"It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The Moon is new on August 12th--which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors." How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at the shower's peak.

The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is nowhere near Earth, the comet's tail does intersect Earth's orbit. We glide through it every year in August. Tiny bits of comet dust hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it disintegrates. Because Swift-Tuttle's meteors fly out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."

A medical practitioner in the UK may lose her medical license over an unusual diagnosis- when a Muslim patient came to her office seeking a birth control injection, the Christian doctor refused, telling the patient that symptoms she described were symptomatic of demonic possession. The doctor then forced the woman to drink what she described as "holy water," prayed over her stomach, and sent her away with (magical?) stones, a wooden cross, and a referral to a specialist- a priest to perform an exorcism.

It's actually nice to see that someone in Great Britain still sticks to good ole-fashioned medieval medical practice. Now if only we could still get good leeches.

Found: the giant lion-eating chimps of the magic forest
Deep in the Congolese jungle is a band of apes that, according to local legend, kill lions, catch fish and even howl at the moon. Local hunters speak of massive creatures that seem to be some sort of hybrid between a chimp and a gorilla.

"Monsters" emerge again in Kanas Lake in China
Elusive mystical creatures emerged again in Kanas Lake of China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. According to the administration of the Kanas scenic spot, on July 5th at 8:20pm, huge ripples were seen on the surface of the lake by a few tourists carrying their portable video cameras. The 8-minute video recording captured the entire event. From the video there can been seen a group of unidentified creatures, about 15 in number.

A teleportation in Galicia, Spain?
Juan M.L. and Bernardo D.G. became the protagonists of a bizarre incident in the vicinity of Lugo. The events took place around 15:00 hours as they traveled in their car toward a sawmill located near the city. Apparently they were barely one kilometer from their destination at a location known as Piugos da Pena, and had just left behind a well-known automotive dealership, when the witnesses noticed a dense fog that appeared to emerge from their vehicle...
(Also read: "Psychic Teleportation")

Book Extract: The Holographic Universe - does objective reality exist?
In 1982 a remarkable event took place. At the University of Paris a research team led by physicist Alain Aspect performed what may turn out to be one of the most important experiments of the 20th Century. You did not hear about it on the evening News. In fact, unless you are in the habit of reading scientific journals you probably have never even heard Aspect's name, though there are some who believe his discovery may change the face of science. Aspect and his team discovered that under certain circumstances subatomic particles such as electrons are able to instantaneously communicate with each other regardless of the distance separating them. It doesn't matter whether they are 10 feet or 10 billion miles apart. Somehow each particle always seems to know what the other is doing.

Imaginary pals a tonic for children
Imaginary friends, the mysterious characters who often take up residence in family homes, are hugely beneficial to children, according to new research.

Green Language

Both "green language" and the "language of the Birds" refer to the oblique writing styles used by alchemists, magicians, and other mystical initiates to communicate with one another publicly while 'concealing' the information from the hostile or unworthy.

In short, it is a method of symbolic writing which appears opaque or unintelligible unless one has the necessary understanding of its symbolism to interpret it.

The names given both refer to nature, and refer to a concept similar to that of the logos- a stream of uncorrupted information transmitted mystically through the workings of the natural universe. The "language of the birds" is so called because it was believed that a gifted magician or holy man was able to converse with birds, and therefore learn mystical secrets of God. Sages believed to possess this gift include St. Francis of Assisi, the biblical King Solomon, and the the Northern mythical hero Siegfried.

The Egyptians credited the origin of their hieroglyphic language to the movements of birds; the Egyptian god of writing and magick is the bird-headed Thoth. This belief may be rooted in the idea that ancient cuneiform writing originated as bird-tracks.

See you in the ether !