VATICAN CITY — E.T. phone Rome. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church.
"The questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.
Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.
Funes said the possibility of alien life raises "many philosophical and theological implications" but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.
Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting.
"Both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe," he told a news conference Tuesday. "There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe."
Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues "whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds."
Funes set the stage for the conference a year ago when he discussed the possibility of alien life in an interview given prominence in the Vatican's daily newspaper.
The Church of Rome's views have shifted radically through the centuries since Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited.
The Vatican Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, has its headquarters at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, outside Rome.Its dependent research center, the Vatican Observatory Research Group, is hosted by Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
When E.T. phones the pope
The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first major conference on astrobiology.
— Washington Post
Heavy rainfall sets new record in Birmingham, Alabama
al.com - - 1 hour ago(The Birmingham News / Joe Songer)Thus far today, 3.1 inches of rain have fallen in Birmingham, breaking a 90-year-old record for today, according to the National Weather Service. Today's rainfall is nearly twice the 1.67 inches that fell when that record was set in 1919.A flood watch is in effect for much of central Alabama, including Jefferson and Shelby counties, until midnight. Another 1.5 inches could fall this evening.
The rainfall total thus far for 2009 is 63.64 inches. Typically there would have only been 46.33 inches at this point. Today's rainfall is nearly twice the 1.44 inches that would have fallen at this point in a normal November. ...
Harvest still hampered as October sees record rain; yields are unknown
NEGATIVE EQUITY OF HOMES
When the mortgage is more than the house is worth
LITTER NEWS
New eco-problem: Golf balls called 'humanity's signature litter'...
GoldSeek.com | The Dollar Meltdown
Massachusetts State job-loss forecast dire
The state will shed tens of thousands of jobs over the next year, with the unemployment rate peaking near 10 percent, according to a new forecast.AlterNet.org | 10 Suicides a Month at Ft. Hood
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The massive base -- one of the largest U.S. Army bases in the world -- has seen its share of incidents. Until the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 -- ironically, the gunman in Thursday's bloodshed also attended Virginia Tech -- the Fort Hood area was the scene of the deadliest mass killing in U.S. history -- the 1991 Luby's Cafeteria killings that took 23 lives.
Mainichi Japan | Japan's attempt to rely less on U.S. chills bilateral ties
November 10, 2009The ongoing discord between Japan and the United States over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma has demonstrated that the bilateral alliance has come to a turning point.
The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led administration's attempt to rely less on the United States has chilled bilateral relations.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's remarks in his talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders in Beijing in mid-October that "Japan has tended to rely excessively on the United States. We'll work out policies that attach more importance to Asia" have angered the United States.
In a meeting with Senior Vice Foreign Minister Koichi Takemasa two days later, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell criticized Hatoyama for making the remarks without consulting Washington and asked Takemasa about what the prime minister precisely meant.
Hatoyama's remarks, which pleased Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, have raised concern within the U.S. administration that Tokyo is distancing itself from Washington.
The first summit between Hatoyama and U.S. President Barack Obama in New York on Sept. 23 was aimed at demonstrating their efforts to nurture mutual trust rather than negotiate outstanding bilateral issues.
However, Japan-U.S. relations have been strained since then. A senior Foreign Ministry official says bilateral ties have entered a "period of winter-like hardship" while a high-ranking official at the Defense Ministry warns they have worsened to an "alarming level."
The discord is attributable partly to Japan's decision to withdraw Maritime Self-Defense Force troops from missions in the Indian Ocean to refuel foreign vessels engaged in the war against terror and Hatoyama's proposal for the formation of an East Asian Community.
However, the main cause of the discord is the Hatoyama administration's indecisiveness over the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa Prefecture.
The Cabinet is divided over the relocation. The prime minister is seeking to postpone a final decision until after the Nago mayoral election in January, in consideration of the DPJ's election campaign pledge to relocate it out of the prefecture, as the city was designated by the previous government as the site for the relocation.
Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada has called for the integration of Futenma base with U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa has urged that the base be relocated to an offshore area of Camp Schwab in Nago within this year in line with the bilateral agreement.
Aides to Hatoyama said the prime minister should make a final decision without narrowing differences within the Cabinet.
"We should leave it until the prime minister makes a final decision. If Japan obeys what the United States says whenever bilateral relations are strained, we can't end our reliance on the United States," one of them said.
Some government officials are even attempting to take advantage of the conflict within the administration to demonstrate the DPJ's efforts to transform the bureaucrat-dominated government into one led by politicians.
The government is also trying to use the Futenma relocation issue as a litmus test for whether it can end its reliance on the United States and achieve an equal partnership between the two countries.
Campbell, who initially chose to take a wait-and-see attitude toward the Hatoyama administration, is now under fire from within the Obama administration for making an error in his initial response to Japan's new administration.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who visited Japan on Oct. 20 and 21, strongly pressured Tokyo to go ahead with the agreed-upon plan to relocate Futenma base in Ginowan to Nago.
However, it only stirred opposition in Japan. "He acted as if he were the commander of occupation forces. He tightened the screw too much, causing it to break," said one Japan-U.S. diplomatic source.
In the upcoming summit in Tokyo, Hatoyama and Obama intend to reconfirm that they will strengthen the bilateral alliance without having in-depth discussions on the Futenma issue. However, it reflects their sense of crisis.
Bruce Klingner, a senior researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, predicts that Japan-U.S. relations will remain chilled after the two countries settle their dispute over the Futenma relocation. Klingner, a former Central Intelligence Agency official, also pointed out that current bilateral ties are similar to U.S.-South Korean ties under the administration of President Roh Moo-hyun, who was supported by anti-U.S. forces. (By Takashi Sudo and Yu Takayama, Political News Department)
(This is the first part of a three-part series on the Japan-U.S. alliance)
BlacklistedNews.com | Headlines - Evening November 10, 2009
| All telecoms companies and internet service providers will be required by law to keep a record of every customer’s personal communications, showing who they have contacted, when and where, as well as the websites they have visited. | |
| The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first ever conference on alien life, the discovery of which would have profound implications for the Catholic Church. | |
| Not much optimism from one of CNBC’s favorite bulls. Yet even Costa is wrong about today’s market direction as 7 shares of SPY move the market up by almost half a percent. In the meantime, the gold creep higher continues. | |
| …footage broadcast Tuesday by the Al-Jazeera news channel showed Taliban insurgents handling weapons and ammunition, including mines with US markings on them. | |
| British scientists begin a new study on Tuesday to consider how human DNA is used in animal experiments and to determine what the boundaries of such controversial science might be. | |
| Federal Reserve Governor Daniel Tarullo argues that we should not break up the too big to fails or reimpose Glass-Steagall because.... | |
| Everyone in Britain should have an annual carbon ration and be penalised if they use too much fuel, the head of the Environment Agency will say. | |
| Twenty years after the Berlin Wall fell, World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy called Monday for world governance to be strengthened around the G20, international organisations and the UN. | |
| Mom always told you not to play with your food. She probably didn't tell you that you could get arrested for it though. | |
| Defense contractor KBR may have exposed as many as 100,000 people, including US troops, to cancer-causing toxins by burning waste in open-air pits in Iraq, says a series of class-action lawsuits filed against the company. | |
| Dropping acid to boost the Pentagon’s psychic powers was just the start. The Men Who Stare At Goats, the upcoming movie based on Jon Ronson’s non-fiction book of the same name | |
| Not that a million bucks goes that far these days. | |
McClatchy News | DC Bureau - Evening November 10, 2009
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Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., unveiled a sweeping 1,136-page bill Tuesday that, in enacted, would bring about the most comprehensive overhaul of financial regulation since the Great Depression. What upset bankers most was his call to strip the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. of their bank supervisory powers in favor of a new Financial Institutions Regulatory Administration. Dodd said that would stop banks for shopping for the regulator of least supervision. ;
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Hundreds of residents who were evacuated from the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina destroyed it are looking at their last Veteran's Day in Washington. For almost all of them, it couldn't come too soon. With 10 months to go before the rebuilt facility reopens on the Mississippi Coast, the veterans talk of little else but getting back to Gulfport.
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Senate Democrats, struggling to reach agreement on how to overhaul the country's health care system, got some practical political advice Tuesday from former President Bill Clinton, whose own effort collapsed 15 years ago.
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Love her or hate her, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is at the peak of her political power, and she seems to be reveling in the high drama of the moment.
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Obama administration officials breathed a collective sigh of relief Sunday when Iraq's parliament, after weeks of delays, approved a law to hold national elections in January, very likely permitting a major post-election withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq.
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Police say Richard Heger, 67, broke into a local tow shop's storage lot to reclaim his 1967 pickup, stole a tow truck to tow it away, did $7,000 damage to the tow company's gate and more damage to a restaurant's sign when the truck broke loose, then lied about his identity to police and spun stories involving President Barack Obama and the CIA.
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The term "sanctuary city" is used as shorthand to describe any city that doesn't allow city staff or police to ask people about their status or report them to immigration authorities - with exceptions for suspected criminal activity and when state and federal law requires it.
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Sharon Cook is either a hero or a villain. She is either due your thanks for doing everything in her power to protect children from obscenity or she is due your disdain for wantonly taking away the constitutional rights of the patrons of one Kentucky county library.
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Goldman Sachs' response to McClatchy's investigative series "Goldman Sachs: Low Road to High Profits."
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Garland "Andy" Barr, 36, a former aide to Gov. Ernie Fletcher, became the first Republican to formally announce his candidacy for the seat held by U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Ky.
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Former Kentucky GOP state Rep. Steve Nunn has been indicted on charges that he killed his former fiancee, Amanda Ross, and violated a domestic violence protection order she had received against him. Ross was found shot early on Sept. 11 in front of her town house in Lexington and died later that morning.
WEATHER MANIPULATION NEWS
China Daily | Beijing's unusually heavy snow Tuesday brought traffic paralysis - again highlighted the controversial use of weather modification
Two children play with snow covering a car in Beijing November 10, 2009. Four to 7 centimeters of snow is expected in the next four days with a temperature drop of over 10 C. [CFP]Updated: 2009-11-11 08:14The snow fell amid lightning and thunder in the capital late Monday to early yesterday, making it the second snowfall in eight days.
"The occurrence was rather unusual for early November," said Sun Jisong, chief forecaster of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.An official from the capital weather modification office who refused to be identified told China Daily yesterday that the second snow in Beijing was also artificially induced but refused to reveal further information.
On Oct 31, the first snow in the capital city this winter was partly induced by 186 doses of silver iodide, a compound used in cloud seeding. More than 16 million tons of snow fell on the city, Zhang Qiang, director of the municipal weather modification office, said earlier.
Without advance notice, the weather manipulation led to another big mess yesterday in Beijing, with traffic and flight delays.
The snow brought traffic to a crawl in the morning rush hour. Municipal transport authorities used more than 6,000 tons of thawing agent to clear the roads to ease congestion.
The snow also caused a four-hour shutdown of the Beijing Capital International Airport, with nearly 200 flights cancelled.
Beijing's first artificially induced snow on Oct 31 also caused hundreds of flight delays and cancellations, triggering complaints from the public.
Data from the National Meteorological Center (NMC) suggested yesterday's snowfall in most downtown areas of the city exceeded 10 mm, the index for a snowstorm.
Haidian district in northwest Beijing recorded 18.5 mm of snowfall, the heaviest in the city, according to the NMC.
The NMC said on its website on Monday that the local weather departments are taking the opportunity to manipulate the weather with rain and snow induction, relieving the drought in the south and water shortage in the north.
With weather modification no longer a strange concept to most Chinese, some experts think that the governments and people depend too much on the weather control.
"No one can tell how much weather manipulation will change the sky. Past experiments showed that it can bring about 10 percent to 20 percent of additional rain or snow," Xiao Gang, professor from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told China Daily.
"We should not depend too much on artificial measures to get rain or snow, because there are too many uncertainties up in the sky," Xiao said.
Heavy snow also swept other parts of North China yesterday, causing air travel delays and highway closures.
Taiyuan airport in Shanxi province was closed yesterday morning, leaving almost 1,000 passengers stranded.
All highways in Shanxi were closed, officials from the provincial transport bureau said. They gave no timetable for reopening as the snow was predicted to last till tomorrow.
Transport authorities in Hebei province had reopened sections of the Beijing-Shenyang and Tangshan-Tianjin highways by noon yesterday. Six other highways are still closed as of yesterday.
He Lifu, chief forecaster of the NMC, said yesterday that in the coming three days heavy snow will hit Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong with the temperature drop of as much as 20 C.
Shijiazhuang Meteorological Bureau in Hebei province issued a yellow alert for snowstorm yesterday morning, predicting that the highest temperature will be minus 1 C.
The strong cold air has trapped thousands of travelers on the road or at the airport due to the frozen streets and heavy fog in many cities.
More than 10,000 passengers had to stay in the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, which was shut down for more than 8 hours because of the dense fog. Another 200 flights were cancelled in Shanghai.
The Responsibility of the US in Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium
UN Observer
... non-conventional, and banned weapons such as cluster bombs ammunitions, napalm bombs, white phosphorous weapons and depleted Uranium weapons. MORE.
Vanished Persian Army Found in Desert
This bas-relief of a Persian soldier, also from the Apadana at Persepolis, shows a very similar earring to the one found in the desert.
Persian soldiers often wore jewelry, including earrings, like the one shown here, which the team found near the remains in the Sahara Desert. The researcher is also holding a few beads, which were likely part of a necklace worn by a soldier.
The team recovered relics of ancient warfare, including this bronze dagger dating to Cambyses' time.
It was here that the research team found a mass grave with hundreds of bleached bones and skulls. Could they be the remains of Cambyses' lost army?The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.
Bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones found in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert have raised hopes of finally finding the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. The 50,000 warriors were said to be buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C.
"We have found the first archaeological evidence of a story reported by the Greek historian Herodotus," Dario Del Bufalo, a member of the expedition from the University of Lecce, told Discovery News.
According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun after the priests there refused to legitimize his claim to Egypt.
After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.
"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.
A century after Herodotus wrote his account, Alexander the Great made his own pilgrimage to the oracle of Amun, and in 332 B.C. he won the oracle's confirmation that he was the divine son of Zeus, the Greek god equated with Amun.
The tale of Cambyses' lost army, however, faded into antiquity. As no trace of the hapless warriors was ever found, scholars began to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale.
Now, two top Italian archaeologists claim to have found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a sandstorm. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos.
Presented recently at the archaeological film festival of Rovereto, the discovery is the result of 13 years of research and five expeditions to the desert.
"It all started in 1996, during an expedition aimed at investigating the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, one small oasis not far from Siwa," Alfredo Castiglioni, director of the Eastern Desert Research Center (CeRDO)in Varese, told Discovery News.
While working in the area, the researchers noticed a half-buried pot and some human remains. Then the brothers spotted something really intriguing -- what could have been a natural shelter.
It was a rock about 35 meters (114.8 feet) long, 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) in height and 3 meters (9.8 feet) deep. Such natural formations occur in the desert, but this large rock was the only one in a large area.
"Its size and shape made it the perfect refuge in a sandstorm," Castiglioni said.
Right there, the metal detector of Egyptian geologist Aly Barakat of Cairo University located relics of ancient warfare: a bronze dagger and several arrow tips.
"We are talking of small items, but they are extremely important as they are the first Achaemenid objects, thus dating to Cambyses' time, which have emerged from the desert sands in a location quite close to Siwa," Castiglioni said.
— Discovery
Taser Wars: The Real Dangers of Loose Triggers
Doctors are concerned about the taser's effects on the heart and brain.
— Wired
Music Improves Brain Function
Research shows that a strong correlation exists between musical training for children and certain other mental abilities.
— LiveScience
PRINCE CHARLES UPDATE
Flying eggs, riot police, pro-Quebec slogans greet Prince Charles
http://www.am770chqr.com/News/National/Article.aspx?id=158568MONTREAL - Scores of slogan-chanting supporters of Quebec independence blasted the British monarchy and pelted soldiers with eggs in a lone sour note to Prince Charles' otherwise pleasant day trip to Quebec on Tuesday.
Chanting a variety of political messages including the famous independence call, "Le Quebec aux Quebecois," about 200 demonstrators intially blocked the prince's path into an event where he was to salute members of a historic regiment.
Shield-and baton-wielding riot police eventually moved into the crowd, shoving protesters back hundreds of metres to clear a path for Charles' motorcade. Police confirmed several arrests but gave no exact number.
The nosiy anti-monarchy crowd was the biggest of the day for the prince, who drew small but enthusiastic gatherings at earlier events throughout the day.
Even the protest itself was cordial at times: despite all the shouted swear words and crude hand gestures, some in the crowd graciously picked up debris and handed it over to police for safe disposal.
Most demonstrators either waved Fleur-de-lis flags or brandished signs with slogans such as Down With the Monarchy as they gathered outside the building housing the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada.
A few pelted eggs in the soldiers' direction. Some sat in the middle of the street chanting as members of the Montreal police riot squad moved in.
The protest delayed the prince's scheduled arrival for 45 minutes, but Charles eventually made it in.
Patrick Bourgeois, one of the protesters, said the British monarchy has exploited people all over world and that Quebec is no exception.
The symbol of the monarchy has been resented by many French-Canadians for centuries, and Bourgeois and others said members of the Royal Family had no business being in Quebec.
Bourgeois also linked the prince's visit with the military mission in Afghanistan which features British and Canadian soldiers.
"Quebec is against the war in Afghanistan," said Bourgeois, a member of the pro-independence Reseau de Resistance du Quebecois.
"And now it's our chance to pass that message to Prince Charles and many people across Canada." FULL STORY
Juneau Empire | Photo: Celebrating Native American culture
- Life expectancy in America is below the average for 30 advanced countries measured by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) , and the obesity rate in America is the worst among those 30 countries, by far.
- And, of course, we spend far more on healthcare per person than anybody else—but get no bang for the extra buck.
My news blog: The CavePublished Version of my News Updates: Surviving the Revolution and Earthchanges
