A Protocol for Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence (METI) is a branch of study concerned with
constructing and broadcasting a message toward habitable planets. Since the Arecibo message of 1974, the handful of METI broadcasts have increased in content and complexity, but the lack of an established protocol has produced unorganized or cryptic messages that could be difficult to 2interpret. Here we outline the development of a self-consistent protocol for messaging toextraterrestrial intelligence that provides constraints and guidelines for the construction of amessage in order to maximize the probability that the message effectively communicates. AMETI protocol considers several factors including signal encoding, message length, informationcontent, anthropocentrism, transmission method, and transmission periodicity. Once developed,the protocol will be released for testing on different human groups worldwide and across culturalboundaries. An effective message to extraterrestrials should at least be understandable byhumans, and releasing the protocol for testing will allow us to improve the protocol and developpotential messages. Through an interactive website, users across the world will be able to createand exchange messages that follow the protocol in order to discover the types of messages bettersuited for cross-cultural communication. The development of a METI protocol will serve toimprove the quality of messages to extraterrestrials, foster international collaboration, and extendastrobiology outreach to the public. 

Did Zombies Roam Medieval Ireland?

Two early medieval skeletons were unearthed recently in Ireland with large stones wedged into their mouths -- evidence, archaeologists say, that it was feared the individuals would rise from their graves like zombies.

The skeletons, which were featured in a British documentary last week, emerged during a series of digs carried out between 2005 and 2009 at Kilteasheen, near Loch Key in Ireland by a team of archaeologists led by Chris Read from the Institute of Technology in Sligo, Ireland and Thomas Finan from the University of St. Louis.

The project recovered a total of 137 skeletons, although archaeologists believe that some 3,000 skeletons spanning from 700 to 1400 are still buried at the site.

The "deviant burials" were comprised of two men who were buried there at different times in the 700s.

One of the men was between 40 and 60 years old, and the other was a young adult, probably between 20 and 30 years old. The two men were laid side by side and each had a baseball-sized rock shoved in his mouth.

"One of them was lying with his head looking straight up. A large black stone had been deliberately thrust into his mouth," Chris Read, head of Applied Archaeology at IT Sligo, said.

"The other had his head turned to the side and had an even larger stone wedged quite violently into his mouth so that his jaws were almost dislocated," he added.

Initially, Read and colleagues thought they had found a Black Death-related burial ground. Remains of individuals buried at the end of the Middle Ages with stones stuck in their mouths have hinted at vampire-slaying rituals.

It was believed that these "vampire" individuals spread the plague by chewing on their shrouds after dying. In a time before germ theory, the stone in the mouth was then used as a disease-blocking trick.

Since the vampire phenomenon didn't emerge in European folklore until the 1500's, the archaeologists ruled out this theory for the 8th century skeletons.

"In this case, the stones in the mouth might have acted as a barrier to stop revenants from coming back from their graves," Read told Discovery News.

Revenants or the "walking dead" tended to be people who lived as outsiders in society, according to Read.

The two Irish men could have been considered potentially dangerous people, such as enemies, murderers, rapists or they could have been ordinary individuals who died suddenly from a strange illness or murder.

Anything outside the norm would have caused the community to fear that these people could have come back to life to harass their loved ones or others against whom they had a grudge.

The mouth was seen as a key part of the body for such a transformation.

"It was viewed as the main portal for the soul to leave the body upon death. Sometimes, the soul could come back to the body and re-animate it or else an evil spirit could enter the body through the mouth and bring it back to life," Read said.

According to Kristina Killgrove, a biological anthropologist at the University of North Carolina, the burials' dating is particularly interesting as it appears to predate historical records on revenants.

"I'm also intrigued by the fact that the two males were not buried at the same time but were nonetheless buried side-by-side in this non-traditional manner, which suggests these burials were not accidental or careless," Killgrove told Discovery News.

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Pre-Dino Subterranean World Discovered

Long before dinosaurs, something was digging intricate homes and roads underground.

While life on Earth 240 million years ago flourished in the seas and on land, the underground worlds discovered in Morocco are the oldest example of such communal subterranean structures from a low-latitude area.

The burrows, described in the latest issue of the journal Palaios, are the world’s second oldest known communal burrows. The oldest, from South Africa, only predate these by 5 million years.

It's possible that a similar animal created both structures.

"You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck," lead author Sebastian Voigt told Discovery News. "The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length. We have to assume that it had five sturdy digits with claws suitable for digging into moderately soft sediment."

Funded by the German Research Foundation, ichnologist Voigt from the Institute of Geology at TU Bergakademie Freiberg and his colleagues studied the burrows, located in red beds of the Argana Basin in central Morocco. The architecture consists of numerous openings, exists, tunnels and chambers.

 

"The Argana burrows do not have any equivalent in the fossil record or among extant burrowing vertebrates," Voigt said. "Their chambers are exceptionally complex structures and two-fold winded tunnels have never been observed anywhere else."

Based on this arrangement and what can be inferred about the burrow makers, the scientists think the underground world served as a retreat, permitting escape from predators. Although dinosaurs were not yet around, huge fast-running crocodiles with long legs were in the area, as evidenced by fossil finds.

 

Close relatives of today's lizards, snakes and tuataras were also around, along with relatives of birds and dinosaurs.

The site's geology as well as the burrow's design also suggests the animals headed underground to tolerate weather extremes.

"During the Triassic, the region probably was a semiarid large inland basin," Voigt explained. "Rivers were slowly flowing after episodic rain fall. Streambeds were flat and completely dry for lengthy periods. Loose vegetation covered the banks of the streams. It was hot during the day and cold in the night."

The burrow system, as illustrated by the study authors.

The smooth floor of the tunnels reveals they were well used, with the animals probably gathering food, such as plants, roots and insects, at the surface during nighttime.

Burrows made by individual animals, such as fish, date to early Paleozoic periods, indicating this behavior was very important since practically the beginning of complex animal life on the planet. Voigt suspects it first evolved to permit escape from environmental extremes, particularly drought.

It seems that whenever animals could dig to escape, they did. Some dinosaurs dug burrows. One of the limitations is having the right substrate. In the case of the Moroccan animals, the conditions were perfect for digging. The burrows there were constructed in riverbank sandy substrates intermixed with moist overbank mud.

Molly Miller, a professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University, told Discovery News, "This is an exciting discovery. The careful description and analysis make a convincing case that the burrows provided shelter to numerous animals."

She added, "It demonstrates that the development of complex tetrapod behavior in response to challenging environmental conditions goes back over 200 million years. It has a very long history!"

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Was JFK killed because of his interest in aliens? Secret memo shows president demanded UFO files 10 days before death

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

An uncovered letter written by John F Kennedy to the head of the CIA shows that the president demanded to be shown highly confidential documents about UFOs 10 days before his assassination.

The secret memo is one of two letters written by JFK asking for information about the paranormal on November 12 1963, which have been released by the CIA for the first time.

Author William Lester said the CIA released the documents to him under the Freedom of Information Act after he made a request while researching his new book 'A Celebration of Freedom: JFK and the New Frontier.'

ZEN MEDITATION:Every Moment is a Meditation

The art of Zen meditation is a simple one. You don't need any prior experience. The meditation is the experience.

You don't need to have read any books about it. The wisdom you receive from a Zen practice is original. It comes from the quiet space in your soul.

You don't even need to know what Zen means. It's not mystical or rare or even necessarily spiritual. It's the simplest and most natural thing in the world.

Zen meditation is not a religious thing. Athiests practice and benefit from it in the same way Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims do.

Zen meditation has nothing to do with where you live or where you're from. You can be anywhere in the world and benefit from it. Peace of mind is not geographically specific.

I believe even animals practice Zen. I have seen cats, monkeys, lizards, dogs, and many other animals behaving as though they were meditating. Not just staring intently at food bowls, but genuinely looking like they were actively seeking the quiet spaces within themselves.

I encourage you to give it a try. Sit comfortably in a chair. Gently close your eyes. Bring your attention to the breath moving effortlessly in and out of your body. Feel how it ebbs and flows, like water lapping at the shore of the ocean. 

If other thoughts come into your mind, simply acknowledge them and bring your attention back to your breath and how your body feels. Pain, pleasure, comfort, discomfort; just feel them. Experience these sensations without judgement about whether the sensations are good or bad.

Zen allows you to be aware of how your actions affect the world around you. This allows you to be more productive. A cluttered mind is like a cluttered desk. Makes it hard to be fully productive. Meditation clears clutter from your mind. It stops that endless wheel of worrisome thoughts and allows you instead to focus on how to move forward from where you are.

After practicing Zen and mindfulness meditation for over 20 years, I can honestly say I have benefited more from meditation than from any other single thing I have ever done. Seriously.

Give zen meditation a try. The worst thing that can happen is you feel like you wasted a few minutes of otherwise productive time. The best thing that can happen is that you'll find a simple, free, and effortless way to make your entire life better.

May peace and harmony bless you this day and always.

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Spells for Consecration and Purification

 

 

 

Constructive spells

Spells of a constructive nature should be performed during the waxing of the moon, when the moon is full and bright. Examples of constructive spells would be spells for luck, fertility rites and protection spells. In witch craft, all spells should be practiced while in a positive mood, because this will achieve the best end for what you want. Many things are used in the practice of witchcraft as aids in spells, such as different herbs and leaves, as many of these things are believed to have magical properties. An example is the bay leaf, which is believed to have a lot of positive energy associated with it, and used often in witchcraft to invoke positive energy.

Consecration/Purification in Spells

Consecration is defined by the dictionary as to “dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.” Consecration must be practiced before any tool can be used in the practice of witchcraft. Consecration is a form of purification, and is done with salt, water and incense, which all stand for the five elements of nature – water, earth, fire, air and spirit. It is important that consecration to be used for witchcraft be done in a positive state of mind, as this incorporates the “spirit” part of the elements. Consecration is used in witchcraft to gain the approval of the God and Goddess for what they are about to practice.

Spell for Cleansing the body of Negative Energy
The following tools will be needed:

1 White Candle – this is representative of positive energy
1 Black Candle – this is representative of negative energy
1 Green Candle – this is representative of healing

Clear your mind and light the white candle. Say the following incantation:

“Mother Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Spirit,
I ask thee to cleanse my body of all negative energies”

Light the black candle and say the same thing. After this light the green candle and say the following incantation:

“Mother Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Spirit,
I ask thee to free and heal my body from all negative forces.
Blessed be!”
Sit back, and keep your mind clear for fifteen minutes. After this you should feel renewed and fresh.

Three Red Leaves Spell
This spell is used to protect the mind against things such as nightmares, negative thoughts and “invasions of evil”. First you must gather three red leaves from any tree, plant or bush. Lay them in a triangle on a flat surface. In the centre of the leaves, place an already lighted candle, and place a few drops of chrysanthemum oil on each leaf.

Say this incantation three times:
“Red leaves, gift from earth,
Birth to death and death to birth,
Keep all evil far away,
Day to night and night to day.”

Then extinguish the candle, and wrap the leaves in a white cloth or pouch. Place this near your bed within three feet of your head and it will stop all nightmares and negative thoughts.

Invocation of the Elements

Air, Fire, Water, Earth,
Elements of astral birth,
I call you now; attend to me!
In the Circle, rightly cast,
Safe from curse or blast,
I call you now, attend to me!

From cave and desert,sea and hill,
By wand, blade,and pentacle,
I call you now, attend to me!
This Is my will, so mote it be!

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