting archaeological discoveries in a Croatian river bed.
• China to recruit women for space. Better start accessorising those space-suits.
• Quantum cryptography leaves the lab and walks into the real world.
• Nanotechnology solves the important problems - like making a smoother ice-cream.
• Changes in the Amazonian rain forest concern scientists.
• Masonic initiation ceremony goes wrong, candidate gets shot in the head instead. Symbolic death indeed.
• Condemned Hubble Space Telescope just keeps on delivering the goods, even while on death row.
• Bush space vision dealt setback by senate budget committee.
• Mars rovers capture Martian eclipses.
• St Death calls to the living in Mexico City.
• The danger from space - avoiding a day like Arthur Dent experienced. Got my towel right here...
• Plastic muscles the future of mankind? If they don't hurt like mine the morning after a jog, I'll gladly trade up.
• New Luxor museum receives Ahmose and Ramses I mummies. Home at last.
• Mammalian egg dogma proved wrong. Sounds like a good name for a band...I can just see it on the marquee now - Mammalian Egg Dogma.
• If you think that one was good, how about The Power of Faeces. A&R job, here I come.
• UK gives tentative go-ahead for GM crops.
• George Michael retires from commercial music-making, says he will release songs free on the 'net from now on, as he has "been very well remunerated for my talents over the years so I really don't need the public's money." Website will allow for donations which will go to charities. Why does that make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside?
• More on the Bigfoot fraud story that's been bouncing around.
• UK inscription made by Viking settler?
• Definitive signs of being a geek - when you propose to your girlfriend using a custom-built computer.

Quote of the Day: Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first - Ronald Reagan

• Defying Psychiatric wisdom, these skeptics say prove it.
• Blue band forms around Jupiter, Neptune gets brighter, and Saturn's got an X-ray mystery.
• The curious case of the NASA Crinoid cover-up.
• 300 Wyoming Elk dead after baffling paralysis.
• 67% chance that God exists. He's also related to Saddam Hussein and subscribes to Hello magazine.
• Scientist gagged by Downing Street after warning that global warming was a greater threat than terrorism.
• More than one Jack the Ripper?
• Mars stinks.
• Japanese archaeologists unearth 1300 year-old palace.
• Prehistoric artefacts unearthed in central provinces.
• Climate has history of fast changes.
• Neolithic Triple Henge complex shares same alignment as Giza.
• Ancient storms show big one to come.
• A new branch of primitive humans reported found in Ethiopia.
• Is there a second kind of light?
• Teen brains show low motivation. If life in the long term doesn't look attractive...
• Autism is a mystery, not a medical conspiracy.
• 1204: what really happened?

Quote of the Day: If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank. - Woody Allen

• Scientist claims proof of afterlife.
• A small band of pioneers is exploring the neurology of religious experience.
• A decade of research in Iraq could rewrite the books of archaeology, no question.
• Another branch of human ancestors reported. 5.2-million-year-old Ethiopia fossil may be from early primate.
• The medieval Islamic astronomers were not merely translators, they may also have played a key role in the Copernican revolution.
• Romania fossil find is 'most complete collection of modern humans in Europe older than 28,000 years'.
• Experts work to save Easter Island statues.
• Nazca Lines attract more than tourists.
• Remains of Viking harbor complex found.
• 1478 assassination solved. The Humanist did it.
• 15th century Inca mummies discovered.
• Monk mummy found in mountains.
• A new book, Earth History and Lost Civilizations Explained by Zoosh and Robert Shapiro is available at Amazon US/UK.
• Another new book, Civilization and Its Enemies : The Next Stage of History by Lee Harris is available at Amazon US/UK.
• UFO Magazine to close?
• A final new book for the today's post, Three Men Seeking Monsters : Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monsters, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs, and Ape-Men by Nick Redfern is avialable at Amazon US/UK.
• Did a comet trigger the Great Chicago Fire of 1871?
• Wisconsin woman finds bodies buried under house from old cemetary.
• NASA deluged by civilians' Mars `discoveries'.
• Crops of circles imaged on Mars.
• Part 3: Mars, a sulfate salty planet - could it have sulfate-loving microbes? Also parts 1 & 2.
• On the heels of the Opportunity water announcement, the case for Spirit's water.
• New findings change focus of future Mars exploration. No 'showstoppers' for humans on Mars. Mars critics say billions are ill-spent.
• Sea survey finds 1,800 microbial species.
• 3-headed frog found, also has 6 legs.
• Elk deaths draw national experts.
• Dramatic rescue of North Pole 12.
• Attack of the giant ice balls!
• Scientist 'gagged' by No 10 after warning of global warming threat.
• Setting the world's priorities.
• Will an apple a day keep the doctor away? There are better food choices.
• McDonald's gets healthy for Europe.
• Official tells of investigation into Mad Cow discrepancies.
• Jackson "seeing witch doctor".
  • Evidence for unknown pre-Dynastic king unearthed in Egypt.
  • Wolverine sightings spread to Michigan. Is this the Howling?
  • Bigfoot is on the move...or at the very least someone impersonating Chewbacca.
  • Scientists push for Beagle pups onboard interplanetary missions.
  • Archaeologists seek older, more complete Lucy. But what about Snoopy?
  • Another crying Virgin Mary statue. When do we get to see a smiling Virgin Mary?
  • Did the first seafarers to sail around the Cape of Good Hope come from the east, rather than Europe?
  • Early human ancestor had small teeth.
  • Israeli archaeologist uncovers the origins of some Jewish customs.
  • Ecotourism may be bad for the eco part of the equation.
  • Prince Charles warns about vanishing fish. Is that like an evolved flying fish?
  • Mardi Gras alienates Raelians.
  • MPs to call for further testing of GM crops.
  • Families may sue council over satanic abuse claim.
  • Amish reality television show looks like being axed. You couldn't dream up headlines like that if you tried...pure gold.
    • Poo from the sky. It doesn't get any more highbrow than that.
    • Mars volcano shows water flow. With purty picture.
    • Digging for America's lost colony.
    • Researchers issue retraction over link between MMR vaccine and autism.
    • New technique could give super-cool molecules. I've seen those suckers, two hydrogens and an oxygen atom passed me the other day with hats on backwards, saying 'yo mama'.
    • Archaeological dig unearths ancient love affair.
    • Steven Hawking needs to pay up on a gambling debt. Don't stress, it's all in the name of cosmology.
    • Scientists identify anti-sex scent. I've definitely smelt that on a few people.
    • DNA chip to expose beefed up chicken.
    • Stem cell treatments for heart problems in doubt.
    • Pesticides have killed over 90 billion French bees in the past decade.
    • Primitive crustacean smarter than scientists believed.
    • Keen to make your own bio-diesel at home? Somebody's posted instructions on the 'net. Use at your own risk!
    • Damn internet - spam, porn, and now drugs. If we could only get rid of the spam, things are looking good...
    • Comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta finally starts chasing.
    • Man chasing Bigfoot chases corporate sponsorship. Hmmm, any brown underwear sponsors?
    • Biblical-scale locust plague threatens the Middle-East. Hope the four horsemen aren't saddling up...
    • Just to add to the drama, image of Virgin Mary in window shattered by vandals.