‘Green meteor’ in Edinburgh (Scotland) sky

Observers have reported a meteor over Edinburgh, after a “very fast” bright green light was seen travelling across the sky towards East Lothian.

Witnesses said it happened just after 2230 BST on Monday and was as fast as a low-flying jet.

The fireball lasted about five seconds before burning out.

Rob Ritchie, of North Berwick, said he saw it while travelling along the A1 moving towards the Lammermuir Hills in a south easterly direction.

Another eyewitness, Chris Montroy, from Edinburgh, said that looking from his window, which faces Arthur’s Seat, he could see an orange streak which turned into a bright green light.

Coloured tail

Joe Prentice, of Swinton Quarter Farm, south of Duns, told the BBC Scotland news website: “I saw the meteor on Monday night, it appeared to the south, travelling from east to west, dropping at an angle of 20 to 25 degrees, and I thought it must have been falling quite close by.

“Obviously I was wrong as I live in Swinton just south of Duns and 45 miles south of Edinburgh. It was quite spectacular, not unlike a firework with a nicely coloured tail.”

Thom Fish, from Cramond, said: “I saw this in the sky to my south east as I approached the Calder junction of the city bypass from the A71 west.

“To be honest, I did think it was just a firework until I saw the news report. It was a very bright and luminous green.”

via BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Edinburgh, East and Fife | ‘Green meteor’ in Edinburgh sky.

I saw two of these in one night while driving on a dark dirt road. They were a few seconds apart and they had swerving green tails.

Loughborough Council tenants told to give one month’s notice of when they will die

MIDLAND council house tenants have been asked to give their local authority landlords one month’s notice – of when they are going to die.

The cold hearted ruling by Charnwood Borough Council, in Loughborough, has sickened grieving relatives.

They say they are being left to pick up rent bills from the local authority, charged to their loved ones after their deaths.

And the only way the charges can be avoided is if the dying person gives the council notice they will not be needing their home because they are four weeks away from death’s door.

Several relatives complained to the council about the ruling and were told ‘rules are rules’ and everyone must give a month’s notice of when they are to vacate a property – whether they are dead or not.

Grieving stepson Jim Seaton, of Ibstock, Leicestershire, was issued with one such bill 18 days after his stepdad, Raymond Smith, had died aged 80.

He said: “My stepfather passed away on March 1 of cancer. He was a good and honest man.

“But it was a shock when, after struggling with our grief, we then had to cope with being told he had to give one month’s notice on his council property.

“I asked the council, ‘How does a dead man give one month’s notice?’ But they told me, ‘Sorry rules are rules’.

“The council have no understanding of grief and loss and I find it unbelievable they can introduce this unfeeling, cold and calculated rule.”

via Loughborough Council tenants told to give one month’s notice of when they will die – Sunday Mercury.

Mystery Primate Skull

This is one of two images currently available of a mysterious primate skull found yesterday just outside Dallas. I am waiting to see how long it will be before someone leaps upon it with glee, proclaiming it to be the skull of bigfoot.

It’s not, because, although there is nothing in this picture for scale, the video embedded at http://www.nbcdfw.com shows that it fits comfortably on the palm of the hand of the geezer who found it. It will, however, be interesting to see how the story unfoldS.

via CRYPTOZOOLOGY ONLINE: Still on the Track: MYSTERY PRIMATE SKULL.

From nbcdfw:

… A noted anthropologist for the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office, Dr. Dana Austin, viewed photographs of the skull and said it was definitely an “old-world primate,” possibly a monkey or chimp.

She said it was impossible to determine from the photos the age of the skull. Evans, who talked to other experts, said he believes it may be a baboon.

“From everybody at UTA and everybody I’ve been talking to, (it’s) possibly a baboon,” he said. “But how it got  to 635, right there at Churchill and Preston, I have no idea.”

Evans and other workers also found a small bone nearby, apparently from the same animal. “It appears to be part of a femur or hip,” he said. …

Special Ops UFO Manual Looks Authentic: Researchers Claim

An alleged 1954 U.S. special operations manual that provides instruction on dealing with UFOs and extraterrestrial beings was discussed by researchers Robert Wood, Ph.D., and Ryan Wood Thursday, April 16, on the radio program “Coast to Coast AM.”

The Woods, a father and son team, examine and evaluate the authenticity of various government documents related to UFOs.

They said on Coast to Coast AM that their research indicates the manual has characteristics indicating it is authentic.

The alleged manual is titled “SOM1-01 Special Operations Manual: Extraterrestrial Entities and Technology, Recovery and Disposal.”

The cover of the manual includes the date April 1954 and notes that it was created by the “Majestic-12 Group.”

Some researchers have proposed that the manual could be a fraud or hoax. If that is the case, which is possible, the manual would not be considered a classified or restricted government document.

OVERVIEW OF CONTENTS

In the table of contents, the manual lists six chapters as well as other sub-sections. Additional information at the end of the manual is also of interest.

The sections include:

“Chapter 1 – Operation Majestic-12, Section I: Project purpose and goals”

“Chapter 2 – Introduction, Section I: General, Section II: Definition and data”

“Chapter 3 – Recovery Operations, Section I: Security, Section II: Technology recovery”

“Chapter 4 – Receiving and Handling, Section I: Handling upon receipt of material”

“Chapter 5 – Extraterrestrial Biological Entities, Section I: Living organisms, Section II: Non-living organisms”

“Chapter 6 – Guide to UFO Identification, Section I: UFOB guide, Section II: Identification criteria, Section III: Possible origins”

…

via Special Ops UFO Manual Looks Authentic: Researchers Claim.

Might be interesting reading.

Oldest Human Hairs Found in Hyena Dung Fossil

The oldest known human hair belonged to a 9,000-year-old mummy disinterred from an ancient Chilean cemetery.

Until now. A recent discovery pushes the record back some 200,000 years. (And the newly discovered strands received a rather less dignified burial.)

While excavating in Gladysvale Cave, near Johannesburg, South Africa, a team of researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand discovered an ancient brown-hyena latrine. Upon inspection, hyena coprolites — fossilized dung — appeared to contain uncannily hair-like structures.

Lucinda Backwell, a paleontologist in the group, took a sediment block containing several coprolites back to the lab for a closer look. She and a colleague carefully removed forty of the “hairs apparent” from one of the coprolites and subjected half to scanning-electron microscopy. Sure enough, fossilized hairs they were, and five showed remarkably preserved surface scales.

Comparing the scales to those of a variety of animals — an admittedly tricky undertaking — Backwell’s team concluded that human hairs were the best match.

Dating of the cave’s limestone layers showed that the dung had been deposited sometime between 257,000 and 195,000 years ago. During that period, both early Homo sapiens and a relation, H. heidelbergensis, roamed the South African landscape.

A couple of chilling explanations spring to mind as to how human hairs might have become lodged in hyena dung. Backwell thinks it most likely that a brown hyena scavenged an ancestral human’s remains.

via Oldest Human Hairs Found in Hyena Dung Fossil | LiveScience.

The Donald’s verdict Trumps in Miss California flap

It all comes down to Donald Trump – will he go easy on Miss California, or fire her under pressure from gay advocacy groups.

Miss California USA pageant officials have strongly criticized titleholder Carrie Prejean but say it’s not their decision whether she should be stripped of her crown.

Pageant directors told reporters yesterday only Miss USA pageant owner Donald Trump can make that decision. There was no immediate word from Trump. An uproar ensued when the 21-year-old answered a Miss USA pageant question saying she believes marriage is only between a man and a woman. The state pageant investigated whether she violated her contract by making appearances for anti-gay marriage groups. She also failed to reveal she once modeled wearing only panties.

via The Donald’s verdict Trumps in Miss California flap – BostonHerald.com.

I don’t really see the purpose of having a “Miss California”.  Arnold should grant the person in this role some real powers.  Miss California could settle disputes on the California budget or something. As for Carrie Prejean, she said what she believes. I guess we will find out what Donald Trump believes about gay marriage now.

U.S. Soldier in Iraq Kills 5 Comrades at Stress Clinic

I’ve been wondering what made this soldier go nuts. No real answers yet.

An American soldier opened fire on comrades Monday afternoon inside a combat stress clinic at a large U.S. military base in Baghdad, killing five and wounding three in an attack that prompted officials to promise to try to ease the strain on troops deployed to war zones.

The gunman was taken into custody shortly after the 2 p.m. shooting at Camp Liberty, part of a sprawling military installation near Baghdad International Airport, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Brian Tribus said.

The military did not identify the gunman or shed light on what his motive might have been. Tribus said the gunman’s name will be disclosed when and if charges are filed.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and President Obama vowed to conduct a thorough investigation.

“I would like to express my horror and deep regret for today’s shooting incident,” Gates said at a briefing at the Pentagon. “Such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause for great and urgent concern.”

Gates said the Pentagon needs to redouble its efforts to relieve the stress caused by repeated deployments in war zones with limited time at home in between.

via U.S. Soldier in Iraq Kills 5 Comrades at Stress Clinic – washingtonpost.com.

Home sold off for $20,000 after credit card debt

A BRISBANE couple lost their $315,000 home over a credit card debt of $8000, only finding out after the home was sold for $20,000 at a bailiff’s auction.

The first they knew about it was when the new owner, who had to pay the couple’s outstanding $220,000 mortgage, phoned them and said: “Get out.”

Legal Aid Queensland lawyer Catherine Uhr said the couple were not given notice of the auction in January.

“All this married couple got back from the $20,000 that was paid for their house was a cheque for less than $5000, because of costs,” said Ms Uhr, of the Consumer Protection Unit.

Legal Aid Queensland says it is just one of several cases of debt collection companies moving to sell Queenslanders’ homes at bailiffs’ auctions to recover credit card debts of less than $10,000.

via Home sold off for $20,000 after credit card debt | The Courier-Mail.

I like this photo. This is how I feel right now. Luckily I don’t have any credit card debt, but I wonder if credit card companies will eat homes for peanuts here in the US.

Enemies of creationism may be hindering science teachers

Judge Selna is saying that creationism may not be taught in schools, because it is a religious doctrine; but – precisely because it’s a religious doctrine – teachers may not say it is superstitious nonsense. Explicit hostility to religion on the part of government (including teachers in class in state schools) violates the first amendment just as much as promoting religion by creationism does.

Steve Newton at the California-based National Centre for Science Education (NCSE), which campaigns against creationism in schools says: “This is a very bizarre case. I am concerned about the chilling effect it will have on teachers hearing about it. Science teachers now are going to hear about this and think ‘whoa, if you criticise creationism you’ll get sued and you’ll lose’. We haven’t yet got a call from a science teacher. [But] this is potentially disastrous.”

The case looks like a particular defeat for the NCSE, which has been fighting for years to establish in the public mind that evolution and religion are perfectly compatible. For its pains it has been reviled by hardliners – Jerry Coyne, PZ Myers, Richard Dawkins, and their follow­ers – as “accommodationist”, “Neville-Chamberlain-atheist”, and so on.

Dawkins recently mused on his blog about whether it wouldn’t be better to treat the religious with “naked contempt”; Myers, perhaps the world’s most influential science blogger, calls religion “one of the most corrupting and untrustworthy causes of all”. All these men are biologists and enemies of creationism.

For all the hardliners, creationism is real religion (never mind what the Pope says about evolution), and religion exemplifies the superstitious irrationality, from which science is meant to deliver us. That certainly seems to be the line taken by Corbett in his lessons. But it turns out to be tactically disastrous in the struggle for real science teaching.

via Enemies of creationism may be hindering science teachers | Andrew Brown | Comment is free | The Guardian.

Gov: State deficit $21 billion if measures fail

California’s budget deficit in the coming year will balloon to $21.3 billion if voters reject key ballot measures in the May 19 special election, while the shortfall will be $15.4 billion if voters approve them, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today in a letter to legislative leaders.

All but one of the six ballot measures trailing in polls and Schwarzenegger has warned in recent days that if the measures fail the state would have to make devastating cuts that could undermine public safety, schools and local government.

Today, Schwarzenegger upped the ante by informing legislative leaders that he intends to release a revised version of his budget on Thursday, five days before the election, that will spell out solutions to fiscal crisis.

“In order to avert both a budget shortfall and a cash crisis, it is imperative that we begin work immediately to address these challenges,” Schwarzenegger wrote in the letter.

Matt David, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, said the governor believes “he has the responsibility to be level with Californians on the size of the problem and how he plans to approach it in solving it.”

via Gov: State deficit $21 billion if measures fail.