Denver voters will be asked to create UFO commission

By Christopher N. Osher
Courtesy of The Denver Post

A proposal to create a Denver commission to study visitors from outer space will go before voters this summer after supporters gathered the required signatures to get it on the ballot.

City Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O'Malley sent a letter on Monday to Jeff Peckman, who submitted the signatures, stating she had deemed them sufficient.

The ordinance change required 3,974 valid signatures. Peckman submitted more than 10,000 signatures.

Peckman said he will ask voters to approve creating the commission from "grants, gifts and donations."

The seven-member commission would be tasked with collecting evidence that extraterrestrials and their "UFO vehicles" have been visiting Earth.

Peckman, 55, of Denver, and a self-described entrepreneur, said the election on the issue would go with the next regularly scheduled citywide election, currently set for Aug. 10.

He predicted that the election would cause high-profile believers in extraterrestrial to come out and tell Denver voters about what they know.

"They will see there is an attentive audience, and that people are digging into this issue," Peckman said. "They will see there is an opportunity to say something when people are paying attention."

In 2003, Peckman pushed a "Safety Through Peace" initiative that voters rejected. If that proposal had passed, it would have required the city to implement systematic, stress-reducing techniques or programs that are scientifically proven to decrease stress and would financially benefit the city.

Peckman had suggested the peace-inducing techniques could involve everything from more nutritious food in public schools to mass meditation sessions to piping soothing music into public buildings to reduce stress and violence.

The initiatives Peckman has pushed has generated concern among some city council members who fear the threshold for ballot initiatives invites frivolous initiatives. The current system for getting an ordinance change on the ballot pegs the number of signatures required to a percentage of the last mayoral vote, which in recent years has been low.

Dream Machines #4

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo getting ready for test flights ahead of space tourism



By Tom Chivers
Courtesy of Telegraph. co.uk

The Virgin Galactic - Scaled Components SpaceShipTwo, which should launch in early 2010 Photo: VIRGIN GALACTIC

Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital space plane, the SpaceShipTwo, is preparing for test flights – and Richard Branson's company hopes it will be taking tourists into space by 2012.

For a mere $200,000 (£120,000), wealthy funseekers will be able to enjoy a few minutes' weightlessness, staring out at the curve of the Earth from under a black sky.

Currently in the final stages of construction, SpaceShipTwo is expected to make its first test flights in the early months of 2010.

A small, rocket-propelled, shuttle-like vehicle around the size of a light aircraft, SpaceShipTwo will be carried to 50,000 feet above sea level – 20,000 feet higher than most airliners – by its mothership, WhiteKnightTwo.

Once there, SpaceShipTwo's own rocket engine will fire, launching the little ship to the boundary between the atmosphere and the vacuum of space at three times the speed of sound. After the engines are cut off, they will enter free-fall, experiencing total weightlessness for several minutes.

WhiteKnightTwo has been undergoing flight tests since December last year.

So far 300 people have paid in full for their ticket, while a further 82,000 have registered their interest on Virgin Galactic's website. The engineers behind the craft refer to the rich, middle-aged people who are their target market as “Brads and Angelinas”, according to Wired.com.

The new craft is the descendant of SpaceShipOne, the first ever privately funded manned space vehicle. Scaled Components, the company which built both ships, won the $10 million (£6 million) X Prize for being the first non-governmental organisation to reach space.

******




ICON A5 going strong
Courtesy of ICON

Since the FAA’s dramatic regulation changes in 2004 created the new Light Sport Aircraft category, ICON Aircraft’s sole purpose has been to bring the freedom, fun, and adventure of flying to all who have dreamed of flight. With these ground-breaking FAA rules solidified, ICON believes that consumer-focused sport aircraft can do for recreational flying what personal watercraft did for boating.

ICON’s sport aircraft are not only designed to deliver an amazing and safe flying experience, but also to inspire us the way great sports cars do. After years of development with some of the world’s best aerospace engineers and industrial designers, ICON Aircraft has released the first of its line of sport planes, the ICON A5. The A5 is a bold yet elegant design that communicates beauty, performance, safety, and most importantly… fun.

ICON was founded in 2005 by Kirk Hawkins. Hawkins, a graduate from the Stanford Business School, is an accomplished engineer, former U.S. Air Force F-16 pilot, and long-time motorsport enthusiast. With its world-class team of engineers, designers, advisors, and investors, ICON is located in Southern California – home of the world’s largest concentration of both aerospace and automobile design resources. ICON’s engineering and development team came from Burt Rutan’s famed Scaled Composites, which created such record setting projects as Voyager, Global Flyer, the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne, and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.

Strong Leonid Meteor Shower Peaks Early Tuesday Morning

By Robert Roy Britt
Courtesy of Space.com
Photo - Brian Scott

One of the best annual meteor showers will peak in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday, and for some skywatchers the show could be quite impressive.

The best seats are in Asia, but North American observers should be treated to an above average performance of the Leonid meteor shower, weather permitting. The trick for all observers is to head outside in the wee hours of the morning – between 1 a.m. and dawn – regardless where you live.

The Leonids put on a solid show every year, if skies are clear and moonlight does not interfere. This year the moon is near its new phase, and not a factor. For anyone in the Northern Hemisphere with dark skies, away from urban and suburban lighting, the show should be worth getting up early to see.

"We're predicting 20 to 30 meteors per hour over the Americas, and as many as 200 to 300 per hour over Asia," said Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. Other astronomers who work in the nascent field of meteor shower prediction have put out similar forecasts.

Urban dwellers and suburbanites will see far fewer, as the fainter meteors will be drowned out by local lights.

Behind the Leonids

The Leonids are created by the comet Tempel-Tuttle, which passes through the inner solar system every 33 years on its orbit around the sun. Each time by, it leaves a new river of debris, mostly bits of ice and rock no bigger than a sand grain but a few the size of a pea or marble.

Over time, these cosmic streams spread out, so predicting exactly what will happen is difficult.

"We can predict when Earth will cross a debris stream with pretty good accuracy," Cooke said. "The intensity of the display is less certain, though, because we don't know how much debris is in each stream."

When Earth plows into the debris, the bits hit the atmosphere and vaporize, creating sometimes dramatic streaks of light and the occasional fireball with a smoky-looking trail that can remain visible for several minutes.

The Leonid stream is moving in the opposite direction of Earth, of 160,000 mph (72 kilometers per second) – higher than many other meteors.

"Such speeds tend to produce meteors with hues of white, blue, aquamarine and even green," says Joe Rao, SPACE.com's skywatching columnist.

How to watch

The best viewing will be in rural areas. Get out of town if you can. If you have local lights, scout a location in advance where the lights are blocked by a building, tree or hill.

Dress warmly, and take a blanket or lounge chair so you can lie back and scan as much of the sky as possible. "At this time of year, meteor watching can be a long, cold business," Rao reminds people.

Leonids can appear anywhere, but if you trace them back, they all point to a hub, or radiant, in the constellation Leo – hence the name.

Give your eyes 15 minutes to adjust to the darkness. Then give the show at least a half-hour. The hourly rates stated above typically come in bursts, with lulls that may test your patience. No special equipment is needed. Telescopes and binoculars are of no use because meteors move too quickly.

When to watch

Earth will pass through one of the denser debris streams at around 4 a.m. EST (1 a.m. PST) Tuesday. If you have only an hour or less to watch, center it around this time. Leo will be high in the sky for East Coast skywatchers, putting more meteors into view. In the West, Leo will be low in the eastern sky at this time, so fewer shooting stars will be above the horizon, and therefore Western skywatchers should also try to stick it out until daybreak.

Across Europe, the best bet is to watch anytime between 1 a.m. and daybreak local time.

The planet will pass through an even denser stream later, just before dawn Wednesday in Indonesia and China, but that show won't be visible from North America because it will be daytime here.

One truth about the Leonids: They always produce, and they sometimes produce spectacular, unforgettable fireballs.

**This is kind of late news but there are still a few hours to get outside and check out the action. Head over to Space.com using the title link and check out the links and related material.**

Scientists identify gene that can help you live to 100

By Richard Alleyne
Courtesy of Telegraph. co.uk





A gene that can help you live to 100 has been identified by scientists.

Researchers studying a group of people with an average age of 97 found they had all inherited a gene that appears to prevent cells ageing.

They found that the 86 people studied and their children had higher levels of an enzyme called telomerase which is known to protect the body's DNA from degrading.

The team from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, who studied an American Ashkenazi Jewish community, said that the finding could lead to anti-aging drugs.

Telomerase is known to protect telomeres which stop the string of DNA unravelling much like the plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces stop fraying.

Each time a cell divides, its telomeres shortens and the cell becomes more susceptible to dying.

By boosting telomerase, scientists think they could eventually stop the cells dying and so protect against old age.

The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Symphony of Science - 'We Are All Connected'

Thanks again to John Boswell for another great Symphony of Science.

John's channel on YouTube
http://youtube.com/melodysheep

Also visit John's "Symphony of Science" website
http://symphonyofscience.com

The Sagan Appreciation Society channel
http://youtube.com/SaganAppreciationSoc

A Closer Look at Chemtrails.

Courtesy of the Phantoms and Monsters Blog & FTO.co.za














In 2002 the US military was acused of “conducting a chemical weapons research and development program in violation of international arms control law” Whereby they replied

“JNLWD's [US Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate] secret program is not focusing on highly lethal agents such as VX or sarin. Rather, the emphasis is on "non-lethal" chemical weapons that incapacitate. JNLWD's science advisors define "non-lethal" as resulting in death or permanent injury in 1 in 100 victims.(1) JNLWD's Research Director told a US military magazine "We need something besides tear gas, like calmatives, anesthetic agents, that would put people to sleep or in a good mood." These weapons are intended for use against "potentially hostile civilians", in anti-terrorism operations, counterinsurgency, and other military operations.

The major focus of JNLWD's operation is on the use of drugs as weapons, particularly so-called "calmatives", a military term for mind-altering or sleep inducing chemical weapons.”

Then LAST WEEK Airplanes sprayed mysterious substance over Ukraine days before pneumonic plague outbreak

Kiev, Ukraine - Authorities in the town of Kiev, Ukraine denied any spraying of "aerosolized medication" by aircraft over the city. This after it was reported that light aircrafts were seen flying over the forest market area that sprayed a aerosol substance to fight h1n1 or swine flu.

5 Sources confirms this and the local newspapers of Kiev also received hundreds of phone calls from residents and business owners close to the area the planes were spraying the suspicious substance. Not only that but local businesses and retailers were "advised" to stay indoors during the day by the local authorities.

As if that is not enough, the government authorities also pushed the radio stations in Kiev to deny the reports. Online on forums, websites and blogs reports came in about eye witness accounts that confirms this. There was also reports of helicopters spraying aerosols over Kiev, Lviv, Ternopil and throughout Ukraine.

30th October the Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko ordered the army or Ministry of Defense to establish mobile hostpitals to provide “essential medications” for people infected with h1n1 (swine flu).

Then just recently the entire Ukraine was put under martial law, more shocking is the statement before the serious pneumonic plague broke out “Due to the complex epidemiological situation in the western regions of Ukraine, where tens of thousands of people have become ill, thousands are in hospital, and dozens have died.”

**Please follow the links over to the Phantoms and Monsters Blog and FTO.co.za for loads more information on this topic. Things are looking nasty in the Ukraine (a country that, by the way, just made public its UFO national archives) and our thoughts are with everyone suffering through the troubles plaguing that country.**

If you don't already have the Phantoms and Monsters blog on your favorites list you need to make sure that's the very next thing you do.

'Significant Amount' of Water Found on Moon

Courtesy of Space.com







It's official:

There's water ice on the moon, and lots of it. When melted, the water could potentially be used to drink or to extract hydrogen for rocket fuel.

NASA's LCROSS probe discovered beds of water ice at the lunar south pole when it impacted the moon last month, mission scientists announced today. The findings confirm suspicions announced previously, and in a big way.

"Indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit, we found a significant amount," Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

The LCROSS probe impacted the lunar south pole at a crater called Cabeus on Oct. 9. The $79 million spacecraft, preceded by its Centaur rocket stage, hit the lunar surface in an effort to create a debris plume that could be analyzed by scientists for signs of water ice.

Those signs were visible in the data from spectrographic measurements (which measure light absorbed at different wavelengths, revealing different compounds) of the Centaur stage crater and the two-part debris plume the impact created. The signature of water was seen in both infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopic measurements.

"We see evidence for the water in two instruments," Colaprete said. "And that's what makes us really confident in our findings right now."

**Head over to Space.com for the rest of the story and their related story links.**

Martian Landscapes

Since 2006, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has been orbiting Mars, currently circling approximately 300 km (187 mi) above the Martian surface. On board the MRO is HiRISE, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, which has been photographing the planet for several years now at resolutions as fine as mere inches per pixel. Collected here is a group of images from HiRISE over the past few years, in either false color or grayscale, showing intricate details of landscapes both familiar and alien, from the surface of our neighboring planet, Mars. I invite you to take your time looking through these, imagining the settings - very cold, dry and distant, yet real.

Courtesy of Boston.com

**Head over and check out all 35 of these awesome pix. Very different from the dead, dry red world of past photos.**

To Find New Planets, Look for the Lithium?

John Roach
for National Geographic News

Sunlike stars that harbor planets are low on lithium, according to a recent study that may offer a new tool in the hunt for planets beyond our solar system.

Stars are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium. A small percentage of a star's mass comes from heavier elements, which astronomers refer to as metals.

Young, yellow stars like our sun usually have more metals than older, redder stars, although the exact mix of those metals can vary.

But astronomers have been unable to explain why otherwise similar sunlike stars have widely different lithium levels.

The new study suggests that the answer lies with the presence of planets.

"There're stars with and without planets, and the scatter of lithium abundance is very large," noted lead study author Garik Israelian, of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias on Tenerife, one of the Spanish-run Canary Islands.

"But for planet-host stars, we find that they all have low abundances of lithium."

**Follow the title link over to National Geographic to read up on the rest of the story and check out the related links as well.**

Dream Machines #3

I had previously presented futuristic and just plain interesting machines in individual postings but I thought it would be good to lump a few together and throw them out there a couple times a month. Cheers!


Innespace SeaBreacher

A personal watercraft that allows high speed surface maneuvers as well as short term subsurface jaunts. Machines like this make me daydream of underwater habitation and travel. Enjoy the video below and check out the website link above. The best part is that this is actually for sale now.

Terrafugia's Transition

Have you ever gotten fed up with traffic jams? Commercial airports? For under $200,000.00 dollars you can leave those worries behind. Yes sirree. Terrafugia is taking reservations now.






The Mantra designed by Adam Scott

Mantra is an automated life saving system concept aiming to tackle the beach safety issues that usually causes drowning casualties such as slow response time, inadequate surveillance, lack of lifeguard safety, and limitation of lifeguards as human.

The Mantra concept contains small hairs with embedded electro sensors that detect distress and drowning people and swims up automatically to the spot. The victim is then picked up carefully onto the built-in stretcher and it carries him or her on top of the water by using impellers and hydrofoils.

There is always constant communication between the Mantra and beach lifeguards through which it carries the victim to a specified beach location where ambulance and medical team remains stand-by.




**Check out the sites for the above dream machines and special thanks to Jimmie for the heads-up!**