National Geographic
This is an A-1 Gold Star Paradise located in the Indian Ocean, roughly midway between Australia and Sri Lanka. The Territory of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, also called Cocos Islands and Keeling Islands, is a territory of Australia. The beaches are spectacular.
Daily Mail Online
Natural beauty has landed a remote beach in the Indian Ocean the prestigious title of Australia’s best beach.
Tourism Australia’s beach ambassador Brad Farmer released his book on Saturday, 101 Best Beaches 2017, crowning Cossies Beach – named after Governor-General Peter Cosgrove – in the Cocos Islands as the country’s top sandy shore.
‘It’s as near to perfect as a beach can be,’ Farmer said, comparing it to the Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays.
Farmer has been writing about beaches for the past 30 years and has seen about 4,000 Australian beaches in his lifetime.
With his colleague Professor Andy Short, a coastal geomorphologist, Farmer spent almost half a year trekking around Australia’s coastline to assess the nation’s top beaches.
| Territory of Australia | |
|---|---|
| • Annexed by the British Empire | 1857 |
| • Transferred to Australian control | 1955 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 14 km2 (5 sq mi) |
| • Water (%) | 0 |
| Population | |
| • July 2014 estimate | 596 |
| • Density | 43/km2 (111.4/sq mi)) |
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American neo-noir black comedy crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary. Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman, it tells several stories of criminal Los Angeles. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
In a bizarre story out of Britain, a woman claims that she has fallen in love with an alien from the Andromeda galaxy after the ET had abducted her. Actress Abbie Bela’s remarkable romance reportedly started when she lamented online about her lackluster love life, particularly her problems with “men from Earth,” which led her to joke that perhaps she would have better luck dating an alien. Shortly thereafter, she began having recurring dreams of a white light and these mysterious experiences culminated with one magical evening wherein she believes that she met her soulmate from outer space.
Having been instructed by a voice in her dream to “wait in the usual spot” the following night, she sat perched by her window and, suddenly, “a flying saucer appeared outside.” The actress was quickly transported onto the craft by way of a green beam. While aboard the UFO, Bela says, she encountered five extraterrestrials who were “very tall and slender,” yet also appeared somewhat human. According to Bela, she immediately felt smitten with one particular ET and, to her surprise, the alien was also overtaken by love at first sight when they connected.
The entity was apparently so enamored with the actress that she was offered the opportunity to remain on the ship and pursue the unorthodox relationship, but Bela was fearful of being forced to leave Earth forever, so she opted to return home. Alas, like a Shakespearean play, this was the last she saw of her would-be interstellar paramour, though she has not given up hope that they will meet again. Keeping an overnight bag packed for when the alien returns, Bela mused that “I hope he comes back. I am willing to visit the Andromeda galaxy.”
All the people that claim the U.S. government knows more about UFOs than they are letting on are wishful thinkers. To put it simply, they don’t know what the hell these things are.
Those hoping for answers to the UFO mystery in the forthcoming and highly anticipated Pentagon report on unidentified aerial phenomena will undoubtedly be disappointed as the study is said to be largely inconclusive regarding the nature and origins of these puzzling objects. Although it will not be released to the public until sometime later this month, a blockbuster New York Times piece published late Thursday evening provided a glimpse into the report’s contents by way of “senior administration officials briefed on the findings.” Said to have examined more that 120 UAP cases from the last 20 years as well as foreign military encounters with unidentified objects, the study apparently fails to answer the all-important question of what these UFOs are.
Specifically, the report indicates that the government found “no evidence” that UFOs are “alien spacecraft,” while also ruling out the possibility that they are secret technology developed by the United States military, though whether or not the Pentagon would reveal such a thing is up for debate. Another often cited suspect, weather balloons, was dismissed in many cases due to the manner in which the objects behaved. One troubling scenario raised by the report is that the UAPs are a display of some kind of “hypersonic technology” harnessed by Russia or China. Ultimately, however, the study offers no definitive conclusion and indicates that the Pentagon simply cannot explain some of the more fantastic cases in which objects accelerate at tremendous speeds, perform hard-to-fathom maneuvers, and submerge into water.
The Times’ reporting was subsequently confirmed by CNN, who quoted a Congressional aide as saying “most people would be hoping for visual evidence of little green men, which is almost certainly not going to be the case.” To that end, UFO enthusiasts can take some solace in the fact that the inconclusive nature of the study at least leaves open the possibility that perhaps some of these cases are extraterrestrial in nature, especially since one is left to wonder, short of the recovery of an actual ET or one of the vehicles, what the government would consider evidence for these objects being alien spacecraft. That said, it would sadly appear that the report will not be the ‘disclosure moment’ long yearned for by the UFO research community and that the same questions that have perplexed investigators for decades will continue to go unanswered.
Perhaps the most intriguing question arising from what are said to be the report’s findings is what might happen next as it does not appear that the study offered any recommendations for subsequent steps of inquiry from the United States government. Given that these objects cannot be identified, it stands to reason that further investigation would be warranted, especially since they could be exotic technology developed by adversarial nations. Additionally, some have suggested that the report could lead to Congressional hearings regarding the phenomenon, though it is doubtful that such an exercise would be fruitful as far as finding out answers regarding the phenomenon since it would presumably be more political theater rather than an earnest inquiry. And so, as is so often the case with the UFO phenomenon, the answer to the mystery remains maddeningly out of reach.
And no, these are not Chinese or Russian aircraft. Both of these countries didn’t have 5th generation fighter aircraft until recently. The Americans have had this technology for over 25 years.
Robot Monster (or Monster from Mars) is a 1953 independently made American black-and-white 3D science-fiction film, remembered in later decades as one of the worst movies ever made. It was produced and directed by Phil Tucker, written by Wyott Ordung, and stars George Nader, Claudia Barrett, and George Barrows. The production company was Three Dimension Pictures, Inc. The film was distributed by Astor Pictures.
Robot Monster tells the story of the alien robot Ro-Man’s mission to Earth to destroy humanity. He manages to kill all but eight survivors, who have become immune to his death ray. Ro-Man runs afoul of the Great Guidance, his leader, when he becomes attracted to the human Alice. She is the eldest daughter of a surviving scientist, and he refuses to harm her. The Great Guidance must now come to Earth and finish what the Moon robot started.
A group of geese in the Assiniboine River Winnipeg.
This alpha goose has no fear. Quite assertive.
A herd of elephants that packed its trunks for an unexpected 500km (300 mile) trek has arrived at a Chinese city where millions of people live.
The 15 elephants have been hoovering up crops and poking their noses through doors on the march from the south of Yunnan province to its capital Kunming.
A big effort – with tonnes of food – is under way to try and keep them safe.
It is unclear why they left their habitat to embark on the journey, which has captivated residents and experts.
Some have suggested an inexperienced leader may have led the herd astray, while other believe the elephants could be searching for a new habitat.
The Asian elephant is an endangered species. China has only about 300 wild elephants, mainly in the south of Yunnan province.
Scientists say this is the furthest any of the wild elephants there have travelled from the habitat.
The Kunming Daily says the cities of Kunming and Yuxi deployed almost 700 police and emergency workers armed with 10 tonnes of corn, pineapples and other food. They were backed up by trucks and drones to try to divert the animals on to a safe path.
Don’t gawk or leave corn or salt out; keep your distance and don’t disturb them with firecrackers, residents have been told.
The journey has comprised a mixture of farms, tracks and asphalt and has continued night and day
Animal experts say the herd appears to have gathered pace, possibly because the heavier human population has increased its fears, and it is unlikely the elephants would try to enter Kunming.
Efforts to turn them around have failed, and scientists may have to try and find them a suitable place to live nearby.
It’s not exactly clear when the herd left home, which was probably the Mengyangzi Nature Reserve in Xishuangbanna, in south-west Yunnan.
Officials appear to have been first alerted to their movements when locals spotted the herd about 100km north of Xishuangbanna in April.
There were thought to be 17 elephants initially, but two appeared to turn back when reaching Mojiang county. Other reports say it was 16 originally but a newborn calf helped the number back to 15 once the two abandoned the trek.
As for the journey, it has comprised a mixture of farms, tracks and asphalt and has continued night and day.
At one stage the group took a main road through the village of Eshan and apparently banged on residents’ doors.
A video on social media showed people running down the street shouting “they are coming”, followed soon after by a police car and the elephants, the South China Morning Post reported.
A Yunnan government notice said the herd had “caused trouble 412 times” there.
Stories abound, including of one elderly man who the Jimu News channel said had hidden under his bed in his retirement home as trunks were poked into rooms.
At least one elephant got drunk on fermented grain in a report that is – naturally – quite difficult to confirm.
And more than $1m (£710,000) worth of crops has been pilfered along the way. Fortunately, no one has been injured.
One report says the herd is made-up of six female and three male adults, three juveniles and three calves.
There was some dry humour on social media in China. One post on the Weibo social media site said the animals probably wanted to attend the UN Biodiversity Conference meeting in Kunming. They are a bit early, as it isn’t taking place until October.
The herd took a main road through Eshan
But this is a serious issues too – involving habitat loss and increasing altercations between elephants and farmers in Yunnan.
Li Zhongyuan, a Xishuangbanna forestry official, told the Global Times that the traditional diet of the elephants had depleted in their habitat, with the animals now changing to agricultural crops like corn and sugar cane.
There could be similar treks if the habitat is reduced further by the planting of rubber and other cash crops.
The MarkoZen Blog 