Will we make it through the gate in time?

We’re on  Highway 1 in the Florida Keys where the speed limit is 45 miles per hour. It’s 4:54 PM. We have over 50 miles to go. Registration closes at 6:00 PM. We’d like to get to the Winter Star Party before registration closes for the day. Registration started at 1:00 PM. We wanted to avoid the line up of hundreds of people waiting to get in. However, there’s a good chance we’re not going to make it by 6:00 PM.

Nonetheless, hope springs eternal. We’ve been through the mangrove swamp, crossed a number of bridges over azure water, and passed people fishing. A pelican just flew over our car.

From my point of view, I am happy that we’re going to get there on registration day. In the past, we have occasionally arrived a couple of days late. Of course, those were days when it was raining and, frankly, those years, we postponed arriving because it is not much fun camping out when it’s raining. Much nicer to hole up in a warm, dry motel and wait for the rain to end.

But, today the sun is shining as it slowly sinks toward the horizon. Although there are clouds in the sky, there is also a lot of blue – hope of a good viewing sky tonight. There’s always such a rush to set up and get a glimpse of Saturn or the moons of Jupiter.

Even though there are many gorgeous photographs of these heavenly objects in books, movies, and on the internet, still, it is so special to see them in real time and real life, suspended in space, really and truly, looking so alive and vibrant. It’s always a thrill.

The real issue is not whether we will make it to the Winter Star Party before registration closes or whether we will have our first glimpse of Saturn tonight. We can always register and set up our telescope tomorrow. It’s all about the gate. At 7:00 PM, the gate slams shut. You can’t get in. It’s guarded by a police officer.

Headlights are not allowed once the sky gets dark and it’s simply too dangerous to drive in the campsite without headlights. If we don’t get inside the gate before 7:00, we’ll have to park on the road and haul our bed linens in on our backs.

Definitely, not preferred. It’s not much fun making up a bunk bed by a dim red-colored flashlight.

Everything and everyone uses only red-colored mute lights after dark. Otherwise, night vision would be compromised. The communal bathrooms are lit with red fluorescent lights. Mickey’s onsite grill switches from white to red lights. Many people wear a tiny red light that hangs from a lariat around their neck so other people can see them walking in the dark.

Uh oh! We’ve just hit a line of cars barely moving. What is it? An accident? A flea market? The stop and start traffic has got John sighing. It looked good until this traffic slow down. Will we make it through the gate in time?

Carol Chapman —

Barreling Down I 95 with my Laptop

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My brother has called my husband Mr. Gadget. I can see why. During this trip to the 25th Annual Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys, I am, for the first time, writing on my laptop and, at the same time,  connected to the internet. 

I’m using a broadband cellular modem. It is mine so I guess I’m a bit of a Mrs. Gadget.

However, here’s the part about Mr. Gadget. It wasn’t enough for John to use the laptop on battery. He needed to charge its battery as we went along with this gadget he bought at a Roger Wilco truck stop service center. It’s called (and I quote) “It’s a 200 watt power inverter that takes 12 volts DC from the car’s electrical system through the cigarette lighter and provides 120 volts 60 HZ AC. So, it’s like being plugged in! And, it runs cool as a cucumber. It’s got a fan in it.  The inverter sits in the drink holder so it remains in a fixed position when you have lateral G forces induced by cornering and longitudinal G forces from braking or acceleration.”

John wanted me to use the laptop while we drove along as an experiment to see if we would have any interruption in internet service as we cruised past cell phone towers. I am happy to report that we seem to be having NO trouble seamlessly receiving signals from one cell phone tower after another as we go barreling down Florida’s I95 toward the Florida Keys.

As I said yesterday, we’re taking our yearly 1000 plus mile trek to the Keys to attend the 25th annual Winter Star Party hosted by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society. I hope to interview people specifically on the Milky Way’s galactic center and its association, if any, with the last day of the Mayan Long Count Calendar on December 21, 2012.

Carol Chapman —

2012: On the Road Again

We’re on the road again on a quest for greater understanding of what to expect in 2012.

This time, we’re going to the 25th annual Winter Star Party hosted by the Southern Cross Astronomical Society where we hope to learn more about the earth and sun’s alignment with the galactic center on the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012.

Carol Chapman —

Orb Appears During Ghost Hunters Investigatation

 While paranormal investigators scanned the Sandusky Hotel in Sandusky, Indiana, for ghosts, a floating orb appeared, which was captured on video. At the same time, the paranormal investigator’s instruments registered heightened electrical energy. The Sandusky Hotel used to be a nursing home. Investigators deemed it a likely candidate for ghosts since people had died during the time the building had been a nursing home.

Another interesting incident occurred when a video camera captured a moving orb, or transparent ball. Stone notes that an orb is on the left in the video and says that instruments showed a burst of electrical energy.

Ghost’s2009 My Story: Ghost hunters investigate Sandusky’s Hotel Rieger

Although the orb appeared on videotape, Rob Stone, of Nomine Paranormal Research of Fort Wayne, Indiana, said that investigators have to be careful about attributing orbs to ghosts. He also said that about 99.9 percent of the time, orbs in photographs are produced by dust, insects and other natural phenomena.

I wonder, then, was this orb the 0.1 percent of orbs that is actually spirit based, according to Rob Stone’s definition of orbs, or was it a floating dust mote?

Carol Chapman

Giant UFO Seen by Residents of Entire Siberian City

Many of the residents of a 300,000 population Siberian City saw this giant UFO. Follow the link to the photo. People managed to get the UFO photos with their cell phones.

On February 15^th of this year at around 6pm the residents of the south eastern Siberian city of Chita (population around 300,000) in Russia witnessed a giant UFO cross their city and then disappear over the horizon. Some managed to photograph the craft with their mobile phones. Shocked pedestrians stopped in the town centre and in parks and pointed to sky declaring the object to be a UFO. Above is a photo of the craft.

All News Web – Russia: Giant UFO seen by entire Siberian city, photo.

A Fun Orbs Photo

This is from Marianna Vanderklift in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. She sent this fun orb picture of her cousin, David Chasse, who is a singer and performer in Holland.

The orb is floating over the cousin’s right thigh. He’s dressed up in red and green finery for a Christmas greeting that reads, “Merry Christmas Baby!” What fun!

Here is a close up of the above orb. I’ve used brightness/contrast in Photoshop to make the orb more visible against the black coat. Amazingly,this orb appears to have a comical face in it. Is this just a coincidence or the face of the spirit represented by the orb?

Here, again, is the close up of the orb in one of the orb photos taken by Margaret G. in New Zealand posted February 13, 2009 on this blog. This orb also appears to have a face in it. Margaret has subsequently informed me that what I thought might be a goatee in this image is actually a light switch on the wall behind the orb. Oh!

Thanks, Marianna for sending the fun picture of your cousin.

Carol Chapman —

More Orbs Feedback

As promised, here are more emails I received from readers of my enewsletters about their experiences with and opinions of orbs:

• Madonna G., in Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA wrote, “I have a friend, whose daughter is 12 years old, all pic’s of the daughter have orbs, even when she received a ‘higher’ belt in some form of Martial Arts!!!”
• I say, about the above email, that I wonder if some spirit entity like a Guardian Angel oversees this young lady as an orb.
• Martin A., in Wisconsin, USA sent a number of emails. I’ve put together excerpts from three of them:  “of course there are virtual images of entities of interdimensional space all arounds us all the time. . . . Trained and gifted psychics and clairvoyants can see orbs and spirit entities with their third eye chakra open. They can diagnose health issues as well, . . . Of course the spirit intelligence is small. It does not need a big astral-etheric body to be presence to be around human bodies,which are heavy duty equipment in comparison to spirit size which only needs a small light body smaller than the head of an ignited safety match head to embody all its functions and DNA patterns to manifest into a full size human structure –  bigger or smaller.

Thank you, Madonna and Martin, for sending your views on orbs to add to the many interesting and intriguing insights I’ve received.

Carol Chapman —

Orbs Comments from Readers

When I began writing about orbs, I received many emails from readers of my enewsletters containing comments about orbs. I had specifically asked:

1. Do you have photographs with orbs in them? If so, send them to me and I’ll post them in my enewsletters and in my blog to share them with others. I have done so and have a few more amazing orbs photos yet to post.
2. Can you see orbs with the naked eye?
3. What do you think orbs are?

 Here are some of the answers:

• From Barbara S. in Ontario, Canada:  She said that, yes, there had been orbs in pictures of her son’s wedding (another reader has also said that they often turn up in photos when people are celebrating) and in other photos too. Barbara said, “We regard them fondly as entities/spirits. Like family.”
• Zihna J. in Wisconsin, USA says, “I took orb pics for several years, trying to figure out what they were. I actually was able to ask them to be in a certain place. . . . I think these are intelligent energies, perhaps interdimensional beings. We see them as orbs in this dimension, but I think the orbs are merely how they move…sort of like a Merkaba.”

Thanks so much Barbara S. and Zihna J. for sharing your interesting experiences and ideas on orbs. More later . . .

Blessings,

Carol Chapman —

Orbs Pictures from New Zealand

Margaret G., North Island, NZ, was kind enough to send these orbs photos. The first three were taken within a few seconds of each other. Margaret says that she stayed still as she took the photos. However, when she looked at the photos afterwards, she could see that the orbs had been moving.

Because of the light background, some of the orbs are very difficult to see. Therefore, Margaret drew lines on the photographs to show the location of the orbs.

These are photos of Margaret’s husband and their granddaughters.

Please note the large orb at the foot of the chair on the right. Margaret says that their now-deceased Labrador dog used to lay exactly in that spot. She says that “The children loved him, and I’m wondering if that actually was him visiting!”

Here is an enlargement of the large orb situated at the spot where Margaret’s beloved Labrador dog used to sit.

I find it interesting that so many of the orbs I’ve shown enlarged have a definite ring around their perimeter as does this one.

Note the orb floating at the top of the photo.

Here is that orb enlarged and brightened/contrasted with Photoshop. Do you see what appears to be two eyes, a nose, a little mouth, and a wee goatee?

A few seconds later and the large orb where the dog used to sit is gone as is the orb that, when enlarged, appeared to have a face. There are only multiple orbs that are difficult to see against the light background.

While many of us in the Northern Hemisphere usually experience winter temperatures at New Year’s Eve, Margaret and her family were out camping in New Zealand on New Year’s Eve, 2006.

Here’s a close up, which has also been brightened/contrasted in Photoshop, of the orb in the middle of the photo above. Again, it has a distinct ring around the perimeter.

Thank you, Margaret, for sending these photos to share with us.

Carol Chapman —

Crop Circles Man Made?

The writer of this a comment on a blog appears to know the history of crop circles and that they have been made by humans, right from the beginning.

“In 1991, more than a decade after the phenomenon began, two men from Southampton, England announced that the phenomenon of crop circles was an idea thought up one evening in a pub near Winchester, Hampshire in 1978. World War II veteran Doug Bower and his friend Dave Chorley revealed that they made their crop circles using planks, rope, hats and wire as their only tools. Bower and Chorley stated to reporters that a small group of people can stomp down a sizable area of crop in a single night using simple tools.

The pair became slightly frustrated that their work had not received as much publicity as they had hoped. In 1981 they created a crop circle in Matterley Bowl, a natural amphitheatre just outside Winchester, Hampshire – an area surrounded by roads from which a clear view of the field is available to drivers passing by.

Bower’s wife had become increasingly suspicious of him due to noticing high levels of mileage in their car. Eventually, fearing that his wife suspected him of adultery, Bower confessed to her and subsequently informed a British national newspaper.”

What is your opinion of crop circles? | Paranominal