Alien abductees prone to false memories?

Now I really don't know what is real or a false memory...

Print Story: Alien abductees prone to false memories? on Yahoo! News: "Alien abductees prone to false memories?

Wed Oct 26,12:36 PM ET

Do you have memories of being abducted by aliens and whisked away in a spaceship?

You wouldn't be alone.

Several thousand people worldwide claim to have had such close encounters, researchers say. But in a new study, a psychology expert at London's Goldsmiths College says these experiences are proof of the frailty of the human memory, rather than evidence of life in other galaxies.

'Maybe what we're dealing with here is false memories, and not that people are actually being abducted and taken aboard spaceships,' says Professor Chris French, who surveyed 19 self-proclaimed alien abductees.

Several of the abductees reported being snatched from their beds or cars by alien creatures around four feet high, with spindly arms and legs and oversized heads, French said.

Some men said they were subjected to painful medical examinations by the aliens, during which their sperm was extracted.

Many of the alien experiences could be explained by sleep paralysis, a condition in which a person is awake and aware of the surroundings but is unable to move.

Sleep paralysis often leads to hallucinations and 40 percent of people experience the state at least once in their lives, French said.

A rich imagination was also at play. Several of the alien abductees were already prone to fanaticizing and also claimed to have seen ghosts and have psychic or healing abilities.

'People have very rich fantasy lives,' said French, who is due to present his findings at a public seminar at London's Science Museum Wednesday.

'So much so that they often mix up what's happening in their heads with what is going on in the real world.'"

Honduran ex-President Azcona dies

Print Story: Honduran ex-President Azcona dies on Yahoo! News: "Former Honduran President Jose Azcona, who gave safe haven in the 1980s to the U.S.-backed Contra rebels fighting to overthrow the leftist Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua, died on Monday.

Azcona, who was president of the Central American nation from 1986 to 1990, died at home of heart problems at age 78, family members said.

His term was marked by controversy over the presence of armed Nicaraguan Contra rebels on Honduran soil. The rebels received U.S. training and aid for their fight against the Sandinista government reviled by Washington.

The United States sent its own troops to Honduras, at Azcona's request, when the Sandinista army crossed the border to pursue the Contras.

Azcona's government agreed to oust the Contras if Nicaragua would hold free elections. In 1990 the Sandinistas lost power to U.S.-supported candidate Violeta Chamorro at the polls.

Azcona is remembered by some Hondurans as one of few clean politicians in a country where public life is often characterized by corruption, and credited with helping to negotiate peace accords in a region torn by civil war."

Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers

Just another way for big brother to find out what you are doing. Sure glad the NRA is around to protect my right to carry assult weapons. That'll come in handy when the FBI breaks down my door.

Sleuths Crack Tracking Code Discovered in Color Printers: "By Mike Musgrove
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 19, 2005; D01

It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but it isn't. The pages coming out of your color printer may contain hidden information that could be used to track you down if you ever cross the U.S. government.

Last year, an article in PC World magazine pointed out that printouts from many color laser printers contained yellow dots scattered across the page, viewable only with a special kind of flashlight. The article quoted a senior researcher at Xerox Corp. as saying the dots contain information useful to law-enforcement authorities, a secret digital 'license tag' for tracking down criminals.

The content of the coded information was supposed to be a secret, available only to agencies looking for counterfeiters who use color printers.

Now, the secret is out."

Astrologer wrong on the big prediction - Yahoo! News

If he can be wrong about this then I'm just going to have to stop reading my daily horoscope.

Astrologer wrong on the big prediction - Yahoo! News: "BHOPAL, India (Reuters) - Hundreds of people flocked to a village in central India Thursday to see if an astrologer who forecast his own death would indeed die as predicted.


But the 75-year-old man survived the day."

God Is in the Rules - New York Times

And I've listed here just the first ten.

God Is in the Rules - New York Times: "October 16, 2005
Op-Ed Contributor
God Is in the Rules
By GEOFF D. PORTER

Fatwas, the legal opinions proclaimed by Islamic scholars, have proliferated in the Muslim world since the 1980's, driven by rising literacy rates and the Internet. The growth in fatwas - some of them contradictory - has led to a debate over who can legitimately issue them and has alarmed governments in the Middle East, since the decrees sometimes challenge state-sanctioned interpretations of Islam.

Yet criticizing fatwas about divisive issues like the propriety of killing civilians and Shiites can be dangerous for officials. So the Saudi government is trying a different tactic, zeroing in on what it considers frivolous fatwas in order to rally support for tougher measures on who can and who cannot issue opinions. Recently, Al Watan, a semiofficial Saudi daily newspaper, reported that a young athlete had joined the jihad in Iraq under the influence of a fatwa forbidding playing soccer by regular rules. The newspaper also republished the fatwa, said to have originally appeared on an Islamic Web site. Portions of the fatwa, which I translated from the Arabic, follow.
- GEOFF D. PORTER

IN the name of God the merciful and benevolent:

1. Play soccer without four lines because this is a fabrication of the heretics' international rules that stipulate using them and delineating them before playing.

2. International terminology that heretics and polytheists use, like 'foul,' 'penalty,' 'corner,' 'goal,' 'out' and others, should be abandoned and not said. Whoever says them should be punished, reprimanded and ejected from the game. He should be publicly told, 'You have imitated the heretics and polytheists and this is forbidden.'

3. Do not call 'foul' and stop the game if someone falls and sprains a hand or foot or the ball touches his hand, and do not give a yellow or red card to whoever was responsible for the injury or tackle. Instead, it should be adjudicated according to Sharia rulings concerning broken bones and injuries. The injured player should exercise his Sharia rights according to the Koran and you must bear witness with him that so-and-so hurt him on purpose.

4. Do not follow the heretics, the Jews, the Christians and especially evil America regarding the number of players. Do not play with 11 people. Instead, add to this number or decrease it.

5. Play in your regular clothes or your pajamas or something like that, but not colored shorts and numbered T-shirts, because shorts and T-shirts are not Muslim clothing. Rather they are heretical and Western clothing, so beware of imitating their fashion.

6. If you have fulfilled these conditions and intend to play soccer, play to strengthen the body in order to better struggle in the way of God on high and to prepare the body for when it is called to jihad. Soccer is not for passing time or the thrill of so-called victory.

7. Do not set the time of play at 45 minutes, which is the official time of the Jews, Christians and all the heretical and atheist countries. This is the time used by teams that have strayed from the righteous path. You are obliged to distinguish yourself from the heretics and the corrupted and must not resemble them in anything.

6. Do not play in two halves. Rather play in one half or three halves in order to completely differentiate yourselves from the heretics, the polytheists, the corrupted and the disobedient.

9. If neither of you beats the other, or 'wins' as it is called, and neither puts the leather between the posts, do not add extra time or penalties until someone wins. No, instead leave the field, because winning with overtime and penalty kicks is the pinnacle of imitating heretics and international rules.

10. If you play soccer, do not appoint someone to follow you called a 'referee,' since there is no need for him after doing away with international rules like 'foul,' 'penalty,' 'corner' and others. His presence would be in imitation of the heretics, Jews and Christians and would follow international rules."

Next human pandemic "inevitable," says U.S. scientist - Yahoo! News

Next human pandemic "inevitable," says U.S. scientist - Yahoo! News: "By Darren Schuettler Sat Oct 15, 8:11 AM ET

HAIPHONG, Vietnam (Reuters) - The next human pandemic is 'inevitable' and the world must prepare now against bird flu and other potentially deadly viruses, a top U.S. government scientist said on Saturday.

'It's been over 30 years since we've had a pandemic, so inevitably we are going to have a pandemic within a reasonable period of time,' said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

'It's not a matter of when or if,' he told reporters in Vietnam, where 41 people have died from the H5N1 virus that has now spread to Europe."

Court in Hague Issues Arrest Warrants for Ugandan Rebels - New York Times

Court in Hague Issues Arrest Warrants for Ugandan Rebels - New York Times: "Court in Hague Issues Arrest Warrants for Ugandan Rebels

By MARLISE SIMONS
Published: October 14, 2005

PARIS, Oct. 14 -The new International Criminal Court in The Hague took a big step on Friday toward becoming a global human rights tribunal when it confirmed it had issued its first arrest warrants.

The court, which has been working in The Hague since 2002 despite resistance and a continuing boycott by the United States, said it was seeking the arrest of the leader and four commanders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a two-decade-old rebel movement in Uganda.

The charges include brutalizing civilians, including killing, raping and robbing them, and systematically kidnapping children, forcing them to fight and using them as slaves."

U.N. Is Gradually Becoming More Hospitable to Israel - New York Times

U.N. Is Gradually Becoming More Hospitable to Israel - New York Times: "October 11, 2005
U.N. Is Gradually Becoming More Hospitable to Israel
By WARREN HOGE

UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 10 - Israel recently proposed a United Nations resolution, it submitted its candidacy for a two-year seat on the Security Council, and its prime minister has been warmly received speaking to the General Assembly.

For any of the 190 other nations in the world organization, those would be routine events.

But in Israel's case, the resolution is the first the country has ever proposed, and the request for a Security Council seat presumes an end to the disdain with which the country has historically been treated at the United Nations.

The address by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, on Sept. 15, was his first at the United Nations. It was delivered to a hall that has rung with denunciations of his country, where a tide of condemnatory resolutions has passed by lopsided votes and which Arab delegates regularly vacated whenever an Israeli rose to speak.

'These are steps that could not have happened even two years ago,' said Dan Gillerman, Israel's ambassador, referring to the new efforts to gain acceptance. 'It would have been unthinkable, suicidal, for us even to try them.'"

Embryonic Cells, No Embryo Needed: Hunting for Ways Out of an Impasse - New York Times

Embryonic Cells, No Embryo Needed: Hunting for Ways Out of an Impasse - New York Times: "'Virtually everyone in the stem cell field is interested in this,' Dr. Grompe said. 'Some feel it's the only ethical way. Others feel it is the only practical way.' All agree there has been an ethical impasse.

On one side are those like Dr. Grompe who say human life is a continuum that begins with a fertilized egg. A human embryo, however early, is human life, he says, and he finds it unacceptable to destroy human embryos to extract their stem cells. The end cannot justify the means.

In the middle are those like Dr. Daley. He says human embryos have 'a unique moral status' that should be respected. 'There's a significant weight to the decision to use human embryos,' he says. But, he adds, using human embryo stem cells to find ways to relieve human suffering 'pays respect to their unique moral status.' And, he says, 'I fully accept the ethical tradeoff.'

Yet another group, which includes Dr. Jaenisch, says that for them there is no means-end calculus. Early embryos, they say, are simply microscopic balls of cells with no particular moral status. They have no body parts, they look nothing like a fetus, and most die anyway when they are implanted in women. For them, embryonic stem cell research poses no ethical issue.

And that impasse has led to a search for other ways of getting these precious cells."

White House denies Bush God claim

BBC NEWS | Americas | White House denies Bush God claim: "White House denies Bush God claim

The White House has dismissed as 'absurd' allegations made in a BBC TV series that President Bush claimed God told him to invade Iraq.

'He's never made such comments,' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The comments were attributed to Mr Bush by the Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath in the upcoming TV series Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs.

Mr Shaath said that in a 2003 meeting with Mr Bush, the US president said he was 'driven with a mission from God'.

Holy war?

'President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did.

''And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And by God I'm gonna do it.''"