😱 Sorcery and violation of grave

ANGOLA, Africa – In the hamlet of Kayenga, community of Kamoka, Ukuma city - this April (2011), there was a macabre case of violation of grave. 

The deceased, the corpse, that belongs to Angelina Ngalula, who died aged 32, was found outside the coffin beside the grave stripped of some internal organs: heart, liver, intestines. The crime came two days after the burial.

The complaint was made Tuesday - (april, 12) by the Soba of the village, Aurelio Viyé. 

He said that was unaware what were the real reasons for this gruesome act committed in his village by unidentified individuals. But he conjectures: Many say sorcery does not exist but, this that happened in the village of Kayenga means what?

The Soba, that is a traditional regional authority at Angola, said he had never seen anything like it in all its long life. 

He was shocked by the case and blamed the villagers by the crime, and repeated: This only can be linked to witchcraft.

SOURCE

Desconhecidos desenterram cadáver na aldeia de Kayenga.

IN Jornal de Angola, published in 04/14/2011

[http://jornaldeangola.sapo.ao/14/15/desconhecidos_desenterram_cadaver_na_aldeia_de_kayenga]

Termites, these damn termites

Photo: AP

TAIWAN – A forestry expert that is investigating what caused a train accident in Taiwan said termites, slowly, had been digging a hole in a centennial tree, causing her to fall and crush the train.

The disaster that happened on Wednesday (04/27/2011) caused five deaths near the tourist area of Alishan Mountain were Chinese tourists. Dozens of people were injured.

During the inspection conducted, the expert Wang Ya-nan said that the hole left by termites was hiding, and that the tree fell at a unhappy moment.

Authorities said the driver stopped the train's composition after the wagon be reached by the tree but the huge branches, by hitting other cars on the train, provoked the increase of the tragedy.

SOURCE: Cupins causam acidente ferroviário em Taiwan.
IN Último Segundo/IG, published in 04/29/2011
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/ciencia/meioambiente/cupins+causam+acidente+ferroviario+em+taiwan/n1300119918972.html]

Mayas - Stairs that tell Histories

MEXICO – In the archaeological site of El Palmar, southeast of Campeche, a staircase of hieroglyphs was discovered by researchers at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) associated with the University of Arizona and to Mexican National Autonomous University (UNAM). Preliminary analyses have indicated that this pre-Hispanic city was in contact with the cities of Calakmul (Mexico) and Copan, Honduras. The finding has a thousand and three hundred years.

This is not the only staircase carved, decorated with hieroglyphics found in the lowland Maya. Twenty of this kind were cataloged. Evidence of the monument were first found in 2009 among others, which are called Grupo de Guzman. At the time, the evaluation of the stones "in situ" suggested the existence of a stairway.

The field season began in late 2010 and early 2011. According to archaeologists, Javier Lopez and Camacho Kenichiro Tsukamoto, the first four pieces examined, were in good condition, while two others were fragmented. It was necessary to do emergency procedures for conservation.

All blocks, drawings, and specific location of the find were photographed and examined with instruments like a topografic laser, before being transferred to archaeological camp with safety. The INAH's restorers: Yareli Jaida and Diana Leticia Jiménez Arano determined the level of conservation and are working in restoration of the blocks.

Hieróglifos

A preliminary translation of hieroglyphics, led by epigraphist Octavio Olguin Esparza (UNAM) provides important information for understanding the Maya Classic period (250-900 AD). The hieroglyphic stairway relates, among other historical events, the visits by foreign to El Palmar. The events are marked in a calendar. The date shown is "11 Ajaw Sak 18" or 13 September of 725 AD. The stone document also refers to the 'Lords of place' and the contacts they had with cities such as Copan and Calakmul, in the southern of the region that was occupied by ancient mayas.

During the excavations, was discovered a large room whose floor shows signs of having been burned, which indicates the possibility of perform of rituals. There were also fragments of pottery. A funerary instalation with offerings was also found. There were human bones and two objects of polychrome pottery. The anthropologist Jessica Cerezo-Roman, University of Arizona determined that the mortal remains belong to a mature man, as indicated the examination of the jaws and the inlays of jade on the front teeth.

SOURCE: Descubren escalinata con jeroglíficos mayas.
IN Artículo 7, published in 04/25/2011
[http://a7.com.mx/cultura/arqueologia/7105-descubren-escalinata-con-jeroglificos-mayas.html]

The Giant Scorpions

Paleontology – Analyses performed on the fossil of a giant scorpion 417 million years old, a species extinct (thank goodness!) revealed traces of a substance called chitin in the exoskeleton of the creature. This finding demonstrates something that until now was considered impossible: The age of the chitin found, is several hundred million years older than what was considered the maximum possible in terms of conservation of this material.

The discovery was made ​​by a team of scientists led by George Cody of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Analyses were conducted at the ALS (Advanced Light Source) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California

The work of these experts contradicts the classical idea that the organic material can not be mantained for so long because it would be decomposed by microorganisms. However, scientists have found a fibrous mesh of chitin in the fóssil. Chitin is a polysaccharide rich in nitrogen.

Some species of these huge animals had reached over two meters in length. Chitin was also found in younger fossils, like a scorpion 310 million of years and even others, with 25 million years. The size of the giants scorpions is a frightening demonstration that in the past, arachnids, insects, crustaceans and other creatures were much larger than today. It is known that Eurypterids are aquatic ancestors (and extinct) of land scorpions and possibly of all arachnids of today.

SORCE: Detectan vestigios de quitina en el fósil de un aterrador escorpión gigante.
IN NCYT, published in 04/11/2011
[http://noticiasdelaciencia.com/not/862/detectan_vestigios_de_quitina_en_el_fosil_de_un_aterrador_escorpion_gigante/]

Mutant tadpole

PARÁ state – In Uruará location, near the city of "Porto dos Milagres"a fisherman known as "Neuzito" captured in his fishing net a strange creature. Its head and tail seem like of a fish. Where there should be fins, there are the legs of a frog.

The fisherman, intrigued, said that never saw similar animal. It measures around 30 centimeters and called attention of the local dwellers that gathered to see it. His limbs doesn't has fingers. It doesn't has gills too. The photo of him was published at the Tapajós TV website and it hoped the help of readers to indentify the animal.

SOURCE: Pescador captura estranho animal em Uruará, no Pará.
IN O Globo, published in 04/27/2011
[http://oglobo.globo.com/cidades/mat/2011/04/27/pescador-captura-estranho-animal-em-uruara-no-para-924330022.asp]

Rhinoceros: The stolen horns

PORTUGAL – At Coimbra town, on Tuesday – 19, two horns of rhinoceros of the eighteenth century were stolen from the Museum of Science, University of Coimbra. Authorities believe the theft was an act of a international gang which operates in the black market, where these horns can reach the price of 80 000 euros.

The robbery happened at the section of zoology at around 17.00 at a closed section of the gallery. Museum director commented: We believe that this is a work of an international gang because thefts similar to this have occurred in other museums. Theft of rhino horns are happening some years ago. They started in South Africa this year, the latest happened in the UK, (in February) in an antiques shop in Essex and in the Museum of Natural History at Rouen in March in France.

The destination of the goods is Asia, where these horns are used in the preparation of aphrodisiacs. But the director of the Museum warns: These horns are impregnated with toxic products used for its conservation. Are poisonous for human consumption.

SOURCE: GERALDES, Helena. Chifres de rinoceronte do século XVIII roubados da Universidade de Coimbra.
IN Público-Ecoesfera/Pt, published in 04/23/2011
[http://ecosfera.publico.clix.pt/noticia.aspx?id=1491053]

The bizarre baby of Dominican Republic

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – In the touristic town of La Romana, in the afternoon of a monday – april 14 (2011), in Hospital de Saúde Pública Francisco Gonzalvo (public Health Hospital), a woman from Haiti, identified like Tossent Luis, 20 years of age, gave birth to a bizarre baby.

The child had a human body but her face was like a frog face. The mother, when looked the litlle girl, was taken of terror and left the hospital, running. Nobody knows to where she gone.

The news spread. Many people moved by morbid curiosity gone to the hospital hoping to see the abnormality. Were not allowed to view the child. As is common in such cases, the child died after half an hour after birthing.

This case resembles another episode occurred at Nepal in 2006. The breakingnews said: Bizarre baby born. The text is reproduced below:

NEPAL

Bizarre baby born in Dolakha 
By Rajendra Manandhar

Charikot, Dolakha, March 29 - The birth of a bizarre-looking baby in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, on Wednesday, drew a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight.

The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot.

The Karki couple is a permanent resident of Dolakha’s Bhirkot VDC. The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death.

The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd.

“We wouldn’t have been able to save it, even if it had been brought here alive, said a nurse attending to the mother at the hospital. This is an extremely abnormal case.

The “baby” weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period. Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy.

Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby’s death. “I am happy that nothing happened to my wife, he said.

SOURCE: VEGA A. Manuel. Nace niña con cara de rana en hospital de La Romana
IN El Nuevo Diario/Republica Dominicana, published in 04/14/2011
[http://www.elnuevodiario.com.do/app/article.aspx?id=238025]

The past encaged on a crystalline stone

PERU – In Chiclayo (a town located at northwest of Peru, capital of Lambayeque region, one of the 25 political divisions of the country) scientists found several examples of small insects preserved in amber stones. Researchers believe that these tiny specimens lived around 20 millions of years ago. Were – therefore, contemporary of the dinosaurs and, they passed, at least, for a glaciation.

In the stones of amber insects like Psocoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera and spiders, as well as spores, pollen fossils, and even a drop of blood and hair of rodents, all of these fragments of the past remained preserved.

The discovery was made ​​on a beach in far north of Peru by paleontologists from the Paleontological Museum Meyer-Honningen. The team found more than a hundred stones, among the river sediments, but still could not identify the majority. Some of the insects are nor even known, like the , long-legged mosquito Zancudo or a wasp, that has the stinger in the front of its body. These are possibly species already extinct that indicate changes in the flora and fauna of the area.

However, the Peruvian museum has invited Austrian scientists to assist in the study of fossils and new expedition will be made in the Santiago River, for try to uncover new clues about the evolution of the Amazon.

SOURCE: Âmbar alberga fósseis de insectos extintos.
IN Ciência Hoje/Pt, published in 04/21/2011
[http://www.cienciahoje.pt/index.php?oid=48649&op=all]

UFO-Brazil – Sighting in Santa Catarina

SANTA CATARINA (state) – Sunday, march – 10 (2011) an UFO was filmed at 'Erechim' town, north of the state. The images were obtained by a professional filmaker, Osnei de Lima that relates: When I took knowledge about something of strange at the sky, I got my camera and filmed the object. It was moving in all directions.

Lima recorded the images during one minute and 28 seconds until the bright object followed eastward, then north and finaly, disappeared. The director says this is not your first time that he observes a foreign object near his home, in Poland Street (rua Polônia) , one of the highest regions of the city. "But it was the first time I captured images. The object had a rounded shape and its light was very bright.

The UFO appeared to be far, far away. Moreover, its movements were made with great speed. I know very well the trajectory of an aircraft and can assure you that was not an airplane, he said.

Director of 24 films - six long and 18 short films, winning several times - Osne Lima, 36, used a camera with high definition, full HD to capture the sequence. The Commander Kraemer of surveillance Airport of Erechim confirmed that on Sunday no aircraft took off down the runway or terminal.

FONTE: Depois de Xanxerê, Joaçaba e Piratuba, ovni é visto em Erechim.
IN Rádio Rural/sANTA cATARINA state, published in 04/14/2011
[http://www.radiorural.com.br/noticias.php?nId=leitura&idnot=11142]

Mystery of Teotihuacan

The underground work of the temple of Quetzalcoatl

TEOTIHUACÁN, México — In the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, a team of archaeologists discovered a tunnel that may have much to reveal about one of the most important pre-Columbian civilizations.

The site was discovered by chance in 2003 when the heavy rains that fell in the region have revealed a small crater. But only in 2009, scientists began to excavate the place - with the support of the Institute of Anthropology and History Mexico (INAH).

The researchers believe that the tune could lead to a burial chamber of rulers of Teotihuacan, because none of them, no cemetery or graves have been found to date.

The archaeologist Sergio Gomes says: Teotihuacan means "place of the gods". It was a religious center built as a replica of the universe. The tunnel that we are looking can to be a sort of gateway to the underworld. We believe that this architecture can also to hide a replica of the underworld.

Historians estimate that the city flourished in the early Christian era. Teotihuacan was possibly the most important urban center in North America in his time of splendor. Your maximum population may have been 200 thousand inhabitants. Occupying an area of 25 sq. km, only 5% of the site was explored by scientists. Teoatihuacan was abandoned by the seventh century.

In August 2010, after digging about 12 feet, archaeologists have found what could be the entrance to a tunnel. The hypothesis was correct. The entrance had been blocked deliberately - with stones, and objects parts that may have belonged to a temple destroyed. Were already removed 300 tonnes of materials: small objects made ​​of jade, marine shells, bones.

A small camera-robot, first used in an archaeological research in Mexico, exploited the small entrance. A radar system allowed to evaluate the possible extension of the tunnel, about 120 meters. The hypothesis suggest that in the end of the corridor may exist at least three mortuary chambers containing the remains of some rulers of Teotihuacan.

The idea is based in the location of the site that seems seems extend itself along the underground area of the temple of the "Plumed Serpent" (Quetzalcóatl). The delicacy required for the operation involves a job that should last for years. But it is a start for unravel the great mystery that is the origin and abandonment of the powerful city of Teotihuacan.

SOURCE: NICHOLSON, Sophie. Unos arquéologos buscan en un túnel los secretos de Teotihuacán.
IN Google/AFP, published in 04/07/2011
[http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iwsL9Xn0J5XPAHRRThKkfkIq8NCg?docId=CNG.d9537645f26505042c24a73e3115be9f.2141]

👻 SPIRITISM FEVER IN BRAZILIAN MOVIES

"As Mães de Chico Xavier" (The mothers of Chico Xavier), April 2011. More recent production of the Brazilian spiritist cinema.

In the brazilian cinema the rise of a new genre of films opens a space in the market and reveals the excelent acceptance and fascination of the the conception about life after death of kardecist spiritism in the imaginary of people.

The phenomenon isn't surprising considering that Brazil is the largest Spiritist kardecist nation of the world. There is in the country a vigourous spiritist literature. 

The 'beyond', according kardecist spiritism also appears on TV, in soap operas of great success. But, on movies, the popularity obtained by the spiritists produtions is a mark in the history of the brazilian cinema.

The thing began in 2008 when the film "Bezerra de Menezes - O Diário de um Espírito" (Diary of a spirit) debuted and even without any big advertising structure, attracted nearly 500,000 viewers in that year alone. 

The film, is a biographical account of  Bezerra de Menezes life, a physician and exponent of the spiritist movement Kardecist at Brazil.

From the exit of "Bezerra de Menezes" was born the film producer company Estação da Luz (Light Station). Since then, the company produced two more films: 

Chico Xavier (2010) and 

As mães de Chico Xavier (The mothers of Chico Xavier – 2011), both directed by Daniel Filho. 

But other producers were paying attention in the genre. Also in 2010, it launched the long "Nosso Lar" (Our Home).

Chico Xavier, a film about the life of the most famous brazilian spiritist medium.

With great stars of the national drama, the film budgeted around 12 million of reais, Chico Xavier, another biography, takes to the big screen the life of Brazil's most famous medium. 

In the same year, 2010, "Nosso Lar" arrived the theaters. The most expensive film in Brazil's history, even now, costed 20 million of reais.

Our Home is based in one of the most renowned works of literature psychographed made in Brazil. 

The eponymous book (that was wrote - or psychographed by Chico Xavier), translated into several other languages, speaks of a place, the Beyond, passing from the shadows of hell of the sinners to the rescue of souls. 

Our Home is the name of an ethereal city, a kind of spiritual colony where the disembodied spirits are cured from the trauma of physical life.

In his debut, only in the first three days of exhibition, "Our Home" earned 5.7 million of reais and was seen by more than half a million people.

Nosso Lar, (Our Home), 2010. Another film-related to the medium Spiritist Chico Xavier (1910-2002) medium, author of numerous texts of literature psychographed produced in Brazil. The story is inspired in the eponymous book, a best seller of the kardecist spiritist brazilian literature.

"Our Home", produced by Iafa Britz, also has a cast of big names. Moreover, according to the book scene, it was necessary to hire international experts as the director of photography Ueli Steiger and special effects supervisor Lev Kobolov of the Canadian company Intelligent Creatures.

In this april month, 2011, debuted "The mothers of Chico Xavier" ("Estação da Luz" prodution), another story related to the life of the medium. In this april month, (2011) debuted "The mothers of Chico Xavier", another story related to the life of the medium. And it's not te finish. Two new debuts of the genre are coming. In the "midia" - they talk about a spiritist fever in produtions of brazilian movies.

Also in 2011, will be released "E a vida continua" (...and Life goes on) and "O filme dos espíritos" (The film of the spirits), the latter inspired by the famous "Book of Spirits" (Book of Spirits), by Alan Kardec, the precursor of western Spiritualism.

RELATED LINKS 

Chico Xavier movie website 

[http://www.chicoxavierthemovie.com/] (english) 

Nosso Lar movie website 

[http://www.nossolarofilme.com.br/ingles/] (english) 

As Mães de Chico Xavier movie website 

[http://www.asmaesdechicoxavier.com.br] (portuguese)

FONTES Cinema brasileiro aposta em "Chico Xavier". 

IN Diário do Vale, published in 04/02/2010 [http://diariodovale.uol.com.br/noticias/3,19212.html#axzz1IbfAwOrA] 

Nosso Lar é a terceira maior estréia da retomada. 

IN Ultimo Segundo, published in 07/09/2010 [http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/cultura/cinema/nosso+lar+e+a+terceira+maior+estreia+da+retomada/n1237771101373.html]

Filmes aumentam movimento em centros espíritas. 

IN Midia News, published in 04/04/2011 [http://www.midianews.com.br/?pg=noticias&cat=16&idnot=46614]

Atafona: the city being swallowed by the sea

Photos: Isabela Kassow. See more photos here

RIO DE JANEIRO (state) – Atafona, district of town of 'São João da Barra', situated 314 km from state capital (Rio de Janeiro city) no needs tsunami or hurricane to be destroyed. There, nature is not abrupt. But it works slowly, almost lovingly, engulfing the place bit by bit, relentlessly.

The sea advance over the place is been monitored since the 1970s. Streets houses, hotels, entire blocks are gone. The Atlantic Avenue, a classic landscape of coastal cities, no longer exists. In a radius of five kilometers of coast, erosion has turned everything in ruins. The water takes the sand creating dunes that occupy the space stolen to men.

The advisor to the Planning and Environmental Management of the municipality of Sao Joao da Barra, Andre Pinto explains:

The first observations of erosion were made 40 years ago. The problem was intensified by the lack of pressure of the water volume of the Paraiba do Sul River, which crosses the town towards the sea. The strong dynamics of ocean currents, the geological formation and for being a point of tension of the winds from the northeast, beyond the construction irregular in the fringes of the river and the sea, all of this aspects contribute to make the ocurrence of this phenomenon so intense in Atafona.

The city of São João da Barra has 30 thousands inhabitans and a territory of 432 km². The main economic activity in the region has always been fishing. But 'tourism of the ruins' has grown from in recent years.

The oldest inhabitants say that, since the 70's, the sea surged over five streets, totaling about 500 homes. This is equivalent, by the calculations of the prefecture, 40 soccer fields. Long ago, the sea became prohibited for swimming due to the presence of rebar and constructions debris hidden under the muddy waters.

SOURCE: MORATELLI, Valmir. Atafona: a cidade que está sendo engolida pelo mar. IN último Segundo, published in april – 01/2011 [http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/rj/atafona+a+cidade+que+esta+sendo+engolida+pelo+mar/n1300019862044.html#11]