December 2002

The news items below are updated daily and will cover any paranormal and interesting topics we come across. They are written by HUFOS member, Rita A. Jennings, who kindly donates her time and effort in keeping these News In General pages full of upto date information.

Rita Jennings

Hull UFO Society c/o 62, Egton Street, New Cleveland Street, Hull. N. Humberside HU8 7HU Tel: 01482 219887 Mbl: 07754 036536 Email: Hull UFO Society

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Nasa’s Orbital Space Plane. – Nasa hope to have a rocket-launched Orbital Space Plane by 2010 but are getting mixed reviews from the U.S. Space agency’s body of advisors and policy analysts. The plan was unveiled on November 13th. Nasa’s Administrator Sean O’Keefe has taken a complete look at the agency’s Space transportation needs and has suggested the most practical solution to the pressing problems. Nasa hope to free 1.2.billion dollars between 2003 – 2007 by scaling back the pursuit of a fully reusable launcher and refocusing the Space Launch Initiative on the Orbital Space Plane. They hope the money saved can be used to upgrade the space shuttle, flying 5 shuttle flights a year and also ensure that the Space Station program is adequately funded.

Life on MARS – but not as we know it. – A new study has come up with the theory that Mars, may have been battered by high asteroids. They in turn led to lethal storms of scalding rain. According to scientists at the University of Colorado. The rocks pounded Mars 3.6. billion years ago. These in turn brought vast quantities of water to the planet. The powerful waves of heat then melted underground ice deposits. A blast wave, heated to over 4000 degrees Fahrenheit would have blanketed the planet hundreds of feet thick with heated rock, making the atmosphere hotter than a self cleaning oven.

At last we are going back to the Moon. – Hooray! – After 30 years we are finally going back to the Moon, and brilliantly, the government are not involved. San Diego based firm TransOrbital Inc. have signed a 20 million dollar contract with Russian Space Company Kosmotras for a moon mission. A test fight on December 20th 2002 Will be launched from the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, which will put a satellite into Earth Orbit.

The planned moonshot, hopefully, will be next October, which will cost about 40 million dollars. TransOrbital are hoping to make a profit on the mission by selling space aboard the vehicle. Business cards, photo’s or personal messages can be sent. The cost 2,500 dollars a gram. So if you want to include something on the trip, you better start saving now. You could even send the ashes of a loved one, if you could afford it. Other advocates, have talked of sending a depository of knowledge, just in case a cataclysmic event wipes out life on Earth.

Newspapers that update themselves. – As seen in the film Minority Report, newspapers ;that update themselves are not too far fetched at all. Gyriconmedia, a US company already market a smart re-usable paper. A wireless link is needed to update the paper, but these are all available now. We are all still using the keyboard and mouse, after 30 years, after the birth of the PC, but voice touch activated computers are already here, but getting computers to accurately interpret human speech is difficult. As chip speeds approach the 10GHz mark it will become more possible, and 10GHz chips are not all that far away. Intel say the current Pentium 4 could be pushed upto 10GHz. All that is needed is a copious amount of money for research and development, and of course technology companies must be willing to take the risk. Instead of spending all the money on WAR surely mankind would be better investing in new science and technology.

Minority Report – The technological ideas seen in the recent Steven Spielberg’s film, are not as incredible as you think. The jetpacks used by the police officers, flying around were first designed by Bell, in 1961. and called the rocket=belt. There were several different rocket and jet powered versions, but due to the range and lack of manoeuvrability they never caught on. Even worse was the landing, with pilots being injured. Now an American company. Millennium Jet have designed a strap on helicopter called Solotrek. The pilots control it by using a fly-by-wire system. The engine is a normal piston one and should anything go wrong the pilot can land safely on the ground by a parachute. This lowers the machine and pilot, even from a low altitude. Aimed mainly at the military, it is hoped civilian versions will be available.

Sonic Weapons. – Sonic Weapons which knock down your opponents by a very deep noise, are already being used. Since 1960 researchers realized that a very deep noise, below the thresh hold of human hearing, can distort vision and cause flesh to resonate. Now an MIT student, has developed an audio spotlight, using higher frequencies. It is a spotlight that focuses a tight beam of sound onto a spot several hundred feet away. An even more powerful device is being marketed by the company American Technology. This is a rifle-sized device called a Directed Stick Radiator. It is intended for use in psychological warfare and crowd control.

1984 and Big Brother. – In Minority Report a futuristic police team have the technology to see who is going to commit crime, before it takes place. This is a lot closer than you think. In Washington, The Pentagon is working on a plan to collect information on everyone in America. This includes your Doctor’s records, bank deposits, e-mail, phone conversations, magazine subscriptions etc. This will, to some, be frightening. According to Under Secretary of Defence, Pete Aldridge, it is intended to catch people and terrorists, before crimes are committed. The project is known as Total Information Awareness. Not every one is convinced, as the man heading the Pentagon team, according to reports has a dubious past.According to reports, he was an advisor to former President Reagan, and he sold arms to Iran and used the money to fund Nicaraguan contras. As seen in the film Minority Report, things end up going terribly wrong and many in Washington are predicting that if this real-life scheme ever gets off the ground, it might well lead to hi-tech chaos and failure. Will this scheme eventually find it’s way over here, we will have to wait and see. Or, is it all ready in operation?

It’s never stopped raining here – but at least it’s not FISH – In the village of Korona in the mountains of Northern Greece, it has been reported that a shower of Tiny Fish occurred. The Greek Television attributed the incident to a mini-tornado. During a spell of rough weather, villagers discovered the tiny fish on the banks of Lake Doirani. A weather expert at the university of Salonica in Northern Greece, stated that the fish were most probably sucked up from the lake by a mini-tornado formed during a thunderstorm. This is not as unusable as you might think. In the past, these occurrences have happened before, FISH, FROG’s etc. have all mysteriously appeared out of the blue in several locations around the world and in most cases have been attributed to tornado’s.

Unidentified object seen in Grifton, Pitt County. – At the old Red and White parking lot at about 11pm. Three men from the local Fire department were amazed when the sky lit up everything in it’s path. Everything was coloured a strange shade of green and blue. An odd light raced across the sky and was seen in Farmville and upto the southern tip of Pitt County. Apparently it was so intense that they could not look at it to see what it was. Calls came in From Aydon and the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office over the fire-rescue scanners in the volunteer’s trucks. Patrol cars were dispatched to check, but nothing was found. A deputy in Ayden and several Greenville Officers reported seing the light and said it appeared to be descending. Apparently – Deputies in the remote areas of the county are always reporting seing thing’s in the sky all the time. This is another unsolved mystery.

Alien Space Bugs – You don’t know it, but every day the earth is been bombarded by alien space bugs. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe of Cardiff University, an astronomer has just reported that more than a ton of mysterious Alien Space Bugs are landing on Earth every day. They descend into our atmosphere, carried by meteors, and then the bugs are spread worldwide by global weather conditions. Leading scientists state that this could be the cause of new diseases that keep making their appearance and also could be the cause of potentially new life. There is a huge spread of bugs all over the world which know one really knows anything about. So – “Look out there is a Bug About”

Motorists zapped by STAR WARS BASE – (UK) Fylingdale’s has claimed it’s first target. Upgrading of surveillance systems at RAF.Fylingdale’s up on the Yorkshire Moors in Yorkshire, has knocked out immobilisers systems in expensive cars. BMW, Mercedes and Jeep owners had to be rescued. Cars had to be towed out of the bases range. Strong Radar Pulses are thought to be triggering the immobilisers systems. Makes you wonder, “What is going on up there on the Moors”.

Mysterious Trails found on MARS – Another mystery has been uncovered on Mars. Near the South Pole of Mars, mysterious tracks, which look like sled trails or long ski marks have been found, which are 250 miles long. Researchers at the University of Colorodo, say the broad, sweeping lines cut through a section of the southern ice caps, but they have not got any clue as to what caused them. The grooves are not on steep terrain, and appear to be scouring away at underlying layers, revealing lines and patterns that look a little like a wooden plank sanded down parallel to it’s grain, explained planetary scientist Zane Crawford, a graduate student at the University of Colorado. This was presented at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco just recently. Powerful winds could be a possibility, as the groves appear to bear west, heading away from the Pole. The mysterious grooves are composed of elevation data, from the MARS Orbiting Laser Altimeter on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. Apparently the South Pole is not well covered, but in other places the data received is good, that differences of just 6” can be detected, which enable’s scientists to see the seasonal changes in carbon dioxide frost building up and evaporating. Until Human geologists can make the trip to Mars, and study these tracks, we can only make speculation onto the origins of these marks. Maybe, it was Father Christmas’s last drop off, of the Year?

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